As we begin to approach this most sublime subject of being born from above, of being regenerated, shall we turn to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. We shall read together the first seven verses this morning. and we shall stress as we read these verses the utter necessity of every man, woman, child and baby of being born from above in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven John 3 verse 1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again. Will you please open your Bibles with me? At John chapter 3, in the infallible word of God, John chapter 3. As we consider this morning one of the most important subjects in the Bible and that is the utter necessity of being born from above. The utter necessity of being born from above. Let me begin at the outset by saying that this is the way we must frame the question. the need of being born from above now I know that many of us don't express it quite that way I know that many of us following the King James translation of verse 3 prefer to speak of being born again But I think we must realize that Jesus in the original Greek does not say that we need to be born again. He does say that we need to be born above, from above. Nicodemus' problem was in thinking that Jesus was requiring a second earth you see that in verse 4 Nicodemus said, well how can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? but Jesus' reply is that every man on earth, every person on earth needs to be born from above the Greek word in verse 3 which is translated by again except a man be born again is literally except a man be born from above it is the same Greek word which is used in verse 31 of the same chapter to which I refer you he that cometh from above is above all rather than he that cometh again is above all So then, to be born, to be regenerated has the root meaning of being born from above, being born by the action of a heavenly influence. And in the second place of course, if this operation takes place subsequent to our conception and our birth, which it generally does, then it is being born again in the sense that we receive a new principle of birth into us after we have already been physically conceived and physically born. In that sense we can of course speak of being born again. This morning I would like for us to see from these verses that Jesus declares it is absolutely, fundamentally, utterly necessary for every human being, regardless of his age, to be born from above, to be born from heaven if he would enter into, nay more, if he would even see the kingdom of God and this evening I would like for us to see how the only way in which people can be born from above how they can be regenerated is by the sovereign operation of the Holy Spirit in their lives now I want to preach very simply this morning for two reasons the first is the older I get the more I understand that this sermon is a simple one. The second is I don't know how long my voice is going to hold out and I've got to use it quite a lot today. So I want to make just a few simple points on the utter necessity of every one of us being born from above if we are to enter into the kingdom of God. Let me say first of all that this is a birth from above you just turn back to John 1 verse 13 you will see that the holy writer in verse 12 says as many as have received Jesus to them has he given the power to be declared sons of God even to those, I'm giving you a literal translation from the Greek, even to those that keep on believing in his name who have been born, not of the bloods nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And so we must stress that when any person is regenerated, is born from above, this is a birth from God and it's not a birth or a decision from himself. Notice too on this matter, that the context that we are analyzing is further synchronized with Jesus' answer to Peter's question in Caesarea Philippi where Jesus looks straight at Peter and says, who do the people say I am? and Peter says, well some say that you are one of the prophets, Jeremiah perhaps, or Elijah Yes, yes, says Jesus, but Peter, who do you say that I am? And Peter replies, you are the Christ. You are the son of the living God. And our Savior replies, blessed are you, Peter, son of Jonah, because it's not fresh in blood that I've revealed this to you. It's not an insight that you have arrived at by your own rational or voluntary processes. flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you that I am the Christ the Son of the living God but my Father which is in heaven which is above has revealed this to you now that's my way of introduction let us now go into the sermon first of all the Pharisees needed and still need to be born from above someone will say well of course Pharisees are terrible people well they are not perhaps that terrible someone asked me not too long ago whether perhaps I am not a bit of a Pharisee and I had to reply in all truth yes I must admit in some respects I am and I think if we are honest with ourselves we will see something of the Pharisee in the bosom of every person now being a Pharisee meant in the first place being a separatist. Often when we hear the word Pharisee we think of someone who's phony, who's a hypocrite. But that is not the root meaning of the word Pharisee, although many of the Pharisees were phony. And the dear person suggesting I'm a bit of a Pharisee wasn't suggesting I was phony, but that perhaps or adding to what the Bible says with my own ideas and of course this is something we need to guard against the word Pharisee is derived from a Hebrew word pharas which means to cut off, to separate and the Pharisees above all were people who thought they were too good to mix with a common crowd they had their own little sect within Judaism and they felt very happy when they were surrounded by their own kind whom they thought had insights into God's word and were not like the common people who didn't know what they believed they were secretists And beloved, I say with every ounce of strength, and I hope love in my heart, to those of you this morning who have separated from the Southern Presbyterian Church, not to get too proud of having separated from liberalism. I want to repeat that. Don't get too proud that you separated from liberalism, because merely separating from liberalism, political liberalism, and theological liberalism is not going to take any one of you nor me to heaven no more than Nicodemus having separated from the common Jews and having become a Pharisee whilst taking him to heaven we need more than geographical separation from common people to take us to heaven Now the second meaning of the word Pharisee is one who does not subtract from the Bible but who does add to it. This is important. The Pharisees were much better people than the Sadducees. The Sadducees were the modernists. They were the liberals. they were always subtracting and taken away from God's word. They did not believe in the resurrection from the dead. They did not believe in an afterlife. They did not believe in the existence of angels which they could not see, nor touch, nor sense. But the Pharisees, beloved, believed all of those things. The Pharisees said that they believed everything in the Old Testament. Every jot and every tittle. And they did. but they didn't understand its meaning they believed and paid lip service to the Old Testament without seeing how it pointed to Jesus Christ so that when the truth Jesus Christ to whom the whole Old Testament pointed many if not most of the Pharisees didn't even recognize the living truth Jesus Christ when he came and stood in their midst O beloved, are there some sitting here, born and bred Presbyterians from birth, who have believed that the Bible is infallible from cover to cover, who've known the Westminster Confession backwards, forwards, inside out, downstairs and upstairs, and back to front, and upside down. With all of this, unless you have been born again, my friend, you are nothing better than a lost soul, as was Nicodemus. Faith in the infallibility of the Word of God will not take anybody to heaven. Though we should believe that the Bible is infallible, which of course it is. The word Pharisee sometimes meant a hypocrite or a loveless person and obviously no hypocrite or no loveless person will get to heaven but not all Pharisees were loveless some of them were always inviting the Lord Jesus out to come and dine with them and they gave him a good meal Now we say that all pharisees even modern pharisees need to be born from above in order to enter into the kingdom of God Verse 1, there was a man of the Pharisees. Verse 2, he came and he said to Jesus, we know, we Pharisees know, Jesus, that you are a teacher come from God and that no man can do these miracles that you are doing, except God is with him. We Pharisees know that. I wonder whether we've seen this before, as we've all read this very popular chapter. Nicodemus is saying to Jesus, you know, we Pharisees know and acknowledge that you are a teacher that has come from God. True, some of them later said he'd come from the devil, but at this stage many of them were saying and many of them kept on saying that Jesus had come from God as a teacher, that there was colossal truth in everything that Jesus taught. But now notice why they drew that correct conclusion. Because, said Nicodemus, we know that nobody can do these miracles that you are doing unless God is with him. What miracles? Well, the miracle of changing the water into wine at the wedding. But more particularly, the Greek word here is not so much miracle as a sign. Nobody can do these signs that you are doing, Jesus. So this would refer to what we would today call non-miraculous signs too. Jesus' apostles were starting to baptize people. This was a sign that even the Jews needed cleansing from their sins. By what authority did Jesus and his apostles do this? By the authority of God. So we Pharisees who are resisting this baptism do know and we do recognize that you've come from God with this sign of baptism. And then the sign of taking up the lash in the temple of Jerusalem. And in driving out the money lenders, who would dare to do something like that? Unless he believed, and many others believed, that God really had sent him to do that. So Nicodemus the Pharisee is overwhelmed by the knowledge, together with most of the other Pharisees, that it really is God. who has sent Jesus into the world to teach, and that they need to listen. Further, at the end of verse 2, it proves that the Pharisees recognized that God was with Jesus. You know that they'd all been waiting for the Messiah. You know that when the Messiah came, he would be Immanuel, God with us. They almost recognized us already. They said, God is with Jesus, and we know that he must be a wonderful prophet. whose teachings are so sublime, the signs that he is giving, the claims that he is making, and even one or two supernatural miracles that had already been done, only a few had been performed by the Lord up to this point, most of them came later, and we know that Jesus is a quote, good man, unquote, therefore, he must be right in the sight of God. And if we Pharisees could just learn a little more of this goodness from Jesus that he has, no doubt we too could meet with God's approval. And Jesus comes straight back and he says to him, it is not that a man is a great teacher that is taking him to heaven. It is not that a man does mighty signs in the name of God that is taking him to heaven. It is not because a man has performed a few miracles that God is taking him to heaven. It is not even because you all recognize that God is with the Son of Man, but unless a person is born again, he cannot get into the kingdom of God. You Pharisees, said Jesus, you separatists need to be born from above and stop thinking in terms of how much can I do, how much do I see another person do How many of the Ten Commandments and the 613 and the 6000 other man-made commandments that God never revealed must a man keep before he's right in the sight of God? You have it all wrong, says Jesus, you Pharisees. A man needs to be born again. That's where it's at. Tell me my friend, have you been born again? Have you been born from above? If you die right now, where are you going? You think you're going to heaven? Well, that's wonderful. On what basis do you think God is going to admit you to heaven? Because you're a Presbyterian? Because you know the Bible backwards and forwards, and you believe the Westminster Catechism is an accurate expression of the Bible, and I believe it is, but that's not taking anybody to heaven. Because you're a good living person? Because you're a great preacher and a great orator? Because you're an elder or a deacon? Or a preacher? My friend, Unless you're born again, you're nothing better than a lost soul. In the second place, Jesus doesn't merely say it's necessary for the Pharisees to be born again. He says it's necessary for Nicodemus personally to be born again. Verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. His name was Nicodemus, which means conqueror or ruler of the people. It's translated for us in the end of verse 1, he was a ruler of the Jews. He was a grooming elder of the synagogue, to put it into today's language, to be a little more specific, dear Session, he was an elder of what we claim the Presbyterian Church has continued from. And Jesus is speaking to a ruling elder of whom we have a number in our congregation. And Jesus says to this ruling elder, unless you are born from above. You cannot, ruling elder though you be, possibly enter into the kingdom of heaven. He makes it specific to Nicodemus. Notice what Nicodemus calls Jesus. He says in verse 2, Rabbi. Now Rabbi, in the Hebrew language, means mindless, This was an unusual Pharisee. He didn't only regard Jesus as a teacher, but as my master. My master. And yet Jesus says to this ruling elder who calls Jesus my master, that's not enough. You need to be born again. You need to be born from above. He goes on to say, Rabbi, my master, oh beloved, I am fearful that in the day of judgment there will be not a few ruling elders and certainly not a few teaching elders or preachers who will come to Jesus and say, Rabbi, my master, Lord, Lord, my Lord, my Lord, have I not preached in your name? Have I not cast out devils in your name? Have I not sat in the session of the church for twenty, thirty, forty years? and who will hear the voice of Jesus, will echo into their ears and never forget these words and all the eternities and hell thereafter. Depart from me, ye accursed. into the fire which I have prepared for the devil and his wicked angels, for I have never known you. Why not? Because you've never really been born again, in spite of calling me my Lord, my Master. You know, I believe that some of you would think I'm horribly strict, if I wasn't reading from the Bible at this point, and so I'm so happy that I can stick so close to the text so that we can see this is not a preacher's extremism. These are the words coming from the mouth of the Son of God Himself. Let's move on. Not only do the Pharisees need to be born from above, not only does Nicodemus personally need to be born from above, but third, any and every human being needs to be born from above without exception. Verse 5, Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. A more accurate translation from the Greek could be rendered, unless a person is born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus is not here saying that it's only an adult male that needs to be born again to enter into God's kingdom. Most of us would agree that when Jesus says, even in the King James, except a man be born again, that that would include except a woman be born again too. But the Greek has the little word person, anybody. The only way that a baby can get to heaven, beloved, born in sin and conceived in iniquity, stained with the sin of Adam from its mother's womb, is by being born again by the Holy Ghost at some time before that infant dies. And so this is an absolute requirement that we may not water down. The only people that get to heaven are saved sinners. only sinners get to heaven, but second, only saved sinners get to heaven, and third, the only way a sinner, regardless of his age, gets to heaven is by the washing of the water and of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Oh beloved, this is a solemn word. The requirement to be regenerated, to be born again, the need is absolute, it knows of no exceptions. You see, Jesus, the only sinless person, whoever lived from the fetus stage through his death on the cross, he alone knew no sin. He alone didn't have to be regenerated. But all of the rest of us did. Unless a person is born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So let me ask you, have you been born again? You old folks, some of you in your eighties and your nineties, God bless you. Your wonderful wits have handed some of you in a short time and they're here. And you've been faithful members of this church. And you've loved this church, and you've loved the surroundings of the church, but let me ask you, if you die tonight, my old friend, where will you spend eternity? Are you going to heaven, or are you going to hell? Because there isn't any place in between. And unless you have been born again before you die, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven, says Dr. Lee. No, says Jesus Christ. And those of you who are very young, you children sitting here, my own children, let me ask you this. Have you been born again? Have you been born again? Do you know that the Holy Ghost has washed away your sins through the blood of Jesus? Are you sure? And if you're not sure, won't you make sure today, right now, as you're sitting on the pew. Don't let people tell you you're not old enough yet and you've got to reach this magical age of seven before God will hold you accountable for your sins, because that's not the principle of Scripture. There is an absolute necessity for everybody, regardless of age, to be born again. I hear some of you saying already, how can a person regenerate themselves if they're so young? But beloved, I'll tell you tonight, I never said a person regenerates themselves. I'm going to argue tonight, and I hope you'll be back, that the sovereign God regenerates us in spite of ourselves. But that's tonight's message. Let's not get into that now. At the moment. The requirement to be regenerated, to be born again, to get to heaven is absolute and knows of no exceptions at all. I don't quote the Westminster Confession much. Some of you don't like it. I wish you did if you read it. I think you would. But let me quote it once. infancy, comma, dying in infancy, comma, are to be regarded as being regenerated by the Holy Ghost before they die. Now remember, if you don't like that, complain to the Presbyterian General Assembly that adopted it. Don't gun me down to saying that I have promised to do that, and which I believe is biblical. Not only must we be born again to enter into God's kingdom, we need to be born again even to see what God's kingdom is all about. Verse 3, Jesus answered Nicodemus and said to him, verily, verily, which means it's the truth, be absolutely assured. Amen, amen in the Greek and the Hebrew, which means it stands immovable as a fact. I tell you, except a person is born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Christ goes further. He cannot see the kingdom of God. Some of you may be saying, now what is all of this rigmarole theology about that the preacher is talking about this morning? I don't even see the relevance of it. My friends, if you don't see the relevance of what I am saying, you need to be born again. Whether you are an animal, or a demon, or a creature, or a visitor, or what you are, or who you are. And if you have been born again, you will see the meaning of what I'm talking about. I can't see it. I can't understand it. Of course you can't. You're dead in your sins. You're blind in your darkness until the Holy Ghost opens your heart. You can't understand what Jesus is talking about here. So if you can't understand, my friend, you need to go to Christ and ask Him to open your eyes that you can see the Kingdom of God. To get your feet moving and your heart moving that you can enter into the Kingdom of God. And not to get mad at the Bible, or more probably at the preacher who is just telling you what the Bible says. That's what you need to do. In the third place, this is the seventh version of the Bible. You all need to be born from above. You all, without any exception. Notice what it says in verse 3. Except any person be born again, he cannot see. Verse 5. Except any person be born from above, he cannot enter. Verse 7. Marvel not, says Jesus, that I say unto you, you all. Do you see that word ye? That means what Southerners mean when they say y'all. Y'all come in. It doesn't mean leave one of you outside. You all must be born again. All of you Pharisees, all of you people, all of you members of the covenant of grace that haven't been born again yet. You all need to be born again. And last, we've run out of time. You need to be born again. Oh, there are so many Christians who read these verses as if it said, you must regenerate yourself. You must be born again. That means you've got to do something. You've got to come to Christ. You've got to regenerate yourself. They don't quite put it that way, but that's the flavor of what they mean. That's not what the Lord Jesus is saying. He's saying that you have an utter inability to be born again and to come to Christ. But you need to be regenerated. You need for God to come down from above. You need Him to grip into your life, to turn you upside down, to turn you to God so that you willingly come to Him, which you'll never do it yourself until you've been born again by the Holy Spirit. but that's a nice symbol. This body, the necessity of being born again to light the mechanics of how it comes about. I close. Have you been born again? Have you been born again? Have you been born from above? It's absolutely necessary that you must be born from above. Because unless you have been born from above, regardless of your age, your spiritual condition, whether you're an elder, a preacher or whatever, you cannot see, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. God have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to believe His Word. Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. It is likely that the sermon or book that you just listened to is also available on cassette or video, or as a printed book or booklet. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, Containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes and videos at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb.com, by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N, Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.