John 3:1-15
April 11, 2021
preached by Pastor Chris Audino
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Why do born-again people so often make you wish they’d never been born the first time?”

~Katharine Whitehorn (1928-2021), British journalist

“Being born again cannot mean you need more morality and religion in your life. In fact, the way Jesus is saying this to Nicodemus, the new birth is a challenge to morality and religion. He’s saying you’ve got all the morality and religion in the world, Nicodemus, and you need to be born again!”

~Tim Keller (1950-present), American pastor, writer, and theologian

“There are two kinds of beauty; there is a beauty which God gives at birth, and which withers as a flower. And there is a beauty which God grants when by His grace men are born again. That kind of beauty never vanishes but blooms eternally.”

~Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920), Prime Minister of the Netherlands

“Put right out of your head the idea that [being born again is only a] fancy way of saying that Christians are to read what Christ said and try to carry it out — as a man may read what Plato or Marx said and try to carry it out. [It] means something much more than that. [It] means that a real Person, Christ, here and now, in that very room where you are saying your prayers, is doing things to you. It is not a question of a good man who died two thousand years ago. It is a living Man, still as much a man as you, and still as much God as He was when He created the world, really coming and interfering with your very self.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), British writer and theologian

“The kingdom of heaven is for the heirs – and if children, then heirs; if born again, then heirs. Wherefore it is said expressly, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. By this one word, down goes all carnal privilege of being born of flesh and blood, and of the will of man. Canst thou produce the birthright?”

~John Bunyan (1628-1688), English writer and preacher

“As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.”

~Ecclesiastes 11:5 (ESV)

Sermon Passage

John 3:1-15 (ESV)

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You  must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him,“How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him,“Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.