How difficult is it to be saved?  How complicated is it to be forgiven of sins?  How simple is it to go to heaven? What does it really take to have eternal life? These are important questions for everyone. Jesus in the passage below explains all this in only a few minutes to a Jewish ruler named Nicodemus.  You see its not the instructions of salvation that are complex but the concepts that are so astounding some people will never find what Nicodemus came searching for that night .

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:  The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto 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. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?  And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:1-18)

Nicodemus comes seeking

Dialogue with the Son of God

The Crowd seeks Jesus after the loaves and fishes. John 6:26

 What are you seeking? 

Nicodemus had to understanding the Second Birth.

Nicodemus thinks Jesus is talking about two physical births. “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 explains there must be two births, one of water (physical) and one of the Spirit (spiritual). Jesus tells him, the new birth is through the power of the Holy Spirit.  The desert night air may have been blowing outside and Jesus uses this as an illustration of the new birth. Like the wind he tells Nicodemus, the Holy Spirit can be felt and experienced but not fully comprehended.  “The wind blows where it wills and you hear it but can’t tell where it’s going or where it’s been.”

This is also what Jesus would have me to understand. I must realize there are two parts of man, physical and spiritual, corporeal and incorporeal.  Just as I was born into this physical world, I must also be born into the spiritual world. This new birth is accomplished only through the power of the Holy Spirit.

How then can you be born again?

Will I believe? 

Jesus himself speaks to us through the Bible, as real as if he were sitting across the room from you.  This is what he says, "You must believe in me." I must believe that Jesus was lifted up on the cross and I must believe it was for me. I must believe that I am as dead in my sin just like those in Moses time were dead from the bite of the serpent.  Their death sentence took place in moments mine may take years but it is still a sentence of death for turning from God.

You see you’re not just listening to me you’re listening to Jesus Christ.  The words you read would be the words he would tell you if you were in that room instead of Nicodemus.   So, will you reject, Jesus?  Will you walk away knowing he was beaten, tortured and nailed to a cross for you? Will you close you ears and not hear the love and compassion in his voice.  Will you close your eyes and not see the stripes on his back, the scars in his brow and the nail prints in his hands? Will you close your heart and not feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit as he tells you this is the Son of God.

Only Son on the Tracks

Let me illustrate what I mean with a story. It was in 1937, Dennis Hensley tells us, when this true story took place. For the first time, John Griffith brought his 8-year-old son, Greg Griffith, to work with him to see what Daddy did all day. The little boy was wide-eyed with excitement, and he clapped his hands with glee when the huge bridge went up at the beck and call of his mighty father. He watched with wonderment as the huge boats steamed down the Mississippi.

   Twelve o'clock came, and his father put up the bridge. There were no trains due for a good while, and they went out a couple of hundred feet on a catwalk out over the river to an observation deck. They sat down, opened their brown bag, and began to eat their lunch. His father told him about some of the strange, faraway lands that some of these ships were going to visit. This entranced the boy.

   The time whirled by, and suddenly they were drawn instantly back to reality by the shrieking of a distant train whistle. John Griffith quickly looked at his watch. He saw that it was time for the 1:07, the Memphis Express, with 400 passengers, which would be rushing across that bridge in just a couple of minutes. He knew he had just enough time, so without panic but with alacrity he told his son to stay where he was.

   He leaped to his feet, jumped to the catwalk, ran back, climbed the ladder to the control room, went in, put his hand on the huge lever that controlled the bridge, looked up the river and down to see if any boats were coming, as was his custom, and then looked down to see if there were any beneath the bridge. And suddenly he saw a sight that froze his blood and caused his heart to leap into his throat. His boy! His boy had tried to follow him to the control room and had fallen into the great, huge gear box that had the monstrous gears that operated this massive bridge. His left leg was caught between the two main gears, and the father knew that as sure as the sun came up in the morning, if he pushed that lever his son would be ground in the midst of eight tons of whining, grinding steel.

   His eyes filled with tears of panic. His mind whirled. What could he do? He saw a rope there in the control room. He could rush down the ladder and out the catwalk, tie off the rope, lower himself down, extricate his son, climb back up the rope, run back into the control room, and lower the bridge. No sooner had his mind done that exercise than he knew--he knew there wasn't time. He'd never make it, and there were 400 people on that train.

   Suddenly he heard the whistle again, this time startlingly closer. And he could hear the clicking of the locomotive wheels on the track, and he could hear the rapid puffing of the train. What could he do? What could he do! There were 400 people, but this was ... this was his son, this was his only son. He was a father! He knew what he had to do, so he buried his head in his arm and he pushed the gear forward.

   The great bridge slowly lowered into place just as the express train roared across. He lifted up his tear-smeared face and looked straight into the flashing windows of that train as they flashed by one after another. He saw men reading the afternoon paper, a conductor in uniform looking at a large vest-pocket watch, ladies sipping tea out of teacups, and little children pushing long spoons into plates of ice cream. Nobody looked in the control room. Nobody looked at his tears. Nobody, nobody looked down to the great gear box.

   In heart-wrenching agony, he beat against the window of the control room, and he said, "What's wrong with you people? Don't you care? I sacrificed my son for you. Don't any of you care?" Nobody looked. Nobody heard. Nobody heeded. And the train disappeared across the river. - D. James Kennedy, "Message from an Empty Tomb," Preaching Today, Tape No. 66.

If you refuse to cast yourself at the feet of Christ, if you aren’t willing to be born again, if you won’t believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, you’ll die and spend eternity in a burning hell.  But you won’t go there because you were a sinner, or because God is cruel, you’ll go there because you didn’t believe, because you rejected the salvation offered to you by God through the life of his only son Jesus Christ.

The new birth is not an option in salvation, it is salvation. 

Unless you have experienced the new birth, you are not saved, you cannot be saved until you understand Jesus being lifted up for all men. The Holy Spirit through God’s word brings you to a place in your life where you realize that before God you are a sinner.  He shows you that Jesus the Son of God came to earth and lived a life without sin so that he might pay the price for sin on the cross.  Finally you must accept Jesus as your Savior and Lord, the only way of salvation, the new birth.

I wonder can you feel the wind of the Holy Spirit in your heart as you read this?  Could it be that you also are tired of seeking for the fulfillment you just can’t seem to find? Perhaps the Spririt blowing where it will has brought you here just now. Why not respond to the urging of the Spirit in your heart today.  Why not find the peace and joy that knowing Jesus will bring? Call upon Him and trust Him to save you. It really is that simple. "Whoseover believes in him shall never persish but have eternal life."