Gospel of John Chapter 3

“Born Again: The Midnight Encounter That Changed Everything”

In this electrifying episode, we step into the shadows of ancient Jerusalem for one of the most dramatic late‑night conversations in all of Scripture. A respected Pharisee named Nicodemus slips through the darkness to meet Jesus in secret—but what he hears will shake him to his core.

Jesus doesn’t offer small talk. He drops a spiritual bombshell: “You must be born again.”  
What follows is a mind‑bending, heart‑piercing dialogue about rebirth, the Spirit, and the very heart of God’s rescue mission for humanity.

Transcript

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Hello and uh welcome to the third episode of the Gospel of John, chapter three. Uh I'm Dale, this is Dale's podcast, Love Thy Neighbour Ministries. So we're going to uh we're going to read through up to verse uh chapter three, verse twenty one. We're going to read up to twenty-one and then we're going to go back and and dissect it. Um as you find in chapter three, it's a little bit more cryptic and what Jesus says, so it'd be good to unpack that and go through it. But before we do that, I'd just like to give a big thank you to everyone that has um tuned in and listened to this podcast. Um there's people all over the world in America, North Macedonia, Germany, um, and all around the UK. And I didn't know it would uh be as big as it is, to be honest. I thought I'd be talking just to a uh a select few um people and and just to help a few people while they do you know in their journey while they discovered um you know the Bible and going through the Bible. So I just want to just want to say thank you so much for for everyone listening. Obviously, this is just the third episode and took me by surprise to people all over the world. Um so I just want to say thank you and God bless you all and um I hope this week has is been a good week for you all. I hope you know your your journey with Christ is is a fulfilling one because that that's what it's all about. Um and as we go into the new birth in in chapter three, um like I said there's there's a few cryptic stuff in there, but we shall get into it. So chapter three, the new birth Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and 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. Do not be amazed that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said to him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony? If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is a judgment that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he were but he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. So let us unpack what we've just read. Here we have a man called Nicodemus, and he is the teacher of Israel, and he's come to seek out Jesus Christ. Jesus, you know, he's he's caused such a stir and made such a name for himself straight after the the the miracle at Cana. Um obviously he has turned money changers up in in in chapter two as well. Money changes uh turning the tables and the money change uh changes. Um you know, stop making my father's house a place of business. So Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Um, why did he come to Jesus by night? That's very interesting. Maybe he didn't want to get seen. Maybe Jesus has caused such a stir with these miracles, with what he what he represents and who he is. You know, Nicodemus is is interested, he's he's he's putting interest in this man, and he says, you know, Rabbi, Rabbi is Hebrew for teacher. Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. They're right there. Nicodemus is almost well, he has, he's he's saying, Nobody can do these signs, nobody can do this unless they are from God. Nicodemus, right there, the the teacher of Israel is understanding. Well, I don't think he understands completely, but he understands that Jesus Christ is a man from God, and Jesus answered him and said, and and it and it comes out of left field, you know, he doesn't acknowledge what really what what Nicodemus has said to Jesus, it gives him an answer, maybe, that Nicodemus had on his heart. He said, Truly, truly, now, when Jesus says truly, truly, that's like a statement of this is the ultimate truth. That I'm not swindling, this is truly, truly, it's a it's a I've I got told years ago it's actually an Israeli thing where they say truly truth, they repeat it saying it's the ultimate truth. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus, you know, he didn't say where did that come from, what you're talking about, he just said, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he? I don't think Nicodemus understood exactly what Jesus is saying here. Jesus is not speaking the physical, he's speaking the spiritual. Now, when we become followers of Jesus Christ, the old man is put to death and the new man is raised through Jesus Christ, and we get given a spirit, not a spirit of man, but a spirit of God that dwells with us. Uh, spoiler alert, the spirit of God is a helper that is left behind for us, and all those that believe in Jesus Christ, we have that helper to discern, to be taught, um, to teach us how to be righteous, you know, through his word, obviously, and and and that's the spirit of God that we have. So Nicodemus said to him, Um, you know, how can a man be born when he is old, he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? Can he? Jesus answered, Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and 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. Do not be amazed that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the spirit, and just like that, is that not the Christian walk right there? When you put your total faith in God that you can get up and walk, literally, you can get up and walk, and you just listen to God. Uh there's been times in my life, and obviously, this is probably sharing a little bit, but uh I'm not you know um a new age spiritualist or anything, but I remember praying to God, and I heard it when you talk to God, it it you can hear audible sometimes, and you know, I've heard I've heard him say my name of like uh probably about two or three times in in my my Christian walk. Um, but I remember meditating. I I lived in a place called Sileby uh many years ago. I was in in a flat there, and I remember meditating. Um, I had like a room to myself, I used to call it the prayer room um or war room. If you ever see that film, I'd recommend it, The War Room, it's absolutely fantastic. And I'd a desk there and I'd I'd write down every every prayer that I made, and I'd have my two Bibles, and and I'll just just meditate into God and ask, Lord, what do you want me to do today? You know, where where do you want me to go? And it's like uh he gave me a vision. He didn't talk to me, but it was like uh an image in my mind, it was uh he speaks to his soul, and it was going speak to the man on the bench. Oh man on the bench, you know. So I went for a walk, I walked past the church, I went sort of out of Silby. Um those that are listening that that that know Leicestershire probably know where I'm where I'm going. And I walked to a bench, and there was an old man on the bench, and I sat beside him, and I think the first words I said to him was, God bless you, sir, and he just looked at me and he said, God bless you, young man. And I says, Are you a Christian man? He says, Oh, I'm thinking about it, and that's where he was in life, and God sent me to send him the pure message of Jesus Christ, the gospel, and I had a lovely about hour and a half with that man. Um, had a prayer with him before I left. So the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Again, Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, you know, he knows the law of God inside out. You he would recite it to his followers, he would have people beneath him, Pharisees beneath him, who he would not command, but you know, would would tutor, would teach, you know, is a teacher of Israel, after all. And Jesus says, you know, how is it? Are you, you know, he asked him in the next verse, are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Wow, what a blow! What a blow to a man's ego, really. You know, that this Nicodemus is speaking in fleshly terms, he's not speaking in the spiritual, and Jesus right here is speaking in the spiritual, and and he asked him, Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? And you know, as we go through the rest of this chapter, you don't really hear from Nicodemus, he doesn't really have anything to say. He says, Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. Now, is Jesus speaking about you know our is he speaking about himself and those that follow him, or bearing in mind in the Gospel of John chapter one, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God, and the word was God, he was there in the beginning with God, verse 14 made flesh and dwelt among us. Is Jesus speaking as the word of God that you can find all the way through the old testimony? And you know, he's he's saying, Um, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. Wow, what a shame. Nicodemus, right there, could have changed his life. He he really could have changed his life. Um, no one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. Right there, Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 12, um Proverbs 30, verse 4. You know, write that down, have a little study into that, and it's basically just repeating what he's just saying there. So Jesus is the word of God, so he's speaking to Nicodemus from the Old Testament. So Nicodemus will understand what Jesus is saying. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, this is amazing. This is as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Please turn with me just quickly to Numbers chapter 21, verse 9. So I'll just give you a moment to turn to there, and those of you that don't know where Numbers is, um, start the book, start the Bible, you got Genesis, Leviticus, and then you've got Numbers, and we're going into chapter 21, um specifically looking at verse 9, but I'm going to read from verse 6. So I mean you can just pause this bit, find your place, have a little read. But in verse 6 it said, The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned because we have spoken against the Lord, and you intercede with the Lord, that he may remove the serpents from us, and Moses interceded for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard, and it shall come about that everyone who is bitten when he looks at it, he will live. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard, and it came about that if a serpent bit any man when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Now I've I've read that out of context. Obviously we've jumped into Numbers chapter twenty one, and we don't know what's going on before that, and I've just literally read a verse that that Jesus has quoted. But let me just try and let me just try and uh explain it so you'll be able to understand. In this short verse is here from verse six to verse nine, it explains it that the Lord has put a judgment on Israel because Israel has spoken against the Lord, but God has redeemed Israel. He keep you will find in the Old Testament actually, he keeps redeeming Israel. Okay, this is what he does. Israel goes against God, God welcomes him back with open arms. He is the God of love, my word is he the God of love. Does he not show patience not just to Israel but to everybody around the world? Hallelujah. But here, because people were dying and Moses interceded and the Lord gave him a specific command, make a fiery serpent, set it upon a standard. And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard, just as God told him to do, and it came about that if a serpent bit any man when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived. Now obviously the serpent physically harmed the Israelites, and the Israelites would die until they looked upon this standard, this bronze serpent on this standard, and they lived. And I tell you the truth today, that those that come to Jesus Christ and look upon him will never die but have eternal life. And this I believe is the message that Jesus Christ was trying to tell Nicodemus. Verse 14 and John. We're going back to John now. I hope you page marked it because I'm going straight into it. Just pause it, find the gospel of John, verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Hallelujah. For all those that believe will have eternal life. Verse 15, so that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Those in the old testament that got bitten by the serpent, and there's a double-edged sword right there, brothers and sisters, we get you know we're we're we're in a world, a fallen world at the moment, and Satan goes round like a roaring lion. The serpent goes round, does that make sense? Wow, the serpent goes round like a roaring lion, and his mission is to devour every single one of us. But Satan has no power over us when we look to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, again, I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna spoil it for you all. Jesus died, died for us and covered our sins, that we are blameless before God on the day of judgment. Hallelujah. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life, for God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged, he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. Let's just focus so focus on on verse nineteen there. This is a judgment that the light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. I'll tell you the truth. When I first came to um reading the Bible, how scary is it? You think all your evil deeds will be shown before men, you will be found out, but God has already found you out. God knows all your inner darkest secrets, He knows your inner darkest things that you have ever done in your life, and have we not all done nasty, disgusting things? Hallelujah, that God's grace is far greater than anything I've ever done on this planet. Hallelujah, that God is here right now pulling his arms out to all you that are listening, all you brothers and sisters around the world globally are listening. You have a redemption in Jesus Christ. All your sins have been forgiven, the price has been paid in full. That on the day of our judgment, brothers and sisters, on the day of our judgment, are we not forgiven through what Jesus Christ has done? You know, though we will say, Lord, we've done I've done terrible things. The Lord has forgiven us. God, our Creator, has forgiven us because since the fall of man, when Adam and Eve was kicked out of the Garden of Eden, God has always wanted to reconcile with mankind. He is who he is. I am who I am, saith the Lord. Verse twenty for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practises the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, for your mercy and grace upon our lives. Let us carry on, brothers and sisters. Uh John's last testimony. After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he was spending time with them and baptizing. also was baptizing in Aedon near Salem or Salim, because there was much water there, and people were coming and were being baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John's disciples with the Jew about purification, and they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified, behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. John answered and said A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase but I must decrease he who comes from above is above all. He who is of earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth he who comes from heaven is above all. What he has seen and heard of that he testifies, and no one receives his testimony. He who has received his testimony has set his seal to this that God is true, for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life but he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides in him. So here we've got John the Baptist and famous he says I must decrease so he increases in in in our lives but we'll get to verse thirty in just a moment so here John the Baptist Baptist is he's baptizing people there was many water then here comes a discussion therefore there arose a discussion verse 25 on the part of John's disciples with a Jew about purification and they came to John and said to him Rabbi he who was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified behold he is baptizing and all are coming to him and John I mean this must have been you know John's John's followers you know pretty faithful they probably don't understand what's going on they see like a a bit of a good number you know John's come out of the wilder the one that you know paved the way for Christ and his followers are like you know that that bloke that came along who you've testified about you know he's baptising people now John they are the feeling do they truly understand what is going on here but as we read on John truly does put him in the place as a man of God he is um or was John answered and said a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven um wow put that into perspective thank God thank God for everything that we've got everything on a daily basis I once heard many years ago if you woke up tomorrow with the things that you thanked God for the night before what would you have? Let that sink in you yourselves are my witnesses that I said I am not the Christ but I have been sent ahead of him he who has the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice so this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase but I must decrease he who comes from above is above all he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all what he has seen and heard of that he testifies and no one receives his testimony he who has received his testimony has set his seal to this that God is true. Again when we look in Revelation God gives his followers a seal we are sealed brothers and sisters in our Lord in Jesus Christ we are sealed in the day of judgment we are sealed to the day we die that we belong to him and I'll tell you the truth we must decrease so he can increase in our lives wow hallelujah for he verse thirty four for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God for he gives the spirit without measure the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand he who believes in the Son has eternal life but he who does not obey the Son will see life but the wrath of God abides on him hallelujah I mean just let that sink in he who believes in the Son has eternal life but he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides in him speaking about that great and um great and fearful day um when God when Jesus returns and the judgment of man will be the wrath of God um but yeah uh let us pray before we end this session um heavenly father we give thanks to you Lord for your word thank you so much for the ears that are listening to this podcast thank you that you are here with us Lord Father God may we decrease that you can increase in our lives show us the way that we need to walk Lord and let us obey you the best we can Father God those that are listening that are not yet Christians may you touch their hearts Lord may you put your right hand on their shoulder make them feel make them feel you Lord may your spirit rest upon them and they will confess that you are God Father God reveal yourself to these blessed people these children of yours may you show grace and mercy upon their lives protect them and their household and their families Lord we pray in Jesus' name amen brothers and sisters this has been a uh a wonderful pleasure to speak with you this evening um I thank you so much for your support thank you so much for tuning in and you know do like and subscribe and all that sort of stuff I got told and I I have to say that on podcast that may it be the last time I say that but yeah please uh have a wonderful evening have a wonderful week mate God be with you always um in Jesus' name amen