Mission Impossible – November 11

Read John 3:4-8 (ESV)

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?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 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 marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 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.”

Reflect

Is spiritual rebirth something we can accomplish on our own?

I am a goal-oriented person. I like to set goals, make a plan to achieve them, and then work hard putting the plan into action. This has paid off in so many areas of my life. But I know that when it comes to my salvation, there isn’t anything I can do to achieve it. Why? Because salvation isn’t a work of man, it is a work of the Spirit.

In today’s passage when Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God, it kind of blew Nicodemus’ mind. Nicodemus was no dummy. He was a well-educated religious teacher. And yet, he didn’t get it. How in the world was someone supposed to be born again? Grown adults aren’t born, babies are born. And if re-entry to your mother’s womb is required for rebirth, Nicodemus knew that being physically born again was an impossibility.

But Jesus wasn’t talking about a physical rebirth. He clarified that He was talking about being “born of water and the Spirit.” Listen to what God said through the Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel and pay close attention to who is responsible for doing the work of spiritual cleansing and rebirth:

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). God repeatedly said, “I will….” He claimed responsibility for our spiritual cleansing and rebirth.

Jesus told Nicodemus that we must be born again in order to enter the kingdom of God, but this isn’t something that we can accomplish on our own.  We can’t set heaven as our goal and write up an action plan for achieving it. It would be an impossible mission doomed to failure from the start.

Thankfully, what is impossible for man is possible with God (Luke 18:27). Spiritual cleansing, spiritual rebirth, and eternal salvation is a work of the Holy Spirit. We can’t dream it and achieve it because salvation is not accomplished by human effort. For a Pharisee like Nicodemus who prided himself on his religious effort and legalistic lifestyle, this probably came as somewhat of a shock. He couldn’t work his way to heaven?

Jesus went on to say that His Spirit is like the wind. Humans can’t control it. The wind comes and goes as it will. We can’t see the wind but we can see the wind working. We can see windmills turn, trees sway, dandelion fluff floating away, and flags rippling in the breeze. We can also see its raw power in a storm as shingles are ripped off roofs and trees are uprooted.

John MacArthur put it this way in his commentary on the book of John: “His sovereign work of regeneration in the human heart can neither be controlled nor predicted. Yet its effects can be seen in the transformed lives of those who are born of the Spirit.”

If you are trying to accomplish your salvation on your own, you are on an impossible mission. Abort the mission and seek the Lord instead. Ask Him for mercy. Ask Him to give you a new heart and transform your life. Tell Him that you want to be reborn and rely on the Holy Spirit to do for you what you could never do for yourself.

Respond

Lord, I want to be born of Your Spirit and washed clean of my sins but I know that I can’t do that for myself. Please do a work in me, Lord! Renew my heart and make me more like You. I know that only You can save me! Amen.

Reveal

Team up with a friend today. Share how the Spirit has reborn you, listen to their story, and commit to inviting someone to hear how God can change their life this week.