Unbelief Prohibits The New Birth

Jesus has told Nicodemus the Spirit of God must do a divine miracle in his life and regenerate him by the Word if he intends to make it into the kingdom of Heaven.

Nick did not understand or accept the new birth at this point, and his problem is just like man’s today: he did not believe.

Jesus begins to show how this new birth becomes a reality. Believing is how one appropriates the new birth.

The Problem Of Unbelief

John 3:11 Verily, verily I say unto you, we speak what we know and testify what we have seen; and you receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

When someone does not understand salvation, it is often because they will not understand. Nicodemus has been saying “I don’t get it.” Really, what he’s saying is “I don’t believe it.” He did not understand, because he did not believe.

Nicodemus represented some of the religious leaders; he said, “We know.” Then Jesus in this text said, “we” meaning his small number of followers, disciples, who believe another way, the right way, God’s way.

Jesus had said that those who are following Me know the truth of God, and because we know the revelation God Himself has given, we know what we’re talking about: but you will not receive it, and as a result, you don’t believe it.

It’s first a matter of believing, then you can understand. Both the heart and head are involved.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural man does not understand the things of God.

Jesus said, If you do not even get the part that goes on here on earth, how will you understand the part where I go back up into glory? How will you understand all that happened up there before I came here to make the new birth possible.

Correcting Unbelief

John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man who is in Heaven.

Every religious system in the world is man’s attempt to crawl out of his natural box of this world and find God.

Jesus responded to Nicodemus that the answer is not in religion, because no man can ascend into heaven, discover truth, come back to earth, and explain how it is.

With that statement of His divine origin, Jesus destroys all “the religious processes.” We either embrace what Jesus says about God Himself, or we have nothing, because God has spoken to us, by His Son. We either take what Jesus says or we will be fools, utterly lost, because we cannot ascend into heaven and find the answers for ourselves.

Jesus begins to explain the details of salvation.

New life comes out of death.

Old life has to die to bring new life.

An Old Testament Illustration For Nick

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

God’s people were complaining, and God responded. He sent a plague of deadly snakes Some repented and sought God, and He sent them a cure. The remedy required that they would have faith in what He said, enough to obey. If they wanted to be healed, they had to believe their sin was the problem, and that the serpent represented the healing power of God. It took belief and faith for them to look at the symbolic serpent and be healed.

The Repercussions Of Unbelief

John 3:18 He that believes in Him is not condemned; but He that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

People who do not believe in Jesus Christ are condemned. They don’t want to believe, and they love their sin more than they love the truth of His Word.

The purpose is not to encourage readers to think they ‘fall into a hopeless category bound up with their intrinsic nature,’ but to make them see the imminent danger of unbelief.

John stresses these points in the hope that his readers will seek God and believe in Him, be regenerated by God, and escape condemnation.

The Reward Of The Believer

John 3:16b …that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Jesus came into an already lost and condemned world. He came into a lost world to save some.

We can be saved if we believe we are sinners, that Jesus is God and His work of the cross was for us, and then in believing, we place our faith in Him.