Search
John 3:3-8 is a record concerning regeneration: “Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, 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 marvel that I said to you, You must be born anew. The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
We must pay special attention to verses 3, 5, and 6. Verse 3 says, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Then verse 5 says, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Verse 5 is an explanation of what was said in verse 3. Verse 3 mentions being born anew, and verse 5 explains what is involved in being born anew. To be born anew, to be regenerated, is to be born of water and the Spirit. When one is born of water and the Spirit, he is regenerated, born again.
The second half of verse 3 says, “He cannot see the kingdom of God,” and verse 5 explains that “seeing” is “entering.” To see the kingdom of God is to enter into the kingdom of God. In spiritual matters, seeing is equivalent to entering. As soon as you see a certain spiritual matter, you enter into that matter. To look at it from another perspective, only those who have entered can see. Hence, to see the kingdom of God is to enter into the kingdom of God, and to enter into the kingdom of God is to see the kingdom of God.
Verse 5 explains what is said in verse 3, and verse 6 is a conclusion and summary: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” These three verses are very precious. Every believer must be able to memorize at least these three verses. Even to this day, I can still remember what I memorized before I was twenty-nine years old. While you are still young, learn to memorize the Scriptures. The younger you are, the easier it is for you to memorize. You do not have to memorize the Scriptures chapter by chapter; however, you must memorize the important and precious verses. All the verses in these messages are very important. You should memorize all of them. If you are willing to take the time and make the effort to memorize them, they will make an eternal impression within you and will become a fountain in you to gush out a rich, inexhaustible supply for the rest of your life.
Now we will see what regeneration is. Regeneration means to be born again, that is, to obtain the life of God in addition to man’s life. Even if man did not fall, he would still need God’s life in addition to his own life. This means that a person must have two lives: his own human life and God’s life. One life is a created life, and the other is an uncreated life. One life is bound by time, and the other life occupies eternity; it is a life that transcends time and space.
Man not only needs to be saved; he also needs a second life. Today Christianity presents the gospel at a low level. Christianity gives people the impression that they need salvation because they are sinful and destined to perish. Actually, we need God’s salvation because we need God to be our life. It is not enough for us to have only our human life; we need God’s life. It is not enough for us to be born once; we need to be born a second time. This second birth is regeneration.
According to the record in John 3, initially, Nicodemus thought that to be born again was to enter into his mother’s womb and be born a second time. However, he could not understand how he could enter into his mother’s womb and be born again. Hence, the Lord Jesus added an explanation. He told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (v. 5). To be born again does not mean that a person is born from his mother’s womb a second time; rather, it means that a person is born of water and the Spirit.
What do water and the Spirit refer to? When I was young, I read many books concerning this matter, and there are many views. Most of the books said that water denotes the Word and that to be born of water and the Spirit means to be born of the Word and the Spirit. Others said that water denotes something else. We need to carefully consider what it means to be born of water and the Spirit.
We must first understand that the words of the Lord Jesus were spoken to Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee. The Lord spoke to Nicodemus in plain words, not in symbols. When Nicodemus heard the Lord’s words, he understood what they meant. He did not bother to ask the Lord Jesus about the meaning of the word water. This shows that the Lord spoke to Nicodemus in plain words, not in symbols. Water refers to water, and the Spirit refers to the Holy Spirit. Nicodemus understood this.
What do water and the Spirit denote? In John 1:33, John the Baptist said, “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” This verse speaks of baptizing in water and also of baptizing in the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3:7 says, “When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them...” In this portion John the Baptist was speaking to the Pharisees. In verse 11 he said, “I baptize you in water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is stronger than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He Himself will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.” John the Baptist told the Pharisees that he baptized them in water unto repentance but that He who was coming after him would baptize them in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist’s words concerning water and the Holy Spirit were spoken to the Pharisees. Thus, these terms were familiar to the Pharisees.
John the Baptist said that he baptized people in water unto repentance but that another One was coming who would baptize people in the Holy Spirit unto life. The Pharisees heard these words and understood them. Then, not too long afterward, one of the Pharisees, whose name was Nicodemus, went to see the Lord Jesus and confessed that the Lord Jesus had come from God as a teacher (John 3:2). The Lord Jesus immediately responded, “Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (v. 3). The Lord was telling Nicodemus that he needed to be born again.
However, Nicodemus thought that to be born again was to enter into his mother’s womb and be born a second time. The Lord Jesus told him that this was not the case; rather, He was referring to the baptism of water and the Spirit spoken of by John the Baptist. When Nicodemus heard this word, he immediately understood. John the Baptist had said that he baptized people in water unto repentance but that there was another One who would baptize people in the Holy Spirit unto life. This is what it means to be born of water and the Spirit. Water refers to the baptism of John the Baptist, and the Spirit refers to the baptism of the Lord Jesus.
In the New Testament age God first sent John the Baptist to preach the baptism of repentance. A person who received John’s preaching would be completely immersed into water; he would be buried in water. What does this mean? When John came preaching the word of repentance, he was saying that all had sinned against God and were corrupt, even incorrigibly corrupt. Hence, they were good for nothing but burial. John told the people who came to listen to his preaching that they were sinful, utterly wicked, and that they were worthy only of death. They were worthy of being terminated and buried.
John the Baptist baptized, buried, people. The baptism of repentance was the center of John’s ministry. John told people that his baptizing them in water could only put them into death, bury them, and terminate them. If the Lord Jesus had not come, these people would merely have been terminated. They would not have been born of water; instead, they would have merely gone into water to die. However, not only did John come, but also the Lord Jesus came, and He was greater than John. John could not cause people to have life; he was sent by the Lord merely to put people into death, to bury them and terminate them. John could not give life to people or enliven them. However, the Lord Jesus came to baptize people in the Holy Spirit. To baptize people in the Holy Spirit means that the Triune God wants to enter into people and enliven them so that they may have life and the regenerating Spirit.
In order to be born of water and the Spirit a person needs to confess before God that he opposes and rebels against God. He should turn to God and acknowledge that his inner being is so corrupt and his heart is so wicked that the only remedy is for him to die, to be buried, and to be terminated. A person needs to acknowledge this fact and say, “O God, not only is my conduct corrupt, for which I need Your forgiveness and the washing of Your precious blood, but also my nature is so corrupt that I am worthy only of being put to death and buried.” The day that I was saved, I did not hear about sin. I heard only about the world’s usurpation of man. I was saved, and I did not want the world anymore. Later, when I prayed, the Holy Spirit enlightened me, causing me to see my sins. I remember the experience very clearly. On that day I confessed my sins for at least one or two hours. It seemed that I could not finish confessing them; after I confessed one sin, I became aware of two more, and after I confessed those two, I became aware of more sins. The more I confessed, the more sins I became aware of, until I realized that I am utterly corrupt. I will never forget that experience. I told myself that there was no one in this world who was as rotten as I am. I wished that the ground would open up and swallow me. This kind of repenting and confessing is John’s water baptism. This is being born of water.
Why should we be baptized as soon as we believe in the Lord? Is baptism a ritual for joining a religion? Sometimes when I ask a person whether he has believed in the Lord, he says that he has believed but that he has not yet been baptized. Baptism is not a ritual for joining a religion. Baptism is to bury us because we are wicked. God in His ordination has already terminated fallen and corrupt man. When the Lord Jesus was put to death on the cross, we were crucified there with Him (Rom. 6:6). We are identified with Christ by faith; hence, His death was our death. We have died in Him. Since we have died, we should be buried. This is what baptism accomplishes. The Lord terminated us on the cross. We died in Christ and were buried together with Him (vv. 3-4).
Hence, on the negative side, we first confess our sins when we believe in the Lord. We confess that we are corrupt to the core and that we are worthy only of death and burial, that is, that we are worthy of being put to death and terminated. Then the Holy Spirit will open our eyes to see that when the Lord Jesus was crucified, He terminated us. We need to be terminated because we have Satan’s poison, Satan’s element, within us. When the Lord was on the cross, He was in the flesh. He bore every sinner when He was crucified. Therefore, we were crucified together with Him. Through the cross of Christ God terminated us, crucified us. When we believed into the Lord and acknowledged this fact, we were buried and terminated. This is to be born of water.
What does it mean to be born of the Holy Spirit? When a person believes in the Lord and confesses his sins, the Holy Spirit enters into him to enliven his human spirit. His spirit is immediately enlivened. First there is death, and then there is life. We pass from death into life. This is the way that we obtain a second life. This is the way God’s life enters into us.
The life that we receive is resurrection life, which is able to raise us from death. When we are baptized, we do not remain in water to be buried there and never rise again. We must realize that there is not only the ministry of John the Baptist but also the ministry of the Lord Jesus. John’s ministry is a ministry of condemnation and death, but the ministry of the Lord Jesus is an enlivening ministry. It is a ministry unto life. The Lord causes people to have life. When the life of God enters into people, they are made alive. When a person is baptized, on the one hand, he is baptized in water, which is a burial; on the other hand, he is raised up out of the water, which is resurrection. The old creation is buried, and the new creation is resurrected. What is in Adam is buried, and what is in Christ is resurrected. Through this process of death and resurrection we are born again, and we obtain a second life — the life of God.
Without going through this process of death and resurrection, we can have only the human life, not God’s life. It is through believing and repenting that we receive this spiritual fact, and it is through our going into death that we can come out of death and have God’s life in us, thereby having a second birth and a second life. This is to be born of water and the Spirit. This is regeneration. This is death and resurrection. Water is for death, and the Spirit is for resurrection. Being born of water means that we enter into water and are baptized in water. Being born of the Spirit means that we are resurrected in the Holy Spirit. This is death and resurrection. We receive life through death, and this is also to be born of water and the Spirit. This is regeneration.
Once we are regenerated, we have two lives: God’s life is added to our human life. We are in God’s kingdom, and we know the things of God’s kingdom. The word kingdom does not refer merely to a sphere of authority, but even more it refers to a realm. For instance, there is an animal world and a plant world. Animals know the things in the animal world and do not know the things in the plant world. Likewise, plants know the things in the plant world and do not know the things in the animal world. Birds occupy one section of the animal world, and they know the things in that section. Birds do not know the things in the dog section, the cat section, or the cattle section. Similarly, mankind also has its own world. The human world is the human kingdom. Man has the human life and therefore knows the things in the human kingdom. Likewise, God is also a “world.” If man wants to understand the things in God’s realm and be able to submit to the authority in God’s kingdom, man must have God’s life. When we have God’s life, we are in God’s world. Spontaneously, we know the things in God’s world, and we can see the things in God’s world. This is the result of regeneration.
Through regeneration we have God’s life, are in God’s world, know the things in God’s world, and can submit to the authority of God’s kingdom. The life that we obtain through regeneration is not a life of the flesh; it is a spiritual life. Hence, in John 3:6 the Lord said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Nicodemus thought that to be born again was to be born from his mother’s womb a second time, but the Lord Jesus said that not only was Nicodemus unable to be born again from his mother’s womb but also that even if he were able to enter into his mother’s womb and be born again, he would still be born of the flesh and would still be flesh. Since he was born of the flesh, he had only the natural life; that is, he had man’s original life, which is now a corrupt life. No matter how many times one could be born of the flesh, his life would still be a corrupt life. This is not regeneration. To be regenerated is to be born not of the flesh but of the Spirit.
Man has a body and a spirit deep within him, and between the body and the spirit is the soul. We often confuse the spirit with the soul, but our spirit is different from our soul. Regeneration means that we are born of the Spirit; we are born not in the flesh nor in the soul but in the spirit, which is the deepest part of our being. God is Spirit, and the words that He speaks to us are also spirit (6:63). Since God is Spirit, those who worship Him must worship in spirit (4:24). If we want to contact God, we must be in our spirit. We cannot touch God with our hands nor see God with our eyes nor smell God with our nose. We cannot use any of the sense organs in our physical body to contact God.
Which organ do you use to differentiate the color white from green? If you close your eyes and use your ears, which are for hearing, you will not be able to tell whether a color is white or green. If you close your eyes, you cannot use your ears to hear a color or differentiate any colors. Nevertheless, you cannot say that there are no colors. It is not that there are no colors but that you are using the wrong organ and hence cannot discern colors. You know when someone is speaking, because you have ears, and you use your ears to hear. You use your eyes to see, but are you able to see sounds? Although there are sounds, they cannot be seen with your eyes; they can be heard only with your ears. If you use the wrong organ, your ability to touch or sense will be annulled.
God is Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit. We cannot worship God with our ears, eyes, nose, or hands. We must worship Him with our spirit. When we pray, we usually go to a quiet place and close our eyes, because our whole being needs to be calm. All our physical organs need to be brought to a stop so that we can use our inner organ, our spirit, to contact God. We do not contact God and worship Him according to our thoughts, views, feelings, or preferences. On the contrary, we need to stop all these faculties, calm ourselves down, and turn to our spirit. Only then can we contact God. God is Spirit; therefore, we must contact Him with our spirit.
We cannot see God with our eyes, and we are unable to hear Him with our ears. However, if we calm down and use our spirit, if we turn to our spirit to draw near to God and contact Him, immediately we will sense something in our spirit. We will sense that our spirit is bright. There will also be some activity in our spirit that causes us to sense that this or that matter is wrong or that we should love and cherish others. The fact that there is such activity in us means that God is touching us in our spirit. When God’s Spirit touches our spirit, we become enlivened within.
The regenerated life inside of us is the Spirit. This Spirit is invisible and intangible. The Lord Jesus said that the Spirit is like the wind. “The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes” (3:8). The Spirit is like the wind and can be very strong.
Every year in Hong Kong, around August or September, there is a strong wind. Sometimes a ship is even blown onto the shore. But have you seen the wind? You may say that you have not seen the wind, but it seems that you have seen it. The wind comes with power and with a manifestation that causes us to recognize that there is wind. Sometimes when we are walking on the street, the wind blows so strongly that it becomes difficult for us to walk. Sometimes the wind blows faster than a car can move. The wind blows where it wills; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit. Although we cannot see or touch the Spirit, He is blowing in us, and sometimes He causes us to be beside ourselves. For this reason people often say that those who believe in Jesus are not normal. This is true. How can a ship that is blown onto the shore be normal? How can a person who is being pushed by the wind be normal? God operating in us is like the wind blowing on us.
On the day of Pentecost, the place where the disciples gathered was filled with the wind. A violent wind came and blew upon Peter and John, making them look like they were drunk with wine; they were crazy and fearless (Acts 2:1-13). This is the result of being born of the Spirit. This is a spiritual birth. This is man obtaining the eternal life of God within him.
