Latest / Reformed Thinking / You Must Be Born Again | John Piper

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You Must Be Born Again | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome curious minds, to the Deep Dive.
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I'm your guide, and our goal here is pretty straightforward.
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We take your sources, maybe articles, research, even your
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own notes, and we pull out the vital Nuggets.
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Think of us as your shortcut to really understanding things
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quickly and thoroughly. We want to make being well
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informed easier, maybe even a bit fun.
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Today we're looking at a really foundational concept,
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specifically through the lens of well reformed thinking, trying
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to grasp its full weight. That's right.
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We're diving into something Jesus himself talked about,
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something that often sparks a lot of questions and sometimes,
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as we'll see in our sources, real Baphomet, the idea of being
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born again. And this isn't just, you know,
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some abstract notion to debate. The source is really framing as
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a matter of spiritual life itself.
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It touches the very core of who we are and how we relate to God.
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Exactly. And our main source for
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unpacking this today is John Piper's discussion, You Must Be
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Born Again. Focusing on his take on John
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Chapter 3 in the Gospel, Piper frames this not as like friendly
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advice, but as a foundational command from Jesus.
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A really striking, necessary declaration, as we're about to
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find out. So let's get into it.
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Our starting point is John chapter 3.
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Jesus makes this, well, startling statement to a very
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significant figure in that time. This wasn't just a casual chat.
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It was directed at a man named Nicodemus, and our sources paint
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a pretty clear picture. He was a man of the Pharisees,
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part of that influential Jewish group, known for really strict
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adherence to the law. More than that, he was a ruler
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of the Jews, which suggests real authority, maybe even a member
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of the Sanhedrin, their High Court.
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And crucially for us today, he was known as an expert in the
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Jewish scriptures, a scholar, someone who knew the texts
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inside out. You'd think, given all that,
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he'd have a pretty good handle on spiritual matters, wouldn't
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you? You really would, Yeah.
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And it's to this highly educated, respected man that
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Jesus delivers this statement that at least initially sounds
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completely perplexing. Listen to the words from John
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3.3. Truly, truly, I say to you,
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unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
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And then just to make sure it sinks in verses 5 and seven,
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Jesus adds, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born
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again. The thing that hits you is these
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aren't suggestions. They're absolute requirements,
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non negotiable. If you want to even see or enter
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God's Kingdom, this is what's needed.
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That truly, truly, it really underlines the certainty, the
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gravity of it, it's essential. And Nicodemus's reaction is just
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complete confusion. Isn't it almost comically
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literal if it weren't so revealing?
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He asks in verse 4, how can a man be born when he is old?
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Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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I mean, he immediately goes to the physical impossibility he's
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picturing. Well exactly what he says.
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It just shows how grounded his thinking is in the purely
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physical, missing the spiritual dimension entirely.
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His mind just can't seem to grasp a non physical birth.
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Right, and that literal take is exactly what comps Jesus's.
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Well, astonishment. His response really highlights
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what he expected from someone like Nicodemus.
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In John 3.10, Jesus asks him, are you the teacher of Israel
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and yet you do not understand these things?
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That's a fascinating question, isn't it?
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Why would an expert, the teacher of Israel, some steeped in
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Scripture, be so lost here? Jesus clearly thought Nicodemus
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should have understood. It suggests this wasn't some
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brand new, out of the blue idea. It was something Jesus felt
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Nicodemus should have been able to piece together from his own
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studies. So that's the puzzle for us and
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for you listening. Why was Jesus surprised?
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What was it in Nicodemus's background, his deep knowledge
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of the Old Testament that should have clued him in?
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What was he missing? There seems to be a connection
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Jesus expected him to make, drawing from the very texts he
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taught. Maybe his focus was to external,
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national, maybe instead of personal.
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Yeah, unpacking that surprise is key.
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Jesus expected Nicodemus the expert to get it because, as our
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sources point out, the Jewish scriptures themselves contain so
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many clues about his very promise.
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God's future plan for his people included a spiritual new birth.
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It wasn't some hidden detail. It was woven into their own
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prophetic writings. God had promised a time of deep
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spiritual renewal, often using language that points exactly
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towards this idea of being born anew.
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Nicodemus knew the prophecies about national restoration for
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sure, but maybe he'd missed the intensely personal spiritual
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change embedded within them, perhaps seeing it only as a
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collective political hope, not an individual internal
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necessity. And this is where it gets really
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interesting, showing how Jesus's teaching wasn't new, but deeply
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rooted. He was directly echoing the
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prophets. Specifically, our sources point
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us straight to the book of Ezekiel, chapter 36, verses 25
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to 27. This prophecy is presented as
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absolutely central to understanding what Jesus meant.
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It wasn't just a random parallel.
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It was like Jesus was saying, remember this, This is what I'm
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talking about. It shows this whole idea of
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spiritual recreation was there all along, part of God's
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revealed plan way back. Exactly.
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Let's breakdown that Ezekiel passage because each piece
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connects directly to being born again.
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It really eliminates Jesus conversation with Nicodemus.
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First God says through Ezekiel, I will sprinkle clean water on
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you and you should be clean from all your uncleannesses and from
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all your idols. I will cleanse you.
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This is about a deep, thorough cleansing, getting rid of sin,
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idolatry, all the spiritual gunk.
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It's symbolic, of course, not just a bath.
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It's a profound spiritual purification, dealing with the
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root issues of our separation from God.
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It's about being made pure, removing the stain, the grip of
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our wrong choices. And notice God does the
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sprinkling, the cleansing. It's his action.
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Then right after the cleansing promise, it continues and it
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will give you a new heart, a new spirit I will put within you.
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This is huge, a new human spirit, not just patching up the
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old one. It's a fundamental internal
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change, a complete rewiring at our core.
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This new spirit is alive, oriented towards God.
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It's like spiritual CPR, bringing what was dead to life.
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And then God specifies, and I will remove the heart of stone
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from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
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This is about moving from being unresponsive to being
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responsive. That heart of stone, It's hard,
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cold, unfeeling towards God, resistant to His ways.
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It can't feel conviction, can't truly love, can't grieve sin.
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But the heart of flesh that's soft, alive, sensitive to God,
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able to love, able to respond, able to feel, it beats with a
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real spiritual life. And the climax of this promise
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in Ezekiel is incredible. And I will put my spirit within
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you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey
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my rules. Notice the shift.
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First a new human spirit, then God puts his own divine spirit
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within us. This is where the power of the
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enablement for a new life comes from.
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It's not just that we suddenly want to obey more.
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It's the. Holy Spirit Himself living
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inside who actually causes us, enables us, empowers us to live
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God's way. Obedience isn't just a chore
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anymore done by gritting our teeth, it becomes a natural
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result of the Spirit working in US.
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God Himself is actively prompting, guiding and enabling
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us to live differently out of a new desire, not just duty.
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It completely changes our capacity for righteousness.
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Right. So when you connect that back to
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Jesus saying unless one is born corn of water and the Spirit in
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John 3.5, it clicks, doesn't it? He's directly pulling those two
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key elements from Ezekiel, the water representing that divine
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cleansing work God promised, and the Spirit representing the
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reception of God's own Spirit bringing new life and enabling
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obedience. It seems so clear in hindsight.
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Nicodemus the expert really should have seen the blueprint
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for this new birthright. There, in the prophecies he
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studied, Jesus wasn't inventing something new.
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He was announcing the fulfillment of God's ancient
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plan. But maybe Nicodemus saw it only
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as a future national thing, not a present, intensely personal
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requirement. He missed the individual
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application. So, building on that prophetic
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background, let's talk more about the natural human
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condition that makes this rebirth necessary.
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Our sources explain that the term flesh, as Jesus uses it,
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refers to ordinary humanity, us as we are, from our first
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natural birth. And the stark reality, according
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to this perspective, is that by nature we are siritually
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lifeless, or even more bluntly, siritually dead.
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Now that doesn't mean we're literally corpses walking
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around. It means we're not born
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spiritually alive with a heart that loves God.
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There's an inherent disconnect, a lack of spiritual vitality, an
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absence of the inclination towards God that defines true
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life in relationship with him. It's our default setting, you
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might say, a kind of spiritual inertia.
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Unable to perceive or move towards God's Kingdom on our own
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steam, our natural bent is away from Him.
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It's a challenging idea, and Jesus didn't shy away from
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illustrating it quite vividly. Think about that encounter in
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Luke 9 .60. Someone wants to follow Jesus
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but says first let me go bury my father.
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And Jesus response is jarring. Leave the dead to bury their own
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dead. Wow.
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It forces you to stop and think what does he mean?
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He's drawing the sharp line, isn't he?
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There are the physically dead needing burial, but then there
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are the spiritually dead people walking around functioning, even
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performing tasks like burying others who are utterly
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unresponsive to God's call, lacking true spiritual life.
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It's a powerful image of being alive physically, but dead to
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the things that matter, eternally blind to spiritual
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reality. And he uses similar language in
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Luke 15 in that famous story of the prodigal son.
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Remember, when the sun comes home, the father throws a party
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and declares verse 24, this, My son was dead and is alive again.
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Again, he wasn't talking about physical death and resurrection.
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The son was physically alive the whole time he was away, but
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spiritually he was estranged, lost, relationally dead to his
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father. His return was a return to life,
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spiritually speaking, a restoration.
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The father saw the state of being lost as a kind of death,
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and the return is coming back to life.
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And this condition, this spiritual deadness, has huge
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implications for seeing and entering God's Kingdom.
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Our sources are really direct here.
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Because the dead can't see, spiritually speaking, they
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cannot see the Kingdom of God as supremely desirable.
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Think about it. If you're spiritually numb,
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God's rule, his design, his redemptive work, well, it just
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looks foolish or mythical or boring.
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It doesn't register as beautiful or valuable.
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It has no real pull. The glory and goodness of God's
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reign are invisible to a heart that isn't spiritually alive.
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And because they can't see it's worth, they logically cannot
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enter the Kingdom of God. It's inaccessible.
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As Paul says elsewhere, it is foolishness to them.
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So our first birth, just being born human, isn't enough.
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It doesn't equip us for a spiritual reality that requires
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spiritual senses. Our natural state is actually a
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barrier. So this brings us and you
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listening to a really crucial understanding Jesus presents.
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He essentially sees all of humanity falling into one of two
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categories. You've got those born of the
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flesh. That's everyone in their natural
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state described as the spiritually dead, alive
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physically, yes, but without that spiritual life, unable to
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truly see God's Kingdom. And then you have those born
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again by the Spirit, Spirit of God.
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These are the ones who are alive to God, who've been given, you
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could say, new spiritualize. They now see his Kingdom as
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real, as true, and as supremely desirable.
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It's not a small difference. It's fundamental, a totally
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different spiritual state and capacity.
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Absolutely, and it's vital to grasp the universality of the
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first condition, the source says.
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Dead is dead. Whatever our color, ethnicity,
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culture or class. This spiritual diagnosis applies
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across the board. No group gets a pass.
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Your background, your social status, how good you might seem
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by worldly standards, none of it matters in this regard.
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Everyone without excetion starts in the state of siritual
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lifelessness and therefore needs this siritual new life.
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And our sources stress. It's not about just trying
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harder, cleaning up your ACT, improving the old self.
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That's not what Jesus is talking about.
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It's a rebirth, a complete spiritual recreation absolutely
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necessary for everyone. It's about existence, not just
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enhancement. OK, which leads us straight to
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the big question, doesn't it? If we're all in this state,
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naturally, spiritually dead, how does the second birth, the
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spiritual one, actually happen? The sources give a very clear,
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almost blunt answer. The Spirit does that.
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It's not presented as something we do or achieve or even
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contribute to in terms of causing it.
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It's an act of God's Spirit. That's exactly right.
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The Holy Spirit has the unique sovereign role here.
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John 3 verse 6 lays it out plainly.
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That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
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of the spirit is spirit. See the distinction?
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Our natural birth produces natural, physical life, flesh.
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But spiritual life, spirit comes from a totally different source,
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the Spirit of God. It's like they operate on two
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different planes. One is natural, human, the other
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is supernatural divine. The natural just can't produce
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the spiritual. And Jesus gives Nicodemus and us
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this amazing analogy to try and explain the spirits work.
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It's familiar yet mysterious. He compares it to the wind.
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He says in John 3.8. The wind blows where it wishes,
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and you hear it sound, but you do not know where it comes from
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or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is
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born of the Spirit. Think about that.
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We feel the wind. We see its effects, leaves
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moving, flags waving. But we don't see the wind
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itself. We don't control where it comes
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from or where it goes. It's powerful, undeniable, yet
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invisible and free. Yeah, that wind analogy tells us
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so much about how the Spirit works in this new birth.
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First, it's mysterious. We can't fully track it or
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explain it scientifically. We see the results in a changed
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life, but the exact how of the Spirit's inner working remains
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beyond our complete understanding.
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Just like tracking a specific gust to wind. 2nd It's free and
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sovereign. It blows where it wishes.
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The Spirit isn't directed by us, We're obligated by our efforts
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or desires. He acts according to God's own
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will and purpose, His own timing. 3rd, and this is really
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crucial, it's beyond our control.
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We do not 'cause ourselves to be born again.
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We can't make the wind blow. We can't make the Spirit give us
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new life. It's not something we initiate
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or achieve. It's a divine act performed on
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us, originating entirely outside of ourselves.
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We are recipients, not agents of our spiritual birth.
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So pulling that together, the message is stark.
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Being born again isn't about trying harder to be good or
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improving the old you. Our sources are emphatic.
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Spiritually, dead people don't suddenly give themselves life.
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It's not self help. It's described as radical and
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supernatural, something beyond the normal course of things,
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outside the realm of human capability, and utterly outside
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our control. We can't make it happen through
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willpower, sincerity, or religious activity.
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It's fundamentally a gift. Precisely, And that's why it's
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consistently called a gift of God.
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The sources point to John 1.13 to hammer this home.
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That verse says this birth comes not of blood, nor of the will of
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the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
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It couldn't be clear. It's not from human lineage,
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blood, not from human effort or desire, will of the flesh, will
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of man, but solely from God's initiative.
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He is the origin. We can't decide to be born again
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any more than an infant decides to be born the first time.
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It's something God does to us and for us.
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Now thinking about the scope of this, Jesus wasn't just giving
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Nicodemus some private advice, was he?
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What he required from this one respected leader, he requires
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from everyone. Our sources stress this.
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He is speaking to everyone in the world.
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OK. This isn't a niche teaching for
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a specific group or time. The sources say no one is
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excluded from this necessity. It's universally applicable.
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Absolutely universal. It applies, as our sources
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reiterate, to all the nations of the world without regard for
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color, ethnicity, culture or class.
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Why? Because, as we establish, the
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need is universal. Dead is dead.
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Spiritual lifelessness is the common human condition before
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God acts. No cultural background, no
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ethnicity, no social standing makes anyone exempt or naturally
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closer. Everyone starts at the same
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point of needing this divine intervention, the spiritual
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recreation. And connecting back to what
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happens after this rebirth. It's about perception, isn't it?
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Before God's Kingdom looks, well, foolish or boring.
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It just doesn't resonate because the spiritual sense isn't there.
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But after the Spirit works this new birth, you get spiritual
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eyes. You're suddenly unable to see
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his Kingdom as true and supremely desirable.
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It's a complete shift in perspective.
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What was once unappealing or unreal becomes compelling,
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beautiful, the most desirable thing imaginable.
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From indifference to attraction. From spiritual blindness to
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spiritual sight. Exactly.
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And that leads us to the ultimate goals, the purposes of
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this spiritual transformation. First, as you said, enabling
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people to see His Kingdom as true and supremely desirable.
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That new perception, that spiritual sight.
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Second, that sight that makes it possible to enter the Kingdom of
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God. You can't enter what you can't
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perceive or desire. Spiritual life is the
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prerequisite for entering a spiritual Kingdom.
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And 3rd, crucially, it provides that new heart and the
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indwelling Spirit who, as Ezekiel promised, will cause you
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to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules.
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This means a whole new ability to live in a way that pleases
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God, a new capacity for obedience and relationship.
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Not forced obedience, but one flowing from a changed heart,
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empowered by the Spirit within. It's about being made both
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willing and able. That's God's aim, sight, entry
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and a transformed life of relationship and obedience.
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So as you, our listener, process all this, it naturally leads to
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some reflection, doesn't it? Considering your own spiritual
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state in light of these ideas, do you see God's Kingdom as
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truly desirable? Is it something you genuinely
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long for? Is there that internal
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responsiveness to God, that desire, however imperfectly,
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lived out to walk in his ways? These aren't questions to make
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you feel guilty, but perhaps indicators to help discern if
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this divine work, this new birth has occurred within you.
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So wrapping up our deep dive today, we've really focused on
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Jesus's non negotiable command to be born again and the core
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insight from our sources that this isn't something we do.
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It's not about self improvement. It's presented as a radical
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supernatural work of God's Spirit, a work that awakens
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spiritual sight, changes our desires, makes God's Kingdom
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look supremely desirable, and enables us to actually enter it.
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It's all of God from start to finish and essential for every
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single person. And maybe a final thought to
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leave you with, taken straight from Piper's reflection on this
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Look away from yourself. Seek from God what He alone can
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do for you. It suggests this posture of
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looking to God, acknowledging our inability, and asking Him
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for this gift that only He can give.
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Which does raise a profound question for you to ponder.
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What does it actually mean for you to seek something from God
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that you yourself cannot cause or control?
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How do you actively seek a free gift upon which everything
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depends? Thank you for joining us on the
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Deep Dive for this exploration of being born again.
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We hope it's given you clarity and perhaps some serious things
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to think about. Keep asking questions, keep
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seeking understanding, and keep diving deep into the truths that
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shape our lives. Until next time, take care.