Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? (John 3:11-13).Jesus, what a Master communicator He was. He told stories. He used parables. He drew analogies from the natural environment; all with one agenda: conveying spiritual and eternal Truth. From Childbirth, Death, Aquaculture, Agriculture, Meteorology, Parenting, Light, Darkness, Bakery and we can add on, He had something to say. In this interaction with Nicodemus, we see Jesus drawing an analogy from childbirth to explain spiritual birth---born again.
I said in a previous post that just as our natural birth gives us entrance into the human race, our spiritual birth also gives us entrance into God's Kingdom:
...Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (vs 3).One fact of the spiritual birth we learn from our natural birth is that just as we don't determine our birth, the spiritual birth is also exclusively a work of God by His Spirit.
...as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13).Jesus clearly illustrated this when He said in John 6:65, "...no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." To be born again is a work of God. We can't save ourselves unless the Spirit of God has worked on on our hearts; convicted us of sins and regenerated our dead spirits. This places a great demand on us to always pray the Lord convicts the hearts we minister to.
By our own efforts---preaching, writing, singing, choreography, drama and all other means by which we spread the gospel, we cannot save any soul until the Spirit convicts. We can have well laid out and planned sermons. We can have the best stories and analogies, but "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."(John 6:63)
Spiritual truth is not shrouded in total mystery. All around us, God's creation speaks. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork." (Psalms 19:1). Hear God and seek Him. His own creation speaks of Him(unless of course the world to you is an "accident"). "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead..." (Romans 1:20).
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