Peter Brandon explores the profound concept of being 'born again' as explained in John 3, emphasizing that it signifies a spiritual rebirth rather than a physical one. He illustrates how Nicodemus, a highly religious and intellectual Pharisee, sought Jesus to understand this new birth, which is essential for entering the kingdom of God. Brandon clarifies that being born again involves receiving a new nature through the Holy Spirit, enabling believers to overcome sin and experience eternal life. He stresses the necessity of this transformation, urging listeners to reflect on their spiritual state and seek genuine rebirth in Christ. Ultimately, he invites all to accept Jesus as their Savior to experience this life-changing event.

What does it mean to be born again? Now the Scripture reading is John's Gospel, Chapter 3, and we'll read from verse 1. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles as thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of 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. Marvel not that I said unto thee, He must be born again. The wind bloweth where it lifteth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 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? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light hath come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are brought in God. And God will bless to us the readings of the Holy Bible. The word born again is becoming very public. In England at this moment there is a German car being advertised, and right across it a born again car. So you can see they are borrowing this particular slogan of the Bible, in order to advance their industry. But the word born again is a little poorly translated. For instance, if you were born again, and you could possibly come back again in this life as a human being, the very mistakes that you made in your first birth, you would make in your second. So when we go to the Scriptures and we look at the original, we find this. The word means being born from above. That means it's an entirely new birth. And to put it in simple language it means, that God is able, in the power of the Spirit, to put an entirely new life in your old body. Now my dear friends, let's sit back. If that is a possibility in the 20th century, then that is completely remarkable. That people in the 20th century can actually be born anew, so that in their old body there can be a new life. If that is true, then it's one of the greatest things in life. Now what I want to do is to just go through the Scriptures, and to show you as simply as I can, what it basically means to be born again. Secondly, I want to show you again from the Scripture, that being born again is an absolute essential. And then thirdly, I want to show you from the Bible, the actual moment that takes place when a person is born again. And if I can put that all very simply, the meaning, the must, and the moment of the new birth. Now first of all, we must have a look at Nicodemus. The Bible tells us three facts about this man. First of all, that he was a Pharisee, and that meant he believed in all the Old Testament Scriptures to be inspired. He believed in all the supernatural miracles that are recorded in the Old Testament. He believed in angels. He believed in a life after death. He believed in all the past laws and practices, to such an extent that this man would pass twice in the week. And as far as tithing was concerned, he would tithe all his money, and if the man had ten hens that laid ten eggs, he would give even one of those eggs to the priesthood. And therefore we see a man who is exceedingly religious. Secondly, we are told that he was a religious ruler, and that meant he was a member of the Sanhedrin. Now if you were a member of the Sanhedrin in the time of our Lord, you would be a VIP in a very special way. You would be a member of the Jewish religious parliament. And there were only 71 people in that parliament, and they had tremendous authority. Well this man, Nicodemus, was a ruler of the Jews. Thirdly, we are told he was a master in Israel, and that meant he had a share in one of the universities. It's believed that he had the law share in the university at Jerusalem. And therefore he was a man with a penetrating mind, and he was a man that we would call clever and intellectual. And therefore we are discussing, number one, a very religious man. Number two, a very moral man. Number three, a very disciplined man. Number four, an authoritative man. And number five, an intellectual man. And he comes to the Lord Jesus by night, and obviously there is something missing in his life. He realizes that there is a God-shaped hole in his life that his religion was not satisfying. So he comes to the Lord Jesus and he says, Rabbi, teacher, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou do, except God be with him. In other words, if I may paraphrase, he was saying something like this, I am a teacher, but an acquired teacher. But you are a teacher with special authority, you are a teacher from God. I can tell that by the miracles that you perform. Now can you put your finger right on the spot that is causing all the intellectual and spiritual and emotional tension in my life? And the Lord Jesus looked at him and he said rather abruptly, and yet lovingly, Truly, truly, I say to thee, Mr. Demas, except a man be born from above, he can't see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born of water, that means the word of God, as applied by the spirit of God, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And then he said, you must be born again. And Nicodemus was completely confused and he said, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time in his mother's womb and be born? And then Jesus said this to him, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And that sums up what it means to be born of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. The Greek word for flesh is sakh, and it has four meanings in Scripture. I'm only going to give you two. There's a good meaning and there's a bad meaning. For instance, we read that our Lord was manifested in the flesh, and we know that that flesh was totally sinless. But the Apostle Paul says, It means that in my flesh dwells no good things. So can you see there's a bad side to the flesh and there's a good side. This is the bad side. Now what does it mean? In Romans chapter 8, the Apostle makes a statement that's dogmatic and almost frightening. And when I quote it, you will raise your eyebrows. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God. Now what does that mean? When a little baby is born, it's a beautiful creature, a living person. And that child has a body, soul and spirit, and in some measure it's made in the image and in the likeness of God. But there's a problem. When the seed was confused, in that seed there was the principle of sin. And right in the formation of that child there was sin. The theologians call it depravity. And as the mother holds that child, she must be aware of this one fact. She will never, never stop that child from sinning. No matter how cultured and disciplined she might be, no matter how specialized she might be in motherhood, she will never, never stop that child from sinning. Now that's a fact. Because right in the genes of that child, right in the nature of that child, there is inbred sin. And we must remember the Lord Jesus, who was Jehovah, had been looking at creation for at least 4,000 years. Now he's been looking at it for 6,000 years. He knows all about the first man that was born or made. He knows all about the last man that will be born. And therefore when he takes recognition of the world, it's final. And he's able to consider person with person, family with family, community with community, civilization with civilization, empire with empire. And no matter how much he may look, he will never find a perfect man. Even some of the best men have failed. For instance, if you read about Noah, he failed. If you read about a man called Abraham, twice he told lies about his wife. If you read about a brilliant man called Moses, he lost his temper. And so you can see when you go right the way along the human family, it's always been marked by the failure of sin. And no one can deny that fact. When we look at our modern world, we see wonderful improvements, we see scientific advancements, but morally man is the same as when he was first made and when he first fell in the Garden of Eden. Now what? The scripture puts its finger right on the problem. Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Again 1 Corinthians 15, In Adam all die, in Christ all are made alive. Therefore we must always remember this, that God has no confidence in human nature. You see, God's solution is not the repairing of human nature, it's not the renovation of human nature, it's not the culturing of human nature. God's remedy is a new nature, and a new life. Now there are all kinds of things that you can do with flesh, if you like, in human nature. For instance, you can glamorize it, but it's still the flesh. You can put on it beautiful white robes of morality, but it's still the flesh. You can dress it up in religious clothing, and you can make it even sing very beautifully, but it's still the flesh. And you can put upon it an intellectual cap and gown, and call it even a doctor of divinity, but it's still the flesh. That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. And God has no confidence in it at all. And therefore dear friends, that's the reason why a person needs to be born again. And I would like to say something like this to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, you have religious flesh, you have moral flesh, you have intellectual flesh, but that will never please God, until you are born from above. And it's as simple as that. Secondly, the flesh has not only the capacity, or it hasn't the capacity to please God, it cannot know God. Now this is a little more difficult. Sometimes dear friends, when someone's in school, the master puts some sums on the board, and that boy may be brilliant in English, but he may be dead to math. Something missing. Or you may take a young man through an art gallery, and you might show him all the lovely masters. You might see a beautiful van Dyck or a Rubin, and he might be bored stiff. Why? He's dead to us. Then you might take another person, and they might hear some beautiful music, like Bach or Handel, and the tears might be running down your cheeks, but that friend of yours might be bored stiff. Why? He's dead to the beauty of music. Or you could take someone to England, and you could take them through the Lake District, and there you would see the glorious beauty of that part of England. And your friend might be absolutely bored, wanting to get away. Now it doesn't mean to say there's no beauty there, but it's dead to it. Now when it comes to God, we are dead to God. Now why? You cannot know God with your mind. You cannot even know God with your emotions. You can only know God with your spirit. Now that's important. And you have a spirit. That's why you've got a worshipping instinct. But because of the facts of sin, the spirit part of us is dead. And what the Lord was saying to Nicodemus was this. Nicodemus, you believe in God, you appreciate God, you revere the Bible, you pray to God, but you don't know him, because you are spiritually dead. And that's the problem with thousands and millions of us. We shall never basically know God until we have been made alive. Now how does he do that? When God comes into a person's life, first of all he gives them an x-ray. And the x-ray comes through the ten commandments. It's like ten lenses and they're powerful. And he looks right into your heart and he tests all your motives. He looks right into your mind and he shows you your thought life. Then he listens closely at your speech and sometimes he says, your throat is like an open sepulcher. And when God takes an x-ray of us all, we come out very badly indeed. So that the scripture says, there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that knoweth, that doeth good. In fact, even our best works in the presence and in the sight of God are like filthy rags. And then God has this glorious remedy. Once we have been through the x-raying process, we call it conviction of sin, but really that's what it is. Then he gives us divine enlightenment concerning why Jesus died. And we see the Son of God on that cross and we see him bearing our sins. And we realise that through his death we can be righteously forgiven. Now when God forgives your sins, and this always thrills me when I say this, he doesn't forgive your sins in a bitty way. He forgives your sins once and for all. Why? Because the forgiveness comes to you because of what Christ did on the cross. So then when God forgives, and I'm going to use now scriptural language, the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sins. Then into our lives comes the Holy Spirit. Now who is the Holy Spirit? He is not an influence. He is not an active force. He is a divine person, divine in every single detail of God. Are you good at that? And when God has cleansed you from sin, in comes the Holy Spirit and he makes his home in your spirit and you are born of God. And ladies and gentlemen, that's the greatest thing that God ever does in the human heart. It's called the workmanship of Christ Jesus. Now I cannot go over all the details of what it means to be born again, but I'm just going to show you three things. Number one, the Apostle John tells us, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for he cannot sin, for his seed remains in him and he is born of God. Now I know some of you now will raise your eyebrows and you will say, when you're born again you will never commit another sin. It doesn't say that. It says when you are born again of the Holy Spirit, that new nature that you possess hasn't the potential to sin. Now can you see it? When you were born physically, you were born with a nature called flesh that's totally corrupt and that nature will sin perpetually. Now forgive me getting excited, it's so wonderful. But when the Holy Spirit comes into your life and you're born from above, he puts a nature within you that's as pure as God himself. And so a Christian has two natures. He has the flesh nature with which he was born but judged by God and he has the new nature where he was born of God. Now the secret of a victorious life is to crucify or to use similar words, to say emphatically no to all the dictates of your flesh nature and to say yes to all the sweet overtures of your new life. And when a Christian goes on doing that, the Holy Spirit will make the beauty of the Lord Jesus known to him and it will be revealed in his life. Born of God. If I stop there, that would be wonderful. But there's more. In 1 John 5 we are told this. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. Think of it. Let me say it again. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. What does it mean to overcome the world? Now note. When you were born physically, you were born in this world and you were under the headship of a man called Adam because he was the first man. That world is alienated, meaning separated from God. And behind that world there is the sinister power of the devil. One moment the scripture calls him a field marshal, Ephesians 2. And then the apostle in Corinthians calls him the God, the deceiving God of this world. Now my dear friends, if you're not a Christian, can I say this to you lovingly? If you could see your flesh nature as God sees it, and if you could see the tyrant under which you are under now, you would have such a shock. You would never leave this meeting until you were born again. Sometimes, you know, when I'm sitting down and thinking about these things, I look out there at Sydney and I tell myself most of them are under the power of the devil and they don't know it. And the only time they will realize the tragedy of this is when death comes and they wake up in perdition and realize they're lost and deceived. Let me give you the scripture. The God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them. Now when a person is born again, forgive me doing it with my fingers because the little demonstration will help. Through the death of Christ, you are taken right out of the family of Adam, right out of the family that's deceived by the devil and therefore you're taken right out of the world. And then you're put right into God's family. Hallelujah. And when you're put into God's family, you're no longer under the delusion of the devil, but you're under the illumination of God. And so you overcome the world. You're no longer a member of it. In fact, you're a member of a group of people called the church. And so every Christian, if he realized that, would be an overcomer. But there's something more. It's not only a life without the disease of sin, it's not only a life without the defeat of sin, it's a life without the death of sin. So what does that mean? Let me give you the scripture. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have, here it is, everlasting life. So you're saying, Mr. Preacher, when a person's born again he will never die. Yes. Live forever. Yes. Never really die. No. Live forever in this body. Everyone I have known who's over 100 does not want to live for another 20 years. What a terrible thing it would be to have to live in this body for 200 years. I'm in my 70s now and I don't want to live for another 70 years. I can assure you. So what does God do? When a born again Christian dies, he sleeps as far as his body's concerned. And the real soul and spirit that lives inside him, that the Holy Spirit has been working on, making it like Christ, he takes out his spirit and his soul and he brings it to a place called paradise. And let me repeat, he'll be more alive when he's out of the body than when he's in. Because a Christian is a paradox. Outwardly he is dying, inwardly he's being renewed. Inwardly your soul never gets old when you become a Christian. It's always being renewed. And your body dies. And then one day, God's going to give you a completely new body, a glorious body. And here it is. We say it's the Holy Body. Holy Bible. And he'll give you a body that fits for the glory. You see a fish has body for the water. A bird has body for the air. We have bodies for terra firma. We haven't got bodies for heaven. But when the Lord comes the second time to remove his church, the born again ones, he'll give us a body of glory. And do you know what that means friends? In ten trillion years time, we can't work that out. We Christians born again will be shaking hands in the eternal state. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? And you see how the devil deceives people today. He dangles before them the things of this perishing world. But tonight God is bringing you into the sanctuary and he's giving you a glimpse of the glory of a person being born again. But then the Lord Jesus made these emphatic statements and he said, except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now what did he mean? You see dear friends, you will never understand the kingdom of God until you are born again. You're blind to it. So that when a person becomes a Christian, the Holy Spirit comes into his body. Now note this, and therefore his body becomes the kingdom of God. The place where God rules. And may I say this, the rule of God is delightful. It's a wonderful thing to know that your body is no longer now a body that's given over to sin but it's a body that's the very temple of the Holy Ghost. And in our bodies the Spirit of God rules. We see the kingdom within us. Then we meet another brother and we find that he's born again and we don't ask what denomination he belongs to. We just want to know, are you born again? And then you give him a great hearty shake and say, you're my brother or you're my sister. Why? The same precious blood has cleansed him and her and the same Holy Spirit is within them and therefore there's unity in the kingdom. Do you see that? And then there comes that glorious moment when we pray, Thy kingdom come. As we look at our world they tell us, the ecologists at least, that the world is being poisoned. Nuclear scientists are telling us now quite recently there are bombs that can destroy our earth in 36 hours. Think of that. We are being told by those people that study our water that it is in a disgusting condition. And therefore all kinds of philosophers are telling us that the world could conclude. Don't you believe it friends? When a person becomes a Christian he sees the kingdom and he sees the king is going to come. And first of all he looks for the Lord Jesus to come for his born again people called the church to take them home. And then he's going to come to reign as a thousand years king of kings and lord of lords and you begin to see the kingdom. And may I say this again with deep excitement his kingdom is bomb proof. Not a rocket can touch it. There's a throne there that cannot be toppled. And immediately you are born again you are linked with an imperishable throne. Isn't that tremendous? You see the kingdom. You know the other day at Thunderburg I was walking through the countryside or perhaps I should say through the sugar cane and I came to a pond and I've never seen so many tadpoles in my life. And then I saw a frog and I watched the frog very carefully. And one moment she was in the water the next moment she was out. I don't know how many tadpoles she had but they were score. And I could imagine that frog if she could speak saying to some of those tadpoles you know there's a better world than this. This is very small and limited but outside that pond there's a great world. You know there are trees far bigger than those little weeds. There are flowers far more beautiful than a few of those water lilies. You're living a very very limited life there and I could imagine one of the tadpoles saying mother cut out that pie in the sky when you die. This little pond is everything. It's very very beautiful. And these flowers in here are very beautiful indeed. We've got to do the best we can in this world. Don't talk about the other world a mother would chuckle and say. When you go through a process of death you'll have a new body and you'll have new visions and you'll see a better world but they would all shake their heads. Nonsense. Dear friends when a person is born again he does live in the world of terra firma and enjoys it but he learns to live in the vast immeasurable world of God. He sees the kingdom. But then the Lord Jesus said to this man and I want you to see it carefully before we close. Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. In other words he would say this to Nicodemus. You were circumcised as a baby. That will never do. At the age of 12 you came through your bar mitzvah. That will never do. When you were 21 you went through the theological college and you became a rabbi. That will never take you to heaven. You've married scores of Jewish young people haven't you? Yes. That'll never take you to heaven. You've buried many haven't you? Yes. You are now a member of the religious government. That won't take you there. Nicodemus except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Friends can I put that question to you? You may be brought up as a Christian you may have had godly parents thank God for that but that's not it. You may have been christened as a little baby that's not it. You may have gone through communications and become a communicant but that's not it. You may sit around the Lord's table every Sunday but that's not it. You may even be baptized by a merchant that's not it. You may even teach in a Sunday school class that's not it. You may even preach the gospel but that's not it. There comes a moment in your experience when you must must be born again. The word of God says and I know this can be hurtful to some but I must say it in Revelation 20 that the person whose name was not written in the book of life was cut into the lake of fire. Now I'm going to put it to you in a very abrupt way. Have you been baptized by a merchant? But are you born again? Do you break bread every Sunday? Are you really born again? Have you been christened and confirmed? Are you born again? That's the vital thing. And this man Nicodemus he got to a point where he could have been very cynical. He could have made a joke of it and walked away. Just imagine a man speaking to me at age 45 that I must be born again. Reincarnation! What nonsense! Hinduism! Or he could have been critical and angry and he could have said just imagine an uneducated man like you speaking to a man like me and telling me to be born again after all my religious qualifications and he could have walked away in a rage. But you know what he did? He humbled himself and swallowed all his pride and he said as a broken man how can that happen to me? That's where God wants you. There comes a time in your experience forgive me raising my voice again but this is so vital when you face up to utter reality when you seize the nettle and you say have I been born again? Or have I had a mediocre experience? Have I really missed this? And you get right down before the Lord and you say Lord if I've missed this I want the experience now. And here meet you. But the moment you play with God you will find that there is no no God near and no God close. He is distant. He wants absolute reality. And he said to Nicodemus something like this I'll paraphrase just a little Do you remember when the children of Israel were going through the wilderness? Yes. Do you remember when they were being protected by God from all the wild animals and the snakes? Yes. Do you remember when they grumbled at God and Moses and called them murderers for bringing them out into the wilderness that they might die and they were bored with the food that he had given them? Yes. Do you remember what happened? They were bitten by serpents. Nicodemus you haven't been bitten by a serpent but you have been bitten by sin. And you know it. Yes. You were born in sin. Yes. You've broken those ten commandments. Yes. You're guilty before God. I've realized that. Do you remember the remedy? Yes. Moses made a serpent of bronze put it on a pole and told them to look and live. Have you ever considered that? That's always worried me. That the very thing that was causing all the trouble the serpent in a bronze form was the remedy when they looked at it. Yes, I've never been able to understand that. Perhaps I can help you. I haven't come into this world really to live I've come to die. And as Moses lifted up that serpent in the wilderness I'm going to be lifted up on a cross and I'm going to be made sin. The wrath of God that should have come upon the world for its sins is going to come upon me. And I'm going to be that massive that infinite sin offering on behalf of the whole world. Oh, I see. The serpent on the pole the son of man on the cross and I've been sickly. Now he says everyone that believes on me shall not perish but have everlasting life. But more than that man will lift me up upon a cross. But God's going to lift me up and raise me from the dead and receive me back into glory. And when I get back into glory I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and all those that really believe on me will be born of God. When Jesus Christ died there were only two men there. Must have been a sacred moment the disciples all fled. John took the mother home with him Mary. And there was two men Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. And both these men took the cross out of the sacred socket and they lowered down the body of the Messiah. And I would like to think that when Nicodemus was taking the nails out of the hands of the Lord Jesus he was quietly saying as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the son of man be lifted up. And he understood and believed. It all came to him as a divine revelation. In this room tonight there is the power of the Holy Spirit. In heaven at this moment there is the risen Saviour who shed his blood so that our sins might be forgiven. And I hardly know how to say this that Holy Spirit is waiting to come into your life tonight so that you might be born from above right now. In fact in a meeting like this I believe I can use the scripture I'm only using it as an application that the Lord gives me that privilege when the Lord says behold I stand at the door of knock. I believe he's brought someone in tonight and the Lord has come close and he's standing at the door of your life knocking. And he says if any man will hear my voice and open the door I will come in. And when he comes in you're born again. You say how do I receive him? Come to him as a sinner. Thank him for dying for you. Accept cleansing through his precious blood. And because the Lord Jesus is the only visible person of the Trinity receive him tonight as your Saviour and Lord. And then he'll come in and you'll be born of God. You know dear friends I mustn't say any more my time has gone. But it would be lovely if someone opened their heart now and just received the Saviour. And on that very seat where you're sitting you can be born from above and you can go home tonight as a new creature in Christ Jesus.