The Gospel Project® for Adults

POINT 1 THE SON CAME SO THAT PEOPLE MIGHT EXPERIENCE NEW BIRTH (JOHN 3:1-8).

1 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler
of the Jews. 2 This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi,
we know that you are a teacher who has come from God,
for no one could perform these signs you do unless
God were with him.” 3 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you,
unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God.” 4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?”
Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb
a second time and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you,
unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh
is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.
8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but
you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is
with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Explain:

Verses 1-3 the key doctrine of regeneration or rebirth—being born again
(the bold words fill in blanks

Key Doctrine #69:

Regeneration:

Regeneration takes place at the beginning of the Christian life
and is the miraculous transformation, or the new birth,
that takes place within an individual through the supernatural
work of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8; Titus 3:5).
It is the divine side of conversion (a person turning to Christ
in repentance and faith), being the work of God
within a person’s life that causes him or her to be born again,
a work that human effort is unable to produce.

Discuss:

• How should a biblical understanding of regeneration
  inform our evangelism?
• (in evangelism, our goal is to be faithful in presenting the gospel,
  but God does the work of salvation;
• people need to understand their sinfulness and their need to be
  made new;
• regeneration cannot be coerced)

Explain:

Verses 4-8 the bold words fill in blanks in the DDG):

Both the Old and the New Testament speak of the need to be
made new in the power of God’s Spirit through a
spiritual cleansing of sin.

Transition:

Jesus came to earth so that people might experience new birth.
We have seen why people must be born again, and now
we will look at how people might have eternal life.

PHARISEE

From an Aramaic word meaning “separated,” a Pharisee
was a member of a Jewish group who felt they were
separate from the elitists, commoners, and Gentiles
of their times. They adhered to the strict rules
of the Mosaic Law, even adding to it to secure religious purity.

VOICES FROM CHURCH HISTORY

“And indeed from the Spirit comes our New Birth, and from
the New Birth our new creation, and from the new creation
our deeper knowledge of the dignity of Him from Whom
it is derived.”?1

– Gregory of Nazianzen (c. 329-390)