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Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 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 again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”—John 3:1–8

Introduction: A Valley of Dry Bones

Last week we started our series on The Spirit that Glorifies Jesus and saw from John 14 and 16 how the Holy Spirit is sent by Jesus to dwell in us so that we are not left as orphans. The Spirit lives in us to remind us in the midst of the chaos of sin and suffering that we have a new home—Jesus. And the Spirit redirects our hearts back to him when are tempted to forget where we belong.

And the Spirit is at work convicting the world to expose sin, to point to the perfect righteousness of Jesus, and to remind the world that judgment is coming for all who follow Satan and don’t bow to Jesus.

What I want us to see today is the work of the Spirit to make spiritually dead people alive. This work is called the “new birth” or “regeneration.” Jesus in John 3 says it this way, “You must be born again.” And this is the greatest miracle of the Spirit. He brings dead people life that they could not have brought themselves. So, I want to start by showing you a picture of the lostness, deadness, and dryness of human souls apart from the work of the Spirit. The Lord showed the prophet Ezekiel a picture meant to point to rebellious Israel that had rejected him:

The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.”… Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’”—Ezekiel 37:1–3, 11 

Notice there is valley and it is full of dry bones. Why point out that they are dry? It shows how long they’ve been dead. These bones have been here awhile. God asks, “Can these bones live?” The obvious human answer is “No.” Dead bones can’t live. Dead bones can’t raise themselves. Dead bones can’t get up and turn into living, breathing human beings. Israel says, “Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, we are cut off.”

But the prophet wisely answers, “O Lord GOD, you know.” He knows all power belongs to God. We will come back to this picture later, but I want us to feel the reality of the situation apart from the work of God. The world is a valley filled with dry bones who are “dried up … lost … cut off.”

Blind in Our Sin 

And that reality exists because we are blind in our sin. We see this in the story of Nicodemus don’t we? Just the complete blindness of an educated and generally earnest man.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.—John 3:1

This man is a leader. He knows the Old Testament Scriptures. And he comes in kindness and respect to Jesus. “We know you are a teacher from God because no one can do these signs unless God is with him” (v. 2).

Brothers and sisters, let this be a heart-check for us. It is possible to know your Bible, to be very religious, to even lead others in these things, to have a respect and admiration for Jesus, and still be completely blind in your sin and miss the personal, saving truth of Jesus.

Now why do I say Nicodemus is blind in his sin? Is that too harsh? I don’t think so because of some things we see around these verses. First, Jesus responds in verse 3 by telling him, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Jesus is saying, you have questions not because you need a little more information. You are missing it because you are blind!

And later in 3:19 it says this: 

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

We are meant to see that Nicodemus is blind and coming to Jesus in the darkness. He’s still clinging to his sin in the darkness for now. He’s afraid of what people would think of him. Jesus was not popular because he was challenging the authority of the Pharisees. Nicodemus admits they knew he was from God and yet most of the Pharisees would try to kill him. Why? Because they loved the darkness of their own sinful stranglehold of power over the people. 

I think we are meant to see Nicodemus still in his sin and darkness, but also feel a sense of hope that at least he came to the Light of the world!

Jesus tells him he must be born again and Nicodemus responds by wondering how a man can go back into his mother’s womb in verse 4. Now, it’s easy to laugh at this question. How can you ask that? But, this week it landed on me how deep and complete is our lostness apart from the work of God. There isn’t any spiritual sight. Haven’t you experienced this with people you love when you share the gospel? Isn’t this how you were before your eyes were opened by God? You had heard the Bible but you couldn’t see the spiritual realities and significance of the kingdom of God—you could only see things naturally.

Jesus answers again in verses 5–8 about the work of the Spirit, and all Nicodemus can muster in verse 9 is “How can these things be?” He just can’t see. I hope this works compassion in your heart for the lost. You can’t see what you can’t see. Let’s be a people that prays with tears in our eyes for the lost around us rather than gets angry and fearful.

Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.”—John 3:10–11

You’re a teacher! You should know this. You are a teacher and you can’t even lead people to the hope of for their salvation. You can’t yet receive our testimony. You’re smart, religious, respectful, and even kind, but you’re still blind in your sins. So, what is the hope for Nicodemus and all humans—dry bones in a valley of death with no ability to see or live? 

Born by the Spirit

Our hope is that God might intervene! 

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world ... He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.—John 1:9–13 

Those who receive the Light of the World are those who are born of God. Often we hear this phrase, “Believe and you’ll be born again.” But, the Bible says it works the opposite way. We must be born again in order to believe and receive Jesus. And to be born again is simply of God.

Jesus says this must happen in order for us to see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Unless God does this decisive work in us, we cannot see the kingdom of God, and we cannot receive the Light of the World. Listen to how Jesus says this work of God happens: 

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter 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 again.’”—John 3:5–7

Jesus says that one must be born of water and the Spirit and then repeats that a fleshly, natural birth is one thing, but a birth by the Holy Spirit creates a new spiritual reality in someone. He’s saying there’s a need for a spiritual new birth. Where is Jesus getting this from?

I think Jesus is teaching the teacher by pointing back to a promise in the Old Testament that showed this reality. And it just so happens that the Old Testament passage he is pointing to comes right before the Valley of Dry Bones passage in Ezekiel 37.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”—Ezekiel 36:25–27 

This promise is pointing forward to a new covenant after the old one had been broken. What is the promise? That God will wash Israel from their sinful idolatries. He will give them a new heart filled by a new Spirit. He will put his Spirit within them and do heart surgery. Instead of guilt and shame, they are washed clean. Instead of hard, dry hearts, now soft, living hearts filled with the Spirit. And the Spirit will create a people who truly obey! 

Jesus says, “Don’t marvel at what I say! This is what the Bible has already taught. There is a guilt that needs to be cleansed. The Old Testament pointed to a day when that would happen in the New Covenant. There is a heart that needs to be transplanted —the Old Testament points to a day when I will do that by my Spirit. Nicodemus, do you want to see and enter the kingdom of God? You need this to happen to you. You need to be cleansed once-for-all for your sin and you need to have the Spirit take out your hard, blind heart and give you a soft, seeing heart.”

And verse 8 shows us the sovereignty of the Spirit to do this work: 

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

This is a play on words in the Greek. The word for wind is the same word as the word for Spirit. Jesus is making a point. The Spirit—like the wind—will do this work sovereignly. You can’t earn it or make it happen. You cannot predict it or know where it will blow next. But, you will hear the effects. You will know when he’s blowing. When the sovereign Spirit blows to make dry bones comes alive—you’ll know.

This is what Nicodemus and everyone needs. The sovereign blowing of the Spirit to raise dead souls to life and make blind eyes see the kingdom of God. Now, I hope this comes to you as amazingly good news. Some feel the sovereignty of God here as stifling and frustrating. But, remember the picture—we are a valley of dry bones. Our only hope is a sovereign Spirit to blow into us and raise us up. Dry bones can’t make themselves stand up and walk.

Beholding the Savior

So, what do we do then for those who are unbelieving? What do we say to our co-worker, friends, family? What do we bring to our neighborhoods and the nations? I think Jesus gives us a model here. We simply proclaim the good news of Jesus and pray for the Spirit to blow. Listen to Jesus just a few verses later. Where does he go with Nicodemus next? 

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”—John 3:14–16

What is Jesus talking about? He’s taking this Pharisee back to the law again and making a bold claim about himself. Nicodemus would have known that “the Son of Man” language was referring to the Messiah who would come to rescue Israel. Jesus is saying to him, “The Messiah is here. I am here to save the people. Listen to me. Look to me.”

But, then Jesus also adds this story about the snake being lifted up and says that is why the Son was sent to earth—so that people could have eternal life. 

And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.—Numbers 21:4–9

It would have been surprising to hear that the Son of Man was coming die when the people of Israel hoped he’d come to overthrow Rome. 

But this is what Jesus is saying! “You are dead in your sins. You have all turned against God. But, God, in his mercy has sent me! I am the Messiah. And I am going to be lifted up so that all who simply look on me will live. For those who look to me and trust me, they will not die in the curse of their sins, but I will take their curse on me and die their death for them and they will live forever! This is why I’m here. This is the love of God to the world, that if they simply confess their sins, believe that I have paid for them on the cross, and look to me, then they will live!” 

So, what do we do even though we cannot make the Spirit blow? We preach the truth of the gospel—that Jesus became a curse for us so that if we believe in him our curse is removed and we live forever. And then we pray that the Spirit would blow on that gospel and save. The Spirit glorifies Jesus. And this is what he does in the new birth. He creates a new heart that sees the truth and beauty of Jesus and then believes. This is the greatest miracle the Spirit does.

Application: Is the Breath of God in You?

When we left the prophet in Ezekiel 37, he was saying, “Only you know, Lord, if these bones can live.” The LORD responds by telling Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones to live. Let me read to you what happens:

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. ... Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. … And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.”—Ezekiel 37:7–10, 12–14

From dry bones dead to the Lord to an army raised up for the Lord. Raised from the dead to do the work of the Lord. So, just let me end with three points.

• Is the breath of God in you? We’ve seen that you can know about Jesus, respect Jesus, and even teach others about the Bible and be totally lost. Do you see Jesus as the one who took your curse? The picture we see in Ezekiel 36 and 37 is that those who have the Spirit blow on them for salvation are also those who have the Spirit dwell inside of them and make them obey Jesus. Do you love Jesus as your Savior? Do you long to follow him as your King? Do you increasingly hate your sin that is treason? Do you love your brothers and sisters who were born into the same family? (1 John)
• Notice that God uses a prophet to speak to the bones so that the Spirit brings them to life. Notice that Jesus points Nicodemus to himself. Who in your life desperately needs someone to tell them about Jesus so that the Spirit—who loves to glorify Jesus—might blow on your words and raise them up?
• Don’t lose heart, initial blindness is not a final verdict:
  
  Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.—John 19:39

I pray that this amazing reality would humble us to see what God has done for us by the Spirit in saving us from our sins. I pray it would cause us to repent and ask the Spirit to continue to transform our hearts to obey him and walk in true life. And I pray it would embolden us to proclaim Jesus to others and then pray for the Spirit to do this work in them.

If you are trusting Jesus today, then worship because it is his breath—his Spirit that makes your praise possible. He has raised you up. You were dead, and he caused you to be born again so that you could have eternal life with him forever. And if you’re not trusting in Jesus, come to him now, ask the Spirit to truly come, cause you to be born again, and to believe.