Sunday's Sermon Outline

1. We must come to Jesus in spite of our doubts (John 3:1-3). The fact that Nicodemus came to visit Jesus at night was significant. He had his doubts about who Jesus was. Jesus used the term “born again” to indicate that a complete change is necessary for salvation.

2. We must come to Jesus by water and the Spirit (John 3:4-8). The water has been improperly interpreted as the water of physical baptism and as the water of physical birth, but it should be properly understood as a reference to the word of God (Ephesians 5:26). The Spirit is compared to the wind because He has an invisible appearance but visible effects.

3. We must come to Jesus through faith (John 3:16, 36). We have everlasting life at the moment that we have saving faith. Everlasting life cannot be lost. The wrath of God abides on those who refuse to surrender their lives to Jesus in repentance and faith. We are thus warned that the ultimate, final rejection of Jesus by a non-Christian under the special conviction of the Spirit is unpardonable (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-29).