#140 - Joby Martin // Born Again: Understanding True Salvation

Jesus meets Nicodemus where he is—confused about salvation—and patiently explains that eternal life isn't achieved through works but received through spiritual rebirth.

• Nicodemus approaches Jesus at night with questions about entering God's kingdom
• Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be "born again" to see the kingdom of God
• Nicodemus misunderstands, thinking in physical rather than spiritual terms
• Jesus explains that spiritual birth comes through water and the Spirit, not human effort
• Unlike other religions where humans must ascend to God, Christianity reveals God who descended to us
• Just as newborns don't work to be born, salvation is received rather than achieved
• Religious people often struggle with grace, believing they must earn salvation
• The gospel is not that we first loved God but that God first loved us

If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review.

Support the show

Want to connect? Email [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Daily Blade.
The Word of God is described asthe sword of the Spirit, the
primary spiritual weapon in theChristian's armor against the
forces of evil.
Your hosts are Joby Martin andKyle Thompson, and they stand
ready to equip men for the fight.
Let's sharpen up.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, welcome back.
Day two.
We're gonna pick it up in versethree.
Again, this is Nicodemus comingto Jesus at night with some
questions.
And again, one of the thingsthat's really cool is that
Nicodemus has lots of questionsand Nicodemus doesn't understand
the nature of God, he doesn'tunderstand the nature of
salvation, and you're going tosee it very, very clearly in

(00:42):
this dialogue that Jesus haswith him.
But what I love is that, eventhough Nicodemus is a teacher of
the scriptures and even thoughhe is in a place of authority,
jesus is going to meet him rightwhere he is and he's going to
help him understand.
He doesn't necessarily scoldhim or chastise him and say why
don't you go off and learn somestuff and come back when you

(01:03):
have a greater understanding?
That's not what he does.
He meets us right where we are.
John, chapter three, beginningin verse three, says and Jesus
answered Nicodemus, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is
born again, he cannot see thekingdom of God.
And Nicodemus said to him howcan a man be born when he is old
?
Can he enter a second time intohis mother's womb and be born?

(01:25):
And Jesus answers him dude,what in the world are you
talking about.
That's the nastiest thing I'veever heard of.
That's not what he says at all,but that's what I'm thinking.
You see, nicodemus is so caughtup in a works-based
righteousness.
What must I do to inheriteternal life?
Is the vibe that is comingalong with Nicodemus.
Jesus starts it out with bro,you got to be born again.

(01:47):
And the first thing thatNicodemus begins to say is okay,
well, what must I do to do that?
Do I have to enter my mother'swomb a second time?
And Jesus is like that's grossman, stop.
So Jesus answered.
Truly, truly, I say to youunless one is born of water and
the spirit, he cannot enter thekingdom of God.
That which is born of flesh isflesh and that which is born of

(02:09):
the spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that.
I said to you.
You must be born again.
The wind blows where it wishesand you hear it sound, but you
do not know where it comes fromor where it goes.
So it is with everyone born ofthe spirit.
And Nicodemus said to him howcan these things be?
And Jesus answered him are youthe teacher of Israel?

(02:30):
And yet you do not understandthese things.
Truly, truly, I say to you wespeak of what we know and bear
witness to what we have seen,but you do not receive our
testimony.
If I have told you earthlythings and you do not believe,
how can you believe if I tellyou heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heavenexcept he who descended from

(02:52):
heaven, the son of man.
Fundamentally, what Nicodemus ismissing here is Nicodemus
thinks that we have to obey inorder to be accepted.
And Jesus is saying that is nothow salvation works.
He says no one has ascendedinto heaven except he who
descended from heaven.
In other words, the onecommonality every worldview has

(03:14):
is that something has gone wrong.
There's something wrong withthe human condition.
But every other world religionand every other worldview says
so.
It is up to us to makeourselves right in order to be
accepted by God, whether that'salign your chakra or visit Mecca
or obey the five pillars orjust take enough laps around

(03:36):
reincarnation and one day youcan go from grasshopper to
nirvana.
But what is unique about thegospel is Jesus says I didn't
wait up in heaven in order foryou to get things right, for you
to come to me, but I havedescended from heaven to come
and do for you what you cannotdo for yourself, and so what you
need to do is be born again.

(03:56):
Well, let me ask you a questionfor any of you that are fathers
.
When your child was born Idon't know if you were in the
room I was in the room.
It was pretty traumatic for me,but there was somebody working
in that room, and it was not mykids.
It was my wife doing the workto birth my child.
And what Jesus is sayingessentially is this is that

(04:16):
salvation must be received.
It cannot be achieved Likebeing born.
You did not decide to be born,but your mom and daddy, out of
an overflow of love for eachother, created you.
And, in a similar way, godcreated you out of an overflow
of love for himself, and that'swhy we're here, and the reason
that we are saved is not becausewe first loved God, but God
first loved us and sent his sonas the propitiation for our sin,

(04:40):
the payment that satisfies.
And so salvation is notsomething we achieve.
Salvation is something that wereceive, that Jesus came down
from heaven to get us.
We don't work our way up to him.
This is salvation for all whobelieve that we receive the
right to be called children ofGod, and this is very, very,
very hard for religious peopleto understand because we don't

(05:04):
believe that it's by grace thatwe're saved.
I mean, I know that's what theBible says and that's what is
actually true, but deep down inour soul there's a lot of people
you've been around church along time and you think, like
Nicodemus, I have to dosomething to be saved.
That is not the gospel.
That.
This is the gospel, not that wefirst loved God, but God first
loved us and he did for us whatwe could not do for ourselves.

(05:25):
He died in our place and hasinvited us to receive that
salvation by faith.
Amen.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Thank you for listening to today's episode
Before you go.
If you want to help equip othermen for the fight, share this
podcast around and leave us afive-star rating and review.
Stay sharp.