Responses to Jesus

In John 3:1-5, Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as a teacher from God and that God is with Him. No one could do the signs, miracles Jesus did unless God was with Him. Jesus' answer to Nicodemus was, "Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God," "Unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Nicodemus understood Jesus to use the word cannot as unable to see, unable to enter. Unless one is born again, born from above he is unable to see, unable to enter the kingdom of God.
How does one become 'born again' or 'born from above'? In one sense we are born from below, earthly, natural, physical. What comes with that is a corrupt, depraved sin nature, spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, which naturally chooses according to the sin nature, in fact unable to choose anything other because man is dead, enslaved, blind, deaf, and therefore cannot see and cannot enter.
We could come to the conclusion as did Nicodemus that we would need a second birth, a miraculous birth due to the utter impossiblilty of a second natural birth process.
Jesus' explanation in verse 5 gives some clarity to Nicodemus' reasoning, "Unless one is born of "water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
In John 3:6-8, Nicodemus was obviously amazed at Jesus' statement because Jesus said to him, "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again', the wind blows where it wishes and you hear it's 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."
Just as man does not know where the wind comes from or where it is going, has no control over it, so man does not know where the Spirit is working- man has no control over the Spirit. The wind blows where it wishes and the Holy Spirit works where He wishes. Man can hear the sound of the wind and see the movement it causes but he cannot stop it from blowing, cannot keep it from causing the movement. Neither can man stop the Spirit from working where He wishes, when He wishes.
The natural man cannot choose Christ from anything within his own ability. His salvation depends on the work of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit works in a persons life the effects will be evident.
I still marvel that God would choose to save me. So undeserving and yet so thankful!

to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Norma
We can hear and see the effects of the wind and we can hear and see the effects of the Spirit. Everyone who is born of God will have the evidence of the Spirit in their lives.