Bible Basics: The Sovereignty of God in the Salvation of Men

"Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?"
John 3:9

I have heard people say that predestination is beyond them. What they mean is they don't want to dwell on it because they think it is too heady. I've also known people who simply will not even consider it because they are so replused by it.

Yet it is one of the most elementary truths of Scripture.

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have been one of the elite religious leaders. He would have had the equivalent of a Ph.d. in Judaism or, more specifically, Old Testament studies. And just like you would turn to the seminary professors of today for the answers to your theology questions, people would have turned to Nicodemus for insight into God's Word.

But Nicodemus failed theology 101 with Jesus.

When Jesus starts talking about the new birth and God's sovereign work of changing a sinner's heart (otherwise known as regeneration), Nicodemus seems dumbfounded. "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"

After Jesus explains that he needs to be born of the Spirit you would think that Nicodemus' credentials need to be revoked by the way he responds: "How can these things be?"

Jesus responds (and you can feel the words pierce the prideful heart of Nicodemus), "Are you not the teacher of Israel and you do not know these things?"

Get it now, they've been talking about the sovereign work of the Spirit in the heart of a man ("The flesh gives birth to flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit...the Spirit blows where it wishes.") And Jesus says, "You? A teacher of Israel? The teacher of Israel! You don't understand these things?"

If I might even give a more to the point paraphrase: "Come on, this is stuff you should have learned in your Sabbath school classes. Any child who is slightly familiar with the Bible should know this."

Don't believe me? Well, I can speak from experience. My wife and I have recently went through it with our 5 yr old daughter at our family devotions. The Children's Catechism asks, "For whom did Jesus die?" Answer: All his chosen people. Again it asks, "Who can change a sinner's heart?" Answer: The Holy Spirit alone. My daughter might not get all the implications, but at least she can spit out the answers. (A lot better than Mr. Know-It-All Pharisee, anyway).

My point is, not only is the doctrine of of the new birth one of the most devotional doctrines of all Scripture and a great testimony to the sovereign grace of God in salvation, it is also simple and for the simple.