The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Panorama City, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the tape, GC 70-11, titled "Bible Questions and Answers."  A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE.

Question

In the Bible, John 3:3-5, it says here, "You must be born again to see the  kingdom of God." Then in verse 5, after Nicodemus questioned some, it says  "Jesus answered, 'Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of  water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." I always  understood that to mean that "except in water," being accepting the Word of  Jesus, and "of the Spirit, being born of the Spirit," being baptized by the  Holy Spirit. I am just curious, like the church teaches ceremonial  sacraments, the seven sacraments, plus the Catholic Church, I think, does  nine. How do you relate that to the Holy Sacraments?

Answer

Let's look at that chapter again, OK? Just look there. Jesus is approached  at night by a man named Nicodemus. If you will notice, verse one, it says he  was a ruler of the Jews, and he was a Pharisee. He was therefore an expert  in the Old Testament. He was not only an expert as a Pharisee, but he was so  expert that they had made him a ruler--probably meant he was part of the  Sanhedrin, which was the seventy most knowledgeable men in Israel, so he knew  the law; he knew the Old Testament. 

He came to Jesus at night probably because he couldn't get near Him during  the daytime, because of the crowd, and because he wasn't too sure he wanted  to be exposed himself to the other Pharisees, so he came at night. He says,  "Look, we know that You come from God as a teacher; nobody can do the signs  You do unless God is with them, and I've got to ask you a question." Well,  before the guy could even ask the question, Jesus answered it--because Jesus  could read the question before he spoke it, because he could read his mind.  His question was, "How do you get in the kingdom?" 

So Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again,  he cannot see the kingdom of God." Now, what must have been the question in  his mind is something like this: "Now, I have kept the Law, I am a Pharisee,  which means I am devoted to legalism, Law-keeping, obedience. I am a ruler  of the Jews, which means I live by the highest standard." And his question  might have been, "What more do I need to do to get in the kingdom?" He  obviously had a vacuum in his heart. He didn't feel like he had arrived at  the kingdom; he didn't have the peace of God in his heart. He didn't have  that confidence that he was really a child of God, that he had been redeemed,  that his eternity was secure. 

So his question was probably like, "Now, what more do I need to do? What one  more step? I have done all these good works, and kept all these laws, now 
what else do I need to do?" Now, Jesus reads his mind and says, "I'll tell  you what you need to do--you need to junk it all and go all the way back, and  start all over again and be born again! All that you have done up to now  doesn't count! Go be born again!" Start all over, which was a real jolt.  What he was saying was, "Your accumulation of good works means absolutely  nothing." You know Jesus didn't come to add one little touch to your good  life. He says, "You have got to go back and start all over again--from the  very beginning!" 

Nicodemus says, "Wait a minute (verse four), how can a man be born again when  he is old?" He understands the analogy, he is not talking about physical 
birth--he says how am I going to do that? How in the world can I go and  start all over again? How am I going to go way back and begin again? Jesus  answers (and here is verse five--I want you to look at it), "Truly, truly, I  say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the  kingdom of God."

It is not what you do. It is not your good works--you must be born of the  water and the spirit. The immediate question is, "What is He talking about?"  Is He talking about Baptism? What is He talking about? Well, let us find  the context.

Nicodemus was a Jew. He was a ruler of the Jews. He knew the Old Testament,  so Jesus was talking to him on Old Testament terms. What Jesus has in mind 
in verse five, takes Nicodemus back into the Old Testament. Where it takes  him. . . .lets go together, take your Bible and turn because this is a  great, great, and important matter. Back to the prophet Ezekiel, and it was  in the prophet Ezekiel that God originally laid down the conditions of the  New Covenant--Ezekiel. Listen carefully, in Ezekiel's prophecy, verse 25 of  chapter 36, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean;  I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.  Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit 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. . . ." Now, stop right there.

Now, what God said through Ezekiel is this, "In the future there will be a  New Covenant. It will be a covenant of water--I will sprinkle clean water  upon you." What water? The water of cleansing. And what is the agency of  cleansing? "We have been washed by the water of the Word." So the water  there is the washing of the Word that washes the heart, and the spirit is the  Holy Spirit that He plants within. So what He was saying to Nicodemus was,  "Look, Nicodemus, you don't need to just add a few things to your life. You  need your whole life washed and you need the Spirit of God in you." That's  what He is saying. It has nothing to do with water baptism or with any other  of the ordinances or the sacraments.

Question (continued)

If you have accepted this (3 and 5), is it necessary to go through the holy  sacraments (which I have done)?

Answer (continued)

Let me tell you something--there are only two ordinances that the New  Testament gives: one, Baptism, Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptized," very  clear.

Question (continued)

Is it not being born of the water? I always understood it as being baptized  by water, by accepting the Word of Jesus?

Answer (continued)

No, it means to actually, publicly step into the water to make your faith  known, because on the Day of Pentecost 3,000 people were baptized in water,  so that was exactly what they were doing. Jesus Himself went to John the  Baptist and let him baptize Him in the Jordan river. Remember the eunuch who  met Philip? After he came to Christ he said, "What prevents me from being  baptized?" Philip took him down into the water and baptized him. It is an  outward symbol of an inward response. It is the way you publicly confess  Christ. There is nothing in that water that's going to save you. There is  nothing in that water that is going to wash your sin away, but it does give  you the public opportunity to declare your obedience.

The second ordinance that the Lord gave us was Communion--the Lord's Table.  Jesus said, "Do this until I come." And the early church did it every day,  and every Lord's Day. It is the cup and the bread by which we remember the  death of Christ. 

So the only two ordinances the New Testament gives to us, one, when you come  to Christ, be baptized in water to declare your faith publicly. Number two, 
take the Lord's Table. Those two symbols are the symbols that the Lord has  left us, apart from that the rest aren't necessary. They are fabrications of  the church.