“His Mercy Is More”
A while back I was taking my youngest to one of her sporting events when, out of the blue, she asked me, “How can someone be born again?” I hadn’t been paying much attention to the radio, but it turns out one of the songs mentioned being born again.
I immediately started chuckling to myself because her question was the exact same question Nicodemus asked Jesus. In our key text for Sunday (John 3:1–8), Jesus and Nicodemus are having a conversation,
Jesus says:“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus responds: “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answers: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
A couple of notes about this interaction:
- The word “again” in this context carries a double meaning: both “again” (a second time) and “from above.”1
- “Water” in John’s Gospel evokes images of cleansing (9:7; 13:5), sustaining life (4:10–14; 6:35; 7:37–38), and is even directly connected to the Spirit.2
The theme of rebirth appears over and over throughout the New Testament (see 1 Peter 1:3 and 1 Peter 1:22–23, for example). But what does it actually mean?
One of the clearest explanations comes from 2 Corinthians 5:17–19:
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation… in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”
To be born again is to be made new. It is a spiritual rebirth — not something we accomplish ourselves, but something God does in us. The old self, marked by sin and separation from God, is replaced with new life in Christ.
This Sunday we are once again celebrating baptisms. Baptism doesn’t save us, but it is something Jesus commanded us to do after we believe — an outward sign of an inward faith. It symbolizes dying to our old nature, being buried with Christ, being cleansed from our sin by His blood, and being raised to walk in new life.
Ephesians 2:8–9 reminds us:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
“Spiritual rebirth is not initiated by human will, but brought about by the sovereign work of the Spirit.
Which makes our closing song all the more breathtaking. A perfect, holy, all-knowing, all-powerful God chooses to offer mercy when we deserve condemnation.
Here are just a few lyrics from our closing song “His Mercy Is More”
“What love could remember no wrongs we have done
Omniscient all knowing He counts not their sum”
“What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford”
Each verse ends with the same refrain:
“Our sins they are many His mercy is more”
The truth of the gospel is that we have racked up an unpayable debt against God. Because of our sin, there is no way we could ever meet the requirements for fellowship with Him. As the song says, “Our sins they are many…”
Yet, “…His mercy is more.” His mercy is greater than our sin. He has shown us mercy by sending His Son to pay the debt we could never pay, so that we could have a restored relationship with God.
That is what we are celebrating this Sunday — people who have come to understand that reality and have committed their lives to Christ as Lord.
And my prayer is that if you have not yet taken that step, you would. That you would trust in Christ, receive the gift of His grace, and experience the new life that only He can give.
Adam
- Edward W. Klink III, John, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), Kindle edition, loc. 332. ↩︎
- Edward W. Klink III, John, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2016), Kindle edition, loc. 335 ↩︎