John 3:3-12 Jesus Explains About The Water and The Spirit

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?" 5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." 9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?" 10 Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 "Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

Today we will go back a few verses to get the context of this section. We will see Jesus speaking to Nicodemus about his eternal destiny. The Pharisee’s were literalists, in other words they took everything too exact. When the Bible said to keep the Word before them always, they put little boxes with scripture in them and tied them to their head. Nicodemus seems to be doing this, but as we get down to the end of this section we will see the real problem. Jesus says how can you receive heavenly things if you will not believe the earthly things I tell you (cf: verse 12). It all really comes down to disbelief and what we really want to believe or not believe. Nicodemus will not believe, so he cannot receive eternal life.