The Life Only Jesus Gives

Devotional

Day 1: The Wind’s Whisper and the Cry of New Life

The new birth is as untamable as the wind, reshaping lives beyond human control. Jesus compares the Spirit’s work to a breeze that moves invisibly yet unmistakably—its effects heard in the gasps of awakened hearts. This life isn’t manufactured by moral effort or mystical experiences but birthed by God’s power. Just as a newborn’s first breath signals life, faith becomes the audible proof of this divine stirring. The Spirit’s aim isn’t spectacle but surrender to Christ as all-sufficient. [07:07]

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its 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.
(John 3:8, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you tried to control or predict the Spirit’s work rather than resting in His mysterious renewal? How might your doubts soften if you trusted His unseen movement?

Day 2: When Miracles Blind Instead of Awaken

Nicodemus admired Jesus’ miracles but missed the life behind them. Signs and wonders, unless they point to Christ as the source, become distractions—like marveling at a surgeon’s scalpel but ignoring the healing it brings. The supernatural in Jesus’ hands is meant to reveal His glory, not merely astonish. True life begins not in awe of power but in dependence on the Person. [02:10]

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
(John 3:3, ESV)

Reflection: Do you seek Jesus more for what He does or who He is? What would it look like to treasure Him even if His miracles ceased?

Day 3: Crystals Can’t Cry, but New Hearts Can

Regeneration isn’t a spiritual high or positive thinking—it’s resurrection. The new birth creates a heart that clings to Christ, not crystals, careers, or comforts. Unlike temporary emotional fixes, this life endures because it flows from union with Jesus. The Spirit doesn’t make us religious; He makes us alive, replacing self-reliance with childlike faith. [07:33]

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
(John 6:63, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you confused spiritual experiences with true rebirth? How does your daily dependence on Christ prove deeper than fleeting feelings?

Day 4: The Vine’s Pulse in the Branches’ Veins

Life flows only through connection. Just as branches wither apart from the vine, we die without Christ. The Spirit’s surgery isn’t abstract—He grafts us into Jesus, making His life our sustenance. This union isn’t metaphor but reality: every breath of faith, every fruit of love, proves the Vine’s vitality in us. [14:14]

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
(John 15:5, ESV)

Reflection: What “good things” have you pursued independently from Christ? How might abiding in Him transform your striving into rest?

Day 5: Faith—the Birthmark of the Twice-Born

Genuine faith isn’t a decision but a divine fingerprint. Like a newborn’s cry, it’s the involuntary response to being alive in Christ. The Spirit doesn’t birth silent hearts—He ignites confession, trust, and hunger for Jesus. Where there’s life, there’s faith; where there’s faith, there’s life. They’re inseparable, twin gifts of grace. [16:35]

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.
(1 John 5:1, ESV)

Reflection: Does your faith feel more like a duty or a delight? How does your hunger for Christ confirm the Spirit’s work within you?

Sermon Summary

John 3:1-10 brings Nicodemus to Jesus with a true confession: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God.” Nicodemus sees genuine divine activity in Jesus. Jesus does not stop to congratulate him. Jesus passes right under that insight and says, in effect, seeing the supernatural in Jesus is not the key to the kingdom. Experiencing the supernatural in the soul is the key to the kingdom.

Signs and wonders can be real works of God. God heals the sick. God drives out demons. God can raise the dead. God puts impossible marriages back together. The church should pray for such wonders. But signs and wonders carry a danger when the phenomena themselves become the treasure. Lost people can be amazed by miracles. Demons can even confess true things about Jesus. Ordinary human nature can look at power and say, “That is of God,” and still remain dead.

The new birth, then, is not religious excitement, not turning over a new leaf, not a rush of peace from crystals in the night, not an ecstasy from some other source. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Flesh produces flesh. The Spirit produces spirit. The wind blows where it wishes, and so is everyone born of the Spirit. The new birth is supernatural, above nature, beyond the resources of this universe. God alone can do it.

The Spirit gives life, but the Gospel of John will not let that life be separated from Jesus. Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” John says these things are written so that believing in Jesus, sinners may have life in his name. There is no life anywhere except in Christ. The Spirit gives life by connecting dead sinners to Jesus.

The Spirit loves to magnify Jesus. At root, “he gets us connected to Jesus.” He draws the dead into union with Christ, where life is. That is the “surgical, divine, objective, spiritual, supernatural reality.” At the conscious level, that life appears as faith. Faith is the cry of the newborn baby. Where there is new birth, there is faith in Jesus. Where there is genuine faith in Jesus, there is new birth. “He who has the Son has life.”

##

Key Takeaways

1. Signs can amaze without giving life [03:19] Signs and wonders may truly come from God, but amazement is not regeneration. The unrenewed heart can be fascinated by power while remaining untouched by the glory of Christ. The danger is not in praying for miracles, but in loving miracles more than the name to which they point. [03:19]
2. New birth is not religious excitement [07:23] The new birth is not a mood, a mystical high, or a sudden inner calm from any spiritual source. Flesh can produce intense experiences, but only the Spirit gives spiritual life. Regeneration is not nature acting at its highest; it is God acting where nature has no power. [07:23]
3. The Spirit connects sinners to Christ [13:28] The Spirit gives life by uniting dead sinners to Jesus, because life is in the Son. The Spirit does not draw attention away from Christ, but magnifies him by making Christ the sinner’s life. Union with Christ is not decoration added to faith; it is the deep miracle beneath all true faith. [13:28]
4. Faith is newborn life crying [15:08] Faith is not a detached human contribution added after regeneration. Faith is the first cry of life awakened by the Spirit. Wherever new birth has happened, faith reaches for Jesus; wherever genuine faith exists, the Spirit has already given life. [15:08]
5. Never separate birth and belief [18:23] John 3 holds together what must never be torn apart: “Unless one is born again,” and “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” From God’s side, the Spirit gives life and unites the sinner to Christ. From the human side, that union is experienced as believing, receiving, and treasuring the Son.

## [18:23]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:30] - Nicodemus Sees Divine Activity
[02:10] - Seeing Signs Is Not Enough
[03:02] - The Ambivalence About Wonders
[04:17] - Demons Can Confess True Things
[05:11] - Loving Jesus More Than Miracles
[06:19] - Born of Flesh and Spirit
[07:07] - The Wind Blows Where It Wishes
[08:04] - New Life, Not New Religion
[09:24] - Eternal Life Through Jesus
[11:17] - The Spirit Gives Life
[12:03] - Jesus Is the Life
[13:28] - The Spirit Connects to Christ
[15:08] - Faith Is the Newborn Cry
[18:23] - New Birth and Faith Together

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

John 3:1-10
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ 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?’ Jesus answered, ‘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. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its 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.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?’” [01:24]

John 3:36
“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” [18:32]

1 John 5:11-12
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” [17:06]

John 6:63
“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” [11:17]

Observation questions

What does Nicodemus say about Jesus, and how does Jesus immediately redirect the conversation? [02:10]
What examples are given of signs and wonders that can truly happen, and what danger can come with them? [03:02]
In John 3:6-8, what contrast is made between flesh and Spirit, and what picture does Jesus use to describe the Spirit’s work? [07:00]
What repeated statements show that life is found in Jesus and that the Spirit gives that life? [13:33]

Interpretation questions

Jesus does not deny that the signs point to God, yet he tells Nicodemus that this is still not enough. Why is seeing divine power in Jesus different from being born again? [02:19]
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” What does this teach about why human effort, religious intensity, or unusual spiritual experiences cannot produce new life? [07:20]
If the Spirit gives life and Jesus himself is life, what does it mean to say that the Spirit gives life by connecting sinners to Christ? [14:17]
Faith is described as the first cry of newborn life. How does that help explain the relationship between new birth and believing in Jesus? [15:08]

Application questions

It is possible to be impressed by God’s power and still remain unchanged. When the heart is drawn to the miraculous, what usually gets the most attention: the gift itself, or Christ himself as treasure? [05:24]
The new birth is not just a new religious mood or a spiritual high. When spiritual experiences are evaluated, what signs help show whether they are leading toward Jesus in faith or simply producing excitement? [07:38]
Flesh produces flesh, and only the Spirit gives life. Where is there a temptation right now to rely on effort, personality, discipline, or religious activity to do what only God can do? [08:32]
The Spirit loves to magnify Jesus by bringing sinners into union with him. In daily life, what helps a person become more aware that life is not found in self, but in being joined to Christ? [14:11]
Wherever there is life, there is faith in Jesus. When faith feels weak, what might it look like to come to Jesus honestly as a needy person rather than waiting to feel stronger first? [15:15]
“Whoever has the Son has life.” In this season, what does it practically look like not merely to admire Jesus, but to have him as life, Savior, Lord, and treasure? [17:25]
New birth and faith should never be separated. How might this truth bring both humility and hope to someone praying for their own heart or for the salvation of another person? [18:42]

Sermon Clips

Never, Bethlehem, separate these two verses in John 3, verse 3 and verse 36. Verse 3, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Verse 36, "Whoever believes in the son has eternal life." Because wherever the new birth is, there is faith. And wherever genuine faith is, there is the new birth. And they're never separated. [00:18:15]

"I will send the Spirit and he will glorify me," Jesus said. The reason the Spirit is here in this room is to awaken hearts to see Christ for who he is and cause you to make much of him and love him and delight in him and trust him and admire him and follow him and obey him and die for him. That's why the Holy Spirit's here, to get Jesus up big in your heart. [00:10:02]

Nicodemus sees in Jesus genuine divine activity. Jesus is from God. He says that. To which Jesus does not respond, Nicodemus, I wish everybody in Palestine could see what you see. He doesn't say that. Even though what Nicodemus just said is gloriously true. He just passes right under it. And says, "Seeing in me the supernatural is not the key to the kingdom. Experiencing the supernatural in you is the key to the kingdom." That's what he's saying. [00:01:38]

And yet we're not connected. We're lost, we're dead, there's no life in us. Where is life? It's in Jesus. The Spirit loves to magnify Jesus. How does he magnify Jesus? At root, he gets us connected to Jesus. He He draws us into union with Christ where there's life. That's the the surgical, divine, objective, spiritual, supernatural reality. [00:14:07]

So, here are my two answers so far. One, what happens in the new birth is not getting a new religion or getting a hyped-up religion, but getting a new life through birth, spiritual birth. And secondly, what happens in regeneration or in the new birth is not seeing in Jesus the supernatural merely. You got to do that. But rather experiencing the supernatural in here. [00:07:56]

Is your interest in the miraculous because it points you to the name, the sweetest name on earth, so that if no miracles happen in your life, he would be there as your treasure and your all? [00:05:24]

The new birth is not turning over a new leaf. The new birth is not waking up in the middle of the night when you've been really depressed and discouraged and crying out to your crystals and feeling a great peace come over you and knowing something amazing has happened and you've been born again. [00:07:20]

There's no life but Christ. There's no life anywhere but being attached to Christ. So, yes, we've got this one truth, the spirit gives life. And then we got this other set of truths in John, Jesus is life. And we got to bring these together. [00:12:12]

It takes no new nature, no new life to be amazed at signs and wonders. None. Ordinary people, lost and hellbound, are amazed when somebody is made well miraculously. They're amazed when some circumstance in life is turned right around by the intervention of God. [00:03:24]

We experience it because wherever there is life, there is faith in Jesus. Everywhere life is awakened, the first experience is faith. Faith [snorts] is the cry of the newborn baby. You spank that baby, whack whack whack. Means trust trust you. There is no life where there's no faith. And there is no faith where there's no life. Never Bethlehem. Never never never separate the new birth from faith in Jesus. [00:14:52]

These [snorts] things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and believing you may have life in his name. So, you got these three verses and goodness knows how many others in the Gospel of John that say there's no life apart from Jesus. He is life. If [snorts] you don't get connected with Jesus, if you're not united with Jesus, you're not going to have any life. [00:12:45]

The life that's given is given by the spirit of God and it is supernaturally given and produces something above nature that the resources of this universe cannot do. God alone can do it. [00:08:32]

Once we have in place the deep roots of the new birth, so that we're not distracted by the phenomena of the signs and wonders, but all we see right through them to the glory of Jesus, which you can't see apart from the new birth. [00:04:36]

He will not let them be separated. He puts them right together. Because wherever there is this powerful working of the Holy Spirit, there is the experiencing of it through faith. [00:16:48]

Flesh, mom, dad, seed sown, conception, baby comes just like mom and dad. It's uh participating in that humanity. Spirit, seed sown by the word of God, new life comes into existence, participates in the divine reality. [00:06:35]

Ask a question about this sermon

Desiring God This sermon · AI assistant

How does the Holy Spirit give new life

Why are signs and wonders insufficient for salvation

What is the relationship between faith and new birth