On Being Born Again
Notes
Transcript
Pause to Praise
Pause to Praise
What is he doing?
Praising God
Command to praise: Psalm 117:1-2 “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples! For His merciful kindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!”
To praise is an expression of adoration, approval, honor, blessing, gratitude, joy and much more.
It is a critical part of our worship. All praise is worship but not all worship is praise in the strictest sense of the words.
Praise is verbal expressions
Worship includes verbal expressions of praise but also includes many other things as well.
Service
Confession
Evangelism
Good works
Meditation on God’s word
Sacrifice
Who is he praising?
God the Father
Peter also reminds us of our connection to the Father through the Son.
Why is he praising?
The text tells us clearly why Peter is praising God. This leads us to our next two points.
However, the most simplified version of why we praise God is:
For who He is
For what He has done
To make Him known
In this particular text Peter begins by praising God for his salvation.
Being Born Again
Being Born Again
Given by God
Begotten us again
Given us a new birth
We frequently refer to our salvation as being born again. It is a biblical concept.
An important truth that we should frequently remind ourselves of is that we are not the cause of our birth whether physically or spiritually.
You did not choose to be born.
And while human agency does play a part in accepting Christ we must never forget that our salvation and sanctification is a work of God.
Thus when Peter Pauses to praise God his being born again is the soil from which his praise grows.
According to His mercy
This new birth given to us by God was given according to His mercy.
Mercy: compassion or forgiveness shown towards an enemy or person in one’s power.
Our new birth in Christ was an act of compassion and forgiveness.
It certainly was not the justice we deserved. The justice we deserved was poured out on the cross.
Into two realities
A Living Hope
The fundamental difference between the hope of the world and the hope of the Christian.
For the world hope is a gamble
For the Christian hope is an expectation
We have a living hope because we have a living Savior.
Our hope is in a Savior who defeated death. As Peter exclaims that we have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection.
That certainly gives Peter and us a purpose to praise the God who saved us.
A Perfect Inheritance
Incorruptible
Imperishable
Unlike everything else in this world the inheritance you have in Christ is not decaying.
Undefiled
Your inheritance in Christ is unmarred by sin.
It is untouched by the world and out of their reach.
Even your own sinful flesh cannot spoil this inheritance.
Does not fade - repetition of the same concept for emphasis
Reserved
It has your name on it.
There is no scenario in which someone can swipe this out from under you.
The original languages makes it clear that it is God who is doing the reserving or keeping.
What is our inheritance?
Eternal life in heaven with God.
Do you remember the words of the Rich young ruler? Mark 10:17 “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?””
Guarded by God
Guarded by God
Who are kept? - those who have a reservation in heaven.
How are they kept?
By the power of God - the power of God is the means by which your salvation is guaranteed.
Jude 24 “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,”
John 10:28-29 “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.”
Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Through faith - faith is the vehicle which takes us to our inheritance. Just don’t forget that God is the one who puts the gas in the tank.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
Definition: Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” - Being confident in the person and work of God without visual confirmation.
Peter describes the role of faith in the believer later in the chapter
True faith goes beyond a simple acknowledgement of God’s existence (James 2:19) to a life-changing reliance on who God is, as revealed in the Bible.
Faith is putting your eternal state in God’s hands.
For salvation
Ready to be revealed
Consider again Ephesians 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” for what are we sealed? The day of redemption.
What can you do to be ready for the day of Christ’s return?
Nothing, it is really all about what Christ has already done.