All Things New: Born Again!
In Revelation 21:5 Jesus said, “I am making all things new.” Not I did… Not I will (someday)… But I Am—right now—renewing everything. Unfortunately, the past life of new believers too often enshackles them to a brokenness and the newness never comes… Let’s bury the past and seize God’s bright new today!
VIDEO: “Bury the Old Self”
1. Jesus Said, “You Must be Born Again.”
And he said, “I came to give you new life,” (John 10:10) with a new heart, new direction, a new-&-living hope, faith-alive, glory-filled joy, untold spiritual riches and eternal abundance. Be excited! Why are many believers not thrilled?
Well Jesus explained this to Nicodemus in John ch. 3, and Nicodemus took awhile to let it sink-in, too. Jesus said that if Nicodemus wanted to please God and enter into the kingdom he must 1st be “BORN AGAIN,” yet Nicodemus did not understand that. So Jesus went on to explain about the love of God and about the cross. Basically, he tried to teach Nicodemus about grace…
2. The New Life Is Established by God’s Amazing Grace.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, not by works…” (Ephesians 2:8)
We have this doctrine of the Holy Spirit called “prevenient grace” that teaches us that the Holy Spirit comes to every human—before they believe; before they admit faith or even an awareness of Christ—and this prevenient grace of God ministers to the yet-to-believe soul, with subtlety, bringing events together, shining a special light and showing every reason for seekers to seek…
In Acts 17 the Apostle Paul explained that God gave every soul this place of emptiness that can only be filled by God’s grace, and so people everywhere seek-&-search for him, spiritually groping blindly, reaching out and hopefully finding God’s love. In Romans ch. 1 it explains that everyone has enough of this light to ascertain God’s grace, and that all will be responsible for their response to that amazing prevenient grace…
…And POINT #3 shows us what that response looks like…
3. Entering into the New Life Starts with…
a. Confession
b. and Repentance
Jesus went around preaching, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” And he said, “Blessed are you who recognize your need of God’s grace, forgiveness & renewal” (Matt. 5:3) Jesus understood that everything must be made new; that every person must be created as a new creature. So He showed that they must Confess—admit—the past and move forward confessionally!
So what does it mean to confess and to repent?
To Confess & Repent means that you know that you cannot save yourself.
King David confessed—even as a man whose heart belonged to God—that his sins were ever before God. In other words, he was totally honest before God, and tried to hide nothing. He had to recognize his need of God’s forgiveness, because he also knew that the wages of his unconfessed sin is death! Titus 3:5 says, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us.”
To Confess & Repent also means that you Repent of your sins.
The only way to know if you’re really confessing is that you are sincerely sorrowful about falling short of God’s glory; your heart is grieved by sin. You feel like the guy that was drowning but got saved by heroic lifeguards who risked themselves to come out & get you. And more than that, they told you not to go out into the riptide but you did it anyway, and still they came out to save you. And there’s this sense of genuine appreciation and heart-felt thankfulness-&-appreciation that they saved you. And you know that God was in Christ to reconcile you to Him, and that He came out to get you saved, now you are repenting and changing your ways, because the word “repent” simply means to turn. So—YES!—you’re sorry, but a lot of people are sorry; you are repentant: turning your life around, making a change. In Luke 13:3 Jesus said, “Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish.”
To Confess & Repent means that you have Asked Jesus Christ to save you.
The Bible says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13) and “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).
To Confess & Repent means that you Proclaim Jesus before others.
“If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shall be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9, 10).
So there’s this really big deal that the Bible teaches... brings us into this blessed grace freely offered by God. It sounds like a lot, and many churches down-play the responsibility I have to live-out a confessional life, to walk confessionally and maintain an open-&-honest relationship with Jesus.
4. Your New Life Grows & Stays Fresh-&-New by Faith-fullness.
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, for you must believe faithfully, and know that He rewards those who seek Him faithfully—with faith!” (Hebrews 11:6)
One of the important intentions of Revelation is to show the church that it can & must remain faithful & true to the Lord Jesus Christ...no matter what happens in the world around us. You don’t have to flake-out; you don’t have to be lukewarm; you can come down off the fence and stand-up for Jesus!
Is Jesus #1? Is there any other priority that puts him on the back-burner? That’s called idolatry. You may find other things to do Sunday mornings, you may still be practicing a lifestyle that shows that other things are more important. And you’ll remain stuck, feeling defeated, not strengthened by the Lord’s joy... But unless Jesus makes all things new, you’ll be stuck in spiritual kindergarten…
VIDEO: “Kindergarten Faith”
So how can I be made "new"--how do I graduate from spiritual kindergarten?
5. Be Filled-Led-&-Fed by the Holy Spirit.
“Without holiness no one shall see God.” (Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:13-16, Titus 2)
The Bible makes it very clear: believers will be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s filling is described in the old KJ language as a “quickening” of the human spirit as God’s Holy Spirit cleanses the heart from all unrighteousness, and empowers that believer’s life for godly service in the kingdom.
So imagine being “filled” with the Spirit, and then being “led” and “guided” by that same Spirit, and let me ask you something: if God’s Holy Spirit is filling you, and then if the Holy Spirit is leading & directing your life, what does that life look like?
The Spirit-filled life is also described as the Christ-like life.
And the character of that Spirit-filled believer takes on the very character & nature seen in the life of Christ.
So in Galatians 5:22-23 we get this description of the Spirit-filled life. It says that the Spirit-filled believer brings forth good fruit; lasting fruit. And there’s this whole chapter about living the New Life in Christ, and it says this new Life is typified as a Spirit-filled life, and it says that the fruit or outcome of this New Life is LOVE, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…
…basically the New Life in Christ is an imitation of the eternal life in Christ. It’s about the imitation of Christ!
Now, a lot of new believers don’t see that they could ever imitate God in His love. Yet that’s exactly what Jesus taught. And in Ephesians 5:1 the Apostle Paul wrote this: “Be ye therefore imitators of God (in His love), as dearly beloved children of the Most High.”
It’s a remarkable thing, but my own kids begin to resemble me. In a lot of ways, some good…
And when I am filled with and led by the Holy Spirit of God—who is my Heavenly Father—I begin to take-on God’s attributes. I’m in His Word, daily obedient to him, and learning about Him, and desiring more of Him; I want to be around Him and spend time with Him. I’m devoting myself to the teachings of the Bible, and to fellowship with godly people, wanting to serve others and help-&-assist them to come along for this incredible spiritual journey…
So HOW do I get filled with the Holy Spirit? The recipe for holiness has 2 ingredients: GRACE and FAITH. God’s grace—He already created & planned you to be filled… Faith(fulness) alone is what opens your heart to indwelling of the Spirit… Grace + Faith = Holiness.
2 more things speak to this newness in Christ:
6. Accept the Cost of Discipleship.
Jesus told a parable to explain this spiritual principle. It’s the parable of counting the cost… And in Luke 14 Jesus said, “He who would follow-after me must first sit down, consider-&-count the cost, and see if he has enough [faith] to gitter done…” (Luke 14:25-34)
Finally, this New Life brings me to the cross… POINT #7…
7. Embrace the Cross of Discipleship.
Jesus was clear. He said that all who would follow-after Him must also “…deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
Can I just tell you that when Jesus says, in Revelation 21, “Behold, I am making all things new…” …well that is certainly a visionary view of a great-&-glorious future, of a new Jerusalem, a new heaven and a new earth…
…but this Revelation is for you, today; right now. And the Cross of your discipleship is a great burden to bear, because it means your life must become new, your old life must be set firmly & decisively in the past, buried in the sea of forgetfulness, and you must agree with Christ and His church that all things ARE being made new!
What does it mean to be born again? For Jesus to say to you--personally--"I am making all things new" ???
SPECIAL SONG: “Embrace the Cross”
I am crucified with Christ Therefore I no longer live
Jesus Christ now lives in me (Repeat twice)
Embrace the cross--Where Jesus suffered
Though it will cost…All you claim as yours
Your sacrifice will seem small Beside the treasure
Eternity can’t measure What Jesus holds in store
Embrace the love--The cross requires
Cling to the one…Whose heart knew every pain
Receive from Jesus Fountains of compassion
Only He can fashion Your heart to move as His
Oh, wondrous cross our desires rest in you
Lord Jesus make us bolder
To face with courage the shame and disgrace
You bore upon Your shoulder
Embrace the life--That comes from dying
Come trace the steps…The Savior walked for you
An empty tomb Concludes Golgotha’s sorrow
Endure then till tomorrow Your cross of suffering
…Embrace the cross
…Embrace the cross
…The cross of Jesus
CLOSING PRAYER of COMMITMENT
BENEDICTION
