Sunday Evening English Worship
June 3, 2018 - 5:00 pm
Messenger: Don Frank
Bible Passage - 1 Peter 1:3-5
Introduction: I feel very fortunate to be able to speak to you this evening. The reason I feel this way is that tomorrow is a very special day for me. It’s what I call my 2nd birthday. On that day 45 years ago, I invited Jesus Christ to come into my heart and become my Lord and Savior. It was then that a new life adventure began for me that continues even to today.
At that time I was just a young 18-year-old kid who had just graduated from high school. One day, a friend of mine from school suddenly came up to me and invited me to come to a Youth for Christ Hayride event that was going to take place soon. To be honest with you, it made me a bit nervous to have this young lady come up so aggressively and invite me to come to this pretty religious-sounding meeting! I tried to think of any excuse I could to get out of the invitation, but I couldn’t think of anything except to say, “yes.“
I went to the event and discovered many other high school students there. We had a great time riding on a back of a wagon, singing lots of songs together and having a great time roasting marshmallows around a campfire. Then a young man began speaking and told us about the love of God through Jesus Christ. Right from the beginning, his words struck home to my heart. At the end of his short message, he asked if anybody would like to come up and talk about becoming a Christian. I found myself instantly standing up and going right down to where he was sitting with a small group of people. It was right at that moment that I invited Christ to come into my heart.
Now this is going to surprise many of you who know me, but when I say that Christ changed my life 180°, that’s literally true. From the time I was very young until I finished high school, I was a very quiet and shy person. And thanks to Jesus, my life changed completely 45 years ago. Now I am the outgoing person that you see before you this evening! Maybe just a bit too outgoing! Ha ha!
So, I’d like to take just a short time tonight and talk about the only 2 situations in the Bible where the phrase “born again“ was ever used.
1. Nicodemus & Jesus. The first situation in the whole Bible where this phrase was used was between Nicodemus and Jesus. We don’t know very much about Nicodemus except for what we read in the Gospel of John. And there he is mentioned only 3 times. Let’s take a quick look at these 3 episodes.
The first time is in John chapter 3. Nicodemus had come in the evening to visit and speak with Jesus. He personally wanted to have a chance to talk to this miracle-worker from Galilee. In the chapter just before, it mentions that Jesus had already done many miracles during the Passover festival in Jerusalem. He was becoming popular many people were believing in him. So I think Nicodemus was fairly curious and open-minded about this young rabbi.
They began right away to have a very deep, spiritual conversation about God and His Kingdom. Jesus rather shocked Nicodemus by telling him that the only way to enter the Kingdom of God was to be “born again“ or born of the Spirit. And near the end of the conversation, Jesus tells what many people believe to be one of the greatest Bible passages ever, John 3:16, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.“ And that was the Bible passage that I heard that evening 45 years ago! And that was also the very first Bible passage that I ever memorized!
The next time that we see Nicodemus is in John chapter 7 and he is defending Jesus in front of the Jewish Council. His first conversation with Jesus must of had a pretty big impact on him. He did not say at that time that he believed in Jesus, but his actions seem to speak so much to us. And that’s the way it is with all of us. When we meet Christ personally, he has a big impact on us as well and changes us forever!
Then the final time that we see Nicodemus is in John chapter 19. Joseph of Arimathea had just gone to get the body of Jesus down from the cross. Then he and Nicodemus took Jesus' body to Joseph’s own tomb which was nearby. Nicodemus brought with him 75 pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. That’s 34 kg.! This tells me that both Joseph and Nicodemus were dedicated to Jesus Christ. And Nicodemus himself who is willing to donate so much for Christ burial. Now, the Bible doesn’t tell us whether these two gentlemen were “born again“ or not, but my gut feeling tells me that they believed in Him!
2. Peter. And tonight, there’s a one more situation where the phrase “born again” was used. Shall we take a look at that together? We move from the Gospel of John to 1 Peter 1:3-5 (NLT). Peter is writing a letter to his fellow Christians in the area of Turkey to encourage and teach them. The Bible passage reads like this:
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
First, Peter tells us that we should praise our Father because of His great mercy. Because of God‘s mighty power, Easter Sunday morning happened, Christ came back to life and then we could be born again! And so tonight we get together and praise our Father in heaven for this wonderful blessing!
Second, Peter tells that we have a great expectation and a priceless inheritance that is kept for us in heaven. We should expect it greatly and we should not worry at all because this Scripture tells us that it is kept pure for us by our Father. So, being “born-again” started for me 45 years ago, but it's growing into something really big, a priceless inheritance.
Third, Peter goes on to tell us is that though our salvation began sometime ago, it's still continuing today and that God is protecting us by faith. In fact, Peter goes on to say that this salvation is already finished and is ready to be shown to us on the last day. So for many of us, being “born again“ is quite a process. For me, it started 45 years ago tomorrow, is continuing even today by faith and will finish when I get to heaven and receive a priceless inheritance!
Conclusion: Wow, and I bet you thought that being “born again“ was just a one time shot, didn't you? But it goes far beyond that, all the way to heaven! Now, let's finish up our evening with one more song and then we will close with our final prayer.
Closing Prayer: As usual, let's take our final Bible passage and read it together. 1 Peter 1:3-5,
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
Now let's take this and turn it into our closing prayer and pray it together:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us Your great mercy when we were first born again. Thank you also for giving us faith to believe in Your Son, Jesus Christ. We can’t wait to get to heaven one day and see this priceless inheritance that You are saving for us. Thank you for protecting us by Your mighty power every day. And dear Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for us and finishing this work of salvation. We give You our hearts and lives again this evening. Work through us to share the good news of being “born again“ to many more people. We pray all these things now in Jesus' precious name, Amen.