The cause of us having been Born Again?

“And this word is the good news preached to you.”

First Point: The cause of us having been Born Again?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy He has caused us to be Born Again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

What does it mean to be Born Again? n this text, we surely see the cause of one being Born Again, In our new life, don’t we? The cause of us having been Born Again. - It is none other than God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Peter does not mention that this hope is found in their words or their deeds, their prayers and petitions, their own efforts and strength, as sincere as they may be in doing them as the cause of them being Born Again.

No, God who is blessed forever is the cause of them being Born Again, saved to living hope found in a Resurrected Savior Amen.

Who sets the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. Who is one who has gathered the wind in His fists?

Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment, who establishes all the ends of the earth?” Psalm 104:5; Proverbs 30:4;

The one who “thunders wondrously with His voice; who “does great things that we cannot comprehend.” Job 37:5

He is a God speaks and is so. But even more amazing, more amazing than His power to create, His power to set the boundaries of the ocean, more amazing gathering the wind in His first, it is that He knows me.

“What is a man that you are mindful of him.” (Psalm 8:4

God's Om-ni- (sents) science, that He is all knowing has carried me through all of my Christian life, has been the greatest comfort to me in my sorrows and afflictions, when I have felt alone and depressed, full of anxiety, when I have been afraid of men and what they might do to me.

As I look back through my entire life, I am in awe, that God knows me, that He is acquainted with all my ways. Not just mine, but yours as well.

My favorite Psalm is Psalm 139, listen to these few verses,

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.” (Psalm 139- 1-5)

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. (That is awesomely made!)

Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.  My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalm 13-16)

Amazing isn’t, He saw me, He knew me, He knit me together! Truly God is deserving of praise!

To be known by God is amazing, but to add to that, He not only knows me, but He loves me.

When God saved me, when I heard the Gospel truly and believed it, I knew He had saved me, there was no doubting it, He saved me, and immediately filled me with a desire to tell others, I want people to know what I want to know. But more, I want people to praise Him, He deserves it.

While I had this confidence that He has saved, there was one thing I did not understand,

“Why does He love me?”

I knew that He did, but why?  I read the scriptures and understood some things, but why me?

See, I knew me. I knew I had been a sinner who deserved His wrath.

One day I came across a sermon from Jonathan Edwards from the 1700’s. Someone asked as I had, "Why does God love us?”

To which Mr. Edwards replied, “God loves us because He loves us. He does not have to tell us why; we just know that He does.”

Who does Peter say has caused us to be Born Again? God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that is and He blesses Him for doing so.

Second Point. “Good People Are Not Saved.”

Look how Peter begins his letter, how does He address himself to them?

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.” He writes to them an apostle, an eyewitness to His Majesty. Now if you read the Gospels, you will see Peter is a bit double-minded, isn’t He?   He cannot make of us mind, a bit unstable.

One moment He is full of faith and the very next making a fool of himself. One moment is saying profound truths, declaring Christ the Son of the living God, walking on water and the next, being rebuked by Christ, called Satan, sleeping on the job when Christ needed him to be watchful, nearly murdering a man with his sword, even swearing and saying, in the presence of His Savior and Lord, “I do not know the Man!”

Charles Spurgeon wrote about Peter defining himself as an apostle.

“It must have been very pleasant to his heart to write those words, (Because it is) — not “Peter, who denied his Master, “not” Peter, full of imperfections and infirmities, the im-pet-u-ous and changeable one of the twelve;

“but” Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,” as truly sent of God as any of the other apostles, and with as much of the Spirit of his Master resting upon him: “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,”

Peter is an Apostle indeed, a follow of Christ, His servant. In his second letter he writes about being an “eyewitness of his majesty.” But Peter writes to them not only as an Apostle but also as their brother. He is like them in the fact that He is a sinner in need of a Savior and what He writes to them is what He needs to hear Himself.  The Gospel that is the Power of God.

He proclaims the Gospel to them because the Gospel, as we do not like to believe is for Christians as well. It is not something only for the lost to hear. We need to hear it, meditate in, I need to hear it daily. I need to be reminded that He has saved me, that He loves me, that I am His, I need to be mindful of Him and hearing the Gospel daily remedies that.

Martyn Lloyd Jones is surely one of my favorites preachers and preached 3 times a week.  Friday was for instruction; Sunday was for believers and Sunday evenings were evangelist services. It was said that however he was preaching His sermons often were reworked versions of Sunday night evangelistic sermons. Why? What reason?

“Because the same preaching that God uses to convert sinner’s is well able to build up saints. He preached the exaltation of God in Christ saying that “everything we need for salvation, from its beginning in our lives to its consummation in glory, is to be found in Jesus Christ.” (Christ is our all in all!)

Peter says to them, “According to His great mercy He has caused us to be Born Again. Peter unlike the religious pharisees who studied and taught the scriptures and yet many denied and killed Christ, they has rejected the Baptism of the John the Baptist, a baptism of repentance because if they went under the water, they them would have had to admit they were unrighteous, that that Law keeping wasn’t what makes them pleasing to God.

Peter has been with Christ and knows he is a sinner and said, not that God has caused “You” speaking to the exiles but has “Has caused “US” to be Born Again, not.

Peter words give to them a sweet aroma for their souls as he points them to Christ, comforting them by defining Jesus as their Shephard and Overseer of their souls. (2:25)

They have not come to Christ friends like many today. With their eyes closed and no one looking around, coming to Christ for them has cost them in the beginning very much.

They are facing various trials, are persecuted, beaten, enslaved, scattered throughout, having been rejected by men.

But God has declared them to a “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.” (2-9-10)

(Verse 10 of chapter 2,) “Once not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had not received mercy, but know you have received mercy.” Mercy, they lacked. mercy they needed, mercy they received.

This is a theme found not just in a few verses in a few chapters in the New Testament, it is throughout the Bible.  God is pointing man to their highest Good...Himself.

As they suffer, Peter reminds them to be “mindful of God” when enduring suffering unjustly and calls it a “gracious thing,” And notes, that this is what they have been called to “because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow His steps. (2:19-21)

But God has not caused them to be Born Again because they suffer, because they have been mistreated, because they lack opportunity.

I ran into a guy recently who said he was a Christian because Christ saved from a car accident, one guy because someone robbed him, and the guy did not shoot him.

I have spoken to multitudes who say God saved them because they did not die from cancer or were once drug dealer and helped them get clean.

God inclines His ear to His people, and we see testimonies indeed Of God saving man from some of our ailments, rescues some from the hand of their enemies, preserves their lives, frees some from addiction, but what He saves us from is from sin.

The saints in Christ that Peter writes to were at one time, God’s enemies and He was theirs. And that applies to you and all you have met. You will meet some of the nicest people at times, the most charitable, the most humble and sincere people. They seem so good, but apart from Christ, they are monsters of iniquity, born a child of the devil, a child of wrath.

According to the scriptures, You, have hated and despised Him. Were  ungodly, made in His image and likeness, but unlike Him in the manner that He is holy, as you are not.  He is righteous and loves righteousness, He is truthful and never lies, but that indeed does not describe you, does it, it does not  you in your flesh, your love for this world and the things of the world does it?

According to the scriptures, according to the Word of God, you were once alienated / separated from Him, outside the camp, and under His wrath.

Hostile in our mind, darkened in your understanding of Him, hard of heart, doing evil deeds, following the course of this world, the prince and the power of the air, -the devil that is, the god of this world...and loving it.  You were  the unrighteous mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Peter warns the saints through his letter to them about not going back to their former ignorance, noting they were called out of darkness, were living in the flesh, for human passions.

What were they doing? What were they guilty of? Ungodliness, worldliness. 4: 3 “Doing what the gentiles do, he says. “Living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry.”

Does this not describe you either now or if you are Born Again, your former life?

Have not you loved this world and the things of the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of life. God’s word commands you not to love these things and that if you or do, the love of the Father is not in you.

At a time, this was all of us, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory Of God.

I lost count how many tell me they are good, will go to heaven because they are not on death row. But God says to them...” None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

The wisdom of God, knowing men, how deceived man is, how much he loves himself and tries to justify his sin, will still try to argue that He is good.

But God says, “Not even one.”

We are corrupted, worthless, ruled by an old man, by sin, enslaved to it, in bondage. The only free about man’s will is that man is free to commit any sin of his or hers choosing.

Man needs a Savior, doesn’t He?  We need a Savior.

Third Point.  “Is there mercy for Me”

One day a man, who had been raised by a godly mother that taught him to pray found himself in great sin. He had been the captain of a slave ship at one time, was vile and ruthless. One day on a ship coming across the Atlantic a great storm came about, and he thought surely the storm would engulf the ship and every man on board.

As he took his place at the pumps, trying to keep the boat from being overtaken, he said out loud, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us!”

His own words startled him, froze him in his tracks.  “Mercy!” he said to himself in astonishment, “Mercy! mercy! What mercy can there be for me? This was the first desire I had breathed for mercy for many years!”

About six in the evening the hold was free from water, and then came a gleam of hope.

He said, “I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favour. I began to pray. I could not utter the prayer of faith. I could not draw near to a reconciled God and call him Father. My prayer for mercy was like the cry of the ravens, which yet the Lord does not disdain to hear.”

“In the gospel,” He would later say, “I saw at least a chance of hope but on every other side I was surrounded with black, unfathomable despair.” On the chance of hope he staked everything. He sought mercy – and found it”

He lived to be an old man and became a pastor of a church in London. Near the end of his life, when he was frail, had become blind and forgetful, barely able to speak, one of his friends came to visit him. He said to his friend, “My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”

Imagine this brother and what goes through His mind and heart to have been such a great sinner and to have been shown such mercy. To sit down at his desk and pen the hymn Amazing Grace.

Amazing grace how sweet the sound -That saved a wretch like me I once was lost, but now I'm found - Was blind but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear - And grace my fears relieved How precious did that grace appear -The hour I first believed

Through many dangers, toils, and snares-I have already come This grace that brought me safe thus far-And grace will lead me home

When we've been here ten thousand years -Bright, shining as the sun We've no less days to sing God's praise- Than when we first begun

Amazing Grace How Sweet the sound.

Friend, what is Christ response to man’s great plight? To your sin? What is Christ response to your ungodly life?

Peter tells us here right in our text. It is Mercy. That is the testimony of Peter here. “According to His great mercy He has caused us to be Born Again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Praise and credit belong to God, don’t they?

He is the source of every benefit we know. We are dependent on Him. Dependent on our breath, our heart is beating right now because of Him.  We are dependent on Him to bring rain, to make the sun rise in the morning and to set in the evening. To wake us up, to feed our stomachs, to feed our soul(s). He is our God, we have sinned against Him, yet we are dependent om Him for our salvation. He is the cause of it.

“God has so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

Praise and credit belong to God who has not sent a messenger or some angel to save you, But Christ who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification, who was foreknown from the foundation of the world and has given us hope in God.

Who ransomed men not with perishable things as Peter mentions, with things that rust, but the imperishable that is, with the precious blood of Christ, who was like a lamb without blemish of spot.

God indeed is the source of the change in one's disposition isn’t He. Bless Him!

As with the original recipients of Peters letter, those who were in exile, those who were strangers in a land not theirs, those who were foolish and faithful, ignorant, people like you friend,

In Christ there is mercy, there is forgiveness. Every sinner who hears and believes will receive mercy only because of the blessedness of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His Great Mercy, causes sinners, the vile most ungodly of them to be Born Again, Born Again to a living hope( A hope not dependent on your dead works and petitions, ) but the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Bless the Lord! Amen!

So, what is your response to what God has done to save you?

In our letter, a few instructions that are found it one, rejoice in suffering. Prepare our mind for action, be sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that was brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Be Holy, loves others. To be “mindful of God when suffering unjustly.  Love your wives and your husbands. Honor Christ. Be prepared to give an answer for the hope that is in you. Be a good steward of God’s grace be not ashamed to suffer, clothe yourself with all humility, and to be firm in faith.

This looks to be like one who imitates Christ doesn’t it?

Praise the Lord...And Peter says, “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

Why have you been Born Again?

You have been saved, Born Again, predestined before the Foundation of the earth to be His, a people for His person, remember you were one called out of Darkness into His Marvelous light “That you may proclaim His excellencies! Amen.

Be a good steward of God’s grace, speaking the oracles of God, serve with the strength God supplies in order that in everything od may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong the glory and dominion forever Amen. 1 Peter 4:11

Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength,     O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Isaiah 40: