The power of new beginning
John 3:1 – 17
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:
2 the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto 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?
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God!
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew.
8 The wind blows where it will, and you hear the voice thereof, but knows not whence it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understands not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up;
15 that whosoever believes may in Him have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.
THE POWER OF A NEW BEGINNING
Before the prayers: let me reading: John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Son Jesus Christ … Amen.
Nii: Thank you Pastor; I will start with the following questions:
- What does it mean to have a new beginning?
Let us take some few scriptural readings….In Gen 1:1 and John 1:1 the word, in the beginning, was used….. to explain I will say God is before time started; and God will be there long after time has come to an end… since Jesus is God; the Alpha and the Omega, our sinful nature is forgiven and in Him we can start from a clean sheet
- But people say, Jesus is the Son of God and not God but you are saying He Is God… can you throw more light on that point.
That is a great question; I have often heard that too… In an attempt to answer you; I will first ask you and our cherished listeners… Do you believe Jesus is the Son of Mary? And Mary is the betrothed of Joseph?…
Host: Yes I believe…..
Pastor: thanks be to God, none doubt that.
Let us take some few Bible passages:
Matthew 1:20;
20 But when he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins.
There are countless number of passages in the bible pointing to Jesus as God.
- Why did Nicodemus go to Jesus in the night and not the day?
Because Nicodemus was trapped in the kind of life he was living.
He was a person who was indeed empty in his life.
He had climbed the ladder of success to become a Pharisee; he was in a noble office.
He was a leader in his community, but that wasn’t enough.
Nicodemus was disheartened, he was brokenhearted.
Nicodemus regretted his mistakes: his actions and in-actions.
Nicodemus could not believe in himself anymore for he had enough of regret. He had enough of guilt. He’d had enough of disappointment. He needed help outside in.
For that matter he secretly went out, thinking Jesus is the place to go for solution…
- To identify with Nicodemus’ question: Is it possible to actually have a new beginning in life right where you are, in your current situation? Is it possible to truly be a new person?
If I am right; you are wondering if it is possible for you to be a new person either today or tomorrow; with your old habits and old mistakes left behind isn’t it?…
I will say Yes; it’s possible for all humans to have new beginnings in Jesus?
In spite of this world’s challenges and troubles weighing us down. You might probably be saying to yourself: “That is a nice thought, Pastor, but… that is not real life. That is not the way things are done.
I have heard this time and again that; what is done is done.
- Yes: All one has to do is to live and cope with the way things are.
Well, that’s what people think and say; but today in the name of Jesus: I beg to differ.
What is done in one’s life is not done. The mistakes you might have made are not the end….!
By extension; I want to assure all our cherished listeners that:
The situation in which you find yourself right now is not permanent.
You may be suffering some kind of pain.
You may be defeated. You may be hopeless.
You may be struggling in life.
With assurance from Colossians 2:13
I assure you in the name of Jesus that your situation; your condition is not signed, sealed, and delivered deal.
No! There is always a turning point…. because of Who Jesus is.
With man, it seems impossible, but with God, all things are possible!… Amen!
- Amen; with God all things are possible, So what should we do?
“Stop believing in yourself.” That is exactly what Jesus is saying to Nicodemus and by extension to the whole world…
We are dead in our transgressions and as dead men we cannot wake-up and come back to life. Except that someone or some force from outside us come to our aid.
Thanks be to God for giving us Jesus….. In him
We have Someone much better to believe in.
We have Someone Who actually accepts us unconditionally.
We have Someone Who really knows what we can become.
He knows what we are created and redeemed to be; and
Someone has all it takes to make things happen in Himself for us.
For that matter, I repeat; stop believing in yourself… and other satanic acts.
Rather put your Trust in Jesus Christ alone…
- By what means Pastor?
By faith: Now Listen to these hope-giving words again.
They are life-restoring words from John 3:16.
- Pastor since you are referring to John 3: 16… can you break it down into smaller bits for us to understand…for instance what does it mean to say.
- “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.”
We are being instructed that Jesus is God and we are to put our faith in Him.
Because He has the capacity to help; He is involved in whatever His children are going through.
- “For whoever beliefs in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Given the chance today, Jesus is saying:
“Scripture is telling us that Salvation or eternal life, in other words, …everlasting life is found in no one else except Jesus Christ….”We should stop trying to do things on our own terms because we have a Savior Who is determined and ready to love us unconditionally; to forgive us all our sins and wash us from all unrighteousness.
Hebrews 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
* Pastor, you earlier mentioned that we need a force that should come from outside us… can you elaborate on that?
Thank you; that is a brilliant question, As far as our Salvation is concerned… we are passive:
- Meaning?
There is a help that comes from outside in, and not inside out.
That is a help which comes from God into all of us, in fact all human beings on the face of the earth, need God’s outside in help for our life and salvation.
Hebrews 9:14
How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
- So pastor all that you are saying implies: there is nothing good that we can do for our salvation except faith in Jesus.
Absolutely the case… that is the context of John, chapter 3 which is also found in Ephesians chapter 2:4 following…
4 but God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved),
6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus:
8 for by grace have you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not of works that no man should glory.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
- Pastor: in John 3:2 Nicodemus told Jesus…Rabbi, we know that all that you are doing can only be done by the figure of God. We know that God is with you!.. John 3:2
Jesus… understood exactly what was going on in Nicodemus. So He looks at him and says, “If you want My help, you must be…….born again!.”
- So how are we born again?.
Nicodemus rightly declared there is no way…for the very reason that there is no way, is exactly why outside-in help from God is necessary for all people.
Thanks be to God that when His outside-in help comes, all things are possible. This Outside-in help has the capacity and commitment to help all who seek Him, and His name is Jesus.
- What message do you have for our Cherished listeners
My dear ones: maybe you find yourself in the middle of something right now… and that something seems absolutely impossible.
Hear and believe that: God so loved you that He came for you through Jesus Christ. All the challenges which seem impossible to forgive are made possible in Jesus.
In Jesus Christ, God’s love which surpasses all things is here in the human form.
There is nothing compared to the love of God in Jesus Christ for the believer.
- Pastor if God has all that power and He loved Jesus that much, why should He allow Jesus to die…
For the very love that God has for the world that is the reason why He sacrificed His only Son… Jesus.
God’s greatest help of all; is that God Himself, the One Who literally created the heavens and the earth, came down… in human form. John 1:1
God came down with a message of life and salvation for a people like you and me.
- Pastor, let me take a verse in Philippians 2:5. It says, “Have this mind in you which is in Jesus Christ.”
The mind of Christ is; though He was God He became man and even as a man, He became a servant unto man so that He might redeem and restore rebellious mankind to Himself.
That is what it is all about there is nothing we can do on our own for salvation; Jesus is the capacity, the commitment, the outside help which comes for all the world.
- So that night Nicodemus found solution in Jesus?
Before answering your question: I will quote: Romans, chapter 6,
“Therefore those who are baptized into Jesus Christ, they are literally baptized into His death; So that just as Jesus Christ rose from the dead, you too will walk in newness of life.”
Though we did not hear that Nicodemus was baptized by water… we have evidence of what actually happened in the rest of his life?
Friends: we know and believe that Jesus is to Baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire as clearly declared by John the Baptizer in (Matt 3:11 and Luke 3:16) … Truly the Words of Jesus are Spirit and fire and makes us clean…John 15:3.
To answer the question, I will Yes Jesus didn’t spare Nicodemus that night. From that encounter, Jesus gave Nicodemus an outside-in help too.
- Pastor you mean Nicodemus become born as Jesus told him?
In fact, Nicodemus was made clean by the words of Jesus…and reading further in John chapter 7, we will discover that Nicodemus stands to defend Him, among his peers, when they were going to arrest Jesus…Nicodemus was telling them, “look this Jesus; He’s the real deal.”
And further down in John 19. Probably this is the most powerful…
After Jesus has been crucified on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea comes to collect His body for burial… Guess who was there with him?
- Nicodemus, I guess?
You are right; Nicodemus was not going to be silent about Jesus anymore, because he has come to know (The truth).
There was no more reason for Nicodemus to hide his love for Jesus anymore because he has experienced the power of a new beginning that comes to those who put their faith and trust not in themselves but in Jesus Christ… the One Who loves us with an everlasting love.
- By what means do we encounter Jesus how do we come to a new beginning; since we have not seen Him with our eyes as Nicodemus did.
Jesus comes and He is with us as a free gift from God in three forms:
- By means of baptism,
- By means of the Lord’s Supper,
- Through the power of the Word,
By the aforementioned; We have new beginnings each and every day of our lives.
- So when we come to the saving knowledge of Jesus; what should we do?
We too like Nicodemus we are to tell the world about the love of Jesus any day, anytime anywhere… The power of a new beginning in us
For we are empowered so in Matt 28:18-20…
- Finally, Now that help has come; In John 3:16. What should we do?
- We should put our faith in Jesus that will make the difference in our life.
- We should at all times and at all places proclaim the love of Jesus
- In the Name of God the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit
“Amen.”