REGENERATION AND OUR PURIFYING HOPE Peter begins with praise to God, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All who have been redeemed through divine mercy must always express their gratitude to God, acknowledging what He has done. According to His abundant mercy (He) hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. God did more than forgive; in His mercy, He begat us again. Forgiven and saved, yes; but we are born-again, regenerated, converted, transformed! A Christian is a man or woman who has been begotten by God to a new kind of life. When someone is begotten of God, there comes into his life a change so radical that the only thing that can be said is that life has begun all over again for him. Regeneration, the new birth happens by the will and by the act of God (John 1:13; James 1:18). It is not something which a man achieves by himself any more than he achieved his physical birth. (1) It is the work of the Spirit of God (John 3:3-8). It is not attained by mans effort, it is a work of re-creation by the Spirit of God in him. (2) The result of this regeneration or re-creation is that the Christian is brought in touch with eternity and receives eternal life and he is a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17). (3) Such a man is begotten to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3). The sinner is without hope (Ephesians 2:12). (4) The rebirth of the christian is a rebirth to righteousness (1 John 2:29; 3:9; 5:18). He is cleansed from his sins and the shackle of bad habits is broken and destroyed. He has been given power which enables him to walk in righteousness. (5) The new birth of the Christian is a birth to love (1 John 4:7). Born as a result of Gods love, he is born into love and he is born to love. (6) The Christian who is born of God is free from unforgiving bitterness of the self-centred life in the world and he has victory (1 John 5:4). Life ceases to be continual daily defeat; now he has victory over sins and pleasures of the flesh and of the world. God ... hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 11:18:09 +0000
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