What if your “new beginning” isn’t just about trying harder or turning over a new leaf… but about restoration back to what God always intended for you?
In this powerful message, I go on a journey through Scripture showing how God has been writing a story of restoration through new beginnings from the very first pages of the Bible — and how water is the consistent thread in every miraculous turning point.
In this sermon you’ll discover:
– Why true new beginnings are about restoration, not just change
– The powerful pattern of waters parting across the Bible (Creation, Red Sea, Jordan River, the Cross, and the New Jerusalem)
– How Jesus is the Water of Life who brings complete deliverance and restoration
– The beautiful symbolism of baptism — dying to the old self and rising into new life
– A clear, hope-filled invitation: You are not too far gone. Jesus wants to part the waters that are blocking His love and purpose in your life today
Whether you’re battling addiction, broken relationships, health issues, mental health struggles, or simply feel stuck — this message will remind you that Jesus is greater than your past, your present circumstances, and anything you’re facing.
He’s not offering you just “a fresh start.” He’s offering you complete restoration and new life.
Introduction: New Beginnings and Restoration
This morning I want to talk to you about new beginnings. It is a baptism service, and for those who are getting baptised, they know that this is also a new beginning for them. But it could also be a new beginning more widely.
What does that look like? I want to talk about God’s plan for restoration.
Right from the various stages in our lives—when we’re born, that’s obviously a new beginning. When we have a fresh start in life, whatever that might be, we say, “I’m going to take a fresh start. I’m going to take a fresh look at this.”
With me, it’s normally determining to make sure I wash the dishes every day. It lasts for about two days, and then a week later you think, “When I was a child, they seemed to wash themselves, and now it just seems to pile up higher.” After a while there’s no more plates left in the cupboard. But there we go—that’s how it works.
You can turn a fresh page, can’t you? A blank page. You’re going to restart again.
An old classic is New Year’s resolutions. Everyone kind of starts the new year, and then by about the 3rd of January you’ve forgotten that it was even a new year.
All these are intentions of making a new start, a fresh start in life—leaving the old behind and looking ahead to something new and fresh.
But what if we see new beginnings less as just trying in our own strength to do something different or better, and instead see them as a restoration of what was meant to actually be in place? It’s not just about doing something new, but restoring ourselves to the place we were meant to be before an aspect of our lives became polluted, corrupted, or we simply messed up.
Do you know, this Bible is a story of restoration. That’s basically what it is. All the way through the pages of Scripture, we see God’s plan for restoration—His story of restoration.
Today I want to tell you right from the start that no matter what reason you’re here for—whether you’re here to witness a baptism, or you’ve just stumbled across us and wandered in—Jesus not only wants to give you a new beginning today, but He wants to restore you. He wants to bring great restoration in your life today.
I encourage you to have a physical copy of the Bible with you. An app is okay, but the physical copy doesn’t change. We’re going to turn to a very easy book to find—the Book of Genesis, right at the beginning.
We’re going to dabble through different parts of Scripture this morning. Hopefully you’ll see there’s a common thread, a common theme that comes together throughout it all.
We’re going to be focusing on water at each of these stages. Someone very kindly put a bottle of water here, which is great—now my throat won’t dry up (until it does). At each stage we’ll see that water is actually really important. It’s one of the key elements.
I want us to focus on this subject of water as we come to the baptisms. Behind me is a tank of water ready for the baptisms in a short while. It’s going to be a great day of joyous celebration as we see these precious souls going through the waters of baptism.
Why? Because water cleanses, it sustains life. But water could also potentially be a blockage. It could also lead to death—you can drown, or if water is polluted and you consume it, it could poison you. Water has this cleansing power, but just like our lives can become polluted and messed up, something that should be life-giving and life-sustaining can actually stop life.
Wherever we see water in the Bible, it plays a key role, and there’s normally a miracle involved as well.
1. The Creation: Water at the Beginning
Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:1–10
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
Water is right from the start an absolutely critical thing. It suggests that water was there even before the forming of the earth itself. Water defined the boundaries—the sky and the land.
“Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” Water is now separating water from water.
Then in verse 9, the water parts to form land. Why did we need land to be formed? So that there could be a place of habitation for man to be created and sustained. We’re not built for water. God designed us for land. He already prepared the place by forming the land before we were there. The waters had to part in order for that land to be created.
The land was already there under the water, but the waters had to part to make space for the land to be above the height of the water.
We see right at the beginning of Genesis that water plays this incredible part, and the miracle of the separating of the water is right there at the start of creation itself.
2. Deliverance from Slavery: Crossing the Red Sea
Scripture Reading: Exodus 14 (selected verses)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon. You shall encamp facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.”
God was preparing to demonstrate His power once again. The people had reached the end of themselves. They were at the water’s edge with no way forward and Pharaoh’s army closing in. But God had other plans.
He didn’t just lessen the water so they could go through ankle-deep or knee-deep. He got rid of the waters totally. They parted completely, and He dried the ground so they could walk through on dry ground. That’s the miracle.
The waters literally parted so that the Israelites would be preserved after coming out of slavery. Then the waters caved back in on the Egyptian armies, and they were totally destroyed. God was true to His word.
3. Entering the Promised Land: Crossing the Jordan
Scripture Reading: Joshua 3 (selected verses)
Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Shittim and came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. At the end of three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”
So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarephath, and those flowing down toward the Sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
Just like the deliverance from slavery and crossing the Red Sea, we have another miraculous parting of the waters. God takes them through in flood season—the river was full and overflowing. The miracle is even greater.
The priests step into the water, and the waters pile up far away. All Israel passes over on dry ground. God performs these miracles because sometimes there’s a need in life for divine intervention. They had reached the end of themselves. God says, “I’m the God of the impossible. For all things are possible with God.”
Maybe today you’re in a place of bondage yourself. You can see the promised land—things could be better, should be better. Maybe you’re in a place of addiction. Maybe you need a breakthrough in finances, healing, relationships, or a new job. Your current situation is terrible.
Stop trying to solve it in your own strength and start crying out to God. He will hear. He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you. God is going to come, deliver, and supernaturally provide whatever your need is today—not necessarily your wants, but your needs. Because He loves you.
The waters that cover in your life will be parted, and you’ll be able to walk through on dry ground. What seemed impossible will become not only possible but a complete reality in your life as you watch the enemies of your life be dealt with by God around you. You’ll still be standing, and they won’t be—because you focus on God. But you must focus on Jesus.
4. The Water of Life: Jesus at the Well
Scripture Reading: John 4:12–15
“Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
Jesus gives us completeness in Him through His water. He compares Himself to the water of life. If you drink of His water, you’re never going to thirst again. He’s talking spiritually, of course.
5. The Cross: Blood and Water
The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the single most important event that changed the entire course of history.
Jesus died very quickly compared to what most people experience when crucified. The Roman soldiers couldn’t believe what they were seeing. They said, “Surely He’s not dead yet.” So they pierced His side to check.
When you die, blood and water that are alive in the body become separated. They pierced Him in the side, and blood and water flowed out separately. The water parted from the blood—yet again a complete miracle.
He died quickly. The blood flowed down out of His veins, down that cross—all for you, for everything and anything we’ve ever done wrong.
The Bible says, “He who knew no sin became sin for us.” Jesus Christ, who never committed sin, who is the perfect man, became sin. He took on all the sins of the world. While we were still dead in our sins, Christ died for us.
Right here in the midst of the cross, the piercing of the side and the separating of the blood and water shows that the deliverance is again complete with the parting of the water.
6. The Restoration Complete: New Heaven and New Earth
We fast-forward to the final book of the Bible—Revelation.
Scripture Reading: Revelation 21:1–8
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.”
Scripture Reading: Revelation 22:1–5
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
This is after Jesus has returned, after all evil is totally dealt with forevermore. We see this picture of a perfect, crystal-clear river with the purest water you can ever get—bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God straight to us. That’s a picture of His love, His completeness, His presence flowing directly from His throne into our hearts.
Back in Genesis, in the Garden of Eden, it was a tree at the centre that brought sin into the world when fruit was taken from the forbidden tree. Now we see the perfect tree with its twelve kinds of fruit yielding every month. Fruit is not meant to be yielded all year round now—there are seasons. But here, this fruit is yielded all the time. That’s the picture of the perfect presence of God after all evil is dealt with.
We see the deliverance from the curse of sin and the restoration to God’s original intention for us is complete. Hallelujah!
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more disease, no more strife.” The old will have gone, the new will have come, and Jesus’ restoration project is totally complete. “It is done.” Three simple words.
When these folks go through the waters of baptism today, that’s what it’s like. It is done.
The spring of the water of life that Jesus talks about is without payment. It’s a free gift. Just like going to the supermarket and the person in front of you pays your bill. God gives us this invitation for free.
The Meaning of Baptism
What exactly is baptism? It’s a symbolic act where the waters part as the person goes down into that water. The force of them going down parts that water, and it’s representative of them dying to the old self. Then as they come back up, they are raised to new life.
In every previous stage we looked at, they go through on dry ground when the waters are parted. God’s deliverance involves dry ground. But when we come to baptism, it involves going actually through water. Why? Because it’s representative of actually dying.
That water at the Red Sea or the Jordan would have killed if it hadn’t been parted—they would have drowned. But now Jesus says, “Come to me.” We’re coming to Jesus and saying, “I’m leaving my old life behind. I’m dying to my old self, and I’m coming back up in the new self—in the new life that Jesus gives us, this free gift of everlasting life.”
It’s the ultimate new beginning. It’s new life itself. This is not just a fad or a passing phase or a new season. It’s a new life, and it’s the outward expression of an inward change that has already taken place.
Baptism itself doesn’t save anyone. The salvation comes before that. The people going through baptism today are making a public declaration of their faith in Jesus and acting in accordance with the Scriptures that say in Acts 2: “Repent and be baptised.”
Baptism seals the deal. It’s a picture of what happens when we go through: yes, I’ve said yes to Jesus, but now I’m making that public declaration. Going through the waters of baptism, there’s a spiritual exchange that happens at the bottom of that tank between you and God—where your old life ends and your new life fully comes alive, and you’re sealed in Jesus forevermore.
When we go down in that water, it’s mirroring the death and resurrection of Jesus Himself. Sin kills us. It pushes us down and crushes us. But Jesus gives us new life and raises us back up.
In each situation we’ve looked at, life will never be the same again. The Israelites are now on one side of the Red Sea, on one side of the Jordan. Jesus is now crucified and resurrected. Nothing will ever be the same because the old is gone and the new has come.
While these may look like isolated new beginnings, it’s all part of a bigger restoration picture that God has been working on since the dawn of time.
Do you know God has no plan B? What is being worked out before our very eyes today is simply plan A. This book is a picture of restoration. It’s a picture of God saying He’s created us to be His objects of worship, meant to be in perfect communion with Him. But sin stopped us. It blocked us, it defiled us.
God says, “You can’t be in My presence because My place of presence is a place of perfection, and you have imperfected yourself.” But God still loved us in that place and still loves us today with an everlasting love. So He sent His Son Jesus to die for us so that we could be forgiven, so that the slate could be wiped totally clean, so that we could come back into His perfect presence—perfected only through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
If you believe that this morning, then say hallelujah!
The common factor here is the water—the breaking of the water as the point of new beginnings. We see God’s hand at work in every one of these situations, His power working to restore, to reconcile us back to Him.
Colossians 1:19–22 talks about Jesus reconciling all things, all men and women unto Himself. That is the picture of salvation. He’s restoring us back to what He originally intended for us to be.
It’s remarkable because it’s not God that mucked us up—it’s us that mucked ourselves up. We decided to reject God, go our own way, and decide we had no need for God. We really do deserve to die. But God, in His great faithfulness, comes through His precious Son Jesus and says, “I can’t bear for that to be the situation because I love you so much. So I’m going to die for you. I’m going to take your place on that cross. I’m going to make a situation possible whereby the slate can be wiped clean.”
He’s going to go a step further. He’s going to give you a totally new slate as well in the form of new and everlasting life.
Jesus doesn’t just let us off the hook. He says, “Go and sin no more.” That’s the challenge to us today. Allow Jesus to come into our hearts to change us, but then resolve to live our lives differently. Resolve to go and sin no more.
When God is doing something big, it usually involves waters breaking. He uses a natural substance for a miracle because it shows it can’t be denied or explained in the natural realm alone.
There are many other examples: water turned into wine at the wedding, water coming out of the rock, water calmed in the storm, Jesus walking on the water, bitter water healed, water used to heal people. The symbolism is the cleansing power of water, and this is central to baptism.
From the dawning of time, it was all about us having access to God and being in this place of perfect communion with Him. Just as we see at the end in Revelation, after every form of evil is admonished and destroyed forevermore, there will be this perfect communion for those who decide to follow Jesus now.
To create land, He had to part the waters. To deliver the Israelites from slavery and restore His people, He had to part the waters of the Red Sea. To deliver them into the Promised Land, He split the waters of the Jordan. The deliverance from sin through Jesus on the cross is demonstrated in the complete death of Jesus, proven through the water being separated from blood. The new Jerusalem and the river of life—this completion of restoration—comes with the destruction of the defiled water forever. There is no more sea. The water that was defiled is now no more.
Whatever stage of life we’re at—new job, new child, new school, new course, new role, new diet, new regime—these are all new beginnings and start with fresh hope. But they are just a phase of life.
Jesus is in the business of complete restoration, and He can restore you today. You are not too far gone. You are not a lost cause. No matter what you think you might be, you are not too far gone and you are not a lost cause.
Some of the people getting baptised today thought previously they were a lost cause. They thought they were too far gone. But then Jesus met with them. Hallelujah! He came into their lives and changed them. He gave them a new beginning. He gave them a new life in Him.
I want to ask you today: Will you allow Jesus to part the waters in your life that block His love from flowing through you?
Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to live amongst us, to go through everything that we go through and more. He was falsely accused, tortured, and brutally executed on the cross in public. And He did it all for you before you were even born or conceived.
Religion is all about do, do, do. Christianity is all about what’s already been done, done, done. It was done for you.
Religion is about doing something to get somewhere. Christianity is about opening your heart and saying, “Jesus, come to me.” And we know He’s going to come to you because it says in Revelation 3 that “I knock, and anyone who answers that invitation, I will come into their hearts.”
Whatever you’re going through, whatever you’ve gone through, whatever life looks like for you right now—there’s only one who was ever found worthy, and His name is Jesus. There’s only one Savior, and His name is Jesus. There’s only one name by which we can be saved—His name is Jesus.
He’s far greater than your past. He’s greater than your present circumstances. He’s actually even greater than whatever is going to come in your life. Whatever battle you may be facing today—health situation, mental illness, relationship struggles, any tinpot dictator that sets themselves up against God, any other man who ever has, does, or will exist—Jesus is the greatest ever.
He loves you. He has an amazing plan for your life. Today He’s knocking at the door of your heart. He wants to come in and start not just something new in a phase, but He wants to give you a completely new life.
I ask you today: Will you allow Him to come to you? Will you allow Him to part the waters of your life so that you can walk over dry ground that He’s already prepared for you in dying for you on that cross and being raised back to new life?
That’s what we’re going to see in baptism today—but it doesn’t have to just be those people getting baptised. It can be you today as well who puts your faith in Jesus.
