1 Peter series – “Holding onto Hope in a Hostile World”

1 Peter 1:3-5

³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

As Peter writes to these scattered believers he reminds them to first focus on God for who He is and second for what He has done, His:  

• PROVISION – Vs 3

“It is by his great mercy that we have been born again” It’s all about God’s mercy, not your merit. When was the last time you thought about the magnitude of His mercy? Mercy that is extended to the miserable, and the messed up, there is no sin too great for His marvelous mercy. The result of His mercy is new birth. Just as each of us have had a physical birth when we were born, so too we need a spiritual birth. Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, “unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God” Are you born again, every Christian should have 2 birthdays, the day they were born physically and the day they were born again spiritually. When is your birthday? If you’re born once, you die twice; if you’re born twice, you only die once. The new birth is possible because Jesus raised from the dead, without resurrection there would be no new birth. If Christ had died for our sins but had not resurrected, we would have forgiveness of sin but no new birth. It would be like having a baby in the womb but no birth, forgiveness without justification, canceling of sin without the power to live a new life, Passover without coming into the Promised Land. The resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith. 1Corinthians 15:14 “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. Tim Keller said, “If Jesus rose from the dead you have to accept all He said; if He didn’t rise from the dead then why worry about anything He said… TheReason this series is titled holding on to hope is because In the Old Testament hope means, “to bind together. It’s the picture of a rope which is really two pictures in one. The First picture depicts the process of making a rope, this is where several strands are twisted together. In this picture hope means that I bring my pain to God and let him bind it to His promises and together those are woven into His plan. One of the reasons we fall into hopelessness it that we don’t wrap our problems in God’s promises. The second picture depicts the purpose of a rope, to tie and bind. It reminds us of the rope of rescue. One end of the rope reaches back into the past and is tied to Christ on the cross of Calvary, the one who saved us from our sin and secured for us a home in heaven. The other end stretches forward into the future, where it is tied to this same Jesus the one who will return again. No matter which way you look you whether to the past or to the future you are tied to Christ. One end tied to the cross the other to the crown. What is your hope tied to? Are you holding onto the rope of hope? My life is tethered between the tree of sacrifice and the throne of grace. That is why Peter says “Now we live with great expectation” we don’t just have hope we have a living hope, our hope has a heartbeat. Hope is more than just wishful thinking, Gilbert Beenken said where other men see only a hopeless end, the Christian rejoices in an endless hope. Hope sweetens while bitterness bites, hope sings even when all the melodies are gone.