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 revealedin the last time.

After seeing God’s provision Peter now reminds us of the:

• PROMISE – VS 4

The promise of a priceless inheritance, Peter reminds us that it is an imperishable Inheritance and he describes it in four ways:

•          Cannot be destroyed – “Beyond the reach of change” Our inheritance will never decay or be destroyed. Nothing can ruin what is reserved for you because it is incapable of corrosion or corruption.

•          Cannot be defiled – “Pure and Undefiled” This refers to being stained with color. No stains will appear on our inheritance because the blood of Jesus has blotted out all our sins.

•          Cannot be decayed –  It will never decrease in value or wear away and grow dim. A study found that 90% of inheritances are depleted by the third generation. This word decay is often used of flowers that fade and fall. But our inheritance will not diminish.

•          It is definite – “kept in heaven for you.” Kept means reserved, its being watched over and protected. Notice here that Peter switches from “us” to “you” to show that this is a personal promise. 

Over the years I have had lots of companies call wanting me to invest money, and they always present you with their best performances but they always attach a caveat, typically in fine print that reads something like this: “Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.” Friends, God’s past performance is indicative of future results! You can count on His promises in the future because of His performance in the past. We have a God who guards what He gives, Peter now turns from Gods promises to His:

• PROTECTION – Vs 5

This is not just a past hope or a future hope but a present hope, we are protected in the present. Protected is a military term that refers to a military guard’s protective power. Not only is our inheritance guarded, but the heirs who have been born into that inheritance are also protected by God’s power. This was no doubt very comforting to those being clobbered for being Christ-followers. No matter how much garbage you’re going through God is guarding you and He will keep you and bring you to the inheritance that He is keeping for you. He won’t throw you away, forget about you, or disqualify you. He keeps your inheritance for you and He keeps you for your inheritance. When we start with praise and we remember His provision, promises and protection it should affect our:

• PERSPECTIVE – Vs 6

So be truly glad, there is wonderful joy ahead. Peter calls us to put knowledge into practice. If you truly grasped the tremendous theological truths that are being taught then your response should be one of rejoicing. Knowledge alone cannot produce rejoicing in the face of persecution, as born again believers we are responsible to respond in faith. Faith turns sound doctrine into sound doing, it moves us from principles to practice. Faith acts on the content of theology and produces conduct that corresponds to that content. So here is the most important question, Are you saved, do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, do you have hope? And if you do are you going to live out your hope or hide it? We have a Living Hope not a lifeless Hope and God’s plan is for us to take this hope and live as lights in the darkness. What if we were to stop focusing on the mess in this world and start focusing on the mission? 

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.