Our Hope Series

Our Hope

Text: 1 Peter 1:3-5

Introduction

1. Illustration: We don’t have to go too far to find proof that our friends and neighbors need hope. People are drugging themselves, drinking too much, working too much, spiraling into depression, killing themselves and wanting to be euthanased all because they cannot face the reality of their present life - - - - In short, your family and friends need some hope.

2. People don’t give up and despair because of a lack of faith; they give up because of a lack of hope.

3. As Christians we have something that the world cannot buy, borrow, or steal: hope.

4. We have a:

a. Living Hope

b. Inherited Hope

c. Sure Hope

5. Read 1 Pet. 1:3-5

Proposition: As Christians, we have a hope that no one can take away.

Transition: First, we have a...

I. Living Hope (3)

A. Blessed Be

1. We need to recognize where our hope comes from.

a. It doesn’t come from how much money we have.

b. It doesn’t come from the size of our house.

c. It doesn’t come from how fancy a car we drive.

2. Peter says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..."

a. The subject of Peter’s praise is God.

b. God is the source of our hope.

c. This tells us that our hope does not change, because God does not change.

d. Heb. 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

3. Peter also tells us how God gives us this hope: "who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again..."

a. God gives us hope through salvation; being born again.

b. This He gives through abundant mercy.

c. We find God’s mercy always at the center of any discussion of salvation.

d. Only God’s mercy would allow him to have compassion for sinful and rebellious people.

e. Salvation is given to us because of God’s boundless mercy alone.—Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary

4. Because of God’s abundant mercy we receive salvation "to a living hope..."

a. A living hope means that it is not a dead, lifeless hope.

b. It is not the kind of hope that we use to stir positive thinking for the moment but does nothing for us beyond the grave.

c. It is not the kind of hope that gives us meaning and motivation for life but is dead and lifeless beyond this life.

d. A living hope means that it is not a probable hope; it is not the kind of hope that may or may not come to pass.

e. The hope that God gives is a living hope, a hope that is real and true, that actually exists.

5. Peter tells us who we get this living hope from (God), how he gives it to us (makes us born-again), what kind of hope it is (living), and now he tells us what it does for us. He says, "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..."

a. Well, what does that do for us? It gives us the hope of eternal life.

b. God has proven that He has the power to raise the dead.

c. His power to raise the dead and to keep them from ever dying again is now proven beyond all question: it is proven by the fact that He has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and exalted Him into heaven never again to die.

d. Because God raised Jesus up from the dead, then we can have confidence that He will raise us up also.

B. Hope of the Resurrection

1. Illustration: Hope motivates us to keep going and not give up. Without hope we don’t want to do anything. Peanut’s cartoon: Lucy and Linus were sitting in front of the television set when Lucy said to Linus, "Go get me a glass of water." Linus looked surprised, "Why should I do anything for you? You never do anything for me." "On you 75th birthday," Lucy promised, "I’’ll bake you a cake." Linus got up, headed to the kitchen and said, "Life is more pleasant when you have something to look forward to."

2. Phil. 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection

3. We have a living hope because we have a living Savior.

4. We have a living hope because Jesus is no longer in the grave.

5. We have a living hope because Jesus has won the victory for us.

6. We have a hope that is:

a. Alive

b. Active

c. Eternal

Transition: The risen Jesus is our hope!

II. Inherited Hope (4)

A. An Inheritance

1. Peter tells us that our hope is "an inheritance."

a. The word translated inheritance is also used in the Old Testament to describe the inheritance to which the Jews had looked forward in the Promised Land of Canaan —Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary