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
b. An inheritance was the gift of a good father to his children (Dictionary of biblical imagery (electronic ed.).
c. This was God’s pledge to care for his people and provide them security.
2. Peter then defines this inheritance in very clear and precise way. First, he says it is "incorruptible."
a. The word means that it cannot perish; it does not age, deteriorate, or die; it does not have the seed of corruption within it.
b. This word shows the permanence of our inheritance.
c. Of all the treasures on earth, none of them is indestructible. Eventually they all rust and corrode.
d. Not our heavenly inheritance. It will never rust or corrode.
3. Peter also tells us that our inheritance is "undefiled."
a. The word means unstained or pure.
b. It means that our inheritance will be without any flaw or defect; it will be perfectly free from sickness, disease, infections, accident, pollution, dirt—from any defilement whatsoever.
c. Our inheritance does not now, nor will it ever have a flaw in it.
4. Third, Peter says that our inheritance will not "fade away."
a. It will last forever and ever.
b. The splendor and beauty of it all—of life and of all the positions and possessions which God shall give us—none of the splendor and beauty shall fade or diminish whatsoever.
c. It will be as radiant and valuable a billion years from now as it is today.
5. Now all of this is wonderful, but the best part of it is that it is "reserved in heaven for you."
a. When we make reservations at a resturaunt, they reserve a table for us so that no one else can have it.
b. Our inheritance is in heaven; it is reserved there for us.
c. It is actually being held there by God for us.
d. God is simply waiting for us to finish our task here on earth and to come to Him.
B. Entitlement
1. Illustration: On January 29, 2003, Athina Roussel became the richest teenager on the planet, inheriting a fortune estimated at that time to be between $800 million to $1 billion, and it all came from her grandfather, Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis through her mother. In 1988, when Athina was 3, her mother, Christina Onassis died at age 37 of a heart attack from diet medication. All of Christina’s assets were left in trust to her only child, Athina, who turned 18 in 2003 and was legally able to receive her inheritance. But she had to wait for the money until she was 18!
2. We don’t have to wait for our inheritance, because Jesus said that He came bring us life more abundantly.
3. When this girl’s money is long gone, our inheritance will still be there.
4. Our inheritance will never:
a. Rust
b. Spoil
c. Fade
5. Our inheritance can never:
a. Run out
b. Be stolen
c. Lost
Transition: Our inheritance is based on God’s promises which never fail.
III. Sure Hope (5)
A. Kept By the Power of God
1. In verse 5, Peter gives us a great promise. He says "who are kept by the power of God..."
a. God’s power keeps us.
b. The word "kept" means to guard; to protect.
c. It is a military term; therefore it has the idea of might and strength.
d. The might and strength of God’s power protect us throughout our journey in life—through all the trials and temptations of life.
2. Does this mean that no matter what we do we are going to make it? No, because the means by which we are kept by the power of God is "through faith."
a. The only condition God sets for his people is that they must have faith (1:5); no biblical author guarantees final salvation apart from faith (McKnight, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: 1 Peter, 71).
b. Heb. 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him
3. A true faith is a continuing faith and trust in God’s power.
a. And a continuing faith is diligent and vigilant.
b. It is a faith that loves Christ with all its heart and life.
c. It is a faith that seeks to follow Christ and to please Him in all that it does.
d. Therefore, a continuing faith is a faith that lives a holy, righteous, and pure life and that serves the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. To put it very bluntly, no one can take your hope from you; no one can take your salvation from you; but you can give it up by not believing.
B. Assurance
1. Illustration: Perhaps the best illustration of how this truth can affect us is found in the sinking of the ship named Express of Ireland. As the ship began to sink in the cold Atlantic Ocean it was discovered that there were not enough life belts on board for all the passengers. On that ship were 130 Salvation Army officers—109 were drowned and not one body that was picked up had on a life belt. The few survivors told how the Salvation Army Christians took off their own belts and strapped them even upon strong men, saying, “I can die better than you can” and from the deck of that ship was demonstrated what it means to live with this revelation in our hearts.
2. We have a sure hope.
a. A hope that will not fail us.
b. A hope that will not abandon us.
c. A hope that will not escape us.
3. We have a sure hope that:
a. No one can take from us
b. No one can separate us from
c. Rom. 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
4. As long as we remain in Christ, we have a hope that will not leave us.
Conclusion
1. As Christians we have what the cannot own - hope.
a. Hope that is alive
b. Hope as an inheritance
c. Hope that is sure
2. Are you living in hope today?
3. Let us live like people that have hope.
