I. Believers Are Born-Again by God’s Mercy to a Living Hope Through Christ.
a. Only by God’s Mercy along with His draw of His chosen and His grace is there any hope for mankind.
b. Notice in verse 3, Peter’s affirming that it is not by anything sinful, separated mankind can do to be right with God, to even become born again is an act of God by the Father of Christ:
i. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
ii. How is this accomplished?
1. By the Mercy of God.
a. God’s mercy is extremely important for if it was not for His mercy there would be no grace! Only condemnation.
iii. Titus 3:4–6 (ESV)
iv. 4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared,
v. 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
vi. 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
c. Jesus gave the Believers the Holy Spirit to regenerate and clean us by His power, not in our own strength, in the flesh. It is all about the Lord God almighty!
d. Illustration:
i. MERCY
ii. Years after the death of President Calvin Coolidge, this story came to light. In the early days of his presidency, Coolidge awoke one morning in his hotel room to find a cat burglar going through his pockets. Coolidge spoke up, asking the burglar not to take his watch chain because it contained an engraved charm he wanted to keep. Coolidge then engaged the thief in quiet conversation and discovered he was a college student who had no money to pay his hotel bill or buy a ticket back to campus. Coolidge counted $32 out of his wallet -- which he had also persuaded the dazed young man to give back! -- declared it to be a loan, and advised the young man to leave the way he had come so as to avoid the Secret Service! (Yes, the loan was paid back.)
iii. Today in the Word, October 8, 1992.
e. Application: Have you considered the mercy of God? How has God’s mercy impacted your life? Remember if you are truly born again, you have received mercy and you have passed from death to life and not under condemnation no more.
II. Believers have an Imperishable Eternal Inheritance, a Heavenly Kept Destination.
a. Peter declares the results of the Lord’s mercy and grace, when God by faith draws and enlightens a believer into His kingdom that is eternal, one that never fades away!
i. 4to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
ii. 5who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
b. Apostle Peter, just as Paul and Jesus all declared that God’s elect believers have these FOUR Traits:
i. Imperishable. – never ending, permanent. Not subject to decay or death.
ii. Undefiled. – unsoiled, clean. Purified in a moral sense.
iii. Unfading. – Gk: Not losing brightness.
1. 1 Peter 5:4 (ESV)
2. 4And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
3. Amaranthine: Long ago poets conceived of a flower that did not fade and christened it amaranth. The appellation is rooted in the Greek word amarantos, meaning "immortal" or "unfading," and amarantus, the Latin name of a flower.
4. Amaranth also names a real plant (genus Amaranthus), an herb that some consider a weed and others grow for its colorful leaves and spikes of flowers.
iv. Kept in heaven.
1. Colossians 1:4–5 (ESV)
2. 4since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,
3. 5because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel,
c. Illustration: Unfading Reality of Heaven verses earthly things:
i. My USAF Ring, a gold ring that I have for my everyday reminder of my USAF service and retirement. Over the years, after wearing the ring every day, the gold and luster, due to skin oils and the environment, soaps, etc, fades away.
d. Application:
i. God has drawn believes to the reality of an inheritance that is is eternally stored up for us in heaven!
ii. Do you have this inheritance?
III. God Provides Strength Through the Testing of our Faith.
a. How many of us know that God in His sovereignty allows trials to test how genuine our faith really is?
i. 6In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
ii. 7so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
b. So Peter declares that due to the revelation, the revealed truth about Christ that comes from God, even though there are many tests to see how genuine faith is, and the fact that they can be grievous, through the testing believers can still rejoice and praise Jesus in the midst of faith testing.
c. Remember these trials are often temporary.
d. Peter is reminding believers that these tests and trials are for only a little while as compared to true genuine faith that is founded in eternal things that even when believers go through the fires of life, the genuineness of faith shines through!
IV. Believers Can Rejoice and Know Salvation is Our Destiny.
8Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
