200231.ser
“MAN, THERE’S HOPE’
BREBC August 11, 2002 a.m.
Subject: Salvation
Theme: The Glory of our Salvation
Passage: 1 Peter 1: 1 - 9
Is there any hope for a fellow who always has his foot in his mouth? For a fellow who blows hot and cold? For a fellow who can say things that bring high praise one moment and earn a severe rebuke the next?
Well, welcome to the apostle Peter. Peter the vacillating stumble bum who denied the Lord, but preached the sermon that kick started the church. Peter, falsely given credit for being the Bishop of Rome and the first pope. Peter the writer of two wonderful books of the Bible.
In your bulletin, you have a four part skeleton for the book of First Peter, and and outline of the first section which is “all about salvation!” In the next 5 weeks, I want you to see The Glory of our Salvation; the Search for our Salvation’ The Goal of our Salvation; The Cost of our Salvation and the Growth of our Salvation.
And we’re going to start this morning with the glory of our salvation which I have entitled, “Man, There’s Hope.”
Hope is a very necessary commodity for the well being of human life. Now admittedly people are looking in a lot of wrong places for hope in our day. See them lined up in front of the lottery counter paying the poor man’s tax, and you see what I mean. People are always hoping that their ship is going to come in. In our house we have a sign, “When my ship comes in, I’ll probably be at the airport!”
But just because people look in the wrong places for hope, and just because a lot of people get their hopes dashed on the rocks of circumstance, does not mean that there is no hope available to every person who looks in the right direction.
That’s what this sermon is about this morning for I want to remind you of the most sure hope in the world. Listen to Peter as his voice rings out in praise to God: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again unto a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead.”
A living hope! A life giving hope! A hope that is sure and steadfast that is rooted and grounded in a living relationship with God.
1. A Hope That Transforms Your Life
a. This hope comes from God Himself.
Too often hope is placed in the wrong source: people have hope in themselves; they have hope in their partners; they have hope in their jobs, they have hope in their futures; they have hope in their doctors; but all of these can fail.
The hope of the Christian is rooted in the God and Father of Jesus Christ, and He can never fail. His Word is true. His promises are sure. His salvation is eternal.
b. This hope issues from His abundant mercy. “...who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope...”
Our sin is an offence to God. He could have cast us off forever. But in mercy He sent His Son Jesus into this world to become a human being like us, to live a sinless life unlike us, to give that sinless life as an atoning payment in place of us, so that we who are guilty might be declared to be innocent because we have been forgiven by the very one we offended. Abundant mercy indeed. Beyond all measure!
c. This hope brings about a new or second birth.
By our first birth we were born sinners; by our first birth we grew up to be rebels; by our first birth we could not please God, no matter how hard we tried; so God caused us to be born again through faith in Jesus Christ. By our new birth we were born as children of God. By our new birth we received a new nature of servants but even more, of sons and daughters. By our new birth, we can please God, and live for Him and worship Him, and be like Him, and go at last to live with Him forever.
d. This hope is made sure by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. “Blessed be God... who has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
If Jesus had just died on the cross, we could not have been saved. That may be shocking to say that - not saved by the death of Jesus Christ? If Jesus had just died on the cross, we could not have been forgiven. But Jesus did not stay dead. He died for us but He also rose from the dead. His resurrection proved that His sacrifice was accepted by God. His resurrection proved that our sins are really forgiven. His resurrection proved that He is able to give us new life, that we too are raised from the death of sin into the glory of new life, that He is able to keep us forever, that He is able to take us to heaven when we die.
Here then is a sure and certain hope; here is a hope that cannot fail; here is a hope that is firmly anchored in heaven in the person of Jesus Christ. Oh, dear ones, we don’t know if we will live a long life, if our health will hold, if our money will be sufficient for retirement, but we know the thing that really matters, but there is one thing we do know: we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are safe in Jesus, and the He will never fail us nor forsake us, either in this life or in all of eternity. Man! There’s hope!
2. A Hope that Assures Your Inheritance! “...to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you...”
An inheritance is something that we haven’t earned, which we receive through the death of a loved one or friend. Receiving the inheritance means someone has to die.
You’ve seen the bumper sticker on the back of a motor home that says “We’re spending our children’s inheritance”.
Well here’s an inheritance that can’t be spent. It’s guaranteed. v. 4. “To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.” The NIV says it can never perish, spoil or fade.
a. It is an inheritance that is secure
This inheritance can’t be decayed away - it is incorruptible or imperishable.
This inheritance cannot be diluted away - it is undefiled.
This inheritance cannot fade away, like our money in mutual funds at the moment- it is on reserve in the bank of heaven and the interest rate is out of this world!
b. It is in an inheritance that is guaranteed
“For it is reserved in heaven for you who are kept through the power of God through faith ready to be revealed in the last time.” v. 4,5
In v. 4 our inheritance is being kept for us. In v. 5 we are being kept for our inheritance!
c. It is an inheritance that will be revealed at last.
We are being kept by God through faith - but even our faith in Christ is a gift of God.
We are being kept unto salvation- we have been saved from the penalty of our sin; we are being saved from the power of our sin; we shall be saved from the presence of our sin.
And it will be revealed at last. It will be revealed when we close our eyes in death and open them in heaven. It will be revealed when Jesus Christ comes back to receive us unto Himself. And it will be finally and fully revealed at the judgement when it is shown forth to all of creation that our salvation was not based on any merit we may have thought we had, or any works which we have done; but it is based solely and completely on the finished work of Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of His name.
3. It is a Hope that will Keep Us Going Through Every Trial;
For there are trials in the way. This life was not designed to be easy or free from difficulty or sorrow or suffering.
Too many people base their whole lives on a false philosophy, that says life should be easy. Even Christians get seduced by a false philosophy at times and wonder why they have to go through any trials. We too have struggles; we too have financial collapses; we too have people break their promises or act terribly toward us; wee too have to fret over the kids. We too face health problems. We too face death. There are no exemptions just because you are a Christian. You know that, don’t you? Life is not easy. But this hope will keep you going.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials..”
I stood in the smelter at International nickel in Sudbury, and looked into the furnace that was burning at I believe 2200 degrees. The ore was reduced to a molten mass, and the ore was separated from the slag which was poured off. Then that ore was piped over the aisle into another smelter that was heated even hotter, and again it was separated until it was 99 % pure, and even then it had to be purified still further by acid until it was completely pure.
Do you think that we can be prepared for glory more easily than nickel can be prepared for earthly use?
Here is the answer: “that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found unto praise and honour and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” My friends, God is in the process of smelting you.
Oh, dear ones, all those trials which seem so hard to bear; those minor irritants that get under your skin; those persons that rub you the wrong way; those illnesses which debilitate you and rob you of strength; those losses that sadden you and madden you; all are allowed by God as part of His refining process to get you ready for glory, for in heaven there can be no impurity whatever; nothing to defile or spoil or disappoint. It is indeed a prepared place for a prepared people.
In the midst of your disappointments, take comfort in this, “God is getting me ready for glory!” and it will make the trials more easy to bear.
But if all the trials do is make you angry, and resentful and bitter, then you are robbing them of their intended benefit, and you are refusing the sanding and the grinding that is designed to polish you not only for the future but also for the present. God designs that not only in the future but in the here and now you shall show forth the grace of God in your personality, reflecting His glory in your present world so that others may look at you and learn the value of the Christianity which you claim.
When we get our pout on, we short circuit the good work of God which is designed to show through you that this Christianity really does make a difference.
4. It is a Hope that is Centred in the Person of Christ your Saviour.
“In this you greatly rejoice...that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes... may be found to praise, honour and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet, believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
“Whom having not seen you believe.”
We have not seen Jesus Christ with our physical eyes but only with the eye of faith. We shall see Jesus, but that day is not yet. But having not seen him, we love him. There is the bottom line for the Christian life. What does it mean to be a Christian? It means to love Jesus; to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. It is to love Him in spite of the fact that we have not seen Him.
Down deep inside the Christian heart is a joy that cannot really be stopped or contained. It is a joy that is not natural; a joy that is not emotional; it is a joy that is rooted in your relationship with God, and nothing that can happen to you can get down that far into your life to destroy that which God has placed there in the bedrock of your soul.
The true Christian should be the most joyous person that walks the earth. This joy should show out through your eyes, through your face, through your expression, through your body language, through everything about you. Everything about you should speak to others about your relationship to the Lord God who has saved you, through the death, burial and resurrection of His own Son.
God loves you with an everlasting love, and that should put a smile on your face and a gladness in your heart and a light in your life and a bounce in your steps that speaks about Jesus.
When we talk about witnessing, the words of your mouth are useless if they are not given reality by the reality of your soul and your spirit and your life. When your words and your life match... ah, friends at its heart, witnessing is just being you ! You, in Christ!
My friends, the glory of the Christian life... in the midst of a hopeless appearing world, man there’s hope!
Amen.
