The Great Trilogy Part 2—An Inheritance of Hope
Scripture Ref: 1 Peter 1:3-5 Romans 10:9
1 Peter 1:21, 23 Acts 16:29-31
1 Peter 2:4-5
1 Peter 4:5-6
Galatians 4:4-5
1. Introduction
a. Part 2 of a 3-part series on faith, hope and love. Last week we discussed the strongest part of this “trilogy”—love. We learned that if not used in love, none of our spiritual gifts have worth. Today we are going to look at the second part of that trilogy — hope.
Read 1 Corinthians 13:13—And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
b. Read
As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev’s widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev’s wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband’s chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband. (Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994)
c. We all have hopes. But our hopes are ethereal when they are based on our ability to fulfill them.
(1) Webster’s—noun: a desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment; someone or something on which hopes are centered.
(2) Webster’s—verb: to cherish a desire with expectation of fulfillment; to long for with expectation of obtainment; to expect with desire.
d. Scripture, however, tells us that from a Christian viewpoint, hope is a promise.
2. It’s a Merciful and Living Hope
a. Read 1 Peter 1:3
b. Peter recognizes God as the author of salvation and the source of a new hope.
c. The phrase “in His great mercy” refers to God’s unmerited favor toward us as sinners in a hopeless condition.
d. This favor takes on the form of a new birth. The implications of a new birth are astounding—we can literally start over, making amends for our deeds of the past.
e. Peter tells us it is a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Read 1 Peter 1:21—Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
f. But, how can we be sure it is a living hope? The Christian’s assurance in Christ is as certain and sure as the fact that Christ is alive!
(1) Read
A story making the rounds concerns a Biology I examination in which the students were asked: "Suppose you could take to Mars any of the laboratory equipment used in this course. How would you determine if there was life on Mars?" One student responded: "Ask the inhabitants. Even a negative answer would be significant." The student got an A. (Carl Sagan, Other Worlds.)
(2) We don’t have to ask Peter, he tells us. Six times throughout this epistle, Peter compares and contrasts Christ and the world as living vice dead.
Read 1 Peter 1:23—For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Read 1 Peter 2:4-5—As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Read 1 Peter 4:5-6—But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.
(3) Here “living” means that the believer’s hope is sure, certain, and real, as opposed to the deceptive, empty, false hope the world offers.
3. It’s An Imperishable Inheritance
a. Read 1 Peter 3:4
b. This hope is of a future, imperishable inheritance.
c. This same word was used in the Septuagint to refer to Israel’s possession of the land; it was her possession, granted to her as a Gift from God.
d. Hostile forces cannot destroy our hope, our inheritance, and it will not spoil like over-ripened fruit, or fade in color.
(1) In the Greek, Peter used three words, each beginning with the same letter and ending with the syllable, to describe cumulatively the permanence of our inheritance.
(2) This inheritance is as indestructible as God’s word.
e. Our inheritance of eternal life is kept in heaven or kept watch on by God so our possession of it is secure.
4. It’s A Shielded Hope
a. Read 1 Peter 3:5
b. Not only does God guard our inheritance, but we are also shielded by His power.
c. What greater hope could we have in persecution than the knowledge that God’s power guards us from within, to preserve us for an inheritance of salvation that will be completely revealed to us in God’s presence.
d. Read
The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long.
5. Our Inheritance of Adoption
a. Just as we don’t receive an inheritance, in most cases, without being a member of a family, this inheritance is not automatic.
(1) Our natural inheritance, the result of being born into sin, is death—that is a permanent separation from God.
Read Romans 6:23—For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(2) When we accept Christ as our Savior, we are adopted into the family of God. That means we receive full rights and benefits of being a family member, which includes our share of an inheritance.
Read Galatians 4:4-5—But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
(3) It takes no special works or deeds on our part to receive it, other than two—believing in Christ and asking Him to become a part of our life, to become integral with our life.
Read Romans 10:9—That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Read Acts 16:29-31— The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
6. Summary
a. Our hope is a merciful and living hope. It is anchored on grace and mercy of the living Christ.
b. Our hope is an inheritance that cannot perish. It is established in heaven where is protected for us by God until we take possession of it. It won’t spoil, it won’t fade, and it can’t be overrun by hostile forces.
c. Our hope is a shielded hope. We take refuge in the center of it, protected by God’s love and mercy.
d. We are written into God’s will when we submit to God’s will. We obtain our inheritance through our adoption into God’s family.
7. Invitation
a. Read
Three elements of personality are involved in making a decision to become a Christian, or in making any significant decision for that matter. They are the emotions, the intellect, and the will.
For example, a young man meets a young woman. They are immediately attracted to one another. They both say to themselves, "Now there is someone I’d like to marry." At that point, if the emotions had their way, there would be a wedding. But the intellect intervenes, questioning the impulsive emotional response. Would we be compatible? What is she really like? Can I afford to support her? Both conclude it would be better to take some more time and answer a few questions before they proceed. So the two begin spending more time with each other. He eventually concludes that she is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. Now his intellect has sided with the emotions on the idea of marriage.
But the final and heaviest vote remains to be cast—that of the will. It stops the march toward the altar with the questions, "Am I willing to give up this lifestyle for another? What about my freedom—is it worth the trade? Am I willing to assume the added responsibility?" The marriage will occur only when the will finally agrees with the emotions and the intellect. And so it is in coming to Christ. (Jim Peterson, Living Proof , NavPress, 1989, p. 170.)
b. Are you willing to give up your lifestyle, your perceived freedom? Are you willing to assume the added responsibility of a life in Christ?
