We Have A Living Hope! Series

We have a Living Hope!

1 Peter 1:3-5

Introduction

To a church that is being severely persecuted for being a follower of Jesus Christ, not only do they need to know that they are held secure by God in there day to day lives no matter how bad life gets, but they also need to know that there is hope. This is great news for us today, not only did we learn last week that God, as His children, that He is holding us secure in our day to day lives, but that there is hope.

Hope is what keeps us going, hope is what says I know that things are bad now, but one day they will be better. Hope says I know my life is racked with sin, and sickness, and problems, and insecurities, but one day none of that will matter.

The apostle Peter in this passage will speak of the great hope of all believer’s. The hope that we have in Jesus Christ is a living hope, and that is significant because a living hope means that it is not a dead, or lifeless hope. It is not the kind of hope that gets us to think positive for the moment but does nothing for us beyond the grave.

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.

The hope that God gives is a living hope, a hope that is real and true, that actually exists. Eternal life is a living hope because it is reality; it is a life that really exitsts in another world, in the spiritual world that we do not see. The things that the apostle Peter want us to understand today is that this living hope that we have is that we will someday live face to face to God forever and ever. We will learn truths about this living hope today as we study this passage together.

Read Scriptures: 1 Peter 1:3-5

I. The source of our Living Hope.

Vs. 3 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

The source of our living hope is The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to notice who our Lord Jesus Christ is to us who have this living hope:

A. He is our Lord. He can’t be your mama’s Lord, He can’t be your Daddy’s Lord, He can’t be your grandparent’s Lord. In order for this living hope to be yours He has to be your Lord. That is a very personal statement. When Jesus is your Lord, then you have made the decision to surrender your life to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has drawn you, someone else can’t coerce you, it is not just an emotion are feeling, but it is a conscious decision that you make to repent of your sins and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

B. He is Jesus. The carpenter from Nazareth, the man who claimed to be God in the flesh, who was sent into the world to be the savior of all people. He is not just a another prophet, not just a good teacher, not just another god of many God’s. He is who He claimed to be. If this living hope will be yours your must believe that Jesus is who He say’s He is.

C. He is Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the one promised by God to save men from the wrath of God on sin. To escape the wrath on God on sin, then you must be saved from that wrath, and the savior or Messiah is Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone. Not by works, not by our own power or strength, but only through the Blood of Jesus our Messiah.

This verse teaches us so much about the how to obtain this living hope, in our world today we need this living hope that comes through Jesus. When we look around at our world today all we see is corruption and death. We are born, and then before we know it, it is time to die. There is so little time between birth and death.

If we jump into reality and we are absolutely honest, we would see that we are all dying. It seems like a vicious cycle. We born to die every single one of us. So the question is how does God stop this process of corruption and death? How does God give us this living hope. We know it comes through Jesus, but how does that happen?