WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Transcription

1 1 1 PETER 1:3-5 Our Great and Indestructible Hope (1:3-5) Blessed 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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (ESV) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? Have you ever thought about what the difference is between people who live for something other than themselves and those who live life consumed with themselves? What is it that separates those two groups of people? Let me get more specific. What is the difference between those who profess to be Christians but who show very little fruit; very little commitment; much less devotion to God than is appropriate for a person who has been redeemed and ransomed and rescued from the clutches of sin and death through nothing of themselves; and a person who actually lives the Christian life; one who denies himself, takes up his cross and follows Jesus Christ, for His glory and His reputation and His own pleasure? What is the difference between these two people? What determines whether or not a person will live comfortably in this world? What I mean by that is what determines whether or not a person will live as if this world is all there is? Certainly it is not wrong to enjoy God s gifts in this world. It is not wrong to enjoy a peaceful hike in the mountains, or a glass of cold water on a hot day, or meaningful friendships, or even a baseball game with a foot-long in your hand. These things are the gifts of God, and we should enjoy them freely as a means to enjoy God more intensely. But as a general characteristic of our lives, if we are so comfortable in this world that we would like to stay here in its present condition (including sin and suffering) for the rest of eternity, then we are missing something. So, what determines whether or not a person will, as a general characteristic, live comfortably in this world? Let s ask the question a different way. What determines whether or not a person will live a life devoted to Christ in this present world? Or let me get even more personal. What will have determined when we get to the end of our lives, whether or not we lived the Christian life well? I want us to consider something this morning that has inherent power to spur us on to obey every single command we come across in Scripture. Or, for example, every single command we come across in a book like 1 Peter; commands like do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance ; or be holy in all your conduct ; or even love one another earnestly from a pure heart. This something has inherent power to cause us to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage ware against our souls ; or to keep our conduct among unbelievers honorable ; or to fear God. It has inherent power to cause us to submit ourselves to those in authority over us ; or for our wives to be subject to their husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives ; or for our husbands to live with our wives in an understanding way.

2 2 This thing has inherent power to cause us to have no fear of those who persecute us to the point that we will not need to repay evil for evil. It has inherent power to cause us to regard Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts so that we will be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks us why we live the way we do. It has inherent power to cause us to be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of our prayers; and to show hospitality to one another without grumbling ; and to serve one another as good steward s of the grace of God ; and to rejoice in suffering; and to entrust our souls to our faithful Creator while doing good. This thing has inherent power to cause us to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another ; and to resist Satan ; and to stand firm in the truth of the Gospel. So, what is this thing? Let s consider Jesus early disciples. Turn to Luke 24. Consider the scene. Jesus has been crucified. This King, whose disciples thought was the promised Messiah of Israel who had come to wipe out Rome and reign over His people in power and in peace had been killed. This King, who was supposed to bring in the Kingdom of God on earth, had seemingly been defeated by the powers of Rome and the spiritual authorities of Jerusalem. This was not at all what they had planned. On top of all that, this particular morning, they received word that this King was not in the grave where He was buried. You can imagine how bleak and confused and disappointed they must have been. That is, until they met a stranger on the road to Emmaus. Picture the scene that Luke paints there. These hopeless and confused disciples are on their way to Emmaus just talking about how crazy things had been the past few days, when they come across this really strange man who seems to have no clue as to what they were talking about. So, they tell him with weakness and disappointment in their voices about all the things that had happened to Jesus, and he responds to them with a rebuke. O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? He then proceeds to take them through the OT, showing them how so much of it had to do with Himself, and as they approach Emmaus, seems as if he is going to just walk on without them. They can t let this guy get away. He has all the answers they have been longing for! So, they plead with him to stay with them for the night, and He agrees. The men then sit down to enjoy a meal together, when they realize, this man is their King! At once, Jesus vanishes into thin air. Their lives had been changed forever! It is from this point on that these disciples begin to live lives of radical devotion to Christ. But why? One very simple yet very powerful thing is responsible for this life change. That thing is HOPE. This is the thing that will determine whether or not we live the Christian life well. The intensity of our hope in God will determine the quality of our faith. Just like these disciples, the intensity and quality of our longing for the world to come; the intensity and quality of our longing for the future Kingdom of God will determine the intensity and the quality of our lives in this present age. This hope will be our topic of conversation for the next 2 weeks. This week, we re going to look at the certainty of our hope. We hope in something absolutely certain, and it will be my goal to drive that home as much as possible this morning. Once we ve laid that foundation, then next week we will consider some very practical principles related to this hope that we can apply to our lives and even structure our lives around. I can t tell you how excited I am for our time together! Let s look at our text for this morning and immerse ourselves with the certainty of this great and indestructible hope.

3 3 Blessed 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, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1:3-5 ESV) My goal for this morning is to ensure us, as much as I possibly can from the text; that the hope of the Christian is a rock-solid hope. It cannot be shaken. It is the only hope that exists that has no holes in it whatsoever. It is great and indestructible! But before we get there, I want us to define it! WHAT IS A LIVING HOPE? There is a vast difference between our common, everyday use of the word hope and the biblical meaning of the word hope, which Peter uses here. When we typically use the word hope, we are expressing some kind of desire (whether deep or not) for something to happen in the future that may or may not happen. I hope the Broncos win the Superbowl! I hope the war ends soon. I hope I see so and so today. I hope Adam makes it to young adults on time. I hope Jeff and Cara sell their house before they leave. I hope Brad and Britt decide to sell their house in Cannon City before they move. These things may or may not happen and I know that, so I don t put all my chips in on these things. I prepare myself for either outcome, so that I will be the same person whether these things happen or not. But what would happen if we transfer that definition of hope over to Peter s words here? Then, we would be born again to a hope that has very little power to change the way I live my life, if any. But if Peter has so many commands in this letter; if there are so many things that he wants to see happen in the lives of his readers, then why would he ever want to motivate them with something that has little to no correlation on the way they live their lives? Why would he lay the foundation of godly living with a desire to see something happen in the future that may or may not happen? The hope that he is speaking of here is the hope of heaven; the hope of living in a world where Christ has wiped out all disease and all sadness and all mourning and all demons and Satan and sin. The hope of a world where every tear will be wiped away and God will live with His people on a renewed, restored, and resurrected earth! Peter calls it a living hope. That is, a hope that is active; a hope that has inherent power to produce changes in the way you and I live our lives. It is a hope that demands that we live differently, and does not exist if we don t in some way. But if heaven is not certain; if it may or may not happen; then what power does that have to produce changes in the way we live? If the New World is not certain, then our hope is not a living hope. If a renewed, restored, and resurrected earth where Christ reigns over his people in peace and in power is not certain, then the only power for changing the way we live our lives, lies within ourselves. If it is not certain, then there will be some if not many who genuinely hope in it; but who will not live in light of it. For Peter, this is just not possible for the one who has been born again; because heaven is certain, which leaves no option for our hope. It by nature is living. It by nature

4 4 produces life change. It by nature consumes us with thoughts of heaven to the point that we begin investing in that world, and not this one. Our hope is a living hope! But you can see how for our hope to be a living hope, that which we hope for must be sure and certain. So, what makes this hope certain? How do we know that we hope in something that is sure and will happen? In verses 3-5, Peter gives us at least 4 huge reasons. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT WE ARE HOPING IN SOMETHING CERTAIN? REASON #1: Our hope comes from God, who is faithful. Peter opens the body of his letter in verse 3 with a call to give praise to God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Praise to God is the tone of the rest of what follows. Peter is offering praise to God for causing us to be born again to a living hope, according to His great mercy. God is the author and the giver of our hope. Hope is the gift of God! Look at what Peter says. Blessed 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 (1:3a ESV) According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope. The text literally says, He has begotten us again to a living hope. We have not mustered up our hope, precisely because we have not mustered up our salvation. The two come together, and God has given us them both out of His great mercy. This is what it means to be elect. God sovereignly chooses whom He will grant salvation the privilege of salvation. Imagine if I were to take credit for giving birth to our 2 children! Imagine if I were to say, I gave birth to Paige and Clay! Or what if I simply said yeah but I was with my wife the whole way. I made the choice to stick by her. What would you say? So what? How could you dare to take even an ounce of the credit for the birth of your children? It would be ridiculous wouldn t it? I have no right to try to take any kind of credit for what my wife has done 2 times now. What Peter is doing here in verse 3, is taking the credit right out of our hands, and directing our eyes to where the credit for our salvation is due; Blessed 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! Our salvation, and so, our hope, comes from Him alone. But what does this have to do with the certainty of what we hope in? Why does the fact that our hope has come from God, make it a certain, living hope? Let s hear the words of James. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:16-17 ESV) If we learn from James, we ll see that the quality of God s gifts is dependent upon His own character. The reason God s gifts are good is because God is good. The hope we have is good, because He is good. Gifts from His hands are lasting and precious gifts, because He is lasting and precious. Listen to Yahweh s own words, in Exodus 34.

5 5 The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love to the thousandth generation (Exodus 34:6b-7a ESV) How could the Lord, who is abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love to the thousandth generation, give a hope that does not reflect that same love and faithfulness. His character demands that the hope He gives is faithful and sure, just as He is. He is certain (faithful). Therefore, our hope must be certain as well. So, reason #1: We know we hope in something certain because it comes from God, who is faithful. REASON #2: Jesus Christ is alive and well....through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... (1:3b ESV) Peter says God has born us again to a living hope by means of (through) the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I can hear Paul s words now. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:14-18 ESV) And listen to where Paul goes from here. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive Then comes the end, when he delivers the Kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:20-22; ESV) Do you hear Paul s argument? Now we know that God will one day return and judge the earth and set up His Kingdom and reign forever! How? Because Christ has been raised from the dead! The proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is God s means of instilling within our hearts a hope that cannot ever be touched by all the changing circumstances of this world. Unless someone can go to the right hand of the Father and bring Jesus back down to earth and lock him in a grave, then our hope cannot be touched. So, reason #2: We know we hope in something certain because Jesus Christ is alive and well. REASON #3: Heaven is being guarded by God for us. to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you (1:4 ESV) In verse 4, Peter writes of the content of our hope. To connect the dots, he writes, born again to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

6 6 This is what we await; an inheritance! What would you do if you received news that you stood to inherit a few million from some unknown relative? You d rejoice! You d look forward to that day as if it marked the day that you would truly begin to live. That is what we have been given; yet so much more! We ve been given an inheritance far more valuable; one that is imperishable (free from all kinds of corruption); undefiled (the power of sin cannot overrun it); and unfading (even time cannot take its value). By nature, this world cannot touch our inheritance. But there s more. Peter says our inheritance is kept in heaven for you. That means, God, who cannot be defeated is protecting our inheritance in heaven, where moths and rust and sin cannot even come close to it. Our inheritance is being guarded by God for us. He works to make sure we get it, by keeping it in a place where no one but He and angels can touch it. In verse 5, Peter tells us what that inheritance. He calls it a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. One commentator calls salvation in this context as being rescued from God s judgment or wrath on the last day. 1 This is the judgment that Peter talks about in 4:17 and Paul talks about in Romans 5:9 and 1 Thessalonians 5:9. Our inheritance is the great privilege of escaping the wrath of God on the day Christ returns to judge the living and the dead, and the great privilege of getting to live with Him in the New World for the rest of eternity. That is what is free from all kinds of corruption. That is what the power of sin cannot distort or violate. That is what is so valuable that not even time cannot touch it. These privileges are certain, because God is guarding it for us. So, reason #3: We know we hope in something certain because Heaven is being guarded by God for us. REASON #4: We are being guarded by God for Heaven. you, who by God s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1:5 ESV) The word guarded here means to put up defense boundaries either to keep a prisoner in or an enemy out. Peter says by God s power, we are guarded by God, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. God guards us for heaven. God guards us from being attacked by an enemy that would seek to take us out from receiving our inheritance. We are not able to go out, and our enemy is not able to come in. By His great power, He protects us from anything that might seek to take our inheritance from us. We can be certain of what we hope for, because God is working to ensure that we get it. But how does He do that? Peter says, God guards us through faith. God s means of preserving us, is the same as what is commanded of us; faith. Our faithfulness to Christ (not just saving, conversion faith) is God s means of protecting us and guarding us so that we will receive final salvation. This is essential for us to appreciate, for a couple reasons. First, it tells us that God does not guard us always (or even often) by taking away suffering. The believers in this letter were facing suffering of all kinds, which is probably what motivated Peter to write them in the first place. They were being treated unjustly by their bosses (2:18). They were struggling in marriages with unbelieving spouses (3:1-6). They were being insulted and ridiculed by people close to them (4:14). And, on top of all that, they were facing the very real prospect of more intense persecution (4:12-18). They did not have it easy, and neither do we as Christians. We know what it is like 1 Thomas Schreiner, 1,2 Peter, Jude. New American Commentary (p. 63)

7 7 to be mistreated by our authorities. We know what it is like to be insulted by people close to us. We know what it is like to face the uncertainty of further persecution. So we need to understand that God guards us through those things, not around them. Or else, we ll be surprised and disillusioned when suffering does come, and possibly be tempted to doubt the object of our hope. The second reason why God guarding us through faith is an important fact for us to get is because it tells us that continued faith is an absolutely necessary condition for receiving our heavenly inheritance. If we do not persevere in faithfulness to Christ to the end, we will not be saved by Christ in the end! But, the way God gets us to our final salvation is by being powerful to preserve our commitment to Christ, and working within us to exercise genuine faith, not by taking away our responsibility to obey. So, God doesn t guard us by making our lives easier, and He does not guard us by letting us off the hook. He guards us by causing us to exercise our commitment to Christ. God s guarding and our obedience are one in the same. One does not occur without the other. We cannot obey apart from God s powerful protection and God does not protect apart from our continued obedience. He guards us by His power through giving us genuine, continuing faithfulness to Christ. So, reason #4: We know we hope in something certain, because we are being guarded by God, for heaven. I hope this quote is as encouraging to you as it has been to me. The Christian s hope is positive. His youth is like unto that of the heir during his minority who knows precisely what awaits him. No more than this, the Christian has the assurance which no heir in temporal things can ever have. He knows with absolute certainty that not merely will the inheritance be kept for him, but that he will be kept for it. Her then there is something that possesses all the requirements necessary to make hope a safe and normallife principle. The Christian can hope perfectly. (Gerhard Vos, A Sermon on 1 Peter 1:3-5) Did you hear that? The Christian can hope perfectly. Your inheritance is certain. No matter where this life takes you; no matter the kinds of struggles and trials you face; no matter who lets you down or mistreats you; no matter what kind of ridicule you take from your family members for seeking to follow Christ; no matter if you die at an early age; no matter if you are looked down upon by unbelievers for not indulging in your flesh like they do; no matter if you don t have money or popularity or fame; no matter if all you have to show for this life is a ministry that the world does not even begin to understand; no matter if you are successful and grow extremely wealthy; NO MATTER WHAT; whether things go good or bad, your inheritance is certain. God has given it to you. Jesus is alive and well. Heaven is being guarded for you. And you are being guarded for Heaven. Your hope is in something absolutely certain. Blessed be the God and Father or our Lord Jesus Christ! All praise, be to Him! Let s pray.