Our Living Hope

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ICC
Pastor Alan Keiran
August 5, 2007
Our Living Hope
1 Peter 1:3-5
 

Christians are the most fortunate citizens on planet Earth because God has selected us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. Our inheritance is already prepared and our lives protected until the time we graduate from this life and enter our eternal reward.

Though we face difficulties, trials, sickness, misunderstanding, and many bumps in the road of life…we are destined for eternity and will one day reign with God on high. That is our destiny and the devil cannot take it away.

Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon calls this passage a string of fine pearls. Those without spiritual discernment might see this precious string of spiritual truths as mere costume jewelry, something to be treated without regard for its enduring value…Those with discerning eyes and hearts will see that this passage contains treasure beyond value…of infinite worth. These are the core teachings of our faith—the very promises of God himself.

 

Illustration: As we look into God’s heart felt gifts…we must cherish them and value them as the most precious gifts anyone could ever hope to receive. But not only should we live in an attitude of thanksgiving for these gifts, we must be willing to give them away to other needy souls for God calls us to share His love, hope, and salvation with the world.

A traveling man came into a hotel to secure a room for the night. Upon being informed that every room in the building had been taken, he was naturally quite perturbed, until a portly gentleman standing nearby kindly offered to share his room with him. The offer was thankfully accepted.

Upon retiring, the portly man knelt and prayed, tenderly mentioning his guest for the night in his petition. In the morning his host informed him that it was his custom to read a portion of the Word of God and pray before taking up the responsibilities of the day. The effect upon the man was moving; a strange feeling came over him; something had been working in his heart all the night. When gently pressed by this stranger to accept the Lord Jesus as his personal Savior, his resistance went down in a heap. A soul had been won for Christ!

But who is this humble ambassador of Christ, who so strikingly resembles a member of President Wilson's cabinet? When business cards were exchanged before parting, to the guest's amazement he read, "William Jennings Bryan, Secretary of State."

1 Peter 1:3-5 “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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”

               

1.  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

a.     Praise to God is what we offer in acknowledgement of God's excellent being. You might think that praise is the same as saying "thank you," but there is a difference. Thanksgiving describes our attitude toward what God has done, while praise is offered for who God is.

b.     Psalm 18:3 says "I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise…" All believers are commanded to praise God! In fact, Isaiah 43:21 explains that praise is one reason we were created, "This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise."

c.     Hebrews 13:15 confirms this: "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name."[1]

2.    In His Great (surpassing, infinite, limitless)

a.     Mercy (compassion):

                                                  i.      He has given us (caused us to experience, brought us into) New Birth (a new life)

                                                ii.      James 1:16-18 “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.”

                                              iii.      John 3:1-7 “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.’ In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.’”

b.     Nicodemus case study

                                                  i.      John 7:45-52 “Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?" "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards declared. “You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. "Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them." Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, "Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."

                                                ii.      John 19:38-40 “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.”

                                              iii.      Dr. Tozer tells us, “There are two spirits abroad in the earth: the spirit that works in the children of disobedience and the Spirit of God. These two can never be reconciled in time or in eternity. The spirit that dwells in the once-born is forever opposed to the Spirit that inhabits the heart of the twice-born.”

1.      Without spiritual rebirth there is NO entry into the KOG. We can’t buy our way in with good deeds. Nor can we enter without giving our hearts to Jesus Christ. Jesus brings us into His Kingdom and hr brings his kingdom into us.

2.    Dr. Miles Monroe tells us, “God reigns as King and absolute Sovereign over all things in both the spiritual and physical realms. After he created the earth with its varied plant and animal life, He created mankind to rule over the earthly domain. God is King of the universe, and we are His ruling representatives in the physical realm. The earth is our designated territory. As God’s vice-regents in this world, we are the Kingdom of God on earth. The Kingdom of God, therefore, is not the earth itself, but the ones chosen to function as His rulers in the earthly domain. This planet is not the Kingdom of God; God’s Kingdom is us carrying out His dominion on this planet. God’s Kingdom is manifest in His people rather that in a particular place.[i]

c.     We’ve Been Born Again Into a Living Hope (not a dead life of religious duty, but a dynamic never ending relationship with God Almighty. That’s a bit hard for an finite mind to grasp, but it is nonetheless absolutely true.

                                                  i.      NT word "hope" might better be translated as "utter certainty" (of something yet in the future)

                                               ii.      1 Timothy 4:9-10 “This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”

                                             iii.      Let me contrast our living God with the dead gods of our world today—Remember that idols or gods (with a small “g”) are anything people hold more dear than God…Money, fame, power, pleasure, celebrities…anything that is more important to someone than God is can be a “dead” idol because it can’t give salvation or eternal life to us as the Living God does.  All worldly idols actually do is temporarily relieve the ache people have to know why they are alive.

                                              iv.      God is never jealous of our love for life, hard work, relationships, fortunes, hobbies—it He is always first in our lives—that is because he is not only jealous of our idols—He is so in love with us that he doesn’t want us to rob ourselves of our birthright by letting the things that are temporal take on more importance than eternal and lasting things.

                                                v.      We cannot add anything to what Jesus has done for us on the cross, not should we value anything more than the One who died to set us free from sin and bring us eternal life.

                                              vi.      1 Cor 3:11-13 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work.”

                                            vii.      Prolific Christian author and persecuted pastor John Bunyan says of God’s gift of hope, “Hope has a thick skin and will endure many a blow; it will put on patience as a vestment, it will wade through a sea of blood, it will endure all things if it be of the right kind, for the joy that is set before it. Hence patience is called “patience of hope,” because it is hope that makes the soul exercise patience and long-suffering under the cross, until the time comes to enjoy the crown.”

                                      viii.      John Bunyan(1628–1688) Case Study:

1.      John Bunyan would understood the value of hoping in Christ because he was imprisoned for 12 years for preaching the gospel without permission of the British state church. He was a Baptist [ at that time considered a dissenter or rebel by Anglican clergy].

2.    For more than a decade John endured hardship and privation at the hands of cruel jailers. While he was enduring cold and heat, sickness, hunger and loneliness in jail, his wife and children lived from meal to meal in utter destitution.

3.    John’s confinement and his family’s bitter life of poverty and public harassment could have been reversed if John had only agreed to stop preaching Christ Crucified and baptizing coverts by immersion. Neither his wife or he saw any enduring benefit in compromise.

4.    It was in prison that John wrote his most enduing work, The Pilgrim’s Progress first published in 1678. Had John agreed to stop preaching he’d have been released from prison and returned to his trade as a pot maker and mender and passed into obscurity. That was not his destiny…He understood God’s living hope and was eventually released from jail. Under the reign of Catholic King Charles II John was formally pardoned and granted a license to preach.

                                             ix.       How did Jesus bring us into this living hope? Through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. How do we, like John Bunyan, know that this living hope will endure?

d.   It is an Eternal Inheritance Kept in Heaven for us.

                                                  i.      Ready (prepared, waiting)

                                                ii.      For those shielded by God’s power (Dunamis)…Until…

                                              iii.      The coming of salvation (40 X in NT)

1.      Acts 4:12Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

2.    Greek word for salvation-sodezo—is a dymanic word. It means to be rescued, restored, preserved, delivered, healed of disease, and kept safe.

3.    Past, present and future applications of the gift of salvation…We were saved, we’re being saved, and we will be saved.

4.    We were saved: Romans 8:23-24a “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”

5.    We are being saved: 2 Cor 2:15 “For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”

6.  We will be saved: Romans 13:11 “And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.”

7.  Our ultimate salvation—the culmination of all God did for us on the cross will be revealed in the Last days. (Kyros Escaton)

8.    Revelation 21:1-8Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."  He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

e.     Until Christ returns or we graduate from this life how do we live in the surety of our salvation? How do we put feet to faith?

                                                  i.      We ask God for opportunities to share the good news of Jesus with others.

1.      Romans 1:16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.”

                                             ii.      Live above reproach while serving others.

1.      Philippians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

As I close let me share a true story that was sent to me by one of my friends on Capitol Hill. He writes,

I was reminded [recently] of a story a colleague told me about the son of one of his closest friends from childhood. His friend’s son, Jeremy, was a likable but odd boy, who always seemed to have his head in the clouds and was somewhat of a loner. His parents found it difficult to teach him responsibility, and he was forever losing things. He’d come home, having misplaced a new sweater or backpack. And they gave up on buying him lunchboxes because he could never keep track of one for more than a week.  His parents, being good Dutch Protestants and living in a poor rural community, tried to discipline him so he would understand the value of his things, but nothing seemed to work. Once, he even came home having lost his sneakers. He just walked in barefoot and headed up the stair. When his mother asked him how in the world he could have lost his shoes, he just shrugged, said he was sorry, and that he’d try harder to keep track of his belongings in the future.

My colleague told me this story because tragically, Jeremy was killed in an auto accident earlier this year while a junior in high school, and my colleague attended the memorial service with the family. He said that when they showed up, they were stunned to see hundreds of students filling the pews. The pastor asked if anyone would like to say any words about Jeremy, and one after another, Jeremy’s classmates came forward to talk about how kind and generous he was, of how he was always helping others. One boy told how his single mother couldn’t afford to buy him shoes one year, and after complaining about how his feet hurt during PE, Jeremy pulled him aside, unlaced his sneakers, and gave them to him. A girl told how she came to school without a jacket one winter and how when Jeremy saw her shivering; he simply took the one off his back and gave it to her. 

For almost 45 minutes, students came forward to tell their own story of this odd, quiet boy who gave all that he had. Needless to say, his parents were undone, and the students grew closer through their sharing.  For Jeremy, at such a young age, had been acting as an anonymous agent of Christ, spreading the leavening of God’s Kingdom throughout that community.[2] 

We’ve taken precious pearls and examined them with great care.

Mercy

New Birth

Living Hope

Jesus’ Resurrection from the dead

Our eternal inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade

The power of God protecting us until we get to heaven

And what a heaven it will be...for there will be no more weeping or tears. And there we will see our Jesus face to face.


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[1] http://www.allaboutprayer.org/praise-to-god.htm

[2] Eric Sapp Sermon of July 8, 2007


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[i] Miles Monroe, Rediscovering the Kingdom: Ancient Hope for Our 21st Century World, (Shippensburg, PA, Destiny Image, 2004), 83.

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