Safe and Secure

1 Peter 1:1-5

After you have suffered for a little while . . .

A certain organization offered...a bounty of $5,000 for wolves captured alive. It turned Sam and Jed into fortune hunters. Day and night they scoured the mountains and forests looking for their valuable prey.

"Exhausted one night, they fell asleep dreaming of their potential fortune. Suddenly, Sam awoke to see that they were surrounded by about fifty wolves with flaming eyes and bared teeth. He nudged his friend and said, ’Jed, wake up! We’re rich!’"

When persecution and suffering surround you, an unshakable assurance of your salvation can turn the worst situation into an opportunity for your good and God’s glory.

 crushing financial debt

 unbearable temptation

 nightmarish experiences

 shocking and unbearable suffering

 terrible trials

The Need for Hope

Strangers - SCATTERED all over the place

Because Christians are “strangers” in the world, they are considered to be “strange” in the eyes of the world (1 Peter 4:4).

Christians have standards and values different from those of the world, and this gives opportunity both for witness and for warfare.

These believers were a “scattered” people as well as a “strange” people. The word translated “scattered” (diaspora) was a technical term for the Jews who lived outside of Palestine. It is used this way in John 7:35 and James 1:1.

Peter’s use of this word does not imply that he was writing only to Jewish Christians, because some statements in his letter suggest that some of his readers were converted out of Gentile paganism (1 Peter 1:14, 18; 2:9–10; 4:1–4). There was undoubtedly a mixture of both Jews and Gentiles in the churches that received this letter. We will notice a number of Old Testament references and allusions in these chapters.

Jews especially:

Had been forced to leave everything behind: homes, property, estates, businesses, jobs, money, church, friends, and fellow believers.

Believers had apparently taken their families and what belongings they could carry and fled for their lives. Peter is writing to five Roman provinces where most of the believers had apparently tried to hide and find safety. But note how the church is continuing on as an underground church.

The Source of our hope

The FOREKNOWLEDGE of God

Some see it this way: All that God does in this work of election is to give confirmation to the decision he know people will make on their own.

There are a lot of problems with this kind of understanding of foreknowledge.

God’s work is dependant upon what we do not upon is initiative of mercy

This to me also seems to remove choice. If God sees that we are going to choose, and he elects us, do we have the freedom then to not choose.

Foreknowledge

This is not about facts.

Those “whom” he foreknew

In Scripture, when people know God, or God knows them it is a personal knowledge that involves a saving relationship

Those whom he thought of long ago in saving relationship to Himself

Scripture doesn’t speak of our faith as the reason God chose us.

“Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God’s purpose of election might stand, not because of works but because of his call, she was told, the older shall serve the younger.”

The SANCTIFYING work of the Holy Spirit

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day

He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior

The REDEMPTIVE work of Jesus

Shed his blood

The Nature of our Hope

An INHERITANCE

There Shall Be the Inheritance of a New Nature or State of Being

= Being adopted as a son of God (Galatians 4:4-7; 1 John 3:1).

= Being made blameless and harmless (Phil. 2:15).

= Being given eternal life (John 3:16; 1 Tim. 6:19).

= Being given an enduring substance (Hebrews 10:34).

= Being given a glorious body (Phil. 3:11, 21; 1 Cor. 15:42-44).

= Being given eternal glory and honor and peace (Romans 2:10).

= Being given eternal rest and peace (Hebrews 4:9; Rev. 14:13).

= Being given the blessings of the Lord (Proverbs 10:22).

= Being given the knowledge of Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:8).

= Being given durable riches and righteousness (Proverbs 8:18).

= Being made priests (Rev. 20:6)

= Being given a crown of incorruption (1 Cor. 9:25).

= Being given a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8).

=Being given a crown of life (James 1:12).

= Being given a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4).

= Being given eternal responsibility and joy (Matthew 25:21, 23).

= Being given rule and authority over cities (Luke 19:17, 19).

= Being given thrones and the privilege of reigning forever (Rev. 20:4; Rev. 22:5).

= Being given the privilege of surrounding the throne of God (Rev. 7:9-13; Rev. 20:4).

= Being made priests (Rev. 20:6).

= Being made kings (Rev. 1:5; Rev. 5:10).

= Being made an heir of God (Romans 8:16-17; Titus 3:7).

= Being given an incorruptible inheritance (1 Peter 1:3-4).

= Being given the blessings of the Lord (Proverbs 10:22).

= Being given durable riches and righteousness (Proverbs 8:18).

= Being given unsearchable riches (Ephes. 3:8).

= Being given treasures in heaven (Matthew 19:21; Luke 12:33).

That won’t FADE

That is RESERVED in heaven

The Assurance of this Hope

Protected by the POWER of God

pastor joel richards May 18, 2008