a living confidence, a living
expectation. The reason I want to talk to
us about a living hope and expectation is because there's no lasting
peace and no comfort except in the word of him who lives. Our hope and life is from Almighty
God. And in His Word alone, a believer
finds rest for his soul. For a redeemed and regenerated
saint, what he hears out of the Scriptures, is the only thing
that matters. What saith the Scriptures? And when he hears something out
of the Scriptures, that's what he bases his life upon, his relationship
to God upon. He continually examines himself
according to the Scriptures to see if he'd be in the faith.
I mean, what does God's Word have to say? And he proves himself. Somebody can say to him, you
know, you don't have to. Not a believer. I want to know
what God has to say and I want to know if I'm His and He's mine. I want to know that I've been
bought with a price. I want to know that. Now I know
the price is the precious blood of Christ and I know He laid
down His life for the sheep. And I want to know if I'm won.
I want to know if God has redeemed me. I want to know that. I want
to know if He's regenerated. I want to see these characteristics. I want some hope. Of all the things that arrest
the heart of a believer, let me tell you what arrests the
heart of a believer. The glory of God. When Moses asked the
Lord to show him his glory, that's what he wanted to do. Lord, I
want to know, how have you been pleased to magnify yourself?
And that's when the Lord told him. He said, I'm going to cause
all my goodness to pass before you. I'm going to have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy. I'm going to have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. So Peter's going to set forth,
as moved by the Spirit of God, something about a lively hope.
So let's see what the Lord has to say. Verse Peter 1.1. Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, and peace be
multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and
that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. So Peter is going to write to
some strangers. Some strangers, some foreigners.
And that's what God's people are. They're foreigners. They're not of this world. They're
in it. But they've been regenerated. And now they're in a place that
they're just not comfortable. They're not comfortable with
this world's religion. They're not comfortable with this world's
rebellion against God. When you first get here, I know
when I first moved here, there was just something. I don't know.
There was something about me. I don't know if it was the way
I said things. Maybe it was my accent. I don't
know. You think? And people knew. You're not from around here,
are you? No, I'm not. But you're foreigners. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
one called and taught and commissioned and sent by the Lord Jesus to
preach the gospel to the strangers that are scattered, dispersed, spiritual Israelites. that are
dispersed in this world. Who are they? Well, they're elect
according to the foreknowledge of God. And here's the Spirit
of God is going to tell those foreigners something about the
blessing that they've inherited by the good pleasure of God.
expectation, confidence. Something that's not cold and
inoperative. It's not dead. It's not merely
a form of godliness. It's not just a mere speculation,
but it's a hope that is heartily active. And it's powerful. This is what I want to know.
I want to know something about a living hope. A living hope. It can't be something that I
produced because I don't have the power. Four things I'd like
to look at in just a few minutes. I want to look at the nature
of it. I want to look at the source of it. I want to look
at the evidence of it. And I want to look at the end
of it. Now here's the first thing. The nature of this living hope. Well again, I know it's not something
that's based on dead works. It's got to be something that's
based upon the living God. It's that expectation, that hope,
that confidence whereby the heart is absolutely fixed and settled
on the report that God the Father has given concerning His Son. Look at verse 3. Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His
abundant mercy hath begotten us again, has rebirthed us again,
born us again from above unto a lively hope by, or in consequences
of, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now let
me ask you something. What is the nature of a living
hope? I'm talking about a living Christ,
a living confidence, a living expectation on the resurrection. What does the resurrection give
or contribute to or establish concerning this living hope.
What is it? Well, here's what it is. Everything that Christ
did for us, God's people, He lived for us, establishing our
righteousness. He died for His people, bearing
all of our guilt in His own body. He was made the source. You know, the Scriptures talk
about sin and sins. Sins is the product of what we
are. Sin is the source of our problem. Sins are just a manifestation
of it. And when it says Christ was made
sin, He was made the source of our problem. And when He laid
down His life being made sin for His people, and He bore in
His own body All the source of, the evidence of, paid the debt
of, all of it. And he died. But where is my
living hope? God raised him from the dead.
God accepted him. Raised him up. Exalted him. He's seated on the throne of
God. That resurrection says it all. So what's the nature of our living
hope? It was established by the risen
Savior. God Almighty raised Him up. It's an expectation in which
the glory of God in Christ, and that eternal blessing toward
God's people, it's a living principle. It's alive. Let the potions of this world
strive with the potions of this world. Let them talk about God's
done everything He can do and He's made it possible. Let them
talk all you want to. That's no hope. That's no hope. You're going to leave everything
to me to do? I know just enough about myself
to make myself sick. And to think that I'm going to
stand before God? and have the very nature of my
hope based on me, on my dead works? No, sir. You tell me about
a Savior that's everlastingly had me on His heart, that He's
everlastingly been my surety. You tell me about a Savior that
was raised up everlastingly before the Father and everlastingly
stood as my representative and came into this world and lived
and died for me and raised for me and had me on his heart when
he went to the cross. He's got me on his heart right
now and he's coming back for me. Now that's a living hope.
That's something I can rest in right there. That's something
I can, you know, this is the truth of it. The latter part of verse 3, a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Inheritance. An inheritance, verse 4, that
is incorruptible. Now I'm going to tell you something.
We possess those that have a lively hope resting in Christ Himself,
the person of Christ. We've got an inheritance, something
that we look forward to, that the Lord promised. I don't understand
all of it, but the Lord has promised we've got an inheritance that
it is incorruptible. Everything in this earth is corrupted. Everything is seeds of decay
and death, Everything that we look at but the redeemed of the
Lord, here's what I know about their lively hope, their inheritance
in Christ. It's no corruption to it. Revelation 21-27 says this, There shall in no wise enter
into heaven anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination
or maketh a lie, but that which is written in the Lamb's book
of life." There won't be anybody, anything there that's corrupted,
defiled. This is a hope that's given. I know this, it's not earned.
It is not obtained by the works of my industry or my flesh, but
it's given by the free grace of God. This is what 2 Timothy
1.9 says, who have saved us and called us with a holy calling. You know, I give a call. The Lord has commanded all men
to repent. The Lord has commanded all men
to repent. That's a general call. Almighty
God saves sinners. Come to the Savior. That's a
general call. But you know I don't have any
power to make it effectual. But a holy calling? Whenever
the Lord called Matthew, follow me. When He called Saul of Tarsus,
you know, that's a holy calling. And it's effectual calling. who
have saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. It's
forever. So this inheritance is incorruptible,
it's undefiled, verse 4, and it fadeth not away. Grass withereth,
flower fadeth away, but our lively hope does not fade away. It's secure, not on my ability
to keep myself, but it's secure on the promise and power of Almighty
God. And that's the reason it don't
fade away. It's reserved in heaven. That's what it says. It's reserved
in heaven for you who are kept. by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Here's a living
hope. We're kept by Christ who has
the power and the right to hold securely those that He's purchased
and redeemed by His own blood unto that precious inheritance
which is safe out of the reach of men and devils. So the nature
of our hope is this. It's living hope. It's got life
to it. In Him who is life, I'm the way,
the truth, the life. If my hope's in Him, then I've
got a lively hope. Secondly, the source of it. Well, we read it just a few minutes
ago back in verse 2. It's totally based upon the election
of God. What does that mean? It's totally
based on what God chooses to do. That's what I'm saying. It
wasn't based on my choice, it was based on God's choice. The Father, by merciful judgment,
choice, I can say it like that, chose a people in Christ to glory. with Him. And He did so according
to foreknowledge. Elect, verse 2, 1 Peter 1 verse
2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now, let me
clarify this. Let me clarify a wrong that is
being said. Men will say, because they can't
just do away with election, They try to just tone it down to where
it doesn't mean anything. They said, God looked down and
He saw who would believe. So He chose them. I've read to you out of Psalm
14, go back and read. God did look. And there were
none, none chose Him. None. None. For knowledge here
doesn't mean that the Father looked. through time and saw
who would choose Him. But it means that God foreordained. That's what the word means. God foreordained the sheep to
life in Christ. And He chose or elected a people
in His Son because it pleased Him to do so. There's no difference. We're all cut out of the same
lump. We're all fallen in Adam. There's none good. No, not one. And there's no difference. Almighty
God, we've read this so many times. Hold your place right
there and turn back to Ephesians. I want you to read with me Ephesians
1, 4 and 5. And I want us to look at these. I'm just going to read them is
all I'm going to do. I told you about Brother Henry reading that
to somebody one time. He said, I'm going to read you
Ephesians chapter 1. And he read them. He read what we're about
to read. And Henry said, He just read it, all he did, he didn't
comment on it, he just read it. And Henry asked him, he said,
do you believe that? He said, not the way you read it. Listen
to this, Ephesians 1, 4 and 5, or 3, 4, 5. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Now what about
those spiritual blessings? According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according
to the good pleasure of His Will. Somebody says, well, you just
think that you're better than others. No, we don't. We know
we're not. I'm just telling you what God
said. I'm telling you that the source
of a lively hope is the electing grace of God. Had God not left
a small remnant We'd all been like Sodom and
Gomorrah. That's what the Scripture said.
Had God not chosen to show mercy, we'd all been cast out justly. But God, who is rich in mercy,
chose to show mercy because He delights in mercy. So what's
the source of lively hope? Me? The electing grace of God. Look at Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, verse 29-31. This is a blessing. Romans 8, 29-31. Romans 8, 29. For whom He did
foreknow, foreordain. Foreordain. Foreordain. He also did predestinate. He
determined the destination beforehand. That's what the word means. To
be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate,
them He also called. Whom He called, them He also
justified. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? But there's an amazing
word in that passage I just read. It's back in verse 29. It's the word conformed. For
whom He did foreknow, foreordain, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. conformed. I went and looked it up this
morning so I could make sure I knew exactly what it means. Now here's what it means. Made
or having the same form. Predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of His Son. Now I'm going to read a scripture
for you. Turn with me. Hold your place
in 1 Peter. Turn to 1 John 3. And I'm going to read you the
totality of the understanding of what it means to be conformed
to the image of Christ. This is how much we know about
it. 1 John 3, 1 and 2. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not, because it knew us not. Here's the understanding we have.
This is how much we know, Fred, right here. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be. But we know that when He shall
appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
How much do we know about it, Pat? I don't know. But the Spirit of God moved on
John to say, when He shall appear, We're going to be like Him. What is the source of our lively
hope? The source of our lively hope
is the grace of Almighty God, electing grace of God. This is
it. This is a living hope. The nature
of it is God Himself working all things after the counsel
of His own will. The source of it is God's electing
grace. to choose, to show mercy to unworthy
sinners. Thirdly, the evidence of it. What's the evidence of a living
hope? Is there not some evidence? Yep,
there is. We read back in 1 Peter, here
it is. Here's the evidence of a lively
hope. Verse 5, who are Who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time. Who are kept by the power of
God. What's the evidence of a living
hope? A living hope, a living confidence,
a living expectation that Almighty God has done something for me.
What's a living hope of that? They don't leave. They don't
leave. They don't leave the gospel.
God's sheep called by God's grace are kept. Kept. They for a while claimed to be
believers, but those that have no knowledge of Christ, though
they may for a while, if they leave, this is what 1 John 2.19,
they went out from us, but they were not of us. For
if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued
with us, Now who said that? John? The Spirit of God said it. They would
have no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. What
is the evidence? What's the evidence of a living
hope? They don't leave. The evidence
of that hope is that they're kept. They're kept in obedience
to Christ. They're kept looking to Him.
They're kept leaning and waiting on Him and coming to Him. This
is the light. This is the evidence of a believer.
They don't quit coming. He that cometh to me. He that
cometh to me. Let me ask you, you that believe. You that know Him. You that sat
under the gospel. for years and years and years,
who are convinced that God has given you a heart of fire. How
long has it been since you asked Him, Lord save me. Lord save
me. Lord keep me. Let me ask you
this, did He promise that He was going to do that? Yeah, He
did. Do you ever quit asking? No. Lord guide me. He said those that are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Didn't He say the
steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord? Yes, absolutely. How often does a believer ask
Him, Lord guide me, Lord show me Your way? You know, they just
kept asking, they keep asking. They are like children. They
know, they know, they know and they keep asking. The evidence
of a lively hope is that they stay because God has kept them. Fourthly, the end of the livelihood. What's the end of it? What's
the conclusion of it? Verse 5, we are kept by the power
of God through faith, here's the end of it, unto salvation. Salvation. What does that mean? Rescue. Rescue. They are kept by the power of
God through faith unto being rescued and saved, ready to be
revealed in the last time. Salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time? Well, I thought that God's people
were saved right now. They are. They are. Salvation, though, is an eternal
salvation. And it's set forth in the scriptures
like this. We've been saved. We're being
saved. Those that are being saved. And
we shall be saved. A moment ago I read this scripture
in 2 Timothy 1.9. Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling. All that was given us in Christ
before the world began. So salvation is set forth as
being eternal. Someone said, I have a hard time
believing that salvation is an eternal salvation. Well, I'm
going to tell you what Brother Scott said one time. I thought,
this is such a help to me. He said, He said, when the Lord
reveals it to them, they'll believe it. Good statement. I can say, well, man's not really
saved until he believes. Well, the Lord said, who has
saved us and called us. So the Father who chose us in
Christ before the world began, He saw man's fall. But our electing
grace in Christ was before man was ever made. Before man was
ever created. God saw the fall and saw the
Lamb slain for His people that would fall before the foundation
of the world, before the world was ever made, so before anything
was ever created in time. God's people, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. I told Jeremiah, before I formed
you, I knew you. I ordained you a prophet. So before God ever created man,
He saw man's fall and had seen the Lamb slain before man was
ever made and ever fell. And justified Him, in Christ,
saved Him. In the eternal will and purpose
of Almighty God, God saved Him. So you think salvation started? No. Salvation is eternal. But in time, in time, the sheep
that leapt unto salvation came into this world as rebels, just
like all men, fallen. Ephesians 2.3 says, among whom
also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of
our flesh, fulfilling the desire of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But
when it pleased God, The Spirit of God came in a resting
grace and powerfully grasped the vessels of God's mercy and
regenerated them. And listen to this, and they
were born again. They were born from above. Ephesians
2.8 says, For by grace you are saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves, It is the gift of God. So salvation is
set forth as being eternal. You have saved us and called
us. But listen to this, 2 Corinthians 6.2. For he saith, I've heard
thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have
I succored thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. So God's people are said to be
saved in time. saved, called out of darkness,
regenerated by the grace of God, having life imparted to them. But this passage right here says,
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. Brother Henry made this statement,
with this I'm going to close. He said in our passage, we're
told that it shall be revealed in the last day, that we've been
finally saved and delivered. So in that, we say that salvation
is eternal. This is what we're saying. God
has saved us. We're being saved right now.
We're being kept right now. We're being kept by the power
of God. How's He keeping us? By faith.
Faith that cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. This
is how He's keeping us right here. He's keeping us believing
Him. He's giving us faith. He's giving us faith. He's giving
us faith. Every day, I need faith for today. I need faith for right
now. I need grace for right now. And
there's coming a time when we're going to be finally, totally,
and completely delivered and saved. and no sin no more, not even
in its presence, not even in ourselves, will be delivered,
completely delivered. We have a lively hope. This is
a living hope. This is a real hope. This is
a hope based on the word of God, on the will of God, the purpose
of God, the power of God. I pray God bless this to our
hearts and keep us, for Christ's sake, amen, amen.