Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the book of 1 Peter chapter 1. You know, it's very easy for us to
miss, to forget, to not think upon. the wonder. This is God's Word. You know, someone might say,
well, I know that. I know that. Well, let's just
stop just a minute and think about that again. The miracle
of God's grace that He would send His Word. This starts off
and says, Peter, Peter, object of God's saving grace. Just an old fisherman, that's
all he was. Just a fisherman. A man born just like anybody
else. sinner, saved by God's grace,
but he was an apostle, an apostle of Jesus Christ. There were twelve
apostles. The Lord chose twelve men. One of them betrayed Him. But
these apostles were taught by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. taught them the gospel. They
heard the message of free grace from His lips, walked with Him,
heard Him preach, watched Him. And God the Spirit taught them
and gave these men special gifts, special gifts to be able not
only to preach, but had special gifts, signs, miracles, these
men, to confirm these men are men sent of God, apostles. Now, you know, it's one thing
for us to sit, and it's the most fearful thing. I'll bet you Brother
Scott confirmed this. Man said all of his regenerated
life, if God calls him to be a preacher, his most serious
thing is to stand up and go to preach. It's not a light thing. You take
a scripture that you've read, and before you stand up to preach,
you make sure you go over that scripture again. And you search
it. You pray. You ask, Lord, Lord,
teach me what You're saying. Lord, would You give me, would
You grant me the message in Your Word? I don't want to handle
this Word in a trifling manner. I want to be honorable before
You. I want to be honest before Your
people. These are Your people. These
are those that You've everlastingly loved. There's some elect. in
this place. I'm convinced of that. But here's a man, and he was
one of such that the Spirit of God taught this man to write
down what God told him. Amazing! We are reading the inspired
Word of God. This was not Peter's words. These are God's words. This man
writes, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, the Lord Himself
to the strangers, those who are pilgrims. Strangers, pilgrims
to this world are scattered because of the sake of the gospel, because
of persecution through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia, strangers, writing to God's people. This is what's
called one of the general epistles. You read up there, my Bible says
the first epistle general of Peter. It's written to the people
of God. That's who it's written to. Written
to the folks at Cady. This is who it's written to.
Cady, Danville, Ashland, Gospel. written to those strangers. Now,
there is no lasting peace. There is no joy. There is no
comfort except to a believer in God's Word. The written Word
is not the living Word. It is the Word of God Himself. It is by and on His eternal Word
that a believer is convinced. This is the Word of God. This
is His Word. Lord, it's Your Word. That's
what Peter said. Remember that? He was fishing. Y'all caught
anything? We fished all night. Hadn't caught
anything. Cast your net on the other side.
Well, we fished all night. But Lord, it's Your Word. We're
sitting here tonight. We were here this morning. You've
just about been, by God's grace, I am not going to say anything
new by God's grace. I don't want to say anything
new. I want to say that which He has said. I want to stay on
God's Word. But tonight we have assembled
ourselves together to hear from Him. For the redeemed, the regenerated
saint, what he hears and how he hears is of the utmost importance. The saint continually examines
himself. How do you do that? How do you
feel about examining yourself? I don't know. Examine yourself
according to the scriptures, whether you be in the faith.
Do you hunger and thirst after him? Do you? You long after Him. Tell me of His honor. Tell me
of His glory. A believer proves himself by
the Word of God. I was talking about this morning
when I said, you know, a man stands up and he says now, Scripture
says, By this shall all men know you are my disciple. Okay, and I want to hear this
one more time. A believer knows that he is not
his own. He has been bought with the precious
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God's Lamb, and that Christ is
in him, except he be a reprobate. He wants to know. He will take
God's Word against himself, for he knows that the Word of God
endures forever. He is but dust. You know that. Of all the things that are rest,
the new heart. The glory of Almighty God and
salvation, the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ, the honor of God
Almighty is most vital. For herein the believer is found
to have interest of his eternal soul. One day this is going to truly
matter. It's going to matter. I was talking
to a friend of mine the other day, and he was telling me that
he preached a mutual friend of ours' funeral. He told him just
a week or so before, our friend passed away. Our friend told
him, he said, you know, he said, the realization, I'm getting
ready to meet God. All of a sudden, it mattered. He said, I'm resting my soul. on Him. What else has a man got? What else have you got? All of
a sudden, everything fades into nothingness, getting ready to
meet God. I'd like to consider four things
tonight about a phrase that's found in verse 3, about the middle
of the way down. Peter writing, he said, he hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope. That's what I'd like to
speak on for a few minutes, a lively hope, a living hope. Tell me
something that is so. Tell me something that is alive.
Tell me something that's true. I want to consider, first of
all, the nature. of a lively hope. What is it?
Peter said he's begotten us again unto a lively hope. Well, I can
tell you this. First of all, it's a hope that's
based not on dead works, but on the Lord Jesus Christ who
ever liveth. Lively hope. It is a hope whereby
the heart is fixed to believe by God's grace, by God's given
faith, to believe the report of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who
hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? He hath begotten us again. You
remember what the Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus. Nicodemus
came to him by night. He said, you know, good master,
We know that you must be from God. No man could do the things
that you do, lest God be with him. And he said, Nicodemus,
you must be born again, born from above. He hath begotten
us, the Scripture says, unto a lively hope. Begotten us again. Made us children. Now, I realize
that all men, all women, are His by creation. I know that.
All of us. We are all made by Him. Peter
says He has begotten us again unto a lively hope. Created us in Christ Jesus. A new creature. A new man. He made a brand new creation. Created us. Made us new mind. Not a worked over old man. Didn't
take an old man and work him over and reform him a little.
Made a brand new creature. Created in Christ Jesus. Heirs of God. Joint heirs with
Christ. It's not the hope. of a dead
sinner or a lifeless hypocrite. For the believer is a living
creature, spiritually alive, one made so by the Spirit of
God Himself. Let me give you an example, very
simple, probably too simple. You take a man, he's going to
take a horse, he's going to race him. The horse is dead. The horse is dead. And he's going to try as hard
as he can to put that horse in a race. Get him to stand up,
get his legs to move, move all of his legs, and let him have
a fighting chance. Does he? Why? The horse is dead. He's
dead. I'm not going to win. That's
the only conclusion he's going to come from. How would you like
to race a dead horse? Peter says, He hath begotten
us, birthed us," that's what it means, birthed us, to a lively
hope. It's a hope that's consistent
with the obeyed and honored law of God, one that reveals God
to be just in the punishment of sin in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our substitute and merciful in the forgiveness
of His people. lively hope, living hope. It is not that a man has made
himself alive. The Scripture says, Blessed,
verse 3, be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us. He did it,
not we ourselves. He created. He birthed unto a
lively hope. It is a hope that finds, from
beginning to end, the glory of Almighty God to be the issue.
And it is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I hope the sole ground for sinners'
hope is the sovereign mercy of Almighty God justly shown to
those that the Lord Jesus Christ has gloriously put away their
guilt by the shedding of His blood vicariously in their stead,
in their place. Died, buried, raised, ever lives
for them. He hath begotten us to a lively
hope. And this hope Peter is talking
about is an inheritance given to the heirs of salvation. Those who are joint heirs with
the Lord Jesus Christ, not obtained by their industry, by their will,
by the works of the law, free gift. It's an inheritance. It's incorruptible. Incorruptible
in itself can't be corrupted by others. Incorruptible. It means it's not liable to decay. throw a piece of bread out on
the floor, just leave it there long enough. It's going to mold. Run over an animal out here in
the middle of this highway or road right here, and I'm going
to tell you what's going to happen to it eventually. It's going
to rot. Why? It's liable to decay. It's corruptible. This lively hope is not enjoyed
or known by Those who are corrupt in themselves, left to themselves
in sin. But those who through the resurrection
of Lord Jesus Christ have put on incorruption in Him, by Him,
through Him. This inheritance, this lively
hope, incorruptible. And it's also undefiled, verse
4 says. It's holy. It has nothing of man's effort
added to it totally of God. And it fadeth not away. It doesn't
fade away as this world fades away. But it is secure not on
the sinner's ability to keep it, keep himself, but it's secure
on the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ who promised, I'll never
leave you, never forsake you. And the reason that it doesn't
fade away is because, end of verse 4 says, it's reserved in
heaven for you. Reserved. I looked up that word
reserved. Reserved. You know what it means?
Guarded. Watched over. It is reserved in heaven for
you. For God's elect. God's people. kept by Almighty God, kept by
Him who has the right, the power to hold secure because their
security is in Christ. It's in Him. He would have to
be dethroned. That is impossible. He is all-powerful. He would have to be removed. The Lord Jesus Christ has been
entrusted with the security of the Father's elect. He is their
surety, their surety. I mean, you think about it. I made this statement here recently,
talking about the surety at the bank. If there is somebody that
signs a note for me, and I know that person has got the money
Out of pure honor, I will do my best to make that note good. But if I don't, and I know they've
got the money, I'm not worried about it. They're going to make
it good. I know that. Can you imagine
the comfort, the peace, the joy? He is my surety. He is my hope. He is my salvation. He, as his
brother Scott just read, he's altogether lively. This is a
lively hope. This is a living hope. This is
a hope not built on my will or my works or my choice. It's on His will and His work,
His choice, His purpose, His Word. He shall not fail. Its inheritance is safe, safe
in heaven, out of the reach of men and devils, thereby it reveals
the preciousness of it. It is the Father's pleasure to
save, the Son's pleasure to purchase by His own precious blood, the
source of this lively hope. The source of this hope is found
in verse 2. Peter says we are elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. It is according to the election
of Almighty God, God's purpose to choose The Father, by His
merciful judgment, pleasure, chose His people in Christ to
grace, honor, glory, holiness. According to His foreknowledge, He foreknows because He purposes
all things that shall come to pass. Turn to Romans 8. Let's read this, Romans 8, verse
29 and 30. Romans 8, 29 and 30. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. Now, that word means He determined
the destination beforehand. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. The army in heaven, the inhabitants
of the earth, no man stays at hand. He does as He will. He's going to do exactly what
is His good pleasure. He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son. that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren, moreover whom he did predestinate. Then
he also called, and whom he called. Then he also justified, and whom
he justified. Then he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? If God called a man, Justified
that man. Glorified that man. What are
we going to say to these things? This is a lively hope. This hope
is real. This ain't a lie. This is a lively
hope. Not left to my little whim or
my little trials or my... I'll do the best I can. I hope
he'll consider, you know, a few of the things that I've done,
you know, and I helped somebody cross the street. They said,
you know, this is a lively hope. He's secured in Christ Himself, not in His universal foreknowledge, eternal and infallible knowledge
that reaches to all people without exception. I know I've heard
people say, well, when it comes to election, What it is, is that
God looked down in time. And He saw who would choose Him,
so He chose them. Well, turn to Psalm 14. Let's just see if we can find
out anything about that. I tell them, say, well, yeah,
God did look down. Scripture speaks that he looked.
Psalm 14, verse 2. The Lord looked down from heaven
upon the children of men. You could say He looked down
in time. You could say He looked down
to see who would choose Him. The Scripture says the Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men, all of them. How do you
know it's all of them? Because He said to see if there
were any that did understand and seek God. They are all gone
aside. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. Next time somebody
tells you, well, God looked down and He looked down in time to
see who was going to choose Him and He chose them. You remember,
God looked, and they are altogether filthy. There is none that does
good, not one. Almighty God, foreknown, elect
according to the foreknowledge of Almighty God. This foreknowledge,
His knowing, here is His sovereign grace, will, purpose, pleasure
to set His affection on and His purpose to give birth to whomsoever
He chooses. I will have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy. On whom I will, I'll show compassion. He said He's the potter, we're
the clay. has the right to do whatever
he wants to do with the clay. When I was in college, I took
a few art classes, and I watched some people. I never did throw
a pot, but I watched somebody. I watched some, you know, people
that was doing that. They'd throw a pot. They'd take
that lump of clay, plop it right down on that wheel and fire that
thing up. wet their hands, start doing
it. And you know, I kind of watched
them. They'd kind of just start doing
stuff like this. Their thumbs would kind of start doing like
that. And all of a sudden, they made a pot. Or they made a bowl. Or they made a mug. You know what they made? They
made whatever they wanted to make. That's exactly it. And they did it just exactly
the way they wanted to do it. They put the pressure just exactly
where they wanted to put the pressure, and they put grooves
and everything else with their fingers, and they did just exactly
the way they wanted to do it. And the more skilled that they
were, the nicer it came out. It looked pretty good. He's the
potter with the clay. The potter has a right to make
one vessel under honor and another vessel under dishonor. And let
me ask you this, who are we to question Him? Peter says we are
elect according to the foreknowledge of Almighty God, through sanctification
of the Spirit, the Spirit of God who sets apart His people. The Father chose, the Son is
redeemed, and the Spirit of God calls them out. blows as the
wind, whether so ever he will, sovereign, comes exactly where
he's pleased to come and calls them out under the preaching
of the gospel. This message, the message that
honors the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the message that he's
going to bless. That's why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of it. Sanctification of the Spirit
sets them apart. But I'll tell you there's another
part in that too. It is by God's Spirit, but we're
set apart in heart, in our spirit. Set apart. As I said the other
day, I realize that you've got to work with people. And I understand that many that
you work with do not believe and honor and love the God that
you love. But inside, internally, you're set apart. set apart. I'm not talking about that external
religious separation from the world. But it's internal. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience.
Obedience before Him. Obedience is gospel. The sheep
of God. When it pleases God to call them
out of darkness You know what they're going to do? They're
going to come. They're going to come to Him.
They're going to come. They're going to love Him because
He first loved them. Unto obedience, faith, that internal
grace, vowing to the will and purpose and pleasure of Almighty
God. And it's unto obedience, of that
heart and of the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, when that
blood was sprinkled, that priest would kill an animal and take
the face and take that blood and sprinkle it on the altar
and sprinkle it on the people. And what that showed, what that
sprinkled blood showed, the law has been satisfied. That's the
first thing. That blood, without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. Wages of sin is death. When that blood was shed, it
showed that sin deserved death. That killed an animal. That animal
was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. So when that priest would
take it and sprinkle it, it showed that the law has been satisfied.
that the covenant has been ratified or approved, confirmed. And ceremonially, their guilt
was pardoned. Ceremonially, pollution was removed. And they were fitted for an external
fellowship with Almighty God. Now let me tell you, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ being shed for His people, the law
has been satisfied. The elect's guilt is put away. They are pardoned by his blood.
Their pollution is removed. Now we're at peace with Almighty
God. There is now, therefore, no condemnation
to them that be in Christ Jesus. Peter said this is a lively hope. Blood has been shed. His blood
has been shed. Sin has been put away. We are
at peace. no condemnation, lively hope,
sprinkling of the blood of our blessed Savior. You know, believers
are interested in that. You tell me, as I said this morning,
tell me one more time how He put away my guilt. Tell me one
more time of a lively hope. You tell me one more time how
I am at peace with God through the blood of our blessed Savior. cleansed by His blood. Grace, Peter says, and peace. Grace unto you, and peace be
multiplied. Grace, sovereign kindness, and
peace, or rest. Grace and peace, sovereign kindness
and rest be multiplied unto you. May it be made more clear, is
what he is saying. May you have an enlarged view
of it. Grace, peace be multiplied. And then thirdly, the evidence
of a lively hope. Verse 5 says, who are kept by
the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. Who are kept. I like that word. Kept. I can't keep myself. I know that. The very thought of me keeping
myself, I don't even want to talk about
it. I can't keep myself. I just can't do it. I don't have
the power to do it. I'll tell you another thing.
Leave me to myself, truly. I don't have the will to do it.
I wouldn't truly, truly. Leave me to myself. I don't have
the power, the will, I don't have the ability. Kept. Sovereign keeping grace. That's a lively hope. Love me
from the foundation of the world. Set His affection on me. Why? Because He wanted to. Look down and see if I do good. I wouldn't do it. would not do
it. Born in this world, came forth
from my mother's womb, speaking lies. My mind, my carnal mind,
was enmity against God. I was His enemy. And while I
was yet sinning, while we were yet sinners, Christ died. That's a lively hope. He chose us. He came to live
for us. He died for us. Almighty God called us out of
darkness. Gave us faith to believe. Without
faith it's impossible to please God. He gave us faith. It wasn't
of ourselves. It was a gift of God. And kept
us. by the power of God through faith,
the Lord Jesus has assumed the full responsibility for His people to redeem them, keep them, intercede,
and finally to present us faultless before Him, kept by the power
of God, evidence of a lively hope. you believe him. Evidence, you
have faith to believe what the scripture says concerning him.
Kept in obedience to Christ, looking, leaning, trusting him. I tell you this, God's sheep,
they do not remain in rebellion and disobedience to him. They
do not. Is there sin within them? Sure
there is. Paul says in me, that is in my
flesh, there dwells no good thing. But the power of that sin has
been cancelled by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm talking
about bring me to hell. Soon the presence of it will
be gone. I leave this world. The doctrine of justification
by faith does not lead to a life of licentiousness, but rather
it has the opposite effect because of a new heart. I tell you, Paul
the apostle said in 1 Corinthians 9.27, he said, I'm going to paraphrase
what he's saying, I treat my body severely and lead it as
a slave. I smite it and bring it. under subjection, the body, that
organ of sin, well used according to our old sinful nature. Let
me ask you this. Paul says that I keep my body
under subjection, lest that after I preach to others, I find myself
to be a castaway, reprobate, rejected. While the carnal heart
justifies every act of rebellion and excuses itself because of
sin, using sin as an excuse, the believer considers himself
to be in a lifelong struggle, warring within, without. God's people are not satisfied
to rebel against Him. They are not. Any man, any woman
says, Well, if I'm justified by faith, it just does not matter. Oh, my friend, but it does. On
one hand, Paul acted on the principle that the righteous scarcely are
saved, and others declared his joyous assurance of salvation
and was persuaded that he which was able was going to keep him
to the day of salvation. Let me ask you something. It's
those that are struggling, is it not, hard with sin that this
blessed assurance has been given. God's people are not satisfied
just to be licentiously, loosely living. You're kept by the power
of God through faith. Faith. Faith believes that I'm
altogether sinful in myself. And He's all together, lovely.
Apo, Him. And then the end of my lively
hope is found. Verse 5, We're kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. The end of our lively hope, that's
our inheritance. We talked about incorruptible,
undefiled, An inheritance is something that is not earned,
not obtained by my own exertion. Free. Freely given. Inheritance. Ready to be revealed
in the last time. We have been saved assuredly
by Almighty God. Chosen by the Father, redeemed
by the Son, sanctified by the Spirit. We're being saved. That is, we're being kept. You're
kept right now. The only reason that you believe
tonight is because He's kept you. That's the only reason.
Left to yourself, you wouldn't have been back. I'm not going
back. Left to yourself, you wouldn't
believe. Being kept. being saved, and
we shall be saved in the last time, in that day, when all men
shall stand before Him before whom we all must kneel. In that
day it shall be fully revealed, though men see it so dimly now,
what a marvelous salvation has been wrought by the power of
Almighty God for His elect. God is going to be glorified
in all of us. lively hope, blessed, thanked
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. Resurrection, that assumes that
He died, put away my guilt, shed His blood, paid my debt. Our Father, how thankful we are
for this time, this privilege to come together. Lord, truly,
we do. Lord, we believe, help our unbelief. Lord, we know that in us, that
is, in our flesh there dwells no good thing. But, O, the blessed
thankfulness that You give us to bless You, You who has chosen,
saved us by Your grace. Thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ,
for that shed blood, put away our sin. We ask You now, keep
us by Your grace. You promised You would. We ask
You now, hide this word within our heart. For Christ's sake,
Amen.