Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to 1 Peter 1. Let's begin reading in verse
3. 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. I want to speak on this subject
of a living hope. A living hope. Every sinner that's
born again by the Spirit of God has a living hope. We have a
living hope. It's by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. The Spirit of God has given us
the grace of hope. He gives you this grace called
hope. He gives you hope in your heart. It's a gift of hope that He's
given in our heart. And the hope for which we wait,
for which we look, to which we are confidently expecting, is
the hope of glory with Christ. the hope of glory with Christ. He describes it here in verse
4 as an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not
away reserved in heaven for you. Now the scriptures tell us that
it's appointed unto men once to die and after this the judgment. You and I are all going to die. Every man, woman, every child
of Adam shall die. And this life is a vapor. It is passing by quickly. I heard those old folks talk
about that when I was younger. And, you know, it just seemed
like time was dragging by. Because I was always wanting
to do some new thing and looking forward to it and having to wait
for the time to get here. When you get older, you've done
most of all those things and time just seems like it's just
clicking off. It's just going by so quickly.
But it really is a vapor. James said, what is your life?
It's even a vapor that appears for a little time then vanishes
away. Does it seem to you like it's
been 15 years since we started together. It's
14, I believe, 14 or 15, something like that. I mean, that just
seems like yesterday. But it's just vanishing away. Every sinner saved by grace is
begotten again to a living hope. And it's a good hope. It's a
sure hope. By the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, we have something we're looking forward
to. It gives us peace, it gives us comfort as we pass through
this wilderness. I was talking to Miss Shelby
yesterday. She was telling me about some
brethren that are very, very sick right now. And Brother Lindsey
is very, very sick. And then we began to talk about
some brethren we know that are going through different troubles,
and right away, As we began to talk about these things, our
conversation turned to this living hope. We began to talk about
this good hope we have by God's grace. This living hope comforts
you as you're passing through this veil of tears. In 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 and verse 16 and 17, Paul said, Now our Lord Jesus
Christ himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved
us and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through
grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word
and work. Paul talked about this in Romans
8, and it reminded me of the Scripture when we were talking
yesterday. He said, The whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body, We've experienced the adoption
of regeneration, and now we're waiting for that adoption, the
redemption of our body into glory with Him. For we are saved by
hope, He said. But hope that is seen is not
hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if
we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait
for it. This is what we're waiting for.
We're waiting for this sure end that our Lord's promise does.
That's our hope. It's not wishful thinking. It's
not just, I hope, I hope, I hope something happens. This is a
sure hope. What gives us this good hope?
I want to know that. I'm interested in that, aren't
you? What is this sure hope? How do we have it? How do we
have it? What is the real comfort of this
hope? And what is it? When you have it, you're going
to be comforted when the time of your departure is at hand.
You'll be comforted by this good hope. I want to know what it
is. What is the essence of it? First thing, this living hope
is by being born again by the Spirit of God. That's how we're
given this grace of hope in our heart, to hope for that glory
with Christ. We have to be born again of God.
Peter said there in verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy
hath begotten us again unto this lively hope. Being born of Adam,
We're all born in sin. Being born of Adam, we don't
have this living hope. We don't have anything living
when we're born of Adam, spiritually speaking. We come into this world
dead in sin. David said, I was conceived in
sin. I was conceived in sin. And I
was shaping an iniquity. I was conceived in sin and so
were you. It was all Adam's children, fallen
sinful children of Adam. Paul said in Romans 7.17, sin
dwelleth in me. As a born again child of God,
Paul said that sin dwelleth in me. In this sin nature. It's all we have as we come into
this world is just a dead sin nature. No one had to teach us
to sin. Nobody had to teach you to be
envious and jealous and hateful and covetous and all that. Nobody had to teach you that.
We come into this world born in sin, conceived in sin, and
so you know what we do? We sin. And only one man ever
in this world who sinned to become a sinner. That was Adam. You
and I sin because that's what we are. as we come into this
world. This living hope begins when
we're made alive spiritually. When we're born again of the
Spirit of God, born again, a new birth has occurred, a new baby
is formed within these sinners called a new man, a new spirit
that our Lord gives. It's by the incorruptible seed,
the living word that lives and abides forever and so it makes
our new man live and abide forever. It's a new man. From Adam, all
we received was a corrupt nature. From Christ, we're given this
new nature. Made partakers of the divine
nature. Christ formed in the sinner, brought to faith in Christ. This is the substance of this
hope. This is the essence of this hope. This living hope is
Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what Paul said. Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Peter said, Blessed be God and
Father of our Lord Jesus. According to His abundant mercy,
He's begotten us again to a living hope. No wonder Peter said, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus. No wonder he said
abundant mercy. He made us born again to this
living hope. So first of all, it's blessed,
it's abundant mercy because here's the thing about this new birth,
and don't ever let anybody tell you different on this. We're
as passive in this new birth as we were in our first birth.
That's right, this is of God, this is of our Redeemer, this
is of the Holy Spirit that we're born again of God. So this is all according to His
abundant mercy. Now that's how we're brought
into this living hope. Now secondly, this living hope
is being made the righteousness of God. If you're going to have
this hope, we're going to have to know we've been made the righteousness
of God. By Adam's disobedience, we were
all made sinners, guilty before the law of God. Now, not one
of us has a righteousness of our own. Nobody on this earth
has a righteousness of our own. None of us do. Not one is good. Not one is righteous. Not one. Not one. We can't work out a righteousness
God will receive. It's not our works. It's not
something we've done that makes us righteous and is this righteousness
that we must have. We are all as an unclean thing. and all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. We all do fade as a leaf and
our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. We saw in
David this morning, the man after God's own heart. We saw how quickly
he was taken away. He went down and lived a year
and four months in the land of the Philistines in total unbelief.
Our righteousness is not of us. Now, when we know something about
ourselves and know something about the sinfulness that we
are and our nature, that's the best news you'll ever hear. God
has provided His own righteousness. God has provided a perfect righteousness
for His people. Oh, bless God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. This is abundant mercy. Men will
object and they'll say, well, I know some good folks. I know
some good folks. I know some who always do what's
right. They may look good to us. They
may look good in comparison to other sinners. But there's none righteous before
God. Not one. I don't care how good
His deeds are. He can't stand before God on
his own doing. Not one. None righteous. No, not one. We have all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. That never ceases to be
the truth with us, brethren. Never does. A sinner has got
to be made the righteousness of God. The righteousness of
God. This righteousness is by the
obedience of another. is completely and totally by
the obedience of another. Just like guilt came upon us,
we became guilty before God by the disobedience of another,
Adam in his headship is a picture of Christ. And just like we became
guilty in another in Adam, the only way we can be made to righteousness
of God is in the obedience of another, Christ Jesus, the Son
of God. So this living hope is by the
obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He didn't give us, Adam
didn't give us the possibility of being made sinners, he made
us sinners by his disobedience. And Christ doesn't give men and
women the possibility of being made righteous, he made his people
righteous. By one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, and by the obedience of one shall many be
made righteous." He makes his people right. He made us righteous.
This living hope is by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
What does that resurrection say to you? What does that resurrection
testify to us, brethren? Christ arose because God is pleased
with his obedience. He arose. He's righteousness
alone. He arose never again to die. He's the only one that ever did
this. Of His own, by His own obedience, being well-pleasing
to God. He arose from the dead because
God's pleased with Him. And when you're begotten again
and you're given faith to really behold Christ Jesus, that's what
you behold. He was raised again for our justification. Look over at Romans 4. Romans
chapter 4. What I'm telling you right now,
brethren, this is the hope we have. This is it. We have been made
the righteousness of God by Christ. This is our hope. Right here,
look, Romans 4.25, it's talking about how righteousness was imputed
to Abraham through faith and it shall be imputed to us if
we believe on the Lord Jesus. And it says of him in verse 25,
he was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. When He
gives you faith to behold Christ risen and He makes you to know
in the court of your conscience that He was risen for you. He
laid down His life for His people in perfect obedience to God.
He brought in an everlasting righteousness for His people
and He's going to make His people know about it. God's not going
to pour out justice on our Redeemer and turn around and pour out
justice on one for whom He died. He already satisfied justice.
So He's going to bring this good news to His people and quicken
you and bring you to faith in Christ. And when He speaks this
gospel into our hearts, He makes you personally know, He died
and rose again for my justification. And oh boy, when you see that
maybe you went through life and you thought that you'd always
been taught that it's by your faith that you're justified.
And don't misunderstand me, it's always through faith that this
justification, this righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. But
some of us went through life being told that we're justified
by faith and the way we were taught this is that our faith
contributed to our justification. But he makes you to see Christ
really accomplished the work. He really did what he came to
do. He did not fail. He really made his people righteous
by his obedience. And when he's given you true
faith, you see he's all your righteousness, he's all your
justification, and you lay hold of him. And when you have this
realization in your heart that he is truly all your righteousness,
You stand in His grace and all the blessings that He has by
faith and you enter in by His grace. You stand and you rejoice
then in the hope of the glory of God. You rejoice in that hope
of one day entering into that glory of God, into that glory
with Christ Jesus. You have this hope. As Paul said
in Galatians, We are waiting by faith for this hope of righteousness. We have righteousness now imputed
to us. And we have a new man created
in His righteousness. But one day brethren, this is
our hope. We are going to be raised to
glory and we are going to be made perfectly righteous with
no sin whatsoever. And that righteousness is a person.
It is our Lord. We want to see Him. We want to
behold Him. Through faith, this faith that
God gives us to rest in Christ. Imputation is spoken of in scripture
very simply as is. God clothed us in Christ's righteousness. He clothed us in His righteousness.
Our living hope is Christ, our living Redeemer. And we stand
right now as believers, as those made righteous by Christ. Get
this, believer. This is the essence of hope. This is what makes the hope.
Sure and confident and makes you expect it. We stand before
Christ on His merit, on the value of His person and His eternality
and what He is and what He has accomplished. We stand in Him
right now without fault, without blame, unreprovable in the sight
of the all-knowing God. I know we don't see that in ourselves.
Good thing we don't. I hope we don't. But brethren,
that's what God says in the book. Oh, that's why we pray, Lord,
let us be found in Christ alone. In Christ alone. It's not a good
hope to seek acceptance with God based on our works. I pray
God works good works in us and works that which is well-pleasing
in His sight in us. But we're not going to be accepted
based on our works, brethren. We accept it in the Beloved.
Christ's righteousness is the blessed wedding garment. His
righteousness is a wedding garment. Isaiah 61 10 says, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord, my soul to be joyful in my God, for he
hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewel,
he's covered me with the robe of his righteousness. There's
where hope is. This living hope is believing
God. It's believing His promises that
all our sin and all our guilt is gone and that He will not
impute sin to us because Christ put it away and there's no sin
to impute. We're talking about before God's law now. We're talking
about before that same law that condemned us and said we were
guilty now says there is now no condemnation. Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. You know, this is why the hymn
writer wrote this. The hymn writer wrote, when I
stand before His throne, when I stand before His throne in
that day, this is what my hope is anticipating. This is that
glory we're waiting on right here. When I stand before His
throne, dressed in beauty not my own, then, O Lord, shall I
fully know, and not till then, how much I owe. We're going to
know this thing. We're going to know what He did
and who He is and how valuable and, oh, how abundant in mercy. Well, thirdly, let me go Go to
this next thing. This living hope is knowing God
shall keep us unto that day. This living hope is knowing He
is going to keep His child unto that day. Paul, Peter said there
in 1 Peter 1 verse 5, he said He has begotten us again to a
living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
to this inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fate is not a
way, reserved in heaven for you. Who has He talked about? You
who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Our Lord promised us this. Now this is the Lord's promise.
I want to get this and I want to try to remember this and make
it stop me from murmuring and stop me from complaining. Our Lord promised us in this
life you shall have tribulation. He promised us that. And it's
a must needs be. Peter says there, if need be.
It's a need be. We're gonna have to have trouble.
We have to have trouble. We saw this morning, what did
David's trouble? David's trouble was his own fault.
But what did his trouble, how did it end? It ended with him
shut up to Christ, looking away from himself and knowing just
a little more, just a little better that in Him didn't dwell
anything good. It was all in His Redeemer. All
in His Redeemer. The devil goes about as a roaring
lion seeking whom he may devour. Our Lord told Peter, the devil
has desired you, Peter, that he might sift you as wheat. And
we're frail children of dust. That's what we are. Let him that
thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. That's what happened. Somewhere between 1 Samuel 26
and 1 Samuel 27, David was given grace to be merciful to Saul
and somewhere between the last verse of chapter 26 and the first
verse of 27, David got to thinking that he did that. That was just
a little bit of him. And he fell. He fell. But God our Father in His Son
Jesus Christ is Omnipotent God. He is the Almighty. He is the
Almighty. He remembers where dust. He remembers
where dust. This living hope is knowing God
promises to keep us by His power. He is going to keep us by His
power. His power gave us faith, He gave
us the life, and gave us the faith, and His power is going
to enable us to continue believing on Him. You know, when we're
in the place David was, when he's just in complete and total
unbelief, how are we going to be recovered? It's only by the
power of God. Only by the power of God. We're
going to fight the good fight. We're going to keep the faith
to the end. We're going to continue in the Word. We're not of them
that draw back unto perdition. We're going to continue. We're
not going to be moved away from the hope of the Gospel. But it's
going to be all to the glory of God. All to the glory of God. There's only one way. We're kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. Now faith is not looking back
to an experience. He's not keeping us in this faith
that's looking back to something. There's something that we've
done. A living hope is kept alive by the power of God keeping us
looking to Christ today. Today. People get to talk about
their experiences and this and that. I don't want to be kept believing
Him today. I don't want to be kept believing
Him today. I don't want to feed on yesterday's
bread. I want to feed on bread today.
Today. Lamentations 3.21, He said, This
I recall to my mind, and therefore I have hope. Here's where my
hope is. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. Because His compassions fell
not. They're new every morning. Every morning they are new. Great
is His faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says
my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. Is there some sinner
here that God has made you to see for the first time that you
really need Christ and you cannot go on without Him? Has He made
you see that? Is there a believer here this
morning who is cast down because of your sins? And you're looking
over your life and you're thinking, oh, I can't possibly be a child
of God. A child of God wouldn't have
done that. Go to Christ right now. Whether it's the first time He's
ever brought you to see your need of Him or you're a believer
that's been in the faith a long time and you see what a sinner
you are, go to Christ right now. Don't move a toe. Go to Him right
now in your heart. Cast it all on Him. Take with
you words and turn to the Lord, confessing your utter, total
ruin before Him and your absolute need of Him. Go to Him. The psalmist said, Now, Lord,
what wait I for? My hope is in Thee. Deliver me
from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the
foolish. You'll hear Him say this, He'll
say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, go and sin no more. How do you
know that? If you come to Him truly by His
grace in faith with nothing in your hand but trusting Him alone,
Him alone. I guarantee you He won't turn
you away. He never has. He delights in mercy. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee
that he might dwell in thy courts forever. Is there a believer
mourning because you got a sick loved one? You got a sick loved
one and they're pressing their head against that pillow that
they're about to soon depart and you know it and your heart's
breaking or one has departed and your heart's breaking? Are you facing some trouble in
providence and you don't know what to do and you can't figure
it out? You don't know what the Lord is doing? Same answer. Go to Christ right
now. Go to Christ right now. Flee
to the God of all grace. Flee to the God of hope. He'll
direct your steps. Whatever the case is, whatever
the trouble is, whatever the sorrow is, go to Him who is the
consolation of Israel. Go to Christ who is the strength
of His people. Go to Christ who is the hope
of God. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise Him for
the help of His countenance. I'll praise Him who is the health
of my countenance. Here's the point. Here's what
I'm trying to say to you. Our hope of glory is our hope
today. It's our hope today. Christ has
entered into God's presence to make intercession as the High
Priest of His people for this hour right now. Right now. He is our hope for this hour,
which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast,
which hope entereth into that within the veil where Christ
has entered, our forerunner, made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Right now. We get to thinking
about hope. I know we're hoping for something
far off, I know. But I'm hoping for Christ to
come right now. I need Him right now. I need
Him today. I need Him this hour, don't you? And He's ever-living to intercede.
Our living hope goes to Christ, to His throne of grace daily,
hourly, with a good hope, He's going to hear me. kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the
Lord is. Now one more thing and I'm going
to be done. I'll be very brief. Living hope
knows our Savior shall raise us to be with Him forever. That's what we're hoping for.
That's what we're hoping for. Our Lord is going to raise us
to be with Him forever. Now, Christ is that hope of glory. He is that one we're looking
for. It's Him. You know, I'm sure that we can't
help but wonder what glory is going to be like. We can't help
but wonder what heaven is going to be like. And we have some
descriptions of it in the scripture. And we're going to be amazed
by what it's like. I'm certain of that. To be in
a place where there is no sin. Everyone is righteous and holy
without sin. Who everybody there loves perfectly. That's going to be amazing. But isn't it Christ you want
to see? Isn't it Christ you want to see
in all His glory and know Him perfectly? Oh boy. That's that inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven. Our earnest expectation is He's
going to come in the hour appointed, that God's appointed for us,
and He's going to raise us in spirit out of these dead bodies,
and He's going to raise us into His presence, and we're going
to behold Him as He is. Job said, I know my Redeemer
liveth. and He'll stand at the latter
day upon the earth. This is hope being vocalized right here. This
is what this is. This is Job speaking of his hope. I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and He shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this
body, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for
myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another, though my reins
be consumed within me. I'm going to see Him. He's going
to raise these bodies new. Right now we see through a glass
dark and we see so feebly, we want to act like we really know
something and we get all defensive over what we know and we just
don't know much, brethren. We just don't. But in that day,
we're going to see him and know him just like he knows us right
now. And then we won't need hope anymore.
Paul said, what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for it?
Then our hope will be realized. We will have that for which we
hope. Christ the Lord. Reverend, assurance of hope is
not in our works. When we've done everything God
commanded, we have to say we're unprofitable servants. Man at
his best states altogether vanity. Surely my soul waiteth upon God. From Him cometh my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation. A living hope is given. It's
not a reward. It's not merited by us. It's
not due to any merit in us. It's a good hope through grace. Through grace. Look to Christ.
And it's founded on God's Word. It's founded on God's Word. I
hope you have a feeling. I hope you feel this. I want
a living hope, don't you? I want to feel it. I want to
know it. But I'm not based on what I feel. It's based on God's
Word. It's based on God's Word. Not
as some say, well God said it and I believe it and that makes
it so. Whether I believe it or not, God said it and it's so. And my faith, my hope is built
on this word, God said it. Because there's a lot of times
I don't feel like it. And there's a lot of times I can't believe
it. But God said it. There's where my foundation is. Remember the word unto thy servant
upon which thou hast caused me to hope. That's what we're talking
about. Our hope is the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work. Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and our Lord Jesus
Christ, our hope. Our hope. Turn your eyes upon
Christ Jesus on the cross. Turn your eyes upon Him. Hear
Him cry, It is finished. Behold Him seated there at God's
right hand. There's our hope. There He is. And now the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. That's my prayer. That's my prayer. Father, thank
you for these words. Thank you for the Blessed Word
of promise we have in Your immutable Word. Thank You, Lord, for the
finished salvation we have in Christ. Lord, we ask You, please
fill us with Your Spirit. Make us abound in His hope. make us have the joy and comfort
of knowing we have a good hope, a sure hope, a confident expectation
in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Thank you, Lord, for our brethren.
We ask your blessings upon Brother Laxman and Sister Davika as they
are going to be moving to Florida. We pray, Lord, that you would
keep them Lord, whatever your hand has
in store for your people, we ask you to bring us to bow to
your will. Bring us to know that it's best.
Bring us to remember your sovereign grace and your keeping hand.
Let us encourage one another with that wonderful good news
that, Lord, you always do everything right. And You do it for Your
people, even the things we don't see. And those things we see
that we think are against us, are working some bad for us,
Lord, make us to remember You're working it all together for the
good of them that love God, to them who are called according
to Your purpose. Thank You, Lord, that You are
God. And our God is our Savior, Christ
Jesus. Keep us, Lord. By Your grace,
we ask it. Be with those that don't know
You. If there's one of Your lost sheep, we ask You to bless the
word to their hearts. Make them truly cast a care on
You, Lord. Be with our brethren everywhere,
Brother Lindsey and Sister Diane. Be with those that are hurting
from loss of their loved ones. Lord, comfort your people. We're
just dust and we need you. We need your strength. Thank
you, Father. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen.