I'd ask you to open your Bibles
to 1 Peter chapter 3. While you're turning there, let
me say what a privilege it is to be here with you all this
morning. So many friends, so many of you
so dear to us, just thankful to Thankful to be among God's
people here this morning. So thankful for your pastor,
as I know each of you all are. Just a dear, dear friend and
a faithful, faithful minister of the gospel. Thankful he's
got an opportunity to get himself maybe a little rest and relaxation. I know he doesn't I take time
off very often, so I hope this will be a restful and enjoyable
time for him and me. 1 Peter 3, I just want to look
at a few verses here in this text, beginning with verse 15. 1 Peter 3, verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear, having a good conscience that where they speak evil of
you as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse
your good conversation in Christ. For it is better if the will
of God be so that you suffer for well-doing than for evil
doing. For Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ,
also hath once suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that
he And he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. This passage of scripture, just
to give you a little background on what got me thinking about
this passage, one of the kids at our congregation had come
home from from school one day, and I'm not sure if the teacher
had asked, what do they preach at your church? Or where do you
go to church? It may have been another kid,
but they were upset because they just weren't sure about how to
answer that question. And that led me, I believe, the
Lord led me to this passage in verse 15. Where we read. Be ready, always to give an answer. To every man that asks you a
reason for the hope that is in you. And I have just two points,
two points this morning. Just two points from this this
this passage of Scripture first. What is what is the believers
hope? What is what is our hope. And then second. What is the
reason. For that for that. What is our
hope. And what is the reason for that. Peter says sanctify the Lord
God in your heart. Now notice. He doesn't say what
you read on all the billboards as you pass through town. Let
Jesus in your heart. He says, and I don't even know
where that comes from. I've never read that in scripture.
Sanctify. Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts. He says sanctify. We proclaim,
we declare, that he is holy. That God is holy. Back in the Old Testament, Isaiah
cried this. He said, holy, holy, holy is
the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. David declared, we read this
earlier, he hath sent redemption unto his people. He hath commanded
his covenant forever. Holy and reverend is his name. His name. How someone can ever
go by the title of reverend is beyond me. Holy and reverend
is his name. He alone is he alone is to be
to be revealed. In Revelation four, we read. Holy, holy, holy. The Lord God Almighty, which
was and is. And he is to come. He's eternal
and he is he alone is holy sanctify. the Lord God in your heart declare
that he and he alone is holy. And that he is worthy of all
praise and honor and glory forever. We praise him and give thanks
for his works in creation, in providence, in redemption, and
in his sovereign grace. Sanctify the Lord God in your
heart. I look back in our text. First
Peter 3 verse 15. Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness.
And fear. What is? What is the believers? Oh, what is our hope? Now, I hear men talk about their
experience. I don't don't don't men will
rather than talk about their hope, they often want to talk
about their experience, some something that happened when
they were when they were 12 years old, how the preacher was preaching
and and they were playing softly and tenderly in the in the background.
And they walked up front and they shook the preacher's hand,
huh? That's not a hope, that's an
experience. I'm not even sure what that is,
but that's an experience, right? Or how about this? And I seen
this just a few weeks ago at a funeral service. And the preacher stood up there
and he told everybody, he said, now I want everybody to bow your
head. And I want you to close your
eyes, and I want you to raise your hand if you want to come
to Christ, or come to Jesus is actually what he said. Me and
Abby were talking about this, and he didn't close his eyes.
He stood up there and watched to see who all would raise a
hand. If you go back and talk about
it, talk about it later, right? That's an experience. That's
something based on man's actions. That's not hope. That's not a good hope. That's
not a sure hope. That's not a true hope. Jeremiah
9, if you want to turn there with me, Jeremiah chapter 9. This thing of man's man's actions
look at that look at verse 23. Jeremiah 9. 23. Thus sayeth the Lord. Let not the wise man. Glory in
his wisdom. Neither let the mighty man glory
in his might. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. But let him that glory, glory
in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord." Man's wisdom won't save him.
Man's strength won't save him. Man's riches won't save him. Let him that glory, glory in
this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the Lord. Our hope, a true hope, better
be in something apart from ourselves, apart from the actions of a man. David said this, he said, put
not your trust in princes, Nor in the son of man in whom there
is. No. He didn't say a little bit of
help, but he said no. No. Turn to turn to John. Chapter one. On chapter one. Look beginning in verse 12. As many as received him. To them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born. How were they born? Not a blood. Not a blood. Who your family
is. What your bloodline is? He says
not of blood, not of the not of the will of the flesh. Not I decided to do this or that
the natural man. Is in the. In the against God. Not of the will of man. The efforts
of a friend. The efforts of family, the efforts
of the so-called soul winner, what's he say here? Not of the
will of man, but of God. But of God. Well, back to this
question. What is my hope? And that word hope, it means
an expectation. It means an expectation. It's what we expect. What is
our hope? It's not I've got my fingers
crossed that I'll get this or that. It's what's our expectation? Well, first of all, this hope,
if we're going to see it, it's going to be found in God's word. Turn to Romans chapter 15. Romans 15. Look at verse four of Romans
15. Whatsoever things were written
aforetime. Were written for our learning.
That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures. Might
have hope. Hope. Where is it found in this
in the scriptures those things that have been written in the
Old Testament and the New Testament. Written concerning. Our hope. The believers hope we read this
that it's it's sure and steadfast. It's a the Bible refers God's
word refers to a lively hope. It refers to a good hope a good
hope through grace. So what is what is our hope?
What is our expectation? And here's a few things, listen,
one. I have a hope. An expectation. To hear this gospel. And never
be moved away from it. To hear it and to never be moved
away from it. Colossians Chapter one. And let me just read this to
you. Classes one verse twenty one
and you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works yet now have he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you wholly unblameful and unreprovable in his sight
if you continue in the faith. Round and. Ground and settle. And be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel, which you've heard, which was preached to
every creature, which was under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made
a minister." The Lord Jesus Christ said this. He said, my sheep
hear my voice. There's no question about that. My sheep hear. My voice. Another place, he said this all
that the father. Given me. Shall what shall come
to me? And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Second, I have a hope of redemption. And mercy. Psalm 130 First seven. Says let Israel. Hold. Let Israel hope in the
Lord for with the Lord. There is mercy. And with him
is plenty is redemption. God chose us in Christ. He chose his people in Christ. His church, his people, his elected
Israel chosen in Christ. that it should be holy. And without
blame before him in love. And he did this before the foundation
of the world. God, the son, is our surety accomplished
in his mercy. To redeem his church from the
ruin of the fall. Read this just a little bit ago
in whom we have redemption through his blood. the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of his grace. He, he hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursing is
every man that hangeth on a tree. We have a hope of redemption. Hope. Of righteousness. Righteousness. I almost said
being made righteous, but the believer. He is righteous. We are we are made righteous. And here's in the sight of God. And who sees all things. God, who is holy and just. Righteous. We're righteous in
his side. Galatians 5 says, For we, through
the spirit way, are the hope of righteousness by faith. The
Lord Jesus Christ was made sin. He was made sin. That's what the scriptures declare.
He was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Not my works. Not my works, which
are filthy rags in his sight. Not our deeds. By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Not by my obedience
to the law. Adam proved that, didn't he?
Huh? Not a hundred commandments, not
ten commandments. Not one, we can't we can't obey. We can't obey one, not our obedience
to the law. But we're clothed in the very
righteousness of God's dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. To be
loved by God, to be accepted by God, to be justified in the
sight of God, we must be made righteous. And we have Oh, we
have a hope. We have a hope of being made
righteous. We are made righteous. We are
righteous. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Righteous in the Lord Jesus Christ. A hope of righteousness. I have
a hope of salvation, a hope of salvation. David, in Psalm 119,
he said, Lord, have I hoped for thy salvation. All the way back
there in the Old Testament, he'd already heard about this, hadn't
he? He already knew something. He said, I have hoped for thy
salvation. Christ will deliver his people. What did they say? Call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. We're
saved from the penalty of sin. We're saved from the power of
sin and someday from the very presence of sin. Put away. Put away. The disciples were
astonished when the Lord told them that it would be easier
for a camel to go through the eye of an eagle than a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And they said this, they
said, if that's the case, who then? Who can be saved? How can any man be saved? And our Lord said this, he said,
with men, it's impossible. Just write it down. With men,
it's impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Jonah said this. Remember what
Jonah said? Salvation is of the Lord. The believer has a hope of salvation. And then fifth, we have a hope
of eternal life, eternal life. Paul writing to Titus in Titus
1 verse 2, he said this, he said, in hope of eternal life, which
God, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. Eternal life, to dwell forever. forever with the Lord, to be
made free, to be made completely free from sin, and to dwell with
Him in His presence and praise Him forever and ever. And listen, it's promised. You see that? It's not a reward. It's not a
wage. It's by His grace. It's promised
by God Himself. God who cannot lie. You know,
I can I can make you a promise and have every intention of following
through on that. I can't guarantee it, can I? It's a promise made before the
world began. Eternal life. Which God that
cannot lie promised. before the world began. In John 17, 3, our Lord said,
this is life eternal. That they might know the only
true God and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. The hope, the
hope of eternal life. I told you I had two points,
right? I said, don't worry, the second one's quicker than the
first one. All right. So what is, what is
the believer's hope? Hearing and believing the gospel. Redemption, righteousness, salvation,
eternal life. That's our hope. But what is. What's the reason. For that. What's our reason. For that hope
are you are you still at first Peter three verse 15 sanctify
the Lord God in your heart and be ready always to give an answer.
To every man that asked if you. A reason. A reason. of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear. What is the reason for our hope? Now, this past Friday evening,
I was driving home from Columbus, and Columbus is about two and
a half hours from our home there in Ironton. And about an hour
and a half from home, my Jeep just started going crazy. The
dash lights started flashing on and off. The gauges were going
back and forth. The engine was stalling out.
And every time I'd think it was going to stop, it would start
going again. And I called Abby. And I asked her, I said, if you
don't mind, can I stay close to the phone because I may need
you here in a little bit. And she said, I'll be waiting
on you. I'll be waiting on you. And this
went on for about another 30 minutes. I was about an hour
from the house. And the Jeep just went, I mean, completely
dead. There wasn't, the horn wouldn't
beep, the windows wouldn't roll up and down. It was dead. Coasted off the road. And I found
myself immediately in need. I was in desperate need. In fact, I needed a way home. I needed a way home. And I called
Abby, and I said, Kind of explained to her where
I was at and she said, I know exactly, I know exactly where
you are. She said, I'm on my way. I'm
on my way. Now, my hope, my expectation
was that Abby would come and rescue me, so to speak. Huh?
She didn't say, she didn't say this. Well, tell you what, you
start walking and I'll, I'll just run into you where I run
into you, right? No, she said, she said, I know, I know exactly
where you are. I'm on my, I'm on my way. And
you know, not one time, not one time did I wonder or ask myself,
will she be able to find me? that thought never entered into
my mind one time. Not once did I wonder, will she
actually come pick me up? I knew she would. It never entered
into my mind. I never thought to myself, how
am I going to get home? Not once. In fact, if my brother
hadn't called me, I just about drifted off sitting there waiting
on her. It's pretty peaceful. And when
he asked me, actually my brother asked me, he said, I could come
up and pick you up. I said, no thank you. Abby's on her way. Now let me
ask you this. What was the reason? What was
the reason for my hope? You know the answer to that,
don't you? The reason for my hope was Abby. The one I love. The one who loves me. The one who said, I know exactly
where you are. The one who said, I'll be right
there. I'll be right there. And listen,
not only did she come pick me up, She knew I'd been sittin'
in that hot Jeep for about, she brought me this big ol' glass
of ice water. Huh? Exceeded what I could even
hope or imagine. Well, now on that particular
day, at that particular time, she's my hope. What's the believer's hope? Huh?
What's the reason for our hope? Our text says this, be ready
always to give a reason, a reason for the hope that is in you. Back in Mark 1, there was a leper. And he kneeled down before our
Lord. And he said to him, if thou will. You can make me clean. If you'll
do this, if you will, you can make me clean. And the Lord,
we read the Lord had compassion on him. And he said, I will be
thou clean. And he went out and he published
it so much, he went out and told so many people. That the Lord
Jesus Christ could no longer go into the city. In Mark 7, we read of a deaf
man that the Lord healed. Touched his ear, touched his
tongue, and the Lord charged him. He said, now don't tell
anyone about this. Don't tell anyone about this.
And the more he told him that, the more he went out and broadcast
and declared And the people were, we read, they were astonished
beyond measure. In Luke 8, that man of the Gadarenes,
that wild man of the Gadarenes that was naked and he couldn't
be bound, they said not even with strong chains, he dwelt
among the tombs. You only find one thing among
the tombs, and that's that's dead man. And yet. After the Lord Jesus Christ crossed
his path. He was found. Sitting. Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
clothed. And we read in his in his right
mind, and he desired he desired to go with the Lord wherever
he wherever he went. Now the people of that town,
they said, get out of here. But that man, what do you reckon? What do you reckon was the reason
for his hope? Our Lord told him, he said, you
go and tell your friends and your family what great things
the Lord had done for you. There was a woman of Samaria,
that woman by the well. When our Lord crossed her path,
she wanted to talk about Jacob. She wanted to talk about the
importance of that well and Jacob drinking from it. And the fathers
worshipping in the mountains and all these things. And the
Lord dealt with her. Dealt with her sin. Revealed himself to her. And
she left her water pot. She left with what she came with,
and when she went out of there, she said this. She said, Come
see a man that told me all things I ever did. What do you reckon
was the reason for her hope? She said this. Come see a man
that told me all things that I ever did. Is not this the Christ? The Lord Jesus Christ? The reason
The reason for our hope, the reason for our hope back in first
Peter three, verse 18. The first 18. For Christ. Also, at once. Suffered for sin. One time. All those Old Testament sacrifices,
they can never, they can never put away sin. But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sin, and what that said,
Christ also has once suffered for sin. The just, he's perfect,
he's holy, he's just, he's righteous. For the unjust, that's us, isn't
it? The unjust that he might bring
us to God that he might bring us in the presence of Almighty
God himself Being put to death in the flesh. Oh, he suffered
and he died on the cross But quickened by the spirit The reason for our Christ and Christ alone the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn with me turn with me to
one more passage of scripture will will close turn to turn
to the Book of Lamentations. Lamentations 3. Amitages 3 look at verse 18. And I said. My strength. And my hope. Is perished from the Lord. Remembering my affliction. And
my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still
in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This, he said, this I recall to my
mind, therefore have I hope. What do you recall to his mind?
It's of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because
his compassions, they fail not. They are new. Every morning. Great is that faithfulness. The Lord. Is my portion. Say it's my soul, therefore. Well, I. Hope. In him. The Lord is good unto
them that wait for him to the soul that sick of him. It is
good. That a man should both hope. Quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord