1 Peter chapter 3. The title of the message this evening
is The Reason. The Reason. Let's begin with
verse 15. Here we read, of the hope that is in you with
meekness and fear, having a good conscience that whereas 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
evildoing. Christ also hath once suffered
for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, quickened by the Spirit." Now I want to answer two questions
this evening. The first question is this, What
is the believer's hope? What is my hope? And the second question, what's
the reason? What's the reason for that hope?
What is my hope and what is the reason for that hope? Peter starts out, he says, sanctify
the Lord God in your hearts. Now you'll notice he doesn't
say, let Jesus into your heart, which is a common saying in our
time. He says, sanctify. Sanctify the
Lord God in your heart. We proclaim and declare that
He is holy, that He is absolutely holy. That's the same message
Isaiah cried. Isaiah said, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of hosts and the whole earth is full of his glory. David said this, he said, he
has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant
forever. Holy and reverent is his name. No man's name is reverent, his
name. Holy and reverent is His name. In Revelation, we read this,
Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God Almighty, which was and is and
is to come. He is eternally holy. Sanctify the Lord God in your
heart. Declare Him to be holy. and as He is worthy, as such
He is worthy of all praise and honor and glory. He and He alone. We praise Him and we give thanks
for His works in creation, in providence, in redemption, and
in His sovereign grace. Back in our text, 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." What led me to this text was
over a month ago, one of our young ones was approached at
school about, what do you believe? Where do you go to church? And
you know, that's a tough question for an adult or us grown-ups,
let alone for a young one. And I began looking at this text
and this question, what is our hope? What is our hope? You know, I hear people talk
about their experience. People will talk about an experience. They'll talk about how the preacher
stood up there and preached, and then while the fellow on
the organ was playing softly and tenderly Jesus' call, and
they walked up front, and they shook hands with the preacher,
and that was their experience. They talk about an experience. I've heard people talk about
it at funeral service. A man will stand up and he'll
say a few things. And then he'll have everybody
bow their head and then say, you know, if you don't want to
see the outcome this fellow had, you raise your hand. Don't let
anybody look, just raise your hand. And it comes to my attention,
the fellow that's saying that, he's always watching, isn't he?
He's always looking so he can get a count and turn in some
numbers at the end of the month. Those are experiences and those
all deal with something man's done or man's doing. That's not
a hope. That's not a good hope. That's
not a sure hope. Jeremiah, turn over to the book
of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 9. Look beginning with verse 23
of Jeremiah 9. Thus saith the Lord, Jeremiah
9 verse 23, Thus saith 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, that I am the Lord. Is your hope in something that
you've accomplished, something you've done, something you've
not done? Are you a wise man, a rich man, a powerful man? David said this, he said, Put
not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there
is no help. Turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1, look at verse,
beginning with verse 12. But 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, not of the blood, not of blood, who your family
is or your bloodline. If we want to trace our bloodline,
we can take it all the way back to Adam. That's whose blood is
running through our veins. Not of blood. Not of the will
of the flesh. The natural man is enmity with
God. Think about this. The Scripture
says there's a way that seems right unto man. and the ends
thereof, not of the will of man. Not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of man. The efforts of friends, the efforts
of family, the efforts of so-called soul winners. Where were we? Born of God. Born
of God. Now back to my question. What
is my hope? Now that's not just like crossing
your fingers and saying, I hope, I hope, I hope. This hope is
an expectation. It's an expectation. And this
hope is to be found in God's Word. Romans 15 verse 4 we read, Whatsoever things
were written aforetime were written for our learning. that we, through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Old Testament
Scriptures, New Testament Scriptures alike. The believer's hope is
found in God's Word. And listen, here's how it's described. It's sure and steadfast. It's certain. There's no question
about it. It's a lively hope. It's described
as a lively hope. It's a good hope through grace.
So what is our hope? What is our expectation? Listen
to just a few of these. The first is this. I have a hope. I have an expectation to hear
this gospel and never be moved away from it. to hear this gospel,
to believe this gospel, and to be never, ever moved away from
it. Colossians 1. Turn there with
me to Colossians chapter 1. Look beginning with verse 21
of Colossians 1. and you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you, holy, unblameable,
and unapprovable in His sight, if you continue in the faith,
ground and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel." which you heard." He says, you've heard this, "...and
which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof
I, Paul, am made a minister." The hope of the gospel, which
you have heard. The Lord Jesus Christ said this.
He said, My sheep, they hear My voice. They hear My voice. When He speaks, His people, His
people hear. He said this, all that the Father
hath given me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I shall
in no wise cast out. I have a hope. The believer has
a hope of hearing this gospel, believing this gospel, and never
being moved from it. I have a hope of redemption and
mercy. Over in Psalm 130, Aaron brought
a message from this Sunday. Psalm 130, verse 7, "'Let Israel
hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there's mercy, and with
Him is plenteous redemption.'" God chose us in Christ. He chose
His church, His people, His elect, true Israel. that it should be
holy and without blame before Him. Before Him who is holy. And He did this before the foundation
of the world. God the Son, as our surety, accomplished this
in mercy to redeem His people. He in whom we have redemption
through His blood. even the forgiveness of sin.
He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. What does the Scripture say?
Cursed is everyone that's hanging on a tree. Hebrews 9 verse 12,
Listen, it's a redemption that means something. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He suffered and died on the cross for the sins of
His people. He paid the redemption price,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own precious
blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. We have a
hope of redemption. We have a hope of righteousness,
of being righteous in the sight of God. You know nothing is hid
in God's sight. He sees everything, and yet His
people are seen as made righteous, were made righteous in His sight.
Innocent, holy, without sin. accepted of God. You know, that
just kind of floats through the air, but for a sinner to be found
holy, to be found righteous in the sight of Almighty God, Galatians
5 says, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness
by faith. The Lord Jesus Christ, He was
made sin. He was made sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. Not by our works. Our works at best are filthy
rags in the sight of God. Not by our deeds. By the deeds
of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight. Not by our obedience. But listen,
we're clothed, 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. We must be made righteous. It
must be perfect, perfect to be accepted. Romans 519, for as
by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one shall many be made righteous. We're made righteous. He didn't make us savable. He didn't enable us to be righteous
by anything we've done. He's made us righteous. And therefore, we have good hope.
We may be righteous. I have a hope of salvation. A hope of salvation. David in
Psalm 119, he said, I have hoped, I have hoped for thy salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ will deliver
His people. Call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sin." We're saved from the penalty
of sin, the power of sin, and someday, someday from the very
presence of sin. The disciples, they were astonished
when our Lord told them. He said it'd be easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And when they heard this,
they looked at each other and they said, who then? Who then can be saved? And he
looked at them. And our Lord said this. He said,
with men. With men. He said directly the opposite
of what's being broadcast across this country today. He said,
with men, it's impossible. With men, it's impossible. With
God, all things are possible. What did Jonah say all the way
back there in the Old Testament? Salvation is of the Lord. We have a hope of eternal life. Paul writing to Titus, he said,
"...in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the world began." Eternal life, to dwell forever with the
Lord. And listen to this, it's a promise. It's a promise. It's not a reward. It's not a wage. It's not something
we earn. It's by His grace. And it's a
promise of God. You know, we make promises all
the time, and I hope most of the time we make good on them,
but how often? How often do we come up short
on those promises? But this promise is a promise
of God. And listen, it was promised before
the world began in eternity past. God who cannot lie promised before
the world began. Our Lord said this, this is life
eternal. that they may know the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." We have a hope. We have an expectation of eternal
life. I told you I had two questions. What is the believer's hope?
We have a hope of hearing and believing the gospel. A hope
of redemption, of righteousness, of salvation, of eternal life. Second, what's our reason? What's our reason for that hope? Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asks you a reason. A reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and fear. What is the reason for our hope? a month or so ago, I was coming
home from Columbus. And I was about an hour and a
half from home, and my vehicle started acting up a little bit.
And so I called Abby. I said, listen, I don't know
if I'm going to make it home or not. I said, if you don't
care, stay by the phone. And if I break down, I'll call
you. She said, I'll be right here
by the phone. I traveled about another hour,
or about another half hour, I was about an hour from home, and
the vehicle just completely died. I mean, the lights went out,
it was done. And I coasted off the road, and
I immediately found myself in need. I immediately figured out
I needed help. I needed someone to get me home. I wasn't really concerned about
much of anything else. I just wanted to be home. And
I called Abby, and before I could really even explain where I was,
she said, I know where you are. She said, I'm on my way. And
I just sat there in the Jeep. I just sat there, and I waited. Now, my hope My expectation was
that she would come rescue me. And when I was on the phone with
her, she didn't say this. She didn't say, you know what?
Why don't you show me how serious you are about getting home? Why
don't you start walking toward the house and I'll just pick
you up wherever I meet you at? She didn't say that. She said, I'm on my way. You know, not once, not one time,
and it was still hot then. It was still, the weather was
still warm. Not once did I wonder or ask myself, will she be able
to find me? That thought never once crossed
my mind. Not once did I wonder, will she
actually come? and pick me up. That thought
never entered my mind. I didn't sit there and think,
well, you know, it's Friday. I wonder if I've been good enough
this week that she'll come pick me up. That never entered into
my mind one time. In fact, I was so confident as
I sat there in that Jeep, I nearly fell asleep. My brother called
me, and he said, what's going on? I said, well, I'm broke down.
He said, well, do you want me to come pick you up? I said,
no. No, Abby's coming to pick me
up. I don't need anyone else to come pick me up. I said, she's on her way. I said,
that's OK, but she's on her way. I didn't need a backup plan.
I didn't need to count on anyone else but her. Now let me ask
you, you've answered this question I'm sure already, smart group.
What was the reason for my hope? It was Abby. Abby, the one I
love, the one that loves me, the one who said I'm on my way,
the one who said I know right where you are. And not only did she come pick
me up, I mentioned it was hot, she even had a big old glass
of ice water for me. She just exceeded anything I
could ever, ever imagine. Now, if at the end of the service,
you come back and you tell me about your car breaking down
sometime, you've completely missed the point, right? The reason,
the reason for my hope, What's the reason for the believer's
hope? Isn't that what we're told? Be
ready always to give a reason for the hope that's in you. My
hope, my expectation is that I'm going to hear this Gospel.
I'm going to believe this Gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
me. He saved me. I have a hope of
eternal life. And the reason is not found in
anything that I've done or anything that I've not done. The reason
is Christ and Christ alone. God the Father chose us in Christ
from before the foundation of the world. It's Him who loved
us, washed us from our sin in His own blood. It's God that
predestinated us to be adopted as His own children in Christ. We're accepted in Christ. We're
sanctified by Him. We're redeemed by Him. We're
made righteous in Him. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
1. Look at verse 27 of Colossians
1, "...to whom God would make known
what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles." Christ in you. Christ in you,
the hope of glory. The reason for the hope that
is in us, the reason for our hope is Christ. It's the Lord
Jesus Christ in Him alone. You know, that's the only way.
Our hope is described as sure and steadfast. It's described
as a good hope, a lively hope, a blessed hope. If it was anything
apart from Christ, it couldn't be any of those things. Remember the old hymn writer,
he wrote this, My hope is built on nothing less, could have said
nothing more or nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. That leper, that leper
we read of in the Scriptures, he kneeled down before the Lord
and he said unto Him, If thou wilt, if thou will, thou canst
make me clean." And the Lord had compassion on him and he
said, be thou clean. And he went out and he published
it abroad and he told it so much, so many people, he couldn't even
go back into the city. The Lord Jesus Christ couldn't
even enter back into the city. In Mark 7, we read of that death
man that the Lord healed. And the more the Lord charged
him to keep quiet about it, the Scriptures declare this, that
the people, they heard it, they were just astonished beyond measure. How's that possible? Has it ever
been heard of a blind man receiving his sight, of a deaf man getting
his hearing back? Remember that man of the Gadarenes?
There's that man of the Gadarenes, naked. out there running in the
tombs. He couldn't be bound. And the Lord crosses His path.
The Lord came to him and He crosses His path. And we read, the next
thing we read, they found this man seated at the feet of Jesus
and he was clothed and in his right mind. How is that possible? the Lord Jesus Christ, Him and
Him alone. What do you reckon was the reason
for his hope? When he went out and the Lord
told him, he said, you go tell what great things the Lord's
done for you. You think he spoke of anything other than this man,
the Lord Jesus Christ that came and healed him? You know, the folks in that place,
they were upset about it. How could anybody be upset about
that? Think about that. Here's a man running among the
tombs, naked, just has completely lost his mind, and now he's sitting
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed, right mind,
don't have to be bound anymore. And what did the people of that
town want to do? They wanted him out of there. Depart from
us." Not that man, that was. Oh, he had a good hope. That
woman of Samaria, she wanted to talk about Jacob drinking
from that well. She wanted to talk about the
fathers worshiping there at that well, worshiping in the mountains. And the Lord dealt with her right
there where she was. revealed her sin to her, revealed
himself to her, and what did she do? She left her water pot there.
She left it. She left it behind and she went
into the city and she said, come see a man which told me all things
I ever did. What was the reason for her hope?
She said this, is not this the Christ? The reason for our hope. Turn back to 1 Peter. Look at verse 18. We'll just
skip down to verse 18. The reason for our hope. for
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit." The reason for our hope, the
one who loved me, The One who came to me, just like we've seen
in all those. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
each of them right where they were. Just like that parable
of that lost sheep. He said, what man of you having
a hundred sheep? And he loses one. Does he not
leave the ninety and nine and go after it? And he seeks it
until he finds it. And when he finds it, he didn't put a collar around him
and drag him home, did he? He didn't say, follow me, sheep. He reached down and picked it
up and he put it on his shoulders and he carries it home. And when
he gets home, he invites all of his friends over and says,
rejoice, rejoice with me, this one lost sheep. Who gets the glory in that? The
Lord Jesus Christ. Him and Him alone. Well, turn
with me one more time back to Lamentations 3. We'll close with the reading
of this Scripture. Lamentations 3 verse 18. And I said, I said, my strength
and my hope is perished from the Lord. Remembering my affliction
and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. Well, we get hung up
on our problems, don't we? He said, I remember my affliction
and my misery. We get caught up in ourselves,
we'll quickly find ourselves with no hope. My soul hath him
still in remembrance and is humbled into me. This I recall to my
mind, therefore I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because his compassions, they fail not. They're
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good to them
that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It's good. It's good that a man should both
hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. The reason
for our hope, the reason for my hope, the Lord Jesus Christ.