First Peter 1:1-12, Reasons For Praising the Lord

Reasons to Praise the Lord, I Peter 1:1-12.

Peter was a fisherman who turned into a fisherman for Christ.

Peter encouraged the persecuted and scattered. They were saved but persecuted and scattered.

The elect: God knows who is going to be saved.

Reasons to praise the Lord:

1) Living hope, v. 3. We have living hope, a confident assurance based on the Word of God. It is all because of His mercy. I Peter 1:3: 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.

Lord Jesus Christ is the formal name of our Savior.

Abundant mercy: must be abundant because our sins are abundant.

Without Christ, having no hope. Ephesians 2:12: That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

The hope of unjust men perisheth. Proverbs 11:7: When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish: and the hope of unjust men perisheth.

Jesus is not dead. He arose. Romans 1:4: And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. I Corinthians 15:1-4: Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.

2) Lasting inheritance, v. 4. It is permanent. Our inheritance will never lose value. It does not lose its vigor. I Peter 1:4: To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.

reserved: to keep an eye on. Believers have reservations.

3) Lifetime of powerful protection, vv. 5-7. I Peter 1:5-7: Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

kept: under God’s control. God takes care of us every day. Even though we may be tested by fire, Jesus will bring us through by His power.

trial: Our trials are for a time. Problems now; praise later.

Ephesians 2:6-7: and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesu, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2:10-11: so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Nothing is going to happen to us unless God says so.

Romans 8:17-18: and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

John 17:24-26: Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”