An Unfading Hope

1 Peter 1:3-7

MPT: Peter writes to encourage Christians that in, through and despite trails, God keeps them, sustain them towards the hope of glory.

MPS: We have a living hope in Christ Jesus, sustained by God the Father, which encourages us on until the end where we will find our voices among the Saints, praising our Saviour.

What is our greatest hope? As humans we have many hopes. We hope that it won’t rain. We hope that we will get that job promotion. We have a faint hope that one day we can go travelling to some exotic location. These hopes are fickle, wavering hopes that may or may not come to pass and will eventually die out. What Peter gives us here and what he arms these believers with is a living hope. A hope that is sure and steadfast, unwavering in the face of adversity.

This is a hope born out of a deep joy in Peter. Peter writes as one who has seen the life-changing effects of Jesus who has been raised from the dead. Peter has stood face to face with hopelessness as the rooster crowed for the third time, proclaiming to him his own faithlessness. For Peter the death of Christ was a bitter blow. For, in the time of His Lord’s greatest need, he could only tremble in fear.

Yet, that morning of the resurrection, with the words of the women from the tomb ringing in his ears, “he is not there, for he has risen!” Peter saw with his own eyes and left in wonder,marvelling at these things. Peter himself knew the effect of the risen saviour, when, though Peter forgot Christ in His hour of need, Christ did not forget Peter in his hour of need.

Coming to Peter privately before anyone else, Peter knew and understood the mercy of God as he spoke with His Lord and Saviour. He knew the tender mercy of Christ as He was left with the charge to feed Christ’s sheep. Peter’s hope was reborn, no longer hope in his own achievements and steadfastness, but a hope resting upon His saviour.

It is because of this hope that Peter declares, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” For a hope found in the living God is a living hope resulting in praise and glory to God alone.

Out of this experience of Peter’s that he exhorts the Christians he is writing to, to stand firm in the face of adversity. For, they will one day soon face much opposition. Fear was arising among them; they knew the noose was tightening. Peter knows what this is like. We may also know what this is like. We may be tempted to deny Christ as Peter has done. Or to run from adversity as those in the Dispersion may be tempted to do.

In the face of these things, Peter exhorts us to stand firm in the living hope that is ours. We will look at why we must hold fast to this living hope under three headings.

God’s Salvation of Us.

God’s Sustaining of Us

God’s Refining of Us.

That is, God’s Salvation of us, God’s sustaining of us, and God’s refining of us.

God’s Salvation of Us (Vs 3)

Beginning in vs 3, let’s look at God’s salvation of us as a reason to hold fast to a living hope

Read vs 3.

Head

What then is the basis for this living hope that Peter calls us to cling to? It is the mercy displayed towards us in the death, burial, and most importantly, the resurrection of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

This living hope is completely unlike any feeble, fleeting hope we could ever have. We rejoice in it and cling to it not just because Christ lives, but because, in Him, we also live.

Peter says that we have been born again. This is the phrase that once confused Nicodemus. How can one be born again? How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb?

It is not by our will, nor the will of any other man, but the will of God that this would happen. By the mercy of God, He declares to us in this passage that we are His and He is ours for by the working of His Spirit we have been made a new creation.

This new creation happens “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” In being raised from the dead and ascending to heaven, Christ has now sent the spirit who dwells within each one of us.

The renewal of creation has begun first in Christ who is “the first-fruits” and then with us. We were born of natural descent into sin, only fit for death; but now, by the mercy of God through the resurrection of Christ, we have now been born of Spiritual descent, fit only for life in all its abundance with our God.

Heart

This should be a source of great comfort to us. Our hope is based in the living triune God. Our salvation is not of ourselves, it is completely of the work of God. As such, it is safe, secure, and strong in Him. Just as God is forever unchanging, so too our salvation is forever unchanging. We look back to the work of Christ on the cross, we know that we have been presently saved by the working of the Spirit and we look forward to that day when Christ will bring to completion all that has been started in us.

If you do not know this peace and hope, Christ says to you, “Come.” “Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” (Rev 22:17). You too can have a joyful hope for the future with God.

God’s Sustaining of Us

Read vs 4-5 with me.

Peter gives a second reason that we should take comfort in our living hope. For very simply, this living hope is sure because it is God who sustains.

It is God who sustains.

I once heard a critique of common evangelical evangelism. Evangelism that I’m sure we’ve all heard and perhaps even participated in. The critique was that the style of evangelism that seems to be so popular is a law-gospel-law evangelism. That is, we tell people they are sinners, then we tell them that because of this they need to repent and believe the Gospel, then, once they have become Christians, we just lay the law back on them. The only time the Gospel is preached is at the time of conversion. The rest is up to us and our good works.

But how much good works? What kind? How much do I have to do to make sure that my salvation is secure? This is a hope built upon the instability of our works. Peter provides a Gospel-Centred biblical alternative to this. Notice where the emphasis is of his encouragement to these Christians and to us.

We have a living hope because we have been born again to an inheritance… kept in heaven for you. And that we are by God’s power being guarded through faith. Just as we can have a joyful surety of hope because the origin of our salvation is in the working of God, we can also have a joyful surety of hope because the sustenance of our salvation is not of ourselves either, it is from God. This is not a law-gospel-law way of doing life, this is a Gospel sustained, joyful living in the realities of God for us.

Notice how Peter talks of our inheritance. There are a few things worthy to be pointed out here. Firstly, an inheritance is inherently a gift. By its very nature, it is not something earned but something gifted. What is this inheritance? This inheritance is God Himself. “Whom have I in Heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you,” Says the Psalmist.

We may find ourselves envious of those who come into a lot of money. Whose families have built up a way that their financial security seems set from birth. Yet, this security is temporal. The stability is only of this world where moth and rust destroy. Our inheritance on the other hand, is kept in heaven for us. Where neither moth, nor rust destroys.

Secondly, look at how Peter describes our eternal inheritance. It is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Where Israel’s inheritance perished due to invading armies, ours stands strong. Where Israel’s inheritance was defiled due to sin, ours is undefiled because it is ours due to the perfect righteousness of Christ. Where Israel’s inheritance faded away in drought, ours is eternal and unfading.

We have a reason to hope because as our salvation is eternal, so too our inheritance is. Just as Israel were motivated by the promise of inheritance while they wandered in the desert, we too can be motivated by the promise of our inheritance as we wander through this world on our way to our heavenly home.

It is no comfort to have an everlasting inheritance if we could lose it. We know the depths of our sin and misery. Peter quells this fear saying that this inheritance is kept in heaven for you, you “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith.” The same God that keeps the inheritance for us, guards us. One commentator describes this guarding as a shielding. That shield is faith.

Faith in the promises of God. Faith in the trustworthiness of God. Faith in the work of God for us. Faith in the Gospel. Paul says that this faith is a gift from God (Eph 2:8). For it is not the magnitude of our faith that saves us but the content. The object of our faith is the person and work of God. Though our faith may seem fragile, take comfort in the fact that God will uphold you, he will sustain you until the end. His goodness, kindness and mercy are displayed towards us as he draws us to Himself.

I love what our confession says in chapter 17 on our perseverance.

“Those whom God has accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, from which source he still begets and nourishes in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality; and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them, yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraved upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity.”

What a joy this is to us. And what peace it brings in times of doubt. We will continue on in this life, not because we are faithful, but because God is faithful. He will sustain you. We need not be envious of those whose inheritance is now, who do well in this life. It will fade away. Our inheritance is eternal and kept for us by God who keeps us in His grace. Therefore, we have every reason to take comfort that is ours in Christ Jesus.

God’s Refining of Us

I’m sure we all relate to Asaph in Psalm 73. We look around us and see wickedness thriving. Those who delight in evil seem to prosper.

Read vs 4-5

Read vs 12

We can see the nature of man on full display

Read vs 7-9

Many are tempted by this obvious success. Obviously this way of life leads to ease and luxury. It works out for them.

The churches that Peter is writing to feel this pressure. Looking around, they see opulence born from wickedness. Success born of greed. They can feel the pressure building as opposition towards Christianity begins to build. The words of the Psalmist are likely upon their lips.

Read vs 13-14.

Perhaps you too feel like this? We are ever at war with the flesh, with the things of this world. Sin always entices us. Perhaps you also feel the weight of ridicule as those who hate Christ malign His name. We do not face the same persecution as those in Peter’s day did, but we do face trials and tribulations of many sorts.

It is to comfort us amidst these dark days, that Peter writes these words of encouragement.

Read vs 6-7.

You see, we can rejoice in our hope even amidst suffering because it is through these things that God refines us and our faith.

There are three things I want to point to as reasons to hope amid these many trials we face.

1. Trials are temporary.

Peter says, “though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.”

Though trials may last this whole life time, they are still temporary in the light of eternity. They may persist now but will be swallowed up when Christ returns in victory to consummate His Kingdom.

We can have a hope that though the whole world may seem to be against us, all will eventually pass away and the fullness of our salvation will be revealed. What has been started by God will surely be brought to completion.

2. Trials Refine us

Peter says that these trials are “necessary.” It is not by accident that we suffer, in fact it is God’s will that we should suffer (1 Peter 4:19). One commentator says that the New Testament sees “sufferings as the road believers must travel to enter into God’s kingdom.”[1]

Though sufferings are necessary, we should not think that they are enjoyable. The point Peter is making is that in our suffering God is working out His will for our lives, that we should be sanctified.

Peter goes on in vs 7 to describe this sanctification. Trials are necessary, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith – more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire…” We should rejoice in the hope we have amidst trials because we know that these trials refine our faith.

Just as fire burns up all that is unnecessary in gold, leaving only the purest behind. And just as fire separates impure alloys from the real thing, so too, trials are a fire that burns off all that is unnecessary in our faith and separates off impure parts, to leave only pure faith behind.

This faith of ours is far more precious than any gold on this earth. Gold may be able to buy the most opulent lifestyle here, but it will fade and perish. The faith of the saint results in a glory far greater than any here on earth.

Do not fear trials and tribulations. Do not fear that you will lose your faith. Even Peter who denied Christ and suffered immense trials beyond what any of us suffer, was refined by these trials. Fire does not burn up gold, it refines it. Trials do not burn up our faith, it did not burn up Peter’s faith, trials refine our faith and make them stronger. When faced with the same trials later in life, Peter stood firm and proclaimed Christ even to death.

3. Trials Glorify God.

Jesus says in Matthew 5,

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

When we suffer trials as Christians, we are joining the suffering of Christ. In doing so, it glorifies Christ’s name. The praise, glory and honour mentioned are not what we receive for our reward in heaven is bound up in the work of Christ, the praise glory and honour are what we lift to God.

These are found at the revelation of Christ. For when we are found to have persevered in the faith, God is seen to be faithful in all that He is. His Word is found to be true, and we will lift our voices with saints from all over before the Throne crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Take heart when you are faced with many trials. Stand firm knowing that God supplies all we need for life and godliness, including the faith we have to come to Him. Just has He has washed you clean by the blood of Christ; He will also guard you and keep you until the end. We have a hope that is beyond this world, a hope that never perishes for it is a hope in the eternal God over all. May His name be blessed among us all.

[1] Schreiner, Thomas R. 2003. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. Vol. 37. The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.