Our Blessings In Christ

Intro

Praise to God

1 Peter 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

The Blessing of a New Birth

1 Peter 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

Language

v2 — according to the foreknowledge

v3 — according to His great mercy

That is the basis for Christian existence!

Born again

Used twice… v3

1 Peter 1:23 “23 for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Born of water and of Spirit

Born again meaning we are pure!

Born again meaning you became babes in Christ

Born again… in Christ. I was born physically, and I chose to sin against God. But in Christ, I’ve been born again with an awakened desire to serve Him!

Born again… meaning I’m now a Child of God

God is not our Father solely by His creating us physically… but because He gave us a new birth

John 1:12–13 “12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 “17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

“Just as people receive their ethnic identity, their citizenship, their socioeconomic class, and their innate potentialities from their biological parents, Christians have a new identity and a new citizenship that redefines their relationship with society, and transforms their identity and character”

These people (recipients) might be sojourners/exiles/pilgrims… but they have a family in Christ! YOU have a family in Christ!

The Blessing of a Living Hope

1 Peter 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

Hebrews 6:19 “19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,”

A living hope because CHRIST is living today!

A living hope because CHRIST made us alive!

The Blessing of an Inheritance

1 Peter 1:4 “4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,”

Inheritance is often linked with a portion of land

And spiritually the land that we own is our portion in the kingdom of God!

The promise of land made to the patriarchs… became a TYPOLOGICAL reference to our inheritance in Christ! And hat will FULLY be seen and revealed in heaven… where we are governed by God in a land of milk and honey

Where these exiles had been scattered from their homelands, raided & looted & pushed away… spiritually God has provided an imperishable, undefiled, unfading inheritance!

RESERVED in heaven for you!

The Blessing of God’s Protection

1 Peter 1:4–5 “4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Military metaphor

kept or guarded

“guarding the city of Damascus” — 2 Cor 11:32.

“the peace of God… will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” — Phil 4:7.

Apart from God we are defenseless!

the shield of Faith

What are we guarded for?

“a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”

Salvation has a double meaning:

Being saved from peril

Being saved from a disease

And both seek to take your life!

We are all sick unto death… because, by our own will, we poisoned ourself with sin!

Yet chrsit gave us the helmet of salvation that

Is tightly strapped on

Covers my weak flesh

Shines of God’;s glory!