Where Do you Get your Hope - Apostles Creed Series; part 5
Apostles Creed – Part 5
"Where Do You Get Your Hope?"
1 Peter 1:1-12
As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed: She reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest. There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband. Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p. 26.
The block we are building on is Hope!
Ø Everyone wants Hope
Ø Everyone has a theology
Ø Dad - Cancer
Why 1st Peter?
Ø Vs. 1-2 Full of our Ref. Doctrine
Ø Vs 1 – God's Elect, Stranger in the world, Scattered around Sibley
Ø Vs 2 – Chosen to the For Knowledge of God
Ø Sanctifying work of the Spirit
Ø Blood of Jesus Christ = Trinity – Apostles Creed (I believe in God, I believe in Jesus Christ, I believe in the Holy Spirit)
Ø Peace be yours in abundance
Praise God for a living Hope
Ø Vs. 3a – New Birth – John 3:3-5
o God foreknew you
o Jesus Died for you
o Holy Spirit touched you
Ø Vs. 3b – Living Hope through the Resurrection
Three kinds of Hope
1. False Hope – Acts 16:19
Ø Relationship
Ø Money – Lottery, Cars, House, Career, Farm
2. Dead Hope – Acts 27:20
1. Traditionalism – Dead faith of the living
o Matt. 15:7-9
3. Living Hope
Characteristics – What does this look like?
Ø Vs 4a – Inheritance – You are in the Will
Ø Vs 4b – Never perish, spoil or fade
Ø Vs 4c – Heaven – Perspective changes
§ Eyes on earth, you will lose it. Eyes on Heaven, you gain both
Ø Vs 5a - “Shielded” φρουρουμένους (phrouroumenous) is a military term, used to refer to a garrison within a city (Phil. 4:7 uses the same word)
Ø Vs 5b – Salvation is coming in the last time
§ Humiliation to Exaltation is culminated
Ø Vs 6 – Greatly Rejoice – Joy will be evident
§ Nehemiah 8:10 – Joy of the Lord is my strength
Ø Vs. 8 – Love Him=New Birth
§ Love others – 1 Cor. 13:13 – Faith, Hope & Love, but the greatest of these is Love.
Which of these are you Going Home with?
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Praise to God for a Living Hope
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
John 3:3-5 - In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again 4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
Acts 16:19 - When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities.
Acts 27:20 - When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
Matt. 15:7-9 - You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men
Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Nehemiah 8:10 - Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength
I Corinthians 13:13 – And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.