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Introduction

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Before we begin tonight I’d like to share with you about an experiment I read about in an article I was reading a few weeks back.

A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship.

Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water.

The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned.

The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned.

When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours.

Why?

Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!

Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them.

If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should is effect be on our lives.

In tonight’s sermon we will look at a very important message given to the early church.

It’s a message of the hope that we have in our salvation through Jesus Christ and his resurrection.

And as we go we will look at what that hope meant to the church in light of their circumstances and what it means for us in light of ours.

For the early church, the living hope Peter talks about is often literally the only hope they had in a life filled with persecution and trials.

For you and I, it’s a hope that must sustain us, even in the midst of distractions and trials, in the same way that it sustained Peter’s audience.

Sustained by the Power of God

Written by Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, after a quick greeting, he jumps right into the hope and the joy that we find in Jesus.

If you’ll look at the first couple of words of the text here Peter opens this section of Scripture saying blessed be... “Blessed be the God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”

In the New International Version of the Bible the verse begins, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s the same way that Paul opens his second letter to the church at Corinth and how he begins the book of Ephesians as well.

And this is significant because this opening, blessed be, praise be to… echoes the same word of praise used for God in the Old Testament, and yet this time it is used to praise God with a name he never revealed in the Old Testament… “Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Though God was known as creator and redeemer in the OT, He was very rarely called Father

Jesus though, always addressed God as His Father throughout the Gospels, except for during His separation from Him on the Cross.

In doing so, Christ is claiming to be of the same nature, being, and essence of the Father.

And so Peter here addresses God as Father, not to suggest that God created the Son or caused him to exist - we know that the Son as always existed - tells us in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (the Word being Jesus), but instead he addresses God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to show the relationship of the two:

As the Father plans and directs the Son responds and obeys.

And by establishing this relationship Peter shows us why there is reason for such praise!

And in this praise, in verses 3-4, Peter tells us the reason for

He tells us about the reason for our hope, which isn’t just a shallow short lived emotion, but a living and sustained confidence.

So what is that reason for praise and what is that reason for hope?

Through God’s great mercy (look at the latter part of v. 3) “We have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

We have been born again

The reason that God provided such a glorious salvation for mankind is that He is merciful.

Sinners need God’s mercy because they are in a desperate and helpless situation without it.

Without God’s mercy there is no help.

Without God’s mercy there can be no hope.

But with God’s mercy, we have the greatest confidence that there is.

We are born again to a living hope!

What does it mean though that this hope is living?

That is the basis for our hope.

That God showed His great mercy for us by allowing us a new birth and a new inheritance, that are only possible through a relationship with Jesus.

It means that it grows and it increases day by day, month by month, year by year.

It doesn’t diminish, but it sustains us.

It is the kind of hope that overcomes adversity and trials (we’ll get to that in a few minutes)

And there are two ways in which we are assured, just like the early church, that this living hope will sustain us.

1 - First, not only are we given hope through our new birth through the resurrection of Christ, but we also have the future hope of an inheritance that will never pass away!

This inheritance is reserved for us in heaven, it can’t be taken away and it can’t be touched.

Biblical scholars tell us that the book of First Peter was likely written either just before or shortly after July A.D. 64 when the city of Rome was burned.

When this happened, the Romans believed that their emperor, Nero, had set the city on fire because he had an incredible desire to build more and more.

In order for him to be able to build more, he had to destroy what was already there.

And so in A.D. 64 Rome was burned.

It was devastated – many were killed in the fire, but those who remained were left hopeless and helpless.

If you know very much about early church history, or even not much at all, the Roman Emperor Nero might ring a few bells.

He was known for his hatred and persecution of Christians.

And and out of this bitter resentment for the Christian faith and in an attempt to clear his name, Nero decided to place the blame instead on the early church.

He realized he had to redirect the hostility he was facing and he chose Christians as his scapegoat.

As a result some of the most vicious persecution against Christians began.

In the city of Rome itself Nero would put the skin of wild animals on Christians and then let dogs attack them until they wre killed, he would set Christians on fire in his gardens in order to use them as torches for his parties.

And he would also have Christians crucified.

This is our share in the heavenly Kingdom.

It’s our future heavenly reward.

And the overall persecution of Christians spread throughout the Roman Empire.

And it spread to the audience that Peter was writing to.

At this point they were dealing with constant hostility and spiritual oppression.

Do you think they were in need of a message of Hope?

Do you think they were longing to find some source of confidence that would sustain them?

Would they despair and give up?

Where would they find the hope they need to survive in a world eager to destroy them?

And yet Peter tells the church here, don’t give up hope.

Don’t allow the persecution and suffering

So what Peter does here with this text is provide a reminder of the past hope believers have in their new birth, but also the future hope we have in a new inheritance!

And this inheritance is reserved for us in heaven, it can’t be taken away and it can’t be touched.

It’s imperishable or incorruptible in that it will never fade away or decay and it’s undefiled and unfading.

There is nothing this world can do to pollute it.

It’s also unfading.

It doesn’t change.

It’s not like a flower that with the changing of the seasons withers and decays, but instead it persists and it sustains.

2 - Secondly it’s a hope that guards or keeps safe those who put their trust in it.

This means it is carefully watched.

If you’ll notice the word here is being used in the present tense.

This means that as a believer you are continually being guarded by God, through His power.

And this power works through our faith.

God is both preserving believers from escaping out of his kingdom, and he is protecting them from external attacks.

And these two examples of the benefits of our hope stand in stark contrast to the hope that the world provides.

The temporary, feel good, selfish kind of promises that are offered to us that deep down we know will not last and will not sustain us, but instead we so often give in to.

Grudem, W. A. (1988). 1 Peter: an introduction and commentary (Vol.

17, p. 63).

Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Isn’t this a picture of a hope that stands in stark contrast to the hope that the world provides.

The temporary, feel good, selfish kind of promises that are offered to us that deep down we know will not last and will not sustain us, but instead we so often give in to.

Don’t let the temptation of sin cloud your vision when it comes to this.

There is something much greater to fill us and keep us satisfied.

It’s the kind of hope that Isaiah tells us will give us new strength and that Jeremiah reassures us offers a future.

Every believer posses this living hope, which is found in Jesus Christ.

In this world there will be misunderstanding, slander, and persecution for your faith.

But those who are born again have a “living hope” that every believer possesses.

But do we really put our trust in it.

Do we really let it sustain us?