A Living Hope Through the Resurrection: 1 Peter 1:3-9

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1 Peter 1:3–9 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Introduction

Verse 3 says Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Praise be to God, He is worthy of all praise and honour and glory and worship.

Why? Because according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

The focus of this message is on that phrase: living hope. Every Christian, every single one of us who has been born again, has a living hope.

It’s not a dead hope, or a dying hope, a wreckless hope, a doubtful hope, an impossible hope, or a lost hope. It is not the kind of hope where you buy a lotto ticket and hope you win, or when you rub a lamp and hope a genie comes out, or you hope your company survives the lockdown.

Its nothing like any of that. Every Christian has a living hope. It’s a certain expectation and an anticipation of something that we know is coming, of an outcome that is certain to happen.

In today’s message I want to talk about the living hope that all Christians have through the resurrection of Jesus, and I want to do this by showing how this text answers 3 questions about our living hope.

Those questions are:

What is the basis of our living hope? - where does our hope come from and why do we have it?

What is the future experience of our living hope? - what are we living in expectation of? What is coming?

What is the present experience of our living hope? - since it is a living hope, and we are already born again, what are our lives like now?

So those are the 3 questions - what has happened to give us this living hope, and what is our future and present experience of it.

1. What is the Basis of our Living Hope?

Every Christian needs to know the basis of our hope. After all, why are you a Christian? What is it that makes you believe in God and trust God? On what basis do you believe the things you do, and live the way you live?

Why?

In 1 Peter 3:15, Peter says that in our hearts we must “… honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;...”

Can you do that? Can you tell anyone why you are a Christian? If someone comes up to you and asks you why you believe in Jesus, can you tell them?

What if a newspaper was doing a survey of different religions and a reporter approached you out of the blue in the street, with a voice recorder in hand, and asked you to explain what you believe and why it gives you hope. With no warning and being put on the spot, could you give an answer?

Could you give a reason - a basis for the hope that you have in Jesus as a Christian?

You see, Peter wants us to know our own standing with the Lord, he wants us to know the hope we have in the Lord and he wants us to be able to then express it and tell others about it.

So what answers does Peter provide to answer the question, what is the basis of our living hope?

He gives us 3 answers - 3 reasons which form the basis of our living hope. And they are:

New Birth. God has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

Great Mercy. According to his great mercy, God has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

Christ’s Resurrection. According to his mercy God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Now let’s consider each of these things which Peter gives as a foundation or a basis for our living hope, and we will begin with mercy first because that’s where it all starts - it all begins with the mercy of God.

a) Mercy

Our living hope begins with and has its foundation in God’s mercy. Without God’s mercy, we would have no hope. Nothing. Zero. Not even a whisker of a chance of hope.

According to God’s great mercy, we have a living hope.

We have a living hope because God had mercy on us. That means God chose not to give us what we deserve. There isn’t a single person anywhere in the world right now who deserves to be born again or to have a living hope.

Why? Because as Paul says so simply and clearly in Romans 3:23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and in Romans 6:23 he says the wages of sin is death. We have all sinned against God and therefore what we deserve is death, not life. Not new life. Not hope. But because of God’s great mercy, we will not get what we deserve. So because of God’s mercy, we have a living hope.

And that should have a massively humbling effect on us.

Because all that we have - our new birth and our living hope - is all given to us by God as an undeserved kindness. God didn’t owe us mercy. We didn’t and could never do anything which could earn mercy or make God indebted to us or obligated to give us mercy. The definition of mercy is that it is an undeserved kindness - a kindness that has its origin in the heart of the mercy giver, not in the actions of the mercy receiver.

So this should fill our hearts with gratitude, humble us and give us great confidence and hope. We didn’t earn this. It was free. It was given to us as a gift, because of God’s mercy. And since this gift was given to us freely as an undeserved mercy and not as a reward for what we have done, we have confidence that it will also not be taken away from us because of anything we do. The giving and keeping of the gift is not dependent on us, but on God and His mercy.

The fact that God has given us new birth and a living hope by mercy, by undeserved kindness, should humble us and change everything about us.

If we know and believe this to be true, it should be reflected in our attitude to God and to others. To God, gratitude. To others, humility.

How do you respond in times of suffering? Are you angry with God because you have hardships in this world? If so, then you have forgotten that you deserve far worse, and have instead been given the living hope of something far greater to come. We don’t deserve good things. We don’t deserve to take our next breath. But by God’s mercy, we have our next breath and an eternity of life that awaits us beyond the grave.

There can be no room at all for arrogance, pride or ego in a person who truly understands the precious gift they’ve been given by undeserved mercy. Think about all your brothers and sisters in the church. Think especially now of those who have irritated you or offended you. God’s mercy in our lives should make us look at those people and say, “I don’t deserve your friendship. I don’t deserve to be your brother or sister. I don’t deserve to be a part of this family.” God’s mercy is truly humbling.

b) Christ’s Resurrection

Secondly, we have been mercifully given living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

It is wonderful to know that God has been merciful to us. But to consider how God was able to give us mercy, while at the same time being just and not leaving our sin to go unpunished, should fill us with unending awe for the wisdom, power and glory of God.

Because God is merciful, He chose to give us mercy. But because God is also just, He could not allow our sin to go unpunished.

It is one of the great myths and misunderstandings about God that people think that God simply chose to forgive us and not deal with our sin. People wrongly see God as a God who forgives sin without punishing it.

Think of a courtroom. A dozen murderers stand before the judge, waiting to be sentenced for their crimes. But rather than give them the death sentence they deserve, he gives them mercy; he forgives them and allows them to leave the court as free men. What would we do? We would be outraged at the failure of the judge to see to it that justice is done against those criminals! There must be a sentencing. There must be justice.

Why, then, do we think that God can forgive our sin without handing down sentencing? Without satisfying justice?

How did God give us mercy without violating His own justice?

The answer is found in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God, the Judge, became a man, lived the perfect life on our behalf, and then died on our behalf. He died in our place, taking our death sentence upon Himself to satisfy His own justice.

It is as if the judge in the courtroom delivers his verdict: the murderers are guilty. He hands down the sentence: these crimes must be punished by death. And then, to everyone’s astonishment, none more so than the murderers themselves, the judge stands up, moves over to the electric chair, and volunteers his own life on their behalf, to pay for their crimes.

Justice is done, it is satisfied. Our crimes have been paid for. Jesus died on our behalf.

And then He was raised on our behalf. And so, in His death, our sins are paid for. And in His resurrection, we have resurrection. Because He was raised, we will be raised. Because He lives, we will live.

Romans 5:15 ESV

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

Romans 6:5 ESV

5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

By God’s mercy, through Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, we have a living hope.

c) New Birth

And then thirdly, in that order, according to God’s mercy, through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, God caused us to be born again to a living hope.

We have a living hope because we have been born again.

Jesus’ death and resurrection didn’t just make salvation possible. His sacrifice was not a potential payment, but an actual and effectual payment on behalf of all who believe.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

So according to God’s mercy, through the cross, all who believe will be saved. The benefits of the cross are received by faith.

But this is not just a faith that is spoken… it is a faith that is visible, experienced, life-changing.

If our faith is genuine, we will not only say we believe, but our whole lives will be forever changed. Literally, we will be born again, supernaturally converted and made into a new creature.

John 3:3 ESV

3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Now how did this happen for you? What was your experience of being born again?

Was there a beam of light? A clap of thunder? Did an angel appear to you? Did you hear music from heaven or see a vision of yourself in pure white?

For the vast majority of us, this is not our new birth experience. Actually, most cannot pin-point the moment that we were born again and became a Christian.

So how do we know we are born again? How can new birth be a reason for our living hope, if most of us can’t even pinpoint the exact moment of our conversion?

For every born again Christian, without exception, because new birth is a supernatural work in which God gives us a new heart, it is experienced through new desires.

A dead heart loves and desires the world, but a born again heart loves and desires God above all else.

Once, you were uninterested in God. You doubted His word. You found His commandments to be a burden. You found the things of the world - money, food, women, men and everything else, much more interesting and desirable. Some of you maybe had an idea of God, but He seemed to you as nothing more than a deity you could manipulate in order to get the things in the world that you desired.

But at some point, all that changed. You became interested in God and in His word, you started to devour it and the more you read, the more you believed and the stronger your faith became. The stronger your faith became the more you loved Jesus and the smaller and more insignificant everything in the world became.

2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV

6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

When God has shone the light of the knowledge of Him into our hearts, He caused us to be born again and to believe in Jesus, and in so doing to receive the gift of salvation to our account.

And this new birth, which is experienced in our new love for Christ and love for His word, becomes a basis for our living hope.

We have hope, because He has made us new.

Concluding...

So these are the 3 answers that Peter gives for the first question, what is the basis of our living hope?

We have a living hope because of God’s mercy, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and the new birth we experienced and continue to experience from the moment we first believed.

2. What is the Future Experience of our Living Hope?

The second question is what is the future experience of our living hope? What is it that our hope is anticipating?

Peter gives us the answer in verses 4, 7 and 8.

1 Peter 1:3–4 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

We are waiting for and anticipating our inheritance. There is an inheritance that was secured for us in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and one day in the future, we will take hold of it.

Peter uses 3 words to describe our inheritance. It is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. All 3 words help us to see that our inheritance is final and forever. It will not fail us, it will not disappear, it will not be corrupted or diminished, and it will not fade in its glory. On the contrary, it will become greater and brighter and more glorious the closer we get to it and the more our eyes are capable of seeing it.

The fact and reality of our eternal inheritance gives us hope as look forward to it during these troubled times that we are living in today. Actually, the certainty of our coming inheritance gives meaning to our present troubles.

Look at what Peter says in verses 6-7, but particularly verse 7:

1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

False teachers of the prosperity gospel persuasion want people to think that if you are a Christian and you have enough faith in Jesus, then He will never let anything bad happen to you. There has been a lot of bad advise going around social media in the form of memes and viral messages about covid-19.

Peter wants us to know that we are not going to be immune to or excluded from experiencing grief and troubled times. As sojourners in this fallen world, we will be exposed to all its troubles.

But here’s what he also wants us to know: the trials we go through have meaning and God is using them for a particularly glorious purpose:

Peter says that they are given to us so that the genuineness of our faith, as we continue to trust in Jesus and cling to Him during our trials, will result in more praise, more glory, more honour to Jesus.

Two things are happening here that God is achieving through our trials:

The genuineness of our faith is being strengthened. Peter compares it to a precious metal - gold. As if being put through a furnace to burn away impurities in a precious metal, the testing of our faith through trials will result in a stronger, more genuine, more real, more precious faith in the Lord.

Praise , glory and honour to Jesus. Because in the end, ultimately we will look back and see that through every trial, Christ never left us, but remained faithful to His promise to redeem us and bring us home.

And so the future experience of our living hope is:

an ever increasing and strengthening faith in Jesus as we cling to Him through trials

our praise for Jesus will increase and he will get more glory as our faith grows in spite of trials

ultimately, the receiving of our inheritance of eternal life in the presence of Jesus.

More than enough for any Christian to cling to as we wait in eager anticipation of what the future holds for us.

3. What is our Present Experience of our Living Hope?

Lastly then, what is our present experience of our living hope?

The benefits of the Christian life and our hope are not confined to the future. We can and do experience and taste the first fruits of our hope even today.

Peter offers 3 answers to this question which we will look at briefly:

a) Increasing faith

In verse 5 Peter says that by God’s power we are being guarded through faith. In verse 8 he says that though you have not seen Him, you believe in Him. Though we have not physically seen God, we experience his power in us as He guards and strengthens our faith through the world’s troubles.

b) Increasing love

Verse 8: Though you haven’t seen him, you love him. Though we haven’t seen Jesus, we know Him through the word of God, and the more we know Him the more we love Him. Its pretty meaningless to say you love someone you don’t know. But as our knowledge of Jesus grows, so also will our love for Him.

c) inexpressible joy

Verse 8: Though you have not seen Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. For sure, joy is not something we feel or experience in the same way each day. But we have all had days when we are so filled with joy at the thought and the knowledge of Jesus that it is truly beyond our ability to explain or even comprehend ourselves. The joy that we experience as believers is not mere happiness… happiness is an emotion that is dependent on our circumstances. Christian joy on the other hand, is rooted not in circumstances but in Jesus, and is therefore something that we experience even in hardship and suffering.

In summary...

So in these ways - through increasing faith in and increasing love for Jesus, and in the experience of joy as we focus on Christ in spite of hardships, as well as all the other fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5, we experience a foretaste of what we will one day have in full at the final revelation of Jesus, when He comes to take us home.

Of course, it is just a foretaste, and therefore our present experience will not be perfect. We will not always have strong faith. We will not always and in every moment love Jesus more than we love the world. And there are days when we have no joy at all and the world’s troubles make us miserable.

But that is part of why we strain and press forward, always looking forward to the living hope that we have in and through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now we have only a taste, but in future we will have our inheritance in full.

I want to leave you with this thought in closing. Look at verses 4 and 5 with me.

In verse 4 Peter says that we have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Our future inheritance is waiting for us, being kept for us, guarded for us.

Now look at verse 5: who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We are being kept and guarded for our inheritance.

Our inheritance is being kept for us, we are being kept and guarded for our inheritance.

Do you see the assurance and safety promised in these 2 verses? God is keeping our inheritance for us - it will not disappear, it will not fade. And at the same time, God is keeping us also - He will not allow us to run away, fall away, or disappear. He is not letting the fulfillment of His promise depend on our faithfulness or failures.

Rather, the fulfillment of all these things - the fulfillment and reality of our living hope - is sure because it is all being held together and guarded by the power of God.

You have a living hope.

Your hope is in a living Saviour, who according to God’s mercy died and rose again to redeem us and give us eternal life, and by whose power we have been born again, and being guarded and kept for a future inheritance that will be forever and ever, to the praise and glory of His grace.

Amen.