A living Hope

1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Our hope is not dead

Because of God’s abundant mercy we are born again into a living hope. When we think about a living hope, that brings to mind something that is active and working. It’s alive.

Compare that to the idea of a dead hope. We know what that looks like. We see it in people all around us.

So many in this world today have no hope and it’s growing more and more everyday especially with the things going on in this Country. We can see it everywhere in this world, it is dead hope, empty hope, true hopelessness. You see so many just trying to find something to fill the void of that hopelessness and it’s all temporary. drugs, alcohol and all kinds of degeneracy. Nothing will fulfil them, it’s a fading solution to their dead hope. It may dull their senses for a short amount of time but it will fade.

The things of this world can really get us down and discourage us but we know that we can put our full faith and trust in our heavenly Father to provide for us. We know trusting in the things of this world will fade but the things that we receive from the Father are forever. Even though the blessings in this world that we receive from the Father are temporary and fading we still have trust and faith that the Father will provide for us. As we go into a time in this country of unknown economic uncertainty it isn’t anything different that those that lived in the 1st century. They experienced famine and drought just like we will experience the same especially if our hope is in large corporations to provide for us and putting our trust in them instead of our Father.

Jesus said in Matt 6:25-27 “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?”

Our hope that we have in Christ and the promises made to His followers is real, we know what we are living for. No matter what happens in this world we know that we can trust in our hope. We know that the Father will provide for us and we need not worry about the world providing for us. Nothing in this world will take care of us anywhere close to how the Lord will provide and take care of us. This is much different than those in the world who trust in institutions to provide for them and take care of them. However, We also know that because of this hope, we are to walk in a certain way to have full faith and confidence that our hope will lead us into eternal glory with the Father. This hope is unfading and eternal.

Not because of my works but because of God’s great mercy

Not by man’s merit. we didn’t do anything for us to deserve the promises made. It is because of God’s great mercy that we are able to have the hope in eternal salvation.

Titus 3:5 “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

We did not do anything ourselves to earn salvation. It is according to God’s mercy that we are able to be saved from eternal destruction. No matter how “good” of a person someone believes they are, if they are not in the body of Christ and not a child of God, they are not forgiven, they are still in their sin, and they are not an heir which can claim an inheritance from God.

There’s so many today that believe that they can set their own requirements to get into God’s Kingdom. We know this is just not true. It is God’s kingdom, He sets the requirements. They believe they can buy their way into heaven by being charitable or nice, but we know that those outside of Christ are doing those things without a true hope in salvation. They have convinced themselves that they will be able to work their way into heaven without having a strong enough faith to trust and believe what God has told us we need to do in order to enter into His kingdom.

It is God’s great mercy that we are forgiven and made His children 1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

Romans 8:17 “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

On the outside looking in, when people hear that a Christian should rejoice in suffering, it sounds counter to what one would believe. How could living a good life bring suffering? Jesus suffered greatly but He looked to the promises from the Father and never sinned. We likewise need to do the same. Suffer the persecution without sinning. When we suffer for righteousness sake, we know that we will have our glory in the end.

The nature of a living hope

This living hope that we have knows no death. No matter how great one’s hope in something in the world may be, it will fade away. but the hope of a Christian should never fade. We all have hopes in this world, maybe a new job, a new house, a new car, but what happens to those things? They get old and you hope for something new. It doesn’t last.

Once you get that new job you really really hoped for, well, it becomes a job. Then you start looking for a new job, maybe a new position, and then you hope real hard for it, and the cycle continues.

You buy a new house and find out real fast that things start breaking and that hope you had in the beginning starts to fade as you’re replacing the roof, or the A/C unit, then you just hope that you get a break from the repairs for awhile.

You buy a brand new shiny car that you were hoping for and come out to a shopping cart right in the side of the door, and the hope of keeping it new fades.

Think back to all the times leading up to Christmas morning or your birthday. Can you even remember most of the things you hoped for? I know there were so many things that would keep me up at night thinking that what I was hoping for would fulfil my life, maybe not even a day later whatever it was has lost it’s fulfillment and that false sense of hope faded.

Our hope in God and the promises made to us is an everlasting and endless hope, a growing hope. The hope I have now is greater than the day when I was baptised into Christ for the remission of my sins. That hope has not gone away, through prayer and study it has grown and matured. As we draw closer to God and His word we are able to understand just what this living hope means.

It focuses us on the life beyond this fading world of disappointment and pain. Rom 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

If someone told me that they had the cure for death and I could live forever in this world, I would run the other way. The gift of God is eternal life, not in this world, but the next. Christians aren’t going to trade their eternal life in God’s kingdom for an eternal life in this messed up world, but you better believe people who don’t have their hope and faith in God’s promises will be camped out waiting for their chance to get the cure to death. To live here forever. You see so many who worship this world trying everything they can to live forever. Now obviously as Christians we want to go when we are called and don’t necessarily have a death wish, but a Christian isn’t going to be afraid of being called home.

Heb 6:19 “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;”

This hope anchors us, it keeps us steadfast, staying on target. It’s a grounding hope in what’s to come.

The resurrection brought life from death

Our hope is only possible because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It was by his resurrection that brought life and immortality to light

2 Tim 1:10 “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:”

Heb 2:14-15 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

People were expecting Jesus to be an earthly King, to reign from a physical throne over their enemies and when he was crucified that hope was shattered. They were hoping in something that would fade, something that would have been temporary in this world, the worldly idea of what a King should be. however after he was raised from the death, there was a new hope, not a hope for a temporary earthly king but a living hope of eternity in the Kingdom of God.

John 18:36 “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.”

Eternal inheritance

We are born not only to life but also to our Father’s estate. This isn’t like any inheritance that the world desires from their parents. This inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading.

When I think about this passage and the way the world treats an inheritance, I can’t help but think about all those stories you hear of families coming together to read a will and then finding out that they didn’t get what they expected or wanted. The will was kept secret until the father passed away. The children came together to find out what they would receive for their inheritance and inevitably someone got less than someone else, someone thought they should have received something that someone else got, and now you have the family being torn apart and fighting over stuff.

Some of these things can get so ugly that the heirs end up suing each other to get what they believed they were owed. Think about that, this was someone else’s stuff but the greed of the world has caused them to believe they are owed it and will stop at nothing to get it even if it means alienating their own family.

We have a hope and trust in the promises of God. Since we are forgiven and made His children, we are his heirs with an inheritance 1 Peter 1:4 “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,”

This inheritance is kept for it’s heirs, reserved in heaven. This isn’t an inheritance that can be taken away from us by anyone else and we know that faithful Christians will be able to claim this inheritance one day.

As heirs we are never left without an attendant. Ps 34:7 “The angel of the Lord encampeth Round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” But how are we as heirs to preserve our inheritance?

In the worldly example of an inheritance, if you don’t do what the one with the will wants you to, you can be written out of the will. Similarly with us, if we don’t obey the Father how can we expect the inheritance that is meant for obedient children?

So how can we preserve our inheritance?

One, by the power of God and belief in what He has said Ro 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

The Gospel of Christ is food for strength, light for guidance, and those that believe and obey the Gospel, it is the power of God to save and in the end allow for us to receive our inheritance.

Second, it is by faith. This is the believer’s responsibility to ensure that their faith is strong and never waning. 1 Tim 1:19 “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:”

We must hold this faith. The only one who can disqualify us of our inheritance is ourselves, and instead of being anchored in the soul we will become shipwrecked.

We think about Esau selling his birthright for a pottage of lentiles in Gen 25. It says in vs 34 that he despised his birthright. Jacob didn’t take Esau’s birthright by force or scheming, Esau traded it for an empty hope. Something that would fulfil him in that moment and would soon fade.

We must ensure that we are holding onto the inheritance that God is giving us and not trade it for anything that is in this world.

Think about the parable in Matthew 22 and those who were invited to the wedding feast. The King sent his servants out to invite as many as they could find to come to this wedding feast.

Matt 22 9-12 “Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.”

The King expected the guest to wear certain garments. People today will have us believe that God doesn’t care about how we live as Christians and we are all getting to heaven in our own way. Maybe this guest at the dinner party thought the same thing. Maybe he thought to himself, surely this King didn’t really want me to wear this to his dinner party even though it was made clear that all who are wanting to come into the party had to wear the garments. Well what does the rest of the parable tell us.

Matt 22 13-14 “Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

It is very clear that there are certain expectations of Christians to maintain their salvation through obedience to God’s word. In order to receive our inheritance we must ensure we are wearing the spiritual garments that the Lord has given us to wear. Fruits of the Spirit, obedience to the word and being the faithful servant we are called to be.

This inheritance will be revealed in the last time. It is at the moment veiled from us but in due time the veil shall be lifted. Isa 33:17 “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: They shall behold the land that is very far off.”

I am happy and filled with true hope when I think about my inheritance and I hope you all are as well. If we remain the faithful heirs that we are called to be, we know exactly what we will receive as our inheritance. Eternal rest in the Kingdom of God.

I think about those in the world who do not have the same hope in the inheritance that we will receive, and they act towards us just like those same people who are jealous of what a sibling might get in their father’s will. The jealously and greed overcomes them and they want what we have, but they can’t sue us for it or take it away from us. These people are currently without hope and we need to do our best to explain to them what a living hope truly is and how they can have the same confidence that we do.

We need to let them know that God’s mercy extends to them if they want to have the same eternal hope that we do. We know that we will inherit eternal life and they will be left with nothing but the wages of their sin, which is eternal destruction. Their jealously and greed may drive them to bring suffering on us but we know what awaits us and this temporary world will be such an insignificant moment of time in relation to eternity.