Our Awesome Hope |
October 20, 2013
Misc. Sermons
Our Awesome Hope
1 Peter 1:1-7
(Advance Slide #1)
Introduction
It was the end of WWII a submarine was coming home.
- It's home port was to be a dock in VA.
- The crew had made it through the war without any damage to their vessel.
- Just of the coast of VA for an unexplained reason the sub sank.
- The Coast Guard was mobilized…divers were sent down and they heard the sound of tapping.
- It was morse code…this was the message…IS THERE HOPE?
Many people ask this question…maybe you ask it here today.
(Advance Slide #3)
- This is an important question to think about.
- We live in a broken world, there are broken dream, homes relationships.
- We have bills we can't pay, we're waiting on the doctor to call, for a job offer, for a marriage/spouse, for a family.
- The question of hope is an essential one to life.
(Advance Slide #4)
I can speak with a 100% certainty that if you are like me you crave HOPE!
- We will follow so many different fades in search of hope
- When we are financially weak we become gullible and we val for scams…why?
- WE WANT HOPE!
(Advance Slide #5)
Hope is more than wishful or positive thinking.
- These are good, but we need something deeper…something genuine!
- Our situation might be bad, but we have a Savior/ God is still God
- Paul said that there was one thing in which he put his hope in…
- The security of an eternal r'ship with Jesus Christ.
LISTEN - All disappointment and discouragement comes when we put our hope in the wrong thing!
You may not need today's lesson, but maybe by the end of the week you will.
- It might not be till next week, next month, next year.
(Advance Slide #7)
Text
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. 1 Peter 1:3-7
1 Peter is 5 chapter long.
- It is written to suffering Christians.
- They were suffering some bad things, but worse things were yet to come.
- Nero would be ruling Rome and Christians would be fed to the lions; Christians would be used as human torches.
- During this time to be a Christian meant that you would die.
(Advance Slide #9)
* So the message for 1 Peter is this…it may get worse but there still is hope!
Lesson
(Advance Slide #10)
For this lesson I want us to look at these first seven verses and identify 5 reasons for our AWESOME HOPE!
(Advance Slide #11)
God chose me before I chose Him (vs. 2)
Notice in vs. 2, we can rejoice because all three: God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit all chose us.
- A plan that was in place long before we were born…Go desired to save us.
- It is as if God said, "I want them in the kingdom with me."
- This indicates to me that there was no accident behind our choosing!
God wants us to be a holy person.
- With this should give us confidence…it should give us hope!
(Advance Slide #12)
God has always treated me with mercy (vs. 3)
Remember that Jesus is writing to persecuted Christians, but notice vs. 3.
- It begins, 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"
- Grace and mercy are amazing things…
- We cannot work for them or even towards them!
- We cannot make God love us more than He loves us right now!
- Titus 3:5 "he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,"
God always acts in mercy…why?
- Because we are covered in the blood of Christ!
- No matter how far I fall God's will treat me with mercy…this I have hope in!
You will notice in this verse there are some privileges to being a part of God's family:
- We get to call Him Father…we ask and He listens!
- Over 20 times in the NT you find that phrase, "Ask!"
- James wrote, "You have not because you ask not."
(Advance Slide #13)
God has secured my future (vs. 3-4)
This is a guarantee…a guarantee of a living hope!
- These verses are jammed pack with hopeful truth.
- We just read vs. 3 here is 4 "to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,"
- Another benefit or hope to being in God's family…we have an inheritance.
- We know that it is our…"for you"
** South Carolina's state seal has this quote on it, "While I breath I have hope"
- That's great, but in Christ we have an eternal hope!
- Notice the 3 ways this inheritance is described:
- Imperishable
- Undefiled
- Unfading
(Advance Slide #14)
God's power will protect us (vs. 5)
We are guarded!
- "who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation"
- We do, and will, find ourselves in situation our natural reaction is to think that we are powerless and hopeless.
- For a Christian…THIS IS A LIE!
We are guarded for a great salvation!
- This means that we are bring "kept" there is a reason.
- It has to do with our salvation.
- We might walk away from Him, but He's not going to leave us.
- No matter the mighty army that attacks we are guarded for our salvation in Christ.
Paul wrote to his friend Timothy, "But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." 2 Tim. 1:12
(Advance Slide #15)
At the revelation of Christ our faith will be found worthy (vs. 6-7)
Things may be bad right now, they might even get worse, but you have a great hope.
- In fact, you have a genuine faith that has been tested.
- The result of this faith will be the following:
- "praise and glory and honor"…when?
- At the revelation of Jesus Christ…when He returns again.
Isn't this our hope?
- It is not an empty, wishful thinking…it's deeper it has meaning.
- There is a certainty in our hope.
Conclusion
Is your life tapping out a panic message (like the submariners)…IS THERE HOPE?
- There is, and it is an awesome hope!
(Advance Slide #16)
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13
- How can we be filled with this?
- This is the real question…listen to the words of Jesus.
- "Come to me all that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest"
- We have to come to Him, submit to Him to receive His blessings!
But there is another important part for us to have this hope…we must be washed!
- "Repent and be baptized everyone of you, for the remission of your sins."
(Advance Slide #18)
"27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment,28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save (to bring salvation) those who are eagerly waiting for him." Heb. 9:27-28
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