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The certain destination 1 Peter 1:3-9

What do you hope for?


You might hope for something tomorrow or Christmas.
Life without hope is pretty hopeless.
A retired man sits at home playing his guitar, when he watches the news on TV he
becomes frustrated and depressed because the world is getting worse, it is without
hope.
A mother of 3 children hopes he mother who recently died is OK. The daughter says,
My Mum visited me and she says she is now happy. IS this a real hope or has she been
mislead?
Bertrand Russell a great philosopher in the 1900s said I have no hope but grim
unyielding despair. He wrote a book called, Why I am not a Christian.
Even a Bible writer saw the world is hopeless. Meaningless, meaningless, says the
teacher, Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. Ecclesiastes 1:2
What about you? What do you hope for? Are you certain a bout it or is a hope like
maybe, probably, possibly. Like the hope I will win the lottery. Not really certain.
When we read the Bible we can find a sure and certain hope. The Apostle Peter is
writing to his readers in modern day Turkey and reminding them about the hope they
can have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lets look at the passage and look at the words that indicate hope.
v.4 Now we live with great expectation NIV living hope.
v.4 priceless inheritance, inheritance, kept in heaven for you, Inheritance - beyond
the reach of change
v. 5 receive this salvation (future)
v.6 wonderful joy ahead
v.7 day when Jesus Christ is revealed.
v.9 the reward salvation of your souls. (future).
Here is lasting Hope for Peter is writing about what God has done and promised.
Letter begins with words of praise to God the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ
because God has done something that is absolutely impossible for us to do. Born
again.
John Ch. 3 Jesus was talking to Nicodemus a very important religious leader. Jesus
said to him You must be born again.
Nicodemus replied, How can a man be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter
a second time into his mothers womb to be born?
Nicodemus knew it was impossible. We know it is impossible to be born again
fresh start. Many have tried every new year to make a new start only to greeted by
failure on the 2nd of January.
We are born once in the normal way we live grow and then we slowly decline until
we return to the ground at death.
Born live and die. 100 % certainty for every human being all living things. You are
born you live and die. Full stop.
Peter reminds his readers there was One person who was born and lived and died
and came alive again.
Jesus born, lived, died and rose again. Resurrection. The death cycle was broken for
the first time in history.
Peter says Done once then it came and it will happen again for Gods people.
So he says v.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.
Through the resurrection of Jesus we have been given this new birth and a living
hope. We were born and live and we will die but for us there is hope resurrection.

Jesus came alive again and so will His people. In fact the Bible says at the end of the
world at the judgment seat of Christ all people will be raised. All will stand before
the Lord Jesus and wait for the judgment received or rejected.
Because of the Resurrection of Jesus and our future resurrection we now have hope.
Life is not futile. We dont have time today to discuss how we know and can
reasonably prove that the resurrection of Jesus happened. There are good books on
the subject and most Christians can discuss this and show the reasons. Resurrection
of Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith.
It is also what gives meaning and purpose to the Christian life.
What does this new life look like?
V.3 into The second into in v.4 unpacks the first into in v.3
He has given us new birth INTO a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, and INTO an inheritance that can never perish,
spoil or fade kept in heaven for you.
The living hope is explained in v.4 (second Into).
1. It is an inheritance. An inheritance is something that another person promises
to give you usually at their death.
In the OT God promised the Abraham and his children an inheritance. It was the
land of Canaan = Israel. When the people of Israel came out of Egypt they were to
take possession of their inheritance. Eventually they did, but then they lost it
through disobedience.
Peter says because of Jesus resurrection Christian cannot lose their inheritance. It
is kept in Heaven for you. No one can steal it, it wont disappear through lack of use,
it doesnt have a use by date on it, and it cant be given to some else. And it cant be
sold. It is secure.
God has kept it in Heaven for you. Tense of the word kept = completed past activity
(by God) with results still continuing in the present. God himself has stored up or
reserved this inheritance in heaven for believers and it continues to be there for
them. Grudem p57.
NLT beyond the reach of change and decay.
2. Peters readers even today may be anxious about whether they would have the
strength to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus. Who knows what tomorrow might
bring. Persecution, suffering, illness, tragedy; it is all unknown.
But Christians can be certain. Look v.5
NLT. And through faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this
salvation.
The word NLT protect (sometimes guarded) = kept safe, carefully watched. The
word is frequently used in a military contexts. 2 Corinth 11:32 the word is used of
the Governor of the city of Damascus trying to arrest the Apostle Paul. The
Governor guarded the city in order to arrest Paul. Only way Paul escaped was to be
lowered over the wall of the city in a basket. The Governor guarded the city but the
Lord guarded Paul and he escaped,
Thats the word. Our inheritance in Heaven is protected/shielded by the Lord.
Nothing can be more secure. Here is real hope all based on the Lord Jesuss
resurrection.
Does this mean I do nothing? No! v. 5 And through your faith
(also v,.7 your faith NLT & NIV)
This hope is sustained by faith trusting and believing what God has said in the
Bible. Reminding ourselves and reminding each other what God has said and how it
is totally reliable. Reading about people in the Bible who did the same thing that we

are to do top trust God and we read how God was totally trustworthy and often the
people werent. God is trustworthy reliable worthy of our trust. Christian
biographies will tell us the same thing about God.
Interesting as Peter was describing the hope Christian have he says it is a living
hope. Well it is a living faith as well that means it is not static it is growing and
maturing getting stronger as we put that faith into practice.
Thats why we come to church and or go to a Bible study so that we are reminded
about Gods faithfulness. We encourage people to read the Bible each day to help us
to remember. We too easily forget what God has done. Take notes during a sermon
or at least underline some of the words in the Bible passage on the sheet.
Faith in God that assures us of our inheritance and our hope.
Hope in trials.
Peter knew that the world in which we all live wasnt a perfect world. It had always
been like this and always will be.
Read through the Bible from the beginning and you will read of the trials of Gods
people. Sometimes people suffer because they disobey God.
Jonah will not listen to God and is swallowed by a big fish. Later sitting under a
shady vine a worm and hot wind destroys the vine and Jonah is suffering again,
again because he doesnt listen to God.
King David also disobeys God, He commits adultery, has the womans husband
killed and suffers the death of the child of the relationship.
Others suffer because of the sins of others.
Joseph suffered because his brothers were jealous of him and sold him as a slave.
Jeremiah and Ezekiel suffer as Gods prophets and later as part of the nations
suffering through exile.
Apostle Pauls list of sufferings in 2 Corinth 11 includes natural disasters as well as
persecution by the Government and religious authorities.
Jesus suffered at the hands of the religious people of His day. He was innocent and
they put Him to death.
Trials can come in many forms. This world is not a perfect world. It is a world
where people oppose the Christian message and where things do not go as we
might have expected and hoped. Where there are natural disasters and human
disasters.
Peter says v.6 NLT There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must
endure many trials for a little while.
In v. 7 Peter tells us why there are trails: These trials will show that your faith is
genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold.
Trials come to see whether our faith is real. Jesus spoke of a faith that wouldnt with
stand trials. Parable of Sower In Luke 8:13-14 The seed that fell on the rock are
the people who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but in the time of
testing they fall away. Their faith was not genuine.
The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear but as they go on
their way they are choked by lifes worries riches and pleasures and they do not
mature.
In other words it proved that their faith was not genuine.
V. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests
and purifies gold.
Richard Nixon The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
True. As Christians to prove the genuineness of our trust in God we will go through
trials. God will not push beyond what we can bear He wants us to pass the test not
to be destroyed in the test.

Our O T examples often show Gods people coming through the trial the stronger
and better for it.
Peter is an example. He failed the test by denying the Lord Jesus when Jesus had
been arrested. But he passed the tests when he was arrested and imprisoned for
speaking about the Lord Jesus. He did not deny Him when he was to be crucified in
64Ad in Rome.
As we come through the testing of our faith. This faith is more precious than
anything else in the world. It is more precious than gold. V.7
A lot of people put a lot of time into getting gold = rich. IN Gods world gold is worth
nothing. Gold will not do you any good on the Day of Judgment. What will be
excellent on this day is a faith that has been tested and proved to be genuine.
It will bring much praise and glory and honour on the day when Jesus Christ is
revealed to the whole world. V. 7
People who mocked our faith will be sorry. People who didnt put any effort into
growing their faith will be sorry at the lost opportunity. People who gave up when
the going got tough will be sorry that they didnt persevere.
Those who worked and grew they faith; who trusted God in the good and the bad
their will be praise honour and glory for them and for God who protected/guarded
& them.
The goal/outcome of this type of faith is the possession of all the blessings that God
has for His people. The inheritance that He has promised.
So what we have here is the entire progress of the Christian faith, of a growing faith.
This happens as Christians continually believe in Christ and continually rejoice
because of that personal trust in Him day by day. = Christian maturity.
We live in a world where people have rejected God and therefore are without hope.
No motivation no goals no purpose. We have a high young adult suicide problem,
we have alcohol and domestic abuse problems in our society. We have people
looking at sances and other religions to find hope people turn to these empty
things because they have no hope. No purpose. What about you do you have a
long term goal purpose. IS it to get a good job then a good house in a good suburb
then a good car a house full of things? Whats after that? Overseas holiday
caravanning around Australia? More gold? Peter has reminded us that every
Christian has a priceless inheritance and can have a faith more precious than
gold.
Sounds good to me. What about you? Is that you purpose and goal?
Lets keep on working out growing our faith in God by trusting Him in all
circumstances and learning more of Him.

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