A LIVING HOPE


A. "BLESSED BE THE GOD AND FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, WHO ACCORDING TO HIS GREAT MERCY BEGAT US AGAIN UNTO A LIVING HOPE BY THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD" - I PETER 1:3
  1. In reading the inspired words of our text:
    1. We are strongly moved to a fuller realization of the living hope which rests on the resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord
    2. Although we have been born and bred in the faith that Jesus Christ was crucified and rose again on the third day
    3. To see in that event the lively hope, as indeed it is
  2. Peter uses a number of strong, heart-stirring expressions:
    1. To arouse us from stupor and lethargy
    2. To help us to realize and appreciate God's love toward us B. NOTE PRAYERFULLY
  3. The great dynamics of the word "hope":
    1. To hope is to desire to realize that which one hopes for
    2. What would life be without hope. We think of that meaningful expression, "Where there is life there is hope" - "I will hope continually " - Ps. 71:14; to give up hope is like giving up life itself - Job 11:20
  4. The source of our living hope:
    1. Peter emphasizes very strongly that the source of our living hope is the great mercy of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
    2. Blessed - there is a distinction maintained in Scriptures between "blessed" as applied to God, and the word "blessed" as applied to men. When that word has reference to God that word means to pronounce God blessed; but when it has reference to man, the word "blessed" means to be made blessed
    3. God the Father of Jesus Christ - He is the fountain of all blessings and all life; and His Son is the channel of all blessings coming from God the Father - compare Rom. 11:33-36 with Eph. 4:4-6; I Cor. 8:4-6; I Cor. 15:24-28
    4. According to his great mercy - never before did the great mercy of God the Father loom higher that when He allowed His Son to die for sinners on the shameful cross; than when He raised Him from the dead
    5. That is where the hope for a lost sinner shone the brightest - Luke 23:42-44 C. THE MEANS AND THE NATURE OF THAT LIVING HOPE
  5. We are begotten again to a living hope:
    1. These words speak of a change in both of our being and also in our outlook
    2. Said Jesus, "Ye must be born again" - John 3:3-9
    3. Writes Peter, "As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby" - I Pet. 2:2
    4. "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works" - Eph. 2:10
    5. "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever" - I Pet. 1:22-23
    6. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ - It is most significant of how Paul argues for the special importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; He makes it the very center of the hope of man - I Cor. 15:12-18
    7. It is our faith in the risen Christ that enables us to look beyond the grave; that helps us to dream of a reunion with our loved ones that passed on - 2 Thes. 2:1-2; I Thes. 4:13-17
  6. The nature of that hope:
    1. Peter speaks of it as "a living hope"
    2. It centers in the living God and in the living Son of God - Jer. 10:10; Matt. 16:16; I Tim. 4:10; 6:17
    3. While the special emphasis is on God the Father of Jesus Christ - Christ has become the only channel of this hope - Acts 4:12; Eph. 2:14-16
  7. Note also, the nature of this hoe more closely:
    1. It is a hope that recognizes the presence of God in Christ - writes Paul, "To wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation" - 2 Cor. 5:19-21
    2. It is a hope that assures us of the triumph of righteousness in the earth - Is. 28:17


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