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Well, let's open up the Word of God together. Always a joy to study God's Word together. And we're going through the epistle of 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1. We're not going to get far today. We're just going to focus on one verse, but I'll read to you.
Actually, I'll start with verse 1. Then we'll go to verse 3. And if we look at it, a lot of commentators says that verse 3 all the way through, if I'm not mistaken, verse 12 is just one glorious sentence that the Holy Spirit brings to the apostle Peter's mind to strengthen, to encourage, to comfort the persecuted church in Asia Minor.
But we're specifically looking at born again to a living hope. This will be part 1, born again to a living hope. It speaks of the heavenly inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ as believers. But I'll begin with verse 1 and we'll stop.
I'll stop at verse 5. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood.
May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Then he begins with a wonderful doxology. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you who are protected.
Another translation says kept. Who are protected, kept by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Let's stop right there and let's ask the Lord to help us as we look to Him for His help and blessing as we study His Word together.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, such a humbling thing. Such a humbling thing to just hear Your Word. What a privilege we have to hear. Our ears are blessed this morning to hear Your Word. This is Your eternal Word.
It is breathed out of Your very mouth. And Father as Your Word has said and says to us today, we do not live by bread alone. We do not live by bread alone. But by every word that is breathed out from the mouth of God.
Father, we thank You this morning that all Scripture, not some Scripture, but all Scripture is God-breathed. It is profitable for teaching us reproof and correction and training and righteousness that we may be fully equipped for every good work.
Father, may we be reminded of this sobering truth that You give to us as we are flesh, but we are more than flesh. Our flesh will perish. We are in an eternal soul. We are more of a spiritual being than we are a physical being.
Father, as Your Word says, the grass withers and the flower fades. But Your Word endures forever. So Father, we pray, help us to believe that right now as we hear Your Word, read, preached, sung, prayed, help us to base our very lives on this great truth that Your Word endures forever.
Open our eyes, Lord, as it has already been said, only by Your Holy Spirit then we can truly see Jesus. Only You can allow us to do this, cause us to do this, to behold, as the psalmist says, to behold, to look, see the wonderful things that Your Word, O Lord, has for us.
We would ask this in Jesus' name this morning. Amen and Amen. Wonderful text before us. You know, most of the wonderful verses that the Apostle Paul brings, and at times he will begin with the doxology as well, but many times truth ends with doxology.
And here the Apostle Peter begins this section with verse 3 with the doxology. Doxology, meaning this is a word of praise to God. It's a word of praise to God in this very first sentence in verse 3 that's given to us.
And Peter begins this section, this wonderful section, verse 3 through 5, with a word of praise to God the Father. And like I said already, today we will just be focusing on verse 3. Everything else in this section is really a recounting of God's insurmountable blessings to the believer in Jesus Christ.
So the first sentence really he comes and encourages the believers that's persecuted here in Asia Minor, is a blessing. It's a blessing. And from verse 4 to 12, as I briefly mentioned earlier, that Peter is really recounting God's blessings to the believer.
And by the way, this is a perfect picture of what happens in worship. Have you ever thought about that? How he begins this text, this verse, that we bless God, and then God's blessing comes to us and are recounted through the Word as it is read and preached and prayed and sung, and then we bless Him again, and it comes to us again and again and again.
That's the rhythm of worship. That's the rhythm of worship. Blessing God and then receiving God's blessing, then blessing Him again, and it's like a cycle that comes to us, but God is the source of the blessing.
He is the blesser. And that's what happens in this passage. You know, it's very similar to what Paul says in Romans 11 .36, for of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever.
And that's the cycle of the order of worship here that's given in this wonderful text. See, Spurgeon put it this way of these three verses. He says, quote, in these three verses we have a string of pearls, a necklace of diamonds, a cabinet of jewels.
Nay, the comparisons are poor, and we have something far better than all the riches of earth can ever typify.
End quote.
And that is so true. Spurgeon just knew how to put it in the right words, didn't he? And it is so true. It's like a pearl of jewels and necklaces that is given to us by the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter.
Well, first of all, Peter gives a doxology, and then he gives the account of God's blessing to us. And keep in mind what Peter is doing here. In the context in which he gives to us, he is writing to Christians that are under heavy persecution.
We need to keep this in mind. We need to keep the audience in mind. And we may not be under heavy persecution like these Christians were at that time period in Asia Minor, but it's still a great comfort to us, and we should take stock in that right now and strengthen our souls with what we do have before us.
There may come a time when severe persecution may come. There may come a time that we may lose everything we have.
I don't know.
But if we do, like these Christians here, they were under heavy persecution and affliction, and these words that the apostle Peter gives, he's preparing them to strengthen them for war. And we're going to look at that.
You see, under the persecution of the emperor Nero, his evil, malicious acts in Rome, and as I spoke several weeks back, he had such a passion to burn everything. Since he loved fire so much, I'm sure he's there now.
He loved to burn. He had that kind of lust to just burn everything with fire. And he burned Christians with fire. He martyred many Christians. So many of the Christians that are persecuted and exiled, that's the audience in which Peter is speaking to.
Many lost their homes from the fires that Nero orchestrated, separated from the families in which they were with at the time. And separation, some, like I said, martyred and burned to the stake, fed to hungry lions.
That's what kind of menace and evil, wicked person Nero was. Peter is preparing. You know, let me give you a quote by John Calvin. I think John Calvin was one of the greatest theologians, reformers of his day.
In his commentary on 1 Peter, he says his quote, this is why Peter wrote this letter. The main object of this letter is to raise us above the world in order that we may be prepared and encouraged for the battle of our spiritual warfare.
He is so right, isn't he? Beloved, I'm telling you, as you well know, living the Christian life is a fight. It is a serious fight. It is a war. Every day, just not every day, can I honestly say, every minute, every second that goes by, there's constant warfare that we must strengthen ourselves in spirit and take on the whole armor of God, as Ephesians 6 says.
It's not easy, is it? It's not easy. Hard things happen. Hard things happen to all, but especially to the Christian. Discouraging things happen. And we need to realize that we are not being invited to a picnic or to a tea party, but this is an actual war.
It's warfare. So how are we to prepare ourselves for this war that takes place? Well, we should prepare ourselves, of course, from the Word of God. But what Peter is saying here, and again, I quote Calvin.
This is Calvin's words, what he said in the context of the verses before us. Again, for this purpose, so that we will be prepared for that spiritual battle, the knowledge of God's benefits is a great help.
It's a great help to have the knowledge of God's benefits. And end quote there. In other words, if we're going to fight the good fight of faith, if we are going to win this battle, we need to be aware and have a knowledge of the benefits of God.
That God has benefits for those that are believers in Jesus Christ. We need to know the blessings. Now, let me stop there for a minute. So many times in churches, this is so sad, but so many churches in America, when we think of blessings, they think of material things.
The Word of God goes far beyond this. He speaks of an inheritance in Jesus Christ that awaits the believers above. It is of another world.
And we need to keep that in mind. Like I said, when I was first born again, I was within the ranks of some charismatic movements. And sad to say, when they said a blessing, they were just talking about material blessings.
Anytime they spoke of John 10 .10, that Jesus, he said basically, if the thief comes to steal, to kill and destroy, but I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly. And anytime they spoke of the abundant life, they were thinking of big houses and mansions and cars and so forth.
But in that context, Jesus is actually speaking of all the blessings that's in Him. Eternal life. Rich in faith. That's what Scripture says. Rich in faith. The inheritance that awaits those above. And that's the living hope that we have.
That all that is given to us through Jesus Christ is given to us freely by His mercy and grace to those who repent, that live by faith alone. And it surpasses everything. Because we know everything in this world is going to fade away, right?
Jesus said that. He said don't store up your treasures here on this earth where moth and rust is corrupt and thieves can break through and steal. Store up your treasures in heaven. In that vault in heaven where nothing can touch it.
Where a thief can't touch it. And where it does not rust and does not fade away. And that's what Peter speaks of here. He speaks of that inheritance, to obtain inheritance which is imperishable. Undefiled.
That word undefiled means it's non-polluted. Nothing can touch it. And it will not fade away. Everything else on this earth is going to fade away. You know, you've heard of some people that were rich here on this earth before they left, and I know a few.
Excuse me.
And they speak of bury me. When I'm dead and gone, bury me in my car. You know, there's been some people been buried in car, fancy cars. Bury me in a gold casting. What good is that going to do? It's just nothing but a rotting body that's decaying there with that gold in the ground or that car in the ground.
God speaks of something far more glorious. Something that's not going to fade away. Something that's reserved in heaven for you. It's imperishable. That's what we're going to look at. Calvin goes on to say this.
One more quote from him, and I love the way he puts it. For this purpose, for this purpose, the knowledge of God's benefits is of great help. For when we appreciate their value, all other things become worthless.
Isn't that the truth? Everything else on this earth, when we truly get a glimpse of the glories in Jesus Christ and an inheritance from above, everything else on this earth, and Brother Keith mentioned it in the song, when we focus and see Jesus in all of His grace, everything else loses its luster.
It dims out, doesn't it? And so when we truly realize what God has given us as a believer in Jesus Christ, when we truly understand that His glorious benefits, what He has in Jesus Christ, we won't be scrounging around like paupers, hoping that somebody will give us a blessing, give us a morsel.
We will realize how much blessing God has given us in Jesus Christ. Beloved, He is the pearl of great price. Nothing compares to Jesus.
Nothing.
And when we especially consider that Jesus Christ and His blessings are everything without Him was seen but dross, Jesus will be such a blessing to us that anything that this world has to offer will just dim in comparison, pale in comparison.
Puritan John Flavel said this, Every man loves the mercies of God, but a saint loves the God of his mercies. Think about that for a second. You know, every man loves the mercies of God. In other words, all that God is in the sense that He has blessings to give.
But what about the saint? He loves the God who supplies those blessings. He loves the one that is the source of all the blessings, and that's God Himself.
God Himself.
And He's the very source of the blessing. I just have a three-point outline I'd like to give to you, and we're going to cover just one verse of Scripture today. And that is, these three points I'd like to set before you is this.
Number one, in verse three, we will look at the source of the believer's inheritance.
The source.
That source is God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then second, we will look at the motive for the believer's inheritance. That motive is according to His great mercy. According to His great mercy.
That is the motive. And last, and with application, we will look at the appropriation of the believer's inheritance. The appropriation, which is, that has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
So let's look at this just for a few brief more minutes here. The source of the believer's inheritance.
What is the source?
Well, I've already mentioned it. Peter said, Blessed be the God. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the source.
That's the source of the blessing. Now, the original Greek translates this differently, and there's only one pronoun that is taken out, and that is the word be. In our translations here, it's blessed be the God, but the original reads like this.
Blessed the God. Blessed the God. Which conveys something a little bit different. Now, not to say that the be is wrong, but it was kind of filler in word with translators. But the original says, Blessed the God, which conveys Peter's expectation that the audience is to bless God.
To give blessing to God. Now, that all blessing comes from God, but we are to bless God. Now, think of this. This is a persecuted church. And he tells them, encourages them,.
You bless God.
You bless God. You bless the one that is the source of all spiritual inheritance that you have coming to you. The apostle adores God, and he employs others to do the same. So, Peter here further calls God the God and Father.
That's no accident there to believers that God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is a phrase that identified God in a distinct Christian way, by the way. And Jesus is the one that really revealed this to us in the Gospels.
Now, keep in mind also, historically, as a Jew in which James spoke to, we went through the book of James, his audience were Jews. That was scattered abroad, by the way. And here, Peter's audience are Jewish as well.
So, to the Jewish audience, they understood the Jews had blessed God in the Old Testament in a distinct way as their creator and redeemer. As creator, we see in Genesis that God is the creator of all things.
And as we go on in the book of Exodus, we see that God was their redeemer from Egypt. So, we read that. So, to the Jewish mind, that goes very deep with the Jews. That God is the one God and that He is creator and He is redeemer.
But in creation, actually, it emphasizes the sovereign power of God and in redemption of Israel from Egypt, His saving power is at work. But what about those who became Christians? Well, He says, bless God as the Father.
God's your Father.
You're part of the family of God. Now, that's how He's going to lead in what He has to say. This is part of the inheritance. As being part adopted of God and being adopted by God as beloved of God, that is part of the family of God, that you have an inheritance coming to you.
Now, this is of great benefit to us and we should take notice of that. So, He says, bless God, bless God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Bless God.
And that blessing is very critical. And it's very comforting. It's very encouraging. But Jesus always addressed, if you read through the Gospels, Jesus always addressed God as Father, didn't He?
Always.
He said, My Father, My Father. I do what The Father says.
My Father.
Or in John 17, He addresses God as Holy Father. Holy Father. And Jesus reveals this to us. He gave us the privilege of calling God Father. It's a great revelation. We should not take this for granted, right?
It's a great revelation. And He says He's the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Jesus, again, always addressed God as Father. My Father. Holy Father.
With one exception, one time, that Jesus did not call God Father. And that's when He was on the cross, in Matthew 27, verse 46. What did Jesus cry out? He said, My God.
My God.
Why have You forsaken Me? It was in that instance that our Savior and Lord was forsaken by the Father. Now, this is a mystery we would never know, even in heaven. I really don't believe. Well, many things will come to light and clear to us in knowing things when we pass to the other side as believers in Jesus Christ.
Paul says, Now I look through a glass dimly. It's kind of foggy right now. It's fuzzy right now on some things. Even the Apostle Paul, as great as a theologian he was, he did not understand everything.
There are secret things that belong to only the Lord God. But the things that are revealed to us are revealed to those children of God in which He is called. Now, there's a lot of things we know through the Word of God.
Those things we would never know. But I believe that's one of the things we would never be able to fathom. It's what Jesus underwent on the cross. Because you've got to look at it. We're talking about the very Son of God, very God of God, who was forsaken by the Father.
And you have that Jesus, as you well know, that He was one with the Trinity. He was part of the Trinity, the second person of the Godhead in flesh. And at that moment when God the Father forsook Him, it's like, can you wrap your mind around that?
No, we can't. But I tell you what, that was something that was so important for our salvation, beloved. Jesus endured the wrath of God. And that's what it is. He endured that wrath for us. Now, all of the times that Jesus said,.
He's my Father.
And then He teaches His disciples to pray, Our Father. So, He says, Blessed be the God. Blessed be the God. Or bless God, the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I like what one commentator says as I was studying this.
I wrote this down. He calls Peter's use in verse 3, Christ's full redemptive name, quote, a concentrated confession. A concentrated confession.
In other words,.
All that the Bible reveals about the Savior appears in that title.
Lord,.
He identifies Him as the sovereign ruler. Jesus as the incarnate Son. And Christ as the anointed Messiah King. You think of that. The apostle personalized that. That magnificent title of who Jesus is.
That simple inclusion of the pronoun,.
Our.
He is our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ. The divine Lord of the universe belongs to all believers as does Jesus who lived and died and rose again for them. And as He does, He's the Christ, the Messiah, whom God anointed to be the eternal King who will grant their glorious inheritance.
So, He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, He goes on. My second point is this. There's the motive. First, you have the source.
Then you have the motive. The motive is for the believer's inheritance. Well, what is the motive? Now, this is a beautiful motive. It's an attribute of God. That motive is according, who according to His great mercy.
His great mercy. Some translation says abundant mercy. But it's mercy. Mercy. His great abundant mercy. That's the motive behind God's granting believers eternal life. Eternal life is given to us because of God's mercy.
The sharing of the very life of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The triune God. If you turn with me very quickly, Paul the apostle really digs in here. And I've read it several times already. But I believe this is a verse we should always keep before us about God's great mercy.
Notice in chapter 2 in Ephesians. The epistle of Ephesians. And he speaks to us by grace through faith. But he also mentions mercy. And in verse 1,. For mine and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince and the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Among them we too all formerly, notice how he says formerly, lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
And then that transition takes place and notice what he says.
But God.
That's the gospel in two words right there. But God, being rich in mercy, He's rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us. And he goes on to say this. Even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.
And then he says by grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
And then he says this. For by grace you have been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. And he's speaking about faith being the gift of God by the way in its context. And not as a result of works so that no one may boast.
And then he says for we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. All of grace, all of grace. Well let's look at the difference here between grace and mercy.
Grace is a divine generosity from God but mercy really focuses on the sinner's miserable, pitiful condition. That's the way we see it in scripture. Scripture, the gospel is prompted by God's compassion toward those who were dead in their trespasses and sins.
You see this time and time again. In their pitiful, miserable condition. You see this constantly when Jesus looked about the people and saw them like sheep without a shepherd. And what does the scripture say?
He was moved with compassion. He was moved with compassion. It is the heart of God that moves Him with compassion. This is within the heart of our Savior that moved Him to touch the leper and to cleanse them.
It was the heart of God that moved Jesus to a man that was crying out. Blind Barnabas, the son of Timaeus, on the side of the road of Jericho. And he cried out as a blind man, a beggar. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me.
Jesus was moved with compassion. And He said, bring him to me. And ask him, what would you have me to do for you? And he said, Lord, I want my sight. Jesus gave him His sight and touched him. You see, it's compassion.
It is compassion that moves God to grant favor. All believers, in which we saw in Ephesians 2, were once in that wretched, helpless condition, in the dead and trespasses and their sins, compounded by a dreadful, deceitful heart, corrupting our minds, every imagination of our thoughts wicked continually, wicked desires that made us slaves to sin, in bondage to it, unable to get out of it.
And yet, God had compassion upon us. We was actually headed for a grease slide right into hell itself. Therefore, we needed God. We needed God and His great, abundant, rich mercy to show compassion. A compassion toward a lost, desperate, pitiful condition and to remedy it.
And only the gospel has the remedy for such people in a pitiful condition. We were there once, right? We were there in a pitiful state, unable to save ourselves. And yet, God has moved with compassion.
And again, mercy is not the same as grace. Both of the attributes are of God. God possesses both of those attributes perfectly. But they're different. And splitting it up like this, I like to put it this way.
Mercy concerns an individual's miserable condition, whereas grace concerns his guilt. It's a guilt thing. Grace which is caused, and the guilt that caused that condition. So divine mercy takes the sinner from misery to glory, a change of condition.
Whereas the divine grace takes him from the guilt to acquittal. He acquits him. A change of position. So one is a change of condition, where mercy gives, and the other one is a change of position, which grace gives.
So mercy is that compassion which moves God to compassion.
To give grace.
Isn't that wonderful?
This was manifest clearly during the incarnation of Jesus, when Jesus was healing people. As I mentioned, the lepers and the blind people, the healings of Jesus. I don't know if you ever thought of it like this.
Jesus could have demonstrated His deity in many other ways while He was here on this earth. As He walked 33 years, 3 years of ministry. He could have demonstrated it in many ways, but you know He chose the healings because that best illustrated the compassion, the merciful heart of God toward people that were in a pitiful state.
Could you imagine walking there in the end of that time? It was much worse than what we see today. Especially in that part of the world, in Galilee, in Israel, in Jerusalem, on the outskirts of it. You had lepers, people eaten up by leprosy.
Terrible, horrible stench. People, I mean, grotesque. No ears, no noses. Just leprosy itself. Then you have beggars everywhere on the side of the road, begging in a horrible condition, not knowing where their next morsel of bread is going to come from.
Begging on the roadside. And yet Jesus, when He walks, He could not heal all of them. Of course now, let me back that up, He could have healed them all, but He only chose to heal a certain amount to demonstrate His compassion and love.
But the most important thing was for Him to preach the gospel to the poor. Because He knew that even after one was healed, the most important thing for them was the eternal healing. They needed to hear the truth.
They needed to hear His teaching. They needed to hear how they can escape the wrath of God. He was the Savior. He was the One, the Redeemer, the Messiah. So He comes from the heart of God. He comes to sinners that are suffering in a temporal misery, in their fallen, pitiful condition.
He grants mercy. And as we studied in Romans 9, God has compassion on whom He wills to have compassion. He chooses to have compassion on whom He chooses. And again, we looked at that, and many people may say, well, why does God have compassion on all?
Well, actually, He shows His goodness and His common grace to all people. But He chooses to give His compassion to grant mercy only to those in whom He selected. And as we looked at, we looked at how most people would look at that today in a natural state of mind and say, God, that's not really not fair whatsoever.
Oh, really? If God gave us fairness, it would be hell, beloved. If He gave us fairness, it would be justice. So God is not obliged to show His mercy. He gives mercy to whom He desires to give mercy. He has that right, because God is God.
And you think of it, He has given eternal life to those whom He has chosen. And that's how Peter starts off this wonderful text, as we looked at, According to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ, to be sprinkled with His blood.
Notice those first lines. Who are chosen. Who are elect. God has a right to elect whom He desires to elect. So He does this. Now a lot of people say, well, hold on, Pastor. What about the whosoever? I say, well, the whosoever is there.
It's available. The whosoever is there. We don't know who God's elect are. God does. But we are to take the gospel to the four corners of the earth. And that's God's desire. The invitation is to all. But all is not going to come, right?
Peter says it later on. You'll see this, I believe, in 2 Peter. God desires nobody to perish. Hell was meant for the devil and angels. God does not take the delight, takes no delight in the death of the wicked.
You can be assured of that. But you know, God desires none to perish, but that all should come to repentance.
That's Scripture.
Now even though we know that all is going to repent, but aren't you glad?
There is a way. There is a way.
There's a way that is also, you've got to keep in mind, there's a way that is right to men. But the end thereof is the way of death. We've got to keep that in mind. And there's other false religions that may appear good.
They may have elements of truth in it, sheets of clothing that may sound good. But you know, they don't know who Jesus really is. They don't know who Jesus really is. It's important that who we know and whose we know is important.
So Jesus showed great compassion. Well, the third point is this, the appropriation, the appropriation of the believer's inheritance, that He has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Notice this, He has caused us, God can only cause us to be born again. No more can we have any power over this than we had power in choosing who our parents were and are. You see? We did not choose our physical birth, did we?
And we cannot choose our spiritual birth as well. Now, what I mean by that is, is that this is something that God causes. We've got to be born from above. Regeneration is an act of God. A lot of people may say, well, does that mean I just sit by the roadside and just do nothing?
No.
God has given us the truth, and when the truth comes to us, we're accountable to that truth, to act upon that truth, to choose that truth. Because even in the choosing, God is in, you see? Augustine understood this.
He says, when I choose to do good, that is God. When I choose to do evil, it's my sin nature. So anything that is good and of grace and of God, the gospel, it is God that's bearing upon that. I tell people that don't understand this doctrine of regeneration, I say, you better come to Him while you can.
All the way through the verses, in chapter after chapter after chapter, in verses after verses. Jesus even said it. Come unto me that ye labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come, the spirit in the bride says.
Come.
All that of you who are thirsty, come to the waters and drink. See, the invitation's there.
Come and come.
And when we do come, at first we may think,.
Oh, it's my choosing,.
And it's me getting us in, but all along it was God bringing you in. Tenderly, like a great shepherd. And it's God that does the orchestrating. It's God that's doing the work. It's God. It's God. Why?
How do we know that? Notice what Peter says. According to His great mercy, has caused us.
That's a key word.
God has caused us to be born again. To be born again to a living hope. It's not a dying hope. It's a living hope. You know, 2 Peter 3 .13. You can go with me there very quickly. Peter speaks about this again.
Notice what does he say here. He says this. About the day of the Lord. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
How close are we?
We're very close. I don't know in God's timetable how close we are. I dare not give any times and dates. Because I'd be labeled as a false teacher, and every person that's labeled a time and a date are false teachers.
We're just to be ready. We're to know that Jesus is coming like a thief. And he says that in Revelation. But Peter says it here in verse 10. In 2 Peter chapter 3. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.
When no one expects it. A thief doesn't tell you when he's coming to steal your goods. He's going to come like a thief. In which the heavens will pass away with a roar. And the elements will be destroyed with intense heat.
Listen to that.
Intense heat. And the earth and its works will be burned up. One translation says melted. Literally melted. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way. Well, that sounds pretty bad, doesn't it?
It is going to be bad. It's not going to be good for those that rejected Jesus Christ. And have shunned His mercy. And chosen not to come to Him. And repent. But he says, but also something wonderful is going to be ushered in.
He says since all these things are to be destroyed in this way. And it will be destroyed in this way. What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? And then he says this. Wonderful promise.
Looking for. Beloved, this is the living hope right here. Looking for in hastening the coming of the day of God. Because which the heavens will be destroyed by burning. And the elements will melt with intense heat.
Again, he emphasizes it. And then he says in verse 13. But according to His promise. Now God's going to keep His promises, right? To His promise we are looking for a new heavens and a new earth. In which righteousness dwells.
Praise God. Aren't you looking forward to that day? When everything will come to an end. All evil will be stopped.
God will stop it.
Burn up the heavens. And then there's a new heavens and a new earth that will come. In which righteousness dwells. A promise of a new universe. Rooted in the Old Testament. And the New will come. Praise God.
Well all this happens. And the only way we can have a new birth. Is by being born again. Is this living hope. Have this living hope is being born again.
The death.
You think of this. This living undying hope. Gives us something to look forward to. You know I was thinking about Candice now. A lot of people praying for Candice. Our dear sister Lillian. By her bedside.
Her daughter's bedside. You know you see the suffering that this poor sister has gone through.
In her life.
But she's going to have a new body. She's going to look upon the face of Jesus. And she's going to come out of that. Think of it. She's been handicapped all her life. And you can just imagine. She's going in a glorified state.
She'll be with the saints of all ages. With Jesus Christ himself. And all that which she's suffered. And all that suffering will end. It will come to an end completely. But you know when people don't repent.
I was telling my wife about this. I'm so thankful that Candice is a believer. Because that's everything isn't it? It's everything when it comes to our dying breath. Because when we move into the other side of eternity.
And where Christ dwells. And where heaven is. It's eternal bliss. There's no more suffering. It's glorious. That's the living hope we have. And out of her suffering she would come. And she would go into eternal bliss with our Savior.
Face to face. Nothing is more glorious than that. Paul said it. For to me to live is Christ. But he said to die is gain. Think of that. If you've got something to put on. An epitaph to put on your tombstone.
That would be a good one wouldn't it? To me to live is Christ. To die is gain.
I gain.
When you're a believer we gain. So the death of the believer's hope becomes a reality. As they enter into the glorious presence of God. Fully unhindered. Joyous fellowship. With the Trinity. The Father. The Son.
The Spirit.
In manifest presence. With all the holy angels. With all the saints through all the ages.
It's glorious.
It's beyond our imagination. What we can ever think of. A living hope. That's a living hope. Part two. I'll pick up there. We'll talk about that living hope a little bit more. But the only way we can have that living hope is through the new birth.
Through the new birth. It's the means of the Christians appropriating this living hope. And the eternal inheritance. Is that we must be born again. Someone came to George Whitefield one time. Said why do you preach you must be born again all the time?
Then he looked back and said because you must be born again. Wise. He preached it all the time. The great evangelist.
Born again. Born from above.
Regeneration. You see this in John chapter 3. John chapter 3.
Go with me.
John chapter 3. I have to read this. Right out of the scriptures. Because this is so critical. I don't think there's anything more important than this. That we're regenerated. Born from above. And Jesus reveals this great truth to a man who's a Pharisee.
In John chapter 3. As you know the story well. The man of the Pharisees. In verse 1 chapter 3. Named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews.
Think of this.
He's a ruler of the Jews.
He should know the Bible. He should know the Old Testament pretty well. This man came to Jesus by night. And said to him. He didn't come by day did he? He came by night. Probably embarrassed.
Rabbi.
That means teacher. We know that you have come from God. As a teacher. No one can do these signs. These miracles that you do. Unless God is with them. And notice. He's talking about the physical miracles.
Jesus then immediately goes to the greatest miracle of all. Jesus answered and said to him. Jesus didn't take into his flattery. Beloved. Jesus knew what was in him. Jesus knew this man needed a new birth.
All his religion was vain. He played church. He was a teacher of the Jews. Notice what Jesus says to him.
Truly, truly.
In the original it means amen, amen. Jesus gave amen and amen at the beginning of his sentences. We do it at the end. But he's speaking truth.
Truly, truly. I say to you.
Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him. How can a man be born when he's old? He just didn't get it, did he? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?
Jesus answered. Truly, truly.
I say to you.
Unless one is born of the water and of the spirit. He cannot enter into the kingdom of God. First, you got to be born again to see the kingdom of God. Then to enter into it. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
That which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed or do not marvel that I said to you. You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it. But do not know where it comes from and where it's going.
So is everyone who's born of the spirit. What Jesus is basically saying there. You can't see the wind. But there's effects of the wind. When the Holy Spirit comes and when one is born of the spirit of God.
The effects is evident. Something happens supernaturally. He's totally changed. Old things have passed away. All things have become new. That's what happens. Nicodemus said to him. Listen to this. How can these things be?
How can they be? Jesus answers him. He said to him. First of all, he gives a loving rebuke with a question. That's the way Jesus operated, folks. You're in for a surprise most of the time. We would have been the same way.
If we was in Nicodemus' shoes.
He asked a question.
Then Jesus comes with a rebuke with a question. Are you a teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? It's in the word of God. Truly, truly, Jesus says to him. I say to you. We speak of what we know and testify what we have seen.
And you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe. How will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one is ascended into heaven. But he was descended from heaven and the son of man.
Verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up. So that whoever believes will in him have eternal life. That's the key to eternal life. Is Jesus Christ believing on the son of God.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to judge the world. But that the world through him might be saved.
He who believes in him is not judged. And he who does not believe has been judged already. Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. This is the judgment. Here it is. That light has come into the world.
And men love darkness rather than light. For their deeds were evil. You know Jesus is speaking up here. He is speaking basically of repentance. He is speaking of repentance. For everyone who does evil hates the light.
And he who does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices truth comes to the light. So that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. You know there are some great verses there.
But you know we must be born again. Be born again. Where eternal life comes to those that are born again. It is a supernatural work of God. There is repentance.
There is faith.
But we must believe that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. Wonderful verse. And Peter goes on. He says it is through the resurrection. It is through the resurrection from the dead. Without Jesus Christ being raised from the dead there would be no hope.
You know Rev. Zacharias now is with the Lord. And the verse that he came to the Lord with when he was on his death bed at one time. From trying to commit suicide. I don't even remember his name. You can hear his story in Rev. Zacharias testimony.
I would encourage you to listen to it sometime. But he said when he was there with no hope. Tried to commit suicide. This man comes in with a little Gideon's Bible. A small little Gideon's Bible. What an impact something like that would make.
He hands it to Rev. Zacharias and he read the gospel. And the man encouraged him to read the gospel of John. He reads John. He goes to chapter 11. Where he talks about Lazarus. Where Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
And Jesus spoke to Martha and says I am the resurrection and the life. And then Jesus spoke to her and says because you can live because I live also. He said that one verse right there changed his life.
That one verse right there. God took that one verse. And put that seed within Rev. Zacharias' heart. And he was a new creation. And from that point on. You know the impact that Rev. Zacharias had. As being an apologist for Jesus Christ.
It all started right there. He had to be born again. And he was born again. We must be born again. No one enters the kingdom of God unless he is born again. We must be born from above. And when we are born from above.
We have desires from above. We have a love to God. That love comes from God. We love him because he first loved us. But our desires will be holy. We will desire a new mind. We will desire the mind of Christ.
We will desire what God desires. We will love what God loves. We will hate what God hates. And then we will see that this world is not our home. Right? And we have no desire to stay here.
There is a better world.
Where heaven is our home. And we will be the glorious family of all our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Let me give you one verse to close with here. And then I would like to turn to Psalm 51. Where mercy is given to a man of God who cries out real quickly.
Micah chapter 7 verse 18 is a great verse. Who is a God like you? Who is a God like you? It's a question. Who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of his possession? You know what that means?
That possession? Inheritance. Now, we have an inheritance. But you know what God's inheritance is? Those who have been born again. You and me. You are the inheritance of God. That Jesus, through His work on the cross, brings many sons into glory.
He brings them in. Who is a God like you? Who is a God like you? Who can be compared to God?
He has no equal.
There is no one like God. Who pardons iniquity. And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession. Think of this. He does not retain His anger forever. He does not retain His anger forever.
Because, listen to this. Because He delights in unchanging love. You know what that unchanging love means? It's His said. His said means His loving kindness. It's another word, it's the Hebrew word for mercy.
God shows mercy. A man after God's own heart sinned many times. He committed adultery.
He committed murder.
This man, but he cried out to God. And what did he say in Psalm 51? And this is the answer for each and every one of us. Be gracious to me. Be merciful to me, O God. According to Your loving kindness.
According to the greatness of Your compassion. Blot out my transgressions. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. You must be washed from my iniquity. And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions. And my sin is ever before me. Against You and You only have I sinned. This is real repentance, beloved. This is a repentant heart. And then He says this. Against You and You only have I sinned.
I've done what is evil in Your sight. So that You are justified when You speak. Blameless when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and sin. My mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being.
And in the hidden part, You will make me to know wisdom. Purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
Hide Your face from my iniquities. And blot out all my iniquities. And then what does He say? Create in me a clean heart, O God. And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Only God can create a new heart.
Amen? Only God. Well, I'll stop right there. You can read the rest of that in your devotional time. Psalm 51. Wonderful, wonderful chapter. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time that we've studied Your Word.
Father, we've only just embarked on, scratched the surface on this text before. It's so great, it's so wonderful. But it's all because of Your loving kindness, Your mercy. And again, as Micah said, the prophet, with a question.
Who is a God like You? Who is a God like You? Who pardons iniquity? And passes over the rebellious act of the rendement of His possession? Father, only You. There's no one to Your equal. No one is as compassionate as You.
No one is as merciful as You. Full of loving kindness and mercy. And You have shown that and demonstrated that in giving Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest gift of all. So, Father, may we take heart to this and prepare ourselves for battle, for warfare that is so prominent among us as Christians.
Or give us the grace. Give us the grace. Give us the love that we may give to others. Give to others. And may we all do it for Your glory. Father, as anybody that's here that has any doubts of their salvation, Father, I pray that they make it right.
Come to repentance and believe the gospel. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen and amen.