WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:04.599 This morning we consider the Christian and hope. 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:12.839 The Christian and hope, this is the third part of a three-part series on the God-centered life. 00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:19.399 Today we're going to think about a topic that is in the Bible a good bit, but we might skip over. 00:00:19.399 --> 00:00:21.440 We might downplay. 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:28.600 We might think of as a reality that is true, that is biblical, but doesn't have a lot of grounding. 00:00:28.600 --> 00:00:31.239 How you're supposed to be hopeful? 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:32.479 What exactly does this mean? 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:37.039 In fact, hope has a bad reputation out there, doesn't it? 00:00:37.039 --> 00:00:54.200 If you think about somebody who's hopeful, if you describe somebody that way, you might think of, I don't know, some sort of Disney character, a Disney animal who walks around chirping things that don't really have a lot of purchase on everyday life. 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:56.079 Hope doesn't seem gritty. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:00:58.460 Hope doesn't seem realistic. 00:00:58.460 --> 00:01:04.079 I think a lot of times we almost choose between hope and realism. 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.140 Realism being, you know, life is hard. 00:01:07.140 --> 00:01:13.120 It's better for me to just stay in the trenches, not get my hopes up. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:14.680 Who's heard that phrase? 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:15.680 We don't want to get well. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.680 Hold on, hold on. 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:18.439 How many times have we said this in a conversation? 00:01:18.439 --> 00:01:19.439 Hold on there. 00:01:19.439 --> 00:01:21.040 We don't want to get our hopes up. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:27.879 Now, there are plenty of things we need to be realistic about and we shouldn't get carried away over. 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:35.560 But in terms of biblical hope, Christian hope, here's some good news. 00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:37.780 You can definitely get your hopes up. 00:01:37.780 --> 00:01:42.299 You can get your hopes way, way up. 00:01:42.299 --> 00:01:48.640 Not in yourself and not in your circumstances, but in Jesus. 00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:53.280 In God, you don't have to hold onto the balloon. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:54.280 Okay? 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:55.519 You don't have to hold onto the balloon. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:59.280 No, I can't let my hopes get up. 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:03.239 No, you can let the balloon go and it can soar. 00:02:03.239 --> 00:02:16.960 And in fact, in this strange metaphor, you can continue holding onto the string and the string can carry you as in a raw, dull book into the very celestial reaches themselves. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:17.960 Okay. 00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:23.400 Well, we're off with a bang here and verging far from my notes. 00:02:23.400 --> 00:02:27.560 So let's get into 1 Peter 1, 3 to 5. 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:29.319 1 Peter 1, 3 to 5. 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:31.020 Just a short section. 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:34.439 You could go a lot of different places to talk about biblical hope. 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:40.259 I again want you to hear this morning that hope is not the enemy of realism. 00:02:40.259 --> 00:02:43.379 Hope is not the enemy of everyday Christianity. 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:45.900 Hope is not the enemy of common sense. 00:02:45.900 --> 00:02:51.719 Hope is actually what gives your entire life an upswing. 00:02:51.719 --> 00:02:58.319 But not, not the typical worldly hope, not circumstantial hope, Christ centered hope. 00:02:58.319 --> 00:02:59.520 First Peter 1, verse 3. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:03.280 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:26.360 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 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Let's pray. 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:41.800 Father, as we start this morning, I pray for many different folks who are in here who already may be thinking, I don't have a ton of hope or at least on a day by day basis in certain circumstances they're feeling hopeless. 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:45.599 They're genuinely battling despair. 00:03:45.599 --> 00:03:50.439 In fact, Father, we can confess that we can broaden that circle to all of us. 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:53.900 All of us at some level battle hopelessness. 00:03:53.900 --> 00:03:58.120 All of us feel like we're overwhelmed by the world, the flesh and the devil. 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:04.199 And I pray this morning, Father, that you will fill us with Christ centered hope. 00:04:04.199 --> 00:04:05.960 In Jesus name we pray. 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:07.460 Amen. 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:11.360 The major point I wish to make in this session is this. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:15.759 We Christians live by hope, not by despair. 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:18.879 We live by hope, not by despair. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:21.399 Let's ground this truth in the word. 00:04:21.399 --> 00:04:25.660 The reason, verse 3, we have a living hope. 00:04:25.660 --> 00:04:29.879 You see that phrase in the second part of verse 3. 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:33.040 We have a living hope is because of God the Father. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:44.839 Now remember that when the New Testament authors write about different members of the Godhead, they don't melt everything down so that there's only one person. 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:55.240 Remember that the New Testament itself, including Peter here, feels a lot of freedom to talk about God the Father in distinct terms, God the Son in distinct terms, God the Spirit in distinct terms. 00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:58.879 Never disunited, never separated from one another. 00:04:58.879 --> 00:05:01.120 Always in perfect divine union. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:04.980 And yet there are three persons and they are real persons. 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:06.899 They are living persons. 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:10.240 They're not sort of shadowy mirages of persons. 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.920 They are actual divine persons. 00:05:12.920 --> 00:05:15.639 And God the Father is in view here. 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:31.620 And God the Father is so often in view for both Peter and Paul in opposition to, in contrast to, a Christian faith that again melts the Trinitarian persons down or only really talks about Jesus. 00:05:31.620 --> 00:05:35.120 We actually need to talk a lot about God the Father. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.360 Look at what Peter says about God the Father. 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:41.399 Look at the character of God the Father that is highlighted here. 00:05:41.399 --> 00:05:45.199 According to His great mercy. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:51.839 So God the Father has huge stores of mercy that He wants to show. 00:05:51.839 --> 00:05:56.600 God the Father is a very merciful Father. 00:05:56.600 --> 00:05:59.360 That's not my gloss on the biblical text. 00:05:59.360 --> 00:06:03.899 That's not me trying to ramp things up or add things in to the scripture. 00:06:03.899 --> 00:06:07.160 According to His great mercy. 00:06:07.160 --> 00:06:12.759 So even there, Christian, even there, is that how you think about God the Father? 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:16.560 Do you think about God the Father as having a little bit of mercy? 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:21.360 Or do you think that He has, according to Peter, great mercy? 00:06:21.360 --> 00:06:22.439 That's what He has. 00:06:22.439 --> 00:06:27.959 He has great mercy, not generically, not abstractly, but for you and for me. 00:06:27.959 --> 00:06:29.879 And that's just amazing news. 00:06:29.879 --> 00:06:31.639 Just wonderful news. 00:06:31.639 --> 00:06:44.680 According to His great mercy, because He loves to help sinners, verse 3, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope. 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:48.759 It is God who causes the new birth, not man. 00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:50.560 That's what Peter is teaching us. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:54.740 There's no person who can cause themselves to be born again. 00:06:54.740 --> 00:07:00.939 It has to be God the Father working to make us born again. 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:02.839 And that's incredible news. 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:06.240 That's news that puts the spotlight on God's sovereignty. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:20.240 And so sometimes people are like, "Oh, I don't like this strong doctrine from the Bible." But it's actually very encouraging news that your God is a very, very, very strong God. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.000 Because your God is so good. 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:26.600 So there's the marriage of goodness and strength in the Father. 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:30.939 And that is wonderfully encouraging for us. 00:07:30.939 --> 00:07:39.639 This God is so strong that when He wants to regenerate a sinner, give them new life, give them spiritual life, He doesn't. 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:40.959 He causes it. 00:07:40.959 --> 00:07:42.800 This is how powerful He is. 00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.160 You and I are not God. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:45.759 You and I are not the Savior. 00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:48.439 You and I are not tasked with saving anyone. 00:07:48.439 --> 00:07:50.079 We cannot save anyone. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:52.300 But God the Father can save. 00:07:52.300 --> 00:07:53.680 And He does save. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:08:05.560 And He causes us to experience the new birth such that then we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:11.279 Christian, we do not have a dead faith because we do not have a dead Savior. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:15.000 If we did have a dead Savior, we would have a dead faith. 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:16.000 Listen to me. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:19.560 If you had a dead Savior, you should live in despair. 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:22.879 If you had a dead Savior, you should be anxious. 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:27.040 If you had a dead Savior, you should throw up your hands. 00:08:27.040 --> 00:08:31.420 If you had a dead Savior, there's no reason to think anything's getting better. 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:32.519 Really and truly. 00:08:32.519 --> 00:08:35.159 I mean, eat cake and get ready to die. 00:08:35.159 --> 00:08:40.960 Basically, that's what life looks like if your Savior is dead. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:42.299 But here's the deal. 00:08:42.299 --> 00:08:47.519 You have a living hope because you have a living Savior. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:50.600 You have a living Savior right now. 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:55.600 Jesus Christ is not a word carved in stone up in the clouds. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:02.399 Jesus Christ, like God the Father, is a living Savior, a living Trinitarian person. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:09.240 He is, the Bible tells us, seated at the right hand of God the Father this minute. 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:11.320 Jesus is not a cloud. 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:13.120 Jesus is not a mirage. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:22.399 Jesus is a person, and that person is interceding, is praying for you as a Christian now. 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:29.639 And Jesus Christ now is reigning and ruling over every molecule of the cosmos. 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:40.440 It doesn't look like He is, but you are not supposed to calibrate your understanding of the lordship of Christ by how things look. 00:09:40.440 --> 00:09:46.159 We literally are told, don't walk by sight, aren't we? 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:49.299 We live by faith. 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:52.840 This is a kingdom, honestly, that you really can't see. 00:09:52.840 --> 00:10:05.240 You can see little touches of it in the world, but you're not supposed to be able to see, at least substantially, the reign of Jesus Christ, the rule of Jesus Christ that has already begun. 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:07.879 It began with His resurrection. 00:10:07.879 --> 00:10:10.559 So your Redeemer lives. 00:10:10.559 --> 00:10:12.039 Jesus is living. 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:13.960 Jesus is alive. 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:19.259 And that is why hope is ever renewing for the Christian. 00:10:19.259 --> 00:10:23.480 There is no such thing as a hopeless cause for a Christian. 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:26.120 You are not a hopeless Christian. 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:27.600 Your life is not hopeless. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:36.279 If you are in Christ, you have infinite hope in Jesus, but not in a generic big box American. 00:10:36.279 --> 00:10:38.200 Well, things will just get better. 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:43.639 Well, hey, I mean, we've climbed up the socioeconomic ladder and we're doing pretty well. 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:47.340 And you know, circumstances just tend to be getting better in life. 00:10:47.340 --> 00:10:48.960 And so, look, have hope. 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:50.679 Things get, things are pretty good. 00:10:50.679 --> 00:10:52.879 That's not our hope. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:53.879 That's not our hope. 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:57.399 We're thankful for a, for a thriving country where we can get one. 00:10:57.399 --> 00:11:01.279 We're thankful for many good benefits in America over the decades. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:02.279 We're grateful for that. 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:05.200 We fight to preserve that as much as we can. 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:06.860 All sorts of things to say about that. 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:10.080 But fundamentally, our hope isn't in America. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:11.879 Our hope isn't in our 401k. 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:14.200 Our hope isn't in our strong family. 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:17.200 Our hope is in Christ. 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:18.639 Everything can be taken from you. 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:20.240 This is how strong your hope is. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:23.399 And you have total hope in Jesus. 00:11:23.399 --> 00:11:27.039 Everything you have right now that is good could be taken from you. 00:11:27.039 --> 00:11:35.679 And your, your hope in Jesus doesn't lessen one, one millionth of a percentage point. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:42.580 Everything could be taken from you and you have the exact same hope you had 10 minutes before it was taken from you. 00:11:42.580 --> 00:11:48.399 That is how strong our, our living hope is in Jesus. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:52.879 Our God, furthermore, we learn is storing up an inheritance for us. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:53.879 Verse four. 00:11:53.879 --> 00:11:54.879 See that? 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:08.440 "To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you." There's no inflation, good news, or deflation regarding your heavenly inheritance. 00:12:08.440 --> 00:12:14.679 If you log in online to check the account and its value, it doesn't go down. 00:12:14.679 --> 00:12:15.840 It's wonderful. 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:17.679 This is really wonderful. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:22.779 This is a strong contrast with the global marketplace right now. 00:12:22.779 --> 00:12:28.279 And any retirement savings, forget 401ks, you may, just, just check your bank account. 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:34.659 Just try to buy, try to buy a foot long BLT from Subway. 00:12:34.659 --> 00:12:40.000 It is now, it is now a decision that requires like some real thought. 00:12:40.000 --> 00:12:45.399 You got to check, should I move money into the checking account so that I can buy Subway for this family? 00:12:45.399 --> 00:12:48.460 Can we, hey honey, can we, do you think we can do this? 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:50.759 Should I pull the trigger on McDonald's today? 00:12:50.759 --> 00:12:55.080 I mean, it's just costs, just rising, rising, rising. 00:12:55.080 --> 00:12:59.820 I've had multiple insurance matters just all of a sudden. 00:12:59.820 --> 00:13:01.500 It's a different figure on the bill. 00:13:01.500 --> 00:13:02.500 It just, there you go. 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:04.919 Okay, well, where's that money coming from? 00:13:04.919 --> 00:13:05.919 Magic. 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:06.919 It's magic. 00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:09.759 We'll just print more money and figure that out. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:12.159 All right, that's enough economic discussion this morning. 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:15.039 I've reached the limits of my understanding anyway. 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:16.639 Here's some amazing news. 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.279 Your heavenly bank account doesn't flex you in. 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.580 It doesn't change. 00:13:23.580 --> 00:13:26.399 It's not up and down. 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:27.879 Heaven is coming. 00:13:27.879 --> 00:13:35.539 Beyond heaven, the new heavens and new earth are coming and they are imperishable, undefiled and unfading. 00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:42.399 That inheritance, that eternal fate that awaits you is not changeable. 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.360 No one can change it. 00:13:44.360 --> 00:13:45.960 Nothing can change it. 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:47.399 Nothing can take it away. 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:50.759 This isn't being so heavenly minded, we're no earthly good. 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:53.980 See, there's another sentence that you can tell. 00:13:53.980 --> 00:14:00.120 It's like from the devil himself because it works against the idea of hope, doesn't it? 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.679 It's just like, it's so gloomy. 00:14:02.679 --> 00:14:04.559 It's so dour. 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:05.759 It's so miserable. 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:11.080 There are so many miserable phrases out there that we just repeat to ourselves almost without thinking. 00:14:11.080 --> 00:14:13.360 Well, the Bible goes the opposite way. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:21.799 Peter goes the opposite way and says, "No, you've got to be so heavenly minded that you are some earthly good, but even forget earthly good for a second. 00:14:21.799 --> 00:14:22.799 Forget earthly good. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:25.840 Why are you so focused on earthly good? 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:30.919 You have a heavenly inheritance." That's amazing news. 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:39.080 If Peter thought this was a waste of time and wouldn't cause Christians to be hopeful and change their lives, he wouldn't include this here, would he? 00:14:39.080 --> 00:14:46.759 He's trying to encourage exiles. He's trying to encourage his audience who are scattered Christians. 00:14:46.759 --> 00:14:49.799 They are not experiencing anything close to political domination. 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:52.639 He doesn't call for any project along those lines. 00:14:52.639 --> 00:15:02.139 In fact, basically what Peter says throughout this letter to the elect exiles is, I mean, bear up under suffering, honor the emperor. 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:05.000 It's the opposite of a takeover things. 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.279 What Peter is saying is things are really rough out there in the world. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.080 Does that apply to us in 2024? 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.480 It absolutely does. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:20.440 But he's saying to Christians, don't find your hope in those circumstances. 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:22.759 You're going to be tempted to. 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:24.879 You and I are tempted to. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:41.399 Hourly, and the first century church didn't have to deal with 24/7 news channels and all the rest and social media that really can work against, oh man, it could just whittle down hope like a little tree twig till there's nothing there. 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:42.679 Just keep whittling. 00:15:42.679 --> 00:15:45.480 Just take out the stick of hope. 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.559 It's already a little small, it feels like. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:55.879 And then take a knife and just cut, just whittle all day until all of a sudden you look down and your hands are bleeding. 00:15:55.879 --> 00:16:04.039 There's blood on the knife handle and you've got no hope left in functional terms because it's just been cut to nothing. 00:16:04.039 --> 00:16:08.840 That is not what Peter is setting our eyes on. 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:14.440 Peter is saying, this isn't a little tree twig of hope. 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:16.980 This is a massive tree. 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:19.120 This is a redwood oak. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:25.519 This is one of those trees you see on people's backdrops of their desktop, of their computer. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:29.240 This is so huge the human eye can barely take it in. 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:36.080 This is a living hope so big that you go to the base of the tree and you look up and you can't see the top of it. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:40.200 That is how strong your hope is in Jesus Christ. 00:16:40.200 --> 00:16:43.559 That is everyone's hope in here who is in Jesus. 00:16:43.559 --> 00:16:45.879 Some of us don't have more hope than others. 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:56.480 We all have imperishable, undefiled, and unfading inheritance and thus hope in Jesus Christ. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:17:01.279 But the news just keeps getting better in this passage. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:11.319 This inheritance, Peter says, is secure and stable, but it's not just in a state of being fine. 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:30.240 It is "teterimene n'uranois," that's the Greek, verse 4, "kept in heaven for you." Or you could say, "being kept," more technically, "being kept in heaven for you," verse 4. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.059 Why is that significant? 00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:34.779 Why go to verb tense? 00:17:34.779 --> 00:17:39.200 Because the passive voice there is very important. 00:17:39.200 --> 00:17:49.240 This eternal inheritance, your fate, you going to heaven and then the new heavens and new earth beyond that, your ticket is punched. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:53.200 It is being kept in heaven for you. 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:55.119 No one can take it from you. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:57.960 It's not even dependent on you. 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:10.599 Sometimes when preachers, even preachers who love the sovereignty of God from the scripture, talk about God keeping us, eternal security in Christ, election, etc. 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:11.960 Such concepts. 00:18:11.960 --> 00:18:23.720 Sometimes we say something like, you're being kept and then we super quickly jump to, and yet you've got to work, you've got to make sure that this is, you've got to do your part. 00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:25.640 I want to talk about that. 00:18:25.640 --> 00:18:35.279 I've got sermons to preach on that about our accountability and our responsibility and fear and trembling before the Lord and pursuing holiness. 00:18:35.279 --> 00:18:36.799 That is vital. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:41.599 All of that is absolutely a part of vital Christianity. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:46.839 But I don't want to skip past the divine part. 00:18:46.839 --> 00:19:06.319 I think we are terrified sometimes of being heard as people who would put too much hope in God and too much confidence in the divine and people would start hearing us and they would think, wait a minute, maybe this guy is a creeping antinomian and he doesn't think my life matters. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.960 And I think we're almost scared of that. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:12.359 And I want to just push reset for a minute. 00:19:12.359 --> 00:19:17.000 And I want to just linger on what the Bible teaches. 00:19:17.000 --> 00:19:29.079 And I want you to hear that your eternal inheritance, your ticket to the new heavens and new earth is being kept in heaven for you. 00:19:29.079 --> 00:19:32.839 Period. 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:39.440 It is not going to be you fretting this out and sweating this out to keep that hold on your ticket, kid. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:45.519 No, it's being kept in. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:48.980 God Himself has the ticket. 00:19:48.980 --> 00:19:52.839 God Himself has the gate code on heaven. 00:19:52.839 --> 00:20:01.019 And when you approach the gates, God will ensure that they swing open for you. 00:20:01.019 --> 00:20:27.519 That is not a teaching that defeats the pursuit of holiness or something like that is a teaching that inflames that is a teaching that invigorates it because now you can run not with anxiety, but with confidence that you're going to make it because God is going to get you. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:39.799 There's no greater spur to holiness and killing sin and loving Christ than knowing that your heavenly Father is going to get you there. 00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:42.599 It's going to happen. 00:20:42.599 --> 00:20:45.839 Your heavenly Father is not impersonally keeping this. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:48.960 He's personally keeping watch over. 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:51.839 This inheritance, but that's not all the Father is doing for you. 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:56.319 Verse five indicates that you are being guarded. 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:07.880 You see that in verse five who by God's power, God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time here again. 00:21:07.880 --> 00:21:15.960 Verb tense matters for a Roman us being guarded in the Greek by the Father's power. 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:21.039 That passive voice is so important because it's not that you are guarding yourself. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:24.480 It's that God is guarding you here again. 00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:27.079 That's incredibly encouraging. 00:21:27.079 --> 00:21:30.960 You're not going to be guarded by the strength of your own efforts. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:44.319 You're guarded right now through God's work, through God's power, not through a synthesis of your power and God's power, but the text Peter throws all the emphasis on God's power. 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:50.200 You're being kept, you're being guarded by God's power. 00:21:50.200 --> 00:22:11.460 So hey, when you're driving around this week, when you've got these moments where you're low and you're wondering if you can just keep going and you're wondering if you can get through this latest trial that is hitting you and you honestly feel like you're not sure that you can. 00:22:11.460 --> 00:22:15.839 This is not pie in the sky teaching that has no bearing on those moments. 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:18.799 This is not impractical material. 00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:22.400 This is the most practical material you could get. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:31.839 Ask your mind to the text and to heaven and just remind yourself when you're hitting a low point as you will, as we all do. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:33.880 Wait a minute. 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:40.480 I'm feeling like I'm just drifting in the ocean and there's not hope in this situation. 00:22:40.480 --> 00:22:51.319 Right now I'm being guarded by God's power through faith and that will encourage, that will strengthen you. 00:22:51.319 --> 00:23:05.680 Your inheritance is being kept and you are being guarded by God's power and that ensures that your salvation will endure and you will eventually see it revealed in the last time. 00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:06.759 These are certainties. 00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:07.920 You understand? 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:11.440 These are matters you can have confidence in. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:15.900 There's no like maybe this will happen for you in Peter's language. 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:18.359 This is confident language. 00:23:18.359 --> 00:23:20.160 Peter knows of what he speaks. 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:27.400 Peter has sinned tremendously against Christ and Peter has had the Lord Jesus Christ himself. 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:32.859 Look him in the eye and restore him to ministry and give him hope. 00:23:32.859 --> 00:23:39.640 Peter himself, after he denied his Lord and Master three times, does that resonate with you? 00:23:39.640 --> 00:23:45.519 Have you denied your Lord and Master in some practical functional way this week, this past week? 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:46.519 I have. 00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:47.519 I'm guessing you have. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:51.079 Have you been perfect before the Lord this past week? 00:23:51.079 --> 00:23:52.519 You haven't. 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:54.599 You and I have been. 00:23:54.599 --> 00:23:56.799 We have been unfaithful to our Lord and Master. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.000 We too have wandered from our King. 00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:04.019 We haven't we haven't witnessed a Christ as we should. 00:24:04.019 --> 00:24:06.039 We haven't loved our spouses. 00:24:06.039 --> 00:24:07.039 We should. 00:24:07.039 --> 00:24:08.880 We haven't loved our family members as we should. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:13.279 We haven't walked with Christ as we should sit is real sit is serious. 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:15.460 But here's a bigger reality. 00:24:15.460 --> 00:24:30.319 Our Lord and Master comes to us to through text like this and he restores us and he calls us back and he gives us hope and he lifts up our eyes and he says effectively you have a living hope. 00:24:30.319 --> 00:24:32.039 Let's get after it. 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:34.880 So what does all this mean in practical terms? 00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:38.160 Three quick applications. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:40.440 Three quick applications for you. 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:46.039 First, focus your attention on God's goodness to you. 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:51.240 Focus your attention on God's goodness to you. 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:52.920 You've got a choice here. 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:53.920 You got a choice. 00:24:53.920 --> 00:24:55.200 I have a choice. 00:24:55.200 --> 00:25:00.200 You can focus on one of two things day by day and minute by minute. 00:25:00.200 --> 00:25:09.640 You can focus on what you don't have and what is hard or you can focus on what you do have and how good God has been. 00:25:09.640 --> 00:25:14.279 It's a little simple but I think it's actually pretty functionally true. 00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:20.099 I think that's what Peter is doing for a bunch of people who don't have a homeland as he's writing to them. 00:25:20.099 --> 00:25:24.079 A bunch of people who are dispersed and scattered and struggling and wandering. 00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:31.839 Here again God's people in the New Testament era are effectively exiles again and guess what you and I are effectively today? 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:33.640 Exiles. 00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:34.640 Exiles again. 00:25:34.640 --> 00:25:36.400 I don't mean you're not involved in your country and your community. 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:44.160 That's not what I'm saying but I'm saying in terms of your true home, you and I are without a country basically. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:49.440 We're waiting for our country, our better country as Hebrews 13 says. 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:53.759 The ordinary setting of the Christian life is not misery. 00:25:53.759 --> 00:26:07.119 You are supposed to focus your attention, as a Christian I think, taking your cues from Peter and many other passages we could talk about, on the goodness of God. 00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:10.640 Focus your attention on the goodness of God. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:12.680 We should be watchful about Satan. 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:15.720 We should grieve our sin on a daily basis. 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:16.839 We should fight it. 00:26:16.839 --> 00:26:20.819 We should lament the abiding presence of evil in our world. 00:26:20.819 --> 00:26:23.680 When suffering hits we are right to mourn it. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:26.680 When loved ones die we are justified. 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:30.960 In many nights of weeping all that is sound and even faithful. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:39.160 All that is part of a full-orbed Christian life where there's great joy and yes at times there is great mourning. 00:26:39.160 --> 00:26:45.420 But the ordinary setting of the Christian life I repeat myself is not gloom. 00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:47.740 It's not misery. 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:50.599 It's not what we lack. 00:26:50.599 --> 00:26:52.880 It's what we have. 00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.859 It's what God has given. 00:26:54.859 --> 00:26:59.660 This is not a button you push and then everything's solved for the rest of your life. 00:26:59.660 --> 00:27:01.759 This is a fight day by day. 00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:05.920 It's its total war against evil and despair. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:07.640 It's block by block. 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:12.519 It is a fresh minute by minute commitment to hope. 00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:16.559 Set your mind on the hope of Christ. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:20.460 Second, don't be swallowed up by worldly causes. 00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:23.720 Don't be swallowed up by worldly causes. 00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:27.720 We want to be salt and light in our world Matthew 5 13 to 14. 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:29.119 There's a ton to say about that. 00:27:29.119 --> 00:27:33.920 There's books to be written about that we should expose unfruitful works of darkness. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.480 Ephesians 5 11. 00:27:35.480 --> 00:27:42.599 But I want to encourage you in 2020 horror especially with the year ahead to be very careful about your intake. 00:27:42.599 --> 00:27:46.759 I'm not saying don't think societally and politically I'm not saying don't be involved. 00:27:46.759 --> 00:27:51.559 I'm actually trying to be a small voice to say be involved in appropriate ways. 00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:54.559 So again we can talk about that. 00:27:54.559 --> 00:28:00.259 But what I want you to hear in this particular teaching time is this. 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:03.180 It's easy for you and me to get off track here. 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:08.420 It's easy for us to focus more on the darkness and what is being done. 00:28:08.420 --> 00:28:12.839 We think it's best we can perceive it and you can't perceive it very well. 00:28:12.839 --> 00:28:15.519 Satan keeps things very shadowy doesn't he? 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:16.519 He's always done that. 00:28:16.519 --> 00:28:19.079 What's the council of Satan right now for the world? 00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:22.079 What's the 50 step plan of Satan for the world? 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:24.519 How's he going to make the world burn in days ahead? 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:25.720 Do you know? 00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:26.720 We don't know. 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:29.160 We know the broad parameters in the New Testament. 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:30.519 We don't know. 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:34.480 We're not called to zero in on the darkness. 00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:39.380 The more you peer into the darkness that the fuzzier it gets. 00:28:39.380 --> 00:28:41.119 Be a thoughtful Christian. 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:43.200 Be wise. 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:44.720 Don't be easily led astray. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:46.000 Keep the night watch. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:48.359 All these things must be done. 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:58.220 But the more time you spend peering into the darkness, conspiracy theories and terrible things that are happening, the more they darken your outlook. 00:28:58.220 --> 00:29:04.140 The more your outlook darkens because you're your focus not on the light. 00:29:04.140 --> 00:29:08.640 But on the darkness, the more the darkness. 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:10.220 It has an effect. 00:29:10.220 --> 00:29:14.859 This is why you and I are supposed to be very careful about engaging evil. 00:29:14.859 --> 00:29:16.160 We have to engage it. 00:29:16.160 --> 00:29:26.400 Yes, but we have to do so carefully because even if you even if you're saying to yourself, I'm engaging the darkness so that I can be a part of overcoming it. 00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:29.799 You'd be surprised at how much the darkness will affect you. 00:29:29.799 --> 00:29:31.720 You are not Jesus. 00:29:31.720 --> 00:29:34.359 You are not the Holy Spirit. 00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:39.480 You can easily lose your purchase on gospel, light and gospel hope. 00:29:39.480 --> 00:29:42.079 I'm telling you just a warning. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:55.019 The more you obsess over the world and worldly imaginations and worldly processes and terrible things happening, especially where it's not exactly clear what's happening, you're you have an eye to it. 00:29:55.019 --> 00:30:03.680 But the more you get lost there, the more God gets small, smaller God gets. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:05.319 You've been around a person like that. 00:30:05.319 --> 00:30:06.319 I have. 00:30:06.319 --> 00:30:15.460 Maybe we've in fact slipped into being that in some season of our life where all we can talk about is this thing where every conversation goes to this thing. 00:30:15.460 --> 00:30:17.819 Maybe the thing actually is happening. 00:30:17.819 --> 00:30:18.839 But here's the thing. 00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:30.319 Peter is writing to an embattled people who are in desperate circumstances and he's not saying everybody focus on narrow focus on the Roman emperors, focus on what they're doing. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:31.319 Figure this out. 00:30:31.319 --> 00:30:32.680 Launch the campaign against them. 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:38.160 What Peter is saying is lift up your eyes to your living hope. 00:30:38.160 --> 00:30:41.680 Christian, focus on your living hope. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:44.200 You can easily be led astray. 00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:46.519 The world is on fire, yes. 00:30:46.519 --> 00:30:47.920 But God's got you. 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:49.039 God's working in you. 00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:50.859 God's sanctifying you. 00:30:50.859 --> 00:30:53.519 God's making you look more and more like Christ. 00:30:53.519 --> 00:30:56.119 God's Spirit is powerfully changing you. 00:30:56.119 --> 00:30:58.559 God is going to cause you to make it to the end. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:01.759 God's keeping an inheritance for you right now. 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:07.200 These are the things that Peter focuses his people's eyes on. 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:12.400 Third, third and final, fill yourself full of hope. 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:14.200 Fill yourself full. 00:31:14.200 --> 00:31:18.759 Fill your tank full of hope. 00:31:18.759 --> 00:31:35.000 Don't expect that if you fill the tank with despair and gloom and terrible things, even things that may be true, just don't expect there's going to be a lot of encouragement and cheer and happiness and Christian joy just pouring out of you. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:42.099 On the other hand, by contrast, what you and I need to do is take in a lot of God-centered content. 00:31:42.099 --> 00:31:52.839 We need to fill our mind with the things of God, especially the goodness and grace and love of God, which Satan wants to shrink to nothing in your vision. 00:31:52.839 --> 00:32:01.720 Satan wants the world and evil and sin and politics to explode in your vision. 00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:13.079 And Satan wants God's goodness and grace and mercy and love to be this, until it disappears and then you're living in despair. 00:32:13.079 --> 00:32:16.000 It's Satan's victory. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:19.720 So be careful about the worldly content you engage. 00:32:19.720 --> 00:32:25.299 Serve your church, evangelize, disciple someone, meet up for fellowship. 00:32:25.299 --> 00:32:31.839 When you see your thoughts dipping, bring a Bible passage to mind about hope. 00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:35.720 Ask God to fill you with hope. 00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:41.359 And remember this in conclusion, John 1, 3-5. 00:32:41.359 --> 00:32:44.539 All things were made through him, through Christ the Word. 00:32:44.539 --> 00:32:47.960 And without him was not anything made that was made. 00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:52.059 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 00:32:52.059 --> 00:32:54.880 The light, remember this verse. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:56.839 Bring this verse to mind. 00:32:56.839 --> 00:32:59.019 I challenge you, I encourage you, you don't have to. 00:32:59.019 --> 00:33:00.019 But here's a thought. 00:33:00.019 --> 00:33:02.640 Here's one verse you could bring to mind this week. 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:11.220 When hopelessness starts to close in and God's grace and love and mercy start to shrink. 00:33:11.220 --> 00:33:16.599 The light shines in the darkness. 00:33:16.599 --> 00:33:22.559 And the darkness has not overcome it. 00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:25.480 And the darkness never will. 00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:27.160 Let's pray. 00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.000 Father help us to be men and women of hope. 00:33:30.000 --> 00:33:31.200 Increase our hope. 00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:32.920 We all need help here. 00:33:32.920 --> 00:33:39.940 None of us does this as we should, but we thank you that you are gracious and kind to renew our hope day by day. 00:33:39.940 --> 00:33:44.279 Thank you that we have a living hope because we have a living safe. 00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:45.160 In Jesus' name, Amen. 00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:55.160 [BLANK_AUDIO]