SPEAKER_00: Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are electric exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cabadacia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with his blood.
SPEAKER_00: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy.
SPEAKER_00: He has caused us to be born again to 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.
SPEAKER_00: In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Though you have not seen him, you love him.
SPEAKER_00: Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
SPEAKER_00: Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
SPEAKER_00: It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so reads God's word.
SPEAKER_02: And around the table, you've got somebody that you were at university with, you've got somebody that you you've become good friends with, and you now work with, you've with somebody that's been a long-standing friend, but none of the friends that you're with are Christians.
SPEAKER_02: And then one of the friends that you've known for a long, long time decides to announce to the table that they have met somebody.
SPEAKER_02: But the person that they have met is the same sex as them.
SPEAKER_02: And the relationship has been really going really, really well, and they've decided that them and their new partner are going to get engaged and be married.
SPEAKER_02: And then what seems to crescendo around the table is congratulations.
SPEAKER_02: I'm so delighted for you.
SPEAKER_02: That's a wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_02: And you find yourself sitting at the table, not knowing what to do, not knowing what to say, not knowing what to engage, because you know in that moment what you really want to share, maybe what you really want to say, you know, is not going to be received well.
SPEAKER_02: Not only by your friend who brings that news, but also with everybody else around the table, even if the people around the table also in their own privacy agree with you.
SPEAKER_02: We are living in a hostile world, folks.
SPEAKER_02: As Christian people, it is becoming increasingly more hostile.
SPEAKER_02: And outside of the cultural badge, the cultural badge of being a Christian, or I guess in the Irish context, being a Catholic Christian, being a Catholic, I'm a Catholic, everyone's a Catholic.
SPEAKER_02: It's the same in Liverpool, everyone's a Catholic.
SPEAKER_02: But outside of that, people are increasingly seeking to disassociate themselves with the teachings of the Bible and those who believe that the Bible is the word of God.
SPEAKER_02: It's happening.
SPEAKER_02: People are being pushed away.
SPEAKER_02: And this disassociation is on a rapid trajectory to a common ground of misunderstanding, rejection, and the maligning of biblical perspectives and principles for life and flourishing around these things.
SPEAKER_02: Humanity, sexuality, sex and gender, marriage, the view of self, personhood, justice, authority, freedom.
SPEAKER_02: And this is being coupled with a decreasing interest and association and attendance, especially in the UK, in Christian churches, and the increase of atheistic associations or the exploration of more self-oriented philosophies and spiritualities that is making living for Jesus increasingly more difficult.
SPEAKER_02: Do you agree?
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
SPEAKER_02: And folks, unfortunately, this has led to the unwritten rule, and in some cases written rule, that it is a requirement to affirm all other ideologies and understandings of life and flourishing, whilst keeping your own, if you disagree with them, private.
SPEAKER_02: To apply for a job.
SPEAKER_02: To engage in business with other people.
SPEAKER_02: See, there are Christian people losing their jobs, losing business, being punished for showing love, and they are being cancelled, seen as irrelevant, wrong, bigoted.
SPEAKER_02: See, the culture that we are living in, especially in the West, is becoming increasingly hostile to the things of Jesus, to the principles for life and flourishing according to the Bible.
SPEAKER_02: And this hostility is felt head-on in the classroom, in the lecture room, in the offices, even amongst families, and is infiltrating the things we watch, the things we read, the things that we engage with on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_02: It's everywhere, it's absolutely everywhere.
SPEAKER_02: And I don't know about you, but I am 44 years of age, so I'm older than all of you, apart from Ben.
SPEAKER_02: Alright?
SPEAKER_02: So I need to just put that in, apart from Ben.
SPEAKER_02: Is that right?
SPEAKER_02: I think I'm right.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'm one other.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, but I won't ask, it's not right for me to ask a lady her age.
SPEAKER_02: I I don't know about you, but I'm increasingly feeling more like a stranger in this world.
SPEAKER_02: I feel increasingly more like that I am in the the minority of popular or public thinking.
SPEAKER_02: I'll be honest with you, at the moment I even feel like that, even with my eldest daughter sometimes.
SPEAKER_02: And trying to engage with that, and Ella's wonderful, and we've come through that.
SPEAKER_02: But even things that I say, I'm like, wow, I'm really on the wrong side of history here.
SPEAKER_02: In saying things.
SPEAKER_02: See, being a follower of Jesus, being part of the people of God does and will rub up against society, and that is hard.
SPEAKER_02: That is hard.
SPEAKER_02: And what we have in front of us here is a letter from Peter who describes himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: He was one of the twelve.
SPEAKER_02: And he's writing to a group of Christians that have been dispersed all over Asia Minor, which is now the modern day Turkey.
SPEAKER_02: And these people are experiencing similar things to us.
SPEAKER_02: Similar things.
SPEAKER_02: See, the issues may not be exact identically the same, but fundamentally the rejection for them is the same.
SPEAKER_02: See, we see in chapter verse 4 of chapter 2 that the rejection for these people is happening because the one they are building their lives on is being rejected by people.
SPEAKER_02: The one in which they are lit, they they, as living stones, are being built upon to form the house of God, is being rejected by their friends and their neighbors.
SPEAKER_02: The one who is the cornerstone in whom they believe and as a result will not be put to shame is rejected by all the people that they are doing life with and doing life amongst.
SPEAKER_02: And folks, that is the same for us.
SPEAKER_02: These people would have found themselves at dinner parties like the dinner party I've just shared.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe a different situation, but they would have sat there and going, if I say something now, I'm going to be pushed further to the margins of this social group.
SPEAKER_02: See, like the Christians then and the Christians now, the majority of people in our culture today see Jesus as a rock of offense, which Peter talks about in chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: He is a stone of insignificance, verse 8 of chapter 2.
SPEAKER_02: And a stumbling block, a massive stumbling block to the culture's ideology of what it is to be human, what it is to engage in relationships, what worth is, what success is, what truth is, what self is.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus is a complete stumbling block to our culture's idea of those things.
SPEAKER_02: And we live in a culture that does everything it can to dumb down and drown out the existential questions of life, death, God, true satisfaction, and joy.
SPEAKER_02: Everything.
SPEAKER_02: See, the world doesn't want to hear or deal with it.
SPEAKER_02: So those who are called to be his people and to proclaim the good news of Jesus are pushed further to the margins of society.
SPEAKER_02: We're being branded as archaic, bigoted, as people that don't fit, the people that don't belong, that are aliens and strangers in this world.
SPEAKER_02: You feel that?
SPEAKER_02: Do you feel that?
SPEAKER_02: The truth is, folks, and you may not like to hear this, we do not fit.
SPEAKER_02: We don't fit.
SPEAKER_02: We don't belong.
SPEAKER_02: Because we are strangers in this world.
SPEAKER_02: But the theme of one, Peter, is not one of encouragement to hide, one of protection, one to create a holy huddle in a cosy Christian subculture.
SPEAKER_02: No, Peter, we'll be reminding these churches of who they are and who they have been called to be, which remains constant, whatever the cultural tone and temperature we find ourselves in.
SPEAKER_02: All we're gonna do over the next session is we're gonna see who we are and what it looks like to live for Jesus in the midst of hostile culture, and how that is lived out as a Christian community, what it looks like in the context of these things, relationships, at home and outside of the church.
SPEAKER_02: Because bottom line is that's the crux of the issue.
SPEAKER_02: That's the crux of the issue because nobody likes to be rejected at any level at any point.
SPEAKER_02: Nobody does, and that rejection is a breakdown at some level of relationship.
SPEAKER_02: So, what does it look like for us as Christian people?
SPEAKER_02: But what we have to be reminded of before we go, well, this is how I'm meant to live, we need to be reminded of again the very reason why we are able to live in this hostile culture.
SPEAKER_02: What is the hope that we have?
SPEAKER_02: I was chatting to a sister before.
SPEAKER_02: I hope she doesn't mind me mentioning I was chatting to Eve or Evie or Evelyn.
SPEAKER_02: Alright, apparently she's got three names.
SPEAKER_02: And she said to me, in Uganda, people know what hope is.
SPEAKER_02: People know what hope is.
SPEAKER_02: Hope isn't some fleeting thing.
SPEAKER_02: Hope is, I hope that the Lord provides food for me tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02: I know what hope is.
SPEAKER_02: So it's interesting.
SPEAKER_02: The US publication parade magazine reported the story of a self-made millionaire called Eugene Land, and he greatly changed the lives of sixth grade class in Eastern Harlem.
SPEAKER_02: Now, Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Lang was asked to speak at this class, and there were 59 kids.
SPEAKER_02: He was thinking to himself, what could I say to inspire these students, most of whom he knew and the statistics said would drop out of school at some point.
SPEAKER_02: So he wondered how he could get these predominantly black and Puerto Rican children even to look at him.
SPEAKER_02: So he was scrapping for his notes and he decided to speak from his heart.
SPEAKER_02: He thought, forget this.
SPEAKER_02: And he said, This stay in school.
SPEAKER_02: And if you stay in school, I'll help pay the college tuition for every one of you.
SPEAKER_02: That's what he said.
SPEAKER_02: At that moment, the lives of these students changed.
SPEAKER_02: For the first time, they had hope.
SPEAKER_02: One student said, I had something to look forward to, something was waiting for me.
SPEAKER_02: It was a golden feeling.
SPEAKER_02: And folks, 90% of that class went on to graduate from high school.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_02: Hope.
SPEAKER_02: The Oxford English Dictionary says hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.
SPEAKER_02: Now it said that a human being can live three weeks without food.
SPEAKER_02: For myself, it's probably gonna be three months.
SPEAKER_02: I've been building up for that time in my life.
SPEAKER_02: Three weeks without food, three days without water, but we can't survive one second without hope.
SPEAKER_02: See, someone can live in squalor with hope, but can't live a castle without hope.
SPEAKER_02: People can find themselves in the hardest of circumstances and get through because of some sense of hope.
SPEAKER_02: Hope is vital to the human experience, it is vital to the human psyche, and we long for a reason to exist and a reason to be.
SPEAKER_02: But the problem that comes with even hope is that the things and people that many of us put our hope in are temporary, they're finite and they don't fully satisfy.
SPEAKER_02: And we are being bombarded by things, people and potential experiences, which are all pitching to be the source of our hope, all promising so much, but in reality, the state of hopelessness seems to be ever increasing in our culture.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_02: There are so many things that are saying, hope in me, hope in this, hope in that.
SPEAKER_02: We can access it straight away in the palm of our hands, hoping this, hope in this.
SPEAKER_02: I can find my satisfaction in this if you do this.
SPEAKER_02: But hopelessness seems to be ever increasing in our culture.
SPEAKER_02: Sean said to me a number of months ago, we live in the saddest generation, surrounded by the happiest photos.
SPEAKER_02: The hope of our world is fueled by the finite desire of the photo, but the sadness of our generation is obvious.
SPEAKER_02: It's obvious.
SPEAKER_02: This need for hope was the same for the Christians that Peter is writing to.
SPEAKER_02: Peter, in this letter, folks, is reminding them that their lives are to be fueled by hope.
SPEAKER_02: But he describes it as verse three, a living hope.
SPEAKER_02: A hope that is seen and experienced not only by them, but also by all those whom they are living amongst.
SPEAKER_02: If you look at verse 15 of chapter 3, it says this in your hearts honour Christ the Lord is holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_02: The living hope that we have as Christian people is not only a hope for us, but it's a hope for all those people sitting around that table.
SPEAKER_02: But this hope is not finite, it's not temporary, it's living, and in his letter of encouragement to suffering Christians who are in desperate need of this reminder, of this hope, he reminds them, and I hope reminds us in showing us that this hope, number one, is anchored in the past.
SPEAKER_02: See, it's anchored verse 3 in the grace and mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: We are God's people, verse 2, because of the foreknowledge of God, the sanctification of the spirit, and the sprinkling of the broad of blood.
SPEAKER_02: We saw that we we see that we are God's people because of Father, Son, and Spirit, the work of God.
SPEAKER_02: You see that?
SPEAKER_02: So it's according to his grace and mercy, and what happened in the midst of his grace and mercy, that the Father, Son, and Spirit has called, knew us, predestined us before the foundation of the world, set his affection on you and called you to be part of his family.
SPEAKER_02: It's all according to his grace and his mercy.
SPEAKER_02: So whatever comes next, we need to realize that what has been done for us, what we have been given, is not of ourselves, it is all according to the grace and mercy of God.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: That's good news.
SPEAKER_02: That is good news.
SPEAKER_02: It's according to the grace and mercy of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
SPEAKER_02: Let's never forget that, folks.
SPEAKER_02: We can be so quickly.
SPEAKER_02: How do we navigate the issues of our culture?
SPEAKER_02: Well, how can we navigate through the hostility that I'm experiencing?
SPEAKER_02: And what Peter is saying to these Christians, remember the hope that you have that is anchored in the past.
SPEAKER_02: The mercy and grace of God that is seen in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: The hope that we have is a living hope because our Jesus Christ is alive.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: He's alive.
SPEAKER_02: See, this hope is anchored in the truth that Jesus Christ died for sin and he conquered the grave.
SPEAKER_02: This hope is not baseless, it is grounded and secured by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: And this truth is the reason why we can say we have been born again.
SPEAKER_02: That's why Peter says it.
SPEAKER_02: We've been born again.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus died, our old selves died with him.
SPEAKER_02: He rose from the grave and we follow him in the triumph and victory of the cross and the grave.
SPEAKER_02: We have been born again.
SPEAKER_02: We are right before God, no longer enemies, but we are children of the living God.
SPEAKER_02: Isn't that amazing?
SPEAKER_02: Start again.
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't matter what you've done.
SPEAKER_02: There is no sin that you can imagine that is stronger than the love of God found in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: That's good news, isn't it, folks?
SPEAKER_02: Good news.
SPEAKER_02: And this description of birth helps us understand that this hope is given to us.
SPEAKER_02: It's not earned.
SPEAKER_02: And it also helps us understand the blessings of this hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Now, every single one of you in this room were all born.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: If you didn't know that, we're all born.
SPEAKER_02: And when we were born, we came into this world via agencies and procedures totally outside of our control.
SPEAKER_02: Agreed?
SPEAKER_02: You had no choice.
SPEAKER_02: If I didn't have a choice, maybe this hair color might have been a little bit different.
SPEAKER_02: Okay?
SPEAKER_02: Maybe this physique might have been a little bit more different, but I didn't have a choice.
SPEAKER_02: It was by agencies and procedures totally outside of my control.
SPEAKER_02: We had no involvement.
SPEAKER_02: As with the birth of my four children, they had nothing to do with it.
SPEAKER_02: Nothing to do with it.
SPEAKER_02: They cause a lot of issues, but they had nothing to do with it.
SPEAKER_02: We were created and we have been brought into this world.
SPEAKER_02: See, this rebirth also, being born again according to God's grace and mercy, comes about through the resurrection.
SPEAKER_02: That new life has been won for us.
SPEAKER_02: That the old life is gone, and the hope of heaven, eternal life, a hope that is infinite, is alive because Jesus is alive.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, I want to encourage you.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says through his letter in Ephesians to remember that at one time you were separated from Christ.
SPEAKER_02: At one time you were aliens from the commonwealth and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel.
SPEAKER_02: You were strangers to the promises that God made to his people Israel.
SPEAKER_02: You had no hope because you were without God in this world.
SPEAKER_02: But now in Jesus Christ, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Now you have hope and now you have a home.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: We have been removed from the realm of hopelessness into a realm of living hope because the mercy and grace of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have living hope that is not foundationless.
SPEAKER_02: It is a hope that is anchored in the past according to the mercy of God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: I stand in Christ with my sins forgiven, and I have Christ in me who is the hope of heaven.
SPEAKER_02: So when you are sitting around that table, you remind yourselves of that truth.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever happens now if I speak, and even if I don't speak, I have a living hope that is grounded in the past through the mercy of God, through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and because He is alive, I also have a living hope.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: Number two, it's a living hope that anticipates a glorious future.
SPEAKER_02: Do you see that, verse four?
SPEAKER_02: And this living hope is an inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: We have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, verse three, to an inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: Something is going to be given to you.
SPEAKER_02: You don't earn an inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: An inheritance has been left for you by someone else.
SPEAKER_02: So the living hope we have is that there is an inheritance that won't perish, that won't be defiled, that won't fade away.
SPEAKER_02: It's safe.
SPEAKER_02: Its worth will not diminish.
SPEAKER_02: But it's not like an inheritance that others leave, like normal inheritances.
SPEAKER_02: There is no guarantee that what will be left.
SPEAKER_02: Left will have the values it may have now.
SPEAKER_02: It will fade.
SPEAKER_02: So I was born into a home that didn't have any money.
SPEAKER_02: Sean, on the other hand, was born into a home where there was a bit more money.
SPEAKER_02: Sean used to go on abroad holidays when she was a kid.
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, she lived in a nice little neighborhood.
SPEAKER_02: Anyway.
SPEAKER_02: And I got to marry, and I am waiting for that inheritance.
SPEAKER_02: I've been tempted to look at the bank account to see what might be left.
SPEAKER_02: But they're not serious.
SPEAKER_02: It's really, really funny.
SPEAKER_02: So Sean's women have got a bit of money, they're spending it on holidays.
SPEAKER_02: I'm right, okay, they're not spending, it'll soon be gone.
SPEAKER_02: I'm trying to say them that traveling at their age is not a good thing.
SPEAKER_02: Trying to care for them, trying to look, but the reality is this, they've got so there's something gonna be left for Sean.
SPEAKER_02: And by the fact that we are one flesh, and there will also be a gain from that.
SPEAKER_02: But the reality is this with the stocks and the shares, that might not be there.
SPEAKER_02: It's not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02: It is slowly fading because they're spending it, but it's also slowly fading because the cost of living it's slowly fading because you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_02: You know, he had£40,000 worth of shares in Rolls-Royce and they crashed overnight.
SPEAKER_02: 40 grand gone like that.
SPEAKER_02: That was a sad day for me.
SPEAKER_02: But I know this inheritance that Peter is talking about and reminding of us will never fade.
SPEAKER_02: It's kept in heaven for you where Marth and Russ cannot destroy, and it's kept for you.
SPEAKER_02: That's wonderful, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: This is not this just this open inheritance, it's kept for you.
SPEAKER_02: For you, for you, for you, for you.
SPEAKER_02: It's for you.
SPEAKER_02: God by his mercy has you have this living hope to an inheritance that won't fade, that it's kept in heaven and it's being kept for us, and God Himself, verse 5, is guarding us through faith.
SPEAKER_02: He's guarding us through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
SPEAKER_02: This means, folks, that our faith in Jesus is being guarded, sustained, preserved by the power of God, which means this: you who are in Christ will get there.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: You will get there.
SPEAKER_02: That's been kept for you.
SPEAKER_02: You are being guarded.
SPEAKER_02: This living hope, being born again, you're guarded.
SPEAKER_02: Like I said before, there's no sin that is that you can imagine.
SPEAKER_02: It's not just about what you have done, it's also about what you do and what you could do.
SPEAKER_02: Can never separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: This inheritance is for you.
SPEAKER_02: Being kept for you, and this means because God is guarding it, you will get there.
SPEAKER_02: But we will get there not because of our faith, but rather because of the one in whom we have faith in.
SPEAKER_02: So we have an inheritance that is unfading.
SPEAKER_02: Being kept in heaven for us, and by God's power will get us there.
SPEAKER_02: So the question is, what is this inheritance?
SPEAKER_02: When you look through the Old Testament, when inheritance is mentioned and spoken about for the people of God, it's often related to promised land.
SPEAKER_02: Land of flowing milk and honey, a home, a place where God's people live in the midst of God's presence, a physical land.
SPEAKER_02: And folks, that's the same for us.
SPEAKER_02: In his second letter, Peter says in chapter three, we are awaiting a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
SPEAKER_02: Our inheritance inheritance is this the fullness of our salvation in a new creation, which will be our home, where there will be no pain, no suffering, no hostility, where righteousness dwells and righteousness reigns.
SPEAKER_02: It will be a world that every single one of us wants.
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're a Christian or not.
SPEAKER_02: It's the world that each of us wants.
SPEAKER_02: Yes, folks, we have been saved, and there is a present reality and experience of that, but there is also a future reality of that salvation where we will know the salvation we have in all its fullness.
SPEAKER_02: Paul says we see now dimly.
SPEAKER_02: But when he appears, we will see in full.
SPEAKER_02: What a day.
SPEAKER_02: See, as Lewis says, back in the day when technology was different, now we see black and white.
SPEAKER_02: But in the new creation, we will see in technical.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02: It's 8K now, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02: It'll be something like, you know, whatever K.
SPEAKER_02: Whatever K.
SPEAKER_02: There won't be enough numbers for the clarity and the fullness of what we will experience.
SPEAKER_02: This living hope, which is anchored in the past, that anticipates a wonderful, secure, assort future for us, and as God's people, this is what verse 6 we rejoice in.
SPEAKER_02: Amen.
SPEAKER_02: This is what we rejoice in.
SPEAKER_02: We rejoice in knowing that through faith we stand in Christ with sins forgiven, and that we have Christ in us which gives us a hope for heaven.
SPEAKER_02: I encourage you folks at that table.
SPEAKER_02: You need to remember this that you are loved, you are forgiven, you are treasured, you are protected, you are guarded, and you are guaranteed an inheritance that will be untouched by death, unstained by evil, unimpaired by time, and it is the promise of eternal life.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, we have a hope that is living.
SPEAKER_02: And it's in this Peter says they rejoice.
SPEAKER_02: This is where joy is found.
SPEAKER_02: It's this that when Sean and I walk through and what we walk through with Ella, it's that we find not in the circumstance of Ella's issues, but the joy of the living hope that we have because of Jesus Christ and what is to come, and we hope that for her as well.
SPEAKER_02: And this hope that is anchored in the past, that anticipates the future, also, number three, enables us to live in the present.
SPEAKER_02: It is a hope that is active in the present.
SPEAKER_02: So Peter says, verse six, that it is this living hope that you rejoice in, whilst you walk through the reality of this world that is not your home, which is often characterized and expressed by what does he say?
SPEAKER_02: Various trials.
SPEAKER_02: That's our reality, various trials.
SPEAKER_02: See, the reason why the human psyche needs hope and reason to live is that we have an ingrained desire for something more than this, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: I've done, I can't tell you how many funerals I've done, and in every funeral I will say this to the people sitting there, whether it's a Christian funeral or not, this feels abnormal, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Because it is.
SPEAKER_02: This is not what God intended.
SPEAKER_02: Death is death has come in, seeking to destroy.
SPEAKER_02: This is not a normal part of life.
SPEAKER_02: So the reason why people need hope, because this is his ingrained desire for something more than this, and it's hope that helps us move forward in the midst of that.
SPEAKER_02: What Peter is doing, folks, is reminding us that we have a living hope, a hope that brings joy even in the most difficult of circumstances.
SPEAKER_02: And it's this joy that enables to walk through the grief of trials, it enables us to walk towards whatever day Jesus calls us home or whatever day he returns.
SPEAKER_02: Let me give you an illustration.
SPEAKER_02: It's superficial, but it helps.
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you're working, but just say, you know, you're working and you don't really enjoy your job.
SPEAKER_02: That's life.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02: Crack on.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02: You don't really enjoy it.
SPEAKER_02: You know, can I just say this?
SPEAKER_02: You know, we live in a generation, I don't enjoy my job, I need to move on to the next job.
SPEAKER_02: Because I need to be self-satisfied.
SPEAKER_02: You go back 50 years, people just got a job and they work.
SPEAKER_02: All right, so let's call it what it is.
SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02: All right, just throw down a bit of generational wisdom.
SPEAKER_02: But you're in your job and you don't like it, but you've but you've booked a holiday, a last-minute thing, for four weeks' time.
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
SPEAKER_02: That changes how you do your job, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I hate my job, but in four weeks' time I'm gonna be on the plane straight to Benedome.
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be amazing.
SPEAKER_02: But it changes, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_02: I can get through these four weeks because of the hope that I have in what the holiday will be.
SPEAKER_02: I'll be there on the beach with my pina collada, enjoying the sun, reading the books that I want to read, listening to what I want to listen to, enjoying time with my family.
SPEAKER_02: I'm able to get through this, and then you get to your last day, and it's Friday, and you don't really care.
SPEAKER_02: You're mate, I'll do whatever email, I'll send all the email, I'll do whatever I want because tomorrow I'm getting on Ryanair and I'm going to Benedome.
SPEAKER_02: But you can get through, can't you?
SPEAKER_02: Because what is to come?
SPEAKER_02: It is the joy of having living hope that enables to live even through the grief of trials.
SPEAKER_02: But what I love here is Peter, he then says, but these trials won't last forever, folks.
SPEAKER_02: In this huge royal stow, now for a little while.
SPEAKER_02: That's not to be said unused glibly.
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's just a little while.
SPEAKER_02: No, no, a little while.
SPEAKER_02: In light of eternity, in light of this hope, these trials are just for a little while.
SPEAKER_02: See, it's hard, but it's hopeful.
SPEAKER_02: Because it is, these trials that we're experiencing, this hostility that we may be experiencing, is a short time in relation to eternity.
SPEAKER_02: In 2 Corinthians, Paul says, For this light momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.
SPEAKER_02: Beyond all comparison.
SPEAKER_02: He says these trials are for a little while, and then he also says, verse 7, that these trials prove the genuineness of faith.
SPEAKER_02: So that you'll test the genuineness of your faith more precious as gold that perishes.
SPEAKER_02: Though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory in honor of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, when you go through deep days, realize that it will prove the genuine nature of your faith and will result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus returns.
SPEAKER_02: That's our testimony.
SPEAKER_02: See, it can be hard to comprehend, but as believers, our trials are not a result of fate or impersonal forces.
SPEAKER_02: The trials are from God, and the trials prove the genuineness of our faith.
SPEAKER_02: See, within the New Testament, we see regularly suffering as the road believers must travel to enter the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: You see that in Acts, we see that in Romans.
SPEAKER_02: I haven't got time to read them.
SPEAKER_02: We've seen that in James.
SPEAKER_02: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
SPEAKER_02: And let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
SPEAKER_02: Walk through these trials because one day you are going to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, those who truly believe will persist in faith and continue to trust God when difficulties occur.
SPEAKER_02: So these trials are for a little while.
SPEAKER_02: These trials show the genuineness of faith, and these trials should not be wasted.
SPEAKER_02: Round that table, that's a trial, should not be wasted.
SPEAKER_02: The suffering that you may feel, whether that's a family member or yourself, they should not be wasted.
SPEAKER_02: First and foremost, they should not be wasted because they're not being wasted by God.
SPEAKER_02: Our pain will not be wasted because in and through it, God is completing his work in us, it says.
SPEAKER_02: God is pruning us.
SPEAKER_02: Trials give us the opportunity to see and hold on to the living hope that we have.
SPEAKER_02: They give us the opportunity to rejoice in the truth of what God has done for us in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Don't waste them.
SPEAKER_02: They're an opportunity for you to get on your knees and to hold on to this living hope.
SPEAKER_02: See, our response to trials as Christians when we rejoice in the midst of them is noticed, and people ask questions as well.
SPEAKER_02: What is this hope you have?
SPEAKER_02: In some way, they are asking, how can you have joy and peace in this?
SPEAKER_02: I heard a story about a man, and with this I'll come to a close.
SPEAKER_02: I heard a story about a Christian man in hospital.
SPEAKER_02: This man was called Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Clark, and he was riddled with cancer.
SPEAKER_02: He was a Christian man, and whilst he was there in the hospital, and these nurses came, and this one particular nurse was it was her first time to care for Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Clark on duty.
SPEAKER_02: And when she went in, Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Clark, he was really, really ill, but he was singing and he was sharing about Jesus, and she came out and she wrote on his notes at the bottom of his pet this morning.
SPEAKER_02: Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Clark is inappropriately joyful.
SPEAKER_02: Inappropriately joyful.
SPEAKER_02: Reminds me of an elder of our church.
SPEAKER_02: He was 96, and Ron loved the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: And he'd been an elder of a previous church that had closed.
SPEAKER_02: We arrived and replanted a church in 2009.
SPEAKER_02: He was 89 at the time, and there were 15 people by God's grace.
SPEAKER_02: Jesus has done amazing things.
SPEAKER_02: And uh, I was in hospital with him, and as he was dying, he was listening to his music, we were singing hymns, I was reading psalms, he was full of joy, he was sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_02: And the doctor pulled me aside and said, Steve, people don't die like this.
SPEAKER_02: People don't die like this.
SPEAKER_02: What was it about Mr.
SPEAKER_02: Clark and Ron Martin?
SPEAKER_02: They were inappropriately joyful according to the culture.
SPEAKER_02: It was the living hope that they have in Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Living hope.
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't wasted.
SPEAKER_02: This joy is not in the trial.
SPEAKER_02: This joy is in the living hope that enables us to walk through the grief of trial.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, what is your default in trials and grief?
SPEAKER_02: Where do you put your hope?
SPEAKER_02: See, one of the greatest pains of being a pastor is seeing people walk through trials and tribulations.
SPEAKER_02: It's brutal.
SPEAKER_02: Because you want to do everything to help them.
SPEAKER_02: And nine times out of ten, you can't you can't.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying that they don't trust the Lord.
SPEAKER_02: But it's brutal when people walk away through trials and tribulations.
SPEAKER_02: But the flip side, one of the greatest encouragements is seeing people hold on to the living hope that they have in the midst of the trials and the suffering.
SPEAKER_02: And right at the end, verse 13, in light of this, Paul says, therefore, in light of this living hope that is anchored in the past and anticipate a glorious future that is active in the present.
SPEAKER_02: He says, verse 13, prepare your minds for action.
SPEAKER_02: Be sober-minded and set your hope fully on the grace to come.
SPEAKER_02: Prepare your minds for action.
SPEAKER_02: What that means is lift up your loins, get ready.
SPEAKER_02: This is what you are facing, folks.
SPEAKER_02: You need to prepare your minds for action.
SPEAKER_02: You need to be sober-minded, you need to think rightly regarding God, yourself, in light of his living hope, and reality.
SPEAKER_02: This is the world that we are living in.
SPEAKER_02: Our temptation is let's just be a holy huddle and live here forever.
SPEAKER_02: Because it'll be wonderful.
SPEAKER_02: No.
SPEAKER_02: Be sober minded about the reality and set your hope fully on the grace to the come.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, put all your eggs into that basket.
SPEAKER_02: That basket.
SPEAKER_02: Verse 8, I think he encourages us.
SPEAKER_02: I think it's an exhortation, verse 13.
SPEAKER_02: I think it's verse 8.
SPEAKER_02: There's a little encouragement.
SPEAKER_02: So many of us are walking through trials and tribulations and in the hostility of the world, which will increase, it's going to become hard and difficult.
SPEAKER_02: And at times, even the hope of the gospel can feel like it's being overshadowed by the trial.
SPEAKER_02: And it will bring doubt and it'll bring concern and it'll bring Christians like, do I believe this?
SPEAKER_02: Peter, I think, is encouraging them and encouraging us, verse 8, to show how that in their trials God is guarding their face.
SPEAKER_02: Faith, read it with me.
SPEAKER_02: Though you have not seen him, you love him.
SPEAKER_02: Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
SPEAKER_02: Folks, though you haven't seen him, you love him.
SPEAKER_02: The one who died and rose again.
SPEAKER_02: Though you do not now see him, you, because of the work of the Spirit in your life and this living hope that you've been born again, which let me remind you had nothing to do with you.
SPEAKER_02: Everything to do with him.
SPEAKER_02: Though you do not now see him, you believe in him, and you believe with joy that is inexpressible, and Jesus is glorified.
SPEAKER_02: And one day, the outcome of faith will be fully realized, which will be the salvation in all its fullness of our souls.
SPEAKER_02: We have a hope that is anchored in the past, anticipates a glorious future, and is active in the present.
SPEAKER_02: And there is a day coming soon when Jesus, who is the Son, will appear and the clouds will be driven away.
SPEAKER_02: And the mysteries of this life will then all be made clear, and we will rest in the judgment of that day.
SPEAKER_02: What do you do when you're down?
SPEAKER_02: What do you do when you're sad?
SPEAKER_02: What do you do when you're breaking inside?
SPEAKER_02: When there are dark clouds all day and you can't seem to pray and you just want to run and hide.
SPEAKER_02: You must believe.
SPEAKER_02: You must believe even when you cannot see.
SPEAKER_02: See, you believe in the sun when it doesn't shine, and you believe in the songs when they don't rhyme, so believe in your God and rest in his love.
SPEAKER_02: Because he is too wise to act as a fool, he is too kind to do anything cruel, and he is too great to make a mistake.
SPEAKER_02: Brothers and sisters, we have been born again to a living hope in and through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_02: You have a hope that is living.
SPEAKER_02: Hold on to that in the hostility.
SPEAKER_02: And as we look at what that looks like in the midst of evangelism, in the midst of relationships, in the midst of engaging in the culture that we find ourselves in, that's the foundation.
SPEAKER_02: Living hope that's found in Christ.