WEBVTT 00:00:01.280 --> 00:00:04.080 Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast. 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:12.480 We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:14.560 Thanks for joining us today. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:16.320 Let's pray, Church. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:20.559 Father, we thank you. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:26.640 God for the relevance of that truth, that Jesus is alive now. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:34.880 Interceding on our behalf, even at this very moment, Lord. 00:00:36.399 --> 00:00:45.039 God, I give you praise because we have such assurance of that truth because of the death and resurrection of your son. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:49.280 And God, there's so much uncertainty in this world. 00:00:49.520 --> 00:00:54.560 There's so much suffering, there's so much hurt, there's so much pain, so many tears to cry. 00:00:55.679 --> 00:01:04.400 And yet, Father, we have this sure hope that Jesus is reigning, He's on His throne, that nothing happens apart from His hand. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:11.760 And God, I thank you that in a world that is so shaky, God, we have the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.200 God, not only that, we have the promise. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:20.879 Lord, that at this very moment, as you open up your word, God, you want to speak to us, you want to work in us. 00:01:21.519 --> 00:01:24.879 God, that as you speak, the powers of darkness flee. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:32.239 God, that Satan has no hope of any victory when your word is resounding in our ears. 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:36.719 God, that the greatest evil will turn out for good for those who love you. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:43.840 And so, God, we give you praise as we open up your word for the assurance we have, Lord, that you want to change our lives. 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:46.959 As we see the glory of your son. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:49.040 And so, God, do just that. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:53.120 God, even now, would you find in this room hearts that are ready to hear you? 00:01:54.079 --> 00:02:00.239 God, ready to place our hope and our trust in you in a world that is so unfirm. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:02.000 And so, God, we commit ourselves to you. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:03.280 We pray this in the name of your son. 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:04.239 Amen. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:06.159 Amen. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:08.879 You guys can grab your seat. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:18.000 So good to worship with you this morning, to lift high in the name of Jesus Christ, the only firm foundation in such an uncertain world. 00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:19.120 You guys can grab your Bibles. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:26.000 I hope that you have a copy of God's Word in you, whether paper or digital, because I have nothing good to say to you this morning if it's not from God's Word. 00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:30.400 We're gonna be in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 to 9. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:37.520 I'm sure you woke up this morning and noticed something markedly different about this morning than other mornings. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:39.199 It was a lot colder. 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:51.680 And I was gonna warn you in this message, anyways, and God decided to take the burden off my shoulders and to warn you just through the weather, but I wanted you to know that summer's coming to a close. 00:02:51.919 --> 00:02:53.680 Almost officially over. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.800 We're starting to dress in warmer layers. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:00.240 We're preparing ourselves for the coming of winter. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:04.319 And we're reminded again that the seasons are constantly changing. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:08.240 They're predictably changing, but it surprises us every time, doesn't it? 00:03:08.960 --> 00:03:12.639 The summer comes to an end, and it's always a shock how fast it went. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:17.759 And as the seasons change, I'm reminded that life changes often, doesn't it? 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.000 Not in such a predictable fashion often. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:33.520 We know when seasons will end, we know when seasons will begin, and sometimes we get to squeeze a little bit more summer heat out of summer, a little bit less of the cold winter out of winter, but for the most part, the seasons are predictable. 00:03:33.680 --> 00:03:44.159 But as you think about your life, in the same way we have seasons of high highs and seasons of low lows, but in many ways, life is completely unpredictable. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:48.159 I'm sure in your life there have been times where everything's going great. 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:50.639 Seems like sunny days ahead. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:03:58.240 And then in a moment, it can be a phone call, it could be a text message, your world can come crumbling down. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:05.599 And you can barrel roll down the mountain of high highs into the valley of low lows. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:07.759 And this can happen in a moment. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:16.399 My question for you this morning, and as we open up 1 Peter, is this are you prepared for the lowest low of your life? 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.240 I wonder if you ever find your mind drifting to what life would be like. 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:23.439 Maybe if some sort of suffering were to enter into your life. 00:04:23.519 --> 00:04:33.120 Maybe it was the sickness of a family member or the loss of your job or something to do with your children, but you just wonder, man, I'm so thankful, you know, that this is here, but if this wasn't here, I wonder what life would be like. 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:39.920 I wonder how I would feel in the lowest low of my life, in the deepest valley of suffering. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:44.079 I wonder how what I would do in that moment. 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.000 Often our response is surprise, isn't it? 00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:50.639 Whenever suffering comes in our life, often we're surprised. 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:57.839 And really, I think the probably the most uh the reaction we have most often is this reaction of why me, God? 00:04:58.480 --> 00:05:00.959 Like, God, why would you allow this thing to come into my life? 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:02.560 Things were going so well. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:10.240 My life was going so well, and now this thing's in my life, and I just can't understand, God, why you'd allow this thing to happen. 00:05:10.560 --> 00:05:19.600 And we compare our plan for our life to God's plan and the way that our life is going, and look at God and ask this question why could How could you ever let this happen, God? 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:28.959 Well, the church that Peter was writing to in 1 Peter faced this same temptation, this temptation to look at the suffering in their life and say, Why me? 00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:41.920 And yet, as Peter writes to them, and especially in chapter 1, praises them for the ways that they're suffering in the midst of their trials, in the midst of their valleys, we find that that doesn't have to be the response. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:52.160 In fact, Peter writes to the church, and look what he says in verse 3 to these people who are suffering, these people who are perhaps in the deepest valley of their life, the lowest low of their life. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:53.199 Look what Peter says. 00:05:53.360 --> 00:05:55.279 He says, Blessed be the God. 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:57.360 Interesting words. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:03.439 Blessed, blessed, praise be to the God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:09.199 You see in your text there in verse three a little exclamation mark in the end of that sentence. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:22.720 I wonder if the church read these words of Peter in the midst of their suffering, in the lowest low of their life, in the deepest valley where they couldn't understand how they could go on in life, and heard Peter say, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:26.160 And I wonder if they thought maybe Peter's reading the room wrong. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:29.680 You know, Peter kind of had this reputation, didn't he, of putting his foot in his mouth. 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:31.600 I don't know if you know anyone like that in your life. 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:34.079 You know, they're just not able to read the room. 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:35.759 Like my second daughter's a little bit like that. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:37.759 Like it can be tyranny in the house. 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:47.360 Everybody's crying, dad's frustrated, mom's frustrated, but there's my second daughter with the light of heaven shining down on her in her own little world. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:48.560 Nothing's bothering her. 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:49.920 She's happy as a clamp. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:57.040 This is the person who maybe laughs at a funeral or cries at the funny part of the movie. 00:06:57.600 --> 00:06:59.279 These people just don't read the room right. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:06.319 And as I look at Peter's words here in verse 3 to a suffering church, really, the whole book of 1 Peter is about suffering. 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:11.199 It's really a manual on how to suffer in this world that is filled with reasons to suffer. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:15.040 It's interesting that he starts with this praise to God. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:19.360 But God has a purpose for us this morning through his word. 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:30.639 He wants to show us that in the deepest, darkest moment of our life, if we're gripped by the gospel, we can't help but have hope. 00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.040 Christian, this is your reality. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:48.560 If you are in Christ, if you are a believer of the gospel, if you are driven by the gospel, if you are a Christian, a follower of Christ, you've believed in the gospel, the good news of all that has been accomplished for you by Jesus' death and resurrection. 00:07:48.639 --> 00:08:02.720 And I want you to know this truth that if you believe in the gospel, when that gospel is the ruler and king of your heart, you cannot help but to have hope, even in the darkest, deepest valleys of your life. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:08.079 Hope oozes out of the heart of the believer no matter the circumstances. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.519 Well, I want to have this hope. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:13.680 I'm sure you want to have this hope. 00:08:14.720 --> 00:08:21.120 It doesn't pass me that it's very possible that in this moment, right now, you feel like you're in the darkest moment of your life. 00:08:21.680 --> 00:08:23.680 You feel like you're in the deepest valley. 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:28.560 And you look at the things that are happening in your life, and you just can't understand how they could ever happen. 00:08:29.680 --> 00:08:33.440 In this moment, I want you to know that God wants us to have hope. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:36.879 God doesn't delight in hopefulness, hopelessness. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:42.559 God delights in this moment to give us the hope that can only come from a heart that's gripped in the gospel. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:44.240 So, Spirit, do it in our midst. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:45.200 Do it in our midst. 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:46.000 Want to have hope. 00:08:46.159 --> 00:08:50.879 Well, the first thing we need to do if we have hope, Peter's teaching us this morning, is that we need to look up at God. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:58.000 If you don't want to have a heart that drips with hope, that oozes hope because it's gripped with the gospel, you need to look up at God. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.200 Look what per what Peter says after this comment in verse 3. 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:08.799 He says that he gives us praise to God according to his great mercy. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:15.120 He has caused us to be born again, hear these words, church, to a living hope. 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:17.519 To a living hope. 00:09:17.759 --> 00:09:29.360 And what Peter is doing in this very moment is pointing the eyes, our eyes, as we suffer in this world, filled with darkness and valleys and suffering, he's pointing our eyes to the source of hope. 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:37.360 What God's doing this morning is saying to each one of you, I want you to have hope, and I'm gonna show you the exact place to find it. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:38.879 Here's the goods. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:41.120 If you want hope, look here. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:49.679 Peter says, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope. 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:55.120 What Peter says is that if you're in Christ, if you place your faith in Christ, there's been this blood transfusion. 00:09:55.679 --> 00:10:10.399 Out of your body has been taken the hopeless blood of worldliness, of unbelief, and transfused into you has been this new life, this new blood that drips hopefulness. 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:12.080 It's a living hope. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:17.440 Peter says we've been born again to this work, this living hope. 00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:19.039 Well, what's a living hope? 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.039 What does it mean for hope to be living? 00:10:21.200 --> 00:10:23.919 Well, I think it means two things primarily. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:32.799 The first that it means, and I don't want to get too deep on you, you're gonna think, oh wow, this pastor, he's really smart when I say this, but in order for our hope to be living, it means that our hope isn't dead. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:34.639 That's pretty profound, isn't it? 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:36.080 That's pretty deep. 00:10:36.320 --> 00:10:40.240 But for hope to be living, it means that hope must not be dead. 00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:47.360 And what Peter reminds us by pointing our eyes to a living hope is that in this world there are many dead hopes. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:10:51.200 See, a living hope, what Peter says, is a hope that's alive. 00:10:51.360 --> 00:10:54.399 It's a hope that's certain, it's a hope that's sure. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:11:01.200 But contrasted to that are many hopes in this world that are foundationless, that are not sure. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:03.759 They're dead hopes. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:11.919 And in this life, we may be tempted to place our feet, try to find a firm foundation on dead hopes. 00:11:12.159 --> 00:11:16.559 Well, you think what might be some of the dead hopes that I might place my trust and faith in? 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:18.799 Well, the first is the dead hope of determination. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:22.000 See, when suffering comes into some of our lives, you know what we do? 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:23.759 We decide we're better than this. 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:30.399 We're not gonna let this suffering, we're not gonna let this valley get us down, and so through grit, we just decide we're gonna get ourselves out of it. 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:32.000 Money troubles, no problem. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:33.440 I'm just gonna work more. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:37.919 Kids aren't following the Lord, that's no problem. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:42.159 I'm just gonna make them read their Bible, I'm gonna drag him to church, I'll get this kid saved. 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:44.799 Relationship problems. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:53.919 We think that if we just work hard enough, we can change this person's perspective or life or character. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:12:02.000 You know what we find when we face our trials and sufferings and valleys with the dead hope of determination? 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:05.279 We find that there are problems in life that can be fixed. 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:08.080 And there are problems in life that can't be fixed, aren't there? 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:14.639 There are problems that are so much bigger than you that you stand before them and you just are without hope. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:24.799 There is nothing that you can do to even try to remove your this sickness from you, to even try to change this person, to even try to change your boss. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:26.240 It's impossible. 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:29.039 It's a problem that's bigger than you. 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:36.559 And so determination becomes a dead hope, but that's not the only dead hope we might place our feet on in the midst of suffering and trial. 00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:40.879 We might also place our feet, try to find a firm foundation on the dead hope of distraction. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:52.320 And so, some of us, suffering comes into our life, trial enters into our life, we hear news that is horrible, and we can't stop thinking about it. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.519 And so, what we do in that moment is we just start distracting ourselves. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.000 We we put on a show and it's all good while we're watching the show. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:08.799 You know, we can watch a show, maybe laugh and get ourselves sucked into a plot of a movie, or we can read a book and distract ourselves for the time from our life and really how it's not going the way that we want it to. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:13.600 We can hang out with people and go to parties and do all these things to distract ourselves. 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:15.600 But you know what happens when you distract yourself? 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:21.679 Well, then in the moments where there's nothing to distract you, those thoughts they start coming back into your head again, don't they? 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.279 And in many ways, when we're suffering, we have no control over it. 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:35.840 It seems like we're trying to get those thoughts out, we're trying to just focus on other things, we're trying to just ignore the problem, but we can, it's just hopeless because then we close our eyes at night, and in order to sleep, you really have to do nothing. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:37.120 You know, again, that's pretty deep. 00:13:37.200 --> 00:13:39.279 I don't want to get too deep on you, but you have to do nothing. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:41.440 And in that moment, when you try to sleep, what happens? 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:44.240 Well, these thoughts start trickling into your head. 00:13:44.799 --> 00:13:58.080 And I'm convinced that for so many of us, our sleeplessness is really a problem of hopelessness as we mull over the situation time and time again that we're in and wonder, try to think of ways that we could get out of it. 00:13:58.720 --> 00:14:01.919 And then during the day, distract ourselves so that we don't think about it. 00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:05.200 Determination is a dead hope, distraction is a dead hope. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:15.200 But many of us also struggle in our times of trial and temptation by putting our feet on the dead hope of deliverance. 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:16.960 And this one can be very spiritual. 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:18.399 It can be a very spiritual hope. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:24.960 See, some of us cloud this uh dead hope in our suffering in this kind of spiritual language. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.440 We when suffering comes into our life, we immediately turn to the Lord in prayer. 00:14:29.840 --> 00:14:35.759 But our hope in the suffering is not that God's will would be done, like Jesus taught us to pray. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.559 Our hope in suffering is that God would take us out of it. 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:43.600 And so something happens in our life and we're brought into that valley, and our immediate response is to turn to God, and that's good. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:45.600 But our first prayer is, God, take me out of this. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.159 Just whatever you do, take me out of it. 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:51.759 Deliver me from this suffering, deliver me from this trial. 00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:56.480 And we have our hopes on God, but it's really this earthly deliverance. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:03.360 And then what happens is that for some grander purpose that we can't understand, God keeps us in that suffering, and we blame God. 00:15:03.519 --> 00:15:04.799 God, how could you do this to me? 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:06.320 How could you not deliver me? 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:07.360 I trusted you. 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:12.000 You said that faith could move mountains, and I believed in you, and you didn't do anything. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:22.960 Because God doesn't want us, our hope even to be in our own ability to deliver ourselves or even in temporary deliverance on this earth. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:27.759 God's calling our hope to a better thing, a greater thing. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:34.080 In contrast to these dead hopes, Peter says our hope is living. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:38.000 Our hope is living because it's not dead, but there's also another reason that our hope is living. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:40.799 Our hope is living because our hope is in a person. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:42.720 You see it there in the text in verse 3. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:45.600 He says, He's caused us to be born again to a living hope. 00:15:45.759 --> 00:15:52.960 Spirit, give us this hope, but look what he says through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:16:00.080 I love that we sang these words this morning, but I find that we can sing them without believing them in our heart of hearts. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:02.159 These words that Jesus is alive. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:05.039 Church, think about this for a moment. 00:16:05.360 --> 00:16:14.080 In this very moment, Jesus is alive, physically reigning in heaven. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:16.639 This is who Jesus is. 00:16:16.879 --> 00:16:20.240 He died and he rose again with a new resurrected body. 00:16:20.399 --> 00:16:23.679 Do you remember in the Gospels that his body was touched? 00:16:23.840 --> 00:16:25.919 Thomas stuck his finger in the wounds. 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:33.519 Remember in the Gospels that Jesus sat with the disciples and ate his physical body. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:35.600 And then what happened in the book of Acts? 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:45.759 After Jesus returned to them and commissioned them to their work, he physically ascended to heaven, where now Jesus physically reigns. 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:54.960 That's a truth that we can kind of intellectually ascend to without believing in the depth of our heart. 00:16:55.679 --> 00:16:57.200 Church, I need to ask you this right now. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:01.279 Do you believe that Jesus at this very moment is alive? 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:09.200 I'm talking physically alive in heaven, reigning now, sitting at the right hand of the Father. 00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.319 This is the testimony of Scripture. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.839 The tomb that was once full is now empty. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:19.519 The door that was once closed is now rolled open. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:24.640 The hands of Jesus that were once woundless are now scarred by the nails. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:30.400 His lungs that were once collapsed now breathed. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:31.759 Life. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:36.079 Evil that was once reigning is now defeated. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:39.680 Death that was once sure is defeated. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:44.640 Pain that once stung us is gone. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:47.440 So that your hope can be living. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:50.720 Because Jesus is resurrected, you have a living hope. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.759 It is alive in heaven for you. 00:17:53.920 --> 00:18:03.920 And for God is calling us this morning to take our eyes off these dead hopes, the dead hopes of determination and deliverance and distraction and place them on a living hope. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:06.319 This is really the battle of life. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:14.559 To take our feet off the foundationless hopes of this world and to place them on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. 00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:24.319 Off of the foundationless hope that money could possibly deliver you from your situation, onto the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. 00:18:25.279 --> 00:18:41.920 Off of the foundationless hope that if that person has just changed, if if your boss would just change, or maybe you got a new boss, or or your husband or wife would just change, then your life would truly be happy, then you truly find satisfaction, and on to the firm foundation of the living hope that is in Jesus Christ. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.039 There's no other firm foundation, there's no other sure hope. 00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:46.880 Every other hope is a dead hope. 00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:51.759 Because Jesus is alive, our hope is living, it is sure. 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:53.440 Our hope is breathing. 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:57.200 Our hope is interceding at this very moment for us. 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:58.880 It's a living hope. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:02.240 Think about Stephen in the book of Mart in the book of Acts. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:03.839 Stephen a martyr, you remember him? 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:06.400 Stephen was preaching the gospel. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:09.039 And they turned on him, didn't they? 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:16.400 And they quickly came to realize that they could grab Stephen and take him out of the city. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:20.079 But they couldn't grab the hope that Stephen had and take it out of him. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:28.559 They quickly realized that they could take Stephen's life stone after stone they would throw at him, but they realized that they could not take his hope from him. 00:19:29.359 --> 00:19:30.880 Steven's hope couldn't be taken from him. 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:31.359 Why? 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:32.319 What's in the text? 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:37.440 Because in the moment that Stephen's dying, he looks up to heaven and sees her in heaven. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:42.319 Jesus stands there where he physically raised physically alive. 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:48.400 And in that moment, Stephen's filled with a living hope and dies in the lowest moment of his life. 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:50.319 I can't imagine he had any worse days than that. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:55.680 He dies with a living hope that he is going first to heaven. 00:19:56.160 --> 00:19:57.440 All because of where he looked. 00:19:58.160 --> 00:19:59.839 He looked up with a living hope. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:02.319 How do we get this hope? 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:08.480 I mean, I can't imagine that I could interview anyone in here who I said, you want a hope that's sure, who would say, No, I'm not really interested in that. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:09.200 We want this hope. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:10.799 Well, look, it's right in the text. 00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:12.880 God tells us how to get this hope. 00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:15.920 He says that we have this hope according to his great mercy. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.839 He says, He has caused us to be born again. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.039 God is the source of this hope. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:30.480 And God fills our hearts with this hope through a new spiritual birth, Peter says. 00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:33.119 This is a spiritual birth that we're told right here. 00:20:33.279 --> 00:20:34.079 Look at it in the text. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:36.640 It says, He has caused us. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:41.680 It's a spiritual birth that's initiated and caused by God. 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:50.400 And what happens when you are born again by the cause and initiation of God is you are born to a new spiritual reality. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:57.200 Just as you have one physical birth, so in Christ you have one spiritual birth. 00:20:57.519 --> 00:20:59.680 So that the old is done away with. 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:05.119 And now the scriptures say, you are a new transformation, you are a new creation. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:07.519 You're filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:08.960 You're a new person. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:15.599 The Spirit of God now living inside of you because you have experienced this new birth. 00:21:16.319 --> 00:21:21.759 You once were a children of wrath, but you have been born again, so that now you are a child of God. 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.079 You once were a sinner, but you have been born again, so that now you are a saint. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:33.599 You once were condemned, but you have been born again, so that now your identity is as of one who is cleansed of all their sin. 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:39.279 All of this comes by the new birth that Peter tells us God causes. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:50.079 And this living hope that we're seeking after this morning, this firm foundation we're seeking to place our feet onto, can only come through the new birth that God causes. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:57.519 And so we know that in our physical birth, we had no part to play with it in it. 00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:58.880 We didn't do anything. 00:21:59.359 --> 00:21:59.759 We don't remember. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.240 In fact, I talked to my kids this week because I was curious. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:05.279 One of my kids has an incredible memory, so it puts me ashamed. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:06.319 She definitely didn't get it from me. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:09.519 And I asked her, I I said, Do you remember being born? 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:11.119 And she said, Yes. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:14.880 And I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna investigate this part because I don't really believe it. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.960 And so I started investigating, asking, like, do you really remember coming at a mama's belly? 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:24.319 And she looked at me with a weirdest look on her face, like, what are you even talking about? 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:31.519 Well it's true in her case, it's true in our case, that none of us had any part to play in our physical birth. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:42.559 And what the scriptures teach is that it's the same about our spiritual birth, so that Jesus says this to Nicodemus Jesus, do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. 00:22:43.359 --> 00:22:48.640 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear it sounds, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:52.640 So it is with everyone who is born here of God. 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:17.519 Now, even as I say this, I'm very aware that in this room there are probably many who struggle with this theology that it is God who does the work of our spiritual birth, that in order to be born again, it needs to be a work of God. 00:23:18.000 --> 00:23:35.119 In fact, this has been a debate that has raged in the church for 2,000 years now, where people have debated is God sovereign over our salvation so that salvation is a work that he does, or is man responsible for his salvation, so that in order to be saved, man needs to place their faith in him. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:39.119 For thousands of years this debate has raged. 00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:46.160 Is it God who chooses us to be saved, or is it us who chooses God to be saved? 00:23:46.559 --> 00:23:49.680 Is it our faith in repentance that leads to eternal life? 00:23:49.839 --> 00:23:53.839 Or is it is it the fact that we were elected before the foundation of the world? 00:23:54.079 --> 00:24:01.839 Two thousand years of church debate have raged over this question, and this morning I want to stand as a pulpit to tell you I have the answer to those questions. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:04.880 Is it God who chose us or after chose him? 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:08.240 Is it God's election or our faith in repentance? 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.039 Is it God's sovereignty or our responsibility? 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:13.759 And my answer to those questions is yes. 00:24:14.400 --> 00:24:16.000 Is that satisfying to you? 00:24:16.799 --> 00:24:18.480 Well, that's what the scriptures say. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.640 See, we don't have to choose between these two things because the scriptures don't. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:30.960 In fact, even in this verse, Peter's very content to say that our new birth is caused by God in verse 3. 00:24:31.200 --> 00:24:32.640 He's caused us to be born again. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:33.839 But then look at verse 9. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:35.680 Look what else Peter's content to say. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:40.640 He said he says he said that you obtained the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul. 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:44.000 Peter is trying to stand on both sides of these debates. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.200 It's both God's sovereignty and human responsibility. 00:24:47.359 --> 00:24:49.759 It's both God's choosing and our choosing. 00:24:49.920 --> 00:24:53.440 It's both God's election and our faith and repentance. 00:24:53.759 --> 00:25:01.599 Both of these things, by a mystery of God that I don't think we can completely understand, are held up in scripture as true. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:08.160 I love the way that one pastor explicit is incredibly helpful. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:09.920 Donald Gray Barnes has these. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:19.920 He says that salvation is really like a man we're standing in a room with a bunch of doors, and over one of the doors says, Whomever so believe shall receive eternal life. 00:25:20.559 --> 00:25:25.519 So he walks through that door and he looks over on the other side as he passes through the door and he finds another banner. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:27.680 It says chosen before the foundation of the world. 00:25:28.079 --> 00:25:31.119 And you need to know, Christian, that your entrance into heaven will be the same. 00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:38.720 But on the one side, it will say that you chose Christ, and on the other side, it will say that you were chosen before the foundation of the world. 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:40.400 Both of these things are true. 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:41.680 They have to be, don't they? 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:50.240 See, if God was only sovereign, then he would be dragging people without faith into heaven, like we do our kids out of the store when they're embarrassing us and yelling. 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:52.400 And yet we don't know any Christians who are like that. 00:25:52.480 --> 00:25:57.200 Like, have you ever met a Christian who's like, I really don't want to be a Christian, but here I am? 00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:58.640 That's absurd. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:02.240 It's not like God is sovereign without man's responsibility. 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:04.480 But I also think the other can't be true. 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:11.119 Like, it's not like people are gonna get to heaven and God's like, I really didn't want to save this guy, but he put his faith in me, so here he is. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:13.759 Both these things are true. 00:26:14.319 --> 00:26:18.240 God is both sovereign over salvation and we're responsible for it. 00:26:19.119 --> 00:26:21.359 Now don't ask me any other questions about that. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:25.839 Because understanding the tension between those things is a lifelong journey. 00:26:26.079 --> 00:26:30.640 And I say that jokingly because I do believe that we can come to a deeper understanding of these things. 00:26:30.960 --> 00:26:38.640 And I do believe that there are you can study this for your whole life and never begin to even scratch the surface of the revelation that God has given to us concerning him. 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:49.839 But I do say that to say that we require a childlike faith to say that God can say, God can say two things that in our mind we can't make sense of, but they can be true. 00:26:50.400 --> 00:26:52.720 Because you're not God, and God is. 00:26:53.680 --> 00:26:58.880 And the ways that God works are mysterious to us because we are his creature and he is the creator. 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:05.920 Well, the response to this theology that God is sovereign and salvation is often then, well, how could God choose some and not others? 00:27:06.400 --> 00:27:11.279 That seems kind of unfair, right, for us to stand in here and if you're in Christ to say, you know, God chose me. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:12.960 I'm something special. 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.720 I must be something wonderful because God chose me. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:19.519 And I want to just take that thinking out of your mind, okay? 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:21.680 It has nothing to do with you. 00:27:21.839 --> 00:27:24.079 Your salvation is not by your merit. 00:27:24.160 --> 00:27:25.039 It's actually in this text. 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:27.839 You know what God's standard for his choosing will is? 00:27:28.000 --> 00:27:29.759 You know what God's standard for election is? 00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:31.599 Look at it in the text with me in verse 3. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:33.680 It's his great mercy. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.680 It's his great mercy. 00:27:35.920 --> 00:27:39.359 If God were to save according to merit, then nobody would be saved. 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:45.519 Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, says that our righteousness is like filthy rags when it comes to God's choosing. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:47.839 He doesn't take our righteousness into account. 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:55.039 In fact, you could probably make an argument, and Paul does this in 1 Corinthians, that he chooses the weak in order that his name may be glorified. 00:27:55.519 --> 00:28:00.400 It's because of his mercy that we are elected to salvation. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:05.599 And I wonder if you're here this morning and you're questioning the mercy of God. 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:15.279 You know in this moment your own sinfulness, you know in this moment the holiness of God, and you question, could God ever forgive me for the things I've done? 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:18.160 Could he ever forgive me for the depth of my sin? 00:28:18.400 --> 00:28:23.920 For the thoughts that I've thought, for the actions that I've pursued, for the ways that I've disobeyed and dishonored him. 00:28:24.640 --> 00:28:28.160 And I need you to look at this word because there's so much hope in it. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:31.440 That we're not born again according to regular mercy. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:32.559 Do you see it here? 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:36.160 We're born again according to his great mercy. 00:28:36.880 --> 00:28:39.599 Church, his mercy is an infinite mercy. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:44.559 No matter how deep your sin is, his mercy goes deeper still. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:48.160 I love what Martin Lowe Jones writes about this. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.799 It's so helpful, and it's gonna come up on the screen. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:58.799 It says, I've met men sometimes who have said to me that they know they are beyond hope, that they have sunk so far into sin and iniquity that nothing can save them. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:14.319 My reply is just this that the gifts of God are infinite gifts, and that were you ten times worse than you already were, already are, God could still save you and do so without realizing that his resources had been called upon at all. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:19.759 Church, God's mercy is so much greater than your sinfulness, it's so much deeper than your sinfulness. 00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:21.519 And so look up at God. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.079 Look up at God and find a source of living hope. 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:30.799 But the next thing that Peter calls us to, if we're to have hope, is to look forward to what's coming. 00:29:31.039 --> 00:29:33.279 We look up at God and then we look forward to what's coming. 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:34.400 And so look at verse 4. 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:43.759 He says that we look to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. 00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:52.319 Now, this inheritance language is incredibly meaningful for anyone who's familiar with the Old Testament, especially for the audience that Peter is writing to. 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:57.839 For them to hear that they have an inheritance is incredibly significant. 00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:04.000 Look up at verse one with me and look at how Peter defines the church that he's writing to. 00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:10.240 It says in verse one, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles. 00:30:11.519 --> 00:30:14.640 Peter identifies this church as exiles. 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:26.640 And immediately in the mind of this church, when they when they heard that the apostle Peter is looking at us as though we are exiles, their mind would go to the Old Testament, to the two times in the history of God's people where they were exiled from the land. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:30.640 To be the exile is to be taken out of the land that God had promised you. 00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:34.319 It is to be a stranger to your homeland, it's to be a foreigner. 00:30:34.480 --> 00:30:38.319 Some other uh translations actually say that this is to be an alien. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:39.839 And so go home and say that. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:42.799 I'm sure they will make the front uh page of the newspaper. 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:45.519 Local pastor at New Market says we're all aliens. 00:30:45.759 --> 00:30:47.440 Well, that's what the scriptures say. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:51.599 What Peter is saying really is that you are a stranger in this world. 00:30:51.920 --> 00:30:54.160 This is not your home. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:58.880 And the people of God understood that in the exile. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:04.319 They stood outside the land, looking in, understanding that all of God's blessing was in that land. 00:31:04.480 --> 00:31:10.720 And they longed to be back in the land where God's promise would be given to them and delivered to them. 00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:30.559 Not only would they think that, anyway, someone who is familiar with the Old Testament scripture would recognize that the word that Peter uses here for exile in the Greek version of the Old Testament is the same word that Abraham uses in Genesis 23, verse 4. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:36.319 And in Genesis 23, verse 4, after the death of Sarah, Abraham has been promised the land. 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:37.839 And he's on a journey. 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:39.519 He has no idea how long it'll take. 00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:44.559 He's just trusting faithfully in God's promise that he's going to be given the land that was promised to him. 00:31:44.799 --> 00:31:53.279 And yet on the way his wife dies, and so he's looking for an inheritance, just a little plot of land to bury his wife in. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:56.160 He's saying, God, just give me a little bit of the promise. 00:31:56.480 --> 00:32:02.240 You've promised to give me land, and I trust in your promise, but I need a place to bury my wife. 00:32:03.279 --> 00:32:06.960