Our gracious God, Father, Son, and Spirit. We come before you this resurrection Sunday morning full of wonder and joy. Because death is dead. And because Jesus is alive. We thank you that the tomb is empty. Our gracious God, would you open our eyes afresh to the glory of your risen Son? Would you lift our hearts so that we would taste and see? that the Lord is good. Would you guard us this morning from cold familiarity?
Help us not merely to know that Christ is risen, but to delight in it. To fill it in our bones so as to lead to... A rejoicing, much like those women who ran from the tomb trembling and overwhelmed with joy that resurrection morning. And would you speak through your word now? Warm us with the fire of your love. And may we leave here this morning not just with minds that are smarter, but with hearts that are set ablaze, that are alive with resurrection joy.
We pray this in the matchless name of Jesus, the risen Savior. Amen. Tim Keller spoke often of Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychoanalyst who survived the Jewish death camps at the hands of Nazi Germany. And Frankl's writings captured both the brutality of the suffering that he saw and experienced, as well as the varying responses that he noted. Among his Jewish brethren. In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, Frankel noted that some responded to suffering with brutality.
That some others responded to suffering by just giving up. Others survived based on sheer will and determination. And some had an inner strength that was able to raise them above their circumstances. His conclusion that the common denominator in every response that really determined how one would respond to the dire circumstances that they faced was hope. Some in the camps had lost hope. And once hope was lost, it gave way to just responding in brutality back to those that were torturing them.
Others lost hope and it just led them to give up. Some had a hope that there would be a future in which the things that they had lost could be restored. It's interesting, in the book, Franco goes on to talk about how many of the people who put their hope And their previous life being restored, if they survived and they didn't have that restoration of their previous life, many of them took their own lives. And then he said, some.
had a future hope that rose above their present circumstances. And that future hope... Gave them reason to live in the present. Frankl summed it up well. He said, life only has meaning if we have a hope and meaning that suffering and death cannot destroy. One more time. Life only has meaning if we have a hope and meaning that suffering and death cannot destroy.
It's interesting, if you were to give two people the same job in the same conditions and pay one $15,000 a year and pay another $15 million a year, you might have one who say, I can't do this. And have another one who can say, I will gladly do that. Why? Why can one endure and the other not? It's hope. It's what awaits them in the future. And friends, let's be clear this morning. Hope is not uniquely Christian. No one lives without hope.
Hope is what we mean by a vision of our future that we're working towards. Hope is what gives us purpose and orientation in this world. And no one lives without hope. The opposite of hope is despair. Despair could be defined as a lack of perspective about what is next and why I should care. I wonder this morning, into what are you currently placing your hope? And does your hope shift based on the level of ease or difficulty of your circumstance? What if you could have a hope that was rock solid?
that was not held captive by the circumstances of your life. I believe our passage this morning invites us to that reality. And so I invite you to open your Bibles to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1. No shame in looking at the table of contents, finding 1 Peter. It's going to be almost to the end of the Bible. Chapter 1, that will be the larger numbers, the smaller numbers of the verses. We'll be in chapter 1, verses 3 through 5.
We're stepping out of our series in the book of Isaiah to consider the basis for never-ending hope. And I think it may serve us well just to have a moment of clarity. When you and I use the word hope, Oftentimes what hope means is I have a desire for something, but I have little certainty that it's going to happen. My college football fandom has been marked with this kind of hope for the last 20 years. But rest assured, the surety of hope is coming.
Kind of a hope where you have a crush and you're hoping that your crush kind of likes you. Probably not, but you're hoping. Well, the Bible uses the word hope differently. The biblical use of the word hope is a biblical or a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. In fact, the author of Hebrews, in Hebrews 6, verse 19, says that hope is the anchor of the soul. And so again, if you find your life being topsy-turvy right now, into what are you placing your hope?
The hope that Peter is living for and the hope that Peter calls others to enjoy isn't based on uncertainty. It's based on the rock-solid certainty of God himself. It's a hope that begins with God. It's a hope that ends with God. And because it's centered on God, Peter is able to say to this group of people, who praising God would not have been easy at this time. They are a suffering group of Christians. Peter is able to say, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Praise.
A steady diet of hope-filled praise was the best prescription for the suffering and the pain that these Christians were experiencing. of suffering and trial leads them to question God or to doubt God. And maybe that's where you're at this morning. And if so, I'm thankful that you're here. I hope you will see in what Peter writes, that maybe the suffering isn't intended for you to question or doubt or flee from God, but to lean in, to better know him.
Have you ever had a time when circumstances in your life made it difficult to praise God? I have. Do you find it difficult to praise God when you don't understand why he's doing what he's doing? Do you find it difficult to praise God when you feel like God is keeping you from something that you want? Do you find it difficult to praise God when you're distracted? Or when that thing which you love, or that person with which you love, is taken away.
Do you find it difficult to praise God when you're hurt and when you're angry and when you're bitter? Friends, 1 Peter is written to believers whose circumstances made it really hard to praise God. The Christians of this day were being framed by the emperor for a fire that broke out in the city of Rome.
And it just intensified the pressure. That's why at the beginning in 1 Peter 1, verse 1, it says, And to those who reside as aliens or exiles that are scattered, This letter is written to those that are out of place, to those that are alone, to those that are ostracized. People who have lost their job.
People who have lost relationships because they put their trust in Jesus. People who have made God the center of their lives, made sacrifices to follow him, and yet their life has not gotten any easier. In fact, it's gotten a lot harder. This people doesn't know how to praise God in these circumstances. And Peter writes them. And at the very beginning, calls them to praise God. And then really the rest of this letter is why they should praise God and how they can praise God.
I wonder if you've ever asked yourself, why should I praise God? I wonder if you've ever asked yourself, how do I praise God when life is hard? Well, Peter immediately answers those questions. The hope that he gives to his audience isn't merely a hope that was reserved in a special moment in time just for them. It's the same hope that he gives to all. of his people through all time.
And so maybe this Easter you find it difficult to praise God. This passage is for you. Maybe this Easter you find it... Difficult because you have lost hope. This passage is for you. And perhaps this Easter you are thriving with an unshakable hope. This passage is for you. And so we'll just note four aspects of Christian hope that makes this news the best news that you will hear today. Number one, the source of Christian hope is God's mercy.
It's God's mercy. Listen again to verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. When was the last time that you applied for something? maybe a job, maybe a grant, a loan.
There comes a point when you're applying for things that you feel like, if I'm going to get whatever it is that I'm applying for, then I've got to show some of my credentials. I've got to wow those that are on the other side of this application. So that they would think I am a worthy recipient of whatever I'm applying for.
And so you may reassure yourself with your credentials and your qualifications and your community service hours and your resume and your bank account and the awards that you've garnered. But Peter makes clear at the beginning in trying to encourage a group of people that are struggling to know how and why they should praise God. Peter makes clear that this doesn't start with anything about them.
And I wonder if that's not one of the hardest obstacles for us to overcome. When we think about praising God, we're so focused looking in. And we're not rightly oriented to look at him. And that's how Peter begins. Peter is saying, The hope that you have starts with God. This hope comes downstream from a birth. That we had nothing to do with flowing from a mercy that we did not deserve.
Friends, mercy means that there's not a person in this room or anywhere else who deserves to be born again or to have hope. You may know people and you may look at people and you may think, man, the fact that they can be so hopeful and have what seems to be such a thriving relationship with God, they deserve that. Like they were good. They were much better than me. I don't deserve that. Friends, I would just remind us this morning, God's word would say none of us deserve that.
None of us deserve to be the recipients of the love of God. In fact, Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus was really clear. Giving one of the most real and sobering pictures of humanity. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. This is true. Of everyone who has been born in the lineage of the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. In case you were wondering, that is you.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. And so even as I read that, it's helpful for us to know Paul is writing to a group of people.
who have turned from their sin and have placed their faith and their trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ as their only hope to ever be made right with God again. And so as Paul's writing, Paul's able to say, listen, this is who we once were. Meaning that if you are here today and you have yet to turn from your sin and place your faith and your trust in the finished work of Jesus, this is true of you. And I'm not singling you out because it was once true of every Christian in this room.
This is the reality that faces each of us. All of humanity is guilty and deserving of wrath because of our sin against God. And so when we read, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according... to his great mercy. There wasn't a category of people that just deserved what God gave them. It's all because of mercy. It's all because of mercy. Well, that worst news about the predicament of all of humanity is followed by the best news. Paul continues in Ephesians 2. But God.
Being rich in mercy. Because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead and our transgressions made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. Grace. not by merit, not by resume, not by upbringing, by grace. And so if you're a follower of Jesus this morning, Your heart should be overwhelmed with gratitude for a grace and a mercy that found you.
Later, Paul would write to Titus, and he would say, Titus chapter 3, He, Christ, saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy. According to his mercy. St. Bernard said it well. Great sins and great miseries need great mercy. This is what God has done for us. And the picture here is of being born again. Who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again.
It pictures for us even the first birth, the natural birth. Just for the record. You had the passive role to play in your birth. I've not met many people who walk around and take credit for their birth. If we have life now, it's because someone else birthed us. We can't take credit for that. And Peter writes and Peter says, this is what it means to be born again. To be born again is we can't take credit for that. It's what he has done. He's the one that's deserving of all the praise.
I think one of the most common sources of despair is the fact that we know what's true about us. And when we hear this idea about being born again, many of us think, you don't understand of all that I've done. You don't understand of the ways in which I have sinned. You don't understand about the ways in which I have been hurtful and harmful, the ways in which I have done wicked. There is no way I can be born again. Again, as though somehow it's owing to you and to your past performance.
Friends, in Jesus Christ you can be redefined. You do not have to be what you once were. You do not have to be what you currently are. No matter what you have done to violate God's good ways, there is a hope that's available to you today because of what Jesus has done. And so look to God, friends, who is full of mercy. We're walking through Isaiah. Yes, he is a righteous God. He is a God who will judge because of his holiness.
But he's full of mercy. When you think of God, do you think of him as overflowing with mercy? He's more gracious than you and I can possibly comprehend. And so the source of a never-ending hope, it starts with God. And maybe that's just the encouragement that you needed today. If you're low on hope, but you're high on thoughts of you or your circumstances, Begin to trade that in for high thoughts about God. And watch your hope begin to rise.
We also see, secondly, the ground of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Listen again to verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope. Okay, great mercy causing us to be born again.
It's pushing us then to a living hope. How in the world can all of this happen through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? I'll never forget hearing John Piper. It's 2007. He's going to speak at a conference. 5,000 students. He's speaking on the reality of the resurrection. And in one of the more transparent moments that I can recall of anyone speaking at a conference, he stands up and he essentially says, two nights ago, my wife and I got into an argument.
And we needed to go to bed. It wasn't resolved. I struggled the next day. We prayed together. And then I had to get on a plane. And it wasn't resolved. He said, I'm telling you this because I want you to know that I love the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Not because they turned my life into a string of successes. but because they keep me from collapsing under a string of failures.
Friends, if you are tired, if you're frustrated, if you're disappointed, if you're fearful, if you're confused, angry, bitter, defeated, without hope, If you're failing, I have good news for you. Jesus Christ really rose from the dead. How in the world can we talk about hope as living? How can hope rise above our circumstances and the enemies of this life? I think as we ask those questions, it's helpful for us to know the question this morning is not, will you hope in something?
You have been hoping in something. You are currently hoping in something. The question is, is what you're hoping in failing? if you hope in the relationship, if you hope in the family or in the vacation or in the home ownership, And let's just be honest, this world has no shortages, no shortage of things to hope in, but it's lacking. This world lacks the one thing that we can hope in that will never fail us.
These things are going to fail and it will leave us utterly disappointed. Hope in the things that this world offers has limits. And those things are incapable of rescuing us and giving us power to fight and defeat our enemies, particularly our greatest enemy of death. I mean think about everything this world offers. That tells you every day, hope in me. Hope in this. Just ask yourself one question. If I hope in that, will that defeat death? Because death is my greatest enemy.
Peter comes to offer us a living hope. It's a death conquering hope because it's based on the... Death conquering resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Oh death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Friends, this hope is living because this hope is placed in a living person. And you say, oh, okay. Well, I don't have to hope in Jesus. I could just hope in my boo. If you're hoping in your boo, death is going to take your boo. I don't know why I said that. Place your hope. In one who has defeated death. In one who has the power over death. And so, so long as Jesus lives, so too then does our hope if it's anchored in him. I think that's why we sing the lyrics to the old hymn, Because He Lives.
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow. And because he lives, all fear is gone. And because I know he holds the future. Life is worth the living. Even those like Peter's audience who were being persecuted and who were suffering because of Jesus. There's a hope that's able to say, because he's living, I can face anything. I don't have to fear. He holds the future. And because of that, life is worth the living. Because he lived.
Peter is saying, I want to offer you a living hope because Jesus lived. Even in your darkest days, because your Savior lives, so too does your hope. That is such good news. Go home, turn on the news, scroll through your social media, just intake the news. It is... It is fleeting. The things in which we can put our hope. But even in the darkest of days, because Jesus lives, so too does our hope. Friends, the claim at the heart of the Christian faith is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.
The belief that he died a real death. In a real human body. But is alive today. And so if there's any hope that we are going to have that's going to be worthy of our confidence, then we must know where our hope is leading us. Our hope in Christ is based on his death. And his resurrection. And the promise. That if we are in him. Then we too. have a resurrection. This conviction of the resurrection is not just some ideal. It's not about...
Yeah, the resurrection idea just lives on in the hearts of those who follow Jesus. No, Christian hope is based on something concrete and verifiable. I mean, just think about the guy who's writing this. Peter, think about his own story. He was one of Jesus' first followers. And then when Jesus is being crucified, he abandoned him. He's cowering in fear. He denies Jesus.
After his death, he cowers in fear behind locked doors, knowing that the next knock on those doors may even lead to his own death. I mean, Peter is hopeless. And then you read the book of Acts and you see, wait, this is the same Peter who's now the leading voice of this movement that's exploding across the Middle East? Peter is in and out of prison because he keeps preaching this message that Jesus died and rose from the dead.
A few years after this, he will die. And church tradition tells us that he dies like Jesus, that he too died upon a cross. The question is, what happened to this man? How does he go from a fearful shell of himself to a man who's not afraid of even dying? What's changed Peter is that he saw something. He saw a man whose death he had witnessed, whose empty tomb he had stepped into, who came to him and who ate with him. He saw a man who triumphed over death.
He heard from this man the promise that he too could triumph over death. That changed everything for Peter. Friends, that can change everything for you. scattered Christians, exiles, who were facing a cost for their belief. They needed to be reminded of why they believed in the first. They didn't believe because believing was going to make life easier.
Actually, no. They knew that believing was going to make life a lot more difficult. The first three centuries, there was really no gain to becoming a Christian. I mean, throughout church history, you have periods where Christianity is legalized or some people go corrupt. And so it's like, yeah, it's good to sort of be a Christian, but not in the beginning.
It was almost guaranteed that you would have been stripped. There would have been much that would have been stripped away from you. Your family, your job, your reputation, even your life. To become a Christian in Peter's day. was a serious commitment because it faced serious loss. And Christianity exploded during this time because it rested on the historically verifiable reality. of a man who was once dead, bodily raised from the dead.
spent time with over 500 witnesses, and then ascended into the heavens. This wasn't just a group of people that were willing to die for a long-standing tradition. This religion was brand new. This wasn't a group of people that were dying to maintain power. No, they were actually losing power if they held on to this conviction.
This wasn't, they were dying because they had loved ones who they really believed, who had believed in this and they wanted to protect. No, no, no. They were losing their loved ones. They were dying because they wouldn't give up their belief that Jesus was still alive. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, it would be the joy of any of our members. Our church would love the opportunity to just say, have you considered the claims of the resurrection?
I mean, rest assured, is it a matter of faith as you believe the resurrection? Certainly. Just as much as it's a matter of faith that right now you don't. We would love to talk to you to just say, what does the Bible say? If we're going to begin to investigate the claim of the resurrection. What do we find in God's Word?
And if you decide to follow Jesus, this has to be the center of that decision, the center of your belief. You must believe that Jesus offers you something that no other religion can offer you. A savior who lived a sinless life, who died as a substitute for all who would turn from their sin and trust in. Christ and who rose to give new life beyond the grave, to give a hope that never ends.
Before God could cause us to be born again, he had to send his son to be born in the flesh like humanity. Before God could offer us eternal life. Someone had to die the death that we deserved. And before he could guarantee a living hope to us, Jesus had to rise from the dead. If you're not a Christian this morning, Stop looking for the imperishable among the perishable. Stop looking for a hope in that which will perish. Look unto Christ. Look unto Jesus.
My prayer has been, is that you would be born again. Regardless of the skeletons in your closet. That you would know forgiveness. Because you know forgiveness, you would know a hope that is not bound by your circumstance. Friends, you can turn from your sin and trust in Jesus today. Talk to anyone. Find myself after the service. I would love to have a conversation with you about this living hope. Third, the object of Christian hope is an inheritance.
These last two points are brief. The object of Christian hope is an inheritance. Listen to verse... I'll read three and four. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
To all who are born again, the Bible says that you are a child of God, that God is your father. And if you have God as your father, you have an amazing inheritance. Better than anything you can even imagine. Think of your most valuable, prized possession in all of the world. Whether it's a person, a people, whether it's a thing. Whatever it is that you love most, one of the tragedies of this life is that that thing is going to perish.
We don't get to keep things and people forever. The things of this world will change over time. But not this inheritance. This inheritance is imperishable. It cannot be destroyed. We don't even have a category for that. Seemingly, everything in this world can be destroyed. And because of the work of Christ, you are receiving an inheritance. that will not be destroyed. Not only is it indestructible, it's undefiled.
The purity of this inheritance is outside of our ability to even understand it because there's nothing on this earth that is as pure as this. It's undefiled. It's not polluted. It's not mixed with other things. It's not tainted by certain things. I have experiences where I think, this is like the perfect experience, and then I taint it. you All of the things that you love about your life now apart from God, it's all tainted.
And that's why, just as an aside, that's why as Christians, this is not our best life now. And if you're not a Christian, this is the best that it's going to get. A world full of just perishable, defiled, polluted, not lasting joys and hopes. It's imperishable. It's undefiled. And it will never fade. It will never fade. Can you imagine receiving something? That even if we were counting in years, That 4,000 years later, it's just as brilliant as the day you first received it?
Never to be destroyed. Never to be defiled. Never to be diminished or fading away. That inheritance is what it means to live and dwell forever with God himself. Friends, if you're not a Christian, you are giving up that to lay hold to that which is perishing, which is defiled, and which is fading away. Lastly, the guardian of Christian hope is God himself. The guardian of Christian hope.
Like verse four sounds really, really good. Maybe even too good to be true. And you begin to think, yeah, Justin, there is no way that that could ever be reality. Friends, the way that that can be reality is because it is an inheritance that has been given by God who is all of those things. He's not tainted. He doesn't fade away. He's not decaying. And so he, in his nature, is able to give an inheritance like that. But he's also the one that's protecting that inheritance.
And verse 5 will say he's not just protecting the inheritance. If you're a Christian, he's protecting you for that inheritance. Listen again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.
You who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you. Why should we have hope if there's an inheritance that we get to receive? I don't know about you, but I began to think at some point, I'm fearful I'm going to do something to mess up the inheritance. If your hope depends on your ability to get there or for you to protect it, then you don't have hope.
You have uncertainty. And Peter is saying that this inheritance is protected by the power of God. And you say, yeah, just how powerful is that powerful? It's powerful enough. To see Jesus raise up out of the grave. That same power dwells within. God is the guardian. We must have faith. The Bible is clear that no one who lacks faith will ever see God. But even the faith, the gift of faith is given and protected by God.
If any part of this hope depends on us, we are hosed. From beginning to end, Peter is saying there is no reason to fear. There is only reason for you to believe even in the midst of your difficult days. A treasure for you and I, it's only good news if it's protected for us. And Peter says, listen, this treasure is not just protected for you, but you're protected for it. Our hope in the Christian faith is... As secure as the one who sits on the throne.
And you say, Justin, all of this sounds good, but I just even, I can't even imagine how I would begin to live. If I were to surrender my life and begin to say, okay, I will live this way. I will live for this God. I don't even know what I would do. I don't even know how I would do it. Good news. He's not left you alone to do it. He has given you his Holy Spirit, the guarantee of all of his promises.
His spirit will live within to guard our faith, to shield our faith, to feed our faith, to fan it into flame, to turn it back when it falls away, to convict us of sin, to draw us to repentance. This God has given us his spirit. Why? Because everything this God starts, he always brings it to completion. If you don't believe it, just begin to trace the promises from Genesis 3, verse 15, about one who would come.
And about how this one would come and his reign would never end. And then you look at the gospels and you just think, man, Jesus. Yep, it came to an end. Praise be to God on the third day. It did not come to an end. The one who causes us to be born again will not rest until we are brought safely home. And so, friends, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This one who loved us so much that he gave us his only son.
To cause us to be born again to a living hope. And so whatever trials you're facing. Whatever sufferings you're enduring. Whatever pain you're experiencing. Do not take your eyes off of your slain and now risen. Come what may, the call is for you and I to bless the Lord. Bless him for his great mercy. Bless him for his steadfast love. Bless him for sacrificing his only son in your place. Bless him for forgiving your sins.
Bless him for causing you to be born again. Bless him for giving you a living hope. Bless him for giving you an inheritance that will never fade away. Bless him for keeping that inheritance safe for you. Bless him for guarding you so that you will get to that day. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so take heart. You may feel weak, and the days may be dark. that's rooted in Jesus Christ, can never die.
It's eternal because he is eternal. And one day your faith will give way to sight and you will see him, your living hope face to face. You will then realize that this hope wasn't just for survival. This hope was about leading you to glory. And so lift up your eyes, saints. Rejoice in your living Savior. And enjoy the hope that's found in him. Let's pray. our holy God. We say, blessed are you, our God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who has done so much for us.
I pray that there would not be one person who walks out this morning feeling hopeless. And I also pray that you would make clear, just even over the next few hours, days, that earthly hopes will fail. But because of the resurrection, there is a living hope that will never fail. And so in this moment of silence, speak to us. We want to respond rightly to you.