Living Hope

Text: 1 Peter 1:1–12

Welcome to the new mini series. This time on first Peter. I know some of you are like, okay, you did Zephaniah, where's he going next? I was tempted to go to Habakkuk or something. But I thought we'd go to 1 Peter. And I love 1 Peter, I took a class on first Peter actually. 

It's just a good book for my soul. It's a good book for weary souls, tired, heavy, burden, suffering souls—for those in hardship.It speaks hope into those things. And so in the beginning of summer when COVID is still going on, things are hard in life. I want us to get gospel hope through the words of Peter. That's what I'm hoping for us.

We're going to tackle 1 Peter in about 6 sermons. We're going to start by getting some of the big picture, what this book is about, by looking at verses 1–2. And then we're really going to dig into verses 3–12 verses, and we'll be able to test what I'm saying is a main theme in this book. 

Let’s begin by looking at the first two verses to orient ourselves and to help us get the big picture:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, 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: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” (1 Peter 1:1–2 ESV)

Right away, we find out that this letter, this book, is written by Peter. He's addressing those he calls elect exiles. I think this is sort of a summary phrase that he then unpacks in these next sentences. He first says what he means by exiles. He is writing to non Jewish Christians, to Gentiles, who have trusted in Christ. We get this list of five different cities where they live: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

These are all in the Roman province, Asia Minor, what today we call Turkey. But the point is not as much about geography of where they live, but the fact that they are exiles, strangers in these places because they are Christians. Here is what I mean:

The term he uses is exiles and dispersion. Traditionally, when using these terms, it would be Old Testament language to describe Israel, Jews, that were, for example, kicked out of the land in 586 and dispersed all over the world. 

Peter is taking that image and, instead of applying it to Jews scattered by the Assyrians, he is now saying, “You, Gentiles, are exiles in dispersion, not because you're Jews but because you trust in Christ, because God has saved you.”

That leads him to unpack that term elect. He says they are elect, “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.” You have the whole Trinitarian God. All them are in this verse to say these are not just Gentiles, but Gentiles who belong to God in Christ through the Holy Spirit. They are Christians. 

Right here, in the opening verses, we already find out that Peter is writing to believers, who are exiles, who feel like strangers. They don’t feel like they have a home here, and Peter’s goal is to write to them to hold on to hope, because they don’t belong to this world but to God’s.

I remember when my wife and I were living in Nicaragua, we would often have conversations with the other missionaries about this idea of feeling like strangers and aliens, of feeling like you no longer know where home is. Here’s what I mean: 

I think you can tell, I don’t exactly fit in there in Nicaragua. That is not where I grew up or my home that feels familiar. I didn’t grow up watching their TV shows of Chapulin Colorado. I didn’t eat their food, etc. It wasn’t my home. But the longer I lived there the more it became my home. But it could never truly become that. But the more it did, the more we didn’t feel at home in the States. 

All of the sudden, we found we didn’t fit in there in Nicaragua, and we didn’t in the States. In a unique way, we got to experience some of what Peter is getting at when he is talking about them being elect exiles. Only they were exiles not because of different cultures, but because they were Christians. 

With that identity as Christians comes trials, tribulation, suffering. Peter’s purpose in writing is to address that reality with gospel hope. “Hope in Hardship” is the title of this series. Because I think Peter is writing his letter to say to Christian exiles, “Christian, by remembering the hope of your salvation, stand firm in your suffering.” Or it’s a book about “Hope in Hardship.”

Let’s transition into looking at verse 3–12 and dig into these verses to test this thesis statement. See if you agree that Peter already in these verses is speaking hope to those amid suffering. Specifically, we are going to see Peter introduce the central theme of hope for these exiles. Here’s how we are going to break down his idea of hope. He says their hope is a: 

• Hope that is Secure (3–5)

• Hope for the Sufferer (6–9)

• Hope from the Sovereign (10–12)

Let's first look at verse three through five “Hope that is Secure.” 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV)

Well, I think right away you can see some of the connections with the first two verses. To these people who feel like they don’t have a home, listen to what Peter says in verse 4: “to an inheritance.” 

He's pulling on again, I think, Old Testament imagery that was promised to Israel. Israel was promised a land, a turf. And what Peter's saying to them is, you exiles, believers who don't feel like you have got a home. No, you do have a home. It's not here. It's an inheritance. It is a piece of land. And it's a promised home in the new heavens and new earth with resurrected bodies. That's your home. 

Here’s a reminder from the last time I preached. This isn’t abstract. He’s not talking about some ethereal reality where we are ghosts floating around. You're going to have a literal inheritance where you walk and talk. It will be a home where you fit in. Where you belong and you're not disoriented. You're not just a believer in an unbelieving world. You're with all resurrected believers who are worshiping God. 

But let’s look back at verse 3 because Peter makes it very clear that this inheritance belongs to them is not because of something they've done. Look at verse three, 

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” (1 Peter 1:3 ESV)

“According to God's great mercy,” “He, God, caused us to be born again.” What are we born into, “a living hope.” How? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is zero us, and 100% God. He has caused us to be born again to a living home. 

What does that mean? That means before living hope, before born again, no hope, no living hope. After “born again” = living hope. And the difference is that this before you weren't born again, here, you're born again. 

What that means is it the hope Peter’s talking about is hope that belongs exclusively to Christians. Here's what I know: I know every person in this room is hoping in something. And if you are not a Christian, this hope that Peter’s talking about, this inheritance, that's not what you're hoping (or if you are, it's a false hope).

I've been there. I didn’t grow up as a Christian, which means I've tasted the hope that the world offers, and I’ve tasted the difference when I had this Christian hope. I guarantee any hope the world's offering. It is not this kind of hope. This secure hope that Peter’s talking about. Every single hope the world has to offer cannot sustain the burden that you put on it. You put your hope and money. It won’t work. 

I’m sure you can talk to someone in this church that put all their hope on some stock or something and “boom” it's all gone. Hope they put in their job. This was their dream job. It didn't work out. Hope, in their marriage, in their kids, in their house, and every single one of them fails. There's story after story of people who put their hope in there, and it failed them. You are foolish to think that will not happen to you. “No, it happened to them, but my marriage won’t fall apart. It will give me the hope I need.” 

You are foolish to think that. There is absolutely every reason to think it could happen to you. I just want to say that if you are not a believer, if you have not been born again, I want to plead with you, I want to call you to true hope. I want you to really ask yourself. What are you putting your hope in? Why are you getting up in the morning? Particularly, why do you get up on hard days? If this morning you feel like, “I don't have hope. I don't have real, lasting hope.” You're feeling hopeless this morning. I want to say, “You can have real, lasting hope.” You can have living hope. And the only way to do that is to put your faith, your trust in Christ alone. 

If you do, here are the promises. Christians, this is the promise you have because of Christ. Listen to how secure this hope is. How much more rock solid this is than any other hope. And for Christians, as we read this, let it be a reminder that you have no other reason to put hope in anything else: 

“To an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading [ Every one of those descriptions, ment to ground security, it's not going anywhere. It's rock solid.], 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.” (1 Peter 1:4–5 ESV)

Oh, I love the connection between verse 4 and 5. Verse 4: “kept in heaven for you.” God’s holding your inheritance. He’s keeping it. Guarding it for you. He promises it's safe in his arms. And then verse five, he says, he's holding you. Look at what the verses say, “You, who by God’s power are being guarded.” 

He's gonna make sure you get there. Let that assurance wash over you. Here's the idea. I heard a pastor say this once: “If you could lose your salvation, you would.” “If you could get lost, if you could lose your way back to your home, you would.” Peter saying, “It's rock solid, and it's not rock solid because of you. It's rock solid because of the God who holds it for you.”

Here's the difference between worldly hope and living, blood-bought by Jesus' hope. 

Go back to Nicaragua with me. When I get there I don’t speak any Spanish, so someone had to write down my address on a piece of paper. De Iglesia Xalteva, Cuatro cuadras al sur, la antepenúltima casa a la derecha. Zero chance I was going to remember that.

Well, the first time Jacque and I had to get home after being dropped off by someone else in town, I just remember, you know, we leave this place and we flag down a taxi. I hand him a piece of paper. I mumble, and I don't know how to say take me home. He starts driving, and I have no idea if he's taking me home. My wife's in the car. And he starts driving down this alley. And I'm like, What am I gonna do? If this guy's not taking me home? I just had this piece of paper that had my address. It wasn't secure. I remember feeling so nervous. 

Here we have Peter saying, “You can keep putting your trust in a hope that you have no idea will deliver. Or you can put your hope in God who promises to hold it for you and promises to get you there.“

Now, naturally, you are probably asking how do you apply this? How do you live this out? Well, Peter is about to get real practical in verse 6–9. Let’s look at that. So far we have seen: 

• Hope that is Secure (verses 3–5)

• Hope for the Suffer (verses 6–9)

“In this [that is the secure hope that we just talked about] you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have 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. Though you have not seen him, you love him. 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.” (1 Peter 1:6–9 ESV)

How do you live out this hope? One immediate way is to recall it when you suffer. Look again at the first part verse six: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.” Peter is telling believers that this sure hope can sustain them during suffering. This is hope for the sufferers. Here’s what I mean: 

Cross country runners push through the pain because they know there is a finish line. Swimmers fight exhaustion because there is the other side of the pond coming up. This hope Peter is talking about is hope for sufferers. 

Very practically in your life, when hardship strikes, Peter wants you to recall the finish line. When you feel like giving up. When temptation and hardship and suffering make you feel like abandoning God, he wants you to recall your hope that you have a promised inheritance. 

He wants you to remember you have a home that is promised to you. As you do, that will give you endurance to keep running. Just like an athlete, when you feel the burn, you feel the hardship, you remember no, I’m not giving up because I know where I'm going, and I know I’m going to get there. I feel so tired right now but I know if I just keep running in that direction, I will get there. 

Very practically, that is sometimes all that keeps us moving in that direction. The hope that we will make it to the finish line. 

In fact, for Peter it goes even deeper. Listen to how he began. “In this you rejoice” even while you're suffering. And then he ends “you believe and rejoice with joy inexpressible filled with glory.” Peter, not only pictures that this hope, this “home address” that is given to believers, would help them endure. He pictures that it will help them endure with joy. 

I don't want this to feel like it's just abstract. Like these are just words for Peter. We are like 90% positive that years after Peter writes this letter, he's martyred. He's killed for his faith on a cross under the reign of Emperor Nero. And here is how Peter held fast through that suffering. This isn't just words for Peter. This is reality for Peter that helps him fight through suffering and endure with joy. 

Now, let’s look at verse 7 because Peter is going to dig into those hopes more. He wants believers to know, not only can you have hope amid suffering, knowing you've got an eternal inheritance. You can know God is doing something through your suffering. It's actually going somewhere. 

Here’s what I mean: I mean it is great to know that we have this hope during suffering. But wouldn’t it be nice if this suffering didn’t have to happen. What if life could be easy, and we didn’t have to suffer. 

I was thinking about Peter and other disciples and just trying to imagine. You know, they see Jesus crucified, but then they see him rise from the dead. Literally the Savior rose from the dead. They walked with him, and talked with them. And then as he's getting ready to go up into heaven, He says this in Matthew 28:

“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” (Matthew 28:18–19 ESV)

At this point, Jesus rises from the dead, he promises, actually, they're going to rise. They're going to join him. Then he says, all authority belongs to me. 

If I hear that and see that, and then I start to feel trials and tribulations and suffering, I'm like, “What, what just happened?” Jesus literally just showed his power by conquering death. He actually declared, he's got all authority in heaven on earth, and I'm following him. But here I am, suffering. What's going on? 

Can’t Jesus take that authority, just a little bit of it, and make my life a little better? I actually told that recently to a friend, and he said, “Yeah, it's interesting that not only were the disciples not surprised by persecution, like I might have been, they were actually rejoicing in their suffering.” 

Mind blown. How? They're not angry. They're not thrown off. They're rejoicing. Why? And I think Peter, here is going to give us at least one reason. Look at verse 7, but let’s start in verse 6: 

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have 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.” (1 Peter 1:6–7 ESV)

Here's the image: You're going through various trials, to test your faith, to refine it, just like we refined gold. We refine gold and the dross comes up, and what comes out is pure. 

So it is with your trials you’re facing. They are purifying your faith. They're part of what's getting you there to the end. When I said God is making sure you make it to the inheritance, you want to know one of the ways he’s doing that—suffering. They're part of what is refining you. God is not wasting your suffering. God is not blind to your suffering. God is using your suffering to purify your faith. The Bible is not promising no suffering. But it is promising purposeful suffering and rest at the end. 

Listen to James, this is how James says the same thing:

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2–4 ESV)

Conclusion: your suffering is going somewhere. You get cancer, God's not wasting it. Broke, lose your job, struggle in relationships. Someone comes in and starts persecuting you for your faith, God's not wasting it. God's using in whatever suffering you have to purify your faith.

This means more suffering = more pure faith. More suffering = more God. 

And here's what he says, here's the end goal of that. It is the last part of our seven:

“so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—[Your faith] may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 1:7 ESV)

What I think this text is talking about is that when you make it to the end, this refined, tested faith — tested by trials — that faith — you, you are enduring faith in Christ — will get praise and honor and glory.

Don’t be confused, God is going to get glory. He's gonna be the centerpiece of the glory given. But I think Peter’s saying you're going to get some praise and appreciation. Not because of what you did in your own strength. But you will get praise because of the Christ-produced, God exalting faith you have. Look at this. Here's 1 Corinthians 4:5:

“Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation [praise, exaltation] from God.” (1 Corinthians 4:5 ESV)

Or here is Matthew 25:23: 

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:23 ESV)

I don't want you to lose sight of the fact that God is getting the praise because he's the one working that in you. But I also want you to know, this future inheritance, this home is one where the Heavenly Father looks at you with praise and honor because you made it to the end. After all, you will wear a crown. And this is motivation to make it to the end. All of this builds a case that this hope is a hope for the suffer. Here is what I mean:

I remember I was here worshiping the other day. And I was holding my son Landin. And I remember thinking, how comforting it must be to have a dad hold you. And then we sang, 

“Oh, I'm running to Your arms
I'm running to Your arms
The riches of Your love
Will always be enough.”

And it just struck me what it will mean on that day, for God to say to me, “Well done. Well done, Don.” He will hold me in his arms (if you will) and say, you made it. Like family greeting me at the end of a marathon. You made it. Well done. You made it.

Here's how this works in my life: When life's hard, and you're feeling the weight of suffering. And the temptation is to give up. These are the moments when all you can do it hold on. I think Peter is saying, hold on. Don’t lose hope. Hold on because God is taking you home. He is making sure you get there through these hardships. And when you do, God will say, “Well done.” And I really want that hug, that praise. 

That gives me hope to endure, to get up the next day, and not give up. What I want for us is that we would have sin-killing faith, hope that allows us to suffer and endure, to even endure with joy. Faith that is grounded in this victory of a promised inheritance where God is praised and so is the enduring faith in us. Faith that looks like what Peter describes in the next verses: 

“Though you have not seen him, you love him. 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.” (1 Peter 1:8–9 ESV)

This is who you are holding onto knowing you are aiming to obtain the outcome of your faith. 

How would this change tomorrow morning? Well, when tomorrow morning comes, and it's still hard to get up. Well, it is then that you remind yourself of this hope, of this future inheritance. It's secure. It's not moving. It's not fading. It's not going away. God's holding it, and God's holding me. I'm going to get there. And so I'm just going to hold on today, amid suffering. And I hold on with joy. Knowing that the day is coming, when God will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Or on the words of Romans 8:18

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18 ESV)

Or just a little later in the chapter: 

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35–39 ESV)

All these tribulations can’t take away the promise of God’s love for us. The promise of a home where that will be ever before our eyes. A home where we will forever praise God. Hold on. You’re almost home. 

Let’s finish with reading verses 10-12:

“Concerning this salvation [what we just talked about], 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. 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.” (1 Peter 1:10–12 ESV)

The idea was that this is suffering from the sovereign. In the least, we can simply say this salvation that ours, this was God's plan all along. This isn't an improv. This isn't a last minute decision by God. This is something God planned a long time ago. The hope was to be secured in Jesus. Because of Jesus: We have a Hope in Hardship. By remembering the hope of your salvation, we can stand firm in our suffering.” 

We have a hope that is secure, a hope for the suffer, a hope from the sovereign God who cares for us.