Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, rejoice. That we have this future inheritance, which is imperishable, which is undefiled, which is unfading, which is kept in heaven for us. is our living hope. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe.
All around us, people are searching for something to sustain them through life's challenges. But followers of Christ have a unique living hope that transforms our perspective. Today, as we continue our series in 1 Peter, we'll discover what makes Christian hope fundamentally different from the world's idea of hope.
Now. Here's Pastor John Monroe with the start of a message titled Our Living Hope. All of the statistics, including those of children and students, indicate. that we're becoming more and more anxious and depressed. Think of the technology and the conveniences we enjoy, yet Many people seem to have little other no hope.
So What's gone wrong? The answer at the most fundamental level Is one that the Apostle Paul explains in his letter to the church at Ephesus. as he writes in the first century. He speaks of those who have no hope. and are without God in the world.
In contrast to the hopelessness of our world, one of the brilliant words of the Christian gospel is hope. Followers of Jesus are people. Not of despair, but hope. Today join me. As we think of a living hope which you can have and experience now.
I'm going to ask you to stand. We're going to read a passage, which is 1 Peter. Three verses, first Peter one. Verses three, four, and five.
So read it with me and read it thoughtfully. Blessed be the God and Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He's 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.
Amen. You got your Bible turned there. You say, well, why should I follow my Bible? Many reasons. One is to make sure that what I'm saying is rooted in Scripture.
Also, we want you to. understand the Bible, to be familiar with the Bible. And to do that, you've got to get your Bible, and we read there from the English standard. Version, our living hope. The person who is unemployed hopes for a better future.
The individual who has been rejected by someone hopes for a better relationship in the future. The patient diagnosed with an illness hopes for better health. The athlete who is cut from the team hopes for a better opportunity. Hope gives us strength. Hope gives us courage.
Hope lifts our spirits. Hope changes our perspective.
However difficult the circumstances, however tough the way, hope keeps us going. Without hope, We die. Many people have no hope. Paul writes of those who have no hope in the world. Those who have no hope experience depression.
feelings of meaninglessness. Feelings of darkness, and often, in an attempt to make themselves feel better about themselves, they may pursue self-destructive activities. Why? They have no hope. What is to sustain us, the people of God, in difficult times?
What is to give us a perspective above and beyond the difficulties of life?
Well, the Apostle Paul writes of faith. The Apostle John writes of love. Peter writes of hope, as we just read. Hope for suffering saints. Those that we have learned over the last couple of weeks who are described as exiled.
Persecuted for their commitment to Jesus Christ, and in the midst of their suffering, tribulation, and persecution, Peter shines this brilliant light, a living hope. Yes, the Christian. The authentic Christian has a magnificent and glorious hope. which is independent of our present circumstances. I want you to get that.
The Christian has a wonderful, glorious hope. which is independent of our present circumstances or hope Is greater than our trials. We are people not of despair, not of pessimism, not of negativity. We are people of hope. We are people of a living hope.
Mm-hmm. Verses 3 through 12 of 1 Peter are foundational. Because we're learning that Peter is telling us first who we are in Christ. Before he tells us what to do, as it were, we must understand our identity. We must have a sense of our security in Christ.
We must understand the so great salvation which Peter is brilliantly presenting. He's describing, did you notice it in verse 3? He's describing all of her blessings. To the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you think of God like that?
Blessed, he says, verse 3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of the blessings that we have come. from our gracious God as we're learning.
Now let's reflect on this Christian hope, the hope of the gospel, this living hope. First of all, our living hope has a beginning, Peter is telling us, and our living hope begins not with some psychological trickery, but with our new birth. We are born again. Notice verse 3. 1 Peter 1.
Verse 3. 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. Our new hope begins with being born Again. Do you think Peter Heard the teaching of Jesus.
About the new birth? Remember that wonderful chapter, John 3, where it is the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. Probably it was just the two of them, but I'm sure as Peter followed Jesus for three years, he would have heard the Lord's teaching on this magnificent subject of the new birth. Where Jesus says to Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, a man who was steeped in the Old Testament scripture, Nicodemus, you must. Be born again.
Unless you're born again, you will not see, you will not enter the kingdom of God. We must be born again. And Peter is saying, and saying so rightly, based on the teaching of his master, that this living hope that we have begins. with being born again. Born again, he says, to or into a living hope.
Why must we be born again? What is this all about? The theological word is regeneration. We are to be regenerated, which means we are to receive new life. Where does this new life come from?
Why do we need it?
Well, we need it because we're spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. By ourselves, we're away from God. We are not. Following God, we're living for ourselves. Spiritually speaking, we're dead.
What does a dead person need? New life. Life Not Self-perpetuated, but life which comes from God. Here is the new beginning. For the Christian.
A fresh start in Jesus Christ, a living hope. Yes, a sharing in the very life of God. The life of God in the soul. of man. and women.
Is that marvelous? That whoever we are Whatever our past, however wretched it was, however our failures, however sinful and absolutely mean and rotten we have been, that for every single individual there is this opportunity to be born again, a fresh start. Wouldn't you like all the past to be gone and to begin again and to get it right? Yes, we say that is found in Jesus Christ. The life of God.
We must be born again. So it begins this living hope with being born again. But their new birth is, again verse 3, it's according to his God the Father's great Mercy. Not just mercy, but his great mercy. That emphasizes that we are miserable.
It emphasizes that left to ourselves we're in a helpless condition. Left to ourselves, we are unable to change our spiritual condition. And just as a baby contributes nothing to his or b her birth, so we contribute nothing to our spiritual birth. Do you understand that? You feel you want to do something?
You wanna Repackage yourself. A new beginning, a makeover.
Well The cosmetic surgeon can give you a makeover externally, but no one can give a makeover of your heart, of your soul. That is found according to God's greatness. mercy, we're totally dependent. upon his mercy. That's why humility is key in the Christian faith.
Paul says the same. In Ephesians chapter 2, listen, verse 4, he says, But God being rich in mercy. It's not just a little bit of merse. No, we need a lot of mercy. And that's what God gives us, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
There is the regeneration, there is the new birth. There is a supernatural event. In someone who is spiritually dead now is spiritually alive, and it is all based not on their endeavors. Not of ourselves. It's not of our doing.
It's entirely through the mercy of. God.
So we We're followers of Jesus Christ. are people who know about mercy. Look at 1 Peter 2, verse 10, where Peter spells this out. He says, once you are not a people, But now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, But now you have received mercy.
Some of them were Gentiles.
Some of them were Jews.
Some of them were Far, far away from God. Ah, but now says Peter, Through this regeneration. Through being born again, you have this living hope. which began at your new birth and was all according to God's great mercy.
Furthermore, It's clear that this new birth flows from the resurrection of Jesus. Again, verse 3, according to the great mercy, He has caused us. God does it, not you. He's caused us to be born again. to a living hope.
How does this come about? Through the resurrection, Of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our living hope is grounded in and guaranteed by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If our Lord Jesus did not rise from the dead, we have. No hope.
This hope that we've been singing about, this hope which we believe about, this hope which is so wonderful. comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Paul, in a great chapter on resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15, spells it out. He says, If Christ had not been raised, your faith is futile. And you're still in your sins.
If we had hoped In Christ, in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, we have no hope. Why is it that we have hope? Because it comes to us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Once we're spiritually dead.
But the Lord Jesus. God man We thought about that last week as we thought of the Trinity. That the Son of God Died for our sins, was buried. And he rose again on the third day. He shattered the gates of death.
And he's alive. And he says to his disciples in John chapter 14, because I live, you shall live also. that the Christian's life is indissolubly bound to the life of Christ. And here's a miracle of salvation. The miracle of the new birth.
that when we're born again We immediately receive this new life, this eternal life. We have a living hope. which will never die. We have a living hope which will never end. Why?
Because Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. That is our living hope. Isn't wishful thinking?
Stop playing a trick on ourselves. It is based on the historical reality of the resurrection from Jesus Christ from the dead. And when we talk to people, About heaven, we were singing about it. And perhaps some of you are in this category. You say, well.
John, I hope. to be in heaven. But I had hope. It's not a strong hope. It's more like a wish.
And if we press them a little further and say, well, You're saying you hope to be in heaven. What's that based on? It comes down to it, doesn't it? is based on what They have done is based on what? They will do Is based on the idea that God is loving, and I think I'm going to make it.
I just hope. I will get there. No. The Christian hope The living hope For the authentic believer in Jesus Christ is a living hope that we have now. Presently.
No, this is not wishful thinking. This is not hoping that we're good enough, that we've done enough to get into heaven. No, this hope, this living hope. Is a sure and certain assurance of eternal life. That's why Peter calls it a living hope, not wishful thinking, not a dead hope.
Not a stale hope, but a living, dynamic, and growing hope. Why? It is united to the promises of the living God.
So I ask you. You've been born again? This living hope. has a beginning. and it begins with the new birth.
It begins by claiming the promises of God that whoever believes in the Son has life. Whoever does not believe in the Son, Shall not see. life.
So this living hope first begins With the new birth. But this living hope is a future, obviously. Verse 4, a perfect. inheritance.
So read with me in verse four. For the sake of connection, let me read again verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he's caused us to be born again to or into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. to or into an inheritance.
That is imperishable. Undefiled. and unfading. Yeah. in heaven for you.
Isn't that magnificent? that the object of our hope is a future inheritance. We are born again into a living hope. We're born again into an inheritance. What a powerful encouragement that must have been.
to these readers in the first century, these exiles of the dispersion. Those who had been scattered in these five Roman provinces in present-day Turkey. What a wonderful encouragement for them to hear. That they have a future inheritance. And what's an inheritance?
Some of the children may not know.
Well, an inheritance is something that you inherit. You may have, some of you have experienced this. You've received an inheritance from a parent who's died, a grandparent. a rich uncle, someone who has died. And has left you money or left you some property and you inherit it.
Some of you are sitting here and you're expecting a future inheritance. Not that you'd say you want the person dead, but you're planning on that future inheritance. We used to say as lawyers: where there's a will, there's a relative. And uh Some of you have got your eye on someone's will.
Well, be careful. Wills can be changed. But an inheritance Inheritances are generally based not on what the person has done, but is based on relationship. You leave in your will. You leave your inheritance, perhaps not entirely.
Normally, to your family, to your children, to your grandchildren, to your wife, to your sister. And it's not based on what they have done, but it's based on who they are. It's based generally on relationships. Obviously, there's acceptance to this. But our salvation Our hope Our spiritual inheritance are gifts which we do not deserve and which we do not work for.
Peter is told this is all according to God's great Mercy, you do not deserve, I don't deserve this future inheritance. Isn't that wonderful? That when God in His grace saves us, Not only does he wipe out all of her sins so that they're remembered no more, He graciously, grace upon grace upon grace. He gives us There's a living hope. of a future inheritance.
And this living hope goes beyond death. Why? Because our trust is in the living Christ who has conquered death and who is alive. It is. Living.
It's powerful. We presently inherit it as it were, although it is future. Notice what he says here in verse 4. This perfect inheritance is kept. In heaven, For you.
Now for those grammarians, the word kept here or reserved is a perfect passive participle, meaning that the inheritance is there at the moment and will continue to be. There's many a person who, in their will, has left something to Hassan. Uh or a daughter. and has changed their will. has fallen out with a person.
Said, no, I'm not going to leave my inheritance to my son. Uh and he changes the world. That will never happen with God, does it? He gives us a living inheritance, and says Peter, it is kept in heaven. For you.
If you're born again, Your name is already on your inheritance. It's kept. Take it personally. is kept in heaven for you. I have an inheritance in heaven.
which is kept for me. It's is reserved for me. You ever gone into a plane? You get the boarding card, you get the seat number, and you go and there's someone else sitting in the seat.
So it was an interesting conversation. Uh Usually they're sitting in the wrong seat. But sometimes It's been known. uh that the same seat has been allocated to two people. That never happens with God, does it?
You're not going to get into heaven and it's saying, I'm sorry. Uh that seat is taken. No. It is reserved In heaven. For you, why?
Peter's going to tell us later in the chapter, it's been purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves me. He died for me. In His grace I've been born again. He's giving me eternal life.
And we have this wonderful hope, which is based on the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, based on the reality that God always keeps his promises and that it is kept not by me, but is kept by God in me. heaven. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe and the first part of a message titled Our Living Hope. Be sure to join us tomorrow as John continues this powerful teaching. Today's message reminds us that our hope as Christians isn't based on wishful thinking, but on the solid foundation of Christ's resurrection and God's promises.
To help you explore these truths further, we're offering a free copy of John's insightful booklet for the time is near. In this resource, John examines what Scripture teaches about Christ's return and how that future hope should impact our daily lives. We'd love to send you this encouraging resource today. Just visit our website. the verdict.org to request your free copy.
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Now, with his closing remarks, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? I realize there are problems, disappointments, and frustrations in your life, but this does not mean. that you can be without hope. As I said in the message, This living hope must have a beginning. If we believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, And if we believe that through faith in Him we receive as a gift eternal life, surely of all the people on the face of the earth, we should be those of a living, vibrant and growing hope.
Don't forget to tune in next time as we continue this all-important subject of our living hope. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
