A Hope That Stands the Test of Time

What is your greatest hope?

Love? Today on Truth for Life weekend we'll hear a special Easter sermon in which Alistair Begg tells us about a hope that out hopes even our best hopes. We're studying 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 5. And in the course of my investigation, I discovered that he was a man about the basics of things. Indeed, it is reported—and accurately so—that when he brought in a freshman class to UCLA and was dealing with them in their first practice session, the first talk that he gave was a talk on how to put on your socks properly. That is very basic.

Vince Lombardi began his preseason training always with the legendary line, This is a football. You can't get more basic than that. And I want to take a leaf out of that book this morning.

I want to be as basic as possible. Some of us are not as familiar with the Bible as we might think we are. Some of us think the epistles were actually the wives of the apostles. And we'd be hard-pressed to come up with a number of the commandments. But I'm not saying that to make you feel bad.

It's good just to be honest about things. So let's just be as basic as we can. This is a Bible. This is a Bible.

That's where we're going to start. You have one in the pew. I've suggested that you read it. We're offering you a Bible, because we believe that the Bible is God's Word, that he speaks to us through it, that it is not just a compendium of legendary tales, but it is living and it is active. This Bible is a book about Jesus.

It is a story that you will not find in any other ideology or religion anywhere in the world. It is the story of free forgiveness and of new life granted to those who have done nothing to deserve it and who could never in three lifetimes achieve it. And we're going to discover that here Peter encapsulates for us, in just a matter of a few phrases, this good news. And I want to pay particular attention to what he says in verse 3 of the passage that we've read. God in his great mercy has given his new birth—and here's the phraseology—into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. By the way, we should keep in mind that the Peter who is writing this is the same Peter who denied Jesus on the night that he was betrayed when one of the servant maids in the high priest's courtyard suggested to others around her that this man, this Peter, had actually been with Jesus.

And Peter turned to her and said, Woman, I don't even know him. And yet, the Gospel writers tell us that Peter, within a matter of a short time—six weeks or so—was out on the Jerusalem streets with an entirely different message from what had been theirs on Good Friday. Because, you see, for Peter and the rest of the disciples, the death of Jesus had meant the end of the road. They had begun to follow Jesus with all kind of hopes about his messiahship. They had things in their minds that were accurate, many that were inaccurate. But when they finally looked to find him taken into custody and then brutalized in the way he was, they all deserted him and fled. They all went and ran away, and understandably so.

Because all of their hopes had collapsed, all of their dreams had faltered, and they had a beginning to their story, but they had no end to it. And so, if we had encountered them in Jerusalem, we would have been hard-pressed to find them, but they would have been sequestered away for fear that what had been done to Jesus might be done to them. And yet, within six weeks or so, Peter is on the streets of Jerusalem speaking for the rest of his colleagues and making this great declaration, God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. He doesn't get on the streets of Jerusalem and say, Jesus is dead, but he said a lot of good things, and he did a lot of good things.

And so we have collected the best of what he said he did, and we've determined that we will hold on to these tenets of the Nazarene carpenter, and we're gonna try and introduce them to the world. No! No, they wouldn't have been interested in that for a moment. No, what he has to say is something far more dramatic. Jesus has risen from the dead, and we are the witnesses. Now, the skeptic will not be convinced by this. This fact, this affirmation is not enough to convince the skeptic of the fact of the resurrection, but it ought to give the earnest and honest seeker pause to think, What shall I do with these claims of Jesus? Because when we read, we discover that Peter, who was devastated on Good Friday, was very quickly reinstated when Jesus met with him on the beach in a memorable meeting around breakfast time. And as a result of that reinstatement, in which he was entrusted with the responsibility of feeding the followers of Jesus, Peter writes this first letter, and then again a second letter. Now, in writing this letter, what he's doing—and you will discover this to be true if you read it for yourself—he's writing to the followers of Jesus. He's not writing to people to try and convince them to be followers, but he's writing to the followers of Jesus to encourage them to live for Christ, to declare him as the risen Lord, despite opposition and despite persecution.

In other words, he's not writing to a group of people who are enjoying the privileges we enjoy this morning. It is a different place, it is a different time, and it is clearly a different context. These people's lives were in jeopardy. They lived on the very knife edge of things, because many of them had turned their backs on the formal religion of their upbringing.

They were challenging the religious and political authorities of the day. And so Peter writes to them, and he says, Now, I want you to understand, these things are true of a Christian, and they will help you in what you're facing. In fact, he anticipates that they will get a hold of this, to such an extent that there will be occasions when people will actually ask them to give them a reason for the, quote, hope that they have—that they will be so defined by being engaged with a hope that stands the test of time that those who don't have that hope, who might wonder at it, will come and ask them about it. Now, that's perfectly understandable in the first century, and indeed in every century, because nobody can live without hope. As soon as hope goes, our bodies and our minds shut down.

We understand this. And even in the hardest of circumstances, as long as there is hope, it is radically different. Somebody can live in squalor with hope, but they cannot live in a castle without hope.

Without hope. Now, Peter is not here referring to fond hopes that may or may not be realized. When we think in terms of hope, many of us think immediately that we're talking about that, which by very definition is uncertain.

I hope it won't rain tomorrow. I hope the stock market will recover. I hope that I will make it to my retirement, and so on.

That is not what he's referring to. What he's referring to—Christian hope, the hope that is here in the New Testament—is not the hope which clings to a mere possibility, but it is a hope, a joyful, confident expectation in the fulfillment of the promises of God. It is, if you like, entering into a reality that is based on that which is verifiable, which produces a change in the present and helps us to look to the future. Now, essentially, I want you to notice those three elements—past, present, and future. First of all, to notice that the hope of which Peter speaks here, a hope that stands the test of time, is one that is anchored in the past.

It is not swinging in the breeze. It is not subjective. It is not a hope that is clutched out of the air so that we psych ourselves up to something. No, the hope of which he speaks, you will notice, is anchored in the past. Verse 3, in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope. So there are two foundational elements to the hope of which he writes, and the reality of hope in the Christian life.

One, the mercy or the grace of God, which has nothing to do with our achievements or attainments. And two, the reality, the historicity, the anchor-based conviction that Jesus Christ is alive. If you are a Christian today, then you have been removed from the realm of hopelessness. That is one of the distinguishing features of a Christian. The Christian, a genuine Christian, is not someone who has decided just to be a little bit better. There are a lot of people who are a lot better, and some of them are a lot better a lot of the time than those who are genuine Christians.

That's always a little worrying, but it's a fact. I know a lot of really, really nice people who are better than me a lot of the time. Well, you say, then, what is your Christianity?

Well, it is founded in grace and in mercy. If you had to be a better person in order to be accepted, then some of my friends would have been accepted long before me. But it's when you're a stinker that you're accepted on the basis of God's grace.

You see, many people think if there is a God and he's paying attention to anything at all, then if he is a good God, then he will reward nice people for doing their best. But that's not what Peter is saying here. No, he's saying that this living hope is found not in the person who has decided to become better or the immoral person who's decided to turn over a new leaf or the person who's been largely secular getting into, quote, spirituality. All of that may be done by human endeavor.

But this cannot be done by human endeavor. What he's describing here is something that is done by God in us, not done by us for God. He speaks of it as a birth.

And it is a birth that takes place on the basis of what Jesus has done. The hope is found in the death of Jesus. So, I stand in Christ with sins forgiven. And Christ in me the hope of heaven. That's what he's saying. That it is because of what has happened in that which we commemorate on Good Friday and what has been achieved in the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday that the Christian has a living hope.

Because their confidence is placed there. It is a living hope because Jesus is alive, and a Christian is someone who has been united with Jesus, both in his death for sin and in his resurrection, and because Jesus is alive, therefore I am alive. The Christian is not the person that he or she once was. That is something that many of us have a difficult time getting our heads around. Because we've tended to think that a Christian experience is something that we adopt. We get up one morning and decide, I think I ought to do this. You know, I think I ought to be a better person, more moral, get church into my life. After all, you know, it's Easter Sunday.

This is as good a time to start as any. And it's a wonderful desire, but it will not bring about the change. You can no more make yourself a Christian than you could make yourself alive.

Some people are attending church with great zeal. Well, there's been no birth, no regeneration, the hanging on of Christmas ornaments that look Christian, but no life in the inside. There's no living hope in that. That will not stand the test of time.

That will not face the beckoning grave. No, the only way that we're ever put right to anticipate that, put right with God, is as a result of his mercy and in the power of his resurrection. It is anchored in the past. Also, it is a hope that is active in the present.

And that's, of course, what we need, isn't it? Because we're living in the present, and life throws at us all kinds of things. Sometimes we feel as though we're treading water. Sometimes as though we feel we've been put in a miry pit. Is there a hope that comes and meets us in the pit?

Yes! This living hope. Is there a hope that comes to us when we just need strength for another day?

When we find ourselves saying, If I can just make it through today, that'll be fantastic. Is there a hope that gives strength for every passing day? Yes, there is. Is there a hope that comes and speaks to us when doubts arise and niggle at us and assail us and say, Do you really believe that Jesus is alive? Do you really believe that he has conquered death? Is there a hope that can deal with that? Yes, there is. Is there a hope that lifts our eyes up beyond ourselves?

Absolutely. A hope that is anchored in the past. A hope that is active in the present. And finally, a hope that anticipates the future.

Because we need to deal with our future, don't we? What hope now that my savings are gone? What hope now that I owe this, I owe that?

What am I going to do now? Is there any hope for the future? Well, yes, I'm going to point it out to you, but let me just say this. This is a hope that out-hopes even our best hopes. In other words, I'm not going to let you off the hook, those of you who are skeptics, by suddenly saying, Aha!

I've got it now! This is for the people who are deadbeats. And I'm not that person. My portfolio is fine. My husband's waistline is average.

And gravity has not completely collapsed his chest into his drawers. My children are relatively respectable and so on. Therefore, thank you for the hope thing about the future, but just so you know, I've got it covered. Listen to C. S. Lewis. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in the world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy but only to arouse the longing for satisfaction. So that helps me to understand the longings in the human heart when we first fall in love. Or the longings in the human heart when you're reading the travel magazines and you say, I'd like to go to that place. Or the longings in our hearts when we matriculate into a master's program in a fine university like Case.

All of those longings are no longer longings which our marriage or our travel or our learning can satisfy. And even in the best of cases, so that with a great wife, with super travel, with a terrific job, that man or that woman will also, if honest in their heart of hearts, have to admit, I do not have a hope that stands the test of time. And you'll notice here that it is an inheritance, and you don't earn an inheritance. It is, again, on account of God's grace and mercy. It's safely deposited, it's guaranteed, because ultimately, our inheritance is Jesus himself.

And this inheritance, unlike any other human earthly inheritance, is not going to perish, it's not going to spoil, and it's not going to fade. Let me finish in this way. If we have living hope, and it's built, if you like, on these—living hope is now the stool that I made in woodwork when I was 14 or something, a miserable-looking stool that never, ever did anything except wobble like crazy. I remember it was in the shape of an artist's easel.

Very, you know, looked really terrible. And it had screw-in legs, and my legs were worthless. If you imagine now my worthless stool, but the stool is called living hope, and one leg is the mercy and grace of God, and the other is the resurrection. Is there a third leg which holds the stool up?

Yes, there is. I want to tell you what it is. All that Jesus has accomplished for us is of no value to us as long as we remain outside of Christ. So in other words, here is the essence of it. Genuine Christian faith, which brings us into a living hope, is found in Christ alone. He is the only Savior, for he is the only one qualified to save. No one else has risen from the dead.

No one else has made an atonement for your sins. It is in Christ alone. It is by grace alone.

We don't deserve it, and we could never achieve it. And it is through faith alone. Now, don't for a moment think that faith is a work that replaces endeavor. And so God looks on us and says, Well, he had faith, therefore I will reward him for his faith.

No, in actual fact, it is not like that at all. One of the Puritan writers put it masterfully when he said, God justifies the believer not because of the worthiness of his belief but because of the worthiness of the one in whom he believes. In other words, we're put right with God not because we manage to believe but because our believing is in the strength of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. You see, the real question is, in this whole religion issue, it's about ascent and descent.

Religion essentially is an ascendant thing. Man says, Whatever else is in doubt, I'm really not the person I need to be. If there is a God, then there is a vast gap between myself and him. Therefore, what I need to do is I need to ascend to God.

I need to get myself sorted out. And so, by means of mysticism or by means of moralism or by means of selfism, I will endeavor to close the gap. And many people's lives are engaged in that pursuit and in a way that makes as much meaning of their existence as it can, but it doesn't answer the deepest issues. If that person then will turn to the New Testament, what they will discover is that in actual fact the story of Christianity is not the story of ascent, but it is the story of descent, that it is the story of a God who comes down into our time, a God who indwells our humanity, a God who dies in our place, a God who is raised for our justification, a God who rules over the sovereign affairs of the world and who will bring history to completion in his own good time. What then is faith? Faith is nothing other than the empty hand which reaches out to the initiative-taking grace of God and accepts as an offer of free mercy and kindness the gift of forgiveness and hope and a future and a whole new family. So I say to you today, understand clearly you are not put right with God because you're good.

You will start to be good when you're put right with God. Come to him. He made you. He loves you. He's patient with you. Ask him to forgive you.

Tell him you're done with pretending you're alive. Ask him to make you alive. He will.

He's promised. Ultimately our hope is anchored in God's grace, his mercy, his initiative, not in our own endeavors. You're listening to Truth for Life weekend, that's Alistair Begg with a message titled, A Hope That Stands the Test of Time. Alistair just explained how faith is having nothing to offer aside from empty hands that reach out to accept God's gift of forgiveness and hope. If you'd like to find out more, we want to recommend to you a short video that explains God's plan for salvation. The video is entitled, The Story. It explains the gospel and introduces viewers to all who Jesus is. With this being Easter weekend, this video is a great way for you to share the good news with friends, just by passing them the link.

You'll find it online at truthforlife.org slash the story. As we celebrate Easter, we realize the story of Jesus is interconnected with the lives of a lot of other people. And those people were not always religious people or holy people. Author Nancy Guthrie has written a book titled Saints and Scoundrels. She writes about how from John the Baptist to the apostle Paul, to Jesus' own family, the priests and criminals he encountered, the gospel presents a large cast of both saints and scoundrels. The aim of Nancy's book is to help us get to know some of these people more personally by examining their motives, their emotions and their strengths and weaknesses.

So we can see how similar they are to our own. Find out more about the book, Saints and Scoundrels when you visit our website at truthforlife.org. I'm Bob Lapine. You probably have questions you'd like to ask God. Well, he has some surprising questions for you as well. Be sure to join us next weekend as we start a new series titled Seven Questions God Asks. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.