A New Life; A New Hope

Good morning. I'm naturally a fast talker, and when I'm passionate about things and very nervous, it makes me an even faster talker. So I'll try to temper myself.

Well, first of all, it is truly an honor and a privilege to be among you and to be able to open God's word with you today. As Pastor John said, I am in seminary right now, and so obviously I'm a young guy.

But I want you to know that though I'm young, I realize I have a lot to learn, and so I don't come up here presuming to know everything about everything.

I come up here seeking to be a humble steward of what God has given me. So, yeah, let's begin then with a deep desire to love God more and to cherish him deeper today as we study his word.

So I have a question to begin. What are some reasons that we suffer? What are some things that cause us to suffer? Somebody would just like to speak out.

Sin. Sin. Illness. Illness. To push us closer to God. To push us closer to God. Bad choices. The actions of others.

Yeah, I think that in many ways we can see that usually the cause of suffering is somehow attributed to sin. Whether that be our sin against others, others sin against us, or the general effects of sin in this world.

So, if somebody is sick, that's not because they necessarily sinned or somebody sinned against them, but because in sin there was death that entered the world, which causes sickness. So, I think we can see oftentimes that when we suffer, there is somehow sin that is involved.

And I think we'll see today as we study 1 Peter that the sin that is involved, that is the cause of the suffering, is the sin of others against us. So, that kind of naturally raises the question, why are we persecuted?

If somebody would even like to shout out with that. Roger. Darkness hates light. Mm-hmm. And it will deliver a chance in a time. Absolutely.

Darkness hates light. Anybody else have thoughts? Because the world hates Christ. Because the world hates Christ, and therefore he says they will hate us.

Absolutely. Taking your stand from truth. Taking a stand for truth, yeah, uncompromising on the truth of God's word. Absolutely. Yeah, for sure.

We can see that, yeah, we are persecuted in a very simple answer because we are Christians, and if we are Christians, we ought to be acting like Christians. And Christians who act like Christians are naturally going to be persecuted.

So, all this kind of forms the backdrop of what we will be studying today. In 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 to 9. So, if you would like to turn there to 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 to 9.

I kind of like to title things, so I titled this, A New Life, A New Hope. In this passage, Peter is writing to believers who are suffering due to persecution for their righteous behavior.

So, they're suffering because they're acting like Christians. And that's kind of the lens through which we ought to read this passage. We ought to read it through the lens that Christians will suffer because people persecute us.

We will suffer because people persecute us. So, we ought to also see, though, that Peter writes to give us comfort and to give us hope. He's writing to remind us that though we may be rejected by family or friends or coworkers or neighbors or whomever crosses our paths, we can take comfort and hope in knowing that God has chosen us and that God has not rejected us.

So, when Peter talks about suffering in this letter, that's what he's getting at. Being persecuted, being maligned and ridiculed for the name of Christ. Something else maybe you should know about me.

I'm a minimalist, which means I like things simple. I just really like simple things. So, when I study scripture, I love having big ideas. I just really like one general idea that if we get nothing else out of today, we can walk out of here remembering just one statement.

And so, that statement is this. The resurrection of Jesus Christ kindles fresh hope in a world of despair. I'll say that again. The resurrection of Jesus Christ kindles fresh hope in a world of despair.

I also kind of like to have sub points to break up the text a little bit. So, the first point would be, our new birth has given us a new hope. And that's in the first five verses. So, our new birth has given us a new hope.

And then the second point is that our new birth has given us endurance in suffering. And that's verses six to nine. And I prepared, I'm not sure if I prepared for 40 minutes or not.

So, we may have to cut it short today or I may go short. We'll see how we go. But I'm hoping to cover these nine verses and to look at the first five and see how our new birth has given us a new hope.

And then to look at the last four and see how our new birth has given us endurance in suffering. Now, these two points are very much tied together. And they're tied together in this way.

We can endure suffering now because we have a new hope for what is to come. We can endure that suffering now in this life because we have the hope of what is to come in our eternal life.

But sometimes I think we get really caught up in the matters of this life. I know I'm incredibly guilty of this. I have to battle my flesh which desires to get the most out of this life, to be satisfied in this life, to be happy in this life, to be comfortable, to be accepted in the eyes of man.

I mean, when we really think about it, it's pretty easy to foster a mindset that says, I will avoid suffering at all costs. But I want to challenge us with this thought. When we are unwilling to put ourselves in a position in which we might suffer for the name of Christ, when we put up any and all defenses to avoid persecution from unbelievers, I think at the heart of the matter, we are revealing our lack of faith in God and all he has promised us in his word.

We become pleasers of man rather than pleasers of God. So I hope we come away from 1 Peter renewed in our faith and all the more ready and willing to suffer now in light of our eternal inheritance.

With that being said, let's read 1 Peter 1, verses 1-9. That's verses 1-9. 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, and the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood, may grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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.

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.

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.

So we begin in verse 1 with Peter as the author. In this letter's introduction, Peter is specifically said to be the author as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Yet many scholars would argue that 1 Peter was perhaps written by someone other than Peter who had close contact with Peter and could present his thoughts well.

The most significant argument centers around the quality of the Greek grammar and syntax. These critics would claim that a fisherman such as Peter couldn't have written as eloquently or with such complexity.

And so they would say that Peter couldn't have written it. And yet we kind of forget that as a fisherman, actually, Greek was kind of the language of trade. And so it's not too uncommon for the fact that somebody such as Peter could have been proficient in the language.

And also some evidence in favor of Peter being the author is the fact that he has numerous allusions to the teachings of Jesus. We'll actually see some of those today. Throughout the letter, the author makes reference to Jesus' words.

And considering the fact that Peter spent three years with Jesus during his earthly ministry, it would be logical that he'd be able to draw on some of what Jesus had said. But I think the most basic argument goes something like this.

The text says Peter wrote it. And if I believe every word of the Bible to be in the inspired and fallible word of God, then guess what? Peter wrote it. All right.

And now the recipients of the letter. It says that they're elect exiles. Okay. So if we look at this word exiles, we should note that when we read this term, we often immediately think of the recipients of Peter's letter being spiritual exiles, Christians living among unbelievers.

I think that's where I naturally go. But it's also very likely that these believers were actually physical, literal exiles, that they had lived in Rome. And then when some Jews had actually revolted against Emperor Claudius around 50 AD, that the Christians were lumped with the Jews because the Romans really didn't distinguish between the two early in church history.

And they were actually expelled from Rome also. And so it's actually likely that the emperor took these Christians, put them in these provinces in Asia Minor to kind of colonize that place.

And so in many ways, not only were they spiritual exiles, but they were actually most likely literally physical exiles, that they were these Roman Christians living among pagan Asian minors.

So, yeah, so we should remember that and kind of see that they stuck out like a sore thumb. I mean, it wasn't just the fact that they were Christians, but they were of a different ethnicity, a different nationality than many of these people that they lived among.

We should also note that the word translated exiles points forward to chapter 2, verse 11, where Peter actually expands on the theme of believers being exiles or foreigners on earth.

We can read that verse rather quickly. He says in verse 11 of chapter 2, And so they're these exiles, and I think we can relate to them, can't we?

We are Christians living in a very pagan culture. As much as we like to claim that America is a Christian nation, we look around and it's not. And so isn't this something that we can relate to?

Aren't we also these spiritual transients passing through this life on earth and feeling very out of place in this world, longing to be home with our Creator? And so when we read these words, they ought to resonate with us because we don't live in some Christian utopia.

We live in a very fallen world that opposes our Savior. And by being associated with Him, we are opposed as well. The world will hate us because the world has first hated Him. And then we come to this term, elect.

And I think there's some really significant theological implications to this word. Though the believers are addressed in the letter as foreigners, Peter wants to emphasize that they were nonetheless chosen by God.

Though they had been rejected by society, they were elect by God. And in the same way, though we may be rejected by society, we ought to take heart and be strengthened and encouraged, even comforted in knowing that we too are chosen by God.

And I also want to see that this word elect also points forward to chapter 2. And we see that in verse 9. In chapter 2, verse 9, Peter writes, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Now I point out these two places where Peter looks forward to certain themes that play out in the letter because we can make many connections in the introduction and see how the introduction kind of forms this small picture, this window into what the rest of the letter has to offer.

And I actually think that that happens in a lot of places in the epistles in the New Testament. So when we read introductions, it's not just kind of setting the stage, it's actually saying, here's some of what we're going to look at as we read the rest.

And so Peter does, he does the same. Okay, so we're going to keep going into verse 2. We're going to see here that Peter goes on to further describe these elect exiles.

He actually uses three prepositional phrases in this verse. And they all modify the term elect back in verse 1. So the believers, they were elected according to the foreknowledge of God.

The noun translated foreknowledge conveys that God not only knew who the elect would be, but that he actually chose them. I think a lot of people get this confused when they read this term translated foreknowledge, and they think it only means that God knew beforehand what would happen, but that he didn't actively elect.

But I think that there's actually evidence within 1 Peter that would kind of teach to the contrary. So if we look at chapter 1 verse 20, Peter says, He was being Christ, He was foreknown before the foundations of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

And so we see there that it says that Christ was foreknown. Well, I think most of us would agree that God the Father didn't just know what Jesus was going to do. That he and Jesus decided this is what was going to happen, and then they carried it out.

And so I think there is this active sense of election in the idea of verse 2, in which the believers are described as, we as believers are described as foreknown by God.

All right, and then we come to the second prepositional phrase. In the sanctification of the Spirit, or through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. So not only were the believers that Peter was writing to considered the elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, but they were also chosen through the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

Though sanctification is usually used to describe the growth during Christian life, in this context, Peter appears to be using it to talk more about the point of conversion, when the individual is baptized by the Spirit.

We, like the believers Peter was writing to, have been chosen through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, having been baptized by Him when we first repented and believed. And then we come to the final modifying phrase for the term elect, and that is, for obedience to Christ and for sprinkling with His blood.

Peter emphasizes that the believers were chosen to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with His blood. And so, from the logical order of these introductory verses, we see that believers are chosen, sanctified, and obedient.

And we even see that, in a way, this shows us the Trinity. It shows us the work of the Trinity, that the Trinity is one God, but three distinct persons. And these three persons have distinct functions.

And so, the Father has a role, and the Son has a role, and the Spirit has a role in our salvation. And so now, we're going to move from this kind of introduction of the letter into the body of the text.

But as we do that, I want to ask this question. What are reasons we have to praise God for our salvation? Hmm.

Absolutely. The list goes on and on and on. I think that, Dan, I think you hit it on the head right there, with our salvation.

And that is what Peter is going to be teaching us here in these verses, that we have reason to praise God because He has saved us. Because we have hope of salvation in Christ. And so now, I want to have this quick side note.

When I say salvation, what generally comes to mind? When you hear the term salvation, what do you usually think? Saved from eternal torment.

The day I repented. Sins forgiven. Sins forgiven. Relationship with God.

Hmm. Relationship with God. God exalted in His mercy. Hmm. Amen. Yeah, and again, I think, as numerous as the angels, there is much to speak of in terms of our salvation.

And I think that we also, and I think in all of those, which are absolutely true, most of those had to do with our point of conversion. It spoke of the time when we were saved from our sins. And when we read in 1 Peter, I think it's important to realize that our salvation continues.

And that there's actually this final deliverance. And we read about that in the Old Testament. You read in, like, the Psalms with David. And he talks about how God has delivered him from his enemies, how God is his rock, his salvation.

There's this element of future deliverance that is also conveyed in this. And 1 Peter is all about salvation in the broad picture. We've got conversion, but we've also got the glorification.

We've got the initial deliverance from the power of sin and the final deliverance from the presence of sin. And we're going to see that play out here in these verses. So we get to verse 3.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is like the theme verse for verses 3 to 9. This is what sets the tone. As we'll see, everything that follows in verses 3 to 9, they tie back to this doxology of praise.

That God is to be blessed. God is to be praised for everything that he has done. And so let's look at this first aspect of our salvation that ought to be cause for praise. It's the phrase, according to his great mercy.

This phrase emphasizes that our salvation is not dependent on our ability to earn favor with God or to merit his approval. It's all about his mercy. In fact, this is like the foundation for all that follows about our salvation.

It's all rooted in God's mercy. If he were not merciful, none of the rest would follow. And so in his mercy, he has caused us to be born again or he has given us new birth.

And this idea of being born again is probably the first of many allusions to the words of Jesus. This particular reference can be found in the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verses 1 to 8, when Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus.

And he says, in order to enter the kingdom of God, you must be born again. And so here Peter draws on Jesus' words and reminds us that we have cause to praise God because he has caused us to be born again.

Our worship ought to flow from who God is and from what he's done. So who God is, God is a merciful God. In his character, he is merciful. And what has he done? He has caused us to be born again.

And then we see the next phrase, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So God is the father of all believers because he has caused us to be born again through Christ's resurrection.

We have this new birth and that just as Christ was raised from the dead physically, we have been raised from the dead spiritually. And now we have this new life we can call the giver of our new life, our father.

Now there are two results of this new birth. The first result is that we have a living hope. I think this phrase is really significant. This hope, it can be considered living because Christ defeated death through his resurrection.

So we don't have some whimsy aspiration of salvation. We don't have some wishful thinking that maybe God will grant us eternal life. No, we have the risen Christ as the sure foundation upon which our salvation stands.

We literally have a living hope because Christ lives. So we see that this verse, it speaks to the fact that we've been given this new birth according to God's mercy.

We see that Jesus in rising from the dead and in conquering death has given us this hope and that's rooted in this idea of being alive. And then we come to verse four.

And in verse four, we see the second result of our new birth is given and that result being an inheritance that awaits us in heaven. So this verse continues the thought from verse three. God has caused us as believers to be born again in order that we may have a living hope and an eternal inheritance.

And it's important to recognize again that God continues to be the subject of this doxology. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again. He has kept our inheritance secure in heaven.

And because inheritance often involved land, especially if you think about in the Old Testament, the inheritance was always associated with land. It would seem that Peter is likely pointing forward even to the new heavens and new earth.

And we have this inheritance in the new heavens and new earth. We will have a share in that place. And then he describes this inheritance. And he says that it's imperishable, undefiled and unfading.

It's kept in heaven. Another way of maybe translating it in like the NIV is never perish, spoil or fade. And so this idea, it ties in with Jesus' words again from Luke 12, 33, where he talks about treasure in heaven having lasting value.

And so we see that our hope of eternal life is tied to an eternal inheritance. If our life is not eternal, then our inheritance is not. But they're tied together. So if one is eternal, the other must be as well. Now we come to verse 5.

And we see that it says, who by God's power are being guarded through faith. Now the who, of course, is us believers. And again, it's tying back to being elect exiles. That we, who are these elect exiles, are being guarded by God's power through faith.

Now I think it's important to recognize that both God's power and the believer's faith are the means by which one obtains the inheritance. But our faith is secondary and dependent upon the power of God.

As one commentator put it, God's power protects us because his power is the means by which our faith is sustained. God's power protects us because his power is the means by which our faith is sustained.

And that the faith that Peter is referring to is the believer's continuing trust that God is going to be faithful. It's that continuing trust in his faithfulness rather than simply the point of conversion when we put our faith in Christ.

It's the continuing faith that knows that Christ is our sufficiency. And then we come to this next phrase, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. The language of this verse reinforces for us that the salvation that Peter speaks of is not just the point of conversion but the final deliverance of the believer.

For this salvation has yet to be revealed. The passive voice of the verb to be revealed coupled with the verb to be guarded speaks to the fact that God is the one who both guards us as believers and will reveal our ultimate deliverance in the last day.

Thus Peter points to God again as the agent of each action in this doxology. And we can continually repeat all that he has done to be reminded of that. And now we come to somewhat of a transition.

And so we hit verse 6. And so in these last few verses we've been seeing how God is the object of our worship because he has saved us. And now we're going to see how that translates into what this life looks like.

And so the ESV translates in verse 6, in this you rejoice. And I think the NIV is helpful when it says in all this you greatly rejoice. And the all this refers back to the entirety of the doxology in verses 3 to 5.

In all that God has done on our behalf to secure our salvation we greatly rejoice. In his great mercy, in Christ's resurrection, in our new birth, in our living hope, in our inheritance, all of this ought to be an overflow of our joy for our salvation.

And so Peter concludes his doxology in verses 3 to 5 by forming the believer's present joy. As one commentator says about believers, they rejoice now because of the inheritance that most certainly awaits.

And then we see this next phrase, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. This is Peter's first mention of suffering in the letter. So I'd like to spend just a little bit of time talking about the trials the believers were facing in the first century.

But to do that, I think we also need to take a brief moment to see when the letter was written. It's most likely that Peter penned these words to the believers in Asia Minor around the mid-60s AD, during a time when the believers were facing trials that were not yet state-sponsored, widespread physical persecution, but more likely regionalized, kind of sporadic mistreatment of the believers.

The internal evidence supports this more regionalized form of persecution, considering Peter doesn't even mention any of the large-scale persecutions of Christians by the Roman government under Nero. And this widespread persecution didn't actually begin until like the late 60s.

Furthermore, when Peter speaks of suffering at the hands of unbelievers, he seems to be speaking more so to the idea of verbal abuse than physical abuse, though we can be sure that they likely suffered the physical abuse to some degree or another.

All this to say, sometimes we read about Christians suffering persecution, and we immediately think of the martyrs who were in the Colosseum and torn apart by wild beasts, or we think of Christians who were burned, perhaps at the persecution of Nero.

But persecution has always come in many forms, as it does today. So when we're mocked at work by our coworkers for being Christians, that's persecution. When we're ridiculed by family members for going to church, that's persecution.

It can come in these many forms, and though many of us don't necessarily suffer physical harm here in Indiana, we are still persecuted like the believers to whom Peter wrote, when we too are reviled and slandered for our good behavior.

So though these various trials have created suffering, Peter is quick to point out that they are a temporary present reality when he says, for a little while now. He then inserts the phrase that the ESV translates, if necessary.

And so this kind of brings out the idea that the trials that believers experience, the trials that we experience, are a result of God's will, that God wills that we would suffer. So we shouldn't think of this as somehow the result of fate or some impersonal force or just by chance we're persecuted, but that it's actually God's will for our lives.

And we'll see that his will is always purposeful. There's always a reason for why we're persecuted, for why we suffer. And we'll see that in verse seven. So let's sum up verse six.

We've seen that we as believers are called to rejoice in our eternal inheritance, though we endure persecution now. The implication of this phrase being, the sufferings of this life cannot compare to the riches of our inheritance in the new heavens and new earth.

Therefore, we have to ask ourselves, where do we find our joy? And what do we rejoice? And more importantly, can we say that we rejoice even when we suffer? Perhaps we will find greater joy even in the midst of our trials when we see the purpose of our trials, which brings us to verse seven.

So verse seven says, it begins with this conjunction, just this little phrase, so that, or these things have come so that. And this is kind of a key to understanding why God would deem it necessary that we suffer.

It connects the persecution of this life to a very purposeful end. There is a reason for our trials and for our sufferings. God has allowed these things to enter into our lives for a very clear purpose. And Peter spells that out.

He says, 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.

So the result or the purpose of these trials is to display the tested genuineness, the proven genuineness of our faith. And isn't that true when we've experienced persecution? Do not hardships and sufferings at the hands of those who persecute us prove the genuineness of our faith?

If we've been able to stand strong in the faith when ridiculed by others, then not only does it reassure us of our faith, but it reveals to the unbeliever our deep convictions. And this proven genuineness has not only an effect upon us now, both believer and unbeliever, but its ultimate purpose will be expressed at the return of Christ.

For as Peter says, we suffer in order that the tested genuineness of our faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor. at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

So ultimately, we suffer in order that Jesus may be the recipient of all praise, honor, and glory when he returns. And this kind of parallels the idea that Peter puts forth in chapter 2 when he says, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of his visitation.

So in light of both verse 7, here in chapter 1, and the passage I just cited in chapter 2, we see that it is our trials that are one of the means by which God has determined to bestow upon Jesus praise, honor, and glory.

We then ought to find strength in the midst of persecution, knowing it is for the fame of our Savior that we suffer. Also, we should note something about the phrase at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

It's important to see that Peter continues to point to the centrality of Christ in these opening verses of his letter. He's both the means by which we are born again, described in verse 3, and the object of all praise and honor, the one who is deserving of glory, expressed here in verse 7.

And there's even this parallel now that we'll see in verses 5 to 7. The phrase, at the revelation of Jesus Christ, in verse 7, parallels the phrase, a salvation ready to be revealed, in verse 5.

You see that there in verse 7? At the revelation of Jesus Christ, and in verse 5, a salvation ready to be revealed at the end time. So why are they paralleled? Or maybe it'd be better to ask ourselves in this manner, what significance is there in paralleling these two phrases?

And I think it's something like this, because Jesus Christ is our salvation. He is the one who will be revealed, as John says in Revelation, as coming on the clouds of heaven, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him.

Yet, while Christ's enemies will wail on account of him, we will rejoice, for he is our salvation, the righteous judge who will vindicate his people, the Savior who will deliver us from all our trials.

And then we come to the phrase that qualifies our salvation, that describes the quality of our salvation here in verse 7. Peter describes it as, This phrase is tied back to verse 4, where Peter describes our inheritance.

And he describes our faith in very similar terms, in that it's of greater worth than gold, because the end reward, our inheritance in heaven, far exceeds the value of gold. In the same way that gold is proven by fire, so too is faith proven through various trials.

Yet unlike gold, the believer's faith never perishes. For if the reward for our faith is this eternal inheritance that can ever spoil or fade or perish, then the faith itself must be just as incorruptible.

Then we come to this next phrase, Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him. And so Peter expounds on the genuineness of the believer's faith by quoting once more Jesus' words.

This is from John 20, 29. In this passage, Thomas, in his lack of faith, does not believe the reports he has heard of Jesus' resurrection. Jesus then appears to him, showing himself to truly have been raised from the dead.

And of course, Thomas believes. I mean, he's seen Jesus, and he exclaims, My Lord and my God. Yet Jesus responds by saying, Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not and yet have believed.

So Peter takes these words of Jesus and uses them to remind the believers to whom he is writing that the fact that they have not seen Jesus, all the more proves the genuineness of their faith. And this is a blessing because they can know that their faith is real.

And in the same way, we have not seen Jesus. And so we too are blessed because we believe and that we have not have not seen him. And he describes this as having a joy.

We believe in him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. And so we come full circle. We return back to this idea of rejoicing. We have this joy and the hope of our salvation. We rejoice because of our salvation.

And then we see this last phrase, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. So we see that Peter has both a present focus and a future focus in terms of our salvation. In verse 2, we saw the moment of conversion when we placed our faith in Christ.

And in this instance, our salvation is secured based on the Father's eternal plan, the sanctifying work of the Spirit, and the sacrificial death of the Son. And then we see this continued theme in verse 3 when Peter talks about how we were born again through the resurrection of Jesus.

And yet Peter doesn't stop here. He points forward to our glorification. There's a future element of our salvation that we have yet to possess. There's a heavenly inheritance that awaits us.

And because we look forward to that inheritance, we can endure trials and tribulations now. So while we live here on earth as foreigners and exiles in a strange land among hostile peoples, we look forward with great joy and with this longing, this eager anticipation for the day when Christ will return to rule and reign as the risen and righteous King.

And then, that's when we will fully experience all the riches of God's goodness and grace that He's poured out to us. Suffering no more grief, no more trials, no more suffering. We will not only know this inexpressible and glorious joy as we worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, but we will enjoy it in its fullness because we will see Him face to face.

So let's remember these verses in 1 Peter when we're tempted to avoid even the possibility of suffering and persecution in this life. Even when we run up against somebody that we know is an unbeliever and we have that moment of just saying, I just don't know if this is the time or if we decide I'm going to give in to do this when we know that it's not, that it's not worthy of God.

Let us not even avoid that possibility to suffer when we know the hope of our salvation. So, again, I just want to emphasize that big idea that if we come away with nothing else from today, if there's nothing else that we remember, if it all just, if it was just, nothing was there, let us remember this simple truth that 1 Peter 1-9 teaches.

Jesus Christ has kindled fresh hope in a world of despair. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, God, we thank you that you are the hope of our salvation and we thank you that you are the cause of our salvation, that we can look to you and we can trust in you for your faithfulness to us in our present sufferings because you have shown yourself faithful in the way in which you have saved us.

Thank you for sending your son Jesus and raising him from the dead on our behalf that we might have a living hope. God, help us to live in such a manner that we are willing to suffer for your name, that we are willing to put ourselves in a position in which we may be mocked or we may be ridiculed or maligned, but God, let us do it with all joy knowing the inheritance that awaits us.

God, we thank you for your word and that it teaches us and that it sanctifies us. God, I pray we would come away from even this time in 1 Peter comforted and encouraged knowing that you are faithful to sustain us.

It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen.