Living Hope
"Spiritual Identity"
1 Peter 1:3-5
Introduction:
June 29, 2008 Ian Usher of Perth, Australia, put his whole life up for sale on EBay. Ian seemed to have lost all hope in his life. His job was headed nowhere. His wife of five years left him. His other personal relationships were in “shambles”. As a last resort, he put his whole life up for auction. The highest bidder, or the bid of his own choosing, would receive his 3 bedroom house, his Mazda car, his jet ski, an opportunity to interview for his job at a rug store. Also included in his auction was an introduction to all his personal friends. Ian Usher is ready to begin a NEW LIFE. He wants to “shed” himself of his old life.
Ian Usher hoped his life might be worth $1 Million to someone – EBay had so many offers it had to set up its own mini-site to handle the overwhelming week long activity. When the smoke cleared there were 60 real bids and the life of Ian Usher was sold for $399,000. Ian Usher walked away from his old life and began a new one.
Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever wished you could just begin again? Have you ever looked back at your life and wondered, “Whatever happened to my dreams?”
Does God know you, know your problems – does He even care that you struggle with your identity?
A weathered old fisherman wondered about his own life. He was a man of so many ups and downs his life became a picture of a roller coaster. God inspired him to write a letter that would change the face of millions of people.
1. God identifies every believer with a LIVING HOPE.
"An ever-living Hope" C.B. Williams translation (Vs. 3)
John was the Great Apostle of LOVE by this we know..
Paul was the Great Apostle of FAITH “by grace through Faith”
Peter is the Great Apostle of HOPE. “You have a Living Hope”
The Bible is a book of HOPE. The Bible is filled with WORD PICTURES:
Hope is the Anchor of the Soul - Hebrews Apart from HOPE we drift.
Hope is a Helmet – God’s way of protection when you fall down
Hope is a Harbor - Joel; The winds/Storms of Life rage up against us.
The old fisherman, Peter the Apostle tells us of a Living Hope!
Think of Simon Peter who like Andrew left the family fishing business and followed an itinerant Galilean carpenter named Jesus. He stood beside Jesus and heard a man teach the Word of God powerfully, He saw with his own eyes the many miracles Jesus performed before the disciples and others. For three and a half years Simon Peter pinned ALL the HOPES of his life on this God/Man Jesus Christ. In the final hours of Jesus’ life this old fisherman did what came most natural when the heat was on – he denied he ever knew Jesus and ran away. In those awful moments of that Friday evening Simon Peter felt ALL HOPE WAS GONE FOREVER!
But just three days later Simon went with the others and when he looked into that open tomb once held the body of Jesus – it was empty and HOPE was alive forever for Simon Peter.
From that moment Simon Peter had a new favorite word: Living!
Christ is the LIVING STONE; Because Christ lives we can have a LIVING righteousness; We can now LIVE with the Spirit of God who LIVES within all believers!
Tragically, some people's HOPE dies before they do. This is Tragic; Just a few weeks ago (October 7, 2008) a man in California because he had lost all hope with the plunging stock market - shot and killed his mother-in-law, three children, his wife& then turned the gun on himself - taking his own life.
If you place your full and final HOPE in what the stock market has to offer - you have a misplaced HOPE. You need a HOPE that is SECURE, a HOPE that is STABLE and a HOPE that is ETERNAL.
I wonder if you have a HOPE that nothing can touch today.
I ask you: Is hope alive in you today?
Illustrate with story of "the garden of HOPE"
A pastor in 1958 went to the Holy Land – Jerusalem, Palestine – he saw all the sights, smelled the arid air of the mid-east. Came home to Ky. with a great burden – everyone should experience the Land of Jesus. He had a new mission for life. He would bring the Holy Land to the Western slope of Kentucky. He ordered plants, flowers and shrubs from 26 different countries. He hauled in dirt to resemble the plateaus where our Lord gave His Sermon on the Mount. When it was all ready – He called it the Garden of Hope. Before long, those plants began to wither away…the shrubs soon resembled weeds. Those plants though beautiful in the Holy Land couldn’t stand up to the climate of Kentucky. Can you guess what happened to the Garden of Hope? The gates were locked, the plants, the shrubs all died and people threw their trash and garbage all over the lot and it became a Garden of Despair.
That Garden of Despair is a picture of all of us who live apart from the Hope and Grace of Jesus Christ.
God’s dream for all of us is that we live in Him, by Him and through Him.
Sin makes the Garden of Hope look like a garbage dump.
When you experience new birth in Jesus Christ - God's identifying mark of HOPE becomes a living reality in your life.
2. God identifies every believer with a reliable inheritance.
"into an inheritance that never perishes, never spoils, never fades”
An inheritance – what is that? For the believer – it is Christ Himself. If you are a “born-again” believer in Jesus Christ today you inherit none other than the Lord Christ himself.
This was a welcome WORD to the first readers of this letter. Rome banished all Believers and they scattered to the four corners of the earth because they were identified by their trust and faith in Jesus. They lost land, homes and inheritances.
Peter writes to comfort and encourage them that in Christ you have an inheritance that cannot be taken away, cannot rust/rot or fade away.
The only reliable security plan in this world or the next comes from God. God is the one person you can count on today. Everyone else may leave you. Your boss can surely disappoint you. Or, your parents, Young people, Your parents love you but they too are human and they fail. Your best friend may one day leave you, but the Bible says, "there is a FRIEND that is closer than a brother...." That friend is Jesus and because of Jesus we can know that God keeps His Word. God identifies you this morning as a believer in Jesus Christ - and He gives you an inheritance that can't be taken, can't be broken, doesn't need updating, and doesn’t lack for resources - EVER! Time won't dissolve it; No person can steal it or abuse it, the banks don't have to insure it - God promises you an inheritance that is as real as you are this morning. He keeps it for you. Your inheritance with God is safe and sure this morning if you are a believer in Jesus Christ. The very moment you place the full weight of your TRUST in Him; the very moment you ask Him, "God, here is my life I can do nothing with it - it is scarred and marred by sin - will you take it - take my life and Lord can you ever forgive me of my sin?" And the answer from God is always, "YES".
· | As Christians, we have a hope which cannot be defeated by any foe, which cannot be defiled by any falsehood, and which cannot be destroyed by any force. |
Where do you put your TRUST today? LARGEST INHERITANCE:
· Howa
3. God identifies every believer with ultimate Spiritual Protection.
Doesn’t do much good to know you have an inheritance unless you LIVE long enough to receive it!
Verse 5: "kept/reserved for you..."
"through faith you are shielded..."
Knox: "God give you safe conduct" until the day of your inheritance.
The language of the New Testament reveals the thrust and the deep meaning of verse 5:
“having ever been and thus ever continuing to be safeguarded in the heavens for you.” The passive makes God the one who guards and keeps our inheritance for us. He keeps it safe. Many an earthly heir has never obtained his inheritance; false, faithless, weak guardians lost it for him.
This is a military term with a reminder that "as you live your life behind enemy lines - God's shielding, keeping power is with you every step of the way…until you safely reach your inheritance.”
God provided and protected the unbelieving/wavering nation of Israel as they travelled through the wilderness. They had many ups and downs – but God kept them and secured them until they landed safely into the land of God’s promise.
Do you have God’s promise of Safe Travel over your life today?
Do you know that whatever happens to you doesn’t matter because someone has happened in you and that SOMEONE is JESUS CHRIST?
CONCLUSION:
What is your Spiritual Identity? You know now you have a Spiritual
Identity? The question before everyone of us here today is:
Have you come to a place in your life where you can surely say:
God has caused me to experience LIFE and HOPE in HIM.
This means today that YOU have taken that LONG, CLOSE look at the cross and you have realized – He died for YOU!
And today you can sense His touch in your heart saying, “I want YOU to experience a LIFE and a HOPE and receive an INHERITANCE that no one can touch or take away.
Big Idea: God marks every believer with a Spiritual Identification.