Part Three: "Understanding Our Great Salvation Causes Us to Worship God and have Joy!" (1

Our passage says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). What is the "living hope" that Peter speaks of? It's declared throughout the Bible that those who are without God's salvation are without hope in this world! King Solomon said it best with these words; "The hope of the righteous is gladness, but the expectation of the wicked perishes" (Proverbs 10:28). If a person's hope is built on anything other than eternal life, that hope will perish! Please listen. If your hope is in the economy, your family, your investments, your retirement, your health, or other people, all these hopes will come to nothing! Because one day these hopes will end, they're dead hopes! But, these are the only hopes one can have without the salvation that God gives. Peter tells us we have a "living hope" because of our salvation! How awesome is that? Christ followers have a hope that will last FOREVER! Our hope will never perish! Time destroys all other hopes. They fade and then die! But the passing of time only makes a Christ follower's living hope that much more imminent and glorious! The hope that we have in Christ is PERMANENT and UNCHANGEABLE! This is the hope that produces joy in the life of the Christ follower. Notice Peter says that our living hope is "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." In other words, the hope of the Christ follower is secured by "the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Our hope is built in Jesus and Jesus is alive because He has been raised from among the dead ones! Because our hope is a living hope, the best is yet to come! Bless God forevermore! The hope of the Christ follower stands in stark contrast to the empty, frustrating, deceptive, and false hopes that the world offers. Understanding this living hope is designed to strengthen and encourage us as we pass through this world. Our living hope is a confident assurance based on the Word of God and Jesus' resurrection! When Peter speaks of our living hope, he's not talking about wishful thinking! He's not talking about "pie in the sky, by and by!" He's talking about a sure thing. Peter is talking about a living hope that's settled by the inerrant, infallible, God-breathed, Word of God! The Christ follower has a hope that's out of this world! Doesn't that make you want to bless and praise God? Your move. Be encouraged.