## Blessings of Salvation

## I Peter 1:3-9

There is a little chorus that we sing around here sometimes. It is called 'Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul'. Last Thursday, other days as well, we gathered with family and friends to celebrate the American holiday, Thanksgiving. And we certainly do have much to be thankful for here in America. Multiply over again if we are Christians who know the joy of salvation by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ!

Read: 1 Peter 1:3-9

The book of I Peter as we recall has been written to a group of believers who are going through a hard time. They have been scattered into other places. They are being persecuted for their faith. So the Spirit of God inspires Simon Peter to write a book of encouragement. And to show them that God has a purpose for the sufferings and the trails and for the trouble which come their way.

As this letter begins, Peter sets before us the wonderful glories of the salvation we enjoy. In the second verse of the chapter we saw the work of the trinity in our salvation. We saw that you and I are saved because of the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and the sprinkling of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. With verse three Peter begins to expand on the three-fold truth of salvation: 1) Regeneration; 2) Sanctification; and 3) Redemption.

This morning, let's look at this great passage on regeneration or salvation. Beginning with verse three Peter makes a statement of praise and thanksgiving to God for salvation.

(1 Pet 1:3) "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,"

I. A Living Hope.

A. It is according to his abundant mercy.

1. This statement refers to the new birth.

2. God has given us a new birth and this new birth has brought into our lives a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

3. One of the first characteristics of the life of a believer is that God has put the living hope into their life.

4. This is constantly and continually alive in the heart of a believer, and is the anchor of the soul of the child of God.

(Heb 6:19) "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"

(Eph 2:12) "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:"

B. The world is a hopeless place.

1. The books that are being written, the movies that are being made, are books that are filled with a sense of hopelessness.

2. They simply reflect the sense of hopeless-ness that multitudes of people feel.

3. "Armageddon" and "Deep Impact" are two recent movies that reveal that many people are thinking about the end of the world.

4. The 'Y2K' situation has even many Christians advocating survivalist tactics and capitalize on the fear of a world without hope!

5. Listen to many young people, and you will begin to realize that a generation of young people is growing up with the attitude that there are no answers, no solutions, so what's the use?

6. Dr. Kevorkian promotes a similar attitude among older folks.

7. People are trying in this world to find some hope, some expectation for the future.

8. But, there is only one place where a person can find a living hope.

9. And that is in a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

C. There are three things this verse tells us about our living hope.

1. The first thing is the strength of our hope.

a. He says that the strength of our hope is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

b. A hope is only as strong its basis.

c. The Christian faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

d. If Jesus rose again from the dead then we have a hope that is alive.

e. If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead then we have no hope.

(1 Cor 15:14; 17) "And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain … And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."

2. Next, we notice the substance of our hope.

(1 Pet 1:4) "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,"

a. We have been an inheritance.

b. Some of us have received an inheritance and others will receive an inheritance sometime in the future.

c. An inheritance is a benefit of a blessing which is given to you.

d. It is due to the fact of having been born into a family, it is not earned and often not deserved!

e. An inheritance is something you get, it is a possession that is yours out there in the future.

f. The inheritance a child of God enjoys is far greater and far more substantial than any earthly inheritance.

1) It is incorruptible inheritance...that means it is not subject to decay! (not like the things of this world)

2) It is undefiled…and that means it cannot be polluted or ruined! (even by us!)

3) It will not fade away…that means it is ours forever! (we cannot lose it or have stolen away from us!)

3. Consider also the security of our hope.

a. "reserved in heaven for you".

b. That means that it is already there waiting for us!

c. It is the most secure inheritance any person ever had.

d. Verse five says that we are kept by the power of God.

II. An Enduring Faith. v6-7

A. The Reality of Suffering.

1. These Christians were enduring unbelievable trials, and troubles and persecutions.

2. Nero had blamed the burning of the city of Rome on those Christians.

3.That resulted in unexplainable trials.

a. Some of those Christians were sown in sacks and let wild dogs rip them from limb to limb.

b. Others were rolled in tar and pitch and set afire like living torches to light Nero's garden.

c. Yet Simon Peter writes to encourage them.

(1 Pet 1:6) "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:"

d. That word temptations means trials, troubles, hardships and difficulties.

4. He is talking here about the types of the troubles that come into the life of a Christian.

a. 'Manifold' = many colored.

b. He is saying here that trouble has got its own rainbow of colors.

c. All kinds of troubles.

d. Peter uses the same word to describe the grace of God in chapter 4:10.

e. What is the point? For every shade of trouble we may experience, God has grace to supply to help us to deal with the problem!

B. Notice the reason for troubles.

1. He says those trials "need be". v6

2. What he is saying is there is a need be about our trials.

3. There is a purpose in our trials.

4. There is a reason for the troubles you are going through this very day.

C. He uses here a illustration of gold being put into the fire.

1. It is a beautiful illustration of how God uses troubles in our lives as Christians.

2. He is talking here about the process of the purifying of the gold.

a. Peter says that is exactly the purpose of trial in the life of a believer.

b. God permits the fires of trials and problems and difficulties to come into our life as a Christian.

c. He says the purpose if that our faith "might be found unto praise and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

3. One of these days the Lord Jesus will come and will say, "well done my good and faithful servant." Cf Mt. 25:21

III. A Captivating Love. v8

(1 Pet 1:8) "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:"

A. An Unseen Savior.

1. Peter had seen Jesus.

2. He had known and experienced the love of Christ in the flesh.

3. But the believers he was writing to had not had that privilege.

4. Still they loved Him.

B. An Unexplainable Love.

1. We love Christ by faith!

2. Peter is talking about a wonderful thing here.

3. We can love someone we have never seen before!

4. How can this be?

5. Parents, what about the love you have for your children?

6. Before they were ever born we loved them. (that is also true of grand-children!)

C. That is the wonderful thing about salvation.

1. It brings into our life a captivating love.

2. That is the key to the Christian life.

3. Loving Jesus…

4. Do you love him?

5. That is basically all that Jesus wants from us…in return for the great salvation he has given.

6. All in the world he really wants is for us to love him.

What do we have to be thankful for? Even in the midst of a difficult world…a life filled with troubles and difficulties? Peter reminds of three things that all who are saved possess:

- A Living Hope.
- An Enduring Faith.
- A Captivating Love.

If you are without Christ today, you can receive Him this morning. Come to Him by faith and He will not turn you away. Trust in Him today and know these wonderful blessings.