First Peter chapter one. Let's go all the way to verse 12, actually. Here is God's inspired, inerrant, and all-sufficient word spoken to us this morning through the pen of the apostle Peter. 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, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 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, 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 honour 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. Concerning the salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Things into which angels long to look. Well, praise be to God for his word. Let's pray and we'll get to it. Father, we are so thankful that you have revealed this good news to us in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have poured out the Holy Spirit and sent preachers to declare your great mercy, that all the promises made in the Old Testament, where you would save a people from their sins through a Messiah who would come into the world and suffer as your servant, have been fulfilled in Christ. Father, we're so thankful that you have given us not only Christ, but you have given us your word that points us to him. In all of our trials, in all of our griefs, in all of our sorrows, in all the suffering, in all the persecution that your people have endured for centuries, your word, Lord, points us back to the hope we have, an inheritance reserved for us. Lord, I pray that our eyes will be fixed on Christ this morning. And Lord, it's more than just turning our eyes downwards to the pages of a Bible. We need the Holy Spirit this morning. Oh, Father, we need the Spirit to help us to gaze on Christ and to believe in Him afresh, for this faith produces joy that is inexpressible, focused on the glory reserved for your people in Christ. And so, Father, in this, in this spectrum of people who have come into this building this morning, irrespective of how deep and how wide their sorrows are, we know that your word is adequate and sufficient to meet them in their needs, that Christ is truly a perfect Savior who can minister grace to them in their trials. Father, would you do so this morning as your word is preached. Oh, Father, I pray that what we've just read will be true and realized this morning, that good news is announced, not merely by a messenger who is sent, but ultimately by the Holy Spirit. Help us to leave this place, Lord, rejoicing, even if the trials we are experiencing are not diminished or removed. O Father, purify our faith. Make us more like Christ. Fit us, Lord, not only for glory, but fit us to be used in this world to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to a perishing world, Lord, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. Well, I would begin by asking you this morning, what is your hope? What is your hope this morning? And before you answer too quickly, I can help you determine what your hope is. It's what you think about the most. It's not just a token head nod to Jesus or his gospel, but it's actually what you think about when your mind begins to wander. What will you think about this afternoon? What will you think about when you wake up tomorrow? The Word of God says, through Solomon, the inspired king, that the fool's eyes are on the ends of the earth, but the prudent sets his mind and eyes on wisdom. And what I want to accomplish this morning, of course, by the will of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit, is that we would have an increasing yearning for Christ, who is our inheritance. and that that would actually transform how we live in the here and the now. There's always different aspects to Peter's writings. There's a focus on what Christ has done for us in the past, and there's this picture of what awaits us in the future, and the past and the future, which are Christ-centered, determine how we live in the present. You're gonna see that, that if you're a Christian, you have been born again in the past, but he's given you a hope in the future, and before he gets to the nitty gritties of how we live in the present, verses 13 and following, to be holy, he wants us to understand all that is ours and all that we are in Christ, past, future, and present. You're going to see that for the next three weeks, that Peter is going to repeatedly remind us of Christ. And his goal is that we would burst forth in doxology. That's a fancy word, and if perhaps you're not in Christian circles, it simply means this. Doxology is to give glory to God. Doxos, that's the Greek word. It's a word of praise, a word of thanksgiving, a word of blessing. There's lots of words that Christians speak in trials. There's lots of words that Christians speak in grief. There's lots of words that Christians speak in persecution, but are they the right words? In verse three, which governs all of verses three through 12, which in the Greek is one long sentence, it begins with the word eulogethos. You, good. Logos word. This is a good word, and it flows out of the introduction. You might be going through the worst situation and circumstances one could imagine, but if you're in Christ, good words should come out of your mouth. You have been foreloved by God the Father before the ages began. He foreknew you. He foreloved you. He set his love on you and set you apart. And the Spirit, who is God, regenerated you. He set you apart. He took you out of the realm of unholy and placed you into the realm of holy. And Christ shed his blood for you. You are now partakers of the new covenant that cost Christ his blood. Notice that Peter doesn't stop there. He could have got into the nitty gritty in verse three. All right, we've dealt with redemption, accomplished and applied. God the Father planned it, Christ the Son purchased it, God the Spirit applied it. That's a great way to help you understand, though, the triunity of God in salvation. The Father plans, the Son purchases, the Spirit applies. The three Ps to the three members of the Godhead. But Peter keeps going. He says, blessed. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now we're only looking at verses three through five this morning, and you're going to see why, because it's quite rich. But in these sort of three subsections of this section that comes under the heading blessed, they all have to do with Christ. Verses three through five, Christ is the center. Verses six through nine, Christ is the center. Verses 12, 10 through 12, Christ is the center. So what is it that elicits this good word to God? It's Christ in his gospel. Peter's not gonna minimize trials, irrespective of how fire they are on the spectrum. God is to be blessed. God is to be praised. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what a good Jew would do in the Old Covenant. 18 times a day, they were to bless God, Adonai. They would bless him with various attributes for the various things he has done. Blessed be God who is creator. Blessed be God who is redeemer. Blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's what Peter, as a faithful Jew, would have grown up doing over and over and over. And what he's doing is he's taking all of those blessings of the old covenant and he's making them quite simple for those who are in the new covenant. Are you a Christian? Are you Jew or Gentile but in Christ? Let me simplify it. You don't have to have 18 attributions to bless God for. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the yes and he is the amen to all of those things you read about in the Old Testament. That God in the Old Testament revealed himself in various ways, Hebrews 1 says. But now in these last days, he has revealed himself most fully how? In Christ. Think about that. that God reveals himself most fully as creator and new creator, as redeemer and deliverer, as covenant maker and keeper, and all the promises, they find their yes and their amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless him this morning. Bless God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're gonna see how important that is, because we are in Christ. And the father of our Lord Jesus Christ is now our father in Christ. And all that the father gives the son as an inheritance becomes ours in Christ. You cannot bless God appropriately or biblically in the new covenant apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is blasphemy to try to bless God apart from the most full revelation of himself in Christ. So speak a good word, says Peter. He is blessed and to be blessed. Praise is a good translation, but it's not the best. That Old Testament word, baruch, bless him, declare him blessed, that's what it means. It's not like we're giving something to God, we're declaring something or someone who he is. He is the all-sufficient blessed one, and out of his blessings come his blessings. Do you sense that? He needs nothing, and yet out of His fullness, He has given us grace and peace and mercy. Declare Him to be the Blessed One with your words and with your life. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has been raised from the dead. We are not to bless Caesar. We are not to bless anyone else. The only Lord for the Christian is Jesus Christ. And Christ was declared to be Lord, says Philippians 2, in his resurrection. Well, let's get into the meat of this. Why are we to bless him? There's many reasons, but Peter highlights three. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living home. So this is how I want you to sort of work through this first point. of our next three weeks. We blossom first for causing us to be born again. Have you been born again? It's not enough to know Greek words. Have you been born again? Have you been sanctified by the Spirit? Have you been born again? And we saw last week, and we will reiterate it, not only this week, but hopefully until God gives us breath. that you're born again through faith, or actually I should say you're born again as evidenced by faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. But before we look at this new birth, notice again the words that precede it. According to his great mercy. We've looked at grace, we've looked at peace, let's finish the triad, let's focus on mercy. And I've read lots on this, I'm not sure where I come down on it. Is Peter picking up this Old Testament or a chesed? Translated in the Septuagint as eleos, mercy. Is this God's covenant love? I lean that way. We bless God for his covenant love in giving us new birth in Christ. According to all these promises, God in his infinite covenant keeping love, gives us sovereign birth through the gospel. But this Greek word also has the idea of God's compassion expressing itself in pity upon the helpless. And I think the word also conveys that. Since God sees us in our misery and in our ruin and helplessness, God looks down upon his elect and he sees that they cannot save themselves. They cannot give themselves birth. And so out of His grace and out of His love, He has mercy. But not just any mercy. I love adjectives. This is great mercy. In accordance with His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again. Who are the us? Those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not speaking to everyone in the world. If you have not repented of your sins, if you have not put your faith in Christ, then you have not been born again. If you have, you have a good word, you have a blessing to speak, you have a praise to give to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in accordance with his great covenant keeping love and in accordance with his great mercy and pity, something has happened. He has caused us to be born again. I don't want to focus too much on this, but I do want to just sort of bring it to your attention that God is sovereign in salvation, from A to Z, from beginning to end, and that's good news. Because if he left even the remotest part of salvation in our courts, we would be hopeless. But in his great mercy, he caused us Who is the actor? Parents, ask your children. Did you give yourself birth? No, according to the will of another, they were born into this world. Nothing did they contribute to their birth. It was solely the good pleasure of another. And that's exactly what salvation is. In accordance with the good pleasure of God, the Father and Son and Spirit, Seeing these lost, ruined sinners in Adam, in the muck and mire of life and religion. Seeing them hopeless in the nihilism of the day and the materialism of the day. Seeing that they had no hope, he causes them to be born again. It's only used twice. in all of the Bible, at least this word, and it's both in 1 Peter chapter one. Notice how this works, and this ties into evangelism. How are people born again? Look in verse 22. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, this is the fruit of regeneration. Love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Why? Since you have been born again. That's the exact same Greek word. Not of perishable seed. but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. Look at the very end of the chapter. And this word, what is the word of God? It's the gospel. And this word is the gospel or the good news that we preach to you. Parents, you long to see your children born again, do you not? It comes as the Holy Spirit works on their heart, but He takes the Word of God, and He applies it, and He brings about the new birth, just like we see in Genesis 1. The Spirit's hovering, and He takes the Word of God, and He creates out of nothing. That's a picture of salvation. Salvation is new creation. God creates by His Word. creates his new people. The new and the true Israel are created by the word of God, which is the gospel. Do you know the gospel well enough to communicate it to your children, to your neighbors and coworkers? I'm not saying this to guilt you or indict you, but get around people who do. If your children are to be saved, It's going to be because the word of God in the gospel was preached to them and the Spirit gave them life. So can I encourage you dads especially to do family devotions? It's not easy, but you're just sowing and sowing and sowing and sowing, praying, oh Holy Spirit, take this word and create life. plow their hearts deep, that the seed might find good soil and bear roots down and bear fruit up. That's our only hope. That's why we are so word-centered here at this church. I'm not boasting, I'm just saying this is our conviction. I could do handstands and swallow goldfish, but that doesn't bring about the new birth. It'll fill a stadium. I was on Facebook, and that's always a dumb thing for me to be on, and there was another pastor, and his profile picture, there was confetti, it looked like New Year's Eve, actually, but he's in a pulpit, and there's light, it looks like a Star Wars-a-thon. That's not how the new birth comes. I'm not against lights or confetti, but I am against clowns who refuse to preach the word of God. So God caused them to be born again as people preached to them. Do you see that? It says here that this good news was preached to you by those who went. It was announced to you through those who preached the good news. And this is what new birth looks like. The Spirit is sent. He sends believers who preach the gospel, the elect hear it, and they are born again. And they believe, and they repent, and they follow. Have you been born again? Then bless him. There's an old song in the Trinity hymnal that I would love to sing even more, but bless him forever, wondrous in might. Bless him, ye servants, who in his were delight. So we're born again in accordance with this great covenant love and this great pity. And the saints need to be reminded of that, because they're suffering. And they're wondering, does God care about us? You may ask that in your trials. Has he forgotten about me? Is he pitiless? Is he lacking in compassion? Oh, absolutely not. He loved you before the ages began, and in time He demonstrated His mercy to you in giving you new birth. That's how I know God is merciful. He caused me to be born again. He didn't leave Ryan wallowing in his sinful estate, a child of wrath and of disobedience. He had every right to. This God-hating, Christ-rejecting sinner. But according to his great mercy, Ryan entered into a church, and he heard the Bible read, 1 Corinthians 15. Christ is raised. Your hope is not in vain. New life. New birth. Oh, how we should be praying that that happens every Lord's Day. Oh, that you children would not hear merely Marvin reading Revelation 10, but Christ, the good shepherd of the sheep, speaking. Oh, that you would hear not just Ryan reading 1 Peter and preaching, but you would hear Christ summoning you. Repent, believe, come. He's caused us to be born again to three things. H-I-S. Easy to remember. It's all of His doing. That's how I remembered it. This new birth is all of His doing. Hope, inheritance, salvation. And I don't think these are three different things. As you read through, say, Revelation, you will understand that the Jews of the Old Testament and the writers of the New Testament, who are predominantly Jewish, they would often look at the same thing from different angles to magnify it, right? Whether it's bowls of judgment or the trumpets or the seals. I think they're saying the same thing, but just looking at it from different aspects. And I think that's what, Peter is doing here. He's showing us something so glorious that you need to look at it from three different angles. And if you're born again, there's these three things God gives you to encourage you in the present. They're all glorious gifts to help you suffer well, to persevere, to make it to the end. So what is the first thing that we've been born again to? And they all have the exact same preposition in the Greek, so that's how I can do this. First is a living hope. A living hope. Not just hope, but a living hope. And this is important because the culture into which Peter is writing was characterized by nihilism and hopelessness. You can read about Seneca and all the philosophers who amount to just a big pile of dung. And their only hope was maybe in this world, the small G gods might be a little bit merciful. But after that, that's it. Could you imagine if you had no hope for the future? If all there was to this life was the now? That's the world we're living in. People's hope is in a vaccine and it's already letting them down. Have you noticed that? We don't preach the hope of a vaccine or even of a different government. We might have communists come in because everyone's tired of Mr. Kenny. I hope you're not hopeless, Christian. I'm not against vaccines and this and that, but that's not to be the hope. And I listened to some Christians and that seems to be all they talk about. I don't know if I'm gonna die from COVID. I'm gonna die from something, but I know this, I have an inheritance reserved for me, kept for me, and I am kept for it. I have a body that awaits me, a resurrection body, and it will be ultimately vaccinated. So this is the first thing, we have a living hope, which means what? Every other hope that people have is dying, perishing. It can be spoiled. Which is why I asked you, what is your hope this morning? Is it in a better job? You could lose that job. Maybe you're single this morning and it's a spouse. These are good things. Please don't hear wanting a spouse as if it's a bad thing, but if it's your ultimate hope, that's a dangerous thing. If Christina's ultimate hope is in me, which I'm pretty sure is not, she's in trouble. Because if I die, she's hopeless. If it's in a house, it's going to perish. If it's in your children, what happens if they apostatize? Some Christians are completely just devastated. Now it's a tragic thing and we should be sad if our children don't believe. I'm not minimizing that. But that's not your hope. especially if you're reformed. You're born again. You have a new birth that gives you a new hope. The old Adam has hopes and dreams and aspirations. You need a new one. You need a living hope. This living hope is in the living Christ. I'm not gonna turn you there, but write down in your notes, Romans 6. Christ has died and been raised never to die again. I don't hope in a savior whose bones are in some kind of ossuary or in the tomb. He is alive. He is living, and I am in him, my living head. If Christ can't die and Christ is my hope, then I have a living hope. Does that make sense? Christ in you, the hope of glory, says Paul to the Colossians. See, this is what I want you to be reminded of because many of us have been sort of distracted. We've had our heads tilted and deviated. All I want to do is point you again, if you're in Christ, to what is awaiting you. We shall see him like he is, 1 John 3.1, and we shall be like him. Trust me, you should have seen old Ryan last night after I tried to jog 15 kilometers. Not smart when you're 43. I need something that actually extends beyond this life into the ages of ages, not a decrepit old body that is getting old and creaky. That's me. I have a living hope, and if you're in Christ, you have a living hope. Focus on that. If your hope is, so let me give you an example. If your hope is retirement and you have all of your money stowed away, What happens when hyperinflation comes, and I think it is, I'm not a prophet, but I think it's coming. You're gonna be completely laid out, devastated. Money is not living. It is helpful, but it is not living. Christ is your living hope. Through his resurrection, from the dead. That's the glory, that's why whenever you see the gospel preached, and hope attached to it, it's in the resurrection. Christ didn't only die for our sins according to the scriptures, 1 Corinthians 15, he also was raised according to the scriptures. Where is Christ? He is seated in the heavenlies, and Ephesians 2 says we are in him and we're just awaiting him and his kingdom. Because Christ is raised from the dead, you have a living hope. Well, that's the first thing, that's the H. We have been born again, first to a living hope. The second picture of what we've been born again to is an inheritance. See that? To an inheritance. And there's adjectives. There's a hope that is living and an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Okay, it's not different. Our living hope includes an inheritance. And this was important to the Jew and the Gentile alike. But especially to the Jews, they're always looking forward to this inheritance, which was the promised land, starting all the way back with Abraham, as we saw in Genesis 12, working itself through the Pentateuch and into Joshua, and how the Israelites were allowed to enter into this inheritance. But unfortunately, because of sin, they lost that inheritance. Right, they were exiled. And pagans came in and defiled it. You can hear that in the Psalms. They're swinging their axes. Are they cutting firewood? No, they're destroying the temple. God's holy place is being defiled because of sin. I am so thankful that my sin will no longer be in the new heavens and the new earth, so I can't even defile it by being there. Isn't that glorious? Do you read Revelation 21 and 22? That's my hope. No more tears. Not just because of the sins of others that hurt me, but because of my own sin that defiles me. My own sin that hurts other people. That's what I'm longing for. That I will no longer have sin. Well, this is an inheritance that would cause the Jew to salivate, but also the Gentile. Remember that Peter's writing to believers who are what? Dispersed, scattered, the diaspora. These are people perhaps, who because of persecution, had to skedaddle. And just like the people of Israel of old, they had to leave in haste, right? If they opened the border next week, that might be the cases. Quick, we're not packing everything, we gotta go, we gotta travel lightly. We have to leave our inheritance behind to go to the promised land. where they can bear arms and all those fun things. But that's it here. So imagine you've been displaced, right? Land was everything to the Jew and the Gentile. Imagine you become a Christian and you have to leave your house and your land and maybe even your family. You've lost it all. And if you focus on that, if you focus on all that you've given up instead of all that you get, you're gonna be a miserable Christian. They once asked John Calvin, and I love, it's one of my favorite quotes from Calvin, and I love his quotes. He says, I don't worry about all that I have lost for Christ, I think about all that I've gained in Christ. Think about that. Read Ephesians 1, read 1 Peter 1. You may have lost your house, you may have lost your family, you may have lost your inheritance, but Christ has something far better. You have a living hope, and you have an inheritance that is imperishable, right? It cannot, It cannot be, what's the word I'm thinking of? It cannot be tarnished by death. It cannot be nullified by death is a better word. Right, because if I gain an inheritance, what happens when I lose it? So death will either ruin the inheritance or ruin me. The inheritance that God promises His children, the Father's inheritance, is imperishable. Isn't that great? Ages of ages. into eternity, imperishable. Second, it's undefiled. It cannot be ruined, not only by age, but not also by sin. And thirdly, it's unfading. I don't think I need to give you those Greek words. They're alliterated in the Greek to help them memorize it. You can just memorize this text. You have a much better inheritance. And as you focus on it in the future, it transforms how you live in the present. Look at Ephesians 1. This is a great prayer to memorize and to pray. Paul says this. You who have obtained an inheritance. This is Ephesians 1, 11. You can turn there if you want. It says in Christ we have obtained an inheritance. Why? We've been predestined. This is the same language. You didn't earn it and you didn't choose it. God chose you. Oh, you predestined me because I'm so awesome. No, no, no, no. Actually, you were predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. We saw that last week, so I'm not gonna re-preach it. So that we were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Talking to Jews. Talking to Gentiles, he says, in Christ you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. That's what a spiritual Christian's focusing on. Not the troubles around them, but the inheritance that is before them. You have been sealed, he's the down payment. Until we acquire possession of it. to the praise of his glory, thinking about this inheritance that the Jews have obtained in Christ, and now the Gentiles have obtained in Christ. Listen to this, for this reason, because I've heard of your faith, right? How do you know you're born again? You have faith, and other people see the obedience. For this reason, because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. Here it is, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know, what? What is the hope to which you were called? What is the hope to which we were called? Paul's like Peter, he's looking at it from another angle. What are the riches of his? glorious inheritance in or to the saints. That's how you pray for people who are suffering. Do you know Christians who are suffering? That's how Paul prays. God, open up the eyes of their hearts. You've opened them up in regeneration, but open them up more fully in sanctification. You know why Ryan can be so miserable? because my eyes are fixed on the ends of the earth like the fool of Proverbs 17. You know what Paul says in Colossians 3? Set your mind on what? Things around you? No, set your eyes on things that are above, where Christ is. Christ is your hope and he is your inheritance. All that the Father promises Christ in Psalm 2 is yours because we're co-heirs with him, Romans 8, 17. So pray that for people. Pray that for them. Oh God, open up Tony's eyes. Open up Hannah's eyes. Open up Marvin's eyes. Open up Pastor Ryan's eyes. What? That I might understand. That I might understand fully at a heart level. Not just the eyes of Ryan's mind. Did you know that the Greek word is kleironomia? That doesn't matter. Open up the eyes of my heart. That I might know what is the hope set before me. And you know what happens when you focus on that hope? Others see it. We're gonna get eventually to 1 Peter 3.15. Others are going to ask you about what? Your extensive Greek and Hebrew biblical theology. No, what is the hope that is in you? People will see what you hope in. They will ask you, what is your hope? And so pray, pray Ephesians 1. Oh, that we might understand the inheritance that is ours. I'm not against leaving your children with an inheritance, but I did think of this. Rather than bequeathing them all kinds of things that perish or can be defiled or fade, leave them with the word of God. Where do I get that from? The end of 1 Peter. All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. All that God is is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, like his word, like his inheritance, like his son. That's the most important thing you can leave your children with. I don't care how many stocks you leave them with. I don't care how much land you grant them. The most important thing a parent can leave their children is the word of God, which points us to Christ, who becomes for us a living hope and gives to us an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, and it is kept in heaven for you. You ever make reservations and realize that it hasn't been kept for you? Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but a promise fulfilled is a tree of life. God has reserved it for you. It's kept. This inheritance is kept. There's a lot of things you can put your money into. What if Bitcoin crashes? I see a lot of Christians, they talk about Bitcoin almost more than they talk about Jesus. What happens if it crashes? I hope it doesn't. I'm thinking about investing in it, to be honest. I don't know. It ain't reserved for me. This will be kept for me. because it's kept in God's hand. He's able to keep not only our inheritance, but lastly, he's able to keep our salvation, H-I-S. We're born again, first to a hope, second to an inheritance, okay? So living hope, and then we have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading. It's also kept for us, but also, and lastly, at least for this morning, we've been born again to an end-time salvation. who by God's power, the who of course are those who have been born again to a living hope and an inheritance, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for what? For a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Hope, inheritance, salvation. This is what we need to keep our eyes fixed on. And remember, it's the same thing from three different angles. When we are, as it were, fully saved, we receive the end of our hope, our inheritance. Okay, and someone's initially gonna say, but I thought I was saved. You need to understand that in the Bible, there's three aspects or tenses of salvation. You have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved. Peter's often thinking about the end time salvation. We even saw it in our text here. We rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, verse 9, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. When we finally get that new body, Romans 8 says, that's when salvation is fully realized. We've tasted in our justification that the Lord is good, and we increasingly taste of His goodness and sanctification, but oh, what glory awaits us when that is fully realized. New body, new heavens, new earth, new everything. That's the outcome. That's what I'm looking forward to. I'm so thankful to God I've been justified by His sovereign grace, but so much more awaits the Christian. Can you imagine when it's gonna be like, it was gloriously loud for some of the songs this morning. I long for the day when I read Revelation 21 and 22 and I experience it in its totality. That's what you need to focus on. That's the voice you need to be hearing preaching to you. Not like, oh, you've lost everything. You have everything, and it awaits you. What is our hope? Our salvation to be fully realized. Not only is God, though, keeping or guarding our inheritance, he's guarding us. You see that? Because that would be a real dilemma, that if he guarded the inheritance, which he wants us to have, but didn't guard us, what good is an inheritance if we don't get it? So he has to guard both, and by his sovereign grace and power, he does. God's power is not only guarding your inheritance, it's guarding you. Isn't that encouraging? That's why we made a little change up in the song list. He will hold me fast. Are you so thankful you're not singing, I will hold him fast? Because you'd be lying. But when you declare he will hold me fast, when I fear my faith will fail, God is guarding you, and he is keeping your faith. I'm so thankful that he is not only the author of my faith, says the book of Hebrews, what else is he? He's the finisher of my faith. He who began a good work in me, says Paul, he will also complete it. When? At the day of Christ. That's why salvation through faith is a gift of grace, Ephesians 2.8. The very faith that you believe in Christ with is a gift. It's a divine gift. If it came from you, you'd lose it. Human faith is perishable, it's defilable, and it's fadable, if that's a word. But God's gift to us is imperishable, unfading, and undefilable, because it comes from God. And he will hold you fast. Isn't that good news? I don't know what will happen. I think too much often about the wrong kind of future. Will I deny Christ if I'm at the guillotine? He will hold me fast. He will give me the grace to trust Him. He will strengthen my faith, and He will keep me from apostatizing. See, this is what I need to remember. If I keep thinking about the bad, I'm gonna be rocking and reeling. But I think of this living hope, this inheritance that is promised, and also this salvation. I will obtain the outcome of it. The end of faith, God will give to His people. Not once does Jesus will be lost from His hand. He will raise every single one up the Father gave to him on the last day. Isn't that good news? I think you should focus on it, I think I should. Who by God's power, not by pastor's power, not by your power. We love to use words like omnipotence. What does that mean? It means he's all powerful. Can anyone pluck any from Jesus' hand? No, he's the omnipotent one. Can you pluck yourself from his hand? Some people say that, well, I'm not worried about the devil taking, you can't even unloose his fingers. You will be guarded, who by God's power are being guarded, how? Through faith. This is why you have to keep going back to the word of God. The very thing that he guards, and the very thing that brings you to your salvation, he protects. Okay, so don't be hyper-Calvinistic on me this morning. He guards you through faith. No one will ever make it to the end without faith. And that's why you hold this intention, which is saying, Lord, increase my faith. Strengthen my faith. And faith comes by hearing. That's why you come to hear the word of God preached. That's why you do your devotions. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the message of Christ. You want to strengthen your faith? Turn off the bloody TV. Turn off Facebook. I'm like this close to just, I don't know why, I don't just stop it. Faith doesn't come by hearing what the Premier has to say. That's fear-mongering. I did say that. That decreases your faith. Faith comes by going to the Gospel and understanding you have a living hope and an inheritance and God will keep His elect and they will not only receive but they will enjoy full salvation when Christ returns. You see that? For a salvation ready to be revealed. I listened to a sermon by John MacArthur and he used the word pregnant. I like that. When? It's soon, I don't know, there's birth kings. But that's the thing, you should be on the tip of your toes going, when is Jesus coming back? When is he gonna bring the new heavens and the new earth? When do I finally get the fullness of salvation? I'm longing for it. This world is making me long for it more and more and more and more. And I think persecution will cause us to long more and more for the true inheritance and for the full realization of God's salvation. What's the response? Well, we'll look at it more next week, but I wanna sort of leave you with this, in this you rejoice. So we start with blessing God and we end with rejoicing. I said it in Sunday School last week, and I'll say it again now. I have to be careful, but I do want to quote Martyn Lloyd-Jones here. And he says in his book Spiritual Depression, that Christians that are cantankerous and morose and constantly negative, sullen, there's times I get it, right? Someone dies, there should be tears. but constantly, and this is a defining characteristic of Christians, that we're just always so sad. He says that's not a good witness. No one's gonna ask me what is my hope if I'm acting just like the world. When I lose everything, I need to drive myself into the scriptures, stick my nose in the book, and remember, hey, there's so much more that awaits me as a child of Christ. and that I can actually bless God in the trials that are making me more like Christ, making me yearn more for that inheritance, making me pant after full salvation. Right, he says rejoice. He's writing to people who are suffering probably a lot worse than we are. And so you can apply this to your situation too. In this you rejoice, just a little while. Your trial, it is going to perish. I'm not promising you the health, wealth, prosperity gospel that it'll go away in this life, but this life compared with eternity, you need to compare that, and you need to sort of put on your gospel glasses, and you need to interpret your trials in light of it. So when you get together this week, let's apply this. Where are you causing people, so I'm guilty of this, but let's work together, where are you causing your brother and sister to look when you text them, when you post on Facebook? When we sit around the tables and eat, are we projecting one another's gaze to His grace, HIS, this living hope, this eternal inheritance, this full salvation? I wanna dare you to do that. Because you know what the result is, is that we bless God even in the midst of trials. We rejoice in a heavenly treasure. a heavenly joy that actually is quite evangelistic. Well, I think we can end there. I want to leave you with this three through five. Memorize it this week. As you focus on His goodness, you will say, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I rejoice in this short, momentary affliction, knowing that it is working in me something of incalculable and incomparable glory. Where's your hope this morning? Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full at his wonderful face. And the things of earth, they will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Let the world take all they want from me. So if I ever die and Christina forgets one of the songs I want, this is how morose and morbid I am. Just give me Jesus. Especially by Fernando Ortega. Take everything, the world, take it from me. All I want is Jesus. I pray that'll be true for all of us. Take it all. All I need is Jesus. All I have is Christ. If you've not come to him, I command you to. God commands you this morning to repent. He commands you to believe in the gospel. I pray that in his electing mercy and chesed, in his mercy, he would cause you this moment to be born again. And if you're born again as a child of God, he gives you everything as an heir of God, a living hope, an eternal inheritance, and a full salvation. Well, I've repeated that enough. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for your word. Thankful that you inspired Peter to write this to suffering saints, to those who were hurting, to those who were tempted to doubt, maybe despair that they had been shaken by their trials, that they have been moved off center. And I pray, Lord, that as we're preaching to ourselves and to one another, as we're sitting under the word, as we even partake of the table, that it will bring us back to our senses. And Father, that you would help us to interpret the present in light of the future, that we would understand all that is laid out for us, reserved. Help us to set our hope and our affection and our attention on these things, help us to be so heavenly minded that we begin to be earthly good. Father, would you forgive us for so easily focusing on the things that are transient, the things that are passing, not thinking about all that awaits the children of God? Father, would you help us to scour the scriptures even this week? and realize all that you have taught us in your word about what your saints will experience forever and ever and ever. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. Whom have I in heaven but you? On earth, I desire nothing but you. All these other things will fade away. But Christ, you remain, and we will enjoy you forever. So Father, I pray, help us to set our gaze on all of these glories that you promise. Father, I pray that increasingly in our midst, you would be causing people to be born again. Father, we wish that we could do this, but only you can. Father, we ask that you help us to be faithful. On Sos and other waters, God gives the new birth. God gives the increase. Would you bless the preaching of your word? Save your elect and sanctify us. Help those especially who are suffering, Lord. There are some that this message could almost weigh them down more. I pray that that isn't what happens. I pray rather that they would look and see Jesus, and they would yearn for him more and more, and as in Romans 8, they would groan deeper and deeper and long for Christ more, and that you would sweeten their afflictions to them in this life. Father, we love you. Help us now to partake of the table by faith. Help us to remember that this is a future feast that we are longing for. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.