Fully hoping , fully living

1 Peter 1:13

 

 

Sermon Introduction

  • Goal – to recapture the understanding and impact of biblical teaching on the end times.
  • The proper effect of End Times teaching.
  • Hope and Holiness.
  • Which comes first.

An illustration from Christmas

·         So excited – everything is about that time.

·         Planning our maneuvers as a kid.

·         Looking in catalogues.

·         Now starting to think about buying others stuff.

·         Joke gifts,

·         Meal planning.

 

Hope and Holiness

 

Text

 

1 Peter 1:1-25

 

Prop: We can sum up the thrust of all biblical teaching on the end times with the following command: Set your hope fully on the grace to given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

set your hope fully on the grace to given you in christ!

 

 

1.       Introduction

 

1.1. Set your hope

  • What is hope? Versus faith?

hope verb

1 : to cherish a desire with anticipation 〈hopes for a promotion〉

2 archaic : trust

transitive verb

1 : to desire with expectation of obtainment

2 : to expect with confidence : trust

 

  • The power of hope.
  • How we are propelled by hope.
  • Looking forward to lots of things.  A motivation for work – hope to be paid, hope to discover an alternative energy source, hope to make a name for yourself, for relationships, for effort in all ways.  There needs to be a hope behind all other hopes otherwise hopeless ultimately.
  • The imperative.
  • Based on the indicative.

 

1.2. Fully

  • Fully setting your hope.
  • Word is also translated perfectly or completely.
  • No holding back.  Sometimes expectationfo disappointment keeps us from hoping.
  • Ever known that?

Dissappointment – Caleb got special explorer kit, promise of Chip to take him Casey expoloring in a nearby field, on curb decked out with his kit, waiting for Casey and Chip, after a half hour had gone by no sign of Chip – Caleb with a tear in his eye - we were going to go exploring, Mr. Chip and Casey were going to take me…

  • Living to protect yourself from disappointment.
  • The Lord will not disappoint here!
  • Set your hope fully.  Pull out all the reservations, all the hesitations, all the reservedness.

 

Some professors are ready enough to believe, but they have no intensity in their beliefs. They are orthodox so far as they go, but they do not go far enough. They have no great concern about religion; they are merely tattooed with Christianity, it is only skin deep with them, it never gets into their hearts or affects their souls. There are many preachers, nowadays, who hold various views of truth, but they hold nothing tenaciously.

C. H. SPURGEON,, GIRDED FOR THE WORK. JULY 18TH, 1882

 

Once more, the figure teaches us that our life must be concentrated. “Gird up the loins of your mind.” We have no strength to spare; we cannot afford to let part of our force leak away. We need to bring all our faculties to bear upon one point, and exert them all to one end. Much can be done by concentration. The rays of the sun are warm; but if you collect them into a focus, by a burning-glass, you produce a fire which else you could not find in them. Concentrate your faculties upon faith in Jesus! Concentrate your emotions upon the love of Jesus! Concentrate your whole being upon the glory of Jesus! You will accomplish marvels if you do this. A man who is all over the place is nowhere; but he whose life is one and indivisible is strong, and his influence will be felt in the service of his Master.

(Spurgeon, C H: A Seasonable Exhortation)

 

2.       Set your hope fully because grace is amazing

Do not hope in yourself or in your works; but “hope in the grace;” for so the text may be read. Hope, moreover, in the grace which you have not yet received, in “the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Bless God for the grace that you have not yet obtained, for he has it in store for you; yea, he has put it on the road, and it is coming to you. When for the moment you seem to be slack in present grace, say, “Glory to God for all the grace I have not tasted yet.” Hope for the grace which is to come with your coming Lord.

(Spurgeon, C H: A Seasonable Exhortation)

 

 

2.1. Set your hope fully because grace is amazing: Justification

22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth

  • Past occurrence.
  • The key truth here.
  • Purified your souls!  Are you kidding?  What could this mean?

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

  • Atonement.
  • Righteousness.
  • Union with Christ – not mechanistic or merely forensic – relational – union.

Romans 6:8 (ESV)
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

 

Romans 8:1 (ESV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

 

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)
21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

Galatians 2:19 (ESV)
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ.

 

Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

 

Ephesians 2:5 (ESV)
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

 

Philippians 3:9 (ESV)
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

 

Colossians 3:1 (ESV)
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

 

  • United with Him through faith.

Romans 3:22 (ESV)
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:

 

Ephesians 2:8 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,,

 

Philippians 3:9 (ESV)
9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

 

 

2.2.  Set your hope fully because grace is amazing: The Grace of Adoption

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance

  • Considered as children of God!
  • We are princes and princesses.

1 John 3:1 (ESV)
1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

 

2.3. Set your hope fully because grace is amazing: The Grace of Redemption – Present and Future

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or  spot.

  • Ransomed
  • Redeemed
  • Soul and Body and creation.
  • 1 Cor 15!

Ever think about being a pioneer – Little House on the Prairie with Mary.

Pioneers looking for a home!

  • We need to live that way – anticipating the home we will have!  SET YOUR HOPE FULLY!!
  • Glorious, God Saturated Eternal Home!!!

 

3.       Set your hope fully because you are a pilgrim

 

  • What is a pilgrim?
  • Someone on a journey – passing through – here but not from here.

Plymouth Plantation: Wampanoag – Are you from around here?  No, I’m from heaven.

  • Wrong but I’m from here but this isn’t my home.

3.1. Set your hope fully because you are a A Pilgrim in a Strange Land

 

3.1.1.   Set your hope fully because you are a A Pilgrim in a Strange Land, A TemporalLand

24 for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.” And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

  • Passing glory!
  • Who are the heroes?  The glory boys!

High school heroes versus adult heroes.

This worlds heroes versus the next.

  • Not glorying in what passes.
  • Not living here as a citizen. Living for the comfort of this life versus next.

Extra money…. Where do you go?  Reveals the heart.$2K for landscaping versus God.

  • We are pilgrims in a temporary land.

Oak Bluffs Conference Center.

From Tents to Gingerbread Houses
We know the neighborhood of decorative wooden cottages and narrow winding streets in Oak Bluffs as the Camp Ground for good reason. The community -- indeed, the town of Oak Bluffs itself -- got its start as a Methodist camp meeting. Church folk first came to that spot in August of 1835 to preach, pray, reflect and repent amid a grove of towering oaks.

The early campers lodged in large canvas tents erected for the use of church societies. Men, women and children slept on straw (a curtain divided the sexes) and ate outdoors under canvas awnings. The society tents stood in a semicircle before a crude wooden preaching platform.

That first year there were nine tents. By 1842 there were 40, and by 1851 there were 100 tents running in a circle right around the meeting's assembly place.

By now the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting was well established, even famous. Families who returned year after year began to pitch small tents in irregular ranks behind the large society tents. Behind the family tents could be found the tents of barbers, bootblacks, launderers and other entrepreneurs who came to serve the growing population of the meetings. A canvas community blossomed in the oak wood every August.

Gradually, the families who leased tent lots from the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association began to build wooden floors and tent frames over which canvas could be stretched every summer. From these structures grew the colorful, exuberant cottages that make the town of Oak Bluffs, once known as the Cottage City of America, unique.

No more preaching, praying, repenting etc. but beautiful homes.

  • Forgot why they were there, to hear good preaching, to be transformed, to enjoy an extended Sabbath…  and so they were just there to enjoy the quaint cottages.

 

3.1.2.   Set your hope fully because you are a A Pilgrim in a Strange Land,  A Land of Persecution

6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, as was necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 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.

  • This world is hostile towards us.
  • Trials, testing and persecution are part of our lot here.
  • This side of Christ’s return we are called to follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21
  • Hating us and persecuting us.
  • Know about Martyrs – what about here?

 

  • Hate crime legislation – discrimination, speaking against it?  Love and truth!
  • Purifying the church – us as individuals – Is your hope fully on your salvation?
  • Quote from A Godward Life, p. 56.

 

3.2.  Set your hope fully because you are A Pilgrim on the Way to Heaven

 

3.2.1.   Set your hope fully because you are A Pilgrim on the Way to Heaven , Your True Home

  • Our true home.
  • No more sin, sickness, temptation, injustice, lonliness, confusion, despair, striving.
  • Finally home!!!
  • New Jerusalem – God’s presence, perfect multitude, perfection, healing, blessing, glory, all of God’s people – no more goodbyes, no sin, no strife!!!
  • This is a long dangerous journey
  • But there is an end
  • Home is there!
  • Let that motivate us to endure!

Driving back from Chesapeake and almost falling asleep.

 

3.2.2.   Set your hope fully because you are A Pilgrim on the Way to Heaven , So Walk In Holiness

  • Our citizenship in heaven should be our chief motivation for holiness.

14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

  • You have died to sin with Christ
  • You have been raised with Christ to new life.
  • You are a new creation with a new perspective.
  • What a contradiction to pursue a lifestyle of sin
  • What a contradiction to set your sites on idols.
  • You belong to another.

Like a slave from the South going back after the war and moving back into the shanty and wearing ragged clothes and going out to the field to pick the cotton

  • Be holy because I am holy and you are mine!
  • Live for your true home.!

We build for the future.  A truly worthy building program!!

 

3.3.  Set your hope fully because you are A Pilgrim Representing the King

 

  • While we are here we represent the King and His kingdom.

1 Peter 3:15-16 (ESV)
15 but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

  • We are a testimony to this world –for good to some and bad to some.
  • We are an aroma of Christ.
  • Some it’s a sweet smell
  • To some it’s an offensive stench! 2 Corinthians 2:14-16
  • Wow!!

1 Peter 2:11-12 (ESV)
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 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 visitation.

·         More Pilgrims to recruit!

·         More new citizens to see inducted.

·         The joy of Alpha!!

 

13 Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

Grudem writes: "Such hope in great blessings when Christ returns not only encourages downcast Christians; it also prompts a reordering of priorities to God’s agenda (Mt 6:19–21, 24) and inevitably leads to ethical changes in one’s life (cf. 1 John 3:3). Since Peter is about to launch into an extended section of moral commands (beginning at v14 and continuing with only a few interruptions through the rest of the letter), this exhortation to hope appropriately forms the transition point to the rest of the letter. If Peter’s readers will first know the great truths about their salvation (v1–12 ) and then begin a habit of visualizing themselves personally on a path of life leading without fail to unimaginable heavenly reward (v13 ), they will be mentally and emotionally ready to strive for a life of holiness before God (vv14–16 , etc.)." (Grudem, W: The First Epistle of Peter , 76-77)

 

4.       Conclusion Applications

 

4.1. Application

The command to set your hope.

A matter of the mind, the will and the affections.

  1. Renew your mind with truth.

·         Your word is truth

·         Study the word

·         Read good books that teach the word.

  1. Set your will

·         Believe what you read.

·         Determine to act accordingly.

·         Employ means of grace of prayer, fellowship, encouragement.

·         Invest accordingly – relationships, time, money.

  1. Renew your affections

·         This follows

·         Where the treasure is there is your heart.

·         An example from marriage – reciting evidences of grace, what is attractive, what you are thankful for, acting accordingly – getting flowers, writing notes, praying, planning dats.

·         Romantic feelings usually follow.

·         Set your hope fully – mind, will, emotions.!

 

4.2. Closing

Prayer!

 

Arise My Soul Arise.