Rev. David Holwick A
Boothbay Baptist Church
Boothbay, Maine
January 9, 2022
1 Peter 1:1-9
A LIVING HOPE
I. Imagine being a refugee.
There are many of them in our world - the World Health Organization
says there are at least 272 million international migrants.
Some are driven out of their homes by war, or religious persecution
or poverty.
All of them find they have no place to call their home.
Mohamed Ostadazimi fled Afghanistan with his young family and
ended up on a Greek island in a refugee camp.
For one year the five of them lived in a two-person camping tent.
He has no employment except for some artistic painting.
Their life savings has evaporated.
A medical group surveyed teenagers in a refugee camp and found
that one quarter of them had attempted suicide.
They have no hope. [1]
How would you fare in a refugee camp?
Do you realize you are actually in one right now?
The Apostle Peter says all Christians are exiles, just like the
Israelites were sent into exile (the Dispersion he refers to).
He is writing to Christians who are under great pressure.
According to a seminary professor, 1 Peter is popular in Indonesia
because it speaks to those who believe and are in hostile
surroundings.
Peter says we have to live like a Christian no matter what happens
to us.
We have a clear-cut goal in life - the salvation of our souls.
A. Peter is writing this letter toward the end of his life.
1) He had been the son of a prosperous fisherman, and then
he met Jesus.
2) Jesus made him part of his inner circle.
a) Yet at the critical time, Peter denied Jesus multiple
times.
b) Unlike Judas, Peter repented and became the leader of
the evangelization of the Jews.
B. At some point Peter moved to Rome.
1) The reason Catholics referring to him as the first pope.
2) In Rome, he wrote this letter to Christians who lived in
what is now the nation of Turkey.
3) Soon after this letter was written, Peter died by
crucifixion in the persecution started by Emperor Nero.
4) Rome had had a massive fire and Christians, who preached
about hellfire, made a convenient scapegoat.
C. Peter's letter gives important instruction to Christians.
1) He deals with practical issues like marriage and attitudes
to the government and running a church.
2) There are also deep topics like how to handle suffering
and abuse.
3) In this first chapter, he begins with perhaps the most
important topic of all - our salvation.
II. Salvation is God's doing.
A. Peter addresses his readers as the "elect."
1) This means God has chosen them to be saved - you might say
God has voted for them.
2) Election is a much-abused term.
a) "I am chosen by God - and YOU are NOT!"
b) Or even worse: "Everyone is chosen by God except ME."
3) Election reveals the wonder of the gospel.
a) Deuteronomy 7:6-8 is explicit:
"For you are a people holy to the Lord you God.
The Lord your God has CHOSEN you to be a people for his treasured
possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that
the Lord set his LOVE on you and CHOSE you,
for you were the fewest of all peoples,
but it is because the Lord LOVES you
and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the
Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from
the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt."
b) Election is not intended to be threatening, but is
always presented as a basis of comfort.
c) God chooses us before we choose him.
B. Foreknown, then chosen.
1) Foreknowledge is more than God's simply knowing what will
take place.
2) It includes God's special relations with humanity even
before creation. cf. 1:20
3) Note the allusion to the Trinity in verse 2:
God the Father foreknows us,
the Holy Spirit sanctifies us or makes us holy,
and Jesus Christ makes us clean by his blood so we can
obey him.
III. God's choosing is met by our response.
A. We must have faith and obey.
1) Verse 3 says God has caused us to be born again.
a) Note that it is in the past tense, an accomplished fact.
2) The phrase should bring to mind another famous passage -
Jesus and Nicodemus in John 3.
a) Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again.
b) Not physically born again, but spiritually.
B. Baptists believe we respond to God by making a decision.
1) I made my decision in 1973, 49 years ago.
2) I am not exactly sure the moment it happened - was it the
time I knelt down in an empty field and gave my life
to God, or the night I asked for salvation while lying
in my bed, or when I raised my hand at a Christian
concert?
a) I choose the concert on February 27, 1973, because that
gives a firm date and Baptists like that. But only
God knows for sure.
3) God calls on all of us to make a decision to follow Jesus.
Have you ever heard of Mickey Mantle?
Mantle was one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
He once hit a home run measured at 565 feet.
Mantle was also famous for his wild ways, chasing women and
partying hard; along the way he became an alcoholic.
Bobby Richardson, a teammate of Mantle's, was a clean-living
and committed Christian.
Mantle once told Bobby's son, "Your dad is always talking about
the decision I need to make."
Mantle's alcoholism worsened after he retired and he entered
the Betty Ford Clinic in 1994.
Sportscaster Bob Costas interviewed him that year, just two
weeks after Mantle's son Billy had passed away at age 36.
Mantle told Costas that he had not been a good role model and
there was something missing in his life.
He admitted he had often been cruel and hurtful to family,
friends, and fans because of his alcoholism.
One year later, Mantle was diagnosed with liver cancer.
There was a lot of controversy when he was given a transplant.
Even so, the liver cancer returned and he faded quickly.
Mantle called Bobby and asked him to pray for him.
Bobby prayed with him over the phone and read Philippians 4:4-7
in the Phillips' translation to him:
"Don't worry over anything whatever; tell God every detail
of your needs in earnest and thankful prayer,
and the peace of God which transcends human understanding,
will keep constant guard over your hearts and minds as
they rest in Christ Jesus."
Mantle lasted a few more weeks.
Bobby Richardson and his wife flew out to Dallas and saw Mantle
in the hospital.
As they entered the room, Mantle said to him, "I can't wait to
tell you this: I have accepted Christ as my Savior."
Bobby was thrilled, but he wanted to be sure, so he went
through the plan of salvation with Mickey.
Bobby's wife then said, "Mickey, if you were to stand before a
holy God today and He asked you, 'Why should I let you into
my heaven?' what would you say?"
Mantle quoted John 3:16 to her - "For God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Mickey Mantle passed away at age 63.
But according to God's promise, he lives even now.
#65277
B. Have you done what Mickey Mantle did?
IV. Salvation is a process.
A. After our decision, the Holy Spirit continues to work in us.
1) Sanctification means we are "set apart" for God.
2) It is a continuing process, so he keeps working on us.
a) Christians use the term "sanctification" to show how we
continue to work out our salvation day by day in
following Jesus.
B. Obedience to Jesus is the goal.
1) Faith involves moral change.
a) If we really believe, we do what Jesus says.
2) Verse 3 mentions being sprinkled by the blood of Jesus.
a) It's most likely a symbol of forgiveness and cleansing.
b) Blood was sprinkled in the Holy of Holies once a year.
3) Blood sounds gross but it signifies something beautiful.
Dennis Fulton, former pilot with the Wings of Caring ministry
in Zaire, tells of landing a newly purchased Cessna 402 at
one of his regular stops in the back country.
As always, the villagers excitedly gathered around the plane,
but this time there was something new.
Two men ran up carrying a live chicken.
One had the bird by the feet, and the other had it by the head,
and before either the chicken or Dennis knew what was
happening, the fowl's head and body parted company.
The man with the flopping chicken corpse began swinging it
over his head, round and round, with predictable results.
Dressed in a freshly pressed white shirt, Dennis was splattered
with chicken blood, as were the plane and the villagers.
When Dennis asked what that meant, a native explained that for
generations, the splattered blood had signified an end to
suffering.
To the people of Zaire, the Cessna promised hope and help of
all kinds.
In a graphic way, the splattered blood of that chicken shows
what the blood of Jesus is all about.
It means our suffering is going to be over and God is here to
help us. #1900
C. Living for Jesus gives us a living hope.
1) Everybody needs hope in their life.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said that "Hope without an
object cannot live."
Hope must be based on something.
If you have ever lost the focus of life, you understand
hopelessness.
Perhaps you have invested much into your job, marriage, or
the struggles of life; and then you saw it all destroyed.
The object of your hope was gone, and you felt dead and
aimless.
This is what has happened to so many refugees.
They no longer have a foundation & their hope evaporates.
Psychologist William Marston asked 3,000 people this
question: "What do you have to live for?"
94 percent responded that they were merely enduring their
lives, hoping someday that things would get better.
I suppose that this is an expression of hope to a small
degree, hoping that the future will be better than the
past or present.
Yet, this seems so inadequate.
If our only encouragement is found in hoping for a better
tomorrow, is this an adequate hope?
It has been said that some people see only a hopeless end,
but the Christian sees an endless hope.
The Bible says that hope will always remain.
#3639
2) Christian hope is living and dynamic.
a) It can overcome anything the world throws at you.
V. Our salvation has a future as well as a past and present.
A. We have an inheritance waiting for us.
1) Inheritance stresses family connection and gift.
Financial writers are saying that Millennials - those who are
the age of my kids - will inherit $68 trillion dollars.
That is "trillion" with a "t".
If your kids have that "vulture" look, you now know why.
When I sneeze and they say, "Are you OK?" I realize they have
ulterior motives.
It is hard for us to wait. [2]
2) Christians also have something to wait for.
a) Resurrection points to a supernaturally physical life
in the kingdom of God.
b) We will not be disembodied spirits forever - we will
have a body just like Jesus did as the first Easter.
c) There will also be an incredible city to live in.
1> The descriptions are symbolic so it is hard to wrap
our minds around it, but it will be awesome.
3) Our spiritual inheritance cannot be threatened by inflation,
war or greed.
B. Our salvation protects us, from now to eternity.
1) God's power stands guard over us.
a) It stresses the continued activity of God in our lives.
b) "Through faith" stresses our part in it.
c) Doesn't mean we cannot be hurt - Peter acknowledges the
fiery trials they are facing - but those are
temporary.
2) This salvation will be revealed in the last times.
a) The "revelation" of Jesus refers to the Second Coming.
He will be revealed to the whole world.
b) Those who believe will receive their reward then.
VI. Rejoice in your salvation.
A. Real faith is an enduring faith.
1) Example of gold. (Gold mills of Colorado Springs) 1:7
a) Prized. (Neighbor who ran a wildcat gold mine)
b) Impurities removed by refining.
c) Durable but not eternal.
2) Faith is more valuable because it lasts longer and is
purified in the tests of life.
3) We can rejoice in spite of sufferings.
a) In this period, local pagan pressure is mostly in view.
b) Their neighbors and even family members were giving them
a hard time.
B. Faith may seem intangible but it is real.
1) We can't see God. We can't even see Jesus. But we can
trust his promises.
2) Hebrews 11:1 says,
"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen."
C. Real faith is a source of great joy.
1) Peter even says it is an inexpressible joy.
2) Joy has always been a mark of a true Christian.
In one of his messages, Billy Graham said that one of the
fruits of the Holy Spirit is joy.
He said you might not be able to work up joy yourself, but
God can produce this joy supernaturally, and a Christian
is to have joy.
He went on to say, "One of the great characteristics of the
Christian is the joy that we have.
And if you don't have this joy and if you don't have this
peace that Christ gives, you had better search your
heart and find out if you really know Christ."
#22948
3) Do you really know Christ?
a) If you don't, and you want the joy and peace he can
give, commit your life to him right now...
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Adapted from “Why some refugees in Greece are being driven to suicide,”
by Patrick Strickland, May 8, 2017; <https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/8/why-some-refugees-in-greece-are-being-driven-to-suicide>;
Statistics from “Mental health and forced displacement,” World Health
Organization, August 31, 2021; <https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-and-forced-displacement>.
[2] “Millennials will inherit $68 trillion by 2030,” by Anna Hecht,
January 16, 2020; <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/16/receiving-an-inheritance-four-things-experts-say-you-should-know.html>.
# 1900 “The Blood,” contributed by John Martyn of Russell, Kansas,
Leadership Magazine, June 1988.
# 3639 “The God of Great Surprises,” by Dr. Bill Ankerberg, Homewood
Church; Homewood, Illinois, 50 Day Spiritual Adventure,
Chapel Of The Air,
#22948 “Joy Is a Great Characteristic of a Christian,” from the sermon
“Saved or Lost” preached in Texas in 1965; contributed by
Terry Cavanaugh, April 11, 2005, to sermoncentral.com.
#65277 “Mickey Mantle's Conversion,” by Rudy Gray of the Baptist
Courier; baptistpress.org, August 1, 2016.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
Created with the Freeware Edition of HelpNDoc: Create HTML Help, DOC, PDF and print manuals from 1 single source