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1 Peter 1:3-5 – Because He Lives
Introduction
Today we rejoice and praise our Father in heaven that Jesus Christ has conquered sin and death
and has been raised again to life. The excitement, joy, and gratefulness that comes from Jesus’
miraculous victory cannot be over stated.
The apostle Peter was one who witnessed Christ’s resurrection from the dead on that original
resurrection day. Jesus later appeared to 10 of the disciples on that same day. Eight days later
He appeared to the 11 disciples and demonstrated that He was indeed alive. He offered proof
to them of His resurrection by talking with them, by eating fish in front of them, proving that He
was not just a spirit, but was indeed Jesus resurrected from the dead.
Chuck Colson served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon. He was best known as the
“Hatchet Man” for Nixon’s close associates. Colson pled guilty to obstruction of justice for part
of his role in the Watergate Scandal. Just before his imprisonment, Colson abandoned atheism
and became a strong Christian, founding Prison Fellowship Ministry. Colson, a lawyer by
training, had a sharp mind and later would become a great apologist for the Christian faith has
said:
“I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men
testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for
40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in
prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of
the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're
telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.”
The implications of Jesus’ resurrection are HUGE for us. Nearly 35 years after that first Easter
morning, Peter reflected back on the significance of the resurrection, telling his readers the
wonderful victory that Christ attained.
Read 1 Peter 1:3-5
Peter begins this section of his letter with some wonderful news for every person who will
believe in Jesus Christ. Here’s why. Every person in this world is destined for Hell. The reality is
that most people believe that everyone goes to heaven and only a few of the “really bad ones”
get sentenced to Hell. That simply is not the case.
All of us are totally depraved in our minds, bodies and spirits. There is nothing good in us.
Isaiah says that:
Isaiah 64:6
For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a
filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us
away.
Without Christ, the state of a person is desperate, according to the apostle Paul who wrote:
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Ephesians 2:1–3
1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of
the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all
formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Indeed the book of Revelation describes the plight of all sinners apart from Christ:
Revelation 21:8
But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral
persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
J.D. Greear, commenting on this verse says:
Included in that list are the ones you’d expect: murderers, immoral persons, etc.
The “really bad” guys. But it also includes a lot of people who could be found in
the church, like:
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The cowardly – those who would never stand for Jesus in front of their
friends
The faithless – those who went to church but never really trusted God
enough to obey him with their relationships or their money
Idolaters – those who wouldn’t put God first in their lives
Liars – those who came to church but whose submission to God was not
sincere
Therefore, every person, apart from the mercy of God, is destined for Hell because of their own
individual sin. However, God did not leave us helpless, praise His Mighty name! Instead, in His
love and through His mercy He made a way for sin to be defeated.
Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. The very nature and character of God is merciful.
Moses asked to see the glory of the LORD and God granted his wish. As God revealed His glory
to Moses, here’s what happened:
Exodus 34:6 (ESV)
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and
gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
In fact, it is only by the mercy of God that we have the hope of eternal life:
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THROUGH GOD’S MERCY WE RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE
Without mercy, there is only eternal and conscious punishment for sin. With mercy from God,
and through the power of the Holy Spirit who causes a person to be born again, we have the
hope of eternal life.
Notice in our text for today in verse 3 that the mercy of God comes through, “the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
Here is the problem: you and I have a sin nature. It causes us to sin. In fact, we don’t even
have to think about it to sin. Every parent knows that no one had to teach their children to
disobey. They were naturally born that way. If mom or Dad says to put away the toy, a
stubborn 3 year old will often gruffly reply, “NO!” in defiance of his parents. Where did he
learn that? Simply, he was born with a natural tendency to sin.
Adam was created without sin but was able to be tempted and yielded to sin. In his act of
disobedience to God’s commands, Adam became a sinner and then passed down to future
generations the natural bent to sin. Our bodies, our flesh, tends toward sin.
Romans 7:5
For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law,
were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
Without God’s mercy, there would be no way for us to obtain eternal life. But in mercy, God
sent His Son to give us hope and to know that we can be saved from our depravity and sin.
Peter says that because Jesus has been resurrected, we can be “born again.” That’s probably a
phrase a lot of you have heard but are not quite sure what it means.
This was a question of the man Nicodemus. He was a religious leader in Israel in Jesus’ time
and when Jesus told him that he needed to be born again, Nicodemus questioned Jesus, asking
how a man can go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time.
Jesus quickly corrected Nicodemus’ misunderstanding by saying this:
John 3:5–7
5
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be
born again.’”
Every person who wants to be have eternal life must see his or her sin, acknowledge it before
God, and find forgiveness of that sin through Jesus Christ. The spiritual condition of the person
must be changed through the Holy Spirit of God, causing the person to have a spiritual birth
and new life.
R. J. Utley says:
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Christianity is not a new morality; it is a new relationship with God. This new
relationship is made possible because of (1) the Father’s mercy and grace and (2) the
Son’s sacrificial death and resurrection from the dead. This divine will and action (cf. v.
2) gives believers a new life.1
When a person believes in Jesus Christ and receives forgiveness of sins and the granting of
eternal life, he or she has what Peter calls, “a living hope.” This is not the type of hope that the
world has. People hope for a better job. People hope for enough money in their retirement
account to be able to live comfortably and travel after age 65. People hope that they will win
the lottery.
That type of hope is not the hope Peter is describing here. First, that type of hope is temporary.
Jobs, possessions, and retirement are all short term and finite. Second, real and living hope is a
hope that is grounded in the very nature and promise of God. The Bible teaches that God
cannot lie and so as we see His promises in Scripture, we know these promises are authoritative
and guaranteed to happen. A hope based on the promises of God is to know that it will 100%
for sure come to pass.
BECAUSE JESUS LIVES, WE LIVE IN HOPE.
Illustration: Dennis Shive death this week.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away;
behold, new things have come.
Read 1 Peter 1:4
BECAUSE HE LIVES, WE ARE HEIRS.
An heir is a person who is given an inheritance upon death. Because Jesus has died, He has
granted that future home to us.
John 14:2
In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you.
That place is the inheritance that Peter describes here in verse 4. Wealth, that we accumulate
in this world, will one day disappear. As we learned in the financial meltdown of 2008 – 2009,
vast fortunes can be lost in a very short period of time. Jesus taught:
Matthew 6:19–20
19
1
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
Utley, R. J. D. (2000). The Gospel according to Peter: Mark and I & II Peter (Vol. Volume 2, p. 215).
Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
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where thieves break in and steal. 20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
Instead, Jesus reminds us to look forward and build our efforts into those things that will last
eternally. Our confidence is not in our 401k, our stock portfolio, our homes, or our jobs. Our
faith is in the eternal and assured promises of God of that inheritance to come in His kingdom.
Nothing can separate us from that.
Romans 8:38–39
38
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other
created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.
The guarantee that Peter writes about here, he describes using 3 adjectives:
Imperishable: it cannot die. While our physical bodies may die, our spirits never will.
Moreover, one day we will receive resurrected and glorified bodies that cannot ever experience
sin or death. What God has promised is a reward in heaven with Him in bodies that cannot
ever wear out, get sick, or die.
Undefiled: while everything in this world is tainted with the effects of sin, the future
inheritance will not be so. It will not experience any of the effects of the curse of sin that
happened in Genesis 3. Instead, it can never be stained by the effects of the fall.
Will not fade away: A $1 bill lasts 18 months; $5 bill, two years; $10 bill, three years;
$20 bill, four years; and $50 and $100 bills, nine years. Bills that get worn out from everyday
use are taken out of circulation and replaced by the US Mint. Flowers bloom for a period but
then decay. Equipment wears out over time. Our inheritance will never wear out or get blown
away.
Summarizing all of this, the apostle Paul writes in Romans:
Romans 8:16–18
16
The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if
children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with
Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Warren Wiersbe, writing on this great fact says:
What a thrilling thing it is to know that we were born for glory! When we were born
again, we exchanged the passing glory of man for the eternal glory of God!2
2
Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 392). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
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How can we be assured of the promises that we just read about? Verse 5 gives us the answer.
Read 1 Peter 1:5
Because He Lives Our Salvation is Guaranteed
The death and resurrection of our Savior makes possible the salvation of souls.
What is salvation? What does it mean?
Salvation
 soteria /so·tay·ree·ah
 rescue and deliverance from the eternal consequences of sin (future)
 Freedom from sin in the present time (now)
Our salvation enables us to live right now as children of God.
John 1:12
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name.
We often only focus on the eternal perspective and it is a real joy to think on the reward of
eternity in heaven. Yet we must not lose sight of the ability we have right now to live as sons
and daughters of God. We don’t have to wait for salvation. It begins the moment a person
believes in Christ. The benefits now are tremendous:
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Forgiveness of sins means we don’t have to daily dwell on our past mistakes
Because we are forgiven, we live in freedom, not in regret
Reconciliation with God means even though we have sinned against Him, that sin does
not separate us from Him
We don’t have to live in worry or fear about the future because Jesus has already
secured our future. We can be rid of worry, anxiety, doubts and fear to live without the
stresses of life weighing us down.
We can live now knowing that problems and sufferings that we face are merely
temporary.
Read 1 Peter 1:5 again, emphasizing, “who are protected by the power of God.”
How are Christians protected by God’s power? That’s a good question.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit to a Christian does not stop with being born again. The Holy
Spirit guarantees the future fate of the believer by sealing him or her.
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Ephesians 1:13–14
13
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—
having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is
given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own
possession, to the praise of His glory.
God draws us to His Son who died and rose again for us. The Holy Spirit causes a person to be
born again. The individual person, as Paul states here in Ephesians, has a responsibility to
believe. Once we believe, we receive the assurance of being saved from the consequence of
sin.
Therefore, it is God’s power, as Peter says here in verse 5, that protects the salvation of a
Christian. Your eternal inheritance does not depend on what you do or don’t do. If the
salvation of any person depended on our ability or faithfulness or works, we would be in deep
trouble.
But our inheritance does not depend on us. Instead, it is grounded in the unlimited and
omnipotent and sovereign power of God Almighty.
Our ultimate salvation will be realized at the end of the age when God provides a new heaven
and a new earth wherein all who have believed in Christ will enjoy the permanent and
unending blessings and benefits of being with God.
Revelation 21:1–7
1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth
passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God
Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and
there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or
pain; the first things have passed away.” 5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I
am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6
Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the
end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 7
“He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
John MacArthur provides a great summary in realizing the future experience of Christians as
Peter has outlined for us in 1 Peter 1:3-5 today (38):
God has promised unfathomable glories in the eternal perfection of heaven that will one
day be the conscious experience of every believer. He is the source of the believer’s
inheritance; it came because of His mercy and by the gracious means of the new birth;
and it remains perfect and eternally secure, a reality all believers can fix their hope on.
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The truth is that you and I are not just bad because we sin. The Bible declares that in our sin we
are dead. That’s why Easter means so much. We are dead in our sin but Jesus has been raised
from the dead and He is indeed the resurrection and the life. Without Christ we are:
In sin
Dead
Without hope
Destined for Hell
In Christ we are:
Forgiven
Made alive through Him who sacrificed Himself for us
Living in hope of eternity with God
Granted the granted gift anyone could ever give us
As Louie Giglio says, “The Gospel isn’t simply a message of how bad people become good. It’s
the power by which dead people come to life. By faith alone, we trust in the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, and when we do, God bursts into decomposing hearts and
breathes new, everlasting life.”
If you have been listening carefully today, you may be sensing the Lord drawing you to Himself.
You may, for the first time, realize that you need to make a change in your life. How do you
receive from God these great benefits that Christ afforded?
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Admit that you have, and do sin. Confess those sins to God right now.
Second, believe in Jesus Christ has died and rose again from the dead.
Trust Jesus today and make Him the Lord of your life.
John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal
life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
We have this wonderful promise in Scripture:
Romans 10:9
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised
Him from the dead, you will be saved.
If you take these three faith steps today, I ask you and urge you to follow up with our church to
let us know you that you have become a Christian today. Why should you do that?
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First, we want to rejoice with you. There is no greater gift that you can receive than God’s gift
of eternal life. Even if you got a new Porsche for your next birthday, it could not compare to
the gift of eternal life that God gives when we believe. So if you’re believing in Jesus, we want
to rejoice and celebrate in your salvation with you.
Second, as a Christian, God wants you to grow in your faith. He wants you to know Him better
and to build a relationship with Him that grows over time. You can’t be a Christian on your
own. God’s design for a Christian to grow is in and through the church. We want to help you
grow in your faith and to learn how to follow the Lord every day.
Third, we want to walk with you in your faith. We want to be beside you and let you know
you’re not alone. Facing the challenges of life, which all of us do no matter how long you’ve
been a Christian, are made much easier by support of fellow Christians.
Finally, one of the ways we offer you to grow is by getting involved with our small groups.
Small groups provide teaching on the Bible each week in the homes of our church. As you
heard earlier today, we are starting a new church wide study next Sunday called, “The Explicit
Gospel.” This study has been chosen to help our church grow and mature in our faith
individually. We want to get you plugged into one of these studies. Sam & Nancy Fike will be in
the lobby following service today to help you find and get involved with a small group that
meets on days that will work for your schedule.
When Christ conquered Satan, sin, and the grave, He ushered in a new era. Easter offers all of
us the opportunity for a new beginning through Christ’s victory. Some of us need a new
beginning today:
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Prayer
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We need to repent from a sin that’s gripped our lives for way too long
We need to get bold about our faith and not only be an example of Christ, but also be
His voice as His ambassador to the people we love
We need to recommit ourselves to the spiritual steps of Bible Study and Prayer, which
we’ve allowed to slip out of our lives. We have allowed work, hobbies, and social media
to eat up our time so very little if anything is left in time alone with our Lord.