Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
8 sermons cite this verse
… That's why Peter says in 1 Peter, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ because of his great mercy, he has given us a new birth into a living hope, a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you. No matter what your life looks like, no matter what pain you are bearing and suffering with right now, I need you to understand that to be a Christian means that you say, I'm still alive today. And because I'm still alive today, that must mean that God still has blessings in the future like he did for these people. From this day, I will bless you. Well, if I'm still alive, I guess I'm gonna believe it. I'm gonna get to see those blessings. But I haven't yet. I don't know how badly you've messed things up. I don't know what relationships you've damaged, what trust you have broken. …
… He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Friends, that means we have been born again. You and I have been born again to a living hope. That is our present reality in the here and now. And how did this happen? It happened by regeneration through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. that means that the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in our spiritual rebirth and new life taking away the heart of stone giving us a heart of flesh bringing us to faith and new life and here's what we need to see about this this great power and this great work is one of the spirit but it is all in Christ and through Christ listen to Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 through 6 but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus we see similar passage in Colossians 2 verses 13 through 14 But catch this, even when we were dead in our sins, God being rich in mercy because of his great love for us made us alive together with Christ. …
… And it leads to a few places. But let's look at the text in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 3, if you have a Bible. Any of you bring a Bible today? That's good thinking. If not, I'll just read the text to you. It's 1 Peter chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation to be revealed in the last time. You know, we are living in a culture where hope is fading fast. I read something this week by the World Health Organization that said there is a profound, widespread sense of hopelessness that is currently affecting many people. People are anxious about the future. They're anxious about current events. They're worried about the economy. …
… According to God's great mercy, he 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, 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. So if somebody asks you this afternoon, so what are you hoping in? You say, I'm hoping in eternal life. Death is a doorway to Jesus. I believe all my sins are forgiven. I don't have any guilt anymore because of Jesus. And I'm going to spend eternity happy with Jesus. And they'll say, why do you believe that? What will you say? Well, there's two answers right there. You say, because I've been born again. Second, you say reason number two, Jesus was raised from the dead. Now, if you're like me, you think that's not enough. Got to give a reason for the reason. And then you got to give a reason for the reason for the reason. …
… that I have you running for the rest of the week blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ by his great mercy underline that he has given us a new birth underline that into a living hope through the resurrection underline that of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled and unfading underline inheritance and that inheritance is kept in heaven for you who is the you? You who are being protected okay by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by his great mercy. Somebody holler as loud as you can great mercy. You have great mercy working in your life. Don't know what that is? God's compassionate, divine kindness overlooking your faults, working things out for your good. Because of his great mercy, say this loud too, he's given us a new birth. That means I don't care how you were born, you can be born again. …
… We'll get to that in a moment. But starting with 1 Peter 1.3, with that benediction, I want to read down through verse 9 as the setting for our message this morning. 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 obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." Marvelous portion of Scripture. …
… understanding of what being born again means. Listen to what Peter writes in 1 Peter 1, verse 3. Blessed be, this is a benediction really, a doxology, 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. The way you describe conversion is as a new birth. Peter says it again in verse 23, you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring Word of God. You are a new creation. You have been born again. Peter marks that again in chapter 2, verse 2, like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. You have been born again, and Peter extends what that means in the same second chapter. Go to verse 9. You are now a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. …
… And I want to show you that, 1 Peter 1, before we get to Ephesians. 1 Peter 1, verse 3. And Peter is writing to some believers who are scattered, being persecuted. It's a hard time, and I'm sure they wanted to know the reality of their salvation. So Peter writes to them about the security of their salvation. Listen to what he says in verse 3 of 1 Peter 1. 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. God in His mercy, His great mercy, caused us to be born again. You don't see any role that we played there. God in His great mercy regenerated us to a living hope that is attached to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So Christ arose, He lives, we rose in Him, we live as He lives. So Peter is talking about the eternality of salvation, because our salvation is in Christ, and Christ lives forever, we live forever, so we have a living hope, meaning a hope of eternally living. …