Thank you, Caleb and crew. I'm pretty sure at some point in history, the number one criteria for the writing of a Christmas song was that it'd be difficult to sing.
! Please turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1.
As previously stated in today's gathering, today marks the first Lord's Day of our Advent season.
The word Advent is from the Latin Adventus, which simply means coming, or I prefer, arrival.
Our tradition of lighting Advent candles and preaching sermons concerning the topics of each candle is aimed at helping us place Jesus Christ at the very center of our holiday season.
Now, I know that because you have gathered with a Christian church this morning, it is most likely that you are very aware that Christmas is the celebration of the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I know that some of you may be thinking that our Advent practice is an exercise in redundancy.
But I also know how very fickle our hearts can be.
While giving Jesus lip service during this season, we, just like the world, so often get wrapped up into all the trappings that accompany it.
We stress ourselves through all of its busyness.
We get distracted by the glitz and glimmer of lesser things.
And we functionally forget what the incarnation of God means for today.
What it means for this month.
And what it means for next year.
We are so forgetful.
So we need reminders.
I am repetitive because we are slow learners.
My prayer for us this morning is that we will be reminded of Jesus Christ's immeasurable worth so that we will treasure him as we ought, as we consider the hope that is ours in him.
J.I. Packer once said,
The Christian message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity.
Hope of pardon.
Hope of peace with God.
Hope of glory.
Because at the Father's will, Jesus became poor and was born in a stable so that 30 years later he might hang on a cross.
Our text for this morning is 1 Peter 1, verses 3 through 5.
And before I read this for our benefit, beloved, let me remind you that this is God's word to us.
It was written for his glory and for our good.
And we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and obey its commands.
1 Peter 1, verse 3 and following.
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.
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.
Our study this morning will be outlined in the following three points.
Number one, the praiseworthiness of God.
That's right, note takers.
The praiseworthiness of God.
Number two, the hopelessness of mankind.
And number three, the hope of the born again.
So number one, the praiseworthiness of God.
Peter begins the body of his epistle with a phrase of praise to God.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But what does Peter mean by saying blessed?
Blessed.
We use that word in ways much like hope and we'll see joy and peace and love across this coming month.
That the Bible does not use it.
This is not the Greek word translated in other places in the Bible as blessed.
We may read it, but rather blessed, meaning happy or fortunate.
This is an entirely different Greek word, which means praised.
So it could be read, praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The indicative mood of the Greek word for blessed is used instead of the optative mood.
Don't write any of that down.
The optative mood is used to express a wish.
The indicative mood is used to make factual statements.
So not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be blessed,
but rather the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is blessed.
In our Bible reading from two weeks ago in the book of Ruth,
when Ruth returns after gathering barley in the field of Boaz and Naomi sees what she was able to bring home,
Naomi exclaims,
Blessed be the man who took notice of you.
This is from Ruth 2.19.
Naomi is not wishing fortune on Boaz,
but rather praising him for his generosity toward Ruth.
Peter's doing the very same thing here.
Blessed be.
Praised be.
He is, in fact, to be.
Because of the text that will follow.
Peter begins with an exclamation of God's praiseworthiness
before elaborating on his reason for praise.
But the rest of our text does just that.
Why is it that God is so praiseworthy?
27 times in the Old Testament,
the phrase Baruch Adonai is used.
Blessed be God.
So it was a very common way to give praise to God.
But here Peter adds something pivotal,
something extremely important to this phrase.
He adds,
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 5.18,
amongst many other places,
this is recorded by John of what Jesus claimed of himself.
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.
Why?
Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath,
but he was even calling God his own Father,
making himself equal with God.
And so what Peter is saying is that we now relate to God
through his Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is God incarnate.
And all those who will worship God rightly
will worship him through his Son.
And because of all that was accomplished by his Son.
Which is what Peter is going on to elaborate
in the following writ.
The point being,
theology should lead us to doxology.
Rightly understanding who God is
should move us to rightly praise him.
This book was not written for us
to merely know things about God.
If we see him rightly by this book,
then we will know him,
and we will be known by him,
and this will necessitate our praise.
So do not miss the praiseworthiness of God
this morning.
Secondly,
let's look in brief at the hopelessness of mankind.
In order to see this point from this text,
we need to read a bit through it.
Peter says in verse 3,
according to his, God's great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again.
Mercy is compassion shown where wrath is due.
We would have no need of mercy
if we had not transgressed God's law.
Had we not rejected him as our king,
doing what is right in our own eyes,
things would be all good.
But we have.
All mankind has acted with great wickedness.
Apart from Christ,
you and I are not all right.
The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians chapter 2,
verse 12,
of the Ephesian believers
before Jesus' intervention in their life,
he said this,
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ,
alienated from the commonwealth of Israel
and strangers to the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world.
So to be apart from God,
the true God that we worship through Jesus Christ,
is to be hopeless.
Apart from the mercy of God
and the personal work of Jesus Christ,
mankind is utterly hopeless
because their end is destruction.
Paul wrote to the Philippians,
Philippians 3, verse 18, part of 19,
many of whom I have often told you
and now tell you even with tears,
walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction.
If you have not believed
in Jesus' accomplished work on your behalf,
you are hopeless.
As you see the hope of the born again
and long for the hope that we have
turned from the hopelessness of mankind
in repentance and faith this morning.
Third, and we'll spend most of our time here,
let's look at the hope of the born again.
Peter tells us that God is praiseworthy
because according to His great mercy,
He has caused us to be born again.
Notice first that it is according to His great mercy
that we have been shown mercy.
God is merciful.
It's part of His very character.
Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 4, 31,
The Lord your God is a merciful God.
We have nothing to offer
to the equation of our new birth.
So it is owing to the character of God
that we receive any benefit from Him.
It is because He is merciful
that He shows mercy.
Because of God's mercifulness toward mankind,
He has caused us to be born again.
Now, what does it mean to be born again?
And how does this happen?
I want you to turn with me to John 3.
I'm going to come off of 1 Peter for a bit,
but we'll get back there.
So mark it if you'd like.
What does it mean to be born again?
And how does this happen?
In John 3,
Jesus has a conversation
with a priest named Nicodemus.
And beginning in verse 3 and following,
John records,
Jesus answered him,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So we get some clue
to what it means to be born again
that in order to see the kingdom of God,
we must be born again.
Those who are not born again
will not see the kingdom of God.
Verse 4,
Nicodemus said to him,
how can a man be born
when he is old?
Can he enter a second time
into his mother's womb
and be born?
I think this is some of the question
we may have.
We're going, wait a minute,
what does born again mean?
Verse 5,
Jesus answered,
Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water
and the spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
So clearly a different kind of birth
to be had.
Nicodemus said,
wait a second,
how is it that you're born again?
And he says,
no, I'm not talking about that birth.
I'm talking about a different birth,
a birth of the spirit.
This is a spiritual being born.
Verse 6,
That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you,
you must be born again.
So, to be born again
is to be born of the spirit.
Here we find the precious doctrine
of regeneration.
God makes us new.
We do not and cannot work our way
into the kingdom of God.
We are not in some degree of rightness with God.
We are either not justified before Him,
or we are made new,
regenerate,
placing faith in the personal work of Jesus Christ.
We are justified before God.
It's positionally different.
So, we see that to be positionally different,
to be born again,
is to be born of the spirit.
In Ezekiel chapter 36, verse 27,
God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel and says,
And I will put my spirit within you,
and cause you to walk in my statutes,
and be careful to obey my rules.
So, we see that this does not happen by human design.
It is not our plans that cause us to be born again.
It is not our willing that causes us to be born again.
God, by His great mercy,
has caused you to be born again.
And, I will add from John 3,
by the power of the Spirit.
He goes on in John 3, verse 8,
The wind blows where it wishes,
and you hear its sound,
but you do not know where it comes from,
or where it goes.
So, Jesus is saying,
the wind is a bit of a mystery.
Right?
We see the effect of the wind.
We see it moving through.
But, where does the wind come from?
Where does the wind go?
So, it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
This great mystery that God works within us.
New birth.
So, turn back with me a bit in the book of John, chapter 1.
Let's continue to explore this idea a bit
of what it means to be born again.
Verse 12 and 13, John chapter 1.
To all who did receive Him,
who believed in His name,
He gave the right to become children of God,
who were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man,
but of God.
Okay?
So, we see once again,
it is not this working of ourselves,
not a working of the flesh,
nor of our will,
but we are born.
Well, what is the contingent placed upon that
in John 1.12?
Belief in His name.
And if you are familiar at all,
and I hope you are in some degree
with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
you know that we must believe in Christ.
Right?
In His personhood.
His name represents all of that.
But how does that come to pass?
Turn with me now to 1 John, chapter 5.
1 John 1.12.
It's a helpful hermeneutic principle to you
as you're studying the Bible,
and you see things that seem confusing.
You need to go and see where else
the Bible talks about these things.
The Bible, God so cleverly helps us
to turn an idea over
and get our minds around
what these phrases mean.
So, 1 John, chapter 5, verse 1.
So, we're seeing that we must be born
of the Spirit.
God works as He causes in us
this new birth,
and that new birth necessitates
believing in Christ,
I'd say, His person and His work.
You can hear me say that to you often.
1 John, chapter 5, verse 1.
John writes,
Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ
has been born of God.
And everyone who loves the Father
loves whoever has been born of Him.
So, see what John's doing for us.
Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ.
So, there we're going back to John,
chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, right?
Those who did receive Him,
who believed in His name,
He gave this right to.
But in 1 John,
He clarifies for us, right?
Those who have been born of God
believe.
If we believe,
if we place faith in Jesus Christ,
it's because we've been born of God.
You see that in 1 John 5, verse 1?
I hope you do.
That's why I had you turn there to it.
Everyone who believes
that Jesus is the Christ
has been born of God.
God causes new birth
by the power of the Spirit
through His Word.
So, He brings all of this about.
It's a presentation to us.
He works it in us by His Spirit,
makes us new so that we will believe.
And this is a highly contested doctrine
in the church today.
And it's altogether biblical.
Go back to 1 Peter, chapter 1.
I want to show you the one other place
that Peter uses the phrase,
born again,
and kind of drive it all home for you.
Look down in verse 23 and following.
Peter writes,
Since you have been born again,
not of perishable seed,
but of imperishable,
through, what?
The living and abiding Word of God.
For all flesh is like grass
and all gets glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers
and the flower fails,
but the Word of the Lord
remains forever.
And this Word
is the good news
that was preached
to you.
So,
God has caused us,
if you have in fact been born again,
He has caused you
to be born again
by the power of His Spirit
in the proclamation
of the good news
of Jesus Christ.
Whether you heard that in preaching,
or you read it from the Scripture,
or a friend told you about it,
watched a well-done YouTube video,
there are many ways
in which the truth of Jesus Christ
can be communicated to us.
And the Spirit of God
uses the Word of God
to bring about this new birth,
to cause us
to believe.
So,
why belabor the point?
I know many of you are going,
yeah, yeah,
like, we get it.
God saved us.
Why?
Because Peter takes the time
to do that.
It's the very thing
he's trying to say to us.
Why?
Because he wants us
to say with Him,
blessed be
the God and Father
of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ.
Look at what He has done
for me,
an unworthy sinner,
a wicked man.
He,
because of His great mercy,
has caused me
to be born again.
Beloved,
this is the fuel
for Christian living
that we recognize
that God
in His good,
sovereign purpose
has saved us.
So,
not only has He
caused us to be born again,
but He's caused us
to be born again
to
a living
hope.
I think it is important
at this point
to make sure
we are clear
of what our Bible means
when we speak
of hope.
I've got a quotation here
from a man named
R.C. Sproul
that I think will serve us well
to that end.
He wrote,
Hope is called
the anchor of the soul.
That's from Hebrews 6.19.
because it gives stability
to the Christian life.
But,
hope is not simply
a wish.
That, by the way,
my wife,
I found out was sick
this morning.
Hope is not simply
a wish.
I wish that such
and such
would take place.
Rather,
it is that
which latches
on to the certainty
of the promises
of the future
that God
has made.
I'm going to read
that to you again.
Not simply a wish.
Rather,
it is that
which latches
on to
the certainty
of the promises
of the future
that God
has made.
Hope
is faith
in future tense.
Peter tells us
not only
that we
have
this hope,
but that it is
a living
hope.
What do you
suppose
is meant
by that?
It could
refer
to an active
hope.
As in a hope
in the future
promises of God
that will yield
fruit for us
today.
That it means
something now.
It's living
in that way.
And I think
in some measure
it does
mean that.
It could
refer to us
being
born again.
Peter is using
lots of
living
language here,
isn't he?
We're born again
and he talks
about it being
through the
resurrection
of Jesus
Christ.
So maybe
he's simply
trying to
characterize
hope.
And I also
think that
it could
and probably
does
mean that.
I think,
however,
that most
directly
and most
importantly,
it refers
directly to
the phrase
that immediately
follows
through the
resurrection
of Jesus
Christ
from the
dead.
I think
that Peter
means to
tell us
that we
have a
living hope
and that
hope is
Jesus Christ.
He's alive.
He is
our
living
hope.
Jesus
became a
man in order
to live the
perfect life
we should
have lived,
to die the
death that we
deserved,
and to
defeat death
by being
resurrected.
Christmas
is aimed
at
Easter.
Through
the resurrection
of Jesus
Christ,
Jesus
Christ
became
the
surety
of all
God's
promises
to us.
You see,
I think
this is
Peter's
logic,
right?
Blessed
be the
God and
Father of
our Lord
Jesus
Christ.
According
to his
great
mercy,
he has
caused
us
to
be
born
again.
He's
talking
about
our
regeneration,
our
salvation
to
this
living
hope
through
the
resurrection
of
Jesus
Christ,
who makes
all of
God's
promises
sure.
Paul wrote
in 2 Corinthians
chapter 1
verse 20,
for all the
promises of
God find
their yes
in Jesus
Christ.
And in
1 Timothy
1,
Paul opens
his letter
with this.
Paul,
the apostle
of Christ
Jesus,
by command
of our
God,
our Savior,
and of
Christ
Jesus,
our hope.
So,
we have
a living
hope,
which is
our
resurrected
Savior.
Everything
that follows
in verses
4 and
5,
I believe,
elaborate on
this idea
of being
born again
to a
living
hope.
Now,
if we
were
working
and doing
verse-by-verse
exposition
through 1 Peter,
at this point,
I would say,
and next week,
we will see
those things.
This would be
the part
2 of
1 Peter 3
through 5,
but we're not
right now.
We're working
through the
Advent season.
I want you
to see that
we have
this living
hope,
which is
Christ.
This is the
prominent thing
we want to
have on our
minds,
but I
don't want
to leave
you hanging
for the
last two
verses.
So,
in brief,
let me try
to pack
this in
before we
move on
and do
baptisms
here soon.
So,
elaborating on
this idea
of a
living
hope,
one,
we see
that through
Christ,
we have
an
inheritance.
Peter says
it is an
inheritance that
is imperishable,
undefiled,
and unfading,
and it is
kept in
heaven for
you.
We have
an
immortal,
perfect,
forever
inheritance,
and it is
secured in
heaven for
us.
We have
a much
greater and
grander
thing that
awaits us
beyond this
place.
I would love
at this point
to make an
elaborate case
to you that
Jesus Christ
himself is
that inheritance,
but I'll
digress for
now.
But this is
why we are
instructed in
places like
Matthew chapter
six to
store it for
ourselves,
treasure in
heaven,
where moth
and rust
do not
destroy,
rather than
here on
earth where
moth and
rust destroys
and where
thieves break
in and
steal.
We have
an inheritance
that is being
kept for
us.
Secondly,
through Christ
we have a
security.
Verse five
says that by
God's power
we are being
guarded through
faith for a
salvation ready
to be revealed
in the last
time,
that final
day when we
are glorified,
when we
persevere and
are preserved
to the very
end.
Those who
God saves,
he keeps.
And remember,
he has
caused us to
be born again.
Rejoice in
God's sovereignty
and your salvation
because it is
a sure thing.
If you are
his, you
are his
forever.
In John
chapter 10
verses 28
through 30,
Jesus said,
I give my
sheep eternal
life and
they will never
perish and no
one will snatch
them out of my
hand.
My father who
has given them
to me is
greater than
all and no
one is able to
snatch them out
of the father's
hand.
I and the
father are
one.
What a
precious,
truth that
we are
secure forever
in him if
we are his.
Paul wrote
in Philippians
chapter 1
verse 6,
and I am
sure of
this,
that he who
began a good
work in you
will bring it
to completion
at the day
of Jesus
Christ.
And so we
have,
through Christ,
this inheritance
and this
security.
We have a
living hope
and a
careful
consideration
and reflection
on this
ought to
lift our
eyes from
the din of
this world
across the
next month
in order to
praise God's
name.
So those
who God
has caused
to be born
again have
the living
hope to
the resurrection
of Jesus
Christ from
the dead
and a
perfect
inheritance
kept in
heaven for
us.
And we
are being
guarded
through faith
by God's
power to
the end.
this is
why we
join with
Peter and
the church
past and
present and
the chorus
of heaven
in saying
blessed be
the God
and father
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ.
Beloved,
this Christmas
season may
it be true
of us that
we will be
a people who
experience the
living hope
of the gospel
of Jesus
Christ.
Display the
living hope
of the gospel
of Jesus
Christ and
proclaim the
living hope
of the gospel
of Jesus
Christ.
May it be
true of us
this Christmas
season that
we will be
a people who
say with
all that we
feel and
do and
speak,
blessed be
the God
and father
of our
Lord Jesus
Christ.
Join me in
prayer.