Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Well, good morning, Valley View. Morning. It’s great to be with you while we continue our study in the book of First Peter. We started that last week and we’re going to continue today moving forward in chapter one. So if you have a Bible, go ahead and turn to First Peter chapter one. If you don’t have a Bible, we have Bibles available for you in the Connection Corner. You can slip out at any time and grab one of those and whenever there’s page numbers on the screen, which if you have one of those, that’ll be on page 953. Whenever there’s page numbers on the screen, they tie in to that specific Bible. So to help you find references, if you’re not familiar with the Bible yet, we’re going to be in First Peter chapter one. And today we’re going to look at verses three through five. And so turn there and I’m going to read those verses to get us started. First Peter one, chapter three. Blessed chapter one, verse three. 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, 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. In this you rejoice. So last week we launched the theme of First Peter. The overarching theme which you saw in our introductory reel here is finding joy in suffering. And I said one of the ways, quoting from Paul Tripp, that Peter gives his people the means of finding joy and suffering is the phrase he used when he gives them marching orders. Peter is full of commands, one command after another. There’s something around 35 commands in the book of Peter. But how does he begin? It’s really interesting that he doesn’t start with commands. I think that’s helpful. When you need advice, you usually don’t want to just be given commands at first. You want to be heard. You want to be understood. You want to be related to, you want to be given hope. And it’s interesting that he begins chapter one. After we get past initial greetings, verse three through 12 are really in the original language was just one long sentence and there’s no commands. And he starts with one simple word here, which we just read. It’s the word blessed be blessed. Blessed be God. Bless him. The word we often use praise him. I think we’re going to see today as we look at this passage. In fact, there’s going to be three reasons to praise that we see here. One of the keys to finding joy in the midst of suffering is to turn towards praise. It’s going to be the emphasis of this passage today to turn towards praise in the midst of suffering. In fact, we’re going to look at in this passage three reasons to praise, three reasons to be blessing God, to praise him. Those should be on the screen. The first is to be reborn into hope. Go ahead and put all three of those up at the same time if you would. A reserved inheritance and salvation reveal reborn into hope, a reserved inheritance and salvation revealed. Those are going to be the three reasons to praise God here in this passage. But before we dive into those three reasons, I just want to talk about that word blessed. That word praise for a moment. Why would that have been the first place that Peter goes? I think there’s a few reasons why would he push them towards praise before giving them other keys to finding joy in the midst of suffering. One is just that this would have been the pattern they had seen in the Old Testament. It’s how the Jewish people often respond to challenges. Here you have Peter’s audience there in the midst of suffering. They’re in the midst of trials. They’re in the midst of persecution. Where would you turn for hope in the midst of that? You’re going to turn to what you know. You’re going to turn to the history of the nation. I think one example of that we could go to all kinds of places all over the Old Testament. A great example of that is in the Psalms. This is part of the reason why, in our Bible reading plan, every year, each year we over a three year rotation, we have a different Bible reading plan. Next year we’ll read through the whole Bible again. Over the course of the year, we’ve been just reading through the Gospels and Acts, but also every time we add in Psalms and Proverbs every day, there’s something about the Psalms that resonates with praise and pain both. And you see this in Psalm 79. If you’ll turn over there, I’m going to just highlight a couple of verses in this section that points this out, because in Psalm 79, the people were facing a significant challenge. Psalm 79, verse one O God, the nations have come into your inheritance. Inheritance is a word in our passage today in First Peter. Inheritance would have been the land. That’s what God had given to his people. The land and a nation, a foreign nation has come into your inheritance. They have invaded. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in ruins. And so the people are suffering. They’re under siege. They’re wondering, what are you doing God? Why is this happening? And it goes on. Look at verse five. In fact, they say, how long, O Lord, will you be angry? Forever? How long are you going to let this happen? When are you going to set things right? Will your jealousy burn like fire? When will it end? One thing I appreciate about scripture is the Bible never just glides past the reality of the things we feel in the midst of challenges, doesn’t try to paper it over and act like everybody was okay with everything God was doing. That’s what I love about the Psalms. There’s a lot of raw emotion there, and I think when you’re in the midst of suffering, I mean, how many of us go, what are you doing? God, I don’t like this. I don’t know what you’re doing. I don’t want to be here. Would you end this? That’s. That’s my reaction. Would you bring this to a close? Now, look at how this passage ends. Psalm 79. Look at where they end up. Look at the last verse, verse 13. Even though we’re in the midst of being sieged, of challenges, of questioning what you’re doing. But we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, we will give thanks to you forever. For generation to generation. We will recount your praise, the pattern that people had seen in the course of the Old Testament. Yeah, be real about how you’re feeling. Acknowledge that you don’t have any idea and you wonder what God’s doing. But we end up with praise, I don’t understand. I’m going to praise you in the midst of this. I don’t know what’s going on. You’re my hope. I’m going to turn to praise. So that’s a pattern they would have seen. They would have read over and over again in the book of Psalms. Another reason, though, that they turn to praise. And it’s part of the reason why we begin our service with music. There’s a lot of ways to praise. Music is just one element. Even with all the risks of music. We start with music. I mean, music is probably one of the most opinionated matters in all of life. Maybe apart from food that we have, we all have our preferences. Some like country, some like hip hop, some like bluegrass, some like classical. Like in this room, almost every person has a different musical preference. And yet there’s something about music that stirs the heart and in a way, unlike almost anything else. And so when we start with singing, we start with saying things like your your name is power, your name is healing, your name is life. And we say it over and over again. There’s something about doing that that stirs our heart towards him, that gets our focus off ourselves and our circumstances. Because that’s where I naturally go. I go to me and my problems and what I’m thinking, rather than the thoughts of him. I got to be forced to think about him. I got to intentionally turn towards him. And that’s just one of the avenues where we try to be intentional, to think about him. Another element of this word praise, this word blessed that I think it’s critical for us to recognize going into this passage today. When Scripture tells us to praise God, to bless him, it’s not because he needs to hear it. He doesn’t need to hear it. It’s not like he has some weakness. It’s not like his love language is words of affirmation, And if he doesn’t get enough of that, he’ll walk around grumpy, grumpy, and underappreciated. Some of us might be that way, but that’s not him. He is perfect. He lacks nothing. He doesn’t need our praise to fill up something in him that’s empty. It’s not him who he needs to hear it. We don’t praise him for his benefit. We praise him for our benefit. I need to hear it. I need to be reminded who he is and how great he is over and over again. Because I so quickly, I naturally forget. That is my natural instinct to forget who he is and what he’s done, and to focus on whatever challenge is right in front of me. This is the power of praise. This is why Peter starts with this and and focuses on this. So let’s look at these three ways in this passage that he points us to praise. What are the reasons to praise that we see in this passage? The first one that already mentioned is to be reborn into hope. We are reborn to hope. Look back at verse three. 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, born again to a living hope. That word here for born again. It only shows up here in first Peter, here and in verse 23, in chapter one, the only two places where it shows up. Now, that idea of being born again, being made new shows up in other places, but never with the same word. It’s in John three where he says to Nicodemus, you must be born again. Here that idea has the concept, kind of like the idea of fathering, being fathered. And I love what one commentator said. One commentator said it this way. It’s like the idea that God doesn’t didn’t just create us, but he also gave us new life in Christ. It’s a little bit like the contrast between, at a human level, how a male can create a child can be a progenitor, but it takes a man to step up and be a father. And some of you have lived this experience where someone gave birth to you. But then were absent. And then not in every case, unfortunately. But sometimes someone else stepped in and said, I will be your father, I will raise you, I will pour life into you. And that gave you new life. The Christian life is somewhat like that. I mean, in Christ you have a brand new life. There was there was hopelessness. There was misunderstanding. There was no future. But in him you have a new life. I mean, I look back on my life before really knowing him. And sometimes I look back on that. It’s like I’m watching a movie of someone else’s life. It’s like I who is? I don’t even feel like I relate to that guy at all. It’s a completely, almost like a completely different person because of how new he’s made me. So born again. Born anew, born to a new life. What is the result of that, though? Here in the passage he says, born again to a living hope. The result of being made new, born anew as a living hope. I love that phrase. Living hope. Our hope is alive and active now, of course, with our faith there is a past element, there’s a future element, and there’s a present element. In fact, one commentator said it this way Edmund Clowney, this will be on the screen. Our hope is anchored in past, completed in the future and remains in the present. It’s anchored in the past. This is an ancient book. This is what we look back to. And of course, there’s a future hope that we look forward to. Or one day everything will be made new. But also there’s a present reality. Hebrews 4:12 said, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joint and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is living. It is active. It is real. It is true today. God’s word is alive in your life today. It’s a living hope. This is important because we live in an age that is overwhelmed by anxiety. A couple of weeks ago, Troy Kolb, when he preached, he shared a video, a slide from a book by Jonathan Haidt about the almost, I guess you could say, pandemic of anxiety, anxiety among our age. It has escalated and almost an unprecedented level, and that is largely pointed to in his book. He makes the case that it’s the confluence of smartphones, high speed internet and social media and the access instant access to those and has that has ramped up anxiety in our world. But, you know, anxiety wasn’t just suddenly created in our time. It’s not like Steve Jobs came up with anxiety when he created the iPhone. It’s been around a long time. There’s been other words for it. One of the ancient words the Greeks used was hopelessness. In fact, the famous Greek writer Sophocles, who wrote the Odysseus tale, he said it this way you want to talk about despair. But this quote up on the screen from Sophocles, he said, it is best not to be born at all. And second best is to die at birth. Yeah. Hopelessness, despair. That’s been around a long time. A lot of people have felt that way. But that’s not us. We might feel that way at times, but we have a living hope, an act of hope. We are made new to find true living hope in him, in His Word, living and active. That’s part of why we turn to praise. That’s what renews our minds. That’s what renews our souls, gets our eyes off our present circumstances and onto him. So in him we have been born again to a living hope. But look here at the second reality. The second reason to praise is that we have a reserved inheritance. Look at verse four. We’ve been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven for you. This word inheritance would have been a really important word to the Jewish people. Last week we looked at how Moses established the covenant God’s covenant with the Jews, and they said, yes, we will do all that you say. We will follow you, and God says, I will take you to a promised land. I have an inheritance for you. It’s a land. It’s a place. There is something about knowing I have something out ahead of me that keeps me going through the difficult times. When they were sleeping on the sand, asking every five minutes, are we there yet? They knew, no, there is a promise. There is an inheritance for us. There is a place for us. But here’s the challenge with an inheritance, it’s so easy to become focused on the inheritance, focused on the place, focused on the possession, and forget about where it comes from. You’ve seen this. You’ve seen it happen. Phil Peercy is our chairman of the elders. He’s a local banker. And he he shared with me a story in his office. One day, two people in there trying to argue and sort out the reality of how do we divide up the bank account of our deceased loved one? And it was heated, man, they were so intense because the money was so significant. All $110 of it. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, really. We’re going to divide over that. A few weeks later. Now it was three people and it was $220. Again., almost coming to blows. It’s so easy to be caught up on the gift and forget the giver. Now, in the Old Testament, the inheritance was a land, but it points forward to our true inheritance and in fact turn to the Book of Numbers. Even back in the Old Testament, the land. Yes, that was truly their inheritance. But there was a greater inheritance out ahead. Numbers Chapter 18 Numbers is up close to the front of your Bible Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. And it’s, probably the least read book of the Bible because there’s a lot of numbers in the book, but Numbers chapter 18, in here we see, you know, when the nation, there’s 12 tribes of Israel, when they entered into the land, God promised each of them a portion except for one, except for one tribe. They did not get land. In fact, here’s what he says to Aaron in verse 20. And the Lord said to Aaron, who was the lead priest over the tribe of the Levites, you shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel. Even back then, what kept them going was the promise of a land. But yet there was a greater promise, a greater portion. And so here’s what this says. Back in first Peter, we get four different descriptors of what this inheritance is for us four different words. The first three all use the same letter on the front end to show a unity of thought. They all are negated by the letter A in the original language, and it comes out here. It’s more like you could say in verse four, UN perishable, undefiled, unfading, not perishable, not defiled, not fading. Let’s talk about each of those words first, that word imperishable, un perishable. One of the ways to translate that is impervious to corruption and death. One Bible translation says undestroyable. It can’t be gotten rid of. In fact, when that same word is used of God, it’s it’s translated as immortal. There is nothing you can do to get rid of the inheritance you have in him. It’s described as imperishable. Next is described as undefiled. That word also shows up in James 1:27. If you have read the book of James, pure, and this is often quoted in terms of how we should think about the church, pure and undefiled religion is this, that you should care for widows and orphans in their distress, and keep oneself unstained by the world. The enemy hates purity. He wants to see every element of purity corrupted and destroyed. He hates purity in the young. He wants them stained by the corruption of this world. And it’s so pervasive everywhere. You can’t. You almost can’t avoid it. But there is a place that is pure. There is an inheritance that is undefiled the way things were meant to be that is set apart for us imperishable, undefiled. And then lastly it says unfading in verse four. That word’s interesting, unfading. I don’t know how we get our minds about that, because everything in our world is fading. I was talking with the gentleman this morning. If I don’t do something physically and exercise every day, it’s fading. And even though I do, it’s fading. I had a grandpa who was one of the most amazing, intense guys in my mind. There was nothing he couldn’t do. I really considered him to be the original, most interesting man in the world. I mean, this guy had his own plane and piloted it, and he served in World War two. He had a he was a businessman. He had his own emu farm. It seemed like he could do anything. He’d start something, try it again. He was an avid hunter, outdoorsman, always on the go. Tough guy, man. You look at pictures of him in his 20s. He looks like an Olympic athlete. Later in life, he was always still active hunting. In fact, one time he came upon a rattlesnake, killed it with his bare hands and turned it into a pair of boots. Take that. Tough guy. And yet the end still came for him too. 99 years old, 55 days shy of 100. And Thursday before last, we were standing at his gravesite, where we had stood 26 years earlier, where his wife was laid to rest after a battle with cancer. After their 50 years together. None of us escape time. This world is fading. Everything we put significance in, in this world, it’s. It will fade away. In the front of my Bible if it’s not already there. I’ll read Isaiah 48. All men are like grass, and their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of the Lord stands forever. It’s all fading. Not this unfading inheritance. And then the last word he uses imperishable, unfading. Lastly, he says this about it. It’s kept in heaven for you. He set it aside. He’s kept it for you. The same word as you used in John chapter two to describe this surprising element of something being set aside for you. It’s when Jesus turns the waters to wine and the people there who rule over the wedding. They say, why have you held out the good wine? Why have you kept back the good wine? Why have you reserved the good wine until the last? It was shocking. God has kept this inheritance for you. It can’t be taken away. It’s as secure as your DNA. Look, my children could never do anything to not be my children. Oh, there may be times of discipline. There may be times, especially if you have a child that has gone completely off the rails, where you have to draw hard boundaries and do very difficult things, but you do it in love. You love them because they are your children. That inheritance is kept for you. It is their reserve waiting and nothing can take it away. Nothing at all. One of the challenging things about Scripture is how this has kind of a dual reality. In fact, let’s look at this third reason to pray is to unpack this. So we’ve seen we’ve been been reborn into a hope. We have an inheritance reserved. But now look at this third way. And this is going to be in verse five. We have a salvation that will be revealed, salvation revealed. Look at verse five. You have an inheritance kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed. Now this phrase is a little confusing. We have a salvation that’s ready to be revealed. I thought I was saved, John. What do you mean you’re going to reveal it eventually? Well, all throughout Scripture, we see concepts that have a present reality and a future reality. We often say it’s the already, not yet. It’s the both and; both are true. Both are at play. And so yes, you are safe. You are secure in him completely. But yet there’s a future reality to it as well. And of course, we’ve been talking about inheritance. That’s a great example of this. You know, in our age you may not know if an inheritance is yours yet or not. And someone might tell you, yeah, you’re in my will, but who knows? You’ll find out. But maybe it’s more like a trust fund where it has been set aside. Your name is on it. Legally. No one else can touch it. It is yours. But yet, is it yours fully yet? It’s definitely yours. It’s not anyone else’s. But yet. Do you have full access to it yet? No. But there will be a day. That inheritance, It’s yours. It’s yours completely. And there will be a day where it’s yours fully. And that salvation that you have now. Knowing Christ being made new in him. Yeah, you’re experiencing that at one level now. And yet there will be a day. First Corinthians 13 talks about this. Now we see him dimly as in a clouded mirror. But one day we will know him fully, just as we will be fully known. So much of our view of our faith is clouded. It’s clouded by sin. It’s clouded by unknowing. But there will be a day. And in fact, this is how the passage ends. This takes us back to the theme of First Peter. It’s the first few words in verse six. In this, meaning in verses three through five, and all that reality in this you rejoice, in this is where you find joy, in the salvation, in this being made new, in this inheritance. This is where we place our joy and hope, the reality that there will be a day when all is made new. I have a friend who serves in ministry and he was through a difficult season. A lot of his funding had dried up and they were wondering, what are we going to do? We feel like God has called us to serve in this, and I’ve shared the front half of this story before. One day he gets a call. We want you to know you’ve been named to an estate, to an inheritance, and you’ll be receiving the first payment of that in the next week. And it was enough to pay for his house out of the blue. Completely unexpected. Not a relative. And the beautiful part of that was the phrase they said, the first payment is coming this week, and it was a year later. The next payment came, and it was also a significant amount. And both of those set them up to be able to continue to serve in ministry in the midst of the challenges they were facing. Now we all hear that and we go, that’s what I’m praying for, Lord. Amen. If anybody needs someone to add to their inheritance, I’ll be a willing person. But that’s fading. That house is fading. That retirement plan they funded is fading. We have an inheritance that is unfading, imperishable. It will never go away. It’s kept in heaven for you. Put your hope in that. Find your joy in that. Look, as exciting as a surprise inheritance on Earth is, this is manifold. So much more greater the hope we have in him his life, death and resurrection on our behalf. Praise him for that. In fact, I want to do that right now. Let’s just stand and let’s praise. And I just want you to praise out loud where you are. Just begin to praise him for what he’s done in your life, out loud now. It could be and as I shout words out, you can shout them as well. Or you can shout others. It could be for his goodness. Who would say, God has been good to you? Well say it out loud, he is good. It could be for his forgiveness. Just say whatever word that he has. You praise him for his goodness, his forgiveness, his redemption. For his salvation. His love for you. When I was unlovable, he loved me. When I rejected him, he came after me. God, thank you. We praise you for your holiness. This world is impure. This world hates you. You are holy. Thank you. Jesus. God, we ask that you would give us the power to praise you in the midst of the challenges this week. Jesus, help us to lean on you. Help us to find our hope in your word. And I don’t know who in here needs that hope today. That living hope, that assurance that you are with them. God, would you comfort? Would you surround every person in here? Would you wrap your arms around them? Let them feel your presence today. Jesus, we love you. Amen.