Jalen was born into an athletic family. His mother played soccer in high school, and his father was a college basketball player. When Jalen was just a youngster he began playing ball with his friends on the street in front of his house. By the time he was in high school, growing like a weed, he was invited to join the basketball team. Two years later, he was thrilled to be recruited and given a scholarship to play ball for the state college. Throughout this time he dreamed of playing in the National Basketball Association. However, his hopes for the NBA were dashed when he suffered a serious injury in his sophomore year. He dropped out of college and worked at meaningless jobs for the rest of his life.
At about the same time, across town, Aaron was born into a Christian home. His father was the pastor of a small Baptist church; his mother taught Sunday School and played the piano. Aaron came under the conviction of the Holy Spirit at an early age and when he was twelve was born again. Immediately he began thinking about becoming a minister of the gospel like his father. He became a voracious reader of the Bible and of the best books his father could recommend. Soon it became clear to the church that the Lord was calling him into the ministry. Eventually, the church ordained him to the ministry, and he became the associate pastor to his father.
Both these fictitious young men had hopes and plans for their lives. You might say those hopes were fluid; they were almost living things, with the ability to change and grow. I know that many young people grow up without any serious expectations or hopes for their lives. Perhaps some do as teenagers, but by their mid twenties, they lose those hopes, and their plans are dashed through mishaps, mistakes and misadventures. It appears to me that many people in their thirties live only from hand to mouth and day to day. For some, their highest hope is to have another raucous weekend, to be able to buy a little weed, and to keep the family fighting to a minimum. They have no hope beyond anything in this world, and even that is short-term and short-sighted. They certainly have no hope or thoughts of heaven. They are of the earth, earthly.
In our text, the Apostle Peter speaks of expectations which are different from any I have mentioned thus far. He says, “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.” When a young man or young woman is born into the family of God, along with that new life, that spiritual life, there comes a very special hope for the future – for eternity. Every child of God can, and should, live in the light great expectations. It comes with the territory. There is a lively hope passed on from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to every child of the family. It is a part of the spiritual DNA. The question is: is it being cultivated and enjoyed?
I’d like to talk to you this morning about one aspect – one blessing – of being a Christian. I’d like to talk to you about living life with a purpose; with great expectations. Every Christian has been given life with the Father’s purpose and plan. And it is described with a special Biblical word; a word with a high spiritual definition: “hope.” Ninety-five percent or more of the people of this world know nothing of this hope. And as a result their lives are spent without the purpose this hope provides.
That is because life with this purpose and hope begins with a SPECIAL BIRTH.
This hope doesn’t come about just because someone was born in an American hospital. It doesn’t commence with the pouring of a little holy water on a tiny head in the nave of a church. It is not the gift from any sort of human priest, rabbi or shaman. And it isn’t transferred from the spiritual life of a godly grandmother. It is not by any cosmic accident any of us are children of God, blessed with the blessed hope. People with this hope possess it because it was God’s purpose to give it to them. Peter says, “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.”
The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus: “Ye must be born again. Ye must be born of water and the Spirit.” John the Apostle said, we all must be born, “not of blood, nor or the will of the flesh, nor or the will of man but of God.” And “as many as received (Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Peter tells us later in this chapter, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” love life and rejoice in hope.
Notice once again, the language and direction of Peter’s words: “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…” When the eternal God chose to begat you – when you were conceived in His heart – it was with the purpose of, among other things, giving you this lively hope. And that doesn’t mean that God hoped one day you’d make it to Heaven. Elohim, the omnipotent God has never done anything which didn’t reach its intended conclusion. The hope we find in this verse is the completion of the guaranteed promise of the God who has never failed
When Jalen’s parents brought their son into the world, they had a dream that he would become the athlete neither of them had become. When Aaron’s mother presented her son to his father, together they prayed, dedicating him to the Lord. And when the Holy Spirit gave you spiritual life, you were born again with, or unto, a lively hope. There is a sense in which every Christian is born into this hope as part of God’s guaranteed purpose. But if you have not been born again, then there is a sense in which you are “hopeless” – without hope.
The end of this hope is HEAVEN.
“Blessed be … God … which according to his … mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope … to an inheritance … RESERVED IN HEAVEN for you…” I am not going to tell you that Christianity is nothing more than eventually ending up in Heaven. I am certainly not going to say that to believe on Christ is nothing more than a fire escape from Hell. The Christian life to which Peter refers and which he will continue to describe in this epistle, is without a doubt the best way to enjoy our few years upon this earth. The joy of Christ and the comfort of the Holy Spirit make the passing of our days in this world rewarding, purposeful and exciting. And to possess the hope to which Peter refers is a part of the blessing. But the fact remains that the Christian life ends in John 14. “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
The writer of Hebrews had a different purpose in his words, but he brings wonderful insight to this subject. Hebrews 6:10 – “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of HOPE unto the end: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the HOPE set before us: Which HOPE we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
Upon what or whom is our hope anchored? It is chained to the Saviour; our Redeemer Jesus Christ. And where is He, that high priest after the order of Melchisedec? He has entered into the Holy of Holies behind the veil in Heaven. The lively hope, and the life with God’s purpose, is chained to the safe harbor of Heaven. “Blessed be … God … which according to his … mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope … to an inheritance … reserved in heaven for you…”
Life with purpose begins with the new birth and it ends in Heaven.
But in the mean time, it RUNS on this hope; it is ALIVE with a very special HOPE.
I have already briefly defined and explained the meaning of the kind of hope we find in the New Testament. It is not a wish; it is not a feeling of expectation or a desire for something good. It is not some sort of pie in the sky.
The Greek word translated “hope” here in verse 3 is translated another way in Hebrews 10. Keeping in mind what we just read from chapter 6, Hebrew says in 10:19 – “Now where remission of these (sins and iniquities) is, there is no more offering for sin. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our FAITH without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)…”
Now, having been begotten of God, and forgiven of sin through the blood of Christ, we may have boldness to enter into heaven through the way He has prepared for us. So let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Let us hold fast the profession of our hope without wavering. The word “hope” is translated “faith” here in Hebrews 10, because that is a part of its nature. Our enjoyment of God’s hope hinges on our ability to trust Him to keep His promises. Those promises are guaranteed; they are reserved in Heaven for us; but the practical blessing of those promises will be ours only as we are able to trust the God who has given them to us.
Consider the adjective “lively.” We have been begotten again unto a lively hope. The word means “living,” something which is alive. The Lord Jesus used that word when speaking about restoring life to someone who had died. When a certain nobleman of Capernaum came to Christ about his dying son, “Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth.” Perhaps more illuminating are the 12 or 14 times the New Testament speaks of the “living God.” This lively hope has life and is alive because it is linked to the living God. The word is used in verse 23 – “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which LIVETH and abideth for ever.” It lives and abides “forever” because it is guaranteed by the eternal God.
And this life with purpose is FUELED by the LIFE OF CHRIST.
“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.” Here is something nearly impossible for people to understand who don’t have regenerated hearts and minds. Christians have spiritual life, and therefore they have purposeful lives and living hope, because the Son of God, was resurrected from the grave. Peter refers to Christ’s resurrection, because it was the culmination of Jesus’ death on the cross. Those people whom the Lord CHOSE to save before the foundation of the earth, were not ACTUALLY saved until after the means for their reconciliation to God was supplied. Without the death of Christ eternal life was impossible.
In the course of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, He said: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” The incident to which He referred took place just outside the Promised land, at a time when Israel was once again complaining about the Lord’s treatment. So “the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” Israel besought Moses to intercede for them. To this the Lord said, “Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole, and it shall come pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” Centuries later, Christ was telling Nicodemus that the Saviour would similarly be attached to a pole, and those who looked to him by faith would be healed of the disease called “sin.” “That whosoever believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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.”
Without looking by faith at the provision God made, those ancient Israelites would have died of snake venom. And without looking toward the death of Christ on the cross, you and I are guaranteed eternal death because of sin. Christ was nailed to a cross where He sacrificed His life. Then He was buried for three days, after which He came out of that tomb as alive as He had ever been. And because our Saviour lives, those whose faith is in Christ, shall live as well. And not just live, but live an abundant life with hope and joy, because Christ died and rose again.
That abundant life, that life with an eternal purpose is guaranteed by the omnipotent God.
“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. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
We’re talking about “hope” this morning. We’re talking about a life worth living; life with purpose. There are a million ways to spend our few years upon this earth, many of which are good and useful. There may not be anything wrong with being a Christian astrophysicist, but no branch of science of any sort will not provide you with eternal purpose. And it may be of benefit to know how to treat the diseases of life, like earthly snake-bit and cancer. But I remind you: there was not one adult Israelite who had been bitten and recovered for a while, who did not eventually die out there in the wilderness without reaching the Promised Land. The world needs Christian plumbers and electricians, grocers and mechanics, but the truth remains that at the end of the day, or the end of the life, such things are not eternal. Only with a real and vital connection to God the Father through God the Son, is there a living hope that can reach beyond our short earthly lives.
The life with eternal purpose is one which God only can provide. “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.” Is this the kind of life that you possess? Do you have a godly, lively hope to comfort you through this life and thrill you into eternity? Do you have eternal life empowered and blessed with a real and practical eternal hope? To become the best president the United States has ever known, or to heal cancer and heart disease, but to die without this hope ultimately means a wasted life.
The Bible was written that you might know and enjoy fellowship with God through the sacrifice of Christ. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” To that end, once again, I implore you to repent before the Lord and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.