True Grace; Growing in Grace
by Bobby Sullivan

Our Living Hope
1 From Peter, an apostle of Jesus the Anointed One, to the chosen ones who have been scattered like “seed” into the nations living as refugees in Pontus Galatia, Cappadocia, and throughout the Roman provinces of Asia and Bithynia. 2 You are not forgotten, for you have been chosen and destined by Father God. The Holy Spirit has set you apart to be God’s holy ones, obedient followers of Jesus Christ who have been gloriously sprinkled with his blood. May God’s delightful grace and peace cascade over you many times over! 

3 Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has shown us his extravagant mercy. For his fountain of mercy has given us a new life—we are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4 We are reborn into a perfect inheritance that can never perish, never be defiled, and never diminish. It is promised and preserved forever in the heavenly realm for you! 

5 Through our faith, the mighty power of God constantly guards us until our full salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 May the thought of this cause you to jump for joy, even though lately you’ve had to put up with the grief of many trials. 7 But these only reveal the sterling core of your faith, which is far more valuable than gold that perishes, for even gold is refined by fire. Your authentic faith will result in even more praise, glory, and honor when Jesus the Anointed One is revealed. 

8 You love him passionately although you have not seen him, but through believing in him you are saturated with an ecstatic joy, indescribably sublime and immersed in glory. 9 For you are reaping the harvest of your faith—the full salvation promised you—your souls’ victory!   TPT

INTRO:  1 Peter is considered the “Job” of the New Testament. This is a letter designed to give people living hope in a time of struggle; turn trials into triumph. It is the prerequisite for the pace of grace journey of faith. There is an abundance of inspiration for the floundering believer who needs a shot of fuel to empower their hearts to soar like an eagle. 

This letter has an:

Author — Peter, An Apostle

Audience — Scattered Believers

Application — True Grace Works

Our Identification with God’s family empowers us to overcome difficulties and trials, because we have the assurance of a Living Hope. We have a living hope. Life in God’s family is just that, a family affair. The idea of family frames the entire letter. 

*It frames how we are to live: We are to live as obedient children

* It frames how to live this holy life; how to live within a new family structure

* How to live under authority and love one another as blood brothers and sisters wrapping ourselves with “the apron of a humble servant” (5:5)

My confidence is living in the reality that God is my source of hope and heaven is not only my home later but is my haven now in every circumstance of my life.  

SPOILER ALERT: The Royal family didn’t originate in London, England!  

Your palace guards are way bigger and stronger!

 You will find as we dive into this letter that 3 words or themes will jump out. Suffering, Grace (which is in every chapter), and Glory. Jesus told Peter that his life mission after his resurrection would be to strengthen the faith of the believers worldwide. You will see there is an unusual amount of grace upon Peter’s letters. His compassion compels him to comfort the church. Hopefully after reading 1 and 2 Peter you will be compelled to persevere, empowered to overcome and encouraged to remain faithful to Jesus.  

In the first verse of our text, Peter addresses his letter to Chosen ones, KJV says, “the strangers scattered”. (“scattered” (parepidēmos): an alien alongside, a resident foreigner, pilgrim, stranger.) He is writing to Jewish believers who have been forced to leave their homeland and have found themselves dispersed into other parts of the world. These people, because of their beliefs and faith, are being subjected to persecutions and sufferings that you and I cannot even begin to imagine. Peter is writing to them, against this backdrop of pain and suffering, to encourage them in the faith. He is reminding them that in the midst of their trials, there are some reliable reasons for real rejoicing! 

Draw your attention to the word “strangers”. This word refers to one “who travels through a strange land.” Peter is reminding them that they are not home yet! They are merely strangers passing through a foreign land. One day the journey will end, and they will be home!

     While we are not being persecuted today, there are still battles to fight, valleys to cross, dark nights to endure and pain to suffer. In the midst of it all, it is easy to lose perspective. It is easy to forget who we are in Jesus and where we are going because of Jesus. This passage serves as a reminder of whose we are and where we are going. 

1. V. 2-3 WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE: 2 You are not forgotten, for you have been chosen and destined by Father God. The Holy Spirit has set you apart to be God’s holy ones, obedient followers of Jesus Christ who have been gloriously sprinkled with his blood. May God’s delightful grace and peace cascade over you many times over! 3 Celebrate with praises the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has shown us his extravagant mercy. For his fountain of mercy has given us a new life—we are reborn to experience a living, energetic hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
2. The Procedure– If you are saved today, it is not because you did anything to deserve it! These two verses are filled with the truth that salvation is a work of pure grace. Notice what Peter says:
3. We Have Been Chosen by God– Peter tells us that we are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God.”  Foreknowledge means far more than  advanced knowledge on the part of God. It refers to advanced planning on the part of God! In other words, Gods gracious gift of grace was his desire for all to come to saving knowledge of Jesus. Personally, I believe he chose everyone but not everyone chose him. This is a work of grace that keeps us grounded. It is always a parent’s dream to listen but they don’t.
4. We Have Been Called by God– Peter speaks of “sanctification of the Spirit”. Part of the process of bringing us to Jesus was the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God awoke us to our need of salvation, He spoke to ours hearts about our lost condition, He called us to repentance, and He gave us the faith to respond to God’s free offer. This too is a work of grace that keeps us grounded! 
5. We Have Been Cleansed by God– According to Peter, God did not stop with choosing us and calling us, but He also cleansed us when we came to faith in Christ. The precious blood that Jesus shed on Calvary has the power to wash away all sin! It was grace that allowed Him to take upon Himself the sins of the world, 2 Cor. 5:21. It was grace that parted His parched lips to utter three powerful words that will forever reverberate down the halls of time, “It is finished!”, John 19:30. This is nothing less than a work of pure grace!
6. The Plan– Peter tells us that God’s plan in all of this was to instill a “new birth” in all those who come to Him. This is what Jesus told Nicodemus about in John 3:3, 7. Simply stated, when you repent of sin and respond to the call of God for salvation, you are re-born as a child of God. You are new creation. Old things pass away, all things become new. You are a new improved version. You are 2.0! 

When we repent and come to Jesus, we are instantly transformed into a saint. We get a brand-new start!  2 Cor. 5:17. All my sins are forever forgiven, Col. 2:13-14. He is immediately adopted into the family of God, 

1. The Product– Peter tells us that the product of all this work by God is a “lively hope”. Simply put, this refers to a living confidence that we have a bright future! Our hope is a “living hope” that is sure, certain, and real, as opposed to the deceptive, empty, false hope the world offers. 

Worry is the darkroom where negatives are developed. Fear and Faith cannot co-exist in the believer.

When the New Testament uses the word “hope” it does not refer to a wish or desire. It means, “a confident assurance based on the Word of God and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that produces an excited response.”

Do you get it? When we, as believers, speak of our hope of heaven, we are not talking about “pie in the sky, by and by.” We are talking about a sure thing! We are talking about something that is more solid that the ground under our feet. We are referring to something that is settled by the inerrant, infallible Word of God! Friend, the world may be in turmoil today, but those who are saved possess a hope that is out of this world! This alone is enough to shout about, but Peter isn’t finished!

1.   WE ARE SLATED FOR GLORY: 4 We are reborn into a perfect inheritance that can never perish, never be defiled, and never diminish. It is promised and preserved forever in the heavenly realm for you! 
2. A Guaranteed Place– Peter says that we are the recipients of an “inheritance”. An inheritance is, of course, something left behind by one who has died. It is a gift to those still living from one who isn’t. In this case, however, we do have an inheritance provided by one who died, but Who now lives, Rev. 1:18. As children of God, we sill share in the inheritance of God, Rom. 8:17. We are mentioned in Christ’s last will and testament, John 17:22-24, and we will share that inheritance with the One who gave it to us in glory some day! Don’t worry about Heaven being a myth as some might say in our day. I have it on good authority that Heaven is a reality for those who know the Lord, John 14:1-3!
3. A Glorious Place– Peter’s description of that glorious place warrants our looking at it a little more closely. He uses three negative terms to describe that inheritance to which we are headed in a very positive fashion.
4. It Cannot Be Destroyed– No enemy shall ever set his foot on that shore to destroy it. People in Peter’s day had seen the Roman legions destroy city after city. But, he tells them about a land that is beyond the reach of all invaders. Jesus said it this way, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:”, Matt. 6:19-20.
5. It Cannot Be Defiled – This literally means that it cannot be             “soiled or stained”. Heaven, unlike this world which has been raped, wrecked and ruined by sin, is untouchable. Notice:  Rev. 21:4“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and eliminate death entirely. No one will mourn or weep any longer. The pain of wounds will no longer exist, for the old order has ceased.”  
6. It Cannot Be Decayed– This phrase speaks of something that “cannot wear away.” All the great sites and possessions of this world are subject to decay., Everything you see around you is in the process of decaying and fading away. Not Heaven! That city will require no repairs, no fixing and no restoration. It will never wear away!
7. A Guarded Place– Ill. In New Testament times, many people grew olive trees. It took 23 years for a tree to mature to fruit-bearing age. These trees were often left as an inheritance, because the olives could bring large sums of money. However, the olive trees were always destroyed by invading armies, thus taking away the next generation’s inheritance and ability to provide for itself. Peter tells us that unlike an inheritance here on the earth, that may pass away through theft, mismanagement or decay, what we have in Heaven is “reserved.” This word means “guarded”. It could literally be translated “Kept under lock and key.” 

Heaven isn’t a myth! It is a reality! It is a present reality being guarded by our heavenly Father, waiting for the day when we will arrive home to receive it unto ourselves.

1. V. 5  WE ARE SEALED BY GOD: 5 Through our faith, the mighty power of God constantly guards us until our full salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Greek word for “guards us” is phrouroumenous, {phero min us} which comes from a military term (phrouria) meaning a “fort” or “an army garrison stationed to defend a city. You are continually being watched over and protected by Gods mighty power. 

King James version uses the word “Kept”

1. The Promise– Peter tells these early believers that they are “kept”. The word means “garrisoned or protected by a military guard.” It refers to “a garrison within a city.”  The power that keeps us resides within us, the Holy Spirit! Very literally, as a child of God we have better protection than the president of the United States! He has the Secret Service, we have Sovereign Service. He has armed guards, we have Almighty God. He has present protection, we have perfect protection! 
2. The Power– We are “kept by the power of God.” It is the dynamic power of Almighty God that does the keeping, Phil. 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” 

Holy Spirit is our bodyguard and bouncer! 

1. C.  The Proof is in the pudding – Peter closes verse 5 “full salvation is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Reminds us that we are partakers of a salvation that extends beyond the troubles of today. He tells them that their faith in Christ has secured for them an eternal hope that will culminate in their safe arrival in Heaven at the end of the journey. 

Watch this! The Greek word for revealed is ‘apokalypto’ means, ‘to unveil and disclose’ Peter is saying there is a more complete salvation awaiting us when Christ is unveiled in the last days. 

But until then, 

8 You love him passionately although you have not seen him, but through believing in him you are saturated with an ecstatic joy, indescribably sublime and immersed in glory. 9 For you are reaping the harvest of your faith—the full salvation promised you—your souls’ victory!