The sermon 'A Most Glorious Salvation' by Trent Moody explores 1 Peter 1:1-5, emphasizing the profound nature of Christian salvation. Peter's letter is addressed to believers scattered and persecuted after the burning of Rome, encouraging them to endure hardships by focusing on their glorious salvation. The sermon delves into the themes of election by the triune God, emphasizing that believers are chosen by God's foreknowledge and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience. The trials believers face serve to purify faith, pointing to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This hope is tied to a heavenly, incorruptible inheritance reserved for believers, and they are kept by God's power despite worldly challenges. The speaker highlights that understanding this salvation compels believers to praise God, fostering a joy that transcends earthly circumstances. The sermon emphasizes the transformational power of salvation, urging believers to live holy lives and rejoice in their identity as God's elect.

1 Peter chapter 1, looking at verses 1 through 5. 1 Peter chapter 1, 1 through 5. Thus says the Lord, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the dispersion in Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. 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 ready to be revealed in the last time. Let us pray.

Our gracious and holy father we are so delighted to be your people. Lord, you are opening up the Word of God for us this morning through your Spirit by your Word. And Lord, I pray today, Lord, that our understanding of Your glorious salvation would be broadened, that the length and the width and the depth and the height of Your great love will be understood greater. Oh God, please open the blinded eyes today. Open the eyes that are dim and help us to see your glory and help us to rejoice in the God of our salvation and we pray it in Christ's name.

Amen. You may be seated. So this morning is a great day. It is a day of delight. It is a day that we come together and as my brother Mike said, it is the day that we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and guess what?

Next week we're gonna do it again. We're gonna continue to do that every week we're gonna we're gonna celebrate the resurrection of our Lord because he is our God and he is the King. He is the one who is dead and now is alive He is the one that is sitting at the right hand of God the Father Almighty interceding for you and for me. So today as we look at this passage in 1st Peter, 1st Peter is really one of my favorite books and it is it is my sincere desire this morning to aid you in focusing your heart and mind on this most glorious salvation that the triune God has given to his people. The fuller and clearer our understanding of our salvation, the deeper and stronger our faith and our joy will be no matter what this world throws at us, no matter what your circumstances are right now.

So today I want us to focus in on a most glorious salvation found in 1 Peter. And I believe Peter is going to really help us and guide us in our understanding of this. Peter was written, just a little bit of background and history here, Peter wrote this first epistle to the believers that were scattered abroad and he wrote it specifically for believers who were suffering persecution or who were going to do so shortly. I believe that this epistle closely followed the burning of Rome by Nero. Nero in his lust to build had this desire to grow Rome and to rebuild Rome really into his own image and something that would bring glory to his own name and he burned Rome and the destruction of Rome brought about such destruction not only of buildings but also of life.

It affected not only the people but it also affected their culture and their religion. These, as you know, Rome was filled with pagan idolatries. They were filled with idols that would be sold. They were filled with idol makers. They were filled with idol worship.

It was filled with temples to all sorts of ungodly gods. And they burned as well. And when this happened it devastated the Roman culture. And in this devastation their fury, because think about it, if your God is burned up what hope do you have? And so it wrecked their whole view of things.

If their gods could burn, what did that mean? And therefore, in their desire to stand up, if you would, for their little G gods, their fury was brought about and Nero needed to get the focus off of himself onto someone else. And what better group of people than Christians, whom were seen as a sect of the Jews And they became the scapegoat because they were seen as being in opposition to the pagan Roman culture. They refused to offer incense to Caesar. They refused to worship other gods.

They would only bow the knee to King Jesus. And they were hated and persecution arose not only in Rome but also throughout the Roman world and that is what we see here. And this epistle was written really to encourage these believers to endure these intense persecutions that was prevalent in this time. They had difficult circumstances and they were not exempt from the persecution because they followed Christ. Much unlike us in America today who have such privileges to come and worship freely here this morning.

We've already heard this year of Christians being persecuted in other nations around this world when they celebrated the Lord's Day and many were killed and there will be no doubt again today. I pray not. But we are really the exception to the rule and not the rule. Throughout all of church history, God's people experience persecution because the world hates God. The devil hates God and let's be honest our flesh, unregenerate flesh, hated God too.

And that is why we are here this morning to worship and to rejoice in the God of our salvation As John read this morning in Ephesians chapter 2, he spoke of who we were and what God has done for his enemies. He has taken his enemies and he has made them his children. So Peter here teaches us that the trials are for a purpose. Now as we look and we'll be walking through the whole book of 1 Peter, and I don't know how long it'll take us to do that, but eventually we will get through this. But Peter teaches us that trials are for the purpose of purifying our faith and that there is a right way to live in the midst of trials.

And I'm sure that if we were to stand up and offer testimony time, each one of you could list and name for us something that is difficult that you are going through. A loss of a loved one or some difficulty or trial that you are facing. And God wants you to know there is a right way to live in the midst of that trial and that persecution, perhaps persecution or that difficulty that you're facing. So we must be keenly aware as we learned a couple of weeks ago from John Snyder, he mentioned to us that we are already on a spiritual battleground. We need to be aware of the enemy and of his devices.

Don't think I'm preparing for the battleground. You're on it and you're not exempt here this morning. Your mind can wonder, you can think thoughts that you should not think, you may say something that you should not say, you may do something that you should not do, and you are on a battleground and need to be ready to fight this battle both in your mind and in your heart and in your actions. The devil loves nothing more to display the inconsistencies of a professing believer and parade them in front of the world. Therefore as true believers we must be ever on guard consistently living holy lives as we read in our scripture recitation this morning, be ye holy for I am holy and I pray that through this epistle by the power of the Holy Spirit that he will help us do that today and tomorrow and throughout the rest of our lives.

Peter will continually point us here in this passage to get our eyes off of the circumstances, off of the trials even though you're dealing with them and he's wanting to turn your attention towards this most glorious salvation. This salvation that we come to celebrate today, the salvation that God has given us through the resurrection of his Son from the dead. That is something to rejoice about. He is wanting to focus our attention on how great it is. So it is a glorious salvation number one that calls us out of the world.

It is a glorious salvation that calls us out of the world. We see this even in the writer of 1 Peter. Think about who Peter was. Peter was a rough tough fisherman. He was a man who was somewhat going his own way and the Lord Jesus Christ called him out to follow him.

So Peter was a fisherman, a businessman, Peter was a husband, and yet Christ called him out from that to follow him and his life was never the same. He went from being a fisherman to being a man fisher. God changed his whole entire life and then he is writing this epistle to believers who are suffering persecution and it changed his life and he was called out of the world to live in obedience to his Lord Jesus and to call others and to shepherd the flock of God which God had purchased as we'll see later on in this same book that Peter calls himself an elder and that their goal is and their design and their job is to feed the flock of God and to be an example to the flock. Lord got a hold of Peter. You see in John 21 18 he tells Peter most assuredly I say to you when you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished but once Jesus called him Peter no longer walked where he wished but he walked where Christ led.

Christ calls us out of the world to follow him. It should be remembered that the trials and the difficulties and the persecutions that are most often experienced are the method of spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did that with the early churches. They were gathered in Jerusalem and this persecution came and they began to scatter. That when they scattered they took the gospel to other lands.

And we see that even through the Apostle Paul. I mean he would go to one city and they would persecute him there. He would leave that city because of the persecution and go to the next city and he would proclaim the gospel there. And that's what took place. These were part of the dispersion.

These were not only Jews who were part of the dispersion because of who they were all the way back in the Babylonian captivity times. But these are also believers who were living separated lives spiritually, but they were also separated physically. They were scattered out from their homelands. They were scattered from what they knew. They were called pilgrims of the dispersion.

Look what he says, Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, the one who is sent by God to the pilgrims of the dispersion. So he's preaching this message to them to encourage this group who had been scattered about and they were removed from their homeland. Physically they were strangers scattered throughout this area but spiritually they were brought in. They were chosen not rejected. So rejected by the world.

But look at what verse 2 says, chosen by God. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now this word is something that is really a glorious thought and that brings us to our second point. It is a glorious salvation of election by the triune God. One of my trials or struggles this week as I was going back over this message and thinking through this, These first five verses of this epistle are jammed packed with almost every major doctrine that you can think of.

I mean it talks about persecution, it talks about apostleship, it talks about election, it talks about foreknowledge, it talks about the Trinity, it talks about the the sacrificial sacrifice of Jesus Christ, it talks about our inheritance, It just on and on and on and really each one of these topics could be a message in itself. But this morning I want to really just give us this overview with a little bit of depth so that we will get our attention on this glorious salvation. I want you to realize that when you have a fuller understanding of the glorious salvation that has been brought to you through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that your life is going to be radically changed. You are going to see things differently. You're going to act differently.

You're going to worship differently. And your joy is going to be full no matter what your circumstances are. You see, it is a glorious salvation of election by the triune God. Physically they were rejected and dispersed in this world but spiritually they were chosen by God and adopted into the household of God. Think of this in chapter 2 verses 9 and 10 Peter says this, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who were once not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." Peter uses this very specific word for the pilgrims who had been scattered.

He calls them elect. The ESV translated it this way, elect exiles. Why this term? This word simply means chosen. Chosen by whom?

Chosen by God. As Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2 13, but we are bound to give thanks to God always for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the spirit and belief in the truth. This election is a gracious work of God before the foundation of the world. It is not something that he did as we'll look here in just a moment concerning the foreknowledge of God. It is not something he did because he saw something good in you.

No, the fact is he saw nothing but evil in you. That's a humbling thought. We don't like to acknowledge that. I can't tell you how many times I've heard typically grandparents, no offense grandparents, but they say, oh he's got such a good heart. No, he doesn't.

He is not born with a good heart. If you don't have children you may not know this, but if you have a two-year-old you know this. That child does not have a good heart. Their heart is desperately wicked above all else and they need to be saved by this glorious gospel and we need to proclaim this glorious gospel to them. So I believe that Peter uses this word specifically to encourage them.

I want you to think about it. They're experienced this dispersion. They were removed from their homes. They're removed from what they knew. They're removed even from their culture that they understood and they were rejected by the world, persecuted for what they believed.

But then Peter writes this epistle to encourage them and he calls them pilgrims of the dispersion elect. Think about that. You're rejected by the world and friends look at me if you're living for God you are rejected by the world but you are received by the Lord Jesus Christ. What could give you more encouragement and more comfort in this life than to know that God has chosen you to make you part of his family? That is a glorious thought.

I believe that the greatest help in the midst of trials, this sounds funny and you think, oh this is just theological preacher talk, one of the most encouraging doctrines that you can understand in the midst of difficulties and trials is the electing foreknowledge of God. If He elected you before the foundation of the world to save your soul and to make you part of His family, do you think the trial that you're facing is not in His will? Do you think that's out of his control? If you can trust God to save you, can you trust God to sustain you through your trials? You see your belief in God is what will sustain you through your trials.

There are many people who profess to believe certain things about God. You will know what they believe when they are tried. Think about it throughout all of the scripture. We sang about Abraham this morning. You think about Abraham.

It's not that God didn't know what Abraham believed. God tested Abraham so Abraham would know what he really believed. And to prove Abraham. And so God did that great work in his life and he is doing it in your life. There is not a Christian alive who will not suffer in some form or fashion either persecution or trials or difficulties.

Those, my friends, this is the most comforting word when it's understood and embraced biblically. If you are the elect of God then you are right where God wants you to be. God does not forsake those whom he foreknew and for whom Christ died. You all know this verse very well Romans 8 28 through 30 and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those who are the called according to his purpose for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he predestined, these he also called.

Whom he called, these he also justified, and whom he justified, these he also glorified and he says it past tense. That is the certainty of our salvation. That when God declares our glorification, He does it past tense. How can He do that? Because He is sovereign Lord.

Because He has elected you before the foundation of the world. How can He not glorify you before you get there? He elected you before you got here. He's glorified you before you get there. He's done an amazing thing.

This is the God that we serve. He is a great and awesome God. So how does this election take place? That's what Peter is wanting them to understand. They're elect according to the foreknowledge of God.

Now This doctrine is often misunderstood and they believe that foreknowledge is just the act of God whereby he looks down through time and he sees that you will choose him. That is an errant view of the foreknowledge of God. In fact, this term foreknowledge is found also in 1st Peter 1 chapter 1 verse 20 speaking about Jesus Christ. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you. This word foreordained is the same word for foreknowledge.

It speaks of this love and this experiential knowledge that God has of someone. It speaks very closely to the knowledge that would be described as the knowledge between a husband and a wife, between a God and his people. And he knew them and he loved them and he elected them according to his forelove and foreknowledge. He said of Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Same idea.

I knew you. So other places that this word is found is in Acts 2, 23 speaking again of Christ. He said him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He describes what foreknowledge means by describing it as the determinate counsel. Where God determined to do something and to shed his love or to cast his love upon you, that is the God that we worship today.

Acts 4 27 and 28, for of a truth against this holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Same idea. So this great doctrine teaches us that God knew you and loved you before the foundation of the world. You're elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. My friend, if That does not make you feel loved and valued. I don't know what will.

What this world needs is not some sort of a cultural understanding of who they are and they're trying to feel valued by finding themselves. Now what you need to find is the doctrine of the foreknowledge and election of God, you need to find what God says about all those who are His. That will radically change your understanding of who you are and it will give you worth. He didn't choose you because of your worth. He didn't choose you because you were something good or because you had talents or because you had strength or because you had money.

He chose you because you didn't. You had no hope in yourself. You were undone. You were as a rebel running headlong straight to the gates of hell. But God in His love chose you before the foundation of the world.

He cast His love on you. He took a people that were not his people and made him his people. He took a people who were enemies and made them friends. He took a people who had had no real fatherhood except for the devil and he adopted them into his family. He took that people who had no inheritance except the temporal fading corruptible inheritance of this world and he made them heirs and joint heirs with Christ.

That's the God we serve. That is the glorious salvation that we have. One may ask then, how then do I know if I'm of the elect? Or how is this election activated to me? I've been asked that by my children, I've been asked that by strangers, I've been asked that by believers who may be struggling with doubt.

Well he goes on and he describes this for us here. He says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father in or through sanctification of the Spirit for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. You see, our election is brought about by the work of the Spirit of God setting us apart for God's purpose. God's purpose then in our salvation which comes to us through the work of the Holy Spirit. This idea of sanctification.

It's the idea I was talking to my children about that this week and I said you know when you're cooking and you're sitting there and you're cutting carrots maybe to put into a soup or something, as you cut, then what do you do? You slide them to the side. You just sanctify those carrots, in an earthly sense. You cut and you separate. It is to be set apart for a specific purpose.

So how do you know if you're the elect? Are you, or have you been, are you being and are you continuing to be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God? You see, It seems clear that sanctification is not a once-and-done work, but once it has begun, it does work. Peter is looking here at a sanctification that is broader than sometimes mentioned. This spirit sanctification or spirit sanctifying work sets us apart on the basis of the election of God.

So this happens, our sanctification happens in space and time at the point of regeneration. That's the work of God's Holy Spirit coming into us and setting us apart to God. Just like slicing that vegetable and setting it aside, the Holy Spirit comes into your heart and my prayer, our prayer this morning in this room, was that the Spirit of God would take the Word of God and enter you by the power of the gospel and separate some of you this morning to His purpose. There are those here this morning who are enemies of God. You may not even realize that.

You may think that you're fine because you're here. My friends, this morning in Corinthians, Paul said that to some The message or the preaching of the gospel is an aroma of death unto death. And to others, it is an aroma of life unto life. The same message that saves one, the other with a hardened heart, it condemns you and condemns you to death. So my word to you this morning is to humble yourself, to repent of your sins, and you trust in this glorious gospel that he is laying out here before us today.

You see this happens in time and space where God regenerates a person. The election of God it has been said realized and manifested in their sanctification. So how do you know if you're the elect? Well Paul helps us with this over in 813 Romans 813. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." Not those who live according to the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit. Many people think to be led by the Spirit means that you have some emotional thing and you're trying to figure out what you should do with your life or who you should marry or should I get this job or that job? Should I move over? God does lead you but that's not what it means to be led by the Spirit of God.

You want to know what it means to be led by the Spirit of God? You're killing sin. That's what it means to be led by the Spirit of God. You are battling sin. You want to know if you're elect?

Are you battling sin? Do you hate sin? Do you love Jesus? That's how you know if you're of the elect. John 3.3 says, Jesus answered and said to them, verily, verily, I say unto thee, accept a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

You remember that sanctification means this idea of setting apart unto a specific purpose and so this is the act of the Holy Spirit of God. We are set apart from sin and unbelief and we are set apart to righteousness and obedience. Look at what he says. He says in sanctification of the Spirit, verse 2, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. You were elect, you were for known, and you were sanctified for a purpose.

Again, John read that same thing this morning at the end in verse 10 of chapter 2 of the book of Ephesians, you were created for good works which God determined for you. So this idea here for obedience you were set apart for this purpose So the end result and purpose of election and sanctification is your obedience now. This is not legalism I'm not saying you're saved by your obedience. I'm saying you're saved to obedience If you want to know if you're the elect, are you killing sin and living for Jesus? That's not legalism, that's biblical Christianity.

So Matthew Henry says this, the end of sanctification which is to bring rebellious sinners to obedience, to universal obedience, to obey the truth and gospel of Christ. So let us not forget that salvation is a threefold process whereby we are saved from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we will be saved from the very presence of sin. I look for that day. I look for that day. So this is the glorious gospel.

Do not forget that when the Bible says regarding Jesus, when the angel told Mary, he shall save his people from their sins. He was not only speaking about the penalty. Too many believers, professing believers, think that Jesus came just to save them from hell. No. He came to save you from hell, but he came to save you from hell but he came to save you from all the sin that you love.

And there's a good test for you, if you still love the sin that you commit, You're not a believer. The Spirit works through sanctification for obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. And don't let this confuse you. This idea really is coming from the Old Testament in the book of Exodus 24 8. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.

That's the idea here is that we are set apart to the covenant, the new covenant through Jesus Christ and his blood and you are sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ. You're set apart to this. You've been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and the new covenant is sealed by the blood of Christ. And then he says this, grace and peace be multiplied. Now that just seems like a nice little way to introduce a letter doesn't it?

I began mine to you this week in that way, grace and peace. I want you to understand something, you will never have peace until you have received the grace. Until you understand the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, until you have understood that you are a rebel against God until you have bowed your knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and you have been saved by His grace you will never experience the peace of God which passes understanding. And so think about this going back to the context here These are believers who are experiencing persecution, who are experiencing trials and difficulties, and he says grace and peace be multiplied. What kind of author is this?

Doesn't he know I'm experiencing difficulties? Doesn't he know I have a bad marriage? Doesn't he know I have rebellious children? Doesn't he know I'm being persecuted at work? I can't speak about Christ?

Yes, he knows. But if you've experienced the grace of God in all circumstances, you will experience the peace of God. And that's what I want you to understand is this is a glorious salvation. It is a salvation that changes your reality. It doesn't matter what's going on out here when you have received the glorious gospel.

You are changed and you receive the peace of God which passes understanding the world looks at you and says what on earth is wrong with you? Do you ever wonder why he talks about that in Peter? They'll wonder, they'll ask you about the hope that is in you. We are to be people of hope and we're getting to that. We're getting to that.

So this is a glorious salvation and this is really what I wanna hammer home. It is a glorious salvation that compels us to praise God. Let that sink in just for a moment. It is a glorious salvation that compels us to praise God. Think of what we've just talked about and then he's gonna mention this, how he begins really the body of his letter and then he's going to explain why we should be compelled.

Okay so that's kind of the format I want to take. He's called us the elect by the four knowledge of God. He's talked about the Trinity, the work of the triune God in your salvation, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And now Peter is probably, well, I'm a little bit maybe like Peter. Sometimes I burst forth in praise and I scare my children sometimes.

I really do. So I burst probably this morning I did that. So while they were sleeping just stepping into the room and singing up from the grave he arose. Yeah, whoa a lot of way to wake up. So So we think about this, this blessed, so verse 3 is a glorious salvation that compels us to praise.

Blessed be the God, he did not write it with this intention, and blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't believe that. I believe Peter was a man of passion. Peter said blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. I don't believe that.

I believe Peter was a man of passion. Peter said, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was a declaration. We often think that God blesses us, but my friends we were created to bless God. The word means to praise.

It induces praise for us. Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are to be people of praise. We should not sing like the frozen, chosen people. We need to sing with passion.

We need to sing like we are redeemed. We should be filled with joy. I'm not just talking about emotionalism, but I'm going to tell you something. If you have zero emotion that follows this glorious truth, It may be reason to question yourself. We should have a zeal and a passion because of what Jesus Christ has done.

It compels us to praise. Peter did it. He wrote it. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thomas Watson's insightful thoughts on the blessing or praise of God are helpful at this point.

He says, praise him. Whosoever offereth praise glorifies God. That's why you were created. You were created to glorify God. Praise Him.

Psalm 50 23. Though nothing can be added, he says on, he didn't quote Psalm 53, but he says on, though nothing can add the least might to God's essential glory, yet praise exalts him in the eyes of others. Praise is a setting forth of God's honor, a lifting up of his name, a proclamation of His excellent goodness, a release of the sweet perfume of God's name which is sent abroad and throughout the world. You live like a dull, hopeless, sinful person throughout the week and you think somebody's going to be motivated to praise God on Sunday when they come to church with you? Your life should be an aroma of praise.

It should be an aroma of joy and of a living hope. We should be compelled to praise because of the greatness of our God. That's what I want you to see this morning. Look at the glorious salvation that God has given you. You will be compelled to praise if you understand it.

Study it. It is glorious. Peter is turning the attention of his readers heavenward. His desire is not for them to be shackled by their difficulties but rather to be captivated by the glory of God. It's a sad affair how little we meditate upon the acts of God in our salvation.

Sad indeed how little and how passionless we praise him for his marvelous works. Our great God is worthy to be praised. Watson again notes, praising God is one of the highest and purest acts of religion. In prayer we act like men. In praise we act like angels.

What are they doing? They're seated around or hovering around the throne singing holy holy holy And that's what we should have hearts full of. Praise be to God. Praise is not only done in song, but singing is one way of offering praise. I'll never forget when I first went to Bible College and I'd come from a church and we sang, we enjoyed hymns and we sang together but man when I walked into that Bible College and we sat in there there was 300 men who praised God.

It was a beautiful thing. It was a beautiful thing. I went to the next Bible college after I finished there and I was sorely disappointed. I walked into chapel just waiting to hear all these men raising their voices to the Lord. It just did not seem like they understood the glorious gospel.

But I want you to understand it. And I want the result of that to be that bursting forth from your lips are words and songs of praise. Too often it seems as if we do not believe what we're singing. The words are only theological truth sung by praiseless hearts. Praise him, Psalms 117.

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles. Lawed him, all you peoples, for his Merciful kindness is great towards us and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! That's a song. That's a song.

The whole book of Psalms are the praises of God. We should read them as such and sing them as such. Now Peter lays out for us the reasons for praising. I told you we're compelled to it. Why should we be compelled to it?

Well he lays it out for us. Look at what he says. 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. We are recipients of abundant mercy. He didn't have to use that word abundant.

He could have just said, you're recipients of mercy. It would be true, but he did not say that. He said you are recipients of abundant mercy. Why? Because, listen, you were born and you live the first days of your life in abundance of sin and in abundance of rebellion against God and you'd work you set up in your own heart your own idol and you worshiped yourself and your own desires and your false God loved everything you loved and he hated everything you hated but when Jesus Christ appeared but God who is rich in mercy.

Abundant mercy is what we are saved by who according to his abundant mercy. It is a mercy that overflows. It is a grace greater than all of our sin. It is an abundance of mercy because we had a magnitude of sin. It is a great sin to minimize your sin.

Acknowledge your sin. And when you begin to see your sin for what it is, you will see the abundant mercy of God explode before your eyes and you will understand just how great of God and how glorious a salvation that you have. We minimize sin. We think lightly concerning that for which God says you should die. When we begin to see our sin for what it really is, we will begin to understand the glory of the salvation that God has given us.

If you've never recognized that you are a pitiful, desperate, wretched sinner, then I doubt that you have ever considered the abundance of mercy it took to save a wretched person like yourself. Some of John Newton's last words were these, although my memories fading I remember two things very clearly. I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior and that is true of every one of us but we don't all acknowledge it. He is a great Savior and it is according to this abundant mercy that we have a living hope. He has begotten us again to a living hope.

We are born again to a living hope. That's what begotten again means. You were born as a child and then by God's Spirit coming in you, you were born again, regenerated by the Spirit of God. And when you were born of God, you have a living hope. Growing up, I often heard that being born again was something that we just did.

You must be born again. Well, the obvious question is how? Nicodemus wondered the same thing. How? How can I be born again, enter to my mother's womb?

And Jesus explained to him that it was the work of the Spirit of God, that it blows where it wishes, and we do not know where it comes from or where it is going. And dear brothers and sisters and friends, I pray that the Spirit of God would move upon you this morning. That we could see the effects of it. That you would be radically changed. That you would see your sin for the abundance that it is.

And that you would understand the glorious gospel of our Savior and that you would be saved and that you would then be a recipient of a living hope. This new birth is a live birth. God does not have stillborn children. We are born again to a living hope because He is a living Savior. That is why we are so excited.

I'm excited this morning because we have a living Savior. He is up from the grave. He arose. He was no longer bound by death. Oh death, where is your sting?

Oh grave, where is your victory? Think about this. Our Lord Jesus Christ overcame all of this. We have a living hope. This hope is a confident, optimistic hope of eternal life found only in Jesus Christ.

We have a living hope, not a dead hope. A dead hope is based upon the things that you see on this earth. It's based upon the strength of your own arm. It's based upon the whatever you have up here. It's based upon how much you have in the bank and it's a dead hope.

It will do nothing for your soul. But we have a living hope and a living Savior. And when you have a living hope and a living Savior, world bring what may be. I have a living hope and I will trust in the God of my salvation who gives us such abundant promises as these." Look at what he says. He says who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope.

We have a living Savior through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's how you have this living hope. Through the resurrection. If He is in the grave we have no hope. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15.

Such a glorious passage upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the truth that lies therein. 1 Corinthians 15. And look with me at verses 13 through 19. 1 Corinthians 15, 13 through 19. So there were those who were saying that there's no resurrection.

And Paul's answer to that is this. Let's think through this logically, he says, verse 13, but if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ whom he did not raise up if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.

Verse 17, and if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile. You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep or died in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. Brothers and sisters, we are not the most pitiable.

We are the most blessed. We are those who have a living hope and a living Savior and we should be the happiest, most joy-filled people on this earth even in the midst of difficulties. So let not the challenges of this life rob you of the hope and the joy that is yours in Jesus Christ. Therefore we are buried with him through baptism unto death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life. But if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you." 1 Corinthians 6 14, and God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

We have a living hope and a living Savior and it should radically change your outlook upon everything. It does not mean you will not have trials. It does not mean you will not have days where you are sad. But it means that you will have an ever-present joy in the Lord because of the living hope that he has given to you. And so no matter what you face, you will have joy and abundance of peace in your heart because of who Christ is.

We have reason to praise him because of the promise of our heavenly inheritance. Look at what he says, two. So we have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, verse four, two an inheritance. What kind of inheritance is this? What kind of inheritance are you leaving for your children?

Maybe have some money to leave them. Maybe some land, maybe a house, maybe a car, maybe a gun, maybe whatever. I don't know. It all will be burned up and destroyed. All of it.

What are you leaving? Well, God the Father, through the power of the resurrection and this living hope by which he raised up Christ from the dead, says that we have an inheritance. We are elect and foreknown and all of these things to an inheritance. And this inheritance, Peter shows these Christians, think of this context again, he is showing these Christians who have been dispersed out of their homeland, possibly out of their homes and driven out. We have nothing left and for the Jew the land was everything and they have nothing now.

And God said, Peter says to them, you have an inheritance. You have an inheritance by God and it is promised by God. Peter shows these persecuted Christians how to look past their troubles to the internal inheritance. Life, righteousness, joy, peace, perfection, God's presence, Christ's glory, companionship with God, rewards, and all that God has planned for the Christian in heaven. This inheritance is described here in four ways.

It is incorruptible. It will not pass away. Everything in this life passes away and changes, but not in heaven. Used in secular Greek, this word is used and describes something that was unraveled by an invading army. Nothing can touch your inheritance.

You have money in the bank, it can be stolen. It makes its wings and flies away. You have health, maybe not tomorrow. You have whatever. It can be gone in a moment if you don't believe me, read the book of Job.

Gone in a day. But not this inheritance. This inheritance is uncorruptible, incorruptible. It is also undefiled, unpolluted, unstained by evil. Every inheritance given in this life is defiled in some way.

Have you ever had to deal with the inheritance left by a parent who's passed on and you got brothers and sisters? Some of you have dealt with that. Unpolluted. It can be defiled. Does not fade away.

It's not temporal. It's describing a picked flower. What happens to a picked flower? I always laugh at men and I'm thankful my wife doesn't go on and on about flowers. She likes them sometimes, but you bring your wife this bouquet of death.

Here you go honey, here's how much I love you. I typically buy a planted bush or flower and that way it'll keep on living hopefully. But that's what he's saying. It fades away. Earthly inheritances fade away, not this one.

This one is just more glorious with time. It is a unfading inheritance and in 10, 000 years, when we've been there 10, 000 years, bright shining as the sun, we'll have no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun forever and it is reserved in heaven for you that's a promise of God it's reserved There's been times I've set a reservation. In my work I did that three times in the past month only to come to find out they had no record of this job that I needed to get done. No record of it. I said I talked to this person on this day.

And this is what I said, I talked to this person again on this day to check on it. No record, sorry, no notes on that. Talked to them again two weeks later. I don't see any work order for that. That's a reservation that faded away.

But this one my friend is reserved in heaven for you. For all of those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and who are saved by this grace of God and this glorious salvation is reserved and inheritance and it is reserved by God. It is not on this earth, but it is in heaven. It is protected from all that defiles and all that decays and it is for you. It is only for those who have been begotten again by the abundant mercy of God.

And lastly, this last little part of this, we have reason to praise him because we are kept or preserved by the power of God. Verse 5 is one of my favorites. Who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Think about something. If you were the one who had to keep your salvation, let me rephrase this, if I was the one who had to keep my salvation, I would be lost multiple times a day.

I have no power at all to do that. If I could, I would. Anyone who believes you can lose your salvation is pointing to the face of God and says, You have not the power to keep me. We are kept by the power of God. We are kept by omnipotent power in an omnipotent God.

And he says, I will keep you, I will hold you. All of this inheritance, all of this blessing, all of this hope is kept by the power of God. It implies something that we need not forget. There is a reason that God is the one who keeps us. Because in this life we will face great and grave spiritual dangers.

We will experience temptations. We will experience trials. We will experience difficulties, attacks from the devil, the fiery darts of the evil one. Some days we get up and we forget to put on the armor of God. But your salvation is not dependent upon your ability to put on the armor of God.

You are saved by the power of God. You are kept by the power of God. If we could lose it, be assured you would. Your inheritance is sure and your salvation is as sure as the power of God. Let that sink in.

We have reason to praise him because we are kept by the power of God and because we have a promise and hope that it will be coming soon. Think about this. We are kept by the power of God through faith, it's through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. We hope for what we cannot see. But there is coming a day when all those things we hope for will become sight.

Faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Your faith will be turned to sight, your hope will be seen as reality, and you will experience the fullness of the love of God. And so this this glorious salvation will one day be fully made known. John 1 John 3 2 beloved, now we are the children of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and in God's perfect timing we will receive the inheritance that God has prepared for all those who love him.

Turn your eyes on this glorious gospel and it will change everything. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we glory and praise and adore your glorious name. Oh Lord, we look at all of this in these few verses here. It is so packed.

I've barely scratched it, Lord. Your salvation is more glorious than we could ever describe. And Lord I pray that you will make these words, your word, effectual to the benefit of the souls of those who sit here today. Lord may they see your glorious gospel. May they understand the glory of the salvation.

May they be filled with your spirit. May they experience the joy, the fullness of joy that you have come to give us. May they experience the peace that passes understanding. And may they be compelled to praise your glorious name. And that is my prayer.

In Christ's name. Amen.