Live Hope Or Dead Religion

Temple Baptist Church - 11-23-2016

1 Peter 1:3-4

 

Intro:

 

A.  We looked at election and predestination over the last couple of weeks.  Both are according to God’s foreknowledge:  You enter election WHEN you get saved because it is the body of Christ that is elect and you become predestined AFTER you enter into election because only saved people are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ.  Through His foreknowledge:

 

1 .  God knows who will be saved.

 

John 14:2  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.

 

2.   God knows what they will receive.

 

1 Peter 1:4  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

 

B.  I want to look at two things tonight in our text:

 

1.   We Are Saved From Something.  (“begotten us again unto”)

 

a.  First Birth Is A Sinful Birth - Psalms 51:5  Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

 

b.  First Birth Is A Sorrowful Birth - Genesis 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

 

1)  We Are Saved From Destruction - Psalm 103:1-5  Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.  Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:  Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;  Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;  Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

 

2)  We Are Saved From Eternal Death - Revelation 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

 

c.  The Second Birth Is A Spiritual Birth - John 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

 

d.  The Second Birth Is A Saving Birth - Titus 3:5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

 

2.  We Are Saved Unto Something  “unto a lively hope”

 

a.  We Are Saved Unto A New Life

1)  We Are Saved Unto Holiness - Romans 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

 

2)  We Are Saved Unto Heaven - 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

 

b.  We Are Saved Unto An Inheritance  “to an inheritance”

 

1) Our Inheritance Is An Unearned Possession

 

INHER'ITANCE, n. An estate derived from an ancestor to an heir by succession or in course of law; or an estate which the law casts on a child or other person, as the representative of the deceased ancestor.  The reception of an estate by hereditary right, or the descent by which an estate or title is cast on the heir; as, the heir received the estate by inheritance.

 

2)  Our Inheritance Is A Splendid Possession – Revelation 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

3)  Our Inheritance Is An Unchanging Possession – “incorruptible, and undefiled” - Matthew 6:19-20  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:

 

4)  Our Inheritance Is A Permanent Possession – “and that fadeth not away” -  2 Corinthians 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

 

5)  Our Inheritance Is A Personal Possession – “reserved in heaven for you”