团契与门徒训练

Reasons to Praise Our Merciful God (1 Pe. 1:3~5)

2014.08.10Rev. Eddie Byun

Believers have every reason to praise our merciful God, who in his lavish mercy has made us his children, given us a living hope in the risen Christ, and reserved for us an inheritance that will never fade.

God's lavish mercy adopts us into his family (v. 3)

Peter begins by blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, because everything we have in Christ comes from his great mercy. Mercy means having compassion on someone in need, canceling a debt, or pitying someone in miserable circumstances. The preacher illustrates this with Noah Pennington, a Korean baby boy adopted by Paul Pennington of Hope for Orphans, who grew up loved and educated and entered college at sixteen. Apart from God, we face a dark future of sin, condemnation, and eternal damnation. But God came down, took us into his arms, forgave our sins, and adopted us as his children. Such mercy moves the writers of Scripture, as 1 John 3:1 shows, to sing his praise.

Only God can change our hearts and lives

Peter says that God has caused us to be born again, because salvation is God's work and not merely a change in behavior. Only God can change the condition of our hearts. Quoting Jeremiah 13:23, the preacher notes that a person cannot change his own skin or a leopard its spots, and so fallen people cannot truly do good by themselves. He tells of a pastor who once lived by threats and violence but now serves with compassion and grace. This is what the gospel does. It changes our eyesight, so that we see the temporary things of this world as dust and recognize what is truly valuable.

Our living hope in Christ never fails

The living hope Peter describes rests on Jesus, who is alive forever, so it is certain and not wishful thinking. The world puts its hope in money, jobs, health, peace, or good weather, and all of these can fail. Christ and his promises alone are certain. Quoting Romans 15:4, the preacher says that the endurance and encouragement of Scripture give us hope in hard times. Because Jesus rose from the dead, our sin, death, loneliness, and hopelessness have been defeated, and healing, freedom, mercy, and justice are alive. So, like the psalmist, we can preach God's promises to our own souls and keep praising him in suffering.

An inheritance that never fades is kept for us (vv. 4-5)

Peter describes an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for believers who are guarded by God's power through faith. An inheritance is received as a gift, not earned, and this one became ours through the death of Jesus, as Hebrews 9:15 teaches. Because of this, the best is still coming. As Philippians 1:21 says, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Believers will receive new bodies, deeper intimacy with God, and renewed fellowship with loved ones. Nothing given for Christ's kingdom is ever wasted, because no one can outgive God.

Apply to Life

  • Let us praise our merciful God for his lavish mercy that has adopted us as his children.
  • Let us confess that only God can change our hearts, and let us ask him to make us new.
  • Let us hold on to our living hope in Jesus when life is hard, and let us preach God's promises to our own souls.
  • Let us invest our lives in God's kingdom and live for Christ rather than for the passing things of this world.

This summary was made automatically from the sermon's captions and may differ from the sermon.

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