I pray those words ring true in your hearts this morning, that whatever your lot in life is right now, you can say, “It is well with my soul.”

If you know the backstory of that song, you know why the background was an ocean. The author, Horatio Spafford, had lost most of his real estate business in the Chicago Fire just a couple of years earlier.

His wife was not well, and their doctor recommended a trip to Europe. During the trip across the Atlantic, their ship ran into a terrible storm and Spafford lost his four daughters. Only his wife was rescued.

That was the sorrow like sea billows roll. That was the “lot” he was talking about. Though trials may come, let this blessed assurance, blessed hope control.

That hope is what we’re going to talk about today, hope, living hope that we have in these difficult days. In fact, it’s part of the title of the new series that we’re starting this morning…

1 Peter: A Sojourner’s Guide to Hope

So we’ve been through Acts, we’ve been in Ruth, and now we’re back to the New Testament, towards the end of it, in this little book that packs a powerful punch.

Part of my process in deciding where we should go next on Sunday mornings is trying to prayerfully look ahead a bit and see where God might be leading us, or what we might be facing in our lives, in our culture.

And when I looked around this time, we’re about to go through a rough patch, no matter how you slice it.

Last Sunday the death toll was 20,601. This Sunday’s number is 34,022. There’s been lots of talk about accuracy, but the reality is, it’s a big number. And as God’s people, who are pro-life, because the Creator is the author of every life, that number should lead us to weep, not scoff.

And the same thing is true for the economic side of things: 22 million unemployment claims in the last four weeks. Staggering numbers. And that doesn’t even count all the small business owners who are struggling just to hang on.

As I said, “Okay, Lord, what do you want to say to your people during this time?” I kept coming back to 1 Peter. 1 Peter was written to people who were going through hard times. Let’s start reading in chapter 1, verse 1:

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ those chosen, living as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

1 Peter 1:1–2

So that’s our text… for next week! We’re going to come back to it. For now I just wanted you to see that Peter is writing this book to believers who are living as exiles, strangers, sojourners in a foreign land.

So why 1 Peter right now? Because it is a letter that was written to encourage and challenge believers who were going through hard times.

So we’ll leave the greeting in verses 1 and 2 for next week, and focus our attention on the next paragraph today, which is really the introduction of the rest of this letter.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:3a

That is the starting place, both for this text and for our hope in hard times.

I know I talk a lot about believing that God is good. Because the Bible talks about it. The beginning of this letter to suffering saints is this declaration that he is good.

Same declaration we started with this morning in the call to worship, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, worship His holy name.”

Okay, back to reading.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3–5

This is the word of the Lord.

I told you we were talking about hope this morning. Here it is. In the very paragraph of this letter to suffering Christians, the focus is hope. If you underline or take notes in your Bible (and you should, because next time you read there you’ll be much more likely to remember), I’d underline “living hope.”

I said at the beginning of the service I love this time of the year and how creation itself seems to be responding to the resurrection. We have a living hope.

There’s a quote that’s attributed to Martin Luther, (although there’s no record of saying it, he’s kind of like the Einstein or Mark Twain of the Christian world, if there’s a quote that’s good but you’re not sure who it was, say it was him or CS Lewis and you’ll be okay.)

But anyway, whoever said it, it’s good and true:

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection not in books alone but in every leaf of springtime.

Family, look around! Even our very surroundings are saying, “Our hope is not dead, our hope is living. At the end of winter comes spring. Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. It may look bleak on Friday, but Sunday’s coming.”

We have a hope that is alive.

I know last week was different, but let’s assume it was a regular Easter service, and as you were all leaving the church building there was an news reporter from Channel 12 outside,

Mary Ann Maloney, microphone, “This holiday is all about hope, right? Why do you have hope?”

That’s the question Peter’s answering right off the bat. And it’s a good thing too, because he’s writing to people who are struggling. More next week, but this was written during the reign of Nero in Rome. You know, the guy who put Christians on stakes and used them to light the streets.

So it’s a bold place to start with people in that situation, talking about this hope that we have in the past tense. He’s telling them, you already have this hope— living hope. It may not feel like it at the moment, but you do.

Now, before we go on, I want to make sure the English language doesn’t get in our way…

The New Testament idea of hope is very different from our normal way of thinking and talking about hope.

You might say to me, “Will the Colts win the Super Bowl this year?” And my answer would be, “They have a chance if Philip Rivers has anything left in the tank.” No, I’d probably say, “I don’t know; I hope so.”

So in that moment, there’s this sense of doubt. Did you hear it? “I hope so…” but I’m not quite sure. I kind of doubt it.

That is not the kind of hope we’re talking about. Our hope is not shallow, flimsy, wishful thinking about some desired outcome that may or may not happen. Quite the opposite. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and His righteousness.”

It’s hope that’s grounded in reality, in news of what’s already happened.And he gives them some concrete reasons for their hope. First…

1. New birth into hope

That’s the first reason he gives why those Christians and us Christians can have hope. Because we’ve been born again into it.

New birth always brings with it hope. From the birds you hear singing in the background today, to momma and daddy looking down at that new baby for the first time, birth is filled to the brim with hope.

Even more so with new birth. By it’s very definition, salvation brings you to a whole new level of hope. Hope that you didn’t have before. The hope started in the birth. The hope wasn’t there before the birth. This event called the new birth gives rise to the hope.

Well how did that new birth happen? That’s the second reason for hope…

2. His great mercy

How can we have hope even when everything seems bleak around us? Because we know that God is rich in mercy.

We see it all over the place… - We see it in creation. - We see it in family. - We see it in church. - We see it in his care for us. (“he clothes flowers of field”) - We see it most of all in what we celebrated last week - the life, death, burial of Jesus Christ.

You can have hope today because God is not a cosmic killjoy, up there just waiting to strike you. He is a loving Father who has shown great mercy toward us.

Not only that, but the third reason to have hope, just in verse 3

3. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

We talked about it last week, talking about it this week, we’ll talk about it next week. Through all eternity, we’ll never stop talking about it, celebrating it.

Up from the grave He arose
With a mighty triumph o’er his foes
He arose a victor from the dark domain
And He lives forever with his saints to reign
He arose! He arose! Hallelujah, Christ arose!

Notice the word through. You were born again because of God’s great mercy. How did he accomplish it? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In the good times and the bad, we have a living hope, because we have a living Savior.

  1. New birth
  2. Great mercy
  3. Resurrection from the dead

4. A future inheritance that’s secure

Now let’s read verse 4 again:

…and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

1 Peter 1:4

Why have hope when finances are tight, when the stock market is down, when your 401k is significantly smaller than it was 2 months ago? Because, child of God, you’re retirement is out of this world, and God’s economy has never taken a hit. It’s never had a down quarter.

And all this because we have been adopted into his family. Just like any inheritance, we were born into it. Because of his great mercy, we get to share in the inheritance that Christ won on the cross and in the resurrection.

Now, it’s not here right now. It’s being kept in heaven for you. Specifically, just for you! And it’s…

The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Romans 8:16–17

One last reason for hope this morning…

5. You are secure.

Look at verse 5 again…

You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:5

Does that remind you of anything we’ve seen in the past few weeks?

Peter, who was there to hear Jesus pray the High Priestly prayer that we looked at in John 17. Now he’s writing to these struggling Christians and saying, “The Father has answered the prayer.”

Not only is your future secure, you are secure. Child of God, no matter how bad life feels right now, or will feel a month from now, a year from now, you are being guarded by the very God of the universe. He’s got you. You are his child. And you are secure.

You will make it. Know how I know? I love you, but it’s not because you’re so great.

It’s because there is one who is great in mercy, and he has given you new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.