Bible Study - Hope (6) - The Culmination of Our Hope - 1 Peter 2:5b-11 - July 12, 2020

Bible Study – Hope (6) – The Culmination of Our Hope – July 12, 2020

This is lesson six (6) and our final lesson in our series entitled, “Living with Hope in a Broken World.”

Our focus scripture is 1 Peter 4:5b-11.

What we hope for in CHRIST will one day be fully attained.

We hope for many things in life but it is what we hope for in CHRIST that will be attained.

The Apostle Paul also wrote about hope as recorded in these verses:

Romans 5:5

This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Romans 15:4

For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures.

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The key for Christians living life upon earth is through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit that gives balance to our lives and helps us, as Christians, to focus upon the things that are important to GOD.

Let’s read 1 Peter 5:5b-7:

All of you clothe yourselves with^[c] humility toward one another, because

God resists the proud

but gives grace to the humble.^[d]

Conclusion

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time, ⁷ casting all your cares on him, because he cares about you. 

The Apostle Peter wrote to fellow Christians admonishing them to “clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because ---” Why do we put on clothes each day? We get ready to face the world and the people of the world. We make a decision each day what we will wear, often depending upon what we plan to do. What we wear reflects who we are. The Apostle Peter wrote that, we as Christians, are to be genuine and not be something we are not.

What is humility for a Christian? It is not thinking and acting like we are Spiritually better than anyone else. All Christians are sinners saved by GOD’S Grace. GOD Grace is a gift from GOD through our faith in JESUS. We did not earn it. When we interact with the world, we are to humble ourselves and not act Spiritually proud or arrogant. Christians are sinners saved by GOD’S Grace.

Christians are to be proud of their relationship with GOD through faith in JESUS. But they are not to flaunt it, e.g. I am going to Heaven when I die and you are going to bust Hell wide open unless you accept JESUS as your Savior. This is true but a bit crass.

A better approach is, once I realized that I was a sinner bound for Hell, I could not find a way to escape until I heard about JESUS. HE gave HIS Sinless life by the shedding of HIS blood upon the cross. HIS death paid for all of my sins but I had to accept that fact for myself personally. But yet there was a greater fact and that fact is GOD raised JESUS from the physically dead to live eternally. The resurrection of JESUS is proof that JESUS paid the price for sin and when I place my trust in the crucifixion and resurrection of JESUS that is my assurance that I will be Spiritually born into GOD’S Family and also have eternal life.

How do I know that is true? When I took this first step of faith by accepting JESUS as my Savior from sin, GOD gave me HIS Holy Spirit to indwell me as a guarantee that the miracle of Spiritual rebirth has taken place within my body. It is my assurance that I am forever GOD’S Child and once I leave earth in physical death, I will live with HIM for eternity. This is nothing I could achieve for myself to achieve this for myself but it was an instant gift from GOD. All I had to do was to believe and accept what GOD had already done through the passion of JESUS and HIS resurrections.

Now, that is worth telling to those who have no hope. It is personal and eternally belongs to you, it is yours; accept it, believe it and live it.

Once, we accept JESUS as our Savior that is just the beginning of our walk with GOD in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we continue to walk upon earth GOD wants us to know that -----

Let’s read 1 Peter 5:8-9:

⁸ Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.

Christians are not to stick their heads in the sand like an Ostrich but we are to be alert. Why? Yes, Satan has been defeated but he still roams earth seeking to do havoc. The Apostle Peter tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion. Why a roaring lion? A roaring lion is a hungry lion. If you know about lions, you know that a roaring lion is on the prowl for food. The Apostle Peter used this fact to illustrate that although Christians are secure in the family of GOD, Satan is still very active to devour all people, Christian and non-Christian.

Christians must remain under the canopy of blessings and not lured out to explore the things that are attractive to the world.

Christians are to walk circumspectly as recorded in Ephesians 5:15-18:

¹⁵ See then that you walk ^[e]circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷ Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. ¹⁸ And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

I recall in my younger years of hiking, there were times when we needed to cross a stream or creek. Often, there was some structure to get us to the other side but usually it was wet and slick with moss. I knew that my footing would likely be slippery. I walked circumspectly to the other side. I was always looking for something secure to hold onto in case I slipped. If there were others hiking with me, I would warn them to be extra careful.

Once we become Christians, GOD leaves us in a world that needs JESUS as its Savior and we have the Good News within us to share with others. We face many slippery crossings in our life’s journey. As we learn, we also share with others as they may have slippery issues in their lives.

So, what does the Apostle Peter share with fellow Christians? He alerts us to the fact that we will encounter an advisory as we journey through life upon earth – “⁹ Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your fellow believers throughout the world.” How do you resist the devil? Know the truth of GOD’S Word and apply it as you journey through life. Your power is in the fact that CHRIST is in you as recorded in 1 John 4:4:

⁴ You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He (JESUS) who is in you is greater than he (Satan) who is in the world. 

CHRIST in you is your protection, strength and power. strength and power. YES!

Let’s read 1 Peter 5:10-11:

¹⁰ The God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ,^[e] will himself restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little while.^[f] 11 To him be dominion^[g] forever.^[h] Amen.

Let’s read Romans 8:31-39:

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Life upon earth is considered suffering when compared to life in Heaven. After we become Christians, GOD leaves us upon earth to minister to others and for us to continue to be perfected to serve.

When will Christians be perfected? Let’s consider 1 John 3:1-3:

3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,^[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. ³ All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

When we see JESUS, we will be like HIM. That is either when we meet HIM in Heaven or at HIS second coming. The great reveal will be an exciting moment in our journey. What do we read in 1 Corinthians 3:9?

⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

GOD is fashioning within us a building (Spiritual Body) suitable for Heaven. That process begins the instant we ask JESUS to forgive us for our sins and to come into our lives. That instant is when we are Spiritually born into GOD’S Family. What will we look like? There will be a great reveal when we see JESUS face to face. Our time upon earth is when GOD is perfecting us to serve HIM both upon earth and in Heaven.

When we see JESUS that is the culmination of our hope. In the meantime, we are to allow the Holy Spirit to lead and direct our lives.

JESUS trusted GOD to raise HIM from the physically dead. Christians must trust GOD for eternal life, which we do because we have the confirmation of the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

Blessings!!!