1 Peter, chapter number 1. As we continue our worship this morning, we are putting ourself under the authority of His Word. I trust you have been doing that in all that you have heard so far. Beginning in verse number 3, and I'll read the entire sentence that runs through verse number 5, blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you, you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Peter found it difficult to put a period until he finally reached these thoughts at the end as we have it laid out for us in verse number 5. The thoughts are so intertwined to make a sentence as you have to make sense, and Peter could not make sense of all of this until he put all of this information together. There are many, I don't know if you were observing as we read this, but there are many wonderful truths, doctrines being mentioned in this one sentence that he sees as being inextricably related. You cannot divide them. Last Sunday we looked at the phrase, the initial opening phrase here, blessed be God. A few things to remind you of, and it's so good to hear our men expressing these things as we move through our services. The word blessed is that Greek word eulogetos, we understand it as our English eulogy, and we are being exhorted in this opening phrase to come into the presence of the one sovereign, infinitely holy, and almighty Theos. God, who is our creator. Who would not go to worship their creator? But he's not only our creator, he is our redeemer. We are to leave off doing other things on his day, and we are to come into his appointed place that he has established where God and his elect are to meet. The gathered church is his only temple on the earth. There is no other temple for the worship of God than that which he himself designed, and that is his church. And it is here where he meets with his people. He meets to be blessed, to be blessed by us who are his people, the redeemed. And it is because we recognize that God is blessed. We bless him because he is blessed. We know he is glorious in his nature, and we gather with his people to offer our eulogy, the eulogetos. We bring our good words to him that express our thoughts and our affections. We praise him using psalms and hymns, spiritual songs. Using them, as Steve has already stated, using them, making melody in our hearts unto the Lord. It is so unique that I can sing Watts or somebody else, and suddenly, as I sing them from a heart focused on God and offer those words as my words, they are no longer Watts words. They are mine. As I express to God glorious things that are put into songs and hymns and spiritual songs. And so we come to bless him. We come with gratefulness. We come every Lord's Day with a very special spirit of gratitude. We are thanking him all day long. We should be thanking him all day long. I appreciate that about you, David. I love being around David, walking his property or having a meal. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. He has a deep appreciation of what the Lord has done for his life. And he repeats it constantly when you're around him. Thank you, Lord. That should be the spirit of all of his people, particularly when we are gathered here. We hear the words, we sing the songs, and we are expressing our thoughts, our affections, our gratitude to him. And we come, we gather as his people to receive his words. And when we do, we are ready. We prepared ourselves to hearken, to hear, and to obey. And so we bless God by actively recognizing who he is and what he has done for us. And so we gather to bless God, the God who has blessed us, with everything we need for our salvation and for living a life that pleases him. This morning, after I completed my message, I'm thinking, I've got to insert a few verses from 2 Peter 1. Thank you, Danny, for reading those. They were so fitting because I never did work them in, but I appreciate you reading them. Not at my prompting, but at the Spirit of God who encouraged you to do so. Our worship services are constructed to help us as a church to eulogize God and to bring our adoration, to ascribe to him what we know to be true about him. And so our services begin after the call with a hymn that aids us in adoring him and blessing him who is blessed. The next several phrases of Peter contains several very important, significant truths. And it's sort of like the way that we construct our worship. He moves from the adoration of God to contemplation of Christ and his glorious salvation. And that's sort of how we do it intentionally. That's not an accident. We believe, as we read in the scriptures and the psalms and revelation, that this is the way it ought to be. And so he says here essentially in verse 3, and this is where we're going to hover over this verse for a few messages. I'm not going to get into any particular detail on any of the parts, but we are going to look at all the parts and consider what we find here in our verse 3. God, what does he say? Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father gave us, offered up for us, his only begotten Son, who would be our representative in all things concerning our relationship to God. It is that through his Son alone we are made right with God and we have access freely to God. And so as we worship our great God, who is our creator and redeemer, we must pause, we ought to pause and consider how is it we can do this? Who has brought and made this possible for us? We praise God for his plan to save us by his grace. We praise the Spirit of God for applying God's plan of salvation to us personally. And we praise the Son of God for procuring or obtaining salvation for us completely. When or as the elect consider what they possess, we are reminded that this gift of salvation from the Father cost the Father his greatest possession and he willingly, he found pleasure in giving him for us. He appointed his Son to be our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father has designated his Son to be our Lord. Peter's impressed with these ideas and they work out frequently in these two letters that he writes. The Son of God came into the created realm as a man. And as a man, he won back what Adam forfeited and that was lordship over creation. The Son of God retrieved this position by defeating the one who had stolen the title from Adam. The second Adam who is our Lord. By defeating the devil and triumphing over him through his life, his death, his burial and his resurrection, he earned the title Lord. He is Lord and he earned it to be Lord. And so when we read in Matthew 28 after his resurrection, before he ultimately ascends finally into the heavens to sit at the right hand of his Father, what does he declare? All power, all authority is now given unto me in heaven and in earth. Wherever there is anything created, he is its Lord. And he won that title by becoming a part of our creation. He is our Lord who has done this for us, that we with him might receive the full benefits of all the inheritance that the Father has planned to give him as Lord. Now he is our, our Lord. Our salvation and all the benefits, they have nothing to do with our merits. We have nothing to bring that would earn us the gift of God's Son. Everything we have need of, everything we have needed for life and godliness is found in these words. He is our Lord, our Jesus, our Christ. Everything in heaven acknowledges him as Lord. All the elect of God are to acknowledge his lordship over us. And we know that even the dead who rejected his lordship while they lived on this earth will bow their knees and acknowledge him as Lord in the day of their judgment. Because he is Lord of all creation. Angels elect and fallen, humans elect and fallen. He is the Lord of all. The Son of God is Lord of heaven and of earth. That is an unalterable fact. You can deny it. Humans can deny it. They can refuse it, but it doesn't change the fact. He is Lord. And God has designated his son to be so. All of God's elect have a Lord. I have a Lord. If you're a member of the family of God, an elect child of God, you have a Lord this morning. And this is for our benefit. The kurios, as the word Lord in the Greek word, refers to the one who rules over all things. And for that reason, we can trust him. There is not a single thing going on in the universe of heaven or earth or any place else that is not under his lordship. The Father has given that to him. And because he's Lord, we can find comfort in whatever unfolds in our life. If we are unnerved by the events of life, it's a lordship thing. Get back to bowing and yielding to him. And you will find joy again. In your life, he is Lord. And it's for our benefit. And we receive those benefits according to our yielding to him. As our Lord, we have been blessed greatly by God making his son to be our Lord. So let us be quick and learn to confess yield. To God's son who has been made for us, our Lord. And remember the warning that the son gave to those who professed him as their Lord. And yet lived in disobedience. Joe, you read something early at the beginning by Dagg. Yes, Professor Dagg. We have some of his systematic theologies on the shelves out there if you want to study systematic theology. A great, great author. And he warned about love. That we can say we love the things of God, but not love all of the things of God. And we must love him for who he is to truly show that we love God. And so it is with lordship. Many people, Jesus said at the last day, will be judged and they will stand there and they will say, but wait a minute. Lord, Lord, didn't we do all these things in your name? And he is going to reply to them. I don't know who you are. You call me Lord, but you are not mine. And what was the deciding factor? You did not obey my father's will. So you can call me Lord, but I'm not your Lord unless you obey my father's will. And so lordship is a big deal with God. It means much and we can find great joy and comfort. And also exhortations here and warnings. When we consider this movement of our service to contemplate the Christ, the Lord, the Jesus that God has made his son for us. And so the son of God is not only our Lord, but Peter says he is our Jesus. He is our Jesus. He is my deliverer. He's my Yeshua. He's the one who came, fought my battles, rescued me. He is my Jesus. And he has made our Jesus for all of God's elect people. And as Jesus, that name denotes that human life of the son of God. When Joseph was concerned about Mary being pregnant and they had not committed any immoral behavior between them and he's not sure what to do. How does he understand this? The angel said, it's okay. She's been impregnated by the spirit of God. Call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. He's our Jesus, our deliverer, our rescuer, our savior. As Danny read from second Peter earlier. He was a human being made of a woman. We have had a lot of babies being born in our little church over the past year or so. And Jesus was in a similar womb developing in Mary's womb. Formed a human body who went through all the human experiences. This was ordained of him. He must suffer. He must be tempted. He must learn obedience. So our Jesus knows the human experience and there is therefore the perfect high priest who can represent us. The perfect high priest. You have to read this with me. If you look at Hebrews chapter 2. God has made his son our, to be our Jesus. In Hebrews chapter 2. Well, I hate to cut much of it out, but let's start at verse 9. But we see Jesus who is made a little lower than the angels. For the suffering of death. And now crowned with glory and honor. That by the grace of God he should taste death. For every man. For it became him. For whom are all things and by whom are all things. In bringing many sons unto glory. To make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifyeth. That is Jesus. And those who are sanctified. Those are the elect. Are all of one. For which cause he is not ashamed to call them his brethren. Saying I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church. While I sing praises unto thee. And again I will put my trust in him. And again quoting from the Old Testament. Behold I and the children which God has given me. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. This is our inheritance of life. We receive flesh and blood. He also himself likewise. Took part of the same. That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil. And deliver them. Who through fear of death were all of their lifetime subject. To the bondage of their own flesh. For truly he took not on him. The nature of angels. But he took on him. The seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things. It behooved him. To be made like unto his brethren. So that he might be a merciful. And faithful high priest in things. Pertaining to God. To make reconciliation. For the sins. Of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted. He is able to succor to come alongside and aid. The children of God those. As they are being tested. So in our worship services. We often pause to meditate on the son of God who is our Jesus. That's a good thing to do. God gave his son. To be. Our deliverer. And he is ours. Peter also tells us that the father has also designated his son to be our Christ. Going back to first Peter and. Chapter number one. Blessed be God the father of our Lord Jesus. Christ. He has designated his son to be our Christ the anointed one the Messiah. The father gave us his son to be our Christ. And that in and of itself is is a deep mystery. Peter. Was one of the first in the New Testament to confess and to acknowledge. Who Jesus was. He was much more than just the offspring of Mary. Much more than just a prophet. Much more than a man who could perform miracles who had power with God. Much more than that he was the Christ of God. He was the son of God. And he is ours. Our Christ. Peter's confession thou art the Christ. The son of the living God. What a confession to make. Again David I'm sorry I'm picking on you today but. We spent those hours reading through the gospel of John and you were lost and at that moment you rose to your feet and cried out. I believe. Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God. That was your profession your confession that you made. He is not just a man he's not just a prophet. He is the son. Of the living God. The father has given us his son to be our Christ. And as Christ he embodies all of the promises of God to his people. Every promise. Is in Christ. All theology is shaped by our Christology. If you attempt to interpret the scriptures apart from a Christological lens you will go awry. Everything we need to know about God and his plans concerning us are revealed in Christ. And when we read Peter's statement that God's son is our Christ. We are assured in these moments that nothing has been left out. God has completed his whole plan all of his promises. And he put them in Christ as the ark that would keep them safe. Until they reached the other side. Of time. We were chosen in Christ. Are the words of the apostle chosen and placed in Christ. Before creation began. And all the promises of God concerning us were placed in Christ. And they are there for us and guaranteed. To become a part of our life. In time and eternity. And so. He is our Christ. He is ours. Everything that God has said and promised to him. Is ours. There is no promise that is not yours. It is ours. And it's not apart from Christ being in Christ. And because of that we have that confidence. This is an important thing to Peter. It's interesting as you read through his first letter. He will use the name Jesus six times. He uses the name Lord 11 times. He uses the name Christ 20 times. Remember it was Peter who first identified. Thou art the Christ. It left an impression what God had revealed to him. Jesus said you didn't come up with this on your own. My father has revealed this to you Peter. Peter was impacted and changed. By the realization of who Jesus is. He is our Christ. And so Peter. In writing. To strangers, sojourners, pilgrims. Even though we are God's elect. We will experience many trials and suffering while we live on this earth. It is important. To this old apostle at the end of his life. When he writes his final letters. That God's people are confident concerning God's promises to them. And wherein does our confidence lie. He is our Christ. He is our Christ. God's anointed son. Has secured all of God's promises. To us. I want to mention a few things that follow here because they're so tied together. Before I close. We will deal with all of these in the coming weeks ahead but. I want you to see what we've just said as it's connected to what's. Going to be said. Blessed be God. The father of our. Lord Jesus Christ. Which speaking of the father who is sometimes. Translated here. Who. According to his abundant mercy. Whose abundant mercy. The father's abundant mercy. He hath. Begotten us. Again. He is credited as it were with that whole plan of our regeneration. The spirit of God is the one who executes the new birth in time. Upon those whom God. Has chosen to receive. Eternal life. But it is the father who is credited. With his whole. Idea. Of being born again. Born again. He hath begotten us. Again. This new life new birth. Unto a lively hope. This is the subject of. Abundant mercy needs to be contemplated and distinguished from the grace of God. It's a very important thing to understand. We'll come back to this abundant mercy of God. We'll consider the new birth process that the father has designed for us. How that it. Here's the interesting thing with Peter. Is he brings it to a particular focal point in this whole sentence. And you know what the focal point is. A lively hope. If pilgrims and strangers and sojourners can't see what the promises of God are concerning them. Their hope is not going to have much impact on the way they live life. They must have a lively living meaningful hope. And God has done all of this. To bring us to enjoy unto as this word was explained to you a little bit earlier in verse 2. It speaks of that which is connected in and sort of flows naturally into a lively hope. Everything that God has done. Is to give us hope. They give us hope today. What good is hope when we leave this world and we already enjoying the things of God. We don't need it then. But all do we need it now. Having a living hope will shape the way that we choose to live our life. And so I will just read a couple of. Verses to you in closing on this. Because this is where the apostle Peter. Is in in most commentators that write on this. Particular. Portion of Peter will say the same thing that the. The the verb movement here in this sentence. Is this phrase. A living hope. Everything flows into it. And much flows out. But it's the key. Of a Peter wants the strangers the pilgrims the sojourners. To understand. One. Comment from Paul in 2nd Corinthians look at this and then another one from Peter and then we'll close. 2nd Corinthians chapter number 4. Paul has been writing about his experiences. Many very painful physical emotional spiritual battles that he has engaged in during his life. And it's not been that long I mean this is one of his first letters. He wrote the Corinthian letters so it's not like this is at the end of his life right at the beginning of his life he has encountered. Many difficulties and trials along the way. But but he's not troubled by it. It doesn't derail his thinking. It doesn't bring him into a dark place. He feels it he feels the weight of it. But he writes then in verse 16. For which cause we faint not but though our outward man perish at the inward man is renewed day by day. Why is he so committed to not letting these things discourage him because his life and all that takes place is being for God's glory. And so that's okay is what he's saying it's okay. For our light affliction and we will experience affliction in this world but he puts it into a particular context doesn't he. Our light affliction which is but for a moment in time. Worketh for us. It's interesting how that God in his sovereign rule has determined to put a yoke on troubles and trials and suffering and make it serve you. It works for you. It accomplishes good things for you. A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory but it's needs to be read with this last thought. While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. This is what hope does for us. It enables us to keep our sights on that which is eternal not things simply visible and physical. While we look not at things which are seen but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are but temporary temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal. Hope enables us to see these things. And to keep hope strong you must keep your eyes constantly looking at these things. These promises that God has given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. One other Peter in 2nd Peter. Danny read a few verses out of chapter 1 in 2nd Peter. I'll read a few more a little bit later in that portion. Beginning in verse number 8. He's talking about how faith needs to grow and develop and add many other qualities to it. He outlines those in verses 5 through 7. And then he says in verse 8 if these things be in you and they are abounding. They will make that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So immediately he distinguishes this is not simply the result. Fruit is not simply the result of information. There must be fruit. There must be fruit. And it comes from the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So knowledge and information about him is not sufficient. It must translate into fruit. But he goes on to say in verse 9 if he that lacketh these things that he's mentioned in verses 5 through 8. He that lacketh these things is blind and he cannot see afar off. Somehow his sight and vision of looking for that which is eternal has been dimmed and he can't see it. And hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Notice, see the relationship there between what we see, what we look at concerning our future and the hope that we have. When that becomes dim, you know what happens? Sin begins to multiply. Sin begins to grow. You want to eliminate and control sin in your life. Keep your eyes fastened on what is real and eternal. And so he then says, wherefore the rather brethren. Instead of being careless and just engaged in life's activities and forgetting about your hope of the future. Give diligence. Put your effort into making sure of your calling and your election. So how do we secure, get assurance of our calling and election? It's by the fruit that is produced in our life. That's what gives us confidence that we are the people of God. Peter's already worked that out in verse number 2. And then he says this. For if you do these things, you shall never fall. And that is the kind of apostatizing away from God. This is not just a fall that we commit a sin, a failure in our life today that somehow if we keep our eyes fastened on God, we will be sinless. That's not what Peter is implying here. He's talking about we shall never apostatize from Christ. And then he adds this. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So here's where we live out our life. We rejoice in what God has provided for us in our Lord Jesus Christ. And we keep our eyes fastened on the anticipation of his return. Of all the promises that await us. Peter's going to get into that in his first letter. And if we keep our sights on those things, as Paul said, we're not going to be distracted by the ongoing events that are around our life. We're going to find them as just simple opportunities whereby God can be glorified through our life. We have a whole different view of life. And Peter even goes as far as to say that it will matter. When you leave this world. And you walk, as it were, through the gates of the eternal kingdom. There is going to be this ushering in of those. Who have. Followed the Lord Jesus Christ. There's going to be a special, as it were, announcement, advantage. He says, right, for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord. Do not have any desire for that. To live your life without interest in it. Is it possible that a person can be truly converted and struggle with that lack of vision? I believe so. I believe from poor teaching and poor living that we can live lives that are not of great value in terms of our service and response to God. And Christians can be guilty of that carnal way of thinking and living. And when they leave this world. They may be the people of God. But they won't receive the same, as it were, coronation. The coronation. As those who have devoted themselves to living for their Lord Jesus Christ. And so Peter, at the beginning of this letter, wants us to understand the importance of living in hope. Living in hope. Is vital to how we will choose to live each day. And to serve him. Who is been given to us by God, our father. He has made him to be our Lord. Jesus. Christ. Father, I thank you for these moments that we can reflect upon your great gift to us. And how that all of this is designed not only for an immediate salvation that we do experience. We are born again. We rejoice in that. Mercy that has been poured out upon us is without measure. But it's happened to us in time. That we might live our days. In hope. And I pray that you will help us as we labor through these details in Peter. That our hope. Might become truly lively. Living. Persuasive. Powerful. And the way that it influences. The way that we live as pilgrims in this world. Thank you father for your plan. Thank you for including us. Bless us now as we seek to say thank you to you. For your great gift to us. Who is Jesus Christ. Our Lord. In whose name we pray. Amen.