First Peter chapter number one. Let's read the three verses together since we're in verse three. It'll just take an extra few seconds to read the preceding thoughts. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his abundant mercy he hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our study of Peter's letter is leading us to consider several important doctrines and the common thread in every truth that we've considered so far is the doctrine of our salvation. The moment in time when we are saved, we are made strangers in this present world. We were a part of the world and we were alienated from God. Our salvation changed our identification. Now, we are part of God's family and alienated from the world we live in. Our salvation has revealed a hidden mystery to us. After we are saved, we learn about God's salvation plan. We learn that we are numbered among the elect of God, that he chose us to be in Christ before creation, and that all who are in Christ are chosen to salvation. Our personal salvation was designed by God to be revealed in every person who he hath chosen. God has appointed a time and a place where we will hear the gospel. The Holy Spirit will, at that moment, set us apart from the rest of the world and designate us to be a sacred vessel for God's use. We no longer own our own life. We've been purchased and given a new life with a new purpose. Our salvation includes this initial work of sanctification, which puts into motion the Spirit's work of continuing our development in holiness. The Spirit and Word are used to train God's children to be obedient. Obedience is the evidence that we are God's elect. Obedience is the evidence that the Holy Spirit lives in us. All of God's children are being trained the same way. There is no other way. Sometimes it's being developed faster, more thoroughly in some than others, for a variety of reasons. But the process is the same. This process of learning to obey assumes that we struggle with disobedience. Another evidence of our salvation is the desire to walk with our God and Father. But in order to fellowship with God, we must have our conscience cleansed by the sprinkling of the blood, which involves our confession, continual confession and repentance. Our salvation provides for us the privilege of coming into the presence of God and worship Him. This is a holy activity that a saved soul desires to do. We want to praise God, and we want to praise the Lamb for the great gift of our salvation. We count it a great privilege to come into God's presence and ascribe unto Him the glory that He is due. We find joy in speaking good words to God. Concerning who He is and what He's done for us through His Son, making His only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our all-sufficient Savior. Our salvation is entirely a free gift of God's grace, and out of His grace, we receive an abundance of God's mercy. Peter uses the language of the psalmist who describes God's mercy in similar terms. God wants His people to know that there is no shortage of mercy, that it is exceedingly a large amount that is available for us, and that it is great both in quantity and quality without limits. However, as we read and study God's Word, the gift of mercy that we enjoy, we are taught that it is given to those who fear Him, those who have a genuine reverence for God and His Word. This general disposition of reverence encompasses all that is required to be a recipient of His mercy. Mercy is said also to be attached to God's truth. That is, His tender and compassionate responses to us when we are in need is never in conflict with His truth. When truth is being ignored or violated, His mercy will be withheld. The mercy of God requires humility in those who seek mercy, and God will not respond to pride or arrogance, but He is ready and willing to pour out mercy on the humble. Mercy of God must be requested. We must ask for help. God will not respond to the self-sufficient person. God finds great pleasure in giving mercy to His people because it is His nature. He is a merciful God, and we're learning from verse 3 that God's abundant mercy hath or already hath done. It hath begotten us again. He gave us a new life, a spiritual life, says Peter, with spiritual eyes so that we can see spiritual realities in the distance afar off. We were born again so that we can live with eternity in view. God knows what we need as we journey through this life. Living in this present evil world, the allurements are powerful in their pull and tug of our flesh. God knows our frame, how we're constructed. He knows how feeble we are. Therefore, He chose to regenerate, to raise us up from death and give us new life with spiritual eyes. So that we can see things afar off. Out of this abundant mercy of God, He hath begotten us again, says Peter, unto a lively hope. There are many things that can be said about regeneration. Peter doesn't go down that trail. His purpose of bringing the subject of being begotten again up, the reason he talks about it, is how it relates to hope. God has raised us from the dead, given us spiritual life, so that we now have spiritual eyes to see eternal things. God has given us a lively hope. And that's why the language, He hath begotten us again unto, and it sort of shows the whole flow and direction of Peter's thinking. Those of you who have read Pilgrim's Progress, from time to time I'll refer to that great classic story by John Bunyan. Do you remember where Pilgrim met Hopeful? On his journey, he had encountered the city of Vanity Fair. And he saw the vain way that the world lives, and he felt the tug in the pool that was natural to his own flesh. And it was there that God introduced him to a friend who would walk with him from that point to the end, and his name was Hopeful. He was there to assist and aid the pilgrim, as he would encounter the temptations of life, to look beyond temporal things. The world can't do that, because they do not have spiritual eyes. They've never been begotten again. Do you remember what Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3? I'm sorry, you cannot see the kingdom of God unless you've been born again. You do not have eyes to see it. And so God in his mercy, his abundant mercy, has raised us from the dead so that we would be alive spiritually and have spiritual eyes to see the promises that he has given to us. Hope. Some good things have already been said and sung about hope. This word that Peter uses here, this noun, feminine gender, refers to a disposition of the mind. It's a mindset. It's a way of thinking. Hope. Hope is living our life in this world with expectations concerning things to come. We don't have them now, but we're anticipating them to come. Hope anticipates. It's a way of thinking. It sees spiritually what cannot be seen naturally. Hope is not always about eternity. Sometimes as you read the Psalms, hope is about a situation, right? You can be in a condition, you can be in a trial presently, and you're you're hoping for God to show mercy to you and come and aid you and rescue you. And so you wait and you're hopeful that he will do that. So hope appears through our own journey from time to time. But most of the New Testament, Peter particularly, is focusing on hope as that which is yet to come. Hope. Hope keeps us like the pilgrim from getting entangled with the things of this present world because we hope for something far better. Hope requires us to think and act as pilgrims who are temporary dwellers in this present world. Hope cannot exist without us being regenerated so that we can see the promises of God that are waiting for us. And so Peter adds this little action word to describe the energy of hope. Hope is a disposition. But there's an energy, there's a liveliness to it. It's a lively hope. This verb sort of brings to the fore of the idea that it is full of life. Hope is full of life. Hope has vigor to it. It's not passive. It's not without energy. Hope in a way breathes the air of real eternal things to come. There are many things that regeneration has provided for us now in this life that we enjoy. And hope is one of those gifts of the mercy, the abundant mercy of God that he has provided for all of those whom he has regenerated, born again, begotten. So Peter is telling us that hope is not this passive disposition of our life. Real hope is inspirational to you. If you have hope this morning concerning eternal things, it inspires you in the life that you will live. It strengthens you to resist the things that would want to pull your vision from eternal things to temporal things. Hope. So we look. We look. We've heard the promise. We are anticipating. Anticipating. And it envisions this idea of of longing for that which we anticipate. It's more than just we know that there is a future. We know that he's coming again. We know the all of these things that he has promised us. But it's more than the knowledge of it. It's the longing for it. If you're honest about your life, I had to deal with this this week in my own life. If we're honest about our life, we spend more time focused on temporal things than eternal things. Some of that is out of the necessity, the normal necessities of life. We go to work. You can't pause while you're doing your job and just think about eternal things. Your mind is engaged in your working, being productive for those who've hired you to do a job. It's hard. How do you shift all of that? How do you walk out of that way of thinking and then into a pause, a calming when you begin to shift your sights to things that are eternal? And yet that's the idea here that we are a people whom God has raised from the dead, given his spiritual eyes that we can look beyond temporal things and see the things that are eternal. Hope will cause the weaker believer among us, if you have a strong hope, it'll cause the unregenerate in the world around you to stand in amazement. If they see you living in hope, particularly during times that are difficult, suffering times. That's kind of where Peter's going with all this information. Look at how he says it in chapter 3. Chapter 3. But and verse 14, I'm sorry, verses 14 and 15, but and and if you suffer for righteousness sake, happy are you, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled by the people or the conditions of suffering that are imposing themselves on you, but rather do this, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts be, this is intentional, this is doing that which sets his interest on a sacred place apart as it were. Set the sacred things of our Lord in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you. How is it that you can be so hopeful in this trial? Why are your spirits so positive? Why are you looking to God? It seems like he's not interested. It seems like he's turned a deaf ear. And of course if we sense that we ought to go in humility before him, make sure that we are not doing things that are causing that to occur, but even walking right with God you can have a sense of delay. Why isn't he responding? David's Psalm 42 was dealing with that. He was struggling with hope. And so everyone around you is looking at you. God is going to use your hope in the midst of your difficulty to bear witness of him. Who hopes in the middle of difficulties and sufferings with a spirit of gratitude and courage and confidence in God that is meant to be the disposition of God's children? What is this hope that governs your life? That's the disposition. That's the attitude. You have this mindset of hope. God birthed you as a child. He gave you hope so that you would be a people of hope. That you would look into the future and see eternal things with your spiritual eyes that he has now given to you. Look at Titus. We'll bounce around to a few passages that bring this subject up. Titus in chapter number one. The first thing that I believe that one of the first things, maybe not exactly the first thing, but one of the first things that a true believer experiences after he has been regenerated is hope. It is the hope of everlasting life. That has to be front and center of your encounter with God. What he has now granted to you, eternal life. And Paul talks about that here in Titus as he's writing to this man, Paul, a servant of God. Chapter one, verse one, an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect. Paul is committed to the faith of God's elect. What that means in the promoting of the gospel that brings them to faith or in the development of the faith of those who now believe. That is Paul's commitment of his life. Bringing the elect to faith and developing the faith of God's elect. That's his mission in life. According to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness, you can see that as they come into faith he is committed to the development of their own life, which would be after godliness. And teaching them and training them in the ways of God. And he says in verse two, in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised you before the world began. So for a someone born into the family of God who have experienced the new birth, to know that they have the hope of eternal life, that is a powerful thing to inspire them to take this journey of life, this pilgrimage that they are called to live and to live it with hope, the promise of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. He promised eternal life to all who were in Christ. And everyone who is in Christ is guaranteed eternal life. And as they are brought to faith in time throughout history, the thing that they are given is eternal life. And that is to be a hope that we live with. That should be one of the first things that excites and inspires you in your Christian life. I know Christians who've been, say, for decades and it still does not inspire them. The hope of eternal life. It's hardly ever considered. They're so consumed and distracted with life. They don't contemplate the hope of eternal life. What more could God give you that is of greater value than the hope of eternal life? I can't think of anything. And if we learn to live with that kind of hope, then it will be the inspiration for us to live the life that we need to live. And that was the issue here on the Isle of Crete, by the way. So this was important for Paul to articulate it right up front in his conversation with Titus concerning the elect of God that he was ministering to in that community on that island. Look at Hebrews chapter 11, another right after Titus and Philemon. Hebrews 11. We have another important statement on the subject of hope here in verse number 1 where it is said, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. So there's an interesting relationship that does exist between faith and hope. They're not the same, but they're definitely important in how they aid each other in our life. When we think of faith, we know that saving faith precedes hope. There can be no hope until we are born again. You cannot see the kingdom of God unless you are born again. You can't see eternal things until you're born again. Faith precedes our hope. But faith will be limited in its development without a growing hope. Faith is first a gift given to those who are God's elect at the time of their new birth. We know that faith is nurtured by the word of God, faith in the word conforming us, bringing us into obedience. It's during this normal process of the activities of faith that hope emerges and begins to influence our spiritual growth. Let me give you an example of that here in chapter 6 of Hebrews. Look at chapter 6 beginning in verse 9. So we have faith that hears the word of God and believes the word of God to be true. Faith hears the promises of God and faith believes the promises are true. But intellectually knowing the promises of God are true is not equated with hope. Hope is when you look to those things, you are inspired by those things as you contemplate and meditate upon what God has promised to his people. That brings faith to a different level. And that's where hope is valuable. In Hebrews chapter 6, he has talked about false professions of faith and and how many people follow a long time, they pretend to be, but in reality they're not. And so he warns them to be careful about them as they are often in our midst. But he says in verse 9, Beloved, we are persuaded better things of you and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Things that accompany our salvation. They come along with our salvation. There are things that come with or are attached to our salvation. Many don't have these accompanying things. You look at their profession of faith and these things are missing. And so he is saying there are things that accompany real faith. Verse 10, For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love which you have showed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints and do now presently minister. So God is identifying through this author that he takes note of those things that are done by his people who serve those around them. God takes note of that. The whole idea of diaconal ministry is embedded in these words, these Greek words that are used here of ministered to the saints and do minister. And so God recognizes these things. There are some people who just are committed to continue to labor and caring for others. They love the brethren. They serve the brethren. And he goes on to say to those who are not as actively engaged in this, we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. What gives one group more energy and more commitment to go about doing good than the others? Hope. They are looking beyond life. They are making their life count for eternity, not just for now. And he's calling upon others to look upon them and to imitate them in that you might have the same kind of commitment. And he expresses it here that you would show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope. So this is what gives strength and courage and vitality to our life, to our faith life, is we are able to look beyond this world and see things that matter eternally. How much in our daily activity is going to just go up in smoke when it's all tried and tested by the fire of God's own judgment of our works that we have done in our lifetime? How much of it is going to be lost? And so here we are given the idea that as we look beyond this world and we live out our life in a diligent manner to serve the interest of God as we serve one another, we care for one another, that that is a description of people who have the full assurance of hope. And so to be lost in your own little world, in your own little life, and just kind of consumed with day-to-day activity, that can happen to any one of us. And it will and often does. And so hope reminds us there's something more, something bigger, something better than just the temporal things, the carnal physical things, material things in this world. Look at another example of Paul in Romans chapter 5, in Romans chapter number 5. Peter brings this subject of a living, lively hope before us, a hope that is vigorous, it's filled with inspiration and energy, because it's able to see and anticipate spiritual things. And the reason you can see and anticipate them is God has given you new life. He's regenerated you and with that comes spiritual sight. It's interesting how often we have spiritual qualities, but they're not always well used. Why do you have spiritual sight? To be able to see spiritual realities. That's why we have it. And the spiritual reality that God has given to us pertains to the promises regarding the future. And God has given us eyes to see that to help us as pilgrims get through this world without getting entangled and kind of pulled down by the allurements of material things. And here Paul works this out in a unique way and it's we might call this Paul's description of the maturation of hope. How does it come to its development? How does it increase itself? How does hope bring about the sweet blessings that hope has provided for you as you hope? Look at it. We'll work slowly through these first five verses, make a few comments. Therefore being justified in verse one by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We've been cleared of our crimes. That's pretty fantastic information, isn't it? Cleared of our crimes. All that we have committed to God has now been settled. The account has been settled by someone else on our behalf. And it is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in God's good news. Has applied Christ's work to my life. And we are now enjoying peace with God. That's kind of where verse one is what it's all about. Justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Considering Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, that phrase sounds familiar, doesn't it? It's what Peter uses our Lord Jesus Christ in verse three. By whom, speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also have access by faith into this grace wherein we now stand. We have access. We are given the privilege to enter. We are granted the freedom. It has all been worked out. All the requirements and the payments have been settled. Now the door is open. We have access to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is described as a grace indeed that we enjoy from God's work on our behalf through his Son and wherein we now stand. We stand upon this sure solid. It's not wavering. It's not going to change. We stand on this solid rock that we now enjoy and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Rejoice in hope. We anticipate in hope the glory of God who will be honored for having invested all of his qualities into our salvation, which he did. One day all that he has done will be revealed and we will rejoice even more then. But now we do rejoice because we see the promises of what God has declared he will do for his people. We do now see them afar off. So we rejoice. We rejoice in the anticipation of the glory of God when it is finally realized and brought to light concerning his redemptive plan and eternal purposes. We see those things. Spiritually we see those things because we're told about them and we believe them and we anticipate them. We even long for them to transpire. But he goes on. Now it gets a little interesting for us in our thought. He says not that what has been said is not interesting, but it gets a little bit more twisted here for us to think about. And not only so, we anticipate the glory of God that will be revealed when he returns. By hope we see that. By hope we believe that to be true. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations now, knowing that tribulation works patience into our life. So until that day comes, until then when his person and work are revealed in all of its glory, we recognize that his glory is being presently worked out through our trials and our sufferings. Glory is not about something that is going to occur concerning God in eternity future. The glory of God is now being worked out, revealed in our lives. As we go through these diverse trials and tests, God's glory is attached to it. So we glory in, is that what he says? We glory in tribulations. We glory in them. We recognize that God is at work in them. We see God in them, right? God's glory is in our trials, in our tribulations. God is not somehow separated from them. His very being is attached to our trials. This is what Peter is working through in his two letters. God is at work in our tribulations, revealing himself in us and through us as we go through the tribulations. Plural, there's going to be many. Word, this word embodies suffering in all of its forms, all kinds of tribulations. But we must not separate God from our trial. We must see that the glory of God is attached to our trial. And we must be concerned with the glory of God concerning the trial we are in. And we have great opportunities to present God to the world through our trials. And Peter, again, it's the purpose of his letter. But Paul is focused on the same thing here. And so Paul explains how this works for us here. He says, we know that, we know, right? And in verse number three, we glory in tribulations knowing that tribulations work patience. And so we know. And that implies we have the basic knowledge of how God works this out. We've seen it. We've read it in his word. We've looked at the illustrations throughout the Old Testament and some of the New Testament apostles. We see how this thing works. This is not something that God has not been pleased to inform us about. We know how this thing works. We understand this process. James said the same thing, count it all joy when you fall into diverse trials, knowing that the trial of your faith works patience. So James, Peter, Paul, John, they're all going to talk about this same basic idea. Suffering, trials of life, don't divorce God from it. The glory of God is in it. We need to see it. We need to recognize it. Be attentive to God at work in the midst of our difficulties. And he goes on and he says, that tribulation worketh patience. And here the word means it works out, it accomplishes, it brings about. Tribulation brings about patience. If there's a virtue that doesn't get its, it's, we don't seem to understand its full value, it's probably this one, patience, which refers to the ability to endure with cheerfulness and to show courage and stability in the trial. So it's a very involved word, an idea. When he says tribulation will work this thing called patience into your life, this is what he's referring to. You will learn how to deal with life cheerfully and you will show courage and stability in the midst of your trial. But he's, he's not done. He goes on. Patience, he tells us in verse 4, will work, the idea implied here, it will work into our life. Experience. Patience brings about the advancement of experience. As we go through these experiences and trials and tests of life, tribulations, sufferings, patience provides us with the opportunity to experience God. What else would matter? It will bring about an encounter with God, to experience him in the midst of our trials. Patience identifies an experiment that is taking place in our life here. This word experience and experiment really derive from the same basic word. From the time of our testing, we gain valuable experience through it. It is through that that God teaches us. When we go back to the Old Testament and we read those stories, what are we always saying to you? Certain basic things, are unfolding all the time. Pay attention. Pay attention as you read. Look for God in the story. Study him, how he deals with humanity, his people. Notice his promises, his warnings. It is through the trials of life that we experience God. We experience a lot of things about ourselves. That is true about life's lessons. All of those are valuable, but the most important thing we experience is God himself. We're learning about his ways, his truth, and his will, which his glory is attached to. And so, he then says in verse four, and experience worketh hope. Hope is being brought forward. It is being developed through this process. You don't just wake up with a strong hope. How do you get a strong hope that can look beyond circumstances and trials and difficulties of life and long for the things that God has promised you? How do you get there? When we're born naturally and struggle all of our life with carnality and materialism and look at temporal things, how do we get to a place where we can look beyond these things and see God, see his promises concerning us? Well, tribulations, patience, experience, and hope. Hope is strengthened and nurtured through this process. Notice what else he says, though, before we leave this passage in Paul. And hope. Hope. Hope. You get there by this process that he's just outlined, and hope. Now you've got a hold of something of extreme worth and value to you. Hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which has been given unto us. You see where this thing goes. Hope, even in the trials of life, demonstrates a special kind of trust in the providence of a sovereign God when we rely fully upon him, when we are willing to follow him, no matter what. Our hope for things to come in the promises of God, that hope will not allow us to fall into shame. Not ashamed. Is it possible to stand in the time of Christ's appearing and to hang your head in shame? Absolutely. 1 John chapter 2. If you don't want to be ashamed at his coming, we are warned how to live to avoid that. It's a real thing. You want your life to matter, you must have hope that looks to the future and fully trust in God. And God's purpose for your life is to work that into you. So trials and tests are going to come, right? Yes. I love this hope he tells us here produces a special encounter with the love of God in your life. And he says it in such a manner, it will be shed abroad and it pictures it's going to be poured out abundantly upon you in some unusual fashion and way. Your mind and your hearts are going to be impacted by the love of God because you have lived through your trials in hope. You've maintained that hope and God will reward you by pouring out upon you a special love into your life, into your hearts. Both mind and affections are impacted. These are real feelings, experiences that we have with God. There is enlightenment that comes. There is a stirring up of our affections that comes when the love of God is poured out. This is a ministry of God's spirit to his people. Quickly, two other references. Go back to Titus chapter two. I'll be selective here for time's sake. Look at chapter two in Titus. Huge problems on the island of Crete. So difficult that Paul left Titus to set things in order and Titus was overwhelmed. He was not having a great amount of success and so Paul writes this letter to him to stir him up and challenge him with the task ahead. And as he unfolds doctrine and thought to Titus, he makes this observation beginning in verse 11 of chapter two, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. And that all men here when taken into context is dealing with the, remember the old men, the old women, the young men, the young women, all of that information that leads up to this statement. God is at work in all of us the same way. He doesn't work in women differently than he works in men, young people or old people. God works the same. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us, all of us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing. These two things joined together. If there is not hope and anticipation, looking and longing for all things to come to pass when your redeemer closes the age and brings us home eternally to the Father, if that is not on your mind and heart, you're easily susceptible to this present evil world. We must be looking for the blessed hope. One last reference. I'd like to say a bunch of stuff on these, but I know I don't have the time. First John, chapter three, and then we will close. Oh, brethren, stop right now. Stop, he says. Behold, I want you to think about something that is absolutely amazing. Consider this. What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we would be called the children of God? Think about it. What an amazing thing he has declared and shown and demonstrated toward us. Oh, beloved, he says in verse two, now are you the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be. There's mysteries that we don't understand about the age to come, the world to come, when he shall yet appear. But we do know this, that when he shall appear, we shall be like him for we will see him as he is. What a glorious thing. As you get older, maybe it becomes more of a reality, but I am tired of my flesh. I am tired of the battle and the conflict. I'm tired of that encounter, as Paul said. Oh, to be delivered from this wretched man. Well, we know that we're delivered from its judgment and condemnation. We rejoice at that. But yet, sin remains. Oh, what a glorious thing it will be when he appears. We know this, John says. We don't know a whole lot about all the details, but we know this. We're going to be like him. Paul said similar things in Philippians chapter three, that when he appears, he will take these vile bodies of ours and change them to be like his glorious body. There's hope for me when I think about that. I'm encouraged to continue, to fight through, not to give up hope. And then he says, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure. Every man that hath this hope in him. So, he makes a link here between those who believe this to be true and function accordingly. Every man that hath this hope in him, what does he do? He's active. His hope is lively, right? He's active. He's going about living his life more godly, more holy, as he moves to the end, not more reckless or careless. What inspires us to do that? The hope that we will be like him when he returns. And so, hope, when we think of it this morning, it refers to those things that we look for, things that we long for. Our hope began the moment of our salvation. We hoped in his forgiveness of sins. We placed our hope in his sufficiency through our Lord Jesus Christ. We hope in eternal life that he promised before the world began. We hope in his promises of mercy along the way. We hope in a new body, a new heaven, and a new earth. This is why we were born again, given new life, that we might have eyes to see eternal things. Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a living hope. He birthed you that you might have eyes to see. Do we contemplate these things as we should? It's easy to get distracted, isn't it? I've grown over this all the time, just like Paul does. I can study these things, read these things, preach these things, and still have to battle the flesh all week long. But where we live with hope, we have courage. Where there is hope, we are steadfast, and we will endure, and we will continue to anticipate what our great God has promised to bring to us when he returns, but with a caution. He is also working his glory out through your trials. You can have that hope too, that your trial, you can hope that your trial is going to bring glory to God, and it's going to improve your own life. What a way to live, what a hope we have. Can you imagine living without that? That would be dark and depressing. I'm grateful that God has birthed us to a living hope. Father, thank you for the promises of your word. May you help us day by day to lay hold of these things with spiritual sight until they become more real and clear, and we desire them with greater passion. I ask this for the sake of your glory among us. In Jesus Christ our Lord's name we pray, amen.