Friends, please turn with me to 1 Peter 1 as we have been considering in this new series of studies of this wonderful epistle. Friends, we have said that the Christian life is built upon two unshakable pillars. There is doctrine, there is teaching, and there is duty. The Christian life is actually an outworking of those things. Right belief must always come before right behavior. The reason some people behave in a certain way is because of their belief. It's because of the things that they truly in their heart believe. Or the fact that they might say they believe something and they might do the opposite. The reason is because that has not become a conviction to them. It's not a belief of the heart. They have simply maybe ticked a box. And this is the pattern that we see in the scriptures. And it is the pattern that we have in the epistles, especially. You find that oftentimes the first part of these epistles in the Bible, these letters in the Bible, the first part is oftentimes doctrine, teaching, theological concepts. And then the second part of it, you find practical application. Now, how are we to live? So you find in the first chapter up to verse 10 of chapter two, it establishes the fundamental doctrine of salvation. And then the second section, verses 11 of chapter two to chapter five and verse 11, it calls for believers, for Christians to, what are their fundamental duties? to live in submission to God, to live in obedience to the Lord, in holiness before God. So here in this first chapter, Peter lays out, and these are to new Christians, to new Christians who are being tried, who are being persecuted, or strangers, they've been scattered, they've lost their homes and jobs and family and all sorts of things. Peter lays out a comprehensive theology of salvation. Do you know what it is to be a Christian? Do you know what it is to know God and have your sins forgiven? We heard about some of that this morning and you would hear Peter say the same thing. And so in verses 3 to 5 that we want to think about, and I have to be honest, I think we'll just stick with verse 3 this evening because we want to discuss about heaven, hopefully next time, God willing, which is a great subject. We are given in this verse, verse 3 to verse 5, this plan of salvation. Salvation through God. That's the title for tonight's message. Salvation through God. And these verses or this verse itself, it raises vital questions. So for example, what's the source of salvation? Where does salvation come from? Where does this forgiveness of sins come from? Where does eternal life comes from? How does it come to us? In what way does it come to us? and you make yourself a Christian? What's its purpose? What's the design of it? For God to save your soul. And what's its final outcome? Peter begins not with a discussion of man's effort, but he begins as we saw last time with this eruption of praise to God. And you see in verse three, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again onto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This is no cold doctrine. This is no abstract and far away theology. This is a salvation that overflows in joy and in worship. The plan of salvation, friends, is not a mere concept. It's not an idea. It's not something that you can put ism behind it and say, this is kind of an idea. It's a reality that moves the soul. Is your soul moved by the gospel of Jesus Christ? So as we examine this, this salvation through God, this plan of salvation, we want to consider a number of things. First of all, the eternity of the plan. Salvation was not an afterthought, but God's eternal purpose. Secondly, the mercy of the plan. The foundation of salvation is not human effort, but it is God's abundant mercy. And then thirdly, we want to think about the power of this plan, the inheritance of salvation. I should say the salvation that is accomplished through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that is referred to. And then the security of this plan is the inheritance that is mentioned here, heaven itself. that is incorruptible and undefiled and reserved for us in heaven. So Peter here wants the believers, wants these new Christians to be anchored in the absolute certainty of God's salvation. My friends, it's not a good thing to go on in your life not being sure. It's not a good thing. It doesn't glorify God. It's not a humble thing. Our surety in the things of Christ and salvation, it has nothing to do with you. Our surety is in Jesus Christ. I'm sure of Him. I'm not sure of myself, but I'm sure of Him. And His salvation is complete. And this salvation is not a fragile plan, nor a temporary arrangement. It's God's eternal and unchanging purpose. So with these things in mind, let's first consider the eternity of this plan. Salvation through God first is the eternity of the plan. Look at verse three again. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again in unto a lively or living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. He hath begotten us. Again, it says. Peter begins with what? Peter begins with God. The Bible begins with God. In the beginning, God. The rest of the Bible, if you just have one verse, just the first verse of Genesis, it tells you everything about who God is, what he does. It all begins with God. This is not a man-centered kind of teaching which you get today. This is no accident for salvation begins with God, as creation begins with God. This here, the text does not begin with man's seeking. It's not saying, oh, people were seeking God. And then God revealed himself. No, no, no man seeks after God, the Bible says. It doesn't talk about man's effort. It doesn't talk about man's worthiness. This is the thing. If you go and talk to people on the street, if you go to even some churches and they say, oh, you're worthy, worthy, worthy. No, my friends, that's not what the Bible says. We are corrupt. We have a heart full of things that needs to be changed, not just cleansed, but the actual heart needs to be changed. So here it begins with God's eternal plan grounded in his abundant mercy. Salvation, my friends, is not a reaction as though God looked out at a fallen world and hastily devised a rescue plan. No, this is an eternal plan conceived in the infinite wisdom of God before the foundation of the world. So when a sinner is saved, when a person who's lost in sin is converted, is saved, is forgiven, has been given eternal life, is begotten again unto a lively hope, what we are witnessing in time is the unfolding of God's eternal plan from the beginning before time began. That's what it is. So salvation begins with God. Peter doesn't simply said blessed be God. In a general sense, he praises God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's important because it identifies, number one, the God of covenant mercy. This is not a sort of generic deity. This is not just some sort of God out there in a very general way, generic way. But the God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ. He's the God of the everlasting covenant. The one who has purposed redemption from eternity past. But another thing, the second thing is this, that the God who acts in salvation, this is not a passive observer. This is not a watchmaker who winds the clock and then leaves it. This is not a God of the deists. But the God who planned and the God who executed and the God who applies redemption to his people. My friends, if you are going to be saved, God has to take hold of you. God has to deal with you. Has he done that? And another thing, the third thing is that the God who saves by mercy, not merit, has nothing to do with you. It's not because of your salvation or because of your merit, I should say. So Peter here does not ground salvation in human ability, but in God's abundant mercy. Charles Haddon Spurgeon put it like this, he said, the plan of salvation was not sketched in the last moment, nor was it an afterthought. God's mercy was not awakened by the fall of man, it was there from eternity. My friends, salvation is not God scrambling to fix a mistake. God did not make a mistake. Man fell into sin. It is the outworking of an eternal decree of mercy. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again. But then think about the motivation of salvation. It's abundant mercy, God's abundant mercy. So this is what Peter is saying. It's not limited mercy. God is not stingy. He's abundant in his mercy. That's why my friends, you can go to him, plead for his mercy. He will not say no. The problem is my pride won't go. and thinks that I am worth all the things. I merit salvation. No. It's not reluctant mercy, but it's overflowing. It is super abounding mercy of God. But as Jeremiah says, or the Lord says through Jeremiah, the prophet in Jeremiah 31 and verse three, he says, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, have I drawn thee, loved you, with this everlasting love. There was never a time that God didn't love his people. Can you imagine that? Can you really take that in? That always God has loved his people? And that love has nothing to do with their failings, because you fail, I fail all the time. It has nothing to do with that. It says, I have loved you with an everlasting love. It doesn't go up and down. The foundation of salvation is not found, dear friends, in man's worthiness, but in God's heart of mercy. Many misunderstand God's purpose in election. And they paint a false picture of divine predestination, as if God sat coldly, choosing some for heaven and others for hell, in a sort of a spirit of harsh selectivity. I said, I'll show them what I'm gonna do. I show these people, they reject me, I will forsake them. That's not how it works. And so Peter is not allowing that kind of a distorted characteristic of God, caricature of God. The doctrine of election does not rise from an arbitrary decree. but from the overflowing love and mercy of God. If God did not show mercy, no one would be saved. So that, again, what an encouragement to you it is. If you're not a Christian, go and plead for God's mercy because he will answer that kind of a cry. Imagine standing at the shore of a vast ocean and you take a small cup and you try to empty it, empty the ocean. How can you do it? No matter how many cups you pour out, the ocean remains full. It's undiminished. It's boundless. That's God's mercy. You cannot empty God's mercy. His mercies are new every morning. You can go to him, dear friends. You can go to him. He doesn't get tired of it. He gives and gives and gives, and he does not lose. He's not diminished. That's God's mercy. It is not a trickle. It is an ocean. His plan of salvation is not stingy, nor does he delight in withholding grace. It's the purpose of, it's a purpose of super abounding, Love. One Puritan, Richard Sibbes, he put it like this. He said, there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us. There's more mercy in Jesus Christ. So you think, what about my past? What about this? What about that? I'm so guilty. And if God, we were talking to some young people earlier this afternoon. If God was to just show you just a small amount of your wickedness, you couldn't contain yourself. You couldn't cope with yourself. How can we cope? Because God has been so merciful and he's put a curtain over our eyes. If we only saw what God sees, we would lose our minds, we would go mad. But my friends, God is so full of mercy in Jesus Christ than sin in us. God's election, my friends, is not a cold decree. It's the expression of his full and overflowing heart of love. And something else is this, that salvation is rooted in God's unchanging nature. You see, all of these attributes of God, the characteristics of God, you think, well, that's just for theologians. But actually, it's very, very practical. This unchanging nature of God. Imagine if God kept changing. What kind of God would that be? That would be a man, not God. That would be the devil, not God. Devil keeps changing. You see, he doesn't know the eternal plan of God, the decree of God. He doesn't know what God is going to do with you. So devil is constantly reading. He is the most miserable person being. He cannot see what God is going to do. But God is unchanging. This doctrine of the eternal plan is not only a past decree, it's not something that happened in the past, but a present security for God's people. Because his plan began in eternity, it will continue into eternity. For I am the Lord, he says, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. We read that in Malachi three and verse six. If salvation, if forgiveness of sins originated with man, if it started with people, it could fail. It would fail. If it depended on people, if it depended on you doing your best, you would fail. And you wouldn't know, have you done enough? It will collapse. But because it rests in God's unchanging decree, it is secure. You can rest in that. You can rest your whole soul in it. Someone has said, if God has loved you from eternity, then he will love you into eternity. His love does not change because he does not change. Can you get that? Because what we do, we think he keeps changing because of our failings, but he doesn't. He loves us with an everlasting love. Can you write that on your heart? And this is why the believer's assurance is not in himself, but in God. It's not in you, but in the Lord. God's purposes are eternal. Therefore, salvation is secure. God's mercy is abundant, as it says here. Therefore, salvation is free and undeserved. God's nature is unchanging. And so salvation is certain. This is our hope. And praise God, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. So that should bring out from us worship. If salvation is rooted in God's eternal plan, what should be your response? If you're a Christian, what should be your response? My salvation is rooted in God's eternal plan, so I will worship him with all my heart. So Peter begins with praise because of who God is. It's all entirely of God. I praise him for that. Does your heart overflow with gratitude, thankfulness, or are you miserable? Do you have a long face? But also humility. If salvation is according to his purpose, There is no boasting in self. You cannot pat yourself on the back and say, look at what a good Christian I have been. Look at how many books I have read. Look at how many times I've read my Bible or how much I pray or anything like that. We are saved not because of any of those things. We are saved because of God's mercy, not our merit. But also if God has planned salvation from eternity, Then we can rest. Don't you need rest for your soul? We can rest then in His sovereign grace. Our salvation is not fragile. I don't have to worry about my salvation. If it is in Christ, it is anchored in God's eternal purpose. So here it is, the apostle, he says, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again. But let's move on now. The second point. The essence of this plan, not the eternity of the plan, but the essence of the plan. Which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again. We were talking about this this morning. The essence of it is to be begotten again. The essence of it is to create a new creation, a new creature in Jesus Christ, a new person in Jesus Christ, not your old self, but a new man in Jesus Christ. It's not a sort of a paint job that God does on people and puts a new coat of paint on you. That's not it. The whole thing needs to change. That's what God does. Salvation is not merely a change of opinion. It's not about you changing your mind about certain things only. It's not sort of adopting some kind of a religious custom and say, oh, well, we are now going to Providence Chapel. Put that label on yourself, whatever that is. Or, oh, well, I will begin reforming my habits, my moral habits. I'm not going to do certain things. My friends, what this is talking about, this begotten again unto a lively hope, a living hope, is talking about something supernatural. It's talking about a supernatural birth, a new birth, and that's what you need. It's not about me giving it to you. It's not me putting a stamp on you, oh yes, you are a Christian. No, no, it's God doing it in you. So this phrase, begotten us again, it means to be born anew, to be regenerated. We saw this this morning, ye must be born again. If any man being Christ is a new creature, For in Christ, Paul says in Galatians 6 and verse 15, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision. It's not about those things. It's not about those outward things, but a new creature, he says. This is the heart of the gospel. God's plan is to do more than to forgive sins. He transforms those he forgives, those sinners, into saints, and he does that in this world. You don't have to go to heaven to be a saint. You can be a saint now. Salvation, dear friends, is a new birth, not a religious adjustment. Begotten us again, that's what Peter is saying. That refers to a radical transformation. It's not simply a decision that people make. Oh, I made a decision. I've gone down the aisle. I raised my hand. I filled in a card. I said a prayer. Isn't that enough? No, it's not talking about that. Being begotten again. It's not an intellectual agreement. with sound doctrine. You can say, well, I agree with everything. I agree with the Bible. And not only with the Bible, I agree with the statement of faith in this church. I believe in the reformed confessions of faith and so on. No, it's not talking about that. It's not an agreement with sound doctrine. It is a supernatural event that takes place. The life of God, can you imagine this? The life of God is implanted in the soul of a dead sinner. That person comes to life. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit, our Lord says in John chapter 3 and verse 6. So when the Lord Jesus Christ told Nicodemus that he must be born again, he was speaking to a Pharisee, a man of good morals. He had great religious devotions. He had great theological knowledge. He could teach you a thing or two. He was a master in Israel. And yet, despite all of his learning, Nicodemus lacked one thing, needful spiritual life. He didn't have it. yet everything else, but he didn't have a spiritual life. There's a child that is born but is stillborn. Of all the outward appearance of life, it is body, legs, arms, eyes, yet it's lifeless. How sad. that it is with the unregenerate sinner, with a person who might be religious, who might dress well, who might go to church, who might do this, who might do that. But if they are unregenerate, they're spiritually dead, I hope you want more than this. I hope you want in your life, true life, spiritual life that not you produce, but God produces, a lively, Christianity, a living hope. Don't just seek after morality. Don't seek after, what duties do I have to do? Don't say, well, I just need to read this and I just need to read that. Get more theological knowledge. But if that person has not been born of God, born from above, he remains spiritually dead. This is what Spurgeon said. He said, reformation is not regeneration. A man may wash the outside of a cup and yet the inside may be filthy. Still, a new coat is not a new man. And the grafting of a new branch upon a rotten tree will not make it a good tree. And that's why many profess faith. but are never truly changed. Devout for religion, but no inward life. My friends, what is this teaching? New life is a divine work. The new life that is talking about here is a divine work, it's God's work. The birth is not something man can accomplish. And so he says, he hath begotten us again. This is God's action. So he brought you into this world once. So you've been born once. I hope you have been. You have been born once. And then again, but this time it's a spiritual life that is given. This is God's action, not man's effort. Which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. The Pharisees believed that circumcision and also adherence following of the law of Moses made them right with God. Those in Galatia, in the church in Galatia, the Judaizers, they taught that salvation required the keeping of the Jewish customs. But Paul rebuked them in Galatians 6 and verse 15. He said, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Neither Jewish law nor Gentile freedom means anything in salvation. What matters is a new birth from God. You have Lazarus. Do you remember the Lord Jesus Christ's friend, Lazarus? He lays dead in the tomb. You read that in the Gospels. You read it in the Gospel of John. He's dead for four days. He's stinking. That's what's happening. And no amount of human effort could restore his life. But Jesus came. And he spoke. He said, Lazarus, come forth. Come out Lazarus. And he did. At that very moment, the dead flesh was revived and a dead man walked out of the tomb. That's what you need. That's what happened to me. I was dead in trespasses and sins until Jesus Christ came to this tomb and he called forth this person. What, this is what happens in regeneration. God speaks and life is given, the dead soul comes to life. Another Puritan, John Flavel, he says, the new birth is not the fruit of man's will, but of God's power. No more than Lazarus's resurrection was his own work. He comes out, you know what the text says in John. He comes out, still he's wrapped around with the cloth that they have wrapped around. He comes like that, out. And what we find here in this passage is that this change of life, this producing of life, this salvation produces a changed life. That person is not the same. Many profess Christ. yet show no evidence of a new heart. And there is warning in scripture. The apostle, he warns in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17, if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. There were old things in your life, but this is all things are passed away. They've gone. Don't hanker after them. Don't want your old life. Behold, all things are become new. You see, this Christianity, this salvation is not just about forgiveness. It's about transformation. So those who are saved, those who are born again, they exhibit certain things. They have a new heart. They have new affections. They have new desires. The caterpillar dies when the butterfly comes out. Are you a butterfly or a caterpillar? Tell me at the door. Which one are you? Caterpillar or a butterfly? So is with the Christian. He's not the same creature with a few modifications. He's entirely new. A man may go to hell, Thomas Watson said, with a sound head, but he cannot go to heaven without a changed heart. And that's why sound doctrine alone does not save you. Right? Theology is essential, but it must be accompanied by a new life. Do you have that? So he says that according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again. The Lord says you must be born again. John Wesley, we have many things, many problems with him, rightly so, but he said you may have an as orthodox as the devil, you may be as orthodox as the devil and as wicked as the devil, he says. You can be theologically very sound. The devil is theologically sound. He knows who the Lord is. The demons knew that Jesus Christ was the son of God. That he was the holy child, they refer to him. So what we need to do, when we hear these kinds of messages, we need to search our own souls, examine our own souls today. If you are truly in Christ, Should you not rejoice? Should you not be thankful? Should you not praise God? Say, my life is given for Him who gave His life for me. This miracle of new birth is given to you. You've experienced a miracle. That's amazing. But if that's not the case, should you not then cry out to God for mercy? Because without being born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. And then let's move on to the personal reality of the plan. The third point is the personal reality of this plan. It says, begotten us is personal. Begotten us. but you need to move quickly or else we'll be stuck in verse three next week as well. Have you been begotten? Can you say he has begotten me again? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. He is a new creature. Can you put yourself in that? Says, I'm a new man in Christ. So it's not something simply a concept, an idea, but it's a personal reality. It's one thing to know about theology and about Christianity and about regeneration. You could be the master talkative of Pilgrim's Progress. You know, you can talk about anything. But it's another thing to experience it. You talk about sin, but it's another thing to actually grieve over it. So the question is not, do you understand? But have you been? Have you been born again? That's the issue. Do you understand my sermon? That's not the issue. The question is, have you been? Have you experienced? Have you become? So he speaks about begotten again. It's not external, it's internal, it's all together. We talked about the changed heart. We talked about the changed life. We said that the Christian doesn't remain the same. It's not just a claim, but it's a reality. It's not somebody who says, oh yes, I am a Christian, but I love this world. I love my old life. I sing to it my old music. I dance to my old music. I live in this way. There hasn't been much change, some modification, but not much change. The old sins, the old ways. Don't deceive yourself. A new creature hates what he used to love and now loves what he used to hate, someone said. The sin he once pursued, he now forsakes. He doesn't want it. The holiness, the righteousness, the things that he used to despise and say, oh, I don't want to be like them, he now wants, he cherishes. The world that once attracted him, he now sees as empty. He's passing away. He's not hankering after it. So the inescapable test of a new birth, my friends, what is it? You might profess to have faith. You may say, I know doctrine. I know teaching of the Bible. I've read the Bible. I attend church and all of these things. What's the test? Bishop J.C. Ryle, he said this, a faith that does not change a man's life is no better than the faith of the devils. Has the plan of salvation ever been made personal to you? Have you truly become a new creature in Jesus Christ? You are the only one who can answer that. What do you love? What do I love? Is it Jesus Christ? Is Jesus Christ consuming my mind and heart? And do I want the work of the Holy Spirit in me? Has God transformed you? Let me finish by... Moving on to the fourth thing, the execution and the effects of this plan of salvation. The execution and effects of the plan of salvation. We read of the being begotten us again onto a lively or living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So Peter has laid out the eternity of salvation's plan. He's laid out the essence of its purpose in creating a new creature and now he focuses on the execution of the plan. How is it actually accomplished? And he points us directly to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That might be a surprise to you. Not often the matter of resurrection is pointed out. That's quite a striking what he says. If you were to ask many today how God accomplishes the new birth, they might speak about the Holy Spirit's work, and rightly so. But Peter, under this divine inspiration, he directs us first to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ as the means by which believers are begotten again. That's interesting. You see, again, the resurrection is not a theological side note. It is the climactic event. It is a fundamental doctrine of the faith in the execution of salvation's plan. It declares to the world this resurrection of Jesus Christ. It's saying a number of things. It's saying this, that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and man, and he's a living mediator. He's not a dead priest. He's a living mediator. That's what it's saying. He's come back to life. Another thing they're saying is that the death His death was accepted by the Father as a perfect sacrifice for sin. It's accepted. Nothing to be done. And thirdly, it's saying that sin and death and the grave have been conquered for all who would trust in Him. You don't have to worry about death. You don't have to worry about the grave. If you have been resurrected by Jesus Christ, if He has saved you, because you believe in a resurrected Savior. And so the effect of this plan blow from the Lord Jesus Christ's work of resurrection. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So much could be said about these things. It's not an abstract concept. It's something that was accomplished in time and in history. It was done by God himself. through the life and death and the resurrection of his son. And so this is something that the apostles consistently preached, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in their sermons. If there is no resurrection, the whole gospel, the whole hope of the Christian, it collapses. There's nothing left. And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, he says. And your faith is also vain. A dead Savior is no Savior at all. If the Lord Jesus Christ remained in the grave, then we have no assurance. that his death was sufficient to satisfy God's justice. But because Jesus Christ rose again, we have this absolute certainty. What? We have absolute certainty that the price has been fully paid. Praise God for that. There's nothing else left for you to pay. Sin has been fully conquered. The believer then has a sure and lively living hope. Oh, my friends, Jesus Christ's tomb is empty. Not Muhammad's, not Buddha's, not Confucius's. All died and they remain dead, but not Jesus. Millions visit these people's tombs, paying their homage to their memory. But the Christian may go to the tomb of Jesus and you can go in. It's empty. Nothing there. What's the point of going? It's empty. You go to see an empty room. The stone was rolled away, not to let Jesus Christ out, but to let us in to see. It's empty. He's not there. He's risen. This tells you about the person, the unique person of Christ. Salvation is not found in a system, it's not found in a philosophy. You can't go after and say, well, I just become a Christian by holding on to these doctrines. No, it's found in person. You go to be a Christian by taking hold of Jesus Christ. That's what you need. There is one God and one mediator. Between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. That's the one who needs. This resurrection shows that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. Christ is that accepted sacrifice. There is no second mediator. There are no second chances. There are no other saviors. This is why all man-made religions fail. Because apart from Jesus Christ, there is nothing else. There is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved. So again, this produces humility. Salvation is done by grace alone. That should produce deep humility. Christians should be deeply humble, not arrogant. Those who say, well, I'm saved. They're not boasting in themselves, my friends. If a person says, I am sure of my salvation, that's not a foolish boast. No, they're saying, I am boasting in the cross of Jesus. I am boasting in God's mercy. False religion exalts man. It tells him to earn heaven, you work harder. But true Christianity humbles man. It tells him that he's helpless. He must be saved. Spurgeon said, you will not find a Christian strutting through the streets of heaven, boasting of what he has done. He will be there because of sovereign mercy, and he will give God all the glory. Do you feel pride? Do you pat yourself on the back and say, I'm doing better than these other people? then I fear, I wonder if you know the grace of God. And here, another thing that it speaks about, the Christian has, is a lively hope. This is not a vague wish. It's a certainty that is rooted in Christ's resurrection. It's a lively hope, it's living. It's not dead, it's not cold, it's not icy. It's living. The Christian's hope is living, unshakable. It is eternal. It's something that will not disappoint. Hope maketh not ashamed, it says in Romans 5 and verse 5. There is this anchor for your soul, my friends, in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a ship in the storm. It's an anchor. It needs a firm, it needs an unmovable hold to keep it from drifting. Are you drifting away? Who is your anchor? What is your anchor? The Christian's anchor is Jesus Christ. The storm of life may come, may rage against you, but that anchor will hold you. You may, at times, lose sight of it because the anchor is under the sea. And you may not see it, but somehow you're kept. Somehow you carry on. I remember my friends, a friend of mine, speaking, minister speaking about a couple that they knew in Northern Ireland. They had come to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ had called them to go to the Amazon area in South America. And they went, it was a long trek, sailing on a boat there, and then going up the rivers and all the various rivers that goes up. And as they were traveling, there's this young lady, 30 year old young lady, who was with her husband, full of joy, full of hope that they are going to preach the gospel to the natives of the land. And they were going, they were writing letters back. And full of this lively hope. But on the journey, this lady becomes ill. Severely ill. The husband is not a doctor. And they stop where they had to stop in the village that they had to stop. This woman, her life is ebbing away. She had written some days before to friends and quoting the words of our Lord Jesus Christ that his work is finished. And yet she dies within days of arriving. She had no opportunity to even tell anybody about the Lord Jesus Christ. She dies. And the husband, his name was Frank, The husband sees all of this and he is so helpless and he said that he just could not sleep. He just cried and cried and cried. Everything was black, everything was dark. Wondered why the Lord had let them there and so on. And he was studying Portuguese, they couldn't speak the language, and everything was so dark. And he says, I tried to learn the language, all I could see was her face. I tried to read my Bible, all I could see was her face. But then he thought, but I will do what she encouraged me to do, go and preach Jesus Christ. He's our only hope. And he did that with tears, he did that. And the natives there, they saw that as well. Here's a man who just buried his wife. He still goes with thanksgiving, he's shedding tears and he's going and telling them with broken Portuguese about the way of salvation. That village was converted. It is still there. There was a church that was formed there, and then it became a mother church for many others. There's a great work being done right now in Brazil. It's amazing. The spirit of God is moving. We thank God for that. This man came to realize, my hope was not in my wife. My hope is in Jesus Christ. He's the one, through his resurrection, gives me this lively hope. Where is your hope? Where is your hope, dear friends? Is it in Christ? He goes on to speak about heaven. He goes on to speak about the fact that what God is going to reveal, there is this inheritance, incorruptible and then defiled, that fadeth not away, reserved for him in heaven. What is this all about? I hope we will come to it. My hope is built on nothing less but then Jesus Christ, Jesus' blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. That becomes a reality when you think about these things, dear friends. Let us praise God. Let us praise him for the eternity, the essence, the execution, the effects, of His glorious salvation. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy have begotten us again unto a livelihood by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for you in heaven. For you. May God bless these things.