FROM HERE TO ETERNITY PT.1 | 1 PETER 1: 3-9 | JACK HIBBS

turn to first peter chapter one and today we'll start in verse three to nine i said we'll start in verse three to nine we won't make it all the way through but we'll start in verse three of chapter one all the way in our reading down to verse nine but we'll look at the first part of a message today entitled from here to eternity from here to eternity and uh as usual i'll read the odd-numbered verse if you will join out loud in the new king james version bible reading out loud in the even number of verses for all of you i will read the odd numbered verse and we'll end in verse 9 but we'll begin how here in verse 3. blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead verse 5 who are kept by the power of god through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time the genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to praise honor and glory at the revelation of jesus christ verse 9 and receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls let's pray father we thank you for the remarkable doctrine that's here in these few verses it's really now becoming very evident we're not hearing from a galilean fisherman anymore this is peter who has been completely transformed by the power of your holy spirit no longer bumbling or fumbling in his word usage or what to say but a man anointed and filled by your holy spirit and god we see the authorship of your spirit in these words so god give us ears to hear and give us the heart and the eyes of a ready writer and of a diligent student to put into practice the things we'll learn today and father i guess with what we're looking at the bottom line would be this that we as christians ought to be very confident very confident indeed in the fact that you are bringing us from here to eternity you won't drop any of us no one's going to slip through a crack we're not going to have the bag break and fall out in the bottom you're going to get us all the way through because you're the god that is so remarkably practical that once you've begun a work in us you're going to complete it and so god we thank you we pray in jesus name and all god's people said amen you can be seated with your bible open right here to first peter chapter one and now we're looking in verses three to nine and as i mentioned the title from here to eternity uh that's that's the journey for the believer you guys know last time looking at the fact that peter introduced his epistle to all of us addressing the church at large from the first century in which peter was living and wrote all the way out to the 21st century which you occupy now that we are pilgrims and that pilgrims have no home where they are at they have no home where they reside that as prick pilgrims they're in route to their home and peter's writing to the christians to you the believers in the lord jesus christ and to say that you're a pilgrim is an important uh and accurate biblical reality because what that means is is that in us there is a passion to get home peter's going to be talking to the believer to us about getting home yet it's a home that we've never been to the true follower of jesus christ this morning sitting here we've never seen heaven look we've never seen jesus we've never seen the prophets we've never seen the apostles but we longed to get home to the home that they all talked about how is that if the world would look at us they would think we're nuts that were crazy and yet no one who is a true follower of the lord jesus christ can deny the fact that within you your heart beats to an absolute different kind of drum and that drum is the beat of heaven the believer's life in the times that we spend the money that we spend the energies that we spend everything that you and i do uh to some degree is devoted to the fact that we're going to heaven sometimes we can lose sight of that sometimes we can forget that but there's always that great reminder by the spirit of god the holy spirit will remind you that god is doing a work and all along the way it's this journey from here right now to eternity and it's an amazing thing and so as we look at this today i want you to consider something that in these few seven verses from verses three to nine uh theologically it's really divided up into two parts that speak about the same reality and it is that pilgrimship of who we are uh but it is also the discussion and the argument about the eternal state of the home in which we're going we're pilgrims here but in heaven we will be what's the word uh firm footed we will have a an excellent uh foundation that though we we are somehow limited that we are somehow marginalized here it will not be the same in heaven and that is an awesome thing so church as we look at this first uh argument that we look at today regarding we as believers and from here to eternity is found right here in verse three you read it a moment ago look back at it now and it's all about confidence that god would have us to be confident we are confident is the argument of verse three and it's this way look at verse three blessed be the god and father of our lord jesus christ and the push to our confidence comes from that word blessed uh the word blessed here and it's kind of interesting right isn't god just always blessed he's god well this is where we get the english word that we use i should say in our english world but it is a greek word eulogy you heard that word before we use it when somebody dies which is really lame i gotta tell you right now it's kind of a lame application uh to give a eulogy to somebody who's dead have you if you've been to a funeral you everybody who gets up behind the podium or stands up to say something what do they say at the eulogy all these good things about the person that maybe most of the stuff's not even real or true i don't know but if you notice the guy oh he almost walked on water the guy was so amazing i remember this and i remember that and he was fantastic and he was amazing and in all this and it's amazing and and it and i'm i'm not knocking or i'm not endorsing insulting the dead the bummer is you should have said those things to him while he was alive right you you need to say it to them before they pass and this is what peter's doing right now for us blessed be god eulogy be god we're saying these things about god because god alone is worthy to be praised bless you god is what he's saying hallelujah god thank you god wow what's peter about to say what's he about to reveal he's going to now break into a deep doctrinal encouragement for the believer and peter explodes by saying blessed be god and note this blessed be god he says the father the god and father of the lord jesus christ now uh we don't need to spend much time on this but in your note taking you ought to mark this down god the father is not over or greater than or bigger than god the son you need to understand that god the father god the son god the holy spirit they are three as one god manifest in those three personalities that we talked about last week and one is not less than the other they are co-eternal each of them have all the same attributes as the one godhead possesses but when the bible says that the father for example of our lord and savior jesus christ what is the bible saying the bible is saying that the moment jesus christ came into this world and lived the life that he did that he jesus willingly uh submitted himself to the lordship and the direction of the father in his earthly life jesus was showing you and i how a man ought to live how a woman ought to live in obedience to god and so it's for us to relate and the announcement is blessed be god and it's a great declaration of unity and statement the god and father of our lord jesus christ now this is interesting when we talk about the fact mark it if you would that you and i ought to be confident knowing that god is delighted that god is delighted in the fact that peter is speaking to the believers god is delighted did you know that god gets delight out of you and that's a biblical fact now i don't know how you may or what you may think about that but according to god he is delighted and he sees you as we talked about last week in the righteousness of jesus christ all of you who have come to faith in christ i'll give you a couple of examples in luke chapter 12 32 listen to this jesus said do not fear don't be afraid don't be insecure what he's really saying is be confident in this little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom did you know god wants you to have the kingdom life god wants you to have eternity god wants you to have salvation god wants you to go to heaven so regarding eternity from here and onward we're in this journey know this and be encouraged it's god's delight and desire that you make it you say oh pastor i hope i make it listen are you a christian meaning this are you a follower of jesus do you believe he died on the cross and rose again from the dead yes i do you're going to make it now watch me i'm telling you you're going to make it don't go like this cool all right don't stick out your chest and think that you're going to do something that's going to get you to make it oh no that's the holy spirit's job under the command of the father to honor the work of the son to get you into heaven he's going to do it and we're going to see the reasons why these next couple of weeks in this study as to why god will come through for you because god is committed to your salvation it has nothing to do with your merit whatsoever it has everything to do with his holy name it has everything to do with do with this incredible salvation work of the lord jesus christ god is delighted blessed be the god how was god blessed well the whole act of salvation god is blessed by that he wrote the bible he's blessed by that it was god's idea that you and i would experience salvation and a relationship with god god gets delighted about that the next verse i i don't quote this enough i don't share it with you enough but i have in times past uh it's always received this verse is always received with silence yeah i wonder why it's zephaniah chapter three maybe you don't think zephaniah is in the bible for one thing zephaniah is the book of the bible did you did you read zephaniah this week zephaniah chapter 3 verse 17. listen to this regarding god's delight in you the lord your god in your midst the mighty one will save he will he not you he will rejoice over you with gladness really he will quiet you with his love he will rejoice over you with singing the bible ultimately talks about when god and you we are united with him in heaven that god is going to be delighted now some people take this as being almost an irreverent view of god that god would go yeah jack you made it you're here my holy spirit worked all the way through your life and and praise i was gonna say praise the lord he'd say praise me oh it's good to have you here he's going to be delighted the word means that he's going to listen he's going to hold the word is to embrace with comfort or quietness you remember when the bible says in the book of revelation he's going to wipe away every tear imagine that how real will heaven be how real will i tell you it's going to be more real in this tent it's going to be more real than your body it's going to be more real than anything you and i've ever experienced god is going to receive you and i and he's going to quiet us with his embrace that is a precious thing you say are you sure god's going to do that listen god's word says it he's going to do it don't ask me how i don't know but he's going to do it and then the scripture tells us in zephaniah that he's going to rejoice over you and i with singing the hebrew word implies twirling spinning around singing singing god is going to do this does that bother you it doesn't bother me at all i think god can be enthusiastic don't you the bible tells us in the old testament that when god created the physical universe that the angels sang and prays to god and the bible says regarding god's creative works it says that he saw all that he had created and it was very good i think god was happy about that and i think god's happy about the work that's going on in your life yeah you may not be happy i may not be happy at times because you and i miss the opportunity to see what god's doing god's doing an amazing thing in your life you need to back up and see that we get so bogged down with the here and now that we don't realize that god is preparing us for heaven and he's working in us now you need to look for that you need to see that god we can have confidence in this is delighted and that confidence peter is telling this to a group of people as i said last week have lost their homes lost their families they've lost their countries they're on the run all because jesus is their lord the second thing we see in verse three is that we can be confident in knowing that god is merciful god is merciful it says in verse 3 who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope man i tell you that ladder into that verse is extremely we would say pregnant with truth pregnant with theology you notice first of all that it is god himself and it says that he's doing whatever he's doing according what does this mean it means that the according means that god has a plan and he's sticking to it church i like that god has a plan regarding your life and he's sticking to your plan and he's doing a work and what is he doing well he's doing this work that he's sticking to and it is based on his abundant mercy uh we all know what grace is we talked about grace a couple or three weeks ago grace is god giving you what you do not deserve maybe you don't deserve this and god gives it to you anyway let's let's be honest the way california's been treating god did god owe us this last few days or this last month of weather hasn't it been wonderful i mean it's too cold for me but it's beautiful but listen we're right here in the sunshine and the hills are all green the flowers are going to be coming out soon and you see all the snow in the mountains this morning driving here to church and it's just spectacular and beautiful what's going on grace god's grace and uh god is good he just does that it's what he does well the amazing thing is we're not talking about grace right now we're talking about mercy and it's an abundant mercy and you know what mercy is grace is getting that which you do not deserve mercy is what you do deserve right god withholds that from coming so god god pours out grace upon you giving you things that you do not deserve mercy is where god stops that and peter says abounding in mercy god is toward you in this life toward me and so this word abounding is a limitless amount of whatever is about to follow the word uh abundant or abounding so mercy is for example what if you are now found guilty and the judge says uh you're i'm about to give you your sentencing so the juries found you guilty and then the judge says i'm going to give you your sentencing so stand up and the judge says i've i've thought this through and based upon the authority vested in me by the law uh i am going to give you not three to five years which this crime uh would normally warrant i'm gonna give you three to five minutes to tell me you'll never do this again and then go what would you do you'd get a big smile and in three to five minutes you would tell him why you're never gonna do that again and you'd run out of that courtroom clicking your heels and celebrating god abounding and mercy god is abounding in mercy how many times god does not do to us what we deserve every thank you somebody said all of you say amen right now it is so true incredible mercy that god bestows upon us and there's for a reason he's done this because look there's a purpose god is at work who according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again there's a connection here that in god's mercy rather than sending us to hell in that which we deserve god has begotten us again ladies and gentlemen church family it means this god has given you a second life you can start your life over again that's god's mercy and he gives us a second life and that second life is not like the first life it implies this the first life is fraught with hopelessness the second life is full of a living hope a hope that will be yours is ours now i want to say it this way sarcastically only as long as jesus lives as long as jesus lives you the believer have this remarkable living hope it cannot be extinguished it's an everlasting hope it cannot be put out it cannot be estranged from you it is a hope listen you need this for encouragement it's a hope that cannot flee from you when er when all the chips seem to be falling against you and everything seems to be going down the tube you need to remember this verse today you need to say lord you've given me a living hope and that's available now tomorrow and forever jesus show me hope help me loud to see this hope oh god and he'll do that and what's interesting about this look in your bibles skip down to verse four he's be got he's he's given us or bestowed upon us we just saw the living hope look at as it verse five talks about inheritance uh the inheritance and the third thing is salvation in verse nine uh greek scholars link these together who according to his uh abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope to an inheritance and to us to the salvation a trinity of blessings that god has put upon us and these are things that that do not uh flee away these are things that are constant and he's begotten us again you say well um this is ours yeah it's ours here's what's fun and i don't know if you like this or not i love it remember verses one and two that by god's foreknowledge he has ordained us or or predestined us based upon his foreknowledge that god knew in eternity those who would say yes to him and those that would say no to him that listen that the only way that you can have a biblical justifiable hell where people suffer there and god not be unjust is that hell be a place where those people did everything they could to get there hello did you hear me people who are in hell now got there very very strenuously they very very much were committed to getting to hell they rejected the grace of god over and over again god didn't throw them there they threw themselves there okay that's how hell is justified in the doctrine of the god of the bible people are there they're there of their own choosing but listen when you and i as believers get to heaven we will not be up there saying whoa whoa i'm so glad i made the right decision praise me for making the right decision no no no no you and i will be in heaven because we responded to god's overture of grace regarding the gospel he paved the way and made the way possible through the blood of christ for you and i to be saved he is the way the truth and the life and nobody goes to the father but through him does that make sense he gets all the glory in heaven and the one that's in hell condemns himself for being there that's very very important that you understand that now having said that think about this god is saying i've begotten you into this living hope so let me ask you this question how much effort how much involvement did you and i have in our planning strategy and work of you and i being born into this world how did you get here say my mama well that's not exactly true your mama was the was the vehicle it took your it took your mama and your papa or your mom and your dad for this to happen and you're the byproduct of their love okay and you were born into this world a hopeless world a world that is dying a world that is sold and condemned under the power of sin and that's why christ came but when god says i've begotten you again it's a theological term meaning that i have brought you forth almost think of it as from the womb i brought you out and you were helpless you couldn't do anything and i knew you before you ever born and i brought you out and my holy spirit worked in your life and he was calling you and my son died on the cross and that is to bring you eternal life and i've been with you before you even had a beginning and i've begotten you again into the second life it's the born-again life is what he's referring to in john chapter 1 verse 12 john chapter 1 verses 12 to 13 jesus said but as many as received him except christ open your heart to him re invite him in to them gave he the right to become children of god to those who believe trust rely upon his name listen who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh that means if your grandpa and grandma or your mom and dad's going to heaven that doesn't mean you're going god doesn't save you by association you've got to make a decision to come after christ yourself it's not by the will of the flesh nor by the will of man but of god god does the work of salvation salvation is of the lord says the scripture but notice he's speaking about a new birth and this new birth is something that we have to have and that's what paul is or peter excuse me is announcing ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 through 4 answers this speaks to this and notice everybody listen to this uh how much you and i of course live out this truth he says in ephesians two verse one and you think about you as a believer he made alive so what does that mean that means that before you were a believer you were dead did you know that so what do you mean i was dead you know what whatever your body wanted whatever your mind wanted you lived for that you did that thing and you went after your flesh you oh man you know when you were little you and i sinned like this we we robbed our little brother or sister of that twinkie we knew we weren't supposed to take the twinkie but we took their twinkie or maybe later you know you wound up doing this are you doing that and then you told your your first little lie and then you did the and then it just escalates and you know it's wrong but you just keep doing it because you know frankly you keep getting away with it you don't know any better but you do you know it's wrong but you've not been given any form of correction no other route has come to you and so and then as you get older it gets worse because now your disobedience starts to lead to what the bible says sin is pleasurable for a season so and it's just a catastrophic thing right it's just that the world uh now all of you in here you're all over 13 right you've all experienced this already but it's a bad thing being you know not being a christian you don't have a you don't have a faith in god you know some of you did i didn't but you you know you get this way in life and then all of a sudden your hormones start kicking in and you don't know a male or female it doesn't matter something just happened to you and your world goes crazy now i can only speak from a guy's perspective but you just go insane you start going insane at that young age and you pretty much stay insane until you die but that's a guy's life i don't know anything about a woman i'm not i don't not ever gonna be a woman i know this is california but i'm just never gonna become a woman and i can only tell you about a guy and it's bad enough just being a guy and uh when listen your flesh will take over and your mind gets in cahoots with your flesh and you're like this i mean you're you know you're at work like this you look so normal if that's normal i don't know but but inside it's like oh man i can't wait how much time to works over oh boy and i'm gonna call him or her and we're gonna go do this and the other and it's all the flesh and the bible says your dad because you're living for flesh earthly appetites and the bible from god's perspective says you're dead what does that mean it means you're spiritually dead mankind is born into this world spiritually dead and it's as though the holy spirit takes the bible like defibrillators he takes genesis and everything in between their revelation and the holy spirit when the gospel goes out places those paddles on your chest and says uh rather than clear he says repent boom and and uh you see the guy jerk and and the gospel jesus loves you boom in the body jerks what's happening you're hearing the gospel and you're being shocked with truth and it's as though you're dead and now you're starting to be awakened to life that's the work of the holy spirit and he's begotten you again into a living hope that can never die the christian hope this morning i'm looking across this this auditorium this tent and if you're a follower of christ today your hope will never never go out ever it's impossible god will guarantee that so he says in ephesians 2 and you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air anybody know who that is satan that's creepy right see i was just out having a good time serving satan oh we were just doing our own thing you were serving satan remember uh bob dylan you got to serve somebody remember that song it might be the devil it might be the lord but you got to serve somebody remember that it's true you're the servant christ because you're alive or the bible says without christ governing your life you're dead in your sins and the bible says you're serving the prince of the power of the error satan and it goes on the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience verse three among whom we also all once conducted our uh lives regarding the lusts of the flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind that's all true all of us know that's true even if you're not a christian you know that's true and we're by nature children of wrath just as the others but god isn't that great but god hallelujah but god who is rich in there's that word mercy because of his great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive quickened us brought us back to life together with christ by grace you have been saved what a great declaration that is galatians chapter 5 verse 19 tells us if we didn't recognize that old life he says when you follow the desires of your sinful nature the results are very clear sexual immorality that's having sex apart from marriage of any way shape or form impurity lustful pleasures idolatry sorcery which is weird it's who puts it down who puts a sorcerer's head up it's the word is pharmacai it's hallucinogenic drugs uh hostility quarreling jealousy outburst of wrath a selfish ambition dissensions divisions envying drunkenness wild part it's the word orgies wild parties and other sins like these let me tell you again he says as i have before that anyone living or practicing that lifestyle that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of god god doesn't want you to live like that and if you're honest that life stinks isn't that funny think about it you're looking at you're so quiet now come on were you not any of those people you're lying right now before you met jesus you and i were in those in those lines of the bible well it wasn't that one okay so you weren't that one but i bet you were that one i wasn't either one of those but i was that one over there we're there but god hallelujah right god's mercy works in bringing us to life and and peter's announcing that god's mercy is still at work in the life of the believer the next thing we see regarding from here to eternity that we can be confident is the fact that god is a he's such a generous god god is generous we can be confident knowing that he's generous the bible says how much generosity verse 3 says through the resurrection of jesus christ from the dead what an awesome god we have oh i had a lot of fun at my door yesterday oh they came to your door too i was really bummed because they have for 10 years they passed my house i was i saw them coming by the way i got up to do something i could see down my street i could see them coming i'm talking about the job witnesses i saw them coming and i i played a little trick on lasik have you have you ever seen lord of the rings if not you got to see it j.r.r tolkien he's a believer you'll see him in heaven i mean and it doesn't matter matt so you know when that in that one scene in the movie where the orlando bloom smells an orc remember that for those of you haven't seen what i'm talking about i i went into the room and i told lisa i said i went she goes what i said i smell an orc and she did what she normally does yeah well about 10 minutes later well i was shocked because they always come up to my door i mean they always come to the street they look at my address they look at a piece of paper and they they pat they always go past my house so these were newbies these were newbies and they came up and they tried they hi how are you i'm saying i'm fine how are you now i at my house you know a dutch door i call it the dutch door the the whole door doesn't open just the top opens yeah so there's this barrier right there and she went to hand me her invitation to her the watchtower society and she says you know uh uh she didn't say easter but she said uh we're celebrating the death of jesus next week yes but the pamphlet only addresses about the death of jesus we're only going to celebrate the death of jesus on good friday and only for a few hours why because he rose again from the dead on sunday listen the watchtower society doesn't preach that they don't preach that he's the son of god they don't preach that he was resurrected from the dead they preached that he's michael the archangel using the name jesus in the scriptures did you know that they don't tell you that at the door now i didn't i didn't point and get all excited like that i just said listen and you guys all need to go to our website and get this if you don't have it i just reached over behind the door and i pulled out is jesus god it's a pamphlet we have here at this church it should be right near you maybe even your in the sea you're sitting in and i said i want you to take this and she goes no and started talking more started talking more and i said okay let me have your pamphlet as soon as she handed me the pamphlet and she and she took it and i said are you not jehovah's witness yes then read jehovah's words it's all of this read them read them and then answer those questions i said the truth is this by none of your works can you enter the kingdom of heaven jesus christ died on the cross and for all those who turn to him they can have salvation but by your efforts and by your deeds you will not enter in so says the bible and i said god has given you a beautiful day to go out there and do whatever you're doing but just know this from this moment on you need to know that you have to be born again that heaven awaits all those now what's amazing about their doctrine is they believe the original 144 000 go to heaven and all those who come to the jehovah watchtower jehovah witness team goes into annihilation at the moment you die that there is no heaven by the way there is no hell i should say there's a heaven for the 144 000 but there is no hell by the way all cults believe there's no hell how convenient satan will wrap them up in a lie so if there's no hell according to their doctrine and if there's annihilation only after you die then why do i need to join their team you see i think because that's not the answer christ rose from the dead because there is no salvation without jesus christ and it couldn't have been a good man on the cross it had to be the god man on the cross it was that god came down took upon himself the form of a man lived 33 and a half years in pure obedience according to the law of god and then when that was finished went to the cross for our sins paid the price rose again from the dead ascended back to heaven so you and i can have absolute confidence that we're going to get there on his merit and not our own it's what he did he's generous god is generous jesus said in john 14 19 because i live you will live also wow in john 11 verse 25 jesus said remember he encountered martha and mary lazarus and sisters he says i am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me though he may die shall live and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die and then jesus next words out of his mouth do you believe this you see that's essential that is necessary for you to get to heaven every believer every true believer in this place says yep i believe it and i know that's to be true because god is at work in my life it's not wishful thinking it is an absolute confident fact at work in my life there was a sad tragedy this year or this week i should say last wednesday morning a physicist stephen hawking died and didn't believe in god made fun of christians mocked the bible even though he was completely crippled and had to speak through the technology of a computer would would say for example the bible uh faith in god is for those who are afraid of the dark it said he was so earthly brilliant i don't know about you but if you're smart you'll be afraid of the dark you know why there's weird things in the dark the bible talks about the dark the bible says hell is dark the bible says that satan trafficks in darkness that god delivers us by his light and he leads us out of the darkness and into the light jesus christ said i am the light of the world and he said hawking mocking faith i now i hope in the last second that he died he called out the christ you know that you know he could god could shock us all he could he could be in heaven but there's no confession of that he as far as we all know he died as an unbeliever but what i found amazing is that the london times printed up and it said that stephen hawking after being diagnosed with his disease to live only two years lived 55 years on and i read that and i thought that's the mercy of god waiting waiting waiting for stephen hawking to change his mind don't be like that don't be like that the god of the bible died for you and rose again from the dead he loves you and he's given you a life of absolute victory because christ is risen from the dead yes we may have hardships yes we're going to difficulties battles but we're more than conquerors through jesus christ who loved us now the second argument we'll end with number two it's verses four and five is that from here to eternity we can be assured not only confident we can be assured assured with a great sense of boldness in this way assured knowing that god gives all now this is interesting i i have to tell you look at verse 4 jesus's resurrection afforded something for us and i got to tell you i'm so dumb i so don't get it i have to receive this by faith because frankly in my flesh i look at verse 4 and i say it's not necessary god i'll just be happy to be in heaven taking out the trash are you with me i just i'll be happy to sit in a tree and look at it all well part of god's grand delight apparently entails much more than that it says that all that christ has done results in god giving all and it says that we are going to experience an inheritance look at verse 4 an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled three things incorruptible undefiled thirdly doesn't fade away it's reserved in heaven for you and i literally reserved so who are you in the count of three state your name one two three you you trust in christ there is some form of benefit that god has for you that when you get there it's absolute custom for you it's reserved for you what is it i don't know but i know this the bible says that it is inheritance how do you get an inheritance somebody has to die you don't do anything to get an inheritance somebody has to do something somebody has to die so jesus dies you get the inheritance and awesome too it's free of taxes too by the way government's not gonna take anything of it but what else happens well it's incorruptible by the way listen the uh this is kind of technical but it's cool the word incorruptible undefiled and fading not away those three things in the greek language is a militant word usage it means that what is said is is most often used in a military context meaning that there is a defense that is set up to protect the inheritance against anyone or anything that is corrupt it means that they defend against anything that can defile it means that they defend against anything that would cause it to diminish or decay it's a very very incredibly powerful unfailing statement that god as it were has set in position for your inheritance as a believer you that whatever you're going to be getting from god because christ rose from the dead it cannot be defiled in any way shape or form it's reserved in heaven for you and it is pure beyond your imagination of pure you know look we love this in in practice in some ways christmas morning birthday gifts whatever it is it's like oh what'd i get i can't wait let's open it up here's an excitement about that imagine that in absolute perfection when god has for you your arrival into heaven and god is going to say come over here this has been reserved for you since before the foundation of the world this is your future forever in eternity you're not going to open it up and say send it back is there is there a return mail on this no no it will be you the way god wanted you to spend eternity paul the apostle said that regarding what god has planned for us the bible says he saw heaven and refused to describe it he says words are not lawful to talk about it whatever it is it's going to be amazing people it's going to be awesome god is going to be giving all the way that he purchased the lord jesus christ it's a wonderful thing to think the second thing we see here is in verse 5 and from all the way on our journey in our pilgrimage from here to eternity we can be assured in the fact that god cannot fail he will not fail he cannot fail now we'll get to this now today but we won't be able to fully develop it until next time but when we talk about god not failing look at verse 5 mark it down please those of you who are discouraged this is for you today look at it he's talking about you who are kept by the power of god through faith for salvation now watch this people through faith if you're here today and you're doubtful you're you're you're timid you're insecure about your walk with god you're you're hurting a little bit you need to understand something do you have faith in god i didn't ask you how much faith you have in god do you have faith in god in other words i'll ask you this if right now you could vote on on a on a ballot for you to succeed or for god to succeed which one would you vote for which box would you check if you had a box to vote on and check would you say i want all of my will done in this life or all of god's will done for my life in this life which box would you check if you would check the box for god it's because you have faith this is the faith he's talking about so don't cast yourself out because you didn't raise your poodle from the dead yesterday and your great prayer of faith has nothing to do with it are you for christ do you understand and desire his doctrine and his word you say yes well then go back up now you who are kept by the power of god this word kept is an amazing word it is a listen it means to be personally guarded personally guarded personally protected it means to be surrounded by external force for safe keeping this week donald trump came to l.a and the detail of his security because he came to l.a was a very high level of danger and so they they did extra levels of security and he was this word kept garrisoned by levels of security nobody could have gotten to him think about that on a human scale now think about it regarding god being your protector your defender god's word says listen everybody i garrison you personally all around i set the powers of heaven to defend you in this life from here to eternity i'm going to get you all the way through i'm going to make sure you're you're well kept by me notice it's kept by the power of positive thinking is that what it says i'm kept by the power of no i'm kept by the power of who god you need to underline that you need to meditate on that when you get hit on your heels and you're wondering oh my goodness wait i'm kept by the power of god you've been garrisoned about ephesians 4 verse 30 says that we're not to grieve the holy spirit of god because listen we were sealed for the day of redemption and that greek word for sealed means the seal can't be broken can't be broken you say pastor are you talking about are you do you believe in eternal security absolutely i do eternal security for those who are born again you have a problem with that that's what the bible teaches so what am i are you calvinistic or armenian in your view i'm i'm neither one of those guys look i'm calvary chapel i got i was saved schooled and ordained at calvary chapel costa mesa chuck smith it was a bro you're the ordination moment of me was hilarious i'm sitting in chuck smith's office he i'm sitting in his chair he gets up i don't know where he's going he gets up and he just said he just puts his hand on my shoulder and says lord bless what's happening in chino hills just blessed god and you do whatever you want to do out there and and he walked out of his office so i'm sitting there waiting i thought he went to the bathroom or something 10 minutes later a secretary comes back and she goes can i help you i said i'm just waiting for chuck she goes he went home and uh two weeks later i got my ordination documents from pastor chuck he said well that's kind of lackluster hey listen here's the deal god moves god works he's doing his thing and the remarkable thing about this is to be kept by the power of god and then sealed i am not john calvin's uh disciple i'm not the armenian disciple listen god built his church and sealed his believers and uses them before calvin armani was ever born listen listen you and i i hope for years i've been teaching you to go where to go where listen be no man's disciple don't be my disciple listen none of us be any man's disciple well i'm of i'm of calvin i'm of a no listen i want you to be of god be of god read this book cover to cover read this book be listen be one man's decision be the man christ jesus disciple nobody else's disciple get your theology from the word of god okay listen you'll never fail you'll never never be led astray so i'll get tons of hate mail this week because of the thing i just said but i'm a hundred percent confident and assured because god's word has spoken to us he says you come to me i'll never turn you away there's a lot of people who claim to be believers but they're not born again they look like they lose their salvation the only thing is they never had it no listen you're born again you're going to heaven you born again you run away from god you're going to get a bloody nose if you're born again he's going to go after you it's going to be a rough road if listen if you run away from god and you just you nothing's happening to you it's because you're not his very simple book of romans tells us by the way on another note that his spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of god you know he will not fail us he he won't do that and then the third and final thing we end right here is that we're assured because we know that he it is god who brings salvation and look at verse 5 it says ready to be revealed what is ready to be revealed it says that who are kept by the power of god through faith for salvation the salvation is ready to be revealed in the last day you say jack wait a minute i thought i was saved you are saved well then what does this mean this is the totality of you it's a listen and we're almost done this is important it's regarding the salvation of you in totality see i want to get you what do you mean listen your soul and your spirit is born again now you are saved if you drop dead if i drop dead right now i'm going to heaven you say well wait a minute your body but your body my body's here i'm gone if you come to my funeral that's fine for you i'm not coming i won't be here oh look at jack he looks so peaceful i won't be here it'll be just this stinking skin of mine listen to be absent from the bodies to be present with the lord this word re uh reveals the fact that it's all going to consummate at the return of christ when the resurrection takes place watch for the believers who have died or those who are alive at the time of his appearing the rapture when the rapture takes place the dead in christ will what rise and we will be changed in an instant and join their bodies with their returning soul or spirit to meet them in the air john 14 verses 1 2 and 3. first thessalonians 4 13 through 18. first corinthians 15 like verse 50 to 53 or 4. go look it up later if i drop dead right now and i fall over i'm gone i'm whoa lord god okay this salvation is the salvation that takes place when the body's resurrected salvation totality now this is amazing because this salvation that's going to happen god as believers the bible resurrection has to take place you know your body your body if it turns to dust god's going to reconstitute the dust you know you never cease to exist molecularly your molecules are floating around somewhere if i mean not yours but a dead believer's body he's he's in heaven but his body's in the dirt whatever listen when the resurrection happens god's going to assemble your parts it's not hard for him yeah but what if part of me blew away and part of me is in nebraska part of me is in honolulu what if i get eaten by a shark you still you're just in a bunch of molecules that's all you just you're out there and god's going to rip god's going to assemble your parts he's going to resurrect you and this is the this is the good news it's going to happen and and the word in the last time it means that we're nearing it it's coming up the train is about to pull into the station we listen from here to eternity we we know we know from scripture that we're really close to the end he's given us all kinds of indications from the word and here's what's fun when you and i are resurrected from the dead it listen if you have a limp you're not going to have a limp now we don't know much about this but we know that we're going to be resurrected in glory all all traits of sin or or uh remnants of sin is god if somebody's uh crippled will they be crippled resurrected no no they're gonna be absolutely removed in their body from the things that the curse of sin did to humanity how's that is that good news you say well will i be ugly i don't think you'll be ugly you've heard the saying it is ugly as sin well sin will be removed and you'll be beautiful isn't that great news for us it's like see don't you want the lord to come and i'll give you a few verses and we'll end with this this is good stuff listen every listen listen you want to have a t this is a test i'm not joking this is a test how do you know right now if you are a true father of jesus christ and that you're going to heaven do you possess right now within you a true passion to meet jesus today if you don't have that then just know this you're only a religious person you say i don't believe that i knew that so i have some verses for you hebrews chapter 9 verse 28 look and listen hebrews 9 28 so christ was offered once to bear the sins of many he said didn't he die for everybody yes he did but only the many get to benefit from his death the many are those who trust him he died for everybody he died for stephen hawking he died for adolf hitler but they're not benefiting do you have faith in christ to those who eagerly wait for him says the bible you see the qualifier do you eagerly wait for him he will appear a second time to those who are eagerly waiting for him and i love i love this apart from sin what does that mean this is great it means that when he comes back for those who are eagerly waiting for him sin the issue of sin the topic of sin the concept of sins not even on the table it's gone you want to know why it's gone because those the holy spirit who dwells within those those are the ones who identify that they died at the cross with jesus 21 centuries ago your life is dead in christ hidden in him right and you live now and newness of life says the bible when he comes back for you it's not there's no topic of sin coming up whoa right watch this for salvation he's coming to pick you up you who long and eagerly anticipate his return to pick you up to the consummation of your total salvation your mind belongs to him your spirit that lives forever belongs to him but your body in that moment will be transformed next verse first john 3 2. first john 3 2 beloved now we are the children of god notice the confidence in john's statement and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be that is be like what are we going to be like up there but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself just as he is pure final passage and then we end titus 2 11-13 for the grace of god has been revealed bringing salvation to all people and we are instructed to turn from godlessness or godless living and sinful pleasures we should live in this evil world with wisdom and righteousness that's doing the right thing and devotion to god verse 13 looking for the word means anticipating the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great god and savior what's his name jesus christ hallelujah that marks the believer oh lord come today now do we make plans of course we make plans you do you plan on education and and buying a home or doing this and and saving and of course you do occupy tilly comes says the bible but look we were smart and as we prepare for a life that could go on for 5 years or 50 years we prepare but we're preparing mostly for ever how's that we've given our hearts to christ we're following god in this world we're always keeping our eyes just above the horizon just above the horizon church let's stand did you see the sunset last night first of all did you see the day yesterday during the day yesterday of off and on intermittent rain sunlight the sun with the wind was blowing so the clouds would come by and in one moment the sun would be on you and then it would be cloudy or dark and then a little bit of a drop and then this it's just gorgeous day and you look around and yesterday i think i got a picture of it there was a moment where the sun was bursting through in between some clouds and you could see the beams of light coming to earth and i first thought in my mind was i wish i could walk on those beams i wish i could go over there and you you know and walk on it just walk up there just want to walk through that and then the next thought was lord this would be a great moment if i i'm just saying god if i was planning the whole thing i'd do it now you see when we say oh lord come today when your friends tell you oh lord come today they're not weirdos they love the the truth that their sins have been washed away in the blood of jesus they're humbled by that because they know who they are i know who i am but he's washed away my sins and the work that he started in doing that he's going to finish because he never leaves the job and someday because jesus is resurrected from the dead he's going to call me home the train's going to pull into the station and i'm going to step off the bible tells us we know from from the book of acts that jesus will stand and greet just like he did stephen he's going to greet you he's going to greet me and then according to zephaniah god is gonna get so delighted over the fact jack all right i've been waiting welcome home oh it's gonna be awesome father we can't wait i mean we will wait but we can't we will but we can't we can't but we will we'll live for you lord if we all die of old age and your holy spirit will see too that i'm not making some pledge to you i can't keep that pledge i have no strength in doing that but i know your spirit will take me all the way through to the end lord if you come back today it's a great day for you to come back i know that's going to happen too by the same power by the power of the resurrection of jesus christ so lord we love you today we thank you father may we go out right now we're all going to go to different places different cities wherever we go right now father because of what you've invested in us this morning may we be a little bit more bold today in our confidence because our confidence is in the living god we pray in jesus name and all god's people said amen let's bless him in this closing song god bless you

Channel: Real Life with Jack Hibbs

Views: 22,514

Keywords: anchored in the lord, pastor jack hibbs, salvation, born again, how to get to heaven, heaven, saint peter, apostle peter, st. peter, introduction to 1 peter, 1 peter, 1peter, first peter, 1 peter 1, 1 peter chapter 1, jack hibbs, 1 peter bible study, bible study in 1 peter, book of 1 peter, one true god, why does god allow suffering, why does god allow pain, persecution, persecuted Christians, Christian persecution, a living hope, jesus, calvary chapel, real life

Id: THxGwTKNYLY

Length: 63min 21sec (3801 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 20 2018