So, if the camera came up to you and it said, "What do you have to bless God for?” What would you be saying here tonight? If you don't have something to say coming in, you will have something to say going out. I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 to 13. Did we have fun at that High School Summer Camp? I mean, that was a lot of fun. What we did in four nights, we're going to do in four points here tonight, everybody, 1 Peter 3:3-13. Once you turn there, out of respect for God's Word, I invite everybody to stand up for the public reading of Scripture. I hope this passage is really going to encourage you here this evening. Please follow along as I read 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 to 13.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead, grab a seat. I feel like that line, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” can you underline that if you're taking notes? We’ve got all the verses for you on the handout. That first line that begins with an exclamation point, I think that's an easy line to just read over and be like, oh, that must be part of the greeting. What does the rest of 1 Peter have to say? Apparently, this was a regular way of thinking among Christians in the early church is I'm ready to bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to bless here is to eulogize. It's to say something good about, okay? And the reason here it gives for you to say something good about God is because of his grace, his great mercy. He has caused us to be born again to a living hope. You can have hope because God has saved your soul. He has caused you to be born again. Can I get an amen from anybody on that?

Okay, so you can see the assumption of 1 Peter is that he's writing to elect exiles, he's writing to people who are in Christ, and he says if you're in Christ, the only reason you're in Christ is because God is not giving you what you deserve in judgment for your sin. God is giving you mercy. And he initiated, he caused, he is the one who really did the work of regeneration to make you born again, and if you're born again, you have hope. Okay, so you should have something.

Let's get this down for point number one, if you are taking notes: “You have good to say because he is good to save.” That's the idea, the premise that 1 Peter begins our text with is, you should be able to say something good about God. And we had to talk about this at camp, because a lot of people, there are so many good things you could say, and you could talk about the people that God's put in your life, you could talk about different blessings. I mean, all the gifts that we have in our life, they come from God, but the goal here is you're going to say something good about God, about who he is, about what he's done, and particularly here, the reason you should say something good is you didn't deserve to be saved, you didn't earn your salvation. He's the one who initiated your salvation. He caused you to be born again, or this idea of being born from above. This is what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John, chapter 3. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again, and it's something God does to save us now.

Grab your Bible and go with me to Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 3. We're going to look at a few more chapter 1 verse 3s, because I want you to see that this is a way that they would think and talk, and I want us to think and talk this way here at Compass Bible Church, Huntington Beach. I want everybody to be able to bless God. In fact, when we are having our strawberry shortcake later on this evening, yes, you heard that right. Write that down: strawberry shortcake. All right? When we're feasting on that delicacy later on tonight, if you're just stuffing your face with shortcake, you're doing it wrong, you should be in between bites, saying something good about God, not just doing the normal church chit chat. Let's talk about him. He's why we're here. And you can see in Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 3, it says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice this, but who has blessed us in Christ with? Look at this, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” Well, I mean, look at all the things, the fruit of the Spirit is what? What are things that you have? Love, joy, peace, patience. I mean, how many good blessings has God given you? It says every blessing is yours. So, maybe there are some things that God has been teaching you, some grace that God has been giving you, and you want to respond by telling people, I've got something good to say about God. Look at the blessings that I have. I don't deserve these blessings, but I receive them freely all of the time. He's given me patience, gentleness, self-control. He's given me so many amazing things.

Go over to 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, 2 Corinthians, chapter 1, because not everything in our life feels like it's amazing. You’ve got to go back even further to the left here for 2 Corinthians, chapter 1 verse 3, another chapter 1, verse 3. And notice, Paul writes Ephesians, Paul writes 2 Corinthians. We’ve got Peter speaking to us in 1 Peter, but they're using this same line, which makes me think this was something they would say to each other. Let's bless God, let's say something good about him. Here's the reason why. In 2 Corinthians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.” What a promise! There is comfort to be found in every affliction that we go through, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.

So, we can say good things about God because he saved us and caused us to be born again. We can say good things about God because of the blessings we have in Christ. We can even say good things about God when bad things happen to us. When we went through suffering and affliction, and God came and helped us. He comforted us. He healed us. He turned us around, even maybe through his discipline. And we can now see I've got something good to say about God, even because of his comfort in my trial. So maybe something good has been happening to you. Well, what could you say good about God because of that? Maybe something evil has been happening. Well, what can you say good about God be even in response to that? There are so many reasons to bless God. This is something we should get good at, is talking about the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We should have a lot of good things to say about him.

So, I'm not making this up. When you leave here tonight, you should have something to say, and if you haven't thought of it yet, keep listening as we go through this passage. But this idea of blessing God is not just singing a song by Matt Redman, it's actually having your own heart’s response, your own thought to say about God because of how you know he is or how you know, he's been to you. So, we don't want to just worship together by all singing the same words. We want everybody saying their own words to bless God here tonight. Can I get an amen from anybody on that?

Okay, let's go back to 1 Peter, and let's see how good we have it. Okay, some of you need to hear this. Oh, he lines up three different ideas. We're supposed to bless God because he's got so much mercy for us, and he caused us to be born again. And now what we have, this is true of you, if you're a Christian. Okay, this is true of you is you now have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That's what we believe as Christians is that Jesus, he is the anointed one of God. He did die for our sins, and on the third day they went to the tomb, and the stone was rolled away, and he is not here; just as he said, Jesus has risen from the dead. Can I get an amen from anybody on this? Okay, if you're certain that Jesus rose from the dead, that same certainty is now a living hope that you have that if Jesus really did rise, what did Jesus say? “I am the resurrection and the life. Everyone who believes in me, even if he dies, he will live.” You have that certainty of Christ's resurrection on your life; you are no longer afraid of death. When you die, you will be absent from the body, but present with the Lord. And so, you have this hope now, this hope of life with Christ, because of his resurrection, a hope based on the gospel, the good news that Jesus died and rose again to save your soul.

Now look at the language that it uses here. Notice how ever since it says, “according to his great mercy” all the way down to the end of verse 5, is all one sentence. So, all these thoughts get stacked up. You should say something good about God, because he saved you. And here's what you've got: you've got a living hope through the resurrection. You've also got an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you. Okay? You ever drive by a nice house, or see somebody drive by in a nice car, or see somebody wearing nice clothes, and you think, oh, that person's rich. Have you ever seen somebody and thought they're rich? Here's what I'm here to say to you tonight: you're rich, you're an heir, you're an heir of the Father of all things, and the Father, he's so pleased with his son, Jesus. He created all things to give them to his son for his Son's glory. And you're now a co-heir with Christ. When the Father gives all things to the Son, you're in on that deal, there is an inheritance waiting for you in heaven. It's kept there. Look at how this inheritance is described. This isn't like any stock investment, this isn't like any retirement fund, this isn't like your Bitcoin, this isn't like your Pokémon card collection. This is like nothing like that. This is an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. I mean, how often do you bring to mind, I'm rich, I've already got a place to stay for eternity? I've already got Jesus. Jesus is your realtor. He's preparing a place for you in his Father's house. There are many rooms, and one of them is for you. See, in Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 18, Paul prays that God would open the eyes of their hearts to be enlightened to see what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? Those in Ephesians 1:18 and 19 and 20, these are the same things that Peter is describing here. We've got this hope that you should see that just as certain as he rose from the dead, you're going to live with him. We've got these riches of this inheritance that are for all the saints. And then look at verse 5, “who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. “God's power is guarding you from where you are today all the way till you get to that inheritance, till you get to that hope of the resurrection.

Now, this is what's so important when it says “salvation,” which is a key word in 1 Peter 1, 3 to 13. When it says salvation, notice it's a salvation that is ready to be what, everybody? Revealed. So, there are three times it mentioned salvation, three times it mentioned something going to be revealed, or the revelation of Jesus. Peter wants you to think about a future salvation. Now, we have to let Peter teach us here. We have to let Peter show us how to think. If I bring up, when did you get saved? Our thought in answer to that question usually goes to some time in the past, but Peter is talking about a salvation that is in some time in the future. See, that's maybe different than how you're thinking, or how we're normally talking. And see, he's talking about a fullness of salvation, where faith becomes sight, a fullness of salvation, where I'm not praying to God in the name of Jesus, I'm with God because of Jesus. See, he's talking about experiencing this inheritance, this fullness of joy and glory that he describes here. So, hope is a mindset that you're going to be rich in the future. God's power is taking you all the way there, because the fullness of your salvation is yet to be revealed, and when you see it, it will be so worth it.

Is anybody starting to feel like they've got something good to say about God right now? Right now, that's just the opening idea. Okay? Let's get into the next section now, verses 6 through 9, okay? We established the idea of hope, and there's a lot to think about there, and the goal is that you would rejoice in this hope, that you could feel a joy now because you're confident of this hope in the future. In this salvation that's going to be revealed when Jesus comes, and so you should rejoice, even if you're going through trials right now. And notice it says that your faith is going to be tested, but your faith, which is more precious than gold or any earthly investment you can have your faith, that's the thing that's really valuable. Well, when it's tested by fire, it may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at when this revelation of Jesus Christ. So, just like our hope is looking to the future, we have to stand firm in our faith, even though we're going to go through tests right now. We're going to be tried right now. Our faith is looking all the way to the revelation, and when our faith gets to the revelation of Jesus, there will be praise, there will be honor, there will be glory.

Now, I used to read this passage and see how it says “praise, glory, and honor,” and of course, I think of praise, glory, and honor that we're giving to Jesus, but if you get into the Greek here, it's talking about Jesus giving praise and honor and glory when he says things like “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and Jesus is giving people a reward, because what does Jesus want his servants to have? He wants us to have faith. He wants us to trust him, to believe what he said. And so, yes, your faith is going to be tested, but if you pass the test of faith, oh, just imagine what it's going to be like when you see Jesus. Notice, that's right where he goes in verse 8. “Though you have not seen him, you love him.” So, we're not living by sight. He's making that very clear. You need to be living by your faith, and because you can't see him, but you love him, and even though you do not now see him, you are believing in him, and even though you haven't seen him yet, you're believing in him, and you rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Let me ask you, have you ever had one of these moments where you're so filled with joy of knowing Jesus saved you, you're so full of the glory of Jesus Christ and your desire to see his face, that even though you have not seen Jesus yet, you get a sense of joy knowing that you've been saved by Jesus. Am I speaking to anybody here tonight? It's a future joy that we're all going to share, that we call it “the Rapture.” When we get to see Jesus, it's ecstatic joy, it's ultimate delight to be in the presence of Jesus Christ, but see, it's saying that this joy inexpressible, this joy filled with glory, you can experience that even now by faith. I really hope this happens to you where, sometimes, you're just walking along on your day, and you know Jesus has saved you, and you just rejoice that you're going to get to see Jesus, even though it hasn't happened yet. You don't need to see it to believe it. Am I speaking to anybody, or do we just have a bunch of doubting Thomases here tonight? I don't know about all this. I want to see the scars myself. If I can't see the scars, no smiling, no joy, no glory. I don't know about this joy, hope stuff. We’ve got a lot of trials down here. How some Christians roll these days. Maybe you're one of the Christians rolling like this. I like to see it more realistically. You say it's half full. I say, look around. You guys know who I'm talking about. You sit next to who I'm talking about. Maybe who I'm talking about is in your seat. Would you be described as a person known by what we've learned so far? Hope and joy, because that's how a Christian is? That's how we are. I don't need to see it. In fact, right now, I could be in pain. Right now, there could be relationships that feel strained. Right now, there could be all kinds of evil things taking place. I'm not living by what I can see. I'm living based on the resurrection and the revelation of Jesus Christ. I'm in between an empty tomb and living in the clouds with Jesus, and that's what I know to be true, and in that there is joy, no matter the circumstances. Rejoice always. Why? Because my joy comes from a relationship with Jesus, not what's happening to me circumstantially right now. And I love Jesus. I've never laid eyes on him. I believe in Jesus. I have never seen him, but I am confident that seeing Jesus will be the pinnacle of my existence. And sometimes I already experience it by faith. I obtain the outcome of my faith, so I know I'm saved, and there is great joy. When do you have that, or are you so bogged down in the tests and the trials that you don't get to any of the triumph and the victory?

Now your faith will be tested. In fact, go with me to 1 Peter 5. Let's jump to the end of the book, and it's going to introduce the enemy here towards the end. And we know that the enemy, those of us who just read the book of Job, we have an idea that Satan is there talking with God about the trials that are going to happen to Job, so some of these trials, if you pass the trials, you will be mature, you will remain steadfast, you will be blessed. That's James 1:2-4. That's what 1 Peter 1:6-7 is saying. If you endure through the trials, it has this refining, purifying, maturing effect. But these trials, they can be tough, they can be tough tests, and there's even Satan. Satan doesn't want you to pass the test to get more mature, to experience more joy and hope in your faith. Satan, he wants to devour you, he wants to steal, kill, and destroy. Look at what it says towards the end of 1 Peter. 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober-minded, be on the lookout, be on the watch, your adversary, the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him.” And how do you resist the devil? It says here, “firm in your what, everybody?

So, if you're taking notes, let's get this down for point number two. Let's just write this down: “You don't need to see to believe.” You don't need to see to believe. Okay, we don't need to be a doubting Thomas. When I see it, then I'll believe it. That's not what Peter's talking about. He's talking about a faith that even when you're going through trials, you still see it; even though you can't see him, you still love him; even though you've never seen him, you're believing in him. And sometimes, you're even experiencing this joy, this glory, knowing that he has saved you. And so, write down under point number two: “Faith equals standing firm.” That's a picture that Peter develops that is often compared to faith is this idea that you can stand firm through all of these trials, through all of these tests. You keep trusting, you keep going, and so notice this idea of “firm in your faith, you're unmoved, you're unshakable, you're still trusting in Jesus.” Well, you just got this really bad diagnosis at the doctor, you're still trusting in Jesus. You just got this really disturbing look when you checked out your bank account. You're still trusting Jesus. Somebody just texted you a message that you weren't expecting, that really hurt you. You're still trusting Jesus. You're standing firm. You're not moved by what's going on around you because you're not trying to find hope and joy based on what's going on around you. You find your hope and joy in Jesus, from his resurrection all the way to his revelation.
Now look at what it goes on to say in verse 12. Peter tells you why he writes this whole book. He says, “By Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.” Notice this: stand firm in it. Okay, so this is really how God is good. You really do have a living hope with a rich inheritance, and he's keeping you all the way to the end, guarding you by his power. You really have all of that, so stand firm in your faith. Don't be moved, don't be knocked over, don't fall back, don't go away, don't fall away. Stand firm.

Go over to Ephesians, chapter 6, when it's describing the spiritual war going on when the devil is is attacking God's people; he's going after Job, and he's going after Joshua, the high priest, and Zechariah, and he's going after Peter. When Jesus is praying that Satan wants to sift you, Peter, in Luke 22 says Satan's going after God's people, and that's the way some of these tests of our faith come. In Ephesians 6, it says, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” This is Ephesians 6:10, “and put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. So, notice how the whole picture here is the devil's coming, he's got schemes, he wants to derail your faith. Well, you're not going to do that, you're going to stand, you're going to stand firm, for we do not wrestle, verse 12, “against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand, therefore,” what are you standing with? Well, you've got “the belt of truth, and you've put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.” And then look at this. This is the key verse, Ephesians 6:16, “In all circumstances, no matter what trial you're going through, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” Here comes Satan. He's shooting his fiery darts at you. Guess what? You've got a shield of faith, and you can stand firm. Satan cannot move you. If you resist him, he will flee from you, according to James, chapter 4. You’ve got to stand firm.

So, every one of us should think, oh, I've got this hope in the future that is amazing, but we should also think I'm going to be tested in the present, but I'm going to stand firm in my faith all the way until my faith becomes sight. I cannot base my faith on these current tests. I need to base my faith on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? From the resurrection to the revelation, that's what I'm trusting in Jesus all the way. I'm not basing it on the things that I'm currently experiencing in my circumstances. I'm basing it on my faith, and because of faith in Jesus. I don't need to move; I can stand firm. This is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it. Now, go back, because look at how 1 Peter, chapter 1, look at verses 10 to 12. Look at how awesome our salvation is. I just think we don't think about our salvation enough. We don't think about what Jesus has done for us enough. I regularly hear people say things that concern me almost on a daily basis, where it's kind of like salvation is all done, and that's good. Now I'm ready to move on. No, there is no moving on from salvation. In fact, you haven't even got to the fullness of your salvation, according to Peter. And so, look at what he says in verse 10 concerning this salvation. Hey, I want everybody to just think about the salvation that we have through the resurrection of Jesus Christ concerning this salvation. Remember, he's already said back in verse 5,” salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” And then, he already said in verse 9, “You can obtain the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul.”

So, your soul is going to experience full salvation at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Let's think about that salvation for a second. The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, they searched and inquired carefully. So, the prophets are looking into this salvation that you have, and they want to inquire, verse 11, what person, what time, the Spirit in Christ that is inspiring them, moving them to write these prophecies. They're trying to figure out, well, who is this going to be? When is this going to happen? The spirit of Christ in them was indicating that he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they're serving not themselves, but you. They're writing something that you're going to be able to understand more than even the people who wrote it, because you're going to get to know the fullness of it. They are just getting a little glimpse of it, a preview of it, and notice how it describes our salvation. They're predicting what the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Now, I think some of the prophets are really cool guys. I know a bunch of Christians these days think the prophets are boring, irrelevant, and don't want to read them, but I think some of the prophets are really cool, and if I ever saw one of the prophets in the kingdom of our Lord, I would be like, wow, it is an honor to meet you. I read your books so many times. We even made these YouTube videos. I don't know if you know what that is. I got a whole church of people reading your prophecies. We loved it. It was great, but do you realize that what Peter is saying is that the prophet would say, you’ve got to read the prophecies, you’ve got to put them together, you’ve got to see what I was saying, and see how Jesus did it. Wow. The prophets would look at us like we were the cool ones. Have you ever thought about that before? They'd be like, wow, that what I was wondering, how it was all going to work out, how the Christ would suffer, how he would be glorified. And you’ve got to know it all through the gospel. You’ve got to have a whole church where people had individual journals they could write in and take notes. That's amazing.

You could just go share those prophecies with anyone, explaining to them this is what was said, this is what Jesus did. Look at what God's saying to us. And then it says this. Look at verse 12. It says, “It was revealed to these prophets that they're not serving themselves, they're serving you, New Covenant Christians in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you, through the people who shared the gospel with you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Then look at these things into which, who does it say there, everybody? Angels long to look. Why? I don't know if I saw an angel. First of all, I'd be freaked out of my living mind, and he'd have to say to me, “Fear not,” right? And then, after I dusted myself off, I'd be like, this is so cool to meet one of God's messengers, one of his holy ones, and they would be like, oh, it's an honor to meet you, loved by God, adopted into his family, redeemed by the blood of his Son. See, angels, they've only got two things that have happened: either they've always been in the presence of God, as they were created to be, or a third of them have fallen with Satan, and now they are condemned. So, you have angels who have always been righteous, or you have angels who are now unholy ones, unclean spirits, and they will be judged. So, there are not angels going from evil to good, going from damned to saved, going from cursed to forgiven. No angel has ever gone on the trajectory of redemption, and they look at you sinful, fallen, redeemed, loved, even if one person here tonight repented and changed their mind and said, I'm going to put my faith in Jesus, rather than living for this world or living to be a good person myself, I'm going to trust in Christ. If one person here tonight changed their mind, what would the angels in heaven do, everybody? Oh, they would have a celebration. They would rejoice over even one sinner who repents, because they understand salvation for what it really is, a work of God, a work of glory, something that God could only do to take someone condemned in sin and to declare them righteous in Christ. Oh, the angels think that is amazing. And as much as you would think it would be cool to meet an angel, talk about your salvation to an angel, and they'll be like, I love to study salvation. I rejoice whenever God does it. Prophets and angels think of a salvation that we often take for granted is awesome. Maybe we need to think more about what it really means to be saved. And then, the most important to thing a person to think about in your salvation is who I mean, that that's what the focus is on here. If you get into the middle of it, there in verse 11, if you're taking notes, can you underline this, “the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories,” right? That's where the prophets were looking at is how is the Christ going to suffer, and then how will he be glorified?

Now, if you're studying 1 Peter, suffering and glory is a major theme throughout 1 Peter. In fact, it's a major theme of a way to talk about the gospel when Jesus explains the gospel to his disciples, one of them being Peter. You could write down Luke 20:44-47. All those verses in there when he's explaining to them all that the law and the prophets and the psalms have said about him, and he opens up their mind to understand the Scriptures. What does he tell them about that the Christ who had to suffer and who would be glorified? That's another way to talk about the death and resurrection, is the suffering and the glory. This is how you are saved. You should never try to think about your salvation apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because it is only in the Gospel that is God's power to save you. And so, if we want to think about our salvation that the prophets are inquiring into, and the angels long to look at, well, then let's think about how awesome our salvation is. And I have to go back to the fact that the Christ, the God-man, the one and only Son, whom God loved, the anointed one of God, why is he suffering? He didn't sin; he didn't do anything wrong. Why is the Christ, who is the Messiah, the King, he's the one every knee should be bowing to, why is he suffering? See, you expect the main character to get the girl, to win. That's what makes a story. Why is the main character being killed by his own people, suffering and dying in a brutal, bloody way? I'll tell you what the answer is. He's doing it because of you. It's your fault, it's your sin, it's your curse. See, when you think about your salvation, you’ve got to think about what Jesus did for you, that is your salvation.

Peter, he goes on to say, look at chapter 1, verse 22, where he uses a famous prophecy in this letter. So, Peter doesn't just write about the prophets, he uses prophecy throughout 1 Peter. Let me just give you one example. Maybe you can see even as we read it. In 1 Peter 1:22 he says, “he committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth, when he was reviled, he did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” 1 Peter 2:24, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds. You have been” what everybody? “For now you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your soul.” Notice some of the things that Peter's highlighting here, that even though Christ was being unfairly treated, they were reviling him, speaking evil about him, mocking him, he didn't talk back to them. He, even though he's suffering, he didn't threaten them. He didn't say, this isn't fair, this isn't right. He trusted in the will of the Father, and he, it says, bore our sins in his body on the tree. He got the wounds. You have been healed. See, I hope you're not like Thomas, saying, "Unless I see the scars, I won't believe. I hope you see the scars, and that's why you believe.

Go to Isaiah 53 and you can see where Peter was inspired to write those verses, and perhaps the most famous prophecy, a prophecy that I would hope maybe you would know. If you don't know Isaiah 53, this is exciting for you to see it, but if you do know Isaiah 53, this is the kind of example of a prophecy here that talks about the sufferings and then the glories that will come. And you can see that some of the language that is used here, starting in verse 3, “he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs, he has carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted, suffering. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are” what, everyone? “We, like sheep, have gone” what? “We have turned everyone to his own way, but the Lord Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us.” You see how Peter is taking what the prophet Isaiah talked about, a masterpiece of prophecy, he's taking what Isaiah said, and he's using it now to explain to you. Can you see the wounds? Can you see how your sin was put on him, so you could be dead to sin and now live to his righteousness? Do you see the glorious exchange of the gospel? Do you see that it's his suffering that saves your soul? That's what's so amazing ultimately to the prophets is that the Christ would suffer. That's what's so amazing to the angels, is that the very one who created them would be willing to die for you.

Let's get this down for number three: “Your salvation is through His suffering.” Let's consider this salvation. We can't think of all that we freely receive without thinking about the cost that Jesus paid. There is a cost. It was his death. It was his suffering. See, this is what's so important is the death of Jesus has to matter to you. There are a lot of people who go to church, and a lot of people who say they're Christians, but what they do is they continue to do the same old sins that they've always done, and if you know Jesus died for your sins, that he actually had to bear. He's pierced. He's crushed. He's wounded. He's bearing up the chastisement, the punishment that brings us peace, so our sins getting paid for, but he's suffering for it. He's bearing the weight of that judgment. He's taking God's wrath, and I know that Jesus died for my sin. And then my choice after knowing that is to do more sin. Don't tell me you care about Jesus if you know he died for your sin and you just decide to keep doing it. That's not faith, that's not believing in Jesus, that's rejecting what Jesus did, that's acting like his suffering doesn't really matter to you.

I want to ask you, does the suffering of Jesus matter to you? Go back to 1 Peter and look at what he says in 1 Peter, chapter 2. Wait, wait, he said it right there in verse 24. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to” what, everybody? Righteousness. See, this is the fundamental issue of the gospel. Does the death and resurrection of Jesus for your sin change the way that you think about sin, because I don't want to keep doing what Jesus suffered for. The suffering of Jesus makes me think I should change my mind about my sin. I should turn from it. I should turn to him, and that when the whole gospel of Jesus, the fact that he died to pay for that sin, now changes your life, so you change the way you think, and you turn from the sin. That's when the angels rejoice. That's what the prophets want to know about. They want to see the sufferings of Christ, but then the glories that he will be with many who are righteous, and many will be counted righteous because of his blood and suffering and taking our sins in his body.

So, you can see what Peter has done in just a few verses. He has really got us feeling all kinds of ways about our salvation in Jesus. We're looking to the future, we're going through present trials, we're thinking about this like compared to prophets and angels and the sufferings of Christ. And then it all leads to verse 13, which is the application, the action. Look at verse 13 of 1 Peter, Chapter 1. So, even on the points here on our handout, you'll notice one, two, and three are all things about you, and they're things that are true about you. There's not something you have to do. I mean, you have something good to say if he has saved you. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? I mean, you believe it's not based on seeing something, your salvation, it's all based on what Jesus did, it's his death, it's his resurrection. “So, therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Okay, what I want you to circle there is “set your hope fully,” that is the main verb in that sentence. It's an imperative verb, so this is now like a command. So, what you're being told to do is hope.

So, we learned back at the beginning in verse three that you have a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, you already have this hope, now you need to have this hope. Okay? Now it's saying something, it's in the indicative, or it's saying something you already have. Well, now it's saying, “So put your hope in the grace that is coming at the revelation of Jesus.” Now, the first two phrases there are participles telling you how to do this verb. You've got to prepare your mind for action, you've got to dress your mind for action, and then you've got to be sober-minded. You've got to think clearly. Okay, sober-minded is a theme in 1 Peter. Go to chapter 4, verse 7. So, here in chapter 4, it says “The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded. So, if you know the end is coming, what's the end? The end that's coming is a day of judgment, a day of the Lord that Peter gets into even more in 2 Peter. Well, if I know that there's a day of judgment coming, well, then I think clearly about how I should live today based on what's coming in the future. Or how about chapter 5, verse 8? Let's go back to that, where it says, "Be sober-minded, this clear way of thinking.” Why should you be sober-minded? Why should you be watchful? Because the devil is going to come and test your faith.

So, when you know what's coming in the future, you should have a hope in the glory that is coming at the revelation of Jesus. But there's also the end judgment coming. There's also the tests of Satan coming. Like life is not this happy-go-lucky thing. Let's just see what happens today. No, I know what's coming. There's awesome glory of Christ, and there's testing of faith, and there's judgment for sin, that's all coming this way. And sober-minded is somebody who sees what's coming in the future, and it changes the way they live today. And so, what Peter is giving you is a way to think, he's saying you have to think with this hope, you're not just going to wake up necessarily feeling hope, you're not going to look at current events and just get hope, you’ve got to dress your mind for action, you’ve got to know what's coming in the future, and you’ve got to put your hope, set your hope fully on the grace that is coming at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Turn to 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5. It gives us a picture of our hope here in 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 8. If everybody can turn there with me, it's just a little bit back to the left. 1 Thessalonians, we referred to a lot of times in the “When” series, talking about eschatology. 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5, I think, are very important in understanding what's going to happen to us as Christians in the church, but in chapter 5 he's talking about people being sober, people who are thinking clearly about all of this, and he says in verse 8, 1 Thessalonians 5:8, “Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.” Hope is called the helmet of salvation.

Let's get this down for point number 4: You need to “Put your helmet on.” Put your helmet on. You have to think hope, like for kids in school these days, it would be like, put your thinking cap on, boys and girls, right? But we're using the picture of armor, we're using the picture of a soldier, we've already seen that Satan's out there with fiery darts, and we need the shield of faith. But if you are armoring up for battle, which is what you are doing if you're living life in this world, even if you have faith, will your faith be tested, everyone? Yes, it will. And I think a lot of us are going out into our lives with no helmet. Now, I can just tell you, I grew up in Orange County, back in the day. If I saw a bro wearing a helmet, I would think the bro was, you know, I would just think, bro, why? I would probably think he was a sissy, is what I would think. All right, I'd be like, man, that guy over there wearing a helmet, riding his bike to school, what's that guy's problem, you know? And then all of a sudden, this all happened in my lifetime. It all changed so quickly, because then it was like, you have to wear a helmet, and it was like, oh, now the kids who don't wear helmets are like edgy, they're like the cool kids. So, I definitely put my helmet on at that point, you know what I mean? And then now we have e-bikes, and everyone's going to die. Have you observed this right now? If I see a kid on an e-bike and he doesn't have a helmet, I'm just thinking, who are his parents? You know, this is irresponsible living, you know. And that's just somebody riding a bike on the street. We're talking about armoring up to go to battle. Nobody would be going out to battle without a helmet. How many days have you gone without hope, without thinking to yourself, actively dressing your mind for action, being sober-minded? Is the end coming? Is Satan coming to get me? Is Jesus coming in his revelation, in all of his glory. Let's put my helmet on. I want to live today in light of what is coming. And because I know Jesus is coming, and I will receive so much grace when his glory is revealed, I want to think that way today. Do not leave your helmet at your bedside table, put your helmet on. Learn to think with hope.

This is a great study to go through 1 Peter. He's not trying to give you a great study, he's trying to give you a mentality to live by. And 1 Peter, chapter 5, verse 8, look at what it goes on to say in verse 9, when you think about Satan coming to get you, or when you're thinking about the end coming, or you think about Jesus coming back, well, here's what you should know about the future: God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice again here, Paul, in now in 1 Thessalonians 5, is speaking about salvation in a future tense, associating salvation with the revelation of Jesus. When I see Jesus, that's when I'll experience the fullness of my salvation. When I see Jesus, I will be made like him. For everyone who sees him becomes as he is, and everyone who has this hope that I'm going to see Jesus and I'm going to be made like him, therefore, purifies himself. Because I stop comparing myself to who I used to be, and I start comparing myself to who I'm going to be when I experience the fullness of my salvation, being made completely like Christ, sharing in his glory, receiving an inheritance from the Father. Who kept me by his power all the way to the end.

So, notice, if you're not thinking about a future sense of salvation, you're not thinking biblically. That's how we're supposed to be thinking. When I see Jesus, that will be salvation. It won't be wrath for me in the future, it will be Christ, and then it says this in verse 10. It gets us right back to the theme of the gospel, who died for us, so that whether we are still alive when he comes, or whether we're asleep or dead when he comes, we might live with him through the sufferings of Christ. We will share in his glories. Put your helmet on. So, our goal this summer is to learn how to think with hope, and so this can't be a one Wednesday night in the summer, like for those of us at high school camp, it was helpful to have four nights of this, but I would imagine even though some of us at high school camp, we need to be reminded about this. If you're going to be at Camp Compass, serving with the kids next week, you'll get five nights of this, but you're going to have to learn how to keep putting your helmet on until hope becomes the way you think. Set your hope fully on the grace that is coming at the revelation of Jesus.
So, when I was in high school, I went through what I thought was a trial. I grew up here in Southern California, and then my dad and my mom said to me, we're moving to San Antonio, Texas. This is when I was a freshman in high school. And when you've been living next to the Pacific Ocean, when your weather is perfect most of the time, when you go to a high school that's got sports and theater and every possible opportunity, and then you move to Texas, where it's futile to even prepare yourself to go outside, because once you do go outside, it's so humid, you might as well walk back inside and take a shower. Has anybody ever been to Texas before? Right. And I went to a little Christian high school where we wore uniforms. I was really overjoyed to find out both of my little brothers would be going to the same school as me now, right? Because it was a K through 12 school, right? I wanted to be on the basketball team. Yeah, we don't have a gym, every game's an away game, we're the worst team in the league. Okay, great. I’ve got to move to Texas. It felt to me like a trial, felt to me like a test of faith. This isn't what I had planned for my life, right? When I was in San Antonio, Texas, there was one very cool place that I had a lot of respect for. Who's ever been to the Alamo before? Does anybody know what I'm talking about? The Alamo. Anybody ever heard of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, right? Colonel William Travis. Do you know these heroes? They all have statues outside the Alamo. Okay? If you don't know your Texas history, why would you? If you don't know your Texas history, they teach Californian history here, but if you go there, you learn Texas history, and you learn that there is a famous battle that took place when Texas was fighting for independence with Mexico. There was General Santa Anna, and he had them completely surrounded, and they pretty much knew they might die there in the Alamo, and I don't know if you ever seen a movie or anything about the Alamo. I grew up watching these movies about Davy Crockett, and he ended up in the Alamo, and he ended up dying. And so, I always thought, man, these guys, this was serious. And if you ever see a movie about the Alamo, there's this guy, Colonel William Travis, and in the theatrical production, he’s always the night before the last battle, right? He comes and he gets his sword out, and it's really interesting, because he's the only guy with a sword in the entire movie. Everybody else is using guns, right? But then he's got this sword, and finally, towards the end of the movie, you realize why he's got the sword, because he needs it for this scene where he draws the line in the sand, right? If you want to go over the wall and flee in the cover of darkness, no one here would hold any shame on you. But if you want to stand with me, if you want to die here in the Alamo, if you're willing to stand firm, even, and you know, it’s just like the music swelling, and that's just a movie version. This is what he actually wrote. This is a letter that he actually wrote to the people of Texas and all Americans in the world.

“Fellow citizens and compatriots. I am besieged by thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Ana. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender. The garrison are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat, but I call on you in the name of liberty, patriotism, and everything dear to the American character to come to our aid with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily, and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country, victory or death.” See that kind of mentality. “But I will stand here, I will stand firm until Jesus comes to get me, or until I die.”

That's hope. Like, I already know the rest of my life. I know how it's all going to play out. Jesus is going to come back. There is going to be so much grace at his revelation. I know that, and so I'm putting that way of thinking on today, and that's the way I'm going to look at everything that happens today, is I'm going to look at it through the certainty that there is grace coming to me at the revelation of Jesus Christ, and I'm going to stand firm until I see his glorious face. See, this mindset of hope is something that we're not talking enough about. And I hope tonight we'll begin a conversation in our fellowship groups, in our small groups. Are you putting your helmet on? Are you thinking with hope? Are you learning to see the world like this? This high school camp, man, I hope Camp Compass and the Junior High camp. I hope what could happen here at our church could be exciting, like it was at high school camp, because I just remember one of the conversations I got to have after a sermon on the last night of camp, and this guy's saying to me, you know, I think that based on what we're saying my life could change. I think that based on what we're saying, that this, my life, could be different from this point on. I said to him, you know what we call that, right? And he's like, what do we call it? I'm like, hope, that's what we call it. From the resurrection to the revelation. I am rich and guarded in Christ, and I want to encourage you let's think that way. Let's be people who are known for our hope. Let me pray for us right now.

Father in heaven, I pray that you will take these words of Peter and you'll put them on our hearts. Thank you for inspiring Peter to write them down. Thank you that we could study them at these special events, and tonight, in the summer of 2026. But, God, it's not enough to just study this. We want to learn to think this way. And God, I just want to confess that sometimes when I go out for a day, I leave my helmet at home, and I get really bothered by circumstances that don't go the way I was expecting, and sometimes I'm not feeling the joy of salvation or the glory of seeing Jesus. I'm just thinking about what's going on today. And Father, I ask that you would forgive me, that you would forgive us for being more focused on things happening now than on the things that are coming at the revelation of Jesus Christ, on all the grace of our inheritance, on how your power is guarding us all the way till we get there, and that these, if necessary, trials that we're going through right now, we should not be using these things to define our life; we should be using the salvation that is going to be revealed because of the resurrection of Christ at his revelation. We should be putting all of our hope in that. So, teach us this way to think. Let this become the way we see our lives. Let us actively obey the command to put our hope, to put our helmet on. God, I want everyone here to experience the joy that comes upon us, knowing we're saved. I want everybody here to go through their day wondering what it will be like to see Jesus, and instead of complaining or worrying, I want us to be saying good things about you because we know you've saved us, and we know this future salvation is coming, and our hope is sure. Our hope is confident. And so, we can say, my Father has a great inheritance for me. My Father is so powerful, he's holding me in his hand right now. My Father, he loved me so much, he gave his one and only Son to die for my sin. My father, he's not afraid of the devil. He can tell the devil what to do. He can help me stand firm in this trial. God, there are so many good things we could be saying about you, if only we had this hope on our hearts and minds. So, I pray even tonight, as we leave here, as we sing this song to bless you, as we go and have some refreshments in the courtyard, I pray that we wouldn't just talk about what's going on in our lives, but we would talk about you and what you're doing in our lives, and that everybody here would bless you, bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless you for the hope that you've given us, Father. Bless you for every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Bless you for the comfort in all of our afflictions. Bless your holy name. We pray. Amen.