Praise God for His Great Mercy
Praise God for His Great Mercy
1 Peter 1:3-5
Several years ago, one of my good friends, C.A.M. Wagner was diagnosed with Leukemia. He was in his early 40’s with a precious wife, three young kids, loving parents, a heart for the nations, a generous spirit and a loving church family. He was a man of deep joy, deep faith and he died an early death. All death is tragic, but the death of someone who had so much to live for always seemed especially tragic. C.A.M. chose the songs to be sung at his funeral including 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman. 10,000 Reasons echoes Psalm 103 which shares reasons why we can bless the Lord and praise his holy name.
Why would my friend, who was going to leave behind a wife and his three children, want people to sing of all the reasons to praise God’s name? The third verse always hits me hard,
And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near and my time has come;
Friend, pause for a moment and think about that day when your strength is failing, the end draws near and your time has come. When death’s door is upon you, what will be your hope? My friend wanted everyone to know that his death wasn’t the end of his story but only the beginning. He had a reason to hope.
And on that day when my strength is failing,
The end draws near and my time has come;
Still my soul sings Your praise unending,
Ten thousand years and then forevermore
We can face death because we have a living hope that will never die.
This Resurrection Sunday, we want to praise God for what he has done for us in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Apostle Peter provides several reasons for us to give praise to God. He invites us to praise the Father and then gives us the reasons why we should praise him. 1 Peter 1:3-5,
[3] 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, [4] to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, [5] who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
I have only one exhortation for you, I want you to Praise God for His Great Mercy. And to do that, I want to provide you seven reasons for you to Praise God for His Great Mercy.
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Sending Jesus Christ
Peter begins his epistle with a trinitarian introduction, writing to the elect exiles spread throughout the world, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Chrsit and for the sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” Peter wants you to know more grace and peace as you know more of God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. After those words, Peter writes one long sentence beginning in verse 3 down to verse 12. He begins with the theme of the whole section, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” Blessed is another way of saying, “Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We should praise God for sending Jesus Christ.
The Father sent the Son for us. John 6:38, Jesus says, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” 1 John 4:14, “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.” The Father commanded, the Son obeyed. Our praise begins with God the Father for choosing to send God the Son for us. For God the Father so loved the world that he sent his only Son. He sent the Son to save us. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) And we are saved through him when we make Jesus Christ “our Lord.” Hear Peter’s words again, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” The Son was given to us for our salvation, but we must receive him as our Lord. Have you made Jesus Christ your Savior?
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Causing New Life
Charles Darrow became a multi-millionaire with the hit board-game Monopoly. Darrow and his family are still reaping the benefits of the Monopoly franchise, but Darrow was not the originator of the game. Elizabeth Magie actually created and patented, “The Game of Owners” in 1903 eventually receiving a mere $500 for your idea. Friends, we do not want to be like Charles Darrow who claimed to be the originator of something that belonged to another. God is the divine originator of our salvation. Peter writes, “According to his great mercy, he caused us to be born again.” God the Father is the divine instigator of our salvation. The emphasis in the Greek is God begetting of giving the seed that created new life similarly to 1 Peter 1:23, “[23] since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.” No one ever takes credit for being born, it is something that happens to us. It is the same for our salvation. It is all of God, and all according to his great mercy. Paul writes to Titus similarly saying,
[4] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:4–5, emphasis added)
We should praise God for his work of creating new life in us. We were born again by his mercy.
On Christmas Eve 2009, Dr. Stephanie Martin attempted to deliver a baby boy from Tracy Hermanstorfer, but both mother and son stopped breathing. Martin said, “She had no signs of life. No heartbeat, no blood pressure, she wasn’t breathing.” Her husband said, “I was holding her hand when we realized she was gone.” Then the son was handed to his father lifeless and limp. The worst moment a husband and father could ever imagine. Wife and son lifeless and limp. When suddenly in an unexplainable moment, both the mother and the son came back to life. The doctors had no explanation. But mother and son are alive today. Can you imagine the joy of that family? Can you fathom it? They did nothing to cause it, but experienced the kind mercy of God! Beloved, their joy should be our joy when we think of our own salvation. Praise be to God for his great mercy in causing new life.
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Giving Living Hope
The reason we are able to be born-again is because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Verse 3 changes everything. We were once dead, now we are alive. We were once hopeless, now have a living hope. “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through Jesus Christ from the dead.” We are not merely saved from something but we are saved to something. We are saved to a living hope. The resurrection changes everything.
We gather today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Matthew 28:1–8,
[1] Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. [2] And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. [3] His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. [4] And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. [5] But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. [6] He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. [7] Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” [8] So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said.” The disciples went there to see his body, but Jesus told them he was going to be raised from the dead. They may not have had hope as they walked towards the tomb, but they had it when they left for they left “with fear and great joy.”
Remember how important hope would have been to the original audience. They were suffering under intense persecution for their faith. They were maligned and ridiculed. They were outcasts and marginalized. And yet despite their circumstances, they lived in hope. And it was not a base-less hope, but one that was grounded in reality. It was based on the evidence that Jesus Christ literally rose from the dead. The change in the disciples makes no sense outside of the resurrection from the dead. The disciples scattered in fear before the crucifixion with even Peter denying the Lord to a young servant girl. While after resurrection, everyone of the disciples was willing to give their lives for Jesus Christ. And all of them did, outside of the Apostle John who was exiled on the island of Patmos.
Chuck Colson was the high-powered, hatchet man for Richard Nixon until the Watergate Scandal in early 1970’s. Colson said his experience with Watergate helped prove the resurrection to him. He said,
I know the resurrection is a fact, and Watergate proved it to me. How? Because 12 men testified they had seen Jesus raised from the dead, then they proclaimed that truth for 40 years, never once denying it. Every one was beaten, tortured, stoned and put in prison. They would not have endured that if it weren't true. Watergate embroiled 12 of the most powerful men in the world-and they couldn't keep a lie for three weeks. You're telling me 12 apostles could keep a lie for 40 years? Absolutely impossible.
The resurrection is true and provides a living hope. Listen to the certainty of the Apostle Paul, Romans 6:5, “ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Do you have this confidence?
Beloved, we were born again to a living hope. The living hope speaks about our future reality, but that should impact our day to day lives. The living hope of the resurrection gives us confidence when we get the diagnosis or lose a job or are betrayed by those we love. This world is full of trials and tribulations. It is full of heartbreak and pain. The resurrection reminds us that we are strangers here. This is not our final home. We are aliens in this world awaiting a city whose founder and builder is God. You can endure and persevere because you have a living hope; a hope that will never end. Beloved, what a reason to praise God!
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Promising a Glorious Inheritance
Again, we are not merely saved from something, but we are saved to something. We are saved to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Imperishable or incorruptible. God is immortal and incorruptible (1 Tim 1:17). According to 1 Corinthians 15, when we enter our inheritance we will be clothed with immortality and have an incorruptible body. As we age, we experience a corrupt body. We feel it when we rise on a cold morning or when we have been standing for a long time. But one day, that will be gone. Our inheritance will be undefiled or unspoiled. As we look into our fridge after a long vacation and we see once vibrant strawberries beginning to mold and spoil or in a few weeks when the flowers that ushered us into spring begin to wilt. Beloved, our inheritance will never spoil, rotten or be defiled. And it will be unfading. Our inheritance will last forever. It is eternal. This is what the resurrection brought for us. Eternal life. Jesus said, John 11:25–26
[25] Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, [26] and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
God’s promise is far greater than we can fully comprehend. We are so used to having things come to an end, but resurrection changes that. One day there will be no more goodbyes, no more ends, no more conclusions, but merely eternal joy forever more.
Beloved, the inheritance we will receive by God the Father on the basis of the resurrection will be glorious, but remember who receives an inheritance: children. The fact that we will receive an inheritance means we are adopted as God’s children. John 1:12–13,
[12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
When we are born again, we are born as God’s children. The resurrection frees us from fear because we have received adoption. Romans 8:15–17,
[15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” [16] The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
To be a child is to be an heir, to be an heir is to be a child. And if we belong to God through adoption, we will never be put out of his family. We may suffer like our elder brother, but we will also reign with him in glory.
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Protecting us in Power
Almost every night as I go to bed, I lock all the doors. Why? I believe one of my jobs as a Father is to keep my children safe. It is my job to protect them. The reason we have no need to fear is that as children, it is God’s job to protect us, “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded.” Praise God for His Great Mercy to protect with his power. The resurrection gives us a living hope that we have been born again and have eternal life and are safely in the Father’s hand as his children. John 10:27-30,
[27] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. [28] I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. [29] My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. [30] I and the Father are one.”
Beloved, you are safe. You are kept and protected by God’s power. You are not holding yourself to God, but he is holding you.
When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast
When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast
I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path
For my love is often cold; He must hold me fast
Beloved, if you belong to Christ, you have no need to fear. He will never leave you nor forsake you.
[38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38–39)
Take heart, you are kept and guarded by God’s power.
God’s power does not protect from all evil in this world. The Lord may return soon, but if not, everyone in this world will feel the evil of death. Many of us will be persecuted for our faith. We are actually promised trials. 2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” There will be more persecution for our generation than the generation that came before us. We should expect it. God’s power will not protect us from every evil thing, but his power will work all those evil things for our ultimate God and we will never fail away.
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Providing Persevering Faith
Notice the condition of how God guards us in verse 5, “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith.” God does not bypass human beings in this process. We must exercise faith to receive our inheritance. We must have faith, “continuing trust and faithfulness.” Faith is not mere intellectual assent, but it is belief that moves towards action. Verse 2, “for obedience to Jesus Christ.” Faith and obedience are connected throughout the New Testament. John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Romans 1:4–5,
[4] and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, [5] through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
We put our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then by faith we live in obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our faith is the condition on which we experience all the blessings of God. And it is faith that will last. God provides to us a persevering faith. This whole epistle was written to encourage the saints to continue to believe through their suffering. We look to Christ who suffered for us leaving us an example to follow. 1 Peter 2:22–24,
[22] He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. [23] 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. [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 healed.
1 Peter 4:19, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” And when we look to Christ, we die to sin and live for righteousness as we entrust ourselves to Him even when we suffer knowing he is faithful. Faith is not a one time transaction, but it is a continuing, persevering trust in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We never move past it, but always return to it.
Remember those first words of our text, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The “our” implies faith. Do you believe? Friends, many of you were invited by family or friends to this gathering and we want to thank you for being here. We know coming to a church service if you are new to it may be uncomfortable or strange, but we are thrilled that you are here. But as glad as we are that you are here, we want even more for you to put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. We believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. As Christians, followers of Jesus Christ, we are banking our entire life on the resurrection. Jesus is our reason for life and the only way we will experience eternal life. We have shared the facts with you already, the question is, “Do you believe it?” Do you have faith? God the Father is inviting you to be adopted as one of his children through the resurrection of his son, but you must believe. You must turn from your sin and trust in Christ. There is nothing we want more than you to join us in praising God for giving us life through Jesus Christ.
Praise God for His Great Mercy for: Preparing our Salvation
As we conclude, let me ask you to focus on Peter’s concluding words, “who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” There are two aspects of salvation I want to look at. To tackle the first, let me ask, “What do we need salvation from?” Friend, if you are not a Christian, have you ever asked that question? What do we need salvation from? Friend, we need salvation from God. God is just and therefore must punish sin. God can’t just let everyone into heaven without a payment for sin. Can you imagine a judge letting someone off without any penalty after they admit to stealing your car? No, they must pay something for their theft. The Bible says we all have stolen from God and therefore deserve punishment. And God, being a good and just Judge, has to punish sin. The punishment for sin is death and separation from God forever. There is judgment coming and therefore we need salvation.
I am convinced more and more that most people in the West do not believe they need salvation. They do not believe in judgment. They do not believe they have to apologize at all for what they have done. Friend, judgment is coming. We can say we do not believe it is coming, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is. It is like gravity. I can drop a pen and believe it won’t fall to the ground but just because I believe it won’t fall doesn’t make it true. We cannot ignore the facts. Judgment is coming from God and we all need salvation.
And secondly, the absolutely astounding thing is that God provides salvation for us through himself. He sends Jesus Christ to live and die in our place. He raised him from the dead to offer us salvation. All we have to do is humble ourselves, call upon the name of the Lord and he will save us. Jesus said,
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that were I am you may be also…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:2-3;6)
Jesus Christ is ready to reveal his salvation. He is preparing a place for us and that will be ready to be revealed.
What a glorious thought! Jesus Christ lived, died and was raised from the dead to give us salvation. If offers it freely and for anyone who comes to the Father through him. Salvation is open for you today. All you have to do is believe. Believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Call on him as your Lord and Savior and you will have salvation today. God wants you to be one of his children. He is inviting you. Will you come to him?
Beloved, the resurrection is a guarantee that God will do what he has promised. We have reasons to praise our great God. Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Chrsit who by his great mercy has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for us through faith that is ready to be revealed to us.
So do not lose hope. Do not waver in disbelief. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Jesus is alive. Live in hope. He is risen. He is reigning. And he is returning. Praise be to God for Jesus is alive.