Message Four

By Dr. Michael Guido, D.D.
1st Peter 1:3

A miner went to Australia in search of gold. He labored a year but didn't find a nugget. Then he discovered one the size of a hen's egg. Thrilled with his fortune he showed it to his cook. He laughed, saying, "I have a piece that's so big that I use it for a chair." He went to see it, and found that it was genuine, and he bought it for 25 cents. That nugget, one of the largest ever discovered, meant nothing to one man, but everything to the other. And so it is with the Bible. To some it means nothing, but to others it means life with a capital L. Let's turn to 1st Peter 1:3 and think on the Living Hope.

Mark the praise. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." God, to this child of God, is real. He wasn't calling upon an unknown God, but a known God: the God who is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who loved him and gave Himself for him. When you praise or pray, are you conscious that you're talking to a real Redeemer, a living Lord? Is the Savior you profess to know a principle or a Person, a phantom or a Friend? Archibald Ruteledge ran onto an old fellow who lived alone in a solitary place. "Sam," he said, "you must get awfully lonely, being alone like this all the time." "Captain," he answered, "I miss all who have gone on, but I'm not alone." "Somebody comes to see you?" he asked. "Jesus doesn't just come to see me," he answered. "He's my Friend who stays with me all the time." Jesus was so real to him that he could sing,
"And He walks with me, and he talks with me, and He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there none other has ever known."

Mark the privilege. It's written in 1st Peter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy have begotten us." Living Letters renders that verse like this: "All honor to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for His boundless mercy to us, so that we have been born again, and are now members of God's own family." Think of it, my friends, "members of God's own family." "Oh," you say, "how can I become a member of God's family?" By receiving Jesus. The Bible says, "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." The words "as many" mean "whoever," thus you may, regardless of your color or condition, become a member of God's own family. This privilege isn't for a favored few, but for all who will "receive" Jesus. Now the word "receive" means "to receive to oneself." It's not merely a head experience, but a heart experience. It signifies the thought that's expressed in the verse, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart…soul, and mind." It could be translated "welcomed." To receive Jesus means to "welcome" Him into your heart as you'd welcome a cherished friend into your home. As you welcome the Lord Jesus into your heart you're given something. What's that? The Bible answers, "the power to become the sons of God." That word "power" is sometimes translated "privilege." But it really means "out of being." So when you welcome Christ into your heart He imparts to you out of His being. That is, He gives you Himself. He gives you His nature and name, and he makes you a member of His own family.

As a man came out of the hotel, he saw a paperboy, and he said, "Paper, son." The boy said with tears, "I wish I were." "Were what?" asked the man. "Somebody's son," he answered. "You can become Somebody's son," said the kind man, "simply by receiving Jesus. Do it now, won't you?" He did, and he became God's son. Won't you?

Mark the promise. Our text reads, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Christ died for our sins, but He didn't stay dead. He was raised out from among the rest of the dead, and because He was, so will every Christian. So a Christian doesn't look at the grave, but at the glory that shall be his with God.

"This isn't death, it's glory! It isn't dark, it's light;
It isn't stumbling, groping, or even faith - it's sight.
"This isn't grief, it's having my last tear wiped away.
It's sunrise, it's the morning of my eternal day.
"Before I knew this rapture of meeting face to face,
The One who sought me, saved me, and kept me by His grace."

A lovely 16-year-old girl who had been converted on the mission field, and had lived a Christlike life before her parents who were pagans, took sick and died. Afterward her mother traveled a great distance to see the missionary. On meeting her face to face, she said, "What did you do to my daughter?" "We did nothing to her," answered the missionary. "Oh, yes, you did," insisted the mother. "She died smiling. Our people don't die like that." Oh, death to a Christian is gain. No wonder they're glad. Come to Christ, and hope, heaven and happiness will be yours.

copyright 2000 Guido Evangelistic Association

All Scripture verses are quoted from the New King James Version.

This series of messages on the books of the Bible were originally written for broadcast on Dr. Guido's radio program, "The Sower." They are collected and reprinted here for your enjoyment and spiritual edification. Go to the Sower's site for more at www.TheSower.com.