Homilist 1 Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… Gratitude is happiness, and happiness speaks in poetry, and delights in song. Music is the language of a jubilant heart. I. WE HAVE HERE THE "ABUNDANT MERCY" OF GOD IN PRODUCING A LIVING HOPE IN THE BREAST OF REBELS AGAINST HIS AUTHORITY. This expression implies three things: 1. That humanity once had a living hope. The breast of man, in the short but bright period of innocence, was indeed inspired with a living hope. 2. That mankind have somehow or Other lost this living hope. We know how they lost it. It was sin that quenched this glorious lamp. 3. That the reproduction of this living hope is a wonderful display of Divine mercy. Justice overwhelms the sinner with terror and midnight despair. II. WE HAVE HERE THE "ABUNDANT MERCY" OF GOD, IN THE TRANSCENDENT VALUE OF THE OBJECT ON WHICH THIS LIVING HOPE IS FASTENED. "An inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, etc. Hope always implies an object. The value of the hope depends upon the nature of the object. III. WE HAVE HERE THE "ABUNDANT MERCY" OF GOD, IN THE WONDERFUL INSTRUMENTALITY BY WHICH THIS LIVING HOPE IS REPRODUCED. It is "begotten again by the resurrection of Christ from the dead." How does the resurrection of Christ appear necessary for the reproduction in man of this living hope? 1. Christ taught the existence both of the desirable and the obtainable in connection with the future state. In the nature of the case hope implies both of these things. This something Christ presented in His teaching. He revealed to men heaven in all its glories, and He revealed too the manner in which that heaven could be obtained. Hence His teaching was in every way adapted to generate this living hope in the minds of men. 2. His resurrection from the dead was an incontrovertible proof of the truth of what He taught. IV. WE HAVE HERE THE "ABUNDANT MERCY" OF GOD, IN THE ALMIGHTY AGENCY HE EMPLOYS, TO SECURE THE ULTIMATE REALISATION OF THIS LIVING HOPE. 1. The implied necessity of God's preserving agency "Who are kept." No power but that of God can keep us. 2. The expressed method of God's preserving agency. "Through faith." He always works by means. 3. The glorious designs of God's preserving agency. "Unto eternal salvation." And in this constant agency what "abundant mercy"! "Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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, |
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