Born Again to a Living Hope - March 29th, 2026

I'm gonna read for us 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 3 to 4. And it reads and this is our passage for today. It reads, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you. Let's pray together. Father, we ask that you would help us to reflect deeply this morning, as this is a week full of a lot of sorrow, yet with awaited joy. But help us, Lord, to feel this week and help us to sense the different things that you went through as you traversed each and every day in the week of your passion.

And as we think through what it means to have a living hope, what it means to be born again, to what it means to having an eternal inheritance, help us to be reminded that all of that came at a cost and help us not to take that cost for granted, but to worship you appropriately as is fitting the praise and the glory that you're due. So we thank you for our morning and pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and take your seats. Well, I'm grateful that we landed on 1 Peter chapter 1, 3 to 4 this morning. The timing of the Palm Sunday coincides well with where we are in our 1 Peter series. And especially for this week and for resurrection Sunday next week, it's important to remember that 1 Peter 1, 3 to 4 is our life song.

This is our story. So take a look, because these verses are your testimony. Right. If you've confessed with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and if you've believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, these verses are your testimony. And there was a cost to all of this. The salvation came by means of a free gift to us, but the free gift was not free. It was infinitely costly. And by his wounds and his sufferings, we are free. So today is Palm Sunday, which we begins the week we annually celebrate as the Passion Week. The word passion comes from the Latin word for suffering. So in this coming week, we remember and reflect on the sufferings of Christ, his road to the cross, and his being put to death for our sins.

That was the cost. So this week leads up to the testimony of our lives. And again, this is our story. This is our song. Okay, and the Passion Week is the most important week in all of human history. Can I have the next slide? The week is so important that over a third of what is written in the four gospel accounts is devoted to the events of this one week. So in the scriptures, oftentimes, the more ink that is devoted to a particular subject, the more important that subject was to the author for his intended audience. And you'll notice that the Passion Week takes up a lot of ink. Right? The week takes up almost half of the Gospel of John. So why so much text devoted to the events and teachings of just one single week?

It is because this is the most important week in human history. And the reason Christ came in human flesh, he lived a perfect life and suffered the way he did was for the purpose of reconciling sinful man to holy God. It was so that sin corrupted people like you and me could have access to the Holy One who created us. It was to enable man to be born again to the hope of eternity with God. So the events of this week are the focal point of human history. So my encouragement is don't take it lightly. Jesus came to undo the effects at what had happened on the most tragic day in human history, the disobedience of Adam. So the two central figures of all of human history are Adam and the man Christ Jesus.

So all of human history revolves around these two men, right? So 1 Corinthians 15, 21 to 22 reads, for sins by a man came death. By a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. So the Passion Week is not only the most important week in all of human history, it is also the loneliest and most painful ever experienced by man. God, the creator of the universe came into the world, and he wasn't only not received, he was despised and rejected. He was abandoned and forsaken. He was betrayed by those whom he had called brothers and friends. He was ridiculed and mocked, but those weren't that big. The sufferings, most painfully, came in the form of rejection and separation from God the Father, whom he loved perfectly, by whom he was loved perfectly.

So for the first time ever in eternity, Jesus did not have perfect fellowship and union with his father. And as you guys know, God turns his face away in hatred, as he saw the sins of all of mankind placed upon the man Jesus. And Jesus' perfect union with his father was fractured, not because he had done anything wrong, but because he would take upon himself the sins of the world.

And remember, holy God cannot but look upon sin with utter hatred. And so on the cross, Jesus, a sacrificial lamb was looked upon with this utter, vengeful, perfect hatred. Imagine with me, if you will. God the Son looked up and saw hatred. I'm not sure how many of us have ever been looked at with pure hatred. I don't think I ever have.

It's called the Passion Week, not because of the physical suffering. Now, as it had been foretold in Psalm 22, the man Jesus became like a despised worm in the sight of his father. He heard the scoffing and reviling and the sneering of the crowd around him, but it was this rejection from the Father that alone caused him unbearable sorrow. When the heap of insults came from sinful man, he remained silent. But when did he break his silence? At the ninth hour, he cried out in anguish, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That was the suffering, that was a rejection. And that rejection was the payment for our inheritance. That was the means which allowed us to be born again. And God caused this.

So the Son, for the joy set before him, submitted himself willingly to this. He endured the cross, scorned its shame. So God the Father, in his foreknowledge, like we looked at last week, caused this to be.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you. Amen.

These are nice verses. Right? These are beautiful verses. I had heard them read at a funeral a couple years ago. We will all agree that Christ is deserving of our praise. Because Christ is king, because Christ has triumphed over the grave, Christ is a triumphant king. Right. On Palm Sunday, crowds were gathered, and they literally were crying out to Jesus, blessed be the king. They too acknowledged in the moment that he deserved to be praised if he really was a Messiah sent to restore. In their minds, the Messiah would be triumphant. And so Psalms Palm Sunday begins with what we have come to know as the what kind of entry? Triumphal entry. Luke 19, 38. Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest. And then Hosanna Hosanna. So normally in Jesus' day, Jerusalem had a population of about 55,000. That's like Dodger Stadium. Okay, it's not that many. But during major feasts like the Passover, which Jesus celebrates this week with his disciples, the city would balloon from about 55,000 to about 180,000. Because many Jews and many not devout non-Jews would be coming from out of town to make sacrifices at the temple. And this was the highlight of the year for most Jews. And for Jews during the Passover, Jerusalem was where you needed to be.

But it's a week full of pain and rejection. It's a week full of nothing but suffering. And it starts with the rejection by Jews who should have known better. So as it says in John chapter 1, verses 10 to 11, Jesus was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.

And those Jews who were his own did not receive him. So when we think of Palm Sunday, we may have an image in our heads of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, people laying garments and palm fronds before him and shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna. So what exactly were they shouting and crying out? The word Hosanna comes from a combination of two Hebrew words. Repeat after me, Yasha. Yasha. And that means to deliver or to save. And Anna, repeat. Anna, which means to beg or to beseech. So Yasha Anna. Okay, so Yashana, this Hebrew phrase is found only one time in the whole Old Testament. And it comes from Psalm 118, which reads this.

Oh Yahweh, save. Oh Yahweh, succeed. Yashana, Yoshana. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of Yahweh. We have blessed you from the house of Yahweh. So this is a shout for salvation. This is a begging of a restoration of national success. So when they were crying this out, there was a lot of hope. So perhaps success and salvation and restoration for Israel was near. That's how Palm Sunday begins. But things go sour really fast. In fact, things get rough almost immediately. So when we think of Palm Sunday, all too often we think of just the triumphal entry. But we don't think of anything beyond that. The triumphal entry was an utter disaster. Almost immediately there are challenges that come from the Pharisees and the crowd, because they don't like this.

And we read that as soon as Jesus enters, he's very troubled. He's anguished in his soul, and he starts to talk about his death. John 12 27. And then for the second time in as many days, Jesus weeps.

The day before, on Saturday, Jesus had wept at Lazarus' tomb. You guys know this, right? This is a shortest verse of the Bible, John 11, 35. You can memorize it right now. Repeat after me. Jesus wept. Yeah, you memorized it, right? So you have a verse down. But today he weeps on Palm Sunday as he approaches the inner part of the city, and there are different words for weeping in the Greek. At Lazarus' tomb, Jesus just wept silently. Tears quietly streamed down his face. But as he approached Jerusalem, he started sobbing. He wailed.

So Jesus wept on Palm Sunday, perhaps while still riding on the donkey, just moments after the triumphal entry. And so it reads, as he approached Jerusalem and he saw the city, he cried over it, saying, If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace, but now they have been hidden from your eyes. So the Jews just got blinded.

So there's a lot more to Palm Sunday than just the triumphal entry. Because the rest of Palm Sunday, there's a lot of text, but nothing is celebratory. So the picture that the Jews had in mind when they were singing Psalm 118, as a saying proclaimed, Hosanna, Hosanna, was very different from what their Messiah had come to accomplish. So I want you to imagine with me briefly.

In the same week, crying out, crucify him. Crucify him.

Hosanna, Hosanna, crucify him, crucify him. They would have no problem saying these words. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, have been kept, having been kept in heaven for you. What would the Jew of Jesus' day have had in mind had they heard these verses, with the exception of the resurrection part, because that doesn't fit their paradigm, they would have no problem with this. Right? So to think through both the events of Palm Sunday and 1 Peter 3 to 4, I'm gonna have us mull over two questions.

How in the world did the Jews, especially the Jewish leaders, not receive him? How did they fail to welcome their king, their Savior, who had been promised for many years? Because remember the Jews, they were experts in the scriptures. Every Jew was well practiced and observed of all the feasts and festivals. All these feasts and festivals pointed to Christ, and they were as familiar with all the prophecies and symbols, the songs, the meals, and the decorations pointing to the Messiah as we would be with Christmas. So they were familiar with the prophecies of the coming king, and yet they rejected him, they made a mockery of him. So why did the Jews, especially the Jewish leaders, fail in receiving their long-awaited Messiah?

That's a very important question, because there's nothing new under the sun. Those who sing praises about Jesus may be the ones that actually initiate the rejection of him, right? And the second question I'd like for us to think about critically is have we ourselves truly received and believed on the promised Messiah, the true light which has come to the world. Have we truly been born again to a living hope? Is that why we gather on Sunday? So, like some of the folks in the crowd, we can also get caught up in the hype and cry out with our mouths, Hosanna, blessed is the coming kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna and the highest. But what we mean is deliver us from our discomfort into prosperity, deliver us into purpose and success.

And there are people in the church because of some disappointment, disenchantment, or discouragement, they turn around and say, crucify him, crucify him. He is not my king. He has failed me. So during the Passion Week, there's a lot of lip service offered by those who it turned out, they did not receive him. So with the remainder of our time, we're gonna think through what it means to truly bless and praise God, and hopefully it does a good job to just remind us to be sober in the coming week. So, first, can I go back one slide?

So, what does it mean to be born again? We hear this term a lot, right? I I follow I found it off. My first time I ever was asked this question was in seventh grade. My friend asked me, Oh, you go to church? Are you born again? And I was like, No. It was so uncomfortable, right? But what does this mean? So, John 3 3 to 6, Jesus answered and said to him, truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? So Jesus answered, truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the spirit is spirit. This is the first reason we bless and praise God. Okay, we have been born again. The default condition for every human being, both Jew or Gentile, religious or non-religious, is what the Bible calls sarks. Repeat after me, sarks. That means the flesh. So sin tainted and corrupted flesh cannot but be get sin tainted and corrupted flesh. Flesh gives birth to flesh. Sarks produces sarks. And sarks can never enter into the kingdom of God. Flesh is not presentable or acceptable to a holy, holy, holy God. Okay, if you're taking notes, it's S-A-R-X, Sarks. Okay. The flesh is vile and disgusting. No matter how you clean up and dress up the flesh.

Okay, I want to give you a visual. If you wash a maggot, put clothes on it, makeup on it, it doesn't change the fact that it's still a maggot. Right? In order for a maggot to be presentable to you, it needs to change completely and not be a maggot. Right? It needs to be born again into something that is actually presentable. You guys catch that? Jesus defined this rebirth as someone being born of water and born of the spirit. Something now presentable before God. Okay? So born of the spirit is a little easier to understand. So I'm gonna talk about that first. It basically means the Spirit of God changing the very core of the person. He has removed the heart that's once hostile to God into one that is actually obedient to God.

Ezekiel 36. It's like a DNA transplant of a person's very being, of the very spirit of the person. Now you can't do a DNA transplant, but that's what it is, right? And so it's an inside out change. Your outside doesn't change your DNA. The DNA affects everything else, right? It cannot be an outside in change. So no matter how hard you try, you can't become more presentable to God. Amen. You could pretend, but it's putting makeup on a maggot. Okay. So spiritually, everything about the old is gone. That's what it means to be born of the spirit. The new has come. God has done this, God has caused this, God has made us new. So how does the Spirit work? Titus 3 verse 5, he saved us not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit.

So blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again and made new by the Holy Spirit. And the apostle Paul here called it the washing of regeneration when he wrote to Titus. This symbolizes baptism. Without baptism, you cannot be saved. Repeat after me, without baptism, I cannot be saved. Now obviously, Jesus is not talking about the external act of being immersed in water. Some churches, some cults say you have to be immersed in water at our church. That's a false prophet. That's a cult. Okay. Baptism, the external act is symbolic of the internal change.

Because the physical water does not save a person. Think of in Acts chapter 8. Simon the sorcerer got baptized by water. He wasn't saved. So a bath removes dirt and grime from the flesh. It doesn't remove sin out of the heart. And that's the difference between a bath of water and a baptism of water. Okay. In baptism, both the conscious conscience of a person and the standing of a person has been made holy before God. The apostle Peter actually will elaborate on this in chapter three, but here's just a quick preview. Corresponding to that, baptism now, what? It saves you. Not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal of a good conscience to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

An external cleansing bath of water cannot and does not save a person. It's the washing of the inside. It's the washing of the core, it's the washing of your conscience that saves a person. That's what it's meant by the being born of water. And this cleansing happens in and only in being united with Christ. Okay? So baptism, it's a spiritual union with Christ into his death towards sin and into his resurrection into newness of life. That's what baptism is. So when you go into the water, it's symbolic of your death into Christ and the resurrection and your coming out of the water is symbolic of new life. Spiritually, without dying with Christ, you cannot be raised with Christ. So Romans 6, 3 to 4 reads, all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. So there has to be a newness of life. There has to be a death of the old, right? There cannot but be a newness of life. The old has to go, the new has to come. That's what born again means. Many of the Jews who cried out Hosanna Hosanna wanted a better old.

So that's what they were excitedly thinking as they cried out, Hosanna, Hosanna. The Jews didn't want the new.

So they're pretty narcissistic. It's all about us. God, you exist for us. So do your job and save us. Hosanna, Hosanna. Do it. Renew our old.

Save and make us proper, is what they're saying. It's parallel to Lord Jesus, we believe you. Save us. Help us so that we can become successful. So I can be cancer free. I could be healthy. So I can marry well. I can live in a nice home. I can have a very good retirement. And so I can have great memories with my children. Make my life devoid of hardship. Save us, Hosanna from hardship, so that I can enjoy heaven here before I get into heaven there with you. So we don't bless God only when he provides us with wonderful circumstances. We bless him simply one because of who he is, and we adore him because he has caused us to be born again to a living hope.

The old is gone, the new is come. Praise God. So has that happened to you? Are you a maggot? Just with nice clothes. Just with less cussing, just with more generosity. Or are you a completely new thing? How does a person become born again? What is the means? How do you know if you have been born again? That's a pretty important question. And the apostle Peter spells out the means, and he says it as the word of God. Okay. So later on we'll read.

Not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring what? Word of God. For all flesh is like grass, all its glory is like the flower grass, the grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the word which was proclaimed to you as gospel. The preaching of the gospel is not just Jesus died for your sins. The preaching of the good news is holy, holy, holy, God's word is being presented to you, sinful, dirty man. That's the gospel. So spiritual rebirth happens first and foremost through a faith-filled and repentant response to the proclamation of the living and active word of God. A death has to take place.

Amen. So the word of God is the gospel, and that's all over the pages of the scriptures if you're paying attention. And so the proclamation of the word of God from Genesis to Revelation is the gospel, and God initiates this.

John 10 27. And his sheep, hearing the voice, return to the fold, Isaiah 53, 6. Because they've received the love of the truth. 2 Thessalonians 2.10. We're gonna get to that next week. Those who don't belong to his sheepfold don't have a love for the truth. But those who are his sheep have received the love of the truth. And they've also been given faith when they hear the word. Romans 10 17 says what? So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. So God's word saves the saint. And then his word continues to save the saint as that saint daily responds to his word in faith. That's called sanctification. So those who have ears to hear, his sheep who have ears to hear, will hear the shepherd's voice and will respond with an amen from the pit of their souls.

Always, even if it stings, even if it offends.

Ouch. Amen. From my soul, I cannot reject what has just been said, because thus saith the Lord, I need to change. The truth is not going to change. The saint submits to the word always. The non-saint changes the word. Oh, he can't mean that. God loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life. He can't mean that. So a person who is born again will be able to discern the shepherd's voice whenever the shepherd's words are proclaimed. And that born-again person who has already been cleansed once and for all will start to look cleaner and cleaner with passing time. Do you know why? Jesus is a faithful bridegroom.

Amen. And some of the spots, wrinkles, and blemishes are very deep. And when they're deep, what happens? You have to wash more thoroughly. So sometimes sanctification is very thorough. So this is what it says in Ephesians 5. The bridegroom Christ has cleansed, and he continues to cleanse the church, his bride. Amen.

So we are a gift to be presented to Christ in full glory, completely holy and blameless, and that's what it means to be born again to a living hope. So 1 Peter 3 or 1, 3 to 4. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his mercy caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What is a living hope? First, hope is something that has not yet been attained or seen. Does that make sense? When you hope for something, it means you don't have it. So that's why Paul rhetorically asks in Romans 8.24. Hey, who hopes for what he already sees? Who hopes for what he already has? So what is a living hope? Here's the definition.

It's an eager awaiting for our adoption as sons and the redemption of our bodies, as it says there in Romans 28.23.

The longer that hope is alive, the larger it becomes.

The word uh living in is from the Greek word zoe, which means life. And zoe implies a constant growth and expansion and multiplication. So this is a growing hope. You guys follow? It's a, oh my goodness, this is so it's getting bigger and bigger. It's a growing hope. So as a Christian walks and ages with the Lord for years, and then for decades, that Christian should feel more alive, more eager for death, not more bitter or cynical, or longing more just morbidly for things to end. So the Christian with a living hope gets more and more excited as the end draws near. It shows on his face. Everything will change when our living hope for the redemption of our bodies and our souls becomes a reality.

I'm so excited. And what is this living hope towards? Right? If I'm hoping for a hamburger, when does that hope end? When I have the hamburger. If I'm hoping for a hamburger and someone gives me a celery stick, I still have hope. It hasn't changed. So what am I longing for? It's this, verse four. To obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you. Eternal life is coming. Heaven awaits. And unlike the temporary and passing things that we have to endure here on earth, this inheritance is incorruptible, undefiled, unfading, which means permanent. So new birth and eternal life in Christ, and the enjoyment of all of this, it is not for this world.

This world and its desires are what? 1 John 2 17. Passing away. The world and this life are reserved for fire and destruction. Second Peter 3 7. But what's coming? The new.

So that is what we should mean and be excited by when we cry out, Hosanna, Hosanna. I want to get married. I want this engagement period to end. Hosanna, Hosanna. Our Hosanna should be focused on heaven, not for this life. Because this life is corruptible, defiled, and fading away. Amen. So this life is the engagement period before a wedding. What is the purpose of an engagement? It's marriage. Right. The engagement ends with the marriage. I remember a conversation in college with an older sister named Gloria. And I remember she made it no secret. I think she thought it was funny, that she wanted to be proposed to.

She would say regularly, I want the rock. I don't need the husband. Just give me the rock. Give me a nice shiny ruck. And we would all laugh. She's still not married, unfortunately. The diamond ring is not the goal. Right? The diamond ring, it's a symbol of the pledge to betroth. You guys follow this? When a lady gets proposed to and gets her ring, the engagement period begins. And nobody expects the engagement period to be easy. Nobody.

Why is an engagement period necessary? Because a wedding has to be prepared for. Guests need to be invited. But the engagement is the start, it's not the goal. The goal is the marriage. The goal is not the wedding. The wedding is a transition. The goal is the marriage. But there are sadly many in the church who want the rock. Maybe a nice wedding party, but they don't want the marriage. Why do you want to go to heaven? Is it for the bridegroom? One thing hopefully you will never find is a fiance who wants the engagement period to be permanent. Right? Engagement periods are supposed to be temporary. They are supposed to end gloriously.

Because like I said, the goal and the destination for every engagement is a marriage. So a normal fiance is excited for the engagement period to end. And as she gets closer to the day, there's more excitement. Even though there may be more stress.

Right? So the Christian life is the engagement, preparation for the eternal and permanent marriage to the Lamb of God. And so the bride has to make herself ready. So the Passion Week is the costly price of the proposal. This week is about the cost of our redemption. In some places, in some cultures, they say it's up to a third of your year's salary. It's a costly price. But our engagement did not come through perishable things like gold or silver or an expensive diamond. Amen.

We were sealed with, symbolized by this, with something far more costly than any silver, gold, or diamond. That's what Peter says. 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19. You were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your feudal conduct inherited from your forefathers, the old, but with precious blood, as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. If someone you know gets proposed to with a hundred thousand dollar diamond ring, you're gonna tell that person, handle that with care. That's an expensive cost. Don't lose it. Don't ever take it off. Do everything you can to ensure it. Don't even let anybody like look at it. Right? Because it's expensive.

So this week for the Passion Week is a reflection on the cost of our future betrothal. The Passion Week details, the events and circumstances and the sacrifices leading up to the costly and precious pledge the bridegroom will be making. Amen. May we not be a people who say, I don't need the husband. Just give me the rock and let me enjoy engagement. May we not be a people who fill flippantly cry out, Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead into, and you just say all these things and then turn around and say, crucify him, crucify him. He's not my God. Where has he been?

What has he done? Let us not care only for the benefits of marriage and not want the groom. Amen. Passion week is important. I want to close with the reading of the passage one more time. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in heaven for you. Amen. This is a special week. This is our story. This is our song. And let's praise our Savior all the day long with this. And this week we'll feed that. Let's pray together. Father, I pray that you would amaze us, awe us, humble us, and help us to see who you truly are.

We're a bratty, unthankful people that often forgets how costly the payment was for our redemption. So this week, as we reflect day to day on the road leading to the cross, I pray that you would help us to have a persistent gratefulness and an appreciation and a growing affection and an increasingly growing living hope. So that we may be eager to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.