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I PETER 1:3

"LIVING HOPE"

I. THE IMPORTANCE OF HOPE.
        A. Man really cannot live without it.
                1. The exponents of the existential philosophy discovered this.
                2. They concluded that reality was totally despairing.
                        a. Too many of the students were committing suicide.
                        b. They began to speak of the leap of faith into a non-reasoned
                           religious experience.
        B. Experiments with wharf rats.
                1. They would drown in 17 minutes.
                2. With a test group they rescued them just before they drowned.
                3. When they were placed in tank the second time, they survived 32 hours.
                        a. Psychologists attributed to the fact that they had been saved.

II. PETER THANKS GOD FOR THE LIVING HOPE.
        A. Peter had personally witnessed the deepest despair.
                1. When they crucified his Lord, he lost hope.
        B. Jesus had said such marvelous things that inspired -hope.
                1. He said that the Father had sent Him to save the lost.
                2. He said that He was the water of life that if you would just drink the
                   water that He gives, you would never thirst again.
                3. Jesus said He was the Bread of Life, if you ate of Him you would live
                   forever.
                4. He said He was the way, the truth and the life.
                5. He said He was the resurrection and the life, that whosoever lived and 
                   believed in Him would never die.
                6. All of these statements had inspired hope.
                7. All these hopes died when Jesus died.
                        a. How could He give life when He was dead?

III. THE RESURRECTION BROUGHT NEW HOPE.
        A. Now it is greater than ever before.
                1. It is more than just hope.
                2. It is a living Hope.
                        a. When Jesus rose from the dead, it confirmed all of His claims.
                                1. He can redeem lost man.
                                2. Man can come to the Father.
                                3. Man can be satisfied and never thirst again.
                                4. Man can have eternal life.
                3. I would like to suggest that without Jesus Christ, this world would be a 
                   pretty hopeless place.
                        a. I can understand man drinking to excess or taking drugs.
                        b. You have to do something to cope.
                        c. Those who are filled with the Spirit know the true lift and do not 
                           need the artificial stimulant.
                4. What a glorious message we have to share with the world. There is hope!