Last Sunday, I mentioned an 88-year-old woman, named Eva Edl, who is being prosecuted (perhaps persecuted would be a better word) by the U. S. Justice Department for what the government contends was a terrible crime. What were her crimes? She and other pro-life supporters stood in front of an abortion clinic in Tennessee and peacefully sang hymns and prayed. She was convicted for these actions and for her Christian belief that abortion is wrong. Now, she faces the potential of a long-term prison sentence and a huge fine. In light of things like this, unbelievers might have some good questions to ask about why you would want to follow Christ and subject yourself to such oppression. The Bible requires us to be able to answer questions like that. Where in the Bible does it say this? Well, it is specifically stated in 1st Peter 3:15, which tells us: “In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.” (NIV)
There are five points that we need to consider as contained in Peter’s statement. But, before reviewing those points, it is helpful to understand the circumstances and historical background from which Peter’s statement emerged. Biblical historians believe that 1st Peter was the letter that Peter wrote to various churches in Asia Minor (now, modern day Turkey). The letter was written about the time that the City of Rome burned. The destructive fire that burned Rome happened in July of 64 A.D. At that time, a madman named Nero was the emperor of the Roman empire. Nero had an insatiable appetite for building things. The problem was Rome was effectively built-out. There was no more building space for Nero to continue his construction projects. A normal person would have looked for vacant building spots outside of Rome—but, not Nero. Rather, his demented mind decided it would be better to set fire to the city and start building all over again. So, that is what he did. Nero had the City of Rome set aflame and all but burned it to the ground. The citizens of Rome were devastated. Their temples and cultural centers were reduced to ashes. They were shocked because it left them with the impression that their Roman god, Jupiter, and all their lesser pagan gods, had been helpless to save their city from the flames. Homeless and miserable, the citizens of Rome rummaged around the ruined city in a hopeless horde. They were enraged and whoever was responsible for this disaster would have to pay dearly. Nero desperately needed someone to blame. And, who better to blame than the Christians living in the city? So, that is what Nero did. He got the word out that the Christians were responsible for setting the fires. Consequently, Christians throughout the Roman Empire were maliciously persecuted. The Romans who persecuted the Christians made the U. S. Justice Department, in their mistreatment of Eva Edl, look like choir boys.
It was under these circumstances that the Apostle Peter wrote the letter we now know as “1st Peter” to the churches throughout Asia Minor. Not long after this, Peter was arrested by the Romans and sentenced to be crucified. But, when they led him to the cross, he refused to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus—for Peter declared that he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way as Christ. Rather, he insisted upon being crucified upside down. And, sometime around 67 A.D. or so, that is the way the Romans executed him.[1]
It was while living in a hostile Roman society that Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, told us: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” That is an interesting reaction to hostility. Rather than circulating a letter to stir up Christians to retaliate against the Romans through acts of hate, Peter encouraged them to share their hope with everyone—Jew and Gentile alike. As the case of Eva Edl indicates, we are living in a hostile environment today. So, we’d do well to consider Peter’s directive. To do that, let’s break down the content of this verse to better understand what this means.
[ALWAYS:] First, Peter says to “always” be prepared. This is very straightforward. He doesn’t say just to be prepared on Sundays when you go to church, or when you go to Bible Study. It isn’t only when we are feeling cheerful and upbeat for Christ that we give our testimony. It isn’t limited to times when we are in the safe company of a Christian gathering that we are to be prepared. No—it’s ALWAYS: 24/7, year in, year out, in good times and bad, in safe settings and hostile ones: ALWAYS BE PREPARED TO GIVE A REASON FOR THE HOPE YOU HAVE.
[BE PREPARED:] Secondly, what does Peter mean by being “prepared”? You can’t be prepared to share Christ with anyone if you don’t know Jesus. Now, some might respond to that by claiming: “Oh yes—I know Jesus. He is the Son of God and my Lord and Savior.” That is all very fine. But, if you want to address an unbeliever in a way that can allow him or her to see Jesus as their Savior, then you must know Him on another fundamental level. You need to know Jesus the way the Apostle John knew Jesus. At the very beginning of John’s Gospel, he tells us how he knew Jesus: 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” John 1:1-5 (NASB) 14 “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (NASB) Jesus is the Word of God. To be fully prepared to give a reason for the hope you have, you must know the Word of God through the Bible itself. This kind of preparation is an on-going, lifetime process of studying the Scriptures. For as the Psalmist said: “I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on Him. I have put my hope in His Word.” Psalm 130:5 (NLT2)
Think about why this is true. When someone asks you about the reason for your hope as a Christian, their questions will typically come out of some crisis they are going through in their personal lives. Maybe there is difficulty in their marriage. Perhaps they have lost their job. They could be going through a time of depression due to sickness or the suffering involved with an illness or even the death of a loved one. There are a million different scenarios in which they might approach you wondering why you have hope in your life. If you know the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will help you pull from God’s Word the answer the Lord has for them regarding their questions. When you equip yourself with the content of the Bible, you will be prepared to give them the answer they need the most to address their situations.
[HOPE:] The third and fourth components to Peter’s instruction are that we should be ready “to give a reason” for the “hope” we have. Let’s consider what he means by “hope”. Exactly what is this “hope” to which Peter refers? The Apostle Paul gives us an answer by pointing to Abraham as someone who maintained “hope” in an otherwise “hopeless” time. Paul said: 18 “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, ‘That’s how many descendants you will have!’ 19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. 20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises.” Romans 4:18-21 (NLT2)
And so, our “hope” is not the kind of hope the world holds. The world’s hope is a “cross-your-fingers” kind of hope. The world’s hope is an uncertain hope—and, in the end, it is a false hope. Take the famous TV host, the late Larry King, as an example. According to King, he was somewhere between an agnostic and an atheist.[2] When asked in a New York Times interview what his “hope” was after death, he had a very strange reply. He said that he had decided to go through the “Ted Williams treatment.” In other words, his “hope” is in cryonics. Cryonics is a pseudo-scientific, wacko process whereby a person’s body is frozen immediately after death. Then, they are thawed out at some future time once science discovers a cure for whatever caused their death. King told the interviewer that “the people behind cryonics are ‘all nuts,’ but at least if he knows he will be frozen he will die with a shred of hope.”[3] Larry King seemed to be an intelligent man, but how foolish could anyone be as to put their hope in people they know to be “nuts”? It seems to me anyone who would do that might want to consider if they themselves are “nuts.”
But, the hope of a believer is vastly different. The hope of a Christian is a firm confidence that God will always come through for us. It is the substance of our faith, for as the Scripture assures us: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1 (NIV) Times may be tough, and our circumstances may appear bad, but a true believer joins with Paul in saying: 28 “And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans.” Romans 8:28 (TLB) But, that’s the point: We must fit into God’s plans and stop trying to squeeze God into our plans. Paul added to this when he went on to say: 24 “We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” Romans 8:24-25 (NLT2) Thus, a Christian’s hope is a confident mindset that God will make good on all His promises. But, keep this in mind: God will do that on His timetable, not ours. With time, God always keeps His promises. Yes, hope abounds when we are fully convinced God will make good on all His promises to us.
[GIVE THE REASON:] Now, let’s return to Peter’s statement dealing with the “reason” for our hope. The Bible is very clear that God is the reason for our hope. In fact, Peter explained this when he wrote: “Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.” 1st Peter 1:21 (NLT2) God the Father and God the Son give us a two-fold reason for the hope we have in them. First, Jesus gives us a reason to hope by the shedding of His blood on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins. And secondly, God the Father resurrected Jesus from the tomb confirming that His sacrifice on the Cross offers us redemption. This, the reason for our hope is REDEMPTION and RESURRECTION. You see, people like Larry King live with a false hope. King’s fallacy was that, if his body died of cancer, heart disease or whatever, then science could one day thaw his dead body and fix whatever it was the killed him. Even if science could do that (which is highly improbable), there is something that science can never fix. Science can never restore the missing soul that departs from the body on the day a person dies. Only God can do that! Consider a broken-down car as an example. An engine part breaks and the engine dies. Science might one day fix the broke engine part, but the engine won’t run if the gas tank is empty. When Larry King died, his soul left his body and the “gas tank” became empty. The only One Who can put the “gas of your soul” back in the “engine of your body” and make it run again is God. He proved this through the Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.
When speaking of the resurrection of the dead, it is important to understand that there are two resurrections. There will be a resurrection unto eternal life in Heaven and a resurrection unto eternal death in Hell. For as the Scriptures say, God “will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (NLT2) [4] Those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior will received resurrected bodies that will be reunited with their souls. Their resurrected body will be suited to enter Heaven. Those who rely on cryonics, false religions, atheism, or simply cross their fingers and hope for the best, are all going to be extremely disappointed. Yes, they too will receive resurrected bodies to carry their souls. But, they won’t have blessed resurrected bodies bound for Heaven. Rather, they will be given cursed resurrected bodies headed for Hell.[5]
The only hope available to humanity is Jesus—for as He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus is speaking of the Hope of the Resurrection promised when God the Father raised Him from the dead. It is through the promise given by Jesus’ Resurrection that those who accept Christ as Lord will be given a new resurrected body for their soul to live in. The resurrected body reserved for believers will be a million times better than if you traded in an old, broken-down clunker for a brand-new Lamborghini! With the absolute reliability of that promise in mind, we can join with David as he proclaimed in Psalm 39: “Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in You!” Psalm 39:7 (NLT2)
[ANSWER EVERYONE:] So, as you can see, there is a lot packed into Peter’s statement: “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” But, there is one last thing to consider: To whom are we to be prepared to give a reason for our hope? Peter says to be ready to do that with “everyone who asks.” In other words, it is not only our family members, friends, neighbors, co-workers, fellow Christians, etc. to whom we must give an answer. WE MUST BE READY TO ANSWER ANYONE AND EVERYONE! That doesn’t only come from Peter. That is the Great Commission that Jesus gives to all of us. We are to be witnesses (giving the reason for our hope) to everyone because Jesus commands: “You will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria [Louisa, Orange, Charlottesville, Richmond], and to the ends of the earth.” [6]
This morning, do you have a reason for the hope that you have? If that reason points you to anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ, then the sad truth is you have a false hope. Or, maybe you feel hopeless and think there’s no reason to expect anything better. If so, that is sad as well—because Jesus longs to give you His hope. It is sadder still that the world is filled with people like Larry King whose own words suggest he never found God’s true hope that was well within his reach. In 2021, King died from complications associated with Covid. He had apparently abandoned his plan to have his body frozen through the process of cryonics—the one thing on which he had once pinned his hope. But, in a way, King got one thing right—true hope starts with the letter “C”. But, it’s not pronounced, “cryonics.” Rather, true hope in pronounced, “Christ—Jesus Christ!” [7]
In conclusion, let me leave you with the words of Peter which are also found in his first epistle. Peter wrote: 3 “Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of His great mercy He gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. THIS FILLS US WITH A LIVING HOPE, 4 and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for His people. He keeps them for you in Heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away. 5 They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time.” 1st Peter 1:3-5 (TEV) Today, I pray that you will have that “LIVING HOPE,” in the person of Jesus Christ, in your heart. If His living hope is missing in your life, now is the time to come forward and start experiencing the “peace that surpasses all understanding”[8]—it’s the peace and hope that only Jesus Christ can give!
Let us pray.
Darvin Satterwhite, Pastor
Forest Hill Baptist Church
May 5, 2024
©2024 All Rights Reserved as follows:
Anyone is at liberty to use this sermon or any portions thereof for educational or religious purposes, with or without credit. The pastor believes the material presented herein to be true to the teaching of Scripture, and desires to further, not restrict, its potential use as an aid in the study of God’s Word. The publication of this material is a grace ministry of Forest Hill Baptist Church in Louisa, Virginia.
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[1] MacArthur, John F., Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006.
[2] Larry King, Celebrity Faith Database, Beliefnet.com, https://www.beliefnet.com/celebrity-faith-database/k/larry-king.aspx [accessed April 30, 2024]. Wikipedia contributors, "Larry King," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Larry_King&oldid=1220375293 (accessed May 1, 2024).
[3] Mark Leibovich, “Larry King is Preparing for the Final Cancellation,” The New York Times (August 26, 2015), cited in PreachingToday.com.
[4] Acts 24:15 I have the same hope in God that these men have, that he will raise both the righteous and the unrighteous. (NLT2)
[5] See John MacArthur’s comments regarding Revelation 20:5 in his study bible: MacArthur, John F., Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2006.
[6] Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (NLT2)
[7] Mark Leibovich, “Larry King is Preparing for the Final Cancellation,” The New York Times (August 26, 2015), cited in PreachingToday.com.
[8] Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (ESV)
