A Living Hope – a Sermon

Text: 1 Peter 1:1-12 [See here for my Bible Study Notes on this passage]

‘My dearest sister, I offer you no consolation, for I know of none. There are things which each must bear as best he may with the strength that has been allotted to him.’  (Aldous Huxley, writing to his sister on the death of their mother.)

‘There is a darkness without, and when I die there will be darkness within.  There is no splendour, no vastness anywhere, only triviality for a moment and then, nothing.’ (Bertrand Russell)

What a terrible thing it must be to face death without hope.

Heaven

Christians often talk about living with God ‘in heaven’.  In fact, writes Wayne Grudem, the Scripture speaks of a new heaven and a new earth – that is, a completely renewed creation – and of living with God there.  See Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1f.