sermon 8
Finished sermon 8 of Vos’s sermons in Grace and Glory. It was a glorious exposition of 1 Peter 1:3-5 on the Christian’s hope. This was my favorite part of the sermon:
From this we can infer what is meant by a living hope. Just as living stones are different from ordinary stones in that they do not wait passively until somebody comes and puts them into a building, but lend themselves in free sprititual activity for the purpose of edification; so a living hope is a hope which is not dead material in the mind of the believer, but an active force in his life - something that makes its influence felt and carries him along, that sustains and inspires him. The hope of the Christian can do this because it relates to something that is not purely future, but already exists in the present because it is a hope in an inheritance, the most real of all realities. The inheritance may be invisible, but this does not detract in the least from its power to become operative in our life. No, the very fact of its being invisible vouches for its efficacy, because this invisibility means that it forms part of the spiritual world and the spiritual world is infinitely more real and infinitely more powerful than the things which our eyes can see. Hence the Christian, while not having seen it, loves it and rejoices in it greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He fashions himself according to it. He purifies his soul in harmony with the purity that intrinsically belongs to that world. He abstains from fleshly lusts because they war against the spiritual nature of the soul by which he is related to that spiritual realm which is the object of his hope. He is of sound mind, sober unto prayer. In all these things he conforms himself and responds to the claims which his heavenly destiny has upon him. He lives in the presence of the world to come and allows it to be the ruling factor in all he thinks and does.
daily reading
| June 23, 2025 |
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| 2 Chron. 26; Rev. 13; Zech. 9; John 12 |
| WCF Chapter 29 |
| The Athanasian Creed |