The apostle Peter gives
this word of instruction to those who profess faith in Christ, “But sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” (I Pet.
3:15) If we live before this world as godly men and women who give evidence of
knowing the living God, we will be asked about what we believe. If we are never
asked in any way, we have reason to question our profession. Peter says to “be
ready to given an answer.” Not a memorized little speech or the like but a
scriptural reason for your confidence toward God. This is to be an answer
concerning the “reason of the HOPE that is in you.” In humility as one who is
the object of God’s grace and mercy in Christ, we are to tell men and women
about the basis of our hope, not proudly or arrogantly, but in “meekness” and in
reverence toward God. The truth is, the “hope IN” us is because of something
done outside of us and apart from us before we ever lived. Our HOPE is in Christ
who is our Hope. We believe that, according to the word of God, we were chosen
in Christ by God the Father before the world began without any consideration of
what we were, would do or ever be. We believe that we were redeemed by Christ
the Son on the cross where He was made sin for us, bore our sins in His own
body, finished the whole work of our salvation and saved us from our sins. Our
hope is in God having imputed to us the righteousness of God in Christ and
accepted us altogether “in the Beloved.” Our hope is “Christ in you the hope of
glory” because the Spirit of God has given us life and faith and brought us out
of darkness into the light of Christ. He has caused us to pass from “death unto
life” and made us “new creatures in Christ Jesus.” Like the Psalmist, our hope
is in God! In His grace! It is a “good hope through grace” freely, sovereignly
given to us in Christ. It is not a mere “wish” but confidence based upon the
sure promises of God which are “yea and amen” in our Savior. It is a hope
begotten “IN” us by His Spirit which nothing can remove! The Triune God, Father,
Son & Spirit, is the Reason for the hope in us and we have no other!!