What would you do if a lawyer knocked on your door and told you that you’d inherited one million dollars — and you could choose whether to take it as cash, a beautiful lake house, or a successful small business? That’s the imaginative scenario Pastor Josh White opened with in his October 24 sermon, the second in a series on the Christian’s inheritance from 1 Peter 1:3–5. But here’s the twist: all three earthly options come with uncertainty, decay, and the possibility of complete loss. The inheritance God promises believers in Christ is something entirely different.
Last week, the series introduced two foundational features of our inheritance: God is the source of it, and it is grounded in His mercy. This week, Pastor Josh unpacked three more features that make the believer’s inheritance unlike anything this world can offer.
Our Inheritance Is Provided by Christ’s Resurrection
Peter ties our living hope directly to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. No resurrection — no inheritance. That’s the logic of the gospel. Because we are born sinners, we cannot naturally receive what God has prepared. Something must change. And that change is being born again.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
— 1 Peter 1:3–4
Jesus made this same point to Nicodemus in John 3 — flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Paul echoes it in 1 Corinthians 15: the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. Our qualification for this inheritance rests entirely on the death and resurrection of Jesus and our faith in Him. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Our Inheritance Is Forever
Peter uses three powerful words in verse 4 to describe what we’re waiting for: imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Each word is a direct contrast to everything this world offers.
Imperishable — it cannot die or be destroyed. Everything in this life can be lost, ruined, or outlived. But our inheritance never will be.
Undefiled — it is unstained by sin. We live in a fallen world, and sin has touched everything. Paul writes in Romans 8 that even creation “groans” under the weight of this corruption, longing to be set free. Our inheritance exists outside that bondage entirely.
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
— Romans 8:20–21
Unfading — its glory will never diminish. Everything in this life eventually loses its luster. New cars. New phones. Even new homes. The shine fades. But this inheritance holds its glory forever, untouched by time, sin, or entropy.
Our Inheritance Is Secure
The fifth feature is perhaps the most reassuring: this inheritance is kept in heaven and guarded by the power of God Himself (1 Peter 1:5). It’s not at risk. It can’t be stolen, corrupted, or lost. The Greek word for “kept” implies something already in existence, carefully watched over right now.
Jesus makes a similar point in Matthew 6, calling believers to lay up treasures in heaven rather than on earth — because earthly treasures are vulnerable, but heavenly ones are not. And the reason He gives is striking: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What we think about shapes what we live for.
So What?
Pastor Josh closed with a personal challenge drawn from Philippians 3. Paul — a man who had every earthly reason for confidence and pride — called it all rubbish compared to knowing Christ.
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
— Philippians 3:7–8
Where is your hope? If it’s in this life — in money, property, career, comfort — you’re hoping in things that will fade, perish, or be destroyed. But God promises something imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and perfectly secure. That’s the inheritance waiting for every believer in Christ. Let that be the anchor for how we live today.
Scripture References
- 1 Peter 1:3–5 — The living hope and our eternal inheritance
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 — New creation in Christ
- John 3:1–7 — Born again to see the kingdom of God
- 1 Corinthians 15 — The perishable must put on the imperishable
- Romans 8:20–21 — Creation groaning, waiting to be set free
- Matthew 6:19–21 — Store up treasures in heaven
- Philippians 3:7–11 — Counting all things as loss for Christ