Let us turn to God's Word in
the portion of Scripture that we read, the first epistle general
of Peter. And I'll read again the first
two verses of the epistle, 1 Peter 1, and reading verses 1 and 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered through Agpontius, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you,
and peace be multiplied." And the words that I really want
to center your attention upon are found here in the second
verse where we are reminded that salvation is a mighty work of
God in all the fullness of his persons. It's a Trinitarian work. I remember some years ago there
was a little sect and they like to call themselves the Jesus
people. Don't hear so much of them these
days, but they like to call themselves the Jesus people. Or if we go back to the days
of the Protestant Reformation, there was that society started
by Ignatius Loyola, and they called themselves the Society
of Jesus, or the Jesuits. Well, whilst we have a great
regard for that name which is above every name, the only name
under heaven given amongst men, and the angel said to Joseph,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. And I say whilst we have the
greatest of regard for that blessed human name of the Lord Christ,
yet we recognize that our salvation is altogether of God. It is a
Trinitarian salvation. And therefore every Christian
believer Every real saint of God is a Trinitarian. We sang it just now in our opening
praise to comprehend the great Three One is more than highest
angels can or what the Trinity has done from death and how to
ransom man. But all true Christians This
may boast a truth from nature never learnt, that Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost, to save our souls, are all concerned. Who it is, all the persons, we're
not saying of course that it was anyone other than the Eternal
Son of God, who in the fullness of the time was made of a woman
and made under the law. It was God's eternal Son that
was sent. It wasn't the Father. It wasn't
the Holy Spirit. It was truly God's Son that was
manifest as the Saviour of sinners. He accompanies that great salvation.
And yet we recognize that our salvation involves the Father.
and the Holy Spirit also. And so it is that believers are
to be baptized in that triune name. Baptizing them, we read
at the end of Matthew's Gospel, baptizing them in the name. We
observe that the word is in the singular, it doesn't say names
in the plural. They are to be baptized in the
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And remember how in the opening
chapter of Ephesians, there in that great section from verse
3 through to verse 14, we have some three sentences in which
the Apostle Paul unfolds the Trinitarian nature of salvation. How that the Father is the one
who made choice of the people, who has committed them into the
hands of his Son, and the Son has come to redeem them, and
it is the Holy Spirit who comes to seal that redemption, that
salvation in their hearts. Well, turning then to these words
here in the second verse of this opening chapter of Peter's first
epistle, in Acts, according to the full knowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Father, the
Spirit, the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken of. First of all then,
to consider the significance of the opening words that we
find in the verse. Here we see something of the
sovereign love of God the Father, the sovereign love of God. He is that one who knows the
end from the beginning. Elect, it says, according to
the foreknowledge of God. Of God the Father, that is. As
I said, he knows. He knows the end from the beginning. as we see back in Isaiah 46 declaring
the ends from the beginning and from ancient times the things
that are not done saying my counsel shall stand and I will do all
my pleasure and as God is that one who has his eternal purpose
to fulfill and makes no mistakes, and is constantly executing His
great eternal decree, it must follow that He foresees all things
before ever they come to pass. Or remember the words that we
find there in that 8th chapter of Romans, whom we did foreknow. he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. But it all starts,
you see, with that foreknowledge. Whom he did foreknow, And as we've said many, many
times, the Arminian comes and he perverts the scripture. And
he interprets that statement by suggesting that it's because
God foresees. He foreknows who will believe,
and on the basis of that foresight, that foreknowledge, he makes
choice of a people. But that's not what the word
means. Oh no, that knowledge and the foreknowledge that he's
spoken of here in our text has to do with the great love of
God. He knows his people and he knows them in an intimate
way because he has set his sovereign love upon them. Just as a man
knows his wife. Why we're told at the beginning
of creation how Adam knew his wife Eve and she bare Cain and
said I have got a man from the Lord Cain means gotten or the
Lord had granted her the gift of that child but it was the
fruit of that union between Adam and his wife Eve, he knew his
wife and so God knows his people because God himself has set his
love upon his people and That's what the word for knowledge
is meant to convey to us. The wonder of the love of God,
that sovereign love of God. In that opening chapter of the
Ephesian epistle that we just referred to, What do we read
there in verse 5? "...having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will." It's all according to the good
pleasure of God's will. It's not man's will. That's what
the Arminian says really. Man's will is sovereign. God
foresees what man will of himself believe, and if a man is pleased
to believe, God will make choice of him. He foresees his faith,
says the Arminian. But that is utter nonsense. The
salvation of sinners lies ultimately in the sovereignty of the divine
will. Or doesn't God say as much, and
he says it so clearly, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy. It's God's will. I will have
compassion upon whom I will have compassion. It is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. And so with all those who are
born again by the Spirit of God, or what lies behind that great
work of regeneration when the spirit comes into the soul of
that man, that woman, dead in trespasses and sins? How is it
that they are born again? They are born not of blood, it
says, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,
but of God, but of God. They are elect then according
to the foreknowledge Oh, that intimate sovereign love that
God has bestowed upon His people even from all eternity. You see, believing is not the
cause of election, but it's the very reverse of that. Election
is the cause of anyone believing. Look at the language that we
have there at the end of Acts, chapter 13, as many as were ordained
to eternal life, it says. What? As many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. They believed because they were
foreordained to eternal life. And the language again that we
have in the opening chapter of the first epistle to the Thessalonians,
and there in verse 4, if we read it with the margin, it's interesting
sometimes just to examine what the margin says as an alternative
reading now the text says knowing brethren your election of God speaks of
their election of God knowing brethren beloved it says your
election of God but if you look at the margin The syntax, the
word order, is somewhat different. It says in the margin, knowing
brethren beloved of God your election. And the margin is closer
to the syntax that we have in the original. They are those
who are beloved of God. And it's because they are beloved
of God that they are the elect. God has loved them. God has foreknown
them. They are elect according to the
full knowledge of God, the Father. Or the foundation of God, it
standeth sure, the Lord. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. He knows them. He knows them
because He loves them. And the Psalmist tells us again,
O, the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. Though He knows
their way, because this is what He has appointed for them. He
has appointed for them a righteousness, that righteousness which is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who is the Lord our righteousness. And the Lord knows all their
ways, all those who are in Christ, But what do we read, or what
do we learn here concerning these who are the election of grace,
the foreknown of God the Father? It's all something concerning
their condition. In the opening verse, they are
strangers, it says, who are scattered. throughout Pontius, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Now, in a very literal sense,
of course, Peter is writing to believers who are to be found
in these various provinces of the Roman Empire. This was the fruit of the ministry
of the apostles, particularly the ministry of Paul, who was
the great apostle, to the Gentiles. And here is Peter and the epistle,
as we see in the heading. It's a general epistle. He's
not writing to a particular local church, as was the case so often
with Paul's epistles. He writes to the church at Rome,
or the church at Corinth, the churches of the Galatians, and
so on. But this is a general epistle. It's written to believers
who are scattered. in various parts but isn't there
also some spiritual significance in the condition that is spoken
of in the opening verse they are strangers scattered and we
think about God's people believers in this world are truly strangers
and pilgrims in this world I have no continuing city. When Paul writes of the faithful,
even those from the Old Testament, in that 11th chapter of his epistle
to the Hebrews, remember how there he speaks of believers
as strangers, as pilgrims in the world. Verse 13 he says, concerning
these believers, these all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded
of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country, and truly if they
had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned, but now they desire
a better country. that is, on heaven, wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared
for them a city." Oh, they desire that better country. They live
as strangers in this world because they are looking forward to heaven,
that holy, happy place where sin no more defiles. Oh, they are strangers in the
world. Oh, they are scattered abroad They have no permanent
dwelling in this present life. But then we learn something more
concerning the condition of these people. Back in Isaiah 18 we
read that they are a people who are scattered, yes, and peeled. In that time shall the present
be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled,
it says. What's the significance of those
words? Why are they filled? Well, there
are people who are often burdened. There are people who are so often
heavy laden. Their backs are sore, they feel
the burden of their sin, it grieves them. These are the people, you
see, who are the election of Christ when the Lord begins to
deal with them. And think of the gracious invitation
of the Lord Jesus, how he addresses that invitation to case, to condition. Come unto me all ye that labor,
he says, and I have elated. And I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
And you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy,
and my burden is light. All these are the characters
that we are to understand as being those who give evidences
that they know something of God therefore know them God and they
themselves are brought to some knowledge of God and they are
strangers upon the earth strangers in the world they are those who
are troubled and burdened and grieved by their sins this awful
burden And we see it so wonderfully, of course, in the way in which
Bunyan writes in The Pilgrim's Progress. When we first see a
Christian, he has a great burden upon his back, how it troubles
him, how it drives him forward. Well, so too with these. Lord,
I think I'd say, concerning his own, I will leave in the midst
unafflicted. And they poor people. And they
shall trust in the name of the Lord. nor the Lord is that one
who has set his sovereign love upon sinners. Sinners are high
in his esteem and sinners highly value him. He knows them and
they are brought to that saving knowledge of him. They are elected
according to the full knowledge of God the Father. But then,
next we read it's through sanctification of the Spirit. But what is this
sanctification that is being spoken of? Now, it is the sanctification
of the Spirit, but there is a sense in which we do well to observe
that in Scripture there is a threefold sanctification. And that threefold
sanctification is to be understood in terms, again, of the doctrine
of the Trinity. All our salvation, including
our sanctification, is Trinitarian. There is a sanctification of
God the Father, and we see that in election. Remember the opening words of
the little epistle of Jude. What does it say? Well, Jude
addresses himself to them who are sanctified by God the Father,
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called. They're called by the
Holy Spirit. Again, it's Trinitarian, you
see. But what does he say first there? Those that he addresses
himself to in his epistle are sanctified by God the Father. How are they sanctified by the
Father? Well, again, this is taking us
back into eternity. Outside of time, they're sanctified
in that they're set apart. They're separated. That's the
basic meaning of the word to sanctify, or to consecrate. We see it in the Old Testament
with regards to the various vessels and the different ointments and all
that was entailed in the worship of God in the tabernacle all
those things were set apart they were not to be put to any common
usage but reserved for the service of God they were sanctified And
that's the basic meaning of the words. Henry Cole, the translator
of Calvin and of Luther, we think of that little volume that he
translated called Calvin's Calvinism. Henry Cole makes the observation
that election is sanctification in its primary and highest meaning. They're sanctified by God the
Father, set apart. And remember how it's stated
by the Apostle there in that opening chapter of his epistle
to the Ephesians. Verse 3, Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him. before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy, and without blame before Him
in love, He has set apart His people, sanctified them to holy
purposes. There is one form of sanctification
there, that eternal election that God has made when He separated
the people to Himself, even those that He foreknew, having set
His love upon them. But then, there is that sanctification
that takes place in time, historically. It is the great work of the Lord
Jesus Christ, how he came to reconcile those chosen sinners
unto God. They were in a state of alienation
and separation. But what do we read? Look at
the language of the apostle, when he writes in the epistle
to the Hebrews. There in Hebrews chapter 10,
verse 10, he says, by the witch will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus, sanctified by Christ's sacrifice. He goes on there at verse 14,
by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. All that set apart by God in
eternity that Christ comes to do a work for them in time. Again, Hebrews 13, 12, Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gates. Oh, how vital, how necessary
that work of reconciliation is. Those who were aliens from God
now reconcile to God. how the Lord Jesus has done the
work, how has he done it? He has paid the redemption price
that the Lord demanded, the Lord must be satisfied and Christ
hath redeemed us, says Paul from the curse of the Lord being made
a curse for us for it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree for he has borne the punishment, the dreadful curse
that was upon those that were the transgressors, he died as
their substitutes. In their room and in their stead
He bore all that punishment that was their just deserts. And it's
part of the outworking of the salvation of God. They are sanctified
by the Father in that He is from eternity separated, but Christ
comes. He comes to reconcile them, to
redeem them. But here, of course, in the text
it is particularly, specifically the sanctification of the spirit
that is being spoken of through sanctification of the spirit
and this is the experimental aspect of that sanctification it's when that sanctification
is made a reality brought into the soul of the favoured sinner Paul speaks of the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost when that person
who was born dead in trespasses and in sin is regenerated and
it's a great work, it's a mighty work of the Spirit of God for the sanctification of the
Spirit Again, listen to the language of the Apostle Paul there in
2 Thessalonians 2.13, he says, "...through sanctification of
the Spirit and belief of the truth." Oh, where there is that
work of the Spirit, there's faith that comes, you see. And what
of this work? Why it is such a sovereign work
of the Spirit of God, is it not? It's altogether the work of the
Spirit of God. And the Lord Jesus makes that
abundantly clear when he speaks at length concerning the doctrine
of regeneration. We're familiar with the third
chapter of John's Gospel, that great chapter that speaks
of the new birth, that discourse between the Lord Jesus and a
teacher of the Jews called Nicodemus. And how Christ asserts again
and again the necessity, ye must be born again. ye must be born
again, no salvation except there is that experience in the soul
of the sinner that knew birth. And what does the Lord say concerning
the Spirit's work, how sovereign it is? The wind bloweth where
it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst
not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. And as the work of regeneration
is sovereign, so that faith that is the evidence of the new birth,
that saving faith, isn't that faith also the mighty work of
God? In Colossians 2.12 we read of
it, faith of the operation of God. Faith of the operation of
God. It's a mighty work, it's a free
gift of God. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, we read in Ephesians, it is the
gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast, for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk
in them." This is the great work, you see, of sanctification in
the soul of the sinner. And that gift, when the same
Apostle Peter writes in his second epistle, it's interesting to
compare the opening words of each of these epistles. Here
he addresses himself to the strangers who are scattered. But remember
how he speaks in the opening words of the second general epistle. He addresses himself to those
who have obtained like precious faith with us. Those who have
obtained faith. and the verb, and we've said
this before, the verb that he uses there, the verb to obtain is rooted in the word to cast
a lot. It's to obtain something by the
casting of a lot. That's the literal meaning of
the word. They had obtained that faith as it were by the casting
of a lot. Now, to us, casting of lots seems to be such
a chance thing when we speak we speak in that fashion, do
we not? we were reminded of how even
in scripture we have God addressing us in very simple human terms
we were reminded how in Ruth it mentions how Ruth's hap was
to go gleaning in the field of Boas. It just happened that way,
that's how it appeared. But nothing happens by chance,
you see. To us humans, there seems to be chance. The way in
which the light falls into the lamp seems a chance thing, and
yet the wise man tells us in the book of Proverbs There, at
the end of chapter 16, how the lot is cast into the lap, but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. It's all of the
Lord. It's all the Lord's dealings,
the Lord's doings. And so too, in what Peter says
there at the beginning of the second epistle. To them who obtained
like precious faith. How did they obtain that faith?
Oh, it was all ordered of God. It was the outworking of God's
purpose. It was what God had decreed. That faith must come
to that people. It's a sovereign work of God.
Regeneration is that. The giving of faith is that. Now we are those who are ever
dependent upon the Spirit of God at every turn. The beginning
of the Christian life but throughout the Christian's life how do we
come to experience that efficacious grace of God well look at what
we read later here in this first chapter he says at verse 15 but as he
which hath called you is holy So be ye holy in all manner of
conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy." Their
calling. That is their effectual calling.
You see, the God who foreknew them, the God who had made choice
of them, in the appointed time, He calls them. That is the effectual
call, the efficacious grace of God. whom He did predestinate, they
may also be called. And here we have their calling,
you see. What are they called to? They are called to holiness
of life. That it is all the work of the
Spirit of God. It is then a great spiritual
work. Or when God comes into the soul
of the sinner, when there is this experience of sanctification
of the Spirit, Remember that which is born of the flesh is
flesh. That which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. That's the words of the Lord
Jesus again in that great third chapter of John. Where he's speaking
of the new birth, there is a natural birth. We've all experienced
that natural birth. Born of the flesh. We're the
children of our parents. But are we those who have also
known that spiritual birth? something quite separate and
distinct, that which is born of the Spirit. Who are we those
who are born of the Spirit? If we are, there is therefore
in us that new nature, we are as Peter says, partakers of the
divine nature. That seed of God is in our souls,
and there's a conflict between that new nature and the old nature. And remember how Paul in particular
unfolds these things so remarkably in that seventh chapter when
he writes to the church at Rome. And look at what he says concerning
his experience as one who had been born again by the Spirit
of God and was a possessor of that divine nature. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I
myself serve the Lord of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. Oh, he speaks so fully of these
things, how the flesh is lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit
against the flesh, and he says he cannot do the thing that he
would. Oh, that's complete, that utter
dependence upon the Spirit. in all that
conflict, in all that mortifying the deeds of the body, if He
through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, Paul says,
He shall live. We cannot do it of ourselves.
It's all that sovereign work and that gracious spiritual work
of the third person in the Godhead, even the Holy Spirit Himself. Oh, we see it here, you see,
there is that election in eternity But there must also be that sanctification
in time. Elect according to the full knowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit. And then thirdly,
we come to this, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. All the obedience, the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We often speak in terms of his
obedience as being both active and passive, the obedience of
his life, when as one who is made under the law he comes to
honor and magnify that law, he obeys every law of God, he fulfills
all righteousness, he is holy, he is harmless, he is undefiled,
he is separate from sinners, He is made higher than the heavens all that remarkable life of obedience
coming not to do His own will but the will of Him who had sent
Him and to finish His work and then we speak of His death for
He is obedient unto death even the death of the cross and there
the while He would honoured and magnified the law in regard to
all its precepts now honours and magnifies that same law in
terms of all its terrible penalties because he bears a dreadful punishment
that was the desert of those who were the transgressors he
was no transgressor and yet he dies the just for the unjust
to bring sinners to God the obedience of the Lord Jesus.
What do we read here? Unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now, that sprinkling of the blood
of Christ we're not here to think of that obedience that the Lord
rendered upon the cross There it was not the sprinkling of
blood, it was the flowing, it was the shedding. Without the
shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. This reference
to sprinkling has to do with the application of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When that blood is brought home,
when there's an experience when the conscience is being purged
from all those dead works when we think of the Old Testament
and the worship of God there in the tabernacle there was as
we've already intimated a separating and a sanctifying of all the
furnishings all that was to be used in the tabernacle and we
see it in Hebrews chapter 9 verse 19 where Moses had spoken
every precept to all the people according to the law it says
he took the blood of calves and of goats with water and scarlet
wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book and all the people
saying this is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined
unto you Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle
and all the vessels of the ministry, and almost all things are by
the law purged with blood." It's the application, it's the separation.
But so, too, with regards to the believer, how the believer
needs the application of that great work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so, does he not speak of
it in the same Hebrews chapter 9 verse 13 he says if the blood
of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctifies to the purging of the flesh how much
more shall the blood of Christ who
through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God purge
your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Well, we need the application
of the blood. Again, Hebrews 10.22, he says,
let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed in pure water. Oh, that blood, you see, it has
a voice. That blood that was shed at Calvary, the flowing
of the blood of the Lord Jesus, the pouring out of His soul unto
death. What a bloody death He died.
And that precious blood has a voice in the high court of heaven.
But it also has a voice in the heart of the sinner. And it bifides
you, It's by faith that we come to the experience of these things. Unto obedience and sprinkling
of the blood of Jesus Christ. He says, Grace unto you and peace
be multiplied. Well, there has to be that faith,
that obedience of faith, that sanctification of the Spirit,
and belief of the truth. This is what the Spirit accomplishes
in the soul, the soul of that sinner. It's the work of God. This is the work of God that
he believed on him whom he hath sent. It's that faith, as we
said, that is of the operation of God. When there's the blessed
application, when there's the sprinkling of the precious blood,
the purging of the conscience from every dead work, that blessed
release, sin's gone. And not just the guilt of sin,
but also all the filth of sin gone by the application of that
precious blood. and all the gracious work of
the Spirit, that faith that comes from God, that exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe. All we need is that spiritual
application of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in order to
sanctification. There's no sanctification without
it. How we need it, it's so vital. We see here, you see, that that
is eternal. When we think of the Father, how He has set His
love upon a people, they are elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, But then there must be the experience
of that. And He comes through that work
of the Spirit of God Himself, through sanctification of the
Spirit. And He comes to us as the Spirit
of Christ. He comes as that One who will
take of the things of Christ and reveal them to sinners. That's
His great work. Boy, we need then to recognize
those gracious workings of God, God the Holy Ghost, making salvation
real to our souls, that salvation that was eternal in the purpose
of the Father, accomplished in the fullness of the time by God
the Son, but brought into our souls by God the Holy Spirit. Oh God grant that we might be
brought then to see the wonder of our salvation. It is truly
one of the mighty works of God. It is indeed the greatest of
all the works of God, greater than His works of creation or
His works of providence. That that He has accomplished
in order to the salvation of these people, these strangers
who are scattered, that they are elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, the Lord be
pleased to grant that we might have that assurance that we have
a part, a lot, in this great salvation. The Lord be pleased
then to bless this word to us. Amen. and the tooth is Whitburn 435. To him that loved us ere we lay
and seared within the passive clay, to him that loved us though
we fell and saved us from the pains of hell, number 721.