Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. If you would like to turn with
me in your Bible, we're going to be reading this morning from
1 Peter chapter 1. This particular book, this first
epistle or letter of Peter is called in the title, a general
epistle. That's what it says at the heading,
a general epistle, meaning it's not written to any one person
in particular. But verse one tells us in this
chapter that it is written to a particular people. It's not
written to any one person like when the Apostle Paul wrote to
Timothy, wrote a letter to Titus, wrote a letter to Philemon. And it's not written to a particular
group of people like when Paul wrote the epistle to the Ephesians
or he wrote the epistle to the Romans or to the Corinthians.
But this epistle is to a particular people. It is to a particular
people. If you look with me at verse
one, it says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers. To the strangers, that's who
he is writing to, this word is written to the strangers. Now he tells us in chapter five,
why he wrote this letter to the strangers. If you want to look
at chapter 5, verse 12 says, by Silvanus, he wrote it by the
hand of Silvanus, also known as Silas, a faithful brother
unto you, as I suppose I have written briefly, exhorting and
testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein you stand. This is the true grace of God.
He said, I wrote this to confirm to you that you believe the truth.
That's why I wrote this letter to you. If you are standing on
this, you're standing on the true grace of God. Now, back
in chapter one, he said, I'm writing to the strangers. Now,
who are the strangers? Who are they strangers to? And what does he have to say
to them? Well, if you look with me at Hebrews 11, verse 13 says,
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. These strangers that Peter is
writing to, they are men and women who die in faith. These
all died in faith. They're believers. That's who
they are. Strangers are believers. Those who are persuaded of and
confess the promises that God has given in his word, just persuaded
of them. profess them. Well, why call
them strangers? Why does he call them strangers?
Who are they strangers to? Well, in first John chapter three,
it says in verse one, first John three, verse one, behold, what
manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should
be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us
not because it knew him not. The world knoweth us not. Now let me ask this question
and really think about this. Is that okay with you? Is that okay with you? Is it
okay for the world to not know you as long as the Lord Jesus
Christ does? Is it okay for everyone and everything
here to say, I don't know you, I don't support you, I don't
want to have anything to do with you? As long as the Lord Jesus
Christ says, I will. Oh, I will. As long as God Almighty
says, before I formed you in the belly, I know you. I know
you. I support you. Is that OK with
you? That's OK with me. Oh, that's
OK with me. The Lord's people are strangers
to this world. But thank God they're not strangers
to him. Not strangers to him, that's such a blessing. Well,
back in first Peter chapter one, he said in verse one, Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers. scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia scattered
throughout. They're not all clumped together.
Not yet. One of these days, all of God's
people are going to be clumped together, together with him,
one congregation, one kingdom, one city. But as of right now
on this earth, they're scattered. He said, they're all scattered
throughout. And it's because of persecution.
God's people were scattered through persecution, persecution from
the world. Through the persecution of the
world, they became strangers. Let me show you something in
John 15. It says in John 15, verse 17, these things I command
you that you love one another. If the world hate you, you know
that it hated me before it hated you. That's so sad, isn't it?
The Lord Jesus Christ said, you know, the world hated me. And
he's saying the Lord will do the same thing to my people.
They'll be persecuted for my truth sake, persecuted for my
glory sake. In verse 19, he said, if you
were of the world, the world would love his own. But because
you are not of the world, But I have chosen you out of the
world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I
said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If
they've persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have
kept my saying, they will keep yours also. If they've been critical
over my word, they'll be critical of you for believing my word.
But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake,
because they know not Him that sent me." They're going to do
it unto you because they don't know the Father who sent me. That's what our Lord said. He
said in verse 19, my people are not of this world, but I've chosen
them out of the world. And that's what Peter is repeating
in our text. If you look back at 1 Peter 1
verse 1, he said, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia. Don't you love the humility that
God puts in the heart of his people? Don't you love humility? When a sinner sees him as he
is, truly sees him as he is, and when a sinner sees himself
for what he is, God humbles that sinner. He humbles
him. Peter didn't arrogantly write,
the apostle Peter says to you, he didn't write that. He said,
Peter, The delegated messenger. That's what apostle means. The
one God chose to deliver the message. That's all I am. The called servant. Peter cried the same thing that
all of God's people cry. I must decrease. I'm just a servant. I'm just the servant. He must
increase. I must decrease. Must. He said, Peter, a servant of
Jesus Christ. called deliverer of Jesus Christ
and then he went on to say in verse 2 This is who I'm writing
to these are the strangers. He said elect According to the foreknowledge
of God elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
This is what God's Word has to say about his strangers. I Number
one, they're scattered. They're scattered throughout
this earth. He said, I want you to send this gospel, send my
word all over the world. You go to all the world because
my people, my strangers are scattered all over the world. And then he said, every single
one of them has been chosen out of the world. Every one of them
chosen by God, my father, they're all elect according to the foreknowledge
of God, the father. All of them. That means before
the world ever was before this world was ever in existence,
every single stranger was chosen on purpose to belong to God,
to belong to Christ, to be one of his particular strangers.
Look with me at Acts chapter 13. This is a wonderful verse
of scripture. Acts 13 verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as
many as were ordained to eternal life, Believed. Do you notice how that is worded? Do you notice that it does? It
does not say as many as believed were ordained to eternal life.
It doesn't say that. It says as many as were ordained
to eternal life. Believed. As many as God chose
every stranger that embraces the truth of God's word, believes
the truth, confesses that he or she is convinced and persuaded
Christ is all. Christ is everything. Christ
is all my hope. Christ is all my salvation. Christ
is all of my goodness and righteousness before God. Christ is all. Every soul that confesses that
was ordained to confess that. ordained to it. They didn't do
that on their own. Men and women do not believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ on their own. They are ordained to it,
foreordained. Romans 8 says, whom he did foreknow,
foreknow before the foundation of the world. He also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of His Son. All of God's purpose and work
for His people, His strangers, everything He does with them
is bringing them to Christ, and their end will ultimately be
conformed into His image. As He is, so will they be. And how glorious is that? Romans
8 says, Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. 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. Everything about them was ordained. Everything about them was ordained.
Second Thessalonians 2 says we were chosen to salvation. God's people were chosen to salvation. And that's wonderful because
this sinful flesh would never choose salvation. This sinful
flesh will not choose Christ. But in spite of this sinful flesh,
Christ chose us. We would not love Him, but He
loved us. We love in return, but only because
He first loved us. That's glorious news. Well, back
in 1 Peter 1, verse 2 says, elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit. Through sanctification
of the Spirit. Every one of God's strangers.
have been set apart for God's use. Set apart to Him. That's what sanctified means.
Set apart. Set apart for holy use. It says
in verse 2, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Now let's read
this and understand this in two ways. Number one, every one of
God's strangers, all of them, have been sanctified by the Spirit,
by God's Holy Spirit, Through the obedience and blood of Jesus
Christ. That's how they were set apart.
That's how they were sanctified. Through the obedience and blood
of Christ. It's his obedience that set them
apart. It's his blood shed that set
him apart. Who maketh any sinner to differ? Who maketh me to differ? Who
would make you to differ? God's strangers are all cut from
the same lump. That's what the Word says. We're
all cut from the same lump. We are what we are by the grace
of God. Totally by the grace of God.
So that's the first thing that Peter has to say to his strangers,
to the strangers of God. Grace unto you, and peace be
multiplied. Grace to you. God's strangers
are a scattered people. Scattered throughout this world.
But God's strangers are an elect people. Chosen by God, the father
to salvation, ordained to it. God's strangers are a sanctified
people set apart unto God and it's all because of his grace.
All because of the gift that the father gave in his son, God's
grace to his strangers. The word strangers means aliens. When you look up the definition
of the word, it means aliens, illegal aliens. That's what it
means. Now let me show you God's grace
to aliens. All right. God's wonderful grace
to strange aliens. If you want to turn with me to
Ephesians chapter two, This is talking about grace. This is
all about God's grace. The end of verse five says by
grace you are saved. Grace, grace. The middle of verse
seven says the exceeding riches of his grace. Verse eight says
for by grace, it's all by grace. What is that grace? Look at verse
11. Wherefore, remember, that you
being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands that
at that time you were without Christ being aliens aliens strangers
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from
the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the
world that's where we were by nature. It's where God came to
us and found us where we are. He goes on to say in verse 13,
but now in Christ Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath
made both one. Christ and his people, Christ
and his strangers, and broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that he
might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. That's how he reconciled us.
By one body, by the cross, having slain the enmity, thereby he
slew that hatred that the sinful flesh had against God. And verse
17 says, he came and preached peace to you which were far off
and to them that were not. For through him, we both have
access by one spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, you are
no more strangers. Because Christ did all of that
for his people. He says to every single one of
them, you're no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God, fellow citizens, and
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. in whom all
the building fitly framed together groweth unto a holy temple in
the Lord, in whom you also are builded together for a habitation
of God through the Spirit." Now let me ask this question. Are
you okay with that? Are you okay with that? Are you
okay? Am I okay with being strangers to this world? an absolute stranger
to this world, but a fellow citizen with all the saints of God, fellow
citizens with the saints and of the household of God, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. I'm okay with that. I thank God for that. I thank
God for that announcement, the glorious work of Christ for his
strangers. calling them back to Himself.
Now I told you we were going to look at verse 2 in our text
two different ways. Two different ways. Number one,
we're sanctified through His obedience and the shedding of
His blood. Everything He accomplished. But
the second thing we see, and it is, God's strangers are elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit, and it says, unto obedience and sprinkling of the
blood of Jesus Christ. This is what that means. Look
with me at John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, verse 24,
it says, Then came the Jews round about him and said unto him,
How long does thou make us to doubt? Our Lord had been speaking
with them and speaking with them, and they didn't believe him.
They did not believe his word. They could not believe his word
because he had not granted them faith. That's the only way that
a sinner can be one of God's strangers, one of God's people,
one that he calls to himself. One that believes on Him. That's
the only way that we can believe on Him, is through God-given
faith. This Word is preached, and when
God purposes to call His elect to Himself, He sends faith into
the heart, and all of a sudden, they believe the Word of God.
They believe whatever the Word says. They don't believe their
preconceived notions. They don't believe the pre-doctrine
that they were told. They believe the Word of God.
If my doctrine disagrees with the word, then my doctrine goes
out the window. I believe his word. And so he'd
been talking to them, and in verse 24, the Jews came round
about him, and they said unto him, How long dost thou make
us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us
plainly. If your God manifest in the flesh,
tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you,
and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's
name, they bear witness of me. But you believed not because
you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice,
and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, Neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. No man. He said, I know my sheep. The world doesn't. But he said,
I do. I know my sheep and they follow
me. They come to me, they follow me, they come in obedience. I
call, they come. I say, bow, they bow. They bow
before Him. They come to the righteousness
of Christ. They glory in His works, not
their own. They obey His blood and they
give, they obey His word and they give thanks for His blood
and His righteousness in everything He's done for them. And they
come to Him because they have nowhere else to go. Nowhere else
to go. He said in verse 27, My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give
to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand. No man is able to pluck
them out of my hand. He said, My Father which gave
them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. This is what he said about his
strangers. He said, I call them, They come. They're in my hand. I'm in my father's hand. And
no man is able to pluck anything or anyone out of my father's
hand. They're safe. They're kept. They're kept. Now, in the flesh,
we are all children of the world. We are all lovers of the world,
destined for destruction. In the flesh, that's what we
all are. but by His Spirit, by His choice. It was God's choice
from the foundation of the world. Men stand up and tell people,
now it's your choice. That's not so. It was God's choice. God made His choice. And by His
Spirit, in His choice, through His work. Through his work of
grace, he has redeemed his strangers out of the world, and he's pulled
them to himself, drawn them to himself, and made every single
one of them to be fellow citizens and joint heirs, family members. He said, I'm drawing them to
myself and to my father. Family members, fellow citizens
with the saints, all of them family members with God, Christ
himself and his spirit, family with God. So to all the strangers,
to all the strangers, oh, I pray that I am a stranger and I pray
you're a stranger. I pray God would notify us, call
us to the knowledge that we're his particular strangers, elect
according to the foreknowledge of his father. To all the strangers,
this is how Peter closed his word in verse two, grace to you. Grace to you, and that's what
I say this morning to all the strangers, God's grace to you
and peace be multiplied. May peace through his blood be
multiplied and may that comfort your heart. May God comfort the
heart of all of His strangers. Till next week, may the Lord
bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, log on to
our website at ksgctn.org. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 1045 a.m., and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 730 p.m. Please tune in next week for
another message of God's free and sovereign grace.