Peter chapter one. First Peter
chapter one. We're looking at the first five
verses of this chapter this morning by God's mercy. The title of
the message this morning is God's Word for a Stranger's Comfort. God's Word for a Stranger's Comfort. Peter, the scripture says, an
apostle of Jesus Christ. Two, the strangers scattered. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father Through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Here the apostle
is writing, not to everyone, but rather to these strangers. Strangers. Who he calls in verse
2, the elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God. He's writing to the family of
God. He's writing to the family of
God, as does all the apostles and prophets. This Word of God that you have
in your hands right now concerning the promises of God, concerning
the salvation of God, concerning the covenant of God's grace and
the gospel of Jesus Christ, listen, this Word is written to God's
people. This Word is for God's people. This Word of God is surely written,
specifically written for and to God's people. Now, this Word
of God surely is written so all men can read it. This has been
translated into our language so that everyone who speaks English,
who reads, can actually understand these words. When I read these
words to you, you hear them, Every one of you hear that. This
Word of God is written so all men could read it, study it,
and listen, prove it to be true. God has written this Word in
such a way that He has never left Himself without a witness
of this Word being true. Now all men may look at the Scriptures
and the prophecies of the Old Testament and see that this is
truly the Word of God. How do you know this is the Word
of God? How can every man see that this is the Word of God?
Because the prophecies have come true. Everything God said would
come to pass has come to pass. Listen to this Scripture. Behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, And His name shall be
called Emmanuel. We know this is surely God's
Word, because Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. Emmanuel is what the Word means. God with us. And we know this,
that He was born of a virgin, even as God said He would be. David in the Old Testament prophesied
and said this, they've pierced my hands and my feet. Now we
know David, his hands were never pierced nor his feet were never
pierced. What is this speaking of? It
is speaking of the crucifixion. It is prophesying of the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that which God said would
come to pass, has come to pass. Therefore we know this is the
Word of God. You remember when those soldiers
were at the foot of the cross, and they, Jesus had two pieces
of garments. He had his vesture, he had like
a robe, and then he had a coat. And they took that inner robe
and they tore it apart and they split it among them. And then
they said, look at that coat, that's a good coat. We don't
need to split this coat, let's cast lots for it. Do you realize
that that was written of the prophet David hundreds of years
before it actually happened? So we can prove this. Everyone can see that. Is there
anyone that can't see this is the Word of God? I mean, I tell
you this is the Word of God. I proved it to you. God proves
it to you. So everyone can see that. In
Psalm 110 it says that David's son and David's Lord would be
raised to be king and sit on the right hand of God. Wasn't
that fulfilled when Jesus Christ rose again from the dead and
God ascended Him into glory? Where John says, I saw Him sitting
on the throne of God. Is that not proof enough that
this is the Word of God? Everybody can see that. So then
all men may read this book and acknowledge that this is the
Word of God. And if you don't acknowledge
this is the Word, if you say this is not God's Word, you are
so far off from reality. There's no sense in arguing with
you. You're a fool and you're relishing
in it. Because this is proof. This book
has been proven and proven and proven and proven. There is no
way man can argue that this is not the Word of God. No way.
It's been proven. So this Word in that sense may
go out and be to all men. Secondly, this Word of God must
be preached to all men. This Word. Our Lord Jesus said
this to His servants, to His apostles and His church. Go you
into all the world Go you to every nation, kindred, tongue,
tribe, and people, and do what? Preach the gospel. This is our
commission. As a church, as I am a preacher
called of God, I must declare this word to all men. I do. Anybody that'll hear. God gives
me an audience, I'm there. Wherever that is. I want to preach
this word. And Peter says later on, if any
man preaches Word, you should preach it with authority, as
it is the oracles of God. I'm preaching to you that this
is the authority. God's Word is the authority.
I'm not the authority. God's Word is the authority.
And so as we preach this gospel, it is our commission to preach
it to all men. Now the apostles, that's what
they did, isn't it? When they received their word
directly from Christ, John says, in the beginning was the Word. And I tell you, we touched Him. I thought about that this Sunday.
Touched Him. I've never touched Him. I've
never felt His hands. I've never felt His embrace.
Not yet. Not yet, I will. But I haven't
done it yet. John did. He said, I've handled
the Word of Life. And what did John do? He said,
I tell you, I'm telling you that this man is the Christ. For what
reason? That you might have fellowship
with us. That's what my desire is this
morning, is that you, who are unbelievers, You who are lost. You who are under the condemnation
of God. My desire for you this morning
is that you hear the voice of God and believe on His Son so
that you might have fellowship with us and our fellowship truly
is with God the Father and His Son. That's where my fellowship
is. I have fellowship with God. I desire you have fellowship
with God. John says in his gospel, he says, we wrote these things
that you might believe. that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. It's the desire of the church for everyone to hear
this word, that God save our children, our parents, our family,
our friends. And you know what? It should
be even our desire that God save those that hate us the most.
That should be our desire, that God save them. Paul said, my
heart's desire and prayer to God is that Israel might be saved. Those same people that put him
in prison, that desired his death, the apostle wanted them to be
saved. So what did he do? He preached
the gospel to them. He preached it to them. And this
gospel must be preached because God commanded it to be preached. The Scripture says this, listen,
God commandeth all men everywhere to repent. God commandeth all men everywhere
to repent. Because, here's the reason, listen,
you that have not repented and believed, this is the reason
you should repent. Because God has appointed a day
in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man. The man I'm telling you to believe
in, Jesus Christ. Listen, God's gonna judge you
by him. All men are gonna be judged by
that man. Whereof he hath given us assurance
to all men. Listen, he gives this assurance
to every one of you that this is gonna happen. How do you know
he's going to judge the world? because God raised Him from the
dead. God's not done that in such a
way as He did it to Christ, because Christ, when He raised Him from
the dead, He exalted Him into heaven and He sits on the throne.
You can be sure of this. God will judge each one of us
by that man, Jesus Christ. And therefore, you should repent.
You should repent. And this message is to be preached
to all men. Repent and believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. What is it to repent? What does
that mean? It means to turn around. Is that
not simple language for everyone to understand? You turn. If I'm
facing this direction, repentance is simply turning from this way
to this way. Turning from something to something. And what God is telling you,
commanding you, is that you should turn from you. That's what you... You should turn from yourself. I'll tell you this morning, if
you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you are a believer in
yourself. You're trusting yourself. You said, I got this. I can handle
this. And surely, God will save me
because I'm such a good person. Surely God will save me because,
you know, I'm just not as bad as the other people. Who are
you trusting in? You're trusting in you. You need
to turn from you. Because the only thing you'll
get you is hell. That's it. You should turn from
your God, which is made up in your own mind. Listen to me.
Every man has a God. Even an atheist has a God. The
God of self. Or maybe you have a little higher
God. You know, your God is just a
little above you maybe. And you say, well, you know,
God will just accept what I do. He's got to. No, He doesn't. And listen, He won't. He won't. So you should repent
and turn from your false gods and you should turn to Jesus
Christ. Repent and turn to Christ alone. See, you can't repent and hang
on to what you were looking at. You know, I can't look this way
and that way. I just can't do it. I can only look one way. And
I tell you, when you repent and you turn, you must completely
turn from self and completely trust in Christ. That's what
it is. And God commands you. This is not a request. God is
not begging. God is not pleading. God is commanding
you to turn to His Son and believe on Him. And this Word goes out. And I tell you, you should come
now. You shouldn't wait. You shouldn't wait for a better
day. There's not going to be a better day. Today is a day
of salvation. You should come now. If you've
never come before, you should come now. And you know what?
If you have come, aren't we still coming? Aren't we still believing? Isn't this word applicable to
everyone here? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come to Him by faith in Him alone and listen. He promised You shall
find rest unto your souls. Now this is God's Word, and it
must be preached to sinners, but listen. So this Word, this
is my point, this is God's Word. It can be read and studied by
everyone. It can be proven by everyone. This Word is to go
out to everyone. But you know what? It will go
out into all the world, but there are only some who will believe
it. And truly, these are the ones
to whom it was written to begin with. It was written for you,
believers, not for anyone else. It was written for everyone else's
condemnation. But all of the blessed promises,
all of the assurances of God, all of the salvation of God,
all of the graces of God are for you alone. It is though God wrote this specifically
just for you. Just for you. It was written only to the elect. That's what Peter writes to,
isn't it? To the strangers. Who are these strangers? They
are the elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Do you
suppose this would be written to anyone else but the elect
according to the foreknowledge of God? To the elect and everyone
else? No. Only to the elect. That's who it's written to. And
so is the Word of God written to you. to you who believe. Now listen, you who believe,
I want you, by the grace of God, to see the importance or the
blessing of your faith. Because faith, faith is altogether
vital. In order for this Word to be
yours, you must believe on Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you have no
claim to it. And listen, this work of God,
this faith that you have, it is the work of God. Go to John
chapter 6. You know, John chapter 6, I tell
you, is one of the most blessed passages of Scripture in all
the Bible. And it is one of the clearest
messages of God's sovereignty, sovereign grace in John chapter
6. Listen to what Jesus tells these
people in verse 29. These people come to Him and
say, what must we do to work the work of God? They want to
do something. And Jesus tells them not what
they should do, but what God does. He said, this is the work
of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. This is the work of God. In verse
44, Jesus tells us the impossibility of man to do this. He says, no
man can come to Me, which is faith. No man can believe on
Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him. So who will
believe and who will come to Christ? No man can work faith in themselves. No man can come to Christ. No
man is willing to come to Christ because they're totally dead
in sins. Yet Jesus tells us in this same chapter that some will
come to Him. He says that in verse 37. Who will come to Him? All that
the Father giveth Me shall come to Me. Who's going to come to
Him? All that the Father giveth to
Him. Who's that? I don't know. It's all who the Father gave
Him. That's who. Well, where are they? Well, they're scattered
out there somewhere. Right now, some of them are here.
But we're not all of them, are we? They're strangers scattered,
as Peter said. But all that the Father gave
to Christ, they'll come to Christ. Listen, are you such a sinner
as in need of complete salvation? See, the gospel never presents
a partial salvation. The gospel is the complete package. Complete salvation. Are you in
need of such a salvation as that? Where you can have no part or
lot in it. Where you can have no glory in
it. If you need a salvation like that, here it is. Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
This is the message. And listen, are you so full of
sin as not to be able to come to Christ? Do you feel, do you
know your inability to come to Christ? Then you should pray
for Him to give you such grace to come to Him. And I tell you, you should come
now if you can. If you can, come, come. If you
can't believe, believe. Trust all your soul upon Jesus
Christ. Cast all your soul on Him and
listen what He will do to all who come to Him. I will never
cast them out. I will never reject any who come
to me. Why? Because the Father gave
them the ability to come. If you can come, it's a gift
of God's grace. Why would He reject you? Because
He gave you the ability to come. He will not cast you out. because
we were given to Him. He will not cast us out because
He died for our sins. He will not cast us out even
because He was raised for our justification. Now this salvation
that God has purposed, that Jesus died to obtain, and which the
Holy Spirit gives is not for everyone, but only for the elect
of God, redeemed of Christ. And how shall you know your election
and redemption except you believe the gospel? except you believe
on Christ, and this is the word written to you. Are you the elect
of God? I told you the only evidence
of election is faith. That's it. It's faith in Jesus
Christ. And look what Paul says here.
The elect, according to the foreknowledge of God, this is who this word
is written to, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. I like the way
Peter does this because in this we can see the Trinity of God
in salvation. We can see that God has put all
of His persons to the work. The Father, elect according to
the foreknowledge of who? The Father. through sanctification
of the Spirit. This is the new birth. This is
new life. If you can believe and come to
Christ, recognize this, it's because He's given you life to
do it. He's given you the faith to do it, the ability. And it's by the Son of God, the
blood of the Son of God. So God is engaged in this matter
of salvation. This letter is written to you
who are saved of God. saved of God. Now this sanctification
of the Spirit, I said, is really the new birth. When Jesus said
no man can enter into the kingdom of heaven, no man can see the
kingdom of heaven except to be born again of the Spirit. This is what the Spirit does.
You have a group of people here, and they're all sinners, They're
all lost. They're all depraved. And then
the Spirit of God comes in, like the wind. He blows where He listeth. You can hear the sound, but you
can't tell where it's coming and where it's going. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. And the Spirit comes through
the Word, and He sets apart certain people. Why is it that some believe
and some won't? Isn't it the same Word preached?
And yet some enjoy it and others don't. Why? Because they're set
apart by the Spirit of God. They're sanctified. They're given
a new heart. A new life to believe on Jesus
Christ. You see, God, by His Word, exposes
a man's guilt. He opens the tomb of his soul
and the stench of his sin fills his nostrils. He begins to loathe
himself. He begins to see that he has
nothing to offer God. He sees that God is so high and
holy and he cannot ever please God. This is sanctification of
the Spirit, isn't it? I like that song that says, a
sinner is a sacred thing, the Holy Ghost hath made him one.
A man will never see his sin and expose his sin except the
Holy Spirit reveal it to him. And then God in mercy prepares
a preacher and a message. And the message is Christ. And
you hear the message. And the sweet smell of the gospel
comes into your nose. And you breathe in the breath
of life. And you believe on the Son of
God. This is sanctification of the Spirit. Sanctification of
the Spirit. Unto obedience. Now, this is not unto obedience
of the law, but obedience of faith. Remember what I told you? God commanded everyone everywhere
to repent. So, what's this obedience? When
God gives us a new heart, we gladly obey the gospel. You did not have to twist my
arm to believe. You didn't have to coax me, you
didn't have to trick me, you didn't have to beg me, because
I'm the beggar. God was the giver of grace and
I was the one that needed grace. Most men approach the salvation
in the opposite order. They believe God's begging. And
that man comes and he either decides or he doesn't. No. That's not the way sanctification
of the Spirit works. Sanctification of the Spirit
works and reveals ourselves to be the beggar. And God to have
all that we need. Christ to be all that we need.
And we gladly receive it. I always use the illustration
of a man starving to death. You have a man starving to death,
and someone presents him with bread, Do you suppose that it's a choice?
Do you suppose that taking and receiving
the bread, that He would give thanks to His own power or His
own strength? No, He gives thanks to the man
that gave Him the bread. He gives thanks for the bread. And so it is how we receive Christ.
We receive Christ as a beggar. We receive Christ out of necessity. Isn't that how you receive Christ?
Every day you believe on Christ, is that not a necessity for you?
It is for me. I must have Christ or I die. I must have his blood and righteousness
or I will never be accepted of God. Do you see? Christ is not something we take
or leave. He is what we must have. That's true faith. And the moment
we believe, listen, the blood of Jesus Christ is sprinkled
on our hearts. Sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Believer, our faith rests upon
this truth. even the blood of Jesus Christ,
for we know that without the shedding of blood there is no
remission of sins." We are sure of this. Aren't you
sure of this? Do you know this for sure, that
God will not receive us without blood? I know that. And yet I also know that that
blood is not mine. Praise God, it's not mine. But God receives the blood of
his own son. You see, God requires an offering,
and God provides an offering, and God gives us the offering.
Isn't that wonderful? We provided what? Nothing. We
provided the sin that needed to be atoned for. That's it. Jesus Christ, He provides the
salvation. Christ has become our Passover. Remember the Passover? How that
God promised judgment? He said, I'm coming through Egypt
and I'm going to kill the firstborn. This is not a debate. I'm going to do it. But in mercy
for Israel, He provided a lamb. He provided a Passover lamb and
He said, You slay the lamb. You put it on the doorpost and
the lintel. And when I, not if I, when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. You see, when the sanctification
of the Spirit and we believe on Jesus Christ, the blood of
Christ is sprinkled on our hearts. And so when God sees us, He sees
His Son. Is that not glorious? Is that
not wonderful? That when God looks at me, He
sees His Son? He sees me as I really am. Righteous. That's not how I see myself.
But that's how he sees me. Therefore, by faith, through
the operation of the Holy Ghost, the blood is sprinkled on us,
and we are saved from the wrath of God through him. And now notice what Peter says
to us who believe. grace to you and peace be multiplied. I tell you, I don't always feel
the grace and peace, but how can I? because this word is for us. And by this word, we can receive
great assurances and comfort, grace and peace, because God has saved us according
to his abundant mercy and begot us again to a living hope. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. In other words, you believer,
you've been born again, and you have a good hope. You have a
living hope. Your hope is not dead. Your hope
is alive. Because your hope is in Christ. All my hope. They said, you know,
they got the saying, don't put all your eggs in one basket.
Well, in this sense, we do. All our eggs are in Christ. All our hope is in Christ. And
therefore, my salvation is eternally linked to Him. If He has been
successful and He has ascended to the throne of God, then my
salvation is as sure as He is sure. That's it. My salvation's
founded on Him. Completely resting on Him. Now,
if Christ failed, then I have no hope at all. But I know this
by this word. He did not fail. He did not fail. And He's given us, listen, an
inheritance. An inheritance is something someone
leaves their children. God has adopted us to be his
children. He's already procured our salvation,
and you know what? It's ours. It's ours. Although we've not yet received
it, Although I've not yet fully received this, I know this, this
world is not my home and this world is not my inheritance.
Christ is. And all the graces of God are
mine. And you know how I know I'm going
to receive this inheritance? Because I do not keep myself. Listen. He said, to an inheritance. And this inheritance is incorruptible. It's undefiled. It doesn't fade
away. It's reserved for you in heaven.
Who? For who? Who are kept by the
power of God. This word kept means garrisoned. It means a fortified city. God has fortified us in His arms. He embraces us and our inheritance
are as sure as His arms are sure. Imagine a fortified city, these
walls of thick steel and iron. But I tell you, this garrison
we're in is not without war. Believer, we are kept by the
power of God, but I tell you, we're assaulted every day. This garrison is assaulted every
day by the world, by the devil, and by our own traitorous flesh. It's assaulted. It's constantly
being hit by the cannons and the mortars of our self and sin. But I tell you this, this garrison
will not fall. It's undefiled. I tell you, no arrow of sin will
ever reach this garrison. It'll never fly over the blood
and righteousness of Christ. We're kept. Is that not comforting to the
strangers? That you're kept by the power
of God? How do I know I'm kept? I don't
feel kept. You're kept by the power of God
through what? Faith. Do you still believe? Do you believe? Then you're kept. You know you're keeping. If you
continue to believe until the end, he that believeth to the
end, the same shall be saved. You're kept. This inheritance
is yours. And I pray God would comfort
you with this. That this Word, though preached to the world,
read by the world, is not really for the world. It's for you.
And here's the Word of God. You are His elect. Who? Those who are sanctified by the
Spirit unto obedience of faith and sprinkled the blood of Christ
on our souls in a new nature. You have an inheritance that's
incorruptible, undefiled, and listen, you won't ever defile
it. Isn't that wonderful news that I can't touch it. I can't
defile it because I didn't I Didn't have anything to do with it.
It's all of God and You know what? I'm sure That no matter
how I feel or how I'm bombarded by the enemies of my soul. I
know this I am kept safe in the arms of God and I shall believe
unto the end And so will you So will you. Now may God the Holy Spirit himself
comfort you with that word. His word for you. I stand will
be dismissed in prayer.