Alright, turn back to 1 Peter. We're going to do a study. We're
willing here in 1 Peter. Now we're going to see in these
first few Scriptures that I just read to you that salvation is
all of God. And the older I get, And I know some of you that are
older now in the faith in Christ, you're so glad that's so. I'm
so glad that salvation is all of God. Because if it could be
messed up, I'd mess it up. I know I would. And we're going
to see that it's all of God and it's all of His grace. And we
will see that salvation is the work of the Trinity. It's the
work of the Father, who chose us, the Son who redeemed us,
and the Holy Spirit who regenerates us. I had a man, a man who claims
to believe the gospel, tell me that the work of the Holy Spirit
was not that important. That's what he said to me. He
said, it's not as important. You're making too much out of
it. No. You take any one of those out
of it and you don't have salvation. If the Father didn't choose me,
and the Son redeemed me, and the Holy Spirit regenerated me
and revealed Christ to me and formed Christ in me, there would
be no salvation. Now I know that the Father has
purposed to have a people just like His Son. He's going to have
a multitude of sinners in heaven just like His Son. But they're
not going to be there without the Father, without the Son,
and without the Holy Spirit doing their part in our salvation.
Now it starts out here in verse 1, it says, Peter, not Simon,
he calls himself Peter. The Lord changed his name to
Peter. like the Lord changed Jacob's
name to Israel. And that caught my attention
today as I was going over these notes. I want to read some Scriptures
to you. I thought this was interesting.
In Isaiah 56, I'm going to read these to you because we wouldn't
have time to go through all these. And Isaiah 56, 5, Even unto them
will I give in my house and within my walls a place, and a name
better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting
name that shall not be cut off. And Jeremiah 23, 6, In his days
Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this
is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our righteousness."
That's what he'll be called in Revelation 2.17. He that hath
an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and
will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written,
which no man knoweth save he that receiveth. And I thought
a new name, now, Are you what? The sons of God. There's your
new name. Son of God. In Revelation 3.12,
Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my
God, and He shall go out no more. And I will write upon Him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which
is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from God.
And I will write upon Him my new name. I know this. The Scripture says,
Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become
new. A new creation, when he called
Peter, he said, Your name's no more Simon, it's Peter, a stone. The Lord said to Jacob, Your
name's no more Jacob, but Israel, because as a prince hast thou
power with God. So he calls himself Peter first,
and then he identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Not the vicar of Christ, not the substitute of Christ on earth.
That's not who Peter is. Peter is an apostle. They held
the highest office in the church. He's a special messenger of Jesus
Christ. And like John, he was witness
to the things which he had seen and heard. What we have here
is one who has seen and heard and is testifying of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the truth. And he writes this epistle to
strangers, strangers scattered abroad. They are not strangers
to God. They are not strangers to the
church because they are the church. And they're not strangers like
the ones spoken of in Ephesians 2, where they were strangers
from the commonwealth of Israel and the covenants of promise.
You're not strangers to that. But this describes their condition
in this world. They became strangers to this
world. It says over in 1 John, let me
see if I can find this. In 1 John chapter 3. In 1 John 3, verse 1, "...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." We're strangers to it. They don't know us, and John
says this, "...because it knew him not." They don't know Him,
therefore they don't know you. If they knew the Father, you would know the father's children.
As you were saying, Carl, how friendly the people were up at
the Lexington. And he says, just like we've
known each other all these years. I said, they're family. It's
brothers and sisters. They really are. They are brothers
and sisters in Christ. They're not strangers, but we're
strangers to the world. Strangers to them. He's writing here to those scattered
abroad. Scattered by afflictions over
the gospel. I don't think we can even have...
We've never entered into the hardships and the afflictions
of our forefathers in the faith. They lived in caves. They said they walked about in
sheep's clothing and goat skins. And they were scattered abroad
and poor. Over the gospel. Over the gospel. Sooner or later, everyone who
truly believes the gospel will experience some affliction, some
hardship. If we are true to the gospel,
it's gonna bring trouble. Now you just tell the people
at the water fountain, you tell them who God is. You tell them
who Jesus Christ really is. And you'll find out, you'll find
out real quick what they think about the gospel. You'll find
out real quick, they'll separate from you. They'll separate from
you. If we're true to the gospel,
it'll bring trouble. Christ said, if they hated me,
they will hate you also. The world will hate you also.
And now Peter calls the one scattered abroad here, elect, elect. Now this describes their spiritual
condition before God. Strangers, that's who they are
in the world. But elect, that's who they are to God. Chosen of
God. The apple of His eye. If you
believe God, I'm telling you, you are the apple of His eye. They are God's children that
are scattered abroad. We can't know who they are by
looking at them. Not that they dress a certain
way. We don't know that. We can't tell that by looking
at them. But God knows who they are, and that's what's important. God knoweth them that are His. He knows every one of them, however
many That consists of, which the scripture says, a number
that no man can number. God knows every one of them intimately. He knows them so intimately that
He said, I know the number of the hairs on your head. I know
the number of the hairs on your head. That just passes understanding. And this is the reason we send
the gospel out. God's going to call His sheep
unto the fold through the preaching of the gospel. That's how I came.
That's how you came. One day I sat down at my dad's
house, and he was watching Henry Mahan, and he said, that man's
preaching the gospel. Now that's the gospel. I sat
down, and I'm telling you, I heard the gospel for the first time
in power. And it would be a thrill to me
to be able to preach the gospel and another one say, that's it.
I see. I see. Election is a gospel doctrine. It's a gospel doctrine. Let me read some scriptures to
you. In John 15, 16, Christ said, You have not chosen Me. Let's
get this order right. Let's get this straight first.
You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you. Not just through
their apostleship, not just the twelve that was to follow Him,
but He's chosen them to salvation. And everyone whom God will save
were chosen to be saved. And they will be saved. That's
why we preach. Man, you know how disappointing
it would be if I was standing here preaching, depending on
you to accept Jesus as your personal Savior? Oh my soul, God is infinitely
wise. He's not going to leave such
a glorious truth and such a glorious person and such a glorious work
up to a bunch of rebels. It ain't going to happen. No. He says in John 17, 6, I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out
of the world. They were His, they were the
fathers. I don't know how to explain this
and I'm not going to explain it. But them that are His have
always been His. I can't explain that. Thine,
He said, they were. and thou gavest them me, and
they have kept thy word." In Ephesians 1, 4, according as
He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy without blame before Him in love. In Romans 11, 5, even so then
at this present time, right now, right now, also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace, Blessed, happy is the man whom
thou choosest, in Psalm 65, and calls us to approach unto thee,
that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. But blessed
is the man whom thou choosest. There is a remnant according
to the election of grace. Election is according to the
grace of God. Election is according also here
in verse 2. It's according to God's foreknowledge. Sinners
are not saved at random. God is not saving sinners at
random. God is saving sinners according
to His foreknowledge. And here's what this is. The
reason for our election, God choosing us, any of us, It's
only found in God. That's the only place it's found.
It's not found in me, you. God did not look down through
time. This is the place I was attending
before I heard the gospel. That was what they taught. God
looked down through time. saw who would believe, and then
chose them. They call that foreknowledge.
No, that's not foreknowledge. A.D. Hughes said that's God taking
credit for something He didn't do. That's what that would be. God foreknew us because God foreordained
us. That's foreknowledge. That's
what it is. The word foreknowledge here, it has the same meaning
as the word foreordained in verse 20. Let me read verse 20 to you.
Look at verse 20. Who verily was foreordained.
That has the same meaning as foreknowledge. Same meaning. who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you." And the foreknowledge here is not of events, not God
seeing what's going to happen. God foreordained what's going
to happen. But God's foreknowledge here
is not of events, but of a people. When He says, Depart from Me,
what does He say? I never knew you." Now God is
omniscient. God knows all things. The Scripture
says He's perfect in knowledge. He knows all events. He knows
all people. He knows absolutely everything. Everything. And when He says,
I never knew you, that's more than I just didn't know you,
didn't know you was around. I've never met you before. I
don't know you. No, that's not it. He didn't
foreordain you. And that's exactly what He's
saying. He did not foreordain them. He left them to themselves. I'll have mercy on whom I'll
have mercy, and whom I will I'll harden. And brethren, we don't
apologize for that. That's who God is. That is so
far over my head, I won't even attempt to explain it. His ways
and His thoughts, He says, are higher than our thoughts. As
high as heaven is above the earth, His thoughts and His ways are
higher than mine. I can declare it, but brethren comprehend it, it's
beyond me. Someday we'll have an understanding. But right now my understanding
is very limited, like everybody else's. And then we have here
the work of the Holy Spirit. We had the work of the Father
in choosing us. Now we have the Holy Spirit.
It says here, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are set apart. Sanctify means this. It means
to set apart, treat as holy, and make holy. To make holy. So we are set apart
by the Holy Spirit, separated from this world, and the Scripture
says that we are created in righteousness and true holiness. In the new
birth, in regeneration, that new man is created in righteousness
and true holiness and made a partaker of the divine nature. That's what we have. That's what He does for us. And
then we're brought to faith and repentance by the work of the
Holy Spirit. The evidence of our election
is the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. And the evidence
of the work of sanctification is this. You believe God. You
believe God. You believe God and you're obedient
to the faith. Apostle Paul said, when God struck
him down, when he heard me, he said, I was not disobedient.
I was not disobedient to the heavenly light, to the faith.
I believed God, I trusted God, and we became obedient, obedient
servants. When a sinner believes God, it's
evident. When you believe God, It's evident
you were chosen of God. You were chosen of God. You were
born of God. And that's why you believe God.
That's why you believe God. And that being so, it leads to
this, obedience. Now brethren, before that, we're
a bunch of rebels. We're just nothing but rebels. Born with
a natural enmity and natural hatred, in our minds against
God Almighty. But after this work of the Holy
Spirit, we become obedient. Obedient
to the faith. That's the goal of election and
sanctification. That we believe the gospel. That
we believe the gospel and become obedient to the heavenly calling.
That's the very effect of it. And then we have the work of
the Son of God and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
There can be no blood to sprinkle unless it is shed. There has
to be blood shed. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no need for the Holy Spirit to do any work for us
because there's nothing to apply. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. It's the blood that cleanses
us from all our sins. It's the blood. And the Holy
Spirit takes the blood and applies it to the heart, spiritually. The Jews understood this picture.
See, most of the ones Paul's writing to were Jews. Most of
them were. And they understood it. They
remembered the story of the Passover in Egypt. They remembered how
that the blood was taken and was hissing, was struck on two
side posts and over that door post, and God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. And so when He talks about the
sprinkling of the blood, they got it. They got it. That's how we're cleansed from
our sins, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
unto you and peace be multiplied." There is nothing better that
I could pray that God would give you and multiply to you, and
you pray for me, than this, grace and peace. That I would grow
in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I assure
you this, if I grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ, I'll grow in peace, I'll grow in love, I'll grow
in joy, I'll grow in all the fruit of the Spirit, if I grow
in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." Now Peter
tells us here after this that we are born again, in verse 3,
to a living hope. Blessed, he says, be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. which according to His
abundant mercy have begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." All honor belongs
to God the Father. That's why He said, blessed be
the God and Father. He's the one who chose us in
mercy. He's the one who makes us alive in Christ. He's the
one who's called us. Blessed. Blessed. I pray that God would enable
us, as time goes by, to give unto Him the glory and the honor
that's due unto His name. That it won't be just with formality,
but it'll really be our hearts engaged in praising God for what
He's done for us in Jesus Christ. It's because of God's abundant
mercy that we are begotten again. It says here too, listen, a lively... Another translation, ever-living.
It's an ever-living hope, whether I can see it or not. I may be
having a day when I feel like I have no hope at all. But that
doesn't change my hope. Because my hope is Christ and
He never changes. And I can't do anything Boy,
this is good news. Because believe me, I'm dumb
as a bag of hammers most of the time. But I can't do anything
to destroy that hope. Nothing. I can't do it. It's
not based on me. It's based on Jesus Christ. A lively and ever-living hope
by the resurrection. He's alive. Jesus Christ is alive
and well. by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. The hope we have is real. It's real. Do you know how many
false religions... Well, there's only one false
religion out there. Anything that's not the gospel
is false. You only have two religions in the world. One of works, one
of grace. But so many, so many people meet
together And they're given a false hope. They were confounded, Job
said, because they had hoped. The preacher said, if I did this
or did that, I'd be saved. He lied to you. He lied to you. But the hope we have is real
because it's in a person. It's in Jesus Christ. It's an
ever-living hope seated at God's right hand. Paul in 1 Timothy,
I believe it is, in the first chapter, he calls Christ our
hope. That's what he called Him. Christ
our hope. Jesus Christ our hope. Christ's resurrection from the
dead is real. It's real. This shows that God
accepted Him and all who are in Him are accepted. The believer's hope is not in
a dead Christ, but in the living, reigning Christ of God, who has
the power and authority over everything that exists, over
all principality and powers, over all men, all governments. It's all put into His hands.
He said in John 17, Father, You have given me power over all
flesh, that I might give eternal life to as many as Thou hast
given Me." He has all power. All power. He says to one, go,
and he goes. To another, come, and he comes.
When you read the Gospel, do you ever read of a demon that
says, when the Lord says, come out, do you ever read of a demon
that says, I don't think so. Uh-oh. He comes out every time. Every time. When the Lord says,
come out of him, he comes out. He has all power. Now, brother,
that's power. That's power. Power is when you
say something and it happens. Power is when you speak and it's
created. That's power. That's what power is. And Jesus
Christ, listen, He doesn't have power. I mean, I know He does.
But He is the very embodiment of power. Just like He's the
embodiment of truth. He didn't just come and tell
us the truth. He is the truth. He's the very embodiment of it.
He's the very embodiment of grace. He's it. Scripture says that
Jesus Christ died for our offenses. We're raised again for our justification. There's my justification. Jesus
Christ. And listen, He was raised again,
and we have this lively hope in Him, and we have an inheritance. It just keeps getting better.
It just keeps getting better. We have an inheritance that's
incorruptible and undefiled. Remember this. The ones Peter
is writing to are scattered. Are scattered. I don't know if any of you have
ever just lost everything you've ever had. The ones he's writing to lost
everything they had. They have lost homes. They've
lost their jobs. Some of them lost their families.
Families kicked them out. Excommunicated them. They lost everything. But He
encouraged the Holy Spirit through Peter writing here, gives this
real encouragement here. You have an inheritance. You
haven't lost... Listen now. You haven't lost
anything, for Christ's sake. Have you? You know, the disciples
said one time, they said, Lord, we've left all and followed You.
What are we going to get? And He tells them they have houses
and lands in this life, and in the next life, eternal life. Life to come. I drove down here for what? Four
and a half months? And I stayed over there in the
barn, over there in that cottage? God provided that. God provided
that. What's mine is yours, and yours
is mine. That's what he said. You're going to have houses and
land. I can go to Lexington, Kentucky
and stay several places. I can go down to Florida and
stay several places. I can go to Iowa and I have several
places. I can go to Kentucky and stay
several places. Virginia and stay several places. They're
all my home. I mean, I have been taken such
good care of over the years. I couldn't tell you how many
homes I've stayed in. Couldn't tell you. The people I've stayed
with over the years. To an inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled. Whatever we inherit here is corruptible. And it's just... Mom and dad,
if you don't spend it, the kids will. I told my mom and dad,
I said, spend it. Don't worry about don't worry
about leaving me anything. I said, I said, you've left the
one thing you have done. You've left me good memories.
I said, that's worth more than you can anything you can give
me. Anything. Everything we inherit here is
corruptible, it's perishing, and it's fading away like an
old picture. My mom brought my dad's birth
certificate out the last time we were up there, and she got
her birth certificate out. My dad's birth certificate was
so crumbled, where it was so old. I mean, he's 86. If anybody
here is 86, I'm not saying you're so old, I should have said a hundred
or something. Anyway. But it was crumbling. I couldn't
read the dates on it. But the inheritance that we have
in Christ is eternal. It's eternal. Moss and rust,
He said, cannot touch it. And thieves do not break through.
and steal. Every time I turn that TV on
over there, somebody's had a break in or shot or something. Every
time. And listen, it's reserved in
heaven for you. For you. This inheritance is being kept
in a safe place, in the safest place in heaven. In heaven. It's waiting on you. It's in heaven and it's not on
this earth. It's not on this earth. It's not of this earth.
It's a spiritual inheritance. And this is good reason. This
is good reason to set our heart on things above, isn't it? Colossians
3 says, if ye then be risen with Christ, if that be so, if that's
real, seek those things which are above. Let that be your ambition. I know we have to work and do
the things here, but my one ambition is to be found in Christ when
this life's over. Seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Set your affection. It's not plural either. It doesn't
say affections. It's affection, it's one. We
have one affection, and that's love for Christ. And set your
affection on things above, not on things on this earth. And listen, it just gets better.
You are being kept for it. It's kept for you. And you are
being kept for it, who are being. You know that all day long, I
know it probably didn't even cross your mind, and no reason
it crossed mine because I was studying it. All day long, you
were being kept. We are a kept people. We are a kept people. all lifelong,
you're being kept. Who are being kept by the power
of God, not the power and strength of my faith in Christ, but by the power of God. The
power of God, the purpose of God, the will of God, the love
of God, I'm being kept by it, surrounded, hedged in by it. who are being kept by the power
of God through faith." There's the means. You know why you've been around
a while? You know why you've been believing God for a while?
He's kept you believing. That's why. By His power, by
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who is God, by His power, He's
kept you believing. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. It is kept in heaven. I'm on earth. I'm liable to so
many temptations. But now listen, listen, this
is good. You're just as safe as it is.
And you're just as sure to get it as it is sitting there in
heaven waiting on you. The Holy Spirit keeps us by His
power. And there's no power above the
power of God. And He's God. He keeps us believing
by revealing Christ to us continually. Bringing to our minds, to our
remembrance, the things of Christ. Bringing us into trials and afflictions
in order to keep us from running with the world. He does that. And we get upset at times, we
think, why? When it's over, we're going to
be ashamed of that. If we can be ashamed, we will
be. But I got a feeling that when
this is over, none of this is going to come back to mind. It
ain't even going to come to mind. And it keeps us unto salvation.
Listen to this Scripture. I like to read a lot of Scripture
to you because that's the foundation of what I'm saying. If I don't
have Scripture for it, Well, you might as well just listen
to anybody. Philippians 1.6, "...He which
hath begun..." And this Scripture here used to give me... Well,
it still does. This Scripture here has always
given me great comfort. When I've been at my lowest spiritually,
this Scripture has given me great comfort. "...He which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." He won't give up on you. No way. No way. And this kills
any notion that a sinner saved can be lost again. Lost, saved,
lost, saved. Hopefully by the time you die,
you're on the saved side. It's like taking that daisy,
you love me, you love me not, love me, love me not. You just
pick another daisy and keep going until you get the right answer.
That's what you do. No, it just kills any notion
of being lost. We are being kept, being, being,
that's a good word, being kept by His power, not ours. Not ours. We may not live long enough to
inherit anything from our parents. I've known children to die, and
I've watched their parents bury them. They didn't inherit anything. but we will live to inherit that
which is laid up in heaven by our Heavenly Father." The Scripture
says there in Colossians, your life is hid with Christ in God. When Satan was going to touch
Job, God said, you can touch whatever he has, but what did
he say? You can't touch his life. Because for that to happen, you'd
have to touch Christ. He's my life. And ready to be revealed in the
last time. This salvation is ready. It's
finished. It's ready to be revealed. It's
finished. We're just waiting for the Lord to take us home.
In a little while, we will enjoy the full experience of what we've been reading about.
You've been coming here week after week, coming here on Wednesday,
coming here on Sunday, week after week after week, month after
month, year after year. We've heard the gospel preached.
We've heard of Jesus Christ. We've heard of salvation. And
one day, one day, it'll happen. and we'll stand
in His presence, and we'll look face to face into the face of
Jesus Christ, the one we've been hearing about all these years,
the one we've been trusting, the one we've been hoping in.
And I tell you this, I assure you this, you will not be disappointed. You will not be disappointed.
Okay, Craig.