Our Lord has blessed us with
folks who have some excellent musical abilities. Our musicians
and those who present special music to us, always such a blessing. Thank y'all for your singing. And thank y'all for your instrumental
music. If you would, go back to the
book of 1 Peter again this evening. I want to talk to you about words
to scattered strangers. And I want to look at just two
verses, in fact, not quite all of two verses. And that would
be 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. and will consider for our subject
words to scattered strangers. We are immediately introduced
to the author of the book, that is, the man that God used to
write the book. He's a man by the name of Peter.
Well, what's his credentials? What authority does he have? Well, he doesn't waste any time. He tells us immediately he is
an apostle of Jesus Christ. Immediately we know who wrote
it, we know the people, or we know his authority behind writing
it, and then thirdly, We know the people that he wrote to,
he wrote to the strangers, that is the pilgrims, who were scattered. Scattered really throughout all
of Asia Minor. Those would be, he names them
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia. and Bithynia. And then he describes them. So we get quite a bit of information
right here in the first two verses. Here's the writer. Here's his
authority. We know who he writes to. And
then he says of these people, they are elect. elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, and through the sanctification of the Spirit,
unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. So he introduces us to the glorious
triune God and his work the work of the Father who elected them
according to his foreknowledge. And then he presents the work
of the Spirit in what he calls sanctification, which I believe
includes all of the work of the Spirit of God in regeneration
and setting us apart and bringing us to faith in the Lord Jesus. And then he says two things about
the Lord Jesus, his obedience and his blood that was sprinkled. So we have his obedience and
his sacrifice. The writer that the Spirit of
God inspired to write this, he identifies himself just by one
word, Peter. Who is this man? What was it about this man who
made him uniquely, uniquely qualified to write this amazing letter
to scattered believers, to scattered strangers? Well, he's a man called of God. He's a man taught of God. He's
a man the Lord arrested by his grace. The Lord brought him unto
himself by effectual mercy, and he said, he found Peter fishing,
and he said, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And
then throughout the life of Peter, throughout his public ministry,
those years when he was with the Lord Jesus, and then the
years after that, God was molding him and God was making him into
the vessel that he was going to use. It is a very amazing
thing. This preparation of this man,
Peter, goes all the way back to when he was conceived in his
mother's womb. And God so fixed his DNA that
those gifts that he would need, those abilities that he would
use, Even his abruptness, even his rashness, even his impetuosity,
that speaking without thinking, that was all put in him in his
mother's womb. That's what made him to be who
he was. But God was, you see, developing
him and making him into the vessel that he was going to use to preach
the gospel and then to write two of the books of the New Testament
that bear his name, 1st and 2nd Peter. This is a man who was
inspired of God to write the scriptures. It says over, in
fact, he says this, look in 2nd Peter chapter one, he speaks
of this miracle of inspiration What is inspiration? The word
means God breathed. All scriptures given by inspiration
of God. 1 Timothy chapter three. That is, God breathed into the
mind and into the heart, the things that Simon Peter, along
with all of the other writers of scripture, the things that
he would have them to say. The things that he would have
them to write. It's set forth this way in the very last verse
of 2 Peter 1, for the prophecy, it came not in old time by the
will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved,
as they were born by God, as they were carried along by the
Holy Ghost. What would you say What would
be your definition of the Bible? If somebody asked you, what is
the Bible? What is the Holy Scripture? Just exactly what would you say?
Well, this is what I would say. I'd say Holy Scripture is the
Word of God given to us using the words of men. That's what
Scripture is. It's the Word of God. that he
gave to men and then they wrote it as he would have them to write
it. But they wrote it and God had
them write it in such a way that their own personality has a way
of coming out in it. It's a very mysterious thing
and a miraculous thing. Now we know all of God's word
is absolutely the truth. Our Lord Jesus said in his high
priestly prayer, sanctify them through thy word, thy word is
truth. No wonder, therefore, in John
chapter 10 and verse 35, our Lord Jesus spoke to the Pharisees
of the scripture, he said, that cannot be broken. It can't be destroyed. It cannot
be demolished. As it says in 1 Samuel 3, verse
19, none of God's words shall fall to the ground. I like that. None of God's words shall fall
to the ground. As we would read in Isaiah chapter
55, God said the word that he sends forth, he said, it won't
return and be void. It will accomplish that which
I please and it will prosper in the thing where to I send
it. And our Lord Jesus said in that
wonderful and famous sermon on the mount, in Matthew chapter
five, verse 18, he said, for verily I say unto you, till heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle, it shall in no wise pass
from the law till all be fulfilled. What's a jot and a tittle? Just
a little mark, kind of like our apostrophe. And in the original
languages, whether in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, it made a
big difference in the meaning of words. And the Lord Jesus
announces, He said, listen, even the littlest, that little tiny
mark, that must be made to differentiate between words. It'll never pass
away. It's the word of God that liveth
and abideth forever. And in God giving to Simon Peter
in this passage of scripture, in God giving to this man his
word, he conveyed to Peter his own mind. God conveyed his mind
and his will, and then, This man wrote in such a way using
words that people can't comprehend. Now, it doesn't mean we can comprehend
the spiritual meaning of it because you can't comprehend the Bible
apart from divine illumination, right? You've got to be enlightened
to receive the message of the Word of God. But man wrote the
Word of God as they were moved along by the Spirit of God in
such a way that we can understand the words of God. God was conveying
his mind and his will. God didn't use angels. Have you
ever thought about what language angels speak? Some heavenly language, I'm sure. It isn't English. Well, whatever
language angels speak, ever how angels communicate, God did not
convey his mind and his will and his heart to angels and then
say, go forth to men and give them the message that I gave
to you because they have an angelic language that they use. And furthermore,
they're not fallen men. They are elect angels. They know
nothing of redemption. They know nothing of salvation.
You see, none of the angels know the things that Peter knew. About
sin, he knew. About redemption, he knew. about the conversion of his soul
by the grace of God. He'd experienced that. Angels
knew nothing about falling out of falling into sin. falling into transgressions.
Angels know nothing about that. There are only two kinds of angels,
elect angels and non-elect angels. The elect angels are those that
God preserved from falling. And the rest of them, which we
would assume based upon the book of Revelation, there was one
third of the angels fell. The rest of them were elect.
They don't know a thing about salvation. We read later in this
very chapter, they're searching to look into it, but they can't
comprehend. They can't comprehend the necessity
of the grace of God or the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ
or the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. They couldn't understand
those things, so they can't convey the message. But Peter understood
very well. This is a man who had some knowledge
of his own failures. And the miraculous thing is God
used all the failures of Peter in such a way to mold him into
the very man that he would use. We would never excuse the denials
of Simon Peter. That's an awful thing. He denied
knowing the Lord Jesus, his Savior, his Redeemer. But the Lord, you
see, uses all things which work together for our good. So must
we not then say that even the fall, that threefold fall of
Simon Peter worked together for his good? We must say that. We
would never condone what he did. But you see, God Back behind
all things, he's the first cause of everything. And he's shaping
this man. Can't you see him? Here he is,
he's a piece of clay on the potter's wheel. And God has some things
Simon Peter is going to accomplish in his ministry. But the only
way he's going to arrive at what God purposed for him to be out
there is to go through the things that he did in life. You think about this man. He grew up in Bethsaida in Galilee. He's a Jew. He's called the son
of Jonah, literally the son of John. He grew up in a very strict
Jewish environment. They had no use for Gentiles. The Jews were the people of God. The Jews were the elect of God.
This is the kind of structured life that Peter grew up in. as a little boy, and then when
he got to be 12 years of age, he goes to the Passover, he goes
to Pentecost, he goes to the Feast of Tabernacles. Every year,
every year. And he's learning these things
from the rabbis. He's learning these things from
the priesthood. He's learning these things from
his own daddy. He's learning to love the Jews
and pretty much despise the Gentiles. But you see, he's going to write
a letter to both Jews and Gentiles who are scattered. Well, how's
he ever going to arrive at having a disposition of favor toward
the Gentiles? Well, he's gonna have a vision.
And the Lord's going to show him a vision. And it's of some
animals that according to the law of God are unclean. And the
Lord said, kill and eat. And he said, oh, Lord, I've never
eaten anything unclean. I'll tell you what that tells
us. He's a strict Jew. Not me. The Lord said, don't
you call unclean what I call clean. Kill and eat. And then
he goes then to the house of a Gentile, Cornelius, Acts chapter
10. And he preaches the gospel. And
to his amazement, God has a people out of the Gentiles too. He didn't
comprehend this before, but the Lord has used all these other
things to bring him to the position, finally, in 1 Peter chapter one
and verse one, to where he identifies himself as the writer, and he
writes to scattered strangers. I wouldn't ever want you to think
that the sins that you committed in life are excusable. They are not. They are not. And we ask God for forgiveness
for the wrong that we do and the right that we fail to do. But don't ever forget this. All the things that happened
to you God mysteriously uses for your good. I cannot even
begin to fathom that. I'm really in deep water. You say, Preacher, I don't think
I can go along, that doesn't make sense to me. Reason, our human reasoning only
wades in water that isn't over our heads. But I'll tell you
what faith does. It swims out in the deep. It
swims out in the deep. And we say, oh my God, I can't
understand these things. Lord, you're too great, you're
too glorious. Your ways, your purposes are
beyond our comprehension. But I believe you. You see, faith does indeed. It
swims, it swims in deep waters where our reasoning will only
wade. You see, this is the big problem,
if I may put it this way. It's a big problem with people
like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, people who deny the
absolute deity of the Lord Jesus. They deny the Trinity. They say, you believe one in
three and three in one. Well, that doesn't make sense
to me. Well, there's a lot of things that don't make sense
to us. that we can't comprehend. So what you're saying is you're
only gonna believe what makes sense to you? You're only gonna
believe a God that you can comprehend? You're not gonna believe a God
who governs all things according to His good purpose? You're not
going to rest in the God who brings good and evil and makes
it all work together to fulfill his purpose. You'll perish in
your sins because your God is too little. Our God is great. They said to
David, where is your God? We know where our gods are, where
is your God? He said, our God's in the heaven.
and he's done whatsoever he has pleased. And here he takes Peter and he molds him and he fashions
him into the preacher that he would have him to be. And Peter can write with compassion. because he was thankful for the
Lord's compassion toward him. He could write with feeling in
his heart because the Lord looked on him and that look of love
after Simon Peter denied the Lord the third time just broke
his heart. And he could love people. who
did him wrong. And he could love people who
were Gentiles. Because the Lord Jesus came after
him when he quit the ministry. Wouldn't let him go. Peter said, I'm done with preaching.
I'm out of here. I've made a mess of things and
I'm gone. Rest of the disciples said, hey,
hang on, we're going with you. And the Lord Jesus followed them. Peter knows firsthand the Lord
won't let his people go. So he writes this book, conveying
to them the very mind of God and the will of God. This is a man who was, he wasn't
ashamed to speak up. He always had his mouth open.
He's always got something to say. It might be good, it might
be bad. You kind of hold your breath
whenever he gets ready to say something. You don't know what
he's going to say. You don't know what he's going
to do. But you see, the Lord used all that to make him the
man that he would be, the man that God would use. And so he
introduces himself, Peter. And I've got to think this also,
that when he just introduced himself as Peter, his mind must
have gone back. to the passage recorded in Matthew
chapter 16. When our Lord Jesus, you know,
said to the disciples, who do men say that I, the Son of Man
am? Well, some said you're John the
Baptist come back from the dead. Some say you're Jeremiah, one
of the prophets. Who do you say that I am? And here's that man, Peter, and
he says, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. Our
Lord Jesus said, blessed art thou, Simon bar Jonah, and that
bar means you're the son of Jonah or John. He said, flesh and blood
didn't teach you that or show you that, but my father, which
is in heaven, thou art Peter. That's what he
said to him. Thou art your Peter from now
on. In fact, in the book of Mark chapter three, verse 16, it says
in Simon, our Lord Jesus, he surnamed him Peter. Lord give him that name. So you've
got to think that when he's led of the Spirit of God to write
this and the Spirit of God breathed upon him and here's the mind
of God and the will of God, he's conveying the message of God.
Introduce yourself as Peter. I gave you that name. I gave
you that name. And indeed, that name was written
down in the land's book of life before the world began. This
is one of those sheep for whom the Son of God would die. And then he says, he tells us
he's an apostle of Jesus Christ. The Lord sent him. to preach the
gospel. He's commissioned by Christ.
He didn't volunteer for the ministry. He didn't go to a revival meeting
and when they sang, you know, I Surrender All, then he went
down and said, I want to surrender to full-time Christian service.
When I was, years ago, Nancy and I met at a Bible camp and
I ran the projector every Friday night And we had some campers
would come back two or three weeks during the summer, and
of course, I went for several years, and I'd see the same ones
come back. Every Friday night, we'd watch
the same movie, To the Regions Beyond. And we'd sing an invitation
song, and I saw the same people go forward to dedicate themselves
to full-time Christian service. Volunteer. Peter is not a volunteer. He was drafted. He was drafted. Blessed is the congregation who
has a man who is drafted into the service of the King. He didn't
volunteer. He didn't say, I'm the one. I'm the one that's got the abilities.
I've got the talents. And my mama always told me I
ought to be a preacher because I talked all the time. So I want
to be an apostle. Oh, no. The Lord Jesus came his
way and as he chose him unto salvation, he said, you follow
me. And he named him an apostle.
He had authority. And he writes to the strangers
who are scattered. They're citizens of another land,
of another country. That's all the people of God.
We're not citizens here. We're citizens of heaven. We're
the family of God. We're the people of the Lord.
We're his children. We've been adopted by his free
and sovereign grace and his family. We're strangers in this world
and we're scattered. They're scattered everywhere.
People of every nation, kindred, tribe and tongue. And then he
gets down here And this is what he has to say to them. Now, these
were people who were persecuted. These were people who were tried.
These were people who were having great difficulty. He says, there's
several passages I could take you to, but look at chapter four,
verse 12. Chapter four, verse 12. He says
to them, beloved, They love thinking not strange concerning the fiery
trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened
unto you. And here's what he's saying.
I know it's difficult for you, but hang on. It's gonna get worse. It's gonna get worse. But he says in verse 13, rejoice. Rejoice? How can I rejoice in
the midst of all this tribulation and trouble and afflictions?
Rejoice in as much as you're partakers of Christ's suffering.
You're suffering for the cause of Christ Jesus. And they were.
And you read through this book, he's continually warning these
people about don't get caught up in the mindset of the world,
the lusts of the world and all of the things that's in it. And
he cautions them, don't be rebellious, you servants who are, you're
serving ungodly masters, serve them faithfully. And you wives who have husbands
who don't love the gospel, be a faithful good wife. Who knows
how God might use you in your marriage. He just, he talks like,
he just, he speaks with them very frankly, very openly. And
he's honest about the difficulties that awaited them. It's like I said this morning,
the Lord never promised us an easy path. We must through much tribulation
enter into the kingdom. And I think in some ways that
the troubles of God's people, they don't really begin till
we're converted, till the Lord brings us to Himself. And then
you've got not only the struggles without, the struggles with the
world, but the struggles in your heart, the struggles within,
wrestling with the flesh, wrestling with the devil. All of these
sayings are in opposition to us. This life is tough for a
believer. Let's just face it, it's hard. Because you're facing so much
opposition. And Peter is very frank about
it. He doesn't give many false hopes
or anything like that. Well, things will get easier.
No, he said, things gonna get worse. Just hang on. It'll get
worse. But in the midst of it, rejoice.
Rejoice. Well, preacher, what should I
do? Well, look what he tells these people to do in chapter
five and verse seven. He says, casting all your care
upon him, for he careth for you. Can you imagine how it was in
the Lord's day Of course, these letters go out to these various
saints of God in groups that are meeting. And preachers are
reading this letter to the saints of God. And then they hear the
preacher read to them. And Peter said this, casting
all your cares upon the Lord, because he cares for you. He
cares for me. Here I am struggling and wrestling,
tried, troubled, afflicted, but the Lord cares for me. Yes, He
does. And even in the midst of your
troubles and your tribulations and all of your afflictions,
He's right there with you. I mentioned Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego this morning. Those three fellas, children
of God, faithful to the cause of Christ, in Nebuchadnezzar's
fiery furnace, and he had turned up the thermometer, and it was
hot. In fact, those guys that put
them in, turn the temperature up! It got so hot, it burned
them. King looked in and said, didn't
I put three men in there? You did. How come I see four? And I tell you who are the people
of God, scattered strangers, there's somebody with you all
the time. It'll help you. It'll help you. He's the Lord of glory. He's
the very one who ordained that trouble in the first place. And
he's the one that put you where you are for his glory and for
your good. scattered strangers and he tells
them, he says, you're elect. You're elect. First thing he
tells them. You're elect. Isn't it amazing that in this
world of lots of smart people, folks don't have any trouble
with election except when it comes to Salvation. We understand
election, just had one. We just elected a governor and
various other offices. The will of the people has been
expressed. It's been made known. The mind
of men and women, the issue has been decided. Now, there's a little difference
there. Because our election, when we
elect somebody, it's based upon the qualifications that we perceive
that they have. Or the things that they have
done that we don't like. And then we vote. But we understand
the concept of election. except when it comes from the
pulpit. And then men, it's not fair.
Election is not fair. Well, it's fair among us. How
come it can't be fair with God? But you see, God chose a people
under salvation without any regard for what we would do Or how would
we act? In fact, in Romans chapter nine,
the Lord made a choice before we did anything good or bad,
that the purpose of God according to election might stand. And
he tells these people, these scattered strangers, Think of
this, if you were writing the letter, okay? You're writing
the letter to these people, scattered strangers. Boy, I wonder, what
would I write to cheer them up? They're having a rough time over
there in Asia Minor, Turkey today. What can I possibly say to them
that would encourage them do the best you can, be good. No, no. You know what's going to encourage
these scattered strangers? The same thing that encourages
the Lord's people today. Tell me what God's done for me.
That's what I need to hear. I wanna hear what God's done
for me. And so he takes the Trinity and he spells out before them,
right from the get-go, the election of the Father, the sanctification
of the Spirit, and the obedience and the shedding, the sprinkling
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right from the beginning,
he takes them to the Lord. Here's our reason for being at
rest in our souls, even in the midst of trouble. It's what God's
done for us. Elect, elect. The Bible's full of election.
And then he says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. You say, aha, now. The Lord elected us because of
what he foresaw that we would do. The Bible never speaks of
what God foreknew, but it speaks of who God foreknew. He foreknew
a people. You see, God's foreknowledge,
and hang with me, God's foreknowledge must not be confused with his
omniscience. What is his omniscience? God
knows everything before it ever happened. He knows the thoughts
in your mind before you ever think them. Everything is known
to God. Omniscience is a divine attribute,
but foreknowledge is a divine act. Learn the difference. Learn the difference. Omniscience
is a divine attribute. Foreknowledge is a divine act. As it is spoken of and set forth
in the scriptures, God's foreknowledge, it certainly teaches or implies
four things. It's number one, God's decree
of foreordination. The same word translated here
as foreknowledge, a form of it is used over here in verse number
20, foreordained. It's the same idea. Isn't that
right, Alan? It's the same idea. It's the
same word. Foreordination. This is the purpose
of God. Tell you something else, by foreknowledge
is intended the love of God, the love, the affection of God's
heart to his people. The Lord said to Israel, you
only have I known of all the nations of the earth. You're
the only one I knew. Well, you mean God didn't know
about the rest of the way? He knew about everybody. But
Israel was special to him. He's special to him. You know, the Lord Jesus, and
he talks in Matthew 7, in the last day, he said, talked about
many will say to me, I've done this. Lord, I've done this. Lord,
I've done that. Lord, I've done something else
three times. Lord, that's orthodoxy. And he'll
say to them, depart from me. I never knew you. I never knew
you. I never loved you. I never foreordained you salvation. You can go all the way back to
the book of Genesis chapter four. Adam knew Eve, his wife, and
she conceived and bear a son, called his name Cain. Well, I guess Adam just, he knew
a lot about Eve. No, that's not what it means.
He loved her. He made love to her. And you see, God has loved us
from all eternity. I'll tell you something else,
by foreknowledge is meant divine endorsement. God approves of
us. He approves of us. He approves of us in his Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why every child of God,
when we get the glory, God is going to say to us, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. You mean he'll say that about
me? Yeah. I'm not a preacher like you are,
I know. I can't talk about the things
of God like you do, I understand. Well, how then can he say to
me, well done thou good and faithful servant, because the obedience
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's your obedience. He lived for
you. Everything God demanded of you,
Christ has fulfilled. He satisfied the father. He loved
God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. He loved
his neighbor as himself. Do you love God like that? No,
you don't. Do you love your neighbor like
that? No, you don't. But when you get to glory, you
will have in the Lord Jesus. When are we going to understand
God counts us righteous in Christ Jesus? He is our righteousness. He's all of our holiness. He's
all of our sanctification. And by foreknowledge, God speaks
to us of everlasting security. Because those whom He knows in
His everlasting love, He keeps them safe forever. And then there's
sanctification. I'll go quickly and close this
out. The work of the Spirit, He sets us apart. We're running with the world.
The broad road that leads to destruction. We're going the
wrong way, folks. We're going the wrong way. And
a preacher comes along and says, you're going the wrong way. You're
heading toward the precipice of eternity, and you're gonna
fall into hell going your direction. Mind your own business. You're
not gonna tell me what to do. But then the Spirit of God comes
along and makes God's business your business, because your business
is His business. And He just turned you around,
and He put you on the narrow way. He leads you to His Son. Life in Christ. Believe the Son
of God. It's what the Spirit of God does.
It's the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God. And he leads
us to think of the glory of God and that which honors God in
our lives, in our lives. And then there's the obedience
in blood of Christ. And I do believe that the Spirit
of God is leading Simon Peter here When he talks about obedience,
he's not talking about our obedience. Because really that would be
to defile the context. He's talking about the work of
God. I know that we do obey the truth
because he says that later on in this very first chapter. Look
at verse 22. Seeing you have purified your
souls in obeying the truth. That's believing the gospel.
But that's not the obedience that's being spoken of here in
verse two. It's the obedience of Christ
Jesus. Obedient to the Father's will.
Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written, to do
thy will, O God. That's what he said. He came
in obedience to the Father. And that obedience according
to Philippians chapter two was up to and including death upon
the cross of Calvary. There's the blood. There's the
blood. So in beginning this letter,
he introduces himself. He gives his credentials. Tells who he's writing to. and
tells them of what God's done for them. Who are these people? They're the elect of God. According to his foreknowledge,
according to his loving foredonation. And the Spirit of God is sanctified,
and the Spirit of God set them apart. Oh, bless the name of
the Spirit of Christ Jesus. And then there's the Savior himself,
who is obedient, obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross of Calvary. Does that help any strangers
in this world here tonight? Just to be reminded of what God
in Christ Jesus has done for us. And to know that he who gave
me faith, he'll keep me. I said, I used that verse this
morning, we're kept by the power of God, we're garrisoned by the
Lord, we're kept by him, protected by him. He surrounds us. And he said, I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you. And you can put it this way,
the way David did in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. He leads
me. He leads me. And look back yonder
behind, look over your shoulder. Look at them twins behind you.
Goodness and mercy shall follow me. With the shepherd out there
leading and goodness and mercy, his appointed twins who follow
me all the days of my life. Oh, I will dwell in the house
of the Lord forever. So it'll all be all right. That's
wonderful, isn't it? That's singing.