Thank you. Open to 1 Peter, chapter
1. The book of 1 Peter, the first
chapter. The apostle Peter addresses this
letter to scattered strangers who look forward to the salvation
of their souls. We know that salvation can be
looked at from several viewpoints, several angles. Actually, we've always been saved,
haven't we? You look back, and not right
now, but if you look back in 2 Timothy chapter 1, the Apostle
Paul says of the Lord, He saved us. God saved us and then He
called us. You say, well, that order is
reversed. Really, He called us and then
He saved us. No, the order is correct. He
saved us in Christ Jesus, even in old eternity. You see, there
is that union of the Savior with His people. We've always been
His. And therefore, we've always been
safe. We've always been saved. Back in old eternity, God the
Father gave to His darling Son a numerous people. Why, there
more than could ever be numbered. Oh, there'd be people from every
nation, every kindred, every tribe, and every tongue. This
was a sovereign election. An election of grace. God the
Father, having given these people to His Son, His Son received
them as a gift. As a gift. And He stood as our
surety in that great covenant of grace. in that everlasting
counsel of peace and mercy. The Lord Jesus was our covenant
head. He was our surety who stood good
for us. He bore full responsibility from
that point, if we could say it was a point, because really it's
an everlasting covenant. But He's always been responsible
for the salvation of His people. In fact, He's said to be the
Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. So we've
always been saved. Why, we couldn't wind up any
other way except saved. In God's everlasting purpose
of grace, in the Lord Jesus our Savior, we've always been saved. We've always been safe in Him. And then you can look at salvation
this way. We were saved when Christ died
for us, when He redeemed us, when He reconciled us to God.
We're justified by His blood, by His righteousness. When the
Lord Jesus said, it is finished, and He hung His head down and
He gave up the ghost, our salvation was secure. He rose again from
the dead because of our justification. Because He had done the work
that God the Father gave Him to do. All the sins of all of
His elect had all been put away. And our indebtedness had been
absolutely completely retired. And our sins buried in the depths
of the sea. We were saved at the cross. We were saved, redeemed by the
blood. And then we can say we were saved
when the gospel came to us in effectual power. It was that
hour when you were dead in trespasses and sins and yet the Spirit of
God then breathed life into you through the word of the gospel.
And you believed to the saving of your soul. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved is what they said to
the Philippian jailer. And we've been brought to believe
him. We've been brought to adore him. that One who is the Lord,
that One who is the Master, that One who is the Sovereign. We've
been brought to believe Jesus, the Savior of sinners. His very
name means Savior. He's Jehovah who saves. He's Jehovah who is our salvation. He saved us. He's the Lord Jesus. He's the Christ. He's the sent
one. He's the one promised in the
Old Testament. We believe Him and those who
believe Him, we can say to them, I can say to you tonight on the
very authority of the Word of God, if you believe the Son of
God as He's revealed in the Book of God, you are saved. And then we can say we're being
saved. We're being saved. In fact, now
is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. And then we can say someday,
ultimately, at yonder in eternity, whenever we reach the very throne
of God, When we see the Savior face to face, we'll be saved. We'll be saved. Saved when our
bodies are raised from that state of corruption. From that state
of mortality. Death is active in us. We're dying. We're a dying people. And these bodies are ultimately
going to die. They're going to the dust. going
back to the ashes. But when the great savior comes
back to this world, and he's gonna come power and great. Those who are alive ought to
meet him, but those whose bodies are in the ground, those Resurrected
by his authority and by his power, and they shall be changed. And
sssssion shall put on incorruption, and mortality shall put on immortality. Boo be saved. Then will sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss and from its very inception, from its origin until its finish, from God's eternal purpose of
salvation to God's purpose salvation in eternity through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Here's the message of the Word
of God. The salvation of the religious is of the Lord. We're saved by grace. Peter writes
to these people of their salvation. These are people who've been
scattered, you see. They've been scattered. Look
with me over to Well, let me read this first verse, and then
I want to go to Acts. 1 Peter 1, verse 1, Peter, who
is an apostle, he's a messenger of Jesus Christ to the strangers. To the strangers. To the sojourners. To those who seek a better country. To the strangers that are scattered. And they were scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. They're scattered
everywhere. Now go back to the book of Acts.
Let me show you the origin of this scattering. Go back to the
book of Acts, chapter 7. Acts, chapter 7. In this passage
of Scripture, the saints of God have been scattered as a result
of the persecution. Actually, the scattering took
place in chapter 8, but I want to show you the reason or the
origin of the scattering which is in chapter 7. This is the
passage that deals with the stoning of Stephen. Look at verse 51. Stephen is preaching. Acts 7.51. Listen to what he says to these
religious but lost people. ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised
in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. As your
fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not
your fathers persecuted? And they have actually slain,
they killed them, which showed before of the coming of the just
one. All those Old Testament prophets
who pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the just one who manifested
to them, who said to them, who talked to them, who preached
to them, that the just one's coming, he said, they killed
them. They slew them. Of whom you've now been the betrayers
and the murderers. who have received the law by
the disposition of angels and have not kept it." These things,
they were cut to the heart. They gnashed on him with their
teeth. But Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up
steadfastly into heaven and he saw the glory of God. He saw
Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said, now here
are all these religious folks who despise, who hate Jesus of
Nazareth. He says to them, behold, I see
the heavens opened and I see the Son of Man standing on the
right hand of God. I see him exalted. I see the
one that you crucified. I see the one that you murdered.
I see Him standing. I see Him standing on the right
hand of God. I see Him exalted. And verse
57, then they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their
ears and ran upon Him with one accord. In other words, this
is the action, this is the same response that our Lord got. Hold your place there. Look over
in Matthew 26. Our Lord said virtually the exact same thing
in Matthew chapter 26, and the people there responded the same
way. Look in Matthew chapter 26. Matthew 26, and I won't read
all of this context. He's standing before the high
priest. Matthew chapter 26 verse 64,
Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said. In response to, tell us,
are you the Son of God? Are you the Christ, the Son of
God? Verse 64, Jesus saith unto him,
Thou hast said. Nevertheless, I say unto you,
hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand
of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. And then the high
priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy. What
further need have we of witnesses? Behold, now you've heard his
blasphemy." And over here in Acts chapter 7, when Stephen
said, I see the Son of Man, I see the Son of Man, exalted, I see
Him at the right hand of the Father, He got the same response. People went crazy. They were
just livid. And so here in Acts chapter 7
and verse 57, they cried out with a loud voice. They stopped
their ears. We don't want to hear this. We
don't want to hear about Jesus Christ. Earlier in the book of
Acts, I read to you to begin the service what Peter said,
neither is there salvation in any other except in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And these people put their hands
over their ears and said, we don't want to hear that name.
We don't want to hear of Jesus Christ. We don't want to hear
the gospel. We don't want to hear of grace.
We don't want to hear of redemption. We don't want to hear of salvation
by the death of a man. We don't want to hear that that
man has been raised and has been exalted to God's right hand.
We don't want to hear any more of this. And the only reason
you want to hear more and the only reason I want to hear more
of this and more of him is because of the effectual grace of God.
Otherwise we'd be stopping our ears. Otherwise we've been saying,
I want to hear something else. Too much Christ. That's too much
grace for me. I'll go somewhere else. That's
these people. No more. We've heard enough. We've heard enough. They cast
him out of the city, verse 58. They cast him out of the city
and they stoned him. And the witnesses, They laid down their clothes
at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned
Stephen while he's calling upon God, saying, Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit. And he kneeled down, and he cried
out with a loud voice, watching, Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge. And when he said this, he fell
asleep. And there was a fellow there
that day. His name was Saul. Verse 1, chapter
8, Saul was consenting unto his death. He was consenting unto his death. He held their coats while they
threw the rocks. But you know what? God answered
the prayer of Stephen. And all the sins of Saul were
not laid to his charge. They had been laid to the charge
of Christ Jesus. They had been charged to his
account. They had been imputed to the Savior. Stephen said,
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And his prayers answered.
Because the sins of Saul of Tarsus in the death, in the murder of
Stephen were not laid to his charge, nor any of the rest of
the sins of Saul, nor any of the sins of any of God's elect.
They're not laid to our charge. They've been charged to the Savior.
They've been imputed to Him. They've been reckoned to Him.
And bless the name of God, He is spotless, righteous. And we're made the righteousness
of God. At that time, there was a great
persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. This
started it. This started it. And they were
all, what's the word? Scattered. They were all scattered
abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the
apostles. The saints of God were scattered.
That included the preachers. Remember, back in the Gospel
of Luke, our Lord had appointed 70 disciples to go out and preach
the Gospel, and He sent them out two by two. Well, remember
this, keep this in mind, this has only been less than a year
later. And so these 70, ordained by
our Lord, set apart by our Lord, they were trained in the gospel
ministry. He gave them their message, the
gospel of the kingdom, and He sent them forth to preach the
gospel. These men are in this group and
they all go out preaching the gospel. They're scattered. Scattered. Look in verse 4. Therefore they
that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel. They went everywhere preaching
the gospel. They had been scattered. Go over
to Acts chapter 26. Acts chapter 26. Look at verses nine and 10. And this regards what Saul did. He says before Agrippa, Acts
chapter 26, I verily thought with myself that I ought to do
many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth, which thing
I also did in Jerusalem. And many of the saints did I
shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests.
And when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.
So therefore we know not only did Stephen die, but lots of
other people too. And the man who witnessed against
them, The man who stood up against them, these people who believed
the gospel of God's grace, was Saul. Saul, who later became
Paul. Well, consequently, the saints
of God are scattered then. They were scattered. Going everywhere
preaching the gospel. Look at Acts chapter 11. Acts
chapter 11, verse 19. Acts 11 verse 19. Now they which
were scattered abroad, upon the persecution that arose about
Stephen, they traveled as far as Pharncy, and Cyprus, and Antioch,
preaching the word. They had been scattered, and
what's the result of the scattering? You say, oh, they shouldn't have
been scattered. When I wait, the gospels got to go forth.
Because the Lord's got a people everywhere. And here were the
saints of God. Thousands of them had been converted
by the power of God's grace. And they were remaining in Jerusalem. They loved to be together. Hey,
listen, we love to be together as the people of God. And lots
of times I hear people say after a church service, Boy, I hate
to leave. I hate to go back out there in
the world. I hate to go to work tomorrow. I hate to get back
out there among the rebel rousers, people who hate the Lord, people
who hate the Gospel. I wish we could just all stay
together. Well, we need to be scattered.
We need to go out into the world and preach the Gospel. We need
to go out into the world and tell people who Jesus Christ
is and what He did. And if we don't go out there,
how are they going to know? You see, our Lord Jesus, He purposed
that His gospel would go forth into all the world. He said,
go into all the world and preach the gospel. And they're standing
right here. Oh, we love to be together. There are thousands
of them. God had saved thousands of people
that were so comfortable. And so the Lord shook things
up. You see, He's ordained that people
hear the gospel elsewhere. There's a man, a eunuch. A eunuch. He's got to hear the
gospel. There are others who've got to
hear the gospel and they can't hear the gospel if somebody doesn't
tell them. How shall they hear without a
preacher? So they go forth preaching the gospel. Acts chapter 11 verse
19. They went everywhere. Watch this.
They were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose But
Stephen, again I'll read this, they traveled as far as Phanesi
and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching the word to none but the Jews
only. And some of them were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake
unto the Grecian, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the
Lord was with them. And a great number believed and
turned unto the Lord. But they didn't believe till
somebody told them. They didn't believe that somebody preached
the gospel to them. God made his word effectual through the
preaching of the gospel. And they turned unto the Lord.
Look at the 22nd verse. Then tidings of these things
came into the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem. They
sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch,
who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, and was glad,
and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should
cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full
of the Holy Ghost, and of faith. And much people was added unto
the church. And then departed Barnabas to
Tarsus, for to seek Saul. And when he found him, he brought
him unto Antioch. He said, I want you to see what
the Lord is doing. And it came a whole year. They
had sales with the church. They taught much people. And
the disciples were first called Christians or called Christians
first in Antioch. The Gospel went to Antioch. And
it went all these other places. They went forth preaching the
Word. Because they had been scattered. Scattered in the purpose of God.
These are scattered strangers. You see, the Lord Jesus, he said,
other sheep I have which are not of this immediate fold, them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. They've got to
hear my voice, and they will hear my voice. And there shall
be one fold, and there shall be one shepherd. So go back to
1 Peter chapter 1. These people then had been scattered
in the purpose of God. These difficulties. I can't imagine how troublesome
it was to these saints. People were being murdered. They were being slaughtered.
They said, we've got to leave town. Pack up what you can. We
don't have time to take much. Pack up. We've got to leave.
And they're scattered and people said, oh Lord, why did this happen? Well, it happened for the furtherance
of the gospel, that's why. You see, those of us who believe
this gospel, who are saved by God's grace, who worship the
Lord Jesus Christ, let's always remember, whatever happens, whatever
happens, it may be troublesome to the flesh, it may be painful,
It may be irritating to us, it may go against the grain, but
all these things that happen to us, happen to us for the furtherance
of the gospel and the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. And
if we will remember that, it'll make those trials a whole lot
easier to bear. Nobody likes to be in pain. Nobody
likes to be persecuted. Man, these people, they saw bloodshed. They saw some of their brothers
and sisters. They saw their dead bodies. I
mean, they even saw later on the Apostle Paul. He said, I
witnessed against them. They were executed. They died. They died. And folks said, we've
got to leave. We've got to leave right now.
Just grab what you can. Oh Lord, why is this happening?
And don't you know they were asking, oh God, please, please. Hold back the persecution. But
it was necessary. It was necessary. Because the
word's got to go forth. And I can't tell you all the
particulars. I have no idea why all the things
happen in your life and happen in my life, these painful things.
But I know this, it's all according to God's purpose. That sure ought
to bless us. That ought to encourage us. These
people are scattered. They're scattered. Well, Peter
writes them a letter. He writes them a letter. In fact,
he not only writes this letter, he writes the second letter.
Go over to 2 Peter chapter 2. He writes the second letter.
2 Peter chapter 1. He writes this
letter. Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them who have obtained like precious faith, they've received
it by divine appointment, through the righteousness of God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. And he says to them the same
thing that he says in the first letter, grace and peace be multiplied
to you. Scattered saints. Scattered saints. Well, what does he say to them?
What do you... What do you say to people who
are troubled? What do you say to people who've
seen their neighbors murdered? What do you say to people who've
had to leave their house and most of their belongings and
just pack what they could and get out? What do you say to them
to encourage them? Well, the Spirit of God leads
Peter to write this letter and then rewrite a second letter.
This is one of the general epistles. You know, from the book of Romans
to the book of Jude, those are all epistles. And that means
letters. Letters. And about 14 letters
were penned by Paul. That is, if you include the book
of Hebrews as belonging to Paul, as having been written by Paul.
So those are the Pauline epistles. And he wrote to specific churches
and to specific individuals. But then you get to the general
epistles. In the general epistles, there
are seven of them. Seven of them. There's James,
and 1st and 2nd Peter, and 1st and 2nd and 3rd John, and Jude.
They're general epistles. In other words, they're written
not to a specific individual, or to a little group, not to
a little church, but to all the people of God. And here's the
apostle Peter, and he writes two of these general epistles,
and in the first one he says, and this is who I'm writing to,
to the saints that are scattered. How is he going to encourage
him? What would you say? And I'll go back to what I was
saying just a little bit ago. What would you say in a letter to
help God's people? How would you encourage them?
How would you address them? What would you say to them first?
Don't worry, be happy. What would you say if you're
writing a letter? Well, Simon Peter, of course,
these are his words, but they're his words because the Spirit
of God gave them to him. These are inspired words. And
here's what he says. As he addresses these people,
he talks to them and he says, you're the elect of God. And these folks are in need of
encouragement. Their spirits are low and they
need to be lifted. And one day, some carrier He delivers a letter. One delivers
a letter to the church in Pontus, another to the church in Galatia,
another to the church in Cappadocia, another to the church in Asia,
another to the church in Bithynia. It's all the same letter. Copies
were made and sent to these churches. And some messenger comes in and
says, I've got a letter! He says, as the church meets
together, he says, I've got a letter! It's from the Apostle Peter!
They said, oh brother, read us, read us that letter. And he opens
the scroll. And he begins to read. First
of all, Peter identifies himself. They said, oh, bless his heart,
brother Peter. Back yonder in the church at
Jerusalem. Oh, we remember that message he preached on the day
of Pentecost. Oh, we remember the power. Oh,
brother Peter, oh pastor, we miss you. One of the beloved
apostles. Well, what does he have to say,
brother? Read on. Well, he calls you elect. He
addresses you as the elect. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
And listen to what he says to you. I can just hear this messenger
reading. Listen, folks, what Peter says.
Grace unto you and peace be multiplied, not subtracted and certainly
not divided. And not grace and peace be added,
but grace and peace be multiplied. And you read through the New
Testament, grace and peace are often mentioned together, but
it is only the Apostle Peter, who in his first letter and his
second letter, says grace and peace be multiplied to you, because
these people really needed to hear that. And when you're having great
trials and difficulties, What is it that's gonna encourage
you? Oh, listen, grace and peace be multiplied to you. Grace,
God's grace, God's grace be multiplied to you and God's peace, the peace
that passes understanding be multiplied to you. This is how
Peter talks to them. This is how he encourages them.
Listen, if you want to encourage me when I'm in trouble or have
some kind of severe trial in life, don't tell me, oh, preacher,
be encouraged. Remember all the things that
you've done for the Lord. Well, remember how you've served
the Lord. Remember how you've preached
the gospel. That's not going to encourage me because I weep
over my preaching. Tell me what he's done for me.
That's how Peter encouraged them. And maybe this evening I'm speaking
to somebody, some child of God. Oh, the clouds are black over
your head. And you feel the storms. The
wind is blowing and the waves are crashing. What can I say
to you who are the people of God? What could I say to you
to kind of put a smile on your spiritual face? and to make the
load a little lighter and make the way brighter. Well, this
is what I tell you, number one, you're the elect of God. That
ought to help you. Man, that ought to help you. Way back yonder in the covenant
of grace, when God set His love on you in Jesus Christ the Lord,
and God the Father said, He's mine! She's mine! I'll be their
God and they'll be my people. Divine election. Let the world
gnash their teeth at the doctrine of election. God's people love
His election. Oh, preacher, tell me again,
what is it that God did for me? He chose you in Christ Jesus
before the foundation of the world. And the child of God says,
oh, hallelujah, I'm His and He's mine forever. Because He ordained
it that way. He ordained it that way. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He has
chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him. He chose me. Oh, it makes me feel better.
Oh, I've got a trial to go through. I've got this hardship I must
endure, I'm His. I'm His not by my choice. I'm
His by His choice. And nothing can ever reverse
that. Not all the devils of hell can
reverse that. and nothing can separate me from
His love, not life and not death, nor any other creature shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus, and it's an everlasting electing love. What else did it tell you? You're
foreknown of God. You're elect according to the
foreknowledge of God. Now, I know many people run to
this verse and say, yes, election is true, but election's based
upon what God foreknew that people would do. God looked down through,
God got his binoculars, and he looked down through the halls
of time, and he saw who would believe his son, and he says,
I'll choose him unto salvation. What utter foolishness. Go to Romans chapter eight. Don't confuse the omniscience
of God with the foreknowledge of God. What is the omniscience
of God? He knows everything. You know why He knows everything?
Because He ordained everything before the world began. He ordained
everything, therefore He knows everything. That's God's omniscience. But omniscience is not the same
as foreknowledge. Look at Romans chapter eight.
Look at verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called according to his purpose. One day God said to you, come
here. You come to my son. And when he called like that,
you came. That's effectual call. For whom
he did foreknow He 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. Whom He justified, them He also
glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who
is he that condemneth, it's Christ that died, yea rather, that is
risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Go back up to verse 29, for whom
he did foreknow. It doesn't say for what he did
foreknow. Foreknowledge doesn't have to
do with things. Foreknowledge has to do with
people. He foreknew a people in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is the same word translated in 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 20
as foreordained. This is a foreordaining love
of God. When it says we're the elect
according to the foreknowledge of God, it's according to God's
foreknowledge of a people that He loved in Jesus Christ before
the world began. The Lord said to Israel, you
only have I known of all the families of the earth. To those unbelievers, to the
reprobates in Matthew chapter 6 or chapter 7, the Savior will
say, I never knew you. And he won't say I never knew
about you. He knows about everything. Why
the darkness is light to him. All things are naked and open
before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. What he's going to say is, I
never knew you. I never loved you. I never set
my love on you. I never knew you in a way of
grace, in a way of mercy. These people were elect according
to the foreknowledge of God. Go back to our text quickly.
I'll show you something else. What this messenger... According to the foreknowledge
of God, the Father, through the sanctification of the Spirit.
He said, you're sanctified. You're sanctified. What does
that mean? Set apart. I know people today speak of
progressive. Sanctification. Well, we don't
believe in progressive sanctification. Boy, let me give you this real
quick. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, I believe it is, if memory
serves me correctly. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Look
at verse 11. He talks about all kinds of people.
different lifestyles and so forth. And he says in 1 Corinthians
chapter 6, "...were some of you, but you were washed." And literally,
you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. He
says this to the people at the church of Corinth. And that wasn't
exactly your ideal congregation. I mean, they have many of those. You're sanctified. You're justified. This is a done deal here. This
has been done for you by God in the name of the Lord Jesus.
They were a sanctified people. And Peter writes to these folks
over here, he says, through the sanctification of the Spirit,
He set you apart while you were running with the world. Maybe
the religious world, maybe the wicked world in outward wickedness,
but you were going your own way or maybe you were just in morality
and you weren't part of any kind of religion at all. And then
the Spirit of God set you apart. He pulled you apart from the
herd. Here's everybody running this way. You're just going with
the crowd. And the Spirit of God says, I want you. I want you. And He singled you
out. And that's what he does, isn't
it? He singles us out. He deals with us individually.
I know, I know lots of times couples are baptized together
and that sort of thing, but listen, when God saves us, when God reveals
the gospel to us, he does it one by one. He sets you apart. He says, you're
sanctified. And you're made holy. That's
what that means. You're made holy. You mean I'm
holy? Yes sir. In the Lord Jesus Christ
you're holy. In this sinner? I'm holy. In Christ. I don't believe in progressive
sanctification. I believe in continual sanctification. That's what I believe. Continual
sanctification. They were sanctified. And then
watch this. These were redeemed people. Back
in our text real quick. First Peter chapter one again.
He says unto the obedience and sprinkling. The obedience and
the sprinkling of the blood of the Lord Jesus. They're redeemed.
They're redeemed by his obedience. His obedience unto death. That's
what was necessary in order to justify us in order to put our
sins away, his obedience. And he sprinkled us with his
blood. When I read of the sprinkling of the blood, I think of the
Passover lamb, the blood of the Passover lamb, sprinkled on the
doorpost and over the top of the door. All the sprinkled blood
of the Lord Jesus. And we're washed and we're made
clean. And I'll tell you what the Spirit
of God does. He does this in setting us apart. It's so that
we'll be obedient to the Gospel. So this obedience, in one sense,
can even apply to us. He makes us obedient to the Gospel. You can read several verses of
Scripture. Like in Galatians 5-7, Paul said,
You did run well. Who did hinder you that you should
not obey the truth? Listen, if you're an unbeliever
tonight, If you don't believe the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, if you don't in your heart believe the Savior and
rest in Him for your salvation, you're disobedient to the gospel.
That's right, you're disobedient. And the wrath of God, you read
2 Thessalonians 1.8, the wrath of God's gonna fall on the disobedient. The Spirit of God sets us apart
to where we're obedient to the gospel. We come to Christ. And these people were immeasurably
blessed with grace and peace, as I've already said. They were
begotten again. Listen to what he says to them
in verse 3. Here's his eulogy to God. Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter is encouraging
these scattered saints You've been begotten. You've
got a good hope. We've got a living hope. What
does the word hope mean in the Bible? Is it a wish? No. It's an expectation based on
the sure evidence of the Word of the God that cannot lie. Our
hope is in Jesus Christ. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I have a firm foundation for
all that I believe. It's the Word of God. I believe
God. Old Martin Luther, somebody said
to him, I don't feel saved. And Martin Luther said, feelings
come and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. I trust the living
Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing. I believe God. I believe God. I have a good hope. We have a
good hope. We've been quickened, begotten by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. He was raised by the power of
God. We've been raised by the power
of God. Oh, if you have been raised, you've been raised from
a spiritual grave. And then he says, and you have
an inheritance. And remember, these people have
lost everything. You know, sometimes you see on
the television news, somebody has a fire, and they just lose
everything. Boy, your heart goes out to them. People in flooded areas, you
know, like we had recently in Johnson County, you see people
lost everything and so at the stores you give a little extra
money to help them out because your heart goes out to them.
Well, here are people, they've lost everything. They're scattered. They're scattered. And you know what Peter says?
You may have lost everything, but you've got an inheritance
waiting on you. Look what he says, verse 4. To
an inheritance incorruptible, that means it won't ever perish,
and undefiled, it's without defect, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you, It's reserved for you, and you're kept by the
power of God through faith unto that ultimate salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time. You're kept by the power of God.
You're kept for the inheritance. You got an inheritance, Peter
said. Oh, you lost everything. But listen, you're going to lose
that sooner or later anyhow. Is that right? You're going to
lose that sooner or later. He says, oh, you've got an inheritance.
Oh, people of God, you've got an inheritance waiting on you.
Oh yeah, you're kept by the power of God. That word kept is a military
term. It means you're guarded. You're guarded. It's like in
our Bible class this morning, Elisha prayed and asked the Lord,
open the eyes of that servant that he might see the hosts of
heaven. And we are surrounded by the hosts of heaven. But more
than that, we have the Lord Jesus Christ with us. He keeps you. He keeps you. And you may lose everything in
this world. It's okay. I'll tell you a quick
story. Boy, I have preached a long time.
No, I'm not really sorry. Three or four years ago, there
was a man in the congregation up in Michigan, and he had been
sick. He was a hard worker all his
life. But he got sick, and his wife
got sick. Both of them went in the nursing
home. They lost their house in order to pay for the nursing
home bills. And then she died, and I preached
her funeral. He had a son and a daughter,
and they put him in a nursing home down in Detroit. And it
wasn't the nicest of nursing homes. And I went to visit him several
times. And you go in his room, it was
just pretty bare walls. Last time I visited with him,
he started crying. He said, you know, pastor, he
said, I worked all my life. I worked hard. And he did. When
we moved up there, he had been retired, but he's still delivering
pizzas. Yeah, he's delivering pizzas.
And he had to take his license away from him because he's making
lane changes or turns from the wrong lanes. And he was danger
to himself, but he was just working all the time. Then I went to
see him in the hospital and his little feet curled up and legs
were just about crippled. He had a sad sight. He told me,
he said, I worked hard all my life. And he said, I've got nothing. I've got nothing. He said, I'll
tell you what I own. He said, I own these pajamas and I own
my robe. And I got another pair of pajamas,
and I got two changes of clothes. He said, that's all alone. He
said, I've worked hard all my life. But he said, you know what? I'm rich. Do you see that? We're rich.
We're rich. Whatever may befall you, and
I don't know what the future holds for you, and I don't know
what it holds for me either. While we may lose everything
we've got, and we may be scattered, who knows? The Lord knows. But let come what may, I tell
you what's not going to change, us being His elect. There's nothing
going to ever interfere with that. And us being redeemed. Can't take that away from me.
Being sanctified, set apart by God? Nope. Can't take that away
from me. And I've been begotten again.
I have life. Can you take life away from me?
Oh, you can kill this body, but you can't take my real life away,
because my life is Christ Jesus. He's my life. And I tell you,
there's waiting for us over yonder, over when we go home. There's
waiting for us everlasting glory. And I'm not talking about the
streets of gold. I'm not talking about the walls
of Jasper. I'm talking about we're going
to be with Christ Jesus. And we're going to see him face
to face. And we'll be happy forever. That's good, isn't it? Happy
forever. No end to that. So let come what may. And don't
you know these saints of God, there's in courage. Oh, that's
good news. And read the rest of the letter
to them. Thank you, Brother Peter, for writing that letter. Thank
you, Holy Ghost, for inspiring him to write that. And word got
back to Peter, and the Spirit of God said, write him another
letter. Write him another. And you know what? These letters,
they're for us, too. Isn't that right? They're for
us. They're generally epistles. for us. Alright, well let's sing
the closing song.