We're going to begin a new study
this morning in the book of 1 Peter. Lord willing, we'll go through
both his first and second letters. The first epistle of Peter is
declared in its title. If you look up above where it
titles the book, it tells you the author Unlike some of the
other epistles, this one says the epistle of Peter in general. In general. And if you sometime have some
time to go through and look, and you may already know this,
but the book of James and 1 and 2 Peter and 1 John and Jude are
all general epistles. They were written not to a specific
people, but to churches all over the place, all scattered all
over the place. And I believe, I didn't really
look into this, but I believe just recalling from memory that
Peter is the only one who really says that, who really mentions
that in his epistle. And these epistles were not written
to individuals or any certain church, but to a group of churches
scattered over a large area. Also, the historians and commentators
say that 1 Peter is the oldest of all the epistles. I don't
know why, but I never really thought about that much. It is
the oldest epistle. And some say it was written as
early as 45 AD. Many of the old writers speculate
that there were doubts and disagreements in many of these mixed congregations
to whom these apostles are now writing, but especially Peter,
that there was some contention among them as to Peter's gospel
as compared to Paul's gospel. that there was some contention
among them that they were different. Now maybe they say that because
of Paul's confronting Peter to the face in Galatia. I don't know. But many of them
felt like there was some kind of contention there. And Peter
and some of these others, James, wrote these epistles to settle
that score, to show them that there was no difference, that
they all preached the same gospel. And in Peter's second epistle,
he even mentions Paul's name, calls him his beloved brother. And I thought this was the most
unlikely thing. Peter wrote this epistle From
Babylon. From Babylon. Isn't that something? Babylon. And yet, that's exactly
where we're at. Exactly. That describes this
world to a T. We're in Babylon. Now, I don't know how far we're
going to get this morning in this study, but the first five
verses of this chapter, Peter gives us three marks of a believer. Three things they all share in
common, and three things he uses to identify the common faith
of all believers. And these three things are election,
redemption, and preservation. Now let's begin reading here,
1 Peter chapter 1. We'll read the first two verses. an apostle of Jesus Christ to
the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. Now, believers are often called
in the scripture the elect of God. Twenty-seven times that
word is used in the scriptures in its various forms, election,
elect, elected, and so on. Twenty-seven times it's mentioned. And salvation, in fact, finds
its beginning in the election of God. If you were to trace
back the person of Christ and trace back the salvation mentioned
in the New Testament, it's always traced back to the election of
God. Six times in the first chapter
of Ephesians, the Holy Spirit uses a word. That word is according. According, having stated as clearly
as words will allow, the scriptures tell us that God is the source
of all spiritual blessings upon men and that these blessings
are by way of His Son. Now watch this, Ephesians 1,
4, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world. And then Paul wrote and told
Timothy. He said that he endured all things,
all kinds of troubles, all kinds of suffering, all kinds of hardships,
all kinds of wrongs for the elect's sake. And in that great day, our Lord
says, all the tribes of the earth shall see the Son of Man coming.
in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, Matthew
24, 31. And he shall send his angels
with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together
his elect from the four winds and from one end of heaven to
the other. In that same chapter in Matthew,
he describes the days before his coming as a time of great
trouble. Religion without knowledge flourishing
in the earth. Antichrist religion. Religion
without any basis in the Word of God. And he says, except those
days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But
for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. And then
in the 24th verse of that same chapter in Matthew, he tells
us that such deceit an enticement and signs will be made that if
it were possible, they would deceive the very elect. The Bible's very clear on the
doctrine. In 2 Thessalonians 2.13, it says,
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Then he names
the means to accomplish that salvation. through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. And then the end result,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation. If you read the scriptures,
I'm not, there's a lot of other sources that men use and seem
to find some hope in. But if you Look at the book of
God. If you look at the Bible, you
look at the Holy Scriptures for the basis of your faith, you're
going to find that faith always has its beginning in the election
of God. God has saved us. That's past
tense. Past tense. God has saved us
and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. But now is manifest by
the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and has brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. We're
told that election is an election of grace. What does that mean? That means if it is of grace,
then it is no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. It has no consideration of the
works of men past, present, or future. You can read that in
Romans chapter 11, verses 5 and 6. We're also told that election
comes by way of the sovereign The will of God. Not of man's
will. It's of God's will. Romans 9,
10, and 13. We were, by order of election,
predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. When He says there in Ephesians
chapter 1, according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before
him in love." Now, here's the first word of the next verse,
having, having. That is, through what he just
stated, through this election, having been predestinated unto
the adoption of children. And further, we're told that
election is unto salvation. Election is not salvation. Election
is unto salvation. He said, I don't understand that
statement. Well, there's a lot of folks running around who said,
well, God's going to save all His elect, and I'm His elect.
So I can live any way I want to. I can do anything I want
to. I can believe anything I want to. Some are going to be predestinated
to heaven, and some predestinated to hell, and on and on and on
it goes. That's not what we preach here, and that's not what this
Bible teaches. Election is unto salvation. so that everything accomplished
in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ was accomplished for
them in particular. He died for them in particular. He lives for them in particular. He reigns in glory for them in
particular. They were raised up with Him,
ascended up with Him, sat down with Him, the Scripture says,
on the throne of God. The good shepherd, our Lord said
to the Jews, giveth his life for the sheep. And Paul declares
in 1 Corinthians 15.3 that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures. You cannot separate election
from its means. And if you're tracing the origin,
we start at the beginning with God. And we trace our salvation
down to our faith. If you're trying to prove your
election, you start with your faith and you go the other direction. But whichever direction you go
in, you're going to wind up with election and Christ. I don't
care which way you go. And I say this to you as clearly
as I know how to say it. There are no elect who do not
hear, repent, and believe. To try in any way to apply the
means of grace universally is to deny the word of God, the
gospel of God, the character of God, and the doctrine of Christ. It's not universal. It's particular. If righteousness come by the
law, Christ is dead and vanquished. And the means of grace which
accompany election is first and foremost Christ himself. Whenever we think of Christ,
do we have that in our thought? Do we think of Him as the means
of grace? Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Some may say, is there anywhere
in the Word of God that plainly declares that Christ died for
His elect? Can you take me to a place where
it just says that? Where it says it clearly, that
Christ died for His elect. Absolutely. Romans chapter 8,
beginning at verse 32. 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? What things? The new birth. Faith. Repentance. Perseverance. Preservation. Daily sustenance. Daily deliverance. Now watch
this. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of who? God's elect. It's God that justifies. Who do you justify? His elect. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died. Died for who? His elect. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Christ is first and foremost
the means ordained in election. We were chosen in him before
the foundation of the world. And everything he did is God's
man. He did for those given to Him
of His Father. This is the will of Him that
sent me, He said, that of all which the Father hath given me,
I should lose nothing." Listen to this intercessory prayer our
Lord prayed before going to the cross. He said, Father, the hour
has come. Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son
also may glorify Thee. John 17, verse 2. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him." Christ is first and foremost
the means ordained and the salvation of God's elect. And then secondly,
and every bit as essential as the presence and as the The person
and work of Jesus Christ is the presence and power of the Holy
Spirit. Peter tells us we're elect, now
watch this, there's that word again, according. According to
the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit. Sanctification of the Spirit
is inseparably connected with the belief of the truth. Our
Lord said to His disciples in John 16, 13, when He, the Spirit
of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak, and He will show you things to come. What truth is He talking about?
Well, John 16, verse 14 says, He shall glorify Me. That's the
truth He will declare. He shall receive of mine and
show it unto thee. He'll show us in the coming and
doing and dying of Jesus Christ the reality of sin, of righteousness
and judgment. He'll show you by the obedience
and death of Christ the righteousness of God, and He'll show you by
His life, death, and resurrection the judgment of God satisfied. satisfied forever believing sinners. I believe perhaps that the ministry
of the Holy Spirit may be the most misunderstood, misapplied
means of grace in all the Bible. The primary end of His ministry
is to show to you your adoption in Jesus Christ. That's what
He came to do. To awaken dead sinners. to regenerate dead sinners, to
give life to dead sinners, and to show to you that as a
son of God, you are an heir of His grace. Paul said to the Galatians,
he said, because ye are sons. How did you get to be sons? Well,
you remember what I read to you back in Ephesians 1. Predestinated
unto the adoption of children. That's how you got to be sons.
We were chosen as sons in Christ before the world began. And he
tells these Galatian people, because you're sons, God has
sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father. Of the Gentile believers at Antioch,
Paul went down there to preach, him and Barnabas, and no small
stir was was created when they come to preach. And the Jews
were just bandying about everything that he said. And the Gentiles
were absolutely amazed at what he said. And that's the way it
is when the gospel is preached. Some hear it and it's the most
foolish thing they ever heard. And others sit there and think
it's the most glorious thing they ever heard. That's just
the nature of the gospel. as he preached, and that's what
took place there. But the Gentile believers, the
following Sabbath day, when he went in to preach in that little
synagogue, the whole city came out to hear him. And when the
Jews saw the multitudes that were affected by his preaching,
they were envious of those multitudes. They'd been there talking and
ministering and doing their thing for years and nothing happened.
And this man comes in and preaches one Sabbath day and here's multitudes
come back to hear him and they're excited about hearing him and
looking forward to hearing him. And the Jews were moved with
envy and it says they spoke harsh things about Paul and they said
things about what they preached and what they declared. Tried
to make him appear foolish in the eyes of the Gentiles. And
finally, Paul looked at him and he said, seeing you judge yourselves
unworthy of everlasting life, he said, behold, I turn to the
Gentiles. And when the Gentiles heard that,
they were glad. They were glad. And the scripture
says, as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. They believed. The new birth is not made known
by emotional experiences, overpowering feelings, or supernatural gifts,
or sudden changes of habit. The presence and power of the
Holy Ghost are known by the revelation of Christ. That's how they're
known. It's the revelation of Christ.
It's the revelation of that salvation wrought in him, which is manifested
in his person and work. It's not zeal in you, the hope
of glory. It's not emotion in you, the
hope of glory. It's not even change in you,
the hope of glory. I don't know how many times people
have told me, now you need to really respect him because I
witnessed a great change. That ain't it. That ain't it. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. The sanctification of the Spirit,
Peter says, is unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. That is, you see what he wrought
out in his glorious person before God as the substitutionary sacrifice
for his elect. You see what he wrought out before
God in his perfect obedience. And he is your righteousness,
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. In
him, Paul said, he was ready to preach the gospel. And he
said, it's the power of God unto salvation, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. And as you see those things,
the Holy Spirit applies those things that you know to that
guilty conscience, and you see what He did sufficient to take
away that guilt. There is in the revelation of
the redemption accomplished in His death, that which is sprinkled
upon our conscience that purges us from its guilt, so that we might do those things which God has ordained that we
should do. Believe, repent, live, and walk
in Him. Purge from dead works to serve
the living God. That's how it's stated in the
scripture. Paul puts it this way in Hebrews
chapter 10. He tells us that in the volume
of the book, it's written of Christ that he shall come and
accomplish the will of God. All the way through. All of these
books. I don't care if we're studying
in the book of Leviticus or Genesis or Exodus or Numbers or where
we're at, going through Joshua, Jonah, all of these old prophets. In the volume of the book, it's
written of Christ. that he shall come and accomplish
the will of God in redemption. He's talking about his redemptive
will. And having accomplished the redemptive will of God, he
tells us in verse 10, Hebrews 10, by the which will, that is
that accomplished will in him, we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for
all. Faith is a persuasion of the
mind and heart that the person and work of Jesus Christ is sufficient
to save your soul. It's sufficient. We walk every
day in the sufficiency of his righteousness and have no confidence
in the flesh. That's how you know a true believer.
He has no confidence in his flesh. That's how you know an unbeliever.
He has full confidence in his flesh. He'll always start talking
about his will and his power and all of those things, his
works. But you won't find a believer talking that way. He has no confidence
in his literacy. The believer trusts every day,
even unto his dying day, that the death of Christ is sufficient
to put away his sin. And the believer lives every
day believing that he has a high priest who sits at the right
hand of God continually. making intercession for him.
And the believer lives every day believing that his Lord sits
on the throne of glory, ordering all things, arranging all things,
and working all things for the good of his elect and for his
glory. And it's by this knowledge, this
understanding, and this faith that Peter says to them, grace
and peace unto you. That's the only way grace and
peace can come. That's what a mediator does,
is it? Make the peace? Well, there's one mediator between
man and God, the man, Christ Jesus. That's it. That's what it is. All right.
Thank you.