Sometimes, I suppose this is
true of all preachers, but sometimes I struggle a good bit trying
to find exactly what God would have me to preach to you on a
given occasion. And then occasionally the Lord
just drops something right down in your heart. Last week when
I left on Thursday morning to go to Almonte, I was sitting
in the airport about 6 o'clock in the morning reading. And immediately
I was convinced that I ought to bring this message from this
text of scripture, and it has been a blessing to my heart.
I trust that it shall to you. It's found in first Peter chapter
one. First Peter chapter one. God
commands every gospel preacher. As he stands to preach. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. While it is the preacher's responsibility
to reprove, to rebuke, to exhort, in all of our reproving, in all
of our exhorting, in all of our rebuking, we must never fail
to declare that gospel by which God's saints are comforted, by
which those who shall be called are comforted. And I have a message
today that will, I assure you, give comfort to God's saints.
It will rejoice your heart as God enables you to hear it. May
God the Holy Spirit speak now through his word to each of your
hearts for Christ's sake. Look here in 1 Peter 1, verse
2. He let, 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." With those sweet, sweet words, God
the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Peter to declare concerning
all of God's elect, every sinner who is born of God's Spirit,
everyone who trusts the Son of God. He here declares what we
are. He describes every child of God.
Now, there are many passages of scripture by which believers
are described and we're given succinct characteristics of them,
but none is more blessed than the characteristics and the descriptions
given here of God's elect in this world. You who believe on
Christ, Though the cares of this world around you may crush your
heart and soul like a millstone, though the world may seem to
be coming, crushing down upon you continually. Oh, may God
cause these words now to be inscribed on your heart and rejoice your
soul as he says, you are elect. according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father. You are elect through sanctification
of the Spirit unto sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ
and grace and peace shall be multiplied to you here and hereafter
forever. All right, now with those things
in mind, I want you to understand that in this brief passage, the
Apostle Peter, writing by inspiration, describes for us also the work
of the Holy Trinity in all our salvation. He says we are elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. We are sanctified
by the Spirit of God, and we are redeemed. The blood of Christ
has redeemed us, and He is God the Son. You see, all the work
of grace, all the work of salvation involves all three persons in
the Godhead. Let us never forget it. Everything
is designed to give glory to God the Son, but all three persons
in the Holy Trinity are anxiously involved in the saving of our
souls. I use the word anxiously, deliberately. We must use human terms to describe
God. There's no other way for us to
understand Him. When God describes Himself, He speaks of His eye,
His hand, His ear. He doesn't have eyes, hands,
and ears. God's Spirit. But he condescends to speak to
us in those terms so that we can understand his character
and his attitudes and his attributes. And so when I say that God, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit are anxiously engaged in the salvation of our
souls, that's exactly what I mean. God Almighty in the triunity
of his being is anxious to save sinners and save them he shall. Now in this passage of scripture
we see clearly that salvation then is God's work alone. It
is God's work of grace involving the three persons of the Godhead. It is God's work of grace, which
is always effectual for those who are chosen, those who are
sanctified and those who are redeemed always have grace and
peace multiplied to them. And salvation includes all the
multiplied blessings of grace and peace in Jesus Christ, the
Lord. These days, men talking about
salvation use words like these. I made my decision for Jesus
today. I came to the Lord last night.
I decided to start living for the Lord and start living right.
Or, perhaps worst of all, I got saved. Somebody told a friend
of mine one time, laying in a hospital bed, said, well I got saved before
I came to the hospital. He said, no you didn't. And sometimes
we didn't even be playing with oaks. You see, that's not Bible
language. The language these days when
people talk about salvation, there's always tremendous emphasis
and weight laid on that great big insignificant word, I. And I'm telling you, you are
insignificant and I am insignificant. Somebody sent a paper to me a
good while back, said, we can't spell church without you. God's been spelling church a
long time without you, and he'll keep on spelling it without you
when you're dead and gone. You're not significant. I'm not significant. Salvation, as it's described
in Scripture, is described like this, God hath saved us. When was the last time you heard
somebody describe his religious experience and say, God saved
me? That's kind of shocking to folks these days. But that's
the only way anybody's ever saved. God must save you, or you will
perish in your sins. God must give you faith, or you
won't have faith. God must call you, or you will
never be called. God must bring you to Himself,
or you will never come to Him. Now, these soul comforting truths
revealed in the scriptures in this place and throughout the
scriptures are matters of absolute certainty. Peter here tells us
that these four things are true with regard to every one of God's
elect, with regard to every believer. These are not speculations. These
are matters of fact. You are chosen. You are sanctified. You are redeemed and you're blessed. That's my outline. Let's look
at it together. Hold your Bibles open right here
in first Peter chapter 1 and verse 2. First, Peter assures
us here concerning those who believe, those who are strangers
scattered abroad. That's a pretty good description
of God's people. He says, you who are strangers in this world,
strangers and pilgrims in this world, you have been chosen,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. All who enjoy
the blessings, gifts, and benefits of grace in Christ are the objects
of God's eternal choice described in the scriptures continually
as election. Now, contrary to popular opinion,
election is not a cuss word. It's a blessed, blessed word. This is not something to get
riled up about. This is something to be delighted
in. God chose man. God chose me. I heard Brother
Tim James last week up at Albemont describing how the only folks
who get upset with the election are the ones who aren't chosen.
They're the only ones. He said when I was a boy, Tim
and I were raised in the south side of Winston-Salem. His family
and I, we knew each other, went to school together. He said when
I was a boy, We used to always, we'd play baseball or we'd play
football or something. We'd choose up teams. We just
had a little league of our own before the cities ever started
paying for the stuff. And he said, I'd line up with fellas,
and we'd usually choose the best fellas to be captains. You fellas
have all done that. He said, my brother Billy was always one
of the captains. And he said, he always, always
was stood up there ahead of the line to choose who was going
to play on his team. They'd pass along the way. And
he said, Billy was a good ball player. He said, I wasn't. I
couldn't contribute anything to the team. I didn't have anything
to offer. I couldn't hit the ball. I couldn't
run, couldn't catch the ball, couldn't throw it. Didn't have
anything to offer. But he said, when Billy was captain,
he always chose me first. He said, every time I got left
behind in the last work, he always chose me first. How come? Just
because he was my brother and he loved me. Mmm, that's pretty
good description of just exactly what I'm talking about. How come
he chose you? How come he chose me because
we have something to offer? Oh, no. No, I can't hit the ball
run catch a throw, but he chose me just because he loved me. Now if you've got a problem with
that, you've got a problem bud. You just got a problem. This matter
of election is described in so many ways in the scriptures.
I can't begin to give them all to you. Let's, uh, let me just
read a few verses and you turn with me to Ephesians chapter
one. Let me read a few things to you while you're turning.
Listen to this word. This is how David speaks of God's
election. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causes to approach unto thee. The Lord Jesus Christ
describes it this way. You have not chosen me, but I've
chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth
much fruit and that your fruit should remain. Our Lord Jesus
declares through his apostle in Acts 13, 48, as Paul was preaching
the gospel to the Gentiles at Antioch, I believe it was, he
said, and when the Gentiles heard this, when they heard the message
of redemption accomplished by the resurrected Christ, when
they heard the gospel of God's grace, they were glad and glorified
the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believe. Who's going to believe your message?
As many as were ordained to eternal life. Who's going to believe
here this morning? As many as were ordained to eternal
life. Who's going to believe when you
go down in the middle of mountains in North Carolina tomorrow? As
many as were ordained to eternal life. Now then, look at Ephesians
1, verse 3. Blessed, blessed, blessed. Praised be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this. Who hath blessed
us. How? Blessed us with A-double-L. All spiritual blessings in Christ. Someone wrote to me this week
asking about these folks who teach the second work of grace. You wait a little while after
you believe and if you pray and pray hard enough and practice,
and you draw to nothing, you learn to talk in tongues. And then you get the blessings
of the Spirit. That's nonsense. You, who have
been blessed of God, have been blessed of God with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, according as,
don't leave it out, according as he hath chosen us in him from
the foundation of the world. That's how God blesses his people.
Paul says, for God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people
that you should show forth the praises of him who has called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light. But here in
our text, in 1 Peter 1 verse 2, Peter describes election in
a slightly different way than is commonly used in the scriptures.
He uses a slightly different manner of setting forth God's
electing love. He says we were elect, or we
are elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now, many
babbling Arminians, free willers, have jumped on this text of Scripture
and spit it in your face with a snarl. There you see, God chose
us because He foreknew we would choose Him. So we do, after all,
have a part in this business of salvation. Well, obviously,
that's not what the text teaches. To say that is utter blasphemy. To say that God chose us on the
basis of our foreseen faith or foreknown faith makes God's choice
of us to be dependent upon our choice of Him. And that's blasphemy. That's blasphemy. The Scriptures
clearly would teach all together throughout all the rest of the
Word of God. That is not so. So you look at
this text here in 1 Peter and folks try to tip you up with
it. Well understand this, as you interpret Scripture, Always
take a text of scripture. An old fellow said one time,
he said, take any word in scripture, any doctrine, and you folks pull
it out of context, stand it up the way men interpret it and
just throw the whole Bible at it. Just throw the whole Bible at
it. And if it swallows it up, it's so. But if the whole book
just rolls over and knocks it down, it's not so. And this notion
that God somehow chose you because he saw you were going to choose
him is contrary to everything revealed in the book of God.
I want you to clearly see then what Peter teaches in this verse
of scripture. It's not a text to be avoided,
but rather a text to be rejoiced in. The Holy Spirit doesn't contradict
himself here or anywhere else. He teaches exactly the same thing
about election here as he teaches throughout the scriptures. As
I've shown you many, many times, in the word of God, this word
foreknowledge is not a foreknowledge of things. It is not a foreknowledge
of things. Never. Never. The lens of the
word is always used without a foreknowledge of people. It's never used. God foreknew what? It's never
knew God foreknew what you would do. It's God foreknew you. elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. You see, God's
foreknowledge is not to be confused with his omniscience. Omniscience
is an attribute of God, essential to his character as God. Foreknowledge
is an act of God, arising from his mercy and his grace and his
love toward his people. As it is spoken of in the scriptures,
foreknowledge certainly means these four things. I would suggest
you write them down. First, it means foreordination. God's foreknowledge is His act
or decree of predestination. As a matter of fact, you don't
have to guess at all about it. Look down in verse 20. The exact same
word, translated foreknowledge in verse 2, is translated foreordained
here in verse 20. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ
and His death, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. So God's foreknowledge, the very
same word translated foreknowledge is here translated foreordained.
He was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. That's what he's talking about
here. So foreknowledge in scripture has reference to God's eternal
purpose in predestination by which he has accomplished the
salvation of his people and shall yet continue to accomplish it.
Don't ever apologize for God's election. Don't ever be shy about
discussing it Were it not for God's eternal choice of his people
in Christ. No sinner would ever enter into
heaven and in God's foreknowledge of his elect secondly Certainly
involves his everlasting love for us When he says I knew you
That made Bill Raleigh. I loved you I loved you. Depart from me, you cursed. I
never knew you. You mean he didn't know who they
were? Nonsense. Didn't know what they did? That's the reason they're
standing there. That's the reason they're going to be cast into
hell. He knew all about them, but he never knew them. God's
knowledge of us then is his love of us. His full knowledge of
us is his everlasting, immutable, unalterable love of his elect. I have loved you with an everlasting
love, he says in Jeremiah 31, 3. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. How does God love us? Look in
John 17. Hold your hands here. Look at John 17, verse 23. The Lord Jesus here in his high
priestly prayer speaks to God on our behalf. And he says in
verse 23, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect in one, that the world may know that thou hast loved
them as thou hast loved me. Oh, my soul, Ron Wood, what a
word from God. The Son of God here declares
that God Almighty has loved us as He loves His Son. I can't get ahead of that, but
I can hold on. That's something else. He loved
his people from everlasting and loves them to everlasting. As
he loves his son, our mediator, as he loves his son, so loves
he us. God's knowledge also involves
approval. Divine foreknowledge is divine
approval. The Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous. That means, Bobby, he approves
of the way of the righteous. He sees the righteous man living
in the world, living in righteousness. He approves of that. He knows
the way of the righteous. We are chosen, redeemed, sanctified
to the praise of the glory of His grace wherein He hath made
us accepted in the beloved. The Lord knows the righteous
and knowing it approves of it. But the way of the ungodly, he
said, shall perish. That's his language. You mean
God doesn't know the way of the ungodly? Well, of course He does. But He doesn't know it like this.
He doesn't approve of it. God doesn't approve of the wicked. He doesn't approve of the ungodly. But you who are elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father are approved of by God
because He knows you in His Son. And God's election, or God's
foreknowledge rather, His foreknowledge of us is our infallible security
in Christ. Look at 1st Timothy chapter 2,
or 2nd Timothy 2 rather. Paul is discussing Hymenaeus
and Philetus, and he says these fellows have turned the faith
of many to shipwreck. Well, I wonder what's going to
happen to us. He says in verse 19, 2 Timothy 2, 19, nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure. What's the surety of it? What's the security of it? Having
this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. The Lord knows, the Lord knows.
Now, some of you will come to me sometime, some difficulty,
wonder what's going on. I know. I mean by that, I'm aware. I'll take care of it. You tell
your children, you can get by with it when they're little shapers.
When they get up this tall, you can't get by with it. But when
they're down here, they don't know any better than think you control
the world. And they come up to you, got some difficulty, just
crying, you put them on your shoulder Just pet him and say,
I know. Daddy knows. Daddy knows. That means everything
will be alright. Everything will be alright. Listen
to me, child of God. No matter if God turns all hell
loose on this world as he seems to have done, everything will
be alright. Our Father knows. He knows them
that are his. Alright? Look at this next thing. Election is not the first thing
to be known, and it is not the first thing experienced. You'll
never know God's election until you know the Spirit's regeneration
and sanctification. And so the second thing mentioned
in our text is the fact that every believer who was foreknown
of God in eternity is in time sanctified by the Spirit. Elect according to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit. Now, there are
many, many things that could and should be said about sanctification,
but let's stay right with the text. And I want to run right
to the end of it in just a minute. But sanctification in its root
meaning is to set apart, just set apart for God, a thing or
a person. The vessels of the tabernacle by God's decree were
set apart for him. He said, these are mine. He said,
don't you touch it. God's prophets set apart for
him. He said, touch not mine anointed, do my prophets no harm.
The high priest and the priest in Israel were set apart, sanctified
by God for holy service. And so in this passage, the spirit
of God is here telling us how it is that sinners are brought
to be set apart in consecration and faith unto God, to Jesus
Christ the Lord. He says here, we are elect. according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit. For everyone who is chosen of
God, there comes a time when God the Holy Spirit is going
to set him apart. He's going to set him apart.
You go out in the field and you've got
a steer you want to pull aside from the others. Because you're
fixing to set him apart in the stall. You're fixing to set him
apart just for you. And you go out in the field and
know exactly which one you're going to get. And by one means or another,
you come home with the steer. Set him apart. That's exactly
what God in his grace does. At the appointed time of love,
he sends forth his spirit by the power of his word through
the preaching of the gospel, and he sets you apart. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causest to approach unto
them. He sets you apart. Sets you apart
from the world. You mean he chooses some and
not others? Well, of course he does. You
mean he calls some and not others? Of course he does. Read your
Bible. You mean he sets some apart from others? You mean God
discriminates? Yes, sir! God discriminates.
You belong to him, he'll do with you what he will. He comes and
sets apart whom he will. How does He set them apart? By
regenerating grace. He calls you. Not only does He
call you, but He gives you faith. He comes and you hear the word. And by a mystery no man can explain. Suddenly, here's a man who's
been sitting there like this. Isn't that interesting? And then suddenly,
his ears perk up. and his heart breaks and his
eyes burn with tears and God has set him apart for he believes. How is that? God Almighty opened
the floodgates of heaven and opened his dead heart and dropped
down his grace into the sinner's heart. That's how sinners come
to believe. They believe being set apart
by the Spirit. Alright, look at the next thing.
Not only are those who are foreknown of God, chosen and sanctified,
but they are also redeemed. In this next line he says, we
are set apart through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. What is that talking
about? What is that talking about? The
sprinkling of the blood of Christ. But if you read again what we
read just a little while ago in chapter 1 here, 1 Peter, and
verses 18 through 21, there is clearly an allusion to the Passover
sacrifice, clearly an allusion to the Day of Atonement, back
in Exodus chapter 12, when the first Paschal Lamb was offered,
and Christ our Passover, who is sacrificed for us, was pictured
in that Paschal Lamb. Through the book of Numbers,
where in number 16, I believe it is, where God gives instruction
about the day of atonement and how the blood was to be sprinkled.
Everything sprinkled with the blood. Everything. The allusion
to the sprinkling of blood then has reference first to the obedience
of Christ as our representative, whereby he fulfilled all the
law of God for us. But that's not enough. There's
also got to be satisfaction made. Blood must be shed and blood
must be sprinkled. That is, blood must be shed and
blood must be applied. And so our Lord Jesus, we're
told, with his own blood, entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. He goes and not literally,
not literally, he fulfills the tithe. That's what I'm talking
about. He goes in like the great high priest. He is the high priest
to the mercy seat. He is the mercy seat. He sprinkles
the blood on the mercy seat. It is his blood and it sets down
on the mercy seat. It's called the throne of grace. is covered, sheltered under the
blood there. Our sins are bled out, sheltered
under the blood. And the Son of God sits down
on the throne of grace and bids sinners come to Him to find mercy
and grace in time of need. But there's more than that. The
passage certainly must be interpreted as referring to the obedience
of faith as well. There comes a time when God the
Holy Spirit Sprinkles the blood on your conscience just like
in Israel they'd sprinkle the blood on the doorposts and the
lintel and The people inside when when God's angel of judgment
passed over they just stood there eating Somebody said, well, they're
just cringing. No, no, no. They were standing behind the
blood, eating their supper, getting ready to go out of the land,
had their coats on their back, shoes on their feet, stamp in
their hand, ready to leave Egypt because the blood was on the
doorpost and the lintel. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. Now, listen to me. God demands
satisfaction and your conscience demands satisfaction. Every man's
conscience demands exactly the same thing God's law requires
because God has written his law on your conscience. And your
conscience can never have peace until your conscience is sprinkled
with the blood of the Son of God. And when God the Holy Spirit
gives you faith, you look away to Christ and the blood says
that's enough. And our consciences are purged
from dead works. That's what Paul says in Hebrews
9 and verse 14. Now then, those who are chosen
and sanctified and redeemed have this word of promise as well,
for they are blessed. Grace and peace be multiplied. Now that's not a wish. Peter
wrote this by inspiration, Bobby. He says, as surely as God chose
you, and sanctified you, and redeemed you, He's going to give
you multiplied grace as long as you live, and multiplied peace
forever. always multiplied, never divided,
and never diminished. Grace and peace be multiplied
to you, chosen of God, sanctified by His Spirit, redeemed by the
blood of His dear Son. Amen.