This first epistle of Peter is said to be the oldest of all
the epistles in the Word of God, said to be the first one written.
And it's called, as you note in your Bibles, the first epistle
general, called a general epistle. There's an epistle of power to
the church at Galatia, the church at Ephesus, the church at Rome,
the church at Philippi, the church at Colossae, and so forth. This
epistle is not addressed to any particular church or any individual. It's addressed to the body of
Christ, the general epistle of Peter. It was written by the
hand of the Apostle. The Apostle Peter was delivered
by Silas. And someone may say, well, I
thought about this yesterday. Why did the Lord use
men to write the Word? Wouldn't it be more impressive
if God had written the Word as he did the Ten Commandments on
tables of stone, and we had them preserved. You know, people are
always looking for some proof. That burial shroud that they've
come up with said it had the imprint of the Lord Jesus Christ
on it, and they said it's proof of his resurrection. I looked
at the picture in the magazine recently, and the astonishing
thing is that the imprint, so-called, on that burial garment is just
like the pictures that the artist had drawn, you know. That's what's
strange, especially in regard to the fact that Our Lord never
posed for a picture, no painting or photograph, and yet this imprint. It looks just like that Solomon's
head of Christ. It's so ridiculous, but say he
had written with his own fingers.
Do you know what we would do as normal human beings? We'd
worship the writing and not the person. That's our big fault. If he had preserved the cross
on which the Lord was crucified, And the Catholics have sold enough
splinters from that cross to build a city. They've sold soot
from the fiery furnace. Did you know that? All down through
the years. But people, we walk by sight, not by faith. Normal, natural people do. The
believer walks by faith and not sight. And if God had given preserve
the cross or preserve the tomb or preserve the tablets of stone,
tables of stone, preserve the ark. People would worship those
objects that touch them and hold them and rub them and try to
find some strength and comfort and help in those things. And
the same thing is true of the Word. It was written by men and
given to men. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit to write the Word. And in that
way, and it's even been translated, God in His divine providence
and power has preserved it without error to this day. Oh, there
are errors of translation, there are words that could be used
better and so forth, but that's the way the Lord moves and works. Also true that if if he spoke
in other words if you like I said recently if you hear from God
you'll hear through a man If you heard a voice You'd hold to that experience
time and place and voice instead of looking to him And that voice would grow old
and you'd have questions in the future if you ever heard the
voice and when you got old and got a touch of Alzheimer's disease
and your mind was fading you couldn't remember the voice Nor
the time nor the place you'd be lost again trying to find
that voice so he in his divine wisdom and Grace and mercy has
done it like he has for our good for our glory that we might worship
him and He sent the Lord Jesus through a woman. He was made
of a woman, and they worshiped in the woman. A whole denomination
worshiped that woman, Mary. It's just normal, natural, lost,
blind, groping human beings that want things that appeal to the
senses, not to the heart. So God wrote this, and what's
the theme of this? the first epistle of Peter. Turn
to chapter 5, and I'll show you the theme, and I've entitled
this message, The True Grace of God. I believe Peter gives
us here in the closing words of 1 Peter 5, verse 10, the theme
of his epistle. 1 Peter 5, verse 10, But the
God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by
Christ Jesus, After you've suffered a while, make you perfect, establish,
strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. By Silvanus, by Silas,
a faithful brother unto you as I suppose I have written briefly,
exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God
wherein you stand. That's what I'm, he said, I'm
testifying and declaring this is the true grace of God. This
is it. So here in these verses that
we're going to look at this morning, the first nine verses, Peter
identifies these objects of grace. He identifies these people of
God. You know, Paul the apostle says,
I am what I am by the grace of God. Well, what am I? Who am
I? What am I? What do I have? Well, by the grace of God, this
is who I am, right here, the first nine verses. This is what
I am, this is who I am, this is what I am. Look at the first
verse, and I told you to underline a word. He says, Peter, an apostle
of Jesus Christ, two greetings to, I'm writing to, the stranger.
scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and
Bithynia. These people were wanderers,
strangers. Because of persecution for the
sake of the gospel, they were out there in all these different
places. This was not their initial land or home. They were driven
to these places. Let me show you that and hold
that place and turn to Acts chapter 8. Acts chapter 8, they were
strangers, wandering about in Acts chapter 8, verse 1. And Saul, Saul of Tarsus, was
consenting unto his death, Stephen's death. And at that time, there
was a great persecution against the church at Jerusalem, and
they were scattered abroad. scattered abroad. Peter said,
I'm writing to you strangers scattered abroad. They were scattered
abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except
the apostles, they were still in Jerusalem most of them, but
these people were scattered, strangers scattered because of
persecution. And we experience that today,
strangers. Sometimes Like Job said, my breath
was strange to my wife because of what I was saying. She said,
because God brought this on you, why don't you curse God and die?
He said, now wait a minute, woman. Though he slayed me, I'll trust
him. She didn't understand that. And he became a stranger. And some of you, because of what
you believe, have become strangers. I had a friend, a pastor friend
who lived in another state. And he went to a certain place
to get his hair cut. There was men and women, and
this lady cut his hair. And she knew he was a preacher.
And she got enough from his conversation that what he believed was different
from most preachers. And so one day he went in for
his hair appointment, and wasn't anybody in the shop. It was on
a Monday or Tuesday or something, but nobody there, the other barbers
weren't there, and the people, nobody had an appointment, just
him and this young lady cut his hair. And she said, uh, my next
appointment has been canceled. And she said, when I finish cutting
your hair, I want you to sit down over here and tell me what
you believe. You're different from the rest of them. And I
want you to tell me. Take 30 minutes, tell me what
you believe. He said, all right. So she finished his hair, and
they went on and sat down. And he began. He told her about
the fall of Adam, condemnation upon all, imputed guilt, about
God's eternal covenant, Christ's assurity, his elective grace,
how he typified through the Old Testament the coming of the Messiah
and the Redeemer, and how Christ came and suffered and bled and
died for sinners and redeemed His people ascended to heaven,
seated at the right hand of God, will come again someday, and
he has a church and a kingdom. He redeemed by his blood, by
his grace, and God's triumphant salvation will be victorious.
He told me, she sat there and listened to him. Religious young
lady, raised in a religious home. I said, what was her comment?
He said, when I finished, she looked at me in the strangest
way, and she said, that's Plum weird. That's Plum weird. And from then
on, their relationship was weird. Here comes Weirdo. That's sad. But you know, our
Lord said that would be so, and some of you have gone through
this, you young people in school, you're different from the rest
of them, your doctrine's different, folks where you work, what you
believe is not what they believe, and the scripture calls you peculiar.
Your chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and
a peculiar people. Strange, different. You believe
different. Your God's different. Redemption's
different. Your hope's different. Different. John 15. Listen to what the Lord
says here in verse 17. John 15, verse 17. These things
I command you that you love one another. You need to love one
another. Because if the world hate you,
you know it hated me before it hated you. And if you were of
the world, if you were like them and believed like them and thought
like them, they'd love you. The world loves its own. But
because you're not of the world, I've chosen you out of the world.
I've chosen you and given you a knowledge of my grace and goodness. Therefore the world hates you.
See, true grace makes you a stranger. That's what makes you a stranger
is the true grace of God. You're not a stranger to God.
He said, I know my sheep. I know them and they know me.
And you're not a stranger to one another. I know you. I understand
you and you know me. You understand me and you know
and understand one another. You can spend hours together
talking about anything, especially talking about the word of God
and never have a disagreement. But the minute you confront one
of these religious folks, and you mention the things of God,
you're in for some unhappy experiences. You're in for some problems.
Because to them, you're a weirdo. And what you believe is weird.
Strange. Strange. Strangers. People have been strangers
in their own homes. They've been strangers in their
where they work, the strangers in the place where they socialize. It's just strangers. And what
does it? It's the gospel. And our Lord,
one time, let me show you this in Mark chapter 3. And the sooner
you learn this, the better. And you're not going to change
them. And hopefully, by God's grace, they won't change you.
Don't let peer pressure get to you. You won't if you're his
own. But you're not going to change
them. God has to change a man or a woman. You can argue. It's useless. It's like casting
pearls before pigs. They're not going to appreciate
them. I don't care how bright they are. A pig will take a corn cob rather
than a diamond ring. We used to feed our pigs. You
city folks won't believe this, but my dad fed coal, C-O-A-L,
coal to the pig to do something to their teeth. I said, what
in the world are you doing, Dad, dumping coal in a pig's trough? Yeah, a pig will drink. My mother kept even the dishwater
at the end of the stove. The dishwater and all the garbage
and everything went, and the pig loved it. They loved the
garbage, they loved the dishwater, old soapy dishwater. And I mean,
there's that old homemade soap too. But they had no appreciation
for diamonds and rubies. And when you bring the rubies
and diamonds and jewels of Christ and cast them before these pigs,
they'll rend you, they'll turn on you. They like garbage. That's the reason these preachers
out there appeal to these folks. carrying on, you know. They like
that stuff. In Mark chapter 3, verse 31, then came, there came
then his brethren and his mother. Our Lord, this is Mary and Josie
and Judy and his brothers and sisters. And standing without,
and sent unto him, calling him, and the multitude sat about him.
And they said to him, Behold, your mother and your brethren
are out there seeking for you. And he answered and said, Who
is my mother and who are my brethren? And he looked round about on
them which sat about him, and said, Behold, my mother and my
brethren, and whosoever shall do the will of God, the same
is my brother, my sister, and my mother." Grace makes you a stranger to
everybody except those who know him, who are themselves strangers. And then verse 2, true grace
makes you God's elect. It made you God's elect. Listen,
elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification
of the Spirit, unto obedience. Three things here, the cause
of election, the means of election, and the goal of election. It
said elect the cause, the foreknowledge of God, demeaned through sanctification
of the spirit, until the goal, obedience, breaking of the blood. You know, I was thinking this
when I was working on this particular point. My friends, it's impossible
to believe salvation is by grace and not believe a lecture. Salvation is not grace. It's
impossible to believe salvation is a gift and not believe in
a lesson. A gift's not a gift if a person
deserves it or earns it or asks for it or merits it. It's not grace
if I earn it or seek it or ask for it. It's not grace. Grace
is free. And it's impossible to believe
in salvation by grace and not believe in election. The cause
of election is the foreknowledge of God. God knew me. I didn't
know him. He knew me. You know, he said
to those people at the judgment, he said, Lord, we preached in
your name and prophesied many wonderful words. He said, I never
knew you. I never knew you. They said they knew Him, but
He said, I never knew you. And we're elect because He knew
us. Known unto God are all His works
from the beginning. Turn to John 10. Let's read this
scripture over here in John 10. John chapter 10. This is so clear. Let the Word speak. A little
article in the bulletin. Don't establish a theory and
then prove it by the Word. Go to the Word, and let the Word
establish your theories, or principles, or beliefs, or whatever. John
10, verse 14, I'm the good shepherd, I know my sheep. I know them,
the foreknowledge of God. Foreknowledge, foreordination,
known before, known unto God or all His worship, before. I
know my sheep, I'm known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep,
and other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. I know
them. Them I must bring, and they shall hear my voice. There'll
be one fold and one shepherd. He knew us. We didn't know him.
Listen, he loved us. We didn't love him. We love him because he loved
us. He chose us, we didn't choose
Him. No, He said that to the disciples when they were gathered
about Him just before the cross. He said, you didn't choose Me.
Peter, James, John, Matthew, Nathanael, Luke, you didn't choose
Me, I chose you. And we didn't call Him. Dead men don't call. God called
dead. Lazarus didn't call from the
grave, Christ called Lazarus out of the grave. Zacchaeus didn't call Christ.
Christ called him. Abraham didn't call God. Abraham
was living in a land of idolatry. And God said, Abraham, get thee
out of thy father's house. You can't believe grace and not
believe election. You just have to. The cause of it is God's foreknowledge. He knew us. And the means of
it is through sanctification of the Spirit. The Spirit quickens
us. The Spirit of God awakens us.
The Spirit of God calls us through the Gospel. Let me show you that
in 2 Thessalonians. Turn over here just a moment.
2 Thessalonians 2.13. 2 Thessalonians 2.13. Listen to this. But we're bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, loved of God, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Explain that, preacher. All right,
I will, if I can. No question about it, the Lord
has a people. He chose those people. He redeemed those people before
they were born. He knows them, but they don't
know Him. I like that comment in the movie, The Ten Commandments. I don't know how scriptural it
is, but I know how scriptural the truth of it is. When Moses
had left Egypt and was wandering in the out there in the desert
and finally married. Zipporah, was that her name?
And was taking care of her father's sheep for 40 years and all. And
he said something to her about, I don't know your God. She said,
yeah, but he knows you. He knows you. And this is what
I'm saying. He knows, he said, I know my
sheep and I'll bring them and they'll hear my voice and they'll
come. Now listen to me. If you're one of his own, he
could have left us alone, but he didn't. If you're one of his
own, whoever you are, one year old or 70 years old, you're going
to hear this gospel. You're going to love it. You're
going to believe it. You're going to receive it. You're going to
say, that's true. That's true. God is true. God
is true. Christ is true. Christ is the
only Redeemer. I believe in him. I trust him.
Whatever means, it's through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Where unto he called you by our
gospel, and you're going to, at some time in your life, you're
going to hear him through a preacher, through the word. And you're
going to say, that's it. That is it. Christ is all. I believe that. I rest my soul
in that. That's so. And the end of that,
what's this? Verse 2. The cause of election
is God's foreknowledge, the means of it is sanctification of the
spirit, and the goal of it is unto obedience. Obedience. Obeying Christ. How do you know
you have faith? You have faith, you obey Christ.
Abraham, how do I know Abraham believed God? He came out. How do I know Abraham believed
God? He gave everything he had to
God. He said, I'm yours. My family's
yours. Here's my son. Take him. Sacrifice your son. All right,
here he is. That justified his faith. Obedient. And sprinkling
of the blood. That blood sprinkling purifies
us. Just like when that old Ten Commandments,
What God did right was in the ark, in the mercy seat, and then
the high priest would bring the blood and sprinkle it, sprinkle
the blood over the broken law on the mercy seat before God.
And that's what Christ did, not in holy places, made with hands
upon a mercy seat of gold, covering a law in a box. He went into
heaven itself with his own blood and obtained redemption. All
right, I'll tell you something else grace, true grace does for
us. Verse 3, blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant
mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. You see, listen to me a minute,
make this very simple. Election had a cause, God's foreknowledge,
had a mean, calling of the Spirit. had a goal to obedience and cleansing. And this living hope had a cause. What is it? According to His
abundant mercy. We're born again by His mercy,
by His grace, by His will, by His will. Sovereign mercy. He
said, I'll be merciful to whom I will. I've said this over and over
and I say it again because it keeps coming up. Somebody said,
well, you believe in predestination. Well, why don't you define it? And people invariably will say,
well, you believe God predestinated some to heaven and some to hell.
I said, no sir, that's not what I believe. That's not predestination. God doesn't predestinate anybody
to hell. God doesn't choose anybody to
go to hell. God predestines, God chooses men to make them
like Christ. He predestinates us to be like
Christ. He works all things according
to the counsel of his own will to bring us to faith, to love,
to grace, to look to Christ, to be like Christ. Those who
perish are just left alone. You don't have to choose a man
to hell, he chooses hell. That's his choice. It's not God's
choice, that's His choice. You don't have to do any special
work on a man to make him a heathen, a pagan, an idolater, a thief,
a murderer. That's in his heart, that's born
of him. The only thing original about us is original sin. Just
leave him alone, just pass him by. And for reasons known only
to God, he's been pleased to pass by a lot of folks. Have
somebody leave them where they are, leave them where they want
to be. God said, I don't think it's
fair for God to elect some and not elect others. And you ask
Him this question, Lord, do you want to be saved? Do you want
to be like Christ? Do you want to love God? Do you
want to worship God? Do you want to be a part of the
family of God? Do you want to be taken out of
your selfish life and brought into His Righteous life? No! Well, don't find fault with God
for not giving you something you don't want. All who want
to be saved will be. Is that right? Everybody who
wants to be like Christ, who wants to be in the family of
God, who wants to worship God, who wants to know God, who wants
above all things to be a child of God, he will be. But God gave
him the want to. Whosoever will, let him take
the water of life. Will you take it? Him, the water
of life? Then take it. Take it. But God made you willing. Made
you willing in the day of his power. And that's what God is.
If he hadn't chosen us, we'd never have chosen him. If he
hadn't have loved us, we'd have never loved him. If he had not
called us, we'd have never called on him. If he had not said, Lazarus,
come forth, Lazarus would have never come forth. If he hadn't
said, Abraham, come out, yeah, he'd have never come out. He
was happy there. He was a heathen. He was a happy
heathen. He was an idolater, and he was
a happy idolater. But God says, I've got better
things for you. And now he's a lot happier. So
if you want to come out, come on. You want Christ, come on. If you're thirsty, come on. I'm
not thirsty. I'm not talking to you. It's
just the way it is. Come on. If you're weary and
heavy laden, can't carry your burden, lay it down on him. That's right. So the cause of
our new birth is the abundant mercy of God. And the means is
the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Listen. Accordingly, His abundant
mercy has begotten us under living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. That's how He gave us life. Christ died for us. He died,
I live. And what's it to? It's to an
inheritance. What is that inheritance? Incorruptible. Not based on my works, but His.
It's undefiled, untouched by sin. It faded not away. Not like the things of this world
that fade away. It's reserved in heaven. Well
now, here's the next thing. Who's it reserved for? For whom
is it reserved? For you, who are kept. Grace will keep you. I want to
show you this verse. I'm going to wind this up. Genesis
43. I want you to look over here
a minute. I want you to look over Genesis 43. You remember
Joseph was down in Egypt. You know this story. I don't
need to go over the whole thing. And he had corn, and Jacob and
his son didn't have any. And he thought Joseph was dead.
Years had passed. Joseph was king over Egypt. And these ten brothers came down
here to get corn. See, there were twelve of them,
but Joseph they thought was dead. Benjamin was the little fella.
He was the beloved choice son. The pet. They left him at home. His father wouldn't let him go
to Egypt. Ten brothers came down here, and Joseph recognized them,
but they didn't recognize him. And he, these things passed around
through them and between them. And then Joseph finally said,
now, you fellas are spies and thieves. Oh, no, no, no, no,
no, no. He said, we're not. We're twelve
brothers. One's dead. His name was Joseph, and we got
a brother at home, Benjamin. That's Joseph's brother. Joseph said to prove you're not
lying You go down there back home and get that brother that
young brother The next time you come up here for corn you bring
him with you They said our father had never let him come then don't
you come? Without him No corn, no Benjamin, no corn. So they
went home and they told her father. He said well no more. He's not
going And finally they got so hungry, Genesis 43 verse 8, Judah. You know who that is? That's
the kingly tribe. That's the tribe through which
our Lord came. Judah! That's the tribe through which
Christ came. Judah said unto Israel his father, Father, send
the lad with me and we'll arise and go that we may live and not
die. We don't have any provision, no corn, no wheat, nothing. We're
going to die, both we and thou and all our little ones. And
I'll be surety for him. Now watch this word here. Judah,
he's prophesying here. He's the kingly tribe. Out of
Judah shall Shiloh come. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah till Shiloh come. I'll be surety for him. Of my
hand shalt thou require him, if I bring him not unto you,
and set him before you, let me bear the blame forever." That's
a surety. All right. We have a surety. Jesus Christ is our surety. The surety of a better covenant.
And in that covenant, He said the same thing to the Heavenly
Father. that Judah said to Jacob, I'll be a surety. If I don't
bring him home, I'll bear the blame forever. Do you reckon
Christ is going to lose one which the Father gave him, for whom
he was appointed surety? The Father made him the surety. No, sir. No, sir. No man can
pluck them out of my hand. He'll bring every one of them
home. We have an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, paid
if not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by His power
as your surety. Don't talk to me about a man
being saved and lost. Not possible. Not possible. He's not going to bear any blame.
He's going to bear glory forever. Christ, as our surety, is not
going to bear any blame. He'll bring them home. All right,
let me close with this, verse 6 and 7, wherein you rejoice. We rejoice in this mercy and
grace, though now for a season, if need be, and the need is there,
you're in heaviness through many trials. that the trial of your
faith, being much more precious, your faith more precious than
gold, and gold has to be tried. Though it be tried with fire,
though your faith be tried with fire, it might be found unto
the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of our Lord.
I know what the preachers are preaching. Al Chander, the preachers
today are saying that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy
and go around Who peed? Who peed? All the time. I know
what they're saying, but I know what Scripture teaches. And the
Scripture teaches that believers, God's children, are going to
have great trials. In this world, you'll have tribulation
through much suffering. That's what I read over in 1
Peter 5. Did you notice that when I He
said, the God of all grace who had called us in His eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after you've suffered a while, after
you've suffered, Job was a righteous man, wasn't he? God even called attention to
his faith. The Heavenly Father, when the
sons of God appeared before the Lord and Satan came in their
midst, God himself called attention to a man called Job and called
him a righteous man. And yet no man ever, I suppose,
in the flesh suffered like he did. He said this, he knows the way I take. And
after he's tried me, I'll come forth as gold. He knows the way
I take, and after He has tried me, I'll come forth as gold."
David was a man after God's own heart, and he said, it's good
for me that I've been afflicted. It's good for me. And his life
was a trail of tears over his children. Paul knew Christ, and yet he
said, I'm distressed, I'm cast down, I'm troubled on every side. He went through all of these
agonies, imprisonment, suffering, stoning. And James said, don't count it
strange when fiery trials come upon you. Isn't that what he
said? Look at James 1. A believer ought to be forewarned. Things come into our disappointments
and heartaches and say, what's happening to me? What God said
would happen to you. My brethren, James chapter 1
verse 2, don't count it joy, don't count it strange, count
it joy when you fall into different temptations. Knowing this, the
trying of your faith works as patience. But let patience have
her perfect work that you may be perfect in entire wanting
nothing. You see, let me give you these things briefly and
quickly. Faith is tried to prove the genuineness
of it. Is it real? Do I really believe
God? Secondly, faith is tried to strengthen. Trials strengthen faith. Trials
produce patience and maturity and hope. Strengthens faith. Thirdly, faith is tried to reveal
the value of it. There's nothing better than believing
God. And that's what he shows us through
these trials. I need to learn how frail I am
and how foolish and fickle and and temporary the things of this
world are. And I need to learn how fragile
the things of this world are. And we learn that, don't we?
We certainly learn that. Fourthly, faith is tried in order
to help us to help others. God gives you, those who are
leaders, special trials that they might help those who are
in special trials. You see, comfort people with
the comfort wherewith you've been comforted. That's the reason.
And fifthly, it's just like your children come and you tell them,
honey, I know what you're going through. I've been there. I've
been there. You couldn't say that if you
hadn't been there. And then tried faith that stands brings glory
to God. When faith is tried and it doesn't
stand, it embarrasses somebody, doesn't it? It's an embarrassment
to the gospel, to the church. Abraham pleased God when he offered
Isaac. And God said, I know you love
me. And everybody knows it. And then, through grace, the
last verse enables us, verse 8, to love Christ. It says, whom having not seen,
we love. Whom having not seen, we love.
And though now we see Him not, we believe. We rejoice with joy
on the speaker. We love him because of who he
is, the excellency of his person. We love him because he loved
us. We love him because of what he's done for us. We love him
because of where he is. We love him because of the relationship
we have with him. We don't now see him, but we
will. And I'm going to pick up here
tonight, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of
your soul.