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Sermon #2195[i] — Miscellaneous Sermons

Title: Chosen, Sanctified,

Redeemed, and Blessed

Text: 1 Peter 1:2

Reading: Merle Hart and Mark Henson

1 Peter 1:1-25

Introduction:

Let’s turn to 1 Peter 1:2. Hear these words and rejoice. — You, who by God’s grace have been made strangers and pilgrims in this world and are scattered like sheep among wolves in this world of woe are — “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” (1 Peter 1:2).

What a blessed, blessed description this is of every heaven born soul! With these sweet, sweet words God the Holy Ghost inspired the apostle Peter to describe every saved sinner. These are things that rejoice the hearts of God’s saints when all around us is crushing our souls like a millstone. You who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are “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.” —— How about that!

Trinity

In this one verse of Holy Scripture the apostle Peter declares the work of all three persons in the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost) in the affair of our salvation. We are said to be “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Then he assures us of the fact that all who are indeed chosen, redeemed, and sanctified shall be constantly blessed with multiplied grace and peace in Christ. — “Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” — Understand the doctrine of Holy Scripture.

· Salvation is God’s work alone.

· Salvation is a work of God’s grace involving all three persons in the Godhead.

· Salvation is an effectual work of God’s free, sovereign, omnipotent grace in Christ.

· “Salvation” is a big, big word. It includes all the multiplied blessings of grace and peace in Christ.

Note: These days men talking about salvation like this — “I made my decision for Jesus.” — “I came to the Lord.” — “I decided to start living for the Lord.” — “I got saved.” The emphasis always seems to be on “I”. When was the last time you heard anyone say, “God saved me,” or “The Lord saved me”? Yet, that is the language of the Bible. In Holy Scripture, when salvation is discussed, the emphasis is always on God and what God has done (Ephesians 2:4-5; Galatians 1:15-16).

(Ephesians 2:4-5) “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, (5) Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved.)”

(Galatians 1:15-16) “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, (16) To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”

The emphasis in Scripture is always on God: His Character, His Grace, His Will, His Choice, and His Work. It is never on us: Our Character, Our Choice, Our Conduct, or Our Change.

Proposition: These soul comforting truths of Holy Scripture are matters of divine certainty. —— All who were chosen by God’s grace in eternity were redeemed by the blood of God’s dear Son at Calvary, shall be sanctified by the regenerating operations of God the Holy Spirit at the appointed time of love, and shall be blessed with multiplied grace and peace so long as they live in this world. — Sweet waters these are to my soul!

There is not an “if”, or a “but,” or a “maybe,” or a “condition” of any kind to pollute this fountain of free grace! Read the text one more time. — “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.”

The title of my message is Chosen, Sanctified, Redeemed, and Blessed. Oh, may God the Holy Spirit be pleased now to sanctify and bless chosen, redeemed sinners by the Word of his grace. Just hold your Bibles open on your laps; and we will look at this text line by line and word by word.

Chosen

All who are saved by the grace of God are a distinctly, divinely chosen people. “Chosen” — What a great word! God’s people are his chosen people. If I am God’s, I am his because he chose me! If you are God’s, you are his because he chose you! — “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” — All who enjoy the blessings, gifts, and benefits of God’s grace in Christ are the objects of his eternal choice. In Bible terms, that choice is called “election,” “the election” and “the election of grace.” Contrary to the popular opinion of lost religionists, election is not a cuss word. It is a blessed word of grace. It is written so many ways in Scripture that time will not allow me to read them all; but let me read a few of the statements of Holy Scripture about God’s electing grace.

(Psalms 65:4) “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”

(John 15:16) “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”

(John 17:9) “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.”

(Acts 13:48) “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

(Ephesians 1:3-7) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (4) 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: (5) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (7) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”

(1 Thessalonians 5:9) “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,”

(2 Thessalonians 2:13-14) “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: (14) Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(1 Peter 2:9) “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”

(Deuteronomy 7:1) “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou; (2) And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: (3) Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son. (4) For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly. (5) But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.”

“(6) For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. (7) The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: (8) But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (9) Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.”

Foreknowledge

How we rejoice in God’s free, electing love! But here (1 Peter 1:2) Peter describes election in a slightly different way than it is commonly described. He says we are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”

Babbling freewillers, will-worshipping Arminians jump on this text and spit it at you with a snarl. — “There, you see, election was God’s choice of us based upon his foreknowledge of our faith in him. He chose us because he foreknew we would choose him!” Obviously that is not what the text teaches. That blasphemy would make God’s choice dependent upon our choice and would run in the face of all the rest of Divine Revelation.

Let no one trip you up with this verse. I want you to see clearly what Peter here declares to us. The Holy Spirit does not contradict himself here. Rather, he teaches us the very same thing about election here as he does in all the rest of Holy Scripture. He teaches us that it is a matter of God’s pure, free, sovereign, eternal grace in Christ.

In the Word of God, God’s foreknowledge is not a foreknowledge of things, but of people. The Scriptures never speak of “what” God foreknew, but “whom” he foreknew.

Illustration: Darrell at Logan’s — “That will be the determinate, if that’s a word.”

God’s foreknowledge is not to be confused with his omniscience. Omniscience is a divine attribute. Foreknowledge is a divine act. As it is spoken of and revealed in Holy Scripture, God’s foreknowledge implies four things.

1. God’s foreknowledge is his act and decree of Foreordination.

We are not left to guess and speculate about this. The very same Greek word which is translated “foreknowledge” in verse two is translated “foreordained” in verse twenty.

(1 Peter 1:20) “Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

Don’t ever apologize for election. Don’t ever be shy about discussing it. Were it not for God’s eternal choice of his people in election, there could never be a single sinner in heaven!

2. God’s foreknowledge of his elect is his everlasting love for us in Christ.

(Jeremiah 31:3) “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

(John 17:23) “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”

3. Divine foreknowledge is divine approval.

(Psalms 1:6) “For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

(Ephesians 1:6) “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”

4. God’s foreknowledge of us is our INFALLIBLE safety and security in Christ.

(2 Timothy 2:19) “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”

We who believe God, all who have experienced his free, saving grace in Christ, rejoice in and give thanks to God for that blessed foreknowledge which is our election. How I thank God for electing love!

“‘Tis not that I did choose Thee,

For, Lord, that could not be.

This heart would still refuse Thee,

Hadst Thou not chosen me.

My heart owns none before Thee,

For Thy rich grace I thirst,

This knowing — If I love Thee,

Thou must have loved me first!

But, election is not the first thing known or the first thing experienced. You will never know your election by God’s grace until you have been sanctified by God the Holy Spirit in regeneration. So, the second thing mentioned in our text is the fact that every believer is…

Sanctified

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit.” – Sanctification is commonly thought to be something the believer does for himself with the help of the Holy Spirit. Most people talk about it as a work of progressive holiness by which a person gradually gets more and more holy until at last he is ripe for heaven. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sanctification is never spoken of in Scripture as a work we do, or a progressive work by which we become more and more holy.

In the ceremonial rituals of the Old Testament men were required to sanctify themselves in a ceremonial way. But that is not an indication that sanctification is something we do or to which we contribute. In the Old Testament men were also required to make atonement for themselves. In both instances (sanctification and atonement) the acts were entirely ceremonial and portrayed God’s work for us, not our work for God.

The root meaning of the word “sanctify” is to set apart a person or a thing for God, for a holy purpose, or a holy use.

· The vessels of the tabernacle were sanctified — set apart.

· The priests were sanctified — set apart.

· The Lord Jesus Christ was himself sanctified — set apart.

All God’s elect were sanctified by God the Father in covenant grace, set apart from all the rest of the world, as his peculiar, holy people.

(Jude 1:1) “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called.”

In exactly the same sense we were sanctified, set apart from all the world, to be God’s peculiar, holy people by the sin-atoning blood of our all-glorious Christ.

(Titus 2:14) “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”

(Hebrews 10:9-10) “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. (10) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

(Hebrews 10:14) “For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”

In our text (1 Peter 1:2) the Holy Spirit tells us that we were chosen to salvation “through sanctification of the Spirit.” That simply means this: — If you are one of these chosen ones, the time will come when God the Holy Spirit will come to you in his omnipotent power and irresistible grace to sanctify you, to set you apart from the world, to set you apart unto himself, to set you apart unto Christ. — If you’re God’s, he’ll get you! This is what he does in regeneration and effectual calling.

It also means this. — If you are a child of God, a believer, one who has experienced that blessed operation of grace called the new birth, you have been set apart from the world by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit, set apart for Christ. — “Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

(2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

But why did Peter put sanctification before redemption? Was he confused? Did he here contradict Jude’s statement about us being sanctified from eternity by the decree of God? Did he contradict Paul who makes sanctification the result of redemption by the blood of Christ? Is the Bible “a confusing mass of contradictions,” as many suggest? Certainly not! How then do we understand this text?

It is really very simple. Peter was here inspired of God to record these last two works of grace in the order of experience, not in the order of accomplishment. We must experience the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and effectual calling (by which he gives us faith in Christ) before we can know anything about either our election (the source of all grace) or our redemption (the basis upon which grace is bestowed).

Now, look at the next line of or text. “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Here Peter shows us that the object of God the Father in election and the object of God the Spirit in regeneration (sanctification) is that God’s elect be brought into the experimental enjoyment of the fact that they have been…

Redeemed.

In preaching the gospel, we do not declare to sinners a possibility of redemption, but the accomplishment of redemption by the blood of Christ (Galatians 3:13).

(Galatians 3:13) “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”

(Isaiah 40:1-2) “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. (2) Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

The obedience spoken of in 1 Peter 1:2 is twofold. Really, I think it is wrong to interpret Peter’s words any other way. We cannot understand the text aright until we understand that it is talking about two things.

Redemption Accomplished — First, the “obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ,” refers to the obedience of Christ as our Representative and the redemption he accomplished as our Substitute by the sprinkling of his blood.

There is an obvious reference here to the passover and to the sprinkling of the blood on the door posts of the house; and there is a reference to the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy-seat on the day of atonement. Both of those things were pictures of our Lord’s great work of redemption. Look at verses 18-21, and you will see that this is exactly what Peter has in mind.

(1 Peter 1:18-21) “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (19) But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: (20) Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, (21) Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.”

In this Book, in the Word of God…

· Redemption is always presented as particular, effectual redemption.

· Grace is always presented as special, sovereign, saving grace.

· And the two always go together!

Redemption Applied — Then, second, the obedience and sprinkling of blood mentioned in our text also refers to “the obedience of faith” in which we experience the blessed sprinkling of the blood of Christ upon our hearts. — We see this clearly in Hebrews 9:11-14.

(Hebrews 9:11-14) “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (12) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (13) For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: (14) How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

This is redemption applied. — When God the Holy Spirit sanctifies chosen, redeemed sinners, giving us faith in Christ, as soon as the sinner looks to Christ, the blood of Christ sprinkled on his heart declares him redeemed, forgiven, justified, and holy before God. His conscience is purged. — This is what we refer to as Holy Spirit conviction (John 16:7-13).

Illustrations: Pilgrim at Calvary

Bro. Burke’s Testimony

There is one more thing in our text that I want you to see. Peter tells us that every child of God must (and gladly does) trace his salvation back to the great, glorious triune God, by whom we are…

· Chosen

· Sanctified

· Redeemed; and he then assures us that as God’s elect, chosen, sanctified, and redeemed, we are and shall forever be …

Blessed.

“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.”

This is not Peter’s wish, or even his prayer, for God’s saints. He is not writing merely as a man. He wrote this by divine inspiration. This is an assured promise to every chosen, sanctified, redeemed sinner. It is an absolute promise of grace. Read it again and rejoice! “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.” My brother, my sister, this is God’s promise to you. It shall be proved again and again throughout your days upon this earth

Grace shall be given to you and multiplied to you as long as you need it, as long as you live in this body of flesh.

· Pardoning Grace— “Justifieth!” — “Forgiveth!”

· Preserving Grace

· Prevenient Grace — Abigail and David

· Protecting Grace

· Sufficient Grace!

Peace shall also be given and multiplied to you, because God the Father chose you, God the Spirit sanctified you, and God the Son redeemed you!

· The Peace of Divine Pardon

· The Peace of Divine Providence

· The Peace of Divine Presence

· Peace in Life

· Peace in Death

· Peace at the Judgment Seat

· Peace Forever!

Be sure you get this and carry it home with you. — Grace and peace, once given, shall only multiply, never divide, never diminish, and never end!

Would you have this grace and peace? Look to Christ. O poor sinner, look to Christ. Needy souls, look to Christ. May God the Holy Spirit sweetly force you to look to Christ. If you do, if you look to Christ, if you trust him alone as your Lord and Savior, I’ve got blessed good news with which to comfort and rejoice your heart forever. You are…

· Chosen!

· Sanctified!

· Redeemed!

· Blessed!

You are, I know you are, because God says you are, “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.”

AMEN.

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s