WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.439 Good morning again. 00:00:01.760 --> 00:00:04.959 Allison and I are glad to be back with you. 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:12.320 Last week we were in Kansas City, Missouri area visiting Allison's parents, so Joshua can see Grammy and Grandad. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:17.280 But it was a good thing because I was not able to preach last week anyway. 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:25.760 Two weeks ago, after the second service, I lost my voice and was not able to speak for about uh nine or ten days. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:28.160 And I I learned something during that time. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:35.759 I've never lost my voice before, but I learned that during that time period that it's very hard to be a parent when you cannot speak. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:39.280 Yes. 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:42.079 So I'm still still recovering. 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:44.640 Uh Lord willing to have a voice after this service. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:48.799 So if the Lord causes you to pray for me, pray for my voice. 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:50.640 I appreciate that. 00:00:50.880 --> 00:01:00.960 I'm glad to open God's word with you again this morning as we look together at Peter's letter to the church. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:22.640 Church tradition tells us that the Apostle Peter was crucified upside down, sometime around 65 or 66 A.D., likely following a period of intense persecution that was generated by the great fire of ancient Rome. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:30.719 In 64 A.D., a massive fire destroyed a significant portion of that ancient city. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:42.640 One report by the Roman senator and historian Tacitus says that the rumor was that Emperor Nero was the cause of the fire, that he had it started. 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:53.519 Of course, the emperor cannot be to blame, and so he began turning the attention to Christians, saying that Christians were the cause of the fire. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:59.680 And that began a period of persecution which most likely took Peter's life. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:05.760 We do not know if Peter wrote his first letter before or after that great fire. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:09.680 Before is most likely, since Peter doesn't say anything about it. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:18.719 But if the letter was written before the fire, it shows us that life for Christians was not easy. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:26.319 Suffering, trials, and hardship are repeated themes throughout this short letter. 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:31.599 But suffering, trials, and hardship are not the theme of the letter. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:37.360 The Apostle Peter took it upon himself to write a letter of encouragement. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:50.479 He exhorted Christians, believers in Christ, to direct their focus not on their sorrows, not on their trials, but on the living hope that they have in Christ. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:54.639 That's why Peter is often called the apostle of hope. 00:02:55.840 --> 00:03:01.919 The letter of 1 Peter, that we call 1 Peter, is full of rich theology. 00:03:02.960 --> 00:03:07.759 But the hope to which Peter calls us is not found in theology. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.800 It is found in the God expressed in the theology. 00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:19.759 Our hope is not found in the depth of doctrine, but in the God the doctrine describes. 00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:33.199 But we ought to live our lives immersed in theology, in truth about God, so that we might know Him, might love Him, and thereby live through Him. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:40.240 So we're going to study 1 Peter, but studying 1 Peter is not like reading a theology textbook. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:42.159 That's a good thing to do. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:49.919 But 1 Peter is not like that because Peter writes about theology in a very practical way. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:52.800 Look at it with me this morning. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:58.400 I'd like to cover just the first two verses, the introduction that Peter gives. 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:20.319 Peter writes, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with his blood. 00:04:20.560 --> 00:04:24.959 May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:35.600 First, hearers, listeners, readers of this letter would have desperately needed grace and peace. 00:04:36.959 --> 00:04:38.959 Perhaps you need grace and peace. 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:43.040 Have you ever suffered? 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.519 Maybe you've suffered through the death of a loved one. 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:58.720 Or maybe you've suffered through a long-term family squabble or other kinds of family issues. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:10.319 Maybe you've suffered through abuse, addiction, abandonment, hurt caused by another, physical pain or disease. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:16.560 Suffering comes in many forms, and it will come to you. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:20.639 Often at the most unexpected time, right? 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:28.240 In his confessional psalm, David wrote, The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:33.040 A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:36.000 Broken. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:41.680 A heart that is that has suffered brokenness. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:44.000 A broken spirit. 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:52.079 There are two primary options that come to us in our suffering, in our times of brokenness. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:06:10.800 We can take the road of offense and hurt and anger and disagreement and bitterness that will then shut us off to the grace and mercy and kindness of God's healing, or we can humble ourselves by acknowledging our brokenness. 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:21.120 And when we humble ourselves before God, it opens us up to a restoration that leads to a living hope. 00:06:22.079 --> 00:06:28.079 The underlying truth that we see all throughout Peter's letter is that each of us will suffer. 00:06:29.759 --> 00:06:31.120 Each of us will suffer. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:33.360 It has come to you. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:35.600 Maybe it's here right now. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:37.920 Or it will come. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:41.279 Beloved, hear me very clearly. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:50.879 The only sufficient place to rest your hope is in the God who has a purpose in your suffering. 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:55.040 That's how Peter begins. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:58.560 He begins by telling us God is working. 00:07:00.319 --> 00:07:16.879 In order to be prepared for future suffering, or to survive present pain, or even to settle past trials, we must plant ourselves in the truths of God's purposeful work deep within us. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:25.759 God is at work, and Peter begins to show us in this encouraging letter how God is working. 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:29.519 And he reminds us first of God's choosing work. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:36.879 Begins by telling us Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect exiles. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:40.079 There are two examples of God's choosing work here. 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:43.839 The first is Peter's choosing. 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:56.720 When Peter says he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, he says it in a way that indicates possession and appointment. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:01.839 Peter belonged to Jesus Christ. 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:10.720 Later on in this chapter, he talks about knowing that we were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from our forefathers. 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.600 Peter is one of those ransomed ones. 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:21.680 A price was paid for his ransom, and as a result of that price being paid, he belonged to Christ. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:30.240 And in that purchase, in that possession, was an appointment to be an apostle, a sent one. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:34.399 He was chosen to be an official emissary of the king. 00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:41.759 He was chosen to be an apostle of Christ, conveying the message of Christ to us, and chosen to die. 00:08:45.679 --> 00:08:49.600 The other statement about God's choosing work is very direct. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:54.159 To those who are elect exiles. 00:08:55.919 --> 00:08:59.919 Elect exile stands at the head of the rest of the sentence. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:02.960 And it describes two realities. 00:09:03.279 --> 00:09:07.200 It describes an earthly reality and a spiritual reality. 00:09:08.399 --> 00:09:16.720 The earthly reality is one of exile, of being a stranger, someone who's not in his homeland. 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:21.200 Similar, we might say, to our current term of refugee. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:27.840 And the reason for this exile is given to us in verse 1 because of a dispersion. 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:33.200 This is the first hint we get of persecution of believers in 1 Peter. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:48.240 As persecution came to Christians, their only options were to remain where they were and seek to endure whatever trouble and trial was coming against them, or they could flee to a place of greater safety. 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:49.840 And many fled. 00:09:52.159 --> 00:09:56.480 In this case, into areas that cover most of modern Turkey. 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:02.480 The names listed here were the regions of ancient Turkey listed in sort of a circular pattern. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:12.320 Most likely, as Peter wrote this, he would have handed it to a courier, and the courier would have gone in a country by country, region by region area, sort of in a circular pattern. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:13.840 That's what's listed here. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:32.799 But the physical reality of these elect exiles was one of suffering, of suspicion, of pain, of loneliness, of wariness, anxiety, depression, uncertainty. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.200 You can imagine, just try to imagine. 00:10:35.279 --> 00:10:39.279 Try to imagine the thoughts that might run through the mind of an exile. 00:10:57.519 --> 00:10:59.759 Will this pain ever go away? 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.080 What will I have to go through to have needs met? 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:09.759 Some of you know that reality through personal experience. 00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.679 You have been or even are in an exile of sorts. 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:18.639 Others know that that experience through the similarity of thoughts and feelings. 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:20.960 And that's the uniqueness of Scripture. 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:31.679 Regardless of the details of our personal experiences, we can all connect and even relate to the emotions of suffering and trials. 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:39.519 But don't forget that there is a sense in which every single Christian is an exile. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:48.559 If you are a Christian, you are an exile today in this very place, because we're told in Philippians 3.20, our citizenship is where? 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:50.159 In heaven. 00:11:52.399 --> 00:11:54.000 We don't belong here. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:58.399 This is not home. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:03.600 We are exiles, we are refugees whose true home is somewhere other than here. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:08.639 That's the physical reality that Peter's addressing. 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:14.720 The spiritual reality seems at first to be at odds with the physical reality. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:18.399 Spiritual reality is that God is chosen. 00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:20.159 That's what elect means. 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.000 It simply means to be chosen. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:30.320 Peter closes this book with this statement: peace to all who are in Christ. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:32.399 Good way to end it, right? 00:12:32.639 --> 00:12:34.559 These people are elect exiles. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:36.480 They need to have peace again. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:38.639 Peace to all who are in Christ. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:42.320 To be in Christ is to be a part of Christ through faith in him. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:44.799 It is to be possessed by him. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:49.279 It is to be his people, just as Peter was his apostle. 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:53.360 If you are in Christ, you have been chosen by God. 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:57.519 But that seems to be at odds with the physical reality. 00:13:00.320 --> 00:13:03.600 If I have been chosen by God, then why am I an exile? 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:09.440 If I have been chosen by God, then why am I suffering? 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.919 If I belong to God, then why this pain? 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:15.039 Why this agony? 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:16.879 Why this trial? 00:13:19.600 --> 00:13:26.080 Isn't that one of the repetitive things that races through our minds when we're in the midst of difficulty? 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:28.799 God, why? 00:13:31.840 --> 00:13:34.799 How does this fit into your goodness to me? 00:13:36.960 --> 00:13:41.600 And then if we allow ourselves to go down that road, that begins to morph into something like this. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:46.320 If it's true that all things work out for good, I can't see how this is good. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:54.240 Sometimes we even get to the point of anger saying something like, Don't you dare throw Romans 8.28 into my face. 00:13:55.679 --> 00:13:56.159 Right? 00:13:56.399 --> 00:13:56.960 Been there? 00:13:57.120 --> 00:13:57.759 Yeah. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:06.320 In our finite minds, we struggle to synchronize the physical reality with the spiritual reality. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:08.639 It makes no sense to us. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:12.000 But that's where faith enters in. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:18.159 Peter encourages us to trust in the God who does his choosing work. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:29.759 Exercising faith in Christ means we accept what God says to be true, even if my circumstances say something different. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:35.600 Faith in Christ means I believe and I know that this world is not my home. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:36.720 You ever sung that old song? 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:40.000 It's true. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:45.279 My home is in heaven from which I await a Savior. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:51.279 Faith in Christ means that as long as I am away from Christ, I am an elect exile. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:15:01.919 Faith in Christ means that God's choosing work is not impacted by my location, by my circumstances, or even by my feelings. 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:08.960 No matter where I might be or what I might be experiencing in life, I belong to Him. 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:15.440 We must find hope in God's choosing work. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:20.960 But we see God's further work later on in verse 2, and that is God's knowing work. 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:24.480 We need to rest in God's knowing work. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:31.600 Peter says that these elect exiles are elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:38.879 If you pay attention to the details, you will see that this is not the beginning of a new sentence. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:42.080 It's the continuation of the first sentence. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:46.399 And as a continuation, it describes the elect exiles. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:55.360 The recipients of this letter are elect exiles according to God the Father's foreknowledge. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.960 Foreknowledge simply means to know something beforehand. 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:03.840 But it's more than foresight. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:07.519 Follow me here. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:14.799 God could and did see each of his elect in eternity past. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:21.360 But more than seeing them, he knew them. 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:30.240 Foreknowledge is personal, it is relational, and it is determinative. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:33.360 It determines things. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:35.360 Let me show you what I mean. 00:16:35.600 --> 00:16:40.080 I think we we see this clearly in Acts chapter 2, verse 23. 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:53.679 This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 00:16:55.840 --> 00:17:00.639 God the Father knew God the Son in eternity past. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:04.640 That has to be true for God to be God. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:06.319 There is knowledge there. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:12.960 But do you see that that knowledge determined when God the Son would die? 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:16.799 That knowing was determinative. 00:17:16.960 --> 00:17:18.799 It determined something. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:28.640 We see all three aspects, the personal, the relational, and the determinative, in God's statement about the prophet Jeremiah. 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:37.119 In Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, we read, God saying, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:41.920 I consecrated you. 00:17:42.319 --> 00:17:45.119 I appointed you a prophet to the nations. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:47.920 There is a personal knowledge. 00:17:48.319 --> 00:17:51.039 God knew Jeremiah himself. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:53.680 It is relational. 00:17:54.480 --> 00:18:02.559 There is this entering into a relationship where God says, I consecrated you, and it is determined that you are going to be a prophet. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:06.880 We can stretch this even to groups. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:11.359 God says a very similar thing of the nation of Israel in Amos chapter 3, verse 2. 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:14.400 You only of all the families on the earth have I known. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:17.119 Now, let's be realistic. 00:18:17.440 --> 00:18:19.039 God knows everybody, right? 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:21.440 God knows all the families. 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:23.359 So what is he saying? 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:30.160 He's saying, I know you, this family, in a very unique and relational way. 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:31.920 It's personal. 00:18:36.559 --> 00:18:42.160 As we think about this in connection with what Peter says, we see that this knowing work of God was before. 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.839 That's what for means, foreknowledge, to know before. 00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:47.039 Before when? 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:49.759 We don't know. 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:51.200 God didn't tell us. 00:18:51.359 --> 00:18:52.799 Peter didn't tell us. 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:56.640 Was Peter thinking of before the dispersion? 00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:58.160 Maybe. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:01.200 Was he thinking before persecution began? 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:02.319 Maybe. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:10.079 From the eternal perspective, we know from Ephesians 1:4 that God chose his elect before the foundation of the world, right? 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:13.920 So the timing doesn't really matter. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:21.279 God had foreknowledge of these elect exiles. 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:29.920 To bring that to our lives, we could say that God knew you before your suffering. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.400 He knew you personally. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:37.279 Relationally. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:44.880 And in a determinative way before you ever experienced pain. 00:19:45.119 --> 00:19:48.960 Before you ever grieved, before you were ever in sorrow. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:54.160 And the circumstances of your life have not changed that. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.359 God's knowledge of his own is divine. 00:20:00.240 --> 00:20:04.400 That may seem obvious, but it's an important truth for us to think about and to be reminded of. 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.480 It's not Peter that has foreknowledge. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.720 It's not Paul who knows them. 00:20:12.960 --> 00:20:14.000 It's God. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:21.119 And God's knowledge is complete, it is pervasive, it is thorough. 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:31.519 Because this knowledge is God knowing, it is complete knowledge, but it is also fatherly knowledge. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:34.319 Do you notice who does the foreknowing? 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:36.559 God the Father. 00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:44.160 When the scriptures speak of God the Father, it's not referring to the sinful characteristics of earthly fathers. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:45.519 Thank goodness. 00:20:47.119 --> 00:20:49.759 When God loves, he loves perfectly. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:56.000 When God directs, he gives absolutely right directions. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:03.519 When God disciplines, he does not do so in anger, but in righteous loving kindness. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:08.480 He does not abuse or maliciously accuse. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:11.519 He does not molest or malign. 00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:14.240 He is the perfect father. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:22.000 And that is essential to remember when we endure the trials of many kinds of which James speaks. 00:21:23.839 --> 00:21:30.559 Our Father in heaven knows, as only a perfect father knows. 00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:34.160 He knows personally your trial. 00:21:34.400 --> 00:21:36.480 He knows relationally your pain. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:46.400 And he has determined that you would be where you are this very moment, just as he determined exactly when his son would die, and just exactly as he determined that Paul, Peter, would be crucified. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:55.359 Resting in this kind of foreknowledge is the only road to hope in the midst of despair. 00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:59.759 But notice also God's transformation. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:09.839 Again, describing these elect exiles, Peter says, in the sanctification of the Spirit. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:16.319 Now, when we think of sanctification, our minds often go to the process of becoming like Christ. 00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:17.440 That's true. 00:22:17.759 --> 00:22:19.519 We are being changed. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:21.920 We are being made into the image of Christ. 00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:23.680 We are being sanctified. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:30.000 But the use of the word here is more like it, it's used in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 2. 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:37.680 There the Apostle Paul said to the church in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ called to be saints. 00:22:41.680 --> 00:22:49.359 Both 1 Corinthians 1 and 1 Peter 1 speak of God setting his people apart when they come to faith in Christ. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:58.720 When God calls people to himself, and those who are called put their trust in Christ, they are set apart. 00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:00.400 That's the meaning of sanctified. 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:04.319 Once they were not in Christ, now they are in Christ. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:09.039 They were now old, now they're transferred into the kingdom of his Son. 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:12.240 Where the realm of holiness rules. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.240 Here again we see the divine nature of this work. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:20.400 Foreknowledge is in God the Father. 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:24.640 Here, this work of setting apart is associated with God the Spirit. 00:23:25.680 --> 00:23:32.559 As the Holy Spirit comes in and dwells God's people, they are set apart for him and to him. 00:23:33.039 --> 00:23:34.960 We don't set ourselves apart. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:38.319 God sets us apart. 00:23:39.200 --> 00:23:41.599 And that is a distinguishing work. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:45.440 Those who are in Christ are different. 00:23:47.440 --> 00:23:48.880 They are unusual. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.079 They are unique. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:58.720 They are distinguishable from all who are not in Christ because the Holy Spirit has set them apart. 00:23:59.039 --> 00:24:04.240 Now that may only be visible to God, but it is real nonetheless. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:08.640 Peter speaks more of this in chapter 2, verse 10. 00:24:09.200 --> 00:24:14.079 He says there, once you were not a people, now you are God's people. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:18.000 Once you had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. 00:24:20.079 --> 00:24:24.880 In that light, being an exile is a good analogy for the Christian. 00:24:26.480 --> 00:24:29.359 Exiles sometimes struggle to fit in. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.039 They're often not readily accepted. 00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:37.119 They're sometimes seen as being different. 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:42.559 And all of those are true of you as a Christian. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:51.599 If you feel out of place as a Christian in this world, that's a good thing. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:55.599 Because it is a sense of what is true. 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.759 That you have been set apart by God's Spirit. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:01.920 It's a powerful work of God. 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.319 The end result is that we will be like Christ. 00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:11.599 But now, before we are made to be like Christ, it should be a comforting truth that brings living hope to you. 00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:28.799 Whenever you feel out of place as a Christian, whenever you feel as though you don't fit in, whenever you feel rejected because of your faith, remind yourself that those are identifying marks of someone who has been set apart by the Holy Spirit. 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.240 It's not a sign that he has left you alone. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:42.640 It's a sign that he has marked you as his own. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:55.200 It identifies in part the result, but more so the purpose of God's work. 00:25:55.440 --> 00:26:04.400 According to the foreknowledge of God the Father and the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ, and for sprinkling with his blood. 00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:10.240 On the one hand, this shows us the result of God's foreknowledge in the Spirit setting us apart. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:14.960 The result is a people who are obedient to Christ. 00:26:15.359 --> 00:26:20.160 That's what Peter's version basically of Ephesians 2.10. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:26.559 For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which were prepared beforehand. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:32.079 The result of God's electing and setting apart is that we are a people who now obey God. 00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:45.920 But I think the primary thing going on here is that this doesn't show us result, but it shows us purpose, telling us that we ought to hope in God's purposeful work in our lives. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:56.799 On the one hand, obedience is what comes from salvation. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:07.599 In another way, obedience describes conversion itself, being obedient to God's command to trust in his son for salvation. 00:27:08.720 --> 00:27:17.839 Here we see that God's purposeful work produces obedience, but it also produces cleansing and setting apart. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:24.160 Now, everything that we've looked at here has to do with coming to faith in Christ. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:38.799 God knowing us, determining that we would be elect, the Holy Spirit setting us apart, and then us obeying Him and coming to faith in Him through that obedient faith. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:43.680 And then there's this idea of sprinkling with His blood. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:46.240 That sounds a little gross to our culture. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:55.759 Unless you've been raised on a farm or a ranch and they're familiar with slaughtering is a little gross, especially before lunch. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:00.000 But it would not have been that way for Peter's culture. 00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:03.759 They were still very familiar with animal sacrifices. 00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:22.559 But this specifically refers to the Old Testament, where the act of tossing or throwing or sprinkling blood from sacrificed animals served to illustrate God's cleansing of his people and him setting them apart for himself. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:24.000 Let me show you what I mean. 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:26.079 Exodus chapter 24. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:28.960 Exodus chapter 24. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:47.599 Moses is concluding basically his statements about what God showed him on the mountaintop where he received the Ten Commandments. 00:28:47.839 --> 00:28:57.920 In Exodus chapter 24, verse 3, it says, Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules. 00:28:58.319 --> 00:29:02.799 And all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do. 00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:05.680 So Moses wrote them all down. 00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:12.880 He rose early in the morning and he built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:19.920 He sent young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:22.960 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins. 00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:26.960 And half of the blood he threw against the altar. 00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:35.279 Then he took the book of the covenant and he read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. 00:29:35.440 --> 00:29:38.400 And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people. 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:46.319 And said, Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you, in accordance with all these words. 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:53.039 You might be saying, Boy, I'm glad we don't do that anymore. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:05.680 We don't, because this is a physical expression, a literal expression of a spiritual reality. 00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:32.319 Because what Peter tells us is that now Christ, our sacrifice, had his blood shed, and through the blood of his covenant, we have now been sprinkled with his blood, which in essence serves to show that we have been set aside by the Holy Spirit, cleansed of our sin, set apart for his use as his people to be elect exiles in this world. 00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:48.720 Peter wants us, Christians who are exiles in this world, people who experienced the agony and the pain and the curse of sin on creation, to see what God has done in salvation. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:57.759 God has worked powerfully, personally, and practically to bring us to Himself. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:13.599 So exiles and sufferers and those who are in the midst of trials of many kinds, those whose bodies are ravaged by disease, and those who are mourning and grieving all kinds of losses can have hope in God's good purpose. 00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:23.440 Exiles, trials, pain, and anguish are part of his purpose for those whom he has chosen. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:26.960 Now we don't always see that purpose. 00:31:27.759 --> 00:31:29.920 We may never understand it. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:34.400 But it is the place to rest. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:38.640 Peter wants us to know this. 00:31:39.200 --> 00:31:46.720 He wants it to become such an integral part of who we are that we are defined by this theology. 00:31:47.440 --> 00:32:01.359 And when we arrive there, when we get to the point where this truth has sunk deep into our being so that it comes to define who we are, then we can have living hope in our exile as followers of Christ. 00:32:02.000 --> 00:32:03.599 Will we believe that? 00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:07.279 Will we believe that? 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:16.160 Or will we complain, whine, grieve, and suffer hopelessly? 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:24.640 Some of you are blessed in that you are still young enough to have never suffered. 00:32:27.039 --> 00:32:33.119 Don't let that keep the truth of God's purpose from settling deep into your bones. 00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:38.319 Because the day will come when you will need this truth. 00:32:39.279 --> 00:32:42.799 The day will come when you will wonder where God is. 00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:47.279 The day will come when you will question God's goodness to you. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:59.279 And in that moment, you will need this truth to gird you, to undergird you, to support you through those questioning, hurting, wondering times. 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.319 Some of you have suffered, but are not currently suffering. 00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:08.880 How do you view your past pain? 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.680 Do you look at your trials as pointless? 00:33:14.240 --> 00:33:17.839 As though you endured them for no reason? 00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:24.880 Use this truth to help orient your thinking about your past suffering. 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:26.559 Put on Peter's glasses. 00:33:26.720 --> 00:33:28.400 I assume he wore glasses. 00:33:28.720 --> 00:33:34.640 Put on Peter's glasses and look at your suffering through the lens of God's word. 00:33:36.559 --> 00:33:42.319 For the Christian, trials, suffering, and pain are not without purpose. 00:33:42.640 --> 00:33:46.000 We only choose to see them as being without purpose. 00:33:47.920 --> 00:33:54.240 But we would never choose that perspective if we could see things as God sees them. 00:33:57.279 --> 00:33:59.039 Let me finish with this. 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:21.360 Because God has a purpose in our exile, because he has a purpose in our trials, in our suffering, in our pain, and our anxiety, and our depression, in our diseases, we cannot look at one another's trials and stand by the wayside. 00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:30.800 There is good purpose in our trials, and one of God's good gifts in that pain is one another. 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:37.280 If you are in Christ, you are an exile, and exiles need one another. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:41.679 We may not want one another, but we need one another. 00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:47.760 You are God's good gift to someone enduring trial. 00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:56.000 There may be a stranger here in our midst this morning who needs you. 00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:03.039 Who needs you to introduce yourself to them and encourage them. 00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:09.840 You are God's good gift to someone enduring trial. 00:35:10.320 --> 00:35:12.000 Come alongside one another. 00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:20.559 Come alongside to understand, to listen, to grieve with those who grieve, to weep with those who weep. 00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:27.360 Come alongside to support and encourage one another because we're all just waiting to go home. 00:35:30.559 --> 00:35:35.039 Someday our Savior will return to take us home. 00:35:35.599 --> 00:35:44.800 In the meantime, He has given us truth to drive deep into our souls to give us living hope until we do get home. 00:35:45.039 --> 00:35:46.639 Let's pray together. 00:35:48.480 --> 00:35:56.480 Lord Jesus, it is so hard to not focus on the present. 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:04.719 It is so difficult to not become mired in our exile. 00:36:06.960 --> 00:36:08.400 Lift up our eyes. 00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:11.760 Give us hope. 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:14.079 Give us encouragement. 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:15.039 Give us strength. 00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:23.199 Use one another in the body of Christ to come alongside and help. 00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:31.199 Most of all, we pray that you would be our strength, that you would be our guide. 00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:36.559 And that you would fulfill your promise to bring us safely home. 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:38.159 Amen.