1Peter 1:2 God’s Elect

                                  T.P Cat. 24a

 

Intro : We noted in our study last time that Peter was writing to people who were being Persecuted / Heat was about to be turned up !

A)So Peter sets out to encourage them – in the Lord /  the first thing He 

reminds them of is Who’s they are !!!!!

 

B) V.2  They are Elect According to the Foreknowledge of God

 

C) Today we want to spend some time discussing this Wonderful truth

 

Begin by Explaining what does it mean to be an Elect

A)The term ELECT is always used in describing believers – it is a descriptive term that Describes those who are saved

 

B) Descriptive vs Predictive / Describing who they are  /  rather than the

      Process by  which They became Christians

 

C) The Terms Elect / Saint / Christian / Child of God / are all synonymous

          Terms referring to some one who has received Jesus Christ

1)   Think of it in this way : There are currently several men who are

Who are running for President

 

D) After the Elections in Nov. only one of them is going to be the ELECT

          And at this time next yr. The term President & Elect will be Synonymous

2)   Same is true in this sense – Elect is just another term that gives us

Insight into those who have become – Christians

 

 

NOTE : The term is never used in the sense of someone being

Elected to Damnation / Only Salvation

A) It  is very important to understand that ONLY a person who has received

    Jesus Christ as their Savior is – Considered an Elect

    1) Only used in that Way – Speaking of a Believer

B)To put it another way – the Bible does not teach that some are

Elected to Salvation while others to Damnation

 

C) ELECT is a very encouraging term to realize that God has Chosen

      You to be His Child !!!!

 

Paul Expressed it this way in Rom. 8

31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? More than Conquerors ……

 

 

How does one become an Elect ? – Peter gives us some Key insight

ELECT ACCORDING TO THE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD !!

                       But what does that mean?

 

A)Now we know that God is Sovereign. / which is a term that  really

          Encompasses the full orb of His Attributes

 

B) So often when we think of an Earthly King being Sovereign. / we are referring

          Mainly to his power & Authority

1)   But when referring to God – it speaks of much much more

 

C) The Sovereign. Of God refers not only to the fact that He is All Powerful

          Omnipotent / But Also that He is Ever Present – Omni Present

1)   And that He is All knowing / Omniscient

 

 

 

In reference to the Sovereignty of God the Bible teaches us that God is before all things / Created all things / upholds all things / above ..things

A)He is everywhere at once – there is no escaping His presence & He is

          ALL KNOWING AS WELL

 

B) All Knowing Past / All Knowing Present / All Knowing Future

1)   See God dwells outside the realm of Time !!!! Alpha Omega / Beg. 

    End / First, Last/    God is infinite but He gazes into the FINITE

 

C) So in Declaring that God is Sovereign/ We are reminded that  nothing

      happens in Life that is beyond Knowledge & His control /

 

 

Now when we talk about the Foreknowledge of God – there is a General & a Specific understanding to the Word

A)In a General sense – God’s Foreknowledge – speaks of Him knowing things in ADVANCE

 

B) Pastor Chuck -   Parade analogy / Infinite looking into the finite – sees everything at Once –

1)   We see it only as it happens – He sees the whole perspective

 

C)So in a General sense – it speaks of knowing in Advance – God knew before you were even born – before world began

1)   You were going to respond to His gift of Salvation offered thru

Christ !!!! –

 

 

In a Specific sense it means much more :

A)The word FOREKNOWLEGDE comes from the word to Know

1)   It is used 500 times in the O.T. & 220 times in the N.T./ In Almost

        every case it is TRANSLATED  to Know intimately / relationship

 

John 17:3 3And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

B) O.T. – Gen. 4:25 Adam Knew His wife again ( Very Intimate)

1)   It speaks of Knowing in an intimate personal way / knowing  them

In a Relationship !!!!!

 

C) So When we talk about the Foreknowledge of God – it is always used in the sense of Relationship : God Knowing some one in Relationship

1)   Now when you put the General and the specific together it sheds

Incredible light on this whole Concept

 

D) Because it means more than the Fact that God simply knew what you were going to do in Advance

1)   But it means that God Knew You  in Advance / He knew You in

A relationship / He saw You in Christ – before Creation

 

 

Think of it in this way : Although God knows all things/ and He knows

Everything about EVERYONE / He only knows believers

A)Only those who have put their faith in Christ are known intimately

     By the Lord ( Only those who have entered in a relationship thru Christ)

 

B) Think : What is the Lord going to say to unbelievers in Judgment ?

          Depart from me I never Knew You

1)   Did He Know everything about them? Absolutely – but He didn’t

Know them intimately – He didn’t have a relationship w. them!!!

 

C) So although God knows everything about everyone / and He sees everything that happens way before it ever does

1)   He Knows in advance – those who are going to respond to the

Gospel & those who are going to reject it

 

D) A big part of His Foreknowledge includes the fact that He Knew us as Believers before the world was ever made/ before we were ever born /

          1) He Saw us in His Son !!!!!      Paul makes this really clear in Eph. 1

 

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him  before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

 

A)Paul says God Chose us before the foundation of the world – but notice

     WHERE   He Chose us /  He Chose us in Christ

1)   He saw us in His Son – He saw us as believers knowing full well that

One day we would give our lives to Christ

 

B) Having seen us in Christ / He set the wheels in motion – by predestining

      us To adoption as Sons

 

C) So God’s foreknowledge speaks of Him Knowing You in advance

      as well as Knowing what you would do in advance

1)   Before the Foundation of the world – He saw you in His son / and Chose you in Him

 

D) Knowing full well that one day when you were presented w/ the gospel

     You would make a decision to respond & commit life to Christ

 

 

See in accordance w/ His Sovereignty God  has Sovereignly given every man the free will to either chose His Son or reject His Son

A)Some would ask - If we have a free will doesn’t that take away God’s Sovereignty – Not At all – but it really magnifies His Sovereignty.

 

B) He is God – He can set things up anyway that He wants to – this is what He has done – Sovereignly given man a Free Will

 

C) Now God in His Sovereignty. Has given man the ability of Choice for 2 reasons

1)   God is Love – Because He is love – He is not going to force his love

On anyone !!!!  Forced love is Rape – God not guilty of that !!!!

 

C) 2nd God Desires Relationship // not robots / Not Programmed response

1)   If Denise & My kids were like one of those dolls – pull the String – I love you honey / we love you Daddy – ( Mean nothing to me)

 

D) I have been around many of those dolls – thru the yrs – Does nothing

1)   If I put a gun to my wife’s head and forced her to marry me – Marry me or else – ( Buy a dog to taste every meal)

 

E) If God wanted Robots He would have made us like Robots – but instead

     He made us people w/ a capacity to respond to His Love

    1)  TRUE -  we loved Him BECAUSE HE  first loved us

 

BUT  God gives man the opportunity to Resist His Love & to resist His Grace – seen over and over in Scripture

A)LUCIFER  – ( In Heaven -  option to rebel )

 

B) ADAM – in the garden perfect environment – free will choice

1)   Now w/ Adam and Lucifer – before the fall – perfect environments

 

C) But even after the fall we see that man has the capacity to respond to the

     Lord – the Capacity to make the right Choice

1)   Take Cain for instance : Gen.  4:6 / Sacrifice rejected / Jealous/ angry

 

So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry?& why has your countenance fallen? 7If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”

 

D) The very fact that Cain is told by the Lord that He should rule over this sin – this desire to do his brother harm –

1)   Means that Cain had  the Capacity to make the right Choice

But Cain – didn’t he made the wrong Choice

 

 

Hosea 4:6

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge,

 

Romans 1:18,19

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.

 

Matt.23:37

37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

 

Now did the Lord know that Lucifer was going to rebel and that Adam was going to eat of the forbidden fruit – Yes

A) The Lord knew that Cain was going to Kill his Brother Abel / that Israel would reject the knowledge of the truth

 

B) God Knew that men thru the ages would suppress the Truth – they would

          Hold it back choosing to worship creatures instead of the Creator

1)   God Knew that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would reject his

Prophets & that they would be unwilling to Embrace  his Son

 

C) He Knew all of that & everything else – He knew it before the world & man was ever Created – but He elected to go thru w/ it anyway

1)   That my friends just magnifies the Love that God has for us

 

D) God knew that some were going to reject His Son / but He also knew those who were going to respond to His Son

1)   He saw those people saved – seated in Christ / Glorified in Him – before the world began – Saw the finished product

 

God created the world & man seeking a bride – knowing full well what it was going to cost – He did it anyway

A)He made a decision that it would be worth it to have us w/ Him

 

B)So the predetermined plan was set in motion and the Lord is patiently waiting for it to be completed – Bride is complete

1)   Doesn’t that Just radically Bless Your heart !!!!

 

C) Peter is writing to these suffering Saints / who’s hearts would be filled

     W/ doubt & who would be prone to be discouraged

1)   Remember who you are / HIS ELECT - God KNOWS YOU –

He knows what you are going thru – ready to go thru it w/ You !!!

 

FURTHER STUDY – BOOK DR. GEISLER – HEAVY WEIGHT

                     CHOSEN BUT FREE

 

WHO THEN CAN BE AN ELECT 

1 Tim. 2: Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

 

1st it is Available to all!!!!!!  - Desires that all men be saved

 

John 3;16

6For God so loved the world/ that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

 

ROMANS 10

 

Romans 10: 9that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”£ 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”£

 

 It is available to all / It is RECEIVED BY ALL who believe !!!! – All who respond !!!!  Believe Confess / Call

 

 

But wait some say: The Bible says in Eph. 2:1 that we are dead in our Trespasses & Sins – so How can a dead person respond to anything?

A)They precede to say that – God has to revive you first – make you regenerated – born again- / then you can Believe / Reg. Before faith

 

B)  Is that what the Bible teaches ? – No

 

 

1st of all – the word dead does not mean inactive – ( Hard pressed to find a Greek scholar who would agree w/ you

A)Best today Weust / Vincent / Zodihat. – none of them translate the word dead in that way in that verse

 

B) So what does Dead mean in that Context ? Take Adam Ate & died –

    Was Adam dead in his trespasses & Sin

 1) Yes / But Was He then incapable of seeking God ?

No He Sacrificed – taught his kids

 

C) So Adam – carried on a relationship w/ God after the fall – but it was different from before – Prior to Adam – walked w/ God

1)   Now He was Separated – ( That is how He was Dead )

 

D) Noah was dead in His trespasses & Sins – but still worshipped God

E)David Was dead ….. One thing ..Desire ….Seek …..

    John the Baptist : Still a man that carried on a relationship w/ God

1)   Preached REPENTENCE – Change

 

So first it doesn’t fit w/ the Biblical Def. Of Dead as seen in the scriptures

A)Second the idea that God would have to regenerate us before we believe – doesn’t fit w/ the sequence of the Scriptures

 

B) Eph. 1:13 

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14who£ is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

b) Look again at John 3:16 – it doesn’t say – whoever He quickens to believe/ or whoever he makes able to believe /

1)   Romans – 10 – Not those who he makes able to call/ or quickens to confess

 

C) Now concerning such an important topic like how we are saved – if this was the Process don’t you think – a loving God make it Crystal Clear

1)   Every verse – dealing w/ Salvation would read in that way !!

 

D)  Now it is true that God is the initiator of Salvation – sent His H.S. to

     Convict the world of sin & their need of a Savior

1)   The H.S. knocks on the door of people’s hearts – but they have to respond by opening that door – thru believing

 

E) But doesn’t that make faith a work then? No faith is a response

1)   I work to earn something / but Salvation is a free gift given by the

Grace of God – and obtained by faith – Eph.2:8,9

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Grace –saved – gift- neuter ( Faith – Feminine ) put together / gift is not faith

Think of it this way: My wife- says to me Honey – do you want some dinner – I RESPOND by saying yes Please

A)Now She starts making a meal – and when it is done – she calls me to the table – and I sit down & eat

 

B) Did I do anything to work for that meal – Was I involved in the

     Process

1)   No I simply responded to her request & came to the table where  

     the food was being served

 

C) So Jesus says if you want to be saved / Come to me / Believe in me

1)   When we do – we are born again !!!!

 

One last thing we need to see here that really brings this all together

Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God

A)In this verse we really have an example of the Process by which this occurs – seen in the Example of the trinity in this verse

 

B) Notice 1st we are Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God the Father

1)   From the Fathers point of view He saw you in Christ – before the World began / He chose You in Him /

 

C) He Knew when you would respond – right Now He sees the Finished Product – He sees us Glorified

1)   But notice what else Peter says here

in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:

 

See as far as God the Son is Concerned – I was saved when His blood was spilled at Calvary – the day His Blood flowed

A)It was then that Jesus declared to that man hanging next to Him today You will be w/ me in Paradise

 

B) Salvation was not even possible until that MOMENT !!!

So Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God the Father / by the Shed blood of God the Son – thru the Setting part of God the Spirit

A)When did that happen?

 

B)1973 – My dad was a drinker – my parents fought a lot –

1)   My dad committed his life to Christ/ – God began to transform this man

 

C) Temper was gone / drinking soon stopped/ Church constantly / Dad sit in Chair read the Bible & Cry ( Never seen him cry before )

1)   One day – talking – I made a very off color remark – as soon as I said it I regretted it – I wanted to pull those words back

 

E) Now Prior to my Dad being Born again – I would have been Dead

1)   He would have been all over me for saying something like this to him

But he didn’t even lose his temper

 

He calmly said to me – Have you asked Jesus come in your heart

A)I said No – He said – I think this would be a good time to do it

 

B) I was so blown away by his reaction – I went to my room knelt down & prayed – Lord you must be  real – Changed my dad so much

 

C) That day – thru that simple prayer – I became born again – An Elect / A Christian

1)   H.S.- had been drawing me – I Knew that Believed in Jesus –heaven

If you didn’t Hell – I didn’t want that

 

D) But I still wasn’t sure until that day- My Dads reaction !!!!

 

 

Now if You have given your life to Jesus Christ – You are Elect according to the Foreknowledge of God

A)God knew You in Advance – God saw you in His Son /

 

B) God set the wheels in motion where by you would enter into that Relationship – by Sovereignty.  Creating you w/ the capacity to Choose

1)   And by sending His Son – to Die on the cross in your place

 

C) He then sent his spirit to Convict you – open yours eyes to the truth

1)   The Moment you believed you entered into that Relationship w/ God

 

Are You one of God’s Elect ? have You responded to His Gift?

A)Have you responded to the Conviction of the Spirit in Your heart?

     TODAY IS THE DAY !!!!!