1Peter 1:1-5
The Saved: The Elect
Background: Wednesday night is our Bible study night and while I am
preaching through the book instead of teaching through it, I still
like to give you information to help you understand the entire book
as we go through it. So by way of introduction, let me mention three
things to you briefly.
Location - First Peter is written to the five providences of Asia
Minor: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia \\#1\\. The
large land mass north (some 420 miles) and west of Israel. This is
the general area that Paul’s first missionary journey took him except
it covers the entire Asia Minor area and Paul stayed more to the
south.
Interesting Note - This Epistle would show that while Peter may be
recognized as THE missionary to the Jews and Paul as the missionary
to the Gentiles, both spent much time and effort in evangelizing all
people.
Theme - Peter was written to teach Christians the that we can have
victory over suffering. Some form of the word SUFFER is used 15 times
in this small, five chapter Book. The Christian persecutions were well
under way by the time Peter wrote this letter. While the exact date
seems to be debated, it is possible that it was written after the
empire-wide persecutions begun by Nero in 64 AD.
With that in mind, Peter began by acknowledging who it was to whom
he was writing. He called the Christians by three different terms in
these first verses. I will only have time to get to the first two
today.
I. \\#2\\ The Elect
A. Paul believed, as do I, in the election of the saints.
1. I know that I have preached on this topic a lot in the
last few years but there are two reason for doing so.
a. This is a Biblical doctrine.
b. It is a Biblical doctrine that is being distorted and
perverted today.
2. There are many words used in the Bible to describe those
who will believe on Jesus as their Savior and each word
teaches us something about us and what God has done for
us.
a. We are called believers because we must believe.
b. We are called saved because we have been rescued from
sin and hell.
c. We are called Christians because our behavior and
attitudes are changed to be more like Jesus with
each passing day.
d. We are called the redeemed because we were purchased
by the blood of Jesus Christ to be God’s for the
second time.
e. There are others.
3. Why are we called the elect? Because God made the choice
that we would be saved through Jesus Christ’s atoning
work.
B. There are several words Christians should know and understand.
1. Four of these words should not cause fear in anyone's
heart for their true meanings opens salvation to
everyone and closes the door on no one.
2. The first four words are Biblical. The fifth is man made
and should be feared.
a. Election - The process of God selecting those who will
go to heaven.
(1) If there was to be a salvation, somebody had to
decide who and how people would be saved.
(2) We have presidential elections every four years.
(a) We go to the polls and select our next
president.
(b) So election is selection.
(3) Election is God selecting who will go to heaven.
b. Foreknowledge - "Fore" means "before" so the word
means "before" knowledge.
(1) Foreknowledge is God knowing what is going to
happen before it happens.
(2) It coincides with God's attribute of omniscience
which means God knows EVERY THING.
3. Sovereignty - God’s absolute right to make absolute
decisions.
4. Predestination - "Pre" means "before" and "to destine"
means "to determine." This refers to God making a
decision in advance. God made a seemingly infinite
number of decisions before we ever arrived.
5. Calvinism - A false doctrine that states God arbitrarily
selected some for heaven and some for hell.
C. How do these words fit together?
1. Sovereignty is the basis.
a. God is God and as God, God has the absolute right to
make absolute decisions.
b. For example:
(1) God decided that water would be wet, land would
be dry.
(2) God decided that the sky would be blue and grass
would be green.
(3) God decided that animals would walk on fours and
people would walk on twos.
(4) And a billion other things!
c. God did not ask for counsel nor does He seek our
approval.
d. You say, “Preacher, you must not believe in the free
will of man then?”
e. I believe in a LIMITED freewill of man.
(1) Man can determine a FEW of the simplest choices
in life: whether he will hit the snooze button
or get up, work hard or be lazy, have a good
attitude or bad.
(2) He can determine some but still less of the mid-
level decisions of his life: whether he will get
more education, how his career will go, how
well his marriage will be.
(3) But he only gets to decide a few really important
decisions:
(a)Whether he will go to heaven or not.
(b) Whether he will serve God or not.
(c) Whether he will take anyone with him or not.
2. Election - Those that will believe in Jesus Christ are the
elect.
a. God has already told us who the elect are:
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
Acts 16:31 And they said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy
house.
Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall
be damned.
b. \\#2\\ tells us the process that we must go through
to become the elect.
(1) We must be "sanctified of the spirit."
(a) That means the Holy Spirit must separate us
out of the lost world.
(b) There is no doubt that salvation starts with
God.
(c) We are depraved (not totally, but depraved
none-the-less) and God must show us our
sinfulness, open our eyes to the Savior,
and draw us to God.
John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will
raise him up at the last day.
(d) So the Calvinists are RIGHT and the Holy
Spirit ONLY draws those He WANTS to be
saved?
i. NO!.
ii. The Bible says God draws everyone.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men,
2 Peter 3:9 …but is longsuffering to us-ward,
not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance.
Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(2) "unto obedience"
(a) After the Holy Spirit has drawn us, we must
obey Him by believing and repenting of our
sin.
(b) It is not the drawing of the Holy Ghost
alone that saves. That is the first step,
but we must also respond with faith and
repentance.
(c) To deny this is to deny our part in the
gospel.
(3) "and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ" - And WHEN the Holy Ghost draws us and
WHEN we obey, God saves us by sprinkling His
blood upon our sinful lives.
3. Foreknowledge
a. Peter clearly teaches that God decided who would get
to heaven based on what He knew would happen in
advance.
b. God is God and God knows everything, even the things
that have not happened yet.
c. Because God knows everything, God makes perfect
decisions, including the means of salvation that
would do mankind the most good and bring God the
most glory! \\#Romans 8:28\\
d. This one verse destroys at least what some believe
about Calvinism, namely that God randomly selects
some for heaven and some for hell.
(1) God never makes any random decisions.
(2) God cannot make a random decision because He
knows every outcome of every decision will be
and being both wise and just, His nature
dedicates that His decisions be both just and
wise.
4. Predestination - God has already determined what the
future holds. Some of what God has predestined.
a. God had predestined the saved to go to heaven and the
lost to go to hell.
b. God has predestined that the anti-Christ would rise
and the lost would be deceived.
c. God has predestined that Christians would be shaped
into the very image of Jesus Christ.
d. And much, much, much more.
f. In fact, God has predestined everything that is going
to happen that He has not sovereignly given into
man’s hand to decide.
(1) Each individual decided when he will get up, when
he will go to bed, what he will eat, where he
will work, how fast he will travel, what kind of
life he will live, etc.
(2) And the important decision, each person decides
whether he will accept Jesus Christ or reject
Him.
g. Except for the FEW decisions that God has given to man
via freewill, God sovereignly decides everything.
5. Calvinism
a. Calvinism doesn’t fit.
b. It is a false doctrine and a false gospel of the devil
that deceives men to NOT repenting of their sins and
turning to Jesus as their Savior.
Someone says, "Election, sovereignty, and predestination frighten
me." They should not. Look at what God has decided so far. Has it
not all been good? The only thing that has messed it up is man's
sin. And God has selected a salvation where Jesus Christ does all
the work. All you must do is respond to it. Would you respond
positively to Jesus today?
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