EPIC: High-Impact Truths in the New Testament – Part 17

Last week we looked at the book of James. Today we're looking at first Peter and one of those landmark passages. First Peter chapter one. And as we dive in today, remember that Peter is writing to a Jewish church. He's an apostle to the Jews. So he's got a lot to say to the Jews evangelistically. And then he's also got a lot to say to the church to whom he refers to as the elect. Now, even before we dive in, remember that words like elect and chosen, those words are often grabbed by those of a certain persuasion. And they are then cast to mean something for an individual. That God chose me, but he did not choose you. That God elected me, but he did not elect you. Well, that is not at all what the apostle Peter means. As we'll see, he is talking about God's chosen people. Now the church is God's chosen and the elect refers to the body of Christ. Just as in the Old Testament, God's chosen people, that was a group called Israel. And in the New Testament, when we see the elect, or we see God's chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, it's not talking about God holding an election and saying I elect you, but forget you, and I elect you, but forget you.

No, it is corporate. And Peter is talking about the collective body of the church. So let's keep that in mind. And as we begin first Peter chapter one, we see Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Capidocia, Asia, and Bethania who are chosen. Now first, you'll notice this word aliens. What's he talking about? Well, they're Jews that are displaced. They are Jews that are scattered all over the place. Just like we see in the book of James, Peter is also an apostle to Jewish people. And here they are scattered all over the place. They're not located in just one city like Jerusalem. So Peter is drafting this letter and sending it off, and it's gonna be read and passed around all over the place. And people who are reading it are largely aliens, not aliens, but aliens. You know, aliens in a foreign land. Now notice that he says they're chosen. Now this is referring to our being chosen as the body of Christ. And so the reason that this is so important in Peter's first chapter is he's saying, you're out there, you're scattered, you're all over the place, but God has not forgotten about you.

You were part of God's chosen people as Israel, and now you're part of God's chosen elect as the church. You have a purpose. God has not forgotten about you. Yes, you're all over the place geographically, but God has included you in a body, and your zip code doesn't matter. You RSVP'd to the gospel, and your zip code doesn't matter. You're in Christ. You've got a new location, a spiritual location, new geography. You're in the spirit, you're not in the flesh. God transferred you. You got some new papers. He called for your transfer out of Adam into Christ. Bam, location, location. So you may be in a foreign land, but you belong. That's what he's saying. You may be scattered, but you're securely in Jesus. Amen? - Amen. - So what we're seeing is Peter talking not about individual selection. I mean, come on, that doctrine is not here. It is about corporately the church having a purpose and being chosen by God long ago, being chosen to display Jesus and have an incredible purpose and meaning in him. All right, verse two, he says, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father

by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood. Now, again, you could see how, oh my goodness, I could grab that word foreknowledge and I could just run down a rabbit trail with you. Oh, God knew that you were gonna pick him. So he picked you first. God knew that you were gonna pick. So he picked you first, but he didn't pick you, but he did pick you. I mean, we could blow this thing up into individual selection or we could read it in context where we see that the foreknowledge is about the prophet. was expected through Jesus and the spirit of Christ in those Old Testament prophets or understanding of what was going to come and what was going to come was for the church, not just you and you and you, but the whole church. So we have no business grabbing one word and spinning a doctrine out of it. This is simply saying that God obviously wrote the Old Testament. God obviously inspired the prophets of old and there was a foreknowing. God has a perfect foreknowledge of the future which includes our believing and our participating in the church. But we know from the Bible that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. We know from the Bible that God wants none to perish. He wants all to believe. He wants everyone to come to repentance. God's not playing favorites. In fact, the gospel has been unleashed on anyone and everyone. So I want you to notice something else and that is the word obey. Now this has two meanings for me personally. First of all, I love that we in the church have been called and chosen by God's design. We've been chosen to obey. And in a minute you're going to see He calls us obedient children. That tells you something about your heart. It tells you something about your design. You are designed to be obedient. That shouldn't be a deadly word to you, a scary word. I know when we talk about obedience it can sometimes make us do a double take. Or freak out, "Oh my gosh, He's talking about how I need to be obedient." Well look, we are making choices. Every day, every hour, every minute, we are making choices. But I'm talking about God's plan to make you obedient.

God took out your disobedience and He put in obedience. He took out your heart of stone and He put in a new living heart. He took out your spiritual self that was dead to Him and He put in a new self that is alive to Him. Roman says that you became obedient from the heart. So do you hear what I'm saying? I'm saying that obedience is a nature. Obedience is a nature that you and I possess through Jesus. And because of that nature we can choose obedience and love it. Because it's our destiny, it's our craving, it's our heart's desire, it's our life, Jesus is our life and nothing else will satisfy except expressing Him. Well, putting it all together, God has an incredible foreknowledge. He's poured that foreknowledge into some prophets which we'll see in a moment. And that foreknowledge was that God would have a plan, God would have a plan for the church and He would turn us into His obedient children. And we would be forever forgiven by His blood. All right, well, we'll keep going. We're still in verse two, it ends this way. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. Oh, watch out for that grace. Oh, fullest measure? Oh, that's dangerous. You could have too much grace, greasy grace, dangerous grace. Watch out for that hyper-grace, right? I'm hyper about it. I hope you are. I'm pretty jazzed about it. It's in fullest measure. And you notice that God's not holding back. He wants you to know, if you're listening right now, He wants you to know that you have perfect peace with Him in fullest measure. There's no obstacle, there's no blockage, perfect union, perfect peace with Him. He loves you, He likes you, He's for you, He's never against you. And it's perfect. It's in fullest measure. When God gives grace, He doesn't shut the faucet off. When God gives grace, He doesn't turn it on halfway. When God gives grace, it's in fullest measure. And that's what we are reading right here in 1 Peter. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure. So, can you out-sin God's grace? No way. You cannot undo what God has done. Can you exhaust the blood of Jesus? No way. You cannot impress God so much with all your sin and that He says, whoa, I didn't see that one coming. I guess my grace ran out on you. It is grace in fullest measure and peace from God our Father. Our father. Jesus Christ who according to His great mercy, I love this, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Wow. I mean, this is what causes you to be born again. It's the resurrection, not the cross. Oh, the cross is great. We just read about the cross. Remember, one verse ago, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, the sprinkling of the blood of Christ made you forgiven? That's awesome. But forgiven is not good enough. You got to be forgiven and born again. Forgiven is not good enough. You would be forgiven and cleansed, but desire sin and craves sin and long for sin. Your desires wouldn't be different. You'd be forgiven, but you'd be a spiritual corpse to God. Disconnected, not inspired and so what does God do? He does two things. He forgives you of all your sins, and then he causes you to be born again to a living hope, not a dead hope, a living hope

through Jesus who is alive and through the resurrection power of Christ. It's like he takes a spiritual syringe and he extracts your old self and he infuses you with a new self, and he infuses you with his self, his spirit, his resurrection life. We are born of him, so you're God's kid. That's what we're saying. You're God's kid. And if you're God's kid, then you've got God's DNA flowing through your veins. No, you're not God, but you are a child of God. And that's pretty awesome that we are children of God. John, in his epistle, he even does a double take. He goes, and that is what we are. We are children of God. It's almost like he drops his pen and just is trying to fathom the depths of that, that we are children of God born again of the resurrection. Are you kidding me? Whoa. And so this is what salvation is. I know we talk about born again all the time. So and so is the conservative, you know, they're the conservative candidate. I hear they're born again. They're the born again candidate. Oh, I'm a born again, Christian. Are you born? Yeah, I grew up a Baptist. I grew up Lutheran. I grew up, yeah, I'm a born again. We use born again almost like we become numb to it like it's a label. And yet what we're seeing from Peter here is born again means the very fabric of your being has been transformed out with the old in with the new because Jesus rose from the dead. I was talking with a friend the other day. He said, you know, what if Jesus just died and went to heaven? I mean, what's the big deal about the resurrection? Why didn't Jesus just die and go right to heaven? I mean, he'd be our representative in heaven. He could be our lawyer up there, our attorney, you know, he could just point to his finished work. He could say, look at the blood, look at the blood. I said, well, you know, that's great. That's half of the gospel, but we would be forgiven dead people. We'd be forgiven dead people. Jesus rose from the dead, resurrected to demonstrate his power over sin and death. And then if you miss this part, then you've missed the best part. He didn't just rise from the dead to show off. He rose from the dead to give you his life. And if you miss that, then all you've got is a God proving his power, which he already did with Lazarus. He already said, Lazarus come forth and Lazarus did come forth. And we already said, whoa, Jesus can can raise people from the dead. Whoa, God is awesome. Resurrection is amazing. We already said that with Lazarus. Jesus didn't rise from the dead just to say, look at me. I'm risen. He rose from the dead to give you his resurrection life. And Romans 6 says, we were crucified, buried, and raised to newness of life. The resurrection is what saves you. The cross is what forgives you. The resurrection is what saves you. And if you have not understood this yet,

maybe you've been running around going to a bunch of church services, trying to clean up your life, fix your behavior and go to church and be a good person, well, then you've missed it because the it is resurrection life. And the way to fix that problem is to say, Jesus, I want, I want your resurrection life in me. I call upon you to give your resurrection life to me. I'm sick of playing church I'm tired of trying to be a good person a better person to That's, I've realized that's not what Christianity is. I want resurrection life and I call upon Jesus to give it to me. I want His life. I want Him. And see, when we call upon the Lord, we are forgiven and made new. And yet, we may not know what we have. And that's what I'm finding in my life. I mean, I've been a Christian for a decade or more, and I didn't know what I had. And it reminds me of what Paul says, "Or do you not know?" Because I'm one of those. I'm one of those Christians. I'm safe in Jesus, and I'm secure. You know, at 19 years old, I'm safe, and I'm secure in Jesus, but I don't know. I don't know what I've got. I don't know how good it is. I'm ignorant concerning the depths of the gospel. And so, the journey begins when we're saved, but the journey continues as we figure out, "Whoa, He did way more than I thought." I mean, I thought the gospel was you get saved, and you go to heaven, and in the meantime, you dress up and look nice for church. You get saved, you're going to heaven, and you dress up, and you do country club religion, and you talk to me, "Hello, brother.

Hello, sister. How you doing? Good to see you." And, you know, that's the body of Christ. Man, when you start looking at what He has done for you and how it impacts every, hear me, every thought, every attitude, every response, everything that's going on in your life, every perspective, all the fear and the anxiety, and the worry about the future, and the worry about tomorrow, because the life, the life is in you, because the life is in you, it affects everything, because you're not firing up long-distance phone calls, expecting a little bit of help from heaven, you got the life within you, and He is present, and He is available, and He is willing, and He is eager to be your counsel in every moment, because you have the life. It's different. Anybody can say, "I've got a book and a founder, "and I'm gonna go to a good place." Anybody can say, "I've got a book and a founder, "and I'm obeying the rules, "and I'm gonna go to the good place." Anybody can claim that. What we're claiming is He rose from the dead, and you are born of His life. You've got the life. So, verse four, He says, "To obtain an inheritance, "which is imperishable and undefiled, "and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you."

Oh, man, once saved, always saved. No, no, no, no, no, that's dangerous. I mean, there are people, lots of people. I'm talking millions of people, well-meaning, intended Christians that are saying once saved, always saved is a myth. They're saying that's too dangerous, that's too risky. God would never do that, because then Christians would just go crazy, right? I mean, we would set world records for sin if we were that safe. God can't afford to do that. Plus, He's just not that foolish. Well, look at it, it's right here. It's right here in the passage. Your inheritance, which is in heaven, reserved for you, it's imperishable. That means in English, that means it won't die. And undefiled, that means it can't be defiled, can't be ruined, you can't mess this up. And then it says, it's reserved. Now, the next verse is gonna say, it's reserved by the power of God. God's got it for you. He's holding it with two mighty hands like a football, like this, and there's no way, there's no way that He's gonna lose His grip. He's got you. And so, we could talk all about our theories about what God shoulda woulda coulda done

and how dangerous His grace is and all that, but we still gotta stare these passages in the face that say, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Nobody can snatch you out of my hand. Even when you are faithless, I remain faithful to you. Nothing separates you from the love of Christ, nothing. So we can have our theories about how dangerous God's grace is, but apparently, He has got us firmly planted and rooted in Christ from day one, moment one, and He's good with it because He knows when we've been planted in Christ, something's gonna grow. He's not scared. He who began the good work is gonna carry us on to completion. And so, He works in us to will and to do Remember, you're sinning just fine. You're sinning just fine right now. Even if you're scared, scared Christians, sin the most. Have you ever noticed that? Christians that think they're down and out and that they've already lost it and that God's already mad, they're sinning just fine because they've given up. But when you know that you're clean and close and forgiven and holy and righteous and blameless and that you can't lose him and he'll never ditch you and he's always there and he thinks the world of you and he's qualified you. When you know that, it doesn't have a negative effect, folks. It has a positive effect. Whoever is forgiven much loves much. Scaring Christians is not ministry. Scaring Christians is not ministry. We are told to be built up in him rooted and grounded in his perfect love casts out fear. All right, verse five, it says, we're protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Already told you, I mean, I picture the football, protected the strength, the power, the grip in his grip of grace. Never let go. Verse six, in this, you can celebrate in this. You can greatly rejoice even though now for a little while, if necessary, you've been distressed by various trials. Now, I'm going to tell you, the opposite is certainly not true, that if you're not safe and you're not secure and you're not in

his grip and then here come trials, there's no way you're rejoicing. I mean, it's going to make it worse. Okay, so my dog died. I lost my spouse. I lost my dog. I lost my job and the God of the universe is mad at me. Okay, and I'm supposed to recover from this. Do you see that? That's what people, some people, they're well-intended, but they've got God on the other side of the fence and God's kicking you when you're down. And the truth of the gospel is that when you're down, God says, grieve with those who grieve. Empathy. He's our comforter. He's our counselor. He's our guide and the truth. Grieve with those who grieve. He's not kicking you when you're down. So you can greatly rejoice even when you're distressed. Now, I want you to notice also as we look at this passage that you're going to see that we're dealing with stuff and we're not happy this stuff is happening. I'm not happy. My dog died. I'm not happy. My cat ran away. I'm not happy. My marriage ended. I'm not happy. I lost my job. I'm not happy that of any of those things, but I can give thanks in those things because I've got something else that is unshakeable, unbreakable. You see that? So we're not putting on a plastic smile and playing Christian where we're happy, happy, happy that bad stuff happened. We're giving thanks in all things for something that can never be taken and never be shaken. All right. So verse seven, he says, "So the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, by the way, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." So here's what I take from that. God sees what you're going through right now. God sees. And no, you're not up on some stage going through it for lots of Christians to watch it happen. It's private. It's happening at home. It's happening in your person. It may be something with your health. You're going through. It could be something in your relationship. You're going through something at work. God's something attention between you and God sees. And there's going to be a day that you, your trust in the Lord, in the midst of this is tested. And there's going to be a day when that is celebrated. There's going to be a day when that is worthy of praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ and all that Jesus was doing in and through you at that moment. You think things are little. Relationships matter. How you respond to somebody matters when nobody's looking. All that matters. Everything matters because everything is spiritual and everything can be an expression of Jesus. So here's, here's what Everything you do and think and touch, everything has an incredible richness to it

when Jesus Christ lives in you. All right, verse eight. And though you have not seen him, I love this verse, it's so, so awesome. Though you've not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy, inexpressible, and full of glory. So first Peter's admitting it's not easy 'cause you don't see him. I mean, I wish we saw him. I wish we woke up in the morning and looked in the mirror. You know, Paul talks about looking in the mirror and how you're being transformed and the likeness of Christ. I wish you could look in the mirror and there's just Jesus there talking right to you, face to face, wouldn't that be, that'd be kind of a boost in the morning, you know, rather than just your memory verse, you'd have actual Jesus there talking. But so you're walking by faith, not by sight. And Peter recognizes that. That's not easy, but the two things he says are you don't see him, but you love him. And you don't see him, but you believe him. So two things. You're a lover of Christ and you're a believer in Christ. And he's done that. So this answers your question 'cause people will ask it. What if I stop loving him?

Well, what if I stop believing? You know, what if, what about the guy and we come up with the fictitious guy? I mean, he was a pastor and he was this and he was that. And then one day he just said he doesn't believe anymore. So Christians can lose their salvation 'cause look at that guy. Well, first of all, I'm not gonna build my belief system on that guy. I mean, he's a nice guy. He's from Omaha, Nebraska or whatever. He's a nice guy, grew up a real nice family and all that. And he's got, he was in a nice church and he said nice things in church and that's great. But I can't see his heart. I don't know if he's born again. So I'm not gonna build a doctrine on that guy. I'm gonna build a doctrine on the word of God. So what I'm saying is if you're born again, then you do love him. If you're born again, then you do believe in him and you are a believer and a lover by nature. God did that and you'll never stop believing and you'll never stop loving him. Isn't that beautiful? God's gotcha. All right, verse nine, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Now I know some of us, we wanna get out our diagram

of the way we got the spirit, we got the soul, we got the body. But sometimes Peter is just talking about the person and look, I mean, you put your faith in Christ and he has saved you. He saved your soul, he saved your life, he saved your person. We can talk about how we're still learning and being saved. I'm being saved from a bunch of junk in my mind. I'm being saved from a stinking thinking, right? But this is really about our eternal salvation. We put our faith in Christ and we've been saved. All right, verse 10, here's where we get to those prophets and what they used to see back in the olden days. Here we go, as to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries. All right, first this tells me one thing. They knew there was a whole lot of grace coming. They didn't experience it, but they knew it was coming. I'm talking about Isaiah, Jeremiah. I'm talking about Old Testament, they didn't understand it all. I'm not saying they grasp it, but they knew something big. I mean, they knew Messiah was coming and with Messiah, a bunch of grace was coming and it was a grace that they didn't experience. Hebrews tells us this, Hebrews says in chapter 11, you know the chapter, it's the heroes of the faith that we call all the people that had faith in God in the Old Testament.

Now it tells a great story. Oh my gosh, some of them were sawn in two, they were chopped in half, their bodies, blood everywhere. Some of them hung out in caves and they had to recuse themselves from society and hide on the fringes. Some of them wore sheep skins and goat skins 'cause it was all they could find to keep them warm. Some of them shut the mouths of lions and a lion's den. Some of them did all kinds of things. I mean, you got Samson and Esther, and you got all kinds of people in the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, you got all kinds of people that trusted God. You know how the chapter ends? You know, it says, but they didn't get what you got. It says they didn't get what you got. And that's what Peter is saying. But they didn't get what you now have you've got something better than David David says Please don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Paul never says that Peter never says that James John they never said they're not worried about that We have something better on this side of the cross Now he continues this way. He says they were seeking to know What's what person or time the spirit of Christ within them was Indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow now I want you to notice this says the spirit of Christ was in them in the past I've taught this spirit of Christ was just kind of on Old Testament people But this verse seems to insinuate and say that in fact the spirit of Christ Not just the spirit of God specifically talking about Christ is in them and Yet they didn't experience the new covenant

But the spirit of Christ is in them, but they didn't experience the grace that was to come So you see that delicate balance Christ is in them, but they don't have all of the benefits that we have So that's pretty pretty amazing because the corollary here is You've got it. You've got it. What they were hoping for and waiting for you've got it. That's awesome Verse 12 it was revealed to them this one's out there pretty radical. It was revealed to them They were not serving themselves, but you The Old Testament prophets were serving you In these things which now have been announced to you And he says through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels Long to look. All right, so Do you follow what this is saying? This is outlandish the angels don't get it The Old Testament people don't get it You get it The angels can't possibly fully understand it Because they don't own it or experience it. They don't have Christ in them. They don't have the new covenant for them Angels long to know it the Old Testament people wish they had it You've got it Folks, this is this is profound. I mean, this is whoa We're talking about thousands of years of humanity on the planet and one Jewish nation knowing that something big was coming And now it's come and you're in it Wow Therefore, I mean you can see where this has got to go Therefore prepare your minds for action keep sober in spirit Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ Therefore be sober about this don't just run around on a spiritual high because it could put you there I mean, I'm excited aren't you excited be sober in spirit and Fix your hope completely on that dangerous grace Fix your hope completely on God's grace Is it grace plus is it grace plus your best efforts? Nope. Is it grace plus all your works throughout a lifetime? Nope. Is it grace plus? It's Jesus plus

Nothing fix your hope on God's grace and you'll never be disappointed As obedient children, that's a nature. That's a description as Obedient children don't be conformed to the former lusts. That's who you were Which were yours in your ignorance ouch, that's strong language, but don't you notice the past tense? See the lusts used to be yours. Those were your thoughts But they're not your thoughts anymore The thoughts of addiction to pornography and choosing lust over and over those were your thoughts Those are not your thoughts anymore those were your lusts, but now you got new desires the thought of Jealousy and vindictiveness and revenge and getting back those were your thoughts That's the ways of the world But those aren't your thoughts anymore your thoughts your true thoughts are forgive and release people and keep no record of their wrongs And sometimes you dust your feet and you move on and let it roll off your shoulders You're fixing your eyes on the hope of God's grace. That's your heart your heart forgives your heart loves holy one who called you be holy yourselves I thought I already was you are look what he's saying be holy yourselves in your behavior let the outside match the inside let the clothes that you wear be a good fit for who you are put on love put on compassion put off bitterness he's talking about what to wear and we finish with this final verse because it has written you shall be holy for I am holy don't take that as a threat that's a promise you're gonna be holy you know why because I'm holy God did it God's done it you're set apart you got a purpose it was planned it was rigged all the time it was rigged in the Old Testament Messiah was coming the gospel was coming the church is the elect God's chosen people a purpose a vision for the future hope even in trouble because you're born of imperishable seed you're born of the resurrection you've got his life how close is your Jesus he's one with you Jesus rose from the dead and that is why we're born again let's pray together father we thank you for this gospel message it is so straightforward it is from your lips the hands of Peter and now we get to enjoy it as truth that sets us free we thank you for the truth that never disappoints that you are good that we have been forgiven by the blood of Christ and even more we have been born

again to a living hope through the resurrection and everybody every single one of us that's in Christ we are safe as the day is long we are safe and secure in the arms of God himself you Lord you Wow we thank you for this protection in Jesus name amen [BLANK_AUDIO]