Peace for the Persecuted, Part 1a

Tonight, as we embark on our study in 1st Peter, entitled Peace for the Persecuted. Understand that it says in the Bible in Luke chapter 2 verse number 14, peace on earth, goodwill toward men with whom he is pleased. Now, you're going to read that on many Christmas cards this season. Unfortunately, it's been misinterpreted. Because the Bible says very succinctly that the peace that God gives is not because he's pleased with you.

He gives man peace out of his own good pleasure. That's the correct interpretation of Luke 214. It doesn't mean that there's going to be rest from your weariness. It doesn't mean that there's going to be cessation of war and conflict. It doesn't mean that everything that has been turned upside down in your life will eventually be turned right side up. It means that the God of peace has granted you a believer in him to be at peace with God. Because we were enemies of God, right? And the only way man can ever have peace, true peace, is to have peace with the God of peace.

To be reconciled to the God of peace. That's why Jesus Christ came and God grants peace to those whom he chooses. And that's important. Because Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse number 2, is that he wants these people who are being, persecuted to experience peace to the max the fullness of peace and the fullness of grace so Peter begins with these words in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse number 1 he says Peter and Apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens scared throughout Pontius and Galatia Cappadocia Asia Bethenia who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood may grace and peace be yours in fullest measure Peter is concerned that these people that he is writing to experience ultimate peace They're already at peace with God, but as they go through very difficult hardships, which we will talk about in weeks and months to come, these people needed to experience peace amidst their persecution.

And tonight, we're going to help you understand how that all begins and what God does to make you at peace with him. and to give you peace amid your persecution. We're going to look at three points over this week and our next time together.

We're going to look at, first of all, the people in First Peter. And then we're going to look at the purpose of First Peter.

And then we're going to look at the plea of Peter. But tonight, we're just going to cover verse number one and two and just point number one of our outline, the people in First Peter.

And two things I'm going to want you to see tonight. One is their condition, and number two is their calling.

Their condition and their calling. Notice about their condition, two things. Number one, he calls them strangers, and number two, he calls them sojourners.

you must understand their condition and Peter addresses them as aliens, as sojourners, as pilgrims, as strangers. Now the word he uses is a unique word because it's a word that talks about those who have not been engulfed in their environment. these people are strangers these people are aliens that is where they are living is not home to them meaning this they have another home their citizenship is in heaven it's not on earth and in order for you to experience any kind of peace at all in this world you must understand that you are a citizen of another world.

If you miss that, you will never experience peace to the fullest. You must understand that the peace that God gives is given to those who understand that they are of another world. They are aliens in this world. Look what it says over in the book of Hebrews. Just a couple of pages over. Hebrews chapter 11, verse number 13, it says, all these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed, if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. but as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. The people in Hebrews 11, God was not ashamed to be their God, or to be called their God, because those people had a home in heaven, and he had built them a unique city in heaven.

And although they had never seen it, they witnessed to the fact that they were, were strangers and aliens in this world. Peter now says, listen, that's the way you are. You are an alien. This is not your home. Listen, if you're going through any kind of persecution, if you're going through any kind of turmoil, the good thing to know is that it's not going to last forever. There's going to be an end. That's why Peter says over in 1st Peter chapter 1, verse number 17, these words. He says this. He says, and if you address as a father, the one who impartially judges, according to each man's work, conduct yourself in fear during the time of your stay upon earth.

He says, listen, you need to live a life of fear. That is, in the fear of God, during your time, your brief stay on earth. Look at chapter 2, verse number 11.

Beloved, I urge you as aliens. and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which rage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds as they observe them glorify God in the day of visitation. You see, Peter is concerned about the testimony of the people who are being persecuted. He is concerned about people who are having turmoil and that their lives. lives are marked different than those they hang around with in the world.

The people in the world need to know that your allegiance is elsewhere. Your affection is elsewhere. Your adoration is elsewhere. Your commitment is elsewhere. And therefore, you're not deterred by those things round about you. You are not so distraught by those bad circumstances by those trials that come your way that you lose all perspective of your eternal home. You are a stranger, he says. And as Paul would say in 2nd Corinthians 5, verse number 9, whether I'm absent from the body or whether I'm present in my body, I make it my ambition to live a light that's pleasing to God.

Pleasing to God. And that's how all of us should live our lives. We are strangers. We need to live by, listen, we need to live by our country's laws, that is heaven's laws, not society's laws. Now, that doesn't mean that we rebel against the law. No, we submit to the law. We submit to those who are over us in this land. But like the apostles in Acts chapter 5, verse number 29, when they threaten them, them not to preach the gospel. Don't ever do it again. And they said, we have to obey God rather than man.

You see, this is important because if you understand your alien ship, that's a word, maybe it's not, if you understand your citizenship is in heaven, then you understand that those are the rules that govern your life. If that's the case, you understand that every decision you make whether husband or wife is made based on your commitment to God, not your commitment to one another. There are a lot of people who have unsaved spouses. And their unsaved spouse doesn't want them to go to church. And so the saved spouse stays home.

That goes against the laws of heaven. That goes against the word of God. That is displeasing to God. You say, well, I'm honoring my husband. Listen, you cannot honor your husband and dishonor God. The only way you can honor your husband is if you honor God. And so you tell your husband, listen, dear, I know you want me to stay home. And I love you, but you must understand that I love my Lord more than anything. And my Lord wants me to gather together with his people to worship him and to praise his name and to receive instruction from him.

And that's what he wants to be to do. And that's what I'm going to do. Let me tell you something. If you honor God, he is going to honor you and your marriage. But if you dishonor God, your marriage will be dishonorable to God. Please understand that. We must obey God rather than man, even if it's our own wife or husband. When it comes to following the law of God, That is so important. And I've seen both sides of the spectrum. I've seen husbands and wives who are so committed to following God that nothing that turns them.

It doesn't mean they love their spouse less. No, on the contrary. You see, the more I love God, the more I'm going to love my spouse, unsaved or saved. In fact, the more I honor God and the more I put him first, the easier it is for me to free myself up to stop thinking about myself so I can love my spouse in a biblical way and I can minister to them and I can give myself away to them do you not think that these people had fled who had been scattered all abroad were not experiencing difficulties in their families surely were and peter reminds them from the outset your aliens sojourners strangers this is not your home And then he says, number two, they're scattered.

Deosporus, it's that word that means to sow throughout. Why were they scattered? You see, the Christians have been blamed for the burning of Rome. And Nero was on a rampage to kill them all. We'll talk more about this next week, but the fact being is that he would take these Christians, he would wrap them in animal skins and feed them to lions. And the lions would chew away at these animal skins until they got to those people and ate their flesh in front of a myriad of people. He would tie pitch around them and tie them to a post.

And he'd set them on fire, and they would light his gardens in the evening. That's persecution. That's hardship. And these people have been scattered all throughout the region of Rome. And Peter says, this is your condition. Oh, you're scattered. But you're a soldier. You're a stranger. In this land. This is not your home. You know, the Bible says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

And Peter is writing to people who are going through such hardship. And we'll see this all throughout the book. And the thing that Peter asks them to do seems so unreasonable. So impossible. But Peter says, through the Spirit of God, this is what you need to be doing. So it begins with their condition. Number two, they're calling.

They're calling. He says, you who are aliens, strangers, sojourners, who have been scattered abroad, you've been sewn throughout this region. And, you know, that's a unique word. When you sow something, you scatter it out. God was in the process of scattering his people all over the region so that their testimony would shine for the glory. of God. He scattered them everywhere so more people would be influenced by their positive testimony. And Peter wants to encourage them in their scattered position.

Help them understand. As he says in verse number one, you are chosen. You are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood, and may grace and peace be yours and in fullest measure. Listen, peace comes to those who comprehend their condition and comprehend their calling. Without comprehending those two basic elements of your life, peace will not be experienced to the fullest measure. And listen carefully.

Peter says, you are chosen. Ecclectos, which means to be selected out of something. You people have been called out of something. It comes from two words, call what's means to call, and act which means out of. So they are called out of something. They've been called out of this world to be strangers in that world. They've been called to another home so that they would realize that this earth is not their home. They were chosen by God. Now, uniquely, it's the same word used of the nation of Israel.

Way back in Deuteronomy chapter 7. It says this in verse number 6. He says, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on. the face of the earth. God was talking to the nation of Israel, helping them to understand that as they embarked on the land of Canaan, they were a chosen people. They were chosen out of all the people of the world to be God's representative to the pagan society. Over in Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse number two, it says this, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen.

you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth so again god reiterates the fact that they were chosen why because in order for you to experience peace in this world you must understand that you've been chosen to live in another world that makes sense and they needed to get that you can read about it again and in the Psalms and Psalm 105 Verse number 43. It says this, and he brought forth his people with joy, his chosen ones with a joyful shout. It speaks of how God brings forth his people, how he chooses them with a joyful shout.

Now, it's interesting to note that this terminology that was used of Israel has been used for the church. in the New Testament, that God has chosen us out to be his representatives. Over in Romans 8, 1st number 33, it says this, who will bring a charge against God's elect or against God's chosen? Same word. It speaks about the fact that God has chosen some. And if God's chosen them, there can be no charge against. them because they are gods. It says over in the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 3, verse number 12.

It says this. And so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion. You can read about it of the tribulational saints in Matthew chapter 24 how they too are chosen by God now that's imperative that you understand that why the bible says and in psalm 14 verses 1 to 3 and romans 3 versus 10 to 18 that because there is nothing good in man because man does not seek after god because of his own depravity his own sin nature the only way man can ever get to god is if god chooses him if god grants him the faith to believe.

Now understand the implications of this. Peter, at the outset of his epistle, plunges into a theological doctrine of incredible proportions. He begins with something that is so hard to grasp, but must be grasped because it's true. God says it.

In order for peace to be experienced in its fullest measure, you must understand your calling and choosing by God. Imperative that you get it. Election, choosing is a very controversial subject. In fact, one author says it this way. He says, I'm going to speak to you tonight on one of the most hated doctors of the Bible, namely that of God's sovereign election. While the truth of eternal punishment is the one most objectionable to non-professors, that of God's sovereign election is the truth most loathe and reviled by the majority of those claiming to be believers.

Let it be plainly announced that salvation originated not in the will of man, but in the will of God. See John 113 in Romans 916. that were it not so none would or could be saved for as a result of the fall of man has lost all desire and will unto that which is good john 540 in romans 311 and that even the elect themselves have to be made willing and loud will be the cries of indignation against such teaching. Merit mongers will not allow the supremacy of the divine will and the impotency of the human will.

Consequently, they who are the most bitter in denouncing election by the sovereign pleasure of God are the warmest in crying up the free will of fallen man, end quote. Now listen, The reason man has trouble with the doctrine of election because in his depravity, he wants to take some credit for the choice that he made. Somehow there's something in me good enough to make the proper choice. He wants to have credit. That is simply pride and arrogance on the part of man. nobody can be saved unless you've been chosen by God John 15 16 you did not choose me I chose you Christ says there's no debating that statement how do you get around the fact well yeah I chose you no God says I chose you the reason we would make any choice to follow God is because we have already been chosen by God.

And he would draw us to himself. No man comes into the Father unless the Father, what? Draws him. Important to understand that. You see, the first objection by people who don't like the doctrine of election is that somehow God is unfair.

That's how God would choose some and not others. That's just not fair. And usually, you know what that's rooted in? When you were growing up, and they chose people to play on certain teams, and you weren't chosen. Remember that? Think about that. I'll choose that one on my basketball team. And that guy, in that guy, and that guy, and that guy, and you're left over there. You're not chosen. And you took great offense to that. And somehow now as you get older, you say, wait a minute, that's really not fair.

It wasn't fair growing up as a kid, and it's not fair that our God, our loving God, would choose some and not choose others. Let me tell you something.

It's not about fairness because God isn't fair. God is just. God is holy and God is righteous. God doesn't do anything by fairness. Fairness is man's standard. Justice is God's standard. You see, we define fairness by our human standard. We determine what we think is fair or what we think is unfair. But that, in essence, makes us God. That somehow we can think, we can determine what is right and wrong. what is fair and unfair, but only the just God of the universe can determine what is right and true and holy.

The Bible says in Psalm 97, verse number two, righteousness and justice are the foundation of its throne.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God's throne. Isaiah 55, 8 and 9, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are. my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts as fallen creatures we are never in a position to determine whether God is right or wrong just or unjust fair or unfair for