Peace for the Persecuted, Part 2b

How can God predetermine that Jesus would be betrayed, set up the plan, make all the prophecies, fit Judas into that plan, and make Judas responsible for his own choice? How can God do that? The Bible says in Luke 22, and while I would never suppose to understand the infinite mind of God, I do know that Judas is responsible.

In Luke 22, 21, Christ said at the Last Supper, Behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table, and truly the Son of Man goes as it was determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. On the one hand, it was determined. On the other hand, Judas was responsible. You say, how can that be? Folks, I don't know. If I knew, I'd be God. If you knew, you'd be God. Which leads us to that super, super great paradox that man has a hard time understanding, divine sovereignty and human responsibility.

If you go too far to the left, you're in error. If you go too far to the right, you'll be in error, because both are true. And if you deemphasize one to emphasize the other, you'll come up with a false doctrine. You got to be careful. For the Bible says very clearly in Romans 2, 19 and 20, that they are responsible, man is responsible for what they do with the gospel.

Man is absolutely responsible for what he does with the gospel. And if they reject the light, they will be punished. That's what the Bible says.

Jesus would say in John 5, 40, he lamented, you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life. Christ would say to the religious establishment, you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life. He lamented over Jerusalem. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. If only, if only you would have come to me, I would have gathered you together as a mother hen gathers her chicks, but you were unwilling. They were responsible. In fact, he said in John 8, 24, unless you believe that I am God, you will die in your sins.

He would plead with them, you must believe that I am God, or the flip side of that is you'll die in your sins. There's no other way around it. John 6, our Lord combined both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. He said, all the Father gives me shall come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.

Truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. Divine sovereignty, human responsibility, both are true. Do I understand it? No. Do I believe it? Yes. Why? Because God said it. That's why. So, I believe what God says.

I have to, or else I become the authority, and I'm not. Only God Himself is. How can both human responsibility and divine sovereignty be simultaneous? In my mind, they can't. But in God's mind, they can. And that's what the Bible teaches. You know, I think that sometimes we have a hard time, because we have a hard time with God's love. You see, people mix this up all the time. God's love is unconditional. God's forgiveness is not. God's forgiveness is conditional. See, people say, you know, God can't love the whole world the same.

Really? Why not? Well, because He just can't. He's got to love us, the chosen, more. Really? How do you figure? This is the infinite mind of God. This is the infinite love of God, and this is the unconditional love of God. Your love and my love is always conditioned on something. God's is not. It's unconditional. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God loves the world. He loves His enemies. That's why He said, love your enemies.

Pray for those who persecute you. How could He say that? Unless He loved His enemies, which He did. You see, we think that God's forgiveness is unconditional, but it's not. Unless you repent, there is no forgiveness. Forgiveness comes because you repent of your sin. God doesn't just throw forgiveness out for everybody. If His forgiveness was unconditional, everybody would go to heaven, right? People say, well, if God loves everybody, and He died on the cross for everybody, that everybody must be saved.

Who said that? Somebody who ate too much chili, I think, said something like that. You see, because God's forgiveness is conditional, and His love is unconditional, He can love the whole world and die for the whole world, and yet only those chosen will go to heaven, because they are the ones who received the forgiveness of God. And a lot of times we mix that up. We think God just indiscriminately forgives people. No, He doesn't. Forgiveness is conditional. It's conditioned on repentance. No repentance, no forgiveness.

But God's love, unconditional. Unconditional. No one earned God's love. No one ever did anything that would cause God to love Him. God just loves because God is love. That's who He is. And because He's love, He will forgive only those who repent of their sins. Now, that's a long explanation about some things that hopefully will answer some of the questions that were asked of me after our service last time, but you need to understand that. It's important, because people have a hard time with this being chosen by God.

But I want you to notice what Peter says. He says, we are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. There are three things you need to understand about these people and their calling. Their calling was according to number one, the plan of the Father.

Number two, the power of the Spirit. And number three, the provision of the Son. All three are imperative. You must understand them. They were chosen by the plan of the Father. The foreknowledge of God the Father. Prognosis, which means that there was not only foresight involved, but forelove involved. God knew these people. God knew them beforehand. Now note, foreknowledge is not foresight. Foreknowledge includes foresight, but foreknowledge is not foresight. It doesn't mean that God would foresee you doing something, and now He's going to choose you to be His, because He saw you do something as He looked down the quarters of time and said, wow, man, I can't believe that He chose me.

I'm going to choose Him. That would make you responsible for your salvation. Now foreknowledge does include foresight because God not only knows, He sees. He sees into the future. In fact, He is the ego, a me, the I am. He's past, present, and future all at once. He inhabits all of eternity all at once. So God, it is infinite person foreknew those whom He would choose. Now notice, this same word is used over the book of Acts to help you understand something about the death of Christ.

And this is why foreknowledge is not equivalent to foresight. Listen to this. Verse 22, Acts chapter 2. Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus of Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of God's men and put Him to death. Listen, God the Father did not look down the quarters of time and see that Jesus would be crucified and then react to that plan or react to what He saw.

That is heresy. He planned it all because He foreknew it all. He was delivered up, Peter says, by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God the Father. So what you did, God already knew because God determined what you would do and how it would happen because God's in control. And Peter is helping us in 1 Peter, the guy who, by the way, preached that sermon in Acts chapter 2, says, listen, just as the Son was foreknown in eternity past because He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, so too you were foreknown by God the Father.

And that alone is going to give these people peace because amidst their persecution, He is telling them, God knows what you're going through because God is the author of calamity, Isaiah 45 verse number 7, and God had a plan, and this was part of His plan for your life, but God chose you to be His. And just the fact that you know that God the Father chose you should bring great comfort and peace. Notice, He's called God the Father two times in the New Testament.

God is called Father twice, here and in John 6. I think it's John 6. Yeah, John 6, 27. Now, God is Father, and He is referred to as Father, but He's specifically called God the Father. Remember, Jesus, when He prayed, He said, when you pray, pray this way, our Father who art in heaven. Over 60 times, our Lord referred to God the Father as His Father. The only time He didn't was when? On the cross. What did He say? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's the only time Christ in His prayers did not refer to God in heaven as His Father, because there was something that had happened on the cross that had never happened before.

And that's how He had to address Him as, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Every other time, there was that sweet, intimate fellowship and communion, and that's why He could say, into thy hands, I commit my spirit. You see, our Lord introduced to us that personal relationship. And so, what Peter's saying is that you have been chosen by the plan of God the Father, a Father who loves you, a Father who sustains you, a Father who will supply all your needs, that same Father when Christ said in John 16, and Peter was there in John 16, when Christ says, you're all about to abandon me, you're all about to leave me alone, but I will not be alone, for my Father is with me.

Think about that. Think about that. Peter heard those words, didn't understand his denial of the Lord at the time, did not understand his abandonment of the Son at that time, but now is coming back in 1 Peter chapter 1 and saying, listen, this is the way it is. You have been chosen by the foreknowledge of God the Father. He had a plan, and that plan was He was your personal, intimate Father who cares more about you than you ever imagined. And even His own Son, when we abandoned Him, was never alone, because His Father was with Him.

And when you go through your persecution, and you go through your difficulties, what gives you peace? What gives you serenity? What gives you that tranquility? Knowing that there is one right there with you when no one else is with you. We'll talk about this on Sunday. Listen, Moses was lonely in the desert, but Moses was not nearly as lonely in the desert by himself as he was when there were 2 million disgruntled, murmuring Jews at his tent door. That's when he was the loneliest, when they all wanted to kill him.

Put me back in the desert by myself, tending sheep. But boy, I tell you, he would understand the presence of God. And Peter wants us to understand the presence of the Father amidst our persecution, because that's where the peace comes from. Think about it in your own life. When you're going through hardships and Dad shows up. Listen, I'm the Savior of my family. When they're going through hard times and I show up, everything's better. Dad's there. Oh, wow. We can rest at ease. When my kids are scared at night and I go lay down with them, they're all better because Dad's here.

And so there's security that's there. There's peace that's there. They can close their eyes. They can go to sleep. If they wake up and have a bad dream, if they're afraid of somebody or somebody down the street, who do they come to? Dad. What's Mom going to do? They go to Dad. See? And so that whole fatherhood of God is so important to grasp, because He is the one that gives us the peace that we so desperately need. I got so much to say, folks. I'm not sure I can get it all done. But remember last time I told you, say, well, you know, how do I know I'm chosen?

Remember I told you that last time? How do I know if I'm chosen by the four lines of God the Father? One word, obedience. Obedience? Yeah, that's what it says. By the sanctifying work of the Spirit that you may obey Jesus Christ. How do you know you've been chosen by God the Father? Simple as this, you obey God. You obey God. Listen to Romans chapter 1. Paul says, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith. The very first thing a child of God does is obey the call of God.

And obedience marks the life of that individual. If you go to the end of Romans, Romans chapter 15, verse number 18, it says this, for I will not presume to speak of anything except that Christ has accomplished through me resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed. Over in Romans chapter 16, verse number 19, for the report of your obedience has reached to all. Verse number 25, now to him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested and by the scriptures of the prophets according to the commandment of the eternal God has been made known to all the nations leading to obedience of faith.

The bottom line for any man is to say, wow, man, am I, have I been chosen by God the Father? How do I know I'm chosen? Obedience. You love to obey the Lord God of the universe. You love to obey Him. You love to keep His commandments. Because you know as John says in 1 John, they're not burdensome. Just love to obey your God. John 10, 27, what did Christ say? My sheep hear my voice and what? They obey. Simple as that. My sheep hear my voice and they follow. They obey. So simple and yet so profound.

Not only was it the plan of the Father, but it was the power of the Spirit by means of the sanctification of the Spirit. By means of the sanctification of the Spirit. Not only was it the plan of the Father. Listen, because you have been chosen in eternity past, it doesn't mean you're saved. You're not saved until you're set apart by the Spirit of God. Right? You see, that's when eternity intersects with time. When the plan of God intersects with the life of a man. A person could be chosen from eternity past, be born today, and yet not be saved until 15 years from now.

Because at that time He hears the Word of the Lord and the Spirit of God works through the Word of the Lord and the Spirit of God sets Him apart. You see, it's so important for us to understand that all of us before we were saved were a part of a mass of unredeemed humanity. We were dead in our trespasses and sin until the Spirit of God saved us. So it's a plan of the Father and yet it is also by the power of the Spirit of God who sets us apart to accomplish the work of God. Titus 3, 5 talks about it.

By the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Spirit. That's what Jesus said in John 3 when Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born again? Christ said, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He wasn't talking about H2O. He wasn't talking about water baptism. How do we know that? Jesus in John 4, 2 says that He baptized no man. It's not about water baptism. Nicodemus would have known in Ezekiel chapter 36, verses 25, 26, and 27 about how Christ would sprinkle on them new blood and new water and would wash them and wash their spirits clean.

It was a purification process and that's why Ephesians 5, 26 says that we have been born again by the washing of the Word. Ephesians 5, 26. John 15, 3 says that we have been made clean through the Word. A man is born again by the washing of regeneration, which is the Word of God, and by the renewing of the Spirit of God. That is the power of God's Spirit. God's Spirit works in conjunction with the Word of God. That's why we say, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And the Spirit of God uses His Word to accomplish His purposes.

And lastly, the provision of the Son. The provision of the Son. It says back in 1 Peter chapter 1, it says this, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood, the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the redemption of man. It was His blood that was shed for mankind. We are set apart for salvation. And the reason that can happen is because of the provision at Calvary, where Jesus Christ would shed His blood. This is a reference way back to the Exodus chapter 24, verses 3 to 8.

At Mount Sinai, after the Israelites heard God's Word to them through Moses and said, all the words which Jehovah has spoken, we will do. And Moses sprinkled the blood on the altar and the people, thereby bringing them into a sealing with a covenant between them and God. God seals us with the covenant that lasts forever because of the provision of His Son as our substitute at Calvary. He gave His life for us. And the Bible says in Romans 5, 1, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.

Listen, there is no peace for anyone who has never experienced reconciliation with God, the Father. Peace comes because of our relationship with the living God. Colossians 1 tells us that we were the enemies of God. Colossians chapter 1, verses 20 to 22, says this, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Through Him, I say, were the things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy, blameless and beyond reproach.

It was the provision of the Son of God that allowed that to happen. Ephesians 2, 14 says, He is our peace. Isaiah 32, 17 says, listen, the work of righteousness shall be peace. The work of righteousness shall be peace. And the effect of righteousness is twofold, quietness and assurance forever. Isaiah 32, 17, mark it down. What is the effect of righteousness? Quietness and assurance forever. And Peter was affirming to these people, listen, the only way amidst your persecution that you could experience the peace of God is because you have been chosen by Him in eternity past.

And that chosen by God, the Father was a plan that He developed to make you one of His. And it was through the power of the Spirit of God and through the provision of the Son that that plan came to fruition in your life. And now you are at peace with God. And because you are at peace with God, now you can be at peace with man. But it begins with your relationship with the living God.