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It was about a year ago, this holiday, last Christmas, and I'm not a
Facebook guy by nature, that I decided to reconnect with one of my close friends from seminary.
Actually, when he first met me at seminary, he used to call me the loud -mouthed
Puerto Rican. He got half of it right.
We took classes together. We studied theology together. We talked about ministry.
We graduated together. I was best man in his wedding. And last Christmas, when
I connected with him again on Facebook, this is the response I received from him.
I have apostatized from the church, put the Bible aside completely, for since the divorce and moving in with the woman
I've chosen to bond with, no, I am not legally married and do not plan to be ever again.
I do not go to any church or study group and do not plan to ever again either.
My position now, in a way, can be summed up with U2's front man, Bono's words, nothing has separated more people from God than organized religion.
The reason I question the possibility of me and you having a relationship is because you would have to agree to not provoke or insist on talking
Scripture with me as other well -intentioned believers have tried to do and failed miserably.
If your view of spirituality and the Scriptures and the whole Christian life changed since our time together, if it hasn't changed, let's face it, we practically did everything together, then it is inevitable we won't communicate very long.
It's like I told one believer who tried to get me to repent, can you accept the fact that I do know what the
Scriptures say and still hold to my apostate position? Can you accept the fact that no man is my master but Christ alone and may indeed be dealing with me in a way that has nothing to do with you?
The last thing I want is any teaching, preaching, instructing, or supposed enlightenment from a well -intentioned born -again believer.
I studied, memorized, and read enough Scripture to quote anyone into oblivion and I have no intention to enter that ring anytime soon."
End quote. If that weren't enough, just read
Pastor John McArthur's book, Hard to Believe. He shares experiences of three friends from high school, college, and seminary.
And I quote, Some of the most dramatic examples I've ever seen of the deceived, disguised as Christians were people who had been my closest friends.
The first was a high school classmate and teammate named Ralph. He and I worked summers at his dad's car dealership, repossessing cars from people who hadn't made their payments, a teenager's dream job.
We spent a lot of other time together besides work and school, passing out tracks and witnessing in Pershing Square in downtown
L .A. He was the head of his church youth group. I was the head of mine. He said all the right things and seemed for all the world to be on fire for Christ.
But when he went off to college, he completely abandoned the faith. I was stunned.
In college, I had a close friend named Don who was, I thought, a true spiritual friend in every sense.
We were co -captains of the football team. He was class president and I was vice president.
We both taught Bible studies. Our dads were pastors. We were thinking about being pastors too.
We talked a lot together about serving the Lord. But then he went off to Europe, got a Ph .D.
in psychology, became a teacher and rock concert promoter, and eventually was indicted, convicted, and sentenced for having students naked up in front of his classroom.
He totally abandoned the faith. Then I went to seminary where one of my best friends, whose father was a dean, put a
Buddhist altar in his house after he graduated. Here was someone who had prepared himself for a lifetime of preaching and teaching the truth of Scripture, yet whose whole life and ministry up to that time were revealed to be a deceptive lie.
If that weren't enough, CD that Grace to You put out, Phil Johnson Q &A with John MacArthur, the intro, they read a letter that was sent to Grace to You by a pastor, and I quote,
Dear Grace to You, Over many years I have been blessed to receive free tapes, CDs, books from your ministry.
Thank you. At those times I really appreciated them. Now I no longer believe in the
God of the Bible or in Jesus Christ. Ten years of full -time ministry proved to me that there is no
God and that the God of the Bible does not care. I now reject Christianity and have come to peace.
What was at first a great loss has now turned to joy, peace, and freedom. I did not leave the faith because of some extreme sin.
I left because the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all a fantasy.
I'm happy I now live in the real world. I only feel guilt about the many people whom I led to Christ and exposed them to the lies of Christianity.
I'm not mad at Christians. I'm not mad at you. However, I am mad at myself for not being a more critical thinker.
I won't make this mistake again. Again, thank you for the many years of help and teaching you all shared with me.
I do appreciate what you are trying to do with the knowledge you have. Please remove me from your mailing list.
Save the money. Don't waste it on an apostate like me. I was just giving your CDs away.
But now my conscience can no longer tolerate the further spread of a false hope and disappointment.
Sincerely, Steve Agnostic. What do we make of those?
Do we come up with a new dichotomy of theology and label people carnal Christians?
Is our salvation secure? Can we have assurance of salvation, as Pastor Mike highlighted at the end of the message today?
These are issues that the Apostle Peter addressed in his first letter. So would you please turn with me to 1
Peter 1. 1
Peter 1. We're going to be looking at verses 1 through 9.
This is Peter's doxology for the security of our salvation. And he's going to give us five reasons why we can be secure in our salvation.
Five reasons why we can be secure. But before we look at that in a little more detail, let me give you a little background.
I use what I call triple A. Many of you have triple A cards, right? Well, you need a triple
A card when you study the Bible. You have to know who the author is. You have to know who the audience is.
And you have to know what the aim is or the purpose of his writing or what we call in pastoral theological terms authorial intent.
Who is the author? Peter. Peter who had failed many times.
Recall when he was walking on water, he sank. He's the only one of the disciples that Jesus addressed him as Satan when he told
Peter, Get behind me, Satan. He was the one who had said to the
Lord, I will follow you unto death. And then he denied him three times. Yet it was also the same
Peter who in John six, when many false disciples stopped following Jesus because his teaching was too hard.
And Jesus had turned to them and said, has this offended you? Quite the seeker, friendly guru
Jesus was. He turned to the twelve and gave him an exit out. And he said, do you want to leave too?
Peter responded to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Or when Jesus asked him, who do people say that I am? It was Peter who said, you are the
Christ, the son of the living God. Or in Jesus's interaction with the rich young ruler.
Who left without salvation. And he told the disciples, what is impossible with man is possible with God.
Peter turned to him and said, we have left everything to follow you. So here we were going to see in first Peter one with Peter talks about the keeping power of God.
He understood. The keeping power of God. From his own experience, it was
Jesus himself who said in Luke twenty two. Verses thirty one to thirty two. Simon Simon.
Behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might shift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.
And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers. And that is why
Peter begins this epistle with a doxology. Doesn't he know better?
Doxology are meant for the end. But he can't hold back. Verse three, he says, blessed be the
God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Reminiscent of Paul in Ephesians one, his run on one run on long
Greek sentence. Blessed is the Greek term where we get the English term eulogy to say something good about somebody.
And that is what Peter is about to do. Say something great about our God. Who is he writing to his audience?
He says in verse one there in our text to those who are elect what exiles. These believers were exiles.
It was under Nero. When Rome was burned at the time, he put the blame on Christians. And because of that, they suffered persecution.
They were thus dispersed. He says right there in verse one to those who are elect exiles of the what of the dispersion.
And Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Pontus, that's where my grandfather was from that area.
These were believers who were in exile, who were dispersed, who were suffering persecution. So Peter, who knew from his own experience the keeping power of God, is writing to them about that.
That's why he says in 1st Peter chapter 2 verse 11 as aliens and strangers in the world.
In chapter 4, he talks a lot about suffering and what they have to go through. And what is his aim for writing this epistle?
If you turn to chapter 5 verse 12, he makes that very clear. The last chapter of this epistle, he says in verse 12.
Here's a man, Peter, the apostle who understood the keeping power of God for all his failures.
And was writing to believers who were persecuted in and scattered and dispersed and were suffering.
And why is he writing to them? Verse 12 of chapter 5 by Sylvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him,
I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.
That's what they needed to hear. He also gives us another little hint in 2nd
Peter chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. 2nd Peter chapter 3 verses 1 and 2.
What was his aim in writing? He says there, this is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved.
In both of them, I'm stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder.
And don't we need to be reminded? We're forgetful. How many times you read the
Old Testament and God's dealing with a nation of Israel. Do not forget, do not forget, do not forget.
So Peter is writing this epistle to remind them of the grace of God that can strengthen them in these difficult times, just as it was the grace of God that strengthened him during his failures.
Now, as we get into the details of the five reasons why Peter lists here of why our salvation is secure.
For those of you who have been at BBC for any length of time, short or not, because of the solid biblical preaching and teaching, these are some truths you have very well heard before.
It doesn't sometimes familiarity breed contempt, but mi genito,
God forbid, may it never be, by no means.
May these truths never grow old for us, because they are the foundation of why we are secure in our salvation.
Five reasons Paul, Peter gives here. Number one, election, election.
And I had no idea what Pastor Mike was going to preach on this morning. This must be my spiritual experience right now.
Election. We can't just bypass the introduction. Look what he says to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion to those who are elect in chapter two, verse nine.
He says of them, you are a what a chosen race. You are chosen race.
And I want to camp on this very first point a little bit. Pastor Mike in his book calls it the stumbling block of all stumbling blocks.
An election is what I call a diamond of a doctrine. It's that kind of doctrine that you can examine from all facets like a diamond, and it never loses its brightness.
So let me give you some basic diamond facets about the doctrine of election.
Number one, election highlights the sovereignty of God in salvation. Election highlights the sovereignty of God in salvation.
That's what Peter says in verse to look at the text. According to what the foreknowledge of God, the father.
What foreknowledge does not mean. It does not mean that God looks down through the quarters of time and sees who is going to respond in faith to his son into the gospel.
If that was based on that, God would not be sovereign. God election chooses by his own sovereign grace.
MacArthur in his study Bible puts it this way. Foreknowledge means that God planned before, not that he observed before.
He planned before to elect people. He didn't observe down the future and see who would make a great
Christian, a loudmouth preacher or whatever. He just elected by his own sovereign choice.
If you have somebody who believes in conditional election, ask him this next time.
What their view of the sovereignty of God is. Because you can't believe in conditional election and at the same time believe in the sovereignty of God.
Sovereign election is unconditional election because it's not based on the condition of man's response, but only by the grace of God.
Paul highlights this in Ephesians one, the sovereignty of God in love. Verse five, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.
Watch this according to the purpose of his will. Verse 11 of Ephesians one in him, we have obtained an inheritance.
Haven't been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.
And God's sovereign in how he chooses. He chooses based on his grace, not because of any thing he sees in man.
Of the nation of Israel, he said in Deuteronomy seven verses six through eight. The Lord, your
God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord said his love on you and chose you for you are the fewest of all peoples.
But it is because the Lord. Loves you.
He chooses how. He not only is sovereign in how he chooses, God is sovereign over whom he chooses.
Paul, when he defends the doctrine of election in Romans nine, he knows his readers are going to be upset about this.
The stumbling block of all stumbling blocks. So he asked the question in verse 14, what shall we say then?
Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom
I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion.
But on God, it doesn't depend on human will.
It depends on God. God is sovereign. That's what election highlights.
Number two of truth about election. Election is not just a New Testament doctrine. We just shared a verse with you from Deuteronomy seven about Israel.
And in Romans nine, Paul goes back to the Old Testament. Jacob and Esau and Moses and Pharaoh to defend election.
Number three election gives a death blow to human merit, a knockout punch to human merit.
Romans nine, Paul says versus 10 and 11. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather
Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad.
Why? Here comes a purpose clause. In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
It's not because of works because it's of God's election. It gives a death blow to human merit.
Number four election is from eternity past. Election is from eternity past.
When did God choose us? Verse four of Ephesians one makes it clear he chose us when before the foundation of the world.
And finally, it all leads up to this. Election brings glory to God.
Let me tell you, if somebody struggles with election. They like to praise themselves.
Election brings glory to God. Ephesians one again, five and six.
He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.
Verses 11 and 12. In him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Verses 13 and 14 sealed with a promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.
So lead their Gloria. The first reason
Peter tells us that we can be secure in our salvation is because of election, because it highlights the sovereignty of God.
It's not just a New Testament doctrine. It gives a death blow to human merit. It's from eternity past, and it ultimately brings glory to God.
As only Spurgeon can put it. I believe the doctrine of election because I'm quite sure that if God had not chosen me,
I should never have chosen him. And I'm sure he chose me before I was born, or else he never would have chosen me afterwards.
And he must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why he should have looked upon me with special love.
Not only does Peter highlight the doctrine of election, but number two, why can we be secure in our salvation, even as we're going through trials and sufferings like these believers?
Number two, regeneration, regeneration. Look at verse three.
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again.
God has caused us to be born again. Regeneration is a work of God. Recall Jesus's interaction with Nicodemus in John three.
How did Jesus define to being born again? It is to be born of the spirit. The Greek, anagenesis, comes from two
Greek words, which means to be born from above. Being born from above.
That's why John the Apostle said in chapter one of his gospel, verses 12 to 13,
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Why is regeneration all of God? Very simple. Total depravity.
There is no one who sees God. No, not even one. There is no one who understands.
None who is righteous. In the Greek culture, we always hear grandparents and parents talking about children.
Oh, he has such a good heart. No, he doesn't. Jeremiah tells me his heart is wicked and deceitful above all else.
Who can understand it? Total depravity. Regeneration has to be a work of God.
And notice what Peter highlights. He has caused it to be born again according to his great mercy.
In the same way, election is according to the foreknowledge of God. Regeneration is according to the mercy of God.
Paul highlights that in Ephesians. After talking about total depravity, Ephesians 2 .1, Dead in our trespasses and sins, following the devil, following the course of this world, objects of wrath, verse 4.
But God, who is rich in what? Mercy. Titus 3 .5.
He saved us not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. In his own personal testimony,
Paul said in 1 Timothy 1 .13, Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man,
I was shown mercy. It's the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Not only does Peter highlight election and, two, regeneration, the third reason we can be secure in our salvation is, number three, a living hope.
A living hope. Notice verse 3 as he continues. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
The hope that the Bible talks about is not the way our world uses the term hope.
It's not a false hope. It's not the hope that I hope
I get a good grade in soteriology class. This is the real hope.
Hebrews 6 .19 says this. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.
This living hope is a sure and steadfast anchor of your soul.
That's security in salvation. But notice how it happens. Through the resurrection of Christ.
We know Paul's classic passage in 1 Corinthians 15 where he categorically lists what would happen if Christ had not been raised.
Our preaching would be in vain. Our faith would be in vain. We would be false witnesses of God.
Our faith would be futile. We would still be in our sins. Those who have fallen asleep in Christ would have perished.
And he finishes climatically with this. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Living hope only can happen through the resurrection of Christ. Otherwise it's a false hope.
Number four. Our inheritance. Our inheritance. Notice the words that Peter uses here.
He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ into an inheritance.
And he uses four descriptive terms. Three negatives and one positive. The three negatives.
It's imperishable. It means it's not corruptible. It's permanent. It's the image of an invading army that cannot plunder or spoil our inheritance.
It's the same word, this word imperishable, Peter uses later in chapter one of the blood of Christ and of the word of God.
How we are saved through the imperishable word of God. This inheritance is undefiled.
It means it's unpolluted. It's unstained. Our inheritance cannot be defiled.
Not that it will not. It cannot be defiled. It cannot decay. It cannot be contaminated.
Thirdly, our inheritance is unfading. That word in Greek is used of flowers.
That beauty lasts. It's an unfading beauty. And he describes it finally with one positive.
It is kept or reserved in heaven for you. That is security of salvation.
And finally, Peter highlights the fifth reason why our salvation can be secured.
The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
Versus five continuing. Who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for our salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
This doctrine does not mean that believers will never fall. It does not mean that you will never sin.
It means that you will never ultimately deny the Lord. It means that because faith is a gift of God, it will never stop believing.
You will persevere to the end. In this context, versus five through nine, the term faith is mentioned four times.
Notice we are being guarded through faith. Faith is mentioned four times. It is a gift of God, Ephesians 2 .8.
Philippians 1 .29, Paul said, it has been granted to you to believe in Jesus Christ.
What is faith? Hebrews 11, it's the assurance of substance of things hoped for.
The conviction of things not seen. Well, why will believers persevere?
What would Peter's answer be based on verse five? Because of God's protecting power.
God's protecting power. That word there in the Greek is the word phryo, which means fortress.
God protects our salvation like a fortress. We sang that song, that hymn by Luther tonight.
A mighty fortress is who? Our God. Or is it a mighty fortress is the sinner's prayer.
A mighty fortress is our God. Who guards us? God guards us. Until when? Until the last day.
And how does he guard us? Through our faith. He continues in verse six, highlighting this doctrine of perseverance.
In this you rejoice. What is he talking about? What is the this referring to? All of that Peter is excited about in praising
God. His doxology about the work of salvation that God has done in their lives. From election to regeneration.
In this you greatly rejoice. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have had you have been grieved by various trials.
That word trials literally in the Greek is the word temptation. Temptation. Later in chapter four,
Peter said, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you. To test you as though something strange were happening to you.
But rejoice as you share Christ's suffering. Verse seven, Peter continues.
What's the purpose of trials? Verse seven, so that the tested genuine of your faith.
That word tested means to try to prove something is real or genuine. God is not up in heaven trying to figure out who is his and who is not.
So he's not sitting up there saying, you know what? I'm going to send them some trials and that'll help me discern who is mine and who is not.
Second Timothy 2 19 says, but God's firm foundation stands bearing this seal. The Lord knows those who are his.
This testing is not for God's sake. It's for man's sake. God knows who he is, who are his.
He's the one who elected them after all. This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
No matter what trial a believer goes through, they will persevere. God guarantees it because that faith is a gift from God.
Jesus made it clear in John 6. All that the father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.
For I've come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me.
But raise him up on the last day. What's the relationship between God's keeping power and trials?
Here, Peter highlights the fortress that God protects us with. He highlights the trials.
First Peter 5 10. He tells us at the end of the book the following. And after you have suffered a little while, the
God of what of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
God is the one who keeps believers in trials. And notice as Peter finishes up this section, what are the characteristics of this genuine faith?
This faith by which God protects us as a fortress, secures our salvation even through trials.
Verse 8. Though you have not seen him, you what? You love him.
Genuine faith loves the Lord. I love John 8. I love that interaction with Jesus.
If you hold to my teaching, if you continue or abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you shall know the truth.
The truth will set you free, right? They turn to him and say, free? We're not slaves of anyone.
Yes, you are. He who sins is a slave to sin. Well, we have Abraham as our father. And then they get even more spiritual and say, we have
God as our father. And what was Christ's response? If God were your father, you would? Love me.
Loving the Lord is a genuine evidence of true faith. Not only so, but he continues here.
Verse 8. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy.
True faith not only loves the Lord, but it never stops believing. There is no such thing as a believer stopping believing, ceasing to believe.
That is not faith as the Bible describes it. Five reasons
Peter gives you can be secure of your salvation. Number one, because of God's election.
Number two, because of regeneration. Number three, because of our living hope.
Number four, because of our inheritance. And number five, because of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
So what? What can you take away from this? Let me give you a couple of lessons to take with you.
Number one, God's sovereign election of you causes you to be humble, not proud.
God's sovereign election of you causes you to be humble, not proud. There is no pride in the
Christian life when you grasp the doctrine of election. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
Paul put it like this in 1 Corinthians 1. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.
Why? So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. Where can there be boasting?
With election. I love how Richard Phillips puts it in his book, Chosen in Christ, which is his exposition of Ephesians 1.
The doctrine of election cites this set purpose of God in Christ as the cause of our individual salvation.
Why is anyone a Christian? We ask. One might answer because they believe the gospel. But we go on and ask, why did they believe while others did not?
The issue then is this. Is it because of something in the Christian that's more spiritual, that is better in one way, that enables him to believe while others hear the same message and do not?
The Bible says no. It is not because of anything in us, but because of something in God, namely his own sovereign choice, his eternal election of individuals to be his own through faith in Jesus Christ.
Or Arthur Pink puts it this way in The Sovereignty of God. The truth of God's sovereignty removes every ground for human boasting and instills the spirit of humility in its stead.
It declares that salvation is of the Lord, of the Lord in its origination, in its operation, in its consummation.
It tells us we are born not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. And all this is most humbling to the heart of man who wants to contribute something to the price of his redemption and do that which will afford ground for boasting and self -satisfaction.
The lesson to be learned is humility. Number two, the doctrine of election makes you more grateful for your own salvation.
It ought to make you more grateful. It ought to make you to burst out and worship like Peter does in verse three here.
After all, he chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world. He predestined you to be adopted as his son through Jesus Christ.
And all for what purpose? For his glory. You're one of God's elect, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God.
Is there reason to be thankful? Number three, the doctrine of election does not absolve you from the privilege and responsibility of evangelism.
When I was teaching through Ephesians at our church that I was pastoring, and of course, when you're
Ephesians 1, you cannot bypass election when you're going verse by verse. One of the ladies of our church approached me after who had been preaching the gospel to her father.
And she said, great, I'm all set. If God has elected my father,
I don't have to say anything to him. What do you say to that? I said, I'll tell you what
I say to that. Let me take you to the Bible. Romans 10. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent? So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
Do not use election as a crutch to absolve yourself of evangelism. What's interesting, the lady who had approached me then, we went to her son's birthday party this afternoon.
And her father happened to be there. And her father pulls me inside and starts talking to me in Greek about the disastrous situation in Greece.
And why it's become the way it's become. How people who have loaned money are not keeping accountable people to pay back what they've loaned.
How people are working very little and making a lot out of it. And how he bleeds for his homeland that this is happening.
I put my hand on his knee, he's about in his seventies. His wife is suffering in a nursing home with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
And this is the man that this young lady was trying to preach the gospel to. And trying to understand how that interacts with election.
And I said to him, you know what the issue and the problem is in Greece? Why Greece is such a mess?
It's because of what the Bible, the very holy word of God calls Amartya.
And we had a little theology class on Amartyology. What sin is.
And I said, those guys who are not paying back what they got loaned to. And those guys who are cheating the government.
It's because of sin. They're totally depraved. They only think of themselves.
And you know what? I know you're an honest man. I know you are a hard worker as I am.
But it doesn't matter. You and I, you're a sinner also. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
And Jesus came the first time. And he's coming a second time as the judge.
To judge sin. He continued on about his discussion about Greece. I put my hand again on his knee and I said to him,
I asked him. Do you acknowledge that you're a sinner? And then
I had him pray the sinner's prayer. Just kidding. His daughter came to me to greet me, to say goodbye to me.
And as she greeted me, I said to him, and while she was listening. I will not give an account for her.
She will not give an account for me. I said, when you sin against your fellow human being,
Psalm 51. I've sinned first and foremost against God. Your sin is first an offense against the
Holy God. So I said, what you need to do is to turn from your sin and repentance. And turn to the
Lord Jesus Christ in faith. Number four, the doctrine of election gives you more freedom and boldness in evangelism.
At least it ought to. Why? Because you can't convert anybody. Because if it was dependent upon you and me, forget about it.
Conversion is solely a work of God. We talked about that. Peter did in regeneration. He's the one who caused us to be born again.
You know, when I preach the gospel, you know what verses are going through my head. John 6, 37.
All that the father gives to me will come to me. John 6 to 44. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me what draws him.
And I know the person I'm preaching the gospel to. Acts 13, 48. If it is appointed for them to believe, they'll believe.
I know that all who are appointed for eternal life will believe. Number five, the doctrine of election should cause you to present the hard gospel truth, not a watered -down, diluted, marketed gospel.
Don't water down the gospel. Election should cause you to give the hard gospel truth.
George Mueller, some of you might know of him. Bristol, England. Orphanages.
He used to call election a devilish doctrine. But when God revealed the reality of election, it caused him to present the gospel in all its fullness, and God used him mightily.
Number six, what will get you through a trial is not to focus on the trial itself, but to focus on God's salvation and praise him for it.
These believers were suffering, and Peter begins with a praise of God's regenerating and protecting power.
What will get you through a trial is not to focus on the trial. It's to focus on what God has done in his work of salvation.
With my whole knee situation, that's been kind of a downer for me, so last Sunday I wasn't able to come to church.
So what did I do? Sit home and moan and groan and get down on myself?
No. I sang through two hymns. My hope is built on nothing less, and can it be?
And I prayed through the verses. Then I went to the Westminster Confession. I read through justification and sanctification, and I prayed then through it, praising
God for his work of salvation. Guess what? I wasn't bummed. I have a bummed knee, but I wasn't bummed.
The security of our salvation, last two, is based upon God's sovereign choice, God's saving work,
God's sustaining you to the very end, God's keeping power. That's how you know you're secure, because of God's saving power,
God's keeping power. Philippians 1 .6, I'm sure of this, Paul said, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion until the day of Christ.
Because otherwise, God's work of salvation is incomplete. What he starts,
God finishes. That's his nature. And am I glad for that? Because I'm not always like that.
Jude 24, now to him who is able to keep you from what? From stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.
Your security is based not on what you can do or have done, but on what
God has done in saving you. In election, in regeneration, into a living hope, into an inheritance, and because of his promise to persevere you to the end.
And finally, what must you do to be saved? Repent, turning from your sins, and in faith, turn and look to Jesus Christ.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we give you the praise, and we bless you the way
Peter blessed you. Even in the midst of trials, and some difficulties, or the everyday stuff that we go to, the resolution of that is theology and doctrine, and focusing upon soteriology, and what you've done in electing us, and regenerating us, and giving us a living hope, and an inheritance, and the promise of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints,
Lord. I pray that we would walk in humility, realizing that you chose us when we never would have chosen you.
That we would be bolder in our evangelism, knowing that conversion is not a work of ours, but is a work that only you can do.
And Lord, that if there is anybody here who is in any way doubting, and is not secure in their salvation, may they look to the truths of what
Peter wrote about. If there's anyone going through whatever particular suffering or trial they are going through, may they take their eyes off of self, and off their own suffering, and turn and focus, fixing their eyes on Jesus Christ, and on His marvelous salvation.
And if there's anybody here who does not know if they are elect, if they have been regenerated, and if they don't have a living hope, or aren't sure of an inheritance, may they turn from their sin and repentance, and turn to the