The Glorious Privileges of Election: Part 4

Continue the series of verse 1 and 2. We're going to eventually get out of verse 1 and 2 here today.

I want to come bring a conclusion to it and bring some practical applications to what we've been looking at for the past several weeks.

What are these glorious privileges given to God's elect? What are they?

Well, the Apostle Peter gives us the answer. The answer to that question is given to us in the epistle of 1

Peter. So, please go with me to God's Word to this wonderful epistle as we continue this and we bring this particular series to a conclusion.

As we've been looking at these two verses in detail, I believe we've gotten much out of it.

I don't know about you, it's been very profitable for my heart and soul. So, on this

Lord's Day, we're going to conclude this on the glorious privileges of God's elect.

So, 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 1 and 2. Verse 1 and 2. This morning, I'm reading from the

New King James Translation. So, hear the word of the living God.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims. Another word for that would be sojourners.

To the pilgrims, sojourners of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

Verse 2. Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father and sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace to you and peace be multiplied.

Amen. May God richly bless the reading of His word from our ears to our hearts this morning.

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, our prayer is speak

Lord. As Samuel said years ago, speak

Lord for your servant hears. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen and amen. And as opening words, the apostle

Peter here speaks to the persecuted church. And I don't believe there's any greater word of comfort that he can bring to those who are persecuted throughout

Asia Minor. He speaks to the elect, to the elect.

And by the way, this term was used to describe all believers in that day. We don't hear it often spoken in churches today, does it, the elect brother here, and the elect brother

Keith, and the elect sister Fee, or the elect sister Linda, the elect sister

Lillian, the elect sister Sherry, the elect Teresa, the elect

Anna, the elect Ben, the elect Elizabeth. Sounds odd, doesn't it?

But really it's a great comfort to know that you're elected of God. A term which was used to describe all believers in their early church, for they were the chosen people of God, and the special objects of God's mercy and love.

And that's something we need to keep in the forefront of our mind, that when you are elected God, you are the special, you're the apple of God's eye.

You are the election according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father. The Holy Spirit has set believers who are elect apart from the world for the service of God, and has imparted to them

His holiness. We're partakers of His holiness. What a great privilege that is, just to know that we are elect and part of the family of God.

And the very purpose was that they should obey Jesus Christ. And this is what Peter says, that it's for the obedience to Jesus Christ.

And become partakers of all the glorious benefits that's secured by the death of Jesus.

And to these believers, this was a great comfort to those who were persecuted in the faith and for the faith.

So the apostle voices the prayer at the end of this, and he says, grace to you and peace be multiplied.

What a beautiful start out to a persecuted church.

That the weary, battle weary, and needed to hear words of comfort, that they were elected of God.

And these are the privileges that are given to God's people. So it is true of all Christians as well, wherever they may be scattered abroad throughout the whole world, that they are one race in virtue of a new and divine birth.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism. They are sojourners as we are sojourners.

Pilgrims, strangers, aliens as one translation says.

Whose citizenship is in heaven by the way. This world is not our home, we looked at that. And heaven is our real home.

So we need to keep that in mind that we are only passing through for a very short period of time. The believers that are elect, and I like to put it this way, owe all that they are to the providence and provision of God the

Father who chose them. They owe all to God the

Holy Spirit who sanctifies them. And they owe all to God the Son who saves them, redeems them by His precious blood.

Now I like to focus on the blood of Jesus Christ on this session. And in His service.

And I pray that this is a great encouragement to you as children of Jesus. Brothers and sisters of Jesus and children of the living

God. Now keep in mind in the opening words of this epistle, Peter sets forth three great truths as we have looked at for the several past weeks.

That indicates its contents. The first section as you see is to the providence of God the

Father. The second section he deals with to the sanctification of the Spirit.

And the third section he literally emphasizes the atoning death of Jesus Christ the

Son of God. Therefore as Christians chosen by God the

Father, sanctified by the Spirit, redeemed by the Son, we are all to remember with humble gratitude that for all that we have and all that we are indebted to, is to the rich mercy of God and to the triune

God if you notice that. There is a trinity. We cannot leave that out.

And that is given not accidentally but the Holy Spirit has inspired for us to see that the whole triune

God has played part of all that happens in our salvation.

And all that we are we should depend upon the sanctifying work of His Holy Spirit. And all that we do we should seek to glorify

His Son and that is the Lord Jesus Christ and none other. Then we too may expect that in our experience grace and peace will be multiplied to us as well.

And that is actually what He does. Right from the beginning He gives that beautiful starting great words of encouragement.

So the great privileges of the elect are what? First of all, we are chosen by God the

Father according to His foreknowledge. Second, the elect are strangers, pilgrims in the world.

Their home is in heaven and therefore they are set apart to be different. And we are meant to be different. Third, we looked at the elect are scattered by God throughout the world to be a witness and to be a blessing, to be salt and light for the glory of God.

It is not about us, it is about God. It is the glory of God and enjoy

Him forever. That is the purpose. Fourth, we look at the elect are intimate with God, that they are foreknown before creation, before this world was even made and is justified and sanctified by faith.

Fifth, the elect are sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God to be holy and righteous at justification and continues in their walk in the

Lord until they are glorified to see Jesus face to face. And sixth, the elect are set apart for obedience.

We looked at that last Lord's Day to the faith and whereas before they were disobedient to God, now they love the

Lord Jesus and obey His Word. Seventh and eighth today, the elect are sprinkled with Christ's blood.

Meaning they are set apart as kings and priests to serve the living

God and forgiven, purified from sin and participate in the new covenant.

Eighth, the elect are the recipients of God's abundant grace and peace and all this is in the triune

God, was written to encourage the persecuted church amidst suffering. I don't know about you, if I was suffering severely in which right now we're pretty much living in comfort.

But when someone is in hardships and affliction and suffering, these words are great comfort to them.

So look, we'll look at the glorious privileges of the elect. John MacArthur put it this way, the condition of the elect is found in verse 1.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the pilgrims and dispersion in the Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Pythia.

Second, the nature of the election is the elect, that they are elect, chosen of God.

Then you have the source of the election, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

Then you have the spirit of election and sanctification of the spirit. Then you have the effect of the election for obedience.

Then you have the security of election, which is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. And you have the advantages of election, which is grace to you and peace be multiplied.

That's his outline. And that's really beautiful. Well, let's look at it.

The elect are sprinkled with Christ's blood. The elect are sprinkled with Christ's blood.

What a glorious thing. Sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, Peter says.

Sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. Notice with me in verse 17 through 21 of 1

Peter. Go with me there, just a page over.

And notice what he says. He just not only begins with speaking about the blood of Jesus, he carries this thought over in verse 17 through 21 of verse

Peter. And Peter says this. If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work.

He says this. Conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. Brother Keith brought to our attention this morning.

The fear of God throughout the whole time of our stay here on this earth is in fear.

Remember what Paul says. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Verse 18,

Peter says. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible, which is perishable things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by the tradition from your fathers.

Now he's speaking to Jewish Christians here. And then he says in verse 19. But, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot.

And then verse 20 he says. He indeed, speaking of Jesus, was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.

Who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead, and gave

Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

The precious blood of Jesus Christ. The blood, the blood, the blood of Jesus. This is another profoundly important practical component of election.

Is the security of and for the believers is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

This is so important. So vital. It's a phrase that is based on Moses sprinkling sacrificial blood on the people of Israel.

As we will look in a minute as a symbol. And it was a sealing of the covenant as a promise to obey

God's word. So it just was not a one time act. It was a continuing process that had to take place in their daily lives.

And that event is significant enough that the letter of Hebrews even mentions once specifically and once by illusion.

And when Moses had spoke every precept. And this is what

Hebrews 9, 19 -20. You can turn with me there if you like. It's very close to 1

Peter. Just go back. Just go back actually. We just went through the book of James, alright?

Just pass James and wow, you're right there at Hebrews. Not far. I think these are verses that are very potent to what

Peter is saying in reference. Specifically he's speaking for when

Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law. Notice what he did.

He took the blood of calves and goats with water, scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people.

And in verse 20 saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God had commanded you.

God commanded it. And then in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 24 notice this.

By illusion. To Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Don't you love that? Better things than that of Abel. Everything about Jesus Christ is better.

That's what the whole book of Hebrews is about. It's better. He's better. He's better. He's better. For He is our mediator.

He stands between a holy God and sinful man. He is the bridge.

Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Buried. Resurrected. Jesus Christ our mediator of the new covenant.

Now Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God. We know that don't we? And scripture says that without faith it's impossible to please

God. Abel came and pleased God by faith. So he pleased

God with his sacrifice whereas Cain did not please God. Because Abel did exactly what he was commanded by God.

He gave a blood sacrifice. He pleased God. And he offered it in faith and he offered it in obedience.

But it had no atoning power to it though. There was a covering but there was no atoning power.

Only the precious blood of Jesus Christ brought in redemption the forgiveness of sins and a complete salvation.

And that's why the writer of Hebrews points to Jesus Christ as that sacrifice is better.

It's a better covenant. So the blood of Abel's sacrifice only really provided a temporary covering in that time period under the old covenant and under him.

But the precious blood of Jesus Christ His sacrifice declares and provides eternal forgiveness.

Hallelujah. Think of that. A better covenant.

A better sacrifice. It's all in Jesus. And in the new covenant faith is in the shedding of Christ's blood on the cross.

And that's what we look to for our salvation. It literally activates

God's promise to give the believer perfect atonement for our sins. But also it brings the believer into the covenant by one's promise of obedience to the

Lord and His word. So the apostle Peter speaks about the sprinkling of Christ's blood and he speaks of it as a continuous action and not just so nothing that would happen in the past to a believer but that what is he referring to?

My question is what is he really referring to in the text? First he refers to the forgiveness of sins that occurred as a result of Christ's death.

Let me say that again. So what is Peter really referring to? He's referring to the forgiveness of sins that occurred as a result of Christ's death.

Paul speaks of this in Romans chapter 5. Turn with me there to Romans chapter 5.

Bless her heart. She's learning and growing, isn't she? Romans chapter 5 verse 6 through 9.

These are beautiful words that the apostle Paul speaks of. Now he speaks of justification by the blood of Jesus Christ.

Now we do know that justification comes by faith alone, don't we? But what is that faith in?

That faith is in the atonement and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That's what our faith is in.

And Paul says this in verse 6. Notice what he says. But when we were still without strength.

We are without strength, aren't we? In other words, basically we're saying, you don't have enough strength in yourself to save yourselves.

No one does. No one on the face of this earth has enough strength to save themselves.

That's what he's referring to. For when we were still without strength, in due time

Christ died for the ungodly. Not for the righteous. He came for the ungodly.

Verse 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.

In verse 8. And here's the transition. But God. Aren't you glad of that transition?

But God. But God. But God. Demonstrates His own love toward us and that while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us. In other words, we are helpless. We are without strength.

We cannot save ourselves. But Jesus came. But God demonstrated

His own love toward us. And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We had nothing to do with that salvation. God provided it all. God did it all.

And don't you know, look at what he says in verse 9. Much more then. There's more. What is it?

What is it? What is it more? Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through Him.

That's what He saves us from. It's not only eternal hell fire, but it is that God saves us from God.

God saves us in His mercy from His wrath. His mercy is only in Jesus Christ.

And He saves us from the wrath to come. That's what John the Baptist cried out to them. He said, flee from the wrath to come.

There's a day coming. And that day will come. And then He points them to the

Lord Jesus Christ. Behold the Lamb of God. He's the sacrifice. He's the

Lamb. We shall be saved. Don't you love that?

Notice that we might not be saved. We shall be saved. From wrath through Him.

Through Jesus Christ. Scripture says, we were justified.

We were justified. Which means God declares the believer righteous as an act of God, judicially in God's court.

The blood of Jesus Christ is applied. The blood of Jesus cleanses us. Just as we have never ever sinned.

Isn't that glorious? However, the sprinkling of the blood that the

Apostle Peter speaks of. Now, Paul, the reason I brought this out is because Paul speaks of a declaration that God makes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ that He cleanses us.

That's a one time act that's done. That's done. But there has to be a continuing cleansing.

Now some people might say, what do you mean? That's not good enough? No, that is good enough. It's a one time act. It's instantaneously.

Now, I've mentioned this before. Justification and sanctification are very closely knitted together.

But they're vastly different. Justification is that one time act, declaration that God does once and for all.

It settles. But in sanctification, there is something that God does through us but we must continue to obey the

Lord because we walk and as we are staying here on this earth, we can easily fall by the wayside.

We have to continually go through a sanctification process to stay clean.

Having you already noticed that it's real easy to get dirty in this world. And I'm talking about our heart.

Through the eye gate. Through the ear gate. To the deep soul.

So, that's... Paul even emphasizes that that's why your body does not even belong to yourself.

We have to discipline our body. It belongs to God. Everything that you have in your flesh that we're housed in.

We are a soul. A soul that has been purchased and redeemed by the blood of the

Lamb. But we also have a mind. We have eyes. We have these things.

And all that we are is Jesus Christ. You've got to keep that in mind.

So, what is the Apostle Peter? However, Peter speaks of that continuous process. It's a continuous action in our text.

Not just something that happened just in the past once as Paul speaks of. But it's a continuing act of sanctification and process of cleansing.

And it still affects us today in our daily walk with the Lord. So, go with me very quickly.

We'll look at this. Look at 1 John. The Apostle John speaks about this. And this is very clear.

Go with me to 1 John chapter 1. Notice what

John says. And I love this epistle because it's such a comfort to the believer.

And actually, that's what his aim was in writing this epistle. This apostle of love.

John the Apostle was to encourage the believers. When in the midst of false teachers that were teaching something opposite of Scripture, that he comes and gives them an encouragement that you may know that you are saved.

That you may know that you're in Him. That you may know there's a security.

But notice what we have in 1 John verse 7. This is a very, very strong verse.

There's other verses we can look at. Basically, in this section, he speaks about fellowship with Him and with one another.

Our fellowship with God and one another. It's critical. How we walk with the

Lord is how we will walk with one another. How we love the Lord is the way we will love one another and express it and show it.

He says it is. But if we walk, if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus Christ.

There it is. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Don't you love that? That's the cleansing agent. It's the blood of Jesus Christ.

The sanctifying agent is the Word. The cleansing is through the

Word, but it's by the blood. They're closely related. Water and blood. Water and blood.

So a genuine believer in Jesus Christ walks habitually, practices, in other words.

He walks in the light as He's in the light. That's truth. That's holiness.

That's what He's referring to. Anytime you see in light, He's speaking of truth and holiness. Truth and holiness.

That should be in the forefront of our eyes. All the time. Truth, holiness.

Truth, holiness. And He doesn't walk in darkness. And you know what darkness is? Falsehood and sin.

Falsehood and sin. That is diametrically opposed to truth and holiness. Isn't that what we see in this world today?

Everywhere you turn, there's falsehood, there's lies. Why? Because they're under the

Father of all lies. Satan. And their heart is fallen.

That's a lie already. Born is a liar. Darkness.

Falsehood. And sin. So their walk also results in cleansing from sin as the

Lord continually forgives His very own. So we need that continuous cleansing.

Since those walking in the light share in the character of God, they will habitually be characterized by God's holiness.

And actually that's what the writer of Hebrews says. You have been made partakers of His divine holiness.

We are partakers. We are literally right in eating and fellowship and dining and supping with Him.

So therefore we cannot have anything to do with darkness that is over here. Darkness and light doesn't mix.

They're separated. So this is a continual cleansing.

Notice in verse 8. If we say that we have no sin.

Now this, he kind of turns a different curve a little bit here but notice what he said.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Interesting.

And the truth is not in us. That's a strong word. In other words, if you say that you have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

What's he saying? We still sin continually. Habitually. But we don't practice it.

Sin is still part of our... The old sin nature is like an old corpse that's still hanging on.

We have to put it to death. We have to put those things to death. We must put them off.

Paul speaks about that. Now keep in mind, as John is addressing these Christians here.

False teachers in John's day walked in darkness but they went so far as to deny the total existence of the sin nature in their own lives.

So in other words, they basically believed in a sinless perfection but here they are walking in darkness.

They taught something erroneous and false completely. And then in verse 9 he says this.

If we confess. Again. Notice how each time he says if. We. We.

Not me. We. Confess. Now he's talking about confession. You know confession of sin is very serious.

We need to confess our sin. Sins. Call those sins as they are.

And then he says, He is faithful. God is faithful. And He's just. And what does He do? To forgive us of our...

Us. To forgive us our sins. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

There's that beautiful word again. Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And keep in mind.

This is a continual confession of sin in the walk of the believer. Which is an indication by the way of genuine salvation.

Anyone that is a false believer will not continually confess their sins and say, Lord I see my sin as ever before me as David said.

I want to be washed. I want to be cleansed. Because we are not perfectly without sin.

Like Jesus. Jesus was the only one that was without sin and perfect. We have a fallen nature that we have adopted and we got it as a gift.

A birthday gift from Adam. Not a good gift is it? Continued confession of sins which is an indication of genuine salvation.

The false teachers would not admit their sin. They would not deny that sin. They would not forsake their sin.

So they taught opposite. True believers in Jesus Christ admitted their, confessed their sin.

They forsook their sin. Confession is one part of it. But the forsaking of the sin is the integral part of it.

So this word confession. What does it mean? I looked this up in the definition.

You know it basically means to say the same thing about sin as God does.

Take note of that. It basically means to say the same thing about sin as God does.

In other words, you agree with God completely. What God says about sin is exactly the way it is.

No debate about it. God doesn't ask our opinion about it, does

He? And to acknowledge His perspective about sin. We acknowledge this is the way

God sees it. In other words, we love what God loves and we hate what God hates. Verse 7 is basically from God's perspective and verse 9 is from the

Christian's perspective. So confession of sin characterizes the genuineness of Christians and God continually cleansing those who are confessing their sin.

As in verse 7 says. And the cleansing agent again is the blood of Jesus Christ. That is the cleansing agent.

And the sanctifying agent is the Word of God. Think of this, the water and the blood.

I tell you, whoever wrote Rock of Ages, they knew exactly what they were talking about. How do you pronounce his name?

Talpate, Talpate, wrote Rock of Ages. I probably mispronounced his name. If he was here, he'd correct me.

But someone might ask this. Let me get a question here. Why is there a great need for confession and continued cleansing by the blood of Jesus Christ if we were initially cleansed by justification?

Well, that's a good question. But it's a simple answer. Some have actually called the initial cleansing judicial forgiveness in which we looked at.

So we can stand before God as righteous as we've never sinned, as Jesus paid for all of our sins on the cross.

And because of this cleansing, we no longer have to be separated from God. There's no condemnation whatsoever.

And that's true. And we would never ultimately be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus, which

Romans chapter 8 basically says. That is true. But in addition to this, there are several times in the

Old Testament that the sprinkling with the blood is mentioned which may help us further understand what

Peter is talking about in the context why we need a continuing cleansing.

So in the book of 1 Peter here, the apostle continually uses the Old Covenant references. And you know, again, he knows his audience very well, doesn't he?

Just as we looked at James, James knew his audience very well. They were Jews. They were

Jews and they always would go to the Old Covenant and always bring up Moses as well.

Because they read Moses. They were familiar with Moses. They were familiar with the Passover. They were familiar with all the feasts.

They were familiar with the tabernacle as we're reading through now. So we see this as an

Old Covenant illusion as Peter is speaking of the sprinkling of the blood and that it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

And he points to Jesus Christ. So what did the sprinkling with the blood represent in the

Old Testament? And therefore, what could this mean for Peter's reference to believer being sprinkled with the blood of Jesus?

Well, let's look at it. Number one, I think it believes this. Sprinkling with the blood always represents the believer's obedience and participation in the

New Covenant. Let me say that again. Sprinkling with the blood always represents the believer's obedience and participation in the

New Covenant. So when Moses initiated the Old Covenant with Israel, he sprinkled blood over the people.

This meant that they would participate in the Covenant. In other words, that participation was to obey it.

To obey God's holy laws. So let's look at this.

Go with me to Exodus chapter 24. This is what is in the mind of the apostle

Peter. And as Peter is a Jew, he knows this.

But he also knows who to point them to. He goes to the

Old Covenant, but he ends up in the New. I notice in chapter 24, and I'm just going to read verse 3 through 8, and it helps us get the idea of what

Peter is really saying here. So Moses came and told the people all the words of the

Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said,

All the words which the Lord has said, we will do. Okay, they were saying it.

Verse 4, And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

And then he sent young men of the children of Israel and offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of the oxen to the

Lord. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

The blood is an integral part here. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in all the hearing of the people, and they said,

All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient. Twice they said it.

Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, This is the blood of the covenant which the

Lord has made with you according to all these words. So there you have it. It was all about a covenant.

It was all about obedience. And here they were saying it, Yes, we will do everything and all that the

Lord had said, we will do it and be obedient. And Peter is speaking and alluding to this text.

So in a similar way, Jesus Christ is our great high priest. He has sprinkled us with his precious blood as we participate in all the benefits of the elect and the new covenant.

Again, Hebrews 12, 24, To Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to the sprinkling blood that speaks a better word than the blood sacrifice of Abel.

So there we see that the sprinkling with the blood represents the believer's obedience, participation to the new covenant.

Secondly, it's the sprinkling with the blood that represents the believer being set apart to serve

God as a priest. Now we've got to keep in mind this, Jesus has made us kings and priests unto

Him. This is so wonderful. Even though we are so unworthy of this,

He has graced us with these glorious benefits, beloved. And this should humble us.

All these privileges and all these benefits, He's lavished on us through Jesus Christ.

Because you're special, you're elect, you're handpicked. So when the

Old Testament priest was set apart to do ministry, he was sprinkled with blood. Exodus 29, verse 21 says this,

And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him.

And he and his garments shall be hallowed. Notice that. Shall be hallowed.

They shall be set apart. And his sons and his sons' garments with him.

So they were set aside to be holy, to serve

God. In a similar way, the believers have been set apart.

You and I have been set apart for the ministry. Now, I'm not talking about ministry in the sense of pastors and evangelists and the offices within the church.

That is with a capital M. There's a small m for every single one of us as believers in Jesus Christ, including myself.

But speaking of our walk as ministers, another word for ministry or minister is service.

We're to serve. Jesus said that. He said, I did not come to be served.

I came to serve. He came to give. And that's what service is.

It's giving of oneself. It's giving of one's energy. Giving of one's time.

Giving and giving and giving. And that's when we are very much like God.

Because God is such a giving God. He gives out of the abundance of his heart all these benefits and all these graces.

He gives and he gives and he gives again, doesn't he? He gives more grace and he gives grace. He gives peace.

So much God gives. Can you count it? We can't count it.

And Peter talks about the believers that the believers are now a royal priesthood.

A royal priesthood that offers spiritual sacrifices to God. Go back with me.

Look at 1 Peter 2 .5. 1 Peter 2 .5. The apostle

Peter says, You also as living stones. Just not stones.

You are living stones. One stone at a time. He's making something, right?

Or being built up a spiritual house. One spiritual house for the

Lord. A holy priesthood. There it is. A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And don't you love that? The only thing that's acceptable to God is through Jesus Christ.

Because Jesus Christ is the only sacrifice that the holy God has accepted.

Hallelujah. He accepts nothing else but that which is through the blood,

Jesus Christ. See, all that was prior to Jesus like Abel and the blood that was given there, that was temporary.

That was shadows. Those were tides. Jesus is the reality.

Jesus is the reality. All that points to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, not only is the sprinkling with the blood represents the believer's obedience, participation in the new covenant.

Not only the sprinkling with the blood represents the believer being set apart to serve God as a priest.

But it also is the sprinkling with the blood represents the believer's cleansing from all sin.

I think this is the most glorious. Know that your sin is completely forgotten about in the sea of forgetfulness.

He remembers it against us no more. He washes it away and God does not...

Think of that. God that knows all things will remember your sin no more.

The devil brings it up. Our flesh brings it up. But God says, Hey, I've cleansed you.

You're washed. You're cleansed. You're forgiven. And in the old covenant, a leper would have to be sprinkled with blood after his cleansing from leprosy.

Let's look at this very quickly. So much more time I got here because I know how time is. It goes by quick and it is.

Leviticus chapter 14. Leviticus chapter 14. Now, the whole book of Leviticus, as you well know, its theme is holiness.

Holiness. You want to study holiness? Leviticus is a good book to study. Everything about God's holiness.

All the feasts. Everything there in this wonderful book.

All the laws God sets aside and speaks about holiness.

But chapter 14. Look at verse... Let's see. Chapter 14, verse...

This is a ritual for cleansing healed lepers. Let me begin with the first verse. Go to verse 7.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing.

He shall be brought to the priest. And the priest shall go out of the camp and the priest shall examine him.

And indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedarwood, scarlet, and hyssop.

And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in the earthen vessel over the running water.

See all the types there of Jesus Christ. Don't you see it? And as for the living bird, he shall take it.

And the cedarwood and the scarlet and the hyssop and dip them in the living bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water.

And he shall sprinkle it seven times. Anytime you see seven, of course, you know it's a number of completion.

Seven times on him shall it... is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean.

And he shall let the living bird loose in the open field. The cleansing of the leper.

And as you well know, Jesus cleansed the lepers. No one would dare get close to a leper.

It's actually a horrible disease that affects the nervous system.

They no longer can feel their nerves. And when the fingers and the nose and the ears and everything was rotten off, they couldn't feel it.

The nervous system was just gone. Isn't that the type of sin? Leprosy is a type of sin.

It affects the nervous system. You don't even see it. You can't even tell that it's coming. It's rotting you away.

It's tearing you apart. And Jesus has the solution. It's the blood. To cleanse us.

And what does he do with the leper? He makes them whole. Touches them. And they're new again, like new flesh comes on them.

Only Jesus can do that. Excuse me for being excited about it because that really excites me.

Because you see this perfectly. That leprosy, we have that sin. That sin stain.

This is what sin does. It eats away people without them knowing it. But Jesus can make them clean.

Make them whole. It's wonderful. And then we see it in a similar way.

If you want to be a higher priest, go with me to Hebrews chapter 9. You can take this through and through.

Go to the Old Testament. Study the Old Testament. You see Jesus in tithes and shadows all through the Old Testament. Then you go to the

New Testament and you see the reality. And the whole book of Hebrews is really about those tithes and shadows that is brought to a reality.

Notice in chapter 9. I love this. Chapter 9 verse 13 and 14.

This is what Jesus does. This is the mediator's work.

13 and 14. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer and sprinkling the unclean, in which we read in Leviticus, sanctifies the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal

Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living

God? For this reason, He is the mediator of the covenant, the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant.

And those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. There you have it.

One of the great glorious benefits of our election is that we have been sprinkled with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

He cleanses us from all sin, beloved. Not some sin, but from all sin. And we need to continually be cleansed and constantly go to the cross of Jesus Christ.

And Lord, once again, cleanse my conscience, cleanse my mind, forgive me, cleanse my inward heart, my motives in which

I think things I shouldn't think and say things I shouldn't say. And when I do these things,

Lord, cleanse us. Only a believer will constantly have that attitude of wanting to be cleansed, constantly.

A non -believer doesn't have that attitude because he doesn't love the Lord. We love our

God and we desire to obey our God and we need to be cleansed from all sin.

He initiates us into the new covenant and He anoints us to be priests and kings under our

God. Well, I need to conclude this. There's so much here.

You know, we can go on and on about the blood of Jesus Christ. One more verse about the blood.

Go with me to Ephesians chapter 2. I love this. I say

I love this. I love all of it. All 66 books. It's glorious, isn't it? Verse 11, chapter 2.

Verse 11, chapter 2. This tells us how we're brought near by His blood. Only the blood of Jesus can bring us near to God.

That's the only way we can get. We bring our sins before God and we're sinners redeemed by His grace and we come, but we need to be cleansed.

How dare we come into the holy courts of God having filth on us. We need to be cleansed and washed.

Verse 11, therefore remember that you once Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ.

I don't think there's anything worse in this world to be without Christ. Being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel.

Cut off, in other words. Strangers from the covenants of promise. And this is the world, look, having no hope in without God in the world.

You know, that's the world, isn't it? There's no hope because they're without God. But we have a living hope.

We have the true hope in Jesus Christ. We have the covenants of the promise.

We've been grafted in. Notice verse 13, but now, but now in Christ Jesus you who were once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

He has brought us near. We have been brought, every person who puts their trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, whether they be

Jew or Gentile, is brought into spiritual union, into intimacy with Jesus Christ to God and He reconciles us.

This is reconciliation. The atoning work accomplished by Christ's death on the cross washes away all the penalty of our sin and ultimately even its very presence.

Praise God. Well, Peter concludes. Go back to 1

Peter. He concludes it giving something glorious.

I don't have time to really break this down but I want to come to a close on this. He says this.

Grace to you. Isn't that a mouthful? Think of that for a second.

Grace to you. The elect. Grace to you. And peace be multiplied.

Just not once, but multiplied. Multiplication. One on top of the other.

Grace after grace. Peace after peace. So the elect are called to the abundant grace and peace in God the

Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Grace to you. Peace be multiplied. He's saying may grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

That's what He's saying. All because that God lavished

His mercy on you. Undeserving of it. But He lavishes

His mercy on you through Jesus Christ. We're not deserving of it. But He has lavished it upon you.

Doesn't that humble you? So, the applications to the glorious privileges of election.

Here's just a few. The doctrine of election. I've touched on these before but I think they bear repeating.

The doctrine of election is the most humbling truth I believe of all Scripture. Of all

Scripture. The doctrine of election is no doubt, humbles the believer, humbles us because we had nothing to do with it.

It is sobering and it makes us realize that we had absolutely nothing to do with our salvation.

Only the sin that we contributed to it as Jonathan Edwards says. Only the sin that you contributed.

That's the only thing that you brought to it. But everything else, God did it all.

It was God's choice. It was

God's favor. Unmerited favor. Undeserving favor. That's what

He says. Grace. You don't deserve it. We deserve hell.

He gives you grace to you. Second, the doctrine of election is so glorious it's because it is

God exalting. It is worship enhancing. It is a doctrine that it gives.

And why? Because it gives all glory to God. No man takes part of this.

It's all of God. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that in heaven we can say, it's all you,

O God. All of you. And we cast our crowns before His feet and give Him praise and glory and honor and thanksgiving forever and ever because He's the one on the throne.

He's worthy. Praise God. It's all of God. And we'll have a whole eternity before us to praise

Him and worship Him. Give Him all the glory and all the praise and all the honor because He is worthy.

Third, election is that it produces ultimate joy. I don't have time to get into this, but look at the early church.

They constantly had joy and they looked at them, they beat them, they put them in prison, they put them in shackles and they still had joy and they sung to the

Lord. And they said, we counted a privilege and a joy that we haven't been suffering for Jesus' sake.

They said, shut up. They wouldn't shut up. They still preached Jesus. They'd lock them back up.

They still sung to the Lord. They couldn't be stopped. They were unstoppable. Put them to death.

They'd be singing as they got their heads chopped off. Isn't that glorious? I mean, we look at it, it's gruesome, it's horrible knowing that it would be our heads there.

But you know something? They went one moment into this life that is temporary and then the next thing, eternity, and they see

Jesus face to face. People say, well, that would hurt.

Yeah, it hurt, but it was just for a moment. There wouldn't be no burning in hell forever and ever and ever where you can't escape it.

Wow. Psalm 65, 4, how blessed is the one whom you choose and bring near to you to dwell in your courts.

Fourth, this eternal privilege of election promises

Christians an eternity of spiritual privileges beyond our compare. Very quickly,

I only got just enough time to read this off. My time's about gone. Notice with me chapter 1 of Ephesians.

Verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father. And by the way, right in verse 2, he says the same thing

Peter says. Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to you, peace from God our

Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice that was constantly what the apostles would give to these believers.

Grace, grace, grace, peace, peace. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Notice what he says.

That we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Having predestined us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved.

In him we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace which he has made to abound toward us all wisdom and prudence having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both who are in heaven and who are on earth.

In him, in him also we have obtained inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory.

I'll stop right there. Notice this all about the glory of God the glory of God the glory of God and finally the doctrine of election is a powerful incentive and believe me it's a very powerful incentive to live a holy life to live a holy life

Colossians chapter 3 I was sharing this with Keith Colossians chapter 3 basically tells us what we should put off and what we should put on put it off what to put off what to put on this is our continuing walk with the

Lord and we need to keep this ever before us beloved as we live in a sin -pursed world a world that is not friends with grace and not friends with God but we're friends of God we're friends of grace

God's graced us Colossians 3 notice what he says what to put off what to put on what are we to put off well he says this verse 5 therefore put to death your members which are on earth fornication uncleanness passion evil desire covetousness which is idolatry because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience

God hates it in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them and now you yourselves are to put off these things anger wrath malice blasphemy filthy language out of your mouth do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in the knowledge according to the image of him who created him there is neither

Greek nor Jew circumcised nor uncircumcised barbarian

Scythian slave nor free but Christ is all in all and notice what he says in verse 12 therefore as the elect of God there it is elect of God holy you are holy and beloved set apart beloved you are elected and he tells us specifically put on tender mercies kindness humility meekness long suffering bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against one another even as Christ forgave you so you also must do but above all these things put on love which is the bond of perfection and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body and be thankful praise

God I'll stop right there it's all about the glory of God isn't it we should express gratitude to God for this election then compels believers to a life of obedience and holiness

Amen Amen let's pray Father we thank you for this time and this study and what a privilege it is

Lord this is so beyond us but now Lord take a hold of us may we just not get this in our head may we burn it in our hearts may this be an integral part of our daily living and as your servant said if there's

R .C. Sproul if there's no sanctification then that means there never was any justification and how true that is

Lord even though we're justified sanctification follows but if there's no evidence of sanctification that means there's no evidence of justification so Father I say if there's anyone here that does not have that blessed assurance of knowing you

I pray Lord that this would be the day that they would call upon you repent and believe the gospel and follow the

Lord Jesus under his rulership under his lordship to be slaves and servants of the most high

God there's no greater privilege thank you Father for this glorious, glorious privilege of all these privileges of election all because you lavished your love on us through the mercy and grace in Jesus Christ Father we thank you and we say with the psalmist not unto us