Sermon Brief
Date Written: May 18, 2007
Date Preached: May 20, 2007
Where Preached: OZHBC (PM)
Sermon Details:
Sermon Series: A Study on 1 Peter
Sermon Title: Salvation and You
Sermon Text: 1 Peter 1:1-2
Introduction:
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
In these 2 verses there is a lot of information that we need to look at and learn about. Much of which we would simply gloss over unless it is made known to us…
First we can see that Peter approaches this letter to these people in the traditional style of the 1st century… in which he first introduces the author of the letter, who it is to and then uses a greeting to greet those he is writing to…
He introduces the letter by immediately informing them WHO is writing to them. Peter was his name, but we see that Peter also uses a phrase that immediately gives credence to his letter and authority to his teaching… and that is that he was an apostle of Jesus Christ…
But the authority did not come from his claim of being an apostle, but that it was known by all that he had been with Jesus and it Jesus had given him the task of ‘feeding His sheep.’
Then we see that Peter moves onto the recipients of this letter and it was to believers… believers who were scattered throughout several Roman provinces.
Peter uses the term ‘scattered’ or ‘dispersion’ which was in direct reference to how the Jewish nation had been scattered after the fall of Jerusalem… and these believers had been scattered or had come to know Christ because of believers who were scattered had witnessed to them…
Another aspect of these believers that is revealed later in the letter but ties directly to the term ‘scattered’ or ‘dispersion’ is the fact that they were being persecuted for WHO they were… these people because they were Christians and it was in direct relation to the persecution of the Jewish nation because of WHO they were after being scattered throughout the world.
Looking at the 5 provinces that Peter mentions we can see that 3 of those provinces were represented on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when Peter preached his first sermon!
Galatia and Bithynia were also hotbeds of Christian movement because of Paul’s missionary efforts throughout Asia Minor.
But the main focus I want to get at tonight is what Peter leads off this letter in teaching those to whom he is writing to… and that is the subject of Salvation.
Salvation is at the very core of Christianity. It was for OUR salvation that Christ came to us as a man and lived among us as a servant. Jesus, Himself said that His mission was to seek and to save the lost…
In fact the name of Jesus means, “Savior” The message proclaimed by the angels on the night of His birth was “for there is born unto you this day in the city of David… A SAVIOR!”
In fact, when we look at the entire Bible we can see it is an account of salvation’s history. The coming of Jesus was not a mistake or afterthought of God. Jesus’ role as Savior had been determined before the creation of the world.
And we find that Peter begins his teaching in this letter to these scattered and suffering saints by sharing about the basics of salvation. It is here where Peter is so expressive in using words such as ‘elect’, ‘living hope’, ‘abundant mercy’, all throughout this letter and his teachings.
Peter teaches that salvation is assured for all of those who have trusted in Christ Jesus, and this wonderful knowledge results in a great and genuine hope.
First we see him addressing his letter to, “the elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…”
This concept of an elect people or a chosen people comes from the covenant God had made with the Jewish nation. In Duet 7:6 we read, “you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples of the face of the earth…”
Now Peter was correlating this ‘chosen’ status to these Christians who had accepted Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives!
Later we see him reminding these Gentile believers that, “you once were not a people, but now are the people of God…”
Peter begins by reminding these chosen ones that they are strangers in the world in which they now live… they are scattered and dispersed.
Peter then points out that election requires obedience to Jesus Christ. Now we must understand that there is a great mystery in our understanding of Scripture in regards to the relationship between the sovereignty of God and the free will of humanity. The Bible clearly teaches that both exist…
However, as fallible and frail humans, we have difficulty understanding how these 2 concepts can coexist. And because of this there have been many theologians who have tended to emphasize one more than the other…
However, what Peter is saying here is not contradictory but is actually complementary…
1st we can see that we are elected by God to obey Him. Obedience is at the very heart of salvation and vital to our Christian walk. To obey is better than sacrifice is what Saul was told in the OT.
And Jesus taught very specifically that obedience to Him equals loving Him and that anything less than obedience was hypocrisy when it came to Christianity…
We are also elected according to the foreknowledge of God. All of us realize that God knows EVERYTHING… past, present and future. And yet it seems to be difficult for us to grasp the practical implication of God’s foreknowledge.
Peter uses this same term in his sermon in Acts 2 when he refers to the crucifixion of Christ.
3rd we can see that we are elected according to the sanctification of the Spirit. The word ‘sanctification’ is the Greek word “Hagiosmos” which comes from the Greek root work “Hagios”
Hagios means to separate or set apart. That is what Peter is attempting to teach here in this passage: that we are to be strangers in this world; that we are to be separated from this world and its evil worldly system which is in total opposition to the things of God. We cannot be a friend of Jesus and a friend of the world!
Peter uses the phrase ‘sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” and it is really most interesting because this was a phrase that many Jewish believers would have been familiar with, but to the Gentiles that Peter is writing to… they would not have understood so easily.
In OT law, there are 3 occasions in which the ‘sprinkling of blood’ was required.
1. A Cleansing… when a leper was cleansed he had to be sprinkled by the blood of a bird…
2. Setting apart for service… Aaron and the preists of the tabernacle were sprinkled by the blood of the sacrificial lamb when they ‘sanctified’ for their priestly service…
3. Obedience to God’s covenant… when the people of Israel responded to God’s invitation to establish a covenant with Him, Moses sprinkled half the blood of the oxen on the people and the other half on the altar of God. And the people stated, “All that the Lord has said we will do… but again the focus on this setting aside was obedience.
Salvation is the key and crux of our Christian walk and experience. Until we experience the salvation that Peter speaks about here… we cannot begin to hope to deal with persecution and moving forward in maturity of faith.
Tonight… do you know Him as Savior? If you do NOT know Him as Savior, I call on you to surrender your life tonight and give it all to Christ.
When you do, you are going to find that submitting and surrendering to God does NOT strip you of your personality and individuality, but it brings you into a relationship with the Creator that allows Him to use your uniqueness to further His kingdom…
Submit to Him today and allow Him to shape and change your life into what He desires… PRAY!
