As you know our preaching theme is Discovering your Destiny, and this morning we are going to consider how we have been chosen, changed and cleansed by God.
To focus our thoughts I want us to start with a single verse from a letter written by the Apostle Peter to the followers of Christ who were living in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. For those of us who are not great on Biblical Geography, it’s roughly the area we know today as Turkey.
Peter was writing to Christians who had been scattered far from home, some because of persecution, some because of circumstance. Peter was writing to encourage people who were lonely, afraid and discouraged. These words that Peter wrote so long ago are an encouragement to us today. Listen to these words from 1 Peter 1 verse 2: "God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace."
There are three things I want to draw to your attention this morning:
1. God the Father CHOSE you.
2. God the Holy Spirit CHANGES you.
3. God the Son CLEANSES you.
1. God the Father CHOSE you.
Ephesians 1:4 tells us, “Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”
That is an amazing verse. We have been chosen, you have been chosen, I have been chosen. Chosen because of God’s love for us.
Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God has chosen us. We are special to Him, we belong to His family, we are children of the living God.
God the Father knew you and chose you long ago - the greek word used here is eklektos (ek-lek-tos’) , which means set apart, chosen before, elect, selected.
God is eternal, He knows the end from the beginning and everything in-between, He knew you from the start of time as we understand time, and He loved you and chose you to be His.
God chose those whom He knew would believe and trust in Him. God has given us freewill, yet He knew who would willingly repent and turn to Him.
In all things, especially in salvation, God is sovereign.
He knew who would believe,
He knew who would know their need of a Saviour,
He knew who would have faith in the Messiah that He would send,
He knew who would turn to Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour,
God the Father knew everything and everyone even before He spoke the universe into existence.
You and I, and all who have faith in the one true God are loved and chosen to be the people of God. 2 Timothy 2:19 reminds us, “God’s truth stands firm like a foundation stone with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and “All who belong to the Lord must turn away from evil.”
If you are a Christian this morning, if you have repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Saviour then you have been loved and chosen by God.
We are saved by God’s love and mercy, we are set free from the penalty for our sin and assured of a place in Heaven, all because of God’s love for us.
He deserves all the glory for His wonderful plan of salvation.
Choosing to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour changed our lives, and those who knew how we were may think that now we are a little odd...
As a Christian, do you know anyone who thinks you are strange? Different? Perhaps a little bit odd?
You see, when we chose to follow Christ, our lives became different, perhaps subtle differences for some, maybe radical changes for others.
Are you odd in the eyes of the world?
The preacher and author A.W. Tozer wrote these words: “A real Christian is an odd number anyway. He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen. Talks every day to Someone he cannot see. He expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another, empties himself in order that he might be full, admits he is wrong so he can be declared right, and goes down in order to get up. He is strongest when he is weakest, richest when he is poorest, and is happiest when he feels worst. He dies so he can live, forsakes in order to have, and gives away so he can keep. He sees the invisible, hears the inaudible, and knows that which passes knowledge.”
I’m pleased I am a little odd... well, maybe more than a little!
We are in this world, but as followers of Christ we are not meant to be of this world. Remember the prayer of Jesus in John 17, in verses 14-18 He prayed, “I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.”
Who are the “them” in that prayer, “them” are the disciples of Christ, “them” are you and me. God has chosen you for a purpose, God has a plan for you, you have a reason, you have a destiny.
Odd, in the world, not of the world, we make different choices, we live differently, we act differently, because God has chosen us and we have chosen Christ.
Odd because you are in church on a Sunday morning instead of at a boot sale or playing football.
Odd because instead of having a lie in, or a lazy Sunday morning, you willing get up, get dressed, and come here to sing and listen to a fat guy with a beard tell you about God.
2nd point, God the Holy Spirit CHANGES you.
God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy.
The NIV says “sanctified by the work of the Spirit”. The Oxford dictionary defines sanctified as “Set apart”, “declared holy”, “consecrated”, “Freed from sin” or “purified”.
As disciples of Christ, we are “set us apart” for God’s purposes in this world. At the moment we give our lives to Christ we are saved, but there is an ongoing process of change, sanctification, that continues in our lives until God calls us to step into eternity. The Holy Spirit works in us to transform and change us. God wants us to be His holy people, in fact His command to us in 1 Peter 1:16 is “You must be holy because I am holy”.
Oswald Chambers wrote “Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me, sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me.”
The Holy Spirit helps us to be obedient to God.
The Holy Spirit works in us, He helps us to focus on God’s plans and purposes for us.
The Holy Spirit reminds us we are loved.
The Holy Spirit reminds us we belong to God.
The Holy Spirit reminds us we are chosen by God.
The Holy Spirit can change and transform us.
Here is a question for you: Do you allow the Holy Spirit to change you? I mean really change you, your thoughts, your actions, your words.
Do you ever make choices based on what you want rather than what you know God expects of you?
Do you allow God some control or full control of your life?
The Holy Spirit makes us Holy. His presence in us is meant to change us,
He can empower each and every one of us to live lives that bring honour and glory to God,
He can enable us to reflect the character and holiness of God to those around us.
Do you want to live a life that reflects the character and holiness of God?
Do you want the Holy Spirit to transform you from the inside out?
In Romans 12 the Apostle Paul encourages us to let our bodies be a living and holy sacrifice to God. He says: “This is truly the way to worship God. Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
The Apostle Peter reminds us that a Christian is someone who has been set apart, someone who is being made holy, someone who is consecrated for God’s purpose.
Sanctification is a lifelong process, the Holy Spirit has changed us, is changing us and will continue to change us so that we can become more Christlike.
Friends, each of us needs the Holy Spirit to daily bring change in our lives, to make us holy, to lead us, to guide us, to strengthen us and to empower us.
3rd point God the Son CLEANSES you.
God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ
Peter tells us because we have been set apart by our obedience to God we have been cleansed by the blood of Christ.
The obedience Peter is writing about is continuous obedience, living our lives as children of God and disciples of Jesus.
Casual, convenient Christianity is not obedience to God. God wants each of us to be whole hearted not half-hearted.
God wants us to be faithful not faithless. It’s about commitment.
If we are honest with ourselves, and with God, each of us know there have been times in our past when we chose our way over God’s way,
times when we took the easy option rather than the right option, times when instead of standing firm and striving for what God expected and desired of us, we fell short.
For us as Christians, obedience to God is not an optional extra, it is meant to be the way we live our daily lives. Chuck Colson, once said “The very nature of the obedience God demands is that it be given without regard to circumstances or results.”
In good times and bad, in happy times and sad times, on sunny days and rainy days, in everything we experience, we are to seek to follow God’s will and purpose for our lives.
You have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, in Old Testament times, people were sprinkled with some of the blood from an animal sacrifice to remind them of their solemn vows to God and God’s great promises to them. It was a covenant relationship, a contract, an agreement that was sealed with blood.
In the New Covenant God has established with us, through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we are cleansed, set apart and pledged to obedience.
When we turn to Jesus as Lord and Saviour, when we repent from our sins and ask God to forgive us because of our faith in Jesus we are saved.
Our sins, past, present and future are forgiven because Christ shed His blood for us at the Cross.
He paid the price we could not pay, He died in our place, our punishment was put on Him and we are given His righteousness.
If you are in Christ this morning, you have already been cleansed, washed, born-again. Praise God!
Consider this for a moment, when you asked Jesus to be your Saviour, you entered into a covenant relationship with God.
Jesus has given His life for you and you are meant to have given your life to Him. Have you done that? Really?
Are you living a life that demonstrates to God and to others that you have given your life to your Saviour?
You have been forgiven, you have been cleansed, but are you truly living a life of obedience to God?
Is your life, is my life fully set apart for Him?
He has washed away the penalty for our sins with His blood, we have been bought with a price, our lives are not our own, God has saved us and the Holy Spirit lives within us.
Is that evident in your daily life?
Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:1-11, "Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God."
1. God the Father CHOSE you.
2. God the Holy Spirit CHANGES you.
3. God the Son CLEANSES you.
Have you chosen God?
Have you asked the Holy Spirit to change you?
Have you asked Jesus to cleanse you of your sin?
If you are in Christ, you are chosen, changed and cleansed.
I will close with this:
God loved you then, loves you now and will continue to love you.
Despite your faults, despite your imperfections, God knows you and He loves you.
God chose you.
God has called you.
God has selected you.
God has a plan for you.
God wants you to discover the destiny he has ordained for you.
The Holy Spirit lives in you.
He has changed you, is changing you and will continue to work in you and through you.
Jesus died for you.
Jesus has saved you.
Jesus has cleansed you.
The sacrifice of Jesus has set you free from the penalty of your sin.
Jesus is both Saviour and Lord.
May God help us to become the people He has called us to be:
Chosen, Changed, Cleansed and committed to discovering our destiny.
