First Peter, chapter number one. I'll read verses one and two. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Elect through sanctification of the Spirit. Elect unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. God chose Peter to be an important voice on the subject of suffering. With some variations of the word suffering in this letter, this word shows up 17 times. The theme is obvious when you read Peter. It is about suffering and trials and being tested through the circumstances of our life as we journey through this world. God chose Peter to write a letter to God's children on suffering because Peter was acquainted with suffering. He's not writing in a volume, but from experience. All of this information that we are going to study was formed in Peter's mind as he went through it. God chose Peter because he grew to understand the purposes of God in suffering. God chose Peter because he had learned how to apply God's word to his life when he was going through trials. Peter had demonstrated wisdom in his trials. Therefore, he writes this letter and offers us much wisdom. Peter will tell us many things that we need to know about suffering. That's knowledge. And Peter will also help us to comprehend or understand why we are subjected to suffering. But the ultimate goal of this letter is that we are able to apply what we learn to our trials, that we become wise and exercise wisdom in our trials and suffering as we journey through life. This is critical because our life will be frequently, not once in a while, but frequently exposed to all kinds of trials. And the only way to profit from them is to effectively apply God's word to your life when you're in them. That is, we know what he requires of us from his word. There's no doubt how God wants us to live in the middle of a trial. We don't have to figure it out. And if you lack wisdom, ask him, and he gives direction for us in our trials. But we must be willing to submit to the authority of his word as we go through our trials, and we must practice obedience, as you have heard, as we suffer through the trials of life. This is the formula for wisdom. The trials of life and the sufferings that they inflict on our life require us to be wise. We cannot profit from our trials, nor will God be glorified through our trials if we lack wisdom. And so Peter's letter is going to give us all the knowledge and understanding and wisdom we need to effectively when we are going through diverse trials and being tested. Peter has much to say about suffering, but it's interesting, as we have noted. First, we must have the right mindset. We need to acknowledge who we are in the world. Peter is writing to God's children, and he describes us as strangers in the world. We live in the world, but we don't fit into its system, as strangers imply. God has called us by the gospel to follow his Son. And once we are born again, the things of this world do not have the same strong appeal, nor do they control us like they once did to the same degree that power has been broken. God's grace makes us strangers, not the world. It makes us strangers to the world we live in, because we are on a different path. Our values have changed. We are only temporary residents. We live among the people of this world, but this is not our home. God has persuaded Peter that his children must accept their true identity, and so he begins by describing God's people first in a book on suffering, that we are strangers, and to that he will add sojourners and pilgrims as well. And as such, we understand why the world doesn't accept us, and why the world may even at times hate us, because of our differences. We live in a world where the devil and his demons are given much freedom to oppose us. As we learned in Ephesians 6, we are constantly under attack. Because we are strangers, we can expect many trials and much suffering as long as we live in the world. Peter describes his readers with a second adjective. Not only are we called, described as strangers, but in verse 2, they are referred to as elect. I appreciate the spirit of the men as they have mentioned our subject matter leading up to our message on this word this morning. So we are not only identified as strangers, but it is important for us to recognize that we are also the elect. This description of the Christian who lives in the world and experiences suffering is of great value for you to know and understand. Having a proper knowledge and understanding of election is viewed by Peter as an important truth that will bring comfort and courage during our difficult times. It's been a long time since the subject of election has been addressed publicly. You have to go back to Ephesians 1. It's a long time ago. I'm not going to do a series on election, because that's not what Peter is doing here by mentioning the elect. He brings up the subject to help us, the pilgrims, the strangers, frame our minds properly so that we can face the many challenges of life and be comforted by the knowledge that while we are strangers on the earth, we are God's elect. That's meant to comfort us and encourage us as we go through life. This term that describes the believer when properly understood and applied to our life should inspire us to be faithful to God. And you've heard that mentioned already, and I appreciate it from the men. It should inspire us to be faithful to God who has shown to us such great grace. To us, to be called elect should humble us and inspire us to be more devoted to God. The idea of the elect should never, ever cause anyone to feel pride. It's a humbling thought. In the weeks to come, we will notice that Peter adds some very important phrases to this idea of being the elect. You see, there's three of them that we'll explore in the coming weeks, very important phrases that need to be understood properly. Let's just take the word elect though this morning and look at this Greek word that is used here because language matters. When God chooses to use a word through his apostles and put it as his word to us, the words matter. Meaning matters. And so, when we look at this particular Greek word as it shows up in the scriptures, Peter is using a common one that others have used. It's the eclektos, which we transliterate, elect. And it refers to those whom God has selected, God has chosen to receive the gift of salvation. And you've heard that mentioned already to some degree by the men as they have come and led in singing as well as the reading of scripture. Elect, we say it again, refers to those whom God has selected or chosen to be the recipients of the gift of salvation. The gift of salvation or the gift of eternal life is not something that we can earn. There's nothing that a sinner can do that God would accept as deserving the gift of salvation. It would cease to be a gift. It would be a wage that God has to pay you if you can earn it. But it's described as a gift, meaning it is an unmerited favor of God's grace to give us everlasting life. God doesn't owe any human this gift. In fact, we all deserve eternal death as has been stated as well. But God has chosen out of his infinite grace to give the gift of salvation to some. They are called, as Peter calls them here, elect. The word envisions God selecting. God selecting some out of the masses. This is the meaning of the word. There is an election, a choice being made by God. Now, there are many moving parts to this doctrine, and it's really difficult to condense it into a simple sermon like we're doing this morning. However, it is not Peter's intention to present a systematic presentation here. He will make some very important statements about it, and then we'll unpack those in the coming weeks. But here, in the description of God's children who are also identified as strangers, he simply states a fact about who they are. We are strangers and we are elect. That's a fact. The knowledge of this considered, pondered, will make life's trials seem very small in comparison. The challenge for many is to think of election in a proper way, to where it becomes a meaningful message from God to you about who you are in relationship to Him. So I want us to briefly look at a few. There's many scriptures on this, but a few references that I trust will help us in our understanding of this sovereign action that God made. And for most of you, this is a refresher on the subject. But those who may not be clear, hopefully we can present it in a way that will encourage you, because that is Peter's intention. You are strangers, but you are elect. And hopefully, as a pilgrim today, this will encourage you. Jesus had much about the elect in the Gospels. I'll draw your attention to one reference at the end of his life, in John 17. If you look at this, we'll kind of skim over a few portions in the New Testament to identify how this idea is used and offer some information that might be useful we trust. In John 17, this is just before Jesus is going to die and be crucified and offer up His body. He has been on a mission to do, as He has said Himself, I'm here to do the will of my Father, to achieve those things that my Father wants me to achieve, to do His work, as He said. And here He comes to the end of His life, just prior to His crucifixion, and He prays His prayer, in John 17, a lengthy prayer. We're just looking at the first few verses. So Jesus lifted up His eyes to heaven and He said, Father. So He's addressing His Father in heaven. The hour has come. This moment of preparation for my crucifixion, it has come. Glorify Thy Son through all of this so that Thy Son may glorify You. And so even the Son of God recognized His complete and utter dependence upon His Father to achieve His mission, even to the end. And so He is requesting of His Father that He would glorify His Son in this hour of His own dying. And then He goes on and says, As Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, You have given to Your Son, power over all flesh, so that Your Son should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. So the Son takes notice of the reality that the Father has given certain ones to the Son, that the Son will represent in His life, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension in heaven. He is their representative. He has come for them whom the Father has given to Him. And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee. They, those whom the Father has given to the Son, that He is dying for, that they ultimately would come to know the eternal Father. That's His mission. He understood His mission. And He says similar things throughout this prayer. When we come to the book of Acts and the early church, the leaders focused on God's decrees, His intentions for doing certain things. And they don't question the events that take place, that these events are within the realm of God's eternal design. And just for example, you see it here in Acts chapter 2. You hear Peter, when he talks about the crucifixion of Christ on the day of Pentecost, he talks to the people, the crowd that is there, those who had been guilty of taking Him and persuading that the Romans should put Him to death. He says to these people gathered at Pentecost in verse 23 of Acts chapter 2, Him being delivered. Who delivered Him? Well, it was the Jews, right? No. Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and the foreknowledge of God have you taken, and by wicked hands you have crucified and slain. So not only are they guilty of having committed the murder of the Son of God from heaven, they are being confronted with the reality that their actions were under the oversight and the management of a divine power. You have done what God determined to do. Look at another reference that's similar to this in chapter 4. The apostles again recognizing that events that occur in history are under the management of God and have been so before time began. These didn't just appear and God in the last moment decided I needed to do something, but these are predetermined things. These are decrees of God. In Acts chapter 4, you find it again in verse 28 concerning what the world has tried to do to prevent the mission of Christ on the earth. And they fought against Him and Herod and the Gentiles and Pilate all tried to stop His mission. But in verse 28, for to do whatsoever, they did whatsoever the hand of God as being referenced here, thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. So here again is this idea of God decreeing certain things that will take place and reach a conclusion that is predetermined. He's God. I don't know how big your God is, but He's big. I don't know how powerful your God is, but according to the scripture, He's all-powerful. Who can hold His hand back? asked the prophet. Who can tell Him He can't do something? Is anyone that foolish to think they can manipulate God? God will execute His purposes and His design not only in events in the world, but concerning a particular people whom He has chosen before time concerning their salvation. That will also be fulfilled and nothing can prevent God from executing that plan. As the Gentiles were being converted and the early Jewish church was trying to figure out a lot of how do we deal with this? They had never, Gentiles in the history of the Jews were not a clean people, but God has suddenly changed all of that. They're trying to figure out how do we respond to all these Gentiles that want to come to Christ, that are listening to the gospel, the good news. How do we deal with this? And in Acts 13, as they're listening to this thing go on and Peter's sharing some of his own experiences and others, we find here that James, one of the leaders in the early church, he stands up and he makes a certain declaration. For so, in verse 47, for so hath the Lord commanded us saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles. So they understood that this is not just about us alone anymore, but now it includes the Gentiles. For thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Christ has become the light of the world, not just for the Jews, but for Gentiles as well. And when the Gentiles heard them come to this conclusion, they were glad. They rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord. Now listen to this next phrase. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. He didn't say as many were that believed were ordained to eternal life, but many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And so they understood there is this act of God concerning salvation that was beginning to take place in the early church, and the Gentiles are a part of it. When he uses the word ordained, this particular Greek word simply means to arrange or determine an outcome. And so what we find here, God is the first cause, he ordained. The outcome, the effect of that, is some believed. They heard the gospel and they believed. They believed because they were ordained to that end. The truth of the matter is, we would not come to Christ, we would not come to God, we would not seek salvation if we were left in our own lost condition. The world is a testimony to that reality. The difference maker between you and the world is God. Another great passage that we spent much time in some years ago is Ephesians chapter number one. This is worth noting as well, Ephesians chapter number one. You probably got an overdose of the subject of election in Hebrews chapter one, but it sure saturates the beginning of Paul's letter to the Ephesian church. A few verses need to be read here. Follow as I begin reading in verse three. Blessed, he's calling upon the church to eulogize God the Father. Eulogize him, speak well of him, say wonderful things about God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us. Do you get it? He has blessed you with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And he explains this by saying, according as he has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and that we should be without blame and that we should be before him dwelling in his love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise and the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in Christ. That was Christ's prayer in the garden. You have given certain ones to me. I have come on their behalf. I've represented them. I've done everything you required of me to do on their behalf. I've done it, Jesus said, to all those that you have placed in me. And here the word chosen in verse 4, according as he hath chosen us, is the verb form of that Greek word eclektos. This is the verb form. The word elekt in Peter is simply a description. It's an adjective identifying the people of God. Chosen is a word that describes what God did to make them the elect of God. He chose them, placed them in Christ before the world ever began so that all that would happen through time, they would be preserved in his Son and his completed work for them. What an amazing thing God has done. Look at 2 Thessalonians, just a couple of other references. I don't want to belabor this, but I think it's worth noting. 2 Thessalonians, in chapter 1 of the 1 Thessalonians, he talked about them being God's elect. And here he tells us how God works this election out in time. Paul goes into the detail in his book of Ephesians, how that, and Romans, how that even though God has made a selection of some to salvation, every human born into this world, including the elect, are born under sin. And the only hope for them is that they be raised from spiritual death to life. And they must hear the gospel concerning Christ because it's in Christ's provision that their faith must be placed. So God, in time, works his plan out as the gospel goes forth, is carried abroad into all the nations, and the message of Christ is preached, many come to Christ. That's God working his plan of election out in time. And we see it here even in the church of Thessalonica, chapter 2, verse 13. We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, writes Paul. Brethren, those that have been beloved of the Lord, a special love has been placed upon you because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, and he's worked that out through the sanctification of the Spirit and the belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We don't know who the elect of God are until they respond to the gospel. And we know they are the elect of God because of how they choose to live their life. Paul makes that observation. Look at 2 Timothy in chapter 2. Paul is in prison. He's not far from dying. He's suffered long and hard over his ministry experiences, and he has suffered particularly at the hands of the Jews because he dares to speak so boldly concerning the Gentiles' relationship to all of the promises of God. And so here in chapter 2 of 2 Timothy, Paul is saying to this young man that he is willing to endure all things. I don't care what I had to go through or what I will go through, what I will face in the coming weeks and months ahead of me when he's about to die. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect's sake. What do you mean, Paul? That they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. He knows the message must go out to the ears of the elect, and he knows that the gospel is going to be resisted all the way. But it doesn't matter. He's willing to endure all things that they might hear the gospel of their salvation and come to faith in Christ. So who are the elect? In 1 Peter chapter 2, they are the ones whom God has chosen to be the recipients of salvation. You're among them. When were they made the elect? They were chosen by God before creation. Before anything of angels or creation began, they were chosen and placed in God's Son before the foundation of the world. Why are they the elect of God? Grace, His will, His counsel, His purpose. Because honestly, if you were to ask me, why are you an elect of God? I would say, I have no idea why God would have ever chosen me to be His Son. The answer to that mystery is not explained for us now, but it will be explained in the life to come. And so many have made a serious mistake here in Peter's writings to believe that the reason we are the elect of God is because of their understanding of the foreknowledge of God. That is not what Peter is saying. But we will dig that out in the coming weeks. Those of us, those of God's people throughout the world, throughout history, who grasp the magnitude of this truth are forever humbled because all of the glory belongs to God. I am a believer today, and God deserves all the praise. I claim not a single part. I don't have the intelligence. I don't have the human will. It is God who has made me His child, and to Him I will give the praise. And so you are forever humbled. What greater reason to be humbled than the reason of election? And, as you've heard, we are forever filled with gratitude. I mean, what inspiration must be born in our soul to give thanks to God that He has chosen to give us ears to hear the gospel, regenerated our soul so that we might believe the truth concerning His Son. We are filled with gratitude. We are inspired, as you've heard already, to worship and to praise our great redeeming God for this matchless gift of our salvation. We are strengthened by this description that Peter gives. Not only are we strangers in the world, but brethren, we are the elect of God. And this is a call for us to show courage, to show resolve in our life as we go through trials that we would bring glory to Him in all that comes our way. I want to close by reading a few verses from Psalm 65. If you'll go back there, it's good for you to see these words. The psalmist understood. David especially refers to the whole idea of being chosen and God's electing purposes. Psalm 65, now read verses 1 through 4, and then we'll close. Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away. So he understands his nature of sin, but he also understands the redeeming work of God in his life. And then he reaches this conclusion here, this blessing. Blessed is that person, that man, that woman whom thou choosest. What a blessing that he has selected you, and he causes you. It's his power to cause you to approach unto him, so that you can dwell in his courts, so that we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. So the psalmist was able to capture not only who we are in the world, but where we find our fullest joy and satisfactions. To whom do we praise and give credit that we are sitting here today, that we actually are worshiping God today? Is it you? No, it is God who has chosen you and selected you, brought you into his courts, brought you into his house, that you might enjoy him in his holy temple. All of the credit, when we hear this word, this idea of election, and Steve was right, this is not something about debating different views of it. I'm glad to do that, but I know that the purpose of this word that Peter has given us is that we would be inspired and strengthened and encouraged today. That even though we are strangers in the world and we're subject to trials and tests, dear friend, there's something far greater than all of that. You are God's elect, and therein is your reason for staying the course and being strong. This is what Peter draws on to encourage the pilgrims, the sojourners in this world. May it mean that to you. If it doesn't bring that kind of comfort and courage to you, then you've not understood what electing really means. You have been chosen, and all that is necessary for your salvation has been provided for you. Enjoy it. Take your journey. This is temporary, but God will use this season of your life to refine you and purify you and make you ready, more ready, to come and stand before Him and give account of your life. We will give an account, and so we need encouragement. We need accountability. We need reminders of who we are in our relationship to God. May this be a comfort to you, elect people. Father, we thank you for your word and for its value to our life today and how we should live. I pray that we would all find comfort and encouragement this day from the knowledge, not that we're just simply strangers in the world. This helps to identify who we are, and we must embrace that fact. But, Father, far greater and even more important is that we are elect. Thank you for that knowledge. Help us to understand it more fully, and help us to be wiser in the application of it to our life, I ask in Christ's name. Amen.