Shall we pray? Father, thank you for your word that is such a blessing, tells us so much of what we need to know about ourselves, what we need to know about you, what we need to know about the state of the world. And so as we come before you this morning, we pray that you would speak to us through the living and active word of God, and that your Holy Spirit would help us to comprehend and trust and believe in the things that you have revealed in your word. For we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. So, for the past two weeks, we've been looking at the life of the Apostle Peter in preparation for our study through his first epistle. And so, if you have your Bible this morning, would you please turn to 1 Peter this morning? We're finally gonna get there. In the first week, we examined the interactions of Peter with the Lord Jesus during his life and ministry up until his death, resurrection, and re-ascension up into heaven. Last week, we looked at Peter's role in the founding of the early church as recorded in the Book of the Acts. We saw his great message on the day of Pentecost where 3,000 people were saved at one time. We saw conflict with the Jewish religious leaders as it increased because he and the other apostles continued to preach Christ even after being told to stop and even after being jailed for refusing to do so. We saw a number of different signs and wonders that were performed by Peter that authenticated his ministry and his message, including healings, a resurrection of a dead woman, and even several divine releases from imprisonment. We also saw Peter confirm the spread of the gospel to the Samaritans through Andrew's ministry, and then the first extension of salvation to the Gentiles through the Roman centurion by the name of Cornelius. Finally, we gave several reasons why Peter cannot be considered the first pope as the Roman Catholic Church contends. So, having dealt with the issue of the identity of this letter's author, today we want to finish out the remaining W's of our background of this epistle, the where, when, why, what, and finally we'll consider to whom was this letter written. So, first question we need to answer is, well, from where was this letter written? Peter doesn't mention his location at the outset of the letter. But instead, only at the very end. And even then, it's somewhat oblique. Verse five, excuse me, chapter five and verse 13. She who is in Babylon chosen together with you sends her greetings and so does my son Mark. So scholars believe that Peter was writing from some place in Babylon. he identifies as Babylon. Now, there's three potential options that have been given for Peter's location at the time he wrote this letter. The first would be a city by the name of Babylon, really more of a town. It was a small military base in Egypt, but it's doubtful that Peter ever visited that place. According to church historians, only the Coptic church, that is the North African church, ever held that view. The second possibility is Babylon, the capital of the ancient empire on the Euphrates River, which is in modern day Iraq. Babylon, as we recall from Jeremiah, was the great city where the people of Judah, including Daniel and his three friends, were taken into captivity in Jeremiah's day as punishment by God. And that would typically be the plain reading of the text Although there is little evidence historically that Babylon was ever used symbolically before John wrote the book of the Revelation, and that's according to Joseph Barbieri in the Moody Bible Contrary, there's actually no biblical or historical evidence that Peter and his associates, Mark and Silas, ever visited ancient Babylon. Babylon at that time was basically fallen and desolate. There's no record of a church, a Christian church, in what remained of that city in Peter's time. So most scholars believe that Babylon was a code for the city of Rome. Okay? Solid church tradition has it that Peter eventually made his way to the city of Rome where he ministered and ultimately was martyred. And since the persecutions had actually begun to increase, Peter may have well used Babylon symbolically in order to conceal his true location in the imperial city. And according to other scholars, because of this increasing persecution, Christians were beginning to equate Rome with Babylon, that ancient oppressor of the Israelites. Okay. So when was this letter written? Well, according to church tradition, once again, Peter was executed in either 67 or 68 AD. Nero began his persecutions of the Christians in AD 64, but the letter, as we said before, doesn't seem to be speaking necessarily about a well-organized, widespread persecution, so the likely date for the writing of this letter is 64 to 65, and perhaps as early as 63. Peter is preparing his readers, however, for the possibility that prison, confiscation of property, and violent death may lay for many people in their immediate future. So we're looking at A.D. 63 to 65 for the writing of this letter. What was Peter's purpose? Well, he actually lays it out in 1 Peter 5.12. with the help of Silas, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, encouraging and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. Key words in the book are suffering, grace, and glory. Suffering, grace, and glory. So why did Peter write the letter? Well, it was a letter of pastoral encouragement in times of trouble and persecution. Four longer words there, so I'll give you just a moment. A letter of pastoral encouragement in times of trouble and persecution. And we might say that even in our agonies, Christians are joined to Christ who died for us. And the example of Christ's own suffering provides Christian with hope for difficult and painful times. So, wanna just briefly run down the themes that we'll look at as we go through this book in chapter one. It's the living hope through the resurrection. Suffering results in true faith that will result in praise, honor, and glory to God. Joy in salvation. The prophetic promises of the Messiah and salvation and holy living is to be the result. We'll also see that Christ's blood purchase is the motivation for that holy living and that love for others flows from the work of the word in our lives. Chapter two, the firm foundation produces a new people. Godly living in a pagan society, submission to authority in the midst of suffering, and Christ's example and his mission. Chapter three, we're gonna talk about wives and husbands, love for others, holy living once again, suffering for doing good, and again, Christ's example. Chapter four. Holy living once again, emulating Christ as our example, loving one another, serving one another, and suffering as a Christian. And finally in chapter five, we'll see some instructions for elders, instructions about submission and humility, and we will see that suffering because of Satan results in God strengthening us. So now we want to consider the final aspect of our introduction, which is contained in Peter's salutation. Who were the recipients of this letter? Who were the recipients of this letter? So let's read here the first two verses of 1 Peter. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, Exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood, grace and peace be yours in abundance. Beautiful opening. Letters written to Christians, that is the elect. They are exiles scattered and residing in the five Roman provinces north of the Tarsus Mountains in modern day Turkey. We have Pontus, Cappadocia, Galatia, Asia, and Bithynia here. We need to point out that the area referred to as Asia doesn't mean the continent of Asia, okay, to the east. Rather, this was a Roman province by the same name to the west. Often this whole area is called Asia Minor. The Expositors Bible Commentary writes regarding the audience to this letter, the exhortations are addressed to Christians who are scattered over a wide area. They share a common faith with Christians everywhere and they face common problems. The most basic of which is this, how to live for God in the midst of a society which is ignorant of the true God. And because of their faith, they are misunderstood and they are subject to cruel treatment. Does that sound at all familiar to you? Letter is written to them, but it's written to us too. The particular order of the regions mentioned seem to scholars to be the most likely circular route that a messenger delivering copies of the letter would travel when coming by ship from and then returning to Rome. You can maybe see there's a little passage through here that comes into the Black Sea so they would land at Pontus, go around, and come back up and go back to Rome. The Greek structure to linguistic scholars indicates that Silvanus, which is a variation of Silas, not only assisted in the composition of the letter, as we discussed last time, but it was also he who carried the letter to the recipients. The New American Standard version puts it this way. Through Sylvanus, our faithful brother, for so I regard him, I've written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God, so stand firm in it. Therefore, it's believed that he delivered copies of Peter's letter. He would be once again visiting the churches that he had helped found while he was traveling with Paul. Okay, Silas was a companion of Paul on parts of the second and third missionary journeys. So what's the makeup of these people to whom Peter is writing? We'll look more closely at the first word that describes them, the elect, as we wrap up our message this morning, but the second Greek word describing these people is peripetamos. It's only used three times in the scripture, and it's translated in the NIV as strangers in the world. Other versions render it those who reside as aliens, those who are living as foreigners, or those temporarily residing abroad, even as exiles or pilgrims. It's translated in a variety of different ways. But the word literally meant one who comes to a foreign country into a city or land to reside there beside the natives. That's the literal meaning of the word. One who comes from a foreign country into a city or land to reside there by the side of the natives, thus, It is a stranger or one sojourning in a strange place, a foreigner. But in the New Testament, this word is used metaphorically, exclusively in reference to those whose native country is heaven. Therefore, we're referring to Christians who are simply sojourning on this earth. This earth is not our home. Heaven is our home. And we see this for sure, it's confirmed by the two other usages of the word by Peter in the next chapter. First Peter chapter two and verse 11. Dear friends, I urge you as foreigners and exiles to abstain from sinful desires which wage war against your soul. And also by the author of Hebrews. He writes, all these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised, they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that, what, they were foreigners and strangers on earth. Christians. are strangers living in the world as foreigners because our true home is heaven. Next word describing the audience is the Greek word diaspora. And it's a word that meant a scattering or a dispersion. And in both of the other New Testament usages, it's only used three times once again, James and John are referring to the Israelites who had been dispersed out among the nations. Is that Peter's intended meaning here? Well, scholars say no because of several additional passages in the letter that more fully describe the characteristics of his readers. 1 Peter 1 and verse 14, as obedient children do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. Okay, 1 Peter 1.18, you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors. 1 Peter 2 and verse 10, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. And finally, 1 Peter 4.3, you've spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do, that is living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry, okay? Ignorance, empty way of life, handed down from one's ancestors, not a people, not recipients of God's mercy, and debauched pagan idolaters. If those are Jews, those are some seriously lapsed Jews, okay? This is not the way that you would describe someone. The Jews were a people. They were God's chosen people, okay? So based on these additional verses, it seems best to understand Peter is writing to a mixed audience of both Jewish and predominantly Gentile believers. Okay? They're members of the various churches in that region, and even though Peter is described as the apostle to the circumcised, that is, the Jews, in Galatians 2, 7, and 8, the context within this letter seems to indicate that he understood the people that he was writing to who made up these churches were prominent, predominantly Gentile at this point. That was kind of what happened in the church. It began in Jerusalem with Jews, believing Jews, and then as Peter, we saw, brought it to the Gentiles. As Jesus said in Acts chapter 1, you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. Now as we get into the ends of the earth, there's still some Jews here and there in the churches, but it's predominantly Gentile at this point. And this shouldn't surprise us because even though Paul said of himself that he was the missionary, the apostle to the uncircumcised, the Gentiles, In every town where he went to minister, he would try first to reach the Jews. He would go to the synagogue first. Okay? And we have to remember also that Paul had written to the Ephesians, therefore, remember formerly you who were Gentiles by birth and called uncircumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, done in the body by human hands, remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world, but now, In Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. And his purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace. and in one body then the church to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which he put to death their hostility. It seems clear then from scripture that both of these apostles saw it as their mission to reach and teach both Jews and Gentiles alike. Peter's letter then is particularly applicable to those of us who are Gentile believers living in times which are once again becoming increasingly hostile to the Christian faith. Peter writes in verse two of the Trinitarian nature of our salvation, okay? In other words, the Trinity is active, each member in our salvation. Look at verse two. Those who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying work of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. What Paul is saying here is that God the Father chose to save some in eternity past. God the Father chose to save some in eternity past. Chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. Now, some segments of Christianity have assumed that the word foreknowledge implies that God looked down through time to determine who would believe in Jesus and then he calls them because of their belief. The Greek word, though, is actually the word prognosis. It's translated here as foreknowledge, but prognosis, we have in English, and it's literally a transliteration of that word. It means that this is what's going to happen. The prognosis. And the only other time that this word is used in scripture, it's clear that God is in control of the salvation process. Look what Peter said to the crowd once again on the day of Pentecost. This man, Jesus, was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge and prognosis. And you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross, okay? This was God's plan. He knew it was going to happen. They did what they wanted, but this was God's plan. How do we resolve that? We don't. Scripture says it's so, so we believe it. Okay? Variation of this same word is foreknew, as in Romans 8, 29. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called. Those He called, He also justified. And those He justified, He also glorified. Doesn't that seem to say that predestination is based on the foreknowledge of God? Well, yes, the answer is it does teach predestination is based on the foreknowledge of God, the prognosis of God, but what does the word foreknowledge actually mean? Does it mean based upon God's knowledge of the future, meaning God simply looks down through time to see who'll believe the gospel message? and then predestines them for salvation? Well, if that were the case, it would contradict the following verses that make it very clear that election is not based on anything that man does or will do. Because the verse immediately before Romans 8, 29 and 30 is Romans 8, 28. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who what? Have been called according to his purpose. Okay? Look at Ephesians one, verses four to six. He, God chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight and in love It's a love thing, okay. He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ. Why? In accordance with his pleasure and his will. To the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves. Going on a few verses later in Ephesians 1, in him, Jesus, we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works everything out in accordance with the purpose of his will. In order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. John writes it this way, yet to all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor a human's decision, or a husband's will, but born of God. And Jesus makes two fascinating statements in John chapter six. He says, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. and I will raise them up at the last day. It's written in the prophets, they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard the father and learned from him comes to me. Say that again. Everyone who has heard the father and learned from him comes to me. A few chapters later, he declares that those who are not his sheep will not believe in him, and that those who are will hear, they will listen, and they will follow. The Jews who are gathered there around him, saying, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father's name testify about me, but you do not believe because you're not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. and the Father are one. One commentator explains it this way, people are chosen for salvation not based on the fact that they would one day believe, but because God chose them for adoption as children in Christ Jesus before we ever existed. The reason that one person believes and another person does not is that one person has been adopted by God and the other has not. The truth is that the words for new in Romans 8.29 and for knowledge here in First Period 1.2 are not speaking of God's merely knowing the future. Those words are never used in terms of knowing about future events, times, or actions. That would be a function of God's omniscience, his all-knowingness. What it does describe is a predetermined relationship in the knowledge of God whereby God brings the salvation relationship into existence by decreeing it into existence ahead of time. Understand that the word no is sometimes used in the Bible to describe the intimate personal relationship between a husband and a wife. And in a similar sense, before God ever created the heavens and the earth, in eternity past, before we were ever born, God knew his elect in a personal way. And he chose us to be his sheep, not because we would someday follow him, but in order to guarantee that we would. His knowing them and his choosing them is the reason that they follow him, not the other way around. And the issue is really not whether or not God knows who will believe, but why some believe and others don't. The answer to that is God chooses to have mercy on some and others he leaves in their sinful rebellion. And as we close today I'm going to try to demonstrate that if God, even if he did or does actually sovereignly leave the choice to be saved up to men and women, we actually still end up in exactly the same place. Paul writes that people have to have the assistance of God in order to understand what he's revealed to us in his word in order to be saved. First Corinthians two, verse 14, excuse me. The person without the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, God's word, but he considers them foolishness. and he cannot understand them because they're discerned only through the Spirit. We need God's help to understand our problem and God's solution, okay? Because as Paul was inspired to write, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and your sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the devil, the spirit who is now at work in those who were disobedient. And all of us lived among them at one time. We gratified the cravings of our flesh, followed its desires and thoughts, and like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. That's our basic nature. This is all about depravity, okay, total depravity. Everybody isn't as bad as they could possibly be, but everyone has been affected by Adam and Eve's sin. We don't think right, our emotions don't work right, and our wills are bound to sin. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ, even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved. and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. God the Father, Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, get all the glory and honor and praise God the Father for planning, and even more importantly, for enabling our salvation. And then the Spirit sanctifies, that is, he makes us holy, both in time and over time. Okay, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. First aspect of the sanctifying work of the Spirit is the conviction that he provides about the truth of our fallen state and the ability to then believe in God's marvelous plan of salvation. the fact that Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin. It says in Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession once again to the praise of His glory. See, when we truly believe in Christ and His message, we're brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. We're regenerated, okay? And at that very moment, we are made sanctified enough to go to heaven if we were killed in the very next second, okay? But should we go on living, the Spirit over time will work in us and work with us to make us more and more sanctified, more and more like Jesus over the course of our lives. It's not a perfect progression. At times, we cooperate. Other times, shall we say, we are indifferent. and sometimes we even resist. Both of those grieve the Spirit, but the overall course of a true Christian's life will be greater and greater sanctification. As John writes in his first epistle, chapter 3, beginning in verse 5, but you know that Jesus appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. And no one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. Dear children, don't let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. And the reason that the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God's seed remains in them. They cannot go on sinning because they've been born of God. As Paul explains in Romans 8, whatever sanctification has not been completed by the time we die, God will finish as we are glorified and enter heaven. Again, Romans 8.30, those he predestined he also called, those he also called he justified, and those he justified he also glorified. It's so certain that it's written in the past tense, okay? Finally, The Son saves through his blood shed on the cross. To be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. These are the characteristics of the people that Peter is writing to. Again, we have first an initial obedient response to the gospel. Remember, Jesus said in John chapter six, they asked him, what must we do to do the works that God require? And Jesus answered, the work of God is this. to believe in the one whom he has sent. That initial obedient response of a true believer, of a regenerated Christian, will inevitably result in continuing obedience to the Word of God, as Jesus said in John 14. Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These are the words you hear, and they are not my own. They belong to the Father who sent me." John reiterated in 1 John 2, we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, Love for God is truly made complete in him. Now, the idea of being sprinkled with his blood actually comes from the ceremony wherein the old covenant of Moses was initiated. This is in Exodus chapter 24. Moses took the book of the covenant and read it to the people, and they responded, we will do everything the Lord has said. We will obey. And then Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words. So the author of Hebrews equates the work of Jesus at the cross with the new covenant. When Christ came as the high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by the means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the most holy place, once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean, sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more then? will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God. Well, Peter closes his salutation here with a pastoral blessing. Grace and peace be yours in abundance or be multiplied to you. May you experience more and more and more of God's undeserved favor, more of his strength to overcome and his peace to endure. Continuing grace and peace come from the initial granting of saving grace through faith and the peace that results from God giving us that grace. Scripture tells us it is by grace we have been saved through faith. And this, not of ourselves, it's all the gift of God. Not by works. so that no one can boast. So as I close, I finally wanna look at that first descriptor of the people to whom Paul is writing, to God's elect, and the Greek word is electos, okay, eclektos. The elect are those whom God has enabled to believe in Jesus. It's as simple as that. The elect are those whom God has enabled to believe in Jesus. Many people object to the doctrine of God's election because it seems to imply that some people cannot be saved because God has not chosen them. The Bible never makes that claim, however. Scripture invites all people everywhere to repent and believe in the Savior. And people, as a result, are then held responsible for their own rejection of that message. The reality, friends, is every single person on Earth, except Jesus, deserves hell. We're all sinful. both by nature and by our acts. The reality is everyone deserves punishment in hell and it is only God's grace that enables anyone anywhere to believe and be saved. And in fact, as we read the Bible, we find that it is full of God doing the choosing. God chose Abraham to form a people for himself, and he declared through Moses, the Lord didn't set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery and from the power of the Pharaoh, king of Egypt. We saw in our study of Jeremiah, the Lord chose Jeremiah to be his prophet while he was still in the womb. The Lord Jesus chose his 12 apostles and he told them specifically, you did not choose me. but I chose you and I appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And after Saul, later to be known as Paul, was blinded by a vision of the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus, he was persecuting the church, God sent a man named Ananias to restore his sight. And the Lord said to Ananias, go, this man, Saul, Paul, is my chosen instrument. to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." If God has revealed over and over again to us that he has done this choosing of people, why should we be surprised to learn that he has chosen, that he has elected us for salvation? Because this is exactly what Paul is inspired to teach in Romans chapter nine. If you have your Bible, once again, turn back to Romans chapter nine, just a few pages back. In this chapter, Paul initially deals with the question of why most Jews rejected Jesus, the Messiah. Verse one of Romans chapter nine. I speak the truth in Christ, I'm not lying, and my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. theirs is the adoption to sonship, theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised, amen. So given all these blessings of God, calling Israel his chosen people, what went wrong? Well, Paul writes in verse six, It's not as though God's word has failed. Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor, because they are his descendants, are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, it's through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned, God said. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it's the children of God's promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. This was how the promise was stated. At the appointed time, I will return and Sarah will have a son. In other words, even though Abraham also had a son through the maid, Sarah's maid, Hagar, that son, Ishmael, was not chosen by God in order to form a people, his people. It was the descendants of Isaac whom God chose as his own. which, by the way, is the origin of all the conflict that's going on in the Middle East right down to even now. Okay, you've got the sons of Ishmael warring with the sons of Isaac. Verse 10, not only that, but Rebekah's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac, yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, In order that God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, God says. God's purpose in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls. And in fact, if you read their story, Isaac is quite the rotter. He's a deceiver, he's a usurper, and if anything, Isaac's works should have disqualified him, but God made a sovereign choice between the two men. And here in Romans 9, Paul anticipates his reader's objection to this truth. Look at verse 14, what then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. Scripture says to Pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens those whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me, then why does God blame us? Who resists his will? But who are you a man to talk back to God. Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special uses, purposes, and some for common use? Quite literally, that word could mean a chamber pot, okay? One commentator explains God is sovereign over his creation. He's free to choose those whom he will choose, and he is free to pass by those he will pass by. As created creatures, we have no right to accuse the creator of being unjust. The very thought that the creature can stand in judgment of the creator is absurd to Paul. and it should be to every Christian. Paul is then inspired to give a compelling reason for God's sovereign decision. Look at verse 22. What if God, although choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, He is going to display His holiness on some people for their rebellion and sin? He's gonna display that righteousness and holiness, okay? He bore with great patience these objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction. Well, what if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy? That's us. We will know how good we have it because God is going to judge some people for their unrighteousness. and our righteousness isn't ours, it's coming from him at his grace and his mercy. Even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. Romans 9 teaches that God is sovereign in electing the people that he has chosen to be saved. He calls Joe, calls Isaac, He enables them to repent and believe, but God also sovereignly opts to pass over Bill or Esau, and he leaves them in their sins and their trespasses. And I promised you earlier that I would try to show you that even if God sovereignly allows men and women to choose their own eternal destiny, and even if His election is based on foreknowledge of their decision. We still end up in the same place because God has chosen to create every single human being, right? I have been fearfully and wonderfully knit together in my mother's womb. Yes, does scripture not teach this? So he's not only chosen to create those who will believe, but he's also chosen then to create those whom he knows will not choose. So whether it is God has chosen some and not chosen some, or he has chosen to create some that he knows will believe and others whom he knows will not believe, we're in the same place. His ultimate goal cannot be to have everyone be saved. because Jesus said narrow is the road that leads to destruction. Narrow is the road that leads to life and broad is the way that leads to destruction. Not many are going to find the one but most will go down the other. That's why some liberal theologians then who find this idea repugnant came up with a concept called open theism. It's essentially the idea that God cannot know what will happen in the future until the person actually makes a decision. Of course, the concept of God's inability to know the future until it happens flies in the face of scriptural teaching. For instance, Psalm 139, verses 4 and 16, before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. And all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them comes to be. Proverbs 16, 14, the Lord works everything out to its proper end, even the wicked for a disaster. And we only have to go back one more time to Ephesians 1, 11 to be reminded of this. In him we were also chosen, having been what? Predestined according to the plan of him who works everything out in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we who were the first to put our hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. So what do we do with all this? Do not be proud in any way that you trusted in Jesus. Instead, be humble, be incredibly grateful that God in His sovereign grace chose to allow you to repent and believe in Him and so be saved. Worship Him for not merely making your salvation possible, but for actually making it happen. Let's pray. Lord, these are doctrines that boggle the human mind, and yet your word teaches them. And so we would ask you to help us to accept what your word says, to not try to stand in judgment of you or your ways. Help us, Lord, to believe and be grateful for the salvation that you made possible in each one of our lives. We pray it in Jesus' name.