There is a particular teaching in scripture. Spurgeon said there is a prejudice in the human mind against it, and that in many pulpits it's high sin to preach it. Just what is this shocking doctrine? Find out next on Grace To You. More from Charles Spurgeon. He said, although most doctrines will be received by professing Christians, some with caution, others with pleasure, this one doctrine seems to be most frequently discarded and disregarded. So what is Spurgeon talking about? Well, in one word, it's election. The question is, why do Christians have a hard time embracing that doctrine? And what exactly does the Bible say about election? We'll consider both questions on today's Grace to You as John MacArthur begins the study called Chosen for Eternity. John, the issue of election, maybe you could summarize what you're talking about when you use that term and what its implications are. Why is it so important? Well, thank you for asking, Carl. The concept of election is the truth taught in Scripture that salvation is a divine work. That's the big picture. Getting a little more specific, that God has chosen who He will save and that He made that choice uninfluenced and unaided by anyone before the foundation of the world, before there was a world. before there was a creation, before there were any humans. God, by His own will and His own determination, without influence from any other, determined to save certain people who would constitute a redeemed humanity who would spend forever in His presence worshiping Him, glorifying and exalting His Son. When you understand the doctrine of election, it is the most comforting, assuring, marvelous thrilling of all doctrines. When you don't understand it, it seems offensive and unfair. So, how about you understand it, huh? That's the best approach. We're going to be looking at 1 Peter 1, 1 and 2, just two verses. We'll go from there a lot of places. I promise you, if you listen with an open mind carefully, this will be the most thrilling understanding you have ever heard. And we're going to end the series with a two-day Q&A interview with my dear friend, Phil Johnson. I'm going to pick up any loose ends. I urge you not to miss a day of this study. Maybe you've been a Christian for years and figure you understand election well enough, or perhaps you're a new believer who still is trying to piece together all it means to be saved. No matter where you are, what you've been taught about election, or haven't been taught, you may get a new perspective from John's study called Chosen for Eternity. And now to launch that series here again is John MacArthur. Our text is First Peter chapter 1 verses 1 and 2, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood. May grace and peace be yours in fullest measure." Now, the essence of this salutation, as Peter begins his letter, is to emphasize that those to whom he writes are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. And thus does Peter take a theological plunge of profoundly deep proportions at the very outset of this letter. The lesson for us is going to deal with the subject of election or being chosen by God. The gifted Bible teacher, scholar A.W. Pink, who, by the way, died in 1952, once began a sermon by saying this, I am going to speak tonight on one of the most hated doctrines of the Bible, namely that of God's sovereign election. End quote. He was right. It is a hated doctrine. He later wrote, these words, and I find them very insightful. God's sovereign election is the truth most loathed and reviled by the majority of those claiming to be believers. Let it be plainly announced that salvation originated not in the will of man but in the will of God. that were it not so, none would or could be saved. For as the result of the fall, man has lost all desire and will unto that which is good, and that even the elect themselves have to be made willing, and loud will be the cries of indignation against such teaching. Then he says, merit mongers will not allow the supremacy of the divine will and the impotency of the human will. Consequently, they who are the most bitter in denouncing election by the sovereign pleasure of God are the warmest in crying up the free will of fallen man, end quote. What he's saying is it's hard for some people to accept the biblical doctrine of sovereign election. It's hard for man to acknowledge the fact that his salvation is an act of God. In his fallenness, he wants to assume some responsibility, even if it's a small responsibility for having believed. He wants some credit desperately for having made a right choice. Furthermore, the doctrine of election seems repulsive to us because by our standards, it seems unfair that God should, out of all the world of human beings, choose some at his own discretion to be saved and not the rest. But you understand, don't you, that the reason man so desperately wants to have a part is because in his fallenness he wants to exercise his pride. And so we can eliminate that as a real issue. It only is an expression of fallenness. What about the part about being unfair? Is God unfair? No. God is never to be measured by any human standard. Certainly not by the human standard of fairness, which is also a reflection of man's what? Fallenness. Are we so foolish as to assume that we who are fallen sinful creatures have a higher standard of what is right than an unfallen and infinitely and eternally holy God? What kind of pride is that? Therein lies the real problem. It says in Psalm 97 verse 2, righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. Righteousness and justice are the very foundation of the throne of God. That is to say, whatever God does proceeds from a base of righteousness and justice. It may not be human righteousness and human justice, but it is divine. In those familiar words of Isaiah 55, 8 and 9, the Scripture says of God, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. We are in no position as fallen creatures to determine whether what God does is just, right, or fair. You've stepped out of bounds when you say that God does anything that isn't fair. What is divine justice then? Let me give you a definition. It is an essential attribute of God, that is, it belongs to His very essence, whereby He is infinitely and perfectly just in Himself, of Himself, for Himself, from Himself, by Himself, and none other. James Usher, many years ago, wrote, The source of God's justice is His own free will and nothing else. For whatsoever He wills is just, and because He wills it, therefore it is just. Not because it is just, therefore He wills it. You understand that? A thing is just because God wills it. He does not will it because it is just by human standards. He sets the standard. Divine justice is of an entirely different order and character than human justice. And by the way, justice isn't the issue anyway. You don't want to talk too long about justice when you talk about salvation, because if God gave us all justice, we'd all be sent to hell. You see, the Creator owes nothing to the creature, not even what He graciously is pleased to give to the elect. He doesn't owe that. How then could God be called unjust when whatever He does is just? And the fact that He elected certain ones to be saved when they didn't deserve it anyway, how could that be unjust? Salvation is always a matter of grace, pure grace. You really don't want to try to figure this thing out from the standpoint of, is it fair? If God did it, that makes it just. God sets the standard of what is just. If you don't understand what God does, that doesn't mean He doesn't live up to your standard. That means your standard doesn't live up to His standard. He's God. Now, in discussing the doctrine of election, really there is no better, more condensed section of Scripture than the one before us. And Peter, frankly, gets into the thick of theology right off the starting blocks. He's not even out of the first verse before he introduces chosen. and then launches into a very brief but profound statement about the essence of election. Now, as he addresses his readers, it is his intention in these first two verses to identify them as the ones who are chosen of God. He identifies them in two ways. First, he identifies them in relation to their place in the earth, and secondly, he identifies them in relation to their place in heaven. As far as earth goes, they reside scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. As far as heaven goes, they are the chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father by the sanctifying work of the Spirit who obeyed Jesus Christ having been sprinkled with His blood. So He identifies their earthly identification and their heavenly as well. Now let's look briefly with regard to their earthly identification. The readers to whom Peter writes are said to be residing as aliens or strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Now, we need to touch that because we need to understand to whom he writes. Would you please notice the word scattered? It is a familiar word to any student of the New Testament. It is the word diasporas in Greek. You may have heard the word diaspora. It means dispersion. In the Gospels, it is a technical term for the dispersing of the Jews throughout the world. It is so used in John 7.35. It is also used of Jews scattered throughout the world in James 1.1. It is my conviction that Peter is not using it here in a technical way such as James does. Notice chapter 1 verse 17. He's writing to these people scattered. He says, if you address as father the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth. The implication here is your earthly duration, your earthly stay, which leads us to believe that He's talking about people who are not so much strangers in an alien culture as strangers on the earth itself. Chapter 2, verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. And again, the alien and stranger here seems to be the person who is in an environment that is foreign to his nature and is doing war against his soul. So he's not concerned to talk about a Jew who is nationally an alien as much as he is concerned to talk about a believer who is spiritually an alien, a much wider audience which would certainly include some Christian Jews as well as Gentiles. The Jews perhaps were in the minority. We would assume that in the Gentile provinces to which this epistle is addressed. So what he is saying is not to you Jews who are scattered throughout alien countries, but to you Christians who are aliens in the earth. You are true aliens and strangers and pilgrims. You don't belong here. The church is a group of strangers scattered throughout the world, away from their true home. In fact, in Philippians 3, 3, Paul says, we, Gentile Christians, all of us in the church, Jew and Gentile, the whole church, we are the circumcision of a spiritual nature. And here, I think Peter is saying, we are the scattered, the diaspora in a spiritual sense. So the idea is that he's writing to believers who in the world are aliens or strangers. He's addressing the church. That's simply it. He's addressing the church. The church in Pontus, the church in Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Those, by the way, are provinces. They occupy what we know today as modern Turkey. They were part of the Roman Empire in the time of Peter, but he is writing to Christians scattered throughout those Roman provinces, and so we conclude then that the letter had a very wide audience. In those provinces, there would be a number of churches. We know in the province of Asia, for example, of at least seven or eight churches. Seven of the churches in Asia received letters from the Lord Jesus in Revelation 2 and 3. And there were other churches in Asia, like Colossae, not mentioned in Revelation. So there may have been a number of churches in Pontus, a number of churches in Cappadocia, a number of churches in Bithynia as well. Christians scattered as aliens in a foreign land, namely the unregenerate world. So Peter is writing to a lot of folks. And why such a wide audience? Because the persecution that had come against the Christians as a result of them being blamed for the burning of Rome was sweeping through the Roman Empire. And everywhere that persecution went, Christians were going to have to pay the price of suffering. And so he writes as if to embrace them all in this epistle which teaches them how to face suffering triumphantly. But more important than their relationship to the earth is their relationship to heaven. And the thing that he wants the most to know is that they are chosen by God. He wants them to grasp that tremendously comforting reality. In the midst of their persecution, when they might be questioning so much, he wants them to know they are the chosen of God. And so, at the end of verse 1, he says, those who reside as aliens scattered, who are chosen. Let's take the word aliens. Who are chosen. Aliens means strangers, as we said. Those who are dispossessed in a land not their own. It can mean temporary residents. It can mean foreigners. Either way, they were temporary residents and they were foreigners. Theirs was a city not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Theirs was a temporary stay until they were called to the Zion which is above, the writer of Hebrews calls it. These aliens, the church, the redeemed, the believers, are chosen. Eclektos, from the verb kaleo and the preposition out, to call out, the called out ones. It's a verbal adjective here. It means to pick out or to select. In fact, you could even translate it this way, and this would be beautiful, choice aliens, select aliens. It's a term for Christians, that's all. The chosen, the saved are the chosen. By the way, it even was a term for Israel of old, to identify them. Deuteronomy, you perhaps remember this very familiar verse. Deuteronomy 7, 6, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Well, you better understand that. God wasn't sitting up in heaven saying, I hope some nation will believe me and choose me. No. Out of all the people on the earth, I chose you. Israel, mine elect. It's Deuteronomy 7.6, Deuteronomy also 14.2, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. He repeats the same thing again, chosen. Psalm 105, 43 calls Israel His chosen ones. Psalm 135, verse 4 says, for the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, has chosen Israel for His own possession. Israel was elect. You say, well, is that true also of the church? God hasn't changed His plan. God hasn't changed His method. The Old Testament said, no man seeks after God. The Old Testament said, there's none righteous, no, not one. God chose His people, Israel, by His own free choice. And so does He the church, and we are the elect. Let me show you this. In Matthew 24, verse 22, just pick up the thought that we are the elect. Verse 22, unless those days, that is the days of the Great Tribulation, be cut short, no life would have been saved. Listen to this, but for the sake of the elect, the chosen, those days shall be cut short. Who are the elect? The believers. Verse 24, false Christ, false prophets will arise, will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the...what? The elect, the chosen, the believers, it is a term for believers, for Christians. Verse 31, when He sends forth His angels with a great trumpet at the second coming, they will gather together His...what?...elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. In Luke's gospel, chapter 18, verse 7 says, Now shall not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? We come to Romans, the great epistle of Paul, that marvelous eighth chapter. Verse 33, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? We're elect. Colossians chapter 3. Verse 12, and so as those who have been elect of God, chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion and so forth. You've been chosen of God to be holy and beloved. He determined to set His love on you and me for no reason of ours at all, but strictly of His own free choice. The elect of God, that's who we are. 2 Timothy 2.10, for this reason Paul says, I endure all things in my ministry for the sake of those who are chosen that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus. I am doing my evangelistic ministry to bring the gospel to the elect, the chosen. Titus, when Paul writes that letter, he couldn't say it any more straightforward. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those chosen of God. So you see, when Peter says, I'm writing to the elect of God or the chosen, he means believers. Now catch this, will you please? The term elect or chosen is synonymous with Christian, with saved, with born again. And the rich reality of that term is to remind us that we are the chosen of God. He made the choice, not us. And what Peter is saying, I think, is so wonderful. What he's saying to these persecuted Christians is, hey, you may not be the choice of the world, but you are the choice of God. Can you grab that? That's comforting. That's a rich reality. And listen, it was intended to be an encouragement to persecuted believers. That's John McArthur here on Today's Grace To You. I trust that you're encouraged as John showed you what it means to be chosen for eternity. You know, examining an aspect of theology like the doctrine of election is pretty complex. To help you sort out all that's there, let me recommend John's commentary on the book of 1 Peter, John's text for this series. Plus, the commentary addresses other important issues including how to handle persecution and find the blessing in suffering, and how to influence unbelievers that you know. It's affordably priced. Order your copy of the First Peter Commentary when you contact us. Call our toll-free number anytime 1-800-55-GRACE or purchase the First Peter Commentary at the website gty.org. The cost is $19 and shipping is free. You can also order commentaries from other New Testament books for the same affordable price and perhaps volumes on Romans or Ephesians, books that have a lot to say about election. Order by calling 1-800-55-GRACE or go online to order it at gty.org. Also, remember the study that John began today is titled, Chosen for Eternity. It's available free of charge in MP3 or transcript format. Log on and start downloading today, gty.org. And friend, thanks for remembering that grace to you reaches radio listeners like you each day because of folks like you who benefit from this daily Bible teaching. Let us know that you're listening and praying. We depend on the faithful friends like you. To express your support and help us continue getting God's truth to spiritually hungry people, please write today. The address is Grace to You, Post Office Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412. And now, for John McArthur, I'm your host, Carl Miller, encouraging you to come back tomorrow for another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You. If God is so loving, why doesn't He save everyone? Really though, the better question is, knowing what He knows about us, why should God save anyone? We'll consider the question on tomorrow's Grace To You.