Blessings for the Believer

Sermon Transcript

Well, good morning. Thank you so much for choosing to worship with us today. I wanted to share a couple things before I get started. If you were at our first Tuesday prayer meeting this week, you would know this, but Jesus is building his church all around the world. Amen. And about two weeks ago, a friend of ours from Romania joined the BRAVE Global Network. His name is [Yuneca 00:00:22]. And last Sunday, BRAVE Global planted a church in Cluj, Romania. Praise God. Right?

So just a little history of Romania. If you plant a church in Romania and after five or 10 years, it's a couple hundred people, that would be like a megachurch. Their very first Sunday, they had 305 adults and 40 kids. Praise God.

Praise God.

And there's a couple men in their church. One is Russian and wants to go plant in a bunch of Russian areas. One is German and wants to go plant in Germany. Jesus is building his church. You're part of a global movement of God by being part of this church.

Second thing I want to say is Proverbs say to give honor where honor is due when it's in your right to do so. I want do that this morning. If you could give me the luxury of doing that before I get started. I'm from Peoria, Illinois. That's where I'm from originally. One of the things that started stirring my heart for pastoral ministry is the church that I was a part of allowed me to come and preach on Wednesday nights and sometimes on the weekend.

And it was through preaching God's word on a regular basis that God began to stir my heart and show me it's time for you to go plant and to be a pastor. And my pastor from Peoria, Illinois, with his wife is here today. Would Cal and Susan, would you stand so we can honor you and appreciate you, love you?

Cal is a great to mine and someone I call on the phone a lot. I've told him many times he's a lot smarter now as a pastor than he was when I just sat in his church. I appreciate his wisdom and his love for the Lord and his desire to make disciples for Jesus. So with that, can we go before the Lord and just pray this morning? Lord, as we start this new series, we pray, Lord that you would be present through your living and active word like you promise that you do. Help me to be clear.

Lord, help us respond the way that you would want. Help us to own our identity, to grow on Christ and to live on mission. And Lord for what you're going to do in advance, we give you all the glory, honor, and praise for who you are and for what you're going to do. And now all God's people who are ready to receive his word, believe his word, and put into practice the very things that he shows you agreed with me by very loudly saying the word, amen.

Being a Christian is not just difficult. I would argue being a Christian is impossible. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, there is no possible way to live out all the commands that Jesus Christ gives us. There is no way we can accomplish anything that God sets out apart from his spirit working inside of us. I mean, just think about internally. Once you become a believer, I mean, what's it look like to start spiritual disciplines and grow in the word and pray?

How do your relationships change now that you're a believer? How are you supposed to live differently with your finances and steward them now that you're a believer in Christ?

What should your marriage look like now that you're a believer in Christ? How should you parent your children differently now that you're a follower of Christ? I mean, it's impossible apart from the work of the spirit, but you add to that, that the more you walk with the Lord, the more you recognize that our world is hostile to the things that Jesus Christ teaches.

And the more and more we walk in the ways of Jesus, the more and more we see that Christians are in crisis. Now, when I grew up and I heard about the persecuted church, it was usually somewhere way overseas with people of different skin color that had no means. And maybe once a year, we would offer a five-minute prayer for them or take a small collection to send and be like, "Oh, I hope they do well."

But I want to let you know something. The longer you walk with the Lord, the more you're going to recognize that persecution will come your way. The Bible promises that anyone who wants to live a life in Christ, a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. It's a biblical promise. And the reality is even when we think about our culture, the more and more we walk into our culture, the very things that we proclaim from God's word in this pulpit are becoming things that people call hate speech.

So what's it going to look like in your life? If you're truly going to walk your Christianity out, what's it going to look like for you when it's really going to cost you something to live for Jesus Christ? Now, we have a saying in our culture, you can finish this saying with me, say it with me, when the going get tough, the tough...

Get going.

Say it again. When the going get tough, the tough...

Get going.

I find that in Christianity, when the going gets tough, Christians, leave. My marriage gets tough, I'm out. My dating relationships get tough, I'm out. My church that I used to love got tough, I'm out. My job got tough, I'm out. The city I lived in, they don't vote the same way I used to vote, I'm out. I'm moving away. I'm going to live for me. And what Peter does is he writes this book. He starts writing this book to a group of scattered Christians saying, "Hey, when it gets difficult, here's how you do it. Here's what you hang on to. Here's where your hope is, and here's what you can look forward to."

And that's what we're going to journey through as we go through the book of 1 Peter, as Christians in crisis. Now, it doesn't mean that every Christian's going through the same level of crisis. It doesn't mean if you come to this church, you're going to be in crisis. It means that some of you may need to file these notes away and pull them out at a later date.

But the reality is, if you're going to live for Jesus in our culture, you will face some sense of crisis. So that, I invite you to open up your Bible this morning to the book of 1 Peter, 1 Peter. We're going to read through the first two verses today and unpack them. And the reason for that, I'm going to start this series somewhat slow, just because this is how Peter tells us that we need to find our comfort in a world that's hostile to who we are.

Here's what he says. 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 to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood.

May grace and peace be yours and foolish measure. Now, Peter is the author of this book. It's great for Peter to talk about this. One of the reasons I like studying 1 Peter is if there was any failure of all the disciples, I mean, Peter could take the cake potentially for being the biggest failure. And yet he could also take the cake for the Lord using him in the mightiest ways as well. Right?

I mean, even Peter a tradition would tell us that at the end of his life, he was hung upside down and across because he didn't want to face the same death. He didn't feel he was worthy to suffer the same way Jesus did. I mean, Peter understood what it meant to suffer. And what does it say about Peter? It says Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Let's talk about that word.

Apostle literally means one who is sent. Now, in the first century, you had people who had seen the resurrected Christ who were literally sent. They saw the God-man in the flesh and he sent them. When he sent the apostles, they were oftentimes accompanied with miraculous powers to authenticate that they had been sent directly from Jesus. So I want you to know something. I believe that the gift of apostleship still exists today.

And while there are no big A apostles where the God-man Jesus has shown up in the flesh and said, "You go." That there are still men that are being sent from God to go expand the kingdom by glorifying God through the church and preaching the gospel. God still does that. That's what church planters do. Right? And at the apostolic gifting of Peter was one that went out and proclaimed the gospel and helped get churches started.

Now, Peter was known as the apostle to the Jews while Paul was known as the apostle to the Gentiles. But you'll see as we go through this book, he's not just writing to Jews, he's writing to Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who have come together who are now scattered throughout the region. And it's important to know this because that'll help us when we talk about who he's writing to.

Notice who he says. "To those who reside as aliens." Now, this is why we got to read the Bible in its full of sense. I mean, if you just read the Bibles of 21st century American, you hear the word alien, what do you think of? Three eyes and a green head, and a spaceship or something like that. He's not talking like that. Alien means this, and get this through your head. As a Christian alien means temporary resident. It means stranger. It means you will never, ever fit here.

Christian, hear me on this. If you've trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you belong to him, you will never fit in this world. That's why God says, "Don't you realize that friendship with the world is hatred towards God." What happens to us when we go through crisis? When we go through crisis, we try to hang on to things of this world. I try to hang onto my bank account. I try to hang on to my relationships. I try to hang on to my job. I got to hang on to all these things because I got to keep my security in the things of this world.

Here's what Peter is saying. Those of you who entrusted in Christ, there is no security in this world. Your security is not found in this world. Your security is found in the Lord, Jesus Christ. And if you will live as a temporary resident, realizing that whether God gives you 105 years or 15 years, you live with an open hand knowing that you're just here for a period of time because you've been chosen by God.

And this is who he writes to. He writes to these five cities in Asia minor, which would be modern day Turkey today. We see them. We see Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. Notice what he says. He's going to begin this by saying there are blessings for those that are in the family of God. There are benefits for the believer when you go through crisis. And he's going to highlight four of the benefits. And the first benefit he's going to highlight is this that you are chosen by God, the father. You are chosen by God, the father. It's the first thing he wants his audience to know.

Notice what he says. Who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the father. This is not the only time he uses that word. If you flip over to 1 Peter 2:9, he says, "But you are a chosen race." Who does the choosing? God, the father chooses everyone on who's in the kingdom. Now, this is nothing unique to just Peter. If you read through the book of Ephesians, when Paul begins to spell out his letter to the church at Ephesus he says blessed be the God father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ just as he, what? Chose us in him, when? Before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to adoption his sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will.

Now hang with me just a little bit. It's really interesting that Peter starts off by talking about divine foreknowledge and election. There is probably no other doctrine in the church as divisive as this doctrine and yet Peter and Paul, when they start both with their letters, bring it as a place of comfort and a place of blessing and glory to God.

Now why? I want to walk through this. Now, for those of you that are here, if this sermon doesn't change in about seven minutes, I'm out of here. Just hang with us for another seven minutes. Okay? Because I want to paint the picture of what Peter is trying to tell you that in Christ you are. So just using the book of John this morning, let's just look at a couple of scriptures. If you can't flip fast enough, you can write these down and look at them later.

But in the book of John, the gospel of John, you see in John chapter 5:21, it says for just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the son also gives life to whom he wishes. Who does he give life to? To who he wants, to who he chooses. How about John 6:37? "All that the father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out."

How about this? John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him on the last day." How about John 13:18? "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen." Or this familiar one in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the father in my name, he may give it to you."

I mean, do you see the picture here? Now, get this in your head because notice who we're writing to. We're writing to a group of Christians scattered. Okay? Every time the doctrine of election is discussed in the Bible, it's always talking about the believer and not the nonbeliever.

He's talking about, if you are a believer in Christ, here's what God wants you to know that before you were even created, an eternity pass somewhere, the father, son, and holy spirit shows you in him to be part of his team and you had nothing to do with it. In other words, here's what he's saying. Jesus said, "I came to seek and save the loss." In other words, if we're dead in our trespasses and sins, dead people don't go searching for God.

Blind people. Don't go on a hunt to see God. God wants you to know that when you transfer from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God's beloved son, and you walk through that doorway, it's not because your mom and dad were Christians. It's not because you had a good pastor. It's not because all these experiences were yours. It's not because you started studying the Bible more. Behind all the scenes, God wants you to know, "It was me who was doing all the work because I love you with an unconditional love, and I chose you before the foundation of the world and you belong to me." That's a glorious truth for the believer. Amen.

Now, just in full disclosure, I used to have a real hard time with this doctrine because the way I would hear it taught was as a soteriological or a salvific doctrine, meaning God chose some for heaven, God chose some for hell, and God gets glory in sending people to hell. And that should make us really, really excited. Okay? I don't see that taught in the scriptures anywhere.

I remember when I was doing an exegetical paper at Dallas seminary on Romans 8 and I was a youth pastor at the time. And on Thursday nights, we would have our gatherings, and oftentimes I would stay out late in the night and write my papers, because it was the only time that I had. I remember it was about 2:00 in the morning and I was writing an exegetical paper on Romans 8. In Romans 8, starting in verse 28, it says this. "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who have been called according to his purpose."

I was having no problem there. But then I got to this verse. For those he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son that he would be the first born among many brethrens. "And to those he predestined, he also called and to those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified, he also glorified." It's the same thing Peter is saying in 1 Peter 1:2. Who are chosen, what? According to the foreknowledge of God. So I sat down and wrote my paper and said here's what it means.

God knows all things. God knows who's going to pick him. God knows who's not going to pick him. And his foreknowledge knows that once upon a time, Jeff Schwarzentraub will pick him and in his foreknowledge then he's going to be set apart for that. Here's the problem. I was taught where I went to school. You can't make words mean what they don't mean. And foreknowledge means this. It means to choose beforehand. It means to select. It means to pick.

I remember sitting there writing my paper, I got up from the desk. I was mad, I mean for like a half an hour. Because here was my argument like some of your argument is. "God, I would want to see all people come to heaven. And if you don't choose everybody for heaven, that means I love people more than you, which makes me more loving than you." And I'm mad. I want to preach the gospel everybody. That was my argument.

Do you ever know if you have an argument with God, he wins every time? I remember sitting down about a half an hour later where the holy Spirit just began to speak to me and said, "Jeff, you didn't choose me, I chose you. An eternity passed. I loved you so much that before you ever had anything to do with me, I already had my eye on you and there was nothing you were going to you. I was going to bring you home." And then I went from anger to tears as I sat there and wept up my computer.

God's foreknowledge is for the believer to know this, if you are a Christian, it wasn't because of all the circumstances that led up to your salvation. If you are a Christian, it was because of God's divine selection in your life. This is why Peter in verse 3 is going to say, it's not soteriological, it's doxological. If you know that it should burst into praise saying thank you God that I had nothing to do with it and it was all you.

Amen.

Now let me be clear on this, because this is where we can start talking about this in a way that makes more sense because it's like this. For many Christians, if you don't believe that, you're kind of like the girl holding petals on a flower or a dandelion saying, "He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not." I know I was saved last week, but this week I may not be saved because I had a very, very bad week.

I sin in ways, I knew I would never ever sin before. So maybe I'm out of the kingdom. So when the pastor calls me forward to get saved again, I'm going to come forward and get saved again. And then I'll be good for a while and then I'll have to get saved again. No, here's the deal. If you're chosen, you're chosen and you belong to him and no one will ever kick you out of this family. That's what it means.

You're his. He picked you by divine selection to be in his family. And it's a doctrine for believers. The only place that I see perhaps it has some salvific naming is in Romans 9 where he talks about Jacob and Esau where Paul is making an argument saying, "What if God with Jacob and Esau before either one had been born, before one had done either good or bad, Jacob I loved, Esau I hated."

In other words, he's making this argument. We make the argument like this. We make the argument that God should save everybody. That's his job. And if he doesn't, bad God. Here's the argument the Bible makes. How is it that a perfect holy righteous loving God could save anybody. And the answer is through his beloved son, Jesus Christ who died in the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead.

And even if God were just to save one, he's still good. If I were the president today and I had a chance with a hundred people on death row and I chose to pardon four, even though all hundred deserve to die, four were pardoned. It doesn't make me bad for the other 96 that I didn't pardon. They deserve to die.

I mean, the Bible makes clear that we're all dead in our trespasses and sins. And yet it's God in his grace. By grace, we are saved through faith. It's not your own doing. It's a gift of God. Okay? So let's tie this up a little bit now, shall we? "What are you saying, Pastor Jeff? To go to BRAVE church, we got to be reformed. We got to be Calvinist and all those things?" No, I'm not saying that at all. Because a lot of people argue, "Well, Paul was Calvinist."

I got news for you. Calvin was born 1600 years after Paul. Paul was not Calvinist. Paul was talking about the election. But let me tell you what the Bible also teaches. We have to be really careful when we take certain passages in the Bible not to make it holistic. God chooses everyone who has come to Christ is by God's grace and it's his choosing in their life. But you know what I see in the Bible? I see a lot of places where it's our responsibility to respond to him. Don't you?

I mean, Jeremiah 29:11 says, "You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, you come find me." Right? Or how about Ezekiel 18 where God says, "I take no delight in the death of the wicked." Or how about 1 John 2:4 where God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

That's right. Amen.

Or how about Romans 1:20 where all men will be without excuse. See, here's what we tend to do. We put our foot on one side or the other. Let's talk about the Trinity for a second. The way that Bible reveals the Godhead is God the father, God the son, and God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons in one essence as God. He's not sometimes father, or sometimes son, or sometimes spirit. He's always father. He's always son. He's always spirit doing what he wants to do. How can that work?

I don't know. How can Jesus, when he's born of a virgin, be fully God and fully man? Because Jesus had thirst. He slept. He got frustrated. So he was man. So how could he be God while he was still man? Because he was. And how could Jesus be man, while he was still performing all his miracles? Because he was God. He was 100% God and 100% man. So here's the question. How can the Bible teach 100% election and 100% human responsibility? Because it does.

And I can't explain it, I can just proclaim it. So let me just talk to you and rant for just a little bit about some of the most fruitless discussions I have ever had as a Christian over the last 30 years. Speaking of are you Calvinist or Arminian, are you Calvinist or Arminian? Go back and read the sermons in the Book of Acts. They didn't talk about any of that stuff. Here's what they proclaimed. This Jesus whom you crucified is now both Lord and Christ and anyone who is dead in their sins at any time by believing that he died for you and rose for you can have life in his name. Amen and amen.

Because the fruitless discussion is, "Well, if you're not going to be reformed, oh, if you're not going to be Arminian." Listen, I want to hang out with people that are actually doing the work of the church, which is exalting the Lord, Jesus Christ who said, "If I am high and lifted up, I will draw all people under myself." And, "Oh by the way, when you get to heaven, Christian, there's not a doctrinal entrance exam."

The Lord Jesus doesn't give a rip what John Calvin said or John Wesley said. He cares about what he said. And he is for the world. Jesus died for all. Here's why that's important. When Stephen was giving his one and only sermon, we have recorded in the Book of Acts where he was being stoned to death and he said, "I see the Lord." There was this man called Saul of Tarus who was over here holding the coats of all the older men, so they could pelt him with stones.

As Stephen was being saved to the full by God, we saw the apostle who became the apostle Paul all over there giving approval to his death. And if we were there, here's what we would've said. "He's not chosen. That guy's totally not chosen." Well, Saul of Tarsus has chosen. Heck, yeah before the foundation of the world. Don't you ever use this doctrine to look at somebody and say, "They're not chosen."

Here's what you can use the doctrine for to know that if you are saved, you are chosen. And if they're not saved, you proclaim the love of Jesus and let God do the work. Amen? So for me, when I preach, I realize nobody can get saved unless Jesus saves you. Nobody can grow in Christ unless God does it. But that doesn't mean I'm just going to get up here and just read the Bible in a real boring tone.

I'm passionate about this. I want to get my best effort so I can persuade you to give your life to Jesus Christ in the full. And that's why you might be surprised that there are some churches that think doctrinally different than me, that I would be much more comfortable in than churches that think the same as me because these churches, some that think the same as me, they never see anybody come to Christ. I want to see people come to Christ. I want to see people grow in Christ. That's our job. Amen?

Amen.

The point of the passage is this. Peter said, "When you go through crisis, just know this. If you're a believer, you've been chosen." It makes all the difference in the world to know that you belong to God. Amen?

Amen.

I mean, it's kind of like coaches. I mean coaches sometimes sit around. Coaches that win, nobody sits around and talks to about what strategy they have. It's usually the losing coaches like, "Well, I don't like the way that they won that game. They should have done this. They should have done that." Who cares? They won. A lot of churches like to sit around and talk about our doctrine is more correct than their doctrine.

If you're not leading anybody to Jesus Christ, it's not. It's not good doctrine. Good doctrine is proclaiming the resurrected son, Jesus Christ, who in all of his glory laid down his life, died for your sins and rose from the dead and allowing God to do a miraculous work. That's good doctrine.

Amen.

Amen? So I believe in doctrine and I want to fine tune mine and believe in different points. You can believe doctrine differently. Let's just make sure that we're doing the work that God's called us to do, which is make disciples and proclaim the gospel. Amen?

Amen.

Because I believe anybody here today who's hearing my word, who's never trusted Jesus Christ can come. And anybody who comes, he will never, ever turn away. When you walk through that door, he'll say, "Chosen before the foundation of the world." Which means you're not a Christian because those good people in your life that came along. You're not a Christian because your mom and dad prayed for you. You're a Christian because God chose you and then God used other instruments to bring you to himself. Amen? It's a blessing for the believer. You're chosen by God, the father through his foreknowledge of you.

Second blessing for the believer is this that you are set apart by the spirit to obey Jesus Christ. He says, "You're chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the father by," what? The sanctifying work of the spirit. What does sanctify means? Sanctify means to be made holy. It means to set apart. It means when God selected you for his team, he didn't just select you so that you would go to heaven.

When the military has a draft, they don't just draft you so that you can wear a uniform, they draft you for, what? For service. When God calls you to himself and puts you on his team or places you in his family, it's not just so you can go to heaven, it's so that he can set you apart in your life so that you can obey Jesus to the full so that other people can see what it looks like for Christ to be lived out in and through you. That's what it looks like.

And God does that for every single believer. You are no longer your own. You were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have been made new. What are you called to do? What you're called to make disciples, right? The reason God needs to know that he chose you is there's a difference between God choosing you or you choosing him. I mean a little news flash this week, neither Amazon nor Google called me to be their new CEO.

So even if I chose I'm going to be Amazon or Google's new CEO, it doesn't matter. But if they called me and chose me to do that, it would make all the difference in the world. I'll be honest with you. This week, the Denver Broncos did not call and say, "Hey, we need a new quarterback. Would you come?" So even if I chose and I'm going to be the Broncos quarterback, it doesn't mean as much as if they chose me because when you're called and you're chosen, it's for a purpose.

If you're in God's family, that what it means. He's got a purpose for you. He's got a purpose for you. And his purpose for you is to make disciples in the unique way that God's called you to. And as you continue to walk with him, he'll show you what that looks like. Now, as I begin to walk with the Lord, when I was in college, you need to understand a little about my background. I went to a Lutheran grade school growing up from kindergarten through eighth grade.

I went to a Methodist church growing up. And to be a pastor, it meant you wore a black clerical robe and this white kind of clerical rectangular color. You ever seen those? So I really sense God was calling me to ministry. That was my only view of ministry. So I knew I was not called to do that.

I didn't want to do that. But I wanted to tell people about him. And it was over time of wrestling with the Lord where I really sensed in my spirit that God was saying, "Can you just be you and tell other people about me?" And I was like, "I can do that. I just can't be like someone else." God hasn't called you to be someone else. And now that I look back, I think about my Methodist pastor, I can only preach for 15 minutes, I mean, that's like an introduction for me, right? Crazy.

Here's the point. When you're saved, you're saved for a purpose and it's making disciples however the Lord has wired you. It's glorifying his name. It's set apart to obey Jesus. Let's just talk about obedience. I mean, Romans 1:5 talks about the obedience that comes from faith. Obedience, true obedience is not, "Ah, shucks. I have to." Obedience is "I'm compelled by Christ's love too. Because I want to honor Christ so much, I want to."

My wife and I were married a number of years ago. I want to honor my wife. My wife knows I want to honor her. She would tell you in all authority, I'm messed up sometimes and I don't honor her. And I can tell you when I dishonor her, sometimes I know about it. Sometimes I have no idea what I did wrong. But sometimes when I know about it and I see her face and it hurts, I don't win.

I'm like, "Well, it showed her." No, what do I need to do to make it right? What do I need to do to make it different? Why? Because I love her. Here's the truth about obedience. Obedience doesn't mean when you become a Christian that you're perfect in every single way. How many would agree with that? It means this, 1 John 1:8, 9. If we say we have no sins, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all in righteousness. A desire to obey is a desire to confess sins and repent and turn from them as well when we see them, right? God set you apart to do that. And God gets to choose where he places you on the kingdom field.

Right now I'm coaching my son's fourth and fifth grade flag football team. I'm the head coach, y'all. That means I get to pick who plays, when they play, and where they play. It doesn't matter what Joe's mom says. I get to pick where he gets to play, right? I'm not really concerned that a grandparent is in town visiting, right? Because it's fourth and fifth grade flag football. We're going to win. Oh, we plan on running the table. Right? I'm kind of kidding. But isn't that true in professional sport?

Amen.

I mean professional football teams have 53 guys on the sideline, but only 11 can play at a time. NBA teams have somewhere between 12 and 15 guys, but only five can be on the court. And professional baseball teams have 25 guys, but only nine can play at a time. They don't just roll out there and say, "Hey, here's what I feel like playing today. Their coach decides here's where you're going to play. Here's why you're going to play there and here's what I expect you to do."

God is sovereign because he chose you, he's going to put you in places that he wants you to do. And here will be my encouragement. Don't fight him. Wherever he leads you is the most fulfilling that you could ever be in your life. I told you about my wrestling with God in ministry. I didn't want to do ministry. I want to do anything but ministry. But I can tell you by following his call. It's been the most fulfilling part of my walk in Jesus for about the last 25 years, right?

Serving him. Don't fight him. If he gave you certain gifts and he's calling you to act in a certain way, live for him, bring him glory and obedience so that other people can see what Jesus looks like through you. Because each of you has a different sphere of influence than I have. Every single one of you has people that you're going to come in contact with through your real estate or through your athletics or through your parenting or all these different things.

And those people need to see what Jesus Christ looks like with skin on. And that's why God has set you apart so that you can walk with him and you can honor him in all that you do. Amen?

Amen.

And this is what he's calling you to do. We've been set apart. We're no longer the same. We're called to obey the Lord. Jesus said at best in John 14:23 says, "Hey, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word. If anyone does not love me, he will not keep my word." In other words, if we're compelled to love Christ, there's a desire to want to honor God. And there's a blessing. There's a blessing from knowing that were chosen. And there's a blessing from knowing that we've been set apart and that we're not second class citizens on God's team where he's disappointed. He's chosen you for great, great service.

The third thing Peter tells us that when we're in crisis, if we're going to hang on to things, is we need to know that we are secure by the blood of Christ. We are completely secure by the blood of Christ. Notice what he says. He says, "We've been set apart by the sanctifying work of the spirit to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood."

Now, let me just draw your attention to this. Do you see how in that verse in verse two, we see God, the father. We see the spirit and we see Jesus Christ. That the Trinity is at work to work everything out. That's how God's revealed. God the father chose you, Jesus Christ and dwells you through his spirit, that grows you to glorify Christ.

That's what he's doing and here's what you need to know. You are 100% secure in him because of what he's done. My kids are my kids. No matter what they do. They're still my kids. Your God's child, no matter what you do, you're still his. Let me read to you from God's word where he makes this very promise. I mean, one verse we already read earlier in John 6:37. Here's what he says. I mean, the first half talks about God sovereignty. "All that the father gives me will come to me."

In other words, if God draws you to his son, here's what the result is going to be. "And the one who comes to me, I will certainly not cast out." You're his, you're his. Jesus said the same thing talking about his people in John chapter 10:27 through 29. He says, "My sheep, hear my voice. I know them and they follow me." Notice what he says. "I give eternal life to them and they will 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 is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. What do you get? When you believe in Christ, you've been secured by the Holy Spirit who has a down payment guaranteeing your deposit into the kingdom of heaven and you've been gripped by the Lord, Jesus Christ and by the father. And no one can ever grip you out of his hand. You are at 100% secure.

Now, let me give you a word picture what this looks like. Last Thanksgiving, we were down at Disney World. We were actually at the animal kingdom one day and we were wanting to go on different roller coasters. And my young one who's sitting over here, who's five is my daredevil who loves to do all these things. And she said, "Dad, I want to go." I'm looking, I'm like, "Well, she does meet the height requirement.

So I remember we got on this rollercoaster that not only went forwards and backwards in all these different ways, but when the lap bar came down, she's so small, it doesn't go across her lap. So I began to think this thing's going super fast. So here's what I'm going to do. Now, give me the universal sign if you enjoy roller coasters, when you're on one. What do you do? Okay. Isn't that the universal sign. Give me the universal sign if you don't enjoy roller coasters? Right?

I mean, isn't that true? My daughter loves roller coasters. So she starts doing this long before we take off. So what do I do? I put my right arm around her and I put my left arm in front of her, and I'm gripping tight because no matter what, she ain't going anywhere. Now, the whole ride she's on just floating around. We can go up, down, side to side, backwards. She's giggling. She's having a ball. I'm doing everything to hold her in. Right? You see what I'm saying about life?

Yeah.

When you go through crisis, when you're going up, and down, and backwards, why are we doing this? There's a difference between, "How come my life is falling apart and God I'm trying to hold onto everything?" Versus, "Lord, this is yours. I know you got me. I'm just worshiping you. Take me through. You got all this, right?" That's how secure we are. As a temporary resident here, you can just worship the Lord and know he's got this. He's got you. You're not going anywhere. He's not going to lead you into a place that he doesn't want you to go.

He may lead you into a place you don't want to go. But if you're worshiping him, even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he will still be with you. Amen. That's the security we have. Your security is not in yourself. Your security is not in another. Your security's not in your pastor. Your security is in God, the father his beloved son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

That's a blessing that we have. That's a blessing that we have. And here's the truth. Jesus' blood cleanses us from all in righteousness. I mean, when Peter's talking about the sprinkled blood, if you have time this week, you can go back to Exodus 24 versus 3 through 8. That's Exodus 24:3 through 8 where we see Moses getting the commands of God and he's filling basins with blood and he's throwing some of it on the altar and he's throwing it.

Some of it sprinkling it on God's people. And it's basically saying, God's going to reveal the law and we're going to be willing to obey it. What we see in the new covenant, what do we see? This cup is the new covenant in my blood. I say it all the time. It's not a contract. If you do part, God will do his. It's not a new commitment until you blow it. It's a new covenant, which is Jesus' way of saying, "I'll reveal my law and I want you to obey it. But when you don't, my blood purifies you."

Isaiah said to his people in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now. Let us reason together. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow." It means this, Christian. For some of you, you say, "I should have known better. I could have done different. I become a Christian and why didn't I? Why didn't I? Why didn't I?" Here's what the truth is. Through the blood of Jesus, you're secure. And in the moment you confess your sin, all the guilt, all the shame, all the should've, would've, could've, that's all wash clean and you are holy and blameless in his sight. Amen.

That's the beauty of our security. It's not just that God has to keep me and he doesn't like me, it's that God keeps me because he loves me with an unconditional love. Then he tells us his final blessing, which I think is awesome. And the final blessing for believers in being in the family of God is you are able to receive more and more grace. You're able to receive more and more grace. This is how he ends verse 2. May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.

Some of your versions may read may be multiplied unto you. Grace and peace, can we talk about that for a second? Some people think grace is simply is just the salvific power of God bringing you into the family. But grace is way more than that. Grace is what teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled upright lives.

Grace is what keeps our focus on Jesus Christ and his return to planet Earth very, very soon. Grace is what continues to grow us. Grace is God's power in those areas that we want to look like Jesus, but don't. Grace is when you're married and your marriage ain't working, right? Grace is in your singleness when you can't seem to do your singleness the way God would want you to do it.

Grace is when you know how you're supposed to steward your money and how you're supposed to live, but you're not living your money the right way. Grace is what comes in when you're part of a church and you're going through a hard time and you need God's help in a relationship. Grace is when you go home for Christmas and visit your family. Grace is when you need God's help in certain ways, right?

So here would be a question. Just by show of hands this morning, how many in some area of your life would you say I could use a little more of God's grace in some area, right? I mean, we all could, right? And he says, "May grace and peace be yours." It means that there's a fuller measure of grace. Now understand this. The Bible tells us we've received everything we need for life and godliness, which means we have all of God the father, all of God the son, and all the Holy Spirit. Here's the question. Does he have all of you?

It means where in your life do you need more and more of him and where you do, you can ask and he will lavish it on you. And here's what he says. Where you get more and more grace, guess what comes as a byproduct of that? Peace. Peace. Okay. By show of hands who could use a little more peace in their life? Peace, right? It's peace. And where does the peace come from? It doesn't come from us working hard and doing things God's way. The peace comes from us being dependent upon God and God doing his work through us so that we can have peace.

Jesus is called the Prince of Peace. Right? See some of us come to Christ and think, "Well, that's all there is, and I'll just keep battling it out." There's way more than them. I've been to a lot of professional sporting events. I like sports. About two years ago, I got to do chapel for the Chicago Cubs when they were in town during the world series year and go to the Rockies chapel. It was a ton of fun.

I was allowed to bring three people with me. So I brought my son, I brought my dad, and I brought a friend. I've been to a lot of professional events, but this one was just slightly different because for me to go, I got to go through a separate doorway in left field that none of you have ever even seen. And I got to walk through the clubhouse of both the Rockies and the Chicago Cubs.

I got to sit down with all the players and the managers and hear their heart and just hear their stories. I got to share the gospel with them. Now, while I was doing that, my son, and my dad, and my friend, they were eating a buffet. Now this buffet, let me tell you, it wasn't hot dogs and potato chips. It was prime rib carved. It was all the desserts that were homemade. It was people in uniform that were all dressed up for all this.

When I got done giving the devotion, I then got to go eat that buffet. I mean, it was like... The game hadn't even started and I was like, "This is awesome. How have I missed out on this my whole life?" Then they walked us to our seats. Second row, right behind home plate. We could put my left arm on the Rockies dugout.

They threw my son a couple baseballs. He got baseballs that day. And these seats, just so you know, they're not regular seats because in regular seats, when you want something, you either get the vendor or you get up from your chair and go. No, no, no, not these seats. These people come to you. And at the end of every inning they ask you, "Is there anything else that you would like?" If you want another Coke, if you want another hot dog, if you want a hamburger, if you want M&Ms, if you want ice cream, if you want to get something, that's not even on the menu, they go get it for you and bring it to you.

My son loved this. So the day was awesome even though the Cubs got slaughtered. And at the end of the day, every time I take my son to a game now, he'll say something like this. "Well, dad, are we going to sit in those seats? Because if we're not going to sit there, I really don't want to go." He thinks that when you go to a game, you get free baseballs, free food. Everybody waits on you. I mean, I never had that treatment.

Here's the reality. God, in all of his goodness loves you with an unconditional love. There's nothing you could ask him where he'd be like, "I'm not going to give you that." God wants to lavish you with his grace. God wants to lavish you with his peace. God wants you to enjoy him in fresh new ways.

And not only is there no shame in asking for more grace and more peace, it's what God wants us to have. It's what Peter says when you're going through Christ, "May you have more of it? May you have more grace and peace?" And here's the reason we don't. We think it's our job to work out everything so that God will be pleased with us. You can't work it out. How well is it working for you? How well is that besetting sin that you've never been able to change working for you?

How's that marriage that ain't working out, working for you? I mean, God's calling you saying, "Hey, just depend upon me. I'll do the work. And when you see me do it, it will give you great peace." See God, everything he commands for us to do, he gives us the grace to accomplish. We can't do anything apart from his grace. Amen.

It means if you're here today and you've been struggling to have a relationship with God, it's not about what you're going to do for God, It's by grace you've been saved through faith and not your own doing. It's a gift of God, so you can't even boast. But if you're here and you know, "I have no hope, I've been dead, I've been looking for the way to God," it's through Jesus Christ, the righteous one, the way, the truth and the life.

And if you believe he died for your sins and was buried and rose from the dead, you can repent and place your faith and trust in Jesus and have new life in him. Amen. And if you've done that, and you have a relationship with Christ, what are the areas of your life that you've personally been working on rather than allowing God's grace to stir in you and become all that where you say, "God, I'm done working on this, but you can work on me, and you can do whatever you want because I want you to change me. I want you to change this. And God, I need your help." That's where the peace comes.

So as we close today, we're just going to say a couple songs about how good our God is and how he's the breath in our lungs. And during this time, our prayer team will be forward. And I just want to tell you something about our prayer team. Our prayer team is not selected to be a prayer team because they're the few people in our church to get everything right. Our prayer team has chosen to be a prayer team because they realize they're completely dependent upon the spirit of God.

As we continue our worship by responding to how God's shown you things in his word today, let this be a place where you can worship. Let this be a place where you can pray with those next to you. Let this be a place where you can come forward for prayer and trust the Lord in all that he wants to do in your life.

It's not a passive time just to sit there and sing a couple songs. This is an opportunity for us to respond to our God. And we would love to pray for you. We would love to encourage you. We would love to build you because that's Jesus' goal in your life. Would you stand as I pray and we sing?

Lord Jesus, we just thank you for today. Lord, we thank you that for those of us who know you, we recognize we are chosen before the foundation of the world to be set apart for you and obey you that we are secure in you. And that, Lord, we're saying we need more grace and more peace. And if you're here today, you never trusted Christ. You can pray like this. Dear Jesus, I admit to you today I'm a sinner. I believe that you died for my sins and rose from the dead. Right now, I turn from my sin and I want you to be the Lord of my life. Lord, during this time of worship, Lord, let us just experience you. We give you all the praise and glory for how good you are in Jesus' name. Amen.