Are You Going to Make It?

Scripture Introduction:

Scripture Introduction:

Do you remember the story of Rip Van Winkle? It is set before the Revolutionary War in the 18th Century. Rip is kind of a lazy guy with a nagging wife. One day as she is nagging away at him he wanders up the mountains with his dog. He meets up with some fun-loving chaps and he ends up having a little too much whiskey. When he wakes up his gun is rotted and rusty, his beard has grown a foot long, and his dog is nowhere to be found. He soon discovers that much more than his beard, gun, and dog have changed. The whole world it seems has changed to him. He gets in trouble for saying he is a loyal subject of King George, they are calling some other guy (what turns out to be his son) by his own name, his wife has died and most of his friends have died in the war as well. His GPS unit would still read the same location but somehow his very home has changed underneath him. He is, it appears, living as a stranger in his own hometown.

I think many of us these days may feel a little like Rip Van Winkle. Our world, it seems, has drastically changed almost over night. March was the longest year of my life.

But I think the story of Rip Van Winkle is also a decent picture of what happens in the life of a follower of Jesus. This is very similar to what happens to believers when God invades our life and transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son Jesus. Our GPS unit still reads the same but everything is different. We start to live as a stranger in our own hometown.

Now every analogy breaks down at some point so don’t press this any further than the single point that I am making. What happened to Rip Van Winkle is very similar to what happens to believers when God invades our life and transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son Jesus. Our GPS unit still reads the same but everything is different. We start to live as a stranger in our own hometown.

This is especially weird if the Lord saved you a little later in life. If you have grown up in church most of your life I doubt you experience the Rip Van Winkle effect. But I remember how it was really strange how everything started to change. My view of life was different. Not all that cataclysmic at first but over time I look back and my whole view is shaken to the core. My friends no longer treat me as such a great friend. There is something that has decisively changed. Even within my own family I can feel that something has changed. The things that I once loved I cannot seem to find pleasure in anymore. The things that I used to find really boring, dull, and drab I now cannot seem to get enough of. The Bible—which once seemed confusing as all get out—I cannot get enough of. My GPS unit still reads the same but everything around me is different. What am I saying, I’M different.

This is what has happened to the believers that the apostle Peter writes his letter to. And that is why we have titled our series on 1 Peter as Sojourn: A Travelers Guide for Christian Pilgrims. That is what we are sojourners/pilgrims and 1 Peter is written to those just like us that find themselves living in a strange world that they once called home. Today we will only look at .

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Sermon Introduction:

We have heard some pretty scary statistics in the last few days. They are estimating that over the next couple of weeks we will see something like 100-240,000 Americans die from COVID-19. That’s astounding. We pray that these numbers are off. And so it’s understandable for many folks to be wondering, am I going to get this? And if I get this am I going to be one of the 80% that sees no symptoms, or one who ends up hospitalized, or even one of those 240,000. Am I going to make it?

It’s natural to feel that way when you find yourself experiencing something that isn’t all that familiar to any of us. And I think that might be the biggest fear of a sojourner…especially when suffering and difficulty seems immanent. We find ourselves in moments like this a little like Dorothy wondering if we are ever going to get back to Kansas. But that’s not really God’s goal for us. He’s not working to get you and I back to a “normal” existence. He’s working to provide for you and I a redemption that is far sweeter than Dorothy Gayle’s return to Kansas. He’s working to take us into a new and redeemed Garden of Eden.

But that question still lingers doesn’t it?

Creation---FALL---REDEMPTION

Am I gonna make it? Am I going to just live life outside of Eden? Am I ever going to make it into a Redeemed Eden? Peter wants these pilgrims know that from eternity past He has designed it that the Spirit is holding them in the unconquerable hand of Jesus. Christian, you are going to make it. Three reasons from this text that elect exiles are going to make it.

Before we look at these I think the very first word in our text gives us a model of what we see in these two verses and really the whole book of 1 Peter.

Peter.

Peter knows about getting his world rocked by the gospel. He knows about betraying Jesus. The shame he felt. The crow of that rooster. The pain. Wondering whether or not things could ever be returned…had he blown it? Did his foolish betrayal keep him out of redemption forever? And then experiencing God’s forgiveness.

But Peter’s redemption isn’t all that smooth. Fast forward a few years and you have the same people-pleasing Peter not eating with Gentiles out of fear for what his friends might thing. Then getting rebuked by Paul. Then finding redemption. And here in our letter he is most likely ministering to Gentiles and telling them, “you’re going to make it”.

So Peter says to these Gentiles…you are going to make it and here is why.

This letter is addressed to the “elect” which actually modifies the word “strangers, pilgrims, exile, sojourner”. This word elect—though unfortunately riddled with controversy—is a very rich word. It simply means that Peter’s readers have been “chosen by God”. What is interesting though about the use of this term is that his audience is primarily Gentile. The term “elect” is often used in the OT to refer to the people of Israel. So, Peter is indicating from the very beginning that these Gentiles share in the inheritance of God’s people. They are his “chosen people”.

Some versions I think gather the thought but the way they break it up I think maybe sidetracks us. It’s no fault in the translation it’s just that we are often very quick to read theology into the text rather than the other way around. We all do it. In the NIV it reads, “who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”.

But if you read this in the original the “who have been chosen” is nowhere to be found. They are just carrying the thought over from verse 1, “To God’s elect, strangers in the world,…” Literally what it reads is, “elect exiles” like the ESV reads. Now I think the general thought is still the same but I think it might make us not quite catch what Peter is saying in this text. He refers to his audience as “elect exiles” and then makes 3 prepositional phrases in verse 2 to modify that. They are elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, they are elect exiles who are sanctified by the Spirit, and who as a result of these actions are obedient to Jesus and sprinkled with his blood.

And so from the very beginning Peter is helping them know that though they are Sojourner’s here on earth and that their identity here might be “exile, alien, stranger, pilgrim, foreigner, sojourner” they have a much deeper rooted identity. And this identity will carry them. They might be “scattered” here but their identity is rooted in the eternal. And so we see Peter uses these three modifiers to shape their identity as elect exiles.

I believe Tom Schreiner is right when he says,

“Believers are exiles because they suffer for their faith in a world that finds their faith off-putting and strange…they are not aliens literally; they are sojourners because they are elected by God, because their citizenship is in heaven rather than on earth.”

And so these elect exiles need to know that they are going to make it in the midst of the suffering and hardships that they are enduring. And if you are in Christ this word applies to you as well. No matter what we face we know that we are going to “make it”…all the blessings and glory you read of about a Redeemed Eden are certainly yours in Christ.

1. Elect exiles are going to make it because of the Father’s Foreknowing

At its bare minimum what this means in this text is that God foresaw whom would be his elect or his chosen. There is no mention of him foreseeing objects or things, God foreknew people. This word has a very rich history. The word “know” in Hebrew often refers to God’s covenantal love bestowed upon his people. It’s not a word like, “I know that George Washington was the first president of the US”. It’s a word like, “I know my wife”.

So this isn’t saying that the Lord foreknew that George Washington would be president (though that is certainly theologically true), what this is saying is that the Lord intimately knows His people—and he has known them before the foundation of the world.

Unfortunately this doctrine has become a means of contention within modern day Christianity. Originally it was not meant to be something to argue about but a truth to provide a great source of comfort for believers. It’s never a word to be applied to non-Christians, “I wonder if God foreknew that person?” The Bible never uses this term that way. But it does use it to give great comfort for believers.

What Peter is saying to these elect exiles is that they are not an accident or an afterthought but they are part of God’s plan from the very beginning. God had you in mind from the foundation of the world. God knows every bit of your life. He knows your past, he knows your present, and he knows your future. The Lord knows you and He knew you in eternity past.

God has decided to set His affection upon you. When you are in the midst of suffering it is exceedingly comforting to know that you are a member of God’s chosen people. To really see the comfort provided from such a doctrine—and I believe that is Peter’s aim here—a very helpful place to look is in the writing of Peter’s friend John.

In Jesus is speaking to a group of would be disciples. They have witnessed his miracle of feeding the five thousand. Jesus is becoming ridiculously popular. He is well on his way to stardom, and then he drops a bomb on them. He preaches his infamous sermon on being the Bread of Life. The response to this sermon cancels Jesus’ book deal on growing a mega-church. “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him”.

Right in the middle of that sermon, though, Jesus says something to the crowd that is very telling. Pick up in 6:35-40.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

( ESV)

Jesus says to them, “I’m the answer to your futility, to your brokenness, to your sin, to your rebellion. I’m the manna. I’m what sustains you and takes you into the Promised Land. You want to enter the land, Israel? You want to live in a redeemed Eden? I’m your answer”. But then he says, “You’ve seen me. You’ve seen all the miracles that I have done and yet you do not believe in me.”

Wait, what Jesus. These guys are following you. They want to make you king. How can you say, “yet, you do not believe in me”. Look back to verse 26, Jesus tells them, “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” You don’t want what really satisfies. You just want to make me fit into your little mold. You just think I’m the next little trinket, the next thing to fill you up. You don’t really want the Promised Land. You don’t believe in me.

Yet Jesus is not shocked by this. That is why he says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out”. That means that people are going to come. And who are these people? Those that have been given to Jesus by the Father? Who are these? Those whom he foreknew. Of course that’s a doctrine that we look backwards on. If you aren’t sure if you are a believer or you a struggling with this you don’t sit around and ask the question, “how can I figure out if I’m foreknown?” You do what Jesus says, “whoever comes to me I will never cast out”. You throw yourself on the mercy of Jesus. You respond to him in obedience, by “believing in the one whom God sent”. Then you look backwards and you say, “oh, sweet. I’m an elect exile because of what it says here in ’m foreknown.”

But I want you to notice something that is instructive for us here. Are you going to make it? As an elect exile a pilgrim in the world, are you going to make it? “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

You’ll perish when someone snatches you out of Jesus’ hand. Is that going to happen? Is Jesus going to lose you? If you are among those, “that he has given to Jesus”—if you are described here in 1 Peter you are going to make it.

Elect exiles are going to make it because of the Father’s foreknowing. But we also see…

2. Elect exiles are going to make it because of the Spirit’s Sanctifying

Not only are we “elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” but we are also elect exiles “in the sanctification of the Spirit”. The word “sanctification” is a very loaded word. At times when you see the word “sanctification” it is in reference to the ongoing, progressive, and gradual process in the Christian life. We are being sanctified. That is clearly the meaning in a passage like , “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely…” or again in were we are encouraged to pursue sanctification”. Yet that is not the only meaning of the word sanctification. And to lose this other meaning I think will make us misread certain texts—1 Peter being one of them. Sanctification does indeed at times refer to a process that continues until death. But there is another meaning to sanctification which refers to the initial setting apart at conversion. “It has to do with the new status and orientation of those who belong to God and to one another as his people.” Sanctification means having a new identity as those that are set apart by God.

Yet that is not the only meaning of the word sanctification. And to lose this other meaning I think will make us misread certain texts—1 Peter being one of them. Sanctification does indeed at times refer to a process that continues until death. But there is another meaning to sanctification which refers to the initial setting apart at conversion. “It has to do with the new status and orientation of those who belong to God and to one another as his people.” Sanctification means having a new identity as those that are set apart by God.

That is the meaning here in . Here it is another way of Peter referring to our initial conversion. So we are going to make it because we have been given a new identity and a very powerful one at that. Not only is our identity as ones chosen by God but we have been chosen by God to display His holiness. We have been given the Spirit. And it is by the Spirit that we have been given a new birth.

Therefore, believers have what it takes to “make it” to be different than the world. To remain faithful to the Lord in the midst of persecution and suffering. We have been given what we need to say no to ungodliness and to “shine as stars in a crooked and depraved generation”.

You have been changed. And that’s why our doctrine of conversion is so important. If I say, “I prayed this prayer but nothing really happened. He prayed to receive Jesus when he was 7 but lived away from Christ for the rest of his life. But we know he’s saved because he prayed that prayer”. Friends, that has nothing to do with NT salvation. The Spirit of God changes you…I mean really changes you…that’s what this text is saying. And so that’s why he has confidence that they’ll make it. Even though the earth gives way they aren’t going to abandon Christ…they are going to make it because their hearts have been fundamentally changed. Has yours?

3. Elect exiles are going to make it because of the Son’s Sprinkling

We are elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit” and this is as the text says, “for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood”.

Let’s be honest here that is confusing. We have been chosen by God, set-apart, for the sake of obedience to Jesus Christ. I get that. Is the obedience referring to initial obedience (kind of like we saw in —initial belief in Jesus) or is this referring to an ongoing obedience of following Jesus day by day? But those are easy enough questions. What is really confusing is the phrase, “for sprinkling with his blood”. First of all, what is that referring to? Secondly, why say “for sprinkling with his blood”, “by, in, with” those I would understand. But for is a purpose or a result word. What in the world does this mean?

In everything that I have read on this text I am most satisfied by Tom Schreiner’s interpretation. “The foreknowing work of God and the sanctifying action of the Spirit result in human obedience and the sprinkling of Christ’s blood”.

What though is this human obedience? Is it ongoing obedience or initial obedience? You wouldn’t be a heretic if you chose either. Both are theologically true. But I think here in this context Peter’s meaning is probably initial salvation. We respond to the gospel as a result of the foreknowing work of God and the setting apart work of the Spirit. I don’t think he is trying to give us an order of salvation or anything like that he is simply giving the believers confidence in their new identity. Though they are meek pilgrims, strangers and aliens here in this world ultimately they will inherit the earth.

What then about this sprinkling with blood? The most likely background to this is . READ.

There we see the covenant is established with sacrifices in which blood is shed and sprinkled on the altar. And in turn the people pledge obedience to God. Moses then sprinkled the people with the blood of the covenant, saying over them, “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you.

This blood of the covenant then is a symbol of forgiveness and cleansing. From this then we can conclude that this too is speaking of entrance into the people of God. The obedient response to the gospel is followed by a sprinkling of blood—a forgiveness of sins.

So we see that the Father’s foreknowledge, the Spirit’s sanctifying, and the Son’s sprinkling puts us into a new covenant with the Lord. We enter the covenant through the obedient response to the gospel and the ensuing sprinkling of the blood of Christ.

Conclusion

These passages are no guarantee of the health and wealth of our lives. This isn’t saying if you have the blood of Jesus then you can be certain that no virus or harm or such will befall you. This is a promise that what really matters has already been accomplished for us in Christ Jesus.

A few days ago my wife and I were looking at some pictures of our kids when they were younger. And my kids are still younger and we still have the blessing of being able to enjoy them in our home. But there was also a mourning that was taking place. These aren’t our little babies anymore. We don’t get to hold them the same way. And so I had a joy in looking at these old photos but there was also a bit of mourning. And I think that’s good and proper. But I also had to remember that there is another story being told.

There is nothing in your past or in my past that was actually “the good ol’ days”. Those aren’t a return to Eden. There is no day in your past where God was “taking you”. Those aren’t the glory days. Those are still to come. And so I have to look back upon those days and I mourn precious things which are no more, while I embrace the blessing of the present, but I ALSO…and here is my point realize that everything which we’ve enjoyed in the past and in the present is but a pale reflection of the joy which awaits us.

I think this applies as well to what is taking place in our world right now with death and viruses and government lockdown. Things might not ever return to normal. But they aren’t supposed to. That wasn’t the “normal” that God is taking you to. He’s doing something much better.

Are you covered with the blood of Jesus? If you are then you can rest easy. Yes, we mourn as we go through these trials. But we do so knowing that there is an eternal weight of glory and our light and momentary afflictions are storing up for us joy on that day. If you are in Christ—cling to him—you are going to make it. Father, Son, and Spirit are radically dedicated to your redemption.

Are you covered with the blood of Jesus

Or maybe you hear this and you aren’t sure. Has the Spirit fundamentally changed you? Are you sprinkled by the blood of Christ? If not then today you need to repent and believe the gospel. Apply the blood of the door to your home.