Salvation and Election

Temple Baptist Church - 11-2-2016

1 Peter 1:1-2

 

Introduction:

 

A.  Anytime we come to the doctrines of election and predestination, I feel the need to make a Biblical explanation because of the heretical teaching that God created all mankind but, in His sovereignty, chooses to love a few and hate the multitudes. 

 

1.  I will not make this an in-depth study but will just deal with it within our verses for tonight.   I do want to say that the “god” of John Calvin is not the God of the Bible.  This is neither the God of the Bible nor is it the God that I personally know!

 

2.  You will not find election and predestination in the same context of Scripture but both are found in the context of foreknowledge.  This is by design!  To come up with the doctrine of Calvinism, you MUST tie these two Biblical principles together.  God made sure that they were kept entirely separate.

 

B.  Why keep them entirely separate?

 

1.  Election deals with our conversion in Christ.

 

2.  Predestination deals with our conformity to Christ.

 

C.  Never is a person predestined to divine Election!  Man is destined to hell by willful sin and choice.

 

Romans 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

 

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

John 3:16-18  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  (17)  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.  (18)  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

 

D.  Predestination is only found in two portions of Scripture.  Romans, chapter 8, and Ephesians, chapter 1. 

 

1. In Romans 8, we that are saved are predestined to be conformed to the image of God.  You cannot be conformed to the image of God until you become a child of God by faith.  In the foreknowledge of God, one glorious day, we will be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.

 

Romans 8:29-30  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  (30)  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.  (In order to be conformed to the image of His Son, one must be called and answer—be justified through the blood of Christ and imputed righteousness—and one day glorified.)

 

2.  In Ephesians 1, predestination deals with the glorification and eternal inheritance of the church—the body of Christ.  In the foreknowledge of God, He sees the “church” that Christ bought finally home.

 

Ephesians 1:3-7  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  (4)  According as he hath chosen us in him (Us, not me-this is the body of Christ, not the individual) before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  (5)  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, (the saved are adopted by both the choice of the adopted and the Adopter) according to the good pleasure of his will,  (6)  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.  (7)  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

 

E.  Election MUST be kept separate from predestination.  Men are not predestined to hell; they are destined to hell by personal choice.  Men are not predestined to heaven; they are destined to heaven by personal choice.  In the Bible, the word “elect” is used in relationship to any one of four things:

 

1.  Israel, as a nation—not individual Jews, is elect.  Isaiah 45:4  For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

 

2.  There is a select number of angels that are elect.  1 Timothy 5:21  I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.

 

3.  Jesus Christ is elect.  Isaiah 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

 

4.  The Church or Body of Christ is elect.  Individuals enter into election when they get saved - 2 Timothy 2:10  Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

 

F.  Three things found in this verse explain election. Elect means to choose.  Sound like Calvinism?  Why and how did God choose us?  This text is both self-explanatory and is in total agreement with other verses of Scripture.  They are not going to be elect, they are elect.  God knew that they would be elect because He sees the end from the beginning. 

 

2 Peter 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.  (This verse means that all Scripture agrees.  Therefore, 1 Peter 1:2 is no exception.  We will look at election through the eyes of Scripture and not through the eyes of man.)

 

G.  Now, he is telling them why they are elect.  Because they were sanctified by the Spirit because that they obeyed the gospel and place their faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

H.  We will compare our verse with one in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians.

 

2 Thessalonians 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

 

I.  These people are elect so the Bible looks from their election backwards to how they became elect.  Now, let us break our verse down. 

 

1 Peter 1:2  (1) Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, (2) through sanctification of the Spirit, unto (3) obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

 

1.  Elect – “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” 

 

a.  Foreknowledge is foreign to man as none of us knows what lies on tomorrow.  I am glad of that because I love surprises?  We do not have the capability to see into the future and predict future events.

 

James 4:14-15  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.  (15)  For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

 

b.  Foreknowledge is one of the attributes of God: omniscience.  “Omniscience” is derived from a compound of two Latin words:

 

1)  Omni – all, all things, all ways, all places

 

2)  Scientia – knowledge, knowing everything : having unlimited understanding or knowledge

 

3)  Isaiah 46:9-10  Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,  (10)  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

 

4)  Jeremiah 1:4-5  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  (5)  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

 

5)  In His foreknowledge, God knew who would come to Christ by faith.  Election through foreknowledge is consistent with our verse in 2 Thessalonians 13: “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation:”

 

2.  Sanctification of the Spirit – “through sanctification of the Spirit”

 

2 Thessalonians 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

 

a.  Sanctification – to set apart to a sacred purpose.  Positional Sanctification is a work of the Holy Spirit and takes place at the moment of salvation as the believer is baptized into the body of Christ. 

 

1 Corinthians 12:12-13  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.  (13)  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

 

b.  First Mention of sanctification is found in Genesis, chapter 2. 

 

1)  God sanctified the seventh day and rested for all His work which he had made.  God did not sanctify the seventh day BEFORE His creative acts but AFTER His creative acts. 

 

Genesis 2:1-3  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  (2)  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.  (3)  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

 

2)  Did God know that He would sanctify the seventh day?  Of course, He knew because He is omniscient!  In the First Mention of “sanctified,” it took place AFTER the work was done; not before it was done. 

 

3)  Therefore, the Holy Ghost could not sanctify us until something was done.

 

3.  Obedience and Sprinkling.  “unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ”

 

2 Thessalonians 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

 

a.  Obedience to what?  The elect that have been sanctified had to be obedient to something. 

 

b.  The saved had to obey the gospel. 

 

Romans 10:16-17  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?  (17)  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

c.  The obedience that applied the blood of Christ was obedience to the gospel of Christ. 

 

Romans 16:25-26  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,  (26)  But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:

 

Hebrews 12:22-24  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,  (23)  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,  (24)  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

 

d.  In our text, we find that obedience followed the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” and is joined by the word “and.”  True salvation requires repentance which causes the believer to become obedient to the Word of God.  God’s children have experienced a change in heart that causes a change in life coupled with a desire to follow Christ.

 

Conclusion:  Our election came through the foreknowledge of God.  He knew that we would come to Christ by faith, become obedient to the Word of God, be sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and enter election.  It is the body of Christ that is elect and we enter election when we are saved and placed into the body.