Sundays at Home

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Strangers Loved by God

Sunday, July 5, 2020
Pastor Jojo Ma

 
 

Sermon Notes

Strangers Loved by God
1 Peter 1:1-2

1 Peter 1:1-2

1  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Sermon Series: A Living Hope

Today’s Sermon: “Strangers Loved by God”

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:1-2

We have, as Peter says, a living hope. We have a resurrected Savior. We have a sovereign Lord…no matter our circumstances.

We need to be reminded of faithfully suffering for Christ, we need to know how to stand firm in Christ, we need to be reminded that this world, this country, is not our hope nor our home. Rather, we are strangers, pilgrims, aliens, exiles, sojourners, longing for a better a country, a heavenly one.

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

I.          The Author of 1 Peter [v1]

II.        The Audience of 1 Peter [vv1-2]

I.          The Author of 1 Peter [v1]

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ…

When you read this letter, it reads like someone who knew Jesus very, very well. And there was hardly anyone who knew the Lord like Peter.

Today we have the sure Word, the 66 books of the Bible, which is enough to save us and make us more like Jesus.

At the end of v2 he says: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. Peter could say this because he knew what it meant for grace to be multiplied to him.

II.        The Audience of 1 Peter [vv1-2]

1 …to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

If you are a Christian, if you are a believer today, it is because God chose you by grace. Your salvation, from start to finish, is all of grace.

2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Here in v2 Peter reminds these believers of God’s love for them; that is what foreknowledge means…that God foreknew them. You could say God fore-loved them 

We are elect exiles. We are loved and chosen by God but we are strangers and pilgrims this side of heaven. This place is not our home. We should feel uncomfortable. We’re passing through.

Whether an Old Testament believer like Abraham, a New Testament believer like Peter, or anyone else who believes the gospel, all of us are not at home here in this life. We will always be unwelcomed. Why? Because we r exiles, strangers, pilgrims seeking a better country, an eternal home.

Heb 11:13-16 13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

2020 has only made things harder. We face not only the general suffering that others experience, but we face the unique and specific suffering that only true Christians, elect exiles, experience: persecution for the faith.

1 Peter will direct our gaze where it should be: Toward a better future, a living and eternal hope. Even though we are exiles, strangers, sojourners, we are elect and loved by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are secure in God. And this truth changes everything.