Predestination.  Election.  God’s sovereignty in salvation.  At the risk of sounding like a pop psychologist, how does that make you feel?  Words like “predestination” and “election” make most of us feel uncomfortable—especially if someone wants us to explain it.  This morning I’m not going to explain predestination to you, at least I’m not going to explain it to your satisfaction.  And I’m not going to argue the fine points of the doctrine of election.  But because we are starting a study through the book of 1 Peter, today I am going to ask you a question.  It’s a question the first two verses of the book forces me to ask.  Turn with me this morning to 1 Peter 1:1-2.  Not seeming to care at all that words like “election” might make us feel uncomfortable, the apostle Peter writes, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:  Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 

            “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect…” Tell me, is this letter from Peter written to you?  Are you God’s elect?  If God is who the Bible says He is and if heaven and hell are as real, like the Bible says they are, there is no more important question than that!  Are you God’s elect? 

            Now none of us can answer that question for ourselves until we understand what it means to be elect.  Fortunately, Peter tells us what it means.  Look again at verses one and two.  Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God’s elect, (who are) strangers in the world, scattered…who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit…  Let’s stop right there for now. 

            Exactly what does Peter mean when he calls Christians “God’s elect” in verse one?  The Greek word translated “elect,” means “to pick or choose someone out of a large group of people.”  Let’s say you decide that you’re going to go to poor country and adopt an older child from an orphanage.  When you walk into the orphanage you discover that there are hundreds of children waiting to be adopted.  For the next hour you walk through that orphanage.  You visit the dining room, the playground, the kitchen and the dorm.  Every where you go children crowd around you.  You look into their eyes.  You ask questions, you hold some of those children in your lap.  Finally you see him.  He’s a nine year old boy sitting alone in the corner. You walk over to him and in his eyes you see both fear and hope.  The moment your gaze catches his you know that he is the one.  You choose him to be your son.  That little boy has just become elect.  You picked him—you chose him—out of a crowd to enter into a special relationship with you.  That’s the idea behind the word “elect”.

            So are you God’s elect?  Have you been chosen out of the crowd by Him? And if so, what exactly has God chosen you to be?  Apparently, if you are God’s elect you have been chosen to be a misfit. When Peter describes God’s elect he calls them “strangers in this world.”  That word “stranger” could also be translated as “alien”.  Some of you here have probably traveled or lived overseas.  If you have you know something of what it means to be an alien or a stranger.  In a foreign country you don’t know the language, or at least you probably don’t know it well.  It can be hard to do even a simple thing like grocery shopping.   If you’re an alien in a foreign country you don’t fully understand the culture.  As a result you may appear clumsy and out of place.  As an alien you won’t share the same values as the natives of that country.  You won’t act the same way they act.  You won’t enjoy the same things they enjoy.  So if God elects you to be His child and to be a citizen of heaven instead of earth, doesn’t it make sense that you won’t, and shouldn’t, feel at home here?   

            Are you God’s elect?  If so, here’s something you must understand—as an alien in this world, you can expect to take some abuse.  Understand that Peter has a reason for pointing out that Christians are strangers in this world.  The believers Peter is writing to are experiencing persecution.  And right up front, at the beginning of this letter, the apostle tells them why.  Aliens living in foreign countries almost always suffer some kind of abuse.  Because aliens are different, they get laughed at.  Because their skin is sometimes a different color they can experience prejudice.  Because aliens are sometimes viewed as a threat they can even be physically abused.  So, Peter reminds us that, because we are citizens of heaven, we are strangers in this world and, as strangers, we ought not be surprised when we are not well received. 

            So, being God’s elect means being a misfit in this world.  Does that appeal to you?  If it doesn’t maybe you need to ask yourself if you really believe God when He tells us that this world, and all that glitters in it, is passing away.  When that day comes, you’re going to be glad you are not a part of what God destroys.  Well, even if being a misfit in this world doesn’t appeal to you, here’s something that should—God’s elect are loved by Him and they have been loved by Him even before they were born. In verse 2, Peter says that God’s elect are those who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father…

            Now a lot of Christians think that the foreknowledge of God means that God looks into the future, sees who’s going to believe in Jesus and then, after seeing who’s going to believe, He elects them to be His children.  When it comes to election, that’s not what the word “foreknowledge” means.  The idea behind the word “foreknowledge” is “to love beforehand”.  It means more than knowing what a person is going to do, it means knowing and loving the person himself.  That means, if you are God’s elect, God knew you and loved you before the world was made.  Foreknowledge means that God chose you to be His child before you were even born.  But why?  Did God love you before creation because He knew you would be prettier than other people?  Did He choose you because He knew you would be smarter or more religious than everyone else?  Did God elect you because He knew you wouldn’t be as big a sinner as all those other people?  If you are God’s elect you must understand this—you are not chosen because of anything within yourself.  You are not better than or less sinful than the rest of humanity.  God chose you not because of you.  He chose you because of His grace.  And God chose you instead of choosing someone else for reasons known only to Himself.   So if you are God’s elect you ought not be proud.  Instead, you ought to fall down on your face amazed and filled with wonder that God chose you.  Amazed that God loved you even before He made you.    

            But being elect means more than God choosing you.  Just as clearly as the Bible says that God chooses us, it also says that we must choose Him.  In a way that we can never fully understand, when God chooses us he makes certain that we will, in turn, chose Him.  But how does that happen?  What is the means God uses to cause us to choose Him once He has chosen us?  Peter gives us at least the general answer as He goes on in verse 2.  Look at verse 2 with me once more.  Speaking of God’s elect Peter says they …have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit…  Why is it that when God chooses us for salvation, we will, in turn, always choose Him?  Because of the work the Holy Spirit does in our lives.  Now notice that this work the Holy Spirit does is called “sanctifying work”.  To sanctify means to make holy or righteous.  So how does the Holy Spirit make sinners like us righteous in the eyes of God?  How does the Holy Spirit cause people who are apathetic towards God, or even hate Him, to begin to love God and serve Him?   When the Spirit draws a person to Christ does He wave a magic wand over their head and cast a spell on them.  Does the Spirit turn us into spiritual zombies devoid of free will?  Does the Holy Spirit force people to love God? 

            No, the Bible is clear.  Every man, woman, or child who comes to Jesus Christ must choose to come without being manipulated or forced or brainwashed.  So how does it happen?  How does the Spirit move us to freely choose God once God has chosen us?   That’s a question no human can answer fully.  But we do know this--the Holy Spirit uses a number of different means by which He moves us to put our faith in Christ.  One instrument that the Holy Spirit uses to bring us to Christ is God’s Word.  The Spirit uses Scripture like a knife to convict us of our sin.  He uses the Bible to convince us that God loves us and that Jesus paid the penalty for all our sin. 

But that’s not all.  The Holy Spirit moves believers to pray for us when we are lost and then He uses those prayers to draw us to God.  The Spirit can use the family we are born into, the people we know, the place where we live, and all the circumstances of our lives to create a spiritual hunger within us that only God can satisfy.  The Holy Spirit can use the consequences of our own sin to teach us how empty life is without Jesus.  All of these things are just a small part of the sanctifying work that God’s Spirit works in us when He turns us from a self-centered life to a God-centered life.  The Spirit uses all of these things and more to cause us to freely and coherently choose God once God has chosen us.  If you are God’s elect you chose God.  If you are God’s elect, God chose you.  The Bible never presents those truths as an either/or proposition.  Both are true.                      

            Are you God’s elect?  God’s elect are misfits in this world.  Gods’ elect are loved by God even before they were born and they are moved by God’s Spirit to believe in Christ and follow Him as their Lord and Savior.

            So how can you know for sure if you are God’s elect?  The only way to answer that question for yourself is to understand the goal of God’s election.  Why does God elect?  What does God intend to accomplish in the life of those He chooses?  Peter clearly tells us at the end of verse 2.  Listen again to verse 2.  (To God’s elect…) who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood. 

            The goal of God in the life of those He elects is to cleanse them of sin and to make them obedient to His word.  In the Old Testament sacrificial system sprinkling something with the blood of a sacrifice was an act of cleansing.  To be sprinkled with the blood of Jesus means to be cleansed of sin.  That cleansing happens the moment we put our trust in Christ and submit to Him as Lord and Savior.  Now there’s something more we cannot overlook here.  Obedience must go hand in hand with the washing away of our sin.  So here’s a good way to know if you are God’s elect or not—are you obedient?  Is the general pattern of your life a pattern of obedience to God and His word? 

            The mark of being God’s elect is not “I went forward at church and prayed a prayer.”  The mark of being God’s elect is not speaking in tongues or healing the sick.  The mark of being God’s elect is not having a vision or some other kind of powerful spiritual experience.  The mark of being God’s elect is doing what God says to do and living like God says to live.  If the goal of God’s election is obedience then you are God’s elect only if you obey. 

            In this letter, Peter writes to Christians who suffer.  They are being persecuted.  They are being attacked.  Don’t miss what Peter is really saying to them.  He’s saying, “If you are God’s elect you will obey even if obedience brings suffering.  If you are God’s elect you will obey even when others hurt you because of that obedience. 

            Are we God’s elect?  Do we understand that being elect to heaven means we won’t fit in here on earth?  Do you understand that being God’s elect means that before He created He knew you?  And knowing you, He loved you so much that He ordered the universe and all the events of your life in such a way that you would want Him and choose Him because He first chose you?  And if you are God’s elect do you know what the purpose of your election is?  It is that you might be clean and that you might be obedient. 

            Those God loves He chooses.  Those God chooses He changes.  Those God changes obey Him.  So are you God’s elect?  Have you been loved by God?  Have you been chosen?  Do you obey?