This morning, our scripture is out of 1 Peter.
We are in our second week in our series on 1
Peter called Exiles. And we're going to be in
1 Peter chapter 1, beginning in verse 1. 1 and
2 we'll be looking at. 1 Peter chapter 1 and
verse 1 reads, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to those chosen living as exiles dispersed abroad
in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
chosen according to the foreknowledge of God
the Father, through the sanctifying work of the
Spirit, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with
the blood of Jesus Christ, may grace and peace
be multiplied to you. This is God's word. Have
you ever had one of those days? You know what
I'm talking about, one of those days? I feel
like most of us know exactly what I'm saying
when I'm saying one of those days, right? Because
we all use that term, oh man, today was one of
those days, right? Well, I had one of those days,
you know, one of those days where it seems like
everything goes wrong. Everything that can go
wrong will go wrong. And I had one of those days
a couple of days ago, driving with the window
down, music up. right? One of the best experiences,
one of those things that I love to do is drive,
music blaring, fresh air blowing in, love it,
love it, love it. Well, I'm driving down and
I don't know if you've ever had this happen,
but for me, I'm 45 years old and 45 years of
drinking liquids every single day. And for some
reason on this day, my mouth just up and said,
you know what? I don't know what I'm doing today.
I don't know how to swallow or contain this liquid.
And it just goes. Down the front of you. Anyone
ever had that? You're like, what? All muscle
memory gone and your mouth just went limp or
something. I don't know what it is, but how did
it get out of here? I've done this a lot of times.
I should be pretty skilled at it. I call it my
drinking problem. It happens more often than
not. But it spills out. Well, I get to my coffee
shop destination where I'm heading. And I head
to the bathroom to clean up. And oh, that's right.
The coffee shop that I go to now has a policy
where every barista is actually, you know, the
KGB spy who's looking to see if you bought something
before you use their restroom. And if you haven't,
they're going to call you out and say, excuse
me, did you buy something yet? So I go and I
buy something. And then I head to the restroom
to clean up after whatever happened with my mouth.
And as I'm entering the bathroom, I let my guard
down for two seconds, and I slam my arm into
a coat hanger hook from hell that's mounted on
the back of the door. I think it's only this
big, but it felt like it was this big and made
out of the strongest metal you could imagine.
You can actually probably see it. See the little
green mark there? Yeah. Yeah. That's my war injury
right there. I go. I get cleaned up. I let out
a little hallelujah, by the way, when I hit that
hook. Hallelujah. And after recovering, man,
I retrieve my drink from the counter. And you
think, okay, what could possibly go wrong from
here on out, right? And I notice. You know, they
kind of skimped on the sweet cream this time.
But okay, I'll let that pass. I'm still in pain.
I go to sit down and do some study, which is
a sacred time to me. I gear up for it. I get
prepared for it. I bring my stuff and I bring
books and I look like a nerd. You know, have
you ever hauled a bunch of books into a coffee
shop and everyone's like, what's he reading,
right? So I go in and I get ready to study and
I open up my laptop and wouldn't you know it,
battery is dead. Not a problem though, right?
You just plug in, you charge up. I go to get
my plug, I get it all untangled, pulled out.
And of course, this is the one coffee shop in
this national chain of coffee shops. You guys
know what I'm talking about, right? And this
national chain of coffee shops that have amazing
seating and welcoming environments where they
put covers over every single outlet and you can't
plug in. And I went, yeah, just call it a day.
Let's just go to bed. Like nap time. It was just
one of those days. We've all had them. Now I
get it. First world problems, right? All of mine
were pretty, pretty minor. But it's on days like
that, when nothing seems to be going right, and
when all the feelings about it are stirred up
in our hearts, that we are most prone to forget
what is most true about reality, and that is
that our circumstances and our feelings are fleeting,
but the word of the Lord stands forever. What
defines us is not what we feel, but who God is
and what he has declared about us in Christ.
This is the most important thing. And Peter,
here on the outset of 1 Peter, is addressing
believers who are in very difficult situations.
My situation doesn't even compare. They are enduring
persecution. They are enduring suffering. Their
lives are not easy. And if they were to define
their wholeness and their peace according to
whether or not things are going well, well, they
are in for a life that is defined by anxiety
and hopelessness in the face of all their sufferings.
But if they define wholeness and peace by what
is true about who God is and what God says is
true about them, well, then they have built their
lives on the firmest of foundations true through
every storm. And Peter thinks that's pretty important
for them to know right out the gate. The most
important place for Peter to start is to remind
them of what is true. And that is that God is
the one working their salvation. God is the one
working their salvation. If you're taking notes,
the first thing I'll have you write down is our
identity. Verse 1 says, to the chosen living
as exiles dispersed abroad in Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. To the chosen
living as exiles dispersed. That's how Peter
addresses the letter to those chosen living as
exiles dispersed. Now, Peter's acknowledging
that they're living as exiles dispersed. What
does exiles dispersed mean? Well, an exile is
this idea of not having a homeland. Being displaced
from your homeland, not your home. And oftentimes
by force, being forced out of your homeland is
how it's often used. And he's saying, well, to
those who are living as exiles dispersed abroad
in this geographical area, probably Greeks or
Gentile believers who live in what is modern
day Turkey. Most of them. born in the same country
that they're living in right now, many of them
in the same area, maybe in the same homes or
families. So what is Peter getting at by calling
them exiles when they are Gentile Greek believers
who are probably living right where they were
born? It can't mean that they're displaced from
their homeland. It must mean something else.
And I believe that Peter is drawing on a couple
of other biblical passages, and he's Captured
this idea that as believers, both them and us
today, that we live in this world, but we are
not of this world. That we live in this world,
but we are not of this world. Paul actually captures
this in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 20, where
he says our citizenship is in heaven. And we
eagerly wait for a savior from there, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Where is our citizenship? Heaven.
So our citizenship's not here? No. Our citizenship
is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for our savior.
Well, the writers in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter
11, was talking about those who lived in faith
in God and how they were like foreigners and
temporary residents on this earth, that they
were always looking forward to a city and a place,
a heavenly one, where they would belong, that
they never got comfortable. Those who lived by
faith in the Old Testament never got comfortable
and settled down here on this earth, but they
left their attachments to this earth very thin.
razor thin so they could be cut off at any moment
because they were really moving toward and longing
for a place, a home, a city where they would
belong with the other citizens like them, a city
that was a heavenly city. John records in his
gospel Jesus saying of his disciples, the world
hated them because they were not of the world.
just as I am not of the world. I am not praying
that you take them out of the world, but that
you protect them from the evil one. They are
not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
I believe Peter here in 1 Peter at the very beginning
is reminding us that all Christians like them
are exiles dispersed throughout the world. And
this is not our home or our land. We are sojourners,
temporary residents passing through. And I think
we even caught a little bit of that in the text
from Job, didn't we? Naked I came into this earth.
Naked I shall leave. The Lord gives and he takes
away. Blessed be his name. I'm just passing through.
Right before he calls them exiles. Right before
he says that they're dispersed throughout the
world and that this home is not their home and
that they're sojourners and temporary residents,
he also used another word to describe them. He
called them chosen. Chosen exiles. What does
it mean to be chosen? Well, other words that
relate to chosen that you might show up in one
of your translations are words like elect, as
in election. That you've been picked or selected,
right? Any of you guys remember playing on the
playground and you would line up, right, and
select teams? Like, you're on my team, you're
on my team, you're on my team. And then there's
John, who's last, and I guess you can be on my
team if you don't talk and you stand over there,
right? Anyone else relate? Last picked. He doesn't
look very sporty. Unless it was Red Rover. Then
it's like, number one, get over here. Like, we're
sending you over. It's like that. It's like being
picked. It's like the playground game where you're
like, you, not you. It's chosen, selected, elected,
picked. And Paul says that if you're in Christ,
God chose you. If you're in Christ, God chose
you. Now, this can cause all kinds of questions
for people. To start to think about, like for
instance, God chose me, but didn't I choose faith
in God? Didn't I have a part in that? Didn't
I choose him as well? And I think the answer
to both, did God choose me or did I choose God,
is yes. The answer is yes. God chose you and
you responded to him in believing faith. The
Bible has no problem presenting both sides as
100 % true. I can show you John chapter six says,
no one comes to me, Jesus, unless the father
who sent me draws him. No one can come to me
unless the father who sent me draws him. But
then five chapters earlier in John, John also
said that whoever receives Christ will be given
the right to become the children of God. Throughout
the book of Acts, over and over again in the
preaching of Paul and Peter, you see them making
appeals to people to believe, to repent, to turn
from their wicked ways, that today could be the
day of salvation. And so the Bible has no problem.
Did God choose me or did I choose God? Yes. Yes.
Correct answer. Now maybe an unbeliever might
say, wait a sec though. That's not fair. You're
saying maybe God didn't choose me. Maybe God
didn't choose me. And I love the way one pastor
responded to a question like that. To the unbeliever
who said, wait a sec, that's not fair. Maybe
God didn't choose me then, right? The pastor
said, well, believe and put your faith in Christ.
Believe, then you can know that God chose you.
And the unbeliever said, oh, I'm not ready for
that. But that still seems unfair. And the pastor
doubled down and said, no, no, really, you can
know that God chose you today. Believe and repent
and trust and treasure Jesus today, and you can
know that you are chosen. And the young man,
unbeliever, said, oh, no, I'm not ready. And
the pastor said, oh, well, maybe you aren't chosen.
And then he followed up with, at least not yet.
Well, the choice is still there, isn't it? Well,
maybe God didn't choose me. Well, here's the
gospel. Believe in your chosen. That's what the
Bible says. Oh, I'm not going to believe. Okay.
The bottom line with these kind of theological
questions is this. Peter didn't write this. to
start a debate. He didn't think, man, if I put
this in here, Christians thousands of years from
now are going to get in back rooms and they're
going to divide into two camps and they're going
to argue to no end about whether it's God's choice
or it's their choice. It's God's choice or it's...
Peter didn't write this to start a theological
debate. He wrote it to stir up joy and desire.
He wrote it to stir up delight in what God is
doing. This isn't so much about something to
discuss as it is a truth to bring comfort and
joy to exiles. Those who are far away to know,
though I may feel far away, though I may feel
lost and caught up in a society that is hostile
to the gospel and hostile to Jesus, I know that
I am chosen by God. I know that he loves me.
And he chose me. And in Christ, we are chosen.
But what is the ground for that choosing? If
you're taking notes, the second thing I'll have
you write down is the ground. Verse 2a says,
according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father
we are chosen. According to the foreknowledge
of God, the Father. The ground of our faith is
that God chose us in Christ before we were even
born. In other words, all those who are in Christ
by faith make up God's chosen people. Which he
planned and purposed to be his people before
any of them were ever born. And now in one sense,
this is individual. This is you and you and you
and me, individually. But in a greater sense,
it's corporate. It's us. He chose us. Ephesians
chapter 1 and verse 4 says, For he chose us in
him, Jesus, before the foundation of the world.
And this is one of those points of debate over
this scripture. It's the difference between the
individual being chosen and the us being chosen.
And it goes something like this. One side says
this scripture is primarily saying that God knew
who he would choose individually before any of
you were born. And his choosing was unconditional,
meaning it was regardless of whether you wanted
it or not. It's yours. You are chosen. and there's
nothing you can do about it. It's unconditional
election. You were chosen. That's one camp. The
other one says that this scripture is saying
that God chose Christ, as he'll say later in
1 Peter, God chose Christ before the foundations
of the world as the only way of salvation, and
that all who by free will choice choose Christ
respond to the grace of the gospel. then they
are made to be one with Christ, in Christ. And
if Christ is the chosen one and you are one or
in Christ, then you are a chosen one, a chosen
people. And not just you, but everyone who is
united to Christ. And so whether you think it
is a sovereign will of God through unconditional
election, or you think it is Christ, the chosen
one, and all who are united to him, Our saved
are the chosen ones, which is where I land. That's
where I hang. I hang on option two. God chose
Christ before the foundations of the world as
the pathway of salvation, the way of salvation.
And all who put their hope and faith in Jesus
Christ are united to Christ. They become one
and they are chosen just like the son is chosen.
And that makes us a chosen people because we
are united to Christ. But either way, you can
say the ground for our salvation is the sovereign
will and plan of God to make a way. Even if we
have a choice in responding to what God did,
it's like you can only grab the rope for your
salvation from the water if I first throw you
the rope, correct? If I don't throw you the rope,
there ain't no rope. And so I have to throw the
rope through. God threw the plan of salvation
out there by his own love and grace. You have
a responsibility to grab the rope, hold tight,
and then God can draw you in. The ground of our
salvation is the sovereign will and plan of God
to make a way. And this is what makes the plan.
The fact that it's the sovereign will of God
is what makes the plan unfailing and secure because
it is backed by the full weight and confidence
of the very attributes of God himself. The unchanging
God is the one who backs the plan. He's the one
who guarantees the plan. That makes the plan
unfailing and secure. Our status before God is
not on shaky ground. Our salvation isn't flimsy,
but it also isn't one and done. It's not believe
and hunker down until the world ends kind of
faith. The ground of our chosenness is God's
sovereign will and plan. The means of our chosenness
is the active work of the Spirit in our lives.
If you're taking notes, the third thing I'll
have you write down is the means. According to
the foreknowledge of the Father, through the
sanctifying work of the Spirit. What does it
mean to be sanctified? Sanctification has at
least two key dimensions to it. The first one
is positional. Positional. The moment a person
is born again, the Holy Spirit sets them apart,
marks them as belonging to Christ. Now think
of it like a garage sale. Have you guys ever,
anyone garage sale out there? Any garage sailors?
Any cheap people? No. Frugal, I'm sorry, frugal.
That's what I meant. You ever been out garage
sailing and you're like driving down the road,
you know, like a creeper, you know, looking out
the window at all the garage sales as you go
by, rolling down, laying low in the seat, and
then you see At a garage sale up there, the item
you've been looking for or a treasure, something
that just like, oh my gosh, that right there,
that's valuable or I want that, I've been looking
for that. You know, and you hit the parking lot,
get out, right? Run on over, over to the garage
sale. You run up to the item, you know, and it's
facing this way. And as you round the corner
and you look, right there on there is a tag that
says sold. And you walk back to your car. Our
sanctification is first and foremost positional.
We are marked as belonging to Christ. Just like
that item was marked claimed, marked sold. So
we too. Are marked as Christ. By the sanctifying
work of the spirit. The positional sanctifying
work of the spirit. Says mine. Sealed. Payable.
Upon Christ's return. The fullness of it. But
it's sealed by the spirit. That item has been
claimed. This is what the spirit does. He claims
what is Jesus. He claims what is God's. He claims
what is chosen. And he puts his mark right on
it. And says. You're mine. And he sets you apart
from the world. So you have the world and you
were once in the world. Every one of you were
once in the world doing whatever your desire
was, pleasing the flesh, loving the world. And
when you put your hope and faith in Christ, he
marked you and sealed you and took you out of
the world, set you apart from the world in a
new position, a new place. And place you not
only apart from the world, but in right standing
in relationship with God. That's positional sanctification.
That is done for all who are in Christ. No longer
a part of the world, positionally placed before
God in right relationship. Corinthians says that
God has rescued us from the domain of darkness
and transferred us into the kingdom of the son
he loves. No more darkness, the kingdom that
the son loves. The first one is that it's positional,
but the second dimension of sanctification is
that it's progressive. It's progressive. The
spirit didn't just claim you, he changes you.
He didn't just claim you, put a seal on you and
said, that's good enough, let's put you over
here for a little while. And then when Jesus
comes back, he'll have to figure you out. He
claimed you, he sealed you, and then he changes
you. From that moment on, the spirit is at work
daily in your life. He is shaping you. He is
refining you. All those times around the block
when you had that hardship that you encountered
and you, like a knucklehead, didn't listen to
the word of God and obey him and you had to go
through it over and over again, that was the
spirit at work in you sanctifying you. So you're
still rough around the edges, buddy. You still
haven't got it. Let's take another loop. Another
time around. That's the spirit at work in you.
Some of you can say, I'm not the man or woman
I used to be. How many can say that? Hallelujah,
praise, thank you, Jesus. I'm not the man or
woman I used to be. That was not you. That was
not the self -help books that you read. That
was the spirit of Christ in you, changing you,
refining you, and shaping you. Why? Because he's
getting you ready for your future. He's getting
you ready for your future in two ways. Number
one, he's getting you ready. As long as you are
here on this earth and still breathing, the Spirit
is at work preparing you for ministry. Do you
all know that? You're all ministers. The Spirit
is preparing you for ministry. The Bible says,
preparing you for works that God planned in advance
for you to do. There are things that he has lined
up. for you to do, and he needs to make you clean
and purify you and refine you and get you ready
for those works as you encounter them across
the timeline of your life. The second thing,
though, that the Spirit is doing is that he's
also getting you ready for your future in that
he is getting you ready for a complete and unmediated
union with Jesus Christ. He is preparing you
for glory. How many of you guys need a little
bit more preparation before glory? Looking a
little foggy? Little not glory? The Spirit's
preparing you for glory. The Spirit has glory
on His mind when He's working in you every single
day. If the Spirit is changing and shaping us,
then... then what is the shape he is aiming for?
And the shape that the Spirit is aiming for is
the purpose that Peter lays out right here. The
shape that he's aiming for is holiness and obedience.
He wants us shaped like holiness and obedience.
Holiness and obedience. Earlier I read a scripture
out of Ephesians. It said, for he chose us in
him before the foundations of the world. Anyone
know what's the very next part? To be holy. He
chose us in him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, to be holy. That's what he chose
us for. That is his purpose. That's the shape
the Spirit is aiming for. You guys ever done
any projects like that where you're either painting
something or you're sculpting and you have a
prototype? You have a prototype and you're looking
at the prototype and you're copying it, right?
Well, the prototype is Jesus. who is holy and
obedient, the perfect obedient son to the father.
And the spirit is looking at the perfect prototype
Jesus. And he's looking at your life and he's
going, we got to take a little bit off here.
We got to take a little bit off here. We got
a chip here. We got to polish here. We're getting
close, but we're not quite there yet. He's working
to move you toward Christ likeness. The last
point I'll have you write down is the purpose.
Verse 2, to be obedient and to be sprinkled with
the blood of Jesus Christ. To be obedient and
sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ. Chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father
through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. To
be obedient and be sprinkled with the blood of
Jesus Christ. That phrase may sound a little
bit intense and a little strange. I get that.
There was a time in our Christian life and in
our society where Christianity and our parlance
and our way of phrasing things was very common
for people to know. Everyone kind of either went
to church or hung out with church or had a grandma
who went to church. But times are changing. And
you can't just say some things without people
needing a little explanation. So the blood, what
does that mean? Well, if you're not familiar
with the Old Testament, and particularly the
first five books of the Old Testament, then that
imagery might be lost on you, but it certainly
wasn't lost on Peter when he wrote this. He had
that in mind. He's thinking about when the first
covenant was established between God and the
people of Israel, his chosen people. And he's
drawing that imagery forward and he's applying
it to us, his chosen people. And so he's grabbing
that imagery, pulling it forward, that Old Testament
imagery of the blood, because the blood was always
a big deal in the Old Testament. It represented,
it was a metaphor for life. The life is in the
blood. Blood represents life. And whenever someone
sinned or signed a covenant, They would do it
with blood. They would sprinkle blood as a sign
of forgiveness or cleansing or commitment. And
back in Exodus 24, when God made that covenant
with Israel, he literally told Moses, I'm making
this covenant with you. Moses, I want you to
take the blood of a sacrificed animal and I want
you to sprinkle it all over the people. So that's
what we're going to do right now. I'm just kidding.
Hopefully you didn't wear something nice. We're
going to sprinkle the blood all over one another,
all over each other as a sign, a symbol. Because
why? Life is in the blood. Our life, we have
sinned and fallen short. We've transgressed against
God, so our life is diminished because we're
not living the true life. And so you took the
sacrificial lamb, which was supposed to be spotless
and perfect, and you took its blood, and it was
a metaphor, represented the life being sprinkled
on us to cover us. So that when God looked at
us, he didn't see our measly little lives that
had fallen short, but he saw the perfect life
of the blood of the sacrifice. But what happens
if I did go through and I sprinkled all you guys
with blood today? You'd go home and wash it off,
right? And we'd be back to it next week, sprinkling
blood again and over and over again, right? Because
that was never sufficient to last. It was only
a symbol, a sign. It was really a hope. Every
time they did it, it was a hope that maybe someday
in the future a sacrifice would be made and the
life of that blood would be so precious that
it could cover once for all all of our sins and
we wouldn't have to keep coming back to the altar.
It was a hope. You might even call it a promise
because it came from God. A promise of what he
would do. in the future. When the blood was sprinkled
on the people, it signified not only that you're
clean, but you're in. The people had to be a
holy people to be the people of a holy God. They
had to be a holy people. And to be cleansed with
the blood meant you're in, you're part of it.
You're set apart to God now. Yeah, yeah, it's
messy, but it's holy. And fast forward to Jesus.
Remember the night when he was crucified or the
night before he was crucified, he held up that
cup around the table with his disciples and he
said, this is my blood of the covenant poured
out for many for the forgiveness of sins. He
was saying, I'm starting a new covenant and this
time it's my blood. And remember, blood is a
metaphor for life. We're not talking about some
cultic ritual of drinking blood. We're talking
about a metaphor for life. This is my life that
is going to seal it. My life, my perfect holy
life is going to seal. This new covenant. No
more animal sacrifices. No more of just the lifeblood
of an animal sprinkled on the outside to make
us clean on the outside. Jesus was going to the
cross to deal with sin once and for all from
the inside out. And the book of Hebrews makes
this crystal clear. It says that the old sacrifices
could only clean people on the outside and only
for a time. But Jesus' blood goes deeper. His
life goes deeper. It cleanses our conscience.
It reaches the parts of us that no soap could
ever clean off. Our guilt and our shame and our
past. It purifies us in a way that nothing else
can. It even goes further in Hebrews 12 to say
that Jesus' blood speaks a better word than the
blood of Abel. Abel's blood, he was the brother
of Cain. He was the first murder victim. His
brother Cain murdered him because of his jealousy.
Abel's blood back in Genesis cried out for justice
after he was murdered. It says the blood in the
ground cried out for justice. But Hebrews tells
us that Jesus' blood cries out for mercy. See,
we all love justice until it's aimed at us, right?
And so we all love justice when it's you've wronged
me, I want justice. But when it's I've wronged
you, I want mercy. And Abel's blood cried out,
justice, justice, justice. Jesus' blood speaks
a better word. Mercy, mercy, mercy. It pleads
for grace. It doesn't demand punishment. It proclaims
forgiveness. So when Peter says, we've been chosen
for the sprinkling of Jesus' blood, he's telling
us something really profound, that it's a comfort
to us. Because it means we're forgiven and we're
cleansed and we're brought into God's presence.
We don't have to carry our guilt anymore or our
shame. We don't have to wonder if we belong anymore.
We've been marked, we've been claimed by Christ
himself. But it's also a challenge to us because
it means we're not our own anymore. We've been
bought with a price, the precious blood of Jesus
Christ. And that means we've been set apart to
live differently, to live holy. The blood of
Jesus didn't just cover us so we could go back
to the life we used to live. It changed us. It
changes our identity. And now we live as people
who have been cleansed and called according to
his purpose. I'm going to invite the worship
team to join me on stage as I conclude here today.
But I do want to point your attention to the
reality there that in the text, you probably
noticed if you're keen to it, that the whole
trinity was represented in this text. The trinity,
the triune God which we worship is one God in
three persons. If you want me to explain that,
I can't in one second or one minute. But it's
a wondrous mystery that our God is one in essence,
substance, and three in persons. That it is one
God, expressed as Father, Son, and Spirit. And
you notice there in the beginning that it was
the work of the Trinity at work in salvation.
As Peter said, the Father designed the plan of
salvation. The Spirit applies the plan of salvation
and the Son secures the plan of salvation. That
means you have the whole weight of the triune
God behind the salvation plan, this rescue plan
for you and I. This is no accidental salvation.
This is no flimsy hope that we hold to. You have
been swept up in the eternal plan of the Father,
sanctified by the Spirit and sprinkled with the
blood of Jesus Christ in order to live a holy
and obedient life. The whole Trinity conspired,
yes, conspired in love to make you His. And I
say rejoice and be glad. Sing songs of joy and
gladness. For God has loved you. God has chosen
you. God is shaping you for glory. Amen? Trust
him and love him. Hope in him. And I'll ask you,
will you live like you've been claimed? Will
you live your life like you've been marked out
for something? Will you obey him as one who has
been bought with the precious blood of Jesus
Christ? Will you walk through this world like
someone who's headed home? Or will you cling
to the very last day to this world as if it is
your home? I say let the enemies of God howl.
And let the culture mock. And let comfort flee.
Because you have been chosen and you are cleansed.
You are his forever. So now, live like it. Amen.