1 Peter 1:1-2

elect exiles 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.

Why is that the very first thing Peter wants to communicate to them? It's because he didn't want them to forget who they were. He wanted to remind them of their identity. And for us, we need this reminder just as much. The world, Satan, even our own hearts are constantly trying to define us, constantly trying to deceive us and confuse us about our identity. But as God's people, First and foremost, we need to hear what God has to say, what his word says about who we are. Because that is what's ultimately true and important. So if there's one main idea to walk away with tonight, it's this. Remember your identity as an elect exile. Remember your identity as an elect exile. That being said, we'll consider three aspects of our identity as elect exiles, and then we'll turn our attention to application at the end. The first point is this. We are foreknown by the Father. Foreknown by the Father. Look at the start of verse two. Peter says we are elect exiles according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. And foreknowledge here is talking about God's sovereign predestination of his people for salvation. When we hear the word no, we often think in terms of intellectual or cognitive knowledge. That's not the case here. The word no is not so much cognitive, but covenantal. If you drop down to verse 20, that same word is used to refer to Christ. It says,

he was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but made manifest in the last times.

That's not just saying that God knew in advance when Christ would come, although that's certainly true, but it's saying more than that. It's saying that Christ was the object of God's love. He was the object of God's love before the world and God ordained when he would come into the world. And so in the same way, when Peter says that Christians are foreknown by God the Father, he means that God loved them before the world and predestined them to be saved. It's not just that God looked down into the future and foresaw who would believe and become his people. No, he actually chose them to be his people. He set his covenant love upon them. From eternity past, the father chose us in his great love and not because of anything in us or anything that he saw we would do. He loved us because he loved us. We can often be hesitant or embarrassed about the doctrine of election. To many, it might seem unfair or unloving. It's interesting that Peter immediately opens with it, and then he emphasizes it again. For him, election is a humbling and comforting doctrine. It leads us to rejoice, because our salvation doesn't ultimately rest on us, but it rests in the hands of God, who is perfectly good and loving. The doctrine of election magnifies God's mercy, because all we can say is, why me? It assures us that God loves us unconditionally and freely. If we did nothing to cause God to choose us for salvation, how could we do anything to lose it? God has set his covenant love upon us from eternity past, and nothing can separate us from it. So as elect exiles, we are foreknown by the father, loved from all eternity. But even though the father has foreknown his people and elected them for salvation, that salvation must be worked out and applied to us in our lives. And so this is why Peter says that we are elect exiles in the sanctification of the spirit. So that brings us to our second point, sanctified in the spirit. And the word sanctification carries with it this idea of being made holy or being set apart. Scripture gives us three categories of sanctification. Positional, progressive, and perfect. Positional sanctification refers to conversion. It's the moment where we believe in Christ and our position is changed from being condemned before God to now accepted and forgiven in Christ. Progressive sanctification is what we most commonly refer to when we talk about sanctification. It's the lifelong process of growing in holiness, putting sin to death, and becoming more like Christ. And then perfect sanctification is the final state that Christians enter into when Jesus returns. Our body and our soul will be transformed, and we'll perfectly become like Christ. And so, out of these three categories of sanctification, it's positional sanctification that Peter is actually referring to here in verse two. The sanctification in the spirit is talking about the Holy Spirit's work that sets us apart from the world to belong to God. As Peter says later in chapter two,

you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession.

The Spirit has sanctified us. He's made us holy. He's consecrated us to God. He's given us new hearts that seek to know him and love him and serve him. The Spirit has sealed our inheritance that awaits us in the heavenly city near Jerusalem. And so our citizenship is there, not here in this world. The Spirit has set us apart as elect exiles. I experienced something of life as an exile when I was in the fourth grade. That year I went to China to go live with my grandparents. I was immersed in a new culture with unfamiliar customs and values. Living in my grandparents' house even came with different rules and standards. I remember even being made fun of at school for struggling to read and write Chinese. As I laid in bed each night, I longed for home. Every night I couldn't help but think of my family and America and the day that I would get to go home. I think the experience of the Christian is not so different. This world is not our home. We don't fit in here. We aren't comfortable here. We long for our true home in heaven, where we will get to be with Christ, where the sins and the sorrows that stain this present life are no more. Elect exiles. Remember that we don't belong here because we belong to God. We're foreigners here, sojourners passing through, because the Spirit has set us apart. He has sanctified us as elect exiles. Our status as elect exiles depends not just on the Father and the Spirit, but also on the Son. And that brings us to our third point. We are saved through the Son. Saved through the Son. This is the last qualification we see here regarding our identity. We're elect exiles, Peter says, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood. The background for this statement is the covenant ceremony from Exodus chapter 24. That records the covenant that God made with Israel. It tells us that Moses stood at the foot of the mountain and proclaimed to the people of Israel all the words and the rules of the Lord. And in response, the people pledged themselves to God and promised to keep his covenant and obey him. And so after this, after they pledged themselves, Moses took sacrifices and offered them to God, and he took the blood and sprinkled half of it against the altar and half of it upon the people. He did this to confirm the covenant with blood. And this is the parallel that Peter draws for us to the sprinkling of Christ's blood. We know that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. And while the old covenant was confirmed with the blood of animal sacrifices, the new covenant was ratified with the very blood of Jesus Christ. As the Lamb of God hung upon the cross, he shed his own blood to pay for our sins. The blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin. But the blood of Jesus is able to wash away every sin once and for all. Because on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. Friend, have you been sprinkled with the blood of Christ? Nothing but his blood can wash away your sins. You must believe in Jesus Christ. Even today, he stands ready to forgive you, to offer his very own blood to cleanse you from your sin, if you will only trust in him. And Exodus 24 also tells us that when the people entered into the covenant with the Lord, they vowed to do all that the Lord had spoken. Likewise, when we enter into the new covenant by faith, we submit to Jesus Christ as Lord. This is the obedience to Jesus that Peter speaks of. Faith is our pledge to obey Christ, our commitment to follow him. We must remember that salvation is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it, the gospel does not offer cheap grace. Cheap grace, he says, is

grace without discipleship. Grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate. Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field. For the sake of it, a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble. It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Elect exiles, we owe Christ our full obedience because he has purchased us with his precious and costly blood. What we've seen from this text, our identity as elect exiles, we are foreknown by the Father, sanctified in the Spirit, saved through the Son, Let's now consider what that means for us with two points of practical application. The first application is to live as an elect exile. We may remember our identity as elect exiles in our head, but if we don't live that way, it makes no difference. As elect exiles, we must live a life that is holy and consecrated to God. If the home we are longing for is where we are freed from sin, how can we entertain sin now? Whether it's at home or work or school, our lifestyle should be such that the world around us sees us and thinks of us as a little different, a little odd. Why does she always go to church? Why does he never want to gossip or party with us? Why does she seem to genuinely care about the people around her? Why does he work hard even when the boss isn't looking? We should also notice that this introduction is actually a short prayer. Peter is praying for the various Christians scattered throughout the Roman Empire, that grace and peace would be multiplied to them. Living as an elect exile does not mean living individually. Instead, it means that we need to depend on one another all the more, beginning with those who are closest to us. Living as an elect exile means we care for each other, that we bear one another's burdens, and especially that we pray for one another. The second application from this text is to marvel at the triune God. Marvel at the triune God. This text reveals to us that God is a glorious trinity. He is Father, Son, Spirit, three, and yet one. So the trinity is not some later Christian invention. It's on the very pages of the New Testament. The trinity is who God is. There is no being like him. He is holy and other and transcendent. And the fact that God is triune means that we don't need another reason or another application for learning about the Trinity. Just as we don't need a justification to know our spouse better or understand our child more. We are glad simply to better know someone we love. And so we should delight to know God as he is. We should marvel at this God who is far greater than us. We should be amazed and humbled by this God we cannot fully comprehend. And yet, this trinity of glory has come down to us as the trinity of grace. The Father has elected us. The Son has redeemed us. The Spirit has sanctified us. All three persons have operated inseparably together for our salvation. With one divine will, the triune God has singularly committed himself towards us. Without the Trinity, there is no salvation for sinners. Without the Trinity, there is no such thing as love. What else could we do but marvel and worship? Glory to the Father, glory to the Son, glory to the Spirit. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you that you have called us to be your holy people, the elect exiles. Lord, we pray that you would help us to know how to live according to that calling and help us to know you more as Father, Son, Spirit. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.