The Developing of a Saint

In our last lesson we saw that it is the sovereign work of God through Christ and by the Holy Spirit that one becomes a Saint. Today we are going to study how the Lord takes the Saint and develops him. Our passage for study today is 1 Peter 1:1-2.

In verse 1 Peter refers to God's people as "elect exiles." Elect means we were chosen by God to be His people, Ephesians 1:4. The term "exiles" reminds us that this earth is not our permanent home, Philippians 3:20. Therefore, the place in which we live now is a temporary place where the Lord is in the process of preparing us to meet Him.

In verse 2 we learn that God had a plan to redeem us, Acts 2:23, and to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, Romans 8:29. We are also instructed that the foreknowledge includes "sanctification of the Spirit." The word "sanctification" refers to the process of making one holy. This process is carried out in the life of a believer by the Holy Spirit. In Romans 8:28 we learn that whatever comes into our life is good for us. The reason it is good because the Lord uses everything in our to conform us to His image. The final part of verse 2 states, "for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with His blood." Our obedience to the Lord is a demonstration of a holy condition in our heart. The responsibility of the believer in this process is twofold. One being a desire for the word of God for by it we receive spiritual nourishment leading us to maturity, 1 Peter 2:2. The second is our responsibility to work out our salvation, Philippians 2:12-13. Here we see the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of the children to be obedient to Him.

The desire in our heart to become holy is found in 1 Peter 1:17-21. Meditating on what Jesus did on our behalf on the cross will cause us to have a desire for the Spirit of God to prepare us to meet the Lord by making us holy. John Calvin states,
"There is then to be understood here a contrast, that as formerly under the Law the sprinkling of the blood was made by the hand of the priest; so now the Holy Spirit sprinkles our souls with the blood of Christ for the expiation of our sins." As we meditate on this truth let us be obedient to the exhortation given to us in 1 Peter 1:15-16.