1 Peter 2:9 English Standard Version (ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

It is not uncommon for us to ask if we are truly chosen. The concept that God knew us before the foundation of the world and chose us then to be His possession is difficult to grasp. Our lack of understanding in how God could do that leaves us with some measure of doubt.

How can we deal with this personal insecurity? We all have asked ourselves questions related to our salvation for various reasons. It is impossible to cover them all. So let us deal with the question itself?

Are we chosen? Rather than trying to deal with personal issues let us begin with why we are concerned with the question at all. At the core of the why is a desire to be chosen. How did we come about wanting to be saved in the first place? We come to Christ for different reason but at the core in the desire to be saved is something that is common to all of us. We were being called out of the darkness into the light.

In our infancy we might not have known who was doing the calling, or that we were being called. It matters not whether the call was a yearning to be loved or a dark hatred for the life we were living. He was touching us in ways that only God could know how we would respond. Even if we did not know what we were doing, God did.

Memory is a strange trait. The further away from any event the more doubt creeps in to ask what really happened. We have emotional attachments that change because we change. Are these changes because life is beating us up or because God is perfecting us?

A better question to ask ourselves might be; are our actions rooted in faith or fear?

1 John 1:8 English Standard Version (ESV) If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Sin is deceitful, let us begin with that. Over the years I have had several heated discussions about sin. People do not like to be told that what they are doing is sinful. So to begin this session on critical understanding I went to BLB.ORG and looked up sin. I found 65 different bible dictionaries on the subject. One even had 8 different categories under their 5^th subset. Why not have one simple definition that everyone can agree upon?

Romans 14:14 English Standard Version (ESV) I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.

The liberal interpretation of this verse is, I determine what is sinful and what is not. The reasoning behind some of this thinking is rooted in consequences of sin. If we do not suffer consequences, then it must not be sin. That ignores the fact that others, perhaps our children, will suffer the consequences of our sins. Sin is deceitful in how it convinces sinners that they are alright.

If we do not have a clear understanding of sin, how will we avoid it? God gave us Ten Commandments which were not clear enough so we got 603 more to make things clearer. Do we know them all? Do we obey them all? We live under grace not law, so now we don’t have to obey them? That is sin’s deceit.

Romans 16:25-27 English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁵ Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶ but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— ²⁷ to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

The mystery is Christ in us which brings about living by faith. Sin is not the issue if we live by faith.