Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. This morning in our Sunday school, we considered the doctrine of adoption. Chapter 12 in our confession of faith of adoption. We considered what the blessings were associated with being the adopted sons of God, being brought into his household, being brought into his family.
And tonight, we're going to consider the corporate privileges that we enjoy as Christ's church. Specifically, we'll be looking at verse 9 of 1 Peter, chapter 2, and some of the surrounding context as well. But I'll just pick up reading in verse 1, read to the end of the chapter, and then we'll make several observations on our text. Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word. that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, coming to him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.
You also, as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him, for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good.
For this is the will of God. that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully, For what credit is it, if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently?
But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, he did not threaten. but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you are like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.
Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the Word of God, and we pray for the ministry of your Holy Spirit now. I pray that we as a church would reflect on those privileges that you have granted to us, and that we would use these blessings, God, that we would approach you, that we would call upon you, that we would take up that blessed privilege to tell others concerning the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We ask that you would forgive us for all of our sins. We pray that you would cleanse us in that blood. We pray, Father, that you would cause us to see the glory of Christ as it's so clearly set forth in the scriptures and cause us to think on him, to let our minds truly be rooted in the right hand of God where Jesus is sitting. We just pray now that you would be glorified in our time together.
And we ask through Christ the Lord. Amen.
Introduction
Well, it is obvious, as we consider these privileges of Christ's church, that they were won for us based on what the end of the chapter says. Notice the Apostle Peter calls us to be submissive. He calls us to submit ourselves to those earthly institutions that we find ourselves in. He sets forth Christ as an example, but Christ isn't simply an example.
Christ is the reason why we have been freed from our sins. Notice verse 21. He says, for to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in follow his steps who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth. Notice in verse 23, who, when he was reviled, did not revile in return.
When he suffered, he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously. It's based on the doing and dying and rising of Jesus Christ that we are adopted into the family of God and that we enjoy these corporate privileges. We mustn't ever forget that. These things are secured for us.
They are purchased for us. They are bought for us by the finished work of Christ. He goes on in verse 24, he says, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. We ought never to consider our privileges without first considering the reason why we have these things.
Well, now, having said that, let's look at first Peter chapter two, specifically at verses nine and ten.
Our Corporate Identity
The first observation we want to make is our corporate identity. who we are as a church in the sight of the living God, our corporate identity. Notice the language of the apostle in verse nine. You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. I hope that as you read this, you're thinking of the book of Exodus.
This is language straight out of Exodus 19, verses five and six. God called Israel, his firstborn son, to function in this particular manner. They were to be the nation that mediated God's blessings to the nations around them. In fact, you may turn there.
I want you to see this so you're tracking with biblical theology. The book of Exodus, chapter 19. Exodus, nineteen, beginning at verse three, and Moses went up to God and the Lord called him, called to him from the mountain saying, thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel. You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself.
Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel. You see, they were to be a people set apart with God's blessing to function as a blessing to the nations around them.
Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 4, where this is highlighted and illustrated. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Just picking up in verse one of Deuteronomy four now Israel listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe that you may live and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you you shall not add to the word which I command you nor take from that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor, for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor.
But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore, be careful to observe that for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, Surely, this great nation is a is a wise and understanding people for what great nation is there that has God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us for whatever reason we may call upon him. You see, God chose Israel out of the massive nations to function in this capacity to be a means whereby he would communicate his redemptive word, his redemptive blessing to the nations around.
Well, as we track through the remainder of the Old Testament, we see that the people of Israel didn't do that. They didn't function in that capacity. They were not the kingdom of priests that God set them apart to function as. So God sends his son.
The Lord Jesus is the champion. The Lord Jesus undertakes. The Lord Jesus does all that Israel was commanded, and he does it successfully and victoriously. And by virtue of our union with him, those terms are now applied to the church, and we are to function in like manner.
G.K. Beal says, the expression in Exodus 19.6 is a summary of God's purpose for Israel and primarily meant that the Israelites were to be a kingly and priestly nation, mediating God's light of salvific revelation by witnessing to the Gentiles, a purpose which the Old Testament prophets repeatedly blame Israel for never fulfilling. And so when we come to first Peter chapter two verse nine, if we're thinking biblically, we hopefully will go. The Lord God does fulfill His promise.
The Lord God does set apart a people. The Lord God, through the power and the wisdom and the glory that is inherent in His being, has sent forth Christ to live for us, to die for us, to rise again, to purchase the Church of Christ so that we can function in that capacity that Israel of old failed to carry out. We are the true Israel or the spiritual Israel. Christ secured the privileges.
He secured the privileges for the holy nation that is his church to be that kingdom of priests. We see this language applied to the church in Revelation chapter one at verse five in the greeting and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness from the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion forever. Amen." So this is what Peter is saying.
Our corporate privileges, or our corporate identity rather, are those things God had purposed from the beginning that his people would in fact manifest. Let's just look at these.
A Chosen Generation
He says, first, we are a chosen generation. A chosen generation. This highlights God's sovereignty. We didn't choose ourselves.
We didn't put ourselves in a state of grace. We didn't put ourselves on some sort of a list and hopefully the Lord God will pick us and we can seek to accomplish these things for which he has purposed. No. We are a chosen generation.
The Lord God set us apart. This chosen generation is not made up of those from a particular physical descent, but it is made up of those sovereignly chosen by God, redeemed by Jesus Christ, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. We see that in Ephesians 1, just as God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. That we should be holy and blameless.
And then in love he predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ, to the praise of the glory of his grace. We need to remember this. We are a chosen generation, not chosen because we were good, not chosen because we performed well, not chosen and therefore merited God's favor. But we were chosen out of the mass of humanity, according to the sovereign pleasure of God Most High, to function in this particular capacity.
A Royal Priesthood
He says, secondly, that we are a royal priesthood. Look back at verse 5 or verse 4 in chapter 2. It says, Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
When you're feeling proud about yourself, just remember you're just a stone in the wall. That's a nice humbling thought, isn't it? You're a rock. You've been chosen by God to be that rock, but you're a rock.
You ever feel like a rock sometimes? This is what Peter is saying. I love the imagery that he captures here. A holy priesthood or dropping down into verse nine, a royal priesthood.
I hope you understand the distinctions between prophet and priest. The prophet was sent by God to communicate God's word to the people. The prophet came in the name of Yahweh and said, Thus says the Lord. God sent the prophet on a particular task in the old covenant, more often than not, to call the people to repentance and to set before them the glory of God.
The priest, on the other hand, went to God on behalf of the people. Remember the Levitical priesthood. You had a great group of men or a group of men that were selected for priestly activity. Of that massive priest, there was one particular priest, the high priest, who would enter into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement one time a year.
He'd take off all of his fancy outfit, he'd take off all of his regal gear, and he would just go and linen into that Holy of Holies, where he would offer up sacrifice. Well, what was he doing? He was appearing before God on behalf of men. And this is our function in the New Covenant Church.
We are a royal priesthood. We get to go to God. We get to present our petitions to God. We have access to God.
This is why Luther emphasized the priesthood of all believers. We don't need a Roman Catholic priesthood to somehow mediate God's blessings for us. We have a great high grace who mediates those blessings to each and every one of us so that we may in turn approach the living and true God with boldness, with zeal and with great earnestness because the Lord Jesus has secured our privilege. John Gill says, and they are priests as well as kings being made so by Christ and through his priestly office. are anointed with the Holy Spirit and sanctified by His grace and allowed to draw near to God and offer up by Christ their spiritual sacrifices of prayer and praise and are enabled and assisted to offer up the sacrifice of a broken heart and their bodies also and even their lives when called to it.
That is a great privilege that the priests of God have in the New Covenant. So we're a chosen generation. We're a royal priesthood.
A Holy Nation
He says, thirdly, we're a holy nation. I think this helps us understand what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 21. You can turn back to Matthew 21 for just a moment. You remember that in Matthew 20, Jesus comes into the city, the city of Jerusalem.
And he sees it in a very... I'm sorry, chapter 21, he enters into the city of Jerusalem and he sees it in a very bad state. And then he begins this series of dialogue and discourse and interaction and even confrontation with the religious leaders in his particular day. He tells a parable of the wedding feast in...
I'm sorry, going back to Matthew 21. He tells the parable of the vine dressers. If you compare this with Isaiah 5, you'll see there's nothing new in biblical history. Jesus is simply doing what Isaiah did before him in Isaiah 5, this parable of the vine dressers.
God owns the vineyard. God's leased it out to the vine dressers. He has called them to be faithful. He has called them to exercise the stewardship.
They have rejected that. They have rebelled against that. God sends His Son, the heir. Oh, they will, in fact, respect Him.
But instead, they kill Him. They destroy Him. The obvious picture is what the Father is doing with the Son in sending Him to save His people from their sins. Now, notice at the end, in chapter 21, at verse 41, or verse 40, therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?
They said to him, he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. An interesting passage that fares in Peter's treatment in 1 Peter chapter 2.
Notice in verse 43. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you. Apostate Israel, Old Covenant Israel. The Israel that went a whoring from God, that rejected his covenant, that rejected his mercy, that rejected his grace, that treated his son with contempt, treated his prophets with contempt.
Jesus says, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Well, who is that nation? It is the church. It is the blood-bought children of God.
It is the corporate body of God's elect brought together to fulfill what the Father had given Israel to do. But they failed. Christ is successful and therefore Christ's people take up the mantle of being a light shining amongst perversity. Wayne Grudem says, just as believers are a new spiritual race and a new spiritual priesthood, so they are a new spiritual nation, which is based now neither on ethnic identity nor geographical boundaries, but rather on allegiance to their heavenly King, Jesus Christ, who is truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
A Special People
We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and then fourthly, he says, a special people. These are great terms. This is a great privilege that is ours. With this understanding of our corporate identity, there ought to be some joy in our hearts.
I remember this morning after going through chapter 12, Mrs. Mars says, boy, this is unbelievable that God would take sinners and bring them into his own family. Our confession talks about how God is a father. He pities us.
He provides for us. He protects us. He chastens us. He never casts us off.
If you're tracking with that, Reverend, hopefully your heart is leaping. Your heart is rejoicing what we, as individuals, have by virtue of our union with Jesus Christ. Well, corporately, the Free Grace Baptist Church, with all of our spots and all of our blemishes and all of our issues and our remaining corruption. These four things are true of us.
We are a special people. Titus chapter two. The apostle highlights this Titus chapter two and giving us the scope of Christ's redemptive mission. Titus chapter two verse.
He says, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Again, you see how it's intimately connected to the crosswork of Christ. We're not special people because we're special people. We're special people because of a champion named Jesus.
We're special people because of our victory and Redeemer. We're special people based on the fact that he gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. Zealous for good works. So, going back to 1 Peter 2, verse 9, that's our corporate identity.
Our God-Centered Function
Secondly, we notice in the text our God-centered function. Our God-centered function. After giving us these four descriptions of the church, he then says in verse 9b, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's our God-centered function.
That's why we exist. That's what we're supposed to do primarily We're not to have a social club. We're not to engage in entertainment. We're not to be the best show in Chilliwack.
Rather, our task, our mission, our calling, is very narrowly defined with reference to Holy Writ, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. There is a necessity here. This must be a defining characteristic of what the Church is. It ought not to be the case that people go week in and week out to the church and never hear the glory of God expounded, never hear the people of God discussing the gospel, never hear conversation that focuses in and centers in Jesus Christ.
It ought to reek of what Spurgeon says. We may happily call ourselves Baptist. We may happily call ourselves Calvinist. We may happily call ourselves reform.
All those things are great. But the primary and defining characteristic is that we're Christians. We love Jesus and we proclaim his praises. That's what we've been saved for, is to proclaim those praises.
Seeking our own eternal well-being, right, though, that is this is brutal again, could never provide a truly satisfying goal for life. The answer to our search for ultimate meaning lies in declaring the excellencies of God, for he alone is infinitely worthy of glory. Redemption is ultimately not man centered, but God centered. You see that you've been saved.
You've been blessed. The blood of Jesus has cleansed you for a specific reason. So that on Sundays when we gather to sing, we sing. It doesn't matter if you haven't been to singing school or music school.
It doesn't matter if you can't, you know, dazzle everyone with your beautiful notes. You sing. That's how we proclaim his praises. We proclaim his praises in prayer meeting.
We call upon him. We proclaim his praises when one man up here prays, we enter into that prayer. It's not just a one man show. Hopefully you're engaged.
Your mind is there. You're amening right along when the man is leading in prayer. We proclaim his praises as we hear his word, as we receive his word. Our hearts are leaping for joy.
We're being inspired, not in a worldly sort of way, but we're being inspired rightly so that we may go from this place and point others to Christ. We may tell others about our Savior. Jesus Christ is so glorious that when he saves us, we want to go out and then proclaim his excellencies, tell others what great things he has done. This is what evangelism is all about.
There is a necessity involved here. But with this necessity comes a responsibility.
Getting the Gospel Right
We need to get the gospel right. Not everybody that's proclaiming the praises or preaching the gospel are necessarily doing it right. The gospel isn't your experience. The gospel isn't your happiness.
The gospel isn't your holiness. The gospel isn't your achievement. The gospel centers in and focuses upon the doing and dying of Jesus Christ. It is those events associated with his first coming.
In the first place, he died. He was buried. He rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. And he does this for our sins.
This is the gospel. You may share your experiences. You may tell what great things God has done. You may indeed call attention to how great he is, but to preach the gospel means to speak of Christ and him crucified and him resurrected.
Make sure you get that down. I have told you before, encouraged you before, not told that sounds bad. First Corinthians 15 is a great place that summarizes the gospel. Commit this to memory.
So if someone ever were to say, what is the gospel? What is the good news? It's not, well, it makes me feel good. No, it is a revealed message rooted in history, given by God, centered in upon the Lord Jesus.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you were saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve. Again, in a setting you may praise God and tell about how you were this, and God saved you, and how he cleaned your life up, and how he's given you blessing, and given you a spirit, and all that sort of thing. But the message that God uses to save souls.
It's not what's happened in your life. It's what's happened in Jesus' life. It's what's happened in Jesus' death. It's what's happened in Jesus' resurrection.
You see, the gospel is focused. The gospel is narrow. The gospel is central. The gospel is what we all need to be responsible with when we handle it, when we engage in what we find here in 1 Peter 2.
That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. God's power, God's glory, God's mercy, God's excellence, God's wonder. Yes, discuss those things, proclaim those things, exalt in those things and always point your audience, point your hearers, point those to whom you speak in this world to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, of his will, by the word of truth he brought us forth. It is the Scripture that God uses.
We've seen our corporate identity, our God-centered function.
Our Transformed Condition
Thirdly, our transformed condition. Verse 10. Who once were not a people, but are now the people of God. Who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
That is a blessed statement. Who once were not a people. The background for this verse is Hosea 1 and Hosea 2. Remember, God told Hosea to name his children specific names.
One was not my people. In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul highlights this reality and says Gentiles who once were far off, who were not God's people, are now God's people. Jew and Gentile, believers on the Lord Jesus Christ, are those who are the people of the living God. And notice how he describes this.
Who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. A defining characteristic, one of the defining characteristics of a Christian, you've obtained mercy. Really kind of takes the glory away from you, doesn't it? You see, if works or merit or law keeping or any of that was introduced, you could say, well, you know, I actually do deserve this.
No, you have obtained mercy. That's what a Christian is. Somebody who by the grace of God has obtained mercy. God looks upon you with pity.
God looks upon you with misery. God looks upon you with great care and great kindness. And God has been merciful to bring you into that place of saving grace. Well, we've seen our identity, our function, our condition.
Our Corporate Privileges
Let's just close considering our corporate privileges. Some things, not necessarily combined to this passage, but things that we find in other portions of Scripture.
Access to God
First is access to God. We've already spoken of that. Do you use that privilege? Do you use that privilege privately as an individual adopted Christian in the family of God?
And do you use that privilege when you come to church on the Lord's Day? You know, when all is said and done, in the course of a week, we have three hours in church. That's not a lot, is it? I mean, in the grand scheme of things.
Somebody here probably knows how many hours are in the week. I feel like I should know that, but I don't. It's probably a lot. But in the midst of that lot of hours, three of them are in the presence of the High King of Heaven, corporately.
I'm talking about private Christianity at this point. I'm talking about corporate church worship. If we had three hours to be in the presence of some great dignitary, we'd probably prepare ourselves. We'd have our list of questions ready.
We'd make sure we were physically prepared. We'd get the proper rest. We'd wear the proper things. We'd present ourselves in a manner consistent with the being of that dignitary.
Why is it at church at times we struggle so much? Why is it at church at times it is such a trial to try and focus on the things of the Lord God Almighty? Three hours. And that split up.
I mean, we're not Puritans, brethren. Those brethren met three hours at a time. You think a 45-minute sermon is taxing? Those men routinely preached an hour thirty, two hours.
And I'm not talking fluff or birdbath theology. You read some of their sermons, and they're boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. You know, major subpoint, minor point, subpoint, sub, sub, subpoint, and then back to the main thing. Just to read one of those is taxing.
Can you imagine sitting there? They did it. Leland Ryken, in his book called Worldly Saints, describes worldly, not that they were worldly. They were saints living in the world.
He describes how for these Puritans, the Lord's Day was central. It wasn't tacked on. It wasn't the tack on or add on to life. It was the six days and then the Sabbath.
And they would gather expectantly to hear the Word. They were attentive. They knew they were coming into the presence of God. They were having access to God Most High.
Those who have access to God Most High ought to cherish that, ought to rejoice in that and exult in it. MacArthur says the main privilege for a priest is access to God. You look at that tabernacle and then temple, you look at that whole structure, you look at the animal sacrifices. What is the main thing in all of that?
It's access to God, the removal of sin by atonement, the sacrifice, the expiation, the propitiation, all those things pointed to the grand reality that we get to come into the presence of God. Access to God. Hebrews chapter 10, after discoursing on the priesthood of Jesus Christ and highlighting how we have prospered or benefited or been privileged with access, the Apostle in Hebrews 10, 19 says, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another in so much the more, as you see the day approaching. Look at that, after expounding on the priestly office of Christ and what he has won for his people. Says, therefore, brethren, verse 19, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Christ. He says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
That's what it's about. That's why we're here. That's what we engage in. We're drawing near to God most high access.
Prayer to God
Another corporate privilege is prayer to God. To pray, isn't that what the priest did? He interceded for the people and he sacrificed. Isn't this what Jesus Christ does in his high priestly prayer?
Jesus intercedes for the people. Do you intercede for the saints of Christ in your local church? You listen to the to the prayer request. When those things come through the email, do you take a few moments and just pray for your brother, your sister?
That is a privilege that God has given you within the corporate body of Christ so that we can bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. I realize everybody's busy. I realize there's a lot of times on your a lot of hands on your time. We're not people with a lot of time on our hands.
We have a lot of hands on our time. I understand that. But it doesn't take very long to remember a certain brother or to remember somebody that's suffering in another situation and to bow our heads and ask God on their behalf to be merciful. Prayer to God.
Praise to God
Thirdly, praise to God. We've already seen this within the text itself. This is done in public worship. This is done in evangelism.
When you go out and testify concerning Jesus Christ, when you tell sinners about the gospel, when you tell sinners about God's power and glory and majesty, what are you doing? You're praising God. You see, some people have this idea that if sinners aren't saved, evangelism didn't work. No, evangelism is first and foremost for God.
Please get that. Evangelism, first and foremost, is for God. If the sinner to whom you declare the praises of God rejects it outright, God's still been praised. Even the wrath of man shall praise thee, the psalmist said.
God is praised and glorified in our declaration of these truths, and we don't know when he'll Those words spoken, God is in the business of saving. Our task is to present. Our task is to proclaim. Our task is to make known the excellencies and the glory and the majesty of God most high.
We have access. We have prayer. We have praise. And
The Knowledge of God
we have, finally, the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God. And I don't just mean, oh yeah, we know that there is a God. I mean that Jeremiah thirty-one knowledge and all will know me from the least of them to the greatest of them.
The priests in the old covenant were to teach the people, according to Deuteronomy thirty-three and Malachi chapter two. As priests in the new covenant community, we are to understand the truth. We are to imbibe the truth. We are to read the truth.
We are to study the truth. We are to get the truth in our heads and our hearts. We are to be activated and animated by the truth of the living God. These are corporate privileges that we enjoy as the people of God, and we need to take them seriously and begin to implement them if we have not.
And for those who do not know Christ, those who are not in the church in terms of salvation, go back just a few verses. A few verses, you'll see in verse 4, coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious.
Now notice, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. What a beautiful statement. And he who believes in Him by no means be put to shame. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will not be put to shame.
Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will not ever look back and say, why did I ever do this? You'll look back and say, why didn't I do this a lot sooner? Because He is altogether lovely and chief among ten thousand. And what Peter says there in verse 7, ought to warm our hearts.
Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for our precious Savior. We thank you for the blessed identity that you have given us as the Church of Christ. We thank you for this function that is ours to proclaim your praises and to testify concerning your excellencies, excellences. And we pray as well that you would just cause us to rejoice in these things and to use these privileges and to come to you, Lord God.
We just pray now that you would watch over us. I pray for this local church. I love the saints of Christ here. I pray that your great blessing would be upon them.
I just commit them to you and to the word of your grace and pray you would watch over each and every one in this local body, that you would strengthen us with might in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. I pray that we would comprehend and know the love that Christ has for us and that we as a church, as individuals, would be filled with all the fullness of God most high. We just praise you, Father. We ask that you would bless Pastor Cam as he leads Bible study on Wednesday night and the preaching next Lord's Day.
We pray for the other men that will occupy our pulpit in the coming weeks. And we just commit this to you and pray that you would indeed send forth your spirit and do great and glorious things among your people here. And we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.