WEBVTT 00:00:04.607 --> 00:00:09.073 This book of 1 Peter has incredible riches for us. 00:00:09.073 --> 00:00:15.352 In this hour, I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2. 00:00:15.352 --> 00:00:22.591 1 Peter, chapter 2, beginning in verse 1. 00:00:22.591 --> 00:00:30.257 Beginning in verse 1. 00:00:30.257 --> 00:00:32.533 I thank God for this book of 1 Peter and what it has to say to us. 00:00:32.533 --> 00:00:52.168 In the culture in which we're living, the culture which is more and more becoming Roman, this book of 1 Peter, how many have seen, as you've listened to the elders work through this book, how relevant it is to our own culture? 00:00:52.168 --> 00:00:58.511 Verse 1 of 1 Peter, 2, verse 1. 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:08.659 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy, and all slander and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 00:01:08.659 --> 00:01:17.570 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 00:01:17.570 --> 00:01:20.462 Verse 4, as you come to him. 00:01:20.462 --> 00:01:45.174 A living stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 00:01:45.174 --> 00:01:55.129 For it stands in Scripture Behold, I am laying in Zion a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. 00:01:55.129 --> 00:01:57.899 So the honor is for you who believe. 00:01:57.899 --> 00:02:08.021 But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. 00:02:08.021 --> 00:02:15.534 They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do Verse 9,. 00:02:15.534 --> 00:02:24.735 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. 00:02:24.735 --> 00:02:28.763 Priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. 00:02:28.763 --> 00:02:32.330 That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 00:02:32.330 --> 00:02:36.282 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 00:02:36.282 --> 00:02:41.614 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 00:02:41.614 --> 00:02:51.569 Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul. 00:02:51.569 --> 00:03:04.790 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 00:03:04.790 --> 00:03:14.949 Father, we thank you for these words you gave Peter the fisherman, for us and for the generations to come. 00:03:14.949 --> 00:03:18.455 Lord, we open our hearts now to your word. 00:03:18.455 --> 00:03:27.861 We receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works in those who believe. 00:03:27.861 --> 00:03:29.164 Speak to us now. 00:03:29.164 --> 00:03:35.402 Let every heart be opened and every spirit made ready to listen to the word of God. 00:03:35.402 --> 00:03:41.093 Thank you for it in Jesus' name, and everyone said amen. 00:03:42.360 --> 00:03:49.305 Well, we've been working through this book of 1 Peter in a series entitled Grace Under Fire, if you've been following us. 00:03:49.305 --> 00:03:55.812 This letter was written to those that Peter calls strangers in this world. 00:03:55.812 --> 00:04:17.113 Last week, scott spoke about God's call for believers to be different than those among whom they are scattered, and in his message, scott showed what it means to respond to the call to be holy by quoting a passage from Leviticus 11, where God tells Israel to be holy because I am holy. 00:04:17.113 --> 00:04:27.581 All through this letter, peter has used Old Testament passages that applied first to Israel but now describe the church. 00:04:27.581 --> 00:04:43.872 In today's section of scripture, he uses phrases like grow up and built up to describe the spiritual maturing process that a true believer shall go through, and he uses two unique metaphors that vividly portray the maturing process. 00:04:43.872 --> 00:05:01.766 The first one calls us to grow up, and the second one is to grow up together, and this morning, in this message, I want to talk about both, but I really want to focus our attention primarily on the one particular metaphor found in 1 Peter 2, 4, and 5. 00:05:01.766 --> 00:05:06.615 It's the metaphor of being built up as a temple of the living God. 00:05:06.615 --> 00:05:10.468 But let's start first with the call to grow up. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:19.651 You know this section flows out of the end of the previous section, chapter 1, where Peter speaks of the word, the good news that was preached to you. 00:05:19.651 --> 00:05:30.250 In relation to that word that you've heard, he says we are to be like newborn infants who crave milk so that they can grow. 00:05:30.250 --> 00:05:43.651 He said in 1 Peter 2, like newborn infants, long for the spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 00:05:43.651 --> 00:05:47.689 You know the phrase here newborn infants. 00:05:47.689 --> 00:06:04.091 It does not indicate that these are new believers necessarily, but since Peter starts with this word, infants to describe believers, I want to take a couple of minutes first to introduce you to the four stages of spiritual growth. 00:06:04.091 --> 00:06:13.613 The word infants in the Greek is the Greek word brephos, and it's how many of you came into this life as an infant? 00:06:13.613 --> 00:06:14.459 Anybody. 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:19.125 I see that hand. 00:06:19.125 --> 00:06:29.613 It's a Greek word, meaning, meaning infants, or brefos means newborns. 00:06:30.495 --> 00:06:37.048 The next word that describes our spiritual development as we go from newborns into being child children. 00:06:37.048 --> 00:06:44.187 It's the nepios, the children, phase of toddler stage of development. 00:06:44.187 --> 00:06:48.415 And that word child is used positively and negatively in Scripture. 00:06:48.415 --> 00:06:56.019 Positively, how many remember when Jesus said except you repent and become like little children, you cannot enter the kingdom. 00:06:56.019 --> 00:07:04.810 So in that regard he wants us to be like children who are trusting and are able to trust their parents for everything they need. 00:07:04.810 --> 00:07:06.841 But there's also a negative aspect. 00:07:06.841 --> 00:07:14.014 Paul uses that term negatively in 1 Corinthians 3 when he talks about you. 00:07:14.014 --> 00:07:22.382 Know they were fighting and having infighting and jealousies, just like children who are fighting over toys will do. 00:07:23.165 --> 00:07:24.867 The next stage is young men. 00:07:24.867 --> 00:07:27.033 It's found in 1 John 2. 00:07:27.033 --> 00:07:30.644 It's the teenage stage of development. 00:07:30.644 --> 00:07:32.468 The Greek term is nianoskos. 00:07:32.468 --> 00:07:35.201 It's the active stage of Christian life. 00:07:35.201 --> 00:07:42.906 He says I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you've overcome the evil one. 00:07:42.906 --> 00:07:45.795 The final stage is fathers. 00:07:45.795 --> 00:07:48.461 The Greek word is pators. 00:07:48.461 --> 00:07:54.632 So we move from being newborns to children, to young men, to fathers. 00:07:55.632 --> 00:07:59.627 And years ago the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said I want you to become a father. 00:07:59.627 --> 00:08:06.853 And I got real excited until I realized something If you're a father and you have a business and you give it to your son. 00:08:06.853 --> 00:08:09.829 Do you want your son to do worse than you or as good as you? 00:08:09.829 --> 00:08:11.507 No, you want him to do better. 00:08:11.507 --> 00:08:17.353 So I realized that being a spiritual father is a selfless aspect of life. 00:08:17.353 --> 00:08:25.043 It's the willingness to be poured out your life for others, bored out your life for others. 00:08:25.064 --> 00:08:36.708 Now, all believers, he says in 1 Peter 2, are to be like newborn infants in one way they are to crave spiritual milk, and this is very important. 00:08:36.708 --> 00:08:43.750 It's impossible for a believer to grow up without a longing for this pure spiritual milk. 00:08:43.750 --> 00:08:56.650 The New Living Translation translates that this way Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. 00:08:56.650 --> 00:09:03.032 Cry out for this nourishment now that you have had a taste of the Lord's kindness. 00:09:03.032 --> 00:09:10.110 So, since we've been born again by the word of God, we now have a new nature with a new longing. 00:09:10.110 --> 00:09:20.150 Make up your mind once for all that God has called you and Derek talked about it God has called you to crave the word of God. 00:09:20.150 --> 00:09:29.994 Just as nothing but pure milk satisfies a baby, nothing but the pure milk of God's Word will satisfy one who has been born again. 00:09:29.994 --> 00:09:33.028 You know, newborns crave milk with a passion. 00:09:33.440 --> 00:09:42.447 Ask any mother, new mother, how their sons or daughters, their newborns, crave spiritual milk. 00:09:42.447 --> 00:09:46.822 That hunger is not passive, you know it's not. 00:09:46.822 --> 00:09:47.745 I can do that later. 00:09:47.745 --> 00:09:52.692 These newborns, when they cry out for milk, are saying I need food now. 00:09:52.692 --> 00:09:59.169 And I want to ask you do you cry out for the spiritual milk of the Word of God? 00:09:59.169 --> 00:10:09.846 The same way, how often do newborns crave milk once a week, on Sundays, or even once a day? 00:10:09.846 --> 00:10:14.193 No, a newborn is likely to want to eat every two to three hours. 00:10:14.193 --> 00:10:21.533 So how often do you crave the word of God to get your Sunday portion? 00:10:21.533 --> 00:10:22.134 Is it enough? 00:10:22.134 --> 00:10:29.990 Listen to what this may look like from Deuteronomy, from the Christian Standard Version, deuteronomy 6. 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:36.311 God told Israel's fathers these words I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 00:10:36.311 --> 00:10:38.846 Repeat them to your children. 00:10:38.846 --> 00:10:43.707 Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road. 00:10:43.707 --> 00:10:50.909 When you lie down, when you get up, bind them as signs on your hands and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 00:10:50.909 --> 00:11:05.474 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates, by the way, if you back up to verse 1, it says therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and all slander. 00:11:05.474 --> 00:11:13.313 I need to rid myself of these ungodly things to help free me up to desire the word of God. 00:11:13.313 --> 00:11:29.246 So the first metaphor we have is we are to be like newborn children, newborn babies craving, earnestly craving, the pure milk of the word, and that should characterize our lives all through our sojourn, no matter what stage we're at. 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:34.851 Now the second metaphor is the one I really want to focus on. 00:11:34.851 --> 00:11:42.850 It's used in this section to grow up together, not merely as individuals, but in relation to others. 00:11:42.850 --> 00:11:49.842 Here's how Peter uses the metaphor of a temple to describe us. 00:11:49.842 --> 00:12:00.764 First, peter 2, 4, 5, as you come to him a living stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. 00:12:00.764 --> 00:12:15.293 You also, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 00:12:15.293 --> 00:12:25.849 If these words of Peter sound familiar, they should, because Peter is borrowing terms he actually received from the Lord Jesus himself. 00:12:26.179 --> 00:12:38.673 Remember in Matthew 16, when Peter was following Jesus and the other 11 were following, and Jesus at that time, at Caesarea Philippi, asked that burning question who do men say that I am. 00:12:38.673 --> 00:12:48.447 And they answered some say you're Elijah, some say you're Jeremiah, some say you're one of the prophets, some even say you're John the Baptist. 00:12:48.447 --> 00:12:54.424 But Jesus pointed his finger in their faces and asked that uncomfortable question. 00:12:54.424 --> 00:12:57.572 He said but who do you say that I am? 00:12:57.572 --> 00:13:05.253 That's the most important question anybody can ever be asked who do you say? 00:13:05.253 --> 00:13:14.347 And there was total silence because by this time the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as Messiah would be excommunicated. 00:13:14.347 --> 00:13:16.687 And Peter stepped up and confessed him. 00:13:17.139 --> 00:13:18.687 Jesus was ecstatic. 00:13:18.687 --> 00:13:21.086 Peter said I know who you are. 00:13:21.086 --> 00:13:24.169 You are the Christ, the son of the living God. 00:13:24.169 --> 00:13:26.268 And Jesus was ecstatic. 00:13:26.268 --> 00:13:29.285 He said blessed, are you Simon Barjona. 00:13:29.285 --> 00:13:37.909 His Hebrew name, simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood, did not reveal this to you, but my father in heaven, how many know? 00:13:37.909 --> 00:13:43.445 Knowing Jesus is not a matter of human calculation or information, but revelation. 00:13:43.445 --> 00:13:59.859 And Jesus said and you are Petras, a small pebble, and upon this Petra, large bedrock, I will build my church. 00:13:59.859 --> 00:14:09.794 Now our Catholic friends would have us believe that Jesus here is installing Peter as the same pope as the church's pope. 00:14:09.794 --> 00:14:14.312 But how many are glad the church is not built on stable Peter? 00:14:14.312 --> 00:14:17.506 I am thankful for that. 00:14:22.282 --> 00:14:31.793 The Lord Jesus is saying in these words that he's not building the church on Peter, but he's building his church on the confession of the revelation which Peter just confessed. 00:14:31.793 --> 00:14:39.052 So in this verses in Peter, we see Peter understood what Jesus was teaching him. 00:14:39.052 --> 00:14:46.004 And he tells us in these verses three things what is the foundation of the church, what is the nature of the church and what is the foundation of the church? 00:14:46.004 --> 00:14:49.672 What is the nature of the church and what is the function of the church? 00:14:49.672 --> 00:14:53.000 Let's start with the foundation of the church. 00:14:53.042 --> 00:15:02.202 He says as you come to him how many know the church of Jesus Christ is built on a living person. 00:15:02.202 --> 00:15:10.374 You don't get into the church because you know someone or you like the music or because you get the warm fuzzies when you're there. 00:15:10.374 --> 00:15:17.972 You can only enter the church of the living God by coming into a living relationship with the living stone. 00:15:17.972 --> 00:15:22.705 Christians worship no dead Christ. 00:15:22.705 --> 00:15:23.746 He's alive. 00:15:23.746 --> 00:15:26.513 Thus he is the living stone. 00:15:26.513 --> 00:15:29.970 Man rejected him, but God says he's precious. 00:15:29.970 --> 00:15:33.129 How many have found the preciousness of Jesus? 00:15:33.129 --> 00:15:41.373 It's so wonderful to know him and those of us who know him this morning know that he's the most precious thing on earth. 00:15:41.373 --> 00:15:45.826 But it says as you come to him. 00:15:45.826 --> 00:15:47.692 You know what I learned that blew my mind? 00:15:47.692 --> 00:15:55.573 In Greek, this phrase as you come to him, is in what is called the present tense participle. 00:15:55.573 --> 00:15:59.688 It means something in the present that was brought from the past. 00:15:59.688 --> 00:16:05.328 That's in the present and as you come to him and continue to come to him. 00:16:05.328 --> 00:16:15.243 In other words, peter is not talking about the time we came to him that began our Christian life, only he's talking about coming to him again and again. 00:16:15.243 --> 00:16:18.369 Peter is talking folks, about relationship. 00:16:18.369 --> 00:16:22.014 I was talking to a man once. 00:16:22.014 --> 00:16:24.186 He said I came to Jesus 30 years ago. 00:16:24.186 --> 00:16:26.191 I wanted to ask him where has he been since then? 00:16:31.341 --> 00:16:37.394 So often in Christianity we emphasize only the initial coming in salvation. 00:16:37.394 --> 00:16:39.466 Now, that's critical. 00:16:39.466 --> 00:16:47.274 No one can get into the kingdom unless they have that initial critical crisis called conversion. 00:16:47.274 --> 00:16:52.697 But Christianity is more than just coming one time and having a ticket to heaven. 00:16:52.697 --> 00:16:59.192 It's about having an ongoing relationship with him as you come to him and continue to come to him. 00:16:59.192 --> 00:17:06.051 You know I got married so I could have a relationship with this wonderful woman here. 00:17:06.051 --> 00:17:12.632 I got married so I can have a deepening relationship. 00:17:12.632 --> 00:17:17.672 The wedding was the statement of my intention, but the marriage is about relationship. 00:17:17.672 --> 00:17:24.720 So also the initial crisis we call salvation. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:31.906 So also the initial crisis we call salvation is meant to be just the beginning of a lifetime of coming to him again and again, and again. 00:17:32.180 --> 00:17:37.287 And some believers place so much emphasis on the initial coming they ignore the relationship. 00:17:37.287 --> 00:17:46.008 They rest in the fact that 20 years ago they made a confession of faith, but that doesn't mean they have a living relationship with him. 00:17:46.008 --> 00:17:54.748 Now we must build believers on the foundation, which means that each one of us must have a living, intimate fellowship with the living stone. 00:17:54.748 --> 00:18:01.930 Remind yourself again and again this stone is alive and I'm called to a deepening relationship with him. 00:18:01.930 --> 00:18:09.430 That means that the most wonderful thing that can happen to a person is to come to know him. 00:18:09.819 --> 00:18:14.247 Now let's move from the foundation of the church to the nature of the church. 00:18:14.247 --> 00:18:21.711 As you come to him the living stone you also as living stones. 00:18:21.711 --> 00:18:25.005 How many stones were there in verse four? 00:18:25.005 --> 00:18:30.321 As you come to him the living stone how many stones were there? 00:18:30.321 --> 00:18:31.384 One. 00:18:31.384 --> 00:18:33.747 How many stones are there in verse five? 00:18:33.747 --> 00:18:40.763 Many, because each of us, when we come to the living stone, you know what happens. 00:18:40.763 --> 00:18:41.986 We not only have our sins forgiven, you know what happens. 00:18:41.986 --> 00:18:50.282 We not only have our sins forgiven, but he imparts to us his very life, so we become living stones. 00:18:50.282 --> 00:18:59.183 I don't want to be crude, but when you come to Jesus, you know what happens you get stoned. 00:18:59.183 --> 00:19:05.172 What does God do with a bunch of stones? 00:19:05.172 --> 00:19:08.315 I asked the congregation that once and he said you throw them at people. 00:19:08.315 --> 00:19:21.375 I said no, radical church, radical church Stones must be built together so that they become part of a house, a temple. 00:19:24.799 --> 00:19:28.387 This is exactly what Paul said when he described the nature of the church in Ephesians 2.22. 00:19:28.387 --> 00:19:35.663 He said in him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. 00:19:35.663 --> 00:19:38.009 You know it's possible. 00:19:38.009 --> 00:19:41.320 Paul may be thinking here of Solomon's temple. 00:19:41.320 --> 00:20:03.909 I don't know if you know this, but Solomon's temple, the stones were prepared privately, and so when they brought the stones to the site where the temple would stand, there was not a sound of an instrument, because the preparation of the stones happened in private and when they came together publicly, stone fits stone perfectly. 00:20:03.909 --> 00:20:09.829 In him, you too are being built together. 00:20:09.829 --> 00:20:13.569 God coordinates the relationship between the stone. 00:20:13.569 --> 00:20:21.148 So not only does God call us to know the living stone in a deeper relationship, but he calls us to be built together. 00:20:21.148 --> 00:20:22.559 God coordinates the relationship. 00:20:22.559 --> 00:20:29.630 Not only is Father purposed for you to be built in the life of the Son, but he's also a purpose for you to be built into the lives of others. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:35.011 Many of us want intimacy with the Lord, but not intimacy with others. 00:20:35.011 --> 00:20:49.346 You know, when I first got saved I have a confession I thought God was going to make me a rare stone and put me in a spiritual museum so people could come and gawk at me and say how did you get like this? 00:20:49.346 --> 00:20:51.750 That was my mentality. 00:20:51.750 --> 00:20:56.165 It wasn't about being part of the church, it was about being in a spiritual museum. 00:20:56.165 --> 00:20:59.432 And I had an experience in 1974. 00:20:59.432 --> 00:21:07.503 My brother and I my brother started a church in Miami, which I ended up pastoring when I was in 1975. 00:21:07.904 --> 00:21:18.729 But in 1973 or four we were sent out to New York City from Florida to plant a church in Queens, new York, and we had no concept of what the body of Christ is. 00:21:18.729 --> 00:21:19.590 It was. 00:21:19.590 --> 00:21:23.325 The whole thing was about our church, our building and our vision. 00:21:23.325 --> 00:21:27.992 And one day we were praying for our work and we lived in a small apartment. 00:21:27.992 --> 00:21:43.089 Both of us were single, we lived in a small apartment and the spirit of revelation, while we were praying, came into the room and I heard the voice of the Lord say this I want to show you what I'm building, because what you're building has nothing to do with what I'm building. 00:21:43.089 --> 00:21:43.571 Wasn't that encouraging? 00:21:43.571 --> 00:21:46.702 When you're building has nothing to do with what I'm building, wasn't that encouraging when you're starting a church? 00:21:46.702 --> 00:21:49.628 What an encouraging word he said. 00:21:49.628 --> 00:21:56.069 I want to show you the house that I'm building and I got a revelation of this thing of living stones. 00:21:56.069 --> 00:22:13.025 In fact, the Lord took me to that passage and opened it up and we saw my brother and I that unless what we're doing is connected to the body of Christ, it was not what God was doing and he told me in that moment. 00:22:13.025 --> 00:22:15.711 He said I want to connect you with the other stones. 00:22:15.711 --> 00:22:19.790 I got real excited about that until I met the other stones. 00:22:19.790 --> 00:22:26.730 You know me and God get along great, great, but he just has some weird kids. 00:22:32.147 --> 00:22:43.020 What we need to discover is God puts us into the lives of people that are very different with us, with a stone on top and a stone on the left and a stone on the right, and you try to move and you can't. 00:22:43.020 --> 00:22:44.523 God says you're not going anywhere. 00:22:44.523 --> 00:22:50.433 I want to be honest and tell you there was a time when I tried to check out of the body of Christ. 00:22:50.433 --> 00:22:58.922 I said, lord, I don't know what your plan is, but this thing called the church is not working and I tried to get out and I couldn't. 00:22:58.942 --> 00:23:00.463 I'm not talking about being in bondage. 00:23:00.463 --> 00:23:18.858 I'm talking about how many know God's called you as a living stone to be vitally connected to other stones, because the house of God consists out of relationship. 00:23:18.858 --> 00:23:32.400 The church is a place where many people attend rather than a people they are joined to, but or else they think the church is a little more than a series of meetings where I look at the back of my brother's head for an hour and then go home. 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:42.111 Each stone, if it's part of the house, must willingly give up its independence not its individuality and be joying to others. 00:23:42.111 --> 00:23:54.167 So how are you doing with your relationship with the living stone and how are you doing with your relationship to the stones that he's put you in, maybe in your small group or in your life? 00:23:54.167 --> 00:24:01.950 Some people, if they're honest, would have to admit some of the friends I have were not friends that I would have chosen. 00:24:01.950 --> 00:24:06.146 They're not like me, but that's also called marriage. 00:24:06.146 --> 00:24:06.540 How many know? 00:24:06.540 --> 00:24:07.884 Here's my definition of marriage. 00:24:07.884 --> 00:24:10.661 God puts two opposites together and lets them battle it out. 00:24:15.488 --> 00:24:23.883 Now let's move from the foundation of the church to the nature of the church, to the function of the church to be a holy priesthood. 00:24:23.883 --> 00:24:31.549 The Old Testament tabernacle and temple had a priesthood to attend to it. 00:24:31.549 --> 00:24:36.473 If you have a temple, you have to have a priesthood, and so does the New Testament temple. 00:24:36.473 --> 00:24:39.277 Who are the priests in the New Testament temple? 00:24:39.277 --> 00:24:41.000 The church. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.028 Listen to Revelation 1, 5, 6. 00:24:43.028 --> 00:24:53.032 To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priest to serve his God and Father. 00:24:53.032 --> 00:25:02.049 New Testament priesthood means every blood-bought, regenerated child of God is part of the priesthood. 00:25:02.049 --> 00:25:09.821 John in Revelation 1 is borrowing a phrase from the Exodus, exodus 19. 00:25:10.304 --> 00:25:14.692 When God delivered a million Jews out of Egypt, he brought them to the base of a mountain. 00:25:14.692 --> 00:25:15.661 Remember? 00:25:15.661 --> 00:25:19.991 He brought them out of Egypt and then into 40 years of a bad camping experience. 00:25:19.991 --> 00:25:28.182 But he brought them to the base of a mountain and he said do you remember what he said to them? 00:25:28.182 --> 00:25:33.030 You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:25:33.030 --> 00:25:38.388 Every person in Israel, man, woman and child was called to be a priest. 00:25:38.388 --> 00:25:39.570 It was their vocation. 00:25:39.570 --> 00:25:45.071 They may have had different occupations, but their vocation was priest. 00:25:45.071 --> 00:25:51.012 In layman's terms, folks, every member of Israel was in the ministry. 00:25:51.012 --> 00:25:55.951 Everyone was called to be directly involved in the service of God. 00:25:55.951 --> 00:26:06.692 And you might remember that the purpose for which God called Israel was that through them they might mediate the glory of God to the nations. 00:26:06.692 --> 00:26:14.973 Priesthood was not about the benefits Israel would enjoy as God's priests, but what the nations would receive. 00:26:14.973 --> 00:26:29.244 Yet even though everyone in Israel was called to be a holy priesthood, functionally they failed Because of the sin of the golden calf. 00:26:29.244 --> 00:26:32.673 Only one tribe got to function in the priesthood Levi. 00:26:32.673 --> 00:26:42.160 Yet throughout Old Testament history, god promised a day when he would once again have a people who would be constituted a holy priesthood. 00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.382 And when did that happen? 00:26:43.382 --> 00:26:44.183 Would be constituted a holy priesthood. 00:26:44.183 --> 00:26:44.704 And when did that happen? 00:26:44.704 --> 00:26:48.512 In an upper room, when 120 people received the glorified spirit. 00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:52.048 The priesthood began when the church was born. 00:26:52.048 --> 00:26:57.807 It was not founded on the idea that there's only a few who get to minister and the rest can only come through them. 00:26:57.807 --> 00:27:09.729 It was born in the idea that every believer was a minister and ministered on three levels they ministered to God, they ministered to the body and they ministered to the lost. 00:27:09.729 --> 00:27:21.010 The church of God was born in that reality, but after 100 years or so, do you know what happened to the church? 00:27:21.010 --> 00:27:24.228 The same thing has happened to Israel. 00:27:24.228 --> 00:27:29.366 Only a small minority actually functioned in the priesthood. 00:27:29.366 --> 00:27:36.568 Instead of ministering to God, the idea was fostered that only a small minority have direct access to the God. 00:27:36.568 --> 00:27:41.631 You know, if we're going to pray, we've got to let the pastor pray because he has a shortcut to God. 00:27:49.301 --> 00:27:52.732 Instead of ministering to one another, christians accepted the idea that only priests could minister God's grace to others. 00:27:52.732 --> 00:28:02.385 Instead of ministering to the world, believers began to believe that all they could do is invite people to come to the building so they could hear paid professionals share the gospel. 00:28:02.385 --> 00:28:05.551 I remember, years ago, my phone ringing at night, late at night. 00:28:05.551 --> 00:28:09.208 I was still up and a man in our church not here. 00:28:09.208 --> 00:28:13.207 He said Pastor Neal, can you come down to this so-and-so bar? 00:28:13.207 --> 00:28:14.369 I got a guy here. 00:28:14.369 --> 00:28:15.593 He's ready to get saved. 00:28:15.593 --> 00:28:18.028 I didn't bother to ask him what he was doing at a bar. 00:28:18.028 --> 00:28:22.510 I said no, you bring him to Jesus. 00:28:22.510 --> 00:28:27.300 There was silence, the silence that says what are we paying you for. 00:28:34.951 --> 00:28:41.063 What really happened is believers began to function in a new ministry that was not even seen before. 00:28:41.063 --> 00:28:42.826 It's not even in scripture. 00:28:42.826 --> 00:29:02.813 Spectator Christianity became a spectator sport, and the fact that Christian churches are spectators it's a spectator sport is clear from the fact that when I travel the country and visit churches, I meet tired leaders who are. 00:29:02.813 --> 00:29:07.744 You know why they're tired they're doing the majority of the work for those who can't. 00:29:07.744 --> 00:29:16.631 Christianity has become like a football game 60,000 people in the stands desperately needing exercise and 11 on the field desperately needing rest. 00:29:16.631 --> 00:29:23.912 The body of Christ, this is not the way God intended the church to function. 00:29:23.912 --> 00:29:30.570 You know, I did a series once called the Local Church Prison Camp or Training Camp. 00:29:30.570 --> 00:29:46.559 But God intended for the church to be a training camp where believers are trained to minister on the three levels of ministering to God building up the body and then being mightily empowered to bring the gospel to the lost. 00:29:47.003 --> 00:29:52.346 The ultimate work of the priesthood is not inside these walls, it's outside the walls. 00:29:52.346 --> 00:30:06.548 God has uniquely put you in place, where you can reach people that nobody else can, because you're with them and we're not comfortable with this. 00:30:06.548 --> 00:30:10.990 You know, I once asked a brother do you share the gospel at work. 00:30:10.990 --> 00:30:13.487 He said no, I don't share anymore. 00:30:13.487 --> 00:30:14.605 I've been there 30 years. 00:30:14.605 --> 00:30:16.224 I've shared the gospel. 00:30:16.224 --> 00:30:17.348 Nobody's interested. 00:30:17.348 --> 00:30:20.409 I said do you ever have anybody from work over for dinner? 00:30:20.409 --> 00:30:24.689 And he gave me a look like I, you know, of course not. 00:30:24.689 --> 00:30:25.590 I wouldn't do that. 00:30:25.590 --> 00:30:27.483 They tell dirty jokes, they drink beer. 00:30:27.483 --> 00:30:31.772 So just feel the love of God flowing from you. 00:30:31.772 --> 00:30:42.393 What we do in this church is important. 00:30:42.393 --> 00:30:52.344 What we're doing right now is important in that it is the manner in which God equips us so that we can leave the building and be effective witnesses for the gospel throughout the earth. 00:30:52.344 --> 00:31:14.295 The purpose of the church is to equip us to minister God's grace in our homes, on our jobs, in our neighborhoods, in our schools, and I believe God is raising up mighty churches today in the land who are equipped to bring the gospel to their Jerusalem, judea, samaria and the ends of the earth. 00:31:15.602 --> 00:31:16.566 Now, who is the church? 00:31:16.566 --> 00:31:24.233 Peter now defines who the church is using a string of passages from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. 00:31:24.233 --> 00:31:37.970 You should always remember that there was no New Testament when Peter wrote this, so he had to rely completely on the Old Testament to teach the truths that he taught, and he uses majestic language to describe who we are. 00:31:37.970 --> 00:31:38.381 Listen. 00:31:38.381 --> 00:31:50.885 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. 00:31:50.885 --> 00:31:54.353 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 00:31:54.353 --> 00:31:58.928 Once you had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. 00:31:59.789 --> 00:32:09.375 The word but at the beginning of this paragraph makes for a contrast that makes the difference between the disobedient unbeliever and God's chosen people. 00:32:09.375 --> 00:32:14.872 For time's sake, let's just look how Peter quickly describes the believers. 00:32:14.872 --> 00:32:20.299 Again, most of these terms are borrowed from God's description of Israel in the Old Testament. 00:32:20.299 --> 00:32:25.633 Sometimes the church is referred to in the book of Galatians as the Israel of God. 00:32:25.633 --> 00:32:31.353 Now, that doesn't mean there are not promises that God still intends to fulfill for physical Israel. 00:32:31.353 --> 00:32:40.666 There's a doctrine known as replacement theology, which takes all the promises made to physical Israel, applies them to the church and leaves Israel with nothing. 00:32:40.666 --> 00:32:50.205 We should remember that God still has promises he will ultimately fulfill for natural Israel, which is critical to know in today's hour what we're facing. 00:32:53.461 --> 00:33:02.386 Nevertheless, gentiles have been grafted into the original olive tree and Peter addresses believers as having these tremendous privileges. 00:33:02.386 --> 00:33:04.756 First, he calls us a chosen race. 00:33:04.756 --> 00:33:23.090 He's probably quoting from Isaiah 43, the wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I'll give water in the wilderness rivers, in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, that the people whom I form for myself, that they may declare my praise. 00:33:23.090 --> 00:33:28.509 This is the uncomfortable doctrine of election that God chose a people for himself. 00:33:28.509 --> 00:33:32.830 You know we're all confused when it comes to this doctrine of election. 00:33:33.353 --> 00:33:36.021 None of us in this room were actually looking for the Lord. 00:33:36.021 --> 00:33:50.391 He drew us, he dealt with us, he put his neck on us and when we come to church and say I found the Lord, how many know he wasn't lost, wasn't lost. 00:33:50.391 --> 00:33:52.112 He says we're a royal priesthood. 00:33:52.112 --> 00:33:54.955 He's quoting from Exodus 19. 00:33:54.955 --> 00:34:06.039 Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 00:34:06.039 --> 00:34:11.664 You know, israel forfeited her right to be a holy priesthood because of her rejection of Messiah. 00:34:11.664 --> 00:34:19.244 Now, all those who believe in Messiah receive the privilege of becoming a royal priesthood. 00:34:19.244 --> 00:34:21.443 That's who you are this morning. 00:34:21.443 --> 00:34:22.766 A royal priesthood. 00:34:22.766 --> 00:34:25.550 Number three, a holy nation. 00:34:25.550 --> 00:34:27.885 Again, he's quoting from Exodus 19. 00:34:27.885 --> 00:34:33.527 The word nation is the translation of the Greek word ethnos, which means an ethnic group. 00:34:33.527 --> 00:34:38.949 Number four a people for God's own possession. 00:34:38.949 --> 00:34:42.730 Again, at Sinai God spoke these words to Israel. 00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:49.753 The Greek term rendered possession here means to purchase, to acquire with a costly price. 00:34:49.753 --> 00:34:54.103 Do you know what it cost the Lord to buy you, to possess you? 00:34:54.103 --> 00:34:58.811 It was expensive beyond understanding. 00:34:58.811 --> 00:35:06.132 It took the death of the Son of God, and nothing less, to acquire you and make you his possession. 00:35:06.132 --> 00:35:14.550 Number five that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 00:35:14.550 --> 00:35:24.811 You know, the New Testament teaches that the mercy of God is not only received with gratitude, but it motivates us to testify verbally on behalf of God in Christ. 00:35:25.219 --> 00:35:29.052 Proclaim, there that you may proclaim, means to advertise. 00:35:29.052 --> 00:35:35.248 The term in Greek means to advertise, to make boast of How's your life. 00:35:35.248 --> 00:35:37.934 Is it free advertisement for the God? 00:35:37.934 --> 00:35:55.739 You know I want to have a great marriage, but one of the reasons I want to have a great marriage is not because I benefit from having a great marriage, because having a great marriage is free advertisement for those whose marriages are falling apart and, according to the statistics, half the marriages in my subdivision may end up in divorce. 00:35:55.739 --> 00:35:59.143 I want to be free. 00:35:59.143 --> 00:36:01.786 Advertisement for the kingdom. 00:36:04.148 --> 00:36:16.010 Scripture gives a high priority to verbal declarations that you may proclaim the excellencies, a term which means his excellent attributes. 00:36:16.010 --> 00:36:27.668 Writer author Wayne Grudem states it this way the answer to our search for ultimate meaning lies in declaring the excellencies of God, for he alone is worthy of glory. 00:36:27.668 --> 00:36:31.751 Salvation is ultimately not man-centered but God-centered. 00:36:31.751 --> 00:36:37.273 To declare God's excellencies is to speak of all he is and has done. 00:36:37.273 --> 00:36:41.699 This purpose is too often thwarted by our silence or pride. 00:36:41.699 --> 00:36:49.213 But even brief associations with a Christian whose speech fulfills our purpose invariably refreshes our spirits. 00:36:49.213 --> 00:36:52.204 Whose speech fulfills our purpose invariably refreshes our spirits. 00:36:52.224 --> 00:36:57.451 Number six once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. 00:36:57.451 --> 00:37:01.275 Once you had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. 00:37:01.275 --> 00:37:09.400 These words are quoted from the prophet Hosea. 00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:20.268 Hosea was called to produce children from a prostitute named Gomer, and he did so in order to give a living illustration of how Israel had departed from their God. 00:37:20.268 --> 00:37:24.527 She had a son, and God instructed Hosea to call him. 00:37:24.527 --> 00:37:26.742 Not my people, for you are not my people, and I am not your God. 00:37:26.742 --> 00:37:27.164 Hello, this is my son. 00:37:27.164 --> 00:37:30.452 Not my people, for you are not my people and I am not your God. 00:37:30.452 --> 00:37:32.317 Hello, this is my son, not my people. 00:37:32.317 --> 00:37:37.206 Yet it didn't end there. 00:37:37.206 --> 00:37:44.126 The number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. 00:37:44.126 --> 00:37:51.612 And in the place where it was said to them you are not my people, it shall be said to them children of the living God. 00:37:51.612 --> 00:37:57.072 There are people in this room who were not part of the people of God, the Jewish people. 00:37:57.072 --> 00:38:06.286 You were not chosen, you were not elect, but now you are, because now those who are not my people are children of the living God. 00:38:06.286 --> 00:38:08.907 Are you enjoying that privilege? 00:38:12.181 --> 00:38:16.467 Finally, the world reads us 1 Peter, 2, 11 and 12. 00:38:16.467 --> 00:38:26.626 Beloved, I urge you, as sojourners and exiles, to abstain from the passion of the flesh which wades war against your soul. 00:38:26.626 --> 00:38:36.454 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God. 00:38:36.454 --> 00:38:53.342 On the day of visitation, 19th century Scottish preacher Alexander McLaren commented this the world takes its notions of God most of all from the people who say they belong to God's family. 00:38:53.342 --> 00:38:57.873 They read us a great deal more than they read the Bible. 00:38:57.873 --> 00:39:00.423 They see us. 00:39:00.423 --> 00:39:03.492 They only hear about Jesus Christ. 00:39:03.492 --> 00:39:20.471 You know, in the Sermon on the Mount remember Jesus told those who would seriously follow him let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 00:39:21.820 --> 00:39:27.650 Peter is exhorting believers in their evangelism in the midst of stressful trials and persecutions. 00:39:27.650 --> 00:39:33.530 They were to fortify their testimony with two things First, a personal inward godliness. 00:39:33.530 --> 00:39:37.148 Secondly, an outward public testimony. 00:39:37.148 --> 00:39:43.132 Both are necessary Inward godliness and an outward public testimony. 00:39:43.132 --> 00:39:53.369 Peter is preparing his readers at chapter 2 for what will follow in the rest of chapter 2, the inevitability of suffering. 00:39:53.369 --> 00:40:01.592 This is what makes Peter so relevant to our time, because we're coming into a time when believers are going to suffer for the gospel. 00:40:01.592 --> 00:40:10.987 Peter has prepared his readers in this section for that, even though he hasn't brought up the subject of suffering yet. 00:40:10.987 --> 00:40:11.751 But he will. 00:40:12.960 --> 00:40:23.052 And knowing the things that we have read this morning in 2 Peter 1 should prepare us to face anything and everything. 00:40:23.052 --> 00:40:26.985 Would you stand with me? 00:40:26.985 --> 00:40:35.844 These are sobering words, but let's pray. 00:40:35.844 --> 00:40:46.851 Father, thank you that you gave to your servant Peter such important words that we've studied this morning. 00:40:46.851 --> 00:40:54.748 Thank you for the word of life and for the Application of these words to our lives. 00:40:54.748 --> 00:41:03.284 Father, help us this morning To Apply these words to us in a very powerful way and a personal way. 00:41:03.284 --> 00:41:09.784 Lord, I pray that each of us would personalize these words as if God is speaking Directly to us. 00:41:09.784 --> 00:41:27.340 I thank you, father, for the truths that we've heard this morning and we pray for the church in America that you would prepare her for what's coming and give her the grace to live out the words of Peter as things get hotter and hotter. 00:41:27.340 --> 00:41:32.784 We ask in Jesus' name, and everyone said Amen, thank you, god bless you.