A Chosen Race - [1 Peter 2:9-10]

I will build my church.

With those words, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ made one of his most direct and bold declarations ever.

For a number of reasons. In the gospel narratives, the

Greek term for a church, Ekklesia, the Lord Jesus, the head of the church, the

Lord of the church, only mentions it two times. In that statement that I just quoted for you, and also a second time, when in Matthew 18,

Jesus talks about the process of church discipline. I will build my church,

Jesus said. He was not referring to brick and mortar. He was talking about his people.

Jesus said, I will build my church. The church is his.

He is the Lord of the church. He alone is the head of the church. Jesus said,

I will build my church. Despite the sad case of the church in America and around the world, what with seeker -sensitive movement and the charismatic movement, and in earlier pastimes, other churches,

Jesus says he is building his church. Jesus said, I will build my church.

It's a guarantee. He didn't say, I may build my church. I hope to build my church.

He is building his church today. And Jesus said,

I will build my church. It was on the heels of Peter's confession of this

I, who Jesus was. As you recall, Jesus asked the disciples, who do people say that I am?

Their response, some say Elijah or one of the prophets. He turned it on the disciples and he asked them, who do you say that I am?

Peter, in his great confession, said, you are the Christ, the son of the living

God. It is that Christ, it is that son of the living

God who said, I will build my church. So if you will turn with me to the book of 1

Peter. Peter, who made that confession of Christ, is going to instruct us this morning about the church which

Jesus is building today. Of course, the New Testament has a lot to say about the church of Jesus Christ, the one whom he is the head.

Many times we go to the pastoral epistles, of course, that instruct us about the church. But here Peter, who was used mightily of God, recall, at the birth of the church in Acts 2, is going to instruct us about the church.

I don't know about you, but as Pastor Mike has been taking us through the book of Romans, chapter by chapter,

I've been enriched and blessed by that. I know some of you have so enjoyed it, you wish, as I've talked with you, maybe he would slow down just a tad and do a little bit less verses, just so we can get as enough out of it as we can.

But I don't know, I've kind of liked chapter by chapter, so much so that I've been inspired to take you through all five chapters of 1

Peter. Why are you laughing? I know you saw in your programs, 1

Peter 2, 9 and 10, just two verses. But you don't want some watered down topical message, do you now?

You've got to take it in context. So let's look at our verses. 1

Peter 2, verse 9. 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.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Before I highlight the three points that Peter wants to teach us this morning, let me give you some background to the context.

The first word, as you see in verse 9, is the important term, but that forces us to look at the grammatical context of this passage.

Peter is setting up a contrast here. He says, verse 9, but you are a chosen race.

He's contrasting that to what he said in verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumbled because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do.

Peter is highlighting here the sovereignty of God. You, he says to his audience, are a chosen race in contrast to those who disobeyed the word they were destined for.

God's sovereignty. But earlier in the chapter he highlights this contrast between those who are saved and members of the church and those who are not by focusing on man's responsibility.

Look at verses 6 through 8 again. For it stands in Scripture, behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.

So the honor is for you who believe, 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.

So here we see again as Peter highlights the contrast. Verse 7 is for those of you who believe, what is the result?

The result is verse 6, you will not be put to shame and also there will be honor for you.

But in contrast, verse 7, for those who do not believe, for those who have rejected the stone, which

Peter says earlier in this chapter, verse 4, referring to Jesus Christ as the living stone, those who do not believe and have rejected the stone, what is the result for them?

Verse 8, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. That is why in Galatians 4 .11,

the Apostle Paul refers to the cross as offensive. If you preach the cross of Jesus Christ, it is offensive.

So here Peter sets up a contrast. From God's sovereignty, you are a chosen race versus those who disobey the word as they were destined to.

But also looking for man's responsibility, those who believe versus those who do not believe.

And what is the difference? Really it's their response to Jesus Christ, the living stone, the one whom

Peter says here in verse 4, for he was rejected by men, but in the sight of God, this living stone,

Jesus, is chosen and precious. That's why

Peter quotes in verse 7 from Psalm 118, verse 22, where he says the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

What irony there. Kistemacher puts it very well. He says, stones used in the construction of buildings had to be regular in size.

Stones that did not pass inspection were rejected by the builders. The builders figuratively represent the unbelievers who reject the stone that is

Christ. God, the chief architect, takes this reject and puts it down as capstone.

He honors Christ by giving him the preeminent position in the building that is

God's household. End quote. It's no wonder Jesus said in Matthew 21,

Have you never read in the Scriptures, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Peter, who writes this epistle that we're looking at this morning, before the

Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 4, said, This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become this cornerstone.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name unto heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Not only Christ and Peter, but the Apostle Paul's testimony is the same. In Ephesians 2 .20,

he says, Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

How do you reconcile these two things? Peter is saying, But you're a chosen race, the others who are unsaved disobeyed the word as they were destined to do.

God's sovereignty. But for man's responsibility, you who believed on the stone, others have rejected the stone.

How do you reconcile these two things? Better yet, how do you reconcile the fact that Jesus, when he walked the face of the earth, was 100 %

God and 100 % man, as revealed in the Scripture? How do you reconcile the fact that the word of God which we hold in our hands, all

Scripture is breathed out by God? Theopneustos, as I like to say.

Yet, the writers, whether it was Peter, Paul, or one of the gospel writers, or anyone from the

Old Testament, Moses or the prophets, they weren't inhibited in terms of their writing style or personality.

How do you reconcile the fact that at Pentecost, when Peter preached his sermon, he said, this

Jesus was crucified by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, God's sovereignty, whom you killed with the hands of evil men.

Man's responsibility. Ian Murray, in his book The Forgotten Spurgeon, helps us to reconcile these two things,

God's sovereignty and salvation and man's responsibility, what Peter is highlighting here. He says, and I quote, however much it is beyond the power of reason to reconcile the command to sinners to believe on the

Son of God for salvation with the truth that only grace can enable them to do so, there is no conflict between the two things in Scripture.

Spurgeon took these two truths, man's duty to believe and his sinful inability to do so and used them like the two jaws of a vice to grip the sinner's conscience.

And Ian Murray continues by quoting Spurgeon himself, the Prince of Preachers, who said this, the same difficulty is raised when it is asked, how can men be responsible when they perish in sin if grace alone can prevent such an end?

Someone says, but I don't understand this doctrine. Perhaps not. But remember that while we are bound to tell you the truth, we are not bound to give you the power to understand it.

And besides, this is not a subject for understanding. It is a matter of believing because it is revealed in the

Word of God. It is one of the axioms of theology, Spurgeon continues, if man be lost,

God must not be blamed for it. And it is also an axiom of theology that if man is saved,

God must have all the glory. Paul reconciled these two things in Romans 9 by saying, you will say to me then, why does he still find fault for who can resist his will?

But who are you, oh man, to answer back to God? Well, what is molded, say to a smolder, why have you made me like this?

Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

I remember a few years ago as I was helping a friend of mine, as we were going through some of these deep truths, he wasn't seeing the light.

And of course, I cannot help him see the light. My role is just to present them the truth of Scripture and the

Holy Spirit has to do his work. And we've got to this passage in Romans 9. He says, that's it.

God is the potter. I'm the clay. I got it. Peter is saying, there's a contrast here between the church, the one whom

Christ is building, whom he has chosen, by the way, and that is why Jesus could say, amongst other reasons,

I will build my church with a declarative statement because Christ knew he was building the church whom

God the Father had chosen for him before the foundation of the world. But look at verse 9.

Secondly, we see the word, but you. We have to understand when we study the

Scripture, who is the original audience? Here we're going to look at the historical context of this small epistle.

Who was Peter writing to? Well, these people were persecuted. They were suffering. If I were to give a title to the epistle of 1

Peter, it would be for suffering Christians. The background is, and during that time, they were dispersed, these

Christians. That's why he refers to them in chapter 1, verse 1, as exiles. Nero was emperor of Rome and Rome had been burned down.

And the citizens of Rome, knowing how Nero was, he had a lust for building, a lust to bring fame and glory to his name.

They figured their emperor burned down Rome. So they were angry against him. I mean, this is typical of kings and emperors.

Listen to the words of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel 4. It's not this great Bible on which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty.

That's what emperors and kings do. They destroy and build so they can get the glory. And so it was with Nero.

So to divert their anger, the Roman citizens' anger against him, he blamed the

Christians who were already persecuted and looked down upon. And he said, they're the ones who burned down Rome.

So the citizens began to persecute them and revile them and they were going through suffering. And that is why in the book of 1

Peter, as you read the whole thing, you'll see that that is what Paul is addressing.

Turn with me to chapter 5 of the book where Peter rather gives his purpose statement, his authorial intent for why he's writing this small epistle.

And knowing the background of their suffering, where it was coming from, it will make a lot more sense for you.

Beginning in verse 10. And after you have suffered a little while, the

God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. By Silvanus, a faithful brother, as I regard him,

I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God.

Stand firm in it. He's writing to these persecuted, suffering

Christians and he wants to encourage them by telling them here that you're going to suffer only a little while until your eternal glory in heaven.

And God will strengthen you. He wants them to stand firm in grace. Let me just highlight some peaks throughout this epistle where Paul talks about this suffering and persecution and reviling that they are experiencing.

Chapter 1, verse 6. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary you have been grieved by various trials.

Chapter 2, verse 19. For this is a gracious thing when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.

Chapter 3, verse 14. But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed.

Have no fear of them, nor be troubled. Who is he talking about?

The Roman citizens who were persecuting them for the destruction of their city. Where they lost all their culture, they lost all their religious symbols.

Chapter 4, verse 12. Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you.

Over and over and over again, Peter is addressing the issue of persecution and suffering that these

Christians are going through to encourage them. And of course he highlights none other than the living stone whom they didn't reject but had believed in him.

Notice in chapter 3, verse 18. For Christ also suffered once for sins.

Chapter 4, verse 1. Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh. I'm sure as Peter was writing this, he could recall the words of his

Lord in the upper room where Jesus said, If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. So what does

Peter want to teach us through these two verses this morning? Three things. First of all, he wants to teach us the identity of the church.

The identity of the church. He's asking and answering this simple question. Who? Who are we?

And this is what he addresses these persecuted, suffering Christians. And he gives a list of four things to highlight their identity as a church.

But you are first and foremost, what's the first thing he says? A chosen race.

A chosen race. Remember, Peter being Jewish, he has the

Old Testament at hand. He's thinking of Isaiah 43, 20. Where God says, My chosen people.

My chosen people. You are a chosen race. Turn with me to the first chapter of 1

Peter there. And notice how he addresses his audience. Verse 1.

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the

Father. Yes, he says, you are exiles because of your persecution.

But you're not just exiles. You're elect exiles. Now, if you had a friend who was suffering and going through a hard time, what would you do to encourage them?

Many times we'll say to somebody, even here, if they tell us something they're going through, you'll say to them, I'll pray for you.

You see them next Sunday, and they say, thank you for praying for me. And then you realize you never prayed for them.

Or you might say, you know, I've been through the same situation. I understand what you're going through.

But that's not what Peter does here. Peter, he begins this letter as he highlights in chapter 2 to this chosen race, the church, to encourage them.

He doesn't talk about praying for them. Or, yes, I've been through some tough times, which Peter did. He teaches them the doctrine of election.

Peter, what are you doing? Is this how you encourage suffering Christians? Yes. Because why?

Verse 2 of chapter 1, they were elect how? According to the foreknowledge of God the

Father. God the Father, from eternity past, had planned whom

He would choose as His chosen race, as His church, the elect. If God is sovereign over salvation, certainly

He is sovereign over suffering. That's how this encourages suffering Christians. Isn't this what

Job knew when he told his brothers in Genesis 50, verse 20? You intended to harm me, he told his brothers.

But God intended it for good. Peter's saying,

I know you're suffering, but God is sovereign over having chosen you over your salvation, and know that He is also sovereign over your suffering.

Is God sovereign? Question. Yes. Follow -up question.

Is God's sovereignty total, or is it partial? In other words, is God sovereign over everything, or is

He just sovereign over some things? Well, He's sovereign over everything. Third question.

Is God sovereign over salvation? Some might struggle with that.

If He wasn't sovereign over salvation, which He is, then His sovereignty would not be total. He'd be partially sovereign, which by definition,

He would not be sovereign, because God is either sovereign of all, or He is not sovereign at all.

He says to them, be encouraged. In the midst of your suffering, God has chosen you.

You are a chosen race. In his classic work, Ashamed of the Gospel, Pastor MacArthur says it this way,

No doctrine is more despised by the natural man than the truth that God is absolutely sovereign.

Human pride loathes the suggestion that God orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything.

Most of all, the flesh hates the notion that salvation is entirely God's work. If God chose who would be saved, and if His choice was settled before the foundation of the world, then believers deserve no credit for any aspect of their salvation.

If you struggle with these truths, you're not alone. They are difficult to receive, impossible to comprehend, even repugnant to our human sensibilities.

The fallen human mind tends to think it is unjust for God to choose some, but not everyone, as if we had a right to demand

His grace. That's not fair, is the typical response. But it's not supposed to be fair.

We wouldn't want it to be fair. Fair would mean everyone is eternally condemned.

End quote. Peter says not only are you a chosen race, that's your identity, but number two, you are a royal priesthood.

That's part of your identity. He said earlier in chapter 2, and earlier in this chapter, in verse 5, he refers to them as a holy priesthood.

We are royalty. We serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Part of being a priest means to be involved in service.

God ultimately saves for one and one primary reason, that is His glory. But He also saves for some subsidiary reasons.

And God saves us so that we can serve Him. Revelation chapter 1, John wrote, to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and made us a kingdom priest to His God.

John 17, in the Upper Room Discourse, is referred as Christ's high priestly prayer, where He prays for His own.

And that's what a priest does. Prophets, in contrast, represent God as they stand before men, while priests represent man as they stand before God.

Not only are you a chosen race and a royal priesthood, but thirdly, you are a holy nation. A holy nation.

That's why He said in chapter 1, beginning in verse 15, But as He who called you is holy, you will also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, quoting from Leviticus, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

You are a holy nation. Peter brings these two ideas of their identity, their priesthood and their holy nation, from Exodus 19, verse 6.

And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people.

And finally, Peter says to them, You are a people for His own possession.

A people for God's own possession. One translation, I believe it's a King James version, says you are a peculiar people.

And by looking at you, I agree with him. But I'm in that group too, so don't worry. You are a people, what he's trying to say, that God has possessed for Himself.

You might be suffering and being reviled and being persecuted, but take courage because of your identity.

You are a people who belong to God. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, it brings all these four aspects of their identity together.

Beginning in verse 6 to verse 8, For you are a people holy to the

Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you are the fewest of all peoples.

But it is because the Lord loves you. Now, of course, the context there,

Moses is talking to the nation of Israel, God is through Moses. But Peter applies that to the church today.

And he says to these suffering Christians, take courage because of who you are.

I want you to notice before we move on to point number 2 that all four of these descriptions of their identity are in the plural form.

A race, a priesthood, a nation, a people.

In other words, the Christian faith is not for lone rangers.

Even he had Tonto. That's why Peter said, some of you are looking at me like, boy, he's dating himself.

Chapter 5 verse 9, Peter says the following to encourage them in their suffering that they're not alone.

Resist them firm in your faith knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

You're not suffering alone. That's why these descriptive phrases of their identity are in the plural. Note number 2 also that all these things are done by God.

God is the one who chose them. God is the one who made them a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for his possession.

And note also that this is a picture of glory of heaven. That is why John uses some of the same terminology in Revelation chapter 5 verse 9 when he says, and they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll, referring to Christ, and to open its seals for you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and, watch this, people and nation.

A holy nation and a people belonging to God. Secondly, Peter says,

I don't also want you to know your identity, who you are in the midst of your suffering, but secondly, what is the initiative, the initiative of the church where he asks and answers the question, what are we to do?

What are we to do? Only when a church knows its true identity will the church know what it's supposed to do.

The church today in America and across the world seems to be in an identity crisis because they're not getting their instructions from the word, they're getting their instructions from the world.

What do the masses demand? Therefore, there has to be new initiatives all the time, especially

New Years. Isn't that a great time to have a new initiative? Let's do this, or let's do that.

Let's jump on board of the bandwagon with all the seeker -sensitive churches. But Peter simply says, to suffering

Christians, mind you, that you have one and one initiative only. Watch this, verse 9. That purpose you may proclaim the excellencies of Him.

Brothers and sisters, we have one direct purpose, to proclaim, that is our ministry, is a proclamation ministry, whether it's the church gathered or whether it's a church scattered throughout the week, is to proclaim the excellencies of our great

God. That's why in our bulletin we have

Colossians 1 .28, Him we proclaim. Peter again is thinking of the

Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah said in Isaiah 43, 20 -21, my chosen people, the people whom

I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise. Well, Peter, why are we to proclaim the excellencies of Him?

Very simple, Peter says. Notice verse 9. Because it was He who called you.

Proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you. Because of that internal, divine, effectual, irresistible call is anyone saved?

Jesus put it this way in John 6. All that the Father gives me will what?

Come to me. No one can come to me, Jesus said, unless the Father who sent me draws him.

That is why Paul even said in Romans 9 about this call of God.

Not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of Him who calls.

And I cannot not say anything by Spurgeon who said it best. Quote, What you say?

Can God make me become a Christian? I tell you yes. For herein rests the power of the gospel.

It does not ask your consent, but it gets it. It does not say, Will you have it?

But it makes you willing in the day of God's power. The gospel wants not your consent.

It gets it. It knocks the enmity out of your heart. You say, I do not want to be saved.

Christ says you shall be. He makes your will turn around and then you cry,

Lord, save or I perish. So, he's writing to suffering

Christians. How is this encouraging to them? He's saying, Look, you are exiles. Part of the dispersion.

But God has chosen you. That's your identity. And you're to proclaim his excellency because he has called you.

That is why you are the church. Of course, the natural objection or question arises.

Well, if God is the one who chooses who is to be saved, why should we even proclaim the excellencies of him?

I remember a few years ago when I was teaching these truths through the book of Ephesians. I had a friend of mine.

His wife came to me after she had been preaching the gospel to her father, faithful and evangelizing him.

And she was wondering, Well, what happens now? If God truly is the one who chooses, what happens with me?

Do I continue to proclaim? So, I took her to Romans 9. Romans 9, where Paul illustrates and explains the doctrine of election.

Remember, as Pastor Mike had given us the overview of Romans, Romans 9 to 11 is sovereignty.

And in the midst of the teaching of this doctrine that God is totally sovereign and sovereign over salvation, he elects, as bookends to this teaching,

Paul says this. And listen to his heartbeat. Chapter 9 of Romans, verse 2.

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed.

Anathema. Paul doesn't use that term very often. Three times in all his epistles. He's pronouncing divine, eternal judgment on himself.

Why? And cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers. Chapter 10, verse 1.

The next bookend. Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.

Because when you realize God is sovereign over who is saved, it gives you total freedom, total boldness and confidence.

In the midst of persecution even, to proclaim the excellencies of him. Because you can't convert anyone.

Romans 10, verse 17. He continued, right? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of Christ. Famous pastor from Bristol, England, George Mueller, who had a great ministry in an orphanage, explained it this way in his own life, what

God did. Quote, Before this period, I had been much opposed to the doctrines of election.

I called election a devilish doctrine. In the course of time, it pleased God then to show me the doctrines of grace in a way in which

I had not seen them before. At first, I hated them. If this were true,

I could do nothing at all in the conversion of sinners as all would depend on God and on the working of his spirit.

But, when it pleased God to reveal these truths to me and my heart was brought to such a state that I could say,

I am not only content simply to be a hammer, an axe, or a saw in God's hands, but I shall count it an honor to be taken up and used by him in any way.

And if sinners are converted through my instrumentality, from my inmost soul, I will give him all the glory.

That is why Acts 13 .48 says, All who are appointed for eternal life believe.

So when you proclaim the excellencies of our great God, rest in the confidence that all whom he has appointed will respond in genuine saving faith.

The second objective might arise. Well, Peter, you want us to proclaim the audience is saying in the midst of their suffering, these

Christians, the excellencies of him. But is that all we're supposed to do is proclaim and not live out our lives accordingly?

No, you are to live out your lives. He says in verse 12 of our text, Keep your conduct among the

Gentiles, referring to the unbelievers, honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, watch this, they may hear, no, they may see your good deeds.

Do they need to hear the excellencies of him? Yes, that's proclamation. But they also need to see, because it gives no credibility to your message if they don't see.

And especially, Paul says, when you are being reviled in the midst of suffering.

Peter is saying to these persecuted Christians, I want to encourage you to proclaim the excellencies of your great

God in the midst of your persecution. Peter understood this.

He himself, when he was writing this, was probably thinking back to when he was persecuted. We know from the account in Acts, Dr.

Luke, how he was put in jail a number of times. He was arrested with the other apostles in Acts 4. And it says in verse 19 of Acts 4,

But Peter and John answered them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

Later on in chapter 5, The high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the

Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostle and put him in the public prison. And the high priest questioned them, saying,

We strictly charge you not to teach in his name. Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intended to bring this man's blood upon us.

But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than man.

So Peter is not writing to these persecuted Christians out of a vacuum. He was in it himself.

He was persecuted, but yet he still continued to proclaim the excellencies of God.

And finally, number three, Not only does he say to them,

This is your true identity, who you are, this is your initiative, what you are to do, but third, this is your impetus.

This is your impetus. What is the driving force, the motive behind this? He's asking and answering the question,

Why do we do what we do? This is who we are, a chosen race, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, people belonging to God.

This is what we are to do, our initiative, to proclaim his excellencies. But why are we to do this?

What's our impetus? He gives three reasons. First, notice verse nine,

Proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

That's the first impetus, because God called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Colossians 1 .13, the apostle Paul said, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.

Jesus himself said in John 8 verse 12, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Who loves darkness? My daughter, one of my daughters, when we go up to their bedrooms, they want to make sure the hall light is open after we put them to bed, because they want to be in the dark.

But here Peter, of course, is referring to spiritual darkness, to blindness. 2 Corinthians 4 .4,

The God of this age, Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the gospel.

So how was it for these Christians? How were they able to get out of darkness into his marvelous light?

Simply, Peter says, because he is the one who called them. Secondly, notice the second impetus of why we do what we do.

In verse 10, he uses this phrase, once and but now, once and but now.

First of all, he says, verse 10, Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

That's our second impetus for why we do what we do. Once we were not the people of God, but now he has made us his people.

Again, think like Peter, Jewish. He takes it from the minor prophet

Hosea, chapter 1, verse 9. The Lord said, Call his name not my people, for you are not my people, and I am not your

God. And finally, the third impetus Peter gives to them to proclaim his excellencies in the midst of suffering is the second part of verse 10.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

From no mercy to mercy. Peter is thinking of Hosea again, chapter 1, verse 6.

She conceived again, Gomer, and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, Call her name no mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel to forgive them at all.

That is why at the outset of his letter here in 1 Peter, Peter says to these exiles who are elect, verse 3,

Through his great mercy he caused you to be born again.

There's no how -to manual on being born again. Jesus said in John 3, It's birth from above.

Anothen, from the Spirit. And it's because of his mercy. Aren't you grateful for the mercy of God in your life?

It's the prayer of the publican. And I understand because I was the

Pharisee in my own testimony. I was lost, but I was religious about it.

I'm not like this other person. I'm a church -going boy. The pastor sees me with my

Bible every Sunday. I give twice a week. Hey, my father's a choir director.

I'm in. The publican stood off in the distance, couldn't even look up to heaven, with his head bowed down, beating his chest,

Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner. Paul, again in Romans 9, said about the mercy of God, What shall we say then?

Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom

I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory?

Peter says to these persecuted, suffering Christians for their faith, This is who you are.

Your identity is that you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, belonging to God.

You are the church whom Jesus Christ promised in his building up. This is what you are to do.

Your initiative is to proclaim his excellencies. Why? Because God called you from darkness into light.

Because you were not a people, he's made you the people of God. Because you had not received mercy to having received mercy.

How about you this morning? Have you received the mercy of God? What has been your response to the stone that the builders rejected?

Are you like one of those builders who has rejected the living stone, Jesus Christ? You need to believe upon him.

Listen to how the apostle Paul put it. 1 Timothy 1 .15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom

I am the foremost. But, he says, I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost,

Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who would have believed in him for eternal life.

I exhort you, if you have never responded to Jesus Christ in genuine saving faith, may you turn your eyes, by God's grace, to the one who is able to save you.

Bethlehem Bible Church, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For once you were not a people, but now you're the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the riches and glories of your word.

Thank you for this opportunity that we have to worship through your word and to feast at your table, as it were.

We thank you that all scripture is breathed out by God and is useful and profitable for teaching, rebuke, and correcting, and training in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

I pray, Father, anyone who's listened to this this morning, who has not responded in genuine faith to the living stone, that they would not reject the stone, but by your grace, they would turn to Jesus Christ alone.

And that you would help us as a church to always remember our true identity, our only initiative to proclaim your excellencies, and to remember why we do what we do.