You Are A Royal Priesthood — Chuck Smith

The Priesthood of the Believer and Access to God

In verse 5 of chapter 2, Peter has introduced the idea of the priesthood of the believer. Now, the privilege of the priest was that he had access to God. That was the whole idea behind the priest, was access to God.

And he would usually go before God, representing the people. The idea being, here is a holy, righteous God. Here is the unholy, unrighteous man. Impossible for man in his sinfulness to come before a holy God.

And so the priest would go before God for the common man. And in the Old Testament, prior to the law, the firstborn son in the family would be the priest of the family, or the oldest male. Of course, the father would be the priest of the family.

And then at his decease, the firstborn, or his oldest son, would be the priest. And it was something that was passed down by virtue of birth of the firstborn, or the eldest son in the family, always the priest of the family.

And so the firstborn son was dedicated unto God always, dedicated towards the priesthood. Now, when the law came through Moses, God then chose a tribe as a priestly tribe. And after the giving of the law, no longer was the firstborn son dedicated to the priesthood, but now a whole tribe, the tribe of Levi, was dedicated to the priesthood.

And thus you have the order of Levi, or the priesthood after the order of Levi. The house of Aaron being the high priesthood coming down then through Aaron. Now, in the New Testament, we have introduced a whole new concept in regards to priesthood because in the New Testament we have the priesthood of the believer.

Jesus Christ Opens Access to God

Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ has access unto God. Access to God is no longer an exclusive right of the eldest child, or it is no longer the right of a tribe of Levi, or the high priest who had access to God once a year coming into the Holy of Holies and into the presence of God for the people once a year.

That no longer exists. Through Jesus Christ, on His death, when the veil of the temple was rent in two, it was God's declaration to the world that now access to God is open to every man through Jesus Christ.

He is the veil by which we can all enter into the presence of God. And so in the book of Hebrews we are exhorted to come boldly to His throne of grace that we might receive mercy. And so each one of you, as a believer in Jesus Christ, has access unto God.

And so the priesthood of the believer is no longer just the right of the man, no longer just the right of the tribe of Levi, but here again is another area where Jesus Christ has broken down any of the differences that might exist between people, between nations, between sexes, and He has made us all one and has given us all access unto God.

Now this providing of access for each of us was a very costly thing. It cost the life of Jesus Christ. The veil being rent, His body, opened the door for each of us to be able to have access unto God.

That is why when Jesus addresses Himself to the church of Ephesus, He declares unto them, This thou hast, in that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which things, He said, I also hate. Now the deeds of the Nicolaitans was the establishing of the priesthood within the church.

But Jesus died and rose again and is at the right hand of the Father making intercession in order that each one of you may have access unto Him. So it doesn't matter who you are. You don't have to be a professional religionist.

We all are priests. That is, we all have access unto God. And as we go unto God, we also have that priestly privilege and responsibility of then representing God before the people who don't know Him, our lives as witnesses for Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Sacrifices and the Royal Priesthood

So in the 5th verse of this 2nd chapter, He introduces the idea of the priesthood of the believer, wherefore also it is contained in the Scripture, or beg your pardon, Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer the spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

So as priests we come before God offering spiritual sacrifices. One of the spiritual sacrifices mentioned in Hebrews 13 is offering to Him the praise, the fruit of our lips, as an acceptable sacrifice.

We offer our bodies as a sacrifice unto God. And so as a priest. So in verse 9 again He comes back to the idea that is introduced in verse 5, picking up the concept again of the priesthood of the believer, and He declares, But you are a chosen generation.

And the word here is actually you are a chosen race. You are a chosen race of people. Now if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away and everything becomes new. People have a great interest it seems in their roots.

And there are people all over the world looking for their roots. Well, I'm really not so anxious to find my old roots. Because in Christ I am a new creation, a new nationality, where there is neither Jew nor Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all.

And so I trace now my roots to Jesus Christ to be rooted and grounded in Him. The roots of the flesh I have no interest in. I am very interested in those roots of the Spirit, the new life that I have in Jesus Christ.

I think that many times people look back to their roots to find out the reason for why they are what they are. You know, I've got a horrible temper. Let me search for my roots and find out what kind of a temper my grandfather had so that I can say, Well, I inherited this dumb thing.

You know, and we are sort of looking to throw the responsibility of what we are off onto someone else. Well, I was the way I was born, you know. It's a part of my heredity. My family, you know, you go back in my family and my great-great-grandfather, you know, was arrested one time for knocking a guy's head against the wall because he was so angry with him, you know.

You see, it's a part of my roots. So that's why I am the way I am. And we are trying to look back to find sort of an excuse for our nature. But if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. I have a new nature.

The old nature. The man born of my parentage and from my ancestors and all, he was crucified with Christ. And now I have a new nature and I have new roots. And I trace now my roots back to Jesus Christ and that new nature that I have in Him.

And this is that which I am seeking to cultivate in my life. That new life in Jesus where the old things are passed away and behold, everything becomes new. No longer seeking to go back and rationalizing or excusing or giving excuse for the rottenness of my flesh.

But now tracing myself back to the cross where there is my new life and there was the birth of my new life and I spring forth from Jesus Christ. So you are a chosen race. A chosen generation. A royal priesthood.

The word royal is kingly. A kingly priesthood. Now the priests were not kings because the kings came from the tribe of Judah and the priests came from the tribe of Levi. But if you go back before the establishing of the Levitical order of priesthood there is in the Old Testament a king who was the priest.

You remember when Abraham was returning from the victory over the five kings that the man by the name of Melchizedek a priest of the Most High God came out to meet him and he was called the King of Salem.

The priest of the Most High God yet the King of Peace, of Salem. So Melchizedek was a king and a priest who became a type of Jesus Christ who is our Great High Priest and who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Now He has made us kings and priests. Go to Revelation chapter 6 where the Lord is addressing Himself to John in the opening salutation or John is addressing Himself to the church. And there we read,.

And from Jesus Christ in the address to the church who is the faithful witness the first begotten of the dead the prince of the kings of the earth unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

So Christ has made us kings and priests or more literally a kingdom of priests. And then of course in the 5th chapter of the book of Revelation the new song that is sung by the church before the throne of God when Jesus takes the scroll out of the right hand of the Father Thou art worthy to take the scroll to loose the seals for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and hath made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign with thee upon the earth.

God’s Possession and the Value of Human Life

And so the priesthood of the believer you are a chosen race of people. God has chosen you. Now as we read what Peter has to say to the church we find that what he is saying to the church is basically what God had said to the nation Israel that you are a holy nation a peculiar people.

Now that word peculiar doesn't mean odd in the sense that we think of peculiar today as being something odd and God here isn't advocating that you be odd because you are a Christian. And some poor simple people in reading that have thus interpreted it.

Of course you can find anything in Los Angeles. And when I was going to college in Los Angeles years ago a lot of weird people and I remember one day talking to this lady that was really dressed oddly and she had a leathery kind of a face extremely tan because she was always walking around looking up just her face was always up and dressed real weird and all and I went up to her and asked her what she was looking for and she said well aren't those beautiful cloud formations and I said yes they are ma 'am but I said I've seen you looking up on clear days.

I said I've been watching you for several weeks and every time I see you you're just standing there looking up and she said well you know the Lord told us to watch for His coming and I said yes but He also told us to occupy until He comes and I would find it hard to be working while I'm looking up all the time and then I brought up a little bit about her dress and the oddness of it as sort of a bad witness for the Lord and she said oh yes but brother don't you know the Bible says we would be a peculiar people and she took that as a mandate to prove that you're a Christian you've got to be odd and dress weirdly or something and that's sort of a proof of the fact that you're really a child of God.

Well the word in the Greek is possession. You are actually a possessed people and that doesn't mean possessed in the sense of some weird spirit either but it means that you are God's possession. You are people who God has possessed.

He has claimed you know ye not that you are not your own. You've been bought with a price and God claims you, you're His possession. Now the Bible calls this also a peculiar treasure but again the idea is that of a treasure that God possesses now to me it does seem peculiar that God would count me as a treasure as a jewel or as something valuable to Him and yet He does.

And that of course is what Paul was praying that we might understand is what is His exceeding inheritance in the saints if you only understood how much God does treasure you. If you only knew how much God does value you even though you have failed, even though you've been rotten even though you've been miserable.

Oh if you only knew the value that God places on your life. Now we are living in a day and age when the population is exploding so rapidly that it would appear from our society that we are really placing less of a value upon life.

All the time we read of these horrible crimes and the murders that are being committed, just a rash of them. Recently life it seems is becoming cheap. They've done a lot of experiment with rats in order to understand why people respond as they do.

And somehow there seems to be a correlation between a rat's brain and man's brain at least the psychologists think so. And in one of the interesting sociological experiments in the use of rats to sort of determine behavioral patterns of course you always have your test group and then you have the norm group and so forth so that you can tell the difference.

And they in one experiment took and placed about twice as many rats in an area more than the area could actually handle. And the crowding of the rats where they crowded more rats into a particular box and all than the box could really handle comfortably.

And they began to watch them in this overcrowded condition. And the rats which are on the average pretty much of a sociable kind of a little creature and they seem to get along fairly well. And the mother takes care of the babies and so forth you know under normal conditions when they put them in these overcrowded conditions they found that the rats began to become very antagonistic towards each other.

They're attacking one another a lot more fighting. The mothers began to neglect the babies and all kinds of antisocial behavioral patterns emerged from the overcrowded rats which of course led them to believe that a lot of these social behavioral patterns antisocial behavioral patterns that we see today are perhaps attributable some of them to overcrowding.

There are more rats in Orange County than Orange County can really support you know and so we're getting these antisocial behavioral patterns. But it does seem that life is not esteemed or valued as highly at least by some individuals in that they would take out they would destroy another person's life.

But if you only knew the value God puts on your life. Sometimes people don't put much of a value on their own lives. We look at the rising number of suicides and people just don't put much of a value on their life.

But Jesus said what should a profit a man if he would gain the whole world and lose his own soul. Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul. In other words he shows the high esteem and value that God puts upon every individual life so that God highly prizes and values you.

God’s Chosen People in the Scriptures

Now so often we are guilty of running down God's merchandise. Oh I'm no good, oh I'm nothing, oh I'm so miserable oh I can't do anything right. And we're running down God's merchandise. And God doesn't appreciate your running down his merchandise because he paid a tremendous price to purchase that you that bit of merchandise.

Now if you've gone out and you've spent an awful lot of money for a car you've really gone into hock for the thing because you really have you know desired that car. And someone comes up and says why did you buy that dumb old thing.

And they start running it down. You know what an ugly design. I've never seen such an ugly car. Look there's run in the paint there you know. And you're thinking of the payments you got to make for the next 48 months.

And here this guy's running the thing down. You don't appreciate that when you think of the price that God paid to redeem us the value that God puts on us. Oh if you only knew what is the exceeding inheritance his inheritance in the saints the value that he places upon you.

So you are a people that are possessed by God. God has chosen you. You're a chosen nation. You're a kingly priesthood. You're a holy nation a people possessed by God. Now as Peter is declaring these things last week we pointed out the tremendous knowledge that Peter had of the scriptures.

You remember when Peter was going into the temple and the guy was lame and he was asking for alms. And Peter said hey look at me. And the guy turned and Peter said I don't have any silver and gold but what I have I'll give to you in the name of Jesus Christ rise and walk.

And the guy got up and began to leap and run ran through the temple and everybody said hey isn't that the guy that's been out there at the gate for years begging is it sure looks like him. What's happened.

I don't know. Let's find out. And so they began to follow him. And he came back out to the porch where Peter was. And a great multitude of people thousands of them actually gathered there. And Peter said hey you men of Israel why marvel ye at this.

Or why look on us as though we through our own righteousness have done this good deed to this lame man be it known unto you that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth this guy is standing here before you all.

And he went on to preach to them. Well about 5 ,000 people confessed Christ. And the priests got real upset and they sent and had Peter arrested and they brought him in and they said we want to know now by what name or by what power did you do this.

And Peter said well if you've arrested me for healing a lame man that's sort of a lame excuse. But he said if that's your problem he said be it known unto you that it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth that this man stands here before you all.

He is the stone which was said of not by you builders. But the same has become the head cornerstone. And neither is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.

And he of course began to lay a witness on them. Well they it said when they saw the lame man standing there whole really couldn't say much. I mean what can you say. Here's a guy that's been lame all his life.

And now he's standing there whole. And seeing the lame man standing there whole they couldn't say anything. That's the kind of evidence the church really needs today. And of course that's the kind of evidence that thank God it's here at Calvary Chapel so many lame people are now made whole.

And it's beautiful people come. And what can they say about it. A bunch of freaks and weirdos. And now they're whole a new life in Christ. And there's really not anything you can say about it. But then it showed how little they really understood the disciples.

It said how does this fellow know all these things. You know because they are ignorant and unlearned men. They marveled at them because of their boldness and all. Because they said they were ignorant and unlearned now that shows that they didn't know very much about Peter.

He was not ignorant and unlearned. Peter spent three years under the tutorship of the greatest teacher that ever walked the face of the earth 24 hours a day for three years far from unlearned he had a vast knowledge of the scriptures and they perceived that they had been with Jesus.

The Church as a Holy Nation

That's the second mistake that they made about Peter. His relationship with Jesus wasn't past tense. When Peter was standing there talking Jesus was right there prompting him what to say. Because Jesus said now look they're going to bring you before the magistrates and all.

But he said don't make up a little speech in advance for in that moment the Holy Spirit will give you the words that you're to say. And Jesus said lo I am with you always. And so they perceived that they had been with Jesus.

The second mistake. No Jesus was standing right there with them. Those fellows couldn't see it but Peter could feel it. So the world often misunderstands the real child of God. But you are something special.

God has chosen you and God has made you kings and priests. God has made you his people a new creature in Christ a new nationality and God has possessed you. You now belong to him. Peter shows now a vast knowledge of the Old Testament again he is quoting from Exodus chapter 19 verse 6 where the Lord said I'll go back to verse 5 God is talking to Israel now.

Therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant you shall be a possessed or a peculiar treasure unto me above all of the people. For all the earth is mine. Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These words God said you're to speak to the children of Israel. So this is the privilege that God offered to the nation Israel. God chose the nation Israel above all nations that they should be a kingdom of priests.

That they should be this treasure that God possessed from all of the people of the earth. God chose that they should be a holy nation. Now in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 6 for thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God.

The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are upon the face of the earth. Now what Peter is doing is taking these things that God said concerning the nation Israel and Peter is now applying them to the church.

That relationship that God desired with the nation Israel but didn't fully achieve or attain. For as we turn to the prophet Hosea in the Old Testament in chapter 1 in verse 10 we read yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered.

It shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them ye are not my people there it shall be said unto them ye are the sons of the living God Hosea. God said go down and take a prostitute for your wife.

So Hosea married a prostitute. God said because the land has committed whoredom take a whore for your wife. So he did. And she bore a son. And God said call his name Jezreel because I'm going to avenge the innocent blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu.

His wife conceived again and God said the little girl and he said call her name Lo-ru-ha-ma for it means no more mercy. God said I'm not going to have any more mercy upon the house of Israel but I'm going to utterly take them away so they were my people.

But God said I'm not going to have any more mercy. I'm going to wipe them out. And so she conceived again the third son or the third child it was a son again and God said call his name Lo-am-ee it's not my child.

So God is disowning now Israel saying they're not my people. But then in the prophecy is that in the very same place where God said not my people that he was going to call them his people again. And then in chapter 2 verse 23 I will sow her unto me in the earth and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.

Called Out of Darkness into Marvelous Light

I will say unto them which were not my people thou art my people. And they shall say thou art my God. And so here God is speaking to Hosea about the nation Israel how they were going to be put away because they turned from God.

They committed adultery. They worshipped other gods. They forsook him and because their desires and their interests were towards other things, other gods God set them apart as an unfaithful wife. Now those blessed privileges that God had offered to the nation Israel he is now offering to the church and Peter putting together Deuteronomy, Exodus, Hosea showing his vast knowledge of the Old Testament puts it now and applies it to you the church.

You have become God's chosen race. You have become the kingdom of priests. You have become the holy nation. The people that God has chosen as his own possession. For what purpose? That you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into the marvelous light.

Or that you should actually show forth the excellencies. The word praises there is the Greek word virtues or excellencies. So God has chosen the church to be a witness before the earth. That we should show forth the excellencies of God to the earth.

God who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Paul refers to the work of God having transformed us from the kingdom of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of his dear son. Now darkness is used as a symbol for sin and a symbol for ignorance.

As light is used as a symbol of purity and righteousness and a symbol of truth. Walk in the light, walk in truth. Now there are two kingdoms in the universe. In the beginning there was just one kingdom the government of God, the government of light and life.

And the whole universe created by God living in obedience to God, living in harmony with God must have been a beautiful place indeed. But sometime back in the aeons of the past one of God's glorious creatures a creature that was perfect in beauty and perfect in wisdom and perfect in all of his ways up to this point was lifted up with pride and sought to exalt himself over against God.

And he said I will exalt myself above the stars of heaven. I will sit in the mount and I will sit in the sides of the congregation in the mount of the north and I will be like the most high. And the bible tells us of Satan's five eye wills against God's will.

I will exalt myself, I will be above the stars of heaven. I will sit in the congregation in the sides of the north. I will be like the most high. Now at that point you have now a secondary will in the universe.

You have a new government that is formed no longer in harmony with God's government. A rebellion against God's government a rebellion that is headed by Satan. And now a second kingdom is formed a kingdom of death and darkness.

So rather than one kingdom ruling over the universe you have now opposing kingdoms within the universe. God's kingdom of light and life opposed to the kingdom of death and darkness governed by Satan. Now God has recreated the earth and he has placed man upon it and he has placed man within the confines of his kingdom in the kingdom of light and life.

And thus God walked with Adam in the garden and God communed with Adam and Adam had fellowship with God there in the garden of Eden. And you have now a beautiful experience this earth as God has renovated it and created it and placed man upon it.

And you have this beautiful neat fellowship as man is walking in the government of God and living in harmony with God and enjoying the beauty and the glory of God's creation this earth living in harmony with nature with the animals.

Sin, Death, and the Way Back to God

And one day this leader of the kingdom of death and darkness came to Eve and said did God say that you can eat of all of the trees in the garden. Yes, all except the one in the middle. For in the day we eat of that one he said we're going to die.

Aw, you won't die. God isn't fair to you Eve. He knows that if you eat of that you're going to be just as wise as he is. He's just trying to protect himself. Why don't you try it. Eve it's really good here, take a bite.

And Eve ate. And she gave also unto her husband Adam and he did eat. Now, what did they do? They also in that action rebelled against the government of God. God's government of light and life said you're not to eat.

When they went ahead and disobeyed God they too joined the rebellion against God's order against God's government. And thus they by their own will transferred themselves from the kingdom of light and life God's kingdom.

They went by way of the tree into the other kingdom the kingdom of death and darkness. So by one man sin entered the world and death by sin. So that death then passed unto all men for all sin. Adam's actions bringing him into the kingdom of death and darkness alienated now from God.

Now, having transferred himself into this kingdom of death and darkness he found that the door only went one way. There was no way back into the kingdom of light and life. Try as he may be as good as he can be as righteous and pure as he might.

He could not find the way back. He may come to the top of the kingdom of death and darkness. You may not be on the bottom rung with all of the you know, the scum and the lower echelon of society. You may come into high society.

You may live by the golden rule. You may value the virtues of honesty and morality and things of this nature. So, great, you've come to the top of the kingdom of death and darkness. But you're still in the kingdom of death and darkness.

And really, the fact that you're still in the kingdom doesn't make much difference if you're at the top or the lower end you're still alienated from God. You're still in rebellion against God in the kingdom of rebellion against God.

Now, God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. For what purpose? To open a door back into the kingdom of light and life. For by the tree, man went from the kingdom of light and life into the kingdom of death and darkness.

Now, God has established a second tree. And upon this tree, his son is hanging as he is bearing all of the rebellion of man and the responsibility for it and the guilt and the punishment for it. But by this tree he is opening a door.

He is making a bridge whereby man can come from the kingdom of death and darkness back into the kingdom of light and life. Now in that man exercised his free choice going the one way from death and darkness or to death and darkness from light and life in that he chose by his own will to go that way God has ordained that man also exercise his own will to come into the kingdom of light and life.

And so until you exercise your will and you choose to come by the way of Jesus Christ. But you see, people are trying to make other ways. Now, as long as you're trying to make another way you're still rebelling against God.

Jesus said that the others that have come and tried I am the door, he said to the sheepfold if any man seeks to come any other way he's like a thief and a robber. You're still in rebellion against God's government against God's law and against what God has said is right.

God has said, this is the way Jesus said, I am the way the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. So you must exercise your free will and come by the door that God has made through his Son by the exercise of your free will.

You must choose to come by Jesus Christ back into fellowship with God. So that's what Peter is talking about here. He has called you out of the kingdom of darkness into his marvelous light. Now, as I come through Jesus Christ, what happens?

As I come back into the kingdom of light and life fellowship with God is again restored. And what is the rule of the kingdom? The submission of my life to God. That's what it means to be governed by God.

I have now pledged allegiance to God. I have now yielded my life to the authority of God. I am now a holy nation a chosen race a new creature. I now have access to God. I now have fellowship with God because I've been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and I've come into the kingdom of his marvelous light.

So in times past you were not God's people but you are now the people of God. In times past you had not obtained mercy but now you have obtained mercy. As by the exercise of my free will I've come back into the kingdom of light and life.

I who was once alienated from God and the life of God because of sin and transgression I've now been brought into the glorious life and light of his kingdom. I am now one of his people. He possesses me.

My life is his. I was once in darkness an alien separated. But now God has brought me into the family and made me a part of his kingdom. I was once facing the wrath of God and the judgment of God against my ungodly actions and deeds.

But now through Jesus I've obtained mercy. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. That's what mercy is all about. Justice is getting what you deserve. Mercy is not getting what you deserve. Now I deserve death because I rebelled against God.

I deserve the wrath of God because I was a child of wrath even as others. But having come through Jesus Christ I have now obtained mercy. So mercy being a chosen possessed people of God. A new race a new life access to God being a king and a priest.

All of these things are ours through Jesus Christ. No wonder we go around with a smile on our face. And in that sense as far as the world is concerned we are a peculiar people because you've got to be weird to be happy in this messed up chaotic world.