But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
18 sermons cite this verse
… this month is focused on, identity. And so I want to go to 1 Peter chapter 2 and look at one verse, verse 9. And from the NIV version, it reads this way. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And I want to talk from the subject this morning. Who told you that? Who, who told you that? Let's pray. Father, we thank you and we honor you for this day. God, I don't take it lightly that I'm able to stand behind this sacred guest desk to proclaim your word. Now, God, hide me behind the cross. Remove Nerissa today that they don't see or hear me, but God, they see the God that lives within me. God, make my words your words. make my thoughts your thoughts make my actions your actions that someone would hear your word and come running asking what must I do to be saved now God remove me out the way we plead the blood of Jesus God we pray that your people are edified that God you would be glorified and that the devil would be horrified in Jesus name we all said amen and amen please be seated in the presence of almighty God. Who told you that? Who told you that? For people that really know me, I mean really know me, I'm a big kid at heart. That's probably why I'm the children's …
Well, really you are. Because 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 9 says, when you come to Christ, you are part of a royal priesthood. We don't go to a priest. We go to our high priest, Jesus Christ. And he says to every man in this room, you are the priest of your family. And every single mother, you are the priest of your family. And every person of faith, whether your children are serving the Lord or not, you grandparents, you are the priest of that home. And God says, your family, because of your covenant with me, is not like other families in my eyes. There is an anointing on my family. Hallelujah. There is a blessing on my family. There is a covering over my family. We're not perfect. We never will be perfect. But he's perfect. The Lamb of God is perfect. His blood is perfect and his word is perfect. And he said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. …
… Worthy is the Lamb of God. First Peter chapter two and verse nine said, you are a chosen generation. And if you're a generation, you're supposed to generate something. You're supposed to just sit back and take your daddy's stuff and your grandpa's stuff. You're supposed to keep generating. And you can't take their faith either. And you can't take their praise. So if you're a young person, you need to get crazy about your praise. And say, I don't care what nobody thinks. I'm going to praise the Lord. And if they can go crazy at concerts, I can go crazy for Jesus. But you are a chosen generation. You are a chosen generation. When they were in the sandbox, and they said, who wants to play? And everybody raised their hand. All the little kids raised their hand. And the biggest guy, the best player, gets to choose who he wants on his team. I take you. I don't want you. I had that feeling. Many times I take you, I take you. …
… 1 Peter 2 says that we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He calls us a new creation, a new people. So here in this passage, James is addressing the fact that you are born again by the will of God. And he demonstrated that will when he spoke life into you, and that life is the testimony that you are part of a whole new creation, a new race, a new chosen people. That's literally what the Bible teaches, as strange as it may sound. This kingdom that we are part of just works differently. I should have it down by now, but I don't. I'm constantly surprised by how different his thinking is to mine. he actually thinks this way that you live by dying I mean, he didn't like make it up to challenge our thinking. He actually thinks that way. He actually thinks that by humbling ourself is how we're exalted. …
… It is the glory of the church to exist and to have the mission to show that God is supremely glorious, above all created glory. First Peter 2 9, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that purpose, that you may proclaim the excellencies, God, the glory of God, the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's why the church exists. That's the glory of the church to make the excellencies of God known. Like the glory, for example, of his wisdom in Ephesians 3.10. through the church, the manifold wisdom of God will be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Your church exists to show the wisdom of God to angels, including fallen angels. But just as with Israel, the ultimate goal is not just the glory of God in general, it is the apex of his glory. Again, last night's portrayal of that moment. The apex of God's glory is the glory of his grace in the work of Christ. …
… This is how the reading ends. for today. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. I don't know any better description of the church anywhere in the Bible. We talk about the baptized as priest, prophet, and king. Well, listen, you're a royal priesthood, priest and king. King, you order and govern. Priest, you perform a sacrifice that reconciles. Every baptized person does those. And then how about prophet? Prophet speaks God's word, that you might announce the praises of him who's called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. What do we do as members of the church? We tell the world, we prophesize, we speak the divine word to draw people into a relationship with the Lord. There it is. we're the temple, we're the temple, the place of right praise. All right, so reading one, the priests, reading two, the church is being built up on the cornerstone of Christ into a edifice of living stones. Now, the gospel. Jesus, now the night before he dies, addressing his disciples in this extraordinary speech that he gives. Jesus says, Do not let your hearts be troubled, but have faith in God and faith also in me. …
… Amen. look in the mirror yes take a selfie yes they're you first peter 2 9 you are a chosen race and a royal what 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. Are you seeing this? If you are a follower of Jesus, you are now the priesthood. Think about what this means. This means you, and this isn't just leaders in the church, this is every follower of Jesus, you have the high and holy calling and honor and privilege to dwell in the presence of God himself. To live in the presence of God, to walk with God, to live in worship. Your life is now the incense that's being offered before God all day long from when you wake up to go to bed and all throughout the night and wake up and do it again in the morning. You live dwelling in the presence of God and not just so you can experience what it's like to be in his presence, but so that you, that's what the priest did, can lead others into the life that's found in the presence of God. …
… an individual can i heard somebody say recently an individual can disciple an individual but only a nation can disciple a nation god calls us a holy nation first peter 2 9 a holy the church is a holy nation a holy nation to have the capacity to disciple nations means we have to know what we're doing number one there's got to be a sense of unity and sense of divine purpose there has to be this collective, it's called unity of the faith in Ephesians 4. That group of people can actually help to disciple nations into their purpose and destiny. he says in verse 20 teaching them to observe all things i've commanded you what does that mean all right the original 11 what did jesus teach them Matthew 10 verse 8 Heal the sick He didn't say pray for the sick He said cleanse lepers That which defiles and separates People from one another raise the dead cast out demons every single believer has been given an authority to carry out this mission to leave it for those who stand behind pulpits is actually to weaken the actual effect of the pulpit it's in our corporate yes that everything grows together And he says, teach them to observe. …
… would you please read them out loud? You are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. At one time you were not a people, but now you are God's people. And in the past you had never received mercy, but now you have received God's mercy. Dear friends, you're like foreigners and strangers in this world. I beg you to avoid the evil things your bodies want to do that fight against your soul, people who do not believe are living all around you and might say that you are doing wrong. Live such good lives that they will see the good things you do and will give glory to God on the day when Christ comes again. chosen to tell. Not only is that the title of this message is truly the theme of our lives, we have been chosen to speak, to be an ambassador on behalf of God. …
… but that's not my job pastor you're the priest the minister that's your job fair but according to the good book it is your job peter reminds us of this when he writes in first peter 2 9 but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. You are a part of God's priesthood. You are a part of God's healing of this world. You are tasked with asking God to spare those people. Again, you know who those people are. They're the ones you seriously don't like. They are the ones who make this world worse than people like maybe you would. And you are tasked with beseeching God to spare them rather than destroy them. remember you are dust and to dust you will return repent and believe in the gospel this is a phrase that is often said during the imposition of the ashes and that other person if they are here or at another church will hear the same thing the ashes connect us all to one another. …
… are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, 1 Peter 2.9, which means as a world Christian you are more significantly united to believers in Russia than unbelievers in America. You are more significantly united to believers in Gaza, Palestinian believers, than Americans who are unbelievers. That's what it means to be a world Christian. Are you a Christian? That's the question. If you are, you're so united far more to believers in all the peoples than you are to unbelievers in this culture and this nation. The global church is a holy nation, which means that we are sojourners and exiles in every nation. on the planet. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our Constitution is the Bible. Our King is Jesus. Our homeland is the heavenly Jerusalem, and our mission has no borders. That's what it means to be a world Christian. What makes you tick? The people of God, the plan of God, the work of God, the mission of God, or some other allegiance. …
… And I'm done. but you are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Amen. Somebody ought to praise him, because he brought you out of darkness. Somebody say I was in darkness, but he brought me out of my darkness. He brought me out of my shameful condition. He brought me out of my jacked up situation. He brought me out of my way with lifestyle. He opened my eyes. Somebody said he delivered me from drugs. Somebody else says he delivered me from immorality. Somebody else says he did deliver me when I was in darkness. He brought me into his marvelous light. Thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I was in darkness. Some of y'all was in darkness and didn't even know you were in darkness. You didn't know how dark it was until he turned the light on. You saw how jacked up your life was. …
… First Peter 2, 9 says this, but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession. Maybe that's a word for you today. You know you're God's special possession? You're God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. Ephesians 2.10 says it like this, for we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I got to know whose I am. I got to know I belong to God to be able to walk in the calling that he has for me. Amen. Come on, let's clap and thank the Lord for everything that he's spoken to us. So first I got to know whose I am, but then I got to realize, I got to realize to be able to discover my purpose, what opens that door is obedience. Obedience is the door to clarity. It is the door to which God speaks to you and identifies those things that he has called you to in your life. He says here in verse seven, go, he told him, wash in the pool of Siloam. …
… And in doing so at the cross, he purchased a people whose reason for being is this. You are a chosen people, a possession of his own. That you may declare, proclaim, show the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Jesus bought a people at the cost of his life so that they would make much of him. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Bear much fruit that your Father may be glorified. You were bought with a price. Glorify God in your body. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. I don't think there's any question from cover to cover that the dominant way that the Bible talks about the purpose of God in providence, in salvation, in creation, in redemption, in consummation, is that he aims for his glory to be known and loved and praised. …
… One more Scripture just to illustrate the familiarity that the text of Scripture has with this idea, 1 Peter 2.9, "'You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. This is the contrast that's so familiar in the New Testament. Now darkness represents, I think, four things. If you understand these four, you'll sort of understand the range of the expression of this term darkness. It represents depravity. It describes the human condition in sin. Not only does it represent depravity, but it represents deception. It speaks of the darkness of the mind, darkened in their understanding, as it says back in chapter 4, verse 18, or blinded in their soul, as it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. So darkness is associated with depravity, and it is associated also with deception. Thirdly, it is clearly associated with death. The profound darkness of death defines the spiritual condition of non-believing people, people outside the kingdom of God. …
Go to verse 9. You are now a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You put God on display. The glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ is now shining through us. You were once not a people, now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers, abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the things in which they slander you as evildoers, they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." So we now have the capacity and the command to live to the glory of God. We have been transformed to that reality. Peter says more in 2 Peter chapter 1. …
… where it says in verse 9, he says, 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. Earlier in verse 4, he says, You come to him, 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. I want you to understand these pictures that Peter is using here. And Paul says the same thing in the book of Ephesians. But here he's saying you're like a stone. Okay, picture yourself as one stone. This is the way God wanted it. You are one living stone. And the purpose of you is not just to be this rock out there on your own. …
… If you're his work of art, if you're his house, you're his holy possession. In 1 Peter 2, verse 9, it says, we are his purchased possession. You are a royal priesthood, the purchased possession. I know a child who, in spite of the fact that he had all sorts of other toys and all sorts of other possessions, got attached to a doll. Got attached to a doll. And this doll was his treasure. This doll was his precious, which meant that there was nothing more important than this doll. He would, you know, if he couldn't take a doll or if he forgot his doll, he'd go back, he'd miss a trip. He'd sing over it at night. It was his precious. It was his treasure. Nothing was more important to him than that. and he lavished himself on it. Well, when you're five years old, there's not a lot to lavish. I mean, there's not a lot you have, but he lavished his whole five-year-old set of resources on the doll. …