Let's open our Bibles to Psalm
92, Psalm 92. It is a good thing to give thanks
unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to
show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness
every night. upon an instrument of 10 strings,
and upon the psaltery, upon the harp, and a solemn sound. And thou, Lord, hast made me
glad through thy work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. I want you to think with me as
we read the rest of this psalm about your own old man, your
sinful nature. Because the more I think about
it, the brutish man, the wicked, the enemy of God is really no
difference between our old man and the unbeliever. Our old man's
never believed anything and he remains as sinful as he's always
been. And so, A brutish man knoweth not, neither doth the fool understand
this. When the wicked spring as the
grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, it is
that they shall be destroyed forever. That old man's gonna
die. He's gonna return to where he
came from. But thou, Lord, art most high
forevermore. For lo, thine enemies, O Lord,
for lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall
be scattered. But my horn shalt thou exalt
like the horn of the unicorn. I shall be anointed with fresh
oil. Mine eyes also shall see my desire
on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked
that raise up against me. Every child of God Looks forward
to that day when they'll know sin no more. The righteous shall flourish
like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in
Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit and old age. They shall be fat
and flourishing. to show that the Lord is upright,
he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Our dear friend and brother,
D. Parks, has had this experience. No longer does he need hope.
His hope is his experience. He no longer needs faith. His
faith is his sight as of Yesterday evening, the Lord took him home
to be with him. And the Lord has given his family
members great hope and grace to trust him in this time of loss. So I want us to pray for Moose,
and Sandy in particular, and Christy, and the kids. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, we're so very thankful that you have given us a sure
hope. You've given us your promises
and your word. And we know, Lord, that you are
always faithful and you are always true. and you're always sufficient
for every need. Lord, thank you for being able
to rejoice with our brother who is now in thy presence and no
longer troubled with the old man, the flesh, and this world
and sin. Lord, we pray for his for his
family and ask Lord that you would continue to give them grace
and strength and hope. And thank you Lord for the testimony
that they are expressing even now. Lord, thank you for your
word and pray that you would reveal Christ to us afresh tonight. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 488, 488 from the hardback
teminal. Let's stand together again. ? I will sing of my Redeemer ?
? And His wondrous love to me ? ? All of the cruel cross He
suffered ? ? From the curse to set me free ? ? Singing, oh,
sing of my Redeemer ? His blood, He purchased me. On the cross, He sealed my pardon. In the depths, I laid I will sell the wondrous story
of my lost estate to save. In His boundless love and mercy
be the ransom freely gave. Sing, oh sing, O my Redeemer,
sing, oh sing, Redeemer, He purchased me. He purchased me. He sealed my pardon. Yes, He
sealed my pardon. And made you free. And made me
free. I will sing, my dear Redeemer,
in His triumphant ? All over sin and death have fell
? Sing, oh sing of my Redeemer ? Of my Redeemer ? He purchased me ? He purchased me ? He sealed
my pardon ? He sealed my pardon ? I will sing of my Redeemer ?
? And His heavenly love to me ? ? He from death to life hath
brought me ? ? Son of God, with Him to be ? ? Sing, oh sing of
my Redeemer ? ? With His blood, He merges me ? On the cross,
He sealed my pardon ? Paid the debt and made me free Please
be seated. Let's open our Bibles together
to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. We're going to be looking at
verse 10 tonight. Verse 10. I've titled this message,
From Strangers to Children. We come into this world estranged
from God because of our fallen state and our father Adam. And
it is the Lord that makes us to differ. It is the Lord that
translates us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of his light and adopts us into his very family and makes us
to be the children of God. And that's what our Lord is reminding
us of here in verse 10 when he says, which in time past were
not a people. but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. The shadows and types in the
Old Testament are given substance and meaning in the New Testament
as they are fulfilled in Christ. If you remember from the beginning
of our study in 1 Peter, Peter is addressing Jews that have
been forced out of Jerusalem because of their belief in Christ. Persecution broke out against
the church and the church was scattered and those early Jews
lost their jobs, they lost their families, they were cut off from
their society and they went to lots of different places and
now Notice back with me, go back to the very first verse of 1
Peter 1. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father. So these were Jews that grew up with the law and with
the scriptures, and they knew the scriptures. And yet, the
Lord is saying to them, in time past, you weren't the people
of God. You thought you might have been
the people of God, but you weren't. You were under the law, and you
didn't know God. You were strangers to to the
Lord and now he has shown mercy and he has made you his children. In verse 9 of this same passage
when he speaks of the church as being a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, as we saw
over the last four Wednesday nights, these are all references
to the scriptures in the Old Testament and how they have been
fulfilled now in Christ. In order that you might show
forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into
his marvelous light. So the Lord is reminding these
Jews who now know God that they were They were ignorant of the
truth of the gospel. They didn't know the Lord. They
were under the law. And now they're able to show
forth the praises of him who called them out of darkness into
his marvelous light. And though they weren't a people
before, now they are a people. And though they knew nothing
of God's mercy, now they do know God's mercy. Turn back with me to Hebrews
chapter one. Hebrews chapter one. Beginning at verse one. God who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto
the fathers by the prophets. Now that's how the Lord is addressing
these dispersed Jews in times past. You weren't a people. in
times past, you didn't know the mercy of God. Even though God
in time past had spoken the truth to our fathers by the prophets,
he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world. All of these types and shadows,
all of these veiled revelations, if you will, of Christ in the
Old Testament were fulfilled in the substance and in the person
and in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. And then he tells
us who Christ is in verse three. Who being the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high." You now have an advocate with the Father. You may have
known some things about God. You may have grown up under Judaism. You may have read the scriptures
But in past times, in past times you were not a people. Now, this passage is again a direct fulfillment of a prophecy that
was made in the Old Testament. And that prophecy is found in
the book of Hosea. And before we look at that prophecy,
I want to say that God's elect have always been his. They've
always belonged to him and he's always known them even before
they knew him. But what Peter's talking about
here is, is knowing God. You were not a people. Now you
are a people. You had not known mercy until
you experienced mercy in the new birth and now you know mercy.
Now you know something of the mercy of God and the forgiveness
of your sin. Turn back with me to the book
of Hosea. This verse that we're looking
at in first Peter, is a direct quote from a prophecy
that the Lord made in the book of Hosea as to what the Lord
Jesus Christ would do in redeeming his people. You remember Hosea,
whose name translated means salvation, and Gomer, whose name translated
means complete. A glorious picture of Christ
and his church. We are complete in him. In him
is the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in
him. The only hope that Gomer had
of being made complete was for Hosea to redeem her, for Hosea
to go and purchase her and make her his own. And where did he
get it from? He got it from the slave market.
She had been, she had played the harlot the scripture says
and she'd had many lovers. Is that not what we do every
time we look away from Christ? Do we not commit spiritual harlotry? Do we not choose another husband
over the one who loves us? I love what the scripture says
in the book of Hosea that Gomer would go out her door and find
gifts on her front porch and she thought that her lovers had
left them and it was Hosea that was leaving them. Hosea was just
waiting for her to end up ruined. He was waiting for her to end
up desperate and in need and he continued to provide for her.
until that's where she ended up, on the slave block. And he
went and bought her for 15 shekels of silver, half the cost of a
slave. Well, in chapter 2, or chapter
1 of Hosea, Gomer gives birth to three children.
She gives birth to a son first and his name is Jezreel. And Jezreel translated means
son of God and Jezreel in this story of the book of Hosea is
a picture of our Lord winning the battle and putting away our
sin by the sacrifice of himself on Calvary's cross. That's what
Jezreel is a picture of. You remember when in the book
of Judges In Judges chapter 6 and 7, when the Lord raised up Gideon,
the scripture says that the Midianites and the Amalekites had amassed
themselves in a great valley that was a very large army. And the Lord told Gideon that
he was going to use him to defeat the Midianites and the Amalekites. And so Gideon puts together an
army and has, I think he had 30,000 men to start with, and
the Lord told him to tell the men, if any of them were afraid,
to go home. And 20,000 of them went home, and he ended up with
10,000. And then the Lord said, take those 10,000 down to the
river. And it ended up, Gideon ended up with 300 men. And those
men went against the Medianites and the Amalekites. And they
didn't raise a sword. They remember they had the torches
and the broken pots and they cried out. A picture of the preaching
of the gospel destroying the enemies of God. And that all
happened in the Valley of Jezreel. It all happened in the Valley
of Jezreel. And so when Gomer gives birth to a son by the name
of Jezreel. I want you to see in the story
of Hosea that it pictures the Lord Jesus Christ who was sown
of God for the purpose of destroying his enemies and saving his people,
which all happened in Jezreel. Now, after Gomer gives birth
to Jezreel, she then gives birth to a daughter, and the daughter's
name is Lo-Ruhamah, which translated means has not obtained mercy. Now, the Lord is saying to the
children of Israel, you have not obtained mercy because you
have played the harlot. You've turned away from your
God and you've worshipped false gods. And then Gomer gives birth
to one more child and that child is a son and his name is Loemi
and his name translated means not a people. So that all happens
in the first few verses of Hosea chapter 1. Now look at verse
10. Yet, yet, in spite of the fact
that Gomer has played the harlot, in spite of the fact that God
has said to Israel, represented by Gomer, you are no longer a
people, and you have not obtained mercy, yet the number of the
children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot
be measured nor numbered. and it shall come to pass that
in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people,
there it shall be said unto them, you are the sons of the living
God. Then shall the children of Judah
and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint
themselves one head." Well, we know who that is. So the Lord
is talking about in spite of the fact that Israel as a nation,
has been cut off, they have no mercy, they're no longer God's
people, yet the Lord's gonna raise up a remnant. And they shall have one head
and they shall come up out of the land for great shall be the
day of Jezreel. So what Peter is saying is, You
are the fulfillment of this prophecy that God made to Israel 400 years
ago. You are that remnant. You are
the ones who were not a people, but now God has made them to
be a people. You are the ones who are represented
by these children that Gomer gave birth to, who had no mercy. But because her firstborn, was
Jezreel. And because of the battle that
the Lord Jesus Christ won on Calvary's cross in defeating
his enemy and putting away the sins of his people, you now,
who were not a people, are a people. And you now, who had not known
mercy, have seen mercy. And that's evident in the very
first verse of the next chapter. Look at chapter two at verse
one. Say ye unto your brethren, not lo am I, which translated
means not obtained or not my people, but rather am I, which
is my people. So say unto your brethren, am
I, and to your sister, not lo-ru-ha-ma, which is translated not obtained
mercy, but rather ru-ha-ma, which has obtained mercy. So Peter
is reaching back to the story of Gomer and Hosea. And the Holy
Spirit is saying to these dispersed Jews, Though you grew up in Judaism,
you weren't the people of God. You were under the bondage of
the law. You were still lost in your sins. You didn't know
God. You were practicing all these rituals and ceremonies.
But now, in fulfillment of what God told Hosea, and as a result
of what Jezreel accomplished, he has saved a remnant, and he
has made you to be his people. And he has made you who did not
know mercy to know mercy. Paul in Romans chapter, turn
with me to Romans chapter nine, this same prophecy from Hosea
is quoted in Romans chapter nine. We'll begin reading in verse
21. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? Is
salvation not of the Lord? Is it not the Lord that made
you to differ? Is it not the Lord that took
the lump of humanity, those Those who did not know God, those who
did not have mercy, those who were not a people and say for
himself a particular people, he's the potter and we're the
clay. What if God? Verse 22, willing
to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with
much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for or to destruction. We look as the people of God
who have obtained mercy by God's grace through the battle of the
Valley of Jezreel. We know that but for the grace
of God, we would be just like everybody else. We wouldn't be
the people of God. We came into this world strangers
to God. We didn't have any interest in
God. We didn't have any ability to know God. When that thief
was dying on the cross and he said, Lord, remember me when
you come into your kingdom, that thief represents God's elect.
Who made him to differ? Why did he have a change of heart?
They were both cursing Christ. Why did one have a change of
heart? God changed his heart. But in God changing his heart,
he knew that there was no way he could save himself. He knew
that he had nothing to offer. He knew, Lord, if you don't remember
me, I won't be saved. The only hope that I have to
be saved is that you would remember me. Brethren, one of the evidences
of those who had no mercy and now have mercy is that they are
mercy beggars. They see their need. They know
that If the Lord's not pleased to
show mercy on me, I have no way. I have nothing else, nothing
else other than the mercy of God. Here's the good news. Our God delights in showing mercy
and he's had mercy on the people. And even as I use that term mercy
beggars, I want to be careful that we don't make our begging
for mercy a work. You know, we make it into something
like penance, you know, where we just, you know, if we beg
hard enough, maybe God will have mercy on us. No, what I'm saying
is that if you've been shown mercy, you know that mercy is
the only reason why you're saved. Verse 23. and that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which
he had afore prepared unto glory even us, whom he hath called
not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." God made us
to differ. God had a people. That's what
the Lord's saying with Peter in 1 Peter chapter 2. He said,
you weren't a people, but now God has made you a people. You
went from being at enmity with God and being strangers with
God to becoming his children. You didn't know anything of mercy.
You didn't see your need for mercy. You thought that you could
produce something that would obligate God to save you. And
now you know that the only hope of your salvation is God's mercy. And the only reason that he would
choose you is his sovereign grace. And here's the verse, look at
verse 25. This is the context of this passage
from Hosea. This is the same prophecy that
Peter is referring to that we just read in the book of Hosea
with Gomer. As he saith also in Hosea, I
will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved
which were not beloved. And it shall come to pass in
the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people,
there shall they be called the children of the living God. So that prophecy given through
the prophet Hosea. You know, Hosea was one of the
last of the Old Testament prophets. And for the next 400 years, God
left Israel to themselves. There wasn't a prophet, wasn't
a word from God. They went about their religious
rituals thinking that they were the people of God, that they
were the children of God and when those Jews told our Lord,
well we're the children of Abraham, what did the Lord say to them?
He said, God can raise up children of Abraham out of these stones.
You know that's exactly what he's done. He's taken people who by nature
have hearts of stone, and he's taken out their heart of stone
and put in a heart of flesh. And those who were not his people,
he has made them to be his people. And those who knew nothing of
mercy. And these Jews that Peter's writing to, in spite of all of
their religious activity, now, now, The One who has come and given
substance and light and life to all those Old Testament prophecies
has shown them mercy. And as a result of them knowing
His mercy, they're now in trouble in this world. They're not. They're not being celebrated
by their, I mean, they've lost their jobs. They've lost their
families. They've been run out of town. They've been forced
to live in places among the Gentiles where they're strangers and pilgrims
in a foreign land. But they are now the children
of God. They are now. Beneficiaries of His mercy and
of His grace. It's been said, I'm not what I wanna be, and
I'm not what I'm gonna be, but thank God I'm not what I was.
I was a stranger to the Commonwealth of Israel. I was dead in my trespasses
and sins. I was unable to believe God. I didn't know God. I was without
God and without hope in this world. I was separated from the
Commonwealth of Israel. There was a way that seemed right
unto me and I did not know that that way led to death. I was one of those wandering
lost sheep, going my own way. And the Lord left the 99 and
came out in the wilderness and he found me and he showed mercy
upon me and he made one who was not a people and one who did
not know mercy to be the children of God and to receive his mercy. We had no peace, not with God. We had no real comfort. We had
no confidence of our salvation. That's what the Lord's saying.
That's what he said to, that's what Hosea said. That's the prophecy. Her firstborn, his name is Jezreel. And there's gonna be a great
battle in a valley. where the enemies of God are
gonna be killed. They're all gonna be destroyed. The light's
gonna shine forth from these earthen vessels. You remember
Gideon had the light inside of an earthen vessel and they broke
the vessels and the light shined forth and they all hollered at
the same time. What is that? That's a picture
of what we're doing right now. We're preaching the gospel. And
it's being preached through a broken vessel. Two broken vessels. that the light might shine forth,
that those who were not a people would become the children of
God, and those who had not known mercy would receive mercy. We deceived ourselves like these
Jews in believing that our law-keeping would somehow result in our salvation
and now we're like that thief on the cross. Lord, I'm completely
dependent upon you to have mercy upon me. We were self-righteous,
ignorant of the righteousness of God, didn't know anything
about grace, didn't know anything about Christ, didn't know anything
about the hope of salvation in him. The wild beast of sin and this
world ravished our souls without any protection, without any hope,
without any light, without any truth. And you who are not a people
are now the people of God. You who knew nothing about mercy
now has made you. to be blessed with his mercy.
Oh, who made thee to differ? You know who made you to be different.
What have you received that was not given to you? A man can receive
nothing except to be given to him from God. Who gave you ears
to hear? Who gave you eyes to see? Who
gave you a heart to believe? Who gave you an interest in the
things of God and the ability to, to hope in Christ. Who did that? We didn't do it. We didn't just decide one day
that we're gonna, we're gonna believe God. A dead man can't believe. Where'd
that faith come from? Came from the Lord. And had he
not given it to us, we would remain not a people. We'd remain
like if he didn't choose out a remnant. If he didn't cause us to say
with that leper, Lord, I know that thou can save me. Thou can't
make me whole, if thou will. before having any understanding
of mercy. We thought, well, God's willing
to save me, and I'll do what needs to be done so that he can
save me. And how blasphemous we know that
was now. Completely at thy mercy. You're there in 1 Peter. Turn
over with me just a page to 1 Peter chapter five. 1 Peter chapter five. And look with me at verse six.
Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time. casting all your care upon
him, for he careth for you. Oh, he's full of long-suffering,
he's full of mercy, he's full of kindness, he's satisfied his
justice, Jezreel took care of that, and he took these two children, who represent us in our fallen
state, not a people, not mercy. And he said, you are now. Let's
go back and read our text one more time. Verse 10, which in time past
were not a people. And someone hears us speak like this, and
they say, well, I've always, always been a child of God. No,
you haven't. No. Which in time past were not a
people, but are now the people of God, and which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Oh, what a gracious God we serve. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, thank you for taking us from the very fires of hell, breaking down the gates of hell
and coming in delivering those who were captive
to their sin and to their unbelief and making them your people,
making them, Lord, your recipients of your mercy. Lord, how glad we are that you
are a God of mercy and how dependent we are on your mercy. We pray
that you would Cause us, Lord, to be mindful of your grace and
that we would be enabled by your spirit to rejoice and to believe
on Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number nine in the spiral hymnal,
let's stand together, number nine. ? It is not that I did choose thee
? ? For, Lord, that would not be ? ? This heart would still
refuse thee ? ? Hast thou not chosen me? ? ? Thou from the
sin that stained me ? ? Hast cleansed and set me free ? ?
Of old thou hast ordained me ? ? That I should live to thee
? ? Your love had no beginning ? ? No cause in me was found
? ? That you should choose to save me ? ? A sinner strongly
bound ? But grace not earned or sought
for, Was purpose for my soul. For me salvation brought, For
Christ laid a dreadful toll. The Sovereign Mercy called me,
And taught my hoping mind, The world panels and throngs me to
heavenly glories' light. My heart longs not before Thee,
for Thy rich grace I thirst, this knowing in my heart.