He says in verse 21, and I think that the
biggest part of this second chapter of the book of
1 Peter has to do with certain characteristics that
are becoming to believers It pertains to how they walk
and talk, and their character, and their obedience to the Word,
and so forth. But here he says, "...and to
set forth the Lord Jesus Christ as our example." Nowadays they call
someone a person who is an example, a role model. Well, he is more
than a role model. I mean, he is king of kings,
lord of lords, and some of these things in here he certainly requires. Well, anyhow, verse 21 says,
For even here unto where ye called, called, called by God. Our hearts are so hard by nature
We have hard hearts. And the principle in the hardness
of our heart, that principle of sin hardens our heart, is
so hard that the affections of God and
the thoughts of God is barred from our hearts. Our
hearts are so hard we won't listen to the affections and the thoughts
of God by nature. A man will, a friend, will ask
of us a favor and we'll be quick to accommodate
him. But the call of God and the love
and the mercy of God, our hearts turn a cold shoulder. Our hearts
by nature, are not affected by it. We can take it or leave it,
mostly leave it, what we are by nature. God must call us. He must call
us. It's a call that cannot be resisted.
It's an irresistible call. The hand of God, the hand of
His love falls upon us. And He calls us. He makes us
willing to receive the call, to be obedient to the call, to
make response to the call. He does something for this heart. It's a heart of stone. He makes
it a heart of flesh, a heart to love Him, a heart to respond
to Him. A heart to be quick to find out
what pleases Him. The call of God. For even here unto where ye are
called, this call here is not necessarily the call I'm talking
about, but the life that you live. The example that we have
in the Lord Jesus Christ. See, he says in verse 19, For
this is thank-worthy, if a man for conscience toward
God endure grief and suffer wrongfully. For what glory is it if when
ye be buffeted for your faults, if what takes place in you is
the result of your actions, result of your deeds, what glory is
that? No glory in that. You're getting
what you've got coming to you. You shall take it patiently.
But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is acceptable to God. For
even here unto where you're called, you're called to act like that. Because Christ also suffered
for us. leaving us an example that ye
should follow his steps. Now, remember I told you here
recently that somewhat of Christ's sufferings,
he suffered. But the sufferings of Christ
is a little different than the sufferings that we experience
in a degree. because most of his sufferings
is aimed at his sufferings even under death. Now, a lot of men
suffer. A lot of men die. And a lot of
men can die and do die without the shedding of blood. But he suffered even under death.
He shed his blood. Well, it says that we should
follow His steps. Suffer. If you've got it coming,
take it patiently. If you suffer because you haven't
got it coming, take it patiently. Follow Him nevertheless. Verse 22 says, Who did no sin. He did no sin, but He suffered.
And He suffered even unto death. The only perfect man that ever
walked the face of the earth was God's own dear, blessed Son. All man. Perfect man. Never a wrong thought. Everything that He said, did,
and thought was in conjunction with His union with the Father. I do all things that please Him. And I told you this morning where
God said, This is My beloved Son. Peter, we're tired of listening
to you. This is My beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. He did no sin. No sin in Him. But our sin on
Him. He did no sin. Who did no sin? Neither was deceit found in His
mouth. No guile. No deception. No hypocrisies. Who, when He was reviled, reviled
not again. When He suffered, He threatened
not, but committed Himself to Him, the judges, righteously. Who His own self, His own self,
Himself. Who gave Himself, His own self. There are sins in His own body. That is, our sins by way of transfer
was taken from us and laid on Him. All of our sins laid on
Him. He bore them in His own body.
He bore the punishment that was due our sins. He bore the punishment. Whatever
the punishment was, He bore it. The punishment was death. He
bore our death. He bore our penalty on the tree. So in light of that, that we being dead to sins, He
died to sin by virtue of our union with Him, we died with
Him. That we being dead to sins should
live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye were healed.
For ye were as sheep going astray, keep that in mind, but are now
returned unto the shepherd and the bishop of your souls." Well, we'll consider a few minutes
here this evening, this 1 Peter chapter 2. Here in the, kind of in the middle
of that chapter, the ninth verse, he said, But ye are a chosen
generation. A chosen generation. Ye are believers. Remember I told you that the
biggest part of the The New Testament was written to those that believe. Remember when I said that here
recently? And I took it from a verse of Scripture there in
1 John where it says, These things I write unto them that believe. Remember that? These things I
write unto them that believe. Now who is this letter directed
to? To them that believe. Now those that do not believe
and the majority of the people that are alive on this earth
right now do not believe. Oh, they would fight you if you
told them that they were unbelievers. They would say, I believe in
the cross of Christ as much as you do. But they don't believe
what the cross says. They don't believe in Him, really,
who died on that cross and what He accomplished by and through
His death. They are unbelievers. If we are
believers in Christ, we are believers in the Christ as He is revealed
according to the Scriptures. That's the Christ we believe
in. The Christ according to the Scriptures. A chosen generation. Believers. He's writing to believers. Those
that are unbelievers, they are not prohibited by God from reading
the book. They ought to read it. certainly
get something from it. But in reality, when they read
it, they are opening another man's
letter. Because these words that I am reading to you tonight are
written to a chosen generation, those who are believers. Now they're a chosen generation
and a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. Not a bunch
of ordained Roman Catholic priests that got together and called
themselves a priest. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about the kingdom of God, the family of
God, the family of all believers. Those poor African believers
over there who live in poverty and disease that are believers
in the gospel of a sovereign God, the gospel of a covenant
God. They believe in the God that
we believe in, the Lord Jesus Christ. They are
part of this priesthood, those down in Mexico that we know and
support, those churches Ten or fifteen churches there under
the auspices of Walter and his son Cody. Believers that are gathered in
little old adobe huts, no lights, no running water, no place to
sit. They meet from time to time and
they're not ignorant. from where they came. And they are in the light, and
they worship and praise God. The same God that you and I worship
and praise. And they believe in the same
Jesus according to the Scriptures. And they are chosen. They are
a chosen generation, and they are a royal priesthood. And they
are a holy nation. And they are peculiar people. Because we are identified with
this great, glorious family of the one God, we ought to show
forth the praises of Him who hath called you, called us,
out of darkness into His marvelous light, which in times past, that's us,
That's the chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation,
peculiar people, which in times past they were not a people. They were not a people, but are now the people of God. There was a time when they were
not a people, but now are the people of God. Oh, my soul, what
a privilege, what a glorious privilege that we have that we
are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. The
people of God, the people of God, people all around us, thousands
and thousands and millions, several billion, five or six billion
people on the face of the earth. But we're the people of God.
They're not a people. They've got to be made a people.
And if they're ever made a people, it'll be according to the will
of God. And He'll call them into the
light that they might see light and walk in the light. dearly beloved, which in times past were not
a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy." There was a time when
we were not a people, but now the people of God. There was
a time when we had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
it. We didn't buy it. We didn't buy
it. We didn't conjole God and strike
up a bargain in order to obtain mercy. To obtain mercy is to
be shown mercy, to be given mercy. He's the Father of all mercy.
He's the only one who has any of it. He's rich in mercy. But
God, who is rich in mercy, wherewith He loved us while we were yet
dead in trespasses and in sin. Oh, my soul. Now listen. Well, that's what he says in
that 25th verse, too, I read to you. The last verse I read
of this chapter. For ye were as sheep gone astray. We're a
chosen generation, royal priesthood, holy nation, peculiar people.
We're now the people of God. We have obtained mercy. One time
we was gone astray. We were as sheep going astray.
Sheep doesn't have no shepherd, they just wander anywhere. They
have no leader, they just wander here and wander there. They'll
fall off of cliffs and everything else. They say they're the helpless
and the dumbest animals alive, the sheep. You were sheep going
astray. All we have gone astray, all
of us. But now a return. Who brought
us back? We was going astray, but somehow
we made the turn. Something took place. Something
transpired in our bare souls that turned us, brought us back
into the kingdom, into the shepherd's fold. What did that? Oh, it was
when God dropped and deposited grace and His love in our hearts. softened that heart of stone,
made it His flesh, turned us, give us. We've seen Him. We've seen Him. By, through the
eyes of faith, we've seen God in Christ. We've seen the character
of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ who is the express image
of God. the invisible God in Christ. We see Him. We see His love,
His pity, His mercy, His concern that He sent His own Son, the
Beloved of His own bosom. He sent Him. It says, if He spared
not His own Son, if He loved us, that He sent His Son. My
God, I can't get over that. That's scary, isn't it? God Almighty would send His own
Son! How He loved Him! How He loved
Him! And oh, if there's any agony
in the heart of God! Oh, there must have been agony
and grief when He sent His Son. and his son was despised and
rejected among men. When his son, who was acquainted
with grief, and all put him into the hands of the smiters, subject
of ridicule and mocking him and spitting upon him, I suffered, O my soul, ye were as ye've gone
astray, but now return, return." The Holy Spirit found us in that
awful state out there, and He quickened us, and He gave us
life. He gave us the life of God. He
gave us life! We didn't have life! We had natural
life, but we did not have the life of God in us. We was dead
in trespasses and in sins, and He gave us life. He singled us
out. He saved us on purpose. It wasn't
an accident with God. He who foreknew us, called us,
saved us on purpose. No accidents with God. He intended
to save us. He intended to save us. from eternity past, before time
ever was, before there was ever a star in the sky, before the
sun and the moon, before there was a particle of dust, back
in the aeons of time, God determined to have a people, wrote her names down in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Remember I told you one time
I never knew what my name was until I was 18 years old. That's strange. I lived for 18
years and didn't know what my name was. My right name. Name on my birth certificate.
Name in the courthouse. And I had to write to the courthouse
where I was born. And they sent me the birth certificate
and I found out what my name was. I didn't know, my mother didn't
know, my dad didn't know, but God always knew. God always knew! He wrote my name down in the
Lamb's Book of Life before the world ever would. Not only me,
but all of those who are chosen generation of royal priesthood,
of people. There was a time when there wasn't
a people. They was like sheep going astray, but He returned
them under the shepherd. under the shepherd and the bishop
of our souls. Oh, my soul. Now, in light of
all that, in light of all that, it's good to look back to the
hole of the pit from where we were digging. The sovereign grace of God has
made us royal priests. So let us remember that in past
times we were not royal priests. Let us remember that in times
gone by, in the past, we were not a people, but now we are
the people of God. There was a time when we did
not obtain mercy, but now we have obtained mercy. So, what
I think is being taught here, a multitude of things, but one
thing in particular that my poor little puny mind and brain can
get. So it is very obvious. If I can
see it, it's very obvious. It's this. It's good to remember that in
times past we were not a people, but now we are a people. Now
we've obtained mercy, so it's always profitable by way of expressing
our thanksgiving and our gratitude that we remember what we used
to be before the Lord laid his hand of love upon us. If we're going to express praise
and thanksgiving, this is a good way to express that, is to go
back and to remember that hole, that pit, from which you came,
what you once was. Well, if we did not run to excess
in riot in our outward lives, I said, if we did not, yet some
of us did. There are some that have. They
have run to the excess. They've tried everything. They've
done everything imaginable and things that you can't imagine.
Others were kept from these gross, outward, immoral acts of sin
in their lives. But now, brethren, we have obtained
mercy. We have obtained mercy, and because
we have obtained mercy by remembering, or the mercy is not obtained
by us remembering, but because we have obtained mercy, let us
remember what we were before we obtained mercy, we ought never
to seize our praise unto God that we're the objects of His
mercy. Praise God! Thank you. Well, there's some more things
here. Let me read some more here for
you. Look at that first verse. In
light now, in light of. in light of what I have said,
in light of what he said, in light of what the Scriptures
say. Wherefore, speaking to us, laying aside all malice, laying
aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies,
and all evil speakings, as newborn babies desire the sincere milk
of the Word, that ye may grow thereby. There
is much for us to lay aside." Is that not right? There is much
for us to lay aside! Lay aside all malice! Listen, malice! We, all of us,
are inclined to return evil for evil. Isn't that right? We want
our pound of flesh. Lay it aside. Lay it aside. Oh God, deceit. We're full of deceit. Lay it
aside. Hypocrisies seeming to be what
we are not. Lay it aside. In light, in light
of where you are now. in light of what has taken place. We envy people, don't we? It's very easy for us to envy
another man's wealth, and just as easy to envy his health. How come you don't get sick and
I do? Wish you as strong as you are. Oh, you can afford to go
anywhere you want to. Ah, you've got more money than
you can spend. Ah, how come I don't have that? Tell my wife, oh wife,
so and so is going to do this, buy this, buy that. I wonder
why we don't have that? That's envy. Envy. Lay it aside. That's what he
said, isn't it? Wherefore laying aside, malice,
guile, hypocrisy, and envy. and all evil speaking. Evil speaking! There's people, and all of us,
one time or another, have done it. We're very fond of repeating
stories to the disadvantage of those that the stories are about,
aren't we? We like to talk about others,
their misfortunes, Lay it aside. Lay it aside and light up. Newborn babes. We are newborn
babes. He said, You are born again.
You are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Your desire now is not to be
involved in wealth and health and all these other things, but
desire the undiluted, unadulterated, sincere milk of the Word. Why? That you may grow into a
whole man. And as a whole man, you can be
useful and serve God. Be useful. Serve your generation. We are living in a time When
we need somebody, we need some voice that will be used of God
to serve this generation and tell them the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth. We need that. We need it. Oh, listen. Now, understand this. the religion of the Lord Jesus
Christ does not consist in negatives. Don't do this and don't do that.
It's not just that we are to lay aside, but there is something
that we're to take up. That is, we're to desire the
sincere milk of the Lord. Desire it. I think that's a good evidence
that a man has been translated from the kingdom of darkness
unto the kingdom of God's dear Son, that he desires the truth,
let it fall where it may. He desires the truth concerning
God, concerning his Son, the message, who God is, who the
Lord Jesus Christ is, the office of the Holy Spirit. What's God
trying to do? Is He trying or is He doing those
things? Well, something to take up. We're told that we're born again.
We are to consider ourselves as newborn babies. We're to desire
that sincere milk of the Word that we might grow. But listen
to this. Verse 3, If so. See, now there's them two verses,
and then this third verse says, If so be. If so be that ye have
tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now, the question is, have I
tasted that the Lord is gracious? Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? See? If so be that ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, Then I think that the conjecture here
is this. If you have, prove that you have
by laying these things aside. Huh? Sound reasonable, doesn't
it? If so, be that you've tasted.
Then lay aside, lay aside, put on this, take this up. Eh? Well, what else? Let me continue, I'll just read
it. I don't have to make no comments. I mean, the Scripture speaks
for itself. My comments and what I've got to say about it, it
just darkens the picture, muddies the water. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, that's Christ, a living stone, disallowed indeed of man,
that is, they rejected the stone, These so-called master builders
rejected the chief cornerstone, disallowed indeed of men, but
is chosen of God and precious, the Lord Jesus Christ. If so,
be that ye have tasted the Lord's graces and the Lord's praises. Ye also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, royal priesthood,
holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by our Mediator, the Lord Jesus. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scriptures, Behold, I land Zion a cheap cornerstone, elect
and precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confused
or confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious. But unto them
which be disobedient, that means unto them which rejects the stone,
disallows him. It means them that do not believe.
It means those that are not affected. Their hard, black, nasty heart
is not affected by the thoughts of God's love and mercy. They
don't penetrate. It's like water falling on a
piece of marble. There's no effect. It just hits
and rolls off. To them, he said, the stones
which the builders disallowed, said, that same stone is the
head of the corner, and a stone is stumbling and a rock above
ends. Even to them which stumble afterward, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed, back where I started. But ye
are, ye are, not you hope to be, not you hope to be, not if
you do this and if you do that, but you are a chosen generation. This stand will be dismissed. Alright, thank you.