Let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you to those words that we were considering this
morning in 1st Peter. In 1st Peter chapter 2 and reading
again verses 4, 5 and 6. To whom coming as unto a living
stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and
holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Looking at the verse as I say
this morning but also last Thursday evening and then it followed
on really from what we considered last Lord's Day in the evening
when we took up those words of Paul at the end of verse 15 in
1st Timothy chapter 3. And so over these last three
occasions really we considered something of the Church. Remember
having Timothy Paul speaks of the church as the pillar and
grounds of the truth. And then here we see something
very similar with regards to that church. It is that structure
that's erected, living souls that are built up a spiritual
house, he says. erected upon him who is spoken
of as that living stone, disallowed in deeds of men, but chosen of
gods and precious. We consider then something of
the foundation, the great foundation which is laid in the Lord Jesus
Christ and he is that chief cornerstone. that holds the whole of the building
together with thought then about that that is erected, that great
superstructure and all is clearly the work of God. As we observed this morning from
those words in verse 6 where the apostle quotes from Isaiah
28 and verse 16 The word of the prophet is repeated
then here by the apostle, that word that directs us to what
God himself has done. This is the work of God, is it
not? Behold I lie in Zion a chief
cornerstone elect precious and neither believeth on him shall
not be confounded. We've said much then with regards
to the church as that house of God. And I want us tonight to
move on and to say something with regards to that holy priesthood that is spoken of particularly
here in verse 5 and then repeated again in verse 9. The holy priesthood
and the sacrifices that are made by these priests, their spiritual
sacrifices. He also, as lively stones, are
built of a spiritual house, it says. Not to think in terms of
some physical building then, this is made up of living people,
spiritual people, who are a holy priesthood and they offer up
spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable to God. by Jesus Christ. And then he repeats it again
in verse 9. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvellous light. What are these spiritual
sacrifices in verse 5? Well, he explains himself somewhat
there in verse 9. They are those praises that are
to be rendered to him who was called out of darkness into his
marvellous light. We're going to consider then
something of the ministry of these holy priests. First of
all, I want to say something with regard to spiritual sacrifices. Observe the words again there
in verse 5, and holy priesthood it says to offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Now there were sacrifices in
the Old Testament. There were many sacrifices. You
only have to read through the book of Leviticus, all those
Levitical laws. those multitudes of offerings
and sacrifices that were such an important part of the worship
of God. Firstly in the tabernacle, there
in the court of the tabernacle they were to set up the brazen
altar and there the priests of Aram were to offer sacrifices
daily, morning and evening sacrifices. They were real sacrifices. Blood
was spilled. Without the shedding of blood,
we are told, there is no remission of sins. And remember, writing
to the Hebrews, we see how the Apostle speaks much of those
Levitical sacrifices and the significance of them and what
they are all pointing to. In Hebrews 9 verse 13 he says,
If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God. All those offerings,
those various sacrifices that were to be presented then were
all pointing forward to Christ. In chapter 10 verse 4 he said,
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sin. They were the types, they were
figures of the one who was to come. verse 12 there in Hebrews
10 that this man, he's speaking of Christ this man, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down on the
right hand of God. Remember the witness that his
forerunner John the Baptist made concerning Christ and his ministry,
he is the Lamb of God. What does John say? Behold the
Lamb of God. that taketh away the sin of the
world. Christ is the fulfilment then
of all those Levitical sacrifices. Therefore, as Protestants we
must rightly object to the whole idea of Rome and its doctrine
of the Mass. Because Rome still teaches today
that in Masses there is sacrifice, not bloody sacrifice, blood is
not shed, but there is a literal repetition, they say, of Christ's
sacrifice. It is repeated every time at
Rome's altars. And the whole doctrine, of course,
and all that goes into that teaching, the doctrine of transubstantiation.
Now, that the priest has this mysterious power to actually
change the wafer into the body and blood, the soul and divinity
of Christ. It might still appear to be a
wafer, but really they believe that it has been converted. By
the words of consecration it has become Christ. It's elevated,
it's worshipped. and it's often broken. And of
course the Protestant Church of England in its articles refers
to that in very striking terms. It speaks of masses as blasphemous
fables and dangerous deceits. And together of course with that
doctrine of the mass and the doctrine of a repeated sacrifice
Roland Saint-Germain must also be a particular order of priests.
And so they distinguish the priest from the laity. And those priests
are able to make sacrifices. But what do we see here in the
scriptures? We see that all believers, the
church, the whole church, the house of God, it's made up of
priests. It's the priesthood of all believers,
is it not? When Paul writes to these believers
who are scattered through Agpuntius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and
Bithynia, the election of grace he calls them, he says of them all without any
exception that they are a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, the chosen generation,
the royal priesthood, that holy nation, a peculiar people. It's the priesthood of all believers. And so, what are we to make of
the sacrifices that they make? They're not literal, physical
sacrifices. We're told here that what they
offer is the sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of praise. Look at verse 9. This royal priesthood,
this holy nation, these peculiar people, what do they do? They
show forth the praises. They show forth the praises of
Him who has called them out of darkness into His marvellous
light. They praise God. They worship
God. They thank God. They glorify
God. This is the way in which they
sacrifice. It's a sacrifice of praise. The psalmy says, And
so offereth praise, glorifyeth mine. All friends, as we come
together, this is what we desire to do, to be those priests who
would offer continual that great sacrifice of praise unto our
God. You go and look at those words Hebrews 13.15 by Him is speaking
of Christ by Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise
continually that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to
His name. This is how we worship them,
we come with a sacrifice but it is a spiritual sacrifice,
it is a sacrifice of pride. True worship, you said, is spiritual,
it's a spiritual sacrifice. To offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. we offer through His high priesthood. We come by means of His mediation. All our worship is offered in
His name. We invoke the name of Christ. We seek to worship God in His
Son. Now we need then to know in our
worship something of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. How can our
worship be spiritual worship except we are found in the spirit? That was John's experience when
he was on the Isle of Patmos, as we see in Revelation chapter
1. He was in the spirit on the Lord's day. Or is this our concern
as we come to worship? We need to prepare ourselves
even for the service of corporate worship, do we not? That we might
be found in that spiritual state. that our worship might be truly
spiritual that we might know him who is the spirit of Christ
and so we come you see to offer in his name and all to the honour
and glory of that great name and we need to be very wary then
of that worship that is carnal And much worship, alas, today
is like that. It's man-centred. How many services
in a multitude of churches centre only in man? The great concern
is to make the service pleasing to men, so that they'll feel
happy and content. Burden is not God and the glory
of God. Why, let's make it interesting.
Let's make it interesting to young people, let's introduce
a measure of entertainment. Let's not be so solemn. Let there
be that lightness, you see, so that people will feel more at
ease and more relaxed. It is carnal, I say. Whereas
the true worship that is rendered in the house of God, which is
the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of
the truth, that worship must be spiritual. To offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. They are the principal part.
The principal part of our worship is prayer, is it not? Who do
we come to address? We come to address God. Our praises are addressed to
God. When we speak of prayer we're not just having in mind
those petitions, those requests, those intercessions that we make
as we formally pray to him. All that we're doing is an address
to God, is it not? So all is prayer in that sense.
The psalmist says let my prayer be said before thee as incense
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. In prayer you see there is that
sacrifice. In the Old Testament there wasn't
only the brazen altar where they made sacrifices where the animals
were taken and where the burnt offerings were consumed upon
the altar there was also the golden altar there was that altar
of incense and there is significance in that is it not representative
of the prayers the prayers of the people of God in Revelation
chapter 5 we read something of the worship of heaven the worship
of those who are in the presence of God and the presence of the
Lamb Revelation chapter 5 we read
of the Lamb he came and took the book out of the right hand
of him that sat upon the throne and when he had taken the book
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odours which are the prayers of saints and they sung a new
song saying they were worthy to take the book and to open
the seals thereof for they were slain and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people
and nation and hast made us unto our God kings and priests that
we shall reign on the earth the royal priesthood you see kings
and priests but see what he said here concerning the golden vials
full of odours, which are the prayers, the prayers of the saints. Oh friends, our worship then
is to be spiritual. And how is that spiritual worship
expressed? Sometimes do we not feel it,
friends, that our words fail us, we know not how to express
ourselves. how can we utter words that are
right and acceptable before so great a God. I do like very much
that lovely hymn of Beriges with which we commenced our service
tonight, where he speaks of true worship. It's not just like the
world industry, he simply is concerned with the outside. though
with the true spiritual worshipper it's that that is in when he
comes from his heart. And we have it there in that
last verse of 884, for thee my soul would cry and send a laboring
groan for thee my heart would sigh and make a pensive moan
and each for thee would daily pine and would be always only
thine. This is how we feel we have such
such desires, such earnest desires, such hungerings and thirstings
as we come to worship God. We desire that we might meet
with Him, that He would come and meet with us, and that He
would bless us and feed us by His Spirit in His Word. And words
fail us, you see. So great is that longing that
God puts into the hearts of His children. What is the sacrifice
of God? The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God. Thou wilt not despise. O God grant that we might be
spiritual worshippers of God and that we might come, you see,
with that sacrifice of praise, the sacrifice of praise, thanking
God, glorifying God, concerned primarily for the honour of his
great name. But then with the spiritual worship
and the spiritual sacrifice is not just praise, there is also
here the sacrifice of holiness. What sort of priests are these
priests that worship in the church? Well there in verse 5 we have
mention of unholy priesthood. and holy priesthood. They are holy priests. And again
in verse 9 look at the words, the expressions that we have
and the juxtaposition. A royal priesthood and holy nation. That royal priesthood, those
priestly kings are also holy. A holy nation. Now we are to
come, you see, with that sacrifice of holiness. Again, we see it
even in the Old Testament. Psalm 4 and verse 5 offer the
sacrifices of righteousness. We worship God, you see, by holiness. In the Old Testament, the outward
observance of those Levitical sacrifices,
all that was prescribed under the Levitical law, they were
to attend to those things, they were to constantly offer those
sacrifices, that was what was required of them. But it was
not enough. It was not enough to bring those
various sacrifices that God himself had commanded. There must also
be lives of holy obedience. and see how the prophets so many
times rebuke the people because of that lack of holiness of life
we see for example in the book of the prophet Micah in Micah
chapter 6 Micah chapter 6 and verse 6 Wherewith
shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the High
God? This is what the Prophet is asking
and he is asking this of course as he is ministering to the people.
It is a word of rebuke really. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before
him with burnt offerings? With calves of a year old? Will
the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands
of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath showed the old man what is good. And what doth the Lord
require of thee but to do justly? and to love mercy and to walk
humbly with thy God. God is not disowning the Levitical
sacrifices in this passage, but the Prophet as God's faithful
servant is reminding the people that all of their worship is
as nothing except their lives conform to what they profess
to be the people of God. What does the Lord require? What
does God require of his people to do justly? to love mercy and
to walk humbly with their God. Or we are to bring that sacrifice,
the sacrifice of holiness. Now in Isaiah, both at the beginning
of Isaiah and again at the end of Isaiah, we see the same truth
as we have there in Micah chapter 6. We read of course in the opening
chapter there, Isaiah chapter 1 verse 11 the question is asked
to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me saith
the Lord I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat
of fed beasts and I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of
lambs or of he goats when ye come to appear before me who
has required this of your hand to tread my cross God is rebuking
them, you see. Or they are those, you see, who
can still say, as we read in Jeremiah, the temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, of all the externals,
they are still making their offerings to God. But has God required
this at their hand, he says? No, they are such a sinful people,
they like Sodom, they like Gomorrah, that they are addressed except
the Lord of Hosts has left unto us a very small remnant we should
have been of Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah
Isaiah says in verse 9 and then immediately he speaks to the
nation of Israel as if they are hear the word of the Lord he
says ye rulers of Sodom if ye are unto the Lord of our God
ye people of Gomorrah they are such a wicked people what does
God require of us? 16. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings
from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil, learn to do
well. Seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless,
plead for the widow. These are the things that God
requires, you see. The important thing is that sacrifice of holiness. Now that's how the prophecy begins. and he concludes on the same
note really in the last chapter chapter 66 and verse 2 for all those things
of my hand made and all those things have been saith the Lord
but to this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit and trembleth at my word he that killeth an
ox is as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices a lamb as
if he cut off a dog's neck. He that offereth an oblation
as if he offered swine's blood. He that burneth incense as if
he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own
ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. Oh, what does God look for? We're
to tremble, friends. We're to tremble at His Word.
We are not to be partial in his word. We are not to embrace the
promise and reject the precept. We are to embrace God's word
in its wholeness, the totality of it. And we are to tremble. We are to desire that we might
walk in that part of holy living, the sacrifice. The sacrifice
of holiness and holy priesthood we raise. Now of course we remember
this that the Lord Jesus Christ by his sacrifice has made salvation. We are not suggesting for a moment
that our holy sacrifice, a life given over to God, a life lived
in obedience to God, a life given over to the service of God, that's
not what saves us. What saves us? that Christ only
saves, and it is Christ's great sacrifice that is our salvation. There are many scriptures that
make that so clear, are there not? Look for example at Colossians. In Colossians chapter 1 verse
20 we read, having made peace through the blood of his by him
to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. How are we saved? How are we
presented to God? Saved in Christ, it is His blood,
it is His righteousness to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in His sight. Our salvation is all together
by the grace of God. By grace you say through faith
out of yourselves it is the gift of God. not of works, lest any
man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that
we should walk in them. Salvation is by grace, and if
by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is
no more grace. If it be of works, then is it
no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. In no way are
we saying that the sacrifice of holiness contributes to our
salvation. It does not. It does not. But believers are to manifest
their thanksgiving to God, they are to express their praises
to God by their living, by their holy living. There is for them
a place for the sacrifice of holiness. Verse 9, you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people
that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvellous light. It's so that
we might show forth his praises. That's why God has made his church
that kingdom of priests to show forth his praises. And how do
they do it? They do it by the lives that
they live. Now we have a wonderful example
of that at the end of Philippians. In Philippians chapter 4, remember
how the apostle commends that church because of the way in
which they cared for him and ministered to him. And among
other things he says this, Philippians 4 verse 18, But I have all and
abound, he says, I am full, having received of Apathroditus the
things which were sent of you. They sent you see, to relieve
Paul, to minister to Paul, they sent and they sent by the hand
of this man Apathroditus, who was a minister amongst them.
And here is Paul commending them, All I am fully says, having received
of the paschroditus the things which were sent of you, an odour
of a sweet smell, a sacrifice, acceptable, well-pleasing to
God. All they made a sacrifice, you
see, on behalf of another. They made a sacrifice in order
to minister to the apostles. That's holiness of living, is
it not? when we are prepared to deny ourselves to minister
to others, when we are concerned for the well-being of our fellow
believers, we want to minister to them. Yes, we are saved by
grace, we are saved by the grace of God. And yet what does Paul
say, those verses that we have already made some reference to
in In Ephesians chapter 2, we are His workmanship, he says,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. There are these spiritual sacrifices,
and what are these spiritual sacrifices? There is the sacrifice
of praise, when we come together to worship God. Our worship is
to be spiritual in its nature. It's not a man-centred worship. It's a God-centred worship. It
is honour, it is glory that we're concerned for, and not only a
sacrifice of praise, but also a sacrifice of holiness, that
our lives might conform more and more to the image of the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. who is the great high priest
of our profession, that we might be those who are walking in the
path of obedience to all his holy laws and holy commandments
and then ultimately it's this, is it not? It's a sacrifice of
ourselves. It's a sacrifice of ourselves.
What does Paul say when he comes to the conclusion of his epistle
to the Romans. Remember this great epistle to
the Romans, what doctrine we have. It's the Gospel. The Gospel as it really is. It's
the great truth of justification by faith and the great bulk of
this epistle to the Romans is taken up. with that great cardinal
doctrine of justification. And our justification is altogether
in Christ. When we come to experience it
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are to receive his atonement, we are to see that it is his
righteousness that must be imputed to us, reckoned to our account,
if we are going to stand before God. But then When Paul comes to the end in
chapter 12 he begins to draw some very practical conclusions,
certain practical inferences from what he's been saying and
from chapter 12 through to the end really we have what we might
term the practical part of the epistle. Now what does he say? Chapter 12 begins, I beseech
you therefore brethren by the mercies of God. You observe what
he says, he is drawing a conclusion, he uses the word therefore. This
is what he concludes from all that he has been saying in those
previous chapters. And he comes and he beseeches
them, such is the intensity of his desire in this exhortation,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice. holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that ye might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. All this surely is to be the
burden of these spiritual priests, that they would present themselves
their own bodies as a sacrifice, that they'll deny themselves,
that they'll deny their base lusts, they won't conform to
the pattern of this world, they'll be different to the men and women
about them, they'll be transformed. They know those daily renewings
in their mind, they want to prove moment by moment what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. They present themselves
as that great sacrifice. The sacrifices of God remember
are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, oh God
they will not despise. Oh God grant friends that we
might be such then. it would be these priests, these
spiritual priests, this royal priesthood. And see
how we have various descriptions of the church really, in what
the Apostle Peter is saying here in verse 9, they are not only
a royal priesthood, they are an holy nation. And they are a peculiar people.
They are God's peculiar people. They are God's possession. Why? Because they are a chosen generation.
God set his love upon them. God has marked them out for himself
and God is pleased to take them unto himself. Oh God grant that
we might know then how to conduct ourselves. We come back to what
we were looking at really only last Wednesday evening. Remember
the context. We remarked on the context there
in that third chapter of 1st Timothy. There is Timothy left
at Ephesus and Paul gives direction concerning
things that are to be ordered in the church. What does he say there at the
end of that third chapter? These things I say unto thee,
hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tell you long. that
thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
the ground of the truth. How are we to behave ourselves?
How are we to behave ourselves in the house of God? Well, the
house of God is the house of prayer, is it not? We are to
be a praying people. Isn't that part of our priestly function? The priests would pray and plead
for the people. We are to be a praying people.
We are to be a people then who are true spiritual priests, lively
stones, built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,
the Lord granted for his namesake.