Thank you, John and Jeanette. Thank you for your service to
this church and God's kingdom. 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter 2,
read with me verses 7 through 10. What verses these are, what
truth, what mercy, what grace, great grace of our God, written
to his people, his chosen people, those who believe. Read it with
me, verse 7, 1 Peter 2, 7, unto you therefore which believe he
is precious, rare, valuable, wonderful. 1 Peter 2, 7, unto
you which believe. Do you believe? Have you obtained
like precious faith with us? I believe I have. Is not Christ,
is not the gospel precious? An honor, the margin says an
honor, is it not an honor to be here? Is it not a high calling,
a heavenly calling, a blessed calling, a privilege, an undeserved
privilege? Is it not joy and rejoicing? Is not Christ precious? His blood, and unto them which
be disobedient and reject the truth. Stone which the builders
disallowed. The same has made the head of
the corner. He's a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. Oh, Jesus
Christ is the foundation stone, the cheap cornerstone, the rock
upon which God's people stand. Do you? I do. All my hope is
built on Jesus' blood and righteousness. How about you? Dare not trust
the sweetest frame, I wholly and completely lean on the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Christ of solid rock. We sing
that song so much. We've sung that song 4,552 times
in the last five years and never tire of it. Standing on the rock. Everything, if men only knew,
this whole universe rests on him. He undergirds it all. He's
the Lord of it all. Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, sovereign,
unchanging rock, eternal, reigning, ruling Lord over all. The world
rejects Him. But there He sits. The world
stumbles at the truth. Verse 8, the stone of stumbling,
a rock of offense. The world stumbles at the truth,
but the truth still stands. Mankind is offended. A rock of
offense. Mankind is offended. about a
God who is God, holy, just, and sovereign. But He is. Christ
who said, fall on me and you'll be broken, but if I fall on you,
I'll grind you to powder. Man doesn't believe Jesus Christ
like that. But there He is. The world says
He's just Jesus. He's just Jesus, meek and wild.
He wants and wishes and hopes and loves all and you let him
be your Lord. No, no, no, no, no, no. There
he sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, reigning
and ruling, and everybody and everything is in his sovereign
power to do with as he pleases. Nobody lets him do anything.
He's the one letting everybody else do everything. There he
is. Is that rock? There he sits. These rebels, he says, are disobedient. Disobedient rebels, that's a
rebel, a child of wrath. Disobedient, disrespectful, dishonor
their God whom they call their father. They disobey and dishonor,
they're disrespectful to Him. They don't fear Him, God and
Creator, Lord and only Savior. It says they're appointed vessels
of wrath fit for destruction. That's what Romans 9 says. People
say, I don't believe that. I do, and there it is. Don't
explain it. Don't have to. Appoint it. Now here's the gospel. Here's
the good news. Here's the amazing and marvelous
thing. We believe. We really do. He's not a stone
of stumbling at all. No, He's our rock that we fall
on, that we're founded on, that we're grounded on, that we believe
on, that we hope in. He's not offensive at all. No,
no, He's our salvation. He is. Here's the gospel. That
was you, you, and you, who were sometime disobedient, children
of wrath, even as others. But God, What? Chosen. That's where the next
verse starts. You're a chosen generation. There you go again, preach your
lecture. That's right. Because that's where it all started. That's where God's purpose of
salvation, that's where everything started. It was with God's sovereign
decree of choosing a people and giving them to Jesus Christ before
they were born. before the world began. And their
names were written and put in the Lamb's Book of Life for Christ
to come down here and pay that precious price of His blood.
They all know it. They all know that. In time,
they know that, that God chose them and God chose Christ to
be their Savior. And Christ came, didn't try to
save them, He saved them. There he sits. You're a chosen
generation. A chosen generation. And verse
9 says, To show forth his praise, the praises of him, who hath
called you out of darkness, you who were blind, even as others,
into his marvelous light. To show forth the praises of
him. Wrong with Ephesians 1. It begins with election, doesn't
it? Chosen generation. Go there. You'd like to turn
there again? Sure you would. Ephesians 1. Go back there. Ephesians
1. This is where it all began. God's choice. God's sovereign
electing grace. I'm not offending a doctrine,
people. We're not just harping on a doctrine
here. We're glorifying God. We're trying
to declare the God who is God. Whoever has free will is God.
Right? And we read there in Psalm 135,
it says, Our God hath done whatsoever
He hath pleased. Man's got it backwards, you know
that. Man's got God wanting and wishing and wanting and can't,
but man, it's all up to man. It's up to his sovereign will.
That's just a lie. Ephesians 1 says in verse 3,
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
is blessed up with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places,
and they're all in Christ. Blessed be God. Praise the Lord
Jesus Christ for His blessings. And here it is, where it all
started. Verse 4, According as he hath
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's
where it started. And he goes on to talk about predestination,
and inheritance, and revealing the truth to you according to
his will, a good pleasure of his will, and gathering you together,
and faith that comes by his mighty power. It started with God choosing
you. And while the world just hates
that, You know, men and women love election. They're man's election, I think. When an election comes up, an
election year, they think, I got the power to elect the president.
My vote counts. I really do. You promise me something,
I might elect you. Or a local servant, yeah. Give me some of these things
I'm asking for and I might put you in office. And then you're
obligated to me because I chose you. Men love that. They love their
right, their sovereign right to choose their rulers. And they
hate God's right to choose, hate it. But not God's people. They're lovers of God. And this
is the thing that distinguishes God over those who are not God's. This is the one thing. This is
where it all starts, that our God, the Lord God reigneth. He had his will and armies of
heaven and among the heavens and the earth. and none can stay
his hand. He said, I will show mercy on
whom I will show mercy. I will be gracious. Blessed God
is gracious, but it's sovereign on whom I will be gracious. What
do you say to these things? The world says we will not have
this God reign over us, but I've got news for the world. He does.
And God's people, though, are made willing in the day of His
power. They believe And they'd love
to have it set up. A chosen generation. You know
these verses, they're quoted all the time. Oh, we're bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because... That's the first thing. God have from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the truth. What's the truth,
John? It starts with God being God. This is eternal life, our
Lord said, that they might know thee the only true God. That's where it starts. When you first hear the truth
of who God is and what you are and who Christ is and of salvation,
the first, you don't even know if you're saved or not. You don't
know if you're one of the elect or not. You don't know. You feel
so sinful you think there's no way it could be me. But here's
one thing you know, God is God. That's the first thing you find
out. He's God. Not the God I used
to believe, not the one I used to believe in, that I let. Did I let him be? No, no. You
find out God is God. He just might let you in His
kingdom. That's what you find out. And it includes the fear
of the Lord. What's that make you do? Call on the Lord for
mercy, for grace. And what's the Lord do? He points
you to Jesus Christ. Right there's your hope. Right
there's your salvation. Bound to give thanks to God for
you brethren and the love of the Lord because God has chosen
you. No one believes that until God
reveals Himself to them. Nobody. God chose you through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you
by our gospel. Gospel is the power of God unto
salvation. Preaching the gospel is what
God uses to save sinners. People say, no, I saved on the
top of the hill. No, you weren't. No, you aren't. The gospel is
the power of God. He uses preaching of the gospel.
Through sanctification of the spirit, belief of the truth,
whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. What's that mean? To see His
glory. Because in the ages to come,
He's going to show His people the exceeding riches of His grace
and His glory to us in Christ Jesus. And the first thing He's
going to show us, we're all going to stand there amazed that He
chose us. Amen. He says, now go back to our text. He said, you who believe, and
he's precious too, whom the gospel is not offense, nothing Christ
says, nothing God says is offensive, it's all glorious, it's all wonderful,
it's all your hope, you're a chosen generation. And you know what
the word generation means? It means kin. You know what that
word means, huh? Kinfolk. He chose you to be his
kinfolk. That's what it means. I looked
up the word. And you know, in the beginning, God made everything
after its kind, kindred. Kindred, kindred, like Him. Well,
He chosen us, Ephesians says, predestinated us to be His children. in the image of Jesus Christ,
His kin, just like Him. His kin, His kinfolk. Who did
God choose to be His kin? Go to Matthew 1 with me, real
quickly. Who did God choose to be His kinfolk? Well, look at
this. This is the generation, this
is the family of Jesus Christ. Have it, Matthew 1. This is our
Lord's family tree. He's the tree. They're the branches. Verse 3, Judas, Jude begat Pharis,
and Zarephath, Tamar. Who's Tamar? There are four women
mentioned here. All of them bad women. Sinful one. Four Lord women.
Tamar, she committed incest, but the Lord gave the child. This was our Lord's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. It's who He chose to be His great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. Okay? Verse 5, Salmon begat Boaz
of Rahab. That's who the Lord chose as
His kin. Are you with me? You say, I can't be in His family.
I'm the chief of sinners. Oh, that's a good sign you are. I'm less than least. I'm not
worthy. I'm a sinner. I'm the worst. Really? Oh, it's a faithful saint. That's
who he came for. Rahab. The Lord chose Rahab to
be his great-great-great-great-great grandmother. And then Ruth. Same verse. Ruth. Who's Ruth? A Moabite heathen
woman. Didn't know God. Wasn't seeking
God. Her hat was to light on the field
that belonged to her kinsman, Redeemer. And so it is with you, you heathen
you. Woman, Ruth, wherever you are
in front of you, He chose you to be in His kin. And then verse
6, the wife of Uriah is Bathsheba. That's who the Lord chose as
His kin. Would you tell people my great-great-great-grandmother
was a prostitute? Would you? No, you would not. Nor do you. Why? It's to the praise of the glory
of His grace for choosing her. You see? Chosen generation. Look at the next thing. A royal
priesthood. Royal priesthood. Royalty. Descendant
of the King. That's a royal person. Heir to
the throne. Our God is King. Christ is King.
His children are royalty. You say, I sure don't feel like
a son of God. Listen to this. In the end, you
know what we're all going to be singing? All of us are going
to know this song. We're all going to be singing
it. It says in Revelation 5, they sung a new song. Thou art
worthy to take the book, open the seals thereof, for thou hast
was slain and hast redeemed us. kinsmen redeemed, redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred and of every tongue and
people and nation and made us under our God kings and priests. And we'll reign on the new earth.
And Adam all died in Christ. Adam was a little king when they
opened the earth. We're all going to be on a new
earth. Kings and priests. A royal generation. Royalty. Whose family would you
rather be in? Queen Elizabeth or our Lord Jesus
Christ? Royal priesthood. Made us kings
and priests. The priesthood. And I have so
many verses in Hebrews John I want to turn to about the priesthood.
And no man taketh this honor to himself. uh... he is called
god like air when the end of the game god established priesthood
back in exit priesthood tabernacle priest blood tabernacle priest
blood tavern three things you have to do have to worship the
true god tabernacle priest in the blood temple priest high
priest offered in the blood right three things without the You
can't worship God. You don't know God. There is
no worship God. You can't come to God. God won't
accept you. There's no remission of sin without
the shedding of blood. And these three are one in Christ. You know that. Y'all know that. Gentiles. Christ is glorified. He glorified not himself to be
made a high priest, but God said, thou art my son, and thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And Paul went
on to say, there's too much to say about that to go into that
right there. But it says here, listen to this. I do want to
read this. It says that Christ is not entered
in the holy place made with hands, but in the heaven itself to appear
in the presence of God to offer his own precious blood to God. See, he didn't offer this to
man. He offered it to God. We keep saying that, don't we,
Sister? That he didn't offer himself to man. That's a false
gospel. Anybody that says that is a false
preacher. Anybody that believes that doesn't know the gospel,
doesn't believe Christ. He offered himself without spot
to God. He offered up that one sacrifice
forever to God, the blood, and God accepted on whose behalf.
He's elect. He's chosen. And that's good
news to me. Good news to me that what Christ
did actually secured my salvation. It's not up to me. Is that not
good news? That doesn't offend me. That makes me happy. If anything's
left up to me, if anything's left up to me, I lose my salvation. We was all left up to Christ.
He said of those which thou has given me, I've lost none. I've kept them all, saved them
all. Brothers and sisters, it is the
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, our great High Priest, that
maketh atonement for the soul. Aren't you glad? A royal priesthood. A priesthood. I was going to have you go back
to 1 Chronicles, and David took all the lots of sons of Levi
and made them, and they were priests. And one man, One high
priest was going to the Holy of Holies and offer up blood.
Now you know who that is. That's Jesus Christ. One man.
The rest of them were common priests. They were priests, but
they weren't high priests. And Christ is our great high
priesthood. He offered the blood. What do
we do? Well, David appointed singers of the Levites. He said, you, you, you, you,
you, you, this is going to be your service from here on. Sing!
I can do that. John, John, priest, you've been
made a priest. Sing! Isn't that a wonderful
occupation? It's not work, is it? That's
glory. Yes, I can do that. Some were
made porters. That's gatekeepers, doorkeepers.
Ed? You be sure and lock the door
when we leave here. That's your job, priests. Or
Stephen, stand back there when we open it and greet the people.
What a job, isn't that wonderful? They were all, make me a priest,
make me, make me. Door keepers, gate keepers. Well,
somebody's got to bake some bread. And somebody's got to wash some
dishes. Somebody's got to clean the ashes and take them out.
Take me, take me, take me. Priests, we're not offering blood. Christ did that. We're just ministering
about the tabernacle. This place where the blood is
preached. Christ is honored to go there.
Isn't it wonderful? To be a son of God and a priest
in his temple. His commandments are not grievous,
they're wonderful. Look at the next thing. He says you're a
holy nation. A holy nation. Nation means a united people.
Holy. That means a people that are
unblameable, unreprovable, devoted, accepted by God, sanctified,
righteous, accepted, holy to a holy God who sees all. Not
me. Yes, you. Do you believe Christ? Do you believe Christ? And I
got a verse for you. 1 Corinthians 1.30. Of God are you in Christ, who
of God is made unto you. Do you like this verse? Do you
want to hear it again? Of God he's made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. We're his kin. He's our Redeemer. According as it is written, he
that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. And that's why Paul
said, God forbid that I should glory saving the cross of my
Lord Jesus Christ. Holy nation. This nation is not
one nation under God. You know that? It's one nation
under God's wrath, and they can't see it. Of all places to put
that, desecration is blasphemy. Put it on money. No, this is not. That's indicative,
isn't it? Money. But God's nation, God's kindred,
God's united people in His cause, they are one nation under God's
reign and rule, under the blood, aren't they? Holy nation. And then the last thing is His
peculiar people. Let me dwell a few more minutes.
Okay, I've been 24 minutes. Let me spend the rest of the
time on this. They call it peculiar people. Now, if you have a marginal
reference, it reads this, purchased. Peculiar means purchased. And
that's what it means, first of all. And I looked up the word,
it means shut up like a treasure. Shut up like a treasure. That's a good definition, isn't
it, John? Shut up. Shut in, like in the ark. You
know, when God had Noah make that ark, it was ugly on the
outside, wasn't it? Wasn't it? Ugly. Brown. Everybody passed by. And the ark in the wilderness
was covered with badger skin. It was ugly, too. And the parasites,
the hivite, they looked, passed by. Ain't nothing to that. The
body on the inside was people that God, were precious to God. Something that was precious to
God. They were His peculiar treasure. Peculiar people. He found grace
in His eyes. Shut up. Special treasure, like
an old box with a treasure inside. Peculiar people. They called
the sons of Jacob, Israel, they called Jews to be His Special
people. There's nothing special about
them. Nothing special about them. Romans 9 talks about a man taking
a lump and making of the same lump one
vessel of honor, another one of dishonor. What if a man went
down in a coal mine and came back out with a black lump of
black coal? And he said, look what I found.
And it's wonderful! Well, I know. It's just a lump of weight. And see what I do with it. Wait
and see what I... When it's all finished, you just
wait and see what... I have chosen this black lump
to be my peculiar treasure. To be my child. And I'm going
to make a vessel of salvation. honor and glory, and the other
cast aside. It's a peculiar choice. The Lord's
kin are peculiar, like we named Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba. The story of Hosea of Gomer,
the Lord sending Hosea down to marry a woman of Hordovan. Her
name was Gomer. And that's what these verses
are alluding to. It says those that were not a
people are now people. Hosea won. Gomer had a child named Leromai
or something like that. It meant not my people. Can you
imagine naming your son not mine? That's not mine. Well, he went on to say, with
those who are not mine are going to be mine. They're going to
be mine. That's Ephesians 2. He wants
children of wrath, he was up, but God chose him to be His. That's peculiar, isn't it? Peculiar. Chosen. Make up a lump. Same lump. One under honor and
one under dishonor. Let me tell you something. And
that word peculiar means just what we attach to it. It means strange. It means uncommon. It means unordinary, unusual,
beyond usual, unusual. That's an unusual choice. Unusual
people, strange. God's people, it's God's peculiar
treasure, and they're not known, seen of the world like Christ
was not. But they're His people. And they
have some strange things about them, some peculiar things that
make them his people. God's people have peculiar beliefs
about God. And the more time goes on, the
more time goes on, the more peculiar would the truth be to this world.
That got quoted, to turn away their ears from the truth unto
faith. And that was 2,000 years ago. Now, 2,000 years later,
the truth is so foreign, it's so strange. that when you tell
men and women that God really is God, that nobody can let him
do anything or even thwart him or keep him, that
he does exactly what he will, that he purposed everything,
he's all-powerful, omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful, that
he did everything, he'd known all his work from the beginning
of the world, and when he spoke it back there and wrote it in
the book, it's going to be none and nothing can stop it. That's
the God of the Bible. And He's holy and He's sovereign. He will
by no means clear the guilty. He will punish iniquity. He will
punish sin. This is a foreign, strange doctrine
that man is corrupt through and through. In Ephesians 1, He said
His people are a sinful nation. The whole head is sick. The whole
heart is fine. No, the world says that's not true. That's
strange. What are you talking about? Well,
we're not the ones that said that. God did. So the Bible becomes
strange. The truth becomes strange. God
becomes strange. And the people that believe these
things, that believe God and His Word, are strange people.
You sure have strange, peculiar beliefs down there. What? That
God is God? That man is sinful? Dead? That's what the book says. That
salvation is of the Lord? That's what the book says. It's
just strange to people who are strangers to the covenant, who
are strangers to God, who don't know God, whom God has not revealed
Himself to. It's the truth that always has
been the truth, ever will be the truth. Unknown. The unknown God. That's what
Paul preached on Mars Hill. To the unknown God, Him I declare
unto you. Peculiar. God. You say God is
God? You say man is dead? You say
salvation is by the righteousness of another? You mean to tell
me that I take the blame for what one man did way back 6,000
years ago? Adam? You think I'm going to suffer because
of him? Yep. And the only way I'm going to
get to heaven is by another man? Yep. Adam all died. Christ all made alive. That's
the truth. In a nutshell. That's strange. That's peculiar. Death? By blood? By the blood of another? That's
barbaric. We're over that. We're modern
people. Well, we're civilized people.
Blood? We don't use that. We don't need that bloody religion
anymore. Oh, yes, you do. God hasn't changed. That's peculiar. God's people
have peculiar habits. Peculiar ways of worship. Peculiar
ways of worship. They do three things. They read
the Bible. Fourth thing. They read the Bible.
They hear the Bible preached. They sing the song. And they
pray. And that's it. That's it. That's all they do. No flesh. That's strange. That's peculiar. They have a
peculiar language. God's people have a peculiar
language. They use terms like, God is just,
God is holy. They talk about things like justification. Justification. Don't you love
that? You know, Christ was justified
by the blood of Christ, by which we cannot be justified by the
law. Righteousness. They love to use
the word righteousness. Like David, he'll speak of no
other but His. Righteousness. Abraham believed
God. It was counted on him for righteousness. Well, I believe God. Well, that
makes me righteous. Praise His holy name. Righteousness
of another. They talk about sanctification.
They talk about propitiation. They say things like this. This
is how you know God's people. This is the language. It's a
peculiar language. And we were at a dinner with
some neighbors one time. They just insisted we join them,
and we did. And Mindy was talking to them,
and they said, when the Lord revealed himself to Paul, that's
when the Lord saved him. What do you mean, revealed himself?
You mean he actually saw a vision? Isn't that what you say? Do you
not say when somebody asks you, we talk about salvation, do you
not say, one day the Lord revealed Himself to me? Don't you? Is that not the term you use? We all know what that means,
most of us. When the Lord revealed Himself to me. That's Ephesians 1 in it. He
made known unto us the mystery of His will, the revelation of
Himself, salvation by revelation. God reveals Himself to us, makes
Himself known to us. That's unheard of. That's peculiar
language. That's what all of God's people
say. Let me close with these two verses here in verse 9 and 10. It says, Now
he did all this, peculiar people, to show forth what? The praises of him. See, that's what God's people
are all about. That's why He saved them. That's
what they do. That's all they do. They really
do give Him all the glory. They really are giving Him all
the glory. The praises of Him who did what?
Called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. In Revelation
it says those that are with Him are called, chosen. That's what it says. Who's with Him? Called. You see
your calling, brother? Peculiar calling. Not many wise,
not many noble, not many mighty. Nothings and nobodies from nowhere.
Rahabs and Tamars and Ruths. Do you see your calling, brother?
Peculiar choice, isn't it? Why? Because God gets glory.
All of it. Called, chosen, and faithful. What are they faithful about?
His glory. His honor. What are they doing? One thing.
That's what God's people are doing. One thing. One thing. This is the difference.
This is the difference between God's chosen people. To Him be
the glory. Dare not to glory in anything
or anyone. We're not going to share His
glory. And he goes on to say, which
in time past were not a people. Oh, maybe religious, but not
God's people. But now the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And the mercy of God, the grace
of God, To His glory, the glory of God and His Son is God's sovereign
choice and sovereign redemption of a people, His chosen people. Now, they're a peculiar bunch,
but they're His people. All right, let's sing a closing
hymn.