Now you know the subject and
title. Peculiar. Chosen and Peculiar People. Chosen and Peculiar People. 1
Peter 2. Quite often when I'm studying
God's Word, one verse in A passage will suggest another, which will
in turn suggest another, which suggest another, and then something
sticks out to me. And back in Exodus 19, you may
remember this, the Lord said about his people that they were
a peculiar treasure. Peculiar treasure unto me above
all people. And after reading that I went
over to read the New Testament. Related verse which was here
in first Peter. Chapter two look at verses nine
and ten again. He says you are a chosen generation
a royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people. That you should
show forth the praise of him who have called you out of darkness
into his marvelous life 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. Peculiar chosen people now that
it possibly begins that verse nine begins with but you But
you are a chosen generation. He'd been talking about Christ,
the chief cornerstone, and how that the builders, or those who
were supposed to be priests and so forth, in and around the tabernacle,
like the Pharisees and all of that, they rejected him. He came,
he's the chief cornerstone, but they rejected him. That's what
Peter was talking about, but back in chapter one, he says
he's chosen of God, verse four, chosen of God and precious. The. The chosen one. Now, Peter. It's significant
that Peter calls Christ. The living stuff. Because many
today. You remember when Christ told
Peter thou art Peter changed his name from Simon Peter which
means stop. A little stop and said thou art
Peter. On this I'll build my church
remember that. And just a little while after
that some heretics took that and ran with it. Church in Rome
is where it really got a foothold. And that's where all this potpourri
and everything started. That Peter was the first pope,
the rock upon which the church is built. Now that is absolute
blasphemy. That's absolute heresy. Peter
is not the rock upon which anything is built. Christ is the stone, the rock,
the cornerstone, the chief cornerstone, the only foundation which is
laid. Christ Jesus the Lord. And it's
significant that Peter started writing about this right away.
Right? He said Christ is the stone.
The one disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, a stone. In order to build a house, you
have to lay a foundation on it. According to the foundation,
so is the house. You have a good foundation, you
have a good house. Christ is the foundation upon
which everything is built. Salvation depends on Christ.
Is it going to stand? It sure is, as long as Christ
did. We are grounded, settled, and
established on Him. Christ is the stone. So Peter
began by saying, I'm not the rock. Christ did. Christ did. And then he says
in verse 5, look at it. He says, you also as lively stone. Now, like a building has bricks
in it, right? Bricks in it. The bricks in this
building here, they're not holding this building up. The foundation
is, right? You could take some bricks out
and the building would stand. So, you know, we're not holding
this thing together. were built on Christ, but he
says you also are stones in this building built up a spiritual
half a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices. That
is to be about the work of the tabernacle, which will talk more
in a minute. And all of this is acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. That's our favorite version that's
on our tombstone. The praise of the glory of his
grace, wherein he hath made us except. So all of this is to Christ by
Christ for Christ in Christ through him, so he's a stone. He's the
stone on which we are built, on which salvation rests and
everything stands or falls according to him. All right, now, verse
eight, he says this with this stone Christ. I'm leading up
to where he says, but you. OK, he's talking about these
people. Who stumble? At Christ, who are offended,
verse eight, come on now. Bear up with me. This is just
good old plain old preaching of 1 Peter. He says, he's a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense to them which stumble at the
Word. A stone of stumbling. You know
the old, we get that old term, stumbling stump. Put a stumbling
stump. A stone of stumbling, that's
where it came from. And a rock of offense. Now, this comes from
Isaiah 8, which says this. He shall be a sanctuary. This
cave, this rock, like when Moses was put in the cleft of the rock.
He'll be a sanctuary. A hiding place. But, to some
others, he's a stone of stumbling. And for a rock of offense. And
many, he said, shall stumble and fall and be crushed. and
snared and taken. And he says here it's those which
stumble at the word being disobedient. Now God's chief command is this,
leave the son, kiss the son, bow to the son, go to the son. Like Joseph Pharaoh
didn't say anything to anybody. He said, go to Joseph. He didn't
even go to Joseph. I put him in charge of everything.
All judgment, all authority, the storehouse, everything. He'd
go to Joseph. This is God's commandment to mankind. Bow, believe, trust,
honor, worship the sun even as you honor the Pope. Because no
man knoweth the Pope. No man has seen God at any time.
The only begotten son, he has declared. Is this important? It sure is. There's denominations
all over this land who claim to worship God, but they've got
Jesus as just no more than a son of God like you. That's true. That's true. There's one they
built one over here on the corner of Main Street. They call it
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormonism
is what it is. They absolutely reject that Jesus
Christ is God manifesting flesh. So that's the House of Prostitution
is what it is. The heresies, the cult. Anybody
asking you, tell them that. And they stumbled. They built
this big place over here, and it's really no different than
the average free-will Baptist place down the road here. They
stumble too, and I'm going to show you how in a minute. A stumbling
stone. They stumble at the Word. Scripture
says they stumble at the Word being disobedient. In other words,
God says this, and they say but. That means a backtalk. A disobedient
son backtalks. Game-sayer. That's a disobedient
son. Obedient son just says, yes,
sir. Or obedient daughter, yes, ma'am, yes, sir. But a disobedient
one says, but, but, but, but. Right? And that's all who but
God's Word. A disobedient, stumbling at the
Word. Now, now look at this. This is
a strong line, isn't it? Whereunto they were appointed. What's that? Same thing in Romans
9, Romans 9 teaches us. Vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
reprimand. They sure stumble at that, don't
they Jeanette? Nobody believes that but believers,
like what we're going to see in a minute. But they stumble
at the Word, things that they see, things that they read, things
that are clearly said about Christ. See, this whole book, this whole
book sets forth the claims of the God man the claims of who
Jesus Christ is why he came what he came to do and whether or
not he did it and where he is now and what he's doing. That's
what this book is all about. His claim. Now he said some things
he made some bold claims and then but men back then and
always they had their opinion. Well whose words are going to
stand? Who's telling the truth? So they stumble and are offended.
Stumble means halt. Stumble. When you stumble you
say, wait a minute. Stumble at something. Come across
this big, this big rock in the road. Wait a minute. And men
and women can't help but see the things that are written in
the scriptures that come across it. There it is, big as life.
These claims. And they stumble at it. And they're
offended at it. And you've heard me say so often
this is the reason that they have so many I call them perversions
of Scripture. So many different translations
and versions of Scripture. Men and women over the course
of time have just gradually taken out all the offense out of God's
Word so that it reads just the way they want it to read. Absolutely. And it's very subtle, too. We've
got a version called the New King James Version. And it has left out words like
blood and Lord. One man said to omit the word
blood one time is high treason against God. To omit God's name
one time. I think it's the New King James
where the word Jehovah, the name Jehovah is not even in it. Well, they stumble, Scripture
says. and are offended to the strict
Sabbath keeper and now they were Sabbath day Adventist back the
same as there are now. What's that? That's a Sabbath
keeper. That's a person who thinks they're
keeping the Sabbath, keeping the law, and they've got that
on their sign out front, don't they? If you love me, you keep
my commandment. Christ didn't tell us to keep
the Sabbath. to the strict sabbatarians back
in his day, he offended them. Why? He broke the Sabbath all
the time. He did what he wanted to on the
Sabbath. He went through a man's field
of corn. Whose corn was it? It was his corn. It was his Sabbath. And he told his disciples, let's
eat. You can't do that, we just did. and they got offended at
him. You can't, you're breaking the
Sabbath. Not realizing he is the Sabbath. That the whole thing
of the Sabbath was created by God to show that Christ is God's
rest. God's finished work is a person. We don't worship a day, we worship
a person. And those day worshippers back
then got offended at Christ when he said, I'm Lord of the Sabbath.
He said, I'm Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was not made for
man. A man was not made for the Sabbath. He said, but the Sabbath
was made for man. And they got offended. And they're
offended now. They're offended now, stumbled.
to strict legalists, to strict legalists who prided themselves,
like the Pharisee, prided themselves in keeping Moses' law. He said, Moses wrote of me. He said, Moses wrote of me. The
whole law is about me, he said. to know he said they said you're
not 50 years old yet you have you seen Moses or seen Abraham
he said before Abraham won I am I'm the one that spoke to Abraham
I'm the one that gave Moses the law they brought the woman in
and taught him in adultery he said Moses said what do you say
he said I absolve her of all guilt The man you remember the man
paralyzed man he said that I said they forget who you can do that
only God can do that. That's right. And. He justified the chief of. And
condemned the most moral that the legal. To the freewheeler. They've been freewheelers all
along. Started with Adam. Adam wanted to be a free willer.
He found out where that got him, and God let him have his will. And it doomed him and his posterity. But to the free willer, our Lord
said, no man can. come on to. Me no man can't come on. To follow
the which is certainly wrong. We said. No man and. We get to God and we can. Let's
go. to the to the deists now. That's a fancy word for somebody
who doesn't really believe in a. Scribes were kind of like
this. They didn't believe God was a
person, but he's some kind of like the Hindus and all that.
They believe there's some kind of. I really don't know what I've
studied it for years. They don't believe he's a person. That God
is a person. That's the reason they think
God's in animals and God's in this and God's in that. A deist.
Christ said, I am from above. I have come down from above. He said, if you believe not that
I am he. Who? God. you'll die and you're
saying you don't believe I'm God in the play about your thing
to the Scientologist. We have those today. I had a
back to. Those who like to study. Delve into. Science and mysticism
and that sort of thing and intellectual you know actors Hollywood loves
that stuff. Scientology. Anybody know anything
about it? Don't. Don't bother with it. But Christ said, I am the truth. Antichrist. What do you mean
you're the truth? Spent all my years studying the
truth. Delving into the mystery. Scripture says, in him are hidden
all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. to the pacifists,
you know, they've had those all these years, the pacifists, you
know, we just love everybody. Let's just love, love, love.
God is love, let's just love. We just love ourselves and love
our way into the kingdom of God. Christ said, I have not come
to send peace but a sword. He said, I'm coming to bring fire
on earth. They stumble at the word to the
universalist. And that just about everybody.
The universalist, that is, that God loves everybody in the world,
wants to save everybody in the world. And they and the free
willers and all of that are in league together. To the universalist,
Christ said, I pray not for the world. He said, I laid down my life
on the sheep. You're not at my feet. Does this offend you? See, they were offended. They
stumbled at it. Christ's claims. These are all
claims concerning Christ, aren't they? Who he is. That's what
this is all about. That's what the whole thing is
all about. Who is this? As I said, Brother
Greg preached from that, Isaiah 63. Who is this? So they were appointed unto them. Appointed unto them. But you. You see why we said all that?
But you. A chosen generation. Come on
now, get with me here. You, but you, who makes you the
different? Why aren't you a Scientologist,
John? Huh? Why aren't you a pacifist,
Henry? Why aren't you a Universalist,
John? Why aren't you a free will advocate? You were. Why aren't you a legalist here? You're chosen. You're a chosen
generation. The word generation. The word
generation. Don't turn to 2 Thessalonians
while I'm explaining this. 2 Thessalonians 2. You know I'm
going to read this, don't you? 2 Thessalonians 2. We talk about
being chosen. But the word generation means
a race. A breed. That's what I mean. It means a family. Family. Like the Stoniker generation. Years ago, somebody named Stoniker
started this whole mess. I'm just kidding. I love Stoniker. My daughter is one. Now, you
understand what I'm saying? It's a generation. It's a breed.
It's a family. Somebody back then looked real
Italian or German or Aryan or something because they all looked
that way. They were all, they were giants.
They came from giants. But a generation, a family, a
race, a breed, that's what generation means. OK? Generation. Sheila generation and so forth.
You're in a generation too. You're in a family. You're in
a breed of people. A race of people that started
with who? Jesus Christ. They all come from
him. They all look like him, walk
like him, talk like him, act like him, sound like him. Of
him, through him, to him, for him, by him, in him. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And I saw somebody roll
their eyes like, I don't feel like it. Well, let everybody
else be the judge of that. Because they can see. You might
not be able to see Christ in you, but others can. But this generation is a family,
a race, a breed. And he says you're a chosen generation,
chosen to be in his family. Verse 13 of 2 Thessalonians says
we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren. You've heard me say this so many
times, you know, I don't thank people for coming to worship. I hope I never do that. I probably
have slipped up in the past just out of sheer nervousness as a
young preacher, but I try not to do that anymore. We dare not
thank men and women for coming to worship God. It's a high honor
and a privilege if anybody does come and truly loves God and
loves Christ, they've been chosen. Because God hath from the beginning,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation. chosen by you have to do it through
sanctification of the spirit that is setting apart. And we're
going to see that in a minute. Set apart by the spirit and the
belief of the truth where he called by our. Calls what called you out of
darkness in his marvelous life. That's where you heard that you
were chosen in the gospel. So he says you're a chosen generation. Chosen. That's election is what
that is. And scriptures is full of it.
God's people love to hear about it because they all know. We
know we don't. We don't make an idol out of
a doctrine, but this is where it all started. Isn't it? Isn't this where it all started?
God choosing the people? to the praise of the glory of
his sovereign electing grace and isn't this what you first
heard. That. Captured your attention
when. That God is God and he doesn't
choose in that what really made you. You might have stumbled at first
but then. It's right by his great. You're a chosen generation, chosen
by God, a race of Christians, a breed of people to be like
Christ. Go back to the text. And he says,
and you're a royal priesthood. I got to hurry. Preaching too
long. A royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. Royal, you know what that means.
It means descendants from a king. I was going to have you turn
back to Esther. Say if you'd let me preach as long as I want
to. I was going to go back there and show you how that. How I
love that story, John, don't you love that story? How that
the king said, the Hathorah said to Haman, he said. What should
be done to the man that the king delights to honor? What do we
do to the man in Haven, you know, that wicked fellow? Give him
a crown, put him on a horse, let everybody bow to him, give
him a robe and all that. And the king says, go get Mordecai.
I'm going to do that. And God's done that to us like
he has Mordecai, to the consternation, to the anger and the wrath of
our adversary, Satan. If you don't know that story,
hang around, we'll get to it at another time. Isn't it wonderful? That's what God's done to all
us Mordecai, all us Jews. Why? Because Esther. Where's
Deborah? She loves Esther. Because Esther. Because the king held out that
golden scepter for Esther. She's the Jew accepted by the
king on our behalf. And we're accepted in her. Want to hear that sometime?
I do too. But we're a royal, we belong
to the king. We've been put in this royal
family. Christ the king. And we're, and
in Revelation 1 and 5, chapter 5 says this, the people in heaven
are saying this right now, unto him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in his own blood, unto him that made us kings and
priests, unto our God. Not kings in the sense that we
reign and rule, but we're in the royal family. We're in the
royal family. None of us aspire to be king,
do we? Oh, no. He's the king. But we're in the royal priesthood. And I wasn't going to have me
turn to Exodus 29 about the priesthood, but you know that. There's one
high priest, wasn't there? Did men elect him? That one high
priest? Aaron, did men elect him? Did
their little synod? That's, well, I mean, don't get on that. Did a bunch of men get together
and decide who among them was going to be priest? No, sir,
it has never been that way. God chose Aaron. God chose Aaron. and made him
high priest, one man, one man chosen by God, a priest, a priest. And who does he represent? Who's
that high priest? That one man that went into that Holy of Holies
to offer up that blood sacrifice unto the Lord. One man whom God
spoke to and speak to the people for God. One man. Who does that
represent? There's one mediator between
God and man, the man, Christ, the man, there's one mediator
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus, the only potentate,
king of kings, lord of lords, the only high priest, he's a
high priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek, of which
we could say so much, but we don't have the time. But he said,
you are free. How is that? Does that mean that
we have our little confessional booze and we have people come
in and confess their sins to us and we absolve them from our
sins and we put the weight? Oh, no. No man has ever done
that in all of God's holy word. Nobody has ever confessed their
sins to a man. But one, Jesus Christ. And he absolved them. But priests
in the sense of the Old Testament priests, which cut wood, baked
bread, washed dishes. And that's it. They ministered
about them. This is the church in which we
minister to one another and so forth. But it says we're a royal
priesthood. Read on. They said a holy nation,
a holy nation, the word holy. means sanctified as 2 Thessalonians
2 says, sanctification of spirit, set apart, a holy nation set
apart. Why was Israel different than
Egypt? Why was Israel different than
the Hittites? Why was Israel different than
the Hivites, Jebusites, Amorites, and on and on? Why? What made
them different? Who made them different? God
told them that in exodus then he said I want you to know I
put a difference in you and you. Did. God discriminated. That doesn't mean. That in a
bad way. And it's his divine prerogative
to discriminate that is choose one over another they're all
love you know saying love a mess. But God chose out of the same
lump to make one vessel out of a hundred. He made them his people. He said,
you're my people, Israel. Well, they didn't turn out, they
didn't seem to be too much different, did they? But they were because
God said they were. And we are a holy people, a holy
people. distinguishing, discriminating
choice of God, His spiritual Israel. All Israel's going to
be saved. His holy nation's going to be saved. And we're going
to live in a new Jerusalem. We're a spiritual Israel. Every
Jew's going to be saved. And we're going to live in a
new Jerusalem. It's going to come down from heaven. City, walled city,
and the son of David is going to sit on the throne, a greater
than Solomon, and we're all going to sit under our own vine and
fig tree. Yes, sir. A holy nation. And lastly, and
I want to get to this, a peculiar people. A peculiar people. Peculiar in
a true sense of the word. When you think of peculiar, what
do you think of? Think odd. That's odd. This whole thing
is odd. That God would choose us? Don't
you think so? Now the self-righteous people
didn't think so, don't think so. The Pharisees thought we
ought to be God's first choice. And they weren't even chosen.
But all of God's people think it's just so peculiar that God
would choose us. Why me? You your choice of God. That's why we're doing people
for his peculiar choice. Back in. Exodus nineteen remember
where he said you're my peculiar treasure. And you remember me using the
analogy of a lump of coal a fellow going down in no man. You or
your friend you remember that but now I will tell you again
that. fellow went down in a coal mine. And came out with an old
black common old bituminous pump of coal. There's a zillion more
down in there just like it. And he says, look what I found.
Would you look at this? It's mine. My treasure. Now you'd think that's peculiar,
wouldn't you? Just wait. Wait and see what he makes of
it. See, it's not in and of itself, there's no treasure about it.
It's peculiar that he made it, that he's treasured. When the scriptures, Psalm 2,
God says, ask me and I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance.
Why would he want that? You ever thought about that,
John? I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. I'll give
you a bunch of rotten, no good, chief of staff give them. Other I will they be with. The
best. Why is that. Praise of the glory of his. Praise
the glory of his power to turn a lump of coal into a dime. Praise of the glory of his grace
where he choose a dead dog. Destined to be used. and his
peculiar pet. That's peculiar. Peculiar choice.
Not many wise men, he said, you see your calling, brethren, don't
you? Not many wise men, not many mighty, not many noble are called,
but God hath chosen the weak things, the base things. Things
are not God has chosen. That's peculiar. That's peculiar. It's just like him. It's peculiar,
we're peculiar in our makeup. In our makeup, as I said, you
know, we pretty much still look like lumps of coal. We look in the mirror and we
see black. But that's not what God said. And it does not yet
appear what we shall be. Peculiar in our makeup and peculiar
in our faith. Peculiar people. Very odd in
what we believe. Aren't we people? We're very
odd. to this world we actually fear
God we actually God's people actually fear God have you ever
run anybody that. Actually fear God we actually
believe God. I mean actually believe God whatever
he says we believe. We actually believe God actually
love God being God. I think we actually love Barbara
don't you love that God is God. Christ is all don't you love
that. The world says that but they don't love that. They don't
love Christ being all their righteousness and all wisdom and all they don't
love that. You pin them down, right Jeanette? You pin them
down and you'll find out real quick. When you tell them all
their righteousness is a filthy rag, everything they've ever
done, religion or whatever, morality or whatever they've done, all
their life doesn't count for nothing. Nothing! And you watch
them start stumbling and getting offended and all. You watch them.
They can say Christ all they will. But you tell them that
the only thing that's going to hold up the judgment is Jesus
Christ's blood and righteousness. That's it. You tell them that,
and they say, yeah, but I accept it. But what? God's people actually
love that He's all. They don't just say it, John.
They love it. They believe it with all their
heart. You can't fake it. It's called
the love of the truth. Now, most peculiar people, and
they're a peculiar paradox. You remember this? I've gone
too long, but you want me to get to this, believe me. You remember this? The Christian
paradox. Paradox meaning something that
appears to be two things that are just hard to figure out.
Peculiar, odd. The believer believes things
his reason cannot comprehend, hopes for things neither he nor
any man alive has ever seen. He believes three to be one,
one to be three. He believes the father not to
be older than the son, and the son to be equal with the father.
He believes the child to be the father of the mother. He believes
himself to be precious in God's sight, yet hates himself at his
own. He dares not justify himself,
even in those things wherein he can find no fault in himself,
yet he believes God accepts him in things wherein he's able to
find many faults. He's so ashamed he dare not open
his mouth before the Lord, yet comes with boldness to God and
asks anything he needs. He has within him both flesh
and spirit, but he's not a double-minded man. He's often led captivity by the
law of sin, yet it never gets the men in over him. He cannot
sin. He cannot do anything without
sin. It's a paradox. He's so humble that he acknowledges
himself to deserve nothing but evil. but believe God means him
nothing but good. Most peculiar people. And the
only ones that understand that are these peculiar people. Right? And why? Now why did God do all
this? Here's the answer in verse 9. He says, you're a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people that you should
show forth the praises of him who has called you. As we keep quoting, it's all
to the praise of the glory of his grace. It's hard for me to. Reform of regenerating. It's. Why did you even so it's good
to just wait just wait to see what it might. Okay and with. Our Heavenly Father, thank you,
thank you, thank you for your sovereign choice and election
of a people. We believe, Lord, that thou hast
chosen us. It's not presumption for the
least in here to believe that, to say that. It's not presumption
for the chief of sinners to say that, but it's faith. Lord, we
know you didn't choose us because of something in us, and we know
you won't keep us. for something else, but chosen
you, and you'll keep that which you've chosen because of Christ,
because of that covenant that you made with your Son concerning
your people, how we thank you. For Him, you're chosen, you're
elect, you're servant. We're chosen in Him for the foundation
of the world, the King of kings. And we are going to reign someday
with Him. How we thank you for it. Choose
you know to be your. Particular purchase your. And. Pray these things that. Honor and glory and said all
these things asking for. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. I'm going to go ahead and close the door. I'm going to close the door.