Let's open our Bibles to 1 Peter,
the 2nd chapter, or 1 Peter, the 1st epistle of Peter, the 2nd chapter. And look at verses 9 and 10. 1 Peter 2 verses 9 and 10. But ye, that is you who are believers, as he says in the end of the
first chapter, you've been born of the Spirit. You've been born
of the incorruptible seed. You're not born of corruptible
seed. That's how you're born into this
world. But you're born anew by the incorruptible
seed of the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And as a result of being born
again, you've believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. You. You're a chosen generation. That was the beginning of all
of it. That's how it got started. He said, how did I come to be
one of the people of God? He chose you. That's the beginning
now. Simon Peter, he takes a giant
leap, as we would say, backward. And he says, now you're a chosen
generation. chosen from old eternity. That's
the origin of our salvation. And then he says, you're a royal
priesthood. You're royal. You're the sons
of God. You're kings and priests. Or we could say you're a kingdom
of priests. And being a priest of God, being
a child of God, Being royalty, you can go to God. You have access
to God. You are a priest. You need not
search out a priest in this world as religion has named certain
men to be priests. Those men who take the title
of a priest are false prophets. You are a priest. You don't need
to go and Go behind the screen and confess your sins to another
sinner. He can't absolve you of anything. He's a sinner who needs the grace
of God just like you're a sinner who needs the grace of God. You
who've been born of the Spirit, you who've been made to believe
on the Lord Jesus, you're a royal priesthood. You think of it,
you have access to God. Access to God. As one old writer
said, you can go where angels can't tread. You can go right
into the presence of the majesty on high. A royal priesthood. Or isn't that something? He's
lifted us up from the dunghill of sin and made us to sit among
the princes of His people. He says, you're a holy nation. Not in yourself, but you are
a holy nation in Christ Jesus. After all, the Bible says without
holiness, No man shall see the Lord. You've got to be holy. Preacher, how holy do I have
to be? Well, there aren't degrees of
holiness. You won't make any progress in
holiness. You're either holy or you're
not holy. Those who are holy are holy in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our beauty. He's our perfection. He's the one by whom we have
access to God. Then he says, you're a peculiar
people. That doesn't mean you're a bunch
of oddballs. It doesn't mean God's people are kind of weird
people. Although I guess some of us are.
What it means, we're a purchased people. If you look over in your
center margin, center column, I suspect that your Bible has
it that we're a purchased people. We've been bought, and we'll
address that in just a little bit in more detail. Well, why'd God make us a chosen
generation and a royal priesthood and a holy nation and a peculiar
people? Well, it is that we should show
forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light. We're God's people to sing forth
His praises. Shout forth His praises. We're
not here to lift up anybody except our God. The songs that you have sung
were carefully selected by yours truly. And I select our songs
to glorify and magnify our God. We're very careful about what
we sing. I'll tell you what this gospel will do. It will affect
your methods, it will affect your missions, it will affect
your message, and it will affect your music. It affects everything. We don't want to sing something
that's absolutely contrary to the Word of God. We're just not
going to do that. We're here to sing for His praises. We sing His praises, we preach
His praises. We start off the service reading
there in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul says, God chosen us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. Why is that? It's to the praise
of the glory of His grace. He goes on to talk about the
work of the Son of God, of our Redeemer. Why do we speak about
the work of the Son of God? Why did He redeem us? To the
praise of the glory of His grace. Later in the chapter, He talks
about the work of the Spirit of God in seedling, in manifesting
to us, in revealing to us the things of God. Why is that? To the praise of His glory. Everything's
to the praise of God. We're not here to praise men.
We're not here to pat you on the back, pat me on the back,
and brag on us, and tell us how much the church needs us, and
how much God needs us. God doesn't need any of us. We're
here for His praises. We're here to glorify the Lord.
That we should manifest, that's what that word show means, that
we should manifest the praises of Him who had called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light. You were in the dark,
but you're not in the dark anymore. That's what He says. You were
in the dark regarding the gospel, weren't you? You know you were. Because before He calls you into
the light, He shows you, you're in darkness. You're not as smart
as you thought you were. You are really in spiritual ignorance. Boy, I tell you, that brings
the flesh down. You call me ignorant preacher?
Ignorant? Yeah, we are ignorant about the
things of God. I am not saying we are ignorant about worldly
things. I am not saying we are ignorant
about history or math or geography or whatever. We are just ignorant
about spiritual things. And the only one who can really
teach us in the heart is the Holy Spirit. He makes us wise unto salvation
using this book. Using the Word of God. He calls
us out of darkness. The darkness of error. The darkness
of ignorance. Into His marvelous light. And then he says this in verse
10, which in time past were not a people. You can't say you were
the people of God before God regenerated you. brought you
to faith in the Lord Jesus. I know you are the people of
God in God's mind and in God's eternal purpose, but you have
no right to say, I'm one of the people of God, unless you have
been brought to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as a result
of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God being put in
you and by the power of the Spirit. You've been born again. You can't
say, I'm one of the people of God. which in time passed, not
a people, not a people. I've been in church all my life,
but you're not a people of God. You're not among the people of
God. Oh, but I made a decision years ago, but you're not among
the people of God because of that. Oh, but I've been attending,
I've been giving, I've been reading my Bible. You're not among the
people of God for the things that you do. That's what he says
here. Which in time past were not a
people. But... Do a study of the word but sometimes. Just get your Strong's Concordance
or Young's or Cruden's or somebody and just look up that word but.
I tell you, this is the God who butts in, doesn't He? And when
all is bleak, when all is hopeless, when all is lost, when all is
black, when all is hopeless, God steps in. That's what salvation
is all about. It's God doing something. Here
we are in our darkness. In our darkness. In the Bible,
darkness stands for lack of wisdom, lack of understanding, lack of
knowledge, error, sinfulness, wickedness. That's us in darkness. You didn't do something. God
did something. God did something. But are now. the people of God. You're now the people of God.
You have the right. You have the privilege. You who
have been born anew by the Spirit of grace. You've been brought
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You have the privilege
to say, I am among the people of God. which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. There is in this world, at any
given time, a group of people that the scriptures refers to
as being the people of God. That's our subject for this morning
and this evening. The people of God. God has a people. I know He made
everybody. He made of one blood, Acts chapter
17 says, all men. And I know that all men, it's
true of this, or this is true of all men, that in Him we live
and we move and have our being. But all men and all women and
all children are not among the people of God. God has a special
people. God himself refers to these people
as being the people of God. These are the ones about whom
it's spoken in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30, but of God,
of God, these people, of God are you in Christ Jesus. Who? Of God. is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That according
as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. We're
of God. We're of God. We're His people. The Lord Jesus, His name Jesus
means He's the Savior. The angel said to Joseph, Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people. He's got some people. He shall
save His people from their sins. And here Peter says, here's the
name given to all of these redeemed, all of these chosen ones, all
of these redeemed ones, all of these regenerated and called
ones, All of these who have been brought by effectual, mighty,
irresistible grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter
says this is their name. They are the people of God. Oh, we are the people of God. The writer of the book of Hebrews
gives this word of promise to these He says, there remaineth
therefore a rest. Who does it belong to? The people
of God. That's what he says in Hebrews
chapter 4. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. The people of God. And that chapter in Hebrews 4 talks about God worked Six days. On the seventh day, He rested. God entered into His rest. Let
us cease from our labors and rest in the Lord Jesus. You see,
only those who rest in the Son of God can really say, I'm among
the people of God. Because we have been brought
to stop laboring, We've been brought to stop trying
to merit God's favor. We've been brought to cease from
our works, cease from our labors. We rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. There remaineth and shall ever
remain a rest to the people of God. No wonder the Savior said, all
you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
I'll give you rest. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. I think about Moses. It's written
of a hymn in Hebrews chapter 11. Moses wasn't ashamed to be associated
with the despised people of God. It says in Hebrews 11 verse 24,
By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God. the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. He esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect
under the recompense of reward. Moses was led by the Spirit of
God to identify himself with those people who worshipped the
God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He identified Himself
with the people of God. He aligned Himself with the people
of God. I'm not ashamed to identify with
the people of God, are you? I'm not ashamed to align myself
with the people of God, the people who believe sovereign free grace. The people who believe in effectual
redemption by the blood of the Lord Jesus on the cross for all
of God's elect. I'm not ashamed to be identified
with the people of God. I'm not ashamed to be identified
with those who believe in justification by Christ's imputed righteousness. I'm not ashamed to be associated
with the people of God. The people of God in this world
are a despised people. They are a people looked down
on by society. They are a people despised by
false religion. But those who have been instructed
in the gospel of God's grace, we say without any kind of shame
whatsoever, we are thankful and delighted to say, I am among
the people of God. I identify myself with God's
people. People who are saved by God's
grace. Let's consider this then as our
subject today, the people of God. Who are these people? What do we know about these,
the people of God? What has happened to these people? What are the people of God like?
All of these questions we'll be answering in the course of
the messages this morning. and this evening. Now we don't
have to travel far from this our text in 1 Peter 2 and verse
10. We don't have to travel very
far to find what Peter has to say about the people of God. Let's go back and see what he
has already said and it's been read to us already. Go back to
verse 18 and we'll start right here and we'll actually just
sort of stay here for the message this morning. The people of God
are a redeemed people. Go back to verses 18 and 19 of
chapter 1. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things, silver and gold from
your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers,
but ye are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as
of a lamb without blemish and without spot." The apostle Peter
is speaking to the people of God. He speaks to the people
of God. He says you are bought with a
price. Now we know he is talking to the people of God. We know
that from the first couple of verses in the chapter. The first
two verses of the book. Look at 1 Peter 1, 1 and 2. Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge, the forelove, the foreordaining love of God
the Father through sanctification, the setting apart of the Spirit
unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
He writes to God's elect. He writes to those who have been
sprinkled by the blood of Jesus Christ. They're sprinkled by
the blood of Jesus Christ on their conscience. having been
brought by the Holy Spirit, separated by the Holy Spirit to knowledge
of the gospel. These are the people to whom
Peter writes. And he says to these who are
the people of God, you're redeemed. You're redeemed. And this is
what it cost. Not silver or gold. To us, silver
and gold in this world, it's the most valuable thing you can
have. Every once in a while, I'll be watching. I watch a little
bit of golf every once in a while. Not too much that I watch on
television, but they'll advertise, gold! Have you bought any gold?
Do you have gold in your portfolio? How much gold do you have? Well,
I don't have any. That may look like gold, but
it isn't. Gold. But to us, that's the most
precious thing. Gold, silver, diamonds, all these
sorts, it's the most valuable thing to us. But those things
are meaningless compared with the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now you're talking about something
that's valuable. There's going to come a day when all the gold
and the silver and the diamonds in this world will be just like
so many rocks to you. Just stones on the ground. They
won't mean anything to you. And in that day, that alone will
be precious. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter says, for as much as you
know, I tell you, the people of God are people who know some
things. We don't know everything. I've
had people say, well, preacher, you think you know everything,
don't you? No, I don't know everything, but I know one who does know
everything. And I know all things that are
necessary to salvation. I do know that. 1 John 2 and
verse 20 says, But you have an unction with the Holy One, and
you know all things. You who are the people of God.
You know all things necessary for salvation. You know who God
is. Not you don't have perfect knowledge
of God, but you have enough knowledge of God. You know who God is.
You've been brought to fear Him, recognize His holiness, recognize
His justice. You know all things. You know
about yourself. You know how cut off you are
from God because of your sinfulness. You know about the Lord Jesus
and His work of redemption. You know about the necessity
of blood atonement. the necessity of the sacrifice.
You know all things. You know that salvation is by
grace, don't you? All of God's people know that.
They know that. All of God's people know it's
not by my will, it's by God's will. None of God's people are
running around down here arguing about free will. We understand
our wills are enslaved by sin. It's not my will, it's God's
will. We're born again by God's will.
We know that. We know some things. We know that whatsoever things
the law saith, that saith to them that are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. We know that. We know that by
the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. We know that. 1 John 5 verse 20 says, And we
know that the Son of God is come, and hath given to us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God
in eternal life. God's people, we know some things.
And Peter says, For as much as you know. You who are the people
of God, you know some things. We know the essentials of the
faith. We know who saved us. We know how He saved us. And
we know why He saved us. For the glory of His grace. We
know. We know. John says, you know
that He was manifested to take away our sins. You know that,
don't you? And in Him is no sin. You know this. 2 Corinthians
8 and 9 says, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor,
that you through His poverty might be rich. You know that,
don't you? Peter says, for as much as you
know, there's some things that God's people know. We're not
ignorant about these things. There's a lot we don't know,
but boy, we know some things. We know who saved us, why He
saved us. We know how He saved us. We know
the reason He saved us. To the praise and the glory of
His grace. We know that. Redemption. Now, what is redemption?
It takes for granted a state of slavery. You were redeemed. You know that you were redeemed,
which means you were enslaved. A condition of bondage existed,
which necessitated the price of redemption being paid. When I get to thinking about
redemption and being enslaved, I think about Hosea and Gomer. The book of Hosea. You know,
Hosea, his name means salvation. Or the Savior. Same as Joshua. Same as Jesus. Same name. Then
I think about Gomer. You know what her name means?
Thoroughly a waste. Oh, that's us, isn't it? Thoroughly
a waste. God told Hosea, go into the land
of Hortums and marry a daughter of Hortums. So he did. He goes
and marries Gomer. Brings her home and things went well for a while.
They had some children. Then Gomer, she left Hosea and
she fell away, went back to the land of Hortums and took up the
lifestyle of her mother and her grandmother. She wasted herself. Had to pay her pimps. She couldn't even make ends meet.
Her beauty, she lost it. She became ugly and had that
used look, that rough look. But she continued to eat good. She'd go to her door, open her
door in the morning, and there'd be a nice little sack of groceries
there. And she said, my lovers have
been good to me. No, they just using her. It was a Hosea, her salvation. Hosea was providing for her. Well, she ran up a bunch of dead. A law came after her, and the
law took her, put her on the auction block. You got debts
you can't pay. And her lovers didn't want her
anymore because her virtue's gone, her beauty's gone. She's just a shriveled up, old
woman, that used look. Nobody wants her. Well, what's
it going to cost to redeem her? It's going to cost 15 shekels
of silver and 11 bushels of barley. Anybody want to buy this woman?
And out from the crowd steps her salvation, Hosea. And he forks over the shekels
of silver He has his servants, says, bring those bushels of
barley. Everybody else was gawking at
this naked woman, slave, poor, wretched. Hosea gladly pays the
redemptive price. Takes off his garment, wraps
it around her, hugs her and says, I love you. I never stopped loving
you even when you left me. When you had no thoughts of me,
I had thoughts of you. I've been taking care of you
ever since you fell, ever since you went into the land of whorehoms
and took up that prostitution. I've been loving you all along.
I've been providing for you." She said, Oh my! Thank you, Hosea. Thank you, honey. Don't you see
a picture of redemption by the blood there? Our Lord Jesus took
us into union with Himself before the world began. Before we ever
fell. In union with Himself. He's the
bridegroom, we're the bride, but we fell. We became ugly in
sin. Wretched in wickedness. And yet every morning, we have
a bag of groceries waiting for us, don't we? Even in our days
of rebellion, even in our lifestyle that was so God dishonoring,
yet He provided for us. And He came into this world and
He said to the justice of God, when we had an indebtedness that
we couldn't pay, what's it going to cost to redeem them? He said to the holy law of God,
What's the price? And the law of God said, your
life, your blood. And He said, I willingly and
gladly lay down my life to redeem her. And He paid the price. And then He sends to us the gospel. We find out that though we didn't
love Him, He loved us. And He gave Himself for us. And
in that great time of love, He comes to us. He draws us unto
Himself. He quickens us by His grace. He makes us alive. And He wraps
His garment of righteousness around us, having washed us in
His blood. And He said, I love you. And
we said, oh, blessed Savior. You've broken my heart. I'm for you now. I'm yours. I'm yours. I trust you. Oh, thank you for saving me.
Thank you for redeeming me. I was lost. No way of saving
myself. Oh Lord Jesus, You did it all. I owe You all my thanksgiving,
all my praise, all the glory. It shall be Yours from now on
throughout eternity. Redeemed by His blood. Redeemed by His blood. Peter says you are redeemed,
not with corruptible things. but with the blood of Christ
Jesus. Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter
6. Oh, the church at Corinth. You're
talking about a church with difficulties. You know, the city of Corinth
was such a vile, godless city. They had temples Idolatry. At those temples they had prostitutes
who worked for the priests. Fornication was just a way of
life. Adultery, nobody thought anything
about it. There was division in the church
at Corinth because people were converted under different preachers.
The Church of Corinth living in this atmosphere of free love
and fornication. Some of the people in the congregation
fell to that temptation. On top of that, some of the people
in the church were taking others to court. The Apostle Paul deals
with these things. And he gets down in chapter 6. And he gives them a motivation
for living right. For ceasing the divisions, stop
taking your brother to court, live a life of sexual purity. And he gives this as the reason.
Chapter 6, look at the latter part of verse 19. 1 Corinthians
6.19, here's the reason, you're not your own. He says, cease with the divisions
now. Let's get along. Stop taking
one another to court. And you stop your sexual immorality. And Paul says, here's the reason,
you're not your own anymore. You're not your own. In this world, the way of the
world is self-gratification, self-advancement, self-applause,
self-concern, self-admiration, self, self, self. That's the way of the world. But it's not to be true of the
people of God. For this reason, we are not our own. You are not
your own. People of God, remember this. And I give you this as the motivation
for right living in the world. Now listen, I am not going to
motivate you with a promise of rewards. God will give you a
bunch of rewards if you behave yourself. I'm not going to motivate
you with this promise, God's going to beat the fire out of
you if you don't behave yourself. Here's the motivation. You're
not your own. You're not your own. In any sense
of the word, are you your own? You belong to somebody else.
You're somebody else's property. You're not your own. Therefore, you don't own anything. You don't own anything. You have
nothing and you own nothing. You're not your own. Well, why
is it that you're not your own? Well, here's the reason, he says
in verse 20. For you're bought with a price.
You're bought with a price. Christ Jesus has bought you.
You're not your own. So when it comes to these divisions
that sometimes the people of God have, forget your rights. You're not your own. This is
not about you. You belong to the Lord. You're
not your own. You're bought with a price. When
it comes to sexual purity, obeying the Word of God, Sex within the
bounds of marriage? A man and a woman coming together
in holy matrimony? You live a pure life in this
world before God and before others for this reason. You're not your
own. It's not about gratification
of the desires of your flesh. It's about glorifying God. You're
not your own. You bought with a price. I know what the world says, whatever
makes me happy, whatever makes you happy, but that's not true
with the people of God. It's whatever glorifies my Lord. Whatever my Lord says. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit which are God's. Have you ever been out shopping?
Maybe you're looking for maybe some kind of bush or plant put
around your house, maybe a bunch of flowers or something. And
you go to the nursery, maybe you go over to McSweeney's or
wherever you go shopping, you're looking for a particular kind
of shrub. You're looking, you and your
wife are looking, Nancy and I are looking. And then you kind of
spot, oh boy, that right over there. I said, hey Nancy, come
here. I think I found just the one
that's going to work right there in that spot. And you go over
there and then you see a red tag on it. It says sold. And you go to the owner, you
go to Bob and Connie or somebody and say, oh, but this is a perfect
one right now, right for us. Oh, let me buy. I'll give you
more than another person is going to give you. I'm sorry. That's
somebody else's property. Sold. You who are the people of God,
you've been bought with a price. And let me see if I can, as I
wind up this message, let me see if I can give you an illustration
to help you remember this. When you get up in the morning,
you can go ahead and close your Bibles, I'm done with this. But
when you get up in the morning and you go before the mirror,
my wife this morning Please don't get upset with me for telling
this. I was out on the porch and I was reading and she said,
I'm going to put on my face. So when you get in front of the
mirror to put on your face in the morning, or get in front
of the mirror to shave your whiskers or trim your beard or whatever,
get in front of the mirror to comb your hair, I want you to
imagine on your forehead are these letters. S.O.L.D. Sold. You're the Lord's purchased possession. You're the people of God. Sold! And you remember that through
the day. See, this is the right motivation. for correct living
in this world, isn't it? You remember what the Apostle
Paul says in Romans chapter 12, he says, I beseech you therefore
brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice to God, holy, acceptable to the Lord. This
is your reasonable service. Sold! Who bought you? Christ did. You're not your own. You're not your own. You bought
with a price. Therefore, here's the therefore. Glorify God in your body and
in your spirit, which are the Lord's. Because you are the people
of God. We'll pick this up tonight. The
Lord will it. Let's sing our last song. 467 since I have been redeemed.
467 since I have been redeemed. 467.