We'll stay right there where
Brother Mark read. We're going to look at 1 Peter
chapter 2, is our text. Those first five verses, and
I've entitled the message with the last phrase that Mark read,
acceptable by Jesus Christ. And that's where I want to get
to, but I want to show you how Peter reaches that. But he's
writing to believers here. sinners saved by grace. And he's
encouraging these believers who arrived where they are by the
grace and the power and the goodness and the mercy of God, who've
been given the gift of faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
as he has identified and as he has been specified and defined
in the gospel message the word that that was preached he talked
about in verse 25 of chapter 1 the gospel of the person of
Christ that's what the gospel is about who Christ is it's not
about who you are who I am we're sinners that's who we are we're
the unworthy But the good news is about the worthy one. Worthy
is the lamb that was slain, we dealt with in our Bible study
this morning. And so it's about Christ. Who
is Jesus Christ? What think ye of Christ? Whose
son is he? Well, he's God's son and he's
David's son, he said in Matthew 22. What does that mean? That
means he's God manifest in the flesh. Why is that important?
Because that's what qualified him to do what he came to do,
to save his people from their sins. His name shall be called
Jesus. Jehovah saves, for he shall save his people from their
sins. Is he able? Well, his name shall be called
Emmanuel, which being interpreted, God with us. God manifests in
the flesh without sin. And then what did he accomplish?
Well, Mark read about it. I dealt with it last week. He
accomplished redemption. He didn't accomplish probation.
He didn't accomplish possibilities. He accomplished salvation for
all for whom he died. He established the everlasting
righteousness of God, which demands the eternal salvation of everyone
for whom he shed his blood. And that's what this is about.
That's our faith is in Christ, crucified and raised from the
dead. And what Peter is doing here, he's writing to these believers.
They were Jewish believers because he calls them strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia. But they were also,
there were some Gentile believers with them. But he's encouraging
them to remain strong in the faith, to persevere in the faith,
even through persecution and temptations. what he says in
verse six of chapter one, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now
for a season, if need be, you're in heaviness through manifold
temptations, testings. So he reminds them of what they
are and what they have by virtue of God's grace in Christ. And
so for when you look at verse one of chapter two, it says,
wherefore, That's about the same as saying therefore. And what
it means, for this reason, or based upon this truth, do this
now. And what truths is he talking
about? What did he say? Now let me just give you a rundown.
I'm not gonna re-preach chapter one. But here's what he says. Having been chosen by God in
Christ before the foundation of the world. If you believe
the gospel, that describes you. chosen by God before the foundation
of the world in Christ. And he says, having been given
to Christ upon whom all our salvation was conditioned, he's taken the full responsibility
to save me, to keep me, and to bring me to glory. That's what
grace is all about. And then, having been justified
in God's sight by Christ's righteousness given to me, imputed to me, I
have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's law and
justice, even to the point that the Bible says that I don't have
to fear judgment, because I stand before God in
Christ. And then, having been redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without spot and
without blemish, the full price paid, there's nothing left for
me to pay. He paid my debt in full. and
then have him been sanctified by the Spirit in new birth and
brought to faith. If I do really believe in him,
that's a gift from God. That's nothing I mustered up
within myself. If I've repented of dead works,
that's a gift from God. If I persevere in the faith,
that's a gift from God, by the power of God. And then listen
to this, having been given an incorruptible inheritance reserved
in heaven for me. I have an inheritance that cannot
be denied, cannot be taken away, cannot be corrupted. And now
being preserved by the power of God through faith unto salvation,
ready to be revealed in the last time. Now, therefore, based upon
that, what does he say? These things that we've mentioned
are all blessings of God's grace that are accomplished and finished
in the lives of God's people. Do you realize that every one
of those things are a finished work? Nothing is left to us to finish.
Every bit of it is a completed, finished work. Read it in Ephesians
1.3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who have blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And there
they are. There's not one part of this
that says, now I started this, Bill Parker, now you finish it
up. You bring it home. No, it's done. What am I to do
then? I'm to live out of it. I'm to
live upon it. You understand that? My position,
my blessings, my benefits, my perfection, accomplished by Christ. Not by me. I'm not perfect in
myself, but I am in Him. Completed. And these are all
blessings of God's grace that are accomplished. Finished in
God's people. We cannot lose any of these blessings
by our sinning. We may lose sight. David lost
sight of those blessings, didn't he, at one point in time? He
prayed, restoring to me not thy salvation, but restoring to me
the joy of thy salvation. So yeah, we can lose sight of
it, but we can't lose these blessings. God won't let us. He won't let
us go. He'll always bring us back. And we cannot add to any
of these blessings by our obedience and good works. Our works are not good enough
to save us. Our works are not good enough
to cleanse us from our sins. Our works are not good enough
to make us righteous before God. They're not powerful enough to
preserve us under glory. And yet, we're called on by our
Lord and Savior to live what he called holy lives. Separated
lives. Separated from the world. And
understand now, that means separated from the world in any capacity. Whether it's talking about its
immoral behavior and attitude, or it's religious. Separate,
come out from among them. And therefore he says, wherefore,
for this reason and upon this basis and this ground and from this assurance, he says
something here in verse one, laying aside. What does that
mean? That means put away, do away
with. What am I to put away and do
away with? Malice, what's malice? Hatefulness, ill will. Bad thoughts towards others.
Put it away. Do away with it. Fight it. He says all guile. What's guile? That's deception and dishonesty. Trying to, it's very closely
related to the next word, hypocrisies. Pretending we are better than
we really are. Like we're the standard. Put
away, do away with envies. Begrudging the happiness, the
prosperity or success of others. Do away with that. Fight it.
And all evil speakings. What he's talking about there
is slander and gossip, false accusations. Do away with all
of that. Fight it. What's he telling us,
folks? He's telling us to fight sin, isn't he? He's telling us
to do away with it. Not to give way to it. Are these
sins? Are they within our thought processes
and our capacities? Well, it's called the flesh,
isn't it? Am I above being malicious? No,
I'm not above it. Am I above deceiving myself about
things? I know the Holy Spirit has removed
the deception of darkness that keeps us in unbelief. He's done
that. I know who God is and I know who I am. But am I above dishonesty
and deception? No. Am I above hypocrisy, pretending
that I'm better than I really am? No, I'm not above that. That's
a sin I have to fight. You do too, if you don't admit
it, you're a hypocrite. Isn't that right? Envies? Begrudging the happiness,
prosperity, and success of others. I saw a program where three women
won $3 million. I wish that was me. No, you don't wish it was me,
you wish it was you. Are we above this? No, we're
not above it. Evil speaking, slander, gossip,
false, we're not above it. We're all susceptible to it.
You know, Paul in Romans 7 made a statement that astounds some
people, and I don't think they really understand the implication
of it. And here's what Paul said in
Romans 7, there beginning at verse 14 and going through, you
know the passage I'm talking about. Some people don't understand
this passage to the point they say, well, Paul had to be talking
about himself before he was saved. But he wasn't. He was a saved
man having this struggle within. And here's what he said, he said,
when I would do good, evil is present with me. Now wait a minute, he didn't
say when I would do evil. He said when I would do good,
evil's right there with me. And in essence what he says in
Romans 7, I can't get away from it. I know what it is to do good. You know how we know what it
is to do good? The only reason that we really know what it is
to do good is because we know the Lord Jesus Christ who is
the supreme standard and example of goodness and righteousness. The kind of love that Christ
had for his people. Do I have that kind of love?
I have that love within me, but when I would love like Christ
loved, evil's present with me, the flesh is still there, lusting
against the spirit, the spirit warring against the flesh. It's
a battle, isn't it? If we had that perfection of
love, it wouldn't be a battle. He had no inward battle within
himself, Christ did. But Paul said this, he went on
to say this in Romans 7. He said, I know what it is to
do good, but I don't know how. Do you know how to do good? Well,
if you know how, why aren't you doing it? You don't know how. And so Peter writes here to the
people. I don't know what specific problem
any one individual is having here within the confines of their
fellowship. I know there are problems, aren't
there? There'll be problems within the confines of our fellowship
here. Somebody not doing right, not thinking right, not acting
right? Well, he says do away with malice and guile and hypocrisy,
envy, evil speaking. This is very similar to what
Paul wrote in Colossians 3. Look over there with me. In the book of Colossians chapter
3. Here he's talking to the church at Colossae. And he gives them
the same assurances that any believer needs to have. When
he talks about if you're risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above. Set your affection on things
above. You are dead, he says in verse 3. How am I dead? I'm
dead to the law, I'm dead to sin in the sense that Christ
died for me and I'm justified, I'm forgiven by his blood, I'm
washed in his blood, I'm clothed in his righteousness. My life
is hid with Christ in God. Aren't you glad that your life
is hidden in the rock, the cleft of the rock? And then he says
in verse five, mortified, put to death your members, which
are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, covetousness, which is idolatry." You mean
believers are capable of such stuff? Yes, we're capable. We
have the flesh. And as long as we're in this
flesh, we will be capable of those things until we leave this
vile body. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this
body of death, or the body of this death? But now look back at 1 Peter
chapter 2. So we're to fight sin. You know,
I always think about, I've been preaching this on TV, I've been
working up another message on Christian liberty. Christian
liberty is never, in any shape, way, or form, in any capacity
in the Bible, Christian liberty is never liberty to sin. It's
only liberty to obey. It's only liberty to serve. Serve
God and serve his people. That's liberty. Because everything
before coming to a saving knowledge of Christ is the bondage of legalism
and dead works. But the truth has made us free.
It's liberty to serve. But service doesn't come easy
sometimes. It's a fight, it's a warfare
within. And that's why he says, fight these things. And then
look at verse two. He says, as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Now
he's not telling us to always remain as spiritual infants and
not to grow up. Here's what he's telling us.
Be just as hungry now as a mature believer as you were when you
were first born. Just as hungry for the sincere,
the pure milk of the Word of God. I think about the church at Ephesus
in Revelation. They lost their first love. Don't
lose your first love. Be just as hungry today. Some
of y'all, you've been converted for over 30 years. You need to
be just as hungry today as you were when you first started out. And the milk of the Word now,
the milk of the Word is not some kind of simplified doctrine as
opposed to higher doctrine that only the spiritually mature can
digest. The milk of the Word, there's
the Gospel. It's all the Word of God associated
with the Gospel. How God can save sinners and
still be God. how the Spirit of God gives us
life through Christ, resides within us and motivates us as
we feed upon His Word. Spiritual growth is always, as
Peter puts it in 2 Peter 3.18, growth in grace and in knowledge
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Learning more and more
of His glory, His beauty, His power, His goodness, and learning
more and more about our sinfulness. Study to show yourself approved
unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. This is our sword, isn't it? Becoming skillful in the word
of righteousness so that we can know the difference between what
is good and glorifying to God and what's evil and not glorifying
to Him. And he says in verse three, if
so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. This is evidence,
you see. That word if could be translated
since, since you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. This is
the work of the Holy Spirit in the new birth whereby he gives
us a hunger for the word of God. He fills us with the knowledge
of God through his work. Peter had spoken of it. You've
purified your souls and obeying the truth through the spirit
unto unfeigned or sincere love of the brethren. And they'll
love one another with a pure heart for, what is that pure
heart? It's the heart that's cleansed by the blood of Christ. And then in verse four, chapter
two, to whom coming, I love that. We don't just come to Christ
one time on the day that we're converted. We come to him all
the time. It's a continual coming. We come to him every day as unto
a living stone. That's who Christ is. He lives,
he lives. People celebrating his resurrection,
do they know what it means? He's a living stone, disallowed,
disapproved of, rejected indeed of men. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them.
Have you received them? That's because God gave you that
gift. But chosen of God, Christ was
chosen of God and precious, valuable. He's precious. He's gonna say
that later on. Verse seven, unto you therefore
which believe he is precious. He is our honor is what that
actually means. I have no honor but Christ. And
so in verse five he says, you also as lively or living stones
are built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood. To offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Now,
by God's grace and from the Lord Jesus Christ, here is what we
are. We're living stones. We're a
spiritual household, a family, a holy priesthood that is sanctified,
separated. To do what? To offer up spiritual
sacrifices. Now think about this in contrast
with the old covenant and the priesthood of the old covenant.
Under the new covenant, which is what we are, every believer
in Jesus Christ is a holy priest, a sanctified priest. That means
we go to God through our great high priest, Jesus Christ. And as priests, and we don't
have to wear funny collars or anything like that. This is what
we are in Christ. This is what we've been made.
And as priests, we offer up what the Bible calls spiritual sacrifices
through Jesus Christ. Now these spiritual sacrifices
replace the material sacrifices of the Old Covenant. Think about
it this way, the priest of the New Covenant We're no longer,
the priests of the Anukkah are not a separate class, just of
the tribe of Levi. And no longer do we offer bulls
and goats and lambs on a built-up altar. And not only do believers
constitute the new priesthood, but we are the living stones
forming the spiritual temple of God. We are the temple of
God. And our worship, involves the
offering of spiritual sacrifices, and here's the key, acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. We read it over in Ephesians
1 and verse 7. We're accepted of God in the
beloved. So in other words, everything
we are as sinners saved by grace, everything we have privilege
to do as a holy priesthood, to go unto God by the blood of Christ,
everything we have by virtue of blessings, and everything
we do in seeking to please God, to be conformed to Christ, to
obey his word, to fight sin, is only acceptable, that is received
and approved of by God, by Jesus Christ. What does that mean? That means
upon the merits of his blood, upon the merits of his righteousness
imputed to us. When Moses was writing by inspiration
of the spirit concerning the sacrifices of the tabernacle,
he wrote in Leviticus 22, 21, it says, the sacrifice shall
be perfect to be accepted. Has to be perfect. Well, my friend,
where are we going to find perfection? The perfection of righteousness
only in Christ. What are these spiritual sacrifices?
Let me give you these three things and you just turn to these scriptures. Turn to Hebrews 4. What are these sacrifices that
he's talking about? And there are probably more in
the Bible that I could talk to you about, but these are three
that are specifically mentioned. Number one is our prayers. You
know, in the old covenant tabernacle, they had an altar of incense,
which represented the prayers of the saints and the intercession
of Christ. We pray unto God. Our prayer
is a spiritual sacrifice. How does God accept our prayers? Do you always pray a perfect
prayer? I never pray a perfect prayer, haven't you? You ever
stumble? You ever get your mind wandering?
You ever pray for things you shouldn't pray for? We pray thy will be done, that's
why. Well look at verse 14 of Hebrews 4. Seeing then that we
have a great high priest, now here's your key right there. Everything is about having a
great high priest. Who is this that is passed into
the heavens or literally through the heavens? He went unto God. He went unto the Father for his
people having done the work. Our surety, our substitute, our
redeemer. made an end of sin, finished
the transgression, brought in everlasting righteousness, and
he went into the heavens, went to the Father. Jesus, the Son
of God, let us hold fast our profession." That's what Peter's
saying in 1 Peter 2. Persevere. Hold fast our profession. What is our profession? Jesus
Christ crucified and risen from the dead, his blood, his righteousness. And then for we have not an high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He felt pain and sorrow and hunger without sin. He was in all points
tempted or tested like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore
come boldly, confidently under the throne of what? Grace. that we may obtain mercy and
find grace in time of need. Our prayers are accepted with
God through Jesus Christ. And without Christ, our prayers
are totally rejected. Without his blood washing us
clean, without his righteousness justifying us, Without His intercession,
His pleading, His merits on our behalf, even our prayers are
rejected. But we're accepted in Christ. Seeing them, we have a great
high priest who entered heaven's glory. Over in Hebrews chapter
10, it basically says the same thing in verse 19. Hebrews 10 verse 19, having therefore
brethren boldness, liberty, confidence to enter the holiest by the blood
of Jesus. That's it. And then turn to Hebrews
13. Our praise, we're here to praise
God. We're here to give glory to God.
Our praise is a spiritual sacrifice. Look at Hebrews 13. Look at verse
nine. He's spoken of Jesus Christ the
same yesterday, today, and forever, and he says, be not carried about
with diverse and strange doctrines. It's a good thing that the heart
be established with grace, not with meats which have not profited
them that have been occupied there. How is your heart established? The assurance, the confidence,
where do you find that? In what you eat or don't eat
or in physical sacrifices, works or whatever? No, with grace. And where does grace reign? Through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Verse 10, we have
an altar where they have no right to eat. We serve the tabernacle.
Christ is our tabernacle. Christ is our sacrifice. Christ
is our great high priest. You serve in an earthly tabernacle
as a rejection of him. Christ is our altar. Verse 11,
for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the
camp. Wherefore, Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate, outside the gates of Jerusalem. He was too unholy
in their eyes to be in their holy city. So he says in verse
13, let us go therefore unto him without the camp bearing
his reproach for here we have no continuing city but we seek
one to come. And look at verse 15, by him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. By him, we offer the sacrifice
of praise. Even our praise is acceptable
unto God only by Jesus Christ. So in other words, you know,
you see these religious organizations and they stand up and they say,
praise the Lord, praise God, but who are they looking to?
How is their heart established? What are they hearing from the
pulpits? The true gospel or a false gospel? You see what I'm saying? Our praise is only accepted with
God through the blood and righteousness of Christ. And then one more,
turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, there's your key, that you present your
bodies, now that means your whole self, a living sacrifice, wholly
separated, acceptable unto God, how? By the mercies of God, by
Jesus Christ, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed
to this world. Don't be conformed to this world
in its immorality or its false religion. It's works aimed at
salvation. Don't be conformed to that. Don't
be united with that. Don't have fellowship with it.
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That
you'll be a living example of the will of God. That's our surrender. That's our service to the will
of God. And it's acceptable. It's an acceptable sacrifice.
How? by Jesus Christ. Those two verses there say a
mouthful, don't they? I beseech you, therefore, by
the mercies of God. Where do we find the mercy of
God? In Christ, the mercy seat. Nowhere else. And that's our
acceptance. I've got an article in the back
of the bulletin. I know you can read. but just in case, it's
by William Gadsby, the famous hymnist. And it says this, God
tells us that his people are accepted in Christ. If a person
was without Christ, then he has nothing that God will accept.
God tells us that no man can come unto the Father but by Christ.
Therefore, if a person is without Christ, he has no ground upon
which he can approach God. Christ said, I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. If he is the way, there's no
other way. If he's the truth, everything else is a lie. And
if he is the life, everything apart from him is death. Those
who have Christ have his blood for pardon, his righteousness
for justification, his fullness for every need, his strength
to support us, his promise to cheer us, his grace to keep us,
and his power to present us faultless before the presence of his glory
with exceeding joy. Understand that being accepted
with God in Christ is not Christ making up for where we fall short. It is Christ is all. Christ is
everything. The merits, the acceptability
is only in Him and in Him alone. Okay.