Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program this morning.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles today, I'm going to be preaching from the book
of 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 concerning
this subject, Acceptable by Jesus Christ. Acceptable by Jesus Christ. And what I'll be talking about
is the fact that the only way that the Lord God of heaven,
who is both a just God and a Savior, can accept a person, a sinner,
sinners like us, and even their works, their good works, and
we'll talk about good works in it, is by virtue of the merit
the value, the worth of the glorious person and finished work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We need to understand that in
the matter of salvation, in the matter of a right relationship
with God, in the matter of being justified, that we have absolutely
no earning power with God, no merit at all. We do not earn
salvation. Salvation is never, by a sinner
now, salvation is never earned and never deserved. And that's
why we say and believe in the Bible that salvation is by free,
sovereign grace. It's not by works, lest any man
should boast, it's by grace. And grace is a gift that you
cannot earn or deserve, mercy. I've heard people talk about
trying to gain mercy. Well, mercy is not gained by
what we do. Mercy is obtained by what Christ
did. He's the mercy seat. And so that's
what we're talking about here in 1 Peter 2. Peter begins in
this section with a wherefore in verse 1. He says, wherefore. Laying aside all malice, malice
is a form of hatred. Guile, all guile, that's dishonesty. Hypocrisies, you know what a
hypocrite is, who claims to be one thing and is really another.
It comes from the Greek word that means an actor, putting
on a mask. And he says envies, that's a
form of jealousy. All evil speakings. Put them
away. Fight sin. That's what he's saying.
Look at verse two. He says, as newborn babes desire
the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby, verse
three, if so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Now,
what he's doing here, he's showing that believers, true children
of God, are to be at war with sin. They're not to casually
give in to sin. They're to fight sin. This is what the Bible calls
the warfare of the Holy Spirit who indwells every true believer
the warfare of the Spirit against the flesh. And the flesh is a
metaphor for sinful thoughts, sinful desires, sinful goals
that we still retain even as believers. Sinners saved by grace. We have a desire, a God-given
desire to be like Christ, to follow Him, to honor Him, to
love God perfectly and love our neighbors ourselves. to be obedient,
but we also have sinful desires, sinful goals, sinful thoughts
that corrupt everything we do. So that we cannot in this life,
if we're believers now, if we're sinners saved by grace, if we're
justified by God, by His grace through Christ, We still have
these desires as sinful corruptions within our flesh. And the reason
the word flesh is used is because it's through the body that these
sinful desires and thoughts and goals express themselves. And so it's called the flesh.
Now sometimes in the Bible the word flesh just refers to the
body at large. It doesn't mean anything sinful.
Christ was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.
That's his humanity. But he was sinless. But we're
not. And so we have to fight thoughts
of malice and guile and hypocrisy, envies, evil speakings. But we
have to fight them in the right way. Not as a legalist. Not as
an unbeliever. not as a mercenary trying to
earn our way into God's favor, but as sinners who are already
saved by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
what we understand is this, that in order to have a right relationship
with God, in order to be accepted with God, we must stand before
God in the merits of another person. Because we have none
ourselves. And who is that other person?
There's only one other person, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is called the Lord Our Righteousness. When God saves his people, when
he brings them into the kingdom, regenerates them, converts them,
that's the new birth. When you're born again and you
become a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. What you realize
and recognize is that your only righteousness before God is Christ. And God has imputed, charged,
accounted His righteousness to you. So that we know I'm a sinner,
but God does not charge me with the legal debt of my sin so as
to condemn me. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. And God does not charge me with
those sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? You know who the elect are in
the Bible? They're believers. Those who live and die in unbelief
are not elect. They weren't redeemed by the
blood of Christ. The elect are believers. And
they believe because God sent the Holy Spirit to give them
life from the dead and give them faith to believe. Faith is the
gift of God. It's not something you have in
you naturally that you choose to exercise or not. No, no, no. If God gives you faith to believe,
you will believe. He'll draw you with cords of
love to himself. He'll show you your sinfulness
and your depravity. your lack of righteousness and
he'll drive you to Christ as the only way of righteousness.
And so that's what he says in verse 3. If so be you've tasted
that the Lord is gracious. Now how do you taste that the
Lord is gracious? By the power of the Holy Spirit
you see and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed." And what is that righteousness?
It's the merits of the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus
Christ imputed to the charge of his people. So we stand before
God in Christ. And so he says in verse four,
look at first Peter two and verse four, to whom coming as unto
a living stone. Now to whom coming? Who is the
whom there? That's Christ. And let me tell
you something here. This is a continual living. This is a life, a long endeavor. And what it means, people today,
especially if you grew up in churches today, especially if
you grew up in churches where the gospel, the true gospel is
not preached, It's very common for people to try to get little
kids down the aisle and get a profession out of them and get them in the
baptistry. It's almost like a rite of passage. And quite often,
if you ask a person if they're saved or if they're a Christian,
they'll look back on that time, well, when I was 12 years old,
I walked an aisle and gave my heart to Jesus and all that stuff.
But let me tell you something. To believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ is to come to Him continually. To whom coming. You don't just
come to Him one time and then live your life the way you want
to and then when you die have some preacher preach you into
heaven. That's not what Christianity is about. Listen, He says to
whom coming as unto a living stone. Christ is the life of
His people. And what happened to me when
I was 12 or 13 or what? It's immaterial, forget it. Put
it under the back burner and press on toward the mark of the
high calling of Jesus Christ, Paul wrote in Philippians chapter
three. So we come to him continually,
daily, because at any point in time of my life, I am totally
dependent upon the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. based
upon His blood and His righteousness for my whole salvation. I tell
our congregation all the time, as I look back on my life, and
I've been preaching this gospel for over 30 years now, but if
God were to judge me right now, presently, based upon my best
efforts to obey Him, if He would judge me on that basis, I would
be lost and damned forever. Because my obedience, even with
my good intentions, does not equal the perfection of righteousness
that God requires in order to be accepted with Him, in order
to be saved, in order to be blessed, have communion with Him and fellowship.
Nothing I do equals that perfection. Well, how in the world can I
be accepted with God? Well, let's read on. He says,
to whom coming, this is verse four, first Peter two. He says,
to whom coming as unto a living stone, Christ is a living savior. He's not a dead martyr. He's
not just an example, He is an example, but He's a living Savior. He died, He was buried, He arose
again the third day, and He ascended unto the Father, and He's seated
at the right hand of the Father, ever living, to make intercession
for His people. He stands for His people. Who
are His people? It's not everybody without exception.
Get that out of your mind. The Bible doesn't teach that.
Christ stands as the mediator, the intercessor of God's elect. And who are the elect? Believers. That's who they are. God chose
them before the foundation of the world, he says. Wrote their
names in the Lamb's Book of Life. You say, well, how do I know
who they are? They'll hear the gospel with a spiritual ear. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. Blessed are your eyes for they see. They'll see the glory
of God in Christ with spiritual eye. And God gives them a new
heart and a new mind. And they see their sinfulness
and they run to Christ as their only hope of salvation, as unto
a living stone. He says in verse four, disallowed
indeed of men, in other words, by nature we rejected him, but
chosen of God and precious. Christ is precious, verse five.
He says, you also as living stones. Christ is the huge stone, the
foundation stone, the cornerstone. He's the rock upon which the
church is built. Believers, his people, they're
like little bricks, the little stones that make up the building.
You see, Christ's church is built upon the rock, Christ Jesus,
not built upon men. When Christ spoke in Matthew,
I believe it's chapter 16 if I'm not mistaken, about who do
men say that I am and the disciples were giving him the different
opinions of men. And then he said, whom do you
say that I am? And remember Peter spoke up, he said, thou art the
Christ the Son of the Living God. He's saying, you're the
Messiah, the only way of salvation. Christ said, blessed are you,
Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And he said, from
now on, I'll call you Peter. That's the little stone. And
he said, upon this rock, that's the big rock, that's the rock
of Gibraltar, if you wanna say it that way. Upon this rock,
not Peter, but upon Christ, the Messiah, upon this rock I will
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. That's who the rock is, it's not Peter. The church is not
built upon the Pope, or any apostle, or anybody. And Christ is the
foundation of the church, the rock. My hope is built on nothing
less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock,
I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
And he's the head of the church too. And so he says here, Verse
5, you also as lively or living stones are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood, a separated priesthood. That's what that
means. You're separated out. Now what does that mean? Well,
if you're saved, you're separated out from the world of the lost.
Now who separated you? It wasn't yourself. It wasn't
by your believing. It was God who separated you,
chose you, redeemed you, and gave you faith to believe. And
so you're a holy priesthood, which means you have access into
the very presence of God. Now think about that. Access
into the very presence of God. Just like, you remember like
in the Old Testament, the tabernacle, the high priest would go in once
a year into the holiest of all with the blood of the lamb. Well,
God's people are a holy priesthood. We have access into the holiest
of all by the blood of Jesus Christ. And that's what he's
saying here. Holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Now what are those spiritual
sacrifices that he's talking about? He's talking about spiritual
offerings that the people of God bring to God. And what is
he talking about? He's talking about our worship,
talking about our praise, our love to God, talking about our
prayers, our service, all of those things. Those are spiritual
offerings that we offer up to God to honor Him. And how are
they accepted? Now remember I said earlier,
nothing that we, I'm a sinner saved by grace. And I can tell
you I love God. And that's a gift. That didn't
come natural. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. You see, that's what we are by
nature, sinners. We don't know God and don't love
God by nature. And because we're spiritually
dead and trespasses Him, we fail in Adam. And the depravity of
man comes out in his ignorance of and rejection of the one way
of salvation through Christ. And so, I can tell you that because
God has blessed me, God has saved me, I can say I love Him. but I don't love him perfectly.
I have rivals in my mind and in my heart for my love to God. It's love of self, it's love
of things. And that's why there's a warfare
within. That's why Paul said in Romans chapter seven, that
which I would do, I do not. That which I do, I allow not.
In other words, I'm a sinner, I don't approve of that. I don't
make way for that, I have to fight it. And we'll fight it
not by the power of the flesh, but by the power of the Holy
Spirit. That's why it's called the warfare of the flesh and
the spirit. I want to obey God, but my obedience is not perfect.
Nothing I do equals the perfection of righteousness that God requires
to be accepted with Him. So where am I going to find that
perfection? Only in the glorious person and
the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? You see, my salvation is not
based upon who I am or my reputation. I have none in God's sight. It's
based upon who Christ is. And who is He? He's God manifest
in the flesh. He's God in human flesh without
sin. He's the sinless God-man. The
father spoke from heaven at Christ's baptism. And he said, this is
my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. The scripture tells
me that in Hebrews chapter 11, that without faith, it's impossible
for me to please God. Without looking to Christ, that's
what that means. Some people say, well, that means
you gotta believe hard. Well, you gotta believe, but
that doesn't mean you're believing. is what makes you acceptable
with God. We believe in Christ who makes
us acceptable unto God. You see that? Even our faith
is accepted through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. So
without faith, without looking to Christ, without resting in
Him, without pleading His blood and righteousness, I cannot please
God. And so who is he? He's God and
manifests in the flesh. What did he accomplish on Calvary? Well, he accomplished the actual
purging of all my sins. He put them away. Now, how did
he do that? As my sins, the debt of my sins,
which is, what is the wages of sin? Death. The debt of my sin
was charged to Christ. He was made sin. He's the sin
offering. He's the sin bearer. The Lord
hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all. Who are they all there?
That's his people. That's the elect. Not everybody
without exception. And how did God lay on him the
iniquity of his people? By imputation, by a legal act
of charging, accounting the debt of my sins to Christ. He's my
surety. And as my surety, He became my
substitute. He went under the law to obey
it perfectly on my behalf. And He went to the cross to suffer
and bleed and die on my behalf. And when He died, He fulfilled
the full penalty and payment of my sins to the law. And He
purged them away. He bore them away, you see. and
in His death He brought forth an everlasting righteousness."
Righteousness is perfect satisfaction to God's justice. Christ accomplished
righteousness by His death on the cross and that righteousness
of Christ is imputed, charged to me, so that I stand before
God righteous. I stand before God justified. I stand before God forgiven of
all my sins, not just some of those sins. Christ didn't die
for some sins and then leave the rest for me to pay for. No,
He put away all my sins. Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering,
He hath perfected, finished, completed forever them that are
sanctified, those who God set apart and gave to Him. And so
I stand before God in the righteousness of Christ imputed and I'm accepted
with God through Christ. My spiritual sacrifices, my obedience,
my prayers, my worship, my praise is acceptable to God only by
the merits of the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's it. And so he goes on, he says in
verse six here, he says, wherefore also it is contained in the scripture,
and he quotes here from Isaiah, he says, behold, I lay in Zion,
Zion's the church, a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded. Christ is the rock,
the foundation of the church. He's the chief cornerstone. That
means all the other stones are measured by him. And so that's
what he's talking about. Every little stone in this building,
this spiritual building, the church, is measured by Christ. And so the issue is, are you
washed in his blood? Are you clothed in his righteousness? And those who are in him, who
believe on him, they'll not be confounded, they'll not be confused,
they'll not be ashamed. And he says in verse seven, unto
you therefore which believe he, Christ, is precious. But unto
them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner, verse eight, and
a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which
stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed.
Now that's the difference. Sinners saved by grace, to them,
Christ is precious. All others who do not see the
glory of God in Christ, who do not see the power of His death
and resurrection, the power of righteousness, who reject Him,
well, He's not precious to them. They don't need Him. You know
what's precious to them? Themselves, their works, their
experiences. their dreams, their visions,
their morality. They stand before God like those
in Matthew 7 who said, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in
your name? Have we not done this? Have we
not done that? You see, what should we plead? Standing before God judgment,
Christ crucified and risen from the dead, the righteousness of
the Son of God. That's my acceptance before God.
And so he concludes in verse nine, he says, but you're a chosen
generation of those unto whom Christ is precious, who are accepted
before God in Christ. They're a chosen generation.
They're the elect of God. They're a royal priesthood, a
kingdom of priests who have free access into the presence of God,
accepted with God in Jesus Christ, and holy nation, a separated
nation, a spiritual nation, That's the church. That's the whole
family of God. They're a peculiar people. That
means a purchased people. Christ redeemed them by the blood
of his cross. He paid the full price. He paid
it all. And he says, in order that you
should show forth the praises of him who had called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light. You see that? That's all
the work of God, and then verse 10, which in time past were not
a people, but are now the people of God. By nature, by nature,
all that we could do, we were alienated from God, but now having
been brought into the kingdom, looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith, we're the people of God, which had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. You didn't earn
mercy. You didn't deserve mercy. In
fact, If you earned it or deserve it, it can't be mercy. Someone
said one time that grace is God giving us what we don't deserve
or earn, and mercy is God not giving us what we have deserved
and earned. But my friend, we need to understand
that everything a child of God is and everything that a child
of God does by way of obedience, praise, worship, prayer, it's
only acceptable unto God. by Jesus Christ. Without Christ,
there's no love from God, no mercy, no grace. There's no acceptance
with God, no fellowship, no real blessing from God. Acceptable
in Jesus Christ. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2-1. Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia
31707. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterrofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.