Now, my text this morning is
in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 9. Verse 9, where the apostle was
inspired to write, but you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, And you might
have, if you have a concordance in your Bible, that word peculiar
can be translated purchased, a purchased people. And all of
that, in order that you should show forth the praises, that's
the power, the virtues, of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. The title of this message is
This Holy Nation. this holy nation. The past few
weeks I've been preaching several messages from several passages
of scripture concerning the subject of sanctification, which you
could also say in the same way, the subject of holiness. And
I hope and tried to make it clear that what most people's view
in religion of sanctified, sanctification and holiness is not scriptural.
but that to be a sanctified person, to be a holy person, and I'll
tell you what, it's hard when you think about that. If you
know yourself, and I believe God's people do to some degree
know ourselves, it's kind of difficult in a way to look at
myself in the mirror and say, I'm a holy person. And I have to keep in mind exactly
what I've been preaching to you in order to do that and to not
be embarrassed or ashamed or think I'm lying to myself. I
have to keep in mind the exact things that I've been preaching
to you over these weeks concerning holiness. I mean, he says there
in 1 Peter 2, he says, you're a holy nation. Now, who's he
talking about? He's not talking about America.
He's not talking about England. He's not talking about Israel.
He's talking about the nation of spiritual Israel, you could
say it that way. He's talking about His people,
His church. And the reason I know that is because of the context
of what Peter's saying here. But to be a sanctified person,
to be a holy person, is to be one who is set apart by God in
Jesus Christ through His grace. And what does all that involve?
Well, it means to be set apart in eternity. through God's electing
grace. Look at what Peter says here,
you're a chosen generation. Now, who chose you? Well, it
wasn't the world and it wasn't ourselves. He's talking about
being set apart before the foundation of the world by the electing
grace, sovereign electing grace of God. You're a chosen generation. Now, to think of myself as being
chosen of God, That's an awesome thing, isn't it? I mean, why
would God choose me? If you're chosen of God, why
would God choose you? And of course, you know the answer
that false religion gives of that. They say God looked down
through the telescope of time and foresaw you and what you
would do or in some realm or something. And of course there's
nothing in the Bible even close to that. That is not in the Bible. That is pure pride of human sinful
speculation and rationale. The only answer that the Lord
himself gave about that subject is in Matthew chapter 11 where
he said, for Lord, it seemed good in thy sight. But the Bible teaches very plainly
that if you're chosen of God, there was and is nothing about
you or in you or about me or in me to motivate God to do so. It was simply His sovereign choice,
and that's all the reason He gives. A chosen generation. And so that's being sanctified.
Sanctified by the Father before the foundation of the world.
Sanctified in sovereign grace. God's not a crystal ball gazer.
God is not some kind of a cosmic astronomer looking down through
a telescope of time. God determines all things beforehand. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. And He chose us in Christ. Christ
having been already appointed to be our surety and our substitute. That's what Ephesians chapter
1 teaches us. Chosen in Christ Jesus. Look
at 1 Peter chapter 1. How Peter opens his letter. Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, verse one, to the strangers. The word
stranger in the New Testament is a word that would be like
our word foreigner, a foreigner. This world is not our home. We're
like foreigners on this earth as far as our relationship with
God, if we're in Christ. And he said the strangers scattered
throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia. These are believers
scattered throughout that world. And look what he says in verse
2. Elect, that's chosen, according to the foreknowledge of God.
Now foreknowledge, in this word, this original word, doesn't mean
simply knowing beforehand. It could be translated foreordination. foreordained. This is the foreordaining
of God. And in the context of who it
is that is said to have this foreknowledge, that's what it
has to be. There's no other way because God is not, listen, God
is sovereign in all things. He's omniscient. He's the great
determiner. You say, well, there's a lot
of questions I have about that. And I say, join the club. That's
okay. You're not gonna figure it all
out, neither am I. All I know is what God reveals.
And that's the plain truth of it. But he says, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit. That's talking about being set
apart by the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Unto obedience of
the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's being sanctified
by the blood of Christ, set apart. And then he says, grace be unto
you and peace be multiplied. So, you're a chosen generation. He says in verse 9 of 1 Peter
2, you're a royal priesthood. That's our sanctification, that's
our holiness, that's our being set apart in Christ to be able
to approach God within his kingdom. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10 that I read in the opening. People talk about the priesthood
of the believer. Now, growing up in religion,
you know what I used to think the priesthood of the believer
meant? I thought, well, that means you go to the Bible and
you interpret it your way, and I go to the Bible and I interpret
it that way, my way, and that's the way it is. That's not what
the priesthood of the believer means. Right here, there's several
passages I could go to, but here's one of the best definitions you'll
find in scripture of the priesthood of the believer. You're a royal
priesthood. That's a kingdom of priests. That's what that
means. We who are in Christ are set apart unto God. We have unhindered
liberty, freedom to approach God in His kingdom. We're a kingdom
of priests. There's one high priest. That's
Christ. And we are priests, plural. And here's what it means. Now
this whole passage is talking about how believers, how the
children of God have been sanctified by the blood of Christ. Look
up at verse 10. By the which will, that is the
will of God in accomplishing our salvation through Christ,
we are sanctified, set apart through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once, literally once. Once for all, you could
say for all of his people, all of his sheep, the good shepherd
gives his life for the sheep. So that's our sanctification
by the blood of Christ. Now based upon our being sanctified,
set apart by the blood of Christ, listen to this, look at verse
18. of chapter 10 he says now where remission that is forgiveness
pardon cleansing of these that is sin is where that is by the
blood of Christ there's no more offering for sin you don't have
to bring to your approach unto God now is not what you offer
to God never has been has it as far as your works your efforts
like Cain It's like I heard, I'll never forget one time hearing
the preacher who said, he said, you don't have any right to pray
to God unless you've cleansed all, gotten rid of all your sins.
My soul, if that's the case, we don't ever have any right
to approach unto God in prayer. He says in verse 19, having therefore,
based upon being cleansed from all our sins by the blood of
Christ, brethren, boldness, that word boldness you might have
in your concordance is liberty, free access to enter the holiest. Now no one can enter the holiest
unless they themselves are holy. And he says to enter that, now
upon what basis, upon what ground do you enter the holiest? What's
the next line? By the blood of Jesus. There
it is, there it is. By his right, that's the same
as saying his death, his cross, his righteousness imputed, those
are all equivalent terms. My only liberty to approach God
in the holiest as a priest is based upon the blood of the high
priest. Jesus Christ. I have no other
right. I have no other title. I have no other qualification.
I have no other worthiness. It's totally, 100%, the blood
of Jesus. And look at verse 20. He says,
by a new and living way. In other words, it's not a dead
way. The blood of bulls and goats,
that was a dead way. Do you know that? Why? Because
the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But
this is a new way. Now, it's not new in the mind
and purpose of God, because it's the product of an everlasting,
eternal covenant made before the foundation of the world,
but it's new in time. It was brought about in time,
about 2,000 years ago, when Christ came and died on the cross, and
it says, a new and living way which he, which Jesus Christ,
hath consecrated, if you find, you may have in your concordance
there, newly made. In other words, it's a new way
that He made, not that you made, or I made, or the church made. It's a way that Christ made for
us, that is, as our surety and substitute. Our sins, having
been imputed to Him, And he dined for those sins as guilty under
the law of God, paid our debt in full, drank damnation dry.
He did it for us through the veil that is to say his flesh,
that's his humanity. That's how he died. God in human
flesh to pay our debt to God's justice. And then in having a
high priest over the house of God, the reason we can say we're
a royal priest is because we have a high priest over the house
of God, over the family of God. Christ, His finished work is
the foundation. He's the head of the church.
He's the high priest. He's over the house, that's the
household, the family of God. And then look at verse 22, he
says, let us draw near with a true heart. Drawing near to God. Drawing near to God. Think about
that. You remember back in the Old
Testament in Exodus when Moses came down out of Mount Sinai,
bearing the tablets, and basically he told the people that God said,
don't you approach under this mountain. He said, if even an
animal approaches, throw a spear or an arrow through his heart. Death, death, death. Don't you
approach. Because you see, you cannot approach
God on the basis of law works. There's no approach. There's
no coming near. Stay away. Any sinner who approaches God
based on their works in any way, death is the result. That's what
it means. But here now, he says, draw near. You say, how do we draw near?
Well, we draw near in worship. We draw near in prayer. We draw
near in our lives. And he says, with a true heart.
What do you mean a true heart? Well, a true heart is an honest
heart. A heart in where there's no God.
Doesn't mean sinless perfection in you. Or me. It means we're honest about it.
And how have we been made honest? By the Holy Spirit, in conviction. What am I? You say, well, you're
a preacher. Yeah, I'm a preacher, but I'm
a sinner. And I have no more right this morning, today, up
here preaching this message, to approach unto God by my works
than you do, or the worst sinner in Albany. Not based on my works. My right and title and liberty
and worthiness to approach unto God today is the blood of Jesus
Christ. And that's it. I'm just being
honest with you. You know, a lot of people don't
like preachers to be honest like that. Well, I thought you ought
to be better than the rest of us. Well, I hope I am. But I've
got news for you, I'm not. I'm not. I'm just, as Brother
Mahan used to say, I'm just like a beggar telling other beggars
where to find food, spiritually speaking. A true heart, a sincere
heart, a convicted heart, convicted over sin, a needy heart, knowing
that I need Christ. I need his blood, his righteousness.
And then he says in full assurance of faith. What is the full assurance
of faith? That's the full assurance that
comes to a sinner in looking to Christ as the author and finisher
of his faith. You see, I don't gain assurance
by looking within myself or looking at my works or trying to find
evidences. I know there's a big argument
going on with some people on the internet about that, you
know. Do I gain assurance by looking at my evidences? No,
I gain assurance by looking to Christ. That's it. Having our hearts
sprinkled from an evil conscience. You know what an evil conscience
is? It's a guilty conscience, condemned conscience, a legal
conscience. How's the conscience cleansed?
By the blood of Jesus. And our bodies washed with pure
water. Our persons, that's what that means, washed in the blood
of Christ. And that's what it's talking
about. Now that's the priesthood of the believer, right there.
We have free access. Go back to 1 Peter 2.9. You're
a chosen generation. We're sanctified. A royal priesthood. We're set apart, you see. And
then he says, in a holy nation. And that's where I got the title
of the message. This holy nation. Who's he talking about? He's
talking about the children of God, chosen of God, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit, born again
by the Spirit. You're a holy nation. What is
it to be holy? Well, it's to be set apart, like
we've already talked about, by the Father, the Son, and the
Spirit. It's to be regarded by God, treated by God, declared
by God in Christ as holy, accounted, I'm righteous in Christ. I'm
complete in Him. I told you last week, I'm not
complete in myself, but I am in Christ. And He's my hope,
He's my foundation. And it means this, it means to
live in and by the grace of God, by the principles of holiness
and grace. That doesn't mean that we're
getting closer as we grow older to sinless perfection. Doesn't
mean that at all. That's not biblical. That's self-righteousness. Our life of holiness begins with
the new birth because before that we're dead in trespasses
and sins. We have no desire for God. We
have no mind for God. But we're given that when the
Holy Spirit imparts life and knowledge. and convicts us of
sin. We do not, at that time, start
up on a progressive growth, getting closer to perfection in ourselves. That's not what happens. In fact,
I would say that most of you, if not all of you, would agree
with me that the older you get, the more you see your sinfulness. But thank God, by His grace,
the more we see of Christ and His righteousness. But it has to do with looking
to and living out of Christ, living by faith, motivated by
grace. It has to do with seeking to
be conformed to Christ according to his word as we're guided by
his word. It has to do with growing in
grace and in knowledge of Christ as we feed upon him and his word,
cultivating the fruit of the spirit, fighting the works of
the flesh. We fight the warfare of the flesh and the spirit.
Even that fight doesn't get us any closer to sinless perfection.
But I'll tell you what it does do, by the grace of God, it keeps
our eyes glued to Him. Keeps our eyes looking to Him,
who is our perfection. We strive, we're to strive for
perfection. We usually don't do that too
well. Because we're caught up in justifying
ourselves too many times, me included, whenever we grow angry,
whenever we have something we want to promote that's selfish.
But here's the thing, we know our sinfulness. You know, the
Bible never uses this word holy. He says you're a holy nation.
That's the church. That's the spiritual nation of
Israel. The people who are... What does Israel mean? Those
who have prevailed with God. How do you prevail with God?
By pleading Christ. That's the only way you're going
to prevail with God. That doesn't mean you overcome God. That means
you have acceptance with God. You have favor of God. You have
blessing from God. Salvation from God. Assurance
from God. Only as you plead Christ. And
that's it. But the Bible never uses the
word holy or saint, saint meaning sanctified one, to describe some
special class of believers who are a notch above the rest, never
does. We're all equals, one old writer
said, we're all equal at the foot of the cross. And this is the state and condition
of all who are in Christ. We're all righteous in Christ,
that's our justification. We're holy in Christ, that's
our sanctification. We're cleansed, we're separated,
we're consecrated only in Christ. You're a holy nation. That doesn't
refer to any physical nation on earth, never has, never will.
That refers to the spiritual people of God. But you're chosen. You're a royal priesthood, you're
a kingdom of priest. You're a holy nation, he says.
How? By union with Christ. To be in
Him is to be holy, for He is holy. I read it last week in
Hebrews 2.11, for both He that sanctified the Lord Jesus Christ
and they who are sanctified are all one. And that by the will
of God, that based on the blood of Christ. We're holy in Him. And then look
what He says in verse 9, He says you're a peculiar people. The
word peculiar there doesn't mean weird, it means purchased. Now
some of you may be weird, I don't know, but that's not what that
means. It means purchased. You're redeemed
by the blood of Christ. Go back to 1 Peter 1, verse 18. Brother Randy made reference
to this. Here in 1 Peter 2, he says, wherefore, that means for
this reason. Well, what's the reason? Well,
look at verse 18 of chapter one. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers.
Aren't you glad of that? If our redemption was by corruptible
things, you know what that would mean? That means our redemption
would be corruptible. But you weren't redeemed by that way.
But you were redeemed, verse 19, with the precious blood of
Christ. The incorruptible blood of Christ. That's why I cannot understand
why anybody would want to indicate or even imply that the blood
of Christ could be corrupted in any way. In the issue of being
made sin or anything like that. The precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. We're redeemed
with pure blood. A lot of people like to think
that their earthly heritage is pure blood. Paul, the Saul of Tarsus, took
pride in that. You know, that's what he meant
when he said, I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews. He said, there's no mixed blood
in my family. I don't know how he knew that. I think he just
said, that's what I want to think. No mixed blood here. No mixture
here. And you know it really doesn't
matter if you're mixed blood or pure blood because we're all
sinners. Sin lies in the heart, doesn't
it? The purity of your race or your
blood means nothing to God. Means nothing to God. But he
says in verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world. He was ordained how? To be our
surety, our substitute, our redeemer. But was manifest in these last
times to you. He didn't come to earth until
that appointed time. God was manifest in the flesh.
Christ was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law, who by Him do believe in God. It's
by Him we believe in God. They raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
God who accepts us, receives us through the blood of Christ,
seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through
the spirit and the unfeigned love of the brethren, so that
you love one another with a pure heart fervently. That's love
in the truth by the grace of God. And how did that come about? Look at verse 23, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God. That word there is the word Logos,
which means the word. Which liveth and abideth forever,
for all flesh is as grass, all the glory of man is the flower
of grass. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof falleth away. Everything on this earth is temporary. That's what that means. There's
nothing that we enjoy here on earth that is permanent. Nothing. that we enjoy as far
as the physical comforts of this world that last forever. But, verse 25, the word of the
Lord endureth forever, and this is the word, that's a different
word, that's the word means for the uttered word, the preached
word, which by the gospel is preached unto you. Now, for this
reason, lay aside all hatred, that's malice, all guile, all
dishonesty and hypocrisies, all envies, evil speakings, and as
newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word that you may
grow thereby." The thing that we enjoy here
on earth in the spiritual realm is the preaching of the word
of God, and it's the only thing that's going to last forever
and ever and ever. And he says, if so be that you've
tasted, the Lord is gracious. The only ones who are going to
do this are those who've been graced by God. He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear. To whom coming? In other words,
there's a continual coming here as unto a living stone, Christ,
the resurrected Christ, who accomplished the work. He was disallowed of
men, by nature we reject him, but chosen of God and precious,
you also as lively or living stones are built up in spiritual
house, this is the holy nation, the spiritual household, the
family of God in Christ. and holy priesthood, there's
that holy again, to offer up spiritual sacrifices. What are
those spiritual sacrifices? It's our obedience, it's our
prayers, it's our worship, it's our love, all of this. How are
they accepted before God? Look at it, acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. Even our spiritual sacrifices
can only be accepted before God by Jesus Christ. Now why is that? Because we're still sinners here
on this earth. I'll never forget one day I was sitting in 13th
Street Baptist Church and I was an unbeliever. Brother Mayhem was preaching
on, I think it was from Psalm 51, but I'm not sure of that. He was talking about King David
and David's fall into open scandalous sin. David's prayer for forgiveness
there in Psalm 51. And he made this statement, Brother
May, he made this statement. He said, he said, there's enough
sin in the best prayer I've ever prayed to sink a world to hell.
And I tell you what, I like to fell out of my seat. I told my
mother going home, I said, are you going to listen to this guy?
But you know what? He's telling the truth. The only way that our prayers
can be accepted before a holy God is through the blood of Jesus
Christ. That's what Hebrews 4, 14 through
16, having a high priest over the house of God, let us, let
us come to the throne of grace. But that's it. He says in verse
six of chapter two, wherefore it is also, also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded, not be ashamed. You see, when we plead Jesus
Christ as our only ground, hope and qualification for salvation,
we don't have anything to be ashamed of. We plead ourselves,
we got a lot to be ashamed of, we should. Lord, haven't we prophesied in
your name? Haven't we done many wonderful... we ought to be ashamed
of that. But when we plead Christ, no
shame there, no confusion there. And he says, therefore unto you
which believe, he's precious, he's an honor, he's honorable,
he's valuable. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same as made
the head of the corner, stone of stumbling, rock of offense."
That's what he was to me when I was sitting there listening
to that message as an unbeliever. "...which stumble at the word,
being disobedient whereupon they were appointed." There he's talking
about the non-elect. But you. What a statement, but
you're a chosen general, a royal priesthood, a purchase people,
and all of this that you should do what? Now here's part of our
sanctification. Look at verse nine again. And
it's not sanctification based on our works. You see, our works do not sanctify
us. It's not holiness based on our
works, because our works do not make us holy. That's totally
the work of Christ. But we are set apart by God in
order to, look at it, that you should show forth the praises
of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light. Our whole lives, certainly our
testimony of faith, our whole lives are to sing forth His praises,
His glory, His power, His virtues, His righteousness. Now you know
that famous passage over in Matthew chapter 5, verse 16 it says,
let your light so shine before men that they may see your good
works and do what? Give you the key to the city,
glorify your Father which is in heaven. You see, that's part of our sanctification.
We are set apart in our desire to glorify Him and not ourselves.
Whatever I do that's pleasing to God, having been washed in
the blood of Christ and accepted before God in Jesus Christ, I
don't want it. I'm serious. I do not want it
to redound unto my glory and my honor and my goodness. I want
it to be instrumental in pointing sinners to the glory of God in
Jesus Christ. Now that sets us apart. You know,
religion is about honoring men. Isn't that right? For the most
part. Even though they'll deny it, it is. It's about honoring
men. But the gospel, the true grace
is about honoring Christ, lifting Him up, giving Him the preeminence. I must decrease, He must increase. That's sanctification. That set
John the Baptist apart from all those other preachers of his
day. I've got to decrease, He's got to increase. And that's what
this holy nation is all about. Honoring Him, lifting Him up.
All right.