I invite you to turn back with
me to 1 Peter 2. We'll be looking at verses 9
and 10. I recall as a young man, my parents brought me to church, which is
what they called it, going to church. I didn't realize what
the church was, Not a building. The church is not an activity. The church is a people. Composed of all believers from
the very beginning of time until the end of time. They are the
elect of God and Christ is their head. He's the shepherd of his
sheep. We're his people, we are the
church. And they brought me there and
I would listen to these men read from the Bible. And I'd wonder
when they read, what's that got to do with me? What does Samson
shoving the pillars down on the old temple, what's that got to
do with me? And they'd talk about Moles are
split in the sea, and that was a wondrous thing, but what's
that got to do with me? What's that got to do with God
and the salvation of sinners? And you may be here this morning,
and this may not be your first time, but you may be here, you
may have been coming here for years, and you may wonder every
time I stand up to talk, what's this got to do with me? And that's my goal this morning.
I want you to understand what I'm saying has to do with you. It's my desire to preach to you
this morning the most basic of subjects, and yes, the most profound
of any knowledge that you can have. So profound that it's referred
to as knowing God. I'll tell you something, you
get thinking about that. Knowing God, that's pretty profound,
isn't it? That's not something you're gonna
learn down here at Genoa High School. Not gonna learn that
over in Taylor. Knowing God. Did you know that
knowing God is eternal life? That's what eternal life, you
thought is how long it lasted. The soul's eternal. Whether it
spends eternity in hell or eternity in glory, the soul is eternal.
But eternal life is to know God. So what is this subject, preachers?
Salvation for sinners. Salvation for sinners. Almost
seems like a contradiction in terms, don't it? Salvation for
sins. It's so contradictory to the
mind of man that man has imagined ways to incorporate his own righteousness
into it and give a basis for his salvation. But that's not
what God has purposed to do. The purpose of creation, the
purpose of your very existence, the very purpose of all things
that you see, everything that's going on, even God's providence,
as it opens up, the very purpose of all things is that God manifest
His glory in the salvation of sinners. That's God's purpose. That's why He made all things. I'm reminded often in the scriptures
and often in my everyday life that I'm a sinner being saved
by grace. I hear people talk, well, I got
saved. Well, I'm not plumb saved yet,
are you? I still got lots of stuff wrong
with me, but I'm being saved. and I'm being saved by the grace
of God. My desire and my prayer to God
as I prepare to preach to help me and enable you to make this
as, I want to make this just as clear to you as it can be. As words will allow me to say
it, I want it to be so clear to you. Salvation is for sinners,
period. Let that sink in a little bit.
Salvation is for sinners. Are you a sinner? Our Lord Himself said, I've not
come to call the righteous. That guy that's cleaned up his
life, he's like that fella in the parable. He looked in there
and the place was all dusty and everything. This evil spirit
that seemed to be bothering him, he left. And he said, well, this
place needs cleaned up a little bit. And he got his broom out,
swept it all out, got some soap and water, washed the windows,
he got everything all clean. That evil spirit come back by
and looked, entered back in, took seven more just like him,
and went back in. I'm not come to call the righteous.
Religion says straighten up your act, and God will save you. No, he won't. As long as you
straighten up your act, nothing ever going to happen to you.
That's Satan's doctrine. Did you know that? That's Satan's
doctrine. That's Antichrist religion's
doctrine. Do this and live. Obey the law. Keep the law. I see signs in
churches I have the Ten Commandments on a sign that's shaped like
a scroll, and down at the bottom it says, the Ten Commandments
are enough for me. My soul, they're too much for
me. Men are like, they're just like
the rich young ruler. He was a perfect example of self-righteous
men. He come to the Lord, he said,
what must I do to be saved? Really? Okay. Keep the law. All those have I done from my
youth up. Now wait a minute. The Lord said,
you won't have no problem with this then. Sell everything you
got. Give it to the poor. Take up
your cross and follow me. But he couldn't do it. But he
told the Lord he'd been doing it since he was a kid. No, he'd
been walking a righteous life according to unrighteous men.
That's what he'd been doing his whole life. He hadn't kept the
law. The first and the greatest commandment is to love the Lord
thy God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If you can't
do that, you can't keep any of the rest of the law because the
law demands that you do all of this out of love for him. Is
that right? If you love me, Christ said,
keep my commandments. Salvation's for sinners. I'm
not come to call the righteous, Christ said, I'm come to call
sinners to repentance. In Paul's opening remarks to
Timothy, he said this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's
why he came. That's the purpose behind his
incarnation as a child. You ever hear that at Christmastime
when they show the little baby in the manger? Christ came in
the world to save sinners and you never will. Because this
world don't believe it. But Paul said it was a faithful
saying. Worthy for everybody to accept. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. And then he said, of whom I'm
chief. In Romans chapter 7, I hear this same apostle crying out,
O wretched man that I am. This is a man who wrote half
the New Testament, inspired by the Holy Ghost, lived a life,
a perfect life, just by faith. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? What on earth
is he talking about? Talking about his sin. His sin. Salvations for sinners. And this ought to be good news,
as the name gospel declares it to be, yet it's despised. It's
mocked. It's made light of by men, and
the reason is because they will not take their place as sinners. Two men went into the temple
to pray. One of them was a publican and
he went up there and he wouldn't even so much as look toward heaven.
He knew what he was. He was a sinner. He came looking
for salvation. He came looking for forgiveness.
The other was a Pharisee. Self-righteous. Why? He looked right up into heaven
itself. He said, I thank you God that I'm not like that publican
up there. Oh, I think it was old Joseph
Hart that wrote so many wonderful hymns that penned this. I'm not sure, so don't quote
me, but he said, A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost
hath made him so. If you can find me a sinner,
a sure enough sinner, I mean one who knows what he is, One who now walks in the light
of God and can see that darkness that's in him. Find me a sinner,
I'll show you a man that God has chosen to save. Because he's
gonna save every sinner. Every sinner that knows he's
a sinner. He's gonna save him. So let me
begin this morning with the testimony of God. This is what God says. I know what we think. I thought
the same thing. I was young, maybe 14, 15 years
old, and going down there to church, and they're talking about
sin and talking about these things. And what I thought they was talking
about is that candy bar you snuck off the rack that nobody saw
you get. Or you went into somebody's house,
and there was a big jar of candy there, but nobody offered it,
so you just put that in your pocket, you know. Somebody gave
you the wrong change at the store, you didn't give it back, you
put it in your pocket. We little old poor kids, and
we used to go up to Tim Herron's store, I'll never forget this.
And we'd go around back where he had the pop bottles, and we'd
get those empty pop bottles and go back around front and sell
him the bottles back. Found out later on the old man
knew what we were doing all along. That's what we thought it was
to be a sinner. Got old enough to hear the words
and mock the words and cuss a little bit. Read books you shouldn't
be reading. Go places you shouldn't be going.
Say things you shouldn't be saying. We thought that's what it was
to be a sinner. What'd God say about it? Well, here's the testimony of
God in Romans chapter three. He said, all have sinned, now
listen, and come short of the glory of God. What on earth does that mean? God requires, and you may not
know this, God requires Absolute, total perfection. Did you know
that? Cursed is everyone who continueth
not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.
Can you do that? I can't. I can't even get started. come short of the glory of God. Anything that's not as good as
God is not good at all. It's sin. Did you know that? Sin. Your best thought has enough
sin in it to damn you forever. Isaiah, this is the prophet of
God. Listen to what he says. We are altogether an unclean
thing. Now you go back under the law
and read what was considered to be an unclean thing. That
pus-covered rag that the leper wore over his mouth, old bloody
pus-covered rag, that was unclean. He had to go around and cover
his mouth and cry unclean, unclean, unclean. Isaiah said, all of our righteousnesses,
that's the best we can do, all of our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags. Oh my soul, we've come short
of the glory of God, all of us. And then our text speaks of those
in whom God is now working as being called out of darkness.
Darkness is where he found them. What kind of darkness? All you can do is just sit there
and imagine, isn't it? No. No, God tells us what this
darkness is. It's the darkness of ignorance. It goes without saying, I'm not
talking about the sciences here, mathematics, medicine, and so
on and so on. I'm talking about spiritual knowledge,
knowledge of God, of Christ, of salvation. I'm talking about
eternal life. In Romans 3, 11, the apostle
said, there's none that understandeth. None. None that understandeth. and none that seeketh after God.
If they understood, they'd seek after God, but there's none that
understand it. In verse 17, he said, in
the way of peace, they've not known. They don't know the way
of peace. They make their own peace. They cry, peace, peace,
where there is no peace, but they don't know anything at all
about the peace of God that passes all understanding. The world at large, Paul said,
walk in a vanity of their mind, having their understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in them because of the blindness of their heart. That's
what God's saying. And because of his ignorance
of those things, he's easily deceived by Satan and his ministers. They tell him all those foolish
things that I told you in Sunday school. They tell him he's a
pretty good fella. Well, I know you ain't always
done the right thing, but you've done plenty of good things, too. You know one of the first phrases
I learned in religion? Good brother, huh? You can't go to a Southern Baptist
church without somebody coming up and telling you, good brother. He's a pretty good guy. He's
not all bad. He's got some good qualities.
He's got some good traits. He just needs straightened out
on a few things, he'd be okay. They tell him if he'll do his
best, God will accept it. Oh, my soul, if you do your best,
your best, I already quoted you from the book of Isaiah. He said,
all our righteousnesses, that's the best we can do. All of our
righteousnesses are as filthy rags. They tell him if he'll just exercise
his free will and commit himself to the work of the church and
pledge his support, that he'll be saved. Man's ignorant of God, and that
ignorance constitutes the darkness in which he lives. He walks in
the vanity of his mind, believing these things, believing any time
he wants to, he can come to God and be saved. I beg your pardon. You read the book of Proverbs
and see what he says in there about it. There was a time, God
said, when I opened my arms to you. There was a time when I
spoke to you. There was a time when I called
you. But you wouldn't have anything
to do with it. You didn't want me. You didn't want my gospel.
You didn't want my servants. You didn't want any of it. Now
he said, when your calamity comes, I'll laugh at you. That sound
like you can run and get salvation anytime you want it? I tell you,
you better close your ears to religion and open your ears to
the word of God. Word of God said today is the
day of salvation. There is no tomorrow, today. Men lie to us. They lie to us
because they're ignorant of God, and that ignorance constitutes
the darkness in which we live. And then secondly, it's not just
a darkness of knowledge, but there's a darkness of guilt.
Paul, having described what it is to be under sin, he said this
in summation, and we know that what thing soever the law saith,
it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may
be stopped. Now listen, and all the world
become guilty before God. The law convicts, proves your
guilt. Proves your guilt. Men and women don't see themselves
guilty before God. My soul, if we really thought
we were guilty before God, we'd be on our knees right now begging
for mercy. Yet the Bible plainly says, cursed
is everyone who continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do. And whether you know it or not,
we're all guilty before God. God, and I want you to understand
something about the guilty before God. He said, I will by no means,
now listen, clear the guilty. Now if that don't have any impact
on you, I don't know what else to say. He keeps mercy for thousands.
He has forgiveness of sins. He does all these things. But
he said, now you understand something, Moses. This is my glory I'm revealing
to you. And I'm telling you, I will by
no means clear the guilty. What's that mean? It means he's
not going to just simply excuse you. That's what that means. You know who God lets off the
hook? The innocent. That's right, the innocent. Well,
how'd they get to be innocent? Their sins were charged to the
Son of God. And they're innocent. They come
before God, he justifies them. It's not just as though they
never sinned, they never sinned. Their sins were charged to the
Son of God. When did God do that? When he
put them in Christ before the foundation of the world. They
didn't know it. They didn't understand it. They
didn't perceive it. But all their sins were being
charged to the Son of God. That's His elect. He's their
representative. He came here in their room and
in their stead. God can't excuse sin. He can't
overlook it. He can't let it go unpunished.
We're told in Hebrews 2, 2 that the word spoken by angels was
steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a due
recompense and reward every time. Every time. Sin must be paid
for and God's holy justice must be satisfied. And man's incapable
of such satisfaction. He's guilty before God. Man's
ignorant of it. He's ignorant of it. Even though
God tells him that it's so. There's a darkness concerning
the guilt of man before God. He's guilty. Guilty. He's got
nothing to plead. You're not gonna run up into
God's presence and say, well, Lord, I know I did some things,
but I'm not guilty of some of these other things. Oh, yeah,
yeah. Yeah, you're guilty of the whole
law. guilty before God, even though the voice of conscience
tells you continually, guilty, guilty, guilty. Your conscience
never says, boy, that's a good thing you did. Conscience don't
tell you that. The only thing the conscience
ever says is guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. And then thirdly, Darkness also
has to do with judgment. And no dread of eternal judgment
in men. Is there? Did you come here this
morning dreading eternal judgment? Did the weight of eternal judgment
even enter into your thinking this morning? Do you understand that anybody
who's not justified by God, anybody that God doesn't save, they're
going to spend eternity in hell? There's no dread of eternal judgment
in men. Why? Because of the darkness
and ignorance that's in them. God took the angels that left
their first estate. All they did, they didn't actually
do anything. They just thought it in their
heart. And they fell from heaven like lightning. And God put them under chains
of darkness, reserved under that day of judgment. There was no
possibility of their salvation. There was no one appointed for
them. God didn't make any intervention
for them. He judged them in an instant
and that judgment began by their isolation from glory and it's
going to continue right on through all eternity. No change, no chance, provision,
no opportunity of restoration, nothing to look forward to but
judgment. And it's a frightening thought
that some having heard the truth like Demas left the people of
God, went back out into the world. Blind to their guilt, blind to
any dread of judgment, blind to their fallen nature and the
depravity of their soul. Salvation's for sinners. And no sinners must be called
out of darkness. And then secondly, when God calls
a sinner, what's he call him to? Peter said he calls him into
his marvelous light. Now I'm gonna tell you something.
The marvelous light of God is Christ. It's Christ. John said, this then is the message
that we've heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. First John 1.5. And then here's
the thing, God's only revealed in his son. You can't know God
apart from Christ. Someone starts telling you that
God spoke to him in a dream or a vision or out of a cloud, that
person's a liar. He's a deceived man. God speaks
through his Son. In 1 John 5, 19, it says, we
know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
How do we know that? Well, he tells you. We know that
the Son of God hath come and given to us an understanding
that we may know him that's true, that we're in him that's true,
even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God. and eternal
life. And this light's not a common
light. It's not just some facts. It's not just a new doctrine. It's not just something different
from what you've ever heard. It's not a common light. It's
here described by the Holy Ghost as a marvelous light. When God
calls light to shine upon creation, it brought a distinction to it. I don't care what God created,
it couldn't be seen. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep, wasn't it? You couldn't see anything. Not
until he spoke light into existence, it brought a distinction to it.
It revealed the details of it. The fellow said, well, why do
you want me to come to church? I said, well, I want you to hear
the gospel. Boy, I thought I was saying something. He said, you
wouldn't know the gospel if you met it in the middle of the road.
And he was right. He was right. It reveals the details of it.
I couldn't tell him any details, because I didn't know. I just
knew some words. And this light, when God spoke
it in upon creation, it made a clear distinction between darkness
and light. Everything was there all the
time, but nobody could tell the difference. You know that the word darkness
appears in the order of creation before the word light? That's right, it's in verse two
of Genesis chapter one. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep, and God said, let there be light. Darkness can't be known without
light. Light is what brings the division. Light is what reveals
the distinction. But much more marvelous is the
light of Christ. It reveals a darkness within
of which we've never known. We're not aware of it. No man
is aware of the darkness in which he lives. Christ said this. He said, if the light be in you,
here's a natural man. And he thinks he's got some wisdom.
He thinks he's got a little bit of religion. He thinks he's got
some understanding about God. He said, if the light that be
in you be darkness, how great is that darkness? Well,
you'll never know until God shines the light of his glory into your
heart. You'll never know how great that
darkness is. You can't see it. You don't see
it. You're not aware of it. If you
were aware of it, you'd be crying out to God. Oh, my soul. Light is what brings
the division. It's what reveals the distinction.
This light of Christ is a marvelous light. It reveals the darkness
within. It uncovers the hidden things
of darkness, the scripture calls it. Things that we call righteousness,
things that made us feel good, things, you know, the hymn we
sung, that special we decided to sing, and the gift that we
gave, and it goes on and on and on. And we looked at those things,
we thought this, no, no. That was the hidden thing of
darkness. They were hid to us. This light reveals details of
our lives that we've never even considered. In 2 Corinthians 4 or 5, Paul
said, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and
ourselves servants for Christ's sake. Now listen to this. I'm going to draw a parallel
to what I've been telling you right to the gospel. For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What glory? The glory of His holiness. You see, I thought holiness was I thought holiness was a willingness
to give. I thought holiness was a lot.
Holiness has to do with the wholeness of God. That's everything that makes
God, God. That's holiness. And this holiness
is consistent. It's continual. And it's perfect. It's His righteousness, His justice,
His wrath, His mercifulness, His love, His grace. And it's
the whole character of God in perfect harmony. And will never, under any circumstance,
ever be compromised. He can't compromise his justice
to show mercy to sinners. He can't show mercy and exercise
strict justice. It shows us something about the
glory of his justice. He spared not his own son. Why
didn't he spare him? Because his justice wouldn't
permit it. Scripture tells us that we're
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be the propitiation
through faith in his blood. Now listen, to declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins, that he might be just and the justifier
of him that believeth on Jesus. He shows us something about the
glory of his mercy and love. He tells us in Ephesians 2 what
we are, what it means to be dead in trespasses and sins. And he
goes on and he says, and we were by nature the children of wrath
even as others, but God, who's rich in mercy and for his great
love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses
and sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace ye are
saved. He shows us something about the
glory of his grace. By grace are ye saved through
faith. That's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. Paul said, except the Lord of
Sabaoth had left us a seed, we'd been like Sodom and Gomorrah.
We'd just been ashes in the plain. But He did leave us a seed, and
so at this present time, he goes on to say there's a remnant according
to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it's no
more works, otherwise grace is no more grace. He shows us the
glory of his holiness and the glory of his power, power to
arrest sinners. You can't stop a sinner. A mother's
tears won't break the heart of a sinner. He lives for himself. He does
what he wants to do. You can't arrest a sinner. You
can't stop a sinner. You can plead with him. You can
give him until you got nothing left to give. You can do anything
you want to do. You can't arrest a sinner. Only
God can do that. How come he can do it? Because
he has the power to do it. Paul said, I know your election
of God. Our gospel didn't come in word
only. It come in power and come in the Holy Ghost. Oh, He came into the world, and
the world was made by Him, and the world wouldn't have Him.
And He came unto His own, His own people, Israel, His own temple,
His own things. He come to His own, and His own
wouldn't have Him. But to as many as received Him,
some did receive Him, and to as many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God. which were born. Now listen,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God. The glory of His power. Oh, Paul said that the eyes of
your understanding being enlightened that you may see the exceeding
greatness of His power in us for that belief. There's a power
expressed there which was only expressed in one other place,
when he raised Christ from the dead. That's right. Read Ephesians
chapter one, see if that ain't what it says. Oh, what a marvelous light this
is into which we're called. And then thirdly, our text tells
us that we're a chosen generation. Did you know that salvation began
in election? That's where it began. We didn't know it. We didn't
have any idea. It began in election. You're a chosen generation. And I believe we do the doctrine
of election great harm when we see it only as a choice of objects
or a list of names written in a book. Election, as it's described in
the scripture, is being chosen in Christ. You're not just chosen and He
wrote your names in a book. He wrote your names in the Lamb's
book of life. He's our high priest. They're
written on His breast, over His heart, and on His shoulders to
bear us up before the Lord. The eternal blessings of God
according to Ephesians 1.4 is according as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world. And in him that
we might be holy and without blame and always before him in
love. He chose us in Christ. We're not chosen as some suggest
under the possibility of salvation. We're of God chosen in His Son. He put us in Him by an eternal
union, made us one with Him so that He's our provision. Of God are you in Christ Jesus. How'd you get there? I exercise
my free will, that's not what it says. It says, of God are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. And then secondly, our text tells
us in verse 10 of 1 Peter chapter 2, which in time past were not
a people. Now, God's elect have always
been His people. I just quoted that to you from
Ephesians chapter one. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. We've always been his people.
There was never a time when we weren't his people. But there
was a time when we didn't know it. And that's what he's talking
about there. You were not the people of God,
but now you're the people of God. Election is a thing that God
makes known through the preaching of the gospel and the powerful
working of the Holy Ghost. It's not a thing decided by the
will of man or his determination. In fact, the scripture says emphatically
that it's not of him that willeth, and it's not of him that runneth,
but it's of God that showeth mercy. God finds us in our sins,
He enlightens us to our sins, and He leads us to repentance,
and He gives us the gracious gift of faith, shows us Christ,
our justification, our sin-atoning substitute. He made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. He's our Lord and He's our God.
And Peter said, when God found you, You hadn't obtained mercy,
but now you have. You see, we were justified. It
said he was delivered for our offenses, raised again for our
justification. We were justified completely
in the purpose of God before the world was. And we were justified
actually when God raised Christ from the dead. He was raised
again for our justification. But we didn't know anything about
it. And we've never been justified in our hearts. Does that make sense? What He shows us when He shows
us the gospel is that our justification is in Christ. How do I know if
I'm saved? Is Christ still in the tomb or
did God raise Him? If He raised Him, I'm justified. See, Christ is salvation. He's
the light. He's that marvelous light into
which we're called. We're called into Him and all
of a sudden now redemption begins to make sense. God required the
total price of my sins from His death, His blood on the cross. Justified by our faith in His
blood. Is His faith sufficient? I mean,
is His blood sufficient? Is Christ sufficient? He's all
our sufficiency. And if you have Christ, you have
everything God has given to sinners for the salvation of your souls.
In Colossians 2.9, and I'll close with this. He said, don't let
any man deceive you. Don't you let these people deceive
you and draw you away. He said, because in him, that
is in Christ, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
and you're complete in Him which is the head of all principality
and power." We're complete in Him. So what does that mean? That means we're sinners saved
by grace. So next time you hear me up here
and I'm hammering on this pulpit and talking about sinners saved
by grace, now you ought to know what I mean by it. God saved
sinners. He came into this world to save
sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but to call sinners to repentance. It's all about Christ and all
about his people. May the Lord give you some understanding
to what I said to hear today.