From whence this fear and unbelief
Had not the Father put to grieve His spotless Son for me? ? And will the righteous judge
of man ? Condemn me for that debt of sin ? Which Lord was
charged on thee ? Which Lord was charged on thee ? Complete
atonement thou hast made ? And to the utmost fathering paid
? All that thy people hold ? Nor can His wrath on me take place
? If sheltered in thy righteousness ? And sprinkled with thy blood
? And sprinkled with thy blood ? If thou hast my discharge procured
And freely in my room endured A whole of wrath divine Payment
God cannot twice demand First at my bleeding surety's hand
And then again at mine And then again at mine ? Turned in my
soul unto thy rest ? The merits of thy great high priest ? Have
bought thy liberty ? Trust in his efficacious blood ? Or fear
thy banishment from God ? Since Jesus died for thee since Jesus
died for me. Amen. That hymn was written by Augusta's
top lady. He also wrote the hymn, Rock
of Ages Cleft for Me. Those famous words in that hymn,
can God twice demand payment first at my surety's hand and
then again at mine. Christ paid the debt, the sin
debt of his people. and God will never demand payment
twice. That's the wonderful thing of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, isn't it? To know that our sin debt
is paid, and God is satisfied, and God will never pour out his
wrath, his judgment upon those for whom Christ died. If you
look with me this morning to 1 Peter chapter two, First Peter chapter 2. First Peter chapter 2 and I'm
going to read these first 10 verses of this chapter. Wherefore,
laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies
and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk
of the word, that you may grow thereby. If so be, you have tasted
that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. You also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore 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. Under you, therefore, which believe,
he is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. 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. But you are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people,
that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time
past were not a people, but are now the people of God. which
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. These 10 verses are packed. They're just packed with wonderful
truths about the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this morning
we are only going to look at one of them. Two times in these
verses the Holy Spirit who inspired the Word of God, he inspired
the Apostle Peter to write two times about a priesthood, a holy
priesthood in verse five and a royal priesthood in verse nine. A holy priesthood and a royal
priesthood. We all understand from the Old
Testament that as soon as man, the first man, that is Adam,
as soon as he disobeyed God, God being the God of all grace
that he is, promised a deliverer, a savior, the seed of the woman. And in the Old Testament, this
deliverer who was promised was prefigured by these three offices,
prophet, priest, and king. Every one of these offices which
prefigured, which were types of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
one mediator between God and man, every man who served as
a type in the Old Testament, he was called, he was called
to that office, called of God to that office. anointed, God
made men prophets, God made men priests, God made men kings of
Israel, all to be typical, to be types, to be pictures, to
be shadows of the one mediator, the God man, the glory man, the
Lord Jesus Christ. The priest was appointed to represent
the people before God. This is a way I learned many
years ago now, the difference between a prophet and a priest.
A prophet comes from God to me. He brings the message of God
to me. The priest goes to God on my
behalf. The priests were appointed to
offer sacrifices. and then to intercede with God
on behalf of the people. So the essential, now our text
concerns a priesthood. The essential work of a priest
is that he is a mediator between God and men. Man in his fallen
estate. And that's the way every man
comes into this world. Whether people believe it, Whether
they deny it, whether they reject it, it makes no difference. This is the way everyone is born
into this world. That is, a fallen individual. Adam was a representative man,
and by his sin, the guilt of his sin is imputed onto all of
his descendants, which means every man, woman, boy, and girl. The fallen man, because of our
sin, we cannot approach on our own to God. God is holy. God is thrice holy. God is represented
in the word of God as a fire, a flaming fire, picturing His
holiness, His absolute holiness. And fallen man dare not, cannot,
in himself approach unto God. We need a mediator. We need one
to go to God for us. The fact that man cannot approach
unto God, let us remember guilty man doesn't want to approach
unto God. Guilty man does not want to approach
unto God. Guilty man wants to run from
God, to hide from God. just like Adam and Eve there
in the garden. And until God in his grace and
mercy does a work in the heart of his chosen people, men do
not want to come to God. They don't want to know God.
If you want to know God today, if you want to come to God today,
that's a miracle of grace. The natural man, The natural
man, he not only does not understand the things of God, he has no
interest in the things of God. No interest, because he's a fallen
individual. We all came into the world the
same way, guilty and fallen, and we needed a priest. We needed
someone to go to God on our behalf, to mediate between God and us. Now the priests in the Old Testament,
in that old dispensation, they served in three ways. In the tabernacle, they offered
sacrifices unto God. That was part of their work,
to offer a sacrifice unto God. And secondly, they taught the
people the word of God. And thirdly, The will of God
was sought through the priest. Many times we read of David or
other kings when they didn't know whether they should go out
to battle or go this way or that way, they would call for a priest
and a priest with his ephod. He would discern the will of
God for them. So a priest basically did those
three things. He offered sacrifices unto God
for the people. He taught the people Word of
God, the law of God, and he discerned the will of God for them. The
man in that old dispensation, that old economy, who were prophets,
priests, and kings, they were merely shadows, merely types
of him who was to come. But each and every one of these
offices, The office of prophet, priest, and king, each and every
one of these offices found their fulfillment in Christ, in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Every one of these offices found
their fulfillment in Him. As regards to priesthood, Christ
alone, alone, Christ alone. is our priest. He is our only
high, great high priest. He, by his one sacrifice, the
sacrifice of himself for our sins, put an end, finished, el
fin, to all sacrifices for sin. When he cried from the cross,
it is finished, that put an end. No more, never again would any
sacrifice for sin be offered. And listen, anyone who denies
that truth doesn't have a clue about the gospel. I mean they
do not have a clue as to what the gospel is. Anyone who denies
that Christ put an end to all sacrifices for sins is a work
monger. That is, he or she would teach
that men are saved not by the purpose, by the person and work
of Jesus Christ, but rather by what we ourselves do, or someone,
some other person does for us. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
12, the apostle said, but this man, this man, this man who's
unlike any other man, this God man, this man who is both God
and man, by this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for
sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God." Now that's
just the truth. And anyone who denies that, anyone
who would claim to be offering sacrifices for sin, even unbloody
sacrifices for sin today, any church, any denomination, any
group of people who would deny this truth, they do not know,
they do not understand the gospel. Now I have three truths, thinking
about this priesthood, I have three truths that I want to emphasize
to all of us this morning. Very simple truths, and I pray
God will bless each and every one of us, and we will grow in
our learning, in our understanding of the things of God. First of
all, the separate order of man as
priest ended with the death of Christ. Now let me say that again. The separate, get that word separate,
the separate order of man as priest ended at the cross. It ended with the death of Christ. All of those who are saved, we
all have the same priest and he's the only priest of God. You can search the New Testament
epistles from Romans all the way through, and you will never
find any minister, any minister of God referred to as a priest. You just will not find that.
In Ephesians chapter four, verse 11, the apostle said, the Lord
Jesus Christ, when he ascended up on high, he gave gifts unto
men. And then he lists these gifts.
He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors
and teachers. Now listen. For the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ. The body of Christ is his church. His mystical body. Everyone who
is born again of the Spirit of God is a member of His body. And for the perfecting of His
body, that tells us that we grow, we learn. We're not born full
grown as newborn babes, as this verse tells us. Desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. for the perfecting
of the saints, for the edifying of the body of Christ, that is
his body, he gave these offices, apostles, prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and teachers. What you do not see in that list,
priest, priest. He did not give any priest for
the perfecting of his body. And the reason is obvious. The
reason is obvious. What was the primary work of
a priest? To offer sacrifices or sins. There can never, can never ever,
can never ever, ever be another sacrifice That would deny the work of Christ. That would deny that what he
did satisfied God, satisfied God's
justice, and God put his stamp of approval upon it when he raised
him from the grave on the third day. There can never be another
sacrifice for sins that would deny the work of Christ, for
the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 26, now once. Those Old Testament priests,
they offered sacrifices every day, every year, Day of Atonement. That went on and on and on from
the time that God instituted that first economy, that old
dispensation. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sins by the sacrifice of
himself. He's put them away. He put them away. Behold, the Lamb
of God which taketh away or beareth away the sins of the world. He
bore them in his own body on the tree, the apostle Peter tells
us, and he took them away. He removed them so far as the
east is from the west of his covenant people. Now you say,
well, it's just a matter of a choice of words, whether you say pastor
or priest. We have a priest at our church,
or we have a, no, no, it's much more than that, my friends. It's
much more than just a choice of words. We're talking about
a very all-important truth here. We don't have any priest as a
separate order of men today. And to have them is a denial
of the sufficiency of that one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
by which he put away sins. To have a priest today, a separate
order of priests today is to deny the finished work of Christ. The New Testament church, we
have bishops, that's just another word for a pastor. We have bishops,
it's not a hierarchy like some pastors and then the next level
of bishops and the next level are a little higher level and
then cardinals and finally the No, no, no. In the New Testament
church, we have bishops, we have elders, and we have pastors,
and these are three words which all refer to the same office. As a pastor, I'm a teacher, I'm
an elder, and I'm a bishop. I've never used that title before,
but I'm telling you what the scriptures teach. There's no
difference. Bishop, pastor, elder, all refer to the same office. And we have deacons. And deacons
are servants, just like pastors are servants. Paul said, we are
your servants for Christ's sake. And pastors and deacons both
are servants of his church. What an honor. What a privilege. But what a responsibility to
be a pastor, to be a deacon in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The second point I want to emphasize
is the universal of all believers, the universal priesthood, I want
to say, the universal priesthood of all believers began with Christ's
death. Just as a separate order of men
as priests ended with Christ's death, so the universal priesthood
of all believers began with Christ's death. In Revelation chapter
one, verses five and six, the apostle John said, unto him,
that is Christ, unto him that loved us, love lifted me. We sang that hymn, didn't we? God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. God is love, John wrote. When we hear that, our hearts
should leap within us that God is love. And God's love caused
him, moved him, to send His only begotten Son into this world
to be our Savior. And His love, the love of the
eternal Son of God, unto Him that loved us, us, you, me, every
one of us. Can you believe that? That God
loved us? That Christ loved us? Such an
unlovely person that I am, and yet He loved us. He loved us
and loosed us or washed us from our sins in his own blood. And
he made us to be a kingdom, to be priest. There it is. Priest unto God, unto his God
and father. It was by his death by His blood,
that He loosed us from our sins. Our sins had us bound, but He
set us free. If the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed. He's the only one who can make
a sinner free. He's the only one, thank God,
that He came to loose us from our sins and make us a kingdom
of priests unto God. If you notice in our text here
in 1 Peter, he declares who is in this priesthood. This is important. I said the universal priesthood
of all believers began with the death of Christ. Who are made priests? Well, look back in chapter one,
verse two. God's elect. God's elect. Elect, according to the foreknowledge
of God, the Father. All the elect are made priests. Notice the second thing, those
who are born again, begotten, in verse, verse, Three, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according
to his abundant mercy hath begotten. That means we've been born again. And if you look down in verse
23, we've been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation unto everyone that believeth. Who are made
priest, the elect of God, those who are born of the Spirit of
God, and notice also in verse five, those who are kept by the
power of God. He keeps us, doesn't he? We couldn't
keep ourselves a minute. But we are in his hands. We're
in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and no one can pluck us
out of his hand. We're kept by the power of God.
And then if you notice in the verse we read in verse two of
chapter two, newborn babes, newborn babes, just as soon as a person
is born again of the spirit of God, he's a priest. She's a priest. The universal priesthood of all
believers. Newborn babes. I was thinking
about John. that wrote that word I mentioned
in Revelation unto him that loved us. He had been a fisherman. I know he was an apostle when
he wrote that, but he had been a fisherman. Fishermen are made
priest. Carpenters are made priest. Mechanics
are made priest. Everyone that God saves becomes
a priest. as newborn babes. Just as soon
as a person is born again of the Spirit of God, he's a priest,
she's a priest unto God. Just as in Romans we read that
He has made us to be saints. Every believer, every child of
God is a saint. People are not saints or made
saints after they die and so many hundreds of years later
somebody proves that someone prayed to them. We don't pray
to dead people to begin with. We pray to God. We don't pray
to the saints. We don't pray to the Virgin Mary.
We pray to God, our Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ. People
are not made saints after they've died. People are made saints
While they are alive, when they're saved, you were made a saint
when God saved you. And at the same time that you
became a saint, you became a priest, a priest unto God. Now, the third point is this,
the ministry of all believers, as our text tells us, who are
a holy and a royal priesthood. In the letter of Hebrews, the
apostle tells us that in that old dispensation, that old economy,
that the priest offered gifts and sacrifices. None of us are high priest. There's
only one great high priest. We understand that. But all believers
are priests, and all believers, our ministry as priests is to
offer gifts and sacrifices. Now, we don't offer sacrifices
for sins, right? We don't do that. We don't even
approach to do that. But every child of God is a priest,
and every child of God, as a priest, offers gifts and sacrifices unto
God. What are these sacrifices? Well,
let's look at them. There's three of them. First,
I want you to look to Hebrews. Turn back to Hebrews chapter
13. The apostle names two of them here. Hebrews chapter 13 and 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. Here's the first sacrifice
that we as priests unto God are to offer, and that is the giving,
the sacrifice of praise, rather, the sacrifice of praise. The
fruit of our lips, the apostle says, giving thanks to his name. John chapter 15, when our Lord
spoke about himself as the vine and his people as branches, he
said this, herein is my father glorified that you bear much
fruit, that you bear much fruit. And here we are told the fruit
of our lips, this is a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips
giving thanks to his name. And look at that word, through
him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise continue, or by him rather, not through him, but
by him. This verse alone shows us that
as God's children, yes, all of our sins are forgiven. They're
all taken away. But yet we are still in this
world, and we have a fallen nature, and we commit sin. We're not
perfect. We're perfect before God, justified
in His sight, but we know that we still have that old man who
lives with us, and so we're not perfect. And even our praise,
the sacrifice of praise, it must be offered by Him, by Him. Any work, any service, any praise
that we offer for that to be accepted of God must come through
Christ, must come through Him. He takes even our prayers. And
he perfumes them and no doubt cleanses them and offers them
unto the Father. And even when we praise him,
you see, as I said, we're not without sin, are we? No matter
what we do, if it's preaching, praying, singing, praising, because
we're doing it, there's still sin mixed in. And for God to
accept it, it must come through Him, must be by Him. Someone said this about faith,
you know. Well, my faith, I just don't
believe like I want to believe. Of course you don't. You don't
have perfect faith. You have doubts. You have questions. Sure you do. Why? Because your faith is not perfect. The same thing about our love. We love Christ, don't we? And
we say that today. We love him who first loved us. But yet, our love is so flimsy, so needy. We need Christ. And even in our praise, Praise
Him. Bless His wonderful name. We
sing that doxology sometime. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him, all ye creatures
here below. Praise Him, ye heavenly hosts
above. Praise Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Let's offer the sacrifice of
praise continually every morning. every afternoon, every evening,
he doesn't change. Let's not forget to praise him.
We're priests, let's offer the sacrifice of praise. Then look at the next verse,
verse 16. But to do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. We offer
the sacrifice of communicating. That word, of course, today pretty
much just means talking with someone or texting someone or
something like that. But here, to communicate here
means to give, to share with those that have need, to support
the ministry of the gospel, to support missionaries and pastors
and those who proclaim the gospel. This is a sacrifice, we're told. To do good and to communicate,
forget not. Don't forget. God's well pleased
with these sacrifices. He's well pleased, as one writer
says, because it shows a right state of heart. When we're wanting
to communicate and to give to others and share with others
who have need. And it shows that we're like
him. We're like God, who continually
gives, gives, gives. He's a giving God, isn't He?
He's a giving God. Every good and every perfect
gift comes down from Him, the Father of lights. Every good
gift that we have, and we have so many, don't we? Where'd that come from? It came
from Him. And every perfect gift, and there's
only one perfect gift, that's Christ! Came from Him! There's one other verse, I want
you to turn to Romans, one other sacrifice that we are to offer
as priests unto God, Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy. And notice again, acceptable
unto God. Acceptable unto God, how? Through Jesus Christ. Only through him we are to... present our bodies as living
sacrifices. The watchword for every one of
us should be like the Apostle Paul. When he met the Lord, when
the Lord revealed himself to Saul of Tarsus that day on the
road to Damascus, remember the first words after the Lord revealed
himself to Saul was, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? What would you have me to do? In what way may I serve thee? Surely God has a way for each
and every one of us to serve him. Not everyone will serve
him by being a missionary. Not everyone will serve him by
being a pastor. I tell you, you ladies who have
babies and children to raise, My, you're serving the Lord in
your home, teaching those children, bringing them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. No greater service than that.
Out on your job, man, witness, testify of Christ. If people
see a difference in your life somehow, and you're able to tell
them the difference is, I've been with Christ. I know him
whom to know is life eternal.