A Special People With A Special Purpose

I invite you to take your Bibles and turn back to the book of one Peter, as we will continue this morning in our study of this great little book, we're going to be looking at one Peter chapter two verses nine and 10, and I wasn't aware of this until this morning when my mom texted me and told me she was praying for me that this was the first passage that she ever really dug down deep into when she first got saved. Because all she had was a new King James version, or I should say a King James version that used a peculiar word. It was the word peculiar. You're a peculiar people and she wasn't sure what she had gotten herself into as a new Christian, this group of peculiar people. And so she dove in and said, what does that actually mean? And so a precious text to I'm sure not just my mom, but for many of you, and so let's read it together first Peter chapter two verse nine.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Heavenly Father, again, we just want to say thank you for this precious book that you have provided each one of us a revelation of yourself. You wanted us to know who you are and who we are and what you expect of us. And we're so grateful that the same spirit that inspired this book and this particular text is the same spirit that abides with us and illuminates us and enables us and empowers us to not only understand verses like these, but to put them into practice and live them out in our lives. And so we are completely dependent on your spirit now to help us as we work our way through this text, as we seek to understand it accurately and to live it out practically. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Why does the church exist? What is our purpose? Why do you come to church? Why are you here this morning? One of my favorite commentaries to read every week is written by a guy named Michael Bentley. He's a pastor in England, and this is what he said at the beginning of his comments on this text, and I appreciate the British flair with which he spoke. He said, I quote, some people think the church is here just to provide them with a service when they want their baby christened or their daughter married or their father buried. Some people think that the church is here so that children, old ladies and effeminate men can have somewhere to go on a Sunday and a weekday afternoon.

Are you listening? Men? Some people think the church is here merely to be able to give support when sudden tragedy hits the locality. All of these things have some truth in them, but they are not the main reason why the church has been established. Peter addresses verses nine 10, especially to God's people with the aim of reminding them who they are and telling them what they should be doing. I like Michael Bentley because he's not just a commentator or a theologian, he's a pastor and you can tell by the way he has written his commentary, I feel like I'm reading sermons that he preached to his congregation there in England. But the basic point of today's text is that as members of Christ Church, we are a special people with a specific purpose. We try to keep this purpose in front of you by putting it on the wall, putting it on our website, putting it on literature that we often hand out to you.

Our mission statement is very simple. As a church, we exist to glorify God by proclaiming and living the truth of his word so that people come to know Jesus Christ and grow to be like him. Hopefully you're not hearing that for the first time, perhaps if you're visiting today, but you hopefully have been seeing it as you walk through the front doors here and you see it whenever you go on our website to get caught up on what's happening in the life of our church. But we want to keep that in front of all of us so that we would remember that our job as a body of believers is to make Christ known to those that live across the street from us and those who live across the ocean around the world. Each of us has the responsibility to share the gospel with our lips and also with our lives. This is not just the responsibility of those who have the gift of evangelism or who have been called by God to be full-time missionaries. This is a task of every Christian. God saved all of us so that we could tell others about him.

And as we've been learning, Peter was writing to Christians scattered throughout Asia Minor who were facing all sorts of difficult trials and tribulations and circumstances, and they were suffering persecution for living godly lives. And so Peter was writing to encourage them in the midst of their suffering. And one of the ways that he did that was by reminding them of their privileged position as believers in Christ. In the heart of that encouragement is found here in chapter two verses four through 10. We looked at verses four through eight two weeks ago, but here Peter explained the spiritual benefits and the blessings that members of Christ Church enjoy. And Peter's description of the church comes to a glorious climax here in our text today and in verses nine and 10, what Peter was doing here I think was giving encouragement and to encouragements designed to inspire us to faithfully bear witness to God's mercy and might, which delivers people out of darkness in delight.

And so I want us to see these two encouragements again that are intended to inspire us to be faithful ambassadors for Christ that God can use to deliver others out of darkness. In delight, what are these two encouragement? Well, first of all, in the beginning of verse nine and also verse 10, we see our special position. We see who we are as the church, and then secondly, at the end of verse nine, we see our specific purpose as a church. What are we to do? And so really this passage simply explains two things, our identity as the church and our responsibility as the church. And so let's look first of all at our identity or our special position, who we are. Notice how he begins this section, verse nine, this verse he says, but you, in other words, in contrast to those who he was just talking about in verse nine, those who stumble over Christ the cornerstone because they're disobedient to the word and to this doom, they were also appointed.

So in contrast to those who stumble over the Lord Jesus Christ who reject him because they're disobedient to God's word and as a result they're destined for eternal destruction. So he's talking about unbelievers there. Now let's talk about believers, those who are saved, he says, but you on the other hand, those of you who believe in Christ are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. So Peter listed four Old Testament terms that originally referred to the nation of Israel, and he used them to describe the church. And so essentially they explain our special position as believers in Christ. So first of all, he calls us here, a chosen race, a chosen race. A race is a group of people who are united together by a common heritage. We are a race of people, if you will, and it's not talking about the color of our skin or what country may have our ancestors came from. He's talking about as Christians who have been born again, we have a common ancestor and that is our Father God. We all come from the same father and we're a chosen race. And the reason why we have a common father is because God chose us. He sovereignly selected those who would be part of his family as his adopted sons and daughters. We know that God referred to Israel and Isaiah 43 20 as his chosen people. He said, my chosen people.

And so this is not a new concept for us. If you've been a part of our study from day one, Peter has already mentioned this doctrine of election several times in his letter, and he applied this term that was formally reserved for Old Testament Jews to New Testament, saint and even Christ himself. Remember the very opening verse? This is first Peter chapter one, verse one. He was writing to those who reside as aliens, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God, the Father. And then just a few verses before this. In chapter two, he uses the word choice talking about Christ. He also uses it twice again in verse six. For this is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone. And so he's talking about Jesus was chosen, selected by God the Father. He's going to use it again in chapter five, verse 13. She who is in Babylon chosen together with you sends you greetings and so does my son Mark. And then just one page over and as we perhaps Lord willing, we'll get into second Peter when we're done with one Peter, notice one 10 of the first chapter. Therefore brethren be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and what choosing you for as long as you practice these things you'll never stumble.

So again, Peter adds to all the truth and the rest of the Bible where we come up with or where we discern the doctrine of election, which again simply defined is that the before the world began, God chose those that he would rescue out of the mass of depraved damned humanity to enjoy eternal life in heaven and allowed the rest to suffer the consequences of their sins in eternal torment in hell. And again, God's choice of us was not based on who we are or anything we did or didn't do, but simply because he sovereignly decided to set his love on us by his grace and for his glory, Paul probably gives the clearest explanation of the doctrine of election. In Ephesians chapter one, verse four, he says, just as he chose us in him in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love. He predestined us to adoption his sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will, not our own free will by the way to the praise of the glory of his grace.

And so Peter calls us a chosen race, but we're also a royal priesthood, a royal priesthood. We learned a couple weeks ago that the Old Testament priests were the only ones who had direct access to God. They were the only ones allowed to offer sacrifices to God, but as believers in Christ, we now have the privilege of having direct access to God and serving him just like the Old Testament priest, served him by offering spiritual sacrifices to God. Verse five, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We said that when we were talking about that verse that this is what theologians referred to as the priesthood of all believers. In other words, the church today should not be set up with priests who serve as intermediaries between the congregants and God like you a priest to give you communion, you need a priest to confess your sins to no guess what?

You can take communion without having it handed to you by a priest. You can have it handed to you by just some average Joe in the church like we do here at Lakeside Bible Church. Hopefully the guys that are on the communion team don't take that personally. I'm just an average Joe. Yeah, you're just an average Joe. You're a priest according to the scriptures, and that's why we have pastors and teachers and elders and deacons. We don't have priests. We have servant leaders that are just here to teach the word and oversee things, but we don't serve as mediators between you and God.

Why? Because we have a mediator, Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest who died and rose again and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, and he serves as our mediator. And so we are a priesthood in and of ourselves. Christ leveled the playing field, if you will. I'm no more important than you are just because I'm up on this stage behind this pulpit. I'm simply using the spiritual gift that God gave me to build up his church, but I'm simply a priest just like you are, and this is my spiritual sacrifice to the Lord. You sitting here listening to the word of God is a sacrifice, a spiritual sacrifice that you're making listening to the Lord, but we're not just a priesthood. Notice the adjective he used here. We're a royal priesthood. In other words, we have all the power and the rights and the privileges of being a part of the royal family over which God reigns as the king.

It seems like people all over the world are fascinated by and intrigued by the royal families, whether that's the European royal families or the Arabian royal families. There's this intrigue about these royal families. Well, guess what? We are the true royalty on this earth. It's not the royal family in Britain, not the royal family in Saudi Arabia. We are the royal family. What a privilege, what an honor. Jesus Christ served in the role of both priest and king and we share in Christ's priesthood and kingship as his followers. We are a group of priests and kings who are called to serve and reign with Christ. This is a title that Moses communicated on behalf of God to the nation of Israel when they had been rescued from the land of Egypt and they were at the base of Mount Sinai. He said in Exodus 19, six, you shall be to me a holy nation or excuse me, you'll be to me a kingdom of priests.

He also said that too. We're going to get to that. You'll be to me a kingdom of priests. We saw this last time, revelation one, six, and he's made us to be a kingdom priest who is God and Father, I love the prayer in Revelation chapter five when they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals for you were slain and purchase for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God and they will reign upon the earth. We're the ones that are going to reign forever and ever and ever. The Saudi kings, they may reign for their lifetime, right? The royal family in Britain, they'll reign for their lifetime, but guess what? We're going to reign forever. We're a royal priesthood and we're also a holy nation, a holy nation. We have the privilege of being a group of people set apart from the rest of the world.

In other words, God made a distinction between us and the rest of the people in the world, and as a result, we need to be different from the rest of the people in the world. Again, this is a word from God to the nation of Israel. Originally in Exodus 19, six, you'll be to me a kingdom of priests. You will be to me a holy nation. It's no wonder that Peter earlier in this letter in chapter one verse 14, talks about the importance of us being holy as obedient children. Verse 14, do not be conformed to the former lust which were yours and your ignorance, but like the holy one who called you be holy yourselves also in all your behavior because it is written you shall be holy for I am holy.

Paul quoted from the Old Testament in two Corinthians chapter seven verse one. He said, therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This was on the tail end of talking about how God said to the nation of Israel to come out from their midst and be separate. I'll be a father to you. You'll be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. So we are a chosen race, a royal priest at a holy nation, and then fourthly, a people for God's own possession, a people for God's own possession. In other words, we have been bought with a price. God purchased us so we belong to him, which makes us of immeasurable value.

I'm sure you've noticed as I have how ordinary items that all of us have sitting around our house that have very little value will sell for incredible amounts of money simply because they're owned by someone who was famous by some famous person. And so you get this coffee cup or this pair of glasses or this pen or just silly things, right? That cost really nothing. If you went to Walmart, you could get it at Walmart for a few bucks, but because it was owned by Abraham Lincoln or it was owned by you, fill in the blank.

In other words, our worth is derived from the fact that God owns us. Your worth as an individual is derived by the fact that God owns us. Again, in that same context at the foot of Mount Sinai, when God was covenanting with his people, he said in Exodus 19, five, you shall be my own possession among all the peoples. Peter mentioned this possession, if you will, in the first chapter in verse 18, knowing that you were not redeemed or bought with perishable things like silver or gold from your fetal way of life, inherited from your father's, but with a precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ. In other words, the purchase price for you and for me was the blood of Jesus.

You're familiar with what Paul said in one Corinthians chapter six, familiar passage. He said this, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God that you are not your own, for you have been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body? In other words, God didn't purchase you so you could just go off and do whatever you want. He purchased you so you could live for his glory. Titus two 14 says that Christ gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. In other words, that we would no longer he bought us so that we would no longer live a life of sin, but live a life of purity and be zealous for doing what's right, serving others.

But back in first Peter chapter two, notice how in the next verse, verse 10, Peter reminded his readers that they hadn't always been in this special position. They hadn't always been a chosen race and a royal priesthood and a holy nation or a people for God's own possession. Notice verse 10 for you once, were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. It reminds me of what Paul said in Ephesians chapter two, verse 11. He said, remember writing to the believers in Ephesus. Remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh who are called UNC circumcision by the so-called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who formally were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

So we used to be all alone, but now we've been placed into God's family and as Paul said in Ephesians chapter two, it's good to remember he said it twice, remember, remember what you were and what you still would be if God had not displayed his grace and mercy in your lives. He said you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. We were dead and our trespasses and sins, we were by nature objects of God's wrath. We had nothing to look forward to, but God's judgment upon us because of our sin. But instead of giving us what we deserved, God poured out his wrath for our sin on his son Jesus, when he hung on the cross on our place, he had mercy on us. Again, a simple definition of mercy is not getting what we deserve.

Chapter one, verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Peter was actually quoting here in verse 10 from the book of Hosea, which if you're familiar with that prophetic book, it's a heart wrenching story about Hosea's love for his unfaithful wife. And God told Hosea, who was his prophet, his spokesman, his mouthpiece to go marry a prostitute named Gomer, and that marriage was to serve as a model or illustration of God's marriage to Israel and how he faithfully loved them despite their philandering pursuits of other gods. Then if you turn back there with me, Hosea, if you can find it, it's the first of the minor prophets. So right after Daniel, so go to Psalms and then go to the right Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, I guess Lamentations in there too, right? Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea and Hosea and Gomer had three children.

And let's look at the names of the last two because names in the Old Testament meant something, and God, when God told you to name your kids something, it was for a reason and he told them what to name their children. But notice verse six, this is after giving birth to a son, their first son. Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter, and the Lord said to him, name her low rule I for I will no longer have compassion or mercy on the house of Israel that I would ever forgive them. And then look at verse eight, when she had weaned lo ruma, she conceived and gave birth to a son, and the Lord said, name him Lo me for you are not my people and I'm not your God.

So this is rough. I mean, God is just coming straight out to tell the people, Hey, listen, you know what? I'm not going to have mercy on you anymore. You're not going to be my people anymore. He was warning them, he was threatening them because of their spiritual adultery, if you will. But then notice the hope that's given in chapter two verse 23, Hosea chapter two, verse 23. I will sow her for myself in the land speaking of the nation of Israel. I'll also really the nation of Judah specifically, I'll also have compassion on her. I'll have mercy on her who had not obtained compassion. And I will say to those who were not my people, you are my people, and they will say, you are my God.

And so this is a prophecy of the reconciliation that will happen between God and his people, the nation of Israel, that he won't permanently send them away, but he will restore them when they repent. Well, this is what is in was on Peter's mind in Peter's head as he was penning, verse 10. And like Israel, we too have been shown mercy by God and he's forgiven us for our sinful waveness, our spiritual adultery. Now again, I'm sure you've noticed that a lot of the words that we've been talking about and looking at in these two verses are capitalized or italicized in your translation, which indicates that Peter was doing. What was he doing there? He's quoting the Old Testament. These are direct quotes from the Old Testament and some of which are really based on one passage in Deuteronomy chapter seven, Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six, where again, Moses was reiterating the law, repeating the law to the new generation of Israelites were about to go into the promised land.

Their moms and dads had died in the wilderness for their lack of faith and not trusting God that they could go into the promised land 40 years earlier. And so he's just bringing this new generation up to speed, and he's kind of given them a quick history lesson of the nation of Israel or their heritage. In Deuteronomy chapter seven verse six, he says, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God, the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples. But because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God, he is God the faithful God who keeps his covenant and his loving kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love him and keep his commandments.

So just because you're God's chosen people, that's your people of his own possession. That shouldn't give you a big head because the only reason why he chose you is because he wanted to. It had nothing to do with you. There was nothing special about you in and of yourselves as a nation. He sovereignly chose you to set his affection upon you. In other words, when we consider the fact that God has chosen us, it shouldn't puff us up with pride and make our walk around with our chest stuck out like, Hey, we're somebody special. It should humble us because we did nothing to deserve it. We did nothing to earn it. That was Moses' point there with this new generation of people that they were just to walk in humble gratitude as his holy people, as his possession.

But the question is why would Peter take all these words and phrases that solely and specifically apply to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and use them here to describe us, the New Testament church? Essentially what he's saying here is that those of us who make up the church in our generation, in our era, in this church age, if you will enjoy the privileged position previously reserved for Israel, and you say, well, why is that? Well, we have to get our mind around the big picture of what God was doing and will do in the future with the nation of Israel. God blessed the nation of Israel with this incredible privilege of being a holy nation, which he had set apart from all the other nations of the world to be a witness to them. And they were his select special group of people through whom he could show off his power and his glory to all the other nations of the world. So they would come to know him as the one and only true God, all the other nations of the world, man, they were worshiping all sorts of Gods small G, and God wanted them to know there's only one true God. And so he chose a nation and said, I'm going to be your God, and you're going to show every other nation that I'm the only one and that they all should worship me.

Isaiah 49, 1, you are my servant Israel in whom I will show my glory. And so that was God's heart for the nation of Israel. That was his plan for the nation of Israel. Yet despite having been chosen to serve in such a privileged position as God's ambassadors, they forfeited that position because of the recurring rebellion against him in the form of idolatry and immorality, instead of showing the other nations that their gods were faults, they worshiped their gods along with them, which led to them also intermarrying with the foreign women that God had intended for them to influence. And so rather than influencing the nations, the nations influence them.

And the more they blended in with the other nations around them, the more they lost their distinction. And along with that, the ability to influence others to worship and serve the one true God. And so God shelved them for a time and found another group of people that he could entrust with the responsibility of being a witness for him in this world. Guess who that is? It's you. It's me. It's us. Matthew chapter 21, verse 43. Jesus said, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you. He's talking to the Pharisees and the religious leaders of Israel. He said, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

And so God has handed over Israel's ambassador role to the church, and the church is to be and do what Israel was meant to be and do. But don't miss this. That doesn't mean that the church is Israel. And while there are many obvious parallels and similarities between Israel and the church, there are enough differences to keep them distinct from each other. They don't have the same promises and the same commands. They have different promises and different commands, and there is obviously some overlap. And so we're like Israel, but we're not Israel. And I'm making that distinction because I know some of you're covenantal. I know you're out there, I'm joking. But I'm aware that a church like ours that is very open about our convictions regarding the doctrines of grace and reformed theology that we attract people who kind of have the package, the whole reform package, which typically most often includes a covenantal, which is covenant theology, which is really just a grid and an interpretive grid, how to interpret the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.

And so I think in some ways we're probably an anomaly, a conundrum to some of you because we're like, well, man, you're so right on when it comes to the doctrine of grace. But man, when you get to your eschatology, man, you're all messed up. Why are you guys? That seems like a jumbo shrimp. It's an oxymoron. It's like how can you be reformed and dispensational at the same time? And so I understand there's that dynamic that happens in a church like ours. And so the good news is these are secondary issues. These are issues that we don't have to part ways over and disfellowship from one another. Now, these are matters that at the end of the day, really we're going to have to wait to see how it actually all goes down to see who's right. And just so you know, we both can't be right.

One of us is right, one of us is wrong. But the good news is, again, it doesn't determine on this issue particularly whether you go to heaven or hell, similar to the issue of a believer's baptism versus infant baptism of good, godly men have taken different sides on that issue. I'll never forget when RC Spro was alive, he was doing a Ligonier conference in California, and because he was in the neighborhood, he thought, well, I'm just going to invite John MacArthur to have a debate with me about infant baptism versus believers baptism. And so John took him up on that. And I'll never forget John's opening line. He went first and he said, well, rc, I'm so glad that you asked me to have this debate with you here in the 21st century because if it was back in the day one of us would be killed as a heretic when this was over. And that's how kind of serious that issue was in the past. So the point is we can agree to disagree on some of these things, but covenantal analyst, again, those who hold to what is commonly referred to as covenant theology interpret these verses that we're looking at here in one Peter chapter two, nine and 10, to mean that the church is a continuation or expansion of Israel, and they see really no distinction between Israel and the church. Israel is the church, and the church is Israel, both constitute this one people of God.

And so consequently they believe and teach that all the promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament now apply to the church. And I would agree that many of the Old Testament prophecies regarding God's blessings on the nation of Israel have been and are being partially fulfilled in the present church age, but they'll be completely fulfilled in the future when according to Romans nine, 10 and 11, the temporary hardening of Israel will end after fullness of the Gentiles have come in and the church is complete and raptured to heaven. I'm playing my cards now, right? That I'm a dispensationalist. And that's when Israel will once again be God's holy instrument to cause the nations to praise him. And so really just dispensational insists that God is not finished with Israel. He's temporarily shelved them, if you will, and has entrusted the church with her responsibility to be a.

And Paul devoted an entire chapter there, that chapter, that whole chapter, Romans 11, to provide evidence that there is a future for the nation of Israel. And again, if we hold to a literal historical grammatical method of interpreting the Bible, if all the promises of cursing God made to Israel were literally fulfilled and they were, then all the promises of blessing he made to them must be literally fulfilled as well. In other words, we need to be careful not to allegorize or alize the text when it comes to applying those things to the church. Let me read for you the words of William McDonald, who's probably my favorite one volume commentator. It's the believer's commentary. If you don't have that at home as a little resource, you need to have it. It's just a great resource. We have 'em available in our bookstore there, but this is what he said.

No one should conclude from this passage in Peter that because the church is now God's people, he is through with Israel as a nation. Neither should one assume that the church is now the Israel of God or that the promises made to Israel now apply to the church. Israel and the church are separate and distinct entities. And an understanding of this distinction is one of the most important keys to interpreting the prophetic word. Israel was God's chosen earthly people from the time of the call of Abraham to the coming of the Messiah, the nation's rebellion and faithlessness reached its awesome climax when Christ was nailed to the cross because of this crowning sin. God temporarily set aside Israel as his chosen people. And during the present age, God has a new people, the church, this church age forms a parenthesis in God's dealings with Israel.

When the parenthesis is closed, that is when the church is caught away to heaven. God will resume his dealings with Israel. So the church's replacement of Israel, if you will, is only temporary. Israel still plays a role in God's future plans for the world, but until they repent and place their faith in the one that they crucified when he comes again, we as Christians have this great privilege of showing off God's glory to the world. And that's what Peter says in at the end of verse nine. He explains our specific purpose, what we're to do again, this great identity that we've just learned about being a chosen race, a royal priest at a holy nation of people for God's own possession comes with great responsibility. God made us all these things for one specific purpose. Notice so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

You want a job description as a Christian. That's it right there to proclaim the excellence of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That word proclaim it's interesting word. It's only used here in the New Testament, and it means to publicize or to advertise, in other words, to tell forth something that would otherwise be unknown. And so we are publicists for Christ. We are advertisements for God. We're walking billboards. If you were living breathing billboards for Christ, we are a commercial for God. The question is, are you a good advertisement for God?

What are you telling others about God? By the way you talk and by the way you act and how you live your life, you say, well, what am I supposed to advertise about God? What does he want others to know about him? Notice it says that we are to proclaim the what? The excellencies of Him. In other words, his attributes, all of his character qualities, everything we know to be true about God, that he loves us and he's faithful and he's good, and he's a God of grace and mercy and wisdom and justice and a God of wrath. All of this is who God is. And specifically, I think this excellencies here is talking about his mighty acts. Literally that word excellently refers to God's ability to do heroic acts. In other words, we need to proclaim his power to save. In other words, God save me and he can save you. That's our message. Those of us who've been called that's talking about the effectual call of our salvation, God called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

In other words, he saved us out of a life of sin. Darkness is the analogy that's used throughout the scriptures as really a metaphor for sin. The Bible equates sin with darkness. And so God saved us out of the darkness of our ignorance and immorality. And before God intervened, we were completely unable to understand the truth of his word. Our minds were darkened. We didn't know how to live right, but now he's given us the ability to understand the truth and to also live it. Colossians one 13, for he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.

I love how Charles Wesley captured this concept in his hymn, and can it be in that verse, long Mayan prison spirit lay fast, found and sin and nature's night thine. I diffused a quickening Ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off. My heart was free. I rose, went forth and followed thee. Amen. What a great picture of salvation. And so this one phrase here that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. This indicates God's purpose for choosing us and setting us apart to be his own possession. God didn't save us just so he could come to church every Sunday and sit here and grow and learn and then go home and then die and go to heaven. His purpose is for us to reveal his heroics to everyone out there.

We have this awesome privilege, this awesome responsibility of being his ambassadors, being advertisements for God's power and glory. That's why we're here on this earth. I mean, if you think about it, God could have taken us all to heaven the moment we got saved. And some of us are sitting there going, man, that would've been a whole lot easier. You get saved, boom, straight to heaven. Be me up, Scottie, you're there, right? So what's this life on earth thing? What's all this struggle and temptation and battling and mortifying of sin and living in a pagan culture where we're oftentimes persecuted and slandered and well, what's up with all that?

Well, because he called us, God called us to do what he called Paul to do In Acts 26 18, Paul said in defense of his ministry why he did what he did. It was to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God and order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who've been sanctified by faith in me. You might be thinking to yourself, well, this kind of sounds also familiar. God has chosen us. He saved us. He wants us to serve him by sharing the message of salvation so others who have been chosen by him can repent and believe. Well, guess what? It's something we need to be regularly reminded of, don't we? And God reminded Israel over and over and over again that he had chosen them and delivered them out of Egypt for a reason, but they would forget and they would lose focus, and they would fall into sin.

And consequently, even though they were and will someday be the most privileged people on the planet, they were unfaithful to fulfill God's purpose for their lives. The question for us is, what are we going to do? Because we are greatly privileged? Will we be faithful to fulfill God's purpose, to proclaim His excellencies, this one who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light, a pray. Father, we're thankful for this helpful reminder. We confess that we are forgetful people and we get distracted and we lose focus, and sometimes we get in the way. And what we want is really what our lives are about rather than what you want. And so it's good for us to be reminded from time to time who we are in Christ and what you intend for us to be doing with our lives. And so, Lord, would you help us to be more faithful ambassadors and that we would want others to know you and to praise you, and to glorify and to serve you, and to honor you, and to live for you like you have blessed us with. And so, Lord, make us more evangelistic as a church. Help us this week give us opportunities to share the good news of salvation with someone who desperately needs to hear it. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.