Welcome to this week's edition of the Weekend Sermon. This is the best part of my week, and I am so grateful to the Lord Jesus for allowing me to share His word with you each and every week. It is my hope and prayer that all of you are doing well this day.
Thank you for your prayers on my behalf this last week. Each day at work is difficult. I know that I can only make it with your prayers and the help of the Lord. I know that I am working towards a goal, so that puts my work life in perspective. I know that my real work is writing and proclaiming the message of the Gospel.
In your prayers this week, please remember the Christians in the Middle East who are suffering through a time of great persecution. Christians are facing persecution in other areas as well including Africa and North Korea. Let us pray that is spite of persecution, the church would thrive, and many people will come to faith in Christ.
Let us continue to pray for peace in the world. Let us all pray for those in this world who are facing sickness and hardship. May all of us as believers in Jesus work to help the hurting.
For the last two weeks, we have been focusing our attention on the events of Holy Week. This week, we will return to our ongoing study of I Peter. When we were last studying in I Peter, we learned that Jesus was the cornerstone of a spiritual house. Jesus was rejected while He was here on earth. However, Jesus' sacrifice was acceptable to the Father. Jesus rose again from the dead. He is the chief cornerstone. He is precious to those of us who have called upon His name for salvation, but He is a rock of stumbling and offense to those who refuse to come to Him as Savior and Lord.
Today, we will focus on what we have been called to in Christ. In I Peter 2:9 it states, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Let's look at this passage phrase by phrase. We are a chosen generation. Those who have come to faith in Jesus have been chosen by God. We saw a few messages ago that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God. We have been chosen by God to be followers of Jesus Christ His Son. This is not an occasion for pride or boasting. We are saved by grace apart from works. We did not choose Jesus. We are chosen by Him. It it only through the grace and mercy of the Lord that we have been saved from sin, shame and degradation. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Only the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the grave can save us.
Since we have been chosen by the Lord, we have been called to be a royal priesthood. A priest was a representative of the Lord. The priest interceded on behalf of others. The Bible states that Jesus is our great High Priest interceding on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father. One of our jobs as followers of Jesus is to intercede on behalf of others that they might come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are called on a mission by the Lord to do His work in this world by bringing others to the Lord.
The New King James which I used today says that God has called us to be, "His own special people, " I like the way that the old King James states it that, "we are a peculiar people." The idea behind this is that we are to be different from the world in which we live. Those who name the name of Jesus are to be distinct.
In the Old Testament, the Lord gave rules and regulations for the people of Israel to follow that would make them distinct and separate from those people that lived around them. They were set apart to be a light to the nations.
This is the same principle in place for the follower of Jesus. We are to follow the teachings and the commandments of our Lord. Living according to the Kingdom principles of Jesus will cause us to be set apart from those who are living according the the values of this sinful world system. When Christians are living and acting in the same manner as everyone else in society, this is a problem.
I believe that in the Western world why it is so difficult to bring people to Jesus is because those who name the name of Jesus are often just like the world. People without Christ can't see any reason to change and follow Jesus.
We need to be in the world but not of the world. We need to follow the path of Jesus so that others might see our good works and glorify the Father in Heaven.
Part of our calling as followers of Jesus is to proclaim His praise. He has called us from darkness into light. We saw when we studied I John the importance of the concept of light and darkness. Jesus is the light of the world. When we respond to His light we are transported from the land of darkness to the realm of His marvelous light. For this, we should constantly praise the Lord.
Just think about where you would be in your life if it wasn't for Jesus. I know that I could not make it through the day without the presence of Jesus by my side. He is everything to me. Everything that is good in my life has come because of Jesus. For this I give Him all the thanks and all of the praise.
I hope that you have a heart filled with praise and thanksgiving for all that Jesus has done for you. He is the Lamb of Glory worthy of all our praise and adoration.
Verses 10 and 11 of chapter 2 reiterate some of what I have already mentioned. Since we are saved by the grace and mercy of the Lord, we should abstain from earthly lusts. We are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. As a peculiar people, this world is not our home. We are seeking that city whose builder and maker is God. This is the New Jerusalem coming down our of Heaven like a bride adorned for her husband. While we sojourn through this sinful world, let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who is the author and the perfecter of our faith. Let us do His will, follow His path, and seek to bring others into His Kingdom of love.
Next week, I will post the verses on Monday. I will be reviewing a cat book on Wednesday. We will be looking into a controversial section of I Peter for the Weekend Sermon on Saturday. May God bless you all. Amen.
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