“Purchased to Proclaim”
1 Peter 2:9-10
INTRODUCTION What is the Meaning of 1 Peter 2.9-10
1 Peter 2. Motivations… We are constantly motivating our children in our house. On Friday, Hudson couldn’t go swimming because he’s getting over an ear infection. So his mother said to him, “if I give you have a donut and let you watch a little video, will you do the dishes?” And he says …. “um … yeah … ah …” as he calculates how many dishes there are …. “I guess.” I said, “You would’ve done the dishes even if she didn’t give you anything because she is your mother who birthed you, right?” And he says certainly as he’s been taught, “Yes.” And Ruth says, “And he also would have asked, ‘What else could I do for you?'”
The right motivation at home can produce proper behavior. And motivation is not always reward sometimes it should be out of thankfulness for what has been done for you already…
God, in his word, has also motivated us to live for him. Sometimes it is out of future reward, but the Lord also motivates us by telling us what He has already done for us.
These motivations for obedience and service stem from the gospel. What God has done for us, what He is doing for us, and what God will do for us motivates and empowers us to live for him today. And it’s all about the gospel.
All of the prophecies about the gospel of Christ about his first and second coming…. The work of God in Christ when He sent him to the cross to take all the penalty that we deserve and then all the glories of the resurrection and how through that resurrection we are credited with the righteousness of Christ… All of this received by faith… This glorious gospel that we have motivates and empowers us to live for him today.
So we’ve seen lately on Sunday mornings how the gospel motivates and empowers our godly living… And as we begin a new year, I’d like this to kind of set the tone for your spiritual life this year. How are you going to grow in Christ? This…By understanding and applying the gospel to your life.
And in our text this morning Peter motivates us based on the benefits that we have already received in Christ. Our text this morning will be verses 9-10 but let’s read a little bit of the context… We will begin in verse four. 1 Peter 2:4-10
1 Peter 2:4–10 4 And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 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. 6 For this is contained in Scripture: “Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, “The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” 8 and, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense”; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. 9 But you […and this is our text…you are not like those who stumble at the gospel and disbelieve…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; 10 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.
If you are trusting Christ this morning and you have taken up your cross to follow him, verses 9 and 10 are true for you. And so the point this morning is that because you have been purchased, you are to proclaim his excellencies. You are purchased to proclaim.
Verse 9 again you are a chosen race and 3 descriptions there … so that verse nine says …here is your purpose … that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You have been purchased to proclaim his excellencies.
So the aim this morning is that you would understand what God has done for you and that you would be moved in your spirit over the glories of this redemption to the point that you proclaim his excellencies this year.
Two simple points this morning:We’ve been redeemed, we’ve been purchased, we’ve been saved … purchased … and then we’re purchased to proclaim His excellencies.
So let’s take the first one…we’ve been purchased.
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We’ve been purchased (Text)
Peter gives four descriptions of our redemption in verse nine. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for God’s own possession. If you have a New American Standard you have these phrases in all capital letters which tells us that Peter is using language from the Old Testament.
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Chosen Race
Peter says we are a chosen race.
EXP:
And he is referring to the book of Isaiah, chapter 43:20-21. In that passage, the Lord is promising to restore the nation of Israel after He judges them for their sin. Babylon destroyed them and took them captive. And after that happens, the Lord is promising to bring them back. And even though He says they are blind and have rebelled against the Lord, the Lord declares to them, “You are my witnesses.”
The LORD says to Israel …
Isaiah 43:11–13 11 “I, even I, am the LORD, And there is no savior besides Me. 12 “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD, “And I am God. 13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”
The Lord restores them and they are his witnesses. And it is in that context that the Lord says that he will make rivers to flow in the desert to give drink to “my chosen people. “The people whom I have formed for myself will declare my praise.”
His chosen people … Lord chose them all the way back to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the promises that he gave to them… And then after the Lord delivers them from Egypt and gives them the Law of Moses, the Lord explains that he did not set his love on Israel or choose them because they were more in number than any of the peoples… No indeed, they were the fewest of all the peoples.
But the Lord chose them and they are his chosen people because he has loved them and kept the promises which he swore Abraham Isaac and Jacob and so he brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm!
And he chose them in order that they might be his witnesses in all the earth. And all the peoples in the nations would hear of this law that they had been given by God and they would look on and say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people… For what great nation is there that has God so near unto them as the Lord is to them? Israel was to obey God and obey the law of Moses in order that the other nations would look on Israel and be saved and come to know the Lord as their God.
The Lord did not set his love upon them because they were more righteous, or more numerous or more powerful … the Lord chose them because he simply chose to set his love upon them. They are stiffnecked and hardhearted people, the Lord says but yet he still chose them!
APP: Israel, yes, but Peter says we too are a chosen race. But we’d have to admit, we been just like Israel. In sin, my mother conceived me…I was born in sin, a sinner.
ILL: We were estranged from our mother’s womb. I have been a liar from the womb … Exaggerating how much it really hurts by all my crying…
When our oldest daughter was born in South Carolina, as she was crying the nurse picked her up and her first words were, “drama queen!” We have been exaggerating and lying from our mothers’ womb!
Before coming to Christ, every motive behind every thought is only evil all the time and yet he has chosen us! Loved us to the point that he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world… As Israel was a chosen people so also we are a chosen race …
Though there are many different people groups, those who have been born again in Christ make up a new race… We’ve been born again into the living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead… And we are now his people, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ and we are a chosen people: an inestimable privilege.[1]
GLORY: That He has chosen me, that He has chosen us! Though I was dead in sin, He chose me, caused me to be born again to a living hope, put in me the Holy Spirit of Promise, and I am a part of His chosen now. Chosen race, royal priesthood…
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Royal Priesthood
… Think of that a royal priesthood. A King-like priesthood.
This description is reminiscent of Exodus 19:6. Turn to Ex. 19. Exodus 19 is a very important chapter in the Old Testament that is a covenant or a kind of contract between a king and their subjects. A king in the Ancient Near East would make a contract with his people… And that is what the Lord is doing with his people in Exodus chapter 19.
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Exodus 19:4–6 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 ‘Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
You can see in verse 6 that the nation of Israel is to be to the Lord “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” That’s what Peter is quoting.
They were a kingdom made up of priests. Now priests were set apart from the people to minister to the Lord. They had unique access to him. And so the entire nation of Israel was set apart from the other nations to serve God in this covenant with him.
They were a kingdom of priests. They were to serve as a mediator between the Lord and the other nations. They were the go-between as it were for the other nations, to lead them to the Lord.
The nations could come to know the Lord through the nation of Israel.
And that is what the church is today. The nations can come to know the Truth, Jesus Christ through the church.
2. So we are a royal priesthood.
When Jesus Christ died the Gospels record that the curtain, the veil of the temple that led into the holy of holies was torn in two from top to bottom! Only the high priest could enter into that most holy place once a year on the day of atonement. But when that curtain was torn in two, the Holy Spirit was signifying that the way into the most holy place in heaven has been revealed! Christ was raised from the dead and ascended and entered into the greater and more perfect tabernacle in heaven through his own blood having obtained eternal redemption.
And so Jesus Christ is himself now the way into that most holy place in the presence of God the Father. There is now no need for any earthly priest to mediate between us and God!
1 Timothy 2:5 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
So right now each believer is a priest…. “We are a kingdom of priests…” ILL: And btw, we will never give up our royal status, we never could give up our royal status… as you you evidently can in earthly kingdoms …. we’ll never give up our royal status.
We are and always will be a royal priesthood, the Bible says. And the Bible also says that our gracious Savior has made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father… We are a kingdom and priests to God…
We are a royal priesthood! We have direct access to God because of the work of Jesus Christ and we are kingdom and one day we will also reign upon the earth. Indeed we are a royal priesthood!
We are a royal priesthood now and that glorious truth one day be entirely fulfilled as we will literally be in his presence as priests … and ruling and reigning with him … as kings.
Utterly astonishing truth! Let this soak into your being… Imbibe it into your heart; trust God for it… we are a royal priesthood now and it’ll be entirely fulfilled for us in the future! That kind of truth changes your behaviour.
ILL: If I gave you a ticket from the grocery store that said “Redeem this for a free pizza tomorrow.” That would change your behaviour … you would pick it up on your way home from work! And you may doubt whether you would get the pizza because maybe they ran out, or maybe you can’t trust the guy who gave you the ticket, …. [me] or whatever, you might not know where to go … you would go, though, even if it was doubtful…
But this, what we have here in the Scripture are the very words of the living God! “Here” [picking up the Bible] .. Take this … it isn’t doubtful at all … believe it and let it empower you to live for Him out of gratitude for what He has done for you. His glorious promises will be fulfilled! … and let this change your behaviour…if you believe it, it’ll change your behaviour.
You can turn back to 1 peter 2:9 …
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Holy Nation
And so because they are a royal priesthood, it is clear that they are holy… They are a holy nation. God has established his covenant with them on Mount Sinai and this made them to be a holy nation before him, they are separated unto him: holy.
APP:
And we too are a holy nation. They were a physical nation; we, a spiritual nation. They were based on geographical boundaries and ethnic identity; but God’s people today are not based on either of those. We are a holy nation because of our allegiance to the King of this nation, Jesus Christ! He is truly King of Kings and Lord of lords! And he rules over his kingdom, whose kingdom we are. And his kingdom exceeds any earthly kingdom for it extends into heaven itself. And as the apostle Paul says, our citizenship is in heaven.
GLORY: So we are truly his citizens! He is our king; he lives today and we are his people and one day Jesus Christ the King is coming again who will rightly take his place upon the throne of David in Jerusalem and will rule over all the earth with righteousness and with a rod of iron and we will always be his people.
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People for God’s own possession
EXP: And so it’s clear then that we are a people for his own possession. This last description is likely an allusion to Isaiah 43:21.
That verse reads
Isaiah 43:21 “The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.”
The Lord formed Israel for himself who will declare his praise. And we too are a people for God’s own possession. Now we are not just Jews, but also Gentiles together in one body.
ILL: when Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey they went to Pisdian Anticoh and preached in the synagogues the saving grace of Christ.
And the next Saturday the whole city comes to hear the word of the Lord. But the Jews saw the crowds and so they were filled with jealousy and began to blaspheme. And so Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews, “since you judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we turn to the Gentiles.”
Now, when the Gentiles heard this … they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and it says that as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed and the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region!
ILL: Imagine being one of those Gentiles. Paul comes working miracles! And as a Gentile you longed for truth and for a message proven to be true from heaven. And here’s Paul and He’s preaching… only to Jews… And you think to yourself, “Will he not turn to me? Will I not have opportunity to trust in Christ to be saved?” And as a Gentile, by nature you are excluded from the commonwealth of Israel. Outside of God’s promises… Barred, cut off, can’t enter into the promises of God though you thought…
And now to hear the apostle Paul say, “we turn to the Gentiles!” All the rejoicing! The glorifying of the word of the Lord… That your soul, deserving of damnation before God now, by simply whole-heartedly receiving the Word, and how you are redeemed! And you have eternal life! And as verse 10 says that you were at one time not a people, but now you are the people of God, you have not received mercy but now you have received mercy!
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood now and also fulfilled in the future… A holy nation set apart unto Jesus Christ who is our king we are a people for God’s own possession, uniquely set apart, to be his forever!
What does that make you want to do? Just like that early church, it makes you want to spread the message throughout all that region! You say, “I don’t know how to spread the word everywhere.” Wrong focus, let’s focus on the rejoicing! Receiving and rejoicing in the word of the Lord will cause us to want to spread that message far and wide!
TRANS: Now all of that glorious truth, all of that wonderful doctrine, the promises of God, give this application some umph behind it…this glorious gospel motivates our godly living…we’ve been purchased to proclaim!
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We’ve been purchased to proclaim
He has redeemed us, we’re a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possessions… So that, for this purpose that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light… You who were once not a people but now you are the people of God he did not receive mercy but not you receive mercy… The purpose of this is that you would proclaim the excellencies of him was called the darkness into his marvelous light
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Proclaim His excellencies
To proclaim here is to spread abroad. And to make something widely known. And we proclaim His excellencies.
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In words
We use our words! We spread abroad, we make it widely known.
We throw out the lifeline! throw out the lifeline!
Someone is drifting away;
Throw out the lifeline! throw out the lifeline!
Someone is sinking today.
We make known the excellencies of Jesus Christ, His Lordship, his kingship over all, and His power to save a poor lost sinner!
Make known his excellencies to your friends and family or coworkers or neighbors! Disciple, go in the community, seek someone to save!
But if we don’t proclaim with a godly character, we proclaim in vain.
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In character: Namely, love (why 1 Co. 13; shall all men know)
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
People will know… They can just see it, that if you love, you must follow Jesus. That if you exhibit such patience in the midst of such difficulty, you must follow Christ. Someone who is kind even when it is most difficult and forgiving of even the greatest sins… That person must be following Jesus.
Proclamation without love for people will always fall short.
But when you know you’re in the kingdom of God and you’re trusting Christ alone, and you’re a part of His chosen people and begin to glory in His work and glory in His love for you… you’ll begin to truly love others.
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APP: Know Christ! You have to be in His word; yougotta glory in His Promises. If you’re not in the habit of reading His word daily, let’s start that this year. Let’s endeavour to expose ourselves to His truth and His wisdom, His promises to us that we may grow!
The plan of Christ is to change you … Maybe it’s growing in your walk, your marriage, your relationship with those at church,
ENG/RALLY/Aerobics instructor: SMILE … We can do this!
He says, “follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He is in the process of changing you and making you. He wants to mold you. Where is he molding you? Where does he want you to grow, what is your next spiritual step? Is it in your relationship to him? Of course it is. But is it also in your marriage or maybe in your relationship with others? Is it in your patience, humility?
I believe that God is with us! He says that he is… He is in our hearts is working in our lives yes, we may have troubles and challenges and struggles and difficulties… But that does not mean that we are separated from the love of Christ!
Because what could possibly separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation or distress or any persecution? What about a famine or disease or war?
No nothing not even death life angels nothing that has ever been created could possibly ever separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So that’s why we can be assured of his grace in our lives of his mercy and forgiveness.
As we take a step to grow in Him, He’ll meet us and give us His grace.
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CONCLUSION What is the Meaning of 1 Peter 2.9-10
So, will you take some steps this year to grow, to be man or woman of God He’s calling you to be? Get to know His promises, get to know the fact that you’ve been purchased, and let that motivate and empower you to live for Him, and to proclaim His excellencies in all the earth.
423 Redeemed
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Karen H. Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2005), 159. ↑
