As we've been studying this first epistle of Peter the one thing which continues to stand out is Peter's desire to help us see our position before God and how a proper understanding and appreciation of this new life in Christ should motivate us to seek the Spirit who enables us to walk in this new life to God's honor and glory.

This is also why he uses this line of thought to help us put trials into perspective so that we don't lose hope in the midst of suffering. When our hope in Christ is at the forefront of our life then trials don't have to cripple us.

Peter brings this out in the beginning of this letter when he says in 1Pe 1:3 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

God can use even the trials we may face in life to increase our faith and bring us through so that He may glorified in the process. This is why Paul says in Rom 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

There isn't anything in our lives that God can't use to glorify Himself if we're willing to trust Him and rely on His strength. But it's all connected to understanding and living in the hope He's given us in Christ.

And part of that hope lies in our position with Christ as He reveals it to us and we accept it by faith. Well, what does God have to say about our position with Him? Our text this morning reveals this.

1Pe 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

This description of our relationship to our Creator should make every born-again believer rejoice, knowing that this is how God sees us in Christ.

When Peter says to Christians in verse 9 that, "you are a chosen people", we see this same designation in Deu 10:15 regarding Israel.... "Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today."

Peter also calls us a royal priesthood and a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. This too was a description God used for Israel in Exo 19:5 "Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

What's Peter's point here in using this language for Israel in describing us? God chose a people to represent Him and to be used by Him to bring the world the message of salvation. This was a nation chosen among all other nations through whom the Messiah would come.

That nation chose to reject God and the Messiah. That nation was Israel. They were a treasured possession, they were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, but they were also to love and obey God, which they did not.

Because of their rebellion God raised up a people from among the world to carry His name and to go forth to declare His greatness and the hope we have in the Messiah Jesus.

This doesn't mean that God has abandoned the nation of Israel, but He has cut them off for a time, as a nation, until the fulness of the Gentiles is accomplished.

Paul addresses this in his letter to the Romans when speaking of the Jews in Rom 11:1 "I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin."

Rom 11:11 "Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!"

Rom 11:25 "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

God is not finished with Israel as a nation, but until God softens their hearts and they embrace the Messiah by faith, you and I have the privilege of being His representatives, His ambassadors in this world to carry this Good news of eternal life found only in Jesus Christ.

Remember who Peter is addressing here in this letter. He's addressing the Church made up of both Jews and Gentiles who have trusted Jesus Christ for the remission of their sins. And he places them both in the same category as being "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..."

But what does this mean for you and me today? It means a variety of things, not the least of which is that God Himself in personally involved in our lives to will and to work according to His good pleasure to His honor and glory.

Let's go back and quickly look at what God calls us in Christ. A chosen people, or as it reads in some translations a chosen race. The operative word here is chosen. God Himself has made a choice to bring us into His presence and allow us to share in His eternity.

As I've said before, His choice of us had nothing to do with how lovely and wonderful we were, but in spite of our sinfulness and rebellion, He chose to give us life in Christ.

That's what this amazing grace is all about. We deserve nothing from God and yet He gives us all in His Son. Paul speaks of this amazing grace in Eph 2:1 "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature [Or our flesh] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.
6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus."

God has chosen us to be His people; not to be our own people, but His people for His purpose. And then Peter calls us a royal priesthood. I touched on this last week and so I won't elaborate on it again, but the idea here is that we as a priesthood are to represent God before the world.

The royalty is that we belong to the King of kings and Lord of lords. We carry His name, we belong to a royal family which has an eternal life in God's kingdom. And this royal blood line goes back to the cross at Calvary, where Christ shed His precious blood for you and me.

Peter then mentions us as a Holy nation. The word holy in the Greek is hagios and it means sacred, consecrated for a special purpose. The idea here is that we are set apart by God to be a people who may be in the world, but are not of the world. Our citizenship is in heaven.

When people think of the word holy they often associate it with people who have halos around their heads and walk three feet above the ground at all times. But holiness is part of the sanctification process the Holy Spirit is working in our lives to conform us more and more into the image of Jesus Christ.

Holiness is a move towards God and away from the sinful desires of the flesh or sin nature. It's a living in the new life we have in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

And holiness is seen in a practical way whereby, because we love Christ, we obey Him. This is what Peter meant when he said in the beginning of this letter in 1Pe 1:14 "As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

In other words, in all that we do in this life, our goal should be to please our heavenly Father in all things, according to His will as He's revealed it in His word.

And then Peter says in verse 9 of our text that, "we are a people for God's own possession." Unfortunately, many in the church today have the impression that we are saved for the sole purpose of being possessed by no one other than ourselves.

And yet what are we told in 1Co 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."

We belong to God, He has purchased us with the blood of Christ to be His chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation and a people for God's own possession.

But why has God gone through all the trouble to come into this world, taking on flesh, and then dying for the penalty of our sins so that we might come into a personal relationship with Him? Well, Peter answers it here in verse 9.... so "that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

We've been given the privilege to shine for Christ in the light of His love. We are to declare to the world that God is an awesome God who has loved us with an everlasting love and who desires men to repent of their sins and trust Christ for life eternal.

Part of our declaration, according to Peter in verse 9, is to declare that He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. He came looking for us and calling to us to leave the path of darkness and destruction and enter into His rest.

Again, Paul brings this out clearly in 2Co 4:6 "For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

The darkness we were brought out of is the darkness of sin which blinds us to the truth of Christ. Our own rebellion blinds us to the "Light of the world" who came to free us from this bondage to sin and its effects.

Praise God He has opened our eyes and allowed us to see our need for a Savior in Christ. He's the One who is light and He illumines our hearts and heals our souls and brings us to Himself to share in His presence forever. That's worth declaring to the world, so that they too might look to the light and be delivered from the darkness of their sin.

But, so as not to allow Christians to forget that this is all of God's grace and mercy, Peter says in 1Pe 2:10 "Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Dr. Hiebert in his commentary on Peter says, "Peter, like Paul, believed it was good for believers occasionally to remember what they once were; it should deepen their gratitude for what they now are, God's people. They have been lifted so high as to have become not merely a people, but the people of God--belonging to Him and acknowledged by Him."

There was a time when you and I were not God's people, when we had not received mercy leading to salvation. But now in Christ we know what it means to be His people, to taste His mercy, and what Peter wants us to do is to appreciate so great a salvation that our entire lives show it with thankfulness and loving obedience to Christ.

And so this is why Peter continues the way he does in 1Pe 2:11 "Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

There are a number of things we need to see here. First, notice the way Peter addresses these Christians. In the NIV it reads Dear friends. But the Greek word here is agapetos. It's a derivative of the word we know as agape, which speaks of God's love.

It goes much deeper than dear friends. The word is better translated beloved. And in the Greek it carries the idea of being loved by God and by Peter. Remember, this is God's word inspired by the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God is essentially addressing you and me and calling us beloved. This is how God sees us, because of what Christ has done for us, not because of some inherent righteousness we possess, but because of Christ's righteousness put to our account by faith.

And so God calls us beloved. But because we are beloved of God we belong to Him and are His people by virtue of His purchasing us with Christs blood. Therefore, He speaks to us as His people who are to faithfully represent Him here in this world.

And so Peter says, "I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul."

Peter, as an apostle, could have put this in the form of a command. And though it carries the force of something we should be doing, the form here is an appeal to their hearts, but it's a very strong appeal.

Dr. Wayne Grudem likes Phillips translation on this verse which says. "I beg you as those whom I love." Peter knew what was best for these people, as he knows what's best for us. And though he is pleading for our obedience to Christ, he wants it to be an obedience which is not under compulsion but out of gratitude for being chosen of God to be with Him forever.

And so he pleads with us to consider how we represent our Lord and Savior in this world. He says, "I urge you as aliens and strangers." Now, he's not referring to creatures dreamed up in the minds of people visiting us from other planets.

He's talking to you and me. And though we may seem like creatures from other planets at times, Peter is suggesting that our status in this world is such that we don't belong here forever, this is not our home.

I know it's very easy for people to get so comfortable in this world that they seem to have put down permanent roots. Peter is saying that we need to be living as aliens and strangers.

These two terms imply that we may be living in a land we call home, but in fact it's only a temporary residence until we reach our true homeland which is heavenly in nature.

Even the O.T. saints understood this as is shown with Abraham in Heb 11:9 "By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

We have a heavenly home and we represent our God in this foreign land for a relatively short time, and so we must demonstrate that in a way which clearly shows this world who we belong to and encourage them to seek this loving God.

Part of the way we show the world is through how we live our lives. I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul."

Fleshly lusts. What does Peter mean by this? Well, keep in mind the contrast he's making. He's contrasting new creatures in Christ whose home is with God, to those whose whole life revolves around the things of this world.

This world is represented in the scriptures as a place which is temporal in nature and as such can offer nothing eternal. The things of this world may satisfy our desires and cravings, but it cannot do anything for us from an eternal stand-point.

And so when scripture speaks of the flesh it doesn't necessarily mean that the flesh itself is somehow evil, but sin which works in the flesh, our old sinful natures, with its desire to please self instead of God.

And when self is living for itself it will conduct itself in a fleshly, temporal way, with little or no thought of God's righteousness or holiness.

Peter is saying that this kind of attitude and behavior is not what God desires for a people who don't belong to this world. We should be walking in a way that demonstrates the other world or life we belong to which is a life in Christ.

Fleshly lusts or sinful desires, as the NIV puts it, should not characterize the believer in Christ. We need to abstain from such things. In other words, we need to avoid such things, not even entertaining them.

The idea of abstaining carries with it the idea that we have the power in Christ to turn away from such things. There's a lot of teaching going around today which places the believer in a very precarious position when it comes to sinful desires.

Some of the teaching carries with it the idea that the enemy or Satan can do things to influence you to the degree that you don't have any power to turn away.

The world has convinced the church that what God calls sin is really a disease you're stuck with with no hope of victory over such fleshly lusts.

And by the way, when we talk of fleshly lusts this is not limited to sexual sins. This is speaking of all temptations we're susceptible to.

But remember, that greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. When Peter encourages us to abstain from fleshly lusts he doesn't mean to suggest that we attempt to live for God in our flesh or in our own power.

This is why we've been given the Spirit of God to enable us to walk as children of light. But notice too what fleshly lusts or temptations do in our lives. Peter says, "they wage war against our soul."

This is not some little skirmish that's going. No, the enemy has only one thing in mind and that's to destroy our ability to glorify our God in our bodies. This is a war, and though we have the ultimate victory in Christ, it comes through submitting to our Lord as we resist the temptations, as we engage our minds, our will, our strength in the Spirit as we come to God.

I like what James says in Jam 4:7 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

It takes spiritual effort to walk away from the temptations of the enemy and of the flesh, but we're not in this war alone. Remember, it is God who has called us to Himself. "We are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

But what is all of this walking in the Spirit going to accomplish for others in this world? Peter tells us in 1Pe 2:12 "Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."

We are to be a witness for Christ, not only by what we say, but also by how we live for Him. The world will falsely accuse of all sorts of things, but God says, don't let that stop you from continuing in my grace and strength and living to honor Me.

In fact, it's through our good deeds, as Peter puts it, that there will be people in this world who will take notice and be touched by what Christ has given us.

Many commentators agree that this phrase "they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.", cannot be referring to His second coming. When speaking of the day He visits us, the Greek language is literally translated, in a day of inspection.

When unbelievers stand before Christ's judgement seat, though every knee will bow, it will not be a day where they glorify or praise God when they receive their condemnation.

This thought which Peter conveys is similar to what Jesus says in Mat 5:16 "In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

The idea is that through our lives Christ draws men to Himself that they may seek forgiveness and eternal life in the Savior. This is what Peter is implying that as we live to God's honor and glory it will effect the world in a way that the light Christ has given us will pierce the darkness of sin and people will seek our Lord as the Spirit of God illumines their minds and hearts.

What a great privilege to be used by God in this way in this world. We are called for a purpose, a holy purpose to be used by our Creator.

And He doesn't send us out into this world on our own. He gives us His Spirit and all of the gifts and the power we need to accomplish His purposes. But we need to lovingly submit to God and walk as the people of God He's called us to be.

1Jo 5:2 "This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.
3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,
4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith."

Trust God. The victory belongs to Him and in Him we are more than Conquerors. And don't ever forget your standing before God in Christ: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."