We Are Living Stones, Royal Priests, A Holy Nation - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. It's interesting that in the book of Revelation, the writer keeps saying that the prayers of the saints are offerings to God.

He sees them as a sweet aroma. Every time we pray, we make an offering to God because we're priests. That's our role as priests. In the Old Testament, you had priests that were chosen by God.

You and I are chosen by God. You had priests in the Old Testament that could only be cleansed by the blood of the sacrifice. And you and I are cleansed by what? The blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

See, but we're so different than they were. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again, he shows us how God's word meets our world. In verse five, he says, You also as living stones are building up to a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Down in verse nine, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.

Wow. So he starts out there in verse five. You also is you plural. You all from the south. You all. He said, all of you. He said, all of you, he said, are part of a holy priesthood. Those are the words, by the way, that had a lot to do with the starting of the Reformation. When Catholic priests understood that this is what the word of God said, men like Martin Luther said, don't ever call my call me a priest unless you call yourself a priest because we're all priests.

Universal priesthood of believers is a fundamental fact of the New Testament. He said, we're all priests. Some of you come from backgrounds and you think, no, the priest is especially designated group of people.

They're not your especially designated group of people. And you're not just any priest. In fact, first of all, he says you have a holy priesthood set apart by God. That's pretty good. But then he says that in verse nine, that it's a royal priesthood.

That's really cool. You know how many royal priests there are in the Bible? One Melchizedek. The king, priest of Salem, just one. No, Levi, not Aaron, not any of the Levites are ever priests. Melchizedek's a priest. He goes, yeah, that's the kind of priesthood you have because Melchizedek is a theophany of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is a king, priest, and you and I are king priests. All of you. You see, you know, what's ironic about this, though, if you think about it from another point of view, who wrote this? Peter. Isn't that interesting? The first pope. Wrote that. We're all priests.

How did that get so messed up? You said we're all priests. Now, the point of it is, what's so big about being a priest? Notice offering up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You and I make offerings. You know how often?

All the time. Your life and my life. Let me show you this.

Go with me. We'll come back to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. In verse one. The apostle Paul writes this. He said, Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. He can't you can't plead more than that. I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God.

This is so important. To present your bodies, a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. So as a priest, what can I offer God? Me. And that's what you should offer God.

You. I offer me a living sacrifice. J. Verna McGee was the first guy I ever heard say it, but he he said one time the problem with living sacrifices is they keep getting off of the altar.

You know, you can't keep them up where they belong. And there's a lot of truth to that. But I am to offer up to God a living sacrifice. It's me. And the priest, that's what I'm offering you, God.

What's that mean? I'll do anything. Anywhere, anytime, at any cost. You just tell me you have me. You see, that's what Paul said. That's what you need to do.

You need to offer your whole life. But there's more parts to it. Go with me now to Hebrews chapter 13, the book of Hebrews chapter 13. In verse 15. Here, the writer of Hebrews says this through him, through Christ.

Through him. He said then as continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of the lips that give thanks to his name. God says, there's another thing I want you to offer me.

I want you to offer me the praise of your lips. Notice the word there is continually. It doesn't say for an hour on Sunday morning.

Doesn't say that. Just continually. I want you to continually praise me. He said, that's what I want from you.

Next verse. And do not neglect doing good and sharing. For with such sacrifices, God is pleased. God says, you see, when you when you do good with other people and you say and you share with other people, God says that's a sacrifice to me.

Thank you. You see, you're offering me sacrifice. You offer me your life. You offer me your praise. You offer me your Thanksgiving.

You offer me doing good. In Ephesians Chapter five, Paul says, when we love God, when we have love for God and others, we're offering up spiritual sacrifices. The motivation of the Christian life is not a religious motivation. I don't live a certain way because of fear or because of guilt. I live that way because of love and gratitude.

That's what he is saying. That's what you do. You offer it up to God. It's interesting that in the Book of Revelation, the writer keeps saying that the prayers of the saints are offerings to God.

He sees them as a sweet aroma. Every time we pray, we make an offering to God because we're priests. That's our role as priests. In the Old Testament, you had priests that were chosen by God. You and I are chosen by God. You had priests in the Old Testament that could only be cleansed by the blood of the sacrifice. And you and I are cleansed by what?

The blood of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You see, but we're so different than they were. Remember Mount Sinai? If you saw it in the movie, you know, it was pretty cool. It was kind of wild looking up there and all the people are down on the bottom.

They're terrified. How many people could go up to Mount Sinai and be sort of in the presence of God? One.

Right. Just Moses. You know, that's it. So and then you think of the Holy of Holies. How many people could go in to where the mercy seat is, the Ark of the Covenant, the holiness of God and say, I'm here? Just one high priest. How often?

Once a year. That's it. And he had bells on his garments. The reason he had bells on his garments was that if you don't hear the bells, that means he's dead. All right.

And the traditional rumor is that they used to tie a rope around his ankle so that if he did fall down there, they could drag him out because if he went in to get him, you would die. That's how holy God is. Now, what about you and I? The writer of Hebrews says, Come boldly. You and I go boldly to the throne of grace. You and I go boldly.

Not once a year. Any moment we want to. And not only can we go boldly, but because you and I are children of God and adopted, I can actually go boldly into the presence of God, climb up on his lap and call him Papa or Daddy.

And I can talk to him. And it says that that throne of grace, I will receive mercy and grace from God. That's what it means to be a priest. You see, it's an amazing thing. What a privilege this is for us, our access to God in an intimate way. You hear this all the time, but all these things that I've been talking about these last few weeks, our faith is not a religion. It's a relationship between you and God.

And God uses all these different words that define this relationship. When you came into this morning, you made an offering to God by coming. You see, you made an offering to God by coming. When you sang, you offered praise to God. This is all about what's going on here. If you encourage someone else today, you made an offering to God. And, you know, do we even think about it that way?

Or are you more likely to think this? You get in a car, you say to your spouse, well, I don't know about you, but that guy, wow, wow, wow, wow. It just goes on and on and on. You know, I didn't get anything out of it. Well, let me explain something to you. You weren't supposed to get anything out of it. If you came here to get something, you're in the wrong place.

You came to give something. You see, you're not the audience. God's the audience. You're the worshippers.

Matt or me, we're just prompters. You're the worshippers. God's the audience today. You see, you're making an offering to God. When you sing, God reads your heart. You see, when we're praising Him, you see, when we're praising Him, God says, is that, do they mean this? You see, do they really mean this? You see, if we're standing together and saying you are worthy, you are worthy of all blessing and honor, Lord, I don't really know. I don't really care for the song.

It's a little too slow for me. You see, when you do that, you're not worshipping. We're here to offer God something, not just here, but everywhere we go.

Isn't it interesting how terrible the church is when you think about this? If you think of all the ways we offer, we have corporate worship, we make offerings to God. The church has decided that only one thing is the offering.

You ever think of that? Just one thing is the offering. When the men come up and get the baskets, we're now going to have the offering. The only thing you can offer God is the money.

We want the money. That's your offering. Look, money is an offering, but it's not the only offering.

You see, that's not it at all. The whole experience is the offering, but we call it the offering just simply because money will exchange hands. You see, we're priests. Our job is to offer up to God offerings and sacrifices on a daily basis. So we're living stones in the same building. We're royal priests in the same temple.

And then lastly, back to Peter. He says in verse nine, you're a chosen race. By the way, that's God's part.

He always does the choosing. And by the way, why do you choose us? Well, look at us.

We're impressive, aren't we? God said, wow, they're the best of the best down there. Now, there's no reason he chose us that you and I brought to the table.

In fact, Paul says the other. He says, if you really look, we're not that impressive of a group, which is kind of interesting. But he chose us not on the basis of our merit, but on the basis of his love for us. He chose us, he said, to be a royal priesthood, a holy nation. A holy set apart, haggis set apart, ethnos people. We're a holy people set apart, people us called often translated nation.

It gives us a little more specific with the next phrase. He said, we are people for God's own possession. I love that. These guys are mine. This church, these are mine. We're gods. There's only and we're just one holy nation.

You see. There's no race in here. There's no class distinction in here. There's no male and female in here. There's no rich and poor. There's none of that in here. There aren't Europeans and Asians and Africans.

None of that. We're all in the same nation. We're all in the same group. We're all the body of Christ. That's who we are. I set apart people for God's own possession. That's who we belong to be. That's who we must be, is what he says. Now, those things are wonderful.

Seeing and all that. Paul says in Philippians chapter three, we understand we're citizens of heaven. That's a great way to put it. I'm a citizen of America. I'm sure you are, too. But I'm a citizen of heaven. And by the way, that's the priority of my life. My citizenship in heaven is the most important thing to me. And when I'm going to live my life, I'm going to listen to the Lord of heaven. OK, it's not that I'm not a citizen or hopefully not a good citizen, but the point of it is we're not citizens of this world. We're citizens of heaven.

People of God's own possession. What is the reason for all these things? Right in the middle of verse nine, so that you may proclaim the excellency of him who has called you out of darkness and into marvelous light. That's why you're a living stone. That's why you're a royal priest. That's why you're a holy nation. So that you may proclaim.

Isn't that interesting? Every time we see one of these, if I'm a child of God, I need to be a witness for God, what he's done in my life. If I'm an ambassador for God, you see, then my job is to share with others.

Now, he says, I'm a I'm a living stone. I'm a royal priest. And he says, I'm from a holy nation so that I can proclaim the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light. That's what we're supposed to do. He said, 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. So what do we tell people? How do I proclaim the excellencies of him? I tell people first where I came from. Darkness. And then I tell them where I am.

Light. That's what the verse says. I also tell them who I was. Not as people. Not who I am.

I am as people. It's the same thing as a witness does. I just give testimony to the Lord.

That's the way this works. And the basis of it all is that one great word that Peter writes there. He said you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Why are you going to go to heaven? Mercy. Three great words could have all been used here. Love. Grace. Mercy.

That's why. What is grace? You see, what is grace? Getting what I don't deserve. That's grace. It's a gift. What's mercy? Not getting what I do deserve.

You see, that's mercy. He says, yeah, the whole reason that all this is true, all these great things about us. I'm a child of God. I'm a new creation. I'm a living stone. You see, I'm a royal priest. I'm a holy nation. Why? Mercy of God.

Has nothing to do with anything else. That's an amazing thing. I love what he says in verse six when he says, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, precious cornerstone, he says, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. Wow. That's why I beg you. Boy, if you're thinking somehow you're going to jump through some religious hoops and somehow that's going to make a difference in your life, you're going to end up extremely disappointed.

I can't be clear with this. It's faith and faith alone in Christ and Christ alone. All of the glory goes to him. I don't want any of you to ever be disappointed when you stand before the Lord. Wow. Now, what's interesting about this is why does God tell us all this stuff? Paul made a statement in Romans 80 said that nothing can separate you and I from the love of Christ. Nothing. Not anything in the past, anything in the future. No created thing. Not angels. Nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.

That's an amazing statement when you think about it. Why does God tell us stuff like that? Because he wants you and I to have something that's extremely important as a sinful person living in a cursed world. He wants you and I to have peace. That's what he wants.

He wants you and I to be able to have peace. Because you and I both know, wow, the circumstances out there can get really bad, really fast in our lives. There are people who disappoint you. There are diagnoses that you never want to hear.

There are economic downturns that can ruin your financial. There's a lot of things in the world that can really bother you. And he said, yes, I know that. I want you to have peace when you live your life.

That's an amazing thing. And the reason for it is, he says, look, I'm in the deliverance business. That's what God says.

That's my job. God says, this is what I do. I deliver people. I deliver sinners. You see, I redeem things. That's what God does for us. He delivers us. He redeems things. In other words, again, as I say all the time, read the end of the book, we win. He said, I'll deliver you, I promise. Notice he never promises, I'll make the circumstances so you'll never have to face anything difficult out there because that's not true.

So I want you to think about that for a moment. The first thing that happens is, he says, let me give you some stories about deliverance. How about Daniel and what? Lion's Den. Is that a good place to be?

No. He said, yeah, Daniel and the Lion's Den. Delivered them. How about Jonah and the great fish? Delivered them.

How about a teenage boy standing in the shadow of a nine foot nine inch giant named Goliath? Yeah, he said, I delivered him. What about Peter and John in prison? Yeah, I delivered them. What about Thomas and his doubt? I delivered him. What about Lazarus and his grave? I delivered him.

What about the shackles for Paul? He said, I delivered him. You know, one of the great words of the Bible was the word through. That's what God really promises us. I'll get you through this.

I promise. I took him through the Red Sea. I took him through the wilderness. The psalmist wrote this, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why? Because you're with me. He didn't say I'm not going to die. He said, this is the shadow of death, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

And you know what's amazing? Not only do you and I get peace, but it's one of the most important things of our testimony to other people. One of the things that God can use are the most difficult, terrible circumstances to bring people to a saving knowledge of him. How he takes us through it.

Notice what he says as it goes on. Verse 11. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers. That's an interesting title for us. We're aliens of this world. He said, beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust, which war against the soul.

Now watch. Keep your good behavior excellent among the Gentiles so that in the thing in which they slander you as evil doers, they may, because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. That's what happened to prisoners of war in World War Two.

They kept their behavior excellent among a hate-filled German commander named Canisia. And he came to Christ. Because of that.

How does that stuff happen? For two reasons. One, because of who he is. But two, because of who we are.

Let's pray. Father, this message and these identities that you give us throughout the New Testament of just who we are. Somehow, for many of us, it never really sets on our soul.

It's never something we meditate on or think about. We find ourselves so often preoccupied with the circumstances of our life. And if they're going well, we're happy.

And when they're not going well, we're extremely sad. But, Father, what you keep trying to tell us over and over again is that that inner joy, the peace and the hope that we can have comes through our relationship with you, not the circumstances of our life. It comes for us understanding who we are in Jesus Christ. We are a saved people. We are the children of God. We are a new creation.

We are living stones. We are royal priests. We are a holy nation of people and so much more. You tell us that to bolster us as we live out our lives on this cursed planet. Father, I pray that we can incorporate these truths into our lives and our lives can be filled with peace.

No matter what the circumstances are. This we pray for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name.

Amen. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

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