God chose sovereignly to bestow His saving grace on some, but to allow the others to do what they pleased to do, and God simply passed them over so that nobody in this equation is subjected to divine injustice, but those who are redeemed receive grace, those who are not received justice. Today's sermon from 1 Peter is the final sermon in this short series, so it's also the final time that you can request R.C. Sproul's complete hardcover commentary on 1 and 2 Peter when you give a donation of any amount at Renewing Your Mind.
But respond today, as this offer will not be repeated next Sunday. Well, turn your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2, because here's Dr. Sproul. The last time we were together, we spent some time on the metaphor of the living stone that is Jesus, who assembles to Himself a people who also are living stones, and through this group of living stones, He builds His church. But then Peter tells us that this stone, who is the foundation of the church, the cornerstone of the church, is at the same time a stone of stumbling by which many find their ruin.
And it is called a rock of offense, and that's where we left off in our last meeting. And so we look at the end of that passage that said, They stumble, being disobedient to the Word, to which they also were appointed. Now we notice that this stumbling, this tripping, is a tripping that is occasioned by the rock that is Christ, and that people who are disobedient to the Word of God are the ones who are tripped up by this rock of offense, who is Jesus. And we hear from Peter this grim message, to which they also were appointed. We would not change the meaning of this term if we used a different word, as many translators do, by reading it, to which they also were destined. Again, here in this text, as we already have seen in Peter's writings, we have reference to predestination. We have reference on the first hand to the sovereign election by which God pours His grace on those whom He chooses from the foundation of the world for that inheritance that will be theirs in Christ. But we understand also that the doctrine of predestination is double, that it not only involves election, but it also involves the other side of the coin, which we call reprobation.
Many of you were with us as we worked through verse by verse Paul's letter to the Romans, and we saw that clearly set forth in the ninth chapter of Romans, where we saw the destiny of Jacob set in contrast to that of Esau. And again, there are those who want to say, yes, we clearly understand that the Bible teaches election in the positive sense, but the idea that there is another side to it seems to be a horrible decree from which we shrink and which we simply will not embrace. That is the idea that some are destined for destruction and for judgment, whom we call the reprobate. Now let me just say to you that there is a theory that is set forth in Latin that says destinare ad peccatum, that the idea is that the shadow side of predestination is that God from all eternity has predestined people to sin, that He set forth their destiny as sinners in order that they may be damned. This is exactly what the Reformed doctrine of predestination does not teach. Rather, the doctrine teaches that God's decrees of election and reprobation are given before the fall, that is from the foundation of the world, but in light of the fall, that it is not as if from all eternity God considers an unfallen, innocent humanity out of which He destines some for salvation and others to damnation. Rather, as Augustine pointed out, that when God was considering the human race, He knew them prior to the fall as a mass of perdition. And out of this mass of fallen, unbelieving, disobedient humans, God chose sovereignly to bestow His saving grace on some, but to allow the others to do what they pleased to do, and God simply passed them over so that nobody in this equation is subjected to divine injustice, but those who are redeemed receive grace, those who are not received justice, and people complain against this, saying it's not fair that God would give His mercy to some and not to all. That when we complain about God's sovereign grace in salvation, we see how gracious that salvation really is, because when we complain, we reveal how obstinate our hearts are towards the majesty and sovereignty of God. They were appointed to a destiny of judgment on the basis of their unbelief, on the basis of their disobedience, because that is the inevitable conclusion of all who refuse to bow before the Christ. All who reject the cornerstone find that very stone that which will trip them up forever.
As one commentator mentioned, you can't trip across a stone unless at least your toe touches it. And so Peter is describing those who had encountered the living Christ and who stumbled over Him. And then in stark contrast to those who are the disobedient, destined to judgment, Peter speaks more comforting to the ones whom he has addressed this epistle to, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. Every day that I'm in town and I'm able, I have breakfast in Lake Mary at Peach Valley Restaurant, and one of the assistant managers greets me every morning. I say, fine. I say, how are you? And his answer is the same always. He never says, I'm fine. He never says, good.
When I say, how are you? He says, I'm blessed. And even when we exchange greetings, I'm reminded of this man's belief in the Savior and understanding of the grace of God, because that's who we are, folks. We are a blessed people, people who have received the riches of God's grace in our lives, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. This is the second time in this epistle that Peter has made reference to our being involved in a priesthood. In the first instance, he called this priesthood a holy priesthood, and we looked at that in light of Luther's understanding of the priesthood of all believers. But now he qualifies this priesthood in a different way. He said that we are chosen and that we are a royal priesthood. That is a priesthood that serves in the presence of and under the aegis of a king.
And we see the uniqueness of the role of Christ in the New Testament in redemptive history, where Christ is not only our King, but He is also our great High Priest. And of course that was an affirmation that people in the Jewish community struggled with in light of their understanding that in the Old Testament that the priesthood was given to the tribe of Levi, that is the Aaronic or sometimes called Levitical priesthood, and in order to be ordained a priest in that structure, one had to be of the tribe of Levi. Jesus wasn't a Levite. He was from the tribe of Judah. And you will recall that it was to Judah that the kingdom was given. In the blessing given to the sons of Jacob, Jacob said, the scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes, that Judah is a lion's whelp. And so we hear of the lion of Judah, which becomes a title for the king that comes out of Judah.
Jesus is that King. Well, if He's the King, how can He be the Priest? And you recall that this was the question that was considered by the author of Hebrews when his argument was that Jesus was a priest from a different order of priesthood.
He was not a Levitical priest. He was not a descendant of Aaron, but rather He was of the order of Melchizedek. And you remember how that in the book of Hebrews, the author recounts the incident in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis when Abraham meets Melchizedek, and Melchizedek pronounces his blessing upon Abraham, and in turn Abraham pays a tithe to Melchizedek.
We've been through this before. And the point is, according to the Hebrews, that it is the superior who blesses the subordinate, and the subordinate is the one who gives tithes to the superior. So obviously in this relationship, Abraham is subordinating himself to the authority and the role of this enigmatic character named Melchizedek. And of course the author goes on to say, if Melchizedek is greater than Abraham, and Abraham is greater than Isaac, and Isaac is greater than Jacob, and Jacob is greater than Levi, then manifestly Melchizedek is greater than Levi. But let's look again at this strange figure of Melchizedek. He's given a name and a title. He's called Melchizedek the King of Salem.
That's how he's identified. First let's look at his name, Melchizedek. The meaning of that name is based upon two Hebrew words, Melek and Tzedakah, and literally his name, Melchizedek, means the King of Righteousness. That's his name, King of Righteousness. And we are told that his position was the King of Salem, which means the King of Peace.
And there is some evidence that prior to Jerusalem's being called Jerusalem, that it had in antiquity been called Salem. Again, many people think that this appearance of Melchizedek in the Old Testament was a Christophany, a pre-incarnation appearance of Christ Himself to whom Abraham paid homage. But the point is that this Melchizedek was a priest and a king, and Christ receives His priesthood from that order and His kingship from His descendancy from Judah, so that Jesus supremely is the King Priest. Apart from Melchizedek, you understand that in the Old Testament there was a sharp line of division between the function of the king and the function of the priest.
We remember how Uzziah had reigned so faithfully for decades. Until the end of his life, he arrogated to himself the role of the priest and came into the holy place to offer up sacrifices, and the priests were aghast at what he was doing. And they rebuked him, and he exercised his wrath upon the priest, whereupon God struck him with leprosy and removed him from the throne, and he died in shame because he tried to add the priesthood to his own monarchy. That union of priesthood and kingship was preserved for Christ, who is our King and our great High Priest who intercedes for us daily at the right hand of God.
Isn't that amazing? The one whom God has anointed as King of the Kings, has put in the supreme position of royal authority over the whole universe, is at the same time our priest. It's our King who prays for us. It is our King who intercedes for us. But you see this conjunction of kingship and priesthood doesn't finish with Jesus. But now Peter gives us this astonishing affirmation that you who are in Christ are not only a chosen generation, but you are a royal priesthood. That by virtue of our being in Christ, we participate in His kingdom.
We participate in His priesthood, as those who make intercession for the lost as well as for the people of God. A holy nation, a sacred nation, a consecrated nation, a transcendent nation, a nation that is other or different from any nation that has ever appeared on this planet. At least two occasions earlier on, and again soon to follow the passage we're just considering, Peter calls the people to whom he's addressing pilgrims, the sojourners, drawing attention to the past of the people of Israel who were semi-nomadic people who rarely had a place to call home and who at the heart of the promises God had made to Father Abraham was that they would become a nation. They would have a homeland.
They would have a place that would be permanent, a place that would give them stability. And you know the history of Israel is the history of instability. Pick up the paper today and you will see how many nations have their weapons of destruction aimed at Israel. But in reality, since the destruction of Jerusalem, the Jewish people have been in dispersion. They have been a people without a home, a people without a country until the Balfour Declaration in 1948. And we as Christians are a people without a country. There is never an equation in the Bible between the people of God and a peculiar nationalism. The kingdom of God is not limited to the borders of the United States of America.
It transcends every human border. The kingdom of God is spread throughout the whole world. And the reason is that people who are citizens in that kingdom are citizens of a different kind of a country, a holy nation.
Really as the Scriptures define it, a heavenly nation. So that our citizenship in reality cannot be defined by what is marked on our passports. Because in this world we remain pilgrims.
Remember the old gospel hymn, This world is not my home, I am only passing through. But it doesn't mean that we are a people without a country. We are a people who are citizens of a holy nation created by God. His own special people.
Why? Why are we a chosen generation? Why has it been given to us to be a royal priesthood? Why has God conferred upon us citizenship in a transcendent, heavenly, holy country? Why does God call us His own, His possession, His special people?
Here's the reason. That you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. We've received our citizenship in order that for the purpose of proclamation. For proclaiming God's praises.
That's what we're called to do. That's what it means to worship God. To offer to Him not a burnt offering, an animal sacrifice, or a cereal offering, but we offer to Him the sacrifice of praise. So that the praise of God should be on our lips every moment. Because people who are citizens of this heavenly kingdom spend eternity praising the King of that heavenly nation. Singing with the angels and archangels, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive glory and honor. God's worthy of these praises that we are called to give. What an incredible truth, worthy of all praise, that God has called us out of darkness to be His people, to be vessels of mercy.
You just heard a sermon from R.C. Sproul on this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind from 1 Peter chapter 2. Today's sermon was preached at St. Andrew's Chapel, a Presbyterian church in Sanford, Florida, and Dr. Sproul's preaching ministry formed the basis of his expositional commentary series. For the final time, if you'd like to add his commentary on 1 and 2 Peter to your library, you can request the hardcover edition when you make a donation of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. With this commentary, you can finish your study in 1 Peter and also spend time in 2 Peter, reading Dr. Sproul's insights from decades of study, teaching, and preaching.
Simply make a donation in support of Renewing Your Mind at renewingyourmind.org or by clicking the link in the podcast show notes, and we'll get a copy to you. But don't delay, as this offer does end at midnight, and it won't be repeated next Sunday. What will R.C. Sproul be preaching from next time? He'll be in Luke's Gospel considering the miracles of Christ. So join us next Sunday here on Renewing Your Mind. .
