Let's turn again to the first epistle of Peter. Let's read chapter 2. We began reading this morning verse 4. I wanted us to study the whole section. We got up to verse 8 and so this evening I want us to look at verses 9 and 10. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 9 and 10. 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, who were once not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Let's come to the Lord in prayer. Our Father, we do again thank you and praise you for the gift of the Bible. And we thought this morning, those words of Tim Challies, that this is not a book that gives up its treasures to those who skim lightly. And so, Lord, this evening we would be those who would seek to dig. I pray that you would give us the tools, the shovel, the pick. By your Holy Spirit, that you'd help us to mine our treasures and that you'd give us eyes to see them. Lord, that we would have our eyes open to behold wondrous things from your law. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. In January of 1521, as Martin Luther began making his way across Germany to the Diet of Worms, to which he had been summoned, Charles V had actually promised him safe passage. But many of his friends, remembering a similar promise which had been given to the reformer John Huss, who was then promptly captured and burnt at the stake, they pleaded with Martin not to go. But in response to the remonstrations of his friends, Luther said this, And indeed he did go, and his entrance into that city was like a hero. The crowds lined the streets, cheering him, this little German monk who dared to take on the Pope of Rome. But what was it that Luther was standing up for? What were those central doctrinal tenets that he was willing to risk his life for? Philip Schaff, the great church historian, has said that the Reformation was basically around three things. Firstly, the doctrine of Scripture, that the Bible and the Bible alone is to be the sole source of authority for doctrine and morality in the church, not the rulings of popes and councils and bishops. Secondly, that the salvation of the human soul is accomplished by God alone, by His grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And then thirdly, the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. The biblical teaching that every single believer has access to the presence of God through the person and merits of Jesus Christ. The Roman Catholic teaching was that this was the special preserve only of the priests, ordained priests, an ecclesiastical group ordained by the church. It was they, and only they, who could enter into the presence of God and make intercession and petition for others. But Luther and Calvin and Zwingli and other of these Reformers, by their diligent study of the Scripture, they came to see that this wasn't the Bible's teaching. They came to see that the priesthood wasn't some exclusive preserve of a little group of religious men, but rather it was the privilege of every single believer. Every believer has access to God through Jesus Christ. That's what Luther stood for. That's what Luther was willing to risk his life for. And it's that that we're going to study this evening. As we come to continue our look at 1 Peter chapter 2, we began this morning looking at the Christian church and the blessings, the glory of being able to build our lives upon the cornerstone. Well, this evening we're going to look at the function, the special function of those who have built their life upon the cornerstone, what it is that we are to do within the church. I want us to look particularly at verses 9 and 10, also comparing that as well with verse 5 and we're going to see this whole subject of the priesthood, royal priesthood, this ministry that we have as priests in the temple of God. Again, just to read verse 9, you're 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. This evening then I want us to look at three things about this priesthood that we have given to us. We're going to consider the status, the ministry and the motive. Our status, ministry and motive. Let's begin with our status, who we are as those who've been joined to Christ and given this ministry of the Royal Priesthood. And as we do that, let's just again put this into context for those who perhaps weren't here this morning, not really familiar with what we've been saying. Just to remind you, this letter was written by Peter, it was around 60 AD, writing to this group of believers scattered across various parts of the Roman Empire that today we would know as modern-day Turkey and persecution was imminent for them from the Emperor Nero. Peter speaks about this fiery trial which is to try them and so Peter here is attempting to encourage them and prepare them for that, to steal them for that ordeal and so he begins by reminding them of the myriad blessings they have in Jesus Christ the new birth and the living inheritance the fact they now have God as their father the fact that they have fellow believers as their brothers and sisters in Christ, a special family, a spiritual family, all born of the same spiritual seed. And the realization of this should cause them to seek to develop deep, fervent spiritual love for one another. Love for their brothers and sisters, and then also love for Christ. Love for the one who has brought them into the church, the living stone who has made them to be living stones, who's given them a foundation, this cornerstone on which to build their lives. To love him and to prize him, just as God loves him and he's precious to him, so he should be precious to God's people. That's what we thought about this morning. Their entrance into the church by the living stone. Now as we come to verse 9 and 10, we want to think about their status together as members of the church. Not so much what they are as individuals, but who they and we are collectively as members of God's church. And to do that, he gives a number of terms here in verse 9. Terms taken from the Old Testament. Now, many of Peter's original readers here, they would have been from a Jewish background, they had been scattered during the dispersion, but many of them would have been steeped in the language and in the imagery of the Old Testament. And so, as they read these terms here in verse 9, lights are going to start coming on, bells are going to start ringing for them. These terms are absolutely packed full of significance for these people. Let's just think about them for a few minutes. First of all, he says they're a chosen generation. That's a term taken from the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 43. My people, my chosen people, the Lord says, I formed them for myself. That's what they were, a chosen generation. Some translations have that as a chosen race. Now, what's the special characteristic of a race? A race is a group of people, and they all have a common ancestor, and it's through that ancestor that they're all ultimately related together. Like Abraham, for example, in Israel. Ultimately, all Jews would trace their roots back to him. So now, for believers in the New Testament, it all centers around Jesus Christ. It's through Jesus Christ that we all call God our Heavenly Father. It's through Jesus Christ that we all ultimately related to one another as brothers and sisters in Him. So we, today, we are a chosen race. Then he says, at the end of that list, he says, his own special people. That again is taken from the Old Testament, from Deuteronomy chapter 7. For you are a holy people unto the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people unto himself. That's what they were to be, a special people. A people for his own possession, separated from the other nations by observing his laws, by keeping his word. Separated from the other nations, they were to reflect his glory to the nations. That then was God's blueprint. That was his design for those people. But now Peter is transferring it over into the New Testament. He's saying, you are God's special people. You are God's own special possession. You are his special people. That's what makes you special. The fact that you belong to him. Of ourselves, we don't feel ourselves to be very special, do we? Most of us are pretty ordinary, aren't we? There's no film crew comes knocking at your door saying they want to make a film about your life, or write a biography about you, or make some documentary about you. Most of us are pretty ordinary, aren't we? Really. We don't really feel very special, but the reason we are special is because we belong to God, because we are his people, it's because we are his own possession. That's what makes us special. You know that, don't you? It's kind of a well-known fact, isn't it? That even things which are very ordinary can have great value simply because of the person they belong to. We went to visit Jaime earlier this year, and where he lives in Wheaton, not far from his home, there's a museum, and in that museum they have the wardrobe that belonged to C.S. Lewis. You know, it's just an ordinary wardrobe, but it's in a museum now because it belonged to him, the man who wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Now it's very valuable. They have it in a museum because of the person who it belonged to. And so for the Christian, we become special, we become valuable because we belong to God. We're His property. We are His possession. And of course that means also that He will care for us. God will guard His own property. No one is going to snatch us away from Him. which is very comforting if you think again about the original readers facing great uncertainty to know that they belong to God. He would guard them, He would protect them. Very comforting as they face an uncertain future knowing they belong to Him. And also to each other as well. That word people in the original, the word has the meaning of natives, folk. It means, I'm one of these people. These are my people. It's that kind of term. It means warmth and intimacy. And again, this would be very comforting, especially for those who may be lonely and isolated, fearful, surrounded by people who perhaps they didn't know, who were very hostile towards them. Very comforting to know they belonged to someone. They belonged to a people who would care for them, protect them. On Wednesday night we read out a prayer request, didn't we, from a young lady who's gone all the way out to Zambia to help the Williamson's. And she wrote just a brief prayer request, didn't she? And in that note she said, Then she says this, So that's what the church is supposed to be. Special people providing care and comfort for those who belong to them, those who are found in their midst. So, a chosen generation, special people, a holy nation. Look at that there in the middle. We're really getting into the meat of it now. Holy nation. This was God's intention for them, that they would be holy. Again, this is Deuteronomy chapter 7. They were to be holy unto the Lord. That means they were to be separated for him. That's why he gave them his law. His law was to be like a fence around them to protect them from the idolatry and the immorality of the nations round about. But of course they neglected the law and they trampled down the fence of that law. And so they then began to embrace much of the paganism and the immorality of the people around them. And as a result, God then brought judgment upon them. He sent them away into exile because of their sin and from being a special people, they then became no people. That's what the Lord said to them through Hosea. Lo, Ammi, He called them. Call him Lo, Ammi, for you are not my people and I am not your God. That's what their sin had done to them. It brought them into exile. They were cast off. That's what God did. But then at the same time, he said he would not make a full end of them. That would not be the end of the story. There would eventually come renewal and restoration. God would regather them once again. And you see that especially in the prophecy of Isaiah. Some of those wonderful texts we have there. Isaiah chapter 61, verse 6. So in Isaiah, he's speaking about a remnant who are going to be gathered. A remnant from Israel? but then also a remnant from the Gentile nations as well. Even the enemy peoples are going to be gathered in too. There's that amazing passage in Isaiah chapter 19 verse 25. Blessed is Egypt, my people. You have to do a double take when you read that. Blessed is Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance. So Israel and the Gentiles are going to be gathered together. Isaiah chapter 56, verse 6. Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." So this is the restoration that's going to take place. The sin and failure of the Israelites will be overcome and they will be gathered in and there will be Gentiles too. Ed Clowney says this, if Israel through sin had become no people and had lost the right to the covenant promise then the grace that can restore Israelites to their forfeited inheritance can equally bring polluted Gentiles into the intimacy of fellowship with God. So God is going to bring them both in. Both groups, Jews and Gentiles. Where is He going to do it? It's going to be in the church. In the church. A new nation. A special people. A holy nation made up of Jew and Gentile. The International Jewish Gentile Church of Jesus Christ. That's the change that's taking place as you move from Old Covenant into New Covenant. As you move from the Old Testament into the New Testament. It's a change that is extensive. It will include people from all nations and all backgrounds but also, as Clowney points out, it's a change that is intensive as well. That is to say, not only are Gentiles included, but the access that Gentiles are going to have now will be spiritual. See that term there? A royal priesthood. Gentiles are going to become a royal priesthood. You know, that's amazing. We don't really understand, or that doesn't make the impact upon us that it should, but for these people, Gentiles to read that they would become a priesthood, their mouths would fall wide open when they read something like that. Because in old covenant times, the Gentiles had no access to God. As Paul says, they were a far off, they were strangers, they were aliens, they were without God, without hope in this world. An uncircumcised Gentile couldn't come into the temple, he couldn't even come into the outside courts on pain of death. But now with the gospel, with the coming of Jesus Christ, all that's changed. They're no longer on the outside anymore. They're no longer strangers and aliens. Now they are fellow citizens, members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles with Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. So because of that they're no longer on the outside. Now they can come in. Now Jesus has opened up that new and living way into the presence of the Lord, into the presence of the Most High God, the Holy of Holies. Now They and we, we can have access. Amazing, astonishing thing, isn't it? That they should have access to a place like that. Reminds me of a few summers back when we were in England and Buckingham Palace, they decided, the royal family decided they were gonna open up Buckingham Palace to visitors for the first time ever. They only did it for a short period of time so that you could come in, you could wander around the palace. And Abigail and I, we happened to be in England at the time, we were able to get tickets. And so we were able to walk around the palace there and we were able to go into all of the rooms and it was wonderful. You know, you could see all the artifacts and the gifts that they'd been given by visiting ambassadors and all of this kind of thing. Think of people like us in a place like this. But even then we didn't get access. We didn't see the Queen. We didn't even see a corgi. But here, not only do they get access, not only do they get into the holy place, but they have access to the most high, the most holy presence, the presence of the living God. They've been made priests. more than that he says royal priests as well you're a royal priesthood again this is due to our union with Christ we come to the living stone we are made living stones he's a kingly priest by virtue of our union with him we then also become kingly priests now such a thing as that wasn't to be found in Israel now King Uzziah he tried it he went into the temple he tried to perform the role of a priest he started going towards the altar and the priest decided to hold him back and he fought them off and as a result he was struck with leprosy Only Jesus was to be Israel's priest-king. Only Jesus can serve at the altar and on the throne. As Zechariah said in his glorious prophecy of the Messiah, Zechariah 6, verse 13, He shall build the temple of the Lord. He shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule on his throne. He shall be a priest on his throne. Jesus will be a kingly priest, like Melchizedek. He was a king and he was a priest. And Jesus, we're told in Hebrews, is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And for those who come to faith in him, who join themselves to the living stone, we too are made kings and priests. Revelation chapter 2, you have redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and has made us kings and priests unto our God and we shall reign on the earth you're all priestly kings he's saying you all have this priestly ministry Amazing, astonishing thing. Not only for Gentiles to read this, but also as well for Jews. Royalty, a royal priesthood. This wasn't something that entered into the mind of your average Jew. He didn't even think about royalty. That was only for those who were of the Davidic line. Your average Jew never even dreamed about being royalty. But now all of that has changed. All of that has been overturned. Now through Jesus Christ, these people have conferred upon them the highest status imaginable. a priesthood, but a royal priesthood. They've been made kings and priests to God. So these are really incredible, astonishing, soul-lifting, faith-building things that Peter is writing for these people. To know that they're a special, chosen people. They're a possession. They're a nation of people, not just a scattered group of individuals. They belong. To know that they are a priesthood, they have access to God, and as well as that, they're a royal priesthood. They've got status. They've got dignity. They may not have felt like it, they may not have looked like it. Jay Adams, in his little commentary on 1 Peter, he says this, to view these poor suffering outcasts that Peter is writing to, no one would think that they were kings. It was absurd in the eyes of the world. But they can live in a kingly way in this world, showing a kingly bearing before their persecutors as their Lord did when no one else could see the evidences of his kingship. So I think that's what Peter is saying to them. In the midst of all your sufferings and all your hardships and all your distresses, remember, remember who you are. Remember your status, remember your dignity, remember who you are. Just to give you another illustration of a Queen of England, Queen Victoria. I saw a movie about her a number of years ago. It was about her early life. She came to the throne when she was very young. She was about 18 years of age. And when she became Queen, there were a group of ministers in the cabinet who were really very sceptical about her ability and they tried to undermine her and unnerve her and intimidate her very early on. But she had this lady-in-waiting who was a very wise woman. And she took her under her wing and would give her a lot of counsel, especially before these meetings with the Prime Minister and some of his cabinet members. And she would talk to her. And before she went into the meeting, she would look her in the eyes and she would say, remember who you are. Remember who you are. You're royalty. You have dignity. Remember who you are. And this is what Peter, I think, is saying to these people, and to us as well. Remember who you are. In all your sufferings, and your trials, and your hardships, remember you have dignity, you have status. You're a royal priesthood. Kistemacher in his commentary says, We should always be mindful of our status, for Peter pictures us as chosen by God, royal and holy. So that's our first point. Our status, who we are as members of this royal priesthood. Let's now think secondly about our ministry, what it is that we are to do. And we're looking particularly at that term there in verse 9, comparing also with verse 5, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That was the job of the priest in the Old Testament. It was to offer sacrifices. Family would come to him. He was at the gates of the tabernacle. They would come and they would bring an animal, maybe a goat or a lamb, and they would put their hands on the head of the animal and then the sins of the people would be transferred to the head of the beast the priest would then take the animal, he would slit its throat, he would drain the blood, and then he would carry the carcass over to the altar, and then it would be sacrificed, and the priest would then make intercession for the family based on that sacrifice. That was the day-to-day work of the priests. Also, the high priest, on one day each year, he would perform the most important sacrifice of all. This was the Day of Atonement, the Day of Yom Kippur. That was when he would go into the tabernacle, he would go into the holy place, taking the blood of a goat, but he would not just go into the holy place, he would actually go through that thick veil, that thick curtain, he would go into the most holy place and he would take that blood and he would sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and upon the golden lid of the Ark of the Covenant." It signified that the sins of the people had all been atoned for. So that was the Old Testament system, the Old Testament method and what it was teaching the people is that it's not easy to approach God. It's not easy for any ordinary person to come into the presence of God. You have to go by a priest. You have to have a mediator, a go-between to bridge the gap. In Latin, the word priest is pontifex, which actually means a bridge builder. So that's what a priest did, he bridged the gap between God and the people. And that's what the Old Testament priest did. But Peter is saying now that that's changed. Now with the coming of Jesus Christ things are different. In the Old Testament they had to have a priesthood, but now in the New Testament, you! It's you! You are the priesthood, he says. We don't need to have anyone to be our go-between. Through Jesus Christ we can go direct into the presence of God. You don't need any priests or popes or parsons or prelates. You yourself, as a believer, you have access to God through Jesus Christ. One commentator entitles his section on this passage, he entitles it this, you are a Catholic priest. You are a Catholic priest, you know, Catholic in the small c sense, you know, the universal church, as much as to say that every single believer in Jesus Christ, we're all priests before the Lord. We can all of us make sacrifices to the Lord. That doesn't mean to say you've got to come next Sunday with a lamb under your arm or with a little goat coming in through the front door. We don't need any more sacrifices like that. There are to be no more of those sacrifices. Because Jesus has made the final sacrifice for sin. There is no more sacrifice for sin. The Bible says that. But there are still sacrifices. Spiritual sacrifices, it says in verse 5, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. What are those spiritual sacrifices? You know this, we're just reminding you here, aren't we? But if we were to go through our New Testament, you'd find there's about four or five of these. Romans chapter 12, verse 1, the sacrifice of our bodies. Therefore I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present yourselves, your bodies, a living sacrifice unto God. That's your reasonable, acceptable service, our bodies. The sacrifice of praise, Hebrews chapter 13. The sacrifice of good works, the sacrifice of charitable giving, all there in Hebrews chapter 13. And then there's also the sacrifice of prayer. Think of Revelation chapter 8 verse 3. The angel came with a golden sense and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. So the prayers of the saints then, they are termed as a sacrifice, as an offering. In fact, in the Old Testament, that was one of the primary functions of the priest. It was to pray for the people because having offered up a sacrifice on their behalf, he would then go and he would offer a prayer on their behalf as well. The high priest, you know when he went into the tabernacle, the high priest went in there wearing the most expensive garment in the whole of Israel. Not only because he was going into the presence of God, he wanted to be accepted, but also he was going into the presence of God to make intercession. That was his duty. And so over his robe, then, he would have this fine linen ephod. I guess today you'd like an answer to maybe a bib, perhaps one of those sports bibs, you know you have a cover on the front and on the back. And on the shoulders, it would be joined by two shoulder pieces with a stone on each part of the shoulder. And set into each of those pieces would be an onyx stone, one on each side, and there would be the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, six on each. Then also on the front of his ephod, there was a breast piece, which was a very costly, richly embroidered piece of cloth, and it would have also twelve stones on the front of it, and four rows of three. And again, on each one of those stones was the names of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. So of course this was very instructive, very symbolic for the people. It taught them that the high priest, when he went into the most holy place, he went in there bearing the names of the twelve tribes on his shoulder, bearing them up in prayer, but also he went in there bearing the twelve tribes upon his heart as well. He had them in his affections. And so this is pointing us ultimately to the heavenly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ who is there in the presence of God the Father and he has our names engraven upon his heart and he bears up our calls in prayers. He ever lives to make intercession for us, points us to his ministry, but also it's a vivid reminder of what we are to do in our own priestly ministry here on earth. that is to say that when we today we exercise our own priestly right of access when we go into our room and close the door do whatever it is that we do when we go in there we don't just go in there to pray for ourselves and our own concerns and our own issues and Lord help me and bless me and do this for me and that for me no no we go in there also bearing up the concerns and the the problems the heartaches of others we're to bear one another's burdens Paul says we go in there carrying the concerns of our brethren So to pray for the leaders in the church, for missionaries and for Bible translators, all of those things should be carried on our shoulders and carried in our hearts as well as we come into the presence of God. This is the role of every believer. Every believer is a priest. You don't need to go to seminary for this. You don't need to wear a special robe or dog collar to do this. You don't need to stand in a pulpit to do this. You can do this from your own home. In fact, some of the best intercessors the church has ever known have been mighty prayer warriors in their own homes. I told you this story before but it always warms my heart when I think of it. So it was just before we were going off to Africa and I was sitting up in my study over there in the parsonage and I got a phone call and picked it up and it was Fred. And Fred, he asked me if I had my Bible with me and I said, yeah I do. And he said, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 12, I'm going to read it to you. And he read it to me over the phone, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. He said, I'm going to be praying for you every day while you're in Africa and I'll consider it to be a sin if I don't pray for you. That was Frege, you see? He recognized what an important part of priestly ministry is, prayer, the sacrifice of prayer. But what about the sacrifice of praise? We need to think about that as well when we're on this subject because this too is very important. In Old Testament times there were basically two types of sacrifice. there was the sacrifice to atone for sin and for guilt and then after that there was the sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise because of the atonement for sin and guilt now the first type of sacrifice we don't need anymore we've already said that there is no more sacrifice for sin and for guilt but there is still in light of that because of that there is still to be abundant sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving In our own lives, of course, our lives are to be filled with that, but also in the church. That's the emphasis here in this chapter. The emphasis is upon the church. What we do corporately, collectively, as a body, you can see that in those terms. The people of God, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people. All of them are referring to our collective identity, God's people as a whole, all brought together. And this is what Peter is talking about here. What we do when we come together as God's people are being built up, a spiritual house in the Lord, what is it that we are to do? Well, one of our primary functions is praise. The sacrifice of praise. These are the offerings that we are to bring. Just like the priest did, carrying in on their shoulders the sacrifice. A perfect, unblemished sacrifice into the presence of the Lord. That's what we are to do. We come into this place bringing our sacrifice of praise. The very best that we can bring. The calves of our lips, as it says in the Bible. That's what we do. We come to Him bringing the best, giving Him our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength in our praises. We want to lift His name on high. The psalmist says that God is enthroned in the praises of His people. So that should be our goal then in worship, to exalt Him, to magnify Him, to lift up His name. So if we're to do that, then clearly worship isn't just to be some little minor segment of our service. It has an important part, doesn't it? Just to quote Clowney again, he says, this function of the priesthood cannot be delegated. God's praises must rise from the lips of all his people assembled before his face and joining with the festival assembly of the saints and angels. If the singing and speaking forth of the praises of God are viewed as preliminaries to the sermon, the meaning of worship has been lost. So, you know, if that's all it is, just a little pleasant interlude before the main business of the sermon, then we've got it wrong. Now, our worship is to be a time when filled with a renewed sense of the greatness and wonder of God and who He is and what He's done for us. We express that in the words of our mouths and with our lips in praise. We marshal all of our powers and we sing, praise my soul, the King of heaven. To thy feet my tribute bring. Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. Who like me His praise should sing? Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise the everlasting King. That's what we're talking about here, isn't it? It's a sacrifice of praise. and so it's to be sung with fervor and passion and devotion and can we even say volume? I think about, we mentioned Spurgeon this morning, I think about that conversion story of C.H. Spurgeon when he went into that little primitive Methodist church in Artillery Street in Colchester and he said, he went in there and he said, you knew they were the primitive Methodists because they sang so loud it made you headache Now, I'm not saying that we need to make a cacophony, but if we are desiring to bring hearty, fervent praise to God, then really there ought to be some volume. We thought about Nehemiah, didn't we? Those closing chapters of Nehemiah, chapter 12, when they were praising God for the completion of the wall and they sang. And it says there, chapter 12, verse 42, the singers sang loudly and they rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. Loud sacrifices of praise being sung to the Lord. If God has made you glad, you want to sing so that the people around you, they hear about it. And that brings us on to our final point. Why is it that we are to offer praises in this way? This is the motive. Verse 9. Again, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. So Peter is telling us here that we are to sing the praises of him who has called us out of darkness. That word praises, it has reference to deeds, works, praiseworthy deeds. That's what we're to do, we're to tell forth God's praiseworthy deeds. We are to recount them, to rehearse them, to tell them to others in our speech and in our song. That's a very big theme in the Bible. You know that, don't you, if you read through the Psalms? Just to give you a few texts. Psalm 40, verse 9. I have proclaimed the good news of righteousness in the great assembly. Indeed, I do not restrain my lips. O Lord, you yourself know I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your love and kindness and your truth from the great assembly. Psalm 71, my mouth shall tell of your righteousness and your salvation all the day. Psalm 96, sing to the Lord, bless his name, proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. So this is what God's people were to do. They were to proclaim, to make known His mighty deeds, the deeds His arm had done. Most notably, of course, for those Old Testament people it would have been redemption and salvation, deliverance from Egypt, of course, that was the big one, how He redeemed them. He brought them forth by His mighty outstretched arm and then He brought them to Himself at Mount Sinai and there He said to them, you are a special people, a chosen people. and then he commissioned them to go out to make known his deeds to all the people that's what they were to do that's why they had been delivered they were delivered in order to declare they were set free in order that they might set forth and tell the peoples what the Lord had done and that was in the Old Testament that's what God's old covenant people were to do but now Peter is telling us in this chapter what his new covenant people are to do and really it's very similar You're a special people. You're a holy nation. You're a royal priesthood. You're to sound forth and to declare His praises. Why? Because you've had a mighty deliverance. You too have been set free from bondage. You too have been rescued from darkness. You've been brought out of darkness into his marvellous light. That's what's happened to you. That's what he's done for you. He's talking about conversion here, isn't he? That's what conversion is. It's like coming out of darkness into marvellous light. Coming out of the darkness of sin and bondage into the light and liberty and freedom in Jesus Christ. It's like coming out of darkness into bright light. When I mentioned we went to see Jaime a few months back, and we went to the museum there of Billy Graham. And it's a very interesting museum. They have a lot of history about the growth of evangelicalism in America. And it's also got a very strong evangelistic thrust to it as well. Of course, it would do because of Billy Graham, the great evangelist. And so the design of that building, he's given it a kind of an architectural parable. So as you go in, shrouded in darkness and as you make your way through it you come out and at the end you're in this marvellous white light which is really a picture of conversion. Long mine spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night, thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon flamed with light, my chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth and followed thee. That's what it is. Jesus said, the people sat in darkness, they've seen a great light. Once we were in darkness, but now we are light in the Lord. Once we were people who had not received mercy, now we have obtained mercy. This is what God has done for us. So in the light of this, in the marvellous light of this, then what God's people are to do is to sing forth his praises. Not just as individuals, we are to do that, but collectively as well. That's what this chapter is all about. Living stones gathered together. This is what we are to do. So that the outsiders, the nations, might hear. That's very powerful. It's very convicting when unbelievers come into a place like this and all of God's people are gathered together and the grace of God which is manifest in our lives is seen by them in our fellowship and interaction. That's very powerful. That's very convicting but especially when we worship. The effect is very challenging. It makes them think that there is something in this. Surely the Lord is among these people. There is an evangelistic thrust even to our worship. Ed Clowney in his commentary says, the heart of evangelism is to be doxological. Peter emphasizes our offering of praise to God, yet he is also thinking of the Gentile world in the midst of which we are called to praise. Our hallelujahs do indeed join the anthems of the heavenly host, but here on earth they are heard by our neighbors. So there is a horizontal element to this. Yes, primarily it's vertical, but there is a horizontal element. Our hallelujahs are to be heard by our neighbors. Maybe that's why the primitive Methodists sang so loud it made your head ache. Maybe that's why the people in Jerusalem, they sang loudly so that their joy could be heard afar off. That's what we're to do, to declare His praises among the peoples. One commentator says, we are in the PR business. We exist to advertise God's excellence to the world. That's our aim. That's our ministry. That's what we're to do. Do we come in here with that mindset? Do we come in here prepared to sing in that way, to give God the best that we have, to proclaim his praises? We have every motivation. Just the things we've thought about today, in this chapter. made to be living stones in the temple of God, having a cornerstone to build our lives upon, having the smile of God upon us. As Jesus is precious, so we are precious to Him. Having a ministry, a priesthood in this spiritual house, and most of all, the root of it all being brought out of darkness into His marvelous light. When you think about all of those things, shouldn't that make you want to sing? Shouldn't that make you want to make a joyful noise to the Lord? Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord. We sing that hymn in England. Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord. Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice. Tender to me the promise of His word. In God, my Saviour, shall my heart rejoice. Tell out, my soul, the greatness of His name. Make known His might, the deeds His arm has done. His mercy sure, from age to age the same. His holy name, the Lord, the Mighty One. These are the praises which we are to proclaim. Well may God help us to do that now as we take our hymn books and as we close our worship by singing together. Number 133. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace. 133.