Well, let's pray and seek God's help as we turn again to his word. Father, we look to you now to pour out your spirit upon us that your word would come to us not in word only, but in that full convincing, convicting, assuring power that the Holy Spirit gives it. Work in our hearts. help preacher and hearer alike, that the word may go forth in power and be received with understanding and faith. And do us good, we pray. And we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. I want us to focus on the final two verses of the passage that we read, 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 9 and 10. and particularly to home in on the words in the middle of verse nine, where it says that you may proclaim the praises of him. So 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, who once were not a people, but now are the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Those words, that you may proclaim, could equally legitimately be translated from the original language, something like, how you should proclaim. Peter's just been talking about who we are in Christ. And when we stop and think of where we stand when Christ is our savior, well, how we should proclaim the praises of God. How we should celebrate what He's done for us and all that He is in Himself that He so deserves to be praised and worshipped for. And how we should proclaim His praiseworthiness to the world at large. How we should. Because we have so many blessings that we've received. It's interesting, isn't it? Peter puts the word praises in the plural. There are so many things for which God is praiseworthy. And when we celebrate that goodness, that astonishing grace, and proclaim it to the world, we're simply doing what is appropriate, how we should. Because There are so many excellent virtues in the living God that deserve celebration. Now, following on those words, Peter mentions three massive contrasts between what we used to be and what we have now become, thanks to God's work in us by his Son, the Lord Jesus, and through the Spirit of Christ. And we're going to look at those three contrasts. And my prayer is that that will help us to realize just how much we have that we should be proclaiming the praises of God for. Or it may be in the case of some of you that it will wet your appetite because in all honesty, you have to say, I'm not there yet. I'm still in the first part of these three contrasts. And may you hear the voice of God calling you so that you can move into the second part of each contrast. Contrast number one then, he's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. So we used to be in the dark, but now we're in the light of God's marvelous presence. Now we get a clue to what this means in the book of Acts chapter 26 and verse 18 where Paul describes his experience on the road to Damascus and how the Lord said to him that he was sending him to the Gentiles to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. So you see the double contrast there. The darkness is where Satan is in power. The light is the presence of God. And we all used to be in the grip of Satan. We're told by Paul writing to the Ephesians how the darkness of the present time is because of the rule of the satanic powers in this world. And when we first enter the world, we're in the dark and Satan is dominating this world in its sinfulness. But then, Peter says, God's called us out of that darkness, that darkness of sin and ignorance and unbelief into the light of his truth and his presence and his glory. And all the emphasis is put on God's achievement. He called us. We didn't go groping around in the dark trying to find the light. We were quite content in the darkness in our sinful past until God's call came to us and alerted us to the fact that there is a place of light and clarity and understanding where we can leave behind the ignorance of a sinful way of life and enter into the light. Have you heard the call? Have you moved out of darkness into the light of God? If you haven't as yet, then my prayer for you is you'll hear that call, that summons and be transferred from darkness to light, even this morning. Now, of course, the light is a symbolic term that the Lord Jesus Christ used of himself, the light of the world. And it's when the Lord Jesus comes into our lives that the light starts to shine. We see things as God sees them. We see ourselves as God sees us. We see our need to repent of sin and turn from it to Him. We see what Jesus did when He died on the cross. We see what it means, as never before, how He took our sin upon Himself and paid the price to set us free, took the punishment we deserve, so that we can enter into the light of His purity and holiness and righteousness and enter into the presence of the God of light. And when we stop and think of all that we have in the light compared with where we used to be in the darkness, groping, ignorant, lost, then surely how we should proclaim the praises of such a God who's done that transformation in our situation. And notice Peter calls it his marvelous light. When you stop and think about it, it's amazing that we, sinners by nature, darkness in our hearts, should now be in the light of God. seeing His grace, perceiving something of His glory, understanding what life is about and where we're going. It's truly marvelous, truly amazing, stupendous what God has done, how we should proclaim the praises of Him. But notice the second contrast. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God. So once we were a complete non-entity as far as being a coherent body of people was concerned. Just individuals in a jumbled up mess. No direction, no purpose, no cohesion to our lives. But now, You're the people of God. You've become one body in the Lord Jesus Christ as you belong to him. And here's the wonderful thing about the Christian church. It's made up of people from every nation and yet is one united body. When you look out on this sinful fallen world and see the terrible divisions And it's truly a miracle of God's grace and power that he's brought together people from every nation into this cohesive body that is his church. Now we should proclaim the praises of a God who can achieve that. Now glance back with me, will you, to the beginning of verse nine. Because we've had the word people there in verse 10, and we get that in verse nine as well, as the fourth of a series of pairs of words. A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. So once you were not a people, now you're the people of God. And the words generation, nation, people, in those four pairs of words, they more or less mean the same thing. The other expression is a priesthood reminding us that as that special people that we now are because of what Jesus Christ has done for us and in us we have this sacred responsibility of worshipping God and how you should proclaim the praises of the God who's made you from once being not a people to now being his people But what strikes me especially is the four adjectives in those expressions, chosen, royal, holy, special. We're the people of God because he chose us and that must immediately make us think, why? What was there to make God choose me or you or us? Well, Moses asked that question once in the book of Deuteronomy, and he had to say to the people of Israel, back then, it wasn't because of anything in you that made God love you. He loved you because he loved you. And when you stop and think about it, that's no reason at all, except that it just brings out the wonder of who God is in his grace. He loves the unlovely. and He loved every one of His people, even before we were created. He knew us by name before the world began and chose us in Christ to belong to Him forever. Wow, how you should proclaim the praises of Him. But then we're royalty as well. We're not just any old people. We're the royal family in this world. Now we may admire the royal family in our nation, but this royal family leaves that royal family way back in the shade. This is the greatest family in creation because God, the King of Kings, has made us His princes and princesses, He's ennobled us by His grace. And that's why it goes on to describe us as a holy nation. In other words, a nation that God has set apart to be His own, taken us out of this fallen sinful world and brought us into relationship with Himself, the Holy God. But I think the fourth adjective is perhaps the most wonderful of all, his own special people. When we look at ourselves, we might think, well, there's nothing very special about me. And yet God looks at you as you're in Christ and says, you are so special to me. Can't be described how special we are to God. as He's chosen us, He set us apart, He's ennobled us, He's brought us to Himself through the work of His beloved Son. How you should proclaim the praises of Him when you think how special you've become to a God of infinite glory. He didn't need us. We don't make him any more special than he ever was, but he looks at us and says, you're so special. And so come to the third contrast at the end of verse 10. We used to know nothing of God's mercy, but now we've obtained mercy. Now, mercy is a word that always inevitably speaks of something we don't deserve. You can never say, I've got a right to mercy. You can never say, I'll put in a claim for mercy. Because all we deserve in ourselves in the wretchedness of our sinfulness is to be cut off from God forever. But when Jesus came and died in our place and took our sin upon himself, that was the greatest act of mercy that is imaginable. God extended forgiveness to sinners. He showered love on those who are unlovely. He gave unreserved kindness to those who forfeited any right or claim to kindness. It's all mercy. And the word includes the idea that God in that kindness was driven to help those in desperate need and that's where we were. in our sin and where you still are if you're not yet converted. Desperate need because we're heading for eternal destruction. We're cut off from the only source of salvation. But in our need, God didn't just look at us and say, well, it's what you deserve, so what? No. He was moved with compassion in such a way that he was driven to do something to rescue us. He sent his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the very epitome of mercy. So that now we can say, once I'd not obtained mercy, but now I have. Don't you think it's so appropriate that the final word of these two verses that we've been looking at should be that word mercy. It's the climax to which everything builds up and so appropriately because it's the heart of what we so desperately need. If God doesn't show mercy we're lost. We're still in the dark. We're still not a people. There's nothing special about us. It all comes down to God's mercy that we're where we are today as his people. And so indeed, how you should proclaim the praises of him who called you. May God give us the grace to proclaim his praises day in, day out. Proclaim them to him in worship and adoration. Proclaim them to the world that others too might hear the call and come to know Jesus as a merciful saviour. And if you're here today and you're still in the first half of these contrasts in the dark, Not a people, no mercy. Well, may the Lord call you. And when he calls, you respond and move across into the light, into being part of his people, into that position where you can rejoice that you've obtained mercy and you've become so special to God. Let's pray. Brother, sometimes what we read in your word is so stupendously amazing that we're almost lost for words when we come to think about it. And when we think of that amazing mercy, the vast praiseworthiness that is yours, then all we can do is stutter. and feel inadequate even to express what it all means but even when we don't understand it fully what we can still do is proclaim your praises and we do that now as we recognize that it's all down to you that we're no longer where we were. We were lost and helpless and hopeless in sin Now we're your special people and we praise you for the hope and the future and the joy that that gives us. We pray that you'll drive home the reality of this to our hearts even more deeply so that we can recognize that we should proclaim your praises indeed and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen.