1st Peter chapter number 2. I want to again publicly thank Michelle for her investment and time into the Sunday school children and the preparation, memory work, songs that they learn. I think everyone here is pleased to witness God inscribing truth upon the minds of of little children. What a blessed thing that is. So thank you, Michelle, and thank you, Papi, for your good work today. We appreciate the commendation your teacher gave to you as someone who shows that gift of wanting to teach as well. That's a special thing, so thank you to you. First Peter, chapter number two. I'm going to read verses 9 through 12 because verses 9 and 10 are going to be a part of what Peter is saying in verses 11 and 12 where we are at this time. So follow as I read this portion. First Peter chapter 2 beginning in verse number 9. But he, and he's contrasting those who are not obedient. to those who are obedient, and here it's the contrast of those before them who are disobedient, but ye, you who are the people of God, are here identified as a chosen generation or kindred of people, a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a royal order of priests. You are a holy nation, a peculiar people, a special unique possession unto God that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past you were not a people of God. But now you are the people of God, which in time past you had not obtained mercy, but now you have obtained mercy. Oh, dearly beloved of God, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims that you abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they may speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. One of the outstanding features of Peter's letter, and there are many, not just this, but one of them has been his commitment to instruct us on the importance of knowing who we are. Peter has used a variety of words to describe the believer. The Holy Spirit has impressed upon Peter's mind that God's children must know and they must understand their true identity. As we grow in our knowledge and understanding of these terms, we will have a clearer picture of the life we now live, including our purpose. From these words that Peter has given to us, many of them adjectives, these adjectives are given to inspire us to live a more devoted life as we are described, characterized, identified by these words. Peter makes it clear that every believer throughout history, from the Old Testament and to this present time right now, every believer is recognized by the same features which these words that Peter gives us describe. The same features, no matter where we live on the earth, or when we live on the earth, including the circumstances of our life today, all of God's children are growing the same qualities and they are identifiable. That's what Peter is teaching us. We may be at different levels of development, but the qualities are the same. Quantity varies, but the qualities are the same. Peter has given us a list of these qualities, and we should know them. And I encourage you, because it is the word of God, that you should reflect often upon them and be resolved to growing in these qualities that are given to identify you as God's people. Most of the world stumbles through life, walking in darkness, not knowing who they are or why they're here. You can see it in the way they live. But Peter answers these basic foundational human questions. And every time he gives us another word, another adjective that describes our Christian life, These are intended for us, who are the people of God, who know who we are, and we know why we're here. Embedded in these words that we have noticed in our study And there's a number of them embedded in these words that describe who we are. We've also identified that God's will is embedded in every one of those words concerning us. If he calls us a particular name, strangers and pilgrims, his will is embedded in those descriptive words. This is who we are. This is why we're here. And we find God's will contained in all of those words. We don't wake up tomorrow trying to figure it out all over again. Who are we? Why are we here? It's already been defined. It's already been explained and it will not change until the end. And from these terms used to describe us, God's people, I think we can also say that we have found inspiration from these words to worship him more fully, to be more devoted to him. These words have left an impact upon our walk with God. And we have found God's will unfold through these words. As we make choices in life, as we navigate through this world, we have found they function like chart and compass for us. And in them we have found our mission as spiritual beings who live as human beings, Christ, reflected that and illustrated that in his own being so beautifully for us. We are spiritual beings who live as human beings. And while we're here, we live in two complete different realms, a physical material realm and a spiritual realm. We live in both. We can enter into the spiritual realm where it's pronounced for us maybe in a special way. When we gather to worship God on this day, we become engaged with the triune God in what he has called the house of God, the spiritual house of God, in the assembly and the gathering of his people. That's a spiritual realm, spiritual house, spiritual people, spiritual offerings. They're all defined by Peter earlier in chapter two. And moments later, we will enter back into the physical realm of this world as physical beings who are commissioned every time we leave this sacred assembly, we are on a mission. All day, every day, we are to be mindful of our assignment from God. Peter uses these words, these descriptive adjectives, or like windows for us to look into and see what God's intentions are concerning us. Not only as those who are spiritual beings do we enjoy these beautiful terms as a part of our treasure and blessing that we are able to hold on to and connect with as we journey through this world. but he gives words that describe us as we go out into the darkness. He doesn't leave us without clarity about our purpose. Our purpose when we gather in worship, our purpose when we go into the world, it's clearly defined for us in these terms. I want to take a few moments this morning as we look at this unusual connection, relationship, that exists between verses 9 and 10, which form one sentence, and verses 11 and 12, which form another sentence. They're back to back and they're very connected. The information, as we have studied these in detail, the information in these two sentences seem to be very different when we look at the information there. However, their structure is very similar. Once we recognize what Peter's doing here in these two sentences, the force of the language here even becomes more intensified for us. And I hope to bring that out as we move through our thoughts. Both sentences begin with a list of adjectives, words that Peter uses to describe us, who we are, right? He did that in verse 10. We have three adjectives right at the beginning, chosen, royal, holy. These are descriptive terms that describe God's people. And they're meant to have an impact on. There's a lesson here. There's messages here. There's truth from God contained in all of these words. And we have labored to unpack that when we were working through them. And then Peter reminds us that we are God's treasured people in the same first portion of verse 9, that he will never relinquish the ownership of, and no one and nothing can snatch us from God's hand. We are his peculiar people. It means he has the title and deed of this treasure and he will not relinquish it. This is who we are. as the people of God. Peter immediately adds, right after he gives these words that describe who we are, he immediately gives a purpose clause. Okay, he stated these things, there's a purpose now, right? Right at the middle of verse nine, you remember this, that ye or so that ye would show forth the praises, the virtues of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so every chosen, royal, holy person of God We are now by design participants in God's great grand plan to call his elect out of the earth who now live in spiritual darkness. It's what drove Paul when he wrote to Timothy that I must be willing and able to go out and bear the sufferings so that the elect of God might also yet receive their salvation. We participate with God in this grand endeavor. We are participants who go out into the world where God's elect are, in the earth as it were, who now live in spiritual darkness as we were once in the same darkness. But now we are enlisted in God's plan. Someone brought the gospel to you. Maybe it was a family, a home that you grew up in, but the gospel came to you. And others of you were living a life of darkness and the gospel came to you. Now we, once we are believers, the people of God, we become participants with God in this great endeavor of taking the word into the world. And this pattern, this wonderful pattern that is set before us here by Peter is how we participate in sharing of the infinite grace of God that has come to us and it has brought light and life to us. And we now become agents of the same with God as he carries out his eternal plan. in human history. This pattern must be known and understood by every child of God. And verses 11 and 12 is structured in a similar way to reinforce the same idea that he's just stated in verses 9 and 10. He begins the same way. Mentioning three very important words that are adjectives again to describe who we are, just like he did in verse nine. It's like he's starting over to drive home the same truth, but he's gonna do it from a completely different angle. Dearly beloved. Okay, that Greek adjective. is denoting God's dearly beloved. We spend some time just pondering what that means to be called God's dearly beloved people. And because we know who we are as God's dearly beloved, We must have and maintain, Peter goes on to say, a proper relationship with the world that we presently live in. And so he reminds us, he identifies us as strangers and as pilgrims. And he appeals to us as strangers and pilgrims. And so obviously we must know and understand who we are in order for us to effectively accomplish our mission in the world. This makes no sense unless we grasp these things at some level. To know who we are is essential to know our mission. That's how Peter is working all of this out for us. We must maintain our distinctions if we're going to have an impact on the world. We are not permanent dwellers here in this world. We're just passing through on our way to a heavenly land. We are not citizens here. That's what strangers and pilgrims implies and teaches us. Therefore, we must not allow our life to become entangled with temporal things. Yes, we are free to use the things of this physical material world, but we must not allow our fleshly nature to become entangled with the lusts of our own flesh that naturally gravitate to the things of this world which God has forbidden us to engage in. And so therefore we must impose on our fleshly lust. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts. And so we impose on our fleshly nature its tendencies to lust. We impose restraints. We develop disciplines, abstinence. We learn to say no to the temptation and to the promised gratification that the world suggests to our flesh and seeks to allure it into its pleasure. To become entangled with sinful desires and not restrain from lust. Peter says, we'll do harm to your own soul as a believer. The damage is not the loss of our salvation, but the joy and the peace and comfort that can be diminished greatly. Brethren, when we add up all the benefits and blessings that come by way of our salvation, which Peter has identified and described for us. And then we look at the shallow, cheap, temporary, satisfying things of this world. There is no comparison between the two. Surely we are inspired to live according to our descriptions, as God's people and to become more devoted to God and his purpose for us. But to do this work in the world effectively, we must be practicing abstinence from fleshly lust. Peter has just declared that our purpose as God's people in verse 9, the second half, is to show forth. He uses this purpose clause. We are to show forth. We are physical beings. We are called to be refractors of the virtues of God, shining into the darkness where we once lived with them. God's light is meant to shine through his creatures, whether it's his angels or his people. But in order to do this effectively, we must know and understand who we are and that as God's dearly beloved, we must live as strangers and pilgrims constantly practicing abstinence from fleshly lusts. My emphasis this morning is that there's more at stake here than just our soul. Just like the previous sentence in verses 9 and 10, verses 11 and 12 moves us to a similar place in our thinking here in verse number 12. having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. That whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may buy your good works, which they behold, which they see and behold your good works, that they shall glorify God in the day of visitation. And so again, we are reminded by Peter who we are in relationship to those souls around us, as well as our relationship and connection to the glory of God and our good works. Let me give you a summarized statement here before we move closer to verse 12. Because of who we are now in Christ, We ought to be motivated to live in a manner that reflects that we know and understand who we are so that God is glorified by our life in the world and the world is forced to see God through us by our good works. There are some important, very important information here contained in these words in verse 12 that I want to draw out. First this phrase, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. We can look at this phrase this way, we could say, Looking back at verse 11, abstaining from fleshly lust, we can say, we must do that so that we can do this, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. If you're not doing that, you can't do this. There is a connection here. Having this The Greek word that's translated here for speaks of a present and continuous ongoing action that is taking place. It's an action that we are presently in control of and it relates to our conversation. Having our conversation. We are presently in control management of our conversation. We're making sure that our conversation is an honest life. That's what Peter uses here. It's translated this way. We'll go back and look at it in a little more detail in a moment. But is an honest life being lived in the presence of the nations, the Gentiles. Wherever we live, the nations are beholding us. Wherever we live, whenever we live, however we live. We are to be actively having our conversation honest among the Gentiles, the nations of the world. My conversation, your conversation, simply refers to our way of thinking, our disposition, Peter uses this same word six times in his first epistle here. It's only used 12 times. He uses it half the time. It seems to be one of Peter's favorite words. And in every case, he uses it here. We've already looked at it twice. This is the third time. Every time it's used, it's a noun, feminine gender, meaning it focuses on the way we think. The way we think about our life. We've formulated some ideas about life. And we are to be having our way of thinking and evaluating our life and the purpose of our life, who we are in this world. This must be something we have managed and we are controlling. It's our responsibility to have our conversation honest among the Gentiles. No one else is responsible for you, but you. So many professing Christians today have the wrong idea about the Christian life, primarily because they simply lack the knowledge and understanding of who they are in Christ. The knowledge of our true identity, brethren, matters. To such a degree, it must become a mindset. It must become a disposition in your life. It must be the way that you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night. It must be the way you function, not only in your community, on the job, among your family and friends. It's to be a mindset. having this conversation of your life, the manner, the disposition of your life, honest. So, what is Peter suggesting here by this word honest that we have translated into the English? Wouldn't you know, it's another adjective. So what Peter is saying is that God's people are honest people, whatever that word means. That's how we are to live in the world. We are to have this mindset about being honest as we live out our life among the Gentiles. Caving into fleshly lusts will be a major hindrance to the joy and peace of our soul and we cannot live as God's honest people among those who are trapped in the darkness if we are caving into fleshly lusts. Our life is meant to communicate a witness that we are God's dearly beloved who are showing forth the virtues of our God, always keeping our mindset on the truth, always thinking and striving to be God's honest people as we live out our life in the world. So knowing and understanding who we are, as Peter describes us, is not only for the benefit of our own soul, it's also for the benefit of those who are, we are amongst. Right? That's what he says here. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles. It matters. We live amongst the nations of the world, Christians do. And the way that we live, we are to have control and mastery of our life, having our conversation, our disposition, our mindset, as that noun feminine gender is telling us. So no matter where we are, what we're going through, we're always focused on being God's honest people. This Greek word that our translators give us as honest is really a good word when it was translated originally some few hundred years ago. This old English word was defined according to Webster as a person who was upright in all areas of their life. No matter what facet of their life you investigated, you found the same thing to be consistently true. They are upright. They were fair, always fair and honest in their dealings with others. They avoided all trickery and deceit. They were principled people. That's how Webster defines honest. several hundred years ago. So the translators chose a really good word when we look at the Greek word. But the Greek word does provide us some other information as well. The Greek word implies beauty. Beauty. When the world has the opportunity to observe our life the life being lived out visibly before them, they are forced to see through our good works a thing of beauty. They see a life of balanced living. There's symmetry. There is order, there is management. We are not wildly out of control in one area while we're trying to look really good in another area. There's beauty, there's symmetry, there's a well-balanced life. When the world looks upon us, that's what they are meant to see. That's what the word honest among the Gentiles means. We want them to see not our lack of discipline nor our cravings that we are caving into concerning worldly things, but we want them to be persuaded by our good works. That's what Peter is telling us here. Our good works display this honest person A beautiful, balanced life is being witnessed by them. And it forces them to either recognize the virtues of God in our life or will cause them to deny God and even speak evil or maybe even worse, persecute you for your good works. Our life is meant to force a response without ever saying a word. Oh, if we were given the opportunity, praise God for that. But your words mean nothing if the life is not accomplishing this. And we're dealing with a world that has seen many different versions of Christianity. Some are perversions because they attempt to live a Christian life without the knowledge and understanding of who they are in Christ, if they are even in Christ. And all of this makes the commitment of God's people even more important. Do you realize Peter is stressing the critical nature of how we choose to live in the world? And it starts with knowing who we are. And we can begin to embrace our purpose. In that daily This is not something you can do on Sunday and forget about the next Sunday. Daily. And this may not be something you just do in the morning. It may be something you have to do all day. Daily. We are identifying our life as God has identified it. and we learn to function according to God's intentions concerning us as it is described in these terms. And so truly, anyone who is a spiritual person living in human flesh knows that we are constantly abstaining from fleshly lust which war against the soul daily and we are constantly having our conversation honest among the Gentiles. That's a daily effort. but you can't achieve having a conversation honest among the Gentiles if you are not abstaining from fleshly lust which war against the soul. And being God's honest people means that our good works, highly valued in the scriptures for sure, not as a means to salvation, but because we have it, And we are obedient to God who gives us those things that matter to him, that please him. Our good works reveal a beautiful and well-balanced life to those who are watching. And we must live each day with this in mind. We know that the world is impacted by the light of our life. Some will be called by the gospel being lived by us to come to Christ and gain what we have for themselves while others will reject it. Paul works this out in detail in Ephesians chapter five, verses seven through 16. We are light and we're crashing in upon the darkness. We're causing an uncomfortable experience for the world that lives in darkness. We are forcing them to rethink their life. It's our good works, this honest living, living a life that is well-balanced, symmetrical, beautiful. And so Peter reminds us that the honest witness of our life will be ultimately in the day of their visitation. Right? They may speak against you. Doesn't mean all of them will, but they may speak against you. At that time period when Peter was writing, there was a lot of persecution. They may speak against you as evil doers, but the goal is that they, by your good works, which they shall behold, will glorify God in the day of visitation. So the focus is on they. who are observing, watching, calculating, but they can learn about God through you, whether they're thinking that way or even wanted to be that way. That's what's happening. A day of visitation. They, those who are observing your life, they have an appointment with God. Day of Visitation. What is this day? When is this day? Who will encounter this day? A lot of questions we could spend time on. I'm not going to try to do that, but we need to at least be aware that there's some things to ponder here. The context that we have read here in verse 12 points to the world or those who are witnessing God's people living out their good works honestly before them. They see, what does he say? They behold your good works. Our good works are designed to show forth the virtues, qualities of God, and the world has been forced to see God through us. They will, at the time of their visitation, give glory to God for what they have witnessed. They behold your good works. And they will, at the time of their visitation, give glory to God for what they witnessed from your life. Is this day of visitation for some? And I'll give you these two possibilities because I believe they're true. Is this day of visitation for some who see and believe what they're seeing? and are brought to a living relationship. They are called out of death into life. The light of God now lives in them that they saw living in another person. It will be at that day for sure, at that moment. They will glorify God for your light. They will praise God that you lived honestly among them. But this could also be referring to another kind of visitation, one that many commentators think refer to the Day of Judgment as well. When the rejecters and haters of the good works that God's people lived out before them that they are made to behold and remember in that moment of their judgment it all plays before their mind and they see it and they will glorify God in that day for the glory of God that was refracted to them from your life. I know that Peter is primarily focusing here. Think about how many people you pass on the sidewalk every day. He's not talking about just people in general. He's talking about where we live and where we work. He's talking about people who have the time to observe and to add up what they're seeing and calculating what they're seeing and coming to some conclusion about what they're seeing. The good works that are here are communicating that there is beauty and symmetry in your life that you are living now before them. And they are forced to see, or not to see, God. The virtues of God being refracted through you, through your good works. So, you see how verses 9 and 10, 11 and 12 are similar in this respect? It matters how we live in the world. God has a plan. It's us. We are his plan. We are his plan to be the light. But the light that we live must be a light that shows symmetry and beauty to the world. There's balance in our Christian life. They're not going to admire us if we're all out of whack. If we're strong in one area but weak in all these other areas, the world will recognize that. They'll see the inconsistencies and they'll pass judgment on it as being hypocritical. He's this over here, but he's not that. He's not this over in this area here. So Peter's appeal to us, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas, even though they may speak against you as evildoers, that's possible, that can happen, they may buy your good works which they will behold will glorify God in the day of visitation. Our commitment to living godly lives devoted to God is not just for the health and the peace, the joy of our own soul. Yes, it is for that reason. But it's for the world, out of whom God will call his own. We become participants in that. And those who are not called will give an account to God one day, and our life is either going to contribute to His glory or not. So how we live matters. There are a number of passages that I would like to go into to bolster this, but I will I will simply use one and save the others for our next gathering, God willing. Look at Matthew chapter 5. This is where the whole New Testament idea of this was first launched by Jesus Christ. And to whom did he give this information? Our men studied this and taught it wonderfully during our adult class for many, many months. Might've been a couple of years. We're still in it, right? In some respects, but the Sermon on the Mount. Who's that sermon directed to? Kingdom children. Kingdom children. He describes, he gives his manifesto of the kingdom, describes what his kingdom is all about, what it's like, and what his expectations are of those who are the children of the kingdom. And it's here. In chapter five of Matthew, I'll start with verse We don't have time to go into any detail, but just to bolster what Peter is saying, Peter isn't kind of creating some new idea. He's just building off of what his Lord said to him. You are the light of the world. That's a pretty broad mission, wouldn't you say? You're the light of the world, a city. The imagery possibly of Jerusalem in his mind that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light the candle and then put it under a bushel, but rather on a candlestick that it might give light unto all that are in the house. So there are some that are going to profit from being around that light, being exposed to that light. They will benefit from it. For that reason, he says, let your light so shine before men. Those particularly that are in your world where God has placed you. You're not placed in the whole world. You're placed in a small corner of the world, and it's in that corner of the world that we are responsible for. Let your light so shine before men that they that are in that corner of your world, that they may see, behold, your good works, they may see that you having your conversation honest among them. They may see your good works and glorify your father, which is in heaven. Who is bringing the glory here? the world, those who are observing our life and looking at our life, seeing the light of our life, seeing the beauty, the symmetry of our life, the balanced living of our life. Don't give credit to God. Don't give credit to God. They will recognize that what has happened to you is the result of God. By their observation, it makes the reality of God more real to them. As they behold the virtues of God, as Peter said in that sentence in verse 9, they may see the virtues of God shining through your life, that you may show forth the praises, the virtues of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Friend, it matters. It matters that we learn to live every day of our life with this in mind. We're on a mission. We've been identified, we know who we are, and God has clearly told us why we're here. We know these. major important truths, and they will not change tomorrow. They will always be true. May we cry out to God, seek his grace, and he will supply it to his children as we submit to him concerning this matter and seek to obey according to his will. Father, thank you. We are so grateful to have spent this time together, Worshiping you through song and prayers, and worshiping you now as we've gathered around you in your word, and we've heard from you, from your word, that which you want us to know. And I pray that you will give us the grace to leave here resolved to be who we are, as you have called us, identified us, and that we will be more ready to function as we ought to function, to behave as we ought to behave. in this world where you have placed us to be participants with you in the gathering of your elect to yourself. Thank you, Father, for this morning. Bless us in our continued thoughts as we prepare to close. In Christ's name, amen.