This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) - Welcome back for day three of our look through 1 Peter chapter
two. Today, we're going to look at some verses that talk about you. Talk about how
God views you now that you're a follower of Christ, now that you're in Christ.

We're in this section where Peter is talking about the fact that we are a
different people. You're a different person, a new creation now because of what
God has done for you in Christ. What does that mean that you're a new creation?

Well, Peter lays that out with some pictures for us. Picture after picture after
picture beginning in verse nine. Let me read for you verses nine and 10 and then
talk about what it means about you beginning in verse nine.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people but now you are
the people of God. Once you had not received mercy but now you have received
mercy.

I want to just walk through these pictures and talk about what they say about you,
about every one of us that are followers of Christ. But I want to talk personally
to you about what each of these pictures say about you as a follower of Christ.
Peter walks through this list and he says, "You are a chosen people.

" That means that you are completely accepted. You might even say that in the
back of your mind right now. I am completely accepted.

You remember in the Old Testament, the people of Israel were a chosen nation.
Peter says that's now true of you as a follower of Christ. To be chosen is to be
accepted.

This is vital because every one of us in our lives, we have wounds, we have
struggles in our lives and some of the deepest wounds in all of our lives come
from rejection. Someone who did not love us as they should have. Someone who
rejected us when they should not have.

And so we've got these wounds in our lives. They come from our families, from
office situations, from school circumstances. You've been rejected by a friend,
by somebody that you loved and there's a wound.

And this rejection causes a wound and we try to solve that wound by finding
acceptance in our lives. But sometimes we chase after it in all the wrong
places. We try to find acceptance from parents as we're growing up and sometimes
a long time after we've grown up.

We're trying to find it from friends. We try to find it from work. The chasing
after acceptance, it starts to influence every part of our lives.

Sometimes the job you choose, how will people think about me if I choose this
job? Where you live, how am I going to look if I live in this place? It even goes
to the clothes that you wear.

What will people think of me if I'm wearing these clothes? So you wear clothes
to impress other people. You ever look at old pictures like from the 1970s?

How were people so crazy to wear those kind of clothes? They look so goofy. They
wore those kind of clothes 'cause everybody else was and it made them feel
accepted.

The truth is, God says he's accepted you. You are chosen. It makes you feel good
when you're chosen on a team on the playground as a kid or for a task at work
right now.

Well, the truth is you were chosen by God. Your acceptance is not a matter of
emotion. I feel accepted by God today.

Whether you feel accepted by God or not, the truth is you have been chosen by
God in Jesus Christ. And as you trusted in him, you accepted his acceptance of
you. So trust it right now.

That's how God sees you in Jesus Christ as accepted. Next picture, Peter says,
you are a part of a royal priesthood and that means you are fully capable. You
might say that in the back of your mind to yourself.

Right now, I am fully capable. You are a priest, he says. You think, a priest,
what?

A priest, yeah, you're a Christian. You're a child of God. You're born again and
that means as a part of the family of God, you're also a priest.

Now, you may not have known that, that you're a priest. In fact, it says here, a
royal priest. That means a priest who serves the king.

And we're priests who serve the king of kings. Now, what's he talking about
here? 'Cause you're not like a priest who's a pastor over a church.

So what does he mean here? Well, he's talking about the broader meaning of the
word priest. What does a priest do?

A priest does two things. A priest represents man to God and he represents God
to man. And God says, you are capable.

You are fully capable of doing that. This is why we don't have to go to a priest
to confess our sins because you are one. You don't have to go to a priest to get
forgiveness because you are one.

You are a priest before God. That's why we say here at Saddleback Church, every
member is a minister 'cause God has called us all to serve him. Every member is
a servant.

Every member is called by God. Every member is a priest. I know, a lot of times
you don't feel that way.

You don't feel competent. You don't feel capable. Truth is, you feel overwhelmed
by life.

So you say to yourself, I can't get it all done. I can't handle the pressure.
I'm under this burden.

I'm not competent. I can't hold up. The question is, who are you going to believe?

What are you going to believe? Your view of yourself or God's view of you? When you
look at yourself, you look at yourself through the lens oftentimes of your
feelings.

I do too. The truth is, feelings lie. They lie to us all the time.

God says, you're fully capable to handle anything that comes into your life. Not
only handle it, but also serve others as you're handling it. I'm not saying it's
going to be easy.

I'm not saying there won't be grief and trouble and hardship in your life, but
God will carry you through it. And even as he carries you through it, he'll help
you to serve others. He'll help you to connect others to God.

You are fully capable to share the good news with other people. You think, nah,
I can't do that. Well, no, you can't on your own, but you're not supposed to do
it on your own.

In the power of God, yes, you can. When you're in Christ, he gives you the power
to do things that you could never do on your own. So you are fully capable.

Now he goes on in this list and he says, you are a holy nation, a people
belonging to God. That means that you are extremely valuable. Say that in the
back of your mind.

I am extremely valuable. A holy people. What does the word holy mean?

It means you're valuable. When we talk about a holy Bible, we mean that it's a
valuable word from God. The holy land, the holy city, the holy sepulcher, the
holy of holies, all these are valuable things.

Anything that's holy is considered above average, more than normal, unusual,
unique, extremely valuable, set apart as the meaning behind the word holy. And
God says to you, your true identity in Christ is that you're holy. And so to
God, you are extremely valuable.

You're not just acceptable and capable, you're also valuable. And your value,
your value is to the extreme that you are priceless in God's sight. Now what
makes something valuable?

It's often the one who owns it. A writing pen is worth a few cents. An antique
pen might be worth, I don't know, thousands of dollars.

But the pen that Thomas Jefferson used to write the Declaration of Independence,
that pen is priceless. And you belong to God. Your worth is determined by the
very greatness of God.

That's the value of who you are. Now let's continue through this list of how God
sees us in Christ. No matter how bad your day has been or weak has been, this is
a list to lift your heart.

He says, now you are the people of God. And that reminds us that you are
eternally loved. Say that in the back of your mind.

I am eternally loved. Your identity is that you are part of the people of God,
and God is love. As the people of God, we are loved.

And remember, God's love is unconditional. God has not conditioned his love on
what kind of day you have. He has given you his love in Jesus Christ.

God's love is eternal. He doesn't take his love back and then give it again and
then take it back and give it again. He's eternally given it to you.

Eternal life in Jesus Christ. I'm eternally loved. Going on through the list,
the next thing that Peter reminds us of is, now, once you had not received God's
mercy, he says, now you have received God's mercy.

That reminds you that you are totally forgiven. Say that one in your mind. I am
totally forgiven.

God's mercy has given us God's forgiveness, and God's forgiveness is total. God
knows everything, and so his forgiveness has to be total. He couldn't hold it
back 'cause he already knows everything wrong that you're going to do the rest of
your life.

So he either has to totally give it or not give it at all. Now, think about what
that means. That means that God knows the worst thing that you've ever done or
ever will do, and he has decided in Christ to forgive you of that already.

Now, you and I might be surprised at our sins sometimes, but God is never
surprised. You are totally forgiven. So, if you've ever had a hard time with how
you see yourself, you look at these verses, and you remind yourself it's not
about what you think.

It's about what God says. You are not who you think you are. You are who God
says you are, and God says your primary identification is not that you're a man
or a woman or a husband or a son or a daughter or a mother or a wife.

God says your primary identity is that you're chosen to be a priest in God's
holy nation, forgiven by him. If you let that sink into your life, it'll change
your perspective on everything. In fact, Peter goes on immediately to say,
"Because of who you are, this is how you gotta live.

" Verses 11 and 12, he says, "Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers
"in the world to abstain from sinful desires "which war against your soul. "Live
such good lives among the pagans "that though they accuse you of doing wrong,
"they may see your good deeds and glorify God "in the day he visits us. " Back
in verse 10 and then here in verses 11 and 12, Peter talks about three things
that happen differently in your life because of the difference of who you are.

In verse 10, we read a few minutes ago, he says, "We declare God's praises, "who
called you out of darkness into his light. " You are light, so you can't help,
but be light in this world. And here he says, "You abstain from evil desires.

" And notice he says, "Which war against your soul. " You're able to say no to
those things that tear us apart from the inside out. And then he says, "You live
a good life among the pagans.

" That's a funny word, isn't it? He's just talking about people who don't know
God, people who aren't following him. Live such good lives that they might
accuse you.

They're going to accuse you 'cause they don't understand you. They don't understand
why you live in that kind of way. But on the day that Jesus returns, they're not
going to be an accusation.

They're going to glorify God for your good deeds in that day. The truth is going to
come out in the end. So it's not what you're accused of that's important.

It's the example that you're giving that's important. You've been accused of
doing some wrong things this week, keep giving a good example, because in the
end, the truth is going to come out. These are great verses about who you are, who
I am, and what that means for how we live.

Let's just thank God for it right now in prayer. Lord, in prayer, we thank you.
And we remind ourselves of what you've told us about ourselves, what you've told
us about who we are in Jesus Christ.

And we decide we're going to believe you. God, because of Jesus, I am completely
accepted. I am fully capable.

Because of Jesus, I am extremely valuable. I am eternally loved. I am totally
forgiven.

Thank you for Jesus. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.