The Generation of the Chosen

1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1 Peter 2:9–10 KJV 1900

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

What does it mean to be Chosen By God?

There were many people chosen by God

Pharoah of Egypt

++Afflicted God’s People

++Enslaved them

God Choose Him

Romans 9:17 ESV

17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Nebuchadnezzar

++Brought Israel into Babylon

++Removed them from their home

He was called God’s servant

Jeremiah 27:6 ESV

6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him.

They were servants for a season

Jeremiah 25:8–9 ESV

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.

Jeremiah 25:11 ESV

11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

God chose Nebuchadnezzar

++Because Israel would not listen

++Because Israel would not repent

I am so glad that trouble don’t last always

Jeremiah 25:12 ESV

12 Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste.

Psalm 30:5 ESV

5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

With God, people were chosen

In spite of

++their skill

++Their experience

For His divine purpose

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

It was

++Not his height

++Not his stature

++What was in his heart

What is in your Heart?

1 Samuel 17:33 ESV

33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”

David’s training

++Was not in swordsmanship

++Was not battle strategies

++Wasn’t his anger

++Wasn’t his rage

David Found his strength

++In his confidence in God

++In the presence of God

Psalm 121:1–2 ESV

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

It’s Our Time Now

1 Peter 2:1–3 ESV

It is our time

++Put away some things

++To embrace some things

++To taste and see the Lord is Good

We are Chosen to Come to God Through Christ

1 Peter 2:4–6 ESV

4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

As we come to Him

++We are transformed

++We become like him

++We become living stone

++We become acceptable to God

Jesus was the stone

John 1:11 ESV

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

He was

++Rejected by men

++Chosen by God

How easy it is to reject what God has chosen.

Man has

++Opposed His judgement

++Sought His own way

Proverbs 14:12 ESV

12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

We were chosen from the beginning

Ephesians 1:3–6 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

We are chosen

++To Bless the Lord

++To be in Christ

++To be in the place of blessing

God Chose us in Christ

++Before the foundations of the world

++To be Holy and blameless

++In love

He predestined us

++For adoption to himself

++That his grace would be visible

We are the generation of the chosen

1 Peter 2:9–10 KJV 1900

The reality of who we are is

++Not in our past

++Not in our Customs

++Revealed in Christ alone

This is why

++We love Him

++We Worship

++We give him praise

Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.