Privileges for God's People, Part 2a

Once again, I would invite you to turn with me to the second chapter of Peter's first epistle, 1 Peter chapter 2, as we continue looking at the privileges for God's people.

Peter helps us understand a little bit more our identity in Christ. Identity always leads to security. So Peter begins to list for us those great privileges that are ours. Once we understand them, once we grasp them, then everything about how we react to those who are against us will change. 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter says in verse number 4, the foundation of your privileges are based on two things. One, you're coming to Christ. Two, the character of Christ. He says, and coming to Him. We came to Him.

And Peter recognizes that. Peter understood when he came to Christ, and our coming to Christ initiates the privileges that Jesus Christ has for us. And last week we told you that our coming to Him is based on the fact that He Himself, God, has called us to Himself. No one comes to the Father unless he has been drawn by the Father. It's been granted him by the Father to come. And that word proserkomai is the word that means to come and to remain, to come and stay. You see, God wants you to come. And because He wants you to come, He grants you the desire to come and to stay and to want to remain with Him, not just for a little while, but forever.

And that initiates the privileges. It's the foundation of our privileges, our coming to Him. And number two, the character of Christ.

He is called the living stone, the chief stone, the solid rock. He is the chief stone because all the other little stones, which we are, which we will see in a moment, come after the main ingredient, and that is Jesus Christ Himself, who is called the living stone. And that living stone that grants us security was rejected by men, Peter says. He was rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God. He was that chosen precious one in the sight of God, our Father. And our privileges are based on who He is.

He is the living stone. And we talked about that last week. And then we began talking about the description of our privileges. And the first one dealt with our union with Christ, that we are called, as Peter says, you also as living stones.

Now, He is the living stone, and we are living stones. We are a spiritual house, Peter says. He says, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. He is the chief stone, He is the cornerstone, and we are the little stones that make up the great house of God, the household of God, the temple of God. We are a spiritual temple. And that describes our union with Christ, because He is the living stone, and we now are called living stones. We are united with Him. We are a part of Him.

Peter would go on to say in 2 Peter 1 verse number 4, that we are partakers of the divine nature. We are part and parcel to Jesus Christ, our Lord. We are one with Him. We are united with Him. And that unity with Christ is the basis of our identity in Christ. So, He moves now from our union to our admission. He says this, not only are you living stones, but you are a holy priesthood. Down in verse number 9, it calls us a royal priesthood. That speaks about our admission into His presence. We are admitted into His presence, because now we are a priesthood.

Remember, in the Old Testament, they had a priesthood. In the New Testament, we are called a priesthood of believers. It describes our admission into His presence, that we have access to God at any time. We don't have to have someone go to God for us. We have access into His presence. That's why the writer of Hebrews says, let us come boldly before the throne of grace, because we have access to who He is. Why? Because we are united with Him. And because of our union with Him, we have admission to Him.

That makes sense, doesn't it? We talked about it last week, that the characteristics of the priesthood in the Old Testament help us understand the priesthood of the New Testament. We began by looking at the fact that the priesthood in the Old Testament was chosen by God. Nobody could volunteer for the priesthood. They had to be chosen by God. God chose Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar. He chose them all, because that's the way God Himself works. And He chose them all from one particular tribe, the tribe of Levi.

We talked about the tribe of Levi, how it was a cursed tribe, how it was a violent tribe, how it was a sinful tribe. And yet God would use that tribe. It was the fourth son of Jacob that He would choose to be the priesthood. And it shows us how God specifically chooses us to be His priests. Just like He chose a group of people from a vile, wretched, violent tribe, so too He chooses you and me, who by our very nature are depraved, violent, sinful people. And that's the privilege we have by being a part of the priesthood of Christ, that He chose us to be what He calls a holy priesthood or a royal priesthood in His kingdom.

As the priests of the Old Testament were particularly chosen, you can read about it in Exodus chapter 28, so too in the New Testament we who are believers are particularly chosen by God to be a part of His great kingdom. And that's where we left off last week. But there's more to the priesthood than that. You see, to be a priest you had to be chosen by God. Not only did you have to be chosen by God, but you had to be cleansed by God. Did you know that? Turn back with me, if you would, to the book of Leviticus.

Leviticus, the eighth chapter. Before a priest could begin his ministry, he needed to be cleansed. Chapter 8, verse number 1, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bowl of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble all the congregation at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So Moses did just as the Lord commanded him. When the congregation was assembled at the doorway of the This is the thing which the Lord has commanded us to do.

Then Moses and Aaron and his sons came near and washed them with water. He washed them with water. And he put the tunic on him, and girded him with the sash, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him, and girded him with the artistic band of the ephod, with which he tied it to him. He then placed the breast piece on him, and in the breast piece he put the urim and the thumim. He also placed the turban on his head, and on the turban at his front he placed the golden plate, the holy crown, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Go to verse number 22. Then he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and Moses slaughtered it, and took some of its blood, and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. You see there was a washing. After the washing there was an anointing. You can read about it a little further down here. We'll look at it in a moment.

There was the anointing with oil. And then there was a sacrifice and the blood being put on the right ear lobe, and the right thumb, and the right big toe of the priest. It symbolized the cleansing of the priest. He had to make sure that whatever his hands did, or whatever his ears listened to, they were listening to the, to the voice of God. That's why it's the right ear. Remember in the Bible they always use the right faculty of the individual, symbolizing strength and power. It doesn't mean for the left-handed you're weak, it just means that that's the way the Bible just does it.

And so he, they talk about the right ear and the right thumb, for whatever the hand did, it had to be, it had to do for God. And the right big toe, for wherever the feet would go, it would symbolize they were walking after God. And so it talks about the fact that they had to be cleansed. For them to be used by God, they had to be clean. They couldn't be impure priests. They had to be pure priests. Now listen, when God chooses you, God cleanses you, right? Sure. If we're called the holy priesthood, there has to be a cleansing.

Because God doesn't use dirty vessels. He can't. He's a holy God, right? So he has to make you, as Peter says, a holy priesthood, a sanctified priesthood, a special royal priesthood. So how's he going to do that? Well, he's going to choose you, and once he chooses you, he now is going to cleanse you. And these are the basis of our privileges in Christ. This allows us admission into his presence as priests. We couldn't go into his presence unclean, right? We had to be clean. So how's that going to happen?

We can't cleanse ourselves. God has to cleanse us. Listen to what the book of Titus says. Second chapter, verse number 14, God gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.

He purified us. He was the one who did it. Chapter 3, verse number 5, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. He had to wash us. He had to cleanse us. And how does he do that? Through the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Over in Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians 5, verse number 26, it says these words, verse 25, husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word.

God had to cleanse us. How does he cleanse us? With the washing of water, which is what? The word of God. John 15, verse number 3 says, you are clean through the word of God. You see, this is how we can be used by God. This is how God can use you. Granted, granted, nobody else might want to use you, but God wants to use you. So, in order for him to use you, he'll choose you, and then he will cleanse you. He'll keep you clean. That's what God does. That's why when we talk about the forgiveness of sins, we realize that we've been forgiven of all of our sins, past, present, and future, right?

We are forgiven in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And yet, there is that daily cleansing that needs to happen on our part, right, in order for us to have the fellowship and the communion with our God. So, John says that if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see, so we confess our sins. We come to God. We say the same thing about our sins that God says about our sins.

That's what amalegao means. So, we say the same thing about our sins that God says about them, and we come to him.

He cleanses us from our sins that we can be used of him in a mighty way for his purposes. God wasn't going to use an unclean priest. He had to cleanse him first after he chose him.

Not only did he cleanse him, listen, he clothed them. He clothed them. He chose them, he cleansed them, and then he clothed them. Look what it says in Leviticus 8. Leviticus 8, verse number 7, it talks about the tunic, the belt, the robe, the ephod, the breastplate, the turban. All of those things symbolize the unique call of a priest to virtue and identification with God. There was a special clothing that the priest had to wear. They just couldn't show up at anything, say, here I am, let me be used of God just as I am.

Here I am, just use me just like I am. No, he had to be clothed by God with specifics. I got news for you. So do you. You need to be clothed. Guess who clothes you? Guess who gives you your wardrobe? Guess who your tailor is? It's Jesus Christ our Lord. He gives you specific clothing. What is it? Turn with me to the book of Isaiah, it's the 61st chapter.

Isaiah 61, verse number 10, it says, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation. He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness. You see, there is a particular clothing you have to wear. It's called the robe of righteousness. Over in Psalm 132, it says this in verse number 9, let thy priest be clothed with righteousness. That is our clothing. If you go back to the book of Revelation, 22nd chapter, it says this, verse number 14, blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city.

The blessed person is the one who has his robes washed. And what are his robes washed in? They are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. If you go back to Revelation chapter 7, it says this, and I said to him, my Lord, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones who came or come out of the great tribulation and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. As John receives the vision of a great multitude of people before the throne of grace, it says that these are the ones who have their robes washed in the blood of the lamb.

It makes them spotless. It makes them white. It makes them clean. You see, there's a special garment you have to wear. You just can't show up in God's presence unclothed. Let me illustrate it for you this way.

Turn back to Matthew chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22, Christ gives a parable about the wedding, the marriage feast. It says in verse number 2, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for a son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast. And they were unwilling to come. And he sent out other slaves saying, tell those who have been invited, behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat and livestock and all butchered and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. But the king was enraged and sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire. Then he said to his slaves, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways. And as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast. And those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good.

And the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw there a man not dressed in wedding clothes. He said to him, friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? And he was speechless. Then the king said to his servants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness. In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen. Christ gives a parable to symbolize what his father did by inviting the nation of Israel to come and to be a part of his great wedding, but they refused to come.

They wanted nothing to do with it. And so he would send his servants out into the highways and byways to invite them, to compel them all to come in, both good and evil. And they came and they came. And so the king one day goes out to look over the wedding. He sees all these people. Yet there was one man not dressed in the proper clothing. Now you gotta ask yourself the question, how did all those people have the right clothes to wear? If they're off the street, if they're both good and evil, if everybody was invited came, how did they get the clothes for the wedding feast?

They were given to them by the king. That's how they received the clothes. And yet there was one who wasn't dressed in wedding clothes. And so the king says, well, how did you get here? What are you doing here? You don't have the proper attire on. He was speechless. Why? Because he had not been clothed in the righteous robes of Christ, you see. So he was cast out of the feast. He was thrown into a place where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth, which is symbolic of hell. To symbolize the fact that the only way you get into the wedding feast is not by a natural descent, but because of a spiritual descent.

That is, you had to come to Christ in a spiritual way and to receive the proper robes given to you by Him, the robes of righteousness. You see, if we are a priesthood, we have to wear the priestly clothes. And they are robes of righteousness. Just as the Old Testament priest had to wear specific clothing to symbolize exactly what they were going to do, so too you and I have to have a specific robe to wear. And that is the robe of righteousness, which is made white by the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

So the Old Testament priests were chosen by Him, were cleansed by Him, and were clothed by Him. For us to understand our priesthood, we have to realize that we are chosen by God, we are cleansed by God, and we now are clothed by God. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. How do we have admission into His presence if we are unrighteous? Answer, we have no admission into His presence. So we have to be clothed in the righteous robes of God. We have to have His righteousness imputed to us in order that we might have access into His presence.

And that's what the New Testament priesthood is all about. But there's more. Not only that, He specifically consecrated the Old Testament priesthood. Turn back to Leviticus chapter 8 again. Verse number 10, Moses then took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated them. And he sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils and the basin and its stand to consecrate them. Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to consecrate him.

Jump down to verse number 30. So Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him. Excuse me, and he consecrated Aaron, his garments and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him. He consecrated the priesthood. How? Through the anointing of oil. It was a specific consecration that they were set apart for a specific work for the glory and honor of God. The anointing of oil identified the priesthood as a special class on whom the power and the presence of God would rest.

The anointing of oil symbolized the Spirit of God. In the New Testament, the New Testament priesthood, we have an anointing. Over in 1 John chapter 2, it says this in verse number 20, but you have an anointing from the Holy One and you all know. Down to verse number 27, and as for you, the anointing which you receive from Him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you, but as His anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him.

What is that anointing? What is that anointing that abides in us? 1 Corinthians 3.16, it is the Spirit of the living God. You see, we had to be anointed with the Spirit of God in order for us to be consecrated unto God for a special purpose for God, and so He gives us an anointing by giving us the Spirit. Have you ever been someplace and you heard someone pray for the guy who was going to preach and pray that God's Spirit would specifically anoint him for what he was going to say? That prayer does no good because you're already anointed, see, because the Spirit of God is the anointing and the Spirit of God already dwells in you.

You can see it on TV all the time. They're always praying for the special anointing to come upon the one who's going to deliver the message. Why? It's a futile prayer. It means nothing. Why pray for something you already have, right? You have to claim what you already have and praise God for what you already have. And let me tell you something, every one of us has the same anointing because we are all a part of the priesthood of God.

We are all a part of the living stones being built up into a spiritual house, for in that spiritual house is an assembly of priests, you and me, all able to do what God's called us to do because we're all chosen by God, we've all been cleansed by God, we are all now clothed by God, and we are all consecrated by God through the giving of the Spirit of God. See that?