You’ve Received Mercy
Part 3 of A study through Peter
June 25th 2023
We are in the book of 1 Peter and will be throughout the summer. 1 Peter will lead into…2nd Peter (good guess!) So you know where we’re headed in the weeks ahead.
In a spare moment this week (and there were few) I happened to catch a short video of a pastor who shred a thought that I completely agree with. When it comes to teaching the Word, that’s what we are to share; the Word, the Bible, the Holy Scriptures. Church is not to be dependant on the pastor but dependant on the Word of God. If the pastor was not to show up on Sunday morning because he or she was ill, was called to minister elsewhere in an emergency or was called home by the Lord, would the church be lost? No, not if they are dependant on the Word and not the pastor, or any other leader for that matter.
Sharing/teaching/discipling is not about my life and my story and my experiences, but about what God wants to speak into our lives, corporately and individually. If this is all about the earthly leader, then we are not being led by the right Leader… get me? And if we don’t focus on the Bible, then we have no real reason to gather. It’s not about feelings, it’s about hearing from God Almighty.
So we journey through the scriptures, book by book, verse by verse, no skips, all of it is good! Whether it’s a Gospel, an Epistle (letter to the church), prophecy, wisdom, Psalm, historical, or any other type of book – we go through it. Because THIS is one of the most important ways GOD speaks to us!
So I hope we all take this time as we focus our thoughts on what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us today, and every time we gather, that we will indeed hear from the Lord and will grow more and more into the image of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Saviour, Redeemer and the Head of the Church – AMEN!
I’ve titled this series that we are in right now ‘Where Angels Long to Look’ as we consider things that we have come to know in life as followers of Jesus, Who died so that we can have life. Angels don’t know what it is to be saved from sin. Jesus did not die for them on the cross; He died for us, His creation here on earth that fell into sin and needed saving. We’ll be able to share what that is like with angels one day!
Another thing they have no knowledge of is something we have come to know as ‘mercy’. And as we look into the next portion of Peter’s letter to new believers and followers of Jesus, we will see that we have been given a simply amazing gift, something we did not have before Christ. But now we do – the question will be this, ‘What are doing with the mercy we’ve received?’
1 PETER 2:1-12
2 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.
• Because we are told to be holy (why? Because God is holy) obviously we cannot be mean, lying, jealous, people-smearing followers of Jesus, right? None of those qualities describe a person who has surrendered their life to the One Who gave His life for him or her.
• We are to be LIKE newborn infants – not that we are crybabies over our circumstances, no, in that we are like babies who really want to be fed. We LONG for, CRAVE, DESIRE, NEED to be fed with the things of the Spirit.
• The world and the one who thinks he rules it (Satan) would feed us all kinds of lies so that we are distracted from what is real, and good and right for us
• Feeding on God’s Word, we grow – we grow up into the salvation that has been purchased for us by the blood of Christ.
• How old are you in the Word? How much have you grown up into the character of Jesus? We don’t stay infants, but we still crave more of the Lord LIKE infants. Hebrews 5:11-13 speaks to this as well.
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.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
8 and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
• Another simile here, where before we are told to be like infants who crave the Word, here we are told to be like living stones – like JESUS Who is the Living Stone, the Cornerstone from which everything we know about God’s grace and mercy is displayed.
• The cornerstone of a building sets the direction for all the walls of that house. It is the first-placed stone and must be perfect so that the rest of the house can be in proper alignment.
• Is this not a great descriptor of Christ?
• WE can only come to the Father BECAUSE of Jesus – our worship is acceptable only because Jesus has made us so.
• What do we truly have to offer God that would be accepted from our sinful selves? It’s because Jesus made a way for us to enter the holy presence of God by His perfect sacrifice of Himself so that we, followers of Jesus, can come before the throne of grace at all.
• This is the greatest honour God could bestow upon us – to be witnesses, living stones, like Jesus, to proclaim the Gospel
• Does that truth not still make our soul respond in worship and praise of our Saviour? Are we still mind-blown at the fact that God would accept US? What a Saviour!
• To those who don’t believe this, Jesus is stumbling block, something that trips up their beliefs, they are offended by the Truth, but Truth will always prevail
• Do we stand on that stone, that Rock of Truth? Do others get tripped up in their belief on anything else but Christ at our witness of what He has done for us, and for them?
• One will either be in alignment with Jesus as the Truth, or stumble and fall before God Who has made only one way, one way, JESUS!
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.
• And here it is – another thing angels long to investigate. We are chosen – God CHOOSES to love us and does so to such an almost unimaginable extent that He died for us; choosing to save us rather than just judge us.
• That is what makes us holy, a people he wants to have for His own.
• Called to proclaim this Good News about God who brings us out of darkness into His marvellous light – the light of His grace and mercy.
• We weren’t even really a people – as sinners in the world, we are nation-less so to speak, with no eternal home in this universe. No hope, no prospects, no name, in essence nothing.
• But now – underline that – but NOW, we are GOD’S PEOPLE – we have His Name, we have His promises, we have HIS Son, we are filled with His Spirit – we are HIS!
• There was a time when we had not received mercy – because God had only given us the Law, by which sacrifice and rules and regulation required we make amends for our wrongdoings – that must have been exhausting!
• An it must BE exhausting for anyone trying to earn their way into God’s grace today, trying to be saved by the good deeds that they do
• Instead, thank God, we have been given a gift – we have received mercy
• Mercy is defined as ‘compassion or forgiveness shown towards someone whom it is within one’s power to punish or harm’
• God definitely has the power and authority to judge us for our sin, we know what we deserve!
• For the angels who rebelled along with the Devil in heaven, they were cast out and face an eternity in the lake of fire along with Satan. There is no hope for them, no second chance, no repentance, no forgiveness, no mercy
• But we have received mercy – we were lost, but we were found. We were in Satan’s grip, but God made a way for us to be free. We were blind, deaf and lame – now we see, we have heard the Truth and we will walk into the Pearly Gates – all because of mercy
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
• Wherever we find ourselves in this world, be that working, recreating, schooling, socializing, or whatever – we are to be living examples of the mercy we’ve received – in order that those who do not yet believe – may see the change made in us because of Christ and come to know Him as their Lord and Saviour as well – all to the glory of God – HAVE MERCY!
"Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."
