TITLE: MARVELOUSLY DISTINCT MEANINGText: 1 Pet 2:9-10---1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.1 Pet 1:1-5YOU HAVE A MARVELOUSLY DISTINCT1) IDENTITY: A PEOPLE CALLED INTO MARVELOUS LIGHT (V9)Sam Storms: Irrespective of ethnicity, believers have been united by faith in Jesus to be a new people, a new race. This kind of “race” (genos) has nothing to do with ethnicity precisely because this race is composed of every ethnicity. It is a spiritual race, a chosen race, defined not by color or culture but by creed. This race is defined by the One in whom we believe: Jesus.--6 “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.Deut 7:6-8--John Piper: “What gives us our identity is not colour or culture. But CHOSENNESS”--D. H. Wheaton: Throughout the OT, kings and priests were separate individuals. Only Melchizedek and the Messiah combined both offices. Saul sinned when he tried to discharge both functions (1 Sa. 13:5–15). In Christ the Christian can be both.--ROYAL PRIESTS OFFER SACRIFICES:a)Of Holy Living (Rom 12:1-2)12 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.b)Of Praise & Generosity (Heb 13:15-16)15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.---John Piper: You are called now to minister in the presence of God. All your life is priestly service. You are never out of God’s presence. You are never in a neutral zone. You are always in the court of the temple. And your life is either a spiritual service of worship (Romans 12:1–2), or it is out of character.--5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” Ex 19:5-6 --21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness. – Is 8:21-22--The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. – Is 9:2--Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12--6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. – 2 Cor 4:6--He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. – Col 1:13-14--8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light – Eph 5:9 YOU HAVE A MARVELOUSLY DISTINCT2) PURPOSE: PROCLAIM GOD’S EXCELLENCIES (V9)YOU HAVE A MARVELOUSLY DISTINCT3) STORY: ONCE NOT …, BUT NOW … (V10)