1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV
“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. 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.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we died with Christ to sin and
we were raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be
like God in true righteousness and holiness. Our old self was crucified with
him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would
no longer be enslaved to sin.
Therefore, we are to no longer let sin reign in our mortal
bodies, to make us obey its passions. For sin shall no longer have dominion
over us, for we are now to be slaves to God and to his righteousness (Rom 6:1-23;
Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; Lu 9:23-26; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10).
For we were chosen of God to be his holy people, (unlike,
different) from the world, because we are being made to be like Jesus. He chose
us to be his own possession, and therefore that means that he is to be Lord
(Owner-Master) of our lives, and we are to be subject to him to obey his
commands. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:11-14).
God chose us to be his holy people, too, that we might
proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness (sin,
wickedness) into his marvelous light (Jesus Christ, truth, righteousness). We
are the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and we are to let our
light shine before other humans. And we are to make disciples of Christ of
people of all nations, teaching them to obey our Lord’s commands. For, Jesus
died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness.
1 Peter 2:11-12 ESV
“Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 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.”
Since we are called of God to be his holy people, we are to
live as strangers in this world, i.e. we are not to be of this world. We are to
live in the world, among the people of the world, and we are to be the light of
the world to those who walk in darkness, but we are not to be one with the
world. For God has called us out from the world to live lives which are unlike
the lives of the people who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ.
Since we are called to be God’s holy people, we are to no
longer live like we did before we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ to be
our Lord and Savior. We are now to abstain from the passions (lusts, desires)
of our sinful flesh which wage war against our souls. And we are to walk in
holiness and righteousness, in obedience to our Lord, in moral purity,
uprightness, honesty, integrity, and faithfulness.
Our conduct, in practice, is to be honorable, not dishonorable.
We are to no longer engage in such things as lying, cheating, stealing, hate,
murder, adultery, idolatry, sexual immorality, pride, slander, and the like.
But now we are to live as though we have been crucified with Christ in death to
sin and as though we have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in
him, not like our old lives of living in sin and for self.
But, when we live the kind of lives we are supposed to live,
and when we hold on to the truths of the Scriptures regarding faith and
obedience and submission to Christ and the forsaking of our sins, we will be
hated and rejected, even by others who profess faith in Jesus Christ. For many
professers of faith in Jesus Christ are living no differently than they did
before they “believed” in Jesus Christ.
So, even many who profess faith in Jesus Christ are going to
come against us, and they will speak evil against us because of our walks of
faith, and because of our testimonies for Christ and his gospel, and because we
are confronting the lies and we are proclaiming the truth of the gospel, of how
Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness, in the power of God.
For Satan is going to fight against us, because he wants to
get us back for his kingdom, so he is going to do everything within his power
to try to trip us up so that we will return to slavery to sin, and so that we
will no longer live for the Lord as servants of his righteousness. So, we need
to be on the lookout for him, and we need to know his tactics so that we can
fight against them with the truth. And we must resist him even to the death, if
necessary.
And our enemy is
Satan who is trying to make us slaves once again. And we do not fight our enemy
with physical weapons of warfare but with the armor of God, which God supplied
for us to defeat our enemy so we can remain free in Christ and not return to
being slaves of sin (Ephesians 6:10-20).
Do You Hear the
People Sing?
By Alain Boubul
and Claude-Michel Schonberg
Lyrics by
Herbert Kretzmer
From Les
Misérables
Do you hear the
people sing?
Singing a song of
angry men?
It is the music of
a people
Who will not be
slaves again!
When the beating of
your heart
Echoes the beating
of the drums
There is a life about
to start
When tomorrow
comes!
Will you give all you
can give
So that our banner
may advance
Some will fall and
some will live
Will you stand up
and take your chance?
The blood of the
martyrs
Will water the
meadows of France!
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