1 Peter 2:9-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Who are The Elect?
To whom is this being addressed? To the elect who are in
Christ Jesus by faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior of their lives, chosen
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit
for obedience to Jesus Christ (see 1 Peter 1:1-2). And to be sanctified is to
be made holy, and to be holy is to be set apart for God. So, for the true
believer in Jesus Christ, obedience to our Lord is not optional. It is required
for salvation and for eternal life with God to be what we, as Christ’s
followers, live by in practice.
Chosen for What Purpose?
Well, first of all, we are chosen by God to have faith in
Jesus Christ, a faith which comes from God, and is not of our own doing, and
which requires that we deny self, die to sin (repent of sin), and obey God and
His New Covenant commandments in life practice. We are to be followers of Jesus
Christ who follow Him wherever He leads us in doing whatever it is that He has
called us to do and to be for His glory, for His honor, and for His purposes.
And all of us are called of God to proclaim the message of the gospel to the
people.
But we need to make certain that the gospel message we are
proclaiming is the one taught by Jesus and by His New Testament apostles, when
read and when taught in the correct biblical context. For not everyone “proclaiming
the gospel” is teaching the biblical gospel message. Many are teaching lies
taught by other humans which say such things as “we do not have to repent of
our sins, and we don’t have to obey God,” for they call that “works salvation.”
But Jesus and His apostles taught we must repent and obey God.
For Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny
self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if
we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity.
But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience
to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with
God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew
7:21-23).
1 Peter 2:11-12 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“11Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul. 12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.”
Abstain From Fleshly Desires
We who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord, have
by God-gifted faith in Jesus surrendered our lives to the Lord, died with Him
to sin, and have been reborn of the Spirit to now walk in newness of life in
Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as servants of righteousness,
in the power of God, as led by the Spirit, and not of our own flesh. And this
does not make us perfect, but lack of perfection is never to be used as an
excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord. We must obey our Lord.
So, we are taught all throughout the New Testament
Scriptures that we are to abstain from the sinful desires of the flesh which
war against our souls. We are not to participate in the fruitless deeds of
darkness. Sin must no longer be our practice, but now righteousness and
holiness and obedience to our Lord and to His commands must be what we
practice. No longer should we be engaged in such things as lying, cheating,
stealing, adultery, sexual immorality, and unfaithfulness, etc., but now in
holy living, pleasing to God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians
5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14;
Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
Conduct Yourselves with Honor
We who are followers of Jesus Christ are to conduct
ourselves with honor, in decency, integrity, righteousness, morality, dignity,
and in reverence for God and for His Word and for His commands. And we are to
do this no matter who we are with. None of us should be chameleons, i.e. none
of us should change who we are or how we talk or how we behave depending upon
the people we are with. So none of us should act like we are righteous if how
we are living is in sin and in immorality and in disobedience to God. Be real!
If we are who we are no matter who we are with, and if we
speak what we speak no matter who we are with, and if we do not perform one way
for some, and another way for others, but we are consistent in being who we
claim to be (not necessarily with absolute perfection), then even if we are
slandered, and even if others believe the lies and not the truth about us, we
will have no cause to be ashamed. And this is no promise that everyone will see
through the lies and that they will see who we really are, in truth.
Yes! It would be nice if everyone would see through the
lies, and if they would see the truth of who people are, both those who are
good and those who are evil. But sadly we live in a day and time when evil is
being treated as good, and when good is being treated as evil, and when lies
are being accepted as truth, and when the truth is being rejected as lies.
There is so much deception going on in our day and time that it requires real
spiritual discernment to separate the lies from the truth. So we need
discernment!
Chosen for Obedience to God
An Original Work / October 2, 2026
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Trust and Obey
Words by John H. Sammis, 1887
Music by Daniel B. Towner, 1887
When
we walk with the Lord
in
the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He
abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.
Not
a shadow can rise,
not
a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear,
not
a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.
Not
a burden we bear,
not
a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss,
not
a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.
But
we never can prove
the
delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows,
for
the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in
fellowship sweet
We will sit
at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do,
Where He
sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.
Trust
and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4KcleYiWM
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