1 Peter 2:9-10

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 96:1-6
• Hymn — How Great Thou Art (#44)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Hymn — Leaning on the Everlasting Arms (#616)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — 1 Peter 2:9-10
• Sermon
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The Church as the New Israel of God

Scripture: 1 Peter 2:9-10

I. Introduction: The Grand Reversal — "But You"

A. The most important theological word in Scripture is often the conjunction "but"

1. Ephesians 2:1-4 — dead in sin… but God, rich in mercy, made us alive
2. 1 Peter 2:8 — unbelievers destined to stumble… but you are a chosen race

B. The church's election is grounded not in its own obedience but in God's sovereign mercy

1. Deuteronomy 7:7 — God chose Israel not because of their size but because of his love and oath
2. Galatians 6:16 — Paul calls the church the Israel of God
3. Ephesians 2 — Gentiles grafted into the commonwealth of Israel; one covenant of grace

C. The church is not the new Israel because it replaces Israel, but because it is united to Christ who fulfills Israel's calling

II. The Church as a Chosen Race and a Holy Nation

A. The first "chosen one" is Christ himself

1. 1 Peter 2:4 — Christ is the living stone, "chosen and precious" in God's sight
2. Ephesians 1 — the church is chosen in Christ; God never sees the church apart from Christ

B. Old Israel began with a person (Jacob/Israel), expanded to the twelve tribes, then to a nation — new Israel follows the same pattern

1. Matthew 2:15 quoting Hosea 11:1 — "Out of Egypt I called my son": the nation's calling is fulfilled in the one true Son
2. Christ chooses twelve disciples; the new nation expands from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the ends of the earth

C. Christ is the substance of all Israel's types and shadows

1. John 6:32 — Christ is the true bread from heaven
2. 1 Corinthians 10:4 — the rock in the wilderness was Christ
3. Hebrews — Christ is the true sacrifice; bulls and goats were shadows
4. Matthew 5:17 — Christ did not abolish the law but fulfilled it
5. Isaiah 42–53 — the Servant songs speak both of the nation and of a person; Christ is the fulfillment of both

III. The Church as a Royal Priesthood

A. The language of royal priesthood comes from Exodus 19:6 — Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation

B. The church fulfills this calling only through faith union with Christ the true Priest-King

1. Hebrews 7 — Jesus comes after the order of Melchizedek, not the Levitical priesthood
2. Melchizedek (cf. Genesis 14) is both king of Salem (Jerusalem) and priest of the Most High God — a royal priest
3. Christ as the true Melchizedek tears the temple curtain at his death, opening full access to the heavenly holy of holies
4. Hebrews 4 — as the last Joshua, Christ crosses into heaven itself and sits at the Father's right hand, granting his people free access to the throne of grace

C. The purpose: to proclaim the excellencies of God to the ends of the earth

1. Exodus 19:5 — Israel was to be God's treasured possession, shedding his light throughout the earth he owns
2. Israel was always meant to be an instrument of redemption for the whole fallen creation — this mission finds its fulfillment in Christ
3. Acts 2 — the Spirit poured out on Jews in Jerusalem; Acts 8 — on Samaritans; Acts 10 — on Gentiles: the light of God explodes to the ends of the earth through Christ at Pentecost

IV. Conclusion: Christ as the Apex of All Things

A. Colossians 1 — all things were made by, through, and for Christ; he is the firstborn of creation and of the dead

B. All old covenant promises — to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 — find their Yes and Amen in Christ

C. Genesis 3:15 — the seed of the woman crushes the head of the serpent; united to that seed, the church now proclaims the gospel to the four corners of the earth as God calls his elect from every nation