SOME words of a hymn or a chorus of a hymn has came into my mind as I sat down before my computer to write this sermon. I have tried to find it in the hymn books and chorus books I have, but have failed, so I give it to you now as my memory in old age has supplied it - "What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought, since Jesus came into my heart; Floods of joy o'er my soul, like the sea billows roll, since Jesus came into my heart."

Like all hymns theology may lack precision, and this is so in this verse, but it expresses the wonder of the change in our lives which takes place when God acts in sovereign saving love and we are born again of the Spirit of God. Paul has expressed this so wonderfully in the previous verse in 1 Peter chapter 2 which is the content of the previous sermon on verse 9, but in his great desire to make things plain and leave no ground unturned to get his meaning across, he gives us the next verse 10.

Paul contrasts and declares the condition we were in before Jesus came into our hearts, followed by the new condition we now enjoy, and the means by which we received it.

As my thoughts grapple with this verse I am burdened with how the truth embodied in this verse is needed to be declared today (2021-2022), and how it seems to be offensive to so many, and how neglected it is in the preaching which I hear.

ONCE NOT A PEOPLE.

Here we must consider Bible teaching which is offensive to so many in the visible church today, at least in the United Kingdom. Paul speaks of the condition of all born again Christians before the change of new birth brought about a new creation in us. It also describes the condition of all humanity now and in the past.

Paul describes this condition by two sentences. The first tells us we were not a people of God. The second tells us that we had not received mercy. We need now to enquire concerning what these two descriptions of humanity is opening up to us. Let us take them in turn.

a. Not a people.

In world and in history there are many different divisions in humanity. We are divided up into nations and different cultures. We are divided up by different pigments of our skin. We are divided by intellect and skills and dispositions. Some are people of one nation and country, and others of another. Some have qualities that differ from another. We are also divided up by different religions and philosophies of life. However we are all human beings. So what is Peter referring to when he speaks of being a people and not being a people? The difference is whether we are God's people or whether we are not. This division divides up all humanity. By nature none of us are God's people. When we are born into this world by human birth we are born as people who are not God's people.

What does this mean? Here we must seek the understanding the Bible gives, however unpalatable this may be to so many.

There are two passages where Paul speaks of this condition. In 1 Corinthians 15: 21, 22. The other is in Romans 5: 12-14. In these two references Paul indicates that the natural condition of all humanity when born is that we are dead to God. This means according to Bible teaching that we inherit the punishment of God which Adam was condemned to when he disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and received the promised punishment which God declared if such disobedience occurred. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and decided to believe and do what Satan tempted them to do, and distrust God, and in this they decided to make Satan their god. This condition so became the condition of all humanity as children of Adam.

Here we face a difficulty which is endemic in human thought today, in the visible church and outside the church. Science has made statements in which it seeks to understand the origin of the universe as we perceive it, in which our planet is a part. Science speaks of the origin of the world in chance happenings which occurred an inconceivably long time in the past. Science has to do this for the way they conceive of the origin of the universe by chance needs an unbelievably long time if it is ever going to happen. What science does not do is to tell us how matter originated, it just assumes it was there. Because of this science and those who espouse the way of science, deride the account of creation, and the unique origin of mankind, which is told in the opening chapters of Genesis, and calls them unscientific fables. Science also derides the idea that mankind was and is a unique creation of God, and replaces it with the teaching that all life resulted from evolving of life over an immense period of time, from a primitive life form. Again science fails to give us any idea how this life form originated, it just assumes it is there; it assumes that if certain conditions occur then this will make it possible for this life entity to evolve. In this origin of the universe science leaves no explanation of how the evolving of humanity has so much imperfection, not least why humanity suffers under such awful disability in body, mind and soul. History shows that in all the progress in society in technology and so on, there has been no solution of the problem of human behaviour which causes wars, and mayhem in society and life, and there is no explanation for this when science tells us that through evolution all things should be getting better. It is only in the Bible and the Bible record of creation that there is an explanation of how human bad behaviour is as it is, and only in the Bible that there is found any remedy.

In the Bible we are told that God created the universe as we know it, and by divine power created it out of nothing at first. Matter was brought into being by God. The Bible tells us that man was created unique, and at the first created in the likeness of God, being self aware, and pure in thought and being. The Bible goes on to tell us the first human beings created by God were Adam and Eve, and that they were given a paradise to live in, and God had fellowship with them every day. The Bible goes on to tell us that Adam and Eve, as the first human beings, became the parents of all humanity, and from whom all humanity has resulted, but this happened after Adam and Eve made a catastrophic decision which caused God to cast them out of paradise, to be separated from God, and be under the punishment of death, which in its final reality means hell. This death was death of the soul and to be infected by the disposition of Satan, and so be spiritually dead, and with a corrupt nature from which is the cause of all the trouble of humanity ever since has originated, and results in eternal death when this earthly life ends.

So from the two Scripture passages mentioned above, Paul tells us that being the progeny of Adam we suffer death – 'as in Adam all die', and that death has reigned over mankind ever since. This is seen in the corruption of human nature from which all evil and wrong occurs, and that the end of human life is eternal death in hell. This is the condition of all humanity as progeny of Adam. All are born in this world as belonging to Satan and not to God. Human beings are born not people of God.

Science and human wisdom hates this Biblical assessment of human life, and calls the history of the creation in Genesis a myth. We need to enquire why this is so? The problem lies in the fact of Adam's sin and his choice to serve Satan. Satan told lies about God which Adam believed. It boiled down to Adam exalting himself and his wisdom over God. Adam choose to believe Satan and to believe that God was withhold from him a greater good so that he could be like God knowing good and evil; in other words everything. This lie persists in all human thought at a deep level, and so human thought diminishes God to what it deems possible. Only what human wisdom in its sinful arrogance deems as possible is claimed to be valid. Only what human wisdom in science deems as believable is true, and anything which claims the omnipotence of God is rejected. God is diminished to a human level of possibility and power.

In contrast to this God has revealed himself in the Bible as the omnipotent sovereign who created all things, sustains all things, rules all things, and works all things according his good pleasure. As the Almighty, God brought matter into being. He created from nothing. All creation in the product of his sovereign wisdom. This is the testimony of the origin of creation in Genesis 1 and 2.

So the Bible tells us that God created human life unique, holy and in fellowship with himself. In the beginning Adam and Eve were people of God. When they disobeyed God, God pronounced the penalty he had promised, and Adam and Eve died, and were subject to eternal death, and they were cast out of the presence of God, and so ceased to be God's people. This condition they passed down to all their progeny, and this has become the condition of all humanity born naturally into the earthly. Humanity has ceased to be people of God.

b. Had not received mercy.

Paul goes on to say in our verse that in this condition we have not received mercy. Let us meditate on this in order to suck out the substance of this condition.

Paul indicates in this statement that humanity being not the people of God need mercy, and mercy from God. Fallen humanity in themselves and in their own condition can in no way escape this condition of being separated from God and under the eternal sentence of death. In this condition there is only one way to proceed and that is to cry for mercy to God to withdraw this sentence of death and separation from the life of God.

From this we come face to face with the human problem that is so hated in fallen humanity, and which reveals itself so strongly in the visible church. People agree that they are not perfect, but claim they are good at heart, and any idea that they are sinners before God, and deserving of this sentence of eternal death, is offensive and rejected. This concept is rife in the visible church. Repentance seems to be thought of as coming before God to confess anything in the immediate past that make people sorry or ashamed, and repentance is seen as coming before God to be forgiven and so be relieved of the pain and sorrow which is felt by these acts. In contrast to this, the Bible tells us a much more terrible condition that we were born sinful, and sins corruption resides in the depth of our being, and is the cause of our breaking in one way or another all the ten commandments, and refusing to accept this diagnosis. This is expressed so well in the 9th article of religion of the Church of England, and this condition is made evident in the way these articles of Christian truth are despised in the Church of England today by so many.

In this condition mercy from God is least of the requirements deemed necessary in the life of much of the church today. This is expressed so vividly in the account given by Jesus of two men who came into the temple to pray. One was very religious and moral. He was a Pharisee and high in the estimation of the Jews, and in his own estimation. He came before God presenting to God all the things which he deemed the reason for God to be very accepting of him, praising him, and rewarding him. In his prayer he told God how wonderfully he behaved, implying he deserved God's favour and blessing more than most people. He had no concept of his inner sinfulness, nor how offensive in reality his life was before God. He had no conviction of his sinfulness and sins before God. He felt he deserved praise and reward from God, and any idea that he needed God's mercy was an anathema to him. Jesus tells us that this Pharisee received nothing from God, and his prayer was rejected. He received no mercy.

On the other hand the other person praying at the same time in the temple was a tax-collector. He owned before God that his life was an offence before God, and was so convicted of his sin as he saw that he deserved only God's condemnation and punishment. In his fear and need he pleaded with God to be merciful to him. Jesus tells us that this awful sinner went home justified, forgiven and accepted by God. His prayer was heard and his request granted. He obtained mercy.

Humanity in general, and many very religious and moral people in the church, have not received mercy, and so remain dead and under the sentence of eternal death. They are like this because they do not see that they need mercy, and refuse to accept that they need mercy, or that it is mercy of God that alone can save them. So they remain in the condition of not being God's people.

THE CHANGE IN THE REDEEMED.

We who have been given new life in Christ through new birth and a new creation have experienced this marvellous change in out lives.

a. We have received mercy.

The change has been brought about by the sovereign work of God through the operation of the Holy Spirit. Like the tax-collector mentioned above we have been made aware of our sin and sinfulness, and our desperate state, and given the grace to cry for mercy to God in deep repentance, and in this agony of heart we have been given grace to plead with God for his mercy, acknowledging are just deserving of punishment on account of our awful sin and sinfulness. In this condition our pray was answered and we were given a sight of Jesus suffering death in our place on the cross, and we saw that it was our sins that he was dying for. Like the forgiven dying thief we have been given faith to trust Jesus as our Saviour and sin-bearer, and so we found peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

b. We became people of God.

Through Jesus our sins have been forgiven, we have been reconciled to God through his blood shed for us, and we have been born again and adopted into the family of God. All this was by grace, through the mediation and work of Jesus for us, and totally undeserved, but it brought us back to the wonder and privilege of being people of God again. Paradise has been returned to us and we have been translated from the kingdom of Satan, into the Kingdom of God and of Christ. We are now God's people owned by him for all eternity.