1 Peter, chapter number 1. As we continue in our worship of the Lord, we now turn our attention to his word, seeking his wisdom, his counsel, as you have already heard expressed. Follow as I read. I'll read verses 1 through 5 this morning. 1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you, peace unto you be multiplied. Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively, living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Peter began this letter by describing God's people. He used two adjectives, strangers and elect, is how he identifies us. And it is important for us to grow in our knowledge and our understanding of these terms. We must be familiar with what it means to be a stranger, to be the elect. And once we are familiar with them, we need to embrace them. Because when we do, that translates into how we will choose to live our life. Know who you are. You are strangers and you are the elect. Peter now focuses attention beginning in verse 3, and this is a block of information that we're going to be laboring through in the coming weeks, verses 3, 4, and 5 all go together. This one sentence, I hate to break it down because it's all connected, but Peter gives us enough information that requires us to think a little deeper into each of these phrases and ideas. Peter is now focusing our attention on God. Blessed be God. And he describes God as blessed. This word is also an adjective. Before he leads us into a host of reasons for blessing God, he calls upon the elect to join in with saints and angels in heaven and adore God. When he says blessed be God, bless him, adore him for who he is. This word blessed that Peter uses contains all the glory and the beauty of the nature and the attributes of who God is. Blessed be God is a contemplation of that. Who is God? In all of his glory and all of his beauty, he is to be considered. This opening phrase, blessed be God, is called an ascription or ascribing to God his qualities. Blessed be God is a call to come and adore him, to come and render your adoration to him for who he is. Blessed be God. The reasons for blessing God are endless. Peter has already mentioned a few, and he will add to his list of reasons for why we should bless God. However, the focus here in this word that he uses in this phrase, blessed be God, is not, at least initially, it is not on our reaction to what God has done, but who God is. If knowing him can't bring you to your knees in adoration, then you don't know him. If I have to motivate you to tell you all this list of what God has done to bring you to your knees, you don't know him. This is Peter's point that he is making. He is calling upon the people of God to bless God. Blessed be God. Who is God to us this morning? How would you describe him? These are thoughts that we are to bring to God when we come into his presence. As soon as someone gets up, as Joe did this morning, and read an official call, I mean, this is a real thing with God. It's an official call. We are invited into his presence. You are coming. What words will you bring to him? How will you adore him? Peter uses the Greek word, this eulogetos. We translate it into the English eulogy. We have all been at funerals where eulogies are often read. And Peter, like Paul, uses this word. And he tells the church or God's people to come into his presence with words, good words. That's a eulogy. Someone stands up and reads good words about the person who just passed. That's a eulogy. You're eulogizing them. And that's what's being said here. When you come into the presence of God, bring your good words when you come. Adore him. Our worship in coming is not a focus upon us. It's not even initially a focus on our needs. First and foremost, it's about God and his blessedness. That we are coming into the presence of and we are here to speak good words when we come. Jesus taught his disciples to use the same kind of format even when we pray. He tells us that when we pray, we are to acknowledge that he is blessed. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. I mean, when you pray, pray this way. Hallowing the name of God is bringing to him an acknowledgement of who he is. You are hallowing his name. Declaring an understanding that you know who he is. That you have just entered into the presence of. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. There comes the worshiper. Adoring God first. Before he even begins to say, give us this bread or forgive us. Jesus understood what we don't understand. He was the Son of God. He knew the Father. He knew God intimately. Paul uses this, for example, just so you see the familiarity of it. If you look at the example in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. These are not the only, I'm just being selective, not exhaustive here. But a few examples that might help you to see what Peter is saying was common. Jesus understood the importance of coming into the presence of his own Father with adoration. Knowing who it is that we are going into the presence of with bringing our words. How do you hallow the name of God without words? You've got to say something about him. Good words. As you eulogize him. In 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, very similar. Remember, Peter wrote many years, a number of years after Paul wrote a number of his letters. 1 Corinthians was the Corinthian letters were some of the first that Paul wrote. Peter was familiar with Paul's writings. He even acknowledges that at the end of his first letter. I'm not inclined to think that he's copying Paul. But I'm inclined to show you that the Spirit of God worked through both of these men in a similar way. And you can hear it here. Verse 2. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. The same words that Peter used. Or in verse 3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, the God of all comfort. Blessed be this God. Same word that Peter is using. Come into his presence acknowledging who he is. And adore him for all that he has done. Who he is in his relationship to you, his people. Look at Ephesians. We studied at length chapter 1 some years ago. But look at chapter 1 in Ephesians. Verse 3 was read in some of the reading that was done this morning. And I'm glad it was. Here we have in verse 3, we have this eulogato showing up in three different forms as it's used in three different ways here in verse 3. Blessed be God. Same word that Peter uses in his letter. It's the adjective. It's describing God. God is blessed. Do you know how blessed he is? When you contemplate his person, his nature, his attributes, how can you not say blessed be God? That's sort of what's stirring Peter and Paul to make this expression. But he goes on and says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. And here now the adjective becomes the verb. Same Greek word, but now there is certain action taking place here. What is that action? God has blessed us. What a marvelous thing to contemplate. God who is blessed has blessed us. And then he finally says, Paul writes, he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. And here's the noun, feminine, gender, form. And he's just saying that there are many, many things that we could contemplate and consider when we think about how God has blessed us. Many things. Today in this life, salvation experience, things to come that we don't even comprehend. These are the blessings of God. And he is telling us that God who is blessed has done these things for his people. The Psalms are filled with this understanding as well. Go back to Psalm 103, Psalms 103, a favorite psalm here at Great Light, used a lot. And rightfully so. David is writing here and he says in verse number one, bless the Lord, O my soul. All that is within me, bless his holy name. This is David calling upon his soul to recognize who God is. When he says his holy name, he's referring to all of those names that tell us who God is. Contemplate who God is, my soul, and bless him because he is blessed for who he is. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Give to him that which he deserves for all that he has done for us. Who giveth all good things and who forgiveth all our iniquities, healeth all our diseases, redeems our life from destruction, satisfies our mouth with good things. All of these things are what cause us to want to bless God. And when you come to worship and you enter into the presence of God, you're invited, right? Come, come is the invitation. Come, let us enter into the worship of God. What do you bring when you come? What do you bring? You ought to bring words, good words of adoration. You have actually contemplated and considered God. So Peter is calling all of the elect here in his opening, blessed be God. He's describing the character of God and he's calling upon all of God's elect to come into his presence and worship through the contemplation of who God is. We are called upon to come with words of adoration, ascribing to him what we've identified about him. What do you know about him? How does that impact you? What are your words in response? What will you say to him as you grow to know him? Go back to Psalm 95. Joe read that just a moment ago. But a few things you need to recognize, some details here in Psalm 95. And here is the call that is issued to gather and to worship. The people of God here, who's he speaking to? Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. And so the invitation is not to the world. The world is not invited to come into the presence of God, but the believer is. And the only way the world can ever enter into the presence of God, they too must come under the blood of the lamb that was slain to bring them near. Whether it was an Old Testament lamb or it's the New Testament lamb of Jesus Christ, no one can worship God. No one can come to him apart from the lamb. That is Christ. So the invitation is extended to come. This is an interesting word. It's very literal. It means leave your place and go into his presence is what is being said here. Wherever you are, leave it and come here. It's similar to the New Testament word church, the ecclesia. It denotes you're being called out from wherever you are from your homes. You're called out and you're called to gather together for the distinct purpose of worshiping God. You are God's people. You are assembling. You're coming. That's the Old Testament picture. You're coming into the presence of God. You're leaving wherever you're at and you're coming. And that's the invitation that is given to God's people. And so we come. And we're told in verse 2, let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. So we just don't show up. There's words that we're bringing here, right? Who's doing the thanksgiving? God's people. Those who've been invited to come are coming with thanksgiving. You ought to have words of gratitude. It could be a miserable week. There's reasons to be grateful. The worst things imaginable could have happened. There's reasons to be grateful. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. We need to be expressing, as it were, is the appeal here when you come. Come with good words. Come gratefully. Thankfully for all that God has done for you. Come into his presence. And then he gives arguments for why we do it this way. For the Lord is a great God, is he not? Do you know your God is great? Are you really persuaded of that? He is a great God. He is a great king. He rules over all things in this world. That's the God we're coming into the presence of. Can you imagine coming into such a powerful God as that and have nothing to say? No words to give. In his hand are the deep places of the earth. And this is sort of an analogy here just illustrates his power and control over all things. Strength of the hills is his as well. The sea is his. He made it. With his hands formed the dry land. Oh, come for these reasons, brethren. Oh, come let us worship. And here we get the demeanor of our coming. How do we come when we enter into the presence of God to bless him? To adore him? To eulogize him? How do we come? Not only bringing with us certain things, but we come with a certain disposition. Let us kneel. Worship and bowing and kneeling cannot be separated. They mean the same thing. Let us kneel before the Lord who is our maker for he is our God. We are the people of his pasture. And as you heard, he gives the warning. Very strong warning here. In the presence of God as you gather and you sing and you worship him, you adore him, you render gratitude to him, you are also sitting and hearing from him. God's word is being communicated. As it is being sung through psalms and prophets' readings, as the synagogue used all of these things in the ancient formation, the beginning of what the church would look like. Here they are listening, gathering. The warning is what? Be careful, don't harden your heart. So when you gather into the presence of God, can you imagine, really, honestly, if you're an observer watching this happen, and you see worshipers coming, and you see this great almighty God, and you see the activity, it all makes sense. Can you imagine those people saying, No. No. I will not. I will not. I don't care who you are. I don't care how strong and mighty you are. I don't care about your blessedness of your name. No. Can you imagine? Well, don't be so quick to judge others, because I think we've all fallen into this unhealthy state of mind at times in our life of resisting the Lord. And so Peter nor Paul are trying to put one member of the Trinity above the other member. They're not doing that. But they are stressing a particular order that God has established. Paul even wrote about it in 1 Corinthians 11. Christ is under submissive to God, and we as men are under Christ, and women are under men. He gives that structured order of God that has been established and will not be, as it were, changed in this time in which we live. So there is an order here that is being acknowledged by Peter. It's acknowledged by Jesus. It's acknowledged by the psalmist, and we could go on and on. Jesus made it very clear during his days on the earth that he was here to do the Father's will. He spoke. He says, not mine own words, but I speak the words of my Father. The mission that he was given was to bring us into the presence of the Father and to provide the means of access whereby we could go to the Father. So Peter focuses his eulogy on who God is. Blessed be God. It doesn't stop there, but it begins there. Blessed be God. I think the passage that most impressed me some years ago is when we worked through Ephesians 1. Look at this real quickly with me. I just want you to see the emphasis that is made here by the Apostle Paul about the understanding of God, our Father. Right? He began in verse 3. Blessed be God. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ. Verse 4. As he, the Father, God the Father, hath chosen us and placed us in Christ before the foundation of the world, he hath done this. Verse 5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, this is the Father. Verse 6. Who is doing all of this? It is God the Father. In verse 7. In whom we have redemption, speaking of Christ through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace. Whose grace is he referring to? The same grace that is mentioned in verse 6. It's the grace of God the Father. Verse 8. Wherein he hath abounded unto us in all wisdom and prudence. Who is he? It is God the Father. Verse 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, whose will is being referred to. It's the Father's will concerning us. His will, his good pleasure, which he purposed in himself. Who is this? It is God the Father that Paul is emphasizing. Verse 11. We have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after counsel of his own will. Who is that? It is God the Father. Verse 12. That we should be to the praise of his glory. Whose glory is he referring to? His glory, God's glory, those who have first put their faith in Christ. It is to the glory of God when we trust Christ. And Paul goes through his own prayer here. It's addressed to the Father and all that he has done concerning his people. There is an established divine order in worship. And it begins with our adoration. If there's one thing I want you to leave here with this morning, it is this reality driven clearly home to you. When you come to worship, when you're called to come and gather, remember whose presence you are gathering in and that you do not come empty handed. That you come ready, you come filled to engage in songs and prayers. You want to use those as opportunities to express to him how blessed he is. Everything that God has done for us, and we will focus on this coming portion next Sunday, God willing. It is, right, what does he say? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God, according to his abundant mercy, he has begotten us again through Christ by the resurrection power that was achieved by Christ. And then he has secured our inheritance for the future. All of that is done, but it's not done without Christ. We have no access to worship God apart from Christ. We are not invited without the blood of the lamb already applied to our life because of Christ. It is through Christ that we are entitled to inherit all things because we are in Christ. Therefore, we are recipients of his grace, his peace, his abundant mercy, his inheritance and his preserving power. So why do we find ourselves when the call is given unprepared or having little to offer? Is it just we need to be reminded? I hope that's the case. We just need to be reminded. We can forget. I think it comes through every week to some level. It's coming through as each man stands up and takes us through the services of worship. We have an understanding what is happening in those moments when we are called, we are called to come into the presence of God and adore him. He is blessed. We can't make him blessed, more blessed than he already is. We can't diminish his blessedness. But we can come into his presence and adore him for who he is. That's what our adoration is meant to be. So the call to come and worship in scriptures is first about adoration. And we need to learn and think about who God is more often. Let me encourage you. Some things that over the years in our young family life we attempted to do was to make our children aware of who God is. One of our favorite songs we used to sing. Immortal, invisible, God only wise. Remember that one? Enlightened, accessible, hid from our eyes. Learn all those verses. It's all about the nature of God. We want our children, we want this body of believers to know when they come to worship who is this God that they are coming to adore. And some of these songs can be very helpful. We encourage you maybe take one of the attributes of God this week. Just dwell on that attribute about him. Pray over it. Think about it. Meditate on it. So that when you come next week you come ready to offer adoration concerning the blessedness of his nature. Concerning he is faithful. He is good. He is righteous in all his ways. He is just. These are things we can do. We ought to be doing to prepare ourselves to enter into the time of worship. The beginning of our worship, our time of adoration when the call is given, that's not the end of our worship, but it is the beginning of our worship. It's the way we find it described and worked out in the Psalms. It's the way we find it worked out in the book of Revelation when we read Revelation 4 and 5 where the curtain is pulled back for us and we're given a privilege to see what is actually happening in heaven and how the beings, angelic and humans in heaven are actually engaged in worshiping God. And it's not hard to get this picture as we're given this opportunity to see this activity. What is visualized in Revelation 4 and 5 is real. There's a throne and there is one who sits upon the throne and he is glorious. And every creature around the throne is fully engaged in worshiping the one who is on the throne. Their worship is focused on God. They cry out the Lord God Almighty who is infinitely holy, holy, holy. The greatest creatures, angelic beings, we read of them in his presence. What are they doing? They're giving unto him, they're giving unto him the glory, the honor, the thanksgiving that is due to him. They are in his presence and in his presence they dare not withhold what he deserves. And we move out of that into Revelation 5 and then we see this glorious image of the Lamb is now given center stage in heavenly worship. The saints acknowledge as well as angels his person and work and they cry out worthy is the Lamb. As Danny told us a moment ago about the sufficiency of Christ, that's sort of what Revelation 5 is doing. It's telling us about how worthy the Lamb is to also receive worship. And so he's in our services of worship intentionally. Every living creature in heaven and at the end of chapter 5 and on the earth, in the earth and sea, I mean everything living is blessing. They were speaking in unison words, good words that eulogize their God who sits on the throne and the Lamb who is with him. That's the activity of heaven. When we leave this world, this activity is not done or even diminished. It's magnified. If you don't like worship now, you're not going to like heaven. So this is what Peter is saying, blessed be God. And it's an exhortation to the people of God, the elect, his chosen ones, to engage in the activity of adoring who God is. And that is how I want to encourage you to think about when Joe or one of our other men open the scriptures and they read a call to worship. Something's happened. Friend, I'm telling you, things have changed in that moment. You are now by God's own invitation being brought into the worship of God. Something's happening. Be ready. Be ready to bring your good words. Bring your good words. If you have been, and you've heard this stated numerous times, but if you have been contemplating these things throughout the course of the week, man, you can't wait. You cannot wait to get here with God's people and enter into this activity of adoring God, exalting his son, contemplating the spirit and the word. All those things have meaning to you. If you have been spending your days with these things on your mind, otherwise you walk into the service. It's trying to work you up. The songs are trying to hopefully get you stirred up a little bit. You should already be hot. You ought to come in hot, ready to give to him what he deserves. May that be our practical goal for this coming week, to work on these things and to improve our worship and adoration of God. Our Father in heaven, we confess to you, as you know, all week long, this has been difficult because it's overwhelming. It's overwhelming when we think about what little we do and think we've done much, how much more we need to grow and develop in this area of our life. We desire that these moments that we spend together as your people, where we constitute and form, as Paul so clearly stated in his epistles, that we form the temple of the living God. We are his house and he comes and takes up habitation with us by the Spirit of God. That we would understand the great privilege that is given to us to bring our good words and tell God what we think about him and all the glorious beauty of his nature, which was put into motion to accomplish a perfect salvation for us. Thank you, Father, for the things that you have shown us from your word. Give us thy Spirit and the ability to understand these things and to apply them in practical ways, I ask in Christ's name. Amen.