95-Disputations on 1 Peter 2:9 & God's Own Holy Possession

1 Peter 2:9 NASB  "...But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light..."

"...Christ is the desire of nations, the joy of angels, the delight of the Father. What solace then must that soul be filled with that hath the possession of Him to all eternity!"  (John Bunyan).

 The Lord is King! Lift up thy voice,
O earth; and all ye heavens, rejoice:
From world to world the joy shall ring,
The Lord omnipotent is king.
The Lord is King! Who then shall dare
Resist his will, distrust his care,
Or murmur at his wise decrees,
Or doubt his royal promises?
The Lord is King! Child of the dust,
The judge of all the earth is just;
Holy and true are all his ways:
Let every creature speak his praise.
Alike pervaded by his eye,
All parts of his dominion lie;
This world of ours, and worlds unseen,
And thin the boundary between.
One Lord, one empire, all secures;
He reigns, and life and death are yours:
Through earth and heaven one song shall ring,
"The Lord omnipotent is King!"  (TH, 58).

1.)  The elect alone are chosen by a holy God.

2.)  The never-elect are never chosen by God.

3.)  There is redemptive grace and general benevolence.

4.)  The elect are God's own holy possession.

5.)  The elect are from every tribe, tongue, people and nation for Christ, in Christ, by Christ, from Christ, and through Christ.

6.)  Chosen people truly repent and believe.

7.)  God grants His people spiritual salvation.

8.)  Christ's atonement is intended for the elect.

9.)  Christ's life earned salvation for the chosen.

10.)  The devil has no right to make one chosen.

11.)  The new Balaam has no right to make one chosen, because the right to worthiness is the Lord.

12.)  The human race is where Jesus helps.

13.)  The angels cannot be saved like humans.

14.)  The people of God are a royal priesthood.

15.)  The people of God are not a Roman priesthood.

16.)  The people of God are not Mediators.

17.)  The chosen people of God are possessors of Jesus' imputed unified righteousness by faith alone.

18.)  The Lord Jesus is building a people to Himself.

19.)  The Father is building a holy nation unto Himself for the glory of King Jesus.

20.)  The people of God are His own possession.

21.)  The possession of God are His elect people.

22.)  The chosen are those who are spiritual reborn.

23.)  The chosen are those who have the gift of faith.

24.)  God's people have the gift of grace.

25.)  God's people in Christ have the gift of love.

26.)  All of God's chosen in Christ have the fruits of the Spirit but are a gift of God's love (that adds nothing to Christ alone) to reflects in an shattered image of His imputed righteousness in unified merits of merits.

27.)  The excellencies of the Lord is His calling.

28.)  God has brought us out of death to life.

29.)  God has brought us out of darkness to light.

30.)  The light of Jesus is excellent light of lights.

31.)  The light of Jesus is marvelous light of lights.

32.)  The light of Christ is grace alone.

33.)  The light of Christ is faith alone.

34.)  The light of Christ is Christ alone.

35.)  The light of Christ is Scripture alone.

36.)  The light of Christ is to God be the glory.

37.)  The darkness of Satan is grace and works that save.

38.)  The darkness of Satan is faith and works that save.

39.)  The darkness of Satan is Christ and the satisfaction won by the Virgin Mary and the Saints.

40.)  The darkness of Satan is sharing the righteousness of Christ: namely, who gets the glory in your system of theology?

41.)  The light of Christ is to love righteousness.

42.)  The light of Christ is to love good.

43.)  The light of Christ is to love morality.

44.)   The light of Christ is to love the light of life.

45.)  The darkness of Satan is unrighteousness.

46.)  The darkness of Satan is loving evil.

47.)  The darkness of Satan is practice of immorality.

48.)  The darkness of Satan is the darkness of death.

49.)  The light of obedience is the Spirit of God.

50.)  The light of the Father is through the Son.

51.)  The light of the Spirit is through the written Word.

52.)  The freedom of Christ is about obedience.

53.)  The enslavement of Christ is about life.

54.)  The love of God in Christ is about purity of love.

55.)  God's own holy possession is those who are born of the Spirit and Word.

56.)  The incarnation of Christ is excellent light.

57.)  The matchless life of Christ is for the unmatchable life of sinners.

58.)  The awesome death of Christ is for the stains of sin that never go away unless washed in His blood.

59.)  The fall of sinners is the work of the Spirit.

60.)  The fall of Satan is restrainment and prison.

61.)  The fall of the world is through the Word preached.

62.)  The pain of sin is elevated through the Spirit.

63.)   The agony of Jesus is the peace of His people.

64.)  The peace of God is through Jesus.

65.)  The love of God is through Christ the Lord.

66.)  The light of mercy is through the Cross.

67.)   The light of forgiveness is through confirmation and verification of His bodily resurrection.

68.)   The faith of God's people is from the Spirit and the Word: namely, how do you expect to have true faith unless under the Word and Spirit?

69.)  The light of Christ is opposed to false preachers.

70.)  The darkness of night creeps into the day.

71.)  The light of Christ banishes the night.

72.)  The moon shines its light in darkness, but the Sun makes the day bright with light.  Christ shines in the darkness, but light comes as stars by the Spirit.

73.)  The Sun in the sky will eventually die, but the eternal Son will never die again: namely, He triumphs over all things and all things is in His hand.

74.)  The light of Christ is the gospel of repentance.

75.)  The darkness of hell is like a night of sin.

76.)  The light of Christ is like a never-dying Sun.

77.)  Nobody can defeat the light of Jesus Christ.

78.)  The Spirit of God is life eternal for the people of God who experience His work.

79.)  The Father is the Father of lights.

80.)  The Father makes His people a chosen nation.

81.)  The chosen nation is not Israel but everyone who believes by the Spirit and the Word.

82.)  Take hold of the good things of God in Christ.

83.)  Use your human responsibility for good.

84.)  God is working out His purpose for justice or mercy, because it depends on His purpose.

85.)  The Lord corrects His people, but the people of God should invite godly correction.

86.)  No mere creature can stand toe to toe with Satan in the sense of creaturely power, but Christ in us is greater than Satan in this dark world.

87.)  Noah was a preacher of righteousness, because it means he is all about God's Word and Spirit.

88.)  Adam named all the animals, but a holy Triune God names His people and knows all by name like the stars of heaven.

89.)  Every nation should recognize Jesus as their King and Sovereign in all formal ways possible, because He alone has the right to the crown.

90.)  There is a false light that is Satan's light, but it is actually black darkness.

91.)  There is a darkness in hell that is alive like the angel of death in Egypt.

92.)  The light of God's chosen is the image of Jesus.

93.)  No one can undo the work of Jesus Christ.

94.)  Everyone of the elect are apart of a holy nation.

95.) The reprobate are enemies of the spiritual nation, a heavenly land where Christ rules.

"...Divine grace of regeneration does not act in people as if they were blocks and stones; nor does it abolish the will and its properties or coerce a reluctant will by force, but spiritually revives, heals, reforms, and – in a manner at once pleasing and powerful –  bends it back..." (The Canons of Dort, The Third and Forth Main Points of Doctrine: Human Corruption, Conversion to God, and the Way It Occurs. Article 16- Regeneration’s Effect).

 Shout, for the blessed Jesus reigns;
Through distant lands his triumphs spread;
And sinners, freed from endless pains,
Own him their Saviour and their Head.
He calls his chosen from afar,
They all at Zion's gates arrive;
Those who were dead in sin before
By sovereign grace are made alive.
Gentiles and Jews his laws obey;
Nations remote their off'rings bring,
And unconstrained their homage pay
To their exalted God and King.
O may his holy church increase,
His Word and Spirit still prevail,
While angels celebrate his praise,
And saints his growing glories hail.
Loud hallelujahs to the Lamb,
From all below, and all above!
In lofty songs exalt his Name,
In songs as lasting as his love.  (TH, 298).