If you would, the 1st Peter chapter
2. 1st Peter chapter 2. We'll continue our study in 1st
Peter. The name of the message is the
Chief Cornerstone. The Chief Cornerstone. Now we've
been going through this epistle, and it's an epistle written to
saints who are suffering. various trials and tribulations
which are occurring. And remember, the things that
happened back then were similar things that happen nowadays to
God's people, but also they contended for their life, too. Some of
them were killed for their faith, and some of them were ostracized
by their families for their faith. Some of them would lose their
employment for their faith and probably end up losing their
homes. It was a time of turmoil and
tribulation and trial for the people of God. And this epistle
is written by Peter and it's called the universal epistle
because it's written to the whole church. It's written to the elect
of God. And it applies to us today just as much as it applies
to the people that Peter was writing to. And remember that
too as you read scripture. Brother Matt and I were reading
Ephesians 1 this week and it was such a blessing. to sit there
and to read the scriptures. And we receive such a blessing
from it as we're reading it. And remember that these words
are written to we who are the elect of God. This book is written
to us. And so we can get excited about
the word, and we can get excited about what it says, because it's
written to all who believe. And especially the first Peter,
because we know right off the bat, it's written to the elect.
According to the foreknowledge of God, well, if I'm a believer,
that's me. That's me. And that's you, if you're a believer,
too. So let's go to 1 Peter 2, and we'll read verses 5 to 10.
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up in holy priesthood to
offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Now that'll be our text, but
we're gonna continue reading all the way to verse 10 to get
the context. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious,
but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. And a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which
stumble at the word being disobedient. whereunto also they were appointed.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That's
what the Lord's done for us. He's called us out of darkness,
out of the darkness of our sin, into the marvelous light of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did that all by his grace.
There was nothing in us that merited that, nothing in us that
warranted that, but this is what God does for his people. We've
obtained mercy, which in times past were not a people, right?
We were enemies in our mind. Now we've always been the sheep
of God, but in our mind, in our minds, we were enemies with God.
So that's why it says, which in times past were not a people,
but now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy. Now we can read that as believers
and say, well, there was a time when I had not obtained mercy,
but now I've obtained mercy. And whose mercy have I obtained? And I didn't obtain it, I couldn't
buy it. I couldn't work for it. I obtained
it because it was given to me. It's a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And so we as believers can look
at that and say, I've obtained mercy. I've obtained unmerited
mercy. And it's all in and through Christ
Jesus our Lord. Now three weeks ago we looked
at verse 5 where we saw that we are living stones, lively
stones, living stones built up a spiritual house. And we looked
at how we're only living stones because we're in Christ. That's
the only reason we're living stones. Normally, we come into
this world a dead stone, don't we? Dead in trespasses and sins.
But the only reason we're living stones is because we're born
again in the Holy Spirit of God. And Christ is the head, and we're
the body. So we're living stones in Christ
Jesus. Then we consider how we're only
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And that's what the text says
right there in verse 5, doesn't it? Look at what it says. This
is marvelous. Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So the scripture
very plainly declares that the only way to be accepted by God
is through Christ. Through Christ. No other way.
There's no other way to be accepted by God except through Christ,
and it's very plainly stated right there. Today, I'd like
us to consider verse six, where we see the foundation, the cornerstone
for the spiritual house, right? Because notice in, we're built
up, notice in, cut off the verse there. In my notes, ye also as
lively sons are built up a spiritual house in holy priesthood to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So the
believers are built up a spiritual house, a spiritual temple. But
who's the foundation? Well, our verse today tells us
who the foundation of that spiritual house is, that spiritual temple
is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ alone. Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him,
being Christ, shall not be confounded. Shall not be confounded. So Peter's
quoting a verse in Verse six there from the book of Isaiah,
turn if you would to Isaiah 28 verses 14 to 16. He's quoting
the scripture and let's see what the Old Testament scriptures
proclaim. We'll read from verses 14 to
16 to get the context of verse 16. Isaiah 28 verses 14 to 16. Wherefore, hear the word of the
Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people, which is in Jerusalem. Because you have said, we have
made a covenant with death. Now, think of this as the covenant
of death. What they've done is they said,
well, I'm okay with God. We follow the law. We're of Moses. That's what the Jews said, didn't
they? They made a covenant with death. And religious people do
it today. I've made a profession. I'm okay.
I'm good. I talked to the priest and he
did his hocus pocus and now I'm good. That's a refuge of lies,
though, right? We saw that before a couple of
weeks ago. We saw that. And that's what it brings up
here. We have made a covenant with death and with hell, and
we are in agreement when the overflowing scourge shall pass,
when God's wrath and justice shall come. They say it will
not come on to us because, hey, I made a I prayed a prayer 20
years ago. I'm good now. No, no, you're
not. No. When the overflowing scourge,
when God's refuge and justice comes, shall pass through it,
it shall not come unto us. For we have made lies our refuge.
That's what people do in religion. They make lies their refuge.
For the believer, who's our refuge? Our refuge is Christ. He's our
city of refuge. He's our one refuge. And under
falsehood have we hid ourselves. Now look at verse 16 now. Therefore
thus saith the Lord God, behold, And notice here, therefore saith
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion. This is God's plan. This is purposed by God. It's
God who lays this foundation stone, beloved. Not man. Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation
stone, a tried stone. And was not our Lord tried, beloved?
Oh, he suffered just like we did, didn't he? Yet without sin.
yet without sin, a precious cornerstone. He's precious to his people.
And look at this, beloved. He's a sure foundation. He's
a sure he's we can we can trust our eternal souls to him. We
can trust our eternal souls to him. He that believeth shall
not make haste to run to him. Those who believe on Christ will
run to him. They won't wait. They won't tarry. And you know what? They keep
running to him. They keep coming to him. We repent, and then we
keep repenting, don't we? The whole time over, journeying
through this world. We flee to Christ, and we keep
fleeing to Christ, all through our lives. So here in Isaiah,
we see a shadow, but the substance is declared in 1 Peter. Let's
go back to 1 Peter. So there's the shadow, right? And then the substance, and we
know that from Colossians, that the Old Testament, there's shadows,
types, and pictures. But there's the shadow being
proclaimed, and here's the substance being Christ, being Christ. Wherefore
also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. And notice the tie-in with verse
five, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So he's tying in verse
six with verse five. The spiritual house is built
on the foundation of Christ and Christ alone. So Peter here before
us proclaims to these suffering saints that he is writing to,
that what Isaiah wrote is fulfilled in Christ, that what Isaiah wrote
is fulfilled in Christ. Isaiah was proclaiming the Lord
Jesus Christ. And remember this too, Brother
Norman and I were talking about this, how those Old Testament
saints, they looked at the types and shadows, but you know who
they saw in those types and shadows? They saw Christ. They were looking
to Christ, beloved, just like they were looking forward. We
look back to what he's done, but we still look to him, don't
we? Right now, they saw Christ. They were looking to him. They
have the same Savior we have. There's only one Savior. There's
only one mediator, and that's Christ Jesus, our Lord. Only
one, only one. And let us remember, too, that
Peter didn't have the New Testament. He's preaching Christ from the
Old Testament, beloved. He's proclaiming Christ. And
he's proclaiming this to the church, to the elect of God,
who, at this time, we're going through manifold trials and tribulations. Now, the Old Testament is full
of types and shadows and figures of Christ Jesus, our Lord. And
our text he's brought forth here is a cornerstone, the rock. I'm
going to read you just three portions of Scripture. If you
want to write them down, you can. If you want to turn there,
you can, but I'm going to go through them pretty quickly here.
And these are just three examples of Christ being a rock. There's
many, many more, many, many more which speak of Christ as a rock.
Deuteronomy 32 for he is the rock. And I like this. He is
the rock. His work is perfect. It's perfect. That means there's nothing to
be added to it. It's perfect. It's the only work God will accept,
beloved. It's perfect. For all His ways
are judgment, a God of truth. And that's who our God is. He's
the God of truth. And without iniquity, just and
right is He. Then 2 Samuel 22, verses 2 and
3, it says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer.
This is what we proclaim as believers, isn't it? of my rock, in him
will I trust. Who do we trust? Christ, who's
our foundation. Christ alone. He's my shield
and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my
savior. Thou savest me from violence. They were looking to the same
savior, we're looking to you, beloved. Christ Jesus, our Lord. Again, Peter just had the Old
Testament to preach from Paul and John and James. They all
preach from the Old Testament, beloved, and they preach Christ.
They preach Christ. Oh, my. And then in Psalm 118,
verses 21 to 23, it says this. I will praise thee for thou has
heard me and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders
refused and that's Christ, we know, has become the headstone
of the corner. There it is. This is the Lord's
doing. I like that. This is the Lord's
doing. Behold, I lay in Zion in our
text. This is the Lord's doing. It's
not man's doing. This is the Lord's doing. And
then it goes and says it is marvelous in our eyes. Is it not marvelous
in our eyes that Christ is our foundation stone? It's marvelous. Now I'll have you turn to Ephesians
chapter two, Ephesians chapter two. And this is the other portion
in the New Testament which talks about Christ being the foundation
and how we're built up upon him. It ties right in with our text
in first Peter chapter two verses five and six. Look at this Ephesians
chapter two verses 19 to 22. And if you want to write that
scripture down, Psalm 118, 23 is, this is the Lord's doing
and it is marvelous in our eyes. That's wonderful. That's a wonderful
scripture. Okay. Ephesians chapter two,
verses 19 to 22. Now, therefore, ye are no more
strangers. We were strangers and foreigners in our minds and
by our works, right? But fellow citizens with the
saints in the household of God and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being what?
The chief cornerstone. He's the foundation, in whom
all the building fitly framed together. Remember, we're stones
being made ready, aren't we? Yeah, we are, right? groweth
unto a holy temple in the Lord, in whom ye also are built together
for inhabitation of God through the Spirit." It's wonderful.
It's absolutely wonderful. So with that in our minds, let's
go back to 1 Peter 2, verse 6. Oh my. So we saw in Isaiah that
it's the Lord, it's God who lays the stone in Zion. Wherefore
also it is contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. So here before us we have a declaration
of the foundation of the believer's faith. Right here before us,
a declaration of the foundation of the believer's faith. Behold,
God says, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. So the
foundation of the believer's faith is who? Jesus Christ, our
Lord. And we see the tie-in again to
verse five. Ye also, as lively stones are
built up in spiritual house and holy priesthood
to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So there it's proclaimed that
the believer's foundation is Christ, is Christ. And note in
our text, the Lord Jesus Christ is appointed of God to be the
savior of his people. This is God's work. This is God's
work. It says, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. Beloved,
He was laid in Zion in the manifestation of His flesh when God became
a man. And this encompasses His whole
suffering, His dying, His rising again, and afterwards, Him ascending
into glory and being preached through the world. He is the
one foundation. He is the one foundation. And
the Scriptures declare, Behold, I lay in Zion, a sure foundation. And this is God's work. He planned
it. God planned this. He purposed
it. He executed it. And it is God
himself, the Father, who sent the Word, the second person of
the Trinity, the Word of God, who became flesh. And God's people
cry out with the psalmist, this is the Lord's doing. And it's
marvelous in our eyes. It's marvelous. This is a work
of God. It's a work of God. So keep this in mind. As I read
Psalm 26, which says, I have set my king upon my holy hill
of Zion. If God has set. If God himself
has set. God the Word as the King of Zion. Who then shall dethrone him? Shall little humans who say,
I don't agree with that, dethrone him? Absolutely not. Little pieces of animated dust.
That's all we are. You see how fertile it is when
you hear people say stuff about God against him? God himself has set Christ as
the sure foundation. God himself has made Christ king,
and none shall dethrone him. I have given him, Psalm 2 goes
on to say, the heathen for his inheritance and the ends of the
earth for his possession. Who will hinder his right to
take possession of that which is given to him? The Lord Jesus Christ will bring
all his sheep home. No one will hinder. No one will
hinder the work. He came to this earth and he
redeemed and purchased his people and he will affectionately call
by the preaching of his gospel every single one of those sheep
for whom he died. And the believer says, I am amazed
that I'm included in that number. I'm amazed. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
was bone of our bone and who assumed our flesh and was fully
a man and who is the only Savior and yet He's God incarnate in
the flesh. He's fully God and He's fully
man. And He is the one sure foundation
for we who believe. There's no other Foundation.
There's no other one we cast our souls upon. And it's God
Himself who has made Him this sure foundation. It's God Himself
who has made Him the chief cornerstone. And another ground of our reliance
upon Christ is that He actually finished the work of redemption
in our place. It's complete. He really, literally
redeemed His people from their sins. And I mean from all of
them. And that's what gives us such
comfort and joy, isn't it? To know, because we're still
sinners and we're going to keep sinning, aren't we, unfortunately?
But to know that every single one of my sins are forgiven in
Christ. Oh, what peace and joy that brings the believer. That
doesn't give us a license to go crazy, does it? But it sure
brings you great joy, doesn't it? It sure does. What a sure foundation we have. What a sure foundation. He's
finished the work of redemption. There were two things that had
to be done. The first was the keeping of the law on our behalf.
Christ did all that. He lived the perfect life. He
did that for his people. He performed it to the uttermost.
He was and is absolutely sinless. Perfect. All we are is sin from
the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. But he was absolutely
sinless because remember who he is. He's God incarnate in
the flesh. He's fully human like we are,
but yet He's God. God incarnate in the flesh. And
the second thing, we'll actually go back to the first thing. The
whole thing about keeping the law, too, on our behalf. This
is why He could say to the Father, I have glorified Thee on earth.
I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. His work was to come and to redeem
his people from their sins, right? To perfectly satisfy God's law
for us who could not satisfy the law of God. And our Lord
said in his high priestly prayer, I have glorified thee on the
earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do.
So the fulfilling of the law for us, he had finished. Now he must die. Now he must
die to satisfy the justice of God for us. So we see our Lord. Finishing the work which we could
never finish, which we could never finish. To which he was
called to, he suffered the consequences of my sin. He paid that all God demands
for my sins. If you're a believer, you can
say the same thing. He died as my substitute. He who was and is sinless dies
for sinners. The just one, the holy one, dies
for the unjust. And our faith is fully established
in Him. And we rest in Him. and in His
perfect finished work. Our Lord is no longer dead. He
died though, didn't He? He died upon that cross. But
He's no longer dead. He's risen. And all our hope,
all our trust for salvation of our souls is in Him. Nowhere
else. In Christ. And He ever liveth
right now in glory to make intercession for us. And what does our faith
do? It delights in Him. It delights
in Him. It delights in who He is. It
delights in what He's done for us. He's redeemed our eternal
souls. And it is He who is our living
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is a living faith in
the living Savior who is a sure foundation. Who is a sure foundation. Whom God is laying is that foundation. It's God who did this. This is
God's work. And the church, the elect of
God, is kept by Him. And His name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is also the whole strength
which unites and keeps the building together. Believers are said to be what?
Rooted and built up in Him. The building needs a sure foundation
in order to stand, doesn't it? If you have a bad foundation,
that building's going to eventually crumble. Or you're going to have
a heap of trouble. But He's the sure foundation,
beloved. He's the author and finisher of our faith. And one
commentator said, His blood is the mortar which keeps us all
together. His precious blood. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. It is Jesus Christ, our Lord, by whom all the building,
the spiritual building spoken of in verse 5, is fitly framed
together and grows as a holy temple. Wherefore also it is
contained in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Now note again, he's the chief cornerstone, he's elect
and precious in his union of God and man in one person. This
is the foundation which the whole church rests upon, just like
a building rests upon a foundation. He's that foundation. The metaphor
of a stone foundation and a chief cornerstone brings forth the
invincible strength of our Savior. The invincible strength of our
Savior and the everlasting duration of the church because it is founded
and rooted and built up on Christ and in Christ. Who is God? Who is God? What does this teach? We who believe this teaches us
that our union with Christ in our union with Christ, we have
eternal security. He who we are united to is God,
and he is our protection and our security. He's the foundation
on which we believe on who we believe. And we're built up a
spiritual house, just like a house is built up on the foundation.
We're built up on him. On him. But to his enemies, he's
a rock of offense, which will grind them to powder. Which will
grind them to powder. Christ is the very foundation
stone of all our hopes and our eternal security. By him, we
have access to the Father. And through him, we are made
partakers of all spiritual blessings, all spiritual blessings. Now,
think upon this, beloved. God laid this stone in Zion,
right? God laid this stone in Zion.
But there's a church out there that sets the Pope up for the
head of the church, right? But who does that? That's done
by man. That tells us that's a false,
that's a false thing. It's set up by man. It's a human
device and it's arrogant presumption. Because they say the Pope is
the head of the church. No, there are only one head of
the church. is God, is Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the head
of the church. And God himself has laid this
foundation stone, beloved. God himself. He is chosen of
God. The Lord Jesus Christ is chosen
of God, not of man. Do you see the opposites? One's a sure foundation and the
other is a false foundation. right there before us. And there's
millions of people who are billions of people who are deceived. My
God, have mercy upon them. Oh, may he save them by his grace
and give light to those lost sheep of his that are involved
in that. I was one. And I had no clue. Just keep
praying. We just keep lifting up, don't
we? Asking God to draw on his sheep, wherever they are. They
may be in religion, they may be out of religion, but our prayer
is that the Lord would save them. Save them. Now note, Christ is
precious to his people. It says, wherefore also it is
contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. Precious there in the Greek is valued. Oh, he's
valued by his people. He's valued, isn't he? Contemplate
how valuable Christ is to you. We who believe are far richer
than any living person in this world in Christ. We are far,
far richer. The believer has all spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Christ he is chosen
before the foundation of the world. predestined unto adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, and it's all according
to the pleasure of God's will. It's all according to His pleasure.
It was wonderful. It's all according to His pleasure.
All according to His will. The believer has redemption through
the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of all sins by the finished work
of Christ, all according to the riches of God's grace and to
the praise of His glory. The believer has made known unto
us the mystery of God's will. We didn't know. We didn't know
about Christ before he saved us. Now he's revealed himself
to us, the mystery of God's will. And it's all according to his
good pleasure, which he has purposed himself all according to his
will. And the believer says, praise
his mighty name. The believer in Christ has obtained
an inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled and that will never
fade away, never fade away. It's reserved in heaven for you.
the elect of God, who are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed the last time. And the believer
in Christ is predestinated to be conformed to the image of
the Son, the image of Christ, according to the purpose of Him
who works all things after the counsel of His own will. The
believer has been born again by the Holy Spirit of God and
has been granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
been given ears to hear the Word, ears to hear the Shepherd's voice
through the preaching of the Word. which is called the word
of truth, which is called the word of truth. And Paul calls
the gospel of your salvation. And the believer says that's
the gospel of my salvation. It's only in Christ. It's only
in Christ. I mean, given eyes to see Christ
and to trust in him. All by God's grace and mercy
unto the praise of the glory of his grace, are we not rich,
beloved of God? Are we not rich? Does not hearing
those things make Christ even more precious to you? Oh, he's
so precious to us as believers. He's so precious to us. Is he
not valued above all things to you? Which is what precious means. He's valued above all things. He's precious to me. The believer
proclaims he's my all in all. He is my everything. He's my
king, my redeemer, my savior, my God. And only in him do I
have eternal life. Let's look at our scripture again.
Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay
in Zion, a chief cornerstone elect, elect of God, precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. God's
people will never be confounded. All who believe upon the Lord
Jesus Christ will never be ashamed at the hope that they have in
Christ. The text says there, all who
believe on Christ shall not be confounded. The meaning of this
is that they're not be disappointed. You trust in Christ, you'll never
be disappointed. Now we can be disappointed in each other, can't
we sometimes? We're humans, aren't we? We all, but we who believe
on Christ will never be disappointed, ever. Because you know why? And the connotation of this is
because all that Christ has promised to a believer, here do. Here
do. It's wonderful. He will be to those who trust
him their Savior and Redeemer. And now think of the setting
of this book, too. It's written to suffering saints, so they're
reading this and. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. He's a sure rest. He's a sure
foundation. They're being persecuted by others
for their faith, but they will glean great hope here. Great
hope. I might lose everything on this
earth, but I'll never lose my salvation in Christ. Never. And that's what these people
were going through, right? He that believeth on him shall not
be confounded by human wisdom or by anything, for God hath
long ago confounded human wisdom. And he's turned it into foolishness,
hasn't he? He's turned it into foolishness. Now when a man is
ashamed of that which he hopes for, he's disappointed in it.
And he looks for another hope. Some may trust in their church
and then become disappointed in it. Some may look to certain
sects and then be disappointed with them. So what do they do?
They seek out another hope. They seek out another hope. Those
who trust in Christ will never be disappointed. Will never seek
another hope. because we have the one true
hope, the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll never be confounded. We're
safe in him, accepted in the beloved, and we'll never be removed
from him. Never, never. He alone is the
one sure foundation that we can rest our eternal souls upon.
And beloved, we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are as
living stones built up upon the foundation which is Christ Jesus
our Lord. And we rest wholly our souls upon Him, don't we?
We rest on Him entirely for our salvation. No other refuge we
have but Christ. And genuine faith in Christ does
not trust Him to pardon sin and then trust themselves to overcome
sin. No. No. Genuine faith rests and
trusts in Christ both for the pardon of sin and for us to overcome
sin. Because we can't overcome nothing
in our own flesh, can we? But except for the Holy Spirit
working in us and convicting us of our own sin. We look to
Christ not only for the pardon of sin, but for the conquest
of sin. We look to Him for everything.
Everything. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians
5, 9. So we've seen today that in Christ
our All temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings. They're
all centered in Him. All in Him. He is all our salvation
from first to last. And we are only acceptable to
God by Christ Jesus. And He is declared right here
in our text to be the chief cornerstone. And it's God who has made it
so. It's God who's made it so. And He's precious to His people.
He's the one who we delight in. He's the one in whom God's people
delight in and will never be confounded. Christ is highly
esteemed by His people. He is so precious and so highly
beloved that He is altogether lovely. I ask you right now,
is Christ not altogether lovely to you? Oh my, He's altogether
lovely. He's the fairest among 10,000
to my soul. And I know it's so for you if
you believe. He is. He's everything to us. He's despised
and rejected of men. We'll look at that more next
week. But for His people, oh, He's precious. He's precious.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee again for the time that we've
had together. We thank You that we can look at this epistle and
we can see that Peter's writing to saints who are suffering and
every believer suffers in this world. We all go through trials
and tribulations and different things in our lives, but oh Lord,
we as believers, we who believe on Thee, we who are being granted
faith and repentance to believe upon Thee, have one sure foundation,
one sure hope. And that is you, Lord Jesus,
and you alone. We love you and praise you. We
give you thanks and glory for this time we could spend together.
In Jesus' name, amen.