1 Peter chapter 1, we'll read
verses 1 to 8, verses 1 to 8, the name of the message is a
living stone, a living stone. Wherefore laying aside all malice,
and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may
grow thereby. if so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious, to whom coming as unto a living stone
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. He
also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house and holy
priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God
by Jesus Christ. 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.
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 the stone of
stumbling and the rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Now last week in our study, we
considered verses 1 to 3, where we looked at an exhortation which
Peter was giving the church, which started over in chapter
1. And he opened this chapter, or the division here, the chapter
is opened with an exhortation how we should lay the axe. lay
the axe to malice, to all guile, to hypocrisies, and to envians,
and to all evil speakings amongst each other, as these are contrary
to a regenerated man." These are contrary to one who is born
again. Now, evidence, remember, evidence
of regeneration is a love for the brethren, is a love for the
brethren. out of regeneration, out of a
regenerated heart, we will want to lay aside these things. And
remember, we looked at how the laying aside here is like taking
weights off us, right? Because these are weights. These
are weights upon us, and they need to be laid aside. And the
axe, again, needs to be laid to the root. And remember, we
looked at how if you lay the root to malice, everything else
will crumble. Everything else will crumble.
Guile will crumble. Hypocrisy will crumble. Envies will crumble.
And evil speakings will crumble if we lay the axe to malice.
And then we're to desire to grow. To grow. And to desire the sincere
milk of the Word. And we looked at how that's not
for just newborn babes in Christ. No. No. That's for a mature Christian
too. We're to desire the sincere milk
of the Word. The pure milk of the Word. The
Word of God. And it's how we grow, it's how
we're nourished. As we grow in grace and knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does that come about?
Through the preaching of the gospel, and through the breathing
of the scripture, and through the studying of the scripture,
the Holy Spirit has us grow in grace, and knowledge, and truth.
And then we desire to lay the axe to these things that are
spoken of in verse one. We desire to do that. And now
we have new desires, which are evidence that we have partaken
of the new birth. We love the brethren. We saw
that in chapter one. And I told you all that several
of the commentators said, if you don't love the brethren,
it's evidence that you're not saved. It's evidence that you're
not saved because we love the brethren. We love the brethren.
And then we desire the sincere milk of the word. There was a
time when those of us who are born again can look back in our
lives and say, we didn't desire the word of God. We had no desire
for the word. We had no desire for the gospel
preached. We had no love for the brethren. Nothing. We had
actually no care. The word of God really meant
nothing to us. If it did, we didn't believe
it. We didn't believe it. But now,
now the believer has tasted that the Lord is gracious. Haven't
we? We who are redeemed have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. I love that because that's so
true. We've tasted of regeneration. We've tasted of redemption. We've
tasted of justification. And it's all in Christ. It's
all in Him. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. Coming to church
to hear the word of God preached and proclaimed is not labor for
the believer. It's not labor. And it doesn't matter who's teaching,
does it? It doesn't. And if it does, I
was talking to Brother Matt this week. If it does, there's a problem.
Because it shouldn't matter who's preaching, we should desire hear
the Word of God. We should desire to grow in the
knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what should
matter the most. It's not the man. It's the message. It's the message. So we love
to hear the Word of God preached. We love it. Now, religion is
so much labor. It's so much labor, beloved. It's the opposite of grace. It's
the opposite of grace. And We desire to hear the Word
of God. We desire to fellowship with
the brethren. We rejoice in studying the Word
of God. Why? Because we've tasted that
the Lord is gracious. We have, we have. We're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. We're new creatures in Christ. And this is the testimony of
every blood-bought saint of God. We hunger and thirst after the
things of Christ. Did you before you were saved?
No, we didn't. No, we didn't. For most of us
or for myself, the Lord's name was a word that I used to my
shame is in blasphemy, cursing. And now it's the name that is
so precious, so precious. It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. And it's the name that when we
hear it used in that way, And we can look back and say, yeah,
well, we were there. It cuts us to the bone. It cuts
us to the heart because that's our beloved. That's the one who
we love. That's the one who we cherish.
We've tasted that the Lord is gracious. Oh, and we hunger and
thirst after his righteousness. The believer in Christ has felt
the plague of his own heart. the plague of his own heart and
knows that he is a sinner. They've been showing that and
they've been showing some views of the glories of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we see that in the word of
God, don't we? We see that in the word of God. His glory is
the abundance of his mercy, the all sufficiency of Christ, the
completeness of Christ has been shown to us. And again, we've
tasted that the Lord is gracious with that in mind. Let us look
at verse four. It says to whom coming as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Now, a few weeks ago, we looked
at a portion of scripture in Exodus 17, turn there if you
would, in Exodus 17, of how Christ is pictured as the rock. It's
important for us to go back and see these pictures, because here
it tells us that Christ is a living stone. And this rock was struck
and water poured forth. So let us go back there and tie
that in with our lesson today. Exodus 17 verses 1 to 7. And all the congregation of the
children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after
their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord and
pitched in Raphidom. And there was no water for the
people to drink. Now they're in they're in the
desert and there's no water for them to drink. Wherefore, the
people did chide with Moses. Now we would have done the same
thing. we would have done the same thing. I remember hearing
someone told me this week that somebody had told them, and I
was shocked, some preacher had told them or something that if
he had been at the cross at Calvary, he had stopped them folks from
doing that. That man's a liar. Because in
our natural state, we would have been yelling, crucify, crucify,
just with everyone else. Yeah, we would. And so here we
see how we would be in our natural state to their chiding Moses. And they said, give us water
that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, why
try to eat with me? Wherefore, do you tempt the Lord?
The Lord's been with them the whole time, hasn't he? Oh, how Lord help my unbelief.
It's so true, isn't it? Help my unbelief, Lord. And the
people thirsted there for water and the people murmured against
Moses and said, Wherefore is this thou has brought us up out
of Egypt? He's he's by his sovereignty. He's brought them out of Egypt.
He's led them to where they are. And they're still murmuring and
they're still complaining. Oh, my. Oh my, brought us out
of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst. And
Moses cried unto the Lord, what shall I do unto this people?
Moses is at, he's at the end of his rope. What am I gonna
do with these people? That's what this says, isn't
it? He's come to a, They'd be almost ready to stone me. And
the Lord said unto Moses, go on before the people and take
with thee of the elders of Israel and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest
the river, take in hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee
there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock
and there shall come water out of it that the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And
he called the name of the place Massa and Mer, Meribeth, because
of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they tempted
the Lord, saying, is the Lord among us or not? Now, the children
of Israel, again, were thirsting after a long, difficult journey
through the wilderness of sin. We see that in verse one. And
they began to murmur and complain to Moses, but the Lord was pleased
in his providence and by his grace and mercy to provide them
with exactly what they needed. Exactly what they needed. Water. Water. The Lord had prepared
a rock out of which water would flow. Streams of water right
before them. Life-giving water. Life-giving
water. Without the water, they'd perish,
wouldn't they? It's life-giving water. And they had no idea. They had no idea that God had
prepared that for them. We know that because they're
complaining. before the water comes out of the rock. They had
no idea that God had prepared this for them. But that water
would not come forth until the picture that God had decreed
had been done. Moses had to smite it with a
rod in that picture, the Lord Jesus Christ being smitten of
God for his people, being smitten of God for his people. And he
who is the water of life out of him flows living waters, living
waters. He is despised and rejected of
man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed
Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And with His stripes we are healed."
Isaiah 53, verses 3 to 5. He's smitten for his people.
He's wounded for his people. And then consider Isaiah 48,
21, where it says this. And they thirsted not when he
led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow
out of the rock for them. He claimed the rock also in the
waters gushed out. They gushed out, they flowed
forth. Living waters, water for them to live. And Christ was
that rock. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
10. We know that Christ was that
rock from 1 Corinthians 10. Verses 1-4. And this is all tying
in to who Christ is, the living stone. He's the living stone. 1 Corinthians 10 verses 1-4. More
of a brethren I would not. that she should be ignorant,
how that all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed
through the sea and all and we're all baptized under Moses and
the cloud and in the sea and did eat the same spiritual meat
and did all drink the same spiritual rock. That rock is Christ. That rock, that rock is Christ
and Christ alone. It's Christ and Christ alone.
I got to pull up here in my notes because my note cut off the cut
off the verse there. First Corinthians, chapter 10.
Verse four, and did all drink the same spiritual drink for
the drink of that spiritual rock and that fall them and that rock
was Christ, that rock was Christ, Christ, Jesus, our Lord. Turn,
if you would, the numbers chapter 20. Now, Moses did what God commanded. in Exodus 17 there, right? He
smote the rock and the Israelites drank of the water. What a picture
of Christ who's smitten for us, right? And we drink of the water
of life, which flows from him. Another time, the Israelites
were murmuring and complaining, and Moses was just supposed to
speak to the rock, wasn't he? He was just supposed to speak
to the rock, but he didn't listen. He didn't listen. He smote it. He smote it again. And because of that, he was not
allowed to enter into the promised land. Why? Because Christ the
Rock can only be smitten once. Once for the sins of his people. Look at Numbers 20, verses 7
to 13. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, take the rod and gather thou the assembly together, thou
and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their
eyes, and it shall give forth his water. And thou shalt bring
forth to them water out of the rock, so thou shalt give the
congregation and their beasts to drink. And Moses took the
rod from before the Lord as he commanded, and Moses and Aaron
gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said
unto them, Here now, you rebels, must we fetch water out of this
rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote
the rock twice. Christ can only be smitten once,
beloved. Only once. And the water came out abundantly.
So the Lord still mercifully provided water, didn't he? He
still mercifully provided water. And the congregation drank, and
the beast also. And the Lord spake unto Moses
and Aaron, Because ye believe not, Believe me not to sanctify
me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, you shall
not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
And this is the water of Meribeth, because the children of Israel
strove with the Lord and he was sanctified in them. So the Lord
still caused the water to flow to his people. He'll never leave
them. You'll never forsake them. But
Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land. Well, he represented
the law to look at Galatians chapter three. Galatians chapter
three. And we're looking at all this
to establish that the rock in the Old Testament, which water
flowed out from pictured Christ, pictured Christ, Galatians chapter
three, verses 21 to 22, is a law then against the promises of
God. God forbid, for if there had been given a law which could
have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise
by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Now, religious men and women
go about trying to establish their own righteousness, don't
they? Trying to establish their own righteousness. Turn, if you
would, to Romans chapter 10, verse 3. Actually, all men do
this, not just religious men. All men do this. They try to
establish their own righteousness. Those, even those who do not
believe in God, you talk to them and they say, well I'm a good
person. They don't believe they're sinners. They don't believe they're
sinners. Not at all. And they're trying
to establish their own righteousness. They think they're good and that's
just self-righteousness. That's just self-righteousness.
Look at Romans chapter 10 verse 3. For they, being ignorant of
God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. Where is the righteousness of
God found? In Christ, in Christ alone. So they're ignorant of
God's righteousness. I heard somebody, I flipped the
TV on this morning, decided to flip the TV on. I don't very
often do this, but I flipped to one of them religious yahoos,
that's all I wanna call them. And this guy is on there, he's
talking about the saints coming back clothed in white. But he
not once ever mentioned Christ's righteousness. Not once. And I could only stomach it for
about four minutes. But everything that I heard was
all about him. All about the people he was talking
to. Hardly anything about Christ.
And that's religion. That's religion for you. The
white remnant that we're clothed in is the righteousness of Christ.
And that's what it says here. They're ignorant, beloved of
God's righteousness. They're ignorant of the righteousness
of Christ. And so this stone, which the builders have rejected,
look at first Peter 2, 4. This stone, which the builders
have rejected, is Christ Jesus, our Lord. He's a stumbling stone
to the self-righteous. And Christ is the stone upon
which the church is built. He's the one sure foundation.
Now we're going to go slowly through this section in the next
few weeks, because there's a lot here in this section here. But I'd like us to consider verse
four today, to whom coming is unto a living stone disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. So the scripture
declares here that we who have tasted that the Lord is gracious,
we who have come to him by being drawn by the Holy Spirit, We've
come to Him who is a living stone. He's a living stone, the scripture
says here. Now, stones are inanimate objects.
They're known for their strength, and they're known for their toughness,
they're known for their endurance, but they're never considered
an animate object. They're never considered alive. Have you ever heard of a living
stone? None of us have, have we? But the scripture here declares,
and we believe it by faith, That Christ is a living stone. He's a living stone. This speaks
of how our Lord Jesus Christ is the rock is the rock. He's immovable. He's our foundation. That's what this is speaking
of. He's a living stone. And we're going to see as the
weeks go by here that we are built up in him. We're living
stones in him built up. built up, a spiritual temple
built up in him. But he is the foundation. He's the cornerstone. He's immovable. He's without compare. He's without
compare. He alone is the sole means of
deliverance for his people, just like in the wilderness. He was
the sole means of deliverance for the Israelites. Same with
God's people. And that's just a picture of
the church. He's the sole means of deliverance for his elect.
He alone is our fortress and our refuge. When in the Old Testament,
when it speaks of rock, a lot of times in the Hebrew, it talks
about a fortress. He's our stronghold. He's our fortress. He's our refuge. He's a refuge for His people.
And the rock in the wilderness was an inanimate object, but
it pictured one who is our rock. One who is the living stone.
The one living stone, right? And we're lively stones in Him. In Him. The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head. We're the body.
He's the foundation. And we're living stones built
up upon Him. First Samuel says this. There
is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee. Neither
is there any rock like our God. First Samuel 2 to 2. Second Samuel
22, 47. The Lord liveth and blessed be
my rock. And exalted be the God of of the rock of my salvation.
Isaiah 32, one behold, a king shall reign in righteousness
and princess shall rule in judgment. Isaiah 32, two and a man shall
be in hiding place when the wind in a covert from the tempest
is rivers of water in a dry, dry place is a shadow of a great
rock in a weary land. Lord is our refuge. And when
it says is a shadow of a rock in a weary land, speaking of
people traveling in the deserts and stuff. And they see in a
great rock, in the shade, I can go and sit under there and drink
and be cool from the heat. And that's what the Lord is to
His people. He's a shadow of a great rock
for us. He's a living stone. He's a living
stone. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 8. Isaiah chapter 8, and then put your finger in Romans
chapter 9. He's a living stone for His people. But he's a rock
of offense and a stone of stumbling for others. He's a living stone
for his people, but he's a rock of offense and a stone of stumbling
for others. And we see that both in the Old
Testament and we see that in the New Testament. Look at Isaiah
chapter 8. We've already seen how he's our
rock. And now look at this in Isaiah 8, 14 and 15. And he shall be for a sanctuary,
but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to
both the house of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble
and fall and be broken and be snared and be taken. So he's a rock of offense to
his enemies. And then turn, if you would,
over to Romans chapter nine, Romans chapter nine. And remember,
He's our rock. He's a shadow. You have a great
rock in a weary land to his people. He's a rock. Our God is a rock,
a fortress. Look at Romans chapter nine,
verses thirty one to thirty three. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were,
by the works of the law, they tried to justify themselves.
by their own works, by their own works. And again, people
do that in religion and people who do that who just outright
deny God. They try to justify themselves by their own works.
But look at this, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As is written, behold, I lay
in Zion, a stumbling stone. That's Christ. That's Christ. So to some, to some, he's a living
stone. He's a foundation. He's our rock
and our fortress. But to others, he's a rock of
offense. And here we see he's a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense. It says again, and whosoever
believe is on him shall not be ashamed, shall not be ashamed. Oh, let's go back to our text again. First Peter, Chapter two. First
four, it says, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. He's a rock of salvation for
his people, and he's disallowed, which means rejected of men. He's rejected of men. Self-righteous
religious men hate him. Self-righteous men in general
hate him. And I remember before I was saved. Now, I wouldn't have told you
that I hated God. I didn't know who he was. But
I wouldn't have told you that I hated him. But in my works
and in my words, I hated him. And I got madder than a wet hornet
when someone told me that I was a sinner. Because I was full
of self-righteousness. And now I love to listen to preachers
tell me what I am and tell me about my savior Because I know
I'm a sinner and I know you know that too Oh, it's wonderful but
We see here. He's rejected Disallowed there
means rejected He's rejected of me and oh how many reject
him how many leave this earth? to a Christless eternity And oh, but the redeemed. To the redeemed, he's precious. He's precious. Our text here
proclaims that he is a living stone. The Lord Jesus Christ,
look, it says, is chosen of God and precious. Chosen of God and
precious. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. We're starting verse one and
read the verse seven. Behold, my servants. Now, remember, first, Peter,
two, four, to whom common is under a living stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Look at this
in Isaiah 42, verses one to seven. Behold, my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect. in whom my soul delighteth. God
says this about Christ. I have put my spirit upon him
and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not
cry nor lift up nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
A bruised reed shall he not break and a smoking flax shall he not
quench. He shall bring forth judgment
unto truth. He shall not fail. He shall not
And he didn't. He didn't, beloved. He redeemed
his people from their sins. He purchased us at Calvary. Nor
be discouraged till we have set judgment in the earth, and the
owls shall wait for his law. Thus saith the Lord, he that
created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spreaded forth
the earth, and that which cometh out of it, he that giveth breath
unto the people upon it, Spirit to them that walk there and there's
a there's a verse there right there in verse 5 for God's absolute
sovereignty over everything right there before us Right there.
I the Lord have called thee in righteousness. Oh He's called
us and will hold thine hand No matter what we go through in
this world The Lord is ever with us He's clothed us in the righteousness
of Christ we who believe and he says here We'll hold on hand
and we'll keep thee You see that little article that little note
in the Bolton today about The man who said he just wanted his
name in the words kept kept the believer kept Here keep us God
keeps us and give thee for a covenant of the people in the light of
the Gentiles. Now, what what is Christ to do
to open the blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison
and then that sit in darkness of the prison house? And that's
what he's done for his people. But notice says, Behold, my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect God's chosen God's chosen one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. And that ties right
in with what we see in first Peter, chapter two. to whom coming
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God. Chosen of God. And then it says,
and precious, and precious. We who are redeemed, we who are
precious in Christ's sight are saved and redeemed by the one
who is precious in God's eyes. And we're precious in God's eyes
because we're in Him. That's all. Christ is precious to the Father.
Precious. That's what it says. It's wonderful.
It's wonderful. And what's Christ to us? Precious. He's precious. Turn, if you would,
over to the first chapter of Peter. We'll read verses 18 to
21. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him
up from the dead and gave him glory, That your faith and hope
might be in God. Is your faith and hope in God? That's where our faith and hope
is to be. In Christ. Who is God incarnate in the flesh.
But know what it says, but with the precious blood of Christ.
So Christ is chosen of the Father. And he's precious to the Father.
And he's precious to his people. And his blood is called precious
blood. Because it's redeemed us from all our sins. It's paid everything that God's
to me. And the Lord Jesus Christ himself, God incarnated in the
flesh, has shed his precious blood. And he's a lamb without
blemish and without spot. He was without blemish and spot
in his life. And beloved, he was without blemish
and spot in his death. He's the perfect sacrifice, the
perfect sacrifice, ordained by God before the foundation of
the world, but manifest in these last times for you, for you. Now what we have had bought before
us today in this verse is that Christ is our rock. He's a living
stone, beloved. And in our future studies, we'll
see that Jesus Christ is the foundation for the spiritual
temple of the Lord, which is His people. And He's the foundation. For we who believe, and by our
union with Christ, we are living stones. Living stones. Which make up the temple. And
we're only living stones because we're in Him. And remember, while
we're here on earth, we're stones being made ready, aren't we?
Right? We're stones being made ready.
And one day, all my one day will be in the presence of our great
God and King. May the Lord Jesus Christ and
may God be glorified by the preaching of His word. Heavenly Father
we thank Thee for this study in this wonderful book of exhortation. It brings us such great comfort
Lord Jesus. to see that you are the living
stone. Other stones are dead, but you are the one living stone.
And in you, we are lively stones, we who believe. And you are precious,
not only to God, but oh, you're precious to us, your people.
We love you and praise you. We thank you for saving us and
redeeming us. leave in the glories of heaven
to purchase us by your own precious blood and oh lord each believer
here we wait with great anticipation for our graduation day for our
promotion when we will be in thy presence oh lord and we will
sing with the other blood-washed saints all glory and honor and
praise to thee in jesus name