Chapter 2. We'll just begin reading
here and we'll go through this a little at a time. 1 Peter 2,
verse 6. Wherefore also it is contained
in the Scripture. Now we know that Peter taught
us here that the Lord's house is a spiritual house. We worship
in temples not made with hands. He says, wherefore also it's
contained in the Scripture, and he's quoting from Isaiah 28 verse
16. He says here in verse 6, Behold,
I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded. Christ Jesus is God,
God the Son, and God laid the foundation. He is the foundation
and He laid the foundation. And Isaiah, he said he's the
foundation stone. Peter said he's the living foundation. He's the one in whom and upon
whom every chosen child of God is made alive. And he's built
up a spiritual house together, his temple, his church. No man
made the body he dwelled in when he came here. God made it. Nobody
makes his his house in whom he abodes in the believer. He makes it of his spirit in
each individual believer and he builds his house, his spiritual
temple. He's a tried stone, Isaiah said,
proven by God the Father. Tried by Satan, found nothing
in him. Tried by every believer throughout
every age. He's the chief cornerstone, he
says here. That chief cornerstone is all
the unity is in that stone. God's reconciled us unto Himself
in His Son. And every believer is one with
God in His Son. And every believer is one with
one another, born of the same Spirit, born of the same God. He says here, He's elect and
precious. He's chosen of the Father. And He's precious. Precious,
preeminent value to the Father. Preeminent honor to God is Christ. And Isaiah said He's a sure stone.
He's a rock. He can't be moved. He that believeth
on Him shall not be confounded. Not confused. Because He's able
to teach His people. Not ashamed of Christ before
others. and not ashamed or ever put to
shame for casting all our care on Him. Verse 7, unto you therefore
which believe, He is precious. By God's grace, the Spirit of
God makes Him to the believer, not in exact proportion or exact
fullness, but He makes Him precious to us even as He's precious to
the Father. Now here's a contrast, verse
7. 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."
Who rejected Christ when He came? Who rejects Christ? You know
who rejected Him when He came? Those who thought they were the
builders. Those who thought they were the builders. But Paul said
he built as a wise master builder, and other of God's messengers
built their own. But Paul said, but no other foundation
can be laid than that which is laid. So if Paul said, I laid
the foundation as a wise master builder, you know what he said?
I came preaching no other than Christ Himself. Christ alone. Christ and Him crucified. And
let everybody else that builds on the preaching of Christ and
Him crucified, Paul said, preach Christ and Him crucified. To you who believe. Christ is
precious. To the unbeliever, Christ is
despised and He's disallowed. To you who believe, He's a sure
foundation, He's a sanctuary. To the unbeliever, He's a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense. To you who believe, you'll never
be confused, you'll never be ashamed of Him, and you'll never
be put to shame for trusting Him. Those who don't believe
are confused about Him, ashamed of Him, and they'll be put to
shame for not trusting Him. Does the unbeliever make God's
grace to be powerless then? He came unto His own and His
own received Him not. There was more under natural
sons of Abraham under the flag of Israel that didn't believe
Him, then did believe Him. So did their unbelief make the
faith of God, the power of God to be of no effect? Not at all. What does the verse say? Verse
8, Whereunto also they were appointed. They were appointed. What if
some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? No. Who makes the believer to
differ? What's God teaching us by having
this whole host of the natural sons of Abraham, this whole host
who came out of Egypt, this whole host who went under the name
of Israel, this whole host who are all flying under that same
flag, Come to find out they didn't even know truth when they met
Him in the face. Why'd He do that? He's showing
us who makes His house, who makes His holy people, who makes His
people to differ. I've titled this message, God's
Race. You might title it, God's Spiritual
Nation. 1 Thessalonians 5, 9 says, God
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God can make one vessel
unto honor and one to dishonor. He can do with his own whatsoever
he's pleased to do. There are some in this world,
a remnant, both from among the Jews, natural sons of Abraham,
and from among the Gentiles, whom God chose in Christ before
not only the foundation of that nation Israel, but before the
foundation of this world. In Christ alone, that's who makes
His people to differ, in Christ alone, by what Christ has done.
Now, I want you to see this in verse 9, 1 Peter 2, 9. But ye
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God,
which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." God's Israel is a distinct race. made entirely of God alone. It's not going to do any of us
any good to blame whatever race we came out of or whatever nationality
we came out of. It's not going to do any good
to put the blame on that. Trace them all back. We came from Adam.
That's where we came from. That's where we came from, from
Adam. But God chose His people. in Christ, and he chose Christ
first, and he chose his people in Christ. And those that he
put in Christ, he made his offspring, and he predestinated them to
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. There wasn't
ever a possibility they will not come to believe on Christ.
He's going to make sure they do, else he don't receive all
the glory. He's our Father, Christ is our
Head, He's the Head of the House, He's the Husband of the Bride,
He's the Elder Brother, He's the Prophet, the Priest, and
the King. God's chosen generation is a world without end. They
were before time, they've been redeemed out of time, and regenerated
out of time into eternity, and they'll be here when time's no
more. They're an eternal chosen race of people. Paul was speaking to the Jews
in Romans 2. Let me show you this. Romans
2 verse 28. He said, He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly. Can you imagine telling somebody
that? who was born a natural son of
Abraham, who was making their boast that because I am naturally
born of this man, I'm a Jew. And Paul said, no, you're not.
No, you're not. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. You can't tell me I hadn't kept
the law. Look at the marks in my body
where I've kept the law. No, you haven't. No, you haven't. Circumcision's not that which
is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is of that of
the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is
not of men, but of God. Can you imagine telling somebody
that? He says here now, a royal priesthood,
a holy nation, a peculiar people. Now look back again at Exodus
19. We looked at this Thursday night. Look back there again
with me now. Exodus 19, verse 5. Remember what the Lord,
when He brought that nation out of Egypt, that national political
nation, what did He say to them? Exodus 19, 5. Now therefore,
He told them, first of all, verse 4, He said, I'll bear you on
eagles' wings and brought you unto myself. I came in there,
broke the shackles, provided a lamb, spared you who were under
the blood, brought you out, I'll bear you on eagles' wings. Remember
how Isaiah 40 ends? This one that's coming, this
one that's coming that's going to be the redeemer of his people,
that's going to free them out of bondage. He's going to bear
his people up on eagles' wings. Lord God's been saying that from
the beginning, using this natural people to say it, to show us
what all men are by nature. And he says to them here, now
therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant. Pete, that means every bit of
it. That means we've got to obey His voice without the slightest
error possible. And we've got to keep His covenant,
every bit of it. If we're going to do it, we've
got to do all of it. And what will be the result?
This is a condition. If you do this, then you shall
be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. You see, they
had this word. Those fellows that Paul was saying,
you're not a Jew, they had this word. They said, we've heard
it said from the tradition of our fathers that if you hear
His voice and keep His covenant, you'll be His peculiar people.
And you mean to tell us we're not the Jews and that we haven't
kept His covenant? And Paul said, no, because you're
seeking it by the works of the law, by your thinking, your hand,
your doing, your carnal understanding, your carnal reason, your carnal
boast that I'm of such and such and such and such. It doesn't
matter. Whatever. I'm so and so and so. There's one banner
I want to be under. Put me under one covering. blood, the blood of Christ. That's
the only one. That's the only one. The rest
of them are going to hell, hanging on to their covering. This one,
the blood of Christ and Him alone, is the only one that's saved.
He's the only one that ever heard the voice of the Father and obeyed
it. And we don't obey it until He
speaks the voice and we hear the voice and hear by His effectual
grace. And then when He speaks the voice
to us, He tells us, I'm the only one that's ever obeyed the covenant. And now, because I've fulfilled
what I require of myself for my people, I'm making with you
an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, because
I'm not leaving anything else in your hands to do. And then He says through Peter
now, He says, Continue there, Exodus 19, 5, I'm sorry. Then
you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. Peter
says, that's what you are, believer. And he said to them under that
conditional covenant, verse 6, and you shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests. They never were. Never were. Why? They never kept the covenant. And you shall be a holy nation.
Never were. He never kept the covenant. These are the words which shall
speak unto the children of Israel. But now Peter speaks to the believer
and he says, You are. You are. You're a chosen generation. His people. You're a royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. You're
a peculiar people, a purchased, protected people. What was he
telling us under all that old conditional covenant? He was
telling us, brethren, what he'd been telling us from the beginning.
We can't keep a covenant wherein we can come to God and say, we're
your people. We're your royal priesthood.
We're your holy nation. We can't keep that unless God
come in power and send forth His King, His High Priest that
He's chosen, that One who is the Son of His choice, in whom
He's chosen His people. that king comes forth, and that
king rules in his kingdom, in righteousness in his kingdom,
and that king goes forward and he puts away the sins of his
people, and he enters into the holiest of holies, not made with
hands, but into the very presence of God himself to present his
people without spot and without blame to God. And He comes to
them in the Holy Spirit, irresistibly quickening them, regenerating
them to behold they're this generation. They're this royal priesthood
in our King Priests. And they're this holy nation
in our Holy One. Not, we are. That's what we are. We are. Well then, what advantage
did the Jews have? They had every advantage. The
oracles of God were given to them. Everything was given to
them. And all that that they had, still, when Christ came
forth, and they looked truth in the eye, they said, we know
Moses, but we don't know you. We know what it is to be a Jew,
but we don't know you. We know what it is to be an Israelite,
but we don't know you. We know what it is to be Protestant,
but we don't know you. We know what it is to be Baptist,
but we don't know you. We know what it is to be a Calvinist,
but we don't know you. We know what it is to look with
these eyes and see what we want to have carnally happen in this
earth. We want a king like the other nations have. We want to
offer sacrifices that we've always offered. We want to do the works
ourselves, but we don't know you, they said. I was circumcised the eighth
day. How can you tell me I'm not circumcised? I was dedicated
by my Father at my birth. How can you say I'm not a believer?
I was sprinkled when I was a baby. How can you say that I'm not
a believer? My daddy taught me a catechism and I learned it
upside down the other. How can you say I'm not a believer?
I gave my heart to Jesus at a young age. How can you say I'm not
a believer? I've been keeping the law all
my life. I've been going to church all my life. I've been making
sacrifices after sacrifices. How could you say I'm not a believer? Paul said, I was going around
saying all those things have made me a child of God. And then I heard his voice. And
that which was gained to me, I said it's loss. That I might
be found in Him, not having anything of myself whatsoever to present
to God. but that I might come solely,
totally, completely, totally the workmanship of God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That God might have all
the glory and I might truly say, I'm His and He's mine. Romans 11 says this, God hath
concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy on all. He's just talking about the Jews.
He's talking about the Gentiles too. He's talking about everybody
he saved. He's concluded them all in unbelief
that he might have mercy on all of them and might save all of
them by his grace and not by the work of their hand. All of
them. And that's his Israel. You go
read in Hosea, when he tells you, when he says, you're not
my people and I'm not your God. And he says, I'm breaking the
bow of Israel in Jezreel. And he says, right after that,
he says, yet the children of Israel are going to be as the
sand of the sea. My true Israel. The real Israel. I'm going to sow you in the earth
unto Myself. And they're going to take root
in The Root. And they're going to grow up
a tree in The Seed, in The Root. And they're going to bring forth
branches in The Root. And they're going to bring forth
fruit because of The Root. Paul told the Gentiles, don't
boast yourself against Israel. They were broken off because
of unbelief. And the only way we stand, the only way anybody
stands, whether they're Jew or Gentile, is by God quickening
us, God giving us faith, God calling us to Himself, God making
us to see the work is done, is finished. The only way. The only
way. Now look over with me at Revelation
1. Revelation chapter 1. I want
you to see how all this came about. I want you to take Take
my word for it. Look here now. John 1, verse
4. John, to the seven churches which
are in Asia, grace unto you and peace from him which is, which
was, and which is to come. That sounds like an eternal God,
don't it? And from the seven spirits which
are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, the prince of the
kings of the earth." What did he call us? A royal priesthood.
Who's the head of that royal priesthood? Who's the king of
that kingdom? The prince of the kings of the
earth. How did He make us so? Under
Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. and hath made us kings and priests."
That's what you call a royal priesthood. Kings and priests.
Kings. I put this in a bulletin the
other day. Kings, we have access to His throne of grace. And as
priests, we have access into the holiest of holies. King-priests. King-priests. Kings and priests
unto God and His Father. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Now, back at our text, 1 Peter
2, verse 10, which in time past
were not a people. In our experience of grace, every
one of us sitting here were not a people. Just as much as the Gentiles
weren't, just as much as the natural Jews weren't either.
Not a people. But always in the eye of God,
always in Christ were people, His elect were. But now are the
people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have
obtained mercy. This is true of Jew or Gentile. Jew or Gentile. What he do? He made that conditional covenant.
I've got to cover this real quick and then we'll move on. Look
over at Hebrews 8. He made that conditional covenant, that natural
covenant with natural Israel. Proved to us what we are, what
we can't do if He leaves anything into our hands. But now, look,
here's what He does. When He calls us and we obtain
mercy by His mercy, He has concluded all in unbelief that He might
have mercy on all He saves. Here's what He does. Hebrews
8 verse 6, but now hath he, Christ, obtained a more excellent ministry
by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was
established on better promises. Why? Because they're all done.
Promises of God are yes and amen in Christ. They're finished.
That's why they're better. Nothing's left undone. For if that first
covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for the second. For finding fault with them,
he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house
of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant,
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. This is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them
in their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall
be to me a people. And they shall not teach every
man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the
Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest. For
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. And in that he saith the new
covenant, he made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth
old is ready to vanish away. The old is gone. We got a better
covenant established upon better promises. It is finished. I have, and therefore you are
is a whole lot better than if you will, then you shall be.
Isn't it? Isn't it? Much better. All right,
now why did He do that? Why has He called us, no matter what our background,
no matter who we were, why has He done it all by His grace?
Why has He done it the way He's done it? 1 Peter 2 verse 9. Look at the last second half
of there, after peculiar people, that you should show forth the
praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His
marvelous light. That word show forth means publish. Publish what? The praises of
Him. The praises of Him. He said,
He that believeth shall not be ashamed. He won't be ashamed. We once were. We once gloried
in ourselves. We once talked about the works
of our flesh. We once talked about all the
lusts of our flesh. We once walked in malice and
guile and hypocrisy and evil speakings and envies. We once
were truly confounded concerning the truth. We thought it was
a thing. We thought it was a doctrine.
We thought it was a system. We didn't know it was a person. We were ashamed of Christ before
others. We were too confused to cast
all our care on Him. But by His grace, now we glory
only in Him. We publish His name. We talk
about Him. We talk about what He's done,
is doing, and shall do. His electing grace, His predestinating
grace, His redeeming grace, His regenerating grace, His preserving
grace, His resurrecting grace. And we tell the truth now. The
only part we played in it, and the only part we still play in
it, is being dead dog sinners. We'd turn away from Him today
if He left us. Verse 11, now then. Do you see
how you're holy? Do you see that? Do you see in
all this? You've been born of Him who trusts
Christ. Do you see how you truly are
holy? Now here's what Peter said. Verse
11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers. You really
are strangers to this world. This world is confounded and
confused. This world don't have a clue.
And you're not of this world. You're of God. He said to some
that was on this earth, you're not of God. You're of this world. He says now of his people, you're
strangers and pilgrims. We put down roots here. But they're not really roots. We're pilgrims. Pilgrims. Abstain
from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Every kind.
Malice, envy, guile, hypocrisy. Of every kind. Especially the
worst kind. Which is thinking we add something. We make ourselves something.
Cause of something in us. We are what we are. That's not
true. We are what we are by God's grace only. Having your conversation
honest among the Gentiles. When you see the word Gentiles
here, it means just what the old covenant word Gentile meant,
unbelievers. Having your conversation honest
among unbelievers. That whereas they speak against
you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation." The other day,
Melinda and I were sitting in the house and I said, Melinda,
look outside and tell me what you see. She said, I see the
neighbor's houses, I see trees, I see the yard. You know what she never said
she saw? It was there the whole time. She saw it the whole time. Light. But because of the light, she
could see that object out there. When God gives a man real light,
He doesn't make the man speak of the praises of himself. He
makes the man light so that Through this witness and praises of Him,
people can see the object, Christ. Remember Gideon? Picture Christ
and His army. He whittled them down to nothing.
And He gave them some light in an earthen vessel. But you know
when that light shined forth and they won the victory? When
the earthen vessel was broken. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the power may be of God and not of us. And you
know what? The world will speak evil of
the Lord's people, whether they're in religion or out. We're going
to look at that next hour. They'll speak evil of believers,
but let it not be because we do evil. and let the light shine so that
we're showing forth the praises of Him that's called us out of
darkness into His marvelous light. So then if God does visit them
in the day of grace, in the season of His love, if He does visit
somebody through whom you've been a witness, they're going
to glorify God and say, you're the only people I've ever met
that didn't make yourself to be the object and point me to
you and everything you're doing and have done and are doing and
try to draw me to you, you were as invisible to me as light.
And in that light, I saw Christ, the object of my salvation. All right, brethren. Pray the
Lord to bless it.