and please God to bless us together
this evening as we meditate in his word let us turn to the first
epistle of Peter and chapter 2 and we'll read verse 6 the first epistle of Peter chapter
2 and reading verse 6 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. We should be thankful that the
last verse of the previous chapter concludes like this, but the
word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. And that word, which thankfully
does endure forever, it was the word here in this sixth verse,
which is also recorded in very similar words in the prophecy
of Isaiah. And that's why The Apostle Peter
refers to it like this when he says, wherefore also it is contained
in Scripture. And so, way back in the Old Testament,
the Church of God were encouraged by such a statement. And so,
as we go through like the Church has been through that time and
then through into the New Testament age to realize that such a word
is gloriously true and very important. Behold, that means to take particular
notice of this great truth. I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. So it is quite clear from that
statement that the cornerstone refers to is on him. It is obviously a person and
the only person it could possibly be and of course it is the Lord
Jesus Christ. May we be encouraged to know
that there is therefore laid in Zion, which is the Church
of God, not only cornerstones, which of course there are, but
there is a great and glorious chief cornerstone, none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is. As the scripture tells
us here, elect and also precious. And then we're told, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded. Won't be put to confusion. We won't be ashamed. My friends,
this is the word of God. This is the truth of God. And sometimes we may be tempted
to almost give up, but to think that here we have the great truth
of scripture, telling us what it is. Here it is contained in
scripture. And so, as we have such a statement
as this, then the apostle goes on, unto you therefore, which
believe he is precious and the contrary 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 offence even to them which stumble at the word being
disobedient where unto also they were appointed and how very clearly
We read throughout the scriptures there is this separation between
those who believe, and those who are obedient, and those who
do not believe, and those who are disobedient. And so may we
find ourselves in this place, in this position amongst those
who believe on this great and glorious and precious Chief Cornerstone
Now just the simple analogy of course we have here put before
us as a building a building of course has corners and I'm sure
we appreciate if a corner is not built properly then the building
isn't built properly The building doesn't form a square or rectangle. It's out of place and out of
line. And how important it is, therefore,
that there is this chief cornerstone as the beginning. Not perhaps
halfway up the building, but there is this beginning, this
initial cornerstone. And it can be rightly described
as a chief cornerstone because it's important to have a right
beginning. Well, our blessing is here. We have this chief cornerstone
who is indeed the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is only one
chief cornerstone. And so he is indeed elect, and
he is precious, valuable. Well, what is Jesus Christ to
you and me? Is he the chief cornerstone of
our religion? Is he the one upon whom we build? Is he right at the bottom, as
it were? Because anything built on anything
else will not really be satisfying. But is our foundation, the foundation
of our religion, upon this great and glorious Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now then, if that is so, and
may it be so, the Word of God is encouraging because it speaks
to us in this way. And He's already described those
who are disobedient and do not believe, but those who are favoured
to believe this great truth, He tells us then, but ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people. What a mercy, what a blessing.
If you and I have the confirmation by the Holy Spirit that we are
amongst those who are blessed with that true belief in the
Lord Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone in our religion everything
that we have everything that we possess is based upon what
he has done he has done how necessary it is that we do have this good
and right foundation and if so then we can conclude that these
words have a wonderful position in our hearts, in our lives a
confirmation because it says, but ye are a chosen generation
chosen in Him, chosen in God before time began it is a wonderful
thought, isn't it? to think that Almighty God is
worthy of our meditation again and again to go back and to view
ourselves in the light of the Spirit of God and to, in measure,
view himself. And to desire to have the similar
view to what Isaiah did when he saw the Lord high and lifted
up, the great God. What a mercy if the Holy Spirit
gives us that view of the blessed Saviour as high, lifted up and
all-glorious. And as such, you see, He will
then be precious, very valuable, because without Him, without
Him we are nothing. Without Him we can do nothing.
And with him, he is our life. Mercy, if our life is hid with
Christ, bound up in the glorious gospel. And so this word is true,
humblingly true. to be part of this chosen generation. There is a generation, a chosen
generation, whom God has called, whom God chose in eternity past. And as the Lord spoke when he
was in the upper room, those well-known words, they're always
worth repeating, ye have not chosen me. We would not, we could
not. And so, if the Holy Spirit has
given us a little evidence of light and life, it is because
of what He has done in choosing us. How clear it is. You have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring
forth fruit and that your fruit should remain. It is the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit. And how wonderful if you and
I can trace out, perhaps in some small measure, don't forget a
little that a righteous man hath is better, and the riches of
men treasures of many wicked. Just a little of God's grace,
just a little of his mercy, just a little of his love. Don't throw
it away. It's very valuable because it
brings with it eternal life. And so may we have the evidence
in our hearts that we are chosen of God and it's Him that has
done it. He's called us out of the Condition that we were born in,
shaping in sin. Born in sin, shaping in iniquity.
That was our condition. And yet to know that God has
come, perhaps in very strange places, perhaps in very strange
ways, and yet to know that he has come and called us out of
that condition. The condition in which we were
born, the condition in which we remained until, until a great
day, a wonderful day, an amazing day in your life and my life
when there was that call from God that went home to our heart
and it showed to us that we were amongst those who
were chosen, chosen by God, created anew, given spiritual life. Our darkness turned to light,
our deadness turned to life, and it was all of grace. And
so, what do we find? We find then this great and wonderful
beginning is then founded upon this cornerstone, this chief
cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ. And initially, we often don't
recognize what's happening in our life. What is it? There's been something there
and there's been that wasn't before. There's a desire put
there which we never had before. There's a change in our concerns
which we didn't have before. We find ourselves perhaps praying,
which we never did before. When I say that I mean praying
from our heart. Praying those prayers that God
has indicted with us. And there it is, the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit, so that we are then this chosen generation. And what occurs? I believe the
Holy Spirit then leads us to Jesus, directs us to him as the
only way of salvation. And that is then how The Spirit
directs us to recognize that we are this chosen generation. Not only a chosen generation,
but a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. You know,
priests in the Old Testament times, they were chosen. And
they were chosen to serve the Lord. They had various duties. The priests had various duties.
We know, of course, the high priest had a specific duty and
so did the other priests. But they all had duties. They
all had those things which they were chosen to do. And therefore,
what a mercy for us today if we find ourselves not only in
this priesthood, but in the royal priesthood. You may say, well,
why is that? I'll tell you why it is. It's
because we have a king to serve. We have a great and glorious
king, this king who is described here as the chief cornerstone,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I wonder if we really are
thankful to know that we're chosen by God. And we're not chosen
by God to just sit at home in our armchair and just take it
easy. We are called to be a royal priesthood. One who are servants of the Most
High God. What a humbling experience. What
a humbling consideration. to realise that the Lord God,
to omnipotent reigns, has chosen us to this position, to this
office. And so, he tells us here, Peter
tells us very clearly, isn't it, that we are this chosen generation. We are a royal priest, and remember
it all follows on from this. who behold he lays in Zion a
chief cornerstone and a neck precious and he that believeth
on him. It comes down to that, doesn't
it? When God gives us that grace, gives us that recognition that
there is the need to be saved and that there is only one savior. and that one Saviour is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And as our hearts and as our
attention is directed to the Blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ, and then to read such a word as this, which should
touch our hearts, to think what a privilege it is, isn't it?
It is an amazing favour to be recognized to be chosen for this
position a royal priesthood. A royal priesthood. Well I hope
we have some little understanding of the greatness of such a position. I suppose naturally, if the Queen
was to call us to the palace, to serve in the palace, we would
think it was a wonderful honour and we would no doubt be very
proud of it and would want people to know that we've been called
to that position. But this position is far superior. This position is far higher.
because we are called by the King of Kings. We've been chosen
for this specific position to be part of this royal priesthood,
to be found serving the Lord. And also then, he goes on, an
holy nation, a holy people, a people who are sanctified people who
are made holy. What an amazing thought that
is. See, all these words, they flow
together and they're descriptive of the true Church of God. Many people today pass over so
much of the Word of God. It's a great blessing if God
gives us that grace to ponder the words and to study the words
and to see our little life Unworthy as it is, which it is, I'm sure
the Spirit of God comes upon us. We see ourselves as so unworthy. Indeed, just like the Apostle
Paul said, as I mentioned in prayer, less than the least of
all saints. One thing is clear, I'm sure,
if we did have a high opinion of ourself, The Spirit of God
will very soon bring us down to have a low opinion of ourselves.
And what does that do? It produces a high opinion of
the grace of God. That favour was so great, to
pick us up, to put us on our feet. to put a new song in our
hearts even praise unto our God and so a holy nation and a peculiar
people. God's people are a peculiar people
to the world's eye because they don't want to follow all the
things of time, all the things of the world now we have an old
nature and of course that nature at one time only wanted to follow
the things of the world and did not want to follow the things
of God but as the grace of God comes into our hearts and as
we observe in some small measure perhaps the cost of our salvation
to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, then you see, will it
not have an effect upon us, to this end, that we are willing
to be a peculiar people. We're not part of the world. We don't want to follow the world. And as such, the world may think,
well, what a peculiar person he is. What a peculiar person
she is. Fancy believing in the Bible. We find this, don't we, on our
market stall. We find people coming, don't
they? And they say how strange, how peculiar, that you should
believe. And they often say, in their
view, such rubbish and fairy tales. But it's a privilege,
isn't it, to be recognized as a peculiar people, not someone
that just follows the things of time, follows the things of
this world, which will so, so soon finish. And so what a mercy
if we're amongst those who view this great and glorious Savior
as the chief cornerstone, and if we do, He will be precious. He will be exceedingly valuable
to us. And you may say, well, why is
that? Because he's our only hope. He's our only hope. If Christ
had failed to rise from the dead, a conqueror, there would be no
hope. But my friends, we're thankful for that plan of salvation. We're
thankful to God today for all that Jesus did. For all that
he did, he fulfilled the law on our behalf. We who fail so
much, so regularly, and so sinfully, so often, the many sins which
beset our hearts and minds, and the people don't see perhaps
and know about. It's a good job, isn't it? But
it's a mercy when the Holy Spirit shows to us what dwells within. And so we need. We need our inside to be cleansed. We need our heart to be cleansed. And if that is our need, we will
then realise this great saviour who is this chief cornerstone
is elect and he is precious. He is very valuable to us. Very
valuable No one else can take our case and satisfy the demands
of God's holy law. If it were not for the Lord Jesus
Christ, where would we be? I'll tell you, lost eternally. Surely that makes the Saviour
so valuable, so precious, so wonderful. And so here we have
this statement chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
and a holy nation, a peculiar people, and blessed with these
wonderful favours. And they are. Let us not underestimate
them. Let us think how great they are.
And so the apostle goes on, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness, into His marvellous
light. And it is. It is a marvellous
light. When the Lord, by His Spirit,
brings us out of darkness into the light, it is a marvellous
light. And what does that light do?
My friends, it directs us to the Lord Jesus Christ. directs
us to Him who is the Light, isn't it? The Light. What a wonderful
thing it is to know that the Saviour Himself tells us so clearly,
I am the Light of the world. And that means without Him in
our lives we're in darkness. We're in darkness. But you see,
if He has chosen us, then the light has shone and
it directs us to Himself, so that He is lifted up. And therefore to think that we
have this statement here, that ye should show forth the praises
of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous
light. It's an amazing and wonderful
and blessed favour to be amongst those who are chosen in this
way. And our blessed privilege is
to enter into this statement that we should show forth His
praise. And what is that? The praise
of Him who has called us. Called us. out of darkness, into
his marvelous light. My friends, what an amazing blessing
it is. And how humbling it is, as we
recognize that God has not left us, not left us to just rumble
on through life and then to fall into hell, but by his sovereign
grace, He's chosen us. And because He's
chosen us, He's called us. And we've heard the great and
glorious call of the gospel. And so we have this wonderful
truth that ye should show forth the praises of Him. And the true
Church of God desire to show forth His praise because of what
He's done. Is he not worthy? He is worthy.
He's so worthy. He's worthy above everything
else because of the cost of that salvation which he's freely given
to such sinners of the earth. He's touched our hearts. He's
touched our hearts who have called us, called us. We know individually. We don't
know precisely what another feels and knows. But as we stand before
God, we have the evidence in our hearts that God has called us. It may have been in a very quiet
way, in a still, small voice. It may have been like a thunderbolt,
as it were, which has brought us, as it were, to our senses,
like it did Martin Luther all those years ago, when he was
in a great thunderstorm, and a thunderbolt hit a tree right
by him, and he trembled, and it was that which brought the
calling of God into his soul. But there are many. whose heart
the Lord opens to receive his word, which means receiving his
calling. But the blessed wonder is that
he does call his people. And that call brings them out
of that condition of death, of deadness, into life. And so this wonderful blessing
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. You
see, everyone who gets the glory will know something of the marvellousness
of this light because it's not of themselves and it's not of
the world. It emanates from God himself. And it's a mercy if we know that. So to be blessed with this as
we think of this, come back to this because it must all rest
and be founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he is
the chief cornerstone. Anything less than this will
not be sufficient to take us home to glory. And the Word of
God is full of this great truth of the Savior as being this great
foundation. As we said very clearly in Isaiah,
and of course throughout the Word of God, We have this wonderful
statement. And so may we be thankful tonight
for it and may it have a gracious and blessed effect upon us. And again, the apostle goes on. You see, obviously, he had a
wonderful knowledge by the grace of God or the work of God in
his soul. And he comes and he tells us, which in time past
were not a people. Is that true? Is that true in your life and
my life? In time past, there was a time past when we were
not a people. No, time past we were not a people. But are now. But are now. A change has taken place. But
are now. The people of God. The people
of God. those who are bought with a price,
those who have been made spiritually alive, those in whose heart as
the light of the Almighty God shined. In time past were not a people,
but are now the people of God. Well, what a mercy tonight if
you and I can trace out the evidence of God's work in our heart, So
that we are, we have the knowledge that we are the people of God. That through His amazing love,
through His wonderful mercy, He hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserved. He hasn't cut us off as a cumber
of the ground. But He's been merciful to us. And therefore we can understand
Again what the Apostle said when he said, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Have obtained mercy. Well, have we obtained mercy? We have. If the Holy Spirit has
shined into our heart, we've obtained mercy. The mercy of
God. It's a great blessing to be a
partaker of this mercy of God and I think Jerry Meyer speaks
of it so very beautifully when he wrote his Lamentations and
he tells us he says in the Lamentations he says, it is of the Lord's
mercies that we are not consumed. And I'm sure all the Church of
God agree with Jeremiah. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. And he tells us the reason. He
tells us the reason. Because his compassions fail
not. His compassion toward us And
it's not just one off. He tells us, they are new every
morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Now, just to remind you, of course,
this was the chapter that Jeremiah complains that God hadn't heard
his prayers and he led him into darkness and not into light and
he turned against him. But, The Lord was with him, and
he was brought to that. And that's why he tells us this,
I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. And this was his
hope. This was the evidence of that
hope. The Lord's mercies continue,
and he tells us, thou knew every morning, great is thy faithfulness. We have, my friends, a faithful
God. A faithful God. There's one more
word he then says, this is what Jeremiah, the Lord is my portion,
saith my soul. Therefore will I hope in him. That's a blessing, isn't it?
To be brought there, to be able to say yes. By the grace of God,
I can stand with Jeremiah, I can stand with Peter because of that
which he has done in my soul, that which I could not have done
for myself. No, but it's of His goodness. The Lord is my portion,
saith my soul. His heart, His innermost being,
therefore will I hope in Him. And that won't be a false hope,
it's a good hope. Because Jeremiah had his confidence
in his God and Peter had his confidence in his God. And my
friends, may you and I have our confidence in our God and be
able to say just like Peter does in this epistle, Yes, which had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And you know,
he continues to go on and give us some advice. And it's all
relevant really to this great truth that we are on this solid
rock, on this cornerstone, on this chief cornerstone of Christ
himself. And if we are, you see, the effect
of that is this building is built up The building is built up,
it's built up on the doctrine of God, and it's built up also
on our profession, it's built up on our life as we go ahead
and go forward in this world. And you see, if we've got a good
foundation, then you see the building will rise. If we've
got a wrong foundation, it will just wobble and fall. But if
we're founded upon this chief cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ,
we'll see then his great and glorious example set before us
in the Word of God. And we will be so thankful for
the great truths it contains, because we see what the Lord
Jesus had to endure. And therefore, as we walk on
this earth, and we have to endure opposition to realize, yes, but
I'm walking the way the Saviour walked. And I'm walking, as it
were, hand in hand with my Saviour. Yes, and it's a blessed path,
isn't it? To walk that way. And what does
it do? It leads us to glory, and it
ends in glory. The Apostle tells us, Dearly
Beloved, Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims
abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Isn't it
easy to read it? Isn't it easy to forget it? And
yet you see we have such very clear words and how strengthened
they should be to us. that we should indeed abstain
from such things. And he tells us, having your
conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak
against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which
they shall behold, glorify God in a day of visitation. This
will be the effect, you see, if we're on this chief cornerstone. Yes, there will be that desire
to be upright, to be, as it were, vertical and not to bend to the
whims of the world, but to be found walking in that direct
way and setting a good example. And then always to remember the
great and glorious example of the Saviour Himself, especially
as we came to the end of this this chapter where he says, for
even here unto were ye called. You were called to follow the
life of the Lord Jesus. And in the previous verses, we
read it together, the statements which refers to this calling
and what it meant. Just going on, he says, because
Christ also suffered for us. leaving us an example that we
should follow his steps. You see, it's not a way which
is not laid down for us. Blessed Word of God sets before
us the way, the right way, the narrow way, and the Saviour tells
us, I am the way. What a mercy it is then to have
a way set before us. And the Lord tells us through
the Apostle Peter, this was the example, who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, reviled
not again, When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to him that judges righteously. Now that's a wonderful privilege,
isn't it? To be able to come and commit ourselves to this
great and glorious saviour, this chief cornerstone. Yes, commit
ourselves unto him. And when he was reviled, reviled
not again, When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed
himself to him that judges righteously, who his own self bear our sins
in his own body on the tree. Our sins. Just think of it. Our
sins of the day. Just today. Perhaps just while
we've been here in this chapel tonight. All the many sins. The Saviour doesn't say, well,
you're just too bad. You're just too bad. There's
no hope for you. No, the Saviour came to seek
and to save that which was lost, for His own self. The blessed
Saviour bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose
stripes ye were healed. Ye were healed. We need to be
healed. This is the way. Never underestimate the cost,
my friends, the great cost of our salvation. For ye were as
sheep going astray, but now, but are now. Again, there's another,
but are now. As we read previously, but are
now. returned under the shepherd and bishop of your souls. Well,
tonight, may we indeed desire to be found on this great and
glorious cornerstone. And may our spiritual building
rise based on the truth of God's word. and based on the desire
to follow this despised and crucified man so that men and women, boys
and girls, to acknowledge that we have been with Jesus and have
learned of Him. Oh friends, we do need to learn
of Him. We do need to live closer to
Him. And we do need to look forward
to that day when by His grace we shall be with Him. forever,
that one who gave himself that we might live. Amen.