With the Lord's help I'd like
to draw your attention to verse 4 of that second chapter of that
reading that we read together. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4
where we read the words to whom coming as unto a living stone,
disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Here we're brought once again
in the gospel records and in the epistles, we're brought again,
once again, to consider the Lord Jesus Christ. You will remember
how the Apostle Paul, and as I've said many times before from
this pulpit and other pulpits, that I consider that the Apostle
Paul was the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, and he says that
we should consider the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, wherefore, seeing
we are all so encompassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross
despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the
throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself consider him and the apostle Peter here
says to whom coming as unto a living stone we are not certain when
this epistle was written it certainly was written by Peter the one
who when the Lord Jesus Christ first met him called him a stone
if you turn to the first chapter of John's Gospel we see that
the Lord Jesus Christ said to him thou art Simon the son of
Jonah thou shalt be called Cephas or Cephas which is by interpretation
a stone and there is a great difference between a stone a
pebble a mountain and a great rock which is which? The Apostle
Peter, is he a stone? Is he a small stone, the kind
of stone that you would find on a beach, or in a garden? Or is he the rock, like a mountain,
like the great hills in the Peak District, or those mountains
that are in the Alps, or the Andes, or some other mountain
range? Which is it? Is he a stone, or
is he a mountain? is he a pebble or is he a rock? well the scriptures are quite
clear that he is a stone, he is a little stone and you will
recall in the 13th chapter if memory serves me right of the
gospel according to Matthew how that no it's not the 13th it's
Matthew chapter 16 where the Lord Jesus asks the question
whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? and there are those
who said that the Lord Jesus Christ was John the Baptist or
Elias or some of the other prophets then the Lord Jesus asks a more
personal question but whom say ye that I am? and Simon Peter
on the behalf of the other disciples said of the Lord Jesus Christ
thou art the Christ the Son of the Living God and he describes
the Lord Jesus Christ in three ways he says you are the Christ
you are the anointed of God and indeed the Lord Jesus Christ
was the anointed you remember when the Lord Jesus Christ was
in the synagogue at at Nazareth he took the book of the prophecy
of Isaiah and he read from what we commonly call the 61st chapter
of the prophecy of Isaiah and he says the spirit of the Lord
God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek he has sent me to bind up the broken
hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and so on he acknowledges
that he is the anointed of God and Simon Peter as I said speaking
on the behalf of the disciples not just for himself but on the
part of for the disciples he says Thou art the Christ the
anointed of God he is anointed of God to be the prophet, the
priest and the king and the other officers that the Lord Jesus
Christ undertook on the behalf of his people then he says Thou
art the Son the Son of God, the Eternal Son of God the One who
dwelt with the Father from all eternity with neither beginning
nor ending as Paul writes of the Lord Jesus Christ as a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek He is the Eternal Son of God
and then he is the son of the living God acknowledging that
our God is not an idol made of stone before whom we bow down,
he's not made of stone, he's not made of wood, not made of
gold or any other precious metal, but he is the living God which
is again confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ. in John on the
Isle of Patmos where he says I am he that liveth and was dead
and behold I am alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell
and of death The Lord Jesus says, Bless art
thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed it
unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. In other words,
the Lord Jesus Christ is saying that this truth that has been
uttered by Simon Peter, that thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God, that it is a revelation from Almighty God
And I say unto thee that thou art Peter, thou art a stone, as the Lord Jesus called him
there in the opening chapter of John's Gospel. But he goes
on to say, and upon this rock I will build my church. Again,
there is that difference. There is that difference between
Petra and Petros. The one is the pebble and the
other is the rock. and we build upon the rock remember
how the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to first of all the twelve and
then to a greater crowd on that mount and he says that the wise
man builds not upon a pebble not upon a little stone but he
builds upon a rock therefore I will liken him to a wise man
which built his house upon a rock the rain descended and the floods
came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not
for it was founded upon a rock and so the apostle Peter is writing
this epistle we know not really from where he says Towards the
end of this epistle, the church that is in Babylon, elected together
with you, saluteth you, and so doth Marcus my son. It may be
that he's right, he's speaking about literal Babylon in the
East. of the fertile crescent or he
might be referring to Rome, the spiritual Babylon but it matters
not from whence he was writing this epistle he is writing concerning
the rock of the Lord Jesus Christ and these verses that we read
together they speak about the rock and we'll come on to that
if time permits but to whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed
indeed of men but chosen of God 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 become founded
and to 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 offence you see what the Apostle Peter is doing
writing under the inspiration of the Spirit he is saying that
he is not the foundation of the church The foundation of the
church is to be found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember
how Paul writes to the Ephesians, I think it is, where he says
that we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone and it is an
illusion back to Psalm 118 where the psalmist there is writing
of the building of the temple and the chief cornerstone that
was cut away from the mountain that was cut in the quarries
and brought to the temple site and when it was brought it was
found not to be the right size it was as if the architect if
they had such people in those days and engineers they certainly
must have had engineers to build some of those great buildings
that have lasted from early history the designer of the temple had
set the cornerstone at a certain size certain dimensions and the
stone that came from the quarries already cut was a different size but they had to put the cornerstone
in even though it was rejected by the architect and by the engineers
they had to adjust the building to fit in that cornerstone and
the Lord Jesus Christ is that cornerstone that was rejected. Well, says the Apostle Peter,
to whom coming? To whom coming? Who is it that
comes to the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, we have a
catalogue of those who will not come. The Lord Jesus speaks in
John's Gospel, John chapter 6, and verse 37 all the Father that
giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh unto me I will
in no wise cast out but in John chapter 5 and verse 40 we have
those who will not come to the Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus Christ
is speaking to the multitude in the temple and he says, search
the scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and
they are they which testify of me and ye will not come, ye will
not come who is it then that he is speaking of? well if we
look at the context we see how the Lord Jesus Christ had been
in Jerusalem and he went to that pool which is called in the Hebrew
tongue Bethesda having five porches and there were those who laid
there for many a long year hoping to be healed when the waters
of that pool were stirred by an angel and there was this certain
man we're not told his name he'd been there for 38 years imagine
38 long years almost two-thirds of a lifetime he'd been there
and the years had passed he'd grown older and no doubt his
infirmity had got worse over the years and he was incapable
of dragging himself back down into the pool so that he could
be healed by the angel who troubled the waters and it was only the
first one that ventured into the pool no matter how near he
lay to the pool he was unable to push himself into the water
be healed. But the Lord Jesus comes to him
and says, will thou be made whole? And he says, rise up, rise, take
up thy bed and walk. And it was on the Sabbath day.
And so there was that dispute about whether a man should be,
A, healed on the Sabbath day, and B, whether he should take
up his bed and walk. Well, they dispute with the Lord
Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ says, and ye will not
come, well who is it that are disputing with him? well on the
Sabbath day there would have been those Pharisees there there
were always Pharisees following the Lord Jesus not that they
wanted to follow him in the proper sense of following and becoming
a disciple of the Lord Jesus but that they might hear and
criticise that they might find fault with the Lord Jesus Christ
but you remember our Lord Jesus Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled
and separate from sinners he was tempted in all points like
as we are yet without sin and so they can find no fault with
him and when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ being brought
before the Sanhedrin they had to make up and bring false witnesses
because they could find no fault in the Lord Jesus Christ and
so there were the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees
who would be there listening to the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ but also the ordinary person who was an orthodox follower
of the Mosaic Law and all these characters are there in the temple
in Jerusalem and at the pool of Bethesda and the Lord Jesus says to them
all and ye will not come to me that ye might have life why is
that? why is that? because we come back to the stone
the Lord Jesus Christ is the stone that is rejected of men
those who love their religion they reject the Lord Jesus Christ
remember how John opens his his gospel and he says he came unto
his own and his own received him not he was in the world and
the world was made by him and the world knew him not so the
first question we must ask this evening is do we know the Lord
Jesus Christ? Do we know that eternal life
that is in and given by the Lord Jesus Christ? The Lord Jesus
says concerning that eternal life that this is life eternal
and this is life eternal that they may know thee the only true
God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Do we know the Lord
Jesus Christ? Have we met with the Lord Jesus
Christ? Has there been that revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ to us? Says the Apostle Paul It pleased
God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
his grace to reveal his Son in me. Has there been that revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, it is those that are coming
to the Lord Jesus. To whom? Coming. So who is the
one to whom we come? Why it is only the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here we have the Lord Jesus
Christ set before us as the rock. We've already mentioned that
he is the rock. So he is the living stone. Daniel speaks, you recall, about
the living stone in Daniel chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar has had this
dream and he he saw this image made out of
various metals and it was a great person and then he calls the mystics and the prophets in Babylon
to interpret the dream. None of them, of course, can
interpret the dream. Indeed, it was only revealed
to Daniel. Then was the secret revealed
unto Daniel in a night vision. There Daniel blessed the God
of heaven. and Daniel goes on to say he described the image
the head was fine gold the breast and arms of silver the belly
and thighs of brass the legs of iron and the feet of iron
and part clay and he said this is the one whom you saw and you
saw this image until a stone was cut out without hands and
it smoked the image and then he goes on to describe this stone
and he said the stone became a great mountain and filled the
whole earth well this is the Lord Jesus Christ he's speaking
of do we consider him? do we consider the Lord Jesus
Christ as the living stone? the one who can work and does
work in the hearts of sinners the one who quickens and makes
alive the one who stood beside the tomb of Lazarus he who was
dead had been dead many days by this time, says his sister,
he stinketh the putrefaction would have set in but the Lord
Jesus said nonetheless roll away the stone that covers the grave
and then he shouts Lazarus come forth and he which was dead came
forth he was made alive by the quickening power of the word
of God and so it is the same with dead sinners and you happy
quicken says the apostle Paul to the Ephesians and you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins oh we're dead no life in us and
yet we come we come unto him as a living stone because he
has life I am come says the Lord Jesus that they might have life
and that they might have it more abundantly he is the living stone
disallowed indeed of men which we've covered but chosen of God
he is God's chosen one he is the one who came from the glories
of heaven he laid his glory by he wrapped him in our clay and
marked by human eye the latent Godhead lay our God contracted
to a span incomprehensibly made man he is disallowed indeed of
men but chosen of God and then it says the Apostle Peter, he
is precious. He is precious. What a mercy
it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is precious. So how do we regard
the Lord Jesus Christ? Is he precious to us? Is he a
sure-mite maiden? she considered her beloved and she regarded
him as being precious she gives that description to the daughters
of Jerusalem found there in the fifth chapter of the Song of
Solomon and describes him with great precision if I may say
she describes her beloved and then it's as if she thinks to
herself that that which I said about my beloved, about Solomon
is insufficient to describe the one whom I love and so she goes
on to say, yea he is altogether lovely there is nothing about
the Lord Jesus Christ that is unlovely even in the way that
he deals with us and sometimes he deals with us in ways that
bring us very low sometimes in his providence and in his mercies
he brings us into the dark valley but it is in the dark valley
that the lily of the valleys grows and the Lord Jesus Christ
is the lily of the valleys not just the lily of the valley but
he is the lily of the valleys every valley that we are brought
into whether it be a valley of ill health whether it be a valley
of poverty whether it be a valley of depression no matter what
the valley is when the Lord brings us there brings us into those
dark places he is very precious to us and he is the fairest among
10,000 and he is worth more than worth all that this world has to offer. He is very precious. To whom
coming? Well, do we come to the Lord
Jesus Christ? How do we come to the Lord Jesus?
To whom coming? Well, we come in prayer, do we
not? Well, before we come to God in
prayer, we come to God in repentance. you come to God in repentance
there must be that repentance or some people have struggled
with sin and the burden of sin for many, many years and they
still feel that they are carrying the burden of sin others they
are brought to see their sinfulness in a moment and they come in
a moment to the Lord Jesus Christ and they are able to cast their
burden upon the Lord but they come in repentance what a mercy
it is that the Lord doesn't describe how much burden of sin there
must be but he says that there has to be that conviction of
sin Are we conscious of our sinfulness? Oh, it is easy to say with the
Apostle Paul, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, but do we know it in our hearts? Do we know that sinfulness
in our own hearts? Oh God, grant that we might indeed
be convicted of our sin, whether it be a deep conviction or whether
it be just a gentle conviction. I always like to contrast the
Apostle Paul and his call by grace how he was converted that
he had the power of God hit him so much that he fell off his
horse and he was blinded by the glory that shone round about
him he saw something of felt something of the conviction of
sin but on the other hand there was Lydia among those women who
met by the side of the river whose heart the Lord opened there
was that gentle work sometimes the Lord has to humble us and
bring us down abruptly but sometimes the Lord works very gently in
our hearts but there is that conviction of sin God grant that
we might each know that conviction of sin why? because the Lord
Jesus said I am come not to call the righteous, those who think
they're good, just like that Pharisee in Luke's Gospel, there
was the Pharisee and the publican, you recall the Lord Jesus speaking
about the Pharisee and the publican, and the Pharisee prayed thus
with himself, God I thank thee I am not like others, he points
as it were to the publican right at the back of the court of the
Gentiles and he says I find that I'm not like this man I tithe,
I do this, I do that and he went down to his house with no forgiveness
of sins but the other who knew the burden of sin he comes and
he prays God be merciful to me a sinner or the thief upon the
cross he said to his companion in crime, we're in this position
because of our just desserts but then there was that acknowledgement
of sin, that repentance of sin and we deserve it, he says and
then he turns to the Lord Jesus, he prays God, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom or like the Apostle Paul
Ananias was sent to Paul by the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost
said to him, for behold he prayeth Prayer is the soul's sincere
desire uttered or unexpressed the motion of a hidden fire that
burns within the breast Prayer is the Christian's vital breath
the Christian's native air his watchword at the gates of death
he enters heaven with a prayer a prayer is important for the
child of God it is a sign of a work of grace in our hearts
not a formality of prayer but a pouring out of the heart in
prayer before the throne of grace the Children's Hymn says I often
say my prayers but do I really pray? how we have to examine
ourselves to come before Almighty God in prayer to whom coming
when we're weary of sin when we're weary of our backslidings
we often turn our eyes from off the Lord Jesus Christ Bunyan
speaks in his Pilgrim's Progress of one resting in Bypath Meadow
it is easy so to do but it is difficult to keep trudging in
that narrow way step by step one step in front of another
but it is a journey it is a pilgrimage that brings great reward to whom
coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but
chosen of God and precious and so there is that promise and
that assurance given to the child of God that ye are a chosen generation
a royal priesthood and holy nation a peculiar people those are the
descriptions given to the people of God four descriptions we don't
have time this evening to look at those four descriptions but
then he goes on to say that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous
light that ye should show forth the praises the virtues of the
Lord Jesus Christ for that's what the word means the praises
of him who hath called you what a mercy it is to be called out
of nature's night into the glorious light and liberty of the Gospel
to whom coming have we come have we been brought by the Spirit
of God to the Lord Jesus Christ Thomas was brought to the Lord
Jesus by the Spirit of God on that second resurrection day
in the evening he saw the Lord Jesus he didn't have to reach
forth his hands he recognised he was brought to see the Lord
Jesus Christ or there are many other examples of those who have
been brought the prodigal son being brought back to his father
given the rope, given the ring, given the shoes all to prove
that he was still a child of God and Joshua in the book of
Zechariah he's filled the garments, taken away and clothed in a fresh
garment and likewise we are brought into the family we are given
that robe we are given the ring we are given the shoes we are
no longer a slave we have shoes on our feet to walk in the Master's
way that Joshua was given that robe of righteousness so that
he could minister. His filthy rags were taken away
and that is the blessing of the child of God. To whom coming?
Have we come? Have we been brought to the Lord
Jesus? God grant that that may be our experience, that we are
brought by faith, by the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord had his blessing
to these few folks for his namesake.