by the grace of God in Christ,
and they struggle every single day. Every single day. But their
hope, their hope is the same hope that we as believers have,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in Him alone. So let's look at our scripture
today. We're starting in verse 5 of
chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 5, and we're read the verse
12, but our text will be found in verses 7 and 8. Ye 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 the Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion, and notice
who's laying the stone in Zion. It's God who lays this stone,
and this stone is the Lord Jesus Christ, 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.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy
nation, a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises
of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous
light, which in times past were not a people, but are now the
people of God. which had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy. Dearly beloved, I beseech you,
as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshy lusts, which war
against the soul, having your conversation honest among the
Gentiles, that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers,
they may buy your good works, which they shall behold. Glorify
God in the day of visitation. So last weekend, we considered
verse six, where we looked at how Christ is the chief cornerstone.
He's the foundation. of the spiritual temple, which
is being spoken of in verse 5, the spiritual house. He's the
foundation of the church, and the spiritual house there is
made up of all the elect of all the ages. All the elect of all
the ages. And Christ is the foundation
stone. He's the foundation stone. He's
the one that we are built upon. And this spiritual house, again,
is the body of Christ. And we consider it how we're
lively stones, only in Christ, and living stones. And that Christ,
again, is the foundation stone upon which this building is founded.
God is the architect. He's the builder of the spiritual
temple. He's the foundation that we're built upon. And we considered
how it is God who has made him to be the chief cornerstone.
Because scripture says there, behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. This is a work of God. This is
a work of God. God has made Christ, made Christ
the chief cornerstone. The chief cornerstone. This is
God's doing. God's doing. And he is building
this spiritual temple of which God's people are the stones.
We're a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices and notice
says in verse 5 acceptable to God by Jesus Christ by Jesus
Christ. That's the only way God will
accept this. We also consider how Christ is a chosen of God
appointed and chosen to be the redeemer of God's people and
that we are chosen in Christ. We also consider that he's precious
to God's people. He's precious, which in the Greek
means He's valuable. Is He valuable to you? Do you
value Him above all things? The believer says, yes. Yes,
I value Him above all things. All things. And it's God that's
made it so, too. And we also consider the latter
part of the verse, which proclaims that all who believe on Christ
will not be confounded. We look at how that means God's
people will not be disappointed because all that that God has
promised to his people is in Christ, is in Christ, and they
will never be disappointed. Those who trust and rest on Christ
will never be disappointed, will never be confounded. So again,
let us consider the setting of the book. It's written to suffering
saints. They're being persecuted for their faith. They're holding
fast to the truth. and how this letter would strengthen
them when they received this letter, when it was read to them,
how this would strengthen their faith. And they would know that
going through these trials and tribulations would bring glory
and honor and praise to the great Redeemer in whom we have all
spiritual blessings. Let's look at verses six to eight. But our text will be in verses
7 and 8, but we'll read the context of it here. 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. Unto you therefore, so he's writing
to believers, which believe he is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient, there's unbelievers, 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. Look at verse seven. 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. Note to the believer,
Christ is precious. He's precious, he's valued. He's
valued, highly esteemed, the Greek says. But note the anti-type
in the next verse, to those who do not believe, he's a stone
to stumble. He's a stone to stumble, he's
not valuable to them. They don't value Christ at all.
Now I was there before the Lord saved me. He wasn't valuable
to me. I didn't have a care for God,
I didn't have a care for the people of God, and I didn't have
a care for the word of God. Now that I'm born again, oh, he's so valuable. He's valued
to me more than anything. Is it so with you? Is it so with
you? So those who do not believe he's
a stone, a stumbling on the rock of offense, his enemies stumble
at the word. They stumble at this word. I
did. And I know you who believe, and
who were saved later in life, I know you stumbled at this word
too, didn't we? I know every one of us who believe,
and before we were saved, we stumbled at this word. We stumbled
at it. Oh, it was offensive to us at
one time. My. So his enemies stumbled at the
word, being disobedient, weren't you? Now this talks about weren't
you they were appointed, and we'll look at that later on.
The Lord Jesus Christ is precious to those who believe, those who
rest and trust in Him. When we consider what we have
in Christ, when we consider the value of our wonderful Savior,
the value of His blood, which purchased our pardon, the pardon
for all our sins, and when we consider that God is only pleased
in Christ, Oh, how valuable He is to us. Because we know outside
of Christ, God is not pleased with us, is He? But in Christ,
He's pleased. He's pleased with His people.
And this makes Him very, very precious to the people of God.
Christ is precious to His people in His person. The fact that
all temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings are centered
in Him, and come to we who believe through Him, and that we are
united to Him as the head, and we are the body, this makes Him
precious to us. Precious to us. Without Him,
we have no spiritual blessings, do we? None. None. Absolutely none. No redemption
outside of Christ. No justification before God outside
of Christ. No sanctification, which is to
be made holy, and we know we're not made holy outside of Christ,
do we? No. No hope of salvation outside
of Christ? None. None. He is eternal life for his people.
Without Christ, people have no life, no eternal life. Now, they
may physically be breathing, but they have no hope of eternal
life. None. Outside of Christ. Absolutely
none. So Christ is precious to his
people also because of his offices. He's our prophet, priest, and
king. He's our prophet, priest, and king, beloved. And because of his obedience,
and his death, and his law fulfilling, and his law satisfying sacrifice,
we are saved. We are saved. So when we consider
these things, how precious Christ is to us. How precious He is
to us. Also think of His suretyship,
His fulfilling covenant engagements on our behalf, His synatonic
offering Himself in His death, His resurrection, His ascension,
His unceasing priesthood that right now He mediates for us
in glory. Right now. Right now. And that we are redeemed and
saved. And this makes Christ so precious to His people. More
precious than anything. anything on this earth. He is
the foundation upon which we rest in all matters of the salvation
of our souls and also in all matters of life. All matters
of life. Someone once told me, well, I'm
trying to talk to you about things in the world and you keep bringing
Christ in. Well, because he's everything to me. Because he rules all the world. And because He's all my hope
and trust. And He's intertwined in my life
that everything happens in my life. He watches over me and
guides me and directs me. Without Christ, I have nothing.
So He's my foundation in all matters of life and all through
eternity, beloved. I will be able to one day behold
He who is the foundation of all my salvation, of all my redemption. And if you're in Christ, you
will too. We will see Him face to face. Not because of anything
we've done, but all because of what He's done. And all because
He's had mercy upon us. So we rest in Him. Unto you,
therefore, which believe He is precious. Christ is precious
to us. Again, when we think of His relations to us, He's the
Alpha and Omega of our salvation. He's the Bridegroom and we're
the Bride. He's bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He was
tempted like we are, yet without sin. He's the perfect sinless
man. He's God incarnate in the flesh. He knows what we go through,
yet without sin. My! He's a friend that sticketh
closer than a brother. He's our kinsman redeemer. Again,
He's the head and we're the body. And the church finds all fullness
in him, all fullness in him. So Peter here is, before us,
giving a contrast to the people of God with those who are not
the people of God. And we'll see that as we go through
this text. The people of God have been shown our guilt. God
showed me that I was a guilty sinner before him. I know it's
so with you too. He revealed that to us. We didn't
think that before. But He reveals that to His people,
doesn't He? He reveals to us that we're guilty before Him.
And we've seen our inability to come to Christ. We've seen
our desperate need of Christ. And a sinner will never come
to Christ until they see their need. And God must reveal your
need for Him. And when He does, oh my, thy
people are made willing in the day of His power. We flee to
Christ. We look to Him. We look to Him.
We look to Him. We've seen our need of a Savior.
We've seen His power to save. We see Him as prophet, priest,
and king, and oh, He's precious to us. He's precious to us. He's
precious in His person, in His sacrifice, in His offices, in
every way. So let us now see the opposite
people, which are presented here before us, those who reject Christ,
those who perish in their sins and go into a Christless eternity,
a Christless eternity. 1 Peter 2, verses 7 and 8. 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 is stumbling, and a rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed. But unto them which be disobedient,
these are those who are not persuadable, unbelieving, they are children
of disobedience, who neither obey God, nor his righteous law,
nor Christ, nor the gospel, they despise Christ. They despise
Christ. Now, before we get where we think
we're on a high horse, which I know none of us think that,
but we have to say that, don't we? We were just like that before
the Lord saved us. We don't look down on folks,
do we? Because we know there go I but
for the grace of God. There go I but for the grace
of God. God, I've obtained mercy through
Christ. And we are so thankful, aren't we? We're so thankful.
So thankful. Oh my. The stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner. But unto
them which be disobedient. They despise Christ, they despise
the Bible, they despise all the things that have to do with the
Christ. And they may not verbalize it,
but they do in their hearts. And we know because we were there.
We were there. Our text continues, the stone
which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner. This is a reference to Psalm 118.22, which says the
stone which the builders refused has become the headstone of the
corner. Now, turn if you would there to Psalm
118.118. We'll read a little portion here. I'm sorry. Psalm
118. We'll read verses 22 and 23. Psalm 18, verses 22 and 23. The stone which the builders refused
has become the headstone of the corner. So this is where Peter
is referencing. But look at the next verse. So
there's the, now to those who are disobedient, to those who
reject Christ, He's a stone of stumbling. But look at verse 23, for God's
people. This is the Lord's doing. It
is marvelous in our eyes. See how that ties in with He's
precious? He's precious to God's people. So the one, He's a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offense. To the other, He's precious.
And God's people say, this is marvelous. This is marvelous
that he's made the head of the corner. This is marvelous that
he's the foundation of my faith. This is marvelous that I have
salvation in and through Christ and Christ alone. This is marvelous. So what we see in first Peter,
chapter two is a direct reference to here in Psalm 118, 22. It's a direct reference to the
Messiah. And Peter brings forth that the Messiah is the Lord
Jesus Christ. Is the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn,
if you would, over to Matthew 21. Matthew 21. Our Lord spoke
this of himself over in Matthew 21, verses 42 to 46. Matthew
21, verses 42 to 46. Jesus saith unto them, Did you
never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders
rejected? The same has become the head of the corner. This
is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. That's
what we just read. Therefore I say unto you, the
kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation,
bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall upon
the stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will grind them to powder. And the chief priests and the
Pharisees that heard his parables, they perceived that he spake
of them. But when they sought to lay hands
on him, they feared the multitude because they took him for a prophet. So he is our foundation. He is
the headstone of the corner. He is the one who is made so
by God himself. And for his enemies, he is a
stone which will grind them to powder. Men shake their fists
now and they talk real big right now, don't they? But that day
when they stand before the Lord, they will be speechless. They will be speechless standing
before the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. Look at again
at First Peter, chapter two. Verse seven, unto you therefore
which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient,
the stones to build is disallowed, the same is made the head of
the corner. Again, this speaks of Jesus of Nazareth. This speaks
of Christ, by whose name the lame man was made whole. He is
the stone spoken of in Psalm 118.22, by whom it is meant the
true Messiah. The true Messiah, that's a direct
reference to the Messiah. And he's comparable to a stone
for his strength, beloved, for his strength, his endurance. And as one commentator said,
his usefulness is a foundation and cornerstone. He's the only
foundation of the church. He's the only foundation of his
people. He's the cornerstone in the spiritual building, which
is the church. And God has made him so. The priests and elders
and scribes who were fond of being called builders, they like
to be called builders, the priests, the scribes, and the elders had,
just like religious folks today, built up a whole work without
Christ. Nothing new under the sun. There's nothing new under
the sun. People are still doing the same
thing. They had built themselves, the Pharisees, scribes, and elders
had built themselves and taught others to build upon a foundation
of the ceremonial law. A foundation of their own righteousness. They had rejected Christ, both
in person and in doctrine. They rejected Him as Messiah,
and they refused Him as the Savior and Redeemer, and He was despised
and rejected by them, and at last put to death by them. Yet,
He was raised from the dead by God and exalted at the right
hand of God, And He is the stone which has become the head of
the corner. He's the chief cornerstone that
adorns, strengthens, and knits and keeps together all who are in Him. The whole spiritual building
rests upon Him. Jew and Gentile, all the saints,
all the elect of all the ages, are united together in Christ. And he is the foundation which
keeps the whole building together and up. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And
so think of this as Peter's writing to these saints who are just
going through things. How this would encourage their
faith. How this would encourage them through trials and tribulations
and afflictions that come their way. The foundation of my faith
is God Himself. God Himself. God incarnate in
the flesh. The Lord Jesus Christ. Fully
God and fully man. And see the opposite, where the
Jews had built upon a foundation all their own works. All their
own works. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the foundation and cornerstone the head of the building, and
he's exalted right now at the right hand of God, far above
all angels and men. Now the unpersuaded and unbelieving,
for them the very stone which they rejected and refused has
become the main cornerstone of the church, all by a decree and
act of God. All by a decree and act of God.
Therefore, instead of being To them, their foundation and refuge,
He's the stone which causes them to stumble. And He's an offensive stone to
them. Let's look at verse 8. Here, Peter brings forth the
prophecy of the Messiah. Again, another prophecy of the
Messiah. Actually, turn, if you would, to Isaiah 8, chapter 8,
verse, and we'll look at verses 14 and 15 before we read 1 Peter
2, verse 8, because this is another reference to the Messiah. Again,
so Peter's bringing forth that Christ is the Messiah. He's the
one spoken of in the Old Testament. He's the one who's been promised
by God. Look at this in Isaiah, chapter
eight, verses 14 and 15. I ask you in times of trouble
and in times of tribulation, in times of affliction, what's
your sanctuary? What's your refuge? The believer says, Christ is
my sanctuary. Christ is my refuge. Oh my. Look at this in Isaiah 8, 14
and 15. And he shall be for a sanctuary.
He's a sanctuary. He's a refuge for his people.
But for a stone of stumbling, for a rock of a fence to both
the houses of Israel, for a djinn and for a snare to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem. So for one he's a sanctuary, and for the other
he's a stumbling block and a stone and a rock of a fence and a snare.
And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be
snared and be taken. So this is speaking of the Messiah. Let's go back to first Peter,
chapter two, verse eight. And look what it says of Christ,
the Messiah. In a stone of stumbling and a
rock of a fence, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." A stone of stumbling
and a rock of a fence. Now think of this, the Jews stumbled
at His birth. They expected the Messiah would
have sprung from some rich and noble family. That He'd come
with pomp and circumstance. But our Lord's birth was lowly.
He was born in a manger and there was no room for Him at the end.
And here comes the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The one
who is born king and He's born in a lowly way. They stumbled at His education
and conversation They could not conceive how he knew letters. He's God incarnated in the flesh.
And how he could have such wisdom, having never been trained up
by their schools or their academies, or never having sat at the feet
of any of their teachers. They stumbled. They stumbled
at his words. He was brought up and employed
in the trade of a carpenter. And they stumbled at his outward
poverty. They expected the Messiah would
be rich and powerful and a glorious monarch. And here's our King. Employed in the trade of a carpenter.
They thought Messiah would come and set up an earthly kingdom
which would be set up in a great splendor and glory. But our Lord
said, My kingdom is not of this world. He didn't come with pomp and
circumstance like other kings on this earth. Now back then
when a king arrived somewhere, they came with pomp and circumstance. Everyone knew there was a king
arriving. but not the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords. And they stumbled at this. They stumbled at the company
he kept and those he ate with. He was with publicans and sinners. Praise God he was. Praise God
he was, because I'm a sinner. I'm so thankful my king sat and
ate with publicans and sinners, aren't you? Oh my, but see the
religious folks, all the religious Pharisees who like to point fingers
and bring judgment down on other people, oh, he's sitting with
publicans and sinners, how can he do that? He's sitting with
harlots and publicans and sinners, how can he do that? Because he
came, he came not to heal those who had no need
of a physician, But he came to heal the sick, the sin sick. And that's me. Is that you? Oh,
my. What a savior. What a redeemer. So they stumbled. They stumbled
at the company he he kept. They the Jews, the religious
folks see no need for a physician. But here are the poor and the
publicans and sinners and harlots and all the needy and needy. They stumbled at His ministry,
at the doctrine He preached, particularly at the doctrine
of His divinity when He claimed to be who He was, God incarnate
in the flesh. They stumbled. They stumbled
at the spiritual communion with Him by the eating of His flesh
and drinking of His blood and how that's spiritual. And they
stumbled at that. They stumbled. They stumbled at the doctrines
of God's distinguishing grace, which he taught. He said, no
man can come to the Father except by him, right? They stumbled
at that. Oh, no man has the ability to
come to him. He proclaimed that, and they
stumbled at that, at the doctrines of God's distinguishing grace,
which he taught. They stumbled at the miracles
which he performed. which confirmed his mission in
ministry. And they stumbled because some
of these were wrought on the Sabbath day. And these religious Pharisees,
well, according to them, you couldn't even heal anyone on
the Sabbath day, and little did they know he's Lord of the Sabbath. And they stumbled. They stumbled. They stumbled at his death. And
the preaching of Christ crucified, and it's still a stumbling block
today, isn't it? The preaching of Christ crucified,
the preaching of salvation through no merit of your own, but only
by the works of Christ is still a stumbling block to people today.
Still. Still. There's nothing new under
the sun. People still stumble over these
things today. Our text continues, even to them
which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they
were appointed. Note here, they stumble at the
word, meaning either the essential word, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ, or the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace, the
doctrines found in the word of God, which brings forth the trinity
of persons in the Godhead, salvation through Christ alone. They stumble
at the word of God. They cannot receive it or comprehend
it, and they do not care to know it. And we who are the blood bought
saints of God can say, I was there. I was there. These spoken, I have no regard,
though, for the Lord Jesus Christ, no regard for a substitutionary
life. upon this earth, or as substitutionary
death upon Calvary's cross. They stumble at the simplicity
of just resting and trusting in Christ. Just look into Him.
They stumble at that. Surely there's something I gotta
do. No, just look. Look to what He's done. It's
all about His work. Not about anything we do. Our
works are like filthy rags in the eyes of the Lord. It's all
about what He's done, what His work. And He's the one we look
to. He's the one we look to. And
they despise the distinguishing grace of God, the electing of
a people by God in Christ, and their carnal mind is continually
charging God with cruelty. Surely that's not fair. I don't
want fair. And I know you who believe don't
want fair either. Because fair would be everybody's in hell.
I don't want fair. Oh, when I read about the distinguishing
grace of God and Him electing the people in Christ, I just
see mercy. Don't you? Just mercy. Mercy of God on full
display. Think upon also the times when
the Jews were going about to establish their own righteousness.
Nothing's changed even today. People still, the law mongers
of our day still do this. And they stumble at the doctrine
of free justification by the righteousness of Christ. People
still stumble over that. And this was the grand stumbling
block of the Jews who sought for righteousness not by faith,
but by the works of the law. And there's still people who
do that today. being ignorant of the righteousness of God,
ignorant of the spirituality of the law, and ignorant of themselves
and their own righteousness, which are like filthy rags before
the Lord. Thus they have a conceited opinion of themselves and their
own righteousness." Again, there's nothing new under the sun. Still
happening today. Still happening today. Our text
concludes with this, "...being disobedient were unto also they
were appointed." This is sobering. It says, being disobedient, they
were disobedient to the gospel revelation and unwilling to submit
their carnal reason to it. And it becomes the source and
cause of their stumbling at Christ and his gospel. And then it says,
whereunto also they were appointed. My. We're talking about this very
point at breakfast yesterday. When we. Men, the men here, they were
appointed both to stumble at the word of God and the gospel
and Christ, who is the sum and substance of the gospel. Christ
being set forth in the counsel and purpose of God for the rise
of a stone. And these stumble, these people
stumble falling. There are some whom God has appointed
and ordained to believe in Christ. on whom He has determined to
grant true faith in Him. It's a pure gift. It's a pure
gift. And as a consequence of such
appointment, it's all according to His grace and mercy and all
according to His will. And God's people say, I've obtained
mercy. I've obtained mercy. And there are others who He has
determined to leave in their disobedience. which is a result of our fallen
Adam, and they stumble at Christ, and that is word. And in consequence,
they justly perish because of their own sin. They're fully
responsible. Fully responsible. What a contrast
we have here before us to we who believe, we who are the objects
of God's distinguishing grace, we who have obtained mercy. We
have obtained mercy. And we'll look at verses 9 and
10. Let's close. I'm going to read those to close. And we're
just to set this up for next week. Look at this. But ye are
a chosen generation, as opposed to those who were appointed to
wrath. Right? Look at this. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood and holy nation of peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. which in the times past were
not a people. You couldn't tell any difference between the saved
and the lost before we were saved. Couldn't tell any difference.
Galatians deals with that. Look at this. We're not a people,
but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy,
and let us leave with this, but have now obtained mercy. Heavenly Father, we thank thee
for your goodness and mercy and grace to we who are your people.
Oh, we praise you and thank you. As we see the contrast here,
between your people and how you are precious to us. And then
between those who are disobedient and you're not precious to them.
You're a stone of stumbling to them and a rock of offense. Oh
Lord, but as the verse we just read says, we've obtained mercy.
Let us leave here praising. We who believe, praising and
glorifying thee for the fact that we have obtained mercy in
Jesus name, amen.