Turn back to 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Christ is precious
to believers. He is so precious, as Mike sang,
He is so precious to me. Now in chapter 2, Peter continues
his exhortation to holiness in these next few verses. Those
who are born again have a new nature. They are born of God,
partakers of the divine nature of God. Peter says back in chapter
1, he says in verse 22, seeing ye have purified your souls in
obeying the truth of the Spirit, unto unfeigned love with the
brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently,
being born again." That's much more than a decision. That's
a new birth. That is a new person. That is
a new nature. That's what that is. He's saying,
seeing you have a new nature and you belong, you belong to
a new kingdom, the kingdom of God. God has translated you out
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son.
We belong to His kingdom. God's kingdom. Now. Not going to. Now. We belong
to that kingdom now. From time to time I sit around
at the house and I study. And I think about this. I think
about this kingdom. And I think about belonging to
this kingdom. The kingdom of our Lord. The kingdom of grace.
The kingdom of righteousness. I'm in it now. I live in the
United States. I know that. I'm a citizen of
the United States. I was born in it. But I'm also,
I'm also a citizen of heaven, of that new kingdom, that kingdom
of God. You belong to another kingdom
and we are governed by another spirit. At one time, every last
one of us was governed by a spirit of darkness. So it says over
in Ephesians chapter 2, under that spirit of darkness, governed
by, walking according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.
We were under that same spirit. We were in that same darkness.
But not now. Not now. Not the believer. Not
the believer. We are governed by another spirit,
the Holy Spirit. We are guided by Him. We still live in this life. We
still live in this sinful world. And we still have to contend
with that old sinful nature that we were born with. It's still
with us. It's still with us. We cannot
get rid of it until we go to the grave. It will follow us
all the way to the grave. And we still have to contend
with it. And we acknowledge it. And we recognize it. The Apostle
Paul said, when I would do good, evil is present with me. That
which I would do? Well, you can identify with this.
That which I would do? I do not. That which I would
not do? That I do. Does anybody have
that conflict? That's because there's two natures
there. That new nature that's born of God and that old nature
that we were born with, we received from our parents and it went
all the way back to Adam. That's what we were born with. So he says
here in verse 1, Seeing we have been born by an incorruptible
seed, the Word of God, we've been born of God, wherefore,
lay aside." Now, this is not something we do one time. This
is something we have to do daily. Daily, lay aside. Lay aside is
like you take an old, dirty garment and you lay it aside. You take
it off and you lay it aside. That's what he's saying here.
Lay aside. Put off that old man with his deeds. Look over in
Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. We have to battle this and deal
with this on a daily basis. We've got to lay aside these
sinful motions of the flesh. We just continually deal with
it and continually lay it aside. Just like I was thinking today
when I was reading over it, I have to continually take a bath every
week. Every week. More than once a
week. But every week I've got to take
a bath. And that's why he's saying here,
lay it aside. Continually lay it aside. I've got where I'm
at now. Ephesians chapter 4. Look in
verse 22. Well, actually, you've got to
go back up to verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify
unto the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened,
being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who,
being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness,
to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so
learned Christ. You didn't get this from Christ.
No, you and I have learned something different. When we came to the
Lord, we learned something different. Put off, he says now, that you
put off, let's see, if so be ye have heard him and have been
taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning
the former conversation, the old man, that old man, that old
corrupt nature that we were born with that was us, which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lust. And be renewed in the spirit
of your mind that you put on the new man, which after God
is created in righteousness and holiness." That's what Peter is saying here.
Paul gave to the Ephesians the same advice Peter is giving here
to the strangers that have been scattered abroad. Their message
is the same. The apostles were keenly aware
of the inward conflict that goes on in the believer every minute. It's a continual
struggle. It's just a constant battle that
goes on. Now, I know this. I know that sanctification is
the work of the Spirit of God. I know that. It is the work of
the Holy Spirit. He's the one who sanctifies us. But there is. And Peter has given
it to us here, and Paul gave it to us in Ephesians. There
is an act of putting away or putting off or taking it off,
laying it aside. The filth of this flesh. A continual
putting it off. That's what he's saying here.
We're constantly badgered by that old nature. But we constantly,
constantly have to put it off. And it is evidence It is evidence
of the sanctifying work of the Spirit when a man is unable to
do that. When you really struggle with
the flesh, and you struggle to put these things off, and you
desire to put these things off, and you work at putting these
things off, that's evidence of the Spirit of God at work in
you. Because you know there was a
time you didn't put these things off. There was a time you didn't
try to put anything off, except maybe going to work. We didn't
put any of this, not into this corruption of the flesh. No,
we sought to fulfill it. And he's saying here, put it
off as newborn babes or like newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the Word that you may grow thereby. One of the ways
of putting it off, one of the ways of combating indwelling
sin is to feed, feed on His Word. As we look this morning over
at Psalm 119, thy testimonies, he said, are wonderful. They're
wonderful. And Peter's saying here, get
into the Word. Feed on the Word of God. Feed
on food that's suitable. Feed on food that's suitable
for that new nature, for that new man. Now, you're not going
to take a baby and just start feeding it steaks and stuff like
that. You're going to feed food that
is suitable, where the Word of God is suitable to His children,
whatever age they are. Whatever age they are, it's suitable
for His children to grow thereby. Feed on the Word. If we don't
listen, He says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the
Lord. Have you ever seen a hungry baby?
They're rude. They can be rude. It doesn't
matter who's in the house. They're going to cry. They're
going to disrupt everything until they are fed. And here's what he's saying.
Feed on the Word vigorously. Vigorously. I can remember when
the boys were babies. And when they'd be hungry, Vicki
would fix a bottle. And I mean, as soon as she'd
get in that bottle, they'd start just moaning. You've heard them.
You've heard these children. They just start moaning. That's the first thing I thought
of when I was reading that verse 2. I could remember them moaning
when she gave them that bottle, man. It was just satisfying.
Feeding on it vigorously too. I mean, they went after it like
there was no tomorrow. And that's why he's saying here,
feed on the Word of God vigorously. Vigorously. If so be ye have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. And he's not questioning their
profession or their confession of Christ. I think he's saying
it's seen that you have tasted. You've tasted. Here's the strongest
argument one can have for laying aside the sins of the flesh.
You have tasted the Lord's grace. That's the strongest argument
Peter can give. You have tasted the Lord's mercy.
You have tasted His graciousness. You've tasted it. Paul said,
the love of Christ constrains me. He said, love for Him constrains
me. And if you've tasted that the
Lord is gracious, then you are united to Him. See, this denotes
one of the closest unions you can have is to take something,
put it in your mouth, and digest it. Christ said, He that eats
my flesh and drinks my blood. This shows here a union to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And by faith, by tasting of Him,
we come to Him. We come to Him. to Him coming. We come to Him and we come to
Him continually. We come to Him in faith and repentance. And
we keep on coming. We keep on coming. In fact, I think as we grow older and
we mature in the Lord, we come more often. You see, it's not
just something we did once in the past. It's something we continually
do. And the older you get, the more you realize your need of
Him, the more you just come to Him. The more you find yourself
seeking mercy, the more you find yourself praying to Him, the
more you find yourself communing with Him in His Word. To whom coming? To whom coming? As unto a living stone. A stone has eternal life. He's
that rock that has eternal life. He's that rock of ages. He's
the rock of our strength. And He's the cornerstone of the
church. He is the strength of Zion. God said He laid this cornerstone
where? In Zion. In the church. He laid it. And even though men
have rejected Him, they disallowed Him, they disapproved of Him,
when He came unto His own, His own received Him not, but God
chose Him. God didn't reject him. God did
not reject. God received him. Received up
into glory. God received him. And he's precious. Oh, he's precious. Not another
one like him. He's precious. He's precious to God. He's precious
to the church. He's the foundation of this church,
God's church. He's a strength of the church.
He said, without me, you can do nothing. A building, a building,
no matter how beautiful it is, no matter what material it's
built out of, it's only as good as the foundation it's built
on. You can take the most expensive materials and the best architect
and build the greatest building on a beach, on sand. And in a
little while, it will come down. It will come down. The foundation
will wash out from under it. Christ is our foundation. We are built upon the rock Christ
Jesus. That foundation will never be
moved. It will never be moved. It will
never crumble. It will never crack. You've seen buildings whose foundations
have cracked. You can see the block wall or
the brick and you've got this big crack going down the wall.
The foundation has moved. The foundation has settled. I'll tell you what, this foundation
was settled long before the world was created. It's not going to
move and it's not going to crack. Not at all. He's our strength. And Peter says he's precious. I want you to notice something
here. Look in verse 7 of Peter chapter 1. He says, "...that the trial of
your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though
it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." Now look in verse
19. In verse 19, "...but with the
precious You have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. And then over
here in verse 4. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious.
And then look over in verse 7. Unto you therefore which believe,
he is precious. Boy, Peter was very fond of that
word, wasn't he? He had a special... I mentioned
this this morning. Peter denied him three times.
And the Lord just looked at him, broke his heart. And then in
the end of the Gospel there, he says, Peter, do you love me?
Three times he said... Peter denied him three times.
Three times Peter confessed, Lord, I love you. And the last
time he said, Lord, you know I love you. You know I love you. And he became precious. He was really precious to Peter.
Peter knew that he wasn't any better than Judas, who denied
him. Judas denied him. And then Peter
denied him. They both denied him. But the one received grace. And
boy, he never got over that. He never got over that. And then
when he wrote this epistle, and then over in 2 Peter, it's mentioned
again two or three times. He's precious. Oh, he's precious. But now he says here in verse
5, now the temple here in verse 5, let me get back to my chapter
here. He also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. The temple in
which he dwells, see, he's the chief cornerstone. He's that
cornerstone that God laid. And this temple that's being
built is a spiritual temple. It's a spiritual house. And it's
made up of living stones, lively, he says, lively stones. Lively stones. God doesn't dwell
in temples made with hands. God doesn't dwell in these walls
and this metal building. He dwells in you. You, the church. That's where God dwells. He's
building a temple of living stones. The Jews admired their temple.
One day the disciples said, Lord, look at these stones. Talking
about the temple. Aren't these beautiful? Look
at the work. The temple in which God dwells
is far, far more beautiful and lively. That old temple, the
stones it was made out of, was dead. Those stones had no life
in them. They had no life in them. But
you who believe, Have the life of God in your soul. And you
are the temple of God. Look over in Ephesians chapter 2. Look in verse 19. Now therefore, ye are no more
strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints,
and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord." That's what's happening.
This is what's happening right here. "...in whom ye also are
built together for the inhabitation of God through the Spirit." You are an habitation of God
through the Spirit. That's what's going on. The temple
in which he dwells, in which he is building, is a living temple. It's a living one. And the sacrifices
that we give now are spiritual. And it's this, praise and thanksgiving. Praise and thanksgiving. We offer those up unto our Lord
continually. In this place, in our homes,
in our hearts, we offer up praise and thanksgiving. Then Peter
points to the Scriptures to validate his message here of Christ being
the cornerstone. He says here in verse 6, Wherefore,
also it is contained in the Scriptures Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believes on Him shall
not be confounded." Ashamed. He'll not be ashamed. Now, he
says here, Behold, I lay. The work here is of God. The
work of redemption is of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
manhood of Christ, is of God. He said, A body hast thou prepared
me. Created by the Holy Spirit. That
manhood. His body and his soul. He had
a real soul. A real human soul like we have,
except without sin. And God said, Behold, I lay.
This is My work. This is My doing. His appointment
to be the Messiah was of God. He says in Isaiah 42, Behold,
My servant, Mine elect. It's of God. And He's precious over here in
verse 7. And to you therefore which believe,
He's precious. Precious Lord, precious Savior,
precious Lamb, precious blood. Oh, He's precious, he says. And
he that believes on Him shall not be ashamed. We will not be ashamed when we
see Him He will be far above the glory,
His glory, and what we shall behold and what we shall experience.
It will far excel anything we can even think of in this life
right now. He will excel our imaginations,
our thoughts of Him. He will far excel anything that
we've ever thought of Him, able to even think of Him. He will
far excel it. Far excel it. And you'll not
be ashamed. You'll not be ashamed. You'll
not be disappointed. Now when we see Him, we won't
be disappointed. We won't be disappointed. If we can be embarrassed, we'd
be embarrassed if we didn't worship Him more than we did. If we didn't
call upon Him, Brag about him more than we have. But to those, he says here, unto
you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which
be disobedient, the stone which the builder is disallowed, let
them know this, let them know this, the same is made the head
of the corner. That's what he's saying. to those
who do not believe and disallowed and rejected Him. Let this be
said loud and clear, God has made Him head of the corner.
God has made Him both Lord and Christ. That's what it says over
in Acts. That's right, because men rejected
Him. That's not a wrinkle in the garment.
No, God's made him both Lord and Christ. God's made him the
head of the corner. God's made him that. And he's a stone of
stumbling to all who do not believe. As he says there in verse 8,
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. See, to us, he's
a rock of strength. He's the rock of ages. But to
those who do not believe, he's a rock of offense. Even to them
which stumble. And here's where they stumble.
at His Word. You see, they sought to be justified
by their works and not by His grace. And they cannot bring
the two together. And therefore, they stumble.
They stumble at His Word. When they look at His righteousness
in the Word, and their righteousness, their self-righteousness, and
they cannot unite them, they stumble. They stumble. They can't bring it together.
So they stumble at His Word. His Word is the cause of the
gospel, is the cause of stumbling for them. Because they just cannot
unite their works and His works. They can't do it. And therefore,
they're disobedient. They do not believe. They do
not believe. They reject Him. They reject
Him. But you are not among those.
You are not among those. See? He is a stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the Word,
being disobedient, whereunto they were also appointed. It
didn't sneak up on God. This has all been taken care
of. This whole matter has been taken care of. But you, you, and here's the reason why
we are not with that same group. Here's the reason why we are
not with those who are disobedient. Here's the reason why. You are
a chosen generation. God have mercy on you. God loved
you. God chose you. That's what Peter
says. He's writing here to the strangers scattered abroad. God
chose you. You're a chosen generation. You
are royal. Royal is what? Isn't that kingly?
Has He not made us kings and priests unto God? You are a royal
priesthood. You are a holy nation. There
is. There is a holy nation in this
world right now. There is a holy nation in this
world. It's the church. It's the Lord's church. He says
you are you are not going to be you are a holy nation. You
are a peculiar that is purchased. You are a blood bought people
bought by the blood of the son of God. You're his. And listen,
"...and that ye should show forth the praises..." Here's that spiritual
sacrifice. "...of Him who hath called you."
You're a called people. And He's called you out of darkness.
Because you were born in darkness. You and I were born in darkness.
And God called us out of it. Called us out of it. Called us
out of darkness into His marvelous light. His glorious light. Which in time past, you were not a people. You were
not a people. I can look back at my family
tree, being Gentile, being a Gentile, we can look back, all of us can
look back at our family tree and we can go on back and we
can see in time past, you were not a people. Given to heathenism. I'm glad I'm living now. I'm
glad I'm living right now. Which in time past were not a
people, but are now the people of God. That's right. God chose you. He made you a
priest. Kings under God. You're a holy
nation. You're a purchased people. And at one time you were not
a people. But now you are. Now you are. Are now the people
of God. Which had not obtained mercy.
But now have obtained mercy. My, my, my. Now we have obtained
mercy. Well, there's our motivation. There's our motivation. In our
conduct, in our walk, in our talk. And this is what Peter's
dealing with. Our motivation is the love of Christ. We have
obtained mercy in Him.