Our passage this morning is found
in 1 Peter chapter two, and particularly the verses five to 12. And I want to think with you
this morning about this concept of the living rock or the living
stone. We're told in verse four that
we come to the Lord Jesus Christ who is a living stone, and we
spent a little bit of time last week thinking about what that
meant, how that God, though disallowed by men, yet was chosen by God
and precious to his people, and is that living stone to whom
his people come. We are to resort often to the
Lord, and it is that Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
living stone, to whom believers are to come. We come for salvation
and we come for continuing sustenance, help and encouragement. We come in time of need. We come
for spiritual help. We come for comfort when we are
downcast and coming we find that the Lord is pleased and willing
to receive us. He that cometh unto me, says
the Lord, I will in no wise cast out. I can tell you today, I
can say to you today, friend, brothers, sisters, if you have
any need, take it to the Lord. If you have any concern, if you
have any anxiety, if you have any problem, Take it to the Lord,
come to him and he will hear you and he will receive you. He is willing and he is able
and he will bless and he will supply all our needs and every
precious gift of grace. He is a great resource, and I
fear, speaking personally, that my greatest problem is that I
do not use that resource which the Lord has granted adequately
or frequently enough. Oh, you know, all that needs
to happen is that the Lord gives a blessing or two, and we think
to ourselves, I'm soaring. I can do this. I'm on a roll
here. I'm working these things out.
And we forget where our blessing came from in the first place. And we stop looking to the Lord
and we start looking to ourselves. Well, such a man is fit for a
fall. And I guess that so often when
we do struggle and we do fall, that it is because we are taking
our eyes off the Lord and we are not using that resource,
that willingness of the Lord to come to us as we are called
to come to Him. Do you seek righteousness? Do
you seek righteousness in your life? then come to the Lord Jesus
Christ, for he is the Lord, our righteousness. Do you need forgiveness? Do you need forgiveness of sins?
I'm not going to ask you to enumerate them, and I won't tell you mine. But do you need forgiveness of
your sins? Don't tell me you don't sin.
Don't do that. Don't tell yourself you don't
sin. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why will you tarry? Why will
you wait? Do you feel an emptiness of soul? Do you feel a weariness in your
heart? Are you downcast? in your Christian walk in this
pilgrim way. Peter is later going to speak
about those who are pilgrims and strangers. That is the law
of the people of God. We are not a people who have
got great resources. We are not a people who have
got lots in the bank. We are not a people who have
got all the skills and the gifts and the graces that we see appear
to be in the world around about us. Part of the thing, part of
the experience of being brought to the Lord is it makes us humble
and it makes us realise just how inadequate we are. Do you
feel that inadequacy? Do you feel that emptiness? Do
you feel that need for a refill? Then come to the Lord. That is
the invitation that is extended. That is the openness of the door
of access which He gives us. He calls Himself the way. He
calls Himself the door. We approach Him and He takes
us into the presence of His Father with every blessing. There is new life to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is regeneration and there
is eternal life and it is freely given to all who go and ask for
it. But there is a difference between
this pulpit and another. You see, we do not believe that
salvation is freely offered to all men and women. We believe
that it is freely given to the elect, and there is a difference. The Lord Jesus Christ said, freely
ye have received, not freely it's been offered to you. Do
you see the difference between having an offer made to us and
receiving it? That's all the difference in
the world. There's the offer, there's the reception. Who's
going to facilitate the obtaining of the offer if God is freely
offering it to everyone? A dead sinner? No, you see, what we believe
in is freely receiving the grace of God. Freely ye have received,
says Christ. Come, without money, without
price, come eat. Come receive. 1 Corinthians 2,
verse 12 says, Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God, that is the Holy Spirit, that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. We receive the Holy Spirit so
that we might know the things that have been freely given to
us by God. Think about that. Freely given
to us by God, not freely offered to us for us to take if we will,
because no one ever will. Do you want a family? then there
is adoption into the family of God. There is fellowship. There
is opportunity to share together in a body that is being built
up by the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Come. Do you want a friend? One who sticks closer than a
brother? Then come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, here's a question for you.
Do you want a part to play Do you want to feel useful? Well, it won't happen in your
salvation. That's not possible because salvation
is of the Lord. But see what Peter says in this
passage, I think you might find it encouraging. He's speaking
about us coming to the living stone, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he says, having made that
point in verse 4, he leads us into verse 5, and this is what
he says, are built up a spiritual house
and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. You see, so we come to the living
stone and we are made lively stones. We come as lively stones. We are made like unto him to
whom we come. There's another great encouragement
for the people of God to go to their Saviour. If we would be
Christ-like, go to Christ. If we would have those graces
which we see so beautifully manifested in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ, then be a frequent visitor to Him. meet him frequently,
get to know him better, spend time with him and you will find
that that liveliness of Christ will increasingly become your
experience and be manifested in your own life. We are as lively
stones coming to him and our usefulness thereby is enabled. Because the builder of this house,
the builder of this spiritual house is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is building his church.
and we're told that the gates of hell will not prevail against
it. I don't know whether Elisha was
indeed obstructed by those youngsters, whatever age they might be, from
doing what it was that he was going to do. But the Lord absolutely
showed who was boss that day. I am certain that the reputation
of Elisha went up leaps and bounds as a result of that. I'll tell
you what you don't do, you don't mess with Elisha. Why? because God's got his hand
on that man. Don't mess with the Lord's people. Don't mess with that building
that he is establishing. Don't mess with those that have
been brought to him as lively stones. Why? Because the Lord
Jesus Christ is building that building and the very gates of
hell will not prevail against it. Our enemy, Death cannot defeat
this work of grace and the Lord Jesus Christ is building with
purpose. There are priests populate this
house and these priests offer up spiritual sacrifices, not
the symbols of the Old Testament, the bulls and the sheep that
were sacrificed continually on altars and the bloodshed and
the offering. No, this is a spiritual sacrifice
that the living stones make as they come to the living stone,
as they come to the builder of this spiritual house. It's spiritual
worship. The Lord's people, when they
meet, when we meet here this morning, the Lord's people, this
is such an important activity. We've spoken a little bit about
recording our services and that is a stopgap. That is a band-aid,
if you like, for those that can't get spiritual fellowship close
by their home. Let it never be a casual alternative
to going out to the service. If that ever happens to you,
you've missed the point entirely. We want to make this word as
broadly available as we can. We will endeavour to use technology
that the Lord has enabled us to use to facilitate that. But
it's here, it's here today, it's here this morning, it's here
as we come together that that spiritual worship That spiritual
offering, that spiritual sacrifice is made. And that is why this
place is so important for the Lord's people week by week. You'll
do battle, you'll do battle with the world every day, but the
Lord calls us together this morning in order to worship Him. Our
prayers, our praise, our gratitude, yes, these are manifestations
of our worship. but it's our whole selves. It's
our souls. It's our bodies. It's these things
that the Lord has taught us that we, as it were, return to Him. It's an acknowledgement and a
recognition that He has changed us. He has converted us. He has
made us who we are. He has come into our lives. He
has touched us. He has made us holy. He has made
us righteous. He has made us pure, just as
he is pure. He has united himself to us. And out of the understanding
of these great gospel truths, our worship returns to the one
who gave us these blessings. He is our great enabler. He is the Lord, our God. and out of his goodness he enables
us to serve him, to do good works, good works in faith, good works
in love, good works to the glory of God, especially acts of kindness
and help to poor saints. These are blessings which it
is our privilege to do and to give and to support and to help
one another as the Lord enables and we worship Him with a spiritual
offering. Spiritual worship is acceptable
worship. Acceptable to God by Jesus Christ,
says the Apostle. And there are maybe hundreds,
I don't know, maybe thousands, I've not, maybe thousands of
people involved in worship this morning here in this town. Worship, what is worship? Worship is acknowledging the
worth of Christ. That's what worship means. And
when we worship God, it's not worship unless it's acceptable
worship. Otherwise, it's just talk. Otherwise,
it's just stuff. Otherwise, it's just words and
music and people having a good time, more or less. But spiritual worship, spiritual
sacrifice is that which is acceptable to God through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Is our worship acceptable to
God? Only if it is offered by a holy
priest. Only if it is offered by those
who have been cleansed by God. Only if they have been brought
into that place where the blessings of God's grace have become their
portion and become their lot. And that's the key point in our
understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. Because it is he who forms this
building. It is he who populates this building,
this spiritual house with spiritual priests. It is he who binds us
together. It is he who fitly fashions the
people of God so that they become united. before him in their fellowship
and in their worship. And they're not confounded by
the things that are said and done. And they're not ashamed
by the things that they hear. And they're not confused by the
message of the gospel or the message of grace. Neither are
they misled by those who the Lord has placed over them to
guide and to teach them. And they will never be deceived. Not in the end. And therefore,
once again, the Lord Jesus Christ is recognised, is acknowledged
as that one who is worthy for us to go to, for he is the enabler
which provides all of these things. Disallowed of self-righteous
men, says Peter, the religionists, the free will people, the legalists,
who all have something of themselves in the mix. To such, Peter says, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the living rock, becomes a stone of stumbling. They can't get over him. They
stumble upon him. They hear the message of the
gospel and they say, well, that can't be right. Now we've got
to do something, we've got to add something, we've got to bring
something. God's pleased with us because
of what we do, because of how we live, because of what we've
decided, because of what we say. And Christ in his sovereignty
and in his free grace and in the completeness of his work
of salvation becomes a stumbling stone to them. A rock of offence. Because free
grace affronts the natural man, and God's glory offends the natural
man. What believers see as precious,
unbelievers consider foolish. And what is it that makes the
difference? Why is Christ precious to some and abhorrent to others? Why is he the living stone to
whom we go for every blessing to some and a stumbling stone
and a rock of offence to others? Why is it that the free grace
of God is loved by some and hated by others and mocked Well, not because of man's free
will. All is enmity against God in
the natural man. The Bible is clear upon this
point. We are all sinners. We've all
come short. There is none that goes after
him. We all are enmity against God. We all are children of wrath
in our natural state. Every single one of us shaking
our fist in the face of God and saying, no God, we will not have
you to rule over us. And free will never found Christ
precious. And it never found God merciful. and the fall of Adam rendered
all men and women guilty before the righteous, holy God. Brothers and sisters, election
and the choice of God, the purpose of God, the covenant purpose
of God is the root of our salvation. Covenant grace, eternal love,
divine choice. And here rests the first cause
in redemption. That great work of the Lord Jesus
Christ when he hung upon the cross, when those nails pierced
his skin, when they entered into his flesh, when the blood rolled
down his face and dripped onto the earth below, that great work
of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ was not simply the death
of a good man, not simply an example for those who would come
after to understand something about sacrifice and dedication
to a cause, not a reason for us to commit ourselves to God
because God had obviously committed Himself to us by sending His
Son to die. No, that death on the cross was
an atoning work. a work which took away sin, a
work in which one man, perfect before a holy God, became sin
as a sacrifice for others who would be brought in time through
the preaching of the gospel. And that great work of redemption
is what binds us together in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some are appointed, Peter tells
us, some are appointed or foreordained to stumble at the gospel. They don't have that gift of
grace. They don't have that work of
the Holy Spirit in their lives. They are brought to that place
in their life and they don't have any understanding
of the spiritual things of God. But the Lord is pleased to take
a people for himself. Look at 2 Peter, verse, sorry,
1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him. A chosen generation is what you
are, people of God, a chosen generation. You are kindred. That's what that word generation
means. You're family. You have been adopted into the
family of God, chosen by God in Christ and redeemed by Christ
in his work upon the cross. A chosen generation and a royal
priesthood. kings and priests, princes upon
this earth, heirs and inheritors of the very kingdom of God, that's
you. Now we may bemoan the amount
that gets taken off our paycheck by the taxman, and we may bemoan
how much it costs us to make our way in this world, and all
the trouble that we have in order to get that meagre pittance of
a salary that is ours, or the help that we need, and all the
trouble that we have in this world, but we are kings in this
world. Kings, heirs of an inheritance
beyond measure, rich, rich because God himself is pleased to call
us his people and to make us his children. A royal priesthood,
an honourable people, a privileged people, a holy nation. a sanctified people, a set-apart
people, a people that have been made God's own people, a holy
nation. That's nothing to do with genetics,
that's nothing to do with where you're born, that's nothing to
do with passports or nationality. It's a spiritual work that has
been accomplished whereby God has brought us and bound us together
in Christ, a peculiar people. Valuable is what peculiar means. Treasured is what peculiar means. Jealously preserved is what peculiar
means. You're a peculiar people. Wear
it as a badge of pride. You're a peculiar people because
God is jealous for you. And if some kid stands up and
shouts, hey Baldy, when you're going to church in the morning,
Well, don't curse them. But just think how fortunate
they are that it wasn't Elisha that they were dealing with.
Because God looks upon you and treasures you jealously as much
as he did that prophet of olden days. These are four wonderful
descriptions of what the Lord has done for us. But you know,
it's not over yet because this chosen family of kingly priests
made holy in Jesus Christ and treasured by God himself are
the very people of God. You are the people of God. Not
all men and women are the people of God, but you are. You who
have come to Christ. You who have been made part of
that living spiritual house. You who are those lively stones. You who have come to Christ.
You are His. Not the Jews. Oh, we call them,
oh yeah, they're God's chosen people. No, no, no, no, no. Not
the Jews. not any nationality, not any
religious devotees, not any denominationalist, not any purist or precision as
far as their works and their morality is concerned. That's
just all noise in the system. But simply you are the people
of God who have received the free gift. unearned, unmerited,
unconditional, the mercy of God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Mercy is a beautiful word. It's
a word to meditate upon. Here's a wee thing for you to
do. Call it your homework. Meditate
on the word mercy in the coming days as this week unfolds. Think
about the word mercy. Ruminate on it, just roll it
over in your head. When you find yourself with a
spare moment, mercy. Mercy. What does it mean, mercy? And if you think, you'll realize
that mercy is an acknowledgement of guilt. Because it's only the
guilty who have mercy. If you think on it, you'll realise
that only those who are lawbreakers obtain mercy. Only the convicted,
my, only the condemned obtain mercy. And only after that individual
has been all the way through the full force of the judicial
process does he obtain mercy. And that's our lot too. We were
by nature children of wrath, even as others, but God, who
is rich in mercy. For that great love wherewith
he loved us. This is our lot, brother and
sister in Christ. And notice Peter at the end of
this little passage here. He says that we have been called
out of darkness into his marvellous light, which in time were not
a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained
mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Look what he says, verse
11. Dearly beloved, I beseech you
as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshy lusts. He doesn't
take them back to Moses' law. He doesn't take them back to
rules and regulations. He says, look, understanding
who you are, understanding what you are, understanding that you
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people, that you're the very people of God. Let these
truths motivate and mobilise the way that you live and the
way that you act. You're strangers and pilgrims
in this world, but you are a special people, a peculiar people. Having
your conversation honest among the Gentiles, let us have a reputation
of integrity. Let us have a reputation of being
honest men and women, that our words are fair and true and just. You profess Christ, then live
like Christ. You go to the living stone, how? As a living stone, like him whom
you profess. Be honest in your walk, in your
life and in your conversation as one who has discovered what
it means to be a child of God, dwelling among the people of
God. Because that's what you are.
You are the people of God. You are the church of Jesus Christ. children of the kingdom, and
though you are strangers and pilgrims in this world, this
world of sin, you're different because you're holy, you're pure,
you are blameless in his sight. God doesn't see any sin in you,
so why indulge in it? God has called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light. Let us walk in that light. And may that light shine in you
and through you to lighten the way of some poor sinner as yet
lost in this world, benighted in the darkness of this world. that they might find Christ through
your example and your testimony and your witness. Who may, as
the apostle here writes, by your good works, which they shall
behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Amen. May the
Lord bless these thoughts to us this morning.