Well, I want you to return with
me to 1 Peter and chapter 2 this week, and I've entitled this
message, The People of God. The People of God. That phrase
is in verse 9 of chapter 2. That ye should show forth the
praises of him who has called you. Sorry. And holy nation,
a peculiar people. Where's it gone? It's in there somewhere. The
People of God. Anyway, that's the title of the
message. Do you belong to that group of people called the people
of God. We all like to belong to various groups of people,
don't we? We like to belong to a family. You know, the children know what
it is, their comfort zone is their family, their immediate
family, or at least it should be. the wider circle of relatives,
the friends that we have, the colleagues that we go to school
with or we work with. We like to belong to groups of
people, those that we share the same hobbies and sports with
and we go to the clubs and societies together. We like to do these
sorts of things. Of course, some associations
are very negative in the sort of gang culture that there is
around. But what about churches? What about churches? There are
similarities with the ordinary associations of this life and
this world, and there are great differences as well. We differ
from people in so many ways. There's a saying in the north
of England where I come from, and I'll probably have to translate
it for those listening in different parts of the world, but they
say, when two people are talking together, you'll hear them say,
they're all queer, but me and they, and I was a bit queer,
this elf. What it means is that from the point of view of one
or two people, Other people are all seen very very strange and
you know when it comes to it even you between the two of us
you're a bit odd yourself. not so with the true Church of
Christ, not so. I'm not talking about the generality
of religion, I'm not talking about that which merely calls
itself, professes to be the true Church of Christ, because there's
a test as to what is, I'm talking about what actually is the true
Church of Christ, because that is uniquely set apart by God. This is the way God works. It's
like Israel, from all other nations. In the Old Testament you read,
Israel was not an impressive nation size-wise, but it was
favoured by God. He set his love upon that nation. This is what God's Word reveals
of his ways and purposes. And in these verses, in 1 Peter
chapter 2, down to about verse 10, Peter underlines the unique
characteristics of God's true people. So I've got three points. Us, ye and you, in other words,
who are these people, who are the people of God. God's chief
cornerstone, the one on whom they're built, and then the division
that there is between resting on or tripping over that chief
cornerstone. So us, ye and you. And the reason
why I give it this title is because throughout chapter one and so
far into chapter two, Peter keeps talking about us. And then he
talks about you have been, you lot, many of you, plural, and
ye, singular. He keeps talking to a specific
group of people, and he includes himself in that particular group
of people. Who is he talking about? Look
in verse 7 of chapter 2. And to you, therefore, which
believe. Behold, he says in the previous
verse, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto
you, therefore, which believe on him. Unto you, therefore,
he, Christ, is precious. You which believe. This is it. You, which believe. You will
not be confounded, as it says at the end of verse 6. What does
that mean? It means that in the judgment, in the day of judgment,
when the books are up, you will not be found wanting, if you're
amongst this people. You will not be confounded. Or
as it puts it in other places in the scripture, you will not
be ashamed. Who are these people then, that
are the people of God? Peter calls them scattered strangers
in the very first verse of the epistle. He says they're scattered
strangers. So as far as the world is concerned,
they're a pretty unimpressive bunch of people. They have nothing
that gives them any authority or clout. Have you noticed how
the world's religion, and even that which calls itself Christianity
and Christendom, the world wants to know who's your leader. And
if you don't have a leader of your organization, you're not
credible. Not these ones that Peter's writing to. They're scattered
strangers. But look, this is how special
they are. Look in verse two of the first chapter. They're elect. Elect. elect, according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father. They're elect. They're chosen.
They're specific. He, God, has made a difference
as far as these people are concerned, the people of God. He's made
a difference. They're elect. They're chosen
by Him. They're sanctified, which means
set apart. They're sanctified by the Spirit
of God. They're redeemed, because we
get that as well in verse 2 of chapter 1. They're sprinkled
with the blood of Christ, because it is the blood of Christ that
pays, has paid, to the full redemption's price. It's paid the ransom price
for the liberty of the sinner from the condemnation of the
law of God. liberty. So they're redeemed.
We read furthermore in these verses that they're begotten
of God. Begotten of God. As Christ is
the only begotten Son of the Father, all of his people are,
in a sense, begotten of God. Not only begotten of him, they're
adopted into his family. They're made citizens of his
kingdom. Citizens of Zion, of his kingdom, of the holy Jerusalem.
I'm not talking about that place in the Middle East over which
there's so much turmoil, especially in these days. That is an utter
irrelevance as far as the purposes of God are concerned. That's
just a political mess in the Middle East. I'm talking about
spiritual Jerusalem, the true Jerusalem, which is above. These
are people who are begotten of God. They're made citizens. They're
made children. They've received the adoption
as sons, whereby they cry, Abba, Father. They're the heirs of
God. They inherit. They are destined
to inherit. Look again at verse 4 of chapter
1. They are destined to inherit
all that God has for His people. And as the next verse says, kept
by the power of God through faith. They're given faith. They're
given faith because it isn't just that they're put into a
state and they don't know about it. They're given faith so that
they sense it and discern it and are aware of it. They have
salvation. which is the end, the objective
of their faith. Why do we have faith? Because
we believe we're saved, we believe we're going to eternal glory.
It isn't just mental assent, it isn't just, oh I've seen these
facts and I agree that they're true or they're untrue. No, not
that. Look in the second chapter, 1
Peter chapter 2 and verse 3, as we saw a couple of weeks ago.
If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Tasted. This is another one of the senses
which is akin to spiritual senses, of sight and of touch and of
feel and of discernment. We've tasted. When you taste,
you savour something. You savour the flavour. You remember
the flavour. You delight in the flavour. You
want more of the flavour. We've tasted the work of God's
Spirit in the inner man. We're aware of it. It's not just
mental ascent. And so what have you tasted?
What have you experienced? If you're amongst these people
who are the people of God, you know conviction of sin. You know
the guilt of sin, something of it, at least. You must do. Conviction
of sin. You know that you're a sinner.
That's the starting point. You know it really, really is.
Conviction of sin. What does that hymn say? I know
I quote it often. A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. A sinner, a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost. He brings repentance. We read
of, in Acts of the Apostles, of the Holy Ghost granting repentance
to the Gentiles. And being given repentance, they're
given the sight, the spiritual discernment, to discern by faith
the things of the gospel of Christ, of the grace of Christ, the things
that he has done, how what Christ came and what Christ did and
what Christ accomplished in his incarnation, in his flesh, his
existence in the flesh, the God-man, in his walking under the law
of God, perfectly obedient to it, never once committing any
sin whatsoever, being righteous and holy all the way through,
and yet bearing the sins of his people, being made the sin of
his people, that when he's made that sin and he bears the guilt
and the responsibility for it and the punishment and the wrath
of God and the separation from his Father for it, Why? That
his people might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And they see this, these people, they see it, by the Holy Spirit's
revelation. And they come. To whom coming? Verse 4 of chapter 2. To whom
coming? To whom coming? You come to him. There's movement, not physical
movement, but there's movement by faith. You come to him. You
grasp him. He realizes, as Happy Jack testified,
I'm a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ, he
is my all in all. And coming to him, you're coming
as living stones lively stones it says but we saw last week
should really be translated living stones and you're coming to the
living stone the living foundation stone because it's on him and
it's in him that you rest you rest on him coming resting and
resting there you rejoice you rejoice wherein chapter one and
verse six wherein ye greatly rejoice This isn't just mental
ascent. I know quite a lot about Henry
VIII and various others of the kings and queens of England.
I know quite a lot about them. I don't rejoice in them, but
I rejoice in Christ Jesus. Not only do I rejoice in him,
I treasure him. He's the pearl of greatest price. I treasure him. And to you therefore,
verse 7 of chapter 2, which believe he is precious. Precious things? Have you got
any precious jewellery? I doubt whether many of you have
got much precious jewellery, but if you have, I've no doubt
that you treasure it, you take care of it, it's dear to your
heart, you don't want to lose it, it's very, very precious
to you, you want to hand it on to relatives dear to you when
it's your turn to die. Precious, Christ is precious
to his people. Now then, is that your experience? It's one thing to say it, It's
another thing to feel it and know it. There are plenty who
profess but don't necessarily possess. Do you possess this
knowledge of God in Christ? Look how Peter describes God's
people in verse 5 of chapter 2. Look how he describes them. Lively stones, living stones,
built into a spiritual house. A spiritual house is God's temple.
It was pictured by the literal temple in Jerusalem in the Old
Testament. You're built into that spiritual
house, that temple of God, that dwelling place of God. And not
only are you the people of God, if this is your experience, not
only are you the stones which make the dwelling place of God,
the spiritual house of God, but you're also the priesthood that
serves in that temple of God. You're there to offer up spiritual
sacrifices. You're a holy priesthood, offering
up spiritual sacrifices. What are those? They're not animals
to be slain on the altar. They're not literal incense to
be burned on an altar. They're not comings and goings
which are all required by the Levitical law. No, not at all. These are spiritual sacrifices.
These are New Testament sacrifices. These are sacrifices of service
to our God, and to one another, and to our brethren, and to others
around us. Not doing good works for the
sake of earning some sort of sanctifying righteousness, or
anything like that. but just out of sheer service
and gratitude to the living God, offering up spiritual sacrifices.
And those sacrifices are made acceptable to God. We know we
fail in the flesh all the time, but those spiritual sacrifices
are made acceptable by Jesus Christ. Remember many weeks ago
when we were in Ecclesiastes, there's that idea that in Christ,
all of your works are accepted in Him. We know we fail all the
time, but they're accepted in Him. So we're a chosen generation. Where does this come in? Verse
nine. You are a chosen generation. Look down at verse nine. A chosen
generation. He's already said that they're
elect, and that's what that says. Chosen generation. What do you
do when you choose? You say, I'll have this one,
and I won't have that one. Oh, you can't say that. That's
such an ungracious thing to say. My friend, if that's how you
think, read the scriptures and ask God to give you wisdom. God
makes choices. God chose certain ones and passed
by certain others. He says you're a chosen generation.
He says you're a royal priesthood, a holy nation. Look back at Exodus,
look right back. You see, this is the remarkable
thing about the word of God, that all of it, Because it was
written by so many different authors over so many thousands
of years, in fact, and yet because it was inspired by the one Holy
Spirit of God, it's all consistent everywhere. There's no inconsistency. Those that say there are contradictions
in the Word of God, they're just ignorant people who haven't looked
deeply enough. God's Word is never self-contradictory. It's always self-consistent.
Now then, Look in chapter 19 of Exodus. Remember where we
are. We've come out of the bondage of Egypt. God has brought his
people out. He's brought them miraculously
through the Red Sea, in safety, when they were terrified of the
Egyptians. He's brought them to Sinai, where he's, in the
next chapter, going to give his law, which is going to be written
on the tablets of stone. And this is what he says to this
special people in verse 5, Now therefore, if ye will obey my
voice indeed and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure
unto me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and
ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Did you wonder where
Peter got his words from for this passage in his epistle?
I think it was Exodus 19, verses 5 and 6. And then later on after
Peter was gone, after Peter was crucified upside down as the
Lord told him he would be, And the apostle John, the last living
apostle, wrote the revelation in chapter 1 verse 6, chapter
5 verse 10, chapter 20 verse 6. The people of God there in
that sinless bliss of communion with the living God, that which
is promised throughout the scripture for the people of God, they're
described as kings and priests unto our God. Kings and priests.
And then the next phrase in verse 9 is peculiar people. We saw that in Exodus, a peculiar
people. Is that not an interesting word
to describe the people of God, a peculiar people? Is this not
how the unbelieving world sees believers? You're a peculiar
lot. What a strange lot. What an odd
shower you are. You're so out of kilter with
normal society. You're a people, and I'm going
to use a complex word here, but I'll explain it. You're a people
whose paradigm of life is the Word of God. What do I mean by
paradigm? I mean basic philosophy, basic recipe by which you live
your life. A people whose paradigm of life
is the Word of God. That's completely out of kilter
with the rest of what thinks of itself as normal majority
society. You're a peculiar people. You're
an odd people, you people of God. Let's think of some of them. Let's think in whose company
we are. Abel, the second son of Adam
and Eve. Abel was one of these people. Abel, unlike his brother Cain,
he was completely out of kilter with the thinking of Cain, because
Abel's paradigm of life was the gospel of God's grace, and so
he brought a lamb, which was accepted, and Cain brought his
own works, which is what the natural man thinks should be
accepted, but is not. What about Noah? He preached
for a hundred years plus to a godless society, a wicked society, whose
wickedness God was grieved at all the time. And Noah alone
was set apart with his family to build that ark. He was completely
out of kilter with the rest of society because his paradigm
of life was the word which God had revealed to him when he told
him to build an ark and get ready for judgment that is coming.
Abraham, was brought out of Ur of the Chaldees, and out of that
idolatrous society. We know it was because the Scriptures
tell us that Abraham's family and ancestors were idolaters. They were idolaters. But Abraham
was one of the people of God, and he was brought out of that
situation by what God had shown to him. What about Lot? Righteous
Lot? Oh you say, the modern churches
would say, oh what a backslider Lot was, he was living in that
terrible place and what an awful thing it was. How he would have
been put out of church membership for not obeying what the elders
told him to do. The New Testament's verdict of
Lot is that he was righteous Lot, whose righteous soul was
vexed daily with the evil practices of the people of Sodom and those
of the country round about. He was one who was one of the
people of God, whose paradigm of life was the Word of God,
and not the philosophy, the godless philosophy of society around.
We could go on. Jacob versus Esau. Oh, think
about that. Did not God say, Jacob have I
loved? And Esau, have I passed by, I've
hated, I've left to himself? And Esau went off, and it says
about Esau and his association with the unbelieving world around
him, it says that to Isaac and Rebekah, he was a grief of mind
to them. Because he was different. He
didn't have the mind of God. You know where Paul says we have
the mind of Christ? Think about Simeon, old Simeon,
in the temple in Jerusalem, at the time of the birth of Christ.
He was completely different from the vast majority of the rest
of Jerusalem, which was going about its self-righteous religious
business, doing its trade, but Simeon was waiting. What was
he waiting for? That he could see the Lord's
salvation. That he could see the one who
would come and be the savior of his people. What about Peter,
the writer of this epistle? He was a fisherman, but he was
set apart from the majority of fishermen. What about Matthew,
the tax collector, who was set apart from the vast majority
of other tax collectors? What about Saul of Tarsus, the
most vehement Pharisee of them all, who was set apart from all
of those Pharisees and brought to see the truth of God in the
Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul? What marks them all out,
all these people, these people of God? Ultimately, we read it
in verse two of chapter one, it is election, elect of God. But then there are marks of God's
peculiar people as well. There are marks, you can ask
yourself, is this true of me? Firstly, I would say they have
faith, they have faith. We've said quite a bit about
this already, but the true people of God know that they trust Christ. You know in your heart, and rest
in Him alone. Remember the hymn? For I know,
it's quoting a verse in one of the Timothy epistles, I know
whom I have believed and I'm persuaded that he's able to keep
that which I've committed unto him against that day. What day?
The day of judgment. I know whom, you know, there's
no I think, there's no possibly, I know whom I have believed.
How do you know? By faith I know whom I have believed. and I'm persuaded that he is
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. So you have faith. Another mark
is this. Are you perfect? Of course you're
not. Do you sin most days? No. I sin
absolutely every day. I probably sin every minute of
every day. I'm constantly conscious of the
conflict. You see, the world around goes
about its sinning, but they're not sinners, are they? In the
sense that they've no idea that they're sinners. They don't know
what it is to be under the judgment and constrained by the law and
the righteousness of God. No, but these people do, and
they have a conflict. There's a conflict. The flesh
wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,
and these two are contrary to one another. And this is what
we are. If we're believers, if we're amongst the people of God,
we are those who have the Spirit of God within by virtue of the
new birth, and yet we still inhabit fallen sinful flesh. And we are,
as the Song of Solomon tells us in chapter 6, 13, as it were
a camp of two armies. One camp with two armies within. And this brings exercises of
soul. Conflicts in your soul. Something
happens and you're grieved with yourself. The world around is
not grieved with itself. It doesn't care. It's not bothered.
Intentation. You are conscious of a conflict
all the time. When you backslide, you're never
comfortable there. When you have periods when you
seem to be drifting away from the fellowship of God and his
people, you're not comfortable there. You can't stay there.
He constrains you, he brings you back. But here's what I think
is the main thing. It's not just your faith and
the inward conflicts that you have, but it's what you think
in your mind. Christ, the Lord Jesus, asked
the Pharisees, what think ye of Christ? This is it. It's what
you think of Christ that matters. Lots of people use the name Jesus.
There are lots of people in the Spanish-speaking world whose
name is Jesus. Nothing special in that whatsoever. What think
ye of Christ? Whose son is he? What think ye
of him? Who is this one called Jesus
Christ? In 1 John chapter 4 verse 1,
again, as I quote very often, we're to try the spirits whether
they be of God. Every spirit, that's preachers,
preachers, peddlers of religious doctrine, everyone that comes
saying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
So you say, well that means loads of them are. No it doesn't. What
it means is that Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, the man, born of Mary,
conceived of the Holy Spirit, born at Bethlehem, just over
2,000 years ago. That that one, that one is the
complete and absolute fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament
said about God's Messiah. God from the beginning promised
a Messiah. Right from the fall in Genesis,
God promised a Messiah who would come and would redeem his people.
When Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice him in obedience to God's call
on Mount Moriah, I'm sure he was thinking, could this only
Isaac, his only, not his only son, he already had Ishmael,
his only Isaac, could this be the one? No it wasn't, but it
was picturing what the Lord Jesus Christ would come and do. that
the Messiah would fulfill everything, I underline everything, the Old
Testament said he would be and would come to accomplish. Let
me put it this way so that there's no doubt left, that there's no
religious ambiguity that he is the Christ of God's sovereign
electing grace and his particular redemption of his chosen people. That's it. Oh, a lot of people
say, oh yes, I believe Jesus Christ came in the flesh. You
say, oh right, so you believe before the foundation of the
world God in his sovereign grace chose some and passed by others,
that he sent his Son, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bear
the sins of those people and those people only, and not the
rest of the world, to give the rest of the world a chance if
only they would believe him. No, he didn't. He didn't. If
you're talking about a Jesus who did that, you're talking
about a Jesus who is not the one of the Scripture. That's
who it is. What think ye of Christ? So then,
let's move on. to think about God's chief cornerstone. In verse six, 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. This is quoting Isaiah 28, 16,
and you'll remember we read it at the end of Romans 9 in verse
33 earlier on. God is building his spiritual
temple out of living stones. Christ, who is God, He is God. This isn't an academic theological
debating point. It's the very heart of gospel
truth. Christ, who is God, is the chief
foundation of the temple that he's building. His temple that
he's building, his church. I will build my church, and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it, is what he said.
He is the rock. Upon this rock will I build my
church. Not Peter. No, not at all. Nothing to do
with Peter. Peter, you're a little stone. But on this rock of your
declaration of faith in the Christ of God, on this chief foundation,
I will build my church. He's building his church. And
all the stones, which are the living stones, which are the
people of God, which he calls and brings out of this world,
he cuts them from the quarry of nature, and brings them to
fit precisely in the temple of His building, they all come to
rest in and on Him. And they're resting on Him. And
as a result, they're not confounded, they're not ashamed in the judgment,
they're not found wanting in judgment. They're the people
of God's choice. He is the stone of God's choice. Verse 4, coming to him as to
a living stone. Him, Christ, disallowed indeed
of men, but chosen of God and precious. He's chosen of God.
He's precious to the Father. Therefore, he's precious to his
believing people. What think ye of Christ? What
do you think of him? Is he precious to you? Is he
your soul's pearl of greatest price? You know the parable where
you're dealing in pearls and one day the trader, he finds
the pearl of greatest price. And what does he do with the
great chest of all the other pearls he's got? Well, anybody
can have them. Doesn't really matter. They pale
into insignificance. He is the pearl of greatest price.
All of your religion, all of your, well we do things this
way, and this faction in the church wants to do things that
are utterly irrelevant. What think ye of Christ, the
pearl of greatest price? Has the Spirit worked in your
life? Has he worked conviction and
repentance in your heart? Has he given faith and trust?
Has he given a spirit of obedience to his word in your heart? you
know so that you genuinely in your heart you say amen to this
you know where the word of God says let God be true and every
man a liar including me let God be true and every man a liar
has he called you look what it says at the end of verse nine
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light has
he called you out of this world's spiritual darkness into his marvelous
light I think we might come back and think more about that next
time Has he given you a confident expectation of heaven, an inner
rejoicing at all he's accomplished for your soul? Is he precious
to you? Well, you know, mankind is divided into two camps, and
only two camps. Those that rest on the living
stones, and those that trip over. Mankind is divided. Only two
camps. There really are only two camps.
The unbelieving world and God's peculiar people. And when I say
the unbelieving world, I include the vast majority of that which
calls itself orthodox Christian, even orthodox evangelical Christian,
because they don't believe the Christ of Scripture. The unbelieving
world, look at them in verse 4, disallowed indeed of men,
disallowed of men. Verses 7 and 8, The builders
disallowed. They are disobedient. Disobedient. They disallowed. What's he talking
about? He's talking about not obeying gospel truth. Not bowing
to gospel truth. Not believing God's declaration
about the righteousness of God, which is in Christ and Christ
alone. And the builders, who are these builders? Who are these
builders? The builders rejected him. Who are these builders?
These are the builders of the worldly towers of Babel. Do you know what I'm talking
about? Go right back to, don't turn to it now, but go right
back to Genesis 10 and 11. And there you'll see Nimrod,
that rebellious panther. You know, not long after the
flood, the descendant of Noah and his sons. Even then, you
know, the truth of the flood which is so poured scorn on today,
The truth of that must have been very, very near to them. And
yet, because of the fallen state of the heart of man, Nimrod,
rebellious panther, he rebels. He doesn't like the gospel of
grace. He doesn't want anything to do
with heaven being attained by the satisfaction of the righteousness
of God. He thinks we can do it without
it. And who tells him that? Satan, of course. This has been
Satan's objective, always. to point out that you can achieve
heavenly glory without the satisfaction of divine justice, and of course
it's a complete lie. And so they build their own towers
to get to heaven, their own towers. Whether this was a literal tower,
I suspect it probably was, in the plain there somewhere around
Babylon, because it was Babel, Babel, Babylon, that was where
it was. I imagine there was some literal
tower, but whether there was or there wasn't, there certainly
were metaphorical towers. The towers that are in the minds
of men and women, of this society. I was listening, as I often do,
not out of deliberate purpose, but I just put the radio on while
I'm making my breakfast, and there again this morning, the
focus on trying to make this world a better place, that's
all they talk about. I'm not saying that we shouldn't
do good when we have opportunity, but the purpose of the Church
of Christ is to proclaim the Kingdom of God. Jesus didn't
pray for this world. He didn't pray for it. He positively
said, I pray not for the world. No, but for his people that he
calls out of the world. These builders, these worldly
builders of these towers to heaven without the grace of God and
the justice of God, They build with materials and they look
at stones and they pick good ones. If you've ever seen dry
stone walling up in the north of England, throughout the north
of England, on the hillsides, on the fellsides, they're bleak
fellsides, but they build dry stone walls. That's walls without
any mortar between the stones. And they do it to provide shelter
for the sheep that live up there. And they're works of art, they
really are. They're absolutely superbly, skillfully put together.
You wouldn't believe where they get all the stones from. And
if you ever watch a dry stone waller doing his trade, he'll
pick up a stone and he'll go, no, not suitable for here, and
he'll reject it. Oh, this one, this is a good one, that will
fit in exactly that place. Oh no, this one's no good, and
he'll reject it. So they're constantly picking up stones and either
accepting them or rejecting them. It says these builders rejected
the chief cornerstone. They disallowed the chief cornerstone. They threw him away. They reject
God's chief cornerstone. The very stone they reject as
unsuitable for their building to heaven, their heaven, is the
one and only stone at the foundation of God's spiritual temple. Did
you hear me? That is the very stone this world
rejects as unsuitable for its building, its way of getting
to heaven. This God of sovereign grace and particular redemption
is the one and only stone at the foundation of God's temple.
It includes The majority of the normal evangelical Christianity
we have round about us, as I've said, they're building a worldly
tower to try to get to heaven. Even though they use the terminology
of the Word of God, they don't believe it. Their Jesus is not
the Christ who came in the flesh. Their Jesus is not that one.
He's a different one. who tries to save everybody if
only they'll let him. That's not the Jesus of the Bible.
Mostly, these so-called churches, however evangelical they call
themselves, they're religious social clubs. They're a mishmash
of individual selfish notions, of pet errors, of factions that
want to do this practice and factions that want to do that
practice. And if there's any sort of structure, they're only
kept in place and countered and constrained by autocratic pastors,
as they call them, who are protected by a gang of henchmen elders.
You may think that this is a bit defamatory language, but it's
true. I speak from personal experience. I was once an elder in a church,
and the senior elder there told me that our role as elders was
to protect the pastor. Protect the pastor If the pastor's
preaching the true gospel of grace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
I'd no more try to protect him than I'd try to protect a lion.
I know some children are watching now, you know, Timmy and Luca,
I can't see you, but I know you can see me there, but think about
this, if you remember when we went to Paradise Wildlife Park,
a while back, and there's all the lions and tigers in the cage,
and let's say a monkey gets out of its cage, and I say to you,
Timmy, Timmy, go into the lion's cage and protect the lion, because
there's a monkey coming, and it might get the lion. You wouldn't
dare, would you? You wouldn't protect a lion.
No, we don't need to protect preachers who are preaching the
gospel of God's grace in Christ. Even these who sound like they
must be God's peculiar people in these days. In fact, they
stumble over the chief cornerstone. I'll give you a test, okay? Right,
here's a test. Any of these churches that you
think are, well, they're not bad, they're pretty good, I mean,
they're the best we've got and we've got to go somewhere. Right,
run this thought experiment by yourself. get them to invite
me or not just me but any of the other free grace radio preachers
to go and fill their pulpits for a month and I'll tell you
what would happen one of two things we would either empty
the place they'd say we're not listening to this oh no no no
that's not our religion or they'd lynch us if they could they'd
physically lynch us just like the Pharisees were with Christ
and the Apostles, just like they were with them. They will not
have this man to rule over them. Not this God. Not these scriptures. Whence this disobedience? Look
in verse 8. And a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of fence, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient. Where does that disobedience
come from? Look what it says. Whereunto also they were appointed. Now there's the hard saying.
Remember John 6, when Jesus is talking along these lines, and
they said, this is a hard saying. Who can accept that? And many
went away. And he said to his true people,
will you also go away? And Peter, the writer of this,
said, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. Why is it that they stumble?
They were appointed to it. Did you hear that, unbelieving
world? Religious unbelieving world?
Oh, shock, horror, how dare he say that? No wonder they don't
have many people go to their church. We only got two this
morning here. Plenty more out there on the
internet. But, you know, this is the view of the world's religion,
of false religion. Shock. Yes, yes, but, you know,
it's what we read in Romans 9, isn't it? Look at it another
way. God passed them by when he chose his peculiar people
in Christ, before the foundation of the world. And being passed
by, they acted in accordance with their own personal, sinful
free will, which water always flows downhill, and therefore
they in their will decided to reject Christ. Did not God say,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated? Did Christ not
say, no man can come to me except the Father draw him? Did he not
say to the unbelieving Pharisees, you believe not because you are
not of my sheep? Is God unfair? We read it in
Romans 9, the potter and the clay. Read it again for yourself.
The judge of all the earth, as Abraham said, shall not the judge
of all the earth do right? Let God be true and every man
a liar. Are you angry with God because
of this? I know I've gone on a bit, but turn to Psalm 2 very,
very quickly. I'm not going to be more than
a minute or so. Turn to Psalm 2. Psalm 2, the first verse. Why do the heathen rage and imagine
a vain thing? You see, this gospel, this true
gospel of Christ, makes unbelievers mad. They rage, they imagine
a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves,
the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against
His anointed. Is that not what false religion
does? They hate the truth of Scripture. Well, you read the
rest of that psalm, but come with me down to verse 12. kiss
the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when
his wrath is kindled but a little. O kiss the Son, my friend, if
you don't believe the Lord Jesus Christ. O Heed the warning. Flee from the wrath to come.
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry. He says, Come unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Are
you drawn to come? Are you drawn? You will be blessed.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Are you drawn? Come. Well, what will it cost
me? Come without money, without price. Come to the waters of
life. Revelation 22, 70. Come. freely,
freely come and welcome. Amen.