Well last week we were looking
in 1 Peter 2 and verse 3, if so be ye have tasted that the
Lord is gracious. We were talking about spiritual
taste, the sense and the savour, that the Lord is gracious. The
Lord, who is the Lord? Who's the Lord that we're talking
about? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We know nothing of God outside
of Christ. The only thing we can ever possibly
know about God is in and through Christ and Him alone. It's by
Him that we believe in God. Where does it say that? In the
previous chapter, verse 21. who by Him, who by Christ, do
believe in God. If you believe in God, don't
be just like the devils. The devils believe in God, but
James tells us they tremble at the knowledge of God. No, be
like those here, who by Christ believe in God. We believe in
God by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not knowing about Him, it's
knowing Him that is knowing God. He's the manifestation of God. And not only is it him, but it's
the fact that he is gracious. Have you tasted that the Lord
is gracious? This is it. This is what it is
to be saved, to have the faith of the elect of God, to know
that the Lord is gracious. For the law of God, which is
good, The law is good, it came by Moses, but the law does nothing
other than condemn us. The law does nothing other than
as sinners in the flesh bring us in guilty. But grace and truth,
grace and truth, John tells us in his first chapter, grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ. The law by Moses, grace and truth
by Jesus Christ. And we're born again, it says
in verse 23 of the previous chapter. Born again, a new life by God's
incorruptible Word. Everything else in this life
is corruptible to some extent, but God's Word is utterly, eternally
incorruptible. Now there are not many that taste
the grace of God. Jesus himself said, when the
son of man comes will he find faith on the earth, meaning it's
a rare thing, and it's a rare thing today, it is, it's a rare
thing, it's a precious thing. But when you do taste, you come
for more, don't you? When you taste that the Lord
is gracious, have you ever been in a situation as a believing
Christian, if you are, when for some reason you have no fellowship,
the word of God seems closed to you, you have no access to
it, you have no sense of it whatsoever, and how you end up with such
a yearning and such a longing and such a thirst and such a
hunger. We've been through times like
that in our lives where we said this just isn't, we've just got
to get, we've got to come and we've got to get this taste of
the graciousness of the Lord. You know it's like with different
types of food, you know you've all got your favorite types of
food and some of you have got your favorite eating places.
My favorite eating place is actually here at home, but never mind.
There are some nice restaurants with some nice food. And once
you've been and had a nice flavor, there's a yearning to go back
for more. There's a hungering and a thirsting
for that taste again, a desire for more. And so you come. Look in verse 4 of chapter 2.
If you've tasted that the Lord is gracious, you come to him. To whom coming? You come to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You come as to a living stone. Oh, right, the picture's changing. We've been talking about tasting
things. We've been talking about savoring
the graciousness of the Lord, discerning the lovely flavors
that are in the knowledge of salvation. We've been talking
about that, but now the picture changes. To whom coming? The
Lord, the gracious Lord. To whom coming? As unto a living
stone. He's talking about a stone now,
which was disallowed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Ye also, as lively stones, or
that should be translated living, again, we don't know why the
translators said lively there, but living would be better. Ye
also, each believer, as a living stone, are built up a spiritual
house. and holy priesthood, to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So I've
got four points this morning. First of all, Christ, who is
the living foundation stone. Secondly, believers as living
stones coming to rest on that foundation. Thirdly, the spiritual
house that is built up on that foundation stone. And fourthly,
the priests in what is the temple of God. This is a building which
is the temple of God. It's where God lives. It's where
God makes his abode. Who are the priests in this temple? And what are their acceptable
sacrifices? So those are the points this
morning. First of all, Christ, the living foundation stone.
If you've tasted the grace of God in Christ, if you've tasted,
as Psalm 34 verse 8 says, you've tasted and you've seen that the
Lord is good, there's a desire for more, so you come. But to
whom do you come? To whom? you come to the gracious
Lord that you've tasted as unto a living stone. Why a stone? Why a stone? He quotes 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. That's in the book
of the prophet Isaiah chapter 28, verse 16. What is he saying? There's a cornerstone, a chief
cornerstone of the building which is Zion, sometimes spelled with
an S, sometimes with a Z. The only reason why it's different
is because of the different languages that it was translated from.
Sometimes from Hebrew, sometimes from Greek, sometimes from Aramaic.
I lay in Zion, same thing, the building of God, the dwelling
place of God, the place where God dwells with his people. I
lay a chief cornerstone, elect, chosen, precious. He that believeth
on him, this chief cornerstone shall not be confounded, shall
not be ashamed is another way of putting it. shall not be found
guilty in the judgment, is another way of putting it, shall be found
righteous in the judgment, shall be accepted into that dwelling
place. This chief cornerstone is none
other than the promised Messiah of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The scriptures, he who believes,
test the spirits, said John, 1 John 4 verse 1, test the spirits
whether they be of God. All who confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh, are of God. Oh, that sounds easy, doesn't
it? Loads of people do that. No, no, no. Everything the Old
Testament Scriptures say about the Christ of God. is fulfilled
in Jesus of Nazareth, the man who was born in Bethlehem two
thousand years ago. Everything that the Old Testament
scriptures say about him being the chief cornerstone, about
him coming to particularly, particularly, oh that thins them out doesn't
it? Oh there's loads of religious folks have said oh yes I believe
in him but we're now talking about a particular redemption
that he came to accomplish. Now where have they gone? Oh
no they don't like that. No, no, no, they don't like the
fact that it is God who in sovereign grace chooses whom he will save
and who he will not. But it's to him that we come.
to him as the foundation stone. The foundation stone for a solid,
secure building. Now, you children, you children,
are you listening to me? You boys, are you listening to
me? You know you like Lego, don't you? Of course they do. They
like Lego. You like building Lego, don't
you? Isaac loves building Lego. You all love building Lego, don't
you? Now, when you're going to build a building with Lego, What
do you start off with? What's the one thing you must
have? Is it not a base? You need a base, don't you? You
need a solid base. Because there's no point trying
to build a house if it's not on a solid base, is there? Because
it'll all come apart and fall down. So it is. When you build a building, you
need a solid foundation. A solid foundation. You need
something that isn't going to move. I want to turn your attention
just briefly to Matthew chapter 16. Matthew chapter 16 and verse
13. Because you see, our Lord Jesus
Christ is that solid foundation. That solid foundation on which
he says he builds his church. That's what he says here. Start
at verse 13 in Matthew chapter 16. When Jesus came into the
coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some
say that thou art John the Baptist, some Elias, others Jeremiah,
or one of the prophets. He said unto them, But whom say
ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ. In other words, he's saying,
you are the one the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures
have promised. You are the one that was promised.
From when? Starting when? Genesis chapter
3 verse 15. when God there, after the fall,
God promised a Messiah who would come. And he clothed Adam and
Eve in the skins of an animal that had been slain, pointing
to the one who must come, and shed his blood that we might
be clothed with his righteousness. He says, Blessed art thou, Simon
Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee.
You're not born of family traditions, you're not born of society traditions. You're born of the spirit of
God, if you're born into the kingdom of God. It's not flesh
and blood that's revealed it to you, but my father, which
is in heaven. How does he do it? By his spirit. He sends his spirit. His spirit
quickens. His spirit gives eyes to see.
Spiritual eyes, faith, gives spiritual ears to hear. You might
have heard it over and over again, but you never heard until He
sends his spirit and a new man is born within with ears to hear
the message of grace that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, to
taste and see that the Lord is good, that he is indeed gracious. He says, flesh and blood hasn't
revealed it to you, but my Father in heaven, and I say unto you
that you are Peter. That word means little stone.
You are that little stone. And upon this rock, this great
big rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys
of the kingdom, and so he goes on. But we'll stop it there at
verse 18. Upon this rock, I will build my church. Peter is not
the rock. You see, Catholicism claims that
Peter is the first pope. was the first pope in Rome. And
that he is the rock on which Christ said he would build his
church. And all the popes ever since have derived their authority
from that complete misinterpretation of what this says. It says nothing
of the sort. It isn't Peter that's the rock.
He's the little stone. He's one of the lively stones.
The rock is Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. That's the rock on which he builds
his church. That's the rock on which he builds
his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He, he alone is the foundation
of his church. There is no other. There's no
other religious structure. There's no mere man. They call
him the Holy Father. What utter blasphemy. There's
no man that's the Holy Father. It specifically says in the scripture,
call no man your father on earth. Of course, you children can call
your dad your father because he is, biologically. But in religious
terms, there's nobody that is your father. No. No. The Pope
isn't our father, he's not the rock, it's Christ is the only
foundation. Other foundations, says Paul
to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3.11, other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But why is he
the living stone? Why is he the living stone? You see, a lot of people relish
history and they look back to historical characters who did
great things and they may well have done, but you know what?
They're dead. They've gone. They've left this
life. All they've left is memories. All they've left is records written
sometimes and to varying extents what they said and what they
did is remembered and used as words of wisdom or counsel to
avoid, but they're not living, they're dead. But he, Our Lord
Jesus Christ is the living stone because, here's some reasons. Our Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is very God of very God. In the beginning was the Word,
says John, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Do you know when we see him in
Revelation? And he's on his great white stallion in that vision.
And what is the name that is upon him? The Word of God. That is his name. The Word of
God, he's the second person of the Blessed Trinity. He's the
one by whom the unknowable God is manifested, made plain, revealed
to us, shown to us. As I often tell you, when Jesus
was speaking to the disciples in that upper room in John chapter
14, when he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and
no man comes to the Father but by me. And they're talking in
very, very deep terms. Christ is about the next day.
They're going out and he's going to be betrayed, and the next
day Christ is going to be crucified. for the sins of his people. His
hour had come. And there in the upper room,
Philip, one of the disciples, says to him, effectively he says,
this is all well and good, but if you'll just show us the Father,
the true essence of the unknowable God, just show us that and that
will do for us. And what does Jesus say to him?
Philip, have I been so long with you that you have not known me?
He who has seen me has seen the Father. Did ever man, as they
said, did ever man speak like this man? He who has seen me
has seen the Father. Christ is God. And as God, He
alone has self-existent life. It's only God that has self-existent
life. Every other life, the life of
the angels, the life of the devils, the life of the spirits, the
life of every man and woman and child, every one of us, our life
is derived from the living God. God alone is self-existent, has
life in himself. John 8, 24, Jesus said, if you
believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins. What
is it to believe that he is? That word there, I am, I am,
I am, is the profession is the announcement that God
is the one who has life in himself. When Moses came to the burning
bush in the desert when he was looking after his father-in-law's
sheep, and he saw that bush that was burning, but the bush wasn't
being burned up. And he found it most peculiar.
And there it was God speaking to him. And he said, go to the
children of Israel and tell them that I'm going to bring them
out of Egypt. And he said, I'll go to them, but who shall I say
has sent me? And he said, tell them this,
I am that I am has sent you. God, who has life in and of his
self, We need to believe in Him. If we believe in Him, if we believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have that life, that eternal
life which is from God. Without it, you shall die in
your sins. So as God, He is the living stone. Secondly, do you know, something
quite remarkable, beyond our understanding so far, happened
at Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Yeah, before that, when Mary
conceived in her womb by the Holy Ghost, it tells us, by the
Holy Spirit, the man which was Christ Jesus. Jesus of Nazareth,
as a man, the second person of the Trinity at Bethlehem became
what he hadn't been before. In time, he became a man, created
in Mary's womb, born as a baby in flesh at Bethlehem, living,
growing, like you boys are growing, you boys that I look at here,
you children that I see, you grow up, you get older, you physically
mature, you mature in age and wisdom and experience. He did. He grew up. He grew up. Born
in flesh at Bethlehem. And he died. He died. A real, real, real human death. He, the infinite son of God,
died a real human death at Calvary. And he rose from the dead. Because
he couldn't stay dead. Because he was the infinite God.
And when he paid the penalty for sin, he couldn't stay dead.
And he ascended on high. The disciples saw him go. And
there is a living man in heaven now, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
there as a man. He's eternal God. In him dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, but he's a living man. And so
he's a living stone. And also as the God-man mediator,
because in him comes together that perfect man and that perfect
Godhead, dwelling in his body, dwelling in him bodily, fully.
and he's the God-man mediator, for there is no other, there's
only one mediator between God and man, who is that? The man,
Christ Jesus. It's only by him that we come
to God. Life is given to him by the Father. Jesus said in John 5, 26, as
the Father hath life in himself, so he has given to the Son, to
have life in himself, a given life. This is the life of God
which is the light of men. Jesus said in John 14 verse 19,
because I live you shall live also. This is how profound this
is. The life of God, which is manifested
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and which becomes the life of his
believing people through belief, through faith. Because I live,
you shall live also. So in this way, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the living stone to whom believers come, the one
mediator between God and man. He is the resurrection and the
life. The life. Life is in Him. By
whom alone we can know God. And by whom alone we can experience
the life of God. There's no other experience of
true God. Read the end of John's first
epistle. This is true God and eternal life in knowing Him.
He is the living foundation. As verse 6 of 1 Peter 2 says,
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect and precious. This is him, the chief cornerstone,
for his living church, which is made up of living stones.
He is the living stone on which all the other living stones,
his believing people, come together. But it says, in, where does it
say it? Disallowed of men. There we are,
verse seven. The stone which the builders
disallowed. Sorry, in verse four, that was
it, that's what I was looking for. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, you come, you believers, but disallowed indeed of men. The majority don't allow him,
don't accept him, don't believe him, don't hear his testimony,
don't long for him, don't taste that he is gracious. This is
unregenerate man. This is us as we are in our natural
state as we're born in the flesh, naturally with no desire for
the things of God. And what is it that causes us
to disallow naturally the knowledge of this chief cornerstone, this
living stone? We love the world too much. People
in general are too much in love with the world. We love our sins
too much. Oh, I'm just going to keep this
one to myself. The allurement of sin. We have
too much pride in our own goodness and our own self-righteousness.
I'm not a sinner, you hear people saying. No, they won't have this
man to rule over them and tell them what they're truly like
in their flesh and in their deeds. But most of all, it's because
of lack of Holy Spirit enlightenment. What did Jesus say to Nicodemus?
Unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. He can't see the kingdom of God.
If he's not born again, and how are you born again? By the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Oh, you say,
well, I just have to leave it to fate then, don't I? Oh, no,
no, no, no. Makes his people willing in the
day of his power. If he makes you willing and you
desire him, come to him. Come to him. Ask him. Lord, pass
me by. Whilst on others you are calling,
do not pass me by. Have you thought about coming
to Christ for salvation? I'm not talking about this Arminian
type of thing where they have a big campaign and they have
people come down to the front, that's got nothing to do with
it, that's complete error, that's complete satanic delusion, nothing
to do with the truth of God, I'm talking about coming to Christ
for salvation in faith, in faith. You come to him seeing that which
the Spirit of God has revealed to you. Or has self held you
back? Has self held you back? You see,
Jesus said in Matthew 16, he said, if any man will come after
me, let him deny himself. You've got to deny what self
wants to do and take up his cross, that burden. of daily living
in the flesh for him until eternity, and follow me. Yes, he's disallowed
of men, but as we've been singing in the hymns, he's chosen of
God and precious. End of verse four. Whatever man
does, he's chosen of God and precious. Why? Why chosen of
God and precious? There's a hymn that we haven't
sung for a while, but there is a green hill far away outside
the city wall where the dear Lord was crucified, who died
to save us all, meaning all of his people. And it says in one
of the verses, there was no other good enough. to pay the price
of sin. He only could unlock the gate
of heaven and let us in. That's why he's precious in the
sight of God, in the sight of his father. There's none other
good enough to pay the price of sin. There's none other with
the infinite goodness that he has so that his sacrifice is
accepted as the payment for the sin debt of a multitude of sinners
that no man can number. Only Christ is strong enough
to bear that load. Who's going to bear it? Even
an archangel, somebody said, would be crushed by that weight,
by that load. Even an archangel, only Christ
could bear it. So despite man's natural despising,
God values Christ as the co-equal son, precious. In that one being,
deity and humanity combined with blood, precious blood, that was
shed to pay the price of his people's sins. Obedience unto
death, he laid that glorious side that he might come for the
purpose of dying in the place of his people, and rising again
as the vindication, raised for our justification, and ascending
on high, and interceding for his people, having secured that
inheritance that we looked at a few weeks ago in verse four
of chapter one, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. So secondly,
come in to the living stone. That stone is a living stone,
the only living stone, the only foundation for the building of
God. But we have to come to him. living,
lively stones coming to be built on the foundation stone. Somebody
put it this way, cut from the quarry of nature. You know when
they built the temple, Solomon's temple in Jerusalem, and it was
said that the stones were individually cut in the quarry for the space
in the building where they had to fit. So, oh, we need a stone
to do this job at this point. So, there's a great foundation
stone, and then everything else is connected, is linked to that
great foundation stone, one upon another. The stones were cut
by the stonemasons in the quarries, and they were brought and fitted
into exactly the right place. And so, in the same way, each
of these living stones, which is the believing people of God,
are cut from the quarry of nature, of natural mankind, and put into
living union with the foundation. Turn to Ephesians 2 with me,
and just see this reinforced. This is why it is so Such a blessing
to see in the Scriptures how the best commentary on a passage
of Scripture are other passages of Scripture. For Peter writes
what he did, and now in Ephesians chapter 2 at the end of it, verse
18, Paul is writing the same thing. Through him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints, and of the household of God. Look here what it says.
and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all
the building, fitly framed together, groweth into an holy temple in
the Lord, in whom ye also are built together for an habitation
of God through the Spirit." Where does God dwell with his people?
in his temple. That's what the temple was for.
It was a physical picture of how God dwelt with his people.
For there, the animal sacrifices, the blood sacrifices, pointing
to Christ, and the forgiveness of sins that came through that
sacrifice, it was all acted out exactly according to the pattern
that God gave to Moses at Sinai, and written down in the books
of the Pentateuch, at the start of the Bible. but it's all picturing
the true dwelling of God, the true building of God, which is
his church. His church is that individual
people are known as the temple of the living God, individual
believers, but the church of all of those believers together
Wherever they are, in all ages, they're cut from the quarry of
nature and put into living union with the foundation. But you
must come to the foundation. You must come. Come unto me,
said the Lord Jesus Christ, all you that labour and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest." Who is bidden to come there?
Who is bidden to come? You see, there are those that
would say everybody without exception is bidden to come, and it's up
to their own self-will to determine whether they will come or not,
whether they will accept Christ and his salvation, or whether
they will reject him. That is not what the scriptures
teach. To whom does Christ put out the
invitation? Come unto me All you who labour
and are heavy laden. Ah, so it's not everybody then.
No, it's not. It's those who labour and are heavy laden. Those
who are weary and burdened with what? The fact that they know
that before a holy God they are sinners. They're sinners. This
idea that whosoever will, yes, yes, whosoever will come to the
waters of life, Revelation 22, 17, come without money and without
price, Isaiah 55, come freely. Yes, but who has the will to
come to Christ? those made willing by God. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power, Psalm 110 verse 3. And coming they are
built onto and put into living union with the chief cornerstone. And the fact that they come is
proof that they are living stones because dead ones can't come.
What about you? Have you come to Christ in faith,
looking, seeing, believing? Because then, this is the third
point, I'm having to rush on because time's going. you're
built into a spiritual house. As I've said, and as we saw in
Ephesians 2, the Old Testament temple was the picture of God's
church in the New Testament. It's the house of God. It's where
God has fellowship with his people. How often do you read, I will
be their God and they will be my people, and they will have
fellowship together, and you get to the end of Revelation,
and the culmination of it all is an infinite without end eternal
fellowship, sweet intimate fellowship between the people of God and
their God, with no sin to mar or cause any issue at all. The
Church of Christ is what it is. It's his bride. It's his people.
It's the children the father gave to him before the beginning
of time. But what uniquely identifies
these living stones that are built into God's temple, each
one of them is living. In what sense? This is how we
know. They're living in that their understanding is changed. If you're a living stone, coming
to Christ, the foundation stone, in the temple, the church of
the living God, Here's a mark that you're living. Your understanding
is changed. Ephesians 1.18, the eyes of your
understanding, your faith eyes of understanding, being enlightened,
where people say, oh, I just can't see it. You can see it.
By faith you can see it, you can see the truth of God. Secondly,
your conscience is awakened. Your conscience, you know what
it is in the flesh. You know something, you don't
know the depths of it, but you know something of what it is
to be a sinner. before a holy God. You know what
it is, how deep is the gulf, how vast is the chasm between
what you are by nature and what God is in his infinite holy being,
and how he cannot look upon sin, how he has purer eyes than to
behold iniquity. Your conscience is awakened,
the fear of the Lord is stirred up, and we read The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning.
If you would understand anything, the fear of the Lord is what
he puts there. And thirdly, your love for Christ
is felt. This is living. Love for Christ. Who are the true circumcision? As Paul says to the Philippians,
they worship God in the spirit. They rejoice in Christ Jesus. Oh, they love Him. They rejoice
in Him. He's precious to them. More precious than anything else.
And they have no confidence in the flesh. Nothing that they
might do in the flesh. They have light in understanding
of spiritual truth. They have life of God's spirit
in the soul. They have love for Christ in
the heart. Being a Christian is not simple
mental ascent, but it's new birth. It's new life. It's new love.
True belief is life. Not to believe is not to have
life. It's to be condemned. As Jesus
says in John 3 verse 18, he who believes in me is not condemned,
but he that believes not is condemned already because he's called God
a liar effectively. Now, whereas the Old Testament
temple had only Levites for priests, you know, whenever anybody tried
to do the job of a priest who wasn't a Levite and wasn't ordained
as a priest in the Old Testament order of things, God struck him
dead. Shocking. Read the account of
Uzzah. They've got the Ark of God back from their battles with
the Philistines. And they think, oh, we better
bring this back, so they stick it on an ox cart. They get a
new ox cart, and they put it on a new ox cart. And as they're
going along, a wheel goes down one of the potholes, and Uzzah,
out of deep sincerity, jumps forward and gets hold of the
Ark. What did God say about the transport of the Ark, which is
a picture of the Gospel? Only the Levites were to bear
it. And they were not to put it on
a cart, they were to carry it on staves, on their shoulders,
through the loops that were in the side of it. And Uzzah was
struck dead. And King David was shocked and
horrified at what he saw. He really was. He was absolutely
shocked, but that is what God says. No other way. You see,
everything that is a picture of the Gospel and a picture of
Christ in the Old Testament had to be kept to with absolute rigid
precision. No, you couldn't divert from
it. And in the Old Testament temple,
only the Levites, ordained Levites, were to be priests. In this New
Testament temple, which is the church, built on the foundation
stone which is Christ, out of living stones which is every
living believer, every living stone is a priest. Christ is
our great High Priest, He is our prophet, priest, and king,
our great high priest. He is a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek, not after the order of Levi and Aaron.
No, he's a priest after the order of Melchizedek. But in his temple,
every living stone is a priest. As Revelation 1, verses 5 and
6 says, Jesus Christ that loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood and has made us kings, and priests, and to
God his Father. If you today, me, if we're believers
today, the Word of God calls us kings and priests in the household
of God. Natural, religious folk love
priestcraft. All around the world in religion
there are priests, and you can't do this unless you're a priest.
The only priests in Christ's spiritual house are his in his
spiritual house, which is his church, are himself as great
high priest and every living individual stone by virtue of
direct access. In whom, says Paul to the Ephesians,
we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. We have access. We're able to
come. We can go. The high priest could
only go once a year into the Holy of Holies with an acceptable
sacrifice. We can go every day into the Holy of Holies as the
believing people of God, as the priests in the living temple
of God. We can go in every day because
we have access. How do we have access? Our great
high priest has gone before us and has opened the way. The veil
of the temple when he died was torn from top to bottom. We have
access into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We don't need Anglican priests. We don't need Catholic priests.
We don't need voodoo priests or any others. We certainly don't
need Jewish Levitical priests. You know, if you look at the
history of Judaism, there have been no Jewish priests. Oh, there are rabbis, teachers
in the synagogues, but there have been no Jewish priests since
A.D. 70. Why is that? Because in Daniel
chapter 9, verse 27, talking about when Christ would come,
would make an end of sacrifice and offering by his death on
the cross, and God ordered it that it happened because in AD
70 the Roman Emperor Tiberius came and utterly destroyed Jerusalem
as then was. The temple was torn down. There
have been no animal sacrifices and no priests in Judaism ever
since. Do you know why they don't set
up a temple here and have a priest sacrificing animals? The only
reason is this, that in the order of God, according to his word,
Jerusalem is the only place where you can have a temple, and you
can have priests, and you can have sacrifices. And God saw
to it that that was done away. in A.D. 70. Now, the Church of
Christ has ministers, it has pastors, and teachers, and evangelists
to preach, but no priests except the priesthood of all believers.
Now, in about two minutes or slightly more, I'm going to try
and finish off the fourth point, because these priests in the
temple, which is you and me if we are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ, we offer up spiritual sacrifices. The role of the priests
in the Old Testament temple was to offer animal sacrifices. What is the role of every believer
priest? It says here in our texts, verse
5, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. What are spiritual sacrifices?
What sacrifice can you, believer, as a priest in the living temple
of God, which is his church, built on that chief cornerstone,
what can you bring to God that he will accept? Psalm 51, verse
17. The sacrifices of God? This is
the Old Testament. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. Isaiah 66 verse 2, to this man
will I look, to this man God says I will look, and the implication
is with favor and acceptance. To this man will I look, even
to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word. Do you tremble at the word of
God? Do you tremble when you hear what God has said? Do you
tremble when you hear what he has said? God will look on you
with favor. In other words, a repentant spirit. A constant hungering and thirsting
after righteousness, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount,
blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be filled. That's a sacrifice of God, acceptable
by Jesus Christ. Secondly, prayer. From a burdened
heart, when God puts it in our hearts to pray. Prayer from a
burdened heart. is a sacrifice acceptable to
God by Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we praise, we seek to
sing his praise, we seek to be thankful. This is the indictment
in Paul's letter to the Romans in the first chapter of mankind
as a whole, that they were not thankful to God. Praise and thanksgiving
is a sacrifice acceptable to God, a spiritual sacrifice. then
another one, a willingness to serve God, a willingness, a willingness,
following in the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, who as a man
prayed to his father to take this cup of suffering, of sin,
of separation from his father, please take it from me, if it
be possible take it from me, nevertheless, nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done. Is that not what the living stones
as priests offer in the temple of God, which is his church?
An attitude that says, not my will, but thine. A selfless spirit. This is a spiritual sacrifice
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, a selfless spirit, esteeming
others more highly than ourselves, willing and glad to show kindness
to others, to go, as Jesus said, the second mile. Somebody says
to you, you're going to come with me a mile and you out of
grace and goodness, say, I'll go a second mile with you for
nothing. I'll just be open and generous spirited. This is the
fruit of God's spirit, evidenced in good works to others. Paul
calls it your reasonable service. Reasonable service. Reasonable
because you're not your own. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. Now then, We've gone
on longer than usual, but do you see the light versus dark
contrast between true gospel faith and mere religion, between
the true building, spiritual building of God's church and
all that religion tries to do to mimic and mess up that which
was the pattern and only the pattern in the Old Testament?
Well, we'll leave it at that point there and we're going to
turn shortly to share bread and wine together in communion. But first of all, we'll sing
our closing hymn.