Let's take our Bibles now and
turn to 1 Peter chapter 2. Take up this morning where I
left off last week, talking about those born of God, those who
have heard the gospel of Christ and tasted. Peter makes his statement
and then says, if so be that you've tasted that the Lord is
gracious. Or in other words, have experienced
that grace. And those born of God, they come
to Christ as a living stone. See it there in verse 4? A living
stone. The church of the living God
is described in many places in the Scripture as the temple of
God. The temple of God. There was
a time before the coming of Christ and before the revelation of
this gospel age when Israel, the nation of Israel and his
people, they worshiped God in a temple built with hands. Solomon built a temple. He built it by God's designed
by God's ordination. He told him what to use and how
to build it and how to arrange everything in it. And they built
it and the people went in and worshiped God according to God's
ordained means. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
2. Let's look at a few of these
New Testament references before I continue on talking about this
coming to Christ. In the second half of Ephesians
chapter 2, Paul reminds the Ephesians that they were, when God found
them, Gentiles. They were Gentiles. They were
heathens, verse 11. They're called the uncircumcision
by those which are called the circumcision. That is, the Jews
called them uncircumcision. And at that time, they were without
Christ. That is, they had no promise
of Christ. They had no revelation of Christ.
They had no vision of Christ. They didn't have any idea what
the Christ was to be, that His coming, what significance did
His coming have. They had no clue as to what the
Christ was. They were without Christ, no
prior knowledge of it. And they had no hope. No hope. If you don't have a knowledge
of Christ, then you have no understanding of the hope that's set forth
by Christ. In other words, His benefits.
What did He purchase? What did He do? Why did He come? For whom did He come? If you're
without Christ, then you're without hope because Christ is the one
who sets forth the hope. So they had no hope. No hope
of any benefits in them and no knowledge of God's blessings
in them. Verse 12. And then in verse 13, he says,
but now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ. That is, Christ came and redeemed
both Jews and Gentile believers. And he took away that partition,
that division between them and the rest of the world. He took
it away. He revealed that his people are not natural Jews,
but spiritual Jews. And that his elect come both
from Israel and the rest of the world out of every kindred, tribe,
nation, and tongue under heaven. And he took away that partition
that divided them, and he made them both one in himself. And you can read that in verses
14, 15, and 16. Then in verse 17, it says, he
came and preached peace to you which were afar off and to them
that were nigh. That is, he took the Christ,
the knowledge of the Christ, and he preached it to them. He
told these Gentiles who he was. He told them how that they were
fellow heirs with the Jews and how that that middle wall of
petition was taken down and how that they were redeemed the same
way as His elect were that were in natural Israel. He preached
peace to you which were far off and to them which were not. For
through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, Based on that,
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but your fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. Now watch this. And are
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the
building fitly framed together, both Jews and Gentiles, groweth
unto a holy temple in the Lord." That's His church. "...in whom
ye also are built together for a habitation of God through the
Spirit." And then look with me over here at 2 Corinthians chapter
6. In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul's writing
to a troubled church. And he's pointing out to them
some of their problem areas. And one of which was entering
into covenant union with unbelievers, marriage, business partnerships,
and especially church membership or any participation with them
in things of worship. And these ignorant and unbelieving
men were trying to mix the worship and ways of the world with the
worship and way of the Lord. And Paul uses the temple of Solomon
as a picture to point out their errors concerning that which
is spiritual. Now watch this here in 2 Corinthians
6 verse 15. What concord hath Christ with
Belial, that is those of Satan, Satan's followers, Satan, What
harmony, what agreement has Christ with Satan or those called in
the Scripture his ministers? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? What would you have in common?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them, and I'll be their God, and they shall
be my people. So the church of the living God
is His temple. You're wondering, well, why did
the temple? Our Lord told the Jews who were so bonded with
that temple, it was so much a part of them. He said, that temple,
not one stone is going to be left on the other. He said, it's
going to be torn completely down. And then He said, I'm going to
raise it up again in three days. And they just looked at him like
he was a madman. But the church of the living
God is in union with him, and when God raised him up, he raised
up his temple. He not only raised it up in its
spiritual form as being one with him, his church, but he also
revealed what this new temple is. This temple is his church. The church of the living God
is His temple, and this is where His presence is promised, His
word revealed, and His will made known. His temple is the place
of worship. You go back and study the Old
Tithes, and look at the Old Tithes, and you'll find out that God
communicated with Israel at the temple and at the tabernacle.
Both of them are a picture of Christ and His church. All right,
let's go back to 1 Peter chapter 2. Verse 4, "...to whom coming as unto a
living stone..." Now, he's going to talk to us about this temple,
this spiritual temple and this spiritual rock, Christ. "...to
whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men,
but chosen of God and precious." These things which God sets forth
as the foundation of his church, the foundation stone. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid in Christ the Lord. He's
the foundation. He's the chief cornerstone on
which this temple is erected. And as he's set forth as such,
he's disallowed indeed of men. That is, they don't approve of
him. They don't look to him for the strength of this temple.
They don't look to him for the revelation of this temple. They
don't look to him for the details of this temple. He's disallowed
indeed of men, but he's chosen of God, and he's precious. Only one foundation upon God,
upon which God's spiritual temple shall be built, and that's Christ
the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 9,
Paul said, we're labors together with God. He said, ye are God's
husbandry, ye are God's building. And that word building means
temple. According to the grace of God
which is given unto me as a wise master builder. He's talking
here about his office as an apostle. His words were inspired. by the
Spirit of God and were a sure foundation. He said, I have laid
the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take
heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. So God's
temple, God's building is built upon the foundation of Christ.
And then listen to what Peter said to the Jews concerning this
very thing back over early in the book of Acts. Right after
Pentecost, Peter began to preach this gospel to the Jews. And
listen to what he tells them. Acts chapter 4, verse 11. He
said, this is the stone which you builders... Israel was likened
unto builders, building this temple. But this is God's Israel,
God's spiritual Israel. And these were pretenders to
that. These were those who were deceived
and thought because they were the natural seed of Abraham that
they were God's elect. And people are still deceived
about this. You can ask nearly anybody on the street who the
Jews are and they'll tell you real quick, that's God's chosen
people. They'll tell you without even hesitating. It's God's chosen
people. And our own president and our
own government in times of war when things get iffy over there,
they always favor with Israel because in the back of their
mind they believe that this is God's chosen people. But now listen to what Peter
says to them. Acts chapter 4 verse 11. This is the stone talking
about Jesus Christ whom they rejected. This is the stone which
was said it not of you builders which has become the head of
the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other for there is none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Faith comes to Christ as the
foundation of the house. Everything that faith is, everything
about faith, everything that faith is designed for, everything
that faith was purposed to manifest, everything begins by being built
on the foundation of Christ. If it's not built on Christ,
it's not going to do what it was purposed of God to do. And
it's not going to be sufficient to save your soul. When faith
comes to Christ, it comes to Him as the foundation of the
house. And everything that faith believes rests on Christ. Righteousness. He's the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Forgiveness. Why do you believe
your sins are forgiven? If you're here this morning,
And you've made a profession of faith, and your confession
is that my sins are forgiven. That's my hope before God, that
my sins are forgiven. When I go out to meet God, my
sins won't still be with me. They've been forgiven. Why do
you believe that? Huh? Ask yourself that question. Why do you believe that your
sins are forgiven? Well, if I'm a believer, I believe
my sins are forgiven because Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. He died for them. He bore my
sins in His own body on the tree. And therefore, he's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What about acceptance with God?
I believe I'm acceptable to God. I've been accepted to God. Well, what's my hope of that?
Why do I believe that? Well, I'm accepted in the blood.
You see what I'm saying? Everything that faith believes
rests on Christ. It rests on Christ. Faith in
God. He was manifested in these last times for you who by Him
do believe in God that raised Him from the dead. Everything
concerning the faith of God's elect is built on Christ. Christ said this to John. My
wife was listening to a man this morning. She likes to listen
to him, and then we talk about things that he said. And this
man was making the apostle John out to be an absolute idiot.
He didn't know God. He didn't know anything. Nothing
was manifested yet. And then on the Isle of Patmos,
God come to him in dreams and visions and told him what all
this stuff was about. Well, that's not so. That's not
so at all. Christ said this to John on the
Isle of Patmos. He said, I am Alpha and Omega. What's that mean? The beginning
and the ending. Everything God intends for the
believer to know is in Christ. He's beginning, and He's ending,
and He's all in between. He said, I am the beginning and
the ending, that which is, which was, and which is to come. 1 Peter 2, verse 4. To whom coming
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious. Now, beloved, if there is but
one foundation, one name, one way, one all-sufficient sacrifice,
one righteousness, one resurrection, and one mediator, how precious
is he? Huh? If there's just one, you know,
back yonder when Paul was talking to the Corinthians, he mentioned
the simplicity of Christ. That's what that word means,
the oneness, the oneness of Christ. Christ is all and in all. And if He's all in all, if He's
all things to us, been made all things, He's been made wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. If there's just
one, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
how precious is He? If everything rests on Him, God
rested everything that He purposed to do in creation, He rested. And after He created the world,
it says He rested. How did He rest? Well, He tells
you in Ephesians 1, He first trusted in Christ. He rested
all things in His hands. Well, if God Himself rested all
things in Christ, how precious is He? How precious is He? Verse 5, unto you therefore which believe
He is precious, and ye also, as living stones, are built up
a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Believers are living stones. That's what Peter tells us here.
We're born of God. You hath He quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sin. Not physically, but spiritually.
In Ephesians 2, verse 2, he tells us what this death was. Walking
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, living out our days in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of our flesh and of our minds
by nature, being the children of wrath even as others. Bound,
bound by nature, sin. Being sold under sin, Paul said. Sinners by birth and sinners
by choice. and sinners by practice. But
God quickened us from the dead by His Spirit, and we're raised
up out of death to walk in newness of life. We're given the faith
of God's elect. We're given life. What is eternal
life in the Scriptures? What does the Scripture say eternal
life is? It's to know God and to know
His Son, Jesus Christ. That's eternal life. He said,
this is the true God, and this is eternal life. And only quickened sinners know
Him, and only quickened sinners come to Christ. Ye also, as living
stones, are built up a spiritual house. I guess what Peter is
telling us here, he is still talking about this birth. He
is still talking about the necessity of it. Before these spiritual
stones are going to be laid into the temple of the living God,
they must become living stones. Not just stones, living stones. Ye also as living stones are
built up a spiritual house. And this life is to know God
and to know His Son, Jesus Christ. He tells us in John 17, verse
3, in the Lord's high priestly prayer there in John 17. He said,
this is life eternal that they might know Thee, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou sent. Living stones are examples
of mercy and grace and they're trophies of Christ. And then
He calls us a spiritual house. We have a spiritual understanding. Hidden mysteries have been revealed
to us. You don't have to go very far
to find people who will look at you like you're from another
country, like you're speaking in a foreign language when you
start talking to them about the mysteries of God. Where did you get that? How did
you ever come to that kind of an idea? Who have you been reading? Who have you been listening to? They have a spiritual understanding. That's what faith is. Isn't that
what Paul prayed for over there in Ephesians chapter 1? that the eyes of your understanding
might be enlightened. We understand the mysteries,
things which are hidden from this present world. Eye hath
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, mankind, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him. What has he prepared? All things. All things, election,
predestination. A spiritual understanding of
Israel? There's no way that you can talk about salvation and
leave Israel out. There's no salvation ever revealed
that didn't have to do with Israel. All the promises of God were
to Israel. All the covenants that were made
were made with Israel. So you're going to have to come
to some understanding about what Israel is. Who is Israel? Who are these
people to whom God made all these promises? You can't just drop
Israel out of the picture in the New Testament and suddenly
say, well, I believe, so I'm saved. No, but your salvation
is based on those old covenants. You've got to find out who this
Israel is. And Peter is telling us that. There's a spiritual Israel. And they make up God's spiritual
house. And we worship in the spirit.
He that worships God, he worships in spirit and truth. It's spiritual
worship and spiritual sacrifices. Well, what is a spiritual sacrifice? Well, here's an example here
in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15. Listen to this. By him, talking about Christ.
By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God,
the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." That's a
spiritual sacrifice. Psalm 51, verse 17, the sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit, a broken spirit. A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Spiritual sacrifices are offered
by spiritual men and their sacrifices are made acceptable. They're
made acceptable to God, I Peter 2, 5, by Jesus Christ. They're not worthy to be accepted
apart from him. The best prayer you ever prayed,
the best thanksgiving that you ever offered, the best anything
you've ever brought into this place is not acceptable to God. It must be made acceptable through
Jesus Christ. And I thought about this as I
prepared my notes for this message. Aren't you glad your prayers
are not accepted on their own merit? Aren't you glad your praise is
not received on its own warrant? Aren't you glad the hymns we
sing are not approved by our own worthiness? We're a holy priesthood, a spiritual
house, and chosen as such to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. All right, 1 Peter 2, verse 6.
Wherefore, also, it is contained in the Scriptures." That is,
we're going to go back now and give you the foundation, Peter
said, for what I'm saying. It's contained in the Scripture.
Behold, I lay inside a chief cornerstone, elect and precious,
and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Now, that word confounded means
put to shame or silenced. And in Isaiah 28, which is what
Peter is quoting here in 1 Peter 2, that's where the passage is
found, it reads this way, shall not make haste. Not be anxious, not desiring
to leave this foundation or have any serious doubts about it. Not going to be anxious. Not
going to be anxious. God lays His foundation stone
and He lays that living stone on that foundation and He's not
anxious to leave. Verse 7, unto you therefore which
believe, He is precious. But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. and a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Now, I want to make this statement
first before we get into the negative. You cannot believe
on Christ and have tasted that He's gracious and Christ not
be precious to your soul. That's an utter impossibility. Utter impossibility. That would
be to say that everything Christ is, is not effectual to save
your soul. It would be in total denial.
He is precious. Peter didn't say here he ought
to be precious, though he should. That's not what he said. He said he is precious. He is. And by the same token, you cannot
preach a gracious gospel to dying sinners and despise the Christ
you preach. He's precious. He's precious
to you. Under them which be disobedient,
that is disobedient. What's he talking about here?
Disobedient to whom? Disobedient to what? Well, he's
disobedient to the testimony of God's Word. I don't know anything
about Christ apart from this book, do you? If I just stand
up here and say, well, now here's what I think, that's an opinion,
and they're like noses, and everybody has one. But we speak according to this
book. And unto them which be disobedient,
disobedient to what? They're disobedient to God's
Word, first of all. If they speak not according to
this Word, he said, it's because there's no light in them. He
said that back in Isaiah chapter 8. And then what else are they
disobedient? Well, they're disobedient to
God's Spirit. Disobedient to God's Spirit. Those who reject
the Gospel of Christ are said to have done despite under the
Spirit of Grace. You can find that over in Hebrews
chapter 10. They trodden underfoot the Son of God and they've done
despite under the Spirit of Grace. And they counted the blood of
the covenant, the blood of Christ that He shed on that cross, the
blood of the everlasting covenant. They counted that as an unclean
thing. You do all those things when you reject the gospel of
Christ. So they're disobedient to God's
word and they're disobedient to God's spirit. And thirdly,
they're disobedient to God's ambassador. What happens if the
United States sends an ambassador over to some troubled place like
Iraq and he goes over there and he says, this is what we have
to do to resolve our differences? And he's not telling him that
this is an option. He's saying this is what has
to be. This is what has to come about.
Well, what happens when they disobey that? What happens when
they disobey the ambassador? War is declared. Now, listen
to this. He said, our Lord sent out 70
ambassadors. He sent them out to preach when
he was alive. Walking on this earth, he appointed
70 men, and he sent them out to preach. And here's what he
told them. He that heareth you, heareth me. That's true of every
preacher ordained of God. Every preacher called of God.
Now, if he's not called of God, then it has no application to
him. But if he's called of God, this is absolutely true. He that
heareth you, heareth me. And he that despiseth you, now
listen to this, despiseth me, because he's my ambassador. He
represents me. And he that despiseth me despises
him that sent me. They're disobedient to God's
ambassador. And fourthly, they're disobedient
to God. It's of God's ordination that
sinners be saved by grace through faith. and that they should hear
by way of a preacher. It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them. Paul said his calling and ministry
was made manifest unto God, and he said, and I trust also are
made manifest in your consciences. Unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. All right. Let's go back now. A stone of stumbling and a rock
of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed. This last verse is a quote from
Isaiah chapter 8, and it speaks of the whole of natural Israel
in their rejection of Christ and their unbelief of those prophecies
given concerning the Messiah. They stumbled at the stumbling
stone. Christ is the head of the corner. He's the sure foundation for
all the house of Israel. But that same stone that God
laid, which is head of the corner, that same stone is a stumbling
stone to those who reject the gospel. They fall on that stone,
and he said, he that falls on that stone shall be broken. He's
going to be ground to pieces. They stumbled at the stumbling
stone. They stumbled at his birth, not
believing that he was virgin born. They stumbled at his parentage. supposing he would come from
some great family. You remember back yonder when
God sent out his prophet to anoint his king. And they came to the
house, and they called in all the sons. And one by one, they
passed by the prophet. And he said, don't you have any
more sons? He said, I got one more. Old Jesse, he said, I got
one more. And they sent out there and called
David in. They didn't even bring David in. They supposed there's
just no way David could be anything. This little ruddy boy's out there
tending sheep, singing. He sings a lot. He's out there.
They brought him in. He said, that's him. That's God's
king, man after his own heart. They stumbled when the Jews looked
at Mary and Joseph, too poor to even have a sacrifice. They
had to go get the poor man's sacrifice. They had to offer
doves and pigeons. They stumbled at his parentage,
supposing he would come from some influential family, and
they stumbled at the place of his birth. They stumbled at that. Could any good thing come out
of Nazareth? Now, I know he was born in Bethlehem,
but then he moved to Nazareth. And they said, can any good thing
come from Nazareth? They stumbled at his lack of
education and cooperation with their tradition and their ideas
of religion. What he preached and what they
preached went different directions. Went different directions. And
they stumbled at his insistence and dogmatism over the teaching
of the scriptures, especially as it ran contrary to their traditional
understanding. And they stumbled over his association
with vile sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors, and rowdy
fishermen, and on and on the list goes. They said they watched
that one woman pouring her heart out, and her tears was falling
on his feet, and they were dusty from his journey there. And she
took her hair, and as her tears fell on his feet, she took her
hair and wiped his feet off. And they said if he knew anything
at all about her, he wouldn't let her touch him. They stumbled over his association
with vile sinners. Here comes a leper and cast himself
down on the ground before the Lord and said, Lord, if you will.
They weren't even permitted to come into the company of Israel,
period, this old leper. But here he comes, and he fell
down at the feet of Christ. And he said, Lord, if you will,
you make me clean. The Lord said, I will. I will. demon-possessed, old legion,
sat there with the Lord and talked to Him. And all the while, these
Jews are looking on as all these things took place. They stumbled
over His association with vile sinners. But more than anything,
they stumbled at the word of His doctrine, grace and mercy
without the law, salvation by the sovereign grace of God in
Christ. And in the passage in Isaiah
chapter 8 that Peter quotes, it clearly tells us that these
things which they stumbled at were used as a gin and a snare. God sent them strong delusion
to believe a lie and to be damned for believing it. Now, the Lord
willing, we'll take up here again next week. Thank you.