Alright, you can open your Bibles
to 1 Peter chapter 2. Now when the Lord is pleased to give a man or woman eternal
life, and He prayed that in John 17,
He said, Thou hast given me authority over all flesh. that I should
give eternal life. Eternal life is His gift. And
I shall give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Me.
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. And when God is
pleased to give a sinner eternal life, He does a work of grace
for him, on behalf of him. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid upon him by stripes we're healed. He does a work
for us, works out a perfect righteousness, satisfies God's law, honors God's
justice, does a work for us. But when God is pleased to give
eternal life to a sinner, He does a work of grace in him,
not only for him, but in him. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God who lives in me. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. So note four things in reference
to that before we get into our study of chapter 2. So the elect
of God first are chosen in Christ. They're born of God's Spirit.
They're redeemed by the blood of Christ. They have a perfect
righteousness by His obedience. They're quickened and indwelt
by His Spirit. Paul said, I give thanks unto
you. I give thanks unto God beloved
for you, because God hath chosen you. And secondly, the elect
of God are given a new heart and a new spirit and a new nature,
a new family and a new direction. They're born of God. I would
like for you to turn to John 1, and let's look at this over
here just a moment. John 1, verse 12. They're chosen of God,
and they're given a new heart and a new nature in this saving
work. In John 1, verse 12, it says,
"...but as many as received Him, to them gave He." power, the
right to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
His name, which were born. These people were born. We call it, our Lord called it
born again, begotten again. But it's, they're born not of
blood. That means not of natural generation. They're not, that's
not a blood, we call somebody blood kin. Well, that's not how
we're born. That's the fleshly birth, blood
kin. And they're not born of the will
of the flesh, their own flesh. They're not born of the will
of man. But they're born of God. So they're chosen of God, and
they're born of God. They're given a new heart, a
new nature, a new life, a new direction. But thirdly, this
new life, this new nature, is a babe. A babe in Christ, just
like when a new baby is born to a mother and father. It's
a baby. And it grows. And God's children
are born into His family as babies. In 1 Peter 2, verse 2, it says,
"...as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word." God's
children are Born babies too. Spiritual babies. Babies in Christ. Turn to Hebrews 5. You'll see
this again. Hebrews chapter 5. They're born of God, but they're
born babies. Little children. They're not
born full grown. They're not born wise elders. They're born babies. And babies
need milk. Hebrews 5 verse 13, Everyone
that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. He's a babe. The strong meat
belongeth to them that are of full age, grown up. Even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, they've
got wisdom. brought to them through years
of study and years of experience and years of growth. So God's
people are elected. They're born again with a new
nature. But when they're born, they're babes. You'll see that
in 1 John 2, if you want to turn over to 1 John chapter 2. Another
Scripture tells us the degrees of growth in the family of God.
In 1 John 2, verse 13, he says, I write unto you fathers, because
you've known him that's from the beginning. This is not talking
about age naturally. It's not talking about he's writing
to everybody in here 70 years old. A person can be more mature
in Christ at 30 than a man 70, depends upon the grace of God.
and his use of the Scriptures. But this is spiritual fathers. I write unto you fathers because
you've known him from the beginning. I write unto you young men because
you've overcome the wicked one. I write unto you little children
because you've known the Father. You've known the Father. See
that? Babes, children. We're called novices. If you'll
turn to 1 Timothy 5, a novice is a beginner, an apprentice,
a learner, not a leader, a learner. 1 Timothy 5, verse 22, it says
here, talking about elders and preachers and leaders in the
church, verse 22 of 1 Timothy 5, "...lay hands suddenly on
no man." on no man, neither be a partaker
of other men's sins." In other words, other men lay hands suddenly
on fellows, don't you do it, just because they do. Don't let
them talk you into, or persuade you into putting responsibility
on shoulders that can't bear it. They're not ready. They're
babies. Don't give a baby too much to
do. He'll mess himself up and everybody else too. 1 Timothy
3. Verse 5, talking again about
these leaders in the church. Verse 5, 1 Timothy 3, if a man
doesn't know how to rule his own house, how can he take care
of the church of God? Not a novice. Don't lay hands
on a novice. Don't make him a leader. Lest,
being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of
the devil. So this is the fact. God's people
are chosen. They're born of the Spirit of
God. They have life, a new life, in
them. But they're babies. And that
brings me to the fourth thing. The Bible talks about growth,
spiritual growth. If you'll turn over to 2 Peter,
John quoted this a minute ago while he was reading in 2 Timothy
3. There's a growth. In 2 Timothy
3.18, I'll come back to this in a few moments. But grow in
grace. Grow in grace. And grow in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That's what babies
do, they grow. They grow. And one other scripture
in Ephesians 4, in Ephesians chapter 4, And this is a spiritual
growth, is what it is, a spiritual growth. It depends upon teaching
and instruction and experience and trial and faithfulness and
willingness. In Ephesians 4, beginning with
verse 11, well, verse 10, he that descended is the same, also
that ascendeth up far above all heavens, that he might fulfill
all things." This is our Lord Jesus Christ. And when He ascended,
He gave some apostles and some prophets and some missionaries. That's what an evangelist is,
missionaries. And some pastors and teachers.
That's the same author. So pastor is a teacher. for the
perfecting of the saints, the maturity of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man, that's a mature man, no
man's perfect, that's maturity, unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ, listen, that we henceforth be no more
children, Babes in Christ. Tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning
craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive. They wait out
there to deceive folks. But speaking the truth in love,
do it in love. Speak the truth, but do it with
compassion that we may grow up You ever hear a mother say to
a child, I wish you'd grow up. I wish you'd grow up. That's
what this is talking about. That we may grow up into Him. That's where we are. We're in
Him and grow in Him. Grow in grace and the knowledge
of Him. It's in growing Christ. Grow up in Him, into Him, in
all things, which is the head. even Christ. Now with that in
mind, and this growth is accomplished through the teaching of the Word,
through the knowledge and belief of the Word. And God's people
are not offended by His Word. They're not offended by His Word. So let's look at chapter 2 of
1 Peter and just have a little study here, a brief study. in
these first ten verses, wherefore laying aside. Now if a fellow's
going to write with a new pen, he'll have to lay the old one
down. If a fellow's going to work with new tools, he'll have
to discard the old tools. If a fellow's going to walk a
new walk, he's going to have to turn from the old walk, turn
from the idols to the living God. If we plan to walk with
God like Enoch of old, we're going to have to lay aside the
old companions And the old ways, just lay them aside. Wherefore,
laying aside. And this is not a once-for-all
thing. He said, wherefore, laying aside. It didn't say having laid
aside. It says laying aside. Oh, malice. What is malice? It's ill will.
It's ill feelings toward others. Malice is born of self-love. That's where it comes from. Self-love.
Lay it aside. Oh guile, what is guile? That's
dishonesty. It's deceit. It's using dishonest
ways to gain our goals. Lay it aside. And hypocrisy,
what is that? That's the opposite of sincerity.
Hypocrisy is always the opposite of sincerity. Pretension is hypocrisy. Speaking with the lips what's
not in the heart. Just lay it aside. All envies. Lay aside envy. The best definition
that I've ever read concerning envy is this. Listen to it. Envy is that uneasy feeling. Envy is that uneasy feeling that
a person gets over the happiness, success, or gifts of another. Envy doesn't always say anything.
Envy doesn't always do anything. Envy is that uneasy feeling over
the happiness, success, or gifts of another. Lay that aside. And
all evil speaking. Usually when you think of evil
speaking, you think of dirty words and cursing, but that's
not That doesn't have any reference to believers. This is talking
to believers. As newborn babes. A newborn babe
in Christ is not a filthy mouthed person. This right here has to
do with speaking unkindly. Unkindly. Impatiently. Harshly. That's evil speaking. Speaking unkindly of a person
who is absent. inaccurate reports, not having
heard the other side. That's evil speaking. Talking
about things we don't know anything about, that's evil speaking.
See, we're not talking here about blasphemy. A believer is not
going to blaspheme God. A believer is not going to take
God's name in vain. A believer is not going to talk
dirty and curse. No, this is talking to believers
about any kind of speaking that's evil. Unkind. Impatient. False report. Inaccurate information. You know, David, in Psalm 141,
let me ask you to turn over there a minute. David wrote something
over here that was so interesting, a reference that I found on this
speaking business. While you're finding that Psalm
141, everything Everything is transacted by speech in the natural world and in the
spiritual world. Transacted by speech. The tongue is the prime instrument
in the cause of God. How does God present the gospel?
With somebody's voice, somebody's tongue. How does God comfort
the bereaved? With somebody's words of comfort.
How does God teach His people? Words. The tongue. But also,
the tongue is the chief instrument of Satan. The chief instrument. James says it's set on fire with
hell. And he says this is something
that is just not right for impure water to come out of the same
fountain with pure water. To curse men and bless God out
of the same mouth? out of the same mouth to bless
God and talk about His grace and mercy and kindness, turn
around and speak hatefully and evil. And that type of matter
to me, and these things ought not to be. And David said in
Psalm 141, 3, set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth. Put a guard
there. Put a watch before my mouth.
David prays for God to help him to guard and control and order
his tongue because he knows how important it is. Keep, O Lord,
the door of my lips. Keep my lips. All right, back to our text.
If we're going to grow, we're going to have to lay some things
aside. We're going to have to lay some things aside. Malice,
guile, deceit. pretension, hypocrisies, envies,
evil-speaking, jealousy. And there's newborn babes. He
takes for granted we're born of God, children of God. Therefore,
as a baby desires the breast. What? That little fellow, he
wants to eat. And as a newborn baby desires
the sincere milk of the Word. What is the sincere milk of the
Word? It's what we're doing right now. It's the pure, it's the
unmixed pure Word of God. It's not reading the Word and
reading a bunch of fellows that wrote on it. It's reading His
Word. The unmixed pure desire, the
unmixed pure Word of God. I know we use helps. I use them. A while ago I quoted that statement
about envy. I read that. Some fellow wrote
that. That's good. The uneasy feeling. that a person
experiences when someone else is blessed and he's not, or happy
and he's not. He gets uneasy. That's envy.
And we can use helps, but I tell you, too many helps become a
hindrance. Too many helps become a hindrance.
He wants us to desire the sincere milk of the Word, that we may
what? That we may grow thereby. Grow
how? Don't take one of these Bible
study courses and learn all the kings' names and all the dates
and all the kingdoms and all the millenniums and all these
things. Grow in grace. That's where we need to grow.
Grow in grace. Grow in the knowledge of Christ.
All that other information is just clutter, just clutters your
brain, clutters your mind. We need to grow in grace, in
love, in faith, in patience, in kindness, in meekness, in
humility. Grow in the fruit of the Spirit.
Grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. No more of Him. That's where we need to grow.
We don't need facts and intellect and swell heads. We need to know
Him, His way, His will. Be like Him. Be like Him. The simpler things. The kind
and loving and gracious things of God. Faith. Feast on Him. Well, verse 3, that you are a babe, and you
have tasted, the Lord is gracious." He's good. He's good. Here's another reference to the
psalm. Turn to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. Listen to this. Psalm 34. If
you've tasted, the Lord is gracious. This is where that came from.
Psalm 34.8. You see, these writers in the
New Testament, they keep reaching back to the old. They reach back
and take these scriptures. And here's what Peter's talking
about. What David said in Psalm 34,
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is that man who trusteth
in him. that's mature and grown up in
Christ and just resting. Resting in Christ. Have you tasted?
The Lord is good. He's sufficient. He's good. He delights to show mercy. He's
always good, even down to old age. All my people shall prove
my sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love. Blessed is that man who
rests and trusts in Christ. I was listening to a preacher
the other day and he was talking about fast lane Christians. We
need to get in the fast lane. No, you need to get out of it.
You don't want to be a fast lane Christian. He means the hoof
to do it. Kicking up your heels and learn
to be a soul winner and all that. You don't need that. We need
to grow in grace. Graciousness. Love in Christ. the knowledge of the Savior.
That's what we need. You don't need all this, what's
going on in religion today. You don't even need to be a part
of it. All right, verse 4, to whom coming? Here's the secret.
To whom coming? Here's the secret. Of salvation,
come to Christ. Of growth in grace, come to Christ. Of assurance, come to Christ.
Of perseverance, come to Christ. Of maturity, Come to Christ. Look to Christ. Looking unto
Him. Author and finisher of our faith. To whom coming. And faith
and repentance is a continual exercise. A continual exercise
of love and a continual exercise of looking, believing, trusting,
receiving. Like a child keeps coming back
to the mother and to the father. Just keeps coming back. Who is this one to whom coming?
Well, look here at verse 4. To whom coming, as in, he's a
living stone. Rock of ages. Foundation. Living stone. I shall not be moved. I'm planted on the rock. He's
disallowed indeed of men. No, he's not popular with the
world, the religious world. The world knew him not and the
Jews rejected him. Disallowed indeed of men. But
listen, chosen of God. That man in the Old Testament
who was the priest, who represented men to God and God to men and
things pertaining to God, he didn't take that honor upon himself,
but he was chosen of God and Christ our Lord. You're not only
the living stone, you're disallowed indeed of men, but he's the one
God chose to represent you. He's a court-appointed lawyer. And he'll do you good. And not
only that, but he's precious. Ah, my, he's precious. His words
are precious, his promises are precious, his blood is precious,
his faith is precious, and everybody who dies in Christ is precious. is their death. Come on. Go on to a Bible study. Well,
that's good if you're learning of Christ. We're going to get
together for a discussion. I hope you talk about Him. Anything
else will ruin you. In spiritual matters, in growing,
that's right. And you also, I'm going to skip verse 5 for a moment,
you also as living stones have built up a spiritual house, a
holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by
Christ. I'll come back to that. But look
at verse 6. This is talking about to whom
coming. This is that living stone, disallowed indeed of men, chosen
of God and precious. Wherefore also it's contained
in the Scripture. Here we go again. Peter's talking
about the Old Testament. Behold, I lay in Zion." Who's
Zion? That's the church. I lay in Zion,
the church, a chief cornerstone. Elect, precious, and he that
believeth on him will never be ashamed. He'll never be confounded. Now, what's he quoting? Where's
the scripture there that Peter's, as we come into Christ now, Chosen
of God, precious, living stone, chief cornerstone. Turn to Isaiah
28. Isaiah 28. Here's the Scripture
that he's quoting. Wherefore, it's written in the
Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion. Now here, Isaiah 28. I want you
to look at this. In verse 14, Isaiah 28, and Isaiah
rebukes These men who disallowed the
chief cornerstone, who rejected Christ. Wherefore, verse 14,
hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men that rule this people
which is in Jerusalem. Because you've said we've made
a covenant with death, we're not afraid to die. And with hell
are we at agreement, we're not afraid of hell. And you say,
when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, when judgment
comes to all men, it won't come unto us. We've got a refuge,
but you've made lies your refuge. We've got a place to hide. It's
not in the rock of ages. Rock of ages cleft for me, let
me hide myself in thee. They've rejected the rock, the
stone, the foundation, the cheap cornerstone, the living stone.
They are hiding under falsehood. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay, I lay in Zion for a foundation. I laid this foundation. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. I laid this
foundation. Watch it. He's a stone, durable,
eternal. Rock of ages. Someone said one
time, people today are busy studying the ages of the rocks. Oh, what a blessing it would
be if they could discover the rock of ages. A stone, a tried
stone. He tried by God. He tried by
men. He tried by law. He tried by
Satan. He's tried by justice. He's tried
by time. He's a tried stone. Victorious. And He's a precious
cornerstone. He's the first. What's a cornerstone? It's the chief stone. It's the keystone. It's the chief
stone in the building. That's our Lord. And He's a sure
foundation. It'll never give way. They'll
never perish. And he that believeth on Him
will never make haste. He'll never be confounded. He'll
never fail. Alright, verse 7. Now watch this. Unto you therefore which believe. He's precious. Unto you that
believe. This cornerstone, this chief
corner, 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, a rock of offense. Even to them that stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto they were also appointed.
You know, there are thousands of philosophies, religious philosophies,
There are thousands of religious denominations. There are thousands
of what we call faiths or beliefs. There are thousands of thoughts
and ideas about God. But here Peter narrows them down
to two, just two, unto you that believe
and unto them that don't. God said, Behold, I lay in Zion
a foundation, a stone, elect and precious, a chief cornerstone,
a tried stone, a sure foundation. And unto you that believe, he's
precious. Unto them that don't believe,
he's a stone of stone. That's right, to you who've seen
your guilt, your inability, and your need of a Redeemer, who've
seen the promises of God to sinners in Christ, who've seen His person,
His redemptive work, His incarnation, His obedience, His death, His
resurrection, His exaltation, His glory, if you've seen Him,
to you He's precious. He's your foundation. He's your
chief cornerstone. He's your rock. He's your confidence. He's your precious. But unto them that do not believe,
what is He to them? Verse 8 says He's a stone of
stumbling. What is a stumbling stone? Well,
you fall over it. You fall over it. You fumble
and stumble and fall over it. It's in your way. It troubles
you, it bothers you. It's not in place. It's in place to you because
you're standing on it, and you're built, and your hope and your
house is built on that stone. But they got their house out
here, and every time they come out of it, they stumble over
that stone. Every time they see the stone,
it causes them problems. It's a problem stone and a stumbling
stone. It's a rock of offense. That's
what Christ is. They have no interest in His
death, but they know He died. They have no interest in His
life, but they know He lived. They have no faith in His death,
but they know He suffered. They have no hope in His resurrection,
but they know He rose. They have no confidence in His
exaltation and His mediatorial work, but they know He's there.
He bothers the stuffings out of them. He's a rock of offense. Don't mention that name. That's
what the Pharisees said to the disciples. Preach all you want
to, but don't preach that man. It bothers them. Don't you believe
it doesn't? It bothers them. He's a stone
of stumbling. He's a rock of offense. Oh, they'll
talk about the little baby. They'll talk about the good man,
Jesus. But don't mess with this blood
stuff. They don't want to hear that.
Don't hear about this sovereign Lord. You want to hear about
this crucified substitute. You want to hear about this reigning
king who does what he will with whom he will. They stumble at
his birth. They stumble at his claims. They
stumble at his death. They stumble at his gospel. They
stumble at his name. He's a rock of offense. Well, here's the sad thing. Unto you that believe, He's precious.
Tell me about Him. Tell me about Him. The more you
talk about Him, the better I like it, preacher. He's precious.
You can't lift Him too high or praise Him too much or glorify
Him too much. Anything you say is inadequate
as far as He's concerned. He's precious. He's my hope,
my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctification, my redemption. Do not know him, he's a stone
of stumbling, he's a rock of a fence. But, whereunto also
they were appointed. That's the place God carved out
for them. That's right. I don't know a whole lot about
that, but I just know it's so. I know Pharaoh. Pharaoh occupied
the seat God pulled up for him. Judas occupied the office God
made for him. And the people in Acts 4 with
wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory, but they did what God
ordained that should be done. Appointed. Their vessels of mercy,
appointed. Their vessels of wrath, appointed. That's right. But you, now come
back to verse 5, but you, you're a living stone. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad, Mikey, He's
precious to you? Wouldn't you hate to be appointed to wrath?
Wouldn't you hate to be an instrument in the hand of Satan to battle
Christ, to fight the Son of God? You're a living stone, a living
stone. You're built up a spiritual house.
We're talking about a spiritual house. whose house we are if
we hold fast our profession of faith. You've built up a spiritual
house. You're a holy priesthood. You're
a priest. Every one of you is a priest.
Every one of us. What do we offer? Spiritual sacrifices. Faith. While you were singing
a while ago, parish Lord Jesus, you were offering to Him spiritual
sacrifices. Praise. When John was praying,
leading us in prayer, we were offering sacrifices of thanksgiving
and prayer. When we were reading his Word,
we were praising God. That's spiritual sacrifices that
are well-pleasing to God and acceptable to God. Watch out
now. By Jesus Christ. Ain't nothing
you ever said, God accepts, without Him. Nothing you've ever done,
nothing you've ever given, Everything is in Him. That's the reason
He's so precious. And one more verse, verse 9.
Your chosen generation. The Father chose you. Don't be
ashamed of that. Don't apologize for that. You chose your bride. He chose
His. You're a royal priesthood. You
see, Aaron wasn't a royal priest. Melchizedek was a royal priest,
king priest. He made us kings and priests
unto our God. We're not just priests, we're
king priests, royal priesthood. You're a holy nation. Israel
never was a holy nation. It is a nation, but not holy.
But you're holy, without blame, spotless. You're peculiar people. He says, that means strange.
Well, to the world you're strange. You're strangers and you're strange.
What you love, they don't love. What you count valuable, they
don't. You're purchased people is what
that word is. Purchased. You're different.
God made a difference. You know, their family is known
for their family traits. That's right. And God's family
is known for their virtues. and the workings of him, their
father. They bear the likeness of the
father and the older brother. And it says in verse 10, but
you are at one time not a people. What does that mean? That means
the Gentiles. That's what that's talking about. Every sheep has
always been a sheep. Every beloved has always been
beloved. But there was a time when, it says over here in Ephesians
2, I'll read this, and quit, Ephesians 2. If you turn over
there, this is what this is talking about. At one time you were not
a people. It says here in Ephesians 2, 12, at that time you were,
verses 11, wherefore remember in time past you were Gentiles
in the flesh, called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. At that time you were without
Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this
world, but now in Christ Jesus. You who were sometimes far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ. All right, I pray God will bless
that study to your prophet, to your hearts.