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Good morning, everyone. Good 
to be here again in the house of the Lord. You can turn with 
me in your Bibles to the book of 1 Peter as we continue our 
exposition through 1 Peter. We're in chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 
2. This morning we'll look at verses 
6 through 8. Verses 6 through 8. It will be sort of a two-part, 
the next, from verses 6 to 10, I'm gonna do in two parts. Next 
week, we'll look at the second half of that. They do go together, 
but there's a lot of information in there, a lot of covenant and 
things like that that we need to work through slowly just to 
get a real understanding of what Peter's doing in this chapter 
here, and the comfort that he's supplying and affording and teaching 
the pilgrims, that he is teaching here and writing to in the pilgrims 
of the dispersion, as he calls them. So, if you're in 1 Peter, 
we're in chapter 2. I'll read the entirety of the 
chapter, just to get the context, and then we will pray. So, 1 Peter, chapter 2. Therefore, 
laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and 
all evil speaking, As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of 
the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that 
the Lord is gracious. Coming to him as to a living 
stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are 
being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up 
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 
Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay 
in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes 
on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who 
believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, 
the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief 
cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, 
being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. 
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, 
his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises 
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, 
who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who 
had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, 
I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which 
war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among 
the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, 
they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God 
in the day of visitation. Therefore, submit yourselves 
to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the 
king as supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him 
for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who 
do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you 
may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet 
not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants 
of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, 
fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your 
masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also 
to the harsh, for this is commendable. If because of conscience toward 
God, one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is 
it if when you were beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, 
if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For 
to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, 
leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who 
committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth, who, when 
he was reviled, did not revile in return. When he suffered, 
he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, 
who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that 
we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose 
stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going 
astray, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer 
of your souls. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we do thank 
you for your word. And Father, we thank you for 
this glorious passage of scripture that teaches us so clearly of 
who we are as the people of God, those whom you have called out 
of darkness and brought into the marvelous light through your 
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, I pray this morning that 
you would be here, that you would send your spirit to be here to 
bless us, Lord, as the Word is preached, and to apply these 
things to our hearts, Lord, that we would be greatly encouraged 
by it, that Your people would be built up in their most holy 
faith, they would be edified and leave here rejoicing in the 
great God that You are. And Lord, if there are sinners 
among us who have not closed with Christ, Lord, we know we 
are all sinners, but those who have not closed with Christ and 
come to You through Him, For in repentance and faith, Lord, 
that today would be the day of salvation, that they would see 
that there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby 
we must be saved. As in Adam all die, even so in 
Christ all shall be made alive. Lord, that Christ is the only 
way. And Lord, I pray that you would be glorified, Christ would 
be exalted among us this morning. And we pray this in his precious 
name. Amen. Well, as we saw last week in 
this section here in chapter 2, Peter is dealing with the 
church as a corporate body and the building of that church. And we saw last week about the 
living stones, that we are all living stones in the church of 
Christ, that we are all building blocks, we could say, in the 
church of Christ. The whole, both chapter 1 and 
chapter 2, he deals with the blessings of being one of those 
who've been saved, the blessings of being one of God's people. 
In chapter 1, it's more personal, and then he sort of segues into 
chapter 2, now to being more corporate. We saw at the end 
of chapter 1 that the brotherly love aspect that we have to have 
as believers in Christ, loving one another because we are a 
body, and now in chapter 2, he explains more more detail here 
what this what it means to be the the body of Christ or the 
or this this building that we are being being built up upon 
the cornerstone of of Christ so so just to sort of understand 
again review I guess basically last week and and get ourselves 
understand that the context here you know we saw last week how 
in this in this building process we are all individual stones 
living stones he could he he calls us and and our Our responsibility, 
we understand Christ is building his church. He tells us that 
very clearly in Matthew 16 and elsewhere in Acts. We see Christ 
is the one building the church, but yet we are not just passive 
participants in that. The church has been commissioned 
to be the ones who go and make disciples of all the nations. 
The church has been commissioned by our head, Christ, to do these 
things. So now our individual responsibility, 
personally, then, is that we, as the building block in there, 
upon which other blocks will be built upon, we are to be a 
strong building block. So, first, then, in verses 1, 
2, 3 there, we're supposed to cast aside those things that 
would hinder us from being a strong, solid building block and hinder 
our spiritual growth, and then we're to have this desire for 
the Word, this desire for the pure milk of the word, that you 
may grow thereby, says the new King James. And which is obviously 
the point of that, that we have the spiritual growth so that 
we may become a strong building block in there. Because again, 
as I said last week, the church is not, is more than, it's not 
just, you know, individuals, you know, abstracted from one 
another, but rather we are one organism, a living organism, 
which Peter calls here a spiritual house. And as we grow, as the 
church grows, as it marches through the ages, the church is built 
in layers. We can look at it as layers upon layers, and therefore 
the necessity of being a solid building block for the layers 
that are built upon us, those that we impact in life. We think 
of children and grandchildren, of course, that's, you know, 
easily to see that there as we impact them, but also it's not 
just limited to that, of course. It's, you know, anyone in the 
church, and I don't mean just the local church, but the church, 
you know, church as a whole, Christians, those who are maybe 
a bit younger, more immature Christians, as they come to you, 
and you can build them up and strengthen them. So that is you 
being a solid building block in there. We see that through 
the Bible often. The older women are to teach 
the younger women, you know, that concept there. And of course 
not just limited to women, but the concept is is through there 
that we are building ourselves up in our most holy faith as 
Jude says so that is the that is the the That is our individual 
Responsibility and of course that comes by that that begins 
by coming to Christ He says in in verse 4, you know first of 
all coming in in in faith and true saving faith to to Christ 
believing on him but then we're a constant reliance on him for 
these things as we as we seek to grow in the knowledge, in 
the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 
And then Christ here, he describes him as a living stone. Now, I 
didn't touch on this too much last week, but again, Christ 
is a living stone, not simply because he's alive. Yes, of course, 
there's that aspect, but it's the fact that he once was dead, 
and he has been raised from the dead now he's now he is alive 
because that's the the reality of the resurrection is is really 
the the foundation of all christianity we paul says that very clearly 
to the corinthians that you know if if if christ is not if christ 
is not raised and then of all men we're of all men most most 
pitiable because we have nothing our hope is built on the fact 
that christ has risen from the dead so i say that the resurrection 
is the foundation Christianity or in other words we could say 
that Christ is the the living cornerstone of the church to 
use the Peter's words here so so without the resurrection of 
Christ there's no kingdom of heaven there's no there's no 
church there so and then we we become living stones because 
we are alive in Christ we are we are we are we are joined with 
him in and we are alive in him John John 14 Jesus says there 
now he's foretelling his resurrection to the disciples and he says 
a little while longer and the world will see me no more but 
you will see me because I live you will live also and at that 
day you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I 
in you so as believers we are united With Christ, Christ is 
the head, we are the body, Christ is the cornerstone, we are the 
house that's built upon that. So Christ is the means by which 
we have spiritual life. We're united to Christ through 
his life, his perfect life that met that standard for eternal 
life. We're united to Christ in that way, we're united to 
Christ in his death, whereby our sins are paid for, paid in 
full, atoned for, and we're united with Christ in His resurrection, 
where we become raised in newness of life, and we have the spiritual 
life there. So again, I think, and this reminds 
us of the words of John the Baptist, when he says to the Pharisees, 
if you remember, he's speaking to the Pharisees, and he's indicting 
them, and he says that God can raise up up from the stones lying 
around there, children of Abraham. He says, don't begin to say to 
yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. So don't think that 
being just an Israelite makes you right with God. He says, 
God can take the dead stones and make children of Abraham, 
true children of Abraham, from these dead stones. So it's that 
same concept there. We're gonna see the covenant 
aspect of that a little bit in this sermon as well, of the Pharisees' 
misunderstanding of that. So again, so we see that God 
taking dead stones, raises them to life, makes them living stones 
in his kingdom, building blocks in the spiritual house of Christ's 
kingdom, Christ's house. And that was where we ended last 
time there, sort of halfway through verse five, and just this to 
sort of sum it all up, I guess, that we're to be in communion 
with Christ, we're to be growing in Christ, you know, so that, 
you know, through our knowledge of the Scriptures, through prayer, 
through the means that God has given, ridding ourselves of these 
vices that would hinder that and, you know, hinder us from 
being that strong building block in the Church of Christ. So, 
now, I'm going to skip over the rest of verse 5 at this point, 
just the way I've sort of structured going through the next six or 
so verses here over next week as well. So I'm going to skip 
over verse five. We'll come back to that practical 
side of things hopefully next week. I can get that all in there. So we're going to begin at verse 
six now. And then, like I said, we'll 
look at the responsibilities of the church in terms of offering 
up spiritual sacrifices Acceptable through to God through Jesus 
Christ will we in verse 10? we see as well that the church 
is to is to proclaim the the the praises of him who called 
you out of darkness into marvelous light, you know, so we'll kind 
of connect those things together and And and Lord willing next week. 
Hopefully we can we can we can look at that. So so now then 
versus With that with that, you know back and freshen our minds 
again, then we can look at at verses six through eight. So 
basically in verses six, we have the foundational cornerstone 
of the church, and then as foretold in the Old Testament. And then 
in verses seven through eight, we have the human response to 
that cornerstone. So then in verse six, then, the 
foundational cornerstone, as foretold in the Old Testament, 
that's how he begins here. Therefore, it's also contained 
in the scripture. The word contained there has 
this idea it's set down or it's established. It's established 
in the scriptures. Well, we can see right away that 
for Peter, obviously referencing the scriptures, he's referencing 
the Old Testament. And what he's going to go on to do is teach 
on the church as the people of God. And you can see here, he's 
grounding his whole ecclesiology. Ecclesiology means the doctrine 
of the church. He's grounding his whole ecclesiology 
in the Old Testament. And that's something that's noteworthy, 
especially in our day and age with dispensationalism, teaching 
the Old Testament and that the Israelites were one people of 
God, the church is another people of God, and the church is sort 
of this mysterious church age because it was never talked about. 
Well, Peter here very clearly is saying, no, this was prophesied. in the Old Testament. It was 
set down, it was established in the Scriptures, in the Old 
Testament. And then he reads this prophecy from Isaiah 28 
here. We also read it at the outset 
of worship as well, the reference to this chief cornerstone. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief 
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will 
by no means put to shame. So, in Isaiah, what's going on 
there is Isaiah is prophesying against the kingdom of Israel, 
both the northern and the southern kingdoms. At that time, they were, you 
know, they had rejected the Yahweh of Israel, they had rejected, 
they'd broken the covenants, and God sent his prophets to 
say, you know, you've broken them, you've broken them, and 
I'm going, I will destroy you, and you will be exiled out of 
your land, taken out of your land, And then, but this promise 
that he leaves here, he's, I will lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. So he's promising the restoration 
of the nation of Israel, that God is going to set, he's going 
after the exile, and they're taken out, they're removed out 
of their land. God is going to lay in Zion a foundation. Now 
you have to remember, thinking like a Jew, you know, the Zion 
was Jerusalem, meaning Jerusalem, Zion, and Jerusalem was the place 
of God's abode, so to speak. Obviously, we know God doesn't 
live in a place, but the temple signified the presence of God. 
The temple was, of course, in Jerusalem. That was the center 
of the nation of Israel. Now, we know the temple was going 
to be destroyed, that not one stone would be left upon another. 
It was going to be completely annihilated. In Lamentations, 
Jeremiah, he's bewailing this destruction and he says that 
Yahweh has destroyed his place of assembly and has purpose to 
destroy the wall of Zion. So Yahweh, he destroyed the temple 
and so his place of assembly, referencing the temple, it was 
completely destroyed and as was the wall of Zion there. But God 
promises to set up a foundation there. It's his promise that 
he's going to rebuild his kingdom. Now, that promise, of course, 
was for the immediate nation of Israel there in that context, 
a promise that they were going to be restored back to their 
land. For one, the Abrahamic covenant, 
it promised to Abraham that he would have a land and that he 
would have a seed or a nation that would come from him. And 
then from that nation, would come the promised Messiah who 
would restore not only Israel, but all the nations of the earth 
would be blessed in him. So it was the promise of the 
land and seed for Abraham. The purpose of that was to bring 
about the Messiah for the restoration of not only Israel, but all of 
the nations. Isaiah 49, speaking to the Messiah, 
he says, So, to understand then what Peter is doing here, it's 
to understand that the restoration of Israel to 
the promised land is a type, it's a picture of the restoration 
of the kingdom of heaven within the bigger biblical setting there. So it's not, of course, so it 
is applicable to the Israelites in terms of them coming back 
to the land, that was what God promised because the covenant 
with Abraham God's purposes in bringing about the promised seed 
Messiah had not yet been fulfilled. So therefore, he would be restored 
for that purpose. But Peter applies it here now 
on a bigger picture. The restored kingdom on a global 
scale of all the nations of the earth. So to properly understand 
what he's doing and how this how this works, we have to have 
a proper biblical worldview, and then that, of course, requires 
us to go back to the Garden, back to Genesis, to understand 
what is going on in Genesis there. And hopefully you can track with 
me as we go through this. So Genesis 1, in verses 26 to 
28, we find, then God said, let us make man in our image, according 
to our likeness, Let them have dominion over the fish of the 
sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all 
the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 
So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he 
created him. Male and female, he created them. 
Then God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful 
and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. 
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the 
air, and over every living thing. that moves on the earth. So we 
see here very clearly then, Adam was supposed to be fruitful and 
multiply and fill the earth with image bearers of God who were 
in communion with God, living in service to God and in obedience 
to his law. And he was also supposed to have 
dominion over the earth. He was supposed to rule it and 
protect it. We find that in Genesis 2.15 
that he was to tend it and keep it. The word keep there is the 
idea of guarding or protecting. So, Adam was supposed to have 
dominion over the earth to rule it, to protect it, and then, 
of course, to expand the borders of the garden. In creation, not 
all of creation was this beautiful garden of Eden. God planted a 
garden called Eden, but all of creation was not this beautiful 
garden-like We find that very clearly as well. There was no 
cultivated... Where is that now? There's in 
chapter 2 of Genesis, verse 5, "...before any plant of the field 
was in the earth, and before any herb of the field had grown. 
For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and 
there was no man to till the ground." So we see there's... 
It was not all of a garden. Adam was there to till the ground, 
and to cultivate it and to create this garden, to advance the borders 
of the garden and to fill it with image bearers, humans, his 
progeny, who would be worshipping God and serving God and would 
be the people of God there. So we have to thank prophet, 
priest, and king in terms of Adam's responsibilities there. 
So as a prophet, He was to be fruitful and multiply, and then 
to teach those descendants the things of God. So he was to be 
God's mouthpiece in the sense of teaching his descendants the 
things of God and the law of God. Now, as a priest, he was 
to bring worship to the Lord, for one, in representing God 
as his image-bearer and filling the earth with image-bearers, 
and then bringing with him his offspring, bringing with them 
in worship to Yahweh, which would have been centered around the 
seventh-day Sabbath, but that's for another sermon. So, representing 
him as an image-bearer, filling the earth with image-bearers. 
G.K. Beale, on this, he says, this would occur especially in 
Adam's progeny, born in his image, and thus reflecting God's image 
and the light of his presence as they continued to obey the 
mandate given to their parents. So that's Adam's role as priest. 
And then as king, of course, he's the image bearer of the 
king of kings, Yahweh himself, created in God's image. So he 
was supposed to represent God throughout all the earth as he 
expanded the garden and as he was fruitful and multiplied and 
had children in his image who were bearing the image of the 
king of kings. and the Lord of Lords there. 
So that was Adam's task. So it wasn't just that Adam was 
created in the garden to sit there and enjoy the communion 
with God. No, he had to create a kingdom for God, a kingdom 
of image bearers for God, worshiping and serving God there. So in this garden, which we would 
say is a temple, it's a house, it's a dwelling place for God. That was where Adam walked with 
God, had this communion with God in the garden. So we think 
Garden of Eden, think temple, think dwelling place of God there. But we, of course, we know Adam 
failed, and then Adam failed in his task. He broke God's law, 
and he did not even have one child in his image, unbroken 
image, prior to this fall. It happened before that. did 
nothing of what he was supposed to do, and as a result of that, 
of course, then all humanity becomes sinful, all of creation 
even becomes sinful, but humanity becomes a nation or a kingdom 
of darkness. Now, the Bible refers to the 
kingdom of darkness. It is all of sinful humanity, 
but who is over that? Adam was supposed to have dominion 
over the earth, but on a spiritual level, then, who is over the 
kingdom of darkness, well, we find that very clearly in the 
Bible that Satan was given dominion over the earth after the fall. He's called the god of this world, 
2 Corinthians 4, the ruler of this world, John 12, the ruler 
of darkness of this age, Ephesians 6. The whole world lies under 
the sway of the wicked one, 1 John 5, 19. And Satan himself says 
it very clearly in Luke chapter 4. at the temptation of the Lord 
Jesus there when he takes him out into the wilderness or the 
spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness and Satan finds him 
there and tempts him it says then the devil taking him up 
on a high mountain showed him all the kingdoms of the world 
in a moment of time and the devil said to him All this authority 
I will give you, and their glory, for this has been delivered to 
me, and I will give it to you. Sorry, I will give it to whomever 
I wish. Therefore, if you will worship before me, all will be 
yours. So we see that now. So we have 
Satan over the kingdom of darkness, the fallen kingdom of humanity, 
and all of humanity, Satan over that, rather than Adam, what 
Adam was supposed to do. Then we go back to the book of 
1 Peter here, and to see, now why is he talking about this 
restored, or this foundation, this cornerstone, in terms of 
a restored people? Well, that's exactly what he's 
doing here, and he's applying it on a spiritual level, on a 
big picture level there. So we see then, in terms of the 
nation of Israel, and why this prophecy was given, for one, 
to the people of Israel is because the nation of Israel, God uses 
them and the historical settings and the historical things that 
happen to them as the things that take place concerning Israel 
to show us in history what is going on on the big picture, 
on a spiritual level there. So the Mosaic Covenant, then, 
the covenant that God made with the nation of Israel, sometimes 
we could say it's a republication of the covenant of works. Sometimes 
that word is used. We have to use that carefully, I think. 
But it is a historical covenant God makes with the Israelites. Next week we'll look more in 
detail at the one with Abraham. But for now, because Peter deals 
with it in this order, I'll deal with it this way as well. So 
the Mosaic Covenant, historical covenant, a republication of 
the covenant of works, but it's not replacing the covenant of 
works. That's always very important that we understand that. The 
covenant of works by which man is made right with God never 
changes. That man has to keep God's law 
perfectly and do all the things that Adam in the garden was supposed 
to do. And he's supposed to have this 
perfect righteousness, perfect obedience to the law of God without 
any sin whatsoever. Therefore he's worthy of eternal 
life that never changes through all of through all of time through 
the you know The way of salvation is never is never different. 
The covenant of works is not annulled. It is still it still 
stands today We'll see that We'll see that later on in in in first 
first Corinthians. We can we'll see that as well 
as other places so that So the covenant of works is still there. 
The Mosaic covenant did not annul that. It's still there. But rather, 
what it is, it's a type of it. So it's showing us in history 
things that are going on on a spiritual level there. So first, Israel, like Adam, 
they were given a law at Sinai. They were given the law of God. 
And then the fall of Israel, or them not keeping this law, 
them breaking the law and falling, obviously representing the fall 
of Adam, or typifying, or showing us this, giving us this reality 
now in history, here, the fall of Adam. So it was a failure 
to propagate a kingdom of priests offering worship to God. Now, 
we find that very clearly in the Bible, in Hosea, chapter 
6. Hosea is indicting the Israelites, 
chapter 6, verse 7, he says, but like Adam, they transgressed 
the covenant. Some translations will say but 
like man they transgress the covenant and and and there's 
you know It's it's not because Adam and man in the Hebrew is 
the same is the same word You know, so is it referring to the 
original man Adam or is it you know, or is it just man in general? 
But but I think in the context here in in Hosea, he's doing 
exactly the same thing He's indicting them and saying you've broken 
the covenant just like Adam broke the covenant So have you and 
that's exactly what we find That's what the covenant with Israel 
was all about, was typifying the covenant of works and the 
breaking of it by Adam, and then the restoration 
of that by a Messiah, as we'll see. So we have the breaking 
of the covenant, we have the exile into Babylon. That's what 
happened when the Babylonians came. Well, the Assyrians took 
the northern kingdom and the Babylonians took the southern 
kingdom. They're exiled into Babylon. 
representing, of course, the exile of man from the garden, 
which signified he was no longer dwelling in communion with God. He had broken that relationship 
there. He had been exiled out of this 
garden temple, and just like Israel was exiled out of their 
land, and sent into Babylon. Now, Babylon is a very big topic 
in the Bible, I guess is maybe the right word. Babylon represents 
the kingdom of darkness. So as I said, Adam was, his fall, 
he cast him into darkness, and then instead of him having dominion 
over the earth, now he's under the kingdom of darkness, which 
is ruled by Satan and all his hosts there. So that is what we find now Israel 
in Babylon representing Adam in the kingdom of darkness. And 
then we have in Genesis 3, or sorry, here, we have this promise 
of a cornerstone laid. It's a promise of restoration. 
And it's the same promise that we find in Genesis 3, 15, a promise 
of restoration, that one day the seed of the woman would come 
and undo and restore what the serpent had done. And in doing so, he would crush 
the head of that serpent. So it's the restoration and the 
rebuilding promise that we find in the Old Testament in Isaiah 
is here applied now to the church of this, you know, representing 
the restoration, the rebuilding of the true kingdom of heaven, 
the true people of God. And now there's something very, 
you know, this promise given in the Old Testament was, you 
know, that the Messiah would come. The Messiah, Meshach is 
the Hebrew, the anointed one, that he would come and he would 
be the one who would restore the kingdom. Now it's interesting 
to continue the analogy here and the typology. In Isaiah chapter 
45, It says, thus says Yahweh to his Messiah, or to his anointed, 
I think the King James says, but it's the Hebrews, his Meshach. 
Thus says Yahweh to his Meshach, to Cyrus. So he's comparing Cyrus 
there. Cyrus is called the Messiah, 
or the anointed one, the chosen one, who is going to restore 
the nation of Israel. Because we know it was Cyrus 
who was the one who decreed to let the people go, and to restore 
them back to their promised land. So, it was the, and again, this 
is the old covenant, Cyrus, they were given the law, they 
broke the law, they were exiled, and then they were Restored by by 
Cyrus who's called the Messiah now, of course, we understand 
this is pointing forward to to the to our Messiah the Christ, 
you know the and it's and it's the restoration of the Man who 
had fallen in the in the garden and then and as you know as as 
in Adam I'll die even so in Christ all will be made alive So so 
all of us in Adam have have have fallen have sinned are in the 
kingdom of darkness That's what Peter says in In verse 9 here, 
he says, you know, that you may proclaim the praises of him who 
called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So that's 
where we find ourselves in the kingdom of darkness. And then 
the Messiah, the Christ, comes to restore us out of darkness 
and bring us into his kingdom. So what Adam failed to do in 
the garden, Christ has come And again, understanding what Adam 
was to do, it was not just in communion with God. By his lonesome, 
he was supposed to create a kingdom. He was supposed to be fruitful 
and multiply and build this kingdom. Well, he failed to do that. So 
now Christ has come. Christ is restoring. And in doing 
so, he's building up a kingdom. And so here, Peter tells us that 
the living stone, the living cornerstone, he has been laid. The foundation is there. The 
foundation has been laid, and now it's being built on. So the 
work of Christ is not over yet. It's simply that the foundation 
is there. The house still has to be built. The house is still 
being built, the spiritual house, the church, the kingdom of Christ 
that he is building. So he's saying, you know, the 
prophecy is fulfilled, the foundation is laid, and now the house is 
being built. So let's turn to 1 Corinthians 
for a minute. We can see that there as well, 
the same concept. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 
20 to 26. 1 Corinthians 15, But now Christ 
is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those 
who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, 
by man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all 
die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in 
his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's 
at his coming. Then comes the end when he delivers 
the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule 
and all authority, power for he must reign till he has put 
all enemies under his feet the last enemy that will be destroyed 
is death so we see there very very clearly that that Christ 
Christ yes his work is done in terms of his of his his life 
his death his resurrection but yet you know that Christ is the 
first fruit and then afterwards those who are Christ you know 
so this we're coming after being built upon Christ Christ is still 
at work he's still ruling and still reigning still putting 
his enemies under his feet And as he does so, he's conquering 
people out of darkness into his light as he builds his church. So we can see Christ continuing 
to work, continuing to build his church. Turn to Acts 1 for 
a minute. Acts chapter 1, starting in verse 
1, it says, the former account I made, O Theophilus... Now, 
speaking of the gospel of Luke, Luke wrote Acts, and he says, 
the former account, the first account I made, O Theophilus, 
of all that Jesus began to do and teach. So if Luke was what 
Jesus began to do, then Acts is what Jesus is continuing to 
do. Look at, jump ahead to verse 
6 for a minute here. Therefore, when they had come 
together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore 
the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them, It is not 
for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in his 
own authority. but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit 
has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem 
and in Judea and in Samaria and to the end of the earth. So they 
ask him, they say, are you gonna, they were expecting the restoration 
of Israel, but of national Israel. Again, they were thinking in 
terms of old covenant here that Israel, like they had back in 
586 had been had broken the covenant, God finally said that's enough, 
they exiled them, and then promises restoration, so they were restored. Well, they were expecting the 
same thing again here. Are you going to restore the 
kingdom to Israel? But notice what Jesus... He doesn't 
say, he doesn't say, you know, no, you're all wrong. You've 
got it all wrong. But he doesn't say, he doesn't either, he doesn't 
also doesn't say, you know, yes, I am. And then, you know, but 
rather what he does is he explains how he's going to restore Israel. He says, I'm going to restore 
Israel, but it's not how you think it is. It's not, you know, 
you need to, it's not, it's not you thinking, or don't be thinking 
of Israel as a nation anymore, but rather, He says, I'm going 
to restore it, and how? It's because through you being 
my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria, and to the 
end of the earth. So it's not going to be a kingdom, 
just a nation, a political nation of Israel, but rather it's going 
to be a kingdom of all those who believe your testimony, your 
witness of me, in all of the earth, to the ends of the earth. So, very clear there. Christ's work is building this 
kingdom, building this nation for himself, a nation, or a kingdom, 
house, that Adam had failed to do. And Christ has come to restore 
that and to build it. Turn to Acts 4, verse 8, for 
a minute. Then Peter, filled with the Holy 
Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, 
If we, this day, are judged for a good deed done to a helpless 
man, now remember this is, the context here is that they have, 
they healed the lame man who was on Solomon's porch, the one 
that went walking and leaping and dancing, that one, they had 
healed him, everybody was in awe, so they're preaching the 
gospel of Christ and of him being resurrected and that the people 
can be saved through that. Well, they're arrested, and now 
they're addressing the Sanhedrin here and saying, If we're judged 
for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been 
made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people 
of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom 
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by Him, this man 
stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected 
by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is 
there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under 
heaven given among men by which we must be saved." So we see it very clearly here 
now. Peter understands very clearly that this kingdom This cornerstone 
that he references here as well, and the kingdom that's going 
to be built on this cornerstone is not a national kingdom, but 
rather it is about those who have been rescued and saved from 
their sins, and rescued out of darkness on a global scale, but 
it's about the salvation of your sins. It's not about salvation 
from the Roman Empire, salvation of whatever it may be. Rather, 
it's a very different kingdom here that we're talking about. 
So it's Christ making a special kingdom of people for himself 
out of those who are in darkness, rescuing sinners out of darkness 
and bringing them into his marvelous light, into his kingdom, making 
them his kingdom and his house and his temple, having the God and man dwelling 
together. And we already have that taste 
of that with what Paul says that we have the Holy Spirit as that 
deposit, that guarantee, but it's that taste of that God and 
man dwelling together in which we know we're bringing to the 
consummation at the end of the age when we are truly with God. 
living in that perfect communion with God for all of eternity. 
So that is what Peter's doing here in terms of why he's pulling 
this particular prophecy out of the book of Isaiah and applying 
it to the church here. Because Israel, as a historical 
nation with a historical covenant, was there to typify what's going 
on on a global scale in terms of the broken covenant of works 
and a restored people from that by the Messiah, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, building his church, building his kingdom there. So 
I hope you could follow that. That makes sense. Now I wanna 
move on then to the human response to the cornerstone that Peter 
says here in verses seven and eight. So he says, therefore, 
to you who believe, He is precious, but to those who are disobedient, 
the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief 
cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." So, he 
says, to you who believe He is precious, but to those who are 
disobedient, we'll go there in a second. So, to you who believe 
He is precious, so the, sorry, Back up for a minute. I jumped 
ahead. In halfway verse 6 there, he says, And he who believes 
on him will by no means be put to shame. So the idea here of 
being put to shame, it means being disappointed, or being 
put to shame and disgraced by this stone, being left out to 
dry, so to speak, if we want to use that language there. Prophecy 
there he says he says that he says that he who believes in 
him will will not act hastily Is is the way the King James 
New King James translated, but the idea is will not you know? It's it's making the idea is 
one of making a hasty decision for which you know you'll become 
ashamed of later Or you know it'll turn out actually turn 
out for your demise so that is so what he's saying is very clearly 
then here is that, you know, this will not ever happen to 
those who believe in Christ. You know, Peter has been laboring 
to tell us here very, you know, through chapter 1 and chapter 
2 that we have this guaranteed inheritance, this guaranteed 
salvation, a sure hope that we have as the people of God. And as I've, you know, tried 
to point out as we've gone through this, the sure, solid hope that 
we have, not a hope as a subjective wish, I hope this happens, but 
a hope built upon the truth of who our Savior is. And we will 
never be put to shame in this. And for one, it's because it's 
not an earthly kingdom ruled by men. Men will always disappoint. We see that all through the Old 
Testament, these kingdoms, even David, it was a glorious kingdom 
in David's time, but yet David fell, David sinned, there was 
always that disappointment. But Christ will never let you 
down because we are members of his spiritual kingdom, the true 
people of God, new covenant people of God. Christ has rescued us. Christ has conquered us, to use 
Paul's terminology elsewhere. He's conquered us out of darkness 
and brought us into his kingdom. You know, He will never let you 
go. There's nothing can snatch us out of His hand. He tells 
us that very clearly. When Christ rescues you, you 
cannot be, you know, the kingdom of darkness cannot capture you, 
conquer you back into their kingdom because Christ is sovereign over 
all things. So we can be greatly encouraged 
by that. Now, it doesn't mean that our 
life will be without difficulty. Of course, we're still living 
in a sin-cursed world. We'll see that this evening. 
I hope to look at Psalm 94. We see that very clearly there. 
But the comfort that the psalmist finds in Psalm 94 is that he 
is of the inheritance of Yahweh, that Yahweh's own special people 
there. That's what gets him through. 
So we can know, we can be assured that we will not and cannot be 
lost if we are Christ's. Hebrews 7, 25, we read this morning. Therefore he is able to save 
to the uttermost all those who come to God through him, for 
he always lives to make intercession for them. Paul says in Romans 
8, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall 
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. So when Christ conquers you, 
rescues you, restores you out of the kingdom of darkness, there's 
no going back. He will never let you down. very very clearly by no means 
will you be put to shame will you be let down and Then and 
then we have in in verse 7 here. He says unto you who believe 
he is precious now, that's the Translation is a little bit different 
I think in in the NASB says this precious value then is for you 
who believe and the ESV says so the honor is for you who believe 
and I think that's I think that's the best translation. I think 
that's the idea that's being conveyed there. The word precious 
is the subject of this sentence in the Greek there. So it's, 
I think the New King James has this a little bit backwards maybe 
there, but the, so this, the preciousness, this honor, this 
value, the honor, it's speaking of the honor that the believer 
partakes in, in being part of the kingdom, heaven and that 
is that is uh That's an amazing reality when we think about it 
that this this honor this this value Is for those who believe 
so those who by you know by god's grace repent believe in christ 
they they have the honor the privilege the the value of being 
in the kingdom of uh of of god and to be one of god's special 
people Now if we if we think of peter and the context he's 
writing to here He's writing to a mixed audience, primarily 
Jews, but a mixed audience for sure there would have been Gentiles 
in that. The Jews understood and they 
thought it was an honor to be a Jew because they were God's 
special people. And it most definitely was. In 
terms of the Old Covenant, there was many blessings To be by being 
belonging to Yahweh of Israel I mean we you can read the Old 
Testament and then watch their conquest through the land of 
Canaan just to realize that Wow, what a what a what a what an 
amazing blessing it was to be a Jew and to be one of those 
those whom Yahweh the Creator had chosen as his special people 
and and You know incredible blessings there, you know, but in this 
context here now he's Peter's trying to trying to to tell them, 
well, this value of being one of, and this honor of being one 
of the people of God is for those who believe. And it's not limited 
to Jews here. So perhaps the Gentiles were 
jealous in the churches that he's writing to here, looking 
at, oh, yeah, we're saved, they understood that, but maybe thinking 
there's still something special about the Jews, whatever it may 
be. Peter's saying, no, no, this is for you who believe, the value 
is there, it's for all of you. It's not just for the Jews. All the blessings of being in 
one of the people of God for those who believe. So there's 
no distinction in Christ's kingdom, in the kingdom of heaven. There's 
no distinction there. There's no Jew or Greek, there's 
not rich or poor, whatever it may be. We're all one in Christ, 
and He does not make distinctions, and neither does He turn anyone 
away based on whatever the distinction may be, for there is none. So, 
whoever believes in Christ will be saved. And then we have the 
response of unbelief in the second half of verse 7 here. the stone which the builders 
rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling 
and a rock of offense. So the stone which the builders 
rejected has become the chief cornerstone. So first of all, 
then we see that the rejection of this stone did not cancel 
out or did not nullify the importance of the stone there. We saw that 
already in Acts chapter 4 when we read that. Peter applying 
that, you know, directly to the chief priests and to the rulers. 
He's saying, you know, you are the builders. You are the builders. 
The stone which was rejected by you, the builders, he says 
there, applying it directly to them. They were the religious 
leaders. They were the ones, you know, who were supposed to 
be, who were supposed to understand these things. But, you know, 
but instead they rejected this Messiah. But their rejection 
did not change anything from, you know, from him becoming the 
cornerstone of the true kingdom of God, the true people of God. 
And again, as I said, because that true kingdom of God was 
never about national Israel. They were God's special people 
in the Old Testament. They had many benefits, but there 
was a purpose behind that, a purpose to bring about the Messiah, to 
bring in His kingdom, which was a global kingdom of every tribe, 
tongue, people, and nation. So that was, they were there 
as a means to bring about the Messiah, and they were there 
as types and examples and shadows of this true kingdom of heaven. So their rejection of the stone, 
the rejection was the means by which the stone became the chief 
cornerstone of the church. We see that in, actually, no, 
hang on for a second, we'll look at that in a minute. But how 
their rejection of Christ was the means by which Christ becomes 
the cornerstone. So then it says here, he says 
here that, so the result then for those who reject, it says 
he becomes a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. So the 
idea here, it's not that they're stumbling over the idea, over 
the concept, whatever it may be, or they're offended. by the 
gospel message, but the idea is one of destruction and ruin. It becomes a stumbling and an 
offense. The idea is ruin, destruction. Hebert, a commentator, he says, 
by rejecting or evading the stone, men only bring about their own 
injury and ruin. Peter and the rest of the New 
Testament clearly do not consider and counter with the gospel a 
casual affair. It is a matter of life or death. 
I think that is very important to understand that. That they 
do not consider encounter with the gospel a casual affair. It 
is a matter of life or death. I think that our Lord said the 
same thing. Whomever this stone falls it will grind him to to 
powder So there's a those who reject the the stone the stone 
of course you're being Christ those who reject them It will 
be to their to their demise their their their utter destruction 
There so and then and then going on there. He says that so they 
stumble being disobedient and to the word to which they also 
were appointed. So, the word disobedient here, 
it contains the idea of refusing to allow themselves to be persuaded, 
a willful rejection and unbelief. So, willfully rejecting the Messiah, 
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, now we need to, when 
we come to this, we understand that man is dead in his sins, 
man is spiritually dead, he's in darkness, both in terms of 
his sin and his spiritual deadness, but also in terms of his cognitive 
ability to understand the gospel, cognitive darkness. We do believe we teach the doctrine 
of total depravity. Man cannot understand but for 
the grace of God. But yet, it is a willful rejection. God is not coercing man's will 
in their rejection of the gospel of Christ and of the Messiah, 
of this cornerstone. Those who reject do so willfully, 
and they do so, of course, to their own peril. But yet, so we see that in the 
word disobedient there, this idea of willful rejection. But 
yet, then in the second half of the verse, it says, to which 
they also were appointed. So we see the sovereignty of 
God over that now. So first of all, what Peter's 
doing here, you know, assuring his readers that nothing of this 
whole, you know, the rejection of the Messiah, the crucifixion, 
all of this, you know, nothing of this is happening outside 
of God's sovereign control. We can see that actually in Acts 
chapter 2, and I will turn there briefly if you want to follow 
Acts chapter 2, where he explains that as well very clearly, just 
to understand. This is not... You know, the gospel is not plan 
B in any way here. So Acts chapter 2, verse 22. Men of Israel, hear these words. 
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, 
and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves 
also know him, being delivered by the determined purpose and 
foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands and have 
crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed 
the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should 
be held by it. So we see very clearly this was 
all done by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. So 
we see the sovereignty of God there. This was, you know, God 
is sovereign over all things. But yet, he says, you by lawless 
hands. So it's not, you know, it's not 
that they were just, you know, innocent in this and God just 
in his sovereignty made it all happen and therefore they're 
not guilty. No, it was they were, they very willfully rejected 
the Messiah. Their lawless hands are the ones 
that took him and crucified him. So therefore they are responsible 
for that. So, you know, but it was part 
of God's sovereign, sovereign plan, which is what Peter wants 
to remind his audience here. You know, that it is not, you 
know, God's sovereignty is over all things. God is in control 
of all things. And yet, as our confession says, 
he does so without violence to the will of the creature, without 
violating, without coercing, without forcing the will of the 
creature. So, you know, it's important 
to always understand that. And important to also understand 
here, the gospel, you know, and Christ and his work, was always 
plan A. We talk about Adam supposed to 
do this in the garden, Adam failing and then Christ coming and undoing 
it. Christ coming and undoing was not plan B. Adam was not 
plan A and Christ plan B. This was all part of God's sovereign 
plan whereby he redeems, restores through his son, the Lord Jesus 
Christ, a people for himself. But that is the way that God 
orchestrates this all through history and with Adam in the 
garden. So to understand man is always 
responsible for his actions, but yet God in no way is violating 
the will of the creature while he is in his sovereignty. So 
that brings us then to the end of the exposition as far as I'd 
like to go. today, like I said, next week 
I'll look at verses 9 and 10 and then as well verse 5 that 
we, half of verse 5 that we skipped over there. So just a few things 
then just to appreciate, to marvel at as we look through this passage 
here. And the first being the sovereignty 
of God, not just as I mentioned now here, but the sovereignty 
of God, for one, first over over the kingdom of darkness, that 
Satan may be powerful, he may be doing everything in his power 
to blind the nations, to keep them from hearing the gospel, 
whatever he may be doing in that, he's powerful, but yet that does 
not stop Yahweh, that does not stop Christ from conquering his 
people. Out of the kingdom of darkness, 
you know, there's there's nothing that satan and any of any of 
those, you know in satan's domain That can do that can hinder that 
you know when christ comes christ and and christ, you know his 
chosen Christ will conquer them out of the kingdom of darkness 
there. He is over all of those powers We said we just saw that 
in romans 8 we see that very very often in scripture as well 
Moses, you know who is like you Oh Lord among the gods who is 
like you glorious in holiness fearful and praises doing wonders 
now when you read gods in the Old Testament Don't think figments 
of imagination think you think you know Spiritual beings, you 
know that are there that are very that are very real But yet 
always remember they're creative beings and that was the the comfort 
to the Israelites We saw that last week when we looked in at 
Psalm 29 there that that you know Yahweh of Israel is over 
all of these beings in the spiritual realm that are part of this kingdom 
of darkness that are doing what they can to hinder the gospel 
going forth and the building of Christ's church through the 
gospel proclamation. But yet Christ is over that all. Who is like you among the gods? 
Obviously there is none. Among the gods there is none 
like you. Oh Lord, nor are there any works like your works, Psalm 
86. And that's just, those are just two examples of very, very 
many. So, you know, so we can see, 
we can see the sovereignty of God over the kingdom of darkness 
and over all the powers that may be there. And then we see, 
but another thing to appreciate is the sovereignty of God over 
history. And I think, and particularly 
with the nation of Israel, as I've tried to show how the nation 
of Israel and the things that happened to the nation of Israel 
in history are showing us what's going on on a grander scale, 
on a global scale in terms of salvation from our sin and rescuing 
from the kingdom of darkness, rescuing from the punishment 
due to us because of our sin. These things that are happening 
to the nation of Israel are all pointing forward to that. But 
these things really did happen. God really did orchestrate history 
So that Israel became a nation, Israel was given the law, Israel 
broke that law, was exiled into Babylon, Israel was restored 
from Babylon back into the land. This is typifying what's going 
on on a grander scale. So we can just appreciate God's 
sovereignty over Israel. over history as he brings these 
things to pass in history and then also his inscripturating 
of these things and writing them down for us and giving them to 
us so that we can have them and study them and learn from these 
things and see how they apply to us as the true people of God 
that we have and having been rescued from the kingdom of darkness 
by our Messiah. So the sovereignty of God over 
over history, and then also to look at and to appreciate the 
unified message of the Bible. As I said, we have it written 
down here for us, but there's the message of God rescuing his 
people from darkness, bringing them into his kingdom. It begins in Genesis 3, 15. There's the enmity between the 
seed of Satan and of Christ. you know, but the Christ, the 
seed of the woman, but Christ, you know, crushes the serpent 
and undoing. 1 John tells us that Christ came 
to undo the works of the devil. So we see that God rescuing His 
people. We see that theme throughout 
the Bible. We see that, we'll look at it 
in more detail next week, but God rescuing His people, Israel 
out of Egypt, you know, and then God rescuing them out of Babylon. This theme of rescues from from 
darkness, from wickedness. And then, of course, obviously, 
that's all pointing forward to the church as we are rescued 
out of darkness and become his chosen people. If we look at 
verse 9, just to see what we're going to look at next week, but 
he says, but you are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood, 
a holy nation, his own special people. So that is who we are 
as the church of Christ. Peter's made it very clear that 
these things that were talked of, of the nation of Israel, 
these are for you. Whoever believes in Christ, whoever is part of 
this church, you are the special people of God, of the creator. So we can appreciate that. We 
can marvel at that. That we are the true Israel of 
God. That God has chosen us before 
the foundation of the world. He's rescued us. He's brought 
us into His kingdom. And He calls us His special people. 1 John 3 verse 1 says, Behold 
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should 
be called the children of God. So I hope that we can appreciate 
that and just marvel as with John here, behold, what manner 
of love, that God would do that, that he would call us and make 
us his children, his true people of God. So with that, I hope 
we are encouraged. This evening, I want to look 
at Psalm 94, and we see that applied very clearly to such 
issues and problems and things that we deal with in in in day-to-day 
life in society um that you know the psalmist whether it was david 
whoever wrote that psalm um with the things that they they struggled 
with that um you know the same things we struggle with but yet 
his comfort was that he was he was one of the the the the people 
of god that the inheritance of you know that god had chosen 
for himself there to be his people so so we'll see that in more 
detail but for now we can just we can we can rejoice in that 
we're the children We are the children of God, we are the people 
of God, the building that is built upon our Savior Christ, 
the Messiah, that true kingdom, the kingdom that will be with 
God for all of eternity. So let us rejoice in that and 
let us close in a prayer. Our Father in heaven, we do thank 
you for these amazing truths. As we consider these things, 
Lord, that you have called us out of darkness and brought us 
into the kingdom of the Son of your love. Lord, how we rejoice 
in that, that we can be called your special people, people that 
you have chosen for yourself. And Lord, we are humbled by that. 
We know that it was not because of our doing, not because of 
something that we did, but that you chose us, Lord, and you rescued 
us. For we were, there we were, dead 
in our sins, against God, hating God, not wanting anything to 
do with you. Lord, shaking our fist at you, but you came and 
you conquered our dead hearts and you regenerated our hearts 
and showed us your Son, the Lord Jesus, as the Savior, as the 
one who can rescue us from this awful state that we were in. 
So Lord, I thank you and I praise you for this amazing truth. And I pray that our hearts would 
be encouraged by this. Lord, I pray if there are any here 
this morning who who have not come to the Savior, Lord, that 
they would come fleeing, running from darkness and seeing the 
light that Christ offers, Lord, that hope of eternal life and 
of and of rescue from the punishment due to our sins. So, Lord, we 
do pray that you be glorified and you be exalted among us today 
in all that we do. I pray that you would bring us 
back together this evening, if it is in your will, to continue 
to examine your word together and see these glorious truths 
fleshed out in such a practical way by the psalmist. So, Lord, 
I just pray your blessing on us now. We pray this in Christ's 
name. Amen. All right, well, we'll close 
with singing the doxology. It's 568 in the hymnal, if you 
like. And you can, again, stand as we sing together, please. 
Praise God around you, all blessings flow. Praise Him, all ye Jews, hear 
me now. Praise Him, all ye heav'nly host. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you 
all. Amen. You may be seated for a time 
of meditation. When the piano is done, you're 
dismissed.