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.
Introduction and Review
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.
The Foundational Cornerstone in Scripture
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.
Isaiah's Cornerstone Prophecy
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.
Peter's Old Testament Ground
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.
Back to Genesis: Adam's Mandate
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.
Garden as Temple and Kingdom
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.
Adam's Failure and the Kingdom of Darkness
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.
Israel as Type of the Broken Covenant
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.
Human Response to the Cornerstone
Now I wanna move on then to the human response to the cornerstone that Peter says here in verses seven and eight.
Response of Belief: Honor and Assurance
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.
Response of Unbelief: Ruin and Appointment
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.
Application: Three Things to Marvel At
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.
Closing 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.