I don't know, four, maybe five times. And now it feels like a home away from home. So it's always a joy and a pleasure to come and to be asked by the leadership here, who they must be somewhat skeptical, hopefully, in wanting to protect you. So it's an honor in that respect to be able to exposit the word of God before God's people. Although, you know, I don't know what's going on here because I have the hardest passage. I know Andy will dispute that because he's got 321, but I've got 29. And I was having a vision. Not really, but it was Pastor Roxer. Pastor Stiegel and Pastor Witzig. And they're all sitting in this dark corner in Pastor Roxler's office saying, ha ha ha, we're gonna give this one to Jeremy, ha ha ha. This evil, this evil ploy. No, really this is a great section of scripture and it's benefited me greatly and I hope it benefits you. And I have great introduction from those who preceded me. In the previous hour, of course, we have a great passage that deals with two major issues which John brought up. That is, in verse 22, the importance of fervent, sincere love for one another. And in chapter two, verse two, this craving for the pure milk of the word, like a newborn baby. And that really sets the stage for the three points I want to add to his today. But before we do, let's just take a moment in the privacy of our soul and have a word of prayer and then we'll come to the text. Heavenly Father, I ask that you give us all wisdom and insight by means of the Spirit of God you've given us. Help him to illuminate the text of scripture to us so that it becomes part and parcel of our lives. We're able to recall it and employ it in our daily living. And we thank you so much for the scriptures, and especially for Christ, the salvation we have that's founded exclusively in Him, and the message that we now have to share with the world that's lost and dying, but has the provision of Christ's sacrifice available for them. And simply by grace, through faith alone, in Him alone, any person on the planet can enjoy eternal life at an instant in time. So help us to carry that message and help us today, since we have already enjoyed that message, continue to grow in our spiritual walk by taking in the Word of God and living more effectively by means of the Spirit. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. Okay, so we have all here I hope understood that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and Jesus Christ alone. And today we're going to look at a group of believers in the first century who also were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone. And what that does is it makes us all a family. These recipients of this letter are part of the church They're part of the family of God and we are part of that family too. We're all in this together whether it's first century or 21st century because the body of Christ transcends time. It goes across century after century after century as Christ is building his church. And the group that we have to deal with here, I have to deal with more than most of the other speakers, I have to deal with, thanks a lot again, I have to deal with this particular issue which I know Pastor Rockster touched on in his first lesson. That's the recipients of this letter and the reason I have to do that is because there are special issues in chapter 2 verse 9 and and 11 that touch back to the original addressees, as well as just the verses in general. But let's deal with this. I want to deal with this first, and then what I want to do is I want to exposit the passage and draw out three major points to take home. So let's read the passage first, starting in verse 4. We'll read down to verse 12, and then we'll deal with this special issue. Verse four, and coming to him as to a living stone. I'm reading from the Inspired New American Standard. I know you probably have the Inspired New King James and I'm good with that too. So if there's a little difference that's the reason. And coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. This precious value, then, is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you, as aliens and strangers, to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation. I want to get this out of the way, this special issue, and the reason is because I like to focus on what the text wants to teach us rather than a major theological dispute that could take too much time. So we want to deal with the audience and of course chapter 1 verse 1, Peter is highlighting his audience when he says to those who reside as aliens, parepe de mois, scattered, that's the diasporas, the diaspora, throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. So this was dealt with earlier. Pastor Roxer said that primarily this is written to the Jewish believers that are scattered and the dispersion into these areas. And the reason we have to deal with this is because in my chapter, chapter 2, verse 9, it deals, or chapter 2, verse 10 or 11, it uses the same word, paraepidemois, as aliens, and it's referring again to the audience, which is the dispersion. So the question is, and what people have done throughout history, is they have said, well look at chapter 2 verse 9, this verse is saying that the church is a chosen race, it's a royal priesthood, it's a holy nation, it's a people for God's own possession, so the church has replaced Israel, or the church is the true Israel. But Part of the problem, first of all, is just to highlight the idea that 1 Peter has been viewed in history as what's called a general epistle. That is to mean it's just written generally to the church, Jews and Gentile believers, rather than being viewed as what we might say is a messianic epistle or a Jewish epistle written to the Jewish quarter of the church, I don't know, the Jewish wing of the church, however you might view it. Now, it's true that in our passage, chapter two, Peter is making a distinction between two groups. We need to recognize that. Chapter two, verse seven. Chapter two, verse seven. He says, this precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, and that's clearly a contrast between believers and unbelievers. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. The disagreement is over who the believers are and the unbelievers. Are the believers of the church as a whole, Jewish and Gentile together, or are the believers only a subset of the church, the believing Jewish remnant? Now in my mind, whatever position you decide on this, it's not going to mean that the church has replaced Israel. But if Peter is writing to the whole church, you see, then it could open the door in people's thinking. to think that the church has replaced Israel or is the true or spiritual Israel. Because verse 9 is applying Old Testament terminology to a group of believers here. And that terminology was once used of Israel, so is it now being used of the church in general? But see, I don't think that Peter is writing to the church in general. I think he's writing to a subset of the church primarily. That is, to the believing Jewish remnant. And I know some people struggle with this because I've talked to them. But let me ask you a question. Wasn't Hebrews written to Jewish believers? For some reason, we don't have a problem with that. But suddenly, when we come to First Peter, we have a major problem with it. But I don't see why it should be a problem if we accept that Hebrews is written to a Jewish remnant. And notice in verse 1.1, he said, to those who reside as aliens scattered throughout the Roman provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. And ask yourself this question, isn't that different from all the letters that you've read in the New Testament that say they were written to a local church? For example, Galatians, it says, to the church at Galatia, or to Thessalonica, to the church at Thessalonica, or Corinth, to the church at Corinth. But 1 Peter doesn't say it's written to any church. In fact, the word church never even occurs in 1 Peter. Well, who then it's written to? Well, verse one tells us, to those who are scattered. And that's the Greek word diaspora, from which we get diaspora, a technical term that's used only two other times in the New Testament. And those two other uses are John 7.35 and James 1.1. And in both those places, guess what? It refers to Jews, who are living outside the land of Israel. Now some will try to counter this argument, they'll say, yeah, we recognize that in those two passages, but not here, because there's no definite article here before dispersion. So it's not the dispersion, it's just a dispersion. In general, saints were scattered. It's just saints being scattered out in the world. But the counter to that, of course, is that if you don't have a definite article, that does not mean that the content changes. This is the way that the first century word was used. Diaspora was used in a way that referred to the Jewish people scattered outside the land. To say that it's something other than to that is to really tear everything that belongs to Peter and his natural background and the Jewish people at that time away and say it means something else. But when we study the scriptures, one of the first rules in hermeneutics or how to the skill and art of interpreting the Bible is to ask yourself, what is the author's intent? What does he mean? When we come to study the Bible, our first question is not, what does this mean to me? That's really the last question. The first question is, what does it mean, period. We want to know what Peter meant, and who he's writing to, and why. These are the kinds of questions that we ask. And it seems that he's writing to Jews who lived in the dispersion, who were believers in the Messiahship of Jesus. So to say that the dispersion here means something different from that would be different from all the usage that we know of this term. Further, we have five provinces where we're told that they had to scatter. It would be strange to say that some Christians had to scatter to this region. We have no evidence in history of anything like that happening. So the first argument for Peter writing specifically to the Jewish remnant is that, number one, it wouldn't be abnormal for a book to be written to the Jewish remnant because the book of Hebrews was. So here another one, 1 Peter. A second argument is that Peter's not addressing a church per se, but he's addressing Jewish believers in the dispersion. And the third argument that we'll add is that Peter happened to be the apostle to the Jews, right? He and Paul had decided this in AD 49 in Jerusalem. That was 14 to 15 years before this was written. And Galatians records this decision. And since they'd already decided to sort of separate their spheres of ministry, there shouldn't really be a problem with Peter writing a letter specifically to the believing Jewish remnant. So for at least these three reasons, and we could list others, it makes most sense to say that he is writing to the believing Jewish remnant that were scattered in these areas due to some kind of persecution. Now having said that, people say, oh no, what are you gonna do now with all these things in here? Are we not gonna have anything for us? No, because the way that we are taught in hermeneutics, again, to study scripture is this, is that just because a text is not written to us does not mean it doesn't have things written for us. You know, Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, he says the things that happened to Old Testament Israel happened as examples for all of us so that we would not crave evil, be idolaters, act immorally, grumble, et cetera. So just because 1 Peter is not written to us, to us as Gentiles, it is written for our instruction. And we're going to find that most, if not almost all of these truths are highly relevant and directly applicable to all of us. Now I think it's easiest to outline this section into three parts. And I'll focus on the first one the most amount of time, that's 1 Peter 2, four through eight, offers spiritual sacrifices. This is what he's wanting us to do. The second section will be verses nine and 10, where we are to proclaim his excellencies. We are to proclaim his excellencies. And the third section is verses 11 and 12, and this is where we're taught to be a testimony to outsiders, be a testimony. So we wanna learn how our behavior here can influence unbelievers so that they become believers. And all these truths are written to the believing Jewish remnant in the five provinces, but they apply to all of us, okay? Now in verses four to eight then, Peter writes about the importance of offering up spiritual sacrifices. In verse four he says, and coming to him as to a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. You also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now in verse four, the believing Jewish remnant is seen coming to him as to a living stone. But the Greek text doesn't say coming to him as to a living stone. doesn't use the word as, and I'm not sure what the New King James does, but it doesn't use as. That would communicate that they're to come to him in a certain manner, or they're coming to him in a certain way, as to a living stone. Which, by the way, doesn't make any sense, does it? How does a living stone come to anything? Stones don't even live, it's an oxymoron. We have a lot of figures of speech and things being used here in the text. What the Greek text says is this. and coming toward him who is a living stone. Coming to him who is a living stone. And the participle coming with the preposition to or toward means to come near, to draw near, to approach, as was commonly used of entering the presence of a deity. In other words, they're entering the presence of Jesus. You say, how are they doing that? He's already ascended. That's right. He's in the heavenly temple, sitting at the right hand of the Father, and they are pictured as going there to enter into fellowship with him. That's what this first expression is all about. Now next, it is interesting that Jesus is identified as a living stone. Again, that's a figure of speech, isn't it? That's an oxymoron. Stones don't live. But this one does. He does live. Now the use of the stone is interesting because where does that ultimately come from? It comes from Daniel chapter two. Nebuchadnezzar had his dream of this statue, the four metals, and then the stone. And the stone referred to the Messiah destroying those Gentile kingdoms, establishing his own. That stone is said to be cut out without hands. That is, it's a living stone. and a stone that when he comes he'll judge the world with great power. But he's a blessing to all of us who believe. So Jesus is the stone, and prior to his coming and judgment on the entire world and the establishment of his kingdom on earth, he is the stone that now forms the foundation of a new spiritual temple, the church. But he's not merely a stone, he's a living stone. And of course, this is meant to contrast with the dead stones that made up the physical temple in Jerusalem. The temple in Jerusalem, its priesthood, its sacrifices, the whole Mosaic law had come to an end with the death of Christ. It was going to destruction at 8070. But in its place had come a new temple and a new cornerstone. And the cornerstone of that new temple, the new living spiritual temple is Jesus. And so verse four is picturing the believing Jewish remnant coming into his presence in close fellowship. And then in verse 4b, Peter expands on the living stone. And he says this, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. So there were two contrasting evaluations of Jesus. The first is man's evaluation, the second is God's evaluation. So first of all, men rejected him. Who are the men was just simply the general Greek word for men, anthropos. But for good reasons, it seems to refer to the leadership of the nation Israel. You take this Greek word rejected, apodokimazo. Those who know Greek definitely know dokimazo. The word means to test and find something unworthy or unfit. You test something and you find it's unworthy or unfit. Well, who tested Jesus's credentials and concluded that he was not worthy to be the Messiah? It was the leadership of Israel. And the word is also in the perfect tense. It means a past completed action with ongoing results. And the past event where they evaluated his credentials and considered him unworthy is recorded in Matthew chapter 12. That's where the leadership rejected Jesus and Jesus pronounced doom on that generation. So the first evaluation is the evaluation by men who composed the national leadership of Israel. And their evaluation was this, Jesus is not worthy to be the king. He is not the Messiah. That was a bad choice. Second, the second evaluation, but God, here's his evaluation, he evaluated him to be choice and precious. It's a very different evaluation. Two words are used to describe God's evaluation of Jesus. First, he is choice. In the leading lexicon, meaning two of this Greek adjective, choice, is especially distinguished. And meaning three is choice, excellent. And there's a note made that says that meaning three is most likely and that it is an imagery of a picked or elite stone, both here and in verse six, and it notes a connection with meaning too, which is someone especially distinguished. So God's evaluation of Jesus is that he's especially distinguished, he's elite. We would say he is premier, and he is. The second word used is precious. This is another word that emphasizes his quality, This word means valuable, something of considerable worth. And in God's sight, Jesus is what? He's valuable, he's of considerable worth. So verse four is just simply saying that God made a very different evaluation of Jesus than the leadership of Israel did. But the Jewish remnant that he's writing to are in agreement with God. And they also view Jesus as excellent and precious. Now in verse five, Peter says to the Jewish remnant, you also as living stones, you're being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood. So not only is Jesus a living stone, but guess what? You also are like living stones. In other words, they were being incorporated by Jesus into a new temple that was founded upon himself. And as parts of the temple, he says, you're being built up for a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. And of course, the one who's doing all this building activity is Jesus, because he said in Matthew 16, 18, what? I will build my church. So he's the builder, and they're the stones. When a person believes in Christ, he places that living stone in this new temple. So the church is not a physical temple, but it's a spiritual temple. And what are they being built for, or for what purpose? Well, the new American standard says for a holy priesthood. The Greek ace, the Greek preposition there, ace, might better be rendered into a holy priesthood. But the point is clear, okay? They're to serve as a holy priesthood. You say, but I thought there was already a holy priesthood. It's the Levitical priests that were operational still at this time in Jerusalem. Yeah, but all that system was done away when? At the death of Christ. Hebrews 7. And in their place now has come a new holy priesthood, the believing Jewish remnant, and us too, of course. And they are to offer up sacrifices. You say, what kind of sacrifices? Well, what kind of sacrifices had been offered? Well, a lot of animal sacrifices. But again, those were done away at the death of Christ. So these aren't animal sacrifices, they're spiritual sacrifices. Now before we look at these spiritual sacrifices, I've said numerous times the new holy priesthood is the believing Jewish remnant. But I want to make sure we understand that it's not only the Jewish remnant. Gentile believers are also a part of this spiritual priesthood. Because when anybody believes in Christ alone, they are incorporated into this new spiritual temple as living stones, and they become a part of this new spiritual priesthood. And here's our purpose, and this is the main point of verses four to eight. Our purpose is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That's the heart of verses four through eight. Peter wants the believing Jewish remnant to offer up sacrifices that are acceptable to God. Now, it would not be acceptable by God if they went down to the physical temple in Jerusalem and offered an animal sacrifice. Now, that might have been acceptable before the death of Christ if everything was done properly, but after the death of Christ, that's no more use, is it? The veil has been torn, right? The way has been opened, and the way it's been opened is the finished work of Christ. Now we can offer new kinds of sacrifice because He has paved the way. And these sacrifices are spiritual in nature. And you say, well, what are these spiritual sacrifices? Because they're not listed here by Peter. He assumes his audience knows what these are. And hopefully you do know what some of these are. The New Testament does have four passages that describe spiritual sacrifices directly. The first of which is found in Romans 12.1. Romans 12.1, the offering of one's body is a spiritual sacrifice. Paul said, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. What did Paul mean, present your bodies? Did he mean just the physical component of us? No, he means the total person. He's talking about presenting your whole self to God for his service. He'd already said earlier in Romans 6.13, present yourselves to God, again, your total self to God, as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. So in Romans 12.1, he's giving an urgent heiress, he's saying you need to do this right away, present your whole self to God, your total self to God, and I would say do this as often as is necessary. you want to present your total self to God, this is a spiritual sacrifice. Now the second spiritual sacrifice we have listed in the New Testament is in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15, as well as some other passages. This spiritual sacrifice is the offering of praise. The text says, through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. The fruit of lips that give thanks to his name. Do you give thanks to God? Are you thankful? You say, well, for some things. Well, 1 Thessalonians 5.18, right? It says to give thanks in everything for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. And of course, many Christians have a problem with that verse. They're not thankful for many hard things, but they didn't stay the life of Joseph, did they? At least not very carefully. And we know another verse that goes with and answers to what Joseph's life was like, and that's Romans 8, 28. If we know this verse, we can give thanks in everything. It is that God works all things together for good for those who love God. So you can give thanks to God because you know that somehow, he is weaving a tapestry of things together, and ultimately, it's for good. So are you thankful if you are thankful you're offering the spiritual sacrifice of praise the fruit of the lips of Thanksgiving? A third spiritual sacrifice mentioned in the New Testament, Philippians 2, and also in Hebrews 13, again, verse 16, says that another spiritual offering is good works. Another spiritual sacrifice is good works. Hebrews 13, 16 says, and do not neglect doing good, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. So doing good is a spiritual sacrifice. What do we mean by doing good? In fact, how are we going to do all these things? Well, we have to do all these things by means of the Spirit. We can't do these things in the flesh. We can try our best, but it's not going to be considered acceptable before God. Our flesh can't produce anything good. So a third spiritual sacrifice is offering good works by means of the Spirit of God. And fourth, a fourth spiritual sacrifice, in Hebrews 13, 16, says the offering of financial contributions or sharing with others who are in need. That's a spiritual sacrifice. It says, and do not neglect sharing for with such sacrifices God is pleased. So sharing with others voluntarily, not under duress, but you just do it from the heart. It's a spiritual sacrifice. You're not trying to get brownie points with people or with God. You're just doing it because you want to help your fellow believer in Christ. You do this by means of the Spirit. So the question we all ask ourselves is when we see a fellow brother or sister in need, do we share with them? If we do, we're offering a spiritual sacrifice. So Peter didn't enumerate those in his letter. But there are four of these listed in other places in the New Testament. Offer your total self to God. Offer praise to God and thanks. Offer good works and offer help to others. Now, those aren't the only ones either, okay? This is just a sampling, okay? But it's enough to understand what a spiritual sacrifice is. The question, though, that these believers will be having, these Jewish believers, is, well, what would make these acceptable to God? How would these be acceptable to him? Well, the end of verse five tells us when they are offered through whom? When they are offered through Jesus Christ. You see, Jesus Christ is the keyhole through which the sacrifices must go in order to be truly spiritual and acceptable to God. He's the mediator of these sacrifices. What did Paul say to Timothy? There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. When he mediates our sacrifices, they are made acceptable to God. And so the purpose of our being incorporated into a new spiritual temple to be a new holy priesthood is this, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ Jesus. Now, in verse 6, Peter quotes the Old Testament. And the question is, why? You know, we got it. Maybe we got it. But the answer is to show why our sacrifices, our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable. And the reason they're acceptable is because of who Jesus Christ is in God's sight. It's God's evaluation of him once again. Okay. He's the object. And he's the key to making them acceptable. So we look at him, verse six. For this is contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed. Now this is a quote from the Old Testament prophet, Isaiah. It comes from Isaiah 28, verse 16. And in that context, Israel, had made a covenant with some other nation, because they're trying to get security, right? Because we know God can't provide that, so we've got to trust these other nations and our deals. And the Lord revealed that the only way they could ever enjoy security was by believing in the predicted stone that God would lay in Zion, the choice stone, who obviously is Messiah. And here we are told that he's more than a living stone, which we already know, but he's a choice stone. And verse four told us, but he is the corn, it's just not a stone, but the cornerstone. That's the particular stone that he is. The cornerstone, what's so important about a cornerstone? Well, it's the one stone that controls the foundation lines of a building. So it has to be level, and it has to also be square, or else if you're in construction, you know what will happen. It'll be a weak structure, and it will fail. But being a choice, precious cornerstone, see, he's perfect. And therefore, he who believes in him will not be disappointed. Because our sacrifices will be acceptable to God as perfect, perfect. Your praise will be accepted by God as perfect. Your desire to financially help and contribute and share it with others in need will be considered by God as perfect. Why? Because Christ is perfect. That is why. He is choice, He is precious. So verse six shows us that the reasons our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God is because they are offered through Jesus Christ, who is the choice and the precious cornerstone. So we can know whenever we do good to others, whenever we share, whenever we offer in praise through Christ, these sacrifices are totally accepted by God, it pleases Him. Now in verse seven, this is quite an honorable estate that we have entered into. This opportunity to offer something to God that he views as perfect. This is a remarkable thing, and that's what this verse is saying, that we are privileged. Now the New American Standard, I'm not too pleased with it, but it says, this precious value then is for you who believe, and if you read the commentaries and all of that, it's just It's just this, you know, I don't know. It's just a web work you have to work through. Since I did my work ahead of all that, my own personal work, I came to a view that when I did evaluate was the same basic translation that the net Bible translates. And this does not seem to be talking about the value of Messiah. He's already spoken about that and the Messiah is valuable, but this seems to be talking about a special honor that we have now. So it translates like this, to you who believe is this honor, this privilege. What it's saying is that it's an honor for us as believers to be able to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God that are acceptable. And of course, in the primary interpretation, this is the Jewish remnant. He's speaking to them in these five provinces and so forth. But it's true for us as well. It is a great privilege and honor to be able to offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. Now in verse B, 2-7b, there is a contrast saying, well, but for those who disbelieve, and in the context, who are those who disbelieve? Contextually, well, in other words, what was Peter's intent? It was to say that the non-remnant of Israel, they're those who didn't believe. Back in verse four, what did they do when they evaluated the stone? They looked at the stone, they said, he's not worthy, he's not Messiah. They had rejected him. And the consequences are that they do not hold a position of honor and privilege now, and they do not offer sacrifices that please God. They may be down at the temple in Jerusalem, but that is not pleasing to God, see? He only accepts the sacrifice of the Messiah, And he only accepts the spiritual sacrifices that are offered through Messiah. So as a consequence, the non-remnant, because they have not believed, they're going to face judgment. In verse 7, Peter quotes Psalm 118.22 to prove they're going to face judgment. He says, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner. Oops. Now there's an old tradition that J. Vernon McGee recounts among the Jewish people from the time of the Solomonic Temple, and he used this to try to help explain this verse, and I'll use it as well. He says, the tradition is that at the beginning of the project, a very large, fine-looking stone came up from the quarry. for Solomon's Temple, right? But the builders couldn't fit it in any place, so they moved it to one side. Now because it was in the way, eventually they just pushed it over the brow of the hill to make room for the other stones that they were receiving, and they forgot about it. Finally, when all the stones had been fitted into place, they sent down word to the quarry, send up the cornerstone. The building was finished except for the cornerstone. Word came back, we sent the cornerstone to you at the very beginning. they had remembered, oh, that's the stone we pushed off the hill. So with a great deal of effort, they had to haul that stone back to the top of the hill, and they found that it did fit right into place. I don't know if that's a true story about what happened at the building of the Solomonic Temple, but Jesus is that cornerstone, and when he came the first time, they didn't believe, they pushed him over the brow of the hill, but guess what? The second time, they're gonna get it right. It's going to fit right into place. And then they will believe in him. Verse eight says of him, he's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Again, another quote from the Old Testament, this time Isaiah again, but Isaiah 8, 14. It's another passage that if you study the context, it's a distinction between the remnant of Israel and the non remnant. The Messiah was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, a stone of stumbling. It caused the non-remnant to stumble. They tripped over him. And also a rock of offense. They were offended by him. Especially the national leadership were offended by him. It's quite apparent in the Gospels. And verse 8 tells us why the non-remnant stumbled. It says they stumbled because they're disobedient to the Word. And to this doom they were also appointed. This is an important verse to understand correctly, because you could get wrong notions about how God works. The New American Standard says, to this doom they were appointed. But doom isn't in the original text. It just says, and to this they were also appointed. Well, to what? What were they appointed? Were they appointed to being disobedient? Does God appoint people to being disobedient? Or does God appoint people to this stumbling, whatever it is in this context? Well, we know, it does help to know a little bit of the languages sometime, and in this case, you have to have gender agreement. You can't have masculine and feminine mixed together. You can't have neuters with feminines and stuff like that. Well, this in the Greek text is neuter, and stumbling is also in the neuter. So what they were appointed to is to stumble. God did not appoint them to be disobedient. God never appoints a person to be disobedient. They choose to do that for themselves. But once they have chosen to be disobedient to God, God then appoints a penalty for that disobedience. That penalty was to stumble over the Messiah. Because they had chosen of their own decision, of their own choice, to disobey, therefore they have to suffer the consequences of that. That's the penalty that God appointed them to, that is stumbling over the Messiah. So they made their own bed, you see. And then once they had, they couldn't escape God's appointed penalty. Now that concludes the first section, verses four to eight. And the core of this message is this. Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of a new living temple, and believers are incorporated into this living temple to serve as a new priesthood that offers up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. These sacrifices are acceptable to God because Jesus Christ is precious. He is choice to God, and everything we offer through him is equally precious in choice. That's remarkable. The Jewish remnant had this honor, and so do we, but the non-remnant was disobedient to the word, they stumbled over the Messiah, and they would face judgment. That's the first section, offer spiritual sacrifices. Now the second section, that Peter writes now is about the importance of proclaiming his excellencies. Proclaiming his excellencies. Now by contrast with the non-remnant of Israel, they didn't believe, Peter says, but you, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. Why? So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who's called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you were once not a people, but guess what, now you are the people of God. And you had not received mercy, but guess what, now you have received mercy. Now these are the verses that the theologians use to believe the church has replaced Israel. Remember, they think that First Peter's a general epistle, it's just written to the church in general, and not just a believing Jewish remnant, not a messianic epistle. So we'll quote Wayne Grudem. who is a proponent of this, he says, God's chosen people are no longer said to be those physically descended from Abraham. For Christians are now the true chosen race, verse nine. What more could be needed in order to say with assurance that the church has now become the true Israel of God? Actually, much more would be needed. John Bright. before Wayne Grudem years before said, the church is the true 12 tribes of Israel, James 1.1. It is a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, that is the true Israel. But no, actually, that's a distortion of the author's intent. Peter is writing to a group of Jewish believers scattered out in those five places we mentioned in chapter 1, verse 1, not to the church as a whole. And in Galatians 6, verse 16, the true Israel of God is described as being the believing Jewish remnant. So the church doesn't replace Israel, it doesn't supersede Israel in God's plan. The nation Israel has just simply been temporarily set aside until the church is complete. And even if this epistle was written to the church as a whole, 1 Peter 2.9 would not say that the church replaces Israel. It would only mean that the language that's used of Israel in the Old Testament is now being applied to the church because there are similarities. To that I think we should all agree. Now let's look at this description in verse 9 piece by piece. First of all the audience is said to be what? Said to be a chosen people or race, excuse me. Now the church is not a race, but the Jewish people are a race. It would be true then of the believing Jewish remnant that they are a choice race. Choice in the eyes of God. Why are they choice in the eyes of God? Because they're associated with the choice stone. Who's Jesus? Secondly, they're said or referred to as a royal priesthood. Now I already told the audience in verse 5 they were a priesthood. And I said then that all members of the church, Jew and Gentile believers, were all a priesthood. And I stand by that claim. But the reason I do that is not here. The reason I do that is because of passage like Revelation 1.6 and Revelation 5.9 which says we're a priesthood. Furthermore, it wouldn't make any sense to me that just the Jewish believing remnant in the church are priests and only they can offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. Gentile believers can't. See, that's just silly. That doesn't even make sense. Logic militates against that. We're all priests, okay? But this particular verse is speaking of the Jewish remnant being a priesthood. a royal priesthood. And third, there is said to be a holy nation. Now certainly the Jews are a nation, and the Jewish believers are the holy portion of that nation. But the church, you see, the church is not a nation. The church is composed of people from every nation, including the Jewish nation. Jesus said in the Great Commission, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, plural, nations. The church is therefore clearly not a single national entity. It's a plurality of nations in Christ, or people in those nations in Christ. And so the first three things here, note, note something else. The first three things here, a chosen race, a royal priesthood, and a holy nation are all singular or plural? They're all singular. And therefore they refer to the believing Jewish remnant. And then fourth, the audience is said to be People for God's own possession and that's certainly true of the believing Jewish remnant But guess what? It's also true that we belong to God. We know from hundreds of passages that we belong to God So I'm trying to all I'm trying to do here is just kind of show you how we would deal with such a verse if it's written to the believing Jewish remnant and Show how it is for us Okay Without pressing anything or pushing anything or distorting anything Now, while that verse gets a lot of attention, I fear that what gets lost is what's next. That's the most important part. And that's the purpose of the believer. We are the special people of God. Why? So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Of course, that's true of the Jewish remnant, believing Jewish remnant, but it's also true of us. We're to proclaim the excellencies of Him. I mean, that is our purpose. And we have this wonderful Greek word, excellencies, which is arete. And arete means virtues. It's speaking about the attributes and virtues and character and excellencies of God. And that we are to publicly proclaim these excellencies. We are to tell others about the greatness of God. God has certain attributes or characteristics and we study these and we think about them because we want to think about him correctly and hopefully we use these in our everyday life. Here's just a few of them. I have a little acronym that I use that I stole from my mother-in-law from the 70s, Sir J. Louis. And it's the list of the first letter in each of these attributes. Sovereign, God is sovereign, that means he's the ruler of history. Have you ever been in a difficult situation? How are you going to get through that? Because you're going to remember the sovereignty of God, that he's in control. It's not out of control. God is righteous, meaning his character is the standard for what's right and wrong. I mean, do you ever feel like a legislative body in some court got it wrong? Well, we know God will never get it wrong. And God is just, meaning he's not partial when it comes to his judgment. So do you ever think that those who got it wrong are gonna get away with it? No, you can rest because God is just, they're not going to get away with it. God is loving, this means he gives himself to us. Sometimes people don't love us, but guess who always loves you? Guess who always has your best interests in mind? All the time. In all of your circumstances. Whatever they are. You say, this is what God had in mind? Yes. Just wait. Be patient. He loves us. God is omniscient. That means He knows all things actual and possible, even the what-ifs of history. There's nothing new to God. He never learned anything new. He doesn't have to go to school. He's omniscient. God is omnipresent. You know, He's completely here, He's completely there. He's not parted out in the universe or even outside the universe. He's exhaustively present. Present with you, present with me. He doesn't have to travel places. He doesn't have to go to grandma's. He's with grandma, completely with grandma. That's a wonderful quality, virtue, arete of God. God is omnipotent. I mean, he's always brim full of energy. He never gets tired. He doesn't need to take a nap. He's awesomely powerful, and his power is toward you. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is toward you and your circumstances. God is immutable, another excellency, meaning his character never changes. He's forever perfectly stable. When everybody else around you is falling apart, He is not falling apart. He is stable. He never changes. You can rely on Him. God is eternal. This means that He always has been and always will be. He didn't have a beginning. These are some of the excellencies of God that we're to proclaim. Of course, there are others. I don't want to short, I'm not trying to just draw a list and put God in a box. He has attributes like his immensity, others like his aseity, and things that as a Christian, you can continue to explore the depths of the infinite creator. His aretes, and that is his point here. of what He wants us to proclaim in verse 10 is the excellencies of God. We want to tell unbelievers about God. Now we should do this or want to do this because of what Peter says next about Him. The God who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That's what He's done for us. The word called, it's a word for an invitation. He invited us. How did he invite us? Through the gospel message. What's the gospel message? Well, it's just what John said last hour, and hopefully you've heard over and over, but it never grows tired of hearing it. It involves two things, the person and the work. Well, who's the person? Who is Jesus Christ? He's God, 100% fully God, and He's 100% fully man. That's who He is. Now the other side is His work. What did He do? And that is that He died for our sins and He rose again on the third day. That is the good news. That's the gospel. And it's wonderfully powerful and persuasive news. that He's done everything and He has satisfied the holiness of God so that if I just accept, receive, place my faith in Him, then instantaneously I become a child of God. Instantaneously I have everlasting life. Last time I checked, everlasting was everlasting. I couldn't lose it. I'm so grateful John 5, 24 didn't say something like, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me has temporary life. Boy, how encouraging. No, it's everlasting life because at the moment of that time we are set free from the penalty of sin and we're free to righteousness. That's why we can now offer living sacrifices, spiritual sacrifices that please Him through Christ. So it's wonderful news. He called us out of darkness into where? into his marvelous light. So out of the realm that is ruled and dominated by Satan, into his marvelous light. And Peter explains in verse 10, for once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, now you have received mercy. And it's all these overtones from Hosea. But these, as unbelieving Jews, they were not the people of God. They were still in darkness. But when they responded to the call, the invitation of the gospel, they became the people of God. And so did you. And while they were still in darkness, they had not received the mercy of God. But guess what? Once they believed, now they had received the mercy of God. Okay? So the moment we believe, we become part of the people of God. Jewish remnant is primarily in view, but this is true for all of us. So verses 9 and 10, let's just conclude with a summary statement. The believing Jewish remnant was a choice race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession. For what purpose? For the purpose of proclaiming the virtues of God, who called them out of darkness and into His marvelous light. For before they were not the people of God, they had not received mercy, but now they were. And it's true for you too, right? Before you believed in Christ, you were not the people of God. You had not received the mercy of God, but now you have. And now one of your roles is to do what? It is to proclaim the mighty excellencies of our Creator. Now the last section is verses 11 and 12. And this is the end of my exposition. And Peter talks here about the importance of being a testimony. Be a testimony to outsiders. Why? So that they might come to enjoy that so great salvation that we have come to enjoy. That's why. He says, Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. He says, Beloved. I mean, look at that. It's a word of close relationship. It's that familial tie that Pastor Rockster and others have brought up. It's a close internet family. We're all intertwined as a family. Beloved. And then he urges them as aliens and strangers, please abstain from fleshly lust. This is a strong appeal, parakaleo. It's strong. I urge you strongly to abstain from all these earthly things. Why? Because you're aliens and strangers. Now, it's true for all of us that we're strangers in the world. We're not the dispersion in the Jewish sense, but anyway, we are. We are a distinct part or group in the world. It's just like aliens. I mean, aliens should stick out. When I drive to New Mexico every once in a while and I go through that town over there that is known for the aliens, there's aliens everywhere and they stick out. And that is how we should look in this world. We should stick out. The world should not look at us and say, oh, they're just the same as us. The rest of the world engages in what Peter calls fleshly lusts, but believers shouldn't do that because it causes a war to begin to wage within our soul. This word is really interesting, stratusantai. Stratusantai refers to an inner combat or something that has begun inside of yourself. You create this tension when you abstain in all these fleshly lusts within yourself. Within, why? Because it's not who you are, it's not your position in Christ. And because you're living inconsistent with that position, there's this inner turmoil and combat that's taking place. So you should abstain from it, right? It's not who you are. Really, you're an alien and stranger in the world, so don't be like the world. And then in verse 12, he just tells them by contrast, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. Gentiles usually just refers to non-Jews. These would be non-Jews that live around them in the five provinces listed. But it's true for all believers, wherever we might be, we should keep our behavior excellent in the world. And the reason is set forth by the Hena clause, so that, Hena, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, and we don't know what it was, but apparently they're being slandered, being evildoers. but in that they may, because of your good deeds as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation." It's real simple, right? Most of the Bible is fairly simple when we break it down and understand what's being taught. What Peter wanted was for their lives to reflect their position, who they really were, and their good works to be a testimony to those who are outside. So that ultimately what? What's the purpose? So that in the day of Christ's visitation, they would glorify God. It's the point is that they would come to salvation. Is that you get the opportunity to share within the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because later he's gonna say what? In 1 Peter 3.15, something to the effect that people need a reason to ask for the hope that is in you. If your life is not different, why are people gonna ask Why are you different? They will never ask you that because you're not living like an alien. You're not living like a stranger. But if you are living like an alien, a stranger in this world, and I don't mean being a weirdo, don't be a weirdo because then they definitely won't ask. But your decisions are made more calculated, more thoughtful about others. Everything is different about your life and how you respond to your circumstances and everything. And that gives cause for people to ask for the hope that's in you. And then we're ready to do what? We're ready to give them the answer. We're ready to tell them about Christ. We're ready to tell them what he did for them and who he is. That he's God and man, he died and rose. And guess what? He paid the penalty for sin in full, and you can be freed from that penalty of sin by faith in Christ alone, at which moment you are justified before God, you're perfect, you receive the free gift of salvation, and they can be set free. But their lives had to be that which would cause others to ask for the reason of the hope that is in us, and I hope it is for you too. So the main point then of these verses, verses 11 and 12, is this. Be a testimony in the midst of the culture you are living in. This requires abstaining from fleshly practices and keeping your behavior excellent. Together the difference in your life could make the difference in someone else's life so that they believe in Christ and enjoy the so great salvation. So the exposition, in addition to what John did this morning on the importance of fervent, sincere love for one another and craving the word of God as a newborn infant, We now add offering spiritual sacrifices in verses 4 to 8. These are offered through Jesus Christ and they're acceptable to God because Jesus Christ is precious in choice with God. And then proclaim His excellencies in verses 9 and 10. That is to proclaim the attributes of our God to the world. And third, to be a testimony to the world by casting off fleshly practices and keeping our behavior excellent in the world so that it could make a difference in someone else's life. They might believe in Him too and glorify God in the day of Christ's visitation. So let's close with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the opportunity to think through the Wonderful things, the opportunity and the privilege of being your people in this time, and the capability of offering up something to you that is pleasing. It's a pleasing aroma to you. And knowing that it's pleasing because the one who pleases you is Jesus Christ. Because he's choice, he's premier, he is elite. He's greater than anything and anyone. and we ought to give all praise and glory and honor to him. This is something that is acceptable to you because of his acceptance with you. We thank you, Lord, that we have acceptance through him because apart from him, we have nothing. And so we give you the praise and the glory today for all these things and help our lives to reflect it so the world might have reason to ask about Jesus Christ. In his name we pray, amen.