Alright guys, go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to 1 Peter. Turning back to 1 Peter. But picking up in a new chapter, chapter 2. We finished chapter 1 last week. And as you're turning there, we'll just take a minute to refresh on where we've come, how far we've gotten through the book. Again, last week we finished chapter one, looking at verses 18 to 25. And in that passage, Peter continues to call the believers to holy living. Peter states that these elect exiles were ransomed from their former feudal ways, as were we all. And as we examined this passage last week, we noticed the word feudal is actually the same word used in the first two chapters of Ecclesiastes, and it's used 13 different times. And so every one of us must understand that life apart from Christ is completely empty and fruitless. And Peter wants us to live life in a way that brings honor and glory to Jesus Christ. If you try and live your life in a way that pleases yourself, it will never work, and that's what Peter wants us to understand. That's what Solomon wanted us to understand as we looked through Ecclesiastes just a couple months ago. And so again, to do this, to live a life that pleases God, we must live holy and pure. Peter writes in verse 22 that the believers have purified their souls by obedience to the truth. Now finally, as Peter concludes this chapter, he concludes chapter one with a powerful call to sincerely love your fellow believers. Again, This is a difficult command. We frequently fall short of this command. But as faithful followers, we must be purified again by our obedience to God's Word. And that obedience manifests itself in our love for Christ and our love for each other. So that's what Peter calls us to love Christ, love each other in verses 18 to 25. Peter also quotes an Old Testament passage from Isaiah, and he cites the power of God's eternal word at the end of chapter one. And even as you look at this, we talked about this last week a little bit, but this serves as something of a foreshadowing of what we'll look at this week. Peter is going to delve more deeply into this subject in chapter two, God's word and its power to transform our lives. And so this context in mind, go ahead and look down at verse 1 of chapter 2, and we'll read down through verse 8 this evening. Now God's word says, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe. But for those who do not believe, this is the stone that the builders rejected, and it has become the cornerstone. a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. Let's go ahead and open this time together in God's word with prayer, and then we'll get into the body of this message. Dear Lord, we thank you for just bringing all these teens here this evening. We thank you for their desire to come and engage with each other and to learn from your word. Lord, I do pray that as we look at this passage, we would have hearts that are soft and ready and willing to respond. God, I pray that you would do a work in our hearts, that you would convict us where we need to be convicted, and that we would seek to honor you with our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. I've had the opportunity to talk with several of you guys as I've been here about the lawn business that I used to run while I was in high school and college. And honestly, it was a great experience for me. I have many memories from those days and still even keep up with some of the customers that I connected with. One of the realities of that lawn business, though, was the constant maintenance that I had to do on my equipment. I was frequently mowing more than 20 yards a week. Sometimes I would mow as many as 30 yards a week. And I would do this for probably nine months out of the year. I would also use push mowers, just residential lawn mowers that you kind of walk behind. And so they weren't necessarily built for that volume of work. That would end up with me having to buy probably a new mower just about every summer. Now, as you think about that, what if I were to come to you and tell you, you know, I bought this brand new lawnmower and I can't get it to start. I've tried everything. I've cleaned out the air filter. I've checked the fuel filter, the carburetor. I got fresh oil in it. I checked the spark plugs and I bought the most expensive, high quality purified water to pour into the fuel tank. Nothing is working to start this lawnmower. Now for many of you, you probably already have identified the issue I'm having with the lawnmower, right? I'm not using the right fuel. It's pretty straightforward. Just like that brand new lawnmower, so many Christians look like they have it all together on the outside. They dress the right way, they say the right things, but deep down inside they have serious issues and battles with sin. Maybe no one even knows about those issues. You certainly would not have been able to see exterior issues with that lawnmower. And in the same way, many times you can't with a good faker. But in reality, there are some serious issues internally. There are some serious issues going on with that lawnmower that you wouldn't have been able to observe from the outside. And so in the opening chapter, Peter has issued numerous imperative commands. And we've talked about those as we work through chapter one. You must do fill in the blank. Peter does this several times. You must do this. And these commands are commands that a true believer must be faithful to follow and obey. And so we're called by Peter throughout his epistle, but specifically in the first chapter, to live a gospel-shaped life. Now, none of this is possible. None of this is possible without the right fuel. And Peter started to get into that at the last half of chapter one. He starts to point to the right fuel. What should fuel your spiritual walk? And so today as we look at this passage, you must examine your life to ensure that you are using the right fuel in your spiritual walk. And with that in mind, go ahead and look at verse 1. Look at verse 1. Peter begins chapter 2 saying, and all deceit and all hypocrisy and envy and all slander." As we begin with verse one, it's important to remember chapter and verse numbers are not inspired. And so much like we've emphasized before, much like we even emphasized in John this past week, Peter is carrying the same thought over from the end of chapter one, he's carrying it over into the beginning of chapter two. There's no break in thought. Peter has commanded the believers to love one another fervently, and these following instructions further define what it looks like to love. So remember, look back up at verse 22, chapter 1. Peter doesn't break his thought from this point on. He says, having purified your souls by obedience to the truth, again, he's foreshadowing, right fuel in your spiritual walk. For a what? Sincere, brotherly love. Love one another earnestly, from a pure heart. This is the last imperative command that we have in chapter one. Peter is saying, you, believer, you must do this. It is as forceful as when your parents say to you, you, my child, do this. And if you don't do it, there's going to be a consequence, right? This is exactly what Peter's saying. You, believer, love your fellow brethren. Love them with a sincere, earnest, fervent love. And in the same way, Peter picks right back up at the beginning of chapter two, and he says what? So, in that spirit, in order to better love your brethren, your fellow believers, do what? put away all malice. This idea of putting away, again, we touched on this a little bit last week, but it's this idea of taking something off. Paul uses this exact same word, it's the Greek word apotithe me, and it's this same word used in Ephesians 4.22 when he discusses putting off the old man. Actually, we see it again used in Acts 7.58, when Stephen is being stoned, and the elders who are coming to stone Stephen, they take off their outer coat and they give that to Saul, who later becomes Paul. It's the same word use. They put off their outer coat. The Apostles, the New Testament authors, they want followers of Christ to understand obedience to Christ is tangible. It's tangible. It is as tangible as you coming home from a hard day's work or from a sports practice and putting off old clothes and putting on new clothes. That's how tangible this obedience is. Peter says, these things, they must be put away from you. And Peter's resuming the same line of reasoning that he started, again, keeping in mind the context, he started this same line of reasoning back up in verse 18 of chapter one. He says, the believer is ransomed out of their former ways of ignorance, their former feudal ways, by God's grace and through salvation, the believer has been completely freed from their slavery to sin. They have been set on a new path. You have been ransomed out of those ways. Don't indulge those old, futile, useless desires of the flesh that don't profit. Again, because of this wonderful reality that you have been ransomed out of those feudal ways, the believer must be faithful to act decisively in putting away their sinful habits. You must be faithful to take actionable, tangible, real steps to put off sinful habits. Peter's been touching on this throughout the epistle. In verse 13 of chapter one, he says, you prepare your mind for what? Action. Your life is a spiritual battlefield. Are you preparing yourself? Are you preparing yourself? Peter tells us in verse one exactly which sinful habits must be put off again in order to better love our fellow believers. Notice the specific sins he lists in verse one. Put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Each of these sins must be put away from the life of the believer if they are to love their brethren as scripture commands. Peter says, I've commanded you in verse 22, you love your brothers earnestly, fervently, faithfully love them, sacrificially, not just in word, actually do it. Let your life reflect that you love the people that you are relatives with in Christ. And so Peter says, in order to do that, in order to fully love those individuals, malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander, these should have no place among the believers. These sins, as Paul said, they should not be named among you. Malice, this is actually a broad reference to evil. A lot of times the word malice is used in connection with saying you kind of have it out for someone. You have a specific grudge against someone. This actually isn't what the Greek word behind malice means. The Greek word for malice literally means evil or wickedness of any kind. All evil and wickedness must be completely put off by the believer. Again, I want you to understand, I want you to sit in the reality for a minute, how high of a calling this is. Peter says in verse 16 of chapter one, you be holy as the one who called you is holy. That's an unfathomable call to righteousness. You cannot possibly attain to that level of righteousness. Peter says, all wickedness of every kind, put it off, put it away from you. As a believer, wickedness should not be present in the body of Christ. He says, deceit. This is clearly referring to lying, but in its context, Peter's pointing out, deceit is not a victimless crime. And sometimes we can get away with this thought process of saying, well, this or that sin, it's not really impacting anybody. It's just kind of a sin that I'm committing personally, nobody knows about it, and so it's okay that way. Peter says, deceit, this is not a victimless sin. Again, sometimes as you convince yourself that way, Peter wants to confront that and say, actually, it's damaging. It's damaging to the fellow believer. You're damaging someone when you lie. Peter also says, put off hypocrisy. Hypocrisy must be put away from the believer. This is the sin of insincerity, putting on an outward appearance of obedience. Again, like that lawnmower, like that fake Christian that we talked about in the beginning, you look like you've got it all together. You look like you're ready to go. But on the inside, there's some real issues lurking beneath the surface. This is the sin of hypocrisy. The fourth sin listed is envy. Again, to envy is to look at someone else's success and be angered by it or to be jealous of it. This is the exact opposite of rejoicing with those who rejoice and it's also the opposite of thankfulness for good that comes to other people. When someone else experiences something good in their life, when someone else is blessed by a circumstance in their life and you look at that and it makes you upset because it didn't happen to you and instead it happened to them and they don't really deserve that. Peter says that's not the kind of love that should be descriptive of believers. Finally, Peter writes that all slander, all slander must be put off. Slander is any speech that seeks to degrade or tear someone down, speech that seeks to damage an individual's reputation. Even if you're not speaking directly to the person, maybe even we should say especially if you're not speaking directly to the person, that is slander. to go and to say something derogatory about someone else in a position where they can't defend themselves or they can't bring another element to the story to the table. This is slander, intentionally trying to damage a fellow believer's reputation. Why would that be happening? That should not be the case in the body of Christ. Peter says that must be put away. Take it off, put it away. Don't let that be named within God's church. Commentator Wayne Grudem writes this, all these sins aim at harming other people. whereas love seeks the good of other people. Notice that as you seek to work through this text in a thoughtful way, you may even want to go through and circle each of those sins and say, look at all of these connect back to verse 22, and we're commanded to love each other. All of these sins are descriptive of sins that are intentionally seeking to damage a fellow believer. Again, we're commanded to love. These truths need to be applied in our own church, in our own youth group. If you're a believer sitting here tonight, you must understand, you have a responsibility to love the people in this room. You have a responsibility to love the people in this church. Again, you have a responsibility to pursue unity with others in this body of believers. And unity and love, we cannot emphasize this enough, unity and love are hallmarks of true disciples of Christ. A hallmark is a seal, or it's a mark that sets you apart as something unique. Unity and love should be a distinctive mark of believers. In fact, Jesus says in John 13, 35, If you don't, you're not living up to the call to holiness. You're not obeying the clear commands that we see in the scripture. John writes powerfully in 1 John 4, 19 through 21. John writes this, we love because he first loved us. That's referring to Jesus. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, again, Jesus, whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John writes that our love, number one, our love is born out of God's love for us. That's first and foremost. You should love, if for no other reason, than the fact that Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, loved you in all your sin. In spite of your sin, Jesus Christ takes the initiative. He reaches into your condition, pulls you out of that, saves you, ransoms you, as Peter says, from futile ways. And if for no other reason, that kind of love should motivate you to love others. No matter how disgusting or weird or strange you may think a person is, that kind of unconditional sacrificial love should motivate you to say, I can love anyone because of the love that was shown to me by Jesus Christ. Secondly, John says, if you love God, but don't love your brother, you are a what? You're a liar. This is strong. This is accusative language. Can you imagine reading this and actually being the recipient of this letter? John, under the inspiration of the Spirit, he knows that there are individuals that claim to be followers of Christ that live this way. And John says, essentially, don't you dare say you love God but hate your brother. Actually, if you do that, you're a liar. And you're a liar about what? You don't love God. Don't say you love God. And there's somebody over here that you say, yeah, I just really don't get along with them. I love God. But that person over there, I just don't, can't get along with them. Don't like them. Don't wanna interact with that person. John says, you're a liar. You don't love God and you can't love God. Because if you can't love someone who you see in front of you, you can't love God who you've not seen. Again, why can't you Why can't you claim to be a believer and not love someone, not love your fellow believer? John tells us, this is the commandment we have received from him. Whoever loves God must also love his brother. Again, the language is imperative. You must do this. It's not a choice. If there's somebody that's particularly strange, then you can maybe not love them a little bit. John says if you love God, you must love your fellow believer. Again, listen carefully. This is your duty. You love your fellow believer and you pursue unity with them or you have no business calling yourself a Christ follower. That's from John. That's from God's inspired word. You love your fellow believer or you don't claim to be a follower of Christ. very clearly from God's word. Secondly, look at verse two. Instead, what should we do? Notice verse two, John continues, or Peter continues, excuse me, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk that by it, you may grow up into salvation. Again, the ESV actually ends this sentence in verse one, and it begins a new sentence in verse two. And I actually disagree with this. And I went and looked at some Greek with this, and I don't think that the sentence should be ended there. And the NASB doesn't end it there. Verses one and two are best kept as one singular thought, okay? And so I believe that's how Peter intends it. Watch this connection. As verse one begins, therefore putting aside all these sins, he lists all these sins, like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk. Do you see that connection? They go hand in hand. You're putting all this sin aside and instead, what are you doing? Like newborn infants. you should long for pure spiritual milk. Again, by keeping these verses connected, we see Peter's point clearly. Anyone who is living in the sins listed in verse one will not be able to desire the word as commanded in verse two. Don't miss this. Some believers say, I just don't desire God's word, and I don't understand why I don't desire God's word. Again, don't miss this. Peter's connection is clear. If you're not obeying and putting off the sins listed in verse one, you won't have a desire for God's word. It's natural. God's word seeks to confront the human condition. It seeks to confront your heart and say, you fall short in this area, you must change. And so if you're currently knowingly living in and pursuing sin, just forewarning. you won't appreciate God's word, and you won't want to spend time in it. Peter says these sins must be put away from your life in order for this to be the case. This should be the case. Every believer should long for God's word, like a newborn infant, but if you're not obeying the previous command, you won't. So this is a warning. And then Peter uses a very clear analogy in verse two to describe how believers should love the word. This is what your love for God's word should look like. And as you consider spiritual milk, Peter's not trying to make a connection to the spiritual maturity of these believers. He's not saying these believers need milk because they're not spiritually mature. Paul uses an analogy with milk and meat. Those are separate metaphors. Don't bring that here. That's a separate metaphor. Peter's using this analogy very specifically to describe the attitude that we should have towards spiritual nourishment. Peter, again, he's simply stating true believers should desire this spiritual food in the same way that a baby desires milk. And really, this is an excellent analogy because we all understand. Babies are born with a near singular focus on one thing. Milk. Food. Feed me. Feed me exactly when I want to be fed. And if you have younger siblings, you probably understand that a little bit. If you don't, you couldn't spend 10 minutes in the church nursery and not understand it shortly thereafter, right? Why? Because they cry. They cry, and there's a very unique element to a baby's cry. It's incredibly ear-piercing and annoying. That's because they're saying, feed me. I need food to live. Feed me now. Again, they're hungry. They long for that physical nourishment. They long for that physical food. Peter's saying in that same way, in the same way that you would look at a baby and you look at their intense singular focus, I must have this exactly when I need to have it. I'm going to let everybody know I need to have it because that's how important it is to me. Peter's saying in that same way, you must desire God's word passionately. you must desire spiritual nourishment passionately. Like newborns, believers should desire and pursue this spiritual nourishment. The Greek word for spiritual, it's actually a cognate word for the word used in verse 25. Look at verse 25 just quickly. In chapter one, Peter says, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. This is the word logos. We saw this and looked at it in depth in John's gospel in John chapter one. We see John use that word over and over and over again. Now the word used for spiritual, it's a very similar word. And that's because Peter's trying to draw a connection and we don't really see it in the English language as clearly as you would see it in the Greek language. But Peter's drawing a clear connection. Spiritual nourishment is none other than the eternal Word of God that endures forever. This is spiritual nourishment, God's Word. God's Word. Desire, long for the Word of the Lord that remains forever. As your life passes away, as you look around you and you see, or maybe don't see in Florida, the change of the seasons, It should remind you of the word of the Lord that never changes and never passes away, and it's power to transform your life radically. And the analogy doesn't stop there. Babies don't just desire milk because it tastes good. They don't just desire milk because they enjoy it, but because they have a built-in instinct that tells them, if you don't eat, you're going to die. Notice Peter's next phrase. In verse two, that by it, you may what? Grow up into salvation. Again, this analogy, it's so rich. Much like babies, you must eat spiritually in order to grow and develop. Don't miss this. If you're a believer, number one, you should desire God's word, number one. Number two, if you don't engage it, you won't grow. That's critical, you won't grow, you will not mature. Peter states clearly by this spiritual food, you will grow up, you will mature in your salvation. And so as you think about this, do you need God's truth like this? Could you look at your life and say, in the same way that a baby has a singular focus on physical nourishment, I have a singular focus, a singular desire to be nourished, to be fed, matured by the truth of God's word. You must desire God's word like this. You must desire God's word like this. If you don't, Again, don't miss this because a lot of Christians struggle with this. They say, I don't desire God's word like that. If you don't, refer back to verse one. Refer back to verse one, consider if there's sin in your life, particularly a sin listed, and consider if that may be hindering your desire for God's word. That might be prohibiting you from obeying or striving after God as you want. And finally, I would genuinely, strongly challenge you. If there comes a point where you don't have a desire for God's word at all, you don't have a desire to obey God's word, you may not be a true follower of God. That's a real reality. You can't say you love someone or have a relationship with them and have no desire to do what they ask you to do or to listen to the words that they say. This is the eternal God of the universe's communication to you as a believer individually. And if you say, yeah, I'd rather not engage that, don't pretend to have a relationship with the one who wrote the book. That's a critical piece. Peter has one final comment on the believer's need for God's Word. Notice verse 3. Notice verse 3. Again, the sentence really doesn't end. From the beginning of verse 1 to the end of verse 3, look at what Peter says, Individuals who have truly experienced the grace of Jesus Christ through salvation, they will desire to feed on God's word. They will desire to grow in their knowledge of God and to grow through his word. Again, all of what Peter has just said is contingent upon one statement. One statement in verse three, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Again, If you don't have any desire to listen or read the words of God and to learn from His words, it may be because of that piece in verse three, you've never truly tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord. If you had, you would have a burning desire to read His word, to learn from His word, to grow in His word. That's what Peter says. Once you've experienced love like this, grace like this, you can't get enough of it. And so now, in verse 4, Peter begins a new thought. He's going to transition to discuss the blessings that we experience as the people of Christ. Notice verse 4. Verse 4. chosen, and precious. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now, Peter's going to get into some meaty theology here, and so hang with me as we walk through this. Peter begins in verse 4 saying, as you come to him, As you come to Jesus, what? You are being built up, right? And we'll see that in verse five. But understand, first and foremost, as you come to Jesus, emphasizes the responsibility that you and I have to respond to the gospel message. You have heard the gospel message, and you are responsible as an individual to respond to the call of repentance that is clearly seen through the scriptures over and over again. This is the call. This is the gospel. This is Jesus, God's divine representative. Put your faith in Him. Peter says, come to him again, it represents that we must respond to the gospel message. Jesus Christ is God's elect, and we must respond to his offer of grace in faith. Now again, Peter has previously stated the importance of responding to the gospel in obedience and faith. Remember verse 22, Peter said, having purified your souls, by what? Obedience to the truth. that this is actually talking about salvation. You have purified your souls by obeying the truth, responding to the gospel call. This purifies your souls. The means of our purification, again, the means of our purification, it is what's critical. We are purified by doing what? Obeying God's truth. obeying it first and foremost through His Word, and obeying it as it is delivered to us from His divine messenger, Jesus Christ, which we've looked at many, many times, even as we've walked through John. There are many similarities between John and 1 Peter, if you haven't noticed some of those connections. But notice what Peter says about Jesus then. He says, as you come to him, and then he kind of takes a little break, there's a comma there, and he's gonna talk about Jesus for a second. Notice what he says. A living stone, this is who you're coming to. As you come to him, him who? A living stone rejected by men in the sight of God, chosen and precious. Now again, to refer to Jesus as a living stone, this is an interesting metaphor to use. Stones do not live, and we understand that. However, Peter's attempting to draw a very clear comparison between the old covenant and the temple that was constructed with dead stones, with physical stones, and the new covenant, whose sure foundation is built on Christ. One commentator writes, the fact that Christ is the living stone shows at once his superiority and reminds Christians that there can be no longing for that old way of approach to God, for this way is far better. Peter says, you live under a new covenant, you reap the benefits of a new covenant whose sure foundation is none other than Jesus Christ. cornerstone, chosen and precious. These words also, rejected, chosen, precious, these are all used in the Old Testament passages, which Peter will reference in verses 6 through 8. We'll see references to Psalm 118.22 and Isaiah 28.16. Peter's going to quote these in the coming verses. But we see the critical point that Peter's making. While corrupt religious authorities, they evaluated the teachings of Jesus, and what did they do? They rejected Him consistently. They rejected him over and over again. Peter writes, Jesus is chosen and precious in God's sight. Again, as you think about this, it's amazing. It's fascinating the way God's word compliments itself, the way it folds over on itself so many times. And it's written by different authors, but at the same time, one divine author. We saw the same point in John chapter six. Again, this isn't something that we planned. We started going through John chapter six while we were working through Ecclesiastes. Now we're in first Peter and we're seeing connections in God's word. We saw in John six that Jesus is calling people to himself, calling people to respond to the gospel message, believe his testimony. And what do they say at the end of John six? This is a hard saying. And not a hard saying in the way that we can't understand it. It's a hard saying in the way that we don't want to believe it, Jesus. This is what they're saying. It's harsh. It's an offensive teaching. Peter says, these corrupt religious authorities, they heard the message and they rejected the messenger. This messenger, however, Jesus Christ, he is chosen and precious in God's sight. In the same way as Peter highlights this distinct comparison as being rejected by men, but approved and precious and chosen by God, the same truth applies to you and I today. To side with Jesus is to be in the minority. Don't miss that. To side with Jesus is to be rejected by men. Peter now continues this metaphor in verse five. Notice again, don't miss the previous context of verse four. He says, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So, very interestingly, at the beginning of verse four, we see a direct connection with the continuation of the metaphor in verse five. Peter says at the beginning of verse four, as you come to him, and then Peter stops and says, let me explain who him is. And then he explains who him is, and he goes back to verse five and says, as you come to him, you yourselves. Like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house. The believers are living stones in Jesus Christ. Why? They are living stones through the person of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they have come to him. They have come to God's chosen elect son. As living stones, Peter says the believers now form the temple of God. One commentator writes, these humble believers also like Christ have become living stones precious to God. Again, they have become living stones precious to God because of Jesus Christ, because they accept and believe his message. This is what Peter writes. The believers are a holy priesthood far different than the priesthood that frequently described the Old Covenant, full of priests who frequently led the Israelites astray. As you look at the rebellion of the Israelites throughout the Old Testament, it normally started with the priests. priestly role was defiled and so the nation was defiled by consequence. Peter says we, by significant difference, we are to be a holy priesthood. We're to be a holy priesthood. There's also major connections that could be made as individuals lived in this day and age and there were priests all around, pagan priests who would kind of parade as if they could make connections with the divine. Peter says, not like those filthy, dirty, pagan priests. You're a holy priesthood. You're a holy priesthood and you have access to the divine, not because of anything you did, but because of the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's special. That's meaningful. Wayne Grudem writes this, the beauty of this new and living temple made of people should no longer be expensive gold and precious jewels, but the imperishable beauty of holiness and faith in Christian's lives. qualities which much more effectively reflect the glory of God. So as you consider the Old Covenant, it's built of physical stones, and Peter's trying to draw a clear comparison. Those physical stones often painted with gold and very elaborate to look a certain way, to look fantastic, to look beautiful. Much more beautiful is a temple that is constructed by holy believers. Believers, a people who are zealous for good works, striving to please God. Again, do you understand? As a believer, this is your spiritual duty. As you come to Christ, you must be transformed more and more into the image of your Savior. You must be a people set apart. That's what holy literally means, set apart, unique. a holy priesthood, so that the body of Christ is a spiritual temple, a place where God dwells. This kind of life-altering transformation, it's not possible in and of yourself. It's only possible through God's Word. So Peter now seeks to support his claims with Old Testament scripture. Notice what Peter says in verse 6. He says, Now, Peter first quotes from the prophecy in Isaiah 28, 16. And this identifies a cornerstone that will be laid in Zion. And again, we see those words chosen and precious. And Peter has identified this cornerstone as Jesus Christ. There's great significance in this prophecy, but you first have to understand what is a cornerstone? What is a cornerstone? This is the very first stone that would have been laid at the corner of the foundation. The fact that the cornerstone is being laid in Zion, which is where the old temple was located. This indicates that Isaiah was foretelling of a new and better covenant. A covenant, a stone that would be laid in Zion and replace the old temple. Again, do you understand the significance of this? Believer, you live under this new covenant that Isaiah looked towards and Isaiah prophesied about. And so as you consider this, this covenant, it's going to replace the old way, replace the old temple, and this covenant believers now enjoy in the person of Jesus Christ. This prophecy identifies Jesus Christ as the cornerstone who is chosen and precious. And we must believe in Jesus Christ and his finished work on the cross if we want to be partakers in the glorious inheritance of salvation, which Peter has already referenced numerous times in this epistle. Notice verse seven, what Peter says. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Again, Peter clearly identifies the means of our salvation. The means of our salvation is that we have believed in the chosen cornerstone, who is Christ. The honor is for those who believe, Peter says. However, for those who do not believe in God's chosen stone, they are not honored as God's people. Instead, what happens? Notice the following verses. Peter says, and this, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. Again, in this passage, we clearly see that Jesus is either the means and foundation of your salvation, or he is a stumbling block that causes offense. Again, tying back perfectly with John chapter 6, that this is a difficult message and many people left. Why? Because this stone causes stumbling and offense if you don't believe his message. If you believe his message, you are part of that holy people, a holy priesthood, a living stone We saw, again, this reality play out throughout the New Testament. The Jews grumble against the claims of Jesus, and Peter identifies here that these Jews and their religious leaders, they rejected Jesus. And so what do you see at the end of verse eight is Peter says, because they reject, what happens? They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. Now, what do we do with this final phrase? This phrase almost makes it seem as though these individuals, they had no choice in their unbelief. They're destined to do what they do. Now, we have to understand the call to respond to the gospel message. This is a command throughout scripture. God does not force anyone, God does not tempt anyone to commit evil. And so this is a command presented throughout scripture. You must hear the gospel message and turn. This is a command that you either obey or you disobey. Now their disobedience is their failure to heed the words of Jesus and accept his message. Notice, there is a clear cause and effect in this passage. Do not miss this. Please pay attention to the end of verse eight. Notice this last phrase, clear cause and effect. They stumble, why? Because they disobey the word. Again, John MacArthur writes this. These were not appointed by God to disobedience and unbelief. Rather, these were appointed to doom because of their disobedience. and unbelief. Again, do not miss that clear cause and effect. God is not making them disobey. God is not forcing them to reject the message. They stumble because they disobey the word. This final phrase, as they were destined to do, it actually refers back to the word stumble. This is referring back to Peter saying they stumble and they're destined to stumble, why? Because they do not obey God's word. They're destined to stumble in this way. We're to understand these individuals and their rejection of Jesus Christ. They choose this relationship with Jesus. They choose to disobey his words and thus they stumble. Failure to heed and live by the words of God can have eternal consequences. And as you consider this, it's important you understand. It's important you ensure that your spiritual walk is being fueled by the truth of God's word. If it is, you will be growing, and you should be desiring more and more to feed on the spiritual food that is God's word. But if it's not, and if your spiritual walk is not being power-fueled by the right thing, then you need to evaluate your relationship with Jesus today. Do you truly know him? Because if you do, you will desire to read, to obey his words. Let's go ahead and bow in close with a word of prayer. Dear God, we're thankful for your word this evening. Thankful that you have given us your word in a written format that we can understand how we can live lives that are honoring, that are glorifying to you, that we can be prepared for the second coming. God, I pray that as Peter writes to elect exiles, I pray that we would be a similar audience of elect exiles, of people living in a world not their own, that we would be always and ever focused on the second coming of Christ, and that that eternal spiritual focus would motivate our belief, that it would motivate our love for Jesus and our love for others. God, we understand today we cannot do any of this without the power of your word at work in our lives. And so we pray, as Peter says, we pray that like babies, like infants, we would have a singular focus on consuming your word and the truth of your word. God, we cannot do this on our own. And so we ask not for more willpower this evening, but for more of your grace. In Jesus' name and for his sake we pray, amen.