If you would please turn your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2 if you would please. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 12 is where we find ourselves this morning. 1 Peter 2 verses 4-12. 1 Peter 2, verses 4 through 12. The word of the Lord. Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts. which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to once again gather in thy holy name. We pray that you are pleased with the worship that is offered to you this day. Father, we pray that if there's anyone here this morning or listening to this message who has not yet embraced Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they have not yet realized faith in Him. Father, we pray that you would be merciful to them, that you would be kind to them by granting them saving faith in your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would be so pleased to bless your word to each and every one of us this morning. You know our hearts, our minds, you know our doubts, our questions, our struggles. You are intimately acquainted with us from the crown of our head to the tips of our toes to the innermost part of our being. You are all familiar with all the sins that we so easily get entangled with. We pray that you'd be so pleased to bless your holy word, that which you have prepared for us this morning, to each and every one of us as you see fit. Lord Jesus, I pray that you'd be so pleased to bless thy servant's work, that you would be honored by all that is said and done. that you would be glorified by all that is proclaimed. I pray that you would grant me boldness, authority to speak authoritatively, the boldness to speak authoritatively, that you would grant me clarity of mind, clarity of speech, accuracy of doctrine. I pray your forgiveness in advance if I should speak anything amiss. In your holy name we pray, amen. Beloved, the past couple weeks we learned what the marks of the Christian are as they are given in 1 Peter and in Holy Scripture. We learned from both Peter and the Bible, the rest of Scripture, in general, the marks of the Christian are love for God, love for the church, and love for Holy Scripture. And so, beloved, as Christians, the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. We see this in Romans 5, 5. And it is because of that we love God. And what does the apostle John say in his first letter? He says in 1 John 4, 19, that we love him because he first loved us. And so again, As Christians, we are marked by love for God as a direct result of God's love for us. And as a direct result of that, we have love one for another. Again, what does the Apostle John say in his first epistle? He says in the following, verses 20 through 21 of chapter four, he says, if someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother. And so what John is saying there, John is saying that he who loves God has to love his brother. You have to love your brother if you love God. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying is, is that those who love God do indeed love their brothers and sisters in Christ. That is what he's saying. Notice what John goes on to say. in the opening two verses of the next chapter in the first epistle, chapter five. He writes in verses one through two of first John five, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. By this we know we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. And so all who believe in Jesus Christ, John says, are born again. They are, we are Christians. We are God's dear children. And it is because we are his children, we love all whom he has adopted into his family. That is what John is saying there, that we love all whom he has begotten. And so all who believe in Jesus Christ are God's beloved children, and his children love one another, and they keep his commandments, they love his word, they love his holy law, they love the sacred scripture, and for this is the love of God, John says in the very next verse, verse three of 1 John 5, for this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not false. Burdensome. They're not work for us. We enjoy keeping them. We look forward to it. They're not burdensome. Much like babysitting. When a woman has not had a child yet, or a father has not had a son or daughter yet, and they're babysitting, while there might be some joy involved in that, it is work. to watch over an infant child, or even a child that is old enough to be able to remove things from tabletops. It is work, right? We remember, those of us who have had children, we remember the moment we realized it's time to baby-proof the house. It's work. But for the mother who has given birth to her own child, it's no longer work. It's a labor of love. She does it with joy. It's no longer burdensome. You see, that's the difference. Because we are God's dear children, we love one another, and we know that we love one another when we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. And so the marks of the Christian, again, love for God, love for God's people, the body of Christ, the church, the local church, and love for God's word. And this brings us to today's passage in 1 Peter, here in chapter 2, verses 4 through 12. Here we find Peter moving on from the marks of the Christian onto what I believe is the Christian's identity. We've considered the marks of the Christian. We move on to the Christian's identity. Read with me a few words, verses 4 through 12, and then we'll look to the Father once again in prayer. First, Peter. Chapter 2, verses 4 through 12. Coming to him as to a living stone rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and the stone of stumbling, a rock of offense. They stumbled, being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you are pleased with all that is said and done this morning. May the worship that is offered to you this day from each and every one of us, from a body in general, may it be true worship. May it be spiritual worship. May it be worship that is honoring to you and is acceptable. Again Peter writes Coming to him as to a living stone Rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood Why to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, in light of this, it is also contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, in light of this prophetic word, to you who believe he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which also they were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people. Why? That you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, the Lord God Almighty made a covenant promise to dwell amongst his people. And he promised that there would be a time when he would walk among his people. What do we read in Leviticus 26, 12 through 13? There in that passage of scripture we read the Lord declaring, I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. I have broken the bonds of your yoke and make you walk and made you walk upright. And so here we see in this passage that the Lord God Almighty, He's declaring that He has taken possession of His people and He has made them His own people and promised to walk among them. He promised them communion with Himself. He promised them fellowship. The Apostle Paul, speaking of God's covenant promise, says the following to the Corinthians in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verses 4 through 18. There the Apostle Paul writes to the Corinthians, the Holy Spirit has written to us this morning, do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with beheld? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has a temple of God with idols? Notice what Paul goes on to say, he says, for you are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. And so the Apostle Paul is addressing the church in general here. He's not addressing one single individual Christian. The you here in this passage is plural, the church. And so the body of Christ Collected together together make up the the church. We are the temple of the Living God And when he says I will dwell in them and walk among them I will be their God and they shall be my people beloved This was fulfilled in the first advent Yes, God was among his people in the Old Testament. He was among them, but we see this promise fulfilled also in the First Advent. In Matthew chapter one, verse 23, we read, behold, the virgin shall be your child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. And so we see this covenant promise being fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And it is in light of this promise, the Apostle Paul goes on to say in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, he says, I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Therefore, in light of this, because of this covenant promise. Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord God Almighty. And so, beloved, we, the body of Christ, we are the temple of God. We are the dwelling place of the Lord God Almighty. We are the spiritual house Peter references in today's passage. With Christ as our chief cornerstone, we are being built up a spiritual house, God's dwelling place, and every new convert, every new believer in Jesus Christ This spiritual house, which we are, increases in its size. Every new convert is an additional building block to the temple of God. Having come by faith to Christ and continuing to be with him in fellowship, We prove ourselves to be the temple of God, the dwelling place of God, the spiritual house. And that the apostle Peter identifies or calls a holy priesthood. We are a holy priesthood. We are all in one sense ministers of Christ. We are a holy priesthood. whose calling is to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. We are called to offer up for Him spiritual sacrifices. We no longer offer the blood of bulls and calves, lambs and sheep. No, we don't do that anymore. We are to offer Him spiritual sacrifices. Beloved, Just as Jesus Christ is rejected by the world and chosen by God to be the chief cornerstone of his dwelling place, we too, because of our faith and our union with Christ, are rejected by the world and are the building blocks or the stones, the living stones, that are being built upon Christ in the construction of the spiritual house, or we can say the dwelling place of the Lord God Almighty. And so when we are rejected by the world, when we experience rejection by the unbelieving world, remember that we are in good company. Just as Christ was and is and continues and will continue to be rejected, we will continue to be rejected. Jesus says if they rejected me, they will reject you. If they listen to me, accept my word, they will accept your word. In other words, there will be some who will reject us and there will be some as we speak to them, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and accept our message. And so brothers and sisters, this was alluded to in the Old Testament by the people of God. Again, Peter says, coming to him as a living stone rejected by men but chosen by God and precious you also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture. In other words, Peter's saying, this was spoken of by the Old Testament prophets. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious. And he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, you who believe, he is precious. He is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone to which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. And the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense, they stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. Beloved, Christ is not only precious to the Father, but Peter says here that he's precious to us too. If we truly believe in Jesus Christ, if we are truly one of the building blocks of the spiritual household of God, Jesus is precious to us. He is beloved. Again, we look back to the mark of the Christian. We love God. Beloved, nothing was going to stop God from building His dwelling place. In spite of the rejection, in spite of the chief cornerstone that was rejected by the builders, Christ has become the chief cornerstone. And so nothing is going to stop God from building His dwelling place. Nothing is gonna stop God from building His spiritual house. Come what may, whatever comes our way, whatever difficulty comes our way, whatever hostility comes the church's way, nothing, nothing, nothing will ever stop the Lord God Almighty from building His dwelling place, the church. Nothing. You remember what Jesus says in Matthew 16, 18? He says, I will build my church in the gates of Hades shall not prevail. Shall not prevail. As we continually move closer and closer to the second coming of Jesus Christ, I believe, as we are seeing now, as we are seeing now, The church, the body of Christ, is much more smaller than what the world thought it to be. The body of Christ is so much more smaller than what the world believes it to be. As hostility continues to grow, As opposition continues to grow toward the body of Christ, we are truly seeing who are the genuine believers in Jesus Christ. As local churches, as denominations fall by the wayside embracing outright sin, we are seeing the true body of Christ being manifested. As the darkness continues to grow, the light of the church continues to be more and more apparent. While the unbelieving world, those who reject Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, is appointed to stumbling, Peter says, they are appointed to destruction. They are appointed to God's wrath, Peter says. all who believe, all who are building blocks, living stones being built upon Christ, constructing God's spiritual house, his royal priesthood, his holy nation, his special people. Why? So that they may proclaim his praises. And Peter clearly identifies, he clearly declares to us this morning, to his audience in that day and to us this morning, that we are chosen for this very thing. This is our calling to worship God, to declare His praises. This is our calling. Christianity in the entire globe, in this whole world. We talked about it this morning. Christianity is the only faith that is really true. Think about it. Only Christianity. The unbelieving world targets only Christianity. We saw that on full display during the Olympics in France. But can you imagine if a country, a country's government, approved, allowed that blasphemous display of the Olympics to occur? Why Christianity? Why not Islam? Why not Buddhism? Only Christianity. You know why? Because the world, the unbelieving world understands. Inside their hearts, they understand. General revelation, they understand that God exists. And they hate them. And they have enough understanding that Christianity is the true religion of the Lord God Almighty. And so they reject it. Only Christianity. We can take heart in that. We can be encouraged by that. Well, Pastor Wayne, how can I be encouraged by that? Well, we can be encouraged because the Bible itself tells us. Jesus says, if they rejected me, they're going to reject you. That tells us that what the Bible is telling us is true. If Christ was persecuted for manifesting the Father to the world, and he tells his disciples, you know what, you're going to be persecuted too. A servant is not greater than his master. their persecution of Christianity, their ridicule of Christianity. They think they're doing harm, but all that they're really doing is they're authenticating Scripture. And so we could take heart in knowing that what they're doing is authenticating Scripture, so this is true. We should be encouraged. Take heart. Continue to declare His praises. Continue to fulfill our calling as holy priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. Chosen to proclaim His praises. Chosen to declare the gospel to any and all who will listen. Chosen to declare to the world just how wonderful Jesus is. Just how magnificent our Lord God Almighty is. What does Peter go on to say beginning in verse 9 of our text? He says, but you are a chosen generation. So now Peter is contrasting those who have been appointed to destruction, those who have been appointed to stumbling, those who have been appointed to God's wrath because of their disobedience. Peter's now contrasting. Unlike them, he says, but you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God. There's our identity. There's our identity. We are the people of God. That's who we are. who have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. This is our new identity. We are the people of God. This title, beloved, encompasses all of the descriptive titles that Peter enumerates in today's passage. As the people of God, we are the living stones We are a spiritual house. We are a holy priesthood. We are a holy nation. We are a special people. We are sojourners. We are pilgrims. All of these descriptive titles are encompassed in our new identity, the people of God. This is who we are. Chosen and called to proclaim his praises, We've obtained mercy for this reason, to stand before the world and to proclaim his praises. And as God's people, we not only proclaim his praises, but also live and lead upright life. We not only declare how wonderful Jesus is, we not only declare the gospel, we not only declare the magnificence of the Lord God Almighty, But we lead upright lives, too. What does Peter say in verses 11 through 12? He says, beloved, I beg you, as the people of God, he's saying, I beg you, as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. And so, beloved, the world, as it did with Christ during His earthly ministry, they will speak evil of and treat us as evildoers. But that's okay. Because when God returns, when Jesus returns, God will be glorified by our good works. Those things that the world considers evil, those things that the world speaks against, that they say that we do and that we are evildoers for, will glorify God because they are actually good works. the things the world accuses us as being wicked, our righteous living will indeed glorify God when Christ returns on the day of visitation. So Peter wanted the church to know and to be reminded that all who call on God the Father as their God and Father practice living in his presence And not only bear the marks of the Christian, love for God, love for God's people, love for his word, but also bear the title or the identity, the people of God. That's the Christian's identity. And if we've been told, and if we've been truly been born again, if we have truly been chosen by God, if we are the people of God called to proclaim his praises, As we await the day of His visitation, that He will be glorified when He returns. The people of God. That's our identity. That's who we are. God's living stone. Building blocks of a spiritual house. A holy priest in a holy nation. We're special people, chosen, beloved. We're sojourners, pilgrims. This is not our home. We're just passing through, waiting for the return of Christ. We are God's people. This is who we are. This is our identity. Coming to Him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame. Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and the stone of stumbling in a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, who once were not a people, but are now the people of God, who had not obtained the mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the clarity of it. We thank you for qualifying us for bringing us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved Son, the kingdom of life. Father, may we be found faithful to our calling. May we always be found fully embracing, not ashamed of our new identity. the people of God, a holy priesthood, holy nation, special people. May we not be ashamed of this. And may we always be found proclaiming your praises, declaring the gospel to all who will give us an audience, declaring to others how wonderful, how magnificent you are, how precious you are, how amazing you are, how awesome you are. May we always be found declaring your praises. And to the day of visitation, to the day we either take our last breath and go home to be with you, or to the day that we to you gloriously descending from the clouds for your second advent. Again, we pray that if anyone here this morning or anyone listening to this message has not yet been granted saving faith in Jesus Christ, we pray, Father, that you would be merciful to them and that you would grant them saving faith, bringing them into your holy family, so that they too may proclaim your praises, so that they too may be numbered among your people. In your holy name we pray. Amen.