Take your Bibles, open to the book of 1st Peter, chapter number 2. As you know, we're studying 1st Peter here on Sunday night, and we're in chapter 2 of 1st Peter, and I want to deal with verses 4 down to verse 10, this section of chapter 2. And tonight I just want to call this sermon, Building on the Rock. Building on the Rock. Now as you know, the letter of 1 Peter is a letter, the theme of it is hope, having hope during difficult times. And you remember that he's writing to believers who are going through a time of persecution and suffering under the ungodly persecutions of Nero there in in Rome, and we talked about that. But the message that Peter offers is a message of hope. And as we said, that hope in the Bible is not a wish, it is a certainty. And what Peter is trying to do throughout this letter is to get these believers to look upon the hope that they have in Christ, the hope that awaits them. Because with suffering here on earth, there's going to come great glory at the return of Christ. And so he constantly is pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the message that he gives us here in chapter 2 is very simple. Peter is encouraging these believers in this time to keep Christ central. Now this is not a deep message, it's very practical, but it's something that we need to hear. And the question that we need to ask ourselves tonight is that one thing. Are we keeping Christ central in our life? Our relationship to God must be central in all that we do, both individually and corporately in our life. If God is not central, that means that we're off track. If our devotion for Him is lacking, that means that we're just playing church. You remember how that in the book of Revelation the Lord Jesus rebuked the church at Ephesus, even though they had persevered through trials, even though they had not grown weary, even though they stood firm in the truth against false teaching. You remember what he said to them? He said, but I have somewhat against you. But why? Because you've left your first love. There's a sense in which even though they did all of these good things, They did not have Christ central in their life, and love for Christ must be central in our life if we're going to please the Lord. So look in chapter 2 and look down at verse number 4 where it says, in verse 4, "...to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious." And what Peter is talking about here is what says, "...to whom coming," that is, coming to Jesus. In other words, he's saying we need to constantly be coming to Christ. Now of course we have come to him in salvation. and when we put our trust in him we came to him for salvation. But here's the point that he's making. We don't just come to Christ once in salvation and that's it. The whole Christian life is about continually coming to him. In fact, where it says coming, that is a present tense participle, which simply means we are continually constantly, repeatedly coming to Christ. After our conversion we are coming to Him daily for communion. And so let me ask you that question. Is that true in your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you continually coming to Him day after day? fellowshiping with him in communion? Are you learning of him from the Word of God? And so what Peter is going to focus then on in these verses is the special relationship that we have with Christ as believers, and along with that we have special privileges. because of our relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. And really what he's going to talk about is the oneness that we have with Christ. Now this is a theme that I see often in the New Testament. I see a lot in Paul's writings. In fact, I would say that this is the sum and substance of all of Paul's theology, when he talks about the oneness that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. And you have heard me talk about this. I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot on this one area of theology, but probably the reason you hear me talk about it so much is because Paul talks about it so much. He's always referring to this oneness that the believer has in Christ. And in theology, it is called the mystical union of the believer with Christ. And when they use the word mystical, not meaning mystical as if it's a mystery, but mystical in the sense that it is so wonderful, it's so awesome, so marvelous, that we really can't wrap our minds around it. And it's the idea that you are one with the Lord Jesus Christ. When you got saved, you became one with Him. So much so that when He died, you were there with Him, you died with Him. Paul talks about this in Romans 6. When He was buried, you were buried. When He rose, you rose. In fact, any time a person gets baptized in the water, that water baptism symbolically represents that spiritual union that you now have with Christ. So much so that wherever Christ is, you're there with Him. Christ is seated in heaven. And guess where you are as a Christian? You're also seated in heaven. You say, no, wait a minute, I'm seated right here at grace. Yeah, I know, but you're also seated in heaven. You say, how can that be? That's why it's called the mystical union. It's so wonderful, it's hard for us to comprehend, but in the mind of God, you're so one with Christ that you're already seated with him in heavenly places. This is why, if anyone really truly understands this doctrine, they'll never ever believe that you could lose your salvation. Because if someone says, I hope you're going to heaven, I always say, I'm already there. I'm already seated with Christ in heavenly places. I'm his child. And so this oneness is what Peter is going to talk about here. This special union that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. And what Peter is going to do here in chapter 2 is he's going to give us three pictures. or three metaphors that speak to us about this beautiful oneness, this union that we have. And because of this union, we now have special privileges as children of God that we need to utilize and take advantage of. So let me just show you these three beautiful pictures that show the oneness that we have with Christ that's meant to reveal our spiritual privileges motivate us to keep Christ central in our life. Here's the first picture, and just write this down, we are stones in his building. We are stones in his building. Now verse 4, to whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. Verse 5, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God and by Jesus Christ. So in these verses here, now remember in the first three verses, Peter gave us a metaphor for the Christian life that basically we are a growing baby. But here we would say that we are a growing building. He's using the metaphor now of building. He speaks of living stones. He'll speak of a cornerstone and rocks. Did you know in the land of Israel, it's a land of stones and rocks? Peter's name actually means rock, and so here Peter's going to use this to teach us spiritual truth. And basically he's going to show us, as we already know, there's only one Savior, Jesus Christ, and there's one spiritual building called the church. And Jesus is the cornerstone of that church. That's the idea that he's going to give here, the special stone, the cornerstone. And so the church is built upon Christ, who is that cornerstone. You might want to mark down in your margin Mark 12 verse 10, where Jesus himself refers to himself as the cornerstone. Listen to what Jesus said, and have you not read the scripture, the stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. or that is the corner stone. Now, when you think of a corner stone, in most American minds, that stone kind of is the stone that's erected at a certain time at the corner of a building, and it might have some writing on it. It might have the writing of when that building was completed, or it might have a special name of some person, maybe the mayor or someone, when that building was erected. But that is not the biblical idea of a cornerstone. When the Bible refers to a cornerstone, it's talking about the first stone that's laid in a foundation. And the builders would get a stone from the quarry, they would chisel it, and they would get it carefully as possible to a right angle. They would measure this stone and they would put that stone in place and all of the other stones would be lined up then with this stone. It was the standard by which the walls of the building were determined. by which the foundation was determined. It was the key stone in the whole building, the most important stone in the whole building. And when Jesus is called the cornerstone, God basically is saying, I measure everything according to Jesus Christ. He's the most important stone in this building. Now notice some things about this cornerstone. Look at verse four, it says, to whom coming as unto a living stone. When you come to Christ, you're coming to a cornerstone, but this cornerstone is a supernatural stone. It is a living stone. Now this phrase doesn't seem to go together, because we understand that stones are not alive. I've never come upon a rock that was breathing. or a rock that was alive. In fact, when we want to talk about something being dead, we normally use the expression, dead as a rock, or stone dead, or something like that, when we used to talk about something that is dead. And so this is not normal, but this is an intended contradiction. It's a play on words. This stone is not a normal stone. It is a miraculous stone. It is a supernatural stone. Everything about the life of Jesus was supernatural, it was miraculous. And when Peter refers to the living stone, he's making reference to the fact of how Jesus rose from the dead and has power over death. He is a living stone, and he gives life to all of those who come to him. You know, there are many people out there today, and they have existence, but they don't have real life. They're walking around like walking zombies. They might have physical life, but they don't have real spiritual life. We find real life when we come to Him, this Living Stone, and He gives us life. So this is a supernatural stone. But I want you to see another thing about it. It is a select stone. Look what he says again in verse 4. "...to coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious." And again we see the same thing in verse 6. And so this stone is chosen of God, and the word chosen is not a verb but a noun, literally the chosen one. And the word precious means held in great honor. Jesus was chosen by the Father before the foundation of the world. He was the chosen one to come and bear our sins and be the Messiah. He is the one that we honor and adore. God the Spirit is constantly exalting Him. God the Father is pointing to Him. Why? Because He is the chosen one, our Redeemer, to give us salvation. Friend, don't ever think that you can bypass Jesus to get to the Father. That just cannot happen, because he's the Chosen One. Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father but by me. And it goes on to say in verse 7, look at verse 7, unto you, therefore, which believes, he is precious. So to those of us who know Christ, He becomes precious to us. You know what happens when we are saved? God opens our eyes to show us the beauty of Jesus. He shows us how precious our Lord Jesus is. And this is really the sign of a Christian. A Christian is someone whose eyes have been opened to see how precious Christ is. That He is the only Savior, the only One. I was reading about Charles Spurgeon, one of my favorite preachers in history, and I was reading about his first sermon. And he was walking with his friend to a cottage in a village called Taversham, and Spurgeon happened to say to his friend, I'm praying for you as you preach today. And the friend looked at him and said, Me? I'm not preaching today. You're preaching today. Somehow they got their wires crossed. And each thought the other was preaching. And so they kind of debated on the whole way who should preach. And Spurgeon said, I really had nothing prepared. And finally he reluctantly stepped forward to preach his first sermon. And this is what he said, he said, I felt my own inability to preach, but I ventured upon this one text, unto you therefore which believe he is precious. He said, that was my first text. And he said this, I don't think I could have said anything on any other text of the Bible. But being newly saved, Christ to me was so precious. He said, I could speak on that. And that was his first sermon. And friend, that is true. If you're a believer, then you know what? Jesus Christ will be precious to you. He'll be precious to your soul. And so he is a supernatural stone. He is the select stone, the precious one. But also I want you to see he's a slighted stone. Look in verse number four again. To whom coming as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God." Notice where it says disallowed, and it means to put someone to the test for the purpose of approval, but to disapprove, to repudiate, to examine, and to reject. And so this is talking about the ministry of Jesus. During the ministry of Jesus, the Jews who were builders that measured the stone, they rejected Christ. They looked at the life of Christ, and many of them, they rejected the Lord Jesus. Now, it's hard for us to comprehend that. It's hard for us to fathom that. Let me read you what Kenneth Weiss wrote. He said, this living stone in the person of the Son of God became incarnate. lived for 33 years in the midst of Israel, offered himself as its Messiah, was examined by official Israel for the purpose of approving him as its Messiah, and then was repudiated because he was not what they wanted in a Messiah. And that is what happened. They looked at him, they looked at this stone, they examined him, and they repudiated him and that's why it says disallowed of men but to us and by the way men still reject him today Christ is still rejected he's still the object of scorn he's still attacked he's still blasphemed and yet to us he's precious to us who believe And you know, so the idea is not everyone who comes to Christ is going to receive Him. Would to God that everyone that heard and learned of Jesus came to Him. But the simple matter is, not everyone is going to. And that's a sad reality. In fact, Jesus even said this during His ministry. He said, enter in the straight gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many will go on that path. But narrow is the gate, straight is the gate, and narrow is the way that leads on to life everlasting. And there are a few that find it. Now a lot of times people will ask me, you know, what about people that don't hear about Jesus? What's going to happen to them? But you know, what concerns me more are the people that do hear about Jesus and reject Him. Because I want to tell you something, dear friend, the hottest part of eternal punishment is reserved for those people who have had the opportunity to see and hear about Jesus and they reject him. They disallow him. And you remember in Jesus' ministry in Matthew 11, He gave the woe unto those villages right there around the Sea of Galilee, some of those villages. And I've had the privilege of going to some of those places over there where Jesus ministered, Bethsaida and Chorazin. And now they're, you know, you can't even find, you don't even know where Bethsaida is now. It's gone. Chorazin looks like it's been burned. It's all charred black, nothing but stones. This was a place where Jesus ministered and shared the word, and he said, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! He said, If the mighty works which were done in thee were done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented. you didn't repent. Here was Jesus and he was showing his great power, he was teaching the gospel, and yet these people looked at this cornerstone and they measured him and they rejected him. And woe be to that person. Jesus said it's going to be more tolerable for tire and sighted in the day of judgment than it will be for those who see Jesus, who hear about Jesus, and reject Jesus. That's a dangerous place to be. So he's a supernatural stone. He's a select stone. He is a slighted stone. But write down also, he's a stumbling stone. Look at verse number eight. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient. whereunto also they were appointed." And here Peter is quoting out of Isaiah 28 16 and Psalm 118 verse 22 in his description, and he pointed out that Jesus, though chosen of God, again rejected of men, and when he was rejected he became a stumbling stone. Why did some people stumble over Christ, we see in verse number 8, and become a rock of offense? That's the Greek Petra Scandalon. Again, a rock set up to trip someone. How does Christ become a rock of offense to some? A stumbling stone to some. It says in verse number eight, being disobedient Those who hear the gospel message, hear the claims of Christ, and obey the gospel, to them he becomes a rock of salvation, but to those who hear the gospel and they disobey it, he becomes a stumbling stone, it says here. And now there are some people that think, well, I'll just go around him. Friend, you can't. Jesus will either be for you a stepping stone to heaven or a stumbling stone to hell. You can't ignore him. Because trying to ignore him is to make your own judgment, is to reject him. So you'll either rise on him or you'll fall on him. That's what he's telling us here. You'll either be saved by him or you'll be judged by him. You'll either stand upon the rock or the rock will grind you down. But you can't be neutral about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can't ignore him. Jesus is inescapable. He is inevitable. He is unavoidable. What you do with Jesus will determine what Jesus does with you. That's for everyone. So he's a supernatural stone. He is a select stone. He is a slighted stone. He's a stumbling stone. But also write this down. He is a strategic stone. Because look again in verse six. Wherefore also it's contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Again, a chief cornerstone is not an ordinary stone. It is a very special stone. According to the architecture of that day when a building was built, this would be the key stone set for the right angles of the wall. It gave significance, it gave symmetry, it gave strength to the building. This was the stone upon which all the building rested and locked its corners together. It was this key cornerstone. Someone wrote this, the size and strength of cornerstones used in ancient buildings continue to amaze modern engineers. How the ancient builders placed those large blocks in exalted positions remains an inscrutable mystery. It is still possible to see some of these stones today. So without these stones, a building would have no strength, they would have no design, and again, Jesus is that strategic stone. Let me just say that when I was in Israel, and by the way, when Solomon began to build the temple, He quarried stones. A lot of times there's been questions about where did Solomon get the stones. There's a place in Israel called Solomon's Quarry. And where it is, it's right there along, if you're walking down along the Jerusalem, the walls, right between Herod's Gate and Damascus Gate, there's this little doorway. And if you go down to that doorway, it is a huge area underneath the actual city. where stones have been quarried, it is 280 meters wide or long, 100 meters wide, and scholars believe that this is the place where Solomon quarried his stones for the temple. In fact, how was this discovered? There was a man by the name of Dr. James Barclay. He was a distinguished American biblical scholar. He was working in Jerusalem. This was in 1854, and he was walking around the walls of Jerusalem, and he came to this one place. And by the way, he had his son with him, and his son had his dog with him. And suddenly the dog was nowhere to be found. And the son began calling for the dog, and they couldn't find him. And the son noticed that the base of the wall of Jerusalem at a certain place, there was kind of a hole in that wall, kind of an entranceway. And he thought it was his sister, but he peeked his head into that doorway, and he could hear the dog barking at it long distance away. And when they went into that cave, they found this massive cavern that now they call Solomon's quarries. And so it was a dog that's accredited with one of the great archaeological discoveries in Jerusalem. This dog found it. And again, this is a massive, massive place right there in Jerusalem. And again, scholars believe this is where Solomon's men quarried stones. And this is relatively close to the Temple Mount. It's not a long way away. It's a good distance away. And the Bible says that Solomon had 80,000 hewers of stone. That's a lot of guys cutting stone. And so they were there under the streets, underneath the city, in this huge place quarrying stones. And by the way, this was a great place because it could provide protection from the sun's scorching rays in the summer and from the rainstorms in the winter, so the workers could work year-round in this quarry. just pulling out stones that they would shape there. And of course we know in the Bible that when they were building Solomon's temple, they would shape the stones in the quarry and then bring them to the building site so that there was no noise being heard while they were building Solomon's temple. And so this is just an incredible thing. Now there's a story told, an ancient legend, of what was going on when they were building the temple. They were laying the foundations, they were carting stones from the quarry to the temple, and there was one large stone in the middle of the construction yard. And the workers kept stumbling over it. They had to walk around it. It didn't seem to fit in anywhere. And it had a strange shape to it. And after a while, the construction foreman said, why is this stone here? What is it for? And no one could understand why that stone was there. No one could figure it out. And the foreman said, well, this stone is in the way, so let's get it out of here. So they, these workers, they got their pry bars, and they began to tumble that stone, turn after turn, until finally they got it to the edge of the temple mount, and they pushed it over the edge of the temple mount, and it fell down into the valley of Kidron, and there it stayed. while the work continued in the building of the temple. Finally it came time for the placement of the cornerstone. So they sent to the quarry, and they said, we're ready now for the cornerstone. And the reply came, we already sent it. And the worker said, we don't see it, it's not here, check again. And they sent back and said, the stone is already there. And then it dawned on them that the stone that they pushed off, that they rejected, perhaps that's the right stone. So they went down and they measured the stone and sure enough, it was the right stone. It was the cornerstone. So this stone that the builders rejected, was retrieved, and it became the chief cornerstone. Now Isaiah may have used this as an illustration about when he talked about the coming Messiah, that's what he would be like. He would be the chief cornerstone. However, he would be the stone that the builders initially rejected. But the stone that was rejected, this stone, will one day be recognized for being the chief cornerstone in God's kingdom, in the building of the kingdom. And you know, people today, they're still stumbling over Christ. To some people, He's in the way. To some people, they want to get them out of the way, get rid of them, get them out of their life. But friend, if you do that, you're making a big mistake. He is the chief cornerstone. We can't build without this strategic stone. So friend, he is the supernatural stone, the select, the slighted and stumbling stone. To some, he is the strategic stone. But let me give you one more thing here. He's the solid stone. Look at verse six. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone. elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Jesus is a solid foundation. Friend, when you trust in Jesus, you're standing on a sure foundation. And you know what? You will never be confounded, which simply means you'll never be put to shame. And Paul will reference this same verse in Romans 10, 11 for the scripture says, whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed. Friend, when you build your life on Christ, you will never be disappointed that you did that. You will never be ashamed that you built your life on the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll stand on the solid rock of Christ, and he will keep you all your days. I heard about an elderly lady who was a saint of God, and she was dying, and the family was standing around her bed, and she closed her eyes, and the family said, she's sinking. And she opened her eyes and she said, how can you sink when you're standing on the rock? And she's right. Friend, when you're standing on the rock, when you're trusting Jesus, friend, you will not sink. God gives you life. And so Christ is that cornerstone. Now, here's the key verse. Look in verse 5. Ye also As lively stones are built up a spiritual house. And this is the key. Peter wants us to get this. You also are living stones. Now Christ is a living stone. He is the cornerstone. But the thing that is true of Christ is true of us. you're also part of him. And because he has supernatural life, he gives you that life, and so you are also a living stone placed strategically in the building of God. You have a special place in God's building. You share this supernatural life. You ever hear someone say he's a chip off the old block? Well that's true if you're a Christian. You are part of this living stone and we are built together in Him. Again, with Peter saying we're coming to Him, not in salvation, but now we're being built up continually. Did you know that Christ is the cornerstone, there's the foundation, and we are the living stones placed on this foundation? And that's what makes up the church. That's what makes up the church. We are all stones in this building. And there's a beautiful bond that comes as we're placed into this building, the body of Christ. And we're all one together, and we're one with him. And there's special privileges that come with that beautiful relationship called the church. And so we are stones in his building. But now, let me give you the second metaphor quickly, because we're running out of time. Number two, we are priests in his temple. We are stones in his building. We are priests in his temple. Look again in verse 5. He also has lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. And so again, here is the great doctrine of the priesthood of the believer. There's no such thing as a Christian priesthood where only just a few who are ordained to ministry are priests. In the Old Testament, there were priests, but in the New Testament, when you get saved, we're all priests of God. the Old Testament only the priests could draw near to God and go into the Holy of Holies. But now, all of us being born again, we are all priests of God and all of us can draw near to God. Did you know that? Sometimes in church history, way back there was this divide that some gave the church that there's the clergy and supposedly the clergy is on one level and then the laity and the ladies on another level and as clergy we have some of these special privileges to access to God but I want you to know dear friend that's all the tradition of men that's not the word of God. Do you know that you have as much access to God as any preacher or pastor or minister? You have the same exact freedom and access. You are as much a priest of God as I am or any pastor is. Because of Jesus Christ, we have this wonderful access. We don't need to go through a human priest to get to God. We don't need to bring any bloody sacrifice because Christ was that final sacrifice. And so, friend, we can come to God freely as priests in God's temple. And, you know, we offer sacrifices, but the sacrifices we offer are not, again, animal sacrifices. What are the sacrifices that we offer as being priests of God today? Well, let me just give you a few. We offer our bodies. Just write down Romans 12, 1 and 2. Paul said, I beseech you. by the mercies of God, that you present your body as a living what? Sacrifice. That is, we give our whole self. It is our reasonable service because of what Jesus did for us, we now give ourself completely and fully to Him. When I say, Lord, every part of me I give to you to serve you. That is a living sacrifice. Of course, in the Old Testament, sacrifices didn't crawl off the altar. They weren't living, they were dead. So Paul uses this, again, as a purposeful contradiction. We are sacrifices, but we're not dead, we're living. And we give ourselves completely to the Lord. But also, did you know that whenever we share the gospel, that's a sacrifice to God? Right down in Romans 15, 16, Paul says that he was ministering as a priest the gospel of God. That his offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable. Paul was saying, look, every time I share the gospel with a Gentile and they come to Christ, that's a sacrifice to God. Did you know that you as a priest, another way you offer a sacrifice is by sharing the gospel? And when you see someone come to the Lord Jesus Christ as a result, friend, that's a sacrifice to God. You know, when we were over digging at Shiloh, one of the things that we found was we found a ceramic pomegranate. Now remember, Shiloh is where the tabernacle was for 300 years. And one of the things, by the way, my dig square is where we found most of the stuff, a little pad on the back here. But we found a lot of cool things there. One of the things we found was a ceramic pomegranate. Now you remember in the Bible says in the Old Testament in Exodus 28, verse 33 to 35, that the priest wore a robe and at the bottom of his robe was what? Bells and pomegranates. And the bell and the pomegranate had some symbolic meaning. We think we found one of those ceramic pomegranates that was attached to the bottom of the priest's robe. That remains to be seen, if that's what it was. But those bells, I think, symbolically speak of our profession, our confession. Letting others know the pomegranates speak about the fruit of our lives. And the fruit of our lives, of course, is to see other people come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. That's part of the sacrifice. we have as Christians. When we give ourselves to the Lord, when we share the gospel, when we give to support God's work, when the Philippian church was giving to Paul, Paul said that was an acceptable sacrifice to God. You know as a priest, listen, every time the offering plate comes by and you put something in that plate, please don't put it in as if you're giving taxes to the government. Because it's totally different. This is a offering. sacrifice to God, and it should come from a grateful heart. You should be excited and grateful that you have the opportunity just to give something to the Lord as a sacrifice. Paul said that the gift that they gave him was an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God, and so when you come to church and you give to support the work of the Lord, every gift is a sacrifice offered by you, a priest. unto God. But then there's also when we offer praise from our lips. Every time we come to church and we sing, that's a sacrifice to God. We're offering sacrifices to Him. And really, we could relate this to anything you do, any work that you do for the Lord. Some of you who worked with the VBS last week, and you gave your time and you did such an excellent job, that was a sacrifice on the Lord that you're offering. Whenever we have fellowships and people help out, whenever we have a work day and people help out, if you usher, if you take a meal to someone who's sick, if you pray or sing or you lead a Bible study or you encourage someone, all of those actions that we do are unto the Lord, are sacrifices unto God. So we are priests in His temple. Now, let me give you the last thing because we're just about out of time. So Peter says we're stones in His building. There's a beautiful oneness in that. We are priests in His temple. And we offer spiritual sacrifices to God. But also, here's number three, we are citizens in His nation. Look at verse number nine. But ye are chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which hath not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy." Now all of this Peter is bringing from out of the Old Testament. And here he's saying, now as the church, you're citizens of his nation. Did you know that right after God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, at Mount Sinai, God made a covenant with Israel? And God said to Moses, God said, Moses, if my people will do this, then If they will obey my word, then what'll happen as a result of that is they will be my people. They will be a peculiar people, a special treasure. They will be a kingdom of priests. They would be a holy nation. But here's the key thing. If, God said, if they obey my word, if they obey my laws, then they become a glory unto the rest of the nations. They become a holy nation. They represent me unto the world. And you know what happened when Moses brought that proposition back to the people of Israel? You remember what they said? They said, all that the Lord said, we will do. And so by doing that, did you know that the nation of Israel entered into a covenant with God to be that peculiar people, to be that kingdom of priests, to be that holy nation. But we know the history in the Old Testament, what happened? Israel failed to fulfill that calling. And so now, we know what Peter says now. Peter says, you know who the people are now? Now the church of Jesus Christ. Now you are that chosen generation. Now you are a holy nation. Now, let me just be careful. I don't believe in replacement theology. I don't believe that the church has completely replaced Israel, because I believe that God still has a purpose for Israel. Amen? And God's calendar, the people of Israel will turn to the Lord one day. We believe all that. God still has a future for His people Israel. But there's a sense in which now, as the church, we have become that holy nation. Now we are the ones, and this is what Peter is telling us, you now are, in verse 9, that chosen generation. You are that royal priesthood. You are now that holy nation, and it's our desire and job now to show forth the praise and the glory of God to this world. You are the people of God. Look what he says in verse 10, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which have not obtained mercy, but now you obtain mercy. And Peter here is drawing from Hosea. You remember that passage in Hosea where Hosea, where there were children named Lo, I mean, not my people. But then later they became, I mean, my people. There would be a time when God's people, God would punish them, but again, he would make them his people. And here Peter's referring to this, when we were lost, when we were unsaved, we were not the people of God, but God showed mercy to us. And God made us his people before we were outside. We didn't have the mercy of God, but now we have the mercy of God. What a privilege that is, that we are now the people of God. We are a chosen generation, we are a holy nation, we are the people of God, that we might show forth the praises of God to this world. And so, I would just ask you now, in closing, to examine your life. Is Christ precious to you? Are you constantly coming to Him? and building upon him? Is he central in your life? Because this is the message of Peter. He's telling us through all these things, do you realize you have a special relationship with Christ? And you are to come to him continually. You are stones in his building. You are priests in his temple. You are citizens in his nation. And with that comes all the privileges that we have as the people of God. So let's bow for prayer tonight then. As we're out of time, let's bow for prayer. And so, Father, we just thank you for this reminder. We thank you for this special relationship that we have as the people of God. And I pray, Lord, that we'll not look lightly on it, that we'll understand this tremendous oneness and union that we have with our Savior. the special place that we hold in redemptive history in your heart, in your kingdom. And I pray, Lord, that Christ will be central in our life and everything that we do, that Christ would be precious to us. And for those, Lord, perhaps who have drifted. that they would just get back to that path of making Christ central. And everything that they do, in every area of life, that they'll just continually be coming to Him. With heads bowed and eyes closed, help me say, that's my prayer. I want to make Christ central in every part of my life. Would you pray for me, preacher, that God would help me to make Christ central, that he would become more precious to me than before. And so, Father, you see the hands and the hearts of these people. Indeed, Lord, would you please make Christ even more precious to us, that he would be central in every area of our life? And we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen.