Therefore, putting away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, 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, elect and precious, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame. So the honour is for you who believe. But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. They stumble because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do. But you, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. This is God's word. I hope it's an encouragement as we work through it. And as we get to it, perhaps I'll be able to comment on it. In verse seven, if you're using a different translation, the Greek allows for it. So for you who believe, he is precious. And that's really the goal. of what I want to accomplish this morning is to present Christ to you in such a way that He is precious. We read about it in Psalm 36. God is precious. And I think Peter is saying that we see this preciousness of God most clearly in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. who being rejected by men actually has now become the cornerstone of a spiritual temple that God is building. And I'm praying that as the gospel is preached, he's drawing more and more stones and adding them to this temple, that is, to fill the earth, kind of like Daniel 2 talked about. But let's pray, and then we'll look a little more intensely at verses 4 to 8. I was not able to keep it down to 4 to 10 and I learned from last week. And sometimes a shorter sermon might be a little more palatable and manageable. So we'll just be looking at verses four through eight, and God willing, verses nine and 10 next week. Father, we would ask this morning, as we even heard again in Sunday school, as Matt reminded us of the necessity of the Holy Spirit to be poured out, that this is a spiritual house, where the Spirit resides, and only the Holy Spirit can give life to dry and dead bones, and only the Holy Spirit can make dead stones living. Holy Spirit, you raised the Son from the dead, who is now declared to be the Son of God in power. Oh, if there are those who are inanimate and dead, who have hearts of stone, oh, that you, in your life-giving goodness, Lord, would breathe into them. That this Christ, who has up to now been a stumbling stone, foolishness, all of a sudden now, through new eyes, as a new creation, they see this cornerstone is precious. And I will forsake all for Him. Father, I would pray that also for us as believers, as we just read Revelation 18, as we're so often tempted by this whore called Babylon. that we're tempted to use our time and our talents and our treasures to buy of her wares and to purchase all that she offers. Oh Lord, would you help us to see that she's crumbling, that her foundation is built on sand. She will not endure the sifting judgment of God and we would flee from her. Oh Father, would you help us not to love the world, help us to see the destiny appointed for this mistress who seeks to deceive the nations and stumble your elect. So Father, our only care for this is to more clearly see Christ. And Holy Spirit, only you can help us to see how valuable, precious, how glorious He is. And as we gaze upon Him, Father, would you transform us into his image, and would you embed us more deeply in his foundation? We will need him in this day and this age where things are rocking and reeling. Oh, Lord, that we might be found in Christ the cornerstone when you come to judge the world. Father, bless this message. Bless the reading and preaching. of your life-giving word we ask now for the sake of Christ and in his name, amen. Please be seated. Why don't we switch metaphors this morning? Last week, if you were here and endured, you abided, you remained. We looked at how as we come to Christ through the word, we are being built up or growing up into salvation. You saw that in verse two. Like a newborn infant, we are to long for the pure spiritual milk. And the pure spiritual milk is not the word, it's God's grace in Christ which is accessed through the word. So we don't so much feed on scripture as we feed on Christ. The way a baby or an infant doesn't so much feed on her mother's breast as she does on her mother's milk. Well, Peter now switches this growing up into salvation, this growing infant into this growing house or this growing temple. And we see that actually we grow into this temple and as this temple, again, by coming back to Christ, coming back to this milk, coming back to, as we will see, this living stone. I want to just show two things about who we now are in Christ, and we'll look at them a little more in depth next week, but there's two pictures I want you to take away. First, in Christ, we have become a spiritual house. And second, for Christ, we have become now a holy or spiritual priesthood. And I think there's wisdom in just keeping those two pictures in our mind and then moving on next week, because otherwise we might become confused or inundated with too many pictures. So a temple and a priesthood. And if you've read the Old Testament, the two go hand in hand. that a temple was not only accessed only by the priest, but the priests were not just to hang out in the temple, they were to serve God in the temple. And what Peter wants to say is that in Christ, we who now belong to him, whether Jew or Gentile, have become included and have become this spiritual house, and all of us as Luther seem to revel and have become a spiritual priesthood. Now what I want to look at this week and next is a principle that I've tried to remind us of over and over and over again, but it's worth repeating again. Before activity comes identity. Everyone wants to say, what should we do for Christ? And I'm sure the readers were like, Peter, you keep telling us who we are and what we have in Christ. Just tell us, man. What should we do? Give us a command. Oh, they're coming. Verse 11, there's going to be a command. But just as an infant needs energy to grow and an infant needs energy to do, so also priests need energy and priests need sustenance. to serve, and so Peter has no problem with taking us back to the indicatives of the gospel. You are a priest, says Peter, now serve like one. You are a temple, now live like it. God's presence abides in you, church. Now live that out. So before your activity for Christ happens, you need to rest and feast and abide deeply in your identity in Christ. Is that helpful? Identity before activity. Well, let's look then at our identity then as God's dwelling place and our identity as God's holy priesthood. This is the two things I want to look at. First, Peter says that in Christ we are now living stones built into a growing temple. And you remember that, as we were working through Peter, he addresses them not merely as elect exiles, but elect exiles who have been scattered. They have been uprooted, if you will. And having come to Christ and taking up his cross to follow him, they have suffered the loss of many things. One of those things, perhaps, was the comfort and familiarity that a local temple would have given to them, whether a Jew in a synagogue or whether a pagan in an idolatrous temple. Temples were central to one's life and identity. So when I'm talking about our identity as God's temple, this would have resonated perhaps better with the original audience than us. We often find identity in things like jobs or wealth or what neighborhood we live in, how many children we have or don't have, what schools we went to, what degrees we have attained. That was sort of who you were, but back then they didn't have all of those. you would identify actually with the temple that you frequented. And having come to Christ, you have to forsake all of those former idols, all of those former false beliefs. So in the ancient Near East, temples were central. They provided stability. Whether Jew or Greek, they were critical in one's religious life, but also in their social life. It wasn't just a once a week thing. We have to always make sure we're not reading our modern day cultural norms into the text. Physical temples back then were a visible emblem of one's deity's presence and power. And in times of uncertainty, one could easily visit a physical temple to find comfort and spiritual encouragement there. you sort of see what Peter's doing here. You don't have a visible, physical temple. And this actually brought scorn and shame on the Christians. Where's your temple, Christian? Where do you go to worship? And what Peter is saying, you actually don't have a visible, physical temple. You are a spiritual temple. And actually, as you gather together as God's elect people, it is made visible. It's a popular saying, you know, as pastors are being arrested in our province, that the church is not a building, it's a people. Well, I think Peter would concur with that. That he's saying that a temple, or a church, as it were, is not so much a physical, visible, architectural building. It's actually Christ's people who gather together who encourage one another and then go out into a world serving him as his priests. To become a Christian now was to become a Christian like then, to give up all your former allegiances to the things of this world, including the gods of this world. To take up your cross meant to lose not only the security of your job, home, family, friend, it also meant to lose the security of your former pagan idolatrous life, including the temple that you identified with. You no longer were to access the temple. Unlike the pagans and even the Jews before the temple was destroyed in AD 70, these elect exiles Peter was writing to had no physical temple to remind them of their God's presence among them or his reign over them. So how are we reminded? of Christ's presence in our midst, how we are reminded of Christ's sovereignty over this world. It's the church. Sometimes we look at the church and all of her blots and blemishes and all we do is we criticize her and complain about her and pick up all the bad things that she is. But the church is actually God's emblem and demonstration of his presence amongst his people and his sovereignty over the world. The church declares that God reigns, and his reign is expanding. And the church declares what even the Old Testament temple declared. God is with his people. That as we gather together, God is with us. When we gather in his name, this is the temple. If they raise this temple to the ground, they don't destroy God's temple. Because God's temple and presence is experienced in the gathering of his people. And so Peter wants to encourage these Christians in their distress. They've lost that sense of security that a physical temple would have brought them. And he says, you have so much more. And the quote of John Calvin came to mind. And I know, of course, Calvin didn't exist back in Peter's time. But I think Peter is saying something what Calvin would have said, even to a lot of the exiles who fled to Geneva to learn under him. That for Christ, you've lost everything. You've given up everything for Christ. But in Christ, you've gained everything and more. You've lost a dead temple made of dead stones. Yes, you've given up all of those things, these foolish traditions you've inherited from your fathers. Yes, you've given them. You've lost them all. And you've become a scorn to the mocking of the world. but you've actually given them up to get something much greater. You've traded rubbish or garbage for gold and royalty. You've gained everything in Christ. And so he wants to encourage them by reminding them who they are. You don't just have a temple. Amazingly, you're part of the temple. Calvin also reminded me, and I could imagine Peter, reading back into it, saying, all that Christ is to you and all that Christ has done for you is of no value so long as you remain outside of him. So look at verse four. Coming to him, or ESV rightly translates, as you come to him. So Christ is precious. It doesn't matter what you think, Christ is precious. Christ is glorious. Christ has for us a royal priesthood. He has for us eternal life, a living hope. All that Christ is and all that he has for us means nothing so long as you are outside of him. And so before we start looking at this precious Christ, before we look at who he is and what he offers, I wanna ask you, have you come to him? Have you come to him? If you have, this is who you are. If you have not, this is who you are not. You are not part of God's dwelling place. And you do not belong to him as a royal priest. Kids, have you come to Christ? Have you tasted that the Lord is kind and he's good? What do you think about that? Kids, do you ask, or kids, parents, do you ask your kids that? Children, come to Christ. But the present tense says this is not merely for unbelievers. As you come to him, you grow, just like a baby. As you feed, you grow. So I'm glad that you've come to church this morning. But I pray that it's only a means of grace like the word that by coming into this building, ultimately, you come to him afresh. Because as you come to him, you are increasingly built up. Those roots sink a little bit deeper. Those foundations are a little stronger. So pray that. Not merely you would come to a building, but you would come now to this living stone. Let's look at this living stone. I hope that as we look at this living stone, we will declare he is precious and worth coming to. Afresh. Yes, for the first time. But I hope you will say, I have come to him. And even as we sang, we continue to come to him. Don't you love that hymn? It offers you all of the world, which is rubbish, and he says, I leave all those things behind and afresh I come to Christ to feed on him and to partake and abide in him. First, Peter says, as you come to him, who is the Lord of verse three, who is, of course, Christ, as you come to Christ, He is first a stone, stone. This is going to be repeated over and over. Peter quotes three texts, Isaiah 8, Isaiah 28, and Psalm 118. He keeps reminding us that Christ is precious, because first, Christ is a stone, stone. That makes no sense, at least initially. Lithos, it's a word, just means stone. And it could refer to a piece of rock used for various purposes. What kind of stone? Stones aren't glorious. It depends what kind of stone. Maybe a stone in a diamond. But that's not what Peter's thinking about. He's thinking about a stone that would be used as a cornerstone. A building would be built upon a large rock, a large stone. And perhaps it conjures up into your mind Jesus' own teaching in Matthew chapter 7. Remember on the Sermon on the Mount? He teaches them about the kingdom that he is bringing. He's teaching on a high mountain. As a second Moses, he opens up his mouth and he gives them this new law, if you will. Not one that contravenes, but fulfills Moses. And he works through all of these things, from the Beatitudes, to how we are to pray, to how we are to now live in the midst of a dark world. And remember, Peter's listening to the Sermon on the Mount. Maybe he's like, this will be a great sermon for me, or this would turn into a great letter if I have to write it. And Jesus starts talking about, there's two kinds of people. There's the fool and the wise person. And they're both building a house. And you could build your house as a fool on sand. And that sand cannot withstand all of the elements of wind or water or floods against it. And the fool builds his house, his life, everything on the sand. And it's destroyed. But, says Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, there's a wise man, and he builds his house upon what? Rock, a stone, not pebbles, a massive stone. We see them, go run through the coolies with me sometime, see if you can keep up with me, just kidding. Stones everywhere, and I just think, that's huge, and that's what Peter's thinking about. This is the kind of rock that you would build a house upon, or a temple upon, Jesus is glorious because first of all, he's a stone. And Peter first refers to the stone by quoting Isaiah chapter 28. Look down in verse six. For it stands in scripture. Remember, Peter's never making anything new up. He's always referring back to the scriptures. He says the Old Testament scriptures, they look forward to the grace that would be yours. And one of the graces that is ours is the fulfillment of Isaiah 28. That God is going to give Zion a stone upon which he will build his new temple. His new kingdom will be built upon a stone that could never ever give way. I would encourage you, go and read Isaiah 28 and 29. It's in the context of judgment. And the stone, as it were, that the old temple was built upon would not be able to resist Nebuchadnezzar, who's gonna come and destroy the temple. He's gonna destroy, as it were, the visible kingdom, which happened in 586 BC. But as you're reading in Isaiah 28, God says, however, I'm giving to you a stone. My promise is reliable. My promise is like a stone, but also, there's another stone that the temple's gonna be built upon. And it's, of course, the stone of David. Turn to Isaiah 22, actually. I know he's not quoting Isaiah 22 here. He's quoting Isaiah 28. I do get it. But this actually text came to my mind. And if you were to look at it, there's an oracle concerning Jerusalem. And this isn't the negative part that you rip through Isaiah really quickly to get to chapter 40, but it's all about judgment for unfaithful Israel, unfaithful Judah. So God, as it were, is gonna bring his judgment. But look here in verse 22, which Revelation actually quotes. No, I'll start in verse 9. So Yahweh says, I will thrust you from your office and you will be pulled down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash upon him and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Here it is. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open. Of course, we're familiar with those words. Sounds pretty good so far. And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place. Almost like a pentake, tent peg. Pentake, I don't know what that is. Like a tent peg, right, you fasten it. But if you fasten it into sand, it doesn't provide much stability. And he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And so this is, of course, a prophecy about, yes, God's going to bring this Messiah, this shoot that we read about in chapter 9 and 11. David's going to come, and he's going to restore us after judgment. And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel from the cups to all flagons. And that day, declares Yahweh of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken. What does that mean? Though initially stable, Eliakim could not provide Israel with true and lasting deliverance. He was unstable. He could handle a little bit. And that's what God's doing is he's trying to show Israel that they need so much more than just someone like Eliakim or even David. Someone even better than Josiah. They needed a stone, not a peg. And so in these chapters of judgment, There's an initial stability, but it can't withhold. It can't bear the load that God is going to put upon Israel in judgment. It can't bring about the deliverance that he's promising to Zion. Eliakim was not strong enough to carry the hopes of Israel or the hopes of the nations upon his shoulders. Now Isaiah shows only one from the house of David can provide a rock solid foundation upon which to rebuild God's kingdom after judgment. You see how Isaiah's working here. Jesus is glorious because he is a steady stone. The kingdom can rest upon his shoulders. The government can rest upon his shoulders. Even through judgment. This is the stone that Isaiah's talking about in Isaiah 28. Now Isaiah says, I am laying a stone. If you were to read in the Hebrew, it's a participle. When was the stone laid? Was it in Jesus' birth? Was it in his death? No, that this stone that was rejected became a cornerstone when he was raised from the dead. He's not a stone of a physical temple. He was raised by the Spirit into the heavens, Hebrew says. He passed through the heavens and is where he laid down this spiritual stone that becomes the cornerstone. of God's temple, and it happens, and there's resurrection. I know we're all over the place, that's okay. Turn to Acts chapter four. Now just help me to think, who's the primary preacher in the beginning of Acts? Peter, he preaches in Acts two, Acts three, and here he is, filled with the Holy Spirit, preaching Christ in Acts chapter four. Now we're familiar with Acts 4.12. There is salvation in no one else. Why? For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. But look at verse 11, because verse 12 begins with and, which is building upon verse 11. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. When did he become the cornerstone? If you read Acts 2, 3, and 4 and the rest, they're always preaching the resurrection. Christ is precious because he is the stone of the corner upon which God is building his kingdom. He's glorious. And if you're a Christian, you belong to this glorious stone. Jesus became the cornerstone when God raised him from the dead. I thought of actually Daniel chapter two, where there's this statue. It represents all the kingdoms of this world from the head to the feet. And then Daniel says that something comes and destroys all those kingdoms and grows into a worldly or a cosmic kingdom. Do you know what Daniel says destroys all the kingdoms of this world? A stone not hewn by human hands. Why? Because God is not going to use temples made by human hands, Acts 7, Acts 17, right? Go and read Daniel if you're not familiar with it. What is the hope of Israel, who's suffering under the nations? What is the hope of the church that is suffering under tyrants? That this hewn stone, this divine stone, is gonna come and he's not only gonna destroy all the kingdoms of the world, but he's going to fill the world. That's a big stone. No, no, no, Daniel says it's a stone, as it were, that is planted, and upon the stone, God fills the world with his presence, or he makes the world his temple. That makes sense. The temple is the church. This is a great missions summons for us this morning, but we'll get there when we get to the priesthood, okay? So this stone, who alone could carry the hopes of Israel and the nations, was presented to Israel, the builders in his life, they rejected him, right? They crucified him. The author of life they put to death. They didn't see Christ as precious. Therefore they rejected him, but God didn't. But this is a stone that is tested and approved. And God vindicates Christ's perfect obedience and his substitutionary death by raising him from the dead. How do we know that God approves Christ? He doesn't discard him. He actually makes him the most important stone in his temple. God sees Christ as precious so that the spirit of God would help us to see. Right? Stones aren't impressive. This stone is, and the eye of faith beholds him as such. So the stone's rejected, but gloriously raised by God the Father, and now laid permanently as the chief cornerstone of God's new temple, the church. Acts 4, 1 Peter 2, also quote, as I mentioned, Psalm 118. You can read it after. I don't want to turn this into a marathon sermon. but it chronicles the return of a victorious king. He's entering in to restore Jerusalem, Zion, a king. By linking Psalm 118 with the resurrection, Peter's saying that though rejected by the builders, Christ returned to heavenly Jerusalem. Okay, the stone that was rejected by the builders has become the chief cornerstone. Remember, Jesus quotes that eight times in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It's quoted as he's heading to Jerusalem. Remember, they're praising him, and the Pharisees are angry. And Jesus quotes Psalm 118. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. So in Psalm 118, here's the king returning to Jerusalem, which receives him. Did Jerusalem receive him in his first coming? No. Right, he quotes that. And they reject him fulfilling Psalm 18. But Psalm 18 talks about Jerusalem receiving Jesus. According to Gleason's chapter four, there are two Jerusalems. Anyone know that text? I preached through it a couple years ago, where Paul likens Hagar and the law to natural Jerusalem, but he says there's a heavenly Jerusalem. And Hebrews talks about it too. That Jesus did return to Jerusalem and was accepted to Jerusalem. He was rejected from the earthly Jerusalem by those builders, but in his resurrection he was accepted in the heavenly Jerusalem by the true builder. I'm just trying to help you put together the Bible. Jesus quotes it and Peter quotes it. And he's reminding us that Jesus became the cornerstone in His resurrection, which is why we never just preach the cross, we preach the triumph of God through the resurrection of Christ in His resurrection. Okay, so here is Christ returning in Psalm 18 now to heavenly Jerusalem, where He's installed as heavenly king, as the cornerstone of a heavenly kingdom, which God is now going to build as the gospel is preached on earth. through the Spirit sent from heaven. It's 1 Peter 1.12, right? Paul echoes this, that after the cornerstone is laid, the gospel's gonna go to the nations. Jesus himself said that. You can read it in Matthew 21. I'm not gonna quote it, but it says, not only have the builders rejected the stone, it's now going to be, as it were, given to a people who produce works. in identification with that kingdom. The Gentiles, through the rejection of Christ, they get to partake of the stone. Which Paul also says in Romans 9, 30-32. I'm just giving you those to write down. We're not going to turn to them all, but this is a huge theme. You've never thought of Christ as this cornerstone, but it's all throughout the Old Testament hope. It's even in Christ's own words, and it's all throughout the New Testament, that the hope of the world is this stone. And if he is the hope of this world, he better be a precious stone. And God says he is. How precious? God raised him from the dead and made him the foundation of his purposes and presence to the world. Romans 9 says that even though The builders, the leadership, the Jewish elite rejected Christ. God accepted him, and now offers him to Jew and Gentile alike. This is important as we get to the precept, but do understand that being laid cornerstone in this new temple is not just a temple for Jews. It's a temple for Christians, whether Jew or Gentile. Have you been built into him? I hope so. Not only is he a stone, he is a living stone. We've already seen that. He's living because he was raised from the dead. Why do you have a living hope? It's through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's all Peter's saying here. I don't need to say too much more about it. If you're in Christ, you were built upon a Messiah who is not dead. Peter says that in Acts 2. David, his bones are still there in the tomb. He was a dead small lamb Messiah. Like Eliakim, David is not worthy of building one's hopes or dreams or kingdom upon. No earthly king can do that. Why? Because they all died. This preaches, well, not just on a Sunday morning. Buddha makes a very bad stone. So does the false god Allah and his false prophet Muhammad. So also does religion. So also does science, false science, and philosophy. Only one stone is living, because only one stone has been raised from the dead and now lives forevermore. Romans 6, we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again. Death has no more dominion over him. Any other stone you build your life on, death still claims its rule over you. Not this stone. This stone swallows up death. From the death he died, to sin he died, and now he lives to God. Do you belong to the stone? If so, you become a living stone, and like him, now can live obediently to God. Your living hope comes through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. But this living hope is only built upon a living stone. Any other hope built upon any other stone is dying and decaying. Kids, I hope your hope is only in this stone. If it is, it's a living hope. You will receive the fullness of this temple when it is completed in Revelation 21 and 22. Well, let's keep going. First, we see that he is a stone. Second, we see that he's a living stone. Yes, he's precious to God, but thirdly, we see he's rejected by men. And you're like, was he rejected by the builders or was he rejected by men? Both. Historically, when Jesus walked the earth, he was rejected, primarily by the builders, right? The Jewish elite, who thought they knew better, thought they knew the scriptures, they rejected him. They handed him over. He was crucified. He was rejected. But Peter says that he's rejected by men, which means that he's still being rejected to this day. That's part of the pain of being a Christian. You see Christ as precious. He's this living stone upon which all of your hope is founded. And yet when you share this living stone to others through the gospel, he continues to be rejected, even to this day. And Peter actually uses what you call a perfect participle, which emphasizes these ongoing actions. That's the sting of having unbelieving family and friends and co-workers. They just can't see how precious he is. rather than submit to Him and build their lives upon Him, they continually and increasingly reject Him. He's rejected by men. Over and over and over and over we see throughout the Gospels and the New Testament, the natural men reject Christ. It continues to today and until He returns, it will continue. Why? Have you ever thought about Why? Why was I made to hear thy voice and enter Wallow's room when thousands make a wretched choice and rather starve than come? Peter gets to it. Why is Christ precious to you? Because God elected you. And he caused you to be born again. He gave you new eyes. He gave you a new heart. And he gave you a new will. And Christ is now precious. And tragically, a verse that we really kind of squirm at is that the rest were destined to not believe in Him. And yet Peter says, how do we live? We still keep preaching Christ, but do you understand? There are many who will continue to reject Him, which is why you need to continually rejoice in Him, because it stings knowing that the Christ you preach is rejected by the many. Many there are, Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. that take the broad, easy way that leads not to life, but to death. This is why activity must be fueled by identity. It's who you are. God has opened your eyes to see him, which is why you pray that God would open the eyes of others to see him. Because unless God does that, natural man, by his natural inclination and natural disposition, will reject him. Why? What does Romans 8, 7 says? Romans 8-7 says about the natural man, he refuses to come to God, he cannot, because he is hostile, he hates God. The natural man is dead in his trespasses and in his sins. It's interesting, the word that Peter uses here, that they reject Christ, apodocimadzo, I know that impressed you. Documadso, we saw earlier, was used to faith, that is, test it. It's proved. It's like, I test someone's knowledge by giving them an exam. Okay? And so what Peter's saying here is that people test Christ, or they give scrutiny to him, and then they find him lacking or wanting. The Greek word means to throw out as a result of a test. To reject is useless. And to regard is unworthy. but for you. No, no, not everyone here has probably come to the doctrines of grace, God's sovereign election, but I pray that if you have, they would give you a great comfort. They would not be means for boasting or pride or being a belligerent, nasty person against those who disagree. People will continue to look at Christ and reject Him. In the language of 1 Corinthians 1, He's foolishness. He's a stumbling block. But to us who are the called, He's the power and the wisdom of God. Charles mentioned it last week. Oh, that we would praise God for His kindness to us in Christ. Have you tasted that the Lord is good? It's only because the Lord is kind that He's opened your eyes to see Christ and not reject Him. Though he's rejected by men, he's chosen by God. So we keep looking at him. That's, of course, in the text, 1 Peter 2. He is chosen. Literally, he's the elect before God. English just says in the eyes of God, but literally it says before God, before his gaze. When God looks at Christ, he sees him as elect. The world looks at him, sees him as rubbish, not precious. When God looks at his son, In his cornerstone, he sees him as chosen. He's elect, and he delights in his elect one. Luke 9.35. This, in the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my son. And most other translations say, my beloved one, the one I delight in greatly. Luke actually says, this is my son, whom I have elected. Interesting. Though believers are elect, and though we are an elect race, it is only by dint of our union to the elect one that our election has any substance. Calvin was right. Union with Christ is where it's at. Ephesians 1.4, right? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as he chose us In Him. Yeah, we were chosen before the foundation of the world, but Paul emphasizes that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. What good is it if we're elect but not elect in Christ? I know my brain scrambled a bit when I thought about that, too. But all that we have is by virtue of our union to Christ, and even our election is glorious only in the elect one, in Christ. your sons in the son, beloved in the beloved, precious in the precious, and elected the elect. That's why we should glory in our election. Ultimately, it was the son's awareness that he was God's elect, that he was enabled as God's servant to fulfill God's commands. Jesus knew he was going to be rejected by the builders and by men. but he knew that he was chosen by God. That actually translates to obedience for us today. If you know you have the Father's smile upon you, let the world frown. The Puritans, you can read that in, what's that Puritan prayer book called again, Joe? Valley of Vision. I can't remember the title, but I can remember one of the prayers. If the Father's smile upon me in Christ, who cares if the world frown upon me? That was Jesus for the joy set before him, enduring the shame, knowing that God had chosen him. He could deal with the rejection of the world. The world's going to reject you. Jesus promised it. But understand that in your rejection, God has elected you. He's also precious. As you come to him a living stone rejected by men, on the one hand rejected, but on the other hand, the Greek says, in the sight of God chosen and Precious, great word. Entimos, it means distinguished in honor, uniquely prized, or as the NET translates, priceless. You have lots of time, that means valuables, but you have the one, right? Like I have lots of guitars, but my Larrave, that's my entimos, right? There's things in the fridge, kids, you got access to. That chocolate pie, that's my entamos. There's only one of them, and it's mine. That's what Jesus says. God has lots of things that he delights in, and that are precious to him. But Peter actually adds a preposition to time, he adds entime, or entemos. There's an intimacy that God has for this uniquely prized, distinguished, honorable, priceless treasure. That's Christ to God. And as we become more like God in our sanctification, Christ will become more precious to us. You see that? If Christ is not precious to you, one, you're not a Christian, or two, you need to return back to the word of God and to see him that way. And so, this is the Jesus Peter says that we come to. As you come to him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. What happens? Verse 5, you yourselves are being built up like living stones as a spiritual house. Does that make sense? I hope so. This is why we come to Him, because He is precious. And as we come to Him, He becomes even more precious. Children, if you're not a believer, and by God's grace you come to Christ today, repenting of your sin, believing in the gospel, what will happen to you? God will build you into Christ, will build you into his temple. You yourself will be built, it says, up as a spiritual house. It's a house that we're built into that is spiritual. I know I'm really slowing down, but a lot of these words for Peter are very rich. What is the house? The house for Peter is the temple. The Old Testament and the New Testament make it very clear. Cliff quoted to me, wherever he's at, 1 Kings 8 yesterday. He's reading about it with, I think, his family. And after Solomon finishes in 1 Kings 8, it says that God's glory entered into the house. Well, Solomon wasn't building his house. He was building God's house. Where does God live? He lives in his house. That's God's temple. Okay, so when Peter says you're being built up as a spiritual house, he's talking about the temple, God's dwelling place. Okay? I'm not used to following my notes here, so give me a sec here. I don't even know. You're built up into a house. Ah, here it is. Ephesians 2. Paul links God's house to God's temple. Actually, I'm gonna read it for you, because this will help you understand what happens when someone is converted. Ephesians 2, I know I preached through this like 10 years ago, but that's okay, we can revisit it. He says to these Jews and Gentiles who have now come together to be one temple in Christ, he says, for through Christ we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens and saints and members of the house of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple, In the Lord, are we built into the Lord's house or into the Lord's temple? Well, Paul, like Peter, like the Old Testament says, that this house is God's house, and God's house is his temple. When you come to him, you are being, present tense, increasingly being built up and into God's spiritual house. In the Old Testament, what was significant about the temple? It was the place where God's presence dwelt. It was the reminder of this holy God who was willing to dwell in the midst of a sinful people through sacrifice. He didn't just enter in to the vicinity of the temple apart from going first to the altar. So God's presence is accessible in the Old Testament. But it's only accessible to the priests. I was reading about that yesterday. God commands Aaron through Moses, you and your sons, Eleazar and Ethmar, you guard the temple. Any outsider comes near it, kill him. It's not just God's presence, it's his holy presence. And even Aaron, or the priests after him, How would they access the temple? They first needed to have a sacrifice for themselves, says the Book of Hebrews. They themselves needed cleansing. So yes, you have become a holy temple, but to the Jew, they would be like, but how can we belong to the temple when only the priests belong to the temple? Well, that's what Peter deals with. You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. Right? They've lost, as it were, their literal, visible, physical house. Whether they were a Jew or a Gentile. It's like the Samaritan in John 4. Where do we go? Do we worship here? Or do we have to go to Jerusalem? And Jesus says, woman, I tell you, the time is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will neither worship on this mountain or the other. Why? Because God's place of residency amongst his people will be in Christ. A spiritual temple. Spiritual, not physical, spiritual. You can sit in a physical church and not belong to God's visible church, or invisible church. That make sense? Spiritual church, we'll say. You read in the book of Exodus, where did God's presence manifest itself when the temple was complete? In the temple. First Kings, after Solomon builds the temple, the spirit enters in. Where does the spirit now reside? In God's temple. But what's his temple? Do you have a little view of the church? On the temple. One time in the New Testament. You know what the predominant picture of God's dwelling place in the New Testament is? The church. The gathering of his people. Where the spirit can move freely and minister to those who belong to it. God no longer dwells in temples made by hands, Acts 7, Acts 17. No, he dwells in a spiritual temple by his spirit. You see that in Ephesians 2, God dwells with us in or by his spirit. 1 Corinthians 3 says this to the church. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you, plural? Where does God dwell? Where is his presence known? Where is his power displayed? Where is his reign furthered? In and through the church. Which I would encourage you to ask people who refuse to come to church and yet claim to be a Christian to challenge them on that. We already saw that before. When you're born again, you now have a love of the brothers. And that's displayed when the church gathers. I just mean Jesus, I'm just at home, I got the spirit. You don't understand what Peter's saying then. And I hope that as we work through Peter, we'll understand just how important the church is to the purposes and plans of God. So we come now here to become a temple, or a spiritual temple. To be a holy priesthood. I really gotta speed up, I really gotta speed up. I'm gonna just rip through this here. We're a holy priesthood. Not just a priesthood, or a holy priesthood, a set-apart priesthood. Everybody, if you're in Christ, you belong to this priesthood. And what did priests do in the Old Testament? They offered up sacrifices. And so the kids are like, sweet, when do I get to start killing animals and slitting throats? The only sacrifice that mattered to God has already been given once for all. Hebrews makes that very clear. Only one sacrifice. could appease God. Only one sacrifice could cover the sins of God's people. So now what do priests do? Right? What am I supposed to do now? If we can't kill animals anymore, if Christ's once for all sacrifice was enough, now what kind of sacrifices do we offer? Well, the New Testament offers us with a few. And this is going to be a transition to next week's sermon, but also the application to how we now leave this place. So we belong, we're a part of God's holy temple, his spiritual house. We're a holy priesthood. So what? Identity fuels activity. You're a priest. Priests care for God's temple. They serve God's temple. It says here that you offer spiritual sacrifices. And do understand this, if you're not in Christ, all that you do as a sacrifice to God is regarded as filthy rags. I know that's offensive, but Peter says here that the only spiritual sacrifices that God accepts come through Christ. Solus Christus. I'm not telling you start serving God this morning. I'm telling you to come to Christ. But let's apply this. I wrote down three things. We'll pick it up a little bit more. So yes, you're in God's presence, and now as a holy priesthood, what do we do? How do we serve? First, praise. Look at verse nine. It's a parallel. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, you could say a kingdom of priests, a holy nation of people for his own possession. How do you serve him? By proclaiming his excellencies. He called you out of your dark pagan roots and he brought you into his marvelous light. In your light do we see light. You know how you serve God? The sacrifice of praise, says Hebrews, which is Thanksgiving that comes from the lip. Ephesians 5. As the Spirit fills God's people who are gathered together, we begin to praise Him with songs, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in our heart, giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father. This is what priests do. We serve God by praising Him. Second, we serve Him by obeying Him. Yes, you're an elect exile, you're a holy priesthood, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. In the setting apart, right, you set apart as a priest of the Spirit for obedience and for sprinkling with His blood. Priests were to be obedient. If they didn't discharge their priestly duties, they were discharged. Galatians 5, when we're filled with the Spirit, we begin to live radically different lives. So you want to be a good priest, praise him. Priests obey him. Thirdly, priests give witness to him. In word, and as we saw in Sunday school this morning, in deed. Look at 1 Peter 1 12. Here's the prophets. It was revealed to the prophets they were serving not themselves but you and the things that have now been. announced to you through those who preach to you the good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. This is what priests do. They praise, they obey, they bear testimony through word. And we're going to see that next week. That as priests faithfully discharge their ministry of proclamation in the new covenant, the temple is built. Indeed, go to 1 Peter 4. I promise you this is the last point before The conclusion. 1 Peter 4, 7. The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace, whether that's speaking or serving. Okay, this is what your spiritual sacrifices to God are. Praising Him, obeying Him, bearing witness to Him. I think that's quite practical. Again, identity fuels activity. What will allow you to praise God and obey Him and proclaim Him? A heart that is completely overwhelmed with His goodness and kindness to you in the person. and work of Jesus Christ. So this goes back to verse three. Feed on this milk. As you grow up into salvation, you will increasingly become an obedient priest as you serve God in his temple. Praise is impossible apart from Christ. Obedience is impossible, true obedience is impossible from Christ. And true witness is impossible apart from Christ. And so says Peter here, It says, the honour is for you who believe. Or you could translate, so then for you who believe, Christ is precious. Is he precious to you this morning? Pray to God he'd open your eyes to see him as that stone who is living. And though rejected by men, he is elected by God and precious to God. He is building his house and he has given you the grace to serve him. So in the power of the Spirit, go out and proclaim His excellencies. Psalm 107, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you for today. Even as we partake of the table, we are going to proclaim the excellencies of Christ who saved us. Father, I pray. that before we seek to minister Christ to the world, that we, as the Old Testament priests, would first of all realize that our duty is to be in your presence. And so, Father, I pray that we would put off things that keep us from abiding in Christ, feeding on him through the word. Would you help us, Lord, to draw near to him, to come to him, to stay with him, Help us to see, Lord, all that he is for us through all that he has done to us. Father, we love you. We ask that you would help us to increasingly see, then, your son as you see him, and that seeing him this way would transform how we live in this world and how we preach Christ to the ends of the earth. Bring your temple, complete it, as your people go out announcing the good news that is in Christ. Lord, if there's any lost here this morning, any who are still in darkness, O Father, that you would draw them to yourself in Christ, that they would say, praise God, I was not appointed to disobey. I was rather appointed to faith and obedience in electing love. Help us now to celebrate the table in a manner worthy of the King, Father, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.