Well, good morning to you all. I was going to put that other set of notes on one of the music stands, but then they'd start singing the manuscript for the closing song. It's not a good idea. I had to reprint a new one because I forgot one of the most important things, which is a page number for those of you who use those Bibles that we gave away and a few other things. So if you will, turn in your copy of God's Word to 1 Peter 2, verses 6 to 8. For you who are using the Blue Bibles that we give away at the door, it's page 1117. I forgot to tell first service that, but God is faithful, isn't he? He'll get people where they need to go. We are in a series on 1 Peter each time that I preach, and so we're walking verse by verse through that letter, and we're currently in a section where Peter is elevating the church. and the treasure of the church. The idea is to ensure these people who are going through a lot in their lives and in the culture at the time, that they're not unclear on the blessing of the church and what they are a part of, the security of the church. And so today's message is titled Secure in Christ. It is part two of the treasure of the church, sort of mini series in the middle of this section. And so if you will, go ahead and stand and let's read God's word together. 1 Peter 2, six to eight reading from the ESV. For it stands in scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. You may be seated and as you are, let's pray. Father, thank you for the chance to come and study your word together, to sing together, to be your church. As we come now to this particular section that the Holy Spirit breathed out through the pen of Peter, guiding him and directing him along. teach us, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, sharpen our minds, help us to understand what it means to be secure in you, Lord Jesus, and help us to appreciate our position in light of the peril that unbelievers will experience and not to have a calloused heart or even pompous arrogance because we're saved, but to be motivated to reach people because of what you have done for us. I wanna lift up Pastor Josh Vincent and Trinity Bible Church over on the other side of the valley. Bless their ministry as you already have been, continue to do what you're doing here, there through his ministry and the ministry of the word. Use him mightily this morning for that wonderful congregation. And thank you for what you're gonna do here and now in Jesus' name, amen and amen. There's a well-known missionary, if you're into missionary biographies or historical heroes, his name is John G. Patton, and he was a real passionate missionary. There's actually a great biography by Banner of Truth called John G. Patton Missionary to the Cannibals of the South Seas. If you're into biography, that would be a good one to get. And the reason I bring him up is because of a unique experience that he had. He was out reaching cannibals on various islands And at one point early on in his mission's work, his wife died. Very early on, tragically, and suddenly his wife died. A short time later, his young son died, just weeks old. And so here's a man who's supposed to be bringing the hope and the joy and the freedom and the love of God to people, and yet he's experiencing tragedy, a horrific tragedy, pain and heartache. He ends up carrying on his work because the work of the gospel was just too important for him to stop, even in the midst of tragedy. And so later he returns to work some 15 years on another island. And while he's there, he's translating the gospel of John into the local native language. And he's trying to figure out how to translate John 1 verse 12 into their local native language. language. John uses this phrase, to believe in or to trust in, over and over and over. And if you're familiar with the Gospel of John and a lot of John's writing in the Bible, he's always writing, so what? So they would believe, right? That's his whole point. He wants people to believe. And unfortunately for the missionary target at the time of John Patton, there was real no phrase for trust in or believe in because the people were cannibals. Nobody trusted anybody, because they were gonna eat them. So he's trying to figure out a way to convey this truth. So one day it dawns on him, he's sitting in his office, his study, his local national assistant comes in, he says, what am I doing right now? What am I doing? His assistant says, well, you're sitting at your desk, sir. He says, okay. Now what am I doing? And he leans back in his chair, throws his feet up on the desk, says, now what am I doing? And his assistant uses a verb in the local native tongue that means to lean your whole weight upon. And John Patton got it. He said, that's the verb I'll use to explain to these people that they have to lean their whole weight upon Jesus, all that they are. They've got to trust in him and lean on him. That's what it means to believe in and to be secure in your faith. I started thinking about our church and these times and these days, and it's probably an obvious question. Anybody in here got some weight they need to lean upon the Lord? You've probably got some political weight, right? Maybe some marital weight, maybe some grief weight. If you're a mom or dad in here with kids, I know you this week got some back to school weight. It's tough out there. Maybe you got some fear weight. Some people need a vaccine, wait. Other people don't wanna hear about a vaccine, wait. Some people, red state, wait, blue state, wait, on and on. I don't wanna be at Thanksgiving this year because of the political wars, wait, right? We got some weight. We are heavy people. We gotta lean that weight on the Lord. Peter's audience is a heavy bunch too. They're going through a lot. To be a Christian at the time that they were living in meant turmoil, persecution, hatred, even death. But he determines to put their focus on their security, their position in the Lord, knowing that that will help their perspective in the midst of tough times. times, but there's a dark side as well. And that is not just their position, but the peril of an unbeliever, the other side of the equation. If there are those who believe, right, there's going to be those who do not believe. If there are those who have great position and great joy and the treasure of knowing the Lord, there's going to be those who have great turmoil or peril or trouble or shame. They do not believe and have security in the Lord. And so our text today showcases those two responses. the two considerations, and so I want you to consider those. Peter certainly does, the Holy Spirit does, and so number one in your notes, consider the position of a believer. Consider the position of a believer. That's gonna be you. In 1 Peter 2, verse six, and then right on into 7a, just that first little section of verse seven. Here's what it says. for it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe. So the context there, again, is your fellow Christians at that time getting this letter, being hated, killed, persecuted, going through a lot, and they weren't gonna stop it. Picture their trouble like a tidal wave or a tsunami. It was coming. You could stand there. You could yell at it. You could push on it. You could line up sandbags against it. It was coming. And it was going to take out whatever got in its path. The trouble was coming. There was no stopping it. What could they control though? Their eternal perspective. So Peter goes for that. Like the old cliche, you know, I can't control what happens to me, but I can control the way I react or respond to what happens to me. For Peter, he's thinking, at least I can control this, put the truth in front of them so they can control their response to what is coming at them. And that's going to mean considering their position. Where is their security? What are they or who are they rooted in? And so there's some statements that we ought to understand that you might look at and kind of puzzle your brow thinking, what in the world is a Zion? What's a stone in Zion? Basically this, in that line, Peter's using literal nouns to describe a spiritual truth. That is, Zion, a place, a real literal place, a holy hill, like Mount Sinai, you had Mount Zion, a real hill, a place in Israel, used over 100 times in the Bible, speaks to this God's holy mountain idea, God's holy people, this place. that the Messiah would come. Literal prophecy. Laying a stone there, of course Jesus being that stone, is clear through the prophet Isaiah, Peter quoting Isaiah 28, that the Messiah would come. And that he would call to himself a people, and he would save a people. And of course we know later on as the New Testament unfolds, And now here and now with progressive revelation, looking back at the whole Bible and the counsel of God, we go, wow, we get to be a part of that. He's brought us in too as well as Gentiles. And so you don't just have to be a Jew. You could be somebody living in 2020 Gilbert and you get to be invited in as well. We know that Jesus came to do that. We know that there's a spiritual kingdom, if you will, that you're saved into and you're a part of. This certainly wouldn't negate what we teach at this church, that there is also coming a literal kingdom where Jesus is going to rule and reign. But Peter is using figurative or metaphorical language here on purpose. He wants you to really think about the spiritual side, the security now. It's sort of the now but not yet. Yes, he's coming. Yes, he's going to rule and reign. But guess what? You don't have to be unsure about your security right now. He says that it's an honor, your honor, for you who believe. With cornerstone being chosen and precious, that links to that honor statement, which is basically this, that word precious means irreplaceable, incomparable, priceless, nothing is more valuable than what or than who than Jesus for the Christian. To believe in him is an honor. To hold him as precious is the honor that we have as believers. And the question I think that comes and we ask is basically, logically, does a cornerstone ever move? When a foundation has been laid perfectly, do you ever redo it? If you're one of those home renovation specialists, they never redo the foundation if it's perfect. They build a top, they redo a lot of things, they add a lot of things, but you never have to rebuild a foundation. Peter's picture is so clear right there. You never have to worry about relaying another foundation for your faith. You can be secure because you are built on and around and upon and out from that cornerstone that is Christ. That's security. for a group of people who aren't really sure what tomorrow will bring. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. That phrase is contrasting something that maybe you and I have all experienced. To be put to shame is basically to have put your confidence, your assurance, your hope in something or someone and then that thing or that person lets you down. He says if Jesus is that which you're wrapping yourself up around and believing in, you won't have that feeling. Anybody in here who's married knows if you put your hope in your spouse, they're gonna let you down, right? Amen. You put your hope in your pastors, even here at Redeemer, where you've chosen to place your membership at a place where the pastors are perfect. Even we will let you down. It took you a minute, huh? Because we're pretty good, right? No, we will let you down. How many were let down just from being online for five months and seeing the veneer of production and Photoshop? It's like being married to the Instagram version of your husband and wife, then seeing them in perfect, well, perfect picture that's not so perfect in real life and going, hey, where'd the Photoshop go? No, you come to church and all of a sudden you're going, oh yeah, you again. The sound has problems, the audio, there's kids in the room. You're going, this doesn't sound like it used to. It was so easy to listen on my little AirPods and everything's so perfect, right? Technology will let you down. Your spouse will let you down. Life's going to let you down. Your pastors are going to let you down. For this audience, the whole world's letting them down. And yet he says, when you believe in Christ, when your foundation is Christ, when you're being built up in and around Christ, that is real security. That's confidence. Israel would often waver in the Old Testament. in that regard. And so Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 54, 4-5, The earth. Paul was encouraging the church in Romans chapter 8 verses 35 to 39. He says, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword? As it is written, For your sake we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No. In all these things, those horrible things, the difficult things, the painful things. No, in all those things, the imperfect picture, we are still more than conquerors through him who loved us. I'm sure that neither death nor life nor angels, rulers, things present, to come, powers, height, depth, or anything else in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Church, we need to consider our position as believers. We are secure in the Lord. Our hope is in the Lord. We don't need to put our hope in people. We don't need to put our hope in government. You don't need to put your hope in opportunities or the affirmations of others. You don't need to put your hope in financial freedom, in the perfect spouse. You don't put your hope in even things like retail therapy, or feeling good about all that you have, right? Some of us in the room, you order that thing, or life's going rough, but you see the Amazon box hit the front porch on your little Nest app, and you go, it's there. I can't wait to get home. I'm gonna open it up. I've been waiting so long. Everything's on back order, because COVID. Here it is. You know, pastors do that too. For us, it's books. When Diana or Norma put the little box on your desk and it's filled with hardcovers, right? I can't wait for that thing to get here. We put our hope and our joy in a lot of things, even our own abilities. The kind of, I got this movement. Believe in yourself movement. For a believer, we put our hope in Christ and Christ alone. That is position. And then think of this, that God didn't save you and give you security in him because of you, but in spite of you. Not because you're so great, but because he is. Not because you're so deserving, but because he is so merciful. So what do you gotta worry about? Where's your security? Consider your position in Christ. You're saved, sealed, you're secure. Thank God not because of you, because that won't last, but because of him. Jesus tells this parable in Matthew 7, one of my favorite ones. I don't know about you, but growing up in church, the parable of the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand in verse 24 to 27 of Matthew 7. And we used to sing a song, you know, about building your house on the rock. And we'd say, don't build your house on the sand, man. Don't build it too near the shore. It might be kind of nice, but you'll have to build it twice. Oh, you'll have to build your house once more. You know, everybody wants the beachfront property. Jesus said, build on the rock. Build on the rock. The temptation is the beach, where the ocean water is so docile and peaceful and inviting, where the sand's a little softer on the toes. He says, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. The rain falls, the floods came, the winds blew, they beat on the house, it didn't fall because it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. He was a foolish man, Jesus says. The rains fell. The floods came. The winds blew and beat again that house, and it was the fall of it. Why do we need to remember our position and consider it in times like these? Because the wind's coming. It's already here. The floods are coming. It's already here. The rain is coming. It's going to keep coming. And sometimes as believers, we're tempted to look at the way the culture is doing things and think, you know, that's easier. There's a lot less conflict if I do things the way the world does. You know, building up here on the rock is hard. Down there, it looks a little easier. The grass looks a little greener on the other side of that fence and a faster way to security and popularity and affirmation and hope and satisfaction and acceptance. And so we ditch building on the rock. We stop doing things the Lord's way. We say, I'm gonna build on the beach. We don't need to do that. I know as a Christian life is tougher sometimes. I know there's delayed gratification. I know the chisel of God's shaping upon you hurts at times, but that is the best place to be. That's where there's security. Thank God for his chisel, it means he's still involved in your life. For the unbeliever, they don't see that, they don't feel that. It might look easier, it's not. It is a hopeless direction to be going in life like a child without a father, guiding them. Those who do not have the Lord are like wayward children. Deep down they long for a father. They go their own way. Some of you here today, you need to start remembering and considering your position and being grateful and being energized and motivated once again to realize you don't need to look across the way or down at the beach and go get the oceanfront property. You already sit on prime real estate in Christ. Look to him. Look to him. He's building you on the cornerstone. That is him. And all that is well and good, I could end it right there. But Peter gives us the other side, that other picture so we can appreciate even more our position and that is the second thing he wants us to consider, the peril of the unbeliever, the peril of an unbeliever. 1 Peter 2. That next portion of verse seven into the beginning of verse eight, he says, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Stop there. As I was studying this, I wrote it down. I even said it while I was sitting there. I said, uh-oh. This is the uh-oh moment in the text. That stone that the builders rejected, the guy you thought wasn't a big deal, the one that you tossed aside but he was the Messiah, uh-oh. He's the cornerstone. He's the man, he's God. The peril of the unbeliever is there already so clear as day in the text is that they have overlooked the one all are supposed to be looking to. Like the spiteful religious leaders, some people today, they hate Jesus. They can't stand him. He's an offense to them. Others graciously, thankfully, may attack him for a time or assault him for a time, but like the centurion that pierced his side, the Roman soldier there at the cross, they look up eventually and say, truly, you are the son of God. Yes, but so often we need to remember what Peter is saying here about the unbeliever because we get so shocked that anyone would ever be offended by Jesus. And so we work so hard to make the gospel easier, more palatable, more inviting, more loving as if it's not loving enough that a holy God would invite wretched sinners into his presence through his son. We kind of are like the salesperson playing middleman, right? We found a great supplier and we've got the demand. And we go, hey, God, I got this. Let me do your PR. Let me do the marketing. I'll put the little flyers in the mailbox. We'll airbrush you, Photoshop you, put a few houses that say sold and give them big pools and grottos, and we'll make you look like the best realtor in Gilbert. Let me do you a favor, God. Let me soften things up a bit. I got the demand, you're the supply. And God's going, get out of the way. I got this, I'm God. And there will be some people who are offended, who toss the invite, who have no interest. And that's really what this text helps us to understand, and there's a point to that that we're gonna eventually get to as we land the plane, but here are a few keys. One, unbelievers are gonna be wrong about Jesus, they're gonna be offended by Jesus, and they're gonna be disobedient to Jesus. That stone of stumbling, the rock of offense is this picture. They're walking down a path, they trip over the stone of stumbling, and then they smash into the bedrock, and they're really upset about it. Like you, when you stub your toe on a couch, you get mad at the couch when it was your fault. Or if you're like us in our home, you know, we got a lot of kids running around everywhere, and so it's like playing prevent defense in football. You're just trying to keep them all alive every day. And sometimes you're looking one way and the wall is there. And I swear it wasn't there last time, but now it is. And you hit the wall and you get upset. That's what people often do with the Lord. It's like, you get out of the way. And he's going, I'm immovable. You submit. No, you submit. And people don't like authority. They don't like the authority of Jesus. He is the immovable cornerstone. He is the foundation. And in end, he turns to be the stone of stumbling for them, a rock of offense. He's the object that would not bow to them. They refused to bow to him and therefore they don't like him. This happens all the time. As people choose to reject the Savior. This is no surprise, Jesus went through this in John chapter 10 verses 25 to 33. He says to a group of people there, I told you and you did not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me but you do not believe because you are not among my Father's sheep. My sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. I give them eternal life and they'll never perish and no one will ever snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answers them and says, I've shown you many good works from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me? The Jews answer, it's not for a good work that we're going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God. It's so important for us to consider the peril, the unbelief, the hatred, the offense of the unbeliever, not so we can snub our nose in arrogance at other people, but so that we can not be so surprised. All people by default are not going to follow Jesus or love Jesus or respond to you sharing the gospel in a favorable way. The gospel is a message of love, repentance, hope, redemption, yes, purpose, but it is also that very word repentance in there that people have such a problem with sometimes. They don't wanna say that they're a sinner. They don't wanna confess. They don't wanna submit to Christ. They don't like the word obedience. They don't want to turn their back on the ways of the world and turn to God. So they get angry. So my question for you is, does that ever stop us from sharing the gospel? Should that ever deter our witness? Because there's some people who are going to hate Jesus and reject the gospel. We stop. Would you ever stop offering a starving person food? Not if you loved them. And so Christians ought to be the most loving people in the world, not love for love's sake, like, hey, come on, be who you are, don't change, Jesus loves you, don't worry about it. No, not that kind of love. Real love, real truth, real hope, real redemption, real transformation. No, we ought to be the busiest people in the world because we're busy about the Father's business, carrying the gospel to people. captive to our conscience. Like Martin Luther's heroic statement when he was told to recant his position, he went against the Pope back in the day. Not a good idea in his day to go against the Pope. He did anyway. They said, recant. And he said, unless I'm convinced by sacred scripture or evident reason, I can't recant for my conscience is held captive to the word of God. Is your conscience held captive to the Great Commission? To the call to share the gospel and live out the gospel, even in a world that will hate you for sharing it? Peter adds one more statement to help clarify the peril of the unbeliever. And also, I think there's some applicable truth there for us. This is the statement. He says there at the end of verse eight, look at it with me, they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. This is heartbreaking. This is hard truth. This is a statement in the Word of God that makes it clear there are people whose final destiny is to end up in separation from God. And here's my encouragement. Instead of letting this bother you, let it motivate you. There are some people who are just not going to believe, they're going to disobey, and some people use this as an excuse not to evangelize. They say, well, God's sovereign. I'll just sit back on my holy recliner and he'll do it. We forget that God being sovereign in salvation does not negate the responsibility of both those who reject him and do not believe and the responsibility of his people to live out the command he gave, go and make disciples. God determines salvation. We must walk in obedience. He is his job. He's God. He'll take care of that. You and I have ours. That is to take the gospel to the whole world. We ought to determine like Paul in 1 Corinthians 2 to preach Christ and him crucified. A helpful clarification here in statements like this in the Bible, when they're made, we ought to remember, we don't know who the eternally reprobate are until their final dying breath, and they've snubbed God all the way until the end. There's a lot of people today that like to go around with their final judge badge on, like, you know, they're kind of giving everyone the grade, and I agree with assessing fruit. We do that for you here. People come in and go, how do I know if I'm saved? We'll point them in the Bible to some areas that may shed light on the evidence of a transformed heart, because how many of you know, you don't say, I'm a Christian, you know, you wear the Jesus jersey, but you're playing like you're on the devil's team. We want to help people do that and figure that out. I agree with that, but here's the deal. until the very end, only God knows the heart and the mind of that individual. So we must remember that we hold this truth in tension of sorts. It's a divine truth. It's of divine origin. And people always wanna figure it out. So they go to each side of the argument, kind of polarizing extremes. There's none of that today in politics or everything else. So they grab stones from this side and say, God is sovereign. You do nothing. You don't even have a choice of where you're going to go to lunch today. You know, God is sovereign. Do nothing. Why share the gospel? He'll do it. And then there's people over here. We see choose, believe, follow. It's all us. God put it in the oven. He set the temperature. He's sitting up there hoping it all works out. We jump to the polar extremes. This is a truth that we can hold in tension. Here's the reminder from a text like this. God originated this truth, not you. So God has the ultimate understanding of this truth, not you and not here. Someone once came to Charles Spurgeon and said, how do you reconcile divine sovereignty and man's responsibility? He said, oh, I never try to reconcile two friends. Where those lines intersect on the other side of eternity, I do not know. But he basically said in paraphrase, I know what I'm supposed to do right now. And that is share the gospel with all. Christian, on the other side of glory, we'll figure it all out. You'll get a great understanding because you have a glorified body and an ultimately renewed mind. You won't question this anymore because you'll get it. For now, Do not spend ample amounts of time in debate and down the rabbit hole of YouTube trying to figure it all out. God is sovereign. You are responsible. Go out and share the gospel with the whole world and let him decide the rest. Trust him with the results. Follow him and obey him. There are realities in this particular text that I do want you to understand as far as exegetical study, which is, okay, what does this actually mean? And the first thing is this, that verb tethemi is destined, it's appointed, it's used all over the New Testament. In Acts 1.7, 13.47, 20 verse 28, 1 Corinthians 12.18, 1 Corinthians 12.28, 1 Thessalonians 5.9, and 1 Timothy 2.7 to describe what God has appointed. So there is a truth here. that the stumbling and the disobeying, the destining of these people is not outside of God's scope of control. He's not up there going, man, I'm trying, I'm just trying to stop him, I can't. I just can't do anything. He's not an impotent God. He's in complete control. He is aware. Second, you might be thinking, well, then God must be evil. He's horrible. How mean of him to be involved in those things? He must be evil. The reality is God is not the origin of evil, but he can appoint it and use it, even allow it. You go, really? Yeah, I'll show you that in the Bible. Lamentations 3.38 says, is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Amos 3.6, when a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it? Isaiah 45.7 declares, I form the light, I create the darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster. I, the Lord, do these things. People often say, why do bad things happen to good people? Great theologian once said, oh, that only happened one time in history, and it was to Jesus. We're all bad people. We're all sinful. And God, in his kindness and mercy, at times will appoint judgment or consequence or calamity on a people. There's people right now who would even say, this is happening in America, Pastor. God's waking us up. Has it not happened throughout history, whether you agree with that statement or not, that God is not allowed in his sovereignty and does in his sovereignty wake up a people? Did he not do that to Israel all throughout the Old Testament? They forget him. They live chasing their idols. They go off their way. God sends calamity, judgment, trial, consequence, like a loving father, by the way, the author of Hebrew says, disciplining them so that they cry out to him and go, God, we're sorry. We're coming back to you. We wandered away from you. God is in control. Tom Schreiner, a great theologian and scholar, says the worldview of Scripture is that God is sovereignly in control of all things. From the decisions made by kings, Proverbs 21.1, to the throw of the dice, Proverbs 16.33, and Isaiah 46.9-11. Careful, some of you who like to gamble a little bit still there in Vegas. Even the cruelest and most vicious act in history, the execution of Jesus of Nazareth, was predestined by God, Acts 2, 23, 4, 27 to 28. What's the point? Even the reference to dice in Proverbs says not even anything that goes on in this earth is outside the scope of God. Not a molecule is outside of his scope of reference. Even when people think it's just up to chance or fate, God is still sovereign. Which leads to kind of the third observation here in this particular portion is God can do whatever he wants, church. Let's be very careful. Lest we infringe upon what is divine real estate, if you will, the character of God, the job description of God to be God, and we start telling God what he can do and can't do. Romans 9, 15 to 24, what shall we say then, Paul says? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. It's almost like Paul knew the human response to some of these truths. For he says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy. I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I've raised you up, that I might show my power in you, that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me this way? Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make his power known, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from The Gentiles. Church, God is the potter. We are the clay. He is the author and finisher of salvation. We are the proclaimers of it. The position of the believer and the peril of the unbeliever are in his capable and controlling hands. You say it this way, God's got this. Everybody likes to say that now. There's T-shirts everywhere and hashtags over everything. It's like bad weather, monsoon, broken toe, broken shoelace, stubbed toe, crying child. God's got this. Okay, he's got bigger things even. He's got the cancer. He's got the dying loved one. He's got the depression. He's got the marital infidelity. He's got your worries. He's got your fears. He's got your doubts. And He's got your soul. He's holding on to you. You're not holding on to Him. He's holding on to you. You're secure in Him. But there are so many who are not. And that really is the call here. I believe that Peter paints the picture of both so that believers would not only appreciate their position but also see the peril of the unbeliever and be grateful for the mercy of God and then active to extend that mercy to those who desperately need it. Were there not people also in the horrific culture of Rome at that time who also were coming to faith, what was God using to save them? Who was God using to save them? The church. the active, biblically busy church. Today, I think that so often people come to these truths and some don't like them, they avoid them. They'd rather, you know, John or I or one of us just kind of punt. You know, fourth and 20, probably not a good idea to go for it. Pastor, why don't we gloss over this one? Move on to chapter three. Let's not get into that stuff, right? There's people that are kind of like that. There's other people, they like this too much. And they get arrogant, don't they? Woo! Chosen! Yeah. You? Tough stuff. Got to go to church. Good luck to you. What is wrong with you? Listen, God's gonna save people. The question is, are you gonna be a part of that process in that you got to be the measly little mouthpiece, the paintbrush? God's the one that does it all. He's got the master design. Are you useful? Are you even available? Studies by church survey groups that I found this week show that up to 80% of all professing Christians admit that they don't consistently share the gospel. 95% have never shared the gospel and seen a life transformed by their witness, which begs the question in my mind, pastorally and theologically, is where are, if all the people are so busy apparently debating about all these truths, but nobody's busy sharing the actual gospel. Everyone's so worried about getting things right and being right. The percentages show that probably arguing too much, Or just disobedient, we're busy with all the wrong things and not sharing the gospel. 71% in the study confessed to not even giving to their church or any missional work. If Jesus said your treasure is where your heart is and you don't give to either your local church, which is doing local missions, or the John G. Patton's of the world, well, God's going to do it and he's going to fund it. You just aren't going to get to be a part of it. If we really believe that the position of a believer is secure and the peril of an unbeliever is set and secure and it's coming and that somewhere in there God is gonna be saving people, ought we not to be the most anxious, zealous, eager gospel proclaimers there are on this planet? Knowing that there is an appointed time that the eternal God began all of this. and there is an appointed time in which it will all end. Will we be that church? I don't want us to, none of the elders want us to because we preach the sovereignty of God in salvation. Will we sit back with our arrogance and pompous frozen chosen attitude with this thing on cruise control? Or will we be that church that sees God's sovereign in salvation as an invitation to action? And so be humble. If God determines salvation, you didn't do it. Be thankful. If God determines salvation, you didn't earn it. Be merciful. If God determines salvation, you didn't deserve it. Be joyful. If God determines salvation, you're gonna get to experience it. And be useful. If God determines salvation, you will get to proclaim it. It reminds you that Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. Will it be through your mouth that someone hears it and comes to saving faith under the mighty work and hand of our sovereign God? Let me pray for you. Father, these are divine truths, but what do we expect from you, our divine God? These are words in the Bible. What would we expect to be preached and taught in a Bible church? Nevertheless, they are so much easier said than done. They're even easier debated than done. I pray for our church, the one that you have given us responsibility for, the people here, ourselves as well as elders and leaders, This particular church at 950 North Greenfield would be one of those that does see your sovereign hand at work, does see that you are in control. There's no maverick molecule in the universe outside of your scope and yet we are motivated by that. that our evangelism is energized by that, that we see you are going to save people. You know who your sheep are. We don't. So may we be that church and will you empower us to be that church that goes after souls, trusting you will handle salvation. If there's anyone here who's been wavering in their security in you, would you remind them if they are a believer of their position through the Holy Spirit's work this week in their mind and their heart? And for anyone here who is not following after you, would you draw them to yourself and save them? And let this be the day of salvation for them. In Jesus' name, amen.