1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:05,480 If you would grab a Bible and turn with me to first Peter 2 00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:07,640 chapter 2. While you're turning, I'm going 3 00:00:07,640 --> 00:00:10,120 to ask the Lord's blessing on our time. 4 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:17,040 Lord Jesus, we want to hear your voice. 5 00:00:17,080 --> 00:00:24,880 You are the Word of God that became flesh and dwelt among us, 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:31,680 that called your sheep by name. So Lord, as we've gathered under 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:36,120 your lordship, baptized into the name of the Father, Son and Holy 8 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:41,920 Spirit, we've gathered to you, Father, in the name of your Son 9 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:43,880 Jesus, and in the power of your Spirit. 10 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:49,240 And so we ask you to teach us. We ask you to take up your Word 11 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,320 and build us up as living stones this morning. 12 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:56,720 And we pray, Lord, that you would use me to do it and that 13 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,200 you would build your people. We trust you for this and we ask 14 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,480 it in Christ's name. Amen. 15 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:07,360 OK, you are in First Peter chapter 2. 16 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,120 And I have a really great announcement to make about this 17 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:12,920 sermon. I don't have a great sermon. 18 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:17,720 I just have a great text. And so my, my purpose today is 19 00:01:17,720 --> 00:01:21,360 to observe our way through the text that Mister Trey read to 20 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,200 us. And then see if there are three 21 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,960 big ticket sort of applications that we need to that we need to 22 00:01:28,960 --> 00:01:31,880 deal with together. And so I just want you to 23 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:37,600 meditate with me on and through this text so that it can do its 24 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:42,760 work in us. So in first Peter chapter 2, he 25 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:47,000 says in verse one, so and that's a really important word because 26 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,360 that that dictates to us that we need some context. 27 00:01:50,400 --> 00:01:53,520 And so we're not going to read any further in chapter 2 until I 28 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,760 give you the context of chapter one, verse 22. 29 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:02,000 So read this with me and and we'll we'll make our way to 30 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,880 chapter 2. Peter says having purified your 31 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:11,680 souls by the obedience to the truth, by your obedience to the 32 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,360 truth, and I would just stop there and ask you, does that rub 33 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:23,120 you wrong for a moment? Having purified your souls by 34 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:27,560 your obedience to the truth. I thought we were a sila gratia, 35 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,400 silafide church. I thought we were a church that 36 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:35,200 believed that a soul is purified by the grace of Christ alone and 37 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:37,720 faith alone in that Christ alone. 38 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,680 I thought that's where we were and it is where we are very, 39 00:02:40,920 --> 00:02:44,160 very much where we are. And So what in the world does 40 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:50,040 Peter mean by having purified your souls by obedience to the 41 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,400 truth? Well, let me say it this way. 42 00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,960 This is what he's not saying. He's not saying you have 43 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,240 purified your soul by your obedience to the commandments. 44 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:05,320 That's not what he's saying. You have, you have obeyed the 45 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:07,040 truth. There has a there's a 46 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,640 proposition has been made about the person of Christ, and by 47 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,040 embracing that through faith, you have had your souls 48 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:18,480 purified. And so the question is, what is 49 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:20,480 the proposition? What is the truth that has been 50 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,920 declared to us? And the best place for me to go 51 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:29,880 is to take up the very first Christian sermon by a Christian 52 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,000 man in the Christian Church. It was at the day of Pentecost 53 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,240 and it was Peter himself. And when he preaches about the 54 00:03:36,240 --> 00:03:38,600 person and the work of Christ, he gets to the end of that 55 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:43,160 sermon and he tells Israel this assertion. 56 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,920 Therefore, let all the House of Israel know that God has made 57 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:52,440 him. God has made him both Lord and 58 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:56,440 Christ. This Jesus whom you crucified, 59 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,440 that's the truth. That is our obedience. 60 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,640 Christ is Lord, He is seated on the right hand of the majesty on 61 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,240 high. And all of those who are glad in 62 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:12,160 that assertion, all of those who believe that assertion, who call 63 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:18,440 on Christ as Lord, they have obeyed the truth of the gospel 64 00:04:19,160 --> 00:04:22,000 and therefore have their souls purified. 65 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:29,200 Now he gives a purpose statement our souls purified for a sincere 66 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:34,400 brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 67 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,680 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of 68 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,600 imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. 69 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:46,200 It's a really amazing thing. He says that we having had our 70 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,400 souls purified by our our obedience to the truth that that 71 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,800 God did that for us so that we would have a sincere brotherly 72 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:56,640 love for one another that in the church that we would love one 73 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,200 another as brothers. And then we might ask, well, how 74 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,720 is that going to work? Because it's it's people from 75 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:03,760 all different ages, all different backgrounds, all 76 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:09,400 different, different lives. But he says, Peter says, but you 77 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:15,480 have this one thing in common that you that's a y'all have 78 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,840 been born again, not of perishable seed, but of 79 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,640 imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. 80 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,640 So nobody likes to think about this, but we could, if I, if I 81 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,000 got everybody's birthday, we could write down your birthday. 82 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,560 And generally speaking, we could rewind the clock about nine 83 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:36,840 months and, and know what happened. 84 00:05:36,840 --> 00:05:39,440 Nine months before your birthday, nine months before 85 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:41,960 your birthday, without your permission, without your 86 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:45,280 request, without anything else like that, you were not even 87 00:05:45,280 --> 00:05:49,400 there, but you were a gleam in your daddy's eye, as they say. 88 00:05:49,920 --> 00:05:53,720 And so your father sowed seed into the garden that is your 89 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:55,480 mother. I know you can hate me for that, 90 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,440 but I'm telling you that's what happened and therefore 9 months 91 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,840 later you were born. Peter says something very 92 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:05,720 similar but not saying happened when you've been born again 93 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:08,120 according to the word of God, that you have been born not of 94 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:12,920 the seed of your Father on earth, but of imperishable seed 95 00:06:13,440 --> 00:06:15,400 through the living and abiding Word of God. 96 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:20,520 The Word of God is the seed that causes men and women and 97 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:24,880 children to be born again. And if you have obeyed the truth 98 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,480 of the Lordship of Christ, then brother, sister, you were born 99 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:33,200 again by the imperishable seed of the Word of God. 100 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,320 Peter goes on to say all flesh is grass, it's glory like a 101 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,280 flower of grass. The grass Withers, the flower 102 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,640 fades, but the word of our Lord remains forever. 103 00:06:44,080 --> 00:06:48,560 This word is the good news that was preached to you. 104 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:54,160 So you see that we, we have been born again, He's placed us as 105 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:57,400 brothers and sisters in the body of Christ because we all have a 106 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,200 common Father who has caused us to be born again by His word. 107 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,520 Therefore, Peter is going to give us a strategy for how we're 108 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:08,200 to continue to hear the word of God. 109 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,320 So let me ask you a question. What do you do to prepare to 110 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:15,640 hear the word of God preached? Or what do you do to prepare to 111 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:17,200 read the word of God for yourself? 112 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:21,840 How can you prepare your heart, your mind, your soul to to hear 113 00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:24,960 that word? Well, well, I'm glad you asked. 114 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,160 There's two things that he tells us in verses one through three. 115 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,680 First off, you put some things away. 116 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:36,400 You, you, you knock some things off that are normal to us, he 117 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,320 says. Put away all malice, all deceit 118 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:45,080 and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 119 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,520 Like newborn infants long. That's the second thing. 120 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:53,840 So put away those things and then like newborn infants long 121 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,480 for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into 122 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:02,040 salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 123 00:08:02,040 --> 00:08:04,680 So we're going to have to, we're going to have to put some things 124 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:06,160 away. So let me just tell you what 125 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:10,960 Peter teaches here is that your positioning and mine towards 126 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,000 people in the body of Christ will dictate to you whether or 127 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:16,960 not you can hear the word of God rightly. 128 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:21,360 Our positioning towards others is going to impact how we hear 129 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,200 the word of God. And so he says, put these things 130 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:28,080 away and I'll just say a brief word about each malice. 131 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,080 Malice is the desire to injure somebody. 132 00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:35,480 You've ever been around anybody who has malice, they're just 133 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:37,200 marked by I just want to beat you. 134 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:38,919 I want you to lose and I want to win. 135 00:08:38,919 --> 00:08:41,760 I just, I'm not for you. It's malice. 136 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,040 It's deceit. Deceit is misleading others for 137 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:46,360 their harm. So in the ancient world, 138 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,400 Odysseus was the master of this, you know, the story of the 139 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,240 Trojan horse. That was his plan, that we're 140 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,520 going to deceive our enemies to think something so that we can 141 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,200 lead them into a trap that will cost in their lives. 142 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:03,040 Peter says lay aside for the way malice, deceit, don't do that to 143 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:05,080 people. Don't lie to them for their own 144 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:08,800 hurt. Put away hypocrisy right that 145 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,000 that thespian term of you've got a mask. 146 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:14,320 You're on stage and you're speaking from underneath the 147 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,160 mask. You're playing a role which is 148 00:09:17,240 --> 00:09:20,040 trying to conceal yourself from others. 149 00:09:20,360 --> 00:09:23,720 Peter says put it away. Be who you are, be who you are. 150 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,080 It doesn't matter who you are. Just be who you are. 151 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:32,640 Like stop faking in the church to present a a facade of what 152 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:37,200 you are not. Be don't be a don't speak from 153 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:41,560 underneath the mask, he says. Put away envy, which is a sin 154 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,400 rooted in being bitter about what God has given to others. 155 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:46,440 And brothers and sisters, we are a culture. 156 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,920 Increasingly, all of our political strategy and decision 157 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:55,640 making is based on this sin of envy that there are some who 158 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,560 have and some who do not. And so those who do not are 159 00:09:58,560 --> 00:10:01,400 envious of those who have. And so we want to power over 160 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,600 everybody that's not God. It's the government to take from 161 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:08,200 some and to distribute to others instead of realizing that godly 162 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:12,280 contentment is content with what God has given me and what God 163 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:14,880 has given my neighbor. So put away envy. 164 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:18,720 Put away slander. Slander is kind of a mixture 165 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:20,200 sin. You're, you're you're 166 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,840 misrepresenting someone so that other people will think less of 167 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:27,080 them. It's really, it's really 168 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:28,560 terrible. Have you ever been slandered? 169 00:10:28,560 --> 00:10:31,560 Have you ever been misrepresented where somebody is 170 00:10:31,560 --> 00:10:33,800 talking about you and you're not around and they said that it 171 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:36,360 went down this way and it really didn't and you've been 172 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,160 slandered. Well, Peter tells us if you want 173 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,280 to benefit from the word of God like a baby benefits from breast 174 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:45,480 milk, then you these sins must be put away. 175 00:10:46,400 --> 00:10:50,320 The context here is, is in case you were wondering, we're going 176 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:54,520 to see as we work our way through the context is the 177 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,960 unbelieving Jewish people that were marked by these things when 178 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,120 Christ came. If you think about the Passion 179 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:04,160 week of Christ and you think about how the crucifixion went 180 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,360 about, they were marked by malice. 181 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:09,920 This was their biography. They wanted him gone. 182 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:13,760 They wanted to destroy him. They were marked by deceit. 183 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:18,000 They lied, they cheated all they could to get him crucified. 184 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:20,720 They were marked by hypocrisy, right? 185 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:25,320 Do you remember the story where they're they're getting the Jews 186 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:29,280 had the ability to stone Jesus at any moment, but stoning was 187 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,760 not good enough. What they wanted was Roman 188 00:11:31,760 --> 00:11:36,040 crucifixion, A shameful, painful death so that no one would ever 189 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:38,840 think well of this man again. And so though we could stone 190 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:42,400 him, now, we're going to go through all of this deceit and 191 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,840 and mock trial to get him crucified. 192 00:11:46,560 --> 00:11:49,280 And so they need the Romans. They're going to use Pilot. 193 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,200 They take Jesus to Pilot's headquarters in John's gospel. 194 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:58,200 John in his gospel tells us that the Jews did not enter Pilot's 195 00:11:58,200 --> 00:12:00,680 quarters so that they wouldn't be defiled. 196 00:12:00,760 --> 00:12:02,160 They could still keep the Sabbath. 197 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:08,040 How do you like them apples? You know that you are lying 198 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:11,400 about an innocent man in order to get him tortured and killed. 199 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:15,600 But you're still going through the scrupulosity of we're not 200 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:20,960 going to associate with Gentiles so that we're not disqualified 201 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,680 from enjoying the Sabbath. They were marked by malice, 202 00:12:23,720 --> 00:12:28,120 deceit, hypocrisy, envy. The the gospel writers tell us 203 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:31,240 again and again, it's even in the in the mind of Pilot that 204 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:34,520 the Jews were jealous and envious of Christ, his power, 205 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:38,320 his popularity. They were envious of him. 206 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:42,560 They slandered him. So all of these things were 207 00:12:42,560 --> 00:12:44,720 their biography and the passion week. 208 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,240 And therefore when Christ came to them, they whipped. 209 00:12:48,600 --> 00:12:52,440 They could not they could not be born again by the imperishable 210 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:55,920 seed of the word, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 211 00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,840 And so they missed out on Christ altogether. 212 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,840 And that's becomes his mega theme of this of this text. 213 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:08,600 So you are to put those things away and secondly to long for to 214 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:12,600 long for something to desire something he says long for the 215 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,640 pure spiritual milk that by you may grow up into salvation. 216 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,280 Martin Luther said it this way. He said to progress into 217 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:22,000 Christian faith is to begin again. 218 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:26,280 You want to grow up into the Christian faith begin again. 219 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,280 Go back to the to the reality of your sin. 220 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:35,080 Go back to the reality that you deserved the just judgement of 221 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,720 God. And instead of condemning you to 222 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:41,640 a devil's hell for an eternity like you deserved, instead the 223 00:13:41,640 --> 00:13:44,480 Father sends His Son into the world to take your sin upon 224 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:48,600 himself and to die in your place for your sin, and to rise from 225 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:51,400 the dead and to a sin into heaven where He sits and rules 226 00:13:51,400 --> 00:13:55,360 and reigns and intercedes for you, pouring out His Spirit upon 227 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:56,280 you. By grace. 228 00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:57,760 You have been saved through faith. 229 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,760 You deserve none of that. So if you want to progress in 230 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:06,400 the Christian faith, we go back again and again and again to who 231 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:12,400 Christ is and the result of this work and and when we do that, we 232 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,120 get to grow up into our sonship, our daughterhood. 233 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:21,960 I love this and he says long for the pure spiritual milk like 234 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:27,640 like newborn infants. Some of you, unfortunately, have 235 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,680 never experienced the blessing of a hippie birth. 236 00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,320 Do you know what a hippie birth is? 237 00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,560 OK. My first four, two sons, two 238 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,320 daughters, they were born a scheduled C-section. 239 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:44,640 We went in a doctor. It was on the clock, cut Meg 240 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:48,640 open and delivered these babies. And it was great, right? 241 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,000 Because I get to be a father. This is this is awesome. 242 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:55,440 But when Lucy Pearl came along, something vastly different 243 00:14:55,640 --> 00:14:58,040 happened. We went to the hippies. 244 00:14:58,040 --> 00:15:00,000 We didn't go to the doctors. We went to the hippies. 245 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,400 I'm calling them hippies because they they don't know sometimes 246 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:06,400 they don't know how to root those things. 247 00:15:06,400 --> 00:15:08,840 They just believe in sort of Mother Nature. 248 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:11,720 Just trust Mother Nature and everything is going to be fine. 249 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,920 We don't we don't necessarily accredit it to God as though a 250 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:17,920 woman's body that can take seed from a man and build it into an 251 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:22,840 eternal image there of God with the most majestic, glorious 252 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:25,760 happenstance ever. They don't give God credit for 253 00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,440 that. But what they do do is they do 254 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,760 say, man, it's just natural and your body's going to do, it's 255 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:32,560 going to take care of business you, it'll be fine. 256 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:35,080 And so they're all chill and calm and hippie and it's 257 00:15:35,080 --> 00:15:37,240 amazing. And they told me something was 258 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,440 going to happen that I frankly disbelieved. 259 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:45,360 They said when when your daughter is born, she's going to 260 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:49,560 find her way to the food source. OK. 261 00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:54,600 And I knew because of scripture, the scripture that scriptures 262 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:58,160 that say again and again uses the the metaphor of a woman in 263 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:02,240 childbirth feeling like she's just pain, pain, pain, pain, 264 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:04,280 pain. And that everything gives gives 265 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:06,960 way to joy. It's my favorite picture that I 266 00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:12,600 can never share with anybody but Gracie where the just moments 267 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:17,760 before Lucy is born, she told me I'm going to die. 268 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:21,040 I can't do this, I'm dying. This is it, This is the end. 269 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:26,320 And it felt like the end. I'm sure moments later they they 270 00:16:26,320 --> 00:16:31,760 pull Lucy Pearl out and I had this picture of Gracie and just 271 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:36,280 madness of joy is the only way to describe it. 272 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:37,920 I wish I could show you, but I can't. 273 00:16:39,680 --> 00:16:43,680 But what they did is they took Lucy Pearl and they just turned 274 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,400 her over and put her on Gracie's summit. 275 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:52,360 And Lucy, I swear to the heavenly powers, she crawled her 276 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:55,360 way to her mother's breast to to eat. 277 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,040 What is that? What is how can that be 278 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,920 possible? Well, that's how Peter says we 279 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:07,880 are to long for the milk of God's word. 280 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,599 The same thing is true of all believers that there's this 281 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:15,680 mysterious move of the Spirit of God where from a fleshly 282 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:18,520 perspective, we might look at somebody and say they're never 283 00:17:18,520 --> 00:17:21,359 going to come to Christ. Then it's never happening. 284 00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:24,160 But we pray, you know, sort of half hearted Lord, you're like, 285 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,000 would you do something? And then all the sudden they 286 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:29,360 repent and they see Christ for who he is. 287 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:31,880 And what's the first thing that they always do? 288 00:17:32,680 --> 00:17:35,120 They come to an open Bible and say, what does this mean? 289 00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:39,840 What like help me understand, they are newborn babes longing 290 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:44,040 for the milk of God's word for the gospel and it is beautiful. 291 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,680 And so Peter tells born again believers to long for the pure 292 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:54,320 spiritual milk that by it by that gospel, you may grow up 293 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:59,160 into salvation. Lucy is growing up into Martin 294 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:00,920 hood. She was as much a Martin in the 295 00:18:00,920 --> 00:18:04,000 womb as she is right now, but she's growing up into that 296 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,200 reality. And that's the metaphor that 297 00:18:06,200 --> 00:18:10,920 we're growing up into Christ. Christ by his grace has adopted 298 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:15,000 us, has made us sons and daughters of God, has has 299 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,840 grafted us into the vine that is himself. 300 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:23,160 And we grow up into that reality when we feed upon the milk of 301 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,720 God's word. And let me just say as well, 302 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:30,400 this maturity that's growing up into, we tend to read this as 303 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:33,120 Americans and just say, this is me and my quiet time. 304 00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:36,600 No, it is not. Is us as a people growing up 305 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:38,440 together in the Word of God. Let me ask you something. 306 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:43,240 When your love for the word of God wanes, what do you need most 307 00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:46,480 of all? You know what you mean. 308 00:18:46,800 --> 00:18:49,360 You need a brother who still loves God's word. 309 00:18:49,640 --> 00:18:51,920 You need a sister who still loves God's word. 310 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,960 You need you need the church, you need a preacher who still 311 00:18:54,960 --> 00:18:59,440 loves God's word who will help you to to redevelop that taste 312 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:05,240 for God's word. So so we are to this is how we 313 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:07,760 hear the word of God accurately and benefit from it. 314 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:12,360 We put away these sins, we long for it and then as a summation 315 00:19:12,360 --> 00:19:15,000 of all Christian doctrine of what does it mean to become a 316 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:16,960 Christian. This is what it means. 317 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:21,400 It's the simplest phrase ever. As you come to him, you just 318 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,240 come to Christ. Like how how complicated have we 319 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,680 made the Christian life? And there is mystery, there is 320 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:29,840 complication. There's really important 321 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,600 doctrines over which we ought to debate and and war and do all 322 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:35,960 number of things. But ultimately at the end of the 323 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:40,640 day, it's coming to Christ. You come, you come to Christ. 324 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:45,080 OK, so let me read these verses and then I'm going to simplify 325 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,480 them or try to. Peter says as you come to him, 326 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,600 notice not as you come to church, as you come to the 327 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:57,360 sermon, as you come to anything else, as you come to him, to 328 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:03,640 Christ, who is a living stone rejected by men, but in the 329 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:08,560 sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves like 330 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,000 living stones. But which one is it, Peter? 331 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:16,560 Is Jesus the living stone, or are we the living stones? 332 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:20,920 And the answer is yes, yes, He is the living stone. 333 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:23,160 And when we come to him, we're made like him. 334 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,960 You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a 335 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:33,880 spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual 336 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:38,280 sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 337 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:43,560 OK, so simplify this just just for a minute so we can kind of 338 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:47,160 catch what he's doing here. Christ is a living stone that he 339 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:50,840 said is rejected, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, 340 00:20:50,840 --> 00:20:54,400 chosen and precious. That's the theme is that Christ 341 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,720 is the judgment. Remember at the end of John 342 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,560 Chapter 9 for judgment, I came into this world that those who 343 00:21:01,560 --> 00:21:05,120 are who can see would be blind, and those who are blind could 344 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:07,000 see. And it all has to do with how we 345 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:10,520 respond to Christ. Christ was rejected by men, but 346 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,560 in the sight of God, he was chosen and he was precious. 347 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,520 When we come to Him, you yourselves, like living stones, 348 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:19,640 are being built up into a spiritual house. 349 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,480 What the world has despised, God has put on the throne. 350 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:28,080 Say that to you again. What the world has despised and 351 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:31,120 hated and crucified and rejected and ignored. 352 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,520 That thing that man God has put on the throne. 353 00:21:36,240 --> 00:21:40,920 That's who reigns and Peter exhorts the church to long for 354 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:43,520 the word of Christ. He reminds them of the 355 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,160 fulfillment of this prophecy that Jesus made in John chapter 356 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:49,320 21. That has to do with this idea of 357 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:56,240 of what of God of God of the the world rejecting Christ, but God 358 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:59,400 putting him on the throne, making him the the cornerstone 359 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:02,280 and all those who are in him being built up into a temple. 360 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:06,000 Peter is calling to our attention, reminding us of a 361 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:08,200 prophecy that Jesus made. You don't have to turn here, 362 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:12,080 just listen to this. This was in the In Passion week. 363 00:22:12,080 --> 00:22:15,840 Peter is right there listening to Jesus talk to the religious 364 00:22:15,840 --> 00:22:19,240 leaders that were getting ready to crucify him that had already 365 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:23,800 begun the rejection process. And Peter heard Jesus tell this 366 00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,000 parable ending with a prophecy. Listen to this. 367 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:29,880 Jesus said to them here, another parable. 368 00:22:30,120 --> 00:22:33,240 There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a 369 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:36,320 fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a 370 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,400 tower and leased it out to tenants and went into another 371 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:40,680 country. See the picture? 372 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:42,520 There's a master who does all this. 373 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,600 It's, it's his vineyard. He put a fence around it, he dug 374 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,120 a winepress in it. He built a tower and leased it 375 00:22:49,120 --> 00:22:51,120 to tenants and went into another country. 376 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:56,640 Now when the season for fruit drew near, he, being a master, 377 00:22:56,640 --> 00:22:59,440 sent his servants to the tenants. 378 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:06,200 Watch this, listen close to get his fruit, not their fruit, his 379 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,680 fruit. It's my vineyard, it's my 380 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,640 garden, it's my wall and everything is mine. 381 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:16,400 And so I'm sending my servants to my vineyard to get my fruit 382 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:21,480 from my tenants. And the tenants took his 383 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,360 servants and beat 1 and killed another and stone another. 384 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,640 Jesus says again, he sent other servants more than the first. 385 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:33,200 Why? Why would they have done that? 386 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,280 Why would they have killed my servants? 387 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:40,360 I'll send them more servants to go get the fruit, and they more 388 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:42,040 than the first. And they did the same thing to 389 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,680 them. And finally the master said he, 390 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:52,240 the master sent his son to them saying they will respect my son 391 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:55,520 by God, they're going to listen to my boy. 392 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,040 They're, they're, they're killing my servants. 393 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:00,840 They're disregarding my prophets. 394 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,880 They will listen to my son. But when the tenants saw the 395 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,320 son, they said to themselves, this is the heir. 396 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:12,840 Come, let's kill him and have his inheritance. 397 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:17,000 It's the envy, it's the jealousy of what belongs to Christ needs 398 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:19,160 to belong to us. And so we're going to kill him 399 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:24,760 so that we can have what is his. Verse 39 And they took him and 400 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,840 they threw him out of the vineyard and they killed him. 401 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:32,600 Now listen to the question Jesus asks the religious Jewish 402 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:35,560 leaders. When therefore the owner of the 403 00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,640 vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? 404 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,560 And Christ, like just the the wisest man in the world, gives 405 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,400 the Pharisees, gives the religious leaders enough rope to 406 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,760 hang themselves. He lets them pronounce their own 407 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,720 judgment. They said to him, He will put 408 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,720 those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard 409 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:02,560 to tenants who will give him the fruit in its season 2 things. 410 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:07,560 He's going to kill those men and then take what he entrusted to 411 00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:11,440 them and give it to other men who will bear the fruit and 412 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:14,200 yield it to the master. Do you see that it's not magic? 413 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,480 This is not doesn't take wild interpretation. 414 00:25:17,440 --> 00:25:20,400 He will put those wretches to a miserable death and he will let 415 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,600 out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the 416 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:25,160 fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, See, this 417 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:27,080 sounds familiar from first Peter 2. 418 00:25:28,800 --> 00:25:30,640 Have you never read the scriptures? 419 00:25:31,040 --> 00:25:33,320 Brothers, you got to read your Old Testament. 420 00:25:33,320 --> 00:25:35,800 You got to read your scriptures. Here's what he quotes to them 421 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:39,200 from Psalm 118. The stone that the builders 422 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,600 rejected has become the cornerstone. 423 00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:45,200 This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our sight. 424 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:49,520 Therefore I tell you, red letter, in the words of Christ. 425 00:25:49,520 --> 00:25:53,640 Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken 426 00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:58,120 away from you and given to a people producing its fruit. 427 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,720 What does that mean? It means just what it says. 428 00:26:01,880 --> 00:26:05,160 The Kingdom of God was taken from Israel when they rejected 429 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:09,200 Christ and was given to other men to produce its fruit. 430 00:26:09,360 --> 00:26:13,680 And then he goes on to say, and the one who falls on this stone 431 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,000 will be broken to pieces. When it falls on anyone, it will 432 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,200 crush him. When the chief priests and the 433 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:22,800 Pharisees heard this parable, they perceived that He was 434 00:26:22,800 --> 00:26:28,760 speaking about them. So as you come to Christ, Peter 435 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,160 tells us you are being built up as a spiritual house. 436 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:33,920 Now I want you to watch this in first, Peter. 437 00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:39,520 He says you yourselves, like living stones are being built up 438 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,200 as a spiritual house. Brothers and sisters, what's our 439 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:49,040 magic biblical word for a house that is a spiritual house, a 440 00:26:49,040 --> 00:26:50,840 house where you, where you meet with God. 441 00:26:50,840 --> 00:26:52,960 What is that called? What's our name for that? 442 00:26:53,560 --> 00:26:57,280 It's a temple. It's a Tabernacle, he says 443 00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,840 you're to be a holy priesthood. Wait, wait, who is it in 444 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:02,680 Scripture? That's a priest that gets to 445 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:05,240 offer sacrifices? It's the Levitical priest. 446 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:08,960 And Peter is saying no longer is it the Levitical priest. 447 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,960 You are being built up into a temple, into a priesthood. 448 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,760 You offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus 449 00:27:17,760 --> 00:27:20,640 Christ. There's no sacrificial system 450 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:24,240 that's acceptable to God any longer because Christ has come 451 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,320 and he's made an end to all sin. And now his people, as we're 452 00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:31,680 going to see, who have been made a temple, who have been made 453 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:35,760 priest to the living God. We offer acceptable sacrifices 454 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,560 to our Father through the name of the Son, acceptable 455 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:43,160 sacrifices like living bodies, the sacrifice of praise and of 456 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:47,640 gratitude, but nothing dies. OK, So we need to remember that 457 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,800 Christianity in its simplest form is nothing but coming to 458 00:27:51,800 --> 00:27:55,160 Christ, and that the Jewish rulers would not do that. 459 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:59,000 And so they are on the outside of the purposes of God. 460 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,000 OK. Christianity is not primarily a 461 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,960 list of do's and don'ts. It isn't a strategy for making 462 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,600 yourself acceptable to God. It is simply coming to Christ 463 00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:12,080 and receiving from him everything you need. 464 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:15,920 As I was reading that to you, when they when they see Christ, 465 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,320 they say, here is the heir, let's kill him and let's have 466 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:21,840 what's his. And all of you who've been 467 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:25,360 married to that man by faith, who've become one with him, you 468 00:28:25,360 --> 00:28:29,080 might say you don't have to kill him to get what's his. 469 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,560 He wants to give it to you by grace, right? 470 00:28:32,600 --> 00:28:35,920 So we don't have to steal anything from Christ when he 471 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:38,040 offers us covenant fellowship with him. 472 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,480 And he says all that is mine is yours. 473 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,480 So we come to Christ, receiving from him everything we need. 474 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:48,520 Are you lonely? Then come to Christ. 475 00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,560 Are you sinful? Then come to Christ. 476 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,000 Are you confused in this world where we can't tell male from 477 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:55,960 female up from down? Are you confused? 478 00:28:56,280 --> 00:28:58,520 Will come to Christ. Are you weak? 479 00:28:59,120 --> 00:29:02,320 Come to Christ. Remember that in coming you are 480 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,280 coming to the One This is important. 481 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:07,320 You are coming to the one that the world has hated. 482 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,240 He was rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and 483 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:15,760 precious, He was the living stone and is the living stone. 484 00:29:15,760 --> 00:29:19,080 And in coming to Him as the living stone, you yourselves, 485 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,840 like living stones, are being built up. 486 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:25,760 God has chosen you. In Christ you are precious, even 487 00:29:25,760 --> 00:29:29,120 though the world despises the people of God and so we should 488 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:32,640 not be surprised when the people of God, the real people of God, 489 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,800 those who by faith in Christ are in covenant with Christ, that 490 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:41,320 the world tends to hate us. This word that you received 491 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,120 Christ is the rock of offense, right for judgment. 492 00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:48,520 I came into this world. They stumbled over him, but we 493 00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:51,640 stand on him. Look in verse 6 and I'm, I'm, 494 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:56,200 I'm almost done observing and then I'll apply this for it, for 495 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,440 it stands in verse 6 for again, notice the four. 496 00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,400 So we have become the temple, we have become the priest. 497 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:06,560 We are the ones that offer sacrifices because it stands in 498 00:30:06,560 --> 00:30:08,400 Scripture. Behold, I'm laying in Zion, a 499 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,600 stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious. 500 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,560 I love that Peter just lifts those beautiful words right out 501 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,120 of Isaiah and he applies them straight to Christ. 502 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,560 Christ is a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and 503 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,280 precious. Now we hear the the basis of 504 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,440 that in the Old Testament that Christ is that God has laid a 505 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:30,920 cornerstone chosen and precious. Whoever believes in him will not 506 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:34,400 be put to shame. So the honor listen in verse 7. 507 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:38,280 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do 508 00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,560 not believe, that's the Jewish people of Peter's day. 509 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:44,120 The stone that the builders rejected has become the 510 00:30:44,120 --> 00:30:48,280 cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. 511 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:52,600 Peter says they stumbled because they disobey the word as they 512 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:56,720 were destined to remember this whole the context of this having 513 00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,800 purified your souls by your obedience to the truth by 514 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:02,760 receiving the proclamation that Christ is Lord. 515 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:07,080 They stumble because they disobey the word. 516 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,760 It's not commandments. They disobey the the reality 517 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:13,840 that God has worked into the world that he has put his son on 518 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,480 the throne. Now look in verse 9. 519 00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,360 But you are a chosen race. I I hope this sounds familiar to 520 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:21,240 you. If you don't know your Old 521 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,320 Testament very well, it might just be like Peter's just trying 522 00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:27,880 to go through his mind and figure out ways to encourage the 523 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,240 people. That's not what he's doing. 524 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:31,400 He's doing something very important. 525 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:35,800 He says to the church, You are a chosen race. 526 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:38,920 Oh, do what now? We're a chosen race. 527 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,520 None of us are the same race. How can we be a chosen A chosen 528 00:31:42,520 --> 00:31:44,280 race? You're a chosen race. 529 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:51,040 You're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's 530 00:31:51,040 --> 00:31:54,440 own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him 531 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,560 who called you out of darkness into his marvellous life. 532 00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:58,960 You. This is what you are and this is 533 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,880 what you're for. You are a chosen race. 534 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:04,280 You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. 535 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,760 You are a people for his own possession so that you can 536 00:32:07,760 --> 00:32:12,560 proclaim the excellencies of him who called you, that Christ 537 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,080 called you to himself, and we are to proclaim his 538 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,000 excellencies. He says, once you are not a 539 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,320 people, but now you are God's people. 540 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:25,200 Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 541 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,240 If you write in your Bible, write Exodus 19, These are the 542 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,040 very words. I'm going to read it to you. 543 00:32:30,040 --> 00:32:31,560 You don't have to turn here with me. 544 00:32:32,040 --> 00:32:35,840 But Exodus 19, these are the very words that God spoke to 545 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:39,040 Moses to tell the children of Israel right after the Exodus. 546 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,680 He says, now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and 547 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,320 keep my covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among 548 00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,160 all peoples, for all the earth is mine. 549 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:53,240 You shall be to me a Kingdom of priests. 550 00:32:53,360 --> 00:32:56,720 So, so, so, Peter, hang on. You're talking to the church and 551 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:59,680 you're saying they're a royal priesthood. 552 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,000 No, that that applies to Israel. And Peter's saying, yeah, yeah, 553 00:33:03,080 --> 00:33:07,880 Israel is Christ and all those who are in Christ, he says to to 554 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,640 Israel in Exodus 19. You're a Kingdom of priests, a 555 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,720 holy nation, a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation. 556 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:18,640 Peter takes up that same, that same phraseology, chosen race, 557 00:33:18,840 --> 00:33:22,800 royal priesthood, holy nation, people for his own possession. 558 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:26,800 Once you are not a people. Now you are God's people. 559 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:29,320 We are a people for proclamation. 560 00:33:29,320 --> 00:33:33,240 He has so united us to Christ and to one another as a people 561 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:35,960 that we are to proclaim the excellencies of them who called 562 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:38,680 us out of darkness into his marvelous life. 563 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:43,680 OK, so three things, one theological and a couple of 564 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,560 pastoral. OK, first all First off, like 565 00:33:46,720 --> 00:33:49,680 what does this mean? So what how should we think in 566 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,320 terms of these things? We need to make these we need to 567 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:57,200 not make we need to allow these verses to make a theological 568 00:33:57,200 --> 00:34:00,160 course correction for for ourselves. 569 00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:07,120 OK, as Peter describes those in Christ, all the things as he's 570 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:10,679 describing us in terms of everything that Israel was 571 00:34:10,679 --> 00:34:15,840 supposed to be but failed to be the first word of God to Abraham 572 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,360 is in you. All the nations of the earth 573 00:34:18,360 --> 00:34:21,199 would be blessed. It was always to be God's grace 574 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,480 through Abraham to the nations, meaning through Christ to the 575 00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,360 nations. But Israel had had become 576 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:30,360 ingrown. They'd made it about themselves. 577 00:34:30,360 --> 00:34:31,760 They weren't a lie to the nations. 578 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:35,239 They were abusing the nations. This is Christ cleansing the 579 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,120 temple. This is supposed to be a House 580 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:39,440 of prayer for all nations. You're making it a den of 581 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:41,600 robbers. You've done the very opposite of 582 00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:46,239 what I created you for. So if we would allow these 583 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,520 verses to be for us what they ought to be for us, we need to 584 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:54,000 look for no further redemptive dealings tied to racial 585 00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:57,880 identities. Not Jew, not Gentile, not white, 586 00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:04,120 not black, not any other race. We do not look for racial grace. 587 00:35:04,120 --> 00:35:07,840 Grace tied the grace of God coming tied to a particular race 588 00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:11,240 of people. There is Christ and there are 589 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:14,080 those who have been born again in him and there's no other 590 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:17,360 category of being except for those who are outside of Christ 591 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:20,200 of all of all nations and all people. 592 00:35:20,240 --> 00:35:23,080 Listen to the way again, I want to read. 593 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:26,920 This is not a OK. I was given a lens when I was a 594 00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:28,400 young man coming up in the faith. 595 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:32,600 I was given a lens of of a dispensationalist view of 596 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:39,160 Israel, a start bifurcation of a separation between Israel and 597 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,000 the church and we need to keep that we need to keep that wall 598 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,760 of separation between between the the church and between 599 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:49,720 Israel and what it what it did for me is it made it impossible 600 00:35:49,720 --> 00:35:53,640 to see the very simply what the word of God teaches everywhere 601 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:55,680 in the New Testament. So I just want to read you a 602 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,320 couple of verses. They won't need any comment. 603 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,680 But before I read these, let me just tell you there will there 604 00:36:02,680 --> 00:36:06,760 are some who will say what you're preaching is called 605 00:36:06,760 --> 00:36:12,240 replacement theology that that the church has replaced Israel. 606 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:13,880 Listen to me, brothers and sisters. 607 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:19,760 That is in our in our culture. It's been said that the way you 608 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:24,240 define racism, what is a racist? Well, it's anybody winning an 609 00:36:24,240 --> 00:36:27,440 argument with a leftist, with a wokey, right. 610 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:29,520 I'm winning an argument. And so they say, well, yeah, but 611 00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:31,520 you're a racist. And so then argument over. 612 00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:34,080 It's just a name calling. What people will say when they 613 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,920 hear clear teaching of the of the Scriptures concerning Christ 614 00:36:37,960 --> 00:36:42,480 as the Israel of God, as the true vine, they'll say that's 615 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,600 replacement theology, which is just slanderous. 616 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:48,520 No, it is not. The Scriptures, Old and New 617 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,560 Testament, preach what is called fulfilment theology, that Jesus 618 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,480 doesn't come on the road to Emmaus and take them from Moses 619 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,960 and all of the prophets and teach them the things concerning 620 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:01,600 the Jewish people in the Old Testament. 621 00:37:02,280 --> 00:37:06,400 What does he teach them? The things from the beginning of 622 00:37:06,400 --> 00:37:08,240 the Old Testament to the end of the Old Testament. 623 00:37:08,240 --> 00:37:12,680 The things concerning himself. The entirety of the Old 624 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,840 Testament is all about Jesus Christ. 625 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:18,840 We're not replacement, we are fulfillment. 626 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:23,400 Christ is the tell us the end, the purpose of the law. 627 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:26,320 So listen to Paul in Ephesians 2. 628 00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:30,480 He himself, meaning Christ, is our peace, who has made us both. 629 00:37:30,480 --> 00:37:34,400 1 And he's broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of 630 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:38,440 hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in 631 00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:43,720 ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in the 632 00:37:43,720 --> 00:37:48,200 place of two, so making peace, and he might reconcile us both 633 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,520 to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the 634 00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:54,040 hostility between Jew and Gentile. 635 00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:59,080 And he came, and he preached peace to you who were far off, 636 00:37:59,080 --> 00:38:02,360 you Gentiles, and he preached peace to those who were near the 637 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:07,120 Jews, and through Him we both have access in one spirit to the 638 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:10,480 Father. So then you are no longer 639 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,240 strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the Saints, 640 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,640 members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the 641 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:20,280 apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the 642 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:24,280 cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together, 643 00:38:24,280 --> 00:38:26,880 grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 644 00:38:27,080 --> 00:38:28,800 There is not another temple coming. 645 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,680 Brothers and sisters, by the decree of the one who sits on 646 00:38:31,680 --> 00:38:34,920 the right hand of the majesty on high, you are the temple He is 647 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,920 building, not a physical temple in Jerusalem. 648 00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:42,480 In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place 649 00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:48,000 for God by His Spirit. Galatians 3 Know then, that it 650 00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,960 is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham and the 651 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:52,600 Scripture. Listen to these words, 652 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:56,920 foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, 653 00:38:57,240 --> 00:39:02,800 preached the gospel beforehand, saying to Abraham in you all the 654 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,000 nations of the earth will be blessed. 655 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:08,640 So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham 656 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,480 the man of faith. It was never about the Jewish 657 00:39:11,480 --> 00:39:13,320 people. It was God's grace through the 658 00:39:13,320 --> 00:39:16,480 Jewish people to the coming Messiah, and that through that 659 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:19,680 Christ all the nations would be blessed in him. 660 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:23,680 Listen to John the Baptist speaking to the Jewish people, 661 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:26,680 Matthew 3. He tells them bear fruit in 662 00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:29,960 keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to 663 00:39:29,960 --> 00:39:33,640 yourself, we have Abraham as our father, as though you can stand 664 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,160 before a holy God as a Sinner and say, but my mom was the 665 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:39,720 right race and my dad was the right race. 666 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,760 That that John the Baptist says, you have no presumption to say 667 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,320 that we have Abraham as our father. 668 00:39:46,560 --> 00:39:49,800 For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up 669 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,800 children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the 670 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:55,600 root of the trees. That's plural. 671 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,880 That's not singular. It's not the tree of Israel, 672 00:39:58,880 --> 00:40:01,240 it's trees within, it's those people. 673 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:05,480 It's it's whoever is is considering the proclamation of 674 00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:07,560 Christ. He says every tree. 675 00:40:07,560 --> 00:40:09,640 Therefore, that does not bear good fruit. 676 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:12,480 Bearing fruit and keeping with repentance means trusting in 677 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:14,560 Christ. Every tree that does not bear 678 00:40:14,560 --> 00:40:16,840 good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 679 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,480 I baptize you with water for repentance. 680 00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:22,720 He who is coming after me is mightier than I, the sandals of 681 00:40:22,720 --> 00:40:25,760 whom I'm not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the 682 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,480 Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his 683 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:30,720 hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his 684 00:40:30,720 --> 00:40:34,080 weed into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with 685 00:40:34,080 --> 00:40:36,920 unquenchable fire. And then Jesus came. 686 00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:43,440 So we do not look for any further ethnic favoritism in the 687 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:45,280 world. We don't look for a temple in 688 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:49,240 Jerusalem, we or for a continued distinction between Jew and 689 00:40:49,240 --> 00:40:52,480 Gentile when God has made them one in Christ. 690 00:40:52,960 --> 00:40:55,800 Christ. The Bible teaches us that Christ 691 00:40:55,800 --> 00:41:00,760 is the singular seed of Abraham and that all those in him have 692 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,200 been given the promises of Abraham. 693 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:06,440 For in Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed, 694 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:11,000 and all of the promises of God find their yes in Christ. 695 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:16,160 Secondly, Christ is the light of the world that shines through 696 00:41:16,160 --> 00:41:19,920 his people, who he called out of the world into his marvelous 697 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,440 light. So we are remember Peter says 698 00:41:22,720 --> 00:41:26,240 he's the living stone, and you are being built up as living 699 00:41:26,240 --> 00:41:29,280 stones. So he calls us the light of the 700 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:31,920 world. We must proclaim and we must 701 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:35,800 portray. We have to declare the mercy of 702 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,280 Christ. We have to declare the good 703 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:41,720 news, and we have to display the good news in our in our lives. 704 00:41:41,720 --> 00:41:45,400 So the Word of Christ is still an Incarnate word by the means 705 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,280 of his people. We are his body in the world, 706 00:41:48,320 --> 00:41:51,520 but not of the world. And it will not do to have our 707 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:55,320 works undo our words as we testify to the reality of 708 00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:58,800 Christ. We cannot, brothers and sisters, 709 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,800 declare the the excellencies of them who called us out of 710 00:42:02,800 --> 00:42:05,560 darkness into light while we're still walking in the darkness. 711 00:42:05,560 --> 00:42:08,440 We cannot do it. We can't do it because it 712 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:12,360 compromises our testimony. So let me just invite you to 713 00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:15,080 look around and ask, why are you here? 714 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:19,160 Why did you come here to this church this morning? 715 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:21,960 I've got an answer for everybody. 716 00:42:21,960 --> 00:42:24,280 It's because the pastor's so good looking and he preaches the 717 00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:26,000 greatest sermons ever. That's why you're here. 718 00:42:26,040 --> 00:42:31,400 No, you are here because Christ called you out of darkness into 719 00:42:31,400 --> 00:42:35,600 his marvellous light, that you might become a living stone in 720 00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:39,920 the midst of living stones, the very temple of the living God. 721 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:43,720 Christ is building his church, and he's building it right here. 722 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:48,960 Glory to his name. Our love for one another is the 723 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:52,520 most important work and the most powerful proof of the reality of 724 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,680 Christ of his reign. He is building us up. 725 00:42:55,680 --> 00:42:58,560 We exist as a proclamation in Word and deed. 726 00:42:58,760 --> 00:43:03,360 So brothers, let us love one another not in Word only, but 727 00:43:03,360 --> 00:43:05,160 also in deed and and listen to me. 728 00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:08,760 I'm preached to the choir. OK, the the way that that 729 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:13,520 myself, my family, the way that we love one another, one another 730 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:16,600 in this church is breathtaking. Can we do better? 731 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:21,400 Of course we can, but I am very much preaching to the choir. 732 00:43:21,440 --> 00:43:24,720 So like brothers who have all been born again by the 733 00:43:24,720 --> 00:43:30,360 imperishable seed of the same Father, Jesus prayed this for 734 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:31,880 us. I do not ask for these only, but 735 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:34,680 also for those who will believe in me through their word that 736 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:38,200 they may be one, just as you Father, or in me, and I in you, 737 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:43,160 so that they may be in us, so that the world may believe that 738 00:43:43,160 --> 00:43:46,400 you have sent me. Our oneness in the body of 739 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:50,240 Christ is a testimony to the world that Christ indeed was 740 00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:53,480 sent by the Father. The glory that you have given 741 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:57,440 me, I have given to them that they may be 1 Even as we are 742 00:43:57,440 --> 00:43:59,440 one, so, brothers, let us love one another. 743 00:43:59,600 --> 00:44:05,000 Lastly, Remember, Remember that the sum total of the Christian 744 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:08,040 faith is simply to come to Christ. 745 00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:12,920 It man just come to Christ, we come to Him. 746 00:44:12,960 --> 00:44:16,560 He is the living stone. He was rejected by men, but in 747 00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:21,280 the sight of God he was chosen. He is chosen and precious. 748 00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:23,880 Peter said beforehand, I didn't read this to you, but that he 749 00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:27,600 was foreknown before the foundation of the world, the 750 00:44:27,600 --> 00:44:31,680 elect of God. How fitting that we get to come 751 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:34,440 to the Lord's Table as we remember these things, the table 752 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:38,040 of His presence with and His provision for His people. 753 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,680 We get to come as newborn infants longing for pure 754 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,040 spiritual milk. Think about this with me. 755 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,120 Ask yourself, how many infants can explain the molecular 756 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:54,000 structure of a mother's milk? Do we require that of them 757 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,200 before we breastfeed them? No, we do not. 758 00:44:56,520 --> 00:44:58,560 No we do not. How many? 759 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:02,800 How many babies can explain the metabolic process of ingestion, 760 00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:06,240 digestion, excretion? How many can understand the 761 00:45:06,240 --> 00:45:08,640 mystery? How many, how many adult human 762 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,240 beings can understand the mystery of the bond that is 763 00:45:12,240 --> 00:45:15,840 formed in between a a nursing baby who doesn't even know 764 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:20,920 they're in the world and the mother who is bodily pouring 765 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,920 herself into the sustenance of this baby? 766 00:45:24,680 --> 00:45:27,840 Do you know that mystery? No, I do not either. 767 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:30,480 Nobody can understand these things. 768 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:32,080 Nobody. Nobody. 769 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:34,520 And the Lord's Table is just like that. 770 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:39,920 When we try to describe in close detail or scientific detail what 771 00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:44,280 God does for his people, and with his people at the table, we 772 00:45:44,280 --> 00:45:48,840 get into all kind of trouble. OK, so we need to be really 773 00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:51,440 careful. Let us say authoritatively what 774 00:45:51,440 --> 00:45:55,400 the Lord says in his Word. This bread is his body broken 775 00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:57,720 for us. This cup is his blood poured out 776 00:45:57,720 --> 00:46:00,720 for forgiveness of sins. We do this in remembrance of 777 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:04,160 Him, and by coming to the table we really participate in the 778 00:46:04,160 --> 00:46:07,920 body of Christ. And so come, beloved, come to 779 00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:11,360 the living stone as living stones, and be built up into the 780 00:46:11,360 --> 00:46:16,000 body of Christ by Christ himself who promises to feed you right 781 00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:20,160 here you come, welcome to Jesus Christ. 782 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:28,520 Let me pray for us, Lord, there is not a deserving man, woman, 783 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:34,360 or child in this building, but by Your grace you have called us 784 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:37,040 out of darkness into Your marvelous light. 785 00:46:37,040 --> 00:46:42,640 And therefore, all of us having been, having been born again 786 00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:46,120 within perishable seed, the word of our Father, the good news of 787 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:50,040 Christ, and through the power of the Spirit, all of us having had 788 00:46:50,040 --> 00:46:55,360 our souls purified by obedience to the truth of the Lordship of 789 00:46:55,360 --> 00:47:01,520 Christ, all of us get to come here as as infants longing for 790 00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:04,920 spiritual nourishment. And so we come to you, Lord, as 791 00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:06,880 the God who always feeds your people. 792 00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:13,680 And we ask you by your Spirit to make this table what we need it 793 00:47:13,680 --> 00:47:18,200 to be for us, a real participation in the person and 794 00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:21,760 the work of Jesus Christ. Lord, I pray for any who are 795 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:26,520 here that have not yet come to you that you would give them the 796 00:47:26,520 --> 00:47:29,760 power to do that, to just come and to receive from you all that 797 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:32,160 you offer. And Lord, I pray for any who 798 00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:36,120 have come to you but who struggle with guilt and shame 799 00:47:36,120 --> 00:47:39,320 and any of the things that that keep us from your table. 800 00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,800 I pray that through the through the preaching of the good news, 801 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:46,120 that you love them and that you've welcomed them and that 802 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:47,760 Christ is real provision for them. 803 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:50,840 Pray that you would grant that they would come and find 804 00:47:50,840 --> 00:47:55,440 nourishment here at your table. So we ask you, Lord, to come and 805 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:59,160 meet with us and minister to us, and we ask it in the mighty name 806 00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:00,520 of Jesus, Amen.