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[0:00] We are going to look at 1 Peter 2 and you will find that on page 1076.

[0:21] Now earlier on today we were looking at this and we were thinking about the opening part of it. And this evening we are going to read from verse 4 and consider this passage in chapter 2.

[0:40] 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 4. Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious.

[0:54] You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

[1:09] Therefore it is also contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.

[1:28] Therefore, to you who believe he is precious, but to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence.

[1:48] But our text is found in verses 4 and 5. And I want us to think about this in terms of building your life upon Jesus Christ, God's chosen stone.

[2:08] We read there, Coming to him, That is to Jesus, As to a living stone, Rejected indeed by men, But chosen by God and precious.

[2:21] You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, A holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, Acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

[2:36] Being built upon God's chosen stone, Jesus Christ. And one of the things I want to do here by way of introduction is just to think about the whole business of having a sense of belonging.

[2:56] Whether it is in a family situation, Belonging to a family, Whether it is a community, Belonging to a community, I think that the Sky folks, And the Lewis folks will agree, That there is something about belonging, To an island community.

[3:19] I remember once, A certain elder, I won't say more than that, But he had on his car, He hasn't got it now, But he had on his car, Proud to be a Hebridean. And you see, That is a sense of belonging, There is nothing wrong with that.

[3:33] Having a sense of belonging, We all feel that need of belonging. It is important to us. It is true in religious life too.

[3:46] It is true, It is important, for example, To feel a sense of belonging to a religious community. It happens all over the world.

[3:57] People crave a sense of belonging. It is important to them. The proper name for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Is the holy, apostolic, Catholic church, Catholic being universal.

[4:18] And to belong to that is important. Muslim folks, See it as important to belong to what they call the Ummah, Which comprises not only the people, But the land that they live in, To or on.

[4:37] You find it with the Jewish people as well. They refer to themselves as, B'nai Israel, The sons or the children of Israel. They still talk like that.

[4:49] There is that sense of belonging. They see themselves as the children of Israel, In the land of Israel, But in the dispersion, All over the world. You find Jewish people all over the world.

[5:00] But they have that, B'nai Israel, That sons of Israel, Children of Israel, It matters to them. There is a sense of belonging. And you can go on and on like that, And think about religious groupings, Which are important to the people who are in them.

[5:18] At the moment, I am not talking about the most important, I am just talking about a sense of belonging. Both in ordinary and in religious terms.

[5:31] And you know that even secular thinkers and people, They have their community, They have a sense of belonging. They have a society, The society of secularists, Or some such name like that.

[5:46] Atheists as well. They have their community, Their sense of belonging. They define themselves in that way. It's true all over.

[5:59] One has met people, When one has been doing door-to-door work, Particularly on the south side, Where it's easier to do it. One has met pagans, And goths, To name but two more.

[6:15] They have a sense of belonging. In a curious way, Loneers have a community as well, Because they are defined by the term, Loneers.

[6:29] Although it sounds like they are loners, They are not loners, Because loners have a community, And you'll find them in parting. No, it's important to people, To have a sense of belonging, To be built into something.

[6:46] Oh, that's it. Built into something. That's, This is what the introduction is about. This is where we're going. To be built into something, To belong to that group, Or another group.

[7:00] And Peter, You see, The apostle Peter, In this letter, Turns out attention, To belonging, To Christ's, Spiritual temple.

[7:13] To be one of the stones, Of that temple. To be a living stone, Built upon him. You see, That's what it says, Coming to him, As to a living stone.

[7:26] You also, Verse 5, Are living stones, And are being built up, A spiritual house, A holy priesthood.

[7:37] In other words, You have a sense of belonging, In Christ. You are part of that, Spiritual temple, Built on him. That's what Peter is arguing here.

[7:51] And therefore, You see, Being built upon him, Is to be part, Of that community, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Sharing, And, Caring, People, A community, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, Of, The Lord Jesus Christ.

[8:09] And this is an important subject, Because, It considers what it is, To be built upon Christ. Being built upon Christ, You see, Has benefits here, And benefits hereafter.

[8:25] Benefits that are heavenly, And everlasting. I want us therefore to think about a few things that rise up here in the text, verses 4 and 5, And then to draw some practical help from these points we are going to make.

[8:45] The first thing I want to notice is what we might call a negative. A stone rejected by men. Verse 4 tells us, Coming to him, That's to Jesus, As to a living stone, And then it has this clause, Rejected indeed by men.

[9:07] That's our starting point. We're looking at the negative first. A stone rejected by men. Now, I hope that even our young friends here tonight, Twigged, By what we were reading in the book of Psalms, That this idea of a stone, Of a precious stone, A selected stone, A stone chosen by God, All comes from Old Testament picture language.

[9:38] We read it in the book of Psalms, In Psalm 118. And we could have read it in Isaiah 28, At verse 16.

[9:51] We went to the New Testament, To Mark 12, Deliberately, So that you would see, How it's quoted, By Jesus himself, About himself, He is the living stone, But he is the stone, Rejected by men, By the builders, It tells us, By the religious establishment, Among the Jews, Of that day.

[10:20] And so, The first thing we want to look at, In considering, Rejected by men, Is the attitude, Of the Jewish authorities. Now it has to be said, First of all, They listened to him, They went out of their way, To listen to what he had to say, They were aware of his teaching, And his miracles, They considered his approach, To true religion, They weighed what he had to say, Like in a balance, They weighed it, They thought about it, They thought about, The claims being made for him, That he was the Messiah, The prophet who should come into the world, The fulfillment, Of what the Hebrew prophets, Had to say, They listened to all that, But they concluded, That he was not, The Messiah of Israel, That he was not,

[11:23] The true chief corner stone, That's a serious business, Because they were wrong, In their conclusion, But that was their conclusion, And they didn't see him, As suitable, To be built upon, They didn't see that he was, For the Jewish people, And that he should be, Built upon by them, There was no, Build your life, On Messiah Jesus, For them, Thankfully, Not all of them, But the bulk of them, And the authorities, Which is what we're considering, They rejected him, And you see, That is very remarkable, In its own way, That they should reject him, A man whom they knew, Was sent by God, If you look at, The gospel of John, Chapter 3, And verse 2, You'll see there, That there was,

[12:24] A Sanhedrin member, A man of the, Top Jewish council, Called the Sanhedrin, His name was, Nicodemus, He was a, He was a leading, Teacher, In Israel, And, Nicodemus, Came to Jesus, One night, To speak to him, Secretly, Because he feared, That others might, Take issue, Why are you going to him, And Nicodemus, Said this to him, He said, We know, That you are a man, Approved by God, For no one, Could do the miracles, You're doing, Unless, God, Was with him, And, I'm saying, Notice what I said, Were you listening, To the quotation, We know, He, He was referring, To others, As well as himself, We know, That you are a man, Sent by God, But, The other side, Of the coin, There is, But not the Messiah, They rejected him, Not that stone, To build your life on,

[13:25] That's what they were saying, And what they did, In fact, Was they sought, To undermine his teaching, They sought to draw, To drive a wedge, If you like, Between Moses, And Jesus, And Jesus, Had to take issue, With them, And say to them, Effectively, If you were, Really, Really Moses disciples, You would listen to me, And believe me, And follow me, You'll find that, In John 5, From verse 45, And you see, They were so, Firm, In the rejection, Of him, As God's stone, Chosen stone, That eventually, They paid, False witnesses, Witnesses, To lie against him, And then, They had him, Handed over, To Pilate, Pontius Pilate, That's the second, Person, I want to, Think about,

[14:25] In rejected, Indeed, By men, It has, To be said, I remember, This is a wee aside, Just to lighten it a bit, But I remember, A lady, In a, A nursing home, Up in the north, She was from an island, Out of the, North of, Sutherland, And, She was a, A believer, But she, Sometimes could, Because she was old, She got a wee bit, Middled, And I remember, She used to say, Things to me like, Poor Pilate, And poor Judas, Simply because, They, They really, Operated against, Their consciences, And, I often think, When I think about Pilate, About her, Poor Pilate, There's nothing poor about Pilate, It was to his, It's to his everlasting shame, That although he judged, That Jesus was innocent, Of the charges, He, Had the final say, On what was to happen,

[15:26] At a human level, And he handed him over, To be crucified, All that he knew, About Jesus, And he knew plenty, It was his business, To know, He was the governor, In the area, And all that he knew, About Jesus, Didn't prevent him, Rejecting Jesus, This Pilate, Who said, I find no fault in him, This Pilate, Who washed his hands, In public, To let everybody see, It's not me, That same, Pilate, Officially, Handed him over, To be crucified, Rejected, Indeed, By men, And it is amazing, That many of the crowd, We're thinking now, About the crowd, Of Jewish people, Who had witnessed, His coming into Jerusalem, You know, The triumphal entry, The loud Hosannas,

[16:27] From the children, And the people, Many of the crowd, Who blessed God, For them, Were among those, Who cried, Crucify him, Away with him, Rejected, Indeed, By men, But we've got to bring, This up to date, This is not just, About the past, This is up to date, Stuff, Too, Because, There are the modern day, Rejectors of Jesus, And they're in, The religious, And political, Establishments, The Islamic world, Rejects him, By relegating him, To being simply, A prophet, But inferior, To their prophet, They relegate him, They don't recognize, Who he is, As the son of God,

[17:28] They don't accept it, They don't recognize, The work he came to do, And the offices, He fulfilled, And fulfills, He is the prophet, The priest, And the king, He was, And he is still, The prophet, Priest, And king of his people, And they reject all that, Rejected indeed, By men, Modern men, All the way down, From the top, To the lower end, Rejected by men, The broad church, Rejects him, That is to say, They reject, His identity, As the son of God, The eternal son, Who became man, They'll not have it, They'll not have, The biblical message, About his death, That he was there, Making atonement, Offering himself, As sacrifice for sin, In order that we might, Be brought to God, Through trusting him,

[18:29] And the broad church, Rejects that message, The Roman church too, Adds to his work, And it is a simple equation, That denies him, His rightful place, It adds, To his work, It's like saying, His work is not enough, On its own, The political establishment, Today, The world over, In the main, Rejects him, Rejects, His people, And by definition, Rejects him, Nowadays, Folk, In nursing, Who are Christians, And doctors, They can't, Easily talk about Jesus, To their patients, I was reading, Just the other day, A report that came in, Christian concern, For the nation,

[19:30] Where, Where a doctor, Was hauled over the coals, For simply, Trying to help, A patient, To see the benefit, Of, Of, Of praying to Jesus, And of casting, Their burden upon him, And it's happening, All over the place, And many other ways, People, Are rejecting him, Rejected indeed, By men, That's the point, We're making, And this, Could be developed, No doubt further, But you see, This is a dreadful thing, To be rejected, By men, To reject, That precious, Stone, And therefore, It's important, To you and me, To think about ourselves, In relation to him, Well am I sitting here tonight, And in fact, By, By the very fact, That I don't, Openly profess him, That I'm on his side, That I accept him, As God's chosen stone, I'm actually rejecting him,

[20:33] Maybe without realizing it, Altogether, But see the second point, We're going to look at, A stone chosen, By God, Coming to him, As a living stone, Rejected indeed, By men, But look secondly, Chosen by God, And precious, He's chosen by God, Both the Savior himself, And the apostles, Emphasized, That Jesus was the chosen, The elect of God, From before the world began, They, They, They, They, They cut the corners, They come straight to the point, There's no embarrassment, It was part of God's eternal purpose, That he, Should, Be, That, Chief cornerstone, Upon which the spiritual temple, Will be built, And like we said to the children,

[21:36] A moment ago, We read in the book of Psalms, For that very reason, We read in Mark 12, 10, For that very reason, Jesus told the parable, Of the wicked, Vine dressers, Now, I don't want to get into this too far, But I just want to remind you, That Israel was the vine, That was tended by God, Looked after by God, And instead of bringing forth, Good fruit, It brought forth bad fruit, And the leaders, You see, Had a, Had a key role, They were to do all they could, To make sure, The vine produced, Good fruit, And when God, The parable, It simply, It's just a parable, In the sense that, You can't take every part of it, But the gist of it is, That God, Expected fruit, Good fruit,

[22:37] From that vine, And when he sent his, His servants, To collect the fruit, The prophets, Through their ministry, There was none, And the people, Who were leaders, Opposed them, And last of all, Jesus came, They'll reverence my son, They'll respect him, And they didn't, They refused to accept, As we've seen, That he, Was indeed, The chief cornerstone, Chosen by God, And precious, An interesting reference, In this connection, Because it has to do, With the apostolic, Preaching, Is Acts 4.10, The, The, Peter and John, Urged the Jewish council, To turn, From, Their, Wrong way of seeing things, Because,

[23:38] Because they were in danger, Of fulfilling the prophet, The stone, Which the builders, Rejected, Has become, The chief cornerstone, It's quoted, A little bit further down here, Verse 7, And in Acts, 4.10, They knew that, The apostles knew that, Peter and John knew it, And they pleaded, With their, With their brethren, With their Jewish people, To, To, To stop and think, About what they were doing, Don't make this dreadful mistake, He is the chosen of God, This same Jesus, Whom you've crucified, God has made him, Both Lord, And Messiah, He's a choice stone, God has placed him, Permanently placed him, In Zion, See there in verse 6, Behold, I lay in Zion, A chief cornerstone,

[24:39] A lake that is chosen, And precious, And were to come to him, And believe on him, As the scripture says, I lay him in Zion, You remember, That I was telling you, I'm talking to the young ones here, You remember I was saying, When we sang, Psalm 65, Praise waits for you in Zion, Zion's not about, An earthly establishment, It's about a spiritual kingdom, It's about the kingdom, The spiritual temple, Of the Lord Jesus, And it uses, The Old Testament picture, Of Mount Zion, Which is still there, In Jerusalem, You can go and visit the site, In Old Jerusalem, It's there, And it uses that picture, Of something far more permanent,

[25:42] And significant, The spiritual temple, Into which, God the Father set his son, I lay him, I place him, I place him, Carefully, As a chief cornerstone, For the spiritual temple, To be built upon him, I like the, The, The, The, The actual meaning, Of the word Zion, I don't suppose I've ever said it, But, Zion in the Hebrew, Is a sunny, A sunny place, Or a sunny mountain, In other words, It's full of light, And that's significant, Because that's, That's, What marks out, The spiritual temple of God, It's full of light, God is in the midst of it, The Lord God has given us light, We read that at the end, Of Psalm 118, God is the Lord, Who has given us light,

[26:45] Behold I lay him, Says the Father, In Zion, And he is a chief cornerstone, And more than that, He's chosen by me, And precious, That's why, We're to come to him, We're to come to him, And we are to receive him, And build our lives, Upon him, He is not a dead stone, I'm not sure if you've been to Jerusalem, But if you haven't, Anyway, There's an old, Butress wall, Called the, Western wall, You sometimes see, Jewish people, When you get a wee flash of, Old Jerusalem, The western wall, Is actually not the wall, Of the temple, Or anything, It's a, Butress wall, But the stones in it, Are huge, That's the point, I want to make, They're absolutely huge, And they give you an idea,

[27:48] Of what the temple stones, Were like, Mega, Bigger than this, Area I'm standing, One stone, But Jesus is not a dead stone, He's a living stone, And he's building, A living temple, And he's building people into it, And they're not going around, With some sign in their head, I'm a living stone, Their lives are to show that, But as surely, As they've come to Jesus, They're part, Of that living temple, Because they live, In him, Upon whom they've been built, And that's why, It's important to know, That we've come to him, And that we're building, Our lives, Upon him, Having faith in him, Trusting him,

[28:48] See what it says there, In verse 6, Just for a moment, He who believes, On him, And that means, She as well, Will by no means, Be put to shame, He is chosen, By God, And precious, And it is in him, We are brought into, Not only, Spiritual life, And eternal life, But we're brought into, A living relationship, With God, We become part, Of that spiritual temple, And we have, If we've never thought about it, A right, To have a real, Sense, Of belonging, Belonging, That's what the, We spiel, At the beginning, A sense of belonging, Was all about, We have a sense, Of belonging, Belonging, Yes to the Lord, But belonging, To his temple, And belonging, To his people, We belong together,

[29:49] I can't remember, That wee, Cartoon, But there was a wee song, In it, We belong together, Together we shall be, There's a real sense, In which that's true, And ought to be true, For the Lord's people, We're built on him, We're built on, The Lord Jesus Christ, The chosen of God, The precious of God, We're built on him, As living stones, That's why, The doctrine of the apostles, Is important to us, Because of the doctrine, The teachings of Jesus, And we're built on these, We're built up on these, We're built up in his worship, And service, As living stones, Like I said a moment ago, Unfortunately for us, We haven't got a wee, Sticker on our head, I'm a living stone, But it ought to be true, In our lives, We ought to reflect,

[30:51] That we are, Built on Jesus, That we are indwelt, By his spirit, And the temple, We're thinking about, Is not an earthly temple, With great kindness, To many Christians, In the world, Who are, Doing all they can, To get the temple, Rebuilt in Jerusalem, It misses the whole point, The temple, The temple is being built, It's a temple, Not made with hands, It's a temple, Being built by God, We don't need, A material temple, God is building, A holy dwelling place, For himself, In his people, We are, We are, Says Peter here, We are, We are, Verse 5, We are, Being built a spiritual house, There's it, Spelt out for us, And a holy priesthood, To offer up,

[31:52] Spiritual sacrifices, Acceptable to God, Through, Jesus Christ, You see, We don't need priests, Either, The minister, The minister is, One of yourselves, He's a teacher, That's what he's, Paid to do, To be a teacher, And a pastor, But, But he's not elevated, Into a priestly role, We are, We are, If we're in Christ, If we're built on him, We are, A priesthood of believers, And our service, To the Lord, And our worship of him, Like this, Is a spiritual offering, And we're to see it that way, Now I'm very conscious, That time has gone on, And a lot of what I was going to say, And develop there, I'll just leave, But the important thing here to see, Is that we are, To be, Built on the Lord Jesus Christ,

[32:54] As the one who is chosen of God, And precious, Our lives are to be built upon him, As surely as we've come to him, It is to be, What we should be, In him, And for him, In our lives, Serving him, Remember what Paul said, And this, This connects with the whole idea, Of, Of being, Spiritual stones, Built on Jesus, My beloved brethren, He said, I beseech you, I plead with you, By the mercies of God, That you present, Your bodies, A living sacrifice, Or a lived out, Sacrifice, Holy, And acceptable to God, Which is, Your, Spiritual worship, Your reasonable service, You owe it to him, And much more besides, But it is, It ought to be a privilege to us,

[33:57] That we are part of that, Temple being built by God, Built upon Jesus, The great chief cornerstone, The precious one to God, That's what makes him, Precious, To us who believe, And our spiritual offerings, In our life of service, Will please God, Simply because, They are acceptable to God, Verse 5, Through Jesus Christ, And therefore, As we leave this, It's important to think about, About coming to him, About trusting him, About resting in him, In order that we, Live for him in this world, Being built upon him, And you see, We are to go on, Building, Having been placed, If you like, In the spiritual temple,

[34:59] By God, In his grace, We are to go on, Building, Our life is to be, Is to be built upon him, I remember a wee chorus, Just now, Build your life, On the Lord Jesus Christ, And the blessings, Will come down, That's the way, It should be, We are building, Upon him, And thank God, He is building, Us, Who believe, He doesn't give up, On us, He doesn't reject us, He doesn't look at us, And say, Not fit for purpose, But he builds us, Upon Christ, And he works on us, And develops us, And that's why, John, As we finish this, That's why John, In the book of Revelation, Sees the heavenly Jerusalem, The Zion of God, The holy spiritual temple, Finished at last, Like a wonderful, Temple,

[36:01] With walls, And it is built, With the most, Wonderful materials, And it looks, Fantastic, Fantastic, What better way, To illustrate, Sheer beauty, And magnificence, Than to use, The most costly things, You can imagine, Diamonds, And pearls, And all the other, Precious stones, And gold, And so on, To convey to us, Something, Absolutely fantastic, And my dear friends, That's what, It is about, Being built, On Christ, And building, Having a concern, To be built up, On the most holy faith, In him, And it is in this way, We see why, We need to be, A channel of blessing, To others around us, We want others, To be built into Christ, The great, Chief, Cornerstone,

[37:01]  Chosen by God, Yes, Though rejected, Sadly, By men, In the past, And in the present, Too, But to us, Who believe, He is precious, Well, May we think about, What it is then, To build our lives, Upon God's, Chosen stone, The Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen, Amen,