1 Peter 2:4-12: (Building The Exile's Identity)

Good morning, I It's an honor again to be able to bring

God's Word to this church this morning and I think this is my my third time being able to do so since we've moved here since you moved here, right?

but it it's at least the fourth or fifth time overall and it Should be my last for a while as most of you know

I'm leaving in a couple of weeks to go to Fort Jackson literally two weeks To go to Fort Jackson to begin my chaplain training for the army and at least for the next three years

I'm gonna be on active duty ministering to God's people in the

United States Army at Fort Bragg and It's it's a tremendous calling. It's a blessed opportunity.

It's scary too and It's it's a different world now fortunately

God has Has in his Providence Ordained that I would have already been in the military for eight years

So I have a little bit of that culture kind of in me and a little bit of an understanding I've never been on active duty though.

And so maybe I should actually have more of a conversation with with Kendall Did you come to faith in the military while you were in after that doesn't make it as easy if I didn't have the conversation

I've seen many people not of faith on active duty and It is a tough field for sure

But today our focus is going to be on first Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 12

Last Sunday, we were in chapter 1 verse 22 through chapter 2 verse 3

And so we're continuing in this little study on a section in Peter's letter

And as you're gonna see today, this is chock full of so much goodness

That it's it's just it really is a shame that I I can't sit here with you for like seven weeks and just dissect this passage and I did a disservice to myself in Preparation by listening to Pastor John MacArthur and his expositing of this section, which he took seven weeks to do so I You know once again

It's a problem when we do that as pastors because we read like a big book on it or we listen to a sermon series I say, oh, that's really good.

They need to hear that. Well, that's really good. They need to hear that. Well, that's great They need to hear that too. No, but but he took seven or eight weeks to do it.

I have 50 minutes I have an hour, but I'm gonna do my my best here So as I was preparing the message though for this week a key term later on at the later point

About around Thursday or Friday that there was a term that's not directly in the text

But I believe is derived from it that kept popping into my head It's not a term that was even around Really in in Roman times.

It wasn't actually Used I think the first time is used about like 1540 AD and the word that kept popping into my head as I'm reading this passage though is identity

Identity now that's a term that we understand today sort of the definition for identity that I think is best is summed up in three simple words who

Who you are? That's what identity is who you are or who I am if we're talking in a collective sense a plurality

It would be who we are or who you plural are And while identity might be easily defined by three simple words strung together

It's actually quite a bit more difficult to then ponder and seek the answer to that very question

Who am I? Who are we I know we like, you know might want to joke about some kind of philosopher

Sitting off in a hut somewhere on the top of a mountain Speculating to this question or pondering those questions.

Who am I? Who are we? What are we doing? What are we here for and we'd like to make jokes about that and maybe even funny stories or anecdotes of it or whatever and Say, oh, well, that's because they don't have to work for a living.

But the reality is almost everybody You know,

I'm gonna actually I'm gonna I'm gonna know I'm gonna nullify the almost there everybody Everybody asks those questions at some point in their life

Everybody sometimes is asking those questions Constantly and coming up with different answers at some point in their life maybe popping in and out of different identities

Throughout the course of weeks or months or years. In fact, there's a there's a there's a counseling and psychologist

Sort of book that's used to help diagnose Mental issues and psychological issues that people have it's called the

DSM I think it's the diagnostic and statistic manual or something like that, right? It's in the fifth edition whatever it might be and it's it's believe me.

It's it's a secular It's a worldly book. And so it's got a lot of problems with it but something I found was interesting is they had a

Category for identity disorder or identity confusion in the

DSM 3 So that I don't know when that was published or whatever But they're in the DSM 5 now and they actually got rid of it

They got rid of the entry for identity disorder because they said everybody has one

Everybody has one so we can't really just define it and then categorize it for specific individuals when they come in for counseling because Everybody who comes into counseling and really anybody who doesn't come in has an identity disorder that they're working through That was their conclusion.

And yeah, I think they're right on that I really believe that we all every single one of us

Struggles with identity crises and disorders. This happens a lot because Changes occur often in our lives

Moving to new homes job loss divorce whether ourselves or parents or loved ones going through that divorce sir for children

Changing schools or changing grades going from elementary to middle to high school and then changing schools even in the middle of that friends moving away

Medical issues, especially life -altering medical issues deaths of loved ones

Natural disasters major geopolitical upheavals that make us feel like we're just uncertain.

What's gonna happen with me and my family I'm sure you can think of others that have caused personality crises or disorders in your own life

But as a wise man once said I'll let you figure out who it was. You'll probably know there is nothing that is new under the

Sun There's no new thing under the Sun And so when we're talking about identity crises about who we are what we are what we do why we're here

He wrote that 3 ,000 years ago, and he was correct identity crises is

Nothing new under the Sun It afflicts us It afflicts everybody around us all the generations before us and all the generations after us will continue to be asking those questions

As we think about identity crises Let's look at Peter's audience that he's talking to here that he's writing to in this section in this chapter

It's in this book. I should say Remember he calls them in the beginning exiles and sojourners

He doesn't do that just at the beginning, but he does that multiple times throughout his letter We're actually gonna read about another time when he does that today in verse.

I think it's 11. Yes in verse 11 So he's calling them exiles and sojourners

What do you think's going on in their lives? That's gonna cause like this upheaval of identity for them.

I Mean these yes, they're undergoing persecution. They're undergoing upheaval as we talked about last week

These are people who probably for the most part never even found a footing in Roman Greco -Roman society at all

Like there were a few Aristocats and there are a few of the like the upper crest Romans who did come into the church

But the vast majority were from the the outskirts of society and as we talked about last week in Roman culture you could be part of a community you could be part of a

Family if you will that was run by like a single male figure But you could only do so if you were totally completely subservient submissive and obedient to that individual and At the center of that life.

I didn't really talk about this last week, but Rome Was an incredibly religious culture.

It was it's very religious They just happened to worship many many many many false gods and at the center of family life were deific deific deific

God gods and goddess statues That everybody in that social circle stemming from that one male would have to be kind of united by now

It was okay You could go out and worship some other god or goddess if you wanted to but you had to have an allegiance

To the one that the father of that social circle was worshiping and adoring But these people who are already on the fringe of society and are kind of just like clinging to some kind of identity in their

Roman Culture many of them slaves and wage workers and stuff like that now they've come to Christ.

They've come to the church They've come to have this obedience and allegiance that means I cannot have faith in any of those idols anymore

They're as Peter calls them now going to be exiled Not necessarily physically

You know I mean everybody still wanted to have their slaves and their wage workers and people on the fringes that they could

Utilize for whatever purposes but in their social treatment and their social ostracization they were going to be exiled and Then as was mentioned someone yelled it out.

It's absolutely true They are also undergoing at this point an intensification of persecution now that can come in in many different forms

James White who's an apologist, and he has an apologetics program called a dividing line He actually talked about this one of his recent programs.

He said what's the most effective way of persecution to the church to a Christian? He said well

Often we think of like the quick painful programs You know the the crucifixions the burnings at the stakes the torturing stuff like that But the reality is that those types of persecutions levied against Christians are not ultimately that effective

Christians have been shown throughout the ages in history to be able to withstand those and actually increase in their faith the most insidious form of persecution though has been from the

Islamic faith against the Christians and What do the what did the Islam's do in history against the

Christians it is just outright kill them and maim them But they socially ostracized them, and they said if you're going to be a

Christian yes, you can live in our community But you're going to pay a higher tax You're not going to be able to serve in political social functions you won't be able to go to the marketplace and get the

Premium products that every other Muslim or Islamic person will be able to get You won't be able to enter into marriages.

You won't be able to move up in society You're always and forever you and your children if you're main

Christians You're going to be on the outskirts on the outskirts, and we're going to push you down because Northern Africa a

Thousand years ago 1 ,200 1 ,300 years ago is 90 % Christian and now it's 98 %

Muslim Why did that happen because of that systemic pressure that have been brought upon them?

And so I think that when Peter's talking about persecution. Yes. He's thinking about the Neronian persecutions that are going to come in the intensification the pain that they're going to have to endure, but there's also this insidious slow -cooking

Persecution that puts a lot of pressure so these exiles and sojourners Peter is writing to are undergoing

Issues and pressures and social pains that are that can very easily

Cause them to have an identity crisis But Peter will not let that happen to these

Saints and us reading his letter today Because we have a lot of the same pressures where we can have a lot of the same pressures in very different ways

When we read these letters we can also find this assurance and confidence in our Identity in Christ that will hold us stable as we got to sing about this morning.

How beautiful was that? So let's talk about a few different ways that Peter focuses on what

I would call identity assurance in this text Let's read this together and then

I'll come back to it first Peter chapter 2 verse 4 through 12 He writes this as you come to him

This is Christ a living stone rejected by men But in the sight of God chosen and precious you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house

To be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ For it stands in Scripture Behold, I am laying and Zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame

So the honors for you who believe but for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense

They stumble because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do Wow Romans 9 there but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession so that you may proclaim the

Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light Once you were not a people, but now you are

God's people Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

Beloved I urge you as sojourners in exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles Honorable so that when they speak against you as evildoers

They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Please pray with me

Heavenly Father. I pray echoing Pastor Kendall and Pastor Derek have prayed up here saying about here and That our minds and our hearts just our wills just be ready to receive your word

That our Identities would be found in in in this and what we just read the cornerstone of Christ our identity as your people our identity as holy as royal priests

Living to bring to bring living spiritual sacrifices To you as we bring worship and praise and adulation

We open our mouths and we proclaim your excellencies and in the process we display your glory

We display your glory So that the world will see and will know

Lord, I pray that we would be conformed to this word ready to receive it. So the first thing

I want us to see It's actually not in the passage I read this morning, but it's in the previous couple of verses

But I think it's really important and I talked about it touched on it last week But I want to kind of bring it in as a hinge into this week is that when we talk about identity assurance

The first thing is that identity assurance comes from the unfailing authority of God's Word in our life

Let me say that again. Our identity assurance comes from the unfailing authority of God's Word in our life

So as we looked at last week He reminds them in the verse that's just previous this or I should say two verses previous.

Let me read that He says so put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander and he says this verse 2

I love it like newborn infants long Long or crave for the pure milk of the word you might have a translation

It says the pure spiritual milk. It's really the best translation for it is the pure milk of the word

I'm not gonna go into why that is but it just is please trust me on that right now It says that by it you may grow up into salvation

If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good So he's saying like a baby like a young baby at the youngest of the youngest babies

You can think of coming out of the womb and they begin to open their mouth because they're hungry and not only because they're hungry

But it's just been ingrained in their minds I need to open my mouth and learn how to use this thing in order to get life -sustaining milk for my mother

It's just like it's part of their mind. Even if they're not physically hungry God has so crafted and created babies that that's what their mouths and their brains are gonna do and not much else

Like the first three months. That's why we call it the fourth trimester, which doesn't really make sense but we call it the fourth trimester because they don't do much of anything except for lay around poop makes stinky diapers and Then eat and then sleep.

That's it But in order to eat they open their mouths they cry they scream and they just know how to do it and they crave for their mother's milk and Peter's point here is to be like that baby when it comes to the

Word of God Crave it be satisfied in it and then crave it more crave

Satisfy chew on it. Think about it crave satisfy. That's our lives. That's the paradigm in the pattern of our lives

That's it. And I I Did that I got to be honest with you

I did that this week and it was oh, it was just awesome It was awesome. I wish like I my sermon could be 48 pages and minimum right now like if I really wanted to be because I've read these these these papers and I'm listening to these messages in these books about like covenant theology and kingdom theology and And all of that has been so saturated in the word it's doctrine in theology that's been built up by the word and point you back to the word and Encourage you to go back and to read the scriptures again, and it brings out just so much richness and fruitfulness that I hope

I can just show some of it in The sermon today because it was so edifying for my soul and made me want to go back for even more and just to think

About it even more and to read it even more do it. It's it's awesome Nice Peter gives three reasons

For for our need to be Assured our identity to be assured from the unfailing authority of God's Word The first is that the preaching of the gospel is what gave you new life

He says that back in chapter 1 verse 23 for through 25 He said since you have been born again

And then he says the way that you're born again is not a perishable seed but of imperishable Says through the living and abiding

Word of God You've been born again by the Word of God and then down at verse 25 He says and this word is the good news that was preached to you

You were born again into salvation and to God's people and God's kingdom because someone preached the word to you

Or someone gave you the word to read Most likely it was a combination of both.

It was the preaching and the reading and the chewing on the hearing of the word That's how the

Spirit moved in you because the Spirit not only just comes upon you and gives you new life The Spirit's the one who authored these words as well

So the Spirit is not going to give you new life apart from the very words that he authored he's going to bring these words to your heart and soul give you new life and Sovereignly in the election of God through the before the foundation of the world you were chosen by him

But in time the Spirit came upon you and gave you new life. It's beautiful Because the implication is this you literally have new life through the

Word of God That's why it needs to be the the the place of our assurance It needs to be the the authority of our assurance because it was through the authorship of this word that brought authorship of new life to us

It's just this amazing way that God works Well at one point in time in your life

You were walking around Breathing God's air living in God's world

Using God's mechanics of your eyes to see and blink in the brain that God gave you to think and you were doing so as a

God hater You might not have you probably wouldn't have characterized yourself that way I know that I wouldn't have but the reality is

I was doing all that as a God despiser as a God Rejector as a rebel against him as someone who is living with sin controlling my heart

That's how I was living with millions of breaths Coming out and coming in and all of this body doing whatever

I was doing and living how I was living That's how I was walking around at one point But then through the proclamation of this word through the reading of this word

I can't tell you the exact minute the exact moment But at some point the Spirit knows what exact moment it was that he came upon me and he alive in my soul

He quickened it to use a beautiful reformed word and he brought life to me and suddenly my breaths were not breaths of a non -believer a rebel but the breaths of a child of God and That's the same for you

At some point at some point you didn't believe but now you believe at some point you were not confessing your sins

But you confess your sins at some point you weren't repenting But now you repent at some point you didn't believe in this the atoning sacrifice of Christ but now you believe and you see his scarred hands and scarred feet and you say he paid my sin and His righteousness is what

I'm gonna boast in that's it and And I think one of the best visual ways

I might have already shared I'm gonna share it again is to say at one point if you went up to the gates of heaven and God says

Why should I let you into my kingdom at one point as a non -believer you might have made arguments like well,

I'm a good person I'm not that evil. I've done a lot of good things God That might have been some of the arguments yet you may but now because of your faith in Christ and in Christ alone

When you go up to that day when God asks you why should you be allowed into the kingdom?

You're just gonna look at the the scarred hands scarred feet of Jesus say that's why he's why and that's it

At one point you breathe the former life But now you breathe life in Christ and that came through the preaching the hearing responding to the

Word of God So that's one reason needs to be the the authority of our identity assurance

The next reason why the gospel needs to be the authority of our identity insurance is because the Word of God is permanent

The Word of God is eternal and everlasting Peter quotes Isaiah chapter 40 verses 6 through 8 here

He says all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower fails

Falls, excuse me, but the Word of the Lord remains forever I'm reminded of as we're driving down 93 this morning

I you know, she's just seeing the buds in bloom and she's beautiful spring is beautiful I never really noticed the colors of spring

I think until this year We always talk about the colors of fall But there's a lot of beautiful colors of spring to the reds the yellows the oranges

And of course the greens and there's different shades of green is beautiful. It's wonderful and We just think about this just coming into bloom now

It's just budding and once that flower is full the trees are gonna be so thick and you're gonna be able to sit under their

Shade being protected from the heat of the Sun. It's just wonderful But the leaf is gonna fall when fall comes and The grass that's blooming with all of these wild flowers is gonna die

It's gonna be covered by ice and snow. It's gonna turn to mud and there will be no flowers there

The point here that Isaiah is saying and Peter's echoing is the Word of God is the only thing that will stand firm

Rome will not The the fatherhood community that you belong to in Roman society that will not

His name will not endure it might seem powerful now Maybe it's even in the spring of its power and it's only gonna grow more powerful, but it will die and it will flounder

And it will fail but the Word of God will remain and the Word of God may seem weak

It seems like nobody cares about it. We talked about this last week So I won't go into it in full depth, but that will endure this will stand and Peter's right

Isaiah's right and you better believe that it's been 2 ,000 years now. It's been really longer than that It's been like 3 ,500 years to be honest since it was first recorded down for us

But let's just say 2 ,000 years since the completion of God's written word It's been 2 ,000 years

I know people keep on saying that the death of God's Word is coming the death of God's words coming We're gonna get rid of it because of science or because of whatever because of secularism or secular philosophy.

It's not gonna happen They're gonna fail. They're gonna flounder

They're gonna wither all of their ideas and if we continue on for thousands more years There will be someone else 2 ,000 years later coming with some new philosophy new theory new political system and talking about how this is antiquated and they'll be wrong then too

So that's why it has to be the authority of our identity assurance and then the third reason that the

Word of God needs to be the Authority is because the gospel of God's Word brings God's people into the presence of Christ It brings us into the presence of Christ and Peter makes that Absolutely clear notice how he moves here from verse 2 and verse 3 to verse 4.

It's just this He just he just assumes the reality of Christ's presence

So he talks about longing for the the milk of the word that we grow up into salvation

Which is the thing that gave birth to our salvation and he says if indeed you have tasted that the

Lord is good So there's this visceral image of what it means to come to God's Word and then in verse 4

He just says so nonchalantly. I love it. He says as you come to him as You come to him.

Well, what's the antecedent to this? Coming to his word It's the the word focusness of the entire entirety of chapter 1 leads right into verse 4 of chapter 2

And so the point is when we are under the Word of God Specifically in community to like in this context right here

Hearing the Word of God preach reading together being in fellowship in community while we are understanding and learning from God's Word while we're doing that We are actually coming into the presence of Christ we're not just coming to the presence of a page to ink or scroll or anything like that, but of a person and That person happens to be the

Lord of all glory in the universe so That leads us to our next point of identity assurance.

So the first one's identity assurance is built upon the authority of God's Word Secondly identity assurance is found in Christ alone

That's the point of the word the word supposed to bring us into relationship with Christ. There's If we just read this as an academic or his story you can read this as a historical pursuit

Many do and they're brilliant minds They understand this

Like on a historical level they get the facts They know more about it than Derek Kendall and me combined and they could turn to someplace in the

Old Testament tell you about all the archaeological digs and all the pottery and they can tell you about the way that the economy was set up at the time and the

Way that the military strategy was really set up in the way that the ranks would march forward or something like that They can give you so much beautiful historical context and there's value in that But the reality is when they come to the

Word of God They study it just as a historical text and not as a living document that brings us into the presence of the living

Christ We can't do that Peter won't allow us to do that So the authority of God's Word then brings us to find our identity assurance in Christ alone

Let me read this again verse 4 and in verse 5

He says as you come to him a living stone Rejected by men but in the sight of God Chosen and precious says you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ For a stance in Scripture and this is where Peter now is quoting from Isaiah Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame

So What is Peter talking about here when he says we as we come to Christ and Christ is the cornerstone now what a lot of pastors preachers

Writers will do is they'll say well when we talk about Christ being the cornerstone it means that our our morality our behavior our ethics come directly from his teaching and And I don't want to discount that I believe that's true

And when I read and hear the Sermon on the mouth, that's that's Christ giving commanded ethics for his people

There's no question about it There's there's a morality that we ought to follow as Christians that flows from the teachings and the authority of Christ So that is true

But I don't think that's Peter's main point here in talking about Christ as the cornerstone

When Peter is speaking about Christ as the cornerstone here I think that the point is

Christ is the the center he is the key he is the

He is the measuring stick or the plumb line there's another word that the scriptures use in order to evaluate all of redemptive history in Order to understand all of Scripture.

I think that's what Peter's point here So the reason I say that is because a cornerstone Is something that builders would lay down as the foundation to the foundation

So as you're going to build up the house, you need to lay a foundation first and we all in this

I believe I'm not A builder. I'm not mechanically inclined or anything I would have no idea you gave me wood and you could give me a foundation and wood in the instruction manual and all of That and I'm gonna wreck it.

I'm gonna mess it up But I understand that if you just take wood and you just try putting it in the dirt

It's just not gonna work out like you need to have a foundation now today we pour foundations, right?

Is that the right word for the more like manly men and then me? Yeah, so you pour a foundation now, but in the past you have to lay foundations

You have to actually get stones massive stones and it's a to lay it out Now the problem with laying out stones is that they're different in size and density and shape and like thickness

So that's that's what kind of makes it hard like how do you choose what stones to lay out for the foundation? So what they would do is they would have a stone that was called a cornerstone and they would cut it to the perfect dimensions that it needed to be cut to and and they would form it and fashion it and say all of the rest of the foundation is gonna be built off of this cornerstone

And not only the foundation but the entire structure of the house. It's the stone that sets the angles is the most literal way of Translating that word.

It's the stone that sets the angles and I think Peter's point here And again, like I think it's appropriate to talk about that is setting the angles for the ethics of our lives

I think that's fine and right But I think Peter's point here is that Christ is the cornerstone sets the angles for all of Scripture for all of redemptive history,

I think that's Peter's main point you could disagree with me on it, but Okay, what we can argue after the service

So, let me give a couple of examples of how Christ is the cornerstone of God's history of redemption in the scriptures

Let me just give three and then maybe a fourth that I was really excited to think about this week But here's one

We go back to Genesis 3. How do we understand Genesis chapter 3? I know Kendall loves

Genesis chapter 3 And so he'll talk to you about it for hours So will

I but in Genesis chapter 3 there's this section and you know, it's it's amazing like at the beginning of Like the readership of Genesis chapter 3 like it must have been a little bit confusing because in Genesis chapter 3

God's laying out curses This is a horrible moment He's laying out curses against Adam and against Eve and against the serpent

And while he's laying out curses because of their sin and because of the serpents deception He's laying out curses against the serpent who is the embodiment of Satan the accuser at that time.

He says to him He says to the serpent that I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring

Then he says he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel I mean like you read that you're okay and then you honestly you pick it up right in Scripture and you have

Cain and Abel and then you have this godly line of Seth and you have this line of Cain and You look at that and I that's that's a fulfillment

But I mean Cain killed Abel so Cain didn't just strike the heel of Abel.

He he crushed Abel. He killed him and Abel didn't kill Cain In fact,

I mean eventually God judges the line of Cain and all of that and the flood But it's not as though like the seed of the woman does that God on high does that so who is this seed?

I would make the suggestion that Scripture is a an unpacking of who the seed is

Really is all of Israel's history all of the covenantal history the Mosaic laws and the covenants the period of the judges the period of the

Kings the periods of the exile the period of the Return to the land even the intertestamental period though We don't have recorded in Scripture.

All of it is asking this question that's posed in Genesis chapter 3. Who's the seed? and the answer is

Christ Christ is the cornerstone that brings understanding to that promise and the prophecy that God lays out there in the beginning and at the fall and Then what is what does

Christ do? I? mean This is this isn't just making up this this happened

Christ goes up to the hill of the skull Golgotha where he's crucified and the blood is literally dripping off of his heel and his feet because he's been

Wounded in his feet and his hands and as the blood stripping down and it's it's falling onto the earth on the place of the skull

Satan doesn't realize but his heads being crushed And why is his head being crushed?

because from the beginning Satan has been an accuser and What Satan could do from the beginning after the fall

I should say from the fall what Satan could do is he could look at any single human being and Say to God you have to judge him

God. You have to judge her God. You can't save them Because you said you were gonna judge them

Lord, and if you don't judge them You're gonna violate your word, and you can't violate your word because God they're a sinner

Because God I made them a sinner you tried creating them good, but I corrupted them

You know it I know it even they know it if they'll be honest with themselves and God you can't redeem them

You know what Satan had flawless logic God said that he was going to judge God said that he was going to exile humanity from God's presence

So how could God all of a sudden bring them back to his presence without violating his word? Satan had an a lock tight accusation

Until he wounded the heel of Christ and Christ crushed his head Because now if Satan comes in front of God and says

I accuse Scott. He's a sinner The Lord's gonna look at Christ and say yes,

Scott's a sinner, but he paid for his sins and So now Satan has lost his power to accuse his head his mouth has a little been crushed

And he can't accuse you anymore Because the heel of Christ was wounded, but the head of Satan was crushed under that heel

So that's how Christ is the cornerstone of that promise. Oh, man. I just can we just go through the whole Old Testament at this point

What about the covenant with Abram? Built up some lofty promises right numerous descendants multitude of descendants.

They were gonna have a land to call home They're gonna be a blessing to the nations What an amazing covenant and then you know like it's partially fulfilled

There's a lot of Israelites who come from Abraham's loins but They're countable.

I mean there's a whole book in the Old Testament called numbers because they're counted They go into the land of promise they conquer it

But not fully There's still pockets of those whom God said to eradicate and remove them and there's all that's kind of guy

I'm cool with just kind of having what we have right now. We'll just let them be so they don't conquer the land in full and Then they do act sort of as a blessing to some nations

And we think of we think of like Ruth the Moabitess who actually ends up being brought into the covenant people of God We think of a

Rahab from Jericho the Gentile a non -israelite That's a being brought to the covenant people of God.

So like those things happen and they occur Or the Gentiles really blessed through the worship of God and all honesty

Really the way it works is most Gentiles actually influence and impact the Israelites as they end up bringing in worship of Molech and Asherah and other false and foreign gods

So you think about this covenant with Abraham? lofty promises multitude and uncountable descendants a land to call home blessing to the nations and Yet Israel ends up being a fractured torn apart defeated and exiled nation

Who is adopting the practices of the world around them rather than influencing the world and blessing the world around them?

So Israel doesn't fulfill the covenant expectations that are given to Abraham But who does?

Christ Christ becomes again the cornerstone that fulfills and helps us understand and interpret all of the covenant with Abraham see he ends up being perfect in obedience in his righteousness that ends up leading to a

Multitude that is uncountable when John gets his lofty vision of heaven in the book of Revelation He sees uncountable multitudes.

Who are those multitudes? There are people who are worshiping the Lamb because they've been covered by the blood of the

Lamb Jesus gives birth to the multitudes Jesus Promises us not just a small strip of land, but that the entire creation is going to be remade when he returns

So there's a land inheritance that comes in the promise of Jesus Christ And then of course the blessing to the nations.

I mean the gospel has now gone out to 70 % of the world or something like that. We still have a lot of work to do.

Don't get me wrong here But like let's celebrate the last 2 ,000 years from this small gathering of a hundred and forty 140 people was it 120 people in the upper room on a day of Pentecost from that little tiny speck in 2 ,000 years

The Gospels gone up and reached how many nations how many languages how many tongues? amazing see because Christ is the true fulfillment of the

Abrahamic Covenant and The one who brings a completion to it in the the the cornerstone through whom we can understand it same with the covenant of of David The one who's gonna sit on the throne for eternity

That's why the Ascension is such an important element of Jesus his life We almost never talk about the Ascension We talk about life and the death and the resurrection and those things are obviously so crucial and important But what happened 40 days after he rose from the grave?

Did he just continue to live and then die? Did he get old? Did he get sick? Oh, he was raised up into heaven.

Why was he raised to heaven? He was raised to heaven because it was an enthronement ceremony He's sitting now on the throne of David in the heavenly courts and ruling over the kingdom that God had promised to David and then again

Just like the land fulfillment is gonna come in the future He will descend on his throne and then rule bodily over all of the new heavens and the new earth

And one last one I have to say it's because it was something that just impacted me What about the

Noahic Covenant? No notes on this but the Noahic Covenant I read about this this week and it just struck me.

In the Noahic Covenant The big thing that God says is I'm not going to flood the world anymore And what is the flood?

The flood was the greatest picture of God's judgment and wrath on all of creation

That we've ever had in history. I mean just every single life -form except for a select few was totally wiped out

So it's the greatest image of God's wrath and judgment and God says I'm not going to flood the earth anymore

And I I take that as God's not going to bring the earth to the brink of destruction again until the final days

And what does God do as a sign of the covenant? He gives the picture of a rainbow But if the rainbow standing there

Whereas if you were to have the twine in between the rainbow, which way is the arrow directed?

It's directed up towards heaven up towards his abode and I know that God's not actually physically up there but that's the way that the mind works and So the whole idea is that while God is not going to pour out wrath and judgment through a flood again on almost all of Humanity the next time that God pours out that much wrath

The arrow is going to be facing to the heavenly Holy One Jesus Christ I mean

Christ is the way that we interpret all of these things the blessings the curses the promises the judgments

Christ is the cornerstone to understand all of God's Word From Adam to Abram to David and Noah and all of Israel the judges as we mentioned he's bringing forward that one seed who accomplishes and fulfills all the covenant promises perfectly and Completely Christ is the cornerstone of all

Eternity, so if Christ is the cornerstone cornerstone and foundation of the

Christians life Where else does that lead us? Wow? I Haven't read my notes for a while.

I had to skip ahead a few pages. I guess that's a good thing, right? Our identity assurance

That we have now Founded in the Word authored by the Word authorized by the Word is Placed in the cornerstone of Christ who helps us understand all of the

Word that then brings us and Calls us to a place of worship and praise in the presence of God See that's where our identity leads us to so the

Word and Christ are the foundation and the cornerstone if you will of our identity so like these are

What we would call. I don't know what's it was a good term to use maybe passive elements, right?

So Christ is someone who accomplish all Accomplishes all this stuff outside of us like if I was never born if I never existed

Christ is still accomplishing what he accomplished if I'm never born to read the Word or I never even hear the word the

Word is still Written and proclaimed and read and heard and all that so all that stuff is is kind of outside of me

But Peter doesn't just leave our identity as something that's kind of passive or outside of us or something that God Accomplishes through his

Word in Christ, and then just leaves it there Peter Then wants to bring applicational reality to our identities in Christ now

And that's what he does here in verse 5 especially and Moving forward to verse 9.

I I love the language He says here. He says as you come as you come to him a living stone rejected by men

But in the sight of God chosen and precious verse 5 now This is wonderful you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house

To be a holy priesthood in order to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ And then he digresses from our responsibility now as people being built upon Christ and he goes into the cornerstone promises that come from the

Old Testament and Then he says this in verse 9 but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession so that you may proclaim the

Excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light again another identity verse in verse 10

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

Now what makes this such an important section about our identity and our calling our responsibility if you will now that we're built on Christ authorized by the word is because of this

What I would call it a disjunctive conjunctive That's in verse 9 And it says but you are a chosen race whenever you see a but there look at the section just previous to it and see

What it says there? Well, what ends up happening is Peter? Takes these Old Testament passages from Isaiah and from the

Psalms Psalm 118 in Isaiah and he says that the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense says they

Stumbled because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do and what's Peter talking about here?

Peter's talking mainly about the nation of Israel as a whole of the Jews as a whole

Not every single individual because we know that the twelve disciples the first twelve people that were called by Christ and Probably the majority of the earliest church were made up of individual

Jews coming together and having a new allegiance and a new authority That's in Christ not in the temple system, but as a whole as a nation the leaders in the temple structure

Jerusalem as a city the Israelites as a people the Jews as an ethnicity as an ethnic group

Rejected their God and Savior Jesus Christ That's what happened in history and that's what

Peter's talking about here He said specifically they stumbled because they disobeyed the word as they were destined to do so So he says not only did they someone but they were already destined to do

So God had already determined that they were going to reject their Savior. They were gonna reject their

Messiah they were gonna reject me, but because of their rejection of Christ what

Christ has done is There's a new people that's been created that now inherit the the rights and the privileges and the responsibilities

That once came to the people of Israel now I think it's very important to say that the church is not a replacement for Israel you don't you don't like We're not just you can't just take the church and then grab us and then like plug us right into the

Old Testament or anything Like that But the church believes in Christ Christ is the fulfillment of Israel and since Christ is the fulfillment of Israel He gives birth to a people that then inherit the privileges the rights and the responsibilities that were

Instructed to the Israelites as a people and what's a couple of ways that we see this

So now what are our what are our callings as people identity assurance in Christ and on his word?

Peter says this in in in verse 5 He says you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a

Spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ Put Peter's point here is that we have become

The new place the new location where God is worshipped That's what it means to be a spiritual house

Where was the house that God was worshipped under the Old Covenant? First it was a tabernacle and it was a temple and a tabernacle gave birth to the temple and they're kind of one in the same and in theology and in theory and in Instruction and how was worship done then?

Worship was a little complicated at times pretty strict in fact because there was a

Special set of people special grouping of people called priests and the priests were the only ones who had the authority

To be able to come remotely close to the presence of God Actually, let me back that up a little bit

The Israelites first were the only people that could come into the presence of God the people of the Covenant under Moses But in order to come into the presence of God, he had to bring something with you.

Do you know that something was? What's that? A lamb, a sacrifice.

Yeah sacrifice. Oftentimes a lamb, could be a goat, could be doves, a bull, whatever it might be.

You had to bring a Sacrifice specific to the occasion with which you were approaching the temple

But you as an Israelite if you weren't a Levite if you weren't a priest The only place where you could come to and it was only men at that time

Not even women. The closest you could get to the presence of God was in the outer

Courtyard. That was it. And in the outer courtyard you would bring your sacrifice and it would be killed right there

And what the priest would then do is he would take some of the blood of that sacrifice and usually put it on your body earlobes, hands, feet and The whole point was that I, yes,

I'm one of God's people Because that's what the Israelites are called. They were called the chosen people

They were called because God loved them and he chose them out of all the people groups in the world not because of anything that They had done not because of their power but because of his love for them

Like that language of grace and of love and of mercy and of calling was totally applied to the people of Israel But even in the middle of that the only way that an

Israelite could come close to the presence of God Was if they were covered in the blood of sacrifice

That was it and At that point you could only come to the outside courtyard now

There was a special class of priests who could then go into the inner sanctuary and in the inner sanctuary

There are a couple of other constructs a table the manna on it called the table of presence.

There was a lampstand kind of symbolized the six days of creation and then a couple of other things and a lot of decorative things that reminded you actually of the

Garden of Eden plums and almonds and and And other fruits and stuff like that So you could go into there, but once again only if you had been consecrated only if you had been

Purified and washed and again covered in blood of a sacrifice and then there was one individual

Who's was the high priest is the priests of priests born in the line of Aaron?

and that individual could come closest to the presence of God and That was behind a veil and on that veil were two angelic images two angelic beings called cherubim with flaming swords in their hands and the image of that was

This is the presence of God the Eden that's been lost And if you try to cross through this you'll be slain you'll be slaughtered

Because you're unholy and you can't come into the place of holiness in fact not just holiness, but the holiness of holiness that's why it's called the holy of holies and inside of that veil was the ark and inside of the ark was

God's law and The high priest could go in once a year and his job was again purified covered in blood

He could go in and then sprinkle some of the blood of a sacrifice once a year that was it and so there are

Massive degrees of separation between God and his people under the

Old Covenant That cannot be it doesn't matter how wonderful how righteous how good you think you are

How great you are in comparison with other Israelites? You can't come into the presence of God and even at the center of God's presence is that ark which contains what the law?

And what does that law tell you over and over and over again? I'm a sinner and Even if I'm performing these duties these duties of me sprinkling blood

It's just confirming that I'm a sinner, and I need this blood to cover me because of my sin And you have to do it day after day every morning every night

There was a sacrifice and all day long Animals were burning the smell of burning flesh

Reminded the Israelites throughout the camp and then throughout Jerusalem you are sinners

And you can't come into the holy presence of God yes, he dwells among and with his people He does condescend and come down to show that he is among his people

But his people can't be with him at the same time, but now

Again because of the cornerstone of Christ Things have changed for God see

Peter doesn't say build another temple or build another tabernacle

He says that we Like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house

God himself is constructing us into his dwelling place

What? God builds us To be the place where he resides

Do you see the implications of that? Like do it do we get do we grasp the weightiness of this?

Because sometimes I just don't think we do and I say this to myself and I preach this to myself how many how many times?

Have you gotten up on a Sunday morning and thought? Yeah, we got to go to church today

We got to go to church today, but really your mind is on what's after Your meals your lunch dates going to see family's friends golf

Football game Raise my hand on that one And I and I say this as a self -indictment and I know that it's true for everybody here.

I just do That's oftentimes the way that we think of church

When we come to worship as the living stones built upon the cornerstone of Christ We are communing

With the holy holy holy one when we read from God's Word.

He is speaking to us he's giving us his words that bring life and When we sing and when we pray we're responding to him.

We're in a conversation with God We're in a conversation with God and he's one who invites us into that like we can't accomplish that on our own

If it were up to us the best that we could hope for is like covering ourselves with blood and then like staying as far Away as we could

That's that's like the best that we could hope for in our sinful and fallen state But because of Christ who's accomplished the perfect sacrifice the once -and -for -all sacrifice has talked about in the book of Hebrews We no longer need sacrifices because Christ has caught his has accomplished perfect righteousness

We don't need to bring righteousness in worship Christ already brings that So you don't need to bring your righteousness with you

Christ brings his righteousness and then he covers you in it and then we get unfettered access to God church on Sunday morning

And I'm not saying that Sunday morning is the only time when when worship has to happen It's not prescribed as Christian, but it's been since the foundation of the church is the beginning of the church

I've been doing Sunday morning. So I use Sunday morning as the context church on Sunday morning is The only thing that really matters in our life,

I'm serious about this Because this is the only foretaste of heaven It really is

This is the only true foretaste of heaven. You can't have the same type of worship out walking on a trail

I'm not saying we can't have worship but not the same type We can't have the same type of worship even when we're just with our families reading

God's Word together It's devotional and it's worship and it's good and we ought to do it and all those things

But the people of God coming together living stones being made into a temple for God's Dwelling to be with them and God's presence to be with them that happens here

That's it. And reading this passage truly convicted me this week because I Pastor but to be a chaplain and I just don't think that I've really

Considered churches that way before not in his fullness We think this this is

God's presence here he's here now his holiness is here now

His spirit is here now His words communicating to us are here now and we get converse back with now this leads us to our final point because I think sometimes when we talk about Missions and evangelism and outreach we think about that as something that's separate than the worship and community of the church

But in reality, I don't think scripture allows us to do that Whenever scripture talks about Reaching the

Gentiles reaching the lost and really what that means is

Kendall shared perfectly a few weeks ago means reaching the lost sheep who are out there who

God is calling into his flock That's what that means in order for us to do that We need to show the world our worship

That's really what we need to do. We need to show the world our Worship and our uniqueness that's what stands behind the words holiness that we read about several times here

That there were chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation this term a holy nation means.

We're actually a holy Ethnicity is the literal rendering of that God's making us into a whole new ethnicity together

No matter where we've come from awesome stuff and has implications for so many other things that are invading the church right now

I don't time to go into that can we do it? But there's so many things that are so destructive to that but it's our holiness in our worship and our proclaiming of his excellencies and our

Prioritizing of spiritual sacrifice because we're a spiritual house It's that That's going to make the lost dead sheep out there wake up and say

I need that I Need that that's where there's really green food

It doesn't exist where I am right now I'm out in this world and suddenly I was realized that I'm eating thorns and thistles and they're feasting on true grass

See the real is yes, we have to go out we have to open our mouths I'm not saying that missions especially foreign missions are a waste of time or anything like that But really you want to change the people's minds because they are sheep that need to be saved

Worship God in community with other Christians and show the beauty and the glory of that Now, what do

I mean by this? Implication here it is I've already hinted at it.

I'm gonna kind of just say it with some forcefulness now You need to be with God's people worshiping in God's church

We have to be and so when I'm hearing now because of this past year and and Cove and people are saying hi

I really like sitting in my pajamas and drinking coffee while I watch

I Don't really need to go to church anymore because you know I can just listen to I can listen to Kendall and not only listen to Kendall But then

I can listen to like three other pastors. So that will really you know Soup up my holiness or something like that.

I I don't need to go to church anymore because I have other ways I can fill my gas tank Heard that one

Let me be clear about this If anyone's listening whether you're here or out there wherever you might be.

I Believe that if that's your mindset, you're not really a Christian You're not You're not

I Could show you that this isn't the only place Where the

New Testament talks about them the necessity of the church. Oh my goodness.

We could go into a torrid study here But this is one of the clearest places

The spiritual house where God dwells is with the people gathered together Worshiping him under the authority of God's Word and grounded and rooted in the cornerstone of Christ.

It's that simple It's that necessary and it's really it's here

You want you want your children your grandchildren to experience and to know the presence of God have them here

Worshipping with God's people I'm not saying it's gonna happen in one moment or anything like that, but it's only here that that can occur

Maybe I I don't know. I don't know because I know God's sovereign over it But maybe the reason why 75 80 percent of teenagers leave the church when they turn 18 19 years old is because we've kicked them

Out of the worshiping community and we relegate them to their specific places

But they're not really with the people of God being built into the temple where God's presence is while they're worshiping

This is where we need to be. This is where you need to be this is where I need to be and I hope and pray that this passage has given you a joy and a

Passion and delight and remember none of this is about our obedience or righteousness Christ already did that for us

We don't need to bring any obedience to the table. We need to plead his obedience We don't need to bring any righteousness.

We just need to cover ourselves in his righteousness. That's all there is So let us strive church.

Let us strive to be word driven Christ cornered

God Worshipping and glory spreading in our identities Wow, we were on this earth and guess what?

I can't wait but 50 60 years from now when I die, maybe younger than that I don't know maybe older who knows and when we all die, it's gonna be great.

We get to go and have this Every minute of every day. It's gonna be awesome.

Let's pray Heavenly Father I thank you for your word. Oh I thank you for Peter.

I thank you for his I Thank you for his encouragement here yeah, and Peter writes this as a pastor who just cares for and loves his flock and Lord, you're the one who told him if you love me feed my flock.

You love me feed my flock Oh, does he feed his flock? He's feeding them in that day. He's feeding them 2 ,000 years ago, but 2 ,000 years later.

These words still are so rich Theology and an application for us

Lord we are men and women who might at times be stricken and who or what our identity is because The old

Adam in us still clings to former identities identities of career and of money and we purchased the material and all of that But I know

Lord that these are your people and I believe These people here are Thank God you're gonna ground their identity and what is real but it's true.

What is your word? and who is Christ and Who we are as your holy chosen redeemed people being built up as a place for your presence here on this earth.

Oh God we are here in your presence now. I Pray that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened and open to see and to know that I pray that if there's anyone here

Right now who just needs to know that you are with them and they are here with you

God that when Derek comes up to sing when we partake of the bread and the wine

That we would just be full of delight and then it would all start over again

We'd be like babies just craving it all again Let me just keep coming back

Knowing that your word that Christ that your temple this is the place where we must be