The Sovereign Stone (1 Peter 2:7-8)

Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Kootenai Church. As I always say, if this is your first time at Kootenai Church, give us at least one more chance.

Before I get started, I'm reminded of something today when Cornell was speaking. So, first of all,

Cornell, we owe you a bit of a thanks. If you've seen him go through this, what a great example of a godly man, great example of the grace and mercy of Christ.

So, we're thankful for him. Don't start me out like that. And also,

I realize he's a great example of the application of this text. So, you can keep that in mind as we go through it.

First of all, let's pray together. Lord, I have a heavy burden and I just pray that you will stand me up under it.

We all come here with great burdens, with things that we have to deal with. And so, we pray for your strength.

We pray for your sovereign power in everything that's happening, everything that we see around us.

We pray that we could recognize your power in it. That is the comfort that we seek, the comfort that we'll find in your word.

And so now, Lord, while I'm inadequate to the task, may I stand and deliver as one who bears the very oracles of God in Christ's name.

Amen. So, our text today will be in 1 Peter chapter 2.

Our main text will be verses 7 and 8. I want to start by reading verses 4 through 10. So, 1

Peter chapter 2, verses 4 through 10. And coming to him is to a living stone, which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God.

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

For this is contained in scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes upon him will not be put to shame.

This precious value, then, is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

They stumbled because they are disobedient to the word, and to this stumbling they were also appointed. But you are a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

That's our passage. Again, we'll be focused on verses 7 and 8, and we're going to read and examine and apply a very difficult, true biblical doctrine.

So I'm just going to say it out loud in the beginning. From 1 Peter 2a, we'll see that God is sovereign over sin.

God has ordained it. God appoints it. God is an ultimate cause of sin. We'll see what the doctrine says explicitly, and we'll then apply what the text tells us we must do about it.

We'll see that blame for sin falls on the sinner, doesn't fall on God. You'll get no explanation in this sermon of how that is or why that is.

This was my big struggle with this sermon, right? Because when you express that God is sovereign over sin, and he's not to blame for it, you want to explain more of that.

So Lord willing, very appropriate to say in this context, Lord willing, we may do that another time.

But for today, you'll only see that God is sovereign over sin and that he is not to blame for it.

You'll see that the Holy Spirit in this text doesn't excuse unbelievers from their rejection and disobedience of Christ and of his gospel on the grounds that God has ordained that sin.

But it also makes it very clear that that rejection and that disbelief is in fact ordained by God.

Both of those things are true. So my plan for today is to review the privileges that we have as believers as we enter into our text in verse 7.

We'll focus on the implications of unbelief in verses 7 and 8. We'll end with God's sovereignty over the sin of disobedient disbelief of the rejection of Christ and his gospel.

That's in verse 8. And then we'll make the application from that text and Cornell will lead us in a communion service.

So verse 7. Those who value Christ rightly, you who believe, gain this precious value.

First Peter 2 7. This precious value then is for you who believe. So first thing we have to ask is what is this precious value?

We see in the text there's great value in believing in Christ and coming to the living stone.

In verse 5, if you look at verse 5, we are his house. We are his priesthood.

We are made right with God in that we can offer acceptable sacrifices to God. You see that in verse 5.

In verse 6, you see we have a worthy object of our trust. We are never put to shame.

I didn't say anything bad about babies, right? We love babies. Thank you.

Down in verse 9, we see so much of the benefit. Look at verse 9. We're called a chosen family, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.

We're given this tremendous mission in verse 9, proclaiming his excellencies. Our salvation is made clear.

He's called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. You see all of that in the text. Look at verse 10. Our privilege of being set apart is pointed out there.

We've received mercy. See all of that? Believers value him highly, this living stone.

They consider him precious. And in that we have tremendous precious gain and benefit, tremendous value.

So it's that equation, that accurate perception of the value of Christ, the value of this living stone that is the point of the greater passage.

We value him as chosen and precious, and that is the right value to place on him. Our valuation of the living stone is accurate.

It agrees with God, and God the Father obviously is accurate in his estimation. So the value that comes to us proves out the high value of Christ, the living stone.

So verse 7. Verse 7 offers a contrast that goes all the way into verse 8. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

While the believer treasures Christ and gains from the treasuring, believes Christ and gains from that belief, the unbeliever rejects

Christ and suffers from the rejection, disbelieves and suffers from that disbelief. That's the contrast.

But look at the text. For those who disbelieve, that identifies the second of only two categories of humanity.

There's only two categories that are expressed in this text, and in many of the texts of scripture.

Believers and unbelievers, children of obedience, children of disobedience, children of God, children of Satan, light and darkness.

There are you who believe in this verse and those who disbelieve. The words there are the word for believing and it's negation, the word for not believing.

Exact opposites of one another. Black and white, comprehensive categories. Every single person falls into one of those categories.

For you who believe, you see the stone which is Christ is drawn near to. It's embraced, loved, worshiped.

It's a great value and benefit. But for those who disbelieve, our unfortunate focus for most of the rest of this message, for those who disbelieve, their first relation to Christ or their first reaction to Christ is given there as unbelief, not believing.

That's their first reaction to Jesus Christ, to interacting with Him, is unbelief. They don't believe. They don't believe in Him.

They don't believe He is who believers believe He is. They don't believe He is who He says He is. They don't believe who the

Father says He is. They don't believe who the Spirit says He is here in His word. What don't they believe?

What specifically, what is it about Him that they don't believe? Well, they don't believe what's true. They don't believe what's vital.

They don't believe what could save them. There's something about Him that is essential for salvation that they do not believe.

They don't believe in Him. They don't count Him as precious. Don't count Him as Savior and Lord and King. Unbelievers, being untethered from what the

Word of God has to say about this one, miss the truth in so many ways. They make up all sorts of things about who

He is. And I had a bunch of examples of that, but the more I looked at it, the less important they were.

What an unbeliever believes regarding Christ isn't the vital thing, is it? If what they believe is not the gospel truth and the content of their error, the specific error that they make, isn't important, it's not the main thing.

The belief of an individual to whom you are witnessing can matter for the way in which you approach them and the way in which you share the gospel truth.

That's a fact, but their problem isn't essentially what they believe, their problem is essentially what they do not believe.

So what is it that they don't believe? Well, unbelief is more than just not being persuaded intellectually of certain truths about Christ.

Faith does include knowledge. It does include intellectual knowledge of truths of the gospel, but it's more than that.

You believe that God is one, you do well, the demons also believe and shudder. James 2 .19.

So saving faith includes an intellectual acceptance of the facts of the gospel, believing certain true facts about Christ, but that's just one aspect of it.

Saving faith also includes assent to those facts, being happy about them, agreeing with them, feeling great joy that one's found a

Savior, that one has found salvation. There's an emotional assent to the facts of the gospel, a wholehearted acceptance of the truths of the gospel.

So saving faith includes knowledge, it includes assent, it also includes an element, a strong element of the will, an act of dependence or trust.

Believer not only knows the truth of the gospel and agrees with them, happy about them, but he also rests in them, rests his entire hope for salvation on the work of Christ.

Right? You believer are willing to set aside everything and anything else. You depend on him, you trust in him, you believe in him and not just about him.

That's what it means. We draw near to him, we treasure him, we love him, we depend on him.

So we say that the unbeliever's first reaction to Christ is unbelief. We're saying a whole bunch of things.

We're saying that person neither accepts the truth of the gospel facts, nor are they happy about these facts being true if they consider the possibility.

They don't trust those gospel truths for their salvation. Unbelief is incredulity, it's disdain, it's self -righteousness all rolled into one.

That's the unbeliever's first reaction to Christ. So this whole complex of unbelief, an incredulous unwillingness to believe the facts of the gospel, it's disdain for the goodness of Christ as expressed in the gospel, and it's a willful self -righteous refusal to repent and trust in Christ.

That's unbelief. The second simultaneous reaction is similar.

It's called rejection. See it there, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.

This is a quotation from Psalm 118. When I saw Psalm 118 pop up there today,

I thought it would be this, but it was a different, very good quote from Psalm 118.

I'm not going to go back to Psalm 118 because I did that a few sermons ago, and it's not necessary because the use of it is very clear in this text itself.

The stone is Christ. Those who disbelieve are here identified with the builders as those who reject

Him. So unbelievers are said to not only not believe, but also to reject. The word translated reject means to evaluate and to determine to be unworthy.

It's active willful disbelief. It's considered rejection. Consider the merits of the stone and decide

He's not worthy. Christ is unworthy of their belief. He's unworthy of their assent and trust, unworthy of their acceptance, unworthy of their worship, unworthy of their obedience, devotion, unworthy of their love, unworthy, unworthy, unworthy altogether, worthless.

He's nothing. He's rubbish, refuse, false, irrelevant, inconsequential, nothing.

You know in His time on earth, some people rejected Him severely, violently, to the point of actually killing

Him. They lied about Him. They perjured themselves. They mocked Him. They beat Him.

They stabbed Him. They spat on Him. They stripped

Him. They left Him broken, dead, bleeding on a cross, while they continued to mock

Him. That's violent rejection. Others less violently, just as fully.

There were a lot of people who enjoyed the healings. A lot of people enjoyed the food. A lot of people thought

He was interesting. They liked all of that, but not Him, not this

Jesus. He's not what He should be. He isn't what He was supposed to be.

Not Him. He asked too much. Remember the rich young ruler?

Remember the end of that story? He walks away sad, because Jesus wanted priority over His money.

Yeah, you're asking too much. He didn't provide enough in value for the cost that He required, this quiet rejection.

People today don't have the opportunity to violently reject Christ Himself in the physical way, or many of them would.

You think about if Christ were here today, the kind of treatment He would get? It would be at least as bad as the treatment

He got at the hands of the Jews and the Romans. No question about it. So while people today can't kill

Him again, they do violently reject Him. You know people violently reject the gospel.

They can't kill Him, but they sure don't want Him to exist. They don't want to hear about Him. They don't want to think about Him. They don't want to think about the demands that He makes.

Others reject Him just as completely, but less violently, with less emotion, more apathetically, and that's even worse.

They just don't care. They don't have any concern for their soul. They don't think

He matters. They just don't care. But either way, it's rejection. Either way, the reaction is the same.

It's manifested in different ways, but it's unbelief and rejection. Whether it's loud or quiet, whether it's open or it's secret, and it has tragic implications.

This reaction to the stone, unbelief and rejection, has these implications.

And again, the quote is from Psalm 118. You see that in verse 7. The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.

The chief cornerstone. That's the piece of the building that undergirds the whole thing, that supports it.

It determines its direction. It's the most important piece of the building. This Christ became, even though they didn't believe

Him, even though they rejected Him. You see, the first impact is, it has no impact on Christ.

That's the first implication of their unbelief. His identity didn't change because He was rejected.

His purpose wasn't thwarted by the rejection. He is who He is.

It doesn't change anything. He is who He's always been, will always be. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever.

Hebrews 13a. He did what He said He would do. He will do what

He has said He will do. He's going to return to destroy and to rule. He is the chief cornerstone.

He is this central person. He's the one for whom the entire creation was made, the one who will be glorified, and it doesn't matter whether you or I are these builders, these unbelievers, believe that or not.

The stone the builders rejected became the chief cornerstone. So for those who reject

Christ, wishing does not make it so. He's going to do what He's going to do.

He'll build His church, redeem His people. He'll reign. He'll be glorified. Nothing, rejection doesn't change that.

We're in election time. Jesus isn't going to reign by virtue of some sort of an election.

It's not going to be a close election where we're wringing our hands. Man, I hope our guy wins.

You don't see him campaigning. He's not raising funds. He doesn't have yard signs out on your neighbor's lawn.

Why do they do those? Are those effective for anyone? I don't know. Cornell, I have to ask you,

I guess. I see something with Cornell on them, and I'm like, yeah. Somebody I know.

Jesus isn't doing that, and His reign is not going to be the expression of human will, expression of His own will,

His will alone. That's the first implication of unbelief and rejection. It doesn't change anything for Christ.

It doesn't change the truth. For both the believer and the unbeliever, Christ is the chief cornerstone.

Christ is who He is. He's precious and chosen. And that fact has other implications.

Look at verse 8. For the unbeliever, Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. I'm not going to go heavily into the metaphor.

It's the idea of running into a stone, tripping over it, smashing into it, either as a trap or some kind of just falling down hard onto the stone.

But what's important, you see there are two parts of the encounter with the stone in verse 8, and this comes from Isaiah 8. In Isaiah, it refers to stumbling and falling, being broken from the fall, but then also being snared or trapped, caught in a trap.

Jesus spoke of two parts, falling on the stone and then being broken, the stone then falling on the unbeliever and crushing him.

The language is similar here. Two negative results from the encounter with the stone. One is the unbelievers stumbling over the stone, which causes them harm.

The other is the stones causing the believer to fall and be harmed. So there's the language in the language, the stone being a cause of harm in a passive sense and in an active sense.

Christ is the stone over which one stumbles, also a stone that offends. Verse 8 continues with, they stumble because they are disobedient to the word.

That second verb translated as our disobedient here is a participle. It would more literally be they stumble disobeying the word.

They stumble. They stumble. We know what that is. They're tripped up. They make an error. They're brought to harm.

They stumble against the stone. They experience some harm. So we've tried to understand that activity.

That's the unbelief and the rejection. And they're in a state then of disobeying. They stumble because they're disobedient.

That's a word we haven't seen yet. It's apitheo. It's from pytho. Pytho meaning to be persuaded or to yield to, to obey, and with the alpha in front, it means to not be persuaded, to not obey, to refuse to obey.

It's usually translated as disobedience as it is here, but sometimes as disbelief. Think about how close those two concepts are, disbelief and disobedience.

One is a lack of trust, a not believing in the truth claims of someone or something.

And another is refusing to comply with them because you don't accept the truth or the authority of that person.

But very, very similar. And sometimes scripture actually uses belief and this word for disobeying as opposite.

So what are they doing here? What are they disobeying? What are they rebelling against? It's given to us in the text. Look there at your text.

They disobey or are not persuaded of the truth of, or do not comply with, the word. That translates the familiar logos.

And I can say with confidence that logos here refers to the gospel and to the person of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I can say that because of the context. I won't spend a lot of time on this. You can look. You look at the end of chapter 1 verses 23 through 25.

We won't read them, but you see the word is used there to mean the word of God. It says, which was proclaimed to you as good news, as gospel.

So it's referred to as the gospel there. These unbelievers are not persuaded of the life -giving word.

They're not persuaded of the gospel, not persuaded of the person of the gospel. Identical to disbelief of devaluing the living stone, the same thing they've already been convicted of in verse 7.

They refuse to be persuaded of the gospel. And to refuse to be persuaded of the gospel is to disobey a direct command of God to repent and believe in that gospel.

They disbelieve Christ. They reject his claims. They reject his person. They choose to reject him, but not to draw near to him, not to believe in him, refuse to submit to him.

It's a to comprehensively rebel against the truthfulness and the authority of God himself. That's what they're doing, particularly as it pertains to the gospel.

So they stumble because they're disobedient to the word. They stumble, they harm themselves. They're harmed by the stone because they disobey.

They're engaged in sinful disbelief of the gospel command, sinful disobedience to God's gospel order.

Now here's the hard part. Okay, you ready? They stumble and they disobey, and to this they were also appointed.

Now some of you are looking at your text and you're saying, I have the LSB and it says to this stumbling they were also appointed.

Or you're looking at your NASB and it says to this doom. Please note that stumbling and doom are in italics.

And that means that they're not there in the original language. So I think that's an unfortunate translation choice for both

NASB 95 and for LSB to put those extra words in there. The words aren't there. So we're going to default to ESV for this verse.

They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. No italics. So if those italicized words aren't there and they're not, then to what are they appointed?

I'm going to cut to the chase on this because it's a communion Sunday, and you probably want to have lunch before two.

Unless you don't. Everybody raise your hand if you want to know. Without those words in there, this has to imply that they're appointed to all that is encompassed in the preceding phrase.

They stumble because they are disobedient to the word. That's what they're appointed to. They're stumbling and they're disobedient.

So I just said something very controversial and momentous. So we have to pause on that for a second.

Very controversial thing to say. Peter is saying God is sovereign over sin. God has appointed it.

God has appointed or destined these unbelievers both to their sin, the primary sin of disobedience to the gospel, and to the damning result of that sin.

Lest they repent. I know that's hard.

It's hard to hear that God is an ultimate cause of sin and God ordains it. That God is over it.

The word translated destined or appointed, it just means to put, to put, to lay in place, to set in a proper place or order.

Every good translation uses that, and in this case where God is said to be the omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign actor from the very first verse of this book, we'll call it chosen, it must be

God who's the actor, God who's doing the appointing, the destiny. It takes an extreme verbal gymnastics to overcome the force of this text.

This is from Grudem's commentary, which is excellent. The force of the text then is to say that those who are rejecting

Christ and disobeying God's word were also destined by God to such action. That's the force of the text.

So that's what it means. That's what it means. Why is it here?

Where's Peter coming from? So we're going to establish why this is here in the context of first Peter.

Remember, first Peter is written to people who are suffering, written to suffering persecuted

Christians, written to comfort them. How is this a comfort? The comfort that Peter offers is the comfort of purpose.

It doesn't say that, oh God will make you to, he's not a word faith guy, prosperity preacher.

God will make all this go away. You won't be sick. You won't have sorrow. You won't have suffering.

He doesn't say that. He says you will have it. It's going to be distressing and it serves a purpose. That purpose is your good through your sanctification and ultimately for God's glory.

That's the comfort that Peter offers throughout. So now he's saying, look, even the sinful actions of others that result in their suffering, even that is ordained by God.

The sinful actions of others that result in the suffering of Peter's readers. Even those are ordained by God.

Even those have a purpose and it's the same purpose. It's your sanctification and his glory. Now I want you to see how clearly this relates to Peter's readers and how personal this is for Peter.

We're going to look at a couple of incidents in Peter's life and recorded for us in the Gospels and in Acts.

So I'm going to ask you to turn there as we go through. Turn to Matthew 21. We're going to start with, we're going to read the beginning in verse 33.

Read through verse 46. Bonus exposition number one.

Matthew 21. We're going to read 33 through 46. This is the peril of vine growers. Jesus is speaking.

The occasion is his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He's being questioned by the chief priests and the elders of the temple as he's teaching in the temple.

So they, these people who have rejected him, who will not believe them, they're questioning his authority.

In verse 23 of chapter 21, they ask him, by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?

He deals with the question by asking them about the baptism of John. Then he offers them a very pointed parable of the two sons, the repentant son and the hypocritical self -righteous son.

Guess which one they are. And then he goes to this even more pointed parable of the vine growers.

So Matthew 21, 33 through 46. Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in and built a tower and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey.

Now when the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his fruit. Now the vine growers took his slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third.

Again, he sent another group of slaves larger than the first and they did the same thing to them. But afterward, he sent his son to them saying, they will respect my son.

But when the vine growers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.

And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers?

They said to him, they are these people that have rejected him. They said to him, they are these scribes and elders of the people that have questioned

Christ. They said to him, he will bring those wretches to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper season.

Trap closed. Jesus said to them, did you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone.

This came about from the Lord and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruit of it.

And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whoever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.

This came about from the Lord, he says, and it is marvelous in our eyes. God has caused this.

God has caused this rejection. God has caused this and it is good. Peter would have been there.

Peter would have seen this, would have heard this. So turn to Acts 4.

Here's Peter, similar group of accusers in Acts 4. This is also in Jerusalem, potentially dealing with some of the same people.

Peter and John had encountered a lame man. They had healed him. They used that opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And then in chapter 4, start with verse 1. Now, as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the

Sadducees came up to them, maybe some of the same people who had come up to Christ, being greatly agitated because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

How dare they do that? And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day for it was already evening.

But many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of the men came to be about 5 ,000.

He is still the chief cornerstone. Now, it happened on the next day. Their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem and Annas the high priest was there and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of high priestly descent.

When they placed them in their midst, they began to inquire, by what power or in what name have you done this?

It sounds like exactly what they asked Christ. By what authority do you do these things? Then Peter, filled with the

Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man as to how this man has been saved from his sickness, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the

Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else.

There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Same question, same persecution, same message.

You can't stop them. Peter brought to mind the same incident.

The Lord had met with this group of builders and vine growers who rejected Christ. He gave them this message.

You violently rejected this stone. You crucified him. It was the ultimate rejection. But God raised him from the dead.

Ultimate confirmation of his identity. Messiah, Savior, Lord, God. This is his value, his preciousness.

You rejected this living stone, but he's the chief cornerstone. You killed him, but he lives.

That's the message. So these builders, these Jewish leaders, they tell

Peter and John to stop speaking and teaching about Jesus. Stop doing this. Stop proclaiming the gospel. You know their answer.

Look at verse 19. Whether it's right in the sight of God to hear you rather than God, you be the judge.

We would have shortened versions of that, right? Would be less polite maybe.

Cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard. More threats and they let them go.

Let them go for now. And so they went back to their fellowship of believers and they prayed together. They're undergoing suffering through persecution.

So they drew near to one another. They drew near to their God in prayer. They gathered together. They prayed together.

This is their response to suffering. Look at starting in verse 23. So when they were released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

When they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, O master, it is you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the

Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said, why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples divide vain things?

The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant

Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.

And now, Lord, take note of their threats and grant your hand to heal and signs and wonders happen through the name of your holy servant

Jesus. And when they prayed earnestly, the place where they had gathered together was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with confidence.

You can't miss that. Midst of suffering and persecution, they confronted the builders with their rejection and unbelief.

How do they pray? How do they pray? Look at how they pray. The peoples rage against you,

God. They reject you. They're against you. They're not persuaded by the gospel. These builders, they're persecuting us.

We know it's going to get worse. Our master told us it was going to get worse. They rejected him.

They gathered together against him. They killed him, the one you anointed. Yet it was to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.

They weren't afraid because God was somehow unaware or out of control.

This wasn't beyond him. God is sovereign over it. They're declaring this.

God is in control of it. That's their comfort. That's the perspective that gives them this confidence. God predicted this persecution.

God planned it. God controls it. He caused it, ultimately. We can say whatever evil is happening to you, even to the extent of some sort of sinful persecution by those who disbelieve and reject and disobey,

God's in control of it, and he's good. So don't be afraid. Don't waver. Take comfort. God's not to blame for it, but he's in control of it.

His will is for your good. Who is to blame for it? Well, look, the ones who sinned, the ones who gathered together against him, who killed him, the ones who persecuted

Peter and John, the sinners, they're accountable for it. Lord, take note of their threats.

Grant that your slaves may speak your word with all confidence. Matthew 26, 24. Cornell read this in looking at Judas the traitor.

The Son of Man is going just as it is written of him. It's ordained.

The arch crime of history, the death of Christ, was ordained. It's controlled by God. That worst of sins.

But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been good for that man if he'd not been born.

Christ's betrayal was ordained, prophesied, determined. Doesn't excuse the sinner. Woe to that man.

Many other examples of this. Joseph and his brothers. Satan and Job.

Pharaoh's hardening. David's census, remarkable story. Not familiar with David's census.

Read that. The Assyrian invaders. The Babylonian invaders. They're used as tools in God's hand, and then they're punished for their use.

The beast and the kings in Revelation 17. For some of you, you remember that.

You find that. You'll find this principle over and over in scripture. Evil actors are not autonomous. Satan is not autonomous.

Judas was not autonomous. Neither are these disobedient unbelievers. God is sovereign over them and their deeds.

God is sovereign over sin. He's in control of everything that happens, including sin. Not to blame for it.

That's the teaching of scripture. Brings a lot of comfort. This is the point that Peter makes again.

Here in this time, in a letter writing to persecuted, suffering believers. He watched his master go through it, and this was the answer.

He himself went through it. This was the answer. Now he sees people that he loves going through it, and this is the answer.

It's the same answer. Go through it the same way. Comforted by the same truth. God is comprehensively, purposely sovereign even over sin.

Doesn't surprise him. Not shaken by it. And he'll use it for his good, for your good, for his glory.

Take comfort in that. Give him the glory he deserves. All of it. He's sovereignly in charge of everything.

He's over everything. He's working all things for his glory and good of his people. We say soli deo gloria. You can't say it unless you believe this.

That he's sovereign over even sin. That's the primary application. Believe. Believe and take comfort in believing.

Believe. And if you believe, believe comprehensively. Go all the way in that. Believe all the way to the extreme ends of that belief.

Glorify God for his infinite and absolute sovereignty. Listen, even if someone burns down your business.

Right? That's the example. Even worse things have happened to people in our congregation.

We've cried with people in our congregation. We've gone through the most horrible things you can go through.

But yet even in that, God is sovereign. We can take comfort in it. Believe. If you believe, believe invincibly.

Believe when it's hard to believe. Find comfort in the goodness and power of God. Now those are the applications for believers.

That's what Peter intended. What's the application for the unbeliever? For the builder?

For the vine grower? For the rejecter? The stumbler? The disobeyer? The unpersuaded?

What do you think would be the application for them? Believe. So if that describes you, right?

If you're coming here and you come here because you came here, because somebody invited you, or because you have to, because your parents do, but you're not persuaded, believe.

Persisting in unbelief will be to your eternal doom. Stop crashing against the living stone, or he will crush you.

He will grind you to powder. Today, the living stone, Jesus Christ stands ready, willing, and able to forgive you of your sins, to change your destiny.

He offers a final forgiveness and ultimate, eternal love, joy.

Believe. What's holding you back? I know what it is.

If you'll admit it, it's just love for your sin. See, that's why you disbelieve, reject, and disobey.

Your scales are off. Your measuring tape is messed up, right?

You've got a wrong estimation of the value of your sin, and a wrong estimation of the worth of Christ.

You treasure what is worthless, devalue what is precious. So now, right now, you can see your sin for what it is.

See him for who he is, right? Your sin is worthless, and Christ is worthy.

Repent and believe the gospel. Let's pray together. Father, we're grateful for your word, grateful for the extent of yourself that you've chosen to make known to us, so we can find comfort in your being, in your character, in your immutable, sovereign, omniscient power.

To know that you're in charge of everything, and that you love and you are good, that makes everything somehow okay.

We can stand up under it. Thank you for the example of our brother Cornell, and so many others that we know that have gone through just tremendous trials, and the way that they've stood up under them.

We know this only by the power of the Holy Spirit working in them, as they bring to remembrance your power and your goodness,