1 Peter 2:7-10
This morning we talked about
Some of the privileges of being a believer in Christ.
The Christian life is not all suffering, persecution, and endurance.
The Christian life is equipped with divine privileges
That are only for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Several verses in Scripture reveal this is the case.
2 Timothy 2:11-12a “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; If we endure, we will also reign with Him;”
Romans 8:15-17 “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
While Christians are commanded to count the cost of discipleship,
It would also do us good to examine the benefits of it as well.
This is Peter’s point in verses 4-10.
Certainly these rejected selected Christians
Had no problem identifying the costs of discipleship.
Peter wants to understand the privileges of it as well.
This morning we saw that they have the privileges of:
Christ likeness “You also, as living stones”
The Presence of God “are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood”
The Ability to please God “to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”
These are privileges that an unbelieving world does not have,
But if you believe in Christ, they are yours.
Which is exactly the point Peter makes again in verse 7.
“This precious value, then, is for you who believe”
It is privilege to be a Christian.
Privilege – “A special right or favor granted to a specific person or group.”
This morning we heard him preach Isaiah 28,
Proving no matter the scorn,
If you come to Jesus, you won’t be disappointed.
Tonight Peter will preach 4 more texts.
The first two deal with the lack of privilege to a disbelieving world,
The last two deal with the privilege of those who believe.
#1 DISBELIEVERS LACK OF PRIVILEGE
1 Peter 2:7-8
Again you see that believers have privilege
While those who disbelieve do not.
The word for believe is (PISTEUO) – “to trust”
So naturally the word for disbelieve is (APISTEO) – “not to trust”
It deals with one who has examined the costs and benefits of something.
One determined to pay the price and trust, one determined not to.
When God confronts your soul with the gospel, you only have two options.
Here, in keeping with the theme of Christ as the Living Stone,
Peter outlines the benefits of not trusting or disbelieving.
“but for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER STONE.”
TURN TO PSALM 118
You will remember it is the Psalm of God’s champion.
Ultimately it is meant to foreshadow the victory of Jesus.
And after the Psalmist takes a look at this Champion
Who was scorned and rejected by men,
But was delivered by God and God alone,
The Psalmist can only come to one conclusion.
Verse 22 “The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.”
The point made by the Psalmist is the same made by Peter
HUMILIATION FOR THE REJECTORS
They actually rejected the One whom God had chosen.
Instead of being able to have pride that they did something correct,
They are now humiliated because they rejected God’s chosen.
This is no different than what Peter preached at Pentecost.
TURN TO ACTS 2:22-36
They are humiliated, and that is Peter’s point here.
They rejected the very One God chose.
But Peter then preaches a second text to them.
Not only is Jesus “THE VERY CORNER STONE” but also
“A STONE OF STUMBLING AND ROCK OF OFFENSE”
TURN TO ISAIAH 7
The setting for the chapter can be seen in the first 2 verses.
The Kings of Aram & Israel teamed up to attack Judah.
In chapter 8, God is promising His protection over Judah.
The only problem is, the people are more afraid of the attackers than they are of God.
That is why Isaiah wrote verses 11-15
For those who will fear and trust God,
He will be a sanctuary for them.
For those who won’t fear and trust God,
He will be a rock they stumble over.
This is exactly what Peter is talking about for those who disbelieve.
Those who would not trust God, end up stumbling over God.
Jesus was “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE.”
The first passage = HUMILIATION
The Second passage = CONDEMNATION
They will stumble over Jesus
And rejecting Him will be their most grievous offense.
This is something we all know.
You go to hell because you reject Jesus.
If you won’t put your trust in Jesus, then how can you be saved?
Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Instead of receiving the privileges of a believer,
Those who disbelieve receive humiliation and condemnation.
Peter even explains his point further in verse 8
“for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.”
This is a great point to be made as to why people go to hell.
They do not go to hell because God can’t save.
Isaiah 59:1-3 “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken falsehood, Your tongue mutters wickedness.”
Isaiah 50:1-3 “Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away. “Why was there no man when I came? When I called, why was there none to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot ransom? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water And die of thirst. “I clothe the heavens with blackness And make sackcloth their covering.”
“they stumble because they are disobedient to the word”
The reason people go to hell is because they are disobedient.
Which is why Peter says, “and to this doom they were also appointed.”
The Bible says God appoints all people without Jesus for destruction.
Revelation 20:13-15 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
This is the lack of privilege for those who disbelieve.
They get humiliation and condemnation.
Maybe Jesus has caused you some suffering,
But it is nothing like that of those without Him.
Now lets’ look at the final two passages Peter quotes and see:
#2 BELIEVERS PRIVILEGE
1 Peter 2:9-10
“BUT YOU”
They suffer, but that is not you.
“are a chosen race, A royal priesthood, A holy nation, A people for God’s own possession,”
TURN TO EXODUS 19:1-6
It is the scene at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
The children of Israel had just been delivered from Egypt,
Pharaoh’s arm had been broken,
And now the people had arrived to the Mountain of God.
The implication here is simple.
They were a people of privilege,
And that privilege was to be used in a missionary way.
Which is why Peter said in verse 9, “so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light,”
They were a people of privilege and responsibility.
But they crucified God’s Messiah,
They did not believe, and they were broken off.
These are now the privileges of the church.
1) “But you are a chosen race”
I want you to see that word “chosen”. It means exactly what it says.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
We are not talking about foreknowledge,
We are talking about election.
Before God ever said, “Let there be light”
God chose you to adopt you as His child.
That is a privilege.
Imagine an orphan at an orphanage, some parents arrive, and out of all the children, they choose you. Would you not feel privileged? You should, that is what God did for you.
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;”
It is a privilege to have been chosen by God.
Look at the second privilege.
2) “A royal priesthood”
We talked about this a little this morning, in relation to having access to God.
God called you to Himself.
He called you into a relationship with Himself,
But not only that, He called you into a ministry.
He allows you the privilege of partaking in His work.
2 Corinthians 5:16-19 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”
We know have the privilege of access to God, and to be a part of His work.
Ephesians 1:9 “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him”
You are not allowed into the oval office
To know what the President is doing,
But you are allowed into the Holy of Holies
To know what God is doing.
That is privilege.
3) A Holy Nation
Not only did He choose you and call you, He consecrated you.
He set you apart and made you Holy for Himself.
He changed you to be a witness.
It is the concept of Him putting His seal on you and making you different for Him.
Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.”
God immediately changed you and made you knew.
Your last name was changed, and your nature was changed.
4) A People for God’s own possession.
Guys when you married your wife, you put a ring on her finger.
DO YOU KNOW WHY?
You wanted the world to see that she was set apart for you.
She was yours and your alone.
It is that same privilege that God has granted us.
Revelation 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.”
I put the ring on Carries finger and gave her my name
So the rest of the world would know she is mine.
But I married her because I wanted a relationship with her.
But the flip side is this.
In giving her that ring I also pledged
That she was the only one who was getting me.
I am hers alone.
That is her privilege.
That is how it is with God. We are His, and He is ours.
The lost world can’t say that.
They have no access to God,
They are not in a relationship with God,
They cannot talk to God.
They are foreign to Him, and He to they.
They do not have the privilege.
And the second Scripture Peter uses ties in directly to that.
Verse 10, “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.”
For this final truth
TURN TO HOSEA 1
You know the story of Hosea.
Vs. 2, “Go take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry.”
3 children with special names.
Verse 4 says the first child was named “Jezreel”. That name meant “God sows’.
So the marriage must be going decent. Their child is named as if God had granted them a blessing.
Verse 6 says the second child was named “Lo-Ruhamah”. That means “No Compassion.”
Verses 8-9 record a third child named “Lo-ammi”, which meant “not mine”.
And that is exactly what we were before salvation.
We were not the children of God.
Of course chapter 2 of Hosea reveals Hosea calling Gomer back.
And it ends in verse 23
“I will so her for Myself in the land. (Jezreel) I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion (Lo-ruhammah), and I will say to those who are not My people, ‘You are My people!’ and they will say, ‘You are my God!’” (Lo-ammi)
This was us.
We were not God’s children, but now we have been given over to privilege.
We had not obtained compassion, but now we have been given over to privilege.
Because of the “living stone” of Jesus who was precious in the sight of God…
Because we believed in Him, we now have privilege.
We are made like Christ
We have access to God
We have the ability to please God
We are chosen by God
We are called by God
We are consecrated by God
We can correspond with God
We are now a people of mercy and compassion.
Those were privileges that were not ours before Jesus.
This is the same truth Paul outlined in Ephesians.
TURN TO EPHESIANS 2:11-22
I don’t care how much the cost,
Do not forget that the Christian life is also full of privileges
For those who believe in Jesus.
Pray
