Rejected by Men, Accepted by God Part 1

[0:00] Open up your copy of the Scriptures to 1 Peter chapter 2. We're going to read verses 4 through 10,! Peter writes, As you come to Him, 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.

[0:54] For it stands in Scripture, Behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

[1:06] So the honor is 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.

[1:21] They stumble because they disobey the Word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

[1:42] 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.

[1:54] Thank you for this word, Father. In Christ's name, Amen. You guys take a seat. For most people, the Old Testament remains a sort of closed book.

[2:09] Most people don't approach the Old Testament expecting to understand a whole lot from it, or to gain a whole lot from it. Most people view the Old Testament as, at best, a collection of stories, historical in value, but not really helping us in our daily life, not really showing us a great deal about what we're to believe and what we are to do.

[2:32] And even a lot of Christians approach the Old Testament as a collection of stories that teach us some morals, and there are some inspiring moments in the Psalms, some practical advice that you can find in the book of Proverbs, but on the whole, we sort of read past the Old Testament, or skim through it as quickly as we can, so that we can get to the Gospels and the epistles of the New Testament, so that we can feel like we have something that's really connected to us, rather than something that belongs to a bygone era.

[3:04] But if I understand Peter rightly, throughout this book, and especially in these verses here, the Old Testament is something altogether different from that. In fact, if you guys can think back just a few weeks, when we were in the middle of chapter 1 of this letter, Peter told us that what we call the Old Testament, which was really for Peter and the other apostles just the Bible, because they're in the process of writing the New Testament, so that what we call the Old Testament is the only book that they have with the Word of God in it.

[3:34] And so, for them, it's just the Bible. And Peter tells us that that Bible, that Old Testament that we possess, is a book that's about Christ. And not only did he tell us that it is a book that's about Jesus, but he tells us that it's a book that's written for us, for New Covenant believers.

[3:52] Take a look back. You can see it in verse 10 of chapter 1. And Peter says, concerning this salvation, the salvation that we possess, and that is yet in the future for us as well. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, so those are the prophets of the Old Testament.

[4:11] And not just the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. You have to keep in mind, as we saw when we looked at these verses, that Moses, who wrote the Pentateuch, was the prophet. David was considered a prophet. Samuel was considered a prophet.

[4:23] And so we can see in this the prophets who prophesied, not just a reference to those last several books in the Old Testament, but really in some senses a reference to all the Old Testament, which was viewed by the Jews of Jesus' day as all coming from the mouths and hands of prophets.

[4:39] And Peter says, concerning this salvation, which the prophets who prophesied, so the Old Testament, they searched and made careful inquiry concerning what time or person, the Spirit, person or time, the Spirit of Christ in them was indicated when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.

[4:58] In other words, they were predicting and they were looking forward to the Messiah. The Old Testament is a book about Jesus. And Peter didn't make this up. This wasn't Peter's idea.

[5:09] Peter didn't decide to interject Jesus into the Old Testament in order to make it come alive for us. This is a part of Jesus' own teaching. In Luke, towards the end, on the road to Emmaus, you may be familiar with the passage where Jesus is interacting with his disciples after his resurrection and they don't recognize him at first and then he sits down with them and he opens the scriptures.

[5:33] He opens the works of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. That's the whole Old Testament. And it says that he interpreted to him all the things concerning himself. In other words, Jesus sat down with a copy of the Old Testament and walked through it and showed these disciples all the things about him that were in it.

[5:53] For Jesus, the Old Testament was a book about himself. In fact, when he was confronting the Pharisees and the scribes of his day, he said to them that you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have life, but it is these that testify about me.

[6:11] So a part of Jesus' basic message and basic understanding of the scriptures is that the scriptures of the Old Testament are about him. And Peter didn't make this up.

[6:22] Peter gets this from Jesus and Peter's passing on this understanding of the Old Testament to us so that we can read the Old Testament understanding that it's about Christ. But Peter has said more than that.

[6:34] He has said not only is the Old Testament about Jesus, but it is for us who have believed in Christ. Notice what he says. Verse 12 of chapter 1. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels longed to look.

[6:57] The prophets were serving us. In the salvation that they spoke of, they were speaking of our salvation. In all that they said, they were speaking not only to the people of their time, they were speaking to the people of Peter's time, and all believers throughout history.

[7:14] So the Old Testament is not a closed book. It is a book that's for us. In fact, the Apostle Paul, referring to the story of the Exodus and several other events in Israel's history, says, these things were written down as an example for your sake, speaking to the Corinthian believers.

[7:31] So it is about Jesus, and it's for us. But what we're going to see in the passage that we're looking at this week and next week is that those two truths are not separate truths.

[7:44] They are interwoven. They are entwined together. In other words, the Old Testament is a book that is for us precisely because the Old Testament is a book that is about Jesus.

[7:58] And I want to take this morning and next week to try to show you that here in these verses in 1 Peter chapter 2. This morning, we're going to focus primarily upon how the Old Testament is about Christ.

[8:12] I can't completely untangle those two things. So although I'm trying to hold off on next week to show you how the Old Testament is for us, we're going to have to dig into that a little bit this morning because they're so tied together, so woven together, I can't completely separate them.

[8:26] But I want us to just look briefly and see Peter's understanding of the Old Testament in these verses. Now, he references the Old Testament throughout this passage. In fact, there's not a verse, not really a phrase in here that's not really some sort of reference or quotation from the Old Testament.

[8:43] But we're going to zero in this morning on the three Old Testament quotations that we find in these verses. You can see them here. Most of your Bibles will set them off.

[8:55] They'll either, you know, sort of tab them over in the margin or they'll put them in quotation marks or they'll put them in all caps. Notice he says in verse 6, for it stands in Scripture. Here's your first quotation from Isaiah chapter 28.

[9:09] Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Isaiah chapter 28. And then he makes a comment on that in verse 7.

[9:21] So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, now we get a quotation from Psalm 118. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and Isaiah 8.

[9:34] A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. So three direct quotations here. Two of them from the book of Isaiah and then one in the middle from Psalm 118.

[9:45] And I want to ask the question, why does Peter use these scriptures to talk about Christ and us? Why these particular passages of scripture?

[9:59] Surely there are some that are more obvious references to Jesus, aren't there? I mean, Isaiah 53, if you want to go to Isaiah, is clearly about Christ and a prediction of Christ's suffering, his vicarious suffering on our behalf.

[10:12] You can't get any clearer than that. And Psalm 22 is a very clear messianic psalm about the Messiah who would suffer for his people. So there are places that are very clear, and yet Peter chooses these three very short, quick quotations from the Old Testament to illustrate what he wants to say about Christ and about us.

[10:33] Why does he choose these? These passages in particular. I want to start with the one that's in the middle. Psalm 118 because it seems to be the most random.

[10:44] It seems to be the strangest choice for Peter to choose when you look at it in its original context. It says here, we already saw it, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

[10:56] Now I want you to hold your place here in 1 Peter and turn all the way back to Psalm 118. Psalm 118 where this quotation is found, and Bill read this in our scripture reading earlier.

[11:09] It's found in verse 22. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. There it is, right there. That's the quotation. But it's in the middle of this psalm, and you have to understand the entire psalm to understand that verse by itself, and then you've got to figure out what's the connection with what Peter is trying to say.

[11:31] Now this particular psalm is anonymous. In other words, we don't know who wrote this psalm. Many of the psalms have inscriptions right above them. A psalm of David or something like that. A psalm of Asaph.

[11:41] We don't really know who wrote this particular psalm. But we do know what this psalm is about. This psalm is celebrating God's deliverance of Israel from oppression by foreign enemies.

[11:56] I'll show you what I mean. Okay? Verse 2. Let Israel say, so it's about all of Israel, let Israel say, his steadfast love endures forever.

[12:09] Let the house of Aaron say, so the priesthood, his steadfast love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say, his steadfast love endures forever.

[12:20] So it's a psalm of praise about God's enduring love, but as I said specifically, his enduring love as he redeems them, rescues them, and saves them from their enemies.

[12:30] Verse 8. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in him. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. All nations surrounded me.

[12:43] So this is a first person account representing all of Israel. The nations surrounded Israel. They surrounded us. Surrounded me on every side.

[12:54] In the name of the Lord I cut them off. They surrounded me like bees. They went out like a fire among the thorns. In the name of the Lord I cut them off. I was pushed hard so that I was falling.

[13:06] So Israel fought and fought, did all they could, but at the end of the day it's too difficult. There are too many of them failing. I was falling, but the Lord helped me.

[13:18] The Lord is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. Glad songs of salvation are in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

[13:29] The right hand of the Lord exalts. The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but I shall live and recount the deeds of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

[13:43] So this is praise to God. And now, we come near the quotation. Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

[13:56] This is the gate of the Lord. The righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. And here it is. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

[14:07] This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Even in the context of Psalm 118, that quote seems strange.

[14:18] Does it not? He is praising God for His deliverance of them. And all of a sudden, He breaks out and says, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. What does that mean?

[14:30] Most commentators that I read this week as I was trying to figure this out were agreed that this statement was probably a somewhat common proverbial saying that meant something along the lines of you may have rejected me.

[14:46] You may have come against me or you may have come against God's people but God Himself has taken the people that you've rejected and He has laid them down as a foundation stone.

[15:00] In other words, because God is the builder of the house of Israel and because Israel is God's people, they are an indescribably powerful, strong stone laid in the ground.

[15:14] You cannot eradicate them. You cannot get rid of them. No matter the enemies that might come against God's people, in the end, God has set this stone in place, this massive foundation stone and all that the nations might do to come against God's people will not in the end prevail.

[15:32] The stone that the builders rejected, you may have rejected us. You may not look upon us as numerous or powerful or great but the stone that the builders rejected, God has laid down as a cornerstone.

[15:46] And so the point here is that Israel, though rejected by the nations and despised by the nations, is precious in God's sight, held onto by God and made firm and established by God Himself.

[16:05] Now, that by itself does not help us to understand exactly why Peter would choose this particular verse in 1 Peter chapter 2. But what you've got to realize is that the apostles' understanding of the Old Testament, whether we're talking about Peter or Paul or John, the apostles' understanding of the Old Testament was one that they got, that they received from Jesus Himself.

[16:30] In other words, when we see the apostles interpreting the Old Testament, they're interpreting the Old Testament according to the rules and principles of interpretation that they learned from Jesus Himself.

[16:47] So I don't know how many times in my days at seminary I encountered in reading books and articles scholars who would say, well, Paul or Peter, whoever, whatever book we were looking at at the time, Paul or Peter does not, paid no attention to the original Old Testament context and they're just making things up and they're not concerned about what the Old Testament really said.

[17:09] They're just using it and twisting it and distorting it to say whatever they wanted. They're just making things up as they go along to fit with the argument that they want to make. But the reality is what Peter's doing and what Paul does is they're taking the things that Jesus taught them about the Old Testament and they're passing them on to us.

[17:28] So that Peter's not the first person in the New Testament to make reference to Psalm 118. Jesus is. It's recorded in three of the Gospels but we'll take a look at it in Mark chapter 12 because we've gone through Mark recently and you might remember Mark's account of this.

[17:45] But if you look in Mark chapter 12 you can see where Jesus quotes this exact same passage. This exact same verse. It's right after Jesus tells a parable. He tells a parable about a man who planted a vineyard and he dug a fence and pit and all that and he protected it.

[18:02] And he left his servants in charge of it. His tenant farmers who he had hired to work the farm and he left. So he's a wealthy landowner.

[18:13] He builds up his vineyard and then he leaves and leaves it in the care of others. And then he sends a servant back to collect when it's harvest time which would have been three or four years later. He sends his servant back to collect his portion of the fruit.

[18:28] And yet we are told that they rejected the servant and beat him up and sent him on his way. So he sends another servant and they beat him and kill him. He sends another. And finally the owner of the vineyard sends his only son.

[18:42] Jesus said they murdered his only son. It's an obvious reference to Christ himself. And then after telling that parable Jesus looks at the Pharisees and the scribes who were there as he was speaking and he says have you not read this scripture?

[19:01] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. And then Mark tells us that they were seeking to arrest him because they feared but feared the people for they perceived that he told the parable against them.

[19:21] So the religious leaders understood that this parable was told against them. That they were the tenant farmers who killed the servants who were God's prophets who ultimately would kill the Messiah God's son sent to them.

[19:37] They understood that the parable was told against them. Which means that what Jesus did with this verse from Psalm 118 is he took a verse which originally was about God's protection of Israel from foreign nations and applied it to the very leaders of Israel themselves.

[19:55] And what Jesus is saying to them is you have become like the oppressive nations. The oppressive nations rejected God's people and now you have rejected God's Messiah.

[20:07] And yet in all of your efforts to reject me in all of your efforts to get rid of me and push me out of the way even sentencing me to death and carrying that sentence out. In all that you do you will not succeed because I myself am now laid down as a cornerstone.

[20:24] They understood that the parable was told against them. And for Jesus this passage becomes proof that he is indeed the ultimate embodiment of all of God's promises to Israel.

[20:37] One of the keys to rightly understanding the New Testament interpretation of the Old Testament is that Jesus himself and the apostles view Jesus as the true Israel.

[20:54] So that all the promises made to Israel under the Old Covenant find their ultimate fulfillment in Christ himself. He is representative of Israel.

[21:06] In all the ways that Israel failed Jesus succeeded in his 33 years upon the earth. They failed century after century generation after generation they failed to obey God's word.

[21:18] They failed to honor the Lord. They constantly gave in to the pressures of surrounding nations and became corrupted and over and over that cycle came. So Jesus came to do what Israel could not do.

[21:32] And he succeeded in every way. He perfectly fulfilled and obeyed God's word. And the original promise made to Abraham that in Abraham's seed all the families of the earth would be blessed does not come about through Israel.

[21:47] It comes about through Jesus whom Paul tells us is the seed of Abraham. So it's not random.

[21:58] It's not a misuse of the Old Testament. It's looking at the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus and saying in him all the promises made to Israel find that fulfillment. And he is now the stone that the builders rejected.

[22:13] And the builders now are not the foreign nations. The builders now are the leaders of Israel themselves who have become corrupted and rejected their own Messiah. and Peter picks up on that.

[22:30] Peter picks up on that because the other two passages that he quotes from the book of Isaiah are about that reality precisely. Isaiah chapter 28 and Isaiah chapter 8 the other two quotations.

[22:46] Now you have to know a little bit of what's happening in the book of Isaiah to really understand why Peter chose those specific quotations. Isaiah chapter 8 the hard thing about the book of Isaiah and why there's not a whole lot of preachers that preach through the book of Isaiah is it's not all written chronologically and you can't figure out when something took place how the events are related to each other by where they occur in the book.

[23:13] So even though you've got 20 chapters between chapter 8 and verse 28 you've really only got about I don't know three to five years between those two prophecies and they're surrounding the time when Assyria came from the north into the northern kingdom of Israel and decimated the northern kingdom.

[23:35] Isaiah chapter 8 was written right before those events took place and so that in Isaiah chapter 8 Isaiah warns the people that the Assyrians are coming he warns the northern portion of Israel because Israel's been split in two Judah in the south the other tribes with the name Israel in the north and Isaiah is warning the tribes in the north it's coming judgment is coming and judgment is coming because of your disobedience because of your idolatry because of the failure of your leaders and in fact judgment did come Assyria did come and they decimated the northern tribes Isaiah chapter 28 is written towards the end of that decimation of the northern tribes it's not complete it's not total there are still some left in the north who have not yet been fully crushed by the Assyrian army but the Assyrian army is indeed on the march and it's inevitable but now the Assyrian army is moving and targeting their sights on the southern kingdom of Judah by the time we get to chapter 28 of Isaiah which is where

[24:48] I want you to turn actually right now and the reason why this is so important is because in Isaiah chapter 28 Isaiah is speaking against the leaders of Israel in his day because they have made a grave mistake they know that the Assyrians are coming they have seen what the Assyrians have done to the northern tribes and the northern tribes ignoring Isaiah's warning received the judgment that was coming upon them the southern kingdom has endured longer and they know that Assyria is on the march and on the way and they are afraid I mean Assyria was a massive world power at the time the most powerful nation in that entire region in the entire Middle East no one competes with them at this time Babylon doesn't compete with them at this time and Egypt doesn't fully compete with them Egypt is the second most powerful nation and they can't quite compete with Assyria and so Judah the leaders of Judah are afraid they are scared and they don't know what to do as Assyria's army has now conquered most of the northern kingdom and their sights are fixed on the southern kingdom of Judah and so the leaders of Judah concoct a plan and they decide we're going to make an alliance with Egypt in the south because we know that Egypt doesn't really want

[26:11] Assyria to conquer us because if Assyria conquers us they're next then there's no one to stand between them and Assyria so if we can we can make a treaty with Egypt then Egypt will come and Egypt will fight for us and they have a powerful army and perhaps if we combine our army with their very powerful army there will be enough of us to repel the Assyrians and we will be saved by Egypt that's essentially their plan which makes God very very angry listen to what he begins to say in chapter 28 verse 1 he speaks to those who are remaining in the northern kingdom Ephraim it's one of the tribes and it was not yet totally destroyed yet chapter 28 verse 1 he says ah the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim and the fading flower of its glorious beauty which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine behold the Lord has one who is mighty and strong like a storm of hail a destroying tempest like a storm of mighty overflowing waters he casts down to the earth with his hand the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot and the fading flower of its glorious beauty which is on the head of the rich valley will be like a first ripe fig before the summer when someone sees it he swallows it as soon as it's in his hand so he says to those of you who remain in the north your days are numbered they are limited you have no hope and you remember that Peter has already drawn on this image from Isaiah chapter 40 of the fading flower the falling flower of man's glory and he uses the same imagery here

[28:04] Isaiah does he says all that you've accomplished and all that you have is a flower that's about to fall and you're going to be eaten like a ripe fig judgment is coming he says and then you look down to verse to chapter 29 where God again speaks judgment upon his people chapter 29 ah Ariel Ariel is a well known city in Israel at this time where David at one time had fleed from persecution to be saved and now he says even the place where David was rescued will not be a place of rescue for you ah Ariel the city where David encamped add year to year let the feast run there round yet I will distress Ariel and there shall be mourning and lamentation and she shall be to me like an Ariel in other words God is saying to them there's no place for you to hide no place and the reason for all of this judgment the reason for finishing of judgment in the north the reason for the movement of judgment down into the south is because of their trust in Egypt rather than the Lord chapter 30 verse 1 ah stubborn children declares the Lord who carry out a plan but not mine who make an alliance but not of my spirit that they may add sin to sin who set out to go down to Egypt without asking for my direction to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation for though his officials are at Za'on and his envoys reach Hanes everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them that brings them neither help nor profit but shame and disgrace

[29:54] God is angry because they've trusted in the Pharaoh rather than him he is angry because they've trusted in the might of Egypt rather than his own strength he's angry with Judah and with the northern kingdom of Israel because they will not trust him to deliver him they will not lay their faith upon him to deliver them from the hand of the Assyrians they see a mighty army and immediately they need another mighty army they need another they need an earthly solution to an earthly problem rather than trusting in the Lord and all of this behavior all of this failure to trust in God he lays at the feet of the leaders of the kingdom of Judah it's their fault go back to chapter 28 verse 14 therefore hear the word of the Lord you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem because you have said we have made a covenant with death and with Sheol we have an agreement he's talking about their covenant with Egypt when the overwhelming whip passes through it will not come to us for we have made lies our refuge and in falsehood we have taken shelter therefore thus says the Lord God behold

[31:13] I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone a tested stone a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation whoever believes will not be in haste God says I laid the foundation here I laid it down this is my place this is my land this is you are my people you belong to me and yet you leaders would trust in a foreign king to deliver you fine fine judgment will come to you judgment will come but the most important thing to understand about this judgment that God is sending against Judah and that he's directing very specifically at the rulers of Judah is that it will not be a complete and total utter destruction of God's people because according to Isaiah chapter 28 verse 5 there will be a remnant that God will save verse 5 in that day this is the day of judgment that God is bringing upon Israel in that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of his people that I think is the key to understanding all of this that throughout all of God's judgments against Israel all of them

[32:43] God always had a remnant he always had a small select few within the nation of Israel that truly belonged to him and those in the midst of judgment he protected those in the midst of judgment he rescued and saved and delivered it was the remnant and now to that remnant God himself is going to be the stone the rock the foundation I gather that from Isaiah chapter 8 the other quotation that Peter uses Isaiah chapter 8 verse 13 but the Lord of hosts him you shall honor as holy let him be your fear and let him be your dread and he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem so he is a sanctuary and yet he's also a stone of stumbling and a fence a trap and a snare to both the northern and the southern kingdom how does that work he is a sanctuary to the remnant he is a sanctuary to those whom he has chosen out of the nation there are always those that God has set his seal upon there are always those within old covenant

[34:09] Israel that God has chosen and selected and saved and he protects them and now Peter takes all of that information all of it and he pours it into how we see Christ and how we see ourselves related to Christ let me try to draw all this together and hopefully you can come away with a better understanding of exactly what Peter is telling us here Peter begins let's go back to the quotations in the context of Peter Peter begins by quoting Isaiah chapter 28 directed against the leaders of Israel alright behold I am laying in Zion a stone a cornerstone chosen and precious and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame now pause for a moment there that word translated precious is the word honor that's important to follow the flow of thought here you can't see it in most English translations a cornerstone chosen and with honor or honorable and whoever believes in him whoever trusts in this stone remember

[35:12] I told you that the stone now is not only Israel but Isaiah chapter 8 the stone is Yahweh himself whoever believes in him will never be put to shame verse 7 so the honor is for you who believe so now the honor that belongs to the stone who is Israel and yet is Yahweh follow me here that honor now belongs to those whose trust is in the stone you trust in the stone you trust in the foundation and you yourselves become a recipient of the very honor that that stone has within himself it's yours now but for those who do not trust now we're back to Psalm 118 to Jesus use of it the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone in other words Peter says just as Jesus said Jesus quoted

[36:13] Psalm 118 and he used this phrase it was directed at the nations and Peter says now it is true not only of the leaders of Israel who rejected Christ now it is also true of all who reject Christ this great stone rejected by many has now become the great cornerstone the foundation stone and going back to Isaiah chapter 8 and just as it did during Isaiah's time the stone became a stone of stumbling and offense for the leaders of Israel now for all who do not believe in Christ Christ the stone has become a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense because he says they stumble because they disobey the word so all those who do not believe the word about Christ the word that he has told us in verse 25 is summed up in the gospel this word is the good news that was preached to you whoever doesn't believe this word about Christ stumbles upon

[37:15] Christ falls to their everlasting destruction so who is Jesus in the light of all this stone imagery what are we to take away about Christ himself we'll see what to take away about ourselves what do we take away about Christ himself number one we take away that Jesus is the true Israel he is the true Israel he is the ultimate embodiment of the remnant and the wonderful thing about living under the new covenant is that even Gentiles can become members of the remnant even Gentiles through faith in Christ you trust in Christ you become a member of Israel Jesus is the true final ultimate embodiment of the remnant principle within Israel and if you trust in him you become a member of Israel that's who he is but not only that

[38:18] Jesus is the divine stone that others stumble over Isaiah chapter 8 it is God himself who is the stone verse Peter chapter 2 it is Jesus who is the stone but there's more than that there's more than that this passage begins with a reference to the verses we looked at last week verse 4 as you come to him as you come to him connected to verse 3 the end of verse 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good I told you last week that that was a paraphrase Psalm chapter 34 Psalm 34 verse 8 come taste and see that the Lord that's Yahweh all capital letters come taste and see that Yahweh is good

[39:20] Peter says if you have indeed tasted that the Lord is good and then he says and as you come to this Lord as you come to him who's the him a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious this is who Peter sees Jesus as being the true embodiment of the promises made to Israel the true embodiment of the remnant principle of Israel and God himself veiled in the flesh the good Lord the living stone the corner stone is none other than Yahweh himself none other than Jesus himself and those who trust in him those who put their faith in him become he says like living stones in verse 5 you become a living stone by being connected to the living stone you become a spiritual house by being connected to the true temple of

[40:32] God the honor that belongs to the stone belongs to those who believe in him but for those who do not believe those who reject the word of the gospel he is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense they stumble because they disobey the word said before that in first Peter obedience to the word is equivalent to belief in the gospel that's what Peter means by that phrase that's why in chapter 1 verse 3 he says that we have been chosen for obedience to Jesus Christ for belief in him for faith in him and now those who do not believe in him those who reject the gospel word they stumble!

[41:37] some will reject this word and yet Peter says it's not our responsibility to ensure that they receive it this word was proclaimed to you you will go and proclaim this word listen to what he says verse 9 you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light are there those who are destined to destruction sure will they stumble at the word sure they will sure but what is our call believe in the word obey the word and proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into light and trust in him to do the rest of the work let's pray so much packed into these few verses and we have only scratched the surface help us to become those who handle the word after the example of our

[43:30] Lord and after the example of the apostles let us not come to it seeing that parts of it are difficult to understand and turn away but let us come and dig our heels in and determine that we will be nourished by this word and not only nourished but we will become we will become obsessed with feeding others from your word as well proclaiming the excellencies of Christ the beauty of Christ the honor of Christ the living stone the cornerstone and the foundation of all that we are all that we hope in I ask this in Christ's name

[44:30] Amen