Listening & growing in God's word
1 Peter 2:2-5 · Bob Eckel · Mar 15, 2015
1 & 2 Peter (2015), No. 10
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926458162795

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Today we're going to be looking at 2 Peter 2-5, entitled Listening and Growing in God's Word. And I think to lead into this, we're going to go back to chapter 1, and maybe begin with verse 22. 1 Peter 1 verse 22, that you purify your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit, and consider love of the present, and love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and abides forever.

Because all flesh is as grass, and all glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Now this is the word which is by the gospel which is preached unto you. Chapter 2. Give my computer a second.

Therefore laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Indeed you have tasted as the Lord is gracious. coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also, as living stones, are being built up by a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. All right, remember the theme of 1 Peter, beginning in chapter 1 and all the way through 2.10, which is not as far as we're going today, is all about salvation. And then we're going to switch gears. So 1 Peter 2, combined verses 2 and 3, is newborn babe, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted it, the Lord is gracious.

OK, so there's an issue about the comma after verse 1 versus a period after verse 1. How many people's versions have a comma after verse 1? It's true in my translation. And how many people have a period after verse 1? Alright, is this important? What do you think? Well, if you look at this, 6 out of 12 translations that I looked at have a comma, and 6 have a period. So, does the Lord care? He does care, doesn't he? I don't know.

So, one freestanding sentence is favored by the term wherefore. that begins verse one. I think that applies to what we dealt with in chapter one. So a period is probably more acceptable in terms of what chapter one is about. Remember those of you that were here two weeks ago, we were kind of deciding should Jeremy cover, Jeremy taught last week, correct? Should he cover verse 1 of chapter 2 as part of the end of chapter 1, or should, in fact, I pick up with verse 1, and we're going to divide this section 1 through 5 into two separate lessons. Anyway, it's all very theoretical, but we're beginning verse 2 as if verse 1 ended with a period. Just leave it there. And the question is, does verse one apply more to verse two, or does it apply more to the last verse in chapter one? The sense is it applies more to the last verse in chapter one. Otherwise, wherefore would be therefore something therefore. Right. Remember, J. Bernard McGee, when it's therefore or wherefore, what's it there for? It's therefore because of what preceded it, typically.

So let's just leave it there. And move on. What's meant by newborn babes? What do you think here? New believers. Greek word, brephos, used only in a metaphorical sense. Are these newly born believers with little knowledge and insight? Or babes and their dependency on the truth? What do you think? Newborn babes. Let's look at this maybe in a little bit more detail. they just want you to be like that approaching the word don't they?

I think you're correct there this is not kind of babes needing milk because they're new believers I think this is kind of let's go ahead 1st Corinthians 3.2 somebody pull that one out and somebody look at Matthew 11.25 so whoever gets each one of these verses just begin to read the verse and state what verse you're reading anybody from 1st Corinthians 3.2 Indeed, you are still not ready. Okay, what does that imply? A new believer? Yeah, that's kind of a newborn babe, and milk is what we start on, because it's easy to drink and swallow.

Let's look at Matthew 11, 25. Who has that? At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise of Judah, and hast revealed them unto babes. Well, how do you interpret babes there, Roy? This is the Lord Jesus Christ responding to some inquiry. What?

Newborns. Newborns. And so these are truths that they're not able to perceive, but he's giving them the babes. Are the babes looking forward to new believers in terms of the apostolic age? Or do you think he's just speaking about the fact that babes, in fact, will inherit and know the truth? versus these wise pharisees and those profound in the work.

Tom, what do you think? I would say there's an element of eagerness involved instead of just the same old stale attitude. I like that. So Tom's interpretation for those in the back is that there's an eagerness here for the bathes as if they're going for the breast or a milk.

So, desire the sincere milk of the word. Desire, the strong verb, meaning long for. This isn't, I just, you know, desire, you know, Mexican food for lunch, kind of thing. This is kind of a longing for, a great desire. Act in an imperative. Desire, meaning this is something we're about, and it's imperative, meaning do it. This is something we need to do.

2 Corinthians 5-2, Philippians 1-8, let's take a look at those. 2 Corinthians 5-2, whoever gets to it first, please. In Philippians 1-8, we're looking at the verb desire. And I think you're going to get a sense of how strong a verb this is when we look at some of the related text here.

For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. Groan, that's desire. second verse, what is why a very good demonstration of this verse. For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. Okay, longing for. I think it's better than desire. Okay. Now, is milk in contrast to meat? Let's turn to Hebrews 5, 12 through 14. And this is probably a better example of milk and meat in terms of its relationship to the Growth of the Believer. Hebrews 5, 12-14.

The astronomy belongs to men who are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. That is fourteen. No, twelfth of fourteen. That's captured perfectly. For when, for the time you ought to have been teachers, if you want to teach again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the work of righteousness, for he is vain. Okay, good, Tom. So did people hear that or were they reading along with him as he was reading?

How would we define the believer who in fact is nursed on milk only? What's milk for a New Testament believer? It's just the basic salvation. What's basic salvation? What's the gospel message? They believe who Christ is, that he died, that he rose again. He died for our sins. 1 Corinthians 15 through a very simple gospel message, right?

And meat? That's more for growth. Growth, and that's why we come to Holly Hills. Not to necessarily make disparaging comments about other groups of believers that gather today, but meat. Think about salvation, and that's what 1 Peter is all about here.

I was saved. I'm being saved. and I will be saved, right? The first and the third are easy, aren't they? And that's kind of delicate, that I've been saved, I believe that my sins have been paid for, and actually you may not believe in the fact that the sin of nature has been crucified too, but at least you come to the Lord through very simple truths that Christ who died on the cross paid for our sins, and we're acceptable to God. And the fact that when we die, we will be with the Lord.

That's very simple gospel milk kind of scenarios. But growing and being saved, this active process of each one of us, is kind of more what meat's all about, isn't it? I mean, the new believer, somewhat lacking in insight and depth of the word of God, may think that he or she is paying the Lord back with good deeds and activities, which may in fact be be partially really of the Lord acting out their lives. The meat of the word is really the identification truth that in fact by growth we grow by the foundation of grace that the Lord has given us and that is an act of faith just like we were saved and we will be saved one day. So the source of this desire is critically important. The second atom is the source of it, not the first atom. If we're growing by grace in the truth of what the Lord has for us, that can't be polishing up the old man.

It's going to fall short. And notice the modifier, sincere. Why the modifier here? Because it's not faked. It is not imitative, it is really happening in God's timing that you are really enjoying, beginning to enjoy the benefits and respond. Okay, not sour milk, but fresh milk, right? Truth. This is the only New Testament use of this term sincere, which means unmixed, unadulterated, without dishonest, not spoiled, actually sincere. Pure is used in some translations actually. I think the King James is pure.

And the best way I think to think about this relationship in terms of the desire or strong longing for the sincere milk of the word is a relationship of a baby's appetite for milk it's always there, it's never ending, right? so that's, I think, newborn babes here newborn babes are entirely dependent on mom and or the bottle to be nourished and there's no schedule, there's no interval of timing of feeding. Yes?

Is there a sense of innocence in that desire? There's nothing to be gained or any sort of... What do you mean by innocence here? Well, that desire for the milk, for the pure milk, like as a newborn baby, is it's not... I'm thinking there's no extra agenda in that desire. I'm trying to relate innocence to two things. One, the innate biologic need to be nourished. That is kind of an innocent biologic aspect.

But then I think of innocence scripturally. What do you think of when you think of innocence scripturally? I think of one thing, guess what I'm thinking. When I think of innocence, I'm thinking of the garden, right? Was Adam righteous? No. Was Adam in sin? Not originally, nor was Eve. But they were innocent.

So just trying to put that in perspective. Innocence, I'm thinking more of maybe the biologic innocence of just striving to be nourished. We control our own food intake, don't we? I'll speak for myself, sometimes they eat a little bit too much. But nevertheless, we can control our nourishment, but a babe, a newborn babe in fact, it only controls it through biological processes.

Maybe he's thinking, I mean, they're not doing it, he's not doing it for show or anything. No, there's no glory. Maybe that's what he's thinking in essence. That's more of what exactly, there's no pretense. Yeah, exactly, agenda in it. The eternal covenant is not mentioned very much around this church. And there's a huge amount of information concerning that.

How do you think that relates to this, Jack? That's like the baby who is born. As far as I'm concerned, God knew before the child was born that he would be a Christian. And the truth of the word is something that just... to my way of thinking is when the word is brought to you, your soul reacts to that. Well that leads a little bit into this next point. Is our desire for the word of God identical or even similar to what a baby There is no guesswork. I wish I had that hunger a baby does for his or her mother's breast. The point is that this is what this means, I think. The sincere longing for the Word of Truth.

This is something that is built in and it has got to be innate. This isn't something we program or necessarily develop an outline of timing, etc. This is something that we should be in and about all the time. Nobody is putting a metric to this. This has got to be led by the Holy Spirit in an act of faith.

We want to be there like a baby needs to be fed. Frequently, often and continuously. Any other thoughts on this? The word gives us the nourishment. The word is our milk. It is and that's where we grow. Certain Bibles have editorial comments in the margin or sometimes in the bottom, however they dictate it. But you can tell pretty quickly whether it's a denominational outlook or whether it's just clarification with other scriptures. Yeah, I think here the takeaway message is this is not a newborn babe who's uneducated or lacks insight in terms of the word of God. This is a strong desire that as believers that are spirit-led is where we need to be.

And again, there's no metric. We're not applying this, gee, I'm falling short today because I'm supposed to spend 23 minutes in the lab. I mean, no, no. We're talking about an innate desire that spirit led to the new creation that we are in Christ Jesus. Everybody OK with that? We're not comparing milk and meat here. We're comparing the innate need to be in the Word of God.

All right, that you may grow thereby. Interesting outcome. Now, can you grow without the Word of God? the lord is capable of revealing, but the word is the milk. the word is our source isn't it? it's truly our milk and our meat. grow here spiritually in fullness, eros tense meaning typically one time that relates to other times, passive. notice that you may grow thereby. the growth is a passive process. And why is that passive tense here, do you think? Subjunctive, that means it may occur, may not occur. But it's passive erotic. Richard says that by it you may grow and so the actor is the Word of God.

The pure milk does the action. That's right. The Holy Spirit is acting upon us to grow through the Word. We decide to go to the Word of God by faith And I think when we're led there by a sense of guilt and in the old nature, there's probably little growth going on there. But when we're there, the sincere milk of the book. That's where growth comes from. And so we've got a number of verses here that really relate to glowing, which really relates to spiritual fullness and contentment.

I'm just a little confused, so forgive me for this. So, Jesus, the word became flesh. And dwelt among us, right? So, is this talking about the word, the Bible, the word, or is it talking about the word, Jesus? Well, logos is the term for word here. Logos can be interpreted as the written word and or the Lord Jesus Christ. I haven't really tried to distinguish those two, but I think they're wrapped up in one, aren't they?

Okay. Thank you. Any other thoughts about that? Okay. One major purpose of our salvation is growth, right? What's another purpose of our salvation? To conform. God, growth is confirmation. God's glory. The glory of God. God be given the glory for all things that we do and His power and strength in our lives.

Yeah. Fellowship with Him. Yep, the fellowship, right? What else? Rejoicing in the grace in its uttermost overwhelming presence, right there. The Great Commission is not so much spreading the word of the Lord, but in our going, ultimately others may see the Lord Jesus Christ in our life. And as Hal used to say, the only Bible some people see is our lives. That's kind of, to some extent, humbling isn't it? in terms of how we walk. Just a thought here.

The verse ends in that you may grow thereby. I guess translating it in the passive would be that by it you may be grown. And then it goes on to say the direction of purpose unto salvation in the text. It's not in the translation. I don't know why. But unto salvation is in the text, if I can be interlinear. Yeah, I don't know that we've gotten that far, Greg. I'm sorry. That's fine.

But keep in mind now, I'm not saying that we're ultimately just robots being controlled by some, you know, electrical wiring here. We do have a responsibility to live on faith, don't we? But the growth pattern is subjunctive, and may occur, may not occur, but yet it's passive. And the process of our growth is Holy Spirit controlled, not us. It's not our agenda. When we come to the word by faith, and we fellowship in faith, ultimately we grow. And that's the act of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives.

If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, So if indeed, and Roy, you can correct me here. I'm trying to be a little bit more scholarly here. If indeed is EI, and when connected to the indicative mood, which means factual, meaning tasted, if indeed you've tasted, it assumes sense, right? Am I correct there, grammatically?

Okay, so in a sense, since you've tasted that the Lord is gracious, you've already experienced his grace. Therefore, you know, that you therefore make growth. So it's not if you indeed have tasted, it's not subjunctive here. Growth is subjunctive based on our taking, have a strong desire for the discernment of the word. But ultimately, we've all tasted already, if we're believers, that the Lord is gracious.

Right? Everybody OK with that? All right. Taste it. Here to have experienced. Lester Grove is, by faith, a natural sequel. Let's look at the psalm first. I thought this was related here. Psalm 34, 8, and 9. And again, whoever gets to that, please. O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints, for there is no one to them that fear him. OK, good, thank you.

OK, I think that what I've done here is I've mistakenly put what's on top of this before 1 Peter 2.4 rather than after. And that was just kind of an animation problem this morning.

So let's look at 1 Peter 2.4. Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by man, but chosen by God and precious.

So if you will, if you've got a pen, just pull that top of this page underneath 1 Peter 2.4. This verse really kind of is a fulfillment of prophecy. So let's look at a couple of verses that really relate to this. Identification of the Lord Jesus Christ is a living stone.

So Isaiah 8.14 and Mark 12.10 and 11. So please take a look at those first.

Then he shall become a sanctuary, but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Okay, so how did Israel view the stone? They stumbled over it. Well, they stumbled over it, but what was their view of the stone? But they did. But that wasn't their view. I mean, that ultimately is defended by history. Right. I wonder if that's the stone that Moses struck in the wilderness. That could be one. How about identifying it with the temple also? Either, I think, would be an appropriate interpretation.

How about Mark 12, 10, 11? and have you not read this scripture? the stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner this was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes ok, so what stone do you think that's relating to? Christ Christ, yeah, ok so coming to him as a living stone is really the stone that was the stumbling block for the nation of Israel but chosen by God and precious relates to the fact that chosen here is interestingly not a verb, which is intended in the translation to be a verb. And it's actually chosen out one. It's really a noun. So coming to him as a living stone, rejected indeed by men, again, the fulfillment of prophecy. But chosen by God, it should be the chosen out one by God and precious. So we're talking about the person. the believer, here related to the Lord Jesus Christ, the chosen out one, not chosen by God, and precious.

So precious held in honor of 1 Peter 2.6 is something that will be covered next week. We don't really need to go there right now. But let's go back and look now at a section of scripture that I think is very, very appropriate here in terms of the relationship. And Jack now just gets back to the Eternal Covenant to some extent.

So let's look at Colossians 1, 15 through 23 and get a sense of the relationship between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Eternal Covenant becomes very, very clearly exemplified, Jack. Colossians 1 15-23 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For by Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness flow in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established in friend, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel, this is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every preacher under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. I think that this section of scripture really relates very much to the relationship of God the Father with the Son in terms of eternity past and eternity present and future.

And that's where the chosen out one really, I think, makes sense here in terms of being used as a noun rather than a verb. By coming to him as to a living stone. In the interlinear Greek, it says to whom coming as unto a living stone. So it's a little bit different in terms of the word in the translation. And coming is drawing near by faith. And it's an intimate relationship here that we have. And I like what we said here. And I quote him.

The words to whom coming in the Greek text do not refer to the initial act of the sinner coming to the Lord Jesus for salvation. but indicate a close and habitual approach and an intimate association made by faith when the believer realizes the presence of and seeks communion and fellowship with his Lord. So the chosen by God and precious, coming to him as a living son, rejected by men, the chosen by God and precious, really relates ultimately to the identification we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And a living stone is the only living stone. So these verses, in addition to those that we read before, relate to the Lord Jesus Christ as the living stone, prophesying structure rejected by the Jews. And although the Jew relates a living stone to the temple, here's where I had that, Roy. Ultimately, it could be the stone that Moses, in fact, engendered the expression of water. The true temple is made of living material and men and women saved by God's unmeasurable grace. So remember, we're the temple of the Holy Spirit. And ultimately, we are living stones in our identification with the true living stone, the chosen one of God, precious and true.

Rejected or disallowed. indeed by men. Anthropos is all men. The term here is all men. We crucified Christ. It wasn't the Jews. It was all of us that ultimately rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 5, it says, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So we are living stones being built up a spiritual house. So therefore, I think we glorify God in our body and in our spirit. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 6. I skipped over that before, but let's go ahead and look at that now. versus 19 and 20. And I guess that'll do it for today. For you do not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. And you are not your own, for you are a body of Christ, and therefore glorified by God in your body and in your spirit, which are our gods.

So this relationship of being a living stone, in a sense, is our body being the temple of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately then capable of a relationship that is one would ever think in terms of this holy priesthood that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Being built up, again, here present tense, passive, just like our growth. We are being built up not by anything active that we do, but again, by faith. Having that desire for the sincere milk of the Word of God. And it's a fact. I think when we, in fact, are put in a position to ultimately come to the Lord by faith, we're being built up. And that's not simply experiential. I mean, our experiences build into that growth path. But yet, I think it's our desire and intent on being in the Lord God that allows this to happen.

So how does this happen? What are your thoughts? You get broken more. Ironically, to be built up, we have to be broken. Yeah, that's right. It's kind of life out of death, right? There is that. And Peter talks a lot about that. We've only touched the surface of where we're going, Peter, in terms of the trials and tribulations that ultimately we're going to be facing. So that's part of it, for sure.

And how else are we built up by the word? It's living. What's the most important, I mean here we say love, faith, hope, all these adjectives that reflect the believer. What's the most important thing we seek? Lighting, drawing near. I think the fellowship is true. What is the most important aspect of what we are looking for when we come to the Lord?

I'm going to say it's truth. I think truth drives us to all of the above. Faith, hope, love, Ultimately, the truth is the trump card of everything. In fact, when we act the truth, all these other things fall into place, right? Which goes right along with the context here. The pure milk of the word is the reality Christ himself.

And when, in fact, we're about being in the word and ultimately looking for the truth, we ultimately then see a whole paradigm of God's grace open up to us. I mean I think to ultimately come to the point of realizing that there's another life let be lived out. And this isn't where in fact we continue to depend on the flesh and sail back to your comment to about about death and that life coming from that. And so maybe through that. Truth, as you say, is the most important aspect of the Word. You grow in an awareness of all those other aspects of Christ, His love, His sacrifice, His character, just everything about it. But it does stem from that truth.

And I don't know where else the truth comes from but the Word of God, right? Are we looking at some commentary or are we thinking what Joe or Jill might Some thoughts about the truth. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, it says in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. And in Hebrews 1 it says that faith is reality. It's Christ himself. So when we seek the truth, like you're talking about, we're entering into reality, what's real, not fake, not false. Christ himself is the total reality from God's perspective. And that's a big thought. And you know his self-proclaiming statement, I am the way, the truth, and the life, all that's wrapped up into him, isn't it? He is.

And really I think that's where we distinguish milk from meat. I mean the truth of who we are in Christ is far different than paying God back for the salvation he's given us. It's a whole different animal. And that's where truth is so critically important. I'm not decreasing the value of love and faith and hope. These are all important aspects of who we are in Christ too.

But nevertheless, the truth of the word is really what I think we're looking at when we're looking at the desire for milk, as a babe's desire for milk. And that's where we grow. We're built up. And we're built up by the word. When we're day in and day out applying the truth of the word of God to our experience, what do we do? I think we put ourselves in heavenly places.

Because our citizenship isn't here. You've got to weigh everything you're going through every day, every minute of every day, based on your citizenship. And I think that comes back to really the idea of when we in fact have been disappointed with ourselves, it's because we have trusted ourselves. So everything needs to be looked through the eyeglasses of my citizenships in heaven.

It's not here. And that's a truth that only can come through being in the Word of God. You just don't get there in any other way but reading and seeing that repeatedly documented. Earth is just our business address. Heaven's our home. And that's really the way we need to look at the life. So let's look at a piece of 2222. And I'll pull that up here to try to figure out if I can make the computer faster than you turn your pages. And I think the only thing is I get to watch where I want to go. But then it takes about 10 seconds for it to open up and build up.

Upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly framed together grows into an holy also are building together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. In my apologies, you should really go back to 19.

Now, therefore, you're no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. And then look at the verses that follow. We're built on a foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being again the chief cornerstone, living stone. to whom the whole building being fit together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Temple. And again, two temples. The Old Testament view of the temple, and the ultimate Messiah, and ultimately the view that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, in whom you're also being built together. Again, passive, we're being built together as a body for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. So this dependency on the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives to grow and to be built up is something we really need to recognize. Again, we have a responsibility. We need to live by faith. What's faith?

Yes, go ahead. I see the relationship from what Paul is talking about here, but why do you say the Jew relates a living stone to the temple? Where does that come from? Well, the temple itself is in fact what Made with stones, right? Right. And that's what they looked to. That's their central... Well, the temple was their focus, right? That's how they reached God. Through the annual sacrifices of the high priest, right?

So, I think that the fact that we have a stone that's physical, but then we have a living stone, it's a contrast that I think is consistent with the nation of Israel in their view of the stone versus Christ the living stone. I mean the brick and mortar is a dead stone. It has no life. That's my attempt to try to relate the prophecy and how the living stone was a stumbling block for the Jew. The temple is the most important edifice that the Jews ever built.

That's where they worship. And it continues to be, right? The temple must be rebuilt. Right? I mean, that's their view. They don't have it, but they want it. Really bad. So they can do all their performable worship. Sacrifices and stuff. But for Paul to say, we are a living stone, a temple. Yeah.

I bet that was just foreign to their thinking. And the stumbling block for the Gentiles was what? I was just thinking that the temple in the Old Testament was the place that God met man, and that the cross, and it was holy, it was separate. he was so inaccessible there was a four inch thick curtain ahead of the Holy of Holies and it was ripped when he died on the cross so that God is now accessible. The temple represented his holiness and his unapproachableness and the cross has opened that up now so that like this verse approaching him That's the living stone.

The one who was dead is now alive. The imagery there is really great. Back to the analogy we tried to make before. Him being the cheap cornerstone really reflects the Jews view of who he wasn't. And the fact that we're identified as living stones as part of the living stone is identification truth. What can you make of that other than identification? We are in fact Christ extended, his life is in us, and the Holy Spirit in fact is what empowers us.

It helps us to understand that Galatians 2.20 that we live this life in Christ. Good, okay, again this is truth, and I would dare say that most believers don't have a clue about this. I'm not being critical.

What brings someone to a need for a deeper understanding of what the Christian life's all about? I think it's coming to the end of yourself. And realize that you're not making it. And then you know what happens to growth and grace is it makes Christianity joyful and fun. It really does. Because the power is not of us, it's in us.

It's a whole different ball game. And I think that's And keep in mind Peter, think of the transition in the apostle Peter from his time in the gospel to his time writing this epistle. What a transition of a life. And we give Paul all the credit for identification, but there's a heck of a lot of identification in the epistles of Peter. And this is really a stellar example of that identification. A holy priesthood. We'll just get five minutes, it'll look amazing. So the office of a priest who has access to God and offers not external, but spiritual sacrifices.

I like Revelation 1.6 here.

And has made us kings and priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. And those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. To offer up spiritual sacrifices, accepting the God through Jesus Christ. How are you doing on your own here, offering up spiritual sacrifices? It's our identification and empowerment of the Holy Spirit that enables this to happen. Therefore, by him, let us continually offer up the sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. So notice, what's the sacrifice here? It's praising the Lord for all that he is. And through that means, he gets the glory.

We take credit for nothing other than acting by our own faith. We've got to respond by faith. And what's faith? How does Schofield define faith? Some people in this room have heard me say this too many times, but I'm going to say it again. I love it. Hebrews 11, 1, we always quote for what faith is. Faith is believing what God has revealed.

It's very simple. So for Adam and Eve, they had all they needed. Abraham had all he needed. Daniel had all he needed. Ruth had all she needed. And we, as New Testament believers, have all we need. And that's the Word of God, where, in fact, we grow and we're built up in the faith. And that building up is the power of the Spirit. But our responsibility is to believe what God's revealed and act by faith.

So what does this look like? What's acceptable to God? I think I just said it. What's acceptable to God in terms of the way he views us? First of all, how does he view you? He sees us in Christ. There's no condemnation. to those that are in Christ Jesus.

And when we fall short, either by lack of belief, or belief in wrong things, or, I mean, ultimately we confess. And by the way, when we confess, it basically says, Lord, this is not who I am. What I've done here is not who I really am. Thanks. And you move on by faith. And the relationships have never ended, and never condemned me. That's what it looks like. What's acceptable to God is all working and acting by faith. and who we are in Christ Jesus.

And it's, by the way, it says here, the verse says through, but it could be by or in many translations. And keep in mind, if you look at in Christ versus for Christ, I mean, it's like a log, two log full difference. It's like 150 times in Christ or in Christ Jesus and for Christ, maybe five times. And most of those are not doing anything for Christ.

So through, by, and in is in the new nature empowered by the Spirit. And is Romans 12-1 being lived out by faith in your life? I think that's a question we're asking each one of us. But I think, again, notice the question, is it being lived out by faith? And I think faith is clearly the vehicle that allows these truths to be ultimately put to place.

And I'm going to end today with Colossians 3, 17. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, or in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll be paraphrasing that a little bit. Giving thanks to God the Father through him. And that ties nicely into, I think, verse 5 and verse Peter. Jeremy, you've been quiet. Yes. Yes. Any comments?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, The verse in Colossians just strikes me through all the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks to God, the Father, and to His kingdom. Everything that we do is in the spirit of, by means of, who He is and what He's done, the Lord Jesus. It's wrapped up in Way, Truth and Life, isn't it? I mean the name seems pretty superficial, doesn't it? just for in the name of it. I like it, you know, when we pray at mealtime, in the name of the Lord Jesus. It gets to be kind of repetitious and kind of dull, actually.

But I think this relates to life in its entirety. Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God. And in the name is exactly what these verses have pertained to. This is the Holy Spirit building us up in truth and ultimately and growth that really we all experience day in and day out. OK, good. Let's close with prayer.

Father, we're thankful that we've maybe just touched the surface of the importance of this section of the first epistle of Peter. And we know, looking at his life, how much growth and experience that he had that ultimately brought glory to your name. And we're thankful that we can really come to your word day in and day out like a babe nurses to meet the biologic needs of nourishment. We're thankful that your word is ultimately the nourishment that we need and continue to depend on in terms of sustaining growth and truth. Thank you for the class before us and may we lift up the service to follow Jesus.