Bible Reading, 1Peter 2

1st Peter chapter 2 and we'll read from verse 1 wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that he may grow thereby if so be have tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming is on to a living stone disallowed indeed of man but chosen of God and precious ye also as lively or living stones are built up a spiritual house the holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ wherefore also it is contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion chief cornerstone elect precious he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you therefore which believe he is precious but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallowed the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed but ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood a holy nation a peculiar people that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers they may by your good works which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake whether it be to the king as supreme or on two governors as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of them that do well for so is the will of God that with well-doing he may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men as free and not using your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as the servants of God honor all men love the brotherhood fear God honor the King servants be subject to your masters with all fear not only to the good and gentle but also to the forward for this is thanks worthy if a man for conscience toward God endure grief suffering wrongfully for what glory is it if when you be buffeted for your faults you shall take it patiently but if when you do what you do well and suffer for it he take it patiently this is acceptable with God for even hereunto were ye called because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judges righteously who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness and by whose stripes ye were healed for ye were as sheep going astray but are now returned on to the shepherd and bishop of your souls may the Lord bless to us the reading of his word now then there are again 25 verses but they're all filled with an awful lot of lovely things that we could ponder today so let's try to cover these verses and I'll appreciate all the help you can give just quickly with every chapter there are a number of ways of dividing it this chapter very readily divides into two sections the first 10 verses are a continuation from chapter 1 and verse 11 to 25 really are the introduction to a section of teaching that's going to come in chapter 3 in verses 1 to 10 you can clearly see that it's based upon a spiritual relationship that's been established whereas 11 down to the end becomes more a social responsibility but however I'm going to give you seven words very simple words and we'll center our discussion around the start at the end of the chapter you notice that the believers are referred to as sheep in verse 25 so let me just suggest we're going to spend a few minutes at the end looking at sheep in relation to the shepherd of course the reference there is to Isaiah 53 but then you'll notice in verse 18 the believers are seen as servants and so we're going to think about servants in relation to their masters verse 13 verse 18 was the servants verse 13 submit yourselves and can we just use the word citizens there and its citizens in relation to the authorities of earth in verse 11 they're spoken of as strangers and we want to think of strangers in relation to this world quite evidently once we go back into verse 9 we're looking at the believers as priests and it's in relation to their worship and their offerings when you go back to verse 3 you see the believers as living stones and now it's stones in relation to a spiritual house and when you go to verse 1 or verse 2 rather the believers are seen as babes and it's in relation to the milk of the Word of God I heard brother Ben Sutton say many many years ago in relation to this chapter as sinners were bought as sheep we are led as stones we are built and as sucklings were fed that's why I went backwards because the first three verses had to do with babes or if you like the little word sucklings just in relation to the pure milk of the Word of God the first three verses very evidently tie in with what we read earlier so again we're going to slip down to the chapter babes in relation to the Word of God stones in relation to the house of God priests in relation to the worship of God strangers and their responsibility in relation to the world citizens and their responsibility in relation to authority we're going to look at them as servants in relation to the masters and sheep in relation to the shepherd. Did I give you seven there? I wasn't counting but anyway we'll look down through in that order now verses 1 to 3 and my introduction is over wherefore laying aside the wherefore that begins this chapter takes us right back into the truth of chapter 1 in other words based upon these beautiful things that we looked at this morning that we're seeing seen in this chapter and don't forget now redeemed the last two things redeemed with the Lamb foreordained before the foundation of the world then the living Word of God and all flesh is as the flower it's all going to fade away so what the trials and tribulations that they were facing there's a glory that's given to believers that'll never fade away something that takes us back in eternity and takes us on to the future now then based upon the beautiful truths of chapter 1 wherefore laying aside let's look at these first three verses as a block and we'll try not to spend too much time on them but there's a lot of things just in the three verses can I ask you just quickly to notice the three little word three little repetitions of the word all there are five things in verse one but the word all is there three times then we have the babes the sincere milk and verse three will give us the first of a number of references to the Old Testament now here's a little allusion to Psalm 34 I'll ask you to notice that there's going to be seven other Old Testament quotations as we go down to this chapter so in the first three verses then we've got another allusion to the Old Testament many of them coming here if so be you've tasted that the Lord is good or the Lord is gracious let's get our thoughts brethren and on the first three verses shall we after Exodus chapter 12 where you have the Passover story the lamb the blood on the doorpost the beautiful picture of salvation all leaven leaven speaks of sin was to be put out of the house of these people so now we have the truth of salvation in chapter 1 and these five things that we're looking at here pictures of sin put away from the believers life they simply don't belong that's very good Bruce in view of that might I suggest that this section actually began in chapter 1 verse 13 goes on to chapter 2 verse 10 and the subject is how we are to live in view of salvation and the answer to that is holy lives and that's what's emphasized in this whole section and so that would fit in with the putting away of leaven and another stab at taking it backwards is that actually Peter has gone has given us the positive first and now the negative as to what must be taken away so our relationship established to one another is through this unfeigned love of the brother but here is the negative aspect of it thank you brother very good I thought just for a second he's going to take time to finish chapter 1 that was as close as I'm gonna come would you say brother Gordon that to desire the sincere milk of the word that we might grow thereby is conditional upon us having put away all malice and guile and hypocrisy etc you know he says say wherefore laying aside all malice and guile and hypocrisy as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word there is a hindrance to having that desire and that that hindrance is the presence of malice and guile etc that's very good brother David I flashed in my mind he said that it's the old quotation you know from Spurgeon and and before Spurgeon this book will keep you from saying the same keep you from this book the principle is there brother Henry has a question though look at these five words we've got here all malice malice is ill will and then you notice that there are three words in the next little section introduced by all I would lump these together brother Henry as another second section here all guile guile is deceit hypocrisy is the idea of a false face a false front and envies is a wrong decider and then the third of all evil speaking now these things should not mark the believer that to be put aside but before we leave them can I take you back to Genesis 3 Genesis 3 there's someone that comes along to a woman with an evil intent malice and the someone of Genesis 3 comes in deceit guile with a false front and you'll notice not only the false front but envious of what God has done here in the garden and then do I need to comment on number five evil speaking there's a progression in these three all that's why I put them that way brother Henry there's something that starts on the inside this malice this evil intent and it has a way of working its way through to the outside the evil speaking so in Genesis 3 you know that the enemy of the Lord and the enemy of the Lord's people comes and follows this pattern now what is characteristic of Satan here or sin as our brother Bruce give us the analogy there should not be characteristic of the Christian put it aside and then if it's in my brother Davis saying desire the sincere milk or the pure milk Satan wasn't sincere and he certainly wasn't pure but God is going to give us something that is genuine that will build us up it's for our good for our blessing so lay one aside and desire the other that he may grow thereby maybe it's washing your own feet I don't know how I would bring the foot wash what do you have something else in mind I know what you mean by foot washing but that's good brother obviously the John 13 the foot washing is a practical teaching of removing the defilement of the earth but here it's more the inner things isn't it you know the malice and the hypocrisy and envy and so on he was speaking so it's watch our own hearts and to go back to what our brother David Richard is saying watch our own hearts and obviously these things don't belong but the Word of God the pure Word of God is what that which will build us up now when we speak about babes in Christ what we commonly mean is people recently converted but in the New Testament the term is never used that way in 1st Corinthians 3 it's used of people that should have grown but hadn't they were spiritual dwarfs but here I take it the term is used in connection with all believers that we should all be like newborn babes in this respect that a baby will not be silent until its need has been satisfied that correct you're absolutely right brother in Hebrews 5 where we have the milk or 1st Corinthians 3 is you're referring to the Christians there it has the thought of immaturity but we're not dealing with immaturity here we're dealing with attitude it's a simile as newborn babes so this teaching applies to every Christian no matter how long saved it ought to be the attitude of us just like a little baby a baby has a yearning for can we say the milk and as our brother said we'll cry if it doesn't get it now we should have that same attitude towards the Word of God acknowledging what the Word of God will do for us don't forget can I refer again to the final words of Peter grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we'll do that through the word yeah that's a manuscriptual difference I would be the growth of salvation rather than two because the next verse brother Duncan verse 3 if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious now we're referring here to Psalm 34 taste and see that the Lord is good now since you have done this since you have come into the good of salvation the end of your salvation of your soul chapter 1 since you've come into this then this should be your attitude desire of a sincere milk and spiritual growth that follows what is the expression sincere milk meaning literally it's the unadulterated milk isn't it I used the word pure that's the idea and my analogy brother David to Satan you see obviously Satan was not pure he was not genuine he was not sincere in his coming towards even in contrast to the things of Satan and in contrast to the things of the word there is no flaw there's no defect there's no impurity and we suggest also the idea of not using substitutes for the word sometimes some Christians grow on expositions some grow on magazines but we need to get into the word for ourselves yeah let's just keep in mind that we have a wrong intent on the part of the of Satan at the beginning but God's intent for every believer is only good and as our brother is referring here we can get sidetracked into all kinds of other things but the Word of God will only be for our spiritual well-being is there a brother Gordon verses 1 2 & 3 in verse 1 we've got sins that needed to be avoided and then we've got the appetite for the Word of God which is going to result in a deeper appreciation for the Lord that's good any other comments or questions no brethren this is this is falling into the section of the of the new birth the new birth and this would be a good sign of the new birth and appetite for the Word of God one of a number of signs first three really takes us back to conversion though doesn't it I believe verse 3 is conversion yes since you are saying since you have tasted that the Lord is good and then these things should follow brother Bob that's very good and often you can follow Old Testament examples and all of these things and lovely applications any other thing that will move beyond the first three verses brother Ross in the human realm we start out with a craving or a desire for food and many individuals let's not get off on tangents here now but many individuals will mess up their lives by improper diet and what they get used to feeding on they'll want more and more of that thing now personally I would find it very very difficult to get up first thing in the morning and drink a bottle of coke a cup of coffee please but a bottle of coke I'd have trouble maybe some of you do but anyway I would have trouble but you know why so my point is yes if we begin with the wrong tangent will continue to want the wrong stuff and it's bound to affect us down the road on the other hand we start off with the right foods will get used to the right food you want more of and the results to get down on chapter one the results will be seen down the road so the idea thing here is desire have it your goal or the craving of your life the genuine truth of God's work even in the natural if you restrict your intake for long enough you will eventually lose your appetite it's the same even when it comes to just reading in general quite apart from the scriptures if you can start reading get into reading you will develop an appetite for reading until it gets to a point when that's all you want to do is to be reading the same is especially true when it comes to the Word of God I have rejoiced at thy word is one that find it great spoil one said another said I have esteemed the words of thy mouth more than my necessary food you want to cultivate a real appetite for the Word of God open your Bible start reading get into it work at it and you will cultivate an appetite and the more you discover for yourself from the scriptures the more pleasure you will find in reading and studying the word and don't worry about putting on too much weight spiritually I want to make two comments one was I really thought that the drinking coke in the morning was closer to what you have here in the passage because it's the real thing maybe verse three answers the question was asked to if so be that you have tasted that the Lord is gracious that is our appreciation of the Lord will bring us back to his word can I just make a quick comment here sometimes we read these things and I don't know if it's your experience but we tend to we gloss over the reality of what we're reading because Peter is writing to believers I don't know if you find it almost alarming that these things can characterize believers that we can be characterized by deceitfulness and evil speaking and running down other people this can be a part of your life and how much care and caution we need to take that this does not become part of our life that's passed around a kitchen table into the ears of children becomes a habit at home so you really don't even realize you're doing it anymore so before you get to evil speaking get a hold of the first one malice is there any ill intent in your heart towards anyone well that's the passage seems to indicate you can't end up at evil speakings if you don't start out with evil with evil intentions mm-hmm and actually when you were going over Genesis 3 which I thought was a great link I'm probably missed this but actually the evil speaking of Satan was actually his speaking against God and while he's speaking against God obviously it's to the detriment of the ones he's speaking to brother Duncan actually we could save money on sleeping pills if we just lay in our beds and went over the scriptures in your mind you've been over some of the messages all right brother we're going into the next little section to him coming is on to a living stone there's what's called an oxymoron a living stone disallowed indeed of man but chosen of God and precious now this is the Lord Jesus if somebody wants to mention him in the different categories as a stone in your Bible go ahead and do so it's a beautiful line of truth but here we have the living stone you have man's view but God's view disallowed of man chosen of God and precious he also has living stones anything on the stone truth before we go beyond you're reminded of resurrection here actually because probably Peter goes back to the words of the Lord Jesus the stone which the builders rejected which is essentially what he's quoting the same as become the head of the corner so that's just a he heard that just in the week before the Lord Jesus went to the cross and he comes back to talk to those same men that had him crucified in Acts chapter 4 to remind them that he's God has exalted him to be a prince and a savior he's a living stone I would think of you as the initial having come to him I think if you if you see that part of the verse is actually parenthetical in nature if you put an opening bracket after the word coming and then close the bracket after the word also in verse 5 you will see that what he's saying is to whom coming as living stones that's the idea it's not it's not the idea of coming and going coming and going it's a matter that as each believer each person believes the gospel they are coming as a living stone and they're being added to the structure now then there's going to be a little illusion here shortly to exit this chapter 19 where Israel has come to the mountain and they're going to be given the pattern of the house of God now as soon as I make the stones of course you're going to be thinking the temple not the tabernacle but here it's a spiritual house that's built up of these living stones build up a spiritual house a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ now your tabernacle your temple pattern is there there's a house that's built of these living stones this is believers and please notice at the end of verse 5 spiritual sacrifices there's a number of them we can look at in light of the your New Testament acceptable to God by Jesus Christ is the priestly pattern offerings will be brought to the priest the priest would offer them to God you find in Hebrews 13 by him we can offer again the spiritual sacrifices the fruit of our lips so then our worship to God is through the person of the Lord Jesus what is this spiritual house Gordon oh I would take it in the general sense here of all believers it's the church of the dispensation yes it could be the local because he's writing to people who are scattered in various places well also if it's speaking of conversion we're not at conversion we're not added to the local right that's exactly just a question I don't want to get us held up but chosen of God and precious any difference between the emphasis of chosen of God and the word precious he is the elect of God the chosen of God he is the mine elect as the I say the Prophet will speak of Christ but he is precious to God the precious to you something else in mind did you yeah but not too far off but what I thought and I'm kind of working ahead in my mind to where we're going on to you therefore which believe is precious but I've wondered if he is responsible for a work he's elect that is there's something that God has in mind for him to accomplish and precious he is able to accomplish that I thought the words maybe bore that out that's good and in connection with precious to God and he is the preciousness a little later what he is to God is what he should be to us in other words our appreciation of it Gordon can I take you back to verse 4 sorry for going backwards disallowed indeed of men what does that mean we'll get it again a little later in verse 6 verse 8 is it the stone of stumbling but I take it the thought simply means this this one who was chosen of God this one who is precious to God as come and mankind in general did not accept them Israel in particular came unto his own his own received him not and so on disallowed as Messiah they didn't accept them I do something else that's good this 118 quick comment it's a subtle decision they did and they do disallow this Psalm 118 it's in view here so the idea is that here are the builders and they're building this structure and they come across a certain stone that they don't think is suitable and they cast it to one side but God takes that very stone and he makes it the headstone of the corner now very good Psalm 118 will be quoted in verse 6 then in confirmation of this it'll be the first of seven direct quotations in just in this chapter alone it's lovely and when you get quotations in your Bible always watch them compare them back and forth Gordon while we have the church brought in here the church the body of Christ spiritual house is Psalm 118 telling us that he is the chief cornerstone of the church the building no that's my point I don't think so that's why it's really not quoted at that point it's quoted in connection with Israel further down I just I'm clarifying for anybody that I that the church is not what is found in the teaching of the Old Testament in the person of Christ and his value and Old Testament quotation there's about 320 of them in your New Testament you just have to watch the application of them to see how they're being used now perhaps just before we pass on over this the church that's been mentioned by our brethren here we're all clear are we that the church in our Bible the word is used in the sense of the whole body of believers and of course it's used in the sense of a local company of Christians gathered to the Lord Jesus Peter here is not speaking of as our brethren said not big of a particular assembly of Christians but rather all of God's people elsewhere we'd read them as the fruit of our lips but they have their parallels again and we haven't time but we have the parallels again if we go back to the Old Testament where you have five of them as you know Duncan right there in in Leviticus the first five chapters and they're all pictures of Christ and then in addition to them there's at least two others we could think of but the idea would be here the our praise our worship our Thanksgiving and it's all hinged on Christ so we can offer up these spiritual sacrifices in terms of offerings or sacrifice in the New Testament just very quickly Romans 12 percent your body so there's your person you can go to Hebrews 13 you have your possessions and your praise and you something else in mind just to tie in with the possessions which you had linked in with the sacrifices both Philippians 4 speaks of them that way but I think that's the maybe a note to connect with what our brother Duncan said is every sacrifice that we give is a reminder to God whether it is our means or from our lips whatever it may be it's all speaking to God appreciated because it's a reminder of Christ that's very good we're going to move to the next verse is there anything else any questions or comments yes if if in verse 5 it's a holy priesthood and in verse 9 it's a royal priesthood does that link us with the Melchizedek priesthood of Christ in Hebrews he's a king priest however brother David verse 9 will be quoting as you know Exodus 19 where it is of course a kingdom of priests mm-hmm yes no but that was God's intention for the nation okay but they lost that just just quickly give us another comment on Melchizedek versus Israel well in Hebrews of course it's Christ himself that's in view and Melchizedek Melchizedek is introduced in Hebrews chapter 5 and chapter 7 and chapter 7 it says first being by interpretation king of righteousness that's what his name means Melchizedek after that king of peace which is what Salem means so it shows that the two sides to the priesthood of Christ is the there's the royal side of his priesthood he's a king and then there's the priestly side of his priesthood if you like he's a priest now you've got the same thing here a holy priesthood in relation to believers but we're also a royal priesthood as holy priests we offer up spiritual sacrifices to God as royal priests we show forth the virtues of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light so it would seem to suggest that we're linked with Christ and his Melchizedek priesthood now this is a Melchizedek priesthood and all that's a beautiful wonderful subject our brother is just referring to here just again another comment or two quickly Melchizedek in our Bible is first mentioned in Genesis 14 and Genesis 14 will be long before Exodus 19 right all right so all I'm saying now is there's a royal priest long before you get the Levitical priesthood of Exodus 19 that's the background of the epistles of the Hebrews where it shows Christ in relation to Melchizedek our brother said Melchizedek was both king and priest as his title show us that's beautiful now with Israel God intended these people literally to be a kingdom of priests but there's failure lots of failure with them and then you know God separated one particular family that would be Levi and of the Levites another family that's Aaron to be the priestly family and just quickly from that time onward remember Kings came from the family of Judah the tribe of Judah priests came from the tribe of Levi and the distinction was made all down to Old Testament days but God's purposes are seen in Christ and Christ goes back to Melchizedek so what our brother David is saying is beautiful as soon as we come into Hebrews or as soon as we come into here God's purposes are picked up again the royal priesthood now it's a holy priesthood yes before God but royal because it's going to be linked with Christ in the kingdom and Christ in his glory I think that's the thought we have through Oh brother Bruce had we time to look at 118 in light of the Lord Jesus in the upper room remember yes and the future application of it and the day will come when he will be seen and the truth of this will be there the Lord in Zion in his rightful place but I think the point here is it's applied here to the present I don't think Peter has in view the future here oh no he's looking at the press yeah well maybe does he really quoted for the emphasis on the last part he that believeth in him will not be put to shame mm-hmm so I actually is encouraging them that while men have disallowed him God has exalted now what does that exaltation mean it has future implications but in the present time those that have put their trust in him will not be put to shame despite the persecution despite despite the evil speaking of others now in verse 7 then we have the two groups unto you therefore which believe he is did someone already say the preciousness he's precious to God precious to the believer so areas one of the lovely titles of the Lord Jesus the precious stone does it mean though that he is precious to God and that he is precious to us he is the preciousness could that possibly mean that he is our preciousness he is what makes us precious to God but that would be true but when I said precious to God of single verse for you see chosen of God and pray oh yes there's certainly verse 4 now any other comments any questions we're not what I give you a third alternative on this and I that take it for what it's worth but I had wondered if the precious one again the precious blood the precious person of the Lord Jesus is the effectiveness of this one ok and so I thought here that under you is all the value of what he is able to accomplish I love it it's on our wall at home on to you therefore which believe he is precious the personal preciousness of Christ I wonder if here it is actually emphasizing what he has accomplished what he is able to be I think that's what I had in mind he is what makes us precious that's ok tie in with a revelation 21 you know the New Jerusalem her light giver was like on to a stone most precious and there's no question but in the context that's Christ so the preciousness of Christ comes out in relation to God in relation to his work in relation to the believer in relation to the New Jerusalem and so on through your Bible now have we anything else before we move to another verse be careful growth though there's two aspects to this because when you come to Ephesians where it's a building growing or a body growing is now talking about the church which is his body and the growth there is members being added so it starts with the foundation it starts with Christ and it moves upward to completeness all right yeah the living stones are being added as souls are being saved yeah I think we have to separate the terms body and building because there although they're both speaking of of the church they're being looked at from two different perspectives a body grows as each member is continuing to expand okay but a building grows as one stone is added to another so the adding of stones to another is is as time goes by others are being saved they are being added to the to the the building yeah just watch growth though in two ways here in the first three verses when it speaks of believers growing that is growing spiritually individually growing in a spiritual sense but when we speak of the building growing it's more and more people added to this great spiritual structure that God has and it starts with Christ so the foundation stone if you think of buildings in those days made up of limestone blocks you'd understand that the cornerstone was a very very important one after all if it's not square the two walls will run away from each other and if it's not level then what falls on on top of it will also be all but Christ is perfect so what's built on Christ and remember first Corinthians 3 here now that's the local assembly first Corinthians 3 he's the foundation of it all everything must start with Christ if it starts with anything other than Christ is going to go off one way or the other so this is an exhortation to our own character our personal character ought to reflect the character of what God is building and that's continuing continuing right from chapter 1 God's holy we need to be holy this house in its character we as lively stones in the house need to reflect the character of that house now in verse 8 he's a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to them which stumble and then it speaks of their being disobedient this of course again is the nation that rejected him so in thinking of the Lord Jesus remember it's been said to the church is the cornerstone don't forget to God he's the precious stone to the New Jerusalem he's the light-giving stone to the world don't forget he's the stone that's cut out without hands that will smash the empires in a coming day so there are many aspects of the stone picture of the Lord Jesus what about the head headstone of verse 7 head of the corner are you thinking of the capstone brother James yeah top stone yeah is it capstone or cornerstone anyway that's and that's that's that is relative to a day in the future no what do you mean by that well I would take that to be in the kingdom not I don't think that I didn't take this passage laying in Zion I didn't take that to be the church sorry I don't know that's okay okay yeah but and so I thought that this head of the corner is not now at the foundation of it but actually I thought it was a capstone but then what place is given Christ today now are we all following what these brethren are saying there's a work that was done when the Lord Jesus came in relation to the church the cornerstone it's an ongoing temple that's being built as others are added but ultimately let's face it ultimately the day will come when Christ will come in glory the millennial reign will come and then the one who is the beginning of it will be seen as the cap or the chief of it all in a different day so he's the first and the last he's the beginning and the ending he's the Alpha and the Omega all of these things apply to Christ oh I would take verse 8 brother Duncan to mean this that they are stumbled and because they're disobedient to the Word of God I know but they stumbled because they're disobedient to the Word of God and that stumbling and disobedience has been pointed out in Old Testament Scriptures in other words it's written beforehand what would happen I do not believe that we can say that God destined these individuals not to believe I mean no nor that he sent the Lord Jesus so they would stumble he made it clear before disobedience will cause stumbling that's it spoken beforehand now there are many reasons we could look at as to why Israel stumbled in relation to the Lord Jesus and incidentally the rockable fence just a little picture it's like a stone that's out in the field and you know the farmer walks through and bumps his toe and trips up over the stone they trip up over when the Lord Jesus was here we just think simply now there was Israel was waiting for a Messiah no question and the Lord Jesus comes and he's going around the countryside teaching and healing and so on remember Nicodemus Nicodemus went to him because Nicodemus had heard the stories Nicodemus must have been pondering in his mind no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with them I believe Nicodemus wanted to know the answer of John chapter one are you the Christ are you the one we're waiting for but you see he didn't come as the mighty king delivering them from the Roman oppression and so on so they stumbled over what they saw because they had their minds made up as to how he should come be careful with this it's possible that people have preconceived ideas of how a thing should be and then they stumble because it doesn't work out that way we better not have preconceived ideas when it comes to the things of God their disobedience however Gordon there's a seems to be a depth to it in the context in which the Lord Jesus uses it they saw the Sun coming they knew he was son and they said this is the air come let us kill him because we don't want to have accountability to the master so behind all of that it wasn't a matter of ignorance like they just didn't quite recognize it was a matter that they they wanted the whole for themselves and did not want the one that was beloved with God no brother David as you say that and you're quoting your New Testament your parallel of course will be Genesis 37 so Genesis 37 they knew who he was but they still sold him and put him in the pit because they would not accept that what he had was divine revelation but you'd agree with me on this would you not that you are speaking though of the particular hierarchy of the nation yes the leaders like the leaders of the nation they perceived that he had spoken against them yes in in Matthew 21 but but the nation in general would have been left that's if I'm certain right I know that through ignorance he did it we read yes that's the people right exactly but the rulers of this age crucify the Lord of Glory we're off I'm sorry taking away that's okay because he where you're quoting now 1st Corinthians 2 you see have they known it yet yeah Peter will use that in the book of the Acts Paul will use it in 1st Corinthians and the Lord himself father forgive them they know not what they do but our brother David is right there's a leadership here with the position to hold on to and they deliberately reject the Lord Jesus and that that's specifically what you have here this is a national statement that the nation of Israel actually stumbled with at the Lord Jesus isn't it the same word as in John 3 in 36 they that refused to believe the Sun same word they didn't believe not now in verse 9 we have four lovely things but they come right out of Exodus chapter 19 where God has called these people out and God has great purposes for this nation this is just adapted here now to the believers of this time and then you'll notice it says that you should show forth the praises of him brother David Richards has already mentioned this is the royal aspect showing forth the praises and notice it says who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light remember Colossians words here translated from the kingdom of darkness so there's a little illusion here of Egypt being brought out of the darkness of an Egypt but of course the application here for us is this we've been brought out of the darkness of this world in the darkness of our sins and into the marvelous light of eternal life and life with Christ I think you're I mean I wanted to switch the picture slightly but I think your pictures right on but when Melchizedek just to supplement what David said earlier what did the Melchizedek priest do with Abraham he actually showed forth the virtues of the God who had called him out of her the colonies he said he's the possessor of heaven and earth and so it's the the quality of God that is brought by the royal priest and that's our responsibility and privilege both to one another and to a world around us you've got the two in connection with Melchizedek he blessed Abraham that's the royal priesthood but he also blessed God that's the that's the holy priesthood so the practicalities of the priesthood holy priest verse 5 royal priests in a practical way than today and the functioning of that but there's some examples of that today that's how you live your life what I am in the sanctuary out of I ought to be on the I have four things in connection with verse 9 here says first of all you are a chosen generation or a chosen race that is they had a they shared a common origin secondly they were a royal priesthood they shared a common function thirdly they were a holy nation and a nation can compose of a variety of ethnic groups they shared a common loyalty fourthly they were a peculiar people they shared a common destiny what does peculiar mean brother Dave it means peculiarly his it's the idea of an acquisition something that has been purchased well therefore there's value and preciousness in that too it belongs it's the peculiar property of the one who has acquired it can we all just get a hold of that because we are peculiar people in both ways I have I have often quoted about an assembly in a place called Bridgend in South Wales the situation is somewhat different now but when I was young this gospel hall was right at the end of the street and it blocked off the street and the street was called Oddfellows Street and you'd almost get the idea that it was named after the gospel hall at the end of the street only a short street but obviously there was an Oddfellows Hall or lodged there sometime but that's not the idea here so can we just get the sense then as peculiar as we might be as far as the worldly use of the word is concerned that's not the thought here no the thought here is our brother said is the fact that it's the Malachi phrase the jewels and these shall be mine it's a belonging to God that's the peculiar people we are his and we are his by virtue of what happened at Calvary the peculiar people owned by the Lord it means to circle around and then close off it's essentially what the word means and that's what God does he circles us closes us off and we are his all right then don't forget again out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light and that's all done this is the exodus analogy now but it's all the beautiful picture verse 10 brethren we have a number of little phrases that come out of the Old Testament book Hosea which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God when you go back to Hosea 1 and 2 you'll find the Prophet he has two children and because it's a spiritual lesson to the nation God tells them to call the first one lo Ruhama and lo means no or not have mercy and then another called lo am I which means not my God so those who had no mercy become those who find mercy those who were not God's become God's chosen or peculiar people that's a sense of what we have in verse 10 these two quotations and again Gordon the references from Hosea are actually to Israel not talking about bringing in the Gentiles here but the point is that same preciousness to God is expressed at the present time in his people you notice how very careful he is about Israel versus the New Testament so on he's keeping us on track but he doesn't mind talking about coke I do think we need to be very careful in handling Old Testament passages to learn how the Spirit of God uses Old Testament passages and to be clear that he is not some way obfuscating the difference between the church and Israel yeah amen and we all need to be clear on that the church and Israel are distinct entities in Scripture there's a future for both replacement theology is getting far too much press today we need to be clear there is no such thing in the Bible and Israel replaces the church a church there are many many passages of course to show that but one little just one quick verse remember when resurrection Acts chapter 1 the disciples said to the Lord Jesus wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel now look that does not mean some spiritual kingdom they knew exactly what they meant they knew what they were asking for and that's just one of many passages to show you there is a future but in the interval between the first and the second coming to the Lord Jesus God is doing a great work with forming this great company called the church that we're talking about here and while we have Old Testament verses our brother David is rightfully saying they're being used but it's not replacement right interesting to see where Peter is leading us here in verse 9 he says ye are a chosen generation or a chosen race and then a little lower he says a holy nation verse 10 he says you you were not a people but are now the people of God but you come into verse 11 and he says dear beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims so although we are a nation we are a race we are the people of God we're away from home at the beginning I said the first 10 verses will look at relationships now begins responsibility and it's going to go on into chapter 3 so as soon as we come to verse 11 the next little pitch for the believer now we've seen the children the babes we've seen the stones we've seen the priesthood aspect but as strangers and pilgrims didn't someone this morning make reference to this we're again leaving Mount Sinai or leaving Egypt I should say and we have two terms strangers and pilgrims this is in relation to the world now it's good to ask the question what's the significance of the two words and what's the significance of the order of the two words somebody help us on that one I think the cliche is as strangers we are away from home as pilgrims we're traveling home sometimes the cliches are good enough so again the little analogy here's Israel under Moses brought out of the kingdom of Pharaoh the kingdom of darkness and they're passing through the wilderness they're they're strangers because they are outside of Egypt they're not where they belong their pilgrims because they're passing through their on their way home so here's the believers now the application being made were to be strangers in this world in other words we don't belong our citizenship is in heaven we're pilgrims because we're passing through don't intend to put our roots down here or settle down here headed up there it's a very important base the strangers are aliens really as not having rights that's going to underscore what he's about to stress to them their responsibilities so they don't have rights he's going to dress them as slaves and the capacity which they're found that's very good brother Danny now any questions we're going to move to verse 12 so in Hebrews 13 here have we no can sit continuing city we seek one to come so these great individuals of faith and the application for the believer today we need to be looking onward to something better not here might I suggest that this section begins at verse 11 and goes on to chapter 3 verse 13 and it's how we should live in view of our position in the world as strangers and pilgrims and the answer to that is submissive lives verses 11 to 17 of our chapter we have the Christian in society versus 18 to 25 we have the Christian in the workplace chapter 3 verses 1 to 7 we have the Christian in the home and in each of those sections submission is being taught yeah so I said earlier social responsibility now the believer versus 11 and 12 in relation to the world and then verse 13 in relation to authority submission and then it'll go on through you know the servants and then you have the wives the husbands and all in chapter 3 and remember saying suppose that'll fit your line of essence he's trying to help me again thank you brother the obvious reference here while I where the children of Israel journey was a foreign environment but the first thing was they encountered there the Amalekites and there was war with them and here we're reminded that the enemy is not out there the enemy on our journey is fleshly lust within the Amalekites speaks of that but it's not some outside influence first of all the first issue is with ourselves very good now in verse 12 the importance having your conversation or your manner of life honest among the Gentiles they speak against you as evildoers but they made by your good works glorify God in the day of visitation here's how a Christian should live my question is going to be what is the day of visitation but here's how a Christian should live in light of the world that speaks evil of them on one side they're just think of these scattered strangers think of what they're facing but there's to be a purpose for it so some help on the glorifying God in the day of visitation please will be various days of visitation when they would have an opportunity to have a witness the reality of Christian life in these believers may be actually get to know the God of these believers what I had observed I think is that the visitation in the Old Testament has a negative connotation that is the visitation of God of judgment I think the visitations in the New Testament are positive not all of them Luke chapter 19 they knew not the day of their visitation it was intended for good of course that's what but but there of course it's national but the day of visitation wasn't the issue of judgment the day of visitation determine their judgment because I missed it exactly exactly here I would take it this is individual piece when when people come to know Christ the Savior that's their day of visitation yeah let me give you two things on that the word is four times found in our New Testament brother David Oliver said as you go to visitation in the Old Testament is generally thought of the impending judgment but of the four uses of the word here in your New Testament it's not so used and even our brethren talking about Luke newest not the time of thy visitation was an intended good for the nation the Lord's coming now then let me just give you one more thing on glorifying God in the day of visitation read verse 1 of chapter 3 likewise ye wives be in subjection and then I'll jump ahead concerning the husbands if any obey not the word they also may be won maybe without the word be won by the conversation or the way of life so you see that there's a sense I believe of verse 12 and the generic sense of that word so as Peter saying then brother Gordon here that the world should not have a reason to criticize us in other words our behavior should be as such in displaying Christ and in displaying godliness that the ungodly who look on and watch can't point the finger and criticize I would judge verse 12 is saying live your lives in such a way that they are speaking evil about you but a day may come when the Lord will be dealing with them and then because of your manner of life it'll be one instrument that would they will glorify God could I just add this I am inclined to believe among other factors the death of Stephen was a powerful voice to Saul that's all I'm saying this so I remember many many years ago hearing a sister say I would never have got saved if I hadn't seen Christianity lived out in a particular person's life and I think that's the point here of glorifying God in the day of visitation it's someone saying it's because I saw Christianity lived out in shoe leather that I got saved am I not right that this is an illustration of overcoming evil with good and the good here is maybe is this moral good or is this actually kind goodness so that the characteristic of the Christians life ought to be doing good to others and that is a testimony so I just an encouragement I think sometimes we can allow this to just pass as as being good people but actually it says doing good things hmm for the Lord's sake I think the Lordship of Christ and if we are subject to that it certainly makes these other issues simpler and how but again before we leave it can we just what they speak evil against you the logical thing might be to retaliate but the sense is your proper response may well be instrumental of God to their salvation and their glorifying God so hence that's why I tied in chapter 3 verse 1 if the reality of Christian living is one of the loudest voices to an unbeliever I think it's helps us understand why when we go through the scriptures we value prayer for the lost but you'll search long and hard before you find many references encouraging to pray for the loss of the New Testament scriptures so that we don't Paul expressed his heart's desire Romans 10 the Lord Jesus on the cross but really the vast majority of the prayers that you ever see recorded the New Testament are for the believers for the reality of right Christian living in their lives because if they're doing that it'll make gospel efforts a whole lot easier if we respond to adverse circumstances they speak evil against you if we respond to adverse circumstances as the world would respond then in their eyes we're no different than the world it's as simple as that if we're going to get to the Lord Jesus as the example in the latter and verses of this chapter and notice that's going to be the theme his response in view of the adverse now then brethren 13 to 17 we have I said citizens in relation or responsibility to authority submit to every ordinance of man now as we look at this keep very very simply in mind God has established authority in society we were reminded this morning about the crosswalks nevertheless the principle is there we are to be submissive to the authorities of the land whatever that might be notice a little bit of a distinction when you come to verse 16 as free because in that society there would have been those that were slaves and those that were not but even those who are free verse 16 are still the servants of God any comments or questions in this little section I think it was the late Arnold Adams at least I'll give him credit for it who said lately at a Portage conference one time no one has ever failed because of not submitting so whatever the authority is God expects submission and the opposite of that God hates rebellion it doesn't say here to submit yourselves to every ordinance of man because they are wise because sometimes I think probably make a mistake but that's not my concern for the Lord's sake submit plea brother Peter the thing to keep in our mind is this God has established government at different levels for the well-being of society and we're to respect that where that transgresses principles of God then the principles of God come first so in the passage of referring to they were commanded not to teach nor preach in the name of Christ and basically they're saying we can't do that anyone who has been in the military will know that you must obey the higher authority if you are given an order by a captain you must obey that order but if it contradicted the order of the of the CEO of the camp then you must obey the CEO and disobey the captain and we find a beautiful illustration will be not if we go back to Shadrach Meshach Abednego Daniel for example there's two illustrations right there that confronted with issues the bowing to the image or not praying would violate principles they held before God so now they'll put the things of God ahead of the things of Babylon but I will suggest to you that Daniel and his three friends were likely very very good examples of how to live and yet in those occasions they're going to die for their stand to the things of God that's x5 isn't it yeah actually you have the children of Israel brought out of Egypt we've looked at that when they got to Sinai they were brought under to God and I see the lessons all down through your submission has been pointed out so he's emphasizing submission without talking about the exceptions here I think that the point is the general principle of submission to God will bring us into submission to government if the law is as you stated you're going to even do both you can go get your permit and you can go breathe right and exactly right in which case the furtherance of the gospel would have to be done in another way but you don't violate the law unless it is some extreme case of violating a principle of God after all the government for example tomorrow could cancel this conference very simply because of some terrible epidemic that's sweeping Canada now do we continue the Canada the conference meetings tomorrow the answer is no if there's an epidemic that's racing across the country we obey the laws of the land if they said tomorrow no more Christian meetings no more Bible meetings allowed in Canada that's it that's different so even when they said they weren't to preach they didn't say you can't preach here he said they said you can't preach at all and that's exactly what you've illustrated besides besides which it enacts of course it wasn't an ordinance it was a command given on the spot they didn't have a law that stated that they weren't allowed to do that now brethren in we have 12 minutes left verse 18 310 Gordon my eyes aren't too good but that clock only says 20 after 2 so I would suggest you've got 50 minutes sometimes you need to have another battery yeah even a dead clock is right twice a day verse 18 servants be subject to your master now we'll see two categories of masters here we're talking about obedience to the law and these two ways for two categories and very simply it's saying not only to the so-called good ones but the others and the whole sense of it is our brother Davis I'm saying here is submission because of Christian testimony mm-hmm Gord you're doing a great job and you're gonna get us down through the chapter and I'm jealous I just want to ask for a little help on verse 17 because to me there's a there's just in those cryptic statements there's tremendous truth I wish I could help you but since you can go ahead no no I think we need to recognize while there's negatives here and the negative in the sense of submitting it's expressed in this positive way give honor to all men and I mean that's not the good and the just only that's all okay and then in particular there's an affection that is expressed toward believers and there is reverence toward God all of our all of these relationships in this cryptic statements and when it comes to the king then if we're going to reverence God we've got to honor the king likewise that's good you may not be able to reverence the king but you must always honor him it's the same with the president of the United States or the Prime Minister of Canada sometimes you hear Christian speaking very disparagingly of the president certainly when George W Bush was in was in power many people Christians even spoke very disparagingly we must remember he was the president of the United States he should be given the dignity of his position very good for beautiful phrase standing were you going to say something no thank you brother all right versus 18 to down through the section here I mentioned two classes of masters but Christian is to be submissive to to both it'd be very logical wouldn't it to favor the one versus the other to say if I were in your situation I wouldn't obey and so on but there are circumstances here and obviously the Christian testimony and notice now we're into the area of suffering if you take it patiently verse 20 says this is acceptable with God and we're going to go to the supreme example of the Lord Jesus here shortly Gordon I notice in the New Testament there is never any exhortation to Christian masters to set their servants free and there is never any exhortation in the New Testament for Christians to rise up against slavery now I'm not advocating slavery but what is the reason for that here I would think brother David very simply it's this the gospel message comes into countries at this time where there are all kinds of social issues and the intent of the gospel is not to fix the ills of society it is spiritual in its intent to reach individuals whether they be masters or slaves whatever and as we're looking here in the lives of the believers that they live in the fear of God and the consciousness of God's authority the gospel message is not to clean up the world with all of the social is to get people out of it on the other hand if we go to the little book of Philemon back comes the rascal the runaway slave receive him as a brother a lot of beautiful passage that is Onesimus comes back and the master is to receive him as a brother in Christ now again I agree with you brother it doesn't say Philemon set him free no but the relationship the section we've just finished with answers it too doesn't it we're strangers and pilgrims here we're not here to introduce laws we're here to keep them and so we're exhorted to submit ourselves to every ordinance of man not to try and change those ordinances the fact that historically Christianity has brought good to society does not mean that we are responsible to do good society to do good to society rather we are responsible to allow the truth of the Word of God to reach individuals that would be in any sense a redemptive factor in society but that's not our first that's not our objective no and the whole sense of this passage is the the life of the believer to be an example to the ungodly world isn't it for the glory of God for the body and if we think of it again going back to New Testament days if there was any sense whatsoever where Christian teaching would be teaching individuals to rebel or rise up against society just think of what the Roman authorities would have done but no it's a different thing altogether just with what you're saying could I insert this and I don't want to be unkind but Dietrich Bonhoeffer is a model Christian to some people and I appreciate a great deal about him but I don't see how you can excuse a Christian being involved in a plot not only to overthrow government but to actually assassinate government so a leader as vile as Hitler was Dietrich Bonhoeffer's involvement cannot be held up as a model for Christianity. Now in the society in which we live we don't have masters and slaves thankfully but does that mean that these verses don't have a voice to us? Would you take that then brother David to mean that all of us who are Christians whatever our sphere of work might be where you know the plant the college the farm whatever and be a good faithful worker a good testimony while you're there we at least have the freedom to move on if it gets too bad it's often been said the boss isn't always right but he's always the boss but you haven't mentioned that we're looking at social responsibilities here it's order in society that's imbued so that was the understood order in society masters and servants the understood order in employment today is bosses and those who work for them.

We want to look at the fine little section and we have the beautiful example of Christ he left us an example verse 21 we should you should follow his steps the first thing we better say here is this this is obviously not follow his steps for salvation this is written to believers and it's going to give us the beautiful teaching in relation to the Lord Jesus the perfect servant of God and how we handle the things that were against him. The biggest learning we probably get which underscores a lot of what we've just seen and what you will see in the example of Christ is how he treated these issues he committed the issue he committed the cause to the one that would judge righteously and we can do the same in every circumstance of life we did not resolve the issue always sometimes we are unable to resolve the issue but we can commit the cause to our father. It's crucial here that what Peter is saying is the first thing is how do you respond to wrong and so he says there's to be no sin no use of force or power against it nor a resort to weakness guile was not found in his mouth neither neither one is is appropriate for a Christian the response is all important reviled comes to me reviled does not return to those who revile me.

So the thought of guile is not there the words of retaliation are not there threats of what he might do are not there it's Romans 13 again isn't all committed to the purposes of God. I think what Malcolm had to say really needs to be answered yes we are living in a different structure of society today a structure in which they have allowed the existence of unions I personally have never been in a union and never would have been in a union but there are Christians living in societies where if they're going to work at all they have to be in a union. Such is the structure of society today that there are such things as legal strikes when a person a Christian is in a union and that union has a right to a legal strike then I believe that the Christian should honor that.

I don't say he should necessarily stand in the picket line but I believe he should honor that. On the other hand if the union goes out on an illegal strike that I believe the Christian should cross the line. Circumstances differ for different believers.

I'll just present my own experience not that I'm a model but I avoided when I was teaching I avoided becoming a part of the union there was pressure for me to do it. They said look you're getting the benefit of all we're doing and I was. I said I'd be I'm willing to pay whatever you pay but I will not pay to be a member and when the strike time came it was difficult to do and I wasn't beloved of my peers I showed up on that one day I actually ended up getting paid for a day they didn't and I I felt bad but I received the benefits of what they struck for too but I felt my association could not be with them.

If I could avoid it I avoided it. There are circumstances and it can't be done and I'm not speaking to those circumstances. There are two there are two quotations sorry go ahead Duncan.

I make a distinction in the sense that Peter will use I think it's three times the tree. Paul will too by the way but he used the cross more predominantly. The distinction that would be made in Galatians of course would be taking us back to Deuteronomy.

Cursed is everyone that hangeth in the tree the place of the curse. Two quotations is that what you had in mind? Place of the curse. Two quotations from Isaiah 53 here.

Bear our sins in his own body in the place of the curse or on the tree. And then you have the Romans 5 truth there. Being dead to sins should live unto righteousness your two kingdoms aspect again.

And then in verse 25 it's Isaiah 53 and 6. You were a sheep going astray but are now returned unto the shepherd and overseer of your souls. So the shepherd again is that aspect of coming through the wilderness and there is one who cares for us all the good shepherd aspects and the one who not only cares for you and as the good shepherd died for individuals but is the one who watches over them. Watches over.

That's the overseer aspect.