Gods Corner Stone And Identity With Christ - Part 2
1 Peter 2:6-10 · Bob Eckel · Apr 12, 2020
1 & 2 Peter (2020-21), No. 12
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926191821127

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

Can everybody see the screen now? Yes. And so working thus far. They didn't work last night, but they are this morning. All right. Well, does anyone have their Bible open? I do. Okay, let's read 1 Peter 1-10 because I think 7-10 is called part 2 of God's cornerstone and identity with the Lord Jesus Christ. But I think to really make the verses meaningful, let's read from 1-10. Somebody please.

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind, like newborn babies craves pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him, you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, the elite priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says, See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe, the stone that builders rejected has become the capstone, and a stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a homemaking, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Thank you, Carolyn. So, Roger, these four verses need four lessons, actually, rather than just one. Nevertheless, let's begin with verse seven. Therefore, to you who believe is precious to those who disbelieve.

And part of that verse is the stone which the builders rejected has become, or better translated, has been made the chief cornerstone. That's Psalm 118, 22. And Peter refers frequently to Old Testament scripture in his epistles, both the first and the second. So what's therefore, therefore?

It's for all the things that preceded this. That's too simple. What preceded it? What did we cover last week from four through six? We talked about the living stones. Okay. And we talked about the cornerstone, right? Yeah. I think, you know, the statement here is a kind of a conclusive statement that further establishes the Lord Jesus Christ as the living stone and the cornerstone. And I thought we just might turn to what someone has said about the cornerstone. That was mentioned last week, we didn't discuss it in much detail, but I'm going to quote Pritchard here, who I think did a historical description. of this cornerstone. It's not necessarily so biblical, but I think it certainly can be applied here because it relates to the Jewish temple for sure. So I'm quoting Pritchard, the image of the cornerstone comes from the ancient quarries where highly trained stone masons carefully chose the stones used in construction.

No stone was more important than the cornerstone, because the integrity of the whole structure depended on the cornerstone containing exactly the right lines. If the cornerstone was not exactly right, the entire building would be out of line. For that reason, builders inspected many stones, rejecting each one until they found the one they wanted. Rejected stones might be used, however, in other parts of the building.

So I think that reflects the critical nature of the cornerstone. And let me hear someone share about how the Lord Jesus Christ is that cornerstone. Perceptions on the Lord Jesus Christ as the chief cornerstone. Not only is he the cornerstone, he is the chief cornerstone. Yeah, it's the foundation of our entire house is our Lord and Savior. He's the one that God set up to be the cornerstone, and the house that he's built is on him.

We're part of that house, but he is the foundation. Good. And without him, the building is not lined up, right? Right, exactly. And not only is he the cornerstone, but he's a living stone. Isn't that incredibly interesting as a metaphor? In contrast, Yes, go ahead. In contrast to the Jewish system where it had to be repeated, He is once for all the foundation. Yeah, it also kind of connects back to what I'm teaching this morning, like the resurrection. We serve a living Savior. He's not a dead Savior, He's a living Savior. All other men or prophets, whoever they were, are dead in the grave and He's alive.

Right, and you know, it was funny, yesterday I did, or maybe it was on Friday, I did a global webinar that reached the Arab nations, and this was directed at Cairo, and what was shown up front by one of the other speakers was that of the world population there are 1.6 billion Muslims, which is now 23% of the world.

Can you believe that? Look at the false theology all these Muslims kind of attend to, and it's really And it probably is more common now than Christianity worldwide. They didn't give numbers for any other faiths. But keep in mind, when people look at Christians as a global community, they're including everybody who goes to a church, or is a Protestant, or maybe other faiths in Roman Catholicism, etc. Not only the Lord knows who's saved, hopefully the individual he or she does, but all that, it's amazing, 1.6 billion Muslims around the world today.

It's an incredible figure. But we have a cornerstone who's the foundation of our faith, and also a living stone, the metaphor continues to play out. So this verse says, you know, it's in your face, isn't it? Either you believe this or you don't. I mean, you know, we're not talking about grey zone kind of people here. We're talking about people who are, by faith, saved by God's great grace. Or, in fact, who disbelieve this as the truth of the cornerstone as the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's turn to some Old Testament scripture which continues to emphasize this point. This is not simply out of the blue someplace. I mean, the Lord has, you know, the principles of God are there from Genesis to Revelation, but ultimately the truth of the prophecy we can't ignore.

So I'm turning to Isaiah 8, 11, and then skipping forward because of time and space to 14 and 15. For the Lord spoke thus to me with a strong hand. These are the words of Isaiah. And instructed me that I should not walk in the way of the people, this people saying, and it says a few things.

He will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and look at this and many among them shall stumble and they shall fall and be broken and be snared and take away but look at what John says For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. And of course we as a Gentile nation are in fact I think what the Lord Jesus Christ was alluding to, and then in Acts we can conclude. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, meaning the Old Testament prophets, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

And this is Peter's sermon at the beautiful gate of the temple in Jerusalem. So, I mean, kind of the sequence of events in terms of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, to the Gospel of John, to Peter's sermon in front of the temple really indicates that this is the cornerstone for all of us, not simply for Israel as they prophetically were looking for a king, but also to others who in fact have come to the Lord by depending on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Any thoughts about this scenario here?

One of the things I was saying about Bob is if you look back at verse 3, this is all based on his opening remark there, that we're longing for this pure spiritual milk that by it we can grow up unto salvation. Right. And it is all of that that says next, come to him, that living stone. rejected by men, but in God's sight chosen and precious. He repeats precious several times. Sort of impressed about that. And we're going to see it again.

Yeah. So thank you, Roy. And remember, and I think Roger and I were talking about this as we were thinking about turning the Sunday school class to 1st and 2nd Peter. Think about Peter in the Gospel account. And think about the man that the Spirit has enlivened now who is sharing this tremendous doctrine with us. I think the thing that is so special about Peter is he was ultimately dependent on the prophecies that preceded him to make the point that he is making here about Jesus Christ being the cornerstone and the living stone. Any further thoughts about that before we turn to verse 8? The other thing is the contrast in verse 4, that this is a spiritual house, not a physical house, and it's a holy, set-apart priesthood. All of those things Peter learned, didn't know those things in the past. Thank you, Roy, and we're going to come to a few of those modifiers in the next few verses.

So let's turn to 1 Peter 2.8. It says, and, and that's the end of the verse. No, it's not. So now again, we're quoting from the Old Testament, and I'm repeating what I put ahead of this on the top of this page. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

That's from Isaiah 8.14. And Peter went on to say they stumbled being disobedient to the word to which they were also appointed. So here's Peter going back now to a separate section of the Old Testament to make his point about the cornerstone as being now also a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. So, they stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. There's a lot of truth that underlies this particular verse.

Any surprises here? Well, I think there might be. Let's continue. So, word here is Logos, and as we know Logos has many, many uses in the Bible. So, how would you best interpret word here? Wasn't he considered the living word? Alright. They're ignoring all of his time for the prophecies and you know, when he was here, he was the living word. I'm sorry? No, I'm just saying he's living.

But also, Margaret, it was written about him. The Old Testament contained sufficient information for them to believe, I think. I think that's part of it there. Thank you, Roger. So here's Thayer, and I'd like Thayer, by the way, you know, Thayer does a great job of kind of breaking down every use of the Greek and actually the Hebrew words too, but and he puts them into context and some people question whether Thayer is a believer, but I think he must have been to really have the wisdom that the Lord gave him there. But Thayer says here this best represents the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the Kingdom of God. So in other words, this is kind of Roger, I think what you referred to, the prophecy, the written word that it preceded, all this to allow this to become the dogma of this time. Other thoughts about this? Well, it also points out they were disobedient. They had the word there, and it's like, you know, you have the word, but you don't listen to it. You don't comprehend it, you don't take it in, you don't act upon it.

I almost think that it's become, even today, the Jews, back then, they just ignored, even though they knew the Old Testament, they knew all the prophecies, But today, it's almost evolved into this thing where they don't believe any of it. I mean, they don't believe any of the Old Testament. They don't believe things that are, you know, historic things. And now they've, you know, uncovered things and now things are being proven more and more that really actually real people were here and this is the grave of a real person and all these things. But it's so, they blinded themselves so much about the prophecies that I think it evolved now into just, you know, total, it's all stories. Yeah, it's total disbelief.

Well isn't it true, you guys probably know, you and Bob, the Israel, I don't know what percentages are actually practicing Jewish quote believers, I mean the large population is agnostic or atheist. Absolutely. Well they take the holidays Roger. Right, that's not uncommon right?

The times we've been in Israel, the only ones who really are, you know, in the word, the Bible, are the orthodox. You know, they make it known who they are. You know, they don't have jobs. All they do is study the Old Testament. And so, the people who are the other Jews, who are the agnostics, they're supporting all these, the Jews who are the Orthodox. And they're bitter about this. They're very bitter. Because these Orthodox Jews have five to ten children, and they live, and they're supported by the government. Wow. The other Jews are very bitter about that. But you're right, Roger. Yeah, that's what I thought.

I grew up in Miami, Florida, and as a kid I went to high school with a lot of Jewish kids, and they were not very... Their Jewish faith was not very prominent, that's for sure. Well, this reminds me of a conversation I had on Friday with probably my best friend, one of the few in medical school. Bob was Jewish by tradition. Passover was important and ultimately I was not saved when I was in medical school.

But then he and I touched base over the years a few times. My late wife Sharon, he and his newer wife Marsha came to visit us when we were in Lakewood still. Bob's very, quote, religious, unquote, in terms of the Jewish holidays, but very smart guy. I love him. He's really a neat guy as a friend. But after our Zoom on Friday, he forgot to wish me a happy Easter. And of course, I had forgot to wish him a happy Passover, or whatever all this means.

But anyway, the woman he's married to is a Protestant. She's a Lutheran. I don't know, I think she may be saved, but it's not entirely clear. But anyway, it's just another example of a guy who's serious, and he's respectful in my faith, in Margaret's faith, but in fact, he's on his own agenda, and Passover is this time of the year where they all get together.

I'm not sure how COVID-19's affected that, but all that aside, it's just an example, Roger, of what you said growing up with a lot of Jewish boys and girls at your school. Yeah, that's true. Alright, and I love Bob to death, and the fact that he, you know, at least he leads my faith and where it's at, and he actually respects it, but I can't seem to have the Spirit lead him to a new understanding.

Now, here's one of the surprises. They stumble being disobedient to the Word. to which they were also appointed, were appointed, by the way, passive indicative, this is factual, and something was made to have them appointed to be stumbling and disobedient to the world. Really? Boy, gosh, that's a tough one, isn't it? Could it be a result of their disbelief? That's a natural result of disbelief? That if you disbelieve something, then you wind up going down the wrong path and you in a sense are appointed to that. It's just natural consequences of disbelief. I don't know. Roger, you've looked at the handout ahead of time. I didn't. Actually, I didn't. I didn't do that. I should have, but I didn't. Just teasing you.

So let's look at some scripture that really relates to this. I mean, this gets into the, you know, the whole controversy of election and all that. And I think we all believe that God's message is out there for all of us. So let's support that they were not appointed to be unsafe.

1 Corinthians 1.23, that we preach Christ crucified to the Jews. What's Christ to the Jew? It's a stumbling block, a rock of offense, right? And they stumble, and in this verse it says they stumble. And Paul has already said to the church at Corinth, and I'm sure we're going to be hearing about this in the next few weeks from the pulpit, if you will, that Christ to the Jew is a stumbling block.

And once he took the Gentiles, I think I've mentioned this before, so forgive me if you've heard this, but I've had a better opportunity to share the Lord with Jewish people than I have with Gentiles. And the Gentiles just think to be a believer is just foolish. I mean, how can you not believe the science that's all surrounding us? And anyway, so I love that verse because I think it really plays out perfectly here.

So now, were they made? to or appointed to stumble and being disobedient? No. It's Christ himself who has stumbled them. Romans 11, 11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. I mean, the Jews had their chance. And by the way, we have to keep in mind that any individual can come to the Lord at any time by his great grace. So, you know, there's plenty of Jews that have come to the Lord, but plenty that haven't. But anyway, the stumbling block is a major barrier to their salvation.

Then in verses 30 and 32 of Romans 11, for as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. Even so, these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you, they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all."

But doesn't that say, that says it all. It's to the Jew and to the Gentile, and Paul addresses this perfectly clearly in Romans 11, and also you can refer back to Romans 9 also. So, no, they weren't appointed to stumble and be disobedient. It's the consequences, Roger, as you said, of their disobedience. Other thoughts about that? This is important. And finally, I guess I forgot I had one more verse. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

The same path for the Jew and the Gentile. I like kind of what Jameson Fawcett Brown shares as one of my favorite commentators, and here Jameson Fawcett Brown states, appointed or set, meaning appointed, is not here for ordained. It refers not to the eternal counsel so directly as the penal justice of God. Through the same Christ whom sinners rejected, they shall be rejected. Unlike believers, they are by God appointed unto wrath as fitted for it. The lost shall lay all the blame of their ruin on their own sinful perversity, not on God's decree. The saved shall ascribe all the merit of their salvation to God's electing love and grace.

I don't think any of us could say that much better than that. I think really a good commentary on this particular section. Your next comment is really appropriate. This is big, big I don't know, but somebody referred to big, and I couldn't do an in-depth search of big, but this is a big message here. Forgive me there. Okay, their disobedience is not ordained, the penalty of their disobedience is. So, again, these, you know, if you will, commentators have reflected on these verses to put them in context, I think. Other thoughts about this.

Were these people appointed? No. these people by their life. I mean, Martin and I last week watched the Ten Commandments. And when you watch the Ten Commandments, I mean, Pharaoh was ultimately separated by God to carry out his own will in terms of the various plagues that were placed on the nation of Israel. So, anyway. Alright, let's move ahead. On to verse 9.

But you are a chosen generation, Roy referring to a few things you mentioned earlier, a royal priesthood a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." Again, this could be a couple of weeks looking at all the components of this particular verse, but let's see if we can drill down on it today.

How do you feel about being a chosen generation? in contrast to those who have been invited but have rejected the invitation. Can we say we're chosen because we're in Christ? Right, our names are written in the book of life, right? But is that election, Roger?

Well, perhaps one of the biggest things is that this is a contrast The contrast, I think, is that the penalty for disbelief is appointment to destruction, but the obedience is to blessing because you have busted in God's provision for you. I don't know. It's such a huge contrast here between unbelief and belief. being consequential in God's purposes. His end is determined based on the response to his grace.

And to whom is he speaking here? To us. What do we call us? We're the church, are we not? The church is a chosen generation, and by the way, the church is not special to man or woman, not special to black or white, it's not special to Jew or Gentile.

Our chosen generation is the body of Christ we're all part of. It's like all the spiritual blessings we have, the riches of God's grace, this is one of those riches of God's grace that we're chosen. And we're a chosen generation. And he builds on this with all these words about priesthood being royal, and nation which is set apart, and people for his possession.

What a building this is. and this verse reminds us of a similar call to the nation of Israel look at this in Exodus chapter 19 5 and 6 now therefore if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation and these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Wow. I mean, in a sense, Israel was this chosen generation that was reflected by God in the context of Old Testament times. Constable, God's purpose for Israel was that she be a nation of priests who would stand between God and the rest of humanity, representing people before God. And that really is kind of a different kind of calling than we in the body of Christ have because now we have a living stone, a cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go ahead Roy, I'm sorry.

I just have a question for you that in the light of the holy nation that we are, here is God's purposes laid out for this nation among all nations to be his chosen nation and I don't think that has ever been set aside. It's been in his purposes to accomplish that but there's been a intermission or a parenthesis of the church to raise that group of people to jealousy And that jealousy will resolve when they are in mass converted and he becomes king. And they become the nation that everyone seeks to reach God through. He hasn't put this purpose aside. He has taken a parenthesis with us to be an example of his work with the people who don't deserve it, we sure don't, neither do they, but by the same token he's going to do this in the future. I hesitate to speak too much here to this, but sometimes we give up on the Jewish people where God has not given up on them. That is his purpose and he will accomplish it.

He will, no question Roy, but there's a big distinction between the future kingdom of the nation of Israel and for us as a church. Where is the home for Israel and where is the home for the church? Well, it's earth and heaven. And that's an incredibly important difference. Israel looks for the earthly existence where our home is in heavenly places.

Absolutely. The other part of that is that we shouldn't feel that Israel got shortchanged there. They'll be perfectly suited, God has perfectly suited them for an earthly existence for all eternity with Him, just like we're perfectly suited in being in Christ. groups of people and God in his wisdom has done that so it's you know and it's challenging sometimes if you want to make everybody the same we'll make them all the same yeah that's that's a you know bad path to go down okay thank you guys good comments 2nd Peter 1 and 3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness and how's this occur through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. Why did we respond? Explain that, Bob. There's a lot of quiet people in the class out there.

Well, that's a toughie, right? Like myself, I look at my family, I respond that my sister did not. And look across our families, why did we respond and another family member did not respond? I don't know. It's a hard one. Yeah, and I think we don't have a succinct answer to that, and that's a whole topic in its own right. What gives us the faith to respond? And we all have the opportunity to, in one way or the other, and under different circumstances at different times. Well, the thing is, nobody knows the answer to that.

I mean, we don't. I mean, we've talked about that, even in our Bible study, everywhere, I mean, for years. But we're never going to know that until we are face to face and we have the mind of Christ. Then it's going to all be clear. But boy, right now, we have no idea why some people respond or we responded and others did not. We don't know. Right. Carolyn. It's me. Yes. Do you still have your Bible open? I do. Read verse five again for us, please.

It relates to how do you feel about being a royal priesthood? You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Good, so is holy different than royal? I'm not going to drill down on that. But here's there again, we're priests of a kingly rank. For instance, exalted to a moral rank and freedom which exempts them, meaning the Old Testament priests, from the control of everyone but God and Christ. This is a different rank of priesthood than was described for the Old Testament priests.

Revelation 1.6, and he's made us kings and priests unto God, and his Father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. So this priesthood, I mean, in Hebrews it talks about us approaching the throne of grace as priest or communication is a much more effective one than the priest of the Old Testament. So this is a royal or kingly priesthood, different and higher in contrast to that of the Old Testament.

How do you feel about being a holy nation? Well, anybody want to reflect on that one? Well, for starters, we don't want to think that that makes the United States a holy nation. We probably know that already. But, you know, the thing is we got to be careful about nationalities and countries and stuff and stick with the body of Christ and Israel and those kind of things.

We're only to be a holy nation in Christ as a believing body of people. So, if we think about holy, we think about sanctification, we think of separation, we are separated now into his sovereign position and condition. So, our position reflects our having no unrighteousness. you know, we're ultimately condemned but then ultimately made righteous and that new life we have which impacts our condition is in the resurrection life that we all so closely enamor here at Holly Hills. So, being a holy nation is being separated into our heavenly position which hopefully brings glory to God through our condition. That's what being a holy nation really represents.

Romans 9.25, I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not my beloved. Moving on, how do you feel about being his own special or peculiar or purchased people? And I think peculiar here, Roy, might be best interpreted as purchased. That is another translation using the interlinear Greek.

Go ahead, I'm sorry. Bob, one of the things that we need to keep in mind is that we are dealing as spiritual people now, not merely physical entities. The spiritual enters into when we see him, we will see him as he is, and we will be like him so that we can see him as he is. We don't have a mental or a physical appreciation of that right now, but when he appears we will see him as he really is because we'll be like him as he is. We'll be different. I don't know how to say that any other way then.

This is a contrast, we've already touched on it, that we're heavenly people. designed in the image and likeness of Christ for his glory to be revealed and it's in that context that we're royal as well as being priests. We represent him both in rule as well as in function of ministry. I don't know, I'm rambling, I'm sorry Bob. Fine, Roy, no, you're not rambling.

I think in context it really kind of relates to achieving the end which was in view. I mean that's kind of what the term means. It relates to its object and purpose and I think the verse continues, that you may proclaim the praises or excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So let's reflect on that a little bit. I like what Macaulay said here, and he said that excellencies, which again is praises, areta, the Greek term, it means one of noble character and the noble acts of God, priest, and in context, the holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. We now have a new calling into his marvelous light. Look, that's part of the verse right above.

This involves holiness, chapter 1, verse 15, steadfastness under pressure, the whole issue that we're going to be coming to in the next few weeks, verses 19 and 21 of chapter 2, communication of blessing and eternal glory. and our new relationship is stated as the people of God. So Macaulay reflects this about in part for what Peter's already shared with us about our holiness, but also things yet to come that he will cover in more detail in the verses to follow.

Now Titus 2.14, I like here, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

And that's where I think you know, ultimately this great grace he's shown us is not simply only our position, but the zealous of good works. And what did Christ say what good works were? Remember he was asked, well, how might I do the work of your father or of God? What did Christ say in response to that inquiry? There's two aspects, believe on him whom he has sent. Right, that's what I was thinking. And also love one another as I have loved you.

How are you doing at that Roy? Not so good in this buddy. That's what's so neat because if you think about people who come and be critical of your faith and saying how are you doing loving your brother as yourself? I kind of say, no, it's not me that's getting the job done here. And you know, it kind of takes the pressure off. Hey Bob, just helping a little bit there.

It isn't that we love one another as we love ourselves anymore. As Christ loved us, right? Yeah, right. But see, that takes the pressure off, because if we think of his unequivocal love for us and unconditional love for us, that makes it easy to love one another, because it's Christ's love, Spirit-led through each and every one of us, that allows us to love others as Christ loved us. That's right. Good.

Colossians 1.12, giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. And notice, his marvelous light quoted in this verse. Other thoughts about verse 9 before in the next five minutes we conclude with verse 10?

One of the things you mentioned in Titus 2.14, to purify unto himself a peculiar people.

There's an awful lot of adjectives there about us as his people unto him. Well Roy, you know where the world would interpret that? We're all a bunch of peculiar people. No, I was just going to say, stop calling me peculiar. We'll call you purchased from now on. How about unique? Okay, special. We're all special. I like the purchased part. I like that the best. I think it fits best, doesn't it?

Okay, let's turn in closing to verse 10, which in time we ask that we're not a people, but are now the people of God, which have not obtained, but are now the people of God, which have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. I think I duplicated part of that verse.

But anyway, we now are a different people than have obtained mercy. What's mercy? Define mercy. What's the difference between mercy and grace? It's not getting what you deserve. Right. Mercy is being spared, just due. Grace is unexplainable, but it's unending and insurmountable. Unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. It really is. That's what people often use.

Who do you think Peter is referring to? Is he referring to Israel here or the Gentiles? The church. Partly Jew, partly Gentile. I have a note that says believing Jews, but I'm not sure where I got that from. Well, I think Constable kind of reflects that in part, Roger. The evidence from the use of the Old Testament in 1 Peter 2, 6 through 10 suggests that the Old Testament imagery is used to describe the church in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10. So I think it does apply to both. but it does not present the church as a new Israel replacing ethnic Israel in God's program. Instead, Old Testament Israel was a pattern of the church's relationship with God as his chosen people. So I think that's well-worded by Constable. I think, keep in mind, and that makes me think, it's the shortcomings of covenant theology. What's the shortcoming of neo-evangelicalism or covenant theology? It fails to rightly divide the word of truth.

It takes us to 2 Timothy 2.15.

Study to show thyself a proof unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, who rightly divides the word of truth. And that's really what we're about. I mean, Holly Hills Bible Church doesn't exist because we're an elite group of people who believe in a certain way. It's rightly dividing the word of truth. And if you believe in dispensations at all, you've got to believe in law and grace.

So ultimately, and I think we've dealt with this about Israel being an earthly people, God called them a chosen people, but he's called us into a special and a unique generation. people that are called the Church. And so when we look at the Word of God, we've got to rightly divide the Word of Church, not having Israel merged in to New Testament theology that applies to the body of Christ.

Any further thoughts on that? Well, one of the things that that has led to is the condemnation of the nation. the Jewish nation. Again, World War II, it came out so strongly with the persecution of the Jewish people. Boy, don't want to turn back there, do we?

No. Romans 9 to 26 builds on this, and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. And to conclude today's lesson, I'm going to turn back to Romans 11, which is really talking about Israel to a large extent.

And if by grace, then it is no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. Isn't that well stated by Paul? But if it be of works, then it is no more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more work. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeks for, but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. And remember, the elect are those who have come by God's great grace, by faith, to salvation. Would anyone like to offer some parting comments here this morning?

How come we've got to limit this to one hour? Roger, don't put on your robe, would you? I know, I'm putting my robe on. Well, Roy, actually we could rearrange our, you know, with this Zoom thing, we could make it Sunday school, an hour and a half, and have the main service, you know, we could readjust things.

We're kind of following the model we have normally. Well, I'm being a little facetious. I know you are. Isn't it wonderful to be able to be together like this? Amen. Yes. in purity through his word like this, what a blessing. It's hard to say, you know, we'll limit it to one hour. Right, that's true. Andrew, you've been quiet this morning.

I think Peter is talking, it's almost like he's trying to, in verse 6 through 8, Because Peter is the apostle to the Jews, right? Pretty much. Paul was assigned to the Gentiles. But it's almost like Peter is drawing out the Jewish imagery to kind of minister to the Jews in the church, or now in the church. And then verse 10, that's definitely to Gentiles, right? So both groups make up the church.

Well, I think that Peter's message, and we outlined this in the introduction of the book, was to both the Gentiles and the Jews. I think Roy's opinion was that it was more to the Jew. We think of Peter and Acts, really, his ministry being directed more to the Jews. But clearly, in this section of 1 Peter, I mean, we're looking at solid doctrine that I think applies to both.

So, the church, yeah. All right, Andrew, I've opened up your mic, so could you close this in prayer, please? Oh, sure. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that we could gather in this peculiar way by the internet, but we thank you for our bonds in Christ and we thank you for this morning and this lesson in 1 Peter. Be with us in the 10 o'clock hours. We learn about your resurrection from