The Precious Stone

The Precious Stone

1 Peter 2:4-10

 

In verse 3 he has talked about the fact of people coming to the Lord and that we have come to Jesus.  We have found how wonderful Jesus is.  Now he's going to tell us who Jesus is.

 

These words are being written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit by Simon Peter, one of the disciples of the Lord, who by occupation was a fisherman.  As you read these words, is it not amazing that such words are being written by a man who was a fisherman?  It's wonderful what God can do when He gets hold of a life.  Now the Holy Spirit is using Simon Peter, and he is writing these beautiful words about the Lord and about us.

 

As you read through you will discover that Simon Peter uses some very beautiful pictures.  He has talked, for instance, in the first chapter about the Word of God.  He said in verse 23 that the Word of God is like a seed.  Then you may recall in this second chapter in verse 2 that he compares you and me to new born babies.  He says that just like new born babies desire milk, you and I have a desire for the Word of God.  This is a beautiful picture of a seed and a beautiful picture of a new born baby.

 

Now he's going to give another beautiful picture.  He's going to give us a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's going to compare the Lord Jesus Christ to a beautiful, precious stone. 

 

 

 

Simon Peter was familiar with the picture of a stone.  You may remember that when the Lord Jesus Christ called Simon Peter, He said to him, "Your name is Cephas, but you are going to be called Peter, which by interpretation is a stone." Simon knew that he was anything in the world but a stone.  He was closer to shifting sand.  Yet, the Lord Jesus said, "I'm going to come into your life and I'm going to change your life, Simon Peter, and I'm going to turn you into a solid rock."  That is exactly what the Lord Jesus did for him.

 

He had heard Jesus talk about the figure of the stone.  For instance, Jesus said in Matthew 16, "Thou art Peter, Petras," which means a small stone, a pebble.  "Upon this Petra I will build my church."  So Simon Peter was familiar with the Lord Jesus comparing Himself to a rock or a stone. 

 

He picked it up in his own preaching.  When you read some of the sermons of Simon Peter in the book of Acts, in particular in the fourth chapter, verses 11 and 12, he preached, "This is the stone (Jesus) which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.  Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  He compared the Lord Jesus Christ to a stone.

 

Now in these verses he is going to go into detail and explain what it means when it says that Jesus Christ is a rock or Jesus Christ is a precious stone.

 

 

 

 

I. Christ Is Personally.

 

There are two lines of thoughts in these verses that are interwoven all through them.  In verse 4 the Lord Jesus is compared to a living stone.  In verse 5 you and I as believers are compared to living stones.  By this beautiful picture we discover who Jesus is and we discover who we are. 

 

He says that the Lord Jesus Christ is a precious stone.  That describes to us what Christ is personally.  He is the living stone.  We know that is a paradox.   We know that stones are not alive.  We talk about people being dead sometimes.  We say they are stone cold dead.  Yet Simon Peter says our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is a living stone.

 

A miracle took place.  Jesus died and the Bible says that He was buried, but three days later the Bible says that He rose again from the dead.  Because of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, He is not a dead stone.  He is a living stone.  A miracle has taken place.

 

He talks for a little bit here about Jesus Christ being the living stone.  He lets us know that Jesus Christ is a supernatural stone.  He says in verse 4, "Coming as unto a living stone."  This is something supernatural.  You will notice in verse 6 that is says that He is a chief cornerstone. 

 

The Bible says that this Lord Jesus Christ in verse 4 was, "Chosen of God, and precious."  That means that He is esteemed by God.  He is put in the place of highest honor by God.  God chose Jesus Christ to be the living stone.  God chose the Lord Jesus Christ to be the Savior of the world. 

In the counsels of eternity it was determined that Jesus Christ would come and die for our sins, chosen of God and precious.  That means He was esteemed very, very highly.

 

You will discover all through the Bible that the Lord Jesus Christ is compared to a stone.  In the Old Testament there are a number of verses.  For instance in Genesis 49, verse 24, it says, "Were made strong by the hands of the mighty God Jacob (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel)."  All through the Old Testament He is compared to a stone.

 

God chose Him to be a special stone, to be a precious stone, to be a supernatural stone.  Daniel used that same picture.  He talked about the end of the age when the kingdoms of this world would become the kingdoms of God, and the Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ is like a stone hewn out of the mountain without hands, a supernatural stone. 

 

He says that this Jesus, who was chosen by God to be this living stone, was a rejected stone.  He became a stumbling stone.  Jesus came into the world.  He was intended to be the Savior of the Jewish nation.  The Bible predicted that He would be the chief cornerstone for that nation, but notice what the Bible says about Him in

 

verse 7 

 

Jesus came into the world and presented Himself as the Messiah, the Savior of the Israelites.  Yet the Bible says that they disallowed Him.  That means that they disregarded Him, they rejected Him.

 

There is a tradition that was well known at that particular time that when Solomon's temple was constructed, they were bringing up stones from the quarries underneath the city of Jerusalem to be placed in the Temple. One day they brought up a stone that was unusual.  It was unusual in its shape, and they couldn't figure out what it was for.  They took that stone and laid it to the side.  They rolled it down the side of a mountain.   Nobody knew what it was for. 

 

Yet when the Temple was being completed, it came time to put in that cornerstone. They began to look around and nobody could find the cornerstone.  Then they went and found that stone that they had disregarded and discovered that the very stone they had rejected was the stone that was going to be the cornerstone that would tie the whole building together. This is a beautiful story to read and to study.

 

The same thing was true of the Israelites.  Jesus Christ was the Savior.  He was the Messiah.  He didn't fit into their preconceived notions.  The Lord Jesus Christ was not the kind of Messiah they wanted Him to be and so they rejected Him.

 

A lot of people are like that.  They build a Savior in their own minds that they want.  They want Jesus to be the kind of Savior they want Him to be.  Some people want Jesus to just save them from their sins and get them to heaven when they die, but let me live just any old way I want to live.  Jesus is not that kind of Savior!

 

 

 

He was the supernatural stone.  He was the stumbling stone, but the Bible says to those who will receive Him as their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ becomes a precious cornerstone. 

 

Verse 7 says, "Unto you, therefore, who believe he is precious." 

 

Literally the word means that He is the "preciousness."  It is one thing to say something is precious.  It is another thing to say something is the preciousness because preciousness is that which makes everything else precious. 

 

Jesus is not only precious, but He is the preciousness.  He's the one who makes everything else precious.  When you invite the Lord Jesus Christ into your heart and into your life, He becomes the preciousness.  He is the touchstone that turns everything in your life into something wonderful and glorious and precious.

 

People have a choice.  They can receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior or they can reject Him.  If you receive Him, the Bible says in verse 6 that He will be your chief cornerstone and that if you will believe on Him, you will not be confounded.  That is, you will not be caused to flee.  You will not be made panic. You will not be fearful.

 

In the book of the Revelation in the Great Tribulation we're told about the time when the Lord returns again and those who have rejected Him.  It says in Revelation 6, verse 16, that they say to the mountain and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." 

To those who reject Him, He becomes a stone of judgment, a stone of retribution. 

 

People have a decision to make.  They can receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their precious stone or they can reject the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 8, "A stone of stumbling," that is for those who reject Jesus.  "A rock of offense."  The word offense means a trap stick.

 

Do any of you older guys remember when they use to have rabbit boxes and people would catch rabbits in those boxes?  This was before the days of Nintendo.  They would have trap sticks in those boxes so if the rabbit went in there, the door would slam behind him and you had trapped the rabbit.

 

The word for offense is the same word for a trap stick.  What he's saying is that the Lord Jesus Christ, for those who reject Him, becomes a death trap.  That means that your eternal destiny is wrapped up in what you do with the Lord Jesus Christ.  If you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ becomes to you a trap stick, a death trap.  The good news is if you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, He becomes a door of entrance into the very courts of glory.  He is our precious stone.  That's what Jesus is personally.

 

II. Christians Are Individually.

 

In verse 5 it says, "Ye also."  That's you and me.  That's saved people.  "Ye also, as living stones."  Isn't that interesting?  Jesus is the stone.  He makes stones out of us.  When you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, He makes you like Himself.  He is the Son of God.  You become saved. 

We become the sons and the daughters of God.  Jesus Christ is the light of the world.  You come to Jesus Christ and He makes you a light for the world.  Jesus Christ is the stone.  You come to Him and He makes you a stone.  He makes you a living stone.  He does a miracle in your life. Salvation is a miracle. 

 

What they would do is go down into the quarries and they would cut out the stones and bring them and add them into the building.  That is exactly what God does when He saves a human soul.  You and I are quarried out of the rocks of sin by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit then takes us and cements us into the very Temple of God, the building of God and makes brand-new people out of us.  He makes living saints out of us. 

 

Simon Peter was familiar with that old Temple that was soon to be destroyed in AD 70, but God says to Simon Peter, "I've got a brand-new Temple.  I'm the cornerstone of that Temple and I'll take everybody I save.  I'll quarry them out of the quarries of sin.  I'll cement them into this new temple and I'll make you a brand-new, saved, living stone."  When you get saved, now you become a member of the living stone family.

 

He talks about this Temple and about how the Lord adds us to it.  He says to us in these verses several things.  In verse 9 he says, "But ye are a chosen generation."  God chose you.  God picked you out.

 

I've talked about this before.  It's wonderful to be chosen, isn't it?  Remember when you were a kid playing during recess and they were choosing sides?  Remember how insecure that was?  There you stood wondering if you were going to be chosen. 

When it really got to you was when the captains started arguing about who had to pick you.  That's when it really got tough.

 

The Bible says that you and I are a chosen generation.  God loves you so much that He chose you.  He picked you.  He said, "I want you on My side.  I want you in My Temple."  You are a chosen generation.

 

But that's not all.  You are a royal priesthood and a holy nation.  Let's talk about a holy nation first.  He says that we are a peculiar people.  God's people are a peculiar people. That doesn't mean that you are an oddball.  That doesn't mean that you are to be a nut.  It means that you are a special people.  It means that you are a people for God's own possession.  It means that you belong especially to God.  God said about you, "That one is Mine."  You are a chosen people.

 

He also says that you are a royal priesthood.  In the Old Testament Temple they had a whole body of people who served as priests.  In verse 5 he says, "Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood."  There it is.

 

In the Old Testament the people of God had a priesthood.  In this new Temple, saved people are a priesthood.  I'm a priest.  Every saved person in this building is a priest.  You ask, "What does that mean?"  I'm saying to you as a born again member of the house of God you are a part, you are a living stone in this new Temple. But not only are you a part of the structure, but you are also a part of the servanthood in that you are a priest.  You have the right to go into the presence of God for yourself.

People come to me all the time and say, "Preacher, pray for me."  And I do.  When people ask me to pray for them, I pray for them right there on the spot.  It's fine to come to your pastor and ask him to pray for you.  It's fine to come to other people and ask them to pray for you. But the good news is now as a child of God you can get right down by your chair in your den and in the name of Jesus, you are a priest and you can go directly to God in prayer.  You are a priest.

 

You can go to God.  You are a royal priesthood.  Not only that, but he says in verse 5 that you are, "An holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 

 

You are a part of the structure.  You are a living stone.  You are part of the servants.  You are a royal priesthood.  But now he says that you are also a part of the sacrifices.

 

In the Old Testament they offered sacrifices, but they were dead, lifeless animals.  Now the Bible says that you and I can offer sacrifices which are alive.   Let me just show you some of the sacrifices that you and I can make now that we are a spiritual priesthood in the Lord through some scriptures. 

 

Romans 12, verse 1, it says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." 

 

The first sacrifice, the first gift you can offer unto the Lord, is your own life.

 

 

If you're here in this building and have never accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, your money is fine, but what Jesus really wants first of all is your life.  Lay it on the altar as a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ.

 

Then in Philippians 4, verse 18, it says, "But I have all, and abound.  I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God."  Our gifts become our offerings, our sacrifices to the Lord.

 

In I Peter 2, verse 9, it says that we are a special people, "That ye should show forth the praises of him."  We are to hold forth. We are to tell out the praises of Him who has called you.

 

That's not just something you do on Sunday morning. That's something you do on Monday morning. 

 

We should live every day offering the sacrifice of praise.  "Show forth His praises."

 

He says to everybody in this building who needs to be saved in verses 9 and 10 that if you'll come to the Lord Jesus Christ, number one, He'll save you out of sin's darkness.  It says, "Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."  Some of you are in the darkness of your sin.  Your heart is filled with darkness.  Your life is surrounded by darkness.  But Jesus says, "If you will come to Me this morning, I will take you out of that darkness and put you into My light."  He will save you from sin's darkness.

 

That's not all.  He'll save you from sin's distance.  He says in verse 10, "Who in time past were not a people but are now the people of God."  You may be far off from God today, but if you will accept the Lord Jesus Christ you will become a child of God.  The distance will be erased.

 

He'll save you from sin's doom.  The last part of verse 10 says, "Who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." 

 

What you need today is not justice.  You need mercy.  You need God's forgiveness.  You have sinned.  You have displeased the heavenly Father. But the heavenly Father loves you and He loves you so much that He sent Jesus to be the living stone.  If you will come the Lord Jesus Christ, He will have mercy on you and He will forgive you and He will save you and He'll make a living stone out of you and put you in the family and in the Temple of God.

 

Let's bow our heads in prayer.