Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful
to be your children. We're thankful to be under
your care. We're thankful for all that you've
done in our lives and all of the opportunities
that you give us to be useful in your service.
We ask now that you would own this time for your
glory and our good, that you'd enable us to hear
and apply the word to ourselves, that you'd remove
all distractions. that you would enable me to
speak the word of God and only the word of God,
all the word of God that you've given me through
the week, that I would hold back nothing and
I would add nothing to it. We ask for the lost
Father that they might be found of you today,
that this would be the day of salvation for some
of your people who are yet in their sins. Help
them. We ask it all in Christ's name. Well, we're
going to be looking at a couple of verses, passages
this morning. Hopefully you got the email earlier
in the week that listed them out and have an
opportunity to read them ahead of time, look
them over perhaps. But we're going to begin in
Acts chapter 2 this morning. We're looking at
the church, continuing the journey. So you remember
this is the day of Pentecost that Jesus has promised
his disciples that they would receive another
comforter after he leaves them. He's told them
to go to Jerusalem and wait until that comforter
comes when they will receive power from on high.
And lo and behold what the Lord said was true,
they did. but spirit was poured out, they received
exactly what they needed, and they became bold
men for the glory of God, for the soul of the
lost, proclamators of the great gospel of God.
So that's what happened on the day of Pentecost.
And so as a result of all of those goings on,
and of course as we learned last week, the Lord
brought a whole ton people that he had prepared
to hear the gospel to that gathering in Pentecost.
And so we read then in verse 41, they that gladly
received his word were baptized and the same
day there were added unto them about 3 ,000 souls.
And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles
doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread
and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And all that believed were together, and had
all things common, and sold their possessions
and goods, and parted them to all men as every
man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart. praising God
and having favor with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should
be saved. So it's just a little snapshot here
of the result of the gospel and what exactly
did transpire. Multitudes were saved. Now, again,
that was a special day. And the Lord was working
to encourage these apostles that the Preaching
of the Gospel was, in fact, the thing that God
was going to use to bring men to Himself. So
you would expect that a large number of people
would have been saved, and that's exactly what
did happen under the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
The Word was preached and the authority of the
Holy Spirit and men gladly received it, because
they were prepared by the same Holy Spirit to
receive it. So it's the beginning of the Church.
Some thousands were saved. And it tells us what
they did. And we looked at this somewhat a couple
of weeks ago, and so today we're just going to
mention just a couple of things. But they did
continue steadfastly in all the teaching of the
apostles and the fellowship. Fellowship with
God, with the apostles, with each other, the
breaking of bread. The Lord's Supper, as we now
call it, and in prayers. And fear came upon every
soul. Many wonders and signs were done by the
apostles. And all that believed were together
and had all things common. So I want to make
clear this is not a political statement. They're
not talking about an economic system. In other
words, capitalism is not in view here as a form
of economic government, nor is communism or socialism
in view here of what we're reading here. What
is in view is the love of God shed abroad in
the hearts of these new converts to share what
they have with others. It's not compulsion, it's
not taxation, it's none of those things. It is
an outpouring of love one to another. They cared.
Did these people, did they know each other? I
mean, there's a lot of things here that we could
speculate. We don't really know anything about
these thousands of people that were brought together,
but we do know that they had a love for one another
that allowed them to call what they had not their
own. But it was God's, because it was God who
has given them that what they have. So they willingly
shared what they had with one another. So we're
not looking at a compulsory thing. We're not
looking at something that should be done continually,
all over, everywhere. We're looking at what happened
on this special day when the Spirit was poured
out and the love of God abounded in these people's
lives and they expressed that love that they
had received from God by giving that love one
to another. So that's the lesson for us. What
are we? How are we considering one another? Are
we family? Are we loved ones? How is it that
we view ourselves? And how is it that we view
ourselves in the midst of all these other people?
Are we the least of the saints when we think
of ourselves? Are we the ones who possibly could
help somebody else? Are we the ones that need
help? Somehow, you know, they had to know who
needed what. So as a sharing of information about
themselves and about one another, gladly receiving
it, gladly helping, that's the Church, folks.
That's just, you know, this is the beginning.
So it's very fitting that the Lord would put
this in the very beginning of His Church. The
love of God should have brought in our hearts
should enable us to love one another and be willing
to give of ourselves for the benefit of each
other. So, I'm going to continue on then in 1
Peter. Now here we have a picture of the church,
lo and behold. It's a picture of the church.
And we'll read these first three verses first
in 1 Peter chapter 2. So we read, 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
ye may grow thereby. If so, be it ye have tasted
that the Lord is gracious." All right, so he's
writing to a church here. And it's evident that
he doesn't just assume everybody that he's writing
to is a Christian. Did you get that? He says,
if you have tasted. that the Lord is gracious.
These things apply to you, then, if you have
had this taste, implying that if you have this
taste, you will desire more. You'll desire the
pure milk of the word if you have tasted that
the Lord is gracious. If you've never tasted
that the Lord is gracious, you have no taste
for the Lord himself. That's all. That's what
he's saying. Don't miss it. It's a very meaningful
description of the church. In other words, coming
to church doesn't save you. Thousands of people
come to church every Sunday and they're as lost
as my dog. Don't forget it. There's only one
way of salvation and it's sure not walking through
the building called a church building. So if
you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, you
have this desire as newborn babes to devour the
milk of the word of God and to grow. Christians
are always maturing. They're always growing.
That's what he's saying. When do you ever become
mature? Well, you become mature, but you never
stop growing. It's not like you become a so -called
teenager and you stop your growing. It's not
like that. You become a teenager and you want
to grow more. And you become an old man like
me and you're still after God to grow more. You're
still after usefulness. You still want to know
and experience more. That's just the way it is.
Or that's the way that it should be. I know we
have ups and downs and all of that. You know
all that too. But the overall tenor of our lives
is one after striving after growth. So that we
can know and experience God more and more. After
all, we're being prepared for heaven, are we
not? We're leaving all this stuff behind, right?
Everything that occupies our minds and our hearts
and our emotions now, we're leaving all that.
Is that going to be a glorious thing? It sure
is. Hopefully you realize it. When you leave
this whole earthly toys behind, you're going
to go even further on with the Lord. You're going
to experience more of them than you ever could
have this side of the river. And then we're told
here also that what? We're supposed to lay aside.
We're supposed to lay aside malice, guile, hypocrisies,
envies, and evil speaking. Is that what the verse
says? No. It says all. In this one little verse,
we've got three alls. We're not to lay aside
some of these things. We're to lay aside all
of these things. Again, the battle's long and
it's hard and it goes on and on. But that's what
we're called to. We're called to the battle.
We're called to lay all of these sins aside and
not just these, but any. Obviously... The apostle
couldn't list every single sin here. So we're
to get the idea that it's pretty important for
us to strive after holiness. The Lord is holy.
We are supposed to be His children. Children
take on the characteristics of their fathers
or their parents. normally wind up too far from
the tree. All sin is to be shunned, to be put
aside. So those are wonderful things. Hopefully
you can receive them as wonderful things. The
Lord didn't tell us to put sin aside if we couldn't
do it. Right? Hopefully you're bothered by sin.
I know I am. I want to put it all aside. And
again, when we cross the river, it will be all.
Sin will be aside. This side is the battle. Okay,
so there's more good news. There's a more glorious
description here of the church. But that's, I
mean, that's pretty good. That's a wonderful
group to be associated with, is it not? That's
a wonderful thing, that you can have good, intimate
fellowship with people who are all striving after
the same thing. All people who are all indwelt
by the Holy Spirit of God. People who have tasted
that the Lord is gracious. Is God good to us?
He doesn't call us to be alone. He doesn't call
us to go through this life alone He calls us
to go through this life together Together as
his body Now this this is that's great, and this
is even better, so I'm going to read I'm going
to read the parts of this description of the
church that pertain to Jesus Christ primarily
So in other words, I'm skipping verse five and
I'm skipping Well, I'm gonna read through five
four through eight But not verse five To whom
coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed
of men but chosen of God and precious who also
is Is contained in the scripture behold I lay
in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,
and 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 a fence. even to them that stumble
at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also
they were appointed." Now that's talking all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. And you noticed,
maybe you didn't notice, but there's three Precious
in there. The Lord is called Precious three times.
So that's the first thing that we can notice.
The second thing we notice is that He's a cornerstone.
He's the cornerstone of the building He's the
cornerstone of the foundation So really those
that's enough That's the church folks Christ
Christ is in his church Christ is building his
church That's a description of the church that
I just read to you The church is full of people
who will not be confounded, who will not be ashamed,
who will not be disappointed in their chosen,
appointed, precious head of the church, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's who should fill up the church.
So in other words, we see that there's some people
that don't, right? They were disobedient. They
don't believe the Word. They don't pay any attention
to the Word. And they're not in the church. They're
doomed. As all men are apart from Christ. As
we would be if we were out of Christ. They're
doomed. They're destined for hell. That's all.
There's two types of people in the world. There's
those who believe and there's those who don't.
And they are appointed to both of those destinations.
The scriptures make it clear. Not my word, but
God's So he said he's the cornerstone we all
know hopefully we all know that the cornerstone
of the foundation is the most important thing
It's the basic beginning element of the building
Everything must align with the cornerstone If
you're not in alignment with the cornerstone
the building will collapse It won't stand You'll
have the stones all out of order, all out of
joint. Do you get the idea here without even
me having to tell you? Christians are those who
are in alignment with Christ. They're stones.
They're not bricks. You never see it in the Bible
talking about bricks. Why? Because stones are
unique. They're not all the same. They don't
all look the same. They don't have the same shape.
They're not the same colors. They're unique in
and of themselves. But they're not so unique
that they can stand on themselves. They have
to be polished. They have to be knocked off.
Those sharp edges, the rough edges have to be
smoothed over to be made into this house. That's
the same thing he's talking about growing, desiring
the milk, wanting more. So we're Christians and
we're being built, it says, into a house. And
Christ is doing that work also through the power
of His Holy Spirit. He's knocking off our rough
edges. He's polishing us up. He's aligning us
with Christ more and more. The house is going
up. The Christians are united, aligned with Christ.
We're in agreement with Christ, in other words.
We want this building. We want this knocking
off of our rough edges. Hopefully I don't have
any sharp edges anymore. But I got some edges
that have been knocked several times. But they're
still not quite there. How do I know that? Because
I'm alive. Do you know that you have sharp edges
that need to be smoothed over? Are you counting
on the Lord to do that work through the power
of the Spirit? conforming you more and more to
Christ, aligning you with the cornerstone? That's
what we're about. That's what the church is about.
How does God do it? Well, He does it in any number
of wonderful ways. He can do it while you're
sitting in your study, or your chair, or wherever,
reading a word. And He can bring it to your mind.
He can use people. He can use discipline. He
can use sickness. He can use calamity. He can
use prosperity. He uses all manner of things,
but he is accomplishing his purposes in his people.
He is fulfilling his promises. He is fulfilling
his word. He's bringing it to pass. It may be
imperceptible at times. As slow moving as it
is, it is moving. We are being conformed to Christ.
Now that's a glorious thing, folks. And that's
how we can rejoice in suffering. We can rejoice
when we have setbacks. Because it's going to
bring us closer to Jesus Christ. It's going to
make us more like Him. That's what it says. And
it says he's precious. He's precious to God,
and he's precious to his people. Is he? You have
to answer. He's extremely precious to me. Or
is he precious to you? If we're just comparing
it to earthly things, do you have any earthly
things to you that are precious? I mean, our
kids, do we say they're precious? If you're a
kid, do you call your parents precious? Probably
not, but you should. Well, in other words, what
do we do? Do we just ignore those things that
are precious? Do we try to... remain as close
to them as we can? Do we try to impart as much
wisdom as we can? Do we love them, in other words?
Do we get into their world and relate to them?
Preciousness. They're precious to us. We don't
need to even hardly be talked about. We have
to normally, this is a normal case, you have
to be discouraged from counting your children
precious. Because you're overestimating it. You're
spending too much time with it. That's the normal
course of events in young families. But you can
never say that about Jesus Christ. He is precious.
He's beyond measure precious. You can't possibly
devote too much time and energy to the Lord Jesus
Christ if He's precious to you. The only thing
you can do is not spend enough time with your
precious one. That's the danger. You can get
so tangled up in today's affairs that He leaves
your mind. You don't even give Him a thought.
He's precious. He's precious to God. He's fulfilled
God's plan of salvation the gospel He's the head
the cornerstone of the church He's the only faithful
church member folks The rest of us fall far short
But he is a member of the church. He's here with
us right now. Do you believe it? He knows what
you're thinking right now. Isn't that amazing?
That's how close He is. He's ready. He's receiving
our worship. Or He's offended, if I can use that
word, at our lack of worship. He's precious.
He's precious to all of us who know Him. All
of us who have tasted that God is gracious. All
of us who are trusting Him alone for our salvation.
Are trusting that indeed He will do what He said
He was going to do and that is save us from our
sins and take us to glory. He's already proved
that at Pentecost He never disappoints. We'll
never be disappointed. He will accomplish his
purposes. Okay, so here's the description of
us in the church. Those who are in the church,
only those who are in the church. In verse five,
ye also as living stones are built up a spiritual
house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
And then in verse nine, But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a purchased people, that you should show forth
the praise or the virtues of Him who hath called
you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
I don't think anything gets any better than this.
Describing some people like we are, church members.
those who were in Christ. I mean it lays it all
out there for us. It leaves us all without excuse
actually. We know what we're supposed to do.
We know what we can do to honor God, to show
forth His praise. We know all this. We also are
those who have the Holy Spirit that are empowered
to do these things. In other words, this is the
purpose of our existence. Right here. We're lively
stones, we're living stones, the same as Jesus.
The same description, the same words. The stone
that we're coming to. Remember, don't forget
that in verse four. To whom coming. We're coming.
It doesn't say who you came to. as if it was
a one -time act and now it's all over. It's who
we are coming to, continually coming to, continually,
continually until we die. We're coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is that true of us? Hopefully
so. I mean, it was grand privilege. It's a wonderful
experience to come. We're coming to Him continually.
We come to Him through prayer and His Word. We
read the Word. We pray. We're coming. We're always
coming. We're always needing. We never get filled
up. We always want more, more, more. We want
to grow more, more, more. We want to honor Him
more, more, more. We want to tell everybody more,
more, more about Him. That's the picture here.
we're built up we already talked about the spiritual
house all these things are spiritual folks we're
not constructing buildings we are the building
so it says then we're a holy priesthood so is
that is that something that you aspire to No.
It says you already are. By virtue of being united
to Christ, coming to the Christ of the Church,
you are a holy priesthood. There's nobody else
that's going to do it. The world can't do it.
It knows nothing about it. You are a holy priest.
Are you fulfilling your holy priesthood? That's
what the question is, not whether you are or
aren't. Are you fulfilling it? Are you being
obedient? What does a priest do? Well, a priest
represents people to God and God to the people.
It's an intermediary. So that's what we're supposed
to be doing with one another. We're supposed
to be taking these prayer requests home, just
making it as simple and easy. and praying. That's
the royal priesthood. That's what we're called
to do. We're to bring other folks before God,
intercessors, intermediaries. Are you one that
allows people to be an intermediary? Have you
ever requested prayer? People can't pray for
you without your requesting it. It's that simple.
the holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.
So in other words, there's all sorts of sacrifices
that we are to offer up to God. He just generalizes
it, spiritual sacrifices. How do you offer up
a spiritual sacrifice? Well, sometimes we don't
even consider it very spiritual. When you go
to work, if you work and you go to work, you
have the opportunity to offer a spiritual sacrifice.
How, in other words, how you do your job will
determine whether or not it is a spiritual sacrifice.
Do you do your job to the best of your ability
to the glory of God when the boss isn't looking?
Or do you take an opportunity to slough off?
Well, if you do, that's not a spiritual sacrifice,
but if you don't, it is. Do you do it to the
honor of God? It's a spiritual sacrifice. Anything
in our lives, we're to be worshipping, in other
words, 24 hours a day, or as many hours as those
who are awake. It's not just when we come here.
When we come here, we've got all kinds of opportunities
also. But we have opportunities all throughout
the day. How are you as a parent? What are you
doing? Are you making an idol of your kids? Or
are you raising your kids to the honor of God?
In other words, are you doing it God's way? In
the hopes that they come to honor God with their
lives. I might pause here and say that... I've
got about two more weeks after this to preach.
And then Tim's coming. And Tim's going to be
preaching on the family. Family leadership. Family
submission. The whole gamut. I think he's going
to preach the rest of the year. Just kidding.
So I know I'm looking forward to that, so hopefully
you are too. He's going to go into a lot more
of the detail here on all of these areas that
I'm broaching this morning. So I feel some relief
that I can be as brief as I am being. But a spiritual
sacrifice is the tenor of our lives. Present
your bodies a spiritual sacrifice, Romans says.
We're to subdue these bodies. We're to use them
for the glory of God, not to the disgrace of
sin. We are in our bodies. God expects us to
use our bodies for Him, in His service. Spiritual
sacrifices. Remember? They sold all. They gave
everything away. They were concerned with one
another. They were helping each other. They loved
each other. Remember? This is the same thing,
it's a different wording. But then we're assured
with these sacrifices that they are acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Remember? Nobody's perfect
here. Even when we attempt to do good things,
good works, we're imperfect. We have sharp falls.
We can't possibly serve God perfectly. But what
does God say? It's all right. I am going to receive
your spiritual sacrifices that are made acceptable
by Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is going to make
up for all of our imperfections, all of the mistakes
that we make. When we're striving to please Him,
When we're giving of ourselves to the glory of
God, we have full assurance that God is pleased
and God accepts those sacrifices because of Jesus
Christ. It's the continuing intercession of Jesus.
He's there right now making intercession for
us. He made intercession on the cross. He continues
to make intercession now. He's making an intercession
for all the misstatements and everything that
I've already made. I have confidence in that.
He's going to bring some good out of His Word
being proclaimed. Not because of the glorious
way I'm doing it, but because He is my intercessor.
He's called me to do this. And He's owning this
Word for His own glory and for all of our good.
That's how we should view this Well, I'll sum
it up with this in verse 10 I know I didn't send
any of this out 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 lust which war
against the soul, having your lifestyle 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. So there you have it. That's a
picture of the church. It all centers around
Jesus Christ. But it goes out also into the world.
And it does good works that men can see and identify
you as Christian. Can see God at work within
you. will come to repentance and faith in the
day of visitation. It's a glorious arrangement
that God has given. It's a glorious privilege
that we have to share Jesus Christ with others,
to be the encouragers of one another, to honor
God in our thoughts, words, and deeds, to have
this practical purpose to all of our days. We're
never aimlessly wandering through this life in
a fog We know things we live according to what
we know we make assertions with confidence We're
following our King We've submitted our ways unto
him You know, that's another way the Bible puts
it we want God's way to be our way We want God's
will to be our will. We don't want this clanging
and busting of heads. We want to be so in line
and attuned to God that everything that God wants
for us, we want. And life is glorious when that's
the case. And that's how He's designed it. He
knows we're dopes. He knows we need help. He
knows we need guidance. He knows we need light.
He provides it, He is it. Why would we want to
go our own way? Come unto Jesus, continuing to
come unto Jesus for all that you need, for all
that you desire. He's a glorious Savior, He's
a glorious intercessor. It's a glorious life
that He's called us to, communion with Him and
each other. Amen.