04 Living Stones: How 1 Peter 2:1–10 Redefines Your Identity in Christ

Krisan Marotta: Krisan Marotta, welcoming you to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. Thanks for being with us. I'm Krisan Marotta. This is the fourth talk in our series on the book of 1 Peter, and we're going to cover chapter 2, verses 1 through 10 today. Have you ever seen one of those maps of the universe? And they impress upon you like how vast and how many there are, and then there's this one tiny little insignificant spot, and they say, You are here, you know. And the whole idea is to make you feel very insignificant and irrelevant. Well, I think in today's section, Peter's doing the opposite of that. He's going back to Old Testament history and he's pointing out God has this great, incredible plan. It's grand and wonderful. He's executing it, he planned it, he designed it, he's not surprised by anything that happens. He's not, this is not, you know, plan B because plan A failed. He's established this huge plan for history and you are part of it. You are in the in the you have a role to play in it. So everything centers around Jesus Christ. Everything he intends to bring about will come about through the work of Christ, and you are part of that plan if you believe in him. So rather than demoralize us with how insignificant we are, I think the whole point of this section is to inspire us with God has a plan and you're part of it. And this ought to give you courage. This ought to strengthen your hope. So that's the overview. Let me review where we've been so far. So in chapter one, Peter started out in the first 12 verses reminding us that we do have this great hope. We have this living hope of an inheritance that will be ours when Christ returns. So God in his mercy reached out to us and changed us so that we would see and understand and embrace the gospel. And that change is so radical it's as if we were born again. So we were rescued from the blood of Christ, or by the blood of Christ from our guilt, and the Spirit has begun this process of rescuing us, but there's more rescue to come. So we've been rescued from wrath, we've been rescued from guilt, but we are waiting for the day when we will be rescued once and for all from final judgment, from sin, from shame, and all the effects of sin. So that hope is before us. He describes that as our inheritance, as God's children, that it's imperishable, undefiled, unfading, and kept in heaven for us. But right now, we're going through this process of testing and strengthening our faith. So the testing proves that our faith is genuine and reveals that this new birth has actually taken place and gives us tangible proof that we will inherit all the promises of the gospel. Now remember, what's not being tested here, it's not the trials are not testing my patience, my worthiness, my character. It's not a test to determine how nice I am. The results of that test are in, we failed because we're all sinful and selfish. We all fall short of the glory of God. So what's being tested is have I embraced the gospel? Do I do I truly believe? And I want to kind of digress for a minute and talk about the test a little more because I got three questions, really great questions from y'all. And I thought, well, if three people have essentially the same question, I probably ought to address it. So I want to talk a little bit more about what that testing is and give you an analogy of how it works. So here's my analogy. Assume you have a really good job that you really love and it pays you really well, you're good at it, you like it, and you want to keep it. And one of your coworkers comes to you and says, Look, I think the boss is a crook. And she lays out all this evidence that your boss is doing something illegal and immoral, and she has all the facts and figures to prove it. And you say, Yep, I believe you, that is true. You're our our boss is doing something illegal, but you don't say anything because you'd like to keep your job, not sure what you could do. And then one day your boss crosses a line and it gets so bad that your coworker stands up in a staff meeting in front of everybody and says, You're a liar and a thief, and calls them out and asks the boss to resign. And in response, your boss says, Well, that's ridiculous. And who else believes what this idiot is saying? You know, you're either for me or against me. You're either on that person's side or you're on my side. Who else believes that? Well, now you're in a spot because you have to choose. You have said you believe that the boss is a crook, but up until now it never made a difference. Now you have to act, and your actions are going to reveal if you really do believe that to be true, what you really think is true and important. So you can either act in a way that confirms what you say you believe, or you can act in a way that denies what you claim to believe. So up to that point, your belief was real, but it was untested and invisible in a sense. Now the test has come and it's forced your belief out into the open. So you act on your beliefs, you stand up and you say, I'm with her, you're a crook, and you get fired. But your beliefs are proven true, and you have gained wisdom. So on your next job, you're going to be a different kind of employee because you now know some things are more important than keeping your job. You've learned that life goes on after you've been fired, and maybe you have a new level of respect among your new co-workers because your judgment and your word has been shown to be true. Your integrity has been displayed. So you've gained some wisdom. And that's the kind of thing Peter is talking about. God will put us in situations where we're required to act. And we we claim to have make this claim to faith, and then we're in a situation where it's called into question, and we have to act on what we believe. Now, my analogy was a job. It could be anything, anything that forces us to ask the question, who am I really counting on? What am I hoping for? What's my highest value here? And I should say passing the test is not necessarily perfect obedience. Having that kind of faith and wisdom does not mean that we are going to be without sin and that we will live without making mistakes. So, in my analogy, perhaps you could have remained silent and learned something else, but still God will give you more opportunities to display your faith. So part of the wisdom may be being able to clearly see I was wrong and I need to repent. And as we grow in wisdom, then we have may have the exact same struggles, but our perspective starts changing. Maybe we begin to see the sin more quickly, or maybe repentance comes quicker, or humility comes sooner, and all those excuses and justifications that we gave for our sin begin to seem really weak and flimsy and foolish. So passing the test does not necessarily mean we're going to obey perfectly, but when we fail, our response to that failure is different. I also want to say that passing the test is not the same thing as being tough. God is not testing our courage, He's testing our faith. So having faith and wisdom doesn't mean I can just brush off these trials and the tragedies without a sweat. That's not the case. I mean, we can see that with Jesus agonizing in the garden. So it's not the same thing as, you know, having a stiff upper lift. But it is, it's more like I have an anchor that gets me through the storm. I have this, I can plant my feet on this, as we're going to see, this foundation stone, this cornerstone, and I can get through because of that. So faith means maybe I hold more loosely to the things of this world and I hold tighter to the things of God. So any situation that puts me in a place where I think, do I believe what God says is true? Am I counting on Him or am I counting on something else? Am I what do I really value here? Those can all be tests of our faith. All right. And God's, this is God's agenda for our lives because eternity's at stake. All these promises he's talked about, our living hope and our inheritance, those are ours if we have faith. And our ticket, if you will, is the is a strong, mature faith. That's what makes them ours. So he ends chapter one with this call to action to say, okay, if that's what God's doing, you've got this hope before you, you're gonna, your faith is gonna be tested. Then he says, basically, get serious about it, focus on that hope, lean into it. And he ends chapter one with talking about three ways in particular that our belief makes a difference, that we strive to be holy. So what we wanted in our ignorance no longer makes sense. Now the gospel's shown us a better way. Well, when we didn't know better, our conduct was foolish, but now we're no longer ignorant and we're striving toward wisdom and holiness. So a holy God rescued us, and following him means we're going to live differently and want different things. And then he essentially ends that chapter saying, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, which ought to sound familiar to you. Only he uses the language of fearing God, and I think the idea was you fear God, that is, his opinion matters. If I fear men, their opinion is the one that carries the most weight. They're the ones I'm worried about. If I fear God, then his opinion is the one that carries the most weight. Ultimately, what he thinks about me is more important than anything else. And then love your neighbor as yourself. If you've loved God, you're going to love his people. So part of what coming to love God means is I love the things God loves, and one of the things God loves is his people. And so he talks about this brotherly love. The problem, of course, is that God's people can be a pain in the neck. But that's where part of the trials come in. So he says, if I believe the gospel, I ought to recognize I am bonded with other believers in a way that's profound. We have the same hope, the same father, we want the same things. And one of the ways my faith can be tested is how do I respond to these other sinners who share the same hope I do. Okay, so that brings us up to chapter 2, where he says, Therefore, in the NASB, or it says so in the ESV, he says, therefore, so he's just said, fear God, love the brotherhood, therefore, and this is 2, 1 through 3, put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. So we've just said, love the brotherhood. One of the ways we're going to do this is flee, turn away from all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander. And what do we turn to? The pure spiritual milk of the word. So the analogy he uses is that we ought to long for the word the way a newborn baby longs for milk. And that ought to be a pretty familiar analogy to most of you. Because milk is life to a newborn. It's the only nourishment a baby can take, and they and a baby needs it round the clock. And his analogy is like milk nourishes the body of a newborn. The milk of God's word is what's going to nourish your heart and your mind and your soul for all these coming trials. It's what's going to produce that anchor and make it solid so that you grow in wisdom and maturity. And the more I understand about what the gospel is and isn't, and how got what God values and what he doesn't, the more my life's going to reflect that. So I should continue to long for wisdom and understanding that will nourish my faith the way milk nourishes a baby and causes growth. And he plays off that in verse 3. He says, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. So we've had a taste of God's mercy. We've seen the cross, we've seen the promises before us, but there is more coming. So we've learned of God's forgiveness, we've learned of his mercy and grace, and slowly but surely we start seeing our lives change. The promise has begun, but we have not yet reached fulfillment. So that's the idea of taste it. If you've embraced and believed the gospel and you've seen that God is good, you've seen these promises are wonderful, but we don't have the full meal yet or the full installment. But so therefore we ought to want more. We ought to persevere in understanding the word so that you might grow in your salvation. Then he goes on in this next section, he refers to at least three different Old Testament passages. And we've got a lot to cover because we need to understand the Old Testament passages in context and then figure out why Peter's quoting them and what that has to do in the context of the letter. It's a little debatable which what he's actually quoting because he uses a lot of biblical language. And we do this too. Like I might say, you know, perfect love casts out all fear. And you might recognize that as a quote from 1 John. Well, am I actually quoting 1 John or am I just kind of borrowing the language? And that's so scholars kind of debate well how much of this is a deliberate quote and how much is he just kind of borrowing biblical language. But here's the way I understand it. I think two and four are the summary statement of what he's going to say. And that was a particularly Jewish way of writing. They would give you their summary first or their conclusion first, and then they would explain how they got to that conclusion. So I think two and four are his summary statements. Verses six through eight are the support for verse four, or they're the evidence for why he says verse four, and verses nine and ten are the evidence for verse for the summary in verse five. So verse two, four is summarizing six through eight, two, five is summarizing nine through ten. And that's the way I understand it. Since we're not as familiar with the Old Testament, I'm gonna do this out of order, and I'm gonna give you the evidence first, six through eight, then talk about how first verse four explains it, and then give you nine and ten and how five summarizes it. Alright, so you follow me? I'm sorry, could you repeat what verses you repeat? Okay, so I think two and four are his conclusion. Six through eight is the evidence for verse four, and nine through ten is the evidence for verse five. So two, four, and two, five. Two, four, yes. Chapter two, four, and five are the conclusion statements. Chapter two, verses six through eight are the evidence for verse four. Chapter two verses nine and ten, I think, are the evidence for verse five. All right, sorry. It's gonna get more confusing because we're gonna cover a lot of Old Testament here. So, and thanks for bearing with me here. So let's look at verse six first. For it stands in Scripture, behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So Peter's quoting from Isaiah 28 here, I think. And this is, if you look at Isaiah 28, or if you looked at it in your homework, the first part of the chapter concerns the Assyrians. So, just to set the stage, Isaiah was a prophet during the time of the divided kingdom. So after the death of Solomon, civil war broke out in Israel. The ten northern tribes split into what we call the northern kingdom, and the two southern tribes stayed in a different kingdom and formed what we call the southern kingdom. In that period of history, we call the divided kingdom. And as Isaiah is writing, the Assyrians are the dominant world power, and they're about to come in and wipe out the northern kingdom and take them off into the exile. The southern kingdom will survive a few more years until the Babylonians come in and take them into captivity, and that begins what we call the exile. So in chapter 28, Isaiah is warning the northern kingdom, the Assyrians are coming. And then in 14 of that chapter, he turns to the southern kingdom and he says, Don't think you're safe. Okay, he's just prophesied the Assyrians are gonna come and take the northern kingdom, and then he turns to the southern kingdom and says, Look, you've got the same problems. You're counting on other gods. You're looking to your political alliances with your neighbors to save you, and the only way to be saved is to trust in the Lord. And he reminds them of the promises of God. So basically he says, political alliances aren't going to save you. All these packs you're making with your neighbors, that's not where you're gonna find security. You're gonna find security if you trust in God, in God alone. And the promises he reminds them about are not like, oh, next year I'll wipe out the Assyrians. The promises he reminds them of is there is a Messiah coming. There is one who will sit on David's throne forever. So this is Isaiah 16, uh 28, verses 16 through 18. And this is what Peter's alluding to. So this is in the section where he turns to the southern kingdom and says, You're not, you're not going to escape scot-free either. Therefore, thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. I will make justice the measuring line and the righteousness and righteousness the level. Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the secret place. Your covenant with death will be cancelled, and your pack with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, then you become its trampling place. So that he's saying that stuff you think that's gonna save you, those packs and political alliances, they're not gonna save you. But God is doing something else. He's laying this costly cornerstone in Zion, and that's the foundation. And the one who counts on that cornerstone, that's the one who's gonna be saved and find refuge. And this isn't a new theme in Isaiah. He's been talking about the Davidic king to come and the Messiah to come. But essentially he's saying, look past your present troubles to this hope you have for the future. There is a cornerstone coming. And that's what Peter's doing. He's saying, look past your present troubles to this ultimate hope you have, this living hope in this inheritance in the kingdom of God. And so Isaiah is saying, ultimately, all those political alliances are not gonna, it's not what's gonna get you through, it's trusting in the cornerstone. People saying, Peter is saying, what's gonna get you through is trusting in your hope. This, well, we've seen the first part of that promise with Jesus' first coming, but what's ultimately gonna get us through is his second coming. So he's saying that's the building block, that's the thing that's gonna stand. Unlike these shifting political alliances, they're gonna fail. Now, I don't think the average Old Testament reader would look at this and go, oh, he's talking about Jesus. But they would have understood there is a child coming who is going to build a king, a kingdom that will last. There is a child coming who will sit on David's throne and he's gonna establish a kingdom that will last, and Isaiah is saying, count on that. So that's the idea Peter's picking up. Let's go back to six, or 1 Peter chapter 2, 6 through 8. For it stands in Scripture, behold, I'm laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believed, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. So he's quoting Isaiah, he's also quoting at least two other passages about rejection and belief, and he's saying, If you trust in this stone, it will be your refuge and salvation. If you reject that stone, it will be your peril. So he's also quoting Isaiah chapter 8 there, which is right before the passage that you're probably familiar with about the coming child who will be where he announces the Davidic king. So let's look at Isaiah 8, 11 through 15. For thus says the Lord, for thus the Lord spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, You are not to say it's a conspiracy. In regard to all this, the people call it a conspiracy, and you are not to fear what they fear, or be in dread of it. So he's basically saying, All those things the people are counting on that are not me, don't follow them there. Then in thirteen, it is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy, and he shall be your fear, and he shall be your dread. Then you shall become a sanctuary he shall become a sanctuary, but to both the houses of Israel a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over. That's what Peter's quoting, and a snare and a strap, a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Many will stumble over them, they will fall and be broken, they will even be snared and caught. So Isaiah's warned them about the coming exile, told them they should fear God and not the other kingdoms of the earth, and if you fear God, he's going to be your fortress and your sanctuary, but if you don't fear him, it's going to be your stumbling stone. So rather than a stone that gives you a sturdy foundation, the stone you restract you reject, you will stumble over to your peril and destruction. And then in the very next chapter, it's very close to where he announces the Davidic King. So it's 9 6, where he says, For under us a child. Is born and a son is given. It's probably a verse you're familiar with. The government shall be upon his shoulders, his name shall be called the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. So he said, there is this cornerstone coming that will establish God's kingdom, and then he's going to go on to say, it's in this child who's coming. And you either accept those promises and find sanctuary, or you reject them and it's your destruction. The third thing he quotes in that brief little section is Psalm 118, 22. And I want to look at that one as well. And then we'll then we'll tie it all up. So we don't know where Psalm 118 fits chronologically. We don't know if David wrote it or Solomon wrote it. But it begins and ends with this verse. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Now, interestingly enough, that verse shows up at three very interesting places in Old Testament history. The first place we see it is when David is bringing the ark to Jerusalem. So he has established his kingdom, he has vanquished Saul, he's finally brought peace to the kingdom, and he goes and gets the ark from where it had languished after the Philistines took it, and he brings it into Jerusalem, and that's where he's dancing before the ark, and uh he gets ridiculed for it. But in that section, when he's bringing the ark in, he says, Give thanks to the Lord for his good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. That's in 1 Chronicles 16. So we see it when the ark comes to Jerusalem. The next place we see it is when Solomon has finished his magnificent temple and he dedicates it. So he they finish the temple, they celebrate the feasts of Booth, where they live in tents, and then he dedicates his the temple. He talks about the Davidic throne, and he says this same verse. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. And then the third place we see it is after the captivity, when the Israelites are back in the land, Ezra and Nehemiah are rebuilding the second temple. So Solomon's temple's been destroyed. They rebuild the second temple, and when they dedicate that temple, they say the same thing. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his loving kindness is on Israel forever. So they quote it a little differently. That's in Ezra 3. So every time we see this line, it's associated with the house of God, the Ark of God, or the temple. So the first time when David brings the ark, and then at each of the temple dedications. So most people think this psalm was a psalm for those ceremonial dedications when they were dedicating the temple. So did David write it when he brought the ark? Could have. Solomon could have written it at his temple, or Ezra could have written it at his temple. We don't know which one. But the Psalm has this feel of moving toward the temple, starting outside the city gates, moving through them, into the temple, and finally joyously offering sacrifices at the temple. So it was probably used as part of their dedication ceremony. So let's look at Psalm 118 then. This is the part he quotes. This is 118, 19 through 26. Open to me the gates of righteousness, I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation. And then here's what Peter quotes The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, do save, we beseech you, O Lord, we beseech you, do send prosperity. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. Now that last verse, 11826, you may recognize as the language the people quote when Jesus enters Jerusalem on the donkey on what we call Palm Sunday. So yet again we see God coming to his people into Jerusalem. So in Matthew 29, the crowds going ahead of him and those who followed were shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So it's he's quoting the same psalm. So this concept is God is doing something. He's building this incredible thing that all starts with this cornerstone. So we see it with the ark, we see it at the two physical temples, and we see it again when Jesus enters Jerusalem. So take all that idea back to Tufour, and coming to him as a living stone which was rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God. He's saying, the picture is there was this stone that the builders thought was worthless, and that stone turned out to be the very foundation. So the builders, who are supposedly the experts, the one who know everything, the one who think they've got it all, they rejected this stone, but in fact it turned out to be the real deal, the right one. They think they're building something that will last, but they're not. So the temple builders, what they built would be destroyed, but the kingdom built on this cornerstone of the coming Messiah, that's gonna last. And those who recognize that cornerstone enter through the gates of righteousness. And Jesus is that foundation, he is that cornerstone, he's the rock upon which the whole thing will be built. So everything God promised to his children is gonna come about through him. It all starts there, that's the cornerstone, but the people are gonna reject him. They aren't gonna see the value of it, they aren't gonna see the worth of what he offers. And that's where he picks up in verse 5. I hope you're sorry, this is so confusing. So five, he says, You yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So he's saying it's all being built on this cornerstone, but this time the building is not a physical temple, the building is you. The building is God's people. You are the living stones. It's no longer a physical place where God is going to establish his kingdom and come and dwell with men. It's through you, his people. So let's look at how he explains that. That is in verses nine and ten. But you were a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So he's at least alluding to Exodus 19 here, where the people have left Egypt. They're about to go into the promised land. God's establishing his covenant with them through Moses. Moses instructs them, and God says basically, Keep my covenant and you will be my people. Keep my covenant and you will be a kingdom of priests and a royal nation. And God was speaking to Israel, but Peter's picking that up and saying, the fulfillment of that is in the church today. So Israel was called to be different than their neighbors. They were called to be this light to the other nations. So they were, they had access to God in a way the other nations did not have access to God, and they were to represent him to the world, to explain his rule to others. What we have since learned with the coming of Christ is it's not those who were physically born from the seed of Abraham who are his people, but those who have the same faith Abraham has that are his people. They're the ones that are going to pick up this promise. So the picture he's painting is Jesus is metaphorically the cornerstone of the coming kingdom of God. But this, the building that he's building, is not another physical temple. It is the people of God under Christ, under the Lordship of Christ in God's kingdom. And we will represent then Christ to the world. We will be the ones that have access to God to have this wisdom and understanding and turn around and share that with others. So if Christ is the living cornerstone, we're then the living stones built on that foundation. So he's going back to these Old Testament descriptions, I think, of what God called his people to do in the world to say, you're part of this. You're one of those living stones. God had this plan that was announced thousands of years ago. Well, really, back in Genesis 3, but he's going back to Isaiah and saying, this is where, look how this all fits together. He has this plan. There's going to be this temple built, and you are part of it. You are one of those stones. And I think he's trying to inspire them with the big picture. So he's just been saying, understanding the gospel tells me how I ought to live. I have this new way of thinking, this new picture of what's important and what's not. And I think then he goes back to the Old Testament to say, this is all part of God's long-term purposes. He's got this great building plan, this great redemptive purpose for his people. It began thousands of years ago, and you're part of it. Christ is at the center of everything God intended to do, and by believing him, you have a place, you fit, you have a purpose. And we are to carry that into our trials. This is not random. This is this is all part of the plan. But we have a choice. We have to decide. Are we going to reject that stone or are we going to accept it? So those who reject it will face ultimate destruction. But those who trust and believe will be built in this incredibly wonderful, marvelous living temple serving God. So if you come to love God and follow Jesus, you find a place as part of his people, knowing him, serving him, and reflecting him to others in the world. So yes, you're living in hostile territory now. There's a sense, as he said in the chapter one, you're aliens and strangers. You don't fit in, you look different, you act different, you speak different, you want different things, and that creates trouble and brings trials and temptation. But remember what your situation is. God is building on this foundation. It's sure, it's sturdy, it will last forever. Those who stumble on it will be destroyed, and those who stand on it will find an anchor that will get them through and will be built into something gloriously. So that's why he's saying, You're a chosen people, a royal priesthood. You will be distinct, you will be stand out, but it is for this great and glorious purpose. God has been planning this from the beginning, and you have a place in it. You are marked as different, but it is a wonderful kind of difference. So right now you may have choices to make. How am I going to respond? How am I going to act in this situation? Who am I going to count on? As he's going to go on to say, we'll look at next week, how do I respond to an unjust government? How do I respond to an unjust master? And so on. He's going to give us examples of how this makes us different and how we have to make choices. But the foundation he's laying is remember the temple is the place where God lives, and that's you. You are being formed in that temple. You are his people. Alright. So, what's the point of all this? So, how should this inspire us? Because I know it's really easy to read something like this and go, you know, I've heard that. That's just big theology, you know, it's all abstract. It sounds good, but right now, life is terrible. I'm in pain, it hurts. What does this mean to me? Why should this make any difference? So I'm going to hopefully try to answer that a little bit. If you're like me, what's the first thing you think of when life gets hard? It's usually something like, God doesn't love me anymore. God doesn't care. He's forgotten me. He's not listening to me. You know, you have those moments where you think there's just like this shield between you and heaven and your prayers aren't getting through. And you think, God's just forgotten me. This is just too hard. I'm nobody in his eyes. Why should he care what happens to me? How could he let this happen? That's precisely the kind of thinking Peter wants to change. He's insisting in the section, you are not nobody. You are part of the people of God. God does care. He's planned this from the beginning of time. And you are a block in the building that he has been building with this very precious and costly cornerstone. So he had this plan. Putting the plan in action required a great personal sacrifice. He had to send his son to live a sinless life and die on the cross in our place. And he paid that price for you. It's not a new plan. He proclaimed it from Genesis 3. But we're living in a time where we've seen the first installment of that come to pass. We've seen the Messiah, we've seen him live and die and be resurrected. So we've seen the cornerstone laid. And he's saying that ought to give you confidence when those voices in your head start thinking, God doesn't love me anymore, or God's forgotten about me. He hasn't. And the evidence for that is the cross. We've seen these promises proclaimed thousands of years ago, and we're seeing them come about now. What God has said will come to pass has come to pass. Isaiah said this child is coming, he has come. And if he delivered on that promise, he's going to deliver on the rest of them. So I think that's the kind of thinking. It is abstract theology in one way, but he's also saying all those voices that tell you you're not worth anything, you're a failure, God doesn't love you. He couldn't possibly use you. There's thousands of people out there. Why should what you do matter? Why should what you say matters? He's saying, because you're part of the plan. So this big, if to go back to my analogy, if you have this big map of the universe, he's saying you're part of that map. You're an essential part of that map. It's not you're here and you're insignificant. It's you're here and it's you're necessary. It's part of the plan. So nations are gonna come and go, governments are gonna rise and fall, the winds of persecution are gonna rise and fall, the stock market's gonna rise and fall, political tides and climates are gonna shift and flow, but there is something that will stand, and if you're standing on it, you will stand too. It is the foundation, it is the rock upon which you can plant your feet. Nothing will destroy it, nothing will move it, it will be established for eternity, and you too will be established on it if you're part of his people and you trust in him. So he's saying basically, God has not forgotten you. This is part of history. God has not abandoned you, he's building you into his people, he's making you his and strengthening your face, so your faith. So when circumstances change, when they come or go or get harder, or like hurricanes or their series of little ones or whatever, they seem overwhelming. They seem like this is this is more than I can handle. But he's saying today is just a moment. The trials you're facing today are just this little tiny pinpoint of starlight on that map. But the eternity is coming and you're part of it. So today is the insignificant part, if you will. The big picture is what is the picture God is painting. And he says that when we get to the end and we look back, and if you just how many analogies can I weave in here? So when we when we get, see all the threads that he's been weaving into the tapestry, we're gonna say, I was part of that. There's my thread going through God's redemptive history. And it's going to be a wonderful, beautiful picture. And when we get to that point, the promises we're gonna look at that and go, This was worth it. Going through this was worth it. Even though it is incredibly hard now. So that's how he sums it up. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. The idea is once you had nothing, but now you have everything if you have faith in Jesus. Once you had no hope, but now you have a hope that will not disappoint you. Once you were lost and ignorant and pursuing the wrong things, but now you have been found, your eyes are opened, you're being built into this wonderful, beautiful temple of God. So you've been promised everything worth having. Stand firm on that, be strong in that. Let me stop there. I'll pray for us. Father, thank you that you are painting this wonderful, glorious picture, and that you reached out to us in your incredible grace and mercy to save us and make us part of the plan. You could have established your kingdom in any way, and you chose to use us. We just pray that as we face whatever we face in life, the hard situations, the trials, big and small, that we would stand on that anchor, that cornerstone, knowing that you are in control. Even when it seems like the world is out of control, you have not lost control, you have not abandoned us for forgotten us, but you are building your kingdom thanks to the work of your son Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.