Published: April 21, 2025 | Speaker: Mark Freitag | Series: 1 Peter - Part 1 | Scripture: 1 Peter 2:6-8
Transcript
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We're looking at 1 Peter chapter 2. Uh the focus is today on verses 6-8. But again to set the context, I'm going to read verses
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4-10. 1 Peter chapter 2:4. and coming to him as to a living stone rejected by men but choice and precious in the sight of God. You also
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as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is
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contained in scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him shall not be
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disappointed. This precious value then is for you who believe. But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very
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cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also
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appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies who
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has of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not
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received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Let us pray. Our heavenly father, again we do ask that by your holy spirit you would open
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our ears to hear that you would cause us to hear the words of the apostle as he recites the words of
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the prophets and the poets that we might hear the connections, the echoes. But most of all, the truth that he
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brings forth to us. The
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truth, we obey. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. I didn't do an exhaustive search, but we see in the Old Testament
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scriptures um several um several men placing stones or pillars of stones as monuments to remind themselves in some cases and the people
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who would view these stones of remind them of God and what he had done. Our brother
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uh Aaron reminded me or actually explained to me that I ought to look at Genesis 35. When Jacob honored the place where
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God spoke to him, Jacob set up a pillar in the place where that event had happened, a pillar of stone. And Jacob names that place
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where God had spoken to him. The scripture says named it Bethl, which means the house of God. When God routed the Philistines
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before Israel in 1st Samuel chapter 7, the scriptures say, "Then Samuel took a stone and named it Ebenezer, the stone of help, saying,
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thus far the Lord has helped us." And it is said that even Israel in even in Jesus in Jesus day they had hoped
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to search for and find just the the right stone that would lead to the building of a temple. A temple where God would
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return. A temple properly built in Zion in Jerusalem. not Herod's temple, but a temple where God's spirit, God would be
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pleased to dwell and live there forever. And in Jesus day, there were some who understood the
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promise from 2 Samuel chapter 7, the promise of to David that one of his sons would build the temple that would
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actually be that one who came to build the temple, would actually be God's own son when God said to David, "He shall
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build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
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forever." Peter does not use these references in chapters or verses 6-8 to prove that Christ is the living stone. He's simply
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He's simply validating his words in verse four and coming to him as a living stone. Choice although rejected by men
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but choice and precious in the sight of God. He's looking back in the first instance at Isaiah 28. But Peter personalizes this stone
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when he says, "And coming to him in verse four, but also when he changes the word, and he who believes in him in verse six, shall not be
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Peter's interests of course in this section of first Peter this introduction is for his readers those who are resident aliens those who are treated as
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foreigners where they
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are but his purpose here is to show us the purpose of the house verse five that you as living stones are being built up as a spiritual
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house. It's an audacious thing that God has done here. God has laid a stone. The word that Peter actually
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used, and I should have used it in the title, a title, a stone placed in Zion is what we usually read, but the word is appointed in Zion.
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But we also understood at least with my notes from Chuck's preaching in Romans chapter nine where these words are also quoted God has conspired to place this
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stone. It is God's work. Isaiah says it is his work. It is
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his choosing. It is his honoring but it is an appointment. It's not simply a symbol placing. And so Peter is justified in
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personalizing this stone those who believe in him. And we know because of the word that Peter
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quotes here from the Old Testament, behold is a prophetic present. God is coming. God is doing a thing. He is
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doing a new thing. He is laying. He is placing. He is appointing in Zion a choice stone, a
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precious cornerstone. precious cornerstone. The figure is sometimes misunderstood. The wording in Hebrew as
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I can understand it is that he is creating the head of the corner. And there are those who who take the head as being well this must be the capstone. This is this is the final stone that's
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placed on the pillars. But I don't think that's what Peter or the writers the writer Isaiah had in mind. Some say that it is the the keystone.
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It's the last one in the arch. That is when the arch is built up and the keystone goes in, it holds everything together. But that's not the wording here. It is the head of the
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corner. And it means for the building that all of the angles and all of the lines of the foundation and the
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building built upon that foundation are governed by this stone. And it's not as many believe just
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a corner where there are two walls. the Jewish Christian wall and the Gentile Christian wall meeting in Christ. It is
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the corner that governs all of the angles, all of the foundation, all of the living stones that are built into
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this building in Isaiah 28 that Peter quotes here. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious
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cornerstone. Isaiah is writing about the first of six woes, but they're in the midst of the Assyrian crisis. And one of the commentators says
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that Isaiah 28 is is is the marks of a fallen church. fallen church. The leaders are all drunk and they have a great cynicism
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about all things spiritual and spiritual and there's just a
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self confidence in their own strength. And so all of these things lead them and they they babble. They're they're they're mumbling. Their their drunken
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mumbling comes to God's ears. And in response to that babble, God threatens a curse that the kingdom would rem be removed from them because Israel had said, and I'm quoting from Isaiah 28,
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"We have made a covenant with death and with sh we have made a pact." Israel would not escape God's wrath. He would judge them with perfect
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judgment by the cornerstone. And he says of that cornerstone, I will make justice the
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measuring line and righteousness the level. Then hail will sweep them away like a refuge of lies, and the waters
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will overflow the secret place. God has brought this cornerstone where they
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rejected the cornerstone. He has made it his choice, his appointed, his
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honored. And Peter, I think echoing in his mind, he heard God declare his choice, his honored, his
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cornerstone. At his Jesus baptism and at his transfiguration, he heard the voice, "This is my beloved son. Listen to him."
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an audacious thing that God has done. And he says, "Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in him shall not be
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disappointed." What is the believer's relationship to this stone? He who believes in him will not be disappointed or some of your translations shall not be
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ashamed. I had to look it up. It's called a called a lotes. We heard one in Sunday school this morning about Peter not
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uh being in tune or not being in step with the truth of the gospel. A lootes is an ironic statement which
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has an affirmative expressed by a negative to its contrary. What does that mean? It's easier to give you an example rather than to explain it. For example,
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when somebody is doing something and it's supposed to be easy, we can tell them, look, it's easy, but we like to be
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cheeky, right? We tell them it ain't rocket science. That's a lie. It's not this means it is
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that. Or when Abigail Adams, I ran across this one. Abigail Adams writing to her husband John, the second president of the United States, she could have said,
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"John, I'm disappointed in you because you didn't do right by women." instead because um because she's Abigail Adams,
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she could write, "I cannot say that I consider you to be the kind be kind to the ladies." It's an expression and in Greek
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what we have here is an emphatic vitoes, an emphatic negation. It rules out the idea of us as believers
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ever being ashamed or disappointed ever, ever as a possibility. We might read it, you shall not at all be ashamed.
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The one who rests on Christ shall never stand shall always stand sorry
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solid and shall be safe forever. For Peter goes on and he says this precious value not quoting from the Old Testament. He is explaining to his
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readers he's encouraging them where they are. This precious value then is for you who believe. This precious value. Well, what
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is the precious value? It's the same value that he's given to Christ. You have been appointed. That's the echo of what? John
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five. You did not choose me, but I chose you and I appointed you that you should go and bear fruit. his choosing of us, his honoring of
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us. And even though they were resident aliens, treated as despised foreigners, the honor with which God honors Christ is also showered upon us
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believe. As he is honored, so are they. And Peter says, "Brethren, be comforted by these by these things." This choice precious cornerstone honored by God because you
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are in him because you believe in him, this precious value is then for you also. And so everywhere we are in this
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world, we are the spiritual house of God. as he says in verse five, the spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
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sacrifices through God uh acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You will never ever he says be
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ashamed in that. One of the commentators, Lenski, says, "I can think of four
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things that we have as honored people that the Old Testament people of God just didn't have. They had a house of
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God, but we now are the house of God." The temple was built with dead stones, but we are living
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stones. They approached God through a priesthood, but we ourselves are a priesthood. They offered up material
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sacrifices, but what we offer is spiritual sacrifices. spiritual sacrifices. And so by Peter's analysis, this precious value then is
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for you. Our status is founded upon who and what Christ is. He is the cornerstone. Therefore, you are honored
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and precious. As he
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also Peter also addresses the effect that this that this stone has on those who reject it. I wrote in my notes the heading, a message that divides. Perhaps I should
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have just said, he is a stone that divides. Look again at the lotes. And he who believes in him shall
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not be not be disappointed. As I said, it's an emphatic negation, but we know that there's an opposite side to that. The negation is we will never be ashamed.
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But Peter picks up and uses the word ashamed where the Hebrew uses the word shall not make haste. The one pictured there is the one
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hurrying to escape. The one who is fleeing so because he is ashamed. His misplaced faith has ended in disappointment and he must get away
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and he must try to hide. But this is no surprise to scripture that there is this
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opposite. I was reading in a a book that Chuck had recommended to me talking about some of the uh generals leading the armies before D-Day Normandy in
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1944 and they said of one general he's he's so dense in the head he can't tell the difference between Christmas and Easter well I'm not confusing Christmas
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and Easter here but even at what we say Christmas time in Luke chapter 2 When Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to
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Simeon, Simeon says to Mary, Jesus' mother, quote, mother, quote, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed." There is a sharp
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contrast here in Peter speaking in using this lootes. He is showing us it is very precious thing that we have as believers. But for those who
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disbelieve there is a consequence and Peter weaves together in verses 7 and 8 Psalm 118 verse 22 and
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Isaiah 8:14 he says the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. But he also describes it as
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a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over. And what does this mean? Well, first it means that that God
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nullifies their nullifies their rejection and appoints this stone, this cornerstone. They they rejected it. They had a had a test a and and Jesus doesn't fa pass
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their fitness test for being the cornerstone of a new kingdom. But God has honored the
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rejected one. How does he do this? Well, Psalm 118, the verse following what Peter quotes, verse 23, this is the Lord's
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doing. Behold, he says, I lay a stone in Zion. But secondly, it is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense as some
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of your scriptures will say, or a rock of enttrapment. And stumbling here is not the action, but it's the
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result. It is the smash and crash
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getting hurt, but it's to fall head first into this stone. And I'm going to use the words of Charles Spurgeon and be ground to
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powder. Rejection of the gospel message is fatal. The stone destroys those who reject
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it. In Psalm 118, the builders are the Jewish leadership, perhaps even the the the beginning, the the the first of what we
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would know in the New Testament as the Sanhedrin. They rejected Jesus as unfit for what they wanted to build. They wanted to build a political house. They
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wanted to build a a a dominant Israel to dominate the Gentiles to extend their
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power. But we read in Romans nine that Israel did not get a a boo boo on the on the knee. Israel was
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destroyed, broken, shattered. Peter uses the word Petra in the second of these phrase. The stone is stumbling
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and a rock. The Petra, it's it's not a little pebble. It's a rocky cliff of immense size.
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And he says this rocky cliff of enttrapment. The word we get our word scandal from the scandalon.
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The scandalon refers to the stick that holds up the snare for which the bait was attached to so
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that when the animal came up and grabbed the bait, it would pull the stick and the trap would
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be snapped and it would release and it would capture them. And Peter's vision here is of the deadliness of the rock
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mass, this rock of offense for all unbelievers. And Peter applies this prophecy to all who repeat this
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disbelief and this rejection. He says, "For they stumble because they are disobedient to the
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disbelieve smash against this rock by being disobedient. I'm not sure that I can understand the connection that Peter and the depth of the connection between the
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disbelief and the disobedience. Lensky again writes, "The worst type of disobedience is
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disobedience is disbelief." The scriptures say, "You must be born again, repent, and believe." There's belief, and there's obedience together
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in the gospel message. And this doom, he says, they were also appointed to
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And many many not outside the church but inside the church cringe at these words in verse 10. And to this doom they were
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appointed. Their argument is if they were destined to doom then we must be dealing with a very unjust God.
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But Romans nine, Paul writes of God, saying, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
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compassion." The commentator Daniel Doriani writes, "God always gives everyone what he or she deserves in the sense that he never punishes the innocent. He is perfectly fair in his
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justice. My dad in his second career after being an engineer with the core of engineers, he became an engineering professor. And I can remember one of our our trips after a long hard
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semester teaching, he got a call from the mother of one of his college students. And her argument was, "My
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daughter studied more for your tests, two and three times harder for your test and your course than she did for any other course. and she only got a C. In
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all of her other courses, she gets A's
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B's. And my dad's response to her was, I only give the grades that the student earned, the grade that they deserved. That is not being unjust.
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The mom argued that because she worked harder and tried harder and gave her all that she that she deserved a better grade beyond a
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C. That's not justice. That's what we call mercy. And God is a God of mercy.
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with God. If we ask for justice, we'll get a C, but it will stand for condemnation. Or we'll get a D and it'll
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stand for stand for death. That's what we deserve. That's what we have earned. The wages of sin is
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injustice. He is a God of mercy. It is his gift. And God according to his eternal purpose in Christ by his gift of
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grace appointed a precious
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Easter is about the resurrection of Christ from the grave, the victory over death that he has won. But when Christ rose, it was also
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the beginning of a revolution, a new reality.
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I'm going to read a fairly lengthy quote from Robert Bellerin and I find that he was a Jesuit Jesuit theologian. But don't let that stop you. I think he's captured all of what we
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might put might put into an Easter Sunday. For who is there that must not look upon it as a wonderful thing to
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find a man crucified dead and buried rising after three days from the dead immortal with unbounded power and declared prince of men and angels and a
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way open through him for mortal man to the kingdom of heaven to the society of the angels to a happy immortality.
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Or in the words of Psalm 118, the so stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Let us
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pray. Our Father, it is truly marvelous. And who
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who could not help but wonder at the glory of it all, your plan to save men, to glorify your son in this way, to make him the honored and chosen one, even
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though men had their own plans and they rejected him. and then he became the one that you honored and glorified. Father, we rejoice in these
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things. We just ask, Father, that you might open our our minds and our hearts that we might just get a glimpse, begin to understand
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just a little how glorious this actually is. and we pray that we would forever be unashamed to declare it before men. In
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Christ's name we pray. Amen. Please rise for the
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benediction. This from Romans chapter 10. Paul writes, "For the scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be
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disappointed, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him. For
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whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." Amen.