A Sermon From a Sick Preacher
(No. 3014)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, IN
THE YEAR 1869.
"Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious." 1 Peter 2:7.
[Not only was this the first text from which Mr. Spurgeon preached, but
it was his theme on many subsequent occasions. Two of these discourses
bear the same title– CHRIST PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS although one of them
is No. 242, Volume 5 in the New Park Street Pulpit and the other is No.
2137, Volume 36]
MY Brothers and Sisters, I am quite out of order for addressing you
tonight. I feel extremely unwell, excessively heavy and exceedingly
depressed, and yet I could not deny myself the pleasure of trying to
say a few words to you. I have taken a text upon which I think I could
preach in my sleep and I believe that if I were dying, and were
graciously led into the old track, I could, with my last expiring
breath, pour out a heartfelt of utterance upon the delightful verse
which I have selected. It happens to be the passage from which I first
essayed to speak in public when I was but a boy of sixteen years of age
and I am sure it contains the marrow of what I have always taught in
the pulpit from that day until now. The words are in the Second Chapter
of the First Epistle of Peter, and the seventh verse–" Therefore, to
you who believe, He is precious."
We might find "ample room and verge enough" if we were to enlarge upon
the preciousness of Christ in His Person as God and perfect Man, His
preciousness to His Father, His preciousness to the Holy Spirit, His
preciousness to angels and glorified men. We might next speak of Him in
the preciousness of His work, showing His preciousness as the Mediator
of the New Covenant and at the Incarnate Messenger of that Covenant on
earth, His preciseness as working out a perfect righteousness and as
rendering a complete expiation. We might dwell upon His preciousness in
all His offices, whether as Prophet, Priest, or King, and in all His
relationships as Friend, Brother, as Bridegroom. Indeed, we have before
us a subject as inexhaustible as the river of God, and as bright as the
sapphire Throne! If we should endeavor to show how precious the
Well-Beloved is in all respects, we would need eternity in which to
complete the task–
"Precious is the name of Jesus,
Who can half its worth unfold?
Far beyond angelic praises
Sweetly sung to harps of gold.
Precious when to Calvary groaning,
He sustained the cursed tree.
Precious when His death atoning
Made an end of sin for me.
Precious when the bloody scourges
Caused the sacred drops to roll.
Precious when of wrath the surges
Overwhelmed His holy soul!
Precious in His death victorious,
He the host of Hell overthrows,
In His Resurrection glorious,
Victor crowned over all His foes.
Precious, Lord! Beyond expressing,
Are Your beauties all Divine! Glory, honor, power and blessing Be
henceforth forever Thine."
The wording of the text binds our thoughts to one point. "Therefore, to
you who believe, He is precious." It is not so much how precious He is,
as how precious He is to you! If you are a Believer, the text affirms
that Jesus Christ is, without any adverb to limit the extent of the
descriptive word, precious to you!
I. We shall, first, talk awhile upon the Truth of God that JESUS CHRIST
IS NOW PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS.
Notice, attentively, how personally precious Jesus is. There are two
persons in the text. "Therefore, to you who believe, HE is precious."
"You" and "He." You are a real person and you feel that you are such.
To yourself, you must always be the most real of existences. You do not
think of yourself as a person of whom you have read in history, or
heard of in discourse, or seen from a window years ago. You have, (to
use an ugly word, since I do not know any substitute for it), realized
yourself–you are quite clear about your own existence. Now, in the
same way, I pray you strive to realize the other Person! "Therefore, to
you who believe, He is precious." Jesus exists just as really as you do
and you must not regard Him as a personage who was here 1,869 years
ago, or one of whom you have heard, and whom you like to think of as a
poetical conception–but there is a real Christ now existing in spirit,
existing here–in real flesh and blood now standing at the right hand
of the Father! And between Him and you, if you are a Believer, there
exists a bond of unity which, though invisible, is nevertheless most
matter-of-fact and positive. You believe in Him. He loves you. You love
Him in return and He sheds abroad in your heart a sense of His love.
You two are bound together tightly and firmly. There is neither myth,
nor dream either in Him or in your union to Him. He is and you are–and
He is in very deed most precious to you.
Notice, too, that while the text gleams with this vividness of
Personality to which the most of professors are blind, it is weighted
with a most solid positiveness–"Therefore, to you who believe, He is
precious." It does not speak as though He might be or might not be, but
"He is precious." There are some things about myself as a Christian
which are frequently matters of question. I may gravely question
whether I am growing in Grace and under such a doubt I may search my
heart to see whether I love my Lord better, or whether I have more
fully conquered my sins. But one thing I do not question, namely, that
being a Believer in Him, Jesus Christ is unutterably precious to my
soul! If you doubt your faith, you may doubt whether Christ is precious
to you, but if your faith is certain, the preciousness of Christ to
your heart is quite as certain. "He is precious." If the new life is in
you, you are as sure to love the Savior as fish love the stream, or the
birds the air, or as brave men love liberty, or as all men love their
lives! Tolerate no questions here! Allow no debate upon this vital
point of your religion! Jesus must be precious to you. Cleanse your
eyes if any dust has dimmed your sight of Jesus' preciousness and be
not satisfied till, in the language of the spouse, you can say, "My
Beloved is the chief among ten thousand." "Yes, He is altogether
lovely."
Mark, further, the absoluteness of the text–"Therefore, to you who
believe, He is precious." It is not written how precious He is. The
text does not attempt, by any form of computation, to measure the price
which the regenerate soul sets upon her bosom's Lord. There is no hint
that He is moderately precious. It does not even say positively or
comparatively precious. I infer, therefore, that I may, if I choose,
insert the word, "superlatively." And, certainly, if I did so, there
would be no exaggeration, for more dear than light to the eyes, or life
to the body, is Jesus to the sanctified heart! Each saint can
truthfully sing–
"Yes, You are precious to my soul,
My transport and my trust!
Jewels to You are gaudy toys
And gold is sordid dust"
Since no sparkling gems or precious metals, no royal regalia, or
caskets of rare jewels can ever equal the value of Jesus, the
comparison is vain. We therefore place Him by Himself, alone, and say
that He is absolutely precious to Believers. Gold is precious, but the
diamond is more so and, in comparison with the diamond, the gold is of
small account. The diamond is precious, but give a man a bagful of
diamonds of the first water and put him down in a desert, or let him be
out on the wild waste of ocean–he would give all his diamonds for a
draught of pure water to drink, or a crust of bread to eat–so that, in
certain cases, even the excellent crystal would lose its value. In
fact, mineral substances are merely arbitrary signs of value, they have
but little worth in themselves. Gold in itself is less useful than iron
and a diamond of
little more account than a piece of glass. They have no absolute
intrinsic value which would remain the same under all contingencies.
But Christ is absolutely precious! That is to say, nothing can ever
match Him, much less excel Him, and He is precious under all
circumstances! There never can arrive a time when we shall be compelled
to confess His lack of value, or lower our estimate of Him. He is
infinitely precious! O my Soul, do you esteem Him so? My Heart, are you
sure of this, that unto you He is precious beyond compare? Positively
precious? Comparatively precious, though Heaven itself were compared?
Superlatively precious beyond all things that can be dreamed of, or
imagined? Is He to you essential preciousness, the very standard of all
value? Thus it should be, for the text means no less–"Therefore, to
you who believe, He is precious."
The thought which I desire to bring out into fullest relief is this,
that Jesus Christ is, today, continually precious to His people. The
moment a soul believes in Jesus, his sins are forgiven. Well, then, the
precious blood that washes all sin away, is not that done with? Oh, no!
Unto you that believe, though you have believed to the saving of your
soul, He is still precious, for your guilt will return to your
conscience and you will yet sin, being still in the body, but there is
a fountain still filled with blood and thus unto you, experimentally,
the cleansing Atonement is as precious as when you first relied upon
its expiating power! No, Jesus is more precious to you, now, than when
first you were washed in His blood and were made white as snow, for you
know your own needs more fully, have proved more often the adaptation
of His saving Grace and have received a thousand more gifts at His
blessed hands! I fear that some Christians imagine that after
believing, all is done, but my Lord Jesus Christ is no old Almanac,
used up and of no further service! He is not like the medicine which I
took months ago, which then healed me of my disease, so that now I can
afford to put the rest of it on the shelf and laugh at it–oh, no! He
is still my Divine Medicine! I still need Him and I still have Him. If
I believe in Him, I feel I need Him more than I ever did and He is
dearer to me than ever He was. If I needed Him before, as a poor guilty
sinner, I need Him just as much as a poor needy saint, hanging upon His
daily bounty, deriving life perpetually from His life, peace from the
virtue of His precious blood and joy from the flowing out of His love
to me! Instead of Christ's losing value to the Believer, the pith of
the text is this–that you, Believer, when you get Christ and get what
Christ brings to you, instead of esteeming Him as though He were an
empty vessel out of which you had drained the last drop, prize Him more
highly than you ever did before! He is not a gold mine worked out and
exhausted, a field reaped of its harvest, or a vineyard where the grape
gleaning is done–He still has the dew of His youth, the fullness of
His strength, the infinity of His wealth, the perfection of His power!
II. Now, Beloved, just for a minute or two, let us think how CHRIST IS
PRECIOUS TO YOU TODAY.
He is precious to you today because His blood, even now, this day, is
the only thing which keeps you from being a condemned sinner, exposed
to the wrath of God. There has been enough sin upon your soul, my
Brother, my Sister, this very day, to cast you into Hell if your Surety
had not stood between you and God's Justice. You have been into no
sinful company today. You have been in your Sunday school class and I
have been in the pulpit, but ah, my pulpit sins would have damned me,
today, if it had not been for that precious blood! And your Sunday
school sins would have shut you up in Hell if that dear Mediator had
not stood between you and God! So, you see, it is not merely the first
day in which you believe in which He is precious to you, but right on,
still, as long as you are a sinner, the Intercessor stands and pleads
for you, evermore putting your sin away, being yesterday, today and
forever, your Savior, your Shield, and your Defense and, therefore,
evermore supremely precious!
Remember, too, He is precious because the only righteousness you have
is still His perfect righteousness. That which pleads with God for you
is not what you are, but what HE is! You are accepted at this moment,
but you are only "accepted in the Beloved." You are not justified
because you feel in a sweet frame of mind, or because your heart
rejoices in the name of God. Oh, no! Your acceptance is all in your
great Surety and if it could be possible that He and the entire system
of His Grace could be withdrawn and Covenant engagements abrogated, you
would be as unacceptable as even lost spirits are and, like they,
forever driven from the face and favor of God! Is He not, then, as your
accepted Substitute, at this hour most precious to you?
Moreover, Beloved, Jesus Christ is precious to you at this moment as
much as ever He was, because from henceforth it is His example which
you strive to imitate. So far as He is an example to His people, His
Character has always been most admirable in your esteem–and this day
you delight to know that in His life, God's Law appears–
"Drawn out in living characters."
You aspire to be like Him now–you expect to be perfectly like Him in
the day of His appearing. Now, because He shows you what you shall be
and because in Him lies the power to make you what you shall be, is He
not, therefore, daily precious to you? In proportion as you fight with
sin. In proportion as you seek for holiness with inward longing and
sublime partings–in that proportion will Jesus Christ, the Paragon of
all perfection, be precious in your esteem! Beloved, you are to be
crucified with Him! Your flesh, with its corruptions and lusts, must
die upon His Cross as He died. Is He not precious when you believe that
it will be by virtue of His death that sin will die in you? You are to
rise in Him! No, I trust you have already risen in Him into newness of
life. I hope you are panting more and more after the resurrection life,
that you may no longer regard the dead things of this world, but live
for eternal things, as those whose "life is hid with Christ in God." If
so, I know you will prize a risen Savior and your appreciation of Him
will increase as you drink more deeply into the fellowship of the risen
life. Forget not, Beloved, that our Redeemer has ascended, and in that
ascension every saint has his share. I do not say that you all enjoy
your share yet, but, in proportion as you do so, you will reckon Christ
to be precious, for He "has raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places." "Our conversation is in Heaven from where
we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ," whose Second
Advent is to be the perfection of our spiritual life, the unveiling of
the hidden beauties and manifestations of the sons of God! Just in
proportion as you enter into your royal heritage and live in it, and
believe in it–in this proportion Jesus Christ will be precious to you.
Beloved, let me tell you a secret. To many of you there is as much in
Christ undiscovered as you have already enjoyed. Your faith has only
yet grasped Christ as saving you from going down to the Pit–Christ is
precious to you so far–but if your faith could even now comprehend the
fact that you are one with Christ, members of His body, of His flesh
and of His bones–that you are heirs of God and joint-heirs with
Christ, ah, then, how doubly precious would Jesus be! As surely as your
faith grasps more, becomes more capacious and appropriating, Christ
will grow in preciousness to you! I am persuaded that there is a
meaning in these words which none of God's saints have yet been able to
discover, a deep mysterious preciousness of Jesus only to be known by a
close and intimate acquaintance with Him such as falls to the lot of
few. "Therefore, to you who believe"–just in proportion as you
believe–the larger, the stronger, the deeper, the purer, the more
sublime, the more full-grown your faith, the more Jesus Christ is
precious to you. Ask, then, for more faith, that Jesus may be more
precious to you! And God grant it to you, for His name's sake!
III. Thus much on that point. Now a few words on another. BECAUSE JESUS
IS PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS, HE EFFICACIOUSLY OPERATES UPON THEM. The
preciousness of Christ is, as it were, the leverage of Christ in
lifting up His saints to holiness and righteousness!
Let me show you this. The man who trusts Christ values Christ That
which I value, I hold fast. Hence our valuing Christ helps us to abide
steadfast in times of temptation. The world says to a Christian,
"Follow me and I will enrich you." "No," says the Christian, "You
cannot enrich me. I have Christ and I am rich enough." "Follow me,"
says the world, "and I will bless you. I will give you the delights of
the flesh." "No," says the heart, "you cannot bless me, for these
things are accursed and would bring me sorrow, not pleasure. Jesus
Christ is my pleasure and to love Him and to do His will is my joy." Do
you not see that the greater your value of Christ, the greater your
strength against temptation? Although the devil may tempt you with this
and that, yet Jesus Christ, being more precious than all else, you say,
"Get you behind me, Satan. You cannot tempt me while Christ is dear to
my spirit." Oh, may you set a very high value upon Christ, that thus
you may be kept firm in the day of temptation!
Notice further this valuing of Christ helps the Believer to make
sacrifices. Sacrifice-making contributes a large part of any high
character. He who never makes a sacrifice in his religion may shrewdly
suspect that it is not worth more than his own practical valuation of
it. When a man has a very important document about him, on which
depends his title to his estates, if a thief should try to take it from
him, he will allow the thief to tear away his garments, to rob him of
anything he has except his treasure! That he takes care to hold fast as
long as he can. Indian messengers, men entrusted with jewels, have been
known to swallow them to preserve them from robbers–and to allow
themselves to be stripped naked of every rag they wore–but they would
not lose the jewel with which their prince had entrusted them. So the
Christian will say to the world, "Take away my fortune. Take away my
livelihood. take away my good name, if you will, O lying world! But,
despite all, I will retain my Savior, for He is precious!" Skin for
skin, yes, all that a man has will he give for Christ–and he never
will or can give Christ up if Christ is precious to him.
See, then, that believing in Jesus makes Him precious and His being
precious helps us to make sacrifices most cheerfully for His dear sake.
Moreover, Brothers and Sisters, this valuing of Christ makes us jealous
against sin. What, I say, does Jesus Christ deign to live under my
roof? Then, while He lives in my heart, I will give no roosting place
to any foul bird of sin that might begin hooting in His ear! No, you
enemies of Christ, begone, begone, begone! My Beloved shall have the
best chamber of my spirit undefiled by your filthy feet. We are afraid
lest we should do anything to grieve the heavenly Lover of our souls.
This makes us keep our garments white and pick our steps through this
miry world. Hence, a right valuing of Christ promotes directly the
highest degree of sanctification. He who loves the Redeemer best,
purifies himself most, even as His Lord is pure.
Besides, Beloved, high valuing of Christ helps the Christian in the
selection of his associates in life. If I hold my Divine Lord to be
precious, how can I have fellowship with those who do not esteem Him?
You will not find a man of refined habits and cultured spirit happy
among the lowest and most illiterate. "Birds of a feather flock
together." Workers and traders unite in companies according to their
occupations. Lovers of Christ rejoice in lovers of Christ and they
delight to meet together, for they can talk to each other of things in
which they are agreed. I would recommend you to choose the church of
which you would be a member and the pastor whom you would hear by this
one thing–by how much of Christ there is in that church and how much
of the savor of Christ there is in that ministry! It is an evil thing
for a child of God to be enchanted by mere rhetoric. As well might you
choose a table to feast at merely on account of the knives and forks,
or the polish of its mahogany! You require food for the soul and there
is nothing that will long feed a true heart but Jesus Christ who is the
meat and the drink of His people. Love to Christ soon makes a Christian
discontented with mere oratory. He cannot be satisfied even with the
best doctrine apart from Jesus. "They have taken away my Lord," he
says, "and I know not where they have laid Him." I must hear about
Jesus and if that silver bell does not ring, then all the rest may
chime as they may, but my ear is at unrest until I hear that celestial
sound!
Thus, a lofty estimate of Christ will be seen, if I had time to track
it, to operate through the entire history of a Christian!
Little need is there more fully to particularize, but we must not fail
to remark that a sense of the Redeemer's preciousness makes the
Christian useful, for that which is much on the heart will soon creep
up to the tongue–and the testimony of the heart is a notable method of
spreading the Gospel. If you love Christ much, you will speak about
Him. Your restrained speech will almost choke you. Your soul will be
hot within you while you are silent, till, at last, like a fire in your
bones which cannot be concealed any longer, it will break out and you
will say to others, "My Beloved is the fairest and noblest of all
beloveds! Oh, that you all knew Him and loved Him as I do! If you see
Him, His face is brighter than the sun in its strength! If you hear
Him, His voice is sweeter than the chorus of Heaven! If you draw near
to Him, His garments smell of myrrh, aloes and cassia! And if you trust
Him, you will find Him to be faithfulness and truth itself." The words
may be broken, the sentences may not flow with rhythmical harmony, but
he who really loves Christ must speak it out somehow or other! Thus,
proclaiming with a burning heart the things which he has made touching
the King, others will hear the good news and they will ask, "Who is
this Precious One?" And they will, by God's good Spirit, be led to seek
Him and find Him! So the Christian valuing Christ will come to be
useful to the souls of men! Indeed, as I have said before, it will
exercise an operating power on the entire Christian and render it
holiness unto the Lord!
IV. Christ being thus precious, HIS PRECIOUSNESS BECOMES THE TEST OF
OUR CHRISTIANITY.
I shall not prolong this humble talk, but shall, in conclusion, put a
question to you. Beloved Brother or Sister, you know very well that I
would be the last person in the world to speak lightly of the value of
sound doctrine. I wish we were all far more acquainted with the
Scriptures than we are and that the Doctrines of Grace were more clear
to our understandings and more imprinted upon our hearts. But there are
some people who love a certain set of doctrines so much, that if you
differ a hair's breadth, they will denounce you as rotten to the core!
They will not associate with any who do say, "Shibboleth," and sound
the "sh" very harshly, too! They will cut off and condemn all God's
people who do not precisely agree with them. Now, mark you, it is not
written, "Unto you that believe a code of doctrines will be precious."
That is true, but it is not written so in the text. The text is,
"Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious." It is better to count
Christ precious than it is to count orthodoxy precious! It is not
loving a creed, but it is loving Jesus that proves you a Christian! You
may become such a bigot that it may be only the laws of the land which
keep you from burning those who differ from you, and yet you may have
none of the Grace of God in your heart! I love Protestantism, but if
there is anything in this world that I have a horror of, it is that
politicalProtestantism which does nothing but sneer and snarl at its
fellow citizens–but which is as ignorant as a cow about what
Protestantism truly is. The great truths of Protestantism–not merely
Protestant ascendancy–and the great secret power of those truths, far
more than the mere letter of them, is the thing to be prized. You may
get it into your head that you are a member of the one only true
church. You may wrap yourself about with any quantity of self-conceit,
but that does not at all prove you to be a possessor of Grace. It is
love to Christ that is the root of the matter. I am very sorry, my dear
Brother, if you should hold unsound views on some points, but I love
you with all my heart if Jesus is precious to you! I cannot give up
Believers' Baptism. It is no invention of mine and, therefore, I cannot
give up my Master's ordinance. I am sure that it is Scriptural. I
cannot give up the Doctrine of Election–it seems to me so plainly
taught in the Word. But over the head of all doctrines and ordinances,
and over everything, my Brother and Sister, I embrace you in my heart
if you believe in Jesus and if He is precious to you, for that is the
vital point! These are the matters of heart-work that mark a
Christian– nothing else is so true a test. If you cannot say, "Jesus
is precious to me," I do not care to what church you belong, or what
creed you are ready to die for, you do not know the Truth of God unless
the Person of Christ is dear to you!
This may serve as a test for each one here. My Brother, my Sister, do
you believe in Him who is the Son of God and yet was born of the Virgin
here on earth? Do you rely alone on Him who, on the Cross, poured out
His heart's blood to redeem sinners? Do you depend on Him who now
stands with His priestly garments on before the Throne of the Infinite
Majesty, pleading for the unjust that they may live through Him? If you
do, then answer this question–Do you love Jesus now? Do you love Him
with your heart and soul? Would you serve Him? Do you serve Him? Will
you serve Him? Will you subscribe your hand to be His servant from this
day forth? Do you declare now, if not with lips, yet honestly with your
soul, "He is precious to me, and I would give up all else sooner than
give up Him"? Then it is well with you! Be happy and rejoice! Come to
His Table and feast with Him at the banquet of love!
If not, you have not built on the Rock. If you are not loving Christ, I
pray you examine yourself and see where you are, for there is but a
step between you and Hell. Repent! May God convert you and give you now
to put your confidence in Jesus and now to be saved, that He may be
glorified in you, for hitherto He has had no glory from you! Unto you
that do not believe, Christ is not precious, and you will go your way
and despise Him. Oh, that you were made wise by the Holy Spirit and
taught to consider things rightly! Then Christ would, indeed, be
precious to you. He is the only way for your escape from the wrath to
come. He is the only hope for you of ever entering the gates of Heaven.
He must be your only Shelter when the world will be all ablaze, as soon
it shall–when the stars shall fall, like withered leaves from the
trees, when all creation shall rock and reel–and His voice shall
resound in earth, and Heaven, and Hell, "Awake, you dead, and come to
judgment!" The only hope of a Savior, in that last tremendous day, must
be found in Jesus. Oh, seek Him now while He may be found! Call upon
Him now while He is near! Turn not your heels away Him now, lest you
turn once and for all to Hell! Come to Him now! Believe in Him now! And
He shall have the glory! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON:
1 PETER 2.
Verse 1. Therefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies and envies, and all evil speaking. Putting these evil
things right away from you, having nothing further to do with any of
them. Notice the repetition of the word "all." "All malice and all
guile"–everything in the shape of deceit–"and all evil speaking." All
these are to be put away by all Believers, as rags are put away in the
rag-bucket, or refuse on the dunghill!
2. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may
grow thereby. Be glad to get simple Truths of God–the "milk of the
Word." Even if you can digest the strong meat of the Word, never grow
weary of the milk, for it is always good diet even for a full-grown
Christian. Do not crave milk and water, but, "desire the unadulterated
milk of the Word that you may grow thereby." It is not enough for you
to be spiritually alive–you must grow! And especially while you are
babes in Grace, your great desire should be that you may grow.
3. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. You begin with
tasting that the Lord is gracious. You go on to desire the
unadulterated milk of the Word and so you grow more and more in Grace.
4. Coming to Him, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but
chosen of God, and precious. No one figure is sufficient to set forth
Christ as He really is. A stone is a Scriptural simile and symbol of
Christ, but we have to make the metaphor somewhat incongruous by
comparing Him to "a living stone."
5. You also, as living stones. It is not "lively" stones. It is the
same word in the original, in both cases–"a living stone" and, "living
stones." The translators of our Authorized Version have often rendered
the same Hebrew or Greek word in a different way, which is a pity, as
it is in this instance. "You also, as living stones."
5. Are built up a spiritual house. A house that is a living structure
from the foundation to the topstone.
5. An holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God by Jesus Christ. He is a living stone, and you, as living stones,
are built upon Him–and He and you together make up a living spiritual
house. And in order that the house may have suitable tenants and be
properly furnished, you also become priests and, as priests, you "offer
up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
6. Therefore also it is contained in the Scripture, Behold, I lay in
Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believes on Him
shall not be confounded. Thus the Apostle quotes from the Prophet
Isaiah the ancient prophecy concerning Christ.
7. Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious: but unto them which
are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is
made the head of the corner Here Peter quotes from Psalm 118:22. What
reverence these Inspired men had for the Inspired Book! The Spirit of
God could have spoken fresh words if He had pleased, but, as if He
meant to honor above everything else the Book which He had, Himself,
Inspired, He "moved" Peter to quote the ancient Prophet and Psalmist in
confirmation of what He was writing.
8. And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which
stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were
appointed. These are terrible words, but they are true. I cannot fully
explain them. As Archbishop Leighton says, "It is easier to get into a
depth over this awful Truth of God than it is to get out again." O God,
grant that none of us may stumble at Christ! If we do, Christ will not
move because we kick at Him, or fall over
Him.
9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation,
a peculiar people. These are wonderful epithets that are here heaped
upon Believers. May we have the Grace to be able to appropriate them
and to expound them in our lives!
9. That you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out
of darkness into His marvelous light See where you once were, and also
see to what you have been called by God's Grace–"out of darkness into
light." That is not all–into His light. Even thatis not all–"into His
marvelous light." The light of the Gospel is full of wonders. As common
light is made up of many colors, so the light of God's Grace is made up
of many marvelous colors–the colors of all the attributes of God!
10. 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. What a
great change, conversion is! And how great a change conversion works!
How wonderful is the effect of regeneration! We had not obtained mercy,
but now we have obtained mercy! We were not a people, but now we are
the people of God!
11. Dearly Beloved, I beseech you. Peter puts his hands together and
pleads with intense earnestness.
11. As strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war
against the soul Those fleshly lusts belong to this present evil world,
but you do not belong to it–you are "strangers and pilgrims"
here–therefore feel an absolute alienation towards such things, an
utter abhorrence of them! Do not even think of them, much less practice
them. "Abstain from fleshly lusts," for, while they injure the body,
that is not the worst thing that they do, for they "war against the
soul."
12, 13. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that when
they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works,
which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Submit
yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake. You are not
to be disturbers of the peace. You Christian people are to cultivate
the spirit of conciliation wherever you dwell, submitting yourselves,
"for the Lord's sake," even to some things which you do not like.
13. Whether it be to the king, as supreme. In Peter's day, the king was
a poor creature and something worse than that. Indeed, I might say of
the bulk of the Emperors of Rome, who were the chief "kings" of that
day, that they were monsters of iniquity! Yet the office was to be
respected even when the man who occupied it could not be. Much more
should it be respected when the occupant is what a true "king" should
be.
14-16. Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the
punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For
so is the will of God, that with well doing you may put to silence the
ignorance of foolish men: as free. Free in yourselves, free in your
conscience, free in your mind and heart.
16. And not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the
servants of God. You possess a freedom which others claim, but do not
know. You feel that you are no man's slave, yet you do not use your
liberty for evil, or to the injury of others.
17-19. Honor allmen. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the
good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a
man for conscience toward God endures grief, suffering wrongfully.
There is no credit in suffering rightfully–the credit is in patiently
enduring suffering which you do not deserve.
20- 21. For what glory is it, if, when you are buffeted for your
faults, you take it patiently? But if when you do well, and suffer for
it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even
hereunto were you called. It is part of a true Christian's calling to
bear what is put upon him wrongfully.
21- 23. Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that you should follow His steps: who did no sin, neither was guile
found in His mouth: who when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He
suffered, He threatened not: but committed Himself to Him that judges
righteously. This leads Peter to make the following glorious
declaration concerning the atoning Sacrifice of Christ.
24. Who His own Self bore our sins in His own body on the tree. There
was a transference of sin from sinners to Christ. This is no fiction.
He, "His own Self," bore that sin "in His own body on the tree." 24.
That we, being dead to sins. Because He died for us and we died in Him.
24. Should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.
By His sufferings, you were cured of sin! His death not only removed
from you the penalty of sin, but what is far better, it also removed
from you the dread disease itself!
25. For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the
Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. God grant that this may be true
concerning everyone of us, for our Lord Jesus Christ's sake! Amen.
–Adapted from The C. H. Spurgeon Collection, Version 1.0, Ages
Software, 1.800.297.4307
PRAY THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL USE THIS SERMON TO BRING MANY TO A SAVING
KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST.