Marvelous Light

Marvelous Light

(No. 2765)

A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, FEBRUARY 9, 1902.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 26, 1879.

"His marvelous Light." 1 Peter 2:9.

EVERYTHING about a true Christian is marvelous. He is a marvel to
himself and a marvel to all who are around him. Mere
professors–man-made Christians–people who have made themselves
Christians by their own free will apart from the Spirit of God, have
nothing marvelous about them. You can make professors of that sort by
the score and you can see them dissolve by the score, for what man
made, man can unmake! And what is merely natural has its season, like
the leaves on the trees and, by-and-by, it withers away because its
time to fade has come. But a true Christian is a God-made man, a
twice-born man and he is a partaker of the Divine Nature. He is a mass
of marvels, for he is dead and yet he is alive! He is one who lives
here and yet his life has gone away up yonder. He is one who is a
citizen of earth and yet his citizenship is in Heaven. He is a true
man, but he is more than a man, for God has lifted him up above the
level of other men, given him a life which other men do not possess,
revealed to him secrets which others do not know and prepared for him a
place into which the ungodly can never enter.

The longer he looks at himself, the more he wonders at God's Grace and
at what God's Grace has done, is doing and will yet do for him. He is a
riddle to himself–an enigma made up of a thousand enigmas. He probably
does not fully understand all that has happened in any single day of
his life–and there are certain days in which God's dealings with him
quite stagger him. And though faith sees all things to be plain, yet to
mere human reason, things often appear to be in a snarl, and twisted
together and he does not know what to make of them.

Everything about a true Christian is marvelous, as angels know, who
often desire to look into the things which concern them, and as He
knows, who is our Leader and Commander–who was a Man wondered at and
whose faithful followers are all wondered at still, He, Himself is the
greatest marvel of all! And among the many marvels that surround us is
the marvelous Light of God in which we dwell. Those of us who are now
in Christ, lived at one time in the gross darkness of ignorance. I mean
even those of us who were brought up in Christian families and knew the
letter of the Gospel well. We did not know its inner meaning and we
never felt its power. We were in darkness, though, indeed, there was a
certain measure of Light which had come to us, which made us
responsible for our wrong-doing. Still, our heart remained in gross
darkness.

And, by-and-by, this darkness was attended with much misery. There came
to us a little Light–just enough to make our darkness visible. And so
we perceived the darkness in which we dwelt and we began to sigh and
cry, like prisoners shut up in an underground dungeon, to whom light
and fresh air cannot come. Then everything about us seemed to blacken
and the gloom around us deepened. We were in the dark as to our
apprehensions of the future. We knew that we must die, yet we feared to
die. We clung to life, yet, sometimes, we did not desire even life,
itself, but said, with Job, "My soul chooses strangling and death
rather than my life." The prospect of annihilation would have seemed
almost like Heaven to us if we could, thereby, have gotten rid of our
sinful, sorrowful being, clouded with apprehensions of the wrath of God
and ofjudgments yet to come upon us. I know that I am talking about
something which many of you understand! It was a thick Egyptian night
in which you were then enveloped–a darkness that might be felt–and
you tried your utmost to escape from it, but you could not, for it was
inyou. Your soul was in darkness, the Light within your spirit was

quenched and all around you seemed to darken, and darken, and darken,
as though an eternal midnight were surely descending upon you!

Well, at that time, it happened to me, and I know that it also happened
to some of you as it did to Peter, that the angel of the Lord suddenly
smote us on our side and a Light shone into our prison and we arose,
scarcely knowing what we were doing. But we girded our garments about
us and followed our angelic leader, while the prison gates, which had
formerly shut us in, opened before us of their own accord and we found
ourselves to be free and in broad daylight, too, although, for a time,
we could scarcely realize those blessed facts! We saw what we had never
seen before. We enjoyed what we had never even hoped to enjoy! Yes, as
in an instant we possessed what we thought must forever be denied to
us! We scarcely knew how to contain our joy, but we made our way, as
fast as we could, to the house of Christ's disciples who had prayed for
us. And how we gladdened them as we told them the story of God's
delivering and enlightening Grace, and so showed forth the praises of
Him who had called us out of darkness into His marvelous Light! Truly,
it was marvelous Light to us at that time. Many day have passed since
then with some of us, but it is still marvelous Light and, as we look
upon it now, it is not any less marvelous than it was at the very
first!

It is of that marvelous Light of God that I am going to speak–and as I
tell of my own experience of it, I pray God to grant that some of you
who have never known its power in your own souls, may be made to
rejoice in it.

I. I have already touched upon the first point, of which I want now to
speak somewhat more fully–that is, THIS LIGHT APPEARS MARVELOUS
BECAUSE OF OUR FORMER DARKNESS.

Out of darkness, light comes not. Out of our dark nature no marvelous
light ever shone. This Light came from above and how marvelous it was!
Imagine, if you can, the condition of a man who has lived all his
lifetime in a coal mine. Suppose he never had a brighter light than his
flickering candle and then, after a while, to be brought up the shaft,
and to see the brightness of the sun at mid-day. I can scarcely picture
his amazement–you may fancy what it would be like, but you can hardly
realize it. Or suppose a still worse case, that of one born blind who
had heard of a thing called light, but who could never imagine what it
was like till a skillful oculist took away the film that was blinding
him and his eyes were opened so that he could perceive the light. It
would be very difficult to describe all the emotions of one who had
never enjoyed the light before, but, certainly, such a person would be
full of wonder and amazement! It would be, indeed, marvelous light to
him.

You who have never been converted, who never were regenerated, do not
know any more about the Light of God than the man in the coal mine
knows about the sun, or that man born blind knows about the light of
day! Perhaps you talk a good deal about it and, possibly, you write
about it and you form judgments about it. And they are just as wise,
and just as accurate as the verdict of blind men would be concerning
colors of which they have no conception! You say, sometimes, concerning
the Gospel, "It is all nonsense! There is no such thing as the Light of
the Truth of God"–just because you never saw any, which is a very poor
method of argument! I once heard a man say, "I have lived in the world
60 years and I never had the apprehension of anything spiritual." When
I looked at his face, and especially at his red nose, I thought that
what he said was very likely to be true, but I did not, therefore,
conclude that there was nothing spiritual because he had not seen it!
Any blind man might say, "I have lived so many years, and I have never
seen the sun, so there is not any," but you would not accept negative
evidence of that sort.

So, my dear Friend, whenever you are going to speak about something
which you do not know anything about, just keep silent and let somebody
else talk who does know. If you never knew what it was to be
converted–if you never felt the Divine Life go coursing through your
soul–if you never had the Divine Light flashing in the midst of the
darkness of your spirit, pray speak with bated breath if you speak at
all! And when you are going to write one of those famous articles of
yours, just say to yourself, "Perhaps I had better take some subject
that I understand, for this I do not know, as I never had the Light."
If you ever had received it, then you might comprehend something of the
wondrous change which conversion makes in a man and you would agree
with us that the Light of the Gospel is, indeed, marvelous Light!

II. Secondly, we perceive that it is marvelous Light WHEN WE CONSIDER
ITS ORIGIN. Our text tells us that it is God's Light–"who has called
you out of darkness into His marvelous Light." What is

God's Light? Can you imagine how that Light existed before He made the
sun or the moon? Light shone on this world before the sun and the moon
were created, for light comes not from them except as God has stored it
up in them, or continually supplies it to them. But there is always
Light in God. He is the great Light-Creator, yet I never read that the

light which God created in the world was called His marvelous light.
God made the light, but it was not His Light, even then. There is
another Light which is natural to Him–a Light of brightness and
knowledge, clear and heavenly–a Light such as mortal man attains not
unto except as the supreme gift of the Grace of God shall visit him. It
is this Light which rests upon the people of God. There is a light
which lights every man that comes into the world, but God's marvelous
Light comes only to His chosen and gladdens only those whose eyes have
learned to look to Jesus and who find their soul's confidence and
salvation in Him who is the very Light of God.

"Oh," asks someone, "can a man have this Light? I do not believe it."
Again I tell you, my Friend, that I did not expect you would believe
it! He who has never had any experience of it may well doubt its
existence. But he who has ever had the Light of God shining into his
soul, is as conscious of becoming a new man–as conscious of seeing
after another fashion than he ever saw before–as a blind man would be
if his eyes were suddenly opened! I know that this world is not to me,
now, the world that it once was. All things were then seen, if seen at
all, as in a mist so thick that I took the transient to be the eternal
and I highly prized trifles while I despised that which was most
precious! I put light for darkness and darkness for light–bitter for
sweet and sweet for bitter–for my foolish heart was darkened, but I
knew it not. But, now, such a change has come to me that all things
have become new and, in speaking of my own experience, I am also
telling of the experience, not merely of some of you, but of hundreds
of you upon whose hearts the Divine Light has come, changing all things
around you! They are not what they seem to others, to be, for they are
all now seen in the clear white Light of God, Himself, and you know
even as you are known.

III. Thirdly, this is marvelous Light BECAUSE OF ITS EXCELLENCE OVER
ALL OTHER LIGHT.

This Light, which God gives to His people, is far superior to the light
which comes of education, or of meditation, or which can be produced by
any human effort. When you have gone through a street lighted with
electric light, I have no doubt you have smiled to see, side by side
with it, the gas lamp with its little yellow attempt at showing that it
could not shine. But how bright was the electric light at the side of
it! Yet, if it is left to burn at mid-day, how dim it seems compared
with the sun! And how the sun must smile at all our attempts to light
up this world without him! Well, now, the best light that a man ever
gets by his own unaided effort is no better than that of a candle, or,
if you will, than flickering gaslight. But the Light of God–the
marvelous Light of God, is the illumination caused by the Holy Spirit
shining into the inmost recesses of the soul in full meridian splendor!
It is the Light of God, and there is no other light that is like that!
He who has but a spark of that Light may not know so much about some
things as the worldly-wise man knows, but he is well acquainted with
many things to which the other man is an utter stranger!

Cowper said, as some of you may remember, when contrasting the infidel
Voltaire with the poor, godly lace-maker, she–

"Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true, A truth the brilliant
Frenchman never knew."

Perhaps you smile and think within yourself–"That is not knowing
much." Ah, but to know the Bible to be true, to live in that Bible
Truth and to have it all round about you, filling the air, filling your
own soul, filling earth and Heaven with wondrous things that the
spirit's eye can see–this is truly marvelous! He who sees even the
most of this world has but the same sort of eyes that birds and beasts
have–but he who knows his Bible to be true and who realizes the truth
of it in his soul–has another set of eyes that can peer into another
realm altogether. He sees spiritual things and around him there shines
a Light which is, indeed, marvelous!

IV. Fourthly, this is marvelous Light BECAUSE OF WHAT IT REVEALS, for
that man who has the Light of God shining in his soul sees that which
is invisible.

"O utterer of paradoxes!" cries someone. Yes, but I cannot otherwise
express the Truth. This illuminated man sees God, whom ordinary human
eyes can never see. He looks back into the ages past and gone and he
sees God making all the worlds that ever existed, while those who are
reckoned as wise men, but who are without that Light of God, spin
ingenious but worthless theories about how those worlds grew! These men
have such wonderful theories that it really seems surprising that they
do not, themselves, make a few worlds, since they profess to have found
out so many ways of making them! But the opened eyes see "that the
worlds were framed by the word of God," and it sees God's hand in all
the histories of all the centuries–and it even sees God's hand in the
things recorded in the newspaper that most startle us! The man who has
his eyes opened sees Heaven and Hell, eternity and everlasting life. He
sees them–not with dull optics, like

these eyes of ours which, after all, do not really see, for it is the
soul behind the eyes that really looks out through that window and
perceives what is to be seen. But, in this marvelous Light of God, the
soul sees without any optics and without any glass–it has flung away
its telescope, for it has come so near the object upon which it is
gazing that there is no need of any intervening medium! It walks and
talks with the angels and, what is far better, it speaks with God
Himself! This is indeed marvelous Light which has made us to see things
that to ordinary mortal eyes are invisible!

And it is such marvelous Light because it enables us to see them so
clearly. To the man who has this Light, God does not appear to be
sitting like the heathen Jove is represented, upon a distant Olympus
and sleeping while the world is troubled. He who lives in this
marvelous Light sees God here, there, everywhere–within him, and about
him, he feels the Presence of God! He has an immediate consciousness
that God is with him. And, better still, such a man as that sees God to
be reconciled by the death of His Son. He sees God to be his Father,
for he is made a partaker of the Divine Nature, "having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust." It is, indeed, marvelous
Light to see God that enables us thus!

A further characteristic of this Light is that it enables us to see
right into the heart of things. By this world's light, you only see
that such-and-such a thing is, you see the appearance it presents. But
this Light lets you see into the innermost heart of truth and, what is
still better, it brings the Truth of God right into your soul. By this
Light, you not only see the Doctrine of Election, but you also know
yourself to be elect! You see the great Truth of Redemption and you
know yourself to be redeemed! By this Light, you see Regeneration and
you feel the pulsing of the Life of God within your spirit and, though
mortal eyes have not seen Heaven, neither have the ears of man heard
its rapturous harmonies, nor has the true conception of Heaven entered
into the heart of man, yet the Spirit of God brings Heaven down to us
and raises us up to Heaven so that we sit among the heavenly in Christ
Jesus and, "our conversation is in Heaven, from where we also look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." All this proves that it is a
glorious Light of God, does it not?

The man who has not this Light, may believe there is a God. Yes, and he
believes that there is a Cham of Tartary, but he does not care about
him. He believes that there is a Heaven, but it never enters as a
factor into his life to operate upon him. He believes that there is
such a thing as sin and he says, "Oh, yes, yes, yes! We are all
sinners, no doubt." But he who has this marvelous Light sees sin so as
to tremble at it and to hate it. It is a present thing with him which
he abhors! He also sees the atoning blood of Jesus and knows that by it
he is cleansed from sin and he rejoices in this as a blessed matter of
fact.

"Oh," says someone, "that is all fancy!" Of course it is only a matter
of fancy to you! Did I not tell you so when I began my discourse? To a
blind man, a picture by Kaphael or Titian is all fancy. You say to him,
"How splendidly the colors are laid on there! Do you see that wonderful
effect of light and shade?" But your wise blind man says, "I do not
believe a word of it." Of course he does not! We cannot hope that he
will do so all the while that he is blind and, in like manner, he who
knows nothing of God's marvelous Light, will ask, "Who is he that bears
witness concerning this strange thing?" "Well, Sir, he is one among a
great number who have as much right to be believed as you have, for he
is as honest a man as you are." Hundreds of us–thousands of us can
bear witness concerning the phenomena of Divine Grace–the mysteries of
the new creation–the putting into a man of a new life! And we have as
much right to be believed as gentlemen who bear witness about the
backbone of a fish and who would feel insulted if we said that they
told us lies. We have never examined their fish, but we believe their
testimony because we know they have studied the question of which they
speak.

They have never looked into our inner life, but they have as good
reason to believe our testimony as we have to believe theirs! And this
is our witness–that there is such a thing as God's marvelous Light,
that the Light of Divine Grace has broken in upon our soul and brought
us to see a new Heaven and a new earth, and to live in a new creation
altogether, waiting for the time when Christ shall come to take our
body, as He has already taken our soul, into that new world and make us
perfect with Himself forever!

V. Fifthly, this Light is marvelous BECAUSE OF WHAT IT PRODUCES.

I have already shown you its marvelous character in that it reveals a
new world to a man, a world he once despised– and it makes him value
it and live worthy of it. Thus it produces a great change in that man,
for it makes him love the things he once hated and hate the things he
once loved. I heard someone say, "'Take care of Number One, is a
capital rule. Self-love is the first law of nature." But, when this
marvelous Light breaks in upon a man, that law of nature ceases

to operate and he says, "No, the first law of my new nature is that I
should honor my God, that I should do that which is right, that which
is just, that which is true, that which is loving, that which will be
like the life of Jesus Christ my Lord." If you carefully watch that
man, you will see him beginning to give up many of the pursuits that
once delighted him. Perhaps you will say, "Poor man, he is denying
himself," but he will answer, "No, I am not. I could not enjoy those
things now. In fact, I hate them. They were very pleasurable to me once
but, then, I was a blind man. Now that I can see, they give me no
pleasure." Such a man, before his conversion, may have enjoyed a spicy
song which had just a little touch of what should not have been in it.
But, now, if he hears the sound of it in the street, he is ready to
cover his ears, for he cannot bear it. "Sing us one of the songs of
Zion," he says now–the very songs that he used to call "Methodist
cant, Presbyterian hypocrisy," and all sorts of evil names! Now that he
has the new life within him, there are new tastes developed.

If this were the proper time, I could tell some remarkable stories of
marvelous changes that have been worked in some people whom I know. I
am sure they would not recognize themselves if they were to meet their
old selves as they were five years ago, or, if they did, they would
cross the road and get on the other side of the street, so as not to
come into contact with their old selves. They would say, "Thank you,
no. I would rather not walk with you. You are not good company for me.
I hoped you were dead and buried, and I never wanted to see you again.
I am dead with Christ, I have been buried with Christ, I have risen
from the dead in Him and I am a new creature in Him," This marvelous
Light makes a wonderful change in a man's character! That is to say, if
it really comes to him because, you know, there are some who go into
the Enquiry Room and kneel down and cry a good deal–and all the good
thatcan possibly do is to take away some of the superfluous fluid from
the brain, for there is no heart in their repentance–it is mere
excitement and nothing more.

But it is a very different thing to have the Light of God–to have the
Holy Spirit really shed abroad in the heart. Do not any of you be
satisfied with saying, "I am converted. Happy day!" Mind that you are
converted. Be sure that it is heart-work, soul-work and that the Spirit
of God has worked it–not the preacher–not an excited evangelist–not
a book you read–but that God Himself has come to you and made you a
new creature in Christ Jesus, for, unless this is the case, I shall not
be able to speak of the change as I have spoken, and which, to my
intense joy, I have seen in hundreds, and in thousands who have passed
from darkness to Light, and from the power of Satan into the Kingdom of
Christ.

One change that always takes place as the result of receiving this
Light is great joy. The joy is not always as great in all to whom the
Light comes but, still, it does bring great joy wherever it shines.
Talk of true happiness–it is nowhere to be discovered till the eternal
Light breaks in upon the mind and heart! And then, Heaven has begun
below! Some of us have our full share of pain of body and depression of
spirit, yet, in our worst moments, we would not change places with the
happiest worldling that lives! Not even when most depressed and weary
would we exchange our position, even for a minute, for that of the
greatest emperor in the world who does not know that Inner Light. I can
truly say, and so can many of you–

"I would not change my blest estate For all that earth calls good or
great! And while my faith can keep her hold, I envy not the sinner's
gold."

VI. Lastly, it is marvelous Light BECAUSE IT WILL NEVER GO OUT.

As it is the Light of God, the devil cannot blow it out. If all the
devils in Hell were to try to blow out one single spark that is in a
true Believer's heart, they might puff till they died of puffing, but
they would never put that spark out! God has lit it and they cannot
quench it. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, "My sheep hear My voice, and I
know them, and they follow Me; and I give unto them eternal life; and
they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My
hand." "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of
water springing up into everlasting life." If you do not keep this
everlasting life, it is quite clear that you never had it. If you
really have eternal life–it must be eternal life–and it shall abide
with you forever.

But, what is better, not only shall you never lose it, but it will
continually increase! If you have God's marvelous Light, though it
seems only like starlight now, it will soon be like moonlight. Then it
will be daylight and soon it will be noontide, for, to whomever God has
given a little of this Divine Light, more is sure to follow, for the
Light of God, which is given to us by the Holy Spirit, is the very
Light of Heaven–it has only to be fully developed! You have all the

elements of eternal happiness within your own spirit if the Holy Spirit
has truly enlightened you and made your character like that of the Lord
Jesus Christ. As to death–well, at the moment of death, you will leave
your body behind and you will leave with it all tendency to sin! The
root of eternal blessedness is in you, now, if the Lord has really
looked upon you in love and you have looked to Christ by faith. You
have the plant of Grace springing up! Some of you have leaves and buds,
so all that will happen to you in Heaven is that the buds will open and
the flower will be perfected–but it is all there right now. Christ
said, "I give"–not, "I willgive"–but, "I give unto My sheep eternal
life." You have eternal life if you believe in Him–the same life that
will develop in Glory is in you now!

"I did not know that," says someone. Well, did you think that you were
going to be born-again a second time? That can never be! To be
born-again is mentioned in Scripture, but to be born-again, and
again–I never read of that in the Word of God though I have heard
certain people talk about falling from Grace and being restored–as if
they could be born-again, and again, and again, and again, no end of
times! But there is nothing like that in the Bible. The great change
takes place once and that change is final. If you are born-again, you
receive the life that you will live in Heaven. Just think of this!
Christ has gone to Heaven to prepare a place for you, but He has left
within your bosoms, now, the life that is to be in Heaven! Pray God to
develop that life–entreat the Lord to increase it. Think a great deal
of it. Value it highly. Suffer not your body, which is its temple, to
be dishonored by sin. God dwells in you–the Divine Life is within
you–so, I beseech you, live as those should live who are not only
heirs of Heaven, but who have the life of Heaven already abiding in
their hearts! Come, my Brothers and Sisters, let us rejoice and be glad
as we thus think of this marvelous Light which is to be our Light
forever and ever, for, up there, the Lord God gives them Light and He
gives Light to us even now! And it is His Light and there cannot be any
Light better than His! So, in it let us rejoice and magnify His name.

I wish that some here who have not this Light, could be set a-longing
for it. Mr. Bunyan says that even if we do not invite the sinner to
come to Christ, if we spread a good table before him, it makes his
mouth water–and that is the next best thing to an invitation! Does any
poor soul begin to say, "I do not know anything about that Light. I am
not going to deny that it may exist, but I would be a fool if I were to
go upon negative evidence. I wish I did know"? Well, you may know! Do
your soul this piece of justice–go and pray to God to make you know
it. Go and bow before Him and say, "Lord, if You do, indeed, reveal
Yourself to men by your Spirit in Christ Jesus, reveal Yourself to me."
He will hear you, I am sure of that. Even if He did not, there would be
this reflection on your mind, that, having listened to the testimony of
one who has no motive for deceiving you, you have at least given enough
credence to it to try it and test it. And you will feel all the easier
in your mind even if the experiment should fail.

But it will not fail, for never did a soul, in honest, guileless
heartiness, seek the Light and love of God, and seek in vain! And nor
will you! Go, then, to God through Jesus Christ, and this marvelous
Light shall break in upon you. God grant it, for Jesus Christ's sake!
Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 PETER 2.

Verses 1-3. Therefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil-speaking, as newborn babes,
desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby: if
indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. When the Apostle
describes us under the character of "newborn babes," he would have us
lay aside all that is inconsistent with that character. Newborn
children have no malice. They have no guile or craftiness; they have no
hypocrisies, nor envies, nor evil-speaking. They are clear from all
these evils. Would God we were as clear as they are! It would be better
to be infants, not speaking at all, than to be among those who speak
evil. It would be better to begin life over again than to live long
enough to have gained a treasure of malice and a hoard of cunning–and
to have learned the tricks of hypocrisy. Let us be as simple as little
children, as guileless, as harmless, as free from anything like
unkindness as newborn babes are. And inasmuch as we are to follow them
in what they have not, let us also imitate them in what they have. Let
us desire ardently, as for our very life, the unadulterated milk of the
Word. Let us cultivate that combination of hunger and thirst which is
found in a little child, that we may hunger and thirst thus after God's
Word. We have done

more than taste the Word–we have tasted that the Lord Himself is
gracious. Let us long to feast more and more upon this Divine food,
that we may grow thereby.

4. To whom coming. That is, to the Lord. We are always to be coming
unto Him. We began our spiritual life by coming to Jesus, and we are to
continue coming to Him. "To whom coming."

4. As unto a living stone. We are to settle down on Him as the stones
of a building settle down upon the foundation. "To whom coming, as unto
a living stone."

4. Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious. Christ
always was disallowed of men and He always will be, until the great
consummation of all things. Some disown Him in one way, some in
another. Some boldly blaspheme Him with something like honesty. Others
pretend to be His ministers, yet all the while are undermining the
Gospel which He lived and died to preach. It matters little that Christ
is "disallowed, indeed, of men," for He is "chosen of God, and
precious."

6. You also, as lively stones. Or, livingstones.

6. Are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up
spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. You must have
noticed, in reading the New Testament, that you never find the officers
of a Church called priests. Whenever that term is used by way of
illustration, it is applied to all the people of God. They are all
priests but, under the Christian dispensation, there is no set of men
who have any right to take that title above their fellow Believers. All
those who believe in Jesus Christ are priests, everyone of them as much
as all the others and the assumption of priesthood under the Christian
dispensation is most truly the repetition of the sin of Korah, Dathan
and Abiram, though the men who commit it usually try to lay the guilt
of that sin at the doors of other people.

We ministers are no more priests than all of you who believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ are. We shake our skirts at the very thought of such
wickedness and cry, "God forbid that we should, with unhallowed hands,
try to steal away from God's people what is the right and prerogative
of them all!" "You also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual
house, an holy priesthood, to 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. Put all your trust in Jesus, for you will
never have cause to regret doing so! The text in the Old Testament,
from which Peter quoted, says, "He that believes shall not make haste."
He shall not need to be in a hurry, he shall enjoy the holy leisure
which springs from a quiet confidence where confidence ought to be
placed. O Beloved, stay yourselves on Christ! Rest your whole weight on
Him, for then, "you shall not be confounded."

7. Unto you therefore who believe He is precious. "He is an honor–He
is your honor, your glory, your boast." It is an honorable thing to be
a Believer in a Lord so glorious as He is–in a Gospel so reasonable as
His Gospel is, in promises so certain of fulfillment as His promises
are–in an Atonement so effectual as His Atonement is, and in a Master
so Omnipotent as He is! "Unto you therefore who believe He is an
honor."

7, 8. But unto them which are disobedient, the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of
stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the
word, being disobedient: whe-reunto also they were appointed. This is
the distinguishing mark between God's chosen people and the rest of
mankind. His elect receive Christ and rejoice in Him–but as for the
ungodly, they willfully reject the Savior and so He becomes to them "a
stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." Christ is the great
Touchstone of humanity–by contact with Him, the precious are
discovered and the vile are discerned,

9, 10. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of
Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light: who in
time past were not a people. Who were you and what were your ancestors
when the Apostle wrote these words? Our forefathers were, in Peter's
day, uncivilized and barbarous tribes at the utmost end of Rome's
dominions. We "were not a people."

10, 11. But are now the people of God: who had not obtained mercy, but
now have obtained mercy. Dearly Beloved, I beseech you us strangers and
pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul! If you
are priests– as you are if you are believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ–take care that you are clean before God! Let no impurity stain
your body, for sin committed by the body grievously fouls the spirit
and defiles the heart! "Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against
the soul."

12. Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, when they
speak against you as evildoers. As they are sure to do, for none are so
certain to be slandered as the pure. And the more clean you are in
God's sight, the more will you excite the animosity of ungodly men–and
they will show it by slandering you–"that, when they speak against you
as evildoers."

12-14. 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: whether it is to the king, as supreme; 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 True Christians give
no trouble in the State. They are not law-breakers, but they strive to
do that which is honest and upright. Where the laws are not righteous,
they may cause trouble to bad law-givers and lawmakers, but when rulers
ordain that which is just and righteous, they find that Christians are
their best subjects.

15, 16. Forso is the will ofGod, that with well doingyou mayput to
silence the ignorance offoolish men: as free– What a grand word that
is, "as free"! Byron wrote–

"He is the free man whom the truth makes free, And all are slaves
besides." But we may alter that, and say, "He is the true free man whom
His Lord makes free." "As free"–

16, 17. Andnot using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as
the servants ofGod. Honor allmen. Love the brotherhood: Fear God. Honor
the king. A great deal of stress is sometimes laid upon that last
precept, and I would lay just as much emphasis upon it as the Scripture
does! But also recollect the earlier command–"Honor all men"–

"A man's a man for all that"

Whatever his condition may be, honor the manhood that is in him. Do not
despise him because he is poor, or because his coat is not so
fashionably cut as yours is, for, perhaps, he may be a better man than
you are. "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the
king."

18-26. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to
the good andgentle but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if a
man for conscience toward God, endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For
what glory is it, if when you are buffeted for your faults, you shall
take it patiently? But if when you do well, and suffer for it, you take
it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For to this you were called:
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: who His own Self bore our sins in His own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by
whose stripes you were healed. For you were as sheep going astray; but
are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.