Stumbling at the Word

Stumbling at the Word

(No. 3258)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 13, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON.

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, MARCH
6, 1864.

"And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which
stumble at the Word, being disobedient." 1 Peter 2:8.

YONDER is a wreck after a terrible tempest. That is all that remains of
a once fine vessel and on the wreck, lashed to the mast, I see a number
of mariners clinging, almost frost-bitten with the cold and drenched
through and through with brine. But there goes the lifeboat, so I trust
they will soon all be rescued from their perilous position. I am
absolutely certain of one thing with regard to all those who are
clinging to that poor wreck of a ship–that there is not a man among
them who will raise any objection to being saved! No, whatever may have
been their previous position in life, or their habits, or tastes, or
anything else–they will all be equally glad to welcome the friendly
lifeboat and to be taken on board the vessel of mercy. Yet is it not a
strange thing, dear Friends, that when poor humanity has become a total
wreck and poor souls are clinging to the sinking ship with hopes that
must certainly be disappointed–and when Jesus Christ appears within
hail, willing and able to save unto the uttermost–there are multitudes
who raise all sorts of objections to being saved by Him? He is not the
sort of Savior they would like to have, or His way of saving sinners is
not the one that they approve! And there are all manner of difficulties
which they invent, which they imagine to be evidences of their wisdom,
but which are really only proofs of their folly and vanity. They prefer
to be lost rather than to be saved by such a Savior in such a way as He
has ordained!

Men in a dungeon do not take exception to the man who breaks open their
prison and sets them free! Men who are dying do not generally object to
the physician who is seeking to save their lives. A man who is
condemned to death does not quarrel with the king who gives him a free
pardon! There is nothing which shows the strange infatuation of sin
more than this–that a man quarrels with his best Friend, puts away
from him the plan of salvation which God has made with Infinite Wisdom
and will not come to Christ that he may have life! I want, as the Holy
Spirit shall help me, to plead with all those in this assembly to whom
Christ, Himself, has hitherto been "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offense"– those who still "stumble at the Word, being disobedient."

I shall try, first, to plead with you against your objections. Then I
will endeavor to plead with you for Christ And after that I willplead
with God'speople for you and ask them to plead with God on your behalf

I. First, then, let me PLEAD WITH YOU AGAINST YOUR OBJECTIONS.

What is it that makes you think so little of Christ, or that makes you
think so badly of Christ? Shall I take the words out of your mouth? It
may be that one reason of your quarrel is that Christ's commands seem
to you to be so strict He will have you pluck out your right eye and
cut off your right arm if they would prevent you from entering into
life. He lays the axe to the root of the tree and not only condemns
your overt acts of sin, but tells you that a look or a word is
sufficient to condemn you! He would have you turn at once from all
those pleasant but seductive things which will ruin your soul unless
you forsake them. You do not like such strictness as this–if you could
be permitted to keep some of your sins–if now and then you might be
allowed some sinful indulgence and yet be saved, you would be quite
content. But to give up all–to be separated at once from the world and
from mammon is more than you can endure!

But my dear Hearer, is this objection of yours founded upon the belief
that Christ denies you anything that is really good and pleasant? Is it
a good thing for a man to even occasionally do that which his Maker
condemns? Does not God desire your happiness and would He deny you
anything which would be for your highest enjoyment? No, Sirs, He is too
good to do that! His very name is LOVE! Why, if sin were for your
eternal welfare, He would not only permit you to indulge in it, but He
would command you to commit it! But knowing it to be a deadly poison,
He forbids you to touch it.

More fatal than an adder's sting is sin! More terrible than the
conflagration which first devours the peasant's cottage and then wraps
a whole city in its fiery embrace! And God, in commanding you to
forsake it, and Christ, in entreating you too leave it, do but consult
your real welfare and lasting happiness!

After all, what is the gratification which you derive from sin that it
should make you quarrel with Christ for taking it from you? How much
sorrow does it bring you afterwards? What pleasant fruit have you had
from sin up till now? Are you a happy man or a happy woman? If you have
so long sought the pleasures of sin and have been in no wise the better
for them, why do you still pursue such a profitless counsel? Can it be
worthwhile to sin yourselves into Hell? Can there be any supposable
pleasure that can ever compensate you for everlasting pain? If so, then
choose the pleasures of sin for a season, but rest assured that for all
these things, God will bring you into judgment! But if, on the other
hand, it is a wise decision to think more of eternity than you do of
time, I pray you not be angry with my Master because He is willing to
cure you of your fatal diseases, to pluck from your hands the poisoned
cup and to kill the venomous reptiles that would destroy you! Surely
you can see abundant reason why you should drop your objection that
Christ's commands are too strict–may the Holy Spirit enable you to
drop it forever!

Perhaps, however, you say that you do not so much object to the
strictness of Christ's commands as to the severity of His threats.
Well, I freely admit that my loving Master did say some of the sternest
things that ever fell from mortal lips! None of His servants have ever
uttered more terrible warnings than He did concerning the worm that
never dies and the fire that cannot be quenched. But why are you angry
with Him for speaking thus? Is it not the duty of an honest and sincere
friend to give warning of impending danger? Are you such fools as to
wish to be flattered with lies concerning your immortal souls and their
eternal interests? Do you want men to come to you in soft raiment and
to use dulcet notes to charm you to the Pit? Your own hearts will
flatter you quite enough without my Master doing it! It is His great
love that moves Him to speak what you call harsh words–He foresees the
ruin that awaits you if you continue in your present course of sin–so
be not angry with Him because of His faithfulness! It pained Him more
to say those words than it can ever pain you to hear them. He never
uttered a threat without first feeling its force in His own heart. If
you could have looked into His tearful eyes. If you could have gazed
upon His sympathetic Countenance as He pleaded with men, you would have
seen and heard ineffable love speaking in every word that He uttered! O
Sinners, quarrel not with Christ for warning you of a Hell from which
He would gladly preserve you! Be angry with yourselves, rather, for
choosing the path to destruction! Be vexed and wrathful with your own
sins for dragging you down to ruin! But oh, be not angry with the
loving Savior for telling you, once and for all, that you cannot escape
if you neglect this great salvation! Let your objection to the severity
of His threats drop forever–that very severity ought to make you fly
to Him–not drive you from

Him!

Possibly there is one here who says, "Ido not like the spirituality of
Christ's teaching. If He would tell me to take the sacrament, if He
would bid me go to such-and-such a church so many times a day, I would
do it. But He tells me that all these things count for nothing unless I
worship God in spirit and in truth. He tells me that I must be
born-again and that the Holy Spirit must dwell within me or else I am
none of His. Now Sir, all this kind of teaching is too difficult for me
to grasp–it is a sort of invisible, impalpable thing that I can
neither see with my eyes nor touch with my hands–and this causes me to
stumble at the Word." But Sinner, such talk as that is utterly
unreasonable! If you will but think seriously for even a minute or two,
you must see that no drops of water, no priestly incantations, no cups
of wine, no loaves of bread, not even your own prayers can take away
your sin!–

"No outward forms can make you clean, The leprosy lies deep within."

You know that it is a spiritual disease from which you are suffering,
so why should you be angry because the Great Physician prescribes a
spiritual remedy for you? Suppose that in Christ's teaching there "are
some things hard to be understood"? They are well worth understanding
and it is quite possible for you to understand all that is necessary to
make you wise unto salvation! Some very simple-minded persons have
comprehended the meaning of the Gospel message and have been saved!
Many a man who never went to school has gone to Heaven! And he who is
willing to understand the Gospel can understand it. Besides, the Holy
Spirit is waiting and willing to instruct all who desire to be taught.
It was He who inspired the Apostle James to write, "If any of you lack
wisdom, let Him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally and
upbraids not. And it shall be given him." And the Lord Jesus Christ
said to His disciples, "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good
gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly Father give
the Holy Spirit to them that

ask Him?" It is your own fault if you remain in the darkness of
ignorance when the Spirit is ready to illuminate you and to guide you
into all the Truth of God! May He graciously shine into your hearts,
now, and then you will welcome the spirituality of Christ's teaching
instead of stumbling at it!

I hardly imagine that there is one here who will raise the objection
that the Gospel is too simple. Yet we do sometimes get people here who
seem to think themselves much too important or too learned to listen to
our simple story of the crucified Christ of Calvary! They want
something more philosophical, something that ordinary people cannot
comprehend, something that they can monopolize and keep to themselves.
The Gospel is too simple for such as these who regard themselves as the
elite of society and, sometimes, those who have neither rank nor
education get similar whims into their heads! They do not like to be
told that they must come to Christ as guilty sinners needing to be
washed in His blood and as helpless sinners needing to receive
everything from Him. No, many of you want to do something, or to be
something–you want to learn something mysterious–and that simple
message, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be
saved"–that plain, understandable Gospel, "He that believes and is
baptized shall be saved," is too easy, too ABC-like, too childish for
you! Now, Sirs, why do you talk thus foolishly? Suppose the Gospel had
been of such a philosophical character that it could only have been
understood by those who had high intellectual powers–what would have
been the use of it to nine persons out of ten? Suppose it had consisted
of some very inexplicable Revelation–how would any of the poor and the
simple-minded have been saved? We thank God that the way of salvation
is so plain that "the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein." The Gospel is so simple that many who have had but feeble
intellects, have been able to understand it, and have been saved by it.
I bless God that the Gospel we have to preach is the Gospel for the
illiterate, the Gospel for the poor–and that we can still say, as our
Master did–"the poor have the Gospel preached to them." And that many
of them have, through that Gospel, become "rich in faith, and heirs of
the Kingdom which God has promised to them that love Him." Do not
quarrel with my Master because of the simplicity of the Gospel, lest
your pride should hang you on a gallows as high as Haman's.

A more common objection, however, which is raised against Christ is on
account of the Doctrine that He teaches. Some do not like the Doctrine
of Election, others do not like the Doctrine of Final Perseverance.
Some kick at one thing and some at another, but one Doctrine at which
many stumble is the Doctrine of the Substitutionary Sacrifice of
Christ. They cannot see how it is possible for Christ to be a
Substitute for sinners. They cannot understand how God can punish
Christ in the place of men and that men shall be saved because Christ
died in their place. Well now, suppose I was in a burning building and
a man brought to the house, a fire-escape of a very unusual shape, but
one that he assured me had been the means of saving thousands of lives?
Do you think that I would object to trust myself to it because it was
such a peculiar shape? Of course I would not be so foolish! Then why
are sinners so foolish as to object to the shape of the fire-escape
which God has designed to rescue them from everlasting burning? What
could be better than the Divine plan of Substitution? God must punish
sin–He could not be God unless He did–it is a necessity of His Nature
that He should hate sin with an infinite hatred and He must punish it!
Yet, as He had loved His people with an everlasting love, how could He
better show His love to them and His hatred of sin than by giving up
His well-beloved Son to die instead of them–making Him who knew no
sin, to be sin for them, that they might be made the righteousness of
God in Him? This seems to me to be the most beautiful thing I ever
heard of and it delights my soul to preach it! There is something so
fresh about the Gospel that if I were to preach it every day in the
week, I do not think I would grow weary of telling it over and over
again! See what wisdom and love are here combined so that we have a
just God and yet a Savior–sin punished and yet love magnified! Mercy
free to go about her gracious errands–and yet the faithfulness of God
glorified to the highest degree! To my mind, the most glorious work
that God ever performed was when God Incarnate died that sinners might
live! You surely cannot object to that Doctrine of Substitution! If you
do and if you persist in that objection, let me tell you that you will
perish–for he who rejects the Savior who died upon the Cross brings
eternal ruin to his soul.

There are many who raise objections to Christ because of the character
of His people. They say that there are so few of them–and that they
are such a poor lot–and they are not, all of them, what they should
be. So, Sirs, you object to go to Heaven because you think there are so
few going there? But if you go to Hell, it will be no relief to you to
know that many are sharing the agony with you! It seems to me to be
wisdom to be saved even if I were the only one–and eternal folly to be
damned even though everyone else should be lost with me! So do not
raise any objection because of the number of the saved. And as to their
being poor, what of that? Would it not be better to go to Heaven side
by side with a poor old almshouse woman, or a chimney-sweep, or a
pauper from the workhouse, than to go to Hell with a lord, a duke, or a
millionaire? I can always find the best of company among the Lord's
poor people. I am glad to be associated with all of you in your various
works of faith and labors of love–and I have often learned more about
Christ from the poor than from the rich. Besides, if Jesus Christ was
willing to be reckoned among the poor, there is no man who needs to be
ashamed of his poverty unless it is brought on by his own sin! I will
not say more upon that point, for I can scarcely imagine that I have
any simpletons in this congregation who are foolish enough to raise
such an objection as this.

Some, however, object to Christ because if they take up with Him, they
will have to break off their friendship with others. One of them says,
"If I become a Christian, everybody will laugh at me!" Well, who minds
being laughed at when he is in the right? "But all my old companions
will forsake me." It will be a good thing for you if they do unless
they also will join you in following Christ! "But when I go to the
workshop or the market, they will point me out as a Christian." I hope
they will, or I hope you will be such an out-and-out Christian that
they will not need to point you out! I trust that your life will be of
such a character that wherever you go, men will be compelled to say,
"Yes, that man is a Christian." Why should you need, as it were, to
sneak into Heaven by some back way where nobody could see you? There is
nothing in Christ of which you have any need to be ashamed! So I hope
you will have the Grace to say, "I will take my stand with Christ. If
He is despised, I will be despised. If He is spit upon, I will be spit
upon. If He bears the Cross, I will bear a cross. I am not ashamed of
Him and I pray that He may not have reason to be ashamed of me."

Now, though I hope some of your objections have been removed, I feel
that the great objection with which we began, still remains–that is,
you stumble at Christ's Word because He bids you repent and turn from
your sins. There are some of you of whom I almost begin to despair–you
continue to come where the Gospel is preached, but sometimes you sing
the song of the drunk, or you join the ranks of the profane, or indulge
in other sins that I need not name! Yet you would not like to give up
the hope that you still cherish that someday you will be converted. O
Sirs, I implore you to delay no longer! Christ and your sins will never
agree, so come to Christ and leave your sins! However stern may be the
conflict, draw the sword and fling away the scabbard–let it be war to
the death with sin for Christ's sake and your soul's sake! May the
Spirit of God, who alone can separate you from your sin, proclaim the
divorce this very hour–that you may be saved now and saved forever!

II. Having pleaded with you against your objections, I pray now for
power from on high that I may PLEAD WITH YOU FOR CHRIST.

I have tried to show you that you have no reason to object to Christ. I
want, now, just for a minute or two, to remind you that you have many
reasons for yielding to Him. First of all, let me ask, How is it that
you are still alive If stern justice had dealt with you without the
interposition of mercy, you would not now have been living upon the
earth. You remember that long and serious illness from which you
scarcely expected to recover? Yet here you are in robust health and
strength–why were you so wonderfully restored? You recollect that time
when you were in the river and you gave up all hope of being rescued?
Yet you were saved as if by a miracle–why was that? You have had many
marvelous escapes from accidents in which others have been killed–why
were you spared? It may be, Soldier, that the bullets whistled close by
your ear, yet you came back from the war unscathed. It may be, Sailor,
that your ship was almost gone, or possibly she was a total wreck–and
only you escaped to tell the tale–why was that? Well, let this great
mercy that you are still alive move you to repent of your sins and
trust in Christ as your Savior! As He has been your Preserver, may He
also be your Redeemer, your Lord, your All-in-All!

Then let me further ask, How is it that you are in a place where the
Gospel is being preached Suppose that tonight, instead of a preacher of
the Gospel being on this platform, there had come here some stern
Prophet, like Moses or Elijah, and that he had turned to you who are
out of Christ and had said to you, "The day of mercy is over, justice
now reigns supreme. Hear, you despisers, and wonder and perish, for God
will tear you in pieces and there shall be none to deliver you!" What
could you have said to delay judgment? But this has not been the case!
I have not pronounced a curse upon you! I have not spoken a hard word
to you, but I have pleaded with you–oh, that the Lord would teach me
how to plead with you more earnestly and more effectually to turn to
Him, and live! "Seek you the Lord while He may be found, call you upon
Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord and He
will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly
pardon." The fact that there is a proclamation of mercy still made to
you ought to cause you to weep tears of penitence for your sin and to
move you to turn believingly unto Him who died upon the Cross, "the
Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."

Then, again, should you not run to Jesus when you remember that He
tells you that He will hear your prayers What? Will He hear your
prayers and yet will you refuse to pray to Him? He says to you, "All
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men"–so will you
not believe that your sin and your blasphemy shall be forgiven for His
sake? Oh, that you really knew Him! But you do not know how full of
love and Grace He is. I wish that you could hear His voice saying to
you, "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest." Whenever I repeat my Master's words, I feel vexed with
myself because I cannot utter them as they ought to be uttered. I know
that He must have spoken them with a majesty of tone and with a melting
melody of earnestness that must have put more force in them than I can
ever hope to do! He lived for sinners, He died for sinners, He rose
again for sinners, He pleads in Heaven for sinners! Ah, how can you
refuse to trust Him and love Him and serve Him forever?

III. Now I close by PLEADING WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD FOR SINNERS.

I know that there are in this assembly, not merely hundreds, but
thousands who love the Lord Jesus Christ! And it is with them that I am
now going to plead. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, while I have been
talking to those who stumble at the Word, have you not been reminded of
what you used to do? I have been thinking of my own experience, for I,
also, stumbled at the Word, being disobedient. And I feel some comfort
in preaching to those to whom Christ is "a stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offense," by reflecting that He who could save me can also save
them! And as Christ has quickened you "who were dead in trespasses and
sins," you cannot doubt His power to quicken others!

Probably most of you remember that when you were dead in sin, there
were some who prayed for you. My mother and father and many others
prayed for me, and I feel that this is one of the many reasons why I
should pray for others. Most of you had someone who thus cared for you,
so ought you not to care for others in a similar fashion? I feel sure
that you do care for others–there is in your heart an earnest longing
to see them brought to the Savior. May I, therefore, urge you to be
more earnest than ever in prayer for the salvation of sinners? I
rejoice that we are a praying Church, but I am always jealous lest we
should lose the spirit of prayer which the Lord has so graciously
poured out upon us. Some of us recollect times when we have gripped the
Angel of the Covenant and we would not let Him go until He blessed us.
Many of you were given to us in answer to these effectual fervent
prayers–and this makes me the more urgent in pleading with you to pray
for others.

Nor must you be content with praying for them, for others very
earnestly sought to bring you to the Savior And this encourages me in
pleading with you to grow more completely devoted to the blessed work
of winning souls for Christ. We must all be up and doing for our
glorious Lord and Master. Members of this Church, you will be
ungrateful for all that the Lord has done for us in the past if you
slacken your efforts in the future! In your homes, in your workshops,
in your mission-rooms, in your street preaching, in your
tract-distribution, in your Bible classes, in your Sunday
schools–wherever you are–anywhere and everywhere seek after souls as
diligently as the hunter seeks his prey! There are many reasons why you
should be earnest in bringing sinners to the Savior. The terrible doom
of the lost is reason enough by itself, but you can find abundant
reasons in the back streets and alleys of this great city and in the
sin that abounds in the splendor of the West End as much as in the
squalor at the East End.

Do you need arguments for soul-winning? Look up to Heaven and ask
yourself how sinners can ever reach those harps of gold and learn that
everlasting song unless they have someone to tell them of Jesus who is
"mighty to save." But the best argument of all is to be found in the
wounds of Jesus! You want to honor Him. You desire to put "many crowns"
upon His head and this you can best do by winning souls for Him! These
are the spoils that He covets. These are the trophies for which He
fights. These are the Jewels that shall be His best adornment. O
Christian men and women, if any of you have been negligent of late in
your Master's service, may the Holy Spirit make you more diligent! I
would like to make a personal appeal to each one of you to consecrate
yourselves and your substance more and more to the advancement of the
cause and Kingdom of Jesus Christ, your Lord, so that you shall live
wholly for Him! To be a true Christian is something higher and nobler
than simply sitting in our pews twice on Sunday, or even teaching in a
Sunday school or giving away tracts. It is the laying of one's whole
self upon the altar–offering your body, soul and spirit as a living
sacrifice unto God, which is our reasonable service, so that whether we
live or whether we die, we shall be the Lord's, and live or die for
Him! I plead with you, Christians–and I wish I had more power to do it
effectually–for the sake of sinners, to stir yourselves up to pray for
them and to labor for them that through the mighty working of the
Spirit of God, they may no longer stumble at the Word, but may yield
themselves to Christ and be saved!

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 PETER 1:17-25; 2:1-12.

1 Peter 1:17. Andifyou call on the Father, who without respect of
persons judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your
sojourning here in fear Not in unbelieving fear, but in that holy
carefulness which watches against sin of every kind lest in any way you
should spoil your holy work for God.

18, 19. Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of
Christ [See Sermon #621, Volume 11– "THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST."]
as of a lamb without blemish and

without spot As your redemption cost so much, prize it highly and do
not go back to the sin from which you have been so dearly redeemed!
Fear lest you should do so. Remember that heredity has a great power
over you–the traditions of your fathers will imperceptibly draw you
back unless you watch against them. But you have been so gloriously
redeemed with the very blood of Christ's heart that you must not draw
back.

20, 21. Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you, who by Him do believe in
God, that raised Him up from the dead, and gave Him Glory; that your
faith and hope might be in Go . Whenever you think of the Glory of your
risen Lord, remember what your redemption cost Him and quit all dead
works–lay aside the grave clothes of care and anxiety and live in
newness of life as those who have been redeemed by the risen Savior!

22, 23. Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you
love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born-again– [See
Sermon #398, Volume 7–the new

NATURE.] See how this love of the brethren is linked on to
regeneration. The first time we are born, we are born in sin, and that
tends to hate. But when we are born-again, born unto God, our life
tends to love. "Being born-again"–

23, Not of corruptible seed, but ofincorruptible, by the Word of God,
which lives and abides forever. Peter reminds us, in the 18th verse,
that we were not redeemed with corruptible things, but with
incorruptible. And he here reminds us that we are "born-again, not of
corruptible seed, but of incorruptible." Everything about a Christian
means his deliverance from corruption and the bringing of him into a
state of immortality and incorruption!

24, 25. For all flesh is asgrass andall the glory ofman as the flower
of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away: but the
Word of the Lord endures forever. Everything earthly is corruptible.
That which is merely natural has its season of decay, but the children
of God have the Word of the Lord abiding in them–and that never
dies–it has no autumn or winter.

20. And this is the word by which the Gospel is preached unto yoi.

1 Peter 2:1. Therefore, laying aside all malice. This is one of the old
corruptible things, so put it away from you– 1. And all guile. All
crafty tricks, all lies, exaggeration, double meanings to your words,
and the like– 1. And hypocrisies, and envies. All hatred of those who
are either better or better off than you are–

1. And all evil speaking. Thus the tongue expresses what the heart
feels. Laying all these evil things aside, you will prove that you have
been born-again–born of the incorruptible seed which lives and abides
forever.

2. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may
grow thereby. You are in the family of God, but you are only babes in
it. You have to grow to the stature of men and women in Christ Jesus,
so "desire the sincere (unadulterated) milk of the Word, that you may
grow thereby." There is no other way of growing.

3. 4. Ifso you have tasted that the Lordis gracious. Coming to Him, as
unto a living stone–So that "the Lord" here meant is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is truly "a living stone"–

4. Disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious–When men
disallow Christ, it is a matter of small account to us. As for what
they have to say, it is less than nothing and vanity. Like the wild
bluster of the winds, let it bluster until it has blown itself out.
Christ is "disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious"–

5. You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by
Jesus Christ [See Sermon #1376, Volume 23–THE TRUE PRIESTHOOD, TEMPLE
AND SACRIFICE.] See what Jesus Christ has made of you who believe in
Him! By the incorruptible blood and the incorruptible seed, He has
brought you into a heavenly priesthood and you are, today, to stand at
the spiritual

altar and "to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus
Christ." Will you not pray, will you not praise, will you not love?
These are sacrifices with which God is well pleased!

6, 7. Therefore it is also contained in thee Scripture, Behold, Ilay in
Zion a chiief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believes on Him
shall not be confounded. Unto you, therefore, who believe, He is
precious. [See Sermons #242, Volume 5–

CHRIST PRECIOUS TO BELIEVERS and #2137, Volume 37, a Sermon with the
same title.] Is

He not? Then enjoy His preciousness, all of you who truly believe in
Him! Precious Christ, precious to all His people, precious to me!

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 appointee. When
Peter wrote these verses, he must have thought of his own name. He was
called a stone or a rock–and once he was to his Master "a rock of
offense" when he stumbled at Christ's Word, and began even to rebuke
his Lord! But he was forgiven and saved, so now he gives a warning to
others lest they should still more grievously sin by making Christ,
Himself, to be to them "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense."

9. But you are a chosen generation–Hear this, you Believers! Drink in
this precious Truth of God! See God's election, making you to be a
people born of the Holy Spirit–"a chosen generation"–

9. A royal priesthood–This is a wonderful combination! Kings and
priests at the same time! All honors meet on you through Divine Grace!
"A royal priesthood"–

9. An holy nation, a peculiar people–You have national privileges. God
reckons you not as a mob or a herd of men, but as a nation, and a
nation with this peculiar hallmark upon you, that you are "a holy
nation." This is the true token of your nationality that you are
"holiness unto the Lord." "A peculiar people" belonging to God alone,
marked off from the rest of mankind as peculiarly His! You are not and
you are not to be as other men are–you are "a peculiar people." Your
road is not the broad one where the many go–it is the narrow one which
the few find. Your happiness is not worldly pleasure, but pleasures at
the right hand of God which are forevermore. You are "a peculiar
people"–

9. That you shouldshow forth the praises ofHim who has calledyou out
ofdarkness into His marvelous light–[See

Sermon #2765, Volume 48–MARVELOUS LIGHT.] You are to be advertisers

of the praises or virtues of Christ, not only to know them and to be
glad to know them, but to make them known to others. Beloved, how far
are you doing this? I put the question personally to each one of you,
for you were chosen by God on purpose that you "should show forth the
praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous
light"–

10. Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of
God–In time long past, who ever heard of the Britons, or of the
Anglo-Saxons? We were not a people, but we "are now the people of
God"–

10. Which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. We may
well leap for joy, we who once had not obtained mercy! We sinned
against the Lord, but He was long-suffering, and now we have obtained
mercy.

11. Dearly Beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims–For you
belong not to the corruptible world, you are of an incorruptible
race–"I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims"–

11, 12. Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul: having
your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak
against you as evildoers–Which they are sure to do. The better you
are, the more will they censure you. This is the only homage that evil
can pay to good, to fall foul of it and misrepresent it–"that whereas
they speak against you as evildoers"–

12. They may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God
in the day of visitation. God bless to us the reading of His Word.