Let's open our Bibles to 1st Peter chapter
2 and we read from verse 6.
We'll read a couple of verses from 1st
Peter chapter 2 from verse 6.
For in scripture it says, see I lay
a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious
cornerstone and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.
Now to you who believe, this stone is
precious, but to those who do not believe,
the stone the builders rejected has become the
capstone.
And a stone that causes men to stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.
They stumble because they disobey the message, which
is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God, that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into
the light of the Lord.
Once you were not a people, but now
you are the people of God.
Once you had not received mercy, but now
you have received mercy.
But my friends, I urge you as aliens
and strangers in the world to abstain from
sinful desires which war against your soul.
Lord, here is your word.
We beseech you, O Heavenly Father, that you
would bless it to us.
May it be, Lord, that when we leave
here, each one of us will be able
to leave having received some treasures from your
word.
Amen.
There is a lot that has blessed me
from this passage that we have read.
God here takes a heavenly comparison and he
gives it to us here as his congregation,
as his church on earth.
And he gave us his son, Jesus Christ,
that from him we may learn that which
we need to know.
And today he presents him to us as
the foundation, as the cornerstone of the church.
He presents Jesus to us as that stone
on which we may build without being ashamed.
He presents to us Jesus, the foundation of
the church, someone who is our example and
of whom we need not be ashamed when
it is said we should take after him.
And he has presented, placed on a mountaintop
for the whole world to see as the
chief cornerstone and that anybody who builds without
this cornerstone will never be successful.
We must build upon him.
And those who build upon him need to
believe in him who has been sent to
us.
The Bible says that if we believe in
him and we trust in him, we will
never be put to shame.
The one who trusts and believes in Jesus
will never be put to shame.
That person will never be disappointed.
That person will never be criticized or found
fault with.
Now you can look at your life and
see the way in which you live, the
way in which you believe in the Lord
Jesus.
Are you perhaps put to shame?
The word says draw nigh unto him.
Even though in the past you were negligent,
you didn't pay attention, now pay close attention
to him.
I don't know how you see the Lord
Jesus in your life, how you take him
after having heard so much of him.
What is he to you?
Is he just someone who is passing by?
What is he to you?
Has Jesus become precious to you?
Has he become your closest friend?
The one in whom you put your full
trust and where you say that he is
all and all in your life?
Those who love him surrender their lives to
him.
Those who love him surrender all, they forsake
all for his sake.
They deny even their very own lives because
of him.
Those who love him deny the pleasures of
this world due to him being king.
Therefore we also need to draw closer to
him and come and fully surrender our lives
to him.
Then build upon this foundation which is Jesus
Christ.
And we are given this guarantee that if
we build our life of faith upon this
cornerstone, upon this foundation, we will never be
put to shame.
That building will never collapse.
What is of prime importance is that you
believe on the Lord Jesus.
When I say believe on him, I don't
mean that you just come to church and
just listen to sermons and God's word, even
though that isn't bad in itself.
I know there are such people that are
satisfied just by the fact of going to
church.
But in their going to church, they don't
believe.
They've never surrendered themselves to him.
They've never denied their lives for the sake
of Jesus.
They haven't separated with their pet sins because
of Jesus.
They still hold on to their old lives
that is leading them straight to perdition instead
of surrendering to Jesus.
Aren't there perhaps such people in our midst?
Aren't there perhaps in our midst young people,
maybe even older people that are just attending
church, but they've never given their lives to
Christ?
And then it is said that to you
who believe this stone is precious, those
to those who believe this stone is precious,
he is all in all to them.
They love him and they trust in him.
I don't know whether you believe in Jesus.
I don't know what this belief of yours
in the Lord Jesus, this faith of yours
in him, whether it's caused you to fully
surrender your life to him or not.
But here's God's promise.
The one who trusts or believes in him
will never be put to shame.
Look carefully at your life.
How long haven't you disappointed people?
Perhaps you've disappointed your parents as a young
person.
Maybe you've disappointed the church.
Maybe you've disappointed God.
Maybe you've disappointed your family.
All that happened because you hadn't yet believed
on the Lord Jesus.
But after having surrendered your life to him,
believing on him, God says, he who trusts
and believes in him will not be put
to shame.
In other words, those who had been disappointed
in your life, new hope can arise when
you now believe in Jesus.
Those who have given up on you, who
said, well, there's no help for this person,
they receive new hope when they see you
believing in Jesus.
Maybe your parents are wondering, I wonder what
will become of this child of mine when
I see the kind of life that he
or she is leading.
They've lost hope concerning you.
They've got no hope of something good coming
from your future.
All that is like that because you haven't
yet identified with the Lord Jesus, he who
gives hope to those who are hopeless.
Surrender to Jesus.
Identify with him.
Be one with him.
Believe on him.
And something amazing will happen in your life.
But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to
God, that you may declare and preach the
praises of him who called you.
I said earlier on, it might be that
you don't understand for what reason you're in
this world.
It might be that you're in church and
you don't know what the role is, what
the function is that you should fulfil in
church.
Maybe you're a young member of the church,
a new member, and you don't yet know
and understand what is your function, what role
should you fulfil in church.
Let me remind you that as God's church,
there is a calling that he has for
us in this world.
There is a great task for each one
of us that we should accomplish.
Maybe you look down upon yourself.
Maybe you have some inferiority complex.
Maybe you say, now who am I that
I should do anything or could do anything
for God?
Maybe when people are mentioned that work for
God or do something for God, you say,
well, I'm the last one to be mentioned,
and maybe I'm not even mentioned, my name
doesn't even count.
Let me tell you, those are whisperings of
Satan.
Here is this great and important task that
God has got for you.
As you are seated here this morning, you
have been called of God.
And you need to accomplish that task.
You need to do it.
Nobody else is going to do it for
you and on your behalf.
It's not your child, it's not your parent
that is going to fulfil that task and
that calling for you.
You need to do it.
A person who has been given a task
or a work is trusted and it's expected
that he will do it.
God expects and God trusts that you will
be able to accomplish that task that he
has given you to do.
God hasn't just called ministers and it's not
just the preacher's job to work for God.
There is something that God has got for
each and every individual and for you included
to do.
And you need to understand what position God
has allocated to you as he has given
you this important task that you've got to
fulfil.
That you need to understand how important it
is to God that you should really fulfil
that task.
We have been given the task to declare
the gospel, to preach the gospel.
Here is the task that we've been given.
Go out and declare this message to the
people.
It's not just the person next to you
who's been called to do that.
You have been called.
You need to put your name in there
that you have been called.
You who have been called, you who are
built upon this cornerstone which is Jesus Christ,
you have been chosen for this task, for
this work, for this ministry, you have been
chosen for this task.
God has called you to do this calling,
to go out and to preach.
Therefore, get up, go out and fulfil that
which God has called you.
Don't make excuses like Moses did when he
said, but Lord, who am I?
I can't speak.
I've got a speech defect.
I can't go out and speak to people.
God knows that as well.
But God knows for what he can use
you.
God knows how he can use you.
But what is essential and what is important
is that you are faithful to that for
which God has called you.
I don't know whether you have fulfilled that
task, whether you have accomplished that which God
has called you, where he has trusted you
and he's allocated this task to you, trusting
that you would be able to accomplish it.
Now, let us look at the calibre of
this church through which God wants to accomplish
his work on earth.
God hasn't called the church just to sit
down and be spectators.
God hasn't called his church to be spectators
and to be judges just to see whether
people are doing things in the right way,
whether they're doing them in the wrong way.
But God has called us to do.
Because if we're just spectators, we will see
only the faults of others and we'll say,
oh, that person has done it in the
wrong way.
He should have done it like this.
He should have done it in this way.
He should have spoken in that way.
But it's because we are outside, we are
onlookers and spectators, we are not involved.
Let's understand, God hasn't called us to be
spectators.
He's called us to be involved in his
work and busy propagating his gospel.
Now, what kind of people are these who
preach the gospel?
What kind of a person should you be?
You are in the church, you have Jesus
as your leader, as your cornerstone.
Here in this passage, there are four characteristics
that Peter mentions of the kind of person
that you should be, that I'd like to
lift out.
What is this person like who declares the
praises of God?
First of all, Peter says he is a
chosen person.
He belongs to a chosen people.
Secondly, he is a royal priesthood.
Thirdly, a holy nation.
And fourthly, a people belonging to God.
A chosen people.
People that have been chosen and selected out
from amongst other people.
Do you understand that as you are here
this morning, you have been chosen out, you
have been selected from many others.
You are chosen, not because you are better
than others, but as bad and as evil
as you are.
God chose you out from amongst other people
that you might be changed.
And God has chosen you with the expectation
that there is something that you are going
to do for Him.
I've seen some might have an inferiority complex,
thinking, well, they aren't able to do anything.
But nevertheless, Jesus took you out of your
sin.
He chose you there where you were, and
He took you out of your sin, that
you might be able to do this work.
He washed you with His blood.
And you were indeed cleansed.
That your feet might be ready to now
go and proclaim the good news.
I don't know whether you're faithful in this
work.
Whether you are taken up by your own
things.
I want to tell you this.
There are those who are perishing right now.
People that are dying in their sin.
Just go out and see what is busy
happening.
Go to hospital.
And you see how people are busy dying
there.
As they are dying, have they heard, do
they know God?
And you have heard of Jesus.
You have heard of this foundation.
What have you done concerning these souls that
are perishing?
You've been called.
You are trusted.
But what are you doing concerning God's calling
in your life?
Or have you taken your calling and you've
discarded it?
And now you're just paying attention to your
own interests.
Your own work.
Those things that tie you up daily.
You're just busy with your daily work and
your daily cares.
There is not that urgency in your heart
when you wake up that you say, God,
what do you want me to do for
you today?
Maybe you don't have that prayer in your
heart any longer.
When you wake up that you say, oh
God, may I be able to do something
for you today before the sun sets?
Lord, may I be able to tell somebody
of you before the sun sets today?
Remember the story of Samson?
You had been blessed of God.
Been given power.
Where he could perform miraculous things through that
strength that God gave him.
In all those miraculous things that he did,
there was nothing that he did from his
own strength.
He was only enabled to do those things
through the power and the strength that God
gave him for the purpose that God wanted
to glorify his name.
But you know how it went and how
he was caused to deviate and he was
sidetracked by a woman.
He saw a woman and he became infatuated.
He loved her.
He went closer to her.
And then the enemy worked through that woman.
They wanted to obtain to their objectives through
her.
And this woman started nagging him saying to
Samson, now tell me, where is the secret
of your strength?
And then Samson started by just saying something
else saying, if you would do this then
you would subdue me.
And then they did it.
And the enemies were close by to observe
whether that which he said would happen or
not.
And then Delilah would say, but Samson, you
don't love me.
Why don't you tell me what the real
secret is of your strength?
Now, if you tie me up with fresh
strings and in this way, then you'll subdue
me.
Then you'll be able to overcome me.
Samson, don't you realize that you're busy talking
to your enemy?
Samson, don't you realize that you are busy
conversing and chatting with Satan himself?
Samson, don't you realize that this woman, Delilah,
is only out to make a mockery of
you, to overcome you and to defeat you?
Now, I've said it might be that you've
been called of God.
But instead of you being busy with your
calling and doing that which God has called
you, you are busy holding a conversation with
Satan himself.
Satan has no compassion on you.
There is nothing that Satan can give you.
Even though so many people are faithful to
Satan, but there's nothing good that he'll give
you.
If you've forgotten your calling that God has
given you, it would be good that you
wake up out of your sleep, that you
come to the Lord and say, Lord, please
enable me, give me that which I need,
that I can do that for which you've
called me.
Samson died a terrible death.
He died with his eyes having been removed,
where he could no longer discern.
He could no longer see the light of
the sun and the light of the moon.
He could no longer discern between colors.
Why?
His eyes had been taken out.
And those eyes of which his enemy was
so happy.
If you are busy toying around with Satan,
then realize that Satan won't rest until he's
removed your eyes, until he's harmed you and
discapacitated you.
If your eyes have been removed by Satan,
then you start finding fault.
You start to criticize.
You start to feel sorry for yourself.
Nobody takes note of me.
Nobody is really interested in me.
Even if I'm ill, nobody comes to visit
me.
The way in which they speak to me,
is that the way in which one should
speak to somebody?
Everything that anybody else does is no longer
acceptable to you.
You only find fault with everything.
Your eyes have been gouged out.
And you've lost your spiritual sensitivity.
Even if you say something that's wrong, even
if you act or respond in the wrong
way, and even if somebody comes to try
and assist you, you don't see your mistake.
You don't see your fault.
You've lost your spiritual sensitivity.
Your eyes, your spiritual eyes have been taken
out.
Samson, remember that you're a Nazarite.
You are a chosen vessel of God.
God has got a special calling for you.
You're a chosen people, loved by God.
And he wants to be identified with you,
trusting in you.
That indeed, you will do that task that
he's got for you.
A royal priesthood.
Here is the church of God.
Being united with Christ.
And your position now is a royal priesthood.
Because we have now been united with Jesus
Christ.
Jesus has got both these portfolios or positions.
That of being a priest.
And that of being a king.
All of that is contained in Jesus.
And those who are living stones, build upon
this chief cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ, cannot
have any other character different to that of
that chief cornerstone.
They are one with him.
Being united with him.
They feel that which he feels.
And they also recognize that they belong to
the royal family.
They love the place where they are.
The life which they live, his life they
live.
Young people, you are here living at this
place.
I don't know whether you realize how much
God has loved you in that he's chosen
you to grow up in this place.
You should have realized how privileged you are
that God has chosen you to be at
this place where you are protected from so
many things that other young people are exposed
to.
You are protected from many diseases.
You are protected from many things that could
wrought havoc in your life and damage your
life.
Or wreak havoc in your life as God
has got a purpose for your life.
You have been called to this royal, to
this heavenly priesthood.
And we need to be proud of it.
It is said that you are not like
everybody else.
But then Satan takes out our eyes and
we think we are missing out on so
many things.
The grass looks greener on the other side
of the fence and it seems to us
as if we are deprived from so many
things.
What is it that's so wonderful on the
other side of the fence?
What is it that's so wonderful there in
the world that's drawing you?
Don't you realize that you are loved of
God, that he has chosen you out?
What is it in the world that attracts
you so much?
Maybe you think those on the other side
of the fence are the ones who are
going to be those in the world, they
are so much better off.
Maybe you feel in church you are bound.
There are so many rules and regulations that
you can't do what you like.
I'm not allowed to speak to so-and
-so.
I can't just do what I like.
But when will it dawn on you that
you belong to the heavenly family and that
those who are in the world need to
take from your example and not you from
theirs?
Those who belong to the royal priesthood, they
obey God's word.
They obey God's instructions.
That's their very life.
They don't know anything apart from that.
Do you remember and do you realize that
we should be a holy nation?
Now, it costs to be part of a
holy nation.
For us, as young and older people, to
be part of this holy nation, it costs
us something in our lives.
They, such people, wash and are cleansed.
And they are washed.
And they are washed in the blood of
Jesus.
Their sins are forgiven.
All their disgrace and blemishes in their lives
are taken away.
They are separated from the world.
Separated to live for God.
Separated unto God.
Holy.
And that holiness is part of their everyday
lives.
And they love that kind of life.
Now, brother, sister, tell me, as you are
here, do you love walking in holiness?
If
you
love walking in holiness, then you will love
walking in the light and coming for prayer
and coming for counseling that God's servants might
pray together with you.
Let me ask you, when last did you
confess your sin and get right with God?
When last did you draw nigh unto God?
Or do you see that now as something
that's old-fashioned?
Something that's not necessary for you any longer?
When last did you put things right between
you and God?
When last did the blood of Jesus cleanse
you from your sin?
No wonder that you're living the kind of
life that you're leading.
No wonder that there's no determination in your
life to live for God.
Because you haven't been forgiven from your sin.
You haven't been forgiven of the lust of
the flesh.
You are just going according to your own
mind and your way of seeing things.
You say what you like when you like.
Whether it wounds others, whether it builds others
up, you don't care.
If you live that kind of a life,
you've lived the right way.
Gran, when did you last put things right
between you and God?
I'm not speaking about coming to church.
Yes, you do come to church.
But when last did you stop a bit?
Before going out of church, make sure that
your matter with God is sorted out.
But maybe you look at things in your
life and you evaluate them and say, well,
this is a sin, but it's not really
that bad.
This is just a little sin.
It won't separate me that much from God.
I don't need to really be concerned about
it.
But listen to this.
With one sin that's in your life, that
is unconfessed, that will separate you from God
and destroy that fellowship that you have with
God.
And that which God wants to give you
and that which God has given you will
disappear from your life, being finished off by
that sin that you're allowing in your life.
A holy nation takes in and eats that
which is holy.
Spiritually speaking, that which they take in, that
which they eat, spiritually speaking, is holy.
And that which then emanates from their lives
is also holy.
Now, technology has made rapid advances recently.
We are now living in an age of
cell phones.
If one would ever look at some of
the messages that some of you are receiving
on your cell phones, we perhaps discover that
it's only filth.
And some of you use your cell phones
to send dirty messages to others.
What kind of a nation are you if
you're like that?
Is that the kind of nation that belongs
to God?
Is that the kind of nation that should
declare the praise of God that has become
so defiled?
But those who are walking with Jesus, they
are easily discernible that they are different.
They walk with God.
They obey God.
They are separated unto God.
They submit to him.
They have been won over.
They belong to him.
They are now his possession.
And they do that which pleases God.
A child of God, as you're listening, I
trust that you are busy discerning concerning your
own life and examining your life to see
how you are walking before God.
Are you doing it in a way that
is well pleasing to him or not?
Peter writes to the church and he says
to them, Dear friends, I urge you as
aliens and strangers in the world to abstain
from those sinful desires which war against your
soul.
Oh, the lust of the flesh.
It starts by destroying you.
Destroys your life.
It destroys your testimony.
Some are spiritually dead.
Their testimony has been destroyed because of the
lust of the flesh.
Some have been disgraced because of the lust
of the eyes, the lust of the flesh
that started with their eyes, lusting after something
which they saw.
And it also then destroys the church.
The Bible says abstain from those things, from
those desires.
Young person, flee the evil desires of the
youth.
Young man, start living for God.
For how long haven't you been sitting on
the fence where it's not clear where you
stand?
And it's not clear what you are and
where you stand.
One doesn't know where you stand.
Come out into the open.
Serve the Lord.
With all your heart, serve the Lord.
Having done away with all those things that
are filthy and dirty with only one purpose
and goal in your life, and that is
to live for God.
If we were to produce a project or
a display on heaven to present heaven to
people, if we had to perhaps go out
and do marketing, marketing heaven to other people,
what would we present to them?
We would need to start, first of all,
that it becomes part of our lives, that
we know what we're talking about, that we
know it and have experiential knowledge of it
in our lives.
Then we can go to others and tell
them about it in such a way that
they will realize they are busy with something
which is in vain, which is worth nothing.
I hope that you now realize that to
which you've been called.
Now leave your own things.
Leave and stop being just a newspaper.
The daily news, that you're just the daily
news.
Start doing God's work.
Preach the gospel.
That you will be someone who is acceptable
before God.
How will we stand before God?
Having heard so much, having been told so
much, how will we stand before God?
Not having completed that task that God has
called us to.
People are passing away in this world.
When we close our eyes in this world
and we open them and the world over
there on the other side, what will we
say before God?
What will we be able to say before
Him?
The word says, let us forsake our sin.
And let us do that which is important.
And if you have failed in times past,
then be reconciled to God.
Say, oh God, have mercy on me.
Lord, I was taken up by my own
interests.
I was taken up by the cares of
this world.
But now surrender yourself afresh to God.
And that which you know is not right
in your life, put that right.
Get things right between you and God.
That you will be able to experience the
joy and the wonder of being in fellowship
with God, being one with God once again.
May God help us.
Shall we pray?
Our Heavenly Father, your word is amazing.
Teach us, oh Lord, to do your will.
Your will is sweet.
It is sweeter than anything else when we
do it.
Lord, may unbelief be far removed from us.
May we believe and trust in you, oh
Lord, who never disappoint anyone.
We thank you that you have sent us
the Lord Jesus Christ into this world as
our example, over which we may be proud,
from whom we learn so much.
And if we would follow his example, that
he lived here on earth explicitly, we would
also portray heaven whilst on earth.
We would be a church of whom you
would not be ashamed.
We'd be a church, oh Lord, that you
have chosen out, through whom you'd be able
to accomplish your purpose here on earth.
Lord, as we are together here, as your
church, young and old, there are young men
and young women, mothers and fathers, grandfathers and
grandmothers.
We ask you, oh Lord, that not one
would be excluded.
We pray, oh Lord, that you would work
in us, that we would understand that we've
been chosen.
Thank you that you've trusted us.
Help us not to disappoint you.
But Lord, that we would make your word
to be alive and display it as such
to others.
We ask this in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ.