The sermon, 'A Spiritual Dwelling Built on Christ' by Jason Dohm, focuses on 1 Peter 2:4-6 and the larger passage of 1 Peter 2:4-10. Dohm emphasizes the importance of Jesus Christ as the 'living stone' and the 'chief cornerstone' in the spiritual house that God is building. The sermon is structured to explore the dense truths in this scripture, breaking it into three messages. In this message, Dohm highlights four key teachings about Jesus: He is the starting point for God's plan, He is good and can be 'tasted' spiritually, He is living and the source of life, and He is rejected by men but chosen and precious to God. The sermon explains how believers, referred to as 'living stones', are part of this spiritual house, a concept that forces believers to see beyond the mundane and align with God's big picture plan. Dohm contrasts this spiritual house with the Old Testament temple, noting that the new covenant brings unity among believers, eliminating old distinctions. He encourages believers to offer spiritual sacrifices, defined as God-honoring works done in accordance with His Word, and to live lives that reflect Jesus' worthiness of honor and pursuit. Dohm challenges listeners to not lose sight of God's overarching plan, encouraging them to see their place within this spiritual dwelling.

Today is on first Peter 2 4 through 6 which is a change from last week Jason's decided to to linger longer using his words in 4 through 10 and break it up to into three messages and These are messages on the verses we are memorizing. So these are, in my world, very sweet messages. They all are. But this, may these three messages especially, so help us in our homes as we are reciting and memorizing these verses. So though it's on four through six, I'm gonna read four through 10.

May we love the reading of scripture no matter how many times we reread the same scripture. Coming to him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious. You also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is also contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect precious. And he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame.

Therefore, to you who believe, he is precious. But to those who are disobedient, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble being disobedient to the word to which they also were appointed. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, his own special people that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light who once were not a people but are now the people of God who had not obtained mercy but have now obtained mercy oh God is a people that have obtained mercy by your grace alone. We come to you and we pray that this time of hearing your word preached would be worshipful and glorifying to you, that God you would use Jason to speak truth, that God we would hear your truth, that we'd have ears that love your truth, God, and it would cause us to see our hearts rightly before you.

And that we would leave this place, God, that some that were disobedient would now be obedient and understand the obtaining of mercy. And that the rest of us who have obtained mercy and are your children be strengthened and encouraged in our love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Well when I was breaking up the book of 1 Peter, it seemed very reasonable that I could preach four through ten in one sermon. But wow, when I've come to it, it's so dense and compact with precious truths that it's just impossible.

So like James said, we're lingering longer. This week will be 4 through 6, next week will be 7 and 8, The week following will be 9 and 10. And there will be plenty to say, even though the verse range will be relatively small. The title of the sermon this morning is A Spiritual Dwelling built on Christ. The text actually says a spiritual house, but I've said a spiritual dwelling because I want to take our minds to the heart of what Peter is teaching here, which is that God dwells among his people.

He is Immanuel, God with us. That's who Christ is. And his intent is to build a dwelling place, a spiritual house that is built on Christ. For those of us who have wondered, what is God doing? What's the big picture?

I think that's all of us, isn't it, from time to time? We feel like we're down in the weeds. You can only see two inches in front of our eyes, we have completely lost sight of the big picture, and we're wondering, what is all this about? What is God doing? This text is for us.

So here's the flow to this point in 1 Peter. In the first 12 verses, chapter 1, verses 1 through 12, Peter heaps up the blessings in Christ. And he just names them one after another and just piles them up. Then in the next verse, chapter 1 verse 13, all the way through chapter 2 verse 3, which is where we left off, 1 verse 13 through 2 verse 3, He tells us what ought to flow from that. In other words, if you've been the recipient of those abundant mercies, what should that produce in your life?

Peter tells us what the heap of blessings should produce in our life. Now, in the text that will be in this week and next week and the week after that, Peter puts a big frame around all of it. And he says what God is doing. He gives us the big picture. God is glorifying Himself.

That's the big frame for the heap of blessings to be had in Jesus Christ and then what ought to flow from that in the life of someone who has been the recipient of that abundant mercy. It's all part of God's plan to glorify Himself. How's God going to glorify Himself? This is how. He's going to take these living stones that He's produced through Christ, and he's going to build them into a dwelling place that is founded upon Christ.

So that's where the title comes from, a spiritual dwelling built on Christ. And it forces us, this is a blessing by the way, it forces us to take our view from the weeds disconnected from the big picture of what God is doing and to reconnect with this framework of everything that God is doing. We see all these individual things all day long, they seem so mundane, but God sees this. God sees living stones being built into a spiritual house with people who have derived life, received life from the living stone, Jesus Christ, and now they're offering spiritual sacrifices which are acceptable through the foundation stone Jesus Christ. This is what God is accomplishing.

This is the big picture. This is the frame that frames everything else that Peter has talked about and is going to talk about in the rest of the book. Before we pray, let's go, before we go to the text, let's pray. God, your plan is glorious. God, I pray that you would use these minutes to help us to understand your plan, the big picture, and to love your plan.

So that we would cling to it with all our might so when we are overwhelmed by the mundane things of life or the little things of life that seem so disconnected from a spiritual house that we would have our hands upon this, not letting it go, and we would see what you have desired to accomplish through the work of Jesus Christ. God use your word to change us. We want to be different a year from now than we are today in a good way, to have been brought along to see things through the lens of the big picture more than we ever did so that we live lives better to your glory. Use all these things to accomplish this, oh God, in Jesus' name, amen. Peter starts with the capital L living, capital S stone.

It's not capital L in the text or capital S, but I'm capitalizing. You see that on the notes page. The capital L living capital S stone, the, the one and only Jesus Christ, the living stone. And he's teaching things about Jesus Christ that are precious. And I want to suggest that he's teaching four things about the living stone, the one and only living stone, Jesus Christ.

Here are the four things. Number one, it all starts with Jesus. Without Christ, there is no big picture for people. There is no framework within God, within which God works in the lives of people. With Jesus Christ it is all or nothing.

He is everything. He is the starting point. If you don't pass go, you don't collect $200. There is nowhere to go without Jesus Christ. The purpose of God for His people starts with Jesus Christ.

Why is that? Because they must be reconciled. People in their natural state are at war with God in rebellion against God. So there's no story of people with God unless it's a story that begins with Jesus Christ. So Peter, if he's going to paint a big picture and he's going to set a framework, it must begin with Jesus Christ because we have to be reconciled.

We have to be taken out of our state of war against God, rebellion against God, and completely transformed. Taken out of a kingdom of darkness and transferred into a kingdom of light. So everything in the big picture of man and God begins with Jesus Christ because without Jesus there's no picture at all. Number two, Number two, Jesus is the one you can taste and see that he is good. In other words, the him of verse four, the living stone of verse four, is the Lord that you can taste and see that he is good, of verse three.

Do you see the connection there? He just said, taste and see that the Lord is good. And then immediately in verse 4 he says, coming to him, coming to who? Jesus. You can tell that for sure from verse 4, 5, and 6 that it has to be Jesus that's being spoken of here.

And that's the hymn of verse 3. He's the hymn that can be tasted and seen that He's good. So God is not calling us to a sour thing. He's calling us to a sweet thing. He's calling us to something that you can taste of it and see that it's good.

Not a sour thing, but a sweet thing. Because Jesus' yoke is easy and His burden is light. So there is a calling to come, but it's not something that will be unpleasant to you. It's something that when you taste of it, you'll see that it is sweet and not sour. So the first thing was that it all starts with Christ.

The second thing was that Jesus is the one that you can taste of Him and see that He is good. We're not being called to a sour thing, but to a sweet thing. Number three, Jesus is living. He is a living stone. Jesus was crucified.

He was dead, but He is not dead. He was raised from the dead. He was resurrected. The tomb is empty and He is alive. He's been glorified.

He sits at the right hand of God the Father. And all of His enemies are being made His footstool because he is alive. He is a living stone and he's alive forevermore and not only is he alive but life proceeds from him. He has life in himself and life proceeds from him. He is the source of life.

John 1 verse 4, the Gospel of John chapter 1, right at the beginning, verse 4 says, in him was life. In him was life. Life is in Jesus Christ. So he's a living stone in that he is alive, but life is in him as well. He's not just alive, he's also a source of life.

John 14 verse 6, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is the source of life, the only source of life for mankind. So number One, it all starts with Jesus. Number two, Jesus is the one you can taste and see that He is good.

Number three, Jesus is living. He has life. He is alive Himself and life proceeds from Him. He is the source of life. Number four, finally, God and man don't agree on Jesus.

They have different views of Jesus. The text says that Christ is rejected by men. Rejected by men. Rejected by all men. This is just restating what is said throughout the Bible.

An example, Isaiah 53, verse 6. He is despised and rejected by men. That is mankind's opinion of Jesus. They despise him and they reject him. Now the text is going to go on to say that some come to him.

But even that means he was despised and he was rejected because they have to come to him. There's no one ever born In the history of the world who didn't have to come to him out of a state of having despised him and having rejected him Such is the corruption of the natural man the pollution in Everyone who's ever been born that they must be reconciled So they have to come from a state of rebellion, of having despised him and rejected him. And then for some, God reaches into that world of rebellion and says, you are mine only because he's merciful. If he doesn't do that, you'll just continue on that trajectory, on that track, and careen off the cliff to destruction. So every man or woman or child ever born has despised and has rejected the Father's Christ, The one that God sent to be a Redeemer.

And the reality is that most never come. That most do continue on that trajectory, that track of war against God, rebellion against God. And they do just continue on that track and they careen off the cliff into destruction. What the Bible teaches here and in so many other places is that there is no neutral ground. Not to come to Him is to despise Him and to reject Him.

So there's not those who reject Jesus and those who come to Him and a group in the middle who haven't decided yet. The ones who haven't decided yet have not come to Him and therefore by definition they have despised Him and they have rejected to Him. There are two states for the soul of man, despising and rejecting or coming to him. There is no neutral territory where the seekers are. That's a myth.

That is not true. That is not a real state of the heart of any man, woman, or child neutral towards Christ. You have either come to Him and bowed down and confessed that He is Lord to the glory of the Father or you have despised and rejected Him. There's nothing better for a person to hear than that. To have the rug of neutral turf towards Christ jerked out from under you so that you think of yourselves in terms strictly of one or of the other.

And that you don't deceive yourself. And that you don't comfort yourself with a thought that maybe later you'll come to Him from a neutral ground that isn't all that dangerous. So this is man's opinion. Unless God in His mercy would reach into that world of rebellion and say you are mine because I'm merciful. This is every man's opinion, every woman's opinion, every child's opinion of Jesus Christ.

It is to despise and to reject. Here's God's opinion. He loves his Christ. He loves him. God has a very different opinion of Jesus.

Peter begins by saying that the Father has chosen the Son. He says he is chosen by God. God the Father has given this special role, the role of Redeemer, the role of the source of life. Life is in Jesus. As an honor and as a privilege to the Son.

God the Father has said, Son, you're the Redeemer of these people. You're the source of life for these people. And it has always been intended by God the Father as an honor and a privilege to be given to the Son. Philippians chapter 2 starts with incarnation and goes to exaltation. In other words, it talks about the incarnation of Jesus, him laying aside the glories of heaven as a co-equal member of the Trinity, the one God in three persons, laying the glory of that aside to take on the form of a servant.

And then it goes from there to talk about how that is the basis for his exaltation, for God glorifying him. God glorifies him because he laid aside his glory to become the Redeemer and the source of life for those that God had always intended to show His mercy to, to lavish His mercy on. Listen to verse 9. This is Philippians 2 verse 9. Therefore, now he's just come out of talking about Jesus laying aside his glory to take on the form of a servant and die.

Therefore, because of that, God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name. Let me apply that to us for a minute. Have you ever thought that your humble condition, that your trials were the basis of God glorifying you, honoring you, that were the basis of your privileges. Do you think that way? Most of us bemoan our humble conditions and our trials.

But Philippians 2 teaches so clearly that for Jesus, His humiliation and his trials were the basis for his honors and his privileges. That because of his humiliation and his trials, even to death on a cross, formed the basis of him being given the name that is above every other name. Maybe we should think about our humiliations differently. Maybe we should think about our trials differently. Not as signs that God doesn't love us, but that signs that God does love us.

Now, it is true that there are times when God brings you into discipline, and you need to repent and turn. But not all humiliations are that. It wasn't that for Jesus Christ. He didn't need discipline. Not all humble circumstances are that by any stretch of the imagination, not all trials are disciplined by any stretch of the imagination.

They might be the basis for you being raised up. They might be the basis for your honors and privileges in the sight of God. So in Acts 5, when all the apostles had been rounded up and beaten for preaching the gospel, They go away rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ. So they saw these humiliations and these trials and they didn't say, why God are you doing that? They rejoiced because God had counted them worthy.

They saw them as a basis of honor, as privileges given to them by God. It's a different mindset. It's a mindset that God wants to teach us as he brings us to maturity. So Jesus is chosen by God and appointed to these privileges, to be the Redeemer and the source of life for a people. And He's precious, chosen by God and precious.

The Son is precious to the Father. We have a spectacular picture of this in Genesis chapter 22. Abraham and Sarah, decade after decade after decade, even though they've been given promises, have not been able to conceive. And it's a barren marriage, even though they've got promises. Decade after decade after decade.

Finally, there's a son. And he is a beloved son. And then God says, offer him to me. The beloved son, offer him. Offer him to me.

And Abraham, by faith, is willing to do it. And everything's ready for the sacrifice, for the killing of this son that is loved. This isn't a son that the Father doesn't love and views as expendable. That's not the picture. It is a son that is dearly loved, but God has a plan.

And it's not till the very last minute that what you see in that diverges from what will really happen. And God provides a ram so that Abraham doesn't have to go all the way through with it. But God goes all the way through with the son that he's loved. Have you ever wondered, Does God love me? Genesis 22, where God gives us a picture of a father who only has one son, and he loves him with all his heart, but he's willing.

He's willing in order to redeem, in order to become the source of life. He's willing to sacrifice that son. God loves you. And so in the gospels in Matthew, at Jesus' baptism, in Matthew chapter 3, there's a voice from heaven, this is my beloved son. And in Matthew chapter 17, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John go up to the mountain top and Jesus is transfigured, there is a voice from heaven that says the exact same words, this is my beloved son.

Jesus is chosen by God and precious. Friends, agree with God. Man has been at war with God over this. Man despises and rejects. What God has chosen and says is precious.

Agree with God. Agree with God that Jesus is worthy of the place of honor and that he's precious. And don't just agree with your brain. This is not a fact to be memorized for the test. This is a truth to be lived.

This is a truth to govern your life. Agree with God that Jesus is worthy of the place of honor. God the Father says that's true and so he bestowed these privileges and honors on his son. Agree with God that Jesus is precious and that he's worthy of a lifetime of pursuit. Jesus Christ is worthy of a lifetime of pursuit.

This is not a fact to be memorized for the test. This is a truth to govern your life. Are you living a life that declares that Jesus is worthy of honor and privilege? Are you living a life that declares that Jesus is precious? So Peter has spoken about the capital L living, capital S stone.

That's Jesus Christ. Now he moves to talking about the little L living. Little S stones, us, those who have trusted in him. And he's teaching that little stones proceed from the chief cornerstone. They get their life from him.

And it begins this verse, verse 5, by saying, you also, those who come to him, who come to Christ, are now in kind. They are like him. He's a certain type, he's a certain kind, and they're just like that. He's a living stone, and they are living stones. They are now in kind with him because they are in Christ.

And the life that they have flows from their relationship to the Living Stone. So they become lower case Living Stones. And this happens by coming to Him. By coming to Him. Jesus Himself has said much about coming to Him.

Listen to John chapter 6 verse 35. This is a sampling. We could go a long time on what Jesus has said about coming to him. But I'm going to give you a sampling from John chapter 6. John chapter 6 verse 35.

And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. And he who believes in me shall never thirst. So we learn some things from this. Jesus puts himself forward as the bread of life, as the source of life, just like Peter says in our text.

And he said, he who comes to me shall never hunger. So you come to Jesus, the source of life, and then you find yourself, you never hunger again in that way, in that spiritual way. He says, He who believes in me shall never thirst. In other words, he equates coming to him with believing in him. He who comes to me will never hunger.

He who believes in me will never thirst. So to come to him is to believe in Him and to obtain life. I am the bread of life says Jesus. Now listen to what he says in the same chapter, John chapter 6 verses 44 and 45. Jesus says, no one can come to me.

No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets and they shall all be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. In other words, there's no way to come to the Son unless you're taught by the Father.

No one can come to me, says Jesus, unless the Father draws him. The Father has a thousand ways to send you to his son. Did you hear that? The Father has a thousand different ways, a million different ways to send you to his son. He made you.

He knows everything about you. He knows everything about the inner workings of your life and of your mind. And those of us who are now in Christ, who have come to Him, can say, can look back and say, it is because I was led to the Son by the Father. He did this in my life and this revealed this truth to me. It revealed this sin to me.

But I wasn't ready and I didn't come. And then so he did this in my life. And he revealed this sin to me, but I wasn't ready and I didn't come. And then this, and then this, and then this, and then this, and then this, and then I was broken. And I couldn't do anything but come because I knew I must be redeemed.

I knew there was no life in me. I knew I had to have life and God had led me there. Doing this, a hundred different things. And the 99th time I wouldn't come, but He pushed me over the edge with the hundredth thing. Those of you who know Christ, can't you look back and say, I was led one bread crumb at a time to the Father.

And so many things didn't tip me over the edge, but God was doing something in my life. God was bringing me. He was causing me to come to Christ. No one has ever come to God and believed in Him, trusted in Him, received life from Him, that can't look back and see the hundred things that God did in their life to cause them to come to Christ. So now what do we have in our text?

We have Christ, the living stone. And we have those who have come to Him, the living stones. They're like Him. And they're building blocks. So far in our text, we have innumerable building blocks that start with Jesus Christ, but life has flowed out from there.

The life didn't stop at Jesus. It flows out to a people that God intended to be redeemed. He always intended to give life to these people. And so now we're ready to talk about the spiritual house because we have all these building blocks. We're ready to talk about the spiritual house.

These building blocks are being built up into a spiritual house on Christ. Built up on Christ. Into a spiritual house. The spiritual house is the substance. Well, then what was the shadow?

What was the picture? The temple. A big old, physical, beautiful temple was the picture, was the shadow that just pointed forward to this spiritual house. This is really strange in that the physical thing isn't the real thing. The thing you can touch and feel and walk around isn't the reality.

The reality is the spiritual thing. You can't really touch or feel, but what God had in mind and what God was picturing, the shadow of the thing was the physical temple. And the substance is the spiritual temple. It begins with a foundation stone, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then there's living stones that have received their life from Him and their building blocks. In the Old Testament, God is always calling the temple, my house, my house, my house, my house, all through the Old Testament.

This is what is being talked about in 1 Peter chapter 2. My house, God's house, the spiritual temple. I want to go to two passages both written by Paul that just flood light on what Peter is talking about. The first is in 1 Corinthians 3. So please turn to 1 Corinthians 3.

1 Corinthians 3. And it's quite a long section that we're going to read, so you probably do want to turn to it. First Corinthians chapter 3, I'll begin reading in verse 5, and we're going to read through 17. Paul writes, 1 Corinthians 3, verse 5, Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos?

But ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers.

You are God's field. You are God's building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear.

For the day we will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test each one's work of what sort it is. If anyone's work, which he has built on, it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him.

For the temple of God is holy. Which temple you are. There are four things that I want to point out from this text. The first is that God uses men. They are co-laborers with Him in the building of this temple.

Peter doesn't develop it that far in 1 Peter 2, but Paul develops the thought further and he actually talks to some of the mechanisms about the building of this holy temple. And Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 3 here that God uses men to build the temple, But they are nothing. God is the builder. And He brings in co-labors, but that's just their privilege. And so one may sow and one may water, but God brings the increase.

They aren't anything. God is everything. The second thing that I wanted to notice in this passage is that there is one foundation. There can always and only be one foundation, And that's Jesus Christ. This temple, there are many other temples, but this temple, a spiritual house that God dwells in, has only one foundation.

And it's the foundation that has already been laid. And it is Jesus Christ. The third thing I want to notice from this text is that the temple is corporate, not individual. Now that's obvious here and it's obvious in 1 Peter 2, but it needs to be said. It's corporate, it's together, it's a multitude of people that began as a living stone, but were joined to other living stones and were built up together.

And God indwells the corporate building. When we look in 1 Corinthians 3 and we look in verse 9 and it says, you are God's field, you are God's building. The you there is the plural form. So if you go to your King James Bible, if you own one, and you look at verse 9 here, it says, ye. Ye are God's field.

Ye are God's building. That's the plural form. So back when the King James was rendered in the early 1600s, there was still a distinction between a singular you, you, one person, you, you, and the plural, you, would be ye. So the Greek maintains the distinction. The Old English maintains the distinction, but it's lost in modern English.

Well, I'm telling you, verse 9, You are God's building is ye are God's building. By the way, Southerners do that. That's y'all. There's you and y'all. So all the intellectuals, the Greeks, the Old English, and the Southerners Preserve the plural form.

Y'all are God's building. Amen. That's the first amen I've gotten in two and a half years. It's about y'all. Besides the nursing home, I get amens there.

You are God's building. It's corporate. The same in verses 16 and 17. You are the temple of God. Go to your King James.

Ye are the temple of God. Plural. The Spirit of God dwells in you. Verse 17. Which temple you are, you know what that is in the King James, which temple you are.

But we're in America and we're evangelicals and it has become me and Jesus. Throughout millennia, throughout thousand year blocks of times, It has always been understood by the faithful as God and His people, but now it's me and Jesus. This has not helped us. This is not evolution in a good way. This is devolution.

This is going from better to worse. It is God and His people. He indwells His people. It is ye are the temple of God. The last thing I want to notice in this text is that God dwells among his people.

That's the purpose. God is going to glorify himself by taking living stones and building them up together, making them corporate together, and then he's going to indwell. He's going to dwell there. His presence is specially going to be there. Yes, God is everywhere, but His presence specially indwells His people in a different way.

Alright, now to Ephesians 2. 1 Corinthians 3 is one of the texts that Paul writes that floods light on what Peter is teaching and Ephesians 2 is the other. So turn to Ephesians 2. In Ephesians 2 We have verses 19 through 22. Ephesians 2, beginning in verse 19, Paul writes, Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." Up to verse 19, he's been developing that the dividing wall has been torn down so that Jews and Gentiles now stand on the same ground.

They didn't used to, but now there's a new covenant and they stand on the same ground. So in verse 19 this is what we're seeing. Those who were strangers and foreigners are now members of the household. Verse 20. Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom The whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

So there are three things I want to notice from this text. One is that the dividing wall has been abolished. And this is going to be very important in a minute. So I'm laying foundation for five minutes from now. The dividing wall has been abolished so that now in the old temple there was the court of the Gentiles.

You couldn't go past that if you were a Gentile. But now in the new covenant the rules have changed. And the dividing wall that would separate the court of the Gentiles from where the serious work of the temple happened has been torn down. And Gentiles are welcome in. And they're members of the household now.

The second thing is that the chief cornerstone is Christ, just like 1 Corinthians 3, just like we see in 1 Peter 2. But in addition to the chief cornerstone, Paul speaks of other foundation stones. So in God's design, things all start with Jesus. And he is the chief cornerstone. But he has also appointed other men who will be foundation stones to this spiritual house.

And it's the apostles and the prophets. Of which Peter is one. Peter doesn't even mention it in 1 Peter, but Paul mentions it. That Jesus has appointed to be foundation stones will stand beside him to do his will and say his words and be foundation stones for this spiritual house. And number three, that they will be the dwelling place of God.

Paul says it again here. One last point on the spiritual house. It isn't the building, the physical building. It used to be the building, at least for the picture. Even then it was picturing something else.

But under the new covenant, the building is irrelevant, the physical building irrelevant. It was a type, it was a picture, it was pointing towards the substance and the substance is here. So the building couldn't mean less now. Some like the old system better and they build cathedrals. Better, and they build cathedrals.

Some want to go back to the old system, and they build cathedrals. And they make the wheels turn just like they used to turn. And it's all about the sacraments. And they have way more sacraments than you can ever find in the New Testament. And they like it the old way because in the old way you can build a beautiful, a magnificent building and you can make the wheels turn And your heart never has to be given over.

So you can still have your way but write a check for the cathedral. There's some of that lurking in all of our hearts by the way. Who would rather write a check, who would rather do the outward religious things and pay attention to the ordinances and the sacraments and just throw ourselves into that so that over here we can keep it our way. And you can just keep these things separate. We have our religious lives, we write our check for the cathedral, and then over Here we can be our own God.

That's wicked. It's in your heart, it's lurking, it rises up. This spiritual house, this spiritual temple, this dwelling place for God also has priests. The old temple had priests and the new temple has priests and they are holy. They are a holy priesthood.

And the holiness is the same and the holiness is different. The Old Testament priests under the old system were set apart completely to be Gods. It's the same in the New Covenant. That part is the same. Totally set aside to be His.

Sanctified. Set apart for this purpose. Worship. The new holy priesthood is the same, holy in the same way, but holy in a different way, in this way. In the old system, there's one tribe, the Levites.

Of 12 tribes, 11 excluded, one is special. Of the one tribe, many families, all excluded but the family of Aaron to be priests. Holy, special. Even within the special tribe, a special family. And even within a special family, a special gender, only men being priests.

And even within the special gender, only men of a certain age. The special of The special of the special of the special of the special, those are the priests. And that's from a holy nation. So really, really, really, really, really special. Now that same level of specialness is preserved, but it's different.

The national line is gone. The family line is gone. The gender line is gone. The age line is gone. And now you're a special people, regardless of nationality, regardless of family, Regardless of gender, regardless of age, you're a special people.

And you're the special of the special. You are the apple of His eye. There are many that He'll never show His mercy to, but you're special. You're the apple of his eye. So the holiness is the same.

Set apart to be gods. Set aside to worship. The God who deserves all worship. But the holiness is different because all those distinctions in the old system, those lines are gone and the line is different now. So the Jews and Gentiles and men and women and children can all come and be holy priests to the Lord.

And What do these holy priests do? They offer up spiritual sacrifices. They are to devote themselves to the worship of God, offering up spiritual sacrifices. Now in the old system these priests would offer up animals and grain and drink wine. They would kill animals, they would offer up grain, and they would pour out wine as a drink offerings.

But all of these things were described one way by God. Sweet aroma. Sweet aroma. It was pleasing to God. What they were doing, whether it was with the animals, with the grain, with the drink, it was a sweet aroma to God.

Go look up sweet aroma 42 times in the Old Testament, all having to do with the sacrificial system. Sweet aroma, sweet aroma, sweet aroma, sweet aroma. In Genesis you find it. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Ezra, Psalms, Ezekiel. Many books in the Old Testament, many times within those books, 42 times.

Sweet aroma. And the point is, they were doing what God had prescribed for worship, And when they would do this with their heart, it would be a sweet aroma before him. So now, the spiritual sacrifices are different, but they're still intended to be a sweet aroma. We'll go back to what Paul says in Romans 12.1. Present your bodies a living sacrifice.

So these spiritual sacrifices, it used to be pretty narrow. Animals, grain, drink. Now it's broad. The offering up of your whole self as A living sacrifice. So a living sacrifice.

Not to kill you like they used to do the sacrifices in the Old Testament, but a living sacrifice. It says your body, but it's talking about all of your life. A living sacrifice. And it's broad. Listen to what Robert Layton says.

He was a pastor in the mid 1600s in England and Scotland. He says, the Christian must say, What I am, Lord, I offer to you, to be wholly yours. And had I a thousand times more outward and inner gifts, all would still be yours. Had I a greater estate or more wit or learning or power, I would endeavor to serve you with everything. What I have, I offer to you, and it is most truly yours.

I am only giving to you what you already own." Spiritual sacrifices. Giving to God what he in actuality already owns. Offering up what we have and then if God gives us more, offering that up too. I'm going to re-say something that was said a couple of weeks ago because Peter keeps bringing us to this point. Radical, hold nothing back devotion isn't radical Christianity to Peter.

It's Christianity. It's normal Christianity. Radical, Hold nothing back devotion equals normal Christianity, Americans. Wake up, Jason Dome. Wake up, Sovereign Redeemer members and attenders.

Shake off the slumber of modern evangelicalism to understand that the radical, hold Nothing back devotion that Paul talks about and Peter talks about and Jesus talks about is normal Christianity. The modern bar is not the New Testament bar. The modern bar is miles below. Please don't take this in your mind to workspace salvation. Please don't.

I don't mean that. By grace alone, through faith alone. But it means that our lives are His to spend. Any way He wants to spend them. Any way.

When you come to Him, when God leads you through 100 circumstances in your life to come to Him by His mercy, then His life is yours to spend. My life is His to spend. The life of our family is His to spend. Here's a survey of the New Testament. Let's try to dial in and get more specific on what spiritual sacrifices really are.

Because it's broad. It's offering yourself a living sacrifice. But what does that mean in the day to day? The New Testament tells us a number of things. Philippians 4, verse 18.

Philippians 4, verse 18. The Philippians have sent Paul a gift, a number of gifts, by a man. And Paul receives them, and he calls these gifts, quote, a sweet smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. They sent Paul stuff and when they sent Paul stuff, it was a sweet smelling aroma. And they had offered a spiritual sacrifice to God in the stuff.

So somebody went out and worked a mundane job and God gave them increase from the labor. And they took the increase and they bought stuff. And they knew Paul needed stuff so they sent Paul the stuff, the gift, and it was a sweet smelling aroma. It was a spiritual sacrifice. Pleasing, well pleasing to God.

Ephesians 5 verse 2. Paul writes in Ephesians 5 verse 2, walk in love as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma. So Paul in Ephesians 5 2 starts with Christ and the offering up of himself and God says that was a spiritual sacrifice, That was a sweet smelling aroma. Now go do like that and walk in love. Because Christ loved us this way.

So when we walk in love it is a sweet smelling aroma. It is a spiritual sacrifice that we are offering. Hebrews 13 verses 15 and 16. Hebrews 13 verses 15 and 16. Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God.

That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. Hebrews 13 verses 15 and 16 says that praise is a sacrifice. It's the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips. And it says in verse 16 that to do good and to share is a sweet smelling aroma.

It's a spiritual sacrifice offered to God. Revelation 5, verse 8, and Revelation 8, verse 4. 5, verse 8, 8 verse 4 of Revelations. Both talk about the prayers of the saints. Being before the Lord like bowls of incense, a sweet smelling aroma, a spiritual sacrifice.

When we pray, it is a sweet smelling aroma. It's like a bowl of incense in heaven. It's a spiritual sacrifice we're offering to God. John MacArthur defines it in a way that's helpful. John MacArthur says this, spiritual sacrifices mean God honoring works done because of Christ under the direction of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of the Word of God.

There's a number of elements in that definition. Here's what you should remember. These have to be consistent with what God has said he wants. We worship God in the way He says that He wants. Because obviously the object of worship should say how He wants to be worshiped.

We know that. We know what that is through the Word of God and the leading of the Spirit. So it's things that are done for his glory according to his word. In other words, it's not a spiritual sacrifice to do whatever we want to do and then say that's for God. That's not a spiritual sacrifice.

That's idolatry. That's worship of ourselves. Worship of the living God is to understand His Word and how He has said He wants to be worshiped and then to do those things to His glory. Let me apply this to us. Where has God sovereignly placed you?

Wherever you are, that's what's happened. He sovereignly placed you there. Yield to Him there. Offer your body a living sacrifice there. Don't think, I can only do spiritual sacrifices when I get from here to there.

That's not true. That's not what the Bible teaches. Wherever you are is where God has sovereignly put you today. It doesn't mean you'll be there, you won't be somewhere else tomorrow. That doesn't mean that you can't aspire to be somewhere else.

But where you are today is where God put you today. Now offer yourself a living sacrifice today in this place where God has put you today. Yield to Him there. Mothers, you have mundane things in your life. You can grumble through the mundane things in your life or you can say, God has joined me to this man to love him and to help him and to love these children and to raise them up for the glory of God.

Sometimes that means I do laundry. I want to do laundry with all my heart for the glory of God. Not all the things God has called you to do are mundane, but some of them are. They can still be spiritual sacrifices as you make yourself a living sacrifice, as you offer your body up as a living sacrifice. Fathers, for 19 years I had the thought, what am I doing selling circuit boards?

What am I doing selling retina services? What am I doing selling software? What am I doing painting houses? What am I doing selling insurance? What am I doing?

What am I doing? What am I doing? You ought to be offering up spiritual sacrifices in that. You can say, God has called me to provide for this wife and these children, and it's honorable to go and work honestly for honest money. And if God gives us increase, then I'll send a gift to Paul, and will be a sweet smelling aroma.

Children, wherever you are in this life, offer it up. Offer it up. Paul said he was being poured out as a drink offering. He says that twice in Philippians 2 and 2 Timothy 4. He says, I'm being poured out as a drink offering.

Do that. Your life, if you've been redeemed, is God's to spend. So come to him and say, God, spend it however you want. You're wiser than me about this life. Spend it.

And let Him pour you out as a drink offering for His praise. Then Peter says, of these spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. We are holy priests, but there is a high priest. There is one mediator between God and man. And these holy priests, even though they are living stones, still have to have their spiritual sacrifices cleansed so that they'll be acceptable to God.

That happens through Christ. Isaiah 64 verse 6 says that all our righteousness is as filthy rags. So even these things that we would be so proud of on our own must be cleansed to be acceptable to God because He's so holy. But Christ is there to do that work. So now we've been brought full circle.

We started at it all starts with Christ, right? The whole text coming to Him as to a living stone. It all started with Christ. Now we've been brought full circle to the foundation of this spiritual house, the chief cornerstone laid by God himself. Anybody know what a chief cornerstone is?

I got to study that this week. You might have a vague idea in your mind, but it's a beautiful picture. It's the stone you lay first. You don't do anything on building a temple, a structure of any significance, until you lay the chief cornerstone. It's the first stone laid, and it supports the building, and it unites the parts.

It can bear the weight of the building along with the rest of the foundation. It bears the weight of the building. But it's the primary load-bearing stone. And so Peter goes on to quote Isaiah, which says, he who comes to him will never be put to shame. I'm misquoting.

Let's get it right. He who believes on him will by no means put to shame. The chief cornerstone can bear the load of the building so that the other living stones will never be put to shame. Life proceeds from Jesus Christ and he can bear the weight of every stone. So it supports the weight of the building, and it unites the parts.

In other words, every other stone is aligned to the chief cornerstone. Another stone is only straight and well placed if it's aligned with the chief cornerstone. That's how you know if it is or it isn't. And these chief cornerstones would be huge. One commentator spoke of a chief cornerstone that was 69 feet by 12 feet by 13 feet.

69 feet by 12 feet by. Imagine the cost of bringing that out of a quarry. How do you get One stone that's 69 by 12 by 13. I don't know, but it sounds expensive. It's a chief cornerstone.

It's chosen. It's precious. Those don't grow on trees. But if you want to build an important and a lasting structure, you have to have a chief cornerstone that's like that, 69 by 12 by 13 feet. And God has intended to build an important structure and a lasting structure.

It's the most important structure ever in the history of mankind and it's eternal. And the chief cornerstone is sized appropriately. Brothers and sisters, doesn't this make you rejoice? This is what we are, Holy priests, living stones. The building and those who are devoted in the building to the worship of the one who indwells the building.

What should we withhold from him in view of this? What do you want to hold back? Okay, so this is the big purpose of God with the elect, to have a living stone which gives life to other stones and makes them fit to be a building material for this building. And not only are they going to be formed into the building, they're going to be holy priests in this building. What do you want to hold back now?

What? What's so precious that you should hold it back. Nothing under the sun. Listen to Psalm 84, verse 10. Psalm 84, verse 10.

The psalmist writes, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. And the psalmist is right. It's better to be a slave. It's better to be the one who just holds the door open in the temple than to dwell anywhere else on Earth.

It's better to spend one day in this temple than 1, 000 days outside this temple. But God isn't calling us to be doorkeepers. He's saying, come be a holy priest. Come be a living stone and I will dwell here. Applications, I have three applications.

Number one, come Applications. Number one, come to Jesus Christ. As to a living stone, come to Christ. Most despise him, most reject him. It's a wide road that leads to destruction.

There are many on it. Some come. Some people God has reached into a world of rebellion And he said, you're mine. I'm going to show my mercy to you. It's a narrow road that leads to life, but there are those who come to Christ because God is merciful.

Come to him. If you come to Him, He will not turn you away. That's also in the book of John. I don't remember the exact designation of that one. I think it's John chapter 6 also.

He who comes to Christ will not be turned away. Come to Him. Number two, Live for Him. Offer up your body a living sacrifice. Say, God, what you have redeemed is yours to spend.

Look for ways to offer up spiritual sacrifices, even in the most mundane things. I discovered something when I got saved. I was in junior high. I was beginning to be seriously discipled for the first time in my life. And I discovered that in the middle of the most boring lectures, I could worship God.

I remember these moments in public school. And no one could stop me. I could worship God in the middle of the most boring lecture, and no one even had to know. And there I was just worshiping God in my heart in public schools, if only the principal had known. We can offer up spiritual sacrifices.

If you're waiting to be set aside to the ministry, for your street preaching ministry, or whatever it is that you think you have to arrive at before you can offer spiritual sacrifices, recalibrate your brain. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says you can buy stuff and send it to Paul and it will be a sweet smelling aroma. If you do it to his glory. Number three.

Lastly, Don't lose sight of what God is doing. Maybe you've been in the weeds for a while. It's been a while since you've lifted up out of there to see the big picture and see the framework around all these things in life that seem so disconnected from anything meaningful. Come back. Use this text in the way it was intended to see what God is doing, the big picture, the framework for it all.

That God is drawing people to come to him as to a living stone, rejected, despised by men, but chosen by God and precious. And he's making them living stones and he's building them into a spiritual house that he's going to dwell in, and he makes them holy priests. The big picture is so encouraging. Don't let yourself get disconnected from the big picture, from what God is doing. He has shown us in His Word.

Let's pray. Father, so humbling to come to this text, knowing what we are, but seeing the glorious privileges of your children, that you would call them out, you would cause them to come to Christ, use the circumstances of their life, their thoughts, to just drive them to their knees, break them and cause them to come to Christ for refuge, and then make them living stones and holy priests in your dwelling place. What privileges, what honors to be bestowed on us who never deserve them. We thank you for your great mercy. In Jesus' name, amen.