The text this morning is taken from 1st Peter chapter 2 verses 4 through 8. And coming to

him as to a living stone rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God,

you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For this is contained in scripture.

Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes

in him shall not be disappointed. This precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone.

And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumble because they were disobedient to the word,

and to this doom they were also appointed.

What I'd like to do with these few verses in focusing in on verses 6 to 8 is to draw out the main point as I understand it and then encourage your faith with it and apply it to the situation we find ourselves in, including tonight's gathering where we'll talk about the organ.

There are relevant things here.

Last week, let me put the verses 6 to 8 in the context of last week, in verses 4 and 5,

it was a beckoning from the Lord to us as a congregation last week to come to Jesus. Come to Jesus and be built yourselves into living stones to be a spiritual

house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus.

And the key was coming to Christ.

A tasting the kindness of the Lord, yearning for the Lord, banking on his word,

feasting on his goodness. When that happens and you're united to Christ in that way, you become a living stone, just like he's

the living, chosen, precious stone, and the house of God for his dwelling begins to be built.

That was last week. Christ the key to becoming the people of God. Now what happens

in verses 6 to 8 is three quotations of Old Testament texts, two from Isaiah, one from Psalm 118, to explain where

this stone imagery comes from. Why is he calling Jesus a stone and a living stone and a chosen stone and a precious stone?

But the quotation of these three Old Testament texts in verses 6 to 8 is not simply to kind of list them off and say there's the source, but rather to put them together in a certain way and interpret them with insertions of his

own in a certain way that a powerful point is made about the triumph of God and the validity of faith.

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