- 26/06/2025
#livelystones #salvation #Jesus #royalpriesthood #bibleteaching #history #christianity #christian #PualDuffett #God #doctrine #ChartridgeMissionChurch #chesham #thefriendliestfellowship
Paul Duffett from Quainton Baptist Chapel preaches from 1 Peter on the lively stones that make up the spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Chartridge Mission Church was founded in 1844 and remains in the village of Chartridge, just outside Chesham, in the picturesque Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
We are a friendly fellowship and would love you to visit us in person. Join us for our Sunday service at 6 pm, followed by refreshments.
Our Church is wheelchair friendly, with an accessible toilet.
Chartridge Mission Church, Chapel Lane, Chartridge, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, HP5 2TH
Support our work at Chartridge Mission Church:
Donations via Stewardship.org.uk:
https://www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/20005300
Cheques can be made payable to Chartridge Mission Church and sent to the above address for the attention of Pastor Barry Kempson.
Recorded on Sunday, 22nd June 2025.
Join us for our Sunday service at 6 pm.
www.Chartridge.UK
The Friendliest Fellowship.
Paul Duffett from Quainton Baptist Chapel preaches from 1 Peter on the lively stones that make up the spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Chartridge Mission Church was founded in 1844 and remains in the village of Chartridge, just outside Chesham, in the picturesque Chiltern Hills of Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
We are a friendly fellowship and would love you to visit us in person. Join us for our Sunday service at 6 pm, followed by refreshments.
Our Church is wheelchair friendly, with an accessible toilet.
Chartridge Mission Church, Chapel Lane, Chartridge, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, HP5 2TH
Support our work at Chartridge Mission Church:
Donations via Stewardship.org.uk:
https://www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/20005300
Cheques can be made payable to Chartridge Mission Church and sent to the above address for the attention of Pastor Barry Kempson.
Recorded on Sunday, 22nd June 2025.
Join us for our Sunday service at 6 pm.
www.Chartridge.UK
The Friendliest Fellowship.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Be still and know your Creator, uplift him in the nations. God the Lord of hosts is with us evermore.
00:21Well, it's a privilege to come and minister to you tonight. We were looking earlier at that passage in 1 Peter and chapter 2.
00:35And I'd like to just, with the opening sort of thoughts here, just bring in something of the context of this epistle.
00:43It's interesting that Peter is writing to believers residing in places named in the account of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 and verse 9.
00:57If you've looked at it, you'll see that there are various places which the devout Christian, no, they weren't Christian actually, they were Jews of course, because they were there for the Pentecostal season, for the Feast of Pentecost, but they'd gone back.
01:14And now they were Christians because, obviously at the day of Pentecost, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, there were no baptisms, there was wonderful professional faith, it was a, talk about revival, my word, marvellous, day of Pentecost.
01:32And so these various Christians, if I can call them that, they were Jewish people of course, they went back, Messianic believers, they went back to all sorts of places, mostly in sort of Asia Minor, or Turkey as we call it nowadays, but Peter was writing to them.
01:53And it's wonderful that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was manifested by Peter and the disciples into the fact that they spoke in these foreign languages, they'd not learned them, tongues of course, we know them as, but they were understood by the foreigners in Jerusalem.
02:15And what was being proclaimed in these strange tongues, was the wonderful works of God.
02:28And that's the marvellous thing, isn't it, that we recognise, with the fact that these tongues on the day of Pentecost were proclaiming the wonderful works of God.
02:38And now, Peter is writing, some years later, to Christians about suffering and conduct in the light of full salvation.
02:50His first chapter that we didn't read, of course, in the first letter of Peter, chapter one, lays the groundwork.
02:58And now we look closely at the first ten verses of chapter two, which we read earlier, which set out the practical application of being in Christ.
03:11What it means to be a Christian.
03:14Now, I've called this message by the theme that runs throughout this passage.
03:21And it is stonework.
03:25Stonework.
03:25And I'm going to be re-looking, as I said, at these first ten verses.
03:30I'm breaking it up into four sections.
03:33Let me read the first section to you.
03:35This is verses one to four.
03:38Where Peter writes,
03:39Lay aside all malice and guile, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
03:47as newborn babies desire sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
03:54If so, be that ye have tasted, that the Lord is gracious, to whom coming, as unto a, and here we have the first reference,
04:07a living stone, a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious.
04:15So there we have those first four verses, introducing us to the theme, if you like, this aspect of stone.
04:24But first of all, Peter is addressing these believers as newborn babes.
04:31And of course, the lesson for us tonight, what is our position, is it in Christ, have we been born again?
04:40Talking about newborn babes.
04:43Has your umbilical cord with the world been cut?
04:47I was looking at this word, believeth, and in the Strong's it's 4,100.
04:56Pistio, I don't know whether I'm pronouncing that correctly, but I believe it's a Greek word there.
05:01Excuse me with the Greek words that I'll be bringing up, another couple I'll be looking at later on.
05:06This aspect of belief or believing is to have faith, in or upon, or with respect to a person or a thing,
05:20i.e. to credit, by implication, to entrust, especially one's spiritual well-being, to Christ.
05:29Believe, believe, commit, to trust, or to put in trust with.
05:40This is quite interesting.
05:41This word belief, it comes out, of course, in the lovely gospel in a nutshell.
05:48He that believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
05:55What a marvellous situation that is.
05:58Believing.
05:58In fact, in James, of course, he brought it out in his letter.
06:03Thou believest that there is one God.
06:07Thou doest well.
06:09The devils also believe and tremble.
06:14Apparently, even that James record there, in the Greek of believing there,
06:22is the same as what we've just been looking at, in believing, regarding as newborn babes, and also in that gospel in a nutshell.
06:35It's the same sort of Greek word.
06:40Believest.
06:40Thou believest that there is one God.
06:43Now, as I sort of looked at this, I realised, yes, I believe there's to do with salvation.
06:50But it's a belief that actually means something.
06:56Let me illustrate it this way.
06:59Do you believe in your bank?
07:03I mean, let's face it, you're entrusted there with your money, aren't you?
07:08If you didn't believe in the bank, if you didn't think you were going to get your money out, you wouldn't put it in the first place, was you?
07:15And I believe that's just a very sort of pale illustration, if you like, of our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
07:25Thou believest that there is one God.
07:27Thou doest well.
07:28James commends the believers there.
07:31But did you notice also that devils believe?
07:35In other words, does that mean that the devils can be saved?
07:39No, it doesn't.
07:40Because I believe that Jesus died for humans.
07:44I don't believe he died for the angelic host.
07:48And do you notice here, and again, this is the clincher for me when I look at this.
07:54For those who do believe, human beings, that there's one God, thou doest well.
07:59There's a wonderful commendation there, isn't there?
08:02That there is some sort of reward, thou doest well.
08:08To say a pattern of that would be most sort of pale and insignificant.
08:12If you believe, then you're rejoicing in the Lord, you're not looking for any self-glory, anything like that.
08:19But you do well, that's what James said.
08:22But notice what he says about the devils also believing.
08:27And they tremble.
08:31In other words, yes, they know the truth.
08:33And that they know their time is short.
08:36And that they know that there is a lake of fire that's being prepared for the devil and his angels.
08:44So, with that said, new Christians, hallelujah.
08:50And it talks there about having tasted that the Lord is gracious in verse 3, doesn't it?
08:56Wonderful verse in Psalm 34, verse 8.
08:58Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
09:03Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
09:06Again, there's a recognition by the psalmist there.
09:09Again, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
09:12But tasting and seeing that the Lord is good.
09:16I suppose you've been in supermarkets where you, as soon as you go, you're confronted by someone on a stand.
09:21And they're offering you a little top of wine or they're trying to give you some sort of special fancy cheese or something that they're marketing or promoting.
09:31Oh, taste and see.
09:33No, more than that.
09:35It's actually, yes, there are things who taste and perhaps decline.
09:42That's what you've done the same.
09:43When you go to the supermarket, yes, you might have had that little bit of whatever it was that they were passing to you.
09:49But that didn't necessarily mean that you can actually buy, you know, a packet or a glass or a bottle or whatever it was that they were promoting.
09:56But no, tasting and seeing is something more than that, isn't it?
10:00It's actually taking in, as it were.
10:03Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.
10:06Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
10:08But tonight we're looking at this aspect of stone.
10:11As unto a living stone we read there, didn't we?
10:15What or who is this then?
10:17Well, it's none other, I believe, than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
10:23The living stone, have you encountered him?
10:27Again, there's a challenge there.
10:29David Livingstone, note the name, was a Scottish missionary and explorer in the Victorian era.
10:37Now best remembered because of his meeting with Henry Morton Stanley, which gave rise to the popular quotation,
10:50Dr. Livingstone, I presume.
10:52The quote, Dr. Livingstone, I presume, was famously spoken, as I said, by Henry Morton Stanley on October 27th, 1871,
11:03when he finally encountered Dr. David Livingstone at Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania.
11:15This moment marked a significant meeting between the two explorers.
11:22As Stanley had been sent to find the living stone, who had not been heard from for several years.
11:30The quote has since become iconic, symbolising exploration and discovery.
11:38Have you discovered the living stone?
11:42The final words, then, of the reception in verse 4 there, describe the status of the living stone.
11:52Even our Lord Jesus Christ.
11:55He is rejected by men.
11:57Did you notice that?
11:58Disallowed, I think, is the word that comes out there.
12:01And again, I've gone to Strong's again for the Greek, disallowed.
12:06I don't think I've got that right there, but it's a long Greek word.
12:21It means to disapprove, by implication, to repudiate, to disallow, to reject.
12:29And isn't that what men have done with the Lord Jesus Christ?
12:32They've rejected him.
12:34Disallowed, they've reputed.
12:36Pudiated him.
12:38So, in contrast to the treatment of men, but chosen of God and precious.
12:47That came out wonderfully there, didn't it, in that passage.
12:51Chosen of God and precious.
12:52This is what the Apostle Paul writes of Jesus' relationship with his father in Philippians 2, verse 8.
12:59And being found in fashion as a man, he, Jesus, humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
13:07Wherefore, God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.
13:25How precious is that?
13:27How precious is that?
13:28What a contrast between men and God.
13:34Hallelujah.
13:36That name which is above every name.
13:38Praise his name.
13:38Let's go on quickly to section 2, which is actually just one verse.
13:42It's number 5 in your chapter there.
13:47Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
13:58Peter is now writing about us, the living son, of course, for the Lord Jesus Christ, but he's writing about us.
14:09Ye also, that means believers, are being prepared or being sacrificed, work in progress, as it were.
14:20And again, this third time of this Greek here, to do with living or life.
14:26Life, za'u, za'u, za'u, a primary verb, to live, literally or figuratively, life, lively, or quick.
14:36That comes out in the Greek, I mean, he'll come to judge the quick and the dead.
14:42That means the lively.
14:44And it's interesting that this same word, Greek word, in verse 5,
14:52is also the same as the one that we read earlier, regarding the Lord Jesus being a living stone.
15:02It's the same word as lively.
15:05I remember, I think it was Dennis Clark, who was the originator, initiator, founder of Intercessors' Room, many, many years ago.
15:15So, I believe that he made a difference between living and lively.
15:23Whether he's right to do that, I don't know, but I'll pass it on to you, because it might be helpful.
15:29At three o'clock in the morning, you might be living, but you're not necessarily lively, are you?
15:35Lively has that sort of connotation of being energetic or manifesting some sort of joie de vie, you know, formance of life or something.
15:47Living, yes, you know, you could be in a coma, but you're still sort of living, aren't you?
15:52But, anyway, here we have it in verse 5.
15:55Ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house.
16:01This, Paul writes to the Corinthians, what?
16:04Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
16:14For ye are bought for price.
16:17Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
16:22This aspect, then, of the lively stones being built up, then, and again, Paul emphasised this about our bodies being a temple.
16:31It's interesting, the association of the believer's body being a temple, of the Holy Ghost, is that, if you like, analogising Solomon's temple, which was built of stone, but years lively stones, Peter writes, and, of course, Solomon's temple was physical blocks of stone.
16:51So, it's interesting to note here, in Kings, 1 Kings chapter 6,
16:57And the house that was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither, so that there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool, nor of iron heard in the house while it was in the building.
17:10Now, this is interesting, because it talks here about some off-site preparation, and I see that as being indicative of us being prepared now for our future eternal state.
17:26Did you notice that? Solomon's temple, the stonework for it, was actually prepared off-site, so that when they brought it onto site, they just sort of put it together, without having to sort of chip away at it, or do any...
17:40toolwork on it. It says that no tool of iron was heard in the house while it was in the building. And, as I say, we also are being worked on, if I can put it in those ways, we were talking about sanctification earlier, weren't we?
17:55This aspect of work in progress for the here and now. Jesus made reference to the life of stones. We think the stone is being inert, don't we? But without life. Mineral.
18:08Perhaps some of you remember a radio program, many years ago, called 20 Questions, and Gilbert Harding, I think, was the quiz master then.
18:20And do you remember, there was this aspect of whether the item or the clue, or to give a clue, as it were, to what the item was, or the subject was.
18:31Was it animal, vegetable, or mineral? Not so in God's travel. We find that even though it's mineral, it doesn't seem to have life.
18:43Jesus said in chapter 19 of Luke, that when he was come nigh, even out of the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples would be able to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying,
19:02Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
19:09And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said to him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.
19:15And he answered and said unto them, I tell you, that if these should hold their peace, the stones will immediately cry out.
19:26There you have the living stones, or the lively stones, crying out. In fact, they didn't cry out because his human disciples were actually crying out.
19:38But you notice there that Jesus is alluding to the fact that stones can cry out in glory to God, praise his name.
19:50So Peter, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is giving us further insight into the concept of stonework, as originated in his conversation with Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16.
20:08You might remember the incident when Peter was with the disciples there in Caesarea Philippi.
20:13Jesus asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is, or am?
20:23And they said, the Son said that thou art John the Baptist, and the Son say Elias, others Jeremiah, and others, or one of the prophets.
20:32He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
20:37This is verse 16 now.
20:38And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
20:47And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
20:57And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
21:11So, we have there then, this aspect of Jesus conferring on Peter, this name of Peter, we think of him as Peter, but he's Simon, isn't he?
21:26Do you remember when Jesus called him Simon, with this aspect of Peter?
21:31Apparently, in the Greek, there's a play upon words, Peter, Petros, literally, a little rock, and Jesus is saying, upon this rock, Petra, I will build my church.
21:44He does not promise to build this church upon Peter, but upon himself, as Peter himself is careful to tell us in the passage that we read in 1 Peter 2.
21:57So, here the Lord clearly shows that his church, which, do you notice, he is building, is constructed of stones, little rocks, who, like Peter, and note the name change there, bear witness, rather like, do you remember LBC, being pressed into bricks, London Brick Company.
22:20Bear witness to Jesus, bear witness to Jesus, being the Christ, the Son of the living God.
22:28And I believe that each stone, to be the stone that God can use, proclaims that as well, like Peter did.
22:37And so, in verse 5, we have the analogy of a physical building, facilitating the occupant, and who is that?
22:45That's the Holy Priest.
22:47And the reason is to accomplish his delight of offering up spiritual sacrifices in a way that's pleasing to God.
22:57Now, I want to quickly move on to chapter 2 now, and go to our third section, which is verses 6 to 8.
23:06Wherefore, also it's contained in the scripture, while thou lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.
23:16But unto you, therefore, which believe in his pressures, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone suddenly, the rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto they also were appointed.
23:34So, notice there, the importance of belief there.
23:38We looked at the meaning of this word belief earlier, and it comes twice in this passage.
23:43Verse 16, that believeeth shall not be confounded.
23:46Verse 7, unto you, therefore, which believe, is precious.
23:52So, we return now to Christ Jesus himself, being the stone or the rock.
23:56Do you know that Christ was with the children of Israel in the wilderness?
24:05Well, the Apostle Paul writes about this in 1 Corinthians 10, how that they all did drink of the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them.
24:18So, we can see that there are other prophecies regarding our Lord Jesus being the rock or the stone, rejected of men, the stone which the builders rejected.
24:35The big question, which I don't have the answer to, who are these incompetent builders, and what are they building?
24:45Whatever it was or is, it's a spectacular flop.
24:51That is exactly what Satan tried to tempt Jesus to be, a spectacular flop.
24:57You may remember in the temptation that Satan brought Jesus to Jerusalem, set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him,
25:07If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence.
25:13And what did Jesus say in John 3, 14?
25:17As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
25:24And later on in John 12, and if Jesus says, if I, I will be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
25:33Satan wanted him to throw himself off to be a spectacle.
25:38But no, it's the raised up Jesus that draws men unto himself.
25:45I thank God that Jesus did not give in to temptation.
25:48I'm part, and I view, part of the church, the church that Jesus is building.
25:58Who's the head of the corner?
26:00Holding everything together, while supporting his building, being its foundation.
26:07We could talk about foundation.
26:09I think the brother last Sunday evening talked about foundations.
26:11But I want to actually quickly move on, seeing that we're running out of time, to our last bit here, which is chapter 2, and it's section 4, which is verses 9 and 10.
26:22The last two verses in our passage.
26:25But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that should show forth the praises of him, and has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light,
26:38which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
26:48I noted that in some of these hymns, verses that we've been singing, it talks about mercy, hallelujah, obtaining mercy, hallelujah.
26:57So, let's go then through to those questions and answers again.
27:04Let's see here.
27:07So, who are we in Christ?
27:09Well, we're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that's who we are in Christ.
27:16What should we be doing?
27:19We should be showing forth the praises of him.
27:22And why should we be praising God?
27:25Three reasons here.
27:26Because, one, he hath called us out of darkness into his marvellous light.
27:33Number two, in time past we were not people, but now we're the people of God.
27:38And thirdly, we've not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy.
27:47Wonderful reasons there.
27:48So, the challenge is twofold as we close.
27:52To those outside the kingdom, may you respond to the gospel call.
27:57Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
28:01Yes, confess with your mouth.
28:03And there are various other things, of course, which, if you are saved, you'll want to do.
28:07You'll want to follow that plan of works that the Lord has laid out.
28:11It's not the works that bring you salvation, but it's that putting your faith and trust in heaven.
28:16Just like, very faintly, a shadow, if you like.
28:22But this aspect of putting your money in the bank, you're displaying, you're manifesting your faith in the bank.
28:27How much more so we should be putting our faith and trust, our life, into the hands of the living God.
28:33Praise his name.
28:35For those within the kingdom, may we fulfil the desires and delight of our Lord and master by showing forth his praises.
28:43So, these are just a few thoughts from that passage and trust that they've been a benefit to each one of us.
28:50They've certainly been a benefit and blessing to me as I've been mulling through this before the Lord.
28:56Obviously, more that we could say about, we see, but time has taken us on.
29:00Library stones built together.
29:03The Lord's edifice.
29:04Praise his name.
29:05Amen.
29:05Amen.
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