IT is one of those facts of history that the visible church, in all its representations, is a demonstration of belief and unbelief. In the whole body of the representation of the church in the various denominations there is a core of belief. This can be seen in certain belief in the facts concerning faith in God, and the earthly life of Jesus and his death, which are accepted by all who call themselves Christians, yet it is undeniable that there is wide diversions in most of the rest of what is truth and what is not, and this diversion can be narrowed down to differences concerning both the person of Christ and the work of Christ. The core of the issue may be found in peoples attitude to the cross of Jesus. It is the question as to what is believed concerning the death of Christ, and why he died. This diversion is seen, as Peter highlights here, whether Christ is precious, or whether, in some way or another, Christ is a cause of stumbling.

It boils down to what is accepted as authority concerning the truth. We have the the Bible which is the foundation of the Christian faith, but to this supreme authority is added church tradition, and worst of all the opinions of men. Those whom the Bible confirm as those 'who believe', are those who accept and hold fast to the supreme infallible authority of the Bible, and those who Peter refers to as those 'who do not believe' encompass all those who in one way or another set human wisdom and tradition side be side with the Bible, and also set up these above the truth of God's holy Word.

Peter speaks of Christ's preciousness to those who believe, and describes those who do not believe as stumbling concerning the revelation of Christ in the Bible. People who in different ways diverge from the total commitment to the Bible as God's word may well claim that Christ is precious to them, but this claim is vitiated by the fact that in preaching, teaching and conversation Christ is far from prominent, and when pushed there is real rejection of Christ as showing God's incredible love in Christ being given as a sacrifice for the atonement of sin of the world.

This stark division within the visible church is what is set forth in these two verse we are considering in this sermon. Peter has spoken of the glory of Christ as chosen and precious to God as Lord and Saviour, and the cornerstone on which the true church is built, and speaks of those who believe in Jesus as living stones united to Christ as the stones in a building are joined the the foundation stone of the whole building, and so becoming a spiritual house, and a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God through Christ. He speaks of these as those who are not put to shame because they trust in him. However in these two verses before us Peter seeks to make clear the difference between these living stones and the greater body of the visible church filled with people whose trust in the Lord is not what he is referring to.

Those who believe - Christ is precious

The difference which Peter describes is in the place of Christ in the hearts and minds of those who claim to be Christians. To those who truly believe, Christ is precious. Here is not something which is simply a claim but a reality in the heart and life of the true believer. Peter is describing an experience as well as an affirmation with the mouth. We may illustrate this difference perhaps with the difference between a husband who is loved, and the same man known and perhaps revered by those who are not married to him. To the one married there is a deep affection which fills the whole life. To the others there is simply an acquaintance that is much approved.

How can this preciousness be described? Christ is precious because of the experience made known to us of his love for us. Because of this love, whenever we are led to contemplate Christ, when we hear his name, and the wonder of the salvation he has won for us, our heart leaps with joy, and love for him fills our hearts with incredible sweetness. We are lifted heavenwards in heart and mind and are made to experience his love for us so greatly that the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. We have not been privileged to see Jesus transfigured before our eyes as Peter, James and John were privileged to see Jesus, but we have had set before us such a perception of the glory of Jesus as our Saviour and loving Lord, that like these disciples we desire that this preciousness of Jesus may cause us to desire that the mundane things of this earthly life and all its trials and troubles may fade away for ever. However like the disciples we have to come back to the reality of this sinful world, and our own human impotence, and face again this life, but we are not alone because Christ comes down the mountain with us, and he is always by our side as our strength and stay. Such experiences of Christ's preciousness make us say with the apostle Paul that to depart from this life and be with Christ for ever in his heavenly realm is best because in heaven we shall see Jesus as he is, and be free at last from all the down side of this earthly life, so hindered by the sinful flesh that still dwells within us.

This preciousness of Jesus is nurtured in our hearts by the blessing of Christ's salvation revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. As we contemplate this salvation we empathies with the words of John Newton in his hymn 'How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in the believers ears. How we are lifted up in joy with him in the words 'Jesus! My Shepherd, Husband, Friend. My Prophet, Priest, and King. My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End. He is precious in this way because all these titles of Jesus open our minds to what a wonderful and perfect Saviour he is. We have been taught by God's word and the Holy Spirit that apart from Christ we were dead in trespasses and sins, and on the road to destruction eternally in hell, and without Christ we can do nothing. We have been made to feel this horror, but much more the horror of the vileness of sin in our hearts and the darkness we lived in before Christ as Saviour was made known to us. So we are filled with the deepest love for Jesus who took upon himself all the burden our sin, and then on the cross suffered the hell we deserve and fear in our place. We echo with John these words 'This Is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4: 10) and Paul tells us in Romans 5 that 'When we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us'.

Then in our spiritual weakness Christ is precious as our life. He is the bread of life to feed us. He is the vine from which flows his life into us as the branches joined to him. He is our head to lead us as we are joined by faith to him as part of his body. He gives us living water springing up within us to eternal life. He is our shepherd to go before us. He is our light to open up his life to us from his holy word.

This preciousness of Jesus is so brilliantly illustrated to us in Mark 14: 27-28. Here Jesus has just dined with his disciples, and celebrated the passover. He has told them one of them was going to betray him, and by action makes clear who this one is. He institutes a remembrance of his precious death in giving them bread and wine. Then in these two verses, as the lover of the souls of his disciples, he tells them the truth that as he is captured and taken away to die for them, they will forsake him and fall away from him and deny they know him. But he does not stop loving them for he is giving himself to die that they may live, and at the same time of their denying him he tells them that when he rises again he will be still there to be with them because he will go before them into Galilee. So Jesus does not cast them off when they forsake him, but still loves them, and promises that he will be going before them as their Lord and Saviour, to lead and guide them. He is so precious that he promised never to leave them or forsake them, even in all their failings, and this is his preciousness to all of us who know and believe on as our sin-bearer and Saviour. How often do we fail him, but his love is everlasting and so deep that he never and never will forsake us who truly believe on him.

There is chorus from the old Children's Special Service Mission Chorus book, which later became known as the Scripture Union Chorus book which to me echo's the preciousness of Jesus. It goes like this

Wonderful, wonderful, Jesus, who can compare with thee.
Wonderful, wonderful, Jesus, fairer than all art thou to me.
Wonderful, wonderful, Jesus, Oh! How my soul loves thee.
Fairer than all the fairest, Jesus art thou to me.

Those who do not believe on Him.

What sad words Jesus utters here. He knew then and now that there would be so many who claim to be his disciples, but really do not believe on him, because, with all their outward goodness and Christian action, they reject crucial truth from the Bible by the sovereignty they give to their own wisdom, and by that wisdom reject that which is made known to them in the Bible which in their mind transgresses what they deem to be the truth of God.

By human wisdom they stumble at the revelation of Christ as the living stone, and trip over it, and fall forward to the ground in unbelief, and by this turn away from Jesus in the fullness the revelation in the Bible concerning his person, and the work he did to save us. By this they change or reject so much of the testimony concerning Christ which is revealed in the Bible, simply on the authority of human wisdom.

The Jewish leaders who brought about the crucifixion of Jesus illustrate this stumbling so vividly. They claimed to be living by the word of God, and the truth and law proclaimed by Moses, but had entered into this word of God their own interpretations and wisdom, and by this had denied the truth as had been handed down to them, by making it fit their own perception of God, and what they wanted the truth to be. They claimed to be the true Israel, but they stumbled at the truth, so that when Jesus came, because he did not fit their perception of the Messiah they rejected him. When Jesus exposed their faults, far from repenting and turning away from their own wisdom, they turned away from their Messiah and brought about his death.

They stumbled at the living stone because Jesus did not fit their opinions and what they wanted the Messiah to be. So Jesus became a stumbling stone and a rock of offence to them. By this they brought damnation on themselves, even though they claimed to be holy and true servants of God.

This syndrome is repeated in the visible church today and all down history. In the visible church today so many who are high in the echelons of the church, with some intellectual arrogance turn away from the truth and revelation of the Bible, and claim to be those who are the true followers of Christ. They tend to look down on those who believe the truths so plainly set forth in the Bible, and treat them as both a nuisance and a hindrance to the work of the church. Those who believe they treat with contempt, and simply distance themselves from them, and do their utmost to hinder them from testifying their true witness to Jesus. They are blind leaders off the blind, and precious souls are left thinking all is well with their souls, when really they are travelling down the broad way which leads to destruction in hell.

Why are people like this in aggressive unbelief? Peter gives the answer at the end of verse 8. He tells us 'They stumble because they disobey the message - which was also what they were destined for.'

We have two actions declared here. One is the action of humankind; the other is the action of God.

The action of humankind, of those who stumble in unbelief when the pure truth concerning Christ and his work for us is presented to them in the plain meaning of the Bible, is to disobey the message. It is not that they do not understand the declaration of the truth as it is delivered in the Bible. They understand what is being said in God's word very well, but because it does not fit their own wishes, they use their intellect and their own wisdom to declare God's revelation as unacceptable. In a word, as Peter declares, they disobey the message, and then justify their disobedience by their own wisdom, which is according to the spiritual corruption and deadness within them.

The terrible result of this disobedience is that they lead others away from the truth, leaving them with the conviction that they are acceptable to God in their own living and moral rectitude, when they are still dead in trespasses and sins.

Because there is an understanding of the truth, and they reject the truth they understand, they are entirely responsible for their actions and for the condemnation from God which results. The gospel they reject by disobedience is plainly offered to them freely and they are offered it free of charge. Christ came to his own, freely he came to save, but his own did not receive him; but the offer is clear that as many as receive him as Saviour will find acceptance before God through him, and his work for them.

Why is this behaviour so abundant in society, Peter tells us when he says 'which is also what they were destined for.' What does this awful declaration tell us and how is it to be understood. The truth is that they are not chosen to life. This does not mean that God chooses to damn their souls, but that he leaves them to their own devices to evaluate his free offer of salvation in their own understanding. Christ is offered to them freely. They are free to chose to believe, but because they are dead in trespasses and sins, they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. They make the choice not to believe even when the gospel of forgiveness and life is offered freely, and so they are responsible for their action.