WEBVTT 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:03.040 Well, I wonder if there aren't at least a couple 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:07.000 of thoughts about that. In the first place, it 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.380 may have been because he knew that it would become 00:00:09.380 --> 00:00:13.779 the focus of devotion rather than he himself. 00:00:14.939 --> 00:00:18.960 That is the tendency of mankind to worship the 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:25.179 material and to ignore the spiritual. So perhaps 00:00:25.179 --> 00:00:28.980 he did not want an ornate, permanent structure 00:00:28.980 --> 00:00:34.100 put up. as a temple. He didn't order it, at least, 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:37.759 because he knew that that building would become 00:00:37.759 --> 00:00:41.340 the focus of affection and devotion and worship. 00:00:42.840 --> 00:00:46.859 A second reason may be that he wanted to establish 00:00:46.859 --> 00:00:52.020 a pattern for us to remind us regarding the pilgrim 00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:56.899 nature of life. God was content to be the pilgrim 00:00:56.899 --> 00:01:00.659 God. in the sense that he was content to dwell 00:01:00.659 --> 00:01:06.560 in the tent or the tabernacle and did not insist 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:11.879 upon a permanent building, the temple. That tent 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:14.340 would certainly be a pattern for us who are called 00:01:14.340 --> 00:01:20.159 pilgrims and strangers in this world. But God 00:01:20.159 --> 00:01:22.680 did allow a temple to be constructed nonetheless. 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:27.939 It was not his order. It was an idea that was 00:01:27.939 --> 00:01:31.439 given birth within the heart of David, whose 00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:36.159 heart was after God's own heart. Out of sincere 00:01:36.159 --> 00:01:41.120 love for the Lord, and perhaps embarrassment 00:01:41.120 --> 00:01:43.939 about the fine quarters that he himself had, 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:51.700 David thought of the idea of a beautiful building 00:01:51.700 --> 00:01:57.140 for God's dwelling. He had placed the Ark of 00:01:57.140 --> 00:02:00.840 the Covenant in a tent, it says in Jerusalem. 00:02:02.459 --> 00:02:06.700 He himself lived in a beautiful palace that was 00:02:06.700 --> 00:02:12.379 built for him by Hiram, king of Tyre. As he saw 00:02:12.379 --> 00:02:14.860 the contrast between his own quarters and those 00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:18.080 of the Lord, he was smitten with conviction, 00:02:18.180 --> 00:02:21.599 apparently, and felt that God needed something 00:02:21.599 --> 00:02:24.439 more than that. Therefore, he wanted to make 00:02:24.439 --> 00:02:29.930 a temple. for the Lord. God thanked David but 00:02:29.930 --> 00:02:33.129 turned him down because David was a man of blood. 00:02:33.909 --> 00:02:38.090 He was a warrior. God said, David, I will not 00:02:38.090 --> 00:02:40.449 allow you to build me a house. I will allow your 00:02:40.449 --> 00:02:44.289 son, your seed, to build a temple for me. But 00:02:44.289 --> 00:02:46.550 because this was in your heart, I will build 00:02:46.550 --> 00:02:51.889 for you a house. And God didn't mean there a 00:02:51.889 --> 00:02:57.969 physical building. He meant descendants, a household, 00:02:58.289 --> 00:03:02.550 a family. And God established a covenant between 00:03:02.550 --> 00:03:10.569 David and his seed that is everlasting. The nature 00:03:10.569 --> 00:03:13.550 of man is to make things as permanent as possible. 00:03:13.650 --> 00:03:16.210 Have you ever noticed that? We're all that way. 00:03:17.370 --> 00:03:21.830 Perhaps it's because we realize that we ourselves 00:03:21.830 --> 00:03:28.270 are so passing. temporal. But the nature of God, 00:03:28.409 --> 00:03:32.889 on the other hand, his attention is primarily 00:03:32.889 --> 00:03:36.689 to focus on the spiritual because he is eternal. 00:03:38.990 --> 00:03:42.909 God is at work today constructing a new temple, 00:03:43.090 --> 00:03:47.689 a spiritual temple in which he chooses to dwell 00:03:47.689 --> 00:03:51.770 and to be both revealed and worshipped during 00:03:51.770 --> 00:03:56.139 this age. There is no longer a temple in Jerusalem. 00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:00.460 It was destroyed by the Roman armies in 70 A 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:04.699 .D., but God had left it long, long before that. 00:04:06.520 --> 00:04:10.199 Today God is building a new temple, and because 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:12.759 his attention is focused on the spiritual, yes, 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:17.319 this temple is a spiritual temple. The difference 00:04:17.319 --> 00:04:21.019 between the temple of Israel's day and the temple 00:04:21.019 --> 00:04:26.410 of today is this. We can say that Israel had 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:33.810 a temple. Today the church is a temple. Theirs 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:38.370 was composed of stone, wood, and precious metals. 00:04:39.689 --> 00:04:43.129 The church is composed of that which is eternally 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:50.610 precious, people, living stones. We can say that 00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:54.449 the Jews entered their temple to worship, but 00:04:54.449 --> 00:04:58.490 New Testament Christians are themselves a worshiping 00:04:58.490 --> 00:05:03.490 temple. Our text begins with the two words, so 00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:09.529 then. And what Paul means to do here is to draw 00:05:09.529 --> 00:05:13.689 a line of summation. He wishes to sum up what 00:05:13.689 --> 00:05:16.129 he has been saying to this point in the previous 00:05:16.129 --> 00:05:19.990 paragraph. regarding the new relationship between 00:05:19.990 --> 00:05:25.910 the Jew and the Gentile in Jesus Christ. I remind 00:05:25.910 --> 00:05:29.550 you again, he is addressing mostly Gentiles in 00:05:29.550 --> 00:05:32.189 the Ephesian church, as he would be addressing 00:05:32.189 --> 00:05:34.970 our church today, composed mostly of Gentiles 00:05:34.970 --> 00:05:40.930 by ancestry. He says, so then, you are no longer 00:05:40.930 --> 00:05:46.370 strangers and aliens. You are no longer short 00:05:46.370 --> 00:05:51.129 -term transients. You are no longer legal residents 00:05:51.129 --> 00:05:56.610 of a foreign land. These words summarize what 00:05:56.610 --> 00:05:59.310 he says back in verse 12, where he says, excluded 00:05:59.310 --> 00:06:02.829 from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to 00:06:02.829 --> 00:06:08.069 the covenants of promise. He says, you are no 00:06:08.069 --> 00:06:14.100 longer what you were, Gentiles by birth. Then 00:06:14.100 --> 00:06:18.519 he says, you are fellow citizens with the saints 00:06:18.519 --> 00:06:23.319 and are of God's household. So what he says is 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:28.759 that all believers, Gentile or Jew, are now described 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:35.220 as fellow citizens, not of Israel. Although we 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:38.740 are the spiritual seed of Abraham through faith 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:42.139 in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the book 00:06:42.139 --> 00:06:45.779 of Galatians. We are not the physical seed of 00:06:45.779 --> 00:06:49.639 Israel. We are not fellow heirs with the nation 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:54.300 of Israel in the national material promises that 00:06:54.300 --> 00:06:57.180 God gave to them in the Old Testament, and which, 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:00.600 by the way, he will yet fulfill to them in the 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:04.540 coming kingdom. But he says we are fellow citizens 00:07:04.540 --> 00:07:09.889 with the saints. That word saints probably refers 00:07:09.889 --> 00:07:12.930 to the early believers in this age who were primarily 00:07:12.930 --> 00:07:16.930 Jewish in their ancestry. Of course, in the very 00:07:16.930 --> 00:07:18.990 beginning they were all Jewish in the city of 00:07:18.990 --> 00:07:21.970 Jerusalem in the day of Pentecost. And in the 00:07:21.970 --> 00:07:25.069 days following, all Jewish. And then gradually 00:07:25.069 --> 00:07:28.529 it went out from there to the Samaritans. And 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:31.810 then by Acts chapter 10 to those who were Gentiles, 00:07:31.850 --> 00:07:36.160 full -blooded Gentiles. But he says now to these 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:40.100 who were pagans, who were Gentiles worshiping 00:07:40.100 --> 00:07:43.680 undoubtedly in the temple of Artemis in Ephesus, 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.139 one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. 00:07:46.540 --> 00:07:49.300 He says to them, having now been converted to 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:52.800 faith in Jesus Christ, you are fellow citizens 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:59.519 with the saints. You are a part of the same nation 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:05.060 with those who were earlier called out, and separated 00:08:05.060 --> 00:08:09.660 unto God, the saints. As I am sure you are aware, 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:14.060 the word saints in the Bible does not refer to 00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:16.100 a group of people who have been declared to be 00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:20.740 saints by some earthly institution. The word 00:08:20.740 --> 00:08:23.759 saints in the Bible refers to all of those who 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:26.600 are the lords, who have been called out, who 00:08:26.600 --> 00:08:30.839 have been separated from the world and from sin 00:08:30.839 --> 00:08:35.990 to himself to be his own. And so he says to you 00:08:35.990 --> 00:08:41.330 and to me who come from Gentile parentage, he 00:08:41.330 --> 00:08:45.889 says that now we are fellow citizens. No longer 00:08:45.889 --> 00:08:48.870 are we excluded from the nation, but now we're 00:08:48.870 --> 00:08:53.049 part of God's new nation. We're fellow citizens. 00:08:53.730 --> 00:08:57.710 And not only so, he says we are of God's household. 00:08:58.909 --> 00:09:02.570 Before we were separated from Christ. Before, 00:09:02.610 --> 00:09:05.490 according to verse 12, we were without God in 00:09:05.490 --> 00:09:10.590 the world. But now he tells us that we are God's 00:09:10.590 --> 00:09:18.029 kinsmen, God's family. I like that song that 00:09:18.029 --> 00:09:21.690 the Gaithers wrote. I'm so glad I'm a part of 00:09:21.690 --> 00:09:26.009 the family of God. That's exactly what God calls 00:09:26.009 --> 00:09:32.769 us. He calls us his household. his kinsmen, his 00:09:32.769 --> 00:09:37.370 loved ones. He has done that, by the way, through 00:09:37.370 --> 00:09:41.269 the Lord Jesus Christ. So that whether we are 00:09:41.269 --> 00:09:46.409 Jew or Gentile in our ancestry, we are now born 00:09:46.409 --> 00:09:51.769 into God's new family. And we, though we have 00:09:51.769 --> 00:09:56.330 ancestry yet, are in another sense without ancestry. 00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:00.399 in that we are a part of God's family, the first 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:03.460 generation. God doesn't have second generation 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:07.299 family members. We're all directly born into 00:10:07.299 --> 00:10:11.940 that family. If you have trusted the Lord Jesus 00:10:11.940 --> 00:10:16.419 Christ, you are of the family, the household 00:10:16.419 --> 00:10:21.659 of God. Now we who are saved are furthermore 00:10:21.659 --> 00:10:26.179 called in our text today the new temple of God. 00:10:27.470 --> 00:10:30.149 Now, I want to emphasize again that that word 00:10:30.149 --> 00:10:35.009 saved is a contemporary term. You can find it 00:10:35.009 --> 00:10:38.169 used in the newspaper, in books. It is not an 00:10:38.169 --> 00:10:41.870 antiquated, outdated term. It still has meaning 00:10:41.870 --> 00:10:44.070 in our language today, and it still has meaning 00:10:44.070 --> 00:10:48.330 in New Testament theological sense. It goes back 00:10:48.330 --> 00:10:50.990 to verses 8 and 9 of this chapter, which we studied 00:10:50.990 --> 00:10:56.580 earlier. It says, You are having been saved or 00:10:56.580 --> 00:11:01.759 you have been saved through faith and by grace. 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:07.259 It is the grace of God that saves us, not our 00:11:07.259 --> 00:11:10.860 own works, not our own pedigree, not our own 00:11:10.860 --> 00:11:15.059 attempts at religion. But it is God's grace and 00:11:15.059 --> 00:11:19.059 forever God's grace. Not grace that we earn and 00:11:19.059 --> 00:11:22.000 that we pile up bit by bit hoping to have enough 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:25.340 someday to please God. But grace in which God 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:29.360 is rich, it says in verse 7. Grace that God has 00:11:29.360 --> 00:11:33.899 lavished upon us in Christ. Grace that requires 00:11:33.899 --> 00:11:38.779 nothing of us in terms of our input. It only 00:11:38.779 --> 00:11:44.200 asks us to receive the gift. The gift of God. 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:48.360 Which God provides himself through the cross 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:52.600 of Calvary. And which we receive then through 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:57.169 faith. We who are the saved by grace through 00:11:57.169 --> 00:12:03.049 faith are the new temple of God. In our text, 00:12:03.070 --> 00:12:05.450 we can examine several parts of the temple, and 00:12:05.450 --> 00:12:08.070 that's what I'd like to do today and next week. 00:12:09.549 --> 00:12:13.389 Notice first with me the substructure. That is 00:12:13.389 --> 00:12:15.590 the foundation. There is not a more important 00:12:15.590 --> 00:12:19.990 part of a building than the foundation. I recall 00:12:19.990 --> 00:12:22.029 when we were building this structure, how long 00:12:22.029 --> 00:12:24.269 it took them to put the foundation over here 00:12:24.269 --> 00:12:28.350 on this wall. Because they had to go down beside 00:12:28.350 --> 00:12:31.590 the old building that was here and tie that in, 00:12:31.769 --> 00:12:34.610 but yet go down deeper so that they could build 00:12:34.610 --> 00:12:39.070 a foundation suitable for a higher building over 00:12:39.070 --> 00:12:41.370 here, should the Lord lead us to build that someday. 00:12:41.929 --> 00:12:44.730 There's already a foundation in here for a structure 00:12:44.730 --> 00:12:47.940 two or three stories tall. A CE building that 00:12:47.940 --> 00:12:51.299 we've envisioned over on that side. It took a 00:12:51.299 --> 00:12:53.580 long time for that foundation to be put in. I 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:57.240 remember how it rained. I began to wonder if 00:12:57.240 --> 00:12:59.840 the rainbow still had meaning at times back when 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:02.639 we were building this structure. Because that 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:04.779 hole there would fill up with water. It had to 00:13:04.779 --> 00:13:07.299 be pumped out, then dried out. And it seemed 00:13:07.299 --> 00:13:09.019 like there was one problem on another trying 00:13:09.019 --> 00:13:11.259 to get the foundation in for this building. The 00:13:11.259 --> 00:13:15.909 foundation is critical. I believe it was the 00:13:15.909 --> 00:13:18.409 John Hancock building in Chicago when it was 00:13:18.409 --> 00:13:22.169 constructed 20 years ago, which had to be reconstructed 00:13:22.169 --> 00:13:26.190 in its foundation. They dug the hole, they put 00:13:26.190 --> 00:13:29.490 in a foundation, and got up so high, and then 00:13:29.490 --> 00:13:35.210 they discovered, somehow, belatedly, that the 00:13:35.210 --> 00:13:37.409 foundation was not sufficient, and they had to 00:13:37.409 --> 00:13:40.070 go all the way back down to the foundation and 00:13:40.070 --> 00:13:43.179 reconstruct that. to hold that gigantic building 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:45.779 that goes up over 100 stories high on Chicago's 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:50.779 lakefront. The foundation of the church is likewise 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:54.720 absolutely critical. It had to be put in right 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:57.879 when it was put in. Now it's called in verse 00:13:57.879 --> 00:14:02.039 20 the foundation of the apostles and prophets. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:08.019 This new temple, this living temple, the church, 00:14:08.779 --> 00:14:12.460 has been built upon a foundation, the foundation 00:14:12.460 --> 00:14:16.399 of the apostles and prophets. These are not the 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:20.779 Old Testament prophets, Malachi and Haggai and 00:14:20.779 --> 00:14:25.100 Habakkuk and all of those. These are New Testament 00:14:25.100 --> 00:14:28.980 prophets, those who were the spokesmen for God 00:14:28.980 --> 00:14:31.159 in those early days when there was no written 00:14:31.159 --> 00:14:35.029 revelation. They gave an oral revelation from 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:37.710 God. Their spiritual gift was to know the mind 00:14:37.710 --> 00:14:40.009 of God, and the Spirit of God gave them utterance 00:14:40.009 --> 00:14:43.110 of direct revelation from the Lord. In that sense, 00:14:43.110 --> 00:14:47.350 there are no prophets today. The apostles were 00:14:47.350 --> 00:14:49.710 those who are closely associated with the Lord 00:14:49.710 --> 00:14:53.830 Jesus Christ and his ministry, who saw him after 00:14:53.830 --> 00:14:57.049 his resurrection from the dead, and who were 00:14:57.049 --> 00:15:01.570 commissioned by him. There are not apostles today. 00:15:02.730 --> 00:15:05.269 I have a good friend that I went to school with 00:15:05.269 --> 00:15:09.149 who lives in Indianapolis, Indiana. And although 00:15:09.149 --> 00:15:11.570 he has not told me this, he has told some mutual 00:15:11.570 --> 00:15:14.909 friends that he is an apostle. Well, God bless 00:15:14.909 --> 00:15:18.309 him if he thinks he's an apostle. But he isn't. 00:15:19.269 --> 00:15:21.730 Because apostles were limited to those early 00:15:21.730 --> 00:15:24.490 days, just as the prophets were. They were part 00:15:24.490 --> 00:15:28.169 of the foundation, you see. And once the foundation 00:15:28.169 --> 00:15:30.330 is laid, you don't keep laying a foundation. 00:15:30.509 --> 00:15:35.120 You go on from there. When the usefulness of 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.759 the apostles and prophets was passed, they ceased 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:41.740 being. They were no longer on the scene any longer 00:15:41.740 --> 00:15:45.679 because they were not needed. What does it mean 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.879 when it says the foundation of these people? 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:52.639 Well, it could mean, and legitimately so, the 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:55.080 foundation in the sense of the revelation which 00:15:55.080 --> 00:16:00.639 was given through them. Some of that is written 00:16:00.639 --> 00:16:04.590 down here. Not everything that God gave in Revelation 00:16:04.590 --> 00:16:08.750 in those days was written down. This, the inspired 00:16:08.750 --> 00:16:11.909 word of God, is his written revelation to us. 00:16:12.009 --> 00:16:17.409 It came to us through these people. This foundation 00:16:17.409 --> 00:16:20.090 could mean that it was the foundation they laid 00:16:20.090 --> 00:16:22.769 through the revelation from God which they gave. 00:16:23.110 --> 00:16:25.610 God is no longer today giving revelation, by 00:16:25.610 --> 00:16:28.769 the way. I'm sorry about those who claim to have 00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:32.570 Ramah's today or give Ramah's. Spoken words from 00:16:32.570 --> 00:16:35.169 God are those who claim to have prophecies and 00:16:35.169 --> 00:16:39.490 say, Thus saith the Lord. I remember getting 00:16:39.490 --> 00:16:42.070 a magazine from an evangelist down in Tulsa, 00:16:42.070 --> 00:16:44.070 Oklahoma. Not the one that's been in the news 00:16:44.070 --> 00:16:49.990 recently. That's a whole other sermon. But another 00:16:49.990 --> 00:16:52.110 one, and on the inside of his magazine, it said 00:16:52.110 --> 00:16:54.769 in the front cover, as you open the page, it 00:16:54.769 --> 00:16:57.450 said, Thus saith the Lord. And then he wrote 00:16:57.450 --> 00:17:02.419 his editorial for the month. Baloney. That wasn't 00:17:02.419 --> 00:17:04.200 thus saith the Lord, that was thus saith that 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.759 evangelist. God is not giving revelation today. 00:17:07.859 --> 00:17:10.740 We preach the revelation of God. The foundation 00:17:10.740 --> 00:17:13.240 is laid in the revelation which these people 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:17.059 gave. But I think that the meaning here is probably 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:19.299 a little different than that, though I think 00:17:19.299 --> 00:17:22.779 that's a legitimate point. And it is that they 00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:25.740 themselves, these apostles and prophets, at least 00:17:25.740 --> 00:17:29.079 in the figure that Paul uses here, were the foundation. 00:17:31.049 --> 00:17:37.109 They themselves were the foundation. That doesn't 00:17:37.109 --> 00:17:38.769 mean that the most important part of it, they're 00:17:38.769 --> 00:17:42.250 not. But they are the foundation. They were the 00:17:42.250 --> 00:17:45.509 first generation, the called people of God who 00:17:45.509 --> 00:17:48.509 were the foundation for what God has built during 00:17:48.509 --> 00:17:52.690 this age. Because it goes on then to call Jesus 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:57.289 Christ the cornerstone. That's still part of 00:17:57.289 --> 00:18:01.880 the substructure. Jesus Christ himself, the cornerstone. 00:18:02.380 --> 00:18:07.500 Now that is the key to the foundation. The cornerstone 00:18:07.500 --> 00:18:11.980 was the first stone that was put down for a building. 00:18:13.140 --> 00:18:18.640 It was a large, massive stone. It had to be put 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:22.039 in exactly square according to the plans of the 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:25.500 building because all of the other stones were 00:18:25.500 --> 00:18:30.759 lined up with it. It was put on the corner, and 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.779 then the walls were built out from it. And of 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:35.940 course, if it was not put up square, then the 00:18:35.940 --> 00:18:38.180 whole building would be cockeyed. It would be 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:41.660 crooked. It would not be built square. And so 00:18:41.660 --> 00:18:44.180 the cornerstone was absolutely critical. It had 00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:47.240 to be put in place exactly right. Jesus Christ 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:53.079 is the cornerstone of the church. And from him, 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:56.119 then, the apostles and prophets exactly line 00:18:56.119 --> 00:19:00.490 up. to form the foundation of the church. This 00:19:00.490 --> 00:19:03.289 word cornerstone refers to that piece which ties 00:19:03.289 --> 00:19:09.250 together the walls. Absolutely critical. It ties 00:19:09.250 --> 00:19:15.170 together the walls of the building. This cornerstone 00:19:15.170 --> 00:19:18.109 is described further for us over in 1 Peter, 00:19:18.230 --> 00:19:20.829 and I'd like you to turn there with me, and we'll 00:19:20.829 --> 00:19:24.250 close with our look in 1 Peter this morning. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:29.140 We have a vivid description of this stone given 00:19:29.140 --> 00:19:35.920 to us. I want you to notice that the theme here 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:40.720 is the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 3 says, 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:44.420 If you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:47.180 So the Lord is the one who is in view when he 00:19:47.180 --> 00:19:53.460 says in verse 4, 1 Peter 2, 1 Peter 2, 4, And 00:19:53.460 --> 00:19:59.720 coming to him. as to a living stone. You notice 00:19:59.720 --> 00:20:03.839 that? It calls him first here a living stone. 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:10.460 He is not a cold piece of rock. He is not something 00:20:10.460 --> 00:20:15.859 that is inanimate. He is not a personage who 00:20:15.859 --> 00:20:19.519 lived in history and is therefore not relevant 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:22.940 to our day. He is a living stone. Not a stone 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:27.329 that once lived. But a living stone, a stone 00:20:27.329 --> 00:20:31.349 that is alive today, that's Jesus Christ. That's 00:20:31.349 --> 00:20:35.369 the first thing it says about him. Rejected by 00:20:35.369 --> 00:20:37.650 men. So the second thing we see about him is 00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:41.369 that he's also the rejected stone. Rejected by 00:20:41.369 --> 00:20:45.410 whom? Well, by those who were the builders. Look 00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:49.829 at verse 7 where it quotes from the Psalms. It 00:20:49.829 --> 00:20:52.569 says, the stone which the builders rejected, 00:20:52.750 --> 00:20:56.769 this became the very cornerstone. The builders 00:20:56.769 --> 00:21:01.190 referred to are the leaders of the nation of 00:21:01.190 --> 00:21:07.009 Israel in that day when Jesus was here. They 00:21:07.009 --> 00:21:10.569 rejected him. He came to his own. His own received 00:21:10.569 --> 00:21:17.390 him not as a deliberate act of their wills, knowing 00:21:17.390 --> 00:21:22.049 who he was. They committed the unpardonable sin, 00:21:22.289 --> 00:21:26.230 blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. They rejected 00:21:26.230 --> 00:21:31.410 him. So he is the rejected stone in his relationship 00:21:31.410 --> 00:21:34.930 to the nation of Israel. It's not that they overlooked 00:21:34.930 --> 00:21:38.690 this stone. It is that they willfully rejected 00:21:38.690 --> 00:21:44.549 him. Now going back to verse 4, he's also called 00:21:44.549 --> 00:21:51.819 here a choice stone, a chosen stone. Again in 00:21:51.819 --> 00:21:55.180 verse 6, he is called the same. Quoting again 00:21:55.180 --> 00:21:57.660 from the Old Testament, this time the book of 00:21:57.660 --> 00:22:01.200 Isaiah. He is the chosen stone. That is, he is 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:05.759 chosen by God. He says in chapter 1, even before 00:22:05.759 --> 00:22:11.220 the creation of the world, this stone was chosen 00:22:11.220 --> 00:22:17.430 by God to bring redemption to lost men. And he 00:22:17.430 --> 00:22:20.990 would be the one upon whom God would build salvation. 00:22:21.910 --> 00:22:25.910 The chosen stone. In verse 6, he is also called 00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:29.329 here the precious stone. Again in verse 4, the 00:22:29.329 --> 00:22:32.930 same. The precious stone that is of great price. 00:22:34.150 --> 00:22:38.789 He is a stone of high honor. He is esteemed to 00:22:38.789 --> 00:22:42.490 God. In verse 4, precious in the sight of God. 00:22:42.569 --> 00:22:45.130 Do you notice that? How precious. Do you think 00:22:45.130 --> 00:22:48.789 Jesus is to his heavenly father? He's the precious 00:22:48.789 --> 00:22:53.170 stone. God looks at his son and says, well pleased. 00:22:55.049 --> 00:22:57.789 He is a precious stone to God, but in verse 6, 00:22:57.950 --> 00:23:01.069 he is a precious stone to us who believe in him. 00:23:01.609 --> 00:23:04.309 A precious stone. He who believes in him shall 00:23:04.309 --> 00:23:08.089 not be disappointed. We who know the Lord Jesus 00:23:08.089 --> 00:23:11.029 Christ call him precious and highly esteemed. 00:23:12.839 --> 00:23:15.839 And then again in verse 6, he is called the cornerstone. 00:23:18.579 --> 00:23:22.619 He is called the chief cornerstone, the very 00:23:22.619 --> 00:23:28.559 cornerstone in verse 7. There is no cornerstone 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:32.140 but him. He is the one in whom it all rests. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:36.339 It all lines up with him. Without him it falls 00:23:36.339 --> 00:23:41.519 apart. He is above all others and uniquely so. 00:23:42.410 --> 00:23:46.670 the chief cornerstone. But there is another description 00:23:46.670 --> 00:23:53.390 of him in verse 8, a stumbling stone. Not only 00:23:53.390 --> 00:23:57.049 is he a rejected stone in verse 7, and a cornerstone, 00:23:57.349 --> 00:24:01.029 but in verse 8 it says, a stone of stumbling 00:24:01.029 --> 00:24:06.609 and a rock of offense. For they stumble because 00:24:06.609 --> 00:24:09.910 they are disobedient to the word and to this 00:24:09.910 --> 00:24:16.170 doom. they were also appointed. Those who refuse 00:24:16.170 --> 00:24:20.349 the Lord Jesus Christ, those who reject the Lord 00:24:20.349 --> 00:24:25.450 Jesus Christ, must see him as a stumbling stone, 00:24:25.710 --> 00:24:30.490 for he will cause them to stumble. And those 00:24:30.490 --> 00:24:34.630 who stumble over him, he will roll upon and crush. 00:24:39.049 --> 00:24:43.650 He is a rock of offense. In John chapter 7, verse 00:24:43.650 --> 00:24:47.309 43, it says, There was division among the people 00:24:47.309 --> 00:24:52.509 because of him. The Lord Jesus Christ, because 00:24:52.509 --> 00:24:57.329 he is the stone, God's stone, will bring offense 00:24:57.329 --> 00:25:05.430 and division among men. And those who stumble 00:25:05.430 --> 00:25:08.730 over him stumble, it says, to their own doom, 00:25:09.089 --> 00:25:13.250 to which they are appointed. That doesn't mean 00:25:13.250 --> 00:25:17.269 that God has chosen them to be damned. What it 00:25:17.269 --> 00:25:19.990 means is that those who stumble over him, who 00:25:19.990 --> 00:25:23.109 are disobedient to the word, are appointed to 00:25:23.109 --> 00:25:28.569 doom. There is no recourse for them. There is 00:25:28.569 --> 00:25:32.250 no other way to God. They reject Jesus Christ. 00:25:32.859 --> 00:25:39.799 to their own damnation. One thing about a foundation, 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:44.740 a substructure, it's never changed. It's permanent. 00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:51.240 Unless you destroy the whole building. God's 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:55.539 way of salvation, God's chief cornerstone, God's 00:25:55.539 --> 00:25:58.880 choice stone, his precious stone, his living 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:03.759 stone, has never changed. God's way of salvation 00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:08.059 has not changed in 2 ,000 years since the Lord 00:26:08.059 --> 00:26:11.740 Jesus Christ died and rose again. People get 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:15.920 saved today by grace through faith as they have 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.700 through the centuries before. I want to ask you 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:24.779 a question personally. Is he the stone in your 00:26:24.779 --> 00:26:29.359 life? Is he the cornerstone upon which you've 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:33.759 built? In another place, Paul uses a little different 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:36.539 figure of speech, but the idea is the same. He 00:26:36.539 --> 00:26:39.880 says, For other foundation can no man lay than 00:26:39.880 --> 00:26:44.539 that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. He is the 00:26:44.539 --> 00:26:47.519 only foundation for life. Is he your foundation? 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:57.099 My friend, when he is the foundation, he holds 00:26:57.099 --> 00:26:59.720 your life up. It doesn't mean you're going to 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:01.539 be trouble -free, but it means you'll stand. 00:27:02.740 --> 00:27:05.539 You know what the proof is that a person is saved? 00:27:07.440 --> 00:27:14.500 It's that he continues in the faith. You say, 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.140 well, I know this person who said he was saved, 00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:19.819 and today he's a reprobate. Today he curses God, 00:27:19.980 --> 00:27:22.720 he denies. Listen, just count it. That person 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:26.410 was likely not saved at all. If he is still a 00:27:26.410 --> 00:27:28.250 Christian, God is going to turn him around. But 00:27:28.250 --> 00:27:30.950 because of his profession, outwardly, we have 00:27:30.950 --> 00:27:33.450 to say he never built upon the foundation. He 00:27:33.450 --> 00:27:37.170 is an apostate. He professed something from which 00:27:37.170 --> 00:27:41.589 he fell away. He was never saved. The test that 00:27:41.589 --> 00:27:45.049 a person is genuinely saved is that he's built 00:27:45.049 --> 00:27:50.089 on the stone. And he may have ups and downs, 00:27:50.289 --> 00:27:55.990 but he continues. He goes on. He perseveres. 00:27:58.690 --> 00:28:02.309 Is that your testimony? Is that where you are 00:28:02.309 --> 00:28:07.549 today? Does your life have surety? Stability? 00:28:08.410 --> 00:28:15.970 Is there continuance in your testimony? There's 00:28:15.970 --> 00:28:18.049 a serious thing to stumble against this stone. 00:28:20.990 --> 00:28:25.420 It simply says in beautiful language here, This 00:28:25.420 --> 00:28:29.940 precious value, then, is for you who believe. 00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:35.380 You who believe. If you've not believed on him, 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:42.920 will you today? Let's pray. Father, I pray that 00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:46.920 in the closing seconds of this service, if there 00:28:46.920 --> 00:28:49.480 is some friend here who has never made the Lord 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:53.460 Jesus the foundation of his life, the chief, 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:58.099 cornerstone of his life. If he or she has built 00:28:58.099 --> 00:29:05.539 upon some other shaky foundation, I ask that 00:29:05.539 --> 00:29:12.619 you expose that now. Make it clear so that faith 00:29:12.619 --> 00:29:16.160 may genuinely be placed in the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:20.480 the living stone, and that life can be built 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:28.819 eternally secure. In Jesus' name, amen. I have 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:30.940 a very dear friend who is a missionary in Mexico. 00:29:31.839 --> 00:29:34.839 A week ago, Friday, he was riding his bicycle 00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:38.799 to an appointment near Puebla when he hit a car 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.140 head -on. He was flipped off his bicycle and 00:29:42.140 --> 00:29:44.960 crashed into the windshield of the car. He had 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:48.119 a biker's helmet on, which probably saved his 00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:52.660 life, but left him with brain damage. He was 00:29:52.660 --> 00:29:56.200 in the hospital for a couple of days in Puebla. 00:29:56.960 --> 00:29:59.220 One of the men that he was discipling in his 00:29:59.220 --> 00:30:03.000 church in Puebla was a neurosurgeon and operated 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.579 twice on Bruce, once on Friday and again on Saturday 00:30:06.579 --> 00:30:10.039 night. They decided on Monday he was getting 00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:11.859 pneumonia, and they had to rush him to the United 00:30:11.859 --> 00:30:15.299 States. They got a plane to come, an ambulance 00:30:15.299 --> 00:30:19.180 jet, to fly him to Dallas, Texas, to a hospital 00:30:19.180 --> 00:30:26.569 there. Just before they left the hospital, his 00:30:26.569 --> 00:30:28.529 family was gathered around the bed. They'd been 00:30:28.529 --> 00:30:30.470 called in from all over the United States to 00:30:30.470 --> 00:30:31.849 come because they didn't know if Bruce would 00:30:31.849 --> 00:30:36.089 last the weekend. And his family gathered around 00:30:36.089 --> 00:30:37.970 the bed as they were preparing to move him out 00:30:37.970 --> 00:30:40.349 to the plane, not knowing if he would even live 00:30:40.349 --> 00:30:42.769 through the trip. They opened their Bibles to 00:30:42.769 --> 00:30:48.589 Isaiah 41, and they read. And for the first time 00:30:48.589 --> 00:30:50.970 since he'd undergone surgery, he mumbled something. 00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:54.359 And Brent, his son, leaned down and said, Dad, 00:30:54.440 --> 00:30:56.099 what did you say? We couldn't understand you. 00:30:56.140 --> 00:30:58.720 And he mumbled again, a little louder, but it 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:00.920 was incomprehensible, and Brent told him so. 00:31:01.559 --> 00:31:06.299 And Bruce lifted his left arm, clenched his fist, 00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:10.880 and said audibly for all of them to hear, Saved 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:16.299 by grace. My friend, when it comes down to that 00:31:16.299 --> 00:31:20.660 point, that's the only thing that counts. That's 00:31:20.660 --> 00:31:26.539 all it is. Are you saved by grace? Let's stand 00:31:26.539 --> 00:31:34.779 together, please, for closing prayer. Thank you, 00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:36.980 Father, for the salvation that you have offered 00:31:36.980 --> 00:31:39.839 through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to all 00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:44.000 who will come to him through faith. I want to 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:46.319 pray this morning for Bruce, for his recovery. 00:31:47.720 --> 00:31:50.160 for you to raise him up and use him again in 00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:52.240 his powerful preaching ministry and planting 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:56.059 churches in Mexico. Thank you for the testimony 00:31:56.059 --> 00:31:59.980 that he gave to his loved ones around his bed 00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:03.839 a week ago. And Father, I pray that if some friend 00:32:03.839 --> 00:32:08.420 here would be lost at that point and facing death 00:32:08.420 --> 00:32:11.160 without Christ, should such a thing happen to 00:32:11.160 --> 00:32:14.670 him or her. that before that person leaves here 00:32:14.670 --> 00:32:16.470 this morning, you would deal with them in such 00:32:16.470 --> 00:32:19.410 a definite way that faith would be extended to 00:32:19.410 --> 00:32:21.809 the Lord Jesus Christ, and they too could say, 00:32:21.890 --> 00:32:29.029 saved by grace. In Jesus' name, amen. If you'd 00:32:29.029 --> 00:32:31.750 like to talk more about that, please come quickly 00:32:31.750 --> 00:32:33.970 as you're dismissed. I'll be standing here at 00:32:33.970 --> 00:32:35.549 the front. We are dismissed.