back to index2017-02-05 The Living Stones of God's House
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Well we're really glad to have the India team back. 00:00:11.000 |
So we'll first show the video and then after that we're going to invite James Hong to come 00:00:14.740 |
up and share a bit of what he experienced and things that he'd like to share afterwards. 00:00:19.760 |
I wanted to talk a little bit about what we experienced and I understand that some of 00:00:24.280 |
you or most of you have prayed for us last week and I want to give an update on that 00:00:32.280 |
I've heard different things, people saying, "I thought it happened in the villages," and 00:00:39.520 |
What had happened was when we got to the hotel, it was the first night, we're eating dinner 00:00:47.840 |
And within that restaurant there's patrons there who have been drinking, I want to say 00:00:57.200 |
And there's a cricket game on, and when I say cricket I mean like baseball, right? 00:01:04.240 |
Kind of like soccer in Central America or parts of Asia. 00:01:09.360 |
And the cricket game is a national game, right? 00:01:12.320 |
So the team is India versus I forgot which country. 00:01:15.840 |
But because of that you can understand there's a sense of nationalism that's really stoking 00:01:20.960 |
within these guys and then you have liquor in them too. 00:01:23.600 |
So what happened was at the start of the game they had asked us to stand, right? 00:01:28.480 |
And obviously they didn't ask us in English, they asked us in Telugu, which is the native 00:01:35.720 |
They asked the pastors in Telugu if they could stand and if we could stand. 00:01:40.160 |
Now at this point we don't know what's going on, right? 00:01:43.180 |
So one of the pastors, one of the two, replies to the patrons, "Hey look, we'll stand, but 00:01:50.160 |
they're American so they're not going to stand. 00:01:54.560 |
And it didn't sit well with one or two people. 00:01:58.840 |
For the most part the group didn't like it, but for the two it really, really ticked them 00:02:04.760 |
So one of them turns around and kind of motions for us to stand. 00:02:07.960 |
And I can see he's kind of agitated at this point. 00:02:12.020 |
So he's going like this and I hear music so I'm like, "Okay, it's a national anthem." 00:02:18.760 |
So we stand, but the moment we stand, we're like maybe like 10 seconds after the beginning 00:02:24.360 |
We stand, we do our thing, we're very respectful, and then we sit down. 00:02:29.960 |
One of the patrons goes up to the pastors and they start speaking in Telugu, right? 00:02:34.760 |
I find out later that he's very upset because we didn't stand right away and also he didn't 00:02:40.960 |
like the pastor's answer, namely that we wouldn't stand because we're Americans. 00:02:47.240 |
We thought, "Okay, since they're in this country, all of them should stand and you should be 00:02:56.560 |
Had the team known that's what they wanted, we would have done initially, we didn't care, 00:03:01.760 |
The pastors were just trying to be as accommodating as possible to us. 00:03:06.320 |
And so what ended up happening is because this is a very nationalistic environment, 00:03:11.320 |
they have liquor in their system, they start being very aggressive, okay? 00:03:15.680 |
They come up to the pastors and start yelling at them, berating them. 00:03:20.280 |
One of the two gets slapped in the face, okay? 00:03:22.920 |
And as all this is going on, the other people within their group, although they didn't really 00:03:27.240 |
like what they did, they're a little bit more reasonable and they're trying to hold the 00:03:32.940 |
So what ends up happening is the two pastors, one of them splits up, goes outside, he gets 00:03:38.760 |
Unbeknownst to us at the time, he gets hit in the face, okay? 00:03:42.640 |
I think what the pastor told me was two shots to the face right here. 00:03:47.600 |
The other pastor is inside and they're a hotel, they don't have any security. 00:03:54.680 |
The hotel waiters and employees are trying to break things up. 00:04:02.080 |
They would sit down and they would stare at him, so they'd get back up, sit down, stare 00:04:07.520 |
So finally what they decided to do was put us in a different room, okay? 00:04:11.960 |
And they watched the game, we didn't see them for the rest of our trip there. 00:04:15.360 |
Now, but there's an update that I want to tell you guys all about, okay? 00:04:19.040 |
This is how God used that situation, now that I've painted it for you. 00:04:23.440 |
The following day, the hotel security, well the hotel manager calls the police, okay? 00:04:29.480 |
The reason he calls the police is because we've been going to the same hotel for the 00:04:34.360 |
So they like our business, they want to keep our business, right? 00:04:40.160 |
We have 15 guys that stay in that hotel every year. 00:04:43.620 |
So for them, if they lose our business, it's a big deal. 00:04:47.040 |
And they know, obviously, anyone would know, if we don't want to come back, it's very easy 00:04:52.480 |
So the hotel, for that reason, economic reasons, calls the police, okay? 00:05:01.280 |
I don't know how, but they get in contact with the two people who are the most aggressive, 00:05:05.800 |
who did the hitting and who did the slapping. 00:05:07.960 |
And then they have a conversation with them two and the two pastors. 00:05:11.920 |
Now we're not present at that point for the conversation. 00:05:15.320 |
Because this happens, I think, late night, maybe early morning. 00:05:19.560 |
So we're sleeping and the police approach the pastors. 00:05:24.600 |
What happens is, the police learn of the situation, they side with the pastors, and they tell 00:05:29.720 |
the pastors, "Hey, if you want to throw these guys in jail, if you want to quote unquote 00:05:33.840 |
press charges, so to speak, we'll put them in jail." 00:05:38.080 |
One of the pastors spoke up and said, "You know what? 00:05:44.760 |
We really want to show the love and forgiveness in Christ." 00:05:53.840 |
From what I understand, one, if not both of them, were in tears. 00:05:58.060 |
And so what ended up happening was, the whole thing was squashed. 00:06:02.240 |
They actually want to come and talk to the entire team to express their sorrow over what 00:06:10.480 |
They never came, I don't know what happened to them. 00:06:15.320 |
And the hotel had promised us, "Hey, if you want police to be present while you guys are 00:06:22.560 |
And we had a private dining room, a unit away, that we occupied for the rest of our stay 00:06:29.360 |
And probably will if we ever decide to go back there. 00:06:36.080 |
That I mean, you think of drunk people who are there to watch a cricket game, and these 00:06:42.580 |
Americans are there, and you're not thinking two days later, "I'm going to see the glory 00:06:50.280 |
But God really used that situation to show His grace. 00:06:59.800 |
I mean, it's kind of like telephone charades, you know, people were saying different things 00:07:04.680 |
But it was at the hotel, and it wasn't at the village. 00:07:07.760 |
Now I want to give a little update about India itself, and what we plan to do in India. 00:07:12.080 |
I'm glad you guys saw the video first, because that paints a portrait of what we did, and 00:07:19.600 |
This year, the schedule was a little different the first year. 00:07:22.760 |
But what happened this year was, we had three pastors come with us. 00:07:26.520 |
Pastor Peter, Pastor Aaron from BMC, and Pastor James Lee from Crosslife. 00:07:31.040 |
And we took a team of medical professionals, two optometrists, two nurses, one physical 00:07:37.600 |
therapist, although he helped out with eye care, and there are three supporting people 00:07:42.680 |
who support the optometry team, and the rest of us who kind of did VBS and just normal 00:07:51.720 |
What we did was, in the morning, the pastors provided pastoral training to the villagers. 00:07:56.840 |
There was a clip in here, I think you saw, where you saw about maybe 15 to 20, 25 Indian 00:08:09.320 |
There was a translator that was present, and on each day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 00:08:15.220 |
Pastor Peter, Pastor Aaron, or Pastor James would give a seminar, so to speak, right? 00:08:20.360 |
On hermeneutics, and then applying hermeneutics, talking about how important it is to read 00:08:28.600 |
Relatively simple things that most of us probably know, but to these pastors, might be brand 00:08:34.920 |
And so, we would get to a village at approximately 10 a.m., there was a translator that was present, 00:08:43.080 |
And each village, there's a room where we would meet. 00:08:47.320 |
That's like the size of maybe three rooms, it's a building, but about the size of three 00:08:51.320 |
The pastors would give a lesson, and then the interpreter would translate. 00:08:55.640 |
And the pastors that were there, let's say about 25 of them, would sit there and would 00:09:00.720 |
That would go on for about 12.30, so let's say about two and a half hours. 00:09:05.760 |
At about 12.30, we would eat, and at about 1.30, what would happen is, we'd break up 00:09:13.040 |
that same exact room where the pastoral training occurred. 00:09:18.120 |
In one half of the room, you had eye care, and in the other half of the room, you had 00:09:23.280 |
wound care, like general healthcare by the nurses. 00:09:27.240 |
And so, what would happen is, we'd give out numbers, and in each village that we went 00:09:31.840 |
to, we'd see approximately 100 to 110 people specifically for eye care, and another, I 00:09:38.280 |
wanna say, maybe 20, you could ask Sarah Kim, but 20 for wound care. 00:09:43.920 |
And the reason that was so effective is because what happens is that each of these villages, 00:09:53.020 |
It's a very agricultural, rural-based village, where they don't have basic plumbing or electricity. 00:10:01.360 |
You can see from the videos, you're talking about straw huts, mud brick buildings, really 00:10:08.580 |
So, they're very neglected by not only foreigners, but the government. 00:10:14.540 |
So for these people, half of them are illiterate. 00:10:17.740 |
The vast majority of them have never seen a foreigner before. 00:10:22.980 |
These native Indians, half of them can't read, they see these Americans who look Asian, they 00:10:33.140 |
They see these Americans come in, and they're providing them eye care. 00:10:39.060 |
And they're thinking, "Okay, why would a foreigner come in from far away to help me with my eyes? 00:10:50.540 |
And segue to the gospel, because the villages in this part of India, almost all of India, 00:10:58.180 |
but specifically these parts of India, Hinduism is entrenched. 00:11:02.380 |
It's not just their religion, it's their culture, it's their way of life, it's their government, 00:11:10.620 |
And so, they don't know anything about Christianity. 00:11:14.340 |
They don't know that Jesus rose from the dead. 00:11:16.340 |
They don't understand there's 5,000 documents of the New Testament. 00:11:22.380 |
All they know is that there's a foreigner that comes in, who's traveled long distances, 00:11:30.980 |
Or it's translated to them, "These foreigners are here because of Christ." 00:11:35.700 |
And what that does is it gives a platform for the pastors. 00:11:39.060 |
Now in that context, where they're thinking, "Okay, I've never seen a foreigner before. 00:11:44.660 |
This is the first time I've seen a foreigner, and he wants to help me." 00:11:49.780 |
That gives a platform for the local pastor to say, "Hey, it's because they're Christian, 00:11:55.460 |
it's because they love God, it's because their sins are forgiven. 00:12:04.540 |
The airport that we land in is called Bangalore. 00:12:09.820 |
You have all these tech companies coming there, and then you have a major hub of training 00:12:13.500 |
in terms of information and computer science. 00:12:16.460 |
Once you land there, we drove about five hours to a city called Bellary. 00:12:30.140 |
From Bellary, each village that we went to took another two hours of driving. 00:12:35.460 |
And only recently, within the last year, were roads developed. 00:12:41.820 |
So you can see how the neglect is very natural, because it's very inaccessible. 00:12:48.100 |
And so the ministry that we're now doing is trying to reach each village. 00:12:54.100 |
And if you think Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, first year on Friday, each day we 00:13:00.220 |
We've never visited a village more than once. 00:13:03.000 |
And so this evangelism that we're doing, specifically in this part of India, it's very trailblazing. 00:13:11.260 |
So I want to, after sharing what we do, I would ask this from Breen, that we continue 00:13:21.380 |
Because our team goes, we spend a week there, and then we come back. 00:13:24.860 |
But the pastors there, some of them are being beaten for passing on tracts. 00:13:31.220 |
Some of them, what little government subsidies there are, they don't receive, because they're 00:13:43.380 |
In general fear for their lives, for their own lives, and for their family, all because 00:13:51.340 |
And everyone in this team that has gone there this past trip will tell you how pregnant 00:14:04.960 |
And so we're looking forward to doing the work in the future in India. 00:14:11.340 |
Pastor Peter is thinking about what we can do, perhaps even purchase a building for the 00:14:19.180 |
And if that's the case, where they can go and meet together, even if it's once a month, 00:14:25.380 |
and maybe we'll send people there to train them, and we will definitely continue the 00:14:30.140 |
If any of your hearts are moved, you don't necessarily have to have a medical skill, 00:14:35.180 |
but if you do, you should really pray about it. 00:14:43.300 |
If you have the resources and the time, just pray about it. 00:14:47.020 |
I know all of our schedules are busy, all of us have things to do, I completely get 00:14:54.380 |
You might go there and come back thinking, "I've received so much more than I gave." 00:14:59.300 |
And you come back extremely humbled, extremely blessed, and reminded of what a privilege 00:15:08.660 |
If you would please turn your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 2. 00:15:14.660 |
Okay, and I'm going to be reading from verse 1 down to verse 10. 00:15:24.220 |
And where it says, "Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and 00:15:30.780 |
envy and all slander, like newborn babies long for the pure milk of the Word, so that 00:15:36.100 |
by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. 00:15:42.780 |
And coming to Him as a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and 00:15:46.980 |
precious in the sight of God, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual 00:15:51.940 |
house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus 00:16:01.420 |
Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him will 00:16:10.340 |
This precious value then is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which 00:16:15.820 |
the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a 00:16:24.020 |
For they stumble because they are disobedient to the Word, and to this doom they are also 00:16:29.340 |
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, 00:16:36.660 |
so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness 00:16:43.060 |
For you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God. 00:16:47.020 |
You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. 00:16:52.820 |
Our God, we ask that you grant to us great insight into your Word. 00:16:56.500 |
As you also prepare our hearts through your Spirit, helping us to be both receptive, desiring 00:17:03.020 |
to apply what you have for us, and ultimately changing our lives through it. 00:17:11.900 |
This passage, I read from verses 1 through 10, but we're going to be really focusing 00:17:21.100 |
As we take a look at this passage, we've been studying in the book of 1 Peter, through our 00:17:25.780 |
Bible studies, and we've been talking a lot about how in certain circumstances, especially 00:17:31.260 |
difficult circumstances, God tends to change our perspective. 00:17:36.940 |
God challenges us beyond what's normal for us. 00:17:40.940 |
In order to help us think about this whole topic, I want to ask you a question. 00:17:47.340 |
Not just a little let down, not somebody, "Oh, you said you'd be there, but you weren't, 00:17:58.620 |
Some of these memes that I see on Facebook and the internet, they're pretty hilarious. 00:18:03.180 |
They have these memes where it's like, "Expectation for post-college life," and then they have 00:18:08.460 |
these pictures of making money and buying a car, and then reality, it's like, "Basement 00:18:15.940 |
Stuff like that, where you have your expectations of what you hope for, for a huge stage of 00:18:21.700 |
Then the second half of the meme is just like, "But the reality is this." 00:18:26.900 |
Now, what typically happens for us, the reason why I bring that up is because whenever our 00:18:32.140 |
expectations are up here, and then the reality comes in down here, we've got to make sense 00:18:42.380 |
You are now faced with an interpretive issue, how do I make sense of all that? 00:18:48.540 |
Sometimes what we'll do is we'll play a little mind games. 00:18:56.020 |
You don't expect anything out of God, people, friends, family. 00:18:58.620 |
You're just like, "Everyone's going to let me down. 00:19:04.700 |
You don't want people to upsell the movie, so it's like, "Oh, the movie was like, 'Don't 00:19:11.340 |
You play these mind games where you start dropping your expectations, and how you even 00:19:21.700 |
On that level, we have expectations and a discrepancy of it. 00:19:29.020 |
If for example, our expectations are unreasonably high, yeah, you're just going to really ruin 00:19:34.380 |
your relationships, or you're just going to ruin everything that you hope to enjoy, but 00:19:42.980 |
Sometimes I watch a movie, and someone says, "Did you like it?" 00:19:48.140 |
They're like, "Oh, it's because you went in with too high expectations." 00:19:56.580 |
Sometimes you have your expectations, and then there's the reality. 00:19:59.940 |
Reality that sometimes some things are just really that bad. 00:20:02.900 |
On the flip side, even if your expectations are super low, in reality, they're really, 00:20:10.020 |
The reason why I talk about these things is because Apostle Peter, bringing things into 00:20:15.140 |
context, is helping people make sense of their experience. 00:20:21.060 |
In the book of 1 Peter, the people are experiencing a kind of persecution and suffering beyond 00:20:28.420 |
We went over it in our Bible study, but in brief review, he starts off the letter by 00:20:39.500 |
To you who are aliens, refugees, much like what we see even today, where they have no 00:20:45.300 |
provision, they have no country trying to come to their aid, they lost much to their 00:20:56.260 |
We understand that when, again, we experience suffering, to whatever degree it may be, we 00:21:01.220 |
need a way to interpret what's going on, and we also need a way to get a good grasp on 00:21:07.420 |
That's going to help us persevere in some of these contexts. 00:21:12.340 |
I just want to jump in right away to verses four and five to talk about the first things 00:21:21.100 |
that Apostle Peter says to strengthen and encourage the Christians of his day. 00:21:27.020 |
Verse four and five reads like this, it says, "And coming to him as to a living stone, which 00:21:34.900 |
has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also as 00:21:40.980 |
living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual 00:21:47.700 |
sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." 00:21:51.860 |
Now, from those two verses, I want to focus in on what is grammatically the main subject 00:22:00.580 |
What's the main point of those two verses put together? 00:22:03.540 |
I have you guys practice that in Bible study and stuff. 00:22:08.020 |
The idea of coming to this living stone is incredibly important, but grammatically, the 00:22:13.580 |
emphasis is on you are being built up as a spiritual house. 00:22:18.620 |
That's my point one here is saying you're being built up as a house for the Lord for 00:22:30.460 |
God is doing a work in our lives, and this is something we need to know, especially when 00:22:38.060 |
Essentially, what's happening here is Apostle Peter is saying, "Listen, collectively, God 00:22:50.260 |
Other people are degrading you, saying demeaning things, persecuting you, oppressing you, and 00:22:57.300 |
I'm telling you God is building you up, building you up to a purpose beyond what your physical 00:23:06.660 |
God is building you up to be a spiritual house, a dwelling, so to speak, and a spiritual priesthood." 00:23:13.380 |
I just want to make mention of this a little bit that he's not focusing on the individual 00:23:19.300 |
He's talking about the collective whole, us as believers. 00:23:23.060 |
God has designed us so that piece by piece, it's a beautiful metaphor, just as the metaphor 00:23:27.500 |
of the body, that you're all members united, connected together. 00:23:34.780 |
One of the commentaries I was reading referenced that this royalty visit at Sparta because 00:23:41.340 |
Sparta at that time in Roman culture was such a powerhouse. 00:23:47.540 |
Upon visiting was kind of shocked, like, "Your city has no walls." 00:23:50.980 |
So went to the ruler and said, "How come you guys don't build a wall?" 00:23:54.180 |
And he looked at his soldier and said, "This is our wall. 00:23:58.500 |
You have walls that can carry spears and shields?" 00:24:02.940 |
As they think about that, God is building something that is a powerhouse, so to speak, 00:24:12.620 |
And the beautiful picture is that we are going to be serving the Lord. 00:24:18.260 |
And the reason why this helps is because for any individual who's ever suffered, what makes 00:24:29.900 |
What makes it very difficult to persevere and carry on is if there's no purpose behind 00:24:36.820 |
And a lot of times that's what people struggle with. 00:24:38.860 |
Is there something beyond just to make my next meal? 00:24:43.780 |
Just for everything else that everybody is running for? 00:24:48.340 |
Is that the only thing that's happening right now? 00:24:54.260 |
But here, there is this encouragement that God has joined us for an incredible purpose 00:25:02.700 |
And Ephesians chapter 2 reiterates this whole idea. 00:25:05.460 |
So I read at the beginning, but let's turn our Bibles there and read it now. 00:25:13.220 |
You were children of wrath, you were destined for destruction, you had no promise, you had 00:25:21.020 |
And then the transfer that in Christ we have so much more. 00:25:24.940 |
Now, if you ever get the time, if you have the time, just read it in whole, but for our 00:25:30.180 |
purposes we're going to be reading from verse 17 through 22. 00:25:34.860 |
And he says, "And he came and preached peace to you who are far off, peace to those who 00:25:43.180 |
For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father." 00:25:48.460 |
So in Christ we have this access, and he says, "So then you're no longer strangers and aliens, 00:25:55.180 |
So now we have citizenship, we have this fellowship, we have this brotherhood, and he says, "With 00:26:02.700 |
Wow, now we have a belonging to an intimate household setting. 00:26:07.060 |
Verse 20, "Having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus 00:26:11.500 |
himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing 00:26:17.260 |
up," and look at this, "into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built 00:26:25.020 |
together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." 00:26:34.700 |
I don't know if we appreciate what that passage is saying. 00:26:39.580 |
I was looking at the way, I was trying to see the way that MacArthur, John MacArthur, 00:26:44.780 |
would try to like describe and summarize all of this, but he doesn't. 00:26:49.860 |
This passage in 1 Peter verses 4 through 8 that I'm preaching, he preaches six sermons 00:26:57.620 |
But the running theme, which helped me a lot, is he said, "The magnitude of privilege." 00:27:04.940 |
Get a sense of the magnitude of privilege when he says, "I am building you into a house." 00:27:12.500 |
And if we get that, then we get the thrust of that emphasis there. 00:27:16.580 |
That while you are suffering and you're sitting here thinking, "Oh, we're not making much 00:27:24.620 |
You're talking about a place to serve, a place to do X, Y, and Z. 00:27:31.700 |
And he's saying, "But God has been building you all up for this. 00:27:35.260 |
And even while you're suffering, He's still working powerfully." 00:27:41.380 |
And the privilege continues to just mount up and stack up. 00:27:44.340 |
I just listed a few, but the greatest privilege of all is we're being built together and what 00:27:53.100 |
I mean, all the flashbacks, so to speak, if the audience, some of them were Jews, and 00:27:59.180 |
he speaks a lot in almost like Jewish reference to Old Testament passages and whatnot. 00:28:03.620 |
And I'm assuming a lot of the people he's talking to are Jewish people who converted 00:28:09.020 |
And immediately as he's saying this, they should think back to the glory of the temple. 00:28:19.180 |
Nobody would dare tread the ground in the temple. 00:28:24.180 |
God showed the Israelite nation, "You don't just approach me because my presence is holy 00:28:32.620 |
But he says, "Not only do you have access, you together become the dwelling place of 00:28:41.660 |
The magnitude of privilege for those who have Christ. 00:28:52.260 |
The work that God is doing is a divine work that He is accomplishing. 00:28:56.700 |
Now, I want to go back to this idea, and I'm going to reference it a lot, that the people 00:29:02.820 |
So I'm sure it was tough for Apostle Peter to preach this in some sense because, again, 00:29:09.140 |
somebody is going to say like, "Nah, I don't see it." 00:29:15.660 |
And so that's why the next verses following, Apostle Peter gives a proof, confirmation 00:29:23.820 |
You don't believe God is still working even though you're suffering? 00:29:28.100 |
You don't believe God has not just simply a wonderful plan, but incredibly powerful, 00:29:33.420 |
transformative plan to build the people of God up as a holy priesthood. 00:29:38.940 |
And later on, you read in verse 9 that you're going to be this chosen nation, a royal priesthood, 00:29:44.220 |
holy nation, proclaiming the excellencies of God. 00:29:52.900 |
Well let's take a look at that proof that I'm mentioning. 00:29:57.420 |
So we're looking down, going back to 1 Peter, and we'll read verse 6 and 7. 00:30:08.020 |
So he says, "For this is contained in Scripture. 00:30:12.380 |
Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him will 00:30:21.060 |
This precious value then is for you who believe." 00:30:25.420 |
So as we look at that, he says, as a proof, "You don't believe me? 00:30:30.620 |
It was written in Scripture long ago before I ever told you." 00:30:35.140 |
And what he's referring to specifically is the book of Isaiah. 00:30:38.880 |
So please turn your Bible over to the book of Isaiah, chapter 28. 00:30:42.860 |
There are times when I wish that we were all Jewish. 00:30:48.340 |
Because there's an element to which ingrained into the Jewish culture is a kind of repetition, 00:30:56.300 |
educational process where you're taught by way of ritual, habit, memory, sacrifice, and 00:31:05.180 |
all of that, where you're taught to appreciate some of these truths. 00:31:10.860 |
So we're going to get to that idea in a little bit, but I'm going to ask several questions 00:31:21.660 |
We just read a moment ago that he is laying this cornerstone down. 00:31:26.760 |
We read also in verse 4 that there is this living stone that we're coming to. 00:31:31.560 |
How would the Jewish people receive that if we were to be raised in their culture and 00:31:36.100 |
we had all that education and all that upbringing? 00:31:42.260 |
Well, let's take a look at Isaiah 28 in verse 14 through 17. 00:31:47.660 |
He says this, "Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers who rule his people 00:31:56.260 |
Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death and Sheol, we have an agreement.' 00:32:00.700 |
When the overwhelming whip passes through it, it will not come to us. 00:32:04.780 |
For we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have taken shelter." 00:32:11.860 |
You see, the prophet Isaiah, he had a difficult job. 00:32:15.820 |
He's preaching a very simple and short message. 00:32:18.980 |
Essentially it's this, "You're going to get judged." 00:32:26.660 |
The people who were especially even rulers of Jerusalem mocked and said, "No, not us." 00:32:32.660 |
You see, us and the enemies, us and them, we're friends. 00:32:40.540 |
And the false teachers would constantly say, "Peace, just take it easy, Isaiah." 00:32:49.620 |
He says this in verse 16, "Therefore, thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am the one who 00:32:53.860 |
has laid a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious stone of a sure foundation. 00:33:02.140 |
Whoever believes will not be in haste, and I will make justice the line and righteousness 00:33:07.500 |
the plumb line, and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm 00:33:13.460 |
In context, what's very interesting is that in Isaiah, this passage is a indictment. 00:33:25.140 |
"I'm going to bring the stone, and everything in terms of your lies, your confidence that 00:33:34.140 |
So here and now, there's an interesting connection we have to ask for. 00:33:40.380 |
How does this passage prove that God is doing a mighty work in us? 00:33:45.660 |
As a matter of fact, how is that passage really encouraging? 00:33:49.480 |
How does this strengthen the Christians who are suffering? 00:33:55.900 |
Well, let's talk about that a little bit here. 00:33:59.540 |
He says in the midst of this warning that, "I am the one who is going to lay a foundation." 00:34:08.220 |
He is going to lay a stone, a tested and precious cornerstone, and it's going to be sure. 00:34:16.100 |
You know, my mind this whole week, because Pastor Peter hasn't been here, has been thinking 00:34:23.540 |
I'd literally at night be like, "Oh my gosh, did I remember to do this? 00:34:30.620 |
And so I've been looking at architectural blueprints and realizing, man, blueprints 00:34:37.460 |
Because when the expectant cousin's been like, "Drawings like this, and that looks 00:34:44.980 |
The thing about it is when he says, "I lay this foundation," you can think of it like 00:34:50.140 |
He's laid down the architectural blueprint long ago, before he said in the New Testament 00:34:55.420 |
through Peter that, "I am building this spiritual house." 00:35:02.820 |
If I'm going to try to encourage you that God had this already in mind, look how far 00:35:09.900 |
Through the time of Isaiah, there's going to be a foundation that is done. 00:35:14.940 |
And upon this foundation, I'm going to build this spiritual house. 00:35:20.260 |
So as we think about this idea of the stone and the living stone and the cornerstone, 00:35:26.100 |
the cornerstone is typically a big stone, much bigger than your typical other stones 00:35:36.340 |
That's going to set the trajectory of the rest. 00:35:43.220 |
But synonymously, the way that the Jewish people understood this cornerstone, the living 00:35:51.460 |
Is that this idea of the foundation stone was so ingrained in the Hebrew and Jewish 00:35:57.980 |
culture that people would synonymously refer to that as the presence of God. 00:36:04.740 |
In the temple on Mount Moriah where King Solomon's temple was built, okay, this is 00:36:11.260 |
referenced in 2 Chronicles chapters 1 and 2, where the King Solomon's glorious temple 00:36:17.580 |
was built, in the holy of holies, in that inner chamber, right, where no one really 00:36:23.600 |
could go, the Ark of the Covenant rested on what's called the foundation stone. 00:36:31.220 |
That symbolically represented that God's presence was going to be here. 00:36:35.660 |
His seat of mercy was going to be here on the foundation stone that God has provided. 00:36:40.420 |
So what we learn is, God says, even while I'm pronouncing and foretelling of this judgment 00:36:47.780 |
He has set what is costly, precious, and valuable, set as a foundation for what he's going to 00:36:54.300 |
do for all those who would trust in his name. 00:37:01.380 |
Now by way of connecting it even more, let's turn our Bibles to Psalm chapter 118. 00:37:11.580 |
This Psalm is very important because the Psalms from chapters about 116 to chapter 120, these 00:37:18.260 |
are the Psalms that people regularly memorize to recite during festivals. 00:37:23.300 |
So Yom Kippur, you know, if you guys heard of Rosh Hashanah, the calendar year for the 00:37:28.860 |
new year for the Jews, the Jewish calendar, and the day of atonement. 00:37:33.220 |
In all of these festivals, they had regularly, you know, kind of ritualistic liturgy, reciting 00:37:47.620 |
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:38:05.700 |
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:38:10.060 |
The Lord is God and he has made his light to shine upon us. 00:38:14.380 |
Bind the festal sacrifice with cords up to the horns of the altar. 00:38:21.060 |
Because I'm saying there's this concept of the foundational stone, synonymously cornerstone. 00:38:31.060 |
Because it provides an incredible hope for the presence of God. 00:38:34.900 |
For the nation of Israel, when they were reciting these psalms of the cornerstone to come, how 00:38:42.820 |
To them, they were anticipating with great eagerness, the Messiah. 00:38:48.460 |
If you guys remember on the triumphal entry, the passion week of Christ, right? 00:38:52.900 |
When he's entering into Jerusalem, over a million people are gathered and everybody's 00:38:58.740 |
They say, "Save us, save us, Hosanna, Hosanna." 00:39:02.500 |
They say, "Great and blessed is the one who comes from the Lord in the name of the Lord." 00:39:06.780 |
They're essentially saying, "This could be the Messiah." 00:39:11.300 |
They had that kind of anticipation for the concept of the foundational stone. 00:39:18.180 |
To them, for us, when we read 1 Peter, it's like, "And you're coming to this living stone 00:39:23.420 |
and this living stone was built and you're kind of like, 'Okay, I get it. 00:39:28.420 |
To the Jewish people, this was all their lives' anticipation. 00:39:35.060 |
One of the questions we have to ask ourselves is this. 00:39:39.860 |
Part of the reason why I said earlier, "I wish we were Jewish," is because there always 00:39:44.660 |
has to be a growing appreciation for Christ in our lives. 00:39:53.180 |
Another way to put it is, do you have a great anticipation for Christ by which what you 00:39:58.140 |
are longing for, what you believe is going to fill you, the solution to their ... For 00:40:03.060 |
them, it was the solution to all of their both religious, their economical, and government 00:40:12.940 |
For us, as Christians, Christ is supposed to be our all in all, the very presence of 00:40:20.260 |
He provides the peace and in the book of Ephesians chapter two, he says, "He himself, 00:40:25.380 |
he himself is the hope, the peace that is afforded to us." 00:40:33.700 |
Are we looking for this precious living cornerstone as the way the people will receive it? 00:40:38.980 |
But now, I want to quickly move to another, the back end of that application. 00:40:46.940 |
The Jewish people rightly were trained to anticipate the Messiah. 00:40:51.660 |
But then, after they had sung all those Hosanna songs and said, "Oh, here comes the son of 00:41:06.060 |
Rather than marveling then and saying, "How, what a marvelous savior we have," they quickly 00:41:19.340 |
And then ultimately, they cried out for his crucifixion. 00:41:27.620 |
Well, in the intro, I talked about expectations. 00:41:34.660 |
You see, there is a skewed expectation, if we're not careful, that we are all susceptible 00:41:43.740 |
You see, God has given his son as an immense treasure and precious value to us who need 00:41:50.900 |
life, who need a savior, who need light and truth, who need grace and peace. 00:41:59.300 |
But if that's not what we're looking for, what good is he to us? 00:42:04.300 |
You see, in this story, or not in the story, in this analogy metaphor that Apostle Peter 00:42:08.700 |
is giving in chapter two, there is two buildings being built. 00:42:12.700 |
There is one, the spiritual house of God, the household for the holy priest. 00:42:16.420 |
There is another builder, or the builders, who are building their own religion, their 00:42:24.740 |
If that's what you're building, what good is this stone to you? 00:42:30.980 |
We have to be careful in terms of what we're anticipating and expecting from God, that 00:42:34.900 |
it is not skewed, so that all of a sudden we're like, "Hey, Hosanna!" 00:42:40.980 |
Now he becomes a hurdle for you to step over to get what you want. 00:42:45.820 |
And that's why in this passage, in 1 Peter chapter two, he'll say, "To those who believe, 00:42:55.020 |
But for those who disbelieve," look at this in verse seven, "the stone which the builders 00:42:59.460 |
rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." 00:43:08.020 |
Depending on the skewed perspective of our expectations, we're going to be so disappointed 00:43:14.380 |
in Christ, he becomes a stumbling block for us. 00:43:17.940 |
Now, in order to get another sense of the idea here, we're going to take a look at where 00:43:28.020 |
Apostle Peter quotes actually three different passages in just verses six through eight. 00:43:32.780 |
But that last part about the stone becoming a stumbling block and a rock of offense comes 00:43:36.740 |
from Isaiah chapter eight, verses 11 through 15. 00:43:39.940 |
So let's go there to follow the paper trail of how he's been quoting these passages in 00:43:48.620 |
So so far as you go there, we've had number one, God has a plan to build you up as a spiritual 00:43:55.300 |
Number two, Jesus Christ, the cornerstone is a proof of that plan. 00:44:04.220 |
Sorry for those of you guys who have to take notes and you need it in order. 00:44:09.900 |
Number two is Jesus is a cornerstone, proof of God's plan. 00:44:16.820 |
Here's number, Isaiah chapter eight, verses 11 through 15. 00:44:21.500 |
"For the Lord spoke thus to me with strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in 00:44:26.340 |
the way of this people, saying, 'Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. 00:44:35.900 |
But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. 00:44:44.500 |
And all will come, sorry, and he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock 00:44:50.740 |
of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a stair to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 00:45:02.940 |
So, what we have is an interesting passage in Isaiah, where again he's rebuking the people. 00:45:10.500 |
But as he's rebuking the people, you get in context, he's like, "Don't think like they 00:45:16.060 |
Don't have this worldview where the greatest thing they fear is them. 00:45:25.540 |
Don't fear just like everybody else in the world fears. 00:45:28.820 |
For people in the world, their worst case scenario is, "I don't get the job of my dreams 00:45:37.180 |
The fear of the world is, "I just don't get to travel." 00:45:41.220 |
Whatever the fear of the world may be, don't think like them. 00:45:43.340 |
And he says, "Let the one you fear be him, the Lord of hosts, and honor him. 00:45:53.280 |
But then he gives this interesting, what I like to call, fork in the road. 00:45:58.240 |
He says, "And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling." 00:46:10.620 |
And he will be a sanctuary and he will be a stumbling block." 00:46:17.380 |
And I want to give a challenge to you, just as Apostle Peter is giving a challenge to 00:46:22.500 |
He says, "There is this precious value and then there is this scary warning. 00:46:28.100 |
The benefits of having God as your sanctuary, the benefits of having Christ as your solid 00:46:32.900 |
ground and foundation, the benefits of having Christ as your cornerstone, these things can 00:46:38.220 |
only be experienced if you persevere in faith." 00:46:41.060 |
I imagine Apostle Peter saying, "I hear that some of you, because of the persecution you're 00:46:45.500 |
experiencing, might be tempted to say, 'Forget it. 00:46:50.180 |
All I have to do is, I'm not a Christian no more.'" 00:46:54.260 |
"All I have to do to not be persecuted is like, 'I'm not Christian.'" 00:46:57.900 |
And then turn around and go, "I just read my Bible in private." 00:47:03.420 |
But he says, "No, there is this fork in the road. 00:47:07.220 |
You can't seek safety from all the persecution, provisions for every life circumstance, and 00:47:12.940 |
yet at the same time expect all the provisions, privileges, the great magnitude of privileges 00:47:16.900 |
of God, while having both scenarios in your favor." 00:47:21.460 |
Brothers and sisters, there's a fork in the road. 00:47:25.020 |
A lot of us, in this day and age, defer the fork in the road. 00:47:32.100 |
Every single one of us, because of life circumstances, get tested in our faith, and some of us respond 00:47:37.180 |
to the Word of God, the Gospel, and sometimes the commands that we know to be true in different 00:47:44.020 |
Some of us really know that we should surrender certain sins. 00:47:47.980 |
Some of us really know that we should start committing to the things that we know are 00:47:53.180 |
But then we start to delay and drag our feet. 00:47:58.860 |
We believe maybe, especially if you're young, I'm going to take it more seriously and do 00:48:04.660 |
We believe maybe, I'll give you kind of excuses wise, I don't know enough, I need to learn 00:48:08.980 |
better, so I'm just going to do that stuff later when I know more. 00:48:12.220 |
Whatever may be the case, that is not an option. 00:48:19.700 |
According to 1 Peter, you're either rejecting Christ or you're standing on the solid rock 00:48:26.860 |
If you drag your feet, if you defer your decision, that's not obedience. 00:48:32.260 |
For those of you guys who have kids, when you ask your child, "Hey, go pick up your 00:48:35.900 |
toys," and your kid goes, "Ahhhhhh," or you're like, "Good job obeying," you know, "Can you 00:48:50.300 |
If your child is sitting there and then you ask him, "Eat your food." 00:49:06.140 |
We think that by deferring, by putting stuff off, maybe just, I don't know, saying ignorance, 00:49:11.260 |
I didn't hear that, I don't know, that is not an option. 00:49:14.820 |
You're either going to run to the sanctuary of God or you're going to reject him. 00:49:18.500 |
And there's a warning for all of us who do that, especially I'm speaking to those of 00:49:23.940 |
I've counseled a lot of people this year who I feel like they're wrestling in their faith 00:49:42.940 |
There are the builders who see Christ as worthless because of whatever personal ambition, because 00:49:49.980 |
And then there are those who trust and all of a sudden this honor, this joy is theirs. 00:49:59.280 |
If you look, he talks about this stone that's precious in the sight of God. 00:50:09.420 |
And then he says that this precious value is yours then through faith. 00:50:15.940 |
Some of your other translations will say this honor. 00:50:18.780 |
And then he gives this promise that those who believe in him, they will not be disappointed. 00:50:23.860 |
Some of your translations say they will not be hastened. 00:50:26.340 |
In the Hebrew what it means is like getting all riled up and excited, but then that's 00:50:31.140 |
You're just like, so what he's saying is you're not going to be all stirred up for nothing. 00:50:42.500 |
In the midst of suffering, in the midst of pain, Apostle Peter is saying, don't you worry, 00:50:55.340 |
And I want to give you this challenge and warning right now. 00:50:59.180 |
If you defer your decision, delay your heart, give excuses, and you try to dodge the desires 00:51:08.780 |
And when your heart is hardened, there is no turning back. 00:51:15.140 |
If you turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 21, verses 42 through 45, this is the time 00:51:26.340 |
when Jesus is interacting with Pharisees and scribes. 00:51:36.260 |
And as you turn there, I decided just right now to kind of go backwards. 00:51:40.300 |
I want you guys to first imagine with me, you are the Jewish person in Jesus's day. 00:51:47.220 |
You've been learning the scriptures all your life. 00:51:52.500 |
You memorize Psalm 120, all kinds of stuff, talking about here's this cornerstone. 00:51:57.820 |
What a glorious day and marvelous time this is. 00:52:00.420 |
You know, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 00:52:06.380 |
And you recite that every single year during Passover. 00:52:09.700 |
And then here and now, there is this stir in the whole city. 00:52:15.620 |
You know, so just imagine with me how much like exhilaration, anticipation, and all that's