back to index2017-02-05 The Living Stones of God's House (Conclusion)
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Hello everybody, apologies that the video was cut short and I want to give a final conclusion 00:00:13.520 |
We left off talking about how there is an opportunity or a fork in the road to reject 00:00:19.220 |
or receive the cornerstone, to object or receive the truth. 00:00:24.400 |
And as people who are suffering, that they might have been tempted to all of a sudden 00:00:31.600 |
Apostle Peter's exhortation is to stand firm in it and in order to exhort them, he gave 00:00:36.680 |
a warning by quoting some of these passages in the Old Testament. 00:00:40.760 |
I made the case that there is a warning for us, that if we were to reject this truth, 00:00:49.040 |
And likewise, there is a passage in the New Testament that we were turning to. 00:00:54.840 |
As we were imagining the religious leaders, the Pharisees and rulers, they were people 00:01:02.680 |
They were people who learned it from when they were really young. 00:01:07.000 |
And they were even maybe leading other people and teaching people in these truths. 00:01:11.400 |
But if you turn over to Matthew chapter 11, chapter 21 that is, verses 42 to 44, Jesus 00:01:19.000 |
said to them, "Have you ever read the Scriptures?" 00:01:24.320 |
But he says this, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 00:01:30.560 |
This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 00:01:37.560 |
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, 00:01:43.840 |
And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, 00:01:52.340 |
So the idea here is that Jesus just finished describing a parable to these Pharisees. 00:01:58.640 |
That the land master had left his workers in the field, and when he sent people to reap 00:02:06.680 |
And finally when he sent his son, they killed him too. 00:02:09.920 |
Jesus asked this question, "What is the landlord going to do?" 00:02:13.720 |
And they themselves say, "Well surely they will be punished." 00:02:17.640 |
Well that idea of "surely they will be punished" is the same idea that's warning us. 00:02:23.140 |
If we leave the Gospel message, if we jettison the truth that we say we believe, then God 00:02:32.260 |
The way that He describes it is the stone that was supposed to be our sanctuary, our 00:02:36.220 |
foundation, now becomes the thing that we break upon, the thing that crushes us. 00:02:42.460 |
So that's a clear warning for us, that that fork in the road, for one, leads to a path 00:02:48.000 |
of sanctuary, and the other leads to a path of destruction. 00:02:52.600 |
But the other point that we have to understand, that there's a valuable lesson to learn from 00:02:57.720 |
We talked about expectation, how when we're disappointed, then we sometimes change our 00:03:05.200 |
But many times what we do is when we're disappointed, we actually stop trusting. 00:03:11.360 |
We stop trusting the people, we stop trusting God. 00:03:17.800 |
See for Apostle Peter, he learned a valuable lesson in trusting the Lord. 00:03:22.800 |
Do you recall when Jesus Christ was teaching the disciples, when He was telling them, "I'm 00:03:32.520 |
He was telling them that Christ must go towards this persecution. 00:03:36.960 |
And Apostle Peter was one of the first ones who said, "You don't have to do that." 00:03:41.320 |
He was one of the first ones who said, "No, I'll fight for you." 00:03:44.680 |
He actually pulled out his sword and said, "I'll even kill for you." 00:03:48.200 |
That's when Jesus essentially told him, "You don't know what you're talking about, and 00:03:54.680 |
See this valuable lesson Apostle Peter had to learn, and we need to learn it as well. 00:04:00.640 |
That just as Christ, the cornerstone, the real cornerstone, experienced first the suffering, 00:04:09.320 |
For us too, we likewise, as living stones, must first go through hardship, and then we 00:04:17.320 |
So in terms of our expectation, do we expect glory before suffering? 00:04:21.920 |
Let me ask you, do you expect to have all the results before putting in the work? 00:04:28.040 |
Do we expect to have rewards before actually competing or fighting and toiling? 00:04:34.040 |
Do we expect to have victory without there being any battle? 00:04:37.560 |
I think many of us probably, we would like to learn. 00:04:43.240 |
We would like to have the fruits of sanctification without necessarily going through the process 00:04:50.040 |
But the truth of the matter is, we, just like our Savior, are going to go through the same 00:04:58.200 |
And that helps us explain and at least grasp what's going on. 00:05:02.760 |
That as Christ left an example for His people and disciples to follow, we as those who are 00:05:12.520 |
A couple of lasting questions I want to ask is as we think about that, the main question 00:05:23.440 |
What are we looking forward to in saying, "This is what I anticipate for my life." 00:05:28.400 |
And if we so, were so foolish to just think that as long as I'm God, they'll never suffer. 00:05:35.320 |
Or we were so foolish to think as long as I love people and I'm kind to them, then they'll 00:05:42.120 |
We have to make sure that we adjust our expectations and also to look at the reality of Christ 00:05:52.840 |
The other part I want to ask is, the reality is God is doing the work. 00:05:58.800 |
God has been preparing a plan and building us up to be a spiritual house. 00:06:03.480 |
So God from generations before, God in Christ and God now, even though it doesn't seem like 00:06:15.440 |
One who's going to continue to build what God has been building. 00:06:22.960 |
Are you building a kind of house, a spiritual house, a spiritual life where Christ is the 00:06:28.960 |
chief cornerstone, where Christ is the foundation? 00:06:32.600 |
Or are you building something for your life where Christ is going to get in the way and 00:06:38.000 |
He's going to be nothing more than a stumbling block to you? 00:06:41.360 |
Let's make sure that we build in such a way where He is the cornerstone and our sure foundation.