The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People: Part 2

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The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People: Part 3

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And our study is consisting upon, in this passage, what it means of the chosen stone and the chosen people.
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The chosen stone being Jesus Christ Himself, and the chosen people is the people of God.
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That God has chosen, that He has selected and appointed to come to Himself, the elect.
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And as we look at this study, we're looking at Jesus Christ and the people of God. This is going to be a wonderful study.
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Last Lord's Day, we did an overview. And starting today, we're going to start breaking this down, verse by verse.
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We're not going to be in a hurry on this. So we're going to squeeze out all the nutrients and the juices out of it we possibly can, by God's help and grace.
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I've thoroughly enjoyed studying this text. And I pray that it's going to be a great joy for you, as it was for me, as we looked into this
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Word together. And that's the way I look at it. We're studying it together, but it's more than just a study.
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The reason why we study it is to see Jesus Christ in all of His excellencies and glories.
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And that we may worship Him. Our whole life should be centered in worship of the
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Lord Jesus Christ. So, in saying that, please turn with me in your Bible as we continue our study in the first epistle of Peter, chapter 2.
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The first epistle of Peter, chapter 2. And we are looking at verse 4 through 10.
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Beginning with verse 4 to 10. And I'm reading this morning from the
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NASB. So hear the word of the living God. Scripture says,
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And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice, or chosen, either word is appropriate, and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood for the purpose of this, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
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For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.
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This precious value, then, is for you who believe.
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But for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone.
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And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word.
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And to this doom they were appointed. But, don't you love that transition there?
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But, you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God.
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You had not received mercy, but now, love when he says that, but now you have received mercy.
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May God richly bless the reading of His eternal word to our hearts this morning as we look into this wonderful study and worship
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Him. Let us pray together. Our Father and our God, how glorious, how marvelous, this day, this day, your day, to know that we have this great gift of that word unto us.
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So we say with the psalmist, it's not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name give glory because of your loving kindness, because of your truth.
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So Lord, we thank you. Lord, we praise you for the great salvation that has come to us by your right arm.
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That right arm is your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that has come to us incarnate and has lived and died a perfect life, a perfect death for our salvation and shed
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His precious blood. Lord, it will take an eternity for us to praise and worship you for this great, great sacrifice that has been given for us that we may have life and hope forever.
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Lord, we thank you. Our prayer this morning is that we may only see Jesus. Oh, that we may see
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Him. And Father, as we hear the preached word this morning, we recognize only by the blessed
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Holy Spirit can you give us the eyes and the understanding and the knowledge to see who you really are.
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We must have the spectacles of the Holy Spirit. And Father, we cannot put these on ourselves.
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You must do this. You must grant this to us by your mercy in order for us to see
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Him, to see you. And Lord, you're willing to do this. You're willing because we know this in your word.
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You invite us to come to Jesus through your Son, to yourself.
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So, Father, we pray. Give us eyes to see. Give us ears to hear. Give us a heart to perceive as we worship you.
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And help us, Lord, to worship you acceptably in spirit and truth. And in the end, may we obey you,
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Father, from the heart. May our sacrifices through Him alone, and Him alone, Jesus alone, be acceptable, pleasing to you.
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And we know this. This is by faith and through the precious blood. Father, within this hour, we pray that your face would shine upon your church.
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Just not here, but throughout this whole world, oh God. Because we're part of this church that you're building.
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And we ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen and amen. There's a story
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I'd like to share with you of a university student who once confessed to a pastor, and this is what he said,
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I've come to the conclusion that I don't believe in God. I see, the pastor replied.
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He said, please tell me about the God you don't believe in. Very wise to ask that question.
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So the student proceeded to describe a very vengeful, unfair, arbitrary, cosmic orb, who delighted, an ogre
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I should say, who delighted in watching earthlings stumble through life in search of meaning and direction.
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After listening to the student's portrayal of God, the pastor wisely replied,
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I don't believe in that kind of God either. But beloved, like that student, most people in this world have a very warped, erroneous, wrong view of God, as you well know.
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What we believe about God is everything. It's the most important thing about us, as Tozer said. Because they cannot see beyond their circumstances and the conditions that plague the fallen world, which is dark and very depraved.
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They have a distorted world view, which originated with the father of all lies, that is
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Satan himself. That's really bedrock. That's not a very light statement.
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I've said, people have a false, wrong view of God. And the reason why is they do not know the
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God of the Bible. We also must keep in mind that the people that is blinded and deceived from the understanding, a true understanding of God's goodness and mercy, sadly and tragically, people, not all people, but most people and many people, as Scripture says, believe a lie and are damned eternally.
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This is a very serious matter. The souls of man perishing.
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God invites people, invites all to come unto Him to have life and have life eternal.
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But the believers, the elect, understand. And by the way, they don't understand because of something within them.
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It's the understanding that is giving favor to them by God's grace. They understand by the
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Holy Spirit. And God has granted them to understand this and understand the knowledge of the
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Holy One. And because we see beyond the physical realm, and we see with the eyes of faith, and that faith is a gift from God, and experience
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His grace, and that is God's favor, and not as something that we earn or we can merit, but it's by God's grace and God's grace alone.
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And God's kindness and His kindness is His mercy and His compassion that He has shown to us through Jesus Christ.
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So Scripture speaks pointedly about the duties, it speaks of the responsibilities of the believers.
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But all of that is balanced with, or by,
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I should say, the rights and the benefits we have in Jesus Christ.
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And that's what I like for us to really focus on. And this is going to take us several weeks, several
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Lord's Days to go through because there is so much here when it comes to the privileges and the rights and the benefits in Jesus Christ.
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So in writing to the believers that were experiencing severe persecution, as we covered last
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Lord's Day, an overview, we've got to understand the audience in which Peter the Apostle is speaking to.
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He's speaking to persecuted believers. There were persecuted Jews, believers, and Gentiles as well, but mainly a lot of Jewish Christians that lost everything that they had.
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Their houses, the temple was all burned and laid waste. So the
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Apostle Peter is reminding them of their privileges. We've got to get that right there.
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The privileges and called them to praise God for His abundant grace in Jesus Christ.
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And can I say this? This is our calling as well. As we listen to this word this morning, this is our calling.
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And our calling ends, is what he says, you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession.
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And then he says this, so that you may proclaim the praises of Him, or the excellencies of Him, Jesus Christ, who has called you out of darkness into this marvelous light.
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So that is our calling. So within these awesome verses that Peter gives to the believers, there's ten that I counted, and we're going to unpack these marvelous and great privileges in the next several
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Lord's Days. And I love this about expository preaching because we can do this, we can unpack it a little at a time, and as we search the
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Scriptures and dig into the Scriptures by the help of the Holy Spirit for us to understand. But I'd like for us to focus today just on specifically our communion with God, our communion with God.
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We're going to look at others and unpack these great privileges that God gives to His people, the church.
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But they include our communion, our union with God. That's the first we'll be looking at.
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Our access to the Father. Next would be our spiritual sacrifices to Him, which is application, but we're going to look at that a little bit today as well.
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But we'll see it more specifically, God permitting, in the near future.
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Security, our security that's in God. Our affection, our love for God.
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Our dominion with Him that He has called us to be kings and priests unto
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Him. Our possession, that we are God's possession. That God is our possession, that we are
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God's possession. Holiness, that we are a holy nation. Illumination, He's called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
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That's illumination. And last, we will be looking at mercy. Mercy, that right there covers a great deal of who
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God is. That's a great attribute of God, isn't it? God's mercy, God's compassion. God's hesed, that's the
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Hebrew. His loving kindness, His tender mercy. So we're going to look at that. So in this passage in 1
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Peter 2, is precisely what we need today at Redeeming Grace Church.
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We need to hear this. I needed to hear this. I'm passing this to you as I study this. And if anything, this is just not a study per se.
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It is, I believe, a time of worship. That we can just worship our God at this hour. And to thank
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Him for what He is doing in our lives as a small living stone.
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You're part of something big. It is a timely word because it is about God's privileges in the new house.
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Not this external house or this external. It's about the house that God is building.
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A spiritual house, a priesthood. And it is a word about how, that's what we're going to look at in application.
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We can offer up to God spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to Him. We want to be acceptable to God, don't we?
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I believe everybody has that intention, sincerely. But there's only one way that we can find out that we're acceptable to God.
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And we must go to the pages of Holy Scripture. Because it is the word of God that leads us in the right way.
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As Brother Keith has already pointed out. Jesus is that way, isn't He? And He is the center of everything that is being built on the church.
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He is the head of the church. He is that chief cornerstone. So there's much here to look at in the text, isn't it?
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So we can't get all of it in one or two sermons by no means. So we're going to be breaking it down verse by verse.
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Precept by precept as we look into it. At least into maybe probably five parts.
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Maybe more, Lord willing, I'm not sure. We'll just see how far it can go. But there's a lot here. So saying that, let's begin and look at verse 4 and 5.
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And it really covers our union with Christ. Our union with Jesus Christ. Which is the foundation of the church.
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Is knowing Christ. That will be our focus for today's study as we worship our
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God. So in these two verses pretty much gives to us how believers.
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How believers, God's people are being built into a spiritual house. That's our union with God.
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God is building His church. And Jesus Christ is the head of that church.
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And we'll be looking at that later on. Brother Keith sent me a really great message by R .C. Sproul. Talking about the church that Christ is building.
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And that it is, He is the chief cornerstone. But also we do not need to forget this as well.
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That the early church studied. They were steadfast in the apostles doctrines.
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So what does that tell us? That the apostles and the prophets. Is part of that foundation.
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That Jesus Christ is that chief cornerstone. He is the chief cornerstone. And after all if you think of it.
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The prophets and the apostles spoke of who? Christ. They spoke of Christ.
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Predicted, prophesied of Christ. Spoke of His works and His perfections.
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And who He is. Because the whole Bible is centered on the prophecies. About who Jesus is and who, when
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He comes. In His first coming, His second coming. So the prophets and the apostles were holy men of God.
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They were selected to be God's people. Appointed men of God.
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Not everybody. They could not, people could not appoint themselves. Could they? God was the one that selected these holy men.
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And that separated them to speak for God. And thus sayeth the Lord. And therefore we have the written revelation of it.
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Aren't we glad? We should be praising God that we have. Sixty six books of the word of God.
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You know, it's wonderful when you got so many people. Looking about. Searching.
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Philosophical. And always in things of life. Of the truth.
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They are in search of truth. Beloved, all we have to do is point them to the scriptures. And say, here is the truth of God.
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This is, thus says the Lord. Isn't that wonderful to know that we have this
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Bible? And we should be utilizing it. And we should be studying it. And we should be saturating ourselves in it.
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So we can, not only for ourselves. That changes our own hearts.
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But tell the world as well. Well, how believers, God's people, are being built into a spiritual house is crucial.
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Because a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. And how the spiritual sacrifices become acceptable to God.
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Acceptable to God. Now, I notice in these verses there are six steps given to us in scripture.
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And I'm just going to hit these as bullet points. And we're going to revisit this in another sermon. I'll probably revisit it and go backwards in it.
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But today we're going to go forward. And we're going to look at these. The way
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God gets spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Him. And this has a lot to do with our union and communion with Jesus Christ.
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So let's look at these six steps given to us. From the apostle Peter through the inspiration of the
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Holy Spirit. The first one that I see here is the obvious one.
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The first one is, and the most important one, is foundational. And that is through Jesus Christ.
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Now, that may be obvious. I heard an example of this one time when
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I was here. When I was with the Christian Missionary Alliance. And I went to a conference and I heard the president.
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His name was Peter Nanfeld. And I'm surprised I remembered that. Because as I get a little older, my memory starts to slip.
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But this was years ago. And he preached a wonderful sermon. I have forgotten it. I've got it on cassette.
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And I'd love to share it with everybody someday, Lord willing. Maybe I can transfer it to a DVD or something.
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A CD or whatever. But he preached on Christ in you.
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The hope of glory. And he was talking about the great revelation that has been hidden from ages past.
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But this one revelation is Christ in you. The hope of glory. And he gave a little example.
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He said, remember that commercial on television of that little old lady for Wendy's.
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Where's the beef? And it really rang to me. He said, in other words, he was saying, this is the beef.
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Right here. Jesus. Christ in you. The hope of glory. I love that illustration he used from a commercial of a little old lady.
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Where's the beef? And he actually called her the great theologian. Where's the beef?
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Where's the steak? You see, and isn't that so true? Jesus Christ is everything.
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I'm telling you, if we don't know who Jesus is, the Bible is not going to be alive to us. And it's the
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Holy Spirit of God that helps us see this. We can't do this with ourselves, but if you have it within you, to seek and search and go after God, do it.
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Because that is God's grace to you. Who is the living stone? Jesus Christ is the source of every spiritual privilege that we have.
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Isn't that great? I want you to think about that for a second. Every spiritual privilege that you and I have today is because of Jesus Christ.
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Jesus. Christ crucified. Christ buried. Christ risen from the dead.
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Christ ascended. And Christ to come back again. Christ is central. And that's what
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Redeeming Grace Church is about. We're about Jesus Christ. He is to have all preeminence.
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And no one else. And I really mean that. And I pray as I minister this, that God hides me behind the cross.
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I just want to be a mouthpiece and a voice for Him. Because I want you to have a heart that burns after Jesus.
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Verse 4. What does He say? In coming to Him. Coming to Him.
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As to a living stone which has been rejected by men. But His choice. He's chosen. Precious in the sight of God.
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Who's precious in the sight of God? Jesus is precious. Don't you love how Peter uses that word precious?
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Jesus is precious. His blood is precious. Everything about Jesus is precious.
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Jesus Christ is the living stone. I love that metaphor. It's just not a stone.
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Or a cold stone. Or as we use the word stone dead. Jesus is not dead.
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He is a living stone. A stone that is risen again. That's what
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He's referring to. He's alive. Jesus Christ is the living stone. And Peter is thinking in terms of a building.
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He's using a metaphor. As we looked at that last week. Of the church that Christ is building.
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And in verse 6. Peter quotes from Isaiah 28 .16. 28 .16.
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The prophet. You could go there. Whatever translation you have. But in the NASB. This is exactly what the prophecy says.
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From the prophet Isaiah. He says. Therefore thus says the
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Lord God. Behold. I'm reading from the Old Testament now.
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Behold I am laying in Zion a stone. A tested stone. Or a tried stone.
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A costly cornerstone. Costly cornerstone.
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For the foundation. Firmly placed. I looked at that word firmly placed.
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Literally means well laid. It's well laid. Isn't that beautiful?
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And he who believes in it. Will not be disturbed. And in the literal sense.
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Peter said. Will not be disappointed. Or will not be in a hurry.
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That's what it means. Will not be in a hurry. Will not be disappointed. Will not be disturbed.
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I love that. Because it's almost a sense of. There's a sure foundation. But it's also an assurance of perseverance.
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You see that? There's a remaining. There's a perseverance there. And God's people will persevere.
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To the end. He that endures to the end. And shall be saved. Jesus says.
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Jesus was the one. It wasn't John Calvin. That came up with the perseverance of the saints.
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That last P in Tulip. Jesus is the one. That taught the perseverance of the saints.
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He's the founder of the church. And even though I do believe in Calvin. On that.
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But he derived his teachings from. The New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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That's the Old Testament prophecy. That Peter is referring to. Of Isaiah 28 16.
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Peter is referring to this in verse 7. He quotes. And he also quotes from Psalm 118 22.
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The stone which the builders rejected. Has become the head of the corner. He's the head of the corner.
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The very corner stone. That is Jesus Christ himself. And we will come back to this later.
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The second step I see is. That those longing for him.
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Come to him. Jesus said this. He that cometh to me. I will no wise cast out.
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And actually before he said that. He said all that the father gives to me. Will come to me.
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Then he turns it around and says. But he that comes to me. I will no wise cast him out.
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There's much said here. Because there's an invitation. The invitation is coming to him.
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Coming to Jesus. Coming to Christ. This is accurate biblical description. Speaking of salvation.
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Jesus said this in Matthew 11 28. Come to me. All you who are weary. Are you weary this morning?
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Are you heavy laden? Heavy laden. And I will give you rest.
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That rest is not necessarily physical rest. He's talking about rest for your souls.
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We are to rest in God within our soul. That's internal. And that's where the peace that passes all understanding comes.
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It's an internal rest. And that rest is in Jesus alone. Who he is.
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Who he is and what he's done for us. Isn't that everything? I'm telling you.
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This is central. It's foundational. The person and works of Jesus Christ.
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Is central and foundational to our faith. And we must believe.
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This is our union with him. Our communion with him. And he says come to me. All you weary and heavy laden.
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I'll give you rest. John 6 35. Jesus says. I am the bread of life.
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And he who comes to me. Shall not hunger. And he who believes in me.
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Shall never thirst. Right there. Hungering and thirst. A lot of people think a lot about that physically nowadays.
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Don't they? About thirsting and hungry. We must feed our body. We must give our body water.
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But Jesus is basically saying. I am necessary for your spiritual hunger.
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And your spiritual thirst. And he says. I am the one that will feed you spiritually.
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I am the one that you will never thirst again. If you drink of me. That's what he was basically telling the woman at the well.
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Drink of this water. Jacob's well. You'll thirst again. But drink of the water that I give.
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You'll never thirst. Isn't that wonderful? And this is what we should be telling people. And reminding ourselves.
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That it's because of Jesus Christ. Now John 7 37. Again. Jesus says.
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If any man. If any man is thirsty. Let him come to me and drink.
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Isn't that wonderful? Let him come to me and drink. If you're thirsty.
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And you know. You got so many people today. That are caught up in spiritualism.
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You know this is really. The harvest is ripe. Isn't it? Because the people are thinking spiritual things.
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Most people are. They're into yoga. They're into all these other spiritual activities. But if you want to tell them something spiritual.
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Give them the spiritual truth from the word of God. And tell them what Jesus says. Jesus invites them.
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To come to Him. So we need to be telling them. These are metaphors for salvation.
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But notice in verse 2 and 3. Which is central to everything. From verse 4 to 10. I'm backtracking a little bit.
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But notice what Peter says. And we looked at these verses. And broke them down. And it was a wonderful study.
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I tell you. I got fed. My soul was fed so much. But he says this. Like newborn babies.
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Long for the pure milk of the word. Long for it. So that you may grow in respect to salvation.
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And then he says in verse 3. If you have tasted. If you have tasted. The kindness of the
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Lord. Now let me stop there for a second. Everything that Peter says.
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From verse 4 to 10. Is really centered on those two verses.
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Because it is the word of God. That we are to long for. Like a baby longs for its mother's milk.
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We should crave for God's word. And that's how we are to grow in our salvation.
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There is no growing in salvation. Unless we dig into this word. We will be spiritually retarded.
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And spiritually malnutrished. And not growing in respect to salvation. Unless we are in the word of God.
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Studying in it. Meditating upon it. Loving it. Longing for it. So verse 4 then he says this.
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And coming to Him. As to a living stone. See the fifth. Coming to Jesus Christ.
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Initiates all the spiritual privileges. Why? Why? Because in Him.
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And Peter says this. He says that coming to Him. That God the
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Father has granted to us everything. Not some things. But everything.
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That pertains to life and godliness. That's what Peter says.
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So everything that you need to know. Pertaining to life. To this life.
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And to be godly in this life. To be godlike. Godliness. Is all found in the word of God.
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Everything you need to know. Is right here in the pages of scripture. Paul said this in Ephesians 1 .3.
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About the spiritual privileges. And you know what he does? He breaks out into doxology. He breaks out into worship to God.
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And he says in Ephesians 1 .3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
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In the heavenly places. In who? In Christ. There you have it. It's in Christ.
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And then we are safe to say this. That there are no spiritual blessings outside of Christ. In other words.
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All the spiritual blessings. All the privileges. All the benefits. Is in Jesus Christ.
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And if you want that. We must be in Christ. In Christ. The Greek word translated coming to him.
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In 1 Peter 2 .4. We looked at this a little bit last week. But I want to look at it a little bit more here. Conveys more than just initially turning to Christ for salvation.
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It's much deeper than that. It actually implies. Remaining in Him.
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Or remaining with Him. Abiding in Him. Abiding in Christ. Remaining in Christ.
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That's what it means. Remain. Abide. That is our union. Our communion with God.
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And that's the only way we can get to God. The Father. Is through Christ. Because He is the God -Man.
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See. He represents God fully. And He represents man fully. And that's how
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He bridges the gap. Isn't that beautiful? And this is what the Bible teaches. And that bridge is found at the cross.
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People want to meet God. A holy God. Meet Him at the cross. Because that's where mercy and justice kissed.
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See. And it's all reconciled. Sinners are reconciled. Right there at the cross. Of Jesus.
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But this is. Also in the Greek translation of the Old Testament. In the
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Old Testament. This word was used also of those who drew near to God. For ongoing worship.
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So it's necessary for the people of God. If we're going to draw near to God. To look at this word in coming to Him.
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It's ongoing worship. Our worship should be ongoing. It should never cease.
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Right? So when you and I came to Jesus Christ. There was a permanent relationship of intimate personal communion.
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That was established. And before that. You and I were rebellious toward God. We were alienated from the life of God.
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From all of His promises. And actually the scripture says in Ephesians 2. That we were without hope.
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Isn't this. Hey. Cut on the news. In which I pray you don't much. But if you cut it on. All you see is a world without hope.
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Without God. They have. I say without hope in a sense. Because they're without God.
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We have the hope. We have the living hope. We have the good news. We have the gospel.
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That's why we should be proclaiming the excellencies of Him. That has called us out of darkness. Into His marvelous light.
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We should be illuminating that light. And telling people. With our mouth. Of the goodness of God.
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And the good news of God. Well we've been alienated from the life. And the promises of God.
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We were. But now. We've been born again to a living hope. That's what He says.
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You abide in Him. His word abides in you. You have a wonderful spiritual. Privileges and benefits.
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Hallelujah. What a Savior. All because of Jesus. It's nothing that you've done. It's nothing that I've done.
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It's no good works of our own. Now good works. And righteousness. Does follow us as a fruit.
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Our obedience. That's important. But. Into getting into salvation.
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Into Christ. It's all of God. And nothing else. Nothing in my hands
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I claim. I bring. Simply to the cross I claim. So indeed. You and I are privileged people.
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And the greatest privilege of all. Is our personal relationship. With Jesus Christ.
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I'm telling you. If you don't know Jesus. We're not going to know God. There's no eternal life.
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Outside of Jesus. What did Jesus say. When He prayed in John 17 3. And this is life eternal.
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That they may know Thee. The only true God. And Jesus Christ.
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Whom thou hast sent. That right there. Do you know what I read about that.
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The Puritans preached more on that one text. Than any other text in the scriptures. You know why.
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Because that. Without knowing Christ. Everything else is vain. You can know about the
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Bible. You can intellectually have. You have people that. Don't you run into people like this today. They could quote you scripture folks.
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They can even pray like an apostle. But I'm telling you. If they don't know Jesus Christ.
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In humility. And know that they're a child of God. And broken and repentant.
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Over the sins. In which they've committed. Against a holy God. And knowing Christ. It's all vain.
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It's all vain for you. It's all vain for me. That's why it is central. To know Jesus Christ.
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Well next. The third step is. The third is the result of this coming. To him. Is that we are shaped.
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Into a living stones. Living stones. Stone by stone.
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Upon this boulder. The chief cornerstone. For the use. In the spiritual building. Now this is central.
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What he's saying here. In verse five. He says this. You also. You also.
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As living stones. Are being built up as a spiritual house. For a holy priesthood. For the purpose of this.
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To offer up. To God. Spiritual sacrifices. Acceptable to God.
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Now I want you to underscore this. Through who? Through Jesus Christ. Through Jesus Christ.
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All of our worship. All of everything that we do. Our services. Our faithfulness.
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Everything that we do to him. Must be through Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ.
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By the Holy Spirit. It cannot be in the work of the flesh. It cannot be of good works.
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It is the works. It is good works. But it is the works of Jesus. But it must be. To get to a holy
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God. And to satisfy. And to please a holy God. It's all through Jesus. The father does not look at anything else.
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But Jesus. This is why the father spoke. And we see this recorded in scripture.
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As far as I see. Twice. Now you can correct me if I'm wrong. At Jesus' baptism.
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After Jesus was baptized. And identified with sinners. He came up out of the water. Right? And he was not baptized because of sins.
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He was representing. He was representing God's people. He was identifying with God's people.
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And as he came up. When he came to John the Baptist. Which was the forerunner of Christ. The last of the
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Old Testament prophets. And Jesus said. I'm coming to be baptized. And John says.
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No, no. I'm not even worthy to stoop down and latch your sandals. He knew who he was.
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And Jesus has suffered to be so. To fulfill all righteousness. You get that? Say Jesus.
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It was to identify with us. For God's people. And then when Jesus went into the waters.
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And came up. The Bible says. The Spirit of God. The Spirit.
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The third person of the Trinity. Ascended. He didn't become a dove. But he ascended in the form of a dove.
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That came upon him in fullness. And then the father spoke.
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And what did he say? This is my beloved son. In whom I'm well pleased.
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They thought it thundered. But the father was saying. I'm pleased in him.
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I'm pleased in my son. This is my beloved son. In whom I'm well pleased. And another time that the father spoke.
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Was on top of the mount. On the mount of Olives. A transfiguration. When Jesus was transfigured before them.
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There was a. The glory just bursted out of him. And this was for his glories to come.
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But here he was. Veiled in flesh. That God had seen. And the glories were bursting out.
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And he was transfigured before them. And they were blown away. The apostles. Peter. Peter really was blown away.
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And James. And John. And then they started talking about. They saw Moses. And Elijah.
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And there's a reason. Elijah represented the exodus. I'm sorry.
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Yeah the exodus. And Moses represented the exodus. Both it was the exodus in a sense.
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Because Elijah exited out. With a chariot of fire. But he represented the prophets.
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And Jesus was in the middle. And here is Moses. The law. The law and the prophets. But both it was the exodus.
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And what were they speaking of? Actually the scripture says. They were speaking of the resurrection. Jesus' resurrection.
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Everything centered on Jesus Christ. And the father spoke. And when
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Peter got sidetracked. Looking at the prophet Moses. And Elijah. The father said.
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This is my beloved son. Hear ye him. Wow. I don't know about you.
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And then. You know. You know. You read the text. What happened? Peter was actually trembling.
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And it's almost like. They're going to die. But God spoke. And he spoke. And he said.
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This is my son. This is my son. Everything is through the son. Through the son. Jesus Christ.
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Well there's some things. I'd like to point out here. About the living stone. It's paradoxical.
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Because the stones aren't alive. As Ari said. Stones are here. Symbolic. Here. It's profound.
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Because it's beautifully. Incorporates three realities. About Jesus Christ. The first reality is.
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That Jesus is the long awaited Jewish Messiah. That came. God.
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And you see that. In verses six through eight. Which we read. But God kept his promise.
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To send the Messiah. Second. That Jesus is a stone. That he is the focal point.
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Of his spiritual house. The church. That church. In which he's building. And the
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Greek word. Translated stone. In verse four. Sometimes refers to the stones.
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Used in the building projects. Which in the temple. When they built the temple. If you read the scriptures.
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It was with precision. That each stone was cut.
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And chiseled. To fit perfectly. Read this in scripture. It's in scripture. That it had to fit.
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I mean. God gave the blueprint. To Solomon. And it had to be perfectly set in place.
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Chiseled away. To perfection. In a specific location.
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And were practically. Immovable stones. Now I want you to think about that.
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That's the way the church is. Jesus says. I will build my church.
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And he told Peter. Upon this rock. He's speaking about the chief cornerstone. And then the living stone.
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We talked about that didn't we? The Petra and the Petros. Jesus is the Petra. The boulder.
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The chief cornerstone. But the apostle. Has a part to play with it too. Because. The apostles and the prophets.
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Are part of that foundation. R .C. Spoles. Spoke this. About. In revelation.
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You look at the. 24 elders. Around the throne of God. Which is.
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The foundation. That was laid. Of the church. You see that? So these stones had to be.
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Chiseled perfectly. Were practically immovable. Jesus will build his church. And then
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I love this part. And the gates of hell. Shall not prevail against it. Shall not.
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Not only is Jesus Christ a stone. He's a living stone. He's the chief cornerstone. Which is the most important stone.
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By the way. Of the entire structure. And the building. Because of him. And from him.
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The church draws its spiritual symmetry. Finally the last here. Jesus is the living.
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Stone. That is appropriate description. Because everything Peter said in this epistle. Is all based on the truth.
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That Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Jesus Christ is alive. Why is that important? Because all the privileges.
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That he is talking about. Would not be so. Unless Jesus is risen from the dead. We wouldn't have a hope.
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We wouldn't have a blessing in heaven. We wouldn't have eternal life. We wouldn't be forgiven.
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Paul talks about all this. In 1 Corinthians 15. All because Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
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Everything. Our faith. Everything. Our hope. You see all the believers hope.
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And basis is on the spiritual privileges. That you and I have. You and I have in Jesus Christ. And Peter says this.
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We have been born again to a living hope. Through what? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
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1 Peter 1 .3 Interesting the literal reading. Renders this. In 1
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Peter 2 .4 Coming to him is to a living stone. In other words Christ is that unique stone.
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He is unique. We can actually say that. Jesus is unique. He is.
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There is no one like him. No one ever will be like him. Because he is God. That is what makes him so unique.
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He is God. He is deity. So Jesus Christ is the living stone.
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Longing for him. Come to him and we are shaped into that living stone. Now the fourth step is this. That follows up from that.
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We are built into a spiritual house. A spiritual house. Christ himself is the builder.
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He builds individual believers into a spiritual temple. It is a spiritual because it houses the
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Holy Spirit. Now you have chapter and verse. There is a lot of chapter and verses on this.
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But I pick this one out. 1 Corinthians 3 .16 Paul the apostle is speaking to the church of Corinth.
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And he gives them a question. Don't you love the questions he gives? Do you not know? Do you not know?
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In other words they are ignorant. He told them you are ignorant. In other words you need some knowledge of scripture.
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Do you not know that you, you are the temple of the spirit of God that dwells in you.
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Isn't that great? The spirit of God dwells in you. He dwells in you.
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You know that is a reference to the local church. Not to necessarily the individual in this context. But it is to the church in which
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Jesus is building. So what we see so far is that God lays this stone.
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Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone. That lays in Zion. That is
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Jerusalem. And men reject it. They crucify them. But God chose this stone and regards
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Him as infinitely precious above all things. Raises Him from the dead.
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Makes Him as ever living stone. And gives Him the place and the highest honor at the head of the corner.
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And all this to the end that Christ might gather a people. A special people to Himself.
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Who would themselves be alive like Him. Because they will be in Him. We share that union with Him.
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And would make a temple. A living temple. Because the spirit of God would dwell with them. And your body is the temple of the living
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God. That is why the way we treat our body. What we do with our body is crucial.
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It is important. And an eternal habitation. Because we are the partakers of God's holiness.
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And we have an eternal habitation because the spirit of God dwells within us. Now let me go to the fifth.
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Because my time is clicking by. Not only we are living stones built in the spiritual house.
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But God's habitation. We are also a holy priesthood. We will look at this later on too. In other words we are not merely just passive building.
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A building that God dwells. We are also active participants in worship. This is important.
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Because the whole life of the believer is a life of worship. It is obedience. But it is our worship to God.
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Not just participants. Priests. A royal priest. A royal nation.
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A priesthood of all believers. And I will say more about that later. The sixth step is the spiritual sacrifices are offered to God through Jesus Christ.
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And I want to really close this out with an application here. Because there are no spiritual sacrifices.
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No matter how sincere people are. They will not be accepted to God the
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Father. Unless it is through Jesus Christ by faith and through the blood of Jesus Christ. Now this is not me.
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This is in scripture. What God the Father has accepted is the blood of Jesus.
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His sacrifice. And if we are going to come to offer up spiritual sacrifices to Him. Our works to Him.
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Not for salvation. I am talking about the believer now. I am talking about works that follow. Our workmanship. It must be all through Jesus.
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Everything that we do at Redeeming Grace Church must be through Jesus. It must be by the work and the power of the
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Holy Spirit. That is why we need to be filled with the Spirit of God. Because it is power to be effective in our service to God.
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If we are going to be effective in evangelism. We must be filled with the Spirit. And if you are filled with the
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Spirit. And I am filled with the Spirit. We are going to have wisdom. And we are going to be on our faces before God. And seeking
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God's leadership in this. And through the
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Holy Scriptures. But the Spirit of God directs us. Isn't that great? And it is all through Jesus Christ.
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God's aim. God's aim. Is that we offer Him spiritual sacrifices.
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And we only can do that through Jesus Christ. You are going to hear me say that a lot. It is only through Jesus Christ. Jesus is that living stone.
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Everything hinges on Him. Coming to Him. Everything hangs on Him. Jesus Christ the living stone.
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Coming to Him as a living stone. Rejected by men, yes. But choice and chosen. Precious in the sight of God.
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And if we don't come to Jesus. Then we don't have life. If we don't. If we are not built into a spiritual house.
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We are not going to become a holy priesthood. And we will not offer up spiritual sacrifices. It is all through and in Christ.
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Coming to Jesus. Now I don't have time to break this down. But John 10 1 -3 says this.
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Truly, truly. I say to you. Jesus speaking. In John 10. He who does not enter by the door.
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Into the fold of the sheep. But climbs up some other way. Is a thief and a robber.
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But he who enters by the door. Is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens.
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The Father is that doorkeeper by the way. Listen to this. Jesus is the door. The sheep hear
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His voice. The sheep are the believers. And He calls His own sheep by name.
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And what does He say? Brother Keith brought this down. You didn't know this Keith. I had this in the text.
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And leads them out. He leads them. He leads them.
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Because we are followers. We are followers of Christ. We follow
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Jesus. We follow the Master. We follow the Lord. And in verse 7. Jesus said it. And I don't want to go into detail.
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But the disciples didn't quite get that parable. And Jesus explains to them. So Jesus said to them again.
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And He says. Truly, truly. Verily, verily. Amen, Amen. I say to you.
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I am the door of the sheep. I am that door. The Father is the doorkeeper.
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But Jesus is the way. Through. In and out. Finding pastures.
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For the sheep. To follow. Isn't that great? It's all in Jesus. All in Jesus.
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This should give us great cause to love Him more. Because with all of our hearts. He is the only way to God.
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He is the only way alive to God. That we are alive in Him. We are dead to ourselves. Alive in Him.
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He is the only way to be a dwelling for God. A spiritual house. That we can have.
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Jesus said. Without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we can do nothing. Now. Verse 7.
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He is precious. He is precious. I don't have time to get into this. But it means infinitely great value.
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Jesus is the pearl of great price. Of infinite great value. In other words.
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There is no greater value in the entire universe. Just not this world. But the entire universe. Than Jesus.
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So God's view of Jesus is the only accurate view. And the only accurate standard to measure
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Christ's worth. I want you to think about this. Think about all the people in this world.
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The millions and billions I would say. They know that there is a God. They may say there is not.
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But they know. Because nature declares His glory. The creation declares
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His glory. We know that from Psalm 19. Romans 1. And their consciences tell them that it must be so.
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But they don't know how to do anything fully acceptable to God. Do they? They really don't know.
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Because they are in darkness. They don't know. And because they don't know Jesus.
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They don't have union with Him. And they try every kind of discipline under the sun.
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They try sacrifices after sacrifices. You see all these religions. All these cults.
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Look around the world. And the paganism. They do everything they can. Because they feel like there is something they got to do.
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And God has done it all. In Jesus. They make vows. They make relics.
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They make idols. They make virtues. And they all center it on themselves.
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And they don't look at what Jesus has done. The perfect Son of God. God says at the end of verse 5.
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The sacrifices that are acceptable to Him are acceptable through Jesus Christ. Acceptable through Jesus Christ.
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Not through human effort. Not through human merit. Not through human achievement. But only through Jesus. Aren't you glad?
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Only through Jesus. This is why Paul says in Romans 15 and 18. I will not presume to speak of anything except what
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Christ has accomplished through me. What Christ has accomplished. The Apostle Paul said that.
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Let me share with you a story in closing. I began with a great, wonderful story.
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I think you will be blessed with this story too. It's powerful. A conversation.
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A Louvre Museum in Paris. I hope I pronounced that right. One of the curators of the museum.
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A man with great appreciation for art. Overheard two men discussing a masterpiece.
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One man said to the other. I don't think much of that painting. I don't think much of it.
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The curator was feeling obliged to reply to this man's statement. He said to him.
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Dear sir. May I interrupt you. That this painting is not on trial.
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You are. The quality of that painting has already been established.
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He said. Your disapproval simply demonstrates the frailty of your measuring capability.
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Now listen to this. This is profound. In a very similar way. Jesus Christ is not on trial before men.
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Men are on trial before Him. That's exactly the truth. Because everyone that's living is going to give an account to Him.
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And the deeds that they've done in the body. Whether it be good or bad. Paul says this is what the gospel says.
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We're going to all answer to Him. Those who arrogantly dismiss Jesus as unworthy of their devotion.
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Simply demonstrate their inability to recognize Him as the most precious treasure of all. And that's the truth.
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Peter said in chapter 2 verse 6 and 8. This is contained in the scripture. Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious cornerstone.
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He who believes in Him shall not be disappointed. Shall not be disappointed.
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This precious value then is for you to believe. Who believe? But for those who disbelieve the stone which the builders rejected.
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This became the very cornerstone. And a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. By God's holy and perfect standard folks.
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Jesus is the perfect cornerstone. But the leaders of Israel as you well know.
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Had a faulty standards of measurement didn't they? They had a wrong view of God.
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They didn't see Jesus as that Messiah. They wanted a political Messiah.
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For themselves. And they inspected Him closely but they rejected Him. Because He didn't fit their concept of a
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Savior. Scripture says this. And He came unto His own and His own received Him not. Sadly to say this.
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Millions of men and women throughout this history. Have followed their lead right into hell. Eternal damnation.
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Folks. Jesus is everything. He's got to be everything. Just not just a piece of our life. He's got to be our life.
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And our life must be hid in Christ and God. As well as we tell others.
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Let me leave you with this. About the Lord Jesus. Many will evaluate Him as a wrong standard. As that particular man that was evaluating that painting.
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And people will reject Him. Others will evaluate Him according to God's standard.
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And they will find Him precious beyond all measure. But either case. We must be a faithful witness to Him.
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And unto Him. Knowing that someday His full value will be proclaimed by all. Because Scripture says this.
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Philippians 2 .10 -11 So that at the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow.
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That those are in heaven. On earth. And under the earth. And that every tongue will confess. That Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of God the Father. Brother Keith shared this with us a few weeks ago.
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Psalm 2 .11 -12 Worship the Lord with reverence. Rejoice with trembling.
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Do homage to the Son. That He not become angry. And you perish in the way.
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For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all those who take refuge in Him.
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In the rock of ages. Let's pray. Father we thank You for this word this morning.
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We thank You that there is something very gracious in that text. There is not immediate judgment.
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There will be judgment to come. But there is not immediate judgment. That we so rightly deserve.
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Lord it's Your mercy and Your anointed one. Jesus Christ that shows mercy. And providing an opportunity for repentance.
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The remedy is still the same. As the Lord Jesus says. The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
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It's come near. Repent and believe the gospel. Father time is a gift to us.
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Every one of those are gifts to us. Time is a gift to us. The kingdom is a precious gift to us.
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The king is the most precious of all gifts. And Lord You rule sovereign in salvation.
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And You command all men to repent everywhere. So Father may we truly take hold of who
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Jesus really is. And what He has done for us. Those two great gifts. May we know that the chief cornerstone is all worth it.
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All worth it. And as You said in verse 10. That You were once us.
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We were once a people. Not now. We are the people of God. We are the people of God now. Because of mercy.
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Lord in the mercy You have showered us with in Jesus. Receive mercy. Now. Oh Father help us.
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And we thank You Lord. Thank You. That it's not because of us. It's all because of Jesus.
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And we worship You this hour. Lord. Lord we worship You in our life. Help us to be obedient.
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And help us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to You. Acceptable to You. To do the perfect will of God.
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Holy. Perfect will. And we thank You for this. And we ask these things in Jesus name.