Jesus Christ as our cornerst..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. the first letter of the apostle Peter. And by the grace of God, this evening we're going to be addressing, I hope, verses six, seven and eight in the second chapter.

But as we do every time that we are addressing this section in the book of Peter, I want us to read the whole section that comes from verse 10 in chapter one. and all the way through chapter 2, verse 12. We're going to be addressing this evening this concept of Christ as the cornerstone and the relationship of Christ as the cornerstone to those who believe and to those who do not believe. That's what the puzzle says in verse 6, 7, and 8. But let's read together, beloved brethren, from verse 10 in chapter 1 and all the section in chapter 2 to verse 12.

So this is the perfect, all-sufficient, ever-enduring, life-giving, life-sustaining words of God. And therefore, we are supposed to read it with reverent hearts and paying much attention to each one of the words that are contained in the book. Verse 10, chapter one. Concerning this salvation, The prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.

things into which angels long to look. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy.

And if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, Conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart since you have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God for all flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass the grass withers and the flower falls but the word of the Lord remains forever and this word is the good news that was preached to you so Put away all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy, and envy, and all slander, like newborn infants. Long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the lure is good. As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in Scripture, Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellences of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, They may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Amen.

That is the Word of God. Beloved brethren, as I said, I want us to address the portion of the Scripture that is contained in verse 6, 7, and 8, in which the Apostle Peter is going to speak of the cornerstone, a chosen and precious cornerstone. which is of great value or of honor for those who believe, but it's for a shame for those who do not believe. And beloved brethren, the burden of my soul and my heart is that in times of individualism, in general times in which we live our lives as individuals only caring about the things of our own self, or probably only about those who are very close to us, but in times of individualism, that exhortations like the one that the Apostle Peter has in mind, not only in this portion of the Scripture here, but in the verses that come before that, which speak of the communal, community, covenantal body of the person of Jesus Christ, that exhortations like these ones may simply just pass up above our heads, or above or around our hearts. Brothers and sisters, we cannot be true believers, we cannot grow into salvation, we cannot become like Jesus Christ, if we do not live our lives, not only individually, but also within the context of a biblical church.

within the context of the community of God. This is the burden that the apostle has in this section. He has spoken to us. He has written already about the reality of the new birth, that those who are in Christ have been born again by the word of God, by the spirit, and that they desire the spiritual word of God. And then he says, as you come to him, the living stone, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as two things, a spiritual house and a holy priesthood.

Brothers and sisters, independently of the things that we're going to be saying today, we have to acknowledge the connection between the individual life of the believer and the life of that believer within the context of the family of God. the church of Christ, the community of Christ, the people of God. A person cannot grow up into salvation if the church to which he or she belongs is not growing up in conformity to Jesus Christ. So you see, this exhortation, beloved brethren, is not only for the Western perception of how church should be done, but it's an exhortation to you and to me that we are to live our lives individually as what it says in Scripture, but also that we are to live our lives as a community according to what is contained in Scripture. This is what Apostle has said, that those who have been born again have been or they are being built up like living stones in a spiritual house.

And they also are together as a collective, a holy priesthood. And now he's going to add another line of reasoning to his argument, to this argument of the covenantal importance of the life of the church in the life of the believer. The apostle is going to add another line of reasoning and argument that is going to support in a glorious way the reality of our salvation. But before we address that, I think that it's very important that we address, beloved brethren, the context, the textual context or the context from the text of what the apostle is writing and what he's trying to say, and also the theological context, the context, the first one, of what the apostle writes and is containing in the scripture, the person that we have read, but also the theological context that is not only or necessarily found in the text that we find, but in the testimony of Scripture as it's given to us in the canon by the Holy Spirit that has inspired the apostles and prophets to give us this Scripture. Now, beloved brethren, the apostle is trying to encourage these churches, as we've said many times, is speaking to them about a salvation that transcends their immediate reality.

The Apostle Peter is concerned and he's trying to make sure that his audience, that his people, know and understand that the salvation that they have by grace through faith in Jesus Christ is a salvation that transcends, that goes beyond the immediate reality that they have. The reality, not only temporal reality, but even the reality of the new covenant established in the person of Jesus Christ. That's why when he starts the book, he says, Peter, a servant of Christ, and when he's writing to these churches in Pontus, Galatia, Asia, Cappadocia, and Bithynia, he calls them elect of God. They are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. They are sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling with His covenantal blood.

that sanctifies them, sets them apart as the chosen people of God. This salvation that they have is a salvation that transcends and goes beyond their immediate reality and the reality of the new covenant. It's God, the Father, who according to His abandoned mercy, chapter 1 verse 3, has caused them to be born again. through the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this salvation given to them, verse 5 and 6, is kept for them in heaven.

It transcends, it goes beyond their immediate reality, because they are preserved, they are kept by God's power through the faith of the saints. And then he reminds them, but saints, Even though your salvation transcends your immediate reality, in the here and in the now, you are going to be tested. The genuineness of your faith is going to be tested. But then verse 9, chapter 1, he says, but the outcome of your faith, the faith that is going to be tested, beloved brethren, your hearts and minds with these words. The outcome of the faith that you have is the salvation of your souls.

So then he says in verse 10, concerning this salvation, concerning this salvation that you have in this new covenant reality, concerning this grace that is yours under this new testament, new covenant established in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about that grace. inquiring what person or time, with the Spirit of Christ, with the Spirit of God in them, what person or time it was indicating or speaking or pointing towards the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. Beloved brethren, The encouragement that these saints are deriving is from the reality that the salvation that we have in the person of Jesus Christ transcends the immediate reality of the New Covenant. That this salvation that is given to New Covenant members is a salvation that was promised in the Old Covenant, that was appointed by God even before time began. But that was a salvation that was appointed, that was prophesied, that was promised in the Old Covenant.

They were serving not themselves, the apostle will say in verse 11 and 12, but they were serving you. And the things that you're now announcing through the Holy Spirit that was sent from heaven correspond to the things that the prophets of the Old Testament prophesied about the salvation that was to be yours. The Apostle trying to present that reality, that that of the Old Testament is that what is contained in the New Testament. Then he starts this marvelous discourse, explaining things of the Old Testament as they're applied to the New Testament. Be holy as your God is holy, because it is written, you shall be holy because he is Holy, He was for known before the foundation of the world, this Lamb of God without blemish or spot.

Beloved brethren, we arrive to a point again here in which the Apostle is again speaking to us of Old Testament realities that are glorious, applied to New Testament believers. And now in the section that we have, the Apostle, beloved brethren, The Apostle is dealing with this glorious relationship, as I have said now many times, many times, and I'm not troubled, not ashamed to repeat the things that are contained in this verse. The Apostle Paul says in Philippians 3 that he's not troubled to repeat the things because they are safe for the church. I'm not troubled to repeat this. Because, beloved brethren, just as the context still says that the apostle is applying things of the Old Testament into the New, the theology of this is also backed up by the content of what the New Testament speaks about.

Last week I told you that if we are going to understand these glorious realities, we need to understand the relationship of the Old Covenant. with the new covenant. I try to summarize the relationship of the old covenant, the covenant given to Moses at Sinai, with the covenant given to Jesus Christ, this new covenant in His blood, with a simple word, that the new covenant is a better covenant. This is what I called last week, the betterness. of the new covenant, that the new covenant in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is a covenant that is better in nature.

That's what the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter eight, verse five and six, that the new covenant is a better covenant. And what is the reason why the new covenant is a better covenant? Glorious two reasons I tried to give to give to you last week. The first one is because this glorious covenant in Jesus Christ, it is established on better promises. On better promises, the old covenant of Moses says, do these things and live.

Do the things of the law and you shall live. But if you don't do the things of the law, then curses will come upon you. And because of the sinful nature of humanity, then we are unable, we are unable to fulfill the things of the old covenant. But the new covenant says, in the words of the Apostle Paul, Romans chapter 10, verse 4, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. Jesus Christ is the heir of the promise given to Abraham, Galatians 3.

In Jesus Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails for nothing, but only faith working through love, Galatians 5 verse 6. It is all those who come to Christ by grace through faith who are recipients, not deserving the blessings of the new covenant. Why? Because it is Jesus Christ, the one who did those things and lived. Because it's Christ, the one who was born under the law, did the things of the old covenant.

And not only that, but he was triumphant over death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but Christ died and he did no sin. So then the power of death cannot overcome our Lord Jesus, and He was triumphantly resurrected on the third day. He fulfilled the requirements of the old covenant, and He therefore made available a better covenant that is established and better promises for those who by grace through faith are united to Him. Not only because of that, beloved brethren, There's another reason why this covenant is a better covenant.

And from this point, I'm going to be trying to interpret and present to you the text of the Scripture that we have before us. And that is that the blessings of this new covenant are better blessings. The blessings of the new covenant are given in fullness and in completeness. And if you want to read that, you can also read that in Hebrews chapter 8 from verses 10 all the way through verses 13. This new covenant is a better covenant than the old covenant, because the author of Hebrews says that he, God, found fault in the people of the old covenant, because when he gave that covenant to them, taking them out of the land of Egypt, they did not continue in the covenant that was given to them.

But the Lord says, I will establish a better covenant, or better, a new covenant. And in that new covenant, beloved brethren, in that new covenant, the Lord says, I will write my law in their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. And then in the end of verse 10 or in the verse 11, he says, I will remember their sins no more. Brothers and sisters, The New Covenant is not only a better covenant because it establishes better promises, but the extent of the blessings of the New Covenant is given in fullness and in completeness.

And if I could summarize the blessing of a covenant, it would be just simply this, as I did that last week, the presence of God. The highest blessing that a creature can have is access to the ongoing, continuous presence of God, keeping and abiding in the righteousness that God requires of that creature. The New Covenant, the New Testament in the blood of Christ, accomplishes that those who by grace through faith are united to Christ can abide eternally in the presence, immediate presence of God, without the vulnerability of being removed from the presence of God. Redemption... there is a sense in which redemption can be summarized in that.

As the psalmist says, that in the presence of God there is fullness of joy, and then he adds a word that is forevermore, always, eternal. Christ, by fulfilling the righteousness of the old covenant, accomplishes to those on behalf of those who by grace through faith are united to Him, the certainty that they can abide in the presence of God forever and ever. Brothers and sisters, this is a covenant. And I'm not using words to sound lofty or intellectual, just simply just to give concepts of the things that we are supposed to understand. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

As the Church of Christ, Christianity, beloved brethren, Christianity is not a matter, a simple matter. It's simple, you know, when we want to be saved, to understand the Gospel, the message of the Gospel is very clear, beloved brethren. But when it comes to the things of God, He's the owner of wisdom. He's the owner of knowledge. And as such, we are to strive to know the mind of our God, to know the things that He has given us and commanded to us, beloved brethren.

the presence of God. bear with me and with my words, the presence of God. It is the highest blessing that creatures can have. And this has been the purpose of all covenants. This has been the purpose of all covenants, to establish an ongoing relationship between God and the creatures.

And from and throughout time, God has made for himself or established for himself the means by which he will have this ongoing relationship. Think about this. The Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was this place that was established by God so that he would have this communion and fellowship with the humans that he had created. And this garden was serving as the dwelling place of God, in which God was going to have communion and fellowship with the humans that He had created or with the creatures that He had created, Adam and Eve.

The abiding of Adam and Eve in the garden was submitted to the fact, to the rules, to the legislation, to the requirements that God had given them. Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it, you shall certainly die. They were given the instruction to obey that which was given to them, and they will remain and abide in the presence of God. When sin came into the world, the penalty of that sin was spiritual death.

But it was also separation from the presence of God. Beloved, A covenant always seeks to establish a dwelling place in which God is going to have ongoing communion with His people. That was the garden temple of Eden. And then that moved to the people of Israel with the temple in which God will manifest His presence. He will dwell within the Holy of Holies.

And this is gloriously given to us now as a spiritual house. in the New Covenant, in the New Testament with the church. Beloved brethren, bear with me. Think about these glorious realities. God has always built and established for Himself a place in which He dwells and in which He is manifested to His people.

God, in different ways and in different dispensations and in different administrations of redemptive history, He has always built for Himself a place in which He dwells and a place in which He manifests His presence to His people. It happened with the Garden of Eden and it also happened with the temple. And then what Paul has said to us in verse 4 and 5, it happens also in the context of the church. That's why, beloved brethren, he calls the church a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. This is because now those who by grace through faith are in Christ, We are not only the church of God, the living, abiding habitation of God, but we also have access to Him through Jesus Christ and by His blood.

Those who have been justified by faith, they have peace with God and the wrath of God does not abide on them anymore. We have the peace of God above us because of Christ and therefore we can draw near to His presence as The author of Hebrews, he will explain in the whole book. And as Peter uses exactly the same word in verse 4 to say, as you come to him, that come to him, it is exactly the same word that the author of Hebrews uses every time that he's speaking of the drawing near of believers to the throne of grace of the new covenant, which is the fulfillment of the mercy seat of the Old Testament. Brothers and sisters, why am I saying all of these things? Why am I spending the time to speak of all of these spiritual things?

Why am I taking my words and trying to communicate all of these realities to you, beloved brethren? Because if God has had for Himself a dwelling place in which He dwells and abides and rests, according to Psalm, and He also manifests His presence to His people, That dwelling place has also... God has also established for this dwelling place a foundation. And our understanding of the foundation of this dwelling place is going to help us to understand, beloved brethren, how the temple of God builds up together what is knit together, as the apostles would use the language. This is what the apostle is trying to do.

May your ears and hearts be with these words, beloved brethren. This is speaking of the reality of the believer within the context of the Living Church of Christ. This cornerstone that we have in verses 6, 7, and 8, it is, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's adding a reasoning, a line of reasoning. He's adding that argument.

And we know, of course, that this cornerstone is the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 4, He has called Him a living stone. And in verse 6, He's going to use two adjectives to describe this cornerstone. He's saying that it is chosen and that it's precious, the same thing that He has done. in verses 4, speaking of his living stone as chosen and precious.

The Apostle is doing something very interesting here, beloved brethren. He's saying that the Messiah that belonged to the old covenant people is the foundation upon which the Gentiles and the world established the dwelling place of God. that the Messiah, that the person that was promised by God as the Savior of the Old Testament people, it is the foundation upon which Gentiles will build up the dwelling and eternal place of God. The apostle is taking a promise and a prophecy that was given by the prophet Isaiah in chapter 28, when the Lord was speaking to the prophet Isaiah, saying, Behold, I have laid in Zion a stone, and this is a cornerstone, and those who believe will not be put to shame. the Lord Jesus Christ, and when He's teaching about the rejection by the Pharisees and by the high authorities of Israel, when He's teaching to His disciples and to people and His exhorting people, He is going to use the same language of the rejected quarter son.

He's going to do it through this parable of the owner of the vineyard. You might remember that in Mark chapter 12. When he speaks of this owner of a vineyard that has built a vineyard and then he has rented or leased that to some tenants and then some tenants they came and worked in that vineyard and they were producing different fruits and then the owner of the vineyard will go to a different country. When the owners or the tenants of that vineyard were producing fruit, the owner of the vineyard will send people or will send servants to collect something for them. And what would they do?

They will simply reject, kill or mistreat many of those servants that were coming to receive that. The Lord Jesus Christ is taking a parable that was given by the same prophet Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 5 of the vineyard, which represents Israel, and applying them to the Pharisees. He's speaking of Himself as the cornerstone, as the Messiah that was prophesied for the people of Israel, and that now them, those people, the Pharisees and the scribes, that they were rejecting. Beloved, You know that the cornerstone is Jesus Christ. The important thing about this passage is not to understand that the cornerstone is Jesus Christ, but rather, why is Christ, by necessity, the cornerstone of the dwelling place of God?

And what is the role of Jesus Christ as that foundational stone? And the Spirit is going to give us the explanation, beloved brethren, of the role of the person of Jesus Christ as the cornerstone by the lips of the Apostle Paul. So let's go to Ephesians chapter 2, because in Ephesians chapter 2, beloved brethren, Paul is going to explain to us the role of Jesus Christ as the cornerstone. Did I say Ephesians? Ephesians.

In Ephesians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul, beloved brethren, he is going to explain to us the role of the cornerstone in relation to the dwelling place of God. Chapter 2. from verse 18. Beloved brethren, the apostle has explained in this section of scripture of the coming together of the Jews and the Gentiles and the peace that has been made between old covenant people and new covenant people by the death and the resurrection by the blood that has been shed of the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming together of Jews and Gentiles by the person of Jesus Christ. And then he says in verse 18, for through him, we both Jews and Gentiles, have access in one Spirit to the Father.

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Now, pay attention to this, because then the apostle, let me just present what he does with the text. In verse 21 and 22, he's going to give us two lines supporting the same argument that supports the verse 20. Pay attention to verse 20. "...

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone." Now, beloved brethren, pay attention to this. Why am I putting lots of energy and with the limitations of my understanding words to explain this? Why am I doing this? Why am I trying to convey this point that seems to be obvious and that we know and that we've heard before?

Why am I putting all of this effort in this? Because, beloved brethren, The cornerstone analogy that the Apostle uses, 1 Peter 2, the Apostle Peter, it is not a metaphorical idea of the rejection of Christ as an important stone that was needed for the Old Covenant people, but rather he's speaking of a true spiritual reality for the New Covenant. And that is what the apostle is going to give us here in verses 21 and 22. Jesus Christ himself is the cornerstone. Yes, we know that.

But then I want you to see the three clauses that he's going to use in verse 21 and the same exactly three clauses or portions of text that he's going to use in verse 22 to speak to us of the importance of Christ being the cornerstone of the foundation of the church. Verse 21, first clause, in whom? That is Christ Jesus, the corner son. Second clause, the whole structure being joined together grows What is the result of that growing? Into a holy temple in the Lord.

He's going to repeat the same reality in verse 22. In him, in verse 21, he said, in whom you also are built together, are being built together. What? Into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Other translation will say in the Spirit.

Now, beloved brethren, There is a sense in which I have already failed in what I'm trying to say, because the truth of what I'm just trying to communicate to you, it is foundational for your daily living as a Christian, and also as a Christian that belongs to the context of the church, and words are not sufficient to speak of that reality. Beloved brethren, it is in the person of Christ It is in union with Christ. It is in abiding in Christ. that the church as a covenantal community, as a family, as God's people grows. And when that people come together in Jesus Christ, abiding in Christ, in union with Christ, the dwelling of or the building that they are building up becomes the dwelling place of God, fulfilling the highest blessing of every or any covenant that God has given to His people.

In the Garden of Eden, a covenant was given to Adam and Eve, and then the abiding of God and Adam and Eve were destroyed because of the entrance of unrighteousness. Then with the people of Israel, God provided a place in which He was going to dwell and manifest His presence. But because this covenant was serving a better covenant, and people could not fulfill the requirements of the law, God did not dwell in the place that was built by the hands of God. This is what Stephen says. In Acts 7, verse 42-43, the Most High does not dwell in temples that have been made by hands, but, brothers and sisters, He does dwell in temples that have been made by His hands.

Christ Jesus is not only man, but He is God. And He came down from heaven and He dwelt among us. You see, this is the Immanuel principle. Immanuel is the name of the Lord, God with us. That was the intention of God from the very beginning of time, that He will dwell with His people in the Garden of Eden, with the people of Israel, and then with the church.

The fullness of the blessing of the covenant has now been given to Jesus Christ, because now this spiritual house is not being made by the hands of sinful men, but is made by the hands of God Himself. So then, to put it, not with my words, but with the words of the author of Hebrews, in chapter 8, he says, how are we going to conclude all of these things? We summarize these things by saying that we have such a high priest, speaking of Jesus Christ. that he is seated at the right hand of the majesty in heaven, and that he is ministering unto the holy of holies in heaven, in a tent, in a tabernacle, in a temple that has not been made by the hands of men, but has been made by God himself. Brothers and sisters, this is the church.

This is the church of Jesus Christ. You see, when God says that Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, it's speaking of this Messiah, that it is not only the Messiah given to the people of Israel, but it is in reality, spiritually speaking, but reality, the foundation of the dwelling place where God dwells, His church. The church is the baptism foundation of truth, the house of the living God, 1 Timothy chapter 3. Beloved Breton, all of this happens, you know how? in union with the person of Jesus Christ.

How is this union with the person of Jesus Christ described in the language of the Apostle Peter in the passage that we have in front of us? How does Peter speak of this abiding of the living stones in the living stone or the living stones in the cornerstone in Peter's language, taking that what Paul says in Ephesians 2? Paul calls it, in him. Peter, in chapter 2, verse 6, 7 and 8, he says, to those who believe, to those who believe. Beloved brethren, if we had an understanding of the unrighteousness that we have within us, If we have a greater understanding of the blackness of who we are, if we had an understanding of the unholiness that it is through every single aspect of our being, we would be on our faces rejoicing, because we can say that we have access to God only by believing in Him.

Because this cornerstone, beloved brethren, which is the foundation of this spiritual house that is the Church of Jesus Christ, produces two reactions. produces two reactions according to what Peter says in Peter chapter 2 verse 6 through 8. Some people believe in him and they are not put to shame. some others are going to reject this Jesus Christ. But before you jump in your mind to think about the outsider to the church as the person who rejects Jesus Christ in the new covenant reality, before you think that this is speaking of people who are obvious haters of Christ, we have to see what the text actually says.

Because, beloved brethren, When the Apostle Peter is speaking in the chapter or in the section of Scripture that we have, he speaks of those who reject Christ the cornerstone as the builders, as the ones who were supposed to use that cornerstone to build the dwelling place of God, beloved brethren. Peter is speaking of the covenant people of God, as it was given in the Old Testament. You see, Jesus Christ was not a metaphor of the foundation of the dwelling place of God. He was indeed the cornerstone. the most important stone in the building of God, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

And when the builders that were supposed to build the temple of God, not with human hands, but by the oracles of God, rejected the Messiah, they were rejecting the stone that was more important to them. And then they became haters of God and builders of their own empire and not builders of the temple of God. The apostle puts it in a very simple way, beloved brethren, that those who accept Christ are those who believe and those who have rejected are the ones who have not believed. To those who believe Christ is precious and to them is the honor of Christ. And they are not going to be put to shame.

But those who do not believe, he says something very interesting. Those who do not believe in the end of verse eight. They stumble. They stumble, these who have rejected the cornerstone, they stumble. Why?

And then He gives the answer. Because they disobeyed the Word, as they were destined to do. The builders under the old covenant, people within the old covenant, who were supposed to build the dwelling place of God upon the truths that were given in the Messiah, Jesus Christ. They rejected the cornerstone, Christ himself, because they were destined to do. They disobeyed.

Now, the apostle presents disobedience to the truth as unbelief. Go with your eyes and see what he says in verse 22. He speaks of those who believe, pay attention, He speaks of those who believe, having purified your souls by what? Your obedience to the truth, because believing in Christ is obeying the truth of the gospel, which can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit. But you see what the exhortation is here, beloved brethren?

It is that when the New Testament speaks of the rejection of Christ, When the New Testament, beloved brethren, speaks of the rejection of Jesus Christ, it does not only does it speaking of people who are outside of the covenant, but also it speaks of people who are within the context of the new covenant that will also reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, let me just give qualifiers. These people have never made it into the New Covenant, but rather, these people are within the context of the New Covenant. Peter uses similar language in his second letter of Peter, saying, as in the Old Testament there were false prophets, there will also be among you false teachers." And then Jude, when he's writing his letter, he says, I was going to write to you concerning our common salvation, but I found it necessary to write to you, exhorting you, what?

To contend for the faith that was given to you once for all. or to the saints. But then he says something, because there are certain men who have crept into among you unnoticed. And then he used exactly the same language that these people were designated or appointed to this condemnation. Beloved brethren, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, when I say the church, I'm not talking about the church that we don't know, the universal church of Jesus Christ by grace through faith and then according to our senses and our eyes and the things that we touch and we can see and perceive in our immediate reality, us as a community is only built up according to biblical terms when each one of the members of the church and when each one or the community of the church together abide in the person of Jesus Christ. When we are in Christ, You see, the coming to Christ by faith is not only something that happens once, that by faith we come to Christ. Yes, that is true. 1 Corinthians 12 says that we have been baptized by the Spirit into one body, the body of Jesus Christ. But then the same apostle Paul will say that the life that we live in the flesh, we live by faith of the Son of God.

Why? Because it is in our abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ individually, that each one of the living stones, become like the Living Stone. Each one of the Living Stones become like the Cornerstone. The Cornerstone feeds us and nourishes us, makes us more like Him. And when each one of the individuals of the Church are built upon by faith, Then Christ, it is precious to us.

This chosen and precious stone becomes precious by faith to us. And the building, the dwelling place of God grows up. It's built up according to what God says that it should be, and not according to what men and Western Christianity says that it should be. But, beloved brethren, it has also pleased God. It has also pleased God that from among us there will be some people that will depart from us, so that we may know that they were never of us, the Jews, that there will be some people who will be clouds without water, twice dead, that did not have the Spirit within them, that were appointed for this condemnation within the context of the church, People who never had faith.

People who never were purified in their souls by obedience to the truth. People, as Peter says, that were destined to stumble upon the cornerstone, Jesus Christ. When the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching about His rejection among the people, He says, then speaking of the kingdom, that His kingdom will be taken and they will be given to people from other lands or from other countries. This is what Christ did. Kingdom given to the world, the manifestation of the holiness and the presence of God now is given to the entire world, beloved brethren.

And all of this happens by abiding constantly in the person of Jesus Christ, by faith united to Him. The church builds together. Now, let me just say this. you are not going to grow in conformity to Christ. You are not going to become more like the person of Jesus Christ, apart from the context of the church.

And we are to have an individual accountability, responsibility, or desire to individually be more like Jesus Christ, but also collectively and as a community. Pray on your knees for your brothers and sisters to have victory over sin. Pray on your knees for your brothers and sisters to grow in their faith. Pray and exhort one another so that you might be cleansed by the person of Jesus Christ. Why?

Because the holiness of the person who is seated next to you contributes to the building up of the building the spiritual house. If we do not live within the community of the church, as the Bible says, then it's so easy to have within us hearts of unbelief. And I exhort you to read the whole book of Hebrews about these warnings of what happens to that type of people. Actually, let me just take you to one. Go to Hebrews 3.

Brothers. And sisters. Never, ever. Pay attention to this. Never, ever derive the assurance of your salvation.

Never, ever derived your certainty of your faith in Jesus Christ from the simple fact that you believe that once saved, always saved. Do not derive the security that you have in your faith just from the intellectual fact that once saved, always saved. Security and assurance of salvation in biblical terms, it is always the witnessing of the spirit to your spirit that you are a child of God, Romans 8. And that only happens when a person walks into walks in the spirit of God. And when that person is abiding of the person of Jesus Christ, Christ is the source of your justification.

Jesus Christ is the source of your sanctification. Jesus Christ is the source of all spiritual blessings. The person of Jesus Christ, he's the one that empower us to be more like him, not your theology. nor your thoughts, nor intellectual assertions of something that you've heard. It is your relationship by faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

Why do you think that the author of Hebrews is going to say this to the church in Hebrews 3, verse 12? Take care. Brothers, now, please have in mind, I don't know if you are holding all the things that I've said, but remember that the highest covenantal blessing that a covenant can give to a person is the immediate presence of God. So being together with God, abiding in God, abiding in Christ. And this is by faith.

Verse 12, take care, brothers and of course, sisters or brethren. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart or faithless heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Abiding in Christ is to be in the covenantal presence of God. An unbelieving heart will always make you depart from the presence of God. But now pay attention to what he says to the role of the person that is seated next to you or behind you, that you may not know many things about them.

But exhort one another every day. Exhort one another. The apostle, the author of Hebrews, beloved brethren, he's given the solution for an evil unbelieving heart that is making me depart from the presence from God himself. The solution that he gives is, but exhort one another every day, as long as it is cold today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. He doesn't say fight your sin on your own.

He says the Bible speaks of that somewhere else. He calls us to flee and to put to death sin and all of these things. But here the author speaks of the role and the importance of the exhortation of covenant members in the battle against the deceitfulness of sin of the individual. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. Because individual growth in conformity to the person of Jesus Christ, upon the cornerstone of Jesus Christ, It is equivalent in the glory and in the mercy and in the grace of God, when by His grace and by His mercy, the members of the church are united with one mind, one faith, one Lord, with the same intention, with the same desire, in the building up of the church.

loving one another, exhorting one another, desiring to be the bride of Christ so that individually and collectively we can be the salt of this world. We can be the light of this world. And then when trials comes to our faith, The sorrows of my brother and my sister are my sorrows. When difficulties come, the difficulties of my brother and my sister are my difficulties. When something good happened to my brother and my sister, there's no envy in my heart, but there is love and rejoicing because of the good things that happened to my brother and my sisters.

Are we there? I don't think so. I don't think so. So our eyes should be in the person of Christ, beloved brethren. I don't know about you, but I want to live my faith and my relationship with Christ according to what is written.

And I decide that each one of you live your life in the same way so that when Christ comes and when fire comes to our church and to our people, we might find ourselves having built this lampstand on the foundation of gold and precious stones, which is the Word of God. And then we might say, we belong to Him who came from heaven to make war against sin and death. And He returned to the right-handed Father victorious. He is our Savior. Amen.