Lose all their guilty stains. Let sinners plunge beneath the
flood. Lose all their guilty stains. A dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. dying Lamb, thy precious blood
shall never lose its power, till all the ransomed Church of God
be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more, be safe
to sin no more. Till all the trents of church
have gone, be safe to sin no more. E'er since, by faith, I
saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply. Redeeming love has been
my theme, and shall be till I die, and shall be till I die, and
shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die. In this poor listening, stammering
town, lie silent in the grave. And in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Thank you. I'd like to read Psalm 121. A Song of Degrees I will lift
up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My
help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will
not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber
nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The
Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this
time forth and even forevermore. Our heavenly and merciful Father,
We thank you again, Lord, for allowing us to assemble together
this morning to hear your blessed gospel declared to us from your
word. Father, we thank you for this
full and free salvation for sinners. We thank you, Lord, for sending
your beloved son to bear our sins and to suffer and die on
the cross and to accomplish all that we could never do ourselves.
Lord, we thank you for all what we have obtained, we are fully
sanctified, fully justified, and we have inherited his righteousness. And Father, what a glorious rest
for our souls. We thank you, Lord, for giving
us this great gift of faith, whereby we can behold him in
his glory. Father, we thank you also for
Brother Eric, allowing him to stand before us. Continue, Lord,
to watch over him and be with him. Be with him again, Lord,
as he hopes to stand before us. Lord, pour out your spirit upon
him. Give him liberty, Lord. And remember us as we sit and
listen. Lord, will you bless it to our
souls, allow us, Lord, to be undistracted, and remember those
that are listening online and various other ways. Father, remember
them where they are and bless them richly for their souls.
Give them rest, Lord. And remember also those that
are struggling with various sicknesses. Father, we thank you for allowing
Brother Ronnie to be with us this morning and giving him strength.
Remember Brother Scott, Lord, where he was once again met with
disappointment. Oh Lord, will you strengthen
him, give him health and strength. Be with sister Johnny also. Encourage her, Lord. And that
our eyes may be ever turned to the Lord Jesus Christ, our only
hope. And Father, we know that you are faithful. And Father,
strengthen our faith. Give us rest and remember us
this morning. And Lord, again, we think of
our loved ones, our neighbors and our children. our relatives. Father, if it would please you
to open our mouths to declare your goodness and your graciousness
towards sinners, and will you encourage them to come also to
assemble with us and remember us, Lord, as a local assembly.
Will you continue to supply all our needs? We thank you, Lord,
for Jesus' sake alone. Amen. As you remain sitting,
let's sing 77. Son of my soul, 77. ? Son of my soul, thou Savior dear
? ? It is not night if thou be near ? ? O may no earth-born
cloud arise ? ? To hide thee from thy servant's eyes ? ? And
the soft dews of kindly sleep ? ? My weary eyelids gently steep
? ? Be my last thought, how sweet to rest ? ? Forever on my Savior's
breast ? Abide with me from morn till eve, for without thee I
cannot live. Abide with me when night is nigh,
for without thee I dare not die. Be near to bless me when I wake. E'er through the world my way
I take. Abide with me till in thy love
I lose myself in heaven above. Thank you. We turn to Romans 9. The scriptures
tell us that Christ is the chief cornerstone. That means that he is the most
essential, most crucial living stone in the whole house of God. Without him, the house cannot
be. It falls. He is the chief cornerstone. And we're also told in the scriptures
that Christ is a stone of stumbling, so that men stumble over Christ. And because of him, they're not
able to arise to the glory that they seek to attain. Now, how
is it that Christ can be the chief cornerstone, be both the
chief cornerstone and at the same time, the stumbling stone? The Jews certainly did not believe
that he could be both, so that the scriptures testify against
them who saw him, who heard him speak and believed not. It says in Romans 9, verse 31
through 33, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness,
hath not attained to the law of righteousness. They didn't
reach that righteousness that they saw by it. Wherefore, how
is this so? Because they sought it not by
faith, but, as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled
at that stumbling stone. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed. And we'll see that when
we get to Peter, that God purposed it this way. He appointed it,
those Jews, to everlasting ruin. And we'll see that. Now today,
I want us to see how that Christ is the chief cornerstone, and
then see how is it that Christ is the stumbling stone, and how
God does make it precious, him precious, to his child according
to the election of grace. titled this, The Chief Cornerstone,
A Stone of Stumbling. So the scriptures teach that
Christ is the chief cornerstone. Well, how is he the chief cornerstone? And what does it mean that he
is the chief cornerstone? I suppose that it helps us to
understand that the chief cornerstone is the most important stone in
the whole structure, the whole building, and that is relative
to the purpose of God in the salvation of his people. And it's important that we see
him, that we look to him and understand his importance to
the house because we by nature have very high views about ourselves. We have very, we think ourselves
something by nature and are very proud and very arrogant in the
view that we have of ourselves by nature. Now the chief cornerstone,
which is the most important stone of the building, it's because
it provides that foundation upon which the house is built. It
provides the very foundation, the stability, and that layer
upon which that building is resurrected or raised up. Every measurement
is made against that stone, the perfection of that stone. The
most effort went into that stone. Everything rested and was given
in that stone. And every stone that's laid is
conformed to the purpose of that chief cornerstone. In other words,
we just don't build structures. Well, I have this idea, and I'm
going to do this, and I'm going to do this this way, and I'll
make it like this. No, it conforms to the very purpose
for which that stone was laid. Now here's the language of scripture
concerning the salvation of our God in Christ. I'm reading this
from Isaiah 28, verse 16, and the beginning of verse 17. Therefore,
thus saith the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation
stone, a tried stone. He was proved, Christ was. A precious cornerstone. A sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste. And the reason why the Lord uses
that word there, he shall not make haste, who believes in Christ,
it means you will not be alarmed. You will not be troubled in that
day, a visitation when the Lord returns, you won't be alarmed
and run for and seek another refuge because you're already
in the refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. You won't make haste.
You won't be alarmed or terrified because you've been given everything
in Christ. Judgment also, the Lord says,
will I lay to the line and righteousness to the plummet. So in other words,
all the structure, the house of God in whom we worship God
in spirit and truth, it all pivots, it all rests upon Christ. It's all by Him and by His workmanship
and what He does for His people. The Lord tells us that He builds
the house. And when He tells us, turn over
to Isaiah 66, let's see this, we've been seeing this recently
in the midweek service, but He challenges the folly of the religious,
of the self-righteous, who think that by their works, they are
building the house of God, that it's their workmanship that establishes
the righteousness of God. God says, through a couple questions,
he challenges it. He says, Isaiah 66, verse one,
thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne and the earth is
my footstool. Where is the house that ye build
unto me? And where is the place of my
rest? For all those things hath mine
hand made, and all those things have been." In one sense, God
is saying, I'm so magnificent, so glorious, how are you gonna
build a house for me that contains my glory? If I dwell in the heavens
and the earth and they're great, so great, how are you going to
build a structure and put me in it? And then the Lord tells
us, this is the one to whom I will look. If you will come and worship
me, I'll tell you who I look to, even to him that is poor
and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word. And we saw when we looked at
that how that speaks first and foremost of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the one who came poor and
lowly. He's the one who was broken for
God for God's people and he's the one that trembled at the
Word of God, that is that he obeyed God perfectly in all things. And so this house wherein we
worship God and seek to worship him is not built or founded upon
our works, Now every house is built by some man, but he that
buildeth, that built all things, is God himself. So the father
doesn't look to you and me to build his house, he looks to
his son who built the house. He looks to Christ, the son over
his own house, whose house we are. Now turn over to Ephesians
2. Ephesians 2, and we'll go to verse 18 and 19 first. And
stay there in Ephesians 2 for a moment with me. The father's looking to the son
to build the house. He's put all things into his
hand. And there Paul records for us
saying that through him, through Christ, we both, we Jew and Gentile,
have access by one spirit unto the Father. And what he's emphasizing
there is that there's not multiple ways to salvation. There's not
multiple gods or multiple paths to the Lord. There's one way,
through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the one name. the one
spirit we've been given to come to the Father. Now, therefore,
ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens
with the saints and of the household of God. So we come to the Father,
he tells us, by an holy calling. We've been called with a holy
calling, means it's not by our works of righteousness, which
we have done according to the law, but by the grace of God
given to us in Christ. It's a holy calling. It's established
upon better promises than what we could do by our works. It's
established upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so like the chief cornerstone
of any building, Christ is the stone upon whom the house of
God rests and is built. It's founded upon Him. Look down at verse 20-22 in Ephesians
2. And we are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the
chief cornerstone. So that without Christ, there
are no apostles. Without Christ, there's no prophets.
Without Christ, all the prophets are, are just like all the other
prophets of dead man's religion. They'd be nothing. We they're
founded and established upon the Lord Jesus Christ in spirit
and in truth in whom all the building fitly framed together
Groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord in whom ye also are
builded together for and habitation of God through the spirit this
is where God's peace and rest dwells. It's in Christ. It's in the house that Christ
has built. This is where we go. We go to
Christ, believing him, and that's where God meets with his people
and isn't angry with his people, doesn't rebuke his people, but
where he meets with us in peace, where we are comforted by the
Lord through what Christ has done for His child. So it's built and founded upon
Christ. Christ also is the stone against
which all living stones of this house are measured against. Look over at Acts 17. Go to Acts
17 and verse 31. We're measured against Christ.
He's the righteousness. Let me read it, Acts 17, 31.
It says, because God hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he raised him from the dead. God raised
Christ from the dead, declaring his justification, that he is
just. God is well-pleased with Christ. And so, if you're gonna dare
come to God in your own works, they better be as righteous as
the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's what they'll be measured
by. And so you who have no righteousness,
who come to the Lord in Christ, you are as righteous as Christ
is because you are in Him. You're covered with His blood.
You've inherited His perfect righteousness. You are, by substitution,
you are as righteous as the Lord Jesus Christ is. And you shall
be found faultless at the throne of God in that day, standing
in Christ alone. Christ is the stone to which
all living stones of this house are conformed to the purpose
of God in him. It's not our architecture, it's
his. It's what he's built. Turn over
to Romans 8. Romans 8, and we'll look at verse
29. For whom God did foreknow. He also did predestinate. Those whom he loved in eternity,
those whom he loved and chose in eternity, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be
the firstborn among many brethren. And so Christ is that choice
stone of God, the chief cornerstone upon which this house is founded,
against which we're measured, and we're conformed to the purpose
of Christ. We are living stones in the house
that Christ builds. It's all by him. And we see this,
that In the beginning, when we were looking at Genesis 1, and
we saw that in the beginning, God created the heaven and the
earth, and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was
upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light. He brought
forth that uncreated light upon this dark world and that declared
God's purpose for His people in and by the Lord Jesus Christ
to glorify His name. by creating a people and giving
them entirely into the hand of his son, placing all your well-being,
your very life in his hands so that he is your mediator, your
God, your savior, your husband, your friend, your all. It's all
in him. The father gave the son everything
to accomplish for the people. All our blessings are found in
and by the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of God. And so it It
declared God's purpose to send His Son and to redeem them by
the blood of His Son, to make them His own, so that we know
Him by an experience which the angels don't know, but we know
Him by that fellowship, dying with Him and being given life
by Him. We know God in a peculiar way,
brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been given His
name, the name of your God written upon you. And the Father gave
the people to Christ. Before He created anything, before
we even fell, He committed us to Christ to ensure our redemption,
to ensure our life with Him. And so this purpose of God to
make this house by His Son, it cannot fail. It's built in perfect,
perfect righteousness. Look at Ephesians 1. Ephesians
1, verse 4 through 7. It's according as God hath chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in
whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. You see that if
God had created us and purposed us to be His people, It would
be sorry because none of us would do it. None of us would rise
to that perfect righteousness. We all come short of the glory
of God. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. So without Christ, this house
cannot stand. It could not be built. He is
the chief cornerstone. But I also want to speak to you
about Christ being the stumbling stone. We see the chief cornerstone
that he is, but I want to speak to you about him being the stumbling
stone. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter chapter 2. We're going
to first read in verse 7 and 8. Make sure you have a marker
there in 1 Peter 2. Peter writes, unto you, therefore,
which believe he is precious. We're gonna come back to that
at our final point. He's precious. But unto them
which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
that stone which they rejected, that stone that they looked at
and disapproved of, that's what it means, they disapproved of
him, the same is made the head of the corner. He's made the
chief cornerstone. and a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word, being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. So God made this
same Jesus both the head of the corner and the stone of stumbling
and rock of a fence. How is it that God would choose
this one, his son? He would choose his son to build
the house to glorify his name, that house in whom he delights
and receives all who come to him, worshiping him in this one,
in the precious Lord Jesus Christ, How is it that the most critical
and most important, the chiefest, the head of the corner, be made
so that men stumble over him and fall over him and disapprove
of him and reject him and see him as dirt? Just have no interest in him
at all, except God be gracious to him. How is it? How is it
that Christ is the cause of stumbling and offense to so many? It's
because God made him the lowest. God sent his son in poverty,
in the lowest place. He took the lowest place. You
think about it, where do you stumble over a thing? When it's
up here, or when it's at your feet? So that you either don't
see it at all, or you don't give it the care it deserves, and
stumble right over it. You don't realize it. It's like
when you see somebody and you say, what, did you stumble over
a dime? Or the carpet monster jump up and get you and trip
you up or something there? They stumble over seemingly nothing. But if Christ is the greatest,
if he is the son, and he's lower than us, it also speaks to us,
because we know Christ is not the lowest. It just shows what
we think of ourselves and where we are by nature in our own minds
and how high we think of ourselves and how highly we esteem our
own selves, showing how puffed up and arrogant and proud we
are by nature. Man thought when they looked
at Christ and they saw him, they thought he can't possibly be
the Savior. There's no way that this man
is the Messiah. We'll not have that man reign
over us. There's no way that he is who he says that he is. So God put the chiefest, the
most important stone, in the lowest place so that man despised
him, and it reveals what we are by nature. And even the religious,
those who practice religion the most fiercely and most perfectly
according to the law, they despised him. And it reveals the heart
of man, doesn't it? It shows what we are by nature,
their hearts, and it speaks to what we are in Adam without the
grace of God. And so the testimony of the lowliness
of Christ, it's everywhere in scripture. It's spoken of throughout
the scriptures. We know that when he was born,
his parents were poor, so that he was born in an animal barn
and laid in a manger, wrapped with torn pieces of cloth for
swaddling. He was laying there, and we know
that when he ministered, when he walked on the earth, declaring
this gospel and ministering to the people, the Pharisees saw
him, and they noted this, they murmured, they complained about
this, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. That disgusted
them, that repulsed them. In fact, earlier on, a Pharisee
had invited him to the home, and he looked. There was a woman
who came in weeping at Christ's feet and wiped the tears off
his feet with her hair. And that Pharisee looked at it
and said in his heart, this man, if he were a prophet, would have
known who and what manner of woman this is, for she is a sinner. and he's letting that sinful,
dirty woman touch him. There's no way this is the Christ
of God. They were so self-confident in
themselves that they despised this Jesus of Nazareth, because
he received filthy, polluted sinners, and let them touch him,
and he spoke with them, and he ate with them, and he was kind
to them, to the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind. He was
very kind to them. and he healed them, and he taught
the people, and he had the audacity to speak to them with gracious
words. He spoke to them with gracious
words. Think about that. Sometimes when we don't know
whether someone is a believer or not, there's a hesitancy. Should I be kind to them? Should
I speak to them kindly? Should I declare the gospel to
them? Christ did. He spoke to the poor. the dirty, the filthy, those
that were known to be sinners. He didn't hold it back. He spoke
gracious words to all people. And only when the religious,
the self-righteous attacked him, that's when he spoke the truth
to them with words that put them in their place. But to the poor
and the lowly, he was very kind, very gracious. Anyone who came
to him and asked for help, he gave them help. Anyone who asked
for mercy, When that woman, that mother cried, help me, Lord. My daughter has a devil. You'd
be embarrassed to tell somebody that your daughter or your child
has a devil or acting out or has a problem. People are ashamed
of that because they know that they're judged by man. But Christ
was so kind, so merciful, so receiving of sinners. And so rather than rebuke and
shame those that despised, that are despised by the righteous,
the self-righteous. We're told in Isaiah that a bruised
reed he shall not break. You that are bruised and broken,
you that are sinners, you that have problems and adversities
and suffer and sometimes doubt and are weak in yourselves, he
won't break you. He says that smoking flax, that
one where there's just a little Little smoke coming out. He doesn't
put it out and stamp it out. He encourages that. He comforts
his people. He declares the gospel to them.
In Matthew 11, verse 25, why don't you turn there? Let's read
it. Matthew 11, we'll pick up in
verse 25 through 29. Yeah. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast
revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Those people that know everything
are so confident and so assured of themselves, the Father leaves
them to themselves. But to you that are simple, you
that are base, you that have nothing to boast in, he says
to you simple ones, God is pleased to reveal that mystery hid from
their eyes to make known to you. that God has given everything
for the sinner in his Son, Jesus Christ. It's all given freely
in the Son because it pleases God to do so. And then Christ
turned and said to those gathered to hear him, all things are delivered
unto me of my Father. And no man knoweth the Son but
the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Do you see The face of the Father
and the face of the Son. Do you see the Father in Christ? The love of God for his people
and the Lord Jesus Christ who says to the poor and the needy,
without any ability to save themselves, you don't even have a penny's
worth of righteousness. You have nothing. You're poor
in yourself. Christ says, come unto me. You that labor and are
heavy laden, Come unto me and I will give you rest. You that are struggling, striving
to make a righteousness for yourselves in fear, in doubts, in worries,
because you see that you're a sinner and cannot save yourself, Christ
says, you come to me and I'll give you rest. I'll give you
rest for your souls. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. And ye shall find rest
unto your souls. Isn't it a joy to tell others
about Christ? No, and it's not your job to
bash them and to judge them and to disassociate yourselves from
them. But trusting Lord, I'm going
to tell them the truth of what you do for your people and your
son, Jesus Christ. And I'm going to leave it with
you. to either make it a saver of
death unto death or a saver of life unto life. Lord, I trust
you to know exactly what to do. And so you preach Christ because
his yoke is easy and his burden is light. You know, it says of
Paul at the end, I'll read it real fast, at the very end there
of Acts, the very end of Acts, is it Acts 28? It's so sweet. Verse 30, just the second to
the last verse. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him. Anyone
who came to speak to Paul, he was willing to talk to them and
declare the truth of God in the face of Jesus Christ. He was
preaching the kingdom of God and teaching those things which
concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding
him. Receive all, be willing to speak
to all. If they want to come and hear the gospel, you preach
Christ freely. The gracious words of the Lord
Jesus Christ, you preach him, trusting that the Lord will lay
to the heart of his people. So when the father sent his son,
he sent him as one well below the expectations of men, so that
the natural eye couldn't see Christ's glory. They just saw
another man. When Judas came with those men,
he had to betray Christ with a kiss because you couldn't tell
him apart from the others. His garments were just as dirty,
just as tattered as anyone else's. There was nothing special. You
didn't see nice purple crimson or nothing on his robe. It was
just like everybody else's. His feet were dirty, and he looked
just like them all, so that he had to be pointed out by Judas. And so they couldn't see the
hand of God was with him, though, as Peter recounted to Cornelius,
though he went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him. God made His Christ low
in the esteem of men, in order that they would put Him to death
by the hands of wicked men, being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, in order to accomplish the
redemption of you, sinner, you that are sinners, and you that
have no righteousness, in order that Christ, the glorious Son
of God, should lay down His life as the lowest for the life of
his people, to accomplish our redemption, and to have the life
of God manifested, revealed in us by his spear, by that new
birth of Christ. Turn over to Hebrews 2. Let's
go to Hebrews 2 now. We'll pick up in verse 7. Hebrews 2 verse 7 says, for we
see Jesus. We see him with the eye of faith,
who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace
of God, should taste death for every man. That is, both Jew
and Gentile. For it became him for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. The question to the one who despises
Christ is, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and
to enter into his glory? Doesn't Christ's death suit the
desperate case that we are in? Doesn't it show forth just how
desperate sinners we are, how deserving of eternal death we
are? It suits us perfectly that Christ
came. and accomplished our redemption
by the death of himself, that the greatest among us should
take the lowest place in giving his life for his people. God was accomplishing his redemptive
will in perfect righteousness, hidden from our eyes. When we
didn't even know what was going on, he knew exactly what was
going on, so that now, beginning at Moses, and we can go through
the Psalms, and we can quote all the prophets, the things
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all speaking of him. It's
all declaring to us. It was hid in a mystery, but
now we see it by a spear and see, Lord, you're not telling
me how I'm to live to make myself righteous. You're telling me
how he lived and what he did to make me righteous, what your
son has done and accomplished in himself. And so seeing this
by the grace of God, unto you therefore which believe, 1 Peter
2.7 He is precious. You love Him because He first
loved you. If so many rejected Him, why
is He precious to me? To you that love Him, it is because
of the sovereign grace of God giving this to you. Not because
you deserve it, not because you earned it, but because God would
be gracious to you in choosing you and predestinating you unto
this salvation. Now look at verse 5 and 6 there,
1 Peter 2, 5 and 6. Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also
it is contained in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. This is the promise of God. This
is what he accomplishes in you, his child, who have no righteousness
of your own, but look to him. This is what he accomplishes
entirely by his grace, by his power, by his glory, giving you
a new birth by the seed of Christ, giving you his spirit to regenerate
your dead soul, your dead, understand your dead, you have nothing spiritual
in you, but Christ gives you life by his spirit. And so Christ,
God raises sinners from the dead by the voice of Christ, giving
you the newness of life in him. Now we read further, well, One
thing that the Lord does is he brings us low in ourselves so
that we do see him walking and we do see him from our faces
in the dirt and we behold him in his glory and we look up to
him by his grace and power being brought to see what we are in
ourselves and to see our need of him. Now verse 9 and 10, but
ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation of
peculiar people. that ye should show forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light, which in time past were not a people, but are
now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy, but now
have obtained mercy." And so this is the testimony of scripture.
He's precious to us because I have nothing to boast of. I can't
glory in my works and what I've done, but I see how wonderful
he is. God has made him everything to
me, and so to you, who Christ has been made everything to,
he's precious to you, and you love him, and that's why you
speak of him and declare his name and confess him before others,
because that's our acceptance. I dare not boast of what I've
done or my righteousness. That would be to despise Christ
and to stumble over him. But if I can look at Him and
boast of my righteous works, then I don't see Him by faith.
If there's something I could still glory in, then I don't
see Him the way I need to see Him, to see that He's everything
for me. Christ truly is the cornerstone,
and He's the one that deserves all the praise, all the glory,
all the honor, all the powers to His name. And that's what
He makes Him to, His child of God. So He's the chief, He's
that stumbling stone, because God made him low, but it shows
and testifies that we're even lower, and how desperate we are
for him. The natural man can't see him,
but you, by his spirit, by his grace, do see how precious he
is. Amen. Let's close in prayer. Lord, we thank you for your grace,
for your love, for your mercy, for your kindness, for your Son,
whom you sent and spared not, for your Spirit, which you pour
out upon us, to make us to see, to know this mystery, to see
in Christ everything provided for us, provided for each one
of us, as by your grace we see it, that we are sinners, desperate
in need of your grace and mercy, desperate for the blood of Christ.
Lord, we thank you that you did it all, and that by your grace
you called us out of darkness into the marvelous light of your
son. Lord, indeed, make him precious to us. He's the chief, and he's
the lowest, and we see how by nature we stumble over him. But
make him precious to us, Lord. If you make him precious to us,
then we'll know all things, and Christ will be all to us, and
we'll need nothing more, for we'll have everything in Christ.
Lord, bless your people. Bless our hearts. Send this word
out to the hearts of your people that comfort them. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn, 175, standing on the promises, 175. Standing on the promises of Christ
my King, through eternal ages let his praises ring. Glory in the highest I will shout
and sing, standing on the promises of God, standing Standing on the promises of God,
my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises that
cannot fail, When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail, Standing on the promises
of God. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises of Christ
the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love's strong cord, Overcoming
daily with the spirit's sword, Standing on the promises of God,
Standing, standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing
on the promises of God. Standing on the promises I cannot
fall Listening every moment to the Spirit's call Resting in
my Saviour as my all in all Standing on the promises of God Standing,
standing, standing on the promises of God, my Savior. Standing, standing, standing
on the promises of God. Thank you.