Okay, let's go back to Acts chapter
4. And we're going to pick up where
we left off with verse 5. We're going to begin with verse
5. Acts 4 verse 5. It says, And
it came to pass on the morrow that their rulers and elders
and scribes And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John,
and Alexander, and that John is believed to be Alexander's
son. And as many as were of the kindred
of the high priest were gathered together in Jerusalem. And they
had this big Sanhedrin Pharisee meeting, and they used to all
sit in a circle. Okay, verse 7 says, And when they had set
them in the midst, they asked, By what power or by what name
have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man, by what means he is made whole? Be it known unto you all. and to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole." Now a couple things to notice about this.
This message, and this is a message because verse 8 says, Then Peter
filled with the Holy Ghost. If God sends a message, He's
going to send it through His Holy Ghost. This is not by man. And I cannot tell you how thankful
I am for that. I just can't tell you. If I had
to sit there and think, now, what do I have to come up with
now? We'd be in trouble. So we call on God and we beg
God and we wait on the Lord to send your message. And we flip
through the scriptures and we read and we read and we read
until God sends the message and there it is. And we give God
the glory for that. So Peter is preaching this message
and the first thing to notice about this message is it sounds
exactly like the message he just finished preaching. You notice
that? Look at chapter 3, verse 6. Then Peter said, Silver and gold
have I none, but such as I have, give I thee, in the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now look at verse 13. The
God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom you delivered up,
and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined
to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and
the just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. and killed
the prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof
we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in
his name, hath made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."
And now he says in chapter 4 verse 10, Be it known unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole." The first
thing to notice here is this. There is only one message. There's only one message. There
really is. We have different texts. The
Lord has given us different men in scripture. He's given us different
stories. But there is one message. And we could thump through the
Old Testament and we could see stories about multitudes of people being delivered
from bondage, and there's one message in that. And we could
see a story about a man who builds a big boat and puts all these
animals in it, and there's one message in that. And we could
go on, and we're going to. We're about to. So there's only
one message, and this is the message. Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That is the message. Paul said,
I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. And that's it. That is just it. Everything else, I don't know.
Not sure. One thing, I'm determined to
know one thing. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now here's
the second thing to notice about this. Verse 7 says, And when
they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power or
by what name have you done this? By what name? Now if Peter would
have said, By the name of Jehovah, he would have been right. He would have told them the truth. But he would not have told them
the gospel. Okay? If Peter would have said, by
the God of Israel we've done this, by God we've done this,
he would have been right. And he would have told them the
truth. And they would have accepted what he said. That's right. There
you go. All praise be to God. We agree. At least we're in agreement.
God did it. That's right. We can all agree
on that. Right? God did it. He would have
been right. But he would not have told them
the gospel. The gospel is a particular person,
a very particular person. God became a man and the man
was crucified. Verse 10 says, Be it known unto
you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised
from the dead. That is the gospel. That's the
gospel. Jesus Christ, who was crucified
and raised from the dead. That's the best news a sinner
has ever heard. Verse 12 says, Neither is there
salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. That is the message. He is the gospel. How do I know
if a man's preaching the gospel? Well, we heard some people preach.
We're about to hear some people preach this, men. Eight people
are going to preach this weekend, okay? After they finish, how
are we going to know if they told us the gospel? We're going
to be listening for a person. That's how we're going to know.
He is the gospel. Christ is the gospel. Now, I
want to focus just for a minute on verse 11. Okay? Verse 11. It says, This is the stone. He's talking about Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Now, a building that is actually
made of stone, not just a stone facade, but a building that's
actually made of stone, begins with a chief corner stone. It's the biggest, it's the straightest,
and all the other stones are fit to that stone. Peter says, this is that stone. This is that stone. He was quoting
the Old Testament. He was quoting Psalm 118. Turn
with me over there to Psalm 118. Psalm 118 verse 22 says, The
stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the
corner. Now here's what Peter was telling
them. The Old Testament was the only Word of God they had. The
New Testament was being lived. It was being written, but it
wasn't compiled. All they had for the Word of
God was the Old Testament. So Peter was telling them the
Old Testament, the Word of God, every word of the Word of God
is talking about Jesus Christ of Nazareth. That's what he was
telling them. Every word of it is describing, it's illustrating,
and it's pointing men and women to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The whole Word of God. He says,
this is the stone. He said, you remember that? You
remember Psalm 118 verse 22? Yes, well this is the stone. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the
one you crucified. Now I want us to see what Peter
was talking about for just a minute. I want us to go through some
things and I'm going to try to be as brief as I can with it, okay?
The title of this is Christ Our Stone. Christ our stone. Turn with me over to Genesis
28. Genesis 28. Jacob, we know the
story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob tricked Isaac stole the
birthright, and Jacob was sent away because Esau was angry with
him for taking that birthright. Verse 11 says, Genesis 28 verse
11, And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all
night, because the sun was set. And he took of the stones of
that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in
that place to sleep. Now, I've been reading that all
my life or hearing people talk about that all my life. And I
mean, since I was a kid, I've always wondered why would he
use a stone for a pillow? Surely there had to be something
else. I don't know what was out there, but surely there was something
else. Anything would have been more
comfortable than a stone, right? He could have just used nothing.
I thought that. Why didn't he just use nothing? Just lay his
head on the ground. But wait a minute. Who is this
stone? Peter said it's Jesus Christ
of Nazareth. Jacob was running for fear of
his life. And he committed his head, he
committed his all to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And when he did
that, he just laid right down and went to sleep. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is our
rest. That's the only reason that was
written down. Christ is our rest. This gospel tells sinners, rest
on the Lord. Rest on the Lord. This is that
stone. All right, so Jacob goes to sleep.
And he had a dream about a ladder. Jacob's ladder, okay? Verse 16
says, And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely
the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid
and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but
the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob
rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had
put for his pillows, and he set it up for a pillar and poured
oil upon the top of it. He anointed this stone with oil. And he called the name of that
place Bethel. That means the house of God.
Because the name of that city was called Luz at first. And
Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me and will
keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat
and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house
in peace, then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone, which
I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house. And of all that
thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Jesus
Christ is my house. He's our house. We live in Him. That's what it means. We worship
in Him. We worship God in Jesus Christ. Peter said, this is that stone.
Alright, now chapter 29, verse 1 says, Then Jacob went on his
journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. And
he looked, and behold, a well. in the field, there was a well
in the field. And lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by,
for out of that well they watered the flocks, and a great stone
was upon the well's mouth. And thither were all the flocks
gathered, and they rolled the stone from the well's mouth,
and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well's
mouth in his place." Now look at verse 7. And he said, Lo,
it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should
be gathered together. Water ye the sheep, and go and
feed them. And they said, We cannot until
all the flocks be gathered together, until they roll the stone from
the well's mouth. Then we water the sheep. And
while he yet spake with them, Rachel came with her father's
sheep, for she kept them. And it came to pass, when Jacob
saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the
sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, that Jacob went near,
and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the
flock of Laban, his mother's brother." Peter said, this is
that stone. Christ is that door. Christ is the way. The only way
to get to that living water is through Christ. There's only
one way to water the sheep. And it's got to be through Christ.
That's it. All right, now go to Exodus 24. Exodus 24 and look at verse 9. Then went up Moses, and Aaron,
Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and
they saw the God of Israel. Now every time I read that, I
just have to stop for a second. That's amazing to me. They saw
the God of Israel. Look at verse 10. And there was
under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone. It looked like a skilled laborer
had made a paved work of sapphire under him. And that's just the
dirt under his feet. How glorious is he? There was under his feet, as
it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and, as it were, the body
of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children
of Israel he laid not his hand. Also they saw God and did eat
and drink. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Come up to me into the mount, and be there, and I will give
thee tables of stone and a law. and commandments which I have
written that thou mayest teach them." You know what God says? Christ is our law. Christ is our law. Do you know what good news that
is to a person who is trying to obey the law in order to get
into heaven? Well, I never murdered anybody. No alcohols touched my lips.
Never smoked a cigarette. What about all these bad thoughts
that you think about people who do? Let's start there. Christ is our law. Romans 8 says,
Christ has made us free from the law of sin. We are free from
the bondage of that law, Moses' law, the burden of it, the penalty
of it. We are free from the law. And here's why. This is why. It's because we are actually
in the law. We are in the law. Christ is
our law and we're in Christ. And he said, I came not to destroy
the law, I came to fulfill it. He obeyed it. And in him, so
do we. Now listen to this, okay? This
makes sense of that for me. Whoever obeys the law is free. That makes sense, doesn't it?
I got on Center Street earlier and a police officer got behind
me. First thing I did was check my speed limit, check my doing
blinkers, Because as long as I obey the law, I'm free. Well, come on, you know, we're
going to lock you up. You obeyed the law. No! If I've obeyed the law, I have
to go free. Christ is my law. And in Him,
I am a free man because in Him, every step I take, every turn
I make, I am perfectly obeying the law. You telling me you didn't
sin today? Oh, no, I'm not telling you that.
I'm telling you in Christ, I'm a free man. This is that
stone. I'm telling you, He is that stone.
All right, now go with me to Exodus 33. Verse 18 says, And Moses said,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And God said, I will make all
my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And
he said, Thou canst not see my face, for there shall no man
see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there
is a place by me. and thou shalt stand upon a rock. And it shall come to pass, while
my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cliff of the rock,
and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by. And I will take
away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face
shall not be seen. There is a big, huge stone that
was broken. And the only way that you can
see God and live, everybody is going to see God. Every soul
is going to see God. But the only way you can see
God and live is if God hides you in that stone. That's the
only way. That stone that was broken. Peter
told them all there, this is that stone. Christ is that stone. Jesus Christ is my hiding place. He's my hiding place. Alright,
now go to 1 Samuel 7. 1st Samuel chapter 7. Verse 3
says, and after we read this, there's a song we sing that you'll
never sing it the same. 1st Samuel 7 verse 3, it says,
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If you
do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away
the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your
hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver
you out of the hand of the Philistines.' Then the children of Israel did
put away Balaam and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only. And
Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for
you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to
Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted
on that day, and said, There, we have sinned against the Lord.
And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. And when
the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered
together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against
Israel. And when the children of Israel
heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines." Now, do you
know what's going on? He told them, turn from your idols and
serve the Lord. And they did. They gathered together
to make a sacrifice and call on God. And the Philistines heard.
They've all gathered together into one place. Let's go kill
them. Verse 8, And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease
not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save
us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb,
and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. And Samuel
cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And as
Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew
near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a
great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited
them, and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel
went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them
until they came unto Bethkar. Then Samuel took a stone, and
he set it between Mizpah and Shinn, and called the name of
it Ebenezer." That means the stone of help. Saying, hitherto
hath the Lord helped us. So the Philistines were subdued,
and they came no more into the coast of Israel. And the hand
of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. We just
sang, Here I raise mine Ebenezer. Here I set up that stone, which
is Christ. Hither by thy help I am come. The stone of help. This is that
stone. Men and brethren, the one we've
sinned against, the one you crucified, the one God raised up, the one
that all of the Old Testament is talking about, this is that
stone. Jesus Christ. All right, now
go with me to 1 Samuel 17. I think this is the last one.
1 Samuel 17. Verse 4, And there went out a champion
out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath, whose
height was six cubits in span. Verse 8 says, And he stood and
cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye
come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine,
and ye servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and
let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me,
and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him, and kill him, then shall you be our servants, and
serve us. And the Philistines said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. When Saul and all Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. Now look at verse 16. And the
Philistine drew near morning and evening and presented himself
forty days." He did this two times a day for forty days. Mocking God, mocking God's people
for forty days. Now David had three older brothers
who were in that army. And David's father, his name
was Jesse, told David to take his brothers some food. They'd
been out there in a ray for 40 days. Take him some food. So
David did. Verse 23, And as he talked with
them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath,
Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines, and spake
according to the same words, and David heard them. Now go to verse 40. And he took
his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of
the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a script. And his sling was in his hand,
and he drew near to the Philistine. Verse 43. And the Philistine
said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves?
And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. Verse 45, Then said
David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and
with a spear, and with a shield. But I come to thee in the name, in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day
will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee
and take thine head from thee, and I will give the carcass of
the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air,
and to the wild beast, and to the earth, that all the earth
may know that there is a God in Israel. And all the assembly
shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear, for
the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and came and
drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted and ran toward the
army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his
bag, and he took thence a stone and slung it and smote the Philistine
in the forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he
fell upon his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine
with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine and
slew him, but there was no sword in the hand of David." Peter
said, this is that stone. Christ is our victory. And He's going to win the battle.
Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. And we could literally just keep
going on and we could keep going on and we could turn to page
after page and we would see Christ. We would see Christ. Now let
me show you what our Lord Himself said about this stone. Go with
me to Matthew 21. Matthew 21, look at verse 42. Jesus saith unto them, did you
never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This
is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore
say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and
given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever
shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But on whomsoever
it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. This stone is
the head of the corner. This is the chief stone. This is God Himself. This man
whom ye crucified and God raised up is God Himself, the judge
of the earth, and He is going to grind His enemies to powder. That's the honest truth. But,
whosoever falls on this stone, begging for mercy, whoever falls
at His feet, begging for forgiveness, begging to be broken from his
sin and his pride. And I want that. I want to be
broken from my sin and my pride. I have pride, and my pride doesn't
want to be broken, and I want my pride to be broken. I want
to. I beg Him that He would break
me. Lord, I don't want trials. I don't want heartache. I want
to rejoice in Christ. Therefore, don't let my pride
press down a path that I should not be going. Stop me. Break
that. Whosoever says he must increase,
but I must decrease, whoever does that, he's going to have
his prayer answered. The Lord says I'm going to give
him a broken and a contrite heart. And then once I do that, I'm
going to hear him. And I'm going to be near Him, and I'm going
to conform Him to my image. I want to show you very quickly,
go to John chapter 1. John 1, look at verse 40. One of the two which heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first
findeth his own brother Simon, and said unto him, We have found
the Messiah, which is being interpreted to Christ. And he brought him
to Jesus, And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon
the son of Jonah, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by
interpretation a stone. As he is, so are we. We're not going to turn there,
but 1 Peter 2, he said, Christ is the living stone. And then
he said, 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. The good news is, as He is, so
are we. So our text says in Acts chapter
4 verse 10, Be it known unto you all and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth
this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which
was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the
corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved." What Peter just told them there was Christ is all.
Christ is all. All right, let's stand together.