First Peter, chapter 2. As we look at this rock, there's no getting
around. First Peter, chapter 2. Last week we looked at verse
6, which said, the last part of verse 6 was such a blessing
to me, well, the whole verse. where it says, I lay in Zion
a chief cornerstone elect. And I elect my servant, he said,
and Isaiah precious. And he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. What a thought. He that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. And do you therefore which believe,
he is precious. I want you to turn back to Matthew
20 and save 1 Peter 2 there. In Matthew chapter 20, Peter said,
He that believeth on him shall not be confounded. And I'm sorry, Luke, did I say
Matthew? Luke chapter 20. Forgive me. Luke chapter 20. I want you to
see this. I made mention of it last week.
But Luke chapter 20 is where our Lord talked about the stone
which the builders rejected, talking about Himself. Everybody's talking about this
stone, aren't they? Isaiah's talking about it. Paul's
talking about it. Peter's talking about it. Our
Lord's talking about it. Yeah, this is where it all starts
and where it all rests. Well, our Lord said here in Luke
20, verse 17, He beheld the people and said, What is this then that
is written, a stone which the builders rejected, the same has
become the head of the corner? Yeah, He posed that question
to them, didn't He? And they didn't know. They had
no idea. Well, he said, this is it, verse
18. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken. Whosoever shall fall upon that
stone shall be broken. Peter said, he that believeth
on him shall not be confounded. Broken? Yes. Confounded? No. But now he said, on whomsoever
it shall fall on, whosoever the stone falls on, grind them to
powder, nothing, dust. What's he talking about? He's
talking about himself, isn't he? He's talking about himself. What does he mean, whosoever
falleth on the stone shall be broken? Well, this is what Peter
is saying, whosoever believeth on him. On him. Turn back to Matthew chapter
7. I'm not making a man an offender
for a word. I'm not splitting hairs here.
But you know that salvation does depend on a word, doesn't it?
Little words like but or of, faith of, doesn't it? I'm not, you know, just being
picky about words when I say this, that many believe in Jesus. Many believe in God. You've had people tell you that.
I had a young woman tell me that one time. She'd never worshipped
God, and she never goes to a house of worship and doesn't read God's
Word. She's a profane woman, but she
made it clear to me, oh, I believe in God. Yeah? But that's not salvation. Believe
in God. You believe there's a God? James
said, Do you believe there is one God? You do well. There is
one. There is God. But the devil believes
that and trembles. But whosoever believeth on him. And Matthew 7, look at it here. Matthew 7 verse 21, Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven." Not everyone. Verse 22 says,
"...many," our Lord says this, "...many will say unto me in
that day, Why, Lord, Lord!" Now, listen carefully to what they
say, because He also said, "...by a man's words he will be condemned,
or justified." I listen to what they say. Here's what they say
to the Lord. Many will say, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name? Well, I as a preacher, I, I,
I, I. And in thy name hath cast out
devil. Have we not, Lord, I, I, And
thy name done many wonderful work in thy name, in thy name,
in the name of Jesus." And then he'll say to them, verse
23, I never knew you. I don't know you. I don't know
you. I never knew you. Depart from
me. But he said, Peter said, but he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Look up at verse 21 again. He
said, Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven. Well, who will? All right, listen
to this. He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven. Does that mean that if they live
good lives and they do live according to God's law that... No, no,
listen to what our Lord said in John 6 on the Father's will.
He that doeth the Father's will. All right? He said in John 6,
verse 40, This is the will of him that sent me, the Father's
will. Listen. Now everyone, doeth the will
of the Father. This is the will of him that sent me, that every
one that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, shall have everlasting
life. Seeth the Son. and believe it
on him. What does it mean to see the sun? Can you go outside at noon and look into that sun in
the sky? Anybody here do that? Have you
ever walked outside and looked at the sun Huh? Have anybody? No, you can't do
it. Don't say, yes, I have. No, you
can't. You glance at it, but you're
not going to look in it. You're not going to gaze on the
sign. No, you can't. You'd be blinded. You may have glanced at it, but
you haven't gazed on it. Here's the point. See, that sun
is just a ball of fire. It's a glorious thing. It's so
glorious and so powerful you can't look on it. You cannot look upon it. It's
so glorious. It'll blind you. You'll see spots. Well, however, we've seen the
sun. See, what I'm trying to say is,
if that ball of fire is so powerful and it'll consume you, the closer
you get to it, it'll consume you. You can't look upon it any
length of time at all. Flesh, it consumes flesh. Well,
the Son of Righteousness has arisen with healing in His wing,
and we've beheld His glory, and we haven't looked on Him poorly,
have we? Huh? Oh, no, we'll see Him someday,
as it is. We're going to have to have eyes.
to do it with, so we can gaze on his face. He whose face is
as the sun, a child in strength. But we have beheld his glory,
haven't we? We've looked on the sun, and
the sun we see is not this pitiful Jesus they're talking about.
I can look at Henry all day long. Why? He looks just like me. Well,
I'm sorry about that, Henry. I didn't mean that. Forgive me,
Roberta. But what I mean is, he's flesh. He's just a man. Nothing special about him. We're
just worms. One worm can gaze on one worm
as long as the disciples want that. You see, most people thought
Jesus was just Jesus. But you're just a man, you make
yourself God. Well, one day he took three choice
disciples. Yes, choice, chosen. He took
three of his disciples up on a mountain and he said, We're
going to watch the sun rise. Dang, Peter, John, come on. You're
coming up with me. You're going to see the sun rise.
Well, Lord, we saw it this morning. He took them up on that mountain
and showed them his glory. peeled back the veil, and they
hit the dust. And God spoke out loud, and the
earth shook, and boy, they were, oh! And we thought you were just
Jesus. Well, you're God, aren't you? Well, you're a dwelling
light which no man can approach unto, don't you? Well, you're
a consuming fire, aren't you? You're glory, aren't you? Yeah. I'm just wearing this covering,
this veil. You see? And everybody that seeeth
the Son, we've had a glimpse of His glory, haven't we? And
the world at large out there, they see Jesus. Talking about
Jesus. The reason we don't call Him
Jesus is because we've seen the Son. You see? And believe on Him. They believe
in Him. They believe He's a good man.
He's a miracle worker. If you just believe in Jesus,
your arthritis will go away. If you believe on Jesus Christ,
the Lord of Glory, your sins will be gone away. There's a
big difference. Arthritis will come back. And
if this Jesus they believe in didn't actually do anything on
that Calvary trip, your sins will come back to haunt you.
But if you fall on him for mercy, that's what believe on him means.
Believe on him means cast yourself. It means to lay hold on the horn
of the altar. Though he slay me, I'll trust
him. It means to lay hold on him.
It means lay your hands on the head of the scapegoat. It means to look on Him. It means
to follow Him. It means to fall on your face
at His feet and cry, ask Him for mercy, for grace, for salvation. That's what it means to believe
on Him. See that? There's a difference
in believing in the historical person named Jesus and falling
on Him, casting your soul on Him. He that believeth on Him
shall never be They'll be broken. Their hearts will be broken because
of sin. They'll be brokenhearted over,
oh, my sin, my sin, my sin. But they'll not be confounded
in the end. They'll see their sins are put
away. As soon as they lay hold on Him, He has made sin unto
them. Their sins are transformed. You see that? As soon as you
touch the scapegoat, your sins pass from you to him. And he
did. Simple illustration, you've heard.
I believe in that seat right there. Do you? You see that seat? Everybody
see the seat? Everybody sees the seat. It's
a good seat, isn't it? A man-made seat. But it's a seat. It's that resting place. It's
a good seat. It looks like it's made out of
wood. And I can go into great detail about the ingredients, you know, and what
all it took and all that. I believe in it. See that? I can convince you,
everyone in here, that this is a seat. You see that, Sarah? What is that? Say it loudly. A seat, see? It's a seat. And I can convince everyone in
here that, to some degree at least, that Christ is the resting
place. Christ is God, and so on, from
the Scripture. Now, here's believing on a seat. I believe in it. Yeah, it's a
seat. I acknowledge it with my tongue. It's a seat. Now, if
I'm tired, Oh, I'm going to faint. I'm going to faint. I'm going to faint. I've found peace. I believe on
the street, you see. You believe on the street? Huh? You believe on Christ? I believe Jesus lived and died
and rose again. If you see, you're about to think
that I'm a goner. The Lord saved me or I perish. I'm going down. My sin is over
my head. The mercy seat. The rest, Christ, that's what
Christ meant with, Come unto me, all ye that labor. My sin,
Lord, I can't get rid of it. Go on the seat. The mercy seat. Lay hold on the seat. And he doesn't, from that day
forward, say, Oh, now your troubles are over. You know, now your
sins are gone and you'll never sin again. No, he breaks your
heart. And it keeps on breaking your
heart. On whom you fall on the rock,
you'll be broken. You'll be broken the rest of
your days because of your sin. That's good. Why? It'll make
you fly to the rock that is higher. It'll make you sit on a seat. Weariness makes you want to rest. Nothing. Sin makes you want to
rest. And we don't sin that grace may
abound, but you understand, you understand. I hope you understand. Well, he that believeth on him
shall not be confounded. Rest. You believe on him, cast
your soul on him. unto you therefore which believe
he is precious." He is so precious. Isn't a bed precious when you're
sick? Yes, it is. When you're tired.
He that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Whoever does,
he is precious. Back in the text there, now let's
look at this. develop it a little bit, all
right? Just a few minutes. I won't keep you. I've already
preached the gospel. I've quit right now. The gospel
is a person. Salvation is to come to Christ
and cast your guilty soul on the sacrifice. And only he can make you come
to him. Well, verse 4, and 1 Peter says, If you're chosen of God,
Christ is chosen of God and precious. Verse 6 says, and we're chosen
of God. Verse 5, you're a lively stone
of whoever believes chosen by God. Verse 6 says, he's the chief
cornerstone, elect, precious, precious, precious, precious,
precious, precious, precious, precious, precious. Peter keeps
saying that. Do you like the sound of that
word? It just sounds precious. Now, we're not talking about
precious in the sense of, well, you ladies look at those little
babies and say, oh, isn't she precious? No. That's about the
extent of how people think Jesus is precious, isn't it? They look on that man,
hang on, oh, it's so precious, and that baby, oh, precious.
That's not, no, that's not it. The word precious, now, do you
have a margin, a reference to that word precious in verse 7?
It says, "...unto you therefore which believe he is..." What
does it say? Somebody say it out loud that
has it, a man. Say it, Henry. Honor! He's an
honor. Big difference in looking a little
precious, isn't it? Honor. an honor. Now, look back at chapter
1, verse 7, where it says precious. It says, "...trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold." He's talking about
faith being a precious thing. And I think you'll see why I
went back there. You see, faith, it's an honor.
bestowed on a few people to believe on Christ. It's a high honor. It's a gift. You see, faith is
a gift from God, a great gift, a great gift. God honors faith. He honors with faith and He honors
faith. Faith is a great gift upon a
few chosen individuals. The gift of faith, it's a gift
more honorable than gold, Peter said. It's more honorable than
gold. Well, I have a golden ring on here, don't I? I wear it in
honor of the woman I'm married to. See that? It's an honor to
be married to this woman. Do you feel that way about your
wife? What an honorable woman she is, and what an honor it
is that he that obtains a wife obtains a favor from the Lord.
Boy, we got a good one. Like Scott said, we outmarried
ourselves. Plumb outmarried ourselves. It's
an honor. I don't have to wear this ring. I tore my finger off a few times
because of it, but it's an honor. It's an honor. Well, faith is a much higher
honor to have and to wear than gold. If she dies before I do, I'm
probably going to take the ring off. Eventually, women die, wives
die, husbands die, they remarry, right? Or vice versa. But under you, therefore, which
believe, he's precious." This is something you never take off. Christ is an honor, an honor,
a rare gift bestowed upon a few whom he marries. All that he
marries, his pride, you see, he gives them a ring. What is
it, Peg? It's a wear. Rats shocked some of you when
I said I was going to take the ring off. I'll take it off eventually. Sure we will. The guy that robs
my grave will take it off. It's just a ring. It's just a
symbol, right? That doesn't make me married any more than me getting, you
know, exercising faith, or that is getting in a baptismal pool,
makes me safe, right? It's a symbol, but faith, you
know, that's a symbol of faith. This is a symbol of love, honor. Well, the honor spoken of here
is Christ himself. Christ is our faith. He said
he's an honor, highest honor bestowed on a human being. It's
called an unspeakable gift, isn't it? Unspeakable. The highest honor bestowed on
a human being is faith in Christ. Yeah, it is. And he gives this
to those that need him the most. The poor have the gospel preached
unto them. To be found in Christ is the
highest honor known to man. To be accepted in Him, the Beloved,
is the highest honor known to man. To be with Him in glory
some day, what an honor! I keep bringing up Mephibosheth,
my favorite story. Mephibosheth, if David had said,
if David had only said, Mephibosheth, I'm going to spare you because
I know Jonathan, your father. and had not invited him, or invited,
had not fetched him. If he'd only said, Mephibosheth,
I'm going to spare you, because I know your father. What an honor.
Mercy. What an honor. He knows me through
my father, Jonathan. Right? But what honor of honors. He said, Mephibosheth, I'm going
to spare you. Because I know your father, Jonathan. And Lefebvre,
I'm going to bring you to the house, and we'll sit you beside
me. You'll be with me where I am
to behold my glory." Now, now we're talking about what an honor. You see that? What an honor just
to know the truth, just to have possession of this truth. What
an honor to have a possession of this Bible. Everybody doesn't
have it. I have it. What an honor. God's
Word. The honor of honors is to have
Him personally reveal it to me and someday personally preach
it. What an honor. You know, poor, Christ is the
honor, to be with Him. That's what I'm trying to say,
to someday finally be with Him. Behold His glory. What an honor
that will be. You know how pitiful, pitiable,
people are all taken up with other human beings. You know of anybody? Perish the
thought that anybody in here could be taken up with another
worm and get excited about seeing another worm. Perish the thought
that anybody in here would want the autograph of a worm, or want to shake their
hand or lie on the sidewalk all night so you can go see a worm.
Perish the thought that anybody in here could be amazed by a
worm. And that's all these people are.
I mean, these so-called celebrities that people are all taken up
with and amazed by, and so esteem would be the highest honor on
earth to shake the hand of Michael? Who? To go hear the Word or sit in
the presence of Oprah? Who? Who is that, anyway? But you know, there are people
who are taken up with that, aren't they? There's women who shook
the hand of Elvis and haven't washed it since. It's funny, isn't it? But it's
so, isn't it? Can you imagine that? Surely
nobody in here—surely! That if—I don't—you name the
most famous person in the world, if they were across the street
right now—surely! Now, you wouldn't forsake coming
here to hear about the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Go see
that worm! They ain't none of them worth
crossing the street to see. I'm telling you the truth, they
wouldn't give you to sweat off their backs, would they? Christ gave it the blood of His
veins, didn't they? But people won't
give Him to sweat off their back the time of day. What an honor! This is why I
don't stand up. Steve, I don't stand up and say,
Thank you, Steve, for coming. Goodness gracious me, what a
blessing. And to you, therefore, which
believe, it's the highest honor on earth. He's an honor. Jesus Christ is
the only person I'm amazed with. I'm serious. only person whose
hand I want to shake, I can't wait to shake his hand, in whose presence I want to be, to behold his doings."
What have any of these people done? Huh? What has Jeff Gordon
done? Goodness gracious! What has he done? Why, he goes
around in a circle faster than anybody else! Whoa! Think about how foolish
men are. Think about how foolish they
are. I've got to shake his hand, oh, if I could just shake his
hand, I would be the highest honor on earth because he goes
around in a circle faster than anybody. It's funny, isn't it? That's not God made foolish,
the wisdom of this world. The honorable, that which hath
esteem among men is abomination to God. Jesus Christ come down
here as a holy man and lived thirty-three blood, sweat, and
tear years. Don't even give him a thought.
Not interested. But you, some of you, he stopped
your wild career. and open your foolish, dark eyes
to behold his glory." What an honor! What an honor! You know, it might be an honor
if the President would call me and send for me a limo and take
me to the White House. Some of you might feel honored. At this point, I wouldn't. Besides, he's not there, isn't
he? He's in court. Well, what about
the Queen? If the Queen called me, you know,
it might, it would be a human honor, but she's a, please, any
British ancestry in here, don't, she's just a wrinkled old woman
that's wearing a little crown. Know what? It's not going to
be any honor, you know? But my goodness, the King of
Kings has called me by His grace, fetched me, sent for me. I'm going to be with Him someday. Forever. Behold His glory. What an honor. See that? To you
who believe. What an honor. What an honor. You see, he passed by the wise
and the prudent. He passed by the mighty and the
noble and revealed it unto them. He takes old fishermen and fills
them full of gold. He takes old truck drivers and
fills them full of truth so that they can confound the mighty. Take service station owners and
make them his servants. What an honor. Janitors, from
janitors to sons of the king. From the beggars on the dumb
hill. Yes, that's me. You want to know
my occupation when I'm out of this pulpit? I shovel manure. That's what
I do. A lot of it. He takes beggars off a dung-head
and sets them among princes. My, my. Another thing precious
means is rare. Rare, and oh, we could just,
oh, my, look at that. Rare. Rare means one of a kind,
doesn't it? Christ said, I'm the way. One of a kind. I'm the way. Nobody
gets to God but by me. I mean, Buddha. I watched a movie. We watched a little movie about
a Buddha the other day, and he was an unusual man. He was. He was a religious man. Mohammed. You name all the... Gandhi, you know. Gandhi was just a little fragile
mystic. God did, but now Jesus Christ
is one of a kind. He said, nobody gets to God but
by me. Nobody. Not Buddha, not Mohammed,
not me. I'm the only way. I'm the way. I know I've told you this story,
but I think I'll end it with this. Christ is rare. He's one of a
kind. The only one of His kind. Rare. Precious. Honor. Rare. One of a kind. No man gets
to the Father but by me. Back in the Civil War, this is a true story. Back in
the Civil War, there was a soldier in the Union Army who whose mother
was dying. His father had died years before
he went to war, and now his mother was dying. He heard from someone. And back then, they wouldn't
let you go home for anything. They just wouldn't let you go
home. They needed every able body to go home. So he thought,
if I can just get in to see Mr. Lincoln, If I can just get in
to see the President. He can say so. He can send me
home. And so somehow or another he
made his way to Washington. And he got to the White House
and his way was barred. Two soldiers. It's a true story.
Two soldiers. And he poured out his heart.
I've got to see the President, please. And they wouldn't know.
You can't go. Nobody can see you unless he
calls for you. You can't get in to see him.
No matter what he said, no avail to those two fellas. They wouldn't
let him in. Well, in a few minutes, a little
boy walked in. Well, he sat down on the curb
there. He sat on the curb and was weeping.
His head and his hands were weeping, and a little boy walked up to
him. A little boy. walked up to him and said, Sir,
why are you crying? True story. Why are you crying? He said, Because my mother is
dying at home, and I'm in the army, and my mother's dying,
and they won't let me go home to see her, and I thought if
I can just get to see Mr. Lincoln, he'll let me. I believe he's a merciful man.
He'll let me go home. And little boys, but they won't
let me. Come with me." And the little boy walked up to the door
and the two soldiers stood aside, even saluted. Opened the door
for him. And the soldier was amazed. They opened the door and he walked
down the room and there was another soldier there. And he stepped
aside and there was the Oval Office and he opened the door
for him like that by the secretary. He walked in the Oval Office
and Mr. Lincoln said, Well, Tad, son,
it's good to see you. What do you need? Father, Dad,
this soldier wants to talk to you. No man, Christ said, cometh unto
the Father but by me. But everybody that cometh unto
the Father by him gets to see. The law won't let you, will it? Nothing will let you, it will
bar your way, but Christ will take you in and see the Father. What an honor. What an honor. He's the only
one, the only one. All right, Joe, what hymn do
you have picked out? 294. you