a very familiar song. Many of
you could probably quote it by heart, but every time I read
it I see something new and fresh, don't you? Psalm 23. There was a time back years ago
that Brother Spurgeon was visiting a church and the pastor allowed
that one of the little ones would come up and say a verse. Well,
little four-year-old girl got up, came up to the front, straightened
up her dress, stood up tall and said, the Lord is my shepherd,
that's all I want. Brother Spurgeon laid aside his
message and preached that morning, the Lord is my shepherd. That's
all I want. That's all I want. You know,
with the Lord as my shepherd, I have need of nothing. He's
everywhere I need him. He completely surrounds me. And if you'll notice the prepositions,
which are important, If you'll notice the prepositions in this
psalm, you'll notice that he is over and under, he's in front
of, he's behind, he's all around, he's with me, he's for me, he's
in me, I am in him, and where he is, I'll dwell with him forever. Let's read it together now. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want." He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth
me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou
art with me, thy rod and thy staff, They comfort me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we're so thankful for your beloved,
the son of your love, with whom in eternity you coveted to shepherd
a people, your people. And thank you, Lord, that you
became our shepherd, my shepherd. the good shepherd,
the great shepherd, the chief shepherd. And Lord, that's all we want.
That's all we need. You're everything to us. Christ
is all and in all. Thank you, Lord, for what you
have done for us. Thank you for loving us so much that you became
a man. with a body that was prepared
for sacrifice. Thank you that you loved us so
much that you died for our sins. That you took our place and you
took the brunt of the wrath of God on all our sin. Thank you, Lord, that you died
for me. what wretches, what sinners, what ungodly people we are, and
yet you chose us. Lord, our minds cannot stretch
around that truth, but we believe it, and we trust you. We trust
you, Lord, for the salvation that is yours that you've given
to us. Thank you that the Lord our God
is salvation. This morning, this evening, we
pray for the service here that Lord, we would honor and praise
and glorify and bless that name, which is above every name, the
name of our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Him we want to worship. We live in this body of flesh.
We feel so many times that we fail at the worship. And yet
father, we know from scripture that you are pleased when we
honor your son. Help us to honor him here this
evening. Bless our pastor as he speaks
the word of God. Fill him with the spirit. Give
him clarity of speech. Give us hearing ears. And may
your sheep tonight hear your voice. We pray, Father, that
you would break in on those who have not found out that they
are your sheep yet. But if they're yours, we know
you don't fail. And they will find out. maybe in this service, maybe
in the services to come, what an encouragement it would be
to us and especially to our pastor. Father, we pray that you would
be with our folk who have physical, other kinds of problems. We pray,
Father, that you would give them strength. Be their strength.
Be their comfort. Be their help. Lord, all we can do is to keep
trusting you and thanking you for everything you've done for
us. In Jesus name, we pray. Amen. Hope your Bible's with me this
evening, if you will, to first Peter chapter two. I preached
from this text. Wednesday night, I'm going to
preach from it again this evening. 1 Peter chapter 2. I'm going to read four or five verses. He said
here in verse 2, 1 Peter 2.2, As newborn babes desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby, If so be you have
tasted that the Lord is gracious to whom coming as unto a living
stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious.
You also as lively stones or living stones are build up a
spiritual house and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice
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. The apostle covers a lot of ground
in just a few words, a lot of ground. He starts out talking
to newborn babes, his newborn babes, and what it takes for
them to grow. The Sincere Milk of the Word.
That's how you grow. The Sincere Milk of the Word.
Desiring the Word. Having the Word. Reading the
Word. Hearing the Word preached. And
then, what it is that they're fed on. Not only this milk, but
if you've tasted that the Lord is gracious. What they taste,
that's what this newborn babes taste. That's what believers
taste. They taste grace. And it tastes good. I mean, it
really tastes good. It's the sweetest taste I've
had. Oh my, sweeter than the honeycombs,
what I read to you this morning. Grace, oh how sweet it tastes,
how good it tastes to a believer and to these newborn babes. And
then having grown by the word and tasting grace, look what
else it says, and by coming to Christ, that they become babes
and taste grace and start growing up. To whom coming? To whom coming? They come to
Christ. To whom coming? As unto a living stone. And when
they come to Christ, they are coming to a living stone. You
know, stones in nature are dead. Naturally, stones are dead. But
in God's Word, in God's ways, in God's kingdom, Here it's a
living stone. It's a living stone. Now in the
world, stones are dead, they don't feel anything. But we come
into a living stone. Not a dead stone, a living stone.
That's God's way, it's God's word, God's kingdom. In fact,
that rock that was smitten in the wilderness, that rock was
Christ that gave out the water to the children of Israel. So
there was life in that rock. Salvation in that rock. That
rock had to be smitten and it gave forth life to those Israelites. And the Lord Jesus is a living
stone and us in Him. To whom coming, and verse 4,
as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but of chosen
of God and precious. And look what happens here. As
we come to Christ a living stone, we also become living stones
in Him. We are living stones in Christ
and are built up a spiritual house. And what is it that we're
built on? We're built on Christ, the chief
cornerstone. Verse 4 is also contained in
the scriptures. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief
cornerstone, elect and precious. Start out as babies, growing
in grace, coming to Christ. Coming to the Lord Jesus as a
living stone and coming to Him, we become living stones as we
are joined and built upon the chief cornerstone, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that is what it says, look
what it says, it is contained in the scripture. Behold I lay,
God said I lay. And it is contained in the scriptures.
Now there are three witnesses. Three witnesses to Christ being
the chief cornerstone. And let me see if we can look
at them. Look in Isaiah 28. Look in Isaiah 28, here is the
prophets bear witness to him being the chief cornerstone.
In Isaiah 28, look what it says. In the mouth of two or three
witnesses every word shall be established. And here it says
that there is the prophets bore witness. Look what he said here
in verse 16 of Psalm 28. Therefore, thus saith the Lord,
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious
cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth shall not make
haste, be confounded. So the prophets bore witness.
Now let me show you another one in Acts chapter 4. Look at the
next time. The apostles bore witness to
this. The apostles bore witness to Christ being the chief cornerstone. And that's why I say that the
mouth of two or three witnesses every word that God said is contained
in the scriptures. And that's why I told you this
morning it is written. Everything that we want to know
about Christ and what it takes for us to know Christ and to
grow in grace and to manifest the glory of Christ is contained
in the scriptures. And look what it says here in
verse 11. Excuse me, Acts 4, 10 and 11.
Verse 10. Be it known unto you 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 does this man stand here before you. This is the stone
which was set at nought of you builders, which become the head
of the court. You said I don't want it. God
said that's what I'm going to make the head of the corner.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself bore witness to the chief cornerstone. Look with me in Luke 20 and you'll
see that our Lord himself called himself this cornerstone. So
we have the prophets, the apostles, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself
in Luke 20 verse 17 and 18. And he beheld them, and said,
What is this then that is written? The stone which the builders
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. Whosoever
fall upon this stone shall be broken. And that's what it means. You fall on him, and I tell you,
if you fall on Christ, you'll be broken. But if he falls on
you, He'll grind you to powder. This rock will just crush you
down to nothing. And so you see, He says, behold,
it's contained in the scriptures, I lay in Zion. And then back
over in our text, behold, I lay in Zion for us. Who's Zion? Us. Build up us. It's for us,
a chief cornerstone. And a cornerstone is the first
stone in the building. It's the place where everything
starts, the first door in the building, and if the corner falls,
if that corner leans, that corner gives way, the whole house and
the whole building starts tilting and starts moving. But he's called
the foundation stone, the chief cornerstone. And Paul said there's
no other foundation can be laid than that which is his Christ.
And I tell you, it's the cornerstone that gives directions how to
lay and place all the other stones. There's a corner that everything
else comes off of. And that corner and this corner
from which everything gets its direction is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the cornerstone. And you
know, you lay a corner and you pull everything off that corner.
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, that chief cornerstone, and every
direction that we have and everything that we need comes from that
blessed cornerstone. And oh, listen, look over here
in 1 Corinthians 3.10. This is what Paul's talking about. 1 Corinthians 3.10. Oh, there's no other foundation
can be laid than our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, yo, I strive to preach
the gospel, not what Christ was named, lest I should build upon
another man's foundation. But look what he says here in
verse 10. 1 Corinthians 3.10. According to the grace of God
which is given unto me as a wise master builder. I tell you, there's
not God has blessed a few men who know how to do that. But
Paul says, According to the grace which is given unto me as a wise
master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth
thereon. But let every man take heed how
he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man
lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. And it
says here that he is the chief cornerstone. And the Lord Jesus
as the chief cornerstone is our direction and rule in all things
spiritual when we look back over here in 1 Peter. You see His
Word is that cornerstone as which all the building is pulled from.
And as we pull to get all of our direction from this chief
cornerstone, His Word is our rule of faith. What He says is
what we believe. We don't go to some denominational
head. We don't get any directions from
any place in any other state, from any other church, from any
other man. We get our rule of faith, what
we're to believe from our Lord Jesus Christ. And oh beloved,
we get what we're supposed to practice, how we're supposed
to live. People love to talk about practical Christianity.
Well, I tell you what, there ain't no other kind. I mean,
if Christ is in you, you know it comes into practice. You live
this. But practice, the way we're to live in this world, is our
Lord Jesus Christ gives us the direction for that. And I told
some folks last Sunday night, I said, I'll tell you one thing,
the Lord is able to take care of his sheep. I don't, I don't,
by God's grace, I've never told you how to live, never told you
what to wear, never told you where you could go, never told
you how to spend your money, never told you who you could
associate with, I've never told you any of the, what kind of
car, I've never told you any of those things. If the shepherd
and the gospel can't take care of you, little old two by four
preacher me harping on you, ain't gonna change nothing. All I'd
do is just make you a Pharisee or make you aggravated at me.
One or the other, it couldn't be no different. But I tell you,
we do what He says. We do what our Master says. We
build our lives on Him. Not on anybody else, on Him.
My life's built on Christ, and then you do what you do is what
Christ teaches you to do. And we build our lives on Him.
And I tell you what, that's what our Lord says, Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me, learn of me. And he said also in John
13, 15, well, he said, as I have done to you, I want you to do
one to another. When he washed the disciples'
feet, I've set you an example. And what I've done to you, that's
what I want you to do. I want you to serve one another.
I humble myself for you. I want you to humble yourselves
one to another. And I'll tell you something else
about our Lord being the chief cornerstone. He differs from
all other cornerstones. Every cornerstone that's ever
been laid, look what it says there. In verse 4. To whom coming as unto a living
stone. He's different than any other
cornerstone. His stone is a living, He is a living stone. Stones
in material buildings have no life, but the Lord Jesus Christ
hath life in Himself." Ain't that right? He has life in Himself.
"...to whom coming as unto a living stone." And I tell you what,
and here's the thing about it, not only does He have life in
Himself as this living stone, but He gives life to the whole
building. And ain't that what it says in
verse 5? You also as lively stones are
built up a spiritual house. Built on who? On Christ the chief
cornerstone. And it grows up unto him. I know
you've seen this in Ephesians 2. But this is exactly what he's
talking about. We're living stones built on
a living stone. Christ, how do you have a stone
that lives? Christ. He has life in Himself in Ephesians
2. Look what he says here. He gives
life to the whole building. The whole building has to be
built on Him. The whole building draws its
life from Him. He hath the life in Himself. And look what he says here in verse 20. And you're built
upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself
being the chief cornerstone. In whom all the building fitly
framed together, listen to it, grows. Living stones grow, we
grow. And we grow up unto him and to
a holy temple in whom you also are built together. God builds
us together, these lively stones on this living stone for a habitation
for God to live through us by the spirit of God. And how do
we become living stones? By new birth. Only way in the
world you can live is to be born again. That's what he says, there
is new born babes. Desire the sincere milk of the
word. Brand new born babies. And that's what he's talking
about. And let me show you, I know we're looking at a lot of scriptures,
but I think this is looking here in second Corinthians. I want
to show you something here about being living, you know, having
this new life, this, this new birth and becoming living stones.
But here in second Corinthians three, or we become living stones. By
new birth, as newborn babes, we desire the sensuality of the
word. But the apostle says, look what
he says here. You are our epistle, you are
our letter, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For
as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of
Christ, believers are a letter, ministered by Christ by us, written
not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God." Now listen
to what he says here, not in tables of stone. The law came
in tables of stone. The law was rock, hard rock. Our Christ is a living stone
and we're built up as living stones. Not on tables of stone. God wrote on our, where'd he
write at? In our fleshly tables of the
heart. And so you see, beloved, being
born again, this commandment, written on stone, they could
not give life, they showed deadness, they showed inability. But our
Lord Jesus Christ as the living stone, chief cornerstone, everything
was fulfilled in Him, the whole building built on Him, by Him,
and everything that happened He was the one who fulfilled
the law for us, so that we could have our hearts written on by
the Spirit of the living God. As in and by Him, we died with
Him, buried with Him, risen with Him, and ascended with Him. And
oh, that's how we, how did we get in this spiritual house?
Oh, Christ is a different kind of stone, because He's a living
stone. How did we get in this house?
It says you all stones as living stones are built up, build up,
build upon Christ to whom coming. I want to show you a verse of
scripture in first Kings six. First Kings six. You, I believe
this will be a blessing to you. It's a blessing to me. First
Kings six and verse seven. Just see this. Now watch this, we're talking
about this building, this Christ, the chief cornerstone, the living
stone. Let's build upon Him as a living
building, built in living stones. We ourselves are living stones.
And look what it said here in verse 7 of 1 Kings chapter 6. And the house, when it was in building, was
built of stone, made ready before it was brought there. so that
there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard
in the house while it was in the building." Before they ever bought a stone
and put it in the building, it was made ready over here. There
ain't going to be no sound of building in this house. And beloved,
and that's why while it was building, and I tell you what, we were
chosen in Christ, we were stones of Christ, living stones of Christ,
made ready, made ready to fit in this building before, and
there ain't never no ax, no iron, no tool, no hammer, no nothing
gonna be hurt in this building. We don't build this house, Christ
built this house. Christ puts the stones in this
house as it pleases Him. That's why Paul said, would it
please God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me
by His grace? Huh? Oh, listen, while it's building
ain't no, don't nobody lift a hand. A fella told us here a while
back, a guy's doing some work for us. He's a preacher and he
said when he first started, He said, I'll tell you what, I had
the hardest time in the world getting anybody to do anything,
getting people to start working for the Lord. I told him I was a preacher too.
He was talking about all he'd done, you know, and I said, well,
I'm a preacher too. He said, you are? I said, yeah,
I pastored up on Lantana Road. He said, well, what do you believe?
He's raised Nazarene, pastor of Nazarene Church. I said, I
believe that salvation and the free grace of God is salvation
to the Lord from Alpha to Omega. God does it all. And he said,
well, we got to go. You see, religion is everywhere.
And it uses everything it can. The more noise it makes, the
more spiritual it thinks it is. The more they clap their hands,
the more they stomp their foot, the more they do, the more they
think that that's what it takes to build a church, doing something,
doing something, working, working, working. And yet God says, Beloved,
He built, He's the chief cornerstone, the living stone, and we've come
to Christ and we are built as living stones on heel. And that's why we don't lift
a hand to get anybody to do anything. If I could talk them into it,
somebody else would come along and talk them out of it. If I
could convince you of grace and just in your head, somebody else
would come along and make you believe something else. That's
why it says, you know, to whom coming as newborn babe being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the
word of God, which lives and abides forever. And that's why
as much as I want to see people converted, I am so desires to
see somebody converted. I am so desirous to see somebody
saved. I'm getting so weary of people
coming week after week after week, month after month after
month, year after year after year, and never ever confessing
Christ. And if a man doesn't confess
Christ and he dies, I don't care how long he's been a member here
and how long he's been coming here and what he does and how
much I love him and what I think of him. And if he doesn't ever
confess any faith in Christ, what am I going to say if I have
to tell at his funeral? All I can say is they attended
the service for years and all I say is they listened to me
preach and listened to all the other preachers preach, but as
far as I know, they never made a profession of faith. They never
was built on Christ. They never was brought and put
in that spiritual building. And it's so heavy on me about
this. And that's why we're not, but
listen, it ain't salvation to the Lord, and He will save His
people, and that's why I'm gonna preach the gospel, I'm gonna
keep preaching Christ, whether He's the cornerstone of what's
written about Him, what's contained in the scriptures about Him,
and if God's gonna save anybody, He's gonna save them with what's
contained in the scriptures concerning Christ. And I tell you what,
this stone is the stone of God's laying, ain't that what it says? were for us contained in the
scriptures I lay." God Himself laid this stone. God Himself
polished this stone. God Himself placed this stone.
And over in Daniel it talks about a stone cut out of the mountains
without hands. Talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ and His stone. This stone being this great mountain
cut without the hand that everybody comes into this kingdom. God
designed this, God purposed this, God laid this chief cornerstone.
And every living stone to build upon this spiritual house, He
set the cornerstone Himself. And I know this, I know this,
as the cornerstone, He'll never loosen. He'll never loosen. You know, when we moved on to
the place we have now, we had stones, big old huge stones. They used stones out that was
this wide and like this, and about four to six inches through
like that, all hewed out. And those were all foundation
stones in the house that was under our house now. And they
had a flue, and every stone in that flue had been whittled out,
and they even cut a hole in the flue and run it up through the
house. Stone worked like you've never seen. And I'll tell you
a true story. When we first moved on there,
I was taking a big shovel and I was trying to move one of them
stones up out of the way, and it slipped, and I was, and it
slipped, and the shovel handle slipped and hit me inside the
head and knocked me out. Knocked me out cold, and then
I just, Too big a rock for a shovel. Had to use a tractor to move
them, huge. And right now in one of the gardens
there at the house, that's what they got, these big old huge
stones that's been laid there for I guess over 100 years. But what I'm telling you, those
things failed. when somebody else builds on
them. But I tell you, Christ, our cornerstone, He will not
loosen. He will not move. And that building
will stay as solid as it'll last from eternity to eternity, this
building that Christ builds. Huh? Oh, my. You know, there's lots and lots
of cornerstones that's been put into buildings. I remember reading
about Mr. Spurgeon when they built, went
from New Park to the Metropolitan Tabernacle and they started building
the Metropolitan Tabernacle. They had a great big ceremony.
It was in the newspaper and everything because they was laying the cornerstone. That new building so they had
a big ceremony and all the everybody's anybody come out because this
was a big deal They gonna build this metropolitan tabernacle.
Mr. Spurgeon's gonna preach and they laid that cornerstone had
a great big ceremony And all of these cornerstones don't even
exist either but I tell you our Lord Jesus Christ will neither
fall Nor weakened. He's as fixed as God ladies If
you and I build us a house, it ain't gonna amount to much. Gotta
be working on it all the time. But when God builds a house,
he builds it good. He got a good, he has that rock. And I'll tell you what, and I'll
tell you something else about our Lord Jesus Christ as this
Keith Cornerstone. He receives no help or strength
from the rest of the building. The building adds absolutely
nothing to the cornerstone, but the cornerstone holds the building
entirely and completely. Our Lord Jesus needs no support. If he did, what in the world
could we who are weak do to support him? What could we do? We may
strengthen one another, but we can't strengthen him or support
him. He's the chief cornerstone. And I'll tell you something.
The Lord Jesus as the chief cornerstone reaches all the way from the
bottom and he reaches all the way to the top. Did you know
that? His cornerstone just don't stay over here. He reaches from
the corner all the way to the top. Do you believe I can show
you that? You know where Malachi is at?
Last book in the Old Testament. right after Matthew, well then
you go to Malachi and Zechariah's the next book. Look in Zechariah
4. Oh, listen, other buildings need many cornerstones, but God
only needs one. We only need one. It's large
enough, strong enough to bear the whole building. But look
what he said here in Zechariah 4, 7. Who art thou, O great mountain,
before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall break forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying,
Grace, grace unto it. Cornerstone, headstone, and everything
in between it God put there. Oh, listen. Grace, grace, cry
grace, grace unto it. Our Lord Jesus is the chief cornerstone,
and we don't need another. And here's what's so blessed
about it. He bears the weight. The weight of the whole building. The whole building. The whole
spiritual house. And He's sufficient to hold the
whole house up. And I'll tell you something else.
God's building this house. always building on this house.
And you know how long this house will be in building? Until the
last stone is put in it. And when he puts that last stone
in this building, built on Christ, we're going to glory. Going to
glory. That's right. I know that's right. And as the chief cornerstone,
he supplies all the strength, all the stability of the whole
building for all time and all eternity. He supports this building. Look how long he supported us.
Look how long he's held us up. Oh boy, I tell you what, on Christ
the solid rock I stand, all other ground just sink and sink. Oh, this shows us, beloved, that
in our Lord Jesus Christ, this shows us the safety and security
of the church. The church ain't going to ever
fail. Church ain't never going to falter. Church ain't never
going to fall. I mean the church that Christ
built on this chief cornerstone that God built. And He puts every
stone in this without any axe, without any hammer, without any
cutting tool or anything put on it. He puts this in this building. And this shows the safety and
security of His blessed people. Men may stumble. Men may err
in doctrine and practice. The Galatians went after another
gospel. Timothy talked about some who
made shipwreck of the faith. Sometimes it looks like it was
in the days of Elijah. Truth becomes so rare and it
looks like his people are so few. And we don't know them, we don't
see them. But God's always got 7,000, never has bowed or need
a bell. And he's going to put everybody
in the church who's supposed to be in it. Oh, listen. You know, preachers preach, you
know, we don't want to miss you in heaven. I don't want you to
miss Christ. You've got to be in the church.
You've got to be in the right building. You've got to be in the building
that Christ's been. And you know what he calls this church that
he bought, this building? He called it a glorious church
without spot, without blemish. without wrinkle or any such thing. That's who built us. Christ the chief cornerstone
and all we've come to him, he's the living stone and we're living
stones built on that spiritual building. A spiritual house,
that's what it is, it's a spiritual house. That's what we are, we're
spiritual people built on a spiritual house. And we've come tonight
to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Our Father, oh our Father in
the blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for allowing
us another day, another day to worship, another day together
with the children of God. the saints of God, the sons of
God, the children of God, those that you love from eternity,
those that you brought and put in this building. Oh, thank you,
Lord Jesus. Blessed be your holy name. Oh,
how glorious you are. I'm so thankful to be in this
body, to be in the church, to be in that building that you
build. Oh, Lord, to be in that built
on Christ, that chief cornerstone, to grow up under him. Oh, may
we grow up under him. May I grow up under him. God
bless you, dear people, those that are discouraged, those that
are distressed, those that are troubled, those that are sick,
those that are weak, those that are going through trials. God bless, God strengthen, God
encourage. Meet the needs of the heart,
of the soul, of the home, and do it for the glory of Christ.
In his name we pray. Amen. Let's sing a couple of
verses.