Welcome once again
to "Books of the Book."
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We're very excited
that you're able to join us
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in this program to
study the word of God.
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I invite you to get your bibles,
a piece of paper and pencil
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to take notes as we look into
the word of God for answers.
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And with us is
Dr. Tom Shepherd. Yep.
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And, Dr. Shepherd, you
come from Andrews University
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which is in
Michigan, is that right?
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That's correct.
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You teach New
Testament interpretation?
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If you had a favorite Bible,
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obviously in the New
Testament, what is that?
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A Bible book in the
New Testament? Bible book.
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Well, you know, I guess I'd
have to say 1 Peter right now.
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It's...really...theology.
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I guess you can see I'm kind of
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passionate about it
as we talk about it.
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But it's just--I've
just been overwhelmed with
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its wonderful interconnection
of theological ideas.
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And each time I come back to it
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to look at a new aspect,
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I was asked to write a paper on
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Biblical
anthropology from 1 Peter.
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And I followed that through
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and saw things I
hadn't seen before.
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It's like you
always see new things
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as you open the word of God.
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Yes, and again you're very
passionate about this book,
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about teaching it and-- Yeah.
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And explaining it and we are,
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in fact, studying
the Book of 1 Peter.
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And last time,
we've been talking about
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all these different
metaphors that Peter uses
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and so maybe you
want to continue--Yes.
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Now we're coming--this
section we're gonna read today,
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we're gonna look at
today is 1 Peter 2:4-10.
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1 Peter 2:4-10 is our passage.
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And this is the ending of
the first section of the book.
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And the first
section of the book
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tends to focus its attention on
who the Christian community is
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and defines us, describes us,
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uses all these
different metaphors,
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all these different concepts,
all this great theology
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piled up one on
top of the other,
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so as to shall we say
protect the Christian,
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a wall, to protect the Christian
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against the lure of
the pagan world around them
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and we can say today,
the pagan world around us
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that tries to
reach in and grab us.
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So it has this
wonderful, you know, pictures.
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Now this is the last
of the metaphors instance.
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It's not a mixed metaphor now.
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It's not a dual metaphor
but it's one last metaphor
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that he's gonna
describe in explaining
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who the people of God are.
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And that's in 1 Peter 2:4-10,
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so that's where we
should read right now.
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1 Peter Chapter 2 and
verse? Verses 4 through 10.
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"Coming to Him as
to a living stone,
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rejected indeed by men,
but chosen by God and precious.
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You also, as living stones,
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are being built
up a spiritual house,
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a holy priesthood, to
offer spiritual sacrifices
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acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
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Therefore it is also
contained in the scripture,
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"Behold, I lay in
Zion a chief cornerstone,
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elect, precious, and
he who believes on Him
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will by no means
be put to shame."
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Therefore, to you who
believe, He is precious,
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but to those
who are disobedient,
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"The stone which
the builders rejected
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has become a chief cornerstone,"
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and "A stone of stumbling
and a rock of offense."
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They stumble, being
disobedient to the word,
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to which they
also were appointed.
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But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood,
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a holy nation, His
own special people,
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that you may
proclaim the praises of Him
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who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light,
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who once were not a people
but now are the people of God,
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who had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy."
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Well, that's quite a
passage, isn't it? It sure is.
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The way it describes this,
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this passage shows
the divide between people,
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people who honor and
who value Jesus Christ
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and people who do not honor
and do not value Jesus Christ.
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I'm reminded of a story
that happened some years ago
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of a gem dealer in the Mid-West.
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His name was Morgan Sonsthagen
and he's located in Denver.
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I've spoken to him by
phone actually before.
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And he was visiting
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one of these gem
dealer shows, you know,
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where there were people
showing there different things
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that you could
buy and everything,
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different gems that you could,
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you know, take an interest in
and you hear of people buying--
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Trading too? Yeah.
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Trading and people buying
something and-- Call it a...
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They find out- We call
it a flea market, you know?
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Flea market kind of thing.
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And so Morgan Sonsthagen saw
this stone that was being used
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as a paperweight
on somebody's desk
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and it was this
red, this reddish stone.
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And he asked about it.
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He says, "How
much is that stone?"
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"Four, going four."
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And he says, that guy says,
"No, it's just a paperweight.
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I'm not selling this.
It's just a paperweight."
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He says, "No, I want to buy it.
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How much will you
sell it to me for?"
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He finally
bargained for a price of $50.
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And he thought that he
had a particular kind of stone
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that he'd
purchased for this $50.
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Well, he turned
out, he went back,
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then they started
looking into this stone,
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figuring out what it
was and it turned out to be
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a rare reddish stone
that's found in only like
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one place in China or something.
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And they took the stone.
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They had it cut
into different gems.
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And it turned out the
stone's value was like $3,000.
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And he just paid $50 for it.
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Somebody was using it
as a paperweight, you see.
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Well, that's kind
of an illustration
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of the way people
may think about Jesus.
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To some, Jesus is
just a paperweight.
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He's just, you know, He's
there, the church is there,
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and they could care
less and they don't have--
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it doesn't make any
important part of their life.
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But to other people,
He's precious, you know?
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And He is a precious stone
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that becomes the
cornerstone of their life, okay.
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So we look at the text and
we see how Apostle Peter starts.
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As you come to Him,
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that's the Jesus
Christ, a living stone.
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You know, that's
an oxymoron again,
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a living stone, stones are dead
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but here it's
called a living stone.
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Why is He called living?
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Because He was
raised from the dead.
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He was raised from the dead.
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A living stone,
notice, rejected by men.
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But in the sight of
God chosen and precious.
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Now we're gonna find a
little bit later in this book
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that this idea of being
aware of God's value on things
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is a very important
part of Christian life.
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It's a very important thing
to keep you on the right track.
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Valuing things in the same
way God values things, okay.
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He was rejected by men
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but he was chosen
and precious by God.
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And says, you yourselves,
that's the Christians,
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you yourselves
like living stones
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are being built
up a spiritual house
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to be a holy priesthood
to offer spiritual sacrifices
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acceptable to God
through Jesus Christ.
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Okay, so he's been playing
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on this whole idea of a
spiritual household, right?
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And you're the children of
God. You've been born-again.
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You're the babies at His breast.
You are receiving life from Him.
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He is your father, you
know, the household metaphors
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just keep piling
on top of one another.
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And in case,
maybe you missed it,
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He piles another one here
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and this time it's actual
house that is being built.
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You could say a temple
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but it's the house of
God that's being built.
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And the cornerstone is Jesus.
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Now here's the question.
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In terms of a house or a
building, a great structure,
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what is it about the
cornerstone that's so important?
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You would think that it is
the foundation that's important
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but now it says,
like, the cornerstone--
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Well, okay.
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You would think
of the foundational,
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foundation stone but
think of the foundation
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if you want to dig
down and think about that.
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Okay, but what's
important about that stone
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that first one that you lay?
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Um, maybe because
it was the first one
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that was laid on the foundation?
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Yes, okay, the first one.
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And it would have
to be extremely strong,
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wouldn't it? Mm-hmm.
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Extremely strong, not only that
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but when you lay
the very first stone,
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it sets the
direction to the house.
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That way, that
way, and that way, okay.
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So the cornerstone wherever
you put the cornerstone,
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gives you the total
direction of the house.
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The total geographic
location of the house
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is all set by that one stone
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because it's
right at the corner.
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So it has all three
dimensions in it, see.
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So that becomes that
which defines the house,
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defines the house, so
that's why the cornerstone
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is so important, you see.
00:10:08.81\00:10:10.18
Jesus defines the house.
00:10:10.21\00:10:12.39
He defines Christian faith
and everything is built on Him.
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If it's not built on
Him, it's not Christian.
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So it becomes defined
by its relationship to Him.
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Now he quotes from the scripture
00:10:23.10\00:10:24.47
and we want to
read that scripture.
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It's from the Book of
Isaiah and it's actually
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two passages in
Isaiah that relate to this.
00:10:28.31\00:10:30.57
So you will read
one, I'll read the other.
00:10:30.60\00:10:32.35
The first is in Isaiah 8:11-15
00:10:32.38\00:10:36.08
and the other is in
Isaiah 28:14-17, both in Isaiah.
00:10:36.11\00:10:40.69
Isaiah 8:11-15,
that's where we'll start.
00:10:40.72\00:10:46.65
"For the Lord spoke thus
to me with a strong hand,
00:10:46.68\00:10:49.32
and instructed me
that I should not walk
00:10:49.35\00:10:51.64
in the way of
this people, saying,
00:10:51.67\00:10:53.91
'Do not say, 'A conspiracy,'
00:10:53.94\00:10:56.03
Concerning all that this
people call a conspiracy,
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nor be afraid of their
threats, nor be troubled.
00:10:59.56\00:11:02.75
The Lord of hosts,
Him you shall hollow,
00:11:02.78\00:11:05.89
let Him be your fear,
and let Him be your dread.
00:11:05.92\00:11:09.26
He will be as a sanctuary,
but a stone of stumbling
00:11:09.29\00:11:13.46
and a rock of offense to
both the house of Israel,
00:11:13.49\00:11:17.97
as a trap and a snare to
the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
00:11:18.00\00:11:21.86
And many among
them shall stumble
00:11:21.89\00:11:24.15
and they shall fall and be
broken, be snared and taken."
00:11:24.18\00:11:28.50
All right. So here you have
00:11:28.53\00:11:31.63
a description of
the people of Israel
00:11:31.66\00:11:36.38
going the wrong way, you see.
00:11:36.41\00:11:38.81
And he says to
them, don't be afraid
00:11:38.84\00:11:40.57
of what they
fear, nor be in dread
00:11:40.60\00:11:43.13
but you're supposed to
honor the Lord of hosts.
00:11:43.16\00:11:45.46
You're supposed to fear Him.
00:11:45.49\00:11:47.07
He'll become a sanctuary
and it says a stone of offense
00:11:47.10\00:11:51.62
and a rock of stumbling
to both houses of Israel.
00:11:51.65\00:11:54.47
It's really a sad
kind of a depiction here,
00:11:54.50\00:11:57.49
the very people of
God going the wrong way,
00:11:57.52\00:12:00.38
stumbling over the stone
instead of building upon it.
00:12:00.41\00:12:02.75
Now if we could
turn to Chapter 28,
00:12:02.78\00:12:05.03
we get some similar ideas.
00:12:05.06\00:12:07.45
Isaiah
28:14-17. Isaiah 28:14-17.
00:12:07.48\00:12:12.78
It says this, "Therefore
hear the word of the Lord,
00:12:12.81\00:12:14.93
you scoffers who rule
this people in Jerusalem.
00:12:14.96\00:12:20.59
Because you have said,
00:12:20.62\00:12:21.99
'We have made a
covenant with death,
00:12:22.02\00:12:23.68
and with Sheol we
have an agreement,
00:12:23.71\00:12:25.79
when the
overwhelming whip passes through
00:12:25.82\00:12:28.54
it will not come to us,
00:12:28.57\00:12:30.39
for we have
made lies our refuge,
00:12:30.42\00:12:32.52
and in falsehood
we have taken shelter.
00:12:32.55\00:12:35.59
Behold, I am the one who has
laid as a foundation in Zion,
00:12:35.62\00:12:40.59
a stone, a tested stone,
00:12:40.62\00:12:43.15
a precious cornerstone,
of a sure foundation,
00:12:43.18\00:12:46.53
'Whoever believes
will not be in haste.'
00:12:46.56\00:12:49.18
And I will make
justice the line,
00:12:49.21\00:12:51.12
and
righteousness the plumb line,
00:12:51.15\00:12:53.11
and hail will sweep
away the refuge of lies,
00:12:53.14\00:12:56.55
and waters will
overwhelm the shelter."
00:12:56.58\00:12:59.77
What an experience.
00:12:59.80\00:13:01.79
They were going the way of lies
00:13:01.82\00:13:03.32
and notice God says that He
has laid a precious cornerstone
00:13:03.35\00:13:06.95
and he will
make justice the line
00:13:06.98\00:13:09.25
and
righteousness the plumb line.
00:13:09.28\00:13:10.75
Now the plumb line
is what you hold up here
00:13:10.78\00:13:13.32
and it shows you
that all of your structure
00:13:13.35\00:13:15.58
is built along the same
lines as the cornerstone.
00:13:15.61\00:13:19.20
And so God's plumb line is truth
00:13:19.23\00:13:22.22
that is being laid down to take
00:13:22.25\00:13:24.57
and make sure that the
measurements are following
00:13:24.60\00:13:26.83
the precious cornerstone
that has been laid by God.
00:13:26.86\00:13:31.54
Well, that's very interesting,
00:13:31.57\00:13:32.94
this metaphor
that Peter is using
00:13:32.97\00:13:35.03
and I think we
should continue hearing
00:13:35.06\00:13:37.19
more of these
metaphors that Peter has.
00:13:37.22\00:13:39.65
We're gonna take a
short break, Dr. Shepherd,
00:13:39.68\00:13:41.88
and we'll be right
back after these messages.
00:13:41.91\00:13:44.52