Welcome back. Dr.
Shepherd, um, a question,
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why don't some
people like religion?
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Uh, you know, it's
a really big question.
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People have all kinds of reasons
why they don't like religion.
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Um, usually,
there's a story there.
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And I think when in
life we find somebody
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who doesn't like religion,
doesn't like the church,
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the first thing,
the best thing to do
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to begin with is to listen.
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And the easiest way to listen
is to, say, "Oh, why is that?"
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And they'll tell you 'cause,
yeah, particularly if they,
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you know, come at
you with something
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that's because they've been
hurt some place in their life.
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So there really is a
story behind the reason
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why they don't like religion--
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There's almost
always some story--
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Almost always
some kind of history--
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But here's one of the reasons
why, "one of the stories."
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And that is because
the church and its truth.
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You know, we make lots
of mistakes in the church
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but the truth--
the church in its truth
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stands for something
that's right and holy.
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And that is an
offense to the world.
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And it's just like a
bird under the saddle.
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It just bothers them that
there's somebody who says,
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"No, that's wrong.
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You should not to do that."
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See in a postmodern world,
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most people want to say that
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there's no subtle
truth at all, you see.
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And for you to say, "Uh,
you know, actually there is."
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And to describe it
and everything that,
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that kind of gets
them a bit on edge.
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Now I don't think
we're supposed to go out
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and to hit people over the head
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and to try to
force them to things
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but we should understand.
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We should understand the
offense that is the cross.
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The cross is
opposed to the world.
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It stands for death to self.
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It stands for dedication to God.
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And that's why
some people don't like
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religion or the church.
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Dr. Shepherd, the passage
we've read makes a division
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between people and
what is this all about?
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Okay, so let's look
back at the passage again,
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so we can get
that clearly in mind.
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We finished by reading
the passage from Isaiah,
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those passages from Isaiah
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where the people of
Israel were going one way
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and God was really
going a different way.
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And he says, look,
I've laid down my truth
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as this cornerstone and
everything will be measured
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by this stone
that I've laid down.
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Now Peter comes and he says,
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"Uh, let me tell
you who that stone is.
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It's Jesus."
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It's Jesus who is a living stone
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because God
raised Him from the dead.
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That was the great seal of
God upon the ministry of Jesus.
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He raised Him from the dead.
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And so what he
had said was true.
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And the world must, you
know, take that into account.
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So he has this, he says,
"I've laid a stone in Zion,
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a cornerstone"--
I'm looking at verse 6,
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"chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in Him
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will not be put to shame."
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Now you need to understand
that the ancient world
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in which Peter lived was
a honor and shame culture,
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honor and shame,
what did that mean?
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Well, there were
certain values that they had
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and what you
would do in your life,
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your practices, your business,
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the way you
related to other people,
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you did things to bring honor
to your name and your family.
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And then there
were shameful things
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and those were the things
that you avoided, you see.
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You avoided shame and
you chased after honor, okay.
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So one would
bring you up higher,
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the other would take you lower.
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Now in such a
society in which Peter lived,
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the deepest shame
that could be brought upon
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you was crucifixion really.
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Typically, the Romans
would crucify people naked
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to shame them in public.
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It was done in public.
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They were
exposed to the elements
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and the Romans were intimidating
the population saying,
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"Look, if you do
whatever this person did,
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that's what's
gonna happen to you.
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So you do the shameful acts,
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we will shame you, give
you the ultimate shame."
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Now the pagan
culture was going one way
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and Christian values
went in an opposite direction
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and a different direction.
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So the pagans would try
to shame the Christians.
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We'll see that as we continue
to read through this book
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they were shaming--
trying to shame these people
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and the natural
tendency of our life is
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to listen to the
people around us.
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We're much more
impacted by those around us
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than we like to admit.
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And so Peter is trying
to build these people up
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with all this
rich deep theology.
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He's trying to build them up,
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so that they get the
right perspective on this.
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So they don't go honoring
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the things that God
says are shameful and,
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you know, going
the wrong direction.
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So he says whoever trusts in Him
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will not be put to shame.
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So if you trust in
Jesus, the crucified Messiah,
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you will not be put to shame.
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And we'll see as we go through
this book how the life of Jesus,
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the experience of
Jesus becomes the life
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and experience of the Christian
where they follow in His steps.
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They follow in His pattern
and the glory that He receives
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is what they will
receive in the end, okay.
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Let's go back to verse 8.
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Does this verse teach that
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God has destined some people
to reject Christ? All right.
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So we have the
division of people
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that we've talked about.
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We have those who do not believe
and we have those who believe.
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And when we get down to verse--
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well, let's start verse 7.
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It says, "So the honor
is for you who believe,
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but for those
who do not believe,
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the stone that
the builders rejected
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has become the cornerstone."
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Verse 8, "And a
stone of stumbling
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and a rock of offense.
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They stumble because
they disobey the word."
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My Bible says next, "As
they were destined to do."
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What does yours say in verse 8?
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Read verse 8 in New King James.
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"And a stone of stumbling and
a rock of offense." Keep going.
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"They stumble, being
disobedient to the word,
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to which they also
were appointed." Okay.
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So here you have a
description of the builders.
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Now builders are
honorable people.
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Builders are the people
who are making the building.
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And you expect them
to understand everything
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about the building
and what are they doing?
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They're
rejecting the cornerstone.
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There's this old story that
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when they were
building Solomon's temple
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that they needed the cornerstone
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and there was this one
stone that they rejected,
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they keep rejecting it
and this was in the way.
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And then they find
out that that's the stone
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that's supposed to
be the cornerstone.
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That's the one that's supposed
to be bear the most weight,
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you know, it sets
the whole thing all up.
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So it was interesting because
the rejection of the stone
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and then that
becomes the chosen stone.
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So what is negated
becomes that which is positive.
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So that which is shameful
becomes that which is honored.
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That which is rejected
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becomes that which
is accepted, all right.
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So but it was the
builders who didn't accept it.
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And, Dr. Shepherd,
it almost sounds like
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they're
deliberately rejecting it
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because as builders
you know what you're doing.
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Yeah. Isn't that right?
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You should know
what you're doing, yes.
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Here it says, they stumble
over, why did they stumble?
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It says because
they disobey the word
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and then it says as
they were destined to do.
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Now this gets many people,
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you know,
really tied up in knots
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because it sounds
like predestination.
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Like some people were just,
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you know, God just said,
you know, they're gonna be lost
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and I'll just do that.
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I'll just destine
them for destruction.
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And that seems so
odd and so unlike God,
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how could he do that?
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Well, what you have to
understand is going on here
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is a play on words, okay.
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And a play on words,
the Greek word is "Tithemi"
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and the word
means to place or put.
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Mm-hmm. Okay.
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And this verb is
used several times
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in this passage, all right.
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So the first
place where we notice
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this is in verse 6.
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"Behold, I am
laying in Zion, a stone,
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a cornerstone,
chosen and precious." Okay.
00:09:12.20\00:09:15.11
So he is placing
a stone, all right.
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God is placing a stone.
00:09:21.90\00:09:23.78
Now in verse 8, it says,
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"They stumbled because
they disobeyed the word,
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as they were
placed to do." Okay.
00:09:29.95\00:09:37.89
So here's the interesting
play on this whole concept.
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God has not destined anybody
for destruction or salvation,
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did not destine them for that.
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He has laid the cornerstone.
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The question is what will
you do with the cornerstone?
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What He has
destined is what will happen
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according to whatever you do
in relationship to that stone
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'cause He's got
the plumb line, right?
00:10:06.96\00:10:08.54
And He's placed the stone.
00:10:08.57\00:10:10.11
So if you build on the stone,
that's good, you'll be fine.
00:10:10.14\00:10:14.01
If you reject the stone,
it's you who will be rejected
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not because God predestined
that you would be rejected
00:10:18.46\00:10:21.95
but because God predestined this
stone would be the cornerstone.
00:10:21.98\00:10:25.24
There's only one cornerstone.
00:10:25.27\00:10:27.10
There's only one way to heaven
and that's through Jesus Christ.
00:10:27.13\00:10:30.30
So God has placed that here
00:10:30.33\00:10:31.98
and your reaction to the stone
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in believing or disbelieving
00:10:34.91\00:10:36.99
is what
predetermines your outcome.
00:10:37.02\00:10:39.53
So if I'm lost is because I
made that decision to be lost?
00:10:39.56\00:10:43.72
Yes. It's not God's fault--
00:10:43.75\00:10:45.15
It's not God's fault. My fault--
00:10:45.18\00:10:46.68
Yeah, so using
the term destined here
00:10:46.71\00:10:48.87
might not be the
best choice of terms.
00:10:48.90\00:10:51.51
As long as--it's okay
as long as you understand
00:10:51.54\00:10:54.34
that the destiny is
not that you are destined
00:10:54.37\00:10:58.53
whatever you want to do.
00:10:58.56\00:11:00.01
You're destined to be lost
or you're destined to be safe
00:11:00.04\00:11:02.75
but rather that
God has presettled
00:11:02.78\00:11:06.00
what will happen
to those who accept
00:11:06.03\00:11:08.25
or those who reject, okay.
00:11:08.28\00:11:10.32
Now we turn to the good news
which is down in verses 9 and 10
00:11:10.35\00:11:14.24
and we should read
those verses one more time.
00:11:14.27\00:11:16.75
"But you are a
chosen generation,
00:11:16.78\00:11:18.84
a royal
priesthood, a holy nation,
00:11:18.87\00:11:21.26
his own special people that you
may proclaim the praises of Him
00:11:21.29\00:11:25.82
who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light,
00:11:25.85\00:11:29.57
who once were not a people
but are now the people of God,
00:11:29.60\00:11:34.29
who had not obtained mercy
but now have obtained mercy."
00:11:34.32\00:11:39.55
Do these verses 9 through 10
00:11:39.58\00:11:41.79
teach that
priesthood of all believers?
00:11:41.82\00:11:45.38
No, the terminology the
priesthood of all believers,
00:11:45.41\00:11:48.71
you see, a concept from
the Protestant Reformation
00:11:48.74\00:11:52.83
and it was a
rejection of some things
00:11:52.86\00:11:57.62
that were taught by
our catholic friends.
00:11:57.65\00:12:00.35
And Luther was a
real strong emphasis
00:12:00.38\00:12:03.31
on this the
priesthood of all believers.
00:12:03.34\00:12:05.56
You can say the priesthood
of all believers is taught here,
00:12:05.59\00:12:08.39
if you think in terms
of all believers together
00:12:08.42\00:12:12.17
as a community 'cause
this is not talking about
00:12:12.20\00:12:14.61
individual priests or individual
people all just by themselves.
00:12:14.64\00:12:18.07
This is a community together.
00:12:18.10\00:12:20.42
It's very communal kind of
a concept of people together.
00:12:20.45\00:12:23.69
But sort of an
individual, you know,
00:12:23.72\00:12:25.74
off on your own
personal decisions--
00:12:25.77\00:12:28.32
no, not so much that.
00:12:28.35\00:12:30.43
He really links
together here wonderful ideas
00:12:30.46\00:12:34.42
from the Exodus story and
God's chosen people at that time
00:12:34.45\00:12:39.14
and the beautiful story of Hosea
00:12:39.17\00:12:41.58
when these people
are brought back to God.
00:12:41.61\00:12:44.23
Remember the story of
Hosea where he marries--
00:12:44.26\00:12:48.16
he's told by God to
marry this prostitute.
00:12:48.19\00:12:50.00
She goes off and
does terrible things
00:12:50.03\00:12:52.88
but then he goes
to the slave market
00:12:52.91\00:12:55.37
and there is Gomer, his
wife, and he buys her back.
00:12:55.40\00:12:59.14
He redeems her.
00:12:59.17\00:13:00.54
It's an illustration of
God redeeming the world,
00:13:00.57\00:13:03.70
bringing it back to
himself and he says,
00:13:03.73\00:13:06.53
"You were those
people, you had gone astray."
00:13:06.56\00:13:09.71
He says but God has brought
you into his marvelous light.
00:13:09.74\00:13:14.06
You know, listen, friends,
00:13:14.09\00:13:16.50
God has given
marvelous light to the world.
00:13:16.53\00:13:19.28
He sent it to
you. He sent it to me.
00:13:19.31\00:13:21.67
It's here in His word.
00:13:21.70\00:13:23.22
It's meant to
draw us back to Him.
00:13:23.25\00:13:25.90
We need to value this
wonderful and marvelous word
00:13:25.93\00:13:29.31
as we continue to study
00:13:29.34\00:13:30.90
this beautiful
Book of 1 and 2 Peter.
00:13:30.93\00:13:33.94
Thank you for
being with us again.
00:13:33.97\00:13:36.39