The Rejected Stone Exalted II - Part 2 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise, The worries of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. This is Lisera Bradley, Jr., welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. I'm glad that you have joined us today. If the program was a blessing to you, tell some of your friends that it can be heard at this same time. Each day on this station. And if you will take time to write and let us know that you have listened.

Our address is the Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Now Paul also in this chapter deals with the consequences of what would be the fact if there is no resurrection. Suppose this is all speculation.

This is just somebody's imagination. There is no resurrection. And Paul really is arguing it not just from the standpoint of Christ's resurrection being the basis on which there should be the resurrection of the saints, but he's starting down here about the resurrection of the saints and saying if they do not come out of the grave, then the resurrection of Jesus Christ is null and void also. Look how he argues this in verse 13. But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen?

The two are tied together. So you start denying the resurrection of the body and you have discounted the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain. Preaching means absolutely nothing.

We've been wasting your time. Then talking about things that have no foundation, no significance, no meaning. Preaching is vain and your faith is vain. If you've believed in God, if you've believed in Jesus Christ, if you've had hope, your hope is empty.

It doesn't mean a thing. Your faith is vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God. If there's no resurrection of the dead and there's no resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are false witnesses because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. So if the dead rise not, that means he didn't raise up Christ and what we've been preaching is false. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain and ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. That means that every time you've gone to pay your respects to a departed loved one or friend and you went there with the fond hope that that individual had gone home to be with the Lord and you expected someday to see them in the resurrection, all of that means nothing. They have perished if there is no resurrection. And if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

I've heard people say just the opposite of this. Say well you know the Christian life is such a wonderful thing that even if the eternal aspect of it wasn't so, it'd be all worth it anyway. I don't know what Paul said. Paul said if what I've been preaching, if the truth of the resurrection, if the hope of the resurrection in Jesus Christ, if all that's not true, we're of all men most miserable. We are the most deceived, foolish, deluded people wasting our time and efforts trying to fight against sin when it doesn't mean anything anyway.

A miserable lot. But the bright side of that is that according to Paul's testimony, Jesus Christ is alive. And He is one who saw Him. He was not an apostle at the time the others saw Him. See that was one of the qualifications of being an apostle that they should have seen the Lord after His resurrection. Paul was not an apostle at that time, but after the Lord dealt with him on the road to Damascus, he was caught up into the third heaven and he qualified as an apostle because he saw the Lord. He saw Christ.

So this is not somebody saying, you know this sounds reasonable to me. And this is what the good brethren taught me when I came into the church. Paul said when I came in I didn't consult with flesh and blood.

Nobody taught me anything. I didn't go up to Jerusalem and ask these brothers, give me some input about what I ought to be preaching. The Lord became my teacher.

The Lord taught me. The Lord revealed these things to me and I saw Him. So we're reading after an eyewitness observer here who has seen Christ and he says that the resurrection is real. As a matter of fact he says in the 57th verse, But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Now if there's no resurrection the whole thing's vain. You've been deceived and you're deceiving but that's not his point of view. Because he says I've been there. I've been to heaven and back. I was caught up into the third heaven. I saw the Lord.

I'm satisfied. This is the truth. I'm preaching it with confidence. So be steadfast, unmovable. You can abound in the work of the Lord for your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Not in vain in the Lord.

That's wonderful to know isn't it? The stone that was disallowed by the builders, by the religious leaders of the day has been made the head of the corner. And that's the fourth thing we want to emphasize. He is now the head of the corner. He is now the chief cornerstone. He is now after being despised and rejected of men while he was here and is still his gospel message is despised by multitudes and people will yet today reject his claims as to who he was.

Fact is all things are under him. Ephesians chapter 1. He is the one exalted above all. Verse 18 of Ephesians chapter 1. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Now he says that same power by which he brought Christ out of the grave is at work in you. And he set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Now get it, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named.

Isn't that glorious? You look around and see men attaining fame, prominence, position, power. No matter what name they've got there's a name above their name. You look at men who are very wealthy and they use their power. You look at men who have political influence and they use their power. You look at the kings of earth. You look at presidents and prime ministers and you look at those behind the scenes that maneuver and try to accomplish their great designs.

But what did you say? He is far above, not just slightly above. He's far above all principality, all power, all might, all dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come.

So not only for the present but for the future. His name is above every name and I've put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. And I want everyone to know that Jesus Christ who humbled himself to the death of the cross, Jesus Christ who came as one who was despised, Jesus Christ who came as one who was lowly and poor riding upon the ass, the coat, the fold of an ass, came as the servant. Jesus Christ is above all. All things have been put under his feet.

All things. So that being true, he has all authority. All authority, not just some of it, not just over some things, not just over some people, but somebody might say, listen preacher, you're not talking to me. Jesus Christ doesn't have authority over me because I don't believe in him. Let me tell you, whether you believe in him or not, he still has authority over you. He still has all power.

He has power over all flesh according to his intercessory prayer in John chapter 17 and Matthew chapter 28 verse 18, these are the words of Jesus, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Based on that he says, Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Well, if the one who has all authority in heaven and earth is the one that ordered this, we ought to be busy about it. Ought never to have any apprehension about it, never any question about it, never any objection to it, because he says to go. Somebody said, Well, how can we do that?

Well, because we have authority. He says, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, now I am telling you to go. Go and teach all nations, that is, making disciples, then baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and then teaching them to observe.

Observe what? Observe whatsoever things I have commanded you. And what is the promise? I am going to be with you always to the end of the world. Who is going to be with us?

The one that has all power. That gives us courage. See, believing in the sovereignty of God, believing in the power of God, rather than killing your zeal, ought to rev up the engines.

I ought to say, I am not afraid of anything. I am not going to be discouraged because he has all power. He has given me the command.

He has given me the authority. I am willing to be a witness. I am willing to give testimony.

I am willing to stand. I am willing to pray for the Lord to open up doors of opportunity for his servants and to pray that as they go, they will be blessed to speak as they ought to speak, that being a direct quote from Paul's request that the church would pray for him in that regard. All authority is his. Let's turn to Acts chapter 17, verse 31. These are the words delivered by the apostle Paul at Mars Hill. It says, At the time of this ignorance God winked at, Now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because... Why is it? Why is it he commands all men everywhere to repent? He hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness.

You may sometimes feel that wickedness has the upper hand. Say, are the great workers of iniquity ever going to be meted out there due? Will there ever be any justice?

Yes, there will. There is coming today that there will be justice. Our hope is that we will be dealt with on principles of grace rather than on the basis of what we deserve. But there's coming today that he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.

Well, who is it? Who's going to be the judge of all men? Who's going to be the one that will judge in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained? Who did he ordain? Whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Ah, Jesus Christ. He raised him from the dead. He gave us the assurance and it is by him that he is going to judge. He has authority.

He's the judge. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked and others said, we will hear again on this matter. Now this confirms the point that we have previously emphasized. If Paul coming to Mars Hill, a place where people gathered to talk about philosophy, religious ideas and concepts, if he had gotten up and simply said, now friends, I want to tell you about the man in whom my confidence rests. Jesus Christ was the greatest teacher that the earth has ever known.

Some of them said, you know, interesting point of view. Well, you know, you have your guru. We have ours. You have your great leader.

Everybody's got to have somebody to follow. You know, no big issue here. That's fine. Interesting. We're glad to, you know, put this back in our minds and be enlightened as to what another point of view may be. But when they heard of the resurrection, some of them mocked. Oh, wait, wait a minute. This is more than just another religious concept.

Wait a minute. You've gone over the brink. You're talking about this man that was your teacher coming out of the grave. You talk about him going to be the judge of the world. Oh, my, my.

Are you ever in the dark? You know, we can't tolerate that. Now, smart people are not going to buy that. That's all.

We're not going to have that at all. Friends, we're living in the same kind of pagan culture today in which Paul was ministering in that day. You can talk to people all day long about believing in good works and morality and believing religion is a good thing and believing that Jesus teaches a lot about love and all, you know, that's fine. You know, I'm kind of like you are.

I believe in God. Makes me think of the time I was talking to a lady. First, I thought we were on the same page, but the farther we went, I began to realize I don't know what's missing here, but we're not talking about the same thing. I finally discovered she was a New Ager who believed that God is everything and everything is God.

I mean, we weren't even close. She was using some of the same terms initially. She had no real objection when I used the term predestination.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I believe that people who are predestinated see this. Not everybody sees this. And I kept trying to figure out, now, what is it she sees? And when I found out what she saw, I realized she was blind.

She's in the dark. The God of the Bible. Friends, is personified in Jesus Christ. And when you start talking about everything being God, God being everything, that's not the God of the Bible. So somebody backs up and says, wait a minute, if you're talking about believing in somebody that came out of the grave and he's going to be the judge of the whole earth. Oh, no, no, no.

That's too narrow. Can't hold that. He's been made the head of the corner. All things are under him. He has authority over all. But in this exalted position, he is precious to believers. Turn with me to the book of First Peter, chapter two. First Peter, chapter two, verse six. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Now, we've looked several times in this message at references to Old Testament scriptures which are now quoted, confirmed, interpreted in the New Testament concerning Christ as the rock, the rejected stone, the stumbling stone, the rock of offense, the one, though, who now is exalted, who is resurrected, who has made the head of the corner.

So get this. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect. He was the chosen of God as the elect servant to come to do the work that was given him by the father. He's precious. That means he's valuable. He's special.

He's unique. And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. I want to tell you there are a lot of things you can believe that will ultimately bring you to a place of being confounded. A lot of things you can believe that will finally bring you to the place of severe disappointment. Say, I have been deceived. I'm frustrated. I've been done down the wrong path. But this clearly says that this cornerstone who is laid in Zion is the chosen stone, the precious stone, and the one that believes on him will never be confounded, never be ashamed, never be disappointed.

Isn't that good to know? Do you believe on him? This stone which was the rejected stone, do you believe on him as the exalted stone? Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner.

And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Jesus Christ is the head of the corner. He is the chief cornerstone. He's the solid rock.

He's the firm foundation. Is he the foundation stone of your life? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talked about those that built their house on the sand, and the storms came, the winds blew, and the house fell, and great was the fall of it.

There were those houses built on the rock. Jesus Christ is the rock of ages. Jesus Christ is the sure, firm foundation.

Is he precious to you? Unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto some he's the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Let's look at one more scripture reference, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the mind to them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. What was Paul preaching? Paul was preaching Christ Jesus the Lord, that the rejected stone was now the exalted stone, that the Savior who was crucified by wicked hands was now raised, alive, seated on the right hand of the manger on high where he ever lives to make intercession for us. We preach Christ. We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Reading Genesis chapter 1, God said, let there be light. What happened? And there was light.

No time delay, no difficulty making it happen. The sovereign God speaks and it's done. The God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath now shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. There may have been a time that everything we're talking about was a puzzle to you. Maybe in time that you had a question about the authority of God's Word. Time that you wondered whether the story of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus Christ could indeed be so. The God of this world had blinded your mind. But has the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shined in unto you? The God who commands the light to shine out of darkness hath he shined in your heart to give you the knowledge of the glory of God, how?

In the face of Jesus Christ. When we show you from scripture today an empty tomb, he is not here, he is risen. We look at the many appearances that Jesus made, the eyewitness account, even to the point of being in the presence of over 500 people.

Does that begin to make sense to you? Say, I believe it so. How many things have you read in the newspaper that you accepted as being valid when there was maybe no eyewitness account at all? Here is a record given by divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit and a testimony that over 500 people saw him.

You still have trouble believing that? When you see the apostles boldly preaching. Peter on the day of Pentecost, ye by wicked hands have crucified and slain the Lord of glory. But God has raised him up, standing in the front of those who are questioning by what name, power and authority the lame man was healed. And he said, you crucified him, but God raised him up and it's by his power and his authority that this man stands here before you whole.

That's an interesting thought. What happens when a person is born of the Holy Spirit? They're made whole. The fallen, ruined sinner is made whole. Prophecy was given in Isaiah chapter 35 that the lame man should leap as a heart, the tongue of the dumb should sing. Oh, all of that happened and transpired when Jesus came.

You see that? When you see the boldness on the part of those disciples who had been fearful, timid, shrinking back, forsaking the Lord, denying that they knew who he was. And now they stand boldly in the face of opposition and preach his word. And we're told that all of these followers, maybe with the exception of John, died the death of a martyr. Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down. That when they were ready to nail him to the cross, he said, I don't deserve to be crucified in the same fashion as my Lord.

And they turned him upside down. All of these men ultimately gave their lives because of the testimony of Jesus Christ. You're surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Have you been blessed to see something of the glory of Christ, to understand that apart from Jesus Christ, the friend of sinners, apart from this one who died to set us free, the substitutionary death of Christ taking our place, suffering for us what we should have suffered, having the wrath of God poured out upon him, that begins to make sense to you.

You say, I can't explain it all, but that's something I love. I'm made to know that's the hope of my salvation. Jesus Christ is the one in whom I trust. He's my all.

He's my salvation. God's light then is shining to give you the knowledge and blessing you to be able to believe it. It's an evidence that you have been blessed with his grace and his mercy. Yes, that stone that was rejected of the builders is now made the head of the corner. He's been exalted and whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. But whomsoever on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Stumbling at the stone even now can cause problems. But ultimately, it means that when the stone falls on an individual, I believe the reference is to when Jesus Christ comes back, he came the first time in humility. He came the first time in love, mercy and grace. He's coming back the second time to take vengeance on those that know not God and obey not the gospel. And in that day, when the stone falls on those who are not his, it will grind them to powder.

Where are you today? Do you by faith lay hold of Jesus Christ and trust him and rejoice to know that that stone, which has oft been ridiculed, despised and rejected of men, he's precious to you. You see him exalted and you're glad he is. He's precious to you who believe. I hope that these messages entitled The Rejected Stone Exalted have been a blessing to you.

If so, we'd like to hear from you. Please mention the call letters of the station over which you hear the program when writing us at Baptist Bible Hour, POX 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. We'll greet you next time.

This is LaSara Bradley, Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I am my Savior, I'm happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with this goodness lost in his love. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.