Good morning. It's good to see everybody here today on this soggy morning. We are going to be in Acts chapter 4 today. We're starting a new chapter. Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 14. And the title of this message is Builders and Stones. Builders and Stones. And before we get started, I want to open us up in a word of prayer. Father, we thank You so much for this day. We thank You for this time that we can come together as Your people in this place, that we can worship You in song and in praise and in prayer and fellowship and in Your Word and looking into Your Word together. Drawing near to you in your word Lord. We just ask that you be with us during this hour that you Open up this word to us that you Help us to draw near and see more of you Help us to see more of your glory Lord draw us to yourself and we just thank you for these things in Jesus name. Amen Builders and stones I'm going to start by reading the first half of Psalm 127, verse 1. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. So, all of us, every single human being who's ever lived is a builder of some sort. And you could say, well, I've never held a hammer or a tape measure or a saw in my life. That doesn't matter. You're still a builder. Even if you've never done any kind of construction work, you're still a builder. You're building a life, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. You're building relationships with the people you know and interact with. You're building philosophies about life and reality in your own mind as you interact with the world around you through consumption of information and ideas. Your mind is constantly building, it's formulating thoughts, philosophies, ideas. You're taking part in building a family if you're a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, son, daughter, grandparent, etc. I mean, you could keep going. You get the idea. You're building a reputation as you interact with the world, as you interact with people around you. You're building a reputation. You're part of building a community, a society, and a nation as you participate in the political process in the world that's going on in the world that you live in. You know, we could keep going on just to infinity, probably, all of the different things that you're part of building, either something that you're doing or something that you're participating in. Every building has a foundation that it's built on. And the foundation is going to determine whether or not the building will endure, whether or not it'll stand. So as we look at today's text, I'd like for us to think about all of the building that we're a part of and examine ourselves to see what foundation all of these things in our lives are built on. Because that's really what this is about. What is our foundation? When we left off last week, We were in the temple in Jerusalem with Peter, John, and a formerly lame beggar who used to sit outside the temple and ask for alms from the world as it passed by. It was all he could do. He was helpless to do anything for himself. And Jesus had, through the agency of Peter and John, had healed this man. And so they go into the temple. He's walking and leaping and praising God. And it creates a commotion, it creates a stir and a crowd of people come running to see what happened and if it's really true. And then Peter preaches a message to them, showing them that Jesus Christ, crucified, raised from the dead, ascended into heaven and reigning from on high, is not only the source of healing for the lame beggar, but he's also the fulfillment of the law, the prophets, the Abrahamic covenant, All the promises of God are fulfilled in Him. He preached Jesus to them as the source of repentance and refreshment, reconciliation, blessing, and life. And so that's where we stopped at the end of the text last week, and that brings us to where we are today. So I'm going to read through our text, starting in verse 1 of chapter 4. As they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message believed in the number of the men came to be about 5,000. On the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of high priestly descent. When they had placed him in the center, they began to inquire, by what power or in what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, If we're on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. Now, as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. So this starts as they were speaking. Peter may, he may not have even finished his sermon yet, or he's just finished and he's talking to the people, he and John, and they're telling them about Jesus. But as they were still speaking, the world comes to respond. It comes to react to the gospel message. These people represent the world that come up there. You know, a lot of times when we think of the world or worldliness, we get this idea of, um, well, we, we think of immorality. We think of drug pushers and pornographers and people that are living in wickedness and all kinds of things and and and maybe Nightclubs, and I don't know whatever comes to your mind But the things that come to your mind when you think of the world and worldliness It's not the religious leaders and the political leaders and the scholars the police the military But this is the world And this delegation that comes to confront Peter and John, it's a pretty good representation of the leading builders of the world there in first century Jerusalem. The priests are the religious leaders. The Sadducees are the political and philosophical leaders. They would be like the influencers, you know, the ones who are setting the agenda, what everybody's talking about, because that's their interest, is politics and philosophy. The captain of the temple guard represents the police, the military, the order-keeping leadership. If it's a Jewish captain of the temple guard, then he's probably second in authority only to the high priest. Now, Matthew Henry, in his commentary, thought that this was the Roman officer over the garrison stationed in the Tower of Antonia that was assigned to guard the temple. It could be either way. Some commentators think it's one, some it's the other. But either way, the result is the same. The world is opposed to the gospel. And the builders were greatly disturbed Let me read verses 1 and 2. It says, "...as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed, because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead." They're greatly disturbed. The King James says, grieved. They're grieved. that Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming the gospel. I want you to know something. The world is always grieved by the proclamation of the gospel. The true gospel of free grace given to us in Jesus Christ. It grieves the world. Listen to this. I'm going to flip over to Psalm 112 and read something to you. This is about the Lord. You know, when we preach the gospel, you know what we're doing? We're lifting up Christ and exalting Him. What He has done and what He has accomplished, His person and work and the completion of it. And He has risen from the dead. He has ascended into heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, reigning over all creation. And that's what Psalm 112 is about. Praise the Lord. How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth. The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. Whose righteousness endures forever? The Lord Jesus. This is about him. Light arises in the darkness for the upright. He is gracious and compassionate and righteous. It is well with the man who is gracious and lends. He will maintain his cause and judgment, for he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever. He will not fear evil tidings. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is upheld. He will not fear until he looks with satisfaction on his adversaries. He's given freely to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted in honor. The wicked will see it and be vexed or grieved. He will gnash his teeth and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish. The world is grieved at the preaching of the gospel. Why? Why? Why would anybody be grieved that God has given us eternal life? Well, the builders are grieved. The priests are builders, you know. They're builders and they're grieved because they've built a system of belief that says the resurrection is for those who are righteous. And that means being part of the covenant community, descended from Abraham, born under the law, circumcised on the eighth day, keeping the law outwardly, and participating in the Jewish sacrificial system. And they, as the priests, are the authoritative mediators of this system between God and the people. Well, Peter and John are preaching that not only is Jesus the Nazarene, a man that these priests, by the way, had condemned as a law-breaking, Sabbath-breaking blasphemer. That's what they said about him. It wasn't true, but that's what they said. They condemned him. And Peter and John are saying that not only is he resurrected, but he is the resurrection and the life. He is the way, the truth, the life, and the only mediator between God and man. Their system of righteousness established by law keeping and fed by the blood of bulls and goats is dead. Free access to God and eternal life has been granted through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ once and for all. The gospel grieves religious people because it completely destroys their building. It tears it down. Then we have the captain of the temple guard. He's also there. He could be a Jewish priest in charge of the temple guards, and they're tasked with keeping order in the temple and securing the gates and walls. And by the way, this person would have been second in command, second in authority, to only the high priest. It could be that that person is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 9, 11, 2 Chronicles 31, 13, and Nehemiah 11, 11. Josephus also mentions a guard of the temple, a captain of the temple guard, in his writings on war and antiquities. So it could have been that. Also there was a Roman garrison in the tower of Antonia, close to the temple there, and they were tasked with watching the temple, keeping an eye on it, and keeping an eye on the people that were coming and going, and it could have been the captain of that garrison. It could have gone either way. Luke doesn't specify, so since Luke doesn't specify, we don't really know for sure, but we know it was one of them. Well, if he is the Jewish captain of the temple guard, then he's in the same boat as the other priests and religious leaders. His position is irrelevant now because the religious system that it is a part of has been made obsolete. If he's the pagan Roman officer over the Roman garrison, he's grieved by the gospel because it declares that Jesus is Lord, not Caesar. The distant, unknowable deity whose law the Jews professed to keep and made sacrifices to was one thing. You know, the world is okay with a God like that. The God that's out there, the God that you give lip service to and you maybe perform some religious duty for but doesn't ever really get involved, that God, the world doesn't care about that God. They'll just put Him right in the list of all the other gods. But this Jesus, this Jesus who's a man crucified by the Roman authorities, You know, the apostles are claiming that he's risen from the dead, that he holds all authority in heaven and on earth as both Lord and King, the very same titles that Caesar claims for himself. The empire builders of the world hate the gospel because it destroys their building. Then next are the Sadducees. What about the Sadducees? They're the politicians and the philosophers of the day. They're completely invested in this life and this world. The temporal, physical world is all that matters to them because they don't believe in the resurrection at all. They don't believe that there's another life to come. They'd be kind of like modern-day progressives. They would say, there's a God, but you can't really know Him. There's no such thing as spirits, angels, or resurrection. So the best thing you can do is just keep the law, be a good person, and live your best life now. Well, this begs the question, if they don't believe in the resurrection, what difference does it make to them if others do? If others do believe in the resurrection, and if others do believe that Jesus is risen. Well, I think the answer to that question is found in Romans 1, 18 and 19. which says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them." What that's saying is people know the truth. They don't like it, but they know it, and they're trying to suppress it. The picture of unbelief in Romans 1, 18 and 19 is like a man trying to hold a beach ball underwater. He knows the truth, but he wants to hold it down, suppress it, but it's still there putting pressure on him while he's trying to hold it down. That's the way it is with an unbeliever. When the gospel is proclaimed and it goes forth in power, people receive it and are born again. It irritates the consciences of those who are suppressing the truth. It irritates them. And if you think I'm exaggerating about that, just try to have a friendly conversation sometime with an atheist. I've done it. Now don't let them make you angry, but just be friendly and firm and lovingly answer them with Scripture no matter what they say. I promise you, they'll either be fighting mad in a very short time or they will resort to insulting and degrading you. Probably both. Because politicians and worldly philosophers don't like the gospel because it destroys the truth-suppressing framework that they have created. They've been working really hard to create this framework for life that suppresses the truth that they don't want to deal with, and the gospel destroys that. It destroys it. Well, we should note that the gospel message that the builders are grieved by is literally in Jesus' resurrection from the dead. Look at that in verse 2. They were grieved, they were disturbed, Because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. This message. Romans 6.32 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Jesus, resurrection. The builders don't come out to oppose the gospel of good works or morality. They were already teaching that. Builders don't oppose the gospel of social justice or social welfare. Builders don't oppose the gospel of law-keeping and religious ceremony. And builders don't oppose the gospel of health, wealth, and prosperity. All of those things actually were part and parcel of the Jewish religion of the day. We could just keep going, but the truth is there's only one gospel. And that gospel tells us this. All the works of all the builders that this world ever has had or ever will have are going to be burned up and destroyed. But there is a resurrection unto life in Jesus Christ in a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells and the builder is God alone. That's the message of the gospel. Now let's look at verses 3 and 4. It says, And they laid hands on them, and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. So the worlds come out to oppose the gospel, and they do what they can. They lay hands on Peter, John, and the formerly lame man, and put them in jail until the next day. I kind of wonder what's going through his head. He didn't do anything. He's just sitting there, begging for alms. He gets healed and now he's in jail. He had to have been thinking, man, I just don't know about this. But anyway, he's there and he stays with him. And he stands with him because he's probably born again also. He's been listening to him preach and he knows who healed him. He knows it's not Peter. But this is what happened. They put him in jail. But you know what? The power of the gospel is such that it cannot be stopped. It can't be stopped. Romans 1.16, Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Even though they put Peter and John in jail, many of those who had heard the message believed. And it raises the number. You remember there were 3,000 saved at Pentecost just a few days before this. A very short time before this. That may have put the number of the church to about 3,500 possibly at that time. And by now, it says that it raised the number of the men in the church to about 5,000. And you could, since it says men, it's just counting the men. In this estimate, it's saying that after this sermon that Peter had preached to the people there in the temple, the number of just the men in the church were about 5,000. So you can probably triple that. The church has grown from 500 to about 15,000 probably or more. Now let's look at verses five through seven. On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. And Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of high priestly descent. When they had placed him in the center, they began to inquire, by what power or in what name have you done this? So the next day, they bring Peter and John and the healed man out of the jail. They place them in the middle of the circle in the Sanhedrin. This is the governing Jewish council. And they meet in a circle. And if they're going to try somebody, they put you out there in the middle of it. So you've got people behind you all the time. You're just in a circle. And they're right there. And it's pretty intimidating. The most powerful men. in the country are there. The most highly educated men are there. Rulers, elders, scribes, high priests, and all who were of high priestly descent are there. And added to the mix from yesterday are the scribes. And these scribes would have been like college professors and teachers in our society. These are the guys who know the law and the prophets backward and forward. They've devoted their life. In other places, they're called lawyers in the scripture, but they're lawyers, they're scribes, they have studied. They've studied everything and they know it backward and forward. This is the cream of the crop of the builders of Jewish culture. They've come together to silence the apostles and stop this message that they're preaching from going any further. That's why they're there. When they place them in the center of the council, they immediately begin calling into question their authority to preach the message. By what power or in what name have you done this? If they were doing it today, they'd say, what college or seminary did you graduate from? What ecclesiastical authority has sanctioned your ministry? Who gave you permission to heal someone in our city? or preach in our temple. See, they thought to intimidate these poor ignorant fishermen with their display of power and intellect and authority, but what these elite builders didn't know was that the apostles' master had prepared them for this in advance. In Luke 12, verses 11 and 12, Jesus had told the disciples, when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, when, he told them in advance, when this happens, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. And then we have verse 8, it says, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we're on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, By this name, this man stands here before you in good health. He's the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, and which became the chief cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else. There's no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." You know, really, through God's sovereign providence, These learned men in their pride and arrogance asked Peter exactly the right question. They asked him exactly the right question, and filled with the Holy Spirit, he gives them exactly the answer they asked for. I could just almost see it. I could just almost see them asking, what power, what name are you doing this in? And I could just see Peter say, that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about. We just, that's exactly what we wanted to talk to you about. If we're gonna be treated as criminals and put on trial for doing a good deed, let it be known to you all that we're operating under the authority of Jesus Christ of Nazarene. This one whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead and it's the authority of his name and through his power that this man stands here before, stands here before you today. You notice that? Peter makes the point of it. He's standing here. He's not sitting out there on the ground. Peter never misses an opportunity in his preaching to remind the Jewish people that they crucified the Lord Jesus and God raised Him from the dead, declaring Him to be both Lord and Christ. Now, at this time right here, Peter makes this case. This is the time right here that if the Sanhedrin had any evidence at all or any hope at all of establishing this rumor that they tried to spread, that the apostles had stolen Jesus' body and faked the resurrection, this would have been the time to do it. This would have been the time to pull it out and make their case. They can't even voice the accusation in the face of this Holy Spirit driven testimony. Crickets. Now Peter always in his preaching reminds the Jews of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ, but he goes even farther here with the religious leaders and the rulers. He reminds them of what Jesus had told them when they were questioning where his authority came from in Matthew 21. We're going to look at Matthew 21. In Matthew 21, now the verse that Peter quotes from is Matthew 21, 42. And in Matthew 21, 42, Jesus is actually quoting Psalm 118. And Peter is going to quote that. Or Peter is going to quote Jesus quoting Psalm 118. But he is quoting it in the context of a parable. And Jesus is telling this parable among several that He gives an answer to them challenging His authority. Back in verse 23 and 24, well actually 23 through about 27, the chief priests and the elders came together and they challenged Jesus as He's teaching in the temple, and they want to know what authority He's teaching under. Who gave you the authority to teach, to do this? And so Jesus is in answer to them. He tells this series of parables. And the one that I'm going to look at here is the parable of the landowner. And I'm going to start reading in verse 33. Jesus says, listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and rented it out to vine growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine growers to receive his produce. The vine growers took his slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third. Again, he sent another group of slaves, larger than the first, and they did the same thing to them. But afterward, he sent his son to them, saying, they will respect my son. But when the vine growers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. They took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers? They said to him, he will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and he will rent out the vineyard to other vine growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons. In verse 42, which Peter's quoting from, Jesus said to them, did you never read in the scriptures The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone. This came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them." You see, Peter goes back and quotes that to them. Jesus was quoting from Psalm 118.22, and this was a Messianic psalm written about Him. It was talking about His atonement. He's talking about what he's going to do. He's the stone rejected by the builders. They're the builders. They've rejected him. You know, Peter's not pulling any punches with these guys. He's doing and saying everything he can to show them that in rejecting Christ, they have rejected the very foundational cornerstone on which the kingdom of God is being built. And by opposing the spread of His gospel, they've lined themselves up in direct opposition to God. You guys are opposing God. What He's really doing is loving them. That's what He's doing. He's loving them. He's on trial, but He is loving them. Human wisdom would tell Peter to be diplomatic right here. Buddy, you're in a tight spot. You need to be diplomatic. You need to avoid conflict with these wise and powerful men so they'll see you as harmless. Don't stir them up. And then you can go on and continue spreading the gospel among the poor. That's what we would do today, isn't it? We don't want to rock the boat too much or draw too much attention from the people in power because, you know, they might shut us down. So we just kind of fly under the radar and do our thing and hope they don't notice us. That's exactly the opposite of what Peter does. He confronts them and tells them what their problem is. You guys are set up in opposition to God. And that stone's fixing to fall on you and crush you. That's what's going to happen. It's going to grind you to powder. Peter knows that Jesus is their only hope. Without him, they're going to perish. His name is the only name that will save them. Look into him. Abraham isn't gonna save them. Listen to Matthew chapter three, verses seven through nine. John the Baptist is out preaching. People are coming out. He's baptizing people in the Jordan River. And it says, "...but when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father. For I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham." Being descended from Abraham is not going to save you. It's not going to help you a bit. Moses isn't going to save them. Romans 3, 20. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. You can appeal to Moses all you want. You can strive to keep the law. It's not going to save you. Elijah isn't going to save him either. All of these, they're just servants of the Son looking forward to His coming. David isn't gonna save them. He was just a type, a shadow. He was a shepherd king, but he's the type and the shadow pointing forward to the good shepherd, the king, the one whose kingdom will never end. There's salvation and there's resurrection life nowhere else and under the authority of no other name than now or ever. That's what Peter's telling them. He's telling them the only thing that's going to do them any good. At all. Well, the council's in shock. The council's in shock. Let's read on. Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. They could see the confidence that Peter and John displayed. Now keep in mind, These are the same guys that were recently hiding, cowering in fear. This is the same Peter who denied the Lord at the questioning of a maid. But now they're preaching resurrection in Jesus Christ, as bold as lions. Right there in the most intimidating place they could be. There's no explanation for it except that they had seen the resurrected Christ. They had seen Him, and they're now filled with His Spirit. The council recognizes that these guys are uneducated and untrained men. You know when it says untrained men there, and the King James it says ignorant, and I looked up in the Strong's what that word means, because of Matthew Henry's commentary pointed it out to me, but The word that is translated ignorant or untrained is actually idiotes, idiot. That's where we get the word idiot from. These men, it would be like what you have going on here. To set up this scene, you've got PhD scholars from Harvard and Cambridge lawyers jurist doctorate lawyers. They're sitting here on this council. You've got historians you've got College professors you've got powerful men, the most powerful and the most highly educated men that you can imagine from our day. Just put them on a council and then you go out here in the swamp and you get a couple of Cajun boys that grew up out there fishing for shrimp and never went to school. They've never been to school. They just grew up out there fishing. And you put them in the middle of these guys And you've got scholars versus fishermen. They recognize that the only explanation for these guys is that they've been with Jesus. May the Lord make us witnesses like that. That the only explanation that the world can come up with for us is that we've been with Jesus. Listen to I Corinthians chapter 1. I'm going to start in verse 26. He says, For consider your calling, brethren. There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. So that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. They put Peter and John on trial. You know what Peter does? He gets up and boasts in the Lord. This Jesus, we didn't do anything. We didn't heal this guy. This Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the one whom you crucified, God raised Him from the dead. This is His power. His name, He is the one through whom we must be saved. And seeing the man who'd been healed standing with him, they had nothing to say in reply. All these highly educated men, all these powerful men, they see this man standing there. What are you going to say to that? You know what? If your life has changed, if you've been born again, and your life has changed, Nobody's got an answer for that. Nobody's got an answer for a changed life, and this man is obviously changed. Where he couldn't stand, he's now standing there with Peter and John, and the council has nothing to say. Their mouths are closed because of the truth of the gospel and its power on display in transformed lives. If we want to change the world, We need to proclaim the gospel. We do. We need to examine ourselves and make sure we believe the gospel and that it's changed us, it's made us new creatures in Christ. And I guarantee you if the gospel changes us and we go out and proclaim it, it's going to change the world around us too. People are going to notice and they're not going to be able to... they may not believe Some of them will, some of them won't. But even the ones that won't, there's nothing that they're going to be able to do. They won't have an answer for it. Well, what about you here today? Are you a builder who has rejected this cornerstone? These guys were builders. They'd rejected this cornerstone. They'd rejected Jesus as the foundation of everything. Ask yourself that today. Is Christ the foundation of your life and everything in it? That's what it means to be saved. It doesn't mean that you pray a prayer, that you ask Jesus into your heart, that you get a get-out-of-hell-free card. That's not what salvation is. Salvation is you see Jesus and you come to understand that He's the cornerstone He's the foundation of everything. He's the builder. And if your life is not built on Him, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain. Who built it? It's going to fall. I want to finish, but Jesus gave an example. He illustrated what we're talking about in Luke chapter 6. I'm going to close by reading it to you. Luke chapter 6, I'm going to read verses 46 through 49. He says, Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and acts on them, I'll show you whom he is like. He's like a man building a house who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock. And when a flood occurred and the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who's heard and has not acted accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed and the ruin of that house was great. If Jesus is not the cornerstone and the foundation of your life, your life is going to end and everything that you've built will perish. But if Christ is the rock on which your house is built, your foundation is unshakable. It's unshakable. You can rejoice because you have resurrection life in Him. Which is it? Ask yourself that today, let's pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word and we thank You that You so vividly illustrate these things for us. You make it so clear in Your Word. Lord, I just pray that You apply these truths to our lives. Lord, I pray that You open our hearts that you help us to enter into this truth that everything in our lives that we that it is built on you that every relationship every thing that we are engaged in every facet of our lives Lord that we understand that our lives are not our Christian life and then our secular life that everything is about you that you are the foundation for all of our life. And it all has to be built on you, Lord. Lord, help us to enter into that and help us to go forth and proclaim it and display it to the world around us. Lord, we thank you for this truth, and we thank you for your grace. In Jesus' name, amen.