Jesus, the Risen King and Foundation of Faith

Hey, we're going to get into God's word right now. So, if you brought your Bible, would you get it out? This is the word of God. And so, even if you didn't bring your Bible, I know that God has a word for every one of you tonight. God has a word for you. He loves you. So, wherever you are in your journey of faith, I pray today that you'll know that God created you. He has a good plan for you. If you brought your Bible, would you just get out, wave in the air like you care? Even if you didn't bring your Bible, you can join in with us. I'm going to count to three and you just simply shout word. Here we go. Ready? One, two, three. Word. We're getting into God's word so that God's word gets into us. As we're celebrating this Easter season, we've been on a journey focusing on God's kingdom come. Jesus promised that we can pray that God's kingdom can come, that his will can be done in our lives on earth as it is in heaven.

It's a promise from God. And so, what does it look like for his kingdom to come? Well, first we got to acknowledge there has to be a king. And it's allowing the king, which is Jesus, to have dominion over your life. It's allowing the ways of Jesus, the king, to have domain and dominion in your life. That's kingdom. It's saying, "I want God's ways in my life." Who is this Jesus? Well, in tonight's text, we're going to turn to a story that Jesus shared with us, and we're going to see that Jesus is the rejected son, the risen king, and the cornerstone. I want you to see clearly tonight how this will change your life. That Jesus is the rejected son, the risen king, and the cornerstone. When you understand that Jesus is the rejected son, the risen

king, and the cornerstone, you understand that this has shaped every generation. This echoes in all of history, even in this moment, right now in each of our lives, because you can reject the son of God, but he will always still be the risen king. And tonight, I want to set a foundation for you based upon the teachings of Jesus that he wants to be the cornerstone of your life, which mean he wants to be the rock that you build your life upon. You see, over the years, people have tried to silence Jesus. Men have tried to silence Jesus. Religious leaders have tried to silence Jesus. Even empires over the last 2,000 years have tried to stop the fame of Jesus. But you can't do

it. When Jesus was here on earth, they falsely accused Jesus. They mocked Jesus. They beat Jesus. They even crucified him to the point of death. They put him in a tomb. But not even the grave could stop Jesus Christ. He is risen. Come on, church. That's your role. We got to we got to preach to each other. He is risen. And he wants you to know that he is the rejected son, the risen king, and the cornerstone. More than 700 years before Jesus was crucified, there was a prophet speaking on behalf of God, Isaiah. And Isaiah said in chapter 28:16, "Thus says the Lord God." Now, when you hear those words in the Bible, that's when you open up your ears. Thus says the Lord God.

God has something to say. And God says, "Behold." Everyone shout, "Behold." Behold. I mean, he has something really important to say. I am the one, the Lord says, who has laid as a foundation in Zion a stone. Now, Zion is the hill in the center of Jerusalem. I've been there. Zion is a symbol of something even greater, the city of God, the hill of God. So when you see the word Zion, it represents God's place. It represents Jerusalem. Now God says, "I've laid a foundation in Jerusalem, Zion, a stone." Not just any stone, a tested stone. Not just a tested stone, a precious corner stone. A cornerstone of a sure foundation.

Whoever believes will not be in haste. God's desire for you is not better behavior. It's not that you would be religious. God's greatest desire is that you would believe him. That you would take him at his word. Because when you believe in God, it changes everything. And God in this moment in history speaks through a prophet and says, "I need you to believe that there is a cornerstone unlike any other. There is a rock that's greater than any rock. Now, what's so special about a cornerstone? Well, in the ancient days, particularly in the Middle East, if you were building a large building, the cornerstone is the most important part of the building. You would start with the foundation, and the first stone that you would lay is the

cornerstone. It was the largest of all the stones. It could not have any flaws. It needed to be perfect because if the cornerstone had any flaws or if it was crooked, it would make all of the other stones crooked. It would shape the integrity of the building. The cornerstone shapes how strong the building will actually be. It's absolutely important to have a strong large cornerstone. Now, if we go back in history, one of the most important buildings ever in history was the temple. God designed a place and a space where you could meet with him, a place that you could bring your offerings. It was a very important place called the temple and it was in Jerusalem. And that temple stone, that cornerstone on the

temple still exists today. The temple does not exist but it exists. If you look at this picture here, this is actually a temple uh picture of this stone. It's called the western stone. It's the largest stone of one centerpiece of any other stone of any structure in the world. It's 45 feet long by 11 feet high. And if you look, it's the largest stone and all of the other stones are placed around it, built around it. And although the temple doesn't exist today, the cornerstone still does. Now, this is important because the Bible tells us today because of Jesus, when you believe in Jesus, you no longer have to travel to a temple. You no longer have to travel to a space and a place to bring your offerings, but rather your life becomes a temple of the

living God. Your life becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit. And what we're going to see tonight is that Jesus is the rejected son, the risen king, and the cornerstone upon which you can, which which you should build your life upon because Jesus is a rock unlike any other. He is the rock above all rocks. He is the rock of ages. He is the sure and precious, I love how Isaiah put this, the precious cornerstone. And you don't have to freak out about your life being built upon this cornerstone. Because even when the storms come, you're gonna stand because of the cornerstone, the rock upon which you build your life upon.

Tonight's text that we'll look at is found in Matthew 21. If you've got a Bible, turn to Matthew 21. It's a wild chapter. It's the last week of Jesus life. Matthew describes the events that take place when Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a cult, fulfilling what the prophet Zachchariah said in chapter nine that Messiah will ride on a cult. And Jesus did exactly what he said he would do. When he comes into Jerusalem, everyone seems to be celebrating, "Hosana, save us." They thought he would be the conquering king to take over Rome. But Jesus goes into that very temple I was just talking about and he's really upset because people aren't growing closer to the Lord. They're being taken advantage of. There were people uh looking for financial gain.

They were oppressing the poor. And Jesus comes in and he flips over the tables in the temple. which teaches us today, if we're the temple, if there's something that shouldn't be there, Jesus wants to come into your life and flip over the tables that shouldn't be there. He wants you to know who he is. And he made this statement in that moment in Matthew 21:13. He said to them, "It is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers." Jesus goes back and quotes the Old Testament prophet and says, "This is meant to be a house of prayer, a place to be in communion with God, a place to talk to God, to listen to God." And in that moment, the very next thing that Matthew tells us Jesus does is he

heals the blind and the lame. When you have a house of prayer, you have a house of miracles. This is God's desire. When Jesus leaves the temple, he's hungry. Don't you love the honesty of the scripture? Sometimes he's just hungry and he sees a fig tree, which is kind of like in the ancient Middle East, a candy store. So Jesus stops by the candy store, but there are no figs on this fig tree. And Jesus is so upset that there are no figs on the fig tree, he curses the tree, and it instantly, not in days or even weeks, it instantly shrivels. what looked like it has life turned into dry twigs instantly. Jesus shows us an

illustration here that you are not alive just to exist. You are alive to bear fruit. [applause] You are meant to produce something with your life that is lifegiving. When you're not producing what you're made for, there's a curse upon your life. you're not fulfilling what God destined for you to fulfill. Well, Jesus, he goes back to the temple, this very place where he flipped the tables. And wouldn't you know it, he's faced with some religious leaders. I don't know about you, but religious people could sometimes be the worst people. And it's at that place Jesus is confronted and he's asked a question, by what authority are you doing what you're doing? Now, Jesus being who he is, he doesn't argue with the fool. That's the wisdom of Proverbs. He doesn't answer

their question. Instead, he goes on to tell several parables. And we've been looking at parables because this is the method that Jesus chose to use to reveal his kingdom. He used stories to reveal a truth that otherwise we're not understanding. So, he uses a fictional story to tell a truth that you immerse yourself in the story he's telling to understand God's ways in your life. That's called kingdom. God wants you to have his kingdom in your life. He doesn't want you just to live your ordinary way. He doesn't want you just to exist in this life. He wants you to bear much fruit. The first story Jesus tells is a story of two sons. He says there's a father who has two sons. This father has a

vineyard. Now, I don't know if you've ever asked your teenage kids to do some work, but sometimes it can be difficult. And it comes to the first teenager. This is Jesus. is telling the story, not me. I'm just paraphrasing. He comes to the first son and he simply asks, "Could you go work in the vineyard?" The modern equivalent to this is, "Would you go empty the dishwasher?" Come on, somebody. I'm not looking at my 16-year-old, but the son has the audacity to tell the dad, "No." Then he went on his way and something changed in his mind and he decided to do what his father asked him to do. Come on, somebody shout, "Amen." Now, he had another son. And he went and asked this son, "Would you go work in the field?" And this son said, "Yes, Dad. You know, I'll always do what you

ask me to do." And he went about and didn't do a single thing that he said he would do. Now, Jesus is telling the story to religious people. And he makes this statement at the end of the story. Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you." I need you to understand this today that God's not looking for lip service. He's not looking for you to look good. He's looking for you to actually take him at his word. that even if you mess up, even if you're the worst of sinners, if you come home and accept God's grace, he welcomes you home.

He wants you to know that you could be a part of his family. Last week, we looked at a verse in Matthew 15:8 where Jesus says, quoting the book of Isaiah, he says, "Their their mouth, they're saying the right words, but their hearts are far from me. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. God's not asking you to look like you got it together. He's not asking you to fake it like you make it. He's actually asking you to understand who he is, which leads us to our text today. He tells one more story. It's found in Matthew 21 33. These are this will be the last time he's teaching in the temple. So, we want to lean into the last words of Jesus in the last days of Jesus, the last breath of Jesus. And he tells us

this story. If you're able to, would you stand for the reading of God's word? I'm going to read you the entire story and then I'm going to have to explain it because it might be confusing since it was an ancient Middle Eastern story that maybe some of us might not immediate relate to, but all of us can relate to this in one context or another. Hear another parable. This is right after the parable of the two sons. Here another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower and leased it to tenants who and he went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to them. Finally, he sent

his son to them, saying, "They will respect my son." But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance." And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, Jesus proposes the question to the listeners of his day. What will he do to those tenants? They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to the other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons." Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing and is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. This parable is addressed initially to the Jewish rulers of his day. We're going to see those characters in this particular story, but there were also crowds listening and Jesus knew full well that we would be reading this story and we would want the truth of this story as well. So, I want to make sure that you understand these characters and you know them well. The master of the vineyard is really clear. It's God.

The vineyard itself represents God's people. We might use the vernacular we're using today, kingdom. God has always had a plan for his people. God loves his people. And his people over the ages have been fulfilled through a covenant. And those people have been called Israel. God loves Israel. And throughout the ages, God would use the illustration of Israel as a vineyard. Listen to Isaiah chapter 5. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. The picture and illustration here is God has a plan for his people that they would bear fruit that they would have a purpose that they would produce something that would make something so sweet that is wine. And we're told in this story Jesus is sharing a fictional story and he says there was a master.

Who's the master again? Shout it out. God. There's a master of a house who planted a vineyard Israel and put a fence around it. That's to protect from thieves from animals. dug a wine press so you don't have to collect the grapes and take it to some other vineyard to make the wine. God wants you to produce right now. He wants you to to have a purpose right now in your life. And then he also built a tower. That's to look out. Towers in the ancient Middle East were very important. You would look out for an enemy coming. You would look out for fires and be prepared and know what to do. So he built a tower for protection and provision. And then he leased it to the tenants. The tenants in this particular story are the religious

leaders. In Jesus' day, they were known as Pharisees and Sadducees. But I need you to know that just because we don't have Pharisees that are acting out today, that religious spirit still exists today. So when we study stories like this, we can understand that that the the the truth in this story still exists today. So this represents religious leaders and this master went into another country. The way we can describe this is there are times that it seems like like God is distant that you're wondering where is God? We read that in the scriptures where when when God's people can't sense him or see him, they make miserable mistakes. They decide to do what they want to do. They copy what other people are doing. They go after false gods. And God uses this story as an illustration

for us to know what kind of a God we have. He's a great God who provides for us. He's a God that plants. He's a God of abundance. He's a multiplying God. He's a God that protects. He's a God that provides for us. He's a God that wants you to know he has a plan and a purpose for your life. And in this story, God makes it abundantly clear. It's all his. It's his. is not ours. It's not the religious leaders of the world. It's not the governments. It's his. God planted it. God provided. And he wants you to know that he's got a good plan for you. It's all his. And in this story, after a while, when they couldn't see the master, they thought since we couldn't see the master, we'll do whatever we want in our lives. And

humanity has been doing that for a long time. Oh, listen clearly, my friends. S if you're not careful, you'll actually think you have control in your life. But may I just say, you actually own nothing. You came into the world with nothing and you will leave this world with nothing. Everything you have is a gift from God. It's been entrusted to you. He's a a good God. In fact, James says that he says every good gift is from God. is from our father in heaven. I'm I'm even talking about the the air in your lungs. If you have a breath, it's a gift. You woke up today, it's a gift.

But it's not just the air in your lungs or what you do with your life. It's your family. It's your finances. You're to be a good steward of all these things. Earlier this week, I watched many different pastors preach the same text because I wanted to learn from it. I I realized this may be an unorthodox scripture to preach on Easter, but God put this on my heart weeks ago and I sent it to the elders and I sent it to the executive pastor team and I I asked their their counsel. I said, "Guys, am I crazy? I feel like God put it on my heart to preach this text in Matthew 21." And if you tell me I'm crazy, I'll preach something else. And all of them wrote back to me and said, "Pastor, I believe God put that on your heart and you need to preach it." So then I had to listen to what other pastors had to say about this text. So I listened to so many different sermons about this and

and one particular sermon I was watching with a pastor had a comment and and I I I literally copied and pasted the comment. This is what it said. Oh the greed of the landlord who wants the slaves to do all the work. That's a real person who exists today who heard this story preached and said, "What kind of a God makes his people do all the work and expects them to give back their fruits?" And I'll tell you, there's a lot of people, maybe some of us in this room, that actually think like that. We may not make comments like that. You may not say it back to me in church, but but you may actually be putting that into practice. If you're not giving back to God, God doesn't need your money. He's not broke. That's right. But what he wants you to do is to trust him in it.

If you're not giving God your offenses, you'll hold on to them. And that offense will turn into bitterness and anger and rage. Listen, this what this comment revealed to me, and by the way, it was a grown man was revealed to me childish behavior. This is childish behavior. It's it's like a child trying to talk back to his parents uh about the the home that they live in or about the meals that they're eating. I'll tell you that child doesn't pay the mortgage or the rent. The child doesn't pay the utilities. The child doesn't pay for the food. Therefore, that child can say what they want to say, but it's just childish behavior. And so it is with no matter what age you are, you can go ahead and talk back to God. It's just childish. We have a wrong

perspective. So, we find in this story the very character of God. And here's what we see from God throughout the story. God is patient. He is so patient. But don't be mistaken with his patience. He is not passive. That's right. So God is engaged in our lives. Now I want you to see God's patience. Look at verse 34. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. I want you to acknowledge what Jesus is saying. The master sent his servants to get his fruit from his vineyard. And the tenants took the servants, beat one, killed another, stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to him. We

need to see right from this story, it's all his. It's his servants is his fruit. And in this story, Jesus is giving us a perspective of what we do with our lives. The master is giving us an opportunity with what's entrusted to us. Now the servants in this story are the prophets throughout the ages. We know this because Jeremiah in chapter 7 25 and 26 says this. From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, Jeremiah said, "I have persistently sent all my servants, the prophets, to them day after day." So the servants that the master sent. So the servants that God sends to the religious are prophets. How are they treated?

Verse 26. Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. So every generation is given an opportunity for grace. Every generation is given an opportunity to experience God's patience, his goodness, his kindness, and his love. And the generation after often doesn't do better. It does worse. And so we see with the prophets. We see with Jeremiah who was rejected as a prophet. They threw him in a deep empty sistern. Or Isaiah whom they persecuted. And historical tradition tells us that he was cut in two. He was sawn in two. Or Zachariah that comes to the people of God, Israel, and said, "You need to turn back to the Lord. You need to trust God." And you know what they did with Zachariah? They killed him. They didn't

welcome him. So throughout history we see God sent his servants prophets to preach to his people to receive the fruit from his people because God created you for fruit. He created you with a plan and a purpose. And instead of celebrate God and rejoice and give back to him what is owed him, we reject him. Jesus wept over this in Jerusalem in those last days of his life. He prayed, "Oh Jerusalem, killing the prophets." God is so unbelievably patient. And my friends, he's patient with you. Peter writes it this way. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises. Some count slowness, but God is patient towards you. Not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Listen, if you haven't been wiped off the face of the earth yet, it's because God loves you. He's patient with you. It's not because he couldn't have taken you out whenever that opportunity was. But he loves you so much. He sent prophets in the days of old. And finally in this story, the master says to himself, "Well, they killed my servants. Surely they'll respect my son." But when the tenants saw the son, verse 38, they said to themselves, "This is the heir. This guy, when his dad dies, he's going to have all this. So come, let us kill him and have his inheritance." This is the turning point in the story. It's already bad because there's a lot of blood. Don't ever overlook these stories too quickly because most of Jesus stories are rated R. There's a lot of blood. I mean, these are like action stories. I

was telling my wife, I've always loved action movies and I've always felt a little bad because most of them are rated R because of like the blood and gore and violence. But then I'm like reading these stories. I'm like, actually, these aren't new. Jesus talked about them. And almost always there's vengeance. Have you ever noticed like every Liam Niss movie is exactly the same? It is you did me dirty and what does he do? He goes and gets vengeance. And ultimately that's not a new story to Hollywood. This is God's story. God says vengeance is mine says the Lord. And so he says I'm going to send my son who's who's not just a good guy. He's not like a good teacher in history. He's not a prophet. He's not a religious man.

The book of Hebrews says he is the radiance of the glory of God. You want to know God? Know the son of God, Jesus. And the son shows up and what do they say to the son? Come let us kill him. This is how John describes Jesus in John 1 11 when he says he Jesus came to his own and his own people did not receive him. Think about this. The creator came to the created and the created said, "Nah, we don't want anything to do with you. He came to his own and the world rejected him." And Jesus says, "They took the son out of the vineyard and killed him." Jesus was speaking about what would happen in the coming days. They would take him out of Jerusalem to the place of the skull and they crucified him. This is

staggering. The son of God, they crucified him. They didn't celebrate him. They didn't crown him as king. They crucified him. Exactly as God said in the book of Isaiah 53:3, he was despised and rejected by men. The son of God was rejected. He is the rejected son. He's the one that Peter after Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into heaven the first sermon that's given Peter said this Jesus this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and fornowledge of God meaning God knew this would happen he knew that he would be the rejected son you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men you see the cross was not an

accident the cross was not God's plan B like what am I going to do now? The cross was God's plan, but it was humanity's declaration that we don't need God. We don't want God to rule over us. You see, the cross is a symbol of the rebellion of sin. This sin echoes rebellion in every generation from Adam to every single one of us. You see, sin is ultimately rebellion, saying, "I'm not going to do things according to the kingdom of God. I'm going to do things according to the kingdom of this world." Here, here's the hard truth. All sin is really rebellion. Sin is anything contrary to God's ways. And the Bible tells us in Romans 3 that there's none that is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks

for God. When we're born into this world, we are all equal. We are born into sin. And we need a savior that will free us from our sins. No one has lived a perfect life but one. And he who was without sin took our sin on the cross. You see what the world needs is not better behavior. We don't need better religion. The world would say there's over 4,000 religions. Try to choose the best. But I I'll tell you there's only two. There's the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. The world does not need a better government. What the world needs is Jesus. Amen. They need the rejected son. They need the one that stepped out of heaven and came into this earth. And Jesus asked

the question, "What do you think you, the master, would really do with someone that's killed all of his servants and killed his son?" Look at verse 40. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, Jesus asked the question to his listeners, "What will he do to those servants?" You can't ignore this. You can't ignore what you do with what God's given you. He's given you a purpose and a plan. The Bible says you're created by God to do the good works that God prepared for you. And he wants to give you his authority. He wants to give you his dominion. So what will he do? Verse 40, what will he do? They answer, "Justice would be he'll put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to the other tenants who will give them the fruits of their seasons." This is

not soft language, but it supports what Jesus says in John 3:36. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. If you don't deal with your sin, you will experience the wrath of a just God who's a judge who knows everything about you. Imagine one day, and this is what the scriptures say, you will face God and he's perfect in knowledge. He knows everything about you. He's perfect in power. He's righteous and he's completely just. He is holy, which means he's set apart. And he cannot have sin near him. So one day when you face God as judge and he sits on the throne and you look at Jesus, which the scriptures say he will have fire in his eyes, which represents judgment, he knows everything

you've ever said. He knows everything you've ever done. He even knows when you had the chance to do good and you didn't do it. And he asks you, "How do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?" And imagine you look at judge Jesus and you say, "I am guilty." And Jesus steps off the throne. He looks you in the eyes and says, "Yes, you're guilty, but will you believe that I will take your verdict for you and you say, "Yes, I believe in you, Jesus." And Jesus opens up his arms and says, "You're no longer guilty. You are set free. I will take your penalty. I will set you free. I'll die the death that you deserved. Jesus is telling us in this story that he is the rejected son. But be not mistaken, he also is the risen king.

Jesus said to them in verse 42, "Have you never read in the scriptures, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." This was the Lord's doing. And it's marvelous in our eyes. Jesus points to the scriptures and says, "You have scriptures that point to me. All that God sent, prophets, judges, priests, they all point to me." And he's quoting word for word Psalm 118 verse 22 and 23. The stone that the builders rejected has become our cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. You see, they thought they were done with Jesus. They thought they rejected him as Messiah. They thought they were done with Jesus calling himself a king.

But what they didn't realize, what looked like defeat, what looked like failure was actually the very centerpiece of God's idea. The cross was God's idea. It's not the collapse of God's plan. It's the centerpiece so that you would understand you could build your life upon Jesus, the one who took your sin. so that you no longer have to be defined by this this Jesus. Coming back to the sermon that Peter first preached in Acts two, the one that was crucified, well, God didn't keep him in a tomb. God raised him up, loosening the pains of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. Listen, you can crucify the son, you can bury the dead son, but not even the grave can hold back Jesus.

Because this was God's plan. And Jesus responds to this to those who are listening and lean in. Listen carefully to Jesus words. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. And when one who falls on the stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. This is the most important decision of your life. And I need you to hear this clearly. Jesus is saying you have an opportunity to honor God with what he's entrusted you. You can complain to God. You can be childish and say, "God, I don't like the life you gave me. I don't like the family you gave me. I don't like like the plot that you gave me." But let me just tell you, he gave this to you so that he would be honored in your life.

That you would simply say, "It's not based on me. It's based on God." Because this life is temporary. It's a very short journey. And eternity is long. And Jesus says, "One of two things will happen. Either you will go on top of the rock or you will be crushed by the rock." So, so there's one of two choices. You will either fall on the stone, which represents repentance. It represents humility. It represents you saying, "I need the cornerstone. I want to build my life on the rock. I need Jesus Christ." Or you will be crushed by the rock, which represents judgment. And that rejected stone that day, which the most religious elite of Jesus day, they rejected him. That rejected son has become the risen king.

Amen. He is my king and I want him to be your king because if he did it for me, he could do it for you. He is my foundation. I have to keep coming back to Jesus. That when I make a mistake, I realize I got to keep coming back to Jesus. It reminds me of my rebellion. Somehow I think I'm better than God. But there's only one God and none of us are it. This Jesus in Acts chapter 4, I love this. Peter is on the way to prayer with John and there's a man begging for money and he's not been able to walk. He sits on a mat and Peter said, "Listen, silver and gold, I have none, but in the name of Jesus, get up and walk." And the Bible tells it that this man got up and walked. And everyone marveled. They thought it was Peter. They wondered, "How did he do this miracle? Maybe Peter's a prophet." And they gather Peter to question him. And he said this, "This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders.

So, I didn't do it. Jesus did it. And you could have had him, but you rejected him. And this Jesus has become the cornerstone. He goes on to say, "And there is salvation and no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. No other name that can save you but the name of Jesus." And tonight, I'm not trying to yell at you. I'm not trying to be mean because ultimately I need you to know I've looked in the mirror. Every one of us are born into sin. And the Bible tells us the result of sin is death. That's right. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death." If you don't do something with your sin, you will be forever separated from God. But the promise of God in the very same verse says, "But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

He will literally take every single one of your sins and exchange it with his righteousness. He'll give you his peace. He'll give you his joy because what you're receiving is the King of all kings. And his kingdom is perfect. His kingdom is perfect in power. He can give you as much joy and peace as possible. So, how do you receive this? Ephesians chapter 2 says, "By grace, you've been saved through faith." Another way to put this is you believe in Jesus. It's what Isaiah the prophet said to do. That's it. He doesn't say go get your life cleaned up first. He doesn't say go figure out all the religious rules first. It says by grace which is a free gift by believing in Jesus it's yours.

It's as if the judge steps off the throne and says I will take your penalty. Remember what Acts 4:12 says. There's salvation in no one else. Jesus is the rejected son and the risen king and he is also the cornerstone. After Jesus was crucified, he was laid in a tomb. Matthew 28 tells us that some women came to pay their respects to Jesus whom they thought was dead. And they were greeted with a a question and they were they were told, "He is not here for he has risen. He has risen. He is risen and he will never die again. He died the one death for all eternity. He died for

every single one of your sins. And the Bible says in John chapter 1, to all who did receive him, he gave the right to become children of God. You're you're no longer a tenant. You're no longer a renter. You actually are an heir to everything God has. That's been his plan from the beginning. And if the Jewish people didn't get it, God said, "Then I'll give it to anyone who will believe." So, it is for the Jews, but it's also for the Gentiles. So, if you weren't raised in church, it's for you. Maybe you've messed up miserably. It's for you. And maybe you've known about Jesus for a long time, but you've been holding something in your heart that has kept you from [music] God's peace. This is for you. God wants you to give him everything.

Today, I'm just going to ask you the most important question you can ever answer. [music] Have you trusted in the rejected son to be the risen king in your life and the cornerstone that you can build your life upon? In the seriousness of this moment, I'm going to ask you right now that you have an opportunity to do that. All you have [music] to do is believe with every eye closed right now. I want this between you and God. We're going to give you a little booklet if you say yes [music] to this question today. But I want to ask you, if you want to surrender your life to Jesus, if you want to be forgiven of your sins, if [music] you want to accept the free gift of salvation, the hope of eternal life, if you want to believe in Jesus as your King, your Lord, and your Savior, [music] would you just slip your hand in the air right now? Put it nice and high and we'll give you a little booklet to share with you the next steps. Praise [music] be to God. Just

put your hand up high. Don't be ashamed of this. It's the greatest decision. Praise God. Praise God. Just put your hand up nice and high. I'll tell you, the Bible says there's more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than 99 who need no repentance. So, so all God's looking for is someone to say, "Yes, I'll receive the Son. Yes, I'll receive the gift. Yes, I'll receive the kingdom in my life." And if you [music] feel like you've messed up too much, I'll just tell you, God's in the business of restoration. And he does a better job than you can ever imagine. You may have messed [music] up three, four, five marriages. But I'll tell you, it's never too late with God. You may have been abused and manifested [music] poor decisions because of abuse. But I'll tell you, God is a great healer. He's not just going to leave you in your trauma. He's going to heal you.

He's going to set you free. There might be demons [music] tormenting your mind, trying to tell you that you're not valuable. You're not loved. But I'm here to tell you, we read the story today. You're so loved by God. He's got a plan and a purpose. He wants you to be the wine. He He wants you you to understand that your crushing is producing [music] a purpose. It's joy. It's abundance. It represents the blood of Jesus. [music] Anybody else? Just throw up your hand if you haven't done it yet. And you want to receive the free gift of eternal life. It's [music] not too late. Just throw up your hand. I want to pray with you, but I want this to be between you and [music] God. You've got to start making some steps to change. And the first step is just saying yes. And it's not the end of your journey. It's the beginning of greater things. Would would you join me in prayer out loud? Prayer is talking to God. It's listening to God. And for all those who are doing it for the first time, all believers are going to join with you in

prayer. We're [music] going to keep it simple. But now, when you leave here tonight, you're going to keep praying. You're going to keep [music] talking to God. And you when you call upon the name of the Lord, he hears you. Pray this prayer [music] with me if you raised your hand. And anyone who's believed in Jesus, let's join them. Jesus, I believe you are the son of God. I believe you are I believe you died for my [music] sin. Forgive me Lord. I believe you rose again. Make me new today. In Jesus name I pray. Everyone shout amen. Amen. And amen and amen. Hallelujah.