The Cornerstone Rejected & Redeemed

Welcome

Good morning and welcome. We’re glad you’re here!

You can always tell when German Soccer Camp is here! We want to especially welcome our German guests, the soccer coaches and helpers that are here to make sure our camp is a success. We truly thank you and welcome you with a big Texas, “Howdy y’all!”

We are expecting some 176 campers and perhaps around 100 volunteers on campus this week for Soccer Camp. If you’ve never witnessed it, it truly is a sight to behold.

We ask you to be in prayer this week as we have a lot of physical and spiritual activity on our campus this week. Someone from the outside might look at this and think this is all about soccer. But this is about more than fun and games.

These German coaches and helpers have not paid expensive airfares and traveled long hours to get here and work 12-14 hour days or more simply for the love of the game.

This group and all of our volunteers do this every year (most of them) because they love Jesus Christ and want to make sure that these kids have a chance to hear about Jesus, but also because we will have as many as 200 other visitors on our campus during these games as well. Not only will the kids attending our camp hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ, but their siblings and their parents will hear it as well.

If you’re interested in joining the evangelism team, please reach out to Pastor Joe.

For each camper in attendance, we may have the opportunity to reach three or four others with the Good News of Jesus Christ as well.

We return today to the book of Acts. You’ll remember that we’ve been looking at the events surrounding the healing of the paralytic man and the stir it caused in the temple.

Last week we looked at the message that Peter gave to those who gathered after the healing of the paralytic man at the temple gates. We pick up at that point in the beginning of chapter 4...

Acts 4:1–12 CSB

1 While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them, 2 because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day since it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand. 5 The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family. 7 After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?” 8 Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy. 11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

[pray]

I know a couple of times, while visiting the jetties on the island, I have dropped a phone down into the rocks or actually into the ship channel. Let me tell you this, what goes into the ocean may wash up again, but if it’s tossed into the depths of the sea it will never be recovered.

When I told my insurance company that my phone went into the ocean, they acted as though it were completely annihilated. There was no hope of recovery. I didn’t need to prove anything else. They immediately shipped out a new phone to me.

I. Peter’s Message Had Two Opposite Results

Our passage today picks up at the end of Peter’s message that we covered last week.

You’ll remember that after the paralytic man had been healed, a crowd gathered.

A. The Religious Leaders rejected the Gospel

Peter told the Jewish gathering that they had been duped by their religious leaders, who had rejected Christ as their Messiah. You might expect that such bold words attracted a response by the religious leaders in the temple.

Acts 4:1–2 CSB

1 While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them, 2 because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

This had to have been some ordeal. After a well known paralytic man was healed at the temple gate, a crowd gathered, Peter preached a sermon and then the authorities showed up to shut it down.

Our text says that the priests, the temple captain, and the Saducees showed up. Who were these people?

The priests, were likely the priests who were on duty for the evening sactrifice.

The Christian Standard Bible, uses the phrase “the captain of the temple police” but this may be a misleading interpretation. The original Greek says στρατηγός ἱερόν (stratēgos hieron) this is either an assistant to the high priest helping in the ceremonial proceedings of the temple or a soldier, who was in charge of the forces keeping watch over the temple complex.

Additionally, the Saducees were present, which was a political faction in the temple, who held a great deal of power at the time.

All of these showing up certainly created a stir. Most of the trouble was surrounding the audacity that the apostles had in teaching about Jesus, especially regarding resurrection, which was an idea that troubled the religious leadership greatly.

Much of the trouble that the religious leaders with the apostles was their preaching on this idea of resurrection. At this time the idea of resurrection was an apocalyptic concept that had direct ties to a messianic revolt over the Roman government. It taught of the restoration of the Davidic kingdom, an idea that made the Romans nervous.

While Peter was preaching resurrection, the religious leaders were hearing insurrection and were most interested in maintaining the status quo with their Roman government.

These leaders persisted in rejecting the gospel message and continued to attempt to put down this small, but influential sect of teachers that continued to propagate the teachings of Jesus Christ as the Messiah of Israel.

Can you imagine what kind of religious leaders who were more interested in maintaining their status with the government that they were with seeing the fulfilment of 2000 years of prophecy come to fruition?

B. Peter & John Arrested

Acts 4:3 CSB

3 So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day since it was already evening.

Peter and John were arrested and held in the temple so that they could be questioned by the Sanhedrin Council, which was controlled by the faction of Sadducees.

Jesus had warned the apostles of the persecution they would suffer for his sake...

John 15:18–20 CSB

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. 20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

The truth of this life is that those who give themselves over completely to Christ, will experience persecution. Paul told his protege Timothy this...

2 Timothy 3:12 CSB

12 In fact, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who died for his faith during the Nazi regime of World War 2, wrote this from his prison cell in 1937...

Acts—The Church Afire 7: The Bliss of Persecution

Suffering… is the badge of the true Christian. The disciple is not above his master.… Luther reckoned suffering among the marks of the true church, and one of the memoranda drawn up in preparation for the Augsburg Confession similarly defines the church as the community of those “who are persecuted and martyred for the gospel’s sake.”… Discipleship means allegiance to the suffering Christ, and it is therefore not at all surprising that Christians should be called upon to suffer.

C. 2000 people believed and were saved

While the narrative seems dire, we do see a bright note surface in verse 4...

Acts 4:4 CSB

4 But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

In spite of all the commotion many more were saved because they believed in Jesus Christ, in his salvific work completed on the cross through his death, and in his resurrection as the long awaited Messiah.

While the Sadducees were adamantly opposed supernatural ideas of demons and angels, they were perhaps even more opposed to the idea of resurrection...

Mark 12:18 CSB

18 Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and questioned him:

When Jesus was reported to have resurrected Lazarus, it put him on a collision course with the Sadducees and when his apostles began to preach that Jesus had resurrected, the Sadducees worked to squash the idea. But the public still believed in resurrection and were eager to believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah.

II. Peter & John Were Detained

Peter and John were detained for their interview with the Sanhedrin council (which is somewhat like a religious supreme court that held jurisdiction over the temple area).

Acts 4:5–7 CSB

5 The next day, their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the members of the high-priestly family. 7 After they had Peter and John stand before them, they began to question them: “By what power or in what name have you done this?”

There are several high-ranking members of the council named here, who had Peter and John brought before them. This was the same group that had orchestrated Christ’s trial and condemned him to death.

As Peter and John stand before them, they ask him “By who’s authority have you done this?” The way the question is worded, it really leaves interpretation open as to whether the question refers to the action of healing or the preaching.

III. Peter Proclaimed the Good News

Peter, not being one to be shy, takes the opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is still early in chapter 4 and peter has so far taken the lead in preaching to the people several times now and many have come to believe in Christ and joined the growing group of Christian believers.

In Peter’s fourth sermon it is noted that he spoke with the authority of the Holy Spirit...

Acts 4:8–9 CSB

8 Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders: 9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed,

You will recall that this was mere days after the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to indwell the believers of Jesus Christ. This might explain Peter’s eagerness for proclaiming the Good News and his boldness with the religious leadership. However, this was also a fulfillment of Jesus’ words...

Luke 12:11–12 CSB

11 Whenever they bring you before synagogues and rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how you should defend yourselves or what you should say. 12 For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what must be said.”

Isn’t that a comfort? This is a promise for us as well. When we are proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ, there is no need to worry about what we should say. The Spirit will give us the words that should be spoken.

Peter’s message here to the council is quite similar to what he spoke the day before after the paralytic man was healed. He begins by explaining the good deed that was done in the name of Christ.

He asks the question “by what means was he healed?” and he goes on to point again to Jesus Christ as the source of the healing...

Acts 4:9–10 CSB

9 If we are being examined today about a good deed done to a disabled man, by what means he was healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing here before you healthy.

And Peter doesn’t miss an opportunity to repeat the same message that he preached at Pentecost and at the healing event, that the religious leaders were the ones who killed Jesus, their Messiah. He also doesn’t hesitate to bring up the hated subject of the resurrection.

Looking at this from this perspective and you can see that the Jewish leadership were so interested in keeping the peace and maintaining what little power they had under the Roman government that they were willing to overlook the very thing their people had been anticipating for over four centuries.

Finally Peter points to the healed paralytic as evidence that the healing was effective.

IV. Christ, the Cornerstone

Peter then describes Christ as the rejected stone… become the cornerstone, which by design must be perfect. He says...

Acts 4:11 CSB

11 This Jesus is the stone rejected by you builders, which has become the cornerstone.

This is a reference back to the cornerstone as an image of the Messiah in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 28:16–17 CSB

16 Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable. 17 And I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason’s level.” Hail will sweep away the false refuge, and water will flood your hiding place.

The cornerstone is the foundation stone or the principal stone that is so perfect that the remainder of the building is measured back to the true lines of the cornerstone. A perfect cornerstone combined with good building practices and careful measurements can make for a solid building that has a sure foundation and that will not fall or fail.

The imagery in scripture shows us that Jesus is the foundational cornerstone of the church. It was for this purpose that God selected him. Christ is the basis for determining how the church will be built. Everything will align to the cornerstone.

Paul explains to the Ephesians that Christ ties the entire church together...

Ephesians 2:19–21 CSB

19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

How can people reject such a stone that is perfect? Yet people do it all the time. How about you, have you chosen Christ or have you rejected him?

This is the very blame that Peter lays at the feet of the religious elite of the Sanhedrin council. He tells them that they rejected perfection when they rejected Christ because God was the one that laid the foundation and lined it up with the cornerstone, but they are building something else altogether if they have missed the coming and going of their very Messiah.

Peter quotes Psalm 118 here. This idea of the cornerstone was not new to the council. In fact, these men were experts and new exactly what Peter was talking about. They new the prophecies and the connections that the Messiah had with the image of the rock.

Psalm 118:19–24 CSB

19 Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. 20 This is the Lord’s gate; the righteous will enter through it. 21 I will give thanks to you because you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. 23 This came from the Lord; it is wondrous in our sight. 24 This is the day the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it.

These men—these religious scholars—had stumbled on the very rock that was their Messiah. This is not surprising in hindsight. Paul told us that this cornerstone was a stumbling block to some...

1 Corinthians 1:23 CSB

23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.

And it continues to confuse and confound those who have continued to reject Christ.

Peter told the council that Christ was also their salvation...

Acts 4:12 CSB

12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”

As he had said before, repentance iss the way to salvation. These religious scholars would need to swallow their pride and admit they had been wrong.

Christ himself quoted Psalm 118 in saying that some would reject him...

Mark 12:10 CSB

10 Haven’t you read this Scripture: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

The healing of a paralytic man was a physical display of healing that hinted at a much deeper healing that can be experienced in salvation. While the paralytic was made whole, the spiritual salvation is a promise of spiritual health that can only be brought by the Great Physician.

Mark 2:17 CSB

17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “It is not those who are well who need a doctor, but those who are sick. I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Conclusion

You may be here today needing Jesus. Or maybe God has revealed to you that you have rejected Jesus like the Jewish leaders did in Jesus’ time.

There is one way to make this right. Just like the religious scholars, you have the exact same opportunity being presented to you. You can continue to reject Christ or you can repent and be saved.

I don’t know what you may have done that keeps you from Jesus, but I know that repentance is big enough to bring you into forgiveness before God.

I know that Pastor Joe’s class on Friday talked about a new kind of forgiveness that these Jews had not seen or experienced before. The sacrifice could atone for their sins. Their sins could be covered, but with Jesus’ sacrifice our sins can be completely erased. The Prophet Micah asked God...

Micah 7:18–19 CSB

18 Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not hold on to his anger forever because he delights in faithful love. 19 He will again have compassion on us; he will vanquish our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

When I need to replace a cell phone, my insurance company asks me what happened to it. If it was broken or it’s not working right, they want me to send it back to them so they can verify what’s wrong with it or fix it.

But it was lost in the ocean, they don’t want it back. They don’t need to verify anything. They just write it off and send me a new one. It is just as though my old phone never existed.

This is what God does with our sins when we choose to accept Jesus and repent of our sins. It is as if our sins cease to exist and we are completely forgiven.