A Stone That Destroys

11 "This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' 12 "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Having taken a break from homeschooling and a vacation from papermaking at Answers in Genesis, I have found that it is necessary to rest and restore my body from labor. God knowing the frame of man, having been the one who created us, instituted a principle for man to rest his body (Mk.2:27). When God made man He saw that man would be incapable of working any good and fulfilling his duty to God being alone (Gen.2:18); therefore, He made a helper suitable to man for the worship of God. Man was just not made to do things on his own. The church glorifies God better when the whole body works as one (Rom.15:6) But sometimes when parts of the body become infected they need to be cut off to keep the infection from spreading to other parts of the body (2Tim.2:17). We find this principle in the Mosaic Law. Under the covenant given to Israel was the command to rest on the Sabbath day and to do no work on it (Ex.20:10). Those who were found working on this appointed day were to be stoned to death (Ex.31:14). God’s law is a message of death to law breakers (Dt.21:21), but a promise of life to law keepers (Dt.5:33). We often hear of the importance of building others up with the power of words, but God’s word doesn’t always intend to work this way (Isa.55:11), yet we are called to speak His word. God’s word has the power to kill and the power to make alive (Dt.32:39). Paul found that the commands that God gave that were intended to bring him life, actually brought him death (Rom.7:10). God’s word works like a stone, in that, it destroys any notion of self-righteousness in us. God’s law was written on stone. This is the ‘stone which was rejected’ by the Pharisees, the stone that exposed their sin, and the stone that exposed their corruption. The 'decalogue' was never intended to build up our self-esteem, but only to tear it down. This is a stone that silences any means of boasting outside of Christ (Rom.2:23). This is a stone that demolishes strongholds over the ignorant (2Cor.10:4). This is the stone that crushes whom it falls upon and the stone upon which we must fall (Matt.21:44).

I say this because those who refuse to rest in the finished work of Christ are lovers of death and destruction (Prov.8:36). They want to work their way into God’s favor and justification; rather than, build upon what Christ has already laid in the foundation of His death and the first martyrs of the church. This is the message that Stephen was stoned for; a message that God would tear down their beautiful temple, and build His temple upon the living sacrifices of His people. A seed must die before life sprouts up from the soil (1Cor.15:36). I love a church that wants to be set on fire, a fire that will purify it, but that means some will get burnt by it. It is a great kindness of God when He breaks us down to nothing and exposes our sin. When we repent from sin, we are considering ourselves dead to the world(sin) with Christ, and made alive to God in Christ’s resurrection (Rom.6:11). Therefore, He is the ‘chief cornerstone’, but we are all stones being built up into a spiritual house (1Pet.2:5). But before this spiritual house (being not of this world) can be built, our previous house (being of this world) must be torn down. Any strongholds of sin that blind us must be torn down in order to ‘see’ the kingdom of God (Jn.3:3).

"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Today after church on my way into our hotel room I was led to share Christ with a man sitting on the bench smoking a cigarette. This man believes that Christ is one of many ways to God and that truth is relative. I had about a two hour discussion with this man that we are sinners desperately in need of a Savior. Using God’s moral law, I showed him that we are liars, blasphemers, idolaters, adulterers at heart, murderers at heart, and haters of God. He thinks its good to be a 'white' liar, but not OK to be a black liar, as if there is a difference. I used the illustration of lying to my wife by telling her she is beautiful, when in reality she is ugly. We should never tell a sinner that they are beautiful(made in God's image), if they still bear the image of sin(unjustified). He thanked me for sharing these truths with him and that it makes more sense to him of the need for a Savior, but that he is just not ready to make a decision to repent to Christ as Lord, however he is still searching. The reality is that there are no 'white liars', as our dark hearts testify of us as only black liars. I told him that the only way he will find the truth is to hear the truth from the truth. I didn’t point him to a church, but to what God has already said in His word. This is what the “builders” rejected. God calls the self-righteous religious leaders of this day “builders”. Why does God call them builders? And what were they building? The Pharisees loved the praises of men, so they were building their own egos and pride (Matt.23:6). As we studied earlier they hated rebuke, and to be shown the darkness of their heart, and to be exposed for what they truly were. They thought they were the means of salvation for others and had no need of another except to be built up by those under them. Jesus came to tear down their whole system of righteousness and replace it with His life as a onetime sacrifice. There was and is no other qualified man to be this sacrifice. The Law required a perfect and spotless sacrifice, a lamb without spot or blemish. The question has been raised, “Was there death before sin?” The answer is YES. In the mind of God there was a “Lamb slain before the foundation of the world” to atone for the sin of God’s people (Rev.13:8), but His people received Him not. They thought salvation came through the name of “Israel”, not through the name of a man from a little town called Nazareth in the region of Galilee. Salvation only comes through His name. Do you know Him? Submit to Him and He will lift up your head. James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. NKJV