The Rock That Saves

I was just reading 1 Peter this morning—it’s so good! As I was reading through chapter 2, this thought came to mind even though the whole Bible makes it abundantly clear, throughout all of Scripture, Jesus is the one and only. He is the Creator of, well, everything. He is the Great I AM!

It just hit me while reading this passage in Peter—it was so clear. Especially since so many folks say that Peter is the rock that Jesus built his church on because that’s what his name means. But what I think is so ironic is that Peter himself says the Rock is Jesus.

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” (1 Peter 2:7-8)

Jesus told Peter that He was building His church on the Rock—not on Peter, but on the truth that Jesus is the Son of God, the Great I AM, the Savior of the world. The foundation is Jesus—nothing else. (Matthew 16:18)

Jesus tried to tell the Pharisees that He alone was the foundation stone, the Rock. But they refused to listen.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6)

That means you can’t get to the Father through religion. You can’t get to the Father through church standards or rules passed down from ancestors.

You can only get to the Father through Jesus Christ. Jesus tells us to build our house on the Rock and not on sand.

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25)

But what happens so often? People trip over the very foundation stone just to go and build their house on the sand instead.

They reject the one and only Truth and choose lies. People would rather have religion, rules to follow, and guidelines to uphold instead of just following Jesus—just like He tells us.

The Pharisees were so worried about the speck in their neighbor’s eye, but Jesus told them to get the log out of their own eye first.

“You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matthew 7:5)

If you’ve got two logs covering your eyes, no wonder you tripped over the foundation!

“The Bible says if the blind lead the blind, they will both fall in the ditch.” (Matthew 15:14)

Religion makes you look really good on the outside. It cleans you up, makes you look proper, makes you look sophisticated, can even make you a part of a group or clan, maybe even a certain denomination. But one thing for sure—it can’t change your heart.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” (Matthew 23:25)

Jesus is the only One who can fix the heart. That’s why it’s about a personal relationship with Jesus—not an orgy with the world.

But people always choose religion, tradition, and man-made decrees over Jesus.

When you read your whole Bible, all this comes together so beautifully, and you can even see words of prophecy coming true right in front of us!

Daniel saw this coming when God gave him a vision of the future to reveal Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him.

In Daniel chapter 2, God showed him a statue—gold, silver, bronze, iron, and clay. It represented all the world’s kingdoms—the best that man could build.

But then, something happened:

“And as you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Daniel 2:34-35)

That stone? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. It’s Jesus. His kingdom won’t crumble. He’s not just a part of history—He’s the King of Kings, the Rock that crushes every other kingdom.

But what do these people do? They worship the little broken pieces instead of the Rock that broke them. They chase after the world’s systems. They put their faith in governments, “churches,” pastors, movements, or cults.

They pick up a piece of truth instead of surrendering to the whole truth (which is Jesus Christ + Nothing!). But somehow, they reject the Cornerstone, yet this foundation stone is so big that even though they don’t accept it, they still can’t help but trip over Him. It’s so sad to see, but every religion has a piece of this stone somewhere. Jesus says to build your house on the Rock, but instead, they build it on sinking sand, and it’s just a matter of time before that rock—cut by something other than a human hand—will crush that house and sink it below that sand, and great will be the fall of it!

“For they stumbled because they disobeyed the word, as they were destined to do.” (1 Peter 2:8)

It’s as simple as this, folks, It’s either Jesus or Satan. You’re either picking good or evil. You’re either building your house on the Rock or on the sand.

Why would you worship the pieces that Jesus broke apart instead of Jesus Himself?

Religion, folks, is a pile of crap! It’s all hardened over to look like a rock. It’s crusted over and seems solid, but one day—and I believe it will be soon—Jesus will come back. And then, finally, it will be clear to everyone. But unfortunately, for many, it will be too late.

“And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:23)

When He comes, that religious pile of crap will be broken into little bitty pieces, then finally people will see the actual foundation—

The Cornerstone they rejected in order to hold onto their worthless pile of religion.

“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (Luke 20:18)

It will be like an anthill under boiling water—wow, what a picture.

I’ll leave y’all with this, folks:

Why wait until it’s too late? Why not choose Jesus today? Choose the Rock that this world is built on. Choose the foundation that cannot be moved. Choose Jesus Christ—the Son of God, the Great I AM!

Until next time, folks—

May the good Lord bless you and show you the truth before it’s too late!

~ Joe Lester ~

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