Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - The Cornerstone

Episode Date: March 6, 2026

In ancient architecture, the cornerstone was the first stone laid, and it had to be the most perfectly cut stone and the strongest stone. Because, you see, what the cornerstone is, the house is. If the dimensions of the cornerstone are off, the house is off. If the cornerstone is true, the house is true. If the cornerstone crumbles in any way, the entire house will be compromised or lost. All of this is the background to when Peter says this about Jesus: “Come to him, to that living Capstone which is the Cornerstone, rejected by men but chosen by God, for it is written, ‘Whoever trusts in him will never be put to shame.’” This metaphor of the cornerstone tells us 1) Jesus is to be our life’s foundation, 2) Jesus is our federal head, and 3) Jesus is to be the love of our life. This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on December 12, 1993. Series: Splendor in the Furnace: 1 Peter, Part 1. Scripture: 1 Peter 2:4-8. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Where do you go for stability when life feels unsteady? In Peter's first letter to early Christians, he likens Jesus Christ to a cornerstone in ancient architecture, the foundation on which everything else must rest. In today's sermon, Tim Keller looks at Peter's cornerstone metaphor and shows us how putting our full trust in Jesus and his ultimate act of salvation lays a foundation strong enough to sustain us, no matter what, comes our way.

We've been going through the book of First Peter, and we get to a new section, and I'm going to just read chapter 2, 1 Peter, verses 4 to 8. That's all we have time to look at, and just really get an introduction to this marvelous passage. But let me just read chapter 2, verse 4 to 8, and get us ready to meet God over his table in the Lord's Supper. As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God, and precious to him, You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture it says, see, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone,

and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe this stone is precious, but to those who do not believe the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, and a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. And let's stop right there. This is this marvelous passage.

Come to him to that living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him. For it is written, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. It's just a tremendous statement, and the background of it is ancient architecture. There are several characteristics of a cornerstone. The cornerstone was the first stone laid.

It was the first stone laid because all of the dimensions of the rest of the house were projected off of the dimensions of the cornerstone. The cornerstone was the first stone laid, and it had to be the most perfectly cut stone. because you see what the cornerstone would be would be what the house would be. The lines of the cornerstone become the lines of the house. If the cornerstone is not cut at perfectly right angles to the, for example, to the ground, then the house will not be good right angles. Whatever the cornerstone is, the house is.

You know, if you go to the flat iron building and you look at the cornerstone of the flat iron building, it's a flat iron. If the cornerstone is rectangle, the lines go out. from the cornerstone and the house is a rectangle. If the cornerstone is a flat iron, the house is a flat iron shape. If the cornerstone is, if the dimensions are off, the house is off. If the cornerstone is true, the house is true. And therefore, the cornerstone was the most perfectly cut and shaped stone. Thirdly, it was the first stone. It was the most perfect stone. Thirdly, it had to be the toughest and strongest stone, because if there was any lack of integrity in the stone, if there were any

structural flaws or fissures, if it crumbled it any way, the house, the entire house would be compromised, or even lost. It was the one stone on which everything else was really resting in many ways. And so if it crumbled, more than any other one particular stone, the house would crumble. And therefore, since it was the first stone, it was the most perfect stone. It had to be the stone of the most tough material. It was usually the largest stone for all the above. Therefore, literally, the cornerstone was the most precious stone. It was most precious because literally it was the most expensive. It was the most labor intensive. It was not unusual for a builder to spend as much time finding the cornerstone, quarrying the right kind of stone, finding the cornerstone,

and cutting the cornerstone perfectly. As much time on that as the whole rest of the building. It was literally far and away the most expensive part of the ancient building. Now, all of this is brought, you know, to the fore. All this is the background. When Peter says, come to him to that living capstone, which is the cornerstone, rejected by men but chosen by God, for it is written, whoever trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now, what does this teach us about Jesus, especially tonight as we're getting ready to seek to meet him at his table through the bread and the cup?

And the answer is, this tells us that Jesus is to be our life's foundation. This also tells us that Jesus is our federal head. And thirdly, it tells us that Jesus is to be the love of our life. He's the foundation. He's our federal head. He's the love of our life. It's all in the cornerstone metaphor here. Look, number one.

He's the Life Foundation. Notice it says, the one who trusts in him. Now, what does it mean to trust? To come to him who is the cornerstone. All the other stones came to the cornerstone, and all the other stones were set in place along the lines of the cornerstone. And therefore, when the Bible talks about believing in Jesus Christ, it is not, it's talking about something far more than just assent. is talking about far more than just sort of picking up his teachings and saying, I believe in his teachings, or I believe in his ethics, or even I believe that he died on the cross for sins and so on. It means much more than that. It means shifting the center of your gravity to him. There's an exercise, which I hate.

I don't know if you like it, but there are sometimes in group building retreats. They, some, somebody dream this terrible thing up, this form of torture years ago, to try to get groups to trust each other. Have you ever done it? You're supposed to stand in the middle of a circle and everybody stands around you. You're supposed to close your eyes and keep your body stiff and let yourself fall. Have you seen that? This is supposed to build up trust. Now, let's not get into that.

But let me just tell you what's interesting about it is, what you've got to do is you've got to shift the center of gravity. if you let yourself lean far enough over so that the center of gravity of your body is out from your own foundation, your own feet. If it's out far enough away, you have to fall. You shift your center of gravity to somebody else's, somebody standing around you in this little tight circle, and that person has to hold you up, has to catch you. If you shift your center of gravity to that person, you are vulnerable. That person now, his or her feet, his or her foundation, has to become your foundation, Or, wham.

You know what it means when it says, those who trust in Him will never be put to shame? To trust in Jesus Christ is to make him the cornerstone of your life. It's to shift the center of your gravity. Your cornerstone, see, whenever somebody says, I believe in Jesus, I'm a Christian, you also have to ask yourself, fine, great, but what is my functional cornerstone? What is the center of my gravity? The cornerstone is the thing that sets the course for the building. And your cornerstone sets the course of your life as a whole.

I've seen this happen many, many times. Some people who are so frantic, why are they frantic? Because what is their functional cornerstone? Maybe it's success. Maybe it's a claim. Maybe it's possessions. And your real cornerstone, the thing that you really base your life on, will always set the course of your life.

it will project the lines out into the rest of your life. And you'll be frantic. There's other people who are really very, very different. Other people, essentially, your cornerstone is stasis. People in big cities, your cornerstone is turmoil and getting ahead. But people in small towns, their cornerstone is stasis, which means keeping things the way they are. Tradition.

Letting the normal family system, even a sick family system, stay in place. That's your cornerstone. That's what makes you feel secure. To become a Christian doesn't mean you just change your mind. It doesn't mean you just believe in a new set of doctrines. It's a tearing up. It's a taking all the stones of your life. And instead of having them all you see, shooting off of the old cornerstone, you shoot them off of the new cornerstone, Jesus. You come to him to the living stone. I've so often seen very far. frantic people when they really start to make Jesus their cornerstone start to mellow out. And I've seen very, very lethargic people when they come to make Jesus their cornerstone

start to speed up. Because you see, Jesus is to trust in him means you build off of him. He becomes your cornerstone. I preached a sermon on this text 14 years ago. I found the old sermon 14 years ago. And evidently at the time, I had only two children, not three, and one of the children was two and a half. The other child was about six months old. And I wrote this down as an illustration. I said, you know, I noticed that when my kids are sick, Kathy is very shaken, feeling that she's failing, feeling life is out of control, meaningless. And when the church is sick, Tim feels that he is very shaken, feeling like he's failing, feeling life is out of control and meaningless. It's not hard, I wrote down, to find out what our functional core.

cornerstones really are. Your cornerstone sets the course of the building. And if the cornerstone is crumbling, the building crumbles. How do you know what the functional cornerstone of your life is? It's very simple. When the winds come and when the storm howls and when the waves come and beat against the cornerstone, the cornerstone is the one part of your life. If that shakes, if that crumbles, everything crumbles. Just look at yourself. Look at What are the non-negotiables in your life? They're your cornerstones. What are the things that say, if I lose that, I lose everything, those are the cornerstones. And you know, the real, I mean, the Bible talks about this. Luke chapter six, why do you call me Lord, Lord, says Jesus, and do not the things that I say. If you do my words, you're like a man building a house upon the rock. The flood came and the winds blew and it could not be shaken. But a man who says, Lord, Lord, but does not do the things that I say, does not build on me. He's a man. He's a man. He's, he's. like a man who builds his house on the sand. The winds howl and the floods come and the house falls and great is the fall of it. That's how it goes. When the floods come, when the troubles come into your

life and you feel like you're shaken to the roots and you feel like your life's about to fall, you're not doing the right thing if you say, if only I could get out of this storm, if only I could get out of this wind, if only I could get out of this flood, don't you see what you should be asking, why am I so vulnerable? Why is my house shaking? Why? What is my cornerstone? What am I building my life on that would make me so vulnerable? It's not the flood that's your problem. It's the cornerstone. To believe in Jesus Christ is to never be ashamed. Which means, friends, if you're a Christian, what this really means, of course, is that you notice how Peter's talking to Christians here. He says, come to him to the living stone.

It really means that when you become a Christian, you tear up the old cornerstones and you say, from now on I'm living for Christ. It's not just believing in a general way. You base your whole life on him. You build everything around him. And yet, you have to spend all of your life getting more and more of the stones of your house packed in against the cornerstone. The fact of the matter is we're spending all of our lives pulling the stones away from

the old cornerstones and building them back on a cornerstone. unto Jesus. We're going to spend all of our life doing that, and that's all right. That's the process of what it means to grow. And that's the reason why Peter doesn't just say this to people who don't believe. He says that to you. If you know today that you're really not a Christian, but you're really not sure what you'd have to do, here's the start. Trust in him. It means to build your life on him. But even if you are a Christian, don't you see, we are ashamed a lot. The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Well, we're ashamed all the time.

You know why? Because we don't build on him completely. Don't you see if he was our only cornerstone. If all of the stones of our lives were shooting off it, all the dimensions of our lives were shooting off of Jesus, projected off of his lines, we'd never be ashamed. We'd never be let down.

We'd never be disappointed. We'd never be shattered. Come to him. Jesus was the most influential man to ever walk the earth. And his story has been told, through books, movies, and articles in hundreds of different ways. Can anything more be said about him? In his book, Jesus the King, Tim Keller journeys through the Gospel of Mark

to reveal how the life of Jesus helps us make sense of our lives. Dr. Keller shows us how the story of Jesus is at once cosmic, historical, and personal, calling each of us to take a fresh look at our relationship with God. During the month of March, we'll send you a copy of Jesus the King as our thanks for your gift to help Gospel and Life share the transforming love of Christ with people all over the world. So request your copy today at GospelonLife.com slash give. That's gospelonlife.com slash give. Now here's Dr. Keller with the remainder of today's teaching.

Now, secondly, first thing we learn here is that Jesus is our life's foundation. Secondly, we learn here that Jesus is our federal head. Now, what does that mean? Well, it means this. the cornerstone is another way of getting across the fact that we're in federation with Jesus when we believe in him. You see, if the cornerstone is true, the house is true. If the cornerstone's erect, the house is a wreck. If the cornerstone is a rectangle, the house is a rectangle. If the cornerstone is a flat iron, the house is a flat iron. How is it possible that a human being

could come into the presence of God, as the text says, and offer acceptable sacrifices in the presence of a holy God. How can you know that you are absolutely acceptable today in the sight of God? How can you know that no matter what you do, no matter what goes on in your life, no matter whether if the curtain of history came down tonight and history was over and Judgment Day was tonight, as John Dunn says, what if tonight, what if today was the world's last night, could you be absolutely sure that you would be found acceptable in his sight?

Could you know that God would look at you and say, this is my beloved child in whom I'm well pleased? Yes, you can. You know how? Because Jesus Christ, the cornerstone, is precious, absolutely precious to the builder. We said the cornerstone is the most precious, the most expensive of all the stones to the builder. The builder is God. He's building up his house, you see. We're all living stones in the house. That's the image here. We'll look at that more in the future.

But Jesus Christ is infinitely precious to the builder, his father, and all of that preciousness actually passes on to the rest of us. Whatever he is, we are, if we're packed in against him, if we're united to him. See, let's put it a couple ways. We can put it several ways. The Bible tells us in John chapter 1, verse 18, that the son is in the bosom of the father. From all eternity, let me read you a couple of quotes.

The Father and the Son before the world were made, spent countless ages rejoicing in each other's presence. Think for a moment how the Father loves Jesus. We're told that they have spent all beginningless eternity pouring love and pleasure and glory into each other's hearts in degrees of depth and power, which we cannot imagine. This is John Flavello, old Puritan, he put it this way. God is the fountain, the ocean, the center of joy, and Jesus lay in the very very, bosom of the fountain of joy. Day in and day out, the Father immediately, fully, everlastingly let out this overpowering bliss and rapture and ecstasy and delight into the soul of Jesus. No one has ever experienced such glorious joy. As Jesus says in John 17, verse 5,

Father, glorify me with the glory I had before the world began. He is chosen and precious to the Father. The Father treasures him. Now, what did it cost the father to lay that cornerstone in. The Bible tells us that he turned his back on his son to pay the penalty for our sins. Now, if the son was in the bosom of the father, they were wrapped up in one of their soul. They loved each other like that. As John Flavel, that Puritan preacher I was just quoting from, as he says, no child was ever so one with its mother, no husband ever so one with his wife, no soul ever so on with its body as Jesus was with the father. And we're told that the father turned his back on his son when his son was on the cross. Jesus says, my God, my God,

why hast thou forsaken me? And he was forsaken. And God, the father, turned his back and let his son be ripped to shreds. You know, I have only had my children a few years, not for eternity. and I have only held their bodies against my bosom, not their souls. And I love my children sometimes, but not always. But the father and the son were so infinitely intimate with each other. I can't imagine doing what the father did to my children, yet the father did what he did to his son for you. Do you see how precious the cornerstone is?

Do you see what it cost God to lay the cornerstone? But that preciousness passes on to us. Jesus Christ actually has the audacity to say, in John chapter 17 when he's praying to the Father, he says, Father, I will that they be also where I am. And then in verse 23, he says, let the world know that you have loved them even as you have loved me. even as you have loved me. When you put your trust in him, when you build your life on him, what happens? Well, somebody says, your sins get forgiven.

Well, that's true. Well, somebody says, don't you get the Holy Spirit into your life? Yes, that's true. Well, somebody says, you're born again. Yes, we've been through all that these last few weeks, but I want you to see that this is higher than all of that. Because literally, it says, because he is precious to the Father, you are acceptable. Literally, by the way, in verse 7, it says, to you who believe is the honor.

The Bible says, Jesus says, the Father, when you believe in Jesus, the Father, loves you even as he loves his son. Can you imagine the reunion of the Son and the Father? Can you imagine the reunion after Jesus died and was raised and he goes back to the Father? Can you imagine how they embraced? Can you imagine how they saw each other? The Bible says God loves you just the way he loves his son. Now a Christian boots off of that every day in all of their thoughts. That is the cornerstone. All of the lines of your life can be projected off of that. Don't you see? When you get criticized and you feel defensive, you say, wait a minute, all the charges have been dropped.

He loves me even as he loves the sun. I'm as precious to him as the cornerstone. It's passed on to me. The integrity of the cornerstone. the preciousness of the cornerstone, the lines of the cornerstone. When you feel self-pity, you say, what in the world am I thinking of? Look what he went through for me. A Christian boots off of the fact that you are built into the cornerstone,

that you now are offering acceptable sacrifices to you who believe is the honor. Do you understand that? Do you boot off of that? Do you see that he is your federal head? That means you're in federation with him. that what he is, you are. He is the beloved son. You're the beloved child.

God is well pleased with him. God is well pleased with you. He is the apple of the father's eye. You are the apple of the father's eye. Why? Because he's the cornerstone. You're built in. There's many, many ways that the metaphors

that the Bible uses to get across this whole idea, and this is one of them. Can you rest in that? Can you rejoice in that? Can you draw from this like a well? Look, last of all, even as you have loved me. Lastly, Jesus has to be the love of your life.

Verse 7, now, to you who believe, he is precious. My favorite story that illustrates that, I don't even remember where I got it, but I got years ago from some old sermon I read somewhere. I guess it was a Charles Spurgeon, the Baptist preacher from London. Spurgeon was preaching on this passage, now to you who believe he is precious. And he says, what happens is, when you understand that you're in federation with him,

when you understand he's your cornerstone and what has passed to you because you're part of the corner, because you're built into the cornerstone, when you realize that, you become ravished with him. You know, as John Dunn said, I will never be chased except you ravish me. What does it mean to be ravished with Jesus? It means to think about the things we're talking about

until the preciousness of Jesus dawns on you. And Spurgeon tells the story this way. It's a pretty simple story, and he says, imagine that you were sick and dying, and I had, he says, I had a medicine that could cure you. And if I came to you and I said, I've got the medicine, I know the man who makes it. He would say, great, give it to me.

And if I said, well, but it's going to be very, very, very expensive. it's going to cost a tremendous amount of money. You'd say, give it to me anyway. You'd say, well, you know, if you're going to buy this medicine, you're going to have to actually sell all of your, you're going to have to sell your house and probably live in something, just a small little shack someplace.

That's all right, you say, I'll do it. Well, you're going to have to sell all of your, many of your possessions, you're going to have a hawk your car. You're going to be living in absolute poverty if you're going to get this medicine. And you probably would say, this is how the illustration went, you'd probably say,

what good is my car if I don't have that medicine? What good is my house if I don't have that medicine? What good is a vacation if I don't have that medicine? All these things that look so wonderful to me now become expendable in light of the preciousness of that medicine. Now here's how you can tell you're a Christian. Unto you who believe he is precious.

You know why Christians get generous, with their money. Do you know why Christians no longer mind if people come into their homes and, you know, tramp around and maybe mess up the rug? Do you know why people don't mind being imposed on anymore? Do you know why people, when they become Christians, aren't as selfish as they used to be? Do you know why people, when people who are Christians, when you become a Christian, your priorities are skewered and other people think you have gone off your rocker. Do you know why? Because unto you who believe he is precious. And when one thing is so precious, everything else that you used to look important becomes eternally and utterly expendable to you. Nothing else matters. Nothing else

matters but him. You're free. Nothing has you by the throat. Nothing you're scared to death to lose. Nothing you're running scared. Your franticness is gone because you're ravished with the beauty of Jesus. If Jesus becomes the love of your life, can say goodbye to being afraid of anything else. If Jesus becomes the love of your life, there's a freedom unto you who believe he is precious. Unfortunately, there's a warning that goes with it. You know what the warning is? It says, the stone that the build is rejected

has become the capstone, a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. If you reject the cornerstone, this cornerstone is so big that it will be a tremendous hindrance for you finishing the house. What if you bring the cornerstone

after you spend all this time and you reject the cornerstone? Well, you're going to bankrupt yourself because you spend so much money on it, and you're also going to have you're going to be constantly stubbing your toe on it because it's the biggest stone there. And here you've rejected it and you're trying to build. That's the image.

And what it means is if you are an accident, if there is no God, and you're just an accident, then life is meaningless. And even love is an illusion. All that love is is just the way the molecules under your cranium happen to be vibrating at the time. But if he exists, if there is a creator, how can you avoid something that? big. You won't be able to. Don't you see? That's the idea. The stone that the build is rejected has become a stumbling stone. If there's no Jesus, if there is no God, if you're an accident, life is meaningless. Don't you see? On the other hand, if there is one, you've got to come to him,

or else you'll be stumbling over him all of your life and maybe eternally. Come to him to that living stone, rejected by men, but chosen by God and precious to him. For it is written, he who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Let's pray. Father, as we come to the table, we're going to come to you. We're coming to you and we're seeking to build ourselves into you, to have the lines of our lives and the dimensions of our lives be controlled by the lines and the dimensions of the being and the person and the work of our precious Savior Jesus Christ. Would you help us all as we come to the Lord's table to more purely and thoroughly be built in every stone,

every part of our lives against and into and around and upon the chief cornerstone? We don't want to stumble over him. We want our lives to be built upon him. We thank you that he's precious to you. He's precious to us. And because he's precious to you, we are precious to you too. help us to rejoice in that tonight and draw our power from that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you apply the gospel to your life and share it with others.

For more helpful resources from Tim Keller, visit gospelandlife.com. There, you can subscribe to the Life and the Gospel Quarterly Journal. When you do, you will also receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other great gospel-centered resources. It's all at gospel and life.com. You can also stay connected with us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Today's sermon was recorded in 1993. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017, while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.