Acts 4:7-10 And when they had set them in the middle, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have you done this?… These words, borrowed from Psalm 118:22, are also quoted by all the evangelists except John, and are applied to the Jewish leaders who professed to be the builders of the temple of religion. All men are builders in some form or another. Man is a constructive creature. Some are building scientific systems, some mercantile schemes, some social institutions. All are building their own character. The text suggests — I. MAN'S GREAT NEED AS A MORAL BUILDER — a foundation stone. A good foundation is essential to a good building. 1. Is it a system that man is building? He must have a foundation principle which will give strength and unity to all the parts. 2. Is it an institution — social, political, or ecclesiastical? It must be based on some good reason. 3. Is it character? Whatever a man's governing disposition, whether sensuality, avarice, ambition, selfishness, or benevolence and religion, that is the foundation of his character. II. MAN'S GREAT ERROR AS A MORAL BUILDER. Men reject the Divine — 1. In their system of thought. The world teems with intellectual buildings, some of a grand and imposing character; but they have no Divine truth for their foundation. These, like houses on the sand, are constantly tumbling down. The ever-swelling river of history bears on its bosom the wrecks of many such. 2. In their institutional arrangements. A truculent expediency, a false philanthropy, a perverted religious sentiment, form the basis of many political, social, and religious institutions. These cannot stand; many have tumbled down; some are tumbling now; all must go. 3. In their practical enterprises. Schemes of business are launched, great companies are built up, whose foundations are chicanery and fraud, and sooner or later they fail. 4. In their moral character. Man's character is made up of habits, habits are made up of acts, and acts start from principles which lie at the foundation. But the principles are not Divine. They are selfish, not benevolent; carnal, not spiritual; atheistic, not godly. All these are "wood, hay, stubble," and cannot last. III. MAN'S ULTIMATE DISCOVERY AS A MORAL BUILDER. One day he will find the Divine, which he rejected, supreme. 1. This is often fulfilled in the individual characters of men — in the history of all who have been genuinely converted. The stone which they once set at nought, through the renovating grace of God, becomes the head of the corner. Christ, whom they once despised, becomes their all in all. 2. This is being gradually fulfilled in the life of society. As the old systems, institutions, and enterprises in society which have been founded on wrong principles totter and fall, society begins to look out for a firmer foundation — for the Divine — and the rejected stone in many cases is becoming the head of the corner. The varied edifices in social life are becoming Diviner things. 3. This will be fully realised in the final history of the world. Christ. whom the world had rejected, will be the subject of every thought, the spirit of every system, the spring of every activity, the sweetness of every pleasure, the glory of every distinction. He shall be all in all. What a terrible discovery for Christ's rejecters! (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this? |
    |