Text: Acts 4:8-12
(8) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,
(9) If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;
(10) Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.
(11) This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
(12) Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Just a Little Stone
verse 11, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.”
Have you ever set something aside thinking that it was not useful for your purpose, only to comeback to it later in the project because it was exactly what you needed all along?
OR – have you rejected a person, thing or opportunity only to regret that decision later on.
In life, there are moments you can retrace in your mind that take you to a decision made that changed your life.
Something you “set a nought,” or what the psalmist wrote as being “refused,” and the apostle Matthew said it was “rejected.”
Whether despised, refused, or rejected, you relegated it in you mind to being Just a Little Stone.
This passage from our text quotes Psalms 118:22-23, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. (23) This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.”
It is considered a messianic prophecy, but it is also addressing David’s years of obscurity before he was anointed, accepted and crowned:
- His own father discounted him, but the Lord of Heaven and Earth saw in him something of great value.
- David’s time in the hills and valley caring for sheep prepared him for leadership
- His time of solitude brought him close to God as he poured his heart to Him in prayer, praise, song and music.
- The time spent looking for stray sheep offered discoveries that would later serve to hide him in safety from a king who wanted to destroy him.
- He learned, in his obscurity, how to defend and protect the flock.
- Nobody thought much of David before Samuel anointed him, but in those years of solitude, he was being prepared for his purpose.
- While rejected, despised and even snubbed, these years with the sheep were the exact thing he needed to shape him into the kind of person that the Lord said was “a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”[1]
Our text also points to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He was also set at nought, He was refused, rebuffed, despised and rejected of men.
For the most part, the religious leaders of His day did not want, recognize and desire what He was offering.
It did not fit within their understanding, framework, and teaching of how the messiah was to appear to them.
So, they rejected Him.
Instead of a headstone he was set aside and became a stone of stumbling.
Isaiah 28:16, “Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.”
Romans 9:30-33, “(30) What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. (31) But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. (32) Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; (33) As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”
In the 1800s, Edward Irving, a Scottish preacher came on the scene in London, England, and his preaching turned London upside down.
He preached to politicians, lords, ladies, the wealthy, the elite, and to the common man.
His effect was so widespread that people would come and sit for hours just to hear him preach God’s Holy Word,
But nobody in England knew about the years he spent in obscurity in Scotland preaching with little success and minor results.
In his biography it was told that he changed nothing about his preaching, style, delivery, and ministry to the people.
It was just that God had finally pulled him out of the corner he was set in and he became a cornerstone for a supernatural move of the work of the Holy Ghost.
Ephesians 2:19-22, “(19) Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; (20) And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; (21) In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (22) In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”
God has come to pull you out of obscurity…out of the shadows…where He has been:
- Refining you
- Training you
- Preparing you
- Arranging the place He wants to put you.
1 Peter 2:5-12, “(5) Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (6) Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. (7) Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, (8) And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. (9) But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (10) Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (11) Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; (12) Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.”
Romans 11:11, “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”
Just a Little Stone
[1] Acts 13:22
The Pillar and Ground of Truth 