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I. CHRIST REJECTED.

1. He was clearly placed before the Jewish people as the stone which God would lay in Zion as the foundation of their hopes, but they persistently refused Him. Alas, for the blindness of men's hearts.

2. His rejection was rendered the more remarkable and the more sorrowful because He was rejected by the builders or leaders of the nation.

3. It was a violent and indignant rejection. They were not content to say, "He is not the Messiah," but they turned their hottest malice against film; they were furious at the sight of Him.

4. This rejection was most unreasonable; they did. violence to truth and justice by their evil deed.

II. CHRIST EXALTED.

1. At this moment Christ has the chief place of honour in the building of God.

2. Nor is He alone eminent for His position of honour, but for His surpassing usefulness. He is the head stone of the corner, that stone which joins two walls together, and is the bond of the building. Jew and Gentile are now one in Christ Jesus. Wondrous corner stone Thou dost bind all of us together who are in Thee, so that by love of Thee we are builded together for a temple of the Holy Ghost. Thou art the perfect bond, the eternal holdfast, the Divine cement which holds the universe in one. Is it not written, "By Him all things consist"?

3. Our Lord Jesus Christ then is brought up from all rejection and shame go which His enemies put Him to be by usefulness and by honour the grandest personage upon the face of the earth; and all this none the less, but all the more, because He was rejected. He lost nothing by His enemies. They scourged His back, but they did not rob Him of that imperial purple which now adorns Him; they crowned Him with thorns, but those thorns have increased the brilliance of His diadem of light; they pierced His hands, and thereby prepared them to sway an irresistible sceptic of love over men's hearts; they crucified Him, but His crucifixion led Him to His greater honour.

III. THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST IS DUE TO GOD ALONE (ver. 23). Jesus Christ's name and work were at length had in honour in the world, but this was due to no man's wisdom, eloquence, or power, but entirely to the Lord, who is wonderful in counsel and great in might. When I consider how hostile is human nature to the Gospel, the very existence of a true Church in the world is to me a miracle. Just think of it. Why, at this very day, we have all the wisdom, and power, and eloquence, and skill of the superstition of the world arrayed against the simple Gospel of Jesus. Though they are agreed in nothing else, they all unite against Christ.

IV. THE EXALTATION OF THE REJECTED CHRIST COMMENCES A NEW ERA (ver. 24). We date from our Lord's resurrection even as the Jews of old counted from the night wherein they went out of Egypt. What is this day which the Lord hath made? I reply first, it is the day of the Gospel. Through our Lord's exaltation pardon for the guilty is freely preached among all nations, and whosoever believeth in Him hath everlasting life. What day is this which the Lord hath made? Why, in the next place, it is a Sabbath day, the beginning of a long line of Sabbaths. The day in which our Lord Jesus rose from the dead is now sacred to rest and holy joy. Let us keep it with reverent love, and bless God for making it. Again, "This is the day which the Lord hath made." The resurrection of Christ commences an era of triumph. We have spoken of the Gospel day, and the Sabbatic day, but it is also a day of victories. As Jesus Christ rose from the dead, so will His truth continually rise from the sepulchre into which men may east it. As he triumphed over the powers of death and darkness, so will His Gospel triumph over all opposition.

V. THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST SUGGESTS A PRAYER (ver. 25).

1. A prayer for salvation. Put it in the present tense. Ask for a display of the present saving power of our exalted Head.

2. The other half of the prayer is for prosperity. "O Lord, send now prosperity."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

WEB: The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.