xxviii. 16. _A tried stone._
This is perhaps an allusion to the custom of builders who are about
to lay the foundation for some massive structure. Before they raise
the edifice they test the character of the substratum on which they
think of building. Is not our blessed Lord in every way a tried, a
tested, an approved Saviour! I. _Did not the Father try Him_ and find
Him faithful in every way?--in His willingness, His obedience, His
love? II. _Did not Satan try Him_ and find Him upright? Tried by
temptations addressed to His natural appetite, to pride, and to
ambition. III. _Was He not tried by wicked and unbelieving men?_ By
Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians in His own day, and by sceptics
in ours. IV. _By the afflicted, the poor, the destitute_ in His own
day and in ours? and in each case only to bring out more clearly the
marvellousness of His resources. V. _By the contrite and
broken-hearted?_ VI. _By believers in every generation?_ And what has
been their unanimous testimony? Is it not that they found Him more
than equal to all their wants and able to do for them all that they
could ask or think? Could so many millions of witnesses, in other
respects trustworthy, be mistaken on this point? VII. HAVE YOU TRIED
HIM?--_R. Bingham, M.A.: Sermons,_ pp. 208-215.