Trusting In The Offense Of The Gospel (Romans 9:33)

Romans 9:33 (ESV)

as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

I. The Insult of the Gospel

A. The Active Obedience of Christ

B. The Passive Obedience of Christ

Thank God for the Active Obedience of Christ. No hope without it.

Galatians 5:11 ESV

But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

The creation was but the work of God’s fingers. Redemption is the work of his arm. – Thomas Watson

Isaiah 8:14 ESV

And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Romans 9:32–33 (ESV)

They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

1 Corinthians 1:23 (ESV)

but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,

1 Peter 2:7–8 (ESV)

...but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

Three Mighty Curses: 1.The Curse of the Cross 2.The Curse of a Judicial Death 3.The Curse of Burial

I. The Curse of the Cross

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 (ESV)

“And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.

But that Jesus of Nazareth could be the expected Messiah, was out of the question. It is unlikely that the status, career and teaching of Jesus conformed in any way with Paul's conception of the status, teaching and career of the Messiah – but that was not the conclusive argument in Paul's mind. The conclusive argument was simply this: Jesus had been crucified. A crucified Messiah was a contradiction in terms. Whether his death by crucifixion was deserved or resulted from a miscarriage of justice was beside the point: The point was that he was crucified, and therefore came within the meaning of the pronouncement in Dt. 21:23 "a hanged man is cursed by God.

Post-Conversion Paul

Galatians 3:13 (ESV)

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—

II. The Curse of a Judicial Death

Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,

Was there ever grief like his?

Friends thro' fear his cause disowning

Foes insulting his distress

Many hands were raised to wound him

None would interpose to save

Yet the deepest stroke that pierced him

Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Thomas Kelley

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

III. The Curse of Burial — Out of My Sight

Genesis 23:4 (ESV)

“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

Out of Despair, A Glimmer of Hope

Matthew 21:42 (ESV)

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Colossians 1:21–22 (ESV)

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Philippians 3:10–11 (ESV)

that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.