The Stone of Offense

Introduction

As we begin to move forward in this unprecedented time of turmoil in the earth, I believe the Lord is calling to all people everywhere to prepare themselves for the events that are yet to unfold so that they are not caught unaware. God is longsuffering and so gracious towards us even when we have strayed from Him in our own thinking and actions.

Many times throughout history mankind have gotten themselves off track with God and followed their own pathway, all while still claiming to love and serve Him. But Jesus said of them:

Matthew 23:13 ESV

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

We must be careful to never stand between God and His people, those that Jesus came to lay down His life for. While it is true that not everyone will accept Him, our ministry is that of reconciliation as we co-labor with the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 3:9–15 ESV

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

What I would like to do this morning is draw out the main point of verses 6–8 and then encourage your faith with the way this truth applies to our present situation here.

We have talked about these verses previously and saw how coming to Jesus, God's Living Stone causes us to be living stones and shapes us into a spiritual house for God's dwelling and makes us a holy priesthood so that we can offer spiritual sacrifices of praise and obedience that will be acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The key is Christ. He is the Living Stone which is the foundation of this house and his life is imparted to all the little stones—us believers—who are built into a temple that throbs with life.

Now what we have in verses 6–8 are three Old Testament quotations to show where Peter got this idea of Christ as a Stone that God set down in Zion. But there is something remarkable about the way Peter quotes these three texts. He doesn't just quote them; he interprets them and gives them a tremendously encouraging twist for people in our situation.

Believing on the Stone: You Can't Lose

In verse 6 he quotes Isaiah 28:16 and says, "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed."

Isaiah 28:16 ESV

therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

The point here is that if you trust Christ, God's corner stone, you will not be disappointed. This stone will not prove faulty. If you build your life on this stone, your life will not crumble in the storm. If you hide behind this stone, you will be safe. If you stand on the truth of this stone, you will not be ashamed. If you join with others in the spiritual house built on this stone, you will be proud of your foundation and your fellowship will stand. "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed."

Then in verse 7a Peter draws out the lesson in his own words: "This precious value, then, is for you who believe." He takes the word "precious" from verse 6—"he is a precious corner stone"—and says that the preciousness is for believers. If you believe on this stone—if you trust him and bank your future on him—then he is precious, because you will never be disappointed in him or ashamed of him. Jesus will never let you down. Others may, but Jesus never.

Now that is a great encouragement: if there were a way never to be disappointed or a way never to be ashamed, wouldn't you want to know that way? Peter says: the way is to trust what Jesus will be for you as God's "chosen and precious corner stone." God says, "You cannot lose. You cannot be disappointed in having done this. You cannot be put to shame." That is tremendously encouraging.

Disbelieving the Stone: You Can't Win

But now, why not stop there? Why does Peter go on in the middle of verse 7 to talk about the negative side of things? Why not just stay positive and talk about the good effects of belief, rather than going on to talk about the negative side of unbelief?

Look at what he says in verse 7b: "But for those who disbelieve, 'The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone.'" Now what's the point of that? Here he's saying that not believing in Jesus is like rejecting the stone that God has laid as the corner stone. God sends his Son to be the main stone in the building of his church—his people. But some do not trust him; they reject him.

But what effect does that have on the purpose of God? This is the point: it does not defeat God's purpose at all. "The stone which the builders rejected, this became the very corner stone." The point is: If you believe on this stone, you can't lose; and if you disbelieve on him, you can't win. Human unbelief does not frustrate or defeat the ultimate purposes of God. If God plans for Jesus to be the chief corner stone, humans can betray him, desert him, deny him, mock him, strike him, spit on him, hit him with rods, crown him with thorns, strip him, crucify him, and bury him—but they cannot stop him from being what God destined him to be, the Living Corner Stone of a great and glorious people.

"Unto This You Were Appointed"

So the point of mentioning the negative side of unbelief is to stress that it cannot win. It can't frustrate God's ultimate purposes.

I think this is the point of the shocking verse 8 as well. Peter goes on to say (quoting Isaiah 8:14) that Christ, became "'a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense'; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this [doom] they were also appointed."

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.

Peter's words at the end of this verse are intended to sever the last strand of self-reliance: "to this—this stumbling, this disobedience—they were appointed."

In other words if any proud unbeliever should boast and say, "I have chosen my own destiny—my own disobedience and my own stumbling—to show God that I have the final and ultimate say in my life; I have the power of ultimate self-determination; and I can frustrate the purposes of God with my own self-determining will"—if anyone boasts in that way, Peter responds with the awesome words: No, you can't; you only think you can. But you will discover sooner or later that whatever you choose—and mark this, your choice is real and crucial—whatever you choose, "unto this you were appointed."

God and not man will have the last say. No mere human can thwart the ultimate purposes of God—not by belief or unbelief.

Why Does Peter Teach This Shocking Thing?

Now why does Peter teach such a thing? Why does he even bring it up? The reason is for our encouragement. What he means is that human choices cannot finally destroy the temple of God. They are not ultimate. A person can reject the chosen and precious Stone of Jesus Christ. But if they do, two things are still true:

the stone will not be rejected by God, but will still be put in the place of honor and glory forever and ever as the chief corner stone; andthe one who rejects the stone will never be able to boast over God that he frustrated God's ultimate design for his temple. Even unbelievers fulfill God's appointments. He cannot be defeated. He triumphs even in his own rejection.