Jesus, The Stumbling Stone Of Unbelievers

DELIVERED BY

C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Unto you therefore which believe He is precious: but unto them which
are disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is
made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of
offense, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient." 1
Peter 2:7,8.

So it always is where Jesus comes–He divides the company into
Believers and unbelievers–the obedient and the disobedient. But why
are unbelievers, here, called disobedient? Is faith a matter of law and
because a man does not believe, does he therefore disobey? How can it
be otherwise? Is it not a natural duty for every man to believe that
which is true? Let the very least among us judge in so simple a matter!
It so happens that in the very form and sound of the words in the
original tongue, to believe and to obey are much the same and,
certainly, to disbelieve and to disobey are things of very near
relationship. To disbelieve is in its very essence disobeying, for he
who disbelieves the Word of the King is disloyal at heart.

If I doubt the veracity of God I have assailed His authority and if,
when He sets forth His Son to be a Propitiation for sin, I refuse to
accept Him, disobedience is included in that rejection. As it were
difficult to tell by which form of sin our father, Adam, fell, for all
sins were wrapped up in the taking of the forbidden fruit, so unbelief
contains within itself the eggs of all sins possible to men. Moreover,
unbelief of God's Word is the root of all other sin. A man who does not
believe his God is a man who casts off the Law of God. He has already
rejected God's Gospel–why should he respect the Law?

If the silken cords of love are broken asunder, how much less is the
man likely to bear the bonds of law? Now, inasmuch as it is painfully
certain that a very large proportion of these who hear the Gospel are
unbelieving and disobedient, it becomes important to consider, What is
the result of this disobedience? This disobedience leads them into
violent opposition. What effect does their opposition produce? The text
tells us the result of human opposition upon Christ Himself, and,
secondly upon the persons who offer it.

I. Let us consider, in the first place, then, THE RESULT OF THE
UNBELIEF AND THE OPPOSITION OF MEN AGAINST THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. We
are told that, as far as He is concerned, "the stone which the builders
disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner"–in one word, it
has not affected Him at all! The opposition of mankind has, by no
means, and in no degree, lessened the Glory which God has put upon His
dear Son. The builders rejected the stone with disdain–"It shall not
be built," they said, "in the temple of our hope."

But, God has said, "It shall be the top stone," and the top stone it
is, and shall be, despite all the opposition of earth or Hell. The rage
of puny man shall no more defeat the Lord than the anger of a gnat can
affect the sun! Human opposition shall no more thwart the Divine will
than a sere leaf cast into Niagara can block the water flow. He that
stumbles upon this stone shall be broken, but the stone itself will not
be injured. Observe how the Lord Jesus has been rejected of man and yet
His cause has stood against all opposition.

First came the Jew. He had the pride of race to maintain. Were not the
Jews the chosen people of God? Was not Israel set apart by the Most
High? Jesus comes preaching the Gospel to every creature. He sends His
disciples even to the Gentiles and, therefore, the Jews will not have
Him. They have been looking for a temporal prince. Jesus does not come
with the magnificence they expected–He is a root out of a dry ground,
without form or comeliness–they see nothing of Solomon's splendor in
the poor scion of the dried-up stock of David. Therefore, "Away with
Him! Let Him be crucified!"

But the opposition of His countrymen did not defeat the cause of
Christ. If rejected in Palestine, His Word was received in Greece. It
triumphed in Rome, it passed onward to Spain, it found a dwelling place
in Britain and at this day it lights up the face of the earth! The
persecution of the Apostles at Jerusalem hastened the spread of the
Gospel, for they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching
the Word, so that Jewish enmity was overruled for good and the foolish
builders were made subservient to the uplifting of the rejected
headstone!

Next arose the philosopher to be the Gospel's foe. Different schools of
thought held sway over the more cultivated minds of the period and no
sooner did Paul begin to preach where these philosophies were known
than they called him a babbler. They heard what he had to say and
condemned him as a fool. This resurrection from the dead, this doctrine
of an Incarnate God who suffered for human sin–it was too simple for
them, too plain to fit in with their subtle philosophies. But though
philosophy made terrible inroads, for a while, on the Church of God in
the form of the Gnostic heresy, did it really impede the chariot wheels
of Christ? Did it conquer the faith?

Oh no, my Brethren, for at this day where are these philosophies? Who
now believes in the Stoics? Who would care to be called an Epicurean?
These philosophies have passed away–the stone cut out of the mountain
without hands has broken them in pieces! The stone from the sling of
Christ has struck the heathen philosophy in the forehead. We see its
corpse lying headless in many an ancient book, while the Son of David
goes forth conquering and to conquer. After those days there came
against the Church of God the determined opposition of the secular
power. The imperial authorities saw danger in Christianity. These
peasants and boors and mechanics set up a new religion, a religion
which spoke of another king, one Jesus.

They met together on the first day of the week and sang hymns in His
honor as to God. Moreover, they refused to keep the holy days of the
gods, nor would they worship the images of the emperors, either
departed or living. Everybody else paid homage to these imperial demons
except these Christian people, so the secular power said, "We will put
them down. Let them be dragged before the judgement seat. Let them be
imprisoned, let them be stripped of their goods and if that does not
drive them out of this new doctrine, let us try the rack and such like
tortures–and if that does not end them let them die! Why cannot men
worship the gods of their fathers?

Thus they tried to stamp out the faith of Jesus, crowding their
prisons, flooding their theatres with blood and wearying the
executioners. All that cruelty could do was done! But, my Brothers and
Sisters, what was the result? The more the Christians were oppressed,
the more they multiplied! The scattering of the coals increased the
conflagration. The tribunals of judgement became pulpits from which
Christianity was preached and men who stood burning at the stake
commanded mighty audiences, among which they proclaimed Jesus Christ as
king! The martyr's courage made men enquire, "Is there not something
here, the like of which we have never seen before?" And it was not long
before imperial legions bowed before the Cross of Christ and the
Galilean had won the day.

Since that period the Church has been attacked in various modes. The
Arian heresy assaulted the Deity of Christ, but the Church of God
delivered herself from the accursed thing, as Paul shook the viper into
the fire. Then came popery, the antichrist, and counterfeit of His
Sacrifice. Now they set up the cross of ivory, hung round with gems, to
mimic the King of kings on His Cross of shame. They thrust before us
the crucifix of man's making instead of Jesus, Himself, upon the tree.
Now we are asked to worship saints and relics and images, and I know
not what else, and a man is lifted into the throne of the Infallible
God!

Some timid minds fear that Jesus Christ, as a stone rejected, will be
cast out of sight, while high over all, the "Vicar of Christ at Rome"
shall be made the head of the corner, but the Lord will not allow it.
Brethren, have faith in God and think not so! The differing modes of
Popery, Roman and Anglican, shall pass away as all things else have
done that withstood the Cross and cause of Jesus Christ! Even as a
moment's foam dissolves into the wave that bears it and is gone
forever, so shall all these disappear! Jesus Christ's holy Gospel and
Himself, the Savior, shall yet be set on high as a rock defying the
billows!

What a day that was when Luther's rough protest broke the silence of
the dark ages! When the clear teaching of Calvin followed and the bold
notes of Zwingle were heard and a thousand voices shouted in chorus!
What a day was that when the nations awoke from their long sleep to lie
no longer under priestly domination, resolute to be free! Cannot God,
who sent one Reformation, send another? Be of good courage, for
brighter days are on the way! There shall come

yet greater awakenings! The Lord, the avenger of His Church, shall yet
arise and the stone which the builders disallowed, the same shall be
the head stone of the corner!

By prophetic vision I see gathering another opposition which will be as
difficult to cope with as any that has gone before. I see mustering
within the ranks of the Church of God men who say they hate all creeds,
meaning that they despise all Truth. They are they who would gladly be
ministers among us and yet tread under foot all that we hold sacred,
not teaching, at first, the fullness of their infidelity, but little by
little gathering courage to vent their unbelief and heresies!
Credophobia is maddening many! They appear to fear lest they should
believe anything and to hope that there is something good to be found
in atheism, or devil worship–indeed, in all religions except the only
true one.

We lift our earnest protest, but if it should be lost amidst the
general popular clamor, and if the nations should be drunk, again, with
the wine of this fornication and turn aside to error, what matters it
to the ultimate success of the eternal cause? Yet has Jehovah set His
king upon His holy hill of Zion and yet shall the ancient decree be
fulfilled! The Throne of Christ shall stand and the Covenant sealed
with blood shall be sure to all the chosen seed! Let us have comfort,
for despite all that can be done by men or devils, not one elect soul
shall be lost, not one soul redeemed by blood shall be snatched out of
the Redeemer's hand!

Christ shall not lose so much as a grain of glory neither in earth nor
in Heaven. His people's earnest contention for the faith shall honor
Him. Their patient suffering shall give Him praise–Heaven shall be the
sweeter rest to them and the brighter place of Glory to them when He
shall return with them from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah,
travailing in the greatness of His strength, having trod the winepress
and overcome His foes. Then shall His rest be glorious and His joy
complete! Thus much, then, upon the effect of human opposition. "The
stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the
corner."

II. A far more painful subject must now occupy our attention, namely,
THE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS OPPOSITION TO THE OPPOSERS. Let us dwell with
great solemnity upon one or two points. When men stumble at the plan of
salvation by Christ's sacrificial work, what is it that they stumble
at? The reply must be a somewhat wide one, but it cannot possibly
comprehend all the reasons for man's wicked opposition to his best
Friend. Some stumble at the Person of Christ. Jesus, they will admit,
was a good Man, but they cannot accept Him as co-equal and co-eternal
with the Father.

Oh, my Hearer, if you would be saved, stumble not at this, for who but
a God could save you? And how could the Justice of God have been
satisfied unless One of Infinite Nature had become the Propitiation for
sin? My soul falls gratefully back upon the doctrine of the Deity of
Christ for her deepest comfort, and I pray that none of you may reject
it, for be assured that apart from it there is no true ground of peace
for the conscience. Some stumble at His work. Many cannot see how Jesus
Christ is become the Propitiation for human guilt and, we fear, the
reason why they cannot see must lie in that Word of our Lord, "You
believe not because you are not of My sheep."

We fell, my Brothers and Sisters, not personally, but in another. It
was our first father, Adam, who first ruined us, not we, ourselves.
Perhaps it was because we so fell that it was possible for us to be
restored. As we fell in another, there was a loophole for mercy, for
the Lord, having dealt with us under one federal head, could justly
deal with us under another federal head! And thus fallen in another, we
now rise in Another! As by the offense of one, the condemnation came
upon all men, so by the righteousness of One does the forgiveness come
to as many as believe in Him.

The Doctrine of Substitution or representation begins at the fountain
of human history and runs through its whole course. I beseech you, do
not quibble with it! It is rich balm and comfort to us who have
received it. It has turned our Hell to Heaven. The Spirit, by its
means, has renewed our nature and has made us other than we were–and
today we have no hope apart from the vicarious Sacrifice of Emmanuel.
Oh that you who are objectors would accept that which today you stumble
at! Some stumble at Christ's teaching and what is it they stumble at in
that? Sometimes it is because it is too holy–"Christ is too
Puritanical–He cuts off our pleasures." But it is not so. He denies us
no pleasure which is not sinful. He multiplies our joys! The things
which He denies to us are only joyous in appearance, while His commands
are real bliss.

"Still," say some, "His teachings are too severe." Yet from others I
hear the opposite accusation, for when we preach Free Grace, objectors
cry, "You encourage men in sin!" There is little chance of pleasing the
sons of men, for what gratifies some, offends others. But truly, there
is no just reason on either ground to stumble at the Gospel, for though
it does place good works where they should be placed, as gifts of the
Spirit and not as things of merit, yet it is a Gospel accord-

ing to holiness, as those know who have proved its power. We have found
some object to the teachings of Christ because they are too humbling.
He destroys self-confidence and He presents salvation to none but those
who are lost. "This lays us too low," says one.

Yet I have heard from the opposite corner of the house an objection to
the Gospel because it makes men proud, for some say, "How dare you
speak of being certain that you are saved? That is a boastful speech
and ill befits a lowly sinner." Friend, do not stumble at the blessed
Truth of God, for Believers are certainly saved and may know it–and
yet be all the humbler for the knowledge. You are humbled, it is true,
by Christ, and laid low–but He exalts you in due time–and when He
exalts you, by His Grace, there is no fear of boasting, for boasting is
excluded by Grace.

Still, I have known others object that the Gospel is too
mysterious–they cannot understand it, they say. While again, from the
other corner of the compass, I have heard the objection that it is too
plain! This being saved by simply believing in Christ is too plain for
many and too hard for others. Beloved, do not quibble at it for either
reason. What if there are mysteries in it? Can you expect to comprehend
all that God knows? Be teachable as a child and the Gospel will be
sweet to you. We have known some who have stumbled at Christ on account
of His people and, truly, they have some excuse.

They have said, "Look at Christ's followers, see their imperfections
and hypocrisies!" But why judge the Master by His servants? I could
weep while I confess how much there is of truth in your accusations,
but let me beseech you–lay the fault at our door, not at our
Master's–for there is nothing in His teaching that encourages our
sinning, and none can be more severe towards hypocrisy than is Christ
Jesus our Lord! This stumbling at His people is, however, frequently
founded on another reason. The lovers of the Gospel, it is said, are
generally very poor and unfashionable. To unite with them is to lose
caste.

Now that is true and it always has been so. From the first day until
now, the Gospel has flourished most where there has been least care for
fashion and honor among men. But, I know, if you are men, this will be
a small concern with you. Only those who are not men, but mimics of
men, care for these small matters. You, if your manhood is as it should
be, will feel that to follow the Truth of God barefooted through the
mire is better than to ride with the lie in all her pomp. Besides,
taking the great ones of the earth as a class, is their society so
specially desirable? Are the rich so very virtuous? Are the great so
peculiarly good? I think not.

We have noble exceptions. There are a few who wear the coronet and yet
will wear a crown in Heaven, but taking them as a class, the honorable
among men are no better than they should be. No order of men have more
to answer for, than kings and princes. At their will human blood has
flowed like water and nations have been consumed by famine and
pestilence as the result of their wars. Why, then, account their favor
to be so precious a thing? We can turn the tables upon those who sneer
at Christ's servants for their lowness of rank, for before the eyes of
God, the great ones are the most evil of all when they become leaders
in iniquity. Now, if these are your objections, I pray God to give you
Grace to play the man and bear joyfully the reproach of Christ.

What does this stumbling at Christ cost the ungodly? I answer, it costs
them a great deal. Those who make Him a rock of stumbling are great
losers by it in this life. Opposition to Jesus is, to many men, a
kicking against the pricks. When the Eastern farmer drives his bullock
and it moves amiss, he goads it. And if the bullock is not broken in,
it kicks against the goad as soon as it is pricked–and the consequence
is, it drives the goad into itself more deeply–and if it then kicks
violently, the goad pierces and wounds it still more. It is so with
rebellious men. Their persecutions hurt themselves–they cannot really
injure our Lord.

The hammer said, "I will break the anvil," and the anvil did not
answer, but stayed in its place, while the hammer smote it day after
day. Month after month, year after year, the anvil patiently received
the blows, but after awhile the hammer broke, and though it did not say
so, for it was too quiet to speak, the anvil might have said, "I have
broken hundreds of hammers before, and I shall break hundreds more by
patient endurance." It is so with Christ and His Church, and His
Gospel–the persecutor may smite, and smite, and smite–the true
Christian makes no reply, but patiently bears, and in the long run that
patient endurance will break the persecutor down.

What anger it costs ungodly men to oppose Christ! Some of them cannot
let Him alone! They will rage and fume. Concerning Jesus it is true
that you must either love or hate Him–He cannot long be indifferent to
you–and therefore inward conflicts come to opposers. I remember an
ungodly man who was a raving hater of Christ. A Bible was brought

into his house, he seized it and destroyed it in his wrath. He did not
know that when his daughter went to bed her eyes were wet with tears at
what her father had done and that the next night there was a New
Testament under her head. When by-and-by he found out that she attended
the House of God, there were great threats and I do not know what, of
blustering.

But it was done, all the same for that, and his anger was patiently
borne. "Well," he thought, "she is a foolish girl, it will end there,"
but very soon another daughter became pious and then he was furious. He
took his wife into his counsels, to help him, but by her quivering
manner she betrayed that she did not like his proceedings. And after
awhile he found out that she, when he was away, had snuck into the
little Meeting House, too, and that she was feeling with her daughters
the value of eternal things. Well, at least he had a boy left! The
women were always fools, he said, but his boy, he hoped, would show
more sense, and not be deluded. Like his father, he would never fall
into superstition, would he?

He would see about it and question him. What was his surprise to find
the boy speak up like a man, and say, "Yes, Father, I believe as my
sisters do, and I go to the House of God whenever I can, and I mean to
do so." To his surprise, he found all his house inclined to hear the
Gospel and most of them believers in it! It did him no good to be in a
passion about it, but he used to rave horribly, and I fear he thereby
shortened his days. But the thing went on in spite of all he did–the
servants of the house also joined the people at the meeting, and his
laborers went in the same way. God intended to bless the family and the
enemy was powerless to prevent it, though it cost him much anger and
wrath.

Ah, what it costs some men when they come to die! In the days when
persecution was more public than it is now, many persons were guilty of
being informers against the Puritans, or the Quakers. These traitors'
deaths were, in many cases, appalling, not because of any peculiar
pains they endured, but because how their persecuting innocent
neighbors came up to their memory in their last moments. And some of
them could not rest for crying out and making acknowledgment of the
injustice that they had done to good men in hunting them into prisons
for worshipping God.

If any of you do not believe in Jesus and will not be saved by Him
yourselves, I would recommend you to let Him and His people alone, for
if you oppose Him, you will be the losers, He will not. Your opposition
is utterly futile! Like a snake biting a file you will only break your
own teeth. You cannot hurt the Church, nor hurt the Word of God.
Perhaps your very opposition is one cog in the wheel to urge it on. If
the things are of God, it is in vain that you fight against them. Be as
wise as Haman's wife when she warned her husband that if Mordecai was
of the seed of the Jews, before whom he had begun to fall, it was no
use to take up the cudgels against him. This warning was proven to be
true when Haman was hung upon the gallows fifty cubits high! To oppose
the royal Seed of Heaven is of no use whatever, but assures ruin to
those who engage in it.

Now, suppose a man says, "I am not going to believe that Jesus Christ
came into this world and died for the guilty, neither will I have Him
for my Savior! I will run the risks." Well, remember, if you do it, it
is at your own cost. Do it if you dare. Many years ago a captain was
sent out in one of the Government ships, the Thetis, to discover a
shoal, a rock, or some other obstruction said to exist in the
Mediterranean Sea. The captain was an old salt who knew little about
navigation as a science, and cared less for rules, books, theories and
so on. He always sneered at scientific works. Though he sailed near the
spot, he did not discover the rock and came back.

But one of his officers was persuaded that, nevertheless, there was
something in the report. So, sometime after, when he had become,
himself, a first officer in another vessel, he sailed near the spot and
discovered it. It was marked on the charts of the Admiralty and he
received a considerable reward for having made the discovery. The old
captain cursed and swore at these newfangled fellows who could find
what he could not! He would not believe the shoal was there–one thing
he would do–they might call him a liar if he did not drive the Thetis
right over the spot where the rock was marked and so prove it to be all
nonsense.

He had an opportunity, sometime later, when he was out upon a cruise.
He sailed close to the spot marked on the chart, and thinking he had
passed over it, he cried out to those who were standing round, with
many expressions of blasphemy, that he had proved these whippersnappers
to be fools and liars! Just as he uttered his boast there came a crash,
the ship was on the rock, and in a few minutes she was sinking. By the
good Providence of God all on board escaped except the captain. He was
in such a desperate state of mind that when last he was seen he was on
deck in his shirt sleeves rushing about as if he had gone mad! You see,
his firm belief that there was no rock there did not alter the case–he
was wrecked for his obstinacy.

There are a great many who say, "Oh, I do not believe it, I shall not
bother my head about it." Well, you are warned! You are warned,
remember that! There is a way of salvation by Jesus Christ, the
Incarnate God, and we implore you to accept it. If you do not, this
rock of unbelief will be your eternal shipwreck. I pray God that every
one of us may bow before Christ and accept Him as our King. He will
shortly come to be our Judge! Oh, let us worship Him as our Mediator!
Look to Him! Look to Him on His Cross, for you must soon look to Him on
His Throne. Look to His wounds! Behold the atoning blood! Look to Him
and find salvation!

Whether you look to Him now, or not, you will have to look to Him in
that day when Heaven and earth shall rock and reel, the trumpet shall
sound, the dead shall rise and you among them! Then the books shall be
opened and the sentence of eternal wrath shall be uttered against the
disobedient and unbelieving! God save us all for Jesus' sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON–1 Peter 2. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN
HYMN BOOK"–118, 2, 961.