The Stumbling Stone

Imagine two people who would like to have the same thing.

One of them gives it everything they have. They read all the books and follow all the rules, and they keep at it for years. And they come up empty.

The other one isn't even looking. They stumble onto it by accident, almost trips over it, and it turns out to be the very thing the first person spent their whole life chasing.

That’s exactly the story Paul tells at the end of Romans 9. For three chapters he has been defending God against the charge that he is unfair because He chose some and not others. And now, in the last four verses of chapter 9, Paul lays out the most surprising reversal in the whole letter. The people who were chasing righteousness with everything they had, missed it. And the people who weren't even looking for it found it.

We've been in Romans 9 for a while. We've watched Paul weep for Israel. We've heard him defend God's freedom to show mercy to whomever He will. And now Paul turns a corner. He stops talking about God's sovereign choice and starts talking about why Israel stumbled. Both things are true at the same time. God is sovereign, and Israel is responsible.

So here's the question this passage puts in front of us this morning. Are you trying to earn something from God that He only ever meant to give you? Because if you are, you're going to trip over the same stone Israel tripped over.

Open your Bible to Romans 9:30-33

Romans 9:30–33 NKJV

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Let me read that again in the NLT. Romans 9:30-33

It says the same thing, but in a much clearer way.

Romans 9:30–33 NLT

What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law* instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem* that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”*

Paul starts with a question. "What shall we say then?" Or, “What does all this mean?”That's Paul's way of saying, here's the conclusion of everything I've been arguing. And the conclusion will make you stop and think.

GETTING RIGHT WITH GOD DOESN’T HAPPEN THE WAY EVERYONE MIGHT THINK (vv. 30-31)

"That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness."

Look at how strange that is. The Gentiles were not looking for God's righteousness. They weren’t looking to keep the OT law. They weren't studying the law or keeping the feasts. By every outward measure, they were the ones far from God. And yet, they found out how to get right with God that only comes by faith.

Israel, on the other hand, was chasing righteousness with everything they had. They had the law and the prophets, the temple and the whole sacrificial system. They were straining after a right standing with God with all their might. And they didn’t get it.

Picture a professional gold prospector. He has the best equipment money can buy. He studies the maps, he reads the survey reports, and he works the claim from sunup to sundown for years. And he finds nothing. Meanwhile, a man who isn't even looking for gold trips over a rock on the trail, looks down, and realizes he just stubbed his toe on the edge of the mother lode. One man searched for everything and found nothing. The other searched for nothing and found everything.

Notice the irony in these two verses. Most assume that the people working the most at religion are the ones closest to God. Paul says it doesn't work that way. The Gentiles who received righteousness as a gift ended up with it. Israel, who tried to earn it, ended up empty-handed.

Now don't misunderstand. Paul is not saying effort is bad, or that the law was a mistake. Israel's problem was the road they took to righteousness, and that's what Paul explains next.

Sticky statement: You can't earn what God only gives.

Paul asks the question we're all asking. "Why?" Why did the people straining the most to get right with God come up empty?

He says…

THEY WERE LOOKING FOR THE WRONG THING (v. 32a)

They were going about it the wrong way. Paul gives the answer in one line. "Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law."

There it is. That's the whole problem in a sentence. Israel pursued a right standing with God by works. The Gentiles received it by faith. Same goal, two completely different roads, and only one of them gets us right with God.

Let me explain what Paul means, because this is the foundation of the whole passage.

Israel believed that a right standing with God was something you build. You keep the commandments and perform the rituals, and if you stack up enough obedience, God owes you a verdict of "righteous." It's a wage. You earn it, and God ends up in your debt.

Faith says the opposite. It admits you can't build it. Faith says, I have nothing to offer, I've broken the law I was given, and my only hope is to receive a righteousness I didn’t earn. It comes with empty hands.

And here's what we have to see. The reason Israel would not come by faith was pride.

To be saved by faith, you have to admit you can't save yourself. You have to come down to the same level as the Gentiles you looked down on, the same level as the tax collectors and the sinners, and say, I need mercy just like they do.

Israel would not do it. One commentator put it this way.

“The Jews thought the Gentiles had to come up to Israel's level to be saved. When the truth was that Israel had to come down to the level of the Gentiles to be saved. Because Romans 3 says it clearly. There is no difference. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

That's why grace is so offensive to so many people. Grace tells the most driven, most religious person in the room that their record counts for nothing, and they come in the exact same way as the worst sinner they know. Through faith. With empty hands. A lot of people would rather earn a little than receive everything, because earning lets them keep their pride. And that is exactly the stone Israel tripped over.

Sticky statement: You can't earn what God only gives.

Now Paul reaches for an image, and it's the image that gives this sermon its name.

"For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.'"

We’re shown…

THE ONE THAT MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE (vv. 32b-33)

Paul is pulling together two verses from Isaiah, chapter 8 and chapter 28, and he's applying them to one person. The stone is Christ. God laid him in Zion. And every single person who has ever lived does one of two things with that stone.

Some people build on it. Isaiah 28 calls Christ a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. A cornerstone is the stone you build your whole house on. It's the one you line everything else up with.

When you come to Christ by faith, he becomes the foundation your whole life rests on, and Paul says you will never be put to shame. You will never be disappointed that you trusted him.

But the same stone that is a foundation to some is a stumbling block to others.

Isaiah 8 calls Christ a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

Israel came walking down the road of their own righteousness, eyes on their own performance, and they tripped over him. The Messiah was right there in the path, and instead of building on him, they fell over him.

Why? Because He told them they could not save themselves. He offered them a righteousness they could only receive, and instead, they wanted one they could earn.

GREEK NOTE: The word for "offense" in verse 33 is skandalon. It's where we get our English word "scandal." A skandalon was the trigger of a trap, the bent stick that springs it shut. To the proud heart, the cross of Christ is a scandal, because it springs shut on every attempt to save yourself. It tells you your good works can't buy what only grace can give. That offends us until the day we finally lay our works down and simply believe.

Here's what I want you to see about that stone. It's the same stone. Christ doesn't change.

The cornerstone and the stumbling block are the same person. What changes is what you do with him.

Come to him with empty hands and he is the foundation you build your life on. Come to him trying to earn your way and he is the rock you trip over. There is no third option. Everyone in this room is doing one of those two things with Jesus right now.

And notice how Paul ends. He doesn't end on the stumbling. He ends on the promise. "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." That word "whoever" throws the door wide open. The promise rests on believing, and it belongs to anyone at all who will believe. The offer is for anyone in this room who will stop building and start trusting.

Sticky statement: You can't earn what God only gives.

APPLICATION

So what do we do with this?

Check which road you're on.

Every one of us is doing one of two things with God right now. We are either building or receiving. We are either handing God our record and hoping it's good enough, or we are coming with empty hands and trusting Christ. And the tricky part is that the earning road looks so religious. You can go to church every week and serve faithfully and still be trying, without even seeing it, to earn what God only gives.

So here's how you can tell which road you're on. Ask yourself one question this week.

When you think about standing before God, what do you point to? If your mind goes to the things you've done, the ways you've served, the sins you've avoided, then you're on Israel's road. You're building.

If your mind goes to Christ and what he did on the cross, then you're on the road of faith. You're trusting.

Now let me say something to the person who realizes they've been building on their own. This is good news for you. You don't have to keep hauling bricks. The whole weight you've been trying to lift, Christ already lifted. All He asks is that you stop trying to earn what he's holding out to give you for free. Lay it down this week. Tell him humbly, "I've been trying to earn this. I stop today. I'm trusting you and nothing else."

And if you've never trusted Christ at all, this passage has the most open invitation in the Bible tucked into the last line. "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." You don't have to clean yourself up first. You don't have to reach some level. The Gentiles who found righteousness weren't even looking for it, and it found them. Christ is right in front of you this morning. Don't trip over him. Build on him. Come to him by faith, and you will never be put to shame.

CLOSE

One day, when the whole household of faith stands before God, not one of us will be pointing to our own record. Every one of us will be pointing to the same stone, the cornerstone God laid in Zion. We built our lives on him, and he kept his promise that whoever believes on him will not be put to shame.

You can't earn what God only gives.

Let's pray.