“Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone” – Romans 9:32
There is only one way to be saved from your sins. Only one. That is by faith in Jesus and only by faith. Not by lots of good deeds. Not by faith plus a few good deeds. Faith ALONE. Our nature and our flesh hates this truth! We’re desperate to try and save ourselves by good works because then we still control our fate and are the master of our destiny. Even if we acknowledge that salvation is by God’s grace through faith alone, we still try to “help out” by doing good works that we think will earn God’s favor. We feel compelled to try and add to what Jesus did on the cross. That isn’t how God’s grace works!
It’s certainly true that if we’ve been truly saved by God’s grace through faith that we are a new creation that desires to do good works. If we’ve been saved by faith, we will genuinely demonstrate it by loving and serving God and our neighbors. If we’ve been saved by faith, we will certainly produce the fruit of a changed life and do the good works God has prepared for us to do.
But let us NEVER get confused! Those things don’t save us. They don’t contribute to our salvation. They don’t buy us release from our latest sins or misdeeds. All of that was 100% accomplished by Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. There’s absolutely nothing we can or do contribute to our salvation. If we do good works out of a secret desire to justify ourselves, to promote ourselves, to cleanse ourselves, or to earn praise or favor for ourselves, then we too have stumbled over the stumbling stone Paul refers to in this verse.
The stumbling stone is our pride and refusal to acknowledge that we can’t contribute to our salvation in any way. The stumbling stone is our continued desire to make ourselves like God by making ourselves righteous rather than embracing the righteousness of Christ that’s freely given to us through faith. Do NOT pursue salvation as if it comes from your good works. #FollowJesus and then do the good works that flow from the reality that you’ve been saved completely and to the uttermost by faith in Jesus and what He did for you on the cross.