What is so offensive about faith? 

³⁰What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; ³¹but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. ³²Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ³³just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Himwill not be disappointed.” 

Romans 9:30-33, NASB95

What a powerful and troubling statement in Verse 33. Jesus, God’s appointed Messiah and His only Son, was a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. Paul cites the prophet Isaiah from Isaiah 8:14. Notice: 

¹³“It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, And He shall be your dread. ¹⁴“Then He shall become a sanctuary; But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵“Many will stumble over them, Then they will fall and be broken; They will even be snared and caught.” 

Isaiah 8:13-15, NASB95

How can faith be a stumbling block? Simply put: We want to be righteous apart from a Savior. We want to earn it, to deserve it, to have contributed to our own right-standing. To say that we MUST have a Savior is to declare that we are completely unworthy of God on our own. As the old hymn writer, Charlotte Elliott composed in her hymn, Just as I am in 1835, on the posture of the sinner coming to God for salvation: 

Just as I am, without one plea

But that thy blood, was shed for me

And that thou bidd’st me come to thee

O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

You need a Savior. You are completely unsavory to God. You are not cute in your disobedience. You are not a little lovely. You are a wretch! Your very best efforts on your very best day is like a soiled bandage worthy only of being discarded. 

Yet, while you were as unlovely as you could possibly conjure up, God saw you through a different lens. Not in response to your attributes but in resolve to His own activity. He made whole and perfect ever person who would yield to and trust in Jesus’ death as payment for their own sins. God sees perfection all over you if you have believed in Jesus. Why? Because Jesus covered you. He placed His robe of perfection over your soiled life and satisfied in the eyes of God all that was wrong with you, making you right and perfect in every way. There is no other way to have access to this kind of righteousness, and, for those who have it, there is no greater gift we can receive.