The Dangerous Path of Unbelief Rom 9:30 - 10:12

Good Morning FE, we are glad you are here this morning, for those watching online thank you for watching, we hope you have a chance to visit us in person. We are continuing our journey through Romans 9 and Paul is continuing his answer to the question, If nothing can separate us from the love of God, what about Israel? Why have they not come to faith in Jesus?

Two weeks ago we learned those who are from the nation of Israel are not all Abraham’s offspring, those who trust in Christ for rightousness, they are Abraham’s offspring. Last week, Pastor Alfredo walked us through the Sovereign Plan of God in the those he chooses, which is what we call the doctrine of election. If you weren’t here last week, jump on line and listen to the podcast of the message.

This week we will see the dangerous path of unbelief, we will discover Israel’s unbelief led them on a pursuit with out faith, passion without knowledge, and because of their unbelief, Christ became a stone of stumbling for them instead of Christ for rightousness. Let’s read Romans 9 together starting from verse 30,

Romans 9:30–33 ESV

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 30 ¿Qué diremos entonces? Que los gentiles, que no iban tras la justicia, alcanzaron justicia, es decir, la justicia que es por fe; 31 pero Israel, que iba tras una ley de justicia, no alcanzó esa ley. 32 ¿Por qué? Porque no iban tras ella por fe, sino como por obras. Tropezaron en la piedra de tropiezo, 33 tal como está escrito: He aquí, pongo en Sión una piedra de tropiezo y roca de escandalo; y el que crea en Él no será avergonzado. 

Paul says let me sum it up for you, the Gentiles, which refer to everyone who is not part of the Nation of Israel. The Gentiles, who we read about in Romans 1 18ff fell into all kinds of perversion and sin, the Gentiles, through their conscience, knew what they were doing wrong but did it any way, they pursued sin but found righteousness by faith, they attained righteousness, not because of anything they have done, but because of the Sovereign love of God in the redeeming actions of Jesus and they trusted Christ for righteousness. When you read rightousness, in this context, Paul is using it as a synonym for Salvation. Which is what we have been talking about in Romans 9, why have many people from the nation of Israel travelled down the dangerous path of unbelief. Which Paul says at the beginning of chapter 9, if you are going to be Abraham’s offspring it is through God’s Sovereign plan to show mercy and through that mercy we are resurrected to life to believe in Jesus by which we become a child of promise. Gentiles, have been responding to the Gospel and many churches are being planted, while many people from the nation of Israel do not believe. Why? The first reason Paul gives is because they have a

Pursuit Without Faith

Paul tells us they pursued a law which should have lead to rightousness, but did not succeed. Why?

Because their pursuit was without faith. The law, the prophets, the writings which refers to the psalms and other wisdom books of the Bible, were written to proclaim a messiah is coming, they were written to point to Christ, Jesus said “you search the Scriptures (OT), for in them you think you have eternal life and these are which testify of me. But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life” The Revelation of God in the OT was intended to lead people to respond to God in faith, the law was designed to make us cry out “God I can’t follow the law without your help, Lord your law shows me I am sinner, change my heart, help me to pursue you and trust you.” Yet, instead of responding to God in faith, the law was turned into a way to attain salvation, in so doing they never reached obtained it, and the very law that points to Jesus is used to reject Jesus because they turned it into a works based salvation, they used the law to gain a self righteousness which leads to destruction.

Some you may be pursuing God without faith in Jesus, you may be travelling down that dangerous road of unbelief, you may not be an atheist in thought but you are an atheists in life. Meaning you may believe in God, you may even believe the Bible is God’s word, you may believe in Jesus, but you live like you don’t. The unbelief Israel was dealing with, was unbelief in Jesus as the messiah for righteousness. They thought they they were ok because they pursued the law, they were thinking I am a good person, which Paul points out in Romans 3 that no one is good, no not one. They may have been thinking I am doing the right things, i don’t steal, kill or lie so I am ok, I follow most of the commandments, I am doing good, God will look at my life and I think I have done enough good that it outweighs my bad. Some of you may think the same way here today and Jesus response to you will be the same “But you are not willing to come to me that you may have life” and instead of Jesus becoming the rock of salvation, Jesus is a rock of offense, the stone you stumble over. This truth breaks Paul’s heart and drives Paul to pray for his countrymen.

Romans 10:1–4 ESV

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Hermanos, el deseo de mi corazón y mi oración a Dios por ellos es para su salvación. 2 Porque yo testifico a su favor de que tienen celo de Dios, pero no conforme a un pleno conocimiento. 3 Pues desconociendo la justicia de Dios y procurando establecer la suya propia, no se sometieron a la justicia de Dios. 4 Porque Cristo es el fin de la ley para justicia a todo aquel que cree. 

We see this leads Paul to pray for Israel, and what is Paul praying for? Paul is praying for their salvation. Paul wants them to come to faith in Jesus, he wants them to see the truth, he wants them to know Gods grace and live for God’s glory. Are you praying for those who do not know Jesus? If not why not?

Paul is praying for his countrymen because they are on the dangerous path of unbelief, they have a pursuit with out faith in Jesus. Paul also says this dangerous path of unbelief has led them to a

Passion without Knowledge

This is very interesting, because if many of us were to diagnose the people of Israel, we would not think they lack knowledge, Paul explained to us at the beginning of this chapter the spiritual privilege the nation of Israel has been blessed with, we would not think that knowledge was their problem. Yet Paul said they had passion for God, but not according to knowledge. Paul knows this because it was true of him, Paul was a persecutor of the church until the day he was converted. He had zeal/passion with out knowledge.

What does Paul mean without knowledge?

They were ignorant of the rightousness of God. Having the revelation of God, they refused to see how the OT revelation of God pointed to Jesus and because they refused to see the connection, their path of unbelief led them to create their own way to earn God’s righteousness. They followed that dangerous path of unbelief and created their own way of salvation, their own way to get to God, they depended on their self-rightousness and rejected God’s means of salvation through faith in Jesus.

Many of us do the same thing, we buy into different teachings, philosophies, and ideologies because we simply do not want to follow Jesus. The path of unbelief leads us to believe in other ways that we can earn rightousness, earn a salvation, a way that helps us feel good about ourselves and fools us into thinking, “I Am Ok”. The reason we do this is because we were created for worship, we were created to worship God and live for his glory, and when we reject the true way of salvation through faith in Jesus, we replace it with the worship of other things, a passion without knowledge.

What is the answer?

JESUS! JESUS is the answer.

Paul says “For Christ is the end of the law for rightousness to all who believe.” Jesus is the answer, Jesus is the goal of the law, the law, the OT all pointed to Christ for rightousness to all who believe. Paul has said it over and over in Romans, faith in, putting our trust in the Sovereign love of God in the redeeming actions of Jesus is the way, the truth and life. It is through knowledge of Jesus, his work, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension and that knowledge applied to our lives through faith and trust in Jesus is how we are saved. Look at what Paul says in verses 5-7,

Romans 10:5–7 ESV

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 5 Porque Moisés escribe que el hombre que practica la justicia que es de la ley, vivirá por ella. 6 Pero la justicia que es de la fe, dice así: No digas en tu corazón: «¿Quién subirá al cielo?» (esto es, para hacer bajar a Cristo), 7 o «¿Quién descenderá al abismo?” (esto es, para subir a Cristo de entre los muertos). 

Paul quotes Moses from two different passages, Leviticus 18:5 and Deuteronomy, the Leviticus passage is quoted first in Romans which states if a person does the commandments he shall have life. Which is what Paul said in Romans, anyone who can follow the God’s commands faithfully, without sin, will have life forever. But there is a problem, what’s the problem? There is no one who can, because we are all radically corrupted by sin.

Then Paul quotes Deuteronomy 30,

Deuteronomy 30:11–14 ESV

“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. 11 Este mandamiento que yo te ordeno hoy no es muy difícil para ti, ni fuera de tu alcance. 12 No está en el cielo, para que digas: «¿Quién subirá por nosotros al cielo para traérnoslo y hacérnoslo oír a fin de que lo guardemos». 13 Ni está más allá del mar, para que digas: «¿Quién cruzará el mar por nosotros para traérnoslo y para hacérnoslo oír, a fin de que lo guardemos?». 14 Pues la palabra está muy cerca de ti, en tu boca y en tu corazón, para que la guardes. 

At this point in Deuteronomy, the people are about to enter the promise land, and before they do there is this a rereading or repreaching of the law, which is why the book is called Deuteronomy, which is literally translated 2nd law, and there is a call to commitment, will you follow the law, if you do, these are the blessings you will receive, if you dont these are the curses that will come upon you.

Then Moses goes on to say it isn’t far off that you need to ascend the heavens to get it or it isn’t over the sea that you need to go get it, but the commandment is here, before you, and if you commit to following this word it will be in your mouth and heart and you can do it.

Why does Moses say this commandment is not too hard for you? Why isn’t hard? Was Moses talking about works?

No! Moses was talking about receiving the Revelation of God through faith. The message of Moses is we didn’t do anything to receive this revelation from God, God chose Israel out of the many nations to receive this revelation, we didn’t have to ascend to heaven to earn it or cross the seas to find it, the Lord has reveled it to us so that we can live by faith, trust in him to accomplish what he said he would accomplish in his Revelation of the law. Now fast forward to Paul as he is writing to the Christians in Rome in our passage in Romans, Paul takes the word commandments, which is the Revelation of God, and replaces the word commandments, with Christ, who is the revelation of God in the flesh.

What does Paul say?

Romans 10:5–7 ESV

But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). Pero la justicia que es de la fe, dice así: No digas en tu corazón: «¿Quién subirá al cielo?» (esto es, para hacer bajar a Cristo), 7 o «¿Quién descenderá al abismo?” (esto es, para subir a Cristo de entre los muertos).

Paul is saying there is nothing you can do, or there is nothing you did to bring Christ down, nothing you can do or nothing you did to raise Christ from the dead. The righteousness provided for us in Christ is a work of the Sovereign love of God accomplished through the redeeming acts of Jesus. Paul is saying, the righteousness based on faith, is trust in the accomplished work of Jesus, it doesn’t try to earn salvation, because there is no way we could ever do that. This is why Jesus says “come to me all who are heavy laiden and burdened and I will give you rest, my yoke is easy and my burden is light” because the burden of my salvation is not dependent on my law keeping, it is dependent on Jesus’ law keeping, my righteousness is not dependent on how good I am, it is dependent on how good Jesus is. That is why it’s not hard, because it is God who will accomplish the work from beginning to the end, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” Paul tells those in Phillipi.

Paul continues,

Romans 10:8–13 ESV

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 8 Mas, ¿qué dice? Cerca de ti está la palabra, en tu boca y en tu corazón, es decir, la palabra de fe que predicamos: 9 que si confiesas con tu boca a Jesús por Señor, y crees en tu corazón que Dios le resucitó de entre los muertos, serás salvo; 10 porque con el corazón se cree para justicia, y con la boca se confiesa para salvación. 11 Pues la Escritura dice: Todo el que cree en Él no será avergonzado. 12 Porque no hay distinción entre judío y griego, pues el mismo Señor es Señor de todos, abundando en riquezas para todos los que le invocan; 13 porque: Todo aquel que invoque el nombre del Señor será salvo. 

This word that is near you, is the Gospel that Paul has been proclaiming to Rome and to us through the letter written called Romans. The Gospel is the word of faith that is proclaimed. Notice the importance of the mouth and heart, both to Moses and Paul, the mouth proclaims what the heart believes. Some try to separate the mouth and heart, but belief in the heart and confession of faith are two sides of the same coin. On one side of the coin you have the work of new life in a heart, the work of God of taking a dead heart and bringing it to life. On the flip side of the coin you have confession of faith which is Jesus is Lord of my life, I no longer live but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in flesh belongs to Him. When the Gospel is preached, God uses the message of the gospel to bring to life a dead heart and when the dead heart is alive to God, if confesses and submits to Jesus as Lord in all areas. The confession is a reflection of what is happening in the heart. Paul’s message is we must

Trust in the Gospel, which is Christ for rightousness, and you will be saved and not be put to shame.

Here is the interesting point in all this, the Bible says God will have mercy on who he will have mercy on. I don’t know who that is, you don’t know who that is. Which is why we preach the Gospel to all, the Jew and Gentile. But as you think through our passage today, who is responsible for Israel’s unbelief? Israel!

This is called an antinomy, where two things which seemed opposed two each other. On one hand we have the Sovereignty of God in salvation and in the other we have human responsibility. Both are true, God is sovereign in salvation and humanity will be held accountable for their belief or unbelief in Jesus. Both are true and clearly explained and you ask how is that possible? My answer is I don’t know, what I do know is the Scripture teaches both truths. But there is a more important question some of you may need to deal with hear this morning, will I trust in the Sovereign love of God in the redeeming actions of Jesus or will I continue down the dangerous path of unbelief?

The Gospel message is Come to Jesus, and trust in him as Lord, believe and trust that he lived the perfect life in your place, he died and took the wrath of God in your place and he rose again from the dead to solidify salvation and he is in heaven now interceding for those who trust in him. The invitation is come to Jesus and I will give you eternal life, I will give you rest. Come to Christ and give up your unbelief, give up your pursuit without faith in Jesus, Give up the passion without knowledge and come to Jesus, he is near, give up trusting in your own ways, run to Jesus, believe in your heart and confess with your mouth and you will be saved and everyone who believes will not be put to shame. If that is you this morning and you would love to talk more about what it means to follow Jesus, there are many people here who would love to have that conversation with you. Lets pray!