Tenth Sunday after Trinity (2026)

Romans 9.30-10.4

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, in all 3 of our lessons this morning we hear the warning that is spoken to God’s people, and that they must repent of their wickedness for what awaits them if they continue in their sins is a dreadful judgment that will fall upon their heads, and even though the Word of God comes to them, they instead persist in their wickedness and witness the destruction of the city and temple of God. We are going to look in particular at the Epistle lesson where St. Paul, who was once ascending the ladder of Judaism, but now looks back and has regret for those who were pursuing righteousness by works, and not by faith.

The Apostle Paul

He refers to himself as one untimely born.

He doesn’t say this in Romans, but in 1 Corinthians for he acknowledges that he was late to the faith, and was an unlikely convert. For many people joke about being the last person that you would expect to see in a church, but if Paul showed up, it would make all of us do a double take.

He hated Christians and persecuted them.

To the point of helping put them to death. He was present with the first martyr Stephen, and held the outer coats of the men who murdered him. After witnessing that, Paul went out and brought more Christians to be put to death. If he walked into their church, they would all be looking for an exit, but at that point it was probably too late, you were going to die for the faith. Yet,

God showed him grace.

When he was on the road to Damascus Jesus appeared to Him and called out to him and asked why Saul, as he was known then, was persecuting Jesus His Lord. Saul was struck blind on the side of the road, and Jesus broke that sinful heart and brought it to life for Christ died even for men like Saul. He spent some time amongst the Christians in Tarsus and Antioch, before going out as an apostle, and

God sent him to the Gentiles.

Previously, Paul wouldn’t have entered their home, wouldn’t have shared a meal with them before, and would have nothing to do with their paganism, but now God sends him into their midst to proclaim the grace, mercy, and love that God has for sinners. It is a great joy for him to proclaim this message until the day of his death as he martyred in Rome. Here in our text, Paul writes of a tragedy that he knows well, that many of his kinsmen, the Israelites, are not saved, for they lack the righteousness that is needed to enter into heaven. But why?

Israel’s Law-Based Righteousness

Israel focused on works.

Paul is one who knew this life well, he was a Pharisee of Pharisees. Well trained and equipped, and he had lived that life of works, and was zealous for what he thought God wanted. Paul had pursued it, and desired to earn God’s love and God’s Favor and yet continued to fall short. Like his kinsmen to this time, but why?

They neglected faith.

That is trust, that belief in God’s Word, and the promises that God had made in His Word. They set those promises aside, because it doesn’t feel like you are doing anything, you need to push harder, you need to work at it to be worthy, and Paul like a good Pharisee, was convinced that He could fulfill the Law of God, and that’s what makes the opening chapters of Romans so astonishing that He a former Pharisee, who was trained by their best acknowledges, the sin that they tried to ignore and cover up, that he admits that the Law wasn’t added to make us righteous but to reveal sin. The problem that plagued the Israelites is that they were

Zealous without Knowledge.

You can have a passion for something, and typically that zeal drives you to learn more about it, but that’s not what was happening. They saw the books, and instead of abiding by what God said, they began to invent their own works, and rules, and figure out ways to twist it away from what God had spoken to follow what they really wanted, which was their own heart. It feels good to be busy especially when that is joined to a purpose. It’s Mary and Martha all over again, Martha was busy with all the work, and then complained when she saw Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet learning from Him. That’s the case for all of us. For what we need doesn’t come from the Law, that is from our works, rather we ought to seek that righteousness of God that is received by faith.

Righteousness by Faith

Righteousness means God declared you’re innocent.

This is an important point that sits as part of the division between the Roman Catholics and the Lutherans. Rome believes that you do/make righteousness and that’s because of the Latin translation of the Bible, uses that latin word, to do/make righteousness but that’s not what the original text says. The original text means to declare someone righteous. God declares that you are Innocent through Jesus Christ as a gift of Grace, and you receive it not by what you do, but by faith, which means trusting/believing that what God said is true.

Why should that happen if you aren’t?

This is scandal of the Cross. Consider for a moment, why do people do Good Works? Well to try and avoid evil, but we all fail so we don’t do it well enough. So the next step is to make up for the wrong that we have done, or at least balance out the scales of our life. That’s where the foolishness is revealed, because you aren’t doing good because its good, you are doing it to avoid trouble. It’s self-serving and not for the benefit of your neighbor. That is why salvation can’t be by works, by the Law, it can only be by faith that hears, the Words of forgiveness and says, Amen. This is why

Salvation is meant for Jew and Gentile.

Both are sinners, both have fallen short of the Law of God whether they had Moses or not, and both are saved in the same way, by the blood that was shed there upon the Cross for them. It is the same way you and I are saved. It isn’t because of the good we have done, we’re sinners, but there upon the Cross is Jesus, the Savior of Sinners, who has called himself your dear friend and traded His life for yours.

The Tragedy and Our Lament

For while this is a great and wonderful gift that has been given to us by God our Father in heaven, and secured by the blood of Jesus. Paul earlier in this chapter says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Rom 9:3

They perish lacking knowledge.

We can understand that sorrow, how many of us have family that we wish would be in the faith? That have fallen into sin, and risk perishing eternally. Who have received the gifts of salvation in Baptism, who learned the Word with us in Confirmation, and Sunday School, but now walk away from the faith, and have laid aside that baptismal garment that covers all their sins. We try talking to them, and it’s vexing because

We recognize the need to be good.

We don’t want to be recognized as evil, and yet when we ask why they would get into heaven, its because they are a good person, they have done a lot of good, etc, they have fallen back on the Law, for their salvation, they no longer look to Christ but the works that they have to offer. It’s what Paul warns about for he knows well that

Self-made righteousness doesn’t save.

It will not get you into heaven, and relying on the Law for your salvation puts you under a curse. For you don’t trust in the Savior of Sinners, you trust in yourself and your works, and that means you will have to stand before the throne of God on your own without God’s grace. You will try to make the defense, but all the excuses will fail because God will compare you with his own holiness to see if you are worthy. I don’t want that for you, and I hope that you don’t want that for others. That’s why we share the hope that is found in Christ alone. We don’t want people to perish and so we share the word, knowing that faith comes by hearing. So what

What Becomes of Works?

Does this mean you just go around doing evil because you are forgiven and get to abuse God’s grace. No! If a judge pardons you from a crime, are you then foolish enough to slap him before you leave the court room? Of course not!

Good works flow from faith.

We were dead in our trespasses and sins and now that we have been brought from death to life we now walk in this new life. If we aren’t doing works to save ourselves which never worked in the first place, now that we don’t need them, who does? Not God, but our neighbor. We show them the love that God has shown to us. It doesn’t save us, but it helps those in need.

Good works don’t make Christians.

This is where people get confused and think that they can work themselves into a state of grace. But what can a person who is dead do, nothing! Works flow forth naturally because the love of God fills our hearts as we look at the mountain of sins and debts that have been covered by Christ, and we have been set free from their awful weight. We flee from them and the death they brought. We recognize that the Law doesn’t save us, it doesn’t convert anyone. Rather

The Gospel changes hearts.

It transforms us from those who are dead in sin to one who is alive, it is not a perfect or instant transformation. Yes, certain sins stop, but when a child is learning to walk, you don’t hate them because they trip or fall, or do something foolish. You come over pick them back up and show them the better path. Someone showed that patience towards us, and used the Law to guide our steps, but they forgave again, and again that we might live.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, we can understand Paul’s concern. We don’t want anyone to perish and be lost, especially when it is a free gift that has been given to us by God above. The trouble is that we long to greet God and get into heaven on our own terms, but all those who try to do that will perish. So let us seek their good, let us proclaim the message of Salvation that saved Saul, that saved the Apostles, and has saved you. For that has the power to convert even the hardest of hearts and bring us to life. In Jesus name. Amen.