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Welcome back to this 5 week mini-series inside our annual series through Romans.
We’ve been walking verse by verse through this book since the beginning of the year and have now come to verse 30 of chapter 9.
Last week we studied the first 29 verses of this chapter and concluded that:
God is God, and I am not.
Although I don’t fully understand His mercy toward me, I will trust Him and praise Him for being my God.
Paul, the author of Romans, emphasized within those 29 verses several crucial truths as we formulate what we believe about God and His dealings with humanity.
Following Paul’s passionate statement in vv.
1-5 of Romans 9, he follows that up with God’s intentional past with Israel.
And although Israel as a whole failed in their purpose of proclaiming God to the rest of the world, we learned of God’s Supreme wisdom and His Sovereign will.
Paul emphasized that because God is God, he has every right to show mercy to whomever He shows mercy and to harden whomever He hardens.
And the mezmerizing truth of all 29 verses is that God has no obligation to show mercy to anyone.
He is not obligated to be merciful, but chooses to be, in spite of the massive unrighteousness of the Jews, and frankly, the massive unrighteousness of us, non-jews.
And in response to this extension of mercy, we stand in awe.
If you are a believer here today, God has chosen to extend His mercy to you.
And in response to that extension of His mercy, you should rejoice with gratitude, because you don’t deserve it - none of us do.
Now, as we touched on last week, there are two parallel truths in Romans 9-11 that to our finite minds bring tension.
These parallel truths of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility are to be approached by faith, believing that although they seem contradictory to us at times, they are not to God, for He is the initiator of both.
So although it seems from our perspective that these rails eventually come in conflict, by nature we know they don’t.
This is helpful as we study and think on the parallel truths of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility.
The Bible teaches both truths, therefore we should believe both.
Now, we come to v. 30 of Romans 9, and find Paul further explaining what we read and studied last week.
He writes:
Here we find Paul emphasizing an important truth.
In essence, what Paul is teaching is that:
1. Righteousness is not attainable through works.
(9:30-33)
Back in vv.
22-24 of chapter 9, God is revealing His power through his patience and makes His glory known through those he shows mercy.
And this show of wrath and mercy, power and glory, is not respective to nationality.
In fact, God’s extension of righteousness is in spite of what many people thought.
Paul says,
Some Non-Jews attained a right standing with God, while some Jews didn’t.
Why, Paul asks in v. 32:
The answer is found in understanding that the deciding factor was not based on the works of either group.
Obviously those who were not jewish, didn’t know the law of God, and therefore didn’t pursue it.
And those who were Jewish, pursued the letter of the law, but completely missed the Spirit and purpose of the Law.
The law’s purpose wasn’t for people to pride themselves in keeping it, because to keep the whole law wasn’t possible.
In fact,
So, we are guilty of all the law, because we are all guilty of at least stumbling in one point.
And we know that the purpose of the law was to point us to Christ.
We read in Gal.
3:24
The Israelites were so focused on their own plan, they tripped over the direct instructions given.
A familiar epedimic is the distraction of phones in our culture.
Something that can be used for instruction and direction, has become an opportunity for distraction and accidents.
Teens
Adults
And as funny as this is, to us who are evil, the part that isn’t funny is how humanity can take something that is good, and turn it against the original intent.
And that’s what Israel did with the Law.
They thought they could work their way to be right with God.
But they couldn’t, and we can’t either.
Jesus came as the fulfillment of the law, and as v. 33 cites Isaiah 28, the directions became a distraction and the purpose became a problem - a stumbling stone.
Righteousness is not attainable through works.
And Paul continues that:
2. Righteousness is not attainable through zeal.
(10:1-4)
Paul again mentions his passion for Israel.
You’ll note that his passion sparked prayer in his heart.
Paul desired that Israel would wake up to their need for Jesus and be saved, and he prayed for them.
And Paul continues in v. 2 and makes mention of their zeal.
Jews were zealous for God.
They were fervent in their pursuit of rituals and ceremonies and against anything that was contrary to their doctrine.
But their zeal, their passion, was not enough.
Zeal must be combined with truth, or it can do more harm than good.
And in v. 3 we see that in clinging to their own way of getting right with God, they did not submit to God at all.
These Jews were zealous.
They were passionate.
They were committed to what they thought was right.
They bettered themselves according to their own moral code.
They pursued God as they thought they should.
And in the midst of all the works and the zeal, they missed the entire point and eventually elevated their own views above the vantage point of God.
You see, friend, a right standing with God is not attained through good works or through passionate zeal.
And Israel is a great example of this.
However, Paul continues and writes that:
3. Righteousness is given to those who have faith in Jesus.
(10:5-13)
vv.
5-7 are a bit obscure, but Paul is emphasizing the accessibilty of righteousness.
No one needs to go to heaven to bring Christ down, or to the abyss to resurrect Christ.
He accomplished everything needed to merit righteousness.
Being made right with God is accessible!
It’s not something that is too far off.
We can’t look at being right with God like we can achieve it on our own (because we are unrighteous), but also, we can’t look at it as too far away (because Christ has brought it near).
In fact, v. 8 says the nearness of the message of faith is as close as your heart and mouth.
Being made right with God through the message of the Gospel is easily accessible and is available to those who will trust what God says.
Being made right with God is not something you need to go to heaven or hell for, Christ already did that for you.
Being made right with God comes down to faith.
And then Paul explains how that faith is manifest in vv.
9-13.
It is important to note that this confession with the mouth is not what merits justification, but is the outward evidence of inward faith.
A grouping of spoken words won’t merit righteousness, faith alone, in Christ alone does.
This confession and belief in the Jesus is based on the known truth of what He has done - that is His substitutionary death and his victorious resurrection.
Saving faith is not mere intellectual agreement, but deep inward trust in Christ at the core of one’s being.
belief and confession lead to salvation.
To believe and to confess involve whole-person commitment.
They are two parts of a single step, just as lifting the foot and then placing it back down are two movements in the one act of taking a step.
v. 11 - those who trust Christ will never be put to shame, they will never be disappointed.
Not in a sense that we won’t face hardship through life, but that those who trust Him are assured he will hold up His end of the deal.
v. 12 - in this beautiful promise of God, highlighting His faithfulness and mercy, we see that it is genuinely offered to all who will submit to Him and call on Him by faith.
The extension of righteousness is not only to a specific group of religious people, but to those who see their need and who believe by faith.
Weekly Focus:
A right standing with God is not based on my works, my zeal, or my past.
Righteousness is extended to the unrighteous through faith in the Gospel.
So friend, Have you responded?
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