Sermon Central
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Romans, Part 30 Series
Contributed by T.j. Conwell on Mar 28, 2011 (message contributor)
Summary: Even though Israel disbelieved that Jesus was the Messiah, they are still God's chosen people and we must align with them.
Romans, Part 30
Introduction
- V18 – “Therefore (because of all of this), God has mercy on whom he wants”
- APP: What’s the primary application? God is faithful to His promises!!
-- He is not a God who plays let’s make a deal, nor is it a Burger King mentality
-- We can have it our own way, but in order to be successful it must be His way
- God gives us the answer to everything we would ever need in Jesus Christ
- Stand and read Romans 9:30-33 / Pray
Point 1 – Pursuing and Obtaining Righteousness (30-31)
- This morning, we confirmed that God has already provided the Way for all
- But, this evening we see where Israel will not believe in the Messiah
- However, this is not new information for the Israelites to hear; it is old hat
- The Jews felt very clearly that they were God’s chosen people and they were
- Going back through their lineage we see time and time again the promise given
- APP: How did God chose Israel to be His chosen people?
1. His instructions to mankind, as a whole, had been challenged by a united rebellion of the people against Him at Babel, and He then forcibly confounded their languages and divided them into distinct nations. (Gen 9)
2. His promise of a coming Redeemer to reconcile a lost world to Himself required that God should become man some day and He would thus have to be born into a particular nation and people. (Isa 9:6-7)
3. Such a nation would have to be prepared, both by divine revelation and national experience, to be the nation through which the Savior would come. (Deut 7:7-9)
4. God, therefore, chose one man, Abraham, to establish a new nation through which "all families of the earth would be blessed." (Gen 12:1-3)
- Not only are the people of Israel special and God's chosen people, but the land is also special.
-- In Deut 11:12, "It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end."
- God is working out Israel's salvation from the time of the Old Testament.
- He desired the Messiah to appear there; so the church would be formed there
- APP to us today: Gentiles were chosen because of their faith; not lineage
- Righteousness is imputed to a man who is forgiven; it’s given/charged to us
- Forgiveness is attained through an obedient faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
- When a Gentile obeys the gospel He becomes righteous … NOT before
-- Rom. 6:17-18, “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
- IMP APP: For the Gentile, we have this promise: 1 Pet 2:9, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
- TRANS: Believing takes action – it is a choice to DECIDE to follow
Point 2 – Believing Takes Action (32-33)
- Israel rejected Christ (except for the remnant) because they stumbled over the Stumbling Stone (which is Jesus Christ)
- Israel said they followed the Law of Moses, but they did not keep the Law.
- They violated the Law they professed to follow
- The only hope anyone, Jew or Gentile, had of attaining righteousness was through faith in Christ
- APP: Because He was not what they expected, He was rejected by the Jews
- Thus Paul portrays Christ as the "stone of stumbling"; 1 Cor 1:23 says, “… but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles”
- Jesus will not fail anyone who trusts Him; Matthew 11:6 says, “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”
- So, did Old Testament Israel lose her election?
- As Paul would say, "God forbid!"
- The Old Testament prophesied in many places that a "remnant" would be saved
- So, the important question is … “Who is the remnant?”
- According to Jeremiah 31:31-34, the remnant would be made up of those who -"know the Lord," and whose sins would be forgiven completely
- This is opposite to those under the Old Covenant; see Hebrews 10:1-4
- APP: This was to be made possible through the initiation of a "new covenant"
- This New Covenant was ratified by Jesus at His crucifixion, shown to His disciples in symbolic form in the Last Supper
