WWUTT 1306 A Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offense (Romans 9:30-33)

The Jews tried to attain righteousness by keeping the law, and they failed. The Gentiles did not pursue righteousness, but they attained it. How? By faith in Jesus Christ, when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness. Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Romans 9 Begins and Ends with Israel and the Gentiles

Thank you, Becky. Going to be a little quicker lesson today, but we still have one small portion to finish up in our study of Romans 9. I'm going to begin by reading verses 30 through 33. 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.

We bring to a conclusion here Romans 9, finishing up by summarizing the way that we started. Do you remember how Romans 9 began? Because Paul brings it home here at the end of the chapter. He comes back to the way that Romans 9 started.

Let's look at that so this keeps in mind for us, refreshes in our mind what we're reading about here, why he concludes Romans 9 this way. We've talked about predestination. We've talked about God's elect, how he chooses some for salvation and the rest for wrath and how this decision has been made long before any of us were ever even born.

That's the focus in Romans 9 for us a lot of times because there's no other chapter in the Bible where that concept is fleshed out as well as it is in Romans 9. But again, don't forget the way that we started.

Let's go back here. Romans 9 verse 1, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart 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.

They are the Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises to them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all blessed forever.

Amen. Now verse 6, but it is not as though the word of God has failed for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel and not all our children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

That means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. Remember that that's the way that Paul started Romans 9 and this was coming off the heels of Romans 8 where he says that no one will be separated from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

So the objector to that statement would say, oh yeah, well then what about Israel? Most of the Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Christ. Does that mean that God's purpose of election has not been achieved?

If he chose the Israelites to be his people, does that mean that his choosing was not accomplished since they all fell away? No, because again, this means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring in order that God's purpose of election might continue not because of works, but according to him who calls.

That's in verse 11. So we understand that God's people are a spiritual people. They are not an ethnic people. You cannot look at a person who is descended from the line of Abraham and say that person is chosen by God.

It's not based on ethnicity. It is based upon God who is the one who has chosen. And you know that a person is chosen when they have repented of sin and turn from the ways of this world and they follow in Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul again said to the Thessalonians, we know that you have been chosen by God because when you heard the gospel of Christ, you believed it. That's how we know you have been chosen. Not because you were led out of slavery in Egypt, but because you've been led out of slavery to sin.

Righteousness by Faith, Not by Works

Let's go to Romans nine 30, where Paul now asks, as he's bringing to a conclusion, everything that he's laid out here in Romans nine, he says in verse 30, what shall we say then? Now this is different than the way that Paul is phrased this question earlier.

Verse 14, Romans nine 14. What shall we say then? He'll ask that question and then he follows it up with another question. Is there injustice on God's part by no means? But here he says, what shall we say then?

And then what follows is not another question. He's stating something here that's matter of fact, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it. That is a righteousness that is by faith.

They didn't pursue righteousness. So how did they, how did they achieve this righteousness that is by faith? Because God has chosen again, verse 22. What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

Even us whom he has called not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles. So bearing that in mind, what shall we say then? We shall say this, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it.

That is a righteousness that is by faith. They weren't after righteousness, but they've achieved righteousness. How? By faith in Jesus Christ and that righteousness has been imputed to them. Going back to Romans 3 verse 21, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe everyone who believes in Jesus receives this righteousness manifested apart from the law, the law and the prophets bear witness to it, but it is attained not by doing the law.

It is attained by faith in Jesus. And then the righteousness he has is imputed to us by faith. That's how the Gentiles attained this righteousness. They were not after it. They did not pursue it. It is because God was merciful again, as he said to Moses recalled in verse 15, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

And then verse 18, so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills. So the Gentiles that have attained this righteousness by faith, they've attained it because God has shown mercy to Gentiles through the hearing of the gospel of Christ.

They have repented of sin. They believe in Jesus and therefore they've received this righteousness that comes by faith. Verse 31, but Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

So here's the concluding statement again, that Paul lays down as he is bringing home what he has been teaching here in Romans nine, once again, verse 30 Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it.

That is a righteousness that is by faith, but Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. So there's his concluding statement. The Gentiles attained it by faith.

The Jews did not attain it because they tried to achieve it by their works. And that's the response he gives then in verse 32. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works, they have stumbled over the stumbling stone and first Peter two, eight says they were destined to this.

Jesus is the stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. God has predestined to some for glory and some for wrath. And those that stumble upon the stone who are broken by it, who do not attain righteousness because they could not do it by their works, who fall under the judgment of God instead of being raised by the mercy of God.

These persons were predestined for this. They were destined to stumble in their disobedience because as it says, again, God has endured with much patience, vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.

There is a purpose for both to demonstrate the glory of God. He will display his glory by pouring out his wrath on those who have been destined for judgment, and he will display his glory by pouring out mercy on those who are destined to for eternal life with Christ.

This is by God's choosing for he has mercy on whom he wills. And it's because God had mercy on Gentiles that they received a righteousness by faith. As I've shared with you many times before, even faith itself is not our work, but it is the work of God.

The Law, the Gospel, and the Righteousness of Christ

Ephesians 2, 8, it is by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not your own doing. There's no part of that that's your own doing. The grace, the salvation, or the faith, you did none of those things.

You contributed nothing to your salvation, but the sin that made it necessary. God gave his son for you. He left his throne in heaven. He lived a perfect life. He kept the law perfectly. You could not have done that.

You cannot attain righteousness by your works. The Israelites are our example for that, and we'll talk about that some more even as we go on in Romans 10 and 11 as well. The Israelites show to us that we cannot attain righteousness even by keeping the law of God when we know what the law of God is.

We still can't attain righteousness that way, not by our works, but by him who calls. Jesus kept the law. He became that spotless sacrifice, the Lamb of God given for the sin of the world. His blood spilled on the cross for our sins.

That all who believe in him, your sins are atoned for, and you have received justification pardoned by the mercy of God. Jesus rose again from the grave, conquering death for us, so that even the grave itself has been overcome by the mercy of God toward us, so that whoever believes in Jesus will not perish under the judgment of God that comes against all the unrighteousness of man.

We read about back in Romans 1, but we are forgiven our sins. We even wear the righteousness of Christ that we may have fellowship with God now, and what is promised for us is an eternal, imperishable, incorruptible kingdom where we will dwell with God in his glory forever.

God did that for you. You did nothing to acquire that. God was merciful toward you and gave his son for you. What shall we say then? The 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.

Now understand something about the law. The law is not bad, and Paul had already put that argument in its grave back in Romans chapter 6. What shall we say then? That the law is bad? No. No, by no means.

The law is good. It is given to us by God. It reveals his holy and righteous character. But the law becomes an enemy to you when you either disobey it, you know what the law says and you decide to do the opposite, or you try to attain righteousness by keeping it.

When those are your two approaches to the law, either by rejecting it or thinking that you can be saved by your own works according to it, then the law is bad because you will be judged by that law and you will perish under that law.

But when you recognize that you could not keep that law, when you had sinned against God, you see in the law that you had sinned against God. What I deserve, when I look into this perfect righteous moral law and I see that I've transgressed against it, I come to an understanding that what I deserve is the judgment of God.

Then your eyes are opened to see that you need a savior. You need mercy. You need compassion here because there's nothing that you can do to overcome the justice that you deserve since you disobeyed the law of God.

And then it's in that condition of recognizing your own sin, that humbleness, that contrite spirit that the gospel of Christ is now good news to you because you hear a substitute has been given for you.

Jesus died for you so that by faith in him, you're washed clean. Your debts are paid for. Paid in full is what the word tetelesti means. We have it translated in John as it is finished. As it says in the book of Colossians, Christ canceled the record of debt against you by nailing it to the cross.

His blood spilled for us covers over our sins. It's our transgressions against the law. And then the law is good to us. When we realize we've been forgiven our sins against that law, and now we can live in righteousness according to that law, because it's not based on our works.

It's based on him who has accomplished it. Remember again, back to Romans chapter three, verse 31. Do we then overthrow the law by faith? Do we overthrow the law by our faith? No, by no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law.

So when we get to Romans six, verse 14, it says, sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under the law, but under grace. That does not mean that you don't have to pay attention to the law anymore.

Well, the law doesn't pertain to me. Look, if the law doesn't pertain to you, then cut Psalm 119 out of your Bible and throw it away because it has no meaning or significance to you whatsoever. If it means that the law does not pertain to us to any degree, because Psalm 119 is a love song to God for his law.

We can look into the law of God and we rejoice to read it because we see the righteousness of God that is there. And we even come to understand what Christ has accomplished for us so that we may walk in righteousness before him.

But how do we know what it means to walk in righteousness before God? We have it according to his commandments. Now you know how to live in this world according to the command of God. And you can do so without the burden of feeling like you have to keep this perfectly.

And if you fail at any point, then you've fallen out of your salvation because you realize your salvation was never dependent upon you keeping that law in the first place. Your salvation is upon Christ who accomplished this law.

And you don't rejoice in your works, but his. And we have attained this righteousness by faith, not by works of the law. You try to attain righteousness by works of the law and you will fail just as Israel did.

If you try to attain righteousness apart from the law, like like doing something, doing your own righteousness. So it's apart from Christ and it's apart from the law. Well, you're then you're going to fail like the Gentiles who did not believe those pagans who have continued on in their paganism and have not repented and believed in Christ.

But those who believe in Jesus by faith, we are justified. We are being sanctified. We are glorified. We will enter into glory forever with him because we realize that it is not based upon our works, but Christ.

Those who do not recognize this, who do not realize this, have stumbled over the stumbling stone as they were destined to do. For 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. Whoever does not believe in Jesus, well, they're very offended by Jesus. They're offended by the law. They're offended by things that we say are in the Bible because Christ is the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense.

So of course, they're going to be offended by our faith. But we have no reason to be ashamed of that which we believe in when we have put our trust in Christ who conquers all, who reigns victoriously over all, in whom our eternity is secure.

We have no reason to be put to shame. We are not put to shame before God. So what can man do to us? That's our conclusion of the study of Romans 9. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, your mercies are new every morning, and we need your mercy today that you forgive us of our sin and lead us in righteousness this day.

After Christ our Savior, who modeled this righteousness for us, purchased it for us, gave it to us, modeled it for us, that we may walk after him wearing this newness of life that we've been given by the mercy of God.

Let us never think too highly of ourselves, thinking that we have done something to achieve this, but God has done so for us through his perfect Son that we may walk in righteousness before you as holy and pleasing sacrifices unto the Lord.

This is our spiritual act of worship. Lead us this day we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

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