ISRAEL’S PLACE IN GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION PART 4 – ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF DOES NOT CHANGE GOD’S REQUIREMENT OF FAITH (Romans 9:30-33)
INTRODUCTION:
Last week we departed from our study in Romans to honor our fathers. We looked at an event in the life of Abraham where he demonstrated his faith in God by obedience to the Word of God, by acting by faith to do what God had commanded, by hoping by faith will full assurance that God would be faithful to His promises, by faith he was willing to sacrifice his only son for something even better, and finally his faith was demonstrated by his worship of the God who provides. Abraham’s faith in God and God’s promises to Him, that God would send a Savior who would be a descendant of Abraham and a blessing to the whole world, it was this faith in God that was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
As we come back to Romans nine this morning and look at the fourth and final part of this chapter where we have been looking at Israel’s place in God’s plan of redemption and more specifically we have been looking at how Israel’s unbelief and rejection of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ is consistent with God’s plan. So far, we have seen that Israel’s unbelief does not change God’s promises made to the nation of Israel, the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel) and then later on to David. Israel’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus Christ does not nullify the promises, they will still be fulfilled in the future. Israel’s unbelief and rejection does not change God’s person, He remains righteous and just as He always has been righteous and just and through His sovereign election He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires and as creatures of His creation we have no right to question this sovereign choice of His, no more than a clay vessel has a right to question why the potter made the vessel like he did, that was the sovereign choice of the potter. God will be glorified through both the righteous and the unrighteous. The first because in mercy and grace He chose them beforehand for His glory, the later because His glory will be demonstrated in His wrath and power as He judges sin. Then two weeks ago we looked at the fact that Israel’s unbelief and rejection of the Messiah was revealed by God to the Old Testament prophets, and that God always reserves a remnant of Israel that are true believers and in the end it will be this remnant on the earth that will be saved when Jesus Christ, the Messiah of Israel returns a second time to this earth and sets up His earthly, millennial kingdom. Israel’s unbelief and rejection did not catch God off guard, rather He revealed it to the prophets centuries before they rejected Jesus Christ.
Finally, this morning in the fourth and final part of chapter nine that deals with the unbelief of Israel Paul again returns to the requirement of faith for salvation and Israel’s unbelief does not change this requirement of faith to become righteous before God. Let’s pray and then get into our final section of this chapter.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles again this morning to Romans 9:30-33, Paul’s summary of this chapter, the reason that the nation of Israel does not believe and has rejected the Savior, the Messiah Jesus Christ. If you are able, please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 9:30-33,
“What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” (Romans 9:30–33, NASB95)[1]
GOD’S REQUIREMENT OF FAITH
In this fourth part of this chapter Paul seeks to make the point that God’s requirement of faith as a means of righteousness does not go in any way against His plan of redemption, but from the very beginning has been inseparably required for salvation, it was a part of His plan of redemption since its inception.
We have already talked about the fact that this requirement of faith does not violate or go against God’s sovereignty. By God’s own sovereign word, God’s plan of salvation by grace can only be applied when it is willingly received by faith in Jesus Christ. John MacArthur writes, “In regard to salvation, the other side of divine sovereignty is human responsibility. From the human standpoint there is a tension, even a seeming contradiction, between those two realities. By human reasoning, they seem mutually exclusive. But both of them are clearly taught in God’s Word, and when one is emphasized to the exclusion of the other the gospel is invariably perverted. By His own determination, God cannot save a person who does not believe in His Son, and a person cannot save himself simply by the act of his own will, no matter how sincere and heartfelt. In God’s sovereign order, both His gracious provision and the exercise of man’s will are required for salvation.”[2] While as humans with finite minds and flawed reasoning due to sin we cannot fully understand this truth or other truths that seem impossible like the Trinity and the incarnation, but because they are clearly taught in Scripture we accept them by faith.
RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH (Romans 9:30)
Paul open this final part of this chapter with the words, “What shall we say then?” (Romans 9:30a, NASB95)[3] He uses this phrase to indicate that he is about to sum up everything that he has said in this chapter, this is his conclusion on the subject of Israel’s unbelief and rejection of the Messiah being consistent with God’s plan of redemption. Israel’s unbelief and rejection has not changed God’s plan in any way because their unbelief and rejection were not a surprise but were known by God from the very beginning. So, in the four verses remaining in this chapter Paul will give us his conclusion on this matter of Israel’s unbelief.
Paul then begins with the Gentiles who have been saved by grace through faith. Understand that Paul is not teaching something new, he is not suggesting that Gentiles are saved differently than Jews. Paul by beginning with Gentiles in his conclusion is declaring for us the human requirement of salvation that has been from the beginning, as I already stated, from the inception of the plan of redemption faith is and always has been the only means of attaining the righteousness that is necessary for salvation. Paul is declaring that Godly righteousness is by faith. He had already spent a good deal of time on this topic in chapters 3-5 beginning with Abraham and showing that he was justified or declared righteous because of his faith in God. Paul wrote in Romans 4:3, “For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” (Romans 4:3, NASB95)[4]
Paul writes, “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;” (Romans 9:30, NASB95)[5] This word translated “pursue” is a word that means to run with haste after someone or something, to chase something to catch it. It can also be used to describe one who is earnestly seeking to obtain a much-wanted goal or objective, such as someone pursing the career of his dreams. Paul’s point is that the Gentiles did not pursue righteousness as the Jews did by their reliance on the fact that they were Jews, descendants of Abraham and by their good works in obedience to the Law. The Gentiles did none of this and they attained righteousness by faith. Paul is trying to show his Jewish readers that no person in all of history at any time has been saved by any other means, but faith exercised in response to God’s grace in calling a sinner to salvation. Go to Hebrews 11 and beginning with Abel and down through the ages to the prophets, men were justified, were declared righteous, became right with God, “gained approval through their faith.” (Hebrews 11:4-39) As I already mentioned Paul earlier in chapter four had made abundantly clear that Abraham, the father of all who believe, was saved by faith which God credited as righteousness and God declared him righteous before He required Abraham to be circumcised and long before the giving of the Law through Moses. It is because he was declared righteous before circumcision and the Law that Abraham is the father of all who believe, both Jew and Gentile.
As I already stated, the Gentiles did not of their own natural desire seek after God’s righteousness through faith. No one, neither Jew nor Gentile seeks after God by his own independent choice. Paul had already made that clear back in chapter three where he wrote God indictment against us, in Romans 3:9-12 Paul wrote, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.’” (Romans 3:9–12, NASB95)[6] No one seeks God by his own volition but is drawn and called by God through grace. It is God who pursues us so that we might respond to His gracious call by faith in His Son, Jesus Christ and attain the righteousness that is by faith.
When the good news of salvation by grace through faith in Christ was proclaimed, many more Gentiles responded to the Gospel message, than Jews. As I already mentioned the Jews thought they were already righteous, they thought that the fact that they were descendants of Abraham and because of their works righteousness that they had already attained righteousness. If any thing will keep you from salvation it is self-righteousness, if you think you are already righteous by your own doing you have no need for the gospel of God’s grace through faith.
RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT BY WORKS (Romans 9:31-33)
Paul after concluding the Gentiles attained God’s righteousness by faith, now turns to his fellow Jews to tell them why they had not attained righteousness. He writes in verse 31, “…but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.” (Romans 9:31, NASB95)[7] Paul’s point in this verse is that pursuing God’s righteousness by human effort is a wasted effort. No one can attain the righteousness of God by his own effort or his own “good works” because as humans everything that we do is tainted by sin and we will always fall short of God’s perfect and holy standard. As Paul had already proclaimed in Romans 3:23, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, NASB95)[8] It does not matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile if you pursue God’s righteousness by “good works” you will fail, no person by human effort can “arrive at that law.” In other words, no one, not even one can fulfill the law perfectly which is what you have to do to be declared righteous. Because of our sin it is impossible, there is only One who fulfilled the law perfectly and that was our Savior, the sinless Lord Jesus Christ. Then He went to the cross and took our sin upon Himself and suffered God’s wrath against sin and paid the penalty for sin by dying in our place.
Paul goes on in the following verse to describe why the self-righteous Jew did not arrive at that law. He writes in verse 32, “Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.” (Romans 9:32a, NASB95)[9] He asks, “Why?” Why did they not arrive at the law, why did they not fulfill the law perfectly? Because the only way to fulfill it perfectly is by faith, faith in Jesus Christ that He fulfilled it perfectly and paid the penalty required for our sin. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, believing that He died for us, that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead on the third day, then we are identifying with Him and His righteousness is credited, reckoned, imputed to us and we stand clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The Jews pursued the law of righteousness not by faith, the only way it can be fulfilled, but as though it were by works. They believed that it was something that they had to fulfill by their own effort not understanding that it is not possible. Paul writing to the Galatians about this very subject wrote these words in Galatians 3:21-24, “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:21–24, NASB95)[10] Paul writes here that the purpose of the law was to lead us to Christ, it was like a sign pointing us in the right direction, a teacher or a tutor guiding us to the right answer, it was to lead us to Christ so that by faith in Him we might be justified, declared righteous in Him. For anyone, Jew or Gentile, there is only one way of salvation, there is only one way in which we can be declared righteous by God and that is to agree with God that you are a sinner and that there is absolutely nothing that you can do to merit His favor, nothing that you can do to earn salvation, that you are completely helpless as you come before God asking for His mercy and grace as in faith you put your trust in Jesus Christ. The Jews of Paul’s day right up through the present were angered by the gospel of God grace made effective by faith, this angered them because it made their works righteousness worthless by which they thought they were pleasing God. Paul writes in the rest of verse 32 and all of 33, “They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” (Romans 9:32b–33, NASB95)[11] Paul had told the Corinthians years before he penned the letter of Romans these words in 1 Corinthians 1:22-23, “For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,” (1 Corinthians 1:22–23, NASB95)[12] Christ crucified was a stumbling block for the Jews, this was not there idea of the Messiah.
Two weeks ago we looked at the fact that centuries before Christ came and went to the cross to die for the sins of the world, God had predicted through the Old Testament prophets that the nation of Israel would reject the Messiah. God’s Word was confirmed when that is exactly what happened. This quote in verse 33 is from Isaiah and as he declared, and Paul declared first to the Corinthians and now to the Romans the nation of Israel tripped over the stumbling stone, refusing to receive the Lord Jesus as their Messiah, not recognizing Him for who He truly was. He was and is the stone of stumbling and the rock of offense to Israel because Jesus Christ did not fit what they understood the Messiah to be, He was a suffering servant and not a conquering king. He was and is the rock of offense to Israel because He declared their works righteousness to be worthless, of no value to them, that they had fallen short of God’s perfect and holy standard. The prophet Daniel was taken to Babylon when God brought judgment on Israel in the Old Testament. He also prophesied of a stone that represented the Messiah, this stone over who the Jews stumbled and the rock that offended them is the same stone that will one day crush all the kingdoms of the world when Jesus Christ returns to set up His millennial kingdom on earth. On that day the remnant of Israel will recognize that they stumbled over their Messiah, that they were offended by Him and they killed Him.
Isaiah goes on in this verse quoted by Paul in Romans 9:33 and says that the one who believes in Him, in the stone of stumbling, in the Messiah, the one who places His faith in Jesus Christ will not be disappointed. He will be declared righteous, his sins will be forgiven, and he will have eternal life, and all this to the glory of God who made this salvation possible through His grace.
CONCLUSION:
Paul in this chapter has been showing us what Israel’s place in God’s plan of redemption. Specifically, how Israel in her unbelief fits into this plan. We have seen in this chapter that Israel’s unbelief, her lack of faith, her rejection of the Messiah, did not surprise or catch God off guard or in any way cancel out God’s plan. This morning we have seen that His requirement of faith has always been a part of His plan from its inception, His choosing a remnant in Israel for salvation fits in perfectly with His plan because He always knew that only a few would believe in His Son and be saved. He knew it would be that way and He planned it to be that way and that is the way it will turn out and it will be to His glory.
This morning we looked more closely at the human requirement for salvation, man must in faith trust in Jesus Christ to receive God’s gracious provision of salvation and to be declared righteous before God. What was determined before the foundation of the world is fulfilled when man puts His faith in Jesus Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10, NASB95)[13]
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]MacArthur, John, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Romans 9-16. Chicago, IL : Moody Publishers, 1994
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.