OUR FATHER SAVES THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT HE RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD

The book of Romans chapter 10 verses 5 - 13 says this;

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Faith is different from works of the law as a means of producing righteousness because it does not undertake any portion of the salvation process. It neither builds steps up to heaven in self-generated righteousness nor does it build steps down to the hell to devise a way to pay for its own sins but rather, by sincerely believing in the privacy of one's heart, we obtain righteousness and then by confessing to that sincere belief as a testimony to the voluntarily accepted inner belief, justification is obtained.

Belief is the only sincere mental assent that cannot be tampered with to either force it into a person or to force it out of a person.  One cannot, even when great pressure, force one's own self to believe something that they don't voluntarily come to terms with and accept as a belief.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO PROVIDES RIGHTEOUSNESS AND NOT WE OF OURSELVES

Romans chapter 10 verses 1 - 4 says this;

1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

The Apostle Paul mentions the people from whom he came and he testifies to their zeal for God but notes that their zeal is misdirected because they did not understand that the law that they had been under was ultimately a prefiguration of the righteousness of Christ and that He was the fulfilment of the law.

To believe in Christ is then to appropriate His total fulfilment of the law to oneself.

Amen.

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 OUR FATHER WHO LAY IN ZION A STONE ON WHICH MEN STUMBLE

Romans chapter 9 verses 30 - 33  says this;

30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:

“Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,

And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

The apostle Paul, in this passage, discusses the paradox of the Gentiles, who had not been seeking righteousness, through faith in Christ, were ushered into righteousness while the Children of Israel were trying to achieve righteousness by the law but stumbled on the revelation of the Christ who was the fulfilment of the law and through whom righteousness was fulfilled.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO CALLED A PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT HIS PEOPLE

The book of Romans chapter 9 verses 22 - 29   says this;

22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

25 As He says also in Hosea:`

“I will call them My people, who were not My people,

And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,

‘You are not My people,’

There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,

The remnant will be saved.

28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,

Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

29 And as Isaiah said before:

“Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,

We would have become like Sodom,

And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

The Apostle Paul, by referencing scriptures from the old testament, demonstrates that the theology from the beginning was that faith was the fulcrum by which people were restored to righteousness and because this was the universal application, gentiles could be saved and some of the children of Israel could be excluded leaving only a remnant.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO SHOWS MERCY

The book of Romans chapter 9 verses 14 - 21 continues with the Apostle Paul's exposition of the discretion that God reserves for Himself so that the path of  any man is not charted by his own will but rather by the will of God.

The example used here is the story of Pharaoh who was holding God's people in bondage and in his contention with Moses, had his heart hardened by God so that he refused to release the Israelites he was holding even though it was against his own interest.

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” 18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

The metaphor used by Paul to clarify the discretion of God to  do with His own property what He wished is that of a potter who can chose at any juncture to create an earthen vessel for one purpose of honor while being able to make the next one for a common purpose and Paul emphasizes that it is not appropriate for the lump of clay that the potter uses to object to the functions that the potter choses to use it for.

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE PURPOSES ARE BY ELECTION

Romans chapter 9 verses 10 - 13 says this;

10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” 

Paul indicates that the paths of the lives of the two sons of Isaac and Rebecca were an illustration of how being elected for the purposes of God  were not a function of personal actions but rather a predetermined outcome where even Jacob and Esau, who were twins, had the decision of their destiny decided before they had a chance to do any good or evil.

God's calling on the lives of men predates them to even before they were born. 

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD NEVER FAILS

In the book of Romans chapter 9 verse 6 - 9, the Apostle Paul makes clear that membership in the family of God by citizenship under the godly nation of Israel is not guaranteed by genetic descendancy from Abraham and he uses Abraham's son Ishmael's exclusion from the promise God made to Abraham and his offspring as an Illustration of this. 

6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”

Amen.

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OUR FATHER WHO IS PRAISED OVER ALL

Romans chapter 9 verses 1 - 5 captures the Apostle Paul's personal dismay over the rejection of Christ by his own people and he lists the incredibly long and close association that his people have with the story of salvation.

1. Original adoption into sonship
2. Carried God's glory first
3. Carried the covenants
4. Carried the law
5. Supported the temple worship
6. Carried the promises
7. Came from the patriarchs
8. Were the lineage of the Messiah who was God over all.

1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Amen.

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