The Potter and the Clay: God's Sovereignty in Salvation

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We're going to continue our study here in the book of Romans, and we've been in Romans chapter nine here for a few weeks.

And Lord willing, if.

If the Lord allows for us to do that, we're going to finish Romans 9 today.

And I've really enjoyed this study because it's shown us really the heart of God.

It's shown us that God never fails.

And that's actually something that's carried over from Romans chapter 9.

God's love never fails.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

But if you think about the beginning of Romans chapter 9, the original question was essentially this.

Has God forgotten about his people?

Because remember, Romans 8 is all about nothing can separate us from the love of God.

We're more than conquerors.

God is ever true.

But think about who is reading this letter, this original letter written to the Roman church.

Well, it was people who were Jewish but yet believed in Jesus Christ.

And then there were some Gentiles there.

But remember the, the Jewish people, the.

The people of Israel were thinking, well, God said that we are his people.

But many, most at this time, people that came from Israel, that were Jewish people were not believing in the Messiah.

They had rejected the Messiah.

So from some people's perspective, it almost looked like God had failed in keeping his people with him and, and walking with them and providing for them.

But then what we see here in Romans chapter nine is that Paul says, no, no, no, God has not missed a mark.

This is part of God's plan.

This is, this is the idea that he had mentioned all the way back in the Old Testament about God opening the door.

And God is using Israel rebellion for his glory and for the fact that the door is open to the Gentiles.

If you remember Romans chapter 1, verse 16, the gospel is powerful.

The word of God is powerful.

It can change lives.

It says to the Jew first, but also to the Greek also to the Gentile.

So really what we see here is that Paul is telling us through the inspiration of Scripture, that yes, Israel has for the most part, turned their backs against the Messiah.

It doesn't mean that God has failed.

It essentially means that in this case, God is using Israel's rebellion for his glory, to open up the door for a church that brings people from all nations of the world.

But at the same time, he doesn't close the door on Israel's return, their revival.

And that's what he talks about here in this passage that we're going to talk about here this morning.

And so in Romans chapter nine, we left off last week with a question, verse number 24, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.

And see how it's a question there, because for some people, there was a question mark.

Why would God allow the Gentiles to come in?

We're going to talk more about that later.

But essentially what that means is this.

It was confusing for the people that had had the oracles of God, as Romans chapter three told us.

Remember, the benefit of being a Jew from Israel was that they had the law given to them.

They had the prophets, they had the patriarchs, they had the covenants.

And ultimately what they're saying here is this, can God allow the Jews to come in?

Yes.

But then can he allow the Gentiles to come in?

Well, that was something that was a little bit more offensive to the average person there at that time.

And so he gives this analogy, if you remember last week, he talked about the potter and the clay.

He says, how.

How can the clay question the potter?

How can the clay look up at the potter and say, well, make me this way.

You use me this way, or use us this way.

Essentially what we see is that we have no right to dictate to God how He's working in this world.

We are the creation.

And so the creation cannot tell the Creator what to do.

We are simply to submit ourselves to him and believe that he has the best plan, believe that he has the best purpose.

And so he continues on with this analogy.

And we looked at it last week.

Remember, this is a quote from the Old Testament.

And so it's not a matter of God just makes us what he wants to make us, and we have no choice in the matter.

We see that in both instances in the Old Testament where this verse was quoting, basically said this, Israel has a choice to repent and to turn to Him.

Israel doesn't need to continue on in its pagan ways.

And that's exactly what we see here.

Continued on, he says, look, now it's Jews, not Jews only, but also the Gentiles.

So it's a matter of faith.

And so he leaves us off with a question.

Can God allow the Gentiles to come in.

If you go back just a little bit, verse number 22, I think that we didn't spend a ton of time on this, but I want to make sure that I'm clear in the explanation of verse number 22.

He asked a question.

He says, what if God willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering or patience, the vessel of wrath fitted to destruction?

So basically, what if God allowed for people that were in rebellion to come to repentance?

What?

Why?

What?

What?

Who are we to ask God whether or not he has patience with this person or this person?

And so he says this phrase here, and I think it's important for us to note, he says, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction.

Now, some people read that phrase, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, meaning this God from the beginning of time, picked certain people to destroy just for his glory.

But again, I don't believe that fits into the context of Scripture.

What I think, and I think a great interpretation of this passage would be that that word fitted also could be translated as right or prepared or ready.

So the idea would be this.

People who are in their sin, in their rebellion are ripe, they're prepped, they're ready for destruction, because God's going to bring judgment to those that are in the sin.

But then ultimately it says that God has patience with those even in their rebellion.

And so I think that, that that could be best stated this way in verse number 22, the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction or ready for destruction.

And so God can have the discernment to extend patience to people in rebellion for his purposes.

So, so essentially it's this.

God can use bad people for his glory.

God can use sin for his glory, just like we saw with Pharaoh, just like we saw with Babylon.

Remember, God used a pagan nation to come and overthrow Israel so that they could find judgment and ultimately find repentance.

It doesn't mean that God forces people to sin, but God uses people in their rebellion for his glory.

So it's kind of a theme that we've looked at.

If we obey God and we follow him in faith, that is for his glory.

If someone doesn't choose to believe in God and they're walking in rebellion, God can still use their sin and their rebellion for his glory.

So we get to verse number 24, and.

And so we see that ultimately what Paul is getting to is that God is patient with those in rebellion.

God is long suffering, and we're thankful for that.

I'm thankful for God's patience.

I'm thankful God didn't kick me out and cut me off the first time I messed up.

I'm thankful they didn't do it the fifth time I messed up the 500th time I messed up.

Right?

God is patient.

He's long suffering.

His mercies are new every day.

And then He.

He goes on in verse 24 to emphasize to the reader that this type of salvation is for all of those who believe.

Those who believe, Jew or Gentile alike, those are that believe in him are the ones that are saved.

And so I'm going to use a word for you here this morning that's.

That's not a word that is used frequently when we talk about the gospel, okay?

And so don't run out right now, okay, when I say this word.

But I'm going to use a word called inclusive.

Now, in our society today, what inclusivity means is we accept everybody in, no matter who they are, no matter what they're doing, no matter what they claim to be.

That's not the type of inclusivity that the Lord brings into salvation.

He's exclusive in the message of salvation, but he's inclusive in who can come and believe in that message.

And so for one time, and people thought, and maybe even today, some people think that only certain people can find the gospel.

Only certain people can understand it because of their bloodline or because of their socioeconomic class or because of their education.

But what the Bible says is that God is inclusive in the message of the gospel and who he's bringing the message through so that he can be inclusive in who can come to him and believe in the narrow way.

I hope you guys understand what I mean by that.

Jesus in the message of the gospel is not inclusive in the fact that anyone could come no matter how they want to come.

It doesn't mean that when I come to Jesus, I can just keep doing what I want to do and believe in what I want to believe, and he'll just add on a little sticker on my chest to say, you know, you're a good person and I can go to heaven.

No, he's not inclusive in that way, but he's exclusive in the message of the gospel.

He was exclusive in the fact that, remember, the path of the truth came through the Jewish people, right?

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all the way down the line to Messiah, Jesus Christ.

So he was exclusive at that time.

But also, remember, in that time, even in the Old Testament, there were Gentiles who could come to the truth if what they believed in the God of Israel.

And so the beauty of the message of the Gospel is that it is one way to the truth.

You don't just come as you are, stay as you are, leave as you are, and just do what you want to do, believe what you want to believe.

The Bible says it's one way, but the beauty is, is that all of us, no matter what we look like, no matter where we come from, that we can believe in Jesus because it's a matter of faith.

And when we believe in him, the Bible says that he grants us everlasting life, he grants us forgiveness.

And there's a choice that we make in that.

And so it's always Romans is all about faith in comparison to works.

And, and I'm building a case here because this morning, that's what Paul is talking about.

He's talking about the difference between works and faith.

And he says, look, there's a lot of people who believe in works, and that works will save them, that works will bring them some sort of satisfaction, that they'll bring them some sort of hope.

And then the other side of the coin is this.

Well, faith is submitting ourselves to him and saying, there's nothing that I can do, there's nothing that I can earn.

Now, some people even believe that faith is a work.

I've heard some people say, well, you know what, the Bible says that you can't be saved by works.

And so faith is by works.

So how are you even saying that you, you can be saved through faith?

If you said, and that's a big, confusing, convoluted mess.

Faith is not a work.

Faith is submission and trust in God, in His work.

And so that's what we're going to talk about here this morning.

So Paul actually quotes two prophets.

He's already appealed to the law.

He's appealed to the Exodus, remember, with Pharaoh and his story there about Pharaoh's heart being hardened, and now he's going to actually quote two prophets.

He's going to quote the prophet Hosea and he's going to quote the prophet Isaiah.

Okay, Hosea, Isaiah, I need you to know this because when the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it's very important to understand that quotation.

A lot of times we just gloss over an Old Testament quotation in the New Testament and just apply it in the way that we think best fits.

But I think it is important, like we did last week, to go back and look at the quotation to understand Paul's heart when he's explaining this.

And so Paul is quoting two prophets.

Now, why does it matter that he's quoting a prophet?

Well, obviously, remember, he's talking to the Jews here in chapters 9, 10, and 11.

He's appealed to the law that was important for them.

He's appealed to the Exodus that was a huge story in their history.

And now he's appealing to the prophets.

The prophets were essentially the ones that proclaimed the word of God.

And so they would have understood the prophets.

They would have trusted in the prophets.

And so, like I said, Paul addressed Exodus, and now he quotes two prophets.

These two prophets were contemporary prophets.

Hosea and Isaiah were essentially prophets at the same time in Israel.

Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom.

I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of Old Testament lesson here today.

You had the northern kingdom, you had the 12 tribes of Israel, you had the 10 tribes in the north, and you had the two tribes in the south.

And you had that split there.

And basically at the time of Isaiah and, and Hosea, the nation of Israel was split into two.

You had the northern kingdom, which was called Israel, and you had the southern kingdom, which was called Judah.

And both of them at that point were not following God.

And so Hosea was preaching to a people saying, turn to Christ or you will find judgment through the Assyrian Empire.

Same thing with Isaiah.

Isaiah comes to the southern kingdom and Isaiah says, turn to the Lord or you will find judgment from the Assyrian Empire.

And we see two different groups making two different decisions.

We're going to look at Hosea.

Hosea is preaching to the northern kingdom.

And we know that the northern kingdom does not repent.

And at.

And in this, in this time frame, they would have understood that in 721 BC, the Assyrians came and destroyed the northern kingdom.

And so Hosea's message was turned to Christ and.

Or not Christ turns to the Lord.

Okay, at that point in time.

Now, ultimately, we know all faith is either based in Jesus Christ, whether it's looking towards a Messiah or looking back to a Messiah.

So you have Hosea preaching a message to the northern kingdom.

They reject.

And he quotes two passages of scripture.

He quotes Hosea, chapter two, verse 23.

And I think it would be important for us to go there.

So if you have your Bibles this morning, turn with me to Hosea, chapter 2, verse 23.

Paul quotes these two different passages in Hosea.

And there's a reason for this quote.

He doesn't just quote Hosea to quote it.

He quotes Hosea for them to understand a point.

And I think that it's a point that all of us can understand here this morning, and it can help us understand this larger passage of Romans, chapter nine.

So Hosea, chapter two, verse number 23.

I'm gonna try to give you some time to get there.

I know Hosea is not a passage of scripture that we turn to quite frequently, but it's actually a great story.

If you don't know the story of Hosea.

God calls a prophet to marry a prostitute.

Okay?

So that's basically what it is.

I can't candy coat it any better.

Okay?

It's, it's.

God calls Hosea to marry a woman who would become a prostitute.

They have children together.

And essentially what it is a picture of is Israel's rejection or spiritual adultery that she is committing by turning their backs against God.

And so he quotes Hosea, chapter 2, verse 23, and then he quotes Hosea, chapter 1, verse 10.

So in Hosea, chapter 2, Verse 23 says, and I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy upon her that have not obtained mercy.

And I will say to them, which were not my people, thou art my people.

And they shall say, thou art my God.

You go back to Romans, chapter 9.

Keep your finger in Hosea chapter 2, but go back to Romans chapter 9.

He says in verse 25, as he saith also unto Oc or to Hosea.

That's the King James way to say Hosea, I will call them my people which are not my people, and her beloved, which was not below.

And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, you are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God.

So essentially what we see here is that God disowns the northern kingdom, but then he says, there will be a day when they are restored.

There will be a day when God restores them, and he restores by faith.

So basically he's saying, those that were not my people can become my people by faith in Messiah.

That's a picture of, of what he's explaining here.

There.

There are people who are not my people, and then by faith they can become my people.

And, and it's the same picture that he lays out there in Hosea.

It's the same picture that he lays out there in Romans, chapter nine.

But in Hosea chapter one, if you go to Hosea chapter one, verse 10, it's actually a very interesting story because if you remember, there are there.

There's so much to be said about this and the sake of time.

I can't go through all of it.

But basically, Hosea has some children with Gomer.

Gomer is his wife, the one who goes into sin.

And they have two children.

And the children are named something very specific with a meaning to teach us a lesson.

And so in Hosea, chapter one, and actually, if you go to verse number eight, we see that they have two children.

Verse eight says, now, when she had weaned Lor Rahama, she conceived and bear a son.

Then said God call his name Loami.

So they have two children.

They have a child named Lo Rahama, which means no favor of me.

And then they have a child named Lo Ami, which means, no, not my people.

And so this is God casting judgment upon the people of the northern kingdom by saying, these children are pictures of you turning your backs in sin.

And this is the fruit of your rebellion, and this is the product of your rebellion that you will not have my favor, you will not be called my people.

But then it goes on to say something more.

Verse nine, he says, then God called his name Loami, for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Yet the number of the children shall be children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.

And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto me, you're not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God.

Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head.

And they shall come up out of the land, for the great shall be the day of Jezreel.

So the idea here would be this.

There are people that because of their rebellion, are outside of the family of God.

They are judged by.

But he says that's not too late for them to turn back.

And so we go back to Romans 9, that quote there is essentially summarizing this, that there were people that were not God's people, but because of faith in Messiah, because of faith in the one who was promised, they can be his people again.

Okay, so he's speaking here to repentance.

But again, that's an example there of that time.

Remember, in their minds, their understanding that the northern kingdom was in rebellion.

Okay, so he says, we called them to repentance.

They didn't come to repentance.

They found that separation.

But there's still hope.

But then we go to verse number 27, because he says in verse number 26, you're not my people.

There shall they be called the children of the living God?

So eventually there will be people that weren't God's people that then become God's people.

Verse 27, Isaiah or Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel.

And so now he tells them of another prophet that has another prophecy.

And so again, Isaiah is in the southern kingdom.

And we know that in the time of Isaiah that because of God's love and because of his patience and because of the leadership of King Hezekiah, that there was a revival and repentance.

Now ultimately we know that the southern kingdom eventually lived in sin and they did get judged and they were taken over.

But, but not at the time of Isaiah and Hosea.

So, so he's mentioning Isaiah here as a picture of people who were faithful.

And, and he, and he's speaking here of the idea that there were people who did turn and make a choice of repentance to the Lord.

And So verse number 27, he quotes two passages of scripture here in this area.

Isaiah, chapter 10, verse 20.

And so if you want to see it with me, I always encourage you to look at it with me.

And I know I'm going to a lot of places and I know I'm moving somewhat quickly here this morning, but I do need to make sure that you see these in the Old Testament, because if I ever come up here and say, trust me, don't, don't look at it, just trust me, that's.

Anyone says that, be careful that.

I want you to see what God is telling us in the, in the New Testament through the Old Testament.

And there's some people that say, well, we don't even need the Old Testament anymore, just throw that out.

No, we need to see the Old Testament as a picture.

And ultimately the fulfillment of the Old Testament in Jesus Christ in the New Testament tells us how they're all connected.

So I want you to see Isaiah, chapter 10, verse number 20, because this is what he's quoting here in Romans, chapter nine.

And, and what he's essentially teaching in this is that there's always going to be a remnant.

There's always going to be a group of people that believe.

And so, so even though there's people in rebellion, even though there's people that are going to struggle in sin, he says there's always going to be a remnant.

Isaiah, chap.

10:20.

And it shall come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

In truth, the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God.

And, and so he's speaking here of this revival, this remnant that always will be.

And that's an awesome picture of God's faithfulness to his people.

And then we see Isaiah, chapter 1.

He quotes Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 10.

Again, I think that this is so cool to see how writers from centuries apart are tying together God's meaning and his purpose.

And I think this is all the more the testimony of the power and the truth and the validity of the Word of God and the importance of the enduring nature of the Word of God and, and how we should trust in it.

So Isaiah, chapter 1, verse 10.

He says, Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom.

Give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

And you say, what, what is he talking about?

Well, if you just go up to one verse above that, he's warning against these people that are living in rebellion.

And he says, accept the Lord, verse nine.

So we're kind of going backwards here.

Except the Lord of hosts.

And, and actually in the New Testament, we see that he quotes the Hebrew word Lord, Lord of Sabiof, which means the Lord of hosts, except the Lord of host hath left unto us a very small remnant.

We should have been as Sodom and should have been like Gomorrah.

See, what is he saying there?

Says this.

If the truth was not there, without the power of God, without God's hand of provision upon them, they would have ended up just like Sodom and Gomorrah.

You say, what was Sodom and Gomorrah ended up like complete destruction.

If you guys know the Old Testament story, God completely destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so essentially what Paul is saying, what Isaiah is saying, what we all should be saying, is that without God's hand, without the truth of his Gospel, without the power of his Word, we would all be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

You say, why is he telling them that?

Remember, who is he talking to?

He's talking to the Jewish people who believe that they had found the only way, the right way, the way of the law, the way of, of the Pharisees, the.

The way of works.

And so he says, hey, be like Isaiah as he goes back.

And he says in, in verse number 27, Isaiah also Cry, concerning Israel, though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.

So he says, only A little bit.

That word remnant means just only a little bit.

So he says, out of all those people of the children of Israel, only a remnant will be saved.

Why?

Because they're the only ones that are believing the truth.

For he will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness.

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

And Isaiah saith before, except the Lord of Sabioth, that's the Lord of hosts, had left us a seed.

So without the Lord, we would be as Sodom or Sadama and been made like unto Gomorrah.

So you say again, what is he talking about here?

He's specifically talking about this absent of God, absence of God's presence, absence of God's truth, absence of God's power, absence of God's love, absence of God's word, absence of God completely.

What would we all end up?

He said Israel would be wiped out.

We as believers will be wiped out.

And so using the remnant of Abraham's seed, Messiah comes and.

And there is hope.

That's what Paul is saying here.

He says there is a remnant of Abraham's seed through Messiah.

Therefore, find your hope, find your salvation, find everything through faith in him.

He says, without him, you will be like Sodom and Gomorrah, completely demolished, completely wiped away.

You say, why is he making this point?

Essentially, Paul's point in this end of the passage is this.

Come to Christ by faith.

Don't miss your chance for hope and salvation.

He says some people are missing it.

So.

So the implication would be, if he's warning us not to miss it, the implication would be that many people are missing that message.

And so that's what he's going to talk about here.

And he actually is going to talk about how Israel, at that time there, as Paul was writing this letter to the Romans, Israel was stumbling because of their lack of belief in the Messiah.

And anytime someone, a group of people, has a lack of faith in Messiah, there will be judgment, there will be separation, there will be brokenness.

And so he comes to verse number 30.

Remember, he has these two quotes, one from Hosea, one from Isaiah, and it's this idea of choose the path that the Lord has laid out, and there will be people who are not God's people that will eventually become God's people.

How?

Not through their lineage, but through their faith.

There.

There will be people who will question God's faithfulness, but they will even question God's path.

They will even question God's salvation.

But he says, without God, what we would be as Sodom and Gomorrah.

And so then in verse number 30, he says, what shall we say then?

When Paul says that, what that means is this.

He's summarizing everything that he means in this chapter.

And this would be Paul's perfect place if this, if Romans 9 was a proof text for complete salvific determination of whether or not God stands in heaven and says, well, these people will be saved.

These people won't be saved, and they have no choice in the matter.

That would be what Paul explains right here.

Because he says, what shall we say then?

It would be like me preaching a whole message and then at the very end saying, this is basically what I'm talking about.

Some people are like, well, why don't you just do that anyway?

We can get to the house quicker.

Okay, well, because that's just not what we do.

All right, but what the idea would be is this.

He says, this is my main point, this is my main thought.

He says, this is what I'm getting to.

What shall we say then?

That the Gentiles which follow not after righteousness.

And so what is he saying here?

He says this, historically speaking, the Gentiles did not follow after God.

They did not follow after righteousness.

They followed their pagan fleshly desires.

He says that's what the Gentiles are known for.

So he says, what shall we say then?

The Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have obtained righteousness.

So he's telling the people there, gentiles have obtained righteousness.

How can they do that?

How can they obtain righteousness if historically speaking, they've never been righteous people?

Even the righteousness, which is a faith.

So he says, it's not the righteousness that they've earned.

It's not about being the right type of people.

It's about the righteousness that they have found in faith.

And so it's not their righteousness, it's righteousness.

It's a big word.

It's not really a big word, but it's a hard word to understand.

It's imputed to us.

You say imputed?

What's that mean?

It's essentially this.

God takes the righteousness of Jesus and then he lays it upon our account.

And the only way that we can find judicial righteousness in front of God is through faith in Jesus Christ.

And so this is the summary.

How does this practically apply?

Well, the Gentiles, they were not given the law.

The Gentiles were not historically God fearing.

The Gentiles did not typically pursue righteousness.

So how can the Gentiles think about this mind blowing thing for the Jewish, Jewish people at this point?

How could the Gentiles find righteousness?

Well, the Bible tells us that the Gentiles found righteousness through Jesus Christ, through faith and through salvation.

Go back to Romans chapter one with me.

This is where Paul starts.

Paul starts in Romans chapter one with explaining what the Gospel is.

The power of the gospel.

And In Romans chapter 1, verse 16, he's saying here I'm about to tell you all these things and I'm not ashamed of it, for I am not ashamed.

Verse 16, For I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.

So we see it's not the Gospel of Paul, it's not the gospel of Peter, it's not the gospel of the Jewish people, it's not the gospel of the Gentiles, it's the Gospel of Christ, the good news of Christ.

The good news of Jesus.

For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first, meaning it came to the Jews first, but then also to the Greek or the Gentile.

For therein is righteousness, but not the righteousness of man.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.

Meaning it's only revealed through faith.

That's as easy, starts with faith, it ends with faith revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the just or the justified shall live by faith.

And so it's not a righteousness that we can earn, but it's a righteousness that we can receive by faith.

And so if you go to Romans chapter nine, he's explaining this to people who are hung up on the fact that I'm Jewish, I'm saved, I'm Jewish, I'm righteous, because that's where I was born.

That's how I live.

I'm a righteous person.

How could God now use the Gentiles in the church to now be the pillar and ground of truth?

We are God's chosen people.

We were chosen to give the people the word of God, the law of God, the prophets of God, the Messiah.

But then now is God faithful because he's using the Gentiles in the church.

He says, no, it's not that the Gentiles are worthy of this cause.

The reason why the Gentiles have this is because God is faithful.

The remnant is here through faith.

And now everyone is welcomed in and through faith to find the grace of Jesus Christ.

And, and now God is entrusting them with that election.

So, so it's not a Righteousness that we can earn.

And so I want you to think about it this way.

Faith.

What is faith?

Faith is belief in something that we don't see.

And what is it that we don't see?

Well, it's the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We see its effects, we see its power, we see all the changes that it makes.

But none of us were there when Jesus died on the cross.

None of us were there to see the literal resurrection.

But we have to take by faith that that's the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And we have a lot of proof for that.

And then he says here, okay, what does faith do?

Well, faith essentially activates and assimilates the promises of God.

God gives promises to his people, right?

He gives promises to his people.

What are some of those promises?

That he's never going to leave us nor forsake us.

He promises us that he will use us and mold us and grow us.

He promises us the ultimate promise of being with him one day in heaven, to spend eternity with him, to live with no more pain, to live with no more suffering, to walk the streets of gold, as we say.

And so how do we trust in those promises of God?

Well, it's through faith.

But the way that we experience those promises of God, the way that we can activate those promises of God for us personally and the way that we can assimilate them into our life is through faith.

Okay, so, for example, I don't go up to someone in the world who does not have faith and go, well, God loves you.

He's never going to leave you.

He's never going to forsake you.

You're going to heaven.

You get all these blessings.

No, folks, someone who is living outside of faith cannot activate and assimilate those promises of God in their life because they don't have faith.

Faith is the victory.

Faith is the deciding point.

And so what we see here is that Paul says, people, it's not about whether or not you are Jewish or Gentile.

It's not a matter of whether or not you go to this place or this place.

It's not a matter of where you have, where you work or what you have in your bank account.

He says, it's a matter of faith.

And so because the church now is the picture of God's love and faith, he says, that is who now is elect to use the truth of God to preach to the world.

And so God's promises, you could say it this way, God's promises become mine through faith.

I can claim the promises of God through faith.

And that's what we essentially see Paul explaining here.

So let's go a little bit further here, because he.

He mentions the Gentiles who were not historically righteous, but now they can find righteousness.

How do they do that?

Well, he says that through faith, verse 31.

Then he goes, but Israel.

So he's accept.

He's explaining himself.

He says, this is what I'm talking about.

Israel rebelled.

And he's going to explain this.

He says, but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness.

The law of righteousness, meaning the law, the Mosaic law that God gave, hath not obtained to the law of righteousness, Meaning they're not righteous, you say, well, how.

Wait, I thought if they had the law, aren't they righteous?

Don't they keep the law perfectly?

There is nobody, nobody who has ever walked this earth other than Jesus Christ, who kept the law perfectly, who can't keep the law perfectly.

So, so what Paul is saying is that if people want to find righteousness through the law, they have to be perfect in the law.

And none of them can reach that.

Nobody can reach the perfect nature of the law.

So what does that mean?

Verse 32, wherefore?

Because they sought it not by faith.

So if I'm looking at the law to save me, I'm not seeking by faith because I see it.

Okay, so it would be like this.

Here's the law, all 613 of them.

Okay?

And you take this now follow this as a checklist in your life.

Well, that's not by faith, because what you're doing, it's by works.

Okay?

Check that law off today.

I did this today.

So he says, you can never obtain righteousness through keeping the law.

Why?

Because that would be a work.

Faith works, remember?

And so it's this.

He says, they cannot be found through the law.

Israel had the law, they had the prophets.

We already saw that all the way back in verse number four of Romans nine.

They had the adoption, they had the glory, they had the covenants, they had the law, they had the fathers, even they had the blessing of having Jesus come through their.

Their lineage.

But they wrongly thought that the law was the means for salvation.

They wrongly thought that because they had obtained those things that they now can claim righteousness because of their works.

So.

So, so it's.

That was never the purpose of the law.

God explains the purpose of the law even in the New Testament.

It was a standard of righteousness to show us our sin.

It was a schoolmaster.

It was to show us that we all need God, that we all need something bigger than ourselves.

The law was there to show the heart of God and his perfect standard.

But at the end of the day, none of us can reach that.

So it always shows us that we need God.

And that's really the message of the Gospel.

And so everything points to Jesus.

The law points to Jesus.

The sacrificial system pointed to Jesus.

All of the feasts, all of the.

All of the activities that the Jewish people were doing in the Old Testament, all the way from.

From Exodus through the end, through Malachi, and even into what we would call the New Testament, even though they were living under the Old covenant there for a while, that was all pointing to Jesus.

It was all showing us that we need something more than our own works.

And so verse 32, he says, why did the people of Israel at that time not find righteousness?

Because they sought it.

Not by faith, verse 32, but, as it were, by the works of the law.

And then he says something so interesting here.

He actually again quotes another Old Testament, actually a few different Old Testament passages.

He says in verse 32, this is why they didn't believe.

This is why this was the stumbling block.

He says this is what's holding them back.

It's not a matter of people wanting to be religious.

I remember when I had the blessing to go to Israel, that the church so graciously sent us there.

And I wanted to soak in every moment and I wanted to retain as much memories as I could.

So we took so many pictures, and I wanted to find some kind of, you know, enlightenment, if you will.

Like, I go there and see something, and now it makes sense.

And.

And the way that I explained it was basically, you know, you go and maybe you see things in black and white.

Now it's in HD color, and it's like I see it all.

But the.

The.

One of the major takeaways that I got when I went there was that it's a very religious place.

I mean, people are just so committed to what they believe in.

But the truth is, is that what we're going to see later on, even In Romans chapter 10, is that zeal does not equate being right.

Passion and commitment does not equate being in the truth.

And so what he says here is that there's people that are passionate.

They wanted to find God, but they wanted to find God their own way.

And then he says in verse number 32, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

So he says that these people who are not believing in faith, in the truth are finding themselves at a stumbling block.

I don't know if any of you guys have ever hit a literal stumbling block in your life.

You've tripped and fallen, you can't get past it.

But he's talking here about a spiritual stumbling block, says there's something in the way for them, and he's going to explain what that is.

Here at the end of verse 33, he says, as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion.

That's Israel, a stumbling stone, a rock of offense.

And whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

And so if you guys have been following us for any amount of time, you should know who that stone is.

That stone is Jesus, the Messiah.

So he says, the hold up is not religion.

The hold up is not trying to be a good person.

The hold up is not trying to believe that there is a God above.

The hold up is Jesus the Messiah.

That's everybody's stumbling block when it comes to the matter of faith.

It's what you believe about Jesus, it's how you trust in him.

It's not about your good works.

There's a lot of people that would say, I'm a good person.

But if you think about the gospel, it's completely opposite.

Like, so if I came up to someone this morning and I said, hey, look, okay, they're unsaved, they don't believe in our message of the gospel.

And I say, hey, God loves you.

Oh, okay, that sounds like a nice message.

God loves you the way that you are.

Keep up the good work.

Try your best, earn that.

Let your good outweigh your bad.

That's a very.

In our worldly system, in our fleshly system, that's a very acceptable message.

I didn't offend anybody by saying that right there.

Like, theologically I should have.

But you know, in our flesh, that doesn't offend anyone's flesh when I say that.

But let's pretend it's this way, okay?

I love you, but hey, look, Jesus died for your sins.

You committed a sin that made you guilty and someone had to pay that price.

Jesus died for your sins.

Now, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Who are you to say that I'm a sinner, right?

You see that that offends our flesh.

And so Jesus coming in the gospel is an offense.

It says they're a rock of offense for those who are trusting in their own works.

And so he quotes these different passages.

I think it's important for us to see it.

And so get your fingers ready.

We're going to turn to a couple passages.

Two in Isaiah and one in the book of Psalms.

And so Isaiah, he quotes Isaiah 28, verse 16.

Paul quotes the Old Testament quite frequently.

And I think it's good for us to see where he's quoting.

And I think it's important for us to see in Isaiah, chapter 28 and some of these other places that the message of Jesus was, was always there.

The message of the cornerstone was always there.

For those in the Old Testament, it was to believe in the one who was to come.

For those in the New Testament, for the most part, later on after Jesus's resurrection.

And for us today, it's a matter of looking back to the Messiah, that stone, that cornerstone, and believing in him.

So look at Isaiah, chapter 28, verse 16.

Okay, it's, it's mentioned over and over again, but these are direct quotes with Paul.

In verse 16 he says thus, or excuse me, therefore thus saith the Lord God.

Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.

He that believeth shall not make haste.

So the idea would be this.

In Isaiah, I'm going to send, I'm going to send the foundation stone.

I'm going to send the cornerstone.

And those that want salvation must believe in him.

Another one is in Isaiah, chapter eight, Isaiah, chapter eight.

And if you're in Isaiah, it's just probably a few Pages back.

Isaiah 8, verse 14 and 15 Again, another message of the stone that is to come.

And folks, we can never get tired of talking about Jesus.

We can never get tired of talking about his prophecies.

We can never get tired of talking about the message of the Gospel.

So In Isaiah, chapter 8, verse number 14 and, and 15, it says this.

He says, and he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

So here's a prophecy of it.

He says, hey, there's going to be one who is our sanctuary.

He is going to be the cornerstone.

But for some, he's going to be a stumbling stone.

He's going to be a rock of offense.

Paul's directly quoting this verse 15.

And many among them shall stumble and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.

And so there's those messages of the stone that is to come that would be a stumbling block.

And now I do want to point you to one last passage of Scripture in the Old Testament here that speaks of this stone.

Now, the reason why I'm doing this is again, I want to show you the abundance of references to Jesus being that chief cornerstone and precious to us, but also an offense to many other people, because I think we need to understand what we're dealing with in this world today.

So Psalm 118, verse 22, Psalm 18 is one of those passages of Scripture for me that has been a great help for me in times of struggle, in times of doubt, in times of pain.

And I would encourage you to go to Psalm 118 in those times, because there's passages of Scripture that can bring those types of comfort to us.

But in Psalm 118, we could look at so many other verses, but this is one that we'll stop with.

In the Old Testament, it says, the stone which the builders refused, which is this Again, this is a prophecy of the future, right?

The builders, the builders, meaning the religious people of the day, the they refused is become the headstone of the corner, Jesus Christ, the chief cornerstone, the cornerstone of the church.

And so these are all Old Testament references to what Paul is talking about here.

In Romans, chapter 10, verse 33, he says it is Jesus who is the stumbling block.

And so I. I want you to see a couple in the New Testament that we're going to be done.

Peter says the very same thing Peter says in First Peter, chapter two, verse eight, the very same thing that Paul is saying.

The very same thing that we saw in the book of Psalms, the very same thing that we saw in the book of Isaiah.

Peter saw it firsthand.

He says Jesus comes and people are okay with him when he's preaching certain things.

But when he starts to preach the message of the Gospel, the message of repentance, the message of being changed and following him, he says that's when people stumble.

He says in verse number seven of First Peter, chapter two, Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious, meaning those of us that believe in Jesus, we should enjoy talking about Him.

We should just relish every moment that we have when we can talk about the love of Jesus, the sacrifice of Jesus, we should never get tired of talking about Jesus in our life.

He says, so for those who believe that have faith, he is precious.

But unto him that them which he disobeyed.

Excuse me, I will go back.

But unto them which be disobedient, meaning those that don't believe, the stone which the builders disallowed.

Again, reference quote right back to the Old Testament, the same is made the head of the corner, the stone of stumbling and a Rock of offense even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient, wherein to also they were appointed.

And so example here is that they're appointed a judgment when they reject.

And so Paul shows that Israel is responsible for their current condition.

I built that whole case to show you this.

There are some people that say, well, God ordained them into sin.

He forced them determinism.

Essentially what Paul has been saying in this whole passage is that there's always a choice of faith or rejection.

He says, those that find themselves in losing the blessings of God find it through their own decision.

But God can use that decision for his good.

And remember, he works all things together for good.

And so Paul shows that Israel at that time, which is the picture of those that have not believed, is responsible for their present condition of being disallowed from being those that are presenting the oracles of God.

Now it is the church.

Paul says it's now Jew and Gentile alike coming together in faith.

We don't necessarily have time to go there.

But in First Corinthians, chapter one, he says, Paul says that when I preach the cross, it is an affliction offense to people.

And so you would say, well, so, so why?

Why do we preach the cross?

Why I don't?

Because we live in a society today that says, like, let's not offend people.

Okay, but the idea would be this.

It's.

We're not offending people to offend people.

The Bible says to preach Jesus.

And the natural product of someone in rebellion will be that it'll be an offense.

It's only through faith that they can come and understand and it's precious to them.

And so as we can summarize, as Paul is summarizing it, is this okay, If I could summarize it in any way, he says, why did Israel lose the blessing at that time of following the oracles of God and presenting the oracles of God being the primary use for God's word to be presented to the world.

The reason why is because of Jesus, the stumbling block of offense.

They had rejected Jesus at the time.

There was a small remnant that was still believing that became the church.

But at that time, he says, okay, it was God's prerogative to use Israel's rebellion at the time, to use that for his glory, to allow the church to come in.

Jew and Gentile like to be the ones that are the pillar and grounds of truth.

But we're going to get to Romans 10 and Romans 11 that he says it's not too late.

For Israel to turn their turn back, to be grafted back in, to.

To.

To come to repentance.

And there's always a heart of Paul.

He starts Romans chapter 9 with, I will give myself to be a curse so that my people will believe.

He starts Romans chapter 10 with, My prayer is that my people come back.

And we even see in Romans chapter 11 at the end of Romans chapter 11 that God prophesies that they will come back to him.

And so we think about all of that from the grand scale of what Does Romans chapter 9 talk about?

Does Romans chapter 9 talk about that God sits up there before the beginning of time, arbitrarily selects certain people to be saved, and we had no choice in it?

He arbitrarily selects people to be sent to hell and judged forever.

And.

And we had no choice in the matter.

And essentially everything that we do is determined.

And that would essentially mean God is the author of good and author evil.

I don't believe Romans 9 is teaching that.

I believe Romans 9 is teaching that God was using Israel for a time, through Abraham, through Isaac.

He was exclusive in that.

And at that time, they were used by God in their obedience.

But then God had mercy when they stumbled.

But then because of their rebellion, God switched directions, didn't remove anyone that believes, but what he essentially says is that he allows them to come to faith and that's the only way that we can find salvation.

That's the only way that we can find the election.

And essentially, he is the potter, we are the clay, and we have no question, we have no right to question him in the decisions that he is making.

So Jesus is the stone.

Is he going to be a rock of affection fence, a stumbling block?

Or is Jesus going to be the precious cornerstone that we built everything off of in our life?

Are we as the church, going to follow the same path that some in Israel did at the time that believe that the laws would save them, believed that the way that they looked, what was on the outside was what was going to save them, what checklist they followed was going to save them?

Are we going to be the people that say it's only through Jesus Christ that we can find salvation?

Now, let me be clear.

The change in our heart in Jesus Christ does make us do certain things.

It does change our demeanor, it does change our appearance, it does change our actions.

But it's not the actions and appearance and demeanor that changes our heart.

It's the other way around.

And that's where he's getting that here.

He says the summary Is this Israel?

Stumbled.

They stumbled in the truth of Jesus Christ.

Are we, as the church, going to stumble at the truth of Jesus Christ?

Let me tell you a little secret here this morning.

We cannot be the church without Jesus Christ.

He is the chief cornerstone.

We are living stones built on top of the foundation.

But, folks, if the foundation is removed, we're all just taken away.

As he says in the quote to Isaiah from Isaiah, without the Lord, we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

We were.

I'll tell you one personal story which means nothing, but hopefully it'll help you understand the context here.

When we lived in Florida, we lived in a place called Sefner, Florida.

And it didn't get on the national news very frequently at all.

But one night, I think Alicia was actually out of town at the time.

I was sitting at home, and all of a sudden I hear, like, 100 helicopters flying over.

And I thought, like, what's going on?

Is it the end of the world?

And there's all these police sirens going and ambulances, and I'm like, what is going on?

So I turn on the news and about what felt three blocks away from our house, there was a sinkhole that opened up.

You guys know, in Florida, they have, like, sand and there's sinkholes and all that.

A sinkhole had opened up, and it opened up right over, right under a guy's bed.

I don't know if you guys saw this.

The guy fell into the sinkhole, the foundation gave way and he fell in, and they couldn't get to him.

They couldn't save him.

He ended up perishing.

They never recovered it.

And now it's just.

No one goes in that area because it's such a huge sinkhole.

And I thought about that, you know, and you think about the story in the New Testament when it talks about those that built their house upon sand and those who build their house upon the rock, the stone, and that guy's house.

I had driven by that guy's house.

It was right off the main road.

That guy's house looked like my house, looked the same as my house, okay?

But underneath that house, there was not a good foundation, right?

They didn't know that they were upon a place that was about to sink in.

But it was because of the storms of the world and life and all that kind of stuff, and the rains that seep down in there.

It's the same thing with us as Christians.

You know, I can look at somebody and they can look just like me.

I can look at somebody they can look religious, they could go to church, they could be a good person in our society.

But the true test is not the way that we look.

It's not the law that we are attaining righteousness in.

The true test is this.

Where is our foundation built?

Where, where is our house?

Where is our life built on?

Is it built upon the sand as the New Testament said that everything looked fine until the storms came, they got washed away?

Or is it built upon the sure rock that will never fail us?

And so that's what he's saying here.

He says, it doesn't matter if you're from Israel, it doesn't matter if you're from America.

It doesn't matter if where you're from.

Where are you placing your faith?

What are you placing your faith on?

Where's your foundation?

Is the rock of Jesus Christ the thing that makes you stumble?

Or is the rock of Jesus Christ which you build everything on?

And that's the idea here.

Romans, chapter nine.

And so here this morning.

I know that that's a lot of information.

I mean, we were, you guys were like in a, you know, we're in a college theology course.

We're looking at the Old Testament, we're tying it to the New Testament.

But I do know, I know that we can throw a lot of information out, but really, if we could summarize it this way, we could summarize it like this.

Jesus offers the gift of grace to all.

He always has.

There are certain people that he uses as the vessels of presentation of that message.

But what I will say is this.

It doesn't matter what your past is.

It doesn't matter what you look like.

What matters is what you're believing in.

You say, well, I came here this morning with a lot of pain, a lot of suffering, a lot of doubts.

That's okay, because probably at some point in time, all of us have had those things.

But the truth is, is that are we going to come and are we going to come to, let's say, for the picture of the analogy, are we going to come to that stone, the chief cornerstone, and are we going to look at that and go, well, that's great, but I'm going to do it my way.

That's like the clay looking at the potter going, hey, I got this.

Don't make me this way.

I got the better plan.

That's what Israel did.

That's, that's what the Bible says for the most part, not all.

There was the remnant.

Obviously, Paul was a Jew that believed Peter was a Jew.

That believed.

So it wasn't everybody.

But he says for the most part, many people were like, okay, I believe in God.

I want God, but not Jesus.

So here this morning, are we willing to say, okay, I, I want righteousness, I want salvation.

I want to be changed.

I, I want to have a new life, but I want to do it my way.

Are we going to say, I want to do it through Jesus Christ?

He alone can bring me righteousness.

He alone can bring me salvation.

It's not a matter of being a good person or not.

I can always find someone that's better or worse than me, right?

I can find someone that I. I can always find someone that I can follow the Bible better than.

But then guess what happens?

What if there's someone else that follows the Bible better than me?

Then I'm the bad guy now.

Well, that's not.

It's not a matter of being good or bad.

The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

So I'm not asking you this morning, are you, are you religious?

I'm not asking you this morning.

Did you come from a church?

I'm not asking you this morning.

You know, your parents were Christians.

I'm asking you this morning, what do you believe about Jesus Christ?

Because so many people, so many people were there.

They saw it wasn't a matter of belief because in his existence, because there were people that saw Jesus walking.

These people would have witnessed Jesus's earthly ministry to some degree or they would have known people who did.

So it wasn't like, well, Jesus was real or not.

It was a matter of, am I going to believe what this guy is saying about my life and about my sin and I'm willing to come to him.

Like I said, many people didn't believe.

And it wasn't a matter of evidence.

It was a matter of that stumbling stone that it was an offense.

So when we preach Jesus, we preach Jesus completely.

We preach Jesus as the chief cornerstone.

But what I will say is this, like we talked about last week, God can and will use us if we are faithful.

And so we want to be not the ones that just received the, the grace of God through faith, but we also want to be those who share the grace of God through faith to those around us in this world today.

Because the Bible says that, remember Hosea, there will be people, Loami.

Not my people, not my people will become my people.

What through faith.

There are people out there today in this world that are not God's people.

I've heard People say, well, you know what?

We're all God's children.

We're all God's creation, and we're all made in the image of God.

It's those who believe, though, that are the children of God.

So there are people in this world that are not God's people.

But the Bible says through faith they can't become God's people.

Through the prophecy there in Hosea, we even see that there can be people that are in rebellion now to God, that can come to faith.

But then Isaiah says this.

Just remember, without, without God, without his presence and power and grace in our life, we would be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

And that should stir our hearts to gratitude that God gave us this opportunity.

Well, Pastor, my life's pretty rough.

You don't know my life.

I don't know your life.

But I know that if you're believing in Jesus Christ, you've got salvation.

And that's the greatest gift any of us could ever have.

The rest in that here this morning, I'm gonna ask if you're able to.

To stand with me.

Every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays.

I just wanna give you an opportunity to respond this morning, again.

I know that we've talked a lot about a lot today, but maybe God's speaking to you in one of these areas.

Maybe you've said even in the past, well, I wish I could be saved, but I don't think I'm part of the elect.

I don't think God ever chose me.

And so maybe that's holding you back.

Folks, the Bible says whoever believes, folks, if you're desiring God here this morning, that that is proof that you can believe and that you can find Jesus.

Jesus isn't hiding from you this morning.

He's revealed himself completely.

And so it's not about finding something that's hidden.

It's about opening our eyes to what is right before us.

And if that's you this morning, maybe you've been struggling with that.

Am I the right one?

Am I.

Am I good enough?

The Bible says it's Jesus, not my works.

It's not the righteousness of the law, it's the righteousness of Jesus in my life.

So maybe that's something that you're seeking, but maybe you're the person that's been saved, but you've lost that gratitude.

Maybe you almost feel like I've reached it on my own.

I'm a good person.

I've obtained.

Remember what he said in Isaiah, without the remnant of God, without the truth of God, we would all be like Sodom and Gomorrah.

We should all be so thankful for the gift of God's grace.

And so here this morning, may we be those that choose Jesus because He is the one that demonstrated his love and his righteousness for us.

Lord, I pray that you'll be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

We thank you for your love and your grace.

I pray that you bring us to a place of repentance and brokenness this morning before you.

We love you in Jesus name.

Amen.

As music plays Follow as the Lord leads here this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing to for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.