Revelation and Response
What is Paul’s response to the glorious and difficult truths that he had just written to the church in Rome? Worship. So much of the time, we think that we’ve learned all there is to learn and we’re not amazed at who God is and what he’s done. But when we take a look at creation and this amazing universe God has created, we see that God is powerful, holy, and just. If this was all God revealed to us, it would be frightening, but instead, God invites us into his story of redemption. He calls us his own, makes us his children, and causes us to worship him.
Doxology
What is Paul’s response to the glorious and difficult truths that he had just written to the church in Rome? Worship. So much of the time, we think that we’ve learned all there is to learn and we’re not amazed at who God is and what he’s done. But when we take a look at creation and this amazing universe God has created, we see that God is powerful, holy, and just. If this was all God revealed to us, it would be frightening, but instead, God invites us into his story of redemption. He calls us his own, makes us his children, and causes us to worship him.
Restored in Grace
One question at this point for the Roman church had to be: “So what about the Israel?” Gentiles were suddenly being welcomed into God’s family and the language was shifting away from talking about the Jews as God’s covenant people, the heirs of His blessing and promises. Had Israel merely been replaced? Were they now hopeless? By no means! Salvation was always intended to be for everyone, both in the Old Covenant and in the New. The severing of their branches by their disobedience made it possible for everyone to be grafted in by faith and the fact that God grafted in the Gentiles proved not that the Jews were lost without hope, but that God could just as easily graft them back in. God had shown mercy to the Gentiles and by consigning the Jews to disobedience, He now can show them the same mercy.
Restored in Grace
God’s plan of salvation carries abundant grace and mercy as well as mystery. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are greater than our thoughts. His plan is not always obvious at our first glance. However, Paul does answer one question on the mind of the church: “What now becomes of Israel?” Has God rejected His people? Have they fallen so far into disobedience that God has replaced them with the Gentiles? Paul’s answer is a resounding “No.” It is not God’s plan merely to now save the Gentiles just as it was never His plan merely to save Israel. Yes, some branches of Israel were indeed cut off. Yes, many Gentiles have been grafted in. But Israel’s branches can be brought back! God did not allow them to disobey and fall away forever, but gave them up to disobedience so that all the nations could be shown mercy, including them.
Remnant of Grace
God has not rejected His people. Israel had the Law and Covenant, but chose to worship Baal. God saved a remnant. Israel had the Messiah, but killed and rejected Christ. God saved His church. If God did not reject Israel throughout Scripture, He will not reject that church that He has saved and grafted into His Son, the true Israel. And that means that we can rest. Because God has not rejected His people, our rebelliousness cannot separate us from Him or make us too far gone to be saved and we can rest in His grace. Because God has not rejected His people, we cannot earn our place with Him and we can rest in His grace. If it was any other way, it wouldn’t be grace and we could never rest.
Remnant of Grace
Most of us don’t know what it is to truly rest. We are too tired, too stressed, and too busy. But Why do we do this to ourselves? Is it because we believe that we are saved by our religious duties and works? Is it because in our rebellion we refuse to rest in the grace given to us in Christ? Like Elijah, we often fall into religion and rebellion because we refuse to see evidence of God’s grace around us and that God’s work does not depend on us. Whether it is religion or rebellion that we pursue, grace is what God has provided for us in Christ.
Gospel Essentials: Proclamation
God sovereignly sends pastors and paid staff and missionaries to preach the Gospel to the world, but He also sovereignly sends us to preach to our neighbors and coworkers. Would our lives look any different if we believed that we are sent just like overseas missionaries? Because if we don’t preach to those we already spend so much time with, then how will they hear? If they don’t hear, then how will they believe? If they don’t believe, then how will they call on Jesus to save them?
Gospel Essentials: Proclamation
Talk of evangelism often makes people uncomfortable. We feel like we’re not very good at it. We feel like we don’t do it enough. We know it’s important—we have conferences and committees, missions teams and training programs—but it’s hard to actually get at calling people to respond to the Gospel. We know that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (v. 13), but how will they call on Jesus if we don’t preach Him? God has given us a great opportunity; He could complete the work of evangelism on His own, but He has chosen to reveal Himself through us! Will we share the good news that has changed our lives?
Gospel Essentials: Results
In Romans 10:9-13, Paul shows us how we access righteousness through faith, who may access this righteousness, and the result of such a righteousness. We become righteous through faith by believing on a heart-level that Jesus rose from the dead and confessing Him as Lord. Access to this righteousness is not limited, but it available to all. And the result of this righteousness is that we get what we need most—God Himself in Christ Jesus.
Gospel Essentials: Results
In the past few weeks, we have heard of God’s sovereignty, goodness, love, mercy, and justice. These are great things to know about God. They help prove just how worthy God is of lordship. But it isn’t enough to hear these things and it isn’t enough to know these things. We must truly believe these things in our heart: trusting, experiencing, and confessing His lordship and making the freedom of that lordship known to all, no matter who they are.