ROMANS 10

SOME WANT SALVATION, SOME DO NOT

 

True Salvation comes When One Believes and Confesses That Jesus Is Lord of Life (Romans 10:1-10).

As we have studied the book of Romans, you may have developed the idea that the Jews at the time of Christ were intentionally disobedient toward God. You may have felt that they wanted to do things their own way. That impression is understandable and somewhat correct, but do not lose sight of the fact that they were zealous (to eagerly pursue something) for God. They wanted the will of God fulfilled. Unfortunately, they did not comprehend how that was to be accomplished because they did not look beyond what they wanted. They really did not understand what the will of God was. They did not see how Christ was part of it. A symptom that exists today in many people who consider themselves Christians, who go to church every Sunday, serve on various church boards, and think themselves to be righteous. Paul sees these characteristics in his fellow Jews and desires with all his heart that they come to understand the truth of the Gospel message of Jesus. Let us now join Paul and listen to his words to the people he loves so much. we will begin by looking at the first two verses of chapter 10, Romans 10:1,2 NLT:

1 Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is that the Jewish people might be saved.
2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.

When passion for something is related to knowledge, that is generally a good thing. But when passion for something is not based on knowledge, it may be misdirected, and may be a dangerous thing. In fact the Bible tells us that it is not good to have passion without knowledge, Proverbs 19:2 NLT:

2 Zeal (passion)[fn] without knowledge is not good; a person who moves too quickly may go the wrong way.

The Jews had what we could call head knowledge. They had information, but they did not have the deep knowledge that comes through the heart. They had the kind of knowledge that made them feel that they were really smart (1 Corinthians 8:1). They had enough head knowledge with all kinds of information in their heads to create pride, but they did not have true spiritual knowledge. If you have true spiritual knowledge, that kind of knowledge makes you humble, the kind of knowledge that recognizes that God is in charge, the kind of knowledge that brings holiness. Paul prayed on behalf of the Ephesians, Ephesians 1:17 NLT:

17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.

Paul prays that God would give them this true spiritual knowledge, the kind of knowledge that brings humility and holiness. What kind of knowledge do you think you have? Do you have true spiritual knowledge of the Son of God? Does your knowledge go beyond just having information? Do you have the kind of knowledge that comes from the experience of knowing the power of the presence and the truth of God? The theme here in chapter 10, is the ignorance of Israel, a willful and unbelieving ignorance as we read in Romans 10:3 NLT:

3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Instead, they are clinging to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. They will not go along with God’s way.

Paul goes on in this chapter to give five reasons for the ignorance of Israel; five reasons for the unbelief of Israel:

1) First, Israel was ignorant of the person of God
(verses 2,3).
2) Second, Israel was ignorant of their need for what
Christ brought them(verses 4,5).
3) Third, Israel was ignorant of the importance of faith
(verses 6-8).
4) Fourth, Israel was ignorant of the meaning of
salvation (verses 9,10).
5) Fifth, Israel was ignorant of the Scripture, the Old
Testament of the Bible, the predictions made in the
Bible (verses 16-21).

Let us look carefully at each one of these five points.

1) Israel was ignorant of the person of God.

Paul‘s approach here must have made your average Jewish reader feel that he had stepped in front of a freight train. Looking at the beginning of verse 3, we read: “For not knowing about God’s righteousness.” Paul says this to people who pride themselves about their knowledge of God. Continuing in verse 3, Paul writes: “And seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” They do not understand what God is like. They do not understand one of the most basic attributes of God. They do not understand God’s righteousness. They thought God was easier on sin than He really is. They thought God was more tolerant than He actually is. They thought God would tolerate whatever they did. I think people think the same way today. They think God will wink at their sins. They think God will accept them the way they are. They think they can attain righteousness on their own. That is a serious error in judgment.

The attitude of the people of Israel can only be described as ignorance, the kind of ignorance that comes from self-righteous arrogance, thinking you have knowledge that you simply do not have. The Jews reduced God to one of their own. A big mistake because God does everything right, which is what is meant by righteousness. People do not do everything right. So to reduce God to nothing more than another human being is a most significant underestimation of who God is. Because God is perfect He always does what is perfectly right. Any person who thinks they can reach that level is tragically misguided.

The Jews were and are not alone in their thinking. Just think about it for a moment. The run of the mill people in the world do not understand how righteous God is either. If they really understood how holy God is, do you think they would live the way they live? Do you think they would think that they could sin a little bit and God would still accept them? Do you think they would say things like, “I am really a pretty good person, God wouldn’t really think about sending me to Hell.”

That is because they do not really understand how much God hates sin. They want to create a God who will tolerate their sins. They have brought God down to their level. That was the condition of the Jews in Romans 10. They were ignorant of the true nature of the Godhead. They did not know how holy He was and they did not know how righteous He was even though they had all the writings of the prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible.

So many of the laws that God gave to reveal His absolute righteousness and His absolute perfection were laws that He gave to regulate how people should live. He spoke of how one should deal with people in business, how you should handle your money, how you should treat strangers and orphans, the poor and the needy. All of these things are dealt with so that society could function within God’s perfect order. These were expressions of God’s absolute perfection. For example, look at Deuteronomy 15:7-11 NLT:

7 “But if there are any poor people in your towns when you arrive in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tightfisted toward them.
8 Instead, be generous and lend them whatever they need.
9 Do not be mean-spirited and refuse someone a loan because the year of release is close at hand. If you refuse to make the loan and the needy person cries out to the Lord, you will be considered guilty of sin.
10 Give freely without begrudging it, and the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
11 There will always be some among you who are poor. That is why I am commanding you to share your resources freely with the poor and with other Israelites in need.

That is just one of many social commands that come from a perfect God. God also commands us not to commit murder. Do you know what God says in the Bible to do with murderers? Look with me at Genesis 9:5,6 NLT, and you will find the answer:

5 And murder is forbidden. Animals that kill people must die, and any person who murders must be killed.
6 Yes, you must execute anyone who murders another person, for to kill a person is to kill a living being made in God’s image.

God insisted on capital punishment. If you murder someone, you are to pay with your life. Why? Is it to prevent crime? No. To get murderers off the street? No. When you murder someone you kill God in effigy; you in effect are killing God who is in that person according to verse 6 above. The person murdered is made in the image of God. Murder is not only an extreme act of hatred, it is a crime against the divine image of God.

God is absolutely holy and the righteousness of God is seen in His laws about worship, about marriage, about family, society, and life in general. God is very specific in the Bible about such things as homosexuality, abortion, adultery, pornography, as well as many other things. All through the Old Testament God revealed Himself to be righteous and holy and yet the Israelites missed it.

God is holy and history is marked with illustrations of people getting exactly what they deserve when they defy God. Many people look at these things and think that is so unfair. Why? Because such people just do not understand how righteous and holy God is. If we could understand how righteous He is, we would know how unrighteous we are.

The second reason for Israel’s unbelief was that:

2) Israel was ignorant of their need for what Christ brought them.

Romans 10:4,5 NLT:

Where might Paul have gotten this information? Well, he got it from Leviticus 18:5:

5 If you obey my laws and regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.

This is what Moses said about the righteousness of the Law and it simply means that if you think you can attain righteousness by doing the things commanded by the Law, then you are required to do them all under your own power with absolute perfection. That is the way Paul sees Moses’ statement in Leviticus 18:5. He uses it to emphasize the thought that to attain righteousness by keeping the Law of God means you have to live that way all the time without making one single mistake, which of course is what? Impossible. No one has ever been able to do this, nor will anyone ever be able to do it. The Israelites had a real problem accepting this truth.

The third reason for Israel’s unbelief was that:

3) Israel was ignorant of the importance of faith.

Romans 10:6,7 NLT:
6 But the way of getting right with God through faith says, “You don’t need to go to heaven” (to find Christ and bring him down to help you).
7 And it says, “You don’t need to go to the place of the dead” (to bring Christ back to life again).

Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 30. Let us go back and take a look at Deuteronomy 30: 9,10 NLT:

9 The Lord your God will make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and your fields will produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors.
10 The Lord your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and laws written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

A call to a true heart relationship here in Deuteronomy is based on God’s covenant of grace, which means that God loves you and wants a personal relationship with you, even though you have fallen short of His expectations. This is a call to respond in faith to the goodness of God and His love for them. Go with us now back to Deuteronomy 7:7-9 NLT:

7 “The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!
8 Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
9 Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.

Why did God choose Israel to be His people? Was it because they were so good that God thought they earned such a privilege? No, it was simply because God loved them. It is just God’s grace, His unearned favor. No one ever earns anything that God gives them. It is always given only by God’s grace and mercy as a gift. That was true in 2000 B.C. and it is true today.

Romans 10:6 and 7 is basically saying that you should not think that you have to respond to God by ascending into Heaven or descending into the deep in order to find the truth. Do not think that you have to go on some impossible journey. The righteousness of faith is available to you; it is near you. It is in your mouth; it is in your heart; it has been revealed. It is in the covenant of grace. All you have to do is simply believe and you will receive it.

“Do not think you have to do the impossible (keep the Law). Do not think you have to climb your way to Heaven on the ladder of perfection. Do not think you have to go up there and bring the message back down to earth. Christ already did that. You do not have to do it. You do not have to go down into the abyss and bring Christ back from the dead on your own. God has already done that as well. You see people who believe in attaining righteousness by their own works are rejecting the work of Christ on the cross. In fact by rejecting Christ’s work on the cross, they are crucifying Him all over again. They deny that Christ has done it all for you. God does not expect you to do the impossible. He has made the message of salvation available to you. Why not take hold of it and receive the gift of salvation? Receive the gift of salvation that comes from believing, not attaining.”

That brings us to the fourth reason for Israel’s unbelief:

4) Israel was ignorant of the meaning of salvation.

Romans 10:8-10 NLT:

8 Salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is the message we preach—is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.”
9 For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

What exactly is this message Paul is talking about in verse 8? Well, Paul clearly explains the message in verse 9. It does not get much clearer than this. This is the message Paul preached over and over again. He preached it in Antioch in Acts 13:32,33 NLT:

32 “And now Barnabas and I are here to bring you this Good News. God’s promise to our ancestors has come true in our own time,
33 in that God raised Jesus.

Paul preached it in Philippi in Acts 16:30, where we read about the conversion of Paul’s jailer:

30 He (the jailer) brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with your entire household.”
32 Then they shared the word of the Lord with him and all who lived in his household.

But what were they to believe? What was the point of their faith? What was it about Jesus Christ that they were to accept? What does the last part of Romans 10:9 say? “God has raised Him from the dead.“ What was it that Paul did to the jailer and his family immediately after saying these things. Look at verse 33, Acts 16:33 NLT:

33 That same hour the jailer washed their wounds, and he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized.

What does baptism signify, when you go down in the water and come out? The resurrection of Jesus Christ. They must have known about resurrection. Acts 17:31 NLT:

31 For God has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.”

3 All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.

You might want to read the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 15 on your own. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was the ultimate proof of the ministry of Jesus Christ. It showed that He indeed was God in human flesh, able to conquer death and Hell and Satan. God the Father brought Him out of the grave and set Him at His own right hand. So when we read in Romans 10:9 that “We are to confess with our mouths and believe with our hearts that God raised Him from the dead,” we are saying much more than just believing in an isolated event.

At some point here we need to introduce James 2:19 into this discussion. So why not do that right now?

19 Do you still think it’s enough just to believe that there is one God? Well, even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror!

This is what we could classify as “demon belief.” Demon belief can have the right theology. Do you think the demons know who God is? You bet they do. In fact demons are monotheists, they know there is only one God. They know God’s nature as well or better than we do. They have been around from before the world began, when God created them as angels. They have seen God’s works from that time to this day. They know all about the wonders of God and the work of Jesus Christ because they have seen it all just as it happened. They know each and every passage in the Bible. They know all about Heaven and Hell because they have seen both places. They have a lot of knowledge about God and Jesus. They have been in the Church from its very beginning as well, masquerading as pastors, elders, teachers, priests, bishops, and popes. They are very religious. They also live in fear of judgment. They feel guilt over their sins. They know that judgment is coming on them and that they have been justly condemned to Hell.[fn]

What then is the mark of saving faith? Let us go back to Romans 10:10 to find out. Paul writes:

What exactly is this confession Paul is referring to? The word comes from the Greek verb,  exomologeo, which means “to say the same thing.” Confession means to say the same thing.[fn] So if your mouth says the same thing, God will give you salvation. What is it exactly that your mouth is supposed to say? What same thing? Verse 9: “For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Jesus is Lord. Do the demons confess that? No. It is not enough to just believe, but you must believe and confess Jesus as Lord. That is the issue.

What did the rich young ruler do in Luke 18:18-34?

Jesus gave him a very simple order, “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” Why? Would he get saved by doing that? No. Jesus was testing him by determining who was going to be in charge. When the rich young ruler refused to follow Christ, He was in effect declaring that he refused to recognize the lordship of Christ. That was the issue. You cannot desire to stay in charge of your own life and be a follower of Jesus Christ. If we are going to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. If we are going to “say the same thing,” who are we saying the same thing with? God. What does God say about Jesus? God says, “Jesus is Lord.” Let us look at what God said in Matthew 17:5 NLT:

5 But even as he said it, a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him. Listen to him.”

That is to say that “Jesus is in charge.” God said that Jesus was Lord. The Bible says over and over again that the Father had committed into the hands of Jesus: judgment, authority, and power.

Romans 14:9 NLT::
9 Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he might be Lord of those who are alive and of those who have died.

1 Corinthians 12:3 NLT:
3 So I want you to know how to discern what is truly from God: No one speaking by the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one is able to say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit of God is at work in a person’s heart, it is a work that results in that person proclaiming the lordship of Christ. What did Thomas say when he saw Jesus? “My Lord and my God (John 20:28).” The word, “God,” has to do with deity. The word, “ Lord,” has to do with sovereignty, which is power and control.

The kind of belief we are speaking of here is what was spoken of in Romans 1, “The obedience of faith.” It is a faith that leads to the obedient submission to the lordship of Christ. So many people are ignorant of the person of God, the provision of Christ, and the place of faith. True faith  believes all that is said about Christ, and true faith believes that all that has been said about Him is confirmed by His resurrection from the dead. True faith is confirmed when we confess from our mouth that we are willing to submit to His lordship. Is that the kind of faith you have? If it is not, you had better seriously devote yourself to developing that kind of faith. Because that is the only kind of faith that saves.

The fifth reason for the ignorance of Israel is:

 

5) ISRAEL REFUSED TO ACCEPT THE TEACHING
    OF THEIR OWN OLD TESTAMENT

So far we have looked at four of the reasons for Israel’s unwillingness to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah, the Savior that was predicted to come in the Old Testament of the Bible. Now we will look at the fifth reason for their unbelief continuing in our study of Romans chapter10. Let us begin by reviewing the first 10 verses of Romans 10:

1 Dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is that the Jewish people might be saved.
2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal.
3 For they don’t understand God’s way of making people right with himself. Instead, they are clinging to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. They will not go along with God’s way.
4 For Christ has accomplished the whole purpose of the law. All who believe in him are made right with God.
5 For Moses wrote that the law’s way of making a person right with God requires obedience to all of its commands.
6 But the way of getting right with God through faith says, “You don’t need to go to heaven” (to find Christ and bring him down to help you).
7 And it says, “You don’t need to go to the place of the dead” (to bring Christ back to life again).
8 Salvation that comes from trusting Christ—which is the message we preach—is already within easy reach. In fact, the Scriptures say, “The message is close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart.”
9 For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.

The Jews did not understand the proportions of the Gospel message. They saw it as a Gentile message and thus refused to accept it. When people came to try and teach them, they threw them out. They thought they were doing a service to God to kill such people and throw them out of the synagogues. Jesus warned His disciples of this is John 16:1,2 NLT:

1 “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.
2 For you will be expelled from the synagogues, and the time is coming when those who kill you will think they are doing God a service.

Let us join Paul again in verses 11-15 as he continues trying to explain the extent of the Gospel message to the church at Rome. Romans 10:11-15 NLT:

11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They all have the same Lord, who generously gives his riches to all who ask for them.
13 For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Verse 12 must have had the same impact for a Jew as being hit by a Roman chariot at full speed. Paul writes that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. What a thing to say to a people who had such a passion for their own racial identity and religious heritage. If we turn over to Galatians 3:26-29, we find as clear a definition as can be found in the Bible as to who is eligible to receive the salvation brought by Christ:

In Ephesians 3:3-6,10, Paul further clarifies any doubts that anyone may have about there being any distinction among Jews and Gentiles:

3 As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed his secret plan to me.
4 As you read what I have written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ.
5 God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he has revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
6 And this is the secret plan: The Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches inherited by God’s children. Both groups have believed the Good News, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus.
10 God’s purpose was to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. They will see this when Jews and Gentiles are joined together in his church.

All people are now one in Christ. Romans 10:12 told us that: “They all have the same Lord, who generously gives his riches to all who ask for them.”

The Jews were looking for a national deliverer, not a universal Savior. They were looking for a Messiah who would lead them in power to overthrow the Roman Empire and regain their position as a world power. They did not want someone who was going to come along and let everybody else into their exclusive little club. But if we were to do an Old Testament study of prophecy, we would see that the Jews knew from these writings that this was God’s intent all the time. They simply did not want to accept it.

Let us now see how Paul reinforces his message here in verses 13 through 15 of Romans 10:

13 For “Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

We just learned that only those who call on the name of the Lord can be saved. In other words only those who ask under God’s terms can be saved. It would then follow that no one can be saved who does not ask. And none can call unless they believe. And none can believe unless they hear. And none can hear unless somebody tells them. And nobody can tell them unless they are sent. So God has a whole plan in place for getting out the message. Because how can they call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they going to believe in someone of whom they have not heard? They are not. How are they going to believe without a preacher? They are not. How is someone going to preach unless they are sent? They are not.

If God does not send preachers who preach the truth so that people can believe and call upon the name of the Lord, they cannot be saved. You do not get saved by some mystical meditation, or examining yourself, or assuming a yoga position, or studying the stars. You cannot be saved unless you call upon the name of the Lord believing in all He is. You cannot do that unless you believe. You cannot believe unless you have heard. And you cannot hear unless someone tells you. And nobody is going to tell you unless they are sent. The point here is that God had to send preachers. The clear message of the Gospel precedes saving faith. And God sent preachers to both the Jews and the Gentiles. This is the beauty f what is being referred to in verse 15. Paul is not saying here that such people have beautiful feet physically. It is the message they bring that is so beautiful. This comes right out of Isaiah 52:7-10 NLT:

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!
8 The watchmen shout and sing with joy, for before their very eyes they see the Lord bringing his people home to Jerusalem.
9 Let the ruins of Jerusalem break into joyful song, for the Lord has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The Lord will demonstrate his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. The ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Right here in Isaiah the Jews are being told that salvation is not only for Israel but for the entire world. So you see they knew it was not only for them but they did not want to accept it. All along in their own Old Testament it was indicated that salvation would extend far beyond the nation of Israel. Paul defines the problem clearly in verse 16 of Romans 10. In fact, Let us read Romans 10:16-21 NLT:

16 But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
17 Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news—the Good News about Christ.
18 But what about the Jews? Have they actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message of God’s creation has gone out to everyone, and its words to all the world.”

20 And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God: “I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.”
21 But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they kept disobeying me and arguing with me.”

The fifth reason for the unbelief of Israel was: Israel was ignorant of the Scripture, the Old Testament of the Bible, the predictions made in the Bible.

The problem is that they have not obeyed the Gospel. Preaching was for all of the people, but all did not obey it. The Gospel is still offered to all people to the ends of the earth, to whomever will call upon the name of the Lord. But people just will not obey it and that is the tragedy.

Again Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly against the Jews in Acts 13:46,47 NLT:

46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that this Good News from God be given first to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life—well, we will offer it to Gentiles.
47 For this is as the Lord commanded us when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’ ”

Paul and Barnabas first brought this Good News to the Jews but they rejected it. They would not believe it. Then Paul sums up his position in Romans 10:17 NLT:

17 Yet faith comes from listening to this message of good news—the Good News about Christ.

People have to hear the message. We already talked about that. We have got to have the information before we can make the commitment. Salvation comes to those who hear the message about Christ and believe.

Then in verse 18 Paul says:

18 But what about the Jews? Have they actually heard the message? Yes, they have: “The message of God’s creation has gone out to everyone, and its words to all the world.”  (NLT)

There are several opinions on the meaning of this verse but I am going to go along with the one expressed by F.F. Bruce, that wherever there were Jews, and in particular wherever a Jewish community existed, there the Gospel message had been preached. So the Jews have heard the message and are not able to blame their not believing on not having heard the message. But we also see some merit in the idea that this verse suggests that wherever there is a seeking heart, God will find a way of having that seeker hear the Gospel message. Somehow, someway, God can communicate His truth in a way we do not necessarily comprehend. If you will recall, in Romans 1 and 2, we talked about several ways that God might have for revealing Himself to unbelievers. The Gospel is extended to those who have a desire to know the truth.

Let me try to sum up verses 11-18. Paul is saying that the Gospel is not the product of yet another local religion. The Gospel is the Good News that God has sent throughout all the world. It goes way beyond just the Jews to include anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord. Sadly many Jews rejected this truth of the Gospel because it included Gentiles. Many still reject it for the same reason. The Jews saw the Gospel and the Christian faith as a Gentile religion. They could not accept anything that included Gentiles sharing their religion.

Romans 10:19 NLT:
19 But did the people of Israel really understand? Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God had said, “I will rouse your jealousy by blessing other nations. I will make you angry by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”

The Jews knew that Gentiles were to be included. Paul is quoting Moses here from Deuteronomy 32:21 where God tells the Jews:

21 They have roused my jealousy by worshiping non-gods; they have provoked my fury with useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy by blessing other nations; I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.  (NLT)

The Jews knew this because Moses told them in Deuteronomy 32:21. They were told that God was going to turn to another people, a Gentile nation, and bless them, thus provoking Israel to jealousy. Just as the Jews gave their love to another by worshipping other gods, God gave His love to another people. And the Jews were warned of this over and over again throughout the Scripture, but they ignored the warnings. Jesus told them over and over again throughout His ministry: “If you don’t want the Kingdom of God, I’ll find someone else who does.” And that is exactly what He did, which is exactly what Moses warned about in Deuteronomy 32:21. And sure enough it provoked the Jews to jealousy. Then in Romans 10:20 we find the second Old Testament text from Isaiah:

20 And later Isaiah spoke boldly (clearly) for God: “I was found by people who were not looking for me. I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.”   (NLT)

This verse is from Isaiah 65:1:

The Jews continually sought after God according to their own terms and never found Him. But there was a people that did not seek and did not ask, and God had a relationship with them. Then the last verse in chapter 10, verse 21:

21 But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they kept disobeying me and arguing with me.”  (NLT)

This verse is quoting Isaiah 65:2:

2 “I opened my arms to my own people all day long, but they have rebelled. They follow their own evil paths and thoughts.   (NLT)

Why did the Lord reject Israel and turn to the Gentiles? Because all day long He stretched out His hands to a disobedient people. They would not respond. They refused to believe. So God is telling them they were ignorant of their own Scripture. If they would have read and known those Old Testament prophecies we have already read, they would have known that the day would come when because of their rebellion, God would reach out to the rest of the world to provoke Israel to jealousy. And when that happened, a thinking knowledgeable Jew who knew his Old Testament should have said to himself, “This is what was spoken of by the prophets, it is happening. Therefore, Jesus must be the Messiah. This must be the true message.”

So it was that because of Israel’s rebellion and disobedience, God reached out to all the nations and peoples of the world. That is not to say that those Jews who believed the message were excluded. They too of course were included if they believed. God created the Church to take the place of Israel (at some time in the future a remnant of Israel will be grafted back into the Church). Is this condition of Israel permanent? The answer to that question comes in Romans chapter 11 and the answer of course is, “No.”

We will close this chapter with a story told by Dr. Charles Feinberg in a book he wrote entitled, Israel:

“A minister was preaching on Glasgow green in Scotland when someone asked permission to speak and made his way to the platform. Responding to the words of the minister, he said, ‘I do not believe what this man has been talking about. I do not believe in a Hell, in a judgment, or in a God, for I have never seen any of them.’ He continued talking in this manner until another voice was heard from the crowd. ‘May I speak?’ The unbeliever sat down and the next man began. ‘Friends, you say there is a river running not far from this place, the river, Clyde. There’s no such thing. It’s not true. You tell me that there are grass and trees all around me where I now stand. There’s no such thing. that is also untrue. You tell me there are a great many people standing here before me. Again I say this is not true. There’s no one standing here except myself, I am alone. I suppose you wonder what I am talking about? I was born blind. I’ve never seen any of you. And as I talk it only shows that I am blind or I wouldn’t say such things. And you, unbeliever, the more you talk, the more it exposes your own blindness.’”[fn]

How appropriate a story to illustrate what happened to the nation of Israel. Israel was blind and went around saying, “It doesn’t exist, it isn’t so,” and showed their own ignorance, their own blindness. We pray that there is no one reading this that has that kind of ignorance. This message is specifically targeted here for Israel, but has wide ramifications for us all.

Isaiah

John

Romans

1 Peter


© Ron Teed - Used by permission. All rights Reserved.