Dale Partridge - Romans 9_30-33： The Difference Between Faith and Law with Dale Partridge

00:00:00.000 Good morning, church.

00:00:03.740 It's a blessing to be here with all of you and to sing songs of praises.

00:00:08.600 What a beautiful song service we had today.

00:00:10.940 Amen.

00:00:12.280 Let's stand as we read Romans 9, verse 19 through 33, in preparation for the sermon this morning.

00:00:20.480 Romans 9, verses 19 through 33.

00:00:26.920 Hear the word of the Lord.

00:00:30.000 You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault?

00:00:34.940 For who can resist his will?

00:00:37.260 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?

00:00:40.000 Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this?

00:00:45.160 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for

00:00:49.420 honored use, and another for dishonorable use?

00:00:53.040 What if God, desiring to show his wrath, to make known his power, has endured with much

00:00:58.140 patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory

00:01:04.860 for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called

00:01:11.740 not from the jews but also from the gentiles as indeed he says in hosea those who are not

00:01:19.180 my people i will call my people and her who was not beloved i will call beloved

00:01:25.900 And in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.

00:01:34.120 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

00:01:37.520 Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.

00:01:44.380 For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. 0.86

00:01:48.960 And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts has not left us offspring, we would have been

00:01:56.280 like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue

00:02:04.940 righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, but that 0.97

00:02:10.240 Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that

00:02:16.060 law? Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.

00:02:25.200 They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,

00:02:29.920 Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in 0.96

00:02:35.880 him will not be put to shame. This is the word of the Lord. Amen.

00:02:46.060 Romans 9 will be finished today which is wonderful because I've been going through

00:02:55.000 this now for probably two months it feels like it at least and what a

00:02:59.980 blessing it is to get through this great and glorious chapter the focus of this

00:03:07.480 chapter has been the sovereignty of God over salvation it started really in

00:03:13.960 Romans 8, verses 28, and is really continue on through the end of this chapter. It even

00:03:19.840 further continues in chapter 10 and 11. If you remember, Paul has been addressing several

00:03:27.240 common questions that revolve around one question. And the one question comes from

00:03:34.700 Romans 8, 28 that says, God causes all things to work together for good, for those who are called

00:03:41.120 according to his purpose.

00:03:45.820 And when you see that scripture,

00:03:52.140 that God causes all things to work together for his people,

00:03:57.100 but then you look at the reality

00:03:59.500 that the vast majority of the Jews had not come to Christ.

00:04:03.660 The obvious question is how do those two get reconciled?

00:04:11.120 That God is sovereign from foreknowledge to predestining, calling, to justifying, to glorifying.

00:04:24.240 He controls the salvation of his people, yet the Jews, many had not come to Christ.

00:04:36.020 So he offered five explanations in chapter 9 for that.

00:04:41.120 question. Number one, all Jews do not believe because all Jews are not elect. That's chapter 0.67

00:04:48.400 nine, verse six. Number two, those who are elect are not elected based on works or foreseeing

00:04:54.780 future works, but solely on God's will before they are born. That's nine, seven through 13.

00:05:02.700 Number three, there is no injustice with God in electing some and leaving others to his wrath

00:05:09.800 because all people deserve wrath.

00:05:13.580 That's 9, 14 through 18. 1.00

00:05:16.680 Number four, God's purpose in not electing all

00:05:23.340 is to display all his attributes.

00:05:27.660 We learned that God cannot have functions

00:05:30.580 that do not have,

00:05:33.780 or God cannot have attributes that do not have functions.

00:05:37.620 Why do we have sin in the world?

00:05:38.740 because one of God's attributes is wrath and justice.

00:05:43.440 And so the very purpose of sin

00:05:44.840 is that God cannot have attributes

00:05:46.220 that do not have functions.

00:05:48.620 And so the function for his wrath and justice,

00:05:52.040 the reality of that is that sin must exist. 1.00

00:05:57.420 Number five, the minority election of the Jews 0.99

00:06:03.200 or the remnant as Paul refers to them 0.96

00:06:05.380 and the mass selection of the Gentiles, which I would say is the Great Commission, 0.98

00:06:11.480 has always been God's plan. And it's been prophesied in the Old Testament. That's 9, 24 0.98

00:06:18.900 through 29. And you can even say through 33. Now to a first century Jew, this was shocking

00:06:26.340 information. This was shocking information that not all of Abraham's children would be saved and

00:06:34.020 redeemed. Ultimately, many of the people that they thought were saved, the Jews, were not.

00:06:40.800 And the people that they all thought were condemned, many of them were actually saved,

00:06:47.320 the Gentiles. It was a complete plot twist. 1.00

00:06:52.560 Last week, Paul referenced two Old Testament passages, one from Hosea, the other from Isaiah,

00:06:59.440 to support his claim. To the Jews, this proved that he was not inventing this idea of election.

00:07:08.160 This is something that has been prophesied in the Old Testament. He's given multiple examples,

00:07:13.520 whether it was Ishmael and Isaac, or Jacob and Esau, or Moses and Pharaoh, and now showing

00:07:21.040 Hosea and Isaiah, and even references to the Psalms. No, election, even with the idea of a

00:07:32.340 remnant of the Jews and a mass of the Gentiles, has been prophesied. It's been foretold in those 0.98

00:07:38.020 scriptures that you pride yourself of. We briefly discussed how these prophecies connect with

00:07:45.940 eschatology and how the remnant mentioned in these passages of scripture refers to the number

00:07:54.180 of Jews being saved. Now, the unfortunate reality is the church has misapplied that remnant idea

00:08:01.660 that is intended to speak to the remnant of Israel, ethnic Israel that would be saved,

00:08:07.500 and has misapplied that concept to the church and has produced a remnant theology where there's

00:08:14.140 only going to be a few of us that saved and the church is always going to get

00:08:18.880 small and it's just going to get smaller just like it's always been what they

00:08:22.640 miss is that prior to the cross it was totally sufficient and okay to be

00:08:29.320 pessimistic because until Christ came it's only going to get worse it's only

00:08:33.820 going to get worse

00:08:36.240 but when Christ came he was really truly doing a reversal of the fall

00:08:44.140 the resurrection of Christ is more powerful than the fall of Adam.

00:08:50.080 And what we see is that we have optimism this side of the cross.

00:08:55.080 Pessimism prior to the cross, optimism this side of the cross.

00:09:01.580 And these prophecies demonstrated how the election and salvation of the Jews, 0.80

00:09:07.260 of the remnant of the Jews, and the mass of the Gentiles was a fulfillment of these prophecies.

00:09:13.160 We briefly discussed several other dimensions,

00:09:17.460 but today Paul provides a summary of his teaching

00:09:21.160 and the reason for ethnic Israel.

00:09:24.620 When I say ethnic Israel, I mean like Israel as a nation. 0.87

00:09:27.300 Ethnic Israel's tragic denial of the Messiah. 0.98

00:09:32.440 Ultimately, he provides the explanation today 0.96

00:09:35.160 of the disparity of why we have such a remnant of the Jews 0.78

00:09:39.340 and such a mass of the Gentiles. 0.98

00:09:42.600 Now, if I could sum up today's passage in just like one succinct statement, it would 1.00

00:09:50.020 be this, many of the Jews were left to God's wrath because they pursued a false way of 0.88

00:09:58.000 righteousness, while the Gentiles found mercy because they attained righteousness through

00:10:03.740 faith.

00:10:04.520 That's really at the core.

00:10:05.720 That's what that scripture says.

00:10:07.720 We're going to break it down.

00:10:09.920 Again, we know that God is sovereign.

00:10:12.580 That has been Romans 9.

00:10:14.600 The emphasis of Romans 9 is that God is sovereign over election and ultimately salvation.

00:10:21.740 And the scriptures present redemption as having two dimensions.

00:10:27.500 God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.

00:10:31.860 There's two dimensions of salvation.

00:10:34.820 And this is important.

00:10:35.580 So please follow along with this concept because it will really help you understanding the

00:10:43.180 double-sided reality of how we should view our own redemption.

00:10:48.300 For the past 40 verses, Paul has been focusing primarily on God's sovereignty. 0.90

00:10:53.740 But in this passage, he shifts his attention to man's responsibility and the Jews' failure 0.82

00:10:59.780 to attain righteousness, to be found righteous

00:11:03.720 because works were not the means to attain righteousness.

00:11:10.100 But righteousness comes by faith.

00:11:12.760 The imputed righteousness of Christ

00:11:14.380 as we read in Philippians today, right?

00:11:16.420 It's Christ's righteousness

00:11:18.160 becomes our righteousness through faith.

00:11:23.800 So verse 30 through 31,

00:11:25.600 why don't you guys look at your Bibles,

00:11:26.680 follow along with me here.

00:11:29.780 What shall we say then? 1.00

00:11:31.840 The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness 1.00

00:11:34.660 attained righteousness, 1.00

00:11:37.300 even the righteousness which is by faith. 0.71

00:11:40.020 But Israel pursuing a law of righteousness

00:11:42.760 did not arrive at that law. 0.51

00:11:46.140 Okay.

00:11:47.200 We're gonna be smart Bible interpreters here.

00:11:49.260 We're gonna pay attention to thematic realities

00:11:51.020 of chapter nine.

00:11:51.740 This is the third time in chapter nine

00:11:54.500 that Paul has used this phrase,

00:11:56.740 what shall we say then?

00:11:59.780 what shall we say then? And this is the apostle's way of anticipating

00:12:04.340 the objections and critical questions of his readers. He's a fantastic

00:12:16.180 debater of theological realities. He is prepared.

00:12:23.620 In this particular passage, he's asking, what shall we say to these claims that the Old Testament

00:12:27.760 and prophecies spoke of God only electing a remnant of the Jews and a large number of the

00:12:31.980 Gentiles. What should we say to that? Paul responds with essentially, shall we say that

00:12:39.720 the wicked Gentiles attained righteousness, but the law-keeping Jews did not? And the answer, 1.00

00:12:46.520 which I think would have stunned first century Jews was yes. That's exactly right. That's exactly 1.00

00:12:56.620 correct. It's irony to the highest degree. It's ironic. From our perspective, we go,

00:13:05.620 wow, the people who seem to deserve did not receive it. And the most unexpected group

00:13:13.180 received it who seemed to not deserve it.

00:13:16.960 It's extremely ironic.

00:13:21.720 The claim is why Jews hated Paul.

00:13:29.940 He had three assassination attempts in the scriptures.

00:13:34.840 The Jews hated Paul because of this position that he took.

00:13:44.160 Next, I want to talk about the language that Paul uses.

00:13:48.880 Okay, he uses the term pursue.

00:13:51.160 The term pursue.

00:13:52.900 It's a stronger word than follow.

00:13:55.840 It means to earnestly strive after.

00:13:59.800 And the imagery here is a foot race. 1.00

00:14:02.940 Okay, the Gentiles who did not actively strive for righteousness 0.89

00:14:07.220 ultimately received it through faith. 0.59

00:14:10.480 while the Jews who pursued righteousness through the law

00:14:14.580 failed to achieve it by works. 0.95

00:14:18.620 It really is, this irony,

00:14:21.760 it really is an extreme example of election.

00:14:27.280 Please grasp this reality.

00:14:30.760 It shows that salvation cannot be found or earned

00:14:35.860 but must be sovereignly gifted or received.

00:14:40.480 I'm going to break this down. What I mean by that is this. The Jews had every bit of

00:14:46.420 information, every history. They had scripture, heritage, religious practice. They even had

00:14:58.260 the Messiah himself, and yet they still did not come to faith. And the people who had

00:15:10.760 no religious advantage at all, were saturated with wickedness and idolatry, were the ones

00:15:17.820 who were actually saved. Just think about the irony with that for just a moment. The

00:15:26.340 only logical explanation for such an ironic outcome is that humanity is not in control of salvation

00:15:37.540 it's not about the information you have

00:15:42.580 that is clearly demonstrated in the pharisees they have plenty of information

00:15:50.260 i'm gonna give you an illustration imagine there's a group of people trying to win a game

00:15:55.780 by following rules only to find out that the winners were chosen before the game began

00:16:05.700 then imagine that those winners weren't even playing the game

00:16:13.140 just think about that for a second you go to play a game you're trying to follow the rules and win

00:16:18.500 the game then you find out that the winners have been chosen even before the game began

00:16:24.900 and then you find out that those winners weren't even playing the game

00:16:32.420 that's kind of how we need to view salvation our actions have nothing to do with our reward

00:16:45.060 our reward depended completely on circumstances that we had nothing to do with beyond our control 0.67

00:16:51.060 In other words, the Jews prove that salvation is not of human will, persuasion, works, or pursuit. 0.98

00:17:03.220 It's not. 0.98

00:17:05.840 These are not the means by which salvation is attained.

00:17:12.060 Romans 9.16 said of election,

00:17:15.300 quote,

00:17:15.520 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

00:17:22.060 John 1, 12-13,

00:17:23.700 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,

00:17:25.820 he gave the right to become children of God,

00:17:27.260 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,

00:17:30.480 nor of the will of man, but of God.

00:17:36.860 James 1.18, people forget about this verse.

00:17:40.280 Of his own will, God's own will,

00:17:43.380 he brought us forth by the word of his truth.

00:17:45.200 we have to eliminate the church's obsession with free will

00:17:51.360 american individualism has taken free will and made it our god

00:17:59.720 salvation is not attained through human free will i've talked about this 40 times it feels like in

00:18:11.360 the last several months. And I'm not going to mention it again. I'll mention my first phrase

00:18:15.680 is that we have a will, but it's never free. It's either enslaved to sin and flesh, or it's

00:18:22.200 enslaved to righteousness and Christ. Salvation is attained by the sovereign will of God through

00:18:29.660 election as a gift. That's what the scriptures teach. Now that gift will produce good works

00:18:37.820 and it will produce a pursuit of righteousness.

00:18:42.520 But good works and the pursuit of righteousness

00:18:44.840 will not produce the gift.

00:18:46.140 That is the dimension and the problem 1.00

00:18:47.920 that the Jews and the Gentiles, the disparity. 1.00

00:18:52.540 One thought that works ended in reward.

00:18:58.000 And that's not how this works.

00:18:59.660 good works are the fruit of your salvation they're not the root of your salvation

00:19:11.240 the root of your salvation is christ but i would even say it's election in christ

00:19:19.880 when you're elected you'll produce good fruits but you can't put good good works at the roots 0.91

00:19:27.280 that is exactly what the Jews were doing. 1.00

00:19:31.520 Titus 3.5 says, 0.98

00:19:32.520 He saved us not because of works done in righteousness,

00:19:34.820 but according to his own mercy.

00:19:37.040 2 Timothy 1.9,

00:19:38.300 God who saved us and called us to a holy calling,

00:19:40.720 not because of our works,

00:19:41.700 but because of his own purpose and grace.

00:19:45.620 Ephesians 2.8-9.

00:19:49.020 For by grace you have been saved through faith,

00:19:50.600 and this is not of your own doing,

00:19:51.800 it is a gift of God,

00:19:52.840 not a result of works so that no one may boast.

00:19:57.280 James, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

00:20:04.600 He goes on to say the verse I already said, of his own will, he brought us forth from the word

00:20:08.780 of his truth. Romans 3, 23 to 24, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and

00:20:15.720 are justified by his grace as a gift. I don't know how, I don't know how, after reading those

00:20:23.100 passages any way someone can say, you know, I, of my own free will, chose to have faith

00:20:30.880 and pursued Christ. I don't know how you arrive at that. The only way you arrive at that is

00:20:37.700 because you're biblically and theologically illiterate. I think it was Spurgeon that said,

00:20:43.100 every man starts as an Arminian. I agree. You start looking at one dimension. You're saved and 1.00

00:20:52.000 you realize you're only looking at, I chose Jesus. It's only when you read the scriptures

00:20:58.380 that you realize that there's a second dimension, a second dimension. Again, salvation is a gift.

00:21:09.180 Now, Leighton Flowers, who was probably the number one proponent of free will theology

00:21:17.060 or theology today, would say,

00:21:20.080 well, the gift of the gospel can be chosen freely

00:21:23.460 or rejected freely.

00:21:26.940 This is a very real doctrine in our generation.

00:21:33.640 To that, I would say, salvation is not a gift you choose

00:21:37.820 and it is not a gift you can reject.

00:21:42.700 And here's why.

00:21:44.300 Because salvation is a spiritual resurrection.

00:21:48.880 Let me explain.

00:21:50.260 It's going to help you with your apologetics,

00:21:51.720 with your coworkers that want to fight for free will, okay?

00:21:55.760 Can you spiritually resurrect yourself?

00:21:59.480 This is what they believe. 0.97

00:22:00.440 This is why Billy Graham wrote the ridiculous book titled 0.94

00:22:03.600 How to Be Born Again. 0.95

00:22:08.720 It's like, really?

00:22:11.380 Can you really born yourself again?

00:22:13.720 What a weird idea. Can you spiritually resurrect yourself? Can you born yourself again? No. Jesus

00:22:24.260 used birth as the metaphor for coming alive because it illustrates a universal experience

00:22:32.420 in which we all know we had no involvement. No involvement. It's a universal understanding

00:22:41.380 that you were not involved in your own birth.

00:22:48.460 And so to say, well, I wasn't involved in my natural birth,

00:22:53.360 but I am involved in the decision of my spiritual birth.

00:22:58.460 It's to break the metaphor.

00:23:00.580 It doesn't make any sense.

00:23:06.120 Let me ask you another question.

00:23:07.500 can the spiritually dead reject god's will to resurrect their soul to make them born again

00:23:16.720 can they being dead say you know hey i'm not interested 0.69

00:23:20.060 i know you'd like to resurrect me

00:23:23.840 not interested okay no and here's why the dead are not involved because the dead are incapable

00:23:32.460 of action. Steve Lawson always says, what can the dead do? Stink. Stink. The dead can only

00:23:40.620 realize that they're alive after they've been resurrected. So again, Leighton Flowers would

00:23:47.600 say that spiritually resurrected souls can later reject Christ, essentially committing spiritual

00:23:55.280 suicide, soul suicide.

00:23:59.000 Okay, you chose to be born again, and then God made you born again, and then later you 0.93

00:24:04.940 just rejected Christ and you could lose your salvation, so you essentially died again spiritually.

00:24:10.180 And maybe again later, you might freely choose to be born again again.

00:24:14.640 That's the logic of this system of theology.

00:24:22.440 I have a question for you.

00:24:25.280 do spiritually alive born-again souls saved from hell want to return to

00:24:33.320 spiritual death and judgment no no one that has come alive wants to go back to

00:24:41.660 if you've understood you've been born again you don't want to go back to hell

00:24:47.180 and death

00:24:50.040 and wrath, no hope, and no peace?

00:24:57.340 More than that, do we have a shepherd that loses his sheep?

00:25:03.100 Why don't you guys turn to John chapter 10 for me real quick,

00:25:06.620 and we're going to look at verses 27 to 28.

00:25:08.440 John chapter 10.

00:25:11.120 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, and they're asking him,

00:25:15.660 hey, if you're the Christ, tell us plainly.

00:25:19.260 And he says, I did.

00:25:21.200 You don't believe me because you're not a part of my sheep.

00:25:24.660 Oof.

00:25:27.840 You're not one of the elect.

00:25:29.820 You're not part of the remnant.

00:25:33.180 He says in 27, my sheep, they hear my voice.

00:25:38.880 And I know them.

00:25:40.540 And they follow me.

00:25:43.320 I give them eternal life.

00:25:45.340 and they will never perish.

00:25:52.320 That passage right there is enough

00:25:55.500 for you to always believe

00:25:58.080 that when you're saved, you're always saved.

00:26:01.880 The doctrine, once saved, always saved, right there.

00:26:06.420 If you've been given eternal life,

00:26:08.740 you will never perish.

00:26:11.760 Either Christ is a liar and you're right

00:26:15.320 or you're wrong and the scriptures are true.

00:26:23.600 It goes on and says,

00:26:25.160 and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

00:26:30.640 What an incredible passage of scripture

00:26:32.520 that we should just rest in.

00:26:36.380 So my point is that this passage

00:26:39.060 that highlights the irony of redemption 1.00

00:26:41.480 where the Jews miss it because of works 0.81

00:26:44.180 and the Gentiles find it,

00:26:45.320 because of faith, it establishes further what Paul has been defending this entire chapter,

00:26:50.480 that salvation depends chiefly on divine election.

00:26:57.100 And what an offensive truth this is to the minds of men.

00:27:02.940 I played the game. Why didn't I win?

00:27:08.540 And you're telling me that that guy who wasn't even here won?

00:27:11.200 Yes. That's exactly what God's saying. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,

00:27:20.200 and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Oof. It's hard.

00:27:30.540 But to reject the doctrine of divine election

00:27:36.000 is to dethrone God and put your own will in his will's place.

00:27:42.900 When you get down to the live nerve of that,

00:27:46.000 it's blasphemy at the highest degree.

00:27:49.940 And that's why you see people like Jonathan Edwards

00:27:53.160 and Augustus Toplady and Calvin,

00:27:57.120 because they've gotten down to the live nerve of the issue,

00:28:00.360 and the closer you get to it, the more horrifying it really is.

00:28:06.000 Arminianism, Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism,

00:28:11.180 they steal from God's glory. 0.79

00:28:16.120 They take away honor,

00:28:20.160 that honor should be given to God.

00:28:24.380 Now, the point that you're starting to understand here

00:28:28.220 is that Paul is defending a doctrine here in Romans 9.

00:28:32.640 his mere defense proves that he's trying to convey something that's offensive you don't have to

00:28:42.280 defend something that's not offensive and you know what's not offensive is a workspace religion

00:28:46.040 not offensive at all every false religion on earth is a workspace religion the fact that

00:28:52.000 paul is even defending anything is evidence that there's something offensive to defend

00:28:56.060 and paul's modus operandi is what he makes a claim he anticipates an objection

00:29:04.100 he gives biblical support from the old testament to substantiate his position

00:29:08.620 over and over and over that's what he does paul is going to do that again in a minute

00:29:16.780 he's made a claim that those who pursued righteousness did not receive salvation

00:29:22.280 and those who did not pursue righteousness

00:29:24.300 did receive salvation.

00:29:27.020 Irony.

00:29:29.800 And just to kind of make this hit for you,

00:29:33.120 you did not choose God.

00:29:38.280 God chose you.

00:29:40.040 Now, after God chose you, you did choose God.

00:29:43.080 And again, Dr. Moody's great quote,

00:29:44.920 which is from one of his friends is,

00:29:46.040 God changes your chooser.

00:29:47.460 but God first comes

00:29:53.400 and gives you a new heart

00:29:55.840 and gives you new affections

00:29:57.780 and gives you eyes that can see

00:30:01.900 and ears that can hear

00:30:02.940 and all of a sudden

00:30:03.980 the things that you hated

00:30:04.980 I'll say it this way

00:30:08.000 the things that you loved

00:30:09.000 the sin that you loved

00:30:10.140 on Monday

00:30:12.160 you all of a sudden

00:30:14.000 hated on Tuesday

00:30:14.980 because you've been made new.

00:30:21.920 You've gone from death to life,

00:30:25.000 from blind to seeing, from deaf to hearing,

00:30:27.700 and you cannot, you cannot assign the glory

00:30:33.060 for that reality to yourself, to your own decision.

00:30:39.840 God came in through circumstances and rescued you

00:30:44.980 What an amazing God we have.

00:30:51.480 In the next two verses, Paul's going to anticipate this objection.

00:30:56.580 He's going to give a defense.

00:30:57.620 He's going to offer a passage from the Old Testament to validate.

00:30:59.620 Look at verse 32.

00:31:03.240 He says, why?

00:31:04.520 Okay, man, I hate that translation, okay?

00:31:07.260 A better way to say it would be, yes, but for what reason?

00:31:11.260 It's basically what's being said.

00:31:13.440 Okay.

00:31:14.980 And it says, because they did not pursue it by faith. 0.79

00:31:21.620 Why did the Gentiles receive and the Jews didn't? 0.88

00:31:28.820 Because the Jews did not pursue it by faith, 0.98

00:31:32.100 but as though it were by works, 0.86

00:31:35.000 they stumbled over the stumbling stone,

00:31:36.920 just as it is written.

00:31:38.860 Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling

00:31:43.080 and a rock of offense.

00:31:44.980 And he who believes in him will not be disappointed.

00:31:50.120 Now, as I said in the opening of the sermon,

00:31:54.840 while God is sovereign over salvation through divine election,

00:31:59.700 the scriptures present redemption as having two dimensions.

00:32:02.800 God's sovereignty, man's responsibility.

00:32:07.160 Okay, the previous verses, the apostles focusing on God's sovereignty. 0.78

00:32:12.280 It's talking about election.

00:32:14.980 Now, in these verses, he's talking about man's responsibility,

00:32:18.440 our responsibility to have faith.

00:32:21.620 Now, if you're a normal person, your mind is trying to reconcile

00:32:25.680 how God can demand faith if faith is a gift only given to the elect.

00:32:35.740 That's the conundrum and one of the great mysteries of the scriptures, right?

00:32:39.620 There's three main mysteries in the Bible.

00:32:40.940 god's sovereignty man's responsibility the trinity and the hypostatic union

00:32:48.480 every time you try to get to an answer of absolute carnal clarity you're going to end

00:32:57.220 at a black door you cannot open what this does is it brings us back to augustine's quote that i

00:33:06.640 opened up this entire series with about two months ago. It says, Lord, command what you will

00:33:13.200 and give what you command. Because he realized that God was commanding something from someone

00:33:20.680 that they don't have. Command for faith, but give me faith.

00:33:26.840 faith. That's why Spurgeon said, the system of truth revealed in the scriptures is not simply

00:33:38.540 one straight line, but two. He says, no man will ever get the right view of the gospel

00:33:45.840 until he knows how to look at the two lines at once.

00:33:50.020 for instance he says

00:33:54.040 I read in one book of the Bible

00:33:56.820 the spirit and the bride came 0.91

00:33:58.900 and say come

00:33:59.940 and in another

00:34:02.040 quote no man can come to me

00:34:04.460 except the father which has sent me draws him

00:34:06.680 again

00:34:08.420 I see in one place God's predestination

00:34:11.280 and I see in another place 0.61

00:34:12.440 man's responsibility

00:34:13.700 end quote

00:34:15.000 two lines

00:34:17.760 when i talk to my wife and i say hey i'm going to take the kids to the park

00:34:26.400 we're going to go to this park over here and then i go to my kids and i say hey you guys want to go

00:34:36.240 to the park yeah we'd love to go to the park now to them they go we just chose to go to the park

00:34:45.520 you made an offer, and I said yes.

00:34:50.620 What they don't understand is that they were going to the park.

00:34:54.560 I made the decision already.

00:35:00.200 I know that's kind of a limited metaphor, but you get the point.

00:35:05.580 In this verse, we're going to be looking at the second line,

00:35:08.860 man's responsibility.

00:35:11.680 Paul says, 1.00

00:35:12.220 the reason why the Jews did not receive righteousness

00:35:14.740 though they pursued it.

00:35:16.420 He says, because they did not pursue it by faith,

00:35:19.640 but as though it were by works.

00:35:22.500 Okay. 0.96

00:35:23.900 The Jews sought righteousness in a way 0.95

00:35:26.400 that it cannot be found. 1.00

00:35:29.440 Your number one need.

00:35:31.660 In fact, everybody's number one need.

00:35:34.100 And we're going to get to the heart of the gospel right here.

00:35:35.940 So just follow along.

00:35:38.660 Your number one need.

00:35:42.220 is to be found righteous.

00:35:45.480 You are not righteous when you're born into this world.

00:35:49.180 Your number one need is to be found righteous

00:35:51.220 on judgment day.

00:35:55.180 And there are ways that people have tried

00:35:59.680 to attain righteousness.

00:36:01.480 One of them is moralism.

00:36:05.680 It's the doctrine that plagues the Roman Catholic Church.

00:36:10.360 It's religious moralism.

00:36:12.640 It's modern-day Pharisaical theology. 0.95

00:36:20.500 What the Jews didn't understand is Deuteronomy 27, 26. 0.84

00:36:23.700 It says, cursed be anyone. 0.88

00:36:27.720 How many people is anyone?

00:36:29.220 Anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.

00:36:35.460 James actually clarifies it, James 2.10.

00:36:39.020 It says, for whoever keeps the whole law

00:36:41.500 but fails in one point

00:36:44.380 has become guilty of all of it.

00:36:49.620 Okay.

00:36:52.860 Not even talking about original sin right now.

00:36:55.620 Have you lied? Have you cheated? Have you stolen?

00:36:58.520 Have you thought lustful thoughts?

00:37:02.680 Have you blasphemed God?

00:37:05.980 Have you murdered someone in your heart?

00:37:08.280 when you think of those realities, you've become guilty of all of it.

00:37:15.500 You are completely unrighteous, eternally unrighteous.

00:37:27.180 Okay, I'm going to give you another lesson here.

00:37:31.240 A low view of the law always leads to legalism.

00:37:36.120 a low view of the law always leads to legalism. Let me explain. If you think the law is small

00:37:46.440 and you can attain it, you'll try. You'll try. The Jews had a very low view of the law.

00:37:54.540 Now, a high view of the law always leads to grace, mercy.

00:38:05.240 What did Jesus do?

00:38:06.580 Did Jesus lower the law or amplify the law?

00:38:11.700 He comes in, he goes, you've heard that it's said that if you commit adultery,

00:38:18.420 you're essentially sinning.

00:38:22.120 But I tell you, even if you think adulterous thoughts,

00:38:26.140 you've already committed adultery in your heart.

00:38:29.260 He's saying it's not just what you do, it's even what you think.

00:38:34.060 What was the response of the disciples?

00:38:36.460 Who can be saved?

00:38:39.740 That's exactly the right perspective.

00:38:44.360 Nobody can be saved when they have a low view of the law.

00:38:49.360 You have to have a high view of the law.

00:38:54.200 It's Everest here to crush you.

00:38:58.880 You cannot be saved by works of the law because you are eternally unrighteous.

00:39:04.580 You must run to mercy.

00:39:10.300 That's why Paul says in Romans 3.10, which is a quote from the Psalms,

00:39:14.480 none is righteous, no, not one.

00:39:19.360 When we are born, now I'm gonna go into original sin,

00:39:26.960 we are born of Adam.

00:39:29.300 Now Adam is like a seed that went into the ground.

00:39:33.000 And everybody that came from Adam and Eve,

00:39:38.240 which is all of us,

00:39:41.280 is born of the same substance and matter that Adam was,

00:39:44.820 which is, he was a sinner.

00:39:46.260 and his seed of sinful humanity produced only other sinners of sinful humanity.

00:39:55.760 But when we are born again in Christ, a new humanity, a new seed, born of a virgin without

00:40:06.600 the original sin of Adam, when we are born of that seed, we are now saints.

00:40:17.020 So vital to understand that.

00:40:21.000 All that comes from Adam is sin and requires death. 0.90

00:40:26.500 You must be transferred into, by being born again, 0.93

00:40:31.180 spiritually resurrected, being born of Christ, the second Adam. 0.60

00:40:38.240 In Adam, you're a sinner.

00:40:40.180 In Christ, you're a saint.

00:40:42.280 This is Romans chapter 5, if you want to read it later.

00:40:46.260 So sinners need an alien righteousness.

00:40:52.100 Why are you righteous?

00:40:54.700 It's not because of anything you do.

00:40:56.480 God is not looking down at you going,

00:40:58.380 you're such a good rule follower.

00:41:01.260 No, he's looking down at Christ saying,

00:41:03.580 well, looking, I'm not gonna say looking down at Christ.

00:41:05.480 He's looking to Christ and saying,

00:41:06.940 Christ is the perfect law keeper.

00:41:11.440 And his righteousness becomes your righteousness

00:41:13.840 through faith.

00:41:16.260 why are you righteous?

00:41:18.880 Why are you going to be declared innocent on judgment day?

00:41:22.080 You better not say or think that it's anything that you did.

00:41:25.080 It's because of that guy, his righteousness.

00:41:31.120 His perfect law keeping has been given to me

00:41:34.380 and my sins have been given to him.

00:41:38.320 He has taken them and paid for them.

00:41:41.100 You are truly as righteous as Christ is righteous through imputation.

00:41:50.160 God sees you in white robes in terms of the forensic reality of the gospel,

00:42:01.180 the judicial reality of the gospel.

00:42:05.460 You are righteous as Christ is righteous through imputation.

00:42:13.900 Lastly, it says this verse,

00:42:17.280 it says they stumbled over the stumbling stone.

00:42:21.400 Instead of finding the foundation of their hope and justification

00:42:23.620 in the righteousness of Jesus, they stumbled over him.

00:42:27.960 Pride, pride.

00:42:29.360 not recognizing biblical anthropology.

00:42:34.960 I'm not righteous. 0.91

00:42:38.400 It's the difference between the two men.

00:42:41.540 Oh, Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.

00:42:45.280 Who went away justified?

00:42:47.460 That man.

00:42:50.020 It's why we start our worship with this confession of sin.

00:42:53.440 If you don't start, oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

00:42:59.360 recognizing you have no righteousness of your own,

00:43:05.620 but it has been given to you as a gift through faith.

00:43:11.400 So the word stumbled in the Greek means to strike against

00:43:15.560 or to collide with and to be put off course.

00:43:20.400 The Jews spiritually collided with Christ 0.94

00:43:23.000 and it veered them off of the course to true righteousness. 0.95

00:43:26.760 And rather than becoming the cornerstone

00:43:28.240 or the pearl of great price,

00:43:30.680 he'd become an obstacle

00:43:31.860 that caused them to fall to their own ruin.

00:43:35.900 Remember, we're talking about the second line,

00:43:37.780 man's responsibility.

00:43:39.520 And this stumbling was not merely

00:43:41.560 because of their own obstinate hearts.

00:43:43.160 We're about to go flip back here in a second

00:43:45.460 to the first line.

00:43:49.660 It wasn't just because of their obstinate hearts

00:43:52.020 or their rejection of Christ.

00:43:54.180 It was also a predestined event.

00:43:57.020 It's a predestined event.

00:44:01.820 The next verse, Paul cites Isaiah 8, 14,

00:44:05.280 which says,

00:44:06.340 Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling

00:44:08.760 and a rock of offense.

00:44:11.180 This isn't like an accident.

00:44:13.020 This is on purpose.

00:44:17.560 Paul wants his readers to see

00:44:19.080 the sovereign nature of redemption 0.86

00:44:20.540 and how the Jews' rejection of the Messiah, 0.64

00:44:22.800 if you look up to...

00:44:26.020 Chapter 9, verses 5 or 6.

00:44:29.820 I think it's chapter, or verse 6.

00:44:31.480 It says, it's not as though the word of God has failed.

00:44:37.680 Okay, keep that in mind.

00:44:40.860 The Jews' rejection of the Messiah is not as though the word of God has failed.

00:44:45.480 It's actually the evidence that the word of God has succeeded. 0.82

00:44:53.100 I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling.

00:44:56.900 Who did that?

00:45:00.680 God did.

00:45:03.200 God laid in Zion, the city of God, the people of God,

00:45:07.700 a stumbling stone on purpose. 1.00

00:45:15.480 What makes this so shocking again is that the Jews prided themselves about the scriptures, 0.98

00:45:21.680 how well they knew them. 1.00

00:45:23.680 And it's right here.

00:45:26.020 But Jesus in John 5 39 says, you search the scriptures for in them, you think you have

00:45:31.000 eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. It's like talking to a dead person.

00:45:38.180 They cannot see it. They cannot hear it. It's not about intellectual persuasion. It's not

00:45:45.340 about more information. It's about God awakening deadness in our soul.

00:45:51.380 and then in john 12 40 we see again quoting isaiah for why the jews rejected christ

00:46:01.780 john says god has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they see

00:46:10.700 with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn that i would heal them

00:46:16.120 what

00:46:18.860 we're back to God's sovereignty.

00:46:24.300 God actually blinds them and prevents them.

00:46:31.620 Oh, what a mystery of God's sovereignty

00:46:34.560 and man's responsibility.

00:46:39.000 The apostle closes with this line,

00:46:42.100 and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.

00:46:45.940 Not every Jew would reject Christ.

00:46:48.860 Hey, Paul clarifies this, Romans 11, 1.

00:46:52.020 It says, I ask then,

00:46:53.880 has God rejected his people by no means?

00:46:56.160 For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,

00:46:58.340 a member of the tribe of Benjamin.

00:47:00.620 Hey, there is a remnant.

00:47:03.520 God didn't totally cast aside all of ethnic Israel.

00:47:10.360 A remnant has been saved, 1.00

00:47:11.920 and now the mass of the Gentiles has been added in 1.00

00:47:16.660 or is being added in.

00:47:18.860 grafted in, as you will see in chapter 10 and 11.

00:47:24.940 Lastly, he says, all who believe will not be disappointed.

00:47:27.840 Some translations might say, not be ashamed.

00:47:30.660 In other words, unlike those who have rejected Christ,

00:47:33.500 who will be ashamed, those vessels of wrath

00:47:36.960 will find themselves devastated.

00:47:39.920 Those who believe will possess a hope.

00:47:43.460 They're not going to be disappointed.

00:47:44.580 the promise that was given to Adam and Eve

00:47:50.040 in Genesis 3.16

00:47:51.840 that was kept in the covenants

00:47:53.800 that was given to the fathers of Abraham

00:47:58.160 and Isaac and Jacob

00:47:59.080 that was prophesied in the prophets

00:48:01.620 and that was realized in Christ

00:48:05.640 they have that hope

00:48:08.400 the people that weren't even playing the game

00:48:15.560 So I'm going to give you the conclusion and I'll close it up.

00:48:19.060 What's the conclusion of this doctrine of God's sovereignty over salvation?

00:48:30.880 Man's redemption is God's plan.

00:48:36.420 Man's redemption is God's plan.

00:48:38.380 It's God's plan.

00:48:41.280 Again, it's why I hate those baptism shirts that say, I have decided.

00:48:45.420 It just strips all of the glory of God and puts it all on man.

00:48:50.420 Again, I will say it again.

00:48:52.040 Those shirts must say, God saved me.

00:48:57.040 The posture that you must have when sharing a testimony,

00:49:01.500 you have to stop saying, I was persuaded to come to Christ

00:49:06.340 or I accepted Jesus or I made him Lord.

00:49:10.700 Oh, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life.

00:49:12.200 Jesus is Lord, whether you make him Lord or not.

00:49:18.860 I accepted Jesus.

00:49:22.240 Again, yeah, in a sense you did,

00:49:25.160 but only after God came in and did a miracle in your soul.

00:49:32.100 And so to emphasize man's choice

00:49:35.040 without emphasizing God's rescue

00:49:38.460 is the problem.

00:49:42.200 Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, it is the most God-glorifying and man-humbling system

00:49:51.600 of salvation theology that exists.

00:49:56.920 You get into the weeds of it and you go, this has to be right.

00:50:01.220 This is not only is it biblical, but it's the exact opposite of what my flesh wants.

00:50:06.800 it seems like it's totally aligned with God's upside down kingdom economy where up is down

00:50:15.320 and down is up and weak is strong and strong is weak and last is first and first is last.

00:50:23.280 This is the beauty of this great doctrine. So when someone asks you for your testimony,

00:50:30.240 having now gone through Romans chapter nine, this is what you should say. It should be the exact

00:50:36.060 words of John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace. It should be, why are you saved?

00:50:41.040 How did you come to Christ? Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch

00:50:47.640 like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see.

00:50:56.860 That's why he wrote that song. That's why he wrote those lyrics. America sings them

00:51:03.320 while keeping in their heart a tiny little idol of free will.

00:51:08.740 Don't do that.

00:51:10.940 Rest in amazing grace.

00:51:12.460 Let's pray.

00:51:14.960 Father, we thank you.

00:51:18.240 Lord, that you have saved us,

00:51:21.060 that you have chosen a people 1.00

00:51:22.900 that we're not a people.

00:51:28.120 lord that you have made that which was not holy holy and that who was not beloved beloved and

00:51:37.820 father we pray lord that you continue to lay that upon our hearts and minds and affections

00:51:42.100 that we would remember it all week that it would animate the way that we obey that it

00:51:47.280 would motivate the way that we worship and praise and that we would give you all the glory

00:51:51.880 and that it would change the way that we live

00:51:56.340 and the way that we go out into the city

00:51:59.240 and establish the kingdom through the gospel

00:52:01.740 and through the righteousness of your law.

00:52:06.880 Lord, I ask that you would give this congregation,

00:52:08.800 these people here, that blessing of strength and maturity

00:52:13.760 or that they might radiate to the world of light and salt

00:52:21.260 and that you would bring more people through their faithfulness.

00:52:26.260 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:52:28.860 Amen.

Dale Partridge - July 27, 2024

Romans 9_30-33： The Difference Between Faith and Law with Dale Partridge

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript