Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 5 Study # 1
April 29, 2018
Humble, Texas
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Thesis: Paul's final summons to a "conclusion" is a summons to recognize that God has shifted in His former plan from a significant focus upon "Israel" to a temporary return to His pre-Babel focus upon "humanity".
Introduction: In our look into Paul's clarification of God's larger plan, we have seen that Paul has argued that the actions of God have been rooted in His determination to show mercy to sinners without regard for their attitudes and/or actions. His love for His enemies is balanced by His hatred for His enemies and the deciding issue for the determination of which of those enemies shall benefit from His love and which shall suffer from His hatred is His determination to show mercy to whomever He shall choose and call.
In a previous study we saw that humanity has a date with the final outcome as the Lord works to bring the whole of humanity to the ultimate resolution of God's revelation of Himself to His creatures. And in the light of that work, we read of Paul's declaration that if The Lord of Hosts had not acted to preserve a "seed" in "Israel", Israel would have become as Sodom and Gomorrha as the incremental processes of the vast mystery of iniquity continued to be permitted by Him.
This evening we are going to look into what we should conclude from all of this.
- I. The Facts That Dominate the Conflict Between God and His Creatures.
- A. In Romans 3:5 we had the first of seven of Paul's calls to his readers to "come to a conclusion".
- 1. At root in that text is man's penchant for attempting to make God "unrighteous" by reason of His use of man's unrighteousness to "commend" His own righteousness.
- 2. The human reasoning is that God's use of man's unrighteousness to serve His own interests should exempt man from God's wrath because he has "served" God's interests.
- 3. The human conclusion is that God's attempt to "commend" His own righteousness by the use of man's unrighteousness is self-defeating because it really shows that He is unrighteous to do such a thing.
- 4. This raises the first of seven Theological "conclusions" upon which Paul insists: Is God, when all is said and done, an "unrighteous actor"?
- B. Then, in 3:20-26 we have Paul's explanation that God's "righteousness" is established by the satisfaction of God's wrath against man by the sacrifice of Jesus so that He is both "just" and "Justifier".
- C. This is followed by an explanation of the total failure of "Law" as a methodology of justification and the total success of "Faith" as a methodology of justification, which is, in turn, followed by the declaration that God is not "of Jews only" but also "of Gentiles" on the basis of justification by faith (3:29-30).
- D. Thus we come to this final summons to a conclusion in 9:30 where the issues are the same.
- 1. The question of God's "righteousness" is again raised (9:14) on the basis of His "irresistible" will to reveal both "wrath" and "powerful mercy" (9:22) and His use of man's evil to "glorify" God's righteousness.
- 2. The answer is given that man is involved in an inexorable sinking into the depths of a depravity so great that it requires the expression of God's eternal "wrath" and that God has acted on behalf of "some" to prevent that sinking to result in the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrha.
- 3. And this action is for the benefit of both Jews and Gentiles.
- II. Thus, The Final Call For a Determinative Conclusion.
- A. The larger backdrop was God's shift of focus from humanity to "Israel" after the rebellion of Babel.
- B. Then, at Pentecost after Calvary, God shifted back to humanity from "Israel".
- C. This reversion is rooted in "the bottom line".
- 1. This "bottom line" is the only workable foundation for relational harmony in the universe with a view to the ultimate establishment of a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy.
- 2. This "bottom line" is whether "humanity" (both Gentiles and Israel) will "believe" God.
- a. The Gentiles evidenced a marked lack of interest in having relational harmony with God and His created persons.
- b. Israel evidenced a marked commitment to the pursuit of a "righteousness" that would make them acceptable to the God of the planned eternal kingdom.
- 1) This "pursuit", however, was not to obtain relational harmony; it was to prove that "Israel" was not subject to the inexorable processes of iniquity and that "Israel" should be allowed to "boast" of their "superiority" over the Gentiles and, indeed, over even the "unrighteous" God Who manipulates His creation unrighteously.
- 2) This "pursuit" was all about "works of Law" as a basis of proving superiority.
- 3. Thus, God simply ignored these major faults of both Gentile and Jew, and set forth the alternative methodology of relational harmony: Faith.
- a. Without holding the Gentiles hostage to their disinterest, God offered reconciliation on the basis of a restoration by faith.
- b. Without holding the Jews hostage to their zeal for self-exaltation, God offered reconciliation of the basis of a restoration by faith.
- D. This reversion has a significant dividing line.
- 1. God has set before humanity "a stone that causes stumbling".
- a. A stone that causes stumbling is designed to hinder the runner so that the race is lost.
- b. Whether a runner stumbles over the stone determines whether he will win the race.
- 2. This stone was set "in Zion", not because Gentiles are without fault, but because the Jews had become the showcase of how pride corrupts even the greatest blessing of God.
- 3. This stone raises the question of whether man will embrace the "rock of scandal" (his own depravity leading to the murder of The Rock), or will resist the "scandal".
- 4. Those who resist perish, but those who embrace it and "believe" on Him will not be ashamed.