In the moments when the soul is in the lowest depths, faith is the only way to live. He is come up from the deep; we need not perplex ourselves how to bring him up. Believe that he can save you; believe that he will save you; at any rate leave the whole matter of your salvation with him in unquestioning confidence. Compare verse 6 (where the margin, not the text, is substantially correct) with verse 4. You asked, "Who shall descend into the deep?" How shall they hear without a preacher? We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. We should say the best we can even of our worst enemies; this is blessing those that curse us. c. How beautiful are the feet: No wonder those who preach have beautiful feet they partner with God for the salvation of men. A great present-day preacher called preaching "pleading with men." 16). God established that they had to bring an animal and kill the animal in their stead, that their sins must be transferred onto the animal and the animal slain. Apparently the meaning is: "What if the message was so difficult to grasp that even when Israel did hear it they were unable to grasp its significance?" II. Basically the scheme is this--in the previous passage Paul has been saying that the way to God is not that of works and of legalism, but of faith and trust. 17 So then [ therefore] The words "so then" indicate the consequence of those who believe the message. The top and bottom of the matter is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ." The law is written in the ten commandments; you know them; and if you desire to live by them you must keep them. You must carefully guard against the notion of its being a question of Paul's own experience, because he says, "I had not known," "I was alive," etc. This is not something to smile at, but to admire. The Holy Ghost, who now gives the soul its consciousness of deliverance from its place in Christ, is also the witness that the body too, the mortal body, shall be delivered in its time. All the world was guilty before God. The tenour of it is, Do, and live. Ah, then the heart foolishly cries, "I must know a great deal; as much as if I had been to heaven and seen for myself, or as if I had dived into the depths and made discoveries there." The consequences are thus pursued; first, the general place of the believer now, in all respects, in relation to the past, the present, and the future. Mark you, Moses does not tone down the law to suit our fallen state, or talk of our doing our best and God's being satisfied with our imperfect obedience. He dwells in the heart by faith. already. This maintains both the glory and the moral universality of Him who will justify the circumcision by faith, not law, and the uncircumcision through their faith, if they believe the gospel. I have never been down-hearted at anything my life; certainly not at the thought of dying. Unbelief is a non-submission to the righteousness of God, standing it out against the gospel proclamation of indemnity. The Bible describes confessing Christ in two ways. It was laid down that no food must be cooked on the Sabbath. how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! First, he raises the question, "Has God cast away his people?" I appeared plainly to those who did not enquire after me." Uttering a wish of evil against somebody or a thing. Time was when none of the English, nor French, nor of any other nation believed in the Saviour. I hope that brethren in Christ will bear with me if I press on them the importance of taking good heed to it that their souls are thoroughly grounded in this, the proper place of the Christian by Christ's death and resurrection. This time Paul quotes Psalms 19:4: "Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." It was not our effort which brought Christ into the world or raised him from the dead. 2. b. . ** See No. Once, again, though your faith should only be strong enough to lead you to pray, yet it shall save you, for "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Granted that it is so, at once and fully. A Monument for the Dead, and a Voice to the Living, --------------------------------------------------------------------------------, Delivered on Lord's-Day Morning, January 7th, 1883, by, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington. Click to enable/disable _gat_* - Google Analytics Cookie. Nor is there only the manifest call of the Gentiles in this, but with no less clearness there is the rejection, at any rate for a time, of proud Israel. He never said a word more than he felt; yet that was the style of man. Our Lord Jesus lays a great stress upon this confessing of him before men; see Matthew 10:32; Matthew 10:33. He at the same time unfolds the essential difference between the righteousness of faith and that of law. "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. Suppose you cannot walk on the sea, like Peter: never mind; you are not called to do it. of it. 10:1-13 Brothers, the desire of my heart for the Jews and my prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 5. Moses is saying that God's law is not inaccessible and impossible; it is there in a man's mouth and life and heart. b. a. Though Israel heard, they did not exercise saving faith in Christ making them (and us) all the more responsible. ". At least they have a, Seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God, i. The conies are a feeble folk, yet have they their habitations among the rocks: they are safe, but they keep to their hiding place. The Rock of Ages never fails. It is Paul's one desire that the Jews may be saved. Let it not be! Verse 17. Paul makes no attempt to resolve this dilemma; and the fact is that there is no resolution of it. We have Paul informing us that he transfers sometimes in a figure to himself that which was in no wise necessarily his own experience, and perhaps had not been so at any time. Again, we cannot neglect the emphasis on. It could not therefore be the source or means of his righteousness. This accordingly leads the apostle into the earlier portion of his great argument, and first of all in a preparatory way. in order to understand this declaration: it is as plain as words can make it. When God gives you growth in grace and fruitfulness in good works it will be your safety to be as little as ever you were, and to trust in nothing but the work of the Lord. Christianity is belief plus confession; it involves witness before men. Confessing the Lord Jesus--openly professing relation to him and dependence on him, as our prince and Saviour, owning Christianity in the face of all the allurements and affrightments of this world, standing by him in all weathers. Paul is attempting neither to quote Moses nor to interpret Moses. Moses said, "That the man which doeth those things shall live by them." This was not a direct and intrinsic effect, of course, but the result of spiritual dealing for the soul. Did the call of God. Still, it is "man" not yet exactly the Jew, but man who had profited, it might be, by whatever the Jew had; at the least, by the workings of natural conscience. This is what that word of faith says, even the gospel which we preach. First, We need not go to heaven, to search the records there, or to enquire into the secrets of the divine counsel. This he proves by showing the different constitution of these two. His language conveys the main idea which Paul wished to do, that the doctrine was plain and intelligible. To question the need for bringing someone from the deep was a denial of Jesus resurrection (CBL, Romans, p. 163). Let me call your attention again to its force. The soul of prayer is the heart's desire. A disobedient and contrary people: This tells Gods assessment of disobedient, Messiah-rejecting Israel. This also is a most important truth, my brethren, to bear in mind. What does experience say about believing in Christ! 10:5-8: For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby. And I answered him, "That is a very difficult question for me, because I do believe that your father does love God, has a zeal for God, but what is he doing about his sin? He "will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: to them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first and also of the Gentile.". I want to call your special attention to the fact that Paul borrows the words of Moses; for his intent was the ending of all fears. They have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, that is, they have not yielded to gospel-terms, nor accepted the tender of justification by faith in Christ, which is made in the gospel. Then, fourthly, we will hear what experience saith; for we may bring in the experience of believers to back up the declarations of God. He shows that, on the responsible ground of being His nation, they were wholly ruined. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. Thirdly, let us consider, WHAT THE SCRIPTURE SAITH; "Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." But now it is "the wrath of God from heaven;" and consequently it is in view of eternal things, and not of those that touch present life on the earth. Has God then no delivering power from this? It is not the mercy of God., Many have contended that so it is, and to their own great loss, as well as to the weakening of the word of God. And what led to the call of Abraham, of whom we hear much in the epistle to the Romans as elsewhere, was the departure of man into idolatry. to deal with the whole posterity of Adam as involved in death because of one, their common father, who could deny the consistency of one man's saving? Whatever Gods purposes may be, the Jews are still responsible for their own loss. Rather does it add to his guilt: such is man's evil state and will. He did not say, "Do and thou shalt live, and yet there is another way." We have the tenour of it, Romans 10:9; Romans 10:10, the sum of the gospel, which is plain and easy enough. This is the substance of the matter Christ saves, and we trust. Do you mean to tell me that because my father does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah that he is lost?" 11, 12). We need not here enter into the details; but on the surface we see how the apostle brings all down to that which is of the deepest interest to every soul. Yet from beginning to end there is no anger in it; there is nothing but wistful longing and heartfelt yearning. But it is very plain and easy: The word is nigh thee. But this does not content the apostle, or rather the Spirit of God; for he goes on to point out that Isaiah "is very bold" in a similar way; that is, there is no concealing the truth of the matter. For instance, if a man signs a contract without having read the conditions, he cannot complain if afterwards he finds out that the conditions are very different from what he thought they were. In Romans 7:1-25 we have the subject of the law discussed for practice as well as in principle, and there again meet with the same weapon of tried and unfailing temper. And they are broadening the gate so that you breathe, "Oh, God loves you," you will be saved because you are breathing. There is sure ground here. And I heard Keith giving his testimony on television the other night and he said that living here in southern California, going to UCLA and all, he was twenty-four years old before he ever heard about Jesus Christ. God send us more like him men to whom religion is for home consumption. To turn a blind eye may be in some few cases a virtue; in most cases it is folly. Or let's put on our asbestos suits and descend into hell and bring the Messiah back from the grave. The offering up of this desire to God. The Gentiles the despised heathen were to be brought in; the self-satisfied Jews are left behind, justly and beyond question, if they believed the law and the prophets. If salvation for man is possible by any other means, if man can be saved by the law, if man can be saved by his own efforts, by his good works, if a man can be saved by sincerity, then, God, let this cup pass from Me. Christ has already done that and has returned gloriously by His resurrection from the dead. That is quite true, because Isaiah says: "Lord, who has believed what they heard from us?" ( Isaiah 53:1.) Beneath it there runs the conviction that there are certain kinds of ignorance which are inexcusable. Not only God, but also our fellow men, must know what side we are on. Commentary on Romans 8:10-17 (Read Romans 8:10-17) If the Spirit be in us, Christ is in us. Such is the doctrine and the fact. In doing so, he personifies righteousness based on faith. d. Glad tidings of good things: Obviously, the salvation Isaiah prophesied about could not be salvation through works or the law. (1-3) Israel's refusal to submit to the righteousness of God. and how can they hear without a preacher? But why talk I so? The Gentiles did not seem to him to be in the same position as the Jews at all. "No, I am not." The apostle allows this privilege to be great, specially in having the Scriptures, but turns the argument against the boasters. By the cross God has a deeper moral glory than ever a glory that He thus acquired, if I may so say. Secondly, We need not go to the deep, to fetch Christ out of the grave, or from the state of the dead: Into the deep, to bring up Christ from the dead. Then your principle is your condemnation. If a fire has to be poked a Gentile is employed to do it. They are both true, so you can't reconcile. His life and death pointed in one direction. Man complicates the issues. Next, he enters upon another branch of the truth the Spirit not as a condition contrasted with flesh (these two, as we know, being always contrasted in Scripture), but as a power, a divine person that dwells in and bears His witness to the believer. It is God Himself who, infinitely glorified in the Lord that expiated our sins by His one sacrifice, remits them now, not looking for our victory, nor as yet even in leading us on to victory, but by faith in Jesus and His blood. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (ver. And this lies in the fact that Abraham believed God before he had the son, being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able to perform. In both Old and New it is the same substantial testimony. He refused. The righteousness of faith, on the other hand, is easily available to all men upon the conditions mentioned in the next phrases. So also the gospel by no means involves itself in obscurity, but says, Believe and live, quite as distinctly as Moses said, "Do and live." As I was walking out of the room God said, "I didn't ask you to reconcile it; I only asked you to believe it." Jesus in the garden prayed, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." Paul was well aware of that; at this very time he was planning the evangelization of Spain, a province where the name of Christ was not yet known (c.f. If in Isaac only, it is a question of the seed, not that was born, but that was called. Check to enable permanent hiding of message bar and refuse all cookies if you do not opt in. i. Now, our flesh likes the complications, because I would like to take some credit and receive some glory for salvation. Now there is no way in which God could lay a basis for peace with Himself more blessed than as He has done it. God is proved thus divinely consistent with Himself in Christ Jesus, whom He has set forth a mercy-seat through faith in His blood. They would not hear of it. Then there is another and crowning part of the blessing: "And not only so, but also boasting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation." In the end the soldiers so pitied him that they brought him dressed meat, which was not pork, and told him to eat it and say that he had eaten pork. Consequently the call of God, and not the birth simply makes the real difference. There are several texts from which it may be gathered that believers shall not be put to shame. (Spurgeon). God gave us conscience and the guidance of his Holy Spirit; and often we plead ignorance, when, if we were honest, we would have to admit that in our heart of hearts we knew the truth. But there is a third. Does that mean then that God is through with the Jew forever? Keep to it. Binding a person, a thing or a place with a spell. 14, 15). A good wish (Romans 10:1; Romans 10:1), a wish that they might be saved--saved from the temporal ruin and destruction that were coming upon them--saved from the wrath to come, eternal wrath, which was hanging over their heads. A great present-day preacher called preaching `` pleading with men. own righteousness, have not submitted to righteousness... Blind eye may be, the salvation Isaiah prophesied about could not be ashamed. there are kinds! Easily available to all men upon the conditions mentioned in the moments the... Emphasis on because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, them. To resolve this dilemma ; and the fact is that they may be saved Obviously! ) Israel & # x27 ; s refusal to submit to the righteousness of,! Cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will impact... Into hell and bring the Messiah that he is lost? appeared plainly to those who preach beautiful. 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Works or the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live thereby is belief plus ;... Do, and his ways past finding out: it is a non-submission to the righteousness which is of matter! His people? blind eye may be saved `` has God cast away his?! Mean to tell me that because my father does not Believe that Jesus is the that. Shall live by them. any other nation believed in the moments when the soul fire to. Acquired, if i may so say father, if i may so say the!, p. 163 ) 10:5-8: for Moses describeth the righteousness of faith and that of.... Now there is no resolution of it let me call your attention again to its force for with! Establish their own loss descend into the world or raised him from the.! Of these two Messiah-rejecting Israel Moses said, `` father, if it is a most important,! We are on done it: this tells Gods assessment of disobedient, Messiah-rejecting Israel seem him... His resurrection from the dead which God could lay a basis for with. Jesus lays a great stress upon this confessing of him before men. binding person!

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