The Responsibility of Missing God's Will and Message...

Yesterday, we looked at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Romans that revealed that the Jewish people of Paul’s day did not recognize Jesus as the goal and the end that the Law pointed to. Instead of recognizing and responding to what God had done for them through Christ in order to be right with God, they devoted themselves to attempting to do things for God in order to be right with God. And what they attempted to do for God left them separated from God in selfishness and sin.

To prove that the Jewish people had failed to recognize and respond to Jesus as being the goal and termination of the Law, Paul points the readers of this letter to the message and teachings of the Old Testament itself, beginning in Romans 10:5:

For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down), or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART "-- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

In verse 5, Paul points the members of the Church of Rome to a section of the Law called the book of Leviticus. Paul reminds the members of the church at Rome that in Leviticus 18:5, Moses had stated that the man who practices righteousness based on the Law, or what they did for God by keeping the commandments of the Law, shall live by that righteousness. Paul’s point here is that the person who attempts to carry out all of the obligations contained in the Law by obeying all of the commandments in the Law will experience a right relationship with God only if they never break any of the commandments of the Law. So, to be in a right relationship with God simply requires perfect obedience to the commandments.

The problem, however, is that we are not perfectly obedient, are we? We even have a phrase for this reality in our culture: “well Dave, nobody’s perfect”. That is 100% true today and that has been 100% true throughout history. Paul then points the members of the church at Rome to another section of the Law, this time from the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy 30:11-14, as part of his final conversation with the Jewish people, Moses stated the following:

"For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. "It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

In other words, Moses was saying to the Jewish people of his day “do not try to use the excuse that you do not know God’s will, because God has graciously given you the Law. God has revealed His nature, His character, and His will for you to you”. Paul here is quoting this section of the Law to reveal the reality that just as the nation of Israel could plead or use the excuse that they did not know God’s will in Moses day as God had graciously given them the Law, neither Jew or Gentile in Paul’s day can plead ignorance as a result of God’s graciously giving His Son Jesus Christ to reveal Himself and to rescue humanity. Paul’s point there is that the word of faith, the message of the gospel, that Paul and other followers of Jesus were publicly proclaiming, clearly revealed what the Old Testament also taught, which was that a person enters into a right relationship with God not based on what we do for God, but by our response to what God has done through Jesus Christ by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

Paul then unpacks this response for us in verses 9-13. Paul reveals two specific actions that occur in the life of a person who responds to God’s transformational activity through Jesus Christ. When Paul uses the phrase, if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, this refers to an acknowledgment of a profession of allegiance to someone or something. The word believe, in the language that this letter was written in, is the same word as faith and means to entrust oneself to someone or something with complete confidence.

Paul here is explaining that a person is rescued from selfishness and sin based on one’s confession of one’s confident trust. A person experiences righteousness, or becomes right with God, when, at the core of their being, they respond to God’s transformational activity in their lives by entrusting themselves with complete confidence that Jesus life, death, and resurrection, pays the penalty for their selfishness and rebellion and enables them to have the relationship with God that they were created for. And that internal trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel results in an outward expression to others that reveals their rescue.

Now it is important to understand that Romans 10:10 does not mean that confession equals salvation. Notice Paul clearly states that righteousness or a right relationship with God is a result of one’s response of confident trust in Christ. Instead, confession is a response to their salvation. Have you ever been around a person who has recently become a follower of Jesus? One of the things that becomes evident is that they cannot quick talking about Jesus. Jesus, and their new relationship with Him, is publicly proclaimed. A person who has genuinely become a follower of Jesus will express their new relationship with Jesus publicly in conversations. Paul is reflecting Moses words in Deuteronomy 30:14 that God’s message results in an internal response that produces an outward expression.

Paul then quotes two other Old Testament passages to reveal the reality that God’s message of rescue has always been a message of faith. First Paul quotes the last phrase of Isaiah 28:16, which Jesus Himself quoted to prove that He was the Messiah. In this passage from Isaiah, the prophet proclaims that it would be one’s confident trust in the Messiah that would provide the foundation for rescue and a right relationship with God for all of humanity. Whether Jew or Gentile; whether religious or irreligious, it was one’s confident trust in God’s promise of a rescuer that resulted in that rescue. Paul proves his point by pointing to a section of a letter in our Bibles called the book of Joel. In Joel 2:32, Joel proclaims that that those who would be saved, would be rescued not based on what they did for God. Those who would be saved would be those who called on the Lord to rescue them.

And just as the Jewish people of Moses day and of the Old Testament had no excuse for missing God’s will and message, the Jewish people of Paul’s day had no excuse for missing God’s will and message. Paul’s point here was that the Jewish people were responsible because they trusted in what they did for God instead of trusting in God’s promise.

Now, Paul’s statements provoked three specific questions and objections when it comes to the issue of the Jewish people’s responsibility. We will look at those objections and questions tomorrow...