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thot42daySEPTEMBER

[Romans]

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These devotions are dedicated to the endearing memory of my dear friend and brother-in-Christ Robert Robinson, whom the Lord thought

appropriate to call home to glory on July 18th 2014.

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INTRODUCTION

It had long been my late brother’s desire that I focus on producing a set of daily devotions to encourage God’s dear children on their Christian pathway.While sharing some of these devotions with Robert and his wife Maureen my attention was directed, by the Holy Spirit I believe, to Paul’s letter to the Romans.So, for each month of the year, I intend to systematically go through the first twelve chapters of the book - a chapter for each month. This would entail considering each chapter verse-by-verse on a daily basis. Of course, January would equate to chapter one; February to chapter two, and so on. However, since there are sixteen chapters in Romans and only twelve months in the year, I have added an ‘executive summary’ as a tailpiece to December.While I set out my analysis of the Roman epistle it is not meant to be construed as a commentary, but a devotional work.Therefore, I pray as we share these devotions you will be drawn closer to our Lord, and experience His blessing both on your own life, and through you, the

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life of your family members.

ANALYSIS OF EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

Chapters 1-7:THE REAL GOSPEL

Chapter 8:THE REAL CHRISTIAN

Chapters 9-11:THE REAL JEW

(i) their position ch 9(ii) their problem ch 10(iii) their promise ch 11

Chapters 12-16:

THE REAL LIFE

I will endeavour to follow this analysis throughout the daily devotions, seeking to stress the ‘reality’ which Paul presents in this wonderful and inspiring epistle.

Reality, in the realms as outlined above. Teaching to challenge all of us as to the will of God for this world, and also for your life and mine.

So, let’s go, and please God, we will learn together, more of our wonderful, magnanimous, amazing God as we consider ….’the real Jew’.

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September 1stRomans 9v1

“I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,”

A. PAUL’S PRAYERS [v1-3]

(i) His prayer for the Jewish people - from his mind

In relating to his own people, the Jew, Paul uttered a remarkably poignant prayer, in which he defends himself in three distinct ways. He insists that what he speaks to the Lord is ‘the truth’; then reinforces that by turning, as it were, the coin over to the other side and stressing that he ‘lies not’; finally appealing directly to his conscience and the Holy Ghost.

From such a pinnacle of honesty and devotion he cries—’Oh, Israel, my people! Oh, my Jewish brothers and sisters! How I long for you to come to the Saviour, Jesus Christ’.

It does not take a giant leap for mankind, or even you and me, to apply the obvious to this deep, deep verse. How do we measure here? What are my honest, un-lying, conscious concerns about my fellow nationals”.

Paul, this September, asks us - (v30) - “What shall we say then?

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September 2ndRomans 9v2

“……..that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.”

A: PAUL’S PRAYERS [v1-3]

(ii) His prayer for the Jewish people - from his heart

The personal thrust of Paul’s prayer for his own people moves from his mind to his heart.

I recall standing at the ‘Wailing Wall’ in Jerusalem with a fervent group of Christians, watching the Jewish Rabbis conducting their worship. I read to our group from Romans 10 verse 1 concerning the prayer of Paul from his heart. We were melted to tears as we felt somewhat of Paul’s emotions.

Within his heart Paul was heavy and broken, and it did not nor does not pass easily. We walked on to our next ‘sight’ but Paul entitles his anguish as being “continual”. He was there, surrounded on a daily basis by the obvious need of the people he loved.

Now, this same preacher asks us to view, with our minds and our hearts, our own fellow-countrymen - and enquires - “What shall we say then?” (v30a)

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September 3rdRomans 9v3

“For I could wish that myself were accursed (separated) from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:”

A: PAUL’S PRAYERS [v1-3]

(iii) His prayer for the Jewish people - from his soul

Paul’s prayer for his kinsfolk reaches delicately to the bottom of his own soul. He insists that, the Lord knows; the Holy Spirit knows; the Father knows; he would be willing to be damned for ever if it would result in the Jewish people - the real Jewish people - would be saved.

I have referred here to the ‘real’ Jewish people and I will detail their status later when we get to verses 6 and 7.

But today the thrust upon our souls, via our minds and our hearts, is how far are we willing to expend ourselves in the mammoth task of reaching those of our own land.

Accepting Paul’s credentials as the ‘norm’ how ‘abnormal’ we are on these matters. So the apostle asks - “What shall we say then?”

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September 4thRomans 9v4

“Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants (testaments), and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;”

B: ISRAEL’S PRIVILEGES [v4-5]

(i) What God has given them

Paul’s remonstration with his own Jewish people leans heavily on what the Lord God has already done for His people. He took them as His own special, chosen people, and led them along by the bright cloud of glory and revealed to them how much He desired to bless them. God gave them His rules for daily life so they would know what He wanted them to do. He let them have communion and worship with Him and made mighty promises to them.

But still they would not listen to Him!

How rich these chosen people were; how blessed above all other peoples they were; how privileged they were. Yet Paul’s dire complaint was that they were ignoring the One Who daily loaded them with benefits.

We, of course, must equally pause here and consider our privileges and blessings from the hand of the same God, and answer Paul’s question - “What shall we say then?”

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“Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, Who is all, God blessed for ever. Amen”

B: ISRAEL’S PRIVILEGES [v4-5]

(ii) What God has sent them

Paul’s reasoning here on Israel’s privileges focuses on what God had sent them - He sent them great men of God to be their ‘fathers’; He had, most importantly, sent them His own Son Jesus Christ, and that through their own lineage and ancestry. Christ was, as far as His human nature is concerned, a Jew.

And as such He, Jesus Christ, rules over all things. All aspects of this world, with its ever-developing skills, inventions and expertise are under His majestic control.

Dear child of God, please do not miss Paul’s insight here. Our Redeemer and Lord is Master in all aspects of living and dying.

All Paul can do at this juncture is exclaim - Hallelujah! Amen! Praise God forever!

I hesitate to ask Paul’s follow-up question, for it somewhat scares me, but here goes - “What shall we say then?”

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“ Not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:.”

C. ABRAHAM’S PROGENY [v6-9]

(i) The real Israel

Here we reach the nitty-gritty of this section dealing with ‘the real Jew’. Paul addresses the doubters as to God’s ability to secure His people’s destiny.

He imagined the question forming in the doubter’s minds - ‘Has God failed to fulfil His promises to the Jews?’

His answer is both implied and direct. Definitely no! The promises God made were to those who are truly Jews (the real Jews).

Not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew!

This delicate matter is amplified in tomorrow’s devotion, but suffice to say at this stage, that the Lord God knows those who are truly His own.

Discreetly, Paul asks us - “What shall we say then?”

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“Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”


(ii) The real Seed

Paul’s argument is that because someone comes from Abraham does not make them truly Abraham’s children.

The Scriptures declare emphatically that the promises of God apply only and exclusively to Abraham’s son Isaac and Isaac’s descendants, though, as we know, Abraham had other children too. The real seed from Abraham follows the lineage of Isaac and not Ishmael.

Ishmael, like Isaac, had children and hence descendants of Abraham, but they were not heirs to God’s promises, only those children of Isaac’s lineage claimed the real and true relationship with the God of Israel.

How often today, we cope with the same discussion, where many peoples in the world claim their inheritance to God’s promises through Abraham.

We are asked by Paul to set the sat-nav of our lives towards God’s Word and not men’s ingenuous and persuasive arguments.

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“That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”


(iii) The real promise

Paul argues that Abraham had many children, but they were the result of the flesh, not of the Spirit.

Not all his children qualified as the children of God, but only those who believe the promise of salvation which He made to Abraham.

God’s counting of His children is categorically based on the formula of faith in His Son Jesus Christ. There can be, nor will be, any circumventing of this unshakeable declaration by Almighty God.

The flesh holds no sway in the Lord’s decision-making process. The Book of Life contains only and exclusively those who shelter under the promises of God.

So again Paul asks us - “What shall we say then?”

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“For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.”


(iv) The real heir

The promise of God to Abraham was watertight. He would visit Sara next year and give them the promised heir - a son.

Isaac was the chosen seed, the real heir. He would receive the fulfilment of God’s promises.

We should not scoff, as did Sarah, at what the Lord God promises. He continues to see the end from the beginning; His wisdom is past finding out; His Word is everlasting and endures to all generations.

Our reliance is adequately grounded when settled and placed in His hands.

Sara will have a son, even as He promised.

“What shall we say then?”

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“And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

D: GOD’S PREFERENCES [v10-14]

(i) His preference for Isaac

In seeking the identity of the ‘real’ Jew, Paul has traced for us the inner thinking of Almighty God. He has clarified for us his heart, mind and soul, that the real Jewish people need to be saved.

Also, he has outlined the privileges afforded by the Lord God to the Jewish race, and then divulged the true and unblemished seed of Abraham’s progeny.

Paul further clarifies the meaning of the ‘real’ Jew by moving down the true lineage of Abraham by reference to Isaac and Rebecca’s children.

Years later, when Abraham’s son Isaac would grow and marry Rebecca, the lineage was confirmed in the birth of twin boys.

God at work!

Isaac, not Ishmael, the true ancestry. Isaac’s children the true heritage. This is God’s preference and His alone. Now, “What shall we say then?”

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(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth;)


(ii) His preference for Election

God showed His preference even before the twins, Jacob and Esau, were born. Even before they had done anything, whether it was good or bad.

This proves that God was doing what He had decided (“election”) from the beginning; it was not because of what either twin did or did not do, it was solely because of what God wanted and chose.

This precisely is Paul’s argument to the Romans and their searching minds. God knows! God decides! God alone has eternal knowledge and wisdom!

Paul insists that Almighty God will make His own choices, and man - you and me - can only watch in exuberant marvel at His brilliance and astuteness.

Now that is something for us to get our head around! So…..”What shall we say then?” (v30a)

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“It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger (lesser).”


(iii) His preference for Lesser

God told Rebecca that Esau, the oldest twin, would be the servant of the younger twin Jacob.

God unilaterally decided that He would bless Jacob, the lesser twin, and not Esau the greater and elder twin.

Much debate is centred around the above statement, even throughout the centuries; but as I outlined earlier, this is not meant to be a commentary on Romans, merely a devotion.

However, I refer back to yesterday’s devotion when Paul made it clear that this mandate by God was made long before the boys were conceived - a point I strenuously present for your thoughtfulness.

A wonderful and marvellous declaration of God’s control and election process. He says, “This will I do, and who are you to deny or challenge My call?”

Paul subtly asks us, “What shall we say then?”

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“As it is written, ‘Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”


(iii) His preference for Jacob

This little verse has caused so much disturbance and annoyance to many saved and unsaved alike. Their objection is to the conduct of a holy and righteous God declaring such aloofness and discrimination.

It would be unfair in this little series to enter the large debate, but I would delicately suggest that your focus on the Person of our Heavenly Father should not be blurred, but rather, continue with the daily devotions and watch with interest Paul’s own exposition of the verse.

However, before we get further into September’s devotion, please pause here and quietly contemplate on your current understanding and appreciation of the One Who created all things by the power of His own Word. A moment or two of reflection will prove so beneficial; or as Paul would suggest - “What shall we say then?” (v30a)

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“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

D. GOD’S PREFERENCES [v10-14]

(iv) His preference for Truth

We reach the final ‘preference’ of our God in this section dealing with ‘the real Jew’.

The Spirit of God has deliberately been guiding our thoughts to a major biblical theme through Paul. He has taught us concerning the ’real gospel’; the ’real Christian’; and here, the ’real Jew’.

In so doing Paul is seeking also to place our deliberations on the fact that there are the opposites to all this teaching - there is an ’unreal gospel’; an ’unreal Christian’ and an ’unreal Jew’.

So Paul asks here in verse 14 that we consider what to say to all this. But Paul himself is very clear and decisive - God is not unrighteousness! Categorically, emphatically! God forbid!

God is Truth - unvarnished, undisguised, unadulterated, blatant and obvious. We can trust and depend 100% on

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His integrity, for He is God. So, argues Paul, “What shall we say then?” (v30a)


“For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

E: GOD’S PREROGATIVES [v15-29]

(i) His prerogative - “I will”

Paul astutely backs home his assertions that God is righteous in all His dealings by offering proofs.

He takes us back to Exodus 33 verse 19 where the Lord God has a discussion with Moses and declares His forthright position - ‘If I want to be kind to someone I will; and I will take pity on anyone I want to’.

This the first of God’s prerogatives. He is God; He will do that which He wishes; He will make unilateral decisions; He is all-knowing and therefore knows what He is about and why He does things.

The church elder insisted that because the church fellowship had met for ‘x’ number of hours in prayer then God was duty bound to save souls at the mission being conducted. Does God only respond to us daring to put His arm up His back and insisting that He must work?

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Paul would answer using today’s verse - ‘God will’ - is the key to grasping the issue, or alternatively - ‘God will not’ - His decision alone! “What shall we say then?” (v30a)


“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

E. GOD’S PREROGATIVES [v15-29]

(ii) His prerogative - “I show”

Paul further amplifies yesterday’s devotion by giving us his assessment - like so - God’s blessings are not given just because someone decides to have them or works hard to get them. They are shown to those God decides to have pity on.

Paul is not advocating a defeatist attitude here, that we merely sit back and take all that crosses our path without due diligence and prayer. No, he knows what God is like, so he encourages us towards reliance and dependence on God’s loving character.

We face our difficulties and trials with deep determination that the God Who loves us and gave His own Son to redeem us hears and deliberates on our requests to Him. And best of all, He listens attentively and responds accordingly for our good and His glory.

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This is all His prerogative - ‘I will’…….’I show’.

What is our reaction today? “What shall we say then?”


“For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew My power in thee, and that My Name might be declared throughout all the Earth.”


(iii) His prerogative - “I have”

Trust Paul to ram home his point a little further today. Pharaoh is an example, says Paul, of God’s use of His prerogatives.

For God told him He had given him the kingdom of Egypt for the single purpose of displaying His awesome power against him; so that the wider world would hear and learn of His glorious Name.

Habakkuk found the same dilemma as we do. When God told the prophet He was sending the Assyrians to deal with the Israelites, Habakkuk was devastated. How could God use an ungodly nation to afflict His own people.

God will do what God will do. He utters the words - ”I have!” God decided– ‘I have …...raised up Pharaoh!’

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What an outstanding, unique and awesome God we worship - “What shall we say then?” (v30a)

September 18th

Romans 9v18

“Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth.”


(iv) His prerogative - “I make”

So Paul’s argument to the Romans continues today. God, he advises, is supreme in all His dealings with man and there is no court of appeal.

He will make an act of mercy on whom He wills, just because He wants to, and conversely, He makes some refuse to listen.

This, of course, does not take away the individual’s right to change if they decide to refuse to hear God speak. Along the way that hardened heart can melt, soften and turn from their hard heartedness.

But we are instructed by Paul to realise that our God foreknew the attitude and hard-heartedness of Pharaoh. God was always in control here without denying Pharaoh any of his divine, statutory rights.

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Paul seeks to take us back today in our devotion to consider the massive character of God. He will, of course, amplify over the next days, but for today he asks us his question - “What shall we say then?”


“Thou wilt say the unto me, Why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisteth His will?”


(vi) His prerogative - “I find”

Yesterday’s devotion left us requiring a little more insight into Paul’s reasonings. And today it gets even a little more murky (not a good word but I am sure you get my drift).

Why then does God blame Pharaoh for not listening and heeding His warnings? After all, Pharaoh merely seems to be playing out the role God Himself has designated for him!

I forewarned you yesterday that Paul knew exactly where he was taking this matter which obviously had been raised by the people of Rome in his hearing. He brings them, and us, along to his crescendo which occupies the next few days of devotions.

So without unleashing his tactics I merely and humbly reiterate the constant theme of the five prerogatives of God we have thus dealt with - God is His own counsel; He knows the end from the beginning; He is on top of all

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matters concerning the Jewish people, including ourselves. He finds the conclusion! Now, “What shall we say then?”


“Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?


(vi) His prerogative - “I form”

Paul’s vision of God reaches such a pinnacle here in today’s devotion. Perhaps this is the first time you have contemplated this aspect of God; if it is so, be aware that Paul is going to lay it out straight from the hip. No fudging!

Paul’s reasoning is this - ‘who do you think you are to even think about challenging God’s wisdom and decision-making process’? Who are you to criticize God?

He made you; He formed you; how dare you, argues Paul, have the audacity to challenge, confront or question God, or His ways, or His wisdom.

You are you! I am me! Foibles, idiosyncrasies, uniqueness, peculiarities and quirks. That’s you! That’s me! And as young people of today would say - ‘get over yourself!’

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Take it back to the Maker, He has the answers, which, in due time, He will unfold. “What shall we say then?”

September 21stRomans 9v21

“Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?”


(vii) His prerogative - “I decide”

I thoroughly applaud Paul’s logic here.

When a man makes a jar out of clay, surely he has the right to decide to make it a decorative item, like a vase to hold beautiful flowers, or alternatively, decide to make it an item to store rubbish.

This is the prerogative of the potter, not the clay. God decided that you would be you, I would be me. I am not meant to be anything else other than what He decides.

Walking past a new building site the visitor remarked to himself on the bricks forming the bottom layer of this construction. As days passed those first bricks became hidden amongst the ever-growing structure. The visitor’s vision was caught by those bricks near the top which were obvious to the gaze of all; so he enquired of God about the lowliness of the first bricks. God replied to him - ‘The

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bottom bricks are as crucial to the building as those at the top!’ “What shall we say then?”

September 22ndRomans 9v22

“What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction.”


(viii) His prerogative - “I wait”

The movement in Paul’s thinking needs careful attention. The concepts of compassion and pity discussed earlier have now been replaced with words like “wrath”; and “destruction”.

Paul’s assertion is this - if God has the divine prerogative to show mercy, compassion and pity on whom He will, then, the converse is also true; He can retain fury and wrath on those He considers worthy of such.

And Paul’s arguments are exactly the same on both sides of the ‘pity’ line - that is, God is God, and to whoever He offers succour so be it, but equally, to whoever He holds fury and anger the same criteria apply.

These are all His decisions. But …..there is one dramatic word used here by Paul which shines the most magnificent

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searchlight, and that word is “longsuffering”. He may well move instantly on His mercy and grace, but He ‘waits’ when pursuing His wrath. What a God we have! Again, “What shall we say then?”

September 23rdRomans 9v23

“And that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory.”


(ix) His prerogative - “I prepare”

There are those the Lord God has ‘prepared’ for glory. And it must not be overlooked that His preparation occurred “afore”. A quaint little word but full of resonance and meaning.

The same God Who has been shown by Paul to have all things and all peoples clearly in focus, also has prepared those whom He designates for glory.

He decides whom He will take, even such as ourselves, and makes us containers for the riches of His glory.

Of course, this month’s devotions all come from Romans chapter nine, a chapter designated to consider the real Jew. This important feature must not be overlooked when considering this verse.

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Real Jews will form part of His greater glory. He has not finished, as some would have us believe, with the Jew. They are part of His “vessels of mercy”

Paul reminds us to pause and ask ourselves - “What shall we say then?”


“Even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.”

5. GOD’S PREROGATIVES [v15-29]

(x) His prerogative - “I call”

How delightful that even though Paul is deliberately focussing on the Jewish people, he nevertheless allows himself the courtesy of embracing those of us who are not Jewish, but are Gentiles.

God’s ‘call’ is all-encompassing, and we must be so thankful that it is so.

While Paul, himself a Jew, is so transfixed with the desperate needs of his own countrymen he opens for us his concept of the greatness of the scope of God’s ‘call’ in that we are an integral part.

Paul presents our God as such a caring, compassionate and loving Person, and indicates the far-reaching hand of God in offering salvation, through His ‘call’ to all men.

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Paul opens his heart here at the wonderful scope of God’s grace that he feels duty-bound to ask - “What shall we then say?”


“As He saith also in Hosea, I will call them My people, which were not My people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”

5. GOD’S PREROGATIVES [v15-29]

(xi) His prerogative - “I foretell”

Again, Paul continues this wonderful breadth of God’s embracing salvation. Quoting Hosea 2v33 he reproduces the prophet’s ‘foretelling’ that God will find other peoples than the Jews for Himself.

And then we are offered a remarkable vision into the heart of God, dating back even to the time of Hosea; that God has a deep affection and longing for those the Jewish nation would not have considered worthy of His smallest concern or thought.

Paul here reminds the Jew that God ‘foretold’ all this but Israel would not take heed, blinded by their own insular concept they could not see the stretched-our arms of God in His love for all in this world.

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Little wonder, later in our devotions this month, Paul will accuse his own people of spiritual ‘blindness’.

I am cautious in asking how we fit in here with our blindness to the workings of Almighty God - so we are asked again, “What shall we then say?”


“And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”


(xii) His prerogative - “I promote”

The Jew stands proudly, based on his orthodoxy and concept of their election, and declares to all others - our God does not rate you. This is the point Paul stresses.

The Jewish ridiculing of Greeks/Gentiles, only dismissed them from the perceived reckoning of God, merely betrayed their distance from God and His Word.

This is why Paul has been quoting their own prophets to them so they might leave their elitist viewpoint and endeavour to see the future as God has been already outlining to them.

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Paul saw this; the heathen dismissed by God’s chosen people would one day be ‘promoted’ into the enviable status of “the children of the living God”.

Such, brother and sister, are we. Our ‘promotion’ is not based on our skills or achievements, but solely on the widespread arms of a loving God. Here we are asked - “What shall we say then?”


“Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.”


(xiii) His prerogative - “I number”

Now we get to the crunch of Paul’s concept of the ‘real’ Jew, and it has got to do with ‘numbers’.

He quotes another prophet - this time it is Isaiah - all to reinforce to the biblically-based Jew that they understand this is God at work, not just a fellow-Jew who has seen the divine light, but the Lord of Hosts Himself.

The children of Israel are numbered like “the sand of the sea”, but not all are real Jews. Only a “remnant” will be saved.

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The all-consuming God measures, as only He can, and reckons on huge masses who miss the offer of His mercy and compassion.

Here the matter circumvents around the Jew, for that is what this chapter embroils, but it can also be widened out today to the catchment of Gentiles who also will only be a “few”. As believers in Jesus Christ we are urged by Paul—”What shall we say then?”


“For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the Earth.”


(xiv) His prerogative - “I finish”

We near the conclusion of this aspect of Paul’s consideration of the ‘real’ Jew.

Almighty God Whose eternal thinking is known only to Him, is about to “finish the work”. He will execute His judgment and sentence on this Earth, and Paul records that He will do it swiftly. And because He is God He will carry out the finale in a right, true and precise way.

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The reference here to a “short” work would indicate that Paul envisages this completion of events to occur summarily.

Again Paul quotes Old Testament prophecies to hammer home the earnestness of his message - he quotes Isaiah 10v32 and 28v22. Surely he instils into his Jewish readers (and his Gentile readers) the solemn charge “What shall we say then?”


“And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoath had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah.”


(xv) His prerogative - “I spare”

With deliberateness Paul calls the attention of all his readers here to the thundering of prophesy.

Quoting again from Isaiah (1v9) Paul pinpoints these prerogatives of Almighty and all-holy God that it is His decision to ‘spare’ some of these Jews.

All Jews deserve to be demolished and destroyed but God’s

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great mercy intervenes and rescues the remnant.

Paul’s dreadful comparison focuses on the horror of Sodom and Gomorrah, indicating that this could well have been the catastrophic sequel to God’s anger and wrath against the Jewish race.

But He has compassion and mercy.

Think on that when we heed Paul’s question - “What shall we say then?”


“What shall we say then?”

F: PAUL’S PLEA [v30a]

For thirty days Paul (and yours truly) have bombarded you with this query – “What shall we say then?”

The month of September has now come to a close. But Paul will continue for two more chapters on this same theme of Jewish reality (in our case, two more months, in God’s will).

His searchlight has fallen on the arena of verse 8 which instructs - “ That which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.”

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My reader, I seek to impress upon you the urgent matter of ‘reality’.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ ‘real’ to you? Is He your Saviour? If so, is He your reason for living?

It is now your turn to have your say to all these things.

May God bless you and all in your charge as you unravel what the Lord is saying to your heart.

CONCLUSION

I offer to you the closing four verses of Romans chapter nine….

“That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness have attained a righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at the stumblingstone;As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence; and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.”

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