{"id":23228,"date":"2022-09-20T22:00:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T05:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-9_14-21-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-09-06T20:36:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T03:36:36","slug":"romans-9_22-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-9_22-33\/","title":{"rendered":"The Spirit of Religion vs. Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romans 9:22-33 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 9:22-33.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 9:22-23 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath–prepared for destruction?
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 22-23:\u00a0 According to Paul, God doesn\u2019t wipe out instantly those whom He didn\u2019t choose for salvation (\u201cthe objects of his wrath\u201d); rather \u201cwith great patience\u201d (v22) God bears with them and allows them to live for a while.\u00a0 Why does God do that?\u00a0 Paul suggests God does this \u201cto make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy\u201d; in other words, somehow by bearing with those who are not His people for a while, God is showing to those who are His people how great and glorious He is.\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s that by not coming down in wrath right away on those God has not chosen, God is showing His people that He is patient, tolerant, not in a rush, and still willing to use those who are not chosen for at least some good, so that their existence is not completely for naught.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 While we often show our wrath quickly, God shows His wrath slowly.\u00a0 He is willing to delay the expression of His wrath if it can result in a greater good.\u00a0 Whereas we might be inclined to cancel people out the moment they offend us, incredibly God bears with offensive people for a long, long time.\u00a0 In this way God has the longest fuse of anyone.\u00a0 As the Scriptures say repeatedly, God is slow to anger, abounding in love.\u00a0 Likewise if you and I can relent from showing our wrath quickly and like God try too extract some good out of those situations that make us angry, we can teach others something valuable while learning something valuable ourselves.<\/p>\n

Romans 9:24-26 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 24-26:\u00a0 What is Paul doing here?\u00a0 In verse 24 Paul emphasizes that the objects of God\u2019s mercy \u2013 i.e. those that God would have mercy on and call His own \u2013 were from among the Gentiles as well as from the Jews.\u00a0 Then to show that a multicultural family was God\u2019s plan all along, Paul quotes from the prophetic book of Hosea to show that God, in the Old Testament, was pointing to when His family would consist not only of Jews but Gentiles too (v25-26).<\/p>\n

Romans 9:27-33 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.”
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 27-33: \u00a0How could Israel go from being a nation specially chosen by God to a nation where only a remnant would be saved?\u00a0 To explain this, Paul first quotes from the prophet Isaiah to show that even from the Old Testament this was already part of God\u2019s plan (v27-29).\u00a0 Second, Paul says that the reason why a lot of Israelites would not be saved or deemed righteous in God\u2019s sight is because (recalling the big theme of Romans 3-4) they tried to earn their way to righteousness rather than receiving it by faith.\u00a0 In other words, they thought that they could get to God on their own merit rather than trusting in God to save them.\u00a0 As Paul says, \u201cthey pursued it [righteousness] not by faith but as if it were by works\u201d (v32).<\/p>\n

Finally, Paul paraphrases two verses from the book of Isaiah (Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16) which talk about God laying down a stone.\u00a0 This stone would make some people stumble, and at the same time, be a cornerstone on which other people would build their lives.\u00a0 Paul is effectively saying that the stone Isaiah is referring to is Jesus.\u00a0 For if you try to get around Jesus and get to God on your own merit, you will stumble and fall.\u00a0 But if you trust in Jesus and build your life on him, you will live in safety and never be put to shame.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 The spirit of religion tries to earn its way to God, thinking that \u201cif I just do enough good, I can reach heaven.\u201d\u00a0 But Christianity is the anti-religion because it\u2019s not about people reaching for God; it\u2019s God reaching for people through Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Christianity is recognizing that there is nothing I can do to reach God on my own; I am a sinner who needs a Saviour and thank God for providing me with the Saviour I need.\u00a0 His name is Jesus.\u00a0 If we trust in ourselves and in our own ability to get to God, we will not only be disappointed; we will die, stumbling and falling over the rock that is Jesus.\u00a0 But if we would trust in Jesus and His ability to save us, we will live in safety and never be put to shame.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s build our lives on the mountain that is Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You for being so patient in Your wrath.\u00a0 I pray that I would be more like You, not being so quick to destroy those who offend me, but willing to be patient so I can extract as much good out of a tough situation as possible.\u00a0 Jesus, thank You for being the rock on which we can build our lives and thank You that those who trust in You will never be put to shame.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 9:22-33.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 9:22-23 (NIV)
\n22\u00a0\u00a0What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath–prepared for destruction?
\n23\u00a0\u00a0What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory\u2014
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 22-23:\u00a0 According to Paul, God doesn\u2019t wipe out instantly those whom He didn\u2019t choose for salvation (\u201cthe objects of his wrath\u201d); rather \u201cwith great patience\u201d (v22) God bears with them and allows them to live for a while.\u00a0 Why does God do that?\u00a0 Paul suggests God does this \u201cto make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy\u201d; in other words, somehow by bearing with those who are not His people for a while, God is showing to those who are His people how great and glorious He is.\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s that by not coming down in wrath right away on those God has not chosen, God is showing His people that He is patient, tolerant, not in a rush, and still willing to use those who are not chosen for at least some good, so that their existence is not completely for naught.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23228"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23231,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23228\/revisions\/23231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}