Chosen (Dis)Advantage
ROMANS: THE ROAD NOW TAKEN • Sermon • Submitted
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· 12 viewsSermon 8 in Book of Romans series
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Now if you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law, and boast in God,
you then, who teach another, don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal?
Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.”
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This status is a nice place in which to be “…and (yet)...”
DISADVANTAGE: Having the Law ()
[hypocrisy;]
Paul restates the argument of .
Ties it directly to having the Law but not living it.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as fit for hell as you are!
MAtt 23.15
V. 24 =
So now what have I here”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “that my people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “and my name is continually blasphemed all day long.
Isa 52.5
DISADVANTAGE: Ritual Observance ()
[legalism;]
Paul restates the argument of .
In addition, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you. Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh.
Gal
Then Samuel said: Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.
ADVANTAGE: Given The Truth ()
[revelation;]
Paul affirms an important precedent in the lives of Hebrew people, especially Hebrew Christians…, , .
They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.
The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
CONCL—
A striking parallel stated by Francis Schaeffer (theologian/apologist [January 30, 1912 – <May 1938--> May 15, 1984...
Holman New Testament Commentary: Romans B. God’s Accounting for Jewish Judgment (2:17–3:8)
Again we must admit, this is surely how God looks at much of Christendom today. Claiming to be under the umbrella of Christendom, claiming to have some sort of special blessing because the bells ring in the cathedrals, because in the United States great numbers of people go to church, and yet we commit blasphemy against God as we turn from the clear teaching of His Word. It is a sober truth and we must face it: if we have the Bible, if we enjoy all the blessings it brings, and yet by our lives bring shame upon God’s name, we are guilty of the greatest irreverence.… When the man with the Bible treats it as an external thing only, it causes the man without the Bible to dishonor the God of the Bible. Surely, then, the man with the Bible is justifiably under God’s wrath” (Schaeffer, p. 61).
As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame. So honor will come to you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this one has become the cornerstone, and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this.
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But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!
Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge.