Who Would Have Guessed?

Romans 9:30-32 KJV

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to 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 that stumblingstone;

Who would have guessed?

The conclusion of the apostle is opposite of what anyone, especially the Jews would have guessed. The Gentiles, who had not sought righteousness found it through faith but the Jews, who professed to seek righteousness, did not find it. Paul's explanation was plain; the Jews missed righteousness because they sought to obtain it through working the law. They missed it because they could not or would not accept that it could only be had by faith; by trusting God. They stumbled over the very thing they longed for because they could not accept that it was granted by faith and not by their religion.

I think we have come nearly full circle today where too many Gentiles professing to be believers are more interested in their religion than in faith in Christ. I wonder how many these days care to know the Lord because they are content knowing their church?

Christianity does have a work involved with it, but like the Jews who took a good thing and turned it into a stumbling stone, many in modern Christianity have taken the work of the Christian and replaced Christ with that.

What the Natural Man Cannot Do

Romans 8:7-9 KJV

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

The natural/carnal man, the one who lives free of God, likes to revel in what he can do. He sees himself as the master of his own life and sees limitless possibilities for himself. "What the mind can conceive the body can achieve." is but one of his positive thinking mantras.

Here however we learn that there are some things he cannot do:

He cannot be subject to the law of God

I think of the term “subjects” to describe the one who is a citizen of some king’s realm. He is subject to the king but also protected by the king. The carnal man has neither citizenship nor claim to relationship with God's kingdom.

He cannot please God

It is an impossibility. Though some would argue that he doesn't need to please God, many an infidel has found himself wishing he could do so in times of desperation.

He cannot be God's

The carnal man can never belong to God. He is currently possessed of another master and, under that master may never be possessed of the Lord.

But all is not lost! The carnal man may become born again. He may die to self and be raised again through the Spirit. This man, the spiritual one,

·       is subject to the law of God

·       is pleasing to God in Christ and

·       does belong to Christ and Christ to him.

The Death Resolution

Romans 7:1-4 KJV

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

This is an interesting picture because it represents the believer as the wife and the law as the husband. According to the law, if the husband is dead the wife is free from the law and free to marry another. You would think then that, to carry the picture to its conclusion, it is the law, represented by the husband, as having died. It is not. Like the lesson in chapter six where the believer has died to sin, it is the believer who here dies to the law. It follows then that, because we are dead to the law, we are free to be married to the grace that is in Christ.

But we are dead. Just as the one who is dead to sin can no longer continue in sin haw can the one who is dead to the law be married again to anyone?

The solution is resurrection. We have died. Death has freed us from the slavery of sin and to marriage of judgment from the law. But we have been:

·       Raised to walk in newness of life.

·       Raised to be married to the grace that is in Christ

·       Raised to live in and serve righteous

·       Raised to delight in the law of God after the inward man

It Can't Be Done

Romans 6:1-2 KJV

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

The phrase "How shall we" means "in what way" or "by what manner". The message is that it can't be done. There is no open road. There is no road at all. Just as medical science, then and now, has no way of bringing to life that which is dead, there is no possibility of the believer using grace in order to live in sin. It is an incompatible concept for the truly saved person to justify sin with grace. Every Christian sins. When we sin we depend upon the grace of God and are thankful for it. But true Christians could and would never expect that grace makes a way to sin.

The believer sees grace as the way to righteousness, holiness and separation from the nature of sin that dwells in him. He looks at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ as his escape from sin and not his excuse to sin. When he does sin, he comes boldly to God for mercy and rests in the grace of God. He does not revel in unrighteousness and exploit God's grace.

Mercy, Grace and Faith

Romans 5:2 KJV

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

That which we most need from God is mercy. That which we most crave from Him is grace. Grace (and dare I say, mercy) is accessed be faith. It is by grace we are saved. We are not saved by the love of God the mercy of God or even by faith. We are saved by grace. That grace, however, is accessed by faith.

·       It is by faith we understand the nature and consequences of our sin

·       It is by faith we believe Christ to be the promised resolution for our sin and

·       It is by faith we have boldness to call upon Christ to forgive our sin and to save us.

This era is often called the age of grace. I will not contest that. But that grace is only accessible to those who exercise faith in Christ and His Word.