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(upbeat music) - Welcome to day five of our Look Through Romans chapter nine and
daily drive time devotions. Congratulations, you made it to day five of this
difficult chapter of the Bible. One that I know you're going to be studying for
years to come, but one that I hope also will lead you to understand and have a
greater trust in the greatness of God for years to come.

I want to remind you as we come to the end of this chapter that it's a personal
chapter of scripture, as every chapter is. There are theological truths, but God
is also wanting in every chapter of his word to impact our personal lives. The
chapter began with a personal word from Paul and all throughout, even as God has
talked about how he's worked in personal lives throughout history, God is
talking to us personally.

He's talked to us about tough choices, talked to us about tough questions. As we
come to the end of this chapter, he talks to us about our choice. What is our
choice going to be when it comes to God's plan?

We've looked together at the fact that we can trust God's word, we can trust
God's character, we can trust God's will. And now we look at the fact that we
can trust God's ways, we can trust God's plan. In verses 25 to 29, Paul quotes
from the Old Testament.

As 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. And quoting again from the
Old Testament, 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.

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, though the number of the Israelites be like
the sand of the sea, only the remnant, small portion will be saved. For the Lord
will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality. It is just as
Isaiah said previously, unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we
would have become like Sodom, we would have become like Gomorrah.

He quotes here from Hosea and from Isaiah. Hosea reminds us that believers
include also the Gentiles. But Isaiah reminds us that believers include also the
Jewish people.

It's not as if it's one or the other. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is
saved. It's not as if the Jewish nation has totally been set aside and cannot be
saved now.

No, it's anyone who believes in Jesus Christ. Now the interesting thing in these
verses is it's those who seem to be pursuing salvation who didn't get salvation,
and those who didn't pursue it, who did. Verse 30, what shall we say then?

That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, and
righteousness is by faith. But Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, did
not attain it, has not attained it. Why not, Paul says?

Why not, why didn't this work? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if
it were by works. There's the key.

Salvation comes not by works, but by faith. And so Paul is saying in these
verses, here's how the paradox of Israel can be explained. The fact that God
chose them as his people, and yet they haven't chosen to follow Jesus as the
Messiah.

Is it that God has somehow denied his people? No. In verses six to 13, he tells
us, it is not because God was unfaithful to his promises.

He kept his word. In verses 14 to 18, he says, it's not because God was unjust
in his purposes. Neither mercy nor hardening is incompatible with his justice.

He needs to do what he wants. In verses 19 to 29, he tells us, it is not because
God is unfair in his dealings. We shouldn't answer him back in any case, and say
that he acted in some way that was not in accordance with his own character.

He acted always as the God who loves us. And so he says in verses 30 to 33, why
is it that those who are of the nation of Israel don't know me? It's because
they tried to attain salvation by works.

Instead of faith. Paul here is talking about his people, but this is not just
about the nation of Israel. Anyone who tries to attain salvation by works
instead of by faith is not going to know him.

And he comes to a conclusion here. He says the conclusion is, it's all about
Jesus. He's either a stumbling block, or he's your solid rock, one or the other.

Verse 33, he says, they stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written,
that verse begins, see I lay in Zion, in Israel, 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.

Jesus is the rock, and I can either stumble over that rock, or I can stand on
that rock. How do I know if I'm lost or condemned? How do I know how this whole
thing of election and predestination and God's will and God's choice and human
history and God's sovereignty and all that we've talked about in Romans chapter
nine works out, how do I know?

Well, if you're confused about all this, I have an answer for the confusion. God
has an answer. Jesus.

Jesus cuts through all the confusion. Jesus cuts through all the questions.
Jesus has the answers.

How do I know if I'm lost or condemned? It's what do I do with Jesus? He's
either a rock to stand on, or a stone to stumble over.

He can't be both. And these verses remind us that God is a God of grace. When it
comes to our relationship with God, we tend to spend a lot of our time focusing
on the our choice side of our relationship with God.

And there's nothing wrong with seeing that God has given you an opportunity to
choose, and rejoicing in the fact that you have made that choice to begin a
relationship with Jesus Christ. But you're out of balance. I'm out of balance.

If I don't spend some time thinking about the God's sovereignty side of that,
think about what it personally means. In fact, I encourage you right now to take
a few minutes prayerfully to think about what it personally means that God has
chosen you. Right now in prayer, thank God for the experiences, both good and
bad, that he has used to shape you.

God didn't desire for bad to happen or evil to come into this world, but he knew
that it would. And in knowing that it would be here, God uses both the good and
bad to shape us. Thank God.

He is a God of grace who uses both the good and the bad to shape us into the
kind of people that he wants us to be. I can fight against that truth or I can
embrace that truth of God's choice. Right now, trusting in God's sovereignty,
trust God with the things that you don't and maybe even can't understand.

There are some things that you're never going to understand until you get to
heaven. In fact, there are some things you may not even understand when you get
to heaven. I think there are some things that when you get to heaven, you're not
going to care if you understand or not.

But they're important on this planet. Well, thank God right now that you can
trust him with those things that you do not, that you maybe cannot understand.
He is greater than your lack of understanding and he has a plan.

He has a direction for your life. His character is not in one way damaged by the
fact that I can't understand something that's happening in this world. He is God
and I'm not.

Thank God for the experiences, good and bad, that he's used to shape you. Thank
God that you can trust him with the things that you don't and can't understand.
And then take a moment right now to feel the joy in recognizing the truth, the
fact that Jesus chose you.

Jesus said to his disciples, "You didn't choose me, I chose you. " And appointed
you that you should go and bear fruit. Results that make a difference in this
world.

Just rejoice in the fact that Jesus chose you because of his deep love for you.
Our God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for your choice.

We can trust your choice and we do right now. Maybe more deeply than ever
before. I trust your choice right now.

In your name, amen. Next week, we continue through these chapters of looking at
God's sovereignty, his power and control. Romans chapter 10 is a chapter that's
about this relationship that you and I can have because of Jesus Christ, an
incredible chapter of scripture.

Join us next week as we look together at Romans chapter 10.