Lawrence Taylor Ministry

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor. Each and every week, Dr. Taylor will be sharing a relevant message from the scriptures designed to inform and instruct us in the ways of our God. Dr. Taylor has been the pastor of Kenilworth Baptist Church in the Midwood section of Brooklyn for the past 22 years. He brings a wealth of experience to each broadcast, having been a New York City public school teacher and a theology professor. Stay tuned to the end of the broadcast to find out how to stream today's message. Now, here's Dr.

Taylor.

Dr. Lawrence Taylor: Hello everyone. Welcome to Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor. I'm so glad that you could join us today. If you've been blessed by this ministry, I ask that you go to my website, lawrence taylor ministry.com or .org and just hit contact and leave us a message to let us know. Also, you can find out information about the class on expository preaching and teaching there. So, the last time we looked at Romans chapter nine verses one through 18. Today, we're going to look at Romans nine verses 19 to 33. When we looked the last time, we saw that the Apostle Paul was faced with two dilemmas.

How is it possible for God to fulfill the promises that he made to Israel in the Old Testament when they have rejected his Messiah? The other dilemma was the issue of perseverance. If God repudiated Israel because of their rejection of the Messiah, how can we as Christians be sure that he will not abrogate his promises to us? Paul tells us in verse six that the word of God did not fail. God made promises to Israel and his greatness and faithfulness requires that he fulfill those promises. How are these promises going to be fulfilled in the light of Israel's rejection of Jesus?

Paul's answer is not all Israel is Israel. The Apostle advances the idea that one must distinguish between a fleshly Israel and the Israel who was called by God. Now, he is not promoting the idea that the church is spiritual Israel. He clearly differentiates between the church and Israel. However, he does make a distinction between Israel in the flesh and those Jews who have been called. The notion of the call provoked the interlocutor to challenge Paul's notion on whether God is fair. Note what Paul says with reference to the interlocutor in verse 19. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault?

For who can resist his will? Again, many would say that Paul avoids answering the interlocutor's question. The question being, how can God condemn an unbeliever if God did not call that person to believe? So, they say Paul skirts the issue. However, I disagree with that. I believe that Paul did answer the interlocutor's question. Note the Apostle wrote in verse 20 that the interlocutor really didn't have a right to ask the question. Nevertheless, he goes on to give an answer anyway. In verses 20 to 21, it reads, on the contrary, who are you, oh man, who answers back to God?

The thing molded will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? Now, I want us to note that Paul in this in these verses quotes from Isaiah 29:16. It reads in Isaiah 29:16, you turn things around. Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay that what is made would say to the maker, he did not make me? Or what is formed say to him who formed it, he has no understanding?

Isaiah 29 records an admonition that God gave to Jerusalem for their recalcitrance because of Jerusalem's disobedience. The prophet prophesies that God will send an enemy to take them captive. In Isaiah 29:15, the prophet says Jerusalem is accused of attempting to hide their evil plans from God. Now, this the prophet ridicules because he says they act as if they are smarter than God. Jerusalem forgot that God is omniscient. He knows everything. That's why the question is asked in verse 16 of Isaiah 29, shall the potter be considered equal with the clay? The rhetorical question in Isaiah 29:16 points to how blinded Jerusalem was about God and who he is.

Paul paraphrases Isaiah 29:16 and his answer to the interlocutor to prove that Israel's rejection of the Messiah cannot hinder God's sovereign plan or abrogate God's promises to his people. The Apostle gives further reply to the interlocutor in verses 22 to 24. Quote, what if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endure it with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom he also called not from among Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles.

Paul asserts that it is God's prerogative to hold back his wrath against the vessels of wrath. The sense is that these vessels will continue to accrued wrath because they will continue to sin. This will create a greater opportunity for God to show off his power when he exercises his divine wrath against the obstinate sinner. This notion was already expressed in verse 17 with regard to Pharaoh. It seems that the vessels of wrath, those who are disobedient, have sealed their own destiny. Now, he uses an interesting word there, and that word is prepared. The Greek verb and I'll spell it k a t a r t i z o means to arrange perfectly or to equip.

The verb does not mean to create or prepare from the beginning. If Paul wanted to convey that idea, he would have used another Greek verb, the verb h e t o i m a z o. The verb that he uses is in the perfect tense and denotes vessels that are prepared and ripe for the wrath of God. This idea fits well with the quotation from Isaiah 29:16. Throughout its long history, Israel has disobeyed God. God over and over again has reached out to his people, but they have rejected his mercy. This idea is expressed in Romans 10:21 where it reads, but as for Israel, he says, all day long I have stretched out my hand to a disobedient and obstinate people.

Godet wrote in his commentary, quote, if the Jews are actually ripe for judgment, it is not the fault of God who has faithfully pointed them to repentance and salvation. Paul turns his attention to the vessels of honor in verse 23. Those who were prepared beforehand for glory. The word prepared beforehand is one word in Greek and that verb is used by Paul in Ephesians chapter two verse 10. It reads, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. In the Ephesian passage, what Paul says is, look, the grounds for salvation is faith, not works.

Those good works that the Christian does, that is work those are works that God has prepared beforehand. So, therefore, the Christian has no grounds for boasting for the good works that he or she does. In our passage in Romans 9:23, the verb means that God prepared beforehand those who will go to glory. He foreknew who would accept Christ. This idea refutes the notion that God chooses beforehand who will be saved, who will accept. Paul returns to the idea of the call in verse 24. Even us whom he called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles.

The Apostle contrasts the Gentiles' response to the gospel with that of Israel's response in verses 25 to 29. Paul once again cites the Old Testament to corroborate his position. Quote, as he says in Hosea, I will call those who were not my people my people and her who was not beloved beloved. The quote is from Hosea 2:23. Hosea spoke of the restoration of Israel. However, Paul gives the verse a new meaning. The call of the Gentiles to salvation that is what Paul or how Paul interprets it. The Apostle told his readers that God called a remnant of Jews from among the Jews and he also says a remnant of Gentiles from among the Gentiles.

We learned that the call was not just confined to Israel. Paul continues quoting Hosea in verse 26 of Romans nine. And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, you are not my people, there they shall be called sons of the living God. Again, the Apostle broadens the meaning of the original verse which is found in Hosea 1:10. It is clear that Hosea had Israelites in mind. However, Paul uses the verse to apply to Gentiles. Then the Apostle Paul goes on to quote in verses 27 to 28 Isaiah uh and Isaiah he quotes chapter 10 of Isaiah verses 22 to 23.

Quote, Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved. For the Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly. Isaiah tells Judah that God will only save a remnant, regardless of how large their numbers are. In Romans nine verse 29 it reads, and just as Isaiah foretold, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, we would become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah. Isaiah tells us that God's remnant is a display of his mercy.

If God had not called a remnant, the entire nation would have been wiped out by the wrath of God. One can understand why God preserved a remnant from the nation of Israel. This enabled God to fulfill his promises to Israel. Why did he have to establish a remnant for the Gentiles? There is no promise made to our fathers. There are no covenants that God was obligated to keep among the Gentiles. This is why Paul wrote in verse 30 of Romans chapter nine. What shall we say then? The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness even the righteousness which is by faith.

Now, I want you to know something about verse 30 of Romans nine. Righteousness is used three times in that verse and it is synonymous with justification. Note the means by which the Gentiles obtain the righteousness of God. It was by faith. Paul contrasts Israel's response with that of the Gentiles. But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone just as is it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.

That's Romans chapter nine verses 31 to 33. Paul's commentary on first century Judaism challenges those of the new Paul perspective like James Dunn and E. P. Sanders who argue that first century Judaism was not a works righteousness system. However, Paul's description in verses 31 to 33 disproves that notion. What else could Paul be describing but a religious works righteousness system? He argues that Israel failed at obtaining the righteousness of God because they believed that they had to work for it. The Gentiles in the church obtained God's righteousness because they had faith. The contrast is between work and faith.

Those ideas are antithetical, and Paul has been emphasizing that throughout this book. Let us not forget that Paul was once a Pharisee. He knew much more about first century Judaism than E. P. Sanders or James Dunn. He said in his own words in Galatians chapter one verse 14, quote, and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen being more extremely zealous for my ancestral tradition. The real miracle is Paul's conversion. Paul offers up himself as exhibit A that God has not abandoned his people. How can one anyone explain Paul's conversion?

In his own words, he said he was a zealot for his ancestral traditions in Galatians one verse 14. Paul devoted his Pharisaical career in trying to wipe the church out of existence. His hatred of Jesus was inexplicable. He wrote in Galatians chapter one verse 13, for you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church beyond measure and try to destroy it. Yet one day, now I want you to note this, one day on the Damascus Road while Paul was traveling to arrest Christians, the glorified Christ in a blaze of splendor placed Paul under arrest and converted him to the service of the crucified and risen Savior for the rest of his life.

Saul of Tarsus of Tarsus whose devotion was to a works righteousness system was a person who was no doubt a zealot. His zeal was incomparable, but yet he was stripped of all of his pride on the road to Damascus. He was blinded so he could really see the truth about the one whom he detested. The the emissary the emissary from the Sanhedrin armed with papers of authority from the high priest with an entourage of temple offices thought he was in control of the situation, but he realized that day that his arms were too short to box with God.

To the believer in Christ, Saul of Tarsus was public enemy number one. But when Jesus got a hold of him, public enemy number one became chief Apostle for the church. On the road to Damascus, he was stripped that day of all that he devoted his life to his pride, his position, his influence, his friends, his family, his notoriety, his Pharisaism, his educational obtainments, his rabbinic aspirations, his mobility in the highest religious echelons of Jewish society, the in the admiration and adoration of his own community. He was stripped of all of it, but he gave it all up to devote his life to the one who held that he once held in scorn.

He wrote in Philippians chapter three verses five through nine, circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness which is in the law found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, these things I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death.

Amen.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to today's program. This broadcast is an extension of the ministry of Dr. Lawrence Taylor and the Kenilworth Baptist Church. To stream today's message, please go to lawrence taylor ministry.com and click on lawrence taylor ministry forward slash message. Please join us again next week at the same time for Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor.

Guest (Female): as long as you are near. Please be near me to the end. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.