“The Sovereign Stone”
Romans 9:30-33
We looked at Romans 9, which records many Old Testament references from God’s Word concerning the Sovereignty of God. We saw how the Sovereign Potter works with mere clay in order to form some vessels for eternal honor and others for eternal wrath. We ended with that verse of HOPE from Romans 9:29: ”And just as Isaiah foretold, "UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH."
The entirety of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their rebellion, but because of God’s Mercy, Abraham and Lot were saved. (Even out of this remnant, Lot’s descendants became enemies of God out of disobedience, and SOME of Abraham’s descendants also became enemies of God.) BUT… the entirety of the human race deserves destruction, but out of God’s Grace, He chooses to save some: Those believers in Christ ARE the privileged people who are being saved.
Today we look at Romans 9:30-31: “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by (or “out of”) faith; 31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. (SOME Gentiles, who were not even seeking God’s righteousness, received it by faith yet most of Israel pursued A law of righteousness but did not arrive at THE LAW of righteousness…)
Verse 32-33 give the answer: Why ? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as 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 put to shame."
Jesus is A Sovereign Stumbling Stone to MOST
1. Because of an intense love for their own SIN instead of love for God, the Sovereign stumbling stone that caused MOST Israelites (and all unbelievers) to stumble and FALL was the Lord Jesus Christ; God placed that “stone” in Israel’s path, knowing full well that MOST of the world, including Israel, would reject the Messiah.
Part of Romans 9:33 is quoted from Isaiah 28:16: “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a COSTLY cornerstone (the BEST) for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed (or dismayed).” (The word “believes” in the Hebrew is “to stand firm”. The word was also used to describe the pillars of support around a doorway. Jesus is THE DOORWAY, the entrance, into the Kingdom of God.)
ALL people do not recognize Jesus as the COSTLY and BEST CORNERSTONE. To SOME, Jesus is a stone that they TRIP over; He is an impediment to their self-rule, an obstacle to their life style or to their recreation. They feel that they can MOVE JESUS, make Him less than God, make Him less Savior and LORD, trying to form Him into their image, but Jesus has been FIRMLY PLACED. He who DOES NOT BELIEVE IN HIM will be disturbed, troubled by this truth that He is THE only Way into the Kingdom of God. Without Him as the only way, they will not have Peace with God.
Another part of Romans 9:33 was from Isaiah 8:14: "Then He shall become a sanctuary; BUT to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.”
How and why did the Messiah who was promised to them become a stumbling stone and actually become OFFENSIVE to them? (The word for “offensive” is skandalon; we get the word “scandal” from that word. The word actually has the idea of getting caught in a trap!)
2.Unbelieving Israel, like ALL unrepentant people, are offended by Jesus and so he becomes a stone of offense, a trap. When a person “gets caught” in a trap, they become helpless and lose control. Jesus, as God’s perfect WORD in the FLESH, demonstrates our own sinful depravity, our own Unrighteousness, our inability to save ourselves. Jesus shows us that we as sinners are TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED to become citizens of God’s Holy Kingdom. That offends MULTITUDES of people!
Israel rejected Jesus because they loved their own sin, their own SELF-righteousness, their own adulteries, their chasing after gods of their own making. Jesus reveals to most of Israel and to UNBELIEVERS that sinners have the WRONG concept of GOD, the WRONG concept of God’s LAW, an underestimate of SIN, and therefore, the WRONG basis for SALVATION. YOU CANNOT MEET God’s standard and requirement in and of yourselves.
1 Peter 2: 7-8 says: "THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone, and, "A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.” The wages of sin? Jesus reminds you that without trusting exclusively in CHRIST and His WORK, YOU are doomed to eternal death. Nobody likes the sound of that!
Paul gave the reason for Israel’s failure very clearly in Rom. 9:32: “Because they did not pursue it by FAITH, but as though it were by works.” People can become fatigued by trying and trying and trying to fulfill a standard that CANNOT POSSIBLY be fulfilled, a goal that cannot possible reached. Israel was like that: They tried “religion”, ritual, ceremony, schemes, hard work, and sometimes NO WORK, but did not pursue and obey God IN FAITH.
3. Instead of humbly admitting and confessing their own INABILITY to be able to uphold God’s perfect law, they invented schemes to “get around” God’s standard. The leaders, the Pharisees, were great at that. They failed to understand that Sinners are not saved by the AMOUNT of GOOD works they do, and now listen closely: Sinners are not CONDEMNED by a lack of GOOD works that they DON’T do! GOOD WORKS are not even in the picture concerning your forgiveness or your justification! If you keep thinking that your forgiveness and justification are up to you, you are going to keep FAILING to arrive at the law of Faith.
Jesus is the Rock of Salvation to OTHERS
1 Peter 2:6-7 explains the other part of Romans 8:33: “For this is contained in Scripture : "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE Put to Shame." 7 This precious value, then, is for you who BELIEVE.” (“Precious value” is “the exact price paid for a person or thing”, it is even “blood money”, the price put upon someone’s HEAD.) Jesus is a stumbling stone and a rock of offense to many, but Jesus is the Rock of Salvation to others. (1 Corinthians 10:4 plainly says: “for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.”)
Psalm 118:17: “I will not die but live, and will proclaim WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE. 18 The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. 19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. 20 This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me; YOU have become my salvation. 22 THE STONE the builders rejected (JESUS) has become the capstone; (the HEAD or CHOICEST stone) 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 THIS is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The day that God in Christ became our salvation is a DAY of rejoicing!
There are two reasons that a person is saved: One is that they are unconditionally chosen by God. That is what we studied last week, but that in and of itself is not enough. By that, I mean, God can’t take a putrid sinner and say, “I’m going to just take you just the way you are into my PERFECT RIGHTEOUS KINGDOM.” Sin of ANY KIND cannot live in the presence of God’s blazing Holiness. You have to be RIGHTEOUS to exist in God’s Heaven, but you can’t achieve that on your own. You need a righteousness that far exceeds your own attempts.
1. The Gentiles (heathen unbelievers) “attained righteousness” which was NOT their own. They didn’t even pursue it! Righteousness is the perfection of God and it is found ONLY IN the LORD JESUS CHRIST BY FAITH; Psalm 118: 21 said: “YOU have become MY SALVATION”. The LORD JESUS was offered as God’s Perfect Righteousness in my place.
This is nothing new. You read it in Psalm 118, and it permeates the Old Testament sacrificial system of worship. In Leviticus 1:1-4 we read: Then the LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. 3 'If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect ; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. 4 'He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted FOR HIM to make atonement ON HIS BEHALF.
This was a picture of what Jesus WOULD DO ON MY BEHALF in order to make atonement for the sins of ANYONE who would BELIEVE. The Lord Jesus would place HIMSELF on the altar of the CROSS, shed HIS LIFEBLOOD, and make atonement for those who would believe in HIS GIFT. The value of MY SINS were PLACED ON JESUS’ HEAD, the CORNERSTONE, by MY HEAVENLY FATHER, and Jesus paid the price: My sin debt? Paid in full!
2. How does this happen? Romans 10: 3-4: “For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end (the goal or fulfillment, NOT the abolishment) of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Christ fulfills the law of God’s righteousness in His life and in His death. Christ was born, God in human flesh, in order to do EXACTLY, PRECISELY, PERFECTED, RIGHTEOUSLY what no man had ever done before and what no man has done since, and which no man could EVER DO…God did in Christ. Christ sovereignly fulfilled the goal of the law which is to live perfectly BY the law and by God’s standard of holiness in ALL THINGS, all the time, in every way. Jesus did exactly that! That’s why He could offer HIMSELF as Payment: He was the PERFECT sacrifice for sin.
Paul’s reaction to this priceless gift is in Romans 1:16-17 is this: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, (the fantastic news that the Messiah has come, perfectly fulfilled the law, and died as a my perfect sacrifice for my sins. He arose from the dead, so that I might have new life, and He is reigning NOW!) for it (this Good News of salvation through the LORD Jesus Christ) is the power of God for salvation to everyone WHO BELIEVES…17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." I believe in the gift of Christ’s righteousness for me!
The word “believe” comes from the root word for “faith”: “Pistis” means “the conviction of the truth”. Who is THE TRUTH? The Lord Jesus and HIS Gospel Work. The verb means “to persuade or believe”; if you are persuaded by something or someone, you have confidence and belief to TRUST that person. BELIEF and FAITH change the way you look at things. Belief and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ means you don’t look at Him like everyone else does: you are convinced, convicted, and persuaded that HE IS THE ONLY ANSWER to your sin debt!
3. You become alive and righteous by believing that Christ’s Righteousness is GIVEN to you: It is yours BY FAITH not by your work. “THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE (be made alive) BY FAITH." Living by faith is believing and “resting” on Jesus’ Work IN the PAST, FOR MY past, present and future sins.
Romans 10:8 says: "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart "-that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as LORD, (God, Sovereign, Savior) and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved ; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." There is no shame or disappointment in believing in Jesus as THE ANSWER and payment for your sin.
4. The Sovereign decree of God chooses people whom He forms into vessels of His Grace and God’s righteousness is attained by them as a gift of His Righteousness out of Faith to those who “call on” and “believe in” the Lord Jesus Christ. God chooses whom He will save, and then God gives the gift of faith to those who believe in Jesus as the Rock of their Salvation.
Romans 5: 1-2 says: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”
Jesus is the chief, the PERFECT cornerstone for those who have received the Gift of His Righteousness. We, as LIVING STONES of the LIVING SAVIOR are attached to the foundation of OUR CORNERSTONE. Our lives of Good and Godly works proceed from that Cornerstone as our lives are lived for His Glory, out of response to His unfathomable gifts of grace and faith in the Lord Jesus.
God’s Divine grace in the LORD Jesus Christ brings saving faith near to you, from God’s Heart to your heart by way of the Cross. To God be the Glory.
Intro: Believers in Christ are the privileged people who are being saved.
I. Jesus: A Sovereign Stumbling Stone to Most
1. God placed the stone in Israel’s path: Jesus is the Stone.
2. Jesus is a “stone of offense” or “trap” to the unrepentant.
3. Israel did not realize that:
Sinners are not saved by the AMOUNT of GOOD works and
Sinners are not condemned by a LACK of GOOD works.
II. Jesus is the Sovereign Rock of Salvation to others.
1. The LORD JESUS was offered as God’s Righteousness in my place.
2. Christ fulfilled the law of God’s righteousness.
3. You become alive from sin by believing that Christ’s Righteousness is GIVEN to you by Faith.
4. God chooses whom He will save, and then God gives the gift of faith to those who believe in Jesus as the Rock of their Salvation. Isaiah 49:23, Joel 2:26-27
If the children of Israel, who were given such special attention by God, could ONLY be justified, forgiven and saved by FAITH ALONE in the Lord Jesus Christ, why would anyone else think they could be saved in any other way?
God’s Sovereignty ordains all things. There is nothing that happens that is outside of God’s Sovereignty: Ephesians 1:11: God is the one “who works ALL THINGS according to the counsel of His will.” Job professed what he learned in Job 42:2, "I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.”
God DOES NOT CAUSE all things to happen, but Sovereignly PERMITS all things to happen. At the same time, God always has the power to intervene, but does not always choose to do so.
God reveals MUCH but NOT ALL of His Sovereign Will to us. Some things we do not know about God; they are secrets of the Most High God. He is entitled as LORD over all to choose what He wants to reveal to us, and what He does not. What HE HAS revealed to us, He sovereignly commands us to follow and obey.
Man has the ability to reject the Sovereign Will and commands of God, and MANY DO. That is not the fault of God, but the sinful heart of man.
No one whom God has Sovereignly CHOSEN will refuse the Gift of Christ’s Righteousness. “All that the Father has chosen, will come to Him.”
