“Excuses and Mighty Hands”
Romans 10:16-21
All of us attempt to justify our actions at one time or another with excuses. I worked in retail management for 20 years and heard some excuses that people have used to call in sick which were NOT ones that bosses appreciated: “My car insurance expired, for the sixth time in six months- I had a Death in the family, the Dog shut off my alarm, I got arrested, I Couldn’t call because I lost my phone, The store is too cold, The store is too hot, PMS (that’s especially a poor excuse for a man to use).”
When people give an excuse, they give a reason or explanation to defend or justify a fault or offense; Usually we give a reason for NOT doing something, or a reason why something went wrong. “Excuse” comes from the Latin meaning “out of cause”: We offer a cause or a reason for not doing something that we should….we give an “excuse.” (Billy Sunday, the baseball star turned evangelist who lived from 1862 – 1935, said that “An excuse is the Skin of a Reason, Stuffed with a Lie.”) This morning we are going to look at a few excuses that Israel used for not believing.
In the first part of chapter 10 of Romans, God tells us what happens to a heart that calls on, believes in, and confesses the name of the Lord Jesus Christ . We concluded with the prophecy which was first fulfilled in Christ and now is fulfilled in us as the Church in Romans 10:15: “Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS (the Gospel) OF GOOD THINGS!" (Quoted from Isa. 52:7)
The Lord Jesus set His feet on this earth from His Heaven and proclaimed the Gospel in His Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension. His Ministry of miracles and healing proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, that no one but God could do those things! He proved that HE WAS THE ONE PROMISED from God, who would DIE FOR OUR SINS. (WE looked at Isaiah 53 during this week in study.)
Excuse #1: A Hearing Problem?
WHO COULD POSSIBLY REJECT THE Power and Clarity of the GOSPEL of God’s Grace in Jesus Christ? Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit continues in Romans 10:16: “However, (UH-oh!) they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?" The truth is that VERY FEW believed the report. Israel killed the prophets who preached God’s Word, and then they killed THE ONE, the LORD JESUS, which the prophets had foretold. But that does not change the way that God works:
Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” 18 But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?” Paul is saying: With such clear and powerful prophecy, could it at all be possible that Israel never heard the MESSAGE of the Gospel? Could it be possible that MOST of Israel had a hearing problem? Can Israel honestly stand up and give the excuse: We didn’t hear the message of salvation.
Paul responds with the second half of verse 18: Indeed they have; (NO WAY! NO EXCUSE; THEY HAVE HEARD THE MESSAGE) "THEIR VOICE HAS GONE OUT INTO ALL THE EARTH, AND THEIR WORDS TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD."
Here Paul quotes Psalm 19:4: “Their sound has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world.” Psalm 19:1 begins: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.” Day and night, CREATION SPEAKS LOUDLY AND CLEARLY of the Glory and the power and the work of the Almighty God.
The excuse does not stand because Creation sings the Father’s song: Roman’s 1:18-23: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. 21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” Everyone KNOWS the INVISIBLE attributes of God but many REJECT God.
If you read Romans 2-3, you find that NO ONE IS RIGHTEOUS and there is no excuse and everyone is liable! No one can say: I don’t believe because I never heard.
Excuse # 2: Lack of Understanding?
Here’s excuse number two: Rom. 10:19 “But I say, surely Israel did not KNOW, did they?” OK let’s bury the first excuse: We can admit that Israel heard the word, but maybe they just didn’t UNDERSTAND (know) the Word. Could that be? That they heard it but didn’t understand it? Could Israel’s excuse be that we just didn’t understand the message of salvation?
Paul’s response Romans 10:19b is: “First Moses says, "I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER. (YOU)”
Paul’s response comes from Deuteronomy 32:21: 'They (Israel) have made Me jealous with what is not God; (HOW?) They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, 22 For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.” In essence, Israel caused God to be jealous by going after other gods, so God’s hope is to arouse jealousy within them, not by rejecting them, but by drawing other people outside of Israel to come to His Salvation.
How could anyone possibly not understand the message of salvation? Not only did God give Israel the general revelation which He gave to EVERY CREATURE on this planet, but He gave to them HIS WORD and LAW, and they still disobeyed and followed other Gods. We looked at the first part of Psalm 19 where the theme of God’s General revelation in creation is explained. If you look at the second half of Psalm 19, you hear that Israel received the Perfect WORD and LAW of God, and they STILL rejected God.
So both of Israel’s excuses are groundless: They HEARD and UNDERSTOOD and still rejected God’s Grace. God’s response is heard in Roman 10:20:
Rom 10: 20 And Isaiah is very bold and says, "I WAS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DID NOT SEEK ME, I BECAME MANIFEST TO THOSE WHO DID NOT ASK FOR ME." (from Isaiah 65:1: "I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here am I, here am I,' To a nation which did not call on My name.”
The overwhelming majority of the nation of Israel both heard and understood the message of God’s salvation of justification faith, but did not believe God’s promise, and when His Promised ONE arrived, they rejected and crucified Him. They would NOT admit that they needed God’s salvation nor submit by faith and grace. They were offended by the hearing and understanding of God’s Word and Grace and by a righteousness which comes by faith. They were quite content to remain in their own self-righteousness and sin. Their response to Deuteronomy 32 was basically: “Go ahead, give your grace to the Gentiles; at least we have our Judaism and we’re happy with that! We don’t need anything else.”
The Fruit of Unbelief
Their oppression and discipline by God at the hand of the Assyrians, the Babylonians and then the Romans had little or no effect on any of them. After Jesus’ ministry, miracles and message offended them, they put Him to death; His resurrection merely caused them to basically sew up the temple curtain that had been torn from top to bottom at His death and go back to THEIR OWN “business as usual”.
Paul makes a stark contrast in Romans 10:21: “But as for Israel, He (God) says, "ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE." (oppositional, argumentative)
This quote is from Isaiah 65:2: "I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious (stubborn) people, Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts.”
There is a STARK Contrast that is given here: You have The FRUIT OF UNBELIEF on one hand and it is juxtaposed with hands of a loving God.
The fruit of unbelieving people is disobedience. The word used for Disobedient (used in the Greek in Roman 10:21) actually means “without belief or faith.” We often think of the Gospel as an invitation, which it is, but it is also a command of God. In Acts 17:30-31 30 "Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead."
It is a command to “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) There probably is not a commandment which is disobeyed more often than the command to repent and obey.
The Fruit of unbelief is also obstinate. This takes disobedience to a higher level in that it is even oppositional and argumentative. It not only disobeys but SLAYS. This unbelief killed the prophets, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and any one that will confess and follow Him, and Preach His Passion for Sinners.
The fruit of unbelief is plentiful, and it is very powerful, but it is persistently and passionately productive in “doing its own thing”. The fruit of unbelief produces LOADS of self-centered, self-seeking, self-worshiping fruit and in NOT GIVING God His Rightful place, it is actually God-oppositional not God-centered. The phrase in Isaiah 65:2, “following their own thought’s”, means “walking in man’s ways, walking in an artificial way, what MAN may think is right.” It’s ME-CENTERED THEOLOGY and it FILLS OUR COUNTRY and world and it is not easily be persuaded to turn from self to God.
Two times in Proverbs the same verse is mentioned. LISTEN: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12, 16:25)
The Hands of God
Lastly, we see the picture of The Hands of an Unbelievable Loving God. Romans 10:21: “ALL THE DAY LONG I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HANDS TO A DISOBEDIENT AND OBSTINATE PEOPLE." God’s love is not done in secret: You can plainly see and observe His Love. It’s as plain as day. It goes ALL DAY LONG. His love is continuous as long as it is still day, and what a day it has been! The day has been thousands of years already as God extends His gracious arms out to a world and says: “Today is the day of salvation.“ The day that the trumpet sounds, and Jesus returns, will be the day that the hands of grace will turn into the hands of judgment for many.
But today, God’s hands of love are still compassionate. He still pleads: Come to ME. Not to a priest, a pastor, or a pope. Not to a creed but to the compassionate King who is ready and willing to forgive. If you are not attending the Wed. or Thurs. Bible studies you are missing some powerful points of God’s Providence which are intersecting on Sunday mornings. People laugh because I have said so many times: We’re going to see more about that on Sunday. I couldn’t have orchestrated the powerful teachings in this way if I stayed up night and day.
Here we have God’s compassionate hands URGING people to accept His loving outstretched hands. It is exactly how Jesus exercised His DIVINE AUTHORITATIIVE HANDS in His ministry of Healing: by the touch of His hands. On His way into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, with eyes filled with tears of compassion, I can imagine the LORD JESUS lifting His hands and crying: "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace.” (Matt. 9:42)
Lastly, the Hands of a compassionate and continuous loving God are COSTLY. Make no mistake concerning the cost. There are nails in those hands and they were pounded by the disobedient and obstinate sins of those who REJECT the LORD JESUS. That Gospel comes to everyone. A messenger is sent out. He preaches the Good News of the Costly and Compassionate Gospel. The voice of Jesus is heard in the preaching and so an unrepentant self-centered sinner hears, believes, and calls on Jesus for Salvation. And Jesus changes EVERYTHING in that life…FOREVER.
Dear People, no human excuses will stand against God’s mighty hands. They extend compassion and love today for you to accept His righteousness by faith, and turn in repentance to Him, but they will one day contain judgment to those who do not accept His Grace.
OUTLINE:
I. Israel’s “excuses” for unbelief:
A. We did not hear God’s message of salvation.
B. We did not understand God’s message of salvation. No
C. They would NOT admit and submit to God’s salvation.
II. Israel’s fruit of unbelief
A. The Fruit of unbelief is disobedient.
B. The Fruit of unbelief is obstinate
C. The Fruit of unbelief is productive in “doing your own thing.”
III. The Hands of an Unbelievable Loving God are
A. Continuous.
B. Compassionate.
C. Costly.
Deut. 33: 27: "The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms.
John 15:21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin ; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. 25 "But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.'
“Going to church does NOT make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.”
In the 16 chapters of Romans, Paul refers to 57 Old Testament references.
