The soul of prayer is the heart's desire. No Gentile would do it who had not ceased worshipping the emperor as Kurios. Unlike verse 5, Paul does not say, "Moses says" or "Moses writes." He proved himself the Son of God, gave the most convincing evidence that could be of his being the Messiah; and yet they did not know and would not own him, but shut their eyes against the clear light, so that their zeal for the law was blind. When you and I are no longer sinners, Christ is no longer our Savior; when you and I no more need him, then we shall not have him. So there must be confession with the mouth. It was not an easy thing; it must often have been made extremely inconvenient; and it must often have made life very uncomfortable. There must be a radical, ii. * William Higgs, Esq., for many years a beloved deacon of the church in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, fell on asleep January 3rd, 1883, in his fifty-ninth year. Or what is to be done according to that doctrine? This Good News is readily available to anyone who will receive it freely from God through Christ. They are both true, so you can't reconcile. Chapter 10Now Paul again reaffirms his love and desire for his brethren after the flesh. Romans 4:1-8,13-17. We should take notice of that which is commendable even in bad people. Therefore I cast about me, and I considered what subject he would wish me to preach from if he were sitting behind me this morning as he was last Lord's-day. But this does not content the apostle, or rather the Spirit of God; for he goes on to point out that Isaiah "is very bold" in a similar way; that is, there is no concealing the truth of the matter. Throw thyself upon him now; even as a babe casts itself upon its mother's breast. Now that God has revealed Himself in the gospel, it is not what will suit man on earth, but what is worthy of the presence of the glory of God. These things are matters of conscience, and depend much for their solution on the degree to which souls have attained. The appeal to their own inspired account of Abraham turned into a proof of the consistency of God's ways in justifying by faith, and hence in justifying the uncircumcised no less than the circumcision. It was laid down that no food must be cooked on the Sabbath. All through this section Paul has been driving home the personal responsibility of the Jews. It is fit that God should be honoured with the mouth, for he made man's mouth (Exodus 4:11), and at such a time has promised to give his faithful people a mouth and wisdom,Luke 21:15. As Moses explains in v. 11, "What I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach." Far beyond. No one is lost until he sins and sin becomes full grown (James 1:15). One is from Deuteronomy 32:21 where God says that, because of Israel's disobedience and rebellion, he will transfer his favour to another people, and they will be forced to become jealous of a nation which has no nation. Copyright - Enduring Word       |      . Moses says nothing about wearing phylacteries, or washing hands, or offering incense, or performing ceremonies in order to righteousness. It seems to mean that his truth was in their mind, and a subject of meditation and reflection. At the same time the apostle does allude to that mystery which was not yet divulged at least, in this epistle; but he points from the foundations of eternal truth to those heavenly heights that were reserved for other communications in due time. "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." If the first book in the Bible showed that it was only the call of God that made Israel what they were, its second book as clearly proved that all was over with the called people, had it not been for the mercy of God. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. There is no simple mind that can evade the plain force of this last expression. The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. Instead of having to go to great lengths to achieve righteousness by the law, we can immediately receive righteousness by faith, by trusting in the word of the gospel. The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; But the righteousness which is of faith: In contrast to the righteousness that is based on the law is the righteousness that results from faith. I can say no less. Not only was Abraham justified without law, but apart from that great sign of mortification of the flesh. And to this agreed the testimony of the prophet. Their sound has gone out to all the earth: This quotation from Psalm 19:4 proves that the word of the gospel went forth and Israel heard it. At the same time he connects, in a singularly interesting manner, this disclosure of the principles of the eternal judgment of God with what he calls "my gospel." Lower than that, he descended to being "despised and rejected of men." In this chapter are contained an account of the two righteousnesses of faith and works, a summary of the Gospel of Christ, a description of the grace of faith, in the nature, use, and means of it, and several testimonies concerning the calling of the Gentiles; and whereas the apostle knew that this, as well as what he had said in the latter part of the preceding chapter, that the Jews had not attained to the law of righteousness, but stumbled at the stumbling stone, would be offensive to his countrymen the Jews; wherefore that it might appear that he said this not out of disaffection and ill will to them, he declares his sincere regard unto them, and the great respect he had for them, by calling them "brethren", by expressing his good will to them, by praying for the salvation of them, Ro 10:1, by bearing testimony of their zeal for God, Ro 10:2, though he faithfully observes to them, that it was an ignorant zeal, of which ignorance he gives an instance, Ro 10:3, particularly in the attribute of God's righteousness; from which ignorance arose all their misconduct in religious things, especially in the article of justification; hence they sought to be justified by their own righteousness, and rejected the righteousness of Christ, and then points out to them the true end of the law, for righteousness which is Christ, Ro 10:4, which if they had known would have set them right, and which is another instance of their ignorant and misguided zeal: this leads him on to what he had in view, which was to give an account of the two righteousnesses he had suggested in the latter part of the former chapter, the righteousness of the law, which the Jews sought for and found not, and the righteousness of faith, which the Gentiles without seeking for enjoyed; and this account he gives in the words of Moses, for whom they had the greatest regard: the description of the former is given in his words, in Ro 10:5, which suggest the impossibility of keeping the law, and obtaining life by it, and therefore it is a vain thing to seek for righteousness by the works of it; the latter is described, Ro 10:6,7, by the certainty of it, being wrought out by Christ, who came down from heaven, fulfilled the law, and died, and rose again from the dead; and by the plainness and evidence of it, as revealed in the Gospel, Ro 10:8, the sum of which Gospel is, that whoever believes in Christ and confesses him shall be saved, Ro 10:9, which faith and confession, when genuine, are with the heart and mouth agreeing together; the consequences of which are righteousness and salvation, comfortably apprehended and enjoyed, Ro 10:10, and that the above is the sum of the Gospel, and that there is such a connection between faith and righteousness, and between confession and salvation, is confirmed, Ro 10:11, by a testimony from the prophet, Isa 28:16, which being expressed in such a general manner, as to extend to every believer, whether Jew or Gentile, reasons are given, Ro 10:12, in support of such an explanation of that passage, taken from the equal condition of all, there being no difference between them naturally, from the universal dominion of God over them, and from his liberal communication of grace and goodness to all that call upon him; which last reason is confirmed, Ro 10:13, by a passage of Scripture in Joe 2:32, on occasion of which, the apostle proceeds to treat of the calling of the Gentiles, and of the means of it, the preaching of the Gospel, which was necessary to it, which is made out by a train of reasoning after this manner; that seeing salvation is only of such that call upon the name of the Lord, and there could be no calling upon him without believing in him, and no believing without hearing, and no hearing without preaching, and no preaching without mission, which is proved by a citation out of Isa 52:7, and no success in preaching, when sent, without the exertions of efficacious grace, as appears from the case of the Jews, who had the ministration of the Gospel to them by Isaiah, and yet all did not believe it; as is evident from Isa 53:1, and seeing the conclusion of which is, that faith comes by preaching, and preaching by the order and command of God, Ro 10:14-17, it follows, that it was proper that ministers should be sent, and the Gospel preached to the Gentiles, and that attended with power, in order that they should believe in the Lord, and call upon his name and be saved; and which method God had taken, and which he had foretold he would take, in the prophecies of the Old Testament, and which were now fulfilling: that the Gospel was preached to them, and they heard it, were matters of fact, and were no other than what should be, or might be concluded, from Ps 19:4, cited, Ro 10:18, and that the Jews could not be ignorant of the calling of the Gentiles is clear, first from the words of Moses, De 32:21, which the apostle produces, Ro 10:19, and from a passage in the prophecy of Isa 65:1. She would say, "Oh, help me to believe you, Chuck, just help me to believe you." It would not have been righteous in any sense to have remitted the sins, until they were actually borne by One who could and did suffer for them. The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach: The 5th verse is a quotation from Leviticus 18:5. Sin is our not wanting the gifts of . No, you see, this opens the door to every man no matter who you are, predestined or not, elected or not, chosen or not. faith comes by hearing [ the thing heard], The facts were so well known by the preaching of the apostles, that they might be said to be in every mans mouth. - BN. There never was an hour since Israel's existence as a nation that God has not had His remnant of them. In essence this passage is an appeal to the Jews to abandon the way of legalism and accept the way of grace. He told me how that they now feel that their good works will make them acceptable to God. Suppose you cannot walk on the sea, like Peter: never mind; you are not called to do it. Outside Revelation, it only occurs here and Luke 8:31. Brethren, my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, i. It has four stages of meaning. But besides this he adds "to faith." He is consistent with Himself when He is justifying sinners, or, more strictly, all those who believe in Jesus. The word is near you -- --easily accessible. Have you been born again?" Thus it is a mistake to suppose that saints may not be benefited by a better understanding of the gospel, at least as Paul preached it. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The 14th verse in Deuteronomy 30:1-20 completes the thought by saying that the Jews could do what God wanted them to do - that thou mayest do it. 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