Romans 5:8-33
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Christ is for Jew and Gentile
Christ is for Jew and Gentile
We’ve spent half a year in the book of Romans.... in a lot of this time we have compared the Jews and Gentiles. We’ve held each to their own standards and seen how they fail. We’ve shown them in opposition and contrast. Now we need to make clear, not that we haven’t been mentioning this the entire time, but we need to make clear the fact that Christ came for BOTH.
Romans 15:8–9a (ESV)
For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
The answer to the question was Jesus the Messiah of the Jews is… Yes AND for all mankind.
Let’s pick up the rest of the verse and see how Paul puts this together.
Romans 15:9b (ESV)
As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
Our first part comes from the end of Psalm 18 where David has been recounting all the terror he’s endured but also the powerful rescue he experienced at God’s hand Psalm 18:4-5 “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of destruction assailed me; the cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.” or Psalm 18:16-17 “He sent from on high, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.” It’s for all these things that David gets to the place he can say Psa 18:49 “For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations, and sing to your name.” I will proclaim you and praise you to the nations, the Gentiles, I will sing out to you Lord.
And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
This is a song that doesn’t come from the Psalms but out of Deuteronomy 32 and it’s 43 verses long… some excerpts Deut 32:3-4 “For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God! “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.” Deut 32:7-8 “Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” Deut 32:16 “They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger.” Deut 32:18 “You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” Deut 32:21-22 “They have made me jealous with what is no god; they have provoked me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are no people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled by my anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.” Deut 32:36 “For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.” Deut 32.39 ““ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.” Deut 32.43 ““Rejoice his people, O nations; bow down to him, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.””
And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”
From Psalm 117 we might as well read the whole thing.
Praise the Lord, all nations!
Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord!
And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”
In Isaiah 11.1 it starts
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
and follows with prophecy. But in verse 10 it says Isa 11:10 “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” We see this contradiction that stumped the Pharisees. Pun intended. How can this shoot growing up from the stump of Jesse (David’s father) grow up to be the root of Jesse? How can David write in Psalm 110:1 “The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”” when it’s David’s descendant he’s referring to? Your descendants aren’t Lord over you, unless that descendant is something more. Something incredible… Unless it IS The Lord who has come as Messiah. But this branch, that is the root will be the signal for all peoples. He is the hope for us all.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
What a blessing it is to have the joy and peace in your belief. There has been, I think for most, times when you are not at peace with your own beliefs. Whether that unrest brought you to the Lord or that unrest was an uncertainty about God. There might even be unrest in belief for people in this room now. We pray for joy and peace about this. That belief is not blind, it’s peace because the pieces fit. It’s joy because is biblical promise fulfilled. This is what grows hope and builds up the people of God who come from Jews and Gentiles, all the nations of the world.
Here we end the book of Romans in one sense. The teaching and arguments for Paul’s case concerning salvation has concluded. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn more as we read the rest of the book though. We’ll see he reveals some more of the purpose for writing this letter.
I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
He is encouraged by the faith of the church in Rome, he wants to make sure a few things are clear so he wrote this letter.
In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written,
“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”
Paul shares his passion to reach those who have never heard. We can also see Paul’s Holy boasting here. It’s okay to be proud of our work for God, because we know it is God who does the work. We still have the honor of being His hands and feet and I think we can have joy and pride is being used by God for God’s holy purposes. This reason however has kept Paul busy all over the known world.
This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected, I will leave for Spain by way of you. I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
Here we could spend a lot of time talking about some details here but we’ll glean just a little.
Paul drops a hint that it would be nice to have their aide, and to receive it when he stops by. It’s entirely biblical for missionaries to do some fundraising.
Churches help churches. Paul is bringing money collected from two other churches for the poor in the church in Jerusalem.
If we’re blessed with spiritual blessings how tough is it to bless others with mere material blessings?
And to end tonight’s study we’ll see Paul’s prayer requests.
I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Be together
Be in prayer
Pray for the workers of the Kingdom
Pray for the safety of our missionaries
Pray for the kingdom workers to be a blessing to God’s people - in this it brings peace and rest to them
And so with all of you may the God of peace be with you. Amen.