Romans 9:30-33

Rachel Workman: 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

I love today's reading. It's not by works but by faith that we are justified and made righteous all because of what Christ has already done for us. We are a blessed people.

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John Burnett:  ²⁶ and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
    ‘You are not my people,’
    there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”   Thank you Jesus for dying for Gentile sinners like me.

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,
    only the remnant will be saved.
²⁸ For the Lord will carry out
    his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”  Whenever Paul talks of the end times, I get excited because I see how sinful the world has become and I can’t help but look forward to taken out of the way so He can carry out His sentence on the earth.

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.”^[c]

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹ but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. ³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.³³ As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”   Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the Church but people don’t put their faith in Him because they think their works are enough and they are not, they are like dirty rags.  Offering dirty rags will put you to shame and worse.  It is only by faith in Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, that died to take the wrath for our sins, so that we did not have to.  It is too good to be true but nothing is more true than the love He displayed on the cross while we were yet sinners.

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Monday’s reading for Romans 10:1-6

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵ Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”^{[a] 6} But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[b] (that is, to bring Christ down)