Search
English
English
Due to COVID-19 and disruption to international mail service
we have temporally suspended our ‘Free Print Book service’.
In the light of this situation we are not able to mail you the books at this time.
Pray that this pandemic will end soon and the resumption of the postal service.

Sermons

Subject 9 : Romans (Commentaries on the Book of Romans)

[Chapter 9-4] Where Does the Apostle Paul’s Anguish Come from? (Romans 9:1-33)

(Romans 9:1-33)
“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea:
‘I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.’
‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.’
Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.’
And as Isaiah said before:
‘Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.’
What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”
 
 
(Romans 9:1-2) “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.”
Up until now, the Apostle Paul has been telling us about the upright Truth. The Truth told by the Apostle Paul was about the righteousness of God that has saved sinners from all their sins. In the Word of God preached by Paul, it is written what the righteousness of God is and how that righteousness of God was completed and gets applied to us. If we all know and believe in the genuine Truth preached by the Apostle Paul, we will get to receive all the blessings that God gives to us. I hope that all the blessings of God will be with you all.
However, far from the completeness of the righteousness of God preached by the Apostle Paul, the people of Israel did not have the faith of accepting Jesus Christ who has fulfilled the righteousness of God. Because of this, Paul’s heart was in great sorrow all the while in bitterness and sadness. He was in grief because of the problem relating to the salvation of the people of Israel. Therefore, the time when the Apostle Paul’s grief and sorrow disappears will be when the nation of Israel accepts Jesus, who is the Hero of the gospel of the water and the Spirit as the Savior. Thus, the grief that torments Paul’s heart will be continuing until the nation of Israel gets to stand before God.
Each and every person of the people of Israel should right now accept in his or her heart Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as the Savior prophesied in the Old Testament. Should they not do so, they will never be able to meet the Messiah, and they will never be able to take the New Jerusalem that will come from above as their land.
Starting today, the day when the people of Israel will believe in Jesus Christ, the true Messiah, as their Savior because of the sufferings they have to go through is close at hand. In the future, there will come a day when the nation of Israel will believe that Jesus Christ, who had come 2,000 years ago, was the Savior they have been waiting for because of much suffering.
 
 

Paul’s Faith
 

(Romans 9:3) “For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,”
This verse shows us the heart of those who believe in the righteousness of God. I am saying that Paul’s heart is like that. He had wished for the salvation of his nation, his countrymen, and his family even if it meant that he himself would be accursed from Christ. I am saying that such heart is the heart of the righteous.
Righteous finds joy in sharing the God-given salvation with many people. However, sinners, unlike the righteous, focus on obtaining things that are good. They do not find joy in sharing what is good.
The Lord said those who have received much should share much, and He also said, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48). Therefore, people who have the righteousness of God in their heart wish to spread the righteousness of God throughout the entire world, just like the heart of God. Even though they may lose much, they wish for it to be so.
Even now, those who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit find joy in sharing many things for numerous souls. Such a heart is the heart of the righteousness of God given to those who have become children of God. People who possess the righteousness of God are going through troubles for the spiritual salvation of others. It is because doing so is most comforting to their heart.
 
 

Even Though the Israelites Have Received the Special Love of God
 

(Romans 9:4-5) “Who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.”
The Israelites are a nation that has been granted many blessings from God both in the flesh and in the spirit. For them, God had personally become their God, and He had granted them the commandment of God and the promise of blessings as the nation of priesthood that can offer sacrifice to God. But because they did not believe in the blessing of God, they drove away Jesus Christ, who is God’s blessing, from their country. Therefore, the Gentiles were permitted to receive many blessings due to their knowledge of Jesus Christ who has become the righteousness of God. Because the nation of Israel did not believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, the blessings of the righteousness of God have reached those among the Gentiles who believe in the righteousness of God.
Jesus Christ, whom the nation of Israel did not accept into their heart, was fundamentally God and the Savior. Thus, they should have known that God was more than enough to receive love, praise, veneration, and glory from all of us. This Truth was a very important Truth; so much so that much emphasizing is never enough.
We all must know and believe in the fact that Jesus Christ is God. We must realize that knowing and believing that He has fulfilled the Savior’s mission for all the sinners is extremely important.
 
 
God’s Plan Did Take Effect
 
(Romans 9:6-9) “But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’”
God works like this. When God works on people, He works by making them a promise first.
For example, we can look into the work He had performed after having spoken to Jacob and Esau. Also, we can see that God gave Isaac to Abraham after having given him the word of promise first.
God promised to give Abraham a son, and that promise meant that He would give a son through Sarah’s body. However, because the fulfillment of that promise seemed tardy, Abraham’s heart flowed in the direction of the fleshly ways, and he gained a son named Ishmael. But, after having promised Abraham to give a child through Sarah, God had fulfilled that promise 20 years later. When God said He was going to give a son to Abraham, He meant that He was going to give a child of the faith, not a child of the flesh. Likewise, before God, we must understand Him as God who promises and fulfills the prosperity of our spiritual faith rather than the prosperity of our flesh.
There are times when we wait to fulfill the prosperity of the flesh, while ignoring the spiritual faith that God requests of us. However, we ourselves must continue our life of faith with our goal placed on the Word of God. If we were to perceive the Word of God by placing our purpose on the fulfillment of fleshly desires, we would in turn be making a big mistake. The Word of God always requests a faith that is absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of the Word. Having faith in this spiritual principle, we must live out our faith before God.
The faith that God desires is the faith that always believes in the realization of the Word of God. God requests of us the faith of always believing in the Word of God. You must also wholeheartedly believe in the Word of God which tells us that all the righteousness of God has been fulfilled by the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
 
 
Was the Election by God Carried Out without Any Purpose?
 
(Romans 9:10-13) “And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.””
Regarding election, the Bible says, “Jacob was elected not because of works but of Him who calls.” People must take this truth to their heart.
We must realize that concerning God’s electing of His people, it is said that it is done not by the works of people, but only by the One who calls, because God wants to give us the righteousness of God. God is saying that it was to call upon all the sinners who were born as sinners by the whole righteousness of God through Jesus Christ, and to make those who have answered His call God’s people by saving them from sins.
We must know the righteousness of God. The Bible says that regarding the calling of God, there is a reason for having called someone like Jacob, but not Esau. Do you know the reason why God said, “The purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls”? You must understand that the reason was for God to save sinners like Jacob from sins.
God loves someone like Jacob but hates someone like Esau. It is because someone like Esau, for he had much righteousness of his own, had disregarded the righteousness of God and did not accept it into his heart. God wants to break human righteousness; God actually breaks human righteousness with His righteousness in order to save humans. God wants to deliver sinners from all sins by His own righteousness.
Between Jacob and Esau, who were inside Rebecca’s womb, God chose only one of them one-sidedly because He knew which one would accept the righteousness of God into his heart and which one would not do so and reject it. Thus, God said He chose Jacob who would accept the righteousness of God into his heart instead of Esau. Some people say that between Esau and Jacob, God had one-sidedly loved one and not the other without any particular reason. But I say to you that there is never an instance where God acts without a reason.
God is the God of the Truth, and you must realize that there is something wrong with those who think that God, who is the Truth, does not carry out truthful judgments and acts. In no way does God elect untruthfully. Why is that? The fact is that “calling” is predestined inside the election by God. If there is no predestination of whom to call in the election by God, God will say that there is an error in His electing of people. But you must realize that God does not make mistakes. It is because God says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” It means that God is the Truth, the Master who gives life, the Way to obtaining everlasting life and receiving the remission of sins. It is because God knows everything.
Aren’t you and I someone who is fundamentally vile and weak, deceiving others as often as possible? Given this, if God has chosen us because He could not but choose us through Jesus Christ, is that an error? Never. Rather, God excluded those who are arrogant, have much righteousness of their own, overflow with self-styled justice, and believe that they do not have that much lacking from God’s choice.
Then, is it right for God to elect people who are arrogant and have much righteousness of their own before God as His people? God of the Truth will never do that in the least. We praise the fact that God had chosen Jacob, who was lacking, weak, and had not much of his own righteousness, instead of someone like Esau, who was full of pride and arrogant.
God isn’t the God of someone like Esau. Instead, He is the God of someone like Jacob. God is the Father of compassion. God is the God of the Truth. God is the God of mercy. But He is the God who pours down His wrath upon those who are full of pride and breaks those who are arrogant.
As God the Father elects and loves people, He disperses and brings His wrath upon those who are full of pride; but He shows mercy to those who are humble. He wants you to have the insight to know that God the Father has saved you through the baptism of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and the blood He shed on the Cross.
God elects people, and we needed the knowledge of realizing and knowing that God has given the blessing of becoming God’s children to those who believe in the righteousness of the One who has called us through the baptism received by Jesus Christ and His blood of the Cross. I hope you would have the knowledge of the righteousness of God and the blessing of realizing why God had to love Jacob but hate Esau, and then believe in Him properly. The fact that God loved Jacob with the righteousness of God and hated Esau who had refused the righteousness of God is a truth.
 
 
Truly Are the Ones on Whom God Has Mercy
 
(Romans 9:14-16) “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.”
Is it wrong for God to love Jacob but hate Esau? The fact is that it is not so. When God looks at people, He personally saves the pitiful from all their sins by having compassion on them. Therefore, those on whom God has compassion become people of God by having worn the love of God’s salvation and having been delivered from all their sins. Actually, becoming God’s people by having received the remission of sins from God depends on whether or not one has received compassion from God, and not at all by living out a life until one reaches sanctification.
We must all know that in order for us to receive the remission of sins before God, we must throw away our own thoughts. If you do not throw away your own thoughts before God, you will fall into the misunderstanding of trying to receive the remission of sins by having done something good on your own. All who want to receive the remission of sins before God must throw away their thoughts. Only from then on, are we able to believe in the salvation, the righteous act that God has done for us. This in turn means that if we want to receive the remission of sins, we must first do away with our own thoughts instead of trying to do something. When we put away our thoughts, we get to see the work that God has done for us.
Up until now, have you and I been trying to receive the salvation by doing well in the footrace of faith? No, not at all! If so, let us put away our thoughts. Let us look toward the love of God’s righteousness that God has done for us. If we do so, the baptism received by Jesus in order for Him to take on our sins, the blood of the Cross, and His death and resurrection will be shown to us clearly. Then, the righteousness of God will truly be shown to us.
Like Jacob, do you want to receive God’s love? If so, I hope you will also confirm and acknowledge the fact that you are a person like Jacob. I hope you will realize the fact that a person like Esau does not get saved from sins because he or she hasn’t received compassion from God. I want you to believe in the fact that the righteousness of God which has come by the water and the Spirit has saved you perfectly from all your sins.
 
 
The Wrath of God to Those Whose Heart Is Hardened
 
(Romans 9:17) “For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’”
It is also the will of God to show His Omnipotence by raising someone like the Pharaoh up. Among those living in this world, people whose heart is hardened suffer destruction for having fought against God. But in the midst of that destruction, God has made it so that we will be able to see that God lives and works, and thus, they can be seen by us. Recently, there was a happening in which someone who had been slandering the servants of God who were spreading the gospel of the water and the Spirit had died because of skin cancer.
In the Bible also, God had Egyptians drowned in the waters of the Red Sea because the Pharaoh did not free the people of Israel because his heart was hardened. In the Bible, there also were the occurrences of the armies of Assyria and Babylonia losing their land for having fought against Israel. Likewise, whether it is an individual or a nation, all of them suffered destruction by the power of God for having fought against God and His people.
The fact that each and every person whose heart is hardened suffers destruction just like Esau and the Pharaoh had for not having believed in the righteousness of God shows us the power of God. Those who are like Esau are hated by God and suffer destruction for not having believed in the righteousness of God. The power of God and the fact that God lives are also shown through the destruction of those whose hearts are hardened. Therefore, God displays the power of His wrath to those who are like Esau, but shows the love of mercy to those who are like Jacob. Thus, God shows the fact that He lives and His power to both types of people living on this earth.
We must learn the lesson that one must not become someone who will be suffering destruction because of his or her hardened heart before God. We must become those who wait for the mercy before God. Why would we need to become hardened in our hearts before God? The fact that one’s heart is hardened before God means that the heart is arrogant. What I am saying is that are we so good that we need to be raising our hearts? Do we have any reason to exalt our hearts even before God? God has given us God’s righteousness freely, yet what reason is there for us not to believe in it?
The righteousness of God is fully instilled in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, yet what reason could there be for us to receive hate from God by not believing in it? By believing in the love of God’s righteousness, we must become those wearing the love of God. Thus, why do we need to become those who disbelieve by exalting our hearts? Regardless of whom, there is no benefit in raising their heart before God. However, because those whose hearts are haughty before God get to receive the wrath of God; God’s name gets spread more and more because of such people.
 
 
God Bestows Justice and Mercy
 
(Romans 9:18) “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.”
This verse tells us that God gives the righteousness of God that gives the remission of sins to those who have nothing to show off, for they lack righteousness of their own all so much in God’s view by taking great pity on them.
How about the will of God toward men? Toward the pitiful, God has the will to be clothing them with His love and mercy and the righteousness of God; but toward the proud whose heart is haughty, the will of God is to have them receive the punishment of hell by making their heart even more hardened. Therefore, you must become a humble person who asks for mercy from God, instead of becoming someone whose heart is full of pride before God.
When God sees people, He sees them by dividing them into two types: the proud and the pitiful. He practices according to His will. He casts punishment upon those who are full of pride and He bestows the love of the righteousness of God’s mercy upon those who are pitiful.
We must not think of God as a despotic God who has no reason, discretion, or truth. God is the God of the Truth. We must know and believe in the fact that God acts with reason, discretion, mercy, and a sense of justice.
 
 
You Should Acknowledge the Justice of God and Yearn for His Mercy
 
(Romans 9:19) “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’”
The question at hand is, “How can God rebuke those who have been born as the seed of sin for their trespasses?” But the fact of the matter is that because it is the will of God to make people—those who acknowledge God and believe in the love of God’s mercy by making their heart humble before God, despite the fact that they were born as the seeds of sin—His children and clothe them with blessings, God casts curses upon those whose heart is full of pride and grants blessings upon those who are humble. Therefore, we cannot say that the blessing and the curse God bestows upon human beings are wrongful. The work that God does is a just work. Who can fight against the work that God does? There is no one. Why? It is because the work that God does is perfect and just.
We human beings may seem all same from our viewpoint. In God’s view, however, there are some people who are so pitiful that God wants to clothe them with His love, and then there are some people who are so hardened and arrogant that God wants to pour His curse over them instead of His love. Therefore, because it is the will of God to bestow the love of mercy to some human beings who are all so pitiful, no one can stop that. Neither can anyone stop the will of God to cast His wrath through His power to some other human beings whose hearts are so arrogant and hardened that they do not accept the righteousness of God. No one can oppose the work that God does, and no one can obstruct it.
 
 
Can We Rebuke God?
 
(Romans 9:20) “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’”
This verse is asking what is wrong with God bestowing the mercy of His righteousness to those who deserve pity. We cannot protest to God by saying to Him, “Why have you made me such an arrogant person?” If some man is such a person, then he became so not because God has made him like that but because he did not accept the love of God’s mercy for having hardened his heart on his own.
No human being can swear at God. What wrong did God do? Is there something God did unjustly? That is never so. God has given the righteousness of the salvation of the remission of sins to human beings who have fallen into sin. Despite of it all, there are those who believe in Him and those who do not; and thus, people were divided into those who are to receive the blessing and those who are to receive the curse.
But still, people swear at God saying that He isn’t just. It is because they have the misunderstanding that God has allowed blessings and curses because He arbitrarily loves some people but hates others, being biased instead of being fair to all human beings. However, God was never biased or unjust. Rather, because God is so just, it is the people who are misunderstanding God, unable to understand His justness.
Human beings can love with a bias, but because God cannot, that is something that people have misunderstood for having thought of God like a human being. By sending His only begotten Son to the world, God the Father had His Son receive the baptism from John the Baptist in order to have Him take on the sins of the world, and all the righteousness of God were thus fulfilled to save all human beings. Jesus received the baptism, died on the Cross, and became our eternal Savior by His resurrection. Like so, the love of God is absolutely fair, but people are swearing at God because they have misunderstood Him with their own thoughts. People must repent.
 
 
God Has the Right to Do Things Justly
 
(Romans 9:21) “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?”
This passage means that all the authority rests with God Himself. It is saying how could God not have the authority to make people His children? Certainly, God has the authority to make people His own children. It is also saying how could God not have the authority to send His enemies who do not accept the will of God but rather fight against it, to hell? Of course, all the authority belongs to God. There is nothing wrongful about the work that God does, not even a little. Should there be something wrongful, it would be in people’s thoughts, heart, and faith.
People’s wrongful faith is insisting that only their thoughts are right, all the while not accepting the righteousness of God. According to their thoughts, it is right for them to complete their lives as children of God and their faith of salvation by offering prayers of repentance every day and living out a life of gradual sanctification. But, God did not set His will like that.
The will set by God is to enable people to obtain everlasting life by believing in the righteousness of God. The will of God the Father is to save the sinners from all their sins by sending His Son to this earth, having Him take on the sins of the world through His baptism, and having Him nailed to the Cross. That is the righteousness of God. In other words, it is the will of God for Him to make those who believe in the righteousness of God His own people and to make those who do not believe in His righteousness the servants of destruction. God has all the authority along with His goodness.
 
 
It Is the Will of God That He Bestows His Mercy on Those Who Are Destined to Suffer Wrath
 
(Romans 9:22) “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,”
God has saved human beings, who were to be destroyed, from destruction by having them know about the riches of the glory of God and the righteousness of God. Originally, human beings were all servants of Satan, having been deceived by him. Those who have been deceived by Satan and have fallen into his lure were those who had lost communion with God. Rather, they became those who have fought against God. They were those whom God had decided to destroy. Those who have sins before God and those who rise up against God became those who could only receive the punishment of hell due to their sins. It shows that they were destined for destruction due to their sins. For such human beings, God decided to clothe them with the riches of His mercy and the grace of the remission of sins. He has decided to clothe them with His love, all the while waiting patiently with tolerance.
Because God has decided to clothe us with the love of His righteousness like so, we have no reason whatsoever to protest. Instead, we should praise God for His great love. If God has decided to carry out the work of saving sinners from sins, we should all be thankful, and we should exalt the glory of God. Regardless, no one can interfere with the work that God does; and even if people want to interfere, they lack the qualification to interfere.
 
 
There Is Nothing Wrong about the Work That God Does, Not at All
 
(Romans 9:23) “and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,”
Even if God has decided to save sinners with His righteousness, who can protest it to be wrong? We who believe in the righteousness of God cannot say that He is wrong. All of us can only be thankful with a heart that reveres God who does virtuous work. We cannot dare judge whether it is ‘right or wrong.’ Who can dare say that the work of the righteousness of God that God carries out is ‘right or wrong?’ People who believe in the righteousness of God as well as all those who do not believe in it can never do that.
 
(Romans 9:24-26) “Even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea:
‘I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.’
‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.’”
We who are born as descendants of Adam fundamentally weren’t people of God. But by having received the love of God’s mercy, we have become His own people. We all were the vessels of wrath before God. Yet, God has considered the pitiful as the vessels of mercy.
God has delivered those whom He wants to take in as His own children from being the subject of wrath. When God sees us human beings, some are so very pitiful that He cannot but deliver them from the deserved wrath. And thus, God has adopted human beings as His own people by bestowing His love of mercy. So, those who have put on the righteousness of God have become His own children by faith.
People were fundamentally destined to receive God’s wrath. In the Book of Romans chapter 11, verse 32, God said, “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all,” and we wholeheartedly believe this.
We all were fundamentally the seed of sin, unable to obey God. But God, who is full of love, has made everyone His people by bestowing them His merciful love after having put us, the disobedient, amidst sins in order to make us His people. For this reason, the love of the righteousness of God resides only with the believers and God.
 
 
Does Only the Small Number of People of Israel Become People of God?
 
(Romans 9:27-28) “Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.’”
Even if there are a large number of Israelites, God has said only those who believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior will become people of God at the end of days.
If so, does it mean that among the numerous Israelites, only a small number of them get to become people of God after getting delivered from the wrath? Yes, that is so. This passage is saying that God will do so only onto a small number of the Israelites, and He will do so onto a small number of Gentiles, as well. Among those numerous people who will receive the wrath from God, only a small number of people will be wearing God’s mercy, escaping from the wrath, and becoming people of God.
God will fulfill all His Word and then finish this world. God will surely find out those who will receive the love of His mercy among those who are to receive His wrath, and He will complete the work of making them His own people by clothing them in His righteousness. When that is fulfilled, He will finish the history of this world. If we are going to be wearing the remission of sins from our God, we must be prepared in our hearts to be clothed with God’s mercy.
 
 
God Has Left Those Who Believe in the Righteousness of God on This Earth.
 
(Romans 9:29) “And as Isaiah said before:
‘Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.’”
This Scripture passage tells us that the entire world would have been destroyed due to sins if God hadn’t left those who believe in the righteousness of God’s mercy. For all the people in this world, the Lord has left His servants who believe in and preach the righteousness of God. They are the ones who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. Even though they were sinners who had deserved His wrath, by believing in the Truth instilled with the righteousness of God, they have become those who have been saved from all sins. They are the servants of the righteousness of God who carry out the work of delivering people from sins that deserved the wrath by preaching to them the righteousness of God. God has left them on this earth for you.
You and all others must receive and welcome those who believe in and preach the righteousness of God. It is because they are the ambassadors of God’s righteousness. As you think about why God has left them on this earth, you must realize that it was for you. Those who are fundamentally destined to receive the wrath from God must accept these people of faith who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit as ambassadors of God.
You and all others must know, be thankful, and believe that God has left those who believe in the righteousness of God on this earth for the sinners. God has delivered from His wrath all those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit preached by the servants of the righteousness of God.
 
 
One Cannot Obtain the Righteousness of God by His Meritorious Works
 
(Romans 9:30-32) “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.”
Up until now, the people of Israel have been pursuing the righteousness of the Law before God. Therefore, they have been living having thrown away the faith in Jesus Christ who has become the righteousness of God. That is why they could neither receive salvation from God’s wrath nor become people of God. However, because the Gentiles believed in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit instilled with the righteousness of God rather than following the righteousness of the Law, they were delivered from all their sins and became people of God.
Right at this moment, the faith of those among the nation of Israel and the Gentiles who have followed the righteousness of the Law is destined to be destroyed because they haven’t been able to receive deliverance from sins.
Among those who believe in Jesus today, those who believe without the knowledge of the righteousness of God shown in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, have arrived at destruction in the end for not having received deliverance from sins despite their faith in Jesus. Because they have risen up against the righteousness of God with human righteousness and legalistic righteousness, and although they believe in Jesus as the Savior, they cannot but become confined under sin. Regardless of whom one may belong to, the nation of Israel or the Gentiles, each and every person must believe in the righteousness of God to become people of God. The righteousness of God is fully shown in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
 
 
One Cannot Properly Believe in Jesus without the Faith of Believing in the Righteousness of God
 
(Romans 9:33) “As it is written:
‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’”
God the Father has established Jesus as our Savior on the pathway to Heaven, and whoever does not believe in the baptism of Jesus, who has become the righteousness of God, at the Jordan River and the blood of the Cross will not be able to pass through the gates of Heaven. We must know this Truth.
Today, there are many people who believe in Jesus as the Savior in order to receive Heaven and the remission of sins. However, the fact that they believe in Jesus is good, but there are many people who do not believe in the righteousness of God. It is because they are not aware that Jesus’ baptism received from John the Baptist and His blood shed on the Cross truly constitute the righteousness of salvation and the righteousness of God to the believers. Thus, their faith becomes a failure. God the Father has allowed for anyone to believe in Jesus as the Savior. But He has made it to be so that if people do not know that Jesus’ baptism and His blood of the Cross constitute the righteousness of God, then their faith will turn out to be a failure.
Therefore, those who believe in Jesus as their Savior must bear in mind and believe that they can be delivered from all their sins only if they believe in Jesus’ baptism and the blood of the Cross which have become the righteousness of God without fail. I pray in the faith of believing in the righteousness of God that God’s blessing will be upon you.
Until now, I have been working together with God’s Church. I am thankful that I have come to serve the Lord together with you who also believe in the righteousness of God. I truly give thanks to the Lord. I hope I will be able to meet you in my next writing.
 
This sermon is also available in ebook format. Click on the book cover below.
Exegesis on The Book of ROMANS (Ⅰ)