Lesson 432

(Lesson 432)(10-21-12) Romans 9:25-33, "As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."

This lesson demonstrates how God had intended from the beginning that the Jewish people would lose their inheritance to the Gentiles, "But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law."
Because the Jews sought eternal salvation through the law and not by faith, their "chosen" status was taken from them and given to the Gentiles.
This lesson should be of great importance and bring stunning notice to those who continue to rely on their "good works" to achieve salvation, seeing herein that God clearly rejected the Jews because they depended on their own actions, through the law, and did not place their total faith in God for redemption. The law of "works" is the very "stumbling block" that condemned them.

NO man/woman can live a life "good" enough to work out their salvation.~