The Word of Faith that We Proclaim, Part 1 | by John Piper | Scripture: Romans 10:5–13 | Romans 10:5–13 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into heaven?(that is, to bring Christ down) 7 or Who will descend into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It would be reasonable if someone asked: Why do we spend time in modern, 21st century America thinking about the problem with Israel – especially the problem with ancient Israel in biblical times? It seem so remote – so distant from terrorism in Riyadh and Casablanca, and from starvation in Ethiopia, and from Sars in Taiwan and Toronto, and from budget deficits and depressed economy and low interest rates, and from a possible bloodbath in the Republic of Congo between the Hema and Lindu tribes. Romans 9—11 deal mainly with the problem of Israel’s failure to find righteousness before God and, therefore, salvation and eternal life. The rest of the world – the Gentiles – come into view starting in Romans 9:24 and stay in view the rest of the time, but they are secondary in Paul’s attention in these chapters. The main issue, again and again, is: Is Israel God’s chosen people, and what went wrong? Why should this matter to us? Israel: The Historical Microcosm of the World’s Conscience Let me focus on one main reason. By God’s design Israel is the historical microcosm of the world’s conscience – your conscience. Israel is the historical theater where the drama of every human soul is played out for all to see. What goes on inside you spiritually – and every other person – has gone on in Israel historically, and the story is told so that we can see ourselves and see the world understand. If you want to know your own spiritual condition before God, as a human being – if you want to know the greatest issues for all the world – you can learn it from watching the history of Israel as it is interpreted in the Bible. I’m drawing this truth from Romans 3:19. There Paul says, Now we know that whatever the law says [that is, the Old Testament law for Israel] it speaks to those who are under the law [that is, Israel], so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. Do you see the point? God deals with Israel in his law not just to make things plain to Israel, but to make things plain to the whole world. God speaks to Israel so that every mouth may be stopped. Yours and mine. Israel is a microcosm of our conscience. Israel is a theater where we can watch our own spiritual struggles played out in history – and learn what they mean and how to respond to them. This is one reason why the early church never gave up the Old Testament, even though Christ has come and fulfills all the Old Testament hopes. Israel as Microcosm Explained in Five Steps Let me try to explain this microcosm – this theater – a bit more fully in five steps. First, every human heart has a form of God’s law written on it. Paul says in Romans 2:15: [The Gentiles] show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. So we have a form of God’s law written on our hearts which God gave to Israel written in the Old Testament. Ours is invisible. Israel’s is visible and readable. Second, we all fail to keep the law we have. Paul says in Romans 3:9: What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. So not only do we have a form of the law written on our heats that Israel had in writing, but we and they both fail to keep it. We all sin. But Israel’s sin is more clear because we can see the law that they break. It is written down in history. The law written on our heart is not visible, and so our disobedience and rebellion is just as serious, but is not so clear. Israel is the visible theater where you can see in history what is really going on in you. Third, all of us know we fail to live up to God’s law written on our hearts, and our conscience condemns us. And intuitively, we know this condemnation is an echo of God’s condemnation which is even more severe and just. The voice of conscience – as weak and imperfect as it is – is the echo of God’s judgment. And when we see Israel judged under the hand of God in history, we are seeing a drama of our own situation before God. When their mouths are stopped, ours are stopped. Fourth, the remedy for Israel’s guilt and condemnation is relevant for us, because God’s purpose is that his way of saving guilty sinners is the same for Israel and for the world – but we learn it best by watching the theater of Israel’s history. God’s remedy is not better law-keeping, but faith in the law-keeping and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Listen to Romans 3:28-30: For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. In other words, the way of salvation from law-breaking and condemnation is justification by faith, apart from works, and that means the way is open for all nations, Israel and all the rest. You can see the same thing right here in our text, Romans 10:11-13: For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him [Jesus Christ – the stumbling stone, see 9:33] will not be put to shame.’ 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ The point is: everyone who believes on Christ will be justified in God’s courtroom. And since justification is by faith alone, therefore salvation from worldwide universal guilt and condemnation is open to Israel and all other nations. So we have seen four ways that Israel is the historical theater of the drama of our own lives before God: we have a law of God written on our hearts, and Israel has the law written down in history for all to read; we fail to live up to our invisible law, and she fails to live up to her visible and written law for all to see; we are condemned by our conscience as an echo of God’s more severe and just sentence, and she is condemned by God visibly and publicly; the remedy offered to Israel is faith in the Messiah, Jesus, who provides a righteousness that they could not provide for themselves, and that is perfectly suited for us Gentiles as well. So Israel’s historical story and our internal, personal story connect in Jesus. Their history was pointing to Jesus, and our spiritual struggles were pointing to Jesus. Which leads to one last illustration of Israel as the historical theater of our life’s drama. Fifth, Paul describes why Israel missed the remedy, faith in Jesus Christ, so that we will not make the same mistake, and so that they can find their way back. Now this is where we are in Romans 10:5-13. I have begun this way so that you can see why this text matters for you. What Paul is doing here is explaining for us why Israel missed the point of her own law. His aim for us is that we would not miss the point of that law or the law written on our hearts. They read their story and didn’t see the point. Are you reading your story and not seeing the point? Do you know what your conscience and your failures and your guilt feelings are all about? Have you watched the theater of God’s dealings with Israel and learned about his dealings with you? We should pause and ponder the wonder of this for a moment. God Almighty, Creator of the universe, Ruler of all things, has intervened in history for the last 4,000 years to deal with a people called Israel – why? – so that the whole world might understand themselves and their struggles and their Maker and the way of salvation by Christ. He deals with the microcosm for the sake of the macrocosm. He deals with one finite people for the sake of all peoples. He deals in visible history for the sake of invisible souls and minds and hearts that are depressed with guilt and condemnation. Is this not a marvel that the history of Israel – told in the Bible – is about you! It’s about your right standing before a holy God, and about your change. And so it turns out after all that God’s dealings with Israel do relate to terrorism and its anger and grief, and they do relate to Sars and with its pain and fears, and they do relate to a depressed economy with its unemployment and discouragements and hardships, and they do relate to tribal rage with its revenge and unforgiveness – because the whole story of Israel and her failure is leading us to Christ for forgiveness and for righteousness and for help to everyone who believes.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 09:13:21 +0000
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