Shame Removed

God is sovereign...

He is the supreme ruler of all... the ultimate power... absolute, unlimited, unrestricted, unrestrained, undisputable, and preeminent. God is sovereign!

The last few weeks we have experienced this crescendo of scripture that Paul writes to the Roman Church. We have also experienced this crescendo in our hearts, Faith, Righteousness, and Praise! Last week we ended with:

God is in Charge

14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, [b] but on God, who has mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Rest this in the sovereign will of God that God is in charge!

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

Point 1- We were created for His glory.

Paul lands on this point while reasoning with 5 questions. Because of God’s sovereignty Paul is expressing his deep emotions as a Christian Patriot in, versus 1-5 as many commentators allude to. In the earlier versus of scripture he is concerned about the salvation of his fellow Israelites or Jewish family in the city of Rome. Basically, stating that he would switch places with them for

the sake of them to believe the gospel and be saved. Paul begins to ask the hard or challenging questions in the letter that can only be answered with the holy spirit and with understanding the sovereignty of God.

• Why does he still find fault?

• For who can resist his will?”

• But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?

• Will what is molded say to its molder, why have you made me like this?

• Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one

  vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

  Why did God do all this?

  He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. And we are among those whom he selected!

  You were created for his glory! 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

  “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

  26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

  Point 2- God will give you an identity

  God calls you his people, beloved, and child
  In times of not being sure... here are the words of affirmation.

  Even though Israel was subjected to God’s wrath in history The scripture speaks of God’s mercy towards Israel and gives them identity. And today He continues echoing his mercy towards you.

  1Peter. 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Point 3- God spared you to save you

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel [c] be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”

As Paul reflected on the prophetic word of the prophet Isaiah, In the midst of wrath there will be a remnant... With this remnant we come to understand that God extends mercy... If it were not for his mercy none of us would be here today.

God spared your life to save you!
Many of us were consumed in our sin and just like Sodom and Gomorrah we

were next to experience his wrath, but God who is rich with mercy spared you to save you.

Point 4- Trusting God will remove the shame

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness [d] did not succeed in reaching that law.32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so, they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:

Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion, a stone you can’t get around.

But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me, You’ll find me on the way, not in the way.