Peter Barnes | Romans 10:1-3a
SERMON NOTES
PRAYER, FALSE ZEAL, FALSE RIGHTEOUSNESS
(Romans 10:1-3a)
– Israel fails to see her divine crucified Messiah (9:32b-33); she possesses zeal without knowledge (10:2); and she misses the righteousness of God in Christ (10:3).
1. Earnest prayer for Israel’s salvation.
– 10:1; Paul reiterates what he said in 9:1-4a.
– election is not fatalism; we never know whom God will convert; Israel’s present unbelief is not necessarily final.
2. The perils of zeal without knowledge.
– 10:2; zeal is good in Num.25:7-11; 1 Kings 19:10; John 2:17
– ignorant zeal is dangerous e.g. Gal.1:14; John 16:2; Prov.14:12 e.g. cults, Buddhist monks setting themselves alight, Pharisaic missionaries in Matt.23:15
– the answer is not a gospel of moderation
3. Israel was ignorant of God’s righteousness.
– 10:3a; not nationalism so much as moral (Phil.3:9)
– Just and holy is Thy name;/ I am all unrighteousness (Charles Wesley)
– Ex.33:20; they did not believe it properly