Transcript Document 7450656

“Stumble” and “Offense”
What do “stumble” and “offense”
mean in Romans 9:32-33?
1
Romans 9:32-33
32Why?
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. 33As
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.”
2
Introduction
 This
text must be studied in the context of
Romans 9:10-33
 There
are many important subjects related
to the study of this passage.
3
Topics Covered
 Sovereignty of
God
 Plan of God for each individual life
 Predestination
 Hatred
 Complaining
 Purpose of God
4
Topics Covered
– Am I responsible for weaker
Christians who stumble over me?
 Duty – What is my duty to those who
stumble?
 Offense – Must I give in to every person
who claims to be offended at my actions or
decisions?
 Stumble
5
Romans 9:10
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had
conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
 Isaac
is the son of Abraham
 Rebecca and Isaac were expecting a child
 Twins were born – Jacob and Esau
6
Romans 9:11
(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),
 God
made a decision
– Not about saved and lost
– Not about who was a better moral person
– Not about who was good or bad
7
Romans 9:11
(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),

God made a decision
 God’s decision was according to His purpose –
His plan for mankind
 God chose Jacob just as He chose Abraham and
Isaac
 God is sovereign. He has all power.
8
Romans 9:12
it was said to her, “The older shall serve the
younger.”
 God
–
–
–
–
knew –
There were twins – no ultrasound needed
He knew both were males
He knew the younger would rise higher
He knew the older would serve the younger
9
Romans 9:13
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I
have hated.”

Did God “hate” Esau?

Vincent Word Studies – “This language sounds a bit harsh
to us. It is possible that the word “misew” did not always
carry the full force of what we mean by “hate.”
“There is no doubt about God’s preference for Jacob and
rejection of Esau, but …one hesitates to read into these
words here the intense hatred that has always existed
between the descendants of Jacob and Esau.

10
Romans 9:13
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I
have hated.”
 Did
God “hate” Esau?
 Barnes Notes – This does not mean any
positive hatred; but that he had preferred
Jacob, and had withheld from Esau those
privileges and blessings which he had
conferred on the posterity of Jacob.
 God showed a preference for Jacob.
11
Romans 9:14
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Certainly not!
 Who
dares accuse God of being
unrighteous?
 Don’t go there. Don’t even think such a
thing.
 God is sovereign. He has the right to make a
choice.
12
Romans 9:14
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness
with God? Certainly not!
 REMEMBER: This
is not eternal destiny
– God could choose anyone for this work
– It could have been you
– God is selecting the lineage for Christ
 There
is nothing unrighteous about this
13
Romans 9:15
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.”

God can choose Abraham out of all the people in
the world
 God can select Jacob over Esau
 God can show mercy and compassion
 God can refuse to extend mercy and compassion
14
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.”

God can raise up a wicked king to work His plan
 God can set kings in power – remove them
 The issue is not – Good or bad, kind or mean
 The point is – Does he fit in the plan of God for
that country, that time, or for the world?
15
Romans 9:18
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and
whom He wills He hardens.
 This
verse is a repeat of the statement in
verse 15.
 God can harden – or soften – according to
His will
 God knows how we will react to a situation
16
Romans 9:18
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and
whom He wills He hardens.
 Two
people have a similar crisis in their
lives
 One will repent and turn to God
 Another will become bitter and reject God
 THE SAME SUN THAT MELTS WAX
HARDENS CLAY
17
Romans 9:19
You will say to me then, “Why does He still find
fault? For who has resisted His will?”
 We
must not find fault with God’s choice
 See verse 14 – Is God unrighteous?
 Neither should we resist the will of God
 God will accomplish His purpose and plan
 If you refuse, God will find another way
 What if Abraham had refused?
18
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?”
 Job
did not charge God foolishly when all
his trouble came
– Job 1:22 - In all this Job did not sin nor charge
God with wrong.
 Who
do we think we are to challenge,
question, or charge God?
19
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?”
 Does
a car ask why it was made a sedan
instead of an SUV?
 Does a TV question why it was not a
computer?
 Why do we think we have any right to
question the choices of God?
20
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?
 The
potter takes a lump of clay
– He has many choices
– He can make a simple soup bowl
– He can make a fancy museum display
 Does
the clay complain?
 Does the clay have any choice?
21
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,

Matthew Henry – What ever God does, must be
just. Wherein the holy, happy people of God differ
from others, God’s grace alone makes them differ.
In this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace,
He acts as a benefactor, whose grace is His own.
None deserved it; so that those who are saved,
must thank God only; and those who perish, must 22
blame themselves only.
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,
 We
may not understand. But God has a
purpose.
 He makes choices – not based on goodness,
beauty, or wealth.
 God makes choices based on what will
advance His plan and purposes.
23
Romans 9:24
even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but
also of the Gentiles?
 God
chose us.
 God chose ME.
 God chose Gentiles as well as Jews.
 God loves all men, nations, tongues, and
tribes.
24
Romans 9:25-26
As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people,
who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not
beloved.”
25
“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.”
26
The Jews were not an “exclusive” race of people.
 God always planned to include all of us.
 God can call people who are not His, and make
them His.

25
Romans 9:27
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.
 After
all God did for Israel, most would
reject Him.
 They would not accept His plan for their
salvation.
 Only a “remnant” would remain faithful.
26
Romans 9:28-29
28
For He will finish the work and cut it short in
righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work
upon the earth.”
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.”
29And
 There
were several times that the blood line
was down to one person.
– Esther – Esther 7:4
– Joash – 2 Kings 11:2
– Jesus – Matthew 2:16
27
Romans 9:30-31
30What
shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the
righteousness of faith;
31but
Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to
the law of righteousness.
 What
is the message of all this?
 Some nations were given special protection,
rights, blessings
 But they did not follow God
28
Romans 9:30-31
30What
shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the
righteousness of faith;
31but
Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to
the law of righteousness.
 Other
nations (Gentiles) were not given any
special blessings.
 They chose to follow the path of obedience,
righteousness and faith in God.
29
Why study all this?
 The
original question was about the words
“stumble” and “offense” in the next verses.
 All of the previous study is leading up to
this point
– God has a plan
– Man does not always obey, follow the plan
– What was intended to help becomes a
roadblock
30
Romans 9:32
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.
 Why
did Israel reject the Messiah?
 He was not what they expected –
–
–
–
–
Ruler – army builder
Overthrow the Romans
They wanted physical deliverance
Jesus offered deliverance from sin
31
Romans 9:32
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.
– to strike the foot against, to trip,
to strike a stone or other obstacle in the path
 Jesus came to be a savior, redeemer
 The Jews saw his as an obstacle to their
ideas, plans, and notions
 The stone that could have lifted them up –
became the stone that caused them to trip.
 Stumble
32
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
predicted they would stumble
 They tripped
– Not because God made them fall
– He did everything to protect them from falling
– The small plate in a jaw trap
where the bait is placed. When an animal
touches the bait, the trap closes.
 Offense
33
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.”
 Offense
today
– Means – “I don’t like it.”
– Colors, styles, music, movies, hair
– Used by ACLU – object to God in our lives
 THIS
IS NOT THE MEANING OF THE
WORD HERE!
34
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.”

Offend
– People were “offended” at Jesus – They did not believe
his message.
– What was intended to help them – a stepping stone –
became the rock on which they stumbled.

Was Jesus the “offense” in this verse?
– Yes – because the misunderstood his purpose
– To us – when we fail to see the purpose of God
35
Lessons from Romans 9
 Sovereignty of
 God
God
has a plan
– Jacob and Esau – 10-14
– Pharaoh – 17-19
– Don’t blame God – 20-08
 Predestination
 Why
did the Jews reject Jesus?
36
Discuss:
 Why
did the Jews reject Jesus?
 Is Jesus to blame for their stumbling?
 Can we be a cause for others to stumble?
 What is my duty if someone stumbles over
me (my example)?
37
What is my duty if someone
stumbles over me (my example)?

1 Corinthians 8:9 - But beware lest somehow this
liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those
who are weak.
– Be aware of the danger
– V. 13 - Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I
will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother
stumble.
– Romans 14:21 - It is good neither to eat meat nor drink
wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles
or is offended or is made weak
38
Warning!
 Today
people use these verses to control
what they do not like
 I am offended at your tie – so you can’t ever
wear that tie again. WRONG!
 If I cause a soul to be lost because of my
actions, I am wrong.
 If others just don’t like my choices – they
have a problem.
39