His Time - Lay Bible Institute, Witness Wednesday, Israel's Unbelief

1. Lay Bible Institute

Dr. Charles Arand, Eugene Finke and Nell Finke Graduate Professor of Theology and dean of theological research and publication, Concordia Seminary talk about the upcoming winter 2016 Lay Bible Institute.

2. Witness Wednesday

With Rev. Mark Wood, Director of Witness and Outreach in the LCMS Office of National Mission.

3. Daily Lectionary

Rev. Mark Etter of Bethany Lutheran Church in Erlanger, KY looks at Romans 9:19-33 “Israel’s Unbelief“.

4. Matins Sermonette

Today’s sermonette is by Rev. Mark Etter of Bethany Lutheran Church in Erlanger, KY.

"The Bible is cradle wherein Christ is laid." - Martin Luther — “The Bible is cradle wherein Christ is laid.” – Martin Luther

Romans 9:19-33

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” ²⁰But 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?” ²¹Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²²What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As 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.’”

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

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

Israel’s Unbelief

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