Where lies the value of belonging to the circumcised people of God? Did not Israel know that the Gentiles were to be called in? who would defraud God of that which He delights in the blessedness of bringing in deliverance by that One man, of whom Adam was the image? Observe again, it is not victory here; for that would give place to human pride. Tonight whoever you might be salvation is so close to you, all you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved. "He resisted," says the writer, "even to the agonies of death, for the law's sake.". What does it mean that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13)? He believed God and His word, with special approval on God's part; and his faith was counted as righteousness (ver. What was to be the stumbling-stone? How are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? What is this brick with a round back and a stud on the side used for? Such moral judgments will, no doubt, be used to leave man without excuse; they can never suit or satisfy God. The soul is brought into peace with God, as it finds its standing in the grace of God, and, more than that, rejoices in hope of the glory of God. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. Your father is not offering sacrifices. , . So I would say to you when you hear us preach, sift the sermon afterwards, turn our sermons over, pick holes in them if you like, and find out our mistakes; but oh, do search into the truth, and be not content till you find it. No man can say that they were not desperately in earnest about their service to God. They cannot hear without a preacher; how should they? Moses writes that the man who works at the righteousness which comes from the law shall live by it. The downfall of man, when he thus abandoned God, was most rapid and profound; and the Holy Spirit traces this solemnly to the end ofRomans 1:1-32; Romans 1:1-32 with no needless words, in a few energetic strokes summing up that which is abundantly confirmed (but in how different a manner!) Christ has risen, and he pleads before the throne, you have no part in that intercession. Luther's German Bible offered the same: "So kommt der Glaube aus der Predigt, das Predigen aber durch das Wort Christi" - or Word of Christ. Darby's English Translation.