[Instrumental] [Verse] You will say to me then, Why (then) does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will? But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is made say to its maker, Why have you created me so? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one? What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction? This was to make known the riches of his glory to the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared previously for glory, namely, us whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. 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. And in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called children of the living God. And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the Israelites were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved; for decisively and quickly will the Lord execute sentence upon the earth. And as Isaiah predicted: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah. [Chorus] as it is written: Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion that will make people stumble and a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame. [Instrumental] [Verse] What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have achieved it, that is, righteousness that comes from faith; but that Israel, who pursued the law of righteousness, did not attain to that law? Why not? Because they did it not by faith, but as if it could be done by works. They stumbled over the stone that causes stumbling, [Chorus] as it is written: Behold, I am laying a stone in Zion that will make people stumble and a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him shall not be put to shame. [Instrumental] [Verse] Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on their behalf is for salvation. I testify with regard to them that they have zeal for God, but it is not discerning. For, in their unawareness of the righteousness that comes from God and their attempt to establish their own (righteousness), they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for the justification of everyone who has faith. Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from (the) law, The one who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith says, Do not say in your heart, Who will go up into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down) or Who will go down into the abyss? (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we preach), for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. [Chorus] For the scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame. [Instrumental] [End]
