Paul in examining if the message of the Gospel has reached Israel, offered up four questions and we take up our notes now to examine the first: It's not is it, that Israel didn't hear? (Rom 10:18)

Now then, if God shows mercy, and salvation is so near to everyone, and it is brought so undeniably near by the Lord God why is Israel not saved?

Interesting to note that a man who understands the Gospel like no other is one who is especially concerned with the salvation of Israelites. He has not abrogated them to some category of "vessels of wrath" nor has he tossed his hands up as "not chosen before the foundation of the world." Indeed, even in Acts where he wipes the dust off his feet he makes repeated efforts to win them for Christ and here he earnestly prays for them and bears witness of them.

So what is righteousness anyway? What is God's righteousness? What rightessness did the Gentiles attain and the Jews fell short of? I've spoken about this before and more often than not people say something like "Righteousness is goodness."

Last time I said that God's unmerited mercy was being poured out on vessels of wrath: stupid, pagan Gentiles who weren't even looking for God in the first place—but what about Israel, these vessels that were prepared beforehand for glory? What about their fate?