Romans Lesson 12

Romans chapter 9 as taught by Special guest Harley Brown.

Transcript

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Hello and welcome to Life in the Word, our verse-by-verse study of God's Word. My name's Harley Brown. I'm one of the elders here at New Life Community Church, and we'll be filling in for Pastor Brian today. If you would join me in some prayer before we jump into this study. Our Father in Heaven, I thank you for bringing us together to read your word, to learn what you call us to and the plan you have for us. I pray that through this time we will be edified and that you will be glorified, Father. We love you, and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. I remember hearing a story of a man going to a local restaurant on a warm summer day, when through the window he saw a tree suddenly bend to rushing wind, and the sky darkened as black clouds bore down from the north. By the time this man left, the temperature had dropped twenty degrees. The switch from Romans eight to nine is just like that. Romans eight is all sunshine, ending with a joyful declaration in verses thirty-eight and thirty-nine. Verse thirty-eight, and I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today, nor our worries about tomorrow. Not even the power of hell can separate us from God's love. Verse 39. No power in the sky above or in the earth below, indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. The end of chapter 8 marks the conclusion of the first major section of Romans. Paul has discussed the doctrines of justification, sanctification, and glorification. But before Paul moves on to address practical concerns of local church life in chapters 12 through 15, he feels compelled to speak about God's plan for the Gentiles and the Jews, Paul's very own people. Had God abandoned the Jews? Paul had already resolutely answered no to such a conclusion in chapter 3. Yet, if the Jews were God's chosen people, why did most of them oppose the gospel? If the gospel really is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures, why don't the Jews recognize it as such? How does one make sense of God's choice of Israel and his promise to bless the world through them when the Jews had rejected the gospel of Jesus Christ? Furthermore, Paul knew that the church at Rome had a unique opportunity to use the diverse personal backgrounds of its members to strengthen the cause of Christ. Paul tackled many of the issues in this letter for the sake and unity of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. The key verse in chapter 9 is verse 16. So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. For Paul, every question sooner or later led the inquirer to accept or reject God's sovereignty. So if you would turn with me to chapter 9, verse 1, and let's get started with tonight's study. Verse 1. With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. The words Paul would write bear the truth. He is not lying, as his conscience confirms. Paul reveals his depth of feeling here, as the apostle to the Gentiles with his great zeal for preaching to the Gentiles, he was probably often accused of turning his back on his own people. Verse 2. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief. For my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters, I would be willing to be forever cursed, cut off from Christ, if that would save them. Despite his great success as a missionary to the Gentiles, a church planner, and a writer of letters of teaching and assurance to the church, Paul still feels great sorrow. Most of the Jews, his people, the chosen people of God, were rejecting the gospel. The Jews should have been the first to recognize the gospel as the promised fulfillment of their scriptures, but somehow they missed it. They were missing out on salvation, and this hurt Paul deeply. So deeply that he would say, I would be willing to be forever cursed, cut off from Christ, if it would save them. Paul hurt so much at the thought of Israel's rejection of Christ that he was willing to forgo heaven and suffer damnation if that would bring their salvation. Why would he why why would he feel that way? Paul completely understood the feelings of the Jewish people who refused to accept Jesus as their Messiah. He had once been so opposed to Christ that he had hunted down and imprisoned Christians. But then Paul was confronted by Christ and became a changed man. Though he was the apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was still so concerned for his people that he was willing to be cursed to bring Jews to the Savior. He loved his fellow countrymen and longed for their salvation. He was proud of his Jewish heritage. Verse 4. They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. Verse 5. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ Himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise. Amen. His hurt was intensified by his awareness of the vast privileges from which the people of Israel had not benefited, especially the fact that the Messiah, who is God, the one who rules over everything, came from them. Those of us who have loved ones who are lost know the same feeling. We have enjoyed them, laughed with them, even played with them. But there is always pain underneath. Luther put it this way love is not only pure joy and delight, but also great and deep heaviness for of a heart and sorrow. Like Jesus, Paul was willing to sacrifice his own life for others. And remember, after Paul became a follower of Jesus Christ, the Jews turned on Paul. They hated him, they stoned him, beat him, imprisoned him several times, and confronted him in nearly every city he evangelized. They became his enemies. Yet he would give his own life for them to be saved. This makes me ask myself, and should get you to ask yourself, how concerned am I for those who don't know Christ? Am I willing to sacrifice my time, my money, energy, comfort, and safety to see them come to faith in Jesus? Am I concerned about those who I might consider my enemies? Those who have hurt me, those who have betrayed me, those I don't particularly want to be around? Can we have the same love, concern, and compassion that Paul had for his Jewish brothers and sisters? And how can we love the unlovable? Is this even possible? According to the Bible, loving those who do not love you, those you don't like, is possible through divine empowerment rather than human emotion. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to love those we don't like. As Luke chapter 10, verse 27 says, love your neighbor as yourself. Start by praying for those people. Luke 6 28 says, Pray for those who abuse you, which will help shift your heart and align your will with God's will. We then need to forgive as Christ forgave us. Jesus did not look at us and choose the cross because we were so attractive. He left heaven and came to die a shameful, bloody, brutal death, bearing the almighty weight of punishment for our sins while we were unlovable. As it says in Isaiah 53:5, He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins, he was beaten so we could be made whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. But his life looked beyond the whips, the nails, and the cross. And our love to others should reflect his great love for us. Hear God's words beginning in Luke chapter 6, verse 27. But to you who are willing to listen, I say, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who hurt you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. Give to anyone who asks, and when things are taken away from you, don't try to get them back. Go to others or do to others as you would like them to do to you. If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit? Even sinners do that much. And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, why should you get credit? Even sinners will lend to other sinners for a full return. And as and love your enemies, do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward in heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate just as your father is compassionate. Loving your enemies means setting aside violence and revenge and acting in their best interest. We can have compassion for them, pray for them, and try to understand them. God loves the whole world even though the world is in rebellion against him. As Paul did, we are to follow Jesus' example by loving our enemies, loving and unlovable, and loving those who won't love us back. Love them by praying for them, love them with our kindness, love them by sharing the greatest gift given to mankind, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Next, Paul answers those who say that if the Jews were not saved, God has failed. So verse six. Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God's people. Verse 7. Being descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children, for the scriptures say Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted, though Abraham had other children too. Verse 8. This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham's children. Just being Abraham's physical descendants did not guarantee an inheritance. The line of natural descendant was not the same as the line of promise. Abraham had children by three different women. Ishmael by Hagar, Isaac by Sarah, and six sons by Keturah. But God made it clear that the line of promise would be through Isaac only. So let me ask you, why did God choose Isaac? Was he better than his half-brothers? The choice was made before Isaac was even born. It was simply God's sovereign choice. The children of the promise are the spiritual offspring of Abraham, including all believers. It's not by being natural children born in the line of Abraham that the Jews can be saved and considered God's children and children of the promise. Instead, it is by believing in God's Son Jesus Christ. In Genesis 18, 10, God made a promise to Abraham when he and Sarah were childless and very old. The promise said, verse 9, for God had promised, I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. In verses 8 and 9, Paul used the famous example of Isaac and Ishmael to illustrate the principle of divine choice. Though Ishmael was a descendant from Abraham, God chose Isaac. In fact, God arranged for Isaac's birth by working a miracle in the darkness of Sarah's womb. Paul realizes that his distractors would argue that God chose Isaac because he was born of Abraham's full wife Sarah. Whereas Ishmael was born of Hagar. So he submits another case, that of Jacob and Esau, who were the sons of one mother. Verse 10. This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, he gave birth to twins, or she gave birth to twins. God chose to continue the line of blessing through the younger son Jacob rather than Esau. This was quite unusual in the Hebrew culture where the firstborn son, Esau, in this case, was highly honored. But God chose the younger Jacob. This had nothing to do with either son's character because the choice was already been made before their birth. Verse 11. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purpose. She was told, Your older son will serve your younger son. Verse 13. In the words of the scriptures, I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau. So did God really hate Esau? These words referred to the nation of Israel and Edom rather than to the individual brothers. And you can find this in Malachi chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. God chose Jacob to continue the family line of the faithful. Esau, I have hated, refers only to God choosing Jacob and rejecting Esau for continuing the line of promise. The divine choice of Jacob as the covenant error was of such great privilege that it made the rejection of Esau seem like hatred by comparison. God was not rejecting Esau's eternal salvation. He was choosing Jacob to lead the nation. Paul answers the concerns voiced in verse 6 and shows that God's word has not failed. The Jews simply misunderstood it. They missed the truth that God's election, or God's sovereignty, never has anything to do with works of the law, rituals, even family or community ties. They misunderstood their own election as God's people. They settled on enjoying the benefits of God's promises rather than fulfilling their role as emissaries for sharing God's promises with the world. Verse 14, are you saying then that God has that God was unfair or of course not? God chose Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau, not because of their character or their actions, but simply because that was their choice. If God gave them what they really deserved, it would be disastrous. Both Isaac and Jacob were scoundrels. God demonstrated unexpected grace when he chose these men in spite of their weaknesses and failures, and that some grace is available, this that same grace is available to us in God's offer of salvation. If we were to receive what we deserve, we would have no hope. Verse 15. For God said to Moses, I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. The fact is, God is perfect. Perfect in knowledge, wisdom, power, goodness, mercy, grace, love, and holiness. Therefore he is perfect in his choices. Verse 16. So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. God chose Israel out of mercy, and he will keep his promise regardless of their works. God chose them, but they still held on to their belief of strict adherence to the law, was a condition for them to maintain their chosen status. Paul makes it clear that God's mercy and compassion have nothing to do with what people want or try to achieve. The fallacy of gaining salvation by human efforts remains as strong as ever. People still think good intentions are the key that unlocks the door to eternal life. But by the time they get to try the lock, they will find that their key doesn't fit. Others imagine that their efforts are building an invisible ladder to heaven made up of service, position, reputation, good work, and desires. But none of these things will support even a feather. People are so busy trying to reach God that they completely miss the truth that God has already reached down to them. We cannot earn God's mercy. If we could, it would not be mercy. For a third illustration of God's sovereignty, Paul recalls Pharaoh from the book of Genesis, verse 17. For the scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth. Exodus 9.16. God had purposely placed that particular Pharaoh in that particular position at that particular time in history, so God's great power would be displayed through the miracles witnessed in Egypt and by the incredible release of the Hebrew slaves. And so his name would be known all over the world. Pharaoh became mired in his own rebelliousness. In fact, prior to God's judgment on Egypt was the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Eventually those nations who heard what God had done for his people in Egypt greatly feared the Israelites and their God. Verse 18. So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others, so they refuse to listen. So let me ask you, what is a hardened heart? A hardened heart is in the Bible is a spiritual condition of stubbornness and resistance to God, characterized by an inability to hear, see, or understand spiritual truth. It's a heart that's often rooted in the persistent sin of pride, resulting in a cold and unyielding response to God's warnings. Let me ask you another question. So, what is Paul trying to tell us here? Paul uses this argument to show that salvation is God's word, not ours. When Paul says that God chose to harden the hearts of some, it most likely means that God allows those who willfully rebel against him to continue to do so. In fact, he confirms their choice to live a life of resisting him. Pharaoh deserved death, but God didn't strike him down. Rather, he allowed him to continue to live and reign so that God could demonstrate his power in the repeated defeats of Pharaoh. Pharaoh became an intentional illustration of God's supremacy. God's judgment on Pharaoh's choice to resist him was to confirm his sin of rejection. The more you resist God, the harder it is to turn to him. Next, Paul anticipates another question in verse 19. Well then, you might say, why does God blame people for not responding? Haven't they simply done what he makes them do? So, Paul, who so Paul asks, who can resist God's will? Paul, you say that Pharaoh was manipulated to work out God's plan, that Pharaoh's evil actually brought glory to God. How can Pharaoh be held accountable for his actions since he was used by God? Your God is unfair. How would you answer that? In truth, God gave Pharaoh repeated opportunities to repent, but Pharaoh resisted God and therefore hardened himself to divine rule. First Timothy 2 4 says, God, our Savior wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. 2 Peter 3 9 says he does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But like Pharaoh, people are to blame for their destruction because they rejected or resisted God. And his road to salvation, that's found in Jesus Christ alone. Some of Paul's readers might expect Paul to appeal to human free will to resolve the question in verse 19. Haven't they simply done what he makes them do? Verse 20. No, don't say that. Who are you? A mere human being to argue with God. Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, Why have you made me like this? Verse 21. When a potter makes jars of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? Who are you, tiny man, whose life is just a breath, whose history proves over and over that despite all your learning and technical triumphs, you repeatedly make colossal errors and fall into unspeakable actions of barbarism. Who are you to stand before the God who knows the end from the beginning, who was never who has never learned anything because he knows everything? Who is the perfection of wisdom and love and talk back to him? How absurd. Paul isn't saying that some of us are worth more than others, but simply that the creator has control over the created. The created object therefore has no right to demand anything from its creator. Its very existence depends on him. As believers we must rest in this. God is not answerable to man for what he does. However, he can be relied upon to act consistently with his character which has been revealed in Christ. With such a God, why should any of us question his ways? Even when his ways seem wrong or inappropriate to us because God has purposes that we are incapable of seeing. Verse 22 in the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. Verse 23, he does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who are prepared in advance for glory. God created a world in which both his wrath and his mercy would be displayed. And sometimes we wonder why God withholds judgment of the ungodly it may be that he does it to better display his glory to those who believe. So we must bow before God, realizing he has noble purposes we cannot see. And we might assume that even when unexpected hardship comes that God is punishing us for something. We find it difficult to believe that God would allow us to experience pain in order that we might grow in our understanding of his mercy in himself. That was certainly the disciples' problem in John chapter 9. They assumed that the man born blind was suffering the consequences of some sin that he or his parents had committed. Jesus surprised them with the true explanation neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life John chapter 9 verse 3. Jesus used a healing touch to demonstrate the mercy of God with this blind man. So when we are experiencing difficulties remember that your response to your problems and God's work in your life can ultimately glorify God verse 24 and we are among those whom he selected both from the Jews and from the Gentiles in his grace and mercy God has called people to himself from both the Jews and the Gentiles verse 25 Concerning the Gentiles God says in the prophecy of Hosea those who are not my people I will now call my people and I will love those whom I did not love before. Verse 26 And then at the place where thy were told you are not my people there they will be called children of the living God about seven hundred years before Jesus' birth Hosea told of God's intention to restore his people and Paul applies Hosea's message to God's intention to bring Gentiles into his family after the Jews rejected God's plan. Verse 27 And concerning Israel Isaiah the prophet cried out though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore only a remnant will be saved. Verse 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality 29 and Isaiah said the same thing in another place If the Lord of heaven's armies had not spared a few of our children we would have been wiped out like Sodom and destroyed like Gomorrah. Isaiah prophesied that only a small number a remnant of God's original people, the Jews, would be saved. Paul saw this happening in every city where he preached even though he went to the Jews first, relatively few ever accepted the gospel message. Today the Gentiles are the majority of the church but one day many Jews will come to know their Savior. A remnant will be saved so who of God's people the Jews will become part of that remnant? Paul explores this further in chapter 11. In the next section of chapter 9 Paul gives his readers an expanded explanation of the present position of the Jews. I think he realizes that his teaching was creating a paradox especially for his Jewish audience such as how could it be that the acknowledged experts in righteousness would find their way to God barred while those who were ignorant of righteousness were welcomed by God as long lost children. Paul here contrasts the way of faith with the way of the law Israel followed after a law of righteousness did not attain it while the Gentiles not seeking righteousness by law bounded by faith in Christ. Whereas chapter nine has focused primarily on God's sovereignty chapter 10 next week will outline the extent of human responsibility verse 30 what does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles are not trying to follow God's standards they were made right with God and it was by faith that this took place the gospel is preached to both the Jews and the Gentiles but it was being accepted by far more Gentiles than Jews. The Gentiles did not have God's law did not even know God and were not even trying to be righteous yet they were obtaining righteousness. Why is this? Because of their faith in God verse 31 but the people of Israel who tried so hard to get right with God by seeking the law never succeeded. Verse 32 why not because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of trusting in him they stumbled over the great rock in their path. The Jews had a worthy goal to honor God but they're but they tried to achieve it the wrong way by rigid and painstaking obedience to the law. Thus some of them became more dedicated to the law than God. So who is this rock that Paul is talking about it's Jesus and what's causing the Jewish people to stumble over Jesus the Jews didn't believe in him because he didn't meet their expectations for the Messiah they were expecting a great warrior to destroy the Romans who occupied Israel. They also did not see that their scriptures the Old Testament taught salvation by faith and not by human effort. Many people today stumble over Jesus because salvation by faith just doesn't make sense to them. It's too easy. They want to have a part in achieving their salvation others stumble over Jesus because his values are the opposite of the world's he asks for humility and many are unwilling to humble themselves before him. He requires obedience and many refuse to put their wills at his disposal and live by his standards. So many many Jews and gentiles stumble over the one thing that could have saved them. Verse 33 God warned them of this in the scriptures when he said I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble a rock that makes them fall but anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced. At times we all see we all fall into the trap of trying to get right with God by doing certain things or obeying certain rules we may think that attending church doing church works giving offerings helping people who are poor and being nice will earn God's favor and be enough to grant us eternal life with him. After all we've played by the rules haven't we but Paul's words steam this approach never succeeds Paul explains that a true relationship with God doesn't come by trying to earn his favor or by being good enough. We must depend on Jesus Christ to rescue us from sin's eternal consequences and introduce us to God by bringing us into his very presence as forgiven and righteous people. Only then will God look at us as though we have never sinned and welcome us into his presence. We can be saved only by putting our faith in what Jesus Christ has done. If we do that we will not be disappointed anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced or ashamed. When we put our trust in Christ we need never fear that we have put it in the wrong place when we have placed our feet on the rock of Zion the Lord Jesus Christ himself we can be confident in our salvation that is the end of chapter nine I thank you for listening to chapter nine Pastor Brian will be back next week for chapter 10 if you would join me in the ending prayer. Our Father in heaven I thank you for this very convicting chapter reminding us that the Jewish people are still your chosen people and that one day you will bring them back to you by faith in your son Jesus. Our works cannot save us and will not save us it is only through the blood of your son Jesus by repentance and faith in him can we have salvation I pray that we won't leave what we have learned here behind and take it with us into this next week and into the future. We love you and we pray this in Jesus' name amen.