Romans 9:1-5

God’s sovereignty & Man’s free will

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Would you open your Bibles to...

Deu. 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

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Intro

√ Beginning with chapter 9 Paul takes a side-trip from his presentation of the Gospel of Grace…

..and in the next 3 chapters deals with a nagging and difficult question:

“Have God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob failed to come to pass because the Jews rejected their Messiah?”

Deeper than that and of universal concern…

“Has Man through the exercise of his free will proven that God is not sovereign!?”

√ These are difficult questions because they deal with something that our human mind has trouble comprehending because from the human perspective they are two mutually exclusive principles:

1) God is sovereign

2) Man has a free will

We wonder – “how can both be true!” How can Man truly have freedom to chose, and at the same time, God always accomplish His will?

Don’t feel bad – people have argued about this for thousands of years, written hundreds of volumes about it and still can’t reconcile these two truths.

Ex. You can cover one eye and only see God’s sovereignty revealed in Scripture; however, you can also cover the other eye and only see Man’s freewill.

Open both eyes and you’ll find that the Bible clearly declares both to be true!

Ap. Reminds us that there are many things concerning God and His dealings with Mankind that we can only receive by His revelation (The Bible) by faith!

Ex. Case in point – The Gospel of Grace which Paul has been outlining in the first 8 chapters of Romans.

But, what about the Jews who rejected the Gospel?

They are declared to be God’s chosen people.

Yet, now in God’s program of salvation in the Church, Jewish involvement in Paul’s day was decreasing while Gentile participation was increasing!

Had God then abandoned His chosen people the Jews because they as a Nation/people had rejected Jesus their long promised Messiah?

If that’s true, did God then fail to keep His promises to Israel?

Paul’s response is “no!”

Paul’s explanation is that God has always dealt with Mankind – including His “chosen people” on the basis of His sovereign choice.

And, that His sovereign will is always accomplished regardless, or in spite of, the choices made by Man.

√ Therefore, we find that he spends the next 3 chapters dealing with the question of Israel, God’s plan for the Jews, and how it is that He is able to keep His promises even when Mankind fails to do what we are supposed to do.

So, a quick outline of Paul’s side track…

Chapter 9 - Israel’s past election

Chapter 10 - Israel’s present rejection

Chapter 11 - Israel’s future restoration

Ap. Very important that we understand the place of the Jews, and of their nation Israel in God’s redemptive program.

Lot of false doctrine out there concerning Israel which ultimately leads to false doctrine concerning future events, our relationship with the Jews, the promises of God, etc.

Ex. Anglo-Israelism (wrongly believe that we are the Jews – that the USA is the KOG, etc.)

Believe…

God is finished with the nation of Israel

Spiritualize “Israel” to mean the “Church”

Thereby miss the significance of the re-establishment of the nation of Israel in 1948 and all the end-time prophecy associated with it.

These next few chapters will give us God’s perspective on this topic.

Passion (vs. 1-3)

Rom. 9:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

Rom. 9:2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

Rom. 9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,

√ The passion of Paul’s heart

In this section Paul opens his heart to the reader. Don’t read this section with a cold theological perspective.

Rather, I think it best to read this section with a mental picture of Paul with hot tears flowing down his face. A man broken hearted for his own people, a man overwhelmed by their rejection of the Gospel which will save them.

Note with me first Paul’s sincerity; note vs. 1…

“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit”

As Paul begins his explanation of Israel’s rejection of the Gospel which he preached – he opens with a solemn oath so that we understand the perspective from which he is writing.

Ex. “Before Jesus?”

Paul’s broken heart; in the 2^nd and 3^rd verse Paul shares that he is heart-broken over the Jews rejection of Christ.

It was something that he had difficulty dealing with. We see him constantly going to the Jews, even though he was called to the Gentiles! Always pleading with them to receive Jesus as their Messiah.

Yet, we also find that it was the Jews who were his harshest critics and most vehement opponents – pursuing him from city to city with the purpose of shutting him up.

Ap. We can understand Paul’s broken heart because many of us have the same experience with those we love most – our own family members.

A shepherd’s care: the most striking aspect of Paul’s inner thinking is found in vs. 3…

“For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,”

“accursed” = anathema

“to be set aside for complete destruction”!

It’s the strongest word that Paul could use to describe what was in his heart.

He was literally willing to give up his own salvation if the Jews would come to faith in Jesus Christ!

This reveals that Paul had the heart of a true shepherd – for he was thinking even as Jesus did when He said….

“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

John 15:13

Paul, like Jesus, was willing to lay down his own life – for eternity if necessary – it would bring the Jews to faith in Jesus Christ.

Ap. Do you have a passion like Paul for the lost? Is your heart broken like Paul’s for those of your own family who do not know the Savior? Does your heart beat with the same love that Paul’s did?

Paul wasn’t always like that. He was changed when he met the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus.

While we may not have a dramatic heavenly vision of Jesus – we each need to have an encounter with His love so that we may love as Jesus does.

Will you pray and ask Him to give you a heart like His?

Privilege (vs. 4-5)

Rom. 9:4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

Rom. 9:5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

√ The privilege of His calling

Speaking of the Jews, Paul now lists 7 spiritual blessings – or privileges associated with being part of Israel.

1. Adoption as sons (Ex. 4:22)

2. His divine Glory (as seen in the wilderness etc.)

3. Covenants – promises of God to patriarchs

4. Recipients of the Law (God’s moral standard)

5. Temple worship

6. Patriarchs (proud lineage)

7. The tribe of Messiah (John 4:22)

Paul’s point was that the Jewish people had so much to be thankful to God for….

…and in light of their special privileges they should have known that Jesus was their Messiah.

Yet, they rejected Him.

Not just before Pontus Pilate, but even more so in Paul’s experience as he preached the Gospel to them they closed their ears and turned their backs to Jesus.

One might wonder how with all the blessings of God the Jews could ever have missed their Messiah!?

Answer – spiritual pride.

The Jew rested in his religion and the relationship his forefathers had with God.

They prided themselves in their grand traditions and religious piety; they exalted in their relationship by the flesh to the patriarchs…

…yet, they did not have a personal relationship with God.

√ Paul knew from personal experience what it is that spiritual pride produces in a man.

Spiritual blindness!

Blind to one’s own sin, blind to one’s own arrogance, blind to one’s need for a Savior!

Ultimately that spiritual pride and blindness overflows in a person’s life in the form of anger and hostility toward the Truth.

Ex. The preaching of Stephen produced an anger in Paul’s life that drove him to try and destroy the message of Christ.

God’s Truth has that effect on people!

Pride produces anger

Humility produces repentance

Ap. The Church in the USA

Christians in the USA have so many privileges…

A person can hear the Gospel presented on TV, radio, CD, or tape - 24/7.

Can worship freely at any church that suits our personal preferences.

Can share the Gospel with anyone we wish without fear of arrest or prosecution.

Yet, like the Jews in Paul’s day the vast majority of those who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior do not demonstrate His presence in their lives.

We have all the spiritual benefits of God available to us freely here in the USA and rest in the false comfort of religion not aware that spiritual pride has made us powerless to serve God.

Ex. Characteristics of the End Times church

2Tim. 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

And…

Rev. 3:14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

Rev. 3:15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.

Rev. 3:16 “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Rev. 3:17 “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--

Rev. 3:18 “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

Rev. 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Rev. 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

Rev. 3:21 “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Rev. 3:22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”

Notice please that these two warnings are not addressed to….

Jews

Muslims

Hindu’s

Heathens

Rather, they are addressed to the Church – the Bride of Christ! By which we understand that the defining characteristic of the End Times “Church” will be one of spiritual pride and spiritual blindness!

Lacking a personal relationship with Christ.

Ex. There is one thing that God doesn’t have – grandchildren!

You can’t rest in your parent’s relationship to Jesus. You can’t rest it what you once did for Jesus.

Only one thing matters – that you have a personal relationship with Jesus today!

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