God's Faithfulness and Justice
Notes
Transcript
I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,
that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”
That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
INTRO:
INTRO:
AG:
Very often a fight for what is right turns into a quarrel for what is left.
Anonymous
TS: This chapter is pivotal in Christian theology. Here, we see many debates and arguments. Many look here and the fight is on. Sadly, it can deteriate into a battle that leaves division and animosity on all sides. Ultimately, it leaves us battered and bruised with nothing changed.
I was asked a few weeks ago how I would approach this chapter. I replied, I would let the text say what it says. Often, we pick sides and go to verses with those preconceived ideas and find battles where none exist.
Today, I hope can can grasp some of what GOD is teaching us through Paul.:
Israel’s Place v.1-5
Israel’s Place v.1-5
The apostle could not deal with the issue of men and women, whether Jew or Gentile, being given a right standing before God without addressing the place of Israel in God’s plan.
Paul stated with great emotion his concern for the Jews, his own people.
that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,
Paul loved his people.
He wanted them to be saved so much, he here expresses his willingness to sacrifice his salvation if in doing so all of Israel would be saved.
Sadly, we each must stand on our own and we cannot save even those we love the most.
The people of Israel had a special place in God’s plan
who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
The Outline Bible (Section Outline Nine (Romans 9))
God’s gifts to Israel (9:4–5)
1. They are a special nation (9:4a).
2. They have been adopted by God (9:4b, 5).
3. They have had God’s glory revealed to them (9:4c).
4. They have been given the covenants (9:4d).
5. They have been given the law (9:4e).
6. They have the privilege of worshiping him (9:4f).
7. They have the messianic promises (9:4g).
8. They have a godly ancestry (9:5a).
9. They are the people from which Christ came (9:5b).
God interacted with the world through Israel!
Through them, God gave the law and illustrated His grace and mercy.
God taught us of sin and forgiveness
Ultimately, the greatest gift of all, Jesus, was given through them.
He is king of all by being the heir of David. HE has full claim to it even if He wasn’t God in the flesh!
Through faith in Him, all who repent are declared righteous and sanctified by God
God’s Faithfulness v. 6-13
God’s Faithfulness v. 6-13
All that Paul was saying as far as they were concerned violated gods character towards them as a nation. It’s as if he meets a Jewish objector (the nation) to what he has been saying and so he replies too the questions that would be posed.
They had reached a point of thinking their birthright was salvation regardless of their faith.
Jesus used their arrogance to teach once.
Parable Pharisee and Publican
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector.
I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’
He prayed and bragged about himself and put others down
They were guilty of believing a version of universal salvation
To them, ALL Hebrew people would be saved
TODAY, many fall into the same error
They speculate that a loving GOD could never condemn someone to Hell, thus ultimately all are saved.
They see themselves as good enough
They claim that all spiritual journeys lead to the same end, Heaven
Yet Jesus clearly doesn’t teach that
“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
In Matthew, Jesus spoke of the coming judgment when all will be separated.
Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’
And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
To Israel, Paul uses examples from OT history to illustrate God has always been faithful and just.
Faithful to forgive Just to punish
Examples:
The Outline Bible (Section Outline Nine (Romans 9)) (9:6–29)
A. The example of Ishmael and Isaac (9:6–10):
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”
That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
God chose Isaac (Abraham’s son through Sarah) over Ishmael (Abraham’s son through Hagar).
God is Sovereign and had every right to choose which one would receive the covenant.
B. The example of Esau and Jacob (9:11–13)
(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”
As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
1. What God did (9:12b–13):
He chose Jacob (the second-born twin son of Isaac) over Esau (the firstborn twin).
2. When God did it (9:11a, 12a):
He made this choice long before they were even born.
3. Why God did it (9:11b):
He did it to show that his sovereign decrees are not based on what yet-unborn human beings might or might not do.
C. The example of Pharaoh (9:14–24)
For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
1. The facts involved (9:15–18)
a. God determined to pardon sinful Israel with undeserved grace (9:15–16).
He would have mercy on whomever He wanted
Israel, at that point, was redeemed from Egypt all due to GOD’s mercy and plan
b. God determined to punish sinful Pharaoh with deserved judgment (9:17–18).
For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
God rightfully judged Pharaoh
He sent plagues which illustrated the impotence of Egypt’s so called gods.
He also primed the Egyptians so in the end, Israel was given plunder from their neighbors as they were leaving!
Through GOD’s actions:
Egypts so called gods disgraced
Much of Egypt’s wealth was plundered
The pride of Egypt’s army (their chariots) were destroyed.
2. The fairness involved (9:14, 19–24)
a. In light of this, is God righteous? Yes! (9:14, 21–24).
(1) As a potter creates vessels, God creates nations (9:14, 21–22).
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!
Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
(2) As a potter controls those vessels, God controls nations (9:23–24).
and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,
even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
D. The example from Hosea (9:25–26):
As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
“And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
This Old Testament prophet predicted that God would not limit his grace to Israel but would save repenting Gentile peoples; Hosea called these Gentiles “children of the living God” (Hos. 2:23; 1:10).
E. The example from Isaiah (9:27–29):
Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.
For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”
And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”
Paul quotes from Isaiah to demonstrate God’s sovereignty concerning Israel.
1. Out of the millions of Israelites, only a small remnant will be saved (Isa. 10:22–23) (9:27–28).
2. Even the remnant would perish apart from the grace of God (Isa. 1:9) (9:29).
CONC
CONC
Romans 9 teaches us that GOD is faithful to forgive and just to punish.
Remember what has come before in Romans:
All have sinned and deserve the wrath of GOD
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God justifies those with faith
HE can save whomever He wants!
HE saves those who repent and have faith
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Preview of coming texts:
But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
References:
David S. Dockery, “The Pauline Letters,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 549.
The Outline Bible
Aubrey Vaughn The Vindication of God part 1 https://sermoncentral.com/sermons/vindicating-god-part-1-aubrey-vaughan-sermon-on-election-125797
