Children of the Living God Part 2

Introduction:

I have come to the understanding as I have been studying this chapter over the last several years, that Paul’s argument here about why all of the Jewish people are not saved is because God sovereignty intended it that way.

Now, I have always believed that, but that belief has been increased in this respect; i believe that this chapter does have a national context in this way.

As we have seen, it seems that he Apostle in several points of this chapter is answering an imaginary objector.

And one of the objections, is well if the people of Israel have been given all of these promises, then why are most of them rejecting the gospel.

So Paul is answering, I believe, a national objection, as to why national Israel (using that to speak of most) is rejecting.

It is not because of God’s Word, it is not because of God’s person or a violation of God’s plan....God alway determined that most of national Israel would reject.

Now, while we see that Paul is arguing about a National rejection, he argues by using how God dealt with individual people.

He argued about Israel as a nation rejects the gospel; it is a stumblingblock to them, by using how He dealt with individual election; Jacob and Esau…Moses and Pharoah.

So while he is answering a national question, he does so by arguing about the election of certain individual’s to salvation and then circles back and says, “that is why nation Israel rejects, because God did not chose all of national Israel”.

God was always selective even when He gave His promises to Israel, it was never intended that all Israel racially, everybody out of the loins of Abraham would automatically be saved, He was selective.

And God cannot be accused of being unjust because justice would send us all to hell, right?

It is only mercy that saves us, we have no right to ask for salvation, we have no deserving of it.

It is all of God’s grace.

And since God is selective in His distribution of grace, no man can complain, because no man deserves it.

You cannot complain if someone does not get what they do not deserve.

And no one would complain if they get mercy, which they do not deserve.

But, it is a hard for us to handle the selective, elective sovereignty of God.

But let me submit this to you, when we grow in our love for God and are utterly and totally satisfied with Him, it will override any human emotion.

John MacArthur Sermon Archive Is Israel’s Unbelief Inconsistent with God’s Plan? Part 4

And the nearer we draw to God the more intimate we become with Him, the more perfect He demonstrates His person to be, the less we are swayed away from His holiness by emotional attachments in this world

Now, it does not mean that we are utterly callous.

It does not mean that we do not love people.

What is does mean is we so supremely love God that the affront that sin is to His holiness is a much greater concern to us than the lostness of a person.

Now, we might have trouble wrapping our minds around that, because we do not live there a good part of the time.

But the nearer we draw to God the more we love and adore Him, the less we will be able to tolerate those who do not do that.

God has alway exercised His sovereignty, selectively.

Isaiah 42:1 ESV

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.

Isaiah 45:4 ESV

For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.

Isaiah 65:9 ESV

I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah possessors of my mountains; my chosen shall possess it, and my servants shall dwell there.

Isaiah 65:22 ESV

They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

Isaiah 65:33

For Calvin, the selective election of God always was rooted in His tremendous love for people.

If you read the first chapter of his “Institutes” book three, chapter 21, you will find how he frequently combines love and election.

Calvin and the Atonement Chapter 1: The Starting Point: The Free Love of God in Jesus Christ

‘We shall never be clearly persuaded, as we ought to be, that our salvation flows from the wellspring of God’s free mercy until we come to know his eternal election.’

Calvin and the Atonement Chapter 1: The Starting Point: The Free Love of God in Jesus Christ

‘To make it clear that our salvation comes about solely from God’s mere generosity—we must be called back to the course of election.

He spoke of God’s selective election as “the remarkable generosity of his fatherly benevolence”.

“God’s special grace”, “the marvelous secrets of God’s grace”, “His mere generosity”, “God’s generous favor”, and “his freely given mercy”.

Paul’s argument is that, in salvation, God has always been selective.

His word is not the problem, his person is not the problem and it is not a violation of His plan.

This selective, election is always the way God operated and Paul argues that in this chapter.

I. The Calling Initiated by God the Father (vs. 24)

II. The Compassion Illustrated by Hosea the Prophet (vs. 25-26)

III. The Comparison as Proclaimed by Isaiah the Prophet (vs. 27-29)

Romans 9:27–29 AV

Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

The Apostle continues his argument here by quoting from .

Paul says that Isaiah “cried” and that is the Greek word “κράζω” and it speaks about shouting loudly, even sometimes to scream and the connotation here is the unpleasantness of the voice.

This is a scream to the people of Israel about an unpleasant proclamation.

Now, keep in mind that Paul is continuing his argument about the fact that just because most Jews will not be saved that does not not mean that the plan of God has failed or that the Word of God has failed.

Paul is arguing that this was always God’s plan because he never intended on saving all Jews and if they had just read the Prophets they would have known this.

Which is why he says in verse 6

Romans 9:6 AV

Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

So the Apostle continues his argument.

Romans 9:27 ESV

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,

Quoting Isaiah he says that even though your number is as the sand of the sea (in keeping true to the promise given to Abraham in ), he says that only a remnant will be saved.

Have you every bought a remnant?

It is not the whole thing; it is just a piece, it is a small piece.

Isiah prophesied in Judah under Azziah beginning in about 760 B.C. and he prophesied for about 48 years.

And during that time he shouted (and the Greek indicated for us that it was a unpleasant scream of judgment) that even though their number is as the sand of the sea, though there are many Jews, only a small piece would be saved, only a small group would be saved, only a remnant will be saved.

So, you see, Isiah saw the unbelief of Israel.

He saw that not all of the Jews were going to be saved.

Now, I believe that Isaiah, Like Hosea, was thinking historically about the the very near fulfillment.

Isaiah was looking at the captivity, looking at the enemy who was going to come historically and haul the people away.

He was looking at something imminent on the historical calendar.

But what the Holy Spirit had in mind was not only that but something future as well.

For out of all the Jews ing the time of Christ, only a few believed.

And out of all the Jews since the time of Christ, only a few believed, just as it was in the time of Isaiah.

So the events of Jewish history monitored by Hosea and monitored by Isiah as pictures, prophetic pictures of the events about the time of Jesus Christ and the presenting of the gospel and the age in which we live when the Jews have also rejected God and been severed from Him, scattered.

There were only a few, by the way, who were saved out of the Assyrian conquest, just a few.

And they sort of typify the few who are saved in this age.

Romans 9:28 AV

For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

Now, this is very strange and what does it mean?

Well, God is going to judge Israel and it is going to be a thorough judgment and it is going to be a fast judgment; and when he said fast (short) he means that it is going to be complete.

Isaiah promised that a fast judgment was coming to Israel, a thorough judgment was coming to Israel and very few would escape, a very few.

Amos, the prophet had this most fascinating picture of this kind of thing.

Amos 3:11–12 ESV

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.” Thus says the Lord: “As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

Amos 3:11 ESV

Therefore thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.”

This is a most vivd illustration.

When a shepherd is out with his sheep, if a lion came and got a sheep, the shepherd would run and try to get the lion to release whatever was in his mouth because he had to give it to the man that owned the sheep for whom he worked so that the man would know that he had not been stealing to sheep.

If he comes back in and says, “Hey, I lost two sheep,” and the guy says, “how did you lose them?”

“A lion ate them.” He says, “Prove it.” And the guy reaches in his little bag and pulls out a leg, he is going to say you proved it, and shows the teeth marks.

And the demonstration of what Amos is saying is that Israel is in the mouth of a lion and when God reaches He is going to get just a little bit that is left, snatching it our the jaws of destruction.

A small number of Jews were to escape the great Assyrian conquest, and that is exactly what happened.

The rest entered into the judgment of their unbelief and rejection of God.

And so it will be prophetically in the time Christ that only a small group will be rescued while the vast number of the Jews will enter into the judgment of God on them that reject Him.

Now you see the point that Pul is making?

His point is that Israel’s rejection of the gospel is no violation or hinderance or blame on the plan or Word of God.

It was predicted by Hosea, predicted bu Isaiah and even dramatized historically.

So, is God’s plan interrupted?

No, His plan is fulfilled.

Romans 9:29 AV

And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

Paul is quoting, at least in part, , and he changes from remnant to seed, but it means the same thing; a remnant or a small group, a seed.

Just a little bit; enough to get started again.

John MacArthur Sermon Archive Is Israel’s Unbelief Inconsistent with God’s Plan? Part 4

The objective of this reference, like the former reference from Isaiah, is to demonstrate that God planned it all. And He planned that not all Israel would be saved, not all Israel would be exempt from judgment. The Jews of antiquity face tremendous judgment. And the Jews at the time of Christ face tremendous judgment because the Jews of antiquity rejected God, the Jews of the time of Christ rejected God, the parallels are obvious. And the only reason any of us is saved, the only reason any of us is saved, look at verse 29, is because the Lord of Sabaoth left us a remnant … the Lord of Sabaoth left us a small seed.

Why is He called the Lord of Sabaoth?

That means host, marvelous contrast with .

Lord of hosts means Lord of everything.

The hosts are the angels, the stars, the heavenly bodies, the planets, the Lord of the much, the Lord of the many.

And he says, by contrast, “The Lord of the much and the Lord of the Many and the Lord of hosts has chosen a seed.”

God is very selective and that is the way the plan was from the very start.

And if it had not been that, all of us would have ended up like what? Sodom and Gomorrah.

How dod they end up? In judgment.

We do not have any idea where they were.

We would all be destroyed if it were not that God, the God of everything, had chosen a small seed.

They were literally buried in utter devestation, never to be re

John MacArthur Sermon Archive Is Israel’s Unbelief Inconsistent with God’s Plan? Part 4

So he draws from Hosea and he draws from Isaiah Old Testament proof that God in the plan planned that not all Israel would be saved. The Jews would enter into a time of great unbelief, be scattered, not pitied, and not the people of God. And out of it there would be a small remnant. And so, when you look at the time of Christ and you say, “Well, if this is the true gospel, why did all the Jews reject?” You can say because that’s the way the prophets said it was to be, that was the plan. And the only reason any believe is because the Lord of Sabaoth chose to leave a seed. And again would you please note? Paul makes his point using what? Scripture.

IV. The Condition as Explained by the Apostle Paul (vs. 30-33)

Romans 9:30–33 AV

What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Rom

Now, this last point it this does not thrill your hear nothing would.

This has been some heavy stuff.

The sovereignty of God is a very heavy doctrine, this is not an easy passage, and I hope that it came across clear to you.

This is very difficult, but I want you to see something that ought to refresh your spirit,

You can kind of rest on this one.

The Condition as explained by the Apostle Paul.

What does God require from us to have a relationship with Him?

What is the one Word? Faith.

And we are going to find in this section a welcome balance to the heavy dose of sovereignty we have been exposed to because this section talks about our responsibility....human responsibility, faith.

It put s is back in the divine tension where we are more comfortable, right?

We get too heavy on the end of sovereignty and we really start bearing some heavy loads, and so we need another side of the tension, human responsibility; which is faith.

Now to speak about the sovereignty of God and human responsibility appear to be contradictory and opposite, they are in truth, however, not.

It is just our minds are too limited, we cannot perceive it.

In God’s mind they have perfect harmony.

Now, Paul’s been saying the Jews have no claim to salvation.

The only reason any Jews at all are saved is because God is His chose them, only a was suppose to be saved; so we are not surprised at that.

It is not change in God’s promise, no violation of His person and no alteration to His plan.

And not he says what we have been waiting to hear, it was also their own fault.

And if you cannot figure out how those two things go together, just be happy that you are like every other person who has faced this doctrine, we cannot figure it our either.

Just believe it.

He shows that unbelief was their responsibility and due to their own unbelief and their own rejection, they were guilty and they were judged on the basis of their own guilt.

Verse 30.....next time!!!!