Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Core questions at play here

Did God fail his covenant people Israel?

Did got change plans in the New Testament because his Old Testament plans failed?

Honest heart question: Why did Isreal reject their messiah?

Does this mean they are rejected?

If God has rejected members of the chosen people, then what is the advantage of belonging to the chosen people?

This is raw for us too - how many of us have loved ones who don’t know Jesus, though we wish they did.

Why do they not?

In a broader sense, why do people do what they do?

Is God shown to be unfaithful bec

General answer

Our culture asks these questions and frames them around the idea of destiny or fate

When things happen, is it because humans are making decisions, or because of “fate”?

God is working out a plan that began in the OT and culminated in the person and work of Jesus

For Christians, is God just pulling strings and making things happen, or are we free to make decisions?

Or some mix of both?

God does this according to his sovereign will, not according to human wisdom

Several themes are intertwining through

God is sovereign and has the right to do what he wants

Humans bear real responsibility for free choices

There is danger in overemphasizing either one of these

On the one hand, it is possible to go to such an extreme with God’s control over the world that we make nothing of human responsibility and choice

There remains great hope for Israel even though they have rejected God

People have used this over the years to justify their sin - God has pre determined that I will commit this sin, and on that grounds I cannot resist it and should not be held accountable for it

On the other hand, it’s possible to go to such an extreme with human choice and responsibility that we end up with a small view of God, one that is maybe well-intentioned but ultimately bound by human will and unable to intervene in the world

Today, we are going to look at the idea that God is sovereign

Let it never be said of this church that we have a small view of God

God is the creator of all of the universe - he alone is worthy of our worship and praise

What is it?

Divine sovereignty refers to God’s all-encompassing rule over the entire universe.

On the end of the spectrum of big, God is the creator of we think so far about 10 billion galaxies

Each galaxy has on average we think about one hundred billion stars

The right of God to rule over all of creation as the one who made it

That means there are perhaps about one billion trillion stars in our universe

On the small end of the spectrum, God is the creator of protons and electrons, quarks, atoms, molecules

At any given time, God knows the exact location, trajectory, velocity of every particle in existence

Let it never be said of this church that we do not believe human beings are responsible for their choices

This would be patently unscriptural

It would render any kind accountability or justice impossible

When Paul is teaching about why it is that Israel rejected God, he is going to do so in a way that speaks of God being in ultimate control over his creation and over his plan of redemption, and at the same time Paul is going to emphasize human choice in a way that fits in with the reign of God

Which gets us into - Paul wants to answer the charge that Israel’s rejection of God somehow affects whether we can trust God

How is God’s sovereignty expressed?

Creation and providence - God made and sustains all of creation

Human history - all authority is actually delegated authority, and God is the one who establishes kings and kingdoms as well as brings them down

Redemption - God is the one who has enacted and worked out the plan to redeem lost and sinful human beings - salvation is ultimately God’s work, not ours

Election

There is a lot of debate surrounding this topic, but one unifying thought I found this week from one author is helpful, and sums up the core things we must hold to

God chooses

A people to belong to him

Individuals for certain tasks and roles

Big question: Is election about individual salvation or a corporate entity belonging to God?

We are not going

Historically, nearly all Christian interpreters have agreed that God’s electing choice flows entirely from His grace, that human beings are moral agents responsible for our actions, and that personal participation in the community of the elect is by faith.

I. Jacob and Esau

In his sovereignty, God creates a chosen covenant people

Romans 9:6-

God is moving covenant promises and redemptive plans forward

God called Abraham in and promised that through Abrahams family lineage would come blessing for the entire world

A chosen people group through whom blessing would be mediated to the entire world

So the question with each generation after Abraham is, “who is the one carrying that promise forward?”

Abraham -> Isaac rather than Ishmael

Isaac -> Jacob instead of Esau

God “loved” Jacob and “hated” Esau

This is a Hebrew idiom - a rhetorical device by which the author heightens the tension of a contrast by stating it in absolute terms

Malachi refers to this story from Genesis and makes it clear that it is referring to nations and people groups

God did not choose Esau

God chose the people of Israel in a way that he did not choose the people of Edom

This was done before they were born, and before they had done anything either good or bad

For the purpose of God’s election

Election can mean several things in the Bible

Historically, nearly all Christian interpreters have agreed that God’s electing choice flows entirely from His grace, that human beings are moral agents responsible for our actions, and that personal participation in the community of the elect is by faith.

God choosing a people to be his -

God appointing certain individuals to a task or role

Kings, priests, judges, prophets

God choosing a people to be his -

Malachi picks this theme up and applies the idea of God’s choice of Jacob to a people group rather than just a man

God makes it clear throughout the Old Testament () that he has not chosen these people because of any of their merit

Jacob I loved

Illustration: Kickball team

This language of God choosing a people to be his is mirrored in the New Testament, where even gentiles by faith are included in God’s people by faith in Jesus

In the OT, non-Israelites could become part of the covenant people of God, the elect, by faith in in the God of Israel

Expressed in his choosing of Israel

Ruth the Moabitess

Esau I hated

Expressed in his not choosing of Edom

Rahab in the book of Joshua

God does not “hate” Esau - the statement is a Hebrew idiom that expresses a contrast by stating it in extreme and absolute terms

So Paul is saying that 1) in his sovereignty God creates a chosen people, 2) belonging in that chosen people is not based on ethnic heritage, and 3) belonging in that group is not based upon human work or merit but on God and his grace.

Question: Does that not constitute injustice on God’s part?

If God doesn’t look at human merit, we think that’s unjust, because we are “earning” oriented people.

For example, we take offense at Jesus’ parable of the servants who all showed up to work at different times and got paid the same amount.

II.

Moses and Pharaoh

In his sovereignty, God has mercy on some and hardens others

Romans 9:14-

God speaks of mercy and compassion to Moses

Moses asks to see God

God speaks his “name” to Moses

God says that he will reveal himself to Moses as an act of compassion that God reserves the right to bestow on whom he will