What If?

Introduction

Good evening and welcome back!

Tonight we are going to return to the Book of Romans, like we have for the past few months.

And our passage for tonight will be , finishing out chapter 9.

And for our Walk Through Romans, tonight we are going to look at the question, “what if?”

Now, the majority of the time, I do not like the question, “what if” because when you start looking at it and asking that question, it can open up endless possible answers.

Kids love the “what if” question.

And I have also found that employees that really don’t want to do a specific task or job will start asking the “what if” question as well.

When I was supervising social workers, if one of them had a home visit to go on and they were not particularly looking forward to it, or the client was particularly difficult to deal with, I would get the “what if” question.

What if they say this or that.

What if they do this or that.

What if they won’t let me in.

And on and on and on.

And it tends to become a Chicken Little, “the sky is falling” type of scenario.

As Christians and as people we need to move past “what if” in most situations and circumstances and move to a place where we trust God with the “what if’s.”

Because honestly, we cannot control the “what-ifs” and most of the “what ifs” are not going to come to pass anyway.

We have to deal with the situations and circumstances as they arise and as they come up and not worry so much about what we cannot control.

And there comes a point that we really need to just stop and start trusting God.

But Paul here is taking a bit of a different approach with the “what if” and it is one that we need to pause, consider and take note of.

He isn’t giving the people a Chicken Little, sky is falling scenario.

He is drawing their attention to the love, mercy, and grace of God.

And he is doing it by drawing their attention to the work of God.

So, if you have found in your Bibles, if you are able, I’d invite you to stand with me as we read.

Starting in verse 22, Paul writes . . .

Scripture Focus

Romans 9:22–33 NIV - Anglicised

22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”26 and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God’.” 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling-stone”. 33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 9:22-

What If God Refused to Judge (vs 22-26)

Now looking at this passage it can be very confusing to really discern what Paul is talking about here.

And, even Paul breaks this overall passage into three sections.

Verses 22-26

Verses 27-29

And finally verses 30-33

And that is going to be the easiest way for us to break it down as well.

So, going back to verse 22-26, again Paul writes this . . .

Romans 9:22–26 NIV - Anglicised

22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”26 and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God’.”

And here is where we get the “what if.”

And we have to think back to last month when we covered the first part of chapter 9 to follow Paul’s train of thought.

If you recall, the subject of last time we were here was “who are we to talk back to God?”

And it dealt primarily with our attitude toward God and the lack of right we had to question God’s and also the lack of right we had to reject and talk back to God.

And even though God is sovereign and has the right to do whatever God wants to do, God affords us the grace and mercy to have a Free Will and to exercise that free will anyway we choose.

Including rejecting Him.

However, that rejection comes at a price.

There are consequences to our rejecting God.

And that deals with God’s nature as a Just God, carrying out what is eternally right.

Which sometimes from a human perspective we may think is “not fair.”

An example of this would be people who reject Jesus, die lost and spend eternity, separated from God in the place we refer to as Hell.

We say, “that’s not fair!”

However, it is completely just and completely right.

Because God has recognized that we are covered in sin and that sin separates us from God.

In addition though, God has also given us a way to atone for that sin and not suffer the consequences of our sin.

And that way is through Jesus Christ.

And what Paul is arguing here is the reality of this situation.

He is saying, “what if God didn’t choose to be just and righteous as we know God to be.”

Back to verse 22 . . .

Romans 9:22 NIV - Anglicised

22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?

Romans

He is saying God has laid out the plan and has announced over and over that there will be wrath and consequence for actions, but what if God never following through with his promise.

What would be the worth of every other promise God has made?

How could we trust God?

How could we believe God?

Quite simply we could not.

We trust God as a God that makes a promise and keeps it, regardless of whether it is one we want to accept or don’t want to accept.

If God says it, it will happen.

And Paul goes on . . .

Romans 9:23 NIV - Anglicised

23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—

Romans 9:23–24 NIV - Anglicised

23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

And what is com

And what is coming in to play here is the Jew’s argument that it is “not fair” that God has also included the Gentiles in His plan.

They are supposed to be God’s chosen people, but he has let this stinky old Gentiles in.

That’s not fair!

And Paul really is going on to explain that for God to be a Just and Righteous God then God’s plan of salvation has to be available to all people who are willing to accept it.

And if I, Buford, can interject, what was not fair was they way the Jews treated Jesus.

Now Paul didn’t say that here but I can bet it was on his mind.

And Paul goes on to tell them that this was always God’s plan and God told them about this long ago, they just chose not to listen to God.

Romans 9:25–26 NIV - Anglicised

25 As he says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”26 and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God’.”

That is a direct reference to God bringing in and including the Gentiles into the fold.

It was not a secret.

It was right there staring them in the face.

They just chose not to listen.

Israel Reduced to a Remnant (vs 27-29)

But then Paul issues a very sober warning to the Jews.

He tells them . . .

Romans 9:27–29 NIV - Anglicised

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Romans 9:

And if we are not careful we will miss what Paul is actually saying here.

First, verse 27 he quotes Isaiah—again a warning that was given to them several centuries before . . .

Romans 9:27 NIV - Anglicised

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.

Only a remnant will be saved.

Only a fraction of their people will repent of their sin, follow Jesus, and receive salvation.

And for the rest, who reject Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God . . .

Romans 9:28–29 NIV - Anglicised

28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.” 29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

Romans 9:28

Remember, Acts tells us that God is no respector of persons.

The deciding factor of whether you find favor with God or not has nothing to do with whether you are a Jew or Gentile.

It has nothing to do with whether you are rich or poor.

Famous or just some ordinary person.

In fact the only deciding factor is whether or not you have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

That is it—Everything else falls by the wayside.

And that is a sober warning for the Jews.

But it should also be a sober warning for us as well.

Because we run around out here freaking about about all these things in our society we have no control over but the one thing we do have control over—our relationship with God, we pay no attention to.

I have actually contemplated talking with the board about ending Sunday Night services.

Not because I do not feel they are important, but because so few people care enough about their relationship with God that they cannot spend a couple of hours on Sunday morning and a couple of hours on Sunday night gathering and worshiping together.

And it is not just here—take a Sunday night off and drive around and look at other church parking lots.

They are just as empty.

What are people going to do when the church is gone?

Where will they go then?

Where will they find support then?

And don’t get me wrong, church attendance does not make you a Christian, but it says something about the health of your relationship with God.

And the devil tries to tell me, maybe it’s you. Maybe your just boring.

And maybe I am at times, but I reject that because when I look around, our people who are not here are not going around visiting other churches either.

We have lots of people who want to be here but because of health reasons they cannot, but we also have a lot who just choose to do something else.

And I can’t fix that.

Only God can.

And unless we start taking our relationship with God seriously, the fix is going to be what Paul describes in verse 29 . . .

Romans 9:29 NIV - Anglicised

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”

What Can We Really Say (vs 30-33)

We will end up like Sodom and Gomorrah, completely leveled and destroyed because of our sin.

Altar Call

And finishing up, Paul writes this . . .

Romans 9:30–33 NIV - Anglicised

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling-stone”. 33 As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Which is exactly what I have been talking about.

Jesus is the”stumbling-stone.”

And whether we accept Him or not, will determine whether we stumble and fall or not.

And our Bible also tells us that we are known by our fruit.

And for those who are here tonight I am very appreciative, because that tells me that at least you are trying.

Those that want to be here but cannot, I know they are trying.

But tonight, I want us to pray for those who are not here who are obviously not trying.

Pray that God will get hold of them and convict their heart.

To reveal to them the condition of their heart and impress on them to do something about it.

And also pray for those who are trying but may be getting discouraged and down a bit.

Pray for God’s strength, God’s mercy, and God’s grace.

Pray for God’s love to surround them.

And do this as well—whoever God puts on your heart, instead of coming to me or Michelle and asking “how are they doing” or “why are they not here.”

Pick up the phone and call them.

Go to their house and visit them.

Let them know that you care and are concerned.

Because asking me how they are, may make you feel better, but how does that show them that you care?

The ministry of the church belongs to us all, so we all need to be active it it.

Let’s pray . . .