Rom 9-Children of Promise

| Children of Promise! Romans 9:6-9

July 29, 20076It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”  PRAY Scripture Memory: Nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Rom. 8:39b (NLT) Intro:How many of you have experienced the difference between success which you worked hard for and were really justified in feeling like you earned it, versus success which, being fully honest with yourself, was clearly and only by the intervention of God and more DESPITE you than due to you? 1. God’s plans are often not what we expect. 2. God’s people are sometimes not what we expect.3. God’s timing is often not what we expect.1. God’s plans are often not what we expect. (v. 6a - It is not as though God’s word had failed.)E  The Mysteries of LifeLife is full of mysteries. The “demythologizers”The Materialists (those who worship the scientific method – everything can be explained scientifically, we just need to discover it)The superstitious – Luck / random chanceThe bottom line: In this life none of us will ever understand how everything fits together. E  The Paradoxes of ChristianityLife is full of paradoxes:We often lose our health to make money and then lose our money to restore our health. By thinking anxiously about the future, we forget the present, such that we live neither for the present nor the future.We often live as if we will never die, and, far too often, we die as if we had never lived..."Christianity is full of these mysterious paradoxes:To gain we must let goTo live we must dieTo be first we must be lastTo be great we must be the leastTo be truly strong we must be truly weakWhether of not we understand them, they are true.E  The God of MysteriesThe joke about the golfing SabbaterianDeuteronomy 29:29 – The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Isa. 55:8-9, 11V) – 8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. 9“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 11My word… will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.We say, “It’s impossible.”  —   God says, in Him, all things are possible (Lk. 18:27)We say, “I can’t do it.”  —  God says, “You can do all things through Christ.” (Phil 4:13)We say, “I can’t make it!”  —  God says, I will supply al your need. (Phil. 4:19)We say, “I’m afraid.”  —  God says, “do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isa 41:10)Faith means accepting what God says is true, even if we do not have all the answers.Faith means acting in obedience on what we DO know without justifying unbelief by the things we don’t understand.Faith means entrusting the mysteries of life into the hands of the sovereign God who created it all and still rules over all. 2. God’s people are sometimes not what we expect (vv. 6b-7a – Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children.)E  The visible and the invisible ChurchWhat is a Christian?The wheat and the weeds (Mat. 13)Covenant children – Not all children who are raised in Christian homes are Christians…I want all the Kids to listen carefully for a minute…The Bottom Line: there are many who believe themselves to be Christians who are not really born again. E  The problem with denominationsFundamentalismAbsolutes, Convictions, and PreferencesThe contrast between the formal and informalAll Christians are sinners. Unfortunately, many people reject Christ because of what they see in the church. – “They are all hypocrites…”The fact that church people can be difficult to be with is true for several reasons:1.     If a church is doing its job it will attract some very broken people. |   | 2.     We all tend to expect more from professing Christians than we do from others.3.     True Christians are more concerned with reconciliation than they are with protecting an image. – God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5; Prov. 3:34; Psalm 138:6)The Bottom Line: God’s children take many different forms and have many different labels, but all are sinners saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. 3. God’s timing is often not what we expect (vv. 7b-9 – “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”)E  God’s timing is perfect.God is seldom early, but never late.i.e. when raising Lazarus from the deadWe live in a society of instant gratification…God is always in total control.God knows all the possible outcomes.God loves us with a perfect love.  E  Sometimes we feel compelled to take matters into our own hands.i.e. Sarah and HagarThe contrast, here, is between the natural and the supernatural, between the PROMISE of God and the natural order of events.We tend, naturally, to the natural rather than the supernatural.We find it easier to trust in our OWN goodness than in God’sWe find it difficult to turn away from out attempts to earn God’s pleasure and to rest secure in Christ’s work on our behalf.We find it easier to work with a goal of somehow measuring up than to work out of love and gratitude for the love which is ours by faith in Christ.We need to ask ourselves, this morning, “Am I confident, first and foremost, that I am a child of promise and not merely of the flesh, that I have, indeed been born again by the Spirit of God and I can see the fruit of that new birth in my life?”We need to ask ourselves, “Am I living in full dependence upon the living God, taking advantage of every opportunity to connect with Him, to know Him, to be with Him?” or “am I living on my own strength and attempting to live for God on my own?”Are you a natural product of human effort and sincerity of faith? Or are you a supernatural product of the work of the Holy Spirit in your heart, living by the strength which only God can provide and seen by your commitment to spiritual disciplines?We can easily understand and acknowledge that we are not perfect. So we ask God to forgive us for those inevitable shortcomings that we all have. However, we still believe that it is only fair that God accept us because we, in some way or another, deserve it. So we start coming to church. Perhaps we start giving to the church and may even get involved in ministry. We are quick to say that we believe that Christ died for us. And now we have the responsibility to do our best.We can see this in:·    Our tendency to feel the need to impress others with the things we are doing or trying to do·    Our tendency to compare ourselves, sometimes favorably and sometimes unfavorably, with others around us.·    Our difficulty in truly resting in God’s love for us (except, perhaps, when we FEEL more lovable)·    Our tendency to be critical of others·    Our difficulty in forgiving others·    Our tendency to see our value in what we DO·    Our tendency to relegate prayer to a low priority Challenge: Are you willing, this morning to repent of your natural propensity towards self and to consciously and intentionally surrender to God in humility and faith?Are you willing to acknowledge God’s ways even when they don’t fit into your way of thinking, acknowledging the truth of what you DO understand and trusting God for the mysteries? Are you willing to embrace the fact that the church is filled with dirty sinners, both acknowledging that you are one of them and being committed to love your fellow sinners?Are you trusting Christ alone for your salvation, making every effort to nurture a personal relationship with Him rather than trusting in anything you or anyone else can do to make you acceptable to Him?Are you willing to trust God’s timing, preferring the supernatural promise to the natural course of events? A Truth to Remember: God’s timing is perfect. He does not make any mistakes.A Challenge to Consider:Are you willing, by faith, to thank and praise Him in the midst of painful and mysterious circumstances because you acknowledge His love and control?  One thing I heard this morning was…      |