Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Boice’s Openning Illustration

I’m going to start this morning by borrowing an illustration from the late James Montgomery Boice.

Once there was a congregation that dismissed its pastor because, as one member put it to a newcomer, “the pastor kept telling us, that because of our unbelief and disobedience, we are going to hell.”

When the member is asked, “what does your new pastor tell you?”

He answers the newcomer by saying, “he also keeps telling us we are going to hell for the same reasons, too.”

The newcomer asks, “so what’s the difference between this pastor and the last guy?”

“Well,” the member replied, “when our first pastor said we were going to hell, he sounded like he was glad.

But when our new pastor says it, he sounds like it is breaking his heart.”

And this is what we see from Pastor Paul as we resume our study through Romans in chapter 9.

Main Idea

In verses 1-5 of chapter 9 we will see that Paul is deeply pained by Israel’s rejection of Jesus, despite the religious privileges that belong to them, and his pain comes from a heart of love for them.

Main Idea springs from this message from the heart of the apostle...

Seek to have spirit of loving pastor in Boice’s story...

Seek to have heart of Paul.

The rejection of Jesus as Christ and God by the religiously privileged should fill the saints with unceasing grief.

But before we get to our text, I want to review what we learned the last time we were in Romans so that we can see where Paul is going in his argument in Romans 9.

Setting the Stage

Context of Romans 8

In the beginning of chapter 8 Paul began by unfolding all of the blessings of the life of a New covenant believer.

No condemnation...set free from the law

Spirit dwelling within us...

Testifies to our Adoption

Helps in our weakness

Groans with us in our sufferings

Intercedes for us

And then Paul transitioned to teach about the hope that we can have even in the midst of our present sufferings.

They do not compare...

For...God will cause all things...

Hope rooted in His saving love for us....

Calling

Foreknowledge

Predestination

Justification

Glorification

A love that will never end

Question of Romans 9

And so when we come down the mountain top of this wonderful chapter, that peaked with this wonderful promise that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ, we are confronted with a colossal question...

“Has the word of God failed?”

And those who are asking this question are the Jews in Rome to whom Paul is writing to.

And they are asking this question because all of those amazing blessings of forgiveness of sins, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the adoption as God’s sons were originally made to the Jews.

These same Jews whom Paul has said...

Are under judgement

Are blasphemers of God

Are just as guilty and unrighteous as the gentiles

And as verse 3 from our text implies, because of their unbelief they are accursed and seperated from the Messiah

And so they see a conundrum of tremendous implications here.

Paul just wrote of the promise that God’s people would never be seperated from the love of Christ…and yet here according to Paul, God’s people from of old are seperated from Christ.

And so in Romans 9 through 11, Paul seeks to answer this question, “has the word of God failed?” with a resounding and convincing no.

Even though we are 2,000 years removed from the church in Rome, with it’s Jew and Gentile tensions, even though we are half-way around the world from the nation of Israel, this section in Romans is enormously important to each of our lives.

And that is because the deep and complex theology of Romans 9 forms the foundation of our faith in God’s faithfulness to uphold the promises He makes to us in Romans 8.

Piper, who literally wrote the book on Romans 9, called The Justification of God, and who preached arguably the best sermons on this text exactly 20 years ago, puts it like this, “Romans 9 comes after Romans 8 for this utterly crucial reason: It shows that the word of God’s covenant with Israel has not failed, because it is grounded in God’s sovereign, electing mercy.

Therefore the promises to the true Israel and the promises of Romans 8 will stand!”

And our text today, that I have the privilege of preaching to you, sets the stage both emotionally and theologically for this monumental argument.

Transition

With that, let us look to verses 1-3 where we will see our first of two points, Paul’s Pain.

Read with me starting in verse 1.

Paul’s Pain - Romans 9:1-3

Paul’s Testimony - vs 1-2

Truth Telling - vs 1

In verse 1, Paul goes to great lengths to justify the genuineness of his grief and establish the authenticity of his anguish.

But why does Paul have to authenticate his pain?

A traitor in their eyes

Undermined the two tenants of their religious pride

Offspring of Abraham

Chapter 4

Abraham Father of those who have faith, both uncircumcised and circumcised

Works righteousness under the law

Chapter 2

Hypocrisy of the Judaizers - blaspheme God

Condemned by their failure

3:20 - No man is justified by the works of the law

And in Romans 9-11 - he will reveal that the ultimate reason that the unbelieving Jews are accursed and cut off from Christ is that they are not among the elect

So then Paul anticipates the most common objection lobbed against those who preach God’s absolute sovereignty in election:

How can you feel real grief over the lost if God chooses whom He will save?

And so Paul feels the need to validate his pain and he starts by declaring, “I am telling the truth in Christ”

truth declared in Christ

Paul is so unified with Christ that...

unfathomable to lie

his affections flow from heart of Christ

After declaring positively that he is telling the truth.

He gives the parallel statement, “I am not lying”.

And lastly, the truthfulness of his testimony is based on the fact that, his, “conscience testifies with him in the Holy Spirit.”

Which is to say that his conscience approves the veracity of his statement based on the testimony of the Spirit.

“in the Holy Spirit”

conscience is led and informed by the Spirit

Great Grief - vs 2

In verse 1, Paul validates his pain and in verse 2 he describes it.

Read verse 1 and 2 again with me, Romans 9:1-2

“Great Sorrow”

Megas - massive and overwhelming sorrow and sadness

Unceasing grief in his heart

2 Tim 1:3 - same word - describes His prayers for Timothy day and night

Constant, unfailing grief deep in his innermost being

Paul’s Desire - vs 3

The authenticity of Paul’s pain has been validated, the intensity of his pain has been expressed and here in verse 3, Paul explains the source of his pain, starting with the preposition for, verse 3,

Accursed

He wishes that he could be cursed - made an anathema.

Said to Corinthians in 1 Cor 16 that, “those who do not love Christ are accursed”

Said to Galatians in Gal 1, that those who preach a false gospel should be treated as an anathema