Romans - Chapter 9
THE ABSENCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
ISRAEL’S CONDEMNATION
Romans 9
Application: God’s righteousness always comes by faith and never by works. The people of Israel – and any people anywhere – are only saved by grace through faith in Christ.
OUR STUDY GUIDE BEGINS TODAY’S LESSON WITH ONE OF THE MOST PROFOUND SENTENCES OF ANY LESSON IN RECENT WEEKS.
IT BEARS QUOTING WORD FOR WORD AND BEGINS OUR LESSON TODAY WITH THE MAIN ISSUE WE NEED TO CONSIDER.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF ISRAEL TO JESUS CHRIST IS ONE OF THE CONTINUING MYSTERIES OF THE BIBLE.
IN MY TRIPS TO ISRAEL IT TOOK ME SEVERAL YEARS TO BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE MINDSET OF THE JEWS.
TO THE JEWS THE LAW IS THE CHRIST.
TO US CHRIST IS THE LAW.
ROMANS 9:1-5
LET’S NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE FACT THAT TO MANY DEVOUT JEWS, PAUL WAS A TRAITOR TO ALL THEY HELD TO BE HOLY.
THEY FELT HE WAS CHANGING THE SACRED LAW OF MOSES AND THAT HE WAS PREACHING THAT GENTILES COULD HOLD THE SAME HOLY POSITION IN THE EYES OF GOD AS DID THE JEWS.
PAUL WAS A MASSIVE THREAT TO THE ENTIRE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT IN ISRAEL JUST AS JESUS HAD BEEN BEFORE HIM.
REGARDLESS OF ALL THE ILL WILL TOWARD PAUL BY THE JEWS, PAUL NEVER LOST HIS HEARTFELT LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE, THE JEWS.
HE CARRIED THIS LOVE AS A BURDEN THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE AND VOICED HIS LOVE FOR THEM AGAIN AND AGAIN IN SCRIPTURE.
HE OPENS THE 9TH CHAPTER OF ROMANS WITH A THREE PART TESTIMONY OF THIS BURDEN OF LOVE.
HE DECLARES THAT HE SAYS THE TRUTH IN CHRIST.
HE TELLS ALL WHO READ HIS WORDS THAT HE DOES NOT LIE.
HE TEACHES THAT HIS OWN CONSCIENCE BEARS HIM WITNESS IN THE HOLY GHOST.
WITHIN THE FIRST VERSE PAUL HAS INVOKED 2 OF THE 3 MEMBERS OF THE GODHEAD AS HE BEGINS TO REVEAL HIS BURDEN OF LOVE.
HE OPENS WIDE HIS HEART OF LOVE BY SHOWING THAT HE ENDURES GREAT HEAVINESS AND CONTINUAL SORROW.
PAUL WANTED THE JEWS TO GAIN THE SALVATION CONVERSION HE KNEW TO BE REAL AND HE WAS ANGUISHED THAT ALMOST ALL OF THOSE HE LOVED REJECTED THE ONE HE HAD COME TO LOVE MOST.
HE IS SO TROUBLED ABOUT THESE LOST SOULS THAT HE MAKES THE AMAZING STATEMENT THAT HE COULD WISH HIMSELF ACCURSED FROM CHRIST FOR THESE BRETHREN.
PAUL WOULD HAVE SACRIFICED HIMSELF FOR THE JEWS HAD IT BEEN POSSIBLE.
MOSES HIMSELF HAD MADE A SIMILAR STATEMENT WHEN GOD THREATENED TO DESTROY ALL THE HEBREW PEOPLE AFTER THE GOLDEN CALF INCIDENT.
MOSES OFFERED HIS OWN NAME TO BE BLOTTED OUT OF THE BOOK OF LIFE IF GOD WOULD SPARE THE HEBREWS AND GOD DID.
PAUL NOW BEGINS A NINE PART DEFINITION TO DESCRIBE THESE PEOPLE:
THEY WERE ISRAELITES – GOD HAD NAMED THEM HIMSELF BY CHANGING THE NAME OF JACOB TO ISRAEL, MEANING PRINCE OF GOD.
THEY HAD THE ADOPTION – GOD CONSIDERED THEM AS HIS SON AND HIS FIRSTBORN AND A TREASURE ABOVE ALL PEOPLE.
THEY HAD WITNESSED GOD’S GLORY – THE TABERNACLE AND THE CLOUD IN THE DESERT HAD REVEALED HIS GLORY TO THEM.
THEY HAD RECEIVED THE COVENANT – THROUGH ABRAHAM AND MOSES AND DAVID GOD HAD CREATED AGREEMENTS WITH HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE.
THEY HAD RECEIVED THE LAW – THE LAW OF MOSES HAD RULED GOD’S PEOPLE FOR 1500 YEARS.
THEY HAD THE SERVICE OF GOD – NO PEOPLE WERE CLOSER IN SERVICE TO THE LIVING GOD.
THEY HAD RECEIVED THE PROMISE – GOD HAD PROMISED LAND, A GREAT NAME, A SPECIAL STATUS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY THE MESSIAH HAD BEEN GIVEN.
THEY HAD THE FATHERS – ALL THE PATRIARCHS HAD SERVED THE LORD AND WERE REVERED BY THE JEWS.
THEY HAD THE BLOOD LINE OF THE MESSIAH HIMSELF WITHIN THEIR NATION.
ALL THESE BLESSINGS GOD HAD PROVIDED TO THE NATION AFTER CHOOSING THEM AND YET THEY STILL WERE STIFFNECKED AND REJECTED THE CHRIST SENT TO SAVE THEM.
9:6-8
HERE PAUL TEACHES ONE OF HIS MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS OF ALL HIS WRITINGS.
NOT ALL THOSE WHO ARE OF ISRAEL ARE ISRAEL.
HERE PAUL IS CLEARLY TEACHING THAT JUST AS IN ABRAHAM’S OWN FAMILY, NOT ALL WERE CONSIDERED SONS OF PROMISE, NOW NOT ALL WHO ARE JEWS WILL BE CONSIDERED AS SONS OF GOD.
THE PROMISE IS FOUND WITHIN THE FAITH IN GOD
AND HIS SON. TRUE ISRAEL IS THE NATION OF THOSE WHO BELIEVED, NOT THOSE WHO WERE SIMPLY BORN OF THE SEED OF ABRAHAM.
JUST AS TODAY, THE TRUE CHURCH IS NOT DEFINED BY BAPTISTS, NOR METHODIST, NOR BY ANY DENOMINATION.
THE TRUE CHURCH IS MADE UP OF THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN HIS MINISTRY, HIS ATONING DEATH, AND HIS RESURRECTION, ALL OF WHICH WE WHO BELIEVE SHARE.
ABRAHAM HAD 8 SONS, ISHMAEL, ISSAC, AND 6 SONS BY KETURAH, BUT THE PROMISE APPLIED ONLY TO ISSAC.
IN VERSE 9 PAUL FURTHER TEACHES THAT GOD HAD CLEARLY SPECIFIED THAT THE PROMISE WOULD BE HELD ONLY BY A SON FROM SARAH, EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS PAST THE AGE.
ABRAHAM ALSO WAS PAST THE AGE OF VITALITY.
THE SON GIVEN WAS BY DIVINE INTERVENTION AND COMMAND, EVEN AFTER ABRAHAM & SARAH TRIED TO HELP GOD ALONG.
THE SON GIVEN TO ISRAEL WAS ALSO BY DIVINE INTERVENTION AND COMMAND.
ONLY THOSE WHO BELIEVE AND ARE TRUE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM, NOT JUST HIS FLESH, ARE CONSIDERED TO BE CHILDREN OF GOD AS WELL.
TO MAKE THE POINT EVEN STRONGER PAUL TEACHES IN VERSE 11 THAT EVEN AMONG TWINS BORN FROM REBECCA, BORN OF ONE MOTHER AND ONE FATHER, GOD MAKES CHOICES AS TO WHO WILL OCCUPY THE FIRST POSITION AS HE CHOSE JACOB OVER ESAU BEFORE THEY WERE BORN.
LET’S LOOK AT THIS PASSAGE VERY CAREFULLY AND SLOWLY SO THAT IT CAN CARRY THE WEIGHT IT DESERVES:
(FOR THE CHILDREN BEING NOT YET BORN, NEITHER HAVING DONE ANY GOOD OR EVIL, THAT THE PURPOSE OF GOD ACCORDING TO ELECTION MIGHT STAND, NOT OF WORKS, BUT OF HIM THAT CALLETH:)
THIS VERSE, ALONG WITH JEREMIAH 1:5 ARE FULL PROOF THAT THE HUMAN EFFORT, OR WORKS, ARE SWEPT AWAY BY THE MIGHTY WATERS OF GRACE.
GOD ASKED NO MAN FOR PERMISSION TO MAKE JEREMIAH A PROPHET BEFORE HE WAS IN HIS MOTHER’S WOMB.
GOD ASKED NO MAN FOR PERMISSION TO LOVE JACOB MORE THAN ESAU.
IN THOSE DAYS THE ELDEST SON WAS THE SON OF INHERITANCE, BUT PAUL IS TEACHING THAT GOD’S PURPOSE IS NOT FOUND IN TRADITION NOR EVEN IN ORDER OF BIRTH.
GOD’S PROPOSE IS SERVED BY HIS OWN WILL, AND PAUL SHOWS IN VERSE 12 THAT THE ELDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER, REVERSING CENTURIES OF JEWISH CUSTOM BY HIS CALL.
NOTICE THAT IN VERSES 15 & 16 THAT PAUL REMINDS US THAT IN GOD’S CONVERSATION WITH HIS CHOSEN LEADER, MOSES, HE WAS MOST CLEAR THAT IT IS HIS WILL ONLY THAT BRINGS MERCY OR COMPASSION.
VERSES 17 & 18 GO EVEN FURTHER TO SHOW THAT GOD RAISES UP MEN SUCH AS EGYPT’S PHAROH, FOR THE ONLY PURPOSE OF DISPLAYING HIS POWER.
PAUL SAYS THAT GOD ONLY DECIDES WHO WILL RECEIVE MERCY AND WHO WILL BE HARDENED.
JUST AS THE POTTER CAN CRUSH THE CLAY TO MAKE ANOTHER VESSEL, SO CAN GOD DO THE SAME.
PAUL INTRODUCES IN VERSE 24 THE CONCLUSION OF THIS TEACHING BY CALLING US AS BELIEVERS “VESSELS OF MERCY”. GENTILES AS WELL AS JEWS.
THE HOPE FOR THE FUTURE IS NOT NEGLECTED BY PAUL IN THESE WONDERFUL PASSAGES.
PAUL QUOTES THE WORDS OF HOSEA 1:10 TO REMIND ALL THAT IN DUE TIME THE CHOSEN PEOPLE WHO HAD NOT WELCOMED THE LORD JESUS WILL, AS A PEOPLE, ACCEPT HIM AS MESSIAH.
VERSE 27 ASSURES THAT A REMNANT OF ISRAEL WILL INDEED BY SAVED BY THE LORD FINISHING THE WORK.
THIS LAST EFFORT WILL OVERCOME THE FACT THAT ISRAEL HAD STUMBLED OVER THE STUMBLINGSTONE THAT WAS THE LAW.
THEY HAD SOUGHT RIGHTEOUSNESS NOT BY FAITH BUT THROUGH THE LAW BUT PAUL TEACHES THAT IT WILL BE SHORT WORK TO RETURN THEM TO GOD WHEN THE TIME IS CHOSEN.
ONCE MORE, GRACE WILL OVERCOME THE WORKS OF MAN AND WHEN ISRAEL IS GRAFTED BACK INTO THE HOLY VINE, ALL WILL BE RIGHT ON THE EARTH.
IN THOSE DAYS WE ARE TOLD THAT THE MYSTERIES WILL NO LONGER BE MYSTERIOUS AND THAT WE WILL UNDERSTAND IN FULL THOSE THINGS WE CAN NOW ONLY UNDERSTAND IN PART.
KEEP THE FAITH!!!!!!!!
