Romans Chapter 9

Sermon by David Summy 8/16/26

Transcript

Copy

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This morning we're in chapter nine of Romans, if you want to turn to that. I titled this message um Romans chapter nine. I think there's a lot of subjects in here that we might cover, and uh I'm not sure what to call it. So um just bear with me today as we go through this. I found this uh chapter a little challenging to um know what to say and how to expound this, but I will do uh my best today. Bear with me and uh pray for me because this was a challenge for me. Um not sure how to tackle chapters nine through eleven, but I think we're just gonna take them verse by verse and um see what God has to say through Paul and these passages. We just finished chapter 8, and I love the verses that tell us if God is for us, who can be against us? And we heard about that last week. If God can be for us, who can be against us? And in verses 38 and 39, Paul said, For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor demons, nor the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are amazing truths that we have in the Word of God. It gives us a firm foundation on which to stand when impossible circumstances come our way, and when we're faced with times that may make us shake, maybe times that we feel disconnected from our Heavenly Father. These verses give us a foundation for those times. Let's go into chapter 9, beginning in verse 1. Paul says, I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit. We're gonna stop right there just for a few minutes. Here Paul refers to his conscience. You know, the conscience of man is a very interesting component of our makeup, is it not? God gives every human being a sense of right and wrong. When that sense is violated, it produces guilt. But only when our conscience is controlled by the Holy Spirit can it be fully trusted. Even then, many times it is flawed by our humanity and always needs to be tested against the Word of God. That is key when we look at our conscience. 1 Corinthians 4, verse 4, Paul says, My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. It is very important that we calibrate our conscience with God's word. Not with those around us, not by the world, not by the influence of others, but by the word of God and his Holy Spirit. This is very important. Another thing we need to be careful about is the violation of our conscience. When we intentionally violate our conscience, we become desensitized to the warnings it gives us. If we do that often enough, we no longer hear or feel the guidance of our conscience. 1 Timothy 4, verses 1 and 2 tell us the Spirit clearly says that in latter times some may some will abandon the faith and following deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. Now, if you think about the picture of a hot iron searing something, you get the picture of what he's saying there. No longer feels what it did before. Not only do we need to guard our conscience, but the scripture clearly teaches that we need to be careful not to cause others to violate their conscience as well. This clearly does not align with the thinking and mentality of our society today, and even thinking many times within the church. My actions should be governed by how they affect my brothers and sisters. If my actions cause my brother to stumble, I sin against God. We need to walk carefully when it comes to our conscience. We need to align our conscience with the word of God. And we need to be careful not to be a stumbling block to someone else. Okay, now we're ready for verse 2. And I almost did an entire sermon on that verse, but I decided not to. Romans would take a long time if we did that. Romans 9, verses 2 through 5. I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people. Those are my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship, theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised. Amen. The heart of Paul is revealed to us in these verses. We see the heart of Paul towards the people, towards his people, the Jews. The exchange that Paul was suggesting here, he knew could not happen. But it shows the deep love and longing that he had for his fellow Jews to know Christ. This is very similar to what Moses, how Moses responded when he came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments and seen the children of Israel there worshiping a golden idol. In Exodus 32, 32 says, But now please forgive their sin. This is Moses talking to God. But now please forgive their sin. But if not, then blot me out of the book you have written. May God give us this level of compassion for others. That we care so deeply about the salvation of others. That's what I get out of these verses here. Let's go on and read. On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated, at the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but Rebecca's children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac, yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose and election might stand, not by works by but by him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on human desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me, Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will? But who are you, a human being to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, Why did you make me this like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath, prepared for destruction? 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? Even us whom he whom he also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. 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. And in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be called children of the living God. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of Israelites be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality. It is just as Isaiah said previously, unless the Lord Almighty has left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith? But the people of Israel who perceived the law as a way of righteousness have not attained their goal? Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith. But as it as if it were works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, see I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame. Anyone care to explain this passage this morning? Clint, he has his hand up, so no. I will admit I will admit to you that I'm a bit trembling about rightly dividing this passage. And um I'm not gonna even pretend that I have all the answers here. So if you have questions, I may not have answers for you. But I do know to rightly divide the word of God, we must compare scripture with scripture for a balanced view of God's word. That being said, I will ask you to bear with me this morning. I would like to read an article that I believe explains this very well. Can I do that this morning? This was written by uh Seafred Dickison from the Moody Bible Institute, as recorded in the Wycliffe Bible Dictionary. And this is a little lengthy, and I apologize for that, but I believe it gives us a picture of what might be going on here in this chapter. Talking in relation to election and also personal choices that we have. Election as it applies to the salvation of a person encompasses several steps foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. The difficulty in election is the matter of salvation, for man anyway, lies in reconciling the sovereignty of God with the freedom of man to choose. God chose every person who would be saved before the foundation of the world, before creation. We see this in Ephesians 1. Man's merit or his works have nothing to do with the election process or the act of salvation, since man has no merit and could not generate any merit from the time of his fall in the Garden of Eden onward. Even though man is capable of producing human good, this commodity is as filthy rags in the sight of God and is totally insufficient for the purpose of achieving eternal salvation. Only faith alone in Christ alone brings eternal salvation to the recipient. God chose those who are to be saved strictly in accordance with his purpose, pleasure, and will. Therefore, God in accordance with his purpose and before time selected every single person who was to be saved through Jesus Christ. On the other side of the coin, the Bible clearly spells out that salvation is for everyone and is a function of man's will. Note the following passages of Scripture. John three sixteen. In John four fourteen we see Jesus Jesus tell us, But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. ACTS 2 21 and it shall come to pass that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. In Acts 10 43, to him all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believes in him will receive remission of sins. In Romans ten thirteen, for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. In first Timothy two, three and four, for this is a good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. In Titus two, eleven, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. In Second Peter three, nine, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And finally in Revelation twenty-two, seventeen, we see the verse where it says, And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. It's an invitation. And let him who hears say, Come, and let him who thirsts, come. Whosoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Therefore it is just clear in the Word of God that the love and grace of God is provided for every single man and woman within the realm of time through the sacrifice of his Son. What's more, any person can obtain this love and grace, this gift of eternal life, by exercising his will to receive by faith Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross for his personal salvation. How does a believer then reconcile election with free agency? It is in fact, it is a fact that the Bible supports both doctrines. To the rational mind, they conflict with each other, but it is not totally unreasonable to believe that God has allowed man sufficient mental capacity to understand each doctrine and how they fit together in God's purpose and plan. Of course, the simplistic approach could be to simply deny man's ability to reconcile these doctrines, relegating the entire matter to the arena of faith. There is, of course, merit in the simplistic approach. Reason can be elevated over supernatural revelation. In every aspect of God's plan, if every aspect of God's plan could be reduced to the level of human reasoning, there would be no need for faith. The reconciliation of these two doctrines may very well fall within the purview of the following two passages of Scripture. And the one is found in Isaiah, where it says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as high for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts and your thoughts. In Deuteronomy 29, 29, it tells us the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Nevertheless, the number of words penned in commentary regarding the relationship of these two doctrines over the centuries is legend. On the one hand, you have the strictly Calvinist approach, stating that man essentially has no say in his salvation, that even his ability to choose must be activated, maybe even controlled by God. Then there's a strictly Arminian view, which has God's plan teetering on man's will. There is truth in both views and maybe even some error. So what is the solution? The following is offered as a possibility, not as a concrete fact based on the following. God has elected everyone that is to be saved prior to time and creation. God has offered the possibility of salvation to everyone. Christ has paid the sins of everyone on the cross. Man was created in the image of God, with a mind, soul, and spirit, and with the ability to choose. God has stipulated to man that he must exercise his will and receive his son for salvation. Although God chose before time in accordance with his purpose, he made his selection in conjunction with an orderly process, a prescribed set of steps, which are foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification by faith alone in Christ alone, and glorification, sanctification from time and into eternity. Foreknowledge appears to be the foundational or commencement step in the election process. You know, God's election was not made in a vacuum. The election process cannot be divorced from all of God's attributes. His omnipotence, all-powerful, his omniscience, all-knowing, his omnipresence, present everywhere, all at once, his holiness and his justice, all such attributes coming to focus to appliance at the moment of selection. The conclusion is this: since both doctrines are true, and since God transcends all dimensions, to include time and eternity, past and present, simultaneously they, the election and man's choice, must transpire in the mind of God at the same instant. God's election does not precede man's choice, and man's choice does not precede God's election. One does not depend on the other. Rather, they materialize hand in hand and are codependent on each other in the mind of God. This concept is impossible to understand by the human mind if it thinks only in the realm of linear time. Now pay attention here when he talks about linear time. Mankind normally thinks of terms in terms of linear time. The fact that everything has a beginning, everything has an end. Eternity to man is a place of a lot of time, and God is a person who has lots of time. The fact is that God transcends time. He is not subject to it. A study of the physics of time revealed that it is a physical property depending upon mass, gravity, and velocity. Once this is understood, it is also important to note that God exists outside the dimension of time. Whereas man views a parade in various increments from a set position along the parade route, God sees both. The beginning and the end, and he sees it from a position from far above. God exists everywhere at all the same time. This understanding is necessary when considering what is meant by the mind of God. This may be something akin to the chicken and the egg first riddle, unless, of course, one takes into account the nature of God. Multiple transactions that are separated by both time and eternity transpiring simultaneously may be impossible with man, who is confined to four dimensions the width, length, height, and time. But it presents no difficulty to God, who is not confined to any dimension. In fact, science now believes that there be maybe upwards to ten or eleven dimensions. God not only pres it God is not only present in each of them, each of them, and probably many more, but he also exists everywhere throughout eternity before and after time. In other words, he is everywhere, in every dimension, simultaneously. He is at the beginning, at the end, and at all in between simultaneously. Then this appears to clarify the meaning of elect according to the foreknowledge of God. 1 Peter 1. And for whom he foreknew, he also predestined in Romans 8. Election therefore does not cancel out free agency, and free agency does not cancel out election. Neither doctrine invalidates the other. They complement each other. God does in fact elect a person to be saved, but he does it in conjunction with the person who exercises his God-given capability to accept his son once a person has been awakened to his sin and need of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. This process, both the act of electing and the person's exercise of will to receive, happens at the same exact moment in the mind of God, who exists before time and creation and at the moment of a person's salvation. All simultaneously. Both acts, one by God and one by man, are executed together in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. This concept does not invalidate man's God-given ability and responsibility to choose. Furthermore, it does not violate God's sovereignty or any other of his attributes. In fact, it may very well clarify the concept of foreknowledge and its commencement relationship to the election process. As a person in time is faced with a decision to either by faith accept or to reject God's offer of salvation, God by means of his foreknowledge in attendance fully comprehends the decision the person will make and correspondingly elects or rejects the person in the matter of eternal life. One may argue that this subjugates God to man, but this writer differs from that assessment. Sensibility and obligation for man to make a choice comes from God in the first place. God is therefore supreme in the entire process. The process is totally in accordance with God's purpose and plan. It is true that God, being sovereign, could have brought man to eternal life, kicking and screaming in any manner that he chooses to do. The fact is that he has opted to do it within the parameters of mercy and grace and the will of man. Regardless of what position a believer may take regarding these two doctrines, there is one way a person may know if someone is one of the elect. He need only to apply the test of John 3.18, which is he who believes in him, talking about Jesus Christ, is not condemned. But he who does not believe is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. That is the end of the article. Thank you for hanging tight with me through that. I um and I know that's a lot of stake to chew on. Hopefully, that whet your appetite to dig into that a little further. My goal was not to bring more confusion, but to get you interested in the subject. There are two takeaways that I want to take away from this passage this morning as we look as we looked and read at it, read the passage. The first is seen in verses 20 to 21. As we close here, I want to remind you of these two things that just stood out to me as I read the passage. He asked the question in verse 20: Who are we to talk back to God? We are the clay in the hand of the potter. God is not subjected to our demands. He will work out his purpose. He will work out his purpose in our lives. The question is, will we yield to his hands? Will we yield to the potter that is forming, shaping, molding your jar of clay? The second thing that I want us to remember in this passage is the fact that grace, mercy, and faith and salvation are all given to us by God. They're gifts from God. And my encouragement to you this morning in all of this is if you feel God calling you, if you today are being offered grace, if you today are being offered mercy, you today are being offered salvation. If you today are begin are given the gift of faith in your life, do not squander it. Do not reject it. Do not turn your back on it. Do not turn your back on the invitation God has given you. This gift that God has given us to receive is too wonderful for words. It is too precious to squander. It is a gift that we dare not reject. Lest it be removed from us and the opportunity is gone. That is my plea with each of us this morning. Do not turn away from the opportunity God has given you for repentance and salvation. I trust this was encouragement to you and maybe a lot of food for thought. Um, I am opening my I will open myself to correction. And um on this passage and what I've shared, I'm open to that. But uh may God bless you, may God be with each one of you this week. Let's stand for a word of prayer.