Join us as we unpack the theological intricacies of Romans 9, where Paul reveals the divine plan for salvation and the election of God’s people. Understand why true Israel is defined by faith rather than lineage, and discover how God is orchestrating a worldwide awakening of faith through trials and joy. This episode serves as a stirring invitation to embrace faith, recognize God’s mercy, and understand the eternal promise extended to all humanity.
00:00:05 A Recap of Romans 9: God’s Love and Predestination
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, we’ve had a few repeats, a couple of repeats since the last presentation on Romans 9. So I’ll do a bit of a recap so you can get the connection. Paul in Romans 9 is talking about his concern for Israel. He has stated in chapter 8 that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and that means the whole world. Nothing can separate the world from God’s love. No judgments, no famine, no distress or persecution, because God has atoned for the world in the sacrifice of His Son, and He has predestined the world for salvation. All who receive him by faith can know that that predestination is theirs, and the rest of the world will receive that faith as they come to the end of themselves and judgments come upon them so that they realize that they need God. Well, yes, Paul says, but what about Israel then? Why hasn’t Israel been saved? And as I pointed out a few days ago, the significance of that question is that God is the one who’s in charge of salvation. It’s not we who choose. It’s God who chooses us, and therefore we come to believe. But one might then ask, so then, if God chooses us, why hasn’t he chosen Israel? Well, Paul is going to point out in chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Romans that God has indeed chosen Israel. In fact, he’s elected them, just as he’s elected all of us. And he’s going to show now how this comes about. So Paul is grieved in his spirit that Israel has not accepted the Lord yet, and then he says, But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham, but in Isaac your seed shall be called. Well, now, there are those Christians who really seriously misinterpret this because they think Paul is saying, well, listen, real Israel is those who believe in literal Israel and then the rest of… the Gentile world who believe, and literal Israel who believe, and the Gentiles who believe equals all Israel. Well, that is not the interpretation that is correct, and I think it will be very clear as we go through these chapters that my point there is right. I’m not just trying to be right. I’m trying to explain to you what Paul’s argument is here. What he’s really saying here is that… Real Israel is spiritual, and therefore God is going to go about in the world bringing people to the end of themselves so that they may see that they need God, and then they call upon him for mercy and he gives them faith. That is what Paul is trying to teach us here, that God doesn’t save Israel simply because they are physical children of Abraham or physical children of Jacob, Israel, but rather that he saves them because The plan of salvation is to bring trust to the world, trust in God who loves them and who wants to be merciful to them, and that trust is what enables God and humanity to connect. So he’s saying it’s not as if the word of God has failed. Just because God hasn’t saved physical Israel doesn’t mean his word has failed, because he’s going about putting faith in various people. So that’s why he says, nor are they all children, because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called. Well, why does he quote that verse? Well, you remember the story of Isaac, right? Isaac was the child of promise. God had told Abraham that he would have a son, that is, he told Abraham when he was 75, and that child did not come to Abraham until he was 100, 25 years later. All that time, God was initiating and developing faith in Abraham, taking him through many, many trials and tribulations that would lead Abraham to to see his emptiness and his inadequacy and lead him to call upon God for help and mercy, which then God brings to him by bringing faith to him. So finally, it seems that Abraham must have said, good grief, this child is not going to come to me and my wife by our own potency. It’s going to have to be a miracle. And it’s as if God was waiting in the wings and saying, that’s right, I’ve been waiting for you for 25 years to realize that, that this is a miracle child. Sarah had been barren all her life, and thus, a year later, the child is born. It creates laughter throughout the whole village, which is why the child is called Isaac, because that’s the meaning of the name of Isaac, laughter. And faith always brings a lightness of heart. It brings a joy to the soul. It’s not heavy stuff. It’s not trudging along trying to obey God in every single point and failing constantly and worried that we’ll ever be saved. But it is knowing that God has been kind and loving and merciful to us, and that brings faith that is a lightness and a laughter of the soul. So, you see, when Paul says, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham, but in Isaac your seed shall be called, he’s saying God is going to engender faith in people, and he’s going about the world doing that. Don’t look for a particular physical fleshly nation. as Israel, but rather all the children of Abraham who have faith in him, that is, the God of Abraham. That doesn’t exclude physical Israel, because Paul has said a little later that—let me just get that verse for you, but we’ll come to it when we get there, but I’ll just quote it ahead of time—concerning the gospel, that is, well, let’s read verse 26. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written, the Deliverer will come out of Zion—that’s a physical place, of course, in Israel— And he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. That’s clearly the physical descendants of Jacob. For this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins concerning the gospel. They are enemies for your sake because they don’t believe at this point. And it’s for your sake, because their enemy state was the thing that led them to crucify Christ, which thus became, for the sake of the Gentiles, salvation. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved. for the sake of the fathers, because God promised such a blessing to the fathers that in them, in him, all families of the earth would be blessed. And so God is fulfilling that promise for the sake of the fathers by ultimately saving all Israel. But in the meantime, he’s going about reaching people by faith. And so, Paul then says in verse 8 of chapter 9, well, let’s read verse 7 to get the connection. Let’s read verse 6, the whole thing. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac your seed shall be called, that is, in Isaac the child of promise.” And that child of promise, of course, is a type of Jesus Christ who came by miracle, not by human potency. So verse 8, that is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. And so what God is going to do is bring all Israel to faith in the promise. That’s the point. He’s not saying here that God is simply going to pick out those who have faith and leave the rest. No, what he’s doing is to say, what he will do here is that he will bring people to faith. individually and in groups and at different times until all come to believe by faith, and thus all Israel will be saved. And so you want to think about yourself, don’t you, in this regard. Don’t just take this as a biblical idea and a theological idea. What is God doing with you? You may not be a believer. Maybe by chance you’ve hit on this radio program, and you’re just driving along the highway, and you think, what’s this guy saying? You’ve never been a believer, but you’ve often thought about it, and you’ve often thought, I really should get to know God. I wish I did know God. I know my brother said that to me a few months before he died. He said, I wished I had a faith like yours. Well, the fact is this, that God is going to bring you to faith, either here or in the judgment. You say, oh, good. Well, I can wait till the judgment then. You’d better not, because the judgment is very, very unpleasant business. But the truth of the matter is that right now, while you seem to be listening to this program by faith as you’re driving along the highway, this is the moment that God is speaking to you. And he says, receive me, trust me, for goodness sake, trust me. What is he asking us to trust him for? That he is going to pull us all through into his kingdom because he’s determined to reveal his glory to everyone so that finally every knee shall bow and every tongue shall take an oath that in God alone is their righteousness and strength. You’ve tried to be your own strength all your life. Well, quit it. It’s a waste of time, and you will find you are defeated at the end of your life. But if you accept that God is your righteousness and strength, that Christ is your righteousness, who has taken your judgment upon the cross for you, then you will be relieved of guilt and shame and fear. You will have a new heart that will bring you to a sense of joy in God. You can accept Christ right now while you’re driving along the highway, and you can say, Lord Jesus, I’ve been intending to get to you all my life, but goodness, you have got to me. That’s it. Because you see, Jesus comes to us. The Father, through the Spirit, reveals the good news of Jesus to our souls. We would never come to God on our own. It is God who sparks the desire within us. And so, take the moment. Seize the day. And let this be the day you say, Father in heaven, I accept Jesus as my Savior. So you see, when you accept Christ as your Savior, this is God going about throughout the world, electing various people or calling various people whom he has elected. Did you know you were elected? The fact is, the whole world, before ever the world was created, God in the annals, far back in the universe, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit elected this earth for salvation. They knew that this world would depart from God, but God would be determined to elect it, to predestine it to salvation. He’s determined to do that. And what he does now is to go about calling various ones of the elect. Why? Because they’re better than anyone else? No. He calls them so that they may give some kind of witness or testimony to those who are not yet elected. Because Paul will tell us in Romans 11 that God intends to make the vessels of wrath, that is those who rejected God, jealous. by the vessels of mercy. You and I are designed to make the world jealous, not by our sanctimoniousness, not by our priggishness and righteousness, but by the joy of being received by God, the joy of knowing that He’s loving and kind to us, the joy of knowing that He has shown us His mercy. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
