190901 Bearing the Pain

Romans 9:6-8 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

This is the most difficult part of the letter of Paul to the Romans. Chapter 8 ends on a gloriously high note. To be a follower of Christ is to be more than a conqueror. Nothing can bring us down. Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are able to look forward to Christ’s ultimate victory over earthly suffering. Now Paul brings us to the difficult teaching on election. I am not talking about voting for a government official. I am talking about God’s choosing his people. Let’s look through Romans 9 and see what it has to tell us.

Paul’s pain drove him to seek an understanding of why Israel might not be entirely saved. We need to know that…

Election is beyond our understanding. Let’s look at Isaiah 55:6-9. “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; ⁷ let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God is beyond us! The biblical teaching on election is something that we cannot fully wrap our minds around. We live in an age that is centered on man, not God. The doctrine of election is essential to our understanding of who God is and how he relates to us. This is not some new idea that just came on the scene in the last hundred years or so. Let me name a few teachers who have held strongly to this doctrine. Augustine (AD 354-430), Tyndale (AD 1494-1436), Wycliffe (AD 1330-1384), hymn writers Isaac Watts (AD 1674-1748) and John Newton (AD 1425-1807), evangelist George Whitefield (AD 1714-1770), Jonathan Edwards (AD 1703-1758), William Carey (AD 1761-1804), the list goes on and on throughout history.

They all recognized that God’s thoughts are beyond our thoughts. God’s ways are beyond our ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth God is higher than we are. Now, let’s look at the truth that is taught in Romans chapter 9 concerning the doctrine of election. First, let’s see who really is…

Abraham’s offspring. Let’s look at Galatians 4:22-23 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. ²³ But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.

We know from our study of Scripture that Isaac was not the only son of Abraham but he was the unique son of Abraham. 13 years before Isaac was born Abraham fathered Ishmael. However, the heir of God’s promise to Abraham was Isaac. By the way, just to be transparent Abraham also had other children. After Sarah died he took another wife (Genesis 25:1). None of those other children are ever included in the promise given to Abraham. You see, what really counts is children born of the Spirit…

Not the children of the flesh. Let’s look back at Romans 9:9-13 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹ though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— ¹² she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Children of the promise depend on God’s faithfulness and not a person’s physical descent from Abraham. God did not fail to complete his promise. Paul uses the birth of Isaac followed by Rebekah and the twins she bore to Isaac. This was to establish the fact that God’s purpose of election flowed through specific individuals who are descendants of Abraham by faith. Natural descent, even descent from Isaac does not guarantee God’s favor or choice. Both Jacob and Esau were natural descendants.

But only Jacob was chosen to carry the promise. Jacob became the heir because of God’s sovereign choice and not by any works of any individual.

According to the Bible — and that must be our standard — election is an act of God before the creation in which he chose some people to be saved, not on account of any goodness he sees in them but only because of his sovereign pleasure. Wherever we turn in Scripture we will see the teaching of God’s sovereign grace repeated again and again. We do not have time to begin to quote every example but we do need to touch on a few things. One thing we need to do is answer the question…

What does “God hates” mean? First let’s look at Malachi 1:2-3a. “I have loved you,” says the Lord. But you say, “How have you loved us?” “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob ³ but Esau I have hated.” Malachi poses the question to God, “How have you loved us?” And God gives the answer: of the twins born to Isaac God loved Jacob but hated Esau. This is not to say that God hated in the way we use the word today. In comparison with his choice of Jacob and the nation of Israel, he loved Esau less. We can look at the words of Jesus to find a comparison.

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. I do not believe that Jesus intended we should hate our family in the usual sense of the word. I believe Jesus means that we are to love him so much that love for family is relative hatred by comparison. I believe both these passages simply state that we are to be like God in our love relationships. All other loves are to be less — measurably less than love for him. Now, what can we say about how God loves? First…

God loves sinners. Let’s look at John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In the past, this was probably the best-known verse of Scripture. I’m not sure it is today but we will look at it as an example of how God loves. The world that God so loved is the totality of fallen mankind. Now let’s look at… 2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. And…

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

No question, God loves sinners meaning he loves all of us. He came to the earth in Jesus to seek and to save that which is lost. Yes, he knows the end from the beginning and that means he knows everyone who will come to him. When Paul said that he could wish that he were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers. It is not possible that Paul, or anyone, would be able to save anyone else by sacrificing himself.

Possibly the largest opposition to the idea of predestination, or election…

Is God unfair? We go back to Romans 9:14-18. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

Throughout the Bible, we find statements like this. In Deuteronomy 32:4 God states that his work is perfect and all his ways are just. Isaiah 64:8 assures us that God is the potter and we are the clay. One thing for certain the clay does not talk back to the potter. God shapes us and when we are broken he gathers the pieces and puts us back together again. We need to remember that…

God had a plan from the beginning. Let’s read on Romans 9:22-24. What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴ even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

God has been patient throughout the centuries. All men everywhere are born separated from God. God does not choose anyone to be condemned. God does choose many to have eternal life. Going back to Jacob and Esau let me share a quote from Donald Gray Barnhouse.

The Bible nowhere announces the predestination of the lost. It would seem that Calvin and others have drawn an inference in purely human logic. They would hold that the choice of Jacob implies the reprobation of Esau. Both of these brothers were born in sin; they both had the nature of Adam. They both grew up in sin. They both were children of wrath, disobedient by nature. If there had been any merit in these two sons, God would have been unjust in not rewarding that merit. The choice of one deserving man over another deserving man would have been favoritism. When we see that the two were equally undeserving, the whole picture becomes different. Everything that is said in the entire Bible about the nature of fallen man may be said—must be said—about both Jacob and Esau. God determined, for causes that are to be found in Himself and have not been revealed to us, to show favor to Jacob.

Paul concludes this section by quoting from Hosea to show how the people of Israel broke their covenant. Even with that, God is patient at the right time God demonstrated his eternal plan — the failure of the Jews led to the inclusion of the Gentiles. God has not failed he has fulfilled his purpose. It is all by faith. Romans chapter 9 concludes with an illustration of man’s responsibility. We are unable to work our way to salvation. Neither should we hold back letting God do all the work. Instead. we are to stand on the rock and not stumble over it. We are to believe in the Lord Jesus in order to be saved (Acts 16:31) because to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). Have you really trusted Jesus? Have you believed him? Are you resting in him?

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton, Ill, Standard Bible Society.