Fulfillment of Divine Purpose – Part 1

If God’s people would take their
Bibles and turn back once again finally to the Book of Romans
and Chapter 9. I thank you for your indulgence
in first allowing me to dip into Isaiah 40 something that I had
long desired to do and then for the extended. grace granted to
us as the elders really purpose to kind of put a focus on the
church and some of the elements of the church certainly to do
an exhaustive study of those things would take many years
and not just a few weeks. So we just skipped along some
of the high points and we want to return at least to my comfort zone to
Just the verse by verse consideration. And in this case of this great
book, the book of Romans were in chapter nine. We are in a
what is arguably a difficult section of scripture. Some people
feel like that the chapters 9 through 11 are so abrupt that they just
don’t even seem to fit. But I have already made the argument
that I think Paul is just perpetuating his articulation of justification
by faith. It just takes a little bit different
perspective here. The passage as we’ve already
acknowledged some months ago has been a passage that has generated
much discussion in a great many ways has been ignored or passed
over those who have taken it up. Many have either misunderstood
it or misapplied it. There is not universal agreement
on these passages and so certainly it’s easy to offend. I just hope
not to do so with my attitude or certainly with my level of
study. I do believe that Paul is perpetuating
His discussion of justification by faith, and I think the passage
even before us this morning will hopefully echo that. Paul is
continuing his theme and early on in the letter in chapter
one, verse 16, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for
is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To
the Jew first and also to the Greek. But as the reception of
Christ showed the facts seem to contradict that statement
that in large measure the nation of Israel had not come to faith
in Jesus Christ. They had not enjoyed the power
of God for salvation by and large. The great majority of the nation
of Israel rejected Christ and ultimately were complicit in
crucifying him. And so, in a sense, it’s crucial
here for Paul, having just articulated the great truths of Romans 8,
it’s important for him essentially to uphold, certainly to defend
and affirm that God is in control, that God has not just capriciously
changed his mind with regards to Israel, but is upholding all
of the promises that he has made to them. Otherwise, how could
anybody take the promises made and the comfort given in Romans
chapter 8, as I shared with the saints many months ago. I didn’t
even realize, but we were in Romans 8 for almost seven months. Well, Barb and I certainly know
why we were in Romans 8 for seven months because by the time we
faced what is life’s most difficult challenge thus far for our family
we absolutely felt grounded and ready. But part of that comes
in the face of the fact that we absolutely trust the Lord. But when the Lord says something
in Romans 8 we’re able to take him at his word that if You know
how would God who did not spare his only son how will he not
freely give us all things we can take God at his word. So the question remains if these
promises had been given to Israel and then just capriciously taken
back because of their unfaithfulness then what of the promises to
us. As one said it if the truth of
God’s purpose with Israel had been frustrated what sort of
a basis for Christian hope is there. And if God’s love for
Israel had ceased and a love that he had declared repeatedly
what kind of reliance could are we going to be more faithful
than Israel had been. We just opened our service with
a time of confession. Certainly Israel on many cases
sinned. high handedly and refused to
confess they were hard hearted stiff necked as scripture calls
them. But certainly there were some
there were some that sought God continually. God had made promises to Israel. And Paul here clearly declares
that the power the power of the gospel is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. The most obvious question comes.
As the tension mounts in the book of Romans, as the promises
come from God, what of the Jews? What happened to the Jews? And
why are they so much outside of or at least seemingly so the
grace of God. Well Paul takes up that question. And that’s what chapters 9 through
11 are all about. And we began as I said some months
ago to consider it. We’ll take a very brief review
of those things and then we will delve into a new section I’ve
passed out or notes were available for you at the door if you didn’t
get them. They will be back there for you
on the way out, and I think you can navigate the passage without
them, but they’re there if you if you would like them. If you
would, let’s take the passage in its entirety today. Verse
1 through 13 of Chapter 9. Where Paul writes and admittedly
somewhat abruptly. I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience
bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. That I have great sorrow
and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself
were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh. Who are Israelites. To whom belongs the adoption
as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the
law and the temple service and the promises. Whose are the fathers
and from whom is the Christ. According to the flesh who is
overall God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though
the word of God has failed for they are not all Israel who are
descended from Israel. Neither are they all children
because they are Abraham’s descendants. But through Isaac your descendants
will be named. That is not the children of the
flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise
are regarded as descendants. For this is a word of promise
at this time, I will come and Sarah will have a son. And not
only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived twins
by one man, our father Isaac, for through the twins of pardon
me, for though the twins were not yet born, and had not done
anything good or bad in order that God’s purpose, according
to his choice, might stand not because of words, but because
of him who calls. It was said to her, the older
will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob, I have
loved, but Esau, I hate it. Some might ask what provokes
a conversation of any length about Israel. Israel rejected
Christ after all we can dispatch them out of hand can’t we. Paul
takes up the question and in these chapters primarily due
to the fact that Paul had already declared that the gospel was
for the Jews. The title Christ was essentially
a clarion call to the Jewish people that their Messiah had
indeed come. The anointed one. The gospel
that is proclaimed throughout the scriptures, not only the
gospel of Christ, but the gospel of God. Which beckons the Jews
to consider the Old Testament promises with regards to the
Messiah. But the Jews were an anomaly. They had not responded
to Christ as many believed that they would or certainly should. And as we began to characterize
our study last Lord’s Day I just made a couple of admissions or
if you will confessions that there are elements about this
study that not all of us are going to agree on and I acknowledge
that many in this body don’t hold to these positions and I’m
comfortable with that. I’m OK with that tension. Those who hold to a covenantal
perspective essentially hold to it’s not just pedo-baptism
that to me is a lesser feature. But those who hold the covenant
theology essentially hold that the church is the new Israel.
The church has taken the promises of Israel. The church has had
the blessings of the covenant transferred to them. And that
is not my perspective. That’s why I don’t prefer the
title reformed. I met with another gentleman
this past week that wanted to know more about our church. I
still maintain that I have more in common with my covenantal
brethren than than I have with any other religious group. Not
the least of which is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We may
disagree on the mode of baptism. We largely agree on the mode
of government. We certainly are in a drastic
minority when we say that we hold to the doctrines of grace.
We have that in common. We have the Reformation and the
solas of the Reformation that all of us would affirm. And that’s
why I say that we agree on the vast majority of what Scripture
articulates. But to say that I believe in
a distinction between Israel and the church should not cause
a rift should not cause a breach. It should be the motivation the
prompter for more not less dialogue and discussion. I do believe
as one articulated that there is a distinct program for the
nation of Israel and one for the church. And that ultimately dovetails
into one great purpose, the glory of God. The church doesn’t take
over the covenant promises of Israel. Israel must have a distinct
future in the program of God because of the multitude of the
promises that were spoken to them. We began our study in this particular
section in those first five verses just by looking at the testimony
of Paul regarding his own heart and how he was processing the
news and the experience that he had had not just by way of
anecdote but he had actually faced many of his own countrymen
in their rejection of Christ. And Paul is wrestling with that
and that’s why perhaps we Speculated and there’s got to be some of
that in those first few verses. Exactly what he’s arguing. But
it’s likely that people were beginning to think that Paul
had turned his back on the nation of Israel. Paul had turned his
back on his brothers the Jews because of their rejection of
Christ. And Paul says you know perhaps he was even seen as uncaring
or unloving. But Paul says I’m telling the
truth in Christ. I’m not lying. My conscience
sparingly witness in the Holy Spirit he basically says in essence
you can ask God about this. That I have great sorrow and
unceasing grief in my heart. This is no light matter. I don’t
take this casually. I shared with you about that
disturbing cup of coffee that I had with a friend that almost
wished that the nation of Islam would wipe out Israel so he could
be done and move on with his covenant theology forever. That’s
disturbing. And that’s not Paul’s position.
That’s not Paul’s heart. Paul was broken hearted over
the rejection that his own countrymen had shown towards Christ. And Paul says, I wish there were
something I could do about it. I wish. And this is astounding
to me that I could trade places. Remember, that’s how we closed.
Do you care about anybody that badly? Do you care about anyone
that deeply to say, you know what? If I could trade places
with you and go to hell, I do it. Do you love anybody that
much? I don’t take this as just hyperbole.
I think Paul was sincerely grieved. I think Paul, if Paul knew that
the entirety of the nation of Israel, the entire nation, every
person ever born, if he knew that they could be saved by his
death. He says he would have done it. But the truth is, a savior had
already died. Someone had already come in and
interposed his own life on their behalf, and they were rejecting
him, and that’s why Paul is so grieved. And lest anybody be
mistaken, Paul is talking about the nation of Israel here. He’s
talking about the favored people of God who were God’s chosen
people. And Paul makes no equivocation
about that matter. Look at what he says in verse
three. They are his kinsmen, according to the flesh. He hasn’t
abandoned them. He hasn’t cut himself off from
them. They are still related by blood. They’re Israelites to whom belongs
the adoption. God had chosen them. God had
taken them for his own as his own children. To them belonged
the glory, the glory of the covenants, the glory of all of the miracles
that God had shown to them. Even as we sang about this morning,
the pillar of fire, the cloud. The covenants, the promises that
God had made to them. The giving of the law that God
would express to them in infinite detail exactly how he wanted
them to live. In order to please him, The temple
services, the means of remedying that situation similar to our
confession when they had transgressed. There was a means of coming before
and repairing that relationship, even if temporarily. The promises. The fathers, the rich legacy,
the rich heritage that was theirs as the people of God. which ultimately
issued forth in God sending the Messiah. It was from them that
he was one of their own. At least according to the flesh.
And so Paul is wrestling with it. Paul looks at it and says,
this is this is not a good situation. I wish myself to be a curse,
because that’s where I currently see my kinsmen. They are currently a curse. They
are separated from Christ. They have gone, as I said several
months ago, from privilege to peril, they had everything. And
they squandered it all. So where does this leave God? Paul didn’t explicitly tell us
what condition the nation of Israel currently was in. But you can surmise when Paul
says, I wish myself were accursed instead, that Paul essentially
summarizes the the whole predicament by saying currently they stand
at odds with God. Currently, they are accursed.
Currently, they are hell bound. They’re completely apart from
Christ. regardless of all the privileges that have been bestowed
on them through the centuries. They have not received the gospel.
There is no alternate means of salvation. They have not yielded
to Christ. They have not placed their faith
in Christ alone for salvation. And as such, they stand accursed
before God. And if they die, they’re going
to hell. But what Paul does here is begin
to discuss the problem and essentially to articulate the limitations
of. That problem. By a very clear
articulation of divine election. He says, look, this situation
doesn’t it doesn’t mean that God didn’t follow his promises.
What you’re seeing is election play out in real time. I’ll explain
in a moment. Paul begins to vindicate God.
Paul begins to argue on behalf of God and suggest that we not
look at the facts in some earthly manner, but we step back and
we let God be God. Paul’s grief, the grief that
he had already articulated in verses one through five, Doesn’t
mean that God has lost control. Doesn’t mean that God has had
to seek out a second plan. Doesn’t mean that God’s purposes
have been thwarted and now God must come up with a new plan.
God’s purposes stand. And as one said, the fact that
at the present time, the majority of the Jews stand outside the
circle of election, which is the Israel within Israel, is
no proof of the failure of that promise. Since it conforms to
the pattern of the working out of God’s purpose from the very
beginning, let’s look at it. If you have your notes, I would
suggest that the overall Caption for this entire section from
verse six to verse 13 could be fulfillment of a divine purpose. And basically what Paul is arguing
is not only has the word of God not failed. This is proof that
the word of God is working itself out that the divine purpose is
in effect that the divine purpose is working itself out even as
we speak. Paul says. But it’s not as though
the word of God has failed. It’s a curious collection of
words and particles. It’s not that it’s not as if. Paul says, look at my grief,
let’s consider my grief, but it’s not as if God has abandoned
his promise. It’s not as if God’s purposes
have failed. It’s not as if God has lost control
of this situation. When he uses that phrase, the
word of God, It’s it’s in a much more expanded capacity than merely
looking back on the Old Testament scriptures. It certainly would
encompass those things that what it’s talking about is the utterances
of God the promises of God the decrees if you will of God. It
is. As one said, the declared purpose
of God, whether it be promise or threat or decree, something
that God had stated he had proposed to do, God had lost control. The situation hadn’t changed
anything in God’s design. Not even all of the promises
made to Israel. You see, there were. There were
a great many who had rejected Christ And I take it as a perhaps
even a personal shortcoming that maybe I’ve done my job too well
in carving through the Gospels as we looked and we basically
came away with a pretty disdainful look at the Jews. And it’s a
convenient place for us to be. We want to put all the blame
on the Jews when after all we were complicit as to our sin.
You know, the honest truth is a great many, the vast majority
of the beginning of the church was exclusively Jewish. But just listen, as we talk about
the book of Acts, just listen, jot down the verses if you wish
and check me if if you desire to see how many throughout the
book of Acts were Jews. In Acts 2.5, there were Jews
living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.
It was in that context that the Holy Spirit came and rested on
those early believers. And it says, ultimately, as the
testimony went forth, that those who had received his word were
baptized and that there were added about three thousand souls. Not all the nation of Israel
rejected Christ. Here’s three thousand who received
him gladly. In Acts, chapter four. They were
speaking to the people, chapter four, verse one through four,
the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees
came up to them. being greatly disturbed because
they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrection from the dead. And they laid their hands on
them and put them in jail until the next day for it was already
evening. But many of those who heard the message believed. God
was having his way. God’s purposes were working themselves
out. It wasn’t as vast. It didn’t
encompass the entire nation of Israel. But certainly there were
Jews getting saved. You could even say left and right. In Acts, chapter five, verse
13, it is recorded that the people, the Jewish people of the city
held them, that is the preachers of the gospel in high esteem.
In Acts, chapter six, verse seven, a great many of the priests.
We’re becoming obedient to the faith, the very priests, the
very pinnacle of the Jewish religion, they were yielding to Christ
and coming to faith. In Acts chapter eight, even Simon
himself believed, verse 13, and on and on it goes in Acts chapter
14, a large number of the people believe both of Jews and of Greeks. In Acts chapter 18, he found
a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, Having recently come
from Italy with his wife. Here’s Aquila, his friend, now
in the ministry in Acts chapter 18, verse 8, Crispus, the leader
of the synagogue. Believed in the Lord with all
his household in 1824, a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian
by birth, by birth, an eloquent man came to Ephesus and he was
mighty in the scriptures. These just were You know, uneducated
people coming to Christ, priests, leaders of synagogues, very learned
men were hearing the gospel and coming to faith. It wasn’t all
Israel. But it was Jewish people, it
was those who were by blood Jewish in birth. It’s not as though
the word of God is veiled. Paul can say that with all emphasis. The word of God hadn’t failed,
it’s working itself out, it’s working itself out even now.
That word, interestingly, we saw that word when we studied
Isaiah chapter 40, failed. The grass withers, the flower
fades, fails. Ultimately, the flower is coming
off. That’s not the case. It’s not the case with the word
of God. When the breath of the Lord blows
upon it, surely the people are grasped, but the word of our
Lord abides forever. And such was the case in the
promise that Paul is articulating here. What Paul said in verses one
through five doesn’t poke holes in God’s plan, it doesn’t undermine
God’s plan, it doesn’t set it aside. As one said, the present
situation reproduces a pattern of divine action. Which has unfolded
often. Some have always opened their
hearts to God’s revelation, while others have hardened theirs. And by the variety of their response,
they have shown whether or not they were among those on whom
God had set his sovereign choice. The very fact that some responded
was a proof of divine election. He continues and says throughout
Old Testament history, God’s purpose was handed down through
an inner group, an elect minority, a saving remnant. We’re constantly
throughout the scriptures, we see that pattern of God’s selecting
one, choosing one, electing one and not another. Whether for
privilege or for responsibility or even for salvation, we see
it. Paul gives a series of arguments,
three, to prove this point. It’s not as though the word of
God has failed. It hasn’t. And he wants to give
a series of these three arguments. I don’t know how far we’ll make
it, not very far at this rate. The first one is the argument
of Israel. We’ll start here. We’ll conclude next Lord’s Day. He says it’s not as though the
word of God has failed but they are not all Israel who are descended
from Israel. What Paul does is back away and
he begins to characterize what Israel even is. Paul is pointing
out the fact that within the nation of Israel there were Both
believers and unbelievers those who were coming to Christ as
we just saw and those who never would. The contrast that Paul
points to here is a contrast between Jews on the one hand
who have come to faith and Jews on the other hand who have not.
It’s not a contrast between Jews and the church. Paul isn’t enlarging
the circle or, if you will, changing the focus of that circle on a
completely new people group. In fact, if you look at the entirety
of Romans 9 through 11, he’s talking about the nation of Israel
throughout and ultimately a future day of restoration for that nation.
The point that he’s making here, and he’ll make it again, And
again, and again, is that blood itself, a blood relationship,
the fact that they are in the family by blood lineage does
not guarantee spiritual position. One faithful commentator said
it this way, Paul begins by demolishing the position that the whole Jewish
nation would be saved. That was their position. That’s
what the Jews thought. They thought that just by virtue
of the fact that they were children of Abraham, they were going to
heaven no matter what. And that’s what led to the great
spiritual decline. It didn’t matter how they lived.
They were who they were by virtue of birthright. Paul begins by demolishing a
position that the whole Jewish nation would be saved, a view
held by many Jews. From the very beginning, there
had been descendants of Abraham who were not among the elect.
It was an error to assume that descent from Abraham gave them
total security in a favored position before God. So what does he mean
here when he says they are not all Israel who descended from
Israel. What does this Israel mean and what is this Israel.
It’s a bit of a conundrum but it’s not unsolvable especially
if you look at this passage in the totality of the section. and in the totality of these
first 13 verses. In one hand, he refers to the
descendants, the forefather Jacob, the physical seed, if you will,
of the nation of Israel. And then he looks at the elect
within the elect, those who would truly come to Christ, those who
would place their faith in Christ. It was the offspring of Israel,
said one Jacob, according to the flesh compared to Israel
in the spiritual sense that they had truly become the people of
God. As one pastor said, Paul does
not mean here to distinguish a spiritual Israel, the Christian
church. from fleshly Israel, but to state
that the promises made to Israel might be fulfilled even if some
of his descendants were shut out from them. Not all physical
descendants are necessarily inheritors of the divine promises. The thought here is that there
is an Israel within an ethnic Israel. What Paul is doing here
is limiting. The focus of what Israel is,
he’s not expanding it, he’s not changing its focus, he’s not
it’s not as if we have a flashlight focused on one people, the nation
of Israel and click off goes the flashlight and God shines
it on a different people group and says, here you take their
promises. That’s not what’s going on. It’s a limitation, not an
expansion of the promise. You see, covenantalism goes beyond
even just expansion. You might even, you know, the
average person might even be heartened to say, oh, well, the
Jews didn’t respond all that well, so we’ll take all the Jews
and whoever else wants to come. We certainly know that to be
truth, that the Gentiles were let in, but that doesn’t necessarily
mean that God has necessarily set aside his promises to the
Jews, to the nation of Israel. He hasn’t clicked off his focus
upon Israel and moved to a new focus upon Gentiles and given
them all of the promises that he had promised to one nation. For those of you who are unfamiliar
with the covenantal position the covenantal position is articulated
by Charles Hodge. And I love Charles Hodge. Those
of you who know me know that with Charles Hodge, I agree on
95 percent of what he says, especially with regards to the doctrine
of salvation, the doctrines of grace, divine election, the irresistible
nature of the gospel call in a chosen person’s life. I love Charles Hodge. I disagree
with him on this point. Here’s how he defines this section. He says the apostle now approaches
the subject which he had in view the rejection of the Jews. That
is the covenantal position. That we are going to God is going
to reject outright the nation of Israel and the calling of
the Gentiles. That God had determined he says
to cast off his ancient covenantal people and to extend the call
of the gospel indiscriminately to all men. Now. If I were to
tell you this past week that I had Jell-O, there isn’t a one
of you, and believe me, that would be a far-fetched thing
for you to, it would take a lot of faith for you to believe because
I don’t particularly care for Jell-O, but if I said that I
had Jell-O, certainly there isn’t a person in the room that would
conclude that I ate all the Jell-O in the world. What Paul is doing
here is exactly the same thing, just to use the same word Jell-O.
All he’s doing in using the word Israel is narrowing it down.
He’s narrowing it down. And the point that Paul is making,
as one said, is not that all who are included in the comprehensive
name of Israel are included also in the selective special Israel. I had occasion to sit under a
man named S. Lewis Johnson as a pastor for
several years. And S. Lewis Johnson took up
this argument, this idea that God has completely set aside
the nation of Israel and now his only focus, the apple of
his eye, is now only on the Gentiles. He said this. The idea is foreign to the text. The apostle is making the same
point he has made previously in the letter. The division he
speaks of is within the nation. They who are descended from Israel
refers to the physical seed, the natural ethnic descendants
of the patriarchs from Jacob or Israel. In the second occurrence
of the word in verse six, Paul refers to the elect within that
nation. He’s narrowing it down. He’s
not expanding it, and he’s certainly not changing the focus. Paul’s point here is that within. The chosen people of God, the
elect people. Who have already had all of those
benefits and blessings already articulated in verses four and
five. He says that within them there
is There is a mark of divine grace that God has moved in a
special way and selected out of them. One pastor characterized it this
way in a day of widespread natural national apostasy, Isaiah. Isaiah saw the judgment would
fall upon Israel and Judah on such a scale that only a handful,
the merest remnant would survive. Yet. In this remnant, he saw
hope of the future embodied. God’s purposes and promises to
his people Israel would not be frustrated. The remnant, Paul
sees, embodied anew in that minority of Jews who, like himself, had
acknowledged Jesus as Lord. A minority, but their existence
was a guarantee of a turning to the Lord on the part of Israel
in the last day to come so that God could say, This is my people. God has not set aside his people,
and we’re only getting warmed up into this study. That’s just
Paul’s first argument. He’ll turn to an argument about
Isaac, an argument that points to God’s sovereignty in a special
way in selecting out Isaac, and then he’ll turn his attention
to an individual named Esau, a child of Otherwise, blessing. Except that
God had a different plan. And God chose Jacob instead. We’ll turn our attention to those
passages next Lord’s Day. Let’s bow before our God. Oh, merciful God, we come to
these difficult sections of Scripture with such trepidation, wanting
to honor only you. Lord, we thank you and praise
you for. The fact that you saw fit to
include us in this ongoing unfolding of your precious. Promise and
plan and purpose. Lord, we rejoice that by your
grace alone You have seen fit to include us in that plan. Lord, we rejoice in the salvation
that we have come to own. And like the Jews, we would not
for a moment hold out that it’s anything in us or that we figured
you out or that we seized upon the gospel because of our great
learning. Lord, we thank you and praise
you that we’ve come to know Christ Because of Your mercy alone,
we rejoice in that mercy in Jesus’ name, Amen.