God’s Sovereignty Over the Nations

We happily resume our study of Romans this morning, acknowledging, even as we come to it, to a massive transition. We come into Paul’s fourth great section of this epistle, that of sovereignty, our fourth S in our overall outline. Paul began with the discussion of sin, you’ll recall, in 1.8 through 3.20. He continued the pleasant topic of salvation in 3.21 through 5.21, and we recently concluded that he followed sin, salvation, with a thorough presentation of sanctification, 6.1 through 8.39. Sin, salvation, sanctification, and now here we are beginning in chapter nine as Paul takes up the subject of sovereignty. In the course of his treatment of sanctification, the apostle certainly asserted God’s sovereignty in the individual sinner’s salvation. And he does so in a number of passages, including the most obvious, Romans 8, 28 through 30.

There, Paul spoke of those whom God foreknew. that God had set his love upon certain individuals, and then he predestined them. He established his divine intention to save such persons. He called them in time through the gospel to salvation. He justified them, bestowing upon them Christ’s righteousness. And he glorified them, referring ultimately to the perfection of holiness that every believer will come to know.

God is sovereign in salvation. But here in chapters nine through 11, Paul is not articulating a case for God’s sovereignty in individuals’ lives. He’s asserting that God is sovereign even over entire nations. And he reduces these nations to two primary peoples. Israel, the people of God, chosen by God, and the Gentiles, non-Jews, those who are not chosen, the godless heathen of the world. Paul means to show that God is sovereign over both of those nations. Israel and the Gentiles.

From my studies of this book some 15 years ago, I came across a very noteworthy introduction that one commentary provided. He likened these chapters, nine through 11, to scaling the face of the Eiger, the Eiger Mountain in Switzerland. The Eiger is one of three peaks in close proximity, the others being Monk and Jungfrau.

The Eiger itself is an imposing 13,000 foot monster with a sheer wall on its north face. It’s so steep that snow only sticks to the deepest and roughest crevices. That hasn’t stopped thrill seekers from attempting to climb it, and nearly 70 have died trying. No wonder the north face of the Eiger has been nicknamed the murderous wall.

Well, that illustration for me has new significance, because two years ago, I got to see that mountain up close. We had the privilege of visiting the Bernice Alps, two years ago this month. We stayed at the base of these magnificent and intimidating peaks. So when this commentator sets forth this image of the Eiger as a likeness to these intimidating chapters, he has presented an apt illustration. These are tremendously challenging and notoriously controversial chapters, So I know that the saints will be gracious toward me as we walk through these wonderful, if not intimidating, chapters.

Paul has already dealt with the subject of Israel back in chapter two. He drew us to the conclusion that Israel too, in addition to the Gentiles, are sinful and in need of a savior. The greater part of the Jewish people, to make it worse, had rejected Christ as their savior. But their prevailing unbelief generate several important theological questions.

And Paul seeks to deal with those questions in these three chapters. I keep having to remind myself that we’re doing a flyover this time through Romans, a lighter treatment of this material, not a verse-by-verse exposition addressing every aspect of it. But still, before I could even begin to speak on some of the more prominent features of these chapters, I think we need to step back and gain an overview of the whole. Rather than reading the entire passage before preaching it, I think that it would be better to read each section as it falls to us during the course of the study. In this argument that Paul presents over three chapters, Paul makes three distinct arguments.

In 9.1 through 29, I would title it this way, a nation’s rejection does not upset God’s plans.

In 9.30 through 10.21, point number two, a nation’s dullness does not thwart God’s salvation. And in 11.1 through 36, a nation’s purposes are for God’s glory. Each of these arguments will contain also three elements. Three, three, three. Let’s begin our overview of these remarkable chapters. God’s sovereignty over the nations, beginning in Romans chapter 9 and verse 1.

I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have a 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 belong the adoption as sons, 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. Paul begins his discussion of God’s sovereignty over the nations by acknowledging his own personal anguish over the rejection of the Messiah by his own nation, the Jewish people. We know that Paul is referring to the Jewish nation here because he calls them brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh, Israelites, verse four, of whom he recognizes a great host of blessings that had been given them.

Adoption, covenants, the law, the temple, the promises. not the least of which was the Savior, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Paul isn’t suggesting here that there was a wholesale rejection by the Jewish people. The Apostle John employed the same hyperbole in the opening chapter of his Gospel when he said that he came to his own, his own people, did Christ, and those who were his own did not receive him. Neither Paul nor John are saying that no Jewish person ever became a Christian, because both of them were Jewish.

Many Jewish people were immediately converted to Christ even during Christ’s ministry. Nearly all of the early disciples of Christ were Jewish, as were all of the apostles. Many Jewish people were eventually converted to Christ, as we see not only throughout the Gospels, but the Book of Acts. And then down through the centuries, scores of Jewish people have turned to Christ for salvation.

Paul isn’t speaking absolutely here. But for the most part, Yes, the Jewish nation had rejected, criticized, ultimately called for Jesus’ execution. But a nation’s rejection, even of God’s plan of redemption, of God’s Messiah, of God’s gospel, even a rejection of these does not upset God’s plans. And with that, Paul introduces the primary nation in his discussion of God’s sovereignty over the nations. God is sovereign over Israel.

But that raises an interesting question. If God is sovereign over the nations, and yet the very people to whom he sent a messiah rejected that messiah, doesn’t that do serious damage to God’s supremacy? Is God really sovereign? Is he really in control? Paul anticipates this challenge and addresses it in verses six through 13. I’ll read just a portion of it and refer to more as we go. Look at verse six if you would, 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 the children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. A logical question arises from the truths of verses one through five.

If the Jews are the chosen people, chosen by God, are God’s plans nullified? Are his promises empty? The failure of the Jewish people to embrace God’s plan of redemption does no damage to God’s integrity. That’s Paul’s thrust. Paul counters the potential challenge by declaring that it is not as though the word of God has failed. God has made many promises to Israel. He intends to fulfill them all and has already fulfilled many. A momentary setback seen from man’s perspective presents no challenge to God.

Paul’s simple explanation there in verse six is that they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. It was never God’s plan or design that every Jewish person would be eternally saved. Even though Israel was God’s chosen people, not all are Israel. Secondly, not all are Abraham’s descendants. Ishmael was not the promised son of Abraham, but Paul reminds through Isaac your descendants will be named. Paul gives a third and stark illustration, a third argument, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, articulating God’s sovereignty. Not even all of Abraham’s descendants were children of the promise, and not every Israelite was destined for heaven.

Physical descent was not enough to guarantee God’s promise. Many Jews throughout the centuries have perished in their sin. And so as Paul states it, it is not as though the word of God has failed. God’s plan of redemption of sinners is still intact, even if the so-called chosen people rejected their very Messiah.

But Paul wishes to further explain this difficulty. God does indeed have a purpose in Israel’s rejection of their Savior. And he lays this out in a lengthy argument in verses 14 through 20. If you would, glance down at chapter 14, just a few verses, and I’ll again refer back to some later. Verse 14, what should we say then?

There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. The apostle begins this section. with one of his classic rhetorical questions. There is no injustice with God, is there?

And Paul issues immediately a strong denial, may it never be. People level this complaint against God’s sovereignty all the time. This is favoritism, they say. God’s love is capricious. For God to love one and hate the other is not fair. It’s unjust for God to choose one person or nation over another. People often criticize God because of his rulings, his intentions, his choices. Paul strongly denies the charge of injustice here, and he effectively argues that the spiritual standing of every person and every nation is only according to God’s sovereignly dispensed mercy.

Mercy is God’s withholding of his justifiable wrath. We all deserve it. Every nation deserves it. God sees people languishing, however, under the misery of sin, and he moves to relieve their suffering. That’s mercy. But God owes no one mercy. Mercy, by its very definition, is not shown to every person. It’s not given to every nation. It is God’s prerogative to either extend or to withhold his mercy.

Paul cites as his foundational support here, Exodus 33, 18, God’s words to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy. God doesn’t owe anyone anything. He is, as Paul goes on to say, the potter. We are but the clay, and as one pastor quipped, As clay, we have no say. Paul rounds out this argument with a citation from Hosea. I’m told that you’ve heard of this book.

It’s a quote from Hosea regarding the Gentile nations. The Gentiles are those whom God identifies to Hosea as once not my people, not beloved, But because of God’s exercise of divine mercy, he chooses to call them my people, my beloved. God’s saving mercy extends to his people Israel, and it extends to an elect remnant that will be saved. And so, as Paul has presented here, even though Israel had largely rejected their Messiah, God maintains His sovereignty. Every nation stands or falls according to the exercise of God’s mercy alone.

Well, it’s here that Paul draws an explanatory conclusion. And he does so in verses 30 through 33. What shall we say then? This brings us to Paul’s second major point. Not only does a nation’s rejection not upset God’s plans, but secondly, a nation’s dullness does not thwart God’s salvation. And he points that out with regard to salvation, that Israel had opted for their own approach to salvation rather than that of God. Would you pick up with me in verse 30?

What should we say, then, that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith, but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law? Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone just as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.

And he who believes in him will not be disappointed. A nation’s dullness to the gospel does not thwart God’s salvation. God will continue to carry out his plan of redemption. He will fulfill his desire to save sinners. Just because one nation spurns God’s love doesn’t mean that he abandons his plan. The first thing that Paul highlights here in these verses is the differing approach of these two nations to salvation. Specifically, their respective pursuit of righteousness. There’s a great disparity here in these four verses.

The Gentiles, those vast scores of non-Jews, attained righteousness without even pursuing it. When Paul says that the Gentiles did not pursue righteousness, he doesn’t imply there that there were no moral people, decent people among the heathen. But by and large, he says, with them there was no fear of God. And as a result, there was no moral compass. For the most part, they were godless in their mindset and their lifestyle. And yet, though they did not pursue righteousness, in time, God bestowed it upon them.

This is the doctrine of justification by faith, which has been the recurring theme throughout this letter. In 1.16 and 1.17 Paul spoke of righteousness which is by faith.

In 3.23 he talked about righteousness being through faith that we are justified as a gift by his grace. And in 5.1 we are justified by faith, faith in Christ. And so these Gentile nations were declared righteous because of their faith in Christ.

Meanwhile, the Jewish people who made the pursuit of righteousness their primary life goal, this righteousness remained elusive to them because they went about it in all the wrong ways. They pursued it by works and not by faith. And so here, one nation knew that they were wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, that without God’s help they were doomed. The other nation was smug, believing that they were healthy, needing no physician. One nation looked to themselves, the other nation looked only to God.

The nation of Israel was characterized by the attitude of that arrogant lawyer who touched off Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan, remember? by hinting at the fact that he had loved God perfectly. Because all he was concerned about was perhaps not loving his neighbor perfectly.

What Paul is saying here is that Israel pursued righteousness by their attempt to fastidiously keep God’s law. And Paul expands upon this very thought in verses 13 and following of this chapter. Pardon me, in the first 13 verses of chapter 10. Israel’s errant grasp at righteousness. Take just a few verses here, chapter 10 beginning in verse one.

Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. Speaking of the nation of Israel, for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Paul begins here in verse one with a milder expression of the same desire that he expressed in chapter nine, verse three. There, he said, I could wish that I myself were accursed for the sake of my brethren, the nation of Israel. He says it more delicately here, but the desire is the same. His heart’s desire and prayer to God is for there that is Israel’s salvation. Paul wants what God wants. And seemingly, Paul wants what Israel wants. Paul acknowledges that his nation did in fact have zeal.

They were passionate people. They were sincere. They had a strong drive to adhere to the law, to care for the temple, to elevate the scriptures. They were what is popularly called in our day as intentional. They knew what they wanted and they intensely sought it. Outwardly, they were perceived as flawless, but inwardly, their pride betrayed them, and they eschewed the graces of humility, selflessness, repentance. They sought righteousness, but by improper means. Christ, they forgot, is the end of the law for righteousness, and they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Observe how simply it’s stated in verse 9. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. In the glorious news of verse 13, whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. But this nation refused to pursue righteousness on God’s terms, righteousness by way of the gospel.

They were dull to the call of the gospel. Paul opens up into a second point in verses 14 through 21. Israel’s dullness to the call of the gospel How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they call, how shall they preach unless they are sent?

Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have. Their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world. Now, as the errant pursuit of righteousness were not enough for Israel, it gets worse. Paul opens this section with this series of four questions, pointing to the fact that individuals and nations cannot be saved without a call, without someone proclaiming to them in their hearing the gospel. Faith comes from hearing, and by the word of Christ, verse 17. And these questions indicate as well that the gospel had indeed been proclaimed to the Jewish nation, but to no effect.

Their hearing was dull to the gospel. Paul harkens back here to the testimony of the prophet Isaiah, who speaks of the beautiful feet of him who come with the good news of salvation. The testimony of the preachers and prophets has gone out, he says, into all the earth to the ends of the world. But though the gospel was preached fully and faithfully to God’s chosen people, they were dull of hearing. Who has believed our report, Paul adds from Isaiah 53, they did not indeed, they could not respond.

And yet God’s plans are not impeded. God will employ even Israel’s dullness of hearing for his own divine purposes. And Paul explains in verse 19 that God’s design in saving the Gentile nations was to stir Israel to jealousy. He will save a people who is without understanding, the Gentile nation. To save a people who did not seek God nor ask for him, the Gentile nation. And this is by God’s design.

It’s designed to provoke Israel who remain disobedient and obstinate. Well, you would think that all of that stacked against Israel leaves them hopeless. That God has turned his back, that God is done with the nation of Israel, but it’s not so. A nation’s purposes are for God’s glory and God’s purpose for Israel is restoration, he says. God has not abandoned Israel. God remains committed to bringing them to repentance and to faith in his son, Jesus Christ. And in chapter 11, Paul outlines God’s intentions for Israel, a nation whose purposes are God’s glory.

First of all, Paul says that there is a graced remnant. Secondly, that the rejection of the Messiah turned, for the Gentiles, salvation, and that ultimately God’s mercy will prevail toward both nations. All of this is to the glory of God. This leads us to Paul’s third point. Not only does a nation’s rejection not upset God’s plan and a nation’s dullness not thwart God’s salvation, but thirdly, a nation’s purposes are for God’s glory. If you would, pick up in chapter 11 in verse 1.

I say then, God has not rejected his people, has he? May it never be. For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” Here’s yet another of Paul’s rhetorical questions, attended with his standard reply. The question he poses could easily be suggested by the previous chapter, that an errant pursuit of righteousness, a dullness to the gospel call, Isn’t it hopeless for Israel? Hasn’t God rejected them outright? The nature of the question expects a negative answer, and Paul gives his strongest possible reply, may it never be.

This is the consistent testimony of the Old Testament, that the Lord will not abandon his people, Psalm 94 14. 1 Samuel 12, 22 says, the Lord will not abandon his people because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. Even the identification of them here makes it clear they are his people. He argues as well that if it were true that God was forsaking his people, the nation of Israel, then Paul too, in fact, Paul would have been the first one abandoned. Leaning into the doctrine of divine election, Paul says that God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. from eternity past. God has set his love upon this nation, the nation of the Jews, for his own purpose and glory. Paul’s argument is that of a promised remnant like those of Elijah’s day who had not bowed the knee of idolatrous worship to Baal, There is, Paul argues in verse 5, a remnant according to God’s gracious choice, a portion of Israel.

We’ve already faced this fact that not every Jewish descendant ever born will be saved, but those who were chosen will indeed lay hold of salvation in time. A salvation by faith in the Messiah that they, up to this point, had spurned. Such Israelites are graced, not forsaken. And so Israel’s initial rejection of Christ was not complete. It was not permanent.

And God had another design in the temporary rejection of Christ by Israel. It served to open the door of the gospel to the Gentiles. Verses 11 through 24. Pick up with me, if you would, in verse 11. I say then that they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be.

But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. Now, if their transgression be riches for the world, and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles inasmuch as I am an apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify my ministry if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Here’s another rhetorical question.

Israel did not stumble so as to fall, did they? The obvious suggestion by the context is that stumbling here referred to their initial rejection of the Messiah. They stumbled over Christ. And that falling refers to a complete and utter abandonment by God. It was fatal, an irreversible ruin that Paul refers to. Israel did do the former. They did stumble. But God did not do the latter. He did not reject Israel forever.

And there is here an incomparable blessing In this temporary rejection by God’s chosen people, it resulted in the gospel of salvation opening up to the Gentiles, heathen like you and I. By their transgression, Paul says in verse 11, salvation has come to the Gentiles. This is a historical fact. Paul had preached to the Gentiles with an overwhelming reception. The door of the gospel was opened to the Gentiles because of the rejection of it by the Jewish people. That’s Paul’s argument. Paul’s presentation here is stunning.

Would you just glance down at verse 12? If their transgression, that is the transgression of Israel in their unbelief, if their transgression be riches for the world, and that the Gentiles, get this, how much more will their fulfillment be? How much greater blessings will come from the restoration of God’s wayward nation? Paul reiterates this point. Look at verse 15.

If their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? Do we grasp that? just as Jesus was raised from the dead. And believers look forward to a resurrection from the dead. The nation of Israel, he says, will be resurrected from the dead.

The apostle then uses an amazing illustration here, and I know this one. It’s the grafting of a branch of one plant onto another. You see, sometimes certain trees have better root structures. And so in order to make a tree more fruitful, more productive, they will graft a branch onto a different tree, one with a stronger root structure. That’s the same image that Paul uses here in verse 17. Some of the branches were broken off, those of Israel. and wild olive were grafted in. Paul concludes this illustration by offering the hope of Israel being grafted back on to the native tree. Paul characterizes as the kindness and severity of God.

Severity to Israel in this painful and tenuous season of being removed but kindness to the Gentiles in this undeserved and unsought salvation. Israel’s rejection of the Messiah brings salvation to the Gentiles. Paul has a third and final explanation in verses 25 through 32. Israel’s envy of the Gentiles and God’s merciful response. Verse 25, For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and thus all Israel will be saved.

Just as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But from the standpoint of God’s choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient. In order that because of the mercy shown to you, they also may be shown mercy.

For God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to all. God’s plans were not upset by Israel’s rejection. God’s intention to save people was not thwarted. All of the twists and turns are for God’s glory, even the unseemly envy of a wayward nation.

Paul says that Israel’s rejection of the Messiah and God’s salvation that rejection is only temporary and it’s only partial, it’s not complete. That once God’s purposes are fulfilled, Israel will be restored. Once the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, Israel too will be saved. Ultimately, the gospel will work in exactly the same way for Israel that it did for the Gentiles.

Obedience to God will be met and conquered. God’s mercy to us as undeserving non-Jews will be shown as well to the undeserving Jewish nation. God has shut up all in disobedience that he might show mercy to all. And to this, what else is there but for Paul to exalt in a doxology that begins in verse 33. the glory of God’s ways over the nations.

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. God is sovereign over the nations, but as individuals we have a cause to respond. And this series of passages presents a good check for us as believers.

Do we look only to Christ for salvation? Are we adding things in, thinking so as to pad our salvation, to add to it with other elements? Do we embrace the righteousness that comes from faith alone in Christ alone? There is another righteousness, and it took an entire nation astray. Do we look only to Christ for salvation? Do we embrace the righteousness that comes by faith?

Do we love and welcome God’s undeserved mercy? There isn’t a one of us, there isn’t a person ever born that deserved to be saved. That God would move if he never did another kindness for us is thankworthy beyond words. Do we lay aside any idea of our own righteousness, thinking that we’re good enough to incline ourselves to God and make Him incline Himself to us?

Do we rejoice in the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do we long for and pray for the salvation of souls, all souls? Do we desire to see God glorified throughout the world? The glory of God is over all the nations and also over us as individuals. Would you humble yourself before him? Our gracious God, we do humble ourselves in your glorious presence.

And Lord, we would acknowledge, even to some of those questions we just asked, we came to you with nothing. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We were hopeless and helpless. We were indeed, as it says in Revelation, miserable and blind and poor and naked. We had nothing to commend to you, and yet you showed mercy to us.

Lord, we thank you for this incredible gift of salvation that you have bestowed, and we do pray for others of every tribe and tongue and nation that in time they too would hear the gospel call and that they would give up fighting and that they would bow their knee here to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and place their faith in him alone for salvation. Lord God, we thank you. We thank you for the privilege to proclaim Christ and to promote Christ, to tell friends and loved ones and neighbors about the Savior that you’ve provided. Father God, we humble ourselves before you and pray that if there is even a single person in here that still holds that holds that idea that they could ever incline themselves to God by their good works. Lord, we pray that you would show them how foolish that is, how deadly that is, that they would turn and look again to Christ alone for salvation. Father, we thank you and we do praise you in Jesus’ name. Amen.