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Romans 8:35 – 9:33

Calvary Chapel Bible College

March 24, 2021

Homework

Did you do your reading? (NRSV)

Did you memorize your verse? Anyone want to try and recite BOTH verses from Romans 8:38-39???

(Romans 8:38 NKJV) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

(Romans 8:39 NKJV) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Introduction

The letter of Paul to the Romans is considered Paul’s most important letter. This is why it is placed in front of all his others writings.

When and Where

The year is around AD 57 or 58

In your Bible, we’d place the writing of this letter around Acts 20:2 – that’s about when Paul wrote to the Romans from the city of Corinth.

Paul had been in Ephesus for three years, yet when persecution arose, he makes his way up to Macedonia, writes 2Corinthians at Philippi, and then heads south to Corinth where he writes his letter to Rome.

What it’s about

The first five chapters dealt with justification, how a person is made right with God.

The next three chapters will deal with sanctification, the process where we grow to be more like Jesus.

The next three chapters will unpack the differences between the Jew and Gentile, and God’s plan for His people.

In the last five chapters, Paul will launch into personal, practical matters – how do we live as Christians? What does the Christian life look like? How do we get along with one another?

In building his case for justification, Paul started by showing that

The Gentiles were guilty of sin (ch.1)

The Jews were also guilty (ch.2)

God provided Jesus to pay for our sins (ch.3)

Paul showed that faith like Abraham is all that’s needed for salvation (ch.4)

Paul showed that it’s reasonable for one person (Jesus) to affect all mankind, like Adam (ch.5)

Several weeks ago we moved into Paul’s next section: Sanctification

Chapter 6 talked about the connection between baptism, and the reality that we’ve been buried and raised from the dead, and sin no longer has an unbreakable hold on us.

Chapter 7 was about our continuing struggle of living with the flesh.

Chapter 8 is all about learning to live in the Spirit.

I hope you are seeing the reality of these three chapters in your life.

I hope you understand that there is a real connection between Jesus’ death and resurrection and it’s impact on sin in your life.

I hope you are realizing that you and I still struggle daily with sin.

I certainly hope you are taking steps forward in the power of the Holy Spirit to allow God to transform you and help you honor and follow Him.

We pick it up where Paul has been making the case that God is for us, not against us.

8:35-39 Inseparable

:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

love – agape – brotherly love, affection, good will, love; love which chooses its object

separate – chorizo (not the Mexican pork sausage) – to separate, divide, part, to depart; to leave a husband or wife; of divorce

Half of the time we see it in the New Testament, it’s talking about the separation of a man and woman in divorce.

We get our word “horizon” from this – the horizon is the separating line between the sky and the earth.

What kinds of things separate a husband and wife? I’m not talking about what the Biblical grounds for divorce are, I’m talking about what are the real reasons that people divorce?

Poor communication. Lack of forgiveness. Trouble with finances. Anger. Unfaithfulness. Pornography. Lack of trust. Letting love grow cold.

Can anything separate us from the love of Christ?

:35 tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine …

tribulation – thlipsis – a pressing together, pressure; oppression, affliction, tribulation, distress

It’s used to describe what a woman goes through in childbirth:

(John 16:21 NKJV) A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

Jesus promised that we’d have this kind of “pressure”

(John 16:33 NKJV) These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Even though “pressure” can’t stop Jesus from loving us, it might make us walk away from Him.

When Jesus talked about the seed planted in stony soil …

(Matthew 13:21 NKJV) yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

This incredible worldwide pandemic we are living through right now could be characterized as a kind of “tribulation”.

People may react like the stony soil and stumble, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Jesus doesn’t stop loving me when I’m under pressure.

distress – stenochoria – narrowness of place, a narrow place; dire calamity, extreme affliction; affliction as arising from cramping circumstances

Ordinarily a stronger word than thlipsis.

Sounds like being between a rock and a hard place.

Jesus doesn’t stop loving me when life is difficult.

So why don’t I feel His love?

Perhaps the problem isn’t on His end of things. Perhaps the problem lies in my backyard, on my desk.

Perhaps the problem is that I’m looking for “feelings” instead of trusting in the truth. Paul wrote,

(2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV) For we walk by faith, not by sight.

I need to live my life based on faith, my response to God’s Word, not based on my “sight”, my “feelings”, how I am looking at my circumstances.

persecution – diogmos – persecution; from dioko – to make to run or flee, put to flight, drive away

Paul knew about this word. He used to be one who persecuted the church.

(Acts 8:1 NKJV) Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Jesus doesn’t stop loving me when others do.

famine – limos – scarcity of harvest, famine

I don’t know if we can really relate to this word.

We may have a scarcity of toilet paper from time to time, but most people are able to find food.

We may be in tough economic times right now, but I don’t think we’re anywhere close to experiencing “famine”, at least not like the world has historically seen in times past.

(Acts 7:11 NKJV) "Now a famine and great trouble came over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers found no sustenance.

(Acts 11:28 NKJV) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.

(Rev 6:8 NKJV) So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

Jesus doesn’t stop loving me when I lose my job.

nakedness – gumnotes – nakedness of the body

Will Jesus stop loving me because I don’t have the right clothes to wear?

peril – kindunos – a danger, a peril

Paul will use this word eight times, along with “nakedness” to describe his own life:

(2 Cor 11:23-28 NKJV) Are they ministers of Christ?; I speak as a fool; I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. {24} From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. {25} Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; {26} in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; {27} in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness; {28} besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

sword – machaira – a large knife , used for killing animals and cutting up flesh; or a small sword, as distinguished from a large sword

Jesus doesn’t stop loving me when my life is in danger.

Lesson

A marriage that lasts.

The word “separate” was a word used for divorce.

The sad thing is that some of these things are the things that cause marriages to split up.

When I’m under pressure. When life is difficult. When others stop loving me. When I lose my job.

The love we have in our marriage should be like Jesus’ love for us:

(Ephesians 5:25 NKJV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,

As we’re going to see, nothing can stop Jesus from loving us. Nothing should stop us from loving each other.

(Ephesians 4:31–32 NKJV) —31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

Illustration

A gal named Nancy Kennedy writes,

I’m sitting in yet another hospital waiting room.

Ever since my husband, Barry, first underwent open heart and quadruple bypass surgery 15 months ago, I’ve been in this waiting room—or one just like it—more times than I can count on one hand, waiting for him to come out of the operating room.

In little more than a year’s time, my vocabulary has increased to include words and phrases such as aneurysm, atrial fib, and EP study with ablation. They all mean I have to put on a cheery face, kiss Barry good-bye, and promise I won’t worry about him or forget to eat lunch and lock the garage door at night while he’s in the hospital again.

With all Barry’s surgeries and procedures, we’ve had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year—one of the worst in our 32 years together. Yet, ironically, it’s also turned out to be the best.

I learned just how deeply Barry loves me. As he was all prepped and waiting to go into surgery to repair his aortic aneurysm, Barry looked at my friend Tara, who was waiting with us, and said, “Make sure Nancy takes care of herself. Promise me, or else I’ll worry.”

He wasn’t worried about being sliced open again—he was worried about me.

I came to faith in Christ three years after Barry and I married, and for almost 30 years I prayed about my husband’s relationship with the Lord. Then the day of Barry’s open-heart surgery, he told me if he died, I’d see him again, because he knew Jesus was his Savior. He prayed with me, he prayed with a friend, and he prayed with his surgeon. Barry hasn’t stopped praying—he prays with me every day.

What I’d asked God for all these years—to heal the spiritual rift in my marriage, to bring my husband and me close—God had given. He’d performed heart surgery on us both, ripping us apart and knitting us back together.

Barry and I talk often about this past year, how it’s been awful—and awfully good. We wouldn’t wish this kind of year on anyone and wouldn’t want to go through it again, but we’re glad it happened.

We thank God for the good days and the bad, because in all our days God’s held us both securely in his grip. We’ve known God’s incredible kindness to us. Our hearts are in his hands.

We’ve had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad year—and I praise God for it

Condensed from an article on "Walk with Me," a Today's Christian Woman blog © 2007 Christianity Today International. For more articles like this, visit Walk with Me; Nancy Kennedy, "The (Not So) Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year," Walk with Me, a Today's Christian Woman blog (12-5-07)

Here’s the challenge for us living in the Covid-19 pandemic:

How are we going to come out of it? Stronger or weaker?

:36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

:36 For Your sake we are killed all day long

sake – heneka – on account of, for the sake of, for; for this cause, therefore

killed – thanatoo – to put to death

accounted – logizomai – to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over

slaughter – sphage – slaughter; from sphazo – to slay, slaughter, butcher; to put to death by violence

The last verse ended with a mention of the “sword” …

Now Paul quotes from:

(Psalm 44:22 NKJV) Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

Lesson

Difficulties go with being a Christian.

(keyword)

We are going to go through hard times. Very hard times. It’s a part of being a Christian. It doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love us, He does. We need to be ready and willing to face the difficulties.

Illustration

“Ready for Either” is the significant wording on the seal of the Baptist Missionary Union, which presents an ox standing with a plough on one side, and an altar on the other.

Sometimes it’s under the harshest conditions that we will flourish:

Illustration

Where in the world will you function best for God? The story is told of a distinguished botanist who was exiled from his native land and obtained a job as a gardener in the United States. One cold winter day his employer received a valuable plant. Unfamiliar with the plant and its needs, he placed it in the greenhouse under the glare of the sun. When the plant began to die, the man asked the gardener to look at it. Quickly identifying its origin, he explained, “This is a plant which thrives in cold weather.” He immediately took it outside and exposed it to the frost, heaping pieces of ice around the flowerpot. Before long the plant became healthy and flourished again.

Illustration

Dr. Tad Stewart took a church in Teheran, Iran. He was married, had a wonderful family. And there they were on the streets of Teheran, Iran, during revolution and revolt and riot. The government under the Ayatollah closed his Presbyterian church. It was a small, struggling Presbyterian church. Hardly had any members. Very few showed up for worship. But the government came in and burned all the Bibles and Sunday school curriculum, and took the church newsletters, ripped them up, threw them away, and put them in the garbage. Then they took a big padlock and locked the door of the church. They wiped their hands and said, “Aha! We have closed Christianity in Iran.”

Tad Stewart and his wife opened their small home, and on Sunday mornings people would go through the underground network. Nobody dared to say where they were going, but they came along the streets early in the morning while it was still dark and they came to the home for breakfast and for worship. Church attendance grew until it doubled, and then it tripled. People had no Bibles, only what they had at home. And they smuggled them. You would have thought they were pure gold.

Tad said when he opened the Bible and read it, because it had been taken from the people, they finally realized what a treasure was theirs. He said, “When I read from it, you could have heard a pin drop.” He said it was as if this was the very Word of God. He said for the first time in people’s lives they began to take it seriously. Suddenly electricity and faith broke out in that church, and soon that church grew and made an impact all over the city of Teheran, all over the nation of Iran, and even over that part of the Middle East.

It’s amazing what came out of locking the church, burning the Bibles, burning the Sunday school curriculum. “How could anything good come out of that?” the skeptic asks.

Ah, but the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God, I tell you, is stronger than human strength.

-- Thomas Tewell, "The Foolishness of God," Preaching Today, Tape No. 171.

Don’t be quick to dread the difficult times. You may find yourself flourishing there.

Illustration

I learned a high appreciation for pain’s warning function while collaborating on three books with Dr. Paul Brand, the missionary surgeon who discovered that all the disfigurement that makes leprosy such a dreaded disease traces back to the loss of pain sensation. Theologians blithely attribute pain to the Fall, ignoring the marvelous design features of the pain system. Every square millimeter of the body has a different sensitivity to pain, so that a speck of dirt may cause excruciating pain in the vulnerable eye whereas it would go unreported on the tough extremities. Internal organs such as the bowels and kidneys have no receptors that warn against cutting or burning—dangers they normally do not face—but show exquisite sensitivity to distension. When organs such as the heart detect danger but lack receptors, they borrow others’ pain cells (“referred pain”), which is why heart attack victims often report pain in the shoulder or arm. The pain system automatically ramps up hypersensitivity to protect an injured part (explaining why a sore thumb always seems in the way) and turns down the volume in the face of emergencies (soldiers often report no pain from a wound in the course of battle, only afterwards). Pain serves us subliminally as well: sensors make us blink several times a minute to lubricate our eyes and shift our legs and buttocks to prevent pressure sores. Pain is the most effective language the body can use to draw attention to something important.

Philip Yancey, "That Hurts," Books & Culture (May/June 2008), p. 32

:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

:37 more than conquerors through Him who loved us

more than conquerors – hupernikao (“beyond” + “conquer”; “hyper-conquerors”) – to be more than a conqueror, to gain a surpassing victory

who loved us – agapao – to love, that “agape” word

Aorist active participle, genitive.

In verse 28 we saw that our responsibility is to love God, and He will make all things be for our good.

In verse 35 we were reminded that nothing could separate us from the love of Christ.

Now we see what God’s love does in our difficulties.

We don’t just “survive” our difficulties, God wants us to be “more than conquerors”.

Lesson

Winning the right way.

How do you “survive” your hard times? How do you “cope”?

Tell me ways that people cope with the difficulties they face.

Sometimes we escape the pressures with all kinds of things whether it’s drugs, sex, food, or buying stuff.

If we don’t face our difficult circumstances by focusing on His love, I’m not sure there’s any real benefit to us.

Illustration

In Actions Speak Louder Than Words, Herb Miller writes: Two Kentucky farmers who owned racing stables had developed a keen rivalry. One spring each of them entered a horse in a local steeplechase. Thinking that a professional rider might help him outdo his friend, one of the farmers engaged a crack jockey. The two horses were neck and neck with a large lead over the rest of the pack at the last fence, but suddenly both fell, unseating their riders. The professional jockey remounted quickly and rode on to win the race. Returning triumphantly to the paddock, the jockey found the farmer who had hired him fuming with rage. “What’s the matter?” the jockey asked. “I won, didn’t I?” “Oh, yea,” roared the farmer. “You won all right, but you crossed the finish line on the wrong horse.” In his hurry to remount after the fall, the jockey had jumped on his competitor’s horse. Success is meaningless unless we win the race properly.

-- Judy C. Knupke, Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts. Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 4.

You’re going to have a hard time getting across the finish line as a “conqueror” unless you become convinced of His love for you.

When you focus on His love, you won’t just barely survive, you gain a surpassing victory.

:38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

:38 I am persuaded that neither death nor life …

persuaded – peitho – persuade; to trust, have confidence, be confident

Perfect tense – something that happened in the past and the results continue on to the present.

You could translate it “I stand convinced”; Paul has looked at the facts and has become convinced about something.

death – Some people are afraid of what happens at death.

Look at Paul’s attitude about death:

(Philippians 1:21–24 NKJV) —21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

We may not be facing a death sentence like Paul was, but I imagine that it has crossed one or two of our minds that this Corona Virus might kill us.

Paul just saw death as finally being with Christ.

We may not be concerned about our own death keeping us from the love of God, but sometimes it’s a little hard when someone close to you dies, someone you’ve counted on, someone who is important to you.

life – sometimes it is the things in life we fear most.

:38 nor angels nor principalities nor powers

angels – aggelos – a messenger, envoy, one who is sent; an angel

principalities – arche – beginning, origin; the first person or thing in a series, the leader; principality, rule; of angels and demons

powers – dunamis – strength power, ability (different word than the one used in Eph. 6:12, exousia)

Paul uses three different words, all that are used to describe different ranks of angels:

(Ephesians 6:12 NKJV) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Paul is convinced that no supernatural being can keep us from God’s love.

Though our world can sometimes treat these supernatural powers as fairy tales, they are very real…and they can’t keep us from God’s love.

We live in a world that can treat supernatural evil as a fairy tale. We might go to a scary movie at Halloween time and be scared, but when we sit at home with the lights on, sometimes we don’t worry too much about evil beings.

We don’t need to be afraid, but we do need to be careful.

(1 Peter 5:8 NKJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

:38 nor things present nor things to come

things present – enistemi – to place in or among, to put in; to be upon, impend, threaten; close at hand; present

The things that are right in front of us, like David facing Goliath.

things to come – mello – to be about; to be on the point of doing or suffering something; to intend, have in mind

Sometimes the things that are actually around us aren’t the things affecting us.

It’s the “what if’s”.

We worry about what might happen.

Too many times we get so discouraged from worrying about things that never happen.

:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

:39 nor height nor depth

height – hupsoma – thing elevated, height; elevated structure i.e. barrier, wall

depth – bathos (“bathysphere”) – depth

Since Paul includes both “height” and “depth”, everything in between is included as well.

We might say, “Well Paul, but you don’t know how “BIG” my problem is”, or, “You don’t know how “DEEP” this thing goes!”

:39 nor any other created thing

created – ktisis – the act of founding, establishing; anything created

Just in case Paul forgot something, this covers it.

Some suggest that though no other person could come between you and the love of God, perhaps we ourselves might be able to get in the way and cause Him to stop loving us.

But aren’t you a created thing?

You can’t stop Him from loving you.

:39 shall be able to separate us from the love of God

shall be able – dunamai – to be able, have power

whether by virtue of one’s own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favorable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom

Future tense. Nothing shall in the future have the power or ability to …

to separate – chorizo – to separate, divide, to divorce

Same word used in verse 35.

love – agape – brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence

Lesson

Rest in His love

He loves you. Let yourself be overwhelmed with it. It isn’t going away.

It is knowing that He loves you that leads to the peace that comes, knowing that He’s going to take care of you.

(1 Peter 5:7 NKJV) casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

care – merimna – care, anxiety

He cares – melo – to care about

I found it interesting that when this word “care” is used in the gospels about Jesus, it’s used by the disciples when they are questioning whether Jesus cares for them.

Jesus and the disciples were out in the boat when a storm hit.

(Mark 4:38 NKJV) But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”

Martha and Mary had Jesus and His disciples over for supper. You are all aware of Martha that gal known for her serving…

(Luke 10:40 NKJV) But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

There are plenty of circumstances in life where we can fall into the trap of thinking that God doesn’t care for us.

It might be the “storms” we are going through.

It might be with the busy-ness of life.

But nothing can separate us from His love.

He cares.

9:1-5 Heart for Lost Jews

We are now entering a new section of Romans where Paul is going to discuss issues relating to the Jews and Gentiles.

:1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

Paul can’t say it much stronger. He’s got something important to say.

:2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

heaviness – lupe – sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance, affliction

continual – adialeiptos – unceasing, continual

grief – odune – consuming grief, pain, sorrow. From duno – go under, be plunged into, sink in

This is one serious area of grief for Paul.

:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,

:3 I could wish that I myself were accursed

wish – euchomai – to pray to God; to wish, to pray

Imperfect indicative

accursed – anathema – a thing devoted to God without hope of being redeemed; a person or thing doomed to destruction

This is the word Paul used to describe a person who preaches a false gospel.

(Galatians 1:8 NKJV) But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

countrymen – suggenes – of the same kin, akin to, related by blood; in a wider sense, of the same nation, a fellow countryman

Paul was Jewish. He has a heart for the Jews.

Could this really happen? Could I ask God to send me to hell in place of another person?

I don’t think God is going to do that. There has already been one who went to hell in their place. He’s paid enough.

The point is the heart attitude.

Lesson

A shepherd’s heart

Someone else once made a similar statement to Paul’s. When Moses had been gone on the mountain for forty days, the people got impatient and asked Aaron to make them another “god” to follow. Aaron made the golden calf. As Moses was coming down the mountain, God informed him about what was happening:

(Exodus 32:9–10 NKJV) —9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.”

Would God have really wiped out Israel at this point? Again, I don’t think so. God doesn’t need to ask Moses for advice. God is trying to draw something out of Moses. He’s trying to draw out the heart of a shepherd.

Jesus said,

(John 10:11–13 NKJV) —11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

Moses proved he had the right heart to be leading these people. He replied to God,

(Exodus 32:32–33 NKJV) —32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” 33 And the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book.

The Ultimate Example of a Shepherd’s heart is found in Jesus Himself. He is the Good Shepherd. Follow His example.

Quote

“What will move you?

Will pity? Here is distress never the like.

Will duty? Here is a person never the like.

Will fear? Here is wrath never the like.

Will remorse? Here are sins never the like.

Will kindness? Here is love never the like.

Will bounty? Here are benefits never the like.

Will all these? Here they be all, all in the highest degree.”

- Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), "Sermon on Good Friday"

Oh to have a heart like Jesus.

Do you have a heart for the lost? Are they just “unclean pagan heathen trash” who are nothing but a bother to you?

:4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

:4 to whom pertain the adoption, the glory …

Paul is talking about what wonderful privileges the Jews have had. Don’t start thinking that Paul has become “anti-Semitic”. Far from it.

adoption – huiothesia (“son” + “to place”) – adoption, adoption as sons

I usually think of us Gentiles as being “adopted”, but so was Israel.

We see this had taken place by the time that God sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt:

(Exodus 4:22–23 NKJV) —22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ’ ”

glory – When Israel journeyed from Egypt, they often saw the glory of God in the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night:

(Exodus 16:10 NKJV) Now it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

They were the people who saw God’s shekinah glory fill the tabernacle. They also saw God’s glory fill the temple.

covenants – diatheke – a disposition, arrangement; a testament or will

God made several “covenants” or agreements with Israel, the main one being the Mosaic Law.

(Deuteronomy 5:2 NKJV) The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

giving of the law – nomothesia – giving, legislation

(Deuteronomy 5:1 NKJV) And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them.

the service of God – latreia – rendered for hire; the service and worship of God according to the requirements of the Levitical law; to perform sacred services

God gave the nation Israel the privilege of knowing how to worship Him, how to offer up sacrifice. The book of Leviticus is filled with this.

promises – epaggelia – announcement; promise; a promised good or blessing

One of the greatest promises to the Jews was that of the coming Messiah.

There are not many promises more specific than Daniel’s timetable of the coming Messiah (Daniel 9), fulfilled on Palm Sunday (this Sunday!)

Video: John – Triumphal Entry

There are still many promises that God has yet to fulfill to Israel in these latter days.

The Jews are a privileged people.

:5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

:5 of whom are the fathers

Who are the big three known as “the fathers”?

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

:5 from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came

The Jews were blessed because the Savior of the world, the Messiah, would come from them.

Jesus was born of the “flesh” in that He was a very real, very human person.

Lesson

Fully human

There were some early cults that thought that Jesus couldn’t have been human at all. They taught that as He walked along, He wouldn’t even leave any footprints.

But the Bible teaches that He came in the “flesh”. This is not the “flesh” as in the “sin nature” (Rom. 7:18), but “flesh” in terms of a real, physical, human body.

Lesson

He understands

We’ve all had times when we were sharing some experience with someone, looking for sympathy, and come to find out that the person really didn’t have a clue what we had gone through. They might offer some callous bit of advice, but it doesn’t mean as much if they’ve been through what you have.

(Hebrews 2:17–18 NKJV) —17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Illustration

A pastor tells about preaching a children’s sermon about Hagar, a slave woman in the Bible. “To help get across the idea of slavery, I had borrowed a pair of handcuffs from a local police officer. As I explained how slaves were often chained or restrained in some way, I slapped a handcuff on my wrist without thinking. It snapped shut. Oh, no. Al didn’t give me the key, I thought. A parishioner tried to reach Al, but couldn’t find him. So for the rest of the service, I preached, blessed the offering, and served Communion with a handcuff dangling from one wrist. By the time I stood at the door after the service, my wrist was raw. It was painful to shake hands with folks as they left. Yet most of the congregation made humorous quips about the incident. But one woman (who I knew had come from an abusive background) took my hand, gently massaged the rawness, and said quietly, “Now you know what it’s like.””

-- Dick White, Christian Reader, Vol. 36, no. 2.

Jesus understands. He’s been there.

Lesson

Take them to Jesus.

As a pastor, a lot of people share things with me about difficult times they’re going through. I have to admit that there are plenty of times I feel totally out of place because I’ve never been through what they have. But I can always take them to Jesus. He’s been there. He can help. No one understands their pain better than He does.

Divorced? Rejected? Cheated on by a spouse?

(Isaiah 53:3 NKJV) —3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

(Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV) —13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

(Hosea 1:2 NKJV) —2 When the Lord began to speak by Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry And children of harlotry, For the land has committed great harlotry By departing from the Lord.”

You may not feel like you can fully understand all another person has gone through, but you don’t have to worry. Jesus understands. He has the answers. Take them to Jesus.

:5 who is over all, the eternally blessed God

The Greek is clear here. Paul is saying that Christ came in the flesh by way of the Jews. And this Christ is “over all, God, blessed forever”. He’s saying that Jesus is God.

Lesson

Fully God

This is one of the most important doctrines of Christianity. This is one of those defining doctrines that determines whether or not a group is a Christian group, or a non-Christian cult. Many groups will agree that Jesus was a great guy, but the real issue is whether or not they agree that He is God.

Look at the weight of the Scriptural evidence:

(John 1:1 NKJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Jesus is the Word (John 1:14). He was God. The Jehovah’s Witnesses make a big deal over the fact that there is no “definite article” (in English it’s the word “the”) before “God” and they translate it, “the Word was a god”. But in Greek, when you don’t have a definite article, the idea is that rather than pointing out a specific thing with an article, you are describing something by its nature. He was by nature God.

(John 8:58–59 NKJV) —58 Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” 59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

Jesus was claiming here (among quite a few other places in John) to be the “I AM”, Yahweh. The Jews understood what He was saying and wanted to stone Him.

(John 10:30–33 NKJV) —30 I and My Father are one.” 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Again, the Jews understood what Jesus was saying, even if the cults don’t. They knew He was claiming to be God.

Keep in mind the seriousness of what Jesus was claiming. If He wasn’t really God, but was still claiming to be God, He’d either be a liar or a nut case. In either case, how could He be someone you’d want to follow?

Quote:

Oprah Winfrey wrote, “I keep telling Shirley MacLaine, “You can’t go around telling people you are God.” It’s a very difficult concept to accept.”

• Ophrah Winfrey in the New York Times Magazine (June 11, 1989). Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 12.

There are many, many more verses that all point to this same thing – that Jesus is God in flesh.

Including:

(Colossians 2:9 NKJV) For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;

(Titus 2:13 NKJV) looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

(1 John 5:20 NKJV) And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

Lesson

Why is this important?

There are “other gospels”, “false gospels”, there is “another” Jesus. Paul rebuked the Corinthians for being a little too accepting…

(2 Corinthians 11:4 NKJV) For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Our salvation is based upon our faith in the blood of Jesus.

(Romans 3:25 NKJV) whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,

Because Jesus is God, when He laid down His life for us, He laid down an infinite, eternal, immortal life. He was thus able to pay for the sins of the entire world with one sacrifice.

If we are following another Jesus, then we have the wrong blood.

Illustration

If you are ill and in need of a blood transfusion, it’s important that you get the right kind of blood. It needs to be the correct blood type. It needs to be free from disease such as AIDS.

Christianity depends on our recognition of the deity of Jesus.

Illustration

A man visited a vacant house with a friend who desired to purchase it. The friend was particularly struck by the beauty of one of the rooms which he wished to turn into his study; but he objected to a cupboard in the corner. “I will have to remove it,” he said to the architect. “No, you won’t,” was the reply. “But I can do what I like if I buy the house,” said the man. “You cannot do what you like with that cupboard,” answered the architect. “Why not?” he asked. “Is it protected by a clause in the deed?” “No,” said the architect, “it is not on the deed; it is on the plan. You cannot take away the cupboard without taking down the house, it is part of the main structure.” So if we take away the deity of Christ, we destroy the whole structure of Christianity. That doctrine is built in. It is central. It is structural of the structure.

Lesson

He is able

If Jesus is indeed fully God, then He is able to take care of you. He is able to overcome any problem. He is after all, God.

Because Jesus is fully human, He understands our problems.

Because Jesus is fully God, He is able to help us with our problems.

(Jeremiah 32:27 NKJV) “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

(You may need to turn up your sound for this…)

Video: Star Wars – Dagobah – That is why you fail

Hey, that’s just a pretend, fictional character.

Jesus is the real thing.

He can do anything.

Jesus said that if you took His words seriously and obeyed them, it would be like building your house on a rock:

(Matthew 7:24–27 NKJV) —24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Illustration

Abraham Lincoln once told of a farmer trying to teach his son how to plow a straight furrow. In the time-honored tradition, he told the boy to keep his eyes on some object at the other end of the field and plow straight for it. The boy started plowing and the farmer went about his chores. When he returned after several hours to check on the boy's progress, he was shocked to find instead of straight rows something that looked like a question mark. The boy had obeyed his father's instructions. He had fixed his eyes on something at the other side of the field -- a cow. Unfortunately, the cow had moved!

Evidently, that father forgot to tell his son to look for a stable object, one that wouldn't shift or move around. That's one mistake we don't have to make. We can fix our eyes on Jesus who never changes.

We need to fix our eyes on something solid if we want to plow straight rows in life.

As God, Jesus never changes.

(Hebrews 12:1–3 NKJV) —1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Break

9:6-13 Promise and Election

:6 But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,

:7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.”

has taken no effect – ekpipto – to fall out of, to fall down from, to fall off; metaph. to fall from a thing, to fall powerless, to fall to the ground, be without effect

JF&B: “Think not that I mourn over the total loss of Israel; for that would involve the failure of God's word to Abraham; but not all that belong to the natural seed, and go under the name of “Israel”, are the Israel of God's irrevocable choice.”

:6 they are not all Israel who are of Israel

Paul is going to build an argument that just because a person was born into the nation of Israel, they aren’t automatically a part of God’s “chosen” people.

:7 nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham

Abraham actually had quite a few sons.

When he was 86 years old, he had Ishmael by his wife’s servant, Hagar.

When he was 100 years old, Isaac was born to Sarah.

After Sarah died, Abraham married another gal, Keturah,

(Genesis 25:2 NKJV) And she bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had father Abraham.

:7 In Isaac your seed shall be called

Paul is quoting Genesis 21:12, which is long after Ishmael was born.

(Genesis 21:12 NKJV) But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.

Only one of his sons was the promised seed – Isaac.

: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.

:8 the children of the promise are counted as the seed

counted – logizomai – to reckon, count, compute, calculate

And what was this “promise”?

:9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

:9 the word of promise

God had promised Abraham that he would have descendants. But by the time he was eighty five years old, he still had no children. So his wife Sarah cooked up a plan. She decided to settle for a “second-hand” child by having Abraham get her handmaid, Hagar, pregnant. Abraham agreed, and the resulting child was named Ishmael (Genesis 16). It seems that Ishmael was the father of many of the Arab peoples. There have been nothing but problems since between the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac.

The plan to have a child through Hagar was a plan of the flesh, the sin nature. It wasn’t God’s idea. Ishmael was the child of the flesh. He was conceived solely through a fleshly plan and wasn’t the child God had promised to Abraham.

It was Isaac who was the promised child. God had promised him to Abraham and Sarah. When Abraham was ninety-nine years old, the Lord visited Abraham and Sarah and made them a promise (as quoted here in Romans):

(Genesis 18:14 NKJV) Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Later, after Isaac was born to Sarah, when Sarah wanted to have Hagar and her son kicked out of the family, God reassured Abraham that this was the right thing to do.

(Genesis 21:12 NKJV) But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called.

In fact, later when God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice Isaac on an altar,

(Genesis 22:2 NKJV) Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

God didn’t even consider Ishmael to be a son of Abraham.

Lesson

My fleshly deeds don’t count

Sometimes we get the idea, “Well, as long as the job gets done, who cares how it gets done”. Wrong. We get impatient with God’s plan for us and we want so much for something to happen, we go and try to make it happen.

Abraham wanted to have a son desperately. But as far as God was concerned, it wasn’t until he had the son of promise that he really had a son.

Don’t get me wrong. We can also make the mistake of thinking that God has to do everything. We can sit on the sofa and think, “I want the job of promise, so I’ll just sit here until Jeff Bezos calls me up and asks me to take his place”. That too is wrong.

But there needs to be a balance of God’s leading us, and our responding to His leading.

God promised Abraham a son, but Abraham still had to get his wife pregnant. It’s just that he had to get the RIGHT wife pregnant!

Applications

Finding a spouse.

I know that some folks start getting desperate when it comes to marriage. They get to the place where they’ll do about anything to find a spouse. But are you going to find God’s promise when you are hopping from bar to bar, or at church?

I think another place folks get tripped up in is the area of trying to push romance before friendship.

Rather than trying to establish a romantic relationship first, learn to be friends first.

If you can build a relationship on the foundation of a good friendship, then it’s going to be a much stronger relationship than one built solely on romance or physical attraction.

Ministry

I see this happening as well in people who are desiring certain positions in ministry. For some reason, whether for good or bad motives, a person has their eye on being the person in charge or up front. But if you’re not in the place where God thinks you’re ready to be up front, then the last place you want to be is up front. It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. Too many folks don’t want to pay the price of learning humility, obedience, submission, and faithfulness. We can push ourselves and others to get ourselves up front only to find out that it’s not the Holy Spirit at work, it’s just us.

I received God’s call to be a pastor when I was eighteen. I was chomping at the bit, ready to go, but I had a wise pastor counsel me to make sure I was prepared. So I went to school and began to learn ministry by being a youth pastor.

When we became a part of Calvary Chapel Anaheim back in 1982, we began a small home Bible Study. I loved it. When we got to about 15 people meeting in our home I thought that it was time. It was time to start a church. I talked a number of the folks into committing to be the “core group” with me, and we talked to Pastor Mark and even set a date for when to start “Calvary Chapel of Placentia”. But the problem I was having was that I couldn’t help but think that I was really the one pushing this whole thing. I had twisted people’s arms. And it began to dawn on me that I was heading off a cliff. We called the whole thing off four days before we were to have our sending off ceremony. As it turned out, all of the core group people moved out of town within six months. Several of the couples even divorced. And besides, Bob Kopeny was in the process of starting the REAL Calvary Chapel of Placentia (now Calvary East Anaheim).

I wasn’t ready. It took me another nine years of training before I was ready. I had lots of lessons to learn. I’m still learning.

:10 And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac

Paul now moves on to the story of Isaac’s children.

:11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),

:12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”

:13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

:11 the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil

having done – prasso – to exercise, practice, to be busy with, carry on

They hadn’t been born yet. They hadn’t had a chance to practice ANYTHING!

:11 the purpose of God according to election might stand

election – ekloge (“out of” + “word”) – the act of picking out, choosing; of the act of God’s free will by which before the foundation of the world he decreed his blessings to certain persons

purpose – prothesis – a setting forth of a thing, placing of it in view, the shewbread; a purpose

might stand – meno – to remain, abide (present subjunctive)

him that calleth – kaleo – to call

The idea is that God has a purpose in mind. He has something that He wants done. And so He elects, He chooses, He picks something out. God makes His choice so that when the thing comes to pass, we see it happening not because the kids did anything in particular, but we see God’s purpose happening because He called, He chose.

Lesson

He’s a big God

Sometimes we can get to thinking that some little thing can just slip in and ruin all of God’s plans. I think that if you think that way, it’s just possible that your concept of God is a bit too small.

I’m afraid that sometimes we think God can be trusted to do great things about as much as Johnny English

Video: Johnny English – Subduing the Assailant

For a moment, take a minute to think about how awesome it is to be in God’s hands.

(Isaiah 40:12–17 NKJV) —12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has taught Him? 14 With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him, And taught Him in the path of justice? Who taught Him knowledge, And showed Him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. 16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

In the ancient days, people thought of “gods” as local deities. Every country had their own gods, their own idols. God is a lot bigger than any nation.

He is the Almighty, the Creator of all things. He is over all. And He cares for you and is on your side. He wants to help you. He loves you.

Illustration

Two young men, one a Christian and the other a skeptic, traveling through Switzerland, walked along the brow of a steep cliff, conversing of the providence of God. “I should not be willing to live another day,” said the Christian earnestly, “if I could not believe that the Almighty directed my steps. I have no anxiety; for I trust his unerring guidance. No circumstance is too trifling for his control.

The other replied, “I can control myself. See here!” And he paused to roll a stone down the precipice. “Did the Lord direct that pebble? See this lonely tree standing so near the edge! Do you suppose God ordained it should grow just in that spot? Some traveler threw the seed. Did the Almighty declare just where it should fall, and take root?” He threw one arm around a limb of the tree, and leaned against the trunk for his companion to reply. The soil began to crumble; and, before he could move, that part of the bank had fallen upon the rocks below. Only his arm around the tree, and one foot upon the stone, where it partly rested, saved his life. For an instant, both travelers stood motionless.

Then the Christian fell on his knees in prayer. The skeptic came, and reverently knelt beside him. Silently they arose, and resumed their journey. God himself had spoken to the soul of the skeptic. He became a humble Christian, and a minister of the gospel.

Maybe that story is a bit of an oversimplification, but it does serve a purpose.

God is bigger than we sometimes give Him credit for.

:12 The older shall serve the younger

Here’s the story:

(Genesis 25:20–26 NKJV) —20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. 21 Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Isaac got married when he was forty years old. He didn’t have children until he was sixty (vs.26). He prayed for his wife for twenty years before she got pregnant.

22 But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.” 24 So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. 25 And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

Before these children were even born, before they even had a chance to display any personal characteristics, Rebekah was told that the older son would serve the younger one.

How did it turn out? Did the younger rule over the older?

First there was the birthright.

(Genesis 25:27–34 NKJV) —27 So the boys grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a mild man, dwelling in tents. 28 And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. 29 Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom. 31 But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” 32 And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?” 33 Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

The birthright normally went to the firstborn son. It included the double portion of the inheritance.

Then there was the blessing. You’re familiar with the story of how Jacob tricked his father by pretending to be Esau…

(Genesis 27:27–29 NKJV) —27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: “Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field Which the Lord has blessed. 28 Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine. 29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!”

The blessing involved the spiritual component being passed on. This too normally went to the eldest, but instead of Esau, Jacob got the blessing.

:13 Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated

loved – agapao – to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly

hated – miseo – to hate, pursue with hatred, detest

Paul is quoting from

(Malachi 1:2–3 NKJV) —2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; 3 But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.”

This is a pretty difficult sounding passage. But it’s possible that the idea here is simply that God loves Esau less than Jacob. We get this in several New Testament passages, including:

(Luke 14:26 NKJV) “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

I don’t think the Lord wants us to “hate” our parents in the sense of despising them and being mean to them. The idea is that we need to love Jesus more than anyone or anything else.

And so I believe it’s possible that what the Lord was saying was that He loved Esau less than Jacob. Perhaps the end result is still the same, but I think it helps us keep God’s heart in perspective.

9:14-18 God’s Choice

:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

:14 Is there unrighteousness with God?

unrighteousness – adikia – injustice, of a judge; a deed violating law and justice, act of unrighteousness

This is one of the great problems we face as humans, trying to understand our sovereign God.

Are we all just little puppets on strings, being told what to do by some ogre in heaven? Is it fair that God judges us according to our choice of Him, when we find out that He really chose us?

Illustration

He writes in characters too grand

For our short sight to understand;

We catch but broken strokes, and try

To fathom all the mystery

Of withered hopes, of death, of life,

The endless war, the useless strife --

But there, with larger, clearer sight,

We shall see this -- His way was right.

Illustration

Corrie Ten Boom in The Hiding Place relates an incident which taught her this principle. She and her sister, Betsy, had just been transferred to the worst German prison camp they had seen yet, Ravensbruck. Upon entering the barracks, they found them extremely overcrowded and flea-infested. Their Scripture reading that morning in 1 Thessalonians had reminded them to rejoice always, pray constantly, and give thanks in all circumstances. Betsy told Corrie to stop and thank the Lord for every detail of their new living quarters. Corrie at first flatly refused to give thanks for the fleas, but Betsy persisted. She finally succumbed. During the months spent at that camp, they were surprised to find how openly they could hold Bible study and prayer meetings without guard interference. It was several months later when they learned that the guards would not enter the barracks because of the fleas.

We may not always understand what God is doing, but His ways are best:

:15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

:15 I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy

I will have mercy – eleeo – to have mercy on; to help one afflicted or seeking aid (first “mercy” is future indicative, second “mercy” is present subjunctive (possibility and potentiality), “I will in the future have mercy on whom I should have mercy”)

I will have compassion – oikteiro – to pity, have compassion on (same set of tenses and mood as “mercy”)

This quote came after the golden calf episode. Moses went off to spend time with God, and asked God if he could see God’s glory.

(Exodus 33:13–19 NKJV) —13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.” 14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.” 17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

God’s reply was basically saying, “Moses, I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be gracious to who I want to be gracious to, you aren’t in a position to tell me who to be merciful to”.

Why does God choose some and apparently not choose others?

You may not like this answer, but what Paul is pointing out is that the truth is that He does it because He wants to. It’s His choice to make.

Period.

He’s the boss. As the Creator of the Universe, it is wholly within His rights to make choices like this.

God’s reasons may be connected to His “foreknowledge”, in that He saw that we wouldn’t choose Him, but that’s not Paul’s argument.

Paul’s argument is that God has the right to choose whomever He wants.

In a sense, I think our struggles with this come back to our struggles with authority. Do we have a problem with people telling us what to do? Do we have a problem with a boss assigning us a particular job? Do you have a problem submitting to others?

It’s kind of like walking a dog. The dog will learn to have a much easier time when it learns to go in the direction that it’s master is trying to go. But when the dog resists the master, that’s when it gets tough. Does the dog know the best way to go? Rarely.

To be honest, God doesn’t have to show mercy to any of us.

God ought to be sending us all to hell because of our rebellion against Him. But instead, He chooses to show mercy and compassion.

:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

:16 it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs

wills – thelo – to will, have in mind, intend

runs – trecho – to run; metaph. to spend one's strength in performing or attaining something

shows mercy – eleeo – to have mercy on; to help one afflicted or seeking aid

I have made the suggestion that God’s choice of us might be based on His foreknowledge.

Perhaps God chooses us because He sees into the future that we choose Him.

Yet here, Paul does contradict that suggestion.

He says that God’s choice is based on God’s choice.

:17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”

raised you up – exegeiro – to arouse, raise up (from sleep); to rouse up, stir up, incite

that I may show – endeiknumi – to point out; to show, demonstrate, prove, whether by arguments or by acts; to manifest, display, put forth

power – dunamis – strength power, ability

declared – diaggello – to carry a message through, announce everywhere, through places, through assemblies of men etc.; to publish abroad, declare

:17 the Scripture says to the Pharaoh

Paul quotes from Exodus where God is giving Moses a message for Pharaoh before the seventh plague strikes. God wants Pharaoh to know that if God wanted to, He could have wiped out the Egyptians …

(Exodus 9:16 NKJV) But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

mercy – eleeo – to have mercy on

Literal translation – “Therefore then on whom He wills He has mercy on, and on whom He wills He hardens”

:18 He has mercy on whom He wills …hardens

He wills – thelo – to will, have in mind, intend

In both places, the “wills” have to do with God’s intention, God’s will. This is not speaking of a “future tense” sort of “will”.

hardens – skleruno (arterial sclerosis – hardening of the arteries) – to make hard, harden

God had mercy on Moses. God hardened Pharaoh.

One commentator wrote (JFB) that God hardened them by “judicially abandoning them to the hardening influence of sin itself”.

The idea is that of letting them go. It’s the idea of letting them go the natural conclusion of their own sin. This is very similar to what happened with Israel:

(Psalm 81:11–12 NKJV) —11 “But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. 12 So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.

Paul has already taught us a little about this. When man rejects the knowledge of God, God “abandons” them, leaving them to the consequences of their sin:

(Romans 1:28 NLT) —28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done.

With Pharaoh, we see another example of this. God told Moses that He would be hardening Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 4:21)

(Exodus 4:21 NKJV) …But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

Yet the actual process of arterial sclerosis started with Pharaoh. As each of the various plagues began, each situation ends with Pharaoh hardening his own heart such as:

(Exodus 7:13 NKJV) And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard…

(Exodus 7:22 NKJV) …Pharaoh’s heart grew hard…

(Exodus 8:15 NKJV) But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart …

The process repeats itself over and over until finally God turns and hardens Pharaoh’s heart. It’s as if all along Pharaoh has been hardening his heart, and so God says, “Okay, you want a hard heart, you can have it!”

(Exodus 9:12 NKJV) But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh; and he did not heed them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses.

It’s at this point that we get the verse that Paul is quoting about God hardening Pharaoh (vs. 17)

(Exodus 9:16 NKJV) But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.

Lesson

God’s sovereignty is tied to man’s free will.

The strange thing is that even though we are in a section that deals heavily with God’s sovereignty, God’s ability to choose and predestine, there is still somehow the element of human free will woven in to all this.

How does it all work together? How can God choose and predestinate beforehand, yet we still have a free will? It’s beyond me. But I know that somehow both sides are true, and that God is big enough and smart enough to have it all figured out.

9:19-29 Is God just?

:19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”

The idea is, “How could God condemn a person if He was the one that hardened their heart in the first place?”

:20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

:20 Why have you made me like this?

This is a rhetorical question.

Paul is pulling from a common idea in the Old Testament:

(Isaiah 45:9 NKJV) “Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?

(Jeremiah 18:6 NKJV) “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

Video: Sourceflix – The Potter

Lesson

Yield to the potter.

(keyword)

The best thing that can happen to the clay is to yield to the Master Potter. Don’t fight Him. Let Him mold you into what He wants.

Quote

We need to remember that we cannot train ourselves to be Christians; we cannot discipline ourselves to be saints; we cannot bend ourselves to the will of God: we have to be broken to the will of God.

Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)

It’s foolish not to yield to the Lord.

Illustration

There was an officer in the navy who had always dreamed of commanding a battleship. He finally achieved that dream and was given commission of the newest and proudest ship in the fleet. One stormy night, as the ship plowed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the port he spotted a strange light rapidly closing with his own vessel. Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, “Alter your course ten degrees to the south.” Only a moment had passed before the reply came: “Alter your course ten degrees to the north.” Determined that his ship would take a backseat to no other, the captain snapped out the order to be sent: “Alter course ten degrees—I am the CAPTAIN!” The response beamed back, “Alter your course ten degrees—I am Seaman Third Class Jones.” Now infuriated, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: “Alter course, I am a battleship.” The reply came back. “Alter your course, I am a lighthouse.”

Yield to the Lord. Don’t be afraid of what He’s going to do with you.

Let Him work it out in His timing.

Illustration

I can hardly recollect a single plan of mine, of which I have not since seen reason to be satisfied that, had it taken place in season and circumstance just as I proposed, it would, humanly speaking, have proved my ruin; or at least it would have deprived me of the greater good the Lord had designed for me.

John Newton (1725–1807)

:21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

:21 Does not the potter have power over the clay

power – exousia – power of choice; the power of authority

The bottom line is: if God is our Creator, who are we to question Him? Can’t He do what He wants?

Lesson

God has the authority

Quote:

To discuss the authority of Almighty God seems a bit meaningless, and to question it would be absurd. Can we imagine the Lord God of Hosts having to request permission of anyone or to apply for anything to a higher body? To whom would God go for permission? Who is higher than the Highest? Who is mightier than the Almighty? Whose position antedates that of the Eternal? At whose throne would God kneel? Where is the greater one to whom he must appeal?

A. W. Tozer (1897–1963)

I like to play with my 3 year old granddaughter.

One of our favorite activities is building with her Brio train set. I like to build all sorts of train sets around our living room on Sunday nights when she comes over to visit with us.

These little trains come complete with little teeny tiny people.

Could you imagine one of these plastic people coming to life and speaking up to me and complaining about what kind of train track I’m building?

:22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

:22 the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction

(Romans 9:22 NLT) In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

Now, it could be that Paul may be referring in some sense to Pharaoh here.

God could have just wiped Pharaoh out from the start, but instead kept giving Pharaoh chance after chance. God showed patience to Pharaoh.

But I was wondering if there aren’t a couple of other ideas here as well.

For the Jews, they didn’t seem to have a problem that this would normally apply to the Gentiles. They considered that the only reason God created Gentiles in the first place was so there would be fuel for the fires of hell.

But as we’re going to see, Paul is going to turn that thinking around on the Jews. In fact, only a remnant of the Jews are chosen. And God has not destined all Gentiles for hell, in fact He’s chosen some for glory. And there are some Jews who have been “fitted to destruction”.

Lesson

Don’t judge too quickly

Be careful that you don’t go putting people into this category. Don’t be putting yourself into this category.

I know people who have been deceived by Satan into thinking that because they’ve done some horrible sin, that they must be in this category, and there’s no way out.

Keep in mind the apostle Paul himself.

He was at one time a persecutor of the church. He killed Christians for fun. He calls himself the “chief of all sinners”. Even when he did come to follow Jesus, people in the church had a hard time believing it at first because he had such a bad reputation.

That’s what grace is all about.

We are saved not because we were good enough. But because God has done everything for us, giving us eternal life if we only respond to His love.

:23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

:23 the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy

That’s us by the way

:23 which He had prepared beforehand for glory

prepared beforehand – proetoimazo – prepare before, to make ready beforehand

Part of the problem comes in our thinking that every person has a right to be shown God’s grace. The problem is that we’re all sinners. We’re all sinners because we’ve sinned. Nobody twisted our arm. None of us have the right to be shown God’s grace. We are all deserving of God’s wrath. The fact that God would choose to show grace at all is absolutely amazing.

Lesson

You’ve been chosen.

Let’s not get so hung up with the problem (“of vessels prepared for destruction”) that we miss the gem in the passage.

Don’t miss how Paul started the passage: “What if …”.

Paul is stating a suggestion, that God has the right to do what He wants.

You have been chosen.

Because you have chosen to follow Jesus, I can tell you that you have been chosen by God.

God has glorious things prepared for you (1Cor. 2:7-10). You’re prepared for them.

(1 Cor 2:7-10 NKJV) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, {8} which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. {9} But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." {10} But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

:24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

The vessels of mercy not only include Jews, but there are also Gentiles that fall into this category.

Paul now transitions into another subject where he goes to prove from the Scriptures that God has planned all along on saving Gentiles.

:25 As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.”

:26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.”

:25 As He says also in Hosea

Hosea was the prophet who had been asked by God to marry a prostitute.

When their kids were born, their daughter was named “Loruhamah”, meaning “no mercy” (Hos. 1:6), and the son was named “Loammi”, meaning “not my people” (Hos. 1:9).

This was because God was warning Israel that He wouldn’t be having mercy on them, and they would no longer be His people.

But as the book progresses, we see God planning on bringing the nation back to Him, just as He commanded Hosea to take back his unfaithful wife.

He quotes here from Hos. 2:23

(Hosea 2:23 NLT) "At that time I will plant a crop of Israelites and raise them for myself! I will show love to those I called 'Not loved.' And to those I called 'Not my people,' I will say, 'Now you are my people.' Then they will reply, 'You are our God!'"

Not only was this talking about God taking back the unfaithful Jews, but it hints at God one day reaching out to the pagan Gentiles as well.

:27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.

:28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.”

:27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel

He’s quoting from Is. 10:22-23

(Isaiah 10:22–23 NKJV) —22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.

Paul’s point is that it’s not just being Jewish that will get you saved in the end but being a part of the group called “the remnant”.

:29 And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”

:29 Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed

He quotes an earlier passage of Isaiah (Is. 1:9)

(Isaiah 1:9 NKJV) Unless the Lord of hosts Had left to us a very small remnant, We would have become like Sodom, We would have been made like Gomorrah.

Sabaoth – don’t confuse “Sabaoth” with “Sabbath”. Sabaoth refers to the armies of Israel. God is the head of the armies of Israel.

left us a seed – the remnant. Each time God brought judgment, He didn’t wipe out the entire nation, but left a “remnant”, a “seed” to replant back in the land.

:29 We would have become like Sodom … Gomorrah

Sodom … Gomorrah – the two cities destroyed by God because of their wickedness.

The idea is that if God didn’t entirely wipe out the nation, like He did with Sodom and Gomorrah.

The other day I was reading in:

(Ezekiel 16:56 NKJV) For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride,

A warning to the people of Israel. Sometimes we can learn lessons that hard way – by having to go through the difficult time ourselves. Sometimes we can learn things the easy way – by learning from what others have gone through. Israel didn’t learn the easy way, by learning from Sodom’s destruction. They had to learn the hard way.

9:30-33 Present Condition of Israel

:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

:30 Gentiles…have attained to righteousness

Paul has already made a case that salvation is received through faith (Romans 1-5).

The Gentiles are clueless when it comes to righteousness and God’s ways.

Yet they have found righteousness when they heard the gospel, believed it, and were saved.

It turns out that God had ideas of saving them all along.

Here’s yet another warning about not giving up on people.

The Jews never even considered the Gentiles to be capable of salvation, yet God did.

:31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

Israel did know about God’s righteousness, they had the law of Moses that set the standard.

But they didn’t reach the standard.

:32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.

:33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

:33 I lay in Zion a stumbling stone

Paul quotes from two passages (Is. 8:14; 28:16)

(Isaiah 8:14 NKJV) He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

(Isaiah 28:16 NKJV) Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.

Jesus is the “stone”

Some people would trip over this stone in Zion. Others would believe. How could you not be one who trips? By being one who believes.

It’s even in the Old Testament. You don’t stumble if you’ll just trust Him.

You could say like Maxwell Smart, they “missed it by that much”.

They didn’t have that one key ingredient to salvation – faith. Faith in Jesus.

Pericope Project

8:35-39 Inseparable

9:1-5 Heart for Lost Jews

9:6-13 Promise and Election

9:14-18 God’s Choice

9:19-29 Is God just?

9:30-33 Present Condition of Israel

Homework

Reading (ESV)

Memorize Romans 10:9

(Romans 10:9 NKJV) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Prayer Requests

Quick Quiz

Difficulties go with being a Christian

Yield to the potter