God s Rejection of Israel

God s Rejection of Israel Romans 9:6-33 Division 1 (Chapters 1-8) - the principles of salvation Division 2 (Chapters 9-11) - the problems with salvation: Chapter 9 - the rejection of Israel Chapter 10 - the reception of the Gentiles Chapter 11 - the restoration of Israel Division 3 (Chapters 12-16) - the practice of salvation Principles, problems, and practice. He is writing specifically to the Jewish people. To correct some improper thinking and behavior towards the God that had been so gracious to them. Last week we looked at the seven blessings that God had given to Israel specifically who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. Romans 9:4-5 (NKJV) Vs. 6a Paul reminds the Jewish people, there were some that put their faith and trust in the Messiah. If you look back into the book of Acts, you can see the work of grace among a remnant of Jewish people. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. Acts 2:5 (NKJV) Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. Acts 2:41 (NKJV) 1

However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. Acts 4:4 (NKJV) Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith. Acts 6:7 (NKJV) For the most part, Israel, as a nation, did not believe. So the word of God had really only taken effect in the hearts of the Jews who believed. The way it always is it s for those who would believe. Vs. 6b 9 Not everyone who claims to be Israel is truly Israel. And to illustrate this point, he brings up Abraham; he goes back to the father of the faith. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael s mother was Hagar, Sarah s handmaiden. He represents the lapse of faith that both Abraham and Sarah had. They decided that in their old age, God needed some help with His promise to bring them a son, and so Sarah suggested that Abraham have relations with Hagar; thus, Abraham had a son with Hagar. But later, God would fulfill His promise and give them Isaac. God would choose Isaac, over Ishmael, to be the seed by which the Messiah would come. He would bless the nation of Israel and bring in the Messiah that would bless all the nations. Paul then moves onto the next example: Isaac s kids 2

Vs. 10-13 Isaac and Rebekah had twin boys: Jacob and Esau. Both came from the same father, Isaac. Jacob, even though he would struggle with deception and was a striver, had a heart to be blessed by God. Later, God would rename him, Israel. Esau was a worldly man, a carnal man. He sold his birthright for a bowl of beans to his brother. Hebrews tells us that he was a profane man. Now, I know some folks get all weirded-out here on verse 13: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. They take this verse to mean something that is not true to scripture that God loves some and hates others. We know that is not true, we know that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. If that means that the non-elect are hated, that God hates all people who are not part of the elect, then you have a very serious problem namely that God is all loving and yet He does not love all. The key is to look at what the word hate means Now a lot of times people get hung up on this idea of God saying He hated somebody. Actually, it is a term that means love in a lesser degree. I loved Jacob, but I loved Esau in a lesser degree. Chuck Smith It s what Jesus implied when He said 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. Luke 14:26 (NKJV) So He loves them both, but one is loved less than the other Why would God love one greater than He loved the other? 3

How can God make that statement of children before they are even born; before they had done any good or evil? What we forget in this is that God knows all things from the beginning. God knew the entire life history of Jacob and Esau before they were ever born, even as He knew your life history before you were ever born. And because He knew that Esau would be a man of the flesh and Jacob would be more a man of the Spirit, though he was a deceiver, a conniver, and everything else, God, through this foreknowledge, made the decision that the elder shall serve the younger. So we can t really fault God and say, Well, they didn t do anything and God made the choice. No, God already knew what they were going to do, even as God already knows what you are going to do. How is it that God could choose me before He ever created the world? Because He knew me then. He knew all about me then, because God is omniscient. He knows all things, and known unto Him from the beginning are all things. And so on the basis of that foreknowledge, God made His election or His choice. Chuck Smith He knows all things! Have you ever recorded a football game? You may have been out-of-town but you wanted to watch your team play, so you recorded it. When you sat down and watched the game, more than likely, you already knew who had won. You might have cheered on your team but that didn t change the outcome it had already taken place you were looking back at a game that had already happened; thus, you knew the outcome. You might say, But that s you looking back. That s true. But God knows the outcome as He looks forward. Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure Isaiah 46:10 (NKJV) 4

God has written the story in advance and it s full of free choices, but He knows what the free people are going to do; He knows if we are going to accept Christ or reject Christ. Just as He can see my life, He can see before I was born, before I did anything good or bad, that one day I would respond to the call of God, that I would put my faith in the Lord. He already knew that to be true before I did it, and so based on His foreknowledge He chose; thus, I was predestined before the foundation of the world. It all took place in the heart and mind of God before any decision on my part. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29 (NKJV) Thus, we are standing not by our works, but by the fact that God has elected us. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. John 15:16 (NKJV) You re chosen but free. Isn t freewill and predestination contradictory? The bible teaches both. Predestination and free will are both true. Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death Acts 2:23 (NKJV) He was crucified by those who put Him to death, but it was also predestined by God. 5

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 (NKJV) Notice, He was slain before the foundation of the world God saw it and predestined it before it had happened, knowing it would happen. A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed. 1 Peter 2:8 (NKJV) They stumbled because they rejected; they were destined to do it but they were free to do it. Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48 (NKJV) The Gentiles had been appointed but they also had the choice to believe. Both are true. How can both be true? God predetermines in accordance with His foreknowledge. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29 (NKJV) elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied. 1 Peter 1:2 (NKJV) It s what Norman Geisler calls, chosen but free. Vs. 14-16 The context of the quote is His mercy it being His mercy. 6

Speaking of the Israelites and their history Aaron and his bad day when Moses was on the mount and he returns to find them in idol worship, worshiping the golden calf. God showed them mercy. It s a cry from Paul to the Jewish people. If God showed mercy to you, why would you be upset that God would show mercy to the Gentiles? You were no different than they are look at your history. So don t balk when God shows mercy to the Gentiles; He loves them just as He loves you, and the Messiah that He sent was evidence that He loved them. Then he gives them another example Vs. 17-18 What did pharaoh do? He tried to stop God s sovereignty in the life of the Jewish people. Paul is reminding them; you saw how that worked out for pharaoh don t do what he did. Don t get on the wrong side of God s sovereignty. You will force God to make an example of you. Pharaoh could have done what was right, he could have worked with God and God s will, but instead he hardened his heart. God was always trying to break through to his heart. And if you look back at Exodus 7-14, you will find that the hardening process is mentioned 15 times. Only after that long history did the Lord set his heart firm in the decision that he had made. Pharaoh hardened his heart seven times before God hardened his heart. That means if you harden your heart towards God, it could get to the place where it s so hardened that it s gone. The sun that melts the ice can also harden the clay. What s the difference? The reception. 7

So the fault lay not with God but with pharaoh, and pharaoh would then end up on the wrong side of God s sovereignty. Verse 17 that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth. It s a great reminder to keep our hearts open to the Lord. Not to go down the road of hardening our hearts. It s possible that we might find ourselves in a place where God chooses to give us the heart that we desire. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. Hebrews 3:12-15 (NKJV) Vs. 19-22 You are man; He is God. Brilliant people can get lost in their head and lose their way in all this. To resist God is to indicate you have lost your way. When we do so, we are not only trying to make ourselves His equal, even worse, it s to place ourselves in the place of God. It s a subtle way of saying we know more. Did you see what he said? Who are you to reply to God? It s a wakeup call who do you think you are? You fight God every time that He makes a decision that you don t like. Paul is trying to wake them up and get them back to the fear of the Lord. We are the clay, not the potter. In verse 22 he reminds the Jewish people that unrepentant sinners are preparing themselves for destruction. And eventually God will judge them accordingly. Just look at pharaoh. 8

The word for prepared is also the word fitted and can be translated, fitted himself for destruction. He could have repented but instead, he fitted himself to be on the wrong side of God s sovereignty. And then he reminds them of their history Vs. 24-29 Reminding the Jewish people of their history at times it was no better than the Gentiles, and even worse. If God hadn t saved a seed or a remnant that believed, then the nation of Israel would have been wiped out entirely. Not only that, but He brought this seed into the church, along with others who were not His people Gentiles like you and me. God was doing a new thing, He was making a new church made up of both Jews and Gentiles; they would have a new identity. But sadly, for the most part, the Jews were rejecting or maybe a better way to term it, they were stumbling. Vs. 30-33 His conclusion man s responsibility. It always seems to go back to that doesn t it? God will raise our awareness of His sovereignty but ultimately, it is our responsibility to respond to God. The question we all need to ask ourselves today is this: what side of God s sovereignty will we find ourselves on? God may know the outcome, but you and I don t, and it s always our responsibility to respond properly. Will you harden your heart or will you have a receptive heart? 9