August 12, 2012
Morning Service

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

 

Rom 8:15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father!

 

Rom 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us.

 

Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

 

Rom 8:31-32 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  (32)  Truly He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

 

Rom 8:38-39  For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  (39)  nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Paul now shifts gears and begins to deal with God’s chosen people, the Jews.  He seeks to explain the part they played in God’s plan to bring salvation to everyone.  Did God simply use them and then toss them aside once the Gentiles were included?  Certainly not, salvation was first offered to them and many received it, however many also rejected it.  That is how it has always been with God’s dealing with man.  All Jews were given opportunity to follow, but only a small percentage truly did.

 

Rom 9:1-5  I tell the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,  (2)  that I have great heaviness and continual pain in my heart.  (3)  For I myself was wishing to be accursed from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh,  (4)  who are Israelites; to whom belong the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises;  (5)  whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ according to flesh, He being God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

·         Paul was the apostle ordained to go to the Gentiles, but his heart ached for his brethren.  He even offers himself to be accursed for their restoration much like Moses (Exodus 32:32).

·         Israel was the first to be called God’s children, see His glory, be offered relationship with God (covenant), given the law, acts of worship to perform, and promises of their destiny.

 

Rom 9:6-13  Not however that the Word of God has failed, for not all those of Israel are Israel;  (7)  nor because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But, "In Isaac shall your Seed be called."  (8)  That is, not the children of the flesh are children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for a seed.  (9)  For this is the word of promise: "At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son."  (10)  And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, by our father Isaac  (11)  (for the children had not yet been born, neither had done any good or evil; but that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who called,)  (12)  it was said to her, "The elder shall serve the younger."  (13)  As it is written, "Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated."

·         This begins Paul’s explanation of the sovereignty or God.  All of Abraham’s children were not included in the promise, only those He chose.  Ishmael was the “son of the flesh” and Isaac was called the “son of the promise.”

 

Rom 9:14-18 What shall we say then? Is there not unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!  (15)  For He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."  (16)  So then it is not of the one willing, nor of the one running, but of God, the One showing mercy.  (17)  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth."  (18)  Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

·         Paul also asked a question in 8:31, “If God is for us who could be against us?”  The answer is no one, because God answers to no one.  It is His choice on whom He shows mercy and whom He chooses to use as a showcase of His will.

 

Rom 9:19-24  You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?  (20)  No, but, O man, who are you who replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him who formed it, Why have you made me this way?  (21)  Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?  (22)  What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;  (23)  and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to glory;  (24)  whom He also called, not only us, of Jews, but also of the nations?

·         The question here is since God chooses one vessel for honor and one for dishonor, how can He find fault with Him?

·         First Paul rebukes the right of the creation to question the Creator.  Finite man judging infinite God is illogical.

·         God could have chosen to not intervene at all and we would all be lost.  He didn’t; He shows His righteous sovereignty and longsuffering to us by offering salvation to “whosoever will.”   The “vessels of wrath” are ones whose sins make themselves subject to God’s wrath and destruction (justice).  God does prepare the “vessels of mercy” for glory (grace).

 

 Rom 9:25-29  As He also says in Hosea, "I will call those not My people, My people; and those not beloved, Beloved."  (26)  And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them. "You are not My people; there they shall be called sons of the living God."  (27)  Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel is as the sands of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.  (28)  For He is bringing the matter to an end, and cutting short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work on the earth."  (29)  And as Isaiah said before, "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been as Sodom, and would have been like Gomorrah."

·         The quotation from Hosea shows the Jews that this was God’s plan all along.  The Gentiles would eventually be included and only a remnant of Israel would be saved.

Mat 7:13-14  Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.  (14)  Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

 

Rom 9:30-33 What shall we say then? That the nations, who did not follow after righteousness have taken on righteousness, but a righteousness of faith.  (31)  But Israel, who followed after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at a law of righteousness.  (32)  Why? Because it was not of 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 a Rock-of-offense, and everyone believing on Him shall not be put to shame."

·         Israel struggled with the fact that they were always God’s chosen people and worked hard at keeping the law, but it was faith alone that would justify them in the end. That made Jesus, who was the key to their salvation, into the biggest obstacle to overcome.

 

Where can we take all this?  We initially encouraged you to surrender to God, trust His ways, and remember who He is.  This goes with the latter, always remember the sovereignty of God.