Lesson 41a
Romans 9:1-5 · Mike Doyle · Oct 13, 2019
Romans (2018-21), No. 85
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261916333718

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Everybody got a 41. I apologize for sending out two 40s. So paradigm shift today. We go into chapter 9 and 9, 10, 11 are a composite that changed the whole discussion of what's going on in Romans 8. And to sort of set it up, the first question I asked was, read from chapter 8 to chapter 12, and if you take out chapters 9, 10, and 11, it fits together. You know, in Paul's epistles, except for this one, they're all set up the same way. You get the doctrine, the position first. And then you have the chapter that all changes, and he says, based on the position that I've just laid out to you, here's how it looks in shoe leather.

Here's how it should cause your behavior to be in line with the doctrine I've just given you, except for Romans. It doesn't do that in Romans. There's this insert into Romans that changes. Now, just to show you what I mean, Courtney went through 37, 38, and 39. Watch how they go together, and I'll read those three verses, and then 12, 1, and 2.

But in all these things we're overcoming, we conquer through Him who loved us, for I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth or any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, and that which is good and acceptable and perfect." See how it goes together? It just transitions. It's like all of his epistles. But that's three chapters out. So what's 9, 10, and 11 all about? Why the change? What's the focal point of 9? He's talking to the Jew. Well, he's written. Is that who he's talking to? He's talking to the nation, Israel. Is he? Who's the epistle of Romans written to? Oh, they're not Jewish, are they? There's a lot of Gentiles in Rome.

So why does he put it in there? Why does he change the focal point from what we would call Christianity and the basic doctrines of Christianity? And now he focuses on Israel. Why is he doing that? I would think so. I mean, if you if you apprehend what he has told the readers in the first eight chapters, you know, you pretty soon you have to come up with a question in your mind. Well, gee whiz, that that doctrine is so incredible.

What did he do? Just blow the Jews off, decide that they were not worthy of his you know, is he going to go back on his promises? Because he made some promises to them, and they just decided that they're so despicable, that like Noah and the Ark, he's going to save eight Christians and drown all the rest of them. Isn't that a logical question?

If you're studying down through Romans, especially when you understand the doctrine of identification, because believers The person who becomes a believer is co-crucified with Christ, which means he's separated from the world. He's a different kind of a human being.

But God has still made these promises to Israel. Well, what about that? That's the reason for the chapter. What about that? That's the one thing. The second thing about these three chapters is they can be confusing because we really try hard to get Christianity in there somewhere. and it's not there.

He's talking about what he has done in terms of his relationship and his focus on Israel and who they are. Because if there's a Jewish guy sitting in the audience in 70 AD and he believes in the person and work of Christ through the evangelization of Paul, what happens to him? from a spiritual standing before God. What happens to him? Is he just now a saved Jew? What happens to him? Is he even a Jew anymore?

What's that? So think about this. If the crucifixion of Christ ended one creation and started a new one, And by faith in the personal work of Christ, you leave that whole creation and come into a new one. Do you still have identity in the old one? Understand what I'm saying? In Christ Jesus, there's neither Jew or Gentile. There's no bond or free. There's no barbarians. There's no Scythians. There's no Democrats. There's no Republicans. There's no Bronco fans. There's none of that.

So to understand that although the Jewish nation was God's chosen people, when a Jew comes to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, he stops being a Jew. Right? Am I right about that? He's not under the law anymore. How does God look at him? What's the reality about this man? He's in Christ. So if the Word of God says that in Christ there's no Jew or Gentile, what is he? All of those identities have gone away. Am I right? The old identities? What's that? The old identities? All the old identities are gone.

Now there's a whole denomination in Christendom today that are Messianic Jewish Christians, that's what they call themselves. You know, that's like saying I'm a Republican and a Democrat at the same time. I'm a liberal and a conservative, you know, at the same time. I'm a Presbyterian and a Methodist at the same time, or I'm a Muslim and a Christian at the same time. Can't be both of those things.

Were they the Judaizers? The Judaizers? They didn't get identification with Christ, so what were they trying to do? Inflict the Jewish law on those who had professed faith in Christ. But Mike, isn't that also why, I mean, the loss of identity, when you're a Jew who accepted Christ, you were thrown out of the synagogue, you were ostracized.

That's why all the offerings in Paul's missionary journeys is to bring gifts back to the Jews not the saved Jews, but the Christians who were Jewish, because they couldn't do anything. They couldn't function in Jerusalem anymore. Well, yes, exactly right. And that's why Paul was taking up a collection for them and trying to keep them alive. I mean, their identity in the Jewish was gone. Yeah.

Imagine if you lived in a community in Denver that was all Hasidic Jews and you decided to become a Christian and they wouldn't even talk to you anymore. And all your business associations, your neighborhood, everything, they won't talk to you. Or your family. And if you happen to live in Jerusalem, you can't buy or sell anything. They won't talk to you. So it's serious. To a Jew, it's real serious who becomes a Christian.

I think though, this is my personal opinion, that today, if you take what he's going to talk about in 9, 10, and 11, and you use that information to understand how associated am I with the world system and in Christ. I'm trying to live in both worlds, right? I'm trying to compromise so that I get comfortable, and I won't abandon this for Christ. I won't do it.

That's what he's pointing out in 11.6 there where mixing works and grace isn't there. That's exactly right. So it isn't these Jews that have a problem. When you look at this, we all have attractions. On Wednesday night we're studying Abraham. Abraham is the great man of faith, right?

God calls him to leave the Ur of the Chaldees and go to to the promised land, and he makes it to this town called Haran. You know why he stopped? Because his dad wanted to stop. Is he disobeying God? Yeah, he is. But you know, God is the most gracious and merciful God. He lets us be idiots and still blesses us. He really does.

But the point is, can a believer actually abandon If you were a Jew who became a Christian, could you abandon Judaism in your heart? I mean, really abandon it. It would be hard to do. Could you abandon the world system that you were raised in to sell out to Christ? It would be hard, wouldn't it? It is hard. was trying to extract that from them.

That's exactly right. That's what all of Galatians is about. He's trying to get them, you're not in that system anymore. You can sense his frustration, not his frustration, it was just desire to get him out of the law. But it was so ingrained in him. It's their life.

You know, if you're raised in a denomination, or you're raised in any kind of a church that has a great influence on you when you become an adult. And if you, especially if you're a religious person, it's really tough to abandon religiosity for Christ. It's really tough. You know? And it's hard. It just is. You know why?

Because we don't see the value of what Christ has offered us. We think it's a doctrine, religion kind of a thing where We're going to have to walk the walk and talk the talk. It's really going to be hard. We don't understand grace and so we don't understand the blessings that God has in store for us if we do abandon to Him. So He's always working to get us to do that graciously. I want to set that premise as we start into this because You're going to see a lot of things here.

You'll see a lot of quotes from 9, 10, and 11 that they apply to Christianity, and they don't belong there. Okay, what's the focal point of chapter 9, question 2? It's obvious. It changes from Christianity to the Jews, to Israel, from the church. Usually, like we said in Paul's epistles, you get the doctrine, then you get the duty. But in this case, the discussion of Israel is intervening. And it's very instructive for us for a lot of reasons that I mentioned.

So why did Paul put this here? What's the real reason that he put it right here? Why didn't he wait till the end? Why did he stick it here? Courtney's got the answer. He talked about it for two days. What's the answer? God loved us. That's why he did it here. He's showing that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing.

And now he's going to introduce this three chapters of Judaism in the church with the same premise, that nothing can separate us. nothing can separate them. Well, I think that's also needed, too, because of the persecution that they were going to face. Which they are facing. So the love transitions into the Jews. You're giving everything up, but God loves you. So it does fit logically.

I've always thought it's interesting that Judaism, I came out of Catholicism, and I know quite a few people who have come to Christ out of Catholicism, but they still maintain a toe in the pool of Catholicism, because they think like Jews think. You know how the Jews thought they became Christians? Well, if this Christian thing doesn't work out, I'm still a Jew. If this Christian thing doesn't work out, I'm still Catholic.

Really. Well, and they have to cross themselves all the time. All the time? Well, the stuff they do is amazing. They do all kinds of things that they think are going to be pleasing to God, and He doesn't care less, could care less about them. Wouldn't that be true, though, in most religions today? It is. Oh, yeah. It totally is.

Religion is, strictly speaking, religion is a conformity thing that you conform to a set of moral principles. And if you do well at it, you get prideful about it. And if you don't do too well at it, you try to figure out a way to do it or you abandon it. Well, that's not what Christianity is. Christianity isn't a religion. I'm terrible at that. I know. We've noticed. I can't do it.

Good for you. You know, also it goes back to what you talked about several times, you know, when the Inca or Mayan thing came in. Every religion is man trying to please God. That's exactly right. God is angry, and you have to please Him. You have to do something. Every religion is like that. This is the only one. And just as we've come through, God loves you. That's right. And you don't have to please Him because He loves you. Because He's taken every provision There's nothing that separates you from His love. So this is completely different than every other religion. And even the Jews, you know, we have to, the law system, I have to do something in order to please God, for me to get something. You remember when, we've talked about this before, you remember what Louis Barry Schaeffer said was the most hated thing in the world? What was the most hated thing in the world? What do you think it is? Grace. Grace. Why? Why is grace...

You don't have to do anything. Is that why I hate it? The old man hates it. Yeah. I've got to do something. It's interesting because that's really where it lies. I don't like grace because it leaves me out of the equation. That's what Galatians is all about. The verses we're studying in chapter 5, that's really what they're about. do A, B and C and you don't like it?

It would be like a child trying to please his parents and nothing they do pleases them. They can't figure it out. And in our case it's because God loves us and He's made every provision, He just wants us to receive it. Just receive it. So what is the theme of chapter 9? Paul's agony over his Jewish brothers? Close. Keep thinking about it. I'm sure you all read the chapter before you got here today, right? God's mercy? No. There's a lot about God's sovereignty. Yeah.

It's about the election of Israel. That's really what it's about. God elected them. He chose them. through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he made a lot of promises. And it's about that election in contrast with, I mean, this question is simple. If God has done all of this for Christians, Romans chapter 1 through 8, how about the fact that he elected the Jews? How do you answer that question? Because the Jews are not partakers of what Christianity is, but he's made them a lot of promises. And, you know, a skeptic would say, well, is he going to go back on his promises? Is he going to?

He's just tired of them. And, you know, I mean, I gave them a law. They're not living up to it. The heck with them. I'm going to flush them all out. So that's what we're talking about. The theme is the election of Israel. OK, now, Let's look at Deuteronomy 7, 6-8. Somebody look that up and you read it. It talks about the place of Israel in God's plan. Deuteronomy 7, 6, 7 and 8. to the Lord your God.

The Lord your God has chosen you to give people His own possession out of all the people who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you or choose you because you were more a number than any of the people. For you were the fewest of the people.

The God, because the Lord loved you, kept the oath which you swore to your forefathers. The Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Now therefore, know therefore that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps his covenant and his loving kindness to you, to thousands of generations. with those who love Him and keep His commandments. Okay, so what's the reason for the choice of Israel in God's plan? Because He loved them. Because He loved them. That's pretty cool, isn't it? He loved them. And He says right here, you know, I'm not going back on what I said, and I did all this because I love you. That's why I did it. And my love won't change.

Well, so the people of God in verse 7, I'm sorry, 7a, they're a holy people, which means they're set apart. This Hebrew word means they have been cut off and separated to Him. The Jewish nation cut off and separated to Him. These people were different in everything they did. They dressed different. They ate different. Everything was different about them. The people were treasured of God. They were his treasure. They had great value and he gave them things of great value. He prized them highly as a people.

In Exodus 19.5 he says, now therefore if you will obey my voice and deed and keep my covenants, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me. But they didn't. Really? They turned their backs continually over and over and over and over. So he blew them off. I'm just saying they weren't faithful. He was faithful, but they weren't. So he blew them off. Nope. Well, he did say that. No, he didn't. That's the amazing thing. You know, the study of Genesis we're doing on Wednesday, that's the one underlying principle you see in everything in the book of Genesis.

God is faithful and he loves and he wants to bless. And every one of his creatures are screaming at him and turning their back on him. creative in his ways to bless them, even though they don't obey him. The whole reason for the Tower of Babel was they told Noah and his sons, spread out and populate the earth. So rather than hammer them, he changes their language so they have to spread. That's a really gracious way to do it. So they are special They're unlike any other human beings.

Amos 3.2 says, and you only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities. I love that. In 7b, he says, you weren't more a number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all the people. But I chose you. I chose you out of all the other nations. And he did it based on the choice. Was the choice negative? It wasn't because of their size. It's because he loved them. Isn't that interesting? And why did he love them? Why did he love them? Because he decided to, not because they were lovable.

Yeah, it's rooted in his character. And I think that's a really important principle right there, that we have to understand that God loves us because of his character, not because you're a good guy and a swell dancer. That's not why he loves you. He doesn't love you because you have figured out really cool Christian things to do. He loves you, period, because of who he is. Well, he has that same kind of love for Israel. The same kind of love for Israel. The part that has always kind of confused me is we've learned so much about that we're totally saved by grace.

And Paul says, you guys are going back to this works mentality and keeping the law, and it's going to destroy you. that the last words in chapter 9 talk about, because they keep His commandments. Because they keep them. And so, since we needed a Savior because basically we have a hard time keeping His commandments, I'm confused about He loves them because they keep His commandments.

In the church age, there's no law system. We're under grace. And they have to be saved believing Jesus is Messiah? Well, actually, Abraham was saved because he just believed what God told him. That's true. He didn't tell him about Jesus. He just said, Hey, I'm going to bless all the nations of the earth through you. That's true. And Abraham said, Okay. And so Abraham was declared righteous. So we are presented with the person and work of Christ. Abraham wasn't.

He was presented with the promises that God made that he would do things through him to bless the whole world, to make him a great nation, to give him a lot of land. We figured out that the most land that Israel ever occupied was 30,000 square miles, yet that God gave them 300,000 square miles, or 300 million, I don't forget which. But they only ever occupied 10% of what he gave them. So let's go back to the genesis of your question. The issue is, how do I obey? Isn't that the issue? And if the Jews don't obey, you know, God says, if you will obey me, I will bless you. And if you don't obey me, I'm going to curse you.

Right? Does he say the same thing to you? What does he say to you? He said, if you believe in my Son and His cross work, the Holy Spirit is going to place you into Christ. You'll be positioned in Him. And your righteousness is because you have put your faith in Him and you're trying to earn my blessing.

But to help eliminate what you described as your confusion, how do you obey? I mean, are you like a Jew who's been given a law that if you obey me, I'll bless you. If you don't obey me, I'm going to curse you. Am I under that same...? No. So why do I respond? Why do I act like I do? In other words, what motivates me to obey him?

His love. Love. No. He first loved us. What's that? He first loved us. Faith in Him. No. It's His life. We have His life. His life always obeys. It's just the way it is. It's the way the life functions. It's real simple. I didn't have to send my dog to barking school. It came with the life. The life that I have in the resurrected Christ always obeys God. It's the nature of the life I have. It wasn't the nature of the life that Abraham had, because he was from Adam. But I'm from Christ. Has Christ ever disobeyed the Father? Best I can tell, He never has. He delights in doing the Father's will. This life that we have delights in doing the Father's will. It isn't a struggle. We delight to do it because that's the way the life is. You see that? So that's the way grace is.

I think you have to recognize that if I'm going to disobey God, I'm operating out of the old man. If I'm walking in the Spirit, abiding in the Lord Jesus, I don't have any problem with compliance. It's just there. He's there. Do you see that? When Christ is the focus of your everyday existence, your attitude is, let's go. I want to walk with you. That's the desire of my heart. It isn't to keep a law, it's just to be pleasing to Him. And I recognize, because somebody showed me in the Word, I already have the life that does that. Does that make sense?

Hey Mike, just real quick. As you mentioned, love kind of being a result of obeying commands. So the blessings and the cursings are the result of obeying or disobeying, but love is unconditional. It's not based on commandments or obedience. Yeah, that's right. But the issue is, do I experience the love? Do I walk in that grace? Do I live in the favor, the conditional or experiential favor of the Father. Now that's a principle. It's a principle. I already have it, but like Courtney says, I've got to walk by faith.

I just have to believe what he tells me, even if I don't understand it. But he makes incredible pains to teach me. How did he do that? He indwelt each one of us with the Holy Spirit. He's the teacher. You think he's off the job on Fridays? No, he's there all the time. directing, moving, doing what? He's conforming us. That's what the conformity to Christ is really all about. In your heart, I delight to do your will, Father. Really? Okay. I do.

Question six says, on the basis of God himself, What right does he have to choose Israel? What's interesting that chapter 9 is going to stress to us is that God does things not based on human rules. In Psalm 147, 19, he says, there's nothing in the word that shows that the only people God ever talked to was Israel. In Psalm 147, it says, he declares his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgment unto Israel. So God talked to other peoples, didn't he? Sure he did. He talked to Pharaoh. Only Israel possessed one interesting thing. They possessed the Word of God. They had it. No other nation have. They're the only ones that have it. It's declared 363 times in the Old Testament. It refers to anything previously unknown or unknowable.

The point is that God says in Psalms, He declares His word to Jacob. God talked to other nations, but He didn't declare His word to them. Like He didn't go out to to the sons of Ishmael and start telling them what he told Israel. He didn't do that. Only Israel had his word. And he declared it to them all the time and told them how important it was that they listen. But like Carol says, they didn't listen. See, revelation is an act of God in making known what man did not and could not know on his own. So, if God doesn't make known to the Hittites what's in his word, they never get it. They don't get it. Just like us. Yeah, we're different. 9, 10, 11. It's kind of like progressive revelation. Yeah, but we do have revelation. The Hittites didn't. Do you see what I'm saying?

And in Judges 14, then Samson said to them, let me now propound a riddle to you. If you will indeed tell it to me within seven days of the feast and find it out, then I will give you 30 linen wraps and 30 changes of clothes. But if you are unable to tell me, then you shall give me 30 linen wraps and 30 changes of clothes. And they answered and said, propound your riddle, that we may hear it. This example is all over the Old Testament. How about our boy Joseph, who reveals to Pharaoh what his dream is? Why did he know? How did he know, and the other guys, the paid guys in court didn't know. How did he know? Because God revealed it to him. That's how he knew. The other people, no revelation.

Isaiah 41 says then let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place as the former events declare what they were that we may consider them and know their outcome or announce to us what is coming. Not going to happen unless you're from Israel. Let them bring forth and show us what will happen. The point that I'm making in this question is that Israel, one of the blessings of Israel, they were the receivers of God's will. Through His word, through revelation, through prophets, God told them what He wanted and what He was doing.

But like Carol said, they wouldn't listen. Question 7. Does verse 3 mean that Paul would give up his salvation for the salvation of the Jews? Somebody read verse 3. Or I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh. So would he give up his salvation for the salvation of the Jewish nation? Or is he just messing with him? He wouldn't. Well, he didn't say, I do wish. He said, I could. Why couldn't he do it?

It's interesting, there are three people in history that were willing to be cut off to save others. You know who they were? One of them was Moses. Moses said that he would die for the rest of the nation of Israel. The problem was that he couldn't do it because he wasn't the right guy. Paul said that he would die for the nation of Israel. The problem is he couldn't do it. He wasn't qualified.

The Lord Jesus Christ said he would die and he could do it. And he did do it. And you know why he's the only one that could do it? Because he was not the problem of sin. The other two guys have a problem with sin. But Christ was the one who could do it, and he did do it. So the question is, could he have done it?

The answer is no. Would he be willing to do it if all Israel would be saved? What do you think? I think this is just a term of endearment to the It is. If I could do this, I'd give up my life for you. I can't, but it's like, you know, I'd die for you. Yeah, yeah. But let's hope the truck doesn't come down the road today. Yeah, that's right. Would I do it? I think so. He'd be willing to do it, even though I think he's intelligent enough, spiritually intelligent enough to know whether it was an impossibility, but his heart was such that he would.

Husbands do it every day, don't they? What's that? Die for their wives? I don't know, ask Donna. So, the life in us as believers is a sacrificial life. We die daily so that there might be life in you. Death means separation. I'm willing to be separated. It's part of the life. I'm willing to be separated from whatever so that there might be life in you. That's the way Paul thought. He would do anything for them to have life in Christ. And especially the Jewish nation, they're his people.

So, we went through the first seven questions pretty fast. Question 8 is going to take a couple of weeks to get through. Can I ask a question? Yeah, please. I want to rephrase my original question today. Okay, good. You're not going to escape, but go ahead.

I have a friend, and his wife is an Orthodox Jew. He's a Gentile, and they're really nice people. And the other kids have got PhDs in something. And anyway, you know, we work together and when we talk about Jesus, he would say it just really aggravates him when a Christian person tries to tell his wife, who's Jewish, one of the chosen people, that she needs to put her faith in Christ. It makes me really angry because she's a Jew. What are they thinking? And so, if she doesn't believe in Jesus as the Messiah and accept Him and have the Spirit place her into Christ, she's not saved, right? So, even though they're chosen, and special and loved by God, that doesn't get him into heaven.

Well, and that question will be answered in 9, 10, and 11. Okay. And probably the basis, the beginning of an answer is that God deals with Israel as a nation, not individuals. He deals with people now. You and you and you and you and you. He doesn't care if you're Irish or Italian or Jewish. So the salvation of Israel is always on a corporate level, not on an individual level. Although those in Israel that were saved were individually persons who believed God, they were saved by faith.

Hopefully, with the understanding of what Romans 9, 10, and 11 talk about, would answer his question. about, well, aren't they the chosen people? Well, are they the chosen people in 2019? No, they're not. But they're still chosen of God and there's still things that are still going to happen with them.

But today, you don't, there's no salvation by being a Jew. It's like the guy, the rabbi that lived across the street from me, I asked him twice two questions. I said, the Hasidic study the first five books of the Bible. And the Mosaic Covenant is in there with the sacrifices for sin. And I asked him twice, I said, if there's no remission of sins without the shedding of blood, and you don't have a temple, how are your sins taken care of today?

They slaughter goats. No, they don't. Those are the Muslims. I mean, they have a system where they go up on the Day of Atonement and they confess and do all that. But I said to him, I said, but your five books say that the only way that your sins are covered is through sacrifice. And it's got to be a sacrifice today for the sins coming up to today. And, you know, he had his answer, but his answer wasn't scriptural.

How do they? How do they? Chosen or not. And the difference between being one of the chosen people and your sins being covered under the old covenant was they were covered. They weren't put away. Your sins are put away. It's going to help when we get to the remnant side of things. Say that again. When we get into remnant, those that are Israelites, but have believed through grace. And that's how love... And there are some of those. There really are. And they, for some reason, the Lord chose them. They're chosen. We had a friend who the Lord took home a couple of years ago.

That was his whole ministry, was to Jewish people. He was always pounding on the Jews about Christ. and go to their synagogues and talk to them about Christ. That's like how Moise said at his Seder one time, the lady said, oh, we don't believe any of that stuff anyway.

So we'll start in question eight, and what we're going to do is we're going to go through the eight special privileges that God gave to Israel from two perspectives. One, He gave them to Israel, and is He going to fulfill them? And two, are they relevant to me as a believer in Christ today? I think we'll begin to understand that there's a difference between living under grace and living under a promise.

So let's close. Father, how we thank you for your grace. We thank you for the fact that you have placed us in your Son, the Lord Jesus, and you see us only in Him. And that we may grow up and understand that that's where we are and be able to function from our position in Him. Thank you, Father, we pray in His precious name. Amen.