The Election of Jacob's seed
Romans 9:10-13 · Roger Henderson · Jul 14, 2024
Romans (2022-25), No. 082
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261935531848

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

Okay well today we're going to continue on in chapter 9 and you know one thing to think about here this is going to talk about and this is this is kind of the maybe the more challenging part of this God's going to talk about how he selected really the line that produced Christ. He's going to show us how he chose the line through Abraham that Christ would come through. But he's also going to show that he didn't choose other people. So this idea of God choosing and not choosing other people seems to us, you know, I have two twin boys. And everything has to be fair. Their names are Moses and Fisher. Fisher wants it just as fair as Moses and vice versa. And they fight to the death to have it fair.

So I would commend you. So what Paul's going to do, he's going to say, yeah, I know it seems you know, he's going to try to answer the argument that comes to mind. Is God fair in choosing a line of people through Abraham when he didn't choose them through Isaac? So don't get too wrapped up in the people. The people actually, every person we know from Abraham, from Genesis all the way starting with Adam, every person has to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation or at least trust in what they knew about the Lord Jesus at that time.

So that's not only not the issue, it's the issue of a national choosing is what's in view here. Okay, with that in mind, so along that line, this is a chart I've kind of chopped up a little bit from Merriman. So I just took the top half of that chart. So this shows God's promised ethnic and messiahic seed.

So this is the Abraham, we start with Abraham. And Abraham's line, he didn't go through Hagar. Hagar was the older son, didn't go through Ishmael, that he told. If you think about it, Hagar through Ishmael is man's solution. God promised Abraham a seed, a line, and God said, no, it's not gonna go through Hagar. Even though Hagar was the firstborn in his house, which was very important in that time period, he was not gonna be God's line. God wanted Abraham to have a line through Sarah, his wife, who was barren. But God miraculously gave them a child. And there's a long, neat story about that.

And we're going to read part of that today. But the line would come through Isaac. And then later on, kind of the forgotten children of Abraham, there's some that come along later down the road, if you read your Bibles carefully. He has six other sons through Keturah.

So anyway, that's what I'm going to call the seed of Abraham. And that was kind of last week's message. We're going to talk about that a little bit, review that for a bit. And then we're going to review about the seed of Isaac. Okay so this is the seed of Abraham and it continues on all the way to Christ and so here's a passage, a passage that where he promised Abraham what he was going to do in Genesis 12.1, now the Lord said to Abram, his name was Abram at that time, go forth from your country to the land which I will show you, I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you and the ones who curse you I will curse and in you the families of the earth shall be blessed so one thing to note there and I put it in blue the fact when God chooses he chooses to bless through his chosen instrument.

In this case it's Abraham. He's going to bless through the Abrahamic line. That's how he chooses to bless. He's not chosen to bless through Hagar. So that's part of the tension here. He's not going to bless through these folks. He's going to bless through the Abrahamic line.

So on the Hagar Ishmael line He didn't forget about Hagar and her son Ishmael and here's what he said when she left her, she left Sarah and ran off and an angel of the Lord kind of found her and it says this in 1610, the angel of the Lord said to her, I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count And the angel of the Lord said to her further, Behold, you are with child, and you will bear a son, and you shall call him Ishmael, because the Lord has given heed to your afflictions. He will be a wild donkey of a man, and his hand will be against everyone else. everyone.

So your natural tendency is to say well God favored Abraham and didn't favor him so much. Is God being unfair to Ishmael and the Hagar line or not fair? And so God is fair basically. And you have to believe if they had wanted to trust at that time Abraham and his God, the God of Abraham, they could have come to know him. But they didn't. They became kind of the enemies of Israel in many cases.

So that's kind of the start of this. So let's look at last week a little bit. So we're going to kind of go through each verse and kind of talk about that a little bit. So the first verse, I've kind of had the Wiest translation of that, 6a. It talks about the Word of God. Has the Word of God failed is kind of the banner. And so Wiest has this translated as follows. The Word of God, with reference to Israel, has not failed to work effectively in time past and at the present time, and is still potently effective. So God's Word was effective in the past and it continues to be effective in the present and on into the future. So that's 6A. Then 6b, we're going to go kind of fast here. 6b is an interesting statement.

For not all the ones out of Israel are true Israel. So this is where God declares, through Paul, that just because you came out of Israel, you were born in that family, doesn't mean that you're true Israel. True Israel is by faith, is kind of the thing. And Merriman says here, physical birth did not determine if you were a true Israelite. Then 7a, Neither because they, Isaac, are the seed of Abraham, are the children of God.

Kind of seems to be a similar kind of thing. So let's say you were born of Abraham, and we're gonna see Abraham had many, we start down the line of Abraham, and he has 12 sons. Well, God only chose one of those sons to go through that line. He didn't choose the other ones. So 11 sons were not chosen, only one son was chosen. And through that son, Christ would come.

So God is in the business of choosing, But he's doing it righteously. And Paul's going to try to address that point in later time. Mike's going to have a little crack on Pharaoh here. Was God fair to Pharaoh? That's kind of hard to say. But we're going to see about that. That's coming up. Actually, it's going to be two weeks now because we're going to have our missionary friends come and talk.

Okay, so being Abraham's seed does not mean you're a child of God. It's belief in what God has said, what he has revealed to you, is how you become a child of God. And this is what, that's exactly what Abraham did. Abraham, then he, Abraham, believed in the Lord, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. So Old Testament, New Testament, it's always by faith and what God has revealed. Okay, let's go on.

So now 7b, but in Isaac your seed will be called. So a true Israelite must flow through the child of promise. So once God has chosen that line, the child of promise is gonna flow through that. So he's gonna talk about the child of promise versus not the child of promise, if you will. Born again to the sons of Abraham, these are the ones that receive the promise.

So in Genesis we see, this fact stated, Genesis 21-12, But God said to Abraham, Do not be distressed of the lad, Ishmael, and your maid. For through Isaac your descendant shall be named. He reaffirms it multiple times. The line I plan for you, Abraham, is through Sarah, through Isaac. That's the line that I'm gonna prosper, I'm gonna bless. And they're gonna be a blessing. They're gonna be a blessing to all mankind.

So God's, as Merriman points this out, I listened to a little bit of Merriman this week, and he talks about how God doesn't bless directly. He blesses through a mediator. He blesses through the nation of Israel, and think about us. He blesses us through the Lord Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. That's how he blesses us. He didn't come to us and say, Mike, I want to bless you. No, he says, Mike, believe in my son, and then I'll bless you. So, you know, I think we all understand that. Okay, 8a.

It is not the child of the flesh who are the children of God. So it kind of comes to me a little different way, same kind of area, you know, physical birth is not what it's about. So child of the flesh speaks to that. So who are the children of the flesh?

Again, they're the natural children of Abraham, his bloodline. So just because you're in that bloodline, if you're one of the 11 sons, you're not in the line, you're not in the chosen line of Abraham. But you're in his bloodline though. So he's kind of discounting that point there. Then 8b, but the children of promise are considered, are a counter, put down as true, are reckoned for a seed.

So the child of promise, they're considered the chosen ones, if you will. It was only the children born supernaturally of fulfilling God's promise to Abraham, Isaac's line, that supernatural line. There wouldn't be a line of Isaac, right, without a supernatural birth. The line wouldn't have gone anywhere.

Then finally, the last verse from last week, for this is the word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. So actually, for the construction, the last half of the verse is the word of promise, just the way it reads. This, referring to the last half, this is the word of promise. And he states it here, but it comes from Genesis. Genesis 10, I mean, 1810. So I'll read back to nine. So Genesis 18, nine and 10. They then they and this is the Lord and two men. This is this wonderful story where?

Abraham and Sarah are camped out so to speak and their camp Be interesting to see their camp anyway They're not like we camp out and they fix stuff and so here comes here comes the Lord Jesus pre-incarnate Lord Jesus and two men and And they say to him, where is Sarah your wife? And he said to them, they're in the tent. And he said, I will surely return at this time next year and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son. And Sarah was listening at the tent door which was behind him. And then we have the interesting story about how she, she says, that can't be. And she laughed, you know, so it's a cool story. Anyway, so that's last week.

So that's the beginning of this discussion about the line of Abraham. So now we're gonna go on, and this is gonna include Isaac and Rebekah. So today's verses are, and not only this, but there was Rebekah also. She had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. for though the twins were not yet born, and had done anything good or bad, so God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls. Then we have two statements at the end. It was said to her, to Rebecca, the older will serve the younger, and we actually read that, we're gonna read it again. And then lastly, just as written, Jacob I loved, and Esau I hated.

So you say, wow, is God unjust? In fact, actually, when we get to 14, it's gonna say, is God fair? How can he love and hate? That doesn't sound like God to me. We're gonna see, is that, you know, what's he talking about there? All right, so let's get into it here.

So the first part, and not only this, refers back to the previous verse, not only talking about Abraham and Sarah, We had an example of an election of a son Abraham by one woman Sarah and a rejection or not a not choosing of a son by another woman Hagar So God chose the line again. This seems somewhat repetitive here. Hopefully it won't But in contrast that Allah is a strong contrast There was also Rebecca. So now we're going to have Rebecca's story if you will Isaac and Rebecca story So this begins a contrast between Rebecca and Sarah and their similarities and differences.

When she conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. So first, so if you think about before, there were two wives involved and then two children. In this case, we have one man and one woman and two sons. But God's gonna choose between these two sons. Though through one father a different destiny was divinely appointed for each of the twins. Okay, so here's the story of the birth, going back to Genesis. We're gonna read through maybe 10 verses or so. This is the birth of the twins. We read part of it already a little bit, I think.

Now these are the records of the generation of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac, And Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah and Rebekah, the sister of Laban, their mean, to be his wife. Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord answered him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived.

But the children struggled within her. And she said, If this be so, why then am I this way? So she went to inquire of the Lord. Somebody said it's good she went to the Lord, right? She didn't go to see her gynecologist. I don't know, I'm sure they had gynecologists in those days, but anyway, she went to the Lord. That was a good move on Sarah's part, okay? Continues, the Lord said to her, isn't that wonderful?

Okay, I'm gonna answer right now. But the answer is gonna be kind of shocking. Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. One people will be stronger than the other. The older shall serve the younger. And when her days were to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment, and they named him Esau. And afterward, his brother came forth with his hand holding onto the heel of Esau. So his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was 60 years old when she gave birth.

So we're gonna come back to verse 23, it's just a really key verse here, because you notice it's not talking about people, it's talking about nation, I mean, it's not talking about individuals, it's talking about nations and peoples, which is really key. Okay, let's go on. So now verse 11. Verse 11 is probably the most challenging verse in this section, so let's do the easy part first.

So we start off with God's, he's gonna choose among these twins. for through the twins I'm sorry for though the twins were not born yet so we're talking about the twins before their birth this is this is God's plan so we see that so we've seen that from Genesis that God knew his plan for the twins we just reread part of that already they're going to be two nations two peoples also Rebecca was perplexed about what was going on But at this point had neither one for through the twins, I'm sorry, for though the twins were not yet born and had not yet done anything good or bad.

So nothing had happened. So what we're going to see here and it's done is the idea to do or to practice or to do something. God hadn't said, well, I look forward into time and I see Isaac doing this. I see Jacob doing this and I see Esau doing this, therefore I'm gonna make a judgment about what I'm gonna do with these guys. He didn't do that. God did not wait to see how the twins would turn out to make his plans. God's actions were not influenced by any good or bad actions to be done in the future.

So if you go and look through the life of, especially Jacob, you say, wow, he had some issues, right? Jacob had some issues, but at some point, God had to really get serious. He broke his hip, I think it was. And eventually he trusted the Lord. But Jacob had, and then we're not as familiar with Esau, his line, what he did.

Anyway, God didn't take that into account. He didn't look down. They had done nothing good or bad. So that, so I think it's actually clearer stated this way. So I'm gonna take the middle part of the verse and from the Interlinear, so the middle part of the verse says this, so that the purpose of God, so this is kind of ratcheting back before I get into this. We saw that God did not, before their birth, he did not consider what would happen in the future with the twins, whether it was gonna be good or bad. He didn't take that into account.

And this is gonna justify that kind of action by God. So that the purpose of God might remain according to selection or his choice. So God is going to choose solely upon His divine grace, His sovereign grace He's going to choose. So it helps here if you kind of identify the subject and the verb here. The purpose of God is the subject here and might remain is a verb. So let's just kind of go through that quickly.

So that with a purpose that the purpose of God, this is his predetermination, his intent, it's God's calling, his design of something, God's purpose in doing things. And one verse we see that going on here and what I noticed is in this verse and in verse 828 which I'll read in a second, we have two ideas kind of going on. God calls, God has a purpose and he does some calling. And the words sometimes are in different orders. In this case, we have the purpose of God might remain in the selection, and that's not talking about his calling. In the case in 828, it says, and we know that God causes all things to work together for the good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.

So God has a purpose in his calling. And that's what's kind of in view here. So let's go on with this. So now the verb, might remain. So the purpose of God might remain. It means to stay or to abide continually. The purpose of God is to continually remain.

It's not going to change. according to the Norman standard of his choice. His purposes are going to be dictated by what he chooses to do. That will drive his purposes. So this means that God's intention, purpose, was according to the principle of election or choice, which is God's free choice, without being affected by any outside circumstances or the worth of the individual concerned. That's from Zodiates. So God's gonna choose based upon his character, his righteous, holy character. And then the last part, kind of interesting, he's gonna kind of contrast works and his calling. not of works, but of his calling.

It's not, this word, out of, the purpose of God cannot be out of man's works as a source. So he's kind of closing the argument up. He's saying nothing that man does, nothing that either of the twins does can affect what God's gonna do. He's closing that down. No works of man can influence God's choice. But on the other side, out of his calling but Allah in strong contrast the purpose of God is out of him as a source is sourcing God alone the word calling Khalil describes how how he purposes is accomplished and Khalil kind of shows up in the Old Testament about how God makes sovereign choices based upon his grace Okay, so let's go on to the fun verses now. Okay, 12 and 13. So now it starts off, and it was said to her, and we saw the quote, and I'm gonna do it again here. This was said to her. The Lord said, this is Rachel, Rachel, Rebecca, this is Rebecca.

Two nations are in your body, in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. So let's just kind of make some observations about, so what's the focus here? Two nations, plural, two nations are in view. Two peoples, right? One people will be stronger than the other. So we're talking about nations and people, not individuals. That's important.

God is choosing a line of people for his glory, for his namesake, and this line will lead to Christ. We're talking about a national election of Jacob or Israel. You know, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, the 12 tribes. So we're talking about a national election of Jacob and Israel, if you will. Not talking about the election of Jacob for salvation, even though he, I believe he was saved.

God's choice for Esau, the older brother, to serve, so God's choice for Esau was to serve his brother, to serve his younger brother. But the key part here, and I thought Miriam did a great job on this, the key part is that God blesses through a mediator. He blesses through Jacob. And he blesses all mankind through Jacob's line. Okay, so now we go on to the even more fun verse.

Just as it is written, Jacob, I love, but Esau, I hated. Just as, or even as, so it refers back, it kind of ties back to the younger, the older serving the younger. Just as, or even as, the older serve the younger, it is written, So it's written Jacob I love and Esau I hate. So I went to the words quoted from the Old Testament. So here's the first verse. This is Malachi speaking. I have loved you Israel, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us?

Was not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau, and have made his mountains to be a desolation, appointed him to the inheritance of the jackals of the wilderness. So Malachi seems to have the same issue that Paul has. It seems like at first, that's why he kind of questions, but Esau was Jacob's brother.

How could God not choose him? He's his brother. How can that be? Well, God does that. So we have a contrast. He's gonna contrast his choosing using these two words, love and hate. So we need to kind of come to grips with that. He contrasts one he loved and one he hated. So what can we say about that? So I'm gonna, rather than answering that directly, I'm gonna go to another problem verse. How about this one? This one you all loved, right?

Luke 14, 26. The Lord Jesus is speaking. If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, even his own life, He cannot be my disciple. Wow. So I'm hoping by looking at both these uses of hate, we can kinda come to a conclusion here.

So I believe Christ's point, so what's Christ's point? I think Christ's point is what's the most important thing in your life? And he's gonna use the word hate as a way to express that. So what's the most important thing in a Christian's life? Well, When a Christian realizes that Christ is his life, he is his very life, everything else, in comparison to that, is less important.

And that's kind of the point. So he uses that word hate. It's funny, I was reading this with Bonnie, and she says, I didn't notice the wife was in there before. So she looked up in her Bible, yeah, it's in there, Roger. You're right. Well, what I think is even more incredible about this verse, even his own life. So God discounts everything. He says everything. Christ is your life. He is everything to you. And it's even your own life, everything else in comparison to Him.

That doesn't mean, look at the Bible and what it says about your wife. To a man, husbands love your wife as Christ loved the church. As we say here many times, men, how are you doing with that? you are you sacrificing your life I mean it's it's beyond what you can do Christ has to do it through you anyway okay so that's that's kind of hopefully gets a little bit with a word of hate and how it's used here so let's go on to the this verse verse 13 we just read So I think here, God in his great love has chosen Jacob, Israel, to be a blessing to all mankind since Christ would come through that. So we know that part, Jacob I have loved. And Jacob wasn't a lovely person, but Christ loved him and chose him because that was his choice. He loved mankind, he loved all his creation by doing that.

But on the contrary, Esau, who was head of the Edomites, was not chosen. So we have chosen and not chosen. So whenever God makes a choice, there are some that are chosen, there are some that are not chosen. In this case, he refers to those as hated, which seems a little strong.

God, and again, repeating the same thing I mentioned before, God always blesses through a mediator. In the Old Testament, we see the nation of Israel in view. In the New Testament, we see Christ's very life in view. So God is choosing through a mediator, he makes choices, and he uses the word hate, which is kind of challenging.

Okay, okay, kind of close things up. So here's the line we've been talking about. Here's the Abrahamic line. So I just want to kind of show you the little part we talked about as the seed of, of Isaac. So the seed of Isaac is this part right here. Today we just talked about this choice that God made. He chose through Rebekah to Jacob, to Leah, to Judah, to David, and then on to Christ. And if you're wondering where you get this information, go to, turn to Matthew, the first chapter, and you'll read this account. It has the entire genealogy in it. This is a little bit shortened version.

And we see if you're interested in Esau, Esau's line, he's the father of the Edomites, and that's his first five sons, he had many other sons, and we see, if you start reading through there, you'll see, I'm not sure if that's the same Korah, Korah kind of shows up later on, it's not a good person, but anyway, so we're talking about God choosing a line, God choosing a line for his glory that his son would come through.

Okay, so let's close. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We thank you for your blessings. We thank you you're a God that chooses. You choose righteously, holy, and you choose to bless people, all people. And it's hard for us sometimes to understand that and to trust that. We thank you that your word helps us to understand that better. In Christ's name, amen.