Title: Predestination and The Divine Sovereignty of God
Text: Rom 9:1-33
Date: 2/24/08.am
Introduction:
We are going to look at the entire 9th chapter of Romans this morning, but I’m not going to be as detailed as with chapter 8. Romans 9 makes a sudden change. Chapter 8 ends on a high note with Paul declaring "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 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. Then in a sudden change of mood he begins to talk about the sorrow and anguish he has for Israel, because they had not accepted Jesus Christ
Chapter 9 beings a section which includes chapters 10 and 11 on the sovereignty of God in particular as it relates to Israel. Paul begins the chapter with a expression of the passion he has for the lost, those without Christ especially those who are his brothers in the flesh, those who are his countrymen Israel. It is this passion that makes Paul such a dynamic missionary.
I. Paul’s Passion v. 1-3
Paul began this letter by declaring the importance and the power of the gospel message in 1:16.
Despite the success of his ministry to the Gentiles, his work as a church planter, his writing and teaching and encouraging Paul felt great sorrow in his heart. Even though God had called him as missionary to the Gentiles He could not forget his own countrymen. In his travels and his work he always made himself available to keep the door of the gospel open to those of Israel.
There are two important principles for us to grasp and apply in our own lives as Christians.
1. The first is a Christians we are to develop and nurture godly compassion and concern for the lost. It can't be artificially introduced, it must be born out of a relationship with Christ Jesus.
2. The second principle has to do with missions. Before we can have a heart for evangelizing those who are different from us, we need to have a heart for those who are like us.
That doesn’t mean that we doesn’t mean we should do away with the IMB and call back all of our missionaries around the world or have compassion on those in other countries who don’t know Christ. Paul was called by God to go to those who were different from himself and God still calls and still impassions people to go to foreign lands and still calls us to support those who are called. The point is don’t forget we still need to be missionaries to those like us as well.
Paul had this kind of passion and concern. He was called to go to the Gentiles but never lost his compassion for his own people. He was concerned because they had been privileged by having certain advantages that others did not have. He goes back to the discussion he began in chapter 3.
II. Privilege of the nation v. v. 4-6
Paul lists 7 advantages that Israel enjoys in addition to oracles or the Word of God that he mentioned in chapter 3.
1. They are sons of God by adoption.
"Israel is my firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22).
"Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which ca not be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people, they will be called, 'sons of the living God" (Hosea 1:10.)
- 'When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1)
They were God's chosen people.
Paul doesn’t use adoption here in the same way he has used it previously in regards to salvation. The nation was chosen by God but not all who were of the nation believed in God.
2. They had the divine glory, or visible presence of God, dwelling among them
Pillar of cloud and Pillar of fire Ex 13:21-22
The cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle Ex 40-34-35
The Glory of the Lord filled the temple 1 Kings 8:11
3. They had the Covenants
The Abrahamic Covenant Gen 17:4-21
The Davidic Covenant 2 Sam 7:16
4. They had the Law The most prized possession of the nation - God's instructions
5. They had the Temple The sacrificial system and the priesthood of God’s choosing
6. They were Given God's promises Specially the promise of the Messiah through them as a nation to the world. Throughout the OT the promise of his arrival is foretold
7 The have the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and from them the human ancestry of Christ and in Christ all of the above are fulfilled.
However, in spite of the advantages that Israel has been blessed with the nation was not repenting and turning to Christ.
What was true of Israel may also be true of the church today. Israel became prideful because of what they had and developed a superficial religion. The church today exhibits much of this same superficiality. In spite of the blessings the church grows weaker, it becomes more shallow, it is less effective in changing the lies of men and women and is less respected in society. Partly because of the failure of the church in proclaiming the truth we have developed a superficial spirituality in which we seek salvation in external artificial trappings of religion.
Paul assumes the reader will naturally ask the question why is this so, what is the problem. It must be that the word of God has failed
III. The Problem of the nation v.v. 6-8
UNBELIEF
It was not that God or His Word had failed.
V. 8 is one of the key verses of this chapter. Not all who considered themselves Israel were Israel. There was more to being a descendant of Abraham that simply physical descent. The first instance is a reference to ethnic Israel the second to spiritual Israel.
The Jews who continually confronted Jesus were filled with pride because they were Abraham's physical descendants. But. John wrote if they Abraham was their father they would be doing the things of Abraham. God could raise physical descendants of Abraham, John said, from the rocks on the ground. Jesus said they were not Abraham's children because Abraham would not be trying to put to death the Son of God.
The problem with Israel is the same problem of today and that is unbelief. Unbelief in the shed blood of Jesus Christ as the only means of salvation. Trusting completely in His grace, that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
In light of that fact we want to look at the doctrine of election or as it is also known predestination. What is it and what does it mean to me. We’ve already mentioned it before but Paul talks more about it in this chapter and that’s our focu this morning.
The Context of Romans 9
The main theme of Romans is clear: God is righteous, and man can be also when he exercises faith in the redemptive work of God's only Son, Jesus Christ. When individuals do this, they are no longer subject to God's wrath and condemnation but they become recipients of His grace and righteousness. The salvation we receive by grace through faith alone covers past, present and future. It includes our justification--salvation from sin's penalty, sanctification --salvation from sin's power, and glorification-- salvation from sin's presence. Our salvation is complete, everlasting, and total because it is of the Lord. He saves us; He sanctifies us; and He glorifies us. We merely submit to His perfect will for our lives, and He does the rest. As we saw last week, since God is providentially causing all things to work together for ultimate good in our lives (Rom 8:28) there is nothing that can separate us from His love (8:35-39)
Because chapter nine occurs in the context of Paul explaining, defending and illustrating the fact that God imparts His righteousness to believing sinners we can concur with Dr. Chuck Swindoll that Paul's teaching on predestination concerns the entire plan of salvation, not the election and conversion of individuals. In other words, sinful humanity is predestined to a way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. And that plan includes our entire lives.
Again I believe verse 8 is one of the keys to understanding the entire chapter.
"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."
Some truths about Predestination/election Chapters 9-11 deal with National Israel/Spiritual Israel
1. Predestination begins with the sovereign choice of God.
A. God's Promise of blessing 9-13
Paul has explained that God's promises to Israel have not failed. In this context he begins to explain about the promise in v. 9. In doing this Paul reveals that predestination begins with the sovereign choice of God.
The fact that God makes choices is not a mystery. God makes choices throughout the Bible. He made a choice to create and a choice to redeem. Paul uses the illustration of the choosing of Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob. A great Nation, blessing to all people, Messiah
B. God's purpose in election v. 11
Paul makes it clear that there was nothing special about those who were chosen in verse 11 he says :
(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),
Paul quotes Mal in V. 13 the reference isn’t a personal reference , but a national one. i.e. the two nations that came from these two brothers. Israel and Edom
Alan F Johnson, professor of biblical studies at Wheaton College, says the reference rather to the mutual relations of these two nations in History."
The word hate as used here is not hate as we think about hate, the personal emotion, but that one was chosen over the other to fulfill a particular purpose in this case the fulfillment of the promise. This same type of comparison is used in Luke 14:26
"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.
Though Paul does not carry the discussion to it conclusion here, this sovereign choosing finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ.
Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ.
2. Predestination upholds the perfect character of God 14-18
In v 14 Paul asks and answers a rhetorical question is God unjust in his choosing and the answer is no. His choice is based in His perfect character, His divine mercy and love. He again uses two OT figures for illustration. The first is Moses. God made it clear to Moses in Ex 33:19 that it was by God's mercy alone, by His grace that men found forgiveness. Verse 16 is another Key to understanding this chapter.
Rom 9:16
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
Paul makes the same point in using the Pharaoh. The phrase, "'I raised you up,' is not strictly a reference to Pharaoh emergence in history, but to god's providence in sparing him up to that time." The Pharaoh was already opposing God and deserving of God's wrath because of the continued enslavement of Israel. The deliverance narrative in Exodus reveals that the Pharaoh had already hardened his heart against God, before it says that God hardened his heart. The idea is the same as Paul used in chapter 1 when he wrote God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts, degrading passions and a reprobate mind in verses 24, 26, and 28.
Vines says three words for hardened as Pharaoh hardens his heart in response to God, God responded in like manner allowing Pharaoh to continue on his path. Paul says it in different way in 1:28 when he says God gave them over to a debased mind.
Again his point is that there was nothing within the character of this particular Pharaoh that influenced God's choice it was simply time for God's deliverance.
3. Predestination does not negate responsibility 19-23
Now Paul deals with the blame game. Some would draw the conclusion that if God has mercy on whom he wishes and hardens who he wishes it is unfair that He still hold man responsible. Paul answers by using the illustration of the potter. To understand this better we need to look at Jer 18:1-4
The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.
The clay was marred not because of the potter, but because of the sand and grit in the clay which became evident in the hand of the potter. Notice the potter did not throw away the clay, rather he remade it.
We are like the clay because we are marred by sin and that sin becomes evident in the hand of the potter. God did not cause man to sin in the Garden and James makes it plain that God does not cause man to sin now. After the fall the only clay which God had to work with was marred as Paul said all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
From the marred clay the potter remade vessels for His glory. God is prepared to remake you, But, hew will allow you to refuse His offer and you are responsible for your choice.
4. Predestination defends the consistent plan of God 24-33
We are either marred or remade. None are deserving of God's mercy, but He is long suffering, Because the Lord is rich in mercy He has decided to save those who accept Jesus Christ by faith and to shape them into Christ's image.
The Sovereign Lord's predetermined or predestined plan has always been that salvation, from conversion to glorification is by grace through faith in Christ alone.
The Objects of His mercy are not those who have selected ahead of time, but those who recognize their sinfulness and repent and come to Christ in faith both Jews and Gentiles. The objects of his wrath are those who refuse God's plan and have chosen instead to pursue a man made plan trying to work for salvation rather than accept it by faith.
God pre-decided in His infinite mercy that we, as sinful humans, can come to Him and become righteous. Our being able to come to Him is not based on our character, our worthiness nor our unworthiness. God predestined that whosoever can come to Him by faith alone in Christ alone. What we are responsible for is whether we are going to adopt His way of salvation, or try our own. But as He has predestined, only His way leads to everlasting life. Any other way results in everlasting death.
We are either marred or remade vessels. If we are still marred vessels He calls us to come to him allowing Him to remake us. If we are remade vessels Jesus is Lord of all and we must yield to the potter's Sovereign hand allowing him to Have His own way in our lives. Will you yield to the potter’s hand this morning?