Romans 9:1-33

Romans 9:1-33Senior Pastor Alex KennedyChapters 9 is a "hard left turn" from Paul celebrating the security of the love of Christ in chapter 8, to thinking of his own Jewish people. Paul is grieving that his "kinsmen" do not know Christ, and he is offering to be "cut-off from Christ for the sake of my...kinsmen according to the flesh" (like Moses did in Ex 32). Remember, the Jewish people are the chosen nation to show the covenant between God and man to the world through the person of Jesus. So what happened?
Question 1: Have His promises failed? (If He failed the Jews, then how can we be sure He won't fail us?)
Answer: True membership in God's chosen people is based on faith, not physical ancestry. He gives an example of Abraham and his descendants. To be a physical descendant of Abraham is not enough. God only has children...not grandchildren. (Romans 4:4). Abraham and Sarah are told they will have a son. Remember, Abraham and Sarah were old, and they "helped" God by producing an heir, Ishmael, through Gomer. God doesn't need us to intercede in His plan. Isaac is the son of promise.
The second example Paul uses is Isaac and Rebekah and their twins, Jacob and Esau.(v10-13). Rebekah was told that "the older will serve the younger" (Gen 25:23). Malachi 1:2-3 is what Paul references in verse 13 when he says, "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" This reference of hated is a Hebrew idiom for preference, like when Jesus says to "hate your father and mother (Luke 14:26). Again, God is sovereign and has a plan.
Question 2: Is God unjust? (v14) Did God somehow do something wrong by only showing mercy to Jacob and not to Esau?
Answer: Mercy is receiving something that you don't deserve. If you deserved it, it would not be "mercy"; instead it would be justice. So, if God doesn't owe anyone mercy, we can't say it is unfair for Him not to show it to someone. Paul uses the example of Ex 7:3-4 where God hardened Pharaoh's heart. We read this as if it is God's "fault". We must read the whole story because we see that Pharaoh hardened his own heart first. This is the intersection of God's sovereignty and human responsibility. They are woven together. His sovereignty doesn't excuse our responsibility, and we cannot isolate one from the other. We can't fully explain both but we can accept both. God's hardening of Pharaoh's heart was a "giving him over" to his own stubbornness.
When God hardens someone,He doesn't create the hardness;He allows the person to gohis or her own way.
to read more, go to: https://carmelbaptist.org/carmel-sermon/romans-91-33/

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