Monday, April 18, 2011

ROMANS 9B

ROMANS 9B
Introduction:
Recap Sunday AM
The heart cry of Paul is Israel’s salvation.
That salvation does not come through your earthly father.
I want to try and cover the rest of chapter 9 tonight.    
Going to the end of chapter 9 before we try to unfold this passage beginning at verse 14.
The promise talked about is set before us as a stone laid in Zion. 
Verses 32 & 33
Trusting in Him who is that stone brings about our salvation.
Stumbling over that stone takes us down that darksome path.
Let’s try to put the pieces together from verse 14 to this point.
These verses bring to the forefront the predestination thought some more. 

I.    God’s sovereign righteousness   Vs. 14-18

A.    The question is raised,  Is God unjust?
This goes back a few verses. 
Is God unjust because he chose Jacob over Esau before they were even born.
How can he do that  and be just and right?

B.    Paul answers no, not at all.
He quotes from Exodus 33:19.
Moses is experiencing the glory of the Lord on the mountain.
God is telling him there that he will have mercy and compassion on whom he does.

C.    The key is God and not man.
It does not depend on man’s desire or effort.
He sites Pharaoh as an example. 
Vs. 17
This is what God said to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16
There are times that the hardening of his heart is attributed to God and at other times to Pharaoh himself.
We need to understand that Pharaoh’s heart was already in opposition to God.
God judged appropriately.
Pharaoh resisted God’s will so God hardened his heart further.
God did not arbitrarily harden his heart.  He hardened the rejecting heart.     This goes back to Romans 1:21-32.
Vs 18 says that God will have mercy on who He wants to have mercy on and harden who he wants to harden. 

II.    A defense of that sovereign righteousness   Vs. 19-23

A.    So it is not my fault but God’s.
He relays what might appear to be a conversation back and forth. 
You might very well say so why does God blame me. 
So how can anyone resist God’s will.
If I can’t resist God’s will how can you blame me? 

B.    The example of the potter and the clay.
How can what is formed criticize the one who formed it?
Can’t the potter make what he desires to make out of the clay?
He can make simple everyday bowls and cups.
He can also make fancy, collectable, beautiful pottery.  

C.    God is doing all that he can to get man to accept the mercy that he desires to pour out. 
Vs. 22,24  What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23. What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24. even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
We know that accepting God’s mercy translates into glory. 
We have already talked a bit about glory.

III.    God’s calling of the Gentiles and the remnant of Israel.   Vs. 24-29

A.    God has called Jews and Gentiles alike.
Vs. 24 even us references his calling us as objects of his mercy to receive glory.

B.    Verses 25-29 are quotes for the OT.
Hosea 2:23
God is referencing a nation and a people group.
He is not referencing an individual.
He is talking about the Jew and the future acceptance of the Gentiles. 
God brought Israel out of Egypt to establish a covenant relationship with them.
God’s desire is a covenant relationship with all people.
The last part of this verse includes the Gentiles into the church, this covenant relationship with God. 
I Peter 2:9,10
Hosea 1:10
In spite of Israel’s sin and wickedness God would find a way to see a remnant saved. 
That remnant would end up being many. 
Genesis 22:17
God’s promise to Abraham.
This happened on the Mount where Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac. 
Isaiah 10:22,23
Again as numerous as the sand.
Destruction will come as decreed.
Isaiah 1:9
The rebellious nation.
The impending destruction on the nation.

Conclusion:   
The bottom line of the election process is still our acceptance or rejection of the stone laid in Zion.

ROMANS 9A IT IS SAD BUT WHO’S YOUR DADDY

ROMANS 9A IT IS SAD BUT WHO’S YOUR DADDY
Introduction:
There are two things that come to mind as I read Romans 9.
Extreme sorrow and sadness
Who’s your daddy?   
And you ask why do those two things come to mind.
Let’s get down to business and I will try to show you. 
In addition to talking about each of these things I am going to combine them and relate that the extreme sorrow and sadness will go away when you have the right daddy.

I.    Extreme sorrow and sadness,  Vs. 1-5

A.    Extreme sorrow and sadness come to my mind right now when I think about the very difficult situation in Japan.
Those people need our prayers.
I want us to take a moment and pray for them and then we will go on.

B.    Paul’s great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart.
Paul explains his pain and anguish
Paul begins by saying I am speaking the truth.
I am about to drive home the feelings of my heart.
He says my heart is full of unceasing pain and severe grief.
The reason for this pain and sorrow will unfold as we go on.
The extent of his distress
He is so distressed that he wishes that he could be cursed and cut off instead of his brothers and sisters.
He wishes that he could take their place.
He wishes that he could throw himself in front of the bus to spare his family.
He is a Jew.
He is speaking of his Jewish family. 
The reason for his distress
We read in Philippians that he is a very well educated, trained in the law Jew.
He loves his heritage.
However he has been sent by God to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
The indication by this and more so in these next couple of chapters is that the Jews have rejected Christ.
The surprise of it all
The surprise of it all is that Israel was given so much, had so much set before them, that this should not have happened. 
Verses 4&5
The adoption
The patriarchs
The ancestry of Christ.
The sadness of Paul doesn’t seem to go away  anytime soon. 

C.    Are we as broken for the lost as Paul was for his people?
Do we cry in anguish for the lost?
We need to follow Paul’s example.
We need to pray harder for the lost than we do for the sick in the hospital. 
The second thing that comes to mind is …

II.    Who’s your daddy?

A.    That statement brings many things to mind in today’s world. 
It may appear to be quite a bit lighter in nature than the first part of our conversation.  But it really is not.
I bet that you are saying that you know that I have lost it.
I researched that statement.
The statement in today’s world.
Who's your daddy? is a slang expression that, in one use, takes the form of a rhetorical question. It is commonly used as a boastful claim of dominance over the intended listener.
It was also greatly popularized with the Duke basketball team of the late 90s.
It is song sung by Toby Keith.     Toby said that he had wanted to write the song for a couple years but never could get the melody the way he wanted it. In 2001 he was home and discovered the perfect melody for it. Keith explained that the song is about a young woman and a sugar daddy who can’t get their love life in order.  Toby also says that "It's everything that I ever wanted to put into a song, it's got the groove, it's got the attitude, it's humorous, it's about a sugar daddy.     I certainly don’t have good feeling in my heart about that song. 
It has been attached to video games and TV shows.
But it is really not a light casual statement.
The more I looked into the heart of that statement the less I liked it. 
This is a serious question.
I am going to take a serious look at this statement as the second point of our message today.
Looking at it from a Romans 9 standpoint.

B.    Who is your daddy Romans 9.
The heart of the matter is the unbelief of Israel.
Paul is making known here that your biological daddy isn’t your ticket to all that God has to offer. 
He says that not all descendants of Israel are Israel.
He says that not all of Abraham’s descendants are Abraham’s children.
Ishmael is a descendant of Abraham.
Yet he and his children offer nothing to us.
God said he would be a great nation but not God’s nation.
I don’t have time to go down the Ishmael road. 
Paul says in verse 7 it is through Isaac….
Did God determine that Ishmael would be a wicked man and that his descendants would be wicked unbelievers?  No  Genesis 17
But God did say that Isaac would be the channel that He would use. 
Starting in verse 10 Paul says it is through Isaac’s son Jacob and not his son Esau. 
Before they were even born God said this is what is going to happen.
God loved Jacob but hated Esau. 
Why did God hate Esau?  Because he knew that Esau would take the wrong path.
He knew that Esau would become bitter. 
God didn’t want Esau to take the dark path.
But He did want Jacob to carry out the work that God has set forth.
Paul says in verse 6 that this is not a failure of God’s word. 
To a great extent this working of God and His word is explained from here through chapter 11.
These next 2 ½ chapters unfold why God’s word did not fail

III.    The extreme sorrow and sadness will go away when you have the right daddy.

A.    The children of promise
The key is not your earthly father.  Verse 8
Paul says it is not the children by physical descent. 
It doesn’t matter who your earthly daddy is? 
It doesn’t matter what your last name is or what town you were born in.  
What matters is if you are a child of the promise.
Your spiritual, heavenly father is what matters.
Philippians 3:4-11
Paul says I am a physical descendent of Abraham.
What matters to me is Christ.
I have considered my physical descent and my elite education and all that goes with it as garbage.
I have put it all in the trash can because I want Christ.  
I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection so that I too can experience the resurrection of my own. 

B.    The children of promise will experience the joy of knowing Christ.
Paul’s sorrow would have lessened if his fellow Jews would have accepted Christ as the Messiah.
Listen to the words of Jesus
John 15:9-11    “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
The right daddy will remove your sorrow and sadness.

Conclusion:   
Who’s your daddy is not a sad question of dominance.  It is a question of life or death..
I ask you do you have the right daddy?
Are you concerned about those around you whether they have the right dad