Romans 9:6-18 "Salvation Belongs to the Lord"

0:58Now, I don't think it's an overstatement to say that if we rightly understand this section of Scripture, it will completely transform the way that we think about ourselves and our sin, about our God and His grace. In short, this section of Scripture has the power to take people who kind of appreciate. God's help in dealing with their sin and to reshape us into people who are utterly amazed and astounded at the wonderful, unspeakable grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1:53All scripture is God-breathed. It is all profitable for teaching, correction, rebuke, and training in righteousness. Every word of God is that way. But there are some sections of Scripture that function as keys that unlock our understanding of the rest of the Bible. And our passage today is one of those sections. It is a key that unlocks our understanding of the rest of the Bible. And one of the ways that we know that is fully half of the verses in this section, just these 13 verses that we're covering today, half of these verses are direct quotes from the Old Testament. Half. Almost every other line in this passage is a direct quote from the Old Testament. Paul quotes from the first book, Genesis, all the way to the last book, Malachi.

2:56And it is as if Paul is showing us. What I'm saying to you in this section of Scripture is not new. These ideas are not based on one obscure passage that's kind of difficult to understand and interpret, so who knows, we just have to throw up our hands. No, this is what God has revealed from Genesis to Revelation, and God does not change. So last week we covered Romans 9:1 through 5, and we saw Paul's emotional response to the fact that so many Israelites, his fellow Jews, had rejected the good news of Jesus Christ.

3:42Paul said that he had great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart because of their rejection. We saw that lost souls should break our hearts and motivate our evangelism. Well, Paul wanted all of his fellow Israelites to be saved. And so here is the question: why weren't they? Why weren't they saved? Why is it that so many Israelites rejected Jesus Christ? And you may have wondered the same thing. Maybe about ethnically Jewish people, Abraham's literal physical descendants, but almost certainly about your family members.

4:31Your friends, your fellow Americans, why aren't they saved? Why do they continue to reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? And if you're a Christian, you may have gone a step further and you may have asked the question, why am I saved? Why did I receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Well, friends, those are great questions. And those are the questions that Paul is going to help us to answer today and going forward in this passage of Scripture.

5:09And so here's what we're going to see this morning. Salvation doesn't depend on our parents or our works, but on God and his mercy. Salvation doesn't depend on our parents or our works, but on God and His mercy. So join me now in Romans 9, verse 6. Paul writes, but it is not as though the word of God has failed. Keep in mind, Paul is lamenting all of these Israelites that have not received Jesus Christ. He knows his readers are wondering, why is that? Why have so many of them rejected God's Messiah? Is God breaking his promise to them?

5:56Is he not being faithful to his chosen people? So in verse 6, Paul begins by declaring, but it is not as though the word of God has failed. Friends, God's Word never fails. In Isaiah 55, the prophet says that his word never returns void. It never returns empty. God's word never fails. But so many Jews had rejected Jesus, it seemed like the word of God was failing. It seemed like it was failing to accomplish God's purpose, like God was failing in his promise to bless them. So what is going on?

6:33So look at that second sentence in verse 6. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. Now, even if you're familiar with the Bible, you may need a little refresher here, a little reminder about the people in the history. So back in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God appears to this pagan man named Abraham, and he promises to bless him and to make a great nation out of him. But this seems far-fetched to Abraham and anyone who would have known him because he is 75 years old. His wife Sarah is 65 years old, and they have no kids. 11 years go by. Abraham is now 86, and Sarah is 76, and they still have no children.

7:29So Sarah tells us, Abraham to sleep with her servant Hagar, reasoning that maybe God would give them children through Sarah's servant. And so Abraham does that. Hagar conceives and bears a son whom he names Ishmael. So now 13 more years pass. Abraham is now 99. Sarah is now 89. They still have no children of their own. And God comes and appears and he promises to bless them and to give them a son through Sarah. And God says, I'm going to do it within a year.

8:08Well, Abraham is desperate. He and Sarah are worn out from 24 years of praying and waiting and trying to trust God's promise. And Abraham cries out, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Abraham is begging God, God, would you just please bless this son that I already have? Would you just, I know this wasn't the original plan, but would you just bless this son, the one that I already have? But you see, if God did that, he would not be keeping his promise. His word would have failed. Abraham's child would have come through the flesh, through ordinary means, and not through God's promise, through his power and grace.

9:00So, I want you to look at how God responds to Abraham when he cries out, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Look at what God says in Genesis 17. God said, no. But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. And sure enough, a year later, when Abraham is a hundred years old and his wife Sarah is 90, she gives birth to a son, Isaac, just as God had promised.

9:42So, friends, back in Romans 9, Paul is answering the question: did the word of God fail? Did the word of God fail? If all the Israelites aren't saved, did God's word fail? Look at verse 8. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said: About this time next year, I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.

10:16See, God's word did not fail because all who descended from Israel do not belong to Israel. Not all of Abraham's children are his spiritual descendants. Are children of God, as Paul calls them in this passage. Why not? Because only the children of the promise are counted as offspring. God's blessings would come through Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, whom God would rename Israel, through whom all the 12 tribes come from. And so, what this means is that salvation does not depend on our parents. Salvation doesn't depend on our parents. Family lineage will not save you. And thankfully, family lineage will not condemn you either.

11:11So I wonder, do you have believing parents? Children, teenagers, many college students in this room, you have believing parents. And that is a wonderful blessing. That means your mom and your dad or your mom or your dad, they know and trust in Jesus Christ, and they want you to know and trust in Jesus Christ also. That is a great blessing. But you cannot trust in that. You cannot put your hope in the fact that your parents are Christians. You must be spiritually born into God's family as Jesus tells Nicodemus, you must be born again.

12:01It is not enough to be born into a believing family. You must be born again. And here's the thing: you don't choose to be born. You don't choose to be born again. It's something that happens to you. And that's going to become more clear as we get through the passage today and then through the rest of Romans 9 through 11. So if you have believing parents, praise God, but you must be born again. And if you're here and you don't have believing parents, if your mom and dad or your mom or your dad don't believe in Jesus, they don't trust in him, that's okay. Because we are not physically born into God's family. So your unbelieving parents do not keep you from being a part of God's family, from being welcomed into the kingdom of God. Because as Paul says here, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of promise who are counted as offspring. Friends, salvation does not depend on our parents. And as we'll see in verses 10 through 13, salvation doesn't depend on our works either. Let's pick up in verse 10.

13:22And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were We were not yet born and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Well, back in Genesis, Abraham's son Isaac grew up and got married to a lady named Rebekah. And Rebekah was barren, just like her mother-in-law, Sarah, Abraham's wife. But over time, God blessed her with twin sons, Esau and Jacob. And before the twins were born, God told Rebekah, the older is going to serve the younger. That's Genesis 25, 23. Paul quotes that in verse 12. And then Paul quotes Malachi 1, verses 2 and 3. This is that verse 13. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

14:33That's kind of startling, isn't it? Especially the first time you read it, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. That makes us uncomfortable. It is not comfortable to read that God loves some people and hates other people. So what is going on here? Why does God say this? Why does God love Jacob and hate Esau? Well, was it their parents? Look again at verse 10. And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac. Well, Esau and Jacob are twins. They have the same parents, Isaac and Rebekah. So it's not their parents. That's not why God loved Jacob and hated Esau.

15:34Was it their choices? Look at verse 11. Though they were not yet born and had done nothing, either good or bad. So when God said the older would serve the younger, when God set his love on Jacob, the twins weren't even born yet. They hadn't done anything good or evil. And here's the thing. After they were born, Jacob was not a great dude. He didn't make godly choices a lot of the time. He tricked his brother Esau into selling his birthright, and then he lied to and deceived his father Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau. Jacob spent decades of his life telling half-truths and outright lies, deceiving and being deceived. God did not Love Jacob because of anything that he had done or would do later in life.

16:37So, what is it then? Why did God love Jacob and hate Esau? Look at verse 11 again. Though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls. You see, friends, God didn't love Jacob because of who his parents were or because of what he had done or would do later in life. No. God loved Jacob because he chose to love Jacob.

17:24That's what election means. It means to select or choose. God loved Jacob because he chose to love him, and God chose Jacob before he was ever born, before he had done anything good or evil, which is great news for you and me. It is great news for us because none of us would be chosen by God because of our works. God chooses to love people in spite of their bad works, not because of their good works.

18:00That's the message of the Bible from start to finish. Consider Noah and his generation. Look on the screen in Genesis chapter 6. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

18:50Why did God choose Noah? Well, it wasn't because of his works. God had just declared that everyone's thoughts were only evil continually. Everybody was doing wicked things. But then we read, but Noah found favor. That Hebrew word is hen, grace. But Noah found grace or favor in the sight of the Lord. In other words, in spite of their bad works, God chose to love Noah and his family. Consider the nation of Israel. Deuteronomy chapter 9. Look on the screen.

19:28God says to them, Noah. Know therefore that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoke the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. Why did God choose Israel? Well, it obviously wasn't because of their works. God calls them stubborn and rebellious from the day they left Egypt. No, in spite of their bad works, God chose to love Israel. What about the disciples of Jesus? Look on the screen at John 15.

20:20Jesus tells them, you did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Why did Jesus choose the disciples? Well, friends, if you've ever read the Gospels, you know it wasn't because of their works. They were sinful and fearful and afraid. They all abandoned Jesus when he was arrested. In spite of their bad works, Jesus chose to love his disciples.

20:57And then what about us? What about you and me? What about every Christian? Look on the screen at Ephesians 1. Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

21:43Friends, why did God choose us? If you know yourself, if you know your heart, you know it wasn't because of anything that you did. It wasn't anything that we did, none of our works. In spite of our bad works, God chose us before the foundation of the world. He predestined us for adoption into his family. In spite of our bad works, God chose to love you and me. Friends, when you read the Bible and when you consider your own life, you come to see that salvation does not depend on works.

22:21God chooses to love sinners like us in spite of our bad works, not because of our good works. That is the Bible's teaching from Genesis 1. To Revelation. And you need to understand that the doctrine of election in the Bible is always meant to be a comfort and assurance to Christians. It is always used in the scripture not to cause morbid introspection or fear and loathing, but always to give you comfort and assurance that if God did everything and you did nothing, if God chose you in Him before the foundation of the world, you did not do anything to earn your salvation, and that is the only reason that you cannot do anything to lose your salvation.

23:12Look what Charles Spurgeon said, the great Baptist preacher. He said, I believe in the doctrine of election because I am quite certain that if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen him. And I am sure he chose me before I was born, or else he never would have chosen me afterwards. And he must have elected me for reasons unknown to me. For I never could find any reason in myself why he should have looked upon me with special love.

23:52What comfort, what assurance that salvation does not depend on our past or present or Or future works. So, if it doesn't depend on our parents and it doesn't depend on our works, what does salvation depend on? As we'll see in this last few verses, salvation depends entirely on God and His mercy. Let's pick up here in verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. Now, remember, Paul ended the last paragraph by quoting Malachi 1: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. And Paul understood human nature. God is just, and He created us in His image and likeness. That means that we are wired for justice. We are wired for fairness. We can see it and sense it in all things. Things are just or unjust, they are fair or unfair. And so, Paul quotes Malachi 1, and he knows that we are going to read that and think that's not fair.

25:20Well, let's think about that. What does fair mean? Fair means you get what you deserve. Well, what do we deserve, friends? Paul has already taught this in the rest of the book. Look on the screen at Romans 3. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: none is righteous, no, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God, all have turned aside. Together, they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one.

26:03And then he goes on in Romans 6, a verse many of us know very well. For the wages of sin is death. Fair means getting what we deserve. So, according to the Bible, it is only fair that every person dies because we are all under sin, and the wages of sin is death. We deserve death. That is what would be fair. So, when we read Jacob I loved and Esau I hated, and we think that's not fair, that's exactly right.

26:53It's not fair, but it's not unfair to Esau. It's unfair to Jacob. Based on everything we've read to this point in Romans, when we read, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated, the logical response is not, How could God hate Esau, but how could God love Jacob? The jaw-dropping wonder is not that some people are saved and some people are not. The jaw-dropping wonder is that anybody is saved at all. As Paul says in verse 14, there is no injustice with God because God does not owe love or grace or forgiveness or salvation to rebellious sinners. What we are owed, what we have earned through our sin, is death. The wages of sin is death. So if you want your wages, if you want what you have earned, if you want what you deserve, then put your hand out and God will pay you your wages.

28:18But if you don't want what you have earned, then you are not asking God to be fair. You are asking God for mercy. I want you to imagine that there is a good, wise, righteous king somewhere in the world. And one of the citizens of his kingdom commits treason. He plots a rebellion and tries to carry it out. He wants to overthrow the king and take his place, but the plot fails, the rebellion fails, and the man is arrested. Now, the king can choose to pardon his treason, or the king can have him put to death, but the king does not owe him anything. The man who commits treason and is sentenced to die cannot say to the king, that's not fair.

29:19The king can have him put to death, or the king can pardon him, but there is no injustice either way. This is what Paul is saying. Take a look at verse 15. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. As we saw earlier, salvation doesn't depend on our parents or our works.

30:00Salvation doesn't depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. That's very good news because we do not want God to treat us fairly as our sins deserve. We want God to be merciful and he will have mercy on whom he has mercy and compassion on whom he has compassion. Pharaoh serves to illustrate this point. If you know the story of Exodus, Pharaoh is the king of Egypt, the king of the land, and he is born a sinner with a hard heart, just like the rest of us. Pharaoh did many sinful things. He enslaved the people of Israel and worked their fingers to the bone. He ordered the Hebrew midwives to put every male child to death. And worst of all, Pharaoh refused to listen to God and to obey his command to let his people go and worship him.

31:04Friends, this is treason. And Pharaoh had been committing it his entire life. God could have had mercy on Pharaoh, but he didn't. Instead, he hardened Pharaoh's already hard heart. And why did God do that? Look at verse 17. For the scripture says, Says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

31:49The whole reason that God raised Pharaoh up was to show his power and that his name would be proclaimed in all the earth. That's exactly what happened. God demonstrated his power by rescuing his people from an enemy that they could not defeat and an enemy that would not let them go. God did that. The Israelites could not free themselves with any amount of human will or exertion. And so the Exodus account becomes one of the primary images of salvation in the Bible, that God alone can rescue us from our sin, an enemy that we cannot defeat, and an enemy that will not let us go.

32:37It is the primary image, one of the primary images of salvation in the Bible, to show us that salvation depends entirely on God and His mercy. Friends, we began this morning by asking the question: why are some people saved and others are not? We saw that salvation doesn't depend on our parents. It doesn't depend on our works. In fact, it doesn't depend on us at all. It depends entirely on God and His mercy. You see, if you are a Christian and you had anything to do with your salvation, if there was some reason that God chose you, then you have a reason to boast.

33:23Maybe it was your parents, maybe it was something you did, but something that had to do with you, you would be able to take some credit for your salvation. You'd have a reason to boast. But you can't because salvation doesn't depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. God's grace toward undeserving sinners like you and me excludes boasting and promotes humility and awe and wonder and worship. That's why Paul ends these three chapters, Romans 9 through 11, with the words, to him be glory forever. Amen.

34:08That's why it ends that way with worship. And so today, I want to end this sermon with one of my favorite verses in the Bible because it is an encouragement to everyone in this room, to people who are already Christians and to people who are not yet Christians. Because the natural question that arises in your mind, in your heart at this point, is what if I'm not part of the elect? What if God hasn't chosen me?

34:49I want you to know that that is a question that the Bible never encourages you to ask. It never prompts you to ask that question. Those secret things belong to the Lord. That's not a question that we ask. What if I'm not part of the elect? Instead, I want you to see what Jesus says to you. Look on the screen at John 6:37. All that the Father gives me will come to me. And whoever comes to me, I will never cast out.

35:27So, friend, have you already come to Jesus? Have you come to Jesus, confessing with your mouth that he is Lord, believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead? Have you come to Jesus in faith, saying, God, there is no way for me to save myself. I cannot defeat the enemy of my sin. I cannot get out of the grasp of the enemy of my sin. I come to you and you alone. Have you already come to Jesus in saving faith?

36:00If so, then you need to hear the words, whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. God does not want you to fear that you are not part of the elect. If you have come to Jesus, it's because the Father has given you to him, it's because he has drawn you to the Son. And since you have come to him, he will never cast you out. Never, for any reason. So, Christian, take courage. Be comforted in that fact that your Savior will not let you down and he will not let you go.

36:42And if you are not yet a Christian, if you have not yet come to Jesus in saving faith, if you've never confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, if you've never believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then this is what Jesus says to you as well. He says, Whoever comes to me, I will never cast out. Whoever comes and whoever includes you. You don't need to sit here thinking, What if I'm not part of the elect? You need to come to Jesus because he himself has promised you, I will never cast you out. Jesus will not turn you away. He is calling you today, right now, to put your faith in him, to Turn away from your sin, to turn away from every attempt that you've ever made to save yourself and make yourself right with God and put your faith in Jesus. God can save you, and God will save you through faith in Christ. Because salvation doesn't depend on your parents or your works, it depends entirely on God and His grace. And Jesus is full of mercy and grace for you. Come to Him today.

38:01Let's pray, Father. This is a tough passage. This whole section is challenging. And I thank you that you have inspired Paul to write these things down, not to confuse us or to scare us, but to give us comfort and assurance. That salvation doesn't depend on us, human will or exertion in any way. It depends entirely on you and your grace, your mercy. We thank you for having mercy on us, God. You did not treat us as our sins deserve.

39:19And so, Lord, I pray for every Christian here today that you would comfort and encourage them with these words. That they would leave here with a greater assurance that because they did nothing to save themselves, they can do nothing to lose their salvation. They are safe and secure in the arms of Jesus. Would you help them to believe that, God? Especially those who struggle with assurance, those with sensitive consciences, those with less faith, would you help them to believe that this morning?

39:56And God, I pray for men and women, college students, teenagers, children who have not come to Jesus Christ. God, would you draw them to yourself this morning? Would you give them faith to believe that if they come to Jesus, he will never cast them out? We pray that today would be the day of salvation for many. So, God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your spirit. We thank you for the way that you communicate to us. us, particularly through the preached word as we gather together. Bless the preaching of your word, God. Not because I am a great preacher, but because you are a great God.

40:43In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net