Romans 9 Intro

Go ahead with me and turn in your copy of God's Word, which I hope you have with you this day, to the book of Romans chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

! I am always and forever dependent on God's favor in preaching. I'm always looking to Him for grace.

And this day, I feel the weight of that a little bit more. This could have possibly been the worst week for us to start at 10.30.

I've had a very busy week. We took a bunch of the college students to Tallulah Gorge yesterday, which is a young man's game.

And I am having to admit that I'm no longer a young man. I'm very sore this morning.

Last night, I was doing some more studying, and we were watching the steward children, so our family went from 4 to 8 in a day.

And we were downstairs as Sam was going to the grocery store, and I had a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other hand at 9 o'clock,

hoping to stay up for a few more hours. And I had drank about half a cup of coffee.

And then the next thing I knew, Sam was shutting the door coming home.

And I had fallen asleep with a cup of coffee sitting on my chest in a book just like this for about 20 minutes.

And so I'm tired.

I also, I'm a type 1 diabetic, and for the last hour, I've been trying to get my blood sugar level up.

And I've drank lots of sugary liquid, so I might be bouncing off the walls in a minute.

But I'm also recouping from that.

Beyond that, we have ahead of us just the weight of opening God's word.

Lord, it's a privilege to even get to hear these words, as we so often take for granted the fact that we even have it in our language,

and that we can read.

More than that, it's a privilege to get to preach it to you this day,

to get to spend a good bit of my time each week studying it to bring to you.

So I'm saying all that to say, I need grace.

Let's pray together for that.

Father God, I pray this morning you'll bless the reading of your word.

You'll bless the preaching of it, and you'll bless the hearing of it.

Nothing of any value happens here this morning apart from you.

And so by your spirit that dwells within those who are known by Christ,

I pray, Father, this day we will learn and we will grow, we will love you more,

and we will be turned to love the world more as a result.

I pray that in all things this day, Christ is exalted above everything.

And I pray this in his precious name.

Amen.

Amen.

So we have taken a pretty big break over the summer from our expositional verse-by-verse preaching of the book of Romans.

We stopped, took a little kind of a topical series break through the summer,

and we are back at the time, back to Romans chapter 9.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

And to this point in Romans, Paul has, in varying ways and kind of over and over again, to our benefit,

laid out a case for justification before God by faith alone.

We're not saved by our works, we're not saved by our lineage,

we're not saved by any type of status we may have, or anything else whatsoever,

but by the goodness and loving kindness of God.

God has bestowed that upon those who are his,

and it has nothing to do with anything we've done to earn that favor.

He gives it to us freely, the very definition of grace itself.

In chapter 8, he speaks to us about God's sovereign goodness that sustains us

as we endure the battle that rages within,

between our flesh and the spirit that now abides within us,

as well as the suffering that will endure from external sources.

And he hinges all of this upon the sovereign goodness of God towards those who are his.

So let's read together verse 28 to the end of the chapter.

Of chapter 8, just to be clear.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good,

for those who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,

in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom he predestined, he also called.

And those whom he called, he also justified.

And those whom he justified, he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

It is God who justifies.

Who is to condemn?

Christ Jesus is the one who died.

More than that, who was raised.

Who is at the right hand of God.

Who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Such tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,

or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

As it is written,

For your sake we are being killed all the day long.

We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.

No.

In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am sure that neither death, nor life,

nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation

will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

And if you're a Christian this morning,

your heart must be saying amen to something like that.

So then we begin chapter 9.

And we go from chapter 9 to 10 to 11

to talk about the doctrine of election.

And intermixed in all of this,

we see Israel and what has happened to Israel.

What is going on?

If God is sovereign over all things,

and Israel was his special people,

why is it that all of Israel has not turned to Christ at this point?

And Paul starts out with a lament.

In verse 2 of chapter 9, he says,

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart

over the lostness of the Israelites.

And he begins to work that out.

It seems kind of random, interjected, where it's at.

And I can assure you that it's not,

and we're going to come to understand that further in the coming weeks.

But it just feels like, Paul, couldn't you have just skipped

from the end of chapter 8 to the very end of chapter 11?

Oh, the depths of the ridges in wisdom and knowledge of God.

Couldn't you have just jumped over all this really challenging stuff

about election and Israel and how that all plays together?

I have had some times this week that I really wish he had.

I have been literally studying my brains out

for the past couple of weeks on this.

And I can say to you, I'm not sure I'm ready yet

to understand it in its entirety.

I have sensed in our congregation an eager expectation,

a good expectation, for this place in Paul's letter

to the Roman Christians, coming to chapter 9 and learning from it.

But my fear is that as individuals,

you're either, one, not prepared to learn the truth contained therein,

for multiple reasons.

Maybe you just need to grow up a little bit,

or maybe you don't know me well enough to know my heart,

to know that I love the Scriptures,

and I love people, and I want to see the kingdom advance.

This concerns me.

But secondly, and I actually fear this most,

that you believe that you've already taken hold

of all that is offered in the doctrine of election,

that you think you've totally wrapped your mind around it,

and you hold to it tightly, and what you've been waiting for

is for us to get to 9 and me prove you right.

Me to arm you to go out and be self-indignant

and tell everybody how very, very smart you are.

And for those two reasons, I need another week.

I need seven more days.

And what I hope is accomplished in those seven days

is two things.

I want to better prepare my head.

There's some really,

I'd encourage you to read 9, 10, and 11.

There is some weighty stuff in here,

and some things that even on the surface seem contradictory.

There are varying opinions across Christendom

from men I highly respect on these issues.

And I labor to do the work myself.

I labor to look at the language

and to study well on my own.

But I also want to look to as many sources as I can,

men that are wiser than me,

because they're most men are,

and glean what I can to properly bring to you

what can be understood of the next three chapters.

So I want to better prepare my head,

but mostly I want all of us to better prepare our hearts.

The doctrine of election is weighty.

It is taught throughout all of Scripture.

I will not for a moment back down

that it is in fact the teaching of Scripture,

but it has been very divisive.

Currently in the Southern Baptist Convention,

which we are a part of,

it is ripping things apart,

and I believe that God's going to put it all back together.

I believe this is going to be to the benefit of the convention

and not to the detriment of it.

But there have been some statements that have come out

and signed by a bunch of guys.

There's been a lot of positioning.

Much of it is political,

and it can be sickening at times

for those of us who stand on this side

of the understanding of the doctrine of election.

We receive the Scriptures from above.

You get that, right?

God's Word is breathed out by God.

It comes down to us from above.

And as Christians,

we are to humbly submit ourselves to it.

All of your questions will not be answered by this book.

Understand that.

It doesn't clarify everything for us.

It gives us exactly what we need, though.

There are some ends that seem so loose

and hanging out there.

If this is so, how can this be so?

There are things that appear to be paradoxical,

appear contradictory.

They're not, but they appear that way

as we begin to study.

You will not solve the world's questions

from the Scriptures.

All of them.

But we should humbly submit ourselves to the Scripture.

Let it come down to us.

And say to God,

when you don't answer something,

that's okay.

When I can't completely work this out

from your inspired Word,

that must be for a reason.

Let me give you an example of that.

Romans 9, 20.

Paul says,

Who are you, O man,

to answer back to God?

Up to this point,

he has been directly quoting God

from the Old Testament.

He doesn't use the prophets.

He doesn't quote Moses.

He's directly quoting God

as we work through this doctrine of election.

What it means for us.

Okay?

And then there's a question asked.

Which seems to be a very reasonable question

in verse 19.

It's a question I had asked

before I ever read Romans 9, verse 19.

Romans 9:19

Seems very reasonable.

And I want a clear answer to it.

In my flesh,

I really want to know

how it can be then.

I want a clear answer to it.

I want a clear answer to it.

And Paul says,

Who are you, Nathan Rainer?

How dare you question God?

God says to us,

Be quiet.

I have spoken.

And it is for you to try to understand.

Are you with me?

We do the opposite so often.

Particularly with this topic.

We turn the whole thing around

and we stand over the Word of God

and have it serve us.

Right?

There are fancy terms for this.

Right?

That is called,

when we stand over the Word of God

and we read out of it

what we want to hear,

that's called eisegesis.

We pull out,

we apply to what we think

the Word of God has to say

about God and His character.

And we don't practice that.

Faithful Christians

do not practice that.

We practice exegesis.

We look at what the Word of God

actually says.

And we wrestle with it

and we come to understand it

in that way.

Humble yourself.

Submit yourself

to God's revelation

to us.

So we need to prepare our hearts.

And I pray that we'll all approach

the study of God's

holy, inspired,

absolutely perfect

Word to us

with great reverence

as we begin this time

throughout the fall.

So,

let's turn away now

from the book of Romans

for this week.

We'll start next week.

And turn with me

to the book of 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13.

I'll have you know

just so you can join me

in this chuckle.

I decided to

change this path

when I woke up

with a cup of coffee

in my hand

last night.

You have those moments

in your life

where

it's as if

God

were just a little louder.

He would have been audible.

It really felt like

God said something to you.

You can almost

taste the fact

that He's telling you

to do something different

than what you were already

intending to do.

And that was one of those

moments for me.

So,

I'm going to begin reading

in chapter 13

verse 1.

I'm going to read

the entire chapter to you.

I'm just praying

that you'll

really listen

to these words.

Chapter 13 verse 1.

If I speak in the tongues

of men and of angels

but have not love

I am a noisy gong

or a clanging cymbal.

And if I have

prophetic powers

and understand

all mysteries

and all knowledge

and if I have

all faith

so as to remove mountains

but have not love

I am nothing.

If I give away

all I have

and if I deliver

my body

to be burned

but have not love

I gain nothing.

Love is patient

and kind.

Love does not

envy or boast.

It is not arrogant

or rude.

It does not insist

on its own way.

It is not irritable

or resentful.

It does not rejoice

at wrongdoing

but rejoices

with the truth.

Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never ends.

As for prophecies

they will pass away.

As for tongues

they will cease.

As for knowledge

it will pass away.

For we know in part

and we prophesy in part

but when the perfect comes

the partial will pass away.

When I was a child

I spoke like a child.

I thought like a child.

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man

I gave up childish ways.

For now we see

in a mirror dimly

but then face to face.

Now I know in part

then I shall know fully

even as I have been fully known.

So now faith, hope,

and love abide.

These three.

But the greatest of these

is love.

Not just a passage

to be read

at a wedding.

Right?

Paul takes a pause

here in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3

is that the Corinthians

had become

over consumed

with gifts.

Much arguing

was going on

in the church.

Too much emphasis

being placed on

the gifts of the Spirit.

And Paul doesn't

belittle the gifts.

They're valuable.

They're given to the church.

They're graces to us

for our growth in Christ.

However,

here in 13

he shows us

a still

more excellent way.

The very end of

chapter 12

he says,

and I will show you

still

a more excellent

way.

And I want to draw

your attention

to the first three verses.

It's primarily

where I want to sit today.

The first three verses.

And you see him

speak of some gifts.

Speaking in the tongues

of men and angels.

Being an eloquent speaker.

I'm sure you know

somebody like that.

I don't count myself

amongst them

who just speaks

so well.

Has that gift of gab.

Can captivate you

with their words.

And of angels

that speak prophetic things.

But if these people

don't do so

from love,

what are they?

noisy gongs

and clanging cymbals.

Not appealing

sound at all.

Just

talk.

Prophetic powers.

Understanding all

mysteries

and all knowledge.

Faith to remove

mountains.

But not love.

Nothing.

Give away

all that you have.

These pious acts.

Deliver up your body

to be burned.

To be martyred

for the sake of Christ.

But you don't do it

from love.

You gain

nothing.

And notice that

the gifts themselves

are not likened

to noise

or called nothing

or devalued.

The gifts have value

but it's the person

who exercises it

without love

who is

a noisy gong

called nothing.

Is devalued.

If your giftedness

the things that

God has given you

is practiced

apart from love

then it's motivated

by selfishness.

You're doing it

for

you.

The Christian life

should

necessarily

be characterized

by Christian love.

The doctrine of election

I would

just love it

if every time

somebody really

wraps their mind

around the fullness

of the doctrine

and what it means

for them

I wish we could

quickly lock them

in a cage

with a mirror

and let them

argue with themselves.

I'd give it a year.

I've stood in this place

the arrogance

that comes from

thinking we've arrived

at some grand truth

that other people

don't get

and how it becomes

our mission

to go around

informing everybody

how stupid they are

and how brilliant

we are.

it's grace

to us

if you understand

anything I say

this morning

anything I say

this morning

that you can even

hear me say

if you understand

anything I say

this morning

is a grace

to you.

Understanding a truth

of scripture

makes me no better

than anybody else.

It's just

a grace

a free gift

given to me

and how I should

use that

to be

from

Christian love.

What I do

with that

should be

from Christian love

because the gifts

are given

for the edification

of other Christians.

Not for the demeaning

of other Christians

they're given

for the edification

for the building up

of other Christians.

In Romans 1

Romans 1:11

verse 11 and 12

Paul says

for I long to see you

that I may impart

to you

some spiritual gift

to strengthen you.

That is

he clarifies

that is

that we may be

mutually encouraged

by each other's faith

both yours

and mine.

And so the gifting

that we're given

is given

to operate

from faith

for faith.

That's how we're

meant to operate

from a dependency

on God

to give us

proper motivation

to use

and exercise

those gifts

for the sake

of faith

to increase

other people's

dependency on God.

Now

God may use

noisy gongs

and clanging cymbals

and men

who are nothing

and men

who are gaining

nothing

by their action.

God

in his sovereign

will

can use

their gifts

even when

improperly motivated.

That can happen.

So I'm not

lessening God's

ability here.

What I'm telling you

is that we

rob ourselves

of the joy

that is

given to us

when we

properly love

and use our

gifts

as such.

Use our knowledge

as such.

Matthew 27,

21-23

you have a

group

standing in front

of God

to be judged

and it says

not everyone

who says to me

Lord, Lord

will enter

the kingdom

of heaven

but the one

who does

the will

of my Father

who is in heaven.

On that day

many will say

to me

Lord, Lord

do we not

prophesy

in your name

and cast out

demons in your name

and do many

mighty works

in your name?

So these are

people who are

doing things

that are good

that are gifts

that God

could use

to advance

his kingdom

and then I

will declare

to them

I never

knew you

depart from me

you workers

of lawlessness

So our

activity

in the spiritual

gifting

in the things

that God's

given us

to turn around

and give to the church

should be motivated

by love

because that

is the evidence

that we are Christ

Now we must be

careful at this point

Our culture

has lost sight

of what love

is

If you type

into Google

definition of love

you'll get

lots of definitions

just look in the feed

you'll get all kinds

of definitions

about love

being this emotion

this affection

for

I mean it really

misses the point

Love is

ultimately

it's an affection

for another

but it's an affection

that seeks

their highest good

over yours

it seeks

their highest good

And so

we quickly

and I think

so many Christians

do that

we trade love

for the truth

and we don't think

that the two

can coincide

we think they're

mutually exclusive

that if we're going

to love one another

and by that

we mean

get along

and have cozy feelings

when we show up

to church together

that we

must dismiss

the truth

because sometimes

the truth

hurts

but proper love

seeks to confront

the fallacies

in somebody's life

proper love

helps people

grow

in Christ

so hear me

carefully

I'm not saying

we shouldn't talk

about hard doctrines

I'm not saying

you shouldn't call

people out

for their sin

but you should do

so

from a motivation

to love them

not yourself

and you know

the difference

I don't have to

give you examples

you know

when you're

teaching somebody

something because

you love them

and you want them

to grow

and when you're

teaching somebody

something because

you want to be

right

guess what

we are all

wrong

God is right

so glad

he uses us

as vessels

verse 2

I'm going to

shorten the verse

just a bit

not to be

unfaithful to the

scripture

but I want to

talk about

specifically

having prophetic

powers and

understanding all

mysteries and all

knowledge

but you don't have

love

you're nothing

and Paul uses

himself

in this case

certainly in my

mind if anybody

was able to

boast in having

prophetic powers

and understanding

all mysteries and

all knowledge

it would have

been Paul

he wrote the

vast majority

of the New

Testament

certainly if there

were things being

revealed in a new

way to an

individual in time

it would have

been Paul

the prophetic

powers he's speaking

about here I

believe are not

the way we would

refer to prophetic

powers now

a prophet now is

someone who draws

people back to the

truth of God

who shows people

the black and white

of situations

and helps the

people of God

stay intact

and on purpose

with God

but in this

time I think

it was a special

time when there

were new

revelations of

God coming to

the people of

God like these

letters Paul

himself never

calls himself a

prophet he

calls himself

apostle one who

is sent but he

never calls himself

a prophet and I

would imagine as

he's pinning these

letters he's being

carried along by the

spirit and he

never knew that

someday they would

be canonized and

they would be in

millions and

millions and billions

of which to be

sure copies of

the scripture and

that they would be

used by God to

guide Christians for

ages he didn't even

call himself a

prophet surely but

he could have and

he said in Ephesians

2 20 that the

church is built on

the foundation of the

apostles and the

prophets something to

be desired the

prophet speaks

directly from God

the prophet receives

messages straight from

the source what an

amazing thing that

would be and on top

of that this

hypothetical person

Paul speaks of

understands all

mysteries and all

knowledge he has all

the facts and all

the meaning he has a

mind filled with God's

truth and all of its

outworking you could

say this man is

theologically omniscient

he gets everything

if there was ever a

gift to be envy this

would be it I can

as a guy that has to

prepare sermons every

week boy do I wish I

had all wisdom all

understanding of all

mysteries and all

knowledge that would

make life phenomenal

just in my study of the

beginning of Romans

Romans 9 · chapter mention

chapter 9 as Paul

laments over the

Israelites he speaks of

the benefits that they

had received from God

and one of the things

they received was the

glory to them belongs

the glory and I spent a

good portion of this

week studying the Old

Testament because when

he talks about the

glory he's talking about

the physical manifestation

the dwelling of God with

the Israelites which

started in the Exodus

when he went before them

as a cloud in the day

and as a pillar of fire

by night and ended in

the book of Ezekiel when

his glory his physical

dwelling in the temple was

lifted up and taken from

the Mount of Olives we're

going to talk about that

more next week so I've

been reading a lot from

Exodus to Ezekiel this

week what do I wish I

just already had all that

information in my head

wouldn't that be

phenomenal to know it

would be incredible but

what Paul says is I have

all that do you know

what kind of preacher I

would be if I had all that

I could pull stuff out of

my head at random I could

just take you through all

of the scriptures at any

moment of any day but I

don't have love I'm nothing

so what is a guy like me

who is a very very far

degree from that what am I

if I have not love less than

nothing I'm less than

nothing because I can't be

this guy this hypothetical

character so I'm less than

nothing if I don't have

love the equation he gives

us is gift knowledge minus

love equals nothing

Matthew Henry said on this

a clear and deep head is of

no signification without a

benevolent and charitable

heart and John Calvin said

love alone is the rule

governing our actions the

only guide is the right way

to use the gift of God God

approves of nothing that

lacks it no matter how

magnificent man may think

it without love the fairness

of all virtues is mere

veneer it is empty jangling it

is not worth straw in short it

is rank and offensive so at

this point you might say

why should we even study such

topics wouldn't it be a lot

easier if we just skipped

let's get to the end of the

glorious end of chapter 8 in

Romans and let's just skip over

to the practical outworking in

chapter 12 let's just jump right

over the top of it some of you

might say if if knowing things

causes us to be responsible for

teaching those things with love

for proving and rebuking people

in love and that's such a hard

thing to do then why do it do we

focus too much on doctrine on the

truth of God as a church and and

I'm going to tell you that the

answer to that question is no and

I hope you never ask the question

again there's no such thing as

over emphasizing doctrine there is

such a thing as under emphasizing

love Paul's not saying to us that

love is better than all these

things and all these things should

be dismissed Paul saying that all

these things are valuable to us and

they should always be accompanied by

love

do not fall prey to the lie that the

truth and Christian love are

mutually exclusive it's not a choice

we don't have to choose between the

truth and love he's not saying choose

between truth and love choose love

he's saying combine truth and love for

the sake of Christ's church this

teaching Romans 9 10 and 11 has great

value for us you might say okay well

you've kind of been talking like it's

gonna be really challenging how is it

that it has great value for us it

shows us a greater picture of Jesus

Christ any study of scripture ought a

greater magnify Jesus Christ our

vision statement Wes said it this

morning Christ the only church exists

to experience proclaim and display the

supremacy of Jesus Christ in all

things and you know how we do that we

preach the Bible because if you preach

the Bible that happens the Bible is

constantly uplifting Jesus Christ even

some of those boring parts in the old

Testament that you don't understand

someday we'll get there I hope you

understand I hope you understand how

everything in the scriptures points to

Jesus Christ this church is about the

centrality of Jesus Christ to all

things we must be careful this is why

we we as a general habit preach verse

by verse expositionally because we must

be careful not to allow the enemy to set

our agenda for us he'd have us avoid

this kind of teaching the enemy wants us

to feel like we're dangling out on the

end and anything we might do on any

given day will push us off the edge will

no longer receive the goodness and

loving kindness of God the doctrine of

election teaches the opposite it teaches

us that nothing can take us out of God's

hand there is no thing even yourself that

can remove you from the hand of almighty

God he is sovereign over all things I

can't fully work that out there are some

things of questions that pop up in my

head and I go what does that mean what

does that mean for this what about this I

don't know I don't know but there are

things taught to us the doctrine of

election being one of them that are

supremely valuable for us and cause us to

live proper Christian lives during all

of our cromwell's reign as Lord

protector over all of England a young

soldier was sentenced to die as a result

of some egregious offense the young woman

to who he had been engaged pleaded with

cromwell to spare the life of her

fiance all to no avail the young man was

to be executed when the curfew bell

sounded at the appropriate moment as he

had done for many years the sextant of

the church grabbed the rope and pulled

on it repeatedly but unlike any time

before the bell made no sound the young

woman had climbed into the bell tower and

had wrapped her body around the clapper

said it could not strike the bell with

every pull of that rope her body was

pummeled and smashed against the sides of

that giant bell but she refused to let go

until the clapper stopped swinging when

the sextant finally stopped tugging on

the rope the young woman managed to

climb down from the bell tower and

stepped out to meet those who had

gathered to watch the execution she was

bruised from head to toe and was

bleeding terribly when she explained what

she had done the overwhelmed cromwell

commuted the sentence a poet who was

there that day gathered with the crowd to

see the execution captured the scene

with these words at his feet she told the

story showed her hands all bruised and

torn and her sweet young face still

haggard with the anguish it had worn

touched his heart with sudden pity lit his

eyes with misty light go your love lives

said cromwell curfew will not ring tonight

the doctrine of election is the blessed

truth that for the church of Christ the

curfew bell will never ring that's why it's a

value to us that's why we're gonna spend

three chapters talking about it and the

implications for Israel and I hope that

you will come and learn that you'll come up

underneath the word of God not me but

underneath the word of God humbly let it

speak to you you won't stand over it

passing judgment on it as if you are God

but you will learn from the most holy

who stays the ringing of the curfew bell

let's pray together

together

together