Broken Promises

Scrab our bibles. Just grab our bibles and turn to Romans chapter nine,

Romans nine. If you don't have a Bible with you, just raise your

hand because we're passing those out right now. Also, if you didn't get

a bulletin on your way in, just raise your hand, and we're giving

those out too, So just keep your hand up. We'll find you.

Romans chapter nine. We're gonna be in Versus one through thirteen. Romans nine

one through thirteen. I'm gonna invite our brother up to come and read our

sermon text for us. Well you turn there, Romans nine, Versus one

through thirteen. Come on, brother and read for us this morning scripture reading

is Romans nine one through thirteen. I am speaking the truth in Christ.

I am not lying. My conscience spares me witness in the Holy Spirit that

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, For I could wish

that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my

brothers, my kinsmen. According to the flesh, they are Israelites, and

to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of

the law, the worship, and the promises to them belong the patriarchs,

and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who

is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as

though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from

Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham, because they

are off are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

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. And not only so, but also when

Rebecca had nothing and conceived children by one man or forefather, Isaac, 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. She was told the older will serve the

younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hate

it. This is God's word. Men. I was recently in a discussion

where my wife was accused of breaking her word. Was driving around town with

my seven year old, and somehow, somehow it came up that he claimed

that his mother told him that she had no money, and I came to

her defense, like, well, I don't think you understood exactly what was

going on there. She probably meant that she had no money for you,

or had no cash on hand, but she's got money. She goes to

the store and buys stuff. And he's like, no, she told me

she had no money. He was pretty dug in, and in fact confronted

her again once we got home, and she set the record straight. I

don't know that he's quite yet convinced that she was shooting him straight at the

time. But it's important, isn't it, This issue of did you understand

what I told you? It's a matter of integrity. This morning, we

have that issue confronting us about God. Does God break his word? Why

would we even ask that? How can we ask that? Can God break

his word? Well, Paul has just said at the end of Romans eight,

I am sure nothing will separate us from the love of God. So

being sure, being sure of the sureness is the big issue. God's promised

love to us. Can we be sure of it? Can we be sure

that God does not forsake his people. Because when we say God never forsakes

his people, we seem to have a problem. What about Israel? It

seems like God has broken his word and forsaken his people. That's what's at

stake here, our grasp of God's trustworthiness. And this morning, what I

want to convince you of is that God never breaks his promises. On the

contrary, God makes his promises in his own wonderful way, and God keeps

his promises in his own wonderful way in ways that always glorify his grace,

and that he doesn't break his word. So if he doesn't break his word,

then there's some splaining to do. And so that's what the apostle Paul

undertakes in Romans chapter nine and ten and eleven. And that's what we're going

to undertake this morning. And if I was going to walk through the structure

of Paul's passage here and our message this morning this morning, it would kind

of look like this, does God break his word? And then give you

the two answers that Paul gives. No, he doesn't break his word.

Actually, God's salvation comes by number one, God's own promised work and number

two, God's own purpose of grace. That's the structure that Paul lays out

this morning. He poses the problem, and then he gives these two answers,

and he gives them in such a way as to argue specifically from the

Old Testament text, from the old patriarchal literature. And so this morning,

I have to tell you that our message this morning is a little academic.

It's a little academic. Not my preferred style. Nate's like, so what

man put on the professor patches and go. But the reason, the reason

why I want to lean in, lean into the explaining nature of our passage

this morning is because what's at stake is clarity about the trustworthiness of God,

and we want to make sure we get that straight. Got it? You

know, as we go we'll be careful. Two also highlight some so whats

right that's important? As we get to each each point of explanation, we

want to go ahead and say, okay, well, so what what does

that matter? Highlight its significance. So let's begin with this, does God

break his word? Does God break his word? Right? When we say

God never forsakes his people, it seems we have the problem of what about

Israel? And you said, well, why is that a problem, Because

Israel is the biggest, most central test case in all of redemptive history about

how God treats his people. And there seem to be three ways Israel poses

a problem for this. Here's the first way. It seems like Israel is

painfully cut off from the redemptive work of God. Look at verses one through

three. I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience

bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish

in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut

off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the

flesh. So here we have the apostle Paul agonizing over the fact that Israel

is not participating in the redemption that God has brought through the Messiah. There

Messiah. Now, Paul has really important things to say later about how partial

is this exclusion and how temporary is this cutting off. But the basic truth

of it is something that Paul is in fact confirming here. Yes, in

large part for now, the people of Israel, my ethnic cultural kin,

Paul is saying are outside of Christ and outside of God's rescue, and it's

killing me. That seems to pose a problem. It seems like Israel is

cut off. The second way in which this seems to pose a problem is

that it seems like Israel is, or at least was, God's people.

Look at verses four and five. They are Israelites, that is, the

descendants of Jacob, and to them belong the adoption. The word belong isn't

officially in the original language there, This is just a translations. It's to

them the adoption, to them the adoption. They're connected in some way to

God's statement of Israel is my son. They're connected in some way to the

fact that God has shown them his glory. They're connected in some way to

the covenants that God made with Abraham and through Moses. They're connected in some

way to the giving of the Law. They're connected in some way to the

whole worship that God taught about the Tabernacle and the Temple. They're connected in

some way to the promises that God has made. They're connected in some way

to the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They're connected in some way to

the fact that from their race and heritage comes Jesus, who is God over

all, blessed forever. Amen. So with all of that, it sure

seems like these are the people of God. And if they are largely for

now cut off, what does that say about how sure we can be about

not being separated from the love of God. You see in the problem you're

stone still, so you're either like really wondering what the answer is or I've

lost you already. It seems like a problem. And if we don't understand

clearly how what seems to be a problem is actually mistaken human assumptions, then

we won't understand clearly how we can trust the character of God. That's how

why I'm willing to get so academic with you this morning. Clarity. The

third way it seems Israel poses a problem is that it seems directly seems like

God has broken his word. We're not importing this into the text at all.

Paul goes right after it in chapter in verse six. He says this,

but it is not as though the word of God has failed. But

that's what's at stake, our understanding of God and his word, our grasp

of God's trustworthiness and what it means to actually trust him rightly, as opposed

to just presume upon him. In other words, your understanding, your understanding

of the question what about Israel, will have a critical impact on the health

of your own soul. It will have a critical impact on your trust in

God and your love for the way that God works. I want to say

that last part again, Your understanding of what about Israel will have a critical

impact on your love for the way that God works, which is a little

counterintuitive, at least it would have been for me earlier in my Christian life.

Earlier in my Christian life, every time I got to like an Old

Testament quote and I'd be like, okay, and blah blah blah, something

from the Old Testament, something something Malachi. Whenever I did my yearly Bible

reading plan, I got firmly into March, where you know, Leviticus bogged

me down, and it was just kind of like YadA, YadA, YadA,

Old Testament, Old Testament. But I want to come back to that,

that statement, your understanding of what about Israel as a Christian, as

a New Testament, born again Jesus loving Christian, your understanding about what about

Israel will have a critical impact on how you love the ways of God.

Actually getting clear on this means getting clear on God's trustworthy, surprising, wonderful,

consistent work of grace. I want that for us. Paul wants that

for his readers. For you who trust God's character vaguely, I would love

to see you trust God's care directer clearly. For you who have a general

disposition of appreciation in a cloudy way towards the God of the Bible, I'd

like to see you move to clarity and a rich awe of our consistent,

sovereign, trustworthy God. That's what I want. So how does the apostle?

How does the apostle answer the question of God breaking his word? He

has two answers in this passage. He has two answers to that question,

to why it only seems like God left his people hanging. And here's the

first one. The first answer, who is truly and fully counted as the

people of Israel or as the children of Abraham needs to be better understood.

That's what Paul is saying, Who is truly and fully counted as the children

of Israel? That needs to be better understood. Stephen, when Mom said

she didn't have any money. You need to better understand what she's saying.

Right. In other words, does God break his word? No? Salvation

comes by God's own promised work, and it always has, it always has.

So what Paul says is that it's a mistake to think of who are

fully and completely the people of God as something that is merely or even essentially

biological or ethnic, or as a matter of heritage or cultural proximity. Or

to put it another way, when God is talking about the children of Abraham,

that actually has a special meaning, not the meaning of just whoever is

a descendant of Abraham. Okay, And here's how Paul proves his point.

Verse six, He says this, 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? Okay? What's

going on? Paul is calling back to a old Testament, a Genesis story.

Right. We're in Genesis twenty one where God and Abraham are having an

interaction and Abraham is bummed out because Abraham has a son named Ishmael. He

has a son named Ishmael, And then Isaac. Isaac comes along. This

is the child of promise. God promised you're gonna have a son, and

this is Isaac. And now he's got two sons. Right. Who are

the children of Abraham. Who are the children of Abraham? Your two children

of Abraham and Hagar Ishmael's mother and Ishmael are are leaving the the family.

They're they're, they're, they're they're separating, and Abraham's bummed out. It's

like, this is not how I wanted this to go down. These are

my boys. And God steps in and says, you don't have to worry

about this. Man. I know this is not how you wanted it.

But you need to understand when I said your offspring, the world will be

blessed through your offspring, I meant this one. In other words, I

made a promise about your offspring, and that promise is connected to the offspring

I promised. So from the very beginning, Paul saying, from the very

beginning, there has been an understanding that The Children of Abraham wasn't completely or

even essentially about biology, because there are two of Abraham's children. So if

it's not about biology, what is it about. It's about God's work.

It's about God's work. Look at Hall's next proof text. He says this.

He says, think about it from the beginning. What has counted is

not what comes from man, but what comes from God. Says this.

This means that it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of

God, but the children of the promise who 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. So God made this promise to Abraham

and to Sarah. He said, about this time next year, Sarah will

have a son. And Sarah thought that was hilarious because she was so old

and Abraham was so old, and like that would be impossible, that would

be supernatural. And God says, is there anything too wonderful for the Lord?

In other words, Abraham, what I count is not what you do.

What I count is what I do. It's not about the children you

make, It's about the children I make. This is similar to what John

the Baptist said when he confronted the Pharisees and the Sadducees of Jesus' day,

and he confronted them about repentance. He confronted them about faith, He confronted

them about responding to the grace of God. And he said to them,

and don't presume to say, oh, we're Abraham's children. God can raise

up from these stones children for Abraham. It's not about what men do,

it's about what God does. Far from being untrustworthy, God is being absolutely

consistent to welcome in the Gentiles into the children of Abraham, because it's always

been about what he does, just as it was then, so it is

now. God's people are determined by God's work, not man's heritage. So

no one can accuse God of inconsistency or breaking his promise to a group of

people, because who is actually truly and fully in that group of people is

a spiritual matter in God's heart and grace, not a biological matter in man's

flesh and family. So well, I think I see that, I see

I think I see that argument from the Old Testament. So what so what

does that mean for me? Well, one thing to make sure you see

is that heritage is not definitive. Heritage is not definitive. Your heritage is

not definitive. Your proximity of the things of God is not definitive good or

bad. So if you grew up around the things of God, if your

parents were Christians and your grandparents were Christians, and you grew up in Sunday

School and you've you had Bible project posters taped up in your room, that

is non definitive. That does not establish you before God. God establishes you

before God. He can raise up from these stones. But neither is a

heritage where you were far from the things of God. Maybe your parents were

bad news and your grandparents and in fact, that's that's exactly what Paul is

putting on display when he talks about the amazing grace of God to welcome in

the Gentiles, the Gentiles into the people of God. He's saying, it

doesn't matter how far you were, Is there anything too wonderful for the Lord.

That also means your kids heritage isn't definitive. Don't presume pray. Heritage

is not definitive. God's grace is definitive, and the evidence of that grace

is faith. The evidence of that grace is faith. How can can we

be sure that we won't be separated from the love of God because of our

faith in Christ? That's how we can be sure we have obtained by faith

this grace in which we stand. As the scriptures say earlier in Romans,

it is those who have faith like Abraham, who are truly and fully Abraham's

children. And your faith like his may be rough around the edges. But

if it's genuine, and if it's in Christ, the Bible is quite plain,

you're in and nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ,

Jesus our Lord. Here's another so what, so what does this mean

for ethnic Israel? Is God done with ethnic Israel? No? And this

is coming in some passages later in Romans. But you should know that although

true Israel is the people who trust in the redemptive work of Christ, it

is not as though the ethnic the connection that ethnic Israel has to the covenants,

the connection to the law, the connection to the worship, the connection

to God's glory means nothing. It doesn't mean nothing. God has used it

to teach the whole world about himself. God has used it as the setting

into which Christ entered the world. God has used it to consistently open the

eyes of some Jewish people to the truth about Christ all along the way,

and one day God will open the eyes of ethnic Israel at a large scale

will see and recognize their own Messiah. But we're getting ahead of ourselves,

we're getting into other chapters. Let's recap and then look at Paul's last argument.

Here's the recap. So, just because Israel largely and for now is

broken off from God's redeeming work, that doesn't mean that God has broken his

word. Because from the beginning, those whom God has meant these promises for

has been based on his own supernatural work, not just one or even essentially

human heritage. Is there something else that might wrongly be assumed as the basis

for inclusion into the people of God, something besides heritage pulses yeah, works,

One might assume that God determines who is included in his people based on

works, but from the beginning, from the beginning, that is not so.

Instead, it's been about God's grace. Or to put it in another

way, God doesn't break his promises. God's salvation comes by his own promised

work, and God's salvation comes slide there you go by his own purpose of

grace, by his own purpose of grace. And here's how Paul proves the

point verse ten, he says, and not only so, but also when

Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather, Isaac, 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. She was told the older will serve the younger.

Okay, what is he doing again? He's calling back to a story from

the beginning, a Genesis story. And now Abraham's son, the Promised One,

Isaac, is having kids of his own, and his wife, Rebecca,

has twins in her belly, and God says, in you are two

nations. But instead of the one that comes out first being first, being

favor being the leader, instead of that the older will serve the younger,

God elacs to bless the younger one, Jacob, whose name has changed to

Israel. But here's the point Paul makes about that this is before either of

them does anything good or bad. In other words, God's choice is based

on his own sovereign grace, in order that God's purpose of election might continue,

not because of works, but because of him who calls. So let's

step back, let's zoom out a little bit is God changing the rules in

the middle of the game. Paul's answering that question, did God break his

word? Is God? Is God untrustworthy? Suddenly we have Israel set aside,

and God has chosen. God is sovereignly elected to welcome in the Gentiles

into the people of God. And he is He's made this decision, and

he has made the conscious decision to set some people aside. Is he inconsistent?

Paul says no, God's promise has always been focused not on man's work,

but on his own prerogative of grace. And then, as if to

trace the argument all the way from the beginning of the Old Testament to the

end of the Old Testament, he jumps all the way from Genesis all the

way to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, and he quotes

God's conversation there in verse thirteen, as it is written, Jacob I loved

but Esaw I hated it. What does God mean by that? Now?

This doesn't mean malice on God's part. This doesn't mean malice on God's part,

but that he set his choice of love, his covenant love, on

this remnant of Jacob and rejected the people of Israel, the people of Esau,

sorry, rejected the people of Esau. Here's the situation in Malik,

man, I really am doing the professor thing. I'm sorry. It's not

my preference, but it is my predisposition. So here's the situation, Malachi.

You have to get this if you're gonna get Paul's argument. Fifteen hundred

years later, the descendants of Israel have gone through the exile, They've been

through the Ringer, they've been deported, and a remnant of them, in

repentance and faith have been allowed to return back to the land and begin rebuilding.

And the first thing they have to say, the first thing they have

to say in the book of Malachi, is you don't love us. You

don't love us. Look what we've been through, and God says I have

loved you. And here's how I prove it. You're back. I heard

your repentance. I granted you that repentance. I granted you the faith to

trust me, and in that trust I allowed you back to this place to

rebuild, and your rebuilding, and that is my covenant love towards you,

towards this remnant of Israel. But that's not how I treated Esau. The

descendants of Esau gritted their teeth and said, we will rebuild, we will

get back on top. And God says, never I've rejected you. I

have selected my love for you, and I have selected my rejection for you.

And of course, of course, the next question is is that fair?

In other words, what does this mean about God's justice? If God

purposely elected Jacob before he had done anything good or bad, and if God

mercifully allowed Israel's remnant to rebuild but wrathfully refused to allow Esau's descendants to rebuild,

is God fair? Here's my best answer to that question. Come back

next week, because that's when Paul picks it up. Nah, I wouldn't

just do that. I do that, but I wouldn't just do that.

Here are the answers that we see adjacent to this passage. Number one,

It's important to understand that God's mercy has always been undeserved. God's mercy has

always been undeserved. God's mercy has always been undeserved. God's mercy to you

is undeserved. And secondly, God is God. He is perfect in mercy,

he is perfect in justice, and he is perfect in wisdom. He

says so so ultimately this question will be a matter of trust. Ultimately,

this question will be a matter of do we trust God's mercy, justice,

and wisdom even though we can't look behind it? Or do we suspect that

we are more merciful, just and wise than God? And you may ask

this question, also, what does this mean for me now? And my

answer to that may seem out of the blue, but it's it's very much

not. What this means for you now is walk in repentance. Walk in

repentance. Why do I say that? Why do I say that? Because

in this quite unique snapshot we are seeing, we are shown, we get

to see God's purposed election to show favor to Jacob before good or bad.

We are shown God's choice of see to Jacob's remnant and not Esauce we're shown

this rare glimpse into the sovereign will of God, when what we ordinarily see

in life and scripture is just the horizontal reality of how God's people respond to

what God is doing. Right, this is a rare glimpse. What we

ordinarily see is the horizontal. And that's why I say walk in repentance,

because horizontally, repentance is the most obvious difference between Jacob and esau and Jacob's

descendants and esauce descendants. And we can get so hung up on what's going

on in the mind of God regarding his mercy and his justice and his wisdom,

and be sure that's controlling, that's foundational. But we can get so

hung up on that that we lose track that the evidence of God's mercy towards

us is a response of repentance from us. So respond in repentance today.

If you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. The present opportunity

to repent is the mercy of God on display. Take the opportunity, because

the promise of God is that all who call on the name of the Lord

in repentance and faith will be saved. The promise of God is that all

who will call many are hardened, many will not. And that is a

matter for the mercy, justice, and wisdom of God that we can't look

behind. Many are hardened, many will not. But all who will call

on the name of the Lord will be saved.