Romans 9 Election

 

Romans 9

Election

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6

I believe everyone has a choice including Esau, Pharaoh,

The descendants of the promise to Abraham, the Jews

It is clear to see throughout history many have not chosen faith

 But a stubborn heart

You can be elected and be rejected that is why

2 Peter 1:10-11says to “Make your calling and election sure”

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The free will of man has never been violated by God

You and I have a choice to live by faith or works

God has a choice to show mercy or wrath

Don’t worry about God’s part

Let’s focus on our part

Living by Faith 

 

 

Election

 

Romans 9 starts out with…

 

 Paul sharing his heart felt concern

for His race, the Jewish people.

 

Although Paul felt his calling was to the Gentiles…

 

 He did not forgot his roots

and love for his people.

 

 He says…

 

I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.

 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and

cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,

those of my own race, the people of Israel.

Romans 9:2-4

 

Paul was very aware that he and the Jewish people

have a strong tie to God.

 

The people of Israel…

 

Theirs is the adoption as sons

Theirs the divine glory

The covenants

The receiving of the law

The temple worship

And the promises

Theirs are the patriarchs

 

And from them is…

 

 Traced the human ancestry of Christ,

who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

Romans 9:4-5

 

Eight powerful and spiritual connections to God.

 

No other people have this much going for them,

 

 Yet, Paul was deeply concerned for them.

 

There is some relief for parents whose children

do not follow the upbringing of the parents

 when you read Romans 9:6…

 

It is not as though God's word had failed.

For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

 

God made a promise to Abraham…

 

"At the appointed time I will return,

and Sarah will have a son." 

Romans 9:9

 

We know Abraham’s first-born’s mother was Hagar

and Abraham sends her off with supplies and when they ran out,

 God heard her cry for her son and herself…

 

 God met her need and promised

her son will be a great nation.

 

God is loving and merciful.

 

Abraham’s son by Sarah

 is Isaac who had twins…

 

Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad

 — in order that God's purpose in election might stand:

Romans 9:11

 

Here is where we find the word “election”.

 

The word “election” means “chosen”.

 

God chose Abraham and his descendants,

therefore God chose Isaac.

 

Before the twins were born

and had done nothing good or bad,

no merit of their own,

 God elected the younger.

 

The question is raised and answered…

 

What then shall we say? Is God unjust?

Not at all!  For he says to Moses,

"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

Romans 9:14-15

 

This answer shows us and

the example of the twins gives us the example…

 

 The election is not based on what we do or don’t do.

 

Our efforts, our works, don’t matter.

 

What matters is God’s mercy

decides who He will have mercy on.

 

We get another example of God’s election,

or choice, in verse 17 with Pharaoh…

 

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."   Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

 Romans 9:16-18

It seems harsh if you are the unchosen twin or Pharaoh.

 

So, is God harsh?

 

Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy,

and he hardens whom he wants to harden

 

What is meant by hardened?

 

The Hebrew word is skeruno

Meaning “to indurate

to make unfeeling, stubborn, or obdurate’

 

The word Obdurate means…

 

Stubbornly refuse to change one’s opinion

or course of action.

 

Showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings.

 

Stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing.

 

In order for us to get the meaning,

we have to remember Paul’s words

in the first part of the chapter.

 

Paul was deeply concerned for the Jewish people

 who have all the blessing of God

but were rejected by God.

 

These Jewish people knew God

and were chosen by God

but did not receive mercy, but wrath.

 

Why?  Because they, like Pharaoh,

 have harden their hearts  

 

But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"   Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Romans 9:20-21

 

Does God have the right to show mercy and wrath?

 

Does God have the right to make a people,

who are not His people, His people?

 

The answer is found in the last three verses.

 

 But before we read them,

 we need to remember Romans 3:23-24…

 

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and are justified freely by his grace

through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

 

All have sinned.

 

 The redemption of Jesus Christ came to

the whole world, not just to fulfill the

promise to Abraham’s natural seed.

 

Here is the answer…

 

What then shall we say?

That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness,

have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;

but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.

Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.

 They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."

Romans 9:30-32

 

The hardening of the heart,

kills faith.

 

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

 

Both twins sinned.

 

 Jacob was a deceiver yet,

he found mercy and Esau did not.

 

Why? Jacob had faith.

 

All of us need to be careful we

do not have a harden heart.

 

The promise of mercy and eternal life is

extended to all of us.

 

 But if we have a harden heart and…

 

Stubbornly refuse to change one’s opinion or course of action

 

Showing unfeeling resistance to tender feelings

 

If we refuse to have faith in God…

 

 Which means trust in Him.

 

If we rely on our works or rights…

 

 We will receive God’s wrath.

 

It is this simple.

 

God honors faith, just like Abraham.

 

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Genesis 15:6

 

I believe everyone has a choice…

 

 Including Esau, Pharaoh

 

The descendants of the promise to Abraham,

the Jews.

 

It is clear to see throughout history many

have not chosen faith…

 

 But a stubborn heart.

 

You can be elected and be rejected.

 

 That is why 2 Peter 1:10-11says…

 

 “Make your calling and election sure”

 

Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

The free-will of man has

never been violated by God.

 

You and I have a choice to live by faith or works.

 

God has a choice to show mercy or wrath.

 

Don’t worry about God’s part.

 

Let’s focus on our part…

 

 Living by Faith. 

 

 

 

Scripture Reading

 

Romans 9:1-10:1 NIV

 

9:1 I speak the truth in Christ — I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.

6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."   8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."  

10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad — in order that God's purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls — she was told, "The older will serve the younger."   13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."  

14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 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."  

16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."   18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" 20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'"   21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

22 What if God, 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? 25 As he says in Hosea:

"I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"  

26 and,

"It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"  

27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

"Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,only the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."  

29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:

"Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."  

30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." 33 As it is written:

"See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."