Romans 9:1-13 For His Mercies Will Never Come to An End

The Text

Romans 9:1–13 (CSB)
¹ I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—

² that 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 benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.

⁴ They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

⁵ The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

⁶ Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

⁷ Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac.

⁸ That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.

⁹ For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.

¹⁰ And not only that, but Rebekah conceived children through one man, our father Isaac.

¹¹ For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—

¹² not from works but from the one who calls—she was told, The older will serve the younger.

¹³ As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

The Introduction

So we are now starting a new book, entitled 2nd Romans, because clearly Romans chapters 1 through 8 is distinctive and apart from Romans 9, 10 and 11...

As Richard Hayden once so eloquently stated in the wonderful and brilliant movie, Tommy Boy:

I hope you are picking up on my sarcasm because I am laying on pretty thick.

As crazy as it might sound to split up the Romans epistle, there are many scholars and theologians stating the case for it. And if you are not in academic circles, then just ask any Evangelical pastors. When you ask them about Romans 9 and what does it mean, nine times out of ten, they are going to respond as though Romans is split between 8 and 9 with statements such as, "Well, that part is just for Israel," and "that is not intended for us."

I know that they mean well but parts of the Bible not for intended for the church? Really?

Just I made the case for Romans 7:25 through Romans 8 should be read as though you must erase the large numeral 8 out of your Bible in order to get the context for all of Romans 8, so you must do the same with the numeral 9 when going from 8:38-39 into Romans 9:1 ¹

Romans 8:38–9:3 (CSB) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—that 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 benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.

Now we have Romans 9 in proper context, how do you read it now? How do you begin to understand now?

But more importantly, let me address this: some people want to contend for the author's intent. How about for starters, Paul did not bifurcate it. He didn't write Romans in two parts and therefore, didn't intend his epistle to be read into two parts. One letter was sent to the church in Rome and the congregations in Rome sat under that reading--under that preaching of the word of God.

Romans 9. Romans 10. Romans 11 are perfectly where they should be. Because God put those there.

¹ I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—

² that 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 benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.

By his precious love: believe on the Lord Jesus now

Usually, when sermons are preached, the preacher will present the gospel at the end in hopes that that will be the last thing you hear and it will sink deeper.

Today, Paul lays out the assurance of salvation for the people of God and then he pleads:

My own flesh and blood DO NOT BELIEVE IN CHRIST! If I could do anything to save them unto God I would in a moment--even in my life.

Every one here has loved ones, people who raised you, people you were raised with, friends, families, co-workers, neighbors that you love affectionately and tenderly and yet, you know they are so far.

Nothing in the world can separate us from the love of Christ. Once you are saved you are captured by Christ. The Almighty God of the Universe does not lose his kids and Christ does not lose his siblings. Go to any corner of the earth, his earth is filled with his glory. Go to make your bed in hell, he is there. Go to the heights of heaven and he is there. But my beloved, look inside yourself and remember your confession and your baptism and your life and the Triune God dwells there in you.

I have tried to run. The Holy Spirit is too quick, too powerful, and too patient for me to escape.

So is for the people of God who were saved before the foundation of the world. No one is outside the saving grace of God.

You believe now, trust him now, repent now, you have God now. That is the only guarantee I got. Turn to God, ask for God, God will give himself to you. It's the only set guarantee because he sent his Son to save his people 2000 years ago. The salvation is done. Come to him now.

Our God

It is this desperate plea to you is the desperate plea that cut Paul to the bone. He so wish that the Israelites, those who were physically born of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there fathers, would just to turn to Christ. For:

⁴ They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

⁵ The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

⁶ Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

By his precious love: you were not born into salvation

But we know from the Bible, just because you were born into a particular people group or in a certain nation or a certain time, does not make you autosaved. And let me be super direct: just because you were born in America and went to church all of your life does not make you saved.

John 1:11–13 (CSB) He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

You went to church all of your life? Good. You need Christ.

You went to bible college? Seminary? Awesome. You need Christ.

You are a pastor, a preacher, an evangelist, a teacher? Beautiful. You need Christ!

John 3:3 (CSB) Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

So is the church going people need Christ, the direct bloodline of Abraham, shared with Christ himself, need the blood of Christ.

⁷ Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac.

⁸ That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.

We do not perish: Jesus is the Christ

James, the stepbrother of Christ, flesh and blood, didn't understand what Jesus was doing. He was with his family and trying to pull Jesus out of his ministry because Jesus was saying crazy things like, "Your sins are forgiven--go and sin no more."

But Christ lived and died and resurrect. James believed. So much so, we went on to evangelize, to pen an epistle that belongs in the New Testament, and lived unto God until the Pharisees threw him off the roof, and then proceeded to be club and stone James to death. All because James never stopped proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ.

Those who beat and kill the people of Christ was the same people that Paul was so desperate to be saved.

And their own racist beliefs--the belief that they were born naturally into the family of God--was going to send them straight to hell unless Christ saved their wicked souls.

The Gospel

⁹ For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.

¹⁰ And not only that, but Rebekah conceived children through one man, our father Isaac.

¹¹ For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—

¹² not from works but from the one who calls—she was told, The older will serve the younger.

His mercies never come to an end: vocation of God is justification of God

Read the following carefully and slowly:

Romans 8:30 (CSB) And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

For some of us, like myself growing up in church, you never heard this verse read out loud, let alone, preached on. And when you pressed a pastor to explain it, they are certainly going to squeeze in the free will of man--as though the fallen son of Adam could ever freely choose God. (Heads up: he cannot.)

Now, if you are in a church that preaches the doctrines of grace, you are going to get your fill on this verse and this passage--mostly because we missed hearing it growing up.

But I want you to look at this logically, almost mathematically. The text does not say, "And those he predestined, some were called." The word 'some' is nowhere to be found anywhere in that passage and in the Bible when it comes to to the salvation of God. In other words, let me summarize Romans 8:30: "For those he predestined, he also glorified.

A = B = C = D. Ergo, A = D.

Now, you might be asking, "Preacher, why the math lesson?" Because in Romans 9:9-12, Paul does the same mathematical formula.

Romans 9:11–12 (CSB) For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand—not from works but from the one who calls—she was told, The older will serve the younger.

If you are elected, you are called. But we know from Romans 8:30 right before, if you chosen by God, you are going to be called by God, justified by God and glorified by God.

Sarah shall bear a son, Isaac. Then Isaac's wife, Rebekah, will bear twin boys, Esau and Jacob. But "the younger will serve the older."

And you want reassurance of your salvation? You want assurance that God could save a wretch like you? Listen to what Paul preaches:

not from works but from the one who calls

Go and read the life of Jacob. You know what his name means? Trickster. He was a low-down, good for nothing, trickster. Manipulated his mom. Fooled his dad. And stole everything from his brother.

And God came to him, brought him to the end of his life, and broke his life and pride--to make him walk with a limp for the rest of his life.

Before Isaac could do anything, he was called. Before Jacob could obey God, God justified. Before you and I can even begin to do one thing good unto the Lord, God must save us.

Our Response

¹³ As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.

His mercies never come to an end: before the foundation of the world, we are loved.

For all the blessings bestowed upon Esau despite losing his birthright by God, Esau never turned to the Lord. Never trusted him. Esau did some good things--forgave his brother, spared his brother, and had mercy on his brother. But unbelievers do that all the time. Like a friend from work told me once, "Christians didn't invent grace and forgiveness." Which is absolutely true. But among the common grace that God gives both believers and unbelievers alike, he gives everyone the ability to give grace and forgive.

Esau may have done good things but it wasn't enough. Most of us who don't know God are just hoping that we have done enough good things and if God would grade on a curve, he will let us in.

Jacob was a dirty, rotten, sonovagun. He was despicable. Rotten to the core. But God came to him and called Jacob, not Esau. God came to break the pride of Jacob, not Esau. In the end, God saved Jacob to himself, and not Esau.

Here is the gospel, on our best days, like Esau forgiving his brother for his wrongdoing, we are far far short of God's glory. Our great days could out weigh our bad days and we still have an infinite distance to go.

Can you strive infinitely? I can't. You can't. Jacob couldn't. To span that infinite gap, you are going to need a infinite being who is willing and able to come to us to bridge the gap. And that infinite being is Jesus Christ, who lived, who died, who rose again, who ascended to the right hand of the Father, making intercession for those whom he loved before the foundation of the world.

Lamentations 3:22–23 (CSB) Because of the LORD’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness!