The ninth chapter of Romans is a perfect chapter from which to preach the Sovereignty of God.
Paul has just finished his treatise on justification and grace and the security of the believer in Christ, there in chapter eight, and now we see him slump into sadness over the plight of his own, Christ-rejecting nation; Israel.
In verse 3 we see in Paul, the spirit that Moses had when the people had sinned against God in the wilderness and he offered to be blotted out of God’s book for their sake.
“For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
I want to remind you that he has just said at the end of chapter 8 that nothing, nothing, nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So this expression in verse 3 of chapter 9 shows the sincere depths of his love and sorrow for his nation. “Nothing in heaven or on earth or under the earth can separate the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus; yet I would be accursed and separated for my kinsmen according to the flesh, if it would reverse the consequences of their rejection of Messiah”.
Now I want to dissect and ’cook down’ the argument of chapter 9 for you, because there is so very much that could be said from this chapter; but our primary focus is to be on the last few verses
In the first 5 verses of chapter nine, Paul laments the loss his people suffer, even though they are the recipients of God’s promises concerning a Redeemer.
To them was given the glory, and the covenants and the Law, and the temple service, and the promises; theirs are the fathers of the faith, from whom came the Christ.
But then he has to go on and make the reader understand, that it is not as though the word of God has failed.
He is anticipating the objection some may make, that if Israel received the promises and they are now set aside, then God’s promises have failed. God’s own word has failed.
“Not”, he says, “if you realize who the real ‘Israel’ is.
The argument of many was that they deserved the promise because they were descended from Abraham.
Now if Paul were to say, “Well then, the Arabs are also recipients of the promise”, they’d scream, “NO! Ishmael can’t be a partner in this; the promises were to Isaac’s children!”
So his answer to their argument that they deserve the promises by descent, is that if the promise is by descent, ...if they deserve the promises because they are descended from Abraham... then they cannot deny Ishmael, for he also was descended from Abraham.
But the promise is not according to flesh, but according to the Spirit. It is according to grace.
He then goes on to point out that before Jacob and Esau were born, God told Rebekah that the older would serve the younger. That He was favoring Jacob over Esau.
And this, before either of them had any opportunity to do good or bad; to seek God or reject God. They weren’t even born yet.
So the point is, it is not by merit either. Not by descent, and not by works.
Christians, you are not accepted by God because your parents were Christians, and you are not accepted by God because you deserve anything. Relationship with God has always been by faith, according to His grace.
See 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”
I’d like to go into so much more detail from this chapter; perhaps at a later time.
But today I want to bring out this one point for the inquiring mind:
When God said what He did to Moses, He was not simply ‘flexing’. He wasn’t just declaring His power to accept or reject because He is God.
His chosen nation of people had just rejected Him to worship a golden calf. He was prepared, if Moses had said ‘yes’, to destroy them and build His nation from Moses. But they had an advocate in Moses; indeed, they had a Redeemer.
In this instance Moses was probably a closer type of Christ than in any other moment of his life. He was willing to be blotted out of God’s book, if God would only spare the people.
Here is the point. God, wanting to save the people, fell back on His own sovereignty as justification for NOT wiping them out. They all deserved death. WE all deserve death.
Not only do we not deserve Heaven, we DO deserve Hell.
But in God’s sovereignty is His right to show mercy. So He does.
“I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION”.
“I will show mercy to those toward whom I feel merciful”.
Now listener, take note that a person only needs mercy when he is guilty...when he deserves punishment.
He only needs compassion, when he is pathetic and helpless and would perish without the compassion of someone stronger.
Is acceptance with God through descent? Are we born into it? NO.
Is acceptance with God through works? Can we do anything to earn it? NO.
It is by grace alone.
So then Paul carries his argument a step further, and addresses the issue of those on whom God’s mercy does not fall.
What about Pharaoh? In Exodus we’re told that God hardened his heart. He even told Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH”.
Does this mean that God deliberately made Pharaoh reject Him so that He could make an example of Pharaoh? Is this unfair? Our human minds and hearts want to cry out in outrage; don’t they?
UNFAIR! TO CREATE A BEING FOR DESTRUCTION? UNFAIR!
But through Paul the Holy Spirit says to us, “...who are you, o man, who answers back to God?” The molded pot doesn’t say to the Potter, ‘why did you make me this way?’
But does the scripture say that God created Pharaoh an evil person to be used for dishonor? No, it does not.
Pharaoh made his own choices, having been given more evidence of God’s greatness and His goodness and faithfulness and His mercy than most other men who had ever lived.
God said to him, NOT “I created you for this”, but “I raised you up for this”.
Newell says “...men are not lost because they are hardened; they are hardened because they are lost; they are lost because they are sinners.”
Friends, many powerful leaders in history have been raised up by God for His purposes, even when they were His enemies. The hearts of Kings are in the hands of the Lord. He raises up, He brings down.
Why? “...THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH”.
Was His name proclaimed throughout the whole earth?
Well, we know that the citizens of Jericho had heard of His mighty works in delivering and protecting his people. They were very fearful of the Israelites coming out of the wilderness.
But I also want you to see that 400 years after the Exodus, the pagan Philistines were saying, “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.”
And of course, God’s name is still proclaimed throughout the whole earth even today...and one of the ways His name is proclaimed is that the things He did in Egypt are still told.
Pharaoh and all who defy God cannot bring a charge against Him for using them; in truth, they owe to him their very being and every moment of life they have...every breath they take.
They should realize that they are only allowed to continue because of His patience and mercy.
So to tie everything together now so that we can move on to verses 30 - 33; Acceptance with God is not by descent, because it is not according to the flesh, but the promise. And acceptance with God is not by merit, but by grace, because no one merits His favor.
But even though all have fallen short of His glory, and although there is no one righteous, no, not one, God falls back on His sovereignty to say, “I will show mercy” and “I will have compassion”.
Throughout history, His patience and His forbearance, even with vessels of wrath, (like Pharaoh) was so that He might ‘make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among gentiles.’
And that’s were we come into the picture.
Look at verse 30.
The gentiles (that’s everyone who is not a Jew), who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, -the righteousness which is according to faith (not descent, not merit); but Israel, who did pursue, pursued the wrong thing in the wrong way and did not attain.
Those who were not even looking, found. Those who were looking went astray, because they were looking in the wrong places.
They were trusting in the law and in their heritage; and that which is not of faith is sin.
But wait! Did God just arbitrarily show mercy and save the gentiles, but reject His own people who were diligently striving to obey His laws?
That doesn’t sound fair, does it? I mean, shouldn’t they at least get some kudos for trying?
Well, that would be the case; that would be a solid argument, if right standing with God could be obtained through the keeping of the Law.
But it is not. And this is where Christ comes into the picture.
Christ is the end, or the goal, of the law for righteousness, to everyone who believes.
But He is a stumbling block to those who put their trust in the law.
If you read the book of Acts, you’ll see evidence over and over again, that the Jews were taken the message of salvation through Jesus, and they vehemently reject that message, preferring to trust in the keeping of the law for salvation. In these same accounts, you’ll see Paul and Barnabas and others going to the gentiles; gentiles who were not even looking, but who received the good news gladly and were saved.
Christians, here is the main point for you in this sermon. The key phrase of our text for you is the last one.
“AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”.
That is the good news. That is the message of scripture, from beginning to end. That is the word of God to His creation, from the time of the fall until Jesus comes back to claim His bride.
“AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”.
This phrase is as important for what it excludes, as it is for what it includes.
Where is salvation? Belief in Him.
What is not said here, is that belief in Him AND keeping of the law saves.
Or belief in Him AND being a church member saves.
Or belief in Him AND performing certain rituals saves.
Or belief in Him AND being from a Christian family saves.
Or belief in Him AND abstaining from certain things saves.
Christian, Christ can become as much a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to you, as He was to the nation of Israel.
In fact, for many Christians in the church today, He is just that.
People call themselves ‘Christian’ because they are in the church, and they think that all the things they do make them a Christian, rather than the other way around.
None of us would say we are a Boy Scout/Girl Scout because when we go camping we build a fire.
None of us would say we are a doctor because when our child sprains his ankle we wrap it in an Ace bandage.
None of us would claim to be a mechanic simply because we change the oil or the sparkplugs in our car.
But many say they are Christians, because they go to church and sing the songs and give the tithe, and subject themselves to baptism and take the communion and help with the functions; and because of that, Christ is to them a stumbling stone; because if their Christianity was based on true, saving faith, they would know that all those other things could cease to exist, and their acceptance would still be assured; because it is according to God’s mercy and compassion and grace, by faith in the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ alone.
The scripture says, “AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”.
Salvation is in this, and this alone, and all else added to this is man’s righteousness, which to God is as filthy rags.
This is the word preached to you;
“...that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”
And once more, Paul quotes the prophet and says,
“WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED”
Here is why I called this sermon “Sins Atoned, Heaven Gained”. Are you paying attention?
It is because anything added to that truth muddies the waters.
Christian, you must clear your thoughts of any blame of yours, any fault of yours, any good of yours, any effort of yours; any thing of yours, and boil your belief down to this two-fold truth.
Through the shed blood and death of Christ your sins in their entirety are atoned. Paid for. Put away.
Through faith in that simple truth, Heaven is yours...a place prepared...the end of your journey...a sure and certain hope...AND YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED, according to God’s own promise.
SINS ATONED; HEAVEN GAINED
Let that be a creed for you. Let it be all upon which you hang your hope.
If I am buried in the ground, I want it on my tombstone for all who come after to read.
SINS ATONED; HEAVEN GAINED
Whatever makes up your Christianity; let this be the only root, the only foundation, and then whatever comes forth from that will be true and acceptable worship.
And according to God’s own promise, you will never be disappointed.
