Tonight, we turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter 9, and obviously we come to tonight a very challenging section of Scripture, one that is very important to understand, even though our minds can't fully understand it, but something that is revealed nevertheless for our benefit. And so tonight we're going to consider Romans 9. The text will really be verses 10 through 18. So let's begin at verse 1 through 18. Let's give our attention tonight to the word of the Lord. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am 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. 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's not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. Not all the children, not all are children of Abraham, because they 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. Not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, or 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 have loved, but Esau I have hated. What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then, it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. Well, not many of you know, nor should you know, that my first major fight with Darcy, when we were engaged, was hiking in Sequoia National Park, and there we had stopped on one of the rocks and pulled out a Bible and got in a big fight over Romans 9.13. Jacob I have loved, but Esau I hated. And there we were fighting as people passed by over the doctrine of election. If you haven't figured out, I was extremely romantic at that time. I was out of control, to be honest with you. It says in the Bible, I said to her, if you don't like what it says in the Bible, well then just rip out that page. That's how I approached things. And she was so kind and nice. She should have said, keep that up, buddy, and you're on your own. I was hard with this teaching. I was hard with it. As a teacher, even, everything seemed to divulge into an argument with the Arminians over the doctrine of election. And boy, could I argue with the best of them. For years, I would engage this and I would fight over this teaching. As I grew in the ministry, I don't mind a good debate on this. It can be a healthy thing. But as I grew in the ministry, I saw the fruits, especially going up north, of what can happen to people with an abuse of this teaching. This is why we tell seminary students when they first come to seminary, i had to go through this too you need to be put in a cage for a little while locked up because they're wild over the reform doctrines they don't know how to deal with them and you can create extremely hard people that become fighters all they do is is fight and are angry and you wonder you wonder over this teaching is that what it should produce is that what the elect turn out to look like you know it's a fair question god saved me from the elect if that's how they act As I've grown older and had children, I've actually found this much harder to teach. I've actually found this much more difficult to teach. It's not because I've adopted some Arminian view or think that salvation could ever be achieved by human will or exertion. I mean, that would fly in the face of everything I just read. It's just not even on the radar. It's not even possible. What I struggle with as I get older, what I really resonate with, what I connect with is what the canons say. that this doctrine of election is justly terrible for those who have forgotten God and their Savior Jesus Christ, who have abandoned themselves wholly to the cares of the world and pleasures of the flesh. And since you go through ministry and you see that, and I had to plead with the grandfather, you know, on the deathbed to believe, and I don't know if he did. You know, as you wrestle with that, it's hard to see. And then it's hard for our minds to process this. You know, it's hard for our minds to work through the reality when on the one hand, people willingly do of their own will is reject God. And they chose that. They wanted that. And yet I know not all are chosen unto salvation. And who can get their mind around that? Every time I begin to struggle with this i'm i'm reminded of something that isaiah said that really helped me uh to put it in the right framework and to think properly about this and it's what isaiah said especially in light of what we studied in genesis it's what isaiah said when he said if the lord had not left us a remnant we would have all become like sodom and we would have all been made like gomorrah and that's been a crucial helpful verse for me because it casts the teaching in the most pastoral light, doesn't it? In other words, people often approach this all wrong. It's the wrong question to begin with. How is it possible for a loving God to ordain people to everlasting punishment? Wrong question, wrong beginning. I reject the premise of the question. It comes with the assumption, number one, that we're good or that God is unfair in His ways toward us. And I don't accept that. Then I really haven't listened to what God has said. When I understand this, the right question really becomes tonight, how is it possible for a righteous and holy and just God who demands that sin be punished, ordain anyone to everlasting life? That's a better question, isn't it? Tonight, we look at the teaching of predestination, election, what we call reprobation, and one of these doctrines, it's one of these teachings that leads us to bow before God. It leads us to praise God. Our minds are too puny to fully grasp it, and sometimes I think that's our problem, is that we think we have to fully understand everything and get everything. We bow before this teaching. We believe this teaching. Scripture says this, and this is so important because essentially when Paul lays this out very pastorally, and then he deals with people fighting against it. Then he gets strong, and he says, what you're doing when you challenge this teaching is you're challenging God being God. And that's why he gets strong. But it's cast in an incredibly pastoral light, a helpful light to encourage God's people. Election is saying that anyone who is saved is saved by the sovereign hand of God in His grace who has decided whom he will save before the foundation of the world that he would set his love upon them that he would call them out of darkness and give them grace to turn and repent and he would do that and there's nothing of the human will or exertion or of running that ever brought that about. I didn't cause it. I didn't earn it. I didn't make him think that I was delightful enough to receive it. This is a choice that God made. This is a choice that He decided. And there's nothing intrinsic. There's nothing about me that He saw and said, that one. He's so good. None of that. God set His love upon His people, whom He foreknew, Romans 8, and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, grace even being given, as the Scriptures say, before time began. And it's a remarkable doctrine. Everyone knows, why is Paul even explaining this? Maybe that's the question to begin with. Why is Paul even explaining this? Well, everyone knows that Romans 9 is the definitive chapter on the teaching of predestination and election and reprobation. Paul is explaining this. And he's explaining this in context because of a real dilemma that we have faced in the first five verses where he raises that he is terribly grieved over the fact that Israel national israel has turned from their messiah and their god and they were given the adoption the glory the covenants the giving of the law the promises all of these things he rehearses here and he's terribly grieved over the fact that this nation has rejected our messiah and if you don't believe it just turn on the news to this day their land is slowly being stripped from them And the only logical conclusion somebody might draw thinking about this is, well, if Jesus, especially citing Jesus, if the kingdom was taken from them and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it, which are the Gentiles, how can you not draw the conclusion that God's word has failed with regard to Israel? So this is what he's unraveling for us. This is what he's explaining for us. The issue is, is God keeping His Word? That's the single great question of Romans 9-11. If you get that question, you get these chapters. It's not that complex. Is God fulfilling His Word? And so in verse 6, He begins to explain this initially, and He says, what does He say? It's not that the Word of God has failed. No way has God's Word failed. It never returns void. And how does he answer that? For they are not all Israel who are of Israel. Paul says it's not that God's word has taken no effect. It's not that he's gone back on any of his promises. It's not that he's lost one of his people. The true Israelite has never been outward. The true Israelite has always been inward. He said that in chapter 2. The true Israelite, the true Jew, has a circumcision of what? The heart. when Jesus looked at Nicodemus and said, you must be born again, he was saying, I've got to make you my true Israel. I've got to give you a new birth. And that's why that teaching is so important. We have to say that, don't we? Somebody has to be born again to become a true Israelite. And it's not by the law, it's by the Spirit. And Israel fell into the trap of thinking, why did Israel fail? Well, Paul says in chapter 10, Israel failed because they tried to do it themselves. They tried to achieve the righteousness that comes by the law and they did not attain to the righteousness that comes by faith it's a very simple explanation for why israel went wrong so god never failed israel because he never promised that every israelite would be saved and he illustrated that with what we've been learning in genesis that there are two seeds remember and that the true seed, every last one of them, Genesis 5 with the book of life, every last one of them were delivered. And there was a whole seed of the woman throughout the Old Testament, of the true Israel. And Ishmael was not of the true Israel. The promise said, what? In Isaac your seed shall be called. So you see how he's explaining this. Now, we come to a series of objections. The first objection that this might be the jews might raise as well that that makes that you know that's perfectly fine paul because you know that woman that abraham was with hagar she was a pagan and god obviously put the seed through through isaac the covenant never ran through ishmael and then notice what paul does here he moves to the greater example to prove the point that not all israel is of israel and he raises the issue of Jacob and Esau. Verse 11, for the children, this is Romans 9, 11. And not only that, verse 10, but also when Rebekah 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 or might stand, 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 have loved, but Esau I have hated. Now, when you put this together, notice how Paul is presenting this. Both had the same father. Both of the same mother. They were twins. And we know they were twins. That means nothing was different about them according to who they were. No one was more deserving of the promise than the other. As a matter of fact, they had a big brawl in the womb, remember that? And they're fighting in the womb, and somebody else won out. Who won out, boys and girls? Esau. And Jacob held on, remember. And what this means is that according to the normal standard, if you were going by Jewish standards, who should have had the blessing? Esau. And what Paul wants us to see is, is that God did a great act of reversal in choosing Jacob. Now, there are many things to be said here, but certainly the emphasis is on the fact that God sovereignly decided before they were even born to set his love on Jacob. You need to meditate on that for a second. Children weren't born. They hadn't done one single act for what end that god's purposes according to his election might stand before one act good or bad god made the choice before they were born now when god tells us something like this and emphatically says that election took place before any of this had taken place any of the actions there is no possible way that this was based on anything foreseen i mean that should go without saying you know but that is the common view today that's how people try to get away from and out of this teaching the common view is god says i i'm going to look down the corridor of time and i'm going to see for knowledge who chose me and then based on that i will choose them and paul is saying everything contrary to that he says notice what he's actually implying here and saying to us i mean take it the other way what if god said i want to make everything really fair according to your standards and i'm going to leave it up to them i'm going to wait and see how these guys turn out put it this way if you were to draw a comparison between who was the better of the two. Who was better between Jacob and Esau? I vote for Esau. Jacob's name meant deceiver, didn't he? Schemer. The guy was a thug. Think about what he did. He took advantage of his brother. He steals the birthright. He deceives dying dad who can't see anything, walks in, deceives him, rips off his brother's hope, hauls off with the blessing, flees the land, abandons the family. He is your classic prodigal. I think he's one of the worst recorded in the Old Testament. Who rivals him? Maybe Samson. Can you imagine if one of your sons did this to you? And Paul says, look at the truth of this. All of this was contrary to human reasoning. He states the truth before Jacob did any of that, before he ever did any of that. God, knowing all of that, not that Jacob would choose him, but that Jacob would act that way, before he'd even done any of those things, chose him, loved him. And he says, Jacob I've loved, but Esau I hated. Jacob received a love of God unto salvation, Esau did not. Now you stand back from that tonight and my guess is as you're sitting here listening to this, you're thinking who can understand these things? Who can grasp that? It's important to remind us up front why Paul's saying this tonight. The reason Paul is teaching us this is for what purpose? Because you might think God's promises are failing. Isn't that it? You might think, looking at national Israel, God's promise has failed. And so God has presented this whole thing positively, hasn't he? What is the positive outlook on this? Malachi helps us a little bit. This statement was taken from Malachi 1 when Israel was failing in her responsibilities and the question started surfacing because of the things that had happened. Does God really love us? And God comes to his prophet, I have loved you, says the Lord. And they said, in what way have you loved us? Well, it's not Esau, Jacob's brother. But Esau, I've hated and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. Esau got what Esau deserved, didn't he? Hebrews says that. God says, do you want to know whether I love you? Look at Jacob. And look at Esau. That Israel would see God's love for them. But how are you feeling with this naturally? I mean, that's the question I want to pose for a minute. How are you feeling with this naturally? I mean, it's kind of troubling maybe for a moment, isn't it? Here's why. God is without sin. God is holy. We are full of sin. So naturally, we have a problem of looking at things differently from God than God does, don't we? What is God's intention? God's intention tonight is to say not one seed of the promise, not one child of the promise got lost in the whole mix. That's his intention. That's what's set before us. Every last one of his people of the seed of the woman, he will save. They'll be there in glory. There will be a multitude around the throne. No man can number. His grace is that wonderful. And that should lead us to do what? bow tonight in praise. That's what it should do. That God would fulfill a word to a bum like Jacob. That word. Now, where does this leave us? Answer this question. Jacob I've loved, but Esau I've hated. When you read that, where does your heart focus? Let me ask it this way. If the angels heard that, where would their eyes focus? The angels rejoice when a sinner repents. If they saw the statement, Jacob I've loved from God, but Esau I've hated, where would they stand in amazement? First part, right? The astonishing fact here is that God loved. Why? Because the psalmist says, the Lord did look down the corridor of time. Psalm 14, the Lord did look down from heaven to see if there were any who understood if there were any who came and what is the the declaration there are none who understand there are none who seek god all have turned aside that's the declaration of god looking down the corridor of time from psalm 14 if that's the case when we look at things from an earthly perspective our eyes fall on the question well what about esau that seems unfair but when we begin to look at things as God has defined from Genesis that ultimately where it all goes and what the people want is so to progress in their sin that it becomes only evil continually well that this God would love and give his son for wretches like us and pull anyone out is a remarkable thing. In other words, we can't look at this as Americans. How do we look at this as Americans? Well, we come up with what's the single great objection we come up with? This is not fair. It seems like you're saying some are better than others, and that's the farthest thing what we're saying. Paul raises that. What do we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Is there injustice on God's part, verse 14, because He does this? And that's how you know you've understood this properly because what's your first objection to the teaching? It's that. Not fair. And Paul, you know you've understood it correctly because Paul says the first thing, is God unfair? Is He unjust? by no means. What does he say? I will have, in verse 15, mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Darcy and I often come home after sermons sometimes, and it depends on the Sunday, but we're always struck, regardless of how it goes, with how contrary God's ways are to ours. Isn't Paul going to say that at the end of this? His ways are so far, we can't fathom them, we can't understand them, we can't put them on our level. And we're constantly trying to do that with him. We define his actions by ours and his thoughts by ours, and we ask all the wrong questions. And that's why I come back to the right question. How is it possible for this righteous God who demands that sin be punished, ordained to everlasting life, And then, what are you overwhelmed with? The gospel, his love. You ever thought that if we ask the question of what is fair, we're all done? You know, we operate on the principle of election all the time, don't we? If 10 men are sentenced to death, let's say 10 murderers have all committed awful acts of murder, and the governor says, I am going to pardon five of them. Is he unjust for not pardoning the other five? Of course not. They murdered. And our president does this all the time. President Obama released people from their actions last year. Presidential pardons. What about those who didn't? They're guilty. We operate on election everywhere. As Calvin said, somebody is born somewhere in one part of the country with a full breast of milk to suck on and somebody not. it's life and you see how our in our egalitarian society none of this works nothing of god's economy works does it i will have mercy on whomever i will have mercy and i will have compassion on whomever i will have compassion so then it's not of him who wills or him who runs but of god who shows mercy and he says if you want to see this further look at pharaoh i raised him up for this. When it comes down to God's electing choice, he says, I'm going to be merciful to whom I will. And then he takes us to Exodus 9. Have you ever studied Pharaoh and think, how can you be that hard? You have seen plague after plague after plague. I mean, when I saw, if I saw the whole oceans turn to blood, wouldn't you give up? Wouldn't I give up? If I had frogs hopping out of my toilet wouldn't i give up and we look at pharaoh and we think you stubborn mule why won't you let the people go and what did god say to pharaoh through moses if i had stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence then you would have been cut off from the earth i could have ended this early i could have put an end to this right away but indeed exodus 9 15 for this purpose i've raised you up that i may show my power in you who is he talking about a pagan leader in the world that my name may be declared in all the earth as you yet exalt yourself you keep doing this you keep heart if you ever go back to exodus it's an amazing thing god's hardening the heart and he's hardening the heart he's doing exactly what god is doing and pharaoh wants to harden the heart it's a fascinating study as you yet exalt yourself against my people and that you would not let them go i have raised you up and i have done this to do and display the power of my name in the earth and you know when israel went into the land remember what all the nations did melted because they heard of what the lord did to pharaoh and paul is using that salvation is not of him who wills nor of him who runs it kind of is troubling when i walk by a church sign it says free will this or free will that you know it doesn't work it's not of him who wills it's not of him who exerts himself or makes an effort salvation doesn't happen that way so here then is the answer a first answer to the problem posed, has God's word failed? No, God has always made a distinction. God has always made a distinction. Salvation is of Him. Jonah said that. And he showed mercy to every last one of the promised seed. So I close with this tonight. Should this teaching be despised? Should we reject this? Should we hate this? Should this be like the bad-tasting medicine in the cabinet? This was always the thing that people hated about Reformed theology I came across. Should it be despised? Should it be really treated with contempt? You know what God just told you, right? He just told you your salvation is completely secure in Him. And that those whom He begins the work in, He completes it to the end. And He doesn't lose one. Do you want God saying, go for it, you try? Do you want that? What an encouragement. of how great grace is because when the rich young ruler had come to Jesus and he had asked the question, what must I do to be saved? Remember what Jesus did? Gave him the full weight of the law. He leaves. The disciples asked a question that I think we all have to come to. A question that every Christian has to come to. It's the same issue with the new birth. When I preach the new birth, the thing that struck me about the new birth is, my total inability to give life to my own heart. It's the question of the disciples, who then can be saved? And what was Jesus' answer? With man, it's absolutely impossible. But not with God. With God, all things are possible. And you all should feel that tonight. There's no way you could have ever done it. But with Jesus, there's a way. And there's assurance knowing that is entirely in His hand. And so this teaching should make us about the most humble people on the face of the earth if we've properly understood it, that we know that it has been granted to us, Philippians 1, to believe and to suffer for His namesake. If you still struggle with this tonight, I want you to close with this brief thing. This is what I want you to think about. One day, a man came to his doctor. And it wasn't too long after this man had been in a deep theological conversation with his doctor. The discussion centered on the doctrine of predestination. The doctrine was so repulsive to him, he hated it. He thought, how could anyone believe that? He thought, well, that's the case, doc. I'm just going to go out and live a notoriously wicked life. Doesn't matter, right? doesn't matter at the end of the day if i'm elected i'll make it if i'm not doesn't matter i'm going to hell i'll be lost regardless of how i live that's what your doctrine produces doctor didn't say anything one night this man was critically ill critically ill called for the doctor temperature was so high he was near to death the doctor arrived he said to the man ah if it's your time it makes no difference whether i help you right won't help if you're foreordained to die why do you even want medicine for me to help you get well the sick man lying there said doc if you don't give me the medicine i'm not going to make it give me the medicine and he understood what his doctor had done at that moment you see you want to be assured of election, the right question tonight is this. Boys and girls, it's this. Have you taken the remedy? Have you come to Jesus? Have you believed in Jesus? You see, coming to Him, He opens His arms. Jesus declared openly in the Gospels, whoever comes to me, I will by no means cast out, And I'm going to raise them up at the last day. Come to Him. Believe in Him. And then you will begin to understand how glorious His sovereign grace was to bring you to Him. For no one can come to Him unless the Father who sent Him draws you. And that is sovereign grace. Let's pray. Oh Lord, our God, we're thankful that You care to instruct us in this and that You love us. And Lord, when we become discouraged or we become down, we can look, even as the canons say, at the fruit of our election that you have given us faith and that you have brought us to a response to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that we can live in assurance that this is not some kind of fatalistic view, but that this is a doctrine of hope where you have told us tonight you're not losing one and what a comfort that is to us. Only let us never fight against it. our puny minds can't fully grasp it human responsibility and your powerful glorious sovereignty but we bow before it because it's led us to praise that your ways are so far beyond us how unsearchable are your ways and your judgments past finding out and we bow before you as our god and king thankful this day that you cared to make known the way of salvation to us we praise you and thank you for your kindness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.