Romans 9
Predestination. A doctrine that makes some people very angry, and others of us confused and worried. But it is a doctrine that is of great comfort and should bring us great joy!
How do I know I’m saved? Because God has chosen you and his mercy is upon you like it was on Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The same promises are ours in Christ.
I know from personal experience that this passage can be difficult. But I hope it will also be deeply encouraging as we see how great and powerful and scary and full of mercy our God is!
Three points tonight:
1. I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not
2. I did not save myself – God did.
3. The difficult and wonderful doctrine of predestination
1. I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not
9:1 With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. 2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.
Paul’s desire is for the Jews to be saved. But he knows that even if he offered to be cut off forever – such a dramatic gesture – that would not be enough. Only God can save. And Paul must himself bow the knee before God’s sovereign rule.
You can feel the passion. The anguish for his people. Especially when he reminds us that everything that now belongs to the Christian, as he’s shown us in the past few chapters, used to belong to Israel.
4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.
That’s what we have in Christ. All that was Israel’s is ours. The covenants, his glory, and adopted as His children – all ours in Christ. And so we worship him. In Christ we are God’s people.
5 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
Look at all that they had. But Paul’s heart is broken because they have thrown it all away. They have stumbled over Christ the stumbling stone. They rejected him and they have fallen.
Being Jewish is not enough. It is Christ and faith in him that is required, not your bloodline.
But this throws up a question in our mind: if the Jews had all these promises before me, but the gospel now says they don’t apply to them anymore, but to me – how do I know that the same won’t happen to me?
If God’s people, the Jews, have been rejected by God… can I trust God?
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfil his promise to Israel?
And the answer is simple: 6 No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!
Throughout the Bible there is Israel – those born a Jew - and then there is a smaller group: True Israel or the “remnant”. And the Holy Spirit now shows us through Paul’s words that the remnant or True Israel were those chosen by God. This has always been the case, and still is. If you are chosen by God his wonderful promises apply to you, and nothing you do can change that. His favour rests upon you like it did upon Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.
But if you are not chosen, then everything you do will lead you away from God and confirm your hardness of heart.
Remember what we have already learnt: We all are sinners without hope. All in Adam. No-one does good, not even one. Condemned. There is no way for us to save ourselves. Morality judges us. The law condemns us. We’re in trouble. Hard heart. We are the source of our condemnation. We do not choose God. We choose, in a sense, hell. That’s what the Jews are doing and Paul is grieving. They reject Jesus, God’s righteousness, and try to earn their own righteousness. And so they stumble.
But, oh glory!, remember 3:21 But now a righteousness FROM God is revealed in Christ. God is the source of salvation. And His Spirit brings new life, new life from within. Not by doing good deeds, not by following the law, but by trusting in Christ’s death and resurrection on the Cross. And tonight’s passage shows that faith comes not from within, but from God’s choice to include us in the promise. And so now there is no condemnation, we are God’s children, we are heirs, and nothing can separate us from God’s love because his promise stands.
We know this, and it brings us unspeakable joy. But it does mean that we cannot MAKE those we love accept the Lord, and we cannot MAKE the Lord accept them either. Even if we were to be cut off for their sake – it would make no difference. We have to simply trust God.
I would save my people if I were God – but I’m not.
2. I did not save myself – God did.
15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
This is the one point that tonight’s passage is making: Salvation is God’s domain. Salvation is God’s domain. We can no more choose it or work for it than a dead person can choose it or work for it. Without Christ we are spiritually dead. And it is God who raises us to life.
And this has always been the case. Just like in chapter 4 we are reminded that salvation has always been through faith – Abraham believed God and God credited to him as righteousness – now we are reminded that God’s word has all along promised salvation only to those whom God sovereignly chose. And the Holy Spirit through Paul uses two examples from Israel’s history to show that belonging to God’s people depends not on birth or on anything a person does, but on God’s call.
6 Well then, has God failed to fulfil his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! 7 Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.
The word translated “counted” is kaleo and means named or called, and is key to this section. It is the same word in v12 “he calls people” and in v24 we are among those whom he selected and v26 “there they will be called ‘children of the living God’”
A call is not an invitation. An invitation is “Would you like to come?”. A call is “Come here”. An invitation is your friend saying “Do you want to come to my house after school”. A call is your Dad saying “Come here we need to talk”!
In salvation God does not invite. God calls. He compels.
7b For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. 8 This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. 9 For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 This son was our ancestor Isaac.
Do you see the point Paul is making? As God called only some from among Abraham’s descendants to be his people (6b–13), so now he calls even some Gentiles (v24 Those not my people I will now call my people) and the remnant of the Jews 27 Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. That’s the argument. God has always sovereignly chosen some to be saved, some to be “of the promise” and others not. Abraham had Ishmael and Isaac. But Isaac was the son of the promise, not Ishmael.
10 When he (Isaac) married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. 11 But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
Can we be sure we are saved? Yes. If God has chosen us, then we are saved, as surely as he chose Isaac and Jacob. If His favour rests upon you then your calling and election is sure. Your good or bad works matter nothing – what matters is the purposes of God.
And this is always the way God has worked. He has not been unfaithful to Israel because he had always made clear that a remnant would be saved, not every Israelite. That is, the mark of salvation was faith in God’s word, and the obedient life that followed from that, not being born a Jew.
Same as being born to Christian parents is not a mark of salvation. I needed to be born again by the Spirit of God. I was called by God out of darkness and into the light. I was on my way to abandoning the faith my parents held. I was following my heart into the darkness. My birth counted for nothing. What counts is God’s mercy.
I did not save myself, God did. You did not save yourself, God did. And if you think you saved yourself, then there is a very real danger that you are not saved. Because that’s what Romans 1-8 has shown us. There is no-one righteous. No-one seeks God, not even one. Not even you. Not until the Spirit breathes life into you.
By the way, if you’re thinking “but I’m seeking God” then praise God, because that means the Spirit is at work in you!
I did not save myself, no more than Isaac chose himself to be the son of the promise, or Jacob chose himself to be greater than his twin brother Esau. I did not save myself – God did.
And that’s what we call predestination or election. That God is sovereign over salvation.
3. The wonderful doctrine of predestination
What is predestination? Article 17 of the 39 articles of faith of the Church of England defines it like this:
Predestination to life belongs to God’s everlasting purpose. Before the foundation of the world, it is his unchangeable decree, in accordance with his secret counsel, to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he has chosen in Christ, and to bring them by him to everlasting salvation, as vessels of his mercy.
In other words God has chosen who will be saved. He did this in eternity before even creating us.
14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair?
Isn’t that our main objection to predestination. It’s unfair. We have a VERY strong sense of “fairness” in our Norwegian society. Everyone has to get same opportunity. Everyone has to get the same. If one gets a sweet, everyone has to get a sweet. So much so that sweets were banned in my daughter’s class because not everyone could get and some people might feel bad if some had an others didn’t. So no sweets, cakes or biscuits for anyone. Got to be “fair”.
But the gospel is not fair. If the gospel was fair it wouldn’t be good news because we would get what we deserve – eternal judgement.
Is God unfair? No, because he is God he can show mercy to anyone he chooses! 15 For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy.
Just like it is perfectly fair for me to take my kids out on a Daddy date, and not take someone else’s kids out with me. Because I’m my kids Dad. I love my kids. No-one would say “that’s not fair”.
Same with God. He has mercy on those whom he loves. And what mercy! God goes on a rescue mission that involved being born a man, suffering and dying on a cross, in order to rescue us!
Now if you’re struggling with this, let me give you some comfort. You’re struggling because of your culture, not your morality. It is your cultural bias that is being challenged, not necessarily what is good and bad. If you were born in a different place or different time you would have no problem now. So let’s not give our gut reaction too much weight. Our culture is good, but has many flaws.
But our struggle is real. So let’s try to understand this. Because we often misinterpret this as “So you’re saying that I’m a robot!”.
No, the Bible is very clear that we are not robots, that our choices are real and that they matter. In fact it is our choice to reject God that sends us to hell. But the fact that we have real choice (sometimes called “free will”) does not mean that God cannot be sovereign over all things.
But how does that work? I don’t know. How is light a stream of photons and a wave at the same time. No-one knows. But it is. Start reading up on quantum physics. Weird stuff. Impossible stuff. But it happens every day all around us. We live in a complex world where things that seem to contradict and cancel each other out… don’t. Two things that we think should be exclusive aren’t. God’s sovereignty does not change our free choice, and our free choice does not exclude predestination.
Salvation is like a door: we see “Come and choose to be saved” but as we go through the door we see behind us “predestined from before time”. These are two sides of the same coin.
Predestination is fundamental to a gospel of grace. The gospel does not work otherwise. Our very concept of God does not work.
If we throw out predestination we throw out grace. Because grace is by its very nature “unfair”.
We deserve hell (Romans chapter 1,2 and 3) – that is what we chose by the exercise of our free will. But God in his mercy overrides our choice. Predestination. We who did not choose God are chosen by God… and so we then choose God. God changes our hearts so that we love Him and choose to follow him instead of reject him. Instead of us getting what we chose, what we deserve, Jesus takes it. He goes through death and hell so that we don’t have to. He is treated like us. And we are treated like him. Children of God. Eternal inheritance. No condemnation. Nothing can separate us from God’s love.
Without predestination none of that is possible. If you want grace you want predestination. If you want grace you want God’s sovereignty. It is not possible otherwise. This is a wonderful doctrine.
And then Paul goes and ruins it with v17!
17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
Woah dude. God hardens people as well? I didn’t sign up for this! God is a loving God!
Well, maybe it’s time we get rid of the idea that our God is a loving God?
God is a loving God to those whom he loves. But to those whom he does not love, he is not. In the end He is a terrifying judge bringing destruction and eternal damnation. If you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Saviour then be afraid! Fall to your knees and plead for mercy. Maybe He will hear your prayer.
19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”
Well, if God is sovereign over everything, then what’s the point? How can he judge us? How can I have free will, free choice? And the answer is…. God is God, trust him.
20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? 22 In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. 23 He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. 24 And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
This is both terrifying and greatly comforting. The world is divided up into two groups: those chosen in Christ to bring eternal glory to God. Those not chosen who are garbage. Ouch.
But if you’re in Christ, be free. Your salvation rests on God’s election, his eternal choice. You are secure!
Now the annoying thing is that God has not told us why or how he chooses some and not others, and how that lines up with his desire that all men should be saved. We are simply called to trust him, and trust his character revealed in our Lord Jesus, particularly in his death on the cross. When we see Him one day we will understand, and we will praise him.
See how the passage makes us focus on God and on his sovereign choice: over Isaac, over Jacob, over Israel, and over us.
Now there’s a very tempting theory out there called Arminianism which is not happy with God not revealing the reason why some are given saving faith and not others. Arminianism says that God looked into the future and saw our choices. That how he chooses who is saved and who isn’t. It fits well with our culture, it seems to solve the problem of God being a big bad who sends people to hell. Unfortunately it also removes assurance of salvation and puts us squarely in the centre of salvation. Oh, God chose me because I chose him. There’s three reasons why it doesn’t work:
1. God is not bound by time. He’s not looking ahead to see our choices. He’s already there, in the moment. And he’s at the end of time with those he has glorified (Rom 8:30)
2. He made us. He designed every part of us and the world we live in. it’s not like he doesn’t know the factors that will influence our decisions. So you still end up with the same problem: God designed some people in a way that meant they would choose him, but others were designed to reject him.
3. It rejects the Biblical teaching on sin. Rom 3:10 No-one seeks God. Eph 2:1 We are dead in our sins. Rom 5:12 death spread to all men because all sinned. Gen 6:5 every inclination of the heart of man is only evil all the time.
There is no way we can save ourselves because we are dead in sin. We cannot choose. Some people then respond “Ah, but Jesus’ death opened the way for everyone to choose”. But that’s makes all the clear teaching on sin nonsense: if Jesus’ death opens the way for everyone so that everyone can choose, then everyone can seek God – but the Bible says “no-one seeks God”.
4. And here’s a bonus reason: that not what tonight’s passage says! It’s very clear that God decides. Not us. He is the source, not us, no matter how much time is involved.
30 What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. 31 But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. 32 Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path. 33 God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”
Don’t stumble over the stumbling stone of Jesus. Trust him, not in yourself.
See, the doctrine of predestination is wonderful! As the 17th article says: The reverent consideration of our predestination and election in Christ is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable strength to godly persons, who feel the working in themselves of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly passions and drawing their thoughts upward to high and heavenly realities. This teaching is welcome to us both because it strongly establishes and confirms our assurance of eternal salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, and also because it kindles in us a fervent love to God.
Predestination is fundamental to the gospel and to our understanding of God. It is liberating. It is freeing. God is God and am not and his undeserved favour resets upon me so I’m free to serve him and love him and ador him and when I fail I am not worried because he loves me and has already glorified me – so secure am I!
Praise the Lord.
To end off, I want to give us a gentle push to those of us who are still struggling with this doctrine.
1. You already believe it. You believe that in the beginning God created everything from nothing. He is awesome in power, sovereign over all things. The God who speaks and things are from nothing, is supremely powerful! Of course he’s sovereign over our salvation too.
2. It goes against our culture. Be suspicous of doctrines that tell us what we want to hear.
3. It gives glory to God. We are small, God is big.
4. The greatest theologians of the church throughout history believe in predestination as the clear teaching of Scripture: The Apostle Paul certainly did. So did Augustine, Calvin and Luther, guys who took the Bible very seriously and changed the world.
5. No cults believe in predestination. None of them. Every single cult, whether Jehovah’s Witnesses or Iglasio ni Christo all reject the sovereignty of God and predestination. So does unbiblical nonsense like the prosperity gospel. Why? Because then I can’t get power over you. If salvation comes from God then you don’t need me! But if I can convince you that salvation comes from your own efforts, then I can say “and you need me to coach you, now give me your money”. Predestination protects us from dependence on sinners for salvation.
Brothers and sisters, we serve an awesomely powerful God. And for some reason he has chosen to lavish his love on us. Why, I do not know. But I am so grateful. He called me out of darkness to light, and he has called you. Praise God. Praise him with great praise!
And because He is sovereign, then anyone can be saved. There is always hope, because maybe your family member, your work colleague, your friend, or that stranger on the bus, is elect. Left to our own devices we all reject God. But God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. Amen.