God’s Will for Salvation Extends to Gentiles Too
Romans 9:22-33
February 11, 2024
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
Bible Baptist Church of Ballincollig
www.biblebc.com
I. Introduction
A. We are studying Three intense chapters here in the Book of Romans (chapter 9, 10 and 11) about a nation of people called Israel
1. I am amazed most people don’t care about Israel – never read in their Bible and learn about the nation of Israel – always just look for the stories and how it helps US – which it does
2. But this is a Book about the God of Israel, who works through Israel to save the world!
3. Us non-Jews had better learn from the Jews how to follow God and trust God
B. Paul refers to Israel as God's elect nation (Romans 9:3-5) - A nation specially chosen by God, adopted by God, blessed by God, to do so many things for God, throughout history (you had better learn these things)
C. The fact that Israel failed throughout their history to follow God, and to believe God and to obey God, did not cancel God's promises! It never changed His mind about Israel. Any more than when you or I fail to live up to God’s purpose!
D. Israel, as a nation, will be blessed, and will one day receive their Messiah, even though for the last 2,000 years, they have fallen into gross spiritual apostasy
E. Because God is in charge of all things, and not us!
II. Scriptural Answers About the Sovereignty of God
A. What is Sovereignty?
1. We have learned a lot about the sovereignty of God – a powerful, foundational doctrine
2. Sovereignty is a word that summarizes the power of God
3. If He has the power that created this entire world and universe, then truly He has ALL power – He is sovereign – He is in control
a. That means, He controls wind and waves, the motion of planets and stars - all the laws of physics are subject to Him, and obey him!
b. He has absolutely all power, to carry out His own plans and His own will!
4. He has absolute control over everything that He has created, and He has the authority to do as He pleases – He can do whatever He wants to do – because He is King of everything!
5. Thankfully, God is absolutely good - in other words He cannot lie, and cannot break his promises, and cannot fail, and cannot go against his own nature – thankfully!
6. Though God controls the wind and the waves, He does not control the will of any human – He just knows how to use it to fulfil His own will
7. The sovereignty (power) of God works with the frailty of man – our sinful nature, our failings and sins
8. And still accomplishes His perfect will (Romans 8:28) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
B. If God is Sovereign…
1. Then Why Pray?
a. Because God invites us to ask what we will – ask for what WE want! (John 15:7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
b. Because God does do what you desire sometimes – it won’t change His own plans
1) We are invited to ask for what WE want
2) Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
3) God is not giving us the illusion of an answer
4) He actually does answer according to our own will
5) So, Be careful what you ask for
c. Because it is part of worship – spending time depending upon God, just holding onto God as he holds onto you – only enjoyed when you shut the world out and pray!
d. Because prayer matures us – learning to (1) ask, (2) believe, (3) wait, and (4) accept God’s will
e. It is so sad that this generation of Christians prays the least of all generations in history, when it is THE secret to getting what you need to thrive as a Christian!
2. How do I pray?
a. Like Jesus did – He just asked His heavenly Father for whatever He needed
1) For God to take suffering away from Him
a) Matthew 26:36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
b) Matthew 26:37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
c) Matthew 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
d) Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
2) For God to forgive those that had crucified Him
a) Luke 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
b) He asked His father to forgive those who had just crucified Him!
3) And for everything He needed each day
a) Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
b) He did this every day!
4) Much of what we need is not given to us because we DON’T ask
a) James 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
b) James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
c) James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
b. Imperfectly – don’t worry about using special words, just be real, talk real, learn as you pray how to pray
c. Constantly – Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint
3. Does God choose some people to be saved, and some to damn? Predestine?
a. No! Absolutely not!
b. God INVITES all men and women to repent…
c. And all men and women must respond, or they are lost!
1) Hebrews 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him
2) Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
3) John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
4) 1Timothy 2:3-6 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
5) 1John 2:1,2 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
d. The people who believe in predestination to heaven or hell do so only because they use selected Scriptures, but ignore the rest! I believe the entire Bible, and believe in BOTH the sovereignty and power and control of God, and the free will of mankind!
4. How am I to look at life? (If God is controlling everything to His purpose and will?)
a. If life COMPLETELY outside of your and my control? Like fate?
b. Are things going to happen no matter what we do?
c. Do we live in an illusion, a matrix, a simulation?
d. No.
e. We live in God’s universe, AS A MIRACLE
1) None of us are purposeless, accidents, waiting to become worm-food!
2) Our time, our place in history is God’s gift to us
3) And we are God’s gift to the world – no matter who you are!
f. History is HIS-story being unfurled
g. God says we have opportunities to change the destiny of our world
1) If my people… THEN I will heal your land
2) Believe and be saved – or, rebel and face God’s judgment
3) Jonah’s preaching changed the destiny of a million Ninevites!
4) You and I can effect change – for good and for bad!
5) We had better be determined to do things for good!
5. How do I make decisions?
a. Start making decisions instead of always allowing other people do it for you!
b. Ask God for wisdom to mnake right decisions (James 1:5) If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
c. Accept it when you have made wrong decisions – own them instead of blaming
d. Adjust – constantly yield to doing things the right way
6. Can I ruin God’s will?
a. Not His big will – The Big things that God has promised will happen no matter what you and I do
1) He will accomplish all His will, no matter who fights Him – i.e., Pharaoh
2) Herod can kill all the children in Bethlehem, yet Jesus was still going to grow up and teach and give His life a ransom for our sins!
3) People can mock and persecute Christians and make it illegal to preach or witness, but the Gospel will keep going out into all the world!
b. But you can ruin His will for your life
c. Examples:
1) God’s will is that you live as long as possible and have a godly home
2) You can marry the wrong person, and have to live with it
3) You can ruin your health and have to live with the consequences of smoking and drugs and drink
7. Why doesn’t God just put good people into power?
a. We get the leaders that we deserve – we reap wicked rulers because of our own sins!
b. And more than that, we get who we actually want – remember king Saul? He was NOT God’s will for Israel, but he was the people’s choice, so that was who they got!
C. Learning about the Bible’s teaching on the awesome sovereignty of God is important
D. But let’s move on now in Romans 9, and learn His will for salvation extends to Gentiles too
III. Message - Gentile Believers Get Into the New Covenant (Romans 9:22-33)
A. Paul Asks the Jewish believers, What if…? (Romans 9:22-24)
1. Romans 9:22-24 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And [SO THAT] that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
2. Paul says, “What if…?”
a. What if God is wanting/ready to show His wrath …
b. Yet, Endured and put up with Pharaohs and wicked men and women – people who had earned His wrath and condemnation
c. So that He could show kindness (mercy) to not only the Jewish people…
d. But to US GENTILES?
e. What if that has been God’s plan all along?
3. Listen to the promise of the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:31-34
a. Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
b. Jeremiah 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
c. Jeremiah 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
d. Jeremiah 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
e. A covenant is a solemn agreement made between two parties
f. God made a covenant with Israel – called the Old Covenant, Old Testament
1) At Mt Sinai, engraved on stone
2) Based on God’s Laws and expectations – 613 laws listed from Exodus through Deuteronomy
3) This forst covenant was an agreement that was constantly broken by Israel
4) `They could not keep it perfectly
g. But this NEW covenant is described as:
1) Engraved deep inside of the HEARTS of people, not in stone tablets
2) And based upon a permanent relationship between God and believers – they all shall know God
3) It is a Covenant of forgiveness, at God’s expense – because a full payment will be made by God for Israel (“for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more”)
4) This covenant is what Jesus was referring to when he said His blood was the price of the New Testament
5) And is not just for Israel
6) But is for all people, Jew or Gentile, male or female, young or old
7) As explained in the next Scripture…
B. Those NOT My People, Will Become My People (Romans 9:25,26)
1. Romans 9:25,26 As he [GOD] saith also in Osee [HOSEA], I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
2. Hosea 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they [THAT’S US] shall say, Thou art my God.
3. That’s why every non-Jew in here, who has repented of their sin, and called upon Jesus Christ to save them, can call themselves:
a. The people of God, just like the Jewish believers do
b. Beloved of God, just like the Jews had been
c. The children of the living God
d. Blessed with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, even though we are so ignorant, and sinful!
4. Truly a wonderful truth… “Whosoever meaneth me!”
C. The Gospel Invitation to the Gentiles
1. Isaiah 42:1-4 Behold my servant [THE MESSIAH], whom I uphold; mine elect [NOT YOU, but JESUS], in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
2. Isaiah 42:6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
3. Isaiah 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I [GOD] will also give thee [THE MESSIAH] for a light to the Gentiles, that thou[JESUS] mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
4. Just a few Old Testament Scriptures promising the the Gospel would be to the Gentiles
5. This was hard for the Jews to believe
6. But I am so glad for it!
D. The Remnant of the Jewish People (Romans 9:27-29)
1. But what about the Jewish people?
a. All of this implies that the Gentiles were REPLACING the Jewish people now!
b. Paul quickly reminds us that God has not finished with the nation of Israel
2. There has always been a remnant – a group of people who believe like Abraham did
a. Romans 9:27-29 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
b. Isaiah 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant [OF BELIEVING JEWS], we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
c. Isaiah 10:22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
d. Jeremiah 31:7 For thus saith the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O LORD, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
3. According to the Bible, there will always be Jews who hear the Gospel and believe it
a. The Jewish people are NOT gone. We will learn more in chapter 11
b. Messianic Jews – Completed Jews
c. Saved just like you and I are
d. Those who are born again, are the remnant God is saving – the other Jews come and go, born and die without their own Saviour and Messiah!
4. If not for God’s commitment to Abraham, Israel as a people, would have been judged and destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrha were, long ago! I know of people who say Israel was detroyed back in 70 AD, yet PAUL says they have not been destroyed!
5. One day, all the living Jews will turn to Christ, during the Tribulation (Jeremiah 30):
a. Jeremiah 30:3-11 For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah [NOT US GENTILES]. For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he [JACOB, UNBELIEVING ISRAEL] shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his [THE ANTICHRIST’S] yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: But they [ISRAEL] shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them. [MILLENNIUM] Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the LORD; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. [HAS NOT HAPPENED YET] For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
b. Jeremiah 30:22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
c. SPEAKING TO UNBELIEVING JEWS
IV.Conclusion
A. Paul Concludes by Saying, Only Trusting Christ Works! (Romans 9:30-33)
1. Listen to the conclusion…
2. Dumb, idolatrous, sinful Gentiles, (like you and me), who did not normally follow after, and seek after God’s laws, actually achieved righteousness! Are made righteous!
a. Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
b. Gentiles have been made righteous in the sight of God!
c. How?
d. Not by birth, or by religious efforts, like the Jews had been trying…
e. But by faith alone in what JESUS did in His life!
f. Believing in the perfect, law-abiding Messiah named Jesus Christ, who is OUR righteousness
g. And He is righteous enough for the whole world!
3. But Israel…
a. Romans 9:31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
b. Law-keeping Israel, never attained, or obtained righteousness – they fell short
1) No matter how hard they tried, they could not reach a righteous state with God
2) They are separated from God because of their sin – even though they may be very good people
c. Why?
1) Because they sought righteousness by their religious efforts, by good works, instead of… by faith
a) Romans 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
b) Criminals cannot remove their criminal-record by good works – there has to be a legal pardon
c) Paid for by Someone else, who is qualified, has to pay for all our sins
d) All we have to do is believe it is finished!
2) And because they stumbled (tripped) at a small Stone put in their path…
a) Romans 9:32,33 … For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; As it is written, Behold, I [GOD] lay in Sion [ISRAEL] a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
b) Quoting from Isaiah 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
c) Jesus is our ROCK of salvation, but to self-righteous, He is in the way!
d) Isaiah 8:14,15 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many [JEWS] among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
e) So, The Jews over and over tripped over Jesus – were confused by Him, were disappointed by Him, were OFFENDED by Him
f) They did not like the Messiah that God gave them
g) Jesus Frustrated the Jewish leaders
h) He really upset people
i) And He even ANGERED them – which was so stupid!
3) He who was their Saviour, became their ruin – all because they rejected Him
4. DON’T DO THE SAME THING THEY DID!
a. Quit arguing with God, blaming God, fighting God, and being offended by Jesus!
b. He wins in the end – you had better be on the right side when you face Him
5. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ yourself, and thou shalt be saved! Even today!