Rev. David Holwick ZB Romans series #12
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
September 18, 2005
Romans 9:6-21
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I. Is there a Master Plan?
A. Theology says "yes."
1) God is all-knowing.
2) Prophecy shows we are partway through a plan of history.
B. But our personal experience raises questions.
1) How do hurricanes fit in?
a) NPR - radio commercial by conservative Christians saying
God would judge Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana
for approving casino gambling.
Is Katrina God's answer to their sin?
2) What about disease and personal reversals?
a) Jeremiah 29:11 at our Thursday Bible study this week:
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future."
b) Sometimes God's plans for us don't seem that hot.
1> But note context of Jeremiah verse - the nation
will be in exile for a very long time.
2> Blessing will come only in the distant future.
C. Paul's dilemma - unbelief of Jews.
1) After initial explosion, now few were becoming Christians.
a) Many Jews were openly hostile.
b) Gentiles were asking, if your own people don't believe
it, why should I?
2) If God's Word predicted their conversion, was God's Word
a failure?
II. God doesn't operate like we do.
A. Humans focus on merit and rights.
1) Oldest, strongest, handsomest have more rights.
2) We are usually very confident of our own qualifications.
Kathrine A. Barhydt has three children she describes as
beautiful, intelligent and terrific.
They are now in their 30s, but at one point they were
seven, six and five.
Her youngest daughter, the five-year-old who was always
asking questions, came home from kindergarten one day
and asked, "Mommy, how many children did you want?"
Thinking for a minute, she looked at her daughter and
said, "Two."
The girl thought about it for a moment and then asked,
"Me, and who else?"
#16776
B. God focuses on grace.
1) Shown by his choice of patriarchs.
a) Not by human plan. (Isaac instead of Ishmael) 9:9
b) Not by birth order. (Jacob instead of Esau).
1> God chose one over the other BEFORE their birth.
2> Yet Esau later showed himself to be worldly.
A> Human responsibility weaves in with God's
sovereignty.
2) Supported by Jesus - see John 1:12-13.
"Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in
his name, he gave the right to become children of God--
children born not of natural descent, nor of human
decision or a husband's will, but born of God."
a) Principle: not by our effort, but by God's choice. 9:16
b) If Jews are rejecting the gospel, Paul implies, it is
because God has a purpose in this.
C. A shocking statement.
1) "Esau I hated."
a) Hard for us to accept.
b) Most likely not literal.
2) Interpretations:
a) Nations, not individuals, are referred to in the quote.
b) Soften to "I rejected Esau."
c) Understand it as a Hebrew idiom - God preferred one
over the other.
1> Note that Luke has Jesus saying disciples must hate
their family.
2> On the other hand Matthew has him say disciples
must love Jesus more than their family.
III. The only election that counts.
A. Election involves the difficult concept of predestination.
1) Many reject it outright.
Lucy Maude Montgomery, who later wrote the famous book
"Anne of Green Gables," grew up in a strict Presbyterian
home.
Her Sunday School focused on a document called the Shorter
Catechism, which emphasized predestination.
In her diary as a young woman she wrote:
"The Shorter Catechism teaches things that are no longer
believed -- and never should have been believed.
When one comes to think of it, it was a hideous thing to
teach children the doctrines of "election" and
"predestination".
What a conception of God to implant in a child's mind!
Fortunately I think it did not take any real hold on
our minds.
We did not comprehend the real meaning of the terrible
answers we so glibly recited."
#28518
2) It cannot be neatly figured out by humans.
3) It always contains an element of mystery.
B. Important truths about election.
1) It was taught by Jesus himself.
John 13:18 "...I know those I have chosen."
John 15:16 "You did not choose me, but I chose you..."
2) It is the foundation of Christian worship.
a) Salvation is God's doing - we cannot save ourselves.
1> It is due entirely to his grace, will, initiative,
wisdom and power.
b) Therefore we give praise to him.
IV. Is God unfair?
A. Predestination seems arbitrary and unfair. Always has. 9:14
1) Paul rejects this.
2) He defends God's justice by proclaiming his mercy.
God says to Moses:
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
a) Fairness is not the issue that should be focused on.
b) The way God deals with sinners is not based on justice,
but mercy. 9:16
B. The power of a negative example. 9:17
1) In the Exodus, Pharaoh was used by God to display his power.
a) Pharaoh acts as the other side of the coin to Moses.
b) (Note that in verses 15 and 17, what God says and what
the Bible says are synonymous.)
2) God did this by hardening Pharaoh's heart.
a) So did Pharaoh never have a chance?
b) Dr. Leon Morris:
"Neither here nor anywhere else is God said to harden
anyone who had not first hardened himself."
c) The wonder is not that some are saved and some are not,
but that anybody is saved at all.
V. It is not as arbitrary as it sounds.
A. Human responsibility is not eliminated.
1) Paul's objector raises this possibility. 9:19
2) Many modern thinkers agree.
a) But in Paul's human examples, each one showed their
unworthiness by their actions.
b) God knew what he was doing.
B. He is God and we are not.
1) He is the potter, we are the clay.
a) Don't try to reverse that.
2) The potter has a design for us, and for our world.
C. Surrender to God's plan for your life.
1) Acknowledge you are unworthy and can demand nothing of him.
2) Accept what God has done for you through Jesus on the cross.
3) Ask God to save you, and mold you into a beautiful vessel.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#16776 "Self-Esteem At Age Five," by Kathrine A. Barhydt, from Chicken
Soup Of The Day daily internet newsletter, October 31, 2000.
#28518 "Reflecting On Sunday School," by Lucy Maude Montgomery; edited by
Mary Rubio and Eleizabeth Waterston, The Selected Journals Of
L. M. Montgomery, Volume 1: 1889-1910; Oxford University Press,
1985, pages 377-78.
These and 25,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Notes:
Outline of passage
I. Jewish rejection does not mean God's word has failed.
A. Remnant theology.
B. Faith/promise is the key, not genealogy.
1) Isaac's birth.
2) Jacob's birth.
II. Election and predestination.
A. Their destinies were set before birth.
1) Not by works, but by God's call.
B. God chose to love one, "hate" the other.
III. God's justice.
A. Predestination appears to be unjust to us.
B. God has the right to dish out what he wants.
1) It is not due to our desires or work, but God's mercy.
2) Example of Pharaoh.
a) Mercy and hardening are up to God.
C. Human objection - eliminates our moral responsibility.
1) Paul's retort - don't talk back to God.
a) (modern tendency)
2) God is the potter, we are the clay.
Principles in passage:
I. God's plan for Israel has not failed.
A. Salvation is personal more than national.
B. God's choice has been shown throughout [Bible] history.
1) God's call trumps human effort.
II. Predestination.
A. A membership list? A divine plan for our lives?
III. Moral responsibility issue.
IV. Questioning God.
V. Being molded by God.
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