God Knows What He's Doing
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
When God told Abraham that he would be a great nation at the age of 75, he did not understand. It just did not make any earthly sense. It would take nearly another 500 years, but Abraham’s people became a great nation. God made a promise and saw it through.
Because he did not understand the details of God’s promise, Abraham took measures into his own hands and first tried to make Eleazer his heir. When God said it would not be Eleazer, but a son, Abraham followed Sarah’s advice and had a son by Hagar. Yet, Ishmael would not be his promised son either. God had a plan and nothing could thwart it.
The way God kept his promise to Abraham did not make sense, either in Abraham’s day or in ours because if we were completely honest, we usually have no idea what God is planning. And that scares us. Because we have Paul to help us see the big picture, we see God’s purpose in it all. But God is purposeful in everything he does.
We see that this morning in the election of his people. And in the passage, I see Paul laying out three claims regarding the uprightness of election. The first claim is simply God’s Word is true. The second claim is that God’s plan is sure. Finally, that God’s election is purposeful.
God’s Word is True
God’s Plan is Sure
God’s Election is Purposeful
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
and 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.”
And not only so, 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, 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 loved, but Esau I hated.”
God’s Word is True
God’s Word is True
The first claim that I see Paul making in this passage is that God’s Word is true.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
As Pastor Matt pointed out last week, Paul wished that he would be cut off, separated from Christ—which he just wrote could never happen—if it meant that the Israelites would receive their Messiah because rejecting him meant separation from God himself. And if that was true, then what about God’s promises to Abraham? What about God’s promises to Moses and the Israelites? It would seem that God’s Word had failed. It was as if somewhere in the past, God had lost control or decided that his promise didn’t matter anymore. His word had failed and the Israelites were left holding the bag. It seemed that God no longer cared and so Israel faced the horror of life separated from God.
But Paul wrote, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” He wrote those words like that because to the naked eye it looked to be just that way. But, in fact, it wasn’t. Paul’s about to start really explaining the doctrine of election here but to do so, there must be a foundation: God’s Word is True.
Election is a difficult concept for many people. They just can’t wrap their minds around how a loving God could choose some and not choose others or how God could go against man’s free-will. But election is not the only difficulty we have when it comes to God’s Word. His ethic and morality is often difficult to grasp. When God tells his people to work as unto Jesus and they will receive their reward though mistreated on earth, it’s hard to put into practice because we can’t imagine what that might even look like. When Jesus tells us Christians to love our enemies and go the extra mile, giving our tunic as well as our coat when asked, we wonder if he really understands what he is commanding.
But God’s Word is true, even when difficult to understand and even when it seems to have failed. So let us accept God’s Word as true and work unto the Lord and receive our inheritance. Let us not think God’s word has changed even if our culture changes, psychology changes, or even our feelings change. Keep believing God’s Word to be true in spite of our failures, our hurts, our sins. God’s Word is ever true. It is not as though God’s Word has failed… ever!
God’s Plan is Sure
God’s Plan is Sure
Thus the first claim we see Paul making is that God’s Word is true. That is an explicit claim. The second claim is implicit; God’s plan is sure.
But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,
and 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.”
Paul made a pun here. On the one hand, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. On the other hand, the people that formed a nation that descended from him bore the same name: Israel. Not all who are descended from the man Israel belong to the people of Israel. And we need to keep that in mind when we get to chapter 11 that says one day all Israel will be saved.
One needs only look back at Israel’s history to see this to be true. Many fell away; in fact, the majority of what we’d call Israelites, fell away. But going from there, as Pastor Matt preached last week, we know that Abraham’s firstborn son was Ishmael. Ishmael would father the Arab people. Only those who were from the promised child could be considered the children of Abraham. And it wasn’t just any promise of any child. But Paul laid out the promise. “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” The child could not come from anyone but Sarah, Abraham’s wife. He is the child of promise and so all who come from Isaac are the children of Abraham. But are they?
We cannot forget Isaac’s children.
Romans 9:10–13 (ESV)
And not only so, 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. . .
she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
In one moment of intimacy with her husband (that’s literally what Paul wrote), Rebekah conceived twins. In essence, God’s plan was for it to happen that way. But only one would be a child of promise, not two. God’s plan was coming together, but in God’s way. They may not have given it much thought until Paul brought it to their attention, but they could now see how God was weaving his good plan into the fabric of history. Neither Abraham’s good intentioned, but bad decision-making, nor having two baby boys at once, would thwart God’s plan. God’s plan was and is sure.
And in that sure plan, God would choose Jacob over Esau. God chose to bestow his love toward Jacob and withhold it from Esau. Jacob would be received and Esau rejected. So by God’s sure plan, it was Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau. Paul was looking back and pointing out what can so easily be missed in the unfolding of God’s plan.
Brothers and sisters, we too need to look back at God’s prior work and see God’s good plan. It can give us comfort in our times if we will let it. We can look at what is going on in our society today and wring our hands, or we can go back and see how God has worked in history and take comfort in seeing how chaotic life seemed for God’s people, but how it was all part of his good plan. What we experience today is no different. We are living in God’s plan and he is sure to see it through. We may not be able to say exactly what God is doing while we are in the midst of these trials, but we can be at peace that he is still in control even as he was in the midst of our brothers and sisters’ trials of ages past. While we are in the fog of mockery, of loss, of pain or sickness, we strain our eyes to see what God is doing, but sometimes we cannot and will not know until the fog is cleared. But know that God’s sure plan created the fog that we now go through.
God’s Election is Purposeful
God’s Election is Purposeful
The first claim is that God’s Word is true. May we never doubt that. The second claim is that God’s plan is sure. May we never doubt that. The third claim is that God’s election is purposeful. This, again, is more explicit than the previous one.
though they were not yet born and 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—
We finally begin to come to the heart of the matter: God has a purpose in electing his people. And notice that Paul even wrote that this purpose of election was continuing. This was not a new thing that God had decided to do all of a sudden. This was the way of God from before time began. We see this in
Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
even as he chose (elected) us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
He elected before the foundation of the world, before good or bad was done by either Jacob or Esau, in order to continue on with the purpose of election. What purpose? We’ll come to that in a moment, but first let’s deal with the immediate context of cause and then move on to the broader context of purpose. The cause and then the effect.
What we see immediately is the word because—one negative and one positive. Not because of works. God chose ahead of time to make sure that people knew that his election was not based on works. Thus the argument that God looked down the corridors of time to see who would and would not believe is rendered moot. Paul is explicitly saying that God chose Jacob over Esau so that people would not think it had anything to do with either one of their actions. Instead, it was all about him! It was about his calling.
Which leads us to the broader context because it is an effectual call. It has the effect that God sets out for it to have. When God called Abraham, he moved. When God called Isaac, he responded. When God called Jacob, he came. God’s call is never ineffective. It is always effectual.. We have to go back to
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
We are called, there’s that word again, according to God’s purpose, there’s that word again. The calling is based on the purpose of election, but to what end? What is the purpose? To be conformed to the image of his Son. Or another way, as we saw earlier, in
Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
God chose us to be holy and blameless. . .conformed to the image of his Son. So in your marriage, when things get a little rocky, remember that your marriage is a picture of Christ and the Church. God chose your marriage to represent his purposeful election of the bride of Christ. And in the midst of your failures, your sins, and your pains, God’s purpose of election—to conform you to the image of his Son—is still being worked out in you.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish our study of Romans 9:6-13, I hope we see the uprightness of God’s election. His election shows his Word is true, his plan is good, and God has a purpose in it.
But if you do not know Jesus. You need to understand that God’s word is true. And what it tells you in this moment is that you are separated from God, and if you continue in your way as you’re going, you will remain separated for all eternity in hell. Do not doubt God’s Word is true. You may not like what God has done or is doing in your life. But that doesn’t change the fact that God’s plan is good. You just can’t see it yet. Turn from your rebellion and turn to Christ.
Beloved, remember this: Jesus is the very Word of God incarnate. He is full of grace and truth. He came to earth according to God’s good plan at just the right time. He said, first, that he would not lose one of his own, and second, that he will return for us. Let us not doubt his promise. Let us not doubt his Word nor his good plan, but seek to remain faithful to the calling with which we’ve been called.
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