Sermon
for Trinity 16, September 19, 2021
Romans 9:1-13 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not
lying—my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit 2that I
have great sorrow and continuous pain in my heart. 3For I almost wish that I myself
could be cursed and separated from Christ in place of my brothers, my relatives
according to the flesh, 4those who are Israelites. Theirs are the
adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship,
and the promises. 5Theirs are
the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ, who is
God over all, eternally blessed. Amen. 6This does not mean that God’s
word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really
Israel, 7and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his
children. On the contrary, “Your line of
descent will be traced through Isaac.” 8This
means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it
is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants. 9For this is what the promise
said: “I will arrive at this set time, and Sarah will have a son.” 10Not only that, but Rebekah also
had children by one man, our forefather, Isaac.
11Even before the twins were born or did anything good or
bad, in order that God’s purpose in election might continue— 12not
by works but because of him who calls us—it was said to her, “The older will
serve the younger.” 13Just as
it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” (EHV)
Saved,
not by works, but by mercy and promise.
Dear elect of God,
Jesus told His disciples, “No one has greater love
than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) This is the type of love Paul expresses for
his fellow Israelites as he laments their rejection of Jesus as the Savior. If God cutting off Paul from Christ would
have convinced the Jews to believe in Jesus, Paul would have willingly accepted
that sacrifice. At the same time, Paul
knew only too well that his life couldn’t buy another person’s salvation. In fact, many of the Jews demonstrated time
after time that they would prefer to kill him for preaching about Jesus.
Paul
spent his whole ministry proclaiming that forgiveness and salvation come only
though faith and that saving faith is granted only through the hearing of God’s
Word. (Romans 10:17) Here, God’s apostle
is stricken with grief because so many of his fellow countrymen refused to believe
the message God sent. The Jews had
fallen into the trap of assuming that their family alone deserved to enter
heaven. Whether they believed this was a
birthright for descending from Abraham or that they were earning God’s favor by
obedience to the Mosaic law, the Holy Spirit through Paul was letting them, and
the whole world, know that God’s people are Saved,
not by works, but by mercy and promise.
The
question is, “Who are God’s people?” Who
among us can make that claim? Who among
the descendants of Abraham are part of God’s chosen people? The new congregation at Rome was made up of
both Jews and gentiles, as was common in the early Christian church. At the same time, there were many false
teachers misleading people about one thing or another. Sadly, that continues today, perhaps even
more so.
This text
is often a source of disagreement in the Christian Church. It concerns the doctrine of election which
teaches that God chose us to be saved from before the creation of the
world. To the Ephesian congregation,
Paul wrote, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so
that we would be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as
his sons through Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:4-5)
What the
doctrine of election doesn’t teach is why God allows some people to be
damned. That is where much of the
disputing arises. Some parties teach
that God predestined the unbeliever to die.
Yet, the Holy Spirit had Paul write, “God our Savior,… wants all
people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy
2:3-4) This and other passages clearly confirm
that it is not God’s desire for any sinner to be lost.
Other
groups then suppose that there must be something good in us that causes us to
be more acceptable to God. However,
again, Scripture makes it clear “that all (both Jews and Greeks) are under
sin. Just as it is written: There is no
one who is righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:9-10) Paul made abundantly clear that our efforts
contribute nothing to our salvation when he wrote, “In fact, there is no
difference, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God publicly displayed as the atonement seat through faith in his blood.”
(Romans 3:22-25) Notice the connotations
of that passage: all people have sinned against God and deserve only His wrath
and punishment, so how could anything we do contribute toward salvation? The answer is that we are Saved, not by
works, but by mercy and promise, because all people have also been
justified by the blood Jesus shed for the sins of the world, so that God could
save those who believe in Jesus.
It amazed
and troubled St. Paul that with all the advantages they had been given as a
people, so many of his fellow Israelites refused to see Jesus as their
Savior. He lists eight amazing blessings
from God to Israel: “Theirs are the adoption as sons, the glory, the
covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them,
according to the flesh, came the Christ, who is God over all, eternally
blessed. Amen.”
As you
read the record of the Old Testament, you see all the extraordinary ways God worked
among the Israelites and everything He gave them to show them Jesus. God chose Abraham out of all the people on
earth to have the one descendant who would win salvation for everyone. God adopted Abraham and Sarah’s family as His
own chosen people. He showed them
glorious miracle after glorious miracle.
For the generations that didn’t witness those things personally, God had
His blessings recoded in written form, long before other nations could learn of
God’s love. God reiterated the law in
written form so His people would know right from wrong. The Lord also gave them detailed instructions
for worshipping Him so that the promises of grace and forgiveness would be highlighted
in their midst forever. Most
importantly, God promised them a Savior and gave numerous detailed prophecies
for how they could recognize His Son when He came.
Ultimately,
God sent His own Son into their midst, and the Son bestowed upon that people
countless miracles that showed His divinity.
Jesus told them directly who He was and why He came. Everything about Jesus was out in the open
for all to see. Yet, though the Jews
knew the Scriptures and could see Jesus fulfilling all the prophecies, many
rejected Him to their destruction.
So why?
What is the truth of your election? As
already mentioned,
“Faith
comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of
Christ.”
(Romans 10:17) That is the only way
anyone is saved. Furthermore, believing
is not something we accomplish but is gifted to us only by the Holy Spirit
working that faith in stone dead hearts.
We come to believe because God works that faith in us. He is the One who promised a Savior. Long before any of us were born, God gave His
word of grace. Long before any of us
were born, Jesus came into the world and won our release from sin and
death. Again, before creation, God chose
us to believe. Why some and not
others? The Bible simply does not say.
That
being said, God is holy and cannot and does not sin, so it is not possible for
Him to desire the destruction of anyone.
Plus, Jesus lived and died for the whole world, for every sinner, ever. Paul wrote, “This does not mean that God’s
word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really
Israel, and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his
children. On the contrary, “Your line of
descent will be traced through Isaac.”
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s
children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his
descendants.” The point of all this
is that God graciously chooses who will hear His word of grace. None of us deserve nor earn any part of God’s
kindness. Yet, God is kind, and those
who believe His Gospel promises receive His gift of forgiveness and salvation
to give them life eternal.
When God
planned to send a Savior through a woman, He had to choose a family in which
His Son would be born. That is Abraham’s
line. Through one descendant of Abraham,
Jesus Son of Mary, all nations of earth were blessed with God’s declaration that
all sins had been paid for and all were set free from the devil’s curse.
At the
same time, God doesn’t force anyone to believe.
He sends His precious Gospel across the land with the intention of
giving life to sinners. Yet, many, in
their rebellion, choose to reject His message of grace and truth. And that brings us to the second part of
Paul’s example: “Not only that, but Rebekah also had children by one man,
our forefather, Isaac. Even before the
twins were born or did anything good or bad, in order that God’s purpose in
election might continue—not by works but because of him who calls us—it was
said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but
Esau I hated.” Though normally as
the firstborn, Esau would have received the greater blessing and
inheritance. However, God is in His divine
providence and mercy chose to have Jacob receive that favor.
It wasn’t
that Jacob earned or deserved it, but God wants to give His blessing through
faith—not merit. Eventually, we see that
Esau despised the blessing he assumed was his, and he sold that firstborn right
to his brother for a bowl of soup. As
far as the promise of a Savior, Jacob believed and was saved. Esau likewise could be saved by believing
that promise. However, in Esau’s case,
he would have to believe in the descendant of his brother as his Savior, and we
are not shown that he put his trust in the promised Messiah, though certainly
Jesus died for Esau as well as Jacob.
What all
this means is that God sent His Son to live and die for you. With His death on the cross, Jesus reconciled
you and everyone else with His Father in heaven. He calls you now with full and firm assurance
that all your sins are forgiven.
Furthermore, your Savior has called you out of darkness into His light
by causing you to be born in such a time as the Gospel is being proclaimed in
your presence, and through Baptism and His word of promise, God has called you
into His family of believers who have received the full rights of sons to
inherit a home in heaven. Thus, the doctrine
of election is given to comfort those who believe in Jesus that their salvation
is sure and certain, because the Lord made the decision to pick you out of the
refuse of earth and did the work to save you.
Why some
are saved and not others, we cannot answer this side of heaven. We do know that to reject the salvation Jesus
has won for you leads to deadly condemnation in the pit of hell. That is not what God wants for you or anyone
else, so by His Word, He calls, gathers, and enlightens all who believe in His
Son, because we are Saved, not by works, but by mercy and promise. All glory to His holy name. Amen.
Amen. Blessing
and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and might belong to our God
forever and ever. Amen.
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