Israel was elected by God, and through them the Messiah would come. Jesus was indeed the Jew’s Messiah, but most of the nation rejected Him. After the resurrection and Pentecost, things started changing; the church was born and began to flourish as elect Jews and Gentiles joined in fellowships. When Paul, the persecutor of the church, was converted, he became one of the strongest defenders of the faith. He proclaimed that people are saved by faith in Christ and can have security in their salvation. Jewish leaders began to hate him because of his teaching. The mass rejection of Jesus by the Jews caused the Gentiles to question their security in Jesus; they thought that if God would reject His chosen people, He might reject them too. Paul wrote these words for the purpose of comforting the Gentiles and convicting the Jews of their unbelief. In Chapters 8-11, Paul focuses on God’s everlasting love for His children. 

As we saw last week, in this chapter, Paul addresses four rhetorical questions.

1. Has God’s Word Failed? (vv. 6-13)

2. Is God unjust? (vv. 14-18)

3. Why does God still find fault? (vv. 19-29)

4. How do we reconcile unbelief? (vv. 30-33)

Last week we covered the first question, “Has God’s Word Failed?” Paul declares, it is not as though God’s Word has failed. God’s Word has not failed, and the readers were confused by God’s statement in Romans 9:12, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Upon hearing this, the logical question would be, “Is God unjust?” (vv. 14-18). If God is not unjust, then “Why does God still find fault?” (vv. 19-29) Then if He doesn’t find fault, “How do we reconcile unbelief?” (vv. 30-33) Paul used Old Testament Scriptures to prove that God’s Word remains true, and He continues to love His people, Israel. Paul begins by stating that…

I. God’s Election is not by Birth (vv. 6-10)

Two nations came from Abraham, ethnic Israel and what is often called spiritual Israel. There is the nation from Ishmael, the child of blood, and Isaac, the child of promise. Spiritual Israel is a dangerous term, for some people use this term regarding Replacement Theology, a false scenario, where Israel is replaced by the church. The proper terminology for the elect Jews is the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16). This is a beautiful term, and it clearly identifies God’s elect. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones expresses election this way: “God is producing a people for Himself.”

When we see the sin in the world and understand that, out of the masses of people, God chooses to save some, it is easy for us to think that God is arbitrary in His election. Our understanding of election is especially confused when we read that, even before they were born and had done nothing either good or bad, God loved Jacob but hated Esau. God has good reason to hate everyone because “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23); “no one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:12) God has sufficient grounds to condemn all people to eternal damnation, yet, in mercy, He promised a redeemer (Genesis 3:15). The First Adam brought death to all mankind, but God provided a Second Adam, Jesus, who would save His people from their sin (Matthew 1:21).

A mystery is that God takes the natural and sinful, then supernaturally creates a new people for Himself. This is seen in the birth of Isaac, born of an old woman whose womb was dead and, also, in the birth of Jesus, born of a virgin. Today, when people receive Christ and repent of their sin, we recognize that God has done a supernatural work in creating this new person. (2 Corinthians 5:17) Isaac was the son of promise, but he was as much a sinner as Esau. In Romans 9:22-23, Paul says, “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory." But God elected Jacob, not Esau, because He is creating a people for Himself, people who would reveal Him and His character to the world.

Summarizing Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones: God’s way of salvation is a positive process whereby new people are produced by spiritual birth. This was the case for Isaac, so that God might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He beforehand had prepared for glory. By His good pleasure, God determined beforehand that He would create a chosen nation through one earthly father, Abraham. God continues to call a people to Himself. Election shows the mercy of God.

II. God’s Election is not by Behavior (v. 11)

• No human merit

God’s election has nothing to do with man’s behavior. In the case of Jacob and Esau, we see that God’s mercy is not compelled by any human action. Paul says this about himself in Galatians 1:15 where he affirms that, before he was born, God had set him apart and called him by grace. There is a tendency to view good works as proof of election. While, to an extent, this can be true, it is a dangerous road; the reality is that our election proves what we do. We work because we are elect, we don’t work to prove it. Some understand election as God foreseeing that, sometime in the future, a person turns to Him in faith and repentance. In the case of Jacob, God would see a schemer and a liar; that is who Jacob was, not worthy of election.

Works are a person’s actions or deeds. Working at a job produces a reward, namely pay. It is easy to think that good works produce favor with God. This was the problem with the Jews. Paul argues that God’s favor was decided before the person was born and is not based on works. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) The law does not save; it only condemns. A belief in Decisional Theology, where a person hears the gospel, believes the gospel, repents of their sin, and chooses Jesus, and Baptismal Regeneration, where a person is saved through baptism, are both based on works, contrary to Scripture. Scripture is clear, we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Should we repent? Absolutely! Should we be baptized? Absolutely! But God grants us faith to believe, He convicts of sin, and He regenerates. All of this is by God’s mercy, unrelated to our works.

• God’s purpose (v. 11)

God’s purpose in election is to make His excellency known throughout the world. Peter proclaimed the special place and mission that God gave to the Jews: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Our mission today is described in Ephesians 3:10, “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” God is continuing to create a line of people to glorify Him and praise Him. Summarizing a quote from C.S. Lewis: Men spontaneously praise what they value and encourage others to join them in the praise. This is the message of many of the Psalms. We delight to praise what we enjoy because, in the process of praising it, our enjoyment is complete. For a true believer, praise is the only reaction to the realization that God has elected him.

III. God’s Election is not by Birthright (vv. 12-13)

• A divine birthright (v. 12)

The custom in Abraham’s day was that the first-born son would receive the father’s blessing and birthright, however Rebekah was told before the twins were born that the older would serve the younger (Romans 9:12, Genesis 25:23). God overruled human custom so that His purpose in election might stand. God takes the things of the world and reverses them, so that we would marvel at Him. God uses the most unlikely circumstances in the most unlikely people to accomplish His will. Paul says, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27) God acts contrary to human wisdom so that there would be no question as to who is in control, who receives the worship, who receives the praise and who receives the glory, thus we marvel at Him.

• A divine love (v. 13)

God set His redeeming love on Jacob specifically and he would be the son through whom Messiah would come. Scripture does not say that God loved Esau less than He loved Jacob; God hated Esau because he was in his sin, the offspring of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) and God hates sin. Since the world hates God, they also hate believers; the world has animosity toward God and God has animosity toward the world. Election is an amazing act of mercy because God uses sinners to accomplish His divine will. If you are a believer in Christ, you were born in the normal biological way, but as you understand election, you see that you were foreordained in love for salvation before you were born.

IV. God’s Election is by Prerogative (vv. 11ff)

Psalms 135:6 says, “whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth.” Election is what makes God, God. God does whatever He pleases, but we should never think that God is capricious; all that He does is just. Paul tells us in Romans 3:26, that God is just, and He is the One who justifies those having faith in Jesus. Empty religion says that believers can earn salvation by good works, but good works are a service to the Lord. Paul explains in Romans 12:2 that all of life is worship and we must renew our minds, so that our actions represent the One who saved us. Good works are vital for the Christian’s spiritual growth, for James said, “Faith without works is dead.” (James 2:17) Faith produces good works, and this is worship.

Even in a world filled with chaos, we can have peace knowing that God is sovereign over all things. Henry Martyn said, “I am immortal until God’s work for me to do is done. The Lord reigns.”  We should fear nothing, for we will accomplish the work God foreordained for us. We need not fear because, in God’s book of our life, all our days were written prior to there being any of them (Psalm 139:13).

Believers can only marvel at what God has done in their life and, if applicable, in the life of their believing children.  We are instructed to bring our children “up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) but whether they believe or not is up to God. Similarly, we cannot save our neighbor, but we can share the gospel and pray that God will issue an effectual call to them; then we will praise God together. On a similar note, one of the requirements for an elder is that they have believing children. God says My hand is on this person, salvation has nothing to do with them, so if they are my man for the job, you will know them because I will save their children. God says I have My leaders for the church, and you will know them by how they manage their households, and I will do what they can’t do: They will have believing children and you will know that I am with them. Does this make God unjust? This will be the subject of the next sermon.

Selah:

1. If you have an unbelieving sibling, what are your feelings toward God?

2. What is the greatest marvel of God you find in your life?

3. Is there anything you know about God that suggests that He is capricious?

4. Is there any circumstance in your life that you think is unfair? If so, what? Why?