Project Lumberjack February

Everette Thomas Whisnant

 My Dad died February 21, 1966 in Roanoke Va.  He was in ministry for over 40 years. He was my hero.  I walked behind him as closely as I could.  Where he went I went.  I was still in High School when he suddenly died. But he is still a part on my life today. 

Photos of Eric and Becky and grandaughters

Charity and Granddaughters

Isaiah 8 Video The Stream of Shiloah:

 

I do have the wrong title here, but all are on Isaiah.

Romans 9 Introduction

Romans 9 Notes

The Rejection of the Jews and the Inclusion of the Gentiles as God’s people:  Will the Promises of Romans 8 Stand? How do you answer the question of the Jews?

Romans 9-11

Charles e. Whisnant, Pastor/Teacher, Student of the Word

Rivers of Joy Baptist Church, Minford, Ohio

February 10. 2013

It’s my hope by the time we get through  Romans chapter nine that it will end your love affair with human autonomy and the ultimate self-determination of your free will.  I pray that your worldview will simply not be able to stand against the scriptures, especially Romans 9.  And I pray that Romans 9 will  be the beginning of a lifelong passion to see and savor the supremacy of God in absolutely everything.

But what I am learning is this; even in this week of study Romans nine.  What I felt this week was what John Piper said he experienced:

“I began to see a God so majestic and so free and so absolutely sovereign that my analysis merged into worship and the Lord said in effect, “I will not simply be analyzed, I will be adored. I will not simply be pondered, I will be proclaimed.  My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized, it is to be heralded. It is not grist for the mill of controversy; it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will.”

Jonathan Edwards’ Testimony to God’s Absolute Sovereignty:

What the main purpose  of Romans 9 is not about:

Now with that said, I might have given the impression that Romans 9 is a treatise on the sovereignty of God. It is not. In reality the truth is Romans nine is an explanation for why the word of God has not failed even though God’s chosen people, Israel, as a whole, are not turning to Christ and being saved.  The sovereignty of God’s grace is brought in as the final ground of God’s faithfulness in spite of Israel’s failure, and therefore as the deepest foundation for the precious promises of Romans 9.  For if God is not faithful to His word, we can’t count on Romans 8 either.

Now what is this chapter dealing with:  Of course there are several opinions about what Romans 9 is dealing with: I will give six opinions:

WHAT IS THE VIEW I TAKE FROM ROMANS 9-11

Paul takes up the matter at the beginning of chapter one and goes on dealing with it in the other two chapters. Jones believes that Paul takes up where he left off in chapter eight.   What Paul has been dealing with is the doctrine of final perseverance of the believer. 

Then in 8:31-39 our security is based upon the immutability of God’s counsel, the guarantee that anything God has purposed must of necessity be carried out.

Then we come to Romans 9.  What about the whole case of the Jews, Paul? If you say that God starts a thing he always completes’ it, you say that when something is the purpose of God nothing can frustrated it. But if your preaching of the Christian gospel, as you call it,  then God’s purpose has gone very seriously astray, because the fact is that the vast majority of the Jews are not Christians, they are not in what you call the kingdom of God, which consists chiefly of Gentile believers. So, then, where is the purpose of God? Where is the immutability of His counsel? That was the objection.

WILL THE PROMISE OF ROMANS 8 STAND? IS THE ISSUE IN ROMANS 9.

Will God stand by His commitments, sealed with the blood of His Son?  Will He work all things together for our good?  Will the predestined be called and the called by justified and the justified be glorified?  Will He give us all things with Him?  Will nothing separate us from the love of  God? Is really now no condemnation, and will there be none tomorrow?  Piper.

Here is what Romans 9 does. It shows that the word of God’s covenant with Israel has not failed, because it is grounded in God’s sovereign, electing mercy.  Therefore the promises to the true Israel and the promises of Romans 8 will stand.  That is the gospel of Romans 9.  The promises purchased by the blood and death of Christ will be performed by the sovereign power of God.

In 9:1-29, he shows that Jewish rejection was not a failure of God’s promise to Abraham to save his seed, for the promises was meant only for Abraham’s “spiritual” descendants whom God had “chosen” unto salvation.  These elect Jews, (who, in Paul’s day were but a small portion of Israel) along with elect Gentiles, were being called by God and saved as he had promised they would be and just as the prophets had foretold. It would come to pass.

In 9:30-10:21, Paul shows that the immediate cause of the rejection of Israel and of the salvation of the Gentiles was the different manner in which the two groups were resounding to the Gospel: the Jews were stumbling at Christ whereas the Gentiles were believing in Him. 

The Jews had misunderstood and were misusing the Law.  Instead of seeing their own sinfulness by contrasting their conducted with the Law’s holy requirements and turning to God for mercy and pardon, they were trying to establish a righteousness of their own by keeping its commands.

They were looking to the Law, and not to the Gospel, for salvation and thus were perishing!

In 11:36, Paul explains that Israel’s rejection is neither total (some Jews were being saved) nor final (the time will come when God will show mercy to the nation at large and so all Israel will be saved.)

1A       The ultimate or eternal reason for the rejection of the greater part of Israel and the calling of the Gentiles to salvation is God’s sovereign election: 9:1-29

2A       The immediate cause of Israel’s rejection and of the Gentiles’ salvation was the different manner in which they were responding to the gospel. 9:30-10:21