Romans 9:1-13

• 1 I speak the truth in Christ-I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-
• 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
• 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,
• 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
• 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, for ever praised! Amen.
• 6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
• 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
• 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
• 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
• 10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
• 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God's purpose in election might stand:
• 12 not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
• 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

INTRODUCTION: The modern nation of Israel is a creation of the United Nations. The idea of a Jewish national home in Palestine received its first international support within the 1922 text of the creation of the British Mandate of Palestine by the League of nations. The Mandate..."will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion." In 1947 the UN Commission on Palestine recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state, an Arab state and a UN-controlled territory around Jerusalem. This partition plan was adopted on November 29, 1947 with UN Resolution 181, 33 votes in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions. The vote itself, which required a two-third majority, was a very dramatic affair and led to celebrations in the streets of Jewish cities. It also led to anti-Jewish riots in Arab countries. Resolution 181 laid a foundation within international law and diplomacy for the creation of the state of Israel It was the first formal recognition by an international body of the legitimacy of a Jewish state. Israel's declaration of independence soon followed on May 14, 1948.

Ever since the UN creation of the modern nation of Israel, a multitude of popular preachers and Christian prophetic ministries have equated the modern nation of Israel with the Old Testament nation of Israel. They have said that modern Israel is God's chosen nation, just as Old Testament Israel was God's chosen nation. And they have insisted that the United States must always support modern Israel, because God is always FOR Israel; and if America opposes Israel then America opposes God, and God will bring judgment on America for that reason. One famous American Bible teacher said..."If I had to choose between America and Israel, I would choose Israel...Godd has chosen Israel above all the nations of the earth." She teaches that the modern nation of Israel is the spouse of God, and that God has unconditional love for His spouse."

Our passage today has so much to teach us about the Jews and the nation of Israel. What does the Bible say?

I. The Jews were given tremendous spiritual blessings by God (Romans 9:4-5).

"Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, for ever praised! Amen."

There can be no doubt that Old Testament Israel was he favored and chosen nation of God, above all other nations on the face of the earth. The Bible says so...

Deuteronomy 7:6 "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession."

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 "You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession."

• God adopted the nation of Israel as His own son.
• God showed His glory to Israel in miracles, and on Mount Sinai, and in establishing them in the land of Canaan.
• God gave Israel the Law through Moses; and to no other nation.
• God established the tabernacle, the temple, and the Aaronic priesthood, the sacrifices and feast days.
• God gave tremendous promises to the nation of Israel.
• God sent Jesus His only begotten Son, to be born of a Jewish mother, to be the Messiah and Savior of the world.

No doubt about it, it was (and is) a pretty great thing to be born Jewish! We have a Jewish Savior. How neat it is to be physically related to Him!

II. Paul was deeply sorrowful for the Jews, because he was Jewish himself; and because the Jews had rejected their Heavenly Father, and rejected their Messiah.

Romans 9:1-4 "I speak the truth in Christ-I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit- I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel."

Paul himself was Jewish (as were all the Apostles), and at one time had been very proud of his Jewish heritage.

• 4 ...If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:
• 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
• 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
• 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
• 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ...
  (Philippians 3:4-8)

Paul's first evangelistic efforts, and continuing efforts, were to reach Jewish people with the Gospel. His practice on entering a town was to head for the local synagogue, and preach that the Messiah had arrived, and been crucified, and had risen from the dead.

• 14 ¶ From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.
• 15 After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak."
• 16 Standing up, Paul motioned with his hand and said: "Men of Israel and you Gentiles who worship God, listen to me!
  (Acts 13:14-16)

• 1 ¶ At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Gentiles believed.
• 2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
• 3 So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders.
• 4 The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.
• 5 There was a plot afoot among the Gentiles and Jews, together with their leaders, to ill-treat them and stone them.
• 6 But they found out about it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country,
• 7 where they continued to preach the good news.
  (Acts 14:1-7)

But the vast majority of the Jewish population rejected the Gospel offered by Paul and the Apostles...

• 1 ¶ After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
• 2 There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
• 3 and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them.
• 4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.
• 5 When Silas and Timothy came from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
• 6 But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook out his clothes in protest and said to them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."
  (Acts 18:1-6)

Even after that incident, Paul continued to witness to Jews when he had the opportunity. But his outreach to the Gentiles was his main concern. God had called him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. But the situation pained his heart. He wanted to see his fellow Jews accepted Jesus as Messiah and Savior.

III. Paul used this situation as an opportunity to explain the true nature of "Israel."

• 6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
• 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
• 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
• 9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
• 10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
• 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God's purpose in election might stand:
• 12 not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
• 13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
  (Romans 9:6-13)

1) God's word had not failed. God's promises had not failed. If you take "Israel" to mean the JEWISH nation of the Old Testament, then one might think that God's promises had failed.

2) The key is the identity of Israel. Paul's point is that JEWISH Israel is not what was in view in God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

a. Abraham was not Jewish. He was from Ur. He was a Gentile Babylonian. He was saved by Faith, and had no connection at all with the nation of Israel which came into being under Moses at Mount Sinai.

b. Abraham had two sons (actually there were others, too): Isaac and Ishmael. The Abrahamic Covenant descended through Isaac, not Ismael. Ishmael was genetically of Abraham, but genetics was not what mattered. What mattered was Abraham's faith. Isaac was the child of faith. Isaac was the supernatural child, given by God, even though Sarai and Abraham were past the time of having children. Isaac was the SPIRITUAL son of Abraham.

c. The same situation happened with Isaac's sons: Jacob and Esau. Esau should have been the heir. He was the older son, born first (though they were twins). But God rejected Esau and chose Jacob, even before the boys were born. The point: genetics isn't what matters, but rather the choice of God Himself.

SUMMARY: Genetics didn't matter with Abraham. Genetics didn't matter with Isaac. Genetics didn't matter with Jacob. It was all based on the will of God, and FAITH.

Paul's point: God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did not fail when the nation of Israel rejected God and Jesus, because the physical, genetic, nation of Israel was NEVER WHAT GOD WAS INTERESTED IN. It was always BELIEVERS that mattered to God, even in Old Testament Israel.

3) So, what is the modern day nation of Israel? Is it a nation state of genetic Jews established by the United Nations in 1947 and 1948? Is that the nation of Israel that God cares about? Is that the nation of Israel that is the apple of His eye? What does the Bible say about the REAL SPIRITUAL NATION OF ISRAEL?

a. Only BELIEVING Jews are truly part of the Israel of God.

• 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.
• 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
  (Romans 2:28-29)

b. Believing GENTILES are also part of the Israel of God.

• 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
• 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
• 13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
  (Romans 4:11-13)

More verses....

• 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
• 17 ¶ As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
  (Romans 4:16-17)

• 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
• 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."
• (Galatians 3:7-8)
• 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
  (Galatians 3:28-29)

• 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
• 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
• 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
  (Galatians 6:14-16)

The "Israel of God," the nation that is God's chosen nation today, is the Church. All who believe in Jesus, both Jew and Gentile.

• 11 ¶ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)—
• 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
• 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
• 14 ¶ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
• 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
• 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
• 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
• 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
• 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
• 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
• 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
• 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
  (Ephesians 2:11-22)

The Jewish nation of Israel is no longer God's chosen nation. That was for another time and place. That was the Old Covenant. We now live in the era of the New Covenant. The Aaronic priesthood is gone, and will never return. The literal physical temple is gone, and has been replaced by the Church. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The necessity of worship in the Jerusalem temple is gone, never to be needed again. Some people say the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem, and Jews will worship there in the Millennium. What does Jesus say?

• 19 "Sir," the woman said, "I can see that you are a prophet.
• 20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem."
• 21 Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
• 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
• 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.
  (John 4:19-23)

The Old Jewish covenant is over and done, and will never be brought back again. It has vanished into the mists of history.

• 7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.
• 8 But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
• 9 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.
• 10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
• 11 No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
• 12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."
• 13 By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and ageing will soon disappear.
  (Hebrews 8:7-13)

CONCLUSION: So, what about the modern nation state of Israel created by the United Nations? The nation that forbids the preaching of the Gospel? The nation that will not allow Christian missionaries to enter? The nation that persecutes Palestinians who are Christians? The nation that will not even allow genetic Jews to immigrate, if they are Messianic Jews? What about that nation of Israel? It is not God's Israel. America is not beholden to it. God's Israel is made up of both Jew and Gentile, all who trust in Jesus, and who are baptized into His body. God's Israel is a spiritual nation, not a physical nation of genetic Jews.

• 4 ¶ As you come to him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-
• 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• 6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
• 7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,"
• 8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message-which is also what they were destined for.
• 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
• 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
• (I Peter 2:4-10)