The Children of Promise – Romans 9:6-13

What this episode covers

Introduction For a few years now I’ve had Hebrews 10:23 stuck in my brain. In every up and down of life, in every joy and every hardship, this one verse keeps coming to mind. We read it earlier. It says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.” Well, I believe that verse really captures the heartbeat of Romans 9. Paul is not writing Romans 9 to make Christians unstable. He is writing to make Christians steadfast. He is not trying to produce fearful speculation about the hidden decree of God. He is trying to produce enduring confidence in the revealed promises of God. Why? Because He who promised is faithful. That is really the issue underneath this whole passage. Has God failed to keep His promises? Has Israel’s unbelief somehow overturned the covenant faithfulness of God? Have the promises of God collapsed because many of Abraham’s physical descendants rejected the Messiah? And Paul’s answer is: absolutely not. “It is not as though the Word of God has failed.” Beloved, that is not merely a theological statement. That is a life-giving reality for weary sinners like us. Because if the Word of God can fail, then we have no hope. If God breaks covenant, then salvation itself collapses. But Paul says God’s Word has not failed. Not one promise has fallen to the ground. And because God is faithful to His promises in Christ, we are called to hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. And that’s really what this sermon is about. The faithfulness of God in Christ. The certainty of God’s promises in Christ. And therefore the call for us to cling to Christ in persevering faith. So with that in mind, look with me at Romans 9:6-13. Context After walking us through the ins and outs of the gospel, Paul took us to the heights of God’s glorious gospel promises in Romans 8. But he immediately followed that in Romans 9:1-5 by showing us his heart in deep sorrow over the unbelief of many of his fellow Jews. Though Israel had received great covenant privileges—the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, the promises, the patriarchs, and even the Christ according to the flesh—many were rejecting their Messiah. Which raises a pressing question: Has God’s Word failed? Have His covenant promises fallen to the ground because so many Israelites remain in unbelief? If God’s promises in Romans 8 are true, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, what about Israel? If Romans 8 isn’t true for them how can it be true for us? Romans 9:6-13 begins Paul’s answer to that question. He explains that God’s promises were never grounded merely in outward ethnicity or fleshly descent, because not all ethnic Israelites are a part of the true Israel in Christ. From the very beginning, God’s covenant purpose moved through His sovereign election and ultimately in, through, and toward Christ, the true Seed and Child of Promise, in whom all the elect—Jew and Gentile alike—become true children of Abraham through faith. And that’s what we’re going to take a deeper look at today. Romans 9:6-13 Again, I know we went through this passage last week, but I thought it would do us some good to go through it again because Romans 9 is one of the most glorious and yet one of the most misunderstood chapters in all of Holy Scripture. I don’t want to rush through it. It is truly glorious because it exalts the sovereign grace of God. It humbles the pride of man and reminds us that salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end. But it is often misunderstood because people can’t get past their pride and see what it’s actually talking about. And it’s misunderstood by others because they read this chapter as though its main purpose were to drive Christians into passivity, or fear and uncertainty about whether or not they are secretly elect. And yet, if we read Paul carefully, we find that his burden is actually the opposite of this.

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