Now Paul has a question here
to answer. There are objections that are
raised against his doctrine and he has to justify them and straighten
them out in the mind particularly of the Jew. So he begins to do
that here in Romans chapter 9. The question is why, how, how
can it be that children of Abraham are perishing, are not saved,
are not believers, are not in the favor and the grace of God. Here it is. I say the truth in
Christ, I lie not. My conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself
were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption
and the glory and the covenant and the giving of the law and
the service of God and the promises whose are the fathers, and of
whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all,
God blessed forever. Amen. Not as though the word
of God had taken none effect, for they're not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Neither, because they are the
seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children
of the promise, or counted for the seed. For this is the word
of promise. At that time will I come, and
Sarah shall have a son." Then there's another case, he said,
not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even
by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the
younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now, I've already told you that
our assertion and emphasis this morning is the fact that grace
does not run in the bloodline. It is not familial in that sense
that it is passed down from the parent even if they are a Christian
and even if they were a Christian before they were married or were
fruitful together in this life. so that it is not a matter that
one can be a Christian simply because grandma was a good and
a godly woman and carried you to church, taught you the Bible,
and talked to you about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, let's begin by laying a
foundation out of the early part of the scripture. Let's go all
the way back to the first couple. Adam and Eve as they began to
procreate and to bring four children into the world as God had commanded. I think we can declare without
fear of contradiction that the firstborn of the race was a reprobate. I think the Bible confirms that
for us. Cain in Genesis chapter four
was a reprobate. It came to pass, it was manifested
in the fact that he hated the standard of God and God's reaction
unto their sacrifices and they brought them at a set time. And therefore, rose up and killed
his brother on account of religion. So, I think we can say that Cain,
the very first born, of the race was indeed a reprobate. And then we come to Ishmael,
a son of Abraham, firstborn son of Abraham. We also have the
example here of Jacob and of Esau. And Esau was a reprobate,
even though he was the firstborn, even though they were twins.
and were conceived at the same time by the same father and by
the same mother, unlike Ishmael and Isaac. Now, they were as
close to Abraham as one might get. They were the first and
the second generation from Abraham, as close as possible to the tree
or to the root or to the stalk of Abraham himself. Now, this is a great concern
to Christian parents, I know, that our children might know
the Lord, and that we might train them up in the fear and the admonition
of the Lord, and that we might take them to church and expose
them to the gospel and the word of God. But that does not mean
that they shall become believers necessarily. It is a sovereign
work of the Almighty God. Now, our first text, it was a
great offense to the Jew to think that seed of Abraham were perishing. to think that seed of Abraham
were not in the favor of God and that they were not the children
of God, that they were not righteous and that they would not inherit
eternal life. For the Jews seem to think that
any natural or even physical seed of Abraham should ever perish
because of the covenant and because of their circumcision in the
likeness of Him. So this is one of our best texts
that we have in Genesis chapter 9 to prove that grace is not
passed down by physical procreation, not at all. It does not necessarily
run in family sometime. A Christian family will have
all Christian children, and sometimes none, and sometimes some, and
not others. But before we get into this,
let us notice, if we might, another matter in contrast. that though
grace is not passed down in the bloodline, it is not produced,
it is not procreated, the child is not receiving grace simply
out upon the merit of their parent, either one or the two of them. Grace is not produced, but depravity
certainly is. And that is very clear in the
Bible. For though all were not in Christ,
all were or are in Adam. And in Adam, all die. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 22. All bear the image of the earthy
Adam. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 49. By one man, Adam, sin entered
into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all, for that all have sinned. Romans 5 and verse 12. Since by one man came death. 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 21. When Adam fathered Seth. We read in Genesis chapter 5
and verse 3. that he begat in his own likeness
after his own image. We read again there in Romans
5 and verse 12. By one man sin entered and by
death, by sin death. Death passed upon all. The penal
consequences of all passed upon every. descendant of our first
parent, Adam and Eve, or even, says Paul, over those that had
not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, Romans
5 and verse 14. And even those who had not sinned
in that likeness. Now Adam, as Thomas Goodwin,
the Puritan, called him, was the father and the root of all
mankind. And as Paul puts it in Acts 17
and verse 26, it is of this one blood that all nations of men
are made for to dwell upon the face of the earth. So that all
mankind is derived from a common root or ancestor, and that would
be Adam. Now Adam was the first one to
have and partake of the human nature, along with Eve, of course,
whom God made from a rib out of his side. Adam's fleshly or
being was not propagated. Like all others after that, it
was directly created by the hand of God out of the dust of the
earth. And then God formed Adam and
breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living
soul. Human nature first embodied in
Adam and in Eve. But that nature corrupted in
Adam and in Eve as we know, and therefore, for the continuous
flowing of the fountain out of that first stream, humanity has
not purified itself. It has not become pure over the
ages. In fact, it has become more and
more depraved. It flows as foul as ever, even
down onto our time. and that upon a principle that
is established early in the book of Genesis, and that is every
one after its own kind. Every species, every animal,
and even the human species after their own kind. For you see, if the root be corrupt,
so are the branches and so are the fruit. For the branches and
the buds are of the same nature and are a partaker of the root. for they receive or derive their
nature from that root and partake of it, and keep that nature and
pass it forward with each successive generation. procreation are increased
to all descendants of Adam, not by him directly, but through
the medium of natural propagation, through each parent, each one,
no matter which one. Now we have an English word that
I want to use and explain it to you, and that is the word
traduce. We used it. Grace is not traduce. which means, in one sense, to
slander. We use that word in that way
to speak evil of someone, someone that we wish to defame or we
wish to degrade or malign or vilify, we might use that word. But in theology, the word has
another meaning. And the doctrine of traditionism
teaches that the person is propagated through the human parents. And
this includes the corruptness of the human nature. David endorsed
that in Psalm 51, verse 5, in that great passage when he said,
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. And the Lord said to Nicodemus
in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, That which is born of
the flesh is flesh that which is born of the spirit is spirit
that born of the flesh flesh is it is flesh only flesh and
will always be only flesh that born of the spirit is spirit,
or does he mean spiritual? Atoms corrupt human nature, not
just atoms, but human nature itself would be communicated,
therefore, unto all mankind. And the Puritans certainly had
a way with words. And again, Thomas Goodwin put
it this way, and I'd like to quote. that other parents were
the means to derive down this image from Adam unto all of their
offspring. Again, he called them, quote,
bare instruments to channel and convey it down by the procreation
to convey the whole image of sin, unquote. Each came forth
to pray. Some call it original sin, and
it certainly is. And yet, By this natural traducement
from parent to child down through the history of time, depravity
there is not necessarily conveyed the very same degree or the same
sort of sinning that the parents might have been guilty of. Whether more or less, who can
tell? For depravity, like the broken
dam of a lake and water seeks its own level in each situation. So that it is not that the offspring
actually sins may match or exceed that of their parent because
the depravity of human nature. Human nature's depravity can
be carried to many, many extremes and degrees. To say it another
way, the devil, the flesh, the world, temptation, the time,
society, historic custom, the desire of the flesh have access,
all of them, to the corrupted human nature that we possess,
enabling them to draw out sin of some sort or of some degree. The winds of depravity blow. in every direction and upon every
member of the family. And I think present behavior
confirms that, as we look at our world and society. But the gist of our present study,
while depravity is produced from the parent to the child, grace
is not passed through by natural procreation. And we're taking
our starting point from Paul here in Romans chapter 9 as he
deals with the question of the Jew and their relationship unto
Abraham. So the first thing we do is ask
ourselves this question, what is the general context that is
in our text? What is Paul saying? To whom
is he saying and whom is he saying it about that we might answer
very truthfully. He takes up a discussion of the
unbelief of Israel, the unbelief of so many of Israel regarding
Messiah. That's in verse 1 through 3 of
chapter 9. In spite of their many privileges,
it's still so. And that's in verse 4 and verse
5. He enumerates the great spiritual
privileges that God bestowed upon the nation of Israel. And finally, in spite of their
Abrahamic ancestry, they were perishing. And you find that
in verse 6 through verse 8 of our text. So in spite of their
many privileges, in spite of being the seed of Abraham, some
are perishing in Israel. Now we might jump in at verse
6 here, that in spite of these things, it does not follow, it
is not a proper conclusion that the word of God has failed or
come to nothing. That is not a conclusion that
is to be made from the fact that Israelites were and are perishing. It is not as though God's Word,
God's Word, a promise or His covenant or His prophecies have
failed because seed of Abraham were perishing and do perish
even unto our day. They are dying and were dying
in their unbelief, dying enemies unto the Messiah. Number one,
it would of the promise include every single seed of Abraham,
like Arminian's claim. That was the view of the Jew
through history and of that day. And so not every offspring of
Abraham was a child of God or a child of promise or an elect. Paul, in verses 6 and 7 and 8,
plainly tells why the unbelief of many Jews, quote, in no way
impugns the faithfulness of the Word of God," unquote. Or consider it a failure. God's
Word has not fallen down to the ground. It has not failed. And notice with me, Paul puts
a threefold emphasis that is a ground of denial, why such
unbelief is not a failure on God's part, of God's Word, or
of the promise of God. Threefold! And let's look at
them again. In the sixth verse, "...for,
or because they are not all Israel which are of Israel." There is
an Israel within a national Israel. A spiritual Israel within natural
Israel. As Paul in Galatians 60 6.16
writes, the Israel of God, as in John 1.47, where the Lord
calls Nathanael an Israelite indeed. An Israelite really,
and in every sense of the word. And that great distinction that
Paul makes in the end of Romans chapter 2 verse 28 and verse
29 describes a true Jew contrasting an outward and an inward or a
natural and the spiritual Jew by outward and inward circumcision
and the difference and the distinction. Then in verse 7 we see again
the second confirmation that God's word in regard to Abraham
has not fallen, neither because they are the seed of Abraham
are they children. It's not that because they are
a natural descendant of Abraham that they are a spiritual child
of Abraham or of God. Notice the contrast between seed
and children. The natural offspring, the seed,
are the children. Offspring, sperma, descendants,
extension, children of Abraham. And by the way, the Lord In John
again, chapter 8, verse 33 and verse 39, he made about the very
same contrast in speaking with a Jew between the seed of Abraham
and the children of Abraham. The Lord himself made that distinction. Yes, you're the seed of Abraham,
but you're not the children of Abraham. Not all seed of Abraham
are therefore the children of Abraham. And the fact is, from
the very beginning of God's covenant and God's promise, God's dealings
and calling to Abraham, it was never God's intention to save
every individual of Abraham. There was a purpose of God according
to election, Romans 9. And verse 11, that their stand,
their abide, their remain, it does not fall. It cannot come
to naught. It stands the purpose of God
according to election. Then look at verse 8, thirdly,
that is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. Now here the contrast is between
the children of the flesh and the children of promise. And
these two were signified by Isaac and by Ishmael. The son of promise
was Isaac. God promised Isaac unto Abraham
and Sarah, which says, Paul, we are, we are the children of
promise. Galatians chapter 4 and verse
28, now we, brethren, are the children of promise as was Isaac. So there was a spiritual picture
in Isaac that was not in Ishmael. Not only that, but the three
verses, verse 6, verse 7, and verse 8, there is, if I may say
it, a part A and a part B. Now, to help us distinguish the
thoughts which Paul is developing and the contrast that he makes
as he presses along here in his context, the three B statements
are, verse 6, not has the word of God fallen since not Israel,
not Israel who are of Israel. Verse 7, In Isaac shall your
seed be called, that is, since not all of Abraham's seed are
the children of God. And verse 8, the children of
the promise, they're counted, they're reckoned as the children
of the promise, not merely the children of the flesh. And thirdly,
or from this history of the Abrahamic family, we clearly see that grace
does not run in the blood. It did not in Abraham and his
descendants. Grace, therefore, is not produced
from the parent down to the child. Else would all children of godly
parents be godly and elect. A godly parent, however, does
not guarantee a godly child. A covenant parent does not necessarily
guarantee a covenant child. And Paul speaks here clearly
distinguishing the children of the flesh in verse 8. Children
of the flesh. What does he mean? since all
being born of the flesh are flesh, he said in John chapter 3. In Romans 9, they which are the
children of the flesh. Now, that may have a double meaning
as we see it in the scripture. Number one, to Abraham's son
Ishmael. Ishmael was born after the flesh. He was born only after the ability
and the power of the flesh to conceive and to procreate. No supernatural power was involved
at all. in the conception or in the birth
of Isaac in that Old Testament account. Secondly, it may mean
mere carnal descent of the flesh from Abraham, and yet, says Paul,
these are not all the children of God back in verse 8. And again, let us note the closeness
to Abraham of the two examples that Paul uses here in Romans
chapter 9. Abraham, in begetting of his
firstborn, and that was not Isaac but Ishmael, by a surrogate wife
and mother chosen by Sarah, and she was Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid. Now Abraham needed no miracle
to make a child with Hagar, but he did with Sarah, his lawful
wife. Abraham's firstborn. nor to turn
back the time of life was not necessary as in the case of Isaac. But Ishmael was not the son of
promise that Sarah had thought or perhaps hoped or imagined. And remember what happened to
Ishmael? He was cast out of the family. He was sent away, for he was
not the son or the child of promise. Now, I know there are some, particularly
Armenian, whom I contend the reason for that was something
else. The reason was that they had
different mothers, one an Egyptian, one a true Israelite, and the
lawful longtime wife of Abraham. And another might argue they
were born years apart, about 13 years maybe apart between
Ishmael and between Isaac. And Ishmael was not driven out,
only driven out, after he was caught mocking Isaac. And that
irritated Sarah and she said, look, I'm not going to have this.
Send that child away. But all along the promise was
proceeding and was standing in the promise of God and the purpose
of God to Abraham. Well, says Paul, there is the
case of the first grandchildren, then, of Abraham, in which no
such distinctions are to be found. Isaac had one wife and both children
by the same wife. Jacob and Esau were twins. They had the same father, they
had the same mother. They were conceived at the same
time, and Esau was even the firstborn. Yet God hated him, and he loved
Jacob. Now if by just a matter of minutes,
yet the firstborn had prerogative in the land of Israel. And yet,
it had already been revealed to their mother, Rebekah. Genesis
chapter 25. Before they were ever born, revelation
was made to Rebekah. A, two nations are in your womb. Two manner of people shall be
separated from your inwards. And then B, The elder shall serve
the younger. The younger shall have preeminence,
contrary to the rule and the custom in Israel. And Paul quotes
Malachi 1, 1, and 2, as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. Now look at Romans 9 and verse
11. For the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth." In the King James, that verse is in
brackets or parentheses. In Geneva, the King James version,
so. We could go from verse 10 down
to verse 12 without losing any of the facts, but he inserts
something very pertinent to the argument. In verse 11, we read
of the purpose of God according to election, and this has to
do with those two twin children of Isaac and of Rebecca. As we read, for the children,
those in verse 10, which Rebecca conceived by one, her lawful
husband Isaac, and twins were born. Two sons were in her, Genesis
25 and 24. And Paul attributes the choice
of Jacob in election to sovereign election. This says Paul was
the thing done in the words and revelation made unto Rebekah,
and the words of God unto her. The elder shall serve the younger. And it certainly came to pass. Paul is clear. This is before
they were born, and it was before they had ever done any good or
evil, so that neither of them were the predominant factor. Haldane reasoned Even if some
claim that something about Isaac and Ishmael was the reason for
preferring Isaac as Ishmael's half-breed status because of
his birth mother or because of his mocking Isaac, yet as Haldane
wrote, and I quote, In this parenthesis, the apostle shows that the preference
was given unto Jacob independent of any ground of merit because
it was before they were born. Then again, we argue that it
is not simply foresight. It is not simply God looking
down and seeing how they would live, what they would become,
or how they would act. Their deeds cannot be argued,
since it is not according to works, but it is of him that
called. It is not based upon any good
or evil. It's based upon the calling of
God. Thus grace is not produced from
parent to child, neither is the covenant in a spiritual sense
passed from the mother or father to the child. How can it be when
many Jews were not true Jews and fleshly Jews were not covenant
children of Abraham even though they were born in the true bloodline
of Abraham? It is not parentage. It is not
circumcision. It is not observance of carnal
ordinances or nationality that puts one in grace or in covenant
with God. Rather, it depends on election,
what Paul calls the purpose of God in accordance with election. And notice those words in verse
11, that it might stand, that it might remain firm. Let it
not be abolished, or let it not be aborted in any way. Still, there is this to consider. In this equation, that Israel
was a chosen nation. And that was one of their arguments. A chosen people they were, and
considered themselves that with great pride. To be special unto
God they were. and were told, Deuteronomy 7
and verse 6. He made a covenant with them.
He gave them the law and the ordinances and the manner of
worship. He gave them the oracles of God. That is, they had the Word of
God. But now, a point of emphasis
from the premise is this. They are not all Israel which
are of Israel. Romans 9 and verse 6. And let us recall the various
distinctions which Paul has made, and this is very important in
a coming distinction. Yet all summed up in the premise,
the Word of God has not failed. If Israelites are perishing,
it is not that the Word of God has failed. Unbelief was behind
it, since they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. And now that distinction that
we mentioned already. Romans chapter 2, verse 28 and
verse 29. between an outward Jew and an
inward Jew, as Paul calls them there for the sake of identification. Circumcision, which is outward
in the flesh and that which is inward in the heart. There are
two circumcisions, one of the flesh and the other of the heart. The inward Jew and the outward
Jew, and the inward circumcision, and the outward circumcision. Now, the truth. Notice in Romans
9-7, seed of Abraham, children of Abraham. Romans 9-8, children
of the flesh, children of promise. Children of the flesh like Ishmael,
children of the promise like Isaac, as noted in the end of
Galatians. Now here is the distinction.
Have you ever thought of this as you looked at and dealt with
this passage? Just look at verse 6 again. They are not all Israel which
are of Israel, so they're not all elect which are elect. Israel,
or nationally elected Israel. There is, as Murray put it, a
distinction between the elect of Israel and elect of, between
Israel and the elect of Israel. There is a difference between
the theocratic election of a nation and the individual election to
salvation from that nation, a particular individual. Consider Galatians
6.16 again where Paul uses the term the Israel of God. Listen to Romans 11 and verse
5 if you might. Even so, at this present time
there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Romans 11 and 7. What then? Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it, and
the rest were blinded. This has to do with Israel, that
among them there was a remnant in Paul's time, even as there
had been throughout history. In Elijah's time, there was a
remnant that God had reserved unto himself, and that remnant
was owing to the election of grace. And among Israel, there
was a chosen people. They were both the elect in Noah's
day and in Moses' day, and they found grace and they found rest. in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. And the rest, says Paul, were
blinded or the word might be rendered hardened. The elect
found what they sought, the righteousness, justification before an almighty
God, because they sought it not by works of law, but they sought
it by grace. The rest obtained it not, for
they sought it by the works of the law. And that's in Romans
chapter 9, 30-32. So, let's close with a look at
Jacob and Esau in verse 10-13 of Romans 9. That in addition
to Ishmael and Isaac, and God's disposition of their situation,
there was the situation of Jacob and of Esau, in which the differences
between Ishmael and Isaac did not exist since Jacob and Esau
each had the exact same relationship to Abraham and to Sarah. Each had the exact relationship. They both had the same father
and the same mother, the same grandfather and the same grandmother,
for Sarah was their grandmother and she was not of Ishmael. And together there was Jacob
and Esau. Even though he was born first,
Esau was hated by the Lord. He lost his birthright. He sold
it for a marshal of pottage, a plate of stew. because he thought
he was hungry unto death. They had struggled in the womb
even then the struggle began. Most kids wait until they're
born to try to kill one another, but they were fighting even in
the womb. Genesis 25, 26, Hosea 12, 3,
and 4, a sign of things to come according to God's purpose of
election. And the great distinction in
verse 13 of Romans 9, Jacob I loved, Esau have I hated, for so it
is written in Malachi 1, 1 through 3. Now, some people would ask,
did God really hate Esau? Oh no, they say, he just hated
his works and his ways. It said Esau. Esau have I hated,
Jacob have I loved. It was their person. It was their
individual. And so this is clear proof, I
believe, that grace is not produced in and through natural procreation. It does not run in the blood.