DON’T THROW IT ALL AWAY
Text: Rom. 9:1-5
Introduction
1. Illustration: President Abraham Lincoln, in a National Proclamation of Prayer and Repentance in 1863 wrote, “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” (The Presidential Prayer Team Website)
2. President Lincoln certainly had a way with words. A few weeks ago, I stood in the National Cemetery in Gettysburg and read the words to his Gettysburg Address, and I wept. But you know, when I read these words of his it makes me want to cry all the more because nothing has changed!
3. We still have forgotten God, we think that the blessings we enjoy are because we deserve it, and we are too proud to pray to the God that made us.
4. We need to come to the realization that all of the problems that we are now enduring are not financial, racial, or political; they are spiritual. And unless we return to God nothing is going to change!
5. The feelings that I have today for America are not all that different from what Paul had for Israel.
a. Grief Over Israel
b. God’s Blessings On Israel
6. Would you please stand with me, out of respect for the Word of God, as we read Rom. 9:1-5.
Proposition: Like Israel in Paul’s day, America needs to return to God.
Transition: First, Paul talked about his…
1. Grief Over Israel (1-3).
A. Unending Grief For My People
1. Paul begins this section of his letter by going over and beyond to express his love and concern for his Jewish brothers and sisters.
2. In v. 1 he says, "With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it."
a. At the beginning he emphasizes his own sincerity and declares what is basically an oath.
b. He starts out with Christ as my witness, which is what a person might do in a courtroom today by placing their hand on the Bible and declaring that they are telling the truth.
c. He anchors his testimony in union with his relationship with Jesus. In a sense, Christ is the first witness of Paul's concern for Israel: the other two are his own conscience and the Holy Spirit.
d. Paul's conscience, that inner sense of right and wrong, provide a valid testimony not because it is without error but because it comes by the Holy Spirit.
e. The Spirit is the vehicle by which Paul's conscience witnesses rightly to his feelings, not just because they are his feelings but because they are right.
f. We should notice that this statement is framed by in Christ and in the Holy Spirit.
g. He wants his readers to understand that he is not speaking on his own accord, but he is controlled by both Christ and the Holy Spirit in his feelings towards the Jewish people.
3. So why does Paul go to such lengths to express his sincerity? In vv. 2-3 he expresses his concern for his people when he says, "My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them."
a. This statement of Paul's goes along with that of the prophets, particularly Jeremiah who was known as the "weeping prophet."
b. Jeremiah 4:19 (ESV)
19 My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
c. Paul is expressing his own grief over Israel's current state. In fact, he goes so far as to say that he would be willing to be cursed and cut off from Christ if it would bring them to salvation in Christ.
d. The word translated "cursed” normally has a prayer connotation attached to it, and Paul is saying that he would ask God for it if it would bring the Israelites to Christ.
e. He was willing to face eternal condemnation if it would bring the Jews to their senses.
f. He would even be willing to be separated from Christ if it would work.
g. He cared so deeply for them that he would be willing to take their punishment upon himself.
h. It is possible that there is an allusion to Ex. 32:32 where after the incident with the golden calf Moses pleaded with God for Israel's forgiveness.
i. Exodus 32:32 (NLT2)
32 But now, if you will only forgive their sin—but if not, erase my name from the record you have written!”
j. Paul identified with Moses deep feeling of concern for Israel. He was willing to take their curse if it would bring them to repentance.
k. He often uses terms like brother and sister in reference to Christians, but this is the one place where he uses it to refer to the Jews.
l. This does not mean that he thinks of them as Christians, but rather from an ethnic point of view.
B. Jesus Weeps
1. Illustration: “We find there is very little difference in ethical behavior between churchgoers and those who are not active religiously. The levels of lying, cheating, and stealing are similar in both groups. Eight out of ten Americans consider themselves Christians, Gallup said, yet only about half of them could identify the person who gave the Sermon on the Mount, and fewer still could recall five of the Ten Commandments.” (George Gallup)
2. We need to grieve over the spiritual state of America!
a. Luke 19:41-42 (NLT2)
41 But as they came closer to Jerusalem and Jesus saw the city ahead, he began to weep.
42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.
b. If you look at America today you will see disunity, hatred, violence, murders and disrespect across the board.
c. You disregard for life, authority and decency.
d. The root problem of all of this is that we have turned our backs against God.
e. We have basically asked God to go away and leave us alone.
f. In the meantime, life as we know it has gotten progressively worse.
g. The only way out of this dilemma is return to God, and the only way this is going to happen is if the church in America steps up and begins to pray and weep over our nation.
h. It’s time for the church in America to tell the devil to get out we want our country back!
Transition: Next, Paul talks about…
2. God’s Blessings On Israel (4-5).
A. People Of Israel
1. Now Paul identifies the covenant blessings of Israel in a series of six statements.
2. He begins in v. 4 with, "They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises."
a. Paul is not just showing the special relationship that they have with the Father but he is also describing the problem that he has been addressing all along in this letter. If they had such a special relationship with God, why are so few of them saved?
b. He begins by referring to them as the people of Israel. Now at this time other nations referred to them as Jews, but they always referred to each other as Israelites.
c. He begins his list of blessings by calling them God's adopted children.
1) This is probably a reference to the adoption theme of the previous chapter. This is surprising because of his emphasis on their unbelief, but the point is to establish them as the children of God.
2) Now, there is no guarantee for the salvation of individual Israelites, because that requires faith, but there is a guarantee of God's special favor towards the nation itself as his covenant people.
d. Second, Paul makes reference to the fact that God revealed his glory to them.
1) This is a reference to the Shekinah glory that we see in the OT.
2) 1 Kings 8:10-11 (NLT2)
10 When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD.
11 The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple.
3) This overwhelming glorious presence of God was a sign of his great love for them.
e. Third, Paul talks about the covenants that God made with them.
1) There were five of them all together: Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and David.
2) The fact that covenants is plural here is a sign that Paul has all of them in mind.
f. Fourth, Paul talks about the fact that God gave them the law. The fact that God gave them the law was an indication that they were his special people.
g. Five, is that fact that he gave them the privilege of worshipping him.
1) I want you to notice that Paul refers to worship as a privilege!
2) Now there are some that might not like what I am about to say, but worship is a privilege, and as such should not be taken for granted!
3) The purpose for the temple, and why we have church buildings today is to have a place in which to worship God.
4) The sad reality is that we take this privilege for granted, when around the world we have Christians brothers and sisters who literally put their lives on the line in order to worship God together.
5) In our country, on the other hand, we come to church when we don't have anything better to do! Something to think about.
h. Six, Paul talks about them receiving the wonderful promises of God. This is a reference to the promises made to Abraham but also to the promises of the covenant.
3. Then Paul talks about two even more significant blessings of Israel. In v. 5 he says, "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen."
a. First, he makes a reference to the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Paul does this to remind his readers that the promises of God came to them through their ancestors.
b. The heritage of the nation descended from them, and because of them they became the special people of God.
c. Then Paul reminds them that it was through the patriarchs that Jesus came to earth. This is a fitting climax, for the Messiah is the culmination and greatest of God's gifts to his people.
d. So, in these final two items Paul summarizes all of the blessings and reasons for them to come to Christ.
e. The greatest of course was Christ himself, but rather than receiving him with joy they rejected him.
f. Paul stresses this by declaring that Jesus is himself God and that he is worthy of all our praise.
B. God’s Blessings On America
1. Illustration: “I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God’s help to lead our nation through stormy seas. But we cannot expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living” (Ronald Reagan).
2. America has taken the blessings of God for granted.
a. Psalm 33:12 (ESV)
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
b. Much like Israel, God has blessed this country.
c. He has blessed us with some of the most beautiful landscape anywhere in the world.
d. He has blessed us with finances and resources like no other nation.
e. He has blessed us with a land, at least for now, where we are free to worship Him as we wish.
f. Yet, in spite of all of these things, we have taken God’s blessings for granted.
g. We have failed to appreciate what we have been given.
h. We have failed to worship God for that which he has blessed us.
i. We have failed to be thankful for all that he has done for us.
j. It is time that we begin to appreciate all that the Lord has done for us as a nation.
k. It is time for us to worship God and give him the glory he deserves.
Conclusion
1. The feelings that I have today for America are not all that different from what Paul had for Israel.
A. Grief Over Israel
B. God’s Blessings On Israel
2. THINGS TO REMEMBER…
A. PRAY FOR REVIVAL TO TAKE PLACE IN OUR NATION.
B. PRAY FOR OUR GOVERNMENTAL LEADERS.
C. VOTE FOR BIBLICAL VALUES.
1) VOTE PRO-LIFE (PROVERBS 16:7)
2) VOTE PRO-CHURCH (MATTHEW 16:18)
3) VOTE PRO-BIBLICAL MARRIAGE (GENESIS 2:24)
