June 15, 2025, Message by P. Kevin Clancey
Transcribed by Beluga AI.
Lord, show your glory. Lead us from glory to glory. We thank you that you’re for us. And we thank you that you fill us in every way. We thank you that we have inherited through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, a great salvation, great hope. And so, Lord, we pray that we would be able to, in the face of the difficulties of this world, rejoice and be grateful and to live victoriously in the hope that is ours, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Now open your word to us, Lord. Holy Spirit. Speak to us that we might be yours and we might know your thoughts, your will, your plan, and your heart in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
All right, dear ones. Sydney snuck in. Yay. You know what? So good to see you. You are delightful.
All right, so we’re in Romans 9. We just went through the first five or six verses, and now we’re going to look at Romans 9:6-33. Real controversial passages. Let me just tell you about how Romans is constructed. And we need to keep this in mind.
I know Ats and Stevin have already spoken on and preached on Romans 10, so I won’t be going through Romans 10. After we get through Romans 9, we’ll jump right to 11.
But Romans 9, 10, and 11 are answering one question. So Romans chapters 1 through 8, Paul is making a strong case that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of faith. It’s the gospel where we’re justified, we’re made righteous by God through faith in his Son, Jesus Christ.
That the old covenant law is gone, that now this gospel has been open to Jews and Gentiles alike. And there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, that all have access to God through faith. So that’s Romans 1 through 8.
Romans 9, 10, and 11, Paul now deals with a very particular question, very pertinent in his day, very pertinent amongst people that he knew and loved. And it is this: God has made him an apostle to the Gentiles. And as he’s preached the gospel to the Gentiles, he has seen great success. He has seen Gentiles leap at this gospel, come to this gospel, believe and put their faith in Jesus Christ. And there’s this great revival happening in the first century amongst non-Jews, and non-Jews are coming to the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, in droves.
But Jews who’ve been waiting for centuries for the Jewish Messiah, not exclusively, but by and large mostly have rejected the Jewish Messiah, Jesus. And to an extent, that’s still true to this day. And Paul is answering that in Romans 9, 10, and 11. He’s answering Jewish objections to that.
If this is the Jewish Messiah, why is it working so well amongst the Gentiles and not amongst the Jews? And especially in Romans 9. We have to keep that in mind. We can’t just take Romans 9 out of its historical context and apply it 2,000 years later when that is no longer, for most of us, a burning question.
When we understand it in its context, though, we can see that even though that’s not a burning question, it has application to our lives.
And so I’m going to read Romans 9, and I’m going to start at verse 6, and I’m going to read all the way through the end of the chapter.
6 Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 8 That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring. 9 For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son. 10 And not only that, but Rebekah conceived children through one man, our father Isaac. 11 For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand 12 not from works but from the one who calls she was told, The older will serve the younger. 13 As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau. 14 What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. 18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19 You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who resists his will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? 22 And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory 24 on us, the ones he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As it also says in Hosea, I will call Not My People, My People, and she who is Unloved, Beloved. 26 And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God. 27 But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved; 28 since the Lord will execute his sentence completely and decisively on the earth. 29 And just as Isaiah predicted: If the Lord of Armies had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah. (Romans 9:6-29, CSB)
All right. And may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our God, our Rock and our Redeemer.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14, CSB)
This was, I could have done one sermon, two sermons, three sermons, or four sermons on this. And so I did one. So hope you had dinner. Here we go.
Four questions. Four questions. Paul raises more than four questions. But four central questions hit this passage. And at the very beginning, Paul asks, has God’s promise failed? In other words, there are all these promises in the Old Testament that God is going to send a Messiah upon Israel, and Israel is going to be greatly blessed by this Messiah.
But now the gospel seems to be going out to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles seem to be greatly blessed. And here is the answer Paul gives to that question: Not all ethnic Israel are true Israel.
He has already laid out the case in Romans 1 through 8, that the just shall live by faith, that you are justified by faith, that you’re made righteous with God by faith. And therefore not all who are ethnically Israel, not all who carry the blood, are true Israel. It is those who have faith.
Then he goes to the Old Testament to prove it. He says, children of the promise, not just physical descent, that is Isaac. Abraham, you know, Abraham had other physical descendants. He had Ishmael. Then he had concubines, and I think he had seven other sons. But it’s only through Isaac. They all carried his blood. But it’s only through Isaac, the child of the promise, that the descendants come, that the people of Israel come from.
So again, not all who have the blood of Abraham are Israel.
Second, he says, look it, God is going to bring forth a Messiah. And in bringing forth a Messiah, not all who are descendants of Israel, who are descendants of Abraham, will play a part in that. Esau has the blood of Abraham, Jacob has the blood of Abraham. And God chooses Jacob to be the one who will carry forth the bloodline of the Messiah, not Esau.
Many people are troubled by the passage Jacob, I loved Esau. I hated hate in this context. Remember, Jesus says, unless you hate your mother and father, you cannot serve me. So hate is used oftentimes in the Bible hyperbolically to show the distinction, the difference, all right? And hate literally in this sense does not mean God looked at Esau and said, yeah, I’m just going to really love on this guy. And this guy, I’m just going to kick to the side.
Well, it kind of means kick to the side in this way. It means that I will pass over Esau in the fulfillment of my promise, and I will choose Jacob. And this is called. Some people will call this election. And fine, but notice it’s not pertaining to salvation. This is the mistake people make when it comes to God’s election. God chooses people to fulfill his purposes. All right?
And he chooses Jacob to carry on the bloodline that will ultimately lead to Jesus and not Esau. In fact, he says this to Rebecca, that Jacob and Esau don’t just represent those two people. They really represent two nations. Doesn’t he say that in your womb are two nations? One of them will become, literally, Jacob becomes the man Israel. He gets the name Israel.
And Esau becomes Edom, the nation of Edom. And he says the older will serve the younger.
12 not from works but from the one who calls she was told, The older will serve the younger. (Romans 9:12, CSB)
Now, how do we know God’s talking about nations here? Because if you read the story in Genesis, there’s no account at all in the story of Genesis of Esau ever serving Jacob. In fact, there’s no account.
Esau kind of starts out kind of bad. You know, he sells his birthright. He’s like a big burly dummy. But in the end, he turns out pretty nice. He welcomes Jacob back. He tries to reconcile the relationship with Jacob.
And there’s no account of Esau ever serving Jacob. So this prophecy that the older will serve the younger is about the nations. Because we do know later in Israel’s history, especially during David’s and Solomon’s kingdom, when Israel was at its high watermark, that Edom paid tribute to Israel. They served Israel, that Israel ascended over Edom.
And so God is electing nations. He elects people for purposes. Listen, he has a bloodline, right? He here, loved means God’s chosen for God’s purpose, hated means, passed over. Jacob had 12 sons. Guess which one got chosen. Judah.
Judah got chosen to carry the bloodline. Judah had lots of relatives. Guess which one got chosen. David. David got chosen. David had lots of relatives.
There were lots of young virgins in Israel nine months before Jesus’ birth. There were probably lots of young virgins who were prayerful. There were probably lots of young virgins who were good. Mary got chosen, okay? Jesus can’t be born through 312 different women.
God gets to choose for His purposes. He still does that. He chooses for us different assignments. He chooses for us different paths.
He could choose for you the person you marry. But none of this in this first question is pertaining to salvation. It doesn’t say that Esau didn’t become a person of faith and become saved. And it didn’t say necessarily Jacob became a person of faith and became saved. Though it seems that after the wrestling match, he did become a person of faith. So none of this is pertaining to salvation. So the second objection that Israel has is, well, then, God’s not fair. God is unjust. And he says this. He says, I’m not unjust.
Now, remember, here’s the question. Why are the Israelites not being saved and the Gentiles being saved?
And in answer to that question, God says, I can show mercy on who I want to show mercy. I can show compassion on who I want to show compassion.
15 For he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (Romans 9:15, CSB)
Think of Jesus’ parable. I believe it’s in Matthew 20. See, the Jewish objection is, you’ve been our God for 2000 years. These are newcomers. Why do the newcomers get the same favor and the same blessing and the same Messiah that we get?
Why don’t they have to suffer for 2000 years? Why don’t they have to go to Egypt? Why don’t they have to endure the Assyrians and the Babylonians? Why don’t they have to have this history?
And God is saying, I can have mercy on them if I want. And Jesus tells this parable to the Pharisees, same kind of thing. In Matthew 20, He says, there’s a laborer with a vineyard, and he hires people at the beginning of the day. And he makes a very legitimate offer to those people.
Work the day and here are the wages, and the people agree to it. Is there anything unfair about that? Somebody says to me, you know, Kevin, I’ll give you a job, and I’m going to pay you this much. And I do the job, and they pay me that much. There you go.
But then he hires people later in the day, then he hires people later still in the day, then he hires people at the end of the day. And then he pays them all the same amount.
And so the people at the beginning say, not fair. It’s unjust. No, it’s merciful. God didn’t cheat those people out of a dime. The owner of the vineyard didn’t cheat those people out. Israel has not been cheated. The Messiah came to Israel.
In fact, the first seven years of the preaching of Jesus, three and a half years of Jesus himself, then three and a half years of his disciples before Stephen was stoned, was almost exclusively what to the Jews. I have been more than fair to you. But why is it that you complain that I’m having mercy on the Gentiles?
Oh, but what about Pharaoh, Pastor? The Bible clearly says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. You bet he did. You know what plague that was? Sixth, the sixth plague. He hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
You know what it says before that? Several times Pharaoh hardened his heart. Our Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. Pharaoh’s throwing babies in the river. God didn’t harden Pharaoh’s heart when he was throwing babies in the river. It’s much later in the story that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
So does that just mean that God says, I have mercy on some and I’ll harden others’ hearts and that’s it? No, he will have mercy on people who have not Johnny-come-latelys.
You know, you may be a Christian since you were 6 years old and somebody else comes to Jesus on their deathbed and you both meet in heaven. Don’t whine about it. you’re in heaven. Rejoice that they’re there too. Right?
Well God, I gave up all that fun sinning. Well, I’ve done some of that fun sinning. It’s a lot more fun not sinning. I don’t like the consequences of that sin. And it’s not that fun. But God hardens people. Does God harden people’s hearts? You bet.
At the beginning, it doesn’t say that. In fact, it appears that what he’s saying is I will use your life. And he talks about this later. Paul talks about this later as a vessel of honor or a vessel of dishonor. But even then, what does Paul say? Paul says, if you want to be a vessel of honor, cleanse yourself. In other words, you have something to do with it, repent.
You’ll be a vessel of honor. So I will use you. And he used Pharaoh by hardening his heart. But you know, as kids say, right, when they get in a fight, he started it. Pharaoh started it. God could use Pharaoh in either direction. He could have been glorified through Pharaoh. If Pharaoh had been a willing Pharaoh, I’ll let your people go. Sure. And then, then there would have been this great history about how this guy, Pharaoh, this pagan, listened to God. There are other, there’s other pharaohs that listen to God.
In the Abraham story, you know, brave, brave Abraham handed his wife over to Pharaoh. Pharaoh listened to God and said, what are you doing? I’m going to get cursed by God. Take her back. God used that. Pharaoh didn’t harden his heart. People pray, God, use my life. No prop, guaranteed, slam dunk, 100% sure God will use your life. Here’s a better prayer. God, use my life as a vessel of honor. That’s a better prayer, God. And so God will harden people.
But the only case we have in Scripture that I know of, where the Bible says God hardened their heart, is they hardened their heart first. I don’t know that there’s a case different than that. Maybe somebody can show me one.
But when God hardens Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh had already hardened his heart. And so God can show mercy on who he has mercy. And the Gentiles have not earned or deserved God’s mercy, just as Israel had not earned or deserved God’s selection of them to bring forth the Father or to bring forth the Messiah.
And therefore, God is not unjust. People say this: I want God to be fair. That’s bottom line what God is. Here’s what I say: I want God to be merciful. I want God to be merciful. There is nobody saved or condemned at the end of the day who will be able to say to God, that wasn’t fair. That wasn’t fair.
Well, if God’s choosing the Gentiles, here’s the Israelites. Objection. If God’s choosing the Gentiles over us, why does he find fault with us? After all, who can resist his will? And Paul says, shut up, quit whining. You see, a lot of people read this passage and they say, why can God find fault? And they read this passage like, who can resist his will? You have no right to talk back to God. But that’s not what the passage is saying.
The first and the second go together. Why do you find fault? Who can resist his will? Let me tell you, who can resist. I’m going to tell you in one sense, nobody can resist God’s will. But I’m going to tell you who can resist God’s will. And the Bible simply is an ever-ending story about this. I’ll tell you who can resist God’s will. Everybody. Everybody. That’s the problem. That’s the problem.
Well, God says thou shalt not murder, but in His sovereign will, before the foundation of time, He decreed that there will be murderers. And therefore, God has two contradictory wills. One, and this is, people say this, this is taught. God has two wills, and He has a revealed will that thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, and all these nice things that we all agree with.
But in fact, before the foundation of the world, he laid out this script. He laid out this plan, and he willed that people wouldn’t do his will. He willed that people would be cruel. He willed that people would murder. He willed that people would rape so that he could divinely show his glory by displaying his wrath on these people.
That God has two contradictory wills. And therefore, people can resist the revealed will of God. But in fact, all they’re doing is acting out perfectly the secret eternal decree of God.
Now let me tell you, that is not found in the Bible. Let me tell you where it is found. You can read it. It’s found in the introduction to Calvin’s Institutes. God has two wills, his revealed will and his secret, sovereign, mysterious will. And so some people read this passage saying, who can resist his will? Alluding to that secret, sovereign, mysterious will that God has eternally decreed from the foundation of the world.
But in fact, the prophet Jeremiah says when Israel is sacrificing babies to the god of Moloch, he says, who told you to do this? Who told you to do this? Certainly not me. And I think this is hyperbola, but it says it never entered my mind.
5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, something I have never commanded or mentioned; I never entertained the thought. (Jeremiah 19:5, CSB)
Well, that doesn’t sound like some secret decree from all eternity that Israel would do this. Even though God didn’t want them to do this, he decreed that they would do this. No, that makes no sense. And in fact, straight up, Luke 7:30.
John the Baptist and the Pharisees. Jesus says this of John the Baptist.
28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God’s way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. 30 But since the Pharisees and experts in the law had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves. ) (Luke 7:28-30, CSB)
But since the Pharisees and the experts in the law had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves. They rejected, you know, that word, the plan of God. Same word, the will of God. They rejected the will of God for themselves. Who can resist God’s will? He’s not saying here, listen, God’s will is just God’s will and nobody can resist it. So shut up and take it. He’s saying God is including the Gentiles.
And of course I can find fault. you’re saying who can resist his will? you’re resisting his will by objecting to this. God’s will is to include the Gentiles. Now I will tell you there are ways we can’t resist God’s will.
There are things God absolutely chooses that there’s no taking back. Justificate. you’re saved by faith. There’s not a second plan. There’s not a plan B. Jesus is the way of salvation. There’s not a plan B. Right. There’s heaven and there’s hell. There’s not a plan B. God will have his eternal family. There’s not a plan B. God will take his gospel to all the world. There’s not a plan B.
There are things that God is going to accomplish absolutely that Jesus Christ is going to raise from the dead. All the powers of hell could not keep Jesus going to die for our sins. Jesus Christ is going to come to the world. All these things God does and all the powers of hell and all the free will of human beings can’t stop them because God is sovereign and God will accomplish his will. But he accomplishes his will without stomping on ours.
Who can resist God’s will? Now, this is different than God has two wills. This is very different. God has an ultimate will that no one can resist. God has a revealed will in the Scripture of how we should behave and how we should respond. That we can accept or resist. That’s how it works. That’s how it works.
And so the. Who are you to question God? That’s not who are you to question God? That I picked one person for salvation and didn’t pick another? No. Who are you to question God? That I’m including the Gentiles and the Jews aren’t receiving this. God can include the Gentiles, and why are you resisting his will?
Now he talks about Israel as a lump of clay. And again, we look at this and say, oh well, God can make one lump for heaven, one lump for hell. That’s not exactly what he’s saying. All right, again, got to go to your Old Testament. Jeremiah talks about Israel being a lump of clay. And he says, I’m the potter, you the clay. I can do whatever I want with the clay. And therefore I’m sending the Babylonians to destroy you. Fair enough. But you know what?
Israel had something to do with why God was doing that, why the potter was deciding to do that to the clay. They had rebelled against him. And he even says in Jeremiah, by the way, clay, if you repent, I won’t do this to you.
So now Israel, God is looking at Israel as two lumps of clay. One piece of Israel is a vessel of honor. They have believed in the Messiah. But another lump of clay, another piece of that lump of clay, that is Israel, has resisted the Messiah. And they’ve become vessels of wrath, dishonorable vessels. 2 Timothy already talks about this. Vessels of honor cleanse themselves. They have a choice in the matter. They repent.
It’s very interesting that he says he prepares these objects of wrath for their destruction. But it is because of their unbelief and disobedience. Notice the objects of mercy he prepared beforehand for glory. He doesn’t say he prepared the objects of wrath beforehand. Read it. It’s in your Bible. He says, objects of wrath prepared. Is God glorified in judging evil? Absolutely.
But are those objects of wrath chosen beforehand to be objects of wrath? It doesn’t say that. But it does very specifically say the objects prepared for glory were chosen beforehand. What does that mean?
Everybody’s name’s in the book of life. Everybody’s name’s in the book of life. But if you rebel against him, disobey him, don’t believe in him, your name is blotted out. Again, this is not God saying, I pick you for wrath. I pick you for glory. I pick you for glory beforehand. Oh, you don’t want glory. Okay. You just signed up for the wrath. And I’ll be just like glorified in hardening Pharaoh’s hearts. I’ll be glorified in judging my enemies.
But who was prepared beforehand? Who did God. Here’s the word. Who did God? Predestined. He predestined the vessels for glory. Romans 8 says, we are predestined to conform to the image of his Son.
29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29, CSB)
People say, well, you don’t believe in predestination, Kevin. Yes, I do. You have a destiny. I don’t believe in unconditional election or irresistible grace or limited atonement. What does that leave me? Two points of Calvinism? Yeah, I’ll talk about the other two another time. At least there’s three I don’t believe in because I don’t think that’s what the Bible is saying.
Salvation includes both believing Jews and believing Gentiles. And Gentiles who did not know God have now been called to be God’s people. And they’re responding in faith. Again, just as not all Jews are responding in unbelief, not all Gentiles are responding in faith.
The question that Paul’s dealing with is why are so many Gentiles responding in faith? And why are so many Jews obstinate? He deals with that again in Romans 10. He deals with that again in Romans 11. That’s the point of Romans 9, 10, and 11. It’s not. The point is not God picked person A to be saved and person B to be damned.
A remnant of Jews are God’s people. And so finally, what are we to say about all this? You see, it didn’t take till 10 o’clock. I’m wrapping it up, people. I’m wrapping it up. Just turn to somebody next to you and say, I just thank God we have such a good pastor.
And he’s so humble. Besides being such a great preacher, he’s just so humble. Help him, Jesus.
God in his mercy has revealed himself to the Gentiles. Yea, God. How many of you have, you know, deep Jewish blood in you? I don’t think I did. My ancestry.com showed I got just a smidge of Native American.
And you know, Clancy, I thought, oh, Fayette, begorrah. I’m Irish. Actually, I’m more Scottish, and I don’t even like to admit this, even more English. But you know, those two islands, I’m a lot of those two islands.
A lot of me is just those two islands: England and Scotland. All right. There’s not much, you know, Jewish blood in me. Guess what? Praise be to God that He’s opened his. He’s revealed his mercy to the Gentiles. And large numbers are responding by faith.
And because they’re responding by faith, Romans 1-8, they are receiving the righteousness of God. They are being justified and they’re being made right with God through the gift of faith.
The Jews, on the other hand, mostly have resisted the gospel message and have clung to the misguided attempt of attaining righteousness through the law. They’re sticking to the old ways. They have the hardening of the categories.
You know, when you get older, you get the hardening of the arteries. I had a friend who used to say, yeah, old people, he says, old people, we get the hardening of the categories. That’s the way we’ve always done it.
I’ll tell you what, I’m getting that way. I mean, I’m that way, right? I go to the store. Digital coupons drive me nuts because I’m an old guy. Why do I have to use my phone to shop? I already registered with you. I’m already like a member of your whatever. You can already track me. You got my phone number. I already have to give you that to get.
I never even understood why they have to have a member price and a non-member price. It’s like asparagus is $1.99 if you’re a member, $4.99 if you’re a non-member. What’s with that? Well, here’s what’s with that.
If you’re a member, they track you, and that helps them do marketing. And so, okay, I’ll be your guinea pig. I’ll be your rat for that. But now they want to do it again by digitally tracking me.
And man, I go to the thing, and I don’t do it right. You know, I messed it up somehow because you know how many passwords, and it just drives me crazy. You can’t go to a baseball game now without your phone. You can’t park without your phone. You can’t get a ticket without your phone.
Pretty soon, you know, you’re getting. The plumber is going to come to your house and fix your toilet and say, well, where’s the flusher? He goes, no, there’s an app. You can have an app to flush your toilet. It might get worse. There might be an app. They might have to create an app to do what you do in the toilet. For all I know, it’s heading that way. It’s like, golly, hardening of the categories, right?
My kids don’t bother them. They, like, get out their phones. Yeah. Gee, dad, doesn’t this make life so much easier? No. Makes it more irritating. Get off my lawn. Hardening of the categories.
The Jews. No! Wait. Doesn’t this make it easier? 613 laws, kaput. Align yourself with the resurrected Christ, the perfect Jew who fulfilled the law for you. What you could never do perfectly, obey God’s law, He did for you. Align yourself with him and he will make you righteous based on his righteousness and your faith in him. No. We want to do it the old way. No. And so Jesus has become the stone, the foundation stone that the Jews have stumbled over, and the stone, the foundation stone that the Gentiles have believed in.
And therefore, this confusing turnaround. But remember where Paul started. Not all Israel is Israel. In other words, not all ethnic Israel. And we already know this, right? Because by this time, how many tribes of Israel is Paul talking to here? Two. Yeah. Just. Yeah. The rest are lost.
According to Mormons, they became the Native Americans. That didn’t work out very well either. With Ancestry.com just letting you know. But maybe that’s not good science. I don’t know.
Who is the Israel of God? Paul’s making the argument, those who have faith in Jesus. He says it pretty clearly in Galatians. We are now the people of God by faith in the Jewish Messiah. He’ll continue that argument in Romans 10, which two brilliant scholars among you have already tackled. You can look at Rumble and hear what they had to say, so I won’t say it over again. And next week we’ll jump into Romans 11.
So, as people of God, you now are objects of his mercy. As he fulfilled the old covenant, he initiated the New Covenant that starts with the forgiveness of sins and then leads into a relationship with him that is eternal, that we share together. That includes the new heavens and the new earth and life everlasting with one another as God’s forever family. And tonight we’ll have a family meal, and you are invited as the Holy Spirit feeds us on the New Covenant.
The blood of Christ, the forgiveness of Christ, the life of Christ at the communion table. So I invite you to come and eat.
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