SERMON TITLE: God’s Word Cannot Fail
SCRIPTURE: Romans 9:1-9 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 9-29-24
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As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And there’s one thing I want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshiping with us for the first time — if you’re joining us at our North Main Campus or are with our friends in Bucyrus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
Before we get to the sermon — I’m going to lead us in a time of prayer for our ministry partners and the people living in the nation of Lebanon. We’ve prayed for the ongoing conflict in that area of the world before — and with it moving into Lebanon and impacting people we partner with in ministry — we should pause and pray.
This isn’t about making a political statement on the conflict — this about people — especially our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are experiencing suffering and hardship that most of us can’t imagine. So let’s pray for them.
Gracious, kind, and merciful God, we come before you lifting up the people in the Middle East — especially those feeling from southern Lebanon with no idea how their basic needs — food, water, shelter — will be met. How unsettled they must be. How concerned the parents of children must be. How hopeless and desperate they must be.
And — yet — in the midst of this horrific situation — Resurrection Church Beirut — along with your people in many other congregations — are being strengthened by your Spirit’s power and are demonstrating your love for those who are without hope. Jesus you promised us that — by our love — people will know that we are your followers. May your people’s love for those without hope demonstrate clearly to all that you are the one true God and that salvation is found only in the name of Jesus.
For all involved in the conflict — Israel, Palestinians, Hezbollah, and whoever else — we pray that they would all realize that you — Jesus — are the only answer to this conflict. For following the Prince of peace is the only means by which there will ever be peace in this world of conflict. So — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — may you use this conflict to ignite a disciple-making movement in the Middle East that destroys the many walls of hostility that have been built up in this land which needs to experience the healing that only comes from your powerful touch. And may we — your people here — far from this conflict — see that we’re just as in need of your Spirit to ignite a disciple-making movement in our land — a revival of hearts — that destroys the walls of hostility dividing our nation. And we pray all of this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
We’re continuing our series in Romans this weekend. We’ll be in chapter nine and — if you were here with us last weekend — you’ll recognize that our verses for today were also our verses for last week’s sermon. However — last week — we focused on the first three verses and — today — we’ll focus on the verses we didn’t have time for in our last sermon. I also mentioned last week how Paul — way back in chapter three — started a thought that he seems to have gotten distracted from. And it’s not until our chapter — chapter nine — that he returns to his thought. And today we’re going to look at the content of this thought which he’s picked back up again.
So — with that in mind — let’s turn to our verses for today. We’ll be in Romans chapter nine — looking at verses one through nine. So — if you have your Bible with you — please turn with me to Romans chapter nine — we’ll begin in verse one.
Romans 9:1–9 (ESV)
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit — 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Last week we looked at Paul’s love for his fellow Israelites which compelled him to — not only make such a bold statement — “I wish I could be cut off from Christ if it would save them” — but to live differently because of his love for them. Paul spent much of his life — as recorded in Scripture — sharing the gospel with people who were lost. And — with Paul as our example — we considered what it might mean for us to have a similar love for those who are lost — for those who don’t yet believe in Jesus.
Now — in verse four — Paul goes in a direction that — at least for me — is somewhat unexpected. For — in thinking of his fellow countrymen — whom he deeply loves and longs to believe in Jesus — he says…
Romans 9:4–5 (ESV)
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
These two verses are the continuation of Paul’s thought from back in chapter three. Back in chapter three he begins his thought when he says…
Romans 3:1–2 (ESV)
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
Now — I’m going to try and do something that I hope will work. I’m going to try and connect where Paul begins — back in chapter three — with what he’s saying in chapter nine — so we all understand his singular thought. Because — if you were just reading through Romans — it’d be easy to miss this.
But if we put it all together — this singular thought of Paul’s — is that his people — the Jews — are…
Now think about the blessings I just rattled off. What wonderful, meaningful, and undeserved blessings God bestowed upon the Jewish people.
For instance — they — the Jewish people — were given the privilege and holy responsibility of recording the Word of God. Again — Paul would’ve been thinking about what we call the Old Testament — yet we know that most of the New Testament was also recorded by those who were Jewish believers in Jesus Christ.
Here’s something quite humbling — when you stop and consider it. This privilege — of recording God’s Word — wasn’t given to us. Even with all that we American Christians have done for good — God didn’t choose us to record his Word. This blessing — this holy responsibility and privilege — was given to the Jews. It wasn’t given to the Germans, or the South Koreans, or the Australians with their cool accents — it was given to the Jews. What an honor — what a privilege — that God called them to be the people tasked with writing down his Word.
Paul also reminds us that the Jews were God’s original adopted family. Of all the nations in the world — Paul tells us — God chose the Jews to be his special possession. We find this in the book of beginnings — Genesis — when God calls out to Abraham — who’s also one of their blessings — for Abraham is one of the patriarchs Paul was surely referring to in his list of blessings — but we’re first introduced to Abraham — when his name was Abram — in Genesis chapter eleven.
Genesis 11:27–32 (NLT)
27 This is the account of Terah’s family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot. 28 But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living. 29 Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor’s brother Haran.) 30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children. 31 One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. 32 Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
Now the next verse in Abram’s story — which we’ll get to in a moment — should floor us. You see — something we know about Terah — Abram’s father — and his entire family — including Abram — is that they were not worshipers of God. “How do we know this, Josh?” Because in Joshua chapter twenty-four we read…
Joshua 24:2–3 (ESV)
2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. 3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac.
Joshua is reminding the people of their Jewish history. And he reminds the Jewish people that Abraham didn’t start out as a follower of Yahweh — Yahweh is an Old Testament name referring to God. What did Joshua tell them? He tells them — and us — that God called out to Abraham — while he was serving — which is another word for worshiping — other gods. If it helps — imagine that Abraham was a Muslim — or a Budhist or Hindu — someone who followed a different religion. That’s how his story begins in the Bible.
So what does that tell us about Abraham? It tells us that Abraham wasn’t seeking God — he wasn’t searching for God — he was a worshiper of whatever false gods that were part of his false religion. Thus — it should be totally unexpected to us when — if we go back to his story in Genesis — and see that the next verse tells us…
Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Abraham was a worshiper of some other religion — worshiping whatever false god was part of that religion. He wasn’t a worshiper of the true God and — yet — God shows up in his life and says, “Abram, I choose to bless you. I know you don’t know me — I know that you’ve been worshiping false gods — but I choose you — and your offspring — to be my special people — to be my spiritual family — to be the nation who I will have a unique relationship with. And the generations that will come from your family line will be a nation that I will make into a blessing to all other nations.”
This is the very definition of grace. This is all unearned — it’s unexpected. Abraham doesn’t deserve this blessing — which means his offspring don’t deserve it either — and yet — God — because he is gracious and kind and generous — calls Abraham out of the spiritual darkness of worshiping false gods and into a relationship with himself — the One true God.
Now — remember the context of Paul’s thought. If we pause and remember what Paul is doing — he’s giving his answer as to why the Jewish people — as a whole — not every individual Jew — but as a people — rejected Jesus as God’s promised Messiah — a word that means Savior. He’s explaining — on a grand scale — how salvation works. Thus understanding how their story began as a people — how the relationship between God and Abraham began. For it is a story of salvation — of rescue — of being called out of spiritual darkness and death and into the light of God’s grace. And Abraham’s story of salvation is one of God pursuing him — of God choosing him — and it was all undeserved.
Let’s continue looking at the blessings that Paul lists. He mentions the covenants the Jewish people were given. You may wonder, “What’s a covenant?” One definition of covenant is a “relationship that God establishes with people on the basis of his promises.” (Lexham Survey of Theology) Again — a covenant is a relationship — established by God with people — and the relationship is based on God’s promises.
For example, God made a covenant with Abraham when God promised him that he’d be the father of many nations. A covenant is what God made with the Israelites after he had rescued them out of their slavery in Egypt. God also made a covenant to David that from his line will come a King who’s reign and rule will never come to an end. Paul alludes to this covenant with David in the opening words of Romans when he writes…
Romans 1:1–4 (NLT)
1 This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. 2 God promised this Good News long ago through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. 3 The Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, 4 and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.
I haven’t listed all of the covenants — but what may be the most familiar covenant is what’s called the new covenant.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (NLT)
31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. 33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”
With the Mosaic covenant — that’s the covenant God made with the Israelites after he rescued them out of Egypt through the leadership of Moses — with the Mosaic covenant came the giving of the law — another blessing mentioned in Paul’s list — the law referring to the Ten Commandments. And — it was during this time — that the Jewish people experienced the glory of God in their presence. For — after being given the details for the Tabernacle — which was the tent of worship — in the book of Exodus we read…
Exodus 40:34 (ESV)
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
God’s glory was in their midst — another blessing for the people of Israel.
During this time God gave the Israelites instructions on how to faithfully worship him. For the faithful worship of the One true God — who first rescues his people before he gives them commandments to obey — the faithful worship of God is what he expects of those whom he has rescued.
Now — we could go on — and in much more detail — exploring how God’s grace and kindness played out in their history which is full of God’s blessing — his undeserved favor — upon them as a nation. Yet — there’s one blessing — and it’s the blessing Paul ends with — that creates the tension he’s trying to resolve.
Jesus — God’s promised Messiah — was a Jew — and this was meant to be a blessing to the Israelites. I mean — think about it: God’s Savior came from their people — what a blessing! Jesus wasn’t American. Or Korean. Or Indian. Or Mexican. Or Australian. He was a Jew.
And — yet — the vast majority of the Jewish people rejected Jesus. It was they who resisted his ministry the most while he walked the earth. It was they who opposed him. And — it was they — the Jewish people — who had him crucified on a cross.
Which leads Paul — his readers — and us — to ask the question: Can God’s promises be trusted? Can we trust God’s Word? I mean — when it mattered — when the Jewish Messiah came — God’s special people rejected and crucified him. And if the promised Messiah wasn’t received by the Israelites — then what does that mean for God’s promises to his people? Here’s how Paul states it.
Romans 9:6–9 (ESV)
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
What Paul’s words remind me of is my own story of faith. I grew up in a home where I went to church regularly. But it wasn’t until I was in my teens that I realized I didn’t really believe in Jesus. I knew facts about him and Christianity — but I didn’t know him. If you would’ve asked — I would’ve said that I was a Christian — and said a bunch of things that would’ve convinced you that I was — but it wasn’t my faith that I would’ve been expressing — it was the faith of people around me.
That’s what Paul is communicating when he writes, “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” Israel — as a nation — was God’s chosen people. But not every individual Israelite followed the faith of Abraham. In fact — it doesn’t take one long — when reading the Old Testament — to see this — that being born a Jew doesn’t mean the person had faith like Abraham.
And — yet — simply because of their ethnicity — they believed they were right with God. They believed that God accepted them regardless of their worship of false gods, and their dismissal of their covenant responsibilities, and their ignoring of his commands, and so on. They thought God was pleased with them just because they were Jews and had so deceived themselves that they thought there was nothing they could do that would cause God to reject them — and they couldn’t have been more wrong.
We’d be foolish — at this point — to not ask: What ways might we be like those Israelites?
When it comes to salvation — ethnicity and nationality meant — and mean — nothing. Being a child of the promise is what has always mattered. And who are the children of the promise? Paul told us earlier in Romans when he writes...
Romans 4:16–25 (NET)
16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants — not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed — the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do. 18 Against hope Abraham believed in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations according to the pronouncement, “so will your descendants be.” 19 Without being weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about one hundred years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that what God promised he was also able to do. 22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham as righteousness. 23 But the statement it was credited to him was not written only for Abraham’s sake, 24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was given over because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of our justification.
All who believe in Jesus Christ for their salvation are descendants of Abraham. Those who believe in Jesus are the many nations he was promised. All who believe in Jesus are Abraham’s spiritual children. God’s promise to him didn’t mean all of Abraham’s physical offspring would be the true Israel — only those who followed in his footsteps of faith — regardless of their ethnicity — would be children of the promise.
And don’t miss that Paul is quoting from the book of Genesis. He’s showing us that the children of the promise have always been a group that would cross ethnicities and nationalities. Like Rahab, Ruth, Naaman, the people of Nineveh, and others we come across in the Old Testament — much less all of the Gentiles in the New Testament who demonstrate true faith in God by believing in Jesus Christ for their salvation.
We’ll see this again — at the end of our chapter and also when we get to chapter eleven — but here we catch a glimpse of God’s promise: that he — God — has always kept a remnant of faithful followers for himself. He keeps the remnant — he preserves them — he ensures that they are his. Yet — the point Paul is making is this: God’s Word did not fail — even though Israel — as a nation — failed. God’s Word did not fail because God’s Word — and his promises to his people — cannot fail.
Though God’s sovereignty and our free will usually get all the attention — when one reads through Romans chapter nine — the point Paul is making is whether or not God’s Word has failed. If God’s promised Messiah was rejected by the people of Israel — what does that mean for God’s Word? Can it be trusted? Is it reliable? Can it be thwarted by our rebellion? Are God’s promises — at best — uncertain hopes of his that may or may not come true? I mean — if the fulfillment of God’s promised Messiah was rejected by the Israelites — what does that mean for the promises that he’s made to us — his people — today? Is there any guarantee? Any certainty? Is God’s Word reliable?
Know that this is the thrust of Paul’s argument as we continue in Romans chapter nine — so that — when we look at predestination and God choosing one individual and not choosing another — and all sorts of other controversial topics — know that what Paul is wanting to prove is that God’s Word is reliable — that it did not and has not failed — even though the Jewish people had rejected Jesus — God’s promised Messiah — and had him crucified on a cross — leading their being accursed and cut off from salvation.
Remember — Paul’s writing to people who believe in Jesus — many of them with Jewish backgrounds. And — yet — they’ve got many friends and family members who reject Jesus. Can you imagine the questions they have about all of those promises that Paul says were given to the Israelites that we’ve looked at today? They were all probably thinking, “Help me understand this Paul. What does their rejection of Jesus mean about all of those promises God had made to Israel?”
And Paul's response — as we see in our verses — is that those promises were always for the children of the promise — the true Israel — the chosen remnant — within the nation of Israel. This is why God’s Word had not failed — according to Paul. In fact — God’s Word did exactly what it had promised it would do.
And this truth — that God’s Word always does what it says it will do — is meant to give us — God’s people today — great hope, confidence, and encouragement — especially when it comes to what we looked at last week: Loving those who are lost. God’s Word always doing what it says it will do is what gives our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East great hope right now as a conflict goes on all around them.
Because — dear Christians — God has made some wonderful promises to us in his Word about his love for the lost. And his promises of love for the lost are meant to compel us to love them. And when we remember how God’s love for the lost is like a father waiting for his wayward child to return — and how his love for the lost is like a shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep behind to go find the one who wandered away — or how his love for those who are lost has more breadth, and depth, and height, and width to it than we dare to believe — how much more will we marvel at his love for us — his love for you — and be inspired to love those who’ve yet to believe in Jesus?
Yet we know where Paul is headed. Having defended that God’s Word has not failed — Paul’s going to now explain why some people receive Jesus as their Savior and why others don’t. And — I’m not going to make a promise I can’t fulfill — so no, “After our time in Romans nine — predestination, God’s sovereignty, man’s responsibility, and humanity’s freedom are all going to be cleared up for us and we’re all going to have one hundred percent agreement on how all this works” — none of that. But can we all — as we step into some sacred theological waters over the next few weeks and months — can we commit to remembering where Paul begins? He declares God’s love for the lost — which we’re to mirror — which we’re to have — which we’re to act on. And he’s told us that God’s Word and promises to his people cannot fail. So — as we move forward in Paul’s letter — let’s do so with these promises in mind. But that’s for next time — for now — let’s pray together.
Father, when we take what we learned last week — a truth to behold — that you so loved the world that you gave your only Son — Jesus Christ — so that whoever believes in him will not perish — but have eternal life — and combine it with what we’ve learned today — we realize that this is a promise that cannot fail. Or that — in heaven — there’s rejoicing over one lost sinner who repents. Another word of yours that cannot fail. Or that — like a father running to his prodigal son — you run towards your lost children whom you love. A word that cannot fail.
Holy Spirit, increase our faith in you — the One who inspired the human authors of Scripture — so that our trust in your Word is rooted in our trust in you. Increase our trust in the reliability of your Word — for it cannot fail. All of your promises — those of blessing and — yes — even your promises of cursing — will come to pass — for your Word cannot fail.
And — Jesus — you are the Word of God who came to fulfill all the promises God made to his people: You are the Messiah — the great Rescuer — the One who came to save his people from their sin. And you demonstrated the truth we’ve been looking at today — that God’s Word cannot fail. Those whom you died for will be saved. Those whom you have called to be adopted into your family will be adopted into your family. Those who believe in you shall not perish — but are guaranteed eternal life. For you cannot fail.
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we thank you that your Word cannot fail. For in you — and your promises to us — have we put our hope. And we pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
May you go with great comfort, hope, and peace in knowing that God’s Word cannot fail. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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