Finally the morning of the big day arrives, and you are boiling over with excitement. Eventually, the clock strikes 4:00 and your six friends start arriving. They each have a small gift to give you, for which you politely thank them, and place on the table next to the gift from your parents – to be opened promptly at 7:00. There is the pizza and later the cake and ice cream, but your mind is not on pizza and ice cream. Then shortly before 7:00 your Daddy does something unexpected – He goes into his bedroom and comes out with six other boxes exactly the same shape and size as yours. He gives them to your friends and tells them to open them – even before you get to open yours. Your worst fear is quickly realized – your own father has given to each of them the very same super-duper gift that he promised to you.
How do you expect that you’d feel? Some eight-year-olds would be thrilled to know that their best friends have the same precious toy that you have. Other kids that age, especially after all the anticipation and excitement, would be devastated. Which child would you have been back when you were seven, going-on-eight?
What do you think about this father’s method of instilling a little character into his son? All good parents want their children to grow up and to mature, so that they can be a blessing to society. Christian parents want their children to become Christians and to display Christian character. They want their kids to know the difference between right and wrong; good and evil. They want them to be generous, hospitable, self-sacrificing and concerned with the feelings and well-being of others. Christian parents want their children to be come Christ-like in their lives and character. Alas, that is a parental desire which is extremely hard to achieve. In fact it is impossible without the miraculous grace of our loving Lord.
Some time about 2,000 BC, the Lord God adopted, and brought into his family, a child named Abram. The Lord didn’t have to do that, but He wanted to. Out of all the people on earth, God chose Abram and invited him into His special domain, even giving him a new name – Abraham. When Abraham had children, Jehovah chose just one of them to continue Abraham’s special relationship. And when Abraham’s son, Isaac, had children, once again Jehovah chose only one to bear the burden of God’s bounty and blessings. So by sovereign grace, Jacob and his descendants became God’s chosen nation.
In the first part of Romans 9, Paul outlined some of the special privileges that Israel has enjoyed. Unfortunately, that nation became full of themselves because of those privileges and blessings. They forgot that what they had was entirely of grace, and they pictured themselves as better than they really were. And “they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” The Lord had often disciplined Israel for her selfishness, waywardness, idolatry and sin. He sent famines among them. He sent enemy armies which stripped them of their blessings and toys. In something like tough love, Jehovah even sent his children into captivity – prison. When they were released, they behaved well to some degree, but it wasn’t long before they were back to their old worldly, criminal and sinful ways. Then “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” And yet when Christ “came unto his own, but his own received him not.”
From the very beginning, even before God’s call of Abraham, the Lord had intended to invite others into His special family. Unlike human fathers who can only react to the mis-behavior of their children, God has perfect knowledge of the future. I will not say that what Paul is teaching in the last part of this chapter was a reaction to Israel’s sin, because I don’t believe it. Nevertheless, a few years after Israel’s rejection of their Messiah, God threw open the doors of his grace to people from nations other than Israel. Throughout Israel’s history, there had been non-Jews, people they called “Gentiles” and “goyim,” whom the Lord had called and saved. In fact there had been some very important and notable Gentile conversions – like Rahab, for example. But following the days of the Lord Jesus, the Lord threw open the doors of His grace to the nations. The great gift that Israel considered theirs and theirs alone, was being shared with their rivals. It wasn’t to punish them, nor was it to teach them. It was to show the marvelous grace and majesty of the Lord.
This is the general subject of this and the next two chapters in Romans. This morning let’s think about the salvation of the Gentiles at least as described in the verses of our text. Why is this important? Because, as far as I know, most of us, if not all of us, are Gentiles. If there was any Hebrew blood in me, I wouldn’t be ashamed of it for a moment, and I hope that you wouldn’t be either. But as far as I know we are all “goyim” – generally hated by the Jews, hated by the Arabs, and hated by a good many others as well. But, praise God, we are not necessarily hated by the Lord.
For centuries prior to the birth of the Apostle Paul, Israel had considered themselves to be God’s people. And, in fact, they were. But they were God’s people only because God chose them and drew them to Himself. They were certainly not any more deserving than the children of Esau, Ishmael, Ham or Japheth. And yet, as I say, for centuries they were the people of God – while the Gentiles were not. But at the same time, throughout the Old Testament the Lord foretold of the Gentiles’ upcoming inclusion into the family of God.
The Philistines, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans were not God’s people, while the children of Jacob were. The grandsons of Noah, the children of Shem, who moved south, were not the people of God. The children of Japheth, who moved north into Europe and eventually America were not God’s people. Many of the sons of Shem, many of whom moved into the Far East were not the people of God. Not only was that the opinion of Israel and the Jews, but it was a declared fact – God said so. Furthermore, they were not loved by God – verse 13. Verse 30 adds that these Gentiles – you and me, to be more precise – “followed not righteousness.” Romans 3:10-18 describes our unrighteous condition. “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” In Ephesians 2 Paul further described our condition and relationship with the Lord. “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
If these Gentiles were not people of God, then whose people were we? I’m sure, if we were asked, we’d like to say that we were our own man – independent and free. But the truth is we have always been children of our father the Devil, and that is why the lusts of our father we do. We were “children of disobedience.” Ephesians 2 again, “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
There is a very interesting anomaly somewhat hidden in our scripture this morning. Paul refers to “Osee,” which is the New Testament way of saying “Hosea,” the Old Testament prophet. And a study of Hosea shows that God is not talking directly about Gentiles, but rather to and about ten northern tribes of Israel. The point is that even members of God’s chosen nation, were not personally members of God’s family. To be a Jew, or a child of Israel, didn’t make a person one of God’s particular people or loved of God. Similarly, to be a member of one of God’s churches today doesn’t make that person a Christian or a saint.
There was not a single Gentile sinner who deserved the Lord’s blessing. In fact there hasn’t been a single child of Jacob who deserved eternal salvation either. Every individual soul delivered from its sin and from the punishment for its sin was saved by God’s grace. No Christian can boast – rejoice, yes, but proudfully boast – there is no human reason to do so. Salvation has always been unmerited on the sinner’s part – totally of grace and mercy.
The Lord has been presenting the gospel of His salvation to sinners for centuries. Like the father of that eight-year-old, he has come to child after child with a wonderfully wrapped, beautifully decorated, large, heavy gift. But it has come with His Name on it, and with that holy Name there have been automatic restrictions. The vast majority of the children of the world, have wanted nothing to do with those qualifications and restrictions. They don’t want to give up their sins in full repentance. They don’t want to acknowledge that their own father can’t give them the same gift. They even think that they can find or make for themselves better versions of the same gift. So they turn up their noses at the gracious gift of the Lord. This is to what Paul refers toward the end of the chapter. “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone.”
There are two human requirements in order to receive the Lord’s great gift. The first is a very special kind of humility – the humility of a child – and more. There must be an acknowledgment of need before God – an acknowledgment of guilt before the Lord. And there must be a willingness to accept the Lord’s gift by faith – with no strings attached on our part. As long as the sinner thinks that he is above the need of grace…. As long as he thinks that he is capable of starting, controlling or concluding his salvation…. As long as there is limited repentance or a half-hearted faith… Those things are proof that this soul is not one whom God has chosen. As we’ve said many times: repentance and faith are the evidence of election. Repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are people for whom the subject of sovereign election is a depressing doctrine. But if they would just stop to consider it Biblically, they’d see that it is just the opposite. Since, not even the blessings and privileges of Israel were sufficient to meet their eternal needs…. Since there is not a righteous soul on the planet, nor a single person who is truly seeking after the one true and living God… And since the Lord frequently reaches beyond national boundaries, economic and social boundaries… Since the Lord not only saves wicked Jews but also wicked Gentiles… Then there is hope for all of us and any of us. Sovereign grace means that there is hope for any and every soul on earth.
Paul is telling the Jew, and ultimately he is telling us Gentiles as well, that there is a God in the universe who will save anyone who will fall on his face in repentance and faith. Forget for a moment the source of that faith or the substance of that repentance. The practical reality is that no matter who you are and how wicked you have become, there is hope and there is salvation for any who will come to the Lord in the manner that He demands. Have you truly repented of your sin, and is your faith in Christ Jesus and Him alone for forgiveness of sin?