Dr. Cecil A. Fayard - 2001 Sermons
Sunday, September 30, 2001   

As we have already stated in our message on Romans 9:1-5, Romans chapters 9-11 deal with God's elect nation Israel.

1. VERSE 6, GOD'S WORD HAS NOT FAILED
   1. God's promise to Israel has not failed! He keeps his Word. Paul had spoken with compassion in verses 1-3. His great sorrow and great anguish was not to be interpreted as though God's Word, His promise to Israel had failed.
      
      1. God's plan and purpose for Israel was not and will not be frustrated.
         
      2. Every promise in the Word of God, whether it deals with Israel or not, will be fulfilled, will be kept (II Peter 1:4).
         
      3. God's Word will accomplish its purpose (Isaiah 55: 1 0-1 1).

   2. "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel."
      
      1. God had made a promise to Abraham (Genesis 17:7).
         
         1. The fulfillment of this promise depended on the coming of and mediatorial work of Christ Jesus the Messiah, the Redeemer.
            
            1. II Corinthian's 1: 1 8-22
               
            2. Galatians 3:16-17.
               
         2. The promise is to those that believe. There are many who are Jews by heritage, but they are not a part of spiritual Israel.
            
      2. Let me say it again, not all Israelites in the flesh are heirs of the promise (Romans 2:28-29).
         
         1. The promise is to those who by grace trust in Christ the Messiah.
            
         2. Genesis 15:6 says of Abraham: "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness."
            
         3. There is a real difference between the natural offspring of Jacob and the spiritual offspring.
            
      3. Not all Jews are spiritual Israel, and not all who belong to a church are Christians.
         
      4. Yes, Jews have rejected Christ. Yes, they crucified Him; yet God's plan was not frustrated. It was all in His plan (Acts 2:23-24).

2. VERSES 7-9, THE SEED OF ABRAHAM
   1. Verse 7, The line of the covenant flows through Isaac.
      
      1. The first male descendent of Abraham was Ishmael, the child of Hagar, the Egyptian maid of Abraham's wife Sarah.
         
         1. Sarah got ahead of God; she just couldn't believe God's promise that she would bear a son. So she gave Hagar to Abraham as another wife to bear a son (Genesis 16:1-3).
            
         2. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarah became resentful and jealous (Genesis 16:4-6).
            
      2. Yes, Ishmael was a son of Abraham, but he was not the son of promise. In Genesis 17:19-21, God answers Abraham that Sarah would indeed bear the son of promise. In Genesis 18:10-14, the assurance is given again.

   2. "In Isaac shall they seed be called."
      
      1. Ishmael would receive special blessings from God (Genesis 17:18), but he would not be and could not be the heir of God's promise of inheritance.
         
      2. The seed is not reckoned by natural birth alone.
         
      3. It is Isaac who is counted as Abraham's seed. It is in him that the covenant promise would be accomplished. Neither Abraham nor Ishmael could make Ishmael the son of promise. Isaac was God's choice.

   3. Verse 8, "they which are the children of the flesh, there are not the children of God......
      
      1. The children of the flesh are the children of Hagar and Keturah. The descendants of Hagar and Keturah are of the flesh.
         
      2. The children of Isaac, the child or promise, are the children of the promise.
         
      3. Not all of Abraham's physical seed will inherit the physical promise that God gave. Only Isaac's descendants can lay claim to the physical promise.
         
         1. Not all of Abraham's children through Isaac are children of God spiritually.
            
         2. Jesus came to the Jews, and they rejected Him (John 1: 11).
            
         3. Those who do believe are saved (John 1: 12).
            
         4. John 1: 1 3 clearly states that salvation is not according to the will of the flesh or the will of man but of God.

   4. Verse 9, Just as Isaac came at the appointed time, so did Christ (Galatians 4:4).
      
      1. We need to learn to wait on God, to lean on Him, to believe His Word.
         
      2. God raised up Esther in His time as her Uncle Mordecai sensed "...who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Could it be that God has you in the world today for such a time as this?

3. VERSES 10-13 Jacob and Esau, God's Choosing
   1. Verse 10, God chose Rebekah to become Isaac's wife and to bear two sons, twins, for him.
      
   2. Verse 11, This verse speaks of God's choosing, of God's election.
      
      1. We see that God chose Jacob, the youngest, over Esau, and he did so before they were born.
         
         1. The elect of God are chosen in Christ before they are born (Ephesians 1:4-5).
            
         2. Christians are chosen from the beginning to salvation (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
            
      2. By God's choosing, Jacob was elected to carry on the physical line of promise given to Abraham and Isaac.
         
      3. Since Jacob was chosen before his birth and Esau rejected before birth, God did not base His choice on what they would do with their lives.
         
      4. God chose Jacob and rejected Esau, " that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth."
         
         1. Salvation is not of works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).
            
         2. God must call men to salvation.
            
            1. I Peter 5:10, "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.."
               
            2. I Peter 1: 15, 2:9; II Timothy 1: 9: II Thessalonians 2:14; Galatians 1: 1 5.

   3. Verse 12, According to custom, Jacob should have served Esau, but that was not God's plan or purpose for them.

   4. Verse 13, This is a quote from Malachi 1:2,3.
      
      1. Many try to explain this away, Don't do that!
         
      2. Yes, it was fulfilled in the nations that represent the men, the Israelites and the Edomites.