This week, Pastor Chris continues our Romans series with a message from Romans 9 about the relationship between God and believers, known as the Human-Divine Cooperation. This concept is seen throughout the Bible, as God partners with His people, demonstrating His grace and sovereignty while calling them to fulfill His will on earth through their free will.
In Romans 9, we learn that God invites us to actively engage in our relationship with Him and to grow in our faith. In this cooperation, God’s grace starts and supports the process, allowing people to respond freely and completely to His call. Even though God is in control, He respects our freedom and works through it. Salvation and this divine cooperation is a gift from God, but they also require us to take part and say “yes” to them.
1. From the Beginning, God Chose Israel
Romans 9:1–4 (ESV)
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 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. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
Hosea 11:1 (ESV)
1When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV)
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. 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. 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.”
Three Promises Made to Abraham…
1. Promise of Land
2. Promise of Descendants
3. Promise of Blessing and Redemption
Romans 9:5–7 (ESV)
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
Romans 2:28–29 (ESV)
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
2. Some Shared Abraham’s Faith, Some Did Not
Romans 9:8–13 (ESV)
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. For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
“It’s a good thing God chose before I was born. If He had waited until after, He would have changed His mind!” Spurgeon
“The ‘whosoever wills’ are the elect. The ‘whosoever won’t’ are the non-elect.” D.L. Moody
3. God’s Plans Are Good
Romans 9:14–18 (ESV)
What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
“I never try to reconcile friends—they are both in the Bible.” Spurgeon
4. God Desires All to be Saved
Romans 9:19–26 (ESV)
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
“God wants every man to be saved. The devil wants every man to be damned. Man has the casting vote.”
“Lord, save the elect, and then elect some more!” D.L. Moody
“People are all standing in a room with several doors. Above one door is a sign which reads “All who will may enter.” Those who choose to enter the door find on the back side of the door a sign which reads, “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Donald Grey Barnhouse
Discussion Questions:
- How does knowing that God is in control (sovereignty) and chooses His people (election) impact the way we relate to Him every day?
- In what practical ways can we demonstrate trust in God’s plans for our lives, especially when His ways seem mysterious or challenging to understand?
- How can we cultivate a heart that desires to align with God’s will, recognizing that our human efforts alone are insufficient without His mercy and grace?
- How can we actively participate in God’s mission, knowing that He desires all to be saved, and what steps can we take to share the message of salvation with others?
Application Questions:
- How do Paul’s expressions of sorrow and anguish for his fellow Israelites in Romans 9:1-3 reflect our
responsibility to care for the spiritual well-being of others? - What do you think it means to be a “child of the promise” as opposed to a “child of the flesh,” and how does this distinction affect our identity as believers (Romans 9:8)?
- How do you reconcile God’s mercy on whom He wills and hardens whom He wills (Romans 9:18) with the idea of human free will and responsibility?
- How does the analogy of the potter and the clay (Romans 9:20-21) help us understand our role in cooperating with God’s purpose for our lives, and what does it teach us about humility and submission to His will?
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Sundays at 9am + 11am