Posted on 08/19/2005 8:41:30 AM PDT by HarleyD
(Romans 9:1-5)
There is a sad irony in the seeming success of many Christian churches and schools. The irony is that the more you adjust obscure Biblical doctrines to make Christian reality more attractive to unbelievers, the less Christian reality there is when they arrive. Which means that what looks like success in the short run, may, in the long run, prove to be failure. If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don’t get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism, but deception.
One of the results of this kind of "success" is that sooner or later the world wakes up to the fact that these so-called Christian churches look so much like them and the way they think that there is no reason to go there. If you adjust your doctrine to fit the world in order to attract the world, sooner or later the world realizes that they already have what the church offers. That was the story of much of mainline Protestantism in Europe and America in the 20th century. Adjust your doctrine – or just minimize doctrine – to attract the world, and in the very process of attracting them, lose the radical truth that alone can set them free.
Many observers today are making note that what the liberal mainline churches did 60 years ago, evangelical churches are doing today. For example, Steve Bruce writes in his book, God Is Dead: Secularization in the West,
There are thousands of pastors and churches today that do not think that clear, Biblical, doctrinal views are vital in the life of the church or the believer. They believe it is possible to grow a healthy church while leaving the people with few and fuzzy thoughts about what God is like. But ignorance about God is never a mere vacuum. The cavity created by ignorance fills up with something else.
Edward Norman, in his book, Secularization: New Century Theology, goes right to the heart of the problem when he describes what that something else is:
At first the world is drawn to a religious form of "enthusiasm for humanity," but then it wears thin and they realize that they can find it more excitingly on TV.
Romans 9 is a great antidote against such diseases in the church. This chapter is not rooted in "enthusiasm for humanity," but in the staggering, shocking, deeply satisfying sovereignty of God. My prayer is that we will see God for who he really is with his jagged peaks and fathomless deeps, and that, by his grace, many will come – not to celebrate themselves, but to worship God.
Our focus today is on verses 1-3, and specifically Paul’s sorrow and grief – his anguish over the fact that his kinsmen, the Jewish nation as a whole, are accursed and cut off from Christ.
We will look at four aspects of Paul’s anguish: 1) the cause of his anguish; 2) the intensity of his anguish; 3) the authenticity of his anguish; and 4) the fruit of his anguish.
The Cause of Paul’s Anguish
Let’s read verse 3: "I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." This means that Paul’s kinsmen are accursed and separated from Christ. He softens the statement of their loss by expressing it in relation to his own anguish. But the reality is unmistakable. They are accursed and cut off from Christ. They are lost. They are on their way to hell under the judgment of God. The word for "accursed" here is anathema and is used in 1 Corinthians 16:22 where Paul says, "If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed."
Now why are his kinsmen accursed and cut off from Christ? Paul gives two answers. One is that they have stumbled over Jesus Christ as the goal of the law, and rejected him as their curse bearer and their righteousness. And the other answer is that God has not chosen all ethnic Israel to be spiritual Israel.
Consider Romans 9:30ff.
In other words, Paul pictures Christ as the righteousness that the law was pointing to. Gentiles saw it, believed, and were justified by faith – God imputed the righteousness of Christ to them through faith. But Israel stumbled over Christ. She did not see him as her Messiah or her righteousness or the one to whom the law was pointing all along. They saw the way to God’s righteousness as works, not faith. And so they failed to attain what the law was pointing to; they stumbled over Christ.
Paul describes this fall of Israel again in Romans 10:2-4.
In other words, Israel as a whole missed the meaning of the law and missed the meaning of Christ. The law was to lead them to Christ, and Christ was to be their righteousness. And the way to be righteous with Christ’s righteousness was faith, not works. "The goal of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes." But they sought to establish their own righteousness by works rather than have the gift of God’s righteousness provided by Christ through faith.
So why are they accursed? Because they rejected the only one who could save them from the curse of the law. Galatians 3:13 relates Christ to the curse: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.’" So Christ became our curse and Christ became our sin and Christ became our righteousness. But they would not have him. And so they are accursed and cut off from Christ.
This is the first answer for why Paul has grief and anguish in his heart.
There is another answer – a deeper answer – to why his kinsmen are accursed, explained in verses 6-29, namely, that God has not chosen all ethnic Israel to be spiritual Israel. We will look at this after Thanksgiving. But it will be relevant this morning when we get to the third point.
But first, point two:
The Intensity of Paul’s Anguish
Verses 2-3: "I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren." Notice the translation here: "I could wish" to be accursed. The point is that Paul’s grief is so great over the lostness of Israel that he stands on the brink of damnation, ready to throw himself in, if it were possible. But it is not possible. That’s why it says, "I could wish." The reason it’s not possible is found four verses earlier in Romans 8:38-39 – Nothing, absolutely nothing can separate God’s elect, Paul included, from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In other words, God has not designed a world where a person can be damned because of Christ-exalting love. If there were such a world, then the Biblical standards of the world that exists would not apply, and Paul stands ready to take Israel’s place in hell. But he can’t. God does not send people to hell because they love others enough to sacrifice for them. So Paul cannot take the place of Israel; he can only grieve.
Oh, that we would have more of Paul’s spirit here! Do you grieve? Do you feel sorrow and anguish over your kinsmen, that they are accursed and cut off from Christ? I know that hundreds of you do. That’s good. Nurture that grief with Biblical truth. And remember, Jesus said that we should love not only those who love us, but also our enemies (Matt. 5:43-44). So may Bethlehem be a place of tears as well as joy. May we be Biblical Christian hedonists! As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:10, "Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing."
And if anyone should raise the legitimate question: Will we then be sad throughout eternity because of those who are accursed and cut off from Christ in hell? Will heaven be a place of eternal grief? – the answer is no. "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes . . . neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore" (Rev. 21:4). Why? Jonathan Edwards put it like this: "With respect to any affection that the godly have had to the finally reprobate, the love of God will wholly swallow it up. And cause it wholly to cease" (The Works of Jonathan Edwards [Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust], Vol. 2, p. 899). Those who die in their sinful rebellion – we say it with tears now – will not have the power to hold heaven hostage with their own misery. Here we groan and weep. There we are consumed with the glory of Christ.
Let us learn from Paul. He knows that his kinsmen are lost and ready to be cast into outer darkness forever. But he does not say that with rage or fierceness. He says it with anguish.
The Authenticity of Paul’s Anguish
Verse 1: "I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit." This is Paul’s introduction to the words in verse 2: "I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart." This is a remarkable plea in verse 1: Believe me. Believe me. I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying. He can’t prove it – how can you prove your grief? Tears can be manufactured. Trembling voices can be learned and artificial. He can’t prove it. He can only plead that his conscience is moved by the Holy Spirit and that his testimony is shaped by Christ.
But why is all this necessary? Because some doubted his love and the genuineness of his sorrow. Why? Because Paul has said things that could be taken as anti-Jewish. Back in Romans 2:24 he quoted the prophets, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." In Romans 3:9 he said, "Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin." In the next verse (v. 3) he is about to say that Israel is accursed and cut off from Christ. And then, most amazingly, he is about to say in verse 6: Not all Israel is Israel. God’s covenant does not guarantee the salvation of every Jew. The ultimate reason why some are accursed and cut off from Christ is that they are not among the elect. He will say in Romans 11:7, "Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened."
This is the deepest reason why Paul must virtually take an oath that he is telling the truth that his anguish is real. There will always be this kind of objection that Paul was facing here: people will say, "You cannot feel real grief over the lost if God chooses freely and unconditionally whom he will save." Paul knows this is an objection, and all he can do here is say: I really grieve over Israel, and I really believe that God is sovereign over who is saved and who is not.
Beware of over-simplifying the heart of God and the hearts of loving saints. There are more emotional possibilities in this world than you may think. Paul set us an example to follow: He taught in verse 15 that God says, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." And he showed us how to grieve over those who do not receive mercy. Beware of the reasonings of man exalted against the word of God. Beware of making your present emotional possibilities the standard of God’s.
Finally, the Fruit of Paul’s Anguish
I find this in Romans 10:1, "Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." The fruit of Paul’s anguish for his kinsmen who are accursed and cut off from Christ is to desire their salvation and to pray for them to be saved. Again, I say, don’t follow the reasonings of skeptical men here. Don’t say: There is no reason to pray for sinners if God is sovereign to save. Say instead, Because God is sovereign to save, I will pray for sinners with hope. Because Paul prayed for their salvation, I will pray. Because Christ prayed on the cross for their salvation, I will pray. Because I have grief and anguish in my heart, I will pray. And as it says in 2 Timothy 2:25, "God may perhaps grant them repentance." To that end let us pray for Israel and for the nations and for our kinsmen that they might be saved.
May the Lord do it even now. If you are still under the guilt of your sins and accursed and cut off from Christ, don’t stay there. Christ has become a curse for us. He has died for our sins and risen from the dead. Trust him as your only hope and your all-satisfying treasure. And you will be saved. Amen.
Muslims and liberals are the scurge of man.
Pinging you to an interesting article. Does the church REALLY "grieve" for the lost anymore?
***Does the church REALLY "grieve" for the lost anymore?***
Those who are close to Christ will have His attitude towards the lost and dying. Christ only came to do one thing - save the lost. Even now, in heaven glorified, he still has that as his primary concern.
We are concerned with many things. The King of the universe is focused on saving his lost sheep.
To me, the sure sign of a fallen church (or a church from which the Spirit has departed) is the loss of evangelistic zeal and the acceptance of any sort of theological trickery that rationalizes away the real fate of the lost or provides "alternate" ways of salvation.
May I share with you an interesting story I found on the website of a Messianic Jew...
"...Now I was ready to go on with the Lord. He brought a black man across my path who would whet my appetite for holiness; a deeper relationship with Yeshua. I had met many good men and some righteous men, but never a holy man. He was an African Methodist Episcopal Zion minister from North Carolina who, for 18 years, had preached about Jesus but did not know Him. Then one day, the Lord Jesus became real to him and he began to preach the Lord like he had never done before. Some elders in his church became very upset with this new change and in time, would discharge him. But before they did that, the Lord would change his heart toward the Jewish people.
One day, after he had really come to know Jesus, his 12 year old son ran away from home. He looked all over the neighborhood. He came back to his home totally dejected. As he sat there on his couch, he looked up to the Lord and cried out in his anguish, ‘You don’t know how I feel! This has never happened to You!’
The Lord spoke to him softly saying, ‘Yes I do. My Son, Israel has run away from Me.’ And with that a seed of strong compassion for the Jewish people was planted in his heart."
"What? You mean there's more to this than feelin' good and witty anecdotes?"
It's been said that 'What you win them with, is what you win them to'. I think many churches do indeed grieve for the lost, but moreso for those who are in churches but are receiving the wrong message. Which is why many of us are so adamant about false teachers and liberal feelin' groovy theology.
SDG,
IOTN
Paul truly grieved for Israel because as Piper explains, "God has not chosen all ethnic Israel to be spiritual Israel." All who do not know Christ are lost.
Only God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ saves any of us. Yet like the thief on the cross, men can be given faith at the last moment of their lives and be saved. The timing is God's.
Again, Piper writes as he quotes Paul..."2 Timothy 2:25 -- 'God may perhaps grant them repentance.' To that end let us pray for Israel and for the nations and for our kinsmen that they might be saved."
That's the duty of the church yesterday, today and tomorrow.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" -- 1 Corinthians 18:30."For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18-30.
Yeesh. Sorry, I was in a hurry. Have a blessed day, guys.
In thinking back through all the churches I have been in, and am in now, I must say that I don't recall the "feeling" (I use this word cautiously and in general) of "grieving" for the lost. Instead there seems to be an attitude of wishing the lost would "come to Christ". This is far different IMO than "grieving for the lost".
>>an attitude of wishing the lost would "come to Christ".<<
If wishes were fishes we'd be up to our hackles in mackrels. lol
I know what you mean, though. We regularly pray for the unsaved around us, that the Lord would be pleased to call them to His side, and we regularly pray for the "lost" in a more general sense - as on a national level - that their eyes may be opened to their iniquity.
We were once in a church where the lost were prayed for, but not for salvation, only that they "would come through our doors and increase our fellowship."
Exactly. Along that same line of thinking, it seems most churches are too worried about making people feel comfortable enough so that they will come to church. Once they're in the doors, the focus moves to making them feel comfortable enough so that they'll stay.
Why should the Church grieve over those whom it pleases God to destroy when we are trying to be conformed to the image of His Son? Unless, of course, it is true that God takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live" (Ezk. 33:11), in which case, we have to ask why God destroys them, why He simply doesn't bring everyone to repentence.
Amen. That's why the concept of "sin" is so glossed over. It tends to make people feel uncomfortable.
You have to wonder why God didn't give instructions for the Egyptians to put lamb's blood on the lintel of their doors before He sent the Angel of Death. Then if they didn't do it, it would be their own fault. I don't recall God giving the Egyptians a chance to repent. But a better question is "Would they have repented if given the chance?" And those Israelites who would not have done so would have faired the same as the Egyptians.
I'm sure He didn't take pleasure in the Egyptian's deaths of the first born but some things are necessary to carry out His plan.
First of all, we all make the distinction between physical and spiritual death, so we can only take this as an inference on the subject of God's eternal judgment.
But secondly, what makes you think He didn't? After all, He gave a couple weeks' warning (Ex. 12:2-3). There's no indication whatsoever that only the Hebrews would be protected by the lamb's blood--and if that were so, then what does that say about the blood of the Passover Lamb? On the contrary, since numerous Egyptians left with the Hebrews in the Exodus, indicating that they were paying attention to what Moses' people were doing, and since the blood of the true Passover Lamb covers Jew and Gentile alike, I think that word did get around to the Egyptians who were starting to side with Israel.
Then if they didn't do it, it would be their own fault.
Exactly.
I don't recall God giving the Egyptians a chance to repent.
You need to read the text more carefully. Take the plague of hail and fire, for example. God gives the Egyptians due warning to get themselves and their animals indoors so that they won't die (Ex. 9:19-20). It is not a coincidence that Pharaoh, after this plague, first admits that he has sinned (v. 27), since he saw with his own eyes the severity of God's judgement mixed with the compassion of God even towards His enemies.
Note too that God had hardened Pharaoh's heart so that he would see God's power and mercy before this plague, which killed no one who heeded God's word (v. 12), but that after it, Pharaoh hardened his own heart again (v. 35), so God pronounces His judgement that Pharaoh's heart will be hardened for the rest of His plagues (10:1). Even Pharaoh's own people begged him to obey God, indicating that many came to believe in Him (v. 7)!
Now, having seen God's power, and hearing Moses proclaiming His judgments one-by-one, is it reasonable to assume that the Egyptians had no warning for the final plague? If you had seen God's power, knew that the final and most devastating plague was about to come, and saw the Hebrews putting lamb's blood on their doorposts, don't you think you might either ask what needed to be done or ask to shelter with them? And if you didn't, whose fault was that?
Truly, God gave Egypt every chance to repent and more, for He takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked, but wants everyone to come to repentence.
But a better question is "Would they have repented if given the chance?"
Again, many did.
And those Israelites who would not have done so would have faired the same as the Egyptians.
Exactly. God showed no favoritism based on race, but only on obedience done in faith.
I'm sure He didn't take pleasure in the Egyptian's deaths of the first born but some things are necessary to carry out His plan.
Agreed, but that's where you yourself have departed from the theology that says that God saves and damns according to "His good pleasure." God condemns those who will not repent, and rescues those who give in to His Spirit.
Quck addendum: You've gotta love how God keeps to His patterns. The Passover Lamb's blood covered Jew and Gentile alike, but the Gentiles had to find out from the Jews about the Lamb so they could be saved.
***in which case, we have to ask why God destroys them, why He simply doesn't bring everyone to repentence.***
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
Thoughts?
But then, that's always been my contention.
"There is a sad irony in the seeming success of many Christian churches and schools. The irony is that the more you adjust obscure Biblical doctrines to make Christian reality more attractive to unbelievers, the less Christian reality there is when they arrive. Which means that what looks like success in the short run, may, in the long run, prove to be failure. If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don’t get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism, but deception."
This isn't surprising, seeing that the "folly" of the cross is a difficult teaching for men to follow. However, what is disconcerting to me is that mortification, asceticism and self-sacrifice - formely looked on by society as virtuous - are now totally disdained and regarded as useless and pointless. Is it a wonder that especially today, some Christians feel the need to preach a pseudo-Gospel that hides the cross and the need to "pick it up" daily"?
People don't want to hear that today. Satan has deceived us and our culture in particular.
Regards
***Satan has deceived us and our culture in particular.***
I was in Houston a while back and saw a hugh billboard for a local church. It pictured a relaxed guy with his jacket slung over his shoulder walking into the sunset. The tag read...
"Life should be good!"
I thought, another church should purchase a nearby billboard with a picture of Jesus on the cross with the tag...
"...Not for him it wasn't."
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