In Jason Dohm's sermon titled 'Israel and Israel,' based on Romans 9:1-13, the speaker explores the dual understanding of the term 'Israel' as both a physical nation and a representation of the spiritual people of God. Dohm emphasizes that not all who are physically descended from Israel are part of the true spiritual Israel, which is defined by faith and the promises of God. The sermon highlights the distinction between the children of the flesh and the children of the promise, using the examples of Isaac and Esau to illustrate that God's promises are fulfilled in the spiritual reality rather than the physical lineage. Dohm argues that this understanding is crucial to maintaining the integrity of God's purposes and promises, which have not failed despite Israel's historical failures. The sermon also stresses the importance of recognizing the physical as a picture pointing to greater spiritual realities, underscoring that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. The sermon concludes by encouraging believers to shift their perspective from a man-centered view to a God-centered understanding of election, grace, and divine purposes.

Our sermon text for this week is in Romans chapter 9 verses 1 through 13. I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen, according to the flesh, who are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came who is over all the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the Word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.

But in Isaac, your seed shall be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children not yet being born, not having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to the according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls.

It was said to her, The older shall serve the younger as it is written Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated Welcome to week two of seven in Romans chapter nine Five verses last week eight verses this week, and then we'll slow down. So I'm looking forward to that, but it was no need to subdivide this text, and so on we go. The title of the sermon this week is Israel and Israel. There are two senses in which Paul uses the term, which actually in which Scripture uses the term Israel. Paul makes the distinction and addresses both, defines both in our text.

If you don't understand that, you'll miss so much of scripture that this term for the nation is used in two different ways. The title of the sermon last week was, But What About Israel? The point from last week's text was this, if Old Testament history means that the purposes and promises of God failed with respect to Israel, what does that mean for the purposes and promises Paul has been teaching to New testament believers in his letter to the Romans. If those purposes and promises failed, proven by the history of Israel, then Why would Paul even bother to bring us a new set of purposes and promises that supposedly apply to us, but might fail like the last ones did? So this is really high stakes, this is really the question on the table, and you have to get it resolved in your mind, so that you can be sure that the purposes of God related to you, the promises of God given to you will not fail.

The big takeaway for us from last week's text was this. There is a chain of advantages enjoyed by those who are associated with the people of God. For Israel, it was the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the written law, and scriptural Worship. All of those links in this chain of advantages given to this people were designed to bring them to the final saving link of salvation. And that last link, the final saving link of salvation, is the defining link.

In other words, if you have all the links leading up to it, but not that final defining link, you have nothing. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is the purpose of all of these advantages. You can instantly see how that applies to us who have all of the same advantages that Israel had, and then some being in the New Testament era. Just understand this, you can have every link in the chain. If you fall short of that final saving length of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, you have nothing.

And it's the saddest thing that could be. And this is really what had saddened the Apostle Paul about his brethren according to the flesh, his family, bloodline family, and his nation of Israel. Before we begin with our text, I want to re-say something that I said last week, which is this. The physical is a picture which points to the spiritual reality. If you don't get that, then you miss what Paul is teaching.

The physical is a picture which points to and teaches about the spiritual reality. And of course they're related because God is using the picture to point to and teach about the spiritual reality. But they're not equivalent. So you'll find them to be similar in many ways, but if you equate them, you get into trouble. So we'll spend more time talking about that this week.

Let's ask God to help us. God, we thank you for these pictures of physical things that point to greater things teach us about greater spiritual realities. Pray that we would understand the relationship of the physical things to the greater spiritual realities that they teach about. And that we wouldn't be confused by any of the differences. I pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. We'll subdivide in this way, beginning with verses 6 through 9. So hopefully your finger is still in Romans chapter 9. Follow along as I reread verses 6 through 9. Paul writes, but it is not that the word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham.

But in Isaac your seed shall be called." That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time I will come and Sarah will have a son." In these verses, Paul speaks to us of the relationship of the children of the flesh and the children of God. In verse 6, Paul makes his key claim and then he begins to explain and defend that key claim. What's the key claim?

It is not that the Word of God has taken no effect. So last week's text is a description of Israel and all the advantages that they enjoyed, this chain of advantages in God's dealing with them that they had but none of the other nations on earth had. Concluding from that, he says, it is not that the Word of God has taken no effect. What's he saying? When you read your Old Testament, you should read your Old Testament, and then when you think about it, after you read it, you should think about it, Whatever you conclude, it cannot be this.

The purposes and promises of God have failed. So we all got the same data. I got this, you have that, It's the thick part of the Bible. So we all have that in common. Now what conclusions will we draw from it?

Well, Paul wants to throw a penalty flag on one conclusion and say, that's illegal. You can't conclude that from the history of Israel. What's the penalty flag? That the purposes of God and the promises of God have failed because we have all this failure in the history of Israel do we not? Do we have wicked kings?

We have wicked kings, a lot of wicked kings, we have backsliding people, we have idolatry creeping in and then dominating Israel for centuries at a time, we have all of that. Well we do have the same data but you're not allowed to draw this conclusion from it according to the Apostle Paul. This means that the purposes of God have failed. This means that the promises of God have failed. Paul says, no.

It never did mean that. It doesn't mean that now. It never will mean that. What is the beginning of Paul's explanation and defense of that claim? That the Old Testament does not teach that the purposes and promises of God have failed.

Now he starts to explain it and defend it by saying, they are not all Israel who are of Israel. So he's now beginning to develop this distinction between the two senses in which Israel is defined. There is an Israel that is not of Israel. Sounds confusing, doesn't it? What's he teaching?

The physical picture, the family and nation of Israel, that's the physical picture, points to and teaches about the spiritual reality. The real people of God who believe in God and it's counted to them for righteousness just like Abraham who are saved by grace alone through faith alone. The physical picture pointing to and teaching about the spiritual reality of people who are actually saved. So if we're diagramming it, we have A circle for the people of God, everyone who was born a descendant of Israel, part of this family, part of this nation, in this circle. All of them in that circle.

And there's another circle for the spiritual reality, people who are actually born again, saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and they're overlapping. Picture in your mind, math class, geometry, overlapping circles. Some are part of the picture, the physical reality, the family of Israel, the nation of Israel, but they're not in the overlapping space. So they are part of the picture, but they're not part of the spiritual reality. They're not in the overlap, but They are part of what is pointing to and teaching about.

And then you have the spiritual reality, people who are really saved. And some of them are not in the overlapping space either, meaning some of that are not actually part of the family or the nation of Israel. I don't know about you, but I think King Nebuchadnezzar is going to be in heaven. I think He was born again. I think we'll see him in heaven, but he was not part of the family of Israel or the nation of Israel.

So he's in the second circle, but not in the overlapping space. So maybe the diagram will be helpful in understanding. There's this and this that overlap in some places, but they are part of both people who are not in the overlapping area at all. The only way you can conclude that the purposes and promises of God have failed is to misunderstand and believe that those purposes and promises apply to the physical picture when in fact many of those purposes and promises apply only to the spiritual reality. So you read about the purposes and promises and you said they apply to this circle when many of those purposes and many of those promises were actually meant in the communication of them to apply to those who are really born again saved by grace alone through faith alone, but because you applied it to the wrong circle you said it failed and it never did fail.

So Old Testament history isn't the problem, your understanding of which circle God was speaking those purposes about giving those promises to you misunderstood. Applied it to the wrong circle. By the way, God says in the Old Testament exactly how this history will play out. It's helpful to have Paul's explanation, but if you didn't have Paul's explanation, you could still find in the Old Testament where God said that this circle is this family tree that he made into a nation, the family of Israel and the nation of Israel. We're going to be stiff-necked, we're going to be rebellious, we're going to slip into idolatry and stop worshiping the one true God and start worshipping all sorts of the gods of the nations and would be sent into captivity.

There are more than just promises of blessing you know. Isn't that true? In the Old Testament, do you only find promises of blessing? Have you been to Deuteronomy 28 recently? Deuteronomy 28, promises of blessing skinny, promises of cursing fat, promises of blessing few, promises of judgment many.

So there are two kinds of promises in the Old Testament. Are there not? Yes. So have the promises failed? No.

God said in the Old Testament exactly how all of this was going to play out in the history of this picture. Physical, genealogical, meaning family tree, national, Israel. In verses seven through nine, Paul explains and defends this claim that not all Israel is of Israel with this example. What's the example? Abraham.

Here is the question that Paul is exploring. Were the promises of God for the descendants of Abraham? Are you tracking with me? Do you understand the question? Were the promises of God for the descendants of Abraham?

Are you tracking with me? Do you understand the question? Were the promises of God for the descendants of Abraham? We think, well of course. Wait, all the descendants of Abraham?

Clearly the promises of God were for the descendants of Abraham, but now you need to decide whether God had made those promises to each and every descendant of Abraham. Are they for all the descendants of Abraham? And Paul answers that question in our text. No. He quotes Genesis 21 12, in Isaac your seed shall be called or shall be reckoned.

Now, remember the history. God promised to bless Abraham's descendants at a couple of different points in Genesis. It starts in Genesis chapter 12, promises to bless Abraham's descendants, then a decade passes. Abraham didn't have any descendants before God started making those promises. And then during that decade, there are no descendants coming, so that Abraham's story is, I have this servant that is my heir, Eleazar of Damascus.

I don't even have any children to inherit the promises that you've given me. So Sarah knows how to solve God's problem. I have a maidservant. Clearly I can't have children. Through the course of our married years, they left their homeland when Abraham was 75.

Now a decade has passed. So he's 85, she's 75. To this point in their marriage, they have not successfully had any children. So she gives her maidservant to her husband as a sort of wife. A wife under her in the pecking order for sure.

So a sort of wife. And out of that Ishmael is born. So, God's problem is solved. There is now an heir, Ishmael, and He can inherit God's promises. Only 13 years later, God appears to Abraham again, and he says, that's not your heir.

Sarah, your wife, is going to have a baby this time next year. And he laughs and then she laughs. He actually says, Oh, that Ishmael might live before you. That our solution to your problem might be the inheritor of the promises. God says no.

Sarah conceives. Isaac is born. Abraham is now 100, she is now 90. Then, after Sarah's death, Abraham marries again. Keturah.

Keturah gives Abraham six more sons. We don't hardly even remember this. Did you remember that Abraham remarried? And that she gave him six sons after them? Isaac gets the inheritance.

He sends the six sons with gifts and sends them east. To the east, so that Isaac, the priority of Isaac, will be recognized and preserved. You find all this in Genesis 12 through 25. So, being a physical descendant of father Abraham was not magical. Ishmael did not find it to be magical.

Was he a descendant of Abraham? Absolutely. He was the firstborn of Abraham. The sons of Keturah, six of them, did not find being a descendant of Abraham to be magical. It wasn't just any old descendant of Abraham, but of the descendants of Abraham, God brought a child of promise.

This is the conclusion that Paul draws from that history about Abraham and his descendants. First through Hagar, Then the son of promise through Sarah, then the six sons of Kintura. Here's what Paul says about that in verses 8 and 9. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, I would include all those sons, Those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. But the children of promise are counted as the seed, for this is the word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son." Isaac would be that son, the child of promise.

It was not the children of the flesh, Abraham's physical descendants, who are the children of God. So the equation is not Abraham's physical descendants equals the children of God. He's just saying that equation is a false equation because we know there are children of his flesh, Ishmael and then the sons of Keturah who were not the children of God. Isaac was. Out of Abraham's physical descendants there was a child of promise, Isaac, that God gave himself by promise from another mother who could not bear children until God gave this promise and then she could.

Sarah was barren until Abraham was 100 years old and she was 90 years old. So Isaac becomes a symbol of these children of promise that are counted as the true seed. So Isaac then becomes symbolic of the true seed among all the descendants, which is a bigger number, a subset of one among other children. Before we move on, let's note that Paul already started down this track in chapter 2. You can flip back to chapter 2.

Let me re-read to Romans 2. Romans 2. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. So Paul has already established that there is an outward thing that is the physical picture of the inward reality.

And that to be truly Jewish is to actually have the circumcision, not of the flesh, but circumcision of the heart. To have heart surgery is actually what makes you a child of God. Not having a physical mark on you that you are a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh. Listen. So, Ishmael was circumcised.

Ishmael was not a child of God. So you know the descendants of Abraham circumcised bearing the outward mark of being a descendant of Abraham but not all of them were children of God. And so it is as you follow the family lines down. Listen to Jesus speaking to the Jews in John 8. I'm just going to read one verse.

John 8.39, Jesus says this to the Jews. They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham, But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father." Jesus is saying, Abraham is not actually your father.

How can you say that? But we're Jews, we are descended from Abraham. You don't have the faith of Abraham. At an even more fundamental level, you're not sons of Abraham at all. You actually have a different father, he'll go on to say.

Your father's the devil. So what we find is in Romans chapter 9, Paul isn't teaching the theology of Paul. Paul is teaching the theology of Jesus, who understood that not all Israel was of Israel. That Israel as a family, outward physical, and as a nation was a picture that was pointing to and teaching about a greater spiritual reality. The purposes and promises of God are right on time.

You just have to understand that the children of the promise are counted as the seed, not the children of the flesh. You say the children of the flesh are counted as the seed, the children of the flesh are the great reality, then you'll say the promises and the purposes of God have failed, but if you understand that it was actually pointing to something else, then you'll see the promises are right on time. All of God's purposes right on time. All of his promises right on time. Now verses 10 through 13.

Back to Romans 9, verses 10 through 13. Paul continues, and not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, for the children, yet being born, not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to the election might stand, not of works but of him who calls, it was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." In these verses we get a second example, Jacob and Esau. Now, why a second example? Let me give you three false conclusions that you could draw from the first example, Abraham and his descendants, that are very dangerous false conclusions, but that are perfectly cleared up by the second example.

False conclusion number one. It wasn't all of Abraham's descendants, just the ones through Isaac. Now we have the child of promise, Isaac, and so it's his physical descendants. So you could come to the first example and say, okay Paul, We're tracking with you. It's not all of Abraham's descendants.

He had different children. It's the one through the child of promise. So now it's the physical descendants of Isaac. We got you. It's not all of them.

It's just through this one line. The second example blows up that false conclusion. Isaac's descendants are all the children of the flesh by definition, but not all children of God. Jacob was, Esau wasn't. Paul's whole point is that it isn't the children of the flesh.

So he's not just trying to narrow down the bloodlines. Yes through Isaac, no through Ishmael. He's saying that there is a distinction between the flesh and the spiritual reality. That's the point. Not which branch of the family tree the promises are fulfilled in, but that it's the spiritual reality, not the flesh at all.

So he's not trying to narrow down tree branches on the family tree. False conclusion number two. You could draw just from Abraham in that example. It was the mothers. Hagar was never the appropriate vehicle for God's promises.

She was an Egyptian slave woman and a second class wife, unworthy to be the mother through whom God's promises to Abraham would be fulfilled. Sarah, now that's the woman for the promises. It was the moms. Hagar's, no type of woman through whom to fulfill the promises, but Sarah, she's the right vehicle for this. This second example blows up that false conclusion.

They're twins! Same father, same mother, same conception event. Nothing is different. So it can't be one mother was right for the job and one mother wasn't, because now you have twins and you have the same mother. So the second example settles that beyond question.

False conclusion number three. By the time Isaac was born, Ishmael was already kind of showing himself to be a stinker. It's a 13 year gap. By the time Isaac is born, Ishmael is already a problem. So maybe God saw Ishmael's bad.

Ishmael is in no condition to be the one through whom I fulfill my promises. So we'll try again. Isaac will be good. This second example blows up that false conclusion. The choosing of Jacob to fulfill God's purposes and to receive God's promises was announced to their mother Rebecca when they were still in the womb.

So no 13 years of time passing where you say this is a rotten one. Let's try again. No, no, no. The announcement is made while the babies are still in the womb before either had done any good or any bad. I Turn to Genesis 25.

I'll prove it. Turn to Genesis 25. Where we'll see what Paul quotes in our text. Genesis 25 19-23. Genesis 25 19-23.

This is the genealogy of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca his wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Padden-Aram, the sister of Laban, the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord granted his plea and Rebekah his wife conceived.

But the children struggled together within her and she said if all is well why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb. Two peoples shall be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger.

This last part is what Paul quotes, the older shall serve the younger. So God already knew that his purposes were to, of these two twins, make two nations. Out of Jacob, the nation of Israel, out of Esau, the nation of Edom, and that the younger one, Jacob, would be stronger as the nation that comes from him would be stronger than the nation that came from his older brother. So Jacob becomes Israel, that nation. Esau becomes Edom and that nation.

This is in the womb. So Nobody's done anything good, nobody's done anything bad. Thirteen years haven't passed to say, this is an unworthy air of the promises, let's start over. This is the whole point of Paul using this example. The purpose of God according to election stands.

That's how he says it in our text. This purpose of God in election remains. It cannot be changed. It rules the day because God rules the day. God has chosen and what He has chosen will stand.

It must stand because God rules the day. When the normal pattern for the younger to serve the older, for the older to have preference and priority, God says in this instance that will be reversed. So the normal pattern is the younger serves the older, the older has preference and priority, God says not in this instance. I'm reversing that order. The older here will serve the younger.

Then that's what happens. God wants to upset the normal order, then God upsets the normal order and there's no one who can keep him from doing it. Because it is not of works, but of him who calls. God says this is what's happening, this is what happens. That's how the universe works.

And then Paul quotes the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." Oh boy. Paul, why did you have to say that? You could have left it at, the older will serve the younger, and your point gets made. We don't have to talk about how God didn't really hate Esau, even though that's what the text says. Paul quotes what was written about 1500 years after Jacob and Esau lived.

So Jacob and Esau live and die, 1500 years go by, Then Malachi writes, God inspires Malachi to write more scripture. And God explains his dealings with Israel and his explainings, he explains his dealings with Edom, these two nations, these two kingdoms, and he says, I dealt with this nation this way because I loved Jacob, and I dealt with this nation this way because I hated Esau. God dealt with Israel in love because he loved their forefather Jacob. God dealt with Edom according to irrevocable judgment because he hated their forefather Esau. It says in Malachi, Edom might rebuild, I'll tear it down again.

I judged them, I tore it down, they might rebuild, I'll just tear it down again. If they rebuild, I'll tear it down again. My judgments will never leave this nation. Paul says in our text that God's love for Jacob and his hatred of Esau was from the womb and predated any acts of good or evil on either of their parts." At this point, so many of the commentators defend God, Do all sorts of interpretive gymnastics to explain away what the text appears to be saying, because of course it can't actually be saying that. God is no baby hater, so let's defend God.

Right? God a baby hater? God's no baby hater. So, we have to defend God against what the text appears to be saying because he cannot be saying that. I want to submit to you that Paul is purposefully introducing the shock value here.

It's not lost on Paul when he quotes Malachi, Jacob I have loved, Esau I have hated, that everyone in the room will gasp and recoil. Paul wants you to understand that when he says, And he says, not of works, but of him who calls. Here's what he means. Not of works, but of him who calls. He means exactly what he says.

Not of works at all. Any works at any time. Good works? No, none of them. Bad works?

No, none of them. But completely of him who calls. Completely to satisfy the counsels of his own will and only to satisfy the counsels of his own will. And This is a useful example to Paul, exactly because it happens before any good or any evil has been done. If these pronouncements had been made not with the babies in the womb but during the course of the lifetimes of Jacob and Esau, we might say, oh, it was that good thing.

Oh, it was that bad thing. No wonder Esau was like this, and the nation that came from him, God dealt with him in this way. Oh, no wonder God dealt with Israel this way. It was this in the life of Jacob or that in the life of Esau. Let me ask you a question.

What did you think the phrase, by nature, children of wrath meant in Ephesians 2 verse 3? Remember, we preached through Ephesians. Paul lumps all of humanity, puts us all in the same boat, and he says, we are all the same way in Adam, having received the corruptions of Adam. He describes it this way, by nature children of wrath. I submit to you Paul meant this, as a child of Adam because of what I'm like in my mother's womb.

Before I have done one good thing or one bad thing, God is furious at me. By nature, not what you did, but what you are like. By nature, children of wrath. In my mother's womb because of what I'm like even before I ever have the opportunity to prove it God is furious at me He is full of wrath. I think that's what Paul means.

We want to see how it's going to turn out. Don't make those pronouncements about babies in the womb. Give it some time, see how it works out. Can't you see that since the fall, that is not in question at all in any way. How it's going to work out is not in question at all in any way.

God has no need to see how it's going to turn out. Because when you're born in Adam, there's only one way it can turn out. So, If you're the judge and you want extra time to make people prove it, okay. But just understand God doesn't need that. God is not in need for time to pass so you can prove what you're like.

In the womb, before you've ever done one good thing or one bad thing, God knows how it has to turn out Unless he breaks into that. And totally transforms you at the most fundamental level, having nothing to do with anything that you've done. So don't marvel that God hated Esau. Esau was just another rebel who would refuse to worship his Creator and who would live his life in rebellion. Just like me, just like you, you might think it's more fair to give time for Esau to prove that that's true about himself, but God doesn't need that.

God knows what Esau is like. God knows that he'll live his whole life in rebellion unless God chooses to break into that and transform him. Contrary to his own expectations, contrary even to his own wishes and his unregenerate state. Marvel that God loved Jacob. Don't marvel that God hated Esau.

Marvel that God loved Jacob. Have you studied Jacob recently? God loved Jacob because he foresaw that Jacob would be a good guy. What Bible are you reading? What Jacob are you studying?

It can't be that! Jacob is simply the recipient of God's sovereign grace and mercy. Really, I'm starting to preach the intro on next week's sermon now. Jacob is simply the recipient of God's sovereign grace and mercy. Really, I'm starting to preach the intro on next week's sermon now.

Jacob is simply the recipient of God's sovereign grace and mercy. That's why God says, I loved Jacob. Not because Jacob was lovable, not because Jacob was lovely, but because God in his sovereignty determined to love Jacob. Marvel at that. This is the shift that Paul is laboring to press on us.

Not marveling that the undeserving are rejected. This is the shift. Don't marvel that the deserving are rejected. Deserving of what? Deserving of rejection.

The little baby Esau hasn't done anything yet. Just give him a minute. Give him a minute. He'll do plenty to reject God, to refuse to worship God, to live in rebellion against God. God already knows that's what He's like as a child of Adam with all that corruption of nature.

Don't marvel that the deserving of rejection are rejected. Instead marvel that the undeserving are accepted because of Jesus. The undeserving are made sons and daughters because of Jesus. Marvel at that. Let this quote help you.

It helped me. This is John Murray. John Murray says, we must not predicate of this divine hate those unworthy features which belong to hate as it is exercised by us sinful men. In God's hate there is no malice, malignancy, vindictiveness, ugly rancor or bitterness. The kind of hate thus characterized is condemned in Scripture and it would be blasphemy to predicate the same of God.

But there is a hate in us that is the expression of holy jealousy for God's honor and of love to Him. This hate is the reflection in us of God's jealousy for his own honor. That's helpful because When I think of God hating Esau, I superimpose my sinful hatred on God. That's not how God hates. God's hatred is born out of his goodness and righteousness, not out of all the sinful things that motivate me to hate.

I'm vindictive, full of malice, malignancy, unholy rancor or bitterness. All of that characterizes my hatred. None of that characterizes God's hatred. What characterizes God's hatred? He loves righteousness.

And Here's another seed of Adam with all those corruptions, all that dishonor of God built into him, and God's jealous for his honor. That's different, for sure. One application. One application. Use our study of Romans 9 to make the shift.

It's such a man-centered perspective. When you come to these sections of Romans chapter 9, man-centered, you can do nothing but recoil. God can't be like that. God can't be jealous for his own honor, knowing that as soon as this son of Adam has an opportunity, he'll refuse to worship him and live for himself in rebellion against his Creator? It just depends.

Man-centered. Poor little Esau, what did he ever do to somebody? God knows, just given time and opportunity, he'll live his whole life in rebellion. He'll happily plunge himself into destruction, into perdition. Work in Romans chapter 9 to see God and man from God's perspective, and you'll get Romans chapter 9.

If you bring man's perspective on God and man to Romans chapter 9, small God, big important man, Innocent babies, a category the Bible knows nothing about by the way. The Bible doesn't know anything about innocent babies. They haven't done anything to me or you. They're innocent in that sense. They haven't hurt anybody yet, so they're innocent in that sense.

But they're not innocent in the sight of God. They're born being a certain way. And they can only be that way unless God chooses to have compassion on them. That's where we're headed next week. Let Romans 9 help you make the shift.

Get out of this man-centered view that keeps you from seeing God as He really is, and man as He really is. And the grace of God is going to become so lovely to you by the end of Romans chapter 9, if you can make the shift. God help us, help us. Don't leave us with an elevated view of man and a shrunken view of you. I pray that we would leave the chapter content for you to be God.

And knowing the certain destruction that awaits if you just leave us alone. And praising you that you haven't been content to just leave us alone. Thank you God for your goodness. Thank you for the truths that are here. I pray that you would help us to embrace them and to love them, to be satisfied with them.

In Jesus' name, Amen.