In the sermon 'Children Of The Promise,' Pastor Steve Hopkins explores the theological concepts presented in Romans 9:6-8. He emphasizes the distinction between physical descendants of Israel and the true spiritual Israel, the children of the promise. Pastor Hopkins reflects on Paul's anguish over the rejection of Christ by his Jewish kinsmen despite their privileged status as recipients of God's covenants, law, and promises. He argues that true children of God are not determined by biological lineage but by faith, mirroring the miraculous birth of Isaac, the child of promise. Through scriptural references, including the teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus, the sermon underscores the necessity of spiritual rebirth and reliance on Christ alone for salvation. Pastor Hopkins cautions against placing trust in heritage, religious rituals, or works for salvation, emphasizing that true believers are justified by faith in Christ's life, death, and resurrection. The sermon concludes with a call to self-examination and trust solely in Jesus for one's right standing with God.

Welcome back to Barnet Bible Church. Join us this week as Pastor Hopkins continues his sermon series through the book of Romans. If you would, turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Romans once again, where We will be reviewing verses 6 and 7, or 6 and the first part of 7, and then looking at the second part of 7, 7b and verse 8. Let's stand for the reading of the Word of the Lord. If you have your Bibles open to Romans chapter 9, we're going to be reviewing, as I said, verses 6 and a half of 7 and then picking up with 7b and going through 8, Lord willing, this afternoon.

But if you would read with me Romans chapter 9 verses 6, 7, and 8. Let's read together the Word of the Lord. "'Not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect, For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.

But the children of the promise are counted for the seed. Let's pray. Father, we praise you, O God, for your infinite greatness, And we thank you, O God, for your infinite mercy towards your people. And God, as we open your Word, we ask once again that the Holy Spirit might be given to illuminate the text before us, For we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. Let's be seated.

In our last session we saw the apostle Paul expressing anguish, deep anguish and grief, ongoing grief For his nation, for the Jews, for his kinsmen, according to the flesh who had rejected their Messiah, their only hope, the only hope of Israel and the only hope of the world. We read that he told him, he says, I told him the truth, I speak the truth to you, I'm not lying, my conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit to the fact of it, that his grief was so heavy, his heart so perpetually sorrowful, concerning the rejection of his countrymen, rejection of Christ, that he could wish himself a curse from Christ. Strong words. If it would only mean that his Jewish kinsmen would be saved by Christ, he could wish himself, his salvation be traded for theirs. That's heavy words.

And though of course as we found last week an exchange of that type is internally impossible, Paul's love for the Jews, for his nation, expressed in that way was unmistakable and unquestionable. Nobody could doubt his sincerity. Paul was utterly grieved at the rejection of Christ by his own nation, that Christ came to His own and yet His own received Him not. And He went on, He said, as if it were not enough, that these were not only Israelites, they were not only God's chosen from among all the nations on earth, but as if to add grief to sorrow, these were those to whom pertained all the covenants of God, the covenants made with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David, all the covenants made in the Old Testament with God's chosen people. This was the people to whom, he said, pertained the glory, the Shekinah glory, the actual visible manifestation of the invisible God to them, in the words of Sproul.

These were those to whom pertained the giving of the law, the law given on Mount Sinai to Moses, that were written in tables of stone by the finger of God Himself. These were those to whom pertained the service of God, the worship of God, the true worship of God. These were those to whom pertained the promises of God, all the promises from Genesis to Malachi concerning the coming of Christ. This was they to whom belonged the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and as whom concerning the flesh Christ himself came, whose over all, God blessed forever. And I said in our last session, can you sense by his words this heaviness of heart, the heaviness of Paul's heart?

He loved his kinsmen according to the flesh, to whom pertained all these great privileges so much. And yet the greater part of them are dying in their sins apart from him. And right before Paul's very eyes, and we picked up with verse 6 where Paul anticipated a conclusion that some might draw from all this, that maybe the Word of God has failed, maybe it just failed. Surely God's word has failed, I mean it came through them, the prophets came through them, the word of God, the oracles of God came through them, surely then the word of God has failed, I mean look, the Word came by the Jews, they enjoyed all these privileges, but you look around and there's like this near universal rejection of the Gospel by them. So the promises of God must have failed.

Paul says no. Notwithstanding all this, the great privileges known by the Jews and yet their near universal rejection of Christ in His generation and even in the past when the prophets spoke to them. Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. Nothing has changed with regards to the salvation of the souls of men.

It's not as though the Word of God that came by the Jews has in any way failed. It's not as though the Word of God has taken none effect as it says in the King James Version, or failed to accomplish all that God has intended with regards to the salvation of the souls of men. No it's not the case. Now the Word of God has not failed. It never returns unto him void.

As the prophet Isaiah said, it always accomplishes, all is sent out to accomplish. Nothing is changed with regards to the eternal purposes of God to save his people from their sins. The word of God has not failed. Paul says, this is what you need to understand and he drives it home and I tried to drive it home in our last session, this is the issue. They're not all Israel who are of Israel.

They're not all Israel who are of Israel, that's the issue. They're not all spiritual Israel who are the physical descendants of Israel. Verse seven, he even presses it further, he said, neither because they are the seed of Abraham, that is the natural born seed, or sons and daughters of Abraham, are they all children? That is the true children of Abraham. And what he's saying through this is the children of God who are of the faith of Father Abraham.

But Paul's saying this is the way it's always been. It's not because of the seed of Abraham that they're the children. They're not all Israel who are of Israel. Salvation isn't biological. It's never been.

I quoted Matthew Henry last week, grace doesn't run in the blood. Paul was driving home what he said earlier in Romans chapter 2. He's not a Jew who is won outwardly. He is a Jew who is won inwardly. He's saying the same thing.

Receiving the sign of circumcision, he told them in chapter two, it doesn't mean you're in, that you're good with God, that you're saved. Paul says, no, in chapter two, circumcision, The circumcision that matters is not the circumcision of your flesh, which is outward in the flesh, but the circumcision which is of the heart. It's a spiritual thing. He is a Jew who is one, he's not a Jew who is one outwardly, He is a Jew who is one, he's not a Jew who is one outwardly, he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And Paul's saying the same thing when he says this in verse 6, they're not all Israel who are of Israel.

We looked at John the Baptist briefly last week that John the Baptist, you know, dealt with the same thing. He's out there, he's baptizing in the Jordan, people are coming in from all over the place to receive the baptism of repentance, they're confessing their sins, and Who shows up? The Jewish leaders show up. The Pharisees show up. The Sadducees show up.

And when John sees them, what does he say? Oh, you guys, you guys are in, man. You're the natural descendants of the patriarchs. You're of the stock of Israel. Now he says, you generation of vipers.

Who told you guys you could come here and get baptized? Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Who's told you you could flee from the wrath to come. He calls them a generation of vipers, except they repent and look to Christ who was about to appear. They couldn't escape the judgment of God.

They thought they were gonna be honored. We're gonna come here and like everyone else, John, he's going to recognize us and he's going to honor us before the people and, you know, we're going to be accepted of him. John says no, no. No, he tells them, first go and show forth fruits worthy of repentance. That is the fruits that manifest a heart of repentance towards God, evidence that they had truly been saved, evidence that they had truly been regenerated, evidence that they had truly been changed by God and made new creatures by God.

John said, look, he anticipates, you know, their objection and He knows what they're thinking. He's been around them. John says, look, don't think to yourselves, oh, we have Abraham to our father. We're the descendants of Abraham. John says, in effect, your lineage means nothing.

God could take these stones here on the pavement and raise them up to be children of Abraham. Being a descendant of Abraham doesn't make you a true son of Abraham or a true son of God, which is what he's getting to. Paul says in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 7, they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. You see, they're not all Israel who are of Israel. One of the Puritans said, if Abraham's faith isn't in your heart, it will be of no advantage if his blood is running in your veins.

They're not all Israel who are of Israel. Same thing, we looked at briefly, Jesus encountered again and again with the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the doctors of the law. They were convinced that God's favor rested upon them merely because they were the natural descendants of Abraham. And Jesus said what to them? So you guys need to be set free.

Us? Yeah, you guys need to be set free. Set free? We're Abraham's seed. We're not in bondage.

We've never been in bondage. Which Jesus responded, well, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin, exposing their true spiritual state. A life of unrepentant sin reveals a heart enslaved to sin. I note in my RHB Bible commentary says, a life of unrepentant sin reveals a heart enslaved to sin. I note in my RHB Bible commentary says, a life of unrepentant sin reveals a heart enslaved to sin.

Jesus said if you were Abraham's children, you wouldn't be doing the things that you're doing, like trying to kill me. You would be doing the works of Abraham. By the way, I'll just stop for a moment. That wasn't only true of the religious leaders of Jesus' day. It's also true of the religious leaders of our day, and it's true of every person in this meeting house today.

A lifestyle of unrepentant sin reveals a heart enslaved to sin. And Jesus says, If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." And you know, the religious leaders of Jesus' day, they could have stopped, thought about their lives. This isn't really a part of the message today, but they could have stopped, thought about their lives, said, you know what, what he's saying is true. We're bound in sin in nature's night. We are, or individually, any one of them could have looked at his life and said, you know what?

I'm really manifesting a life that is in bondage to sin, not one that's been set free. Well, Jesus said to them, If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." In other words, I'm the only way to be free from sin, both sin's penalty and sin's power to enslave. And if the one is not present, the other is probably not present either. Being a slave of sin is pretty much an indication that maybe there's not been any freedom from the penalty of sin. I hesitate when I talk about things like that.

You know, we spent a year and a half on Romans chapter A, the assurance chapter. The children of God who are trusting in Jesus alone for their right standing before God, they need to be assured of their salvation. They need to know that there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus, that nothing can separate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, nothing, nothing, not even their own sin. It's covered by Christ whose trust is in Him. But at the same time, there are those, there are those, and it has to be spoken about, we can't just gloss over it, who live like the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

There are one thing in the congregation and there are another thing maybe at home. There are one thing when they're around Christians, but there are another thing when they're around the unbelievers. Change colors, it's not a good sign. So you had the religious leaders of Jesus Day, they weren't free, Jesus exposed it, but if they could admit to themselves and if anyone here who looks at their self and says, you know, I don't know sometimes. You know, you can admit to yourself, look, look, my situation is not just one of I have a battle with sin.

The Christian, every Christian battles sin in their life. They're grieved by sin when they're confronted with their sin either through the word of God or maybe some preaching or maybe a friend who comes to them, they turn from that sin. They are, they're grieved by that sin. They turn to God, their trust is in Christ. They don't want to live in sin.

There's a battle there that's going on. The person who's outside of Christ, there's no battle. They yield to the sin. They go on in sin. They live in sin.

They like their sin. They love their sin. They want to continue in it, and they want to cover it so that they can continue in it. You see the difference? That was the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

But you know, if we admit, Lord, I need you to save me and set me free, we can know that His Word is true, that He will. He is merciful. And He saves all those who call upon Him. But back to our text, Jesus tells the religious leaders of His day that they're not the true children of Abraham and their lifestyles of unrepentant sin reveal it. Having Abraham's blood running through your veins doesn't make you a child of God, Jesus was telling them.

Their issue is spiritual, not biological. The salvation of souls doesn't run in the bloodstream. And this is Jesus telling the religious leaders the same thing Paul said in verse 6, they're not all Israel who are of Israel. Brothers and sisters, there are two Israels. There is Israel by natural birth, and there is Israel by spiritual birth.

And that's the way it's always been. Being a physical descendant of Jacob, who was called Israel, never made anyone a true child of God. There's a natural seed, and then there is a spiritual seed. They're not all true Israel, spiritual Israel, the Israel of God, who are of the physical lineage of Israel. And then in verse seven, Paul takes it back to Abraham.

He's talking about Jacob, Abraham's grandson, who's called Israel, right? Name has changed to Israel. He takes it back to Abraham, who's the father of all them that believe. And in verse 7 he says, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. Okay, and we dealt with Israel, Jacob.

Now he goes back to Abraham. Neither because they're the seed of Abraham are they all children. That is, neither does being a child of Abraham make you a spiritual child of Abraham, a child of God. Ishmael was a child of Abraham, but Ishmael wasn't a child of God. Ishmael was not the son of the promise.

Isaac was the son of promise. Paul says, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Here he's quoting Genesis 21 12, where God distinguishes between Ishmael and Isaac, both natural children of Abraham. Both are descendants of Abraham, but only one is a child of the promise. Both are children by procreation, but only one will be a child by regeneration.

Both are born of the flesh, only one will be born of the Spirit. Both are children of Abraham by natural birth, but only one will be a child of God by spiritual birth. They which are the children of the flesh, " Paul goes on to say in the next verse, these are not the children of God. They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. The children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are the children of God.

And if you look over at Galatians chapter 4 in verse 28, Paul says, uses the same terminology concerning believers in Christ. Galatians 4 28, he says, we As Isaac was are the children of promise. We just like Isaac was are the children of promise. Believers like Isaac are the children of promise. It is the children to whom the promise of salvation belongs.

And just as with Isaac, listen to this, apart from God's miraculous intervention, it won't happen. It doesn't happen. It can't happen. You see the connection there? You have a miracle, miraculous intervention.

God says, look, you're gonna have a son, Sarah of 90. How many know a 90-year-old woman who had babies? Abraham's 100. You're gonna have a son. He's gonna be the child of the promise.

Apart from God's supernatural intervention, this son isn't going to come about. Isaac is not going to be born. Believers are children of the promise in the same sense as Isaac. This is Charles Hodge. The birth of Isaac was supernatural.

Believers are the children of God by virtue of a supernatural spiritual birth. It's a supernatural birth. A Ligonier article I was reading yesterday puts it this way, Abraham's true heirs are children of promise like Isaac because his birth, like our justification, comes by the Lord's doing. It's a miraculous thing. There's not a one of us who has ever been, who has ever come to the Lord, except by God's intervention.

It wasn't because we were smarter, or we used the grace that was distributed and sprinkled over the whole human race equally, better than someone else. It's because God did something for us. We need to thank him for it, and we need to praise him for it. It is the promise of God that brought about the birth of Isaac, and it is the promise of God that brings about the new birth of every child of God. It's a work of God, it's a work of God.

John 1.13 as we close, puts it very clearly, speaking of the children of God. He says the children of God were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Or as Charles Hodge puts it, those who are the real children of God are born not after the flesh, but by God's special grace. We who are counted for the seed owe it to nothing of ourselves, but to the gracious mercies of God, who will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. As we go forward, we'll see.

Who will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy. In our last session I ended, I wanna end Similarly, you know, and ask the question, what are you relying upon today for your acceptance and your right standing with God? Some, like the Jews who relied upon their lineage, upon their bloodline, upon their connection with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the patriarchs, they trusted in the flesh. They relied upon their lineage, their connection with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus said no.

John the Baptist said no. Paul said no. Didn't work that way. But some rely on church membership. Some rely on the fact that they go to church, maybe they're there every time the church doors are open.

Some rely on the faith of their parents, which is kind of that bloodline trusting. Some rely upon their baptism. Some rely upon their works to save them. But only those who rely on Christ and Him crucified, on Jesus and what He has done for them in His life and death are the spiritual children of God, are the children of God, the true Israel of God, the true sons and daughters of Abraham, who is the father of all the faithful, the true spiritual seed, the children of the promise, the true children of God, justified in God's sight, reconciled to God by the death of His Son, forgiven all trespasses, and eternally safe in the palm of God's hands, whether they be Jew or Gentile. Where is your reliance today?

Is your reliance upon Christ and what He has done. These are the true children of God. Lord, I'm not trusting in anything that I've done or could ever do. I'm not trusting in what my parents have done or who they are. I'm not trusting in my church membership, my baptism, or that I go through the line and receive the Lord's table, I'm not relying on anything but on the blood of Christ, His perfect righteousness.

Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. All my trust is in Jesus and Him alone. These are the true children of God. These are the true children of God. Let's close with that.

Father, we just thank you and praise you for the gift of your Son, for what Jesus has done for us in His life and in His death. Our trust, O God, is in the person and work of Christ, in Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead, that Jesus died for our sins, and that He was buried, and that He rose from the dead the third day. Our trust is in Christ alone, O Lord. I pray for assurance, Lord, for those whose trust is in Christ, and encouragement, O God, in their daily walk. And I pray, Lord, for conviction for any Lord who might be like the Pharisees and the Sadducees who are content to live in sin, who love their sin and intend to go on in it to the end of their days.

Lord, I pray that you bring conviction and give a new heart and raise from spiritual death to life those Lord who may be living in rebellion against you, God. Lord, we thank you, God, for this table that we're approaching. We thank you, God, that Christ died for our sins. We ask, Lord, as we examine ourselves before we eat of that bread and drink of that cup, showing Christ's death for us, Lord, that we would examine ourselves to see if we're in the faith, we would examine our lives to see if there is any unconfessed sin that has not been confessed and forsaken with the intent never to return to it, trusting in Christ and His sacrifice for the atonement and satisfaction made to you for it. Lord, I pray that you'd give us each grace this time and this time as we approach this table set apart from all others and that you'd be glorified at this time and that we would also Lord have your grace ministered to us spiritually as we feed on Christ by faith For it's in His name we pray these things.

Amen.