Trouble in the Middle East: Jew and Gentile on Equal Footing

God’s right to make sovereign choices!

Romans 9:8-24

1. Some of God’s choices:

• Isaac not Ishmael, Jacob not Esau.

• Raised up Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. 

2. God, as potter, has authority over the clay.

Romans 9:23,24

“What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and  make his power known, bore with great patience the  objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What  if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to  the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance  for glory—24 even us, whom he also called, not only  from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.”

God has always planned for Jew and Gentile!

Romans 9:25-33

1. Quoting Hosea 2:23 & Isaiah 10:22-25

2. Consider the “remnant” of the Jews:

• Not the whole but part.

• Those who have faith. Which explains why  many were not blessed.

3. Righteousness by faith is how God  remains a promise keeper, not a  breaker.

Now, Jew and Gentile on equal footing!

• Deut. 18:15, says the prophet “raised up” must be listened to.

• Acts 3:17-26, Peter’s “fellow Israelites” had NOT listened  to Jesus Christ.

Therefore, their “sins were not blotted out” nor had they  received “times of refreshing from the Lord.”   Any “favor” shown Israel in the Old Testament to  bring us the Messiah, is clearly extended and Gentile in the New Testament!

Romans 10:1-8

Vs. 1,  Pray for a “lost” Israel.

Vs. 2,3, “Lost,” because they have “zeal” without  “knowledge.”

Vs. 4,  Christ is the “end of the law of righteousness” to  “EVERYONE” who believes.

Vs. 5-8, Righteousness of faith is within everybody’s reach.

• Quoting Deuteronomy 30:11-14.

• The word was sent from Heaven.

• The word is not in the “abyss.”

The word is right here, right now in the  finished work of Jesus Christ!