God’s Word Never Fails
Righteousness Revealed: An Exposition of Romans

Below is an automated transcript of this message:

It’s good to see all of you today! We’re picking back up our series through the book of Romans. We’ve been taking it four chapters at a time. We started a couple of years ago and, in two installments, we’ve covered chapters one through eight. Now we’re in part three; we’ll be covering chapters nine through twelve over the next ten weeks.

We’ve entitled this series, “Righteousness Revealed.” This particular installment of chapters nine through twelve we are beginning today and over the next ten weeks. Today’s message will be covering the first thirteen verses of chapter nine in a message entitled, “God’s Word Never Fails.”

As we begin this section of Romans, may I admit to you, my great need for prayer for preparation and for delivery of these messages. Many have described these chapters that are before us, chapters nine through 11 especially, as some of the most difficult to understand in all of the Bible. In fact, we’re not alone in this appraisal. Even the apostle Peter said of Paul’s writings, in 2 Peter 3:15-16 (ESV) “…our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters…There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” We’re in one of those hard to understand sections of the book of Romans. And so, we want to be careful and we desire your prayer for it.

As we approach these three chapters, especially chapters nine through eleven, I would just say to you that part of the problem, but really, the major problem is that the scripture has a tension between two perspectives or two spheres. One is the earthly perspective of how we see things and the other is the heavenly perspective. The scripture speaks equally on both of those and, as a result, you’ll find this quote in the believers study bible talking about this, it says the scriptures present salvation as viewed in two very different spheres.

The earthly sphere sees man is totally responsible for his actions and faced with the necessity of choosing either to reject or accept the atonement of Christ. The heavenly perspective contradicts the earthly perspective, but it does add a new and infinitely more profound dimension. This new dimension declares that God has an elective purpose and that all which will, ultimately transpires, conforms to His purpose, including the salvation of the elect. Difficulty arises and man seemingly has unending efforts to reconcile the heavenly insight with the earthly perspective. That’s the difficulty; to try to reconcile this tension between those two perspectives.

I would just confess to you, I don’t think so much of myself that I will be able to settle this for you today, not to your satisfaction nor to my own. What we’re talking about is the difficulty of understanding God’s sovereignty, man’s free will and which way to move the scale on that in order to understand, because the scripture speaks of both. We’re aware that smarter minds than ours have attempted this and we’re aware that good gospel preaching, bible believing preachers might land slightly different than I might land today. However, we humbly do our best to follow the context and the intent of the Holy Spirit.

As Paul wrote this, these three chapters, beginning with these first thirteen verses today, we sense the apostle Paul’s heart. As we get into chapter nine, we see his brokenness and his sorrow for the fact that Israel has largely rejected Jesus as their Messiah. It’s broken his heart.

To get a sense of where he’s at in this chapter, we conclude chapter eight and get into chapter nine. We might have to remember where he was in chapter eight. He was on this mountaintop of love, if you will. He’s talking about God’s love. He wrote this; he says, Romans 8:38-39 (ESV) 38 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Here he is; he’s shouting about God’s love and how much God loves us and that nothing can separate us from God’s love. To understand how the book of Romans was written, turn to chapter 16 and you’ll see that he had a “secretary” and he actually puts his name on the letter. Paul is dictating this to his “secretary” and his “secretary” is writing the letter for him.

You can almost picture Paul. He’s walking around saying that no one can separate us from God’s love. Then, he remembers Israel. In chapter nine, he wonders, But what about Israel? His heart is broken.

As Dr. Barnhouse observed in his commentary: “You say that there is no separation from the love of God? Then, what about the age old people of God?” Answering this question seems to be the clear intent of Paul’s writing in chapter 9. Paul has this question that he’s trying to resolve for himself and for others, Has God’s word failed concerning Israel, all the promises, all the gifts that He gave Israel? Has God’s word failed concerning them? And so, this seems to be primarily what he’s at work doing in chapters nine through 11. Has the word of God failed?

Speaking of that question, do you believe the word of God can fail? Do you believe that the word of God will fail for you? I’m watching my good Christian brothers; some of you are like, Is this a trick question? I’m afraid to answer. Yet, many of us live like it will fail. And so, God’s word says that if you believe and you receive, then you can know that you have eternal life. You don’t have to guess at it. You can know. But then, we doubt God’s word. Many of us are are looking at the world today and and the 24-7 news that comes at us like a fire hose from every direction of media. And we start thinking that we live in a runaway world, a world gone amok? We begin to wonder who’s in charge of this thing, we forget that God’s word will never fail and we question if God is still in control. What’s going on? Why are things in such a mess? We are filled with anxiety and worry. We forget that God’s word teaches that God’s hand is systematically guiding this age towards His consummation. His purposes will come to pass. We forget that and we forget that God’s at work in this world. We question if the word of God has failed.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could leave here today, resting in the knowledge that you have been convinced that God’s word never fails? What would that look like in your life? As we look at these thirteen verses in chapter nine of Paul’s letter to the Romans , he expresses his great sorrow that the vast majority of his Jewish brothers have rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Yet, he was convinced that God’s word has not failed.

I believe, today, we can be convinced that God’s word never fails. As we look at the text, I think we’ll see three reasons why God’s word never fails. Let’s dig in.

Romans 9:1-13 (ESV) 1 “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 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. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. 6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 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. 9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 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— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” This is God’s word. Amen.

We’re looking for three reasons to trust that God’s word never fails. Here’s the first:

1. Because His love and grace is everlasting and immeasurable. Remember how chapter eight ended? It ended with that mountain top statement of “Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus. Yet, immediately, Paul thinks of his own brethren. He thinks of his own tribe and his heart breaks because they have rejected Christ. He begins to talk about it. Perhaps, we don’t see anything like this in all of Paul’s writings, such heartfelt sorrow expressed in writing. Some would say, Why is this even here? Paul can’t help it because I think the Holy Spirit in him is also grieved for Israel. I think he’s expressing the love of God. The heart that still beats for them. Paul has all of these kinds of “hand on the bible, I swear it’s true” kind of introductions here because he wants the hearer to understand how much he’s broken over Israel’s rejection. He says, “I’m speaking the truth in Christ, I’m not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.”

Now, that heis setting this up, he is getting ready to say something pretty amazing. He’s telling you the truth from his heart.

And then, what does he say? He says, “I have great sorrow.” In Greek, it uses the word “mega” for great right there. It is mega sorrow; it is deep sorrow. He has an unceasing anguish. Every time he thinks of his people, it just breaks his heart. He says, 3 “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.” It’s not quite a wish. If I could wish for it, I would. He’s beginning to work this out and he begins to think about the possibility, What if I could be cursed in the place of my people, Israel, so that they might receive Christ? I don’t think I could say this and the truth of the matter is Paul couldn’t quite say it either. He says if I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.

Have you ever felt that kind of deep sorrow for your family, for your fellow loved ones or for your “tribe?” Have you ever felt such deep sorrow for that one? Maybe you’re from a family where most of your family are believers. But, there’s that one; that one breaks your heart.What if you’re from a family where you’re it; you’re the remnant that God snatched out of your family and has saved you. Your mom and dad, your grandparents, your uncles and aunts, your cousin’s…none of them know the Lord. When you go to Thanksgiving get togethers, you have to “pray up” before you go. Does your heart break? Do you experience unceasing anguish? The Holy Spirit does and the love of Christ does. Paul is not lying. He feels that way every time he thinks about the Jews. You must remember that Paul is Jewish. In fact, he was so Jewish, he used to persecute the church before he got saved. But now, every time he goes to a new town to preach the gospel, he always goes first to the synagogue. It’s his pattern. You can read about it in the book of Acts? If he goes to Colossae, he goes to the synagogue. If he goes to Thessaloniki, he goes to the synagogue. If he goes to Phillippi, he goes to the synagogue. He always started with the Jews; he would go preaching at the synagogue until they kicked him out. They always kicked him out, but he would start there. Wherever he went, the people that were persecuting him were his own family, breaking his heart that they would consider him an enemy. He was in deep sorrow about it.

This sets up these three chapters, chapters 9, 10 and 11 . This is the sorrow of Paul. Has God’s word failed? Has His love and grace for His chosen people, Israel, failed? Are they really chosen? Has He unchosen them? This is what preempts where he’s headed here.

He stands as Moses did. If you think back to the book of Exodus, remember when Moses had come down the mountain with the Ten Commandments? I know who you’re picturing right now. You’re picturing Charlton Heston coming down. Moses is coming down and they had built the golden calf and they had fallen into a riotist kind of worship to an idol. Mose comes down and he breaks the Ten Commandments. His heart is broken. He goes back to God and he says something similar to what Paul says. Exodus 32:31-32 (ESV) 31 “So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” What we see here, in Moses and in Paul, that which they were offering but unable to accomplish because if little Paul or little Moses would have offered their lives, their sacrifice would have been insufficient because they were just sinners like you and I. Only Jesus could actually become accursed for His brethren and He was.

And so, Paul said, I wish I could , but maybe the best I can do is suffer with Christ for my people. He’s kind of like Moses was and the way he felt. And then, Paul says, 4 “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” He adopts them as his own family, his chosen people. The glory of God appears to them; His manifest glory on many occasions. Some have referred to this as the “Shekinah” glory, which is the very presence of God.

Look at what happens when Solomon’s temple was first completed in 1 Kings, it says, 1 Kings 8:10-11 (ESV) 10 ‘And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, 11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.” This is His manifest glory that Paul’s reminding them of. He’s reminding them of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night that for 40 years led them through the wilderness. The glory was given to you, the manifest glory, the “Shekinah” glory, the adoption and the covenant. The covenant was given to Abraham. The covenant was given to Moses, the covenant was given to David. The covenants were theirs; the law, the Torah, the first five books of the bible and the worship. God designed the Tabernacle and all of its furnishings and how to worship. That was given to the Jews. That was a gift to the people of Israel. The promises were unique to them, Some were already fulfilled, some yet to be fulfilled.

Has God’s word failed? Is God finished with Israel? Has he moved on to the Gentiles? These are difficult questions for Paul. 5 “To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.” In other words, according to the Virgin Mary, who was in the tribe of Judah is the Christ, the Messiah, who is God. Overall, this is perhaps the strongest statement of Christ’s divinity In all of Paul’s writings. Jesus is God and He’s overall; He’s sovereign, blessed forever. Amen. He had to break into a benediction before he could move on .

God’s love and His grace have moved Paul to this place of dealing with, Why has Israel rejected God? God’s love is everlasting. The Prophet Jeremiah says, Jeremiah 31:3 (NKJV) “The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” He has an everlasting love for you. He has an everlasting love.

God’s grace, as we studied this last week, is immeasurable. He plans to show it forever to those He has called. It says in Ephesians 2:4-7 (ESV) 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” His love is infinite. His grace is immeasurable. His love is everlasting and He plans to give us His grace for the eons to come.

Will His word fail? Let me ask you three questions: (1) Do you share Paul’s pain for an unsaved loved one? God loves them more than you do. Let this sorrow for them move you to share the gospel and pray for them and to think about them. Do you know someone that needs to hear the gospel? Does your heart break for them? Here’s the second question: (2) Do you tend to rely on your blessings? In other words, do you rely on a good family, on a good church, on a great country called America? The Jews did that. They said, We are children of Abraham. Paul would try to give them the gospel. But we’re Israel. (But we’re Americans.) When the minute comes that gets this shaken up, the circumstances change and you begin to question God’s word. Has God’s word failed? Here’s the third question: (3) Do you recognize the love and grace of God that’s been at work since the beginning, through Israel and all through the Old Testament? You have just heard the list of eight benefits of grace; benefits that He had given Israel. Do you realize that the foundation was built? That Christ comes into all of the preparation that God built? God brought Christ, so that Christ could be offered, not just to the Jews, but to us the Gentiles and to the whole world.

God made a covenant to Abraham. He said to him that through his seed (singular seed, not seeds) speaking of many offspring. Put to Paul, in Galatians 3:16, ESV: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.” Through Your seed all the nations will be blessed; that’s us. Paul’s reminding himself and us as readers that God’s word never fails because His love and His grace have never failed.

2. Because all His promises are being fulfilled.

Here’s the second reason. We’re going to be looking at verses 6 through 9 now; all of His promises are being fulfilled. I say “are” being because they have been, they will be and they are being fulfilled right now. Notice the word, “promises,” in our verses 6 through 9. It’s in verse eight and then again in verse nine. They were promised. A promise is something that God makes and we have to either say we believe it or not. God is a promise making God and a promise keeping God.

God made a promise to Abraham. And so, Paul is beginning to work out this question. This is where I got the title of the message, “God’s Word Never Fails.” Paul has spent some time asking the Spirit to explain this to him. Lord, Your chosen people have rejected the Messiah by and large, but Your word hasn’t failed . Here’s his explanation. He says, 6 “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” When Paul speaks of “descent” here, he’s speaking of biological descent. When he speaks of Israel, he’s talking about Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel; he’s talking about the children of Israel. He says that not all born to Jacob are really Israel because, to be part of spiritual Israel, is to understand the Promise.

He goes on; he gives us the example of Abraham. Not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. Now, how many sons did Abraham have? He had eight. Read the book of Genesis. He had one son named Ishmael. He and his wife, Sarah, thought they could help God. Now, watch out, when you try to help God (just read that chapter right there). Don’t try to help God; He knows what He’s doing. You be you. Let God be God. But, Abraham and Sarah tried to help God. Sarah wastoo old to have a baby, yet God promised them a son. Sarah gave Abraham her concubine, Hagar. Hagar conceived and had a son named Ishmael. God said, That’s not him, I promised you you’d have a child. I promised a child through Sarah. So, in her 90’s, Sarah had Isaac. Do you remember that story? God had visited Abraham’s tent; He said that this time when I come back around next year (in fact, Paul is quoting it here in verse nine, He says, “This time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” You see that verse nine, he’s reminding us of that story.) Sarah (not that any other lady in the house would do this) had her ear to the tent flap because the menfolk were out there talking. And the Lord spoke to to Abraham. He says, “When I come back here next year, you have a son.” Sarah laughed out loud. God said , “I want you to name him Isaac.” God has a sense of humor, because Isaac means “son of laughter.” Name him Isaac because your wife, Sarah, laughed. She said that she was in the tent; she was not out there talking to the Lord. She said that she didn’t laugh. God told her that she did laugh. When the year comes around, she did have a son named Isaac.

Abraham had eight sons. He had one by Hager. He had a son of promise, Isaac, by Sarah. When Sarah died, he married a woman named Keturah who had six sons. If you say, I’m a son of Abraham, a child of Abraham. Therefore, I’m an Israelite. Paul says, Now wait a minute. You have to be the son of the promised one. You have to be a child of the promised one in order to be children of God. He’s making a case now, that faith is the rule; faith in the promise is the rule. There’s something called spiritual Israel and just being a physical member of it is not enough.

Now, some of you think, because you’re born in America, that makes you a Christian. Some of you think because you go to church on Sunday that makes you a Christian. Some of you think, because you were born into a certain family that makes you a Christian. You’re suffering from the same delusion that these people were. You must believe; faith is the rule. Faith is the new way of looking at this. It’s not just the new way; it’s always been based on the promise. This is what Paul is teaching; it’s always been based on the promise. God has always kept his promises.

Look what Joshua says, Joshua 21:45 (ESV) “Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” God is a promise-making and a promise -keeping God.

In the book of Numbers, it says, Numbers 23:19 (NLT) “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” Oh, friends listen, take the promises of God and hold them near to your heart and to your mind, God will keep His promises. We can be convinced that His word never fails.

3. Because His purpose will ultimately stand.

Here’s the third reason: because His purpose will ultimately stand. His purpose will ultimately stand. Have you noticed all of the “nots” here? Not as though the word of God, not all who descended, not all children of Abraham. This is a “notty” passage. And then, we get into verse 10; 10 “And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad…” and we keep on and not only so we continue with the knots. It’s a ”notty” passage, but we’re going to try to untangle it the best that we can.

Here’s what Paul is thinking: He’s thinking, Okay, you can push back on my example about Abraham because there were different women involved. There were three different women involved with those eight sons. Here is a better example Paul says; here’s one where it’s the same father and same mother, but there’s two twin boys born from the same womb on the same day. He defends this case here, which is based on faith. It is based on a promise. It’s also based on God’s sovereign right to choose.

Look at verse 10, “ And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad.” Isaac is the son of Abraham and Sarah. Now, he’s married a woman named Rebecca and she’s pregnant with twins and the Spirit speaks to her. Look at verse 12: she was told that the older will serve the younger. Before they even come out, the Spirit tells her this. Esau was born first and then Jacob. and I’m talking about moments between the two because they were twins. They named children in unusual ways in those days. Esau came out and he was red and hairy, so they called him Esau, which means “red and hairy.” Jacob comes out hanging on to his brother’s foot, his heel; Jacob means “you’re pulling my leg.” Jacob was grasping the heel. They had some original ways of naming children. Verse 11, “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad”.

And then, Paul drops this “bomb” on us right here. Here comes a hard saying in verse 11, “in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls.” God has the right to choose. God has the right to elect. And so. He carries it out. Now, I think there’s a better translation. It’s not so much God’s purpose of election; it’s more like the purpose of God according to election.

Let’s look at the same verse in the New King James, Romans 9:11 (NKJV) “for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls.” You can see that that’s where I got the third reason: That the purpose of God will stand. Election is the right to choose; God is the creator. He gets to choose, but it’s to carry out His purposes. As you look at this, the purpose of God, according to election, might stand. We have here, His sovereign purpose in view and the difficult doctrine of election. It is difficult because it’s from a heavenly perspective. Paul is letting us glimpse into them.

Why did God choose Israel? Was it because they were better? No. He just had the right to choose, so He chose Israel to be His people because He is God and we are not. To work this out, though, does that do away with man’s free will? Well, that’s where a lot of theological systems have arisen, trying to work out God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. If you look at it on some sort of graph, the differences in a lot of theological positions come as to how much weight you give to either one. The tension is that the scripture teaches both, which creates a mystery or a paradox.

In Dr. Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on this, he says, “In election, God exercises His sovereign will to accomplish His perfect plan. Keep in mind that the election discussed in Romans 9-11 is national and not individual. To apply all the truths of these chapters to the salvation or security of the individual believer is to miss the message completely. In fact, Paul carefully points out that he is discussing the Jews and Gentiles as peoples, not individual sinners.”

I appreciate Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on this, because I think it leaves the mystery intact. I think that when we try to follow man made systems, instead of just delving into the word of God and leaving those places a mystery, we try to untangle that, which can lead us into false assumptions and understandings. It’s better to leave it intact and to say there’s a mystery here. And so, I admit to you, how is it that both of these things are true? How is it true that God is sovereign and I have a free will? I don’t know, but the bible teaches both; it’s on me to hear the gospel. When I hear the gospel, I choose to accept it or reject it, but it’s on God that He already knew I would and that He chose me before the foundation of the world. See, it’s a paradox.

Do you know what a paradox is? It’s two truths that are apparently exclusive but both mutually true at the same time. This is where I’m happy to leave it now. There are those of you that are very much wanting to put God in a particular box. I’m more of a “both and” guy; if you’re looking for a pastor who will put everything neatly into theological categories, you came to the wrong church. What we’re looking at here, is Paul is still trying to work out the nation of Israel. He’s not trying to teach us some salvation truth concerning the individual. I tend to land with Dr. Wiersbe on this.

Let’s continue. You’re wondering, When is he going to get to verse 13? Verse 11 was hard enough , but what about verse 13? 13 “As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Paul is quoting Mal.1:3, not in the emotional sense, but a matter of preference or priority. God didn’t say this of Esau and Jacob.

Back in Genesis (this is 1000 years later when Malachi was written) that God said to look at Esau. Look at his progeny, look at his descendants and how they’ve gone. He says, at that point, what we’re dealing with here is a Jewish “idiom,” a way of describing priority or preference. In other words, He doesn’t hate with the sense of disdain or wanting to destroy, but he loves Jacob more or with preference.

Can I give you two examples? One is from the Old Testament and one is from the New Testament to support a better understanding of this passage. Here is from Genesis 29:30-31 (ESV) 30 “So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah… 31 When the Lord saw that Leah washated he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.”

Now, does it say that Jacob hated Leah? No. It says he loved Rachel more. But then, God describes it as she was unloved or hated. What we’re looking at is on a spectrum. He loved Rachel so much that it looked like he hated Leah because he loved Rachel with preference and priority.

And then, we have Jesus in the New Testament. Luke 14:26 (ESV) “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” So, is Jesus teaching a doctrine of hate to everybody? No, this would fly in the face of the context of the rest of His teaching where He says things like this, “I tell you not only should you love your friends, but you should love your enemies.” So, how would He teach us to love our enemies when God doesn’t love His enemies or, how would He say to us, “They’ll know you’re christians by your love, they’ll know you’re my disciples because you love?” What does he mean? Here, is he saying you should hate your family? Is he saying that you should hate yourself? No. You should love Him so much, with such priority and preference, that on the scale of love and hate it would be as if in comparison. I think this unravels the statement.

It’s a jewish idiom where Paul is trying to explain that God had the right to choose Jacob. I’ve heard it said, a student came to a pastor and said, Pastor, I just don’t understand how God could hate, so I have a problem with that passage. The pastor said to the student, I have a problem with that passage too, but my problem is I just can’t understand how God could love a scoundrel like Jacob. Really there’s a problem in both directions here.

It actually makes more sense that God would hate all of us because we became as enemies when we rebelled, but He has shown us preference and favour by sending us Jesus. It shows His divine prerogative and His right to purpose what He will.

It says in Isaiah that it will stand. His purpose will stand. Isaiah 46:9-10 (ESV) 9 “… I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” God is still on the throne, friends. He’s still accomplishing His purpose. It might not look like it, but His word will not fail.

Isaiah writes this. Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV) “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” You know, we might not be able to understand God’s purpose from our perspective. Do you remember that tension between the earthly perspective and the heavenly perspective? That tension between God’s purpose and man’s free will? How do you solve that?

My wife has made many cross stitches through the years and my living room is filled with hymns where she has little flowers and musical notes in the lyrics to these cross stitch pieces. I remember when she would be making them, she would show me where she was at on one; she would hand it over to me (there’s a wooden ring that she would screw on it to hold it) and I would mistakenly look at the wrong side. When I would look at the wrong side, it’s a chaotic mess, strings of every color going all over the place. When I would look at the bottom, it made no sense. If I would have tried to untangle it, I would have torn it up on the front. She tells me to flip it over and then there’s this beautiful hymn that she’s finishing. It’s perfect.

You see, it’s like that cross stitch piece; you look up and it’s a tangled, chaotic mess . What’s going on, Lord? What’s going on? But if you look at it from His perspective, He will accomplish His purpose. “My word will not return to me void.” There’s a tension between what we know and what He knows. And so we, by faith, believe.

Some have said, if you could imagine a door to heaven and try to understand the tension between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will, as you look at this door and look up at it, it says “who so ever will” from Revelation 22:17, where there’s an invitation for all to come. But then, as you pass through it, if you could, and look back over your shoulder on the backside of the same door, it would say, Eph. 1:4 “Chosen before the foundation of the world.” Same door tensions left intact. It’s a mystery.

How is it possible? Well, God’s word teaches both and I’m a “both and” guy, because it appears to me that God’s word is a “both and” kind of word on this. It’s a mystery. He has chosen me and He always knew He would. But in my timeline, it was a response to the gospel that I had to make and I had to hear and decide to obey it or reject it. And so do you. You don’t have to worry about a world gone crazy today. You don’t have to think it’s gone amok. Well, maybe you can think that because it looks that way from your perspective, but know this, it’s not the President of the United States who is running things. It’s no king, dictator or president; God’s on the throne. Let your minds be at ease, call upon Him and talk to Him.

There may be a lot of chaos in your life today. A lot of uncertainty. A lot of anxiety. I would say this is the most helpful thing to understand: that God’s word never fails. When all else fails, He never fails. You can be confident.

Now, if you’re here today and you’ve never received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I would remind you of what Paul is writing about in verse five, he said Christ was given and He’s the one that became a curse for us. He took the curse of our sin, of our death and of our separation and He offers His eternal life, His righteousness, His sonship and His relationship with the Father.

Have you ever received Him? As we conclude, I would also say, if you’re a believer and you’ve received Him, I want you to be thinking right now about that person in your family, in your neighborhood or where you go to school that’s far from God, that’s in your “tribe.” I pray that God would break their hearts for that “one.”

Let’s pray. Lord, first, I pray for the one that God is seeking this morning. Is it you that the Holy Spirit is knocking on your heart’s door? That’s the Spirit of Christ. He died for you , my friend. He wants you; He loves you. His heart breaks for you. Would you receive Him? You can pray with me right now. Prayer is just talking to God. Let’s pray. Dear Lord, Jesus, I’m a sinner. I believe You died on the cross for my sins. I believe that You were raised three days later and that You live today. Come and live in me, forgive me my sin, make me a child of God. I want You as my Savior and Lord. If you’re praying that prayer right now, believing, He will save you by faith in the promise. Others are here and you know the Lord as your Savior, but you’ve allowed yourself to take your eyes off the King and when you put your eyes back on Him, you feel depressed. With His Holy Spirit, your heart starts beating and being broken for the things that His heart beats for and you start caring about the lost, you care about the ones that He’s put in your family, you become broken like Paul. Right now, Holy Spirit, show us the face of that one that you want us to talk to, that one you want us to pray for. For some of us, it’s many faces. It’s names that come to our minds. Lord, we want to be the people whose hearts beat for that which your heart beats. Lord, we put away our anxiety and we replace it with prayer right now, knowing that You are sovereign, that Your purposes will come to pass. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.