LISTEN
This sermon was preached by Sam Davies at the Ladybarn site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 12th August 2018.
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SERIES
This message was part of the ‘SERIES NAME’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Withington in EARLY/MID/LATE YEAR. The full series included the following sermons:
BIBLE VERSES
This sermon was based on Romans 9:1-33
God’s Sovereign Choice
1I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For 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. 4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
6But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8This 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. 9For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11though 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— 12she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25As indeed he says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.'”
26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”
27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29And as Isaiah predicted,
KEY POINTS
God’s Choice of Israel Was to Do With His Purpose
- As God’s chosen people Israel enjoyed adoption as sons, divine glory, covenants, the law, temple worship, promises, being patriarchs and ancestry of Christ.
- These privileges were not an end in themselves but a means to an end, that the Messiah might come from the people of Israel.
- The end purpose was that God wanted to not only bless Israel , but that through them the whole earth would be blessed. We need to recognise that we also enjoy the privileges and share in the purpose of blessing the earth.
God’s Choice of Israel Was to Do With Their Service
- God chose Israel to serve as part of achieving his purposes.
- It has always been part of God’s strategy that he uses those he has chosen to serve in accomplishing his purposes. As children of God this applies to us as well.
- Each of us has been chosen to serve the purposes of God. We will all do that in different ways, as God has chosen and gifted us. Whatever our means of service it is all equally valuable in accomplishing God’s plans.
God’s Choice of Israel Was to Do With His Grace
- Being part of God’s chosen people comes through faith.
- It all comes down to the grace of God, not who we are but who we put our faith in.
- We all have a responsibility to find out what our service to God is and play an active part in serving his purposes to bless the whole earth.
MORE SERMONS
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