Opening Prayer
Psalm 129
A song of ascents.
1 Out of the depths I call to
you, Lord!
2 Lord, listen to my voice;
let your ears be attentive
to my cry for help.
3 Lord, if you kept an account of
iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord; I wait
and put my hope in his word.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning—
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord.
For there is faithful love with the Lord,
and with him is redemption in abundance.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
Getting Started
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you held onto from last week?
Did any lesson from last week’s session impact your life?
9:1-5
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. 5 The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.[1]
The giving of the law –
- Exodus 20:1-3 - Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. 3 Do not have other gods besides me.
- Even Israel’s relationship with God was about grace.
Doxology
- Christ, the one being God (who is God) over all, praised/blessed (adj) for all ages. Amen.
- Clear declaration that Jesus is God.
- That He is praised/blessed is part of his essence – not merely a matter of our recognition.
- Notice the end of this section at Romans 11
o
33 Oh, the depth of the
riches
and the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments
and untraceable his ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?
35 And who has ever given to God,
that he should be repaid?
36 For from him and through him
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever. Amen.
o Here the Father is acknowledged as God.
Amen
- A word we use often, but it is more than punctuation.
o
Ending prayers.
o
Ending creeds and sermons.
- Transliterates a Hebrew word that sounds the same which means “truly/surely”
- In a different form it can mean “to believe.”
- This is a great word of faith, and Paul uses it to emphasize that he believes Jesus is Christ and therefore the savior.
o
The key matter of this book is the Gospel.
Romans 9:6-29 – Artistically Laid Out
- 9:6-9 key words – Word, Israel, seed, children (of God), to be called
o
9:10-13 key words – to call, to love
§
9:14-18 key words – to show mercy, to will
§
9:19-23 key words – to will, mercy
o
9:24-25 key words – to call, to love
- 9:26-29 key words – to be called, sons (of God), Israel, Word, seed
9:6-8
6 Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Neither is it the case that all of Abraham’s children are his descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac. 8 That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring.
v.6
It is not as though the word of God has failed ….
- The word translated failed also means “fall”
- This is the same word in the LXX’s[2] translation of Isaiah 40:7-8 - The grass withers, the flowers fade (FALL!) when the breath of the Lord blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever.”
- A key principle for understanding the Bible: Scripture interprets Scripture.
o
This means that being very familiar with the
Bible is important for understanding the Bible.
o
The O.T. is foundational for the Christian
faith. We do well to read it.
§
Messianic prophecies.
§
Psalms.
§
Life of the faithful.
Not all who descended from Israel are Israel.
- This means that Paul is using the word Israel to refer to two groups of people.
o
Ethnic Israel
o
Spiritual Israel.
§
Luke 3:8 records John the Baptists words of
warning: “Do not begin to say within yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our
Father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham
from these stones.”
o
The heart of the issue is the relationship with
God – not their relationship to Abraham, Isaac, or Israel/Jacob.
§
Genesis 15:6
§
Romans 4:3
- This is essential for understanding 11:26 when he says, “all Israel will be saved.”
For Next Week
It will be helpful to review/read Genesis 21:1-21 and Genesis 25:1-18
Wrapping Up
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you hope to hold onto from these verse?
How will the lessons learned from these verses impact your
faith life?
Verse of the Week – Psalm 121:1-2
1 I
lift my eyes toward the mountains.
Where will my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
[1]
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used
by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered
trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
[2]
LXX is shorthand for the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament
made by Jewish scholars in Egypt between 250-150 B.C. This is a very important document
that helps us understand how the Jews understood the Hebrew text, and it was
used extensively by early Christians who read Greek. Paul was capable of
reading both Greek and Hebrew, but even he cites the LXX text often.
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