Shalom, everyone. We want to turn today to the book of Romans once again, and we are reading today from Romans chapter 9. And the passage is a very important passage because Romans chapter 9, 10, and 11 is a very important section in the book of Romans. And the reason that this section is so important is because the question may arise by some who might say, "Well, if God gives us such a wonderful assurance at the end of the book of Romans chapter 8, when he says that there is no separation for those that belong to Yeshua the Messiah, one may ask the question, "What can happen with the promises of God for the nation of Israel?" And I believe this passage in Romans 9, 10, and 11 is very essential to see how God deal with his righteousness towards the people of Israel.

And we, as believers today, have to realize that if God gave promises to us, this is the assembly, the church, the ecclesia, and we can stand upon these promises, we can also be sure that God's promises to the nation of Israel will surely come to pass. And so I would like to begin today by reading Romans 9. I'll read the first 13 verses and we will seek to cover those verses for today and see where the Lord is going to lead us in the next ministry meetings together. So look at this. Romans 9, the apostle continues and he says, and listen to his voice. He says, "I say the truth in Mashiach, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

For I could wish that I myself were accursed, or in Greek anathema, from the Mashiach, for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are Israelis, to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenant, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh the Messiah came, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen." Not as though the word of God has 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. For this is the word of promise. At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And he continued. And not only this, but when Rivka or Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac or Yitzchak, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated. And that is for the reading at this point in Romans chapter 9. When we get to this chapter, Romans 9, 10 and 11, we are coming to a section that seemingly, for many Bible teachers, are chapters that are really what they usually call parenthesis. In other words, they are chapters that, in a sense, they said that they really not belonged in this book of Romans. In other words, what they are really saying, some say that the Apostle Paul had deviated after he spoke about such a high truth of the eternal relationship that the people of God have with the Lord Jesus, where he said at the end of chapter 8, "I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in the Messiah Yeshua our Lord." He was speaking about such a high and elevated position that the believer, that you and I as believers in Yeshua have because of the work of the Messiah.

And then some would say he deviated and he began to speak about his people, the people of Israel. And some say that it's really a parenthesis. It is not an important package or part of the book of Romans. Some would say he should have continued immediately to chapter 12 and verse 1, where it says there, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you will present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." And it seemed to be, beloved brothers and sisters, that if you will take out Romans 9, 10, 11, and put together Romans 8 at the end of the chapter, verse 39, and together with chapter 12 of Romans verse 1, that there is a great connection there, because after this wonderful truth that we know, that there is no separation, Paul is saying, listen, "I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation where which you were called." And that's true.

But Apostle Paul did not make here any mistake when he put Romans 9, 10, and 11. And there is no some kind of coincidence as if there is a problem here, but Apostle Paul, by divine inspiration, gives us those three chapters to show us, dear beloved brothers and sisters, the importance of the truth that we have in the Scriptures, in the Word of God. The promises of God for the nation of Israel will surely come to pass, as the promises that He had promised the church at Rome, and the believers in general in this present-day dispensation, they will surely come to pass. And now He is coming, and He began to speak to us, in chapter 9, 10, and 11, about God's righteous relationship in dealing with His people, the people of Israel.

And so remember, just to remind us of this, we have those famous five S's that we have been speaking about right from the beginning of the study of the book of Romans. Sin, salvation, and then we say sanctification, and here we have sovereignty, chapter 9, 10, and 11, and finally in chapter 12 to the end, service. The five famous S's that we have began to deal with. Sin, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Salvation, that God provided the Messiah to save us. We have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Sanctification, chapter 6, 7, and 11, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

God forbid. We should be living a sanctified life, life that will be pleasing to the Lord. But now He wants to deal with the theme of sovereignty. You know, the word sovereign, sovereign, it means that God is all-powerful. He can do what He wants, when He wants, how He pleases, and He doesn't have to really ask us. What do you think, Gideon? Should I do things this way? Should I do things this way? He doesn't ask me. He doesn't ask you. He is sovereign. He is the creator, the upholder, the sustainer of the universe. He can do as He pleases. So, in these chapters, 9, 10, and 11, He talks about our people of all the nation of Israel.

Romans 9, Israel's past history. Romans 10, Israel's present rejection of the Messiahship of Yeshua. Romans 11, Israel's future restoration. When God is going to restore, and it really moves my heart when I think about it, when God, one day, this nation that is still blinded to the Messiahship of Yeshua, God is going to restore the people of Israel, and bring them back to Himself. And this nation will eventually, going to be the nation that will bring blessing to this world. And when we're going to get to Romans 11, we'll talk about it. But right now, we want to talk about the first 13 verses of Romans 9. And so here, in Romans 9, really, the apostle is asking three questions.

You notice that? I didn't read all these three questions today. In fact, I didn't read even one of them today. But in verse 14, it says, "What shall we say then?" Verse 19, second question, "Why does he yet find fault?" And then verse 30, the third question, "What shall we say then?" In fact, the first question added when he says, "What shall we say then?" He says, "Is there unrighteousness with God?" In verse 14. In verse 19, "Why then he find fault?" And then verse 30, "What shall we say then?" Notice those three questions. And he's about ready to answer those three questions to perhaps believe us at Rome. You know, in the city of Rome, there was a mixture of some Jewish believers, some non-Jewish believers.

And after he told them about the fact that there is no separation for those that belong to the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, then some might say and ask him, "Listen, how can you say that there will never be a separation from us and the Lord? How could it be?" Look, God made so many promises to Israel, the nation, how is that possible? Look at the Jewish people. Look historically at the Jewish people. Israel as a nation haven't accepted the Messiah. If God promised them, so many promises in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament, how come the Jewish people do not believe in the Messiah? We are living already 2,000 years of church history and the vast majority of our people, the Jewish people, are still blinded to the Messiahship of Yeshua.

So Shaul, Paul, is dealing with this and he is answering this. And you notice, by the way, he began, first of all, in the first verses in our chapter. And he is dealing, first of all, with the first five verses. And Paul, Shaul, shows us, first of all, the sorrow, beloved brothers and sisters, the concern that he has for the people of Israel. I don't believe that it is right for any Bible believer, any Christian, that knows his Bible. I don't believe it's right to have an attitude of carelessness and lack of concern for the people who gave us the Bible in our hands, the Messiah in our life, the scriptures that we have, the many truths that we are holding in our hands today.

The Lord used the nation of Israel to give it to the people of this world. And Paul, in verses one to five, shows us, the sorrow, the heaviness that he has in his heart, over his own brethren, over the nation of Israel. Look how he begins. First of all, in verse one, Paul, conscience, bears him witness. He says in verse one, I say the truth in Mashiach, in Messiah. I do not lie. My conscience, also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. See, Paul speaks about his own conscience. You know, the conscience is that thing that God had given to us. We call it in Hebrew, Matzpun.

That conscience that we have is like the red light and the buzzer that comes every time something bothering us. Every time we do something wrong, that conscience, the red light is coming. Every time we feel unsatisfied and unhappy, the buzzer is coming. The light is shining. Hear what happened with the apostle Paul. He just has spoken about the high, elevated truth that there is no separation. There is no condemnation. There is no frustration. There is nothing because we belong to the Lord, to Yeshua the Messiah. And he takes us all the way down and he shows us how his conscience, being stirred up by the Holy Spirit of God, his conscience towards his own brethren, the nation of Israel.

He says, look, he said to them, I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. You know, that continual suggests that Paul, in spite of the joy that he had, in knowing that he belonged to the Lord, he constantly had the mixture of joy and sorrow, of happiness and joyfulness, but also the heaviness that he has in his heart. The Holy Spirit of God constantly kind of reminded him again and again about his own people. You see, don't forget, his own people, his own people, the one that he came from the nation of Israel, and he himself was such in opposition to early, first century Jewish believers who believe in the Messiah.

the Messiah. And he says, listen, my heart, I'm telling you the truth in the Messiah, that my conscience bearing me, witnessed by the Holy Spirit. And then in verse two, he says, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. That sorrow that he had was not stopping. It was ongoing heaviness that he had in his heart and in his conscience because of his concern for his own brethren, the people of Israel. And he tells us exactly in the next verse, he tells us who are those people that he is speaking about and what he is willing to do for them. In verse three, he says, I could wish that I myself would be anathema for my kinsmen according to the flesh.

You know, the Greek word anathema, I think, and I believe it's found five times in the New Testament, five times, including here in Romans chapter nine, at verse three, that word is found in first Corinthians chapter 16 in verse 22. At the end of the book of Corinthians, those that do not believe in the Messiah, let them be anathema. In first Corinthians chapter 12 and verse three, he mentioned it again. Again, the apostle Paul speaks about this word, a curse, mean to be cut off, to be separated from the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. That's what he is saying here. He said, I wish and I'm willing that I myself was accursed, anathema from the Messiah for my brethren, my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

What a love he must have had for his own people, for the people of Israel, that he's willing. You know, I heard the other day, somebody saying, listen, there are certain people in this world that I'm willing to lose my life here on earth for them. If I only knew that I will come to faith in the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. But this same brother said, but I cannot say that I'm willing to be accursed from the Messiah, separated eternally from the Messiah for anybody. He says, I don't think I can ever imagine saying something like that. This particular brother has said, but here's the apostle Paul Shaul.

He says, not only that he's willing to die for someone, but he said, I'm willing or I wish I could wish that I myself was anathema, accursed, cut off from the Messiah for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. You know, the apostle Paul shows us here the heart of Yeshua, the Messiah for his people. You remember when Yeshua was on the tree on the cross, when he was there and then people around him and the mobs around him, the religious leaders around him, the two malefactors on his two sides and the one railing at him, save yourself and us. And the people said, if you be the Messiah, come down from the tree, come down from the cross.

And you remember what Yeshua said from the cross? He says, Father, he says, forgive them for they do not know what they say, what they do. He loved the nation so much. He loved his own people so much that he is asking on the cross while everyone is against him. He says, Father, forgive them. They do not know what they do. Father, they were blinded, spiritually blinded. They thought that they are doing God a favor. They thought by rejecting this man, they were doing the right thing. Even the Apostle Paul, if you remember, the first time when he saw Stephen, when Stephen was presenting the truth of the Messiah to the nation, he was stoned.

You remember that he was sitting, he was standing there to observe that. And the Apostle Paul, of course, at that time, he was using the Hebrew name Shaul. He was threatening against the believers, seeking to bring the believers, Jewish believers, back to Jerusalem in order to kill them because of their faith in the Messiah. But here we see, brothers and sisters, the heart of the Apostle Paul for the people of Israel, for his own brethren. My brethren. You notice he's calling them my brethren. Now, it is interesting. We, as Jewish people, often call each other brethren. Even if a Jewish person is not a believer, it is a national brotherhood.

It is a national brotherhood. Of course, a Jewish unbeliever is not our brother in the Messiah. He needs to accept the Lord for that. But there is the national brethren, brotherhood. And here is the Apostle, Shaul. He's saying, I was willing to be accursed from the Messiah for my brethren, Achim, for my kinsmen, according to the flesh. It was Moshe who said, in the book of Exodus, in chapter 32, he said to the Lord, if you will not lead us, when the Lord told him, I'm going to destroy the nation, I'm going to make you another nation. And Moses said, please, he says to the Lord, block my name from your book.

He says, just don't destroy the nation of Israel. Lead them on, God. Moses and Shaul, Paul, are two individuals, Hebrews, who had a burden for their own people who are willing to lose their lives for the nation of Israel. And that's what Paul is saying to us here in this chapter. He wishes to be accursed from the Messiah for his brethren, for his kinsmen, according to the flesh. And now, after he said that, in the next verses, verses four and five, he outlined for the Romans, Israel privileges. He's giving them a line of the privileges. First of all, he's going to talk about their responsibility and their failure, but he's listing now a list of privileges that Israel, the nation, have had.

Look at that. He began, he says, who are Israelis, in verse four and five, and to whom pertaining, number one, the adoption, number two, the glory, number three, the covenants, number four, the giving of the law, number five, the services of God, number six, the promises, and number seven, the fathers. He's listing here, seven things. There are privileges that Israel, as a nation, have had. Before he's even speaking about the Messiah, he's just telling them, listen to the privilege that the people of Israel have had. The adoption. You remember that? Adoption. God was speaking about Israel, and he says in Hosea 11, only you have I known, God says, to the nation of Israel.

He had adopted the nation of Israel to be his nation. He called them, we read today in Deuteronomy chapter seven, how God said that, I have chosen you, because I set my love upon you, God said, to the nation of Israel. In the book of Exodus chapter four, when he was leading Israel outside of Egypt, God says to Pharaoh, let my son go. Israel is my son, my firstborn. He had adopted the nation. God called the nation, as a son of God. It's the only nation, that is called my son, as a nation. You and I are called individually, sons of God, because of our faith in the Messiah.

But here's a nation, that is called, to be adopted by the Lord. He adopted them. Secondly, not only that he had adopted them, but to them, he said, pertaining also the glory. What nation have enjoyed the visible manifestation of God's presence? You know, when God revealed himself to anyone in this world, he revealed himself to the nation of Israel, the divine manifestation of the presence of God. In Hebrew, we call it the Shekhinah. You may call it in English, the Shekhinah glory. The word Shekhinah means lishkon, to rest. God's glory rested in the tabernacle. God's glory rested in the temple. God's Shekhinah rested between the two cherubim, in the holy of holies.

God revealed himself to the nation, and to them, as it says, the visible manifestation of God's presence have been revealed. There is no nation that have seen such a thing, that have experienced the visible manifestation of the glory of God. Then he continues, and he says, to them also pertaining the covenants. Do you know, brothers and sisters, that God have made covenants with the people of Israel, like he have never made any covenant with any other nation. In fact, and if you want to write this down, it was with Abraham that he made a covenant. He made a covenant. We call it the Abrahamic covenant.

And then we have the land, the covenant that he made with the people of Israel, to give them the land. In the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29, it's the land covenant that God had made with our people of all the nation of Israel. We also have, that we have read, sometime we read in 2 Samuel chapter 7, the Davidic covenant. He made it with Israel, to the nation of Israel. He made a promise to David, Melech Israel, that one day he is going to establish a king upon the throne, that he will establish in the city of Jerusalem. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, he also made with Israel, the new covenant.

Even the covenant that you and I come under the blessing of this covenant, actually the covenant was not made with the church. You don't find it in the scripture. The covenant was made with the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, and the church coming under the blessings of this covenant. But the actual covenant, Jeremiah 31, and you read it in the book of Hebrews, is made with the nation of Israel. It was the nation of Israel. These covenants are unconditional covenants that God had made with the nation of Israel. The Abrahamic covenant, the land covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the new covenant were all made with the nation of Israel.

Unconditional covenants that he made with the nation of Israel. The fifth covenant that he made with them was the conditional one. And that's what we know very well. We call it the conditional covenant, the Mount Sinai covenant found in Exodus 19 and Exodus 20 and on up to chapter 24. That was a conditional covenant. Covenant. Israel broke this covenant. Israel disobeyed this covenant. But the new covenant and all the other covenant he have made with the nation of Israel were unconditional covenant that he made with the nation of Israel. In the Bible we have other covenants like the Edanic covenant made in Eden. The Adamic covenant made with Adam.

The Noahic covenant made with Noah and his sons when they came out, if you remember, out of the ark. These are other covenants. But when Abraham came and the Hebrews began, all those other five covenants were made with the people of Israel. Abrahamic covenant, land covenant, Davidic covenant, new covenant, unconditional. And the conditional covenant called the Mount Sinai, the mosaic covenant which he made also. But this is a conditional covenant which they have failed to keep. Well, adoption, glory, covenants. And now notice, again in connection with the Mount Sinai, it is the giving of the law. It says to them pertaining the giving of the law.

You know, when we look at the law, we shouldn't look at it always in a negative way. Because the law is holy and God's righteous demand came through the law. But which nation received the law coming from Mount Sinai? When Moses brought the law, he came, he went to the mountain and God, a holy and a righteous God, have written with his own finger, he wrote the law. Of course, that first tablets were broken because Israel sinned in the camp. But Moses went again and he got the second tablets. And the law was given to the nation. What a privileged nation. Instruction, how to live life.

Direction, how to approach God. Protection, and how to treat each other. A relationship between families and husbands and wives and children and parents. What a nation had such a covenant and such a giving of the law. It was David who says, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day long. David said in the book of Psalm. So, the adoption, the glory, the covenants and the giving of the law. But notice that. He continues. And he says in verse 4, not only that, brethren, it's wrong. It says also the service of God. You know, if you remember, when you think about the service at the tabernacle and the Levites.

The service that they were doing. They were going in. And they were serving the people. And they were serving God. And they were approaching the priest to offer the sacrifices. These are all divine design that was given by God. Israel did not initiate that on their own. It was given by God for the people of Israel. The services of God. And how, what a privileged nation. The offerings, the priesthood, the Levitical order. All was given by God for the people of Israel to serve him. And then, of course, the next thing that he says in verse 4, the promises. You know, the promises that God had made to the people of Israel.

You know, you and I, as we sit here today, we are sitting here and we are holding on to truths that God gave us in the scriptures. And we say, the Lord Jesus promised. He promised that he's going to take me one day to heaven. He promised that he will never leave me, nor forsake me. And we hold on to these promises. Do you know how many promises God had given to the people of Israel? I don't want to read so much that I found in the scripture. He gave them a promise of a land in the Bible. Abraham, I'm promising you, Abraham, I'm going to give you a land.

He gave them a promise that he will watch over them and protect them. He gave them a promise that they are a nation that will belong to him. Their relationship with him will be secure. So what are promises that God have given to the nation of Israel? And so the promises are found in so many places in the Bible that God had given to the nation of Israel. As we have said, the land, even the messianic promises in Isaiah chapter 2, when the Messiah will come and will reign over the nation of Israel. Promise after promise after promise. That's what God had given to the nation of Israel.

And finally, in that list of seven, he's using the word "the fathers." The fathers. You notice in the beginning of verse 5, "Whose are the fathers?" You know, every Jewish man today will always take you back to the forefathers. Father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, many times God used the word, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, your fathers." They look back to the fathers. And oh, what men God had raised in the past. Abraham, what a privilege. Israel actually had three fathers and four mothers. Because Abraham had Sarah, Isaac had Rebekah, and Yaakov, of course, had Leah and Rachel. And many times when we sing in the Passover as a family together, we sing that Israel had four mothers, but three fathers.

Up till today, the Jewish people looking back to the fathers that we have had, our forefathers, the God of our fathers. Even if you remember in the book of Psalm, when we read about when Yeshua himself in type, we read here on Psalm 22, you remember what he said in verse 4, "Our fathers trusted in thee." He said in the Messianic Psalm, "They have trusted, and you delivered them." This expression, "Our fathers," is mentioned so many times in the Scriptures, in the Bible, in the Word of God. "Our fathers," "the God of your fathers," the Bible teaching us. "And here we see that to the people of Israel belong the adoption, the glory, the covenant, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises and their fathers." After listing these seven privileges that the nation of Israel have had in those verses, then he adds something that I think is very precious.

And he's telling to the Romans, "Listen Romans," he says in verse 5 of chapter 9, "And also of this nation of Israel," "concerning the flesh," "the physical descendants of the Messiah," "the Messiah came," "who is over all God," "blessed forever." Amen.

And here in this verse 5b, "the apostles remind the Romans," "that when the Messiah came," "the Messiah came through the nation of Israel." "When the Messiah was born," "he was born to the virgin Miriam," "who was a Jewish woman." "It was the Samaritan woman that told to the Lord Jesus," "that you remember," "he said," "how can you being a Jew?" "Speak with me." "For Jewish people had no dealing with the Samaritans." "She recognized that Yeshua was a Jewish man." "In fact, in the same chapter of the Gospel of John," "Yeshua himself saying to the Samaritan woman," "salvation is of the Jews," "in verse 22." "What does he mean when he says salvation is of the

Jews?" "He simply means that through the Jewish people," "the Savior, the Redeemer," "was born into this world to provide salvation for mankind." "He was a Jewish man." "When Yeshua came into this world," "he did not take upon himself the form of an angel." "He took upon himself Hebrews 2," "the seed of Abraham." "Abraham." "He became a Hebrew," "a Jewish man," "an Israeli," "when he was born into this world." "He's reminding the Romans about this." "And this is very important." "Because many try to disassociate Yeshua with the nation of Israel." "And it is clearly in Romans 9:5 that the Messiah came from the nation of Israel," "from the Jewish people." "And he's adding to that," "that

this Messiah," "this Mashiach," "is none else but God over all, blessed forever." "Does anybody have a problem with the divine nature of Jesus?" "The fact that he is God?" "Do you know, brothers and sisters, this is one of the best verses to use." "The fact that he is God over all." "The King James said," "who is over all God, blessed forever," "better said," "he is God over all, blessed forever." Many times when we speak to our family, the main problem that they have is to recognize the divine nature of Yeshua.

The other day I had a phone call from a Christian lady who wanted to connect me with an Israeli fellow, and I had a conversation with him on the phone, and we were talking and I said, "You know, his name is Michael." I said to him, "Michael, you know the Bible teaches us that Yeshua is more than just another man. He is divine. He is God. He became a man. There was no way for us to get saved, Michael, unless God took the form of a flesh and became a man, took union humanity with divine nature. He had a very big problem. They said, "Gideon, if I am going to accept this, I will have a lot of problems with my family.

My family do not believe that this man is God. They don't accept that this man is God. It's a big problem for us as Jewish people," he said. And in our class, if you remember last night, we also talked about the fact that they wanted to stone Yeshua, and asked them, "Why do you want to stone me?" In John chapter 10, And they said to him, "Because you being a man maketh yourself God." That's the biggest mistake they have ever said. It's not that he being a man make himself God, but that he is God who was willing to become a man. That's an amazing truth to grasp.

And so, Paul is showing to us, "Listen, Israel, what a privilege this nation had! To them were the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Lord, the services of God, the promises, and their fathers, and the Messiah came through this nation, who is God, blessed forever, over all, over all." And so, he is now setting, presenting the setting, because he is going to move on to the next verses, in verses 6 to 13, and he began to explain to the Roman believers why Israel rejected the Messiahship of Yeshua. Romans 9, deal with it. Now, brothers and sisters, listen to this. I know some of us sometimes have discussion about election, and the fact that one had been elected and chosen in the Messiah before the foundation of the world.

Look at these verses that help us a little bit to grasp some of these truths. Here, look at this. First of all, from verse 6 now, I'm leading to verse 13. He is explaining now why Israel have not accepted the Messiah. And now, he says, first of all, in verse 6, Paul is saying that God's word did not fall, or did not fail, because Israel did not accept the Messiah. It says here, in verse 6, he says, "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect." This statement here is simply this. It seemed to be that what God said in the Bible concerning the nation of Israel, it seemed to be that it didn't take place as yet.

It seemed to be that it didn't come true in according to the promises of God. But he's telling them, "Listen, not as though, as if the word of God has taken none effect." He's explaining to them. And then he says this statement that it's good for us to dwell a little bit upon. He says, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." You notice these two expressions? "All Israel" and "of Israel." These two expressions that we have here. What the Apostle Paul is doing here, he distinguishes between the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the physical spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In other words, what he's really saying, that here we have the totality of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And out of all the totality of physical descendants, there is a smaller group which are not only physical, but also physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is very important to understand. Never in the history of the people of Israel, there were all who followed God. There were always a remnant, we call it in Hebrew "she'erit," the smaller packet, if you will, the smaller group, who have been faithful to the truth of the word of God. And so look what he does here.

So this expression, "all Israel," and "of Israel," the "all Israel," here, in verse 6, is the smaller group of the greater group that is called "of Israel," the "large one," the totality, which are all physical. The first "all" is the physical spiritual people of God. And now he is explaining it in two ways. In verses 7 to 9, he gives us the first illustration. And in verses 10 to 13, he gives us the second illustration to explain that. So, verses 7 to 9, Paul gives us a first illustration to show that the physical descendants only is not sufficient. You know, you might be living in a Christian home. You might be a father and a mother that have been believers.

And you have children. Like, all of us have children. But none of our children can come to God and say, "God, my dad and my mom, they are Christians. They believe in Yeshua." So therefore, God, because they believe in Jesus, in Yeshua, the Messiah, I'm their child. Therefore, I am going to heaven. I'm a child of God as well. God says, "No." No, he says. God does not have, in other words, God does not have grandchildren. God has only children. Every individual has to become a child of God on his own. Every individual has to come to God and he has to acknowledge what Yeshua, what Jesus, the Messiah, have done for him.

God does not have grandchildren. If you remember in John 1:12, it says, "As many as receive him, to them he gave the right or the authority to be called the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, not by blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor of the will of men, but they were born of God." So what he is showing to us, that it is not enough to be merely a physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It may be a privilege. It's a real privilege to be in a home or in a country that are belonging as a nation called by God, but every individual has to come to God on his own.

And so, now he is explaining with those two illustrations, really interesting here. He is first explaining it that the physical descendants is not enough, and then the second one, he is explaining that even if the children have the same father and mother, it's still, you can see that God's promises come on a basis of election. And so, let's read those two explanations. First of all, verses 7, 8, and 9. He says, "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, they are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

For this is the promise, at this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son." You see, he first of all takes us back to Father Abraham. And he takes us as far as Father Abraham and he is showing to us that even though both Ishmael and Isaac are Abraham's physical descendants, but neither, it's not both of them have been called by God or had been promised by God. One of them is the seed of the flesh, one of them is the product of the flesh, and the other one is the seed of promise. You remember the story that we have in the book of Genesis that Sarah could not bear children.

So what does she do? She come to Abraham. She called him and she says, "Listen, I cannot have children." So she said, "I will give you my maiden, Hagar, and you will have a child for me of her." Now that was not what God have intended for Abraham. So what happened? Abraham took Hagar. He had a child by the name of Ishmael through Hagar, but Ishmael was not the one that God had promised to Abraham. Ishmael was not the one that God had chosen for Abraham. He was not the child of the promise, even though Ishmael was truly a child of Abraham. And if you know very well, if you look back later on, even after Sarah died, Abraham had six more sons from another woman by the name of Keturah.

And Keturah had six sons and those sons also are physical descendants of Abraham. They are the physical children of Abraham. But God has not given that promise to Abraham. It says here, it says it doesn't mean because they are the seed of Abraham that they are called children. Even though they are actually both or all eight of them were descendants of Abraham. The Bible says in Genesis 21 in Isaac shall die seed be called. So Ishmael was a child of one mother. Isaac was a child of another mother. And the six other sons were children of the third mother. All were descendants of Abraham. Seven of them were not at all children of promise.

Seven of them were actually not something that God had elected and have chosen to himself. God had said in Isaac shall die seed be called. All were physical, but only one was physical and spiritual descendants of Abraham. Physical and spiritual. Ishmael was not. The other six sons of Keturah were not. They were only physical. But Isaac was spiritual as well. In addition to being a physical descendants of Abraham. Look at verse eight. That is, they which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God. They are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for a seed.

You know, we sometimes don't understand. And that's the truth. This is a dilemma that we all have. We can see here the sovereignty of God. We don't understand. We could say to God, God, why didn't you choose Ishmael? Why didn't you choose all of them? Why only Isaac? I do not know. Neither you. We do not know. That's why we learn here from these verses. The sovereign God does as he pleases. We do not know why. And God said in verse nine, it says, And this is the word of promise. And this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. You know, Abraham was looking at his wife, Sarah.

And she's pushing out. She's getting up, getting older. And time passes by. And there's no children. And God had promised already in the beginning to Abraham when he calls him out. He promised him that he's going to give him a descendant. And he's going to make out of him a great nation. And Abraham looked around. And he said, if you remember in Genesis, he said to God in chapter 15, he says, God, listen, you didn't give me a seed. So you know what he said to God? God, look, I might as well make out of my servant, make a nation out of him. In chapter 15, Abraham says, Lord God, what will you give me seen?

I go childless. Genesis 15 and verse two. And the steward of my house is Eliezer from Damascus. Abraham longed to have a child. God gave him the promise. And he says, look, you don't give me children. I am childless. So let's make something perhaps out of Eliezer of Damascus. If you don't give me children, how will I continue the promises that you have given to me since you didn't give me any child? And Abraham said, behold, to me, you have given no seed. And lo, one is born in my house shall be my heir. And then God had given him this wonderful promise. Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him saying, this shall not be thine heir.

Genesis chapter 15 and verse four. He said, he's not going to be your heir. But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels, Abraham, shall be your heir. And can you imagine what happened later on? Sarah was not getting younger. You know, the miracle of miracles is to see that God is able to bring about his promises from a woman that was getting very old already. And yet the promises of God to bring a child into this world. You remember when Isaac, when she found out she was pregnant, she began to laugh. That's why she called her son Yitzchak. In Hebrew, Yitzchak means to laugh.

And she said, how is it possible that I'm being old and I'll be with a child? She began to laugh. And that's why this young boy was called Yitzchak. Every time you saw the guy, you saw him and you called him Yitzchak. You said, you will laugh. She shall laugh. He will laugh. Laughter, come here. Laughter, come here. Because it was a miracle. God's promises to Abraham would sure come to pass. And he gave him that child. And so you see, three women, Hagar, Sarah, Keturah. Eight sons. Only one was a son of promise. All of them were actually the descendants of Abraham. All of them.

Their father was Abraham. So God made a promise and God have elected the one and not the others. You want to ask why? Ask. But you'll have to wait on the Lord to give you the answer for this. So some might say, wow, we cannot understand it. We cannot grasp it. So the apostle Paul now gives us the second illustration. And interesting here in the second illustration, he's zeroing in in the second illustration. And look what he does in verses 10, 11, 12, and 13. Paul gives us a second illustration to show us that even if Jacob and Esau had the same, not only a father, but the same mother, and that they were twins, God's promises are according to election as well.

Now notice that. Here's the next verses. And I'm reading them. First of all, is verse 10. And not only this. You see, he's pushing it. He says, not only this. You thought that this is difficult. This is unique. Not only this, he says in verse 10. But when Rebekah also had conceived. Now notice he mentioned, even by one, our father Isaac. So Rebekah conceived by Isaac. And then he said, now he's going to the point that the children were not even born as yet. You see, Ishmael was born. Isaac later on was born. The six sons of Ketua were born. And God, in a sense, showed us that he had elected Isaac.

But here it says here, in verse 10 and 11. For the children were not yet born. Neither have done any good or evil. Now, let's pause here for a second. Imagine, now here's Rebekah. She's expecting twins. They were not born yet. They were still in her womb. And they didn't yet come out. And nobody have done anything evil as yet. And nobody have done anything good as yet. Both of them were twins in the womb of Rebekah waiting to be born into this world. And so he says in verse 11 and 12. He says, having neither done any good nor evil. Now, I don't know, brothers and sisters, how does those things work?

And how does God elect the one and not the other? We cannot delve into this. But we have it in scripture. Two children, twins. Both of them from the same father. Both of them from the same mother. Both of them are still in the belly of their mother. Haven't done anything. Not good, not evil. See, usually we can say, well, if you want to get saved and be right with God, you better do some, earn it. You see, you got to do some works to earn it in order to become a child of God. But here we find out it didn't work. Nobody done anything in order to be elected by the Lord.

It says here that the promises or the purposes of God according to election might stand. And he underlined not of works, but of him that call. And then it says in verse 12, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Now turn with me for a moment to Genesis 25 for a second. In Genesis chapter 25, we read that in verse 19, Genesis 25, 19. These are the generation of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebecca, his wife, the daughter of Betuel, the Syrian, of Paddan Aram, the sister of Lavan, the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren.

And the Lord was entreated of him and Rebecca, his wife, conceived. And the children, notice that the children, they struggled together within her. And she said, if it be so, why am I this way? And she went and she inquired of the Lord. And the Lord said unto her in verse 23, two nations are in thy womb. And two manner of peoples shall be separated from thy bowels. The one people shall be stronger than the other people. And the elder shall serve the younger. Rebekah is coming to the Lord. She is troubled. She already senses in her, already right within her, the children were struggling with each other.

And God has taught her a truth even long before the children were born into this world. He said to her, you have two nations. Out of these two boys that are in your belly, they are going to come out two nations. And these two manners of people, two distinct people, are going to come out of your womb. He says, they shall be separate from your bowels. The one people shall be stronger than the other. And the elder shall serve the younger. See, before they were even born, God gave Rebekah the instruction that he, already long before the children came into this world, the elder will serve the younger.

And the younger is the one that's going to be stronger. Because God, in election, have elected Jacob. And he didn't elect Esau. He didn't choose him. And you and I might say, but we don't grasp it. We don't understand. God, why did you do so? And how can you do this? And God simply explained this to us, as it is written, by the way, in verse 13, where we finish our reading today. And Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. Now again, it is again a very difficult verse to explain. But this verse, by the way, is quoted only at the end of the history of Esau, if you will.

It's not written in the beginning that when he was born, that God have hated Esau and he loved Israel or Jacob. It's only written after the whole history of the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, which have rejected God, which had a conflict against the people of Jacob, the people of Israel. This only happened, only said later on. Basically, what we really read here is Jacob have I chosen, and Esau I simply haven't chosen. Somebody said it like this. He says, "I'm not surprised so much that it says, Esau have I hated. Because God does not hate men, but he hates their deeds. But what I'm really surprised, how can he love Jacob, when Jacob was just as failing as Esau?

When the history of Israel was just as rebellion, disobedience, rejection of God, constantly against the things of God. How can God say, Jacob have I loved? How could he say that? And that's the thought that we need to learn from here. Not so much to say, "Well, God hates Esau and he loves Jacob." The thought here is that God had chosen Jacob. Jacob was not better than Esau. But God did not choose Esau. That's the point that the apostle is trying to reveal to us in these verses. And so, what do we learn, brothers and sisters, here in those verses? Verses 6 to 13, is the fact of election.

Election is one of the most fundamental truths of the Bible, even though we don't quite understand all this. We don't quite understand. Ephesians 1 tells us in verses 3 and 4. We had it in our classes as well. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, who have blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ, in the Messiah, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. We do not grasp, we don't understand necessarily everything, but it is taught in the word of God. And we will trust that the Lord will help us to grasp this and to believe what he said.

So here's the conclusion here to this message that we have had today. Three things in conclusion about those statements that I've said. The first thing that we learn is that God's word did not fail, even though Israel failed in accepting the Messiah at his first coming. Paul is showing to the Romans, he says, listen, Israel with all the privileges that Israel have had. God's word and promises to the people of Israel did not fail, even though Israel had failed to accept the Messiah as a nation at his first coming. Secondly, the second lesson that we learn, that blessings are coming not because one has physical descendants with parents that, let's say, are believers, or one who is physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

It doesn't mean because I'm a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that the blessings, eternal blessings coming because I was born a Jew, I was born an Israeli, I was born a Hebrew. It's not sufficient, because being born in the flesh still doesn't make a person a child of God, even if he was born to parents who are believers. And thirdly, because our blessings are coming only through God's will and God's grace. It is only through the grace of God that you and I can say today, if we are children of God, if we belong to him, it is only through the grace of God.

The blessing that we receive to be children of God only comes not because of any merit that we have done, but only on the basis of the grace of God and God's grace alone. Now, I want just to highlight one more thing before I'm closing here. I want you to turn to Romans chapter 2, because this is where I'm going to stop with these first 13 verses of Romans 9, but I still want to show you something in Romans chapter 2. Look at this, in Romans chapter 2, the apostle Paul is concluding in Romans chapter 2 and chapter 3, a man that all are under sin, all are guilty before God, and no one has an excuse.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You notice it says in verse 1 of Romans 2, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man." Who are you, the judge? For where you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you the judge does the very same thing. And then he continues. And he says, "You despise in verse 4 the riches and goodness and forbearance of God. You despise his long suffering. Don't you know that the goodness of God leadeth one to repentance?" See, he's showing us that all are guilty before God, and that all have sinned, as it says, of course, in Romans 3 and verse 23. But then he shows us the difference between a true Jew, or a true born again Jew, or that which is only a physical descendant of Judah.

And I'm going now down to the end of chapter 2. He said in verse 25, "Circumcision verily profit only if you keep the law." "But if you be a breaker of the law, your circumcision become to you uncircumcision." "Therefore, if the uncircumcision," meaning the Gentile, "keep the righteousness of the law," "shall not his uncircumcision be counted for him as circumcision?" Then look, he's leading on to the next verse. "Shall not the uncircumcision," this is again the Gentile individual, "which is by nature, if it fulfill the law you judge," "who by the letter and circumcision does transgress the law." And then he's saying to this person, "For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh." "But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." What Paul does here is exactly what he showed us in Romans chapter 9.

"There is a difference between the physical descendant of Abraham and the physical spiritual descendant of Abraham." "There is a difference between the physical descendant of Isaac, than the physical spiritual descendant of Isaac." And here he says, "There is a difference between the Jew that is only in the flesh, than the Jew who is in the flesh and in the spirit together." And I mentioned that before, an example for us, those of us that are Jewish here, we look at our own family. Those of us who are believers here can look at our own brothers and sisters, and parents, and maybe children even. And we can say, "Well, we are all, here's my brother, here's my sister, they are both Jewish." "And I am Jewish." We are both came out of parents and grandparents and great-grandparents who are Israelis, Hebrew, Jewish.

But it's not sufficient to be merely Jewish by physical birth. One has to come to a point that he or she acknowledging before the Lord that they have sinned and that Jesus, Yeshua, paid the price on the cross for their sins. Otherwise, a true Jew one cannot be unless he acknowledges what the Messiah has done for them. It's not enough to make one right with God if a person does not recognize that he really needs the forgiveness of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah. Really, what we see here in the two chapters, chapter 9 and chapter 2, we see that there is the God of elected, the chosen people for himself, and in time we came to make a decision for the Messiah.

The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of men, interwoven, even though at times we can't fathom that, we cannot grasp it as human beings. Nevertheless, we can see in chapter 9, the reason that Israel as a nation did not accept the Messiah at his first coming is because not all Israel are of Israel. Only the remnant that God have elected, like Isaac, like Jacob, those that he have elected and he brought to himself to become the true Israel of God. What's going to happen in the future, and we're going to talk about it later on, is when the future people of Israel who will accept the Messiah will be restored.

Every one of them will not only be a physical descendant, but they're also going to be physical and spiritual Jewish people that they will accept the Messiah, and then the Messianic Kingdom will be established.