Lesson 125
Romans Chapter Nine
The Faithfulness of God to
Intro
Review:
9:25-26
prediction of Gentile salvation.
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In the previous dispensation [age of
Hosea was a prophet
to the N.K. Israel in the 8th century BC. before God
sent the Assyrians in 722 BC to administer His judgment on them for their
spiritual adultery and apostasy, having pursued after the false gods who are
not gods of the Canaanite peoples.
Idolatry is
destructive for a nation, for a people then and still is!
Idolatry consists
not merely in erecting an image and worshiping it. Its seat is in the heart, which stupidly
stares in other directions and seeks help and comfort from creatures, saints or
devils...
How godless do you
think it is to rely on these things and to reject confidence in the eternal and
omnipotent God?
So
how important or how destructive is idolatry today? Or is it?
Rabbit
trail
John’s Final Warning is Against
Idolatry (v.21)
"Little
children, guard yourselves from idols."
John's
terse command "guard yourselves from idols" sums up his strong
spiritual concern for their spiritual safety.
The reflexive pronoun "yourselves" stresses their/our personal responsibility
in assuring their safety. Responsibility for choices.
"the
word eidwlwn is invariably
used literally: Acts 7:41, 15:20; Rom. 2:22; 1 Cor. 8:4, 7, 10:19, 12:2; 2
Cor. 6:16; 1 Thess. 1:9; Rev. 9:20.
It
also is clear in Scripture that the term "Idolatry" has a wider sense as used by Paul; and the
context here seems to imply a corresponding extension of the meaning of the
term. (Col. 3:5)
An
"idol" then is anything which occupies the place due to God.
Need
to recognize that idolatry blinds one to the true God and to Eternal life!
Anything that takes you away from sound doctrine and
detracts from your relationship with Christ can and will become a form of
idolatry.
Back to Romans
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In the context of Hosea the point or principle in view is that here is the people of
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Paul takes this prin. not My people, and then becoming My people as applying in
our context in Rom 9:25-26 to the Gentiles becoming a part of the called, a
part of this new relationship that includes both Jew and Gentiles.
- God's choice of
9:27-29
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The response Paul senses to what he just taught by the skeptic is okay, I will
concede that the Gentiles are a part of the called, vessels of mercy but Paul
what about the Jews?
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To make his point he once again goes back to the prophets, the Jewish Old
Testament Scriptures for documentation, related to this remnant.
Isa. 10:22-23; 1:9
Apart from God's
mercy and compassion, none would have survived the judgments, remember what God
said to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I have compassion."
[
God delivered them,
when Sennacharib came [Isa 37:33-38], they eventually returned to apostasy and
spiritual adultery, pursuing the idols of the peoples surrounding them and they
were taken captive by
Rem: Paul's point
here is that there will be a remnant only who are saved, even though they will
number in the millions, apart from God's mercy they would have been as Sodom
and Gomorrah, totally destroyed.
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The promises made to Israel to preserve a remnant, to save a remnant was
fulfilled in the captivities and exile of the people, the destruction of
Jerusalem and will also be fulfilled in the time of
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Paul comes back to this, that there will be a remnant of Jews saved in the
future. Will see this in
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God is faithful to His word, what He has said that He will do; and this
includes the discipline of His people;
Ezek.
Whether it is the Assyrian,
Babylonian, the fall of
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God will accomplish His word, His purposes and the remnant will survive.