Foundations of Truth

Guest (Male): Welcome to Foundations of Truth, the Biblical Teaching Ministry of Dr. Timothy Man. Our mission is to help you build your life on the unshakable foundation of God's word, rooted in scripture, anchored in the grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each week, Dr. Man opens the Bible to bring clarity, conviction, and encouragement for everyday life. Today on Foundations of Truth, we continue our series from Guilty to Glory, a journey through the book of Romans. This is part two of the three-part message from Romans chapter nine, Let God be God. Here now is Dr. Timothy Man.

Dr. Timothy Mann: Now here's the other question. What is the basis that God chose Israel? What is the basis? I mean, why did he pick out the nation of Israel? Were they bigger? Were they more intelligent? Were they a better-looking nation? Why? Well, we see some of this now in chapter nine. And the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit of God in chapter nine gives us four principles related to the basis that God chose the nation of Israel. And listen, these principles also apply to salvation because that's what the entire book of Romans is all about. Romans 1:17 is is the key verse in all of the book of Romans that says that there is a righteousness from faith, a righteousness by faith.

The book all the book of Romans is is about how to be right in his sight, justified by God. And so these were seen an illustration here now of how God dealt with Israel. And these four principles relate as well to salvation, to justification. And the very first one begins in verse six. And here it is. I'm going to state it for you. You can write it down and let's walk through it. Here's the first principle we find. Salvation is based on God's grace, not our race. Salvation is based on God's grace, not our race.

Verse six, but it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. Now look, for they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. The NIV says it this way, for not all who were descendant from Israel are Israel, nor because they are his descendants are they Abraham's children. Paul's saying here basically this, just because you had Jewish parents, that did not automatically make you a child of God. It wasn't based on physical descendancy. Salvation is based on grace, not race. It's not based on who your parents are.

It 's not based on what your ancestry is. Some of us probably wouldn't want to know what our ancestry is, truthfully, if we trace it back far enough. We wouldn't We wouldn't like what we find probably along the way. It's not based on where your family tree goes back to or your background. Verse seven says, not because they're his descendants. Aren't you glad this morning that that you're saved on the basis of grace and not race? It's not grace. It's not race, but grace. And Paul teaches this, author Romans. I remind you, Romans 2:28 it says this, a man is not a Jew if he is one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly. And circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit. And so what makes you a child of God, listen, what makes you a child of God is not your religious ceremonies. What makes you a child of God is not your external religious symbols, but what makes you a child of God is the internal condition of your heart according to that text. Romans 3:9 says, what shall we conclude then? Are we better than they? Not at all. We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles are alike all under sin.

Verse 29 of chapter three, is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too. Paul is making this very clear. Romans 4:16 so therefore the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, not only those who are of the law, that's those of Jewish descendants, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all who believe, it says in Romans 4:16. And we're going to get to it in a few weeks, but Romans 10:12 says, for there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile.

Did you get that? For there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile. That's what the word of God says. The same Lord is the Lord of all and richly blesses all who call upon him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And so racial Israel was composed of believing Jews and non-believing Jews. Whether you believed or not, you were a part of the race. But real Israel, Paul says, was believing Jews and believing Gentiles. They make up the real Israel according to scripture. And what's Listen, what saves you is your faith based on God 's grace, not your family.

Have you ever heard someone say, yeah, I'm a Christian. I was raised in a Christian home. My grandmother was a Sunday school teacher. My granddad was a Baptist preacher. Whatever the case might be. Listen, I I want to say it's nice whatever your granny did or your grandpa did, but that has nothing to do with you. They're not going to stand before the Lord Jesus on your behalf. You are. You don't inherit salvation. It doesn't come through the genes. Every generation, every single generation must come to know Christ on his or her own. The very first principle we see here in this passage is that salvation is based on God's grace, not our race.

Secondly, verses eight and nine. Salvation is based on God's promise, not our preference. Salvation is based on God's promise, not our preference. Verse eight and nine. That is those who are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah shall have a son. Now he's giving us an illustration here of Abraham back in Genesis 21. Now remember, Abraham had two sons at the beginning. He had two, right?

The first was Ishmael through Hagar. Sarah couldn't get pregnant and and so she said to Abraham, well, take my handmaiden. Have a baby through her. And they had a son named Ishmael. Ishmael was 13 years older than Isaac. But Isaac was the miracle baby. Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was in her 90s and said there's no way we can have a baby. There's no way. By the way, that 's why they named him Isaac, right? Because they laughed. It means laughter. We know Sarah didn't believe because she laughed. Listen, if she had believed, she would have cried when she heard she was having a baby at age 90.

If she really believed, right? When Sarah was old in years, God said, I'm going to make you the father of a great nation. And what did Abraham do? Abraham said, Ishmael. I've got Ishmael. Let's do it with Ishmael. And what did God say? God said, no, that may be your preference, but he's not the child of promise. He's not the one I choose. The miracle baby is Isaac and he is the one who's going to be the father of many nations. Verse eight says, the children of the promise. This principle is clear. Salvation is based on God's promise to save us, not our preference.

Third principle we see in verses 10 through 13. Here it is. I'm going to state it for you and then we'll read it. Paul says, salvation is based on God's providence, not our performance. Salvation is based on God's providence, not our performance. Verse 10 through 13. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac, 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. It was said to her, the older shall serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. And so here we have another illustration of Jacob and Esau. Maybe you remember the story of Jacob and Esau if you've read the Old Testament. They were twin baby boys. Which one was born first? Esau and then Jacob. Now traditionally, who gets all the privileges? The firstborn. The firstborn son. But God picked Jacob, not that he proved that he was better because God picked him before he was even born. God said, I'm going to make Jacob the father of the nation of Israel, not Esau.

Only one could be the father. And God chose Jacob. And God chose him before he was born to point out that he doesn't save anybody on the basis of their works, on the basis of their performance, on the basis of what they do, or even what's expected. God made the choice simply on the basis of his own providence, his own decision.

Guest (Male): Thank you so much for listening to Foundations of Truth, the Biblical Teaching Ministry of Dr. Timothy Man. You know, we cannot produce these radio shows and podcasts without your financial assistance. We depend on listener support. And if you support Biblical Truth and Biblical Teaching, we could use your help. If you'd like to give a financial gift, you can do so at our website, foundationsoftruth.net. That's foundationsoftruth.net. Now let's return to today's message from Romans chapter nine. Here's Dr. Timothy Man.

Dr. Timothy Mann: Verse 12 says clearly, not not by works, but of him who calls. Ephesians 2:8 and nine says, it is by grace you are saved through faith, not of works. Listen, if if you could be saved by working for it, can you imagine what heaven would be like? I mean, everybody would be up there bragging all the time about how they got there. Everybody would be. I know we would be because that's how we are. We'd all be We'd all be sharing our stories, right? We'd say, oh, we're sharing our testimony, but we're we're sharing our stories about how we got there.

Heaven would be hell. Everybody be bragging about how they got there all the time. But God selected a guy even before he was born just to prove that it's not based on earning, it 's not based on works, it's not based on something you deserve. It's based on God's providence, not your performance, not your works. Look at verse 13. I want to touch on this one. By the way, verse 12 was a prophecy that happened before they were born. This was spoken to Rebecca by the Lord. The older shall serve the younger. And then verse 13, as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.

Isn't that a strange verse? I mean, here here's the question just to think about a little bit. Like I said, I'm not going to get into all this stuff too much, but here's a question we're thinking about. Did God really hate Esau before he was born? Now let me let me give you a thought. One principle of interpretation of scripture is to always study the context. Find out why it was said in relation to the verses around it. This quote, this verse, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated, is a quote from Malachi one.

Malachi one. Now there are some people who take this verse and go off on what I consider, not everybody considers this, but on what I consider a doctrinal tangent to say that God automatically chooses to hate some people. And God does not love the world. He chooses to automatically hate some people. Now let me give you some some greater context here. Malachi, from where this verse is quoted by the Apostle Paul, Malachi was written 2,000 years after Esau and Jacob had already died. This was not said before Jacob and Esau was born as verse 12 was.

Verse 12 was said by the Lord before Jacob and Esau was born. Verse 13 was not. Verse 13 was said 2,000 years later. Now that's interesting because by this time Jacob and Esau and their names were referring to the nations that had grown from them over the past 2,000 years. As a matter of fact, if you go back to the Genesis passage, you will see that the Lord says to Rebecca, two nations are in your womb. Interestingly enough, two nations are in your womb. The nation of Jacob was called Israel. The nation of Esau was called the Edomites.

And in this passage in Malachi one verse one, let's see what it says. I'm just going to read it to you. It says, the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. I have loved you, says the Lord, but you say, how have you loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? But the Lord says, yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated. Now look, and I have turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals. That's the rest of that verse. Paul didn't quote the whole verse. He stopped with the first part.

And he's showing God's providence, God's work and God's uh plan and purpose. He left out the part that says, I've turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackal leg. Malachi is putting down. He's calling condemnation down on the Edomites for their wickedness. The nation had completely gone bad. They were mistreating the Jewish nation. And in Malachi, the condemnation here when Paul quotes that, I do not specifically based on also a usage that Jesus uses, I do not believe that the Lord is saying, before Esau was born, I hated him as an individual.

Paul is using this verse as a scriptural backdrop to say, look what happened to these two guys. Look what God has done. 2,000 years later was the nation of Israel, God's people. The other had gone far off into adultery, fornication, idolatry, and wickedness. What I believe he's saying here that the context demands that this isn't a reference to Esau as an individual. It's a verse. Verse 12 is the prophecy. Verse 13 is the confirmation of the prophecy. This is God's providence. Also, here's just something else to consider. The word hate is a word of contrast.

It's a Hebrew idiom. As a matter of fact, it's the same word that Jesus used when he said, if anyone will come after me, he must hate his mother and father and everybody else. Now here's my question for you. Did Jesus really mean that people were to hate their father and mother? If so, then that's a contradiction because Jesus Jesus also reaffirmed the commandment that said, honor your father and mother. So what's his point? What's his point? Jesus meant that when you follow him, he must have preeminence. Our love for him looks so great that everything else in relative terms looks like hate.

That's the same application with Jacob and Esau as well. And ultimately they were condemned and wiped off the map. But Jesus was saying, I want to be number one, first place in your life. But the principle that we find here in verse in these verses is that And this is what we can't get away from. Salvation is based on God's providence, not our performance. Verse 12 he says it's not of works. The fourth one. Using Israel as an example, Paul says and we'll continue on from from there verse 14 on. Salvation is based on God's mercy, not our merit.

Salvation is based on God's mercy, not our merit. And to illustrate this, the Apostle Paul uses another Old Testament example of Pharaoh and Moses. Verse 14, what shall we say then? Is God unjust? Is there unrighteousness with God? And what does he say? Certainly not, not at all. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. It does not And this is very clear. So then it is not of him who wills. That is to say, it does not depend on man's desire or of him who runs.

That is to say, it does not depend on man's effort. But what? But of God who shows mercy. Salvation does not depend on man's effort or man's performance. It does depend on God's mercy. Hey, listen, the one thing we need to settle the issue on is this, if it weren't for God's mercy, none of us would make it. None of us. I mean, if you had to be good enough to get to God, you better be as good as God because that 's what it takes. Anybody want to claim that one this morning? I don't think so.

Titus 3:5 says, it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to mercy he has saved us. Now consider Moses and Pharaoh. Why did God choose Moses? He did it out of mercy. Pharaoh, listen, I mean, uh uh don't forget Moses was a murderer. He deserved the death penalty. And God says, I'm still going to use him because I'm merciful. Then he talks about Pharaoh. And Pharaoh unknowingly was a part of God's plan. And even though he didn't want to cooperate, he still fit into God's plan specifically to show the greatness and the glory of God.

And by the way, just as a side note, every single one of those plagues made fun of an Egyptian God. Did you know that? Every single one of them. Every everyone was a joke on the Egyptian gods. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile River. What did God do? He turned it into blood and desecrated their God. The Egyptians worshiped frogs. God gave them frogs. Every one of the 10 plagues was a joke on one of the the gods of the Egyptians that that they had set up. And as a result, the whole world heard about it that my name may be declared in all the earth.

And God, listen, God was even glorified in the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. God still received glory from that. And so the normal reaction to all of this when we understand that God's salvation is based on on God's mercy and not our merit, it's really his work, the natural reaction is, well, if everything depends on God's sovereignty, what happens to man's responsibility? I mean, how can I be accountable if God pulls all the strings and I don't have anything to do with my salvation? How can God blame me for anything? Right? It's not fair for God to not let me do something and have a choice.

It's not fair. Well, Paul anticipates that question in verse 19. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will? I mean, if God has everything all planned out, who has resisted his will? Look what he says though. Verse 20. But indeed, oh man, who are you to reply to God? I like the way the NIV says it. Who are you to talk back to God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, why have you made me like this? Does not the potter have power of the clay from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Just like the potter can take a piece of clay and the potter has the right to shape it any old way he wants. God is our creator and he has the right to shape our lives completely. God has a right to shape history. God has the right to cause things to happen and to cause circumstances. Who am I to question God? That's what the text says. Now I want to tell you, I also see in this a message of hope. I see a message of hope because if if we mess up our lives, and how many times do we do that?

If we mess up our lives, the master potter can take that marred vessel and reshape it. He can bring out of bad. He can turn it around. Praise God for that.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us today for Foundations of Truth, the Biblical Teaching Ministry of Dr. Timothy Man. Be sure to join us tomorrow for part three of this three-part series from Romans chapter nine. Foundations of Truth with Dr. Timothy Man is supported in part by Cat Care Clinic located in Ormond Beach and serving families with thoughtful and compassionate veterinary care for cats. We're grateful for their partnership in helping carry Biblical Truth farther. We're thankful for AMN Plumbing, a local ministry partner serving the Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna Beach, and surrounding areas with dependable plumbing service.

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And thank you so much.

Dr. Timothy Mann: Before we close today, I want to tell you about a resource that I believe will be a genuine help to you. I've recently published my first book, Saved, Understanding God's Work in Us. In over 30 years of pastoral ministry, one of the questions that I've encountered more than almost any other is this. How can I know that I am truly saved? Saved, Understanding God's Work in Us walks through what the scripture teaches about salvation, what God has done for us, what he is doing in us, and the assurance that every believer can have because of his work.

If you want to understand salvation more deeply, stand on firmer ground in your faith or be better equipped to share the gospel with someone you love, then this book was written for you. You can find it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million, and pretty much anywhere you buy books. Just search Saved, Understanding God's Work in Us by Dr. Timothy Man. I pray it strengthens your faith. Thanks for being with us today. God bless you.