Children, but of What Source?

Okay, so we're in chapter 9, and I listened to Bob's lesson on the internet, how he introduced chapter 9, and I thought he did a fabulous job. I thought it was great. I really, really enjoyed how he kicked this thing off for us. So, to give you kind of a big picture as to where we're at, let's see.

I scanned this out of my Bible, so I apologize for the fuzzy font, and the ladies in the back, they did their font doctoring work to make it a little more legible on your handout. So just to give you a big picture of where we're at here, going through Romans, I think it's always helpful for us to keep the big picture in mind. So we finished the revelation of God's righteousness, and if you have your your binder there, we've got it on the front, that we're the righteousness of God imparted and the righteousness of God realized and perfected, and so we're moving on through this section here of Romans. We've talked about sin, salvation, sanctification, and now we're talking into the section of the sovereignty of God.

We've moved into chapter 9, and so that's kind of the big picture as to where it's helpful to keep those things in mind. Okay, so, Forsaken Review. Wow, we're in super slow-mo today. Okay, so I have to push this 5 seconds before we want to make the thing. Okay, just for sake of review from last week, we saw in chapter 9, verses 1-3, let me just read it. Actually, I'll read 9, 1, and I'll read all the way down through verse 13. Chapter 9, 1-13.

I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brother and my kinsman according to the flesh, whom are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption, as sons, the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.

Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, neither are they all children, because they are Abraham's descendants. But through Isaac your descendants will be named." Rich, could you pick it up in verse 8? Thanks. To where? Through 13.

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. So this is the word of promise. At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebekah 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 with the purpose of God, according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls. It was said of her, the older shall serve the younger.

As it is written, Jacob I have loved. Okay, so in verses 1-3 there we see Paul's heart and concern for his brethren and he couldn't give it up but if he could he would and Bob explained that in a great way last week. So God's blessings directed for Israel came out in those eight different things there and then the difference between, whoa, come back Jack, Okay, so the difference between natural Israel and spiritual Israel we saw in verses 6 and 7 was introduced for us.

And the nation of Israel is not the spiritual Israel. And we're going to unpack that a little bit more this morning and answer two specific questions. So let's go to page 3. Two questions for us to consider this morning. What is the difference between natural Israel and spiritual Israel? I want to talk about that and clearly see the difference between natural Israel and spiritual Israel. And how did and do the Jews become part of spiritual Israel? I think we're going to see that clearly laid out for us this morning.

So, if we start off here with looking at verse 8, which is going to be our first verse, 8-13. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. So, the fact that one is an Israelite, natural Israel, physical seed of promise, does not necessarily make one an Israelite spiritually. And as we conclude our lesson this morning, we're going to go through some notes that Hal put together. And so this comes right out of that, some of the notes that Hal has put together. So the fact that one is an Israelite, natural Israel, physical seed of promise doesn't necessarily make one an Israelite spiritually. Does that make sense? Pretty clear? Pretty straightforward? But the children of promise, these are the ones that are regarded as descendants.

A true Israelite, spiritual Israel, is one whose both physically and spiritually an Israelite. That is one whose physical father is Abraham and one whose spiritual father is Abraham and God. That's what we would term as spiritual Israel. And I think that's what he's If we look at verse 6, it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. See, they're not all spiritual Israel who are descended from Israel. And that's what the first statement, just because you're an Israelite doesn't make you part of spiritual Israel.

But it's those who are the descended, verse 8, those who are children of the promise, those are regarded as spiritual Israel. Any questions there? Would those that are chosen be the ones that were saved as in contrast to those that were lost? Yes. We're going to get to that in verse 11. Yes. Exactly so.

Okay, so what or who began spiritual Israel? What are your thoughts? How did this whole thing begin? With there becoming a separate, in a sense, two groups. There's natural Israel and there's spiritual Israel. How did it start? What happened? Abraham, yeah, that's right. And God made this agreement. He made this covenant agreement with Abraham. And so that's how the whole thing of spiritual Israel began. So it wasn't Anything that man did, it wasn't Abraham said, let's come up with a little special separate entity within Israel. Let's call a certain people God's people. Man didn't come up with that. So God originated with God. This whole thing started with God. He was the originator. He was the initiator. He took the lead to make this happen.

And he did that through the unconditional covenant from God, which he made with Abraham. That is recorded for us in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1, 2, and 3. Pretty familiar. Bob went over this last week, the unconditional covenant with Abraham. And so then it continues on. Then it went to Isaac. The spiritual descendants are going to be named through Isaac.

Again, God is the one who is taking the lead here. God is the one who is directing how things are going to go. Man isn't directing it. Man really doesn't have any say in it. God is the one who is directing this initiation and the assurance of spiritual Israel. And then Jacob was chosen by God. Genesis 28 verse 13-14. He was chosen over his brother Esau. We're going to look at that in detail as we continue on.

So the point is, God is the one who began this thing. I think it's critical that we recognize that, because we're going to be talking about the sovereignty of God a lot this morning. God began it, and God continues it, and He is the one who has the power to hold this whole thing together. It all hinges on the faithfulness of God.

I think, in the minds of the Jews, that was a little bit in question, about God's faithfulness. If we look back in verse 6, it is not as though the word of God has failed. See, I think they were beginning to think, hey, wait a minute, God made some promises to us, and it doesn't seem like these things are going to be fulfilled. It doesn't seem like what God has said is going to be true. And so, in a sense, the question is, in the minds of some of the Jews, is God faithful? Is God's faithfulness coming under question here?

Because He said some things in the Old Testament that He's prophesied, and now we've read 8 chapters about how God is interacting and opening up the door of His grace to the Gentiles. They're going like, whoa, wait a minute, what about us? What's happened to all that it is that God said to us? And so, they're questioning. God's Word, like verse 6 said. But, what we come back to is that God was the originator, God is the initiator, and He's the one who keeps the whole thing going.

So, God chose the seed from Abraham and Sarah. He didn't choose Isaac, who was the seed of Abraham and Sarah. He did not choose the seed from Abraham and Hagar, who was Ishmael. So, I think what What I'm going at with this is that we want to drive home the sovereignty of God is coming out in this passage. Because some people would say, oh well it makes sense that God would choose the seed from Abraham and Sarah meaning Isaac and he wouldn't choose the seed from Abraham and Hagar meaning Ishmael because it makes sense that God would choose the seed here because this is what God said that he would come from the seed of Abraham and Sarah. Therefore, this is where he said the seed would come, and he's not going to come from this, so I'm going to choose him.

So it just kind of makes sense. So it kind of forces God to choose Isaac as opposed to Ishmael. So when we come down to here, God choosing Jacob and not Esau, That removes, in a sense, in people's mind, God having to choose one over the other. Does this make any sense? Because before they were even born, God chose Jacob over Esau.

And what we want to do here is read verse 9. For this is a word of promise. At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son. and we know that the son is going to be Isaac, and God chooses Isaac. He doesn't choose Ishmael. But look at verse 10. And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, and she conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. So he gives the example of God choosing Isaac over Ishmael. I'm going to come, Sarah's going to have a son, that son is the one that I'm going to work through, Isaac. But look at verse 10. Not only this, so he takes it a step further to Rebekah, who has the two sons. Jacob and Esau. He's going to choose Jacob over Esau.

And so, any question about why it is that God does what he does, in a sense, is being stripped away. God does what he does, why? Because he has the freedom. Because he has the right to do exactly what it is that he wants to do. He's never constrained to do anything based on what man does. See? We're going to see that in more detail.

Any questions or thoughts there? Verse 11, For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, in order that God's promise, according to His choice, might stand, not because of works, but because of Him who calls. I want to look at this verse in detail. For though the twins were not yet born. they hadn't done anything good or bad, God comes in. And look at the focus here. God's purpose according to His choice of Him who calls. That's putting the focus on God and His sovereignty and doing what it is that He wants to do. That's what this is all about.

Let's go to page 5. How did and do the Jews become part of spiritual Israel? It's a question that we asked earlier. How do and did the Jews become part of spiritual Israel? It's God's purpose according to His choice, not because of works, but because of Him who calls. And Art, that comes to your statement five minutes ago. That's how Jews from natural Israel become part of spiritual Israel.

It's based on God's purpose. him working, not because he's constrained by anybody else, or any other situation, or any other circumstance, but he does it because of his choice, not because of what people do, but because of him who calls. So let's look at these phrases here in detail.

Okay, God's Purpose. The purpose here is setting forth of the purpose of God. And the idea here is of God intentionally thinking through an action with the determination and power to carry out. So God, it's his purpose, he's thinking it through, but he's thinking it through knowing and determined and having the power to carry it out.

It's not just like he's thinking through something, well, I might do it and I might not do it. I might have a nap this afternoon and I might not have a nap this afternoon. It depends on how I'm feeling when I get home. It's not that kind of a thing. It's like, I'm purposing in my mind today, I am determined and I have the power in myself to go home and have a nap. That's a totally different situation, you see.

So that's what's, when we see here, in verse 11, in order to God's purpose. So it was very intentional, it was very driven, it was very determined, and God's power was there to carry it out. So, God's power according to His choice. We see this word purpose here used in several other places in the scriptures. Go back to Romans in chapter 8, and we looked at this maybe eight weeks or so ago. So Romans in chapter eight and verse verse 28 we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God to those who are called according to his purpose for whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren so there's the word his purpose God's purpose that's what we're talking about here in chapter 9 verse 11 so God's setting forth of God's purpose. Now when we look at chapter 8 and verse 28, what is God's purpose there?

That we're talking about. A little quiz from 8 weeks ago. What was God's purpose there? To speak out. Don't be bashful or shy. If you don't remember, then I've got the notes from chapter 8. We'll pull them up and review from that. But I know you know.

What was God's purpose? because all things work together for good, and that we would be conformed into the image of Christ. So, let's look at another use of the word purpose in Ephesians. Wonderful things that God has purposed in and Him to bring about for us. So, His purpose is that all things would work together for good, and that we would be conformed into the image of Christ. What a wonderful thing it is that God has done there for us. Ephesians, chapter 1. Let's look at another use of the word here. We'll start in verse 9.

He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him, with a view to the administration suitable to the fullness of times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven, and things upon the earth. In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having predestined us according to his purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will." So when we look in verse 9, which he purposed in him, what purpose there is being talked about? What did God purpose to do or show?

Is it really that hard of a question or are you guys just not wanting to answer? Yeah, that's right. Yes, so the purpose there was to make known the mystery of his will towards us. Exactly right. And we have obtained an inheritance. We have been predestined according to the purpose. His purpose. So his purpose was that we would obtain an inheritance and that we would be predestined according to his purpose who is working all things after the counsel of his will.

Look over in chapter 3. in verse 11 start up in verse 8 chapter 3 verse 8 to me the very least of all saints this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ and to bring to light what the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in heavenly places and this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord." So there, setting forth the purpose of God, what was his purpose described there in those few verses for us? showed to Paul the unfathomable riches of Christ to bring to light what is the administration of mystery. So again we saw the idea there of mystery being used back in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9 to make known the mystery. to us, to make known to us the manifold wisdom of God through the church, and this was all in accordance with His eternal purpose. So it was God's purpose to reveal those things to us, and to make known those things to us. Okay, so when we look back to Romans 9, purpose, For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, and were the God's purpose according to His choice might stand." What is God's purpose here in Romans 9-11?

It's referring to God's purpose for the nation of Israel. When scriptures speak of purpose, it's always very clear what it is that God's purpose is. So we looked at the ones there. regarding the church, that God would make known to us spiritual things regarding the church. And here, the word purpose, God's purpose, is referring to God's purpose for the nation of Israel. And the purpose is God's choice, He's going to choose, He's going to elect certain ones to be part of spiritual Israel, not based on their works, but because of Him who calls. That's the purpose, God's purpose here for the nation of Israel. Any thoughts regarding that? I was thinking, something you said a little while ago about Israel being surprised by the dentists.

Today, I don't think they think we've been letting it with all of you. I mean, they think we've done something totally different. Yeah, yeah. I don't think they see us as part of their God's plan for them. Right, right, right. Too much time. There's been a lot of time that's gone by. There's become like a big disconnect. Did everybody hear her question?

I commented earlier that Israel, they were kind of surprised that God is now letting the Gentiles in. He's moving away from working only with the Jews. Now he's working with the Gentiles and they're saying, wait a minute, what about us? There isn't that feel between the Jews that Jews don't have that mindset now. Their problem is the same as it is now, a matter of their unbelief. That's right. That's right. Exactly.

That's right. simply believe on the finished work of Christ, boy, they would be in a sense different than Old Testament times, because if they believed now, they would be part of the body of Christ. If they believed in the Old Testament, they would be Old Testament saints. But yeah, you're exactly right. It does come all down to the basic principle of faith and wrong belief. You're right.

And there are a lot of beliefs in Jews. Jews who believe in God. That's right. Do not acknowledge Christ as the Messiah. Right. There's those, and there's also believing Jews that have trusted the Lord as their Savior. There's both, sure. But yeah, I think you're right, Carol.

There's been such a time that's gone by that as the Jewish audience that were going to be reading this letter from Paul in Rome, who were going to be saying, whoa, what about us, the Jews? There's been such a time gone by, there's been such a disconnect that they probably aren't having that reaction as the Jews of the time that this was written or reading that we're having, I agree. Any other thoughts or questions?

I was thinking then there are the Jews that, the Jews for Jesus and all that, they kind of want to keep one foot in their culture, and that one's confusing. It kind of confuses people. Are they Jews? Are they Christians? I know they're believers, but they want to hold on to that so much.

It kind of gets confusing sometimes. It does. I'm not up to speed. Maybe we should have got up to speed. Now that we're going to study Israel and the Jews, three months here, but I'm not up to speed on all the different categories of where they are. We have a relative who is a believer, best that we know, and he's chosen to go to a Messianic Jewish church.

And we had him over to dinner. And we're not, yeah, we're not Jewish. So we had him over to eat at a family gathering before we went out of town three weeks ago and he wouldn't have some meat. Well, I didn't make cutlery yet and he would never eat meat. Okay. So, yeah, you know, it gets, okay, what's going on there? So we didn't take the time to engage him.

But yeah, if they left, we ask the question, why is he engaging in that? What fulfillment does he find out of it? How does he pick and choose which ones he wants to follow and which ones he doesn't want to follow? That kind of gets real confusing. Well, I think that's a strange one.

When they're not Jewish and But I think that Jews who come to the Lord have a couple of reasons. First of all, that nationalistic, they don't want to let go. But the other is, and I've known some people who witnessed to their own. So they they kind of keep that connection. And, you know, it doesn't seem odd, but yeah, but I have known ones who that's their whole ministry. to witness to their brothers. Sure. Hey, God loves them. And God's desiring for all men to come to repentance. And He just wants them to trust in the Lord, as you said, Art.

It seems to me that there's no reason why a Jew would have to leave his culture any more than we as Gentiles leave ours. I mean, they're... The Christian Jew on KRKS, if we listen to him, it's interesting how they teach that even Christianity is Jewish in a way because of the foundation foundation of it, but I mean the cultural aspect I think is no reason that they or we have to change our culture. I agree, I agree.

As long as there's no aspect of their faith in their culture. As long as their faith is 100% in the death, burial, resurrection, the finished work of Christ. If they want to hang on to some of their culture, that's fine. As long as their faith is solely in the Lord for their salvation, they can hang on to some of that. That's fine. As long as they're not hanging on to that part of their salvation. No problem.

I agree. so let's move to verse 11 is God's purpose according to his choice so according to his choice election might stand the word here in the NAS translates it choice the word in the KJV translates it elected I think elected, is that right? yeah okay so the verbal form is to select out from a number, and the noun form here means the act of picking out or choosing.

And so here, in this text, we have the word being used as a noun. So what God, in His purpose, is doing, He's picking out, or He's choosing. He's going to choose some of national Israel to be part of spiritual Israel. That's what this verse is communicating to us. And this word here, choice or election, is also used in the verses there. Let's look at a couple of them. This is interesting. how many of them came up in Romans 11. Look at verse 5, Romans 11, 5. In the same way, Romans 11, 5. In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice. There's the word there. The NAS puts it choice, or his election. Really driving home the point, of what we're getting at this morning.

Look at verse 6. If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? That which Israel is seeking for, it has not obtained, but those who are chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened. There's the word there, chosen. Those who were elected, and the rest were hardened.

Over to verse 28. From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. There's the word again, choice, or they are God's elect. So when we look at this word, the Greek order of the words comes across like this.

The according to selection out purpose. Oops, let me go back. The According to Selection Out Purpose. I think Weist put it really well. The phrase signifies a purpose so formed that in it an election is made, the opposite of one founded upon right or merit. So that goes back to God.

God, He purposed this. He predetermined it. He contemplated it in such a way that He was going to carry it out. He had the power to carry it out. Therefore, an election was made. And it is the opposite of one founded upon right or merit. So, bottom line, God picked out, God chose what this verse is communicating. Some of national Israel to be part of spiritual Israel. I'm not going to try to do a theological study on this word election, or choosing out, or picking out. We'll save that for another time. But that's what this verse is communicating to us. So that takes us into the next phrase. Go back to chapter 9. takes us into the next phrase, that it is not because of works.

God made his decision before Jacob and Esau were even born. He didn't look and say, okay, this guy is going to love me, this guy is going to choose me, I am going to foresee his choice for me, and therefore I'm going to choose him. You know, you get into all those kinds of debatable issues. But God chose before anything else, before they were born.

So obviously, as the scriptures are saying, it's not according to works. So God, in His sovereign freedom, is totally free to do what He wants. That's what's coming across here. God is free to do whatever He wants. Now that's a difficult concept for us to swallow. And it's a difficult concept for the readers of this book to swallow. Because look, we're going to get into it next week. Look at verse 14. What shall we say then? Is there no injustice with God? Is there? May it never be. So they're having the same enter a conflict with this thought here, okay? We're going to get there a little bit next week.

But God is completely free to do whatever it is that he wants. He cannot be charged with electing Esau based on any merit or obligation on God's part. He can't. He wasn't even born yet. We read this verse a minute ago, but let's just look at it again. Romans 11, 6.

If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. So how did this election of Esau take place? Based on God's grace. Based on God being totally free in His sovereignty to do whatever it is that He wanted to do. And if that wasn't the operating system in which God was operating, it's no longer grace, it would be based on works.

That's what 11.6 is really communicating to us. Okay, verse 12 and verse 13. And then we're going to wrap up the end of verse 11. Interjecting 12 and 13 here kind of fits. Can I just interject that Galatians 2.21 is a wonderful verse. Let's look at that. Carol's pointing out... Somebody brought that up in the past few weeks.

Galatians 2.21. Go ahead Carol, read it out for us. Right, that's right. That's right. Thank you. Okay, so verse 12 and 13, let me read that.

It was said to her, meaning Rebecca, the older will serve the younger, Just as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I hated. Now, I just want to make a comment here. Hate is not referring to literal hatred, but the idea of loving less. So the idea coming across here of Esau I hated, it's Jacob I love, but Esau I loved less. I thought that was pretty significant too.

The point is, what will God act? We're thinking God's going to act unrighteously. That's exactly what the 14th is going to do. That's right. That's the whole question. But if God is who he is, then it's perfectly fine for him to make choices. That's right. We have to accept that. But it goes against it because we make unrighteous choices. We do it because we like that person better or we'll get a better deal from here. We make unrighteous choices. But God is incapable of making unrighteous choices.

Yes, it is. It's a circuit. We have some circuit blowing passages. before us here. You know, often times we think of it as circuit blowing that God's unjust. And boy, you know what, God didn't choose everybody. That just doesn't make sense. But you know what, it should be just as circuit blowing that God did choose us. That's really the way that we should look at it, because we all deserve to go to hell and to be eternally separated from God.

It should blow our circuits that we're sitting here today. And that part of Israel was chosen to be part of spiritual Israel. And so we tend to get blown, I think, the wrong way. And we should be blown away by God's sovereignty and His love and His care and compassion and mercy and grace on us.

Because of Him who calls. The last part of verse 11. Okay, the election takes place because of God who is operating in His complete freedom to call who He wants. So, call here is referring to a specific appointing of one to salvation. It's a very specific word here in the context. There's lots of different usages of the word call in the scriptures. There's just the general call. of everyone to God.

But here what we see is a specific call referring to appointing one to be part of spiritual Israel salvation in that sense. So God's purpose of intentionally thinking through an action with the determination and power of carrying it out includes his election and his calling." Just combining this thought from a couple of slides ago of how God is working. God's purpose of intentionally thinking through an action with the determination and power to carrying it out includes his election and his calling of some, of national Israel to be part of spiritual Israel.

Okay, so conclusion here. We have a few minutes left. There's three major principles regarding God's choice of Israel, and these came from notes that Hal put together, and they're really excellent. So I just want to read through these, and please comment, raise your hand whenever you'd like to make some comments or add to these or have questions. Okay, so the principle number one. The effectiveness of God's Word toward Israel.

So the bottom line question, didn't the Word of God fail, since the Israelites are not now in possession of their Messiah, Christ, and all the associated promised blessings? That question was raised in verse 6, which Bob covered last week. Did the Word of God fail? Is God not faithful? What's going on here? I didn't even click it up there for you. So, the bottom line answer is categorically no. God is faithful. God is sovereign. He does what it is that He wants to do. God is faithful.

The failure of most of the Israelites is not in not possessing Christ and the associated blessing does not imply that the Word of God has failed. The failure, and this came out earlier in our discussion, the failure is on the part of man in not believing in God's Word and Christ. Art brought that up, and Roger, you were speaking to that a little bit as well. So the failure is not on God's part, but the failure is on man's part in believing. Okay, any thoughts about these few points here?

Let's go to principle number two concerning God's physical seed. God and his sovereignty makes plan and promises which are consistent with his essence and included a chosen seed Israel. The fulfillment of his plan and promises are not dependent on man, his ability, his merit, his works, etc. but God himself. What a wonderful statement that that is. I mean, if that was really a part of our lives, think of the peace and just the security and the rest in the Lord that we would have. I know we believe that, don't get me wrong, but it's something that we were always able to hang on to, moment by moment, day by day basis. God's entire plan for mankind is through a particular physical seed, a nation, Israel, who He sovereignly chose.

The specific physical seed is Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Christ. We've seen that here in these verses. So, being a natural descendant is no guarantee that one is a child of promise. Ishmael or Esau, we spoke to that earlier as well. The fulfillment of God's promises are independent of man's ability or inability, Sarah's inability to bear children. The fulfillment of God's promises depend totally on His essence, His power.

And we've talked about that. He is the originator. He is the initiator of all things and has the power to carry all these things out, not dependent upon man or his abilities. Okay, finally on this one. The fulfillment of God's promises are independent of man's claims of merit or works, but dependent upon divine election, choosing out from the sovereignty of God. Thoughts or questions?

Finally, the third and last principle here is concerning God's spiritual seed. The fact that one is an Israelite, and we read this exact thing earlier, the fact that one is an Israelite, physical seed of promise, does not necessarily make one an Israelite spiritually, son of God. and the next one too we read as well. A true Israelite is one who is both physically and spiritually an Israelite. One whose physical father is Abraham and one whose spiritual father is Abraham and God. You can look at that in John 8, 37-44 there on your own time this week. The Gentile can never be an Israelite but is a son of Abraham spiritually through faith in Christ.

And we'll talk more about that as we get... I don't want to speak to your relative about that. Yeah, that's right. We'll talk more about how the Gentiles have been grafted in as we get further on into this section of Scripture. Any thoughts or questions? I thought that was a good summary there, a conclusion for it all. I'm going to research that a lot about... about love one and hate the other. Yeah. I'm just going to see if I can get a little something more. Yeah. Yeah. You got to look up the passages where, you know, it grieved God that he had done what he done, what he's talking to. Who's he talking to? Is it? Huh? Before the flood. Yeah, before the flood. It grieved God that he had created man.

I mean, good. If you look up this one, you got to look up that one. Okay, let's pray. Lord, thank you for our time. Thanks for your word. We come away with your sovereignty this morning, and so I pray that we can rest in your sovereignty this week as we go through our lives and our daily activities and interaction with people and our families, so we can rest in you, that you are in control of all things and nothing's happening without your hand in it and orchestrating it and allowing it. So thanks for that. I pray for Vern as he brings us the rest of the word here during the sermon. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.