ROM # 50 Great sorrow and unceasing anguish Rom 9 vs 1-5

Today's gospel installment: 04/21/2024 Sermon Title: 1. Great sorrow and unceasing anguish, 2. The Painful realities of sovereign grace salvation. 3. The offense of God's sovereignty Text: Romans 9 vs 1-5 1. Apostle Paul continued to develop the teaching of God's sovereignty in His creation and salvation. 2. And in Romans 8 he has discussed God's sovereignty in salvation and said, it is all grounded in His sovereign decrees and the work of Christ. 3. Thus, those who are on this side of His decrees are eternally secure, justified and cannot ever be plucked away from Christ by anything. 4. But something else was happening that needed explanation. Israel seemed to be rejecting the gospel whilst Gentile participation continued to increase. 5. How could this be when all the promises of salvation and their covenants had been communicated through ethnic Israel? 6. This troubled the Apostle greatly, especially having understood God's sovereignty in this matter. 7. His heart was so burdened for the salvation of His people because he understood the implications of reprobation and the helplessness of men to do anything about it. 8. He said, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish for my countrymen, my brethren according to the flesh. And that means Paul also had brethren that were not according to the flesh, spiritual brethren. 9. Sovereign grace salvation as good as it sounds for those taught of God also brings about sadness knowing that the matter of salvation was set and sealed from eternity. 10. I believe that until a person comes to the reality of their powerlessness/inability they can never speak or believe