Romans 9-10: Tell the Story (LSFAB S13E029)

[TEASER - 0:00]  
Truth be told, I do have a favorite.

[INTRO S13E029 - 0:10]  
This is the Lifespring Family Audio Bible coming to you from Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, I'm your OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. This is the daily podcast where we'll read through the entire Bible in a year. And I'm glad you're with me today. You having a good one? I hope so. Today is Epistle Sunday, and we'll read Romans 9 and 10.

Since it is Sunday, this is the day we do prayer requests and praises and we have an audio praise report, today, along with a prayer request.

And speaking of Sunday, two Sundays from today, November 13, will be the 18th anniversary of the very first Lifespring podcast. That's a bit of a milestone, isn't it? 18 years and over 3000 Lifespring Media episodes. Who would have thunk it? Not me.

I'm calling today's episode, "Tell the Story". But before we read, let's pray.

[OPENING PRAYER - 01:01]
Our heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this time around your Word. And I pray that you'll bless us as we read and study your Word. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Are you ready? Let's begin.

[Romans 9 (HCSB) - 1:15]  
Romans, chapter 9.

(1) I speak the truth in Christ  — I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit  — (2) that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. (3) For I could almost wish to be cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my own flesh and blood. (4) They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.  (5) The ancestors are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, praised forever. Amen.

(6) But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. (7) Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants. On the contrary, your offspring will be traced through Isaac. (8) That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but the children of the promise are considered to be the offspring. (9) For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son. (10) And not only that, but also Rebekah received a promise when she became pregnant by one man, our ancestor Isaac. (11) For though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand — (12) not from works but from the One who calls — she was told: The older will serve the younger. (13) As it is written: I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.
 
(14) What should we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! (15) For He tells Moses:

I will show mercy
to whom I will show mercy,
and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion.  

(16) So then it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows mercy. (17) For the Scripture tells Pharaoh:

I raised you up for this reason
so that I may display My power in you
and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth.  

(18) So then, He shows mercy to those He wants to, and He hardens those He wants to harden.

(19) You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?” (20) But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” (21) Or has the potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? (22) And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction? (23) And what if He did this to make known the riches of His glory  on objects of mercy  that He prepared beforehand for glory — (24) on us, the ones He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

(25) As He also says in Hosea:
I will call Not My People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.  
(26) And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not My people,
there they will be called sons of the living God.
 
(27) But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
Though the number of Israel’s sons
is like the sand of the sea, 
only the remnant will be saved; 
(28) for the Lord will execute His sentence
completely and decisively on the earth.

(29) And just as Isaiah predicted:
If the Lord of Hosts had not left us offspring, 
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have been made like Gomorrah.

(30) What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness — namely the righteousness that comes from faith. (31) But Israel, pursuing the law for righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law. (32) Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. (33) As it is written:

Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,
yet the one who believes on Him 
will not be put to shame.  

[ROMANS 10 (HCSB) - 5:11]  
Romans, chapter 10.

(1) Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God concerning them is for their salvation! (2) I can testify about them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. (3) Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted themselves to God’s righteousness. (4) For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (5) For Moses writes about the righteousness that is from the law: The one who does these things will live by them. (6) But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down (7) or, “Who will go down into the abyss?” that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. (8) On the contrary, what does it say? The message is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. This is the message of faith that we proclaim: (9) If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. (11) Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, (12) for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. (13) For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  

(14) But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? (15) And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the gospel of good things! (16) But all did not obey the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our message? (17) So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ. (18) But I ask, “Did they not hear?” Yes, they did:

Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the inhabited world.

(19) But I ask, “Did Israel not understand?” First, Moses said:
I will make you jealous
of those who are not a nation; 
I will make you angry by a nation
that lacks understanding.

(20) And Isaiah says boldly:
I was found
by those who were not looking for Me;
I revealed Myself
to those who were not asking for Me.
  
(21) But to Israel he says: All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people.

COMMENTARY - 7:48  
Chapter 9 has some language in it that causes difficulty for some people. Did it get your attention? Here it is, again. Paul was quoting Malachi chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. He said, "As the scriptures say: 'I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.'"

What? God hated Esau? What's up with that?

Well, as it turns out, this type of language in the Hebrew was used more in the comparative sense. God was comparing his affection for the two men, Jacob and Esau. When God said he hated Esau, the meaning was that he loved Jacob more. It was not an active hate.

There are other examples of this language in the scriptures. You've heard, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son, but He that loveth him chaseneth him." That's Proverbs 13:24. In Matthew 6:24, we read, "No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other." And the verse that so many misunderstand is when Jesus said in Luke 14:26, "If any man come to me and hate not his father and mother..."

So all of these are comparative. Obviously, a parent does not actively hate his child by not disciplining him. Of course, withholding discipline is not at all a good way to raise a child. But oftentimes a parent does this because he loves the child too much. Again, this is misguided, but it's not an active hate.

Here's another example. I wear many hats as far as the work I do. When I first began podcasting, I had a windshield repair business, and I still do. But now I do podcasting, which is another "master". I'm also a professional voice artist, another "master". And I have the book, "Webb's Easy Bible Names Pronunciation Guide". Marketing that is another "master".

Guess what? I don't have the same amount of enthusiasm for each one of those things. I enjoy them all, but truth be told, I do have a favorite. That doesn't mean I hate the others.

And you know how Jesus does not want us to hate our parents in the way that we use the word "hate". He just meant that we must love *him* more than our parents.

And now as for why God loved Jacob more than Esau, Paul addressed that as well as it can be in the following verses of chapter 9. It sort of boils down to "God is God and we are not". We really can't fully understand God's reasoning because our minds are just so much less than his is. As people who trust that God is love, we have to accept His goodness as a matter of faith. And in my own life, he's demonstrated countless times that he is worthy of my faith. So I'm okay with his decisions.

And in Romans 10, there are three different verses that I want to zero in on today, and they really encapsulate the Gospel or the Good News. Remember Jesus' words in Matthew 18:3 when he said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Well, in all the complexity of Romans, these three verses are so simple that even a child could understand them.

The first is the last part of verse 8 and continuing through verse 9. It says, "This is the message of faith that we proclaim: (9) If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

That's it. Boom. Dead simple. Nothing needs to be added, there are no works for you to do. You cannot add anything to what Jesus already did to bring salvation. It's done. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

And then verse 13 shows us who this Good News is for: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Everyone. Not those who are "good". Everyone is included. No one is excluded. There is nothing that can keep you from the salvation that Jesus made available to you except your own unbelief. Nothing in your past, nothing in your present. "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Verse 14 addresses the thought that if we just live as Jesus followers, people will come to know Him. It addresses the thought that, "Well, I don't want to offend people by telling them about Jesus" and other similar thoughts that seem to be popular these days. Verse 14, says, "But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe without hearing about him? And how can they hear without a preacher?"

Family, living life as Jesus wants us to do is good. It lends credibility to the fact that he has made a difference in our life. But that's not enough. One of the reasons we're here on planet Earth is to help usher others into eternal life. How can our friends, our family, our neighbors, the world be saved from an eternity without God, if we don't tell them about this person, this savior, this God named Jesus?

And when Paul said, "How can they hear without a preacher?" He wasn't talking about a guy who stands at a pulpit on Sunday, Paul was saying, "How can they hear about Jesus unless someone tells them about him?"

 If you've had your life changed by Jesus Christ, you are qualified and even called to carry and proclaim the message. You are the best person that can tell the story of how Jesus changed your life. You might be the only preacher that some people will listen to and connect with.

It's a simple message. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

[CALL THE LIFESPRING FAMILY HOTLINE - 13:49]
What are your thoughts? Call the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511 or go to the show notes page for this episode at lifespringmedia.com/s13e029. Or go to the comment page at comment.lifespringmedia.com. I really do want to hear from you.

Tomorrow is The Law Monday. We'll read Genesis 16 through 19. We'll find out what can happen when we decide to "help" God, and what caused Abraham's wife to laugh, and Abraham's bargaining with God, also, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Don't miss it.

[HOW TO LISTEN TO THE SHOW - 14:25]  
On last Friday's show I talked a bit about what to do if you fall behind in listening to the show, and James in Norway commented on the show notes page for that episode. He said, "Thanks for the words of encouragement for us new listeners, Steve." Well, James, you're welcome.

I see this every year. Every season begins with a bunch of new listeners, but then there's a slow decline over the course of the year and I think that part of the reason is that they fall behind and then they get discouraged because they think they'll never catch up. Keep in mind that one of the beauties of podcasting is time-shifting. You can always go back and pick up where you left off. As a matter of fact, people are still listening to last season's episodes, and a few are going back even further than that. Of course, I'd love it if you stayed current. But there's a reason I still keep well over 2000 episodes of the Lifespring Family Audio Bible available to listen to at lifespringmedia.com. So anytime you want to get back in, you can. 

[PRAISE REPORTS AND PRAYER REQUESTS - 15:31]  
Here's a praise report from Brother Sean of San Pedro.

[Brother Sean of San Pedro:]
Hello, it's Brother Sean of San Pedro here with Lifespring family's newest member: little Howie. I've seen it firsthand now and without a doubt, I know babies come from God. What a miraculous gift. Brittaney does such a good job with this little guy. He really is amazing. So please share this as my greatest praise report ever. And please ask for God's continued protection and guidance for our little family. Sorry I'm a little behind on the chapter files. I have at least one more week off work. So I should be able to catch up before I go back. All right, love you guys. Thanks. Bye. 

[Steve Webb:]
Yes, Brother Sean of San Pedro and his beautiful wife Brittaney welcomed their firstborn -  who's named after her dad - into their family just a few days ago. Sean tells me that little Howie and Mommy are doing well and that the family is adjusting nicely. Brother Sean, thank you so much for sharing your news with us. We rejoice with you.

And then I got this from Del just a little while ago. He said the doctor has canceled Kathi's infusion that was scheduled for Saturday because she's weak and dehydrated. Instead, Kathi is going to get two IVs of saline solution to bring her hydration up. The doctor also started her on a different hormone treatment because the chemotherapy was too toxic for her body. And then this coming Tuesday, they have a consult with her radiologist to devise a plan on how to attack the growing number of tumors on her scalp. This is going to require an MRI of her head at some point. And Del says thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. So the cancer on her head, the MRI is going to show if it's just on the scalp or if it's also in the bone or even in her brain. So Kathi needs prayer.

All right, let's pray.

Our heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you so much for being a God who understands our weakness and who made a way for us to be welcomed into your presence, despite our failings. Jesus paid the price for our inability to uphold your standards. And all we need to do is place our trust in Him. We know Lord that it is because of your great mercy that our eternity is secure, if we believe in Jesus. So father, you are so good, and you are worthy of our worship. And we say, "Hallelujah".

Lord, I thank you so much, and I praise you for bringing little Howie safely into Sean and Brittaney's family, thank you for the blessing of new life. I pray that you would give them wisdom as they learn how to be the parents you want them to be. And I pray God that you would watch over them. Protect him. And as little Howie grows, I pray that he would learn to love you and that he would grow to be a man of God. Please God, use him for your glory.

And, Lord, we thank you for making it clear that you want us to present our requests to you, and that you listen when we pray. So now I pray that you would be with Kathi and Del. Kathi needs your touch, Lord. Give them strength. May they feel your closeness, now, Lord. Help them as they walk through this trial, and give them wisdom and direction.

I thank you for the Lifespring family, Lord. Encourage them and bless them. Help them to go through this year of daily Bible readings and teach each of us more about you. Help us to draw ever closer to you. And for those in the Lifespring family who are facing struggles I pray that the Holy Spirit would give the guidance they need. Where there are hurts, Lord, bring comfort. May they feel your presence in the midst of sorrow, and may they rejoice in the knowledge that you love them. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Beloved, this is a time for us to bring our prayer requests and praises to God. If you have something you want to share, go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com. I'll pray for you in my private prayer time and we'll pray together on the show, prayer.lifespringmedia.com.

[OUTRO S13E029 - 19:30]  
I'm so thankful for the donation of time, talent and treasure from Sister Kirsty who does the newsletter, Brother Sean of San Pedro who does the chapters and Sister Denise who corrects the transcripts. Thanks, you guys. God bless you.

Comment on the show by calling the Lifespring Family Hotline at 951-732-8511 or by going to comment.lifespringmedia.com. You can email me also at steve@lifespringmedia.com. If you're happy that the Lifespring Family Audio Bible is around, please support it at lifespringmedia.com/support.

Until tomorrow, may God bless you richly. Thank you for inviting me into your day. My name is Steve Webb. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai