Here’s the sermon outline for Romans 9:1-5, preached at Cross of Christ Fellowship on 9.24.22 in Naperville.
Romans 9:1-5 “Heartache”
Intro: If you become a Christian you will experience a broken heart.
-Becoming a Christian will lead new pain, grief and broken-heartedness you have never experience before.
-You will experience sorrow and sadness that you could have avoided.
-You will also experience joy and hope better than all the things of this life
-And Christianity is true, so you ought to believe it
-But is important to recognize that you will also experience pain and heartache in new ways.
-Good things of life include reality of heartache: Being in a relationship; being a parent.
-Following Jesus will include heartache in new ways: sin in your life; unbelief; coldness toward God
-You will also experience a sadness over the fact that others have rejected Jesus.
-Becoming a Christian involves seeing Jesus as the most valuable treasure
-This leads to new heartache when one sees others not embracing that treasure.
TODAY: A right understanding of the gospel includes a broken heart over those who do not believe the gospel.
Remember Context:
-Romans 1-8 GOSPEL Stated and Explained
-Next Section starting today: 9-11.
-Question Addressed: If gospel is real and fulfillment of OT promises, why don’t more Israelites believe?
-We’ll see the answer unpacked over 10 weeks.
-Today we learn about Paul’s heart, and we see it is broken over the situation.
MP: A right understanding of the gospel includes a broken heart over those who do not believe the gospel.
Paul’s Broken Heart (READ 9:1-2)
In the first two verses we see Paul share about the state of his heart.
-In the previous section we saw Paul full of joy and hope, celebrating the results of the gospel
-Here see the reality of heartache sorrow is also part of being a Christian.
-Paul begins by reassuring us that he is speaking the truth (1)
-Three ways to add persuasive force to what Paul is saying:
(speaking the truth in Christ–I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit)
-We are to see Paul is not making this up, but really revealing the state of his heart
-Paul certainly had opponents who maligned and misrepresented him
-Wants the Romans to see what he is saying is true!
-Paul’s Heart is full of Sadness (2)
-“Great Sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart”
-Depth of emotional experience (GREAT SORROW) and not fleeting (UNCEASING ANGUISH)
-Christians GET sad too. It is a normal part of the Christian experience
APPLICATION: Authentic Christianity Includes Reality of Sadness and Pain
-Different from the imposter of prosperity gospel
-Different from positive thinking or pretending there is no pain or sadness
-Don’t believe someone who speaks about Christianity as though it were free from pain and sorrows
-That is the error of an “over-realized eschatology” (heaven is coming, but not here yet)
Why Paul’s Heart is Broken 9:3-5
In the next 3 verses we find out WHY Paul is experiencing great sorrow and unceasing anguish:
-Fellow Israelites have not believed in Jesus.
-He is heartbroken over their souls and position before God.
-Paul’s Heart of LOVE for His Fellow Jewish People Who Have Not Embraced Jesus as Messiah (3)
-If possible, Paul wishes he could be accursed and cut off from Christ for Jews who not believed in Jesus (3)
-Refers to them as “brothers…kinsmen according to the flesh”
-Commentators note that Paul is like Moses in Exodus 32:32-33
-All outside of Christ (Gentile and Jew) are under condemnation before God
-Paul Reminds Us of the Great Privileges of the Jewish People (4-5)
-Israelites -6 Things: Adoption (Exodus); Glory; Covenants (Mosaic, David, Noahic); Giving of the Law; Worship; Promises
-To them belong the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
-From them comes the Christ: from their race, according to the flesh, is
-Jesus as Jewish, from tribe of Judah in human manner: from their race, according to the flesh,
NOTE the stunning reality that Jesus is GOD! the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
-Jesus is GOD! He is God the Son
-HYPOSTATIC UNION: Jesus is one person with two natures (Human and Divine)
UNDERSTANDING MORE ABOUT PAUL’S BROKEN HEART:
-As a Jewish man, he longs to see others Jews comes to embrace Jesus as their Messiah
-He is heartbroken over the fact that so many of them do not.
*A right understanding of the gospel includes a broken heart over those who do not believe the gospel.*
Implications:
1. IF PAUL WAS RIGHT, THEN RELIGIOUS PLURALISM IS WRONG.
-Religious pluralism is view of our culture (there are lots of way to worship God, no way is more right or wrong)
-Paul understand Christ as the only way to become right with God, not one of many
-All people (Jewish and non-Jewish) need to be right with God and Jesus is only Solution
2. IT IS RIGHT for a Christian TO FEEL A SADNESS OVER THOSE WHO REJECT CHRIST
-A Christian is to embrace a heart of sacrificial love and care for those around us. -This means new concerns and sadness
*A right understanding of the gospel includes a broken heart over those who do not believe the gospel.
Remember the Beauty of the GOSPEL—SEE Christ who had compassion for sinners
-Jesus was willingly cursed for sinners so that we might be blessed (Gal 3:13)
-“No Greater Love” (John 15:13)
GOD TRANSFORMS US TO SHOW A SACRIFICIAL LOVE TOWARD OTHERS:
-Saved by God’s grace, to do good works, works of mercy and love for those outside of Christ.
-We follow Jesus in an attitude of sacrificial love
-We follow Jesus through new experiences of sorrow and sadness.
-We love our non-Christian friends
-We pray for our non-Christian friends
-We share the gospel with our non-Christian friends.
CONCLUSION: A right understanding of the gospel includes a broken heart over those who do not believe the gospel.
