Hold Fast. Hold Forth. (Doctrine of Election)
Romans 9.1-13
Audio: https://michaelpwalther.podbean.com/e/sermon-romans-91-13-hold-fast-hold-forth-election/
Main Teaching: Israel is God’s chosen nation. He chose them to bring salvation to this world through the messiah. Though most of Israel and most of the world reject Jesus as their messiah, Christians hold fast to Jesus and hold forth Jesus as the only hope of salvation for all.
1. Israel is the beginning of God’s incarnation.
2. Most of the people of Israel have tragically rejected God just as most of the world rejects God.
3. Jesus is still choosing people for His kingdom.
I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” 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.” 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.”
Introduction
Last Sunday we learned that the kingdom of God is above all the other kingdoms of the world (Matthew 13). That kingdom comes to all the other kingdoms of the world through people who believe in Jesus. Today our epistle lesson raises the question of the nation of Israel. If the kingdom of God came to us through the nation of Israel, why did the majority of Israel reject that kingdom, and Jesus as their king and messiah?
Israel Is the Beginning of the Incarnation
God’s intervention into this world through Jesus to save it from sin is a “flesh and blood” intervention. It is spiritual, the words of God; And it is physical, the presence of God. The words bring us promises, but the substance of those promises is the very real and physical intervention of God to save us from sin and death. Just as God created the physical world and sin corrupted the physical world, so God came physically into the world through His son Jesus to save us spiritually and physically, body and soul. We call this physical intervention, the “incarnation,” the coming into the flesh by God’s Son.
Two of the most important facts that identify all human beings is their date of birth and place of birth. You can only be born on one day and in one place. Jesus had a date of birth and a place of birth like any other person who has ever lived. God prepared that for Him by creating the kingdom of Israel. He didn’t choose Egypt or Rome or Arabia. He chose Israel. For this reason, the people and the land of Israel will always be important. This is the beginning of God’s incarnation. God had promised that one of the children of Adam and Eve would crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3.15). That promise was very broad and could have come from any nation. But the promises of God narrowed as He chose Abraham, Israel, Judah, David, Mary, and Bethlehem.
In June of 2003 I was in visiting the Biblical sites in Israel. One day we visited the Temple Mount. I walked down a stone stairway. I passed a young Israeli soldier with an Uzzi machine gun slung over his shoulder talking to his girlfriend. I stood before the famous foundation of the Temple built by Herod the Great. I saw Jewish men praying to HaShem. I looked up and saw the Muslim shrine, Dome of the Rock. Muslims like to build mosques and shrines over the countries and religions they think they have conquered. That moment confirmed again for me that everything the Bible says about Jesus is real. Jesus was here. He knew the tensions, the hatred, the violence, and the wars of mankind. But He had come to intervene. He had come to bring an end to the power and authority of evil in this world. He had come, God in the flesh, to save sinful men in the flesh. Being in that spot reinforced everything I knew from God’s word about the incarnation. I knew that Jesus was the only hope for a sinner like me and for this sinful world.
Most of the People of Israel Have Tragically Rejected God Just as Most of the World Rejects God.
But Paul brings up something very discouraging. For the most part Israel has rejected this incarnation and salvation through Jesus. This was so painful for Paul that he said he wished he were “accursed from Christ for my brethren” (9.3). How could this happen he wondered. To them belong the covenants, the law, the worship, and the promises of the fathers, “from whom, according to the flesh Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen” (9.4-5). Has the word of God somehow failed?
No, it has not failed. Paul went on to explain that “they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (9.6). Abraham had a total of eight sons, but only Isaac was called. Isaac had two sons, but only Jacob was called. Jesus came from the people of Israel, but that doesn’t mean that all the people of Israel came to Jesus. In the same way Jesus came from Adam and Eve and is a brother to everyone in the world, but most of the world rejects Him as the Son of God who came to save them.
Last Sunday we heard Jesus say that He spoke in parables, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them (to those who reject) it has not been given” (Matthew 13.11). The rejection of Jesus by most of Israel and most of the world is a great mystery. But we must not let that rejection tempt us to doubt God’s salvation in Jesus, and that He has chosen us for His kingdom. I’ve thought a lot about this, and I have prayed a lot about it. Here is one way to think about it: Who and how many reject Jesus as their Messiah doesn’t change for a moment the fact that Jesus is my Messiah. What if it were not “most” of Israel and “most” of the world that rejected Christ? What if it were only half? Would that make me feel better? No. I would still be sad. Well then, what if only one fourth of all people rejected Jesus, would I feel a little better about that? “No,” again is the answer. I don’t want anyone to reject Jesus and choose damnation over salvation. Even if only one person did this, it would still wreck my heart. Rejection is sad. Period.
Jesus Is Still Choosing People for His Kingdom
Paul tells us in verse eleven that no matter who or how many people reject Jesus, the purpose of God’s election still stands. It is “not of works but of Him who calls.” This is the doctrine of election or predestination. It is the Bible teaching that if we believe and are saved, it is because God called and elected us to this. “You He made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2.1). If we reject His grace, God lets us reject Him and judges us accordingly. “Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens” (Romans 9.18). Rejection is not only sad, it is also a great mystery.
So here we need to ask the great question of the Catechism: What does this mean? Why is Paul teaching this? Last week we heard the parables of the pearl and the treasure hidden in a field. Both tell us that the kingdom of heaven is so valuable that it is worth everything we have here on earth and more. Today we heard how Jesus fed more than five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. How can Jesus not be the Messiah, the one who reconciles us to God and brings us forgiveness and all the other blessings of God? Yet many violently reject or passively ignore this as they cling to their own self-righteousness. In their hearts they say, “I don’t need Jesus’ righteousness. I have my own, and it is good enough.” Or, as we heard a few weeks ago in the parable of the soils, the faith some Christians is being choked out by the cares of the world that in their minds have become more important than the kingdom of God.
Jesus warned us about this in His sermon on the Mt. of Olives: “You will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended… Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24.9-14). Notice how Jesus emphasizes “all” and “many.” This is exactly what we see going on in our world today.
America is one of the most Christian countries in the world. Yet more and more Americans mock the Christian faith, and every Sunday the majority will sleep in rather than go to church. Of those who do worship, many will sit at the feet of false prophets who teach a repentantless and crossless gospel of feel betterism rather than the true gospel of the salvation from sin, death, and the devil. This is tragic, and we should feel the same pain that Paul felt for his fellow Jews who rejected Jesus.
Nevertheless, as Paul said, the purpose of God’s election still stands “not of works but of Him who calls.” God is still calling you and me and your neighbors and everyone into His amazing kingdom. Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” We hold fast, and we hold forth. We hold fast to the gospel as our hope and salvation. And we hold that same gospel forth to the world because it is their only hope and salvation.
Conclusion
Here is one of my own parables: Once there was a great famine, and many people were starving. Many blamed God for the famine and were cursing Him and stealing from one another. But one man went out into the desert to pray to get away from all the cursing and stealing. He prayed that God would deliver him by giving him food to eat or taking him to heaven. Amazingly God answered his prayer by leading him to a beautiful oasis with fruit trees and grain. He ate with joy and immediately came back to his countrymen and told them about the oasis. Most of the scoffed and would not risk what little life they had left to go across the desert to the oasis. But some did. They believed, and they also went out into the desert ready to die or ready to live rather than cling to a sure and certain death by starvation. He held fast to that oasis for his salvation, and he held it forth to his friends for their salvation. That is our Christian life. Amen.
Sermon for August 2, 2026
Immanuel Lutheran Church, Mt. Olive, Illinois
