Jacob Becomes Israel — What Romans 9 Says About True Faith

Today I am joined by Les Feldick, and he will talk to you about the Bible Truths that Change People's Lives. Les, welcome! Les Feldick, the host, is a man of great wisdom. Les Feldick, Lecture 6 The Bible Truths that Change People's Lives Les Feldick, Lecture 6 The Bible Truths that Change People's Lives Good to have everybody in today. Our weather isn't quite as friendly as it could be, so I know our numbers are down, but we're glad you came. You know I've said from day one I could never do this if it weren't for my studio audience, and so every one of you become a part of what the Lord is doing, and we do. We appreciate so much that you come in and just be our studio class. For those of you out in television of course we always like to welcome you, and we trust that you too will feel like you're right at the back row of our class, and we trust you'll take your Bibles. As one lady wrote the other day, she said, ìI bought a new Bible when I started watching you and it's already all marked up.î Well that's what we want, that's the name of the game. You just search the Scriptures and don't pay quite as much attention to what I say, but be able to determine what does the book say. Now again for those of you who have just caught our program for the first time, remember now that we have all the past programs available in videotapes. We've made them as nominal as we possibly can. We put twelve programs on one tape, and then that twelve program tape has been transcribed into little booklets which you see on the screen. And either the video or the booklet if you're interested, you call us on the 800 number and we'll get the order blanks or whatever you care to have. Again we just want to go right back to where we left off in our last program which was in Romans chapter 9, and we are now down to verse 6. So those of you in the studio audience, turn with me to Romans chapter 9, verse 6. Now you remember we've been emphasizing that this book of Romans is just almost the highlight of all of Scripture. And then out of the book of Romans I like to call chapter 8, the gemstone of the book of Romans. And now as we have come into chapter 9, 10, and 11 we're going to be dealing with the nation of Israel. And 9 of course is Israel's past, and the Apostle Paul is going to be dipping back into the Old Testament back and forth in order to make his point. Then when we go into chapter 10 we'll deal with Israel as God is looking at Israel today in the age of grace, and then in chapter 11 we'll be looking at what is still ahead for the nation of Israel. And you remember I'm always emphasizing that the largest part of Christendom, and I'm including the Roman Catholics, the Protestants, and a lot of our friends groups who refuse to accept the fact that God is not through with the nation of Israel. Most of them have set Israel aside. Most of them even back in the Reformation were basically anti-Semitic because they accused Israel of being the Christ killers, and consequently God had turned to the church with all of the promises given to Israel because He was through with that little covenant nation. But I always say, don't you believe it. This book is adamant that even though God has set Israel aside for this last 2 ,000 years, yet He is one day going to bring them back to the land as we see He is doing, and one day God is going to pick up where He left off with His covenant people. And so we have to be aware that the Jew is still God's chosen people, even though they are out there in unbelief, they are spiritually blinded for the most part, yet God has not given up on them. I paraphrased a quote in our last taping, and I told you I had forgotten to bring the actual quote along. Today I've got it with me, and you remember I quoted in a paraphrased way, but I didn't miss it very far, of an ex-president of Princeton University. And of course after I got home I had to call out to Princeton and find out when this fellow held forth as president, and I told you I was pretty sure it was a long time ago by virtue of what he said. Now I'm going to read his quote word for word today, and for the benefit of our television people. This gentleman was by the name of Francis L. Patton, president of Princeton University from 1888 to 1902. Now a president of Princeton today would never make a statement like this, I'm quite sure, but at that time Princeton was still a bulwark of conservative Christianity as were a lot of the Ivy League schools. But listen to what this gentleman said, "...the only hope of Christianity is in the rehabilitating of the Pauline theology. It is back, back, back to an incarnate Christ and the atoning blood, or it is on, on, and on to atheism and despair." Now if this gentleman at the turn of the century sensed that people were already ignoring Paul's epistles, what would he think today when he hears people say that I've repeated and you've heard it, that a lot of people think that Paul's epistles shouldn't even be in our Bible. They think he was a nut. I remember reading where someone had quoted a seminary professor as having stated that he thought Paul's experience on the road to Damascus was nothing more than an epileptic seizure. So these are the kind of statements that people make concerning the Apostle Paul and his epistles, but they are the bedrock of our Christian faith, and we have to move into Paul's epistles if we're going to get a clear view of salvation by grace, through faith, plus nothing. Now let's come down and pick up where we left off in our last program in chapter 9, verse 6. In verses 4 and 5 we covered those seven things that were intrinsic to the nation of Israel so far as his dealing with them from the covenant promises. Then you remember in verse 5 we covered the aspect as the 8th part of all this, that it was all brought about so that Christ could come, not just to be the Messiah of Israel, but to be the Savior of the whole human race. Now then verse 6. Ephesians 4. Now the only way we can pick it up is to go back to the Old Testament. Let's go all the way back to Genesis 32, and you remember Jacob the deceiver, the supplanter, who we like to think deceived not only his father Isaac or his brother, but he was also pretty good at it even when he got up and worked for his uncle Laban. Jacob was always one step ahead of everybody if there was to be a sharp deal, and so the very name Jacob means the supplanter, the deceiver, and that's what he was. Now after he had been up to Laban and he had gained his wives and all of his children, with the exception of Benjamin of course, he comes down into the land of Canaan with God's leading, and of course as soon as he gets back to Canaan, who does he have to meet? Well his brother Esau, and of course he's scared to death of what Esau is going to do to him, because after all he had tricked him some 40 years earlier. Now as we pick up here in Genesis 32, Jacob has surrounded himself with all of his flocks and his herds and so forth in order to have a little bit of protection from the wrath of Esau, but God of course has something else totally on His mind, and that is that He's going to come down in human form as God did throughout the Old Testament, and He's going to confront Jacob man to man. We pick it up now in verse 24, and here we are in the dead of night, and I've always said that most of us can't understand what it was like to be in total darkness, because we are under such light pollution, and we have so many lights beaming everywhere that we don't really get a view of pure darkness anymore. But here's old Jacob, asleep on the ground, and no doubt in abject darkness, and Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a man until the breaking of the day. Now you know I'm a literalist, this isn't a figure of speech. God literally came down in a theophany in the form of a man, and He begins this true wrestling match with the man Jacob. Verse 25, And when he that is God, when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled him. In other words He crippled him. And of course we know from other scriptures that Jacob now walks with a limp for the rest of his life. But that's not the important part. Verse 26, And he, the Lord, said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he, Jacob, said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. Now it doesn't say it directly, but I think it's implied clearly enough. Does Jacob understand who he's wrestling with? Of course he does. He knows that he's dealing with the God of his father Isaac, and his grandfather Abraham, and he understands that unless this God blesses him, he's destitute. Now remember, way back when those two boys were born, and Esau was the oldest of those twins, he came first remember, that we taught that Esau was destitute of faith. Esau saw absolutely nothing in the promises of God. But Jacob got a little glimpse, he had just a little flicker that he could see there was something to be gained by getting the birthright as well as the blessing. Now then, in this little bit of faith that God knows here's the man that He can work with, Jacob understands who this is that he's wrestling with, and he says, I'll not let you go until you bless me. Now let's move into the next verse. Verse 27, And he, again that's the Lord, the Lord said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and ye have prevailed. In other words, you just hung tough. You did not give up. You did not fail me. And so God sees that faith in this man Jacob, and by it He transforms him. Here's Jacob's true salvation. Here is where Jacob experiences what today we call the new birth, and so consequently since he is now a new man in God, in Christ, even back there, God gives him also a new name. And so he's no longer to be called Jacob the deceiver, which was the natural, but now he's to be called Israel the prince with God. Now don't lose sight of those two names of Jacob and his offspring. Remember one of my rules of thumb has been that always you have first the natural, and then the spiritual. That's been ever since the beginning of the human experience. First Cain the natural, then Abel the spiritual. Then Isaac the natural, then Isaac the spiritual, then Esau the natural, and Jacob the spiritual. And you'll follow that all the way up through Scripture. All the genealogies will follow that same format. You'll always get the genealogy first of the natural, or the non-spiritual, and then the spiritual. Now it's the same way in the life of Jacob. First he's the natural man, he's Jacob. Now he becomes the spiritual man, Israel. Well you bring it up into our own experience. What were we originally? We were natural. We had nothing to do with a spiritual life, we were natural. But after we're born into the family of God and we've experienced salvation, now what are we? We're spiritual. We are now citizens of heaven. We are now a totally different person. So now then we're going to have the beginning of the history of the nation of Israel divided into the same two categories. We're going to have that portion of the nation of Israel that remain in the natural. They never do have a spiritual enlightenment, even though they're under the covenants. So I guess maybe I should back up just a little bit. From the beginning of human history there has always been primarily two groups of people. Number one you have the lost, which are by far the greatest number. The other side of the coin you have the believers, the saved of the ages, and it's no different today. We either have the saved element, or the unsaved. It doesn't make any difference whether we're black and white, rich or poor, bond or free. We're either over in the lost, the natural element, or we're over here in the spiritual. Now then, Jacob is the beginning of this dividing line, even within Israel, the covenant people of God. Some are going to remain natural, they're going to be remaining destitute of faith, but some are going to be spiritual, and they're going to become believers. Now turn with me to Isaiah chapter 9, and I think the Scripture explains it better than I ever could. Isaiah 9, verse 8, "...the LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel." Now do you see what that says? In other words, when God would speak through the prophets, it went to the whole nation of Israel. They all heard it, but how many truly responded? The believing element, the Israel. So the word would go out to the whole nation, Jacob, but only those who were enlightened by faith would respond to it, and it was always a small remnant, and it still is today. The vast masses of humanity can hear the Gospel, and I mean hear it, understand it, but how many percentage wise believe it? And that's the way it's always been, but also within the realms of the nation of Israel itself. Now when you come back to Romans chapter 9, this is exactly what Paul is referring to. That not all the children of Israel would be spiritual, only a few. And so not all Israel is Israel. Now drop down into verse 7, and we have a follow up on that. Romans 7. Paul says, "...neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Now again let's go back to Genesis, and we're going to be using Genesis quite a bit throughout the next few programs. Go all the way back to Genesis chapter 17, and remember now that God had for 50 years promised Abraham and Sarah a son, because out of that would come the nation of Israel in fulfillment of those covenant promises. But after about 50 years, Abraham got impatient, and he delved back into the pagan customs of using a surrogate mother, and so Sarah really thought of it first, and suggested that they have a son by their slave girl Hagar. And Abraham of course quickly agreed to that, and so from that fleshly idea comes the man Ishmael, again the natural son. But he's a child of Abraham, and you see this is the conflict in the Middle East yet today. The Arab world says they are the true children of Abraham, because the Koran if I understand it correctly, instead of putting the covenant promises with Isaac, put it with Ishmael. And so consequently they feel as though they are the rightful owners of the Holy Land. But you see our book, the Word of God, contrary to what the Koran may say, puts all of this covenant promise on the man Isaac. Alright, you've got Genesis 17, and let's just come down beginning at verse 15, and God said unto Abram, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah. We taught all that when we were back there in Genesis 5 years ago, that the H difference in Abram and Abraham is the letter of the Hebrew alphabet that refers to grace. And so the grace of God is implied now by changing the name Abram to Abraham, and also the name Sarai to Sarah. We have that fifth letter of the alphabet. Now then going on to verse 16, God says, And I will bless her, and I will give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations. Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said, His heart shall a child be born unto him, who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear? Now again you see Abram comes back to that energy of the flesh, and he says, O that Ishmael might live before thee. Why can't Ishmael fulfill your promises? Then in verse 19 God refutes him, and he says, Sarah thy wife, not the slave girl, your wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and will seek after him. Now I mentioned in one of the previous programs, whenever there is an I will from God in Scripture, what is it? It�s a promise! That�s a promise! In other words, Isaac becomes a promised son. Now I�m emphasizing that, and I�m taking it slowly, because I want you to remember now that what God promises, He is not going to let fail. And so in spite of the age of Abraham now nearing 100, and Sarah nearing 90, the promise is valid, because God said He�s going to do it. And He said, I�m going to give you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. Now then in deference to our Arab people, and we certainly don�t look down our nose at them in the age of grace, they are just as eligible as we are for God�s salvation. But coming back to verse 20 in Genesis 17, God deals with Ishmael, and He says, And I will make him fruitful, and multiply him exceedingly, twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation, and God did. My land, look at the Middle East tonight, 50 Arabs for every Jew, so God has blessed the Arab people, and I think I made mention in one of my other programs, that not only did He give them 50 times more people than Israel, but they got all the world�s oil, they�ve got the wealth of the world in their backyard, and God has blessed them, and they have nothing to complain about. But my covenant, that one that He made with Abraham, my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. He was a son of promise, and on top of that, He was a son of the miracle working power of God, because both Abraham and Sarah were way beyond normal childbearing. Now let�s come back to Romans chapter 9. Romans 9 says, so those who are of Abraham aren�t all the seed of promise, because Ishmael had Bukhu offspring, and the same way we come on to the next promised child, which is Jacob, Esau is going to have Bukhu of offspring, and even though genetically they�re children of Abraham, he was their father, yet spiritually speaking they are outside the covenant promises, because that could only go to the offspring of Isaac and Jacob and down that family tree. And so all these others are left out. Now the danger of all this, we�re going to see a little later in this chapter, that Israel got a little bit puffed up and arrogant, and said, well now since we are the children of the covenant, since we are the children of the prophets, and of the promises, then what have we got to worry about? We�ve got it made, and Paul is going to come and just blow them out of the saddle. Hey you�re not going to enter into these promises of God simply because you�re in the right genealogy, you�re still going to have to enter in by faith, and we�re going to see that as we move on through this chapter. So we�re reading verse 7 again, just for repetition�s sake. "...neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children." In other words, Ishmael�s offspring, Esau�s offspring, they were children of Abraham, but not according to the promises, because it�s in Isaac that the seed should be called, and of course the seed there is in reference to Christ. The seed of the woman that would come through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and not through anyone else. Now verse 8, and in the couple of minutes we have left. That is, they who are the children of the flesh, now remember that�s what God said of Ishmael. Ishmael was born in response to the wishes of the flesh. God never once told Abraham or Sarai to go and have a child with Hagar. That was strictly a fleshly idea, and so Ishmael all the way through, even when Paul uses him as an allegory in Galatians chapter 4, Ishmael is always the picture of the energy of the flesh. Remember we can accomplish nothing in the energy of the flesh, but it�s only those that were born of promise that come into God�s covenant program. Now let�s read on in verse 8 again, and again I think the word seed here in the singular is referring to the seed of the woman of Genesis 3, verse 15, all the way up through the coming of Christ. And as Paul then says in Galatians 4, the seed of the woman is Christ. Now then, what�s that telling us? That every believer, whether it was back in ancient Israel, or whether it�s now at the end of the church age, every believer was promised to Christ before the foundation of the world. Let me show you, John�s Gospel chapter 17 probably makes it as clear as any portion in Scripture. And of course I know that in John 17, Christ�s high priestly prayer, the men that he�s really referring to are the eleven. But nevertheless, they are just a little picture of all of those that would one day become the Lord�s by virtue of their salvation. In John�s Gospel chapter 17, verse 6, Jesus is speaking, and he�s praying to the Father and saying, I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them to me. Now remember, those eleven men were not believers until Christ came onto the scene, so who already had His finger on them? God did. Then you come on down to verse 12, and I think speaking of His earthly ministry, I kept them in thy name. Those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost. I have kept, and none is lost.