ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF ROMANS 9:1-5
INTRODUCTION:
This morning we are beginning a new section of Romans and a
very fascinating one. Romans 9-11 is filled with essential and practical doctrine as it focuses on Israel as God’s chosen people. In theses three chapters Paul shows us that Israel has been temporarily set aside by God because of her unrepentance and unbelief and above all else her rejection of the Messiah. But God is not yet finished with Israel and in the end times He will begin to deal with her again. Chapter 9 begins focusing on Israel’s unbelief and the sorrow and grief that brings to the apostle Paul.
I. PAUL’S HEART FOR THE JEWS (Romans 9:1-3)
a. As we begin this passage devoted to the nation of Israel in these opening verses we learn of Paul’s own grief over the
_______________ of his own people.
b. Remember earlier in Paul’s life he was a great _____________
of those Jews who were followers of Christ.
c. With as much hatred as the Jews had for Paul, the feeling was
not mutual, Paul had a deep _______ for Israel as a nation, and
also for Israelites as individuals, after all these were his people.
d. Paul begins by writing, “I am telling the __________ in Christ,
I am not lying...” (Romans 9:1a, NASB95)
e. Paul calls upon another witness to his truthfulness, he writes,
“...my conscience testifies with me in the ________ ________, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.” (Romans 9:1b-2, NASB95)
f. Paul calls upon two reliable _______________ to attest to him truthfulness.
g. It is only in verse three that we truly see the depth of Paul’s ________ for his fellow Jews, how truly great his sorrow and unceasing his grief was for their unbelief. (Exodus 32:32)
II. ISRAEL’S BLESSINGS AS GOD’S PEOPLE (Romans 9:4-5)
a. As we move on into verses 4-5, we see that Paul’s great sorrow over Israel’s unbelief is in part due to fact of the great _____________ that Israel has received from God because they are God’s chosen nation.
b. First, they are blessed because they are ________________.
c. Second, Paul writes that it is the Israelites to whom belongs the
adoption as ________. (Exodus 4:22; Hosea 11:1)
d. Third, Paul says that Israel received the blessing of the
___________. (Exodus 25:21-22)
e. Fourth, Israel was blessed to have been given the
________________.
f. Fifth, Israel was blessed to be the recipients of the ________.
(Romans 3:2)
g. Sixth is the temple __________ with which Israel was blessed. h. Seventh, Israel was given the blessing of the ______________
of God. (Acts 13:32-34)
i. Eighth, Paul reminds the Jews that they are those to whom
belong the blessings of the ___________.
j. Ninth, and by far the greatest blessing that Israel ever received
was the blessing of providing the lineage of the ____________,
or the Messiah according to the flesh. (Matthew 1; Luke 3)
k. Paul does not leave the Messiah simply according to the flesh
but declares Him to be the One “who is over all, ________ blessed forever. Amen.” (Romans 9:5b, NASB95)
CONCLUSION:
Paul in these opening verses of chapter 9 sets the stage for this
chapter and the next two after it. In these verses he shows us that tragic unbelief of his people, the Jews, that they had their Messiah, God Himself in the flesh and they rejected Him. Paul’s heart is grieved by this unbelief, his heart is grieved as God’s heart is grieved. He loves his people and desires them to understand the grace that is offered to them through the death of Jesus Christ and the hope that can be theirs because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
What can we take away from this message? Paul’s love for his Jewish brothers and sisters according to the flesh was not just because

he was related to them, his love for them was because of God’s love for them. As we draw closer to the Lord, as we get to know Him better as we read His Word and spend time with Him in prayer His heart will become our heart. We will begin to feel great sorrow and have unceasing grief for the unsaved. This burden for the unsaved does not come on you suddenly, but it is a burden that grows on your heart. I am sure that Paul spent many hours on his knees praying to God for Israel. Oh, that God would put on your heart and mine a burden, a compassion, a tenderness for lost men, women, and children that they would be saved. Pray for your unsaved loved ones, your kinsmen according to the flesh, pray for your unsaved neighbors, unsaved friends, but understand that when you begin to pray for them you must be willing to be used by God to be a witness to them and tell the story of redemption, how Jesus Christ came to this earth and went to the cross and died for us, paid the penalty for our sin and was buried and on the third day rose from the dead proving that sin had been paid for in full and death was forever conquered, guaranteeing for those who put their faith in Jesus Christ forgiveness of sins, justification before God, and eternal life. Be willing to share this good news