Who Is the True Israel?

[Music] let's read verses six through eight here's the reason the word of God is not fallen for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel and not all our children of Abraham because they are off his offspring but through Isaac shall your offspring be named not Ishmael the Isaac this means so now he's interpreting we said yeah this means that it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God but the children of the promise are counted as offspring that is an argument and he's going to give some foundation for it in verses 9 through 13 from the Old Testament but let's let's see if we can figure out his argument here first why hasn't the Word of God to Israel the promises the covenants why haven't they failed and his answer at the end of verse 6 is it would be a mistake to say the word of God has failed because those who have descended from Israel are perishing because not all those who have descended are Israel that's his argument not all Israel is Israel which means the promise has never been that all ethnic Israel will be safe that there can't be lost ones there's never been they put like this there's never been a necessary connection between being born Jewish and being a child of the promise that way saying not all who are of Israel from Israel physically belong to Israel so he's clearly distinguishing two kinds of the use of word Israel right this u s-- right here and this use right here are different if you are born of israel this one you say well of course I belong to Israel I born a Jew impulses not all of you are Israel you can scratch your heads and what it's not clear right away well how can that be what what do you mean but that's his that's his point and going to nail that because the reason the promises haven't failed is because there's no necessary correlation in God's original intention between every person who has Jewishness in the blood to be in this this thing called Israel whatever that is different from that all right so let's keep going and by the way Lord willing and maybe some time for questions in our last session so be jotting down like it's some subtly consents and I don't get it clarified and you want to ask I hope have some time for that and now you can say the same thing again I think this is a different way and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring so you've got this offspring here corresponds to all who are descended from Israel all right and this children of Abraham here corresponds to this what should we call it I'm going to call it true Israel like that so you see the connection to the parallels between 6 and 7 just because you were descended from Israel doesn't mean you belong to Israel verse 7 just because you are his offspring doesn't you mean you're his children just because you're his seed doesn't mean you're his children so he's he's setting up a distinction between physicality or flesh or ethnicity over here we could we could depend upon a born I'm a Hebrew of Hebrews we Paul talked remember I love the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of Hebrews I've got the pedigree Philippians three four and and he's going to say in two verses later I counted his rubbish I've got the pedigree then Paul saying the pedigree is not the issue here something else is the issue he hasn't said what it is yet he's just making the distinction between there are people who have the pedigree and then the people who are really Israel and the people who are offspring and people are really children when you scratch your head me wonder what distinction are you making with what's the difference what how did what did he God mean then when he said that these promises supplied to the children of Abraham if it doesn't mean every last ethnic Jewish person and here's here's verse eight well before we get to verse eight he tips us off where he's getting this is this is Genesis 21 12 right here but alternatively through Isaac shall your offspring be named and the contrast there is Ishmael remember how that happened Abraham and Sarah are the chosen pair from which Israel is to come the promised people and Sarah is barren she can't have children never could Abraham is getting very old he knows I need seed I need offspring I need an heir for any of the promises to come true so what does he do he does he does like many church leaders instead of trusting God for a miracle he takes you know matters into his own hands and he finds Hagar Hagar is not barren she's a handmaid you know legally that might work Sarah's handmaid and so Sarah says okay to get our air take Hagar and have sex with Hagar and we'll have maybe a baby they do name is Ishmael and and the point of Genesis 21 right here is no no record do it that way through Isaac shall your offspring be named Abraham says oh that Ishmael I live before you please God doesn't like the way they did that doesn't like human reliance self-reliance making babies happen that are supposed to be babies of promise making them another way something's wrong there it's going to be really big in the way these verses develop okay so having said not all your offspring are children of Abraham what I mean is through Isaac non-issue who Isaac your offspring will be named and then and then he says this means that is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God but the children of promise are counted as offspring so children of flesh right here are the same as those who are descended from Israel but not true Israel and they're the same as these offspring here that are not really children of Abraham so he's he's got this cleavage between physical Israel true Israel children of Abraham for seven offspring children of the flesh verse eight children of God or children of promise counted as offspring and probably there's a lot of weight in this word count is counted as offspring it opens the possibility we'll see it later okay these children are being counted as part of true Israel by God's sovereign decision he's just saying this one not this one that's where he's going so what what's the problem here with what Abraham and Sarah did this race children of the flesh very significant because it's used again in Galatians when Hagar and Sarah are contrasted in chapter 4 of Galatians Genesis Genesis 1717 Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old shall Sarah who is 90 years old bear a child Genesis 18 11 now Abraham and Sarah were old advanced in years the way of women had ceased to be with Sarah so not only was she barren she was postmenopausal she can't have babies like Mary can't have a baby and that's the way God wants it to be and a child of the flesh therefore we begin to see doesn't just mean a child born by natural procreation but a child brought into being by powers resident within human beings we can do this and a child of promise child promise there in verse seven is a child born by God's intervention into the impossibilities of human life you're too old she's barren she's postmenopausal that's my couple that's how I make my children this is a lesson now this is absolutely profound as to what's what's being set up here Paul is saying true Israel here in verse six not all those who are of Israel are Israel the true Israel is a work of the sovereign God creating children out of what no human being can do so Hagar and Abraham's affair isn't is an illustration of human resourceful list we don't need a miracle here I have a handmaid I'm virulent virile I can do this and he did it and God says Isaac no Ishmael so that's what's happening here in distinguishing between Israel and true Israel children of Abraham and offspring and then it gets real specific in verse 8 it's not children of the flesh who are the children of God it is the children of promise who are counted as offspring so even even the fact that Isaac is born of of Abraham and Sarah and thus has Jewish blood in his veins is not the essence of the matter he's counted reckoned decreed to be offspring because why because he has a Jewish mom dad no because he's a child of promise I will do this I will make this baby and that's what constitutes him as a child of God child of God and child a true child of Abraham a true Israelite so we're gonna see how Paul unpacked us now from the Old Testament but but get this that Paul is is going to argue my solution to the how the Word of God is not fallen is not coming out of my head it's rooted in how God acted at the very beginning with Israel that's the waste arguing here now the question is how does you support this for the from the Old Testament what's the connection between verse 8 and 9 so 3 verse 8 again this means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God but the children of the promise are counted as offspring for this is what the promise said about this time next year I will return and Sarah will have son so Isaac is a child of promise because God says I'm showing up to make this happen I'm showing up to make this happen

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 107,789

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism

Id: Q1eQS--MWv0

Length: 18min 3sec (1083 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 09 2017