CONCERN FOR THE PRIVILEGED
Romans 9:1‑5
Romans nine through eleven is one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible to interpret. Most expositors skip over it when they attempt to expound the whole book. They find this to be an easier course. After wrestling with this passage for some weeks, I have no difficulty understanding their reaction. 

However, when I began this method of preaching, preaching through the books of the Bible passage by passage, I determined that I would never knowingly ignore any part of the Scriptures. My view of the Bible is such that I believe that there is no wasted space in the Bible. The truths found in these three chapters are needed.
These three chapters deal with the problem of the Jew. Though the Gospel of Jesus Christ had gone to the Jew first, most of the Jews rejected it. The greater response to the Gospel had been by the Gentiles who were much despised by the Jews, and were considered by the Jews to be spiritually outcasts. Indeed, the Gospel of Jesus Christ was declaring that these spiritually privileged people of Israel were actually lost while the spiritually outcast Gentiles were being saved. This created a serious problem. Why were the Jews not accepting the Gospel? Why were so many Gentiles turning to Christ?

In setting forth an answer to these questions, the Apostle brings before us the past, the present, and the future of Israel. He presents the sovereign elective purposes of God and human responsibility. Our primary problem with this passage does not involve what it says about Israel, but what it says about God. We will evaluate carefully what this passage has to say about the God of all the nations, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul responded to the Jewish rejection of the Gospel with a broken heart. In an autobiographical passage he uncovers the burden of his heart to us. It will be helpful to remember that he bore this burden for people who were spiritually privileged. They were the morally upright, the spiritually enlightened. They were very religious, but lost. Many of us have excused ourselves from bearing burdens for the religious. If a man gives evidence of being religious, we just assume that he is all right. On our trip to the Holy Land we saw several examples of people sincerely religious, but lost. The sight of our Egyptian bus driver kneeling out in a public place with his face turned prayerfully toward Mecca; the sight of Jewish men approaching the Wailing Wall and stuffing their written prayers into the cracks in the wall‑‑religious, but lost. When my wife expressed concern about them, a fellow traveler rebuked her for having concern for them. She reasoned, "Surely if they are sincerely religious, that is enough." You would never have convinced Paul of such.

THE SINCERITY OF THE CONCERN
The concern of Paul for the spiritual condition of his Jewish friends was not false concern. It was genuine. In describing his concern, he carefully sets forth its genuineness. "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost." There is a three‑fold claim to the sincerity, the authenticity of his concern. First, he speaks as a man "in Christ". This is equal to saying, "I say this as a Christian; I say this as a man who is aware of his vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ." Second, he denies that he would lie about the matter. "I lie not". Third, he calls on the conscience to join in the witness to the truthfulness of his words as the Holy Spirit gives help. I can think of no stronger way for a man to set forth the truthfulness of a statement than this.

The exact nature of this concern is then set forth. "That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart." Some had accused Paul of finding a secret personal satisfaction in declaring that the religion of the Jews could not save. They thought that he was enjoying the plight of the Hebrew people. Not so! Indeed, he bore a burden on his heart for them that is like the burden one bears when he has lost a loved one in death. "Great heaviness" is "great sorrow". A heavy weight of sorrow rested on his spirit because of the condition of his Jewish friends. The continual "sorrow" denotes an inward consuming grief, an inward pain. Paul felt about the lostness of his Jewish friends like a mother feels about her only begotten son when he dies. He felt like a godly wife feels when she loses her husband in death. It was the same kind of heart pain to him.

If we are going to confront the world with its lostness, we need this kind of concern. G. Campbell Morgan said that D. L. Moody was the only man he ever knew who was qualified to preach on Hell. Morgan said Moody was the only man he ever heard who preached about Hell always with a broken heart, and with tears streaming down his cheek. Does the unsaved world sense in us a genuine burden for this spiritual condition?

THE EXTENT OF THE CONCERN
"For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsman according to the flesh." That tells us how far his concern went, and why it was a continual pain in his heart. To measure the extent of his concern, we must define and understand the words in this statement. Paul does not actually say that he came to the place that he prayed to be accursed. Rather he said, "I could wish". The form of the Greek word indicates that Paul entertained the possibility in his heart, but he knew this was not possible. "Accursed'' is the Greek Word Anathema. The word involves one being devoted to destruction by God. It would include a man being abandoned to face the wrath of God alone. It was the willingness to undergo this for us that took our Lord to the Cross. There He did actually bear the curse for us. Since He bore it, there is no need for anyone else to bear it. But Paul was so concerned about the spiritual plight of his Jewish friends that he considered no price too great to pay.

This verse explains many things about the ministry of the Apostle Paul. As you read through the book of Acts, it will appear that this man just courted danger and suffering. Why will he go into a Jewish synagogue to preach the Gospel when he knows that most of them are going to reject him, and that there is a good possibility it will bring down some more physical abuse upon his head? Why does he do it? This explains why. He was driven to it by the concern that was in his heart for them, He was willing not only to undergo physical abuse that they might know the Gospel, but had even talked about being willing to go to Hell that they might know Christ. His concern for them and their spiritual welfare was greater than his concern for his personal safety and comfort.

The world about us applauds this kind of concern in the physical realm. When I was a boy, a little farm house near our home caught fire. When the mother realized that her little child was in the house, without any regard for her own safety she rushed into the burning house in a vain attempt to rescue her child. At her funeral everyone applauded and praised such motherly concern for the safety of a child. When such concern is transferred into the spiritual realm, the world about us ridicules us. But if the Gospel of Jesus Christ be true, then such concern is the only thing worthy of the name.

THE REASON FOR THE CONCERN
Why was Paul so burdened about his friends? Were they not already privileged and religious? Yes, but religion and spiritual privilege does not save. Only Jesus Christ can save. In a very illuminating passage, Paul enumerates the privileges that belong to the Israelites. They are named Israelites in recognition of their relationship to God. The name denotes a "prince of God.''

They are the ones "to whom pertaineth the adoption". As a nation they were chosen by God to be His unique people. He called them "my sons". "The glory" dwelt among them. The glory manifests the essence and presence of God Himself. In a unique way God chose to manifest His burning glory in the midst of the nation of Israel.

"The Covenants" were established with the nation of Israel. The first was given to Abraham, but it was repeatedly renewed as the centuries passed. God did this only with Israel. At Mount Sinai God wrote the law on the tables of stone for the nation of Israel. It was written in their language. No other nation ever knew this privilege.

"The service of God" was the service of the temple. Almost every high hill in the inhabited world would have a temple perched on its top, but the only true temple and priesthood was the temple of God in Israel. "The promises" concerned the coming of the Messiah, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. God spoke these promises only to Israel. While the promises had implications for all of the nations, they especially held out hope for the nation of Israel. Having the "fathers", Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the other great spiritual leaders of the past must surely be included as a privilege. These were all the men of Israel.

The Apostle saves the greatest and climatic privilege until the last. Israel was the vehicle through which the Christ came into the world. "And of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen." The flesh of Jesus Christ was formed in the womb of a Jewish woman. He bore a Jewish name. He lived a Jewish life. Yet this Christ was after the Spirit none other than "God blessed forever" who reigns over all. The sovereign God of this universe came into His world through the Jewish nation‑‑could any privilege be greater!

When you go over this list, you may wonder why Paul was so concerned about them. The reason is obvious when you listen to the Gospel Paul preached. Men are saved by placing their personal trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Men cannot be saved on the basis of the grace privileges God may have granted to them. Unless men use wisely the privileges God gives to them they become a spiritual liability rather than an asset.

Do you have friends who would fall into the same spiritual category of these friends of Paul? It could be that they have a very thorough knowledge of the Bible, and give outward evidence of being very religious, but they are trusting something other than Jesus Christ for salvation. They may be trusting their works, or their church, or their performance of certain religious rites, or their observing of certain spiritual rules ‑‑‑ anything other than Jesus Christ. Then you should be concerned about them. You should do whatever possible to confront them with the Gospel of Christ. Their privileges are not enough to save them!