Scripture: Romans 9:1-13

Sermon Title: God’s Election History? Still, Always Will Be Jesus

Peace Lutheran Church

August 1^st, 2026

 

Introduction –

Election Day!

Who would you elect? 

And why?   

Don’t answer that out loud!  Think about it.

There’s a boat load of mixed feelings that come up when we hear the word … “election”.

Whether it happens at the local, state, or national level, we stress out about having the best candidate being elected.

 

Months before elections take place—sometimes millions of dollars are spent on ads that flood your electronic devices—your TV, I-Phone, I-Pad, Smartwatch, and even your physical mailbox are inundated with news about these candidates.

Which direction do you go?  And why?

Are you interested or more confused?

Are you tired of having election ads in your mailbox?

 

What if I told you that God’s election history is nothing like ours? 

Brothers and sisters, what if I told you that God’s Elected One calls you not because of anything that you and I have done?

Mark the Lord’s words…His elected One/ones…throughout Scripture’s faith history (by the way “history” meaning, “His-story” … “God’s story” through believers–past, present, and future—always supersedes our flawed identities, views, and party lines.    

 

In other words, the overwhelming difference with God’s election history versus ours is that God’s promises never change. 

Can we profess that truth of the Lord together?

God’s promises never change.

 

Regardless of one’s position in life—an elected official or a common worker/neighbor—here’s the ugly truth we share: Our sins love to promise one thing but do another. 

Have you noticed that?

 

In and of ourselves we can’t escape this deep-rooted wound either.  Saul/Paul, the author of this letter to the believers at Rome, was brutally honest about this wound—saying one thing but doing another—that no elected official, system of government, denomination, etc. could remove.

“I have the ability to desire to do what is right,” Paul confessed, “But not the ability to carry it out.  I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

 

If there was someone who had bragging rights about his elected status, it was Paul.  A Hebrew of Hebrews from the prized tribe of Benjamin, Jacob’s second favorite son, next to Joseph, born to Jacob from his favorite wife, Rachel. 

Paul was an expert at knowing the 10 Commandments, the strict dietary laws, and the religious ceremonies and festivals.  He had the OT—especially the stories of his famous ancestors—Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob—memorized.  A PH. D Pharisee of Pharisees?!  Flawless! 

But do you know what Paul called his elected status? 

 

“Garbage” was the G-rated English word, but “foul-smelling … you know what … dung” was more on point to what Paul meant compared to God’s Elected History—of His Elected One—believing in, knowing Him—through Whom the Old and New Testaments affirm—Jesus Christ—his personal Savior and Lord. 

 

Okay, why would Paul make such a bold assertion about who and what Jesus did that sets him apart as God’s chosen candidate of all time?

To answer that question, let’s take a trip down memory lane of Paul’s family tree, shall we?

 

Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Jacob (we’ll talk about Esau in a minute), but Paul’s descendants were not chosen because they were holier, stronger, tougher, or better than everyone else.  Not even close!  To be honest, the scandals with this family would have put them on the frontlines of every 21^st century television network.  No kidding! 

 

Imagine this.  If Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Esau were our next-door neighbors, and they moved away, we/our neighborhood would throw the biggest … “Hooray they’re finally gone!”  … party. 

Nevertheless, God’s promises never change.  Despite Jacob’s/our blemishes, God’s Elected One came through Jacob’s family tree—not because Jacob was worthy of it—but because God the Son—came to fulfill what Jacob/we couldn’t believe or do.

 

But…Esau…God hated?! 

What did Paul mean by that?! 

“I thought God was loving…that’s so mean, God!  So Unfair!”

How many times have we thrown a temper-tantrum at God telling him how unfair he is?

 

Honest-to-God, we don’t have a fair bone in our sinful bodies.  Justice belongs to Jesus Christ alone—along with His boundless mercy—neither of which are limited—can we say the same about our tainted views of justice and mercy?  Who should get it, who shouldn’t?

Not even close!

 

But just so we’re clear about Esau.  Esau didn’t care about what is just, true, and merciful according to God’s standards.  While Jacob was indeed a scoundrel, you couldn’t trust the guy further than you could throw him, but—by the grace of God—Jacob believed in confessing his blemishes to God’s Elected One.  

 

Folks, think about it.  There’s a touch of humor here.  Do you really believe God got his butt kicked in that MMA fight with Jacob at the Jabbok River?  Do you remember that story in Genesis when Jacob fought with the man of God till daybreak?

By the grace of God, Jacob confessed, while having his hip out of its socket, “I saw God face to face and lived.”

Thank God!  I believe that’s a real picture of God’s complete justice and mercy through Jesus Christ.

 

But Esau…gave away his birthright, his father’s rightful inheritance, a blessed future with God, His endless promises for a meager bowl of soup, and every thought, action that Esau believed, lived out was how he could satisfy his fleeting appetite.  

Are our sinful natures any different today?

“Jacob, He loved; Esau, he hated,” it’s sin that God hates; it’s Jesus, God’s elected One, through Jacob’s family tree—Jesus whose sacrificial love came to us, “While we were still sinners,” that God loves.

Do you see the difference? 

 

Regarding Esau, he had the same opportunities to trust and follow the same Savior and Lord, but Esau loved his sin too much, and if he lived today, he would have been society’s poster child of what fleeting pleasures looks like…here today but gone tomorrow…a chasing after the wind. 

 

But following God’s wrestling match with Jacob, changing his name to Israel, a forgiven, chosen people through God’s Elected One, Jesus Christ, and to all in Christ, which one would you elect?  A chasing after the wind or a true Savior who sacrificed his blameless life for your sins?  

 

Listen to these verses in Romans 9 again. 

Can you sense Paul’s frustration with his people?

Why in the world would they follow in the footsteps of Esau, a chasing after the wind instead of Jesus—God’s elected One—their true, only Savior?!

 

They had every opportunity—the rich history of God’s promises, the 10 Commandments, the religious festivals, the prophets who regularly preached about their true Savior—who came to them as one of them to deliver them from sin and death—they thumbed their noses at him—just like the wind chaser, Esau. 

 

But honestly, before we get too hard on the Israelites, apart from God’s Elected One, Jesus Christ, aren’t we just like Esau, just like the rebellious Israelites? 

 

Folks, if we could earn our own righteousness with God and live however we wanted, why in the world did Jesus—God in flesh—the same God who extended mercy to an undeserving Jacob—suffer and die on the cross  that Jacob/we deserved?

 

Old and New Testament alike—God’s election history still, will always be Jesus Christ! And because of Jesus—you—being filled with His forgiveness and faith—are an elected son, daughter of the Living God—now and forever—Amen.  

 

Doesn’t Paul say that too?  “Amen!”  That’s not a period at the end of a sentence.  “Amen!” means “Let it be so.”  Here’s the truth “the Amen” with God’s Elected One of all time.  Paul preached this; I’m still called to preach the same promises.  God help me, I will not preach about another savior to you.  I will not pretend that there’s another candidate worthy to be elected as the savior, lord of your life—only Jesus Christ is qualified to do that—to the extreme Paul tells the believers at Rome, “I would be cursed, damned to see you saved, your debts paid for by Heaven’s true Redeemer.”  

 

In other words—there’s nothing of this world—angelic, demonic—a hierarchy or democracy—that comes close to what God’s Elected One—Jesus Christ believed and did—Whose works on the cross satisfied the atonement necessary for our redemption, our debts fully covered—a much different belief than having to pay millions to make yourself known, isn’t it?

 

In his book It Is Finished, author Charles Martin makes a profound point about God’s election history through Jesus.  It’s the same promise of what you heard Paul say to the believers at Rome. Martin wrote:

“We come to Jesus morally and spiritually bankrupt.  We bring nothing to this cross other than our deep-rooted arrogance and our entitled notions.  Filled with “I”.  The truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is this: It is impossible for man to save himself.  For us to justify ourselves.  If we could there would be no reason for the cross.  And God sacrificed his own Son in vain. You and I can’t do one single thing to earn or inherit eternal life.”

 

When you look at the history of the Roman Empire—when an iconic figure like Philip II or Caesar Augustus died—statues of their images were built/set alone to remind citizens that they were on top of the world while the common people were below them.  You had to climb up the steps to reach “Philipp II’s” status, and it didn’t matter how many people he crushed to get to that point.

Do you see how different God’s elected status is through Jesus?  

Jesus Christ—the King of kings and Lord of lords— “was crushed”, (it was God’s predestined plan) He chose the bottom—He knew it was the only way—through the Savior of God’s elected history—crucified, buried, and raised from the dead so that—His redeemed—elected ones from every tongue, tribe, and nation—shall prevail. 

Do you see why God’s election history still, shall always be Jesus?

 

Let’s close in prayer.