EXAMINING THE FIVEFOLD GRACE OF GOD IN ROMANS 9: 27Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israelbe as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short workwill the Lord make upon the earth. Romans 9: 27 - 28e taste a fivefold richness of Grace in these verses. It is not the cloudy and indiscriminate pseudo-grace of the Dispensationalist, that Semi-Universalism that without distinction blankets the entirety of the human race under a mythological "Age of Grace," as though all sins were already pardoned through the death and resurrection of Christ, as indeed, some Dispensationalists have openly affirmed that they are. But it is Grace, nonetheless, true BiblicalGrace, God's Grace, "marvelous, infinite, matchless Grace". And we sip it's honeyed sweetness from these verses, not in a single measure, nor yet a double measure, or even a triple measure, but in a fivefold measure.
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voice like a trumpet (Isaiah 58: 1). And the New Testament Apostle, moved by the same Holy Spirit,
echoes back the response in antiphonal harmony: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the
sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved ".
But who is Isaiah quoting? Or, more specifically, what is he making reference to? He is making a clear
allusion to the Abrahamic Covenant, God's promise to Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of
the seashore (Genesis 22: 17).
And what is this, but the Grace of God? What was it but Grace that spoke to Abraham as he lived amidst
a society of godlessness and idolatry and called him to "go out into a place which he should after receive
for an inheritance" (Hebrews 11: 8)? It was Grace, God's Grace , "marvelous, infinite matchless Grace"!
It is the same Grace that called you, my friend, if you have "believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God ", thereby escaping the just condemnation and Wrath that hangs above a world (John 3:
18) cursed by the Law of God (Galatians 3: 10) for the transgressions of its commandments (I John 3:
4). Consider for a moment where you were, what you were bound for and where you would be
today, had not the light that "shineth in darkness" (John 1: 5) shined in your heart, "to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ " (II Corinthians 4: 6). "Remember, that
ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the
Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and
without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ " (Ephesians 2: 11 - 13). Consider where you were, what you were bound for, whereyou might be today, and where you are instead , through the Grace of God's revelation, the
communication of the Gospel truth to you. Consider also the massive catalogue of your sins, your
transgressions of God's Holy Law, the inescapable guilt of your hands and heart and the fiery sentence
decreed against you by that Holy Law, "the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Is it not, Beloved, by the
Grace of God that you are not in Hell today? Is not God's revelation to Abraham, which the New
Testament defines as "the gospel " (Galatians 3: 8), and God's revelation to you through his Gospel
ministers a wondrous testimony of his Grace?
II. GOD'S GRACE IN CONSUMMATION
But God's Grace in this verse exceeds the Grace of Communication, or of his special revelation. This
verse tells us also of God's Grace in Consummation, that is to say God's faithfulness in performing his
promises. It reminds us that "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."
Isn't that what we recognize here? The Lord had called Abram in his old age and his childlessness. Sarah
had never born him a son, and his body was by this time, according to Scripture, "now dead " (Romans 4:
19). And yet, by faith, "Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child
when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised " (Hebrews 11: 11). Now
notice the following verse:
"Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in
multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable."
In other words, God not only gave Abraham a unique revelation in calling him from the Ur of the
Chaldees, but he also fulfilled his promise, just exactly as he had spoken it. He performed it in spite of
failures and famines, Pharoahs and Philistines. Even when the children of Israel murmured and
provoked him to wrath in the wilderness by their evil heart of unbelief (Hebrews 3: 7 - 4: 11), he
remained faithful. Look at what the Scripture says about God's faithfulness in fulfilling his promises in
Joshua 21: 45:
"There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came
to pass."
The Dispensationalist says that God has never completely fulfilled his land promises in the Abrahamic
Covenant. But that's not true, the Scriptures say. Here it is again:
"There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came
to pass."
And is not this, Beloved, a blessed consolation? What doubts have plagued your mind in relationship to
the fulfillments of God's promises? Have you grown weary in the work of love, laboring in the Lord's
vineyard in seeming fruitlessness? Cheer up, dear Brother or Sister in the Lord. Take courage. Take
heart. God's promises are true, no matter what the Dispensationalist has told you. Let us just considera few of them, and may God grant us Grace to appropriate them by faith:
"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with
rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psalm 126: 6)
"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that
spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give
us all things?.... Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved
us." (Romans 8: 31, 32, 37)
"Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (I Corinthians 15: 57)
"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savour of his knowledge by us in every place." (II Corinthians 2: 14)
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith.
Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (I John
5: 4 - 5)
"And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16: 18)
"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." (Romans 16: 20)
Now Beloved, can you not find but one of those promises to cheer you heart and lift your languishing
spirit? Seize upon it, yea, upon all of them! Claim them by faith! Imitate your father Abraham(Galatians 3: 29; Romans 4: 11 - 17)! Stagger not at the promise of God through unbelief, but be strong
in faith, giving glory to God! Many a year now, you have been barren and fruitless, but be of good
courage. What he has promised, he is able also to perform (Romans 4: 20 - 21).
But perhaps your heart condemns you because of sin in your life (I John 4: 20). Perhaps the powers of
darkness have claimed some territory in your life (Ephesians 4: 27) and set up their strongholds.
Perhaps you feel that you are even now in bondage to sin, that sin has dominion over you, contrary to
the promise of Scripture (Romans 6: 14).
Take courage, dear Brother or dear Sister. God will be faithful to you, though you find yourself
unfaithful to him. "He abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself " (II Timothy 2: 13). Yes, and he has
promised to give you victory over the old man, your old carnal nature. Consider these precious
promises of Scripture, and my God grant you Grace to claim them by faith: