John Piper – Romans 9 MP3’s

I’ve constructed a page with MP3 downloads of John Piper sermons on Romans 9. I cannot begin to explain or tell you what is at stake in the verses of Romans 9, and really Romans 9 through 11. Many people falsely interpret Romans 9 to be spoken of in a temporal context, meaning they assume it’s speaking of the election of groups of people and the temporal blessings that result, not individual people and their eternal destinies. I believe that after listening to these sermons it will be unmistakably clear from Piper’s preaching that it is speaking of the latter, respectively. The main point of Romans 9 itself is not election. Election is simply the substantiating of the primary point. And this is the main point: if the vast majority of Israel has rejected their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and yet God made promises to bless them in the past, has God’s word failed? And if God’s word has failed for the Jews (hypothetically speaking), what hope do we have as Gentiles that the verses of Romans 8 will hold true, namely, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose,” and “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” The answer is in verse Romans 9:6, namely, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” The rest of Romans 9 through the end of Romans 11 is an argument for this statement. And how do we answer these things, the unfathomable, deep things of the Lord? “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” – Romans 11:33-36. I urge you to take the time for this, set aside what you feel about God’s sovereignty, and consider these things. As Piper says in one of his sermons (my paraphrase), Paul doesn’t deal with controversial, mind-bending doctrine because it seems to be intellectually intriguing or stimulating. He wouldn’t give it to us unless it could do something for us practically speaking. So again, please give heed to this and listen intently because being grounded in God in His great divine sovereignty through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection gives me so much hope, everyday.