The Privileges Given to Israel

Sermons of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Religion & Spirituality, Christianity

4.8 • 603 Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Romans 9:4-5 — It is significant for the Christian to know how to approach God, to enter His presence, to take petitions and prayers to Him, and how to render service to the true and living God. Unlike the Gentile nations, Israel was given specific instructions on this. God had shown them special favor, despite their small number and unimpressive abilities. Moreover, God gave them promises. Through the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and David), the children of Israel were children of promise. Unlike their pagan neighbors who worshipped idols, the apostle Paul says they were brought into a covenant. Why is the apostle Paul emphasizing this unique privilege of the children of Israel and what is his purpose? Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones seeks to answer this question in this sermon on Romans 9:4–5 titled “Children of the Promise.” There is a tragedy in the story of the Jews, one that the Christian must acknowledge. They were a people of such hope and promise and yet they missed it all. Despite that, Christ’s coming was abundantly clear in the Scriptures, most of the Jews could not see it. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones traces the promises made to Old Testament Israel and the tragedy that followed.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Most of you will recall, I'm sure that we are considering at the present time,
0:05.1	the words that are found in Paul's epistle to the Romans in chapter 9 and in verses 4 and 5,
0:13.5	who are Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God
0:23.5	and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came,
0:31.6	who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Now, these two verses are important, as we've seen. Because it is in them,
0:42.4	the apostle shows us the essence of the tragedy of the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ
0:49.4	by the Jews. He came into his own, and his own received him not. It was his own people that rejected
0:58.1	him and failed to recognize him as the Messiah, the Savior of the world. But the apostle,
1:05.9	in order to develop his argument and in order that we may fully understand and appreciate the greatness of
1:12.4	this tragedy reminds us here of the privileged position of these people. He shows us why it was
1:21.7	they of all people who should have recognized him, but how actually it was they of all people who rejected him.
1:29.5	So that everything he tells us about them is of the greatest possible importance.
1:33.8	Now, we've considered the term Israelites, we've considered the adoption,
1:37.9	we've considered the glory, we've considered the covenants,
1:41.1	and we have considered the giving of the law.
1:44.0	That brings us this evening, therefore, to the next item, which is,
1:48.9	and the service of God.
1:52.4	Now, what does this mean?
1:54.3	Well, this is the phrase, the term which he uses,
1:59.5	in order to indicate how they worshipped God. The service means
2:06.2	that. We actually employ the term in the same way when we talk about a religious service,
2:13.8	a service as it were, which is rendered unto God.
	...

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