Having A Broken Heart For The Lost

Romans 9:1-5

I’m sure that all of us, at one time or another, have been hurt by someone, or perhaps a group of people, unjustly.  Thinking about that person or group of people, could you say that you would be willing to literally go to hell for that person if that would guarantee them going to heaven?  Not likely!  In our reading from Romans today, that is a wish that Paul made for his countrymen, the Jewish people.

Any casual reading of the New Testament, particularly the Book of Acts, would show that Paul was no stranger to hardship and attacks from others.  As a young man, Paul was a member of the Pharisees, who were stringent followers of the Jewish religious laws.  Paul became saved and a follower of Jesus Christ, and then God called him to take the Gospel message to both Jews and Gentiles around the Mediterranean.  

As we read throughout the Book of Acts, his usual pattern was to go into a town, search out the local Jews, and meet with them on the Sabbath, showing from the Old Testament Scriptures how Jesus was their promised Messiah.  What inevitably happened was that a few Jews, and a few more Gentiles, would come to faith in Jesus, but most of the Jews would not.  They were not just willing to say, “Sorry, not interested.”, and let Paul go on his way.  No, the preaching of Jesus set them into a violent rage, as did the fact that Paul accepted Gentiles into the church.  The Jews weren’t willing to accept Jesus, but they also didn’t want the Gentiles having a part of the Messiah, either.  Everywhere he went Paul was beaten, stoned, flogged, and either hauled into jail or run out of town by them.

What would be most people’s response to that type of repeated treatment?  Most people might say, “Okay, forget it!  You’ve had your chance!  Now I’m only preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles!”  One can only take so many beatings and stonings, right?  But what was Paul’s response here to what his enemies had done to him?  In verse 2 we read that Paul says he has “great sorrow and continual grief” for his countrymen.  The fact that they had rejected God’s Messiah broke his heart.  He didn’t hate them, he was grieved and heartbroken for them.  He wished, more than anything, that they would come to accept the Lord Jesus as the Messiah.

Before anyone gets the wrong idea about Paul’s doctrine here, he did not believe that he could forfeit his salvation in order for someone else to get saved.  Paul knew and preached that the only one who can save us is Jesus.  No one else’s death can do us any good.  Paul’s love, though, was so strong for his fellow countrymen, that he would have been willing to die if it would have done any good.  Though he knew that was not possible, it showed the depth of his heart’s desire to see others saved.

Paul explains here how the Jewish people, his fellow countrymen, had been chosen by God, had been adopted by Him, had been given His laws and covenants, beheld the Shekinah glory, and were the beneficiaries of His promises (vs. 4).  The Biblical patriarchs were Jewish, and God’s chosen Messiah was of their lineage (vs. 5).  Yet by and large, the overwhelming majority of his people, the Jews, had rejected their Savior and were lost.  This broke Paul’s heart, and if it was within his power (which he knew it wasn’t), he would have done anything to see them saved.

This brings me to think, how do we feel about people in our lives who are unsaved, who will die lost, and be separated from us forever in hell?  What about our unsaved family members, neighbors, co-workers, even our fellow countrymen?  How do we feel about their eternal destiny?  Does it grieve us like it did Paul?  To what lengths do we go to be sure and give them the Gospel?  Paul was willing, if it would have done any good, to go to hell for them.  This, remember, for people who had treated him most shamefully.  Most of us are never treated like that, and yet….do we say a word about Jesus to those we love?  Can we pray that the Lord will give us broken hearts for the lost?