Romans: Heaviness for the Lost

Over the last two years (2023-2024) we have explored Chapters 1 through 8 in Romans. We discovered topics that can be summarized as follows:

Chapter 1: Paul’s Call to Preach the Gospel and the Corrupted Heart of Man
Chapter 2: Man is Without Excuse
The Seven Ways God Justly Judges
Chapter 3: Paul’s False Arguments Debunked
Chapter 4: Faith of Abraham
Chapter 5: Being Justified by Faith
Chapter 6: Newness of Life
Chapter 7: New Law for Us
Chapter 8: Walk in Spirit

This month, we will begin 2025 looking at Chapter 9 of Romans which will be covered over the next five months. General topics will include:

Spiritual heaviness for the lost (and specifically for Israel on Paul’s part)

That not all Jews born a Jew are considered to be in the family of “spiritual Abraham”

That God is sovereign over everything and declared, “Jacob have I loved – Esau have I hated”, which brings about a very high-level discussion about Calvinism versus Arminianism

Did you know that Gentiles can be of the seed of Abraham? We can!

A closer look at the “rock of offense”

Who is Worthy of Our Heaviness?

Paul had a heartfelt heaviness for the lost people of the Jewish nation, both in Israel and those spread out through the nations. This knowledge begs the question: do we have a heaviness for the lost? Look at the following passage:

Romans 9:1-5:

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: 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, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

Can We Relate to Paul’s Mourning for the Lost?

Verse 1 Notes: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,”

Paul wishes to ensure the readers in Rome that his following statements aren’t just rhetoric, but are given from the deepest sincerity. Note that in his opening statement he appeals to both Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses of what he is about to share.

Why the need for such an appeal to both the union he has in Christ and the witness his spirit has with the Holy Spirit?

- 1. He just spent a good portion of his letter proving the inadequacy of the law and Jewish favoritism in general.

- 2. He has also postulated that those born in Abraham (Jewish descent) are not of a spiritual Abraham and are estranged from God because supposed birthright does not save a person. Faith in Christ does.

- 3. Likewise, being born into a Christian family is no guarantee of salvation for any of us. Only a profession made by us by faith as per God’s Word and promises can save a person.

In effect, a double witness to his heart: (1) “I tell you the truth” and (2) “I lie not”.

Double witnesses from God (1) in Christ – speaking of his union with Christ, and (2) his conscience (spirit) witnessing with God’s Holy Spirit that what he is about to share is absolutely true. No falsehood, no attempt to appear really spiritual or better than others who share the gospel.

Verse 2 Notes: “That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.”

Great heaviness (Strong’s G3173 & G3077): megas lupe: super heavy, great grievousness. Speaks to the depth of his pain for the lost of Israel.

Continual sorrow (Strong’s G88 & G3601): adialeiptos odune: This speaks to the unrelenting sorrow that Paul has for the lost. It never lets up. He never gets relief from the sorrow he has for his fellow Jewish brethren of the flesh. It is unceasing and permanent grief for the lost.

Are we able to say these things?

How serious is Paul’s deep sorrow for the lost of Israel? Look at verse 3:

Verse 3 Notes: “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:”

“I could wish myself accursed”: anathema. This is one of those Greek words that transliterates directly to English. Anathema – to be accursed.

What does this mean? If it were possible, Paul is so deeply grieving for the lost that he is willing to be banned from Heaven, lose his salvation, and spend eternity in Hell so that fellow Jews can be saved and go to Heaven.

Moses made a similar request once: Exodus 32:30-32: “And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”

Note, Paul is being specific regarding who he most mourns for – those fellow Jews who are Jews by birth but not by rebirth.

This is a rare thing to be so burdened for the lost that you are sincerely willing to be separated from your salvation in Christ for eternity that the lost should be saved instead.

However, it is not possible for Paul to lose his salvation. Just as God did not honor Moses’ request to be blotted out for such acts. This runs contrary to God’s nature and promises that once saved, always saved!

Verse 4 Notes: “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, and the promises;”

Paul especially laments the tragedy of his fleshly brethren who are lost because they had so much.

1. They were the adopted people who God chose when He called Abraham and made of him a great nation of peoples.

2. God additionally called the Jewish people in Moses’ time as we read in Exodus 6:6-8:

Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am the LORD.

“And the glory”: refers to the special cloud that appeared above the Tabernacle. The same cloud that had been atop Mount Sinai at the giving of the Torah, referred to as the Cloud of the Shechiniah: God’s glory cloud. This cloud certified God’s presence, and His approval and choice of the Hebrew people to be His own people.

“The covenants”: God made no other covenant with any other peoples quite like He did with the Jewish people. He made blood covenants with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Moses, David, and Solomon. We must not forget the eternal covenant through Christ that God made with all who believe, to the Jew first and then to the Greek.

“The giving of the law”: Sharing the very character and nature of God Himself by providing a structure of living in all areas of life centered around God’s holiness, justice, and mercy.

“The service of God”: No other people in the world were tending to God’s requirements at the Tabernacle and Temple to cover and atone for sin, to bridge the gap between God and man, to relay to the people and the world God’s words, testimonies, precepts, and laws,

“The promises”: Who else as a people and a nation were given so great a number of promises and direct intervention by God to protect and guide them? Who else received such words of comfort, forgiveness, love, and mercy as the Jewish people?

Before Christ came and salvation was extended to the Gentiles, the Jewish people had such an amazing relationship directly with God.

Verse 5 Notes: “Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”

In verse 5, Paul continues listing the great advantages the Jewish people had including:

- 1. What nation had men who were the very spiritual fathers that have blessed the entire world like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many others?

- 2. Who but the Jewish people can claim that the very Messiah of the world was born from among them. The Messiah who is not only the long-awaited Messiah of the Jews, but of the entire world “who is over all.”

What a deep, deep grieving tragedy it is for a people to be so blessed, so informed, and so chosen to be utterly blind to what they have been given. By that blindness and refusal to hear God’s call, they are to be condemned to an eternity in Hell.

Do We Have Such Heaviness for the Lost?

Charles Finney said in his memoirs (Chapter III): “It loaded me down with great agony. As I returned to my room . . . I felt almost as if I should stagger under the burden that was on my mind; and there I struggled, and groaned, and agonized, but could not frame to present the case before God in words, but only in groans and tears. . . . The Spirit of prayer struggled within me with groanings that could not be uttered.”

Finney also said in his sermon, “The Loss When a Soul is Lost”:

What else would you live for than to save souls? Would you not rather save souls that be President of this Union? “He that winneth souls is wise.” “They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever.” Will this be the case with the ungodly Presidents who die in their sins?”

“What do you purpose to do, young man, or young woman, with your education? Have you any higher or nobler object to live for than to save souls? Have you any more worthy object upon which to expend the resources of a cultivated mind and the accumulated powers gained by education? Think – what should I live for but the gems of heaven – what but for the honor of Jesus, my Master?

They who do not practically make the salvation of souls – their own and others, – their chief concern, deserve not the name of rational; they are not sane. Look at their course of practical life as compared with their knowledge of facts. Are they sane, or are they deranged?

The article “The Lost Agony for Souls” quotes several others on their own burden for the lost:

George Whitefield: “Give me souls, or take my soul . . . . There is a passion for souls, a depth of burden for men, a care for the flock of God that beggars words and sighs and tears.” Traveling twenty miles to speak to a lost soul, he said: “I could scarcely help it, my love and concern for him was so great I could not rest until I had done my best to bring him to God.”

David Brainerd: “I care not where I go or how I live or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep, I dream of them; when I awake, they are first in my thoughts . . . . No amount of scholastic attainment, of able and profound exposition, of brilliant and stirring eloquence can atone for the absence of a deep, impassioned, sympathetic love of human souls.”

John Fletcher: “Love, continual, universal, ardent love is the soul of all labors of a minister.”

During the Welsh Revival, Dr. F. B. Meyer watched Evan Roberts as he sobbed on and on for a lost friend and said, “My God, let me learn that sob, that my soul may break while I preach the Gospel to men.”

Psalm 126:4-6: “Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Beloved, pray diligently and daily for the lost around you, and particularly for those in your family. A lady I never met who lived across the street from a friend I used to visit prayed for me for several years before I got saved. It wasn’t until after I was saved that I found out Mrs. Jones had felt a heaviness for my soul. As far as I know, she was the only one praying diligently for me.

You may never know how important your prayers are until eternity. But believe me, they are most important.

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

References

Finney, Charles G. “The Loss When a Soul is Lost.” July 2, 1851. Lecture I. The Oberlin Evangelist. Retrieved from https://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Voice/Oberlin_1851/OE1851.When.a.Soul.is.Lost.html

Finney, Charles G. (1868). The Memoirs of Charles Finney. The Gospel Truth. Retrieved from https://www.gospeltruth.net/memoirsrestored/memrest03.htm

Strong, J. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Meyers, R. (2005). e-Sword. [computer software] . Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation. (Original work published 1539)

Van Wormer, H. C. “The Lost Agony for Souls.” Herald of His Coming. Retrieved February 11, 2025. Retrieved from https://www.heraldofhiscoming.org/index.php/71-past-issues/2017/aug17/475-the-lost-agony-for-souls-8-17

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