1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,520 Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,480 where we are proclaiming the truth to the world. 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,720 My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:10,480 this podcast. 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:14,680 I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen 6 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,080 you in the word of God. 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,160 Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has 8 00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:21,440 for us here today. 9 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:25,320 We're going to be in Romans Chapter nine. 10 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,320 We're going to continue our series here in the Book of Romans. 11 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:34,120 And I encourage you if you have not been following along with 12 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:35,080 us in the Book of Romans. 13 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,440 We've been in the Book of Romans, obviously, for a long time. 14 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:40,000 And if you ever have any time throughout the week and you have 15 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,240 an opportunity to check out one of our past sermons, I think 16 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,120 it would be good to understand context as we're coming into Romans 17 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,040 chapter 9, 10 and 11, because we talked a little bit about this 18 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:50,480 last week. 19 00:00:50,480 --> 00:00:51,720 Romans 9, 10 and 11. 20 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,320 Is Paul addressing the question of, well, did God fail? 21 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,440 Because obviously at this point, the majority of the religious 22 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:05,240 people of the Jewish faith, the folks that God had brought the 23 00:01:05,240 --> 00:01:08,640 word of God through, and obviously Jesus was born as Messiah 24 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:10,400 in the land of Israel. 25 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:12,080 What happens now? 26 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:14,320 They have turned their backs for the most part. 27 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:15,720 Has God failed? 28 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:20,160 And so really what we see is Paul explaining that God has not 29 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:24,240 failed and that God has a plan for believers, Gentiles and Jews 30 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:24,520 alike. 31 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,800 We saw that at the very beginning of Romans chapter 1. 32 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,680 Romans chapter 1, verse 16 tells us that the Gospel is there 33 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:35,560 not just for the Jew, even though it says for the Jew first, 34 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,040 but also to the Greek or to the Gentile. 35 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,120 For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power 36 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:44,840 of God unto salvation to everyone, everyone that believe it, 37 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:46,520 to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 38 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,310 And so Paul's idea here in chapters 9, 10 and 11 is that, yes, 39 00:01:51,310 --> 00:01:52,390 God has not failed. 40 00:01:53,270 --> 00:01:55,030 He is not forgetting. 41 00:01:55,510 --> 00:01:58,830 And so what we're going to see here is that Paul goes through and 42 00:01:58,830 --> 00:02:02,070 he explains what was the blessing of the Jews, what was the 43 00:02:02,070 --> 00:02:03,270 blessing of the Israelites. 44 00:02:03,270 --> 00:02:07,430 And In Romans chapter 9, verse 4, he explains who were the Israelites 45 00:02:07,430 --> 00:02:09,190 to whom pertaineth the adoption. 46 00:02:09,190 --> 00:02:10,110 Now, what's the adoption? 47 00:02:10,110 --> 00:02:14,150 The adoption was essentially God selecting them, electing them 48 00:02:14,150 --> 00:02:19,550 for the cause of bringing his word into the world, agents of his 49 00:02:19,550 --> 00:02:19,870 plan. 50 00:02:19,870 --> 00:02:21,750 And then he says more, the glory. 51 00:02:21,750 --> 00:02:22,510 That's the. 52 00:02:22,510 --> 00:02:22,870 The word. 53 00:02:22,870 --> 00:02:24,350 There we get the word Shekinah. 54 00:02:24,350 --> 00:02:25,030 You've heard of that? 55 00:02:25,030 --> 00:02:27,830 Maybe in the Old Testament, the glory of God, the glory of God 56 00:02:27,830 --> 00:02:29,590 fell to the People of Israel. 57 00:02:29,590 --> 00:02:32,470 And it was evidenced through many of the miracles that were seen 58 00:02:32,470 --> 00:02:33,470 in the Old Testament. 59 00:02:33,550 --> 00:02:36,110 And then he goes on to say the covenants, and we already mentioned 60 00:02:36,110 --> 00:02:38,990 the covenants last week, but you had the Mosaic covenant, the, 61 00:02:39,150 --> 00:02:42,150 the Davidic covenants, and those covenants, those promises that 62 00:02:42,150 --> 00:02:43,870 God gave to his people. 63 00:02:43,870 --> 00:02:49,090 And so he's explaining all of the ways in which God used the Israelites 64 00:02:49,090 --> 00:02:54,170 for his purpose of bringing the good truth, the word of God to 65 00:02:54,170 --> 00:02:54,610 the world. 66 00:02:54,610 --> 00:02:55,810 And then he says the law. 67 00:02:56,290 --> 00:02:59,810 We remember that through the book of, really through Genesis, 68 00:02:59,810 --> 00:03:01,610 through Deuteronomy, we. 69 00:03:01,610 --> 00:03:04,170 We see that picture of God revealing the law in the book of 70 00:03:04,170 --> 00:03:07,690 Exodus and, and Leviticus and, and numbers and Deuteronomy and all 71 00:03:07,690 --> 00:03:07,850 that. 72 00:03:07,850 --> 00:03:10,570 We see how that rolls into the picture. 73 00:03:10,570 --> 00:03:12,675 Then he goes on to say, in the service of God. 74 00:03:12,675 --> 00:03:14,970 And, and so they had the opportunity to serve God, or the 75 00:03:14,970 --> 00:03:16,330 idea here would be worship God. 76 00:03:16,330 --> 00:03:19,690 God, explain how to worship him through the Israelites. 77 00:03:19,770 --> 00:03:23,130 And then he says, and the promises, whose are the fathers? 78 00:03:23,130 --> 00:03:26,090 That's the patriarchs, those ones that came before, of whom as 79 00:03:26,090 --> 00:03:29,330 concerning the flesh, Christ came, meaning Jesus came in the flesh 80 00:03:29,330 --> 00:03:34,130 as a Jew, as the people of Israel understood to be at that case. 81 00:03:34,130 --> 00:03:36,530 Now, many of them are rejecting Jesus at this point. 82 00:03:36,530 --> 00:03:38,330 But he says, these were the blessings. 83 00:03:38,330 --> 00:03:40,090 This is the way that God used them. 84 00:03:40,090 --> 00:03:42,410 And you can even look back in Romans chapter 3. 85 00:03:42,910 --> 00:03:46,870 Romans chapter 3 says, One of the blessings of being the people 86 00:03:46,870 --> 00:03:50,870 of Israel was that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 87 00:03:50,870 --> 00:03:53,230 That's what verse two says in Romans chapter three. 88 00:03:53,790 --> 00:03:56,350 Because the question was, is, well, what was the advantage of being 89 00:03:56,350 --> 00:03:56,990 a Jew, right? 90 00:03:56,990 --> 00:03:59,830 If they're not believing now, what's the advantage if a Gentile 91 00:03:59,830 --> 00:04:00,510 can be saved? 92 00:04:00,510 --> 00:04:01,430 What's the advantage? 93 00:04:01,430 --> 00:04:05,390 And Paul even says in verse 1 of Romans 3, what advantage then 94 00:04:05,390 --> 00:04:09,070 hath the Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision? 95 00:04:09,460 --> 00:04:12,460 But every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the 96 00:04:12,460 --> 00:04:13,300 oracles of God. 97 00:04:13,300 --> 00:04:15,940 So again, we're trying to read the book of Romans in context. 98 00:04:15,940 --> 00:04:19,540 We don't want to see Romans 9 as its own thing out here teaching 99 00:04:19,540 --> 00:04:21,940 something outside of what Paul is trying to explain. 100 00:04:22,180 --> 00:04:24,860 So Paul has been saying since the very beginning that the Gospel 101 00:04:24,860 --> 00:04:27,380 is for the Jew and for the Greek, for the Gentile. 102 00:04:27,620 --> 00:04:29,620 So essentially the Gospel is for all. 103 00:04:30,340 --> 00:04:31,900 And then the other question would be this. 104 00:04:31,900 --> 00:04:34,500 Well, then, what was the benefit of being a Jew? 105 00:04:34,500 --> 00:04:36,820 What was the benefit of being from the people of Israel? 106 00:04:36,820 --> 00:04:39,330 He says they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 107 00:04:39,330 --> 00:04:43,610 And then he reiterates that in Romans 9, 4 and 5, he says that there 108 00:04:43,610 --> 00:04:47,370 were these great blessings of God giving them that opportunity 109 00:04:47,370 --> 00:04:48,930 to bring forth the word of God. 110 00:04:49,010 --> 00:04:52,090 And so you have to understand their confusion, because as Paul 111 00:04:52,090 --> 00:04:55,410 is writing this letter to the church at Rome, there's going to 112 00:04:55,410 --> 00:04:58,090 be people in Rome that are Gentile believers that are reading 113 00:04:58,090 --> 00:04:59,650 this and understanding the Gospel. 114 00:04:59,890 --> 00:05:02,050 And remember, he's laid out for them the. 115 00:05:02,050 --> 00:05:02,690 The gospel. 116 00:05:02,690 --> 00:05:04,930 He's laid out for them the truth of salvation. 117 00:05:04,930 --> 00:05:05,200 He. 118 00:05:05,270 --> 00:05:07,510 He's laid out for them that they're all guilty in their sin. 119 00:05:07,510 --> 00:05:10,510 He's laid out for them how to be saved, what it means to be saved, 120 00:05:10,510 --> 00:05:12,630 and what it means to walk in that newness of life. 121 00:05:12,870 --> 00:05:15,990 But then you have to understand too that there were Jewish 122 00:05:15,990 --> 00:05:18,630 believers there in Rome, and they're confused because they're 123 00:05:18,630 --> 00:05:20,310 like, now the Gentiles are pulled in. 124 00:05:20,470 --> 00:05:21,589 What does it mean for us? 125 00:05:22,070 --> 00:05:23,350 Did God fail us? 126 00:05:23,510 --> 00:05:25,790 And then the question would even ripple into the Gentiles. 127 00:05:25,790 --> 00:05:27,990 Well, if God failed Israel, did he fail? 128 00:05:28,070 --> 00:05:29,110 Will he fail us? 129 00:05:29,670 --> 00:05:32,950 And so at this point, most Jewish people had rejected Jesus. 130 00:05:32,950 --> 00:05:35,030 We can see that back in the book of John. 131 00:05:35,030 --> 00:05:36,870 I want you to see John chapter one. 132 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,560 I'm going to try to use as many cross references as I can so 133 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:42,680 that you can see what we're talking about here. 134 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:49,320 And Romans 9 is such a complex chapter in Scripture because if taken 135 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,920 in a certain interpretation, it can teach to some people. 136 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:58,760 And some people interpret it to be that God selected a certain 137 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:00,360 amount of people that he loves. 138 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:04,560 And then he also at the 12, say this, he came unto his own. 139 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:05,680 This is talking about Jesus. 140 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:07,160 And his own received him not. 141 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:09,440 So his own people turned their backs on Him. 142 00:06:09,440 --> 00:06:11,200 They did not receive him, they did not believe. 143 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:14,760 Now, sometimes people have a hard time with understanding, well, 144 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:15,920 you don't receive Jesus. 145 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:18,320 Jesus just forces himself upon you. 146 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,480 That's one concept that we see many people teaching in Romans chapter 147 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:21,760 nine. 148 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,360 Well, we see right here in John chapter one that there are some 149 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:25,280 who don't receive. 150 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,040 His own people don't receive. 151 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:29,400 But then in verse 12, we see that some do receive. 152 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:32,170 He, he says, but as many as received Him. 153 00:06:33,290 --> 00:06:36,170 And then to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, 154 00:06:36,170 --> 00:06:38,050 even to them that believe on his name. 155 00:06:38,050 --> 00:06:41,410 So the way that we receive him is by believing on his name. 156 00:06:41,410 --> 00:06:43,690 That's what the Bible tells us there in John chapter one. 157 00:06:44,170 --> 00:06:47,010 So many people have rejected Jesus at this point in time. 158 00:06:47,010 --> 00:06:49,170 And when I say this point in time, I don't mean today. 159 00:06:49,170 --> 00:06:52,330 Even though we know that many people reject Jesus Today, but we're 160 00:06:52,330 --> 00:06:54,490 talking about in the context of the book of Romans. 161 00:06:54,490 --> 00:06:56,210 Many people have rejected Jesus. 162 00:06:56,210 --> 00:07:00,530 And so what Paul is trying to explain and what he's trying to delineate 163 00:07:00,530 --> 00:07:02,770 is that has God's plan failed? 164 00:07:02,770 --> 00:07:03,570 No, he has not. 165 00:07:03,570 --> 00:07:04,890 Is God's word still good? 166 00:07:04,890 --> 00:07:05,770 Yes, it still is. 167 00:07:05,770 --> 00:07:09,210 And so he's explaining his heart for the people that have rejected. 168 00:07:09,370 --> 00:07:12,530 And we even saw in verses 1, 2, and 3, he says, My heart is for 169 00:07:12,530 --> 00:07:13,010 my people. 170 00:07:13,010 --> 00:07:16,370 My heart is heavy, My heart is full of sorrow because many people 171 00:07:16,370 --> 00:07:17,130 have rejected. 172 00:07:17,130 --> 00:07:20,170 And if you remember, he's willing to say, I will give up my 173 00:07:20,170 --> 00:07:22,650 salvation so that my people will be saved. 174 00:07:23,290 --> 00:07:24,610 And so what is he saying here? 175 00:07:24,610 --> 00:07:27,820 He says in verse 6, this is his main thought here, verse 6. 176 00:07:27,820 --> 00:07:31,300 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, meaning this 177 00:07:31,460 --> 00:07:33,540 God's word has not failed. 178 00:07:33,540 --> 00:07:36,260 And I think that's a good reminder for us in any case, because 179 00:07:36,260 --> 00:07:40,340 there's going to be times in our life that we are tempted to question 180 00:07:40,740 --> 00:07:41,140 God. 181 00:07:41,140 --> 00:07:44,100 And I, I think that it's important to note that we can ask 182 00:07:44,100 --> 00:07:44,860 God questions. 183 00:07:44,860 --> 00:07:47,100 It's completely biblical to ask God questions. 184 00:07:47,100 --> 00:07:48,820 We see that throughout the Bible. 185 00:07:48,980 --> 00:07:51,500 And so it's one thing to ask God questions, it's another thing 186 00:07:51,500 --> 00:07:52,300 to question God. 187 00:07:52,300 --> 00:07:55,440 And I hope we understand the difference of those two things because 188 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,920 sometimes in our life there, there are things that we don't understand. 189 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:00,600 There, there are things that don't make sense, there's things 190 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:01,440 that don't add up. 191 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:03,520 And we might ask God, lord, why? 192 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:05,320 What, what are you doing through this? 193 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,120 And he may give us an answer or he might not give us an answer. 194 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:11,960 We see examples of both in the Scriptures, but we also know that 195 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:15,200 it is wrong to question the character of God or, or question 196 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:18,800 the efficacy of God or his power or his holiness. 197 00:08:18,930 --> 00:08:22,280 And, and so what Paul is saying here is, no, God's word has 198 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:23,400 not failed. 199 00:08:23,720 --> 00:08:26,160 And I think that for some of us today, the message that we could 200 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:27,080 take with us is this. 201 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:31,160 Whether or not you are feeling good in your life, physically, emotionally, 202 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:34,360 spiritually, whether or not you look around and see things playing 203 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,360 out the way that we expect them to play out, the reminder for 204 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,840 us is that God's word has not failed. 205 00:08:39,840 --> 00:08:42,120 It's not failing right now, and it never will fail. 206 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:46,850 The Bible says that the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but 207 00:08:46,850 --> 00:08:48,650 the word of God stands forever. 208 00:08:48,650 --> 00:08:49,570 It stands true. 209 00:08:49,570 --> 00:08:53,330 And so in times in which we don't feel that we understand or 210 00:08:53,330 --> 00:08:57,010 in times that we're in doubt, the problem is not The Lord, the 211 00:08:57,010 --> 00:08:59,050 problem is us and it's the problem of faith. 212 00:08:59,130 --> 00:09:01,530 It's maybe a problem of wisdom or discernment. 213 00:09:01,610 --> 00:09:03,970 And so what Paul is saying here is that even though they might 214 00:09:03,970 --> 00:09:08,250 be confused about why many of God's own people at that point in 215 00:09:08,250 --> 00:09:12,090 time have turned their backs against him, against Jesus, he says, 216 00:09:12,090 --> 00:09:14,490 hey, it's not that God's word has failed. 217 00:09:14,820 --> 00:09:15,060 Why? 218 00:09:15,140 --> 00:09:18,540 For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. 219 00:09:18,540 --> 00:09:20,820 And he's going to describe that and explain that here. 220 00:09:20,820 --> 00:09:24,420 And so the word of God is just as powerful as it's ever been. 221 00:09:24,740 --> 00:09:28,860 And he says the, the plan of God is just as powerful as it ever 222 00:09:28,860 --> 00:09:29,540 has been. 223 00:09:29,540 --> 00:09:30,819 It's not that God has failed. 224 00:09:30,819 --> 00:09:32,060 It's not that God is surprised. 225 00:09:32,060 --> 00:09:34,300 It's not that God didn't know that this was coming. 226 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:39,980 He understands this and he is using other people's bad decisions 227 00:09:39,980 --> 00:09:40,820 for his good. 228 00:09:41,410 --> 00:09:43,930 And we're going to talk a lot about this word sovereignty. 229 00:09:43,930 --> 00:09:46,010 And you hear the word sovereignty thrown around a lot in 230 00:09:46,010 --> 00:09:46,850 Christian circles. 231 00:09:46,930 --> 00:09:51,330 And I want you to understand God's power is so powerful that it's 232 00:09:51,330 --> 00:09:53,330 not that he forces us to do everything. 233 00:09:53,330 --> 00:09:57,810 A lot of people take that God is deterministic and meaning everybody 234 00:09:57,810 --> 00:10:01,730 that's doing anything, whether it be good or bad, is ordained by 235 00:10:01,730 --> 00:10:02,090 God. 236 00:10:02,090 --> 00:10:04,850 So that would mean that God would actually be ordaining sin. 237 00:10:05,010 --> 00:10:08,370 I don't believe that that's a good explanation of biblical sovereignty. 238 00:10:08,810 --> 00:10:13,450 Biblical sovereignty or all powerful nature is that God can do 239 00:10:13,450 --> 00:10:15,690 anything through our bad decisions. 240 00:10:16,330 --> 00:10:19,210 For example, God gives us a choice to do good or bad. 241 00:10:19,290 --> 00:10:22,370 And even if we do bad, God will still work his plan out for 242 00:10:22,370 --> 00:10:22,650 good. 243 00:10:23,050 --> 00:10:24,410 We saw that in Romans chapter 8. 244 00:10:24,410 --> 00:10:27,330 There's a reminder that no matter what we do, God is still working 245 00:10:27,330 --> 00:10:28,490 out his plan in this world. 246 00:10:28,490 --> 00:10:33,210 So we can't limit God, we can't stop God, we can't thwart the 247 00:10:33,210 --> 00:10:35,890 plans of God with our bad decisions. 248 00:10:35,890 --> 00:10:36,730 And that's a good thing. 249 00:10:36,730 --> 00:10:39,890 That actually shows that God is completely sovereign because he 250 00:10:39,890 --> 00:10:42,810 can make decisions and he can do things even when we're making 251 00:10:42,810 --> 00:10:43,410 bad decisions. 252 00:10:43,410 --> 00:10:46,370 So, so for me, if my kids are doing everything right, hey, I look 253 00:10:46,370 --> 00:10:47,210 like a good dad. 254 00:10:48,410 --> 00:10:49,930 What happens when my kids do bad things? 255 00:10:49,930 --> 00:10:50,650 That throws me off. 256 00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:52,890 And sometimes I'm having a good day because my kids are good. 257 00:10:52,890 --> 00:10:55,130 And sometimes I'm having a real bad day as a parent because 258 00:10:55,130 --> 00:10:56,170 my kids are being bad. 259 00:10:56,170 --> 00:11:00,410 And the idea is, is that I'm limited to some degree with how I 260 00:11:00,410 --> 00:11:03,170 am leading my family in the fact that my children might make 261 00:11:03,170 --> 00:11:05,370 the bad decisions, and I'm limited in that. 262 00:11:05,540 --> 00:11:08,700 But even when God's children make bad decisions, he's still above 263 00:11:08,700 --> 00:11:11,980 and beyond capable and all powerful to work out his plan. 264 00:11:11,980 --> 00:11:12,900 And so that's what he's saying there. 265 00:11:12,900 --> 00:11:17,300 And he says some people that claim to be the people of God are, 266 00:11:17,300 --> 00:11:18,660 are not the people of God. 267 00:11:19,540 --> 00:11:21,940 And so he's essentially saying it's a small group who believe. 268 00:11:21,940 --> 00:11:23,260 And it's always been a subset. 269 00:11:23,260 --> 00:11:24,420 It's always been a small group. 270 00:11:25,060 --> 00:11:26,980 It's never been the majority that believe. 271 00:11:26,980 --> 00:11:29,460 And so he's going to explain here, and I think this is a point 272 00:11:29,460 --> 00:11:32,220 that we all have to understand in the context of what we're reading 273 00:11:32,220 --> 00:11:33,380 here in Romans chapter 9. 274 00:11:33,830 --> 00:11:34,710 The first point is this. 275 00:11:34,710 --> 00:11:37,430 You don't have to have special status. 276 00:11:37,430 --> 00:11:41,310 You don't have special status due to physical birth at this point 277 00:11:41,310 --> 00:11:41,630 in time. 278 00:11:41,630 --> 00:11:43,430 He's saying according to salvation. 279 00:11:43,830 --> 00:11:45,910 And he mentioned that back in Romans Chapter one. 280 00:11:45,910 --> 00:11:49,310 It's not about being born as a person in Israel. 281 00:11:49,310 --> 00:11:50,830 It's not about being born in America. 282 00:11:50,830 --> 00:11:52,710 It's not about being born into a rich family. 283 00:11:52,710 --> 00:11:56,230 It's not about being born into a family of status. 284 00:11:56,230 --> 00:11:58,110 He says here it's all about faith. 285 00:11:58,110 --> 00:12:01,680 And he says, so some people that claim to be those people are 286 00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:02,440 not those people. 287 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,720 And, and so he's going to use Abraham as an example for that. 288 00:12:05,880 --> 00:12:08,840 And, and again, I think that one of the problems that we see in 289 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,280 Romans Chapter nine is that people, some interpret. 290 00:12:12,280 --> 00:12:17,120 Romans Chapter nine is only solely talking about individual effectual 291 00:12:17,120 --> 00:12:17,720 salvation. 292 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:20,120 And I, I don't want to lose you guys here this morning. 293 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,920 Romans 9 in and of itself is very difficult because it talks a 294 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:23,720 lot about theology. 295 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:27,440 It talks a lot about hypothetical situations. 296 00:12:27,440 --> 00:12:29,800 And he says, okay, if this, then this be the case. 297 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:32,490 And, and then he's going to talk a lot about Old Testament stuff. 298 00:12:32,890 --> 00:12:35,610 Now I will say it's not just me, but even Peter. 299 00:12:35,610 --> 00:12:38,130 In second, Peter says that Paul's writings are difficult to 300 00:12:38,130 --> 00:12:38,490 understand. 301 00:12:39,210 --> 00:12:42,090 Okay, so, so we're not talking bad about Paul by saying his stuff 302 00:12:42,090 --> 00:12:43,850 is difficult because even Peter said that. 303 00:12:44,090 --> 00:12:47,170 And so even though it's difficult sometimes it's important 304 00:12:47,170 --> 00:12:48,050 and needed. 305 00:12:48,050 --> 00:12:50,410 Some things in life that are difficult are important to understand. 306 00:12:50,890 --> 00:12:51,890 So what does he say here? 307 00:12:51,890 --> 00:12:55,890 He says, okay, verse seven, neither because they are the seed 308 00:12:55,890 --> 00:12:59,830 of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy 309 00:12:59,830 --> 00:13:00,470 seed be called. 310 00:13:00,470 --> 00:13:02,670 So you might say, what on earth is he talking about? 311 00:13:02,830 --> 00:13:06,550 To understand Romans 9, you have to know about the lineage in 312 00:13:06,550 --> 00:13:07,430 the Old Testament. 313 00:13:07,430 --> 00:13:09,470 If you don't know the lineage in the Old Testament, you're going 314 00:13:09,470 --> 00:13:10,110 to see names here. 315 00:13:10,110 --> 00:13:11,670 You're going to say, what does that even mean? 316 00:13:11,670 --> 00:13:13,590 So I'm going to try to do my best to walk us through this. 317 00:13:13,590 --> 00:13:18,670 He says basically not all of Abraham's lineage is true Israel. 318 00:13:19,550 --> 00:13:20,510 That's what he's saying here. 319 00:13:20,510 --> 00:13:22,750 You say, well, I thought that it's the line of Abraham. 320 00:13:22,750 --> 00:13:24,390 Well, it's one line of Abraham. 321 00:13:24,390 --> 00:13:27,610 But did you guys know that Abraham, did he only have one son, 322 00:13:27,610 --> 00:13:27,970 Isaac? 323 00:13:27,970 --> 00:13:28,930 No, he had more sons. 324 00:13:28,930 --> 00:13:29,690 He actually had. 325 00:13:29,690 --> 00:13:31,530 He actually, a lot of people would say two. 326 00:13:31,530 --> 00:13:32,890 And that's partially right. 327 00:13:32,890 --> 00:13:33,690 He had Ishmael. 328 00:13:33,690 --> 00:13:37,290 But if you know this later on in his life, he actually had all 329 00:13:37,290 --> 00:13:38,490 together eight sons. 330 00:13:39,450 --> 00:13:43,650 Not all of eight sons were used to pass along the oracles of 331 00:13:43,650 --> 00:13:43,930 God. 332 00:13:43,930 --> 00:13:44,930 It was, what does it say here? 333 00:13:44,930 --> 00:13:46,650 It was only through Isaac. 334 00:13:47,450 --> 00:13:51,050 So it was the line that was through Isaac, which the Bible tells 335 00:13:51,050 --> 00:13:52,930 us that Isaac was the child of promise. 336 00:13:52,930 --> 00:13:54,890 He was the child of faith, not the child of flesh. 337 00:13:55,410 --> 00:13:56,930 Ishmael was the child of flesh. 338 00:13:57,730 --> 00:14:01,570 So it was God's ordination, it was God's election. 339 00:14:01,730 --> 00:14:07,010 It was God's plan that the oracles of his word would be passed 340 00:14:07,010 --> 00:14:10,250 not through all of Abraham's lineage, but through the lineage 341 00:14:10,250 --> 00:14:11,010 of Isaac. 342 00:14:11,970 --> 00:14:13,850 Now what does that mean for us today? 343 00:14:13,850 --> 00:14:18,410 That means that God does use certain individuals for certain purposes. 344 00:14:18,410 --> 00:14:20,770 And it's not that he hates other people, which we're going to 345 00:14:20,770 --> 00:14:22,370 talk a little bit more about that as it goes along. 346 00:14:22,780 --> 00:14:24,300 Not that they don't have a chance to believe. 347 00:14:24,460 --> 00:14:27,300 But what we're seeing here is that he says it was through Isaac 348 00:14:27,300 --> 00:14:29,380 that God's plan would come to pass. 349 00:14:29,380 --> 00:14:32,100 And so the promise came not through Ishmael, not through the 350 00:14:32,100 --> 00:14:34,140 other sons, but it came through Isaac. 351 00:14:34,140 --> 00:14:37,340 And so the promise of God came through Isaac, the child of promise. 352 00:14:37,980 --> 00:14:41,740 And so nobody gets a special blessing just because of lineage. 353 00:14:41,740 --> 00:14:42,460 We know that. 354 00:14:42,460 --> 00:14:43,060 We know that. 355 00:14:43,060 --> 00:14:47,020 It's not just like, so, for example, it's not saying this. 356 00:14:47,340 --> 00:14:50,660 Well, all of us are from Abraham, so all of us get this blessing. 357 00:14:50,660 --> 00:14:53,440 He says, no, it's just the line of, of, of Isaac. 358 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,160 I want you to see a reference in the book of John that, or, excuse 359 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,760 me, the book of Luke that talks about this, Luke 3, 8. 360 00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:04,600 Actually, what was happening here is that John the Baptist was 361 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:07,360 condemning some individuals that said, hey, I'm in the bloodline 362 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:11,040 of Abraham, so I'm okay, I don't need to believe, I don't need 363 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:11,880 to have faith. 364 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:16,000 I, I, I, I am part of Abraham's lineage. 365 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,530 And, and so what John is going to tell them is that, hey, look, 366 00:15:19,530 --> 00:15:22,050 it's not just about being the bloodline of Abraham. 367 00:15:22,050 --> 00:15:23,210 It's about, it's about faith. 368 00:15:23,210 --> 00:15:24,050 It's about belief. 369 00:15:24,210 --> 00:15:28,970 And so in, in Luke chapter three, we'll go up to verse number 370 00:15:28,970 --> 00:15:31,490 seven because I think this is important for us to see. 371 00:15:32,130 --> 00:15:36,010 It says, then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized 372 00:15:36,010 --> 00:15:39,210 of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee 373 00:15:39,210 --> 00:15:40,370 from the wrath to come. 374 00:15:41,090 --> 00:15:43,730 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance. 375 00:15:43,730 --> 00:15:46,210 So he says, don't just come and go through the motions. 376 00:15:46,290 --> 00:15:49,920 You have to come with repentance and begin not to say within 377 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:53,040 yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father. 378 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:57,000 So a lot of people were just saying, well, I'm from the bloodline 379 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,520 of Abraham, so I'm okay, I don't need to be repentant. 380 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:01,480 So we have Abraham, our father. 381 00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,720 For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up 382 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:08,400 children unto Abraham, meaning God doesn't need you. 383 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:09,520 God. 384 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:12,440 God is allowing you to be part of his plan if you're willing. 385 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:14,520 But God doesn't need you because he can raise up these stones 386 00:16:14,520 --> 00:16:15,280 to be his children. 387 00:16:15,990 --> 00:16:19,510 And so what the Bible is teaching against here is that people 388 00:16:19,510 --> 00:16:23,110 having this type of what we would consider entitlement, saying, 389 00:16:23,110 --> 00:16:27,430 I don't need to come to God his way because I'm part of the bloodline. 390 00:16:27,510 --> 00:16:29,830 And so that's what Romans chapter nine is talking about. 391 00:16:29,910 --> 00:16:33,510 Not all the people that are from Abraham are chosen to do the 392 00:16:33,510 --> 00:16:36,630 work of the promise of God, the oracles of God. 393 00:16:37,030 --> 00:16:38,590 And so he speaks more to this. 394 00:16:38,590 --> 00:16:42,070 And so essentially what we would say is that Isaac was elected 395 00:16:42,300 --> 00:16:44,170 to, to have the promise pass through him. 396 00:16:44,170 --> 00:16:46,770 So you hear a lot of, in the Bible the word election. 397 00:16:47,570 --> 00:16:50,930 And some people are afraid of that word election because election 398 00:16:51,170 --> 00:16:53,890 sounds like to many people that God sits up there arbitrarily 399 00:16:53,890 --> 00:16:57,170 and points to one person and says he's going to be saved, but 400 00:16:57,170 --> 00:16:58,369 he's not going to be saved. 401 00:16:58,369 --> 00:17:01,330 And I'm going to force this person not to be saved because of 402 00:17:01,490 --> 00:17:02,210 my glory. 403 00:17:02,370 --> 00:17:05,090 Well, that's one interpretation of that word election. 404 00:17:05,250 --> 00:17:07,970 But I want you to think about the word election in the concept 405 00:17:07,970 --> 00:17:11,940 of selection, like being selected for a purpose, right? 406 00:17:11,940 --> 00:17:13,220 That's what we do with our, our. 407 00:17:13,620 --> 00:17:16,020 Whether you agree with who's elected or not in politics. 408 00:17:16,020 --> 00:17:17,620 That's what we do with politicians, right? 409 00:17:17,780 --> 00:17:19,380 We, we elect them, we. 410 00:17:19,380 --> 00:17:21,780 We choose them, not just to sit. 411 00:17:21,780 --> 00:17:25,259 Now sometimes one would argue that people don't do the job that 412 00:17:25,259 --> 00:17:26,020 we're electing them for. 413 00:17:26,020 --> 00:17:27,740 But that's for a different day and a different time. 414 00:17:27,740 --> 00:17:33,060 Okay, but in, in theory, right, we elect somebody for a job 415 00:17:33,220 --> 00:17:36,060 to work and have a specific purpose for that job. 416 00:17:36,060 --> 00:17:39,430 So whatever their role is, that's what I believe election is 417 00:17:39,430 --> 00:17:42,430 in Scripture, that when we come to Christ, we are part of election 418 00:17:42,430 --> 00:17:44,830 and we are elected for a specific purpose. 419 00:17:44,830 --> 00:17:49,590 And so in this case, Isaac was elected to pass on the promise of 420 00:17:49,590 --> 00:17:49,950 God. 421 00:17:50,030 --> 00:17:51,030 So think about it this way. 422 00:17:51,030 --> 00:17:53,390 Elected, selected for a special service. 423 00:17:54,670 --> 00:17:57,510 And we even know that it's unique because he's not even the 424 00:17:57,510 --> 00:17:57,830 oldest. 425 00:17:57,830 --> 00:18:00,110 He's not the one that's expected Ishmael would be expected. 426 00:18:00,190 --> 00:18:03,950 Later on we're going to see that Jacob was elected over Esau, 427 00:18:03,950 --> 00:18:07,140 which it's amazing to see that God doesn't need to use the ones 428 00:18:07,140 --> 00:18:08,740 that we consider to be the strongest. 429 00:18:08,740 --> 00:18:12,580 God can use anybody, and he has the prerogative to do so, to 430 00:18:12,580 --> 00:18:13,860 use for specific things. 431 00:18:13,860 --> 00:18:17,660 And so certain people are elected for certain aspects of service. 432 00:18:18,540 --> 00:18:20,140 So, so we go a little bit further here. 433 00:18:20,540 --> 00:18:25,020 And so, so verse seven says, not everyone that comes from Abraham 434 00:18:25,420 --> 00:18:26,540 passed along the promise. 435 00:18:26,540 --> 00:18:29,980 It was only through Isaac, that is they which are the children 436 00:18:29,980 --> 00:18:30,780 of the flesh. 437 00:18:30,930 --> 00:18:32,520 And these are not the children of God. 438 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:34,920 So there are individuals who were walking in the flesh. 439 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,000 They were individuals who were not in faith. 440 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:39,840 And he says here, they were not elected by God to do the work, 441 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:42,360 but the children of promise are counted for the seed. 442 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:44,440 For this is the word of promise. 443 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,840 At this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. 444 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,960 So he says, that was the word of promise, and the fulfillment of 445 00:18:49,960 --> 00:18:51,360 that was the election of Isaac. 446 00:18:51,360 --> 00:18:54,440 Then we go further, and not only this, but when a Rebecca. 447 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:55,280 Now who's Rebecca? 448 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:57,520 Rebecca was the wife of Isaac. 449 00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,800 And so Isaac and Rebecca have children. 450 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:00,640 There's two children. 451 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,640 And you guys are aware of that story, hopefully Esau and Jacob. 452 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:04,080 And. 453 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,200 And we're going to see here that even Isaac's wife Rebecca is 454 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,080 filled into the purpose of passing along the seed and the election. 455 00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:11,960 God's choice. 456 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:16,240 And so it isn't a matter of your lineage, right? 457 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,320 God has the prerogative to use anybody in anything. 458 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:20,800 And then we see point number two. 459 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:22,440 It isn't a matter of works, verse 11. 460 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:28,540 For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good 461 00:19:28,540 --> 00:19:32,540 or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand 462 00:19:32,620 --> 00:19:34,860 not of works, but of him that calleth. 463 00:19:35,580 --> 00:19:37,980 So, so we see that it's not a matter of your lineage. 464 00:19:38,140 --> 00:19:39,420 God can use anybody. 465 00:19:39,660 --> 00:19:41,340 He chose to use certain people. 466 00:19:41,900 --> 00:19:46,060 He chose to use Isaac, he chose to use Jacob, he chose to use 467 00:19:46,300 --> 00:19:47,500 the people of Israel. 468 00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:50,820 But then we see here that it's not about your lineage and it's not 469 00:19:50,820 --> 00:19:51,740 about your works. 470 00:19:52,030 --> 00:19:54,630 Sometimes people think that, well, God's going to use me because 471 00:19:54,630 --> 00:19:55,390 I'm a good person. 472 00:19:55,390 --> 00:19:56,910 I have a lot to bring to the table. 473 00:19:57,070 --> 00:19:59,270 And then we have someone else that might say, you know what? 474 00:19:59,270 --> 00:20:00,390 I don't have any talents. 475 00:20:00,390 --> 00:20:02,150 I don't, I don't have any giftings. 476 00:20:02,150 --> 00:20:04,110 Even though if you're a believer, you do have giftings. 477 00:20:04,110 --> 00:20:06,990 But sometimes the perception is, is that person is not the one 478 00:20:06,990 --> 00:20:08,030 that we would select. 479 00:20:08,190 --> 00:20:09,710 We would definitely select this one. 480 00:20:09,710 --> 00:20:11,950 Isn't that kind of how God always works in Scripture? 481 00:20:12,270 --> 00:20:15,830 We see that with, with Isaac, we see that with Jacob, we see that 482 00:20:15,830 --> 00:20:16,750 even with David, right? 483 00:20:16,750 --> 00:20:20,480 Remember, David was, was selected as king and he was like 484 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:21,240 the afterthought. 485 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,000 He was out in the fields and all the good brothers came forward 486 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,000 and they had him lined up. 487 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:26,600 And God says, no, I'm going to use David. 488 00:20:26,680 --> 00:20:30,560 I'm going to use the one that is considered not by many to be the 489 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,800 most powerful, not to be the wisest, not to be the oldest, but 490 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:35,880 the one that I have selected to do my work. 491 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:37,640 Again, let me be clear. 492 00:20:37,640 --> 00:20:40,720 I'm not personally talking about this being to effectual salvation. 493 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:44,840 I'm talking about God using us for specific purposes in service. 494 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,720 And so we look at a certain individual like Paul many times. 495 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,400 You think about Paul and you think about Paul being just this 496 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:56,480 great preacher, this, this amazing, powerful, loud voice, maybe 497 00:20:56,480 --> 00:20:58,040 even a strong physical body. 498 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,880 But if you actually read Paul's description of himself coming 499 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:03,800 to the church at Corinth, he actually talks about being weak in 500 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,360 the knees and, and stuttering in his speech and being nervous and 501 00:21:07,360 --> 00:21:10,920 cautious and, and not being as what we would consider to be this 502 00:21:11,230 --> 00:21:11,790 big orator. 503 00:21:12,030 --> 00:21:12,350 That. 504 00:21:12,350 --> 00:21:15,870 That's the idea that God uses individuals not according to their 505 00:21:15,870 --> 00:21:19,430 works, not according to their status, but according to his decision. 506 00:21:19,430 --> 00:21:22,190 And he equips us to do certain things in election. 507 00:21:22,350 --> 00:21:25,630 So verse number 11, for the children being not yet born. 508 00:21:25,790 --> 00:21:28,230 So obviously this is a decision that God makes before Jacob 509 00:21:28,230 --> 00:21:31,430 and Esau are born, neither having done any good or evil, that 510 00:21:31,430 --> 00:21:35,390 the purpose of God according to that election might stand again, 511 00:21:35,390 --> 00:21:37,630 not of works, but of him that calleth. 512 00:21:38,210 --> 00:21:40,130 And so Jacob the Younger was selected. 513 00:21:40,530 --> 00:21:45,250 He was chosen by God for a purpose, to pass along the oracles 514 00:21:45,250 --> 00:21:45,810 of God. 515 00:21:46,930 --> 00:21:50,810 So yes, God made a sovereign choice, but it wasn't on a matter 516 00:21:50,810 --> 00:21:51,370 of works. 517 00:21:51,370 --> 00:21:52,730 It wasn't on a Matter of status. 518 00:21:52,730 --> 00:21:54,049 It was on a matter of his decision. 519 00:21:54,770 --> 00:21:56,370 So the interpretation would be this. 520 00:21:56,850 --> 00:21:59,410 I know this is sometimes difficult, but we've got to talk 521 00:21:59,410 --> 00:22:02,890 through this because we have to make sure we understand what God 522 00:22:02,890 --> 00:22:03,650 is talking about here. 523 00:22:03,650 --> 00:22:07,290 So election, in my opinion, okay, I'm not saying that I'm the 524 00:22:07,290 --> 00:22:09,650 only person that has an opinion on this, and I'm not saying 525 00:22:09,890 --> 00:22:12,330 that I'm the foremost in this topic. 526 00:22:12,330 --> 00:22:15,170 But what I will say is this election, in my opinion, is not a 527 00:22:15,170 --> 00:22:19,250 reference to individual salvation, but an election or a special 528 00:22:19,330 --> 00:22:20,930 call to service in him. 529 00:22:20,930 --> 00:22:23,330 And so when Scripture is talking about election, it's talking 530 00:22:23,330 --> 00:22:24,210 about the corporate elect. 531 00:22:24,370 --> 00:22:27,410 Those that believe in Jesus are all called for a specific use 532 00:22:27,410 --> 00:22:29,290 in their life, a specific purpose. 533 00:22:29,290 --> 00:22:31,840 And that's what we even read in ephesians A, chapter 2. 534 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,520 If you go back, if you go back to Ephesians chapter two, this is 535 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:36,120 where we started our day today. 536 00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,840 And I want you to see this because remember who we were before 537 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:43,000 we were in Christ, who we were in our sin. 538 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,640 It says in verse one that we were dead in our trespasses. 539 00:22:45,640 --> 00:22:49,160 Now, there are some people that will use Ephesians chapter 2 540 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,240 and try to reconcile it with Romans chapter 9 and say, if we are 541 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:54,560 dead in our trespasses, there's no way that we can respond. 542 00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:55,880 A dead man doesn't respond. 543 00:22:56,770 --> 00:22:59,930 Like, you know, like if we had a funeral service here, there was 544 00:22:59,930 --> 00:23:02,370 someone that was in the casket and they just jumped up and started 545 00:23:02,370 --> 00:23:02,810 talking. 546 00:23:02,810 --> 00:23:03,250 That's. 547 00:23:03,330 --> 00:23:04,330 That's not typical, right? 548 00:23:04,330 --> 00:23:05,890 That, that would be a miraculous work. 549 00:23:06,050 --> 00:23:09,170 And so a dead man can't respond unless God brings life to 550 00:23:09,170 --> 00:23:09,490 them. 551 00:23:09,890 --> 00:23:13,770 But I will also argue here that in Ephesians chapter two, he's 552 00:23:13,770 --> 00:23:15,970 talking about being dead in our outcome, right? 553 00:23:15,970 --> 00:23:16,770 In our sin. 554 00:23:16,930 --> 00:23:18,850 Sin brings the death penalty. 555 00:23:18,850 --> 00:23:21,410 So in essence, someone, let's say, for example, someone's on death 556 00:23:21,410 --> 00:23:25,140 row, they're not necessarily dead yet, but what we would say is 557 00:23:25,140 --> 00:23:25,540 they're dead. 558 00:23:25,540 --> 00:23:27,500 Like the outcome of their life is death, right? 559 00:23:27,500 --> 00:23:28,860 We know that that's inevitable. 560 00:23:28,860 --> 00:23:32,140 And for all of us in sin, it's an inevitability of death. 561 00:23:32,220 --> 00:23:34,580 And then he says, this is how you were in your sin. 562 00:23:34,580 --> 00:23:37,100 And he talks about walking in the course of this world. 563 00:23:37,100 --> 00:23:40,100 He's talking about following the prince of the power of the air, 564 00:23:40,100 --> 00:23:41,340 the enemy, the. 565 00:23:41,340 --> 00:23:44,220 The work, walking in the spirit as a child of disobedience. 566 00:23:44,220 --> 00:23:46,780 And he talks about our conversation, our lifestyle, being 567 00:23:46,780 --> 00:23:49,880 full of lust of the flesh, desires of our flesh and our mind. 568 00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,840 He says all these things, and he says in verse four, but God, who 569 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:57,760 is rich in mercy, and he talks about God's love that, that he displayed 570 00:23:57,760 --> 00:23:59,440 for us and giving us Jesus Christ. 571 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:02,800 And he says, that is Jesus, when we trust in him, that brings 572 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:03,320 us to life. 573 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:06,600 And he says, Verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith, 574 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:08,000 and that not of yourselves. 575 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:08,960 It is the gift of God. 576 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:09,960 Of course, it's not of ourselves. 577 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:11,240 We didn't work our way to do it. 578 00:24:11,240 --> 00:24:15,080 We're receiving a gift, remember John 1:12, to receive those 579 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:17,950 that received him, not of works, lest any man should boast. 580 00:24:18,110 --> 00:24:20,630 So salvation is because God has given us a gift. 581 00:24:20,630 --> 00:24:23,310 And then when we trust in that gift, when we receive that gift, 582 00:24:23,310 --> 00:24:26,350 we are able to walk in newness of life and have that salvation. 583 00:24:26,350 --> 00:24:29,430 Then he says, that's not the end though, because sometimes people 584 00:24:29,430 --> 00:24:31,870 think, well, it's, it's, I'm saved, I'm good, I'm done. 585 00:24:31,870 --> 00:24:32,990 That's it, I'm over. 586 00:24:33,150 --> 00:24:34,070 I believed. 587 00:24:34,070 --> 00:24:36,350 Now I just wait until I go to heaven. 588 00:24:36,350 --> 00:24:40,190 But the Bible says, no, there's a purpose for our salvation. 589 00:24:40,270 --> 00:24:44,000 And he says in verse 10, and for we are his workmanship. 590 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,200 And so what it is is that God has worked in us and he's got a plan 591 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:47,520 for us. 592 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,160 And he says, we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. 593 00:24:51,320 --> 00:24:54,440 So the works don't save us, but we are saved to work. 594 00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,440 And then he says, which God hath before ordained, meaning God 595 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,800 at the beginning of time has ordained that we should walk in these 596 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:02,040 things. 597 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:03,560 And so we all have a purpose. 598 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,880 We all have that election to serve him at whatever capacity he 599 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:07,880 has called us to serve. 600 00:25:08,730 --> 00:25:11,610 So let's go back to Romans 9 with that being in mind. 601 00:25:11,850 --> 00:25:15,690 I believe that that election that we see in Romans chapter nine, 602 00:25:15,690 --> 00:25:19,490 that's talked about especially in the sense of, of work and throughout 603 00:25:19,490 --> 00:25:22,650 all the New Testament, election is specifically a corporate 604 00:25:22,650 --> 00:25:24,409 election, not an individual election. 605 00:25:24,650 --> 00:25:28,170 And so the election is a special call to service, not an individual 606 00:25:28,330 --> 00:25:28,930 salvation. 607 00:25:28,930 --> 00:25:31,250 That's, that's the interpretation that we're taking 608 00:25:31,250 --> 00:25:32,410 in Romans chapter nine. 609 00:25:32,410 --> 00:25:33,650 At least that's what, what I'm taking. 610 00:25:33,650 --> 00:25:36,190 So what we can see here as we go a little bit further, verse 12, 611 00:25:36,190 --> 00:25:39,070 it says, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. 612 00:25:39,070 --> 00:25:42,390 And we know that that was talking about Esau serving Jacob. 613 00:25:42,390 --> 00:25:45,470 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 614 00:25:45,710 --> 00:25:49,510 Now this is another verse that's highly contested, and this 615 00:25:49,510 --> 00:25:52,590 is one that I believe is, is highly misinterpreted when it comes 616 00:25:52,590 --> 00:25:55,230 to this idea of God hating Esau. 617 00:25:55,470 --> 00:26:00,110 Because what some people take in this verse is that God loves some 618 00:26:00,110 --> 00:26:02,910 that he calls an election, and only those can be saved. 619 00:26:02,910 --> 00:26:04,670 And there's no way that you can get around that. 620 00:26:04,910 --> 00:26:07,190 And on the other side of things, God, from the beginning of 621 00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:11,390 time, before you were born, hated some and gave hope to them 622 00:26:11,390 --> 00:26:12,670 in no way to be saved. 623 00:26:12,990 --> 00:26:15,150 And so what's he talking about here? 624 00:26:16,110 --> 00:26:19,190 What is he talking about when he talks about Jacob have I loved, 625 00:26:19,190 --> 00:26:20,470 but Esau have I hated? 626 00:26:20,470 --> 00:26:23,750 Well, there's a lot of argument on this, but God does have 627 00:26:23,750 --> 00:26:26,910 the prerogative or sovereignty to use anyone for his special service. 628 00:26:27,070 --> 00:26:28,550 We know that he can use a Jew. 629 00:26:28,550 --> 00:26:30,150 We know that he can use a Gentile. 630 00:26:30,150 --> 00:26:33,710 We know that he can use someone of wealth, of someone of 631 00:26:34,030 --> 00:26:34,750 poverty. 632 00:26:34,750 --> 00:26:37,750 And so we know that it was God's choice to use the nation of 633 00:26:37,750 --> 00:26:41,550 Israel, and so he preferred Jacob over Esau. 634 00:26:41,630 --> 00:26:46,030 And we know that today God is choices to build the church and build 635 00:26:46,030 --> 00:26:47,470 his kingdom through the church. 636 00:26:47,550 --> 00:26:50,550 And so how does God curate the Gospel message is what we're talking 637 00:26:50,550 --> 00:26:51,070 about here. 638 00:26:51,070 --> 00:26:52,430 That's what we're really talking about. 639 00:26:52,430 --> 00:26:56,710 How does God deliver the gospel message in this world today? 640 00:26:56,710 --> 00:26:59,870 Well, in the Old Testament and, and leading up there to the 641 00:26:59,870 --> 00:27:02,350 book of Romans, it was essentially through the nation of 642 00:27:02,350 --> 00:27:02,750 Israel. 643 00:27:02,750 --> 00:27:06,530 Now, we know that God has opened the door to the church, and 644 00:27:06,530 --> 00:27:10,650 we know that the church today has the responsibility to curate 645 00:27:10,650 --> 00:27:13,570 the Gospel message to the world, being the pillar and ground 646 00:27:13,570 --> 00:27:14,250 of truth. 647 00:27:14,410 --> 00:27:17,250 And so verse 12 tells us that the elder serves the younger. 648 00:27:17,250 --> 00:27:20,210 And then he says in verse 13, this Old Testament reference, this 649 00:27:20,210 --> 00:27:23,490 is actually a reference to a passage of Scripture in the book 650 00:27:23,490 --> 00:27:25,530 of Malachi, Malachi Chapter one. 651 00:27:25,930 --> 00:27:28,050 And he quotes Malachi chapter one. 652 00:27:28,050 --> 00:27:31,770 So if anytime Paul is quoting an Old Testament passage, it's important 653 00:27:31,770 --> 00:27:35,760 to go back to, to that Old Testament passage to understand the 654 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:36,320 context. 655 00:27:37,120 --> 00:27:40,320 Sometimes people think, well, Paul's quoting an Old Testament passage, 656 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:42,880 but he's not using in the same context as the Old Testament. 657 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:44,160 He's trying to get his own point across. 658 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,240 I, I think he's using it in context. 659 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,920 And so Malachi chapter one specifically talks about this very 660 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,760 thing, that God loves Esau and he hates Jacob. 661 00:27:53,840 --> 00:27:56,280 But in Malachi Chapter one, we're not going to have enough time 662 00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,320 to go through the whole book of Malachi here this morning. 663 00:27:58,590 --> 00:28:03,110 But what I will say is that in Malachi Chapter one, God is talking 664 00:28:03,110 --> 00:28:04,590 to them as nations. 665 00:28:05,470 --> 00:28:08,790 You have Israel, which, if you remember Jacob, right, Jacob's name 666 00:28:08,790 --> 00:28:11,470 got changed to what, Israel, right? 667 00:28:11,790 --> 00:28:17,350 And then we had Esau, Esau was the father of the were in rebellion. 668 00:28:17,350 --> 00:28:19,310 Israel was in favor with God. 669 00:28:19,470 --> 00:28:24,470 And so in Malachi, chapter one, God is speaking of his condemnation 670 00:28:24,470 --> 00:28:27,750 against Esau and by greater extent, the Edomites, who were in 671 00:28:27,750 --> 00:28:28,750 rebellion to God. 672 00:28:29,110 --> 00:28:33,110 And then he was saying that he loves Jacob, Jacob is favored. 673 00:28:33,110 --> 00:28:36,430 And anytime we see this idea of love, we're seeing that God, God's 674 00:28:36,430 --> 00:28:39,590 favor over another, God's favor over another. 675 00:28:39,590 --> 00:28:42,870 So in Malachi, chapter one, verse three, he's speaking about 676 00:28:43,430 --> 00:28:46,750 God loving Israel, God preparing Israel, God protecting 677 00:28:46,750 --> 00:28:47,270 Israel. 678 00:28:47,270 --> 00:28:50,070 So this is essentially what he's explaining here. 679 00:28:50,150 --> 00:28:55,030 God is telling Israel to find assurance in his election for them 680 00:28:55,030 --> 00:28:57,240 to bring forth the oracles of God. 681 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,400 Therefore, he's going to protect them, preserve them, and 682 00:28:59,400 --> 00:28:59,760 love them. 683 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:02,880 So his choice of them, he wanted them to understand that they 684 00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:06,360 were chosen and that they were favored above Esau and the Edomites. 685 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:06,520 Why? 686 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:08,360 Because, number one, the Edomites were evil. 687 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:11,959 But again, we know that even back further, that God chose Jacob 688 00:29:11,959 --> 00:29:15,160 over Esau for the oracles of God, for the message of God. 689 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:18,640 They saw that God chose to preserve Israel and punish the. 690 00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:24,440 So with that context, we see, going back to Romans chapter 9, that 691 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,120 God is essentially favoring Jacob over Esau. 692 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:32,920 And then we see this idea in verse 13, but Esau, have I hated 693 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:33,480 now? 694 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:35,760 Does God hate people? 695 00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:37,680 Does God hate those that are unsaved? 696 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:39,400 Well, there, that's a tough question. 697 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,840 But at the end of the day, yes, we know that God hates evil. 698 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:44,680 We know that God hates rebellion. 699 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:48,160 But in this case, the question would be, did Esau even have a choice 700 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:48,920 to be saved? 701 00:29:49,330 --> 00:29:51,570 I believe that everyone has a choice to be saved. 702 00:29:51,730 --> 00:29:54,850 And so I think that when we see this idea of love, hate, we're 703 00:29:54,850 --> 00:29:57,330 not talking about one is loved and one is saved. 704 00:29:57,330 --> 00:29:59,690 One is hateful, and therefore he is not saved. 705 00:29:59,690 --> 00:30:02,530 It's this idea of favoring one above the other. 706 00:30:02,530 --> 00:30:05,010 I want you to see an example of this in Luke chapter 14. 707 00:30:05,650 --> 00:30:10,290 Luke chapter 14 speaks of some aspects of love and hate. 708 00:30:10,610 --> 00:30:14,290 And I want you to see in this context what we're explaining, because 709 00:30:14,370 --> 00:30:16,890 I think that sometimes when we see that word hate, we take it in 710 00:30:16,890 --> 00:30:17,650 the idea of. 711 00:30:17,870 --> 00:30:20,830 Of hating, rejecting, hurting, being against. 712 00:30:21,070 --> 00:30:25,430 But In Luke chapter 14, we're actually told that the cost of discipleship 713 00:30:25,430 --> 00:30:27,070 is that we're supposed to hate our family. 714 00:30:28,190 --> 00:30:30,990 Now, that boggles our mind. 715 00:30:31,630 --> 00:30:33,630 And some of us understand the explanation there. 716 00:30:33,870 --> 00:30:34,230 So. 717 00:30:34,230 --> 00:30:37,670 So what God calls me to do as a disciple is to hate my family, 718 00:30:37,670 --> 00:30:38,710 but also love my family. 719 00:30:38,710 --> 00:30:39,390 You say what? 720 00:30:39,550 --> 00:30:41,390 Well, doesn't the Bible tell Me to love my. 721 00:30:41,390 --> 00:30:44,390 My children, to love my wife, to respect my parents, to honor my 722 00:30:44,390 --> 00:30:44,750 parents. 723 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,720 But then in the same vein, we see that the Bible says that we're 724 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:48,840 supposed to hate our family. 725 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:49,880 Well, that. 726 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:51,840 That doesn't make any sense in the literal sense. 727 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,720 But what we see in verse number 25 of Luke 14, and there went 728 00:30:55,720 --> 00:30:57,960 great multitudes with him, and turned and said unto him. 729 00:30:58,280 --> 00:30:59,720 And this is what he says to them. 730 00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:04,360 If any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and 731 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,360 his wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, his also 732 00:31:08,440 --> 00:31:08,760 life. 733 00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:09,040 His. 734 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:11,800 His life also, he cannot be my disciple. 735 00:31:13,110 --> 00:31:16,310 Now, again, let's understand what Jesus is trying to say there. 736 00:31:17,430 --> 00:31:21,670 Do we believe that Jesus is telling the disciple to hate his 737 00:31:21,670 --> 00:31:22,070 wife? 738 00:31:23,110 --> 00:31:25,910 Well, that would contradict what he says in other passages about 739 00:31:25,910 --> 00:31:26,950 us being one flesh. 740 00:31:27,270 --> 00:31:27,590 That. 741 00:31:27,590 --> 00:31:30,110 That would contradict other passages of scripture where Paul 742 00:31:30,110 --> 00:31:31,110 mentions that the. 743 00:31:31,190 --> 00:31:31,590 The. 744 00:31:31,750 --> 00:31:32,070 The. 745 00:31:32,070 --> 00:31:32,470 The man. 746 00:31:32,470 --> 00:31:34,910 The husband is supposed to love his wife as Christ loved the 747 00:31:34,910 --> 00:31:35,270 church. 748 00:31:36,230 --> 00:31:38,350 So, so how can we rectify that idea? 749 00:31:38,350 --> 00:31:38,790 How does. 750 00:31:38,790 --> 00:31:43,110 How can we reconcile the idea that Jesus tells us to hate our family, 751 00:31:43,110 --> 00:31:45,190 but then he also tells us to love our family? 752 00:31:45,270 --> 00:31:50,390 Well, again, I believe it's an explanation of preferring a relationship. 753 00:31:50,390 --> 00:31:53,630 So preferring our relationship with God, putting our relationship 754 00:31:53,630 --> 00:31:55,030 with God before the others. 755 00:31:55,110 --> 00:31:56,630 And so in comparison, it. 756 00:31:56,709 --> 00:31:57,790 It looks like hate. 757 00:31:57,790 --> 00:31:59,190 You've heard that before, right? 758 00:31:59,190 --> 00:32:04,830 My love for God, my devotion for God should seem so over and above 759 00:32:04,830 --> 00:32:07,950 and beyond that my love for other people should look like hate. 760 00:32:07,950 --> 00:32:10,020 So God is not telling me to hate my wife. 761 00:32:10,500 --> 00:32:11,140 Okay? 762 00:32:11,300 --> 00:32:16,700 Men don't read Luke chapter 14 and say, well, here's my excuse that 763 00:32:16,700 --> 00:32:18,460 I can hate my wife if I'm a disciple. 764 00:32:18,460 --> 00:32:20,260 I can hate my mom and dad. 765 00:32:20,260 --> 00:32:20,660 I can. 766 00:32:20,660 --> 00:32:21,740 I can hate my family. 767 00:32:21,740 --> 00:32:22,900 No, that's not what he's saying. 768 00:32:23,540 --> 00:32:23,860 He. 769 00:32:23,860 --> 00:32:28,900 He's saying here that we as Christians, we as disciples, should 770 00:32:29,220 --> 00:32:31,420 put our relationship with God first. 771 00:32:31,420 --> 00:32:35,390 Because if I put my relationship with my wife or my children 772 00:32:35,470 --> 00:32:39,430 or my parents or even myself before my relationship with God, 773 00:32:39,430 --> 00:32:40,590 I'm not in the right place. 774 00:32:40,590 --> 00:32:42,670 And so it's a matter of comparison. 775 00:32:43,230 --> 00:32:45,870 And so in the same case, I believe that that's what that's talking 776 00:32:45,870 --> 00:32:48,910 about when it comes to this idea of Esau and Jacob. 777 00:32:48,910 --> 00:32:52,470 It's not that God despised Esau and hated him from birth and 778 00:32:52,470 --> 00:32:53,910 said this little baby is. 779 00:32:53,910 --> 00:32:54,230 Is. 780 00:32:54,230 --> 00:32:55,790 Is in rejection to me. 781 00:32:55,790 --> 00:32:59,270 What he's saying here is that his relationship with Jacob was so 782 00:32:59,270 --> 00:33:03,050 much greater and so much more focus, that in comparison, his love 783 00:33:03,050 --> 00:33:05,370 for Esau would be seen as hate. 784 00:33:05,370 --> 00:33:09,090 And so God chose Jacob for a specific purpose above Esau. 785 00:33:09,330 --> 00:33:10,450 And what was that purpose? 786 00:33:10,450 --> 00:33:12,770 To reveal himself to the world. 787 00:33:13,410 --> 00:33:17,450 And we, we, we actually know that to be the case because that 788 00:33:17,450 --> 00:33:21,330 actual passage of Scripture with, with that in mind, has a picture 789 00:33:21,330 --> 00:33:25,090 of what we're going to see in, in Amos, chapter 9 through 12, or 790 00:33:25,090 --> 00:33:25,570 9 and 12. 791 00:33:25,570 --> 00:33:26,450 Go, go there with me. 792 00:33:26,450 --> 00:33:28,910 We're going to go to two passages, one in the Old Testament 793 00:33:28,910 --> 00:33:29,870 and one in the New. 794 00:33:30,030 --> 00:33:34,190 And we're going to see two references to this idea of, of Esau 795 00:33:34,270 --> 00:33:41,230 and Esau being rejected and Esau being the one who is not favored 796 00:33:41,230 --> 00:33:43,590 over, over Jacob. 797 00:33:43,590 --> 00:33:44,550 So go there with me. 798 00:33:44,550 --> 00:33:46,910 I'm, I know we're going to a lot of different passages of Scripture, 799 00:33:46,910 --> 00:33:48,430 so I've got to catch up with myself here. 800 00:33:48,670 --> 00:33:51,270 So the book of Amos, I, I guarantee you don't go to Amos that 801 00:33:51,270 --> 00:33:53,110 often unless you do, unless that's your favorite book. 802 00:33:53,110 --> 00:33:55,730 If you, your book of Amos is your favorite book, come talk to 803 00:33:55,730 --> 00:33:56,330 me after the service. 804 00:33:56,330 --> 00:33:58,170 I'd really love to have that discussion with you. 805 00:33:58,170 --> 00:34:03,050 But Amos chapter 9, verse 12 speaks to the same idea. 806 00:34:03,050 --> 00:34:05,370 And, and, and the reason why we're trying to go here is because 807 00:34:05,370 --> 00:34:08,050 I want you to see that all of Scripture is tied together. 808 00:34:08,610 --> 00:34:13,770 And so it says that they may possess the remnant of Edom and of 809 00:34:13,770 --> 00:34:16,850 all the heathen which are called by my name, sayeth the Lord 810 00:34:16,850 --> 00:34:17,490 that doeth this. 811 00:34:17,490 --> 00:34:21,359 And so this idea here is that there, there would be a remnant of, 812 00:34:21,359 --> 00:34:22,279 of Edom. 813 00:34:22,359 --> 00:34:25,319 But then ultimately, what we know in Acts chapter 15 is that this 814 00:34:25,319 --> 00:34:29,359 passage itself is quoted by the New Testament church. 815 00:34:29,359 --> 00:34:34,879 Acts chapter 15, Acts chapter 15, verses 16 and 17. 816 00:34:34,879 --> 00:34:38,199 We actually see that this passage of scripture in the Old Testament, 817 00:34:38,199 --> 00:34:43,919 the book of Amos, is used as a reference piece to folding in the 818 00:34:43,919 --> 00:34:48,079 Gentiles, folding in those that are not of Jewish descent to 819 00:34:48,399 --> 00:34:49,119 the church. 820 00:34:49,279 --> 00:34:51,999 Acts 15, 16 and 17. 821 00:34:52,319 --> 00:34:55,239 After this I will return and I will build again this tabernacle 822 00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:56,599 of David which is fallen down. 823 00:34:56,599 --> 00:34:58,399 And I will build again the ruins thereof. 824 00:34:58,399 --> 00:35:01,439 And I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the 825 00:35:01,439 --> 00:35:05,039 Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, sayeth the 826 00:35:05,039 --> 00:35:06,119 Lord, who doeth all these things. 827 00:35:06,119 --> 00:35:08,719 And so there, there is always an opportunity. 828 00:35:08,719 --> 00:35:11,759 So some people look at Esau and they say, Esau didn't have a 829 00:35:11,759 --> 00:35:12,079 chance. 830 00:35:12,410 --> 00:35:16,090 So does that mean whoever the are don't have a chance to be saved? 831 00:35:16,170 --> 00:35:18,610 Does that mean that the Gentiles don't have a chance to be 832 00:35:18,610 --> 00:35:18,850 saved? 833 00:35:18,850 --> 00:35:19,850 It's only Through Israel. 834 00:35:19,850 --> 00:35:22,810 No, he actually says, yes, Esau I hated. 835 00:35:22,810 --> 00:35:25,810 But the Edomites have a chance to be saved, and the Edomites have 836 00:35:25,810 --> 00:35:28,329 a chance to be saved by being the Gentiles that are folded into 837 00:35:28,329 --> 00:35:30,810 the church in Acts chapter 16. 838 00:35:30,810 --> 00:35:33,650 And so the point I'm trying to make is that when God says that he 839 00:35:33,650 --> 00:35:36,730 hates Esau, it doesn't mean that Esau didn't have a chance to 840 00:35:36,730 --> 00:35:38,800 be effectually saved in faith. 841 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,160 It just means that God favored Jacob over Esau. 842 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:46,520 And, and so what we can see in that case is that many people are 843 00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:47,760 going to have a hardship with that. 844 00:35:47,760 --> 00:35:49,080 Paul reads into this. 845 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:50,560 Paul, Paul knows his audience. 846 00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:52,400 And so Paul explains all of this. 847 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,520 And now verse 14, he says, what shall we say then? 848 00:35:56,800 --> 00:35:58,640 Is there unrighteousness with God? 849 00:35:58,880 --> 00:36:02,600 So his expectation was that there was going to be people that 850 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:03,920 said, well, this isn't right. 851 00:36:04,540 --> 00:36:07,220 You chose some people to be used by you and other people not 852 00:36:07,220 --> 00:36:08,220 to be used by you. 853 00:36:08,220 --> 00:36:09,020 What does this mean? 854 00:36:09,020 --> 00:36:10,820 Or now you're bringing in the Gentiles. 855 00:36:10,820 --> 00:36:11,660 What does this mean? 856 00:36:11,820 --> 00:36:13,260 Is God not righteous? 857 00:36:13,260 --> 00:36:14,580 He says, what shall we say then? 858 00:36:14,580 --> 00:36:16,020 Is there unrighteousness with God? 859 00:36:16,020 --> 00:36:17,260 Then he says, God forbid. 860 00:36:17,500 --> 00:36:17,940 Literally. 861 00:36:17,940 --> 00:36:19,260 That means kill that thought. 862 00:36:20,060 --> 00:36:20,620 God is. 863 00:36:20,620 --> 00:36:21,620 God is righteous. 864 00:36:21,620 --> 00:36:23,660 God is completely holy. 865 00:36:23,740 --> 00:36:25,620 God is right in every single way. 866 00:36:25,620 --> 00:36:28,620 And again, this goes back to that first question in verse number 867 00:36:28,620 --> 00:36:28,940 six. 868 00:36:29,180 --> 00:36:31,500 Are we allowed to ask questions to God? 869 00:36:31,500 --> 00:36:34,480 Sure, but is it a sin to question the character of God? 870 00:36:34,480 --> 00:36:34,760 Yes. 871 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:36,360 And that's what Paul's trying to squash here. 872 00:36:36,360 --> 00:36:40,000 He says we need to reject this idea that God has unrighteousness 873 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,760 because he's making these decisions in his prerogative God. 874 00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:44,800 God always does. 875 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:45,080 Right? 876 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:46,480 And so the question would be this. 877 00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:49,120 Did, did God ordain evil? 878 00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:53,040 Does God ordain evil if he is sovereign? 879 00:36:53,040 --> 00:36:55,000 And, and again, we talked about that sovereignty. 880 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,950 I don't believe that God ordains evil because if God ordained 881 00:36:58,950 --> 00:37:02,830 evil, then you might have an opportunity in verse number 14 to 882 00:37:02,830 --> 00:37:05,750 have a point to say, well, if God's ordaining evil, he's unrighteous. 883 00:37:05,750 --> 00:37:07,230 He's expecting us to be righteous. 884 00:37:07,230 --> 00:37:10,190 But if he's ordaining evil, and then he holds us accountable 885 00:37:10,190 --> 00:37:13,070 for what he's forcing us to do, that would be unrighteousness. 886 00:37:13,070 --> 00:37:14,910 So verse 14, what shall we say then? 887 00:37:14,910 --> 00:37:16,230 Is there unrighteousness with God? 888 00:37:16,230 --> 00:37:17,190 God forbid. 889 00:37:17,190 --> 00:37:21,310 And so again we mentioned sovereignty is, is again my, my interpretation 890 00:37:21,310 --> 00:37:25,990 of this is that God allows for choice but still works his plan out 891 00:37:25,990 --> 00:37:27,870 in this world, no matter what might be the case. 892 00:37:28,110 --> 00:37:33,270 Now Some naysayers to that idea would say, then you don't believe 893 00:37:33,270 --> 00:37:36,230 that God has complete providence over people and can force 894 00:37:36,230 --> 00:37:36,830 people to do things. 895 00:37:36,830 --> 00:37:39,550 I believe God has every right to do anything he wants to do. 896 00:37:39,630 --> 00:37:43,150 And God can ordain certain things to happen and will ordain 897 00:37:43,150 --> 00:37:45,190 certain things providentially to happen in my life. 898 00:37:45,190 --> 00:37:47,550 I mean, I can point to certain things in my life that God has done 899 00:37:47,550 --> 00:37:49,710 beyond my comprehension, beyond my control. 900 00:37:49,870 --> 00:37:51,310 And so God can do that. 901 00:37:51,310 --> 00:37:54,110 But I also believe that God gives man the responsibility to. 902 00:37:54,340 --> 00:37:55,660 To respond to him in faith. 903 00:37:55,660 --> 00:37:58,660 And so the question would be in verse 14, Is God unrighteous? 904 00:37:58,740 --> 00:38:00,420 And the answer obviously is no. 905 00:38:00,420 --> 00:38:01,620 Paul says, definitely not. 906 00:38:01,700 --> 00:38:03,100 And then he goes on to explain this. 907 00:38:03,100 --> 00:38:05,460 And we're just going to go down, if you can stick with me, just 908 00:38:05,460 --> 00:38:06,340 to verse number 18. 909 00:38:06,340 --> 00:38:08,340 We're going to go down to verse number 18 this morning. 910 00:38:08,420 --> 00:38:12,860 He says, for he said to Moses, I will have mercy on those on whom 911 00:38:12,860 --> 00:38:16,140 I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have 912 00:38:16,140 --> 00:38:16,820 compassion. 913 00:38:16,980 --> 00:38:19,950 Now, again, a lot of people use this in the concept of, well, 914 00:38:19,950 --> 00:38:21,350 God can save who he wants to save. 915 00:38:21,350 --> 00:38:23,190 He can reject those who he wants to reject. 916 00:38:23,190 --> 00:38:25,350 And certainly he has the prerogative to do so. 917 00:38:25,350 --> 00:38:27,230 But again, context is key. 918 00:38:27,230 --> 00:38:28,510 Context is king, right? 919 00:38:28,510 --> 00:38:31,390 And again, we're talking, in my opinion, in my interpretation 920 00:38:31,390 --> 00:38:34,070 of Romans 9, he's talking about the people that he's using 921 00:38:34,470 --> 00:38:37,990 for bringing forth the word of God to this world, the. 922 00:38:37,990 --> 00:38:40,150 The people that he's elected for that service. 923 00:38:40,230 --> 00:38:42,630 And so what he says is, I can use anyone I want. 924 00:38:43,110 --> 00:38:44,550 He references back to Moses. 925 00:38:44,550 --> 00:38:47,440 He says, moses, I can have mercy on who I want to have mercy 926 00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:47,720 to. 927 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:48,360 I can. 928 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:50,960 I can have compassion on whoever I want to have compassion 929 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:51,240 on. 930 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:51,760 And. 931 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:54,400 And for many of us, we struggle with that because for many 932 00:38:54,400 --> 00:38:57,360 of us, we're okay with God showing compassion and mercy to people 933 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:58,600 that we're comfortable with. 934 00:38:58,680 --> 00:39:01,480 But if you remember, there was an awesome story back in the Book 935 00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:02,120 of Jonah. 936 00:39:02,120 --> 00:39:03,400 Jonah goes to Nineveh. 937 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:04,560 And remember, Jonah is not. 938 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:08,760 A lot of people frame Jonah as being afraid of the scary Ninevites. 939 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:12,070 And we understand that that might have been part of it. 940 00:39:12,070 --> 00:39:14,750 But if, you know, Jonah actually goes back and says something 941 00:39:14,750 --> 00:39:17,550 very interesting, he says, God, I didn't want to go to Nineveh 942 00:39:17,550 --> 00:39:20,430 because I knew that if I went, you would save them. 943 00:39:20,910 --> 00:39:23,630 I know you're a God of compassion and mercy, and I didn't 944 00:39:23,630 --> 00:39:26,990 want to see them get saved because he had that internal struggle, 945 00:39:26,990 --> 00:39:29,950 that internal hate against the Ninevites, because of what they did 946 00:39:29,950 --> 00:39:30,670 to his people. 947 00:39:31,230 --> 00:39:33,790 And so what God says is I have the prerogative to save whoever I 948 00:39:33,790 --> 00:39:34,310 want to save. 949 00:39:34,310 --> 00:39:38,400 I have the prerogative to give anyone the opportunity to use anyone 950 00:39:38,400 --> 00:39:39,160 for the ministry. 951 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,840 And remember, Jonah was not someone that wanted to go. 952 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:43,680 God had to get his attention. 953 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,760 Remember Jonah tried to flee, gets on the, on the ship. 954 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:48,960 You guys know the story. 955 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:51,920 The storm comes, he's about to die, he's about to fall off the, 956 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,440 they're about to all get sunk and he jumps in the water and he's 957 00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:58,280 swallowed by the, the great fish or the whale, however your interpretation 958 00:39:58,280 --> 00:39:58,840 is on that. 959 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:00,080 And he goes in there for three days. 960 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:02,000 He comes out and he's like, okay, Lord, I'm going to go. 961 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,080 And even while he was going, Jonah was upset. 962 00:40:04,550 --> 00:40:07,510 He was sitting underneath the tree complaining about the shade 963 00:40:07,510 --> 00:40:09,230 tree that, that he loved so much. 964 00:40:09,230 --> 00:40:09,830 And it died. 965 00:40:09,830 --> 00:40:13,550 And throughout all that, God is using an unfaithful person to 966 00:40:13,550 --> 00:40:16,070 bring his faithfulness in the message of the truth. 967 00:40:16,310 --> 00:40:20,750 So what Paul is saying here is this, God can use anybody for this 968 00:40:20,750 --> 00:40:21,110 work. 969 00:40:21,270 --> 00:40:23,870 And so if it's, he wants the Israelites to do that, he wants the 970 00:40:23,870 --> 00:40:24,590 Israelites to do that. 971 00:40:24,590 --> 00:40:26,830 If he wants a church to do that, he wants the church to do that. 972 00:40:26,830 --> 00:40:28,350 But he has the right to do that. 973 00:40:28,350 --> 00:40:32,070 He is the, the all knowing Creator of everything. 974 00:40:32,070 --> 00:40:34,990 So verse 16 he says, so then it is not of him that will it. 975 00:40:34,990 --> 00:40:39,430 So it's not the will of man, nor of him that runneth, but of God 976 00:40:39,430 --> 00:40:40,630 that showeth mercy. 977 00:40:41,430 --> 00:40:43,710 So in this case he's talking about showing mercy to those that 978 00:40:43,710 --> 00:40:44,470 are serving him. 979 00:40:44,470 --> 00:40:47,350 So in this case he says it's not about your matter of your will. 980 00:40:47,350 --> 00:40:49,550 It's not about like say for example, someone's like, I really 981 00:40:49,550 --> 00:40:50,470 want to serve God. 982 00:40:50,470 --> 00:40:52,870 I think that God's going to use me because I really want that. 983 00:40:52,870 --> 00:40:55,390 It's not about a matter of will and he says it's not about a 984 00:40:55,390 --> 00:40:56,230 matter of works. 985 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:00,360 So, so it's not a matter of will and works when it comes to God's 986 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:01,080 work in our life. 987 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:05,920 It's a matter of God's plan and God's work in his ultimate sovereignty 988 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,280 to show mercy and to show compassion. 989 00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:09,920 So it's not by will or works. 990 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,679 And even goes on to this other passage and talks about Pharaoh, 991 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,400 which again this is a passage of scripture verse 17 that many people 992 00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:19,640 use to the fact that God just doesn't allow certain people to be 993 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:20,040 saved. 994 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:23,560 And I want to look at verse 17 from a different perspective. 995 00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:26,100 This is and, and later on we're going to see that he actually 996 00:41:26,100 --> 00:41:28,020 uses the potter and the clay analogy. 997 00:41:28,020 --> 00:41:30,220 So I want to kind of go into that a little bit here. 998 00:41:30,220 --> 00:41:33,060 Now, verse 17, he says, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 999 00:41:33,380 --> 00:41:36,980 even for this same purpose have I raised the up that I might 1000 00:41:36,980 --> 00:41:40,460 show my power in the and that my name might be declared throughout 1001 00:41:40,460 --> 00:41:41,020 all of the earth. 1002 00:41:41,020 --> 00:41:42,900 And so reading verse 17, it says this. 1003 00:41:42,900 --> 00:41:45,980 God said to Pharaoh, I can do whatever I want with you to give 1004 00:41:45,980 --> 00:41:46,460 me glory. 1005 00:41:46,460 --> 00:41:50,180 I can allow you to rebel, I can force you to rebel, and I can 1006 00:41:50,510 --> 00:41:51,630 use that for my glory. 1007 00:41:51,630 --> 00:41:54,270 And so we know that Pharaoh, if you guys know the story in the 1008 00:41:54,270 --> 00:41:58,350 book of Exodus, Pharaoh, ultimately it says in the Old Testament 1009 00:41:58,350 --> 00:41:59,590 that God hardens his heart. 1010 00:41:59,590 --> 00:42:01,750 Now there's a lot of people that look at that and say, well, 1011 00:42:01,750 --> 00:42:05,190 that was a point where maybe Pharaoh wanted to come to, to the 1012 00:42:05,190 --> 00:42:06,309 Lord and repent. 1013 00:42:06,309 --> 00:42:07,870 And God just said, no, you can't. 1014 00:42:08,110 --> 00:42:11,470 But what I'm going to say is this over and over again in that 1015 00:42:11,470 --> 00:42:14,270 story, if you remember, it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart. 1016 00:42:14,350 --> 00:42:15,390 Pharaoh hardened his heart. 1017 00:42:15,390 --> 00:42:16,830 Pharaoh kept hardening his heart. 1018 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,960 That was his lifestyle, that was his path, that was his decision 1019 00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:20,320 making. 1020 00:42:20,320 --> 00:42:21,400 That was his rebellion. 1021 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,720 And then eventually, what God says, okay, Pharaoh, this is what 1022 00:42:24,720 --> 00:42:25,200 you want. 1023 00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,080 Remember Romans, chapter one, Those that have the reprobate mind, 1024 00:42:28,080 --> 00:42:30,760 God gives them over to their inordinate affections. 1025 00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:33,560 There's going to be a time and a place where God says, okay, that 1026 00:42:33,560 --> 00:42:36,680 clay you are trying to mold in your own self and your rebellion 1027 00:42:36,680 --> 00:42:37,400 and your sin. 1028 00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:38,640 And then I'm going to harden that. 1029 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:39,640 You guys know the principle. 1030 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,640 There's a certain place in time in pottery that when it's hardened, 1031 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:44,400 that's the way that it's shaped and that's the way that it 1032 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:45,640 stays, unless it's broken. 1033 00:42:45,830 --> 00:42:47,950 He says, pharaoh, you've been rejecting me. 1034 00:42:47,950 --> 00:42:49,270 You're in rebellion to me. 1035 00:42:49,270 --> 00:42:50,390 You're living in sin. 1036 00:42:50,550 --> 00:42:52,750 I'm going to harden you there and I'm going to give you over to 1037 00:42:52,750 --> 00:42:53,270 what you want. 1038 00:42:53,270 --> 00:42:54,950 That's the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. 1039 00:42:55,350 --> 00:42:58,670 And so in my opinion, it's now that God went against Pharaoh's will 1040 00:42:58,670 --> 00:43:01,070 and said, pharaoh, maybe you want me, maybe you don't want me, 1041 00:43:01,070 --> 00:43:01,990 but I'm going to harden your heart. 1042 00:43:01,990 --> 00:43:03,750 He says, pharaoh, this is what you want. 1043 00:43:03,750 --> 00:43:06,670 I'm going to harden you in that and ultimately use your bad 1044 00:43:06,670 --> 00:43:07,910 decisions for my glory. 1045 00:43:08,310 --> 00:43:11,230 Did you know that God can use the bad decisions of those that are 1046 00:43:11,230 --> 00:43:12,390 unsaved for his glory? 1047 00:43:12,630 --> 00:43:13,990 It doesn't make any sense to us. 1048 00:43:13,990 --> 00:43:17,230 But in the concept of the picture of God's sovereignty, if 1049 00:43:17,230 --> 00:43:19,230 people are going to sin, people are going to be in rebellion. 1050 00:43:19,230 --> 00:43:20,830 God says, I can use that for my glory. 1051 00:43:20,830 --> 00:43:22,310 God can use anything for his glory. 1052 00:43:22,550 --> 00:43:25,830 God can use pain and brokenness and sadness for his glory. 1053 00:43:25,910 --> 00:43:28,550 That doesn't match in our framework of thinking. 1054 00:43:28,550 --> 00:43:31,350 But what it does mean is this, that God is so powerful and he's 1055 00:43:31,350 --> 00:43:34,030 above all, and he's in all, and he's through all that. 1056 00:43:34,030 --> 00:43:38,030 We cannot put a box around him to try to explain this is the way 1057 00:43:38,030 --> 00:43:39,030 that he should be. 1058 00:43:39,410 --> 00:43:41,770 And so God essentially think about it this way. 1059 00:43:41,770 --> 00:43:44,490 With the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, God set Pharaoh 1060 00:43:44,490 --> 00:43:45,170 in his way. 1061 00:43:45,170 --> 00:43:46,410 And that was the way of rebellion. 1062 00:43:46,410 --> 00:43:48,930 He says, okay, Pharaoh, I'm going to give you over to your way. 1063 00:43:50,050 --> 00:43:51,970 And we know that no man can be saved. 1064 00:43:51,970 --> 00:43:54,570 We know that no man can come to repentance without the power of 1065 00:43:54,570 --> 00:43:55,330 God in his life. 1066 00:43:55,650 --> 00:43:57,290 So by the way, one. 1067 00:43:57,290 --> 00:43:58,610 One side of the coin is this. 1068 00:43:58,770 --> 00:44:01,850 If you don't believe in complete determinism and sovereignty 1069 00:44:01,850 --> 00:44:04,170 in that regard, some people will say, well, does that mean that 1070 00:44:04,170 --> 00:44:06,610 you believe that man just finds God on their own strength? 1071 00:44:07,260 --> 00:44:09,660 Because that's usually the two sides of the coin that everyone argues. 1072 00:44:09,740 --> 00:44:13,140 Either God forces you or you just do it all on your own, folks. 1073 00:44:13,140 --> 00:44:14,860 I don't believe that either one of those are true. 1074 00:44:15,660 --> 00:44:19,140 I believe that God awakens our heart in the spirit and we have an 1075 00:44:19,140 --> 00:44:21,500 opportunity to respond to him in faith. 1076 00:44:21,500 --> 00:44:24,340 You cannot get saved without the Holy Spirit, cannot get saved 1077 00:44:24,340 --> 00:44:25,380 without the mercy of God. 1078 00:44:25,380 --> 00:44:28,740 You cannot find grace, you cannot find forgiveness. 1079 00:44:28,740 --> 00:44:31,620 You cannot find everlasting life without the power of God. 1080 00:44:31,620 --> 00:44:34,340 But what the Bible says is that when God pulls his hand off 1081 00:44:34,340 --> 00:44:36,960 of an individual in rebellion, the there's no chance for them to 1082 00:44:36,960 --> 00:44:37,400 be saved. 1083 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:39,800 Not because God forces them, but because. 1084 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,520 Because God is giving them over to what they desire. 1085 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:44,320 And that's what we see here with Pharaoh. 1086 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:46,640 He says, there's going to be some that make bad decisions. 1087 00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:48,040 There's going to be some that make good decisions. 1088 00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:49,680 There's going to be some make bad decisions. 1089 00:44:49,680 --> 00:44:51,640 But either way, God uses that for his good. 1090 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:55,480 And then he says in verse number 18, therefore hath he mercy 1091 00:44:56,280 --> 00:45:00,160 on whom he will have mercy, and of whom he will heart, and in 1092 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:01,320 whom he will he hardeneth. 1093 00:45:01,490 --> 00:45:01,930 Meaning this. 1094 00:45:01,930 --> 00:45:04,930 It's God's decision who he extends mercy to. 1095 00:45:05,330 --> 00:45:07,890 It's God's decision who he allows to stay in their sin. 1096 00:45:08,370 --> 00:45:10,730 It's God's decision to say, you Know what? 1097 00:45:10,730 --> 00:45:12,130 This person is going this path. 1098 00:45:12,370 --> 00:45:13,810 I'm going to allow him to go that path. 1099 00:45:13,810 --> 00:45:15,210 You would say, where is that in Scripture? 1100 00:45:15,210 --> 00:45:17,490 If you go back to Romans chapter one, that's exactly what 1101 00:45:17,490 --> 00:45:18,210 he's talking about. 1102 00:45:18,290 --> 00:45:19,130 Romans chapter one. 1103 00:45:19,130 --> 00:45:20,930 He says, you have to be saved through Jesus Christ. 1104 00:45:20,930 --> 00:45:23,050 But there's going to be some people that are so turned over to 1105 00:45:23,050 --> 00:45:25,610 their sin that God's going to allow them to go to the reprobate 1106 00:45:25,610 --> 00:45:26,050 minds. 1107 00:45:26,050 --> 00:45:29,430 And so what we can see here is that it's God's plan and it's his 1108 00:45:29,430 --> 00:45:33,870 discernment and it's his wisdom, and it's his power and mercy 1109 00:45:33,870 --> 00:45:36,590 and grace that changes the life of an individual. 1110 00:45:36,990 --> 00:45:40,710 And so verse 18 is essentially a restatement of the whole concept 1111 00:45:40,710 --> 00:45:41,870 that he's saying here is this. 1112 00:45:42,030 --> 00:45:45,189 You can have mercy, but the only way you can find mercy is Jesus 1113 00:45:45,189 --> 00:45:45,470 Christ. 1114 00:45:45,470 --> 00:45:49,630 The only way that you can find the truth of Jesus is through falling 1115 00:45:49,630 --> 00:45:51,670 before him and calling out for his mercy. 1116 00:45:51,670 --> 00:45:55,720 So God uses repentance for his glory. 1117 00:45:56,280 --> 00:45:56,680 Right? 1118 00:45:56,760 --> 00:45:59,800 Repentant hearts are what brings mercy and grace. 1119 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:01,160 Think about it. 1120 00:46:01,240 --> 00:46:03,720 I don't think God has to work in certain frameworks. 1121 00:46:03,720 --> 00:46:06,040 He can do whatever he wants to do, but he gives us his word. 1122 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:07,480 And what does he say in the New Testament? 1123 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,800 He gives grace to the humble, he resists the prideful. 1124 00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:15,240 And so what we can see here is that God gets glory through when 1125 00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:18,160 folks come to him in repentance and he extends mercy, 1126 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:19,960 extends grace, he extends compassion. 1127 00:46:20,300 --> 00:46:22,420 But then the other side of things is like people will look and 1128 00:46:22,420 --> 00:46:24,700 say, well, what about all these people that are in sin over 1129 00:46:24,700 --> 00:46:26,740 here that doesn't give God glory. 1130 00:46:26,740 --> 00:46:28,300 That shows that God's not all powerful. 1131 00:46:28,780 --> 00:46:32,660 No, because just as much as God gives mercy and grace to those 1132 00:46:32,660 --> 00:46:35,460 that are repentant and he gets glory, those people over here that 1133 00:46:35,460 --> 00:46:38,540 in rebellion that find judgment and pain and eventually 1134 00:46:38,540 --> 00:46:40,860 separation for him, that gives him glory as well. 1135 00:46:41,100 --> 00:46:45,180 So the idea would be this, forgive me for the cliche, but it's 1136 00:46:45,180 --> 00:46:46,620 a win win situation for God. 1137 00:46:47,410 --> 00:46:50,690 Those that follow him and obey him are going to find mercy and grace 1138 00:46:50,690 --> 00:46:51,570 and he gets the glory. 1139 00:46:51,570 --> 00:46:54,690 Those that reject him find judgment and separation from him 1140 00:46:54,690 --> 00:46:55,890 and he gets the glory. 1141 00:46:55,890 --> 00:46:59,050 And that's what Paul is saying here is he says God decides that 1142 00:46:59,050 --> 00:47:02,410 and he makes that statement of basically this, he's going to give 1143 00:47:02,410 --> 00:47:04,850 mercy to whom he's going to give mercy and he's going to harden 1144 00:47:04,850 --> 00:47:07,010 those that he's going to harden for the work of the election 1145 00:47:07,410 --> 00:47:10,170 of the truth of the Word of God. 1146 00:47:10,170 --> 00:47:11,490 So what does that mean? 1147 00:47:11,570 --> 00:47:13,570 It means this, maybe in a practical way. 1148 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:18,720 Today, we, we as the church, have the responsibility to pass forward 1149 00:47:18,720 --> 00:47:19,840 the oracles of God. 1150 00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,320 He's going to talk continuously in Romans 9, 10 and 1151 00:47:23,320 --> 00:47:26,480 11 about Israel's rebellion, Israel's hardness of their heart. 1152 00:47:26,560 --> 00:47:30,120 Israel's basically their, their opportunity that they rejected 1153 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:30,400 Christ. 1154 00:47:30,960 --> 00:47:33,400 And then he goes on, he's going to Talk in Romans 12 through 1155 00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:35,480 the end of the chapter, that we as the church today, whether we 1156 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:38,560 be of the lineage of Abraham or we be of the lineage of someone 1157 00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:41,520 else, we ultimately are part of the family of God. 1158 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:45,080 And therefore we're grafted in and we're going to be used for that 1159 00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:48,320 elective purpose to serve him and to present the gospel of Jesus 1160 00:47:48,320 --> 00:47:48,520 Christ. 1161 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:51,320 And so that's one interpretation of Romans Chapter 1162 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:51,560 nine. 1163 00:47:51,560 --> 00:47:53,840 There's, there's, there's a handful of interpretations that we 1164 00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,840 could look at, but I think that that's one of the good contextual 1165 00:47:57,480 --> 00:48:00,240 representations of Romans chapter 9. 1166 00:48:00,240 --> 00:48:02,360 When you look at Romans chapter 1 all the way through and 1167 00:48:02,360 --> 00:48:05,000 actually the whole Bible through in context, I know it's a 1168 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:05,560 lot of information. 1169 00:48:06,270 --> 00:48:08,590 So what can we take away today in application? 1170 00:48:09,150 --> 00:48:12,150 Because I think a lot of times what we do is we look at a passage 1171 00:48:12,150 --> 00:48:14,550 of Scripture and if there's a lot of theology, we kind of think 1172 00:48:14,550 --> 00:48:15,630 like, well, there's no application. 1173 00:48:16,590 --> 00:48:18,790 Like, it's just me knowing more about the Bible. 1174 00:48:18,790 --> 00:48:20,670 But I'm going to say that there's always application. 1175 00:48:20,830 --> 00:48:23,590 So Romans chapter 9, verses 6 through 18. 1176 00:48:23,590 --> 00:48:24,510 What's the application? 1177 00:48:24,590 --> 00:48:26,270 Well, it starts in verse number 6. 1178 00:48:26,270 --> 00:48:28,270 Not as though the word of God have taken on effect. 1179 00:48:28,350 --> 00:48:29,630 God has not failed us. 1180 00:48:30,110 --> 00:48:31,550 God has not failed Israel. 1181 00:48:32,970 --> 00:48:34,170 This is part of God's plan. 1182 00:48:34,170 --> 00:48:38,650 God is allowing certain things to happen so that his glory can be 1183 00:48:38,650 --> 00:48:38,970 seen. 1184 00:48:39,290 --> 00:48:40,450 Then we go to verse 14. 1185 00:48:40,450 --> 00:48:41,250 What shall we say then? 1186 00:48:41,250 --> 00:48:42,530 Is there unrighteousness with God? 1187 00:48:42,530 --> 00:48:43,330 No, God forbid. 1188 00:48:43,330 --> 00:48:44,490 God is perfectly righteous. 1189 00:48:44,570 --> 00:48:47,450 There's no sin in his heart, there's no evil in his mind. 1190 00:48:47,450 --> 00:48:49,210 There's no bad decisions that he makes. 1191 00:48:49,370 --> 00:48:52,770 Ultimately, he has the wisdom to make the decisions of mercy and 1192 00:48:52,770 --> 00:48:55,650 make the decisions of grace and make the decisions of hardening 1193 00:48:55,650 --> 00:48:58,090 and make the decisions of separation and judgment. 1194 00:48:58,260 --> 00:49:01,060 And then verse 18, he has mercy on those who have mercy. 1195 00:49:01,060 --> 00:49:02,660 We have to love the mercy of God. 1196 00:49:02,660 --> 00:49:04,900 We started with Ephesians chapter two this morning. 1197 00:49:05,300 --> 00:49:08,900 It says, but God, who is rich in mercy, there's other passages 1198 00:49:08,900 --> 00:49:09,540 of Scripture. 1199 00:49:09,700 --> 00:49:12,220 One in the book of Lamentations, I believe it's Lamentations 1200 00:49:12,220 --> 00:49:15,700 3:23 that says that his mercies are new every morning. 1201 00:49:16,420 --> 00:49:20,300 I think what we have to do is instead of questioning God, celebrate 1202 00:49:20,300 --> 00:49:20,860 His mercy. 1203 00:49:20,860 --> 00:49:21,740 Now, what is mercy? 1204 00:49:21,740 --> 00:49:25,840 Mercy is God's withholding of judgment that we deserve. 1205 00:49:26,400 --> 00:49:28,160 All of us deserve God's judgment. 1206 00:49:28,240 --> 00:49:30,160 All of us deserve punishment. 1207 00:49:30,240 --> 00:49:34,160 All of us don't deserve the opportunity to be part of the work 1208 00:49:34,160 --> 00:49:34,680 of God. 1209 00:49:34,680 --> 00:49:37,600 But yet it's because of his mercy we have all that we have. 1210 00:49:37,920 --> 00:49:40,000 And so we have to celebrate the mercy of God. 1211 00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:42,080 We have to live out the mercy of God. 1212 00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:44,680 We have to wake up every morning knowing that what I have, 1213 00:49:44,680 --> 00:49:47,120 I don't deserve and what I do deserve, I don't get. 1214 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,840 And therefore I must be thankful to the Lord and not question 1215 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:53,070 him and not get to the place of, well, that person's being saved. 1216 00:49:53,070 --> 00:49:54,310 Why they don't deserve that. 1217 00:49:54,310 --> 00:49:55,310 They aren't a good person. 1218 00:49:55,950 --> 00:49:57,750 They, they were mean to me or they. 1219 00:49:57,750 --> 00:49:58,950 They were rejecting me. 1220 00:49:58,950 --> 00:50:02,630 Instead of getting into that battlefield of the mind saying, lord, 1221 00:50:02,630 --> 00:50:05,630 if you do it, I don't question you, Lord, I trust you. 1222 00:50:05,950 --> 00:50:08,230 And so for the people of Israel at that time, they're like, 1223 00:50:08,230 --> 00:50:09,230 lord, what's going on? 1224 00:50:09,230 --> 00:50:11,710 You said that we're your chosen people, and now many people 1225 00:50:11,710 --> 00:50:12,350 aren't believing. 1226 00:50:12,430 --> 00:50:13,790 Is your plan failing? 1227 00:50:14,590 --> 00:50:16,030 Why are you calling these people? 1228 00:50:16,030 --> 00:50:17,310 Did you not call Abraham? 1229 00:50:17,310 --> 00:50:18,390 Did you not call Isaac? 1230 00:50:18,390 --> 00:50:19,270 Did you not call Jacob? 1231 00:50:19,270 --> 00:50:21,140 And he says, yes, I did call them. 1232 00:50:21,380 --> 00:50:25,060 But ultimately I'm using these bad decisions for my good work. 1233 00:50:25,140 --> 00:50:27,060 And there's going to be people that are hardened, there's going 1234 00:50:27,060 --> 00:50:28,260 to be people that are used. 1235 00:50:28,420 --> 00:50:31,740 And at the end of the day, it's ultimately that God is sovereignly 1236 00:50:31,740 --> 00:50:32,260 in control. 1237 00:50:32,980 --> 00:50:39,100 And so some people will say, well, if you don't believe in unconditional 1238 00:50:39,100 --> 00:50:44,260 election, which means basically God chooses some at the 1239 00:50:44,260 --> 00:50:47,270 beginning of time and chooses others at the beginning of the time 1240 00:50:47,270 --> 00:50:48,270 to be saved and unsaved. 1241 00:50:48,270 --> 00:50:50,350 If you don't believe in that, you don't believe in God's sovereignty. 1242 00:50:50,510 --> 00:50:52,150 I would say that that's a misnomer. 1243 00:50:52,150 --> 00:50:55,350 I would say that we can believe that God gives people a chance. 1244 00:50:55,350 --> 00:50:56,790 Now, does God know who's going to do what? 1245 00:50:56,790 --> 00:50:57,630 Of course he knows. 1246 00:50:57,630 --> 00:51:01,509 But at the end of the day, we know that God allows for the individual 1247 00:51:01,509 --> 00:51:06,270 representation of that person to either be in faith or in rebellion. 1248 00:51:06,670 --> 00:51:08,150 That doesn't limit God's sovereignty. 1249 00:51:08,150 --> 00:51:11,040 I think it actually displays God's sovereignty even more that 1250 00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:15,240 he can allow individuals who can love him to love him and use 1251 00:51:15,240 --> 00:51:16,440 those people for his work. 1252 00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:20,160 And he allows people to make a choice to come to love him but yet 1253 00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:23,640 in rebellion, he can use them for his glory as well. 1254 00:51:23,640 --> 00:51:26,480 Just as he used Pharaoh for his glory, just as he used Abraham 1255 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:27,079 for his glory. 1256 00:51:27,080 --> 00:51:29,200 And I will say this, and I think this is very, very important 1257 00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:29,640 to understand. 1258 00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:32,960 Some people will say, well, why, why does God not just force 1259 00:51:32,960 --> 00:51:34,040 all of us to be saved? 1260 00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:36,720 We can get down that rabbit trail. 1261 00:51:36,720 --> 00:51:38,160 Why did God put the tree in the garden? 1262 00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:39,960 Why did God allow Satan to come and tempt? 1263 00:51:40,130 --> 00:51:41,770 And I'm going to boil it down to this. 1264 00:51:41,770 --> 00:51:42,850 It's a matter of love. 1265 00:51:43,650 --> 00:51:45,250 Because love always has a choice. 1266 00:51:45,730 --> 00:51:47,410 And in a choice always comes a risk. 1267 00:51:47,970 --> 00:51:50,810 Like I, like when I asked my wife to marry me, there was a risk 1268 00:51:50,810 --> 00:51:53,930 there because I'm extending myself saying, hey, I love you, I 1269 00:51:53,930 --> 00:51:55,410 want to spend the rest of my life with you. 1270 00:51:55,410 --> 00:51:58,890 And she could have said yes, no, maybe, wait, she could have said 1271 00:51:58,890 --> 00:51:59,530 a lot of different things. 1272 00:51:59,530 --> 00:52:01,250 There's always a risk with love. 1273 00:52:02,210 --> 00:52:04,450 And so some would say, well, the God risk. 1274 00:52:04,530 --> 00:52:07,740 Well again, we're not God and God's mind's above our mind. 1275 00:52:07,740 --> 00:52:09,660 God's not bound by space and time. 1276 00:52:09,740 --> 00:52:12,060 God's not bound by our human limitations. 1277 00:52:12,220 --> 00:52:15,700 But in so doing, God allows for that choice of love so that we 1278 00:52:15,700 --> 00:52:19,020 can have a real relationship with him, not a robotic relationship 1279 00:52:19,660 --> 00:52:21,500 where he doesn't force us to love him. 1280 00:52:22,540 --> 00:52:24,260 He, he allows us to love him. 1281 00:52:24,260 --> 00:52:26,820 And then there are going to be times when God forces us to do things. 1282 00:52:26,820 --> 00:52:29,220 There's going to be times when God's providential hand comes in. 1283 00:52:29,220 --> 00:52:32,320 And we see that through the oracles of God, meaning the line 1284 00:52:32,320 --> 00:52:34,760 in which the world can see God through. 1285 00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:37,920 Now today we as the church have the opportunity to be the pillar 1286 00:52:37,920 --> 00:52:38,720 and ground of truth. 1287 00:52:38,720 --> 00:52:41,040 And so what we have to understand is that no one else is 1288 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:42,400 going to bring the truth of God back. 1289 00:52:42,400 --> 00:52:44,600 In the Old Testament it was the Israelites responsibility. 1290 00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:46,480 It was the Israelite. 1291 00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:49,400 And what God would condemn them on is this, that they would 1292 00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:50,200 come and remember. 1293 00:52:50,200 --> 00:52:52,160 They would get, get involved with the world. 1294 00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:53,720 They would get involved with the pagans. 1295 00:52:53,720 --> 00:52:55,920 They, they, they would actually adopt certain things that 1296 00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:56,760 the pagans were doing. 1297 00:52:56,920 --> 00:53:00,040 And they weren't doing the job of proclaiming God to the world. 1298 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:02,360 And we as the church had that same responsibility. 1299 00:53:02,830 --> 00:53:06,830 We have the responsibility to proclaim the word of God to the world 1300 00:53:06,830 --> 00:53:11,630 and not be compromising in our worship, not be compromising in our 1301 00:53:11,630 --> 00:53:14,710 lifestyles, not being in the way of the world, but being separate 1302 00:53:14,710 --> 00:53:16,630 from the world, knowing that we have a purpose. 1303 00:53:16,630 --> 00:53:19,430 And that purpose is to proclaim the gospel to all the world 1304 00:53:19,430 --> 00:53:22,390 and be faithful to him and be thankful that he has selected us 1305 00:53:22,390 --> 00:53:24,750 for that purpose of service to him. 1306 00:53:24,830 --> 00:53:27,110 And so that's something that I want us to think about all as we 1307 00:53:27,110 --> 00:53:29,470 come back in Romans chapter nine. 1308 00:53:29,470 --> 00:53:34,040 Next week, we're going to look more into this idea of selection 1309 00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:34,840 for service. 1310 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:36,960 And he's going to talk more about the. 1311 00:53:36,960 --> 00:53:40,080 The potter and the clay, and we'll get through it. 1312 00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:42,920 And we're going to see in Romans chapter 10 that he does explain 1313 00:53:42,920 --> 00:53:44,200 Israel's rejection to Christ. 1314 00:53:44,680 --> 00:53:46,200 It's important to talk about today. 1315 00:53:47,240 --> 00:53:50,720 He talks about how we should preach to difficult people, disobedient 1316 00:53:50,720 --> 00:53:50,960 people. 1317 00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:53,760 Then ultimately he talks about In Romans chapter 11, the remnant 1318 00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:56,720 and the branches that are grafted in the covenant that God 1319 00:53:56,720 --> 00:53:57,520 has with Israel. 1320 00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:02,400 And ultimately the glory that is found in God through this. 1321 00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:03,880 These promises that are being kept. 1322 00:54:03,880 --> 00:54:07,680 And then, so Romans 9, 10, and 11 are that parenthetical statement 1323 00:54:07,680 --> 00:54:08,480 to Israel. 1324 00:54:08,480 --> 00:54:11,120 And then we jump right back In Romans chapter 12, talking about 1325 00:54:11,120 --> 00:54:14,760 the application of everything that we've heard so far in Romans. 1326 00:54:14,760 --> 00:54:16,680 And so I hope that you can stay with us in the study. 1327 00:54:16,680 --> 00:54:19,040 I know that today was a little bit heavier, but I think that there 1328 00:54:19,040 --> 00:54:21,400 were some particular things that we all can speak to when it 1329 00:54:21,400 --> 00:54:22,680 comes to that area of mercy. 1330 00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:25,400 How many of us are hungry for God's mercy in our lives? 1331 00:54:26,460 --> 00:54:28,740 As I close here this morning, I want you to think about that. 1332 00:54:28,740 --> 00:54:31,300 I want you to think about the mercy of God and what it means to 1333 00:54:31,300 --> 00:54:31,580 you. 1334 00:54:32,540 --> 00:54:33,740 What do I deserve? 1335 00:54:34,700 --> 00:54:35,900 Well, I'm a pretty good person. 1336 00:54:37,180 --> 00:54:38,100 Go back to Romans. 1337 00:54:38,100 --> 00:54:38,500 What is it? 1338 00:54:38,500 --> 00:54:39,220 What does the Roman. 1339 00:54:39,220 --> 00:54:40,980 What does the Book of Romans say about being a good person? 1340 00:54:40,980 --> 00:54:42,059 There is none good. 1341 00:54:42,380 --> 00:54:43,260 No, not one. 1342 00:54:44,140 --> 00:54:44,540 What? 1343 00:54:44,540 --> 00:54:45,340 Well, you know what? 1344 00:54:45,340 --> 00:54:46,060 Maybe, maybe my. 1345 00:54:46,060 --> 00:54:46,580 My good. 1346 00:54:46,580 --> 00:54:47,340 My is good. 1347 00:54:47,340 --> 00:54:52,500 I mean, I'm not perfectly good, but maybe my good outweighs 1348 00:54:52,500 --> 00:54:53,020 my bad. 1349 00:54:53,980 --> 00:54:56,260 And maybe I haven't done really, really bad stuff. 1350 00:54:56,260 --> 00:54:58,500 The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory 1351 00:54:58,500 --> 00:55:02,300 of God for the wages or the payment of sin is what, death? 1352 00:55:02,540 --> 00:55:04,700 Well, not my sin, no. 1353 00:55:04,700 --> 00:55:06,180 For the wages of all sin. 1354 00:55:06,180 --> 00:55:08,380 Any sin I commit is death. 1355 00:55:08,940 --> 00:55:11,780 But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 1356 00:55:11,780 --> 00:55:13,020 We need that mercy. 1357 00:55:13,180 --> 00:55:17,820 All of us saved, unsaved, saved for five days, saved for 50 1358 00:55:17,820 --> 00:55:18,140 years. 1359 00:55:18,220 --> 00:55:21,330 We, we all are in desperate need of God's mercy in our life. 1360 00:55:21,570 --> 00:55:25,330 It's not by our will, it's not by our work, it's not by our lineage, 1361 00:55:26,050 --> 00:55:27,570 it's not by any of those things. 1362 00:55:27,570 --> 00:55:30,250 It's through Jesus Christ that we can find that mercy. 1363 00:55:30,250 --> 00:55:30,770 And Grace. 1364 00:55:30,770 --> 00:55:32,370 And then once we're saved, we don't. 1365 00:55:32,370 --> 00:55:34,450 We're not done with mercy every day. 1366 00:55:34,450 --> 00:55:36,690 His mercies are new every day. 1367 00:55:36,690 --> 00:55:41,010 And some of you understand this physical pain, spiritual pain, 1368 00:55:41,010 --> 00:55:44,530 emotional pain, can drive us away from that mercy and be so bitter 1369 00:55:44,530 --> 00:55:45,570 and so angry and so. 1370 00:55:45,880 --> 00:55:46,960 So separated from Him. 1371 00:55:46,960 --> 00:55:49,320 But folks, we have to go back and say, no, he is righteous. 1372 00:55:49,560 --> 00:55:53,040 Not what I feel, but what I know, what I know about him and his 1373 00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:55,360 word, that he is good, that he is faithful, that he is just, that 1374 00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:58,320 he is righteous, that he has been faithful to me, he's been faithful 1375 00:55:58,320 --> 00:56:00,360 to Israel, he's been faithful to Abraham, he's been faithful to 1376 00:56:00,360 --> 00:56:03,320 Isaac, he's faithful to Jacob, he's faithful all the way through. 1377 00:56:03,320 --> 00:56:05,480 And just as he was faithful to those who are before. 1378 00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:06,280 Romans 8. 1379 00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:11,240 Remember, just because we know all things work together for good 1380 00:56:11,240 --> 00:56:13,910 through the them that love God, then we were called according 1381 00:56:13,910 --> 00:56:14,830 to his purpose. 1382 00:56:15,310 --> 00:56:15,750 That's. 1383 00:56:15,750 --> 00:56:17,150 That's it summarized right there. 1384 00:56:17,390 --> 00:56:18,950 And so what we have to understand is this. 1385 00:56:18,950 --> 00:56:21,790 Just as God has been faithful before, he will be faithful today, 1386 00:56:21,870 --> 00:56:23,270 he will be faithful tomorrow. 1387 00:56:23,270 --> 00:56:24,310 And we can trust in that. 1388 00:56:24,310 --> 00:56:26,350 And we can rest in his mercy and his grace. 1389 00:56:26,590 --> 00:56:29,390 And so the question I want to leave you with is, number one, are 1390 00:56:29,390 --> 00:56:30,910 you hungry for God's mercy? 1391 00:56:31,070 --> 00:56:33,070 Number two, are you resting in God's mercy? 1392 00:56:33,070 --> 00:56:34,630 Are you thankful for God's mercy? 1393 00:56:34,630 --> 00:56:38,010 And are you willing to extend that mercy to those around you as 1394 00:56:38,010 --> 00:56:40,130 God has gifted us with that mercy in our lives? 1395 00:56:40,370 --> 00:56:41,570 Well, let's go ahead and pray. 1396 00:56:41,810 --> 00:56:44,370 Everyone, if you can, every head bowed, every eye closed, if 1397 00:56:44,370 --> 00:56:45,010 you can stand with me. 1398 00:56:45,010 --> 00:56:47,530 We're going to have a time of invitation, a time of response. 1399 00:56:47,530 --> 00:56:50,490 I know we've thrown out a lot of information today, probably too 1400 00:56:50,490 --> 00:56:53,090 much information for all of us to gather completely in. 1401 00:56:53,410 --> 00:56:56,170 But what I will say is that I know that to some degree, God has 1402 00:56:56,170 --> 00:56:59,410 spoken to us in one way or the other, whether it be in the areas 1403 00:56:59,410 --> 00:57:02,490 of mercy, whether it be in the areas of God's election, whether 1404 00:57:02,490 --> 00:57:04,380 it be in the areas of service. 1405 00:57:04,380 --> 00:57:06,820 Because remember, when the Bible says that we are elected for 1406 00:57:07,140 --> 00:57:09,860 this cause, it's not just a matter of salvation, but it's also 1407 00:57:09,860 --> 00:57:10,660 a matter of service. 1408 00:57:11,060 --> 00:57:12,700 And God has called us to serve. 1409 00:57:12,700 --> 00:57:15,300 We're saved to serve, not serving to be saved. 1410 00:57:15,620 --> 00:57:17,860 And so maybe for you, it's God's working your heart. 1411 00:57:18,020 --> 00:57:19,700 Where is my role in this election? 1412 00:57:19,780 --> 00:57:21,460 Where's my role in this process? 1413 00:57:22,100 --> 00:57:23,220 Am I serving Him? 1414 00:57:23,220 --> 00:57:24,100 Am I loving him? 1415 00:57:24,100 --> 00:57:25,780 Am I dedicated to him in. 1416 00:57:25,780 --> 00:57:26,500 In mercy? 1417 00:57:26,660 --> 00:57:28,660 Am I questioning God's decision making. 1418 00:57:29,710 --> 00:57:31,070 My question is compassion. 1419 00:57:31,950 --> 00:57:34,350 Some of you maybe even say I I say this. 1420 00:57:35,150 --> 00:57:37,230 I'm trying not to preach another message, but this is something 1421 00:57:37,230 --> 00:57:38,430 I'm struggling with right now. 1422 00:57:38,430 --> 00:57:40,430 Guys, let me tell you, confession time. 1423 00:57:40,510 --> 00:57:43,630 I have a struggle with people that are against God's word and having 1424 00:57:43,630 --> 00:57:47,630 compassion for them because I want the judgment hand to come down. 1425 00:57:47,790 --> 00:57:50,070 I want people to answer for their sin. 1426 00:57:50,070 --> 00:57:52,910 But folks, if we have the character of Christ, we must have 1427 00:57:52,910 --> 00:57:53,470 compassion. 1428 00:57:53,710 --> 00:57:55,470 It's not our job to enact justice. 1429 00:57:55,470 --> 00:57:58,490 It's our job to enact the gospel to them. 1430 00:57:58,650 --> 00:58:00,730 The Lord will do the work of vengeance. 1431 00:58:00,730 --> 00:58:02,490 The Lord will do the work of judgment. 1432 00:58:02,490 --> 00:58:04,010 We do the work of the gospel. 1433 00:58:04,410 --> 00:58:06,970 So maybe that's something in our hearts that we grow in that compassion. 1434 00:58:06,970 --> 00:58:10,450 Maybe we would have the heart of Paul when Paul said, lord, I I 1435 00:58:10,450 --> 00:58:13,610 want my people to come to know you even if they are in rebellion. 1436 00:58:13,850 --> 00:58:16,450 May we do everything that we possibly can to bring that message 1437 00:58:16,450 --> 00:58:18,610 of the Gospel to the lost and dying world. 1438 00:58:18,610 --> 00:58:20,730 Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working 1439 00:58:20,730 --> 00:58:21,530 hearts and lives. 1440 00:58:21,530 --> 00:58:25,140 Allow us to follow you in obedience, to follow you, follow 1441 00:58:25,140 --> 00:58:28,180 your plan, your purpose and your service that you have called 1442 00:58:28,180 --> 00:58:29,500 us to live in in our lives. 1443 00:58:29,500 --> 00:58:30,900 Lord, we thank you for your grace. 1444 00:58:30,980 --> 00:58:32,780 We're thankful for the hope of the Gospel. 1445 00:58:32,780 --> 00:58:37,300 We're thankful for the call to be your people, to serve and to proclaim 1446 00:58:37,300 --> 00:58:39,780 the message of the truth to this lost and dying world during 1447 00:58:39,780 --> 00:58:40,340 this time. 1448 00:58:40,340 --> 00:58:42,220 So we ask all these things in Jesus name, Amen. 1449 00:58:42,220 --> 00:58:43,700 As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads. 1450 00:58:43,700 --> 00:58:45,940 This morning, if you need Jesus as your Savior, come forward. 1451 00:58:45,940 --> 00:58:47,140 We can show you in the Word. 1452 00:58:47,220 --> 00:58:49,820 If not, come forward and rededicate yourself to his mercy 1453 00:58:49,820 --> 00:58:50,660 here this morning. 1454 00:59:45,510 --> 00:59:47,990 Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church 1455 00:59:47,990 --> 00:59:48,630 Podcast. 1456 00:59:48,870 --> 00:59:51,190 I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you. 1457 00:59:51,830 --> 00:59:54,150 If you would like to find out more information about our church 1458 00:59:54,150 --> 00:59:57,590 or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org 1459 00:59:57,909 --> 01:00:00,470 or find us on Facebook or YouTube. 1460 01:00:01,190 --> 01:00:05,630 You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch 1461 01:00:05,630 --> 01:00:08,340 dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast. 1462 01:00:08,500 --> 01:00:12,900 Please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates. 1463 01:00:13,620 --> 01:00:14,500 Thank you so much. 1464 01:00:14,740 --> 01:00:15,460 God Bless. 1465 01:00:15,700 --> 01:00:17,060 Have a wonderful day.