back to index2017-03-19 Is God Fair if He Chooses Some and not Others
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Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 9. 00:00:07.440 |
I'm going to be reading from verse 14 through 18. 00:00:23.440 |
By no means, for he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will 00:00:29.760 |
So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. 00:00:34.520 |
For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I 00:00:38.120 |
might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 00:00:42.760 |
So then he has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 00:00:50.840 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning. 00:00:52.840 |
We pray that your word will truly go forth and will not return until it has accomplished 00:00:59.580 |
We pray, Father God, that your Holy Spirit would guide us, convict us, and that your 00:01:04.240 |
authority, your very breath and presence may be known through your word. 00:01:14.480 |
How do you come to a conclusion whether something is right or wrong? 00:01:19.400 |
How do you come to that conclusion, whether something is right or wrong? 00:01:25.040 |
As you guys know, the political environment that you and I live in in the United States 00:01:31.560 |
As far as I can remember following politics, I've never seen it this intense. 00:01:36.560 |
You have half the country that believes every word that's coming out of Trump's mouth 00:01:41.760 |
And some people are willing to hurt themselves and hurt other people who are in the opposition. 00:01:46.000 |
And then you have the other half of the country who believe that everything Obama said was 00:01:53.680 |
And each group is absolutely convinced the other group is wrong. 00:01:57.320 |
And obviously if you're committed to one side or the other, you just think that the 00:02:04.280 |
You know, if they just studied more, if they were a little bit more intelligent, if they 00:02:07.120 |
were more moral, you know, then they wouldn't vote like that. 00:02:11.400 |
Well, that's in the larger scale, you see how politics where people can be so passionate 00:02:16.880 |
about something and be completely on the opposite side. 00:02:20.680 |
You take it into a bigger scale, that's how wars begin. 00:02:23.800 |
But you have one country over another country who absolutely believes that their right and 00:02:30.320 |
I think most people, when they get into that kind of conflict, don't say, well, you know, 00:02:35.480 |
I'm clearly wrong and you're clearly right, but I'm going to fight to death. 00:02:41.640 |
Most people who take up arms to get into conflict usually are absolutely convinced that their 00:02:51.720 |
And if you break it down into a smaller scale, that happens between husband and wife. 00:02:54.760 |
I mean, we don't get into fights because it's clear who's right and who's wrong. 00:02:58.560 |
It's because you have two people who are convinced that they're right. 00:03:02.780 |
And so if they don't find a resolution, eventually it escalates into a big fight. 00:03:10.920 |
You have people on one side who believe certain things and the other side who believes in 00:03:15.360 |
And most of the time what happens is if you have strong personalities who are not willing 00:03:20.040 |
to back down and both sides are absolutely convinced that they're right and then they're 00:03:24.800 |
willing to fight, a lot of times people are kind of docile. 00:03:27.200 |
You know, we don't want to get into conflict. 00:03:32.440 |
So every once in a while you'll like people who are used to fighting. 00:03:36.040 |
And then when those two people meet together and they can't come to a resolution, then 00:03:44.880 |
How do we even come to understand what is right or wrong? 00:03:53.240 |
Because that's a question that comes up all the time. 00:03:55.640 |
Whether it's in politics, in personal relationships, between marriage, even with your children 00:04:09.400 |
Well Paul is addressing that question of the gospel. 00:04:12.800 |
If you've been paying attention to Paul carefully, Paul's been trying to address up to chapter 00:04:18.360 |
nine after presenting a detailed message of the gospel, then how can this be fair? 00:04:25.320 |
If God made a promise and he made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and now you're 00:04:30.160 |
saying that not all Israelites are Israelites. 00:04:34.160 |
And the reason why there's these bunch of Israelites who had absolute confidence that 00:04:40.120 |
if they died that they're going to be in heaven or they have a special place in God's kingdom. 00:04:44.480 |
And he says not all Israelites are Israelites. 00:04:47.560 |
In God's sovereign choice that he chose some and some were not chosen. 00:04:52.720 |
So the obvious question that's going to come up is, then is God unjust? 00:05:03.680 |
And the question is swiftly answered, by no means. 00:05:08.420 |
If that's what you've been thinking and that's what you've been asking, Paul says by no means. 00:05:13.760 |
In order to answer this question that seemingly seems like God is unjust, people respond in 00:05:24.760 |
And I'm sure some of you guys have friends or family members who say, I'm not going to 00:05:32.880 |
Why does God allow 9/11 or famine or maybe something a little more personal, an illness 00:05:42.840 |
If he really is a God of love, how could he be doing this? 00:05:46.900 |
And so you have a segment of people who may have left the church and say, I'm never going 00:05:51.360 |
to come back because I don't want to worship a God who is unjust like him. 00:05:56.040 |
Some people try to change God himself because what seems, at least on the surface, he's 00:06:02.600 |
like, well, God can't be just if he sovereignly chooses. 00:06:06.740 |
If he truly practices predestination, he can't be just. 00:06:11.880 |
I remember back in seminary, I was required to attend this conference called Evangelical 00:06:19.880 |
And basically it's a room filled with seminary professors who have doctorates and PhDs in 00:06:27.000 |
And I had no idea what they were talking about. 00:06:28.700 |
They were quoting Greek and Hebrew like they were speaking English. 00:06:32.780 |
Like it was just flowing out of them and we're just sitting there and we're just trying to 00:06:39.440 |
I didn't know what they were talking about, but I knew something was going on because 00:06:42.440 |
it was a room filled with maybe about 1500 seminary professors. 00:06:46.000 |
And we have lowly seminary students who are just sitting in the back observing. 00:06:50.660 |
I knew something was up because there was a stir in the room. 00:06:57.160 |
And this man named Dr. Pinnock, he must have been about six feet five, very tall man. 00:07:02.000 |
And after he presented his paper, people just started standing up in protest. 00:07:10.720 |
After they do a presentation, the professor will stand up and basically question his thesis. 00:07:15.920 |
And so there's a long line that started forming on both sides of the aisle. 00:07:21.080 |
Probably maybe about 15, 20 deep on each side. 00:07:26.960 |
You know, how can you possibly say this, the significance of what you're saying. 00:07:30.520 |
And then I didn't fully understand what was being said. 00:07:33.160 |
What I found out later was that Dr. Pinnock presented a paper on 1 Peter 3, 19-20, where 00:07:39.920 |
it talks about how Jesus went after being crucified, went and proclaimed the gospel 00:07:48.480 |
So some of you guys who know that text, you know what that passage means. 00:07:51.960 |
So he took that and he presented this whole paper that Jesus will preach the gospel to 00:08:01.240 |
Meaning that if you were, happened to be born in a country or on the jungles and you died 00:08:06.520 |
without ever hearing the gospel, if God is going to be fair, he's going to have to preach 00:08:12.260 |
So basically that's the paper that he was presenting based on that text. 00:08:16.320 |
That if God is going to be fair, they need to equally have opportunity for the gospel. 00:08:28.020 |
And people began to say, well, if that's the case, then why should we ever do missions? 00:08:32.360 |
You know, by not presenting the gospel to them, they're going to hear the gospel directly 00:08:41.840 |
Again, his thesis that he presented became so popular, eventually it turned into a book. 00:08:49.480 |
And the heresy that began to spread in the church at that time, and I think traces of 00:08:54.280 |
it still now, but you don't hear about it much now, is what we call the openness of 00:09:05.800 |
In his understanding of what fairness is, so he changed God. 00:09:11.280 |
Now a lesser version of that, again, not heresy, but if we're not careful, that in our attempt 00:09:19.780 |
to try to justify God, we say, well, if God practices predestination, then he can't be 00:09:32.920 |
He kind of sees what the man's going to do, and then he reacts based upon what he sees. 00:09:39.160 |
Again, it's a lesser version, but the part behind it, or the mind behind it is, since 00:09:45.960 |
God is just, and what I see in scripture, or at least what's being presented seems 00:09:50.800 |
unjust, they go back and reinterpret scripture and reidentify what God is doing. 00:10:01.840 |
Paul is going to deal with that same question. 00:10:06.240 |
If God sovereignly elects some, and some of these Jews and some Gentiles, they're not 00:10:11.600 |
Christians because God didn't elect them, is there injustice in God? 00:10:21.280 |
How can you possibly even entertain that God is unjust? 00:10:24.440 |
So what I want to do this morning is observe three observations from this text of how he 00:10:30.480 |
answers this question, and hopefully that'll help us. 00:10:33.460 |
Whether it satisfies us or not, this is how Paul presents the answer to that question. 00:10:37.580 |
The first observation is, Paul just straight up quotes scripture. 00:10:43.200 |
His first line of authority in answering this question is, "Well, this is who God is." 00:10:48.540 |
So if you remember last week's text, he is trying to answer the question, "Well, some 00:10:53.680 |
are Israelites and some are not, even though they have the heritage, that salvation is 00:11:02.180 |
And so he goes back and he searches scripture and he talks about how Isaac and Ishmael, 00:11:07.180 |
Ishmael may have been the fleshly line, but the line came through the promise of Isaac. 00:11:15.020 |
Esau would have been as the firstborn, the fleshly line, but then the promise line came 00:11:26.080 |
The first passage in Exodus 33, 19, where he just simply says, "For he says to Moses, 00:11:31.140 |
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 00:11:38.140 |
You say, "Well, God has compassion on whom he has compassion? 00:11:43.140 |
Well, here's what God said to Moses, "I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." 00:11:48.460 |
I know your first thing that you might be thinking, "That sounds like circular reasoning." 00:11:54.780 |
He just answered the question by repeating the question. 00:12:01.580 |
"For the scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that 00:12:06.340 |
I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.'" 00:12:12.580 |
So if you were like me, if you read this for the first time, I was not satisfied. 00:12:18.660 |
I'm very eager, like, "Okay, so how is Paul going to answer this question?" 00:12:22.060 |
I'm looking for this deep philosophical presentation. 00:12:28.500 |
But the first thing that Paul says is just simply quote scripture. 00:12:33.500 |
And it dawned on me as I was studying, you know, again, in the past when I was studying 00:12:38.280 |
this passage, that Paul simply was bringing authority. 00:12:42.440 |
And he's saying to these Jews that what I am presenting to you is not new. 00:12:49.740 |
That the gospel that Paul is proclaiming isn't a new gospel that God all of a sudden changed 00:12:59.060 |
What he is establishing here is God himself and his plan and the gospel has been deeply 00:13:07.340 |
That this is how God has performed his work and brought the gospel from the very beginning. 00:13:14.700 |
He's establishing authority of what Paul is saying by going back and quoting scripture. 00:13:23.300 |
Our authority in how we come to know what is right and wrong, it has to be from the 00:13:32.980 |
How do you come to the conclusion of what should be or should not be? 00:13:36.460 |
Now we can say, "Well, you know, I'm very educated," or "I'm older so I have experience," 00:13:41.540 |
or "I've traveled the world so I've seen things that you haven't seen," you know, or "I come 00:13:46.340 |
from a certain culture," or "I had better grades than you." 00:13:51.620 |
And I'm sure in the back of our mind, even though you may not be expressing that, but 00:13:55.140 |
some part of us, when we make argument, there's some part of us always say, "Well, I have 00:14:04.340 |
And then the other person is going to think the same thing. 00:14:09.980 |
I've experienced this and I have more intellect. 00:14:13.540 |
And even though that may not be expressed, there's a part of us that tries to overpower 00:14:18.340 |
the other person's argument saying, "My view of what is right and wrong is probably more 00:14:25.780 |
And that's why the other person doesn't back down. 00:14:38.140 |
He doesn't run into a philosophical argument and then tries to convince them based upon 00:14:47.800 |
What I'm saying to you, God has always said that. 00:14:53.620 |
The question we need to ask ourselves is, do we judge God or God judge us? 00:14:59.740 |
Do we approach God and determine whether God is fair or unfair based upon my understanding 00:15:09.020 |
In the book of Judges, you guys who know the story in the book of Judges, you have the 00:15:18.020 |
They would constantly fall into this pattern of rebelling against God. 00:15:24.300 |
And then when they're desperate, they would cry out to God. 00:15:29.140 |
And when they restored, the phrase that keeps being repeated over and over again is, "Everyone 00:15:35.500 |
did what they thought was right in their own eyes." 00:15:41.740 |
It doesn't say everyone did whatever they wanted to do, whether right or wrong. 00:15:53.980 |
And that's what kept on causing them to get into trouble. 00:15:58.740 |
Everyone determined what was right by their own experience, by their own observation, 00:16:04.260 |
by what they thought was right, what they thought was just, and then that kept on getting 00:16:12.220 |
That's why in Romans chapter 12, verse 2, it tells us not to be conformed to the pattern 00:16:24.420 |
Our mind, our paradigm, how we come to conclusion of what is right and wrong has to be tested 00:16:32.700 |
What we deem to be right, what we deem to be wrong, the authority must first and foremost 00:16:40.020 |
Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, after rebuking them, saying that 00:16:46.700 |
you guys are divided, this division in the church was what was causing all this chaos 00:16:53.620 |
And it all started when each one said, you know, I follow Paul, I follow Peter, I follow 00:16:58.980 |
And now, their division in the church wasn't, I'm going to be an idol worshiper, or I'm 00:17:09.340 |
Each one was determining what was right and what was wrong. 00:17:14.240 |
And Paul says to them, aren't you acting fleshly? 00:17:19.140 |
That you're not united because you're determining by your standard what you think is right. 00:17:24.380 |
So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, the natural person does not accept the things 00:17:32.020 |
For they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually 00:17:39.020 |
Meaning the reason why there's division among you is because you're acting natural. 00:17:45.740 |
You're allowing the paradigm of the world to dictate to you, even though it's practiced 00:17:49.580 |
in the church, you can quote the name of Jesus, but what you consider to be right and wrong, 00:17:59.300 |
Sometimes it comes from the entertainment that we watch. 00:18:03.460 |
Sometimes it comes from our personal experience and some of the successes that we had. 00:18:07.740 |
I applied these principles in my life and I had success, so therefore the church should 00:18:16.060 |
And all of these things are trying to be applied in church, and none of these things are necessarily 00:18:23.460 |
But there's a lot of things that God does in the Bible and in the Scripture is absolutely 00:18:28.420 |
contradictory to what we know from this world. 00:18:33.100 |
He deliberately chooses men who are in utter chaos, who are weak, who are uneducated, for 00:18:41.620 |
To glorify himself so that the world will know that the power of the church was not 00:18:52.260 |
It was not the money, but God by His Spirit, not by man's hard work, but when men who are 00:18:59.780 |
humble, who had nothing to offer the church, God placed His Holy Spirit in them and by 00:19:07.780 |
Not because they were well organized, not because they had a great strategy. 00:19:11.500 |
The church began to grow because of persecution. 00:19:18.420 |
And in the midst of that the Holy Spirit began to work in them and then they started sharing 00:19:25.340 |
Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord. 00:19:29.920 |
Which is a complete contradiction to everything that we know of this world. 00:19:35.140 |
We have to get educated, we have to apply, we have to test it and then if it works then 00:19:40.140 |
we apply that for the next thing and after a while we think, well, you know, I know how 00:19:46.100 |
Because I was successful in my school, I was successful at my home, I was successful in 00:19:58.040 |
Our final authority, where we move, it causes us to stop, it changes the way we think. 00:20:09.380 |
How do we determine what is right, what is fair? 00:20:17.580 |
We can say that the Bible is inerrant, you know, and I know very few people, at least 00:20:27.460 |
But the proof of inerrancy, authority of the Word of God is how do you behave when the 00:20:35.700 |
Even if it doesn't seem right, when the Word of God is quoted, does that cause you to say, 00:20:39.460 |
well, I see that's what it says, but it's hard for me to accept. 00:20:46.620 |
It's hard for us to accept because our final authority may not be Scripture. 00:20:52.260 |
The Scripture, if it is our final authority, it should cause us to stop. 00:21:00.140 |
And arguments should end if the Bible can be clearly quoted to be proven to be true. 00:21:07.060 |
Paul is simply taking the Word of God to them, saying, if what you're saying, this gospel 00:21:12.860 |
that seems to contradict everything that I've known, and you're saying it's not by a heritage, 00:21:20.860 |
And then he says, well, look at the Scripture that you've been reading all this time, that 00:21:25.220 |
you declared to be inerrant and it's from God and has authority over your life. 00:21:30.660 |
It is consistent with what God has been saying and doing all this time. 00:21:42.180 |
What causes us to change our mind if it is not the Word of God? 00:21:57.740 |
His authority, first and foremost, is God's inerrant word. 00:22:02.540 |
Second observation in his argument is that you can earn condemnation, but grace and mercy 00:22:11.660 |
You can earn condemnation, but grace and mercy is only God's to give. 00:22:18.940 |
The very argument that we make, well, that sounds unjust. 00:22:24.940 |
If God chooses some and not choose others, how can that be fair? 00:22:30.440 |
And that's the question that he's presenting. 00:22:35.780 |
Now that question itself, that question itself has to be challenged. 00:22:44.400 |
How many of us think about people who've donated millions and billions of dollars? 00:22:48.700 |
And I read recently that the founder of, I think, Facebook donated like a billion dollars 00:22:56.200 |
or something for trying to get good water into people who don't have access to water. 00:23:03.780 |
A billion dollars, I forgot how much it was, but it was a ridiculous amount of money. 00:23:08.220 |
And how many people responded to that by saying, "Well, Mark Zuckerberg is so unjust." 00:23:16.660 |
Because he donated all that money to get water, but he didn't donate the money for food. 00:23:33.560 |
So how can Mark Zuckerberg be fair if he only donated money for clean water? 00:23:40.600 |
See, the very question itself, questioning God's justice because he elected to choose 00:23:52.360 |
See the very question that we ask in and of itself reveals our own hearts. 00:23:59.320 |
So we come and we examine God not realizing what it is that we are seeing. 00:24:05.040 |
So that's why he says in verse 15, "For Moses says, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy 00:24:10.060 |
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'" 00:24:12.860 |
This is a direct quote from Exodus chapter 33, 19, where Moses pleads with God that if 00:24:20.160 |
you really want me to lead these people out in the desert, show me your glory. 00:24:27.080 |
He can't, if they don't know that you are with me, if they don't know that you are with 00:24:40.520 |
And in response to his begging, God says, "I will have compassion on whom I have compassion 00:24:48.640 |
In other words, he was responding to Moses saying, "Tell them that I will be merciful 00:24:56.640 |
Tell them that I will answer your prayer, that I will be merciful and I will show myself 00:25:06.440 |
At least that's what the Israelites were saying. 00:25:08.880 |
In Psalm 51 verse 1, when David was pleading and crying out to God, "Have mercy on me, 00:25:20.160 |
Notice how when we repent, we never repent by saying, "Lord, be just with me." 00:25:30.040 |
A sinner would never pray that prayer, "Lord, be just with me." 00:25:33.640 |
Because the moment that he is just with a sinner, we would disintegrate. 00:25:43.840 |
So a sinner will never pray before God, "Lord, be just with me." 00:25:47.720 |
The only prayer that a sinner can pray before a holy God is, "Lord, be merciful to me. 00:25:58.280 |
Be merciful according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy. 00:26:03.320 |
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." 00:26:08.680 |
In fact, at the temple, at the Holy of Holies, the most holiest article was the Ark of the 00:26:16.760 |
And on this Ark of the Covenant, there was a seat where symbolically, God himself or 00:26:32.320 |
The very throne of Christ on this earth is called the Mercy Seat. 00:26:38.220 |
And that seat was reserved for King, Priest, Jesus Christ and Him alone. 00:26:42.440 |
So every single day, every single year, when the High Priest went in and he sprinkled the 00:26:47.080 |
blood on the Mercy Seat, it was preparation for the coming of the Messiah that this King, 00:26:53.080 |
this Lord, that this God would come and take his seat by the sprinkling of the blood of 00:27:01.000 |
So his very presence among sinners was to remind us that it is because of his mercy 00:27:11.880 |
That word mercy in the Greek, mentioned in Hebrews 9, 5, is the Greek word, "hilestarion," 00:27:18.400 |
and it basically means to propitiate or to expiate. 00:27:23.280 |
To put it simply, it means to gain or regain the favor or goodwill. 00:27:28.720 |
And that Mercy Seat symbolized that God's merciful presence is on earth through the 00:27:34.800 |
blood of Christ, and he expiated and he propitiated our sins. 00:27:43.120 |
To dare question his compassion as sinners, looking up to God and saying, "God, you're 00:27:48.800 |
unfair because you chose some and didn't choose others." 00:27:53.200 |
Psalm 103, 13, it says, "The Father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows 00:27:57.120 |
compassion to those who fear him, for he knows our frame. 00:28:04.600 |
The mystery of the gospel isn't that he chooses some and not choose others. 00:28:15.920 |
I mean, think about it, just logically, humanly speaking. 00:28:33.120 |
You know, you got trophies for things that you didn't earn, and you can be in last place, 00:28:38.920 |
We don't want anybody's ego to be hurt, and you have a generation filled with people. 00:28:44.920 |
I think all of us, even myself included, that our self-esteem is the greatest thing that 00:28:54.120 |
And so we've been raised to think like we have so much value, and so God owes us. 00:29:00.240 |
And we worship him until something about him doesn't make sense, until something happens 00:29:09.860 |
And then we eat automatically question, "Is God fair? 00:29:18.160 |
When, you know, I think many of you know that I'm a middle child of three sons. 00:29:25.240 |
And I'm a, whatever you read about middle children, that's me. 00:29:29.500 |
This is what a characteristic of a middle child, that's me. 00:29:39.760 |
And I had all of these symptoms when I was growing up. 00:29:42.380 |
And I remember one particular instance back in college, and this is after I was a Christian. 00:29:48.400 |
You know, my parents, you know, we grew up as a pastor's family, so we didn't have much 00:29:55.560 |
And the first car that I purchased, I cleaned toilets for nine, 10 months. 00:29:59.300 |
And so I saved up about $1,500, and I got my first car. 00:30:10.700 |
And I had no money to fix it, so whatever broke, just broke. 00:30:14.580 |
My windshield wiper broke, so I used to manually wipe the, you know, the rain down. 00:30:20.820 |
And then, I mean, I just, I've explained this before, so I'm not going to go in again. 00:30:30.840 |
So it was the best piece of junk on the road, right. 00:30:33.540 |
One day, my mom decides that she's going to buy my younger brother, Philip, a car. 00:30:39.580 |
So she is going to go buy a car, and it was a Honda Acura. 00:30:44.260 |
I forgot what year it was, but it was white, and it was brand new. 00:30:50.580 |
I'm not into, I'm not into this material stuff, you know. 00:30:55.100 |
So I didn't say anything, and she wanted to buy him a car, and she was thinking about 00:30:58.340 |
all this, and then she explained why she was getting him this car. 00:31:06.060 |
I'm hearing all this stuff, and it's like, okay, you know, Jesus is my everything, you 00:31:10.580 |
I'm driving this car, and so my mom, my mom explained to me why she wanted to get him 00:31:17.500 |
You know, Paul had a new car, and, you know, and then she said something to the effect, 00:31:23.900 |
you know, about me, and then, but Philip never experienced having a new car. 00:31:29.020 |
So I'm driving this car, and in my mind, I'm thinking, I didn't have a new car. 00:31:38.700 |
And then, so I explained to my mom, I said, I never had a new car, and she said, what 00:31:49.460 |
You know, I'm upset, but I'm trying to be Christian at the same time. 00:31:55.180 |
And she's like, and she started thinking back about the cars that I drove. 00:31:58.540 |
It's like, oh, shoot, he never had a new car. 00:32:03.780 |
You know, I just, then I went home, and then I told that story for the next 20 years. 00:32:17.500 |
Everything that I was thinking was proven at that moment, right? 00:32:29.220 |
You have your own kids, and you start to see your parents as human beings, not just as 00:32:35.660 |
When you're younger, you kind of see them in a different light. 00:32:40.280 |
Your friends could do certain things, and you're wowed by it. 00:32:43.100 |
If your parents do it, it's kind of like, eh, it's expected. 00:32:48.940 |
Years later, just look, again, having my own kids and raising my own children, and you 00:32:54.740 |
And it's not because you favor one over the other. 00:32:59.180 |
You know, sometimes you forget, and sometimes you don't. 00:33:03.300 |
Then I started thinking as human beings, I don't know anybody in my life, you know, outside 00:33:10.680 |
of meeting my wife, that has poured and sacrificed into me more than my mom. 00:33:20.660 |
I mean, obviously, I've been married to Esther for 25 years now, right? 00:33:28.740 |
And I can say that about my wife, but, you know, when I was younger, I started thinking 00:33:32.580 |
to myself, I don't know anybody who's given to me and sacrificed for me like my mom. 00:34:00.560 |
See, the people who invest the most in our lives, we just kind of automatically, oh, 00:34:09.320 |
How often do we not understand the grace of God because we assume, you know, you're God 00:34:24.680 |
Even when we talk about God's compassion, His compassion and His mercy is about us. 00:34:33.400 |
But He has these emotions because God is an emotional God. 00:34:43.080 |
The emotions that you feel, He has them because He created us. 00:34:51.200 |
The passion and love that you feel, He has them. 00:35:02.840 |
And that's why even though He sent His only begotten Son, His most precious gift, and 00:35:12.080 |
we're saved knowing that you and I don't deserve even a thought of our name on His 00:35:28.400 |
Does He really love me because He doesn't love me the way I want to be loved?" 00:35:40.080 |
But the fact that He even has compassion, that's the mystery. 00:35:56.800 |
I don't ever look at an ant in my house and have compassion. 00:36:01.640 |
I don't look at, I mean, I'm afraid that a little tiny mouse is going to enter my house 00:36:06.080 |
and I'll do everything in my power to keep them out of the house and destroy them if 00:36:13.640 |
Never in my mind did I ever think to have compassion or mercy. 00:36:19.640 |
God demonstrates His own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, while we were 00:36:24.320 |
rebellious, while we were blasphemous, He loved us. 00:36:32.960 |
In Matthew 9, 36, Jesus sees a crowd and He knows who these crowds are. 00:36:52.200 |
These crowds were like everybody else in this world. 00:36:55.920 |
They chose to worship the creation rather than the Creator. 00:36:59.560 |
And the reason why they are harassed and helpless is because they continued in their sins. 00:37:05.600 |
And yet He looked upon these sinners and He said He had compassion on them because they 00:37:10.760 |
He didn't say He was annoyed with them, He was angered with them. 00:37:18.480 |
The word compassion in the Greek is a very strong word. 00:37:24.920 |
The best way to describe it is someone being punched in the gut. 00:37:34.480 |
I don't know if you've ever been punched in the gut. 00:37:37.280 |
If you ever get punched in the gut, I mean you can't concentrate, you can't think. 00:37:41.700 |
You know, you ever watch a boxing match and somebody gets a good punch right in the stomach 00:37:45.160 |
and they didn't get knocked out but they hunch over because they got punched in the gut. 00:37:51.440 |
Jesus saw them and He was compelled and He turned to His disciples to beseech the Lord 00:38:00.240 |
And in Luke chapter 15 verse 20, Jesus gives a parable of the prodigal son and the son 00:38:05.680 |
who wasted a large portion of his possessions simply to go out and have fun. 00:38:12.120 |
And when he asked his father, "Give me my possession now," basically he was saying, 00:38:21.760 |
And when he finally comes to his senses and he comes to his father's place, you would 00:38:25.860 |
think the father would be, "Wow, that guy wasted all that and he's going to just crawl 00:38:34.520 |
He's going to think that he's going to come back in and step right back in where he was?" 00:38:38.560 |
You would think that that would be the normal response. 00:38:40.600 |
The older brother, we say our older brother was a Pharisee and he was so legalistic. 00:38:51.480 |
How many of us could relate more with the older brother? 00:38:58.560 |
I think the older brother was being generous for even allowing him to come. 00:39:07.580 |
This guy, after everything he did, he's going to crawl back? 00:39:11.520 |
And then the response of the father that Jesus says, he said, "And he rose and came to his 00:39:15.480 |
father but while he was still long off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran 00:39:27.000 |
The older brother was the older brother because he doesn't realize that he's also the prodigal 00:39:39.520 |
Every single one of us, every single one of us, we are here because God saw sinners and 00:39:51.440 |
I don't understand why he had compassion on us. 00:39:57.360 |
It's hard to be patient when somebody cuts me off the road for no reason and slanders 00:40:03.400 |
It's hard to be patient even for one incident and yet God sees repeated sinners and he has 00:40:16.500 |
The greatest injustice that you and I have ever heard of isn't God passing over some 00:40:30.840 |
The only injustice that has ever happened in this world was on the cross. 00:40:37.920 |
Every other person was a sinner deserving of punishment. 00:40:46.360 |
Second, we can earn condemnation but grace is only God's to give. 00:40:51.760 |
Third and finally, God hardened those who has hardened their own hearts. 00:40:56.200 |
That quote in verse 17 where he says, "For this very purpose I have raised you up that 00:41:00.840 |
I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." 00:41:06.280 |
Is a direct quote from Exodus chapter 9 verse 16 and 17. 00:41:12.280 |
"But for this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power so that my name might 00:41:19.260 |
But verse 17 goes on and it says, "You are still exalting yourself against my people 00:41:26.080 |
Repeatedly over and over again, it is stated that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. 00:41:32.240 |
But every time we see that phrase being stated, there's also a statement that Pharaoh hardened 00:41:40.800 |
Let me read to you what Dr. Leon Morris, who's the author of the pillar commentary on the 00:41:45.720 |
book of Romans and how he addresses this issue. 00:41:48.760 |
He says, "Neither here nor anywhere else is God set to harden anyone who had not first 00:41:56.520 |
That Pharaoh hardened his heart against God and refused to humble himself is made plain 00:42:02.400 |
So God's hardening of him was a judicial act, abandoning him to his own stubbornness, much 00:42:08.320 |
as God's wrath against the ungodly is expressed by giving them over to their own depravity." 00:42:16.120 |
He didn't take a man who was worshiping God and say, "You know, I had enough of this," 00:42:22.720 |
He took a man who was already rebelling, who was already sinning against him and allowed 00:42:31.120 |
That's exactly what is stated in Romans chapter 1. 00:42:34.640 |
That even though that God's invisible qualities was made plain and he left his imprint that 00:42:40.640 |
no one would be without excuse, but man chose to worship and honor the creation rather than 00:42:47.720 |
In Romans 1.24.26.28, God's judgment upon mankind is expressed this way, "Therefore, 00:42:54.640 |
God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity, to the discerning of their bodies 00:43:00.100 |
For this reason, God gave them up to their dishonorable passions. 00:43:05.760 |
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to be debased mind to 00:43:13.880 |
Over and over again, God's judgment upon the world is to let them go. 00:43:22.080 |
You want to keep resisting, keep blaspheming? 00:43:37.120 |
In Isaiah chapter 6, 8-11, there's a passage where Isaiah is called for ministry. 00:43:43.600 |
He sees a vision of God where the creatures are surrounding the throne, they're calling 00:43:53.560 |
They come, the creatures come and touch his mouth with a coal and he opens his mouth, 00:44:02.480 |
And that's a famous passage where Isaiah says, "Here am I, Lord, send me." 00:44:10.480 |
I'm going to start reading Isaiah 6, verse 8. 00:44:13.080 |
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send and who will go for us?' 00:44:20.560 |
And God said, 'Go and say to this people, "Keep on hearing, but do not understand. 00:44:28.040 |
Make the heart of this people dull and their ears heavy and blind their eyes, lest they 00:44:32.720 |
see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn 00:44:40.560 |
I think there's a good reason why God explained the specifics of his calling after he says, 00:44:48.480 |
If God said, "Who's going to go for me to these hardened people that you're going to 00:44:52.920 |
say these things and no one's going to listen to you?" 00:44:55.560 |
He made sure that their hearts get hardened and their eyes become dull and they don't 00:45:03.880 |
I think everybody who wants to go into full-time ministry has in their mind at least hoping 00:45:08.880 |
that they would have Apostle Paul's ministry. 00:45:13.000 |
Even if it leads to death, that's a glorious way to live. 00:45:23.280 |
Who would want Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, all his life he's weeping with them. 00:45:27.800 |
And then at the end of the day, the people that he's warning, all they're saying, "That 00:45:34.760 |
Every time he opens his mouth, we're discouraged. 00:45:38.740 |
That guy's not from God and the false prophets come and completely contradict him. 00:45:43.240 |
And the false prophets are the ones that they follow, but this man who was sent by God, 00:45:46.880 |
who would want to volunteer to be Jeremiah or Isaiah?" 00:45:50.480 |
But you know what's interesting here is that if you look at verse 10, the commandment that 00:45:56.600 |
he gives Isaiah is, "Make the heart of these people dull." 00:46:01.400 |
What power does Isaiah have to harden their heart? 00:46:06.040 |
Did God give him special powers to walk around and say, "Harden your heart." 00:46:17.720 |
Did God give him some sort of special spiritual power to go around hardening people's heart? 00:46:22.760 |
Because he says, "Make the heart of my people dull and their ears heavy and blind their 00:46:29.080 |
Did he have some spiritual gifts to harden their hearts and close their eyes? 00:46:40.960 |
He was called to warn the nation of Israel about judgment coming. 00:46:45.320 |
So the way that their hearts were going to be hardened was when the word goes out and 00:46:51.000 |
they resist in repentance, their hearts become harder. 00:47:01.400 |
We don't recognize that God's mercy and grace is by his timing and is by his offering. 00:47:08.980 |
And that's why in Hebrews 3.13 it says, "Exhort one another every day as long as it is called 00:47:23.760 |
If you hear his word, if you harden your heart, tomorrow it will not be the same. 00:47:31.120 |
If God calls you to obey and you say, most people won't say, "I'm not going to obey." 00:48:00.160 |
Not realizing that delay is causing our hearts to become hardened. 00:48:07.220 |
And then when we think that we're ready, when we think that we have time, we're no longer 00:48:15.000 |
The same word of God that brought tears to your eyes no longer has any effect in your 00:48:23.320 |
The same sun that hardens the clay melts the ice. 00:48:28.440 |
If we refuse his mercy and his compassion because we think something is better, we don't 00:48:36.840 |
realize each and every single day attending a church where the word of God is opened and 00:48:41.720 |
every time you choose to say, "Not today," that the word of God has less and less and 00:48:59.200 |
He sent his word, his only begotten son, to invite us to himself. 00:49:04.680 |
He said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden. 00:49:11.320 |
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will 00:49:24.080 |
I want to challenge and encourage you this morning as we think about his mercy and his 00:49:32.200 |
And maybe you haven't thought long enough or hard enough or maybe it's been a while 00:49:36.000 |
when you really thought about it and maybe just on Sunday and then you click it off on 00:49:39.820 |
Monday through Saturday and then you're reminded again on Sunday. 00:49:44.600 |
At some point in your life, you recognize that you are desperately in need of Christ 00:49:53.200 |
But in that journey, you got entangled with life. 00:49:57.740 |
You got married, got a job, had kids and you're just busy. 00:50:08.240 |
You haven't denied him but you just don't have time. 00:50:11.940 |
And as a result of that, you've been feeling this rising burden in your heart that something 00:50:18.960 |
I mean, you've been trying to fix it by being more disciplined. 00:50:22.240 |
You've been trying to fix it by meeting up with more people. 00:50:27.040 |
But at the core of your heart, you know because you saw the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ 00:50:33.500 |
and you know that there is no answer for that turmoil in your heart than God's mercy and 00:50:47.760 |
I know you're at church and I know we're singing songs and I know most of you attend Bible 00:51:00.100 |
You've been coming to church but you haven't been seeking the Lord. 00:51:03.940 |
You put in your time and check off the Bible but you haven't been seeking the Lord. 00:51:18.360 |
And I pray with all my heart and this is something that I have to tell myself every single day. 00:51:34.380 |
I pray that you would be reminded of a compassionate and merciful God who draws sinners to himself 00:51:43.380 |
That you would hear his voice and that you would follow. 00:52:33.220 |
Remember the height from which you had fallen. 00:52:46.980 |
Let's take some time to pray as we meditate and think and cry out to our Lord.