back to index2017-10-08 God's Gift and Calling are Irrevocable
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Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 11, I'll be reading from 00:00:16.280 |
Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers. 00:00:20.600 |
A partial hardening has come upon Israel, unto the fullness of the Gentiles has come 00:00:27.640 |
As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from 00:00:32.520 |
And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. 00:00:35.940 |
As regards to the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. 00:00:39.340 |
But as regards to election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 00:00:43.080 |
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 00:00:55.480 |
We thank you for your Holy Spirit's leadership and guidance. 00:00:59.680 |
We pray, Father God, that you would anoint this time, that bless this place, Lord, with 00:01:06.880 |
I pray that your word would speak to us, it would judge us, convict us, encourage and 00:01:13.360 |
That as we see a greater vision of Christ and his work, that we would give a reasonable 00:01:24.680 |
As you guys know, all over the news this week, probably the number one topic of discussion, 00:01:29.120 |
and it probably will be for a while, is what happened in Vegas. 00:01:33.720 |
And so I know, I've already talked to some people in our church who knew people actually 00:01:38.640 |
I think I talked to somebody that knew somebody who actually got shot. 00:01:42.580 |
And so, I mean, it's so close to us that we'll probably have some kind of connection if we 00:01:48.840 |
But obviously, it was very shocking what happened. 00:01:51.040 |
It was probably, I think they said it was the largest mass shooting in the country. 00:01:56.240 |
I mean, we've had quite a few of those in the last few years, but the one that happened 00:02:02.520 |
And obviously, there's a lot of discussion going on, like why did this happen? 00:02:05.720 |
And they're looking into his life to try to find clues as to what triggered it. 00:02:11.600 |
Was it what political party was he a part of? 00:02:16.120 |
And even in the theological church setting, there's a lot of discussion going on. 00:02:20.240 |
And I feel Lozan's trying to figure out, you know, what part did God play in that? 00:02:23.760 |
Is God completely, you know, off on the side and the world has lost control? 00:02:29.520 |
So, you know, how do we understand this, even spiritually? 00:02:34.560 |
And so, there's a lot of discussion going on. 00:02:38.160 |
And I remember, again, what happened this last weekend. 00:02:42.600 |
And as horrific as that was, you know, some of you guys may remember 9/11 and when that 00:02:48.240 |
hit and the kind of discussion that was going on, very similar, but obviously a lot more 00:02:55.280 |
And it really changed the landscape of how we viewed politics and view world affairs. 00:03:02.000 |
And some of you guys may remember what it was like before and after and all the safety 00:03:07.640 |
And I think it was the first time when we were aware that there's a whole group of people 00:03:11.720 |
who literally just wants to wipe the US out of the, you know, off the map. 00:03:17.000 |
And so, there's been a lot of discussion then. 00:03:19.160 |
And since then, I've had so many discussions with people concerning those type of stuff. 00:03:31.480 |
So, if you've ever tried to witness to non-Christians, family members, or whoever, that's a topic 00:03:38.780 |
If your God is as good as you say He is, why does He allow these things to happen? 00:03:47.240 |
People give, you know, theologians and pastors and their sermons being given about, you know, 00:03:51.320 |
what's going on and how, you know, how we ought to understand all of these things. 00:03:58.640 |
How far do we understand, like, what is God's plan in this? 00:04:02.820 |
And so, a lot of people are making, you know, statements about all of this. 00:04:09.200 |
The one thing that we do know as a fact, for sure, that our God is absolutely sovereign 00:04:16.240 |
And sometimes, whether it's natural disasters or in the face of horrendous evil, with wars 00:04:23.400 |
and rumors of wars and all these things going on, we've seen through the study of the book 00:04:28.200 |
of Revelation and all throughout Scripture, there aren't pockets of periods when God is 00:04:33.200 |
in control and then there's pockets of periods when God is engaged. 00:04:37.000 |
We know for a fact that from the very beginning until the very end, that our God is always 00:04:43.560 |
So as we've been studying through the book of Revelation, we've been studying all the 00:04:47.560 |
judgments, the plagues, the trumpet judgments, the seal judgments, and then now we're headed 00:04:54.960 |
And in the context of horrendous things that is prophesied is going to take place, John 00:05:00.960 |
is given glimpses of the throne of God, and every time he sees a glimpse of this throne, 00:05:09.480 |
There's no great concern where everybody's running around anxious. 00:05:14.040 |
God is sitting on His throne and the elders and the creatures are circling around this 00:05:17.860 |
throne praising Him and worshiping Him in the context of chaos that is breaking out 00:05:25.020 |
And I believe that there's a reason for that, that it's not random, that in the context 00:05:28.660 |
of all of this, all this stuff going on, it is a constant reminder to John and to us that 00:05:37.260 |
all of these things are in God's sovereign hand, even though we may not fully understand 00:05:41.820 |
it, that God is still sovereign, that the picture that we have of heaven is never shaken, 00:05:55.820 |
There's a lot of things that happen in life, whether it is in the big picture of human 00:05:59.900 |
history, what's happening in politics around the world, maybe even in your personal life. 00:06:04.180 |
You may be asking the question, like, "I don't know how these things fit into the larger 00:06:10.780 |
I don't know why God is allowing these things to happen in my life because we're trying 00:06:15.340 |
to make sense of it, but we can't quite answer what these are." 00:06:21.620 |
And so there are times when we don't see the larger picture, where we may begin to question, 00:06:31.900 |
Or maybe God isn't as sovereign as we've been told in the Scripture. 00:06:36.340 |
Maybe He does care, but He just doesn't have the power to do anything about it. 00:06:39.460 |
And so we go through all of these different thoughts, and when we go through sufferings 00:06:43.680 |
and different things that we experience that we can't understand, it begins to change the 00:06:48.560 |
way we view God, it begins to change maybe even our theology, if we're not careful. 00:06:54.620 |
If you look at Israel's history, not just the period when Paul is writing this letter, 00:07:04.020 |
God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He was going to multiply them, 00:07:08.260 |
that they're going to have this vast land, that God's going to bless all the world through 00:07:12.820 |
And after He does that, where and when does the actual nation of Israel start? 00:07:27.720 |
They were crying out because they were suffering. 00:07:33.800 |
They were probably told by their ancestors that God made a covenant with us, and because 00:07:38.640 |
of this covenant that He said He's going to be faithful and that our nation, the Jewish 00:07:44.000 |
nation is going to be blessed and we're going to multiply, we're going to possess the land. 00:07:47.760 |
And they probably told that from generation to generation to generation. 00:07:50.840 |
But when Israel actually physically started, they were being beaten up for not working 00:07:58.480 |
They weren't eating well, and when they complained, it got even harder. 00:08:00.760 |
And as a result of the suffering, they cried out to God, and God said, "I heard the groanings 00:08:05.760 |
of my people, and that's why He calls Moses to go deliver my people." 00:08:10.580 |
So this question of, is God done with Israel? 00:08:16.080 |
This is not the first time that Israel probably asked this question. 00:08:22.320 |
That question was probably asked over and over and over again in Israel's history. 00:08:27.580 |
From the very beginning, they probably had that question. 00:08:31.100 |
If God is for us, why would He allow these things to happen? 00:08:35.320 |
As soon as they get delivered, they're praising God, they go into the desert, and they're 00:08:42.880 |
Why would God who loves us and delivers us allow this to happen? 00:08:51.460 |
But it's not just the beginning, it's not just the middle. 00:08:54.240 |
All throughout Israel's history, Israel's history is about the suffering of God's people. 00:09:00.380 |
Whether it was Egypt, Philistines, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, Edomites, or the Romans. 00:09:14.260 |
And even since then, we can think about all these different stages after the time of Christ. 00:09:20.420 |
And obviously, the obvious one is the Holocaust. 00:09:24.020 |
Israel's history is filled with markers where you can imagine they probably were crying 00:09:31.140 |
I know you made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but why would you allow these things 00:09:37.380 |
So when Paul is answering this question, "Is God done with Israel? 00:09:41.260 |
Have they fallen to the point where they can't get up? 00:09:49.420 |
This is probably not the first time they asked that question. 00:09:51.460 |
It was actually probably embedded into their culture. 00:09:55.740 |
Time and time again, questioning if God is good, if God made this promise, why does this 00:10:01.380 |
happen over and over and over and over and over again? 00:10:08.060 |
The text that we're looking at this morning, where Paul has been warning us and encouraging 00:10:13.660 |
us at the same time, consider the kindness and the severity of God. 00:10:20.420 |
Consider the kindness of God that despite their generations of sin, is God done? 00:10:28.580 |
But consider the severity, that despite He made this covenant with them, that He kept 00:10:36.340 |
And so he tells the Gentiles, he says, "Consider His severity and His kindness." 00:10:40.660 |
And today, the text that we're looking at, starting from verse 25, he's given us a larger 00:10:44.760 |
picture of this gospel, that even though you may not fully understand, that this is how 00:10:54.320 |
And so the first thing that he says about understanding what God is doing, he says, 00:10:59.140 |
"Consider this mystery," verse 25, "lest you be wise in your own conceit, I want you to 00:11:05.180 |
In other words, what he is saying is that all this time, whether you understood it or 00:11:11.300 |
not, God has been fulfilling His sovereign plan. 00:11:14.660 |
All of Israel's history, all of human history from Genesis to Revelation, was an unveiling 00:11:20.820 |
of what God had ordained from the very beginning. 00:11:23.940 |
So whether they were prospering, whether they were suffering, whether they were in the context 00:11:28.780 |
of being judged, or whether they were multiplying and living in peace, that all of it, in the 00:11:37.540 |
And so, again, in Romans chapter 16, 25 to 26, he says, "Not to him who is able to strengthen 00:11:44.180 |
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation 00:11:49.080 |
of mystery that was kept secret for long ages." 00:11:53.780 |
Notice how he says, there's mystery, but it was deliberately kept secret, that not all 00:12:01.340 |
There's an aspect of God's redemptive history that God made very plain, that He was going 00:12:06.460 |
to save the world, but the specifics of how He was going to reveal this was kept a secret. 00:12:12.260 |
He says it again in Ephesians 3, 9 through 10, "And to bring to light to everyone what 00:12:17.140 |
is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through 00:12:22.980 |
the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities 00:12:28.380 |
So again, he says, here's this mystery, God's salvation plan, what He has ordained, and 00:12:35.220 |
He made it very clear what He was doing, but how this was going to be accomplished was 00:12:41.180 |
kept a mystery, and it was being revealed to the church and to the apostles, and now 00:12:48.940 |
Again in Colossians 1, 26, 27, "The mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed 00:12:57.100 |
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory 00:13:01.100 |
of the mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." 00:13:06.220 |
Now the point of what Paul is saying here about the mystery is simply to say, "You 00:13:14.700 |
You may not understand what God was doing with the nation of Israel, but that's the 00:13:19.020 |
Now He's making it known, and they were probably asking the question, "If God loves us, why 00:13:27.100 |
If these are your people, God, if the nation of Israel are the apple of your eye, why are 00:13:41.220 |
And so Paul is telling them to examine carefully the mystery of God, that first and foremost, 00:13:48.080 |
that it would humble you, that they may not be conceited and wise in their own mind. 00:13:54.260 |
Whenever we examine, whether it's history or even our own lives, that we don't get, 00:14:00.260 |
you know, our first thing, our first natural response is, "How do we make sense of things?" 00:14:05.680 |
So going back to what happened last weekend, there's all kinds of discussion. 00:14:11.300 |
Non-Christians are trying to pinpoint maybe it was his upbringing, maybe it's his political 00:14:15.820 |
view, you know, maybe it's because we have guns being sold just left and right, maybe 00:14:24.100 |
I mean, there have all kinds of theories have gone out and trying to make sense of things. 00:14:29.580 |
But even within the church, I know that there's a lot of people, even within the church, who 00:14:35.380 |
are confessing Christians are wrestling with, "Why did God allow that to happen?" 00:14:40.940 |
And so people have various theories that maybe God isn't powerful, maybe God doesn't care, 00:14:46.780 |
you know, or maybe God had nothing to do with it. 00:14:52.860 |
Like, he's just as surprised of the magnitude of the sin. 00:14:59.220 |
And so we start to create a God in our own mind that makes sense to us. 00:15:04.860 |
And then if we're not careful, we begin to form a God that fits into my ideology, my 00:15:10.620 |
And see, Paul is presenting to us, Scripture is presenting to us, that the mystery of Christ 00:15:18.660 |
And he says, "One, so therefore do not be conceited because God is sovereign. 00:15:22.420 |
One, do not be conceited to the Israelites, because the same temptation that caused them 00:15:27.860 |
to fall is the same tension that can cause you to fall. 00:15:31.620 |
So to be careful not to be arrogant toward them, but ultimately do not be arrogant toward 00:15:40.460 |
Whether you can make sense of it or not, whether the dots can be connected and say, "Oh, I 00:15:46.780 |
Whether you can make sense of it or not, whether you don't understand or not, our God is sitting 00:15:48.900 |
on His throne and being worshipped, completely sovereign. 00:15:53.900 |
In Proverbs 3, 5-7, and I know you know this passage well, it says, "Trust in the Lord 00:16:01.620 |
And I think the part that I want to talk about is all your heart. 00:16:06.360 |
If you're a Christian, you wouldn't be a Christian if you haven't trusted Him. 00:16:11.080 |
You wouldn't have repented if you didn't trust in Him. 00:16:13.360 |
But this passage doesn't say trust in the Lord. 00:16:15.100 |
It says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding." 00:16:21.740 |
Not only when God makes sense, but a lot of times when He doesn't make sense. 00:16:27.300 |
Not only when things are the way that you think it ought to be, but especially in places 00:16:32.540 |
when you try to look at things and things don't make sense. 00:16:40.220 |
You know, our natural tendency is we trust in the Lord in things that we think at. 00:16:47.060 |
So if you're not good with money and you have a hard time paying your bills and you're 00:16:53.180 |
struggling to find a job or whatever it may be, we cling to these verses, "Trust in 00:16:57.540 |
the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding." 00:17:00.420 |
Because we're not good at it, we're helpless. 00:17:02.540 |
But in the areas that we think we're good at, maybe some of you guys are type A personalities 00:17:06.280 |
and you have your whole life planned out and next year you're going to do this, next year 00:17:09.740 |
you're going to do that, and so far it's been going well. 00:17:12.220 |
You're moving up in ranks at your work and you're making decent money, you're paying 00:17:19.020 |
And so in those areas we have a hard time trusting in God, you know. 00:17:23.500 |
But maybe some of you guys are not good with your classes, maybe you're failing in your 00:17:27.540 |
class and you've tried everything and then you trust in the Lord with all your heart. 00:17:33.380 |
I've done everything I could and it's just not working, so I've got to trust the Lord, 00:17:39.660 |
Our tendency is on the things that we think we don't have control over, we have to trust 00:17:44.860 |
But on the things that we think we have some control over, we have a hard time letting 00:17:50.380 |
So when He says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, 00:17:59.720 |
Things that make sense and things that don't make sense, all your ways acknowledge Him 00:18:06.000 |
Sometimes what we think is good in the larger picture turns out to be really bad. 00:18:13.180 |
If you live long enough you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:18:15.220 |
Then there are some things that you thought at that moment that it was going to ruin your 00:18:19.100 |
life and then you look back at it and say, "Wow, you could completely see God's sovereignty." 00:18:26.180 |
Everybody believes in predestination historically. 00:18:29.780 |
They just have a hard time swallowing it now and looking forward. 00:18:33.780 |
I've never heard somebody give a testimony and they say, "You know, I did it all. 00:18:39.220 |
I made the plan and I chose the right people and I met these right people and I chose to 00:18:44.580 |
I've never heard, whether you are a Presbyterian or Baptist or whatever, everybody believes 00:18:49.740 |
in God's sovereignty because whenever they give testimony, they say, "Wow, you know, 00:18:52.740 |
God brought that person into my life and somehow I ran into this person and I don't know, 00:18:57.780 |
I wasn't even seeking Him and I heard the gospel and it just made sense to me all of 00:19:01.580 |
All of a sudden, everything seems to cook together when we look at our past. 00:19:05.820 |
We just have a hard time understanding how it works together today and tomorrow. 00:19:10.260 |
See, Paul is saying to the Gentiles, he said, "You may not understand fully what God is 00:19:18.700 |
There's parts of it where God left it a mystery, but when you look back at Israel's history 00:19:22.060 |
and all the suffering and all the difficulty, even in the midst of all the judgment, if 00:19:28.180 |
there's any period of time in Israel's history where they were completely without hope, it 00:19:34.060 |
would have been the time when this was being written." 00:19:37.180 |
And I know people may say, "Well, what about the Holocaust?" 00:19:39.860 |
Think about the situation where Paul was writing this letter. 00:19:44.140 |
These Jews were waiting for the Messiah through all of their suffering. 00:19:52.100 |
Once the Messiah comes, He's going to make us a superpower. 00:19:58.780 |
Our religion is going to be the greatest religion. 00:20:01.220 |
And so everything that they were suffering for, every answer that they had was the Messiah. 00:20:07.500 |
And yet when the Messiah, the Son of God comes, they end up rejecting Him and crucifying Him. 00:20:15.500 |
So if there was any period in Israel's history where they could have said, "Is God done with 00:20:23.140 |
If there's any time, if there's any time there was any doubt that God would have lost patience 00:20:28.740 |
with His people and would have said, "Enough," it would have been the time when this book 00:20:36.140 |
I mean, He put up with their rebellion while they were in the desert, with the griping 00:20:42.740 |
and complaining, and even going into captivity questioning God, even after God gives them 00:20:48.060 |
a chance to return, a very few of them even return. 00:20:50.820 |
And over and over again, through all of that, God's been patient. 00:20:53.280 |
But there's any time, like any one of us would understand if God cut them off and moved on, 00:21:00.200 |
it would have been at the writing of this letter. 00:21:04.220 |
And yet even then, He says, "I am not done with Israel." 00:21:10.120 |
In fact, not only is He not done, He said, "This is part of the mystery that's being 00:21:15.020 |
revealed, how He's using their hardening of the heart and rejection and rebellion to ultimately 00:21:25.360 |
This mystery is revealed in three separate ways. 00:21:30.380 |
One, He says, that they experienced a partial hardening of their heart. 00:21:36.760 |
At this time of this letter being written, Israel was for the most part rejecting their 00:21:42.300 |
There are some who converted, obviously like Apostle Paul, but for the most part, they've 00:21:47.500 |
And I think it's interesting that the way that their rejection of their Messiah and 00:21:51.940 |
the gospel, and they simply call it hardening. 00:21:56.820 |
When something is hardened, it means they're not molded. 00:22:00.700 |
So we are the clay, He is the powder, means when they are hardened, they're resisting 00:22:07.940 |
You don't have to shake your fist at God and say, "I don't want you to be in a rebellion 00:22:15.660 |
And that's why often Israel's sin is described as being stiff-necked. 00:22:24.000 |
God says all of these things, and you say, "Well, I don't know." 00:22:28.340 |
Not completely trusting in Him and seeking life outside of God. 00:22:36.820 |
So the first stage of this unfolding, at least from this point on, is that they've experienced 00:22:47.060 |
But the second stage is that Israel's hardening is temporary. 00:22:51.460 |
That because of their hardening, the gospel was opened up to the Gentile world. 00:22:55.980 |
His primary function, even remember when Jesus came, the Gentiles would come and say, "Hey, 00:23:02.020 |
And Jesus would say, "I did not come to the Gentiles. 00:23:04.840 |
I came to the house of Israel, the house of Judah." 00:23:06.900 |
In other words, up to the point of Christ's crucifixion, His primary concern was to work 00:23:15.420 |
But part of the mystery, part of the gospel mystery that was being revealed is, now the 00:23:20.420 |
time, because they've hardened, and because they've rejected Him, now the gospel is going 00:23:28.660 |
That God is using even their sins to take the gospel to the remotest part of the world. 00:23:34.820 |
In other words, He said, "God has not lost control." 00:23:37.700 |
He wasn't doing plan A, and because they rejected the Messiah, He said, "Well, let's go to plan 00:23:43.860 |
It wasn't plan B. He said, "From the very beginning, this was ordained by God. 00:23:47.660 |
God is still on His throne, and He knows exactly what He is doing." 00:23:55.800 |
Second Peter 3.9, He said, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count 00:24:00.100 |
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should 00:24:08.860 |
The whole reason why you and I are here is because God ordained this period for us. 00:24:14.420 |
He ordained this period so that you and I can come to Christ. 00:24:19.020 |
And if He doesn't come in our generation, it's because He's being patient toward our 00:24:24.820 |
And if He doesn't come in that generation, the whole reason is so that He can be patient 00:24:29.100 |
with our grandchildren, so that no one, no one's name who's written in the book of life 00:24:37.220 |
So in other words, He says, in God's mystery that is being revealed, that they experience 00:24:42.760 |
a temporary hardening of the heart, in order that the gospel may go out to the Gentiles, 00:24:48.540 |
which you and I, this period of the church, but it also means that it's temporary, that 00:24:55.620 |
God has designed a time when this time will end. 00:25:02.900 |
It's time for us to take the baton and to take the gospel to the remotest part of the 00:25:10.620 |
You and I are living in a period when God said, "I have allowed them to be hardened 00:25:19.400 |
Why He didn't come in the first century, second century, third century, was so that you and 00:25:27.660 |
If that is God's purpose and His mystery, like where do we fit into this? 00:25:35.400 |
Every single one of us ought to understand the urgency to spread the gospel. 00:25:42.620 |
Because the whole reason why Israel was hardened was to give us an opportunity. 00:25:49.280 |
In Revelation 20, 15 it says, "And if anyone's name was not found in the written book of 00:25:56.860 |
That there are names written in the book of life that God has ordained, and until the 00:26:00.260 |
full number comes in, He says, "God is going to allow them to be hardened." 00:26:12.940 |
There should be a sense of urgency in every Christian to spread the gospel. 00:26:18.340 |
Thirdly, He said the first stage is hardening, second stage is opening. 00:26:25.380 |
But thirdly, God's ultimate plan is to restore Israel. 00:26:30.300 |
In this way, He says, all Israel will be saved. 00:26:33.860 |
I think one of the questions that I ask is, does all Israel mean that every single Jew, 00:26:39.340 |
whether they believe Jesus Christ or not, are they going to be saved? 00:26:42.180 |
I've actually heard a radio program where they were mocking dispensationalism and say, 00:26:47.340 |
"Do you dispensationalists believe that you can go to heaven even if you don't believe 00:26:52.140 |
in Jesus Christ because they think all Israel is going to be saved?" 00:26:55.260 |
That is a very misunderstanding or false accusation toward dispensationalism. 00:27:00.820 |
If you don't know what dispensationalism is, don't worry about it. 00:27:06.060 |
It said that the elect of God, they're going to experience a great revival once that period 00:27:12.100 |
of God's patience for the Gentiles is done and we are at the end times, God's going to 00:27:17.940 |
bring revival again for His people and there's going to be a mass revival and conversion 00:27:23.460 |
among the Israelites and all those that have been ordained to eternal life in Israel, He 00:27:35.500 |
One, He made it very clear so that we may not be considered and wise in our own sight, 00:27:43.460 |
That we don't look at it and try to make sense of things and contradict what God has said. 00:27:48.900 |
Maybe God is not faithful and start to question and start having doubts about our faith. 00:27:53.940 |
The whole purpose of it is to tell us that what you do understand, what you don't understand. 00:28:00.860 |
That God is completely sovereign sitting on His throne. 00:28:05.380 |
I think Romans chapter 9, 4 through 6 kind of summarizes the whole point that He's been 00:28:12.260 |
He says, "They are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, 00:28:16.980 |
the giving of the law, the worship, the promise. 00:28:19.380 |
To them belong the patriarchs and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ 00:28:27.080 |
But it is not as though the word of God has failed." 00:28:38.420 |
Isn't that the struggle that you and I have on a day-to-day basis? 00:28:46.940 |
You've been a Christian long enough to know what the word of God says. 00:28:49.220 |
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, all these things shall be added unto you." 00:28:55.720 |
Maybe some of you have it tattooed somewhere. 00:29:06.180 |
And if you believe it, how does that change your decision-making? 00:29:11.580 |
How does that change the way you spend your money? 00:29:14.580 |
How does that change the way you view people? 00:29:18.220 |
How does that change the way you invest your time? 00:29:24.860 |
Where the rubber meets the road is do you believe it? 00:29:28.780 |
See this unveiling and revealing of the mystery of the gospel is to show even in Israel's 00:29:41.000 |
He shut one door so the other door can be opened. 00:29:44.000 |
But at the end of it all, the sovereign God is completely in control and the word of God 00:29:52.640 |
In summary, in verse 28, it says, "As regards to the gospel, they are enemies of God for 00:29:56.840 |
your sake, but as regards to the election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers." 00:30:02.400 |
Now there's so much wisdom and truth contained just in that verse. 00:30:07.160 |
As regards to the gospel, they become enemies of God. 00:30:14.320 |
Consider that even God's people, even the people that He made a promise to, Abraham, 00:30:17.880 |
Isaac, and Jacob, His very people that He called apple of His eyes, even them, when 00:30:24.480 |
they rebelled against God, they were punished. 00:30:29.800 |
Do not ever be deceived to think that God is ever okay with sin. 00:30:36.760 |
The same God who punished sin in the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. 00:30:45.940 |
Do not ever be deceived by a false prophet from the past, present, or the future to think 00:30:53.400 |
that somehow God's tolerance towards sin is better today than He was in the past. 00:31:01.160 |
He's shown us through how He has dealt with His people. 00:31:15.520 |
But also consider His kindness, the second part. 00:31:18.120 |
But as regards to election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 00:31:22.760 |
But the second part of the warning is, do not ever consider, do not ever be deceived 00:31:28.640 |
by Satan himself to think that somehow your sin is beyond his mercy. 00:31:37.560 |
As the false prophets went out to give lies and saying, "Well, God doesn't care what 00:31:43.760 |
you do," because that was the primary message of the false prophets. 00:31:54.720 |
He was grandfather just giving out candy whenever He wants. 00:31:59.520 |
And then the accuser of the brother, Satan himself, he'd harp on every mistake you make, 00:32:09.840 |
Make sure when you fall and you give him an opportunity, he's going to come and he's going 00:32:17.800 |
Maybe the first few times, but you've been wrestling with that sin for so many years. 00:32:27.360 |
So don't ever be deceived to think that somehow our sins will exhaust his patience. 00:32:36.120 |
As long as we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us all our unrighteousness. 00:32:43.800 |
So consider the severity of God and also consider the kindness of God. 00:32:53.360 |
You mistake one or the other, you've ruined the gospel. 00:33:07.640 |
That the holy, holy, holy God, despite all our sin, if we repent of our sins, He's faithful 00:33:17.360 |
and just to forgive us all our unrighteousness. 00:33:22.360 |
As basic, as fundamental as that is, you're going to spend all your life wrestling with 00:33:31.560 |
The application of his kindness and the application of his severity. 00:33:35.560 |
There are times when you need to be reminded of his severity because maybe you're just 00:33:41.080 |
Maybe you're struggling with purity and it's just, well, everybody struggles with it. 00:33:46.240 |
And you just kind of allowed sin into your life and compromise to the extent it no longer 00:33:52.560 |
And you need to understand the severity of God. 00:33:55.880 |
There never a time in our life or in history where God is all of a sudden changing and 00:34:02.160 |
He will, he will by no means let sin be sin and just sweep it under the rug. 00:34:09.840 |
But there are so many times also in our lives where you need to understand the kindness 00:34:14.960 |
He examined the nation of Israel, despite all their failings, despite all that they 00:34:29.560 |
Doesn't that give you the confidence to walk and be faithful? 00:34:34.320 |
Doesn't that give you the strength to follow him? 00:34:39.560 |
In Psalm, sorry, in Romans chapter 11, 29, in summary of all of this, he says, for the 00:34:45.120 |
gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 00:34:50.820 |
If you haven't memorized that passage, I encourage you to memorize that. 00:34:56.880 |
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 00:35:03.760 |
God is not man that he should lie nor the son of man that he should repent. 00:35:13.640 |
Our whole Christian life, our worship, our hope, our friendship, our marriage, all is 00:35:19.320 |
founded upon belief and application of this truth. 00:35:24.340 |
His gift and his calling of God are irrevocable. 00:35:39.360 |
We run to it when we need hope, when we're in despair, when we need a refuge. 00:35:54.460 |
He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded for a thousand generations, 00:35:59.880 |
the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed 00:36:04.920 |
to Jacob as a statute to Israel as an everlasting covenant. 00:36:12.200 |
Again, I'm going to ask the praise team to come up. 00:36:17.360 |
I think the challenge for us, you know, and I can't speak for every church and I can't 00:36:21.960 |
speak for generation as a whole, even though I do think it does apply. 00:36:27.200 |
The challenge for us is not knowing what it says, but believing what you already know. 00:36:37.280 |
Not superficial, knee-jerk reactions like, "Oh yeah, of course I believe. 00:36:40.800 |
And of course I believe Jesus died for me on the cross." 00:36:53.200 |
Do you also believe when he says, "Broad is the way that leads to destruction." 00:36:56.800 |
And many will be found on it, but narrow is the path that leads to eternal life. 00:37:08.400 |
As we come before the Lord and we consider God's patience and severity with his people, 00:37:13.840 |
and how all through all of this, our God is completely sovereign, that his word has not 00:37:18.200 |
failed us, that his gift and his calling are irrevocable, that as we take some time to 00:37:23.040 |
consider all of these things, again, not to simply superficially say, "I believe it," 00:37:28.360 |
but to examine and honestly pray before God, "I believe, help my unbelief," so that 00:37:37.560 |
Let's take some time to pray before God as our worship team leads us.