back to index2018-07-01 The Gospel and the Faithfulness of God Part 1
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If you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 15 verses 8 through 13. 00:00:16.960 |
"For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness 00:00:22.240 |
in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles 00:00:29.920 |
As it is written, 'Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name.' 00:00:34.420 |
And again it is said, 'Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.' 00:00:37.560 |
And again, 'Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let the peoples extol him.' 00:00:41.960 |
And again Isaiah says, 'The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the 00:00:49.240 |
May the God of hope fill you with all joy, peace, and believing, so that by the power 00:01:01.080 |
Gracious and loving Father, we thank you for the privilege that we have to be able to come 00:01:07.840 |
We pray that your word, Lord God, would be your words, not mine, not from human experience, 00:01:16.440 |
That your children will truly be able to hear your voice, that we may glorify and honor 00:01:22.500 |
We pray that you would anoint this time, Father God, that it would go forth and not return 00:01:31.720 |
The text that we're looking at this morning, obviously all of it is important, but especially 00:01:36.000 |
this text here in verse 8 through 13, it's a conclusion of the argument that he's been 00:01:43.720 |
Specifically in the context, he's been making the argument that in light of all the mercies 00:01:48.280 |
that was taught from chapter 1 through 11, he says, "In view of this mercy," chapter 00:01:52.720 |
12, "through where we are today, how we ought to live. 00:01:57.240 |
What should be the life of a believer who confesses to believe in justification by faith, 00:02:03.080 |
that we've been saved by this grace of God, that we are truly affected by the gospel?" 00:02:10.080 |
If you've been paying attention in the last maybe about 10 to 12 years, there's been a 00:02:14.360 |
movement called the gospel-centered movement. 00:02:17.200 |
And if you went to any kind of Christian bookstore, you've probably seen gospel-centered parenting, 00:02:21.360 |
gospel-centered evangelism, gospel-centered church planting, gospel-centered marriage. 00:02:26.560 |
And so this gospel-centricity has permeated every part of our Christian lives. 00:02:33.120 |
It's taught in seminaries, it's in conferences, it's in books that we read. 00:02:40.080 |
And all of these things are great because the gospel is truly the foundation upon which 00:02:46.360 |
And anytime we stray from that, it becomes something else, where Christ is not central. 00:02:52.600 |
And we can easily become a gathering of people with good morals, doing good things, but then 00:02:56.880 |
we forget why we're gathered together ultimately to honor and glorify Christ. 00:03:01.840 |
But if we're not careful, gospel-centrality can easily just become vocabulary in the way 00:03:06.860 |
we say things, how we articulate something, and the way we think. 00:03:12.100 |
But Paul's been teaching, starting from chapter 12 all the way to where we are today, what 00:03:20.460 |
And the most tangible way that gospel, being gospel-centric, the way it should be applied 00:03:26.440 |
is in the way that we worship God, in the way that we serve one another. 00:03:30.060 |
And so specifically, he's been talking about how to handle a strong brother with a weak 00:03:36.340 |
brother, in particular, these particular things that he's been talking about, eating and drinking. 00:03:42.940 |
How do we show grace, especially when we are right? 00:03:48.540 |
So being gospel-centric is not having the right vocabulary and sermons sounding a certain 00:03:54.780 |
way, and all of these things may be important, but the real application of that, where the 00:03:58.540 |
rubber meets the road, is the way that we interact with one another. 00:04:02.620 |
You can be gospel-centric in your speech and have nothing to do with the gospel in the 00:04:06.580 |
way that we deal with conflict, with people that annoy us, or when we think that we're 00:04:12.980 |
Because ultimately, what we worship and why we're gathered together is because Christ 00:04:18.140 |
saw our sins, and instead of turning away, he approached us and he saved us and covered 00:04:25.620 |
That's every song that we sing, at the core of it, that's the message that we sing. 00:04:31.540 |
But today's text isn't simply a conclusion of that that he's been saying for the last 00:04:38.300 |
It's actually a conclusion of the larger text. 00:04:43.780 |
Remember in the beginning of Romans, Paul is introducing the gospel, and do you remember 00:04:53.380 |
I was looking to see how many sermons that I gave on the book of Romans, and we're kind 00:04:57.420 |
of at the tail end now, and I counted almost 120 sermons on the book of Romans. 00:05:03.060 |
And I started preaching the book of Romans in June of 2015. 00:05:09.900 |
I think it's going to take us maybe to the end of this year to finish the book of Romans. 00:05:13.740 |
So in all of these things that we've been talking about, even though there might be 00:05:16.980 |
specific nuances that may have been different, but the central message has been the same, 00:05:24.420 |
So he started the book of Romans by saying, what, all have sinned and fall short of the 00:05:30.460 |
That those who are under the law will be judged under the law. 00:05:33.260 |
Those who do not have the law will be judged without the law. 00:05:36.160 |
And in chapter three, he summarizes this by saying all have sinned, all, Jews and Gentiles, 00:05:41.980 |
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:05:46.820 |
The text that we're looking at today is a conclusion of that argument. 00:05:50.000 |
So when I first started to prepare for the sermon, starting from maybe even last week, 00:05:57.400 |
my intention was to go through the exposition of chapter eight, verse eight through 13. 00:06:01.280 |
But this is because it is the conclusion of the argument. 00:06:05.840 |
And then the middle, starting from chapter 15, 14 to the end of chapter 16, he's kind 00:06:20.000 |
But the conclusion of what he's been saying from chapter one to all the way to chapter 00:06:24.960 |
15 is stated in the few verses that are here. 00:06:28.560 |
So it was a three-part message or three-point message, but I divided it into two parts because 00:06:32.840 |
I think we need to slow down and kind of really dissect what he is saying. 00:06:36.640 |
So I'm giving you a heads up that today's message is going to be a bit more heavier 00:06:42.360 |
So if you came in kind of half asleep, wake yourself up. 00:06:46.600 |
You know, I'm giving you a warning ahead of time because we're going to be diving into 00:06:53.360 |
And so basically, Paul is going to be giving a broad redemptive outline of the Old Testament. 00:07:00.360 |
So that in and of itself, you can already see how that's going to be a bit heavy. 00:07:08.660 |
In fact, not only is this a conclusion of 15 chapters of this argument of how all have 00:07:15.880 |
sin and fall short of the glory of God, Jews and Gentiles, and then the concluding remark 00:07:19.800 |
is all are saved by the grace of God, Jews and Gentiles. 00:07:24.680 |
So between chapter one and chapter 15, he's been giving the solution. 00:07:28.960 |
He gave the problem, and then he's been giving the solution, and then he gives a conclusion, 00:07:38.200 |
So what I'm going to do today is I'm going to give you one point, and under that one 00:07:44.320 |
And then we're going to get to point two and three next week. 00:07:47.300 |
So the beginning point, the beginning of his conclusion is stated in starting, I'm going 00:07:53.280 |
to start reading from verse seven all the way to verse nine. 00:07:57.200 |
He says, "Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God." 00:08:01.360 |
Again, and that is the conclusion of chapter 12 to 15. 00:08:04.960 |
And then starting from verse eight, he concludes the larger argument that he's been making, 00:08:08.920 |
"For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's faithfulness, 00:08:15.360 |
in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles 00:08:22.160 |
For the sake of paying attention and to make it easier for you to follow along, the first 00:08:28.240 |
point that I want to emphasize is Christ's sacrifice proves that God keeps his promises. 00:08:36.440 |
Christ's sacrifice proves that God keeps his promises. 00:08:40.760 |
Some of you guys may remember a long time ago, a long time ago, it seems like a long 00:08:46.360 |
time ago, in 1991, there was a movement called the Promise Keepers. 00:08:53.840 |
Okay, so there was a movement called the Promise Keepers, and it was a bunch of men who started 00:08:59.520 |
this revival among men, and just like the name says, they would gather all the men together, 00:09:05.640 |
Christian men together, for the purpose of renewing our vows to our wives, renewing our 00:09:10.640 |
commitment to our families, and thus, Promise Keepers. 00:09:15.040 |
Let's keep the promise that we made when we got married, right? 00:09:19.960 |
And so there was a huge movement at one point, over 800,000 people have attended this Promise 00:09:25.840 |
And the reason why this was so successful is because generally we're not good at keeping 00:09:32.720 |
The reason why Promise Keepers as a movement took shape and was so popular is because majority, 00:09:39.720 |
if not every single person, has a testimony of failing in our promises. 00:09:46.280 |
There's a reason why Jesus says in Matthew 5, 33 to 37, he says, "Again, you have heard 00:09:51.080 |
that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the 00:09:57.200 |
But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of 00:10:03.000 |
God, or by earth, for it is a footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great 00:10:08.600 |
And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 00:10:20.480 |
In fact, Jesus himself said, "Don't take any vows." 00:10:24.720 |
I know some of you guys are already asking that question, then, you know, everyone who's 00:10:27.880 |
married here has taken some kind of a vow that you violated God's command. 00:10:33.200 |
Well, I'm not going to deal with that today, okay? 00:10:36.360 |
So I'm just going to let you wrestle with that, and we'll come another time to deal 00:10:41.680 |
But the text, Jesus clearly says, "Do not take oaths." 00:10:47.200 |
And the reason why is not simply because of the people who are there. 00:10:54.520 |
For thousands of years, God's been dealing with his people, and the history of Israel 00:11:00.880 |
is a history of God's faithfulness and the unfaithfulness of his people. 00:11:05.560 |
That's basically, in a nutshell, the Old Testament. 00:11:10.120 |
Repeatedly over and over again, you see in the book of Judges, where everyone did what 00:11:13.600 |
they thought was right in their own eyes, and then they would get into trouble because 00:11:18.520 |
they would forget God, and the enemies would come and get attacked, and then God raises 00:11:24.420 |
up a judge, and then a revival breaks out, and then sometimes, not even months, days 00:11:30.640 |
after revival breaks out, they completely forget about God, and they go right back into 00:11:35.040 |
their idolatry, and then this cycle over and over again in the book of Judges. 00:11:39.560 |
But every time revival breaks out, they're like, "We will not do this again," and then 00:11:46.600 |
Remember the book of Joshua, when Joshua, he stands before the nation of Israel at the 00:11:50.600 |
end of his life, and he's tired of the people who are holding on to both the world and God, 00:11:57.000 |
and he said, "Choose you this day whom you're going to serve," and as he is finishing up 00:12:02.080 |
his life, I mean, you could see the frustration in his tone, in his writing in Joshua 24. 00:12:10.960 |
Stop teeter-tottering between these two opinions. 00:12:15.960 |
If it is Baal you want to serve, serve him, but stop holding on to both. 00:12:20.000 |
But he says, "For me and my household, we will serve the Lord," and as a result of that 00:12:26.840 |
powerful message, the nation of Israel responds in Joshua 24, 16, he says, "Then the people 00:12:32.760 |
answered, 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. 00:12:39.560 |
For it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, 00:12:43.680 |
out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us 00:12:49.160 |
in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 00:12:54.080 |
And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites, who lived in the land. 00:12:58.440 |
Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God." 00:13:03.640 |
So at the end of Joshua's life, he gives this great sermon, and a revival breaks out, and 00:13:07.800 |
the nation of Israel says, "We will serve the Lord," and in their repentance, they recount 00:13:12.720 |
his faithfulness to the nation of Israel, from delivering them from Egypt, from crossing 00:13:19.080 |
the Red Sea, from his faithfulness and feeding them and caring for them, all throughout the 00:13:24.680 |
desert and then entering into the Promised Land. 00:13:28.360 |
And yet, after this revival breaks out, after this promise, a vow that they take before 00:13:33.600 |
God, it doesn't take long after Joshua dies, they fall right back into idolatry. 00:13:40.680 |
And Israel's history is a cycle of promises broken, vows given and then broken over and 00:13:51.720 |
He's been dealing with his people for thousands of years, and every single promise that they 00:13:59.900 |
So he's not simply talking about the people who are standing before him. 00:14:04.160 |
He's saying, "You do not have the power to keep your vow. 00:14:13.400 |
Stop saying that I will do this and I will do that. 00:14:22.800 |
See the only person, only being in the universe who can make a promise and actually keep it, 00:14:30.400 |
not just the next day, not just a hundred years later, but even thousands of years later, 00:14:38.400 |
So he says all of this has been fulfilled to show you and to the world that God is faithful, 00:14:52.860 |
Think about even the friendships that we have. 00:14:56.280 |
You know, the people that you were closest to the 10 years ago, that you say you're going 00:15:08.600 |
Think about how easily our hearts can change. 00:15:13.160 |
We don't have any control over tomorrow, whether it is our work, whether it is our family, 00:15:19.720 |
We may desire it, but we don't have the ability. 00:15:24.840 |
And even our desire will change from time to time. 00:15:42.320 |
It wasn't anything that you and I stirred up because it is unreliable. 00:15:45.880 |
Anything that is dependent upon us is unreliable. 00:15:50.400 |
And so he says all this happened to reveal that God is faithful, that God is consistent. 00:16:03.600 |
And the only reason why you and I are here is because that's who he is. 00:16:08.300 |
The book all throughout Old Testament history is simply a record of the fulfillment of God's 00:16:16.160 |
In Genesis chapter 3, as soon as Adam and Eve falls, he makes a prophecy. 00:16:20.580 |
He promises the world that the seed of the woman is going to come. 00:16:24.200 |
He's going to crush the head of the serpent, talking about Christ. 00:16:28.800 |
And so the record of Genesis to the book of Malachi, all of Old Testament, is a record 00:16:38.600 |
There's a reason why there's so many genealogies in the Old Testament. 00:16:44.520 |
You know, you've worked hard reading the Bible, so here's some genealogy for you to read, 00:16:52.120 |
Genealogies are there as a record of the seed of this woman coming. 00:16:57.800 |
And that's why, again, the book of Matthew starts with genealogy, to point that Christ 00:17:05.360 |
So everything that we read in the book of Genesis all the way to Malachi is God's faithfulness. 00:17:12.640 |
So Paul is going to make this argument, but he's not just going to say God's promise, 00:17:19.920 |
He's going to recite the Old Testament, and he's going to recite a broad view of the Old 00:17:25.760 |
Testament, just basically the redemptive history recorded in the Scripture. 00:17:29.480 |
And obviously, Paul could have quoted thousands of verses, but he picks four particular verses, 00:17:38.520 |
So if you look at it, Paul is going to say God is faithful, and he does what he does 00:17:47.320 |
And then he quotes four particular passages, and the four verses come from one section 00:17:52.560 |
from the Torah, which is the law, two of them from the Psalms, and one from the prophets, 00:17:59.120 |
which basically is the summary of the Old Testament. 00:18:01.920 |
So he's basically saying this prophecy was not limited to just this one section. 00:18:07.160 |
All over the Old Testament, God has embedded what he was planning to do, and what you're 00:18:12.640 |
seeing now is just the fulfillment of that promise. 00:18:15.800 |
That's basically, in a nutshell, an overview of what he's saying here. 00:18:20.760 |
So like I said, it's going to be a little bit heavier than normal, because I don't have 00:18:25.000 |
any stories today, because I need the time to get into the text. 00:18:34.380 |
But I need some time for you to kind of like wrestle and digest this, and I'm going to 00:18:38.480 |
tell you ahead of time that you need to be actively listening to this. 00:18:43.960 |
And the reason why, again, I'm not saying that on some Sundays you shouldn't, but in 00:18:49.600 |
particular today, because if you really understand what God's been doing in history, there's 00:18:57.960 |
no way somebody who believes what he is reading here can walk away without a greater sense 00:19:03.200 |
of confidence in everything that God is doing today. 00:19:08.440 |
So I don't want you to just have a superficial, "Oh yeah, God is speaking." 00:19:12.360 |
It's one thing to say, "No, no, you can trust him. 00:19:16.080 |
It's another thing to have experienced that and have seen that. 00:19:20.560 |
You may have the same opinion, but the depth is different. 00:19:23.280 |
So I really want you to see what Paul is trying to say. 00:19:31.520 |
So the first thing that he says in verse 9, he quotes Psalm 1849. 00:19:39.920 |
He says, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name." 00:19:45.120 |
Now out of the four verses, I want you to look at, if you look at the first three verses, 00:19:50.640 |
which is starting from verse 9, I told you you're going to have to stay with me. 00:19:55.200 |
"Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name," verse 10. 00:19:58.840 |
And again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." 00:20:01.920 |
And then verse 11, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol 00:20:08.360 |
Do you notice the slight difference between the three verses and where the Gentiles fit 00:20:21.360 |
Do you notice the slight difference in the three verses where the Gentiles fit into what 00:20:28.440 |
The first one, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles." 00:20:32.600 |
So where the Gentiles are further out and the Israelites are exalting God and they are 00:20:43.240 |
He said they are going to observe God's glory. 00:20:47.080 |
In verse 10, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." 00:20:51.320 |
So the Gentiles now have seen his glory and they have come to him and they are rejoicing 00:20:56.920 |
If you go to verse 11, it says, "Praise the Lord," who? 00:21:00.560 |
"All you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him." 00:21:06.640 |
So it is Israelites praising, Gentiles observing, Gentiles and Israel together praising God, 00:21:13.160 |
and then verse 11 is the Gentiles who are praising God. 00:21:16.560 |
And that, in a nutshell, up to this point, is redemptive history that he is outlining. 00:21:24.200 |
So the first verse in verse 9, it says, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles," quoted 00:21:28.720 |
from Psalm 1849, where David is praising God for empowering Israel, the nation of Israel, 00:21:39.160 |
And it is in that context he is praising him. 00:21:42.560 |
But he recognizes that God's faithfulness to the nation of Israel is causing the Gentiles, 00:21:50.080 |
the nations, to observe that and praise God for it, which was always God's intent. 00:21:56.520 |
In Genesis chapter 12, 1-3, with the inception of the nation of Israel, he says, "Now the 00:22:01.440 |
Lord said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to 00:22:07.160 |
the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless 00:22:10.840 |
you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 00:22:14.500 |
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you 00:22:19.540 |
all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" 00:22:23.360 |
So from the very get-go, his intention was not simply the nation of Israel. 00:22:31.320 |
Israel was simply an avenue in which God's glory was going to go to the ends of the world. 00:22:39.480 |
And David recognizes this, that even in their greatest conquest of their enemies, he says, 00:22:44.720 |
"All the Gentiles will praise you because of what you are doing with us." 00:22:49.060 |
In Genesis 18, 18, "Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and 00:22:53.680 |
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." 00:22:57.120 |
Genesis 22, 18, "And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because 00:23:02.920 |
Genesis 26, 4, "I will multiply your offsprings, and at the stars of heaven, and will give 00:23:07.840 |
to your offspring all these lands, and in your offspring all the nations of the earth 00:23:13.160 |
Genesis 28, 14, "Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread 00:23:17.500 |
abroad the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south, and in you and your 00:23:22.180 |
offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 00:23:26.920 |
So the record in the book of Genesis is God bringing the nation of Israel, and through 00:23:32.360 |
them as they are being blessed, all the other nations are coming to glorify God. 00:23:38.140 |
So even though the history is about, is specific about the nation of Israel, it was never specifically 00:23:48.340 |
And that's why Peter, when he speaks and gives his first sermon in Acts 3, 25, he says, "You 00:23:53.780 |
are the sons of the prophets, and of the covenant of God made with your father, saying to Abraham, 00:23:58.580 |
and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed." 00:24:03.500 |
So even a new covenant, as they recite the Old Testament, they said that this was God's 00:24:10.180 |
Now I want you to just, you know, I know it's going to start sounding like a lecture, which 00:24:22.860 |
I really want you to understand the depth of what Paul is saying here. 00:24:28.100 |
Because if you miss that, or if you just kind of grasp it superficially, you're going to 00:24:34.780 |
say, "God is good, God is love, God is faithful, God keeps his promises," because that's what 00:24:41.020 |
you've heard, and that's what you've read, and that's what you've memorized, and that's 00:24:47.580 |
There is a world of difference between someone who comes to recognize that in pursuit of 00:24:52.980 |
God versus somebody who heard it and just regurgitated it, because that makes sense. 00:25:01.460 |
This was always God's intent, and that's what he means when he quotes that verse in Psalm, 00:25:09.620 |
Secondly, in verse 10, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." 00:25:14.520 |
And this is a direct quote from Deuteronomy 32, 43, where Moses, at the end of his life, 00:25:22.360 |
Moses has three songs, and this is the last song that he writes. 00:25:25.720 |
And in his song, he recites God's faithfulness to the nation of Israel in the desert. 00:25:32.900 |
But even Moses, the greatest leader in Israel, at the end of his life, recognizes that it 00:25:40.960 |
He said all the Gentiles, all together with God's people, rejoice. 00:25:48.000 |
And so whenever God would touch them with his glory, it wasn't just Israel. 00:26:00.260 |
We saw that with the king of Assyria and all their people. 00:26:04.600 |
And when they recognize this tiny little nation that should have been squashed and disappeared 00:26:11.160 |
many times over, not only in the Old Testament, but even in the New Testament, and they say, 00:26:16.240 |
how can this tiny little group of people who are wandering in the desert possibly conquer 00:26:24.080 |
nations that have been fortified, who are solidified in their battle? 00:26:29.960 |
They're better prepared, have more money, and they have walls to protect them. 00:26:35.120 |
And yet this tiny little nation with a brand new young leader, Joshua, walks in and the 00:26:43.040 |
So even the pagans were watching that from a distance and say, there's something about 00:26:49.460 |
And even kings, pagan kings, would watch this and give God the glory. 00:26:55.160 |
And so Moses, recognizing that, in his song says, because of what he is doing with the 00:27:00.240 |
nation of Israel, all the Gentiles will join with him to praise his name. 00:27:06.300 |
So by the time we come to the New Testament, we have a group of people called the God-fearers. 00:27:11.140 |
So some of your translation didn't translate it exactly that way, but I think the NASB 00:27:18.400 |
God-fearers are people who are worshiping Yahweh who didn't convert to Judaism. 00:27:23.960 |
They somehow came into contact either with a Jew or the message of the Israelites, and 00:27:32.280 |
they saw God's glory, and they began to worship him from a distance as well, and they were 00:27:37.700 |
The Gentiles would join Israel to praise his name. 00:27:46.940 |
And then as God is glorified through Israel, they begin to come and worship him together. 00:27:56.760 |
Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the people extol him. 00:28:01.080 |
And this is coming directly out of Psalm chapter 117, verse 1. 00:28:06.640 |
The significance behind this particular Psalm, we don't know the context. 00:28:11.360 |
There's a lot of people who are taking guesses, but we don't have a concrete context of this 00:28:16.080 |
But what we do know about this verse is that it is the shortest verse, shortest chapter 00:28:22.780 |
Let me ask you, what is the shortest verse in the New Testament? 00:28:30.860 |
So some of you guys may know the context of that, John chapter 11, where Jesus is standing 00:28:35.540 |
in front of Lazarus' tomb, and he is overwhelmed with compassion and says, "Jesus wept." 00:28:41.860 |
Most of you probably, if you've been a Christian for any period of time, probably already have 00:28:46.080 |
Maybe not the context, but you probably knew Jesus wept was the smallest verse. 00:28:54.660 |
Because it is the shortest verse in the Bible, Jesus wept. 00:28:59.380 |
But do you think that maybe in the synagogues, the rabbis may have asked his congregants 00:29:06.700 |
Maybe he was given a lecture and he said, "What is the shortest chapter in the Bible?" 00:29:15.500 |
So my guess is, just like many of you knew and heard Jesus wept was the shortest verse, 00:29:20.560 |
this is a verse or this is a chapter that they probably knew well. 00:29:26.620 |
If you've been a Jew for any period of time, this is probably one of those verses that 00:29:30.460 |
was memorized and recited often because of its uniqueness. 00:29:34.660 |
And in 117, 1 and 2, it says, "Praise the Lord, all nations. 00:29:39.140 |
Extol him, all peoples, for great is his steadfast love toward us. 00:29:44.380 |
And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. 00:29:48.060 |
This short verse that probably every Jew knew, outside of Deuteronomy chapter 6, 6, the great 00:29:54.100 |
Shema, this is probably one of those verses that they memorized because it was just easy. 00:30:00.140 |
And the content is about how all the nations will come and praise him because of his faithfulness. 00:30:07.660 |
That this was embedded into their culture, into their psyche. 00:30:10.700 |
So it is amazing that when Christ came and the kingdom began to get open to the Gentiles, 00:30:23.340 |
And that's why, you know, Luke chapter 15, when Jesus was hanging around with the sinners, 00:30:28.740 |
the Pharisees, like, "How can you possibly do that? 00:30:32.620 |
And then Jesus tells them three parables to return to tables and rebuke them. 00:30:35.340 |
"How did you not know that this was your God? 00:30:39.980 |
You're rebuking me for hanging around with them." 00:30:43.260 |
"How could you not join me in reaching out to them when God clearly is a God who pursues 00:30:51.780 |
This was so clearly stated in the Old Testament that Paul is giving redemptive history by 00:30:56.980 |
reciting these verses that this is not just something that Paul is just kind of pulling 00:31:02.860 |
That if you read the scriptures carefully, that this is what God was intending to do 00:31:09.860 |
And that's why Jesus says, "You search the scriptures thinking that you're going to find 00:31:17.540 |
It was the fulfillment of prophecy that the seed of the woman is going to come crushed 00:31:22.540 |
And all that he is stating in these passages was for that purpose. 00:31:27.460 |
In Romans 9, 25 to 26, Paul has already said, as indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who are 00:31:37.060 |
And her who has not been loved, who has not been loved, I will call beloved. 00:31:40.740 |
And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they 00:31:52.220 |
At one point, God raised a nation of Israel, and because of them, all the Gentile world 00:31:57.540 |
was in awe, because they clearly recognized that it wasn't their power, it wasn't their 00:32:05.300 |
ability to conquer, it wasn't their expertise in warfare. 00:32:09.880 |
They recognized it was their God behind them that caused them to be a force to reckon with. 00:32:15.540 |
And then as a result of that, many of the Gentiles began to come to Christ, and then 00:32:19.820 |
when the time of Christ came, the Gentiles were prepared to come and join the nation 00:32:26.220 |
But here in Romans, Paul says, "They have experienced the hardening of the heart." 00:32:30.460 |
Now we're in a period of Gentiles, a period where the church has taken center stage, and 00:32:40.260 |
And the same purpose that he had for the nation of Israel, now he's exalting the church, that 00:32:45.020 |
through the church, that the world may know the manifold wisdom of Christ. 00:32:51.260 |
All of this wasn't plan B. This is what God intended, this is what God promised, this 00:32:56.620 |
is what God fulfilled, and the whole book of the Bible is a record of his faithfulness 00:33:04.460 |
But the fourth verse that we're going to be looking at is what really gives life to all 00:33:11.000 |
Verse 12, which is a direct quote from Isaiah 11, 10, "The root of Jesse will come, even 00:33:17.260 |
he who arises to rule the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles put their hope." 00:33:21.580 |
In other words, it's a prophecy of the Messiah, that all of this, the first three verses, 00:33:28.260 |
the redemptive history, all of this is going to happen through the seed of the woman. 00:33:35.860 |
In Isaiah 11, 1-2, it says, "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and 00:33:40.740 |
a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon 00:33:45.140 |
him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit 00:33:52.780 |
The reason why this is happening and will continue to happen, despite the unfaithfulness 00:33:59.600 |
of his people, is because of the root of Jesse. 00:34:04.540 |
But I want you to notice here that he doesn't say the fruit of Jesse, but the root of Jesse. 00:34:12.220 |
The fruit of Jesse basically would mean that the nation of Israel, Jesse, again, as another 00:34:17.900 |
way of saying the nation of Israel, that somehow their work and then they maneuvered and some 00:34:23.540 |
great things happened and the Messiah came from that. 00:34:26.580 |
And we know from Jesus' genealogy that that's not true. 00:34:29.940 |
In fact, you look at Jesus' genealogy, you think, "How could the Messiah have come from 00:34:36.060 |
But you see, he doesn't say the fruit of Jesse, he says the root of Jesse. 00:34:40.760 |
If you've ever had a tree in your backyard, in your front yard, when you want to take 00:34:46.960 |
it out, you don't just cut off the branches, right? 00:34:49.780 |
Because if you cut off the branches and you cut off the tree, there's a possibility, maybe 00:34:53.280 |
not tomorrow, maybe not next year, but at some point it'll grow back. 00:34:57.160 |
But if you want that tree to completely die, what do you have to do? 00:35:03.360 |
Because the roots, if it is still in the ground, there's hope for life in that stump. 00:35:09.160 |
And so when he says the reason why God is able to fulfill all of this is not because 00:35:15.000 |
Israel's faithfulness, is not because the church's faithfulness, but because the root 00:35:30.280 |
And the reason why you and I still exist today, think about the chaos some of you guys have 00:35:39.880 |
And I mean, anybody who's been in church for more than 10 years have horror stories 00:35:46.660 |
Maybe it was your fault, maybe it was other people's fault, but you have stories. 00:35:54.020 |
If you look at church history, there's periods, chunks of periods in church history where 00:35:59.960 |
the leaders of the church were killing people for reading their Bible. 00:36:03.880 |
I mean, we're not talking about one or two events. 00:36:07.480 |
There are chunks of history where they were deliberately preaching false doctrines, selling 00:36:15.520 |
And I'm not just talking about one or two periods. 00:36:21.760 |
You can't study church history without that somehow creeping in every other thing that 00:36:33.520 |
Was it because of smart men, determined people? 00:36:37.780 |
Because people who have PhDs in theology, somehow that God used them to preserve the 00:36:46.100 |
The only answer we have is Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of Hades 00:37:00.740 |
Only reason why you and I are here is because of that fact. 00:37:05.820 |
Study the Old Testament, study Israel's history. 00:37:08.660 |
See if Old Testament history doesn't sound a lot like the New Testament history of the 00:37:13.360 |
After reading Israel's history from Genesis to Malachi, your end feeling or end result 00:37:18.580 |
is going to be, "How did Israel, why is Israel not destroyed? 00:37:29.460 |
Simply because, he says, "The root of Jesse was coming." 00:37:39.760 |
You see how easily you and I, without making any effort, put our confidence in man, put 00:37:49.580 |
our confidence in the promises of people, friendships that we have at church, maybe 00:37:58.760 |
How we so easily twist our confidence in everything that we see. 00:38:02.540 |
Well, we know clearly that Scripture says that, "Just shall walk by faith." 00:38:08.540 |
That our strength is not in numbers, that our strength is not in our experience or background 00:38:21.100 |
And he is not man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. 00:38:31.860 |
It says, "So I ask, did they stumble, the Jews, stumble in order that they might fall 00:38:40.700 |
Rather through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel 00:38:45.300 |
Now, if their trespass means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for 00:38:49.580 |
the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? 00:38:54.780 |
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles and as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I 00:39:00.940 |
In order that somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. 00:39:05.620 |
And then finally verse 15, "For if their rejection means a reconciliation of the world, what 00:39:10.620 |
will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" 00:39:17.900 |
If the gospel was preserved all these years, despite the unfaithfulness of the church, 00:39:25.260 |
imagine how often, how many promises that you and I have made. 00:39:29.900 |
After coming back from retreats, hearing this great sermon, coming back from revivals, conferences, 00:39:38.420 |
short term missions, and every time we fail, we repent and we're resolved, I'm not going 00:39:50.220 |
Every new year resolution, I'm going to be a better Christian, I'm going to know my Bible, 00:39:54.220 |
I'm going to evangelize, I'm going to do this, I'm going to be more gracious. 00:39:58.220 |
And often times it doesn't take long, even on Sundays you'll hear a sermon and be convicted 00:40:09.200 |
We're not here because we were better determined, we figured out a better way. 00:40:20.820 |
If you believe that, why would you not build on this solid rock? 00:40:28.340 |
When the storm comes, you don't want to be in a boat because the ground is unstable. 00:40:36.020 |
When the storm comes, you want to get to the shore as quickly as possible because you don't 00:40:41.940 |
know what the ground is going to look like, you don't know when the wave is coming, you 00:40:44.740 |
don't know when the disaster is going to come and flip your boat over. 00:40:49.220 |
That's why he says, "Build your house upon the rock." 00:41:11.820 |
I pray that the faithfulness of our God will ground you in him and in him alone. 00:41:19.300 |
Let's take some time to pray as we ask our worship team to come. 00:41:30.020 |
I'm not going to ask you to do anything this morning other than praise God for who he is. 00:41:38.380 |
Thank him that you're here and that you even understood any part of this message. 00:41:45.340 |
It is by the kindness of God that he leads us to repentance. 00:41:51.500 |
So if any part of God's word has softened your heart, convicted you, reminded you, strengthened 00:41:55.980 |
you, rebuked you, it's because it's the kindness of God. 00:42:00.160 |
So let's fix our eyes upon Christ this morning, just thanking him and praising him for his