Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 11, I'll be reading from verse 11 all the way down to verse 15. Romans chapter 11, verse 11 through 15. So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means. Rather through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous.

Now, if their trespass means riches for the world and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now I am speaking to you Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.

For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that you would anoint this time and as you have promised that your word would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart, help us Lord God to continue to grow, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that we may know your perfect will and thought.

I pray Father God that only your word would go forth and that your people will hear the voice of Christ and follow him. We thank you Father in Jesus' name we pray. You know, Apostle Paul in a book, Letter to the Ephesians, he concludes his doxology, his presentation of the gospel message about election, about predestination, about adoption and about how we were saved and how he pursued us and then in conclusion before he gets to the imperatives and how we ought to apply these things in our lives, he concludes by praying for them and this is his prayer.

I pray that you may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, what is the length, what is the height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. The more I experience Christian life, the more I am compelled and the more I see how important it is that everything that we do is compelled by the love of Christ.

Now we have all kinds of means to motivate people to do things, right? There's accountability, rewards that if you do this, you know, you're going to be rewarded this way or maybe even shaming or fear if you don't do this, you know, we're going to judge you and there's all kinds of ways that we are motivated to do certain things or not to do certain things.

But ultimately in our walk with God, if the love of Christ isn't continually compelling us, every good thing that we were doing can easily become a bitter memory, frustration, maybe even anger because the only thing that compels us over and over again to go beyond what is natural, you know, God calls us to slap, you know, you get slapped on your left and then turn the other cheek and having slap, that's humanly impossible.

Jesus says that they're going to know that we are his disciples by the love that Jesus practiced on us. Even in marriage, the marriage relationship is to reflect the love of Christ to his bride and his bride's submission to Christ. So all of who we are, we are to reflect God's love.

So we love because he first loved us. So yes, we are motivated at times by fear, we're motivated by shame, we're motivated by reward, but ultimately if the love of Christ is not compelling us, everything that we're doing eventually, at least from my observation, from my own personal experience, eventually becomes a bitter memory or we become discouraged or angry.

So Paul, the whole purpose before he gets to the imperatism, chapter four, he lays out how he pursued sinners, how he loved us, how he predestined us, how he made us his children. And so basically what he's been doing is he's been laying out the love of Christ for three chapters and he concludes all of it by saying, "I presented this to you and I'm praying that you would comprehend through all of the things that God has done to you and for you and in you that you would understand the love of Christ.

You would understand the height, the depth, the width and length of the love of Christ together with all the saints. And then as you comprehend the love of Christ, that you will be compelled to practice this love." All that we have been studying through the book of Romans and in particular the area that we're getting in at.

If we're not careful, we can study it and say, "Well, is it about Israel? Is it not about Israel?" And we're debating back and forth, you know, and you have some groups that say, "Well, it's not Israel, God has done, you know, the church is Israel." And then we can get it back and forth and every theological system and some churches obviously have their own opinions and I have my own opinion on this and I think I made that pretty clear.

But if we don't see the big picture behind this and what God is doing, I think we can just easily get entangled and learn a lot of theology and have a lot of opinions about things without really having the ultimate effect of why this is even in the scripture.

See, he's been trying to answer this question in the last few chapters, "Has God rejected his people?" And he says, "By no means." And again, in a more recent context, "Have they fallen as to not be able to be restored?" And again, he says, "By no means." Paul has been trying to answer this question, "Where does Israel fit into God's salvation plan?" If the gospel has been opened up to the Gentiles and if obedience to the law doesn't make them any closer to God, then what is the purpose of Israel?

Is he done with them? He says, "By no means." Have they fallen where they can't get back up? He says, "By no means." Think carefully about why God established the nation of Israel in the first place. Remember we go back to Genesis chapter 12, 1, 2, and 3, especially verse 3, he said he was going to bless them and through the nation of Israel, he was going to reach the rest of the world.

So Israel was to function as a holy priesthood. They were mediators so that through the nation of Israel, by giving them the law, the sacrificial system, that through all of it, that God was going to be glorified. If that was the purpose of the nation of Israel, humanly speaking, it was a miserable failure.

Because if God chose Israel to be a mediator and through their obedience and through their righteousness, somehow they were going to reflect on the glory of God, they failed utterly. In fact, isn't that exactly what Paul says in Romans chapter 2? That because of you, the name of God is being blasphemed?

Israel's history. We're not talking about hundreds of years later. We're talking about as soon as, as soon as they are established, they're on the other side of the Red Sea and Moses is up in a mountain. The very first thing that they do is they go out and they create, they create, they create this, this idol, right?

This golden calf. And we're talking about the inception of the nation of Israel. And that's not where it ends. It begins there and all throughout the desert, they're constantly griping and complaining. We should have went back. Then they immediately forgot what God had done. All the miracles, the power encounter that he had, how he saved them miraculous through the Red Sea.

And he was merciful with them. They immediately, as soon as they get thirsty, they start to forget. All throughout Israel's history, as soon as the kings get established, we're not talking about out of dozens of kings, we have half of them that were good and half of them that were bad.

There are only a handful, maybe even one hand. The total number of kings that they had for hundreds and hundreds of years were all corrupt. Every single one of them led the nation astray. And as a result of that, God brings judgment upon them. And even as he is judging them, he says, only if you would return.

So momentarily they would repent. But ultimately in the large scheme of things, it was a record of Israel's failure after failure after failure after failure. Even after they go into captivity, God shows them mercy and he establishes a king, King Cyrus, and uses him to allow the nation of Israel to come back and reestablish the temple.

And only a handful of them, a very small number of them, actually even come back. The majority of them completely forgot about the covenant with God. They got assimilated into Babylon and into Persia and they liked it there and they didn't want to risk going back. So majority of the nation of Israel, even after the judgment of God, they just continue.

Again, record of failure over and over and over and over again. And from the very beginning of the inception of the nation of Israel until the very last chapter of Malachi, it's a record of Israel's failure. And I'm not just highlighting these bad things. If you read through the Old Testament, that's what you see.

So when you first read it superficially, you say, "Wow, God is vengeful." But when you read it carefully, the historical background and how God is responding to them, I think you'll come to the same conclusion that everybody comes to is, "Why is God so faithful to this nation? Why at some point you would think it's enough, but he says he's going to be faithful to his covenant." So in every human angle, we have to say Israel failed.

If that was the case, and that's the question that Paul is trying to answer. If God, if Israel was God's covenant people and they're just as standing, just as condemned as any Gentile, has God rejected his people? He says, "By no means." Have they fallen that they would not be restored?

He says, "By no means." Romans 8, 28, Paul says in the earlier chapters that God works all together for good. So even though in human record, we could say, "Well, God intended to be glorified to the nation of Israel, but they utterly failed. So if they utterly failed, doesn't that mean that God has failed?" If that was God's plan and it didn't work out, it's over and over again that Israel, his handpicked chosen people did not bring glory.

Well, in Romans 11, 11, Paul says earlier, "So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means. Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles." In other words, God is saying through Paul that the failure of Israel is a part of God's ultimate plan.

That it was not plan B, that plan A failed, so now he's going to plan B and going to the Gentiles. He says, "It is exactly their failure through which God was going to be glorified." It was because they rejected Christ, now that was God's sovereign plan, that even through that, he was going to bring salvation to the Gentiles.

Humanly speaking, it's like, well, at least from what we see, it's like, well, I mean, his plan actually didn't work out, but all that Paul has been saying up to this point, he's like, "No, it was always part of God's plan." Even though we may not fully comprehend and understand what God was doing, but now we look in retrospect, that's exactly what he ordained, and that's what he's been saying the last couple chapters.

So this morning, we're going to look at two things that Paul says, again, in these two short verses, I want to highlight certain things. One, that God's perfect plan was fulfilled through the failure of Israel. That it wasn't that because Israel failed that God went through another plan. He had another plan to the Gentiles, and hopefully this time it works out.

Since Israel failed, hopefully the church won't fail. That is not exactly what's going on. God intended from the very beginning that through the failure of Israel, that he was going to fulfill his perfect plan. In verse 13, it says, "I am speaking to you Gentiles." I am speaking to you Gentiles.

Let me stop there and spend a little bit of time talking about what is his point here? We can get easily caught up and talk about, "Well, is it about the Jews, or is it about the church, or is it about the Gentiles, and what is his main point?" We can get so caught up into saying, "What does this have to say about me, about marriage, about singleness?" We kind of look to the scripture to see how all of these things are ultimately going to fit for me.

I am not saying that that's wrong, but the ultimate author behind everything that we read is not you, and it is not me. It is not the Gentiles, and it is not the Jews. It is not Israel. The author and the main character all throughout the scripture was never about you, and it is not about me.

It is not about the Jews. It is not about the church. It is not about organizations. It is not about our effort. Ultimately it is to glorify God. Who was the book of Romans written to? Was it to Jews or to Gentiles? Just think to yourself. You don't have to say it out loud.

So let me ask it another way. The Roman church, were they predominantly Jews or Gentiles? Just think it. Don't say it, just in case I have to correct you. Is it a Gentile church or a Jewish church? It's a Gentile church. Predominantly it is a Gentile church. It is a Gentile area.

If you have been following us all the way from chapter 1 to where we are now, I am asking predominantly who is the letter addressed to? Predominantly. I am not saying that he speaks to both Jews and Gentiles, but who is he predominantly arguing to or about? Who is it addressed to at least predominantly?

Again, don't say it out loud. I just want you to go back to your memory of what you heard, what you remember. It is predominantly argument for the Jews because he says, "Well, the Gentiles are obviously, they have no excuse," but then he says, "So do you." And then he says, "Those who are under the law will be judged under the law.

Those who don't have the law will be judged without the law." And he says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Gentiles had no problem with that. They already knew. It was the Jews that he was trying to convince that you are also part of that condemnation.

And then he begins to explain what that means. And so what was the point of the law? So he begins to explain the purpose of the law from chapter 5 on to chapter 7. And so all of that is to explain what was God doing with the nation of Israel.

So we get chapter 8 where he said all of that culminates and says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And he explains what the gospel accomplished in chapter 8 both to the Jews and to the Gentiles. And then he comes back to the argument with the Jews between chapter 9, 10, and 11.

Then what about the Jews? And that's what we've been talking about in the last three chapters. So predominantly, he is trying to explain what he's been doing with the Jews. And yet in this text, and knowing the background of the Roman church, he's predominantly talking to the Gentiles. He says, "I am speaking now to the Gentiles, and as much then as I am to the apostle Gentile, I magnify my ministry in order that somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them." In fact, Paul's been saying this over and over again in Romans 1, 16.

He says, "I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." He's talking to predominantly Gentile church, and why even bring that up? It's almost like, "I love you, but I love them first." My salvation is for you, but those guys first.

Why even bring that up? Why stir them up like that? He's talking to the Gentiles and just say, "I love you, and I saved you." But he goes out of his way to make sure that they understand that it comes to the Jews first. Jesus himself said of his ministry in Matthew 15, 24, he answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." His intent was always to go to the Gentiles, but why limit himself in the three years?

It's like, "Well, I'm just to the Gentiles." And predominantly, majority of his time and energy was for the house of Israel. Again in John 4, 22, he makes it clear to the Samaritan woman. He says, "You worship what you do not know. You worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews." Now he's not saying that if you're a Jew, you're going to be saved.

He said, "First, the message of salvation came through the Jewish community." Again, let me read one more passage. In Romans 2, verse 3, it says, "There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also to the Greek." So he also works even the other way.

That condemnation and retribution will first come to the Jews because God's covenant people first started with the Jewish community. And then he follows that up by saying, "But glory and honor, peace and everyone who does good, the Jew first and also to the Greek." There's two reasons why he does that.

One, he's basically warning the Gentiles that although that the gospel has come to you, do not look down upon the Jewish people. So that they would not become proud because now they have become that God's chosen, at least through the church. But secondly, more importantly, he is reminding the Gentile church that God is not done with the nation of Israel.

He's not yet done with the nation of Israel. You see, from the beginning to the end, ultimately, we may look at that and say, "Well, I mean, if he's not done with the nation, they're special people and we're kind of second-class citizen." The whole point of the gospel message from Genesis to Revelation is a revelation ultimately about himself, about who God is.

So everything that we know about God, everything that we can trust about God, every promise that God has made to us, first come through his faithfulness to the nation of Israel. So the covenant that he made with Israel, his faithfulness to Israel, his anger toward their sin and judgment, and his faithfulness to forgive and to keep his covenant, all first and foremost, we see this with the nation of Israel.

You can't tell if somebody is faithful by just looking at them. It's like, "Oh, you know, everybody who looks this way are faithful." We would never make that judgment. If you apply for a job and they want to see if you're reliable, they always check your past. What's your past record?

What have you done? And they want to see some references, some other people who have observed you in the past. Because you can only tell a faithfulness if somebody is reliable based upon the record that they have of their past. You don't just look at them and say, "Oh, he's reliable, so I'm going to trust him." God's relationship with the nation of Israel, as I mentioned in the previous sermons, is his resume.

And it is ultimately a revelation of himself. And the reason why we can have confidence as a church to believe him and trust him is because his track record with the nation of Israel. That everything that has happened with the nation of Israel, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10, happened as an example for us to see what they went through, and we were to watch that, and it serves that purpose.

That's why Apostle Paul says, in the latter part of this, to you Gentiles, "Remember, it's not about you. Ultimately, it's not even about the Jews. It's about God." And he says, "I'm an apostle of the Gentiles. I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them." You have to remember, Apostle Paul, I mean, there's all kinds of ways to share the gospel, obviously.

But when we go to certain areas, I mean, you don't want to blow the horn, right? In fact, every time we go to India, because India is, the persecution meter is rising rapidly in India, so we're always cautious that we don't garner too much attention. And so every year, I mean, we're going to go back again in January, but every year we're a bit more concerned because they know we're coming.

So we're trying to keep it down low. So we go to certain areas where we're not going to gather attention, and I remember the first year we were there, we somehow got a reporter. We didn't want that, but a reporter came, took pictures, and Sarah actually got on the newspaper, and then we were kind of happy and not happy.

Happy that we had good press, not happy because we didn't want people to know. See, Apostle Paul, everywhere he went, people were waiting for him. And his fame began to spread, that this guy and his partners are going, and he's shaking up the world. And Paul says he's deliberately magnifying his ministry.

He's deliberately doing it public so that people will know. He wants them to know he's coming. He wants them to know what he's doing. He's preaching it very vocally and publicly, even though that's also garnering all kinds of persecution, and they're waiting for him even before he comes to the city.

But he was doing that all with a specific purpose, because he never forgot about the Jews. You know, the question that he asked, "Is God done with the nation of Israel?" I'm pretty sure that Paul was probably the first one to ask that question. This guy was so zealous for the nation of Israel, he was responsible for the first martyr in the church, Stephen.

He was responsible. And to be responsible for the death of somebody, I mean, he could have been put into capital punishment. He was responsible for a lot of people, and he went all the way to Damascus, and he was willing to risk his safety and his life to go get after them, to beat them, put them in jail, and drag them all the way back to Jerusalem.

I mean, he was zealous for his nation. So on the way to Damascus, he gets thrown off of his horse, he sees Christ. And so can you imagine for three days as he is blind, he must be thinking to himself that he was wrong? Have you ever been wrong about anything?

He said, "No, I've never been wrong." You're wrong about that. Maybe you had a certain view of somebody because of some certain things that you may have heard, and you kind of had negative feelings toward that person, and then maybe after you spent time, got to know them, it's like, "Oh, I was completely wrong, and I feel bad about that." Right?

I mean, we've all had experiences where we've been wrong about something, and then you think about all the things that you said and done because you had a certain view, and then realized that you were wrong about it. Can you imagine Apostle Paul, where he dedicated his life for the nation of Israel?

That's why the Pharisees were committed to keep the law, because they thought that by keeping the law, it was going to garner God's favor, and then when God favors them, they're going to be elevated to be a superpower. So that's why he was willing to give his life for his nation.

So now, all of a sudden, Christ appears in his life, and probably for those three days, he was thinking, "I was wrong? The gospel's now going to the Gentiles?" So I bet you, the first person who asked that question, before Paul ever put it in this letter to the Romans, was him.

If I was wrong, are you done with Israel then? That means not just me, that all of my friends, maybe my parents, my closest friends, the whole Sanhedrin, all the Pharisees, Phariseic friends that I had, that we were all wrong, are you done with Israel? Have we fallen that we cannot get up?

My guess is, if not by those very words, but Jesus himself probably answered Paul exactly the same way that Paul is stating it here, "By no means." You know, today, people use the term all the time, "God told me to do this, God told me to do that." How do you know God told you to do that?

Sometimes it could just be your feeling. Maybe you should take a nap, you know what I mean? Or get some rest, and you're getting all kinds of thoughts and feelings in your head. You say, "God told me to do this, and then all of a sudden, a year later, God told me to do something else." So we use that very loosely.

I mean, the only way that we know for sure God told you to do something is written in his inerrant word. Everything else, you're guessing. And most of the time, it's probably not. But Apostle Paul had direct communication with Christ. He was giving him revelation. Christ spoke to him audibly.

And this revelation was coming to Paul. So my guess is the first person that he, that question that Paul would have had was, "Not only am I wrong, have we all been wrong? Are you done with Israel?" Maybe not those very words, but the first answer is, "By no means." It wasn't that God was moving on for the nation of Israel.

It's just the way that they understood how the blessing was going to come to them. So Paul never forgot about his countrymen. He says it over and over again. If it was up to me, I would choose to be accursed rather than them. That's how many he loved his nation.

He says he had great sorrow in chapter 9, verse 2. He says he is constantly praying his heart's desire for them to be saved. Paul never forgot about the nation of Israel. Paul knew from the very get-go that his purpose of sending him to Gentiles wasn't to forsake the nation of Israel.

It was even in that that God was going to use him to stir up jealousy, to bring some of his countrymen back to repentance. So what does that tell us? That to the very end, God is faithful to his covenant to his own people. Remember the parable of the prodigal son?

The parable of the prodigal son ends with a rebuke to the older brother. He's not talking to the son. He's talking to the older brother because he was hanging around with the tax collectors and he said, "Why are you spending so much time with these sinners?" And so Jesus turns it around and tells three parables.

The first parable is a 99 sheep and going after the one, the lost coin and how they celebrate and then as a conclusion to these parables, he gives the parable of the prodigal son. And you guys know the prodigal son story well. He takes his dad's inheritance, he goes and he wastes it all and he comes back and dad comes and celebrates and has a huge party for him and then the older brother is behind the scene and what is older brother doing?

What is he doing? He is jealous. That's the scene that is pictured for us by Christ and the prodigal son. The older brother is in the background watching what his father is doing to the prodigal son, killing a calf and celebrating and embracing him, kissing him, loving him and the older brother is jealous.

I've been here all this time faithful but you've never killed a calf for me but this guy blows all the inheritance and he comes back and you're just going to bring him right in? That whole story was about the older brother, to stir in him and to rebuke him for his bad attitude toward the Gentiles.

Now we know that the story doesn't end with his jealousy turning into repentance because jealousy could either turn to rejection or jealousy can turn to pursuit. And so Paul is saying here is that through this ministry, through the prodigal son and he's doing it publicly because this is what God told him, because what Jesus told him that he's not done with the nation of Israel.

Do you see the heart of our God in the way he deals with this covenant people? Do you see his perseverance with these people? At what point would you give up on a friend? At what point would you give up on your partner? At what point would you draw the line and say it's enough?

I'm done taking abuse from these friends. At what point? Every one of us has a line. You cross this line, we're done. Look at the way our Father deals with his covenant people. Every part of their history, they're blaspheming his name, they're turning around and every time they get thirsty, it's like, "Who are you?

You're not good to us." He sends prophets, they kill them. And if that wasn't enough, he sends his only begotten son and they crucify him. At some point you would think that God would say, "You know, I know I made a covenant with you, but man, I chose the wrong people.

I know I told you that you're the apple of my eye, but man, that is enough." But even as Paul is writing this letter, even as he's being stoned and put into prison, he had every intention to come to Rome. But he comes to Rome in chains eventually. You see the way our God deals with his people?

It is not about Israel. It is not about Gentiles. Ultimately, it was always about him. Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, 15, 17, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." Not the lovely, not the ones with potential, but sinners.

And I want you to just take a minute to meditate on that because we know this passage so well. Sinners. It's very romantic to say, "Oh, you know, the God of the universe came down and saved sinners and walked among us because we think we're the sinners." Have you ever been sinned against?

Has somebody wronged you so deeply? You're disgusted. Is there any sin that you can think of that you can't stand to even be around that person, let alone even talk about it? Because when you and I think of sin, we think of sin in the context of my sin.

What we can tolerate. But when you think about sin itself, the ugliness of sin, the depth of sin, the grotesqueness of sin. And he says, "God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we are yet sinners." Think about the grotesquest things. Think about the most harsh things that somebody has ever done to you.

And think about sin in that context. And he says, "He came into the world seeking sinners." What is your natural response to sin? When somebody sins against you or you see something grotesque, what is your natural response? Oh man, I do everything in my power to stay away from them.

I remember when I was in the Philippines through Compassion and I shared with you, I was at a hotel and there were these old men in 50s and 60s hanging around with teenage Filipino girls. Eventually we found out that they were there because of sex trafficking. And so the young girls were giving their bodies because they needed to pay bills and they needed to help out their family and these old men were coming in bus loads in the middle of nowhere so that they can have sexual relations with these girls.

And the guys are just dancing around getting drunk and me and a bunch of pastors were in the room and they were joking around, "Hey, you guys want to come party with us?" And when we found out what was going on, I remember we were stepped into a small elevator and he must have been maybe in his mid-60s with it.

She must have been no more than 14, 15 years old, my daughter's age. And he was dancing, living it up and she was there quiet and he was turning around saying, "Hey, you guys want to party with us?" And I remember just five or six of us standing in that room and had to do everything in our power to restrain ourselves from just reaching out and grabbing this guy because we were so disgusted by what he was doing.

And after he left, after he walked out with this girl, we were in the elevator just looked at ourselves and just inflamed with anger. And all of us just, "Oh my gosh." Because we were this close just grabbing this guy and just putting him on the ground, just pummeling him.

I mean, we're pastors so we can't do that, right? But we all felt the same thing, the disgusting revelation of sin. We think about sin, we think about us, mistakes that we've made. Sin encompasses all of that. So if that's grotesque to a sinful man who's also a sinner, imagine how filthy that is in the hands and eyes of a holy, holy, holy God.

Imagine if we look at the sins of Israel and how we are frustrated with their sins. Imagine what God must be feeling, a holy, holy, holy God who puts up with them over and over and has loved them over and over again and yet even to his only begotten Son they don't recognize and they crucify him.

See, it wasn't about me, it wasn't about Israel. God received glory even in their failure because in their failure God is magnified. This saying is trustworthy and disturbing of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost but I receive mercy for this reason that in me the foremost Jesus Christ may display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life.

He was chosen because he was a grotesque sinner. He says in order that those who come after him may say if God can forgive him then he can forgive me. If God can pursue a sinner like him then he can forgive me. He wasn't chosen because he was smart.

He wasn't chosen because he was a member, possibly a member of the Sanhedrin or Pharisee among Pharisees. And that's what he means in Philippians chapter 3. If you want to compare human righteousness, Hebrew among Hebrews, the tribe of Benjamin, as to the law perfect, as to zeal persecuting the church, you want to go head to head but in light of surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ all of that became rubbish.

It wasn't about Israel. It's about Christ. The only person that comes out clean from Genesis to Revelation is not the prophets, it's not the kings, it's not Israel, it's not even Apostle Paul, and it's not the church. Christ and Christ alone is magnified through redemptive history. It was always about Christ, not you, it's not me.

See his miracle and what he has done is nothing short of raising someone from the dead and that's my second point. Only God's mercy can raise the dead. He says in 15, "For their rejection means reconciliation of the world. What will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" Do you remember 2 Samuel chapter 12?

That as a result of David's sin, that Bathsheba is pregnant and God says as a result that the child is not going to live. So the child becomes sick and for seven days David is fasting and praying and he is urging God to forgive his sins and to restore him.

After seven days he dies. And to the surprise of his men, David just gets up, washes up and then he just goes back to normal life and so they're like, "What's going on? You were begging God for seven days, what happened?" And this is how he answers, 2 Samuel 12, 22.

He said, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, 'Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live?' But now he is dead, so why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he will not return to me." In other words, what David is saying is he's dead.

As long as he lives, I had some hope. But now that he's dead, I can go to him but he won't come to me. In other words, I can die but he can't be brought back to life. So what's the point? In other words, there's no hope. That's exactly how the Bible describes our state.

We weren't just struggling in our sins. We weren't just holding on to a small thin red line. He says we were dead in our trespasses. We can't possibly will ourselves to get to God. Think how hard it is to change yourself. Those of you who like chocolate, how many of you guys like chocolate?

A lot of you. A lot of you like chocolate. From today, stop liking chocolate. Hope you succeed. How many of you guys are morning people? Stop being morning people. Start being night people. Stay up late. How many of you are night people? Stop. It's better if you wake up in the morning.

How many of you are introverts? Stop it. Just be extroverts from now on. You need to make some friends. Go out there and mingle with people. How many of you are extroverts? Stop it. Stop talking so much. Give other people an opportunity. Think about even these trivial things. Even just the appetite of we like sugar or we like it spicy or don't like it spicy.

Just like, okay, I'm just going to change. Imagine how difficult that is to change something as trivial as what you like to eat. To possibly think a man who is dead in his trespass all of a sudden had the will to seek God out is just ludicrous. It says we were dead in our trespasses.

Now all of us have different testimonies. Some of you guys had radical testimonies. Maybe you were a former gangster and all the youth could retreat skits were about you. Most of us, our testimonies is like, "I don't have a great testimony." I would raise up in the church and I didn't know Christ.

At some point, the gospel began to make sense, so I decided to take my faith seriously and I began to learn and grow. I can't pinpoint exactly what day, but it was sometime between 18 and 19. It just kind of happened. I know I'm saved. I can't pinpoint exactly where it is and I don't really have anything to share.

Whether you have a radical testimony, at least you think it's radical or you think it's mundane, every single one of us came back from the dead. Every single one of us. The fact that you were able to hear the Word of God and make sense, I didn't open those ears.

You didn't open those ears. Your parents didn't open their ears. You didn't will yourself to open it. There was a miracle that happened. We were once dead in our trespasses and He made us alive and that's exactly what He says. He brought us back from the dead, so there is no mundane testimony.

It's just that you don't realize what happened. There is no average testimony. Every single person, whether you were raised in the church, whether you can pinpoint it or not pinpoint it, every single one of us came back from the dead because of Christ. Ephesians 2.4, "But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ." You know, this was all prophesied for the nation of Israel.

If you can put that verse up, Ezekiel chapter 37, and it's a long passage but I want to read this to you as I wrap up this morning. God prophesied to the nation of Israel long before He ever even says this in this verse, in verse 15. "The hand of the Lord was upon me," and this is Ezekiel talking, "and He brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley.

It was full of bones and He led me around among them and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley and behold, they were very dry. And He said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' And I answered, 'O Lord God, you know.' Then He said to me, 'Prophesy over these bones and say to them, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord." Thus says the Lord God of these bones, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live and I will lay sinews upon you and will cause flesh to come upon you and cover you with skid and put breath in you and you shall live and you shall know that I am the Lord." There's two things I want to point out here.

God shows this scene to Ezekiel to prophesy about what He will do in the future to the nation of Israel, but there's two things here. One, He says, "These dry bones, there's no flesh." He's not dealing with somebody who just passed away, the resuscitated. We're talking about all he has is skeleton.

There's nothing. There's absolutely no hope. If David didn't have hope because his son died, I can go to him, he can't come to me. He's looking at a body that's already decomposed and all that is left is bones. And God says to Ezekiel, "I am the Lord of these bones." And then He prophesied, "I'm going to put the flesh back and eventually I'm going to put the breath back." And then when that happens, what does He say at the end?

"Then you shall know that I am the Lord." This was not by chance, this was not by human effort, this was not because something else happened. He says, "I am the Lord." If you've ever read through the book of Ezekiel, next time I encourage you to take a marker and mark every time God says, "I do this so that you may know that I am the Lord your God." Or some form of that.

"I do this that you may know that I am the Lord your God." So you're going to find out the whole book of Ezekiel's theme is for God to reveal Himself. And so His judgment and His mercy and patience toward the nation of Israel, all of it is so that they may know that the Lord God, that He is the Lord God.

Over and over again. He tells Ezekiel that this is what's going to happen. So Ezekiel goes ahead and obeys and says in verse 7, "So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a sound and behold, a rattling and the bones came together, bone to its bones.

And I looked and behold, there were sinews on them and flesh come upon them and skin and covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then He said to me, 'Prophesy to breathe, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live." So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet an exceedingly great army." So exactly as God said, this happens and then God explains what He is doing in verse 11 and on.

He said to them, "To me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is lost. We are cleanly cut off.'" In other words, there's absolutely no hope. Israel was the dry bones, not just fallen down, not just without breath.

There's no flesh on it. It's just bones, completely hopeless. "Therefore, prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I will open your graves and raise you up from your grave, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people.

And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. I have spoken, and I will do it,' declares the Lord." Israel's history is God allowing their sin to become utterly sinful and they come to a point where all they are are dry bones.

There's no hope left for Israel. And God had prophesied hundreds and hundreds of years before. Paul ever said this, that this is exactly what he was going to do. When Israel has absolutely no hope, when all they are are dry bones, he said, "I will restore them. I'll put flesh back on them, and I will breathe life back into them." Why?

Because then you will know that I am the Lord. It wasn't Israel's righteousness, it wasn't Israel's hard work, it wasn't something about Israel, because God. Because He said He was going to do it. Israel as a nation disappears off the face of the earth in AD 70. For 2,000 years they're gone.

And May 14th, 1948, they come back to their land. It's unheard of. Just humanly speaking, it's unheard of. Now, their restoration is not complete. The gospel is being preached. And as the prophecy says, one day there's going to be a mass conversion of the Jews. But just the fact that they have been restored in their flesh, the breath is not in there yet.

Remember, there were two stages of the way that God restored this dry bone. He put the flesh back on, and He said, "Well, they're not breathing yet." But He said He's going to eventually bring the breath back in. And so Israel has the flesh, they don't have the breath yet.

This was all prophesied. All of it, not about Israel. It's not about the church. It's not about you. It's not about me. Our confidence is in Christ and Him alone. If you've been a Christian long enough, you've probably been disappointed with other Christians. Don't nod your head, because we know already.

People have disappointed you. If you've been a Christian long enough, leaders have disappointed you. If you've been a Christian long enough, churches have disappointed you. If you've been a Christian long enough, maybe the whole Christian community you've lost hope for. Again, if you've been a Christian long enough, even longer than that, even movements have disappointed you.

So you have various stages. Depending on how long you've been a Christian, there's various stages of what you've been disappointed by. And that's where you are, and I assume all of us to different degrees have experienced that, good. Because our confidence should have never been on man to begin with.

It was never about me. It was never about you. It's never about a church. It was never about a movement or a particular generation or a group of people. All of it is so that you and I may know that there is one Lord. And He's the only one who can resuscitate the dead.

Let me conclude with this, because as I was reading this and as I was preparing for the sermon and I think about this friend that I had back in high school. I think I mentioned it to him a few of you, but I've lost contact with him after we graduated in freshman year.

He went his way and I went my way, and we lost contact. And about a few years ago, I got contacted through Facebook. It was a mutual friend saying, "Hey, you know, Peter," and so we were talking and so we met and had lunch. And I found out that he became a Christian.

And so both him and I were like, "You're a pastor?" And then I found out he's a deacon of a large church nearby, and he became a very successful businessman. So he has two factories here. He's got business out in Israel. He's got a factory out in Turkey and Hong Kong.

So he's always traveling, but he's responsible for mission work. So he's always taking people, he's always trying to get me to come with him to do missions. So we get together, and every time we get together, I just dumbfound it, because the last time I met him, he got kicked out of Kennedy High School for selling drugs.

And so that was my last remembrance of him. So we became good friends. And so we used to go around, like we started to do business together. So his dad owned some plastic bag factory, so we used to take whatever was misprinted and to walk out in South Central and areas where they have small markets, and we would go sell bags.

So this is when we were 18, 19 years old. So that's my last remembrance of him. And this guy would always have a, like his trunk would always be filled with alcohol. I think his dad owned a liquor store too, and I think that's why maybe he had it.

But it was always, so anytime he wanted a drink, he'd just pop up his trunk and would just drink and put it back. And pretty sure it was illegal back then too. I'm not sure, right? It was illegal back then. That was my last remembrance of him. And then so all of a sudden, we haven't seen each other over 20 some years and we get together, and I'm a pastor and as a deacon of a church doing all kinds of missions.

And even now, I mean, this is several years ago, but even now, every time we get together, I'm just looking at him and saying, "Oh my gosh, you're a drug dealer." He's probably looking at me, he's like, "You're a pastor? I remember you." Every time I think about that, it's, humanly speaking, how could that be possible?

Humanly speaking, how could that be possible? How can we buy our own efforts? Like, you know, I just decided to just shape up and give my life, and I just decided to be a better person. And that's where I came. Both of us experienced a miracle. Only the mercy of God.

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can raise somebody from the dead. Everything that Paul has been saying here, even though we talk about the nation of Israel, in the end, our hope is found in nothing less. Amen? If you've been disappointed because you've placed your hope in something else, maybe that's where you've gone wrong.

Maybe living with dissatisfaction, discouragement, maybe that's where you've gone wrong. Christ and Christ alone. As we invite our praise team to come up, again, I want to invite you to take some time to pray and earnestly seek the Lord. You know, I can give these messages and give broad strokes about we want to follow Christ, but I want to really encourage you to think specifically in application, right?

If I'm pursuing things that is causing me to drift from Christ, what is it in your life that's causing you to take your eyes off of Him? Specifically, what is it that you're doing? What is it that you're not doing? Now I want you to take some time to pray and come before the Lord in earnest prayer as our worship team leads us.