The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 21: Sovereign Grace

Episode Date: June 10, 2018

In MERCY, God chooses whoever He wills for the purpose of declaring salvation is in Jesus Christ alone! God sovereignly chooses Israel to show His glory, that through Israel, Jesus Christ would come and make possible that all nations can know God.

Amen, amen, across all of our campuses. Go ahead and grab your seats. Just a little light reading this weekend. Man, the last five weeks have been amazing, right? I mean, Romans 8, the text itself is just an incredibly rich text. And Pastor Jobi has been in his sweet spot. I mean, he's always a great communicator. But over these last few weeks, he's just really found a sweet spot.

And Romans 8 is amazing. I mean, it's filled with so many verses that, I hope we are committing to memory, you know, starting with there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, to the promise that God is working all things for the good of those who love him, to this crescendo of the assurance of our salvation, that nothing can separate us from God. I mean, chapter eight ends and we are rolling. And then chapter nine comes and hits us in the face like a brick. I mean, just wham like we walked into a brick wall.

Here's what I mean. Let's start with Romans 837. It says, no, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, no rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord. like high fives all around and then Paul says, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguished in my heart. That got heavy in a hurry. Like high fives all around to like frowning faces everywhere.

It's only going to get thicker as we get into chapter 9. And I think before we dig in verse by verse, it would be helpful just. to remind ourselves of why is Romans 9 here? Well, in your Roman study journals, one of the first verses that we memorized was Romans chapter 1, verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation so that everyone who believes, to the Jew first and then to the Gentile. See, Romans 9 and through 11, these next three chapters that we're in, are going to connect for us this sovereign choice of God to save man and our human responsibility, that it's going to show us this integration of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility,

the power of salvation and its connection to the surrender of our hearts. Romans 8, like I said, a second ago, it ends with this great crescendo. Like it is like, it is amazing, this declaration, this assurance of salvation, that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God. But as Paul writes Roman 8, his heart begins to think about this group of people that he loves dearly that does not know Jesus as the Lord. It's his fellow Israelites. It's his kinsmen, its family. Them not knowing Jesus is crushing Paul's heart.

And on the hills of one of the greatest chapters in the Bible, we get this heart-wrenching chapter of Romans 9. Paul says it this way as his heart breaks for his people. for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsman according to the flesh. This is personal for Paul. Paul says he would take their place in hell. I mean, who do you love that much? Who do you love so much you would trade your salvation for theirs?

Now here's the truth. I love y'all across all of our campuses. Man, I love our church deeply. I am honored to be one of your pastors. I'm not going to hell for you. Like, I love you, but there's very few people that I'm like, I'll go to hell for them. Most of them have my last name and live in my house. Like a large, like a high percent of them.

And there's some family members that I would flip a coin on, but it's in reality. There's just this overwhelming love that Paul has. I mean, every one of us has someone in our life that we would say, yeah, I think I would, I think I would give them my salvation. And Paul was with this great love that he's willing to trade his. Paul's writing chapter 9 from a very difficult place. And it's the same place that we need to read it. Like Paul's writing in this spot where he's desperately longing to see those he loves come to know Jesus.

And if we read chapter 9 from any other heart position, we'll miss it. Like our heart's position needs to be as I read Romans 9. Am I willing to engage tough questions for those in my life that I love that don't yet know Jesus? Verse forward, Paul says this, they, remember my brothers, my family, my kinsmen, they are Israelites. And to them belong adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong to patriarchs. From their race, according to flesh, is the Christ, who is God above all. Blessed forever, amen.

So in Romans chapter 3, verse 1, Paul asked this question, what good is it to be a Jew? What advantage it to be Jewish? And he's going to answer a few chapters later here in Romans 9. And he says, look, here's their advantage. It was an adoption that Israel was given this privilege of being sons and daughters. They did not naturally belong to the Heavenly Father, but God graciously accepted them. It was to their advantage that Israel was the first people to know. God's glory through the splendor of His divine presence. Israel had numerous covenants established

with them by God, each and every one of them communicating the constant and consistent relational pursuit of Israel as God, by God, for Israel being his people. It's to their advantage that Israel was given the law and that the law remained with Israel, guiding the people of Israel in a relationship with the king of kings. And out of all the people of the world, God chose to give Israel the prescription of worship. He gave them the tabernacle. He gave them the temple. God gave them the invitation to worship him and know him as their creator. No other nation and no other tribe in all of human history was given this sweet invitation. And Israel was the one and only nation in which the promise of the Messiah was entrusted. And to walk out and fulfill that

promise, it was through the lineage of Abraham that would come the birth of the Messiah. And through the nation of Israel would come one who would be the salvation for all nations. And yet, with disadvantage and with these promises, so many in Israel missed Jesus. So many chose their religion and their practices over relationship and presence. And this was breaking Paul's heart. Israel had every opportunity to see Jesus and they were missing him and Paul was in anguish over it. Our reality is not much different. I mean, you can, especially here in the South, but you can go to church, you can have a lineage of faith.

Your great, great, great, great, great grandma could have gone to church or Sunday school with Moses. And your family could have like perfect attendance records. If you don't know what that is, I'll talk to me after the service. I will show you how you can have perfect attendance ribbons for Sunday. school. I've dominated that one. But you can have all of those things and yet not be saved. Because the only thing that leads to salvation is a surrendering of your life to Jesus. Being a church-going American raised in the South does not make you a child of God. None of us were born Christians. But all of us have been invited to be born again by surrendering to Jesus,

by believing in the promise of salvation. And so Paul in verse 6 is going to answer a question that wasn't really asked, but he's just assuming if the promises were given to Israel and not everyone in Israel had recognized Jesus, then does that mean that God's word had failed? In verse 6, he says, It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all our children of Abraham because they are his offspring,

but through Isaac shall be your offspring shall be named. He's going to explain what that means. Verse 8, this means, that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as offspring. For this is what was promised. About this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son. A little bit of history lesson for us in this context.

Abraham actually had two sons. He had Ishmael and he had Isaac. Both were children were born with his DNA, both were his offspring, both were children from his own loins. and one was born to a servant girl named Hagar, and the other was born to his wife named Sarah. Both were his offspring, but only one of them was given the promise of God. Salvation is not based on heredity, but surrender. Not ethnicity, but faith.

It is not the blood that we belong, but it is the faith by which we belong to the family of God. Jared Wilson says it this way. God has neither abandoned his promise to the Jews nor neglected the needs of the godless Gentiles. Instead, he is assembling for himself a people out of every tongue, tribe, and nation. Verse 10. And not only so. Now, Paul is going to give us kind of a second example here. The first example was Ishmael and Isaac.

And to any good Jew, they would have argued, well, it makes sense that Isaac was a child of promise. Ishmael was born to the servant girl. I know they're both descendants of Abraham, but let's get rid of the illegitimate older sibling. We're okay with Isaac. So Paul says, great. Let me give you another example. But also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad,

in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger. So here comes Jacob and Esau. They are both born of one man and one woman. They're twins. They're coming out of the womb together. And God says, so that my purposes may continue, the younger is going to serve.

Or the older is going to serve the younger, which was backwards. From the very beginning, Israel knew God through his work of election. I mean, God chose Abraham. God chose Isaac. God chose Jacob. God chose Moses and on and on and on. God is the active agent in choosing for himself a people, carving out for himself a nation, making those who weren't his, his to herald his name and declare his glory.

And from the very beginning of time, it's always been God's prerogative to choose from himself those to be set apart. Paul is showing us here that when God began to include the Gentiles, he wasn't doing anything new, but he is clarifying that the work of Jesus on the cross is the way by which God chooses his own. And like Ishmael, for us, we need to know that our birthright does not make us accepted by God. It doesn't matter where you're born, what family you're born to. That doesn't make you accepted by God. And like Esau, our works do not make us accepted by God. We are accepted by faith and by faith alone.

And this in itself is a mercy from God. because you can't be born right and you can't do right and you can't do anything to earn your salvation. Yet God who is rich in mercy was willing to give it to us. Verse 13 as we continue in our easy reading section. As it is written, Jacob, I loved, but Esau I hated. Now this is a very tough verse. It's a tough phrase. And we have to ask the question, how can a loving God who 1st John 4 says God is love?

And John 3 says God so loved the world. He gave his one and only son. How can this God, who is love and who is so loving, how could he ever be accused of hating Esau? Well, the Bible is doing something here. It does about five other times in Scripture. It's going to juxtapose the word hate next to love, and it's going to make the word hate translate to loves less.

One of the best examples is Jesus says you must hate your family. Now, for some of you, that's the only commandment you get right. But for others of us, like God, Jesus did not mean that we should be marked by hatred. But what Jesus meant was that our love for him should be so great that when we compare our love for our brothers and sisters, it just can't compare. That's what Jesus is communicating. So God loved Jacob more and he loved Esau less. So God accepts Jacob and he accepts the nation of Israel, but he rejects Esau and the nation of Israel. but he rejects Esau and the nation of Edom.

Now here's the thing, both of them on the exact same premises. They were both accepted or rejected on the premise of his mercy, not their merit. Before they had done anything good or bad, they had already been loved and given mercy. And it's easy for us to look at Jacob and see how he was given mercy. I mean, he didn't deserve anything, and yet God made him the father of the nation of Israel. But how in the world is it mercy for Esau? I think the first thing we have to do to answer this question rightly is understand mercy correctly. Mercy is this.

Mercy is when you do not get what you deserve. It's withheld from you. Now, Esau deserved the same thing that every single one of us deserve. But the moment we sin against a righteous, perfect, pure, and holy God, in that moment we deserve immediate death. death. Esau deserved immediate death, and what Esau received was much different. You see, Esau still received mercy. He still got to look in his lover's eyes and his wife's eyes. He still got to hold his children. Esau still father is an entire nation. But in God's sovereignty, God chose Jacob to father the nation of Israel. Now, Paul is going to ask three cussions to help

us begin to unpack and understand what's going on here. Verse 14, he asked the The first question, what shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? And he's going to go ahead and answer it by no means. By choosing Israel, is God being unjust? And Paul says no. In fact, he can't be unjust. There is no injustice in any of God's actions.

Why? Well, 100% of God's actions are 100% just because, one, God is just. And two, God never changes. Therefore, God can only be God and God cannot be anything but God and God is just. Therefore, God cannot be in just. Every action, every activity of God is just. It's called the doctrine of immutability. He's unable. He does not change. I could take hours here. We could be here until, you know, we could just, I'd be fine with that. Some of y'all, you've got to eat lunch today. So here's what I want to do. Instead of like just, you know, ruining everybody's, you know, next. 72 hours. I just want to invite you to something we're doing this summer. We do these things called doctrine classes. And for four weeks, me, Pastor Britt, Pastor John Beringer, we're going to dig into this statement, God is. And we're going to talk about God's sovereignty, immutability.

We're going to talk about for four Friday nights throughout the summer. We're going to talk about who God is, all the information's in your worship guide. You should sign up. That thing always gets filled up. So you should sign up now. And if you need to do it right now, just come back to me in a second, right? And so let's get back to the sermon. Come to doctrine class. We'll handle more of what it means for God to be immutable. Back to it. So if God is not unjust, then what is he? God is merciful. God is not unjust. He is merciful. Verse 15, he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

Praise Jesus. Can you imagine if God having compassion on us was based upon our will, our desires to submit to something else, our exertion, our run, the way we behave? If God's compassion on us was dependent upon our desires and our behavior, we would all be in great trouble. And yet God is rich in mercy. he has mercy, he has compassion. The number one way we know that God is merciful is this. God is merciful because God himself says he is merciful. Verse 15, I will have mercy.

Now, what God is doing here is he's developing his own character witness. In fact, God is the only person in all of eternity that can witness to his own character. And through scripture, God reveals himself to us, which, by the way, that in itself is another mercy, that you and I have access to the Word of God, that he would speak and prophets and they would write those things down, holy men inspired by the Holy Spirit, and we would have access to it. And not only just access to it, but every one of you have every kind of translation on your phone. Many of you have so many Bibles at home that it's like playing an Easter egg hunt to find the version you want. Like we are incredibly blessed to have God's word.

We don't deserve it, and yet in his mercy he gives it to us. In fact, it's through scripture that God testifies to his character. It's through scripture that God reveals to us that he declares himself to be merciful and compassionate. The text here that Paul is referring to is Exodus 33. And in Exodus 33, we find the nation of Israel wrapped incredibly deep in idolatry. They had exchanged the worship of the one true God for the created things. Now, what Israel deserved in that moment was a quick death, an annihilation, a wiping away of the nation of Israel from all of history.

This is the people that God had raised up and rescued from Egypt. He had made them his own. He had given his glorious presence, the law, and they were trading all of that for adulterous relationships with false gods. God had every right to wipe them out of existence. And yet, God chooses to work through mercy. It's in mercy that God works through Moses. It's in mercy that God works through the nation of Israel.

It's in mercy that God blesses Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. And not because of their merit. God's mercy is not dependent upon human will. Thank God it isn't. This week I've had an incredible opportunity to study one of my favorite theologians as I've been preparing Romans 9. One of my favorite theologians, you guys know them pretty well. and it's Pastor Ryan Britt.

Amazing guy. Loves Jesus, an incredibly deep thinker, and he was supposed to preach this weekend's message. And to many sleepless nights, I kind of wish he would have. I would have slept better this whole week, I promise. And the only reason that Pastor Britt's not preaching this weekend is that about a week and a half ago, his father, Dr. Billy Britt, passed away. And Ryan's been up in the Atlanta area,

taking care of some stuff with his family. And so I have the honor to stand here and represent Pastor Britt today. And I share this with you for two reasons. One, church, the scripture tells us to mourn with those who mourn. And, man, Pastor Ryan, Pastor Britt, he loves you guys more than his face will ever show it. He does. He loves you well.

And during this season, I would encourage us to love him well. And over the next few weeks, as he gets back around, I would find him, and I would give him a big hug. And when he kind of gets a little bit weird, tell him Stone said you had to do it. And it'll all make sense. but let's love him well. Let's pray for him and let's pray for his family. And the second reason I wanted to share with you that I've been reading through some of Pastor Britt's notes is that I'm plagiarizing a lot here. And so I figured if I tell you, I don't have to deal with integrity issues later. And so, man, one of the things that he said to this question, is God unjust?

Pastor Britt says this. It is unthinkable that a holy God would ever commit an unrighteous or unjust act. Every person whoever will believe in God through the Son Jesus Christ does so as a result of God's mercy. The present and future salvation of Israel and of the Gentiles, like non-Jews like you and like me, is completely and wholly a result of God's benevolence. And salvation at its core is an expression of mercy. Salvation at its core is a declaration that you aren't going to get what you deserve. salvation is God saying I choose you.

Salvation is God choosing us despite our birth, despite our marriage, our merit, despite anything beyond the fact that he's choosing us simply out of his goodness. Salvation is God choosing you not because you deserve it. Salvation is God choosing you because he loves you. Salvation is choosing you knowing that you and I will never earn our salvation and will never ever be able to repay our salvation. So the first reason we know that God is merciful is because he himself declares himself merciful. The second is this. God is merciful because he shows us his mercy. Verse 17, for the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I have raised you up,

that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. This is beautiful. In his mercy, God is sovereign over everything. God is sovereign over everything. sovereign over everything, including evil. Pharaoh was given his throne so that the power of God might be displayed and the name of God might be proclaimed. God allows Pharaoh's rise to glory so that the glory and the renown of God could be proclaimed. Even the things that are opposed to God will serve him in his purpose of mercy. Here's one more easy reader. Verse 18. So then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whoever he wills. First of all, his mercy. Israel did not deserve to be adopted, and yet God in his mercy adopted her. Pharaoh did not deserve to have life or a throne,

and yet God in his mercy allowed it. I and you do not deserve another breath because of our sin, and yet God who is rich in mercy allows you and I and Pharaoh and Israel to be a part of proclaiming his name to all the earth. I understand we need a little help understanding. What does it mean to harden his heart? So if you look at the book of Exodus, six times it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart, and nine times it says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.

This is complex, but this is the intersection of God's sovereignty and human responsibility. Even though it is extremely tough for us in our final, minds to reconcile, it is true that the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man are eternally integrated. God's sovereignty does not exclude our responsibility, nor does our action as humans surprise God. God is not sitting in heaven waiting and reacting to us. This doctrine is tough. I mean, Peter, the Apostle Peter, who wrote some books of the Bible, he says that There are times where Paul is tough to understand.

I think Peter read Romans chapter 9 and went, oh boy. And we find ourselves with the same reaction as Peter. But the fact that it is tough to comprehend does not give us any right to separate the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. It doesn't give us a right to isolate the sovereignty of God in human responsibility. We cannot oppose God's sovereignty and God's human responsibility. as extremes of a continuum. Now, we may not be able to fully understand and fully explain how God is sovereign and how at the same time we have responsibility.

But you know, there are other things in life I can't fully comprehend or explain, and yet I adhere to them. Gravity is one of them. I can't explain to you in total understanding gravity, but unless I start floating away, gravity is a real thing. And the same thing is true here. that in the complexity of verse 18 that says God is sovereign and man has responsibility, I think what Paul is simply trying to show us is this,

that God chose to harden Pharaoh's heart as Pharaoh hardened his own heart in order that God would free Israel, in order that God could adopt Israel as his own, in order that God could give Israel the law that would point to our sin and our need for a Savior, in order that God would take Israel and give Israel his glory and call Israel to worship him so that through the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, the use of an evil man, God might take Israel and through Israel the savior of all mankind would come to save all nations. That God and His sovereignty and his mercy would use evil men to bring about the purpose of mercy

in order that the name of Jesus might be heralded. Question two, verse 19. You will say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? In other words, if God's the one who chooses, then how can he find us guilty? The first answer, Paul gets a little feisty. Verse 20, but who are you, oh man? All right, and where I grew up, that sounded like this. Listen here, boy. Who are you to answer back to God? Will, what is molded say to the molder? Why have you made me like this? Has the potter? know right over the clay to make the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another one for dishonorable use? In other words, Paul is saying, this isn't even a question we actually get to ask. What fool thinks he can look at God and call him out on the carpet? Never in any circumstance should the creator be subject to the created. I mean, Paul's feisty here. Paul's like saying, hey, you and I don't get to demand of the creator. And just for a moment, let me pause and say,

this, if you believe you have the right to demand of God, then Romans 9 is the least of your concerns. The interpretation of Romans 9 fails to compare to the issue of pride in your life. In all reality, I'll say this, though, this answer is fully sufficient. This answer is that you and I are the clay, we don't get to call the creator out, but Paul is not going to leave this anxiety unsettled in us. Paul's going to start to answer the question, but he's not going to be. going to fully answer it. He's going to actually create more questions. Romans 9 is three questions that lead us to about a gazillion more. And Paul is okay with this. Paul's okay with not answering every one of our theological questions about predestination and election, because what Paul is aiming at

is of more importance. Paul is going to answer this question in Romans 9. How did God show mercy to us as he chose Israel to bring about salvation for both the Jew and the Gentile. Paul said, now there's a lot of questions that we're just going to leave unanswered, which is life. There's a lot of our life in which questions boil up that just may never get answered. But Paul says, may we focus on the thing that has the most concern. How is God using and choosing people for his glory

and in mercy heralding the name of Jesus to the world? Hey, Paul's going to give us a second answer that's a little less feisty. He says this, what if? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience, vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory, even us of whom he has called, not just from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. Paul flips the conversation. He says, hey, instead of us demanding from God,

what if we just step back and begin to wonder, what could God, who is sovereign, be up to in this moment? He says, instead of this narrow scope question we have, what if we move back and look at the vastness, the landscape of eternity? Paul is begging his kinsmen, the ones he loves, to see that God has been working throughout all of eternity for his glory. And for all of eternity, God has been working through the salvation of Christ,

the life, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And he's asking Israel the same question that we have to ask ourselves. He's asking Israel, and we have to ask this question. What if? What if God is seeing all these things from a perspective that you and I cannot? And what if the enslavement of Israel was God's sovereign mercy to them? What if through that enslavement he chose to feed them in a famine and provide a financial foundation for the nation all those years of their slavery? What if a placement of an evil man like Pharaoh was the backdrop for God's supreme glory to be known? What if? What if God who never enjoyed watching the tyrant rule of Pharaoh? What if he endured it with much patience and long-suffering knowing that it would produce?

a stiff-necked people. And what if the stick-neff people was exactly who God chose for his own, to show the world that it's not by merit that we're saved, but by faith and faith alone? And what if, in the wilderness, God was forming a nation that would one day birth the Savior of all nations?

And what if? What if in the Exodus God chose to free Israel by overthrowing Gentiles so that through Israel, the Gentiles might all one day find their salvation. And what if after forming a nation, God allowed the nation of Israel to be taken into bondage instead of being annihilated or rejected for the rebellion of him?

And what if the bondage calls this nation to cry out for salvation? And what if in bondage, as this nation was crying out, God answered their cries with prophets who promised the coming of the Messiah? And what if after those promises were made, God went silent for 400 years, waiting for the perfect time to bring his son? And what if God then allowed the darkest of all human empires to be formed? And what if this dark empire, the nation of Rome, was allowed to be put in power for the sake of God's glory? What if this nation built roads to all the known world and made a single language common so that the name of Jesus would spread like wildfire? And what if God allowed this nation to perfect the execution of criminals so that his own son would be perfectly executed for our sins?

And what if Christ endured the wrath of God on the cross so that you and I could know the powerful riches of God's glory? And what if? What if God patiently endured all of this so that his son would come and take away the sins of the world? And what if, like a fire burning in the backdrop of a moonless night, God would use the evilest of people to declare the righteousness of his son? What if election is not about the fate of God's enemies, but elections about the merciful pursuit of God to those he loves and chooses to call sons and daughters?

What if our questioning of God is not about his character, but it's about our limited perspective? And what if God's majestic plan to declare his love? glory in us and through us has little to do with our understanding of that and everything to do with our surrender to his faith. And what if our calling is not about our salvation, but what if our calling is about his glory and his renown being declared to the nations? And what if we chose to believe that the perspective of eternal glory makes temporary suffering and uncertainty false subject to the incomparable position of knowing the merciful riches of our creator?

And what if God has always worked through election by mercy to make known the name of Jesus? And what if God has been patient with you and patient with me and patient with the ones we love so dearly? What if God has been patient that even in our rebellion, and he has been steadily, steadfast, enduring it with patience so that we all might finally one day know the riches of his glory. And what if, by withholding death from every one of us that we so deserve, God has extended life in Christ that we could never deserve? And what if the shock of mercy is not that God does not extend it to everyone,

but the shock of mercy is this, that God extends his mercy to anyone at all? And what if, according to Ephesians chapter 2, we were all born children of wrath. Each of us, vessels of wrath, deserving nothing but God being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead, vessels of wrath, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive in Christ. And what if? What if for the one more person in your life, the person that you love, the person that you cry out for, the person that you would be willing to trade your salvation for, your husband, your wife, your children, your parents,

your dearest friend for all ages? What if that person in which you have begged the Lord to save, what if in this moment God is patiently enduring their rebellion so that through his mercy, one day they too would know the love of Christ, that they would surrender to the salvation of Jesus. Please, please, church, don't give up. Don't quit begging the Lord. He is merciful. He is enduring with patience, much rebellion.

Enduring with patience, rebellion that he should just strike down. And yet in me and in you and in many of us, he impatiently endures it. So that one day we, just like the ones, we're begging God for, we would all know the love of Jesus. He's merciful. Verse 30, Paul is going to ask a third and final question as he wraps up this whole chapter. He says, what shall we say that? That Gentiles who do not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is a righteousness that is by faith, but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.

words, the Jews pursued by works, the Gentiles pursued by faith. And why didn't the Jews receive salvation? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone as it is written. Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. You can't watch the video of Pastor Jobi reading Romans 9 at the wailing wall and not have your, not feel your heart break for the Jewish people. Those men and women at that wailing war are far and more dedicated to their religion than I think I am or ever am to my faith. They're the ones that God revealed his promises to.

They're the ones that God showed his glory to. They're the ones that salvation came to and through. And Paul says, is God now ignoring his promises? Israel? No, God is not replacing the Jews with Gentiles. God is adding to the nation of Israel. Through Jesus, God has clarified what has always been true. We become children of God not by birth or by merit, but by the surrender to the promise of Jesus Christ. God's Israel, God's people, is growing by the addition of Jews and Gentiles. In every single addition to God's family, all of us come to him in the same way

that for God so loved the world that he sent his only son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life Jesus is God's son crucified for our sins Romans 9 is a declaration that through election

God has always been working to declare his mercy so that we would know Jesus Christ now I want to end by just confessing some things. I thought about ending with like the what-ifs and like have everybody stand up and do a rally cry and like running the parking lot and hoot and holler. I thought I could probably get half of us to do that. But I thought maybe this would be a more vulnerable and honest way to end.

I've been studying Romans 9 very intensely this week. I've been reading it for years now. And there are texts like Romans 9 that at the end of the day, they just do some things to me. So I thought maybe I could just confess some things. to you as one of your teaching pastors. First of all is this, Romans 9 is complex. It is. I come to Romans 9 wanting answers,

and you know what I end up getting in Romans 9? More questions. Like I come, and I'm like, I just want to know what is God trying to say in verse 18, and then I've got 12 more questions that I've got to go figure out. And it overwhelms me. Like, I am perplexed at the complexity of Romans 9. And I do this for a living.

I get paid to dig into the word and I'm complex. But here's what I know. Even when it perplexes me, even when the complexity of the scripture overwhelms me, one thing I'm always assured by is that God is not afraid of my doubts. God is not shuckened by my questions. And even when it seems complex, I think sometimes God makes the scriptures complex so that we would realize that answers isn't actually what we're sitting for. what we're actually sitting for in the scripture is him.

So it's complex. It perplexes me. The second thing that Romans 9 does is it conflicts me. It just does. It reminds me that salvation is not mine to give. And that reminds me of my inadequacy. It reminds me of the things I can't do. It conflicts me because all I want to do is walk around and just determine and choose on behalf of God who gets saved.

I would just be walking around my gym. walking around my house. I mean, my five-year-old little girl, Blake, I just slap her in the head and go, you're saved. I'd be like duck, duck, goose, and everybody I can into heaven. I wish you, and you and you get some. And it'll be like the Oprah of salvation. Everybody gets some.

And yet, when I read Romans 9, it's not mine to give. And there's this conflicting of my soul that exhausts me. I have loved ones that I know. They don't know Jesus. So Romans chapter 9 is complex. Romans chapter 9 is conflicting. But even in the midst of all of that, Romans chapter 9 is comforting. It's comforting to know the salvation isn't mine.

I didn't earn it. And if I didn't earn it, I can't lose it that God chose and his mercy to save. And it comforts me that God is still choosing. Romans 9 does not say the book is closed if you're in, you're in, you're not, you're not. Romans 9 says that God is still enduring with great patience. The wrath. He's worth holding that. for me and for you and for our loved ones,

so that by the grace of God, we would know the work of Christ on the cross. So yes, when I read Romans 9, the vastness of God is complex, and it leaves me with questions. And when I read Romans chapter 9, my inabilities to save others, it just reminds me that I cannot do anything in my own power,

and it conflicts me. But there's something that the Word of God does that nothing else can do. It comforts me. So I encourage us, Church. I encourage us that as we're, as we find ourselves just perplexed and conflicted and even sometimes just angry, would we know what Jesus said to be true that Jesus is the way, the truth in life and no one comes to the Father except through Him?

And when we read Romans 9, there are many more questions to answer. But there is one answer that is not left to be questioned. God has been working through mercy, patiently and patiently. enduring our rebellion so that me and you and the loved ones in our life would know the power and the resurrection and the salvation of Jesus Christ. Across all of our campuses, church, would you stand with me and let's pray? Lord, we love you, and we thank you that even though your word is complex and your vastness overwhelms us, that you still love us and you love us even with our questions.

And Lord, we come to you, you know, even knowing the truth that we are so inadequate. There are so many things we are unable to do. And yet your word reminds us that it's not by man's efforts and merit that we're saved, but it is by the mercies of God. And so, Lord, I pray. I pray for our church. I pray for the one mores that we love that we would be willing to trade our salvation for. God, I pray that you will remind us that you have not quit,

that your book is not closed and done, but you are still enduring with patience so that those who are far from you can come to know you. Lord, may we worship you, and may we honor you in this time. It's in your precious and your holy name we pray. Amen.