The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 25: It’s Not Too Late

Episode Date: July 8, 2018

Until Jesus returns: No matter who you are, what you've done or where you're from, it’s not too late to surrender to Jesus.

Amen and amen. How are we doing, church? Doing all right? The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ, whether you grew up Catholic or Episcopalian, no matter how old you are, where are you from, what color you are, whatever. If you fall in the all-people category, then this thing, this gospel movement is a movement for you to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus. And unlike that video, we do open the Bible here, and I would like you to stand and open up to roll. Romans chapter 11. And as we've been doing week after week after week, I'm going to read the text that I will be preaching from. Romans chapter 11 beginning in verse 25. God's word says, lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deletionings. deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. As regards to the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient. in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.

For God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. May God add blessings to the reading and the hearing of His word.

You may be seated. So we are in the 25th week of our study in the Book of Romans. And for the last five weeks, we have been studying just Romans 9, 10, and 11. You see, the book of Romans, it sort of hits its peak, or it culminates with Roman chapter 8. Therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You remember this? And then we get to Romans 828 and he says, because God is working in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And maybe a part of the all things in Romans 8 or some of the things he was struggling with in Romans 7. You remember in Romans 7?

He goes, what is wrong with me? The things that I don't want to do, these things I keep on doing and these things I hate. I do those. The good I want to do, I can't pull that off. What a man that I am. But God's working in those things, in all things, for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And he would say, how in the world, God, how could you use that kind of stuff in my life to draw me unto you? And he goes, because those whom he foreknew, he predestined, and those whom he predestined he called. And those whom he called, he justified, and those whom he's justified, he will one day glorify if God is for us who could be against us. And then he ends Romans 8 with, and there's no thing that can

separate us from the love of God. Neither depth nor height nor things to come nor things in the past. Nothing in heaven, nothing, nothing. There's nothing, nothing that could separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. And then Paul knows that there are going to be people, mostly church people in Romans 9 to go, yeah, but what about those people? I mean, if Romans 1 through 8 is true that we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone because of His grace alone, then can God be trusted since God's chosen people, Israel, by and large, has rejected the Messiah that you sent to save him. And so in chapters 9, 10, and 11, that's what he is answering. He's answering the question, can God be trusted? Is God faithful? And all through 9, 10, and 11, man, you get this intersection

between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man to respond to the grace of God. In chapters 9, 10, and 11, though there's all these big words about election and predestination and all this stuff, it primarily is about the mercy of God. That God is rich in mercy, that He's rich in grace, that God delights those to save those that are far from him because of their own religion, and God delights to save those that are far from him because of their own rebellion. He gives several arguments to say, has God been unfaithful by no means? first and foremost, we are saved by grace and not works. That it is God's unconditional election because of his grace that saves us, not birthright nor behavior. In other words, because it's God's grace that saves, there's not one of you here that could convince me that God can't save you. Because it ain't about you.

It's about his grace. He also goes on to say, hey, God has not given up on Israel. Look at me. I'm an Israelite. Paul and I have put my faith in him. Also, multiple times in chapters 9, 10, and 11, Paul redefines what it means to be a child of the promise. That a child of the promise of Abraham doesn't just mean that your great, great, great, great granddaddy grew up in Jerusalem. It means that you had the same kind of faith that Abraham did. That you trusted God. And because you put your fake in God, that he counted that to you or credited that to you as righteousness.

And then his final argument last week was this, there is one vine. There is one vine. And we are all to be grafted into that one vine. Whether you are a wild olive chute like a redneck gentile like me, or whether you're a cultivated olive branch, like you grew up in the church or you grew up in Israel, that we are all grafted into one vine in his name is Jesus. And so I'll pick it up in 1123 as he wraps up this section on the faithfulness of God. and he says this.

This is from last week. And even they, he's talking about Israel. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. Now, he kind of uses like a double negative. Sometimes the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sounds a little bit like Yoda. All right? I don't know why he says it that way, but he does. So he says, if they do not continue in their unbelief, meaning if they would just believe,

not in their own works, not in their birthright or birthplace, not in their own behavior, but if they would believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ, then they would be grafted into the family of God too. This is what he's saying. You see, in my opinion, I think it's kind of a shame that the English Bible translates the Greek word Pistuo, believe. So every time in the New Testament you see the word believe, it's Pestu. That's the Greek word. The full definition of Pistuio is to believe, to trust, to have faith, to commit your whole life into. And when we see the word believe, I think most of the time we just think that to believe

means that like you cognitively assent to a truth. Like I believe that. And there's a big difference between believing that and believing in. Pistuo is believing in. there's a lot of people that believe that there's God and he sent Jesus and Christmas happened and Easter and all that stuff, but they have not trusted their life. They have not placed their life in the hands of Jesus. They have not bestuoed.

And Paul is saying if the Israelites, very religious people, if they would trust in, you see, I've told you this a million times, okay? Like, I believe that, you guys know I'm a bulldog fan, I believe that there is a football team down in Gainesville. I think they're there. They, you know, I'm probably practicing right now. They come into town. Totally uninvited by me every single year, right? I see him. I go, yep, there they are.

But I do not believe in that team. There's a lot of people, that's your relationship with the Lord. You believe that he's there, but you don't believe in him. One of the ways I illustrated is when my dad taught me to swim, he didn't really teach me to swim. It was just survivor die. That's kind of what it was. It took me to the Dillon County Public.

pool, put me on the diving board, and he got in the pool. And here he goes. He goes, come on, buddy, I got you. And then I'm standing on the diving board at the public pool with a line of very unencouraging people behind me, all right? Now, when I'm standing on the board, I believe that's my dad. Like I recognize him. I recognize the mustache. I've recognized his voice. He lives at my house. He's married to the lady over there drinking tab. My mom, okay, that's us. That's our family. But at that point, just believing that he's my dad, that is not Pistuo. Pistuo is when I say, all right, I'm going to transfer my weight off of this diving board, and I am trusting that you are who you say you are and you are going to do what you say you're going to do, that I'm going to place

my life in your hands. And if you don't catch me, I'm dead. That's what belief in Jesus is. Pistuio is when you take that step. No more you, and you're trusting. He can't. He catches you. And so Paul is saying, and if they would do that, if they do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree? In other words, if God could save a rebellious, redneck like me who wasn't looking for Jesus at all but running from him, how much more could

God save a group of people that is pursuing a relationship with God just in an unrighteous way because they're pursuing that relationship through their own self-righteousness? That's what he's saying. And that's where we pick up with the text that we're in this week. First 25, talking to Gentile believers again, lest you be wise in your own sight. I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery brothers. The word mystery doesn't mean confusing. The word mystery means like revealed like the way of salvation up into this point maybe you didn't know what it was but now in jesus christ it has been revealed and what he's saying here is listen church quit being cocky you you believing gentiles how in the world could you be cocky could could

could you take pride in something that you had nothing to do with i mean if you're saved by grace How could you be arrogant about that? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. It's sort of like on Mother's Day when my children tried to claim that they got their mama something for Mother's Day. Mama, do you like what we got you? All right, first of all, dog, you all got nothing, okay? You didn't do any. You didn't pay for it.

You didn't look for it. You didn't buy it. In fact, I didn't even tell you what I bought her in your name because you're a gossip and you had ruined it three days before. You were working against the grace. that we were trying to bestow here. And yet now all of a sudden on the day, you want to take credit for something you didn't do? And Paul's like, church, don't do that.

I'm telling you, it's the craziest thing in the world that the church is some of the most arrogant group of people in the world. It makes no sense at all. We were saved by grace of what in the world are you bragging about. And so he says, I'm telling you this so you won't think too much of yourself. He says, lest you be wise in your own side, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery. brothers, a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of Gentiles has come in.

In other words, he's saying this. We Gentiles, the modern day church, anybody that believes in Jesus, are a part of God's glorious plan of salvation for the nations. But you're just a part of it. This epic story of salvific history ain't about you, all right? in this grand epic story of God saving the nations. Look, you are not the key center. You ain't braveheart.

You're one of those goofy guys way back in here's some extra. Nobody knows your name. So get over yourself. And he's talking to all the people that know Jesus. That essentially all of Salific history is like a three-part play. Act one, God carves for himself a people, a nation, the nation of Israel. Act two, Jesus shows up to be the fulfillment of all the promises that God gave to his people. And Jesus came to save the world. In Act 3, he will come back to make all

things new. I mean, it's what the whole book is about. You go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. Well, Genesis chapter 1, God creates everything. It's awesome for like a page. And then Adam and Eve sin, and they are separated from this holy God. And God in his judgment on Adam and Eve and the creation and the enemy, he looks at Eve and he says, I will put enmity between your offspring and this enemy. In other words, one day, a singular Jewish male will show up. He'll come from your line, Eve, and the enemy will bruise his heel, but he will crush his head. And the whole rest of the Bible is looking for that serpent crusher that's going to show up one day.

And then one day, John the Baptist, he goes, wake up everybody, here he is. That's not exactly where he said it. But he said, behold, the Lamb of God, who. comes to take away the sin of the entire world. And every single believer should not think too highly of himself, but understand only the sovereign king of the universe could take the hardening of a nation to allow us to be grafted in something we did not deserve. He could take groups of people, generally speaking, Jews and Gentiles that didn't always

have the best relationship with one another and use their animosity towards one another to bring all of the nations unto himself. This is what he's talking about, the sovereign hand of God. And then in verse 26, with that in mind, he says it this way, and in this way, all Israel will be saved. One of the most quoted out of context verses anywhere on Christian TV. And in this way, all Israel will be safe. First of all, you have to say, in what way? It doesn't just say all Israel will be saved. It says, and in this way. The this way he's talking about is what the whole book of Romans has been about. That we are not saved by works, we are not saved by behavior, we are not saved by birthright, but we are saved by belief in Jesus Christ. I think in this section,

he's talking about 1123. If they would put their belief in Jesus, they'll be grafted in. In this way, all Israel will be said. Or Romans chapter 5 verse 1, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Or Romans 109, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. The opposite of that is also true. If you do not confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you do not believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

then you will not be safe. The Bible does not make a way for you to simultaneously accept God the Father and reject God the son. Why? Because Jesus himself says, I and the father are one. Romans chapter three, Paul says it this way. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified. And what if they go? Yeah, but I was born in Jerusalem, and my granddad was Abraham.

He's like, well, you still fall in the no human being, by works of the law will be justified group. It says, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, a righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law. A right standing with God has been made available apart from obedience of the Ten Commandments. That's what that means.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. That we are incredibly grateful for the Old Testament. Because the Old Testament is the thing that helped us understand who Jesus was when he showed up. that all of the prophets, the sacrificial system, the law, the festivals, they were all the preamble to the main event and the main event is Jesus. Now, that does not mean that we unhitch or deny the Old Testament. No, no, no, no.

That Jesus is the fulfillment of everything that the law and the prophets were about. He says this. He goes on in verse 22 of Romans chapter 3. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all. who, there's our word, Pistuo or believe. There is no distinction. Basically what he's saying here is whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, we all get in the same way. We can all get in through the same way of the invitation of Jesus Christ. First 23, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ

Jesus whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. So when it says, this way, all Israel will be saved. He's talking about through the blood of Jesus Christ at the cross. That's how anybody's saved. No matter who your grandmama is, this is what he means. And then he says, in this way, all Israel will be saved. So what does he mean by all Israel? Well, there's two legit interpretations, and then there's one very illegitimate interpretation. So all throughout Romans so far at least three times, three times explicitly and then a couple of times kind of implicitly, Paul has redefined what he means when he uses the term Israel. At one point he says, all children of the flesh are not Israel, all children of Abraham are not Israel, all Israel is not Israel. And a bunch of times he talks about it's people that put their faith in Jesus Christ that we receive the promises to Israel because the promises were given through the Messiah, not through,

birthright. But it's also, if you look at this context here, and this is kind of where I lean, I believe what he's saying here too is that God can be trusted and God has not given up on his people. That God still saves. He only saves through Jesus, but God still saves. And in this way part, listen, Jesus himself says, I am the way, the truth in the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. He didn't say, I am a way. And there's a bunch of ways, you know, check Oprah for the other ones. I'll tell you about this one. And he doesn't say, I came to give you some truth so that you can, like, you know, be a better version of you.

And he doesn't come to say, if you'll listen to these tips and tricks, you can have your best life now. That's not what he came to do. He said, I am the way and the truth and the life. And just in case you didn't get those three, and no one gets to the father except through me. And what I believe, a part of what Paul is saying here is there will come a day. There will come a day. When Israel, not every single Israelite who has ever lived, but when Israel in mass numbers will see Jesus for the deliverer, the Savior, the Messiah that he is, and put their faith in him.

and in this way, thousands if not millions of people from that place in the Middle East will see Jesus bend their knee and surrender their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I believe that's what he's talking about here. Now, let me tell you the illegitimate interpretation, which is most popular today. Because of our pluralistic society and because of our propensity to make sure that we don't offend one another, there's a lot of churches that will teach now, well, there's really two paths. There's like the Old Testament path because God made a promise to Abraham, and then there's like the New Testament path for the church. There's some people that are in because of the promises of the Old Testament, and then

there's some people in because they need Jesus. That is heresy. It is anti-gospital. If you tell any person that you don't need Jesus for the forgiveness of your sin, then what you were saying is, then it's by your works that you will earn your salvation. And the whole point, it's crazy to me that they quote from Romans 11, because the point of Romans 11 and 9 and 10 and all the rest of the book, it is by faith in Christ alone that we are saved. And again, I didn't make it up. Jesus said it himself. But let me tell you why this is such good news.

Okay, let me tell you why this is good news that God is not done saving people. That at the macro level, just like his promises are irrevocable, and the promises that he made to his people, he will deliver on through the blood of Jesus? Then God's not done saving the people in your life that you've been praying for like crazy. And just like God says, I'm not giving up on the nation of Israel,

then I think he says, in your life, so whatever you do, don't give up on that one more that you've been praying for. And I know you've been praying for years and you haven't really seen anything happen. That's all right. It's been a real short time in God's economy. that God's arms are not too short to save.

If they continue to say no, if they continue to reject, if they continue to stiff arm, that's all right, because you have no idea when God is going to soften their heart. So don't you ever give up on people that God would never give up on. Amen? You pray and you pray and you pray and you pray. But what is illegitimate here is there not two paths. There's not an Old Testament path and a New Testament path.

There is one name under heaven whereby we must be saved. And his name is Jesus. And then Paul begins to quote from the book of Isaiah to show his Jewish brothers and sisters this. He says this. He quotes Isaiah 5920. He says, as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion and he will banish ungodliness. He says, the deliverer, like a person. not a system but a savior, not a religion, but a rescuer.

That God is going to sin from Zion. When the Old Testament talks about Zion, it's talking about the New Jerusalem, it's talking about heaven. That God is going to send someone from heaven to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. And he says this, he's going to banish ungodliness. That means he's going to judge that Jesus will return and judge every single one of us. and of all the words he uses to describe Israel, he uses the word Jacob. Now, you'll remember in chapter 9 that Jacob was not the firstborn, Jacob was the second born. The word Jacob means deceitful one.

So if your name's Jacob, tough, all right. Your name means trickster. That's what it means. That's all right. Jobi means afflicted, so welcome to the club. And yet, God did not choose Esau, the child with the right birth order, but he chose Jacob to fulfill his. promises. And Jacob on a run from God one night wrestles with, in my opinion, Jesus personified before Christmas. All right, this is what we're going to do, our Christmas series on, by the way,

Christophonies when Jesus showed up before Christmas. And he wrestles with Jacob, and Jacob wouldn't tap out. And so God knocks his hip out of socket. And he changes his name from deceitful one to Israel, which means wrestle with God. Because he had this personal encounter with the God. And he has a Godhead. By the way, for some of you, that's what's happening to you right now. I mean, it's your third week in a row. You don't even believe the stuff I'm talking about. And of all, you want to talk about the least secret sensitive series in the history of church, Romans, 9, 10, and 11. And you're back over and over and you're sitting right now. You're like, I don't believe any of this stuff, but you feel like the Lord's got you in a headlock. Well, guess what, Scooter? You were walking away with a limp because he ain't

going to let go, okay? I'm telling you, just going to break you and then say, welcome to the family. That's what he did here. Now, I think the reason that's the reason that's the reason that is that you are he uses the name Jacob, it's to let the people know. It's not just all the descendants of Abraham, but it is the descendants of the promise who was personified in Jesus. That Jesus is the deliverer. He keeps going. Verse 27, and this will be my covenant with them. Now he is quoting Isaiah 27.9. And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. See, he takes each two verses, and he's like, listen, a deliverer is coming. And he's going to judge sin and he's going to save sinners. How? Because he's going to make a covenant, a covenant.

You see, there's a big old difference between a covenant and a contract. Huge. A covenant is this. I promise this is what I do regardless of what you do. That's what a covenant is. And God has a covenantal kind of love towards us, an initiating kind of love, regardless of what we do, he does his part. But a lot of times we think of our relationship with God like a contract. A contract is, if I do my part, then you do your part. Do you know what a contract is rooted in? A contract is rooted in mistrust and distrust.

You have a contract with your cell phone provider, right? How many of you love your cell phone provider? When is the last time you saw a Verizon commercial and you're like, oh my gosh, they do cover everywhere, do you? When's last time your cell phone company called you to just tell you have a great day? No, no, no. You call them when? When you're frustrated, when something doesn't go right?

And when do they call you? When you don't pay. Isn't it crazy? You call them your own whole. You don't pay a couple times. They will call you no matter where you are. And if you saw that number, if you saw Verizon pop up, you wouldn't be like, you know what? I bet they just called to tell me they love me.

No. because it's a contract, man. If you do your part, I'll do my part. If you don't, I don't. In fact, by the way, that's why some of your marriages are jacked up because you're in a contractual marriage. And you've got your, man, you've convinced yourself in your head what a stud you are. I mean, you're like, man, if she just only knew what a good man I am,

and I, I mean, I put a roof over my kid's head, and I put food on the table. Which, by the way, you know possums do that for their children, too? But anyway, you think, man, she owes me. I've been doing my part. And when she comes to her senses, maybe, that's a contract. And the love just evaporates. It just does. A covenant?

A covenant's actually the thing you signed up for when you got married. You remember like Till Death was part? No matter, sickness, health. Good time's bad. Whatever. I promise. That's a covenant. A covenant is rooted in love.

A covenant. as husbands love your wife, like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. And Paul, quoting Isaiah, the Jewish prophet, is saying, hey, listen, church in Rome, Jewish people in Rome. This Jesus idea is not a new idea. Your prophets said he was coming, that the deliverer will come from Zion, and he will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be his covenant with you, that he will take away your sins. Meaning that the deliverer is coming to judge sin and to save sinners,

not just improve current, temporary, political, and social systems. Every time I go to Israel and have a conversation with an unbelieving person from Israel, Israel, and we share the Old Testament together, and I talk about Jesus. What about Jesus? The primary hang-up, they have is, well, how, if the Messiah has come, how do you explain the current temporary,

political, and social system? And I go, I explain him with your prophet. The deliverer came to judge sin and forgive sinners. And that's what he did. I love your prophet Isaiah that says, by his stripes we are healed, that by his pierced hands that we are healed. Upon him, the chastisement of us all has been laid. and the same hang up that Pharisees were having in the first century that modern day folks are having. Paul says this in 1-Theslonians 110. Paul defines who this deliverer is. Starting in verse 90, he says,

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you and how you turned from God or you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from God. the dead, Jesus who delivers. There's that word. Delivers us from the wrath to come. It's the exact same words that he uses in Romans to quote from Isaiah.

He repeats in First Thessalonians to say, hey, this deliverer, I don't want to be vague about it. Let me put a name on who this deliverer is. This deliverer is named Jesus. And the reason that he came is that we would turn from our idols and we would turn to God. because every single one of us, John Calvin says that every single one of us are idle making factories. And all an idol is, man, it's not, I mean, it used to be like carved images and stuff, but I think maybe, I don't know who does that anymore. But what an idol is, this idol is any time you take a good thing, a good gift from God, you take a good thing and you treat it like a God thing.

And then that makes it a really bad thing. That you treat something in your life that's temporary and you treat it like it is all. ultimate, and that's idolatry. And Jesus came to free us from that idolatry and turn us towards the God that satisfies. You realize that every single idol makes a promise to you that it cannot keep. And whatever you idolize, the day it lets you down, you will demonize. And you see, and the crazy thing is, because we have an enemy that's tricky, is he actually takes good gifts from God. And then we turn them into idols. Like you're home. If you're home, if you're a lot, if you're have a home, if you have a house. Is that a good gift from God? Yeah, man, praise God. You should do

some really good ministry in that house. You should raise a family in that house. You should host disciple group. You should invite your neighbors over and demonstrate the gospel through your hospitality. All of these good things should be happening there. And then what we begin to do over time is we take our eyes off of the giver of the gift and we get our eyes set on the gift and we begin to get this feeling like, yeah, I appreciate this. and everything, but I'd tell you what I'd really be satisfied with is not just this house, but if I could just, you know, get rid of these sorry countertops, get me some granite, and I'd just have one more half bath, then I'd be fully satisfied.

And we laugh, but we get consumed with it, right? You see, the Bible tells us in 1st John that there are primarily three idols in this world. The lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. and the lust of the eyes are when we take some kind of temporary, shiny object of this world and treat it as if it's the most important thing in this world. Or the lust of the flesh. Man, we take something like food. Is food a gift from God?

Yeah. Amen. I mean, think about this. God, in his infinite wisdom, invented the bone-in ribbi. Like, he just came up with it. And then made our mouths in such a way that when you bite into that thing, you have these taste buds that literally in you begin to worship the creator of the cow that gave us the bone-in ribbi cooked medium rare

as Jesus would have us, amen? But what's supposed to happen in that moment is something's supposed to stir in you, not to worship the dead cow, but to worship the giver of all good things. That's what it is. Now, what do we do with that? See, by the way, this is why I have the problem with the vegetarian, okay? If you're a vegetarian, listen, we're moving for all people. I'm glad you're here more steak for me, all right?

I like vegetarians, I really do. Deer are vegetarians, I think, and so I like them. But I just don't know, like, I don't know what the illustration is for you, okay? Like, the cucumber. I don't know, like, how, the levels, celery, I don't know, the portobello. I'm not sure, okay? But what we do is you take this good gift food from God, and then we can idolize it, man. One, we can go to gluttony.

Like, we can look for our comfort, not in Christ, but we can look for our comfort in the stuff we cook. Or we go the other way. As you can never celebrate, you can never enjoy a meal because you have to know every flipping little calorie in it because you're more concerned about what this looks like than what's fueling it. And you miss out.

And honestly, you're no fun to hang out with. Just stop. Just stop. And it's idolatry. Or the pride of life is work a good. thing? Man, you know work is a gift from God? That work is not a post-sin event that God told Adam, subdue and cultivate, you're going to work here. And God gives us work for a bunch of reasons. One, just for the flourishing of humanity. That is a part of the way we demonstrate God's

goodness towards creation is that we participate in his creation by rearranging the raw materials that God gives us on this planet for the flourishing of his people. Did you realize that your job is a vocational ministry funded by your job? That God puts you with people that you never would be with in your life to declare and demonstrate the gospel. And yet what we can do, man, we can take this good gift and begin to use it, not for the glory of God, but for the glory of me. So we can just make this about my title and what I get to do.

and how I get to treat people. And that's all idolatry. And every single one of us are idol-making factories. And Paul tells the Romans and the church at Thessalonica, but there's a deliverer coming. And this deliverer, his name is Jesus. And what he can deliver you from is he can deliver you from the lies and the letdown of idolatry,

and he can deliver you to a personal relationship with the one true God. That's what he's talking about here. And so he keeps going to verse 28. He says, as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. Talking about the nation of Israel. What he's saying here is an enemy, is anybody that has rejected God. I don't need you. I'm going to do this my way.

Which, by the way, according to Ephesians too, every single one of us apart from Christ were enemies of God. And he says, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. In other words, there is, every single Christian alive should be grateful for the nation of Israel because all of us trace our faith back to the promises of Abraham fulfilled in Jesus. Or I'll just say it this way. In the church, there is zero room for anti-Semitism, period. In fact, because of the gospel, there is zero room for anti-Semitism.

any group of people. There is no room for racism. There is no room for prejudice. I don't understand how the church, and the church has a horrible history with this. Do you realize that in order to look down your nose at any group of people, you have to take your eyes off of the cross? And that every single one of us are saved by grace through faith.

You did nothing to earn it. And so every single person that you come eyeball to eyeball with is somebody that Jesus died for. Now, for years, man, for years, the church thought it was the junk at the expense of everybody else, which is anti-gospel. And so while there is no room for anti-Semitism in the church, do you know what the most anti-Semitic thing that you could do is, is to withhold the gospel from a group of people that need it out of the, for the same, of political correctness because you don't want to be offensive. Hey, listen, if you don't want to be

offensive, don't be offensive. Just don't be a jerk. Let me tell you, evangelism is not. You're wrong. I'm right. You're going to hell. I'm going to heaven. Want to come? That is not evangelism. That's just rude. Do you remember Paul's heart at the beginning of chapter 9? He said, I am in anguish over my brothers and sisters that think they're trying to work their way to heaven. I wish I could take their place. I would trade my salvation. If they could just trust Jesus, and I would take their place in hell. In Romans chapter 10, he says, my heart is that they would receive Jesus and be saved.

How much must you hate somebody if you looked at them and they have an eternal disease and you know you have the cure? How much must you hate somebody? You know who you love? You actually just love what people think of you more than you love the people that Jesus died for. That's it. And I'm not saying being rude about it. I'm not saying be rude about it.

Just be honest about it. This is why around here, when we talk about sharing our faith, it means a bunch of different stuff. Sometimes it means sharing an invitation to church. Sometimes it means sharing the gospel. Like you just walk through Isaiah 53 with somebody that believes those scriptures and say, what about Jesus? Sounds like Jesus.

This whole thing sounds like Jesus to me. Sometimes it's just, sometimes it's sharing your story. They ask all kind of questions. What about Noah's Ark and dinosaurs are? I don't know sure about that. Let me tell you what I know. I used to be like this. I met Jesus. This is what my life's like. And they ask you another question. Explain the Trinity. All right. I'll be back on that. But let me tell you about this. Okay. I used to be like this. And then I met Jesus. And then now I met Jesus. And then I met Jesus. And then I met Jesus and then just build that bridge with love in your heart the way Paul had love for his people to say I really

believe whether you believe or not I can't change what you believe I genuinely in my bones believe this Jesus is a deliverer to turn us away from the trap of idolatry in this world to turn us to a relationship with our heavenly father this this deliverer is here to forgive us of our sins and I don't know about you but I got a bunch of them that need to be forgiven and I'm telling you, he delivered me. And with humility and love, you bring to all people, and especially these people. And then I think what happens is this. As Paul is thinking through this, as Paul is thinking, God, it's amazing to me that you would save anybody. He's been talking about theology here. And he's going to go from theology to doxology, which means this, right theology always leads to doxology.

You don't even know what that means. I could tell about your blank stairs, all right? Seminarians will be like, oh, preach, all right? Here's what it means. Right, thinking and studying about the character and nature of God always leads to an emotive response about who God is and what he's done. That's what Paul's going to do. He's going to end this time with a doxology.

Because he's thinking about how crazy this is that God would save rebellious people like us. not only would God save a man like Paul maybe he's thinking about it like in his own life he was like I can't believe that God would save me for my religion as a Pharisee and I can't believe that God would save me for my rebellion as a terrorist and yet he saved me he tracked me down on the road to Damascus and and I think he's thinking it doesn't even make sense to me that God would continuously pursue such a rebellious people he's just relentless in his pursuit for his children. You know, one of the things, when we talk about things like chapters 9, 10, and 11, an election and predestination and all of this, one of the questions I get often is this, why would a loving God send people to hell?

I think Paul would say, why in the world would people reject a loving God? I think that's where he's at. And he gets all stirred up about how good God is that by his mercy he would save us. I can tell you, man, one of God's great graces in my life is I just have never gotten over. my salvation. Like I just can't believe it. This last week, I was at an FCA camp, Fellowship of Christian athletes. It was awesome. There's like, I don't know, there was hundreds of high school and middle school athletes. It was great. It's the fittest group I've ever talked to in my life, man. I mean, it was awesome. And on Tuesday night, just laid out the gospel. This is what

it meant for Jesus to die on the cross for you. And that night gave an invitation and 43 high school and middle school athletes came forward to surrender their life to Christ. And as one by one, they just kind of walked down front to grab onto their college age counselors to receive Christ. I was just overwhelmed. You know why? Because I was a high school athlete when I got saved too. And a guy told me about Jesus. And it was just, it's just overwhelming. You know what else is overwhelming? That so far this year, you don't see the sovereign hand of God. Y'all even studying Romans, just Romans, 25 weeks of Romans. Over 980 people have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ this year through the Church of 1122. And that should lead us to just go,

how good is he? Oh, how good is he? This is what Paul does. Paul then goes, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how unscruitable his ways. for who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor. Like what Paul is saying is, I know this doesn't all make sense. I know it doesn't all make sense. But I know this, God is making much of himself. And you know what he's saying is, you think God needs your advice? I know we dig into like, well, what about these group of people?

And what about this? Man, listen, you know why it doesn't make sense to us sometimes? Because we got a little tiny pea brain. and we're talking about the almighty, magnificent God. He says here, who has known the mind of the Lord? The answer, not you. Or who has been his counselor? You know God's never leaned in and asked for advice?

Man, the book of Job, there's 37 chapters of Job crying out to God. This isn't fair. And then finally, towards the end of the book of Job, there's 129 verses where God comes back to Job. He literally says this, girt up your loins and take. take this like a man, and he gives him 129 questions. And he basically says, who are you to tell me how to run the universe? Where were you when I spoke the stars into existence? And Job's like, uh-oh.

He goes, where do you think I store the lightning before it drops? Where do you think I store the snow before it falls? Were you there? I don't remember you there before creation when I told the oceans where to stop and the land where to begin, Job. I mean honestly, who do we think we are? Come before God trying to give him advice on how to run the universe. God would look at you and be like, look here, Scooter, there are parts on your back you can't scratch.

You can't even lick your own elbow. You're trying to tell me how to run the universe? Give me a break. The crazy thing is, every time I do that, there's some guy, he's like, he's right. It's totally right. Can't leak it. In fact, if we were to give advice to God,

we'd give terrible advice. Imagine if you're at the cross. I think if you were standing there at the cross, knowing your Old Testament really well, you'd look and be like, God, oh, you got a problem. Have you totally lost control? I mean, you sent the word to become flesh, and the plan is failing.

That's what Peter did in the book of Matthew right after Jesus called him the rock. He rebuked Jesus because Jesus said he was going to die. And you know what Jesus told Peter? Get behind me. Do you know what happens when you try to tell God to run the universe and how to run the universe with your infinite wisdom.

I know you did eighth grade twice, but you got God figured out. You play him for a team. It ain't team Jesus. And he says, for who has known the mind of the Lord and who has been his counselor? Verse 35, or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid? You know, this is how our minds work. Man, you come to church three times in a row, and you be like, God, you owe me. As if God looked at you and be like, I know you want the promotion. And I wasn't going to give it to you. but you came three times in a row so now I owe you.

You know, there's no gift you could give to God to put him in your debt. It's like when your kid gets you a birthday present. Have you ever been impressed? I mean, like your little kid uses your money to buy you some junk. You would never spend on yourself. You lost money in the transaction that was meant to bless you. And your kid's like, here you go, do you love it? Sweet.

Some C3PO socks. Awesome. Do you love it? No, because their gifts are dumb. Why? Because they're a little four-year-old mine. They're pretty dumb to. But you know what you love?

You just love them. You just love that they would bring, even though they used your money. That they would bring them. There's nothing we've ever done to put God in our debt. And yet God welcomes us as his children. It says, for from him and through him and to him are all things to him. Be glory forever. Church, God wants you to know that he is for you.

Anybody that dies for you is for you. It just ain't about you. It ain't about you. And what 9, 10, and 11 is about this. This is the way Paul wraps it up. Paul wants us to know. I mean, whether you grew up in Jerusalem and your great granddaddy was Abraham or you grew up in Dillon, South Carolina,

and you didn't even know who Abraham was, that until Jesus returned, And as long as we have breath in our lungs, no matter who you are and what you've done or where you're from, it is not too late to surrender your life to Jesus. No matter who. No matter what. No matter where you're from, what you did, who you did it with, that the grace of God is that big. And in Luke chapter 23, there is a microcosm of this macro truth that Paul is preaching when he's talking about the Gentile nations and the nation of

Israel, that as long as there's breath in our lungs and Jesus hasn't returned, it is not too late to give your life to him. The Bible tells us in Luke chapter 23 that when Jesus was crucified, he was crucified between two thieves, two criminals. These were men that were put on the cross because of what they had done. And one of the thieves on one side who honestly kind of represents the arrogant, religious, I got this attitude, looks at Jesus and says, if you are who say you are, then why don't you save yourself? And since that was my idea and it was such a good idea, then you owe me saving me with you. Then there's a thief on the other side who says to him, basically, bro, do you even know who you're talking to? We deserve to be here. You know what he was doing

in that moment? He was admitting that he was a sinner in need of a savior. He goes, we deserve to be here. This man has done nothing. And then he turns his attention to Jesus. And he says, Jesus, remember me this day when you go before your father in paradise. And do you know what Jesus promises him? By grace, because think about it, what good work could this man do at this point? He couldn't even respond to the invitation like we do around. He goes, hey, if you like to receive Jesus, raise your hand. He'd be like, I can't. I can't. I'm stuck. He can't make any promises about bettering his behavior. Jesus, from now on, I'll go on a mission trip. Jesus, no, you won't. From now on is three hours. That's how.

all you got left, bro. You got nothing, nothing, nothing to offer the kingdom of God. But he admitted it. I'm a sinner. He believed somehow, somehow, by God's grace, he believed what Jesus was doing in that moment right there somehow counted for him to be able to stand before a holy God. And so he confessed Jesus. Jesus, this day, will you remember me when you go before your father in heaven? If anybody made it into heaven in the entire New Testament, we know this undeserving brother makes it in because Jesus says truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise. And that brother is saved. It is never too late. That counts for you too. It counts for you too. You say, what do I do? Do what the dude on the cross did? Admit it. Admit it. You are a

you are a sinner in need of a savior. You need a deliverer, not a system. You need a deliverer. that you believe that when Christ died on the cross it counted for you. You believe like a kid on the diving board believes in their dad or mom and takes a step and says, I'm putting my life in your hands because I'm just trusting with my life that you are who you say you are and you will keep my promises and you put your life in their hands. And the way you do that, the Bible says, you call on the name of the Lord. You say, Father, save me and he will. would you please bow your head and close your eyes

and I'm going to give you that opportunity if today for the very first time somehow inside of you deep in a place you would call your heart that makes sense for the very first time and you admit it you're a sinner in need of a savior that you believe somehow when Christ died on the cross that counted for you and in this moment you were ready to call on the name of the Lord then would you raise your hand say father here I am save me our good and gracious heavenly Father, God, I thank you and I praise you for the hands in the air. God, I know we know it's not a hand up that saves us.

God, it's what you did on the cross through your son, Jesus, that draws us unto you. God, I thank you that there is no name under heaven other than Jesus whereby we must be saved. Not our birthright, not where we're from, not the kind of church we were in, but it's by faith in Christ alone that makes us right with you. And God, I pray for every Christian in all of our campuses, God, would we never, ever, ever get over our salvation? May we continuously be reminded of what you have saved us from and who you have saved us to. And Holy Spirit, I thank you. I thank you for a move for your glory in this place that this local expression of your body would always be a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with you. Jesus Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.