Romans 11_28-32 The Undeserved Mercy of God
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Summary
This is the final sermon in the book of Romans chapter 11, and it is a sermon on why the rejection of the Messiah by the Jews was not a temporary hardening of their hearts to God's Word, but a permanent hardening.
Transcript
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This is the second to last sermon in Romans chapter 11, and I say that because next week
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we'll be out of the theological substance and we're going to be entering into Paul's
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closing doxology, which actually if you can see on my Bible it says Romans 11 36 right
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there is one of my favorite scriptures in all of God's word. And so this week, I would encourage
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you guys to read chapter 11, go back through and reread chapter 11. I believe now you're going to
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have a comprehensive understanding of this chapter. I think it's good practice to, after you
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finish a book, to reread it with that understanding. And I believe you're also going to understand more
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fully why Paul breaks out into this great doxology at the end of chapter 11. In two weeks, we're
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going to start chapter 12. Now, any of you that are Bible students, you know the glories of Romans
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chapter 12. We're going to essentially see what I would say is a dramatic shift from the theological
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substance of the sovereignty of God to the practical application and how that should be
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carried out in our own lives. Now, we have spent 11 months between chapter 8 and chapter 11.
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11 months. Basically, since we've been in this building, we have been in Romans chapter 8, 9,
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10, and 11, which really is just one section and chunk of the book of Romans. And so chapter 12,
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I think, is going to be a great shift for our church to really focus on the application and
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the practical reality of our theology in our own lives with one another. Now, if you remember,
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chapter 11 is about the interconnected redemptive relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles.
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It's interconnected interdependent relationship between those two groups of people. It informs us
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of God's grand plan of redemptive history and it offers us a basic order of events
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on the timeline of history. It is quite the book or quite the chapter. Now, today's sermon is
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really the final sermon on the content because we're going to shift to the doxology next week.
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And for that reason, I think it was important to offer a summary of chapter 11. So I'm going to do
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that, and then we'll get in verse by verse at the end. Verses 1 through 10, if you look down at your
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Bible, Paul explained basically due to Israel's rejection of the Messiah and their covenant
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unfaithfulness, God cut off a majority of the Jewish people, only leaving a remnant. He explained
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that it was similar to the days of Elisha, that, you know, there was a remnant kept during his time
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as well. In verses 2 and 3, Paul identifies himself as part of that remnant. He himself
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was an Israelite, preserved, which is important because chapters 8 through 10, if you remember,
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they emphasize God's sovereignty over salvation. That was the general argument that God is sovereign
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over the salvation of his people, which leads to a very important question. If God is sovereign
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and God controls the salvation of his people, then why do the majority of God's own people
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reject the Messiah? Now, we had so many dimensions of that answer delivered in previous sermons,
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but the answer was clearly given in chapter 9. It stated, not all who are Israel are of Israel.
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Not everyone who is in the covenant is actually of the covenant, essentially, is what Paul
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was teaching. The only reliable metric that we can use to determine if someone is saved
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is faith. Do you have faith? Faith that bears fruit. Saving faith. Casting yourself upon the
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cross type faith. Not trusting in any good works of your own, but trusting only in the perfect
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Now, this partial hardening that happened to the Jews,
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Nobody knew the reason why the vast majority of the Jews
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rejected Christ until Paul wrote this letter.
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the jews rejection of the gospel was intended and so just catch that i just feel like i can't go
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over that just without you grasping that the jews rejection of the gospel was intended
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and the jews rejection was not total it wasn't everybody there was left a remnant
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this was new information that no one had understood until paul wrote this chapter
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then in verses 11 through 32 we saw another important truth the jews rejection of the gospel
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was not final. So, earlier it was not total, and now he's saying it's not final.
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Paul tells us that their temporary hardening is that. It's temporary.
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And it also has a purpose, and this was, I think, kind of what throws so many theologians
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down rabbit holes, and there's such great discussion around this particular chapter.
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But the partial hardening of the Jews had a purpose, and the purpose was to bring
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the Gentiles to salvation. Paul even says in verse 11, by their transgression or their wrongdoing
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or their rejection. Salvation has come to the Gentiles. And as we know, how did it come to
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the Gentiles? Well, through the Great Commission. And how did the Great Commission start? With the
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remnant. It's amazing. But God's plan is even more incredible. In a similar way that the Jews
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transgression brought salvation to the Gentiles. The Gentiles' salvation will bring future revival
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among the Jews. Again, it's this reciprocating, redemptive narrative. The Jewish revival will be
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sparked by jealousy, is what Paul says in 11, which will arise from the Jews witnessing
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the nations, the Gentiles, which is the Greek word,
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nations is, or Gentiles is the Greek word for nations,
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the Jewish revival will be sparked by jealousy,
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now pay attention here, which will arise from the Jews witnessing
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the nations receiving the blessings that were originally promised
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sparks a worldwide global revival of Gentiles.
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All of the nations are coming to Christ over a period of time.
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only until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.
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is receiving the blessings and the substance of the promises
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that were originally given to them and God wakes them up as the fullness of the Gentiles comes in
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and a mass revival of Jews comes and the end of history follows. That's the general narrative
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We read Habakkuk 2.14. It's one of my favorite verses. It's talking about a time
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prior to the return of christ it says for the earth will be filled with the knowledge
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of the glory of the lord as the waters cover the sea
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we're not there yet i talked last week about how many billions of people are still unreached
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how the Great Commission has still many, many generations to go,
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But this fullness of the Gentiles coming in
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was a second mystery that was revealed in chapter 11.
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but nobody really understood that there was a flow of rejection of the Messiah,
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a remnant, the nations, a revival. This is new information.
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This gives us a grid and a general timeline of history.
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Now, last week we saw that God blinds the Jews and grafts in the Gentiles.
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But we also saw his power to graft in those who had been cut off.
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but God can take the branches that were cut off
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and when you when you just take that principle it just eliminates free will
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you can't have free will and god's sovereignty over salvation
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if you have a truly free will then god can't violate that free will and he's waiting and
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hoping to learn what you might do. It doesn't work. It's an incongruent and inconsistent
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and unsystematic idea. We have a will. It's never free. It's either enslaved to sin and self
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or it's enslaved to Christ and righteousness. But we never have a free will.
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now more astonishingly in verse 26 the apostle said that after the fullness of the gentiles
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has come in he made this massive statement a statement that has thrown theologians for loops
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all throughout christendom he said quote all israel will be saved and the debate is is he
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talking about israel the church is he talking about ethnic israel is he talking about both
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As I said last week, I stand with John Murray, Charles Hodge, R.C. Sproul, who believes this to be a prophecy about the vast majority, if not the entirety, of ethnic Israel, who is alive at the fulfillment of the Great Commission, that will be grafted into the church, which is the Israel of God.
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Today, Paul anticipates a possible objection from the Gentiles about his prophecy.
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And he acknowledges the remarkable nature of that claim.
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He recognizes that during this time and now, like even today, the Jews are enemies of the gospel.
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They're not just a little bit hostile towards Christians.
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They're extremely hostile towards Christians.
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However, he offers the Gentiles the proper perspective to understand God's purpose in this greater reciprocal, redemptive plan.
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And I actually believe it's extremely applicable to our own theology and to our own lives.
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In relation to the gospel, they are enemies on your account.
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But in relation to God's election, they are beloved on account of the fathers.
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For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
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As you reflect, as you reflect of the Jewish opposition of the gospel, as you think about
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that, you see their hostility, remember that their opposition is tied to the blessings
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Their hostility is tied to the blessings that you've inherited.
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In other words, their enmity has been sovereignly orchestrated for your benefit.
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This, of course, should eliminate Gentile pride.
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Because we've inherited what was promised to them.
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I think what Paul is trying to communicate is that
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to reject that the Jews cannot or should not have a revival,
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which I think is the posture of many Christians throughout church history,
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because of their hostility towards Christians would be to forget that we are only saved
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because God overcame our hostility to the gospel.
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You can't look and say, they don't deserve salvation.
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While forgetting that you don't deserve salvation, look at you.
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In other words, in today's passage, I think you're going to see the underlying theme
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is Jewish and Gentile equality in moral depravity and uniformity in undeserved mercy.
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But as hostile as the Jews are, and as shocking as it may seem that such enemies of the gospel
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can and will be saved, Paul is reminding the Gentiles that God's election of the nation
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of Israel is unchanging. There was something there. There was something special about the
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election of the nation of Israel, which is why Paul in verse 29 says, for the gifts and the calling
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of God are irrevocable. It's not just that God can save elect Israel. It's that God must save
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Now, this is also a general truth. It's just a general truth
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that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
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And what that means is that God is not fickle like men.
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He does not withdraw his elections and repossess his gifts of eternal life.
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And this doctrine has caused so much pain among so many people
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because they don't understand the preservation of the saints
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or the perseverance of the saints, if you want to go with that.
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other way of saying it. 1 Samuel 15, 29 says, quote, he who is the glory of Israel does not lie
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or change his mind, for he is not a human being that he should change his mind, end quote.
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So the fact that the callings and gifts of God are irrevocable should be comforting
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to us. It should be comforting. Do you remember the day that you were saved? Do you remember the
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day that you felt altogether born again, as Luther would say? Do you remember the day that you feel
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like you understood the gospel, the grace and mercy of God, the magnitude of your own sinfulness? Do
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you remember that day? When scripture says that the callings and the gift of God are irrevocable,
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It should make you realize that you are fickle, but God is not.
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It's why we believe those whom God has elected and made covenant cannot be lost.
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It's why we believe that you cannot lose your salvation.
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This is why Jesus, I think, speaks with such certainty in John chapter 10, verses 26 through 27.
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He says, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
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I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
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I don't know about you, but I have turned to that verse in my own life for comfort.
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If you haven't, it's just because you maybe are unaware of the magnitude of your own sin.
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but when you fall, when you feel like you have been just disowned, that God has changed his
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mind about you, that he is recalling the gifts and calling on your life, that verse will hit.
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That verse will help you. And that they shall never perish. He goes on, he says,
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my, it says, no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me
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is greater than all, and no one will snatch them out of the Father's hand. Think about that.
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It's not just that you can't mess up, but nobody else can mess you up either.
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i think this actually backs up what paul said in chapter 8
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which we all know and we know that god causes all things to work together for good
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for who to those who love god to those who are called according to his purpose
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for those whom he foreknew he also predestined and these whom he predestined he also called
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and those whom he justified, he also glorified, end quote.
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It's one of the most incredible passages in scripture.
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I think I did four sermons on just that one verse.
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If you are justified, you will be glorified in heaven.
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the callings and gifts of God are irrevocable he doesn't take them back it's think about it this
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way when your child is born into your family you can't take that back he can leave he can walk
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away he can run away you can disown him you can do all these things at the end of the day you
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know what it doesn't change he's still your child it's impossible to break that reality
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now i'm not saying that we can run away from our faith or run away from god i'm using it as a
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reality is that birth is something that is not undone when you've been born into the family of god
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that call that gift is irrevocable it will not change
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it's not that you're saved until you mess up it's not that you're saved until your faith
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is weak it's that you're saved now you will be kept because if god lost one of his sheep
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Christ wouldn't be much of a savior if he couldn't keep his own people saved
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right I want you to look at verse 28 the apostle doesn't simply tie the assurance
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of salvation to election he also ties it to covenant interesting
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it says but regarding election they are loved because of the patriarchs that's the NIV I think
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it translated in a better more clear way there and this is really important because it's quite
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the statement for a western church that's bathed in individualism we are so individualistic we
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can't even comprehend the the idea of covenant the assurance of your salvation rests not only
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on the ground of your individual election but also on god's covenant promises to abraham
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We sing covenant. We intellectually know covenant.
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But your spiritual forefather, Abraham in the faith,
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you're also saved because of what was promised to him.
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And when God said that your descendants will be as the stars in the sky or the sand on the sea.
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He says, when God points out the stars to Abraham, he was pointing at you.
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you're one of those grains of sand in the view of the Lord. Now, covenant is how Jews thought
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about life. It was not a concept that was so struggled to understand as it is today
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in our individualistic society. They knew that they were holy or set apart because their forefathers
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were holy and set apart. They knew that they were recipients because they were represented
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by Abraham. They understood covenant headship or covenant representation. They understood that,
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at least the redeemed of Israel, understood that Adam was a representative of humanity.
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He was a seed to humanity. And whatever comes of that seed will be like that seed.
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And so if Adam is corrupt and sinful, then anything that comes from Adam will be corrupt and sinful.
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They understood that there was a need for a second Adam.
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That anything that comes from that new Adam would be alive and have new life.
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they understood covenant representation it's not just that you were elected and that you're this
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individual and this vast ocean of people god is building a body and a building and a temple
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and a flock and a bride he's building it together we are not individuals we are members
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the Lord did not set his love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of
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the other peoples for you were the fewest of all peoples but here's the answer because the Lord
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loved you and kept the oath which he swore to your forefathers two reasons why is elect Israel
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saved? Because he loved you and because he swore an oath to your forefathers. It's really difficult
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for our generation to grasp covenant. Your election is part love and part covenant. Part love and part
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covenant. This means that you ought to have a covenant mindset, which again, I think is developed
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over many years of sermons and theological instruction because we have a culture and
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society that fights covenantal mindsets at every possible corner. It's eroding at biblical thinking
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and we need to constantly educate ourselves in the scriptures. Now verses 30 through 32,
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and I think we'll get through this pretty quickly. Paul offers the reason the Gentiles
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should not struggle with the idea of a future revival among the Jews. He says,
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for just as you were once disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their
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disobedience, so these also have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you, they also
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may now be shown mercy. Now, I know that sounds like, wow, what are you saying there? This is
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where I think about Peter saying Paul writes in crazy terms and hard to understand. I had to break
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this thing down for like an hour. Verse 32 says, for God has shut up all in disobedience so that
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he may show mercy to all. Again, what you're going to see here is this reciprocal nature of redemptive
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history. Just as the Gentiles have received mercy through disobedience of the Jews,
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the Jews will receive mercy through disobedience as well. That's basically what's being said there.
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In other words, no Gentile should be shocked that the disobedient Jew receives mercy
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since the disobedient Gentile received mercy.
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disobedience is not a qualification for God casting someone off forever apparently look at the room
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Paul is showing the equality of disobedience and the equality of undeserved mercy
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the Gentiles what's what's our spiritual history let's go back and look at our spiritual ancestry
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I don't know how many generations you need to go back before you have your family members
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bowing down before pagan idols. Not far from mine. Maybe, you know, six generations.
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That's Gentile spiritual ancestry. It's paganism. It's bowing down to creation.
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Romans chapter 1, it tells us that story. The spiritual ancestry of the Jews
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is they're worshiping the one true God, yet many did so without faith.
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The reality is, both are equally deserving of hell, yet by God's grace, many are going to receive mercy.
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Now, I want to talk about this general principle, because I think this is going to be very applicable in your own life, and then we'll close.
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The idea, again, of thinking that a particular person may not deserve or God should not extend mercy.
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Now, if you're saying that you've never thought those thoughts, you're probably lying.
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Because when we get in the heat of an emotional moment, hurt, betrayal, frustration,
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you may not say it out loud, but if you looked at your own heart with sobriety,
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To believe that God can't or shouldn't save certain people.
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People that I've prayed imprecatory prayers over.
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Lord, cast down your judgment if it be your will upon this man.
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all of it is a form of spiritual pride all of it to believe that God can't or shouldn't save the
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the trans activist the uh your ex-husband you know the the family member that betrayed you
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The guy that continues to write articles about me online with lies and slander.
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To not want, to not desire, to not think that it's possible or that God shouldn't save those people is spiritual pride.
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God, recipients of grace should want to see others receive grace.
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Recipients of grace should want others to see and experience grace.
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To have a heart that says grace for me and justice for thee is wicked.
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It's antithetical to Christ's call for the believer.
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Luke 6.36 says, quote, be merciful just as your father is merciful.
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I was tempted to give a whole other sermon in my sermon on the parable of the debtor.
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But Matthew 18.21 through 35, you should read it.
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It illustrates that we must extend to others what has been extended to us in the gospel.
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the reason we withhold grace or desire for salvation or forgiveness every divorce in a
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Christian home you know the reason behind that divorce is because they've forgotten how much
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they've been forgiven one party has at least every divorce can be traced back to that oh they're that
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bad, are you? They're that terrible. Here's your mirror. When
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we refuse to forgive others, we just forget that we killed
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Jesus. That's all it is. When we harbor extreme bitterness from
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betrayal or woundedness. We have forgotten how much we've been forgiven. We think that the debt
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was small. And again, the parable of the debtor. The king forgives a multi-billion dollar debt
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while you go over and you hold over somebody a $10 IOU, right? Pay me back.
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we have to remember the mercy that's extended to us what the gospel does is it brings universal
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spiritual sobriety sobriety we are all fallen it's the whole point of verse 32 read it
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read it with me. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all.
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As I close here, God's reciprocal redemptive plan between the Jews and the Gentiles.
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If you're not grasping the magnitude of the glory of this beautiful plan, it's not that God put this
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plan together because he thought, this will be creative. This will be mysterious.
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God do it another way? I'll tell you what. When I read Romans chapter 11, there is
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no way that a man came up with this. It's just not, it doesn't have the mark of man. It has the mark
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of as high as the heavens are above the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
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higher than your thoughts, says the Lord. That's what I see. Wait, you're going to harden some of
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your people. Take that remnant. That remnant's going to go and start a global revival to save
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and christianize the world and then that christianized world is going to provoke this
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tiny nation to jealousy and you're going to pull back on that hardening and then israel
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the elect portion of israel comes to christ the whole world proclaims the excellencies
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and glories of his name that's an incredible plan
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and that's important for you to grasp because then you will understand next week's sermon
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of why Paul bursts out into acclamations of praise he realizes it's I would not have written
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it this way I would not have done it this way but God you are so holy and you are so good for
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from him and through him and to him are all things forever and ever. Amen. That's the posture we need
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for next Sunday. Amen? Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you
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Lord, we ask that you would help us to understand it, that it would not be forgotten, but it would
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shape our theology. Father, we know that our praise and worship can only go as high as our
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theology is deep. Lord, we ask that you would dig deep into our hearts, add concrete to the truths
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of doctrines that we must rely upon. Lord, we ask for your blessing upon this congregation this week
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that these truths would form and shape the way that they act and behave with one another.
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We thank you for your apostle, for his writings.