Dale Partridge - Romans 11_7-10 Covenant Judgements of Blindness with Dale Partridge

00:00:00.000 Good morning, Saints.

00:00:03.780 It's a blessing to be with you all here.

00:00:06.280 Would you open up your Bibles to Romans chapter 11?

00:00:11.160 I'll be reading verses 7 through 10,

00:00:13.800 and this will be this morning's sermon text

00:00:16.800 that they will be preaching out of.

00:00:19.260 Again, that's Romans 11, verses 7 through 10.

00:00:27.740 Hear the word of the Lord.

00:00:30.000 What then?

00:00:33.660 Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

00:00:37.060 The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written. 0.90

00:00:43.440 God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,

00:00:50.360 down to this very day.

00:00:51.640 And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution for them.

00:01:03.500 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.

00:01:10.520 This is the word of the Lord.

00:01:12.520 Praise God.

00:01:13.300 Well, praise God, we are still going through this wonderful book of Romans, and we are

00:01:24.480 in chapter 11, 7 through 10.

00:01:28.840 Now, last week, if you were here, we saw how Romans 8.28, if you want to turn back there

00:01:36.800 just for a second Romans 8 28 was the thesis for the content of chapter 9 10

00:01:44.360 and 11 it's the total thesis of what we're talking about it claimed God

00:01:50.960 causes all things to work together for good for those who love him and are

00:02:00.080 called according to His purpose." That statement is the thesis for the following three chapters.

00:02:10.640 In other words, that passage claimed that God is ultimately in control of the salvation of His

00:02:19.520 people. This is extremely offensive in an individualistic culture

00:02:25.440 that is autonomy-focused, that has a spirit of independence

00:02:31.620 that says, no, I have free will and I chose.

00:02:39.040 The immediate question, though, that comes to mind

00:02:42.700 when you read something like that,

00:02:44.280 if you're a first-century Christian and you read

00:02:47.460 that God causes all things to work together for good

00:02:49.500 for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose,

00:02:51.260 you're going, wait, wait a second.

00:02:53.220 If God is sovereign over his people, then why did the vast majority of the Jews reject the Messiah?

00:03:02.480 It seems like God failed there.

00:03:05.800 Seems like God didn't keep the sovereignty that is claimed in this passage over those people.

00:03:16.840 Why?

00:03:19.000 Why?

00:03:20.520 How does that work?

00:03:22.420 Well, Paul spent all of chapter 9.

00:03:26.680 As much as I wish I could re-preach those sermons, I can't.

00:03:30.860 Chapter 9, answering that question.

00:03:34.940 And in chapter 10, he explained that answer further.

00:03:39.100 And in chapter 11, we're getting clarifying thoughts of the remaining realities of this claim.

00:03:47.440 now last week we saw Paul anticipated another question if God is an electing

00:03:53.980 God if he's an electing God which is the conclusion of chapter 9 and the Jews

00:04:02.740 have rejected Christ because they pursued a right or a works righteousness a 0.74

00:04:07.780 a legalism which is the conclusion of chapter 10.

00:04:15.140 And if those things have happened, God elected a certain amount of people 0.91

00:04:20.580 and then in addition to that the Jews have basically wholesale rejected the gospel, tried 0.90

00:04:26.100 to pursue righteousness by other means through the law and not through faith, then has God just

00:04:31.940 categorically abandoned Israel that's a legitimate question if you read chapter

00:04:38.860 eight nine and ten in a row you would probably arrive at a similar question

00:04:44.080 has God just totally abandoned the Jews because that's kind of what it sounds

00:04:49.720 like and Paul's answer as we saw last week was certainly not

00:04:58.240 certainly not Paul's answer was focusing on really two realities and I'm gonna

00:05:06.480 give that to you if I can get this pulpit to stop shaking that's even worse

00:05:12.900 there we go so the first answer was Paul himself the Apostle himself he said hey

00:05:21.320 You want to see exactly how God has not totally abandoned his people?

00:05:28.820 Look at me.

00:05:30.100 Look at me. 1.00

00:05:32.240 Paul was a pure-blood Jew, a Pharisee among Pharisees. 0.77

00:05:36.100 Acts 23, 6, Paul says, I am a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. 0.68

00:05:41.000 Philippians 3, 5, he says, I was circumcised on the eighth day of the stock of Israel,

00:05:46.700 of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. 0.77

00:05:51.320 As touching the law, a Pharisee. 0.99

00:05:55.280 Okay, so Paul's saying, hey, I know it looks like God has abandoned Israel, but I'm an example.

00:06:02.160 He hasn't abandoned everybody.

00:06:04.460 I'm here.

00:06:06.600 And second, we saw Paul reference 1 Kings 19, where Elijah is living during one of Israel's most apostate generations. 0.73

00:06:19.460 It is a very dark time that Elijah lived through. 0.54

00:06:24.740 And it's kind of a similar circumstance to maybe a first century redeemed Jew who believes

00:06:31.520 in the Messiah, but feels like 99% of everybody else in your nation totally rejected him.

00:06:38.000 It can feel very isolating.

00:06:41.220 And Paul takes a parallel between the time of Elijah and the time of a first century

00:06:47.920 redeemed you and if you know the story of Elijah he essentially felt as if he

00:06:54.220 was the last one am I the last one remaining faithful and if you guys

00:07:01.240 remember Paul's response or the response in the scriptures God said to him that

00:07:09.280 he was not the last one but he had reserved 7,000 men who have not bowed

00:07:15.940 the knee to bail in other words external measures external measures are not reliable indicators of

00:07:25.780 the state of the church we can see the outside god looks upon the heart it's easy especially at times

00:07:34.420 in certain places in our nation certain places in the world to go is the gospel not working anymore

00:07:40.260 And God would say, I have reserved millions that you don't know about.

00:07:51.000 And this reference is important because it showed election at work.

00:07:58.760 If you go back, just go back a couple of verses.

00:08:01.120 I think it's, I don't know, verse five or six.

00:08:05.220 That God is the one who reserved the 7,000 men.

00:08:10.260 Who reserved? They didn't reserve themselves.

00:08:13.460 No, God did it.

00:08:14.600 I have reserved for myself 7,000 men.

00:08:22.380 It's not people remaining faithful by their own will.

00:08:26.240 No, it's God's reserving them and preserving them from apostasy.

00:08:31.840 He is the one who keeps you. 0.93

00:08:33.880 second it revealed what Paul claimed in Romans 9 6 through 7 the not all of Israel is Israel

00:08:44.620 this is very important if you want to get some basic fundamental theological understanding

00:08:49.780 very important ethnic Israel is not the same as elect Israel

00:08:56.500 the whole covenant you're going everybody has abandoned and God says not

00:09:05.120 the 7,000 there is a group with inside of a group there is ethnic Israel the

00:09:14.260 nation the covenant people of God and then there are true Israel the elect of

00:09:20.560 god paul is trying to get both the jews and the gentiles in first century

00:09:34.000 christianity to see that it's not biological lineage 0.91

00:09:39.440 it's not works or signs or even seals that were indicators of salvation great you're circumcised

00:09:46.240 great you're in the covenant just because you're in the covenant does mean you're of the covenant

00:09:54.660 this is shocking information to a jew who thought that their salvation rested solely upon

00:10:02.020 their physical lineage they would trace back their lineage i am a true blue blood of abraham

00:10:08.820 I've been circumcised. I have kept the law. I'm a Pharisee. Aren't these the means by which I'm 0.77

00:10:16.040 saved? Paul says, no. Paul says, no. True Israel is defined by God's sovereign election, the gift

00:10:30.240 of faith rather than ethnicity or works this is again shocking information paul has spent chapter

00:10:39.840 8 chapter 9 chapter 10 defending the reality that god is the one who saves

00:10:49.840 now if we just look really quick at the outline of chapter 11 i think this is important to break

00:10:53.520 it down just so you have some context verses 1 through 10 we're still in this section

00:10:59.200 focus on the fact that ethnic Israel's rejection is not total.

00:11:04.120 It's not total, but God has preserved a remnant by election.

00:11:13.300 There's a remnant in ethnic Israel by election.

00:11:20.920 Verses 11 to 32, which we'll start next week,

00:11:24.520 focus on the fact that ethnic Israel's rejection is not final.

00:11:31.540 The first was not total.

00:11:33.780 The second section is not final.

00:11:37.040 We're going to see that God has given a temporary hardening.

00:11:44.580 He's saving billions of Gentiles. 0.76

00:11:48.140 It's going to provoke Israel to jealousy. 0.76

00:11:50.220 ultimately at some point in the future will lead to some form of revival of ethnic Israel. 0.64

00:11:57.600 We don't know the particulars, but there will be some revival of ethnic Israel at the end of time.

00:12:05.820 When the fullness of the Gentiles come in is the language that the scriptures use.

00:12:10.020 and then the last section

00:12:13.600 33-36 is a doxology

00:12:15.720 that Paul

00:12:17.660 basically

00:12:19.380 just bursts out in praise

00:12:21.560 for God's sovereignty

00:12:23.720 in salvation it's basically

00:12:25.860 the culmination of

00:12:27.900 8, 9, 10 and 11

00:12:29.780 oh Lord

00:12:31.260 for from him and through him and to him are all

00:12:34.020 things for him be the glory forever and ever

00:12:36.040 amen

00:12:36.340 and you'll see that at the end

00:12:39.300 So today, we're going to close out this first section, which highlights the conclusion of

00:12:48.680 the six verses that we went through last week.

00:12:52.540 And it's going to show the extent of God's sovereignty over the salvation of true Israel.

00:13:01.560 This is important because you are part of true Israel.

00:13:08.800 This isn't talking about some Old Testament group.

00:13:12.600 This is talking about you.

00:13:16.100 Now, just like Paul used two examples in last week's text,

00:13:19.320 you're going to notice that he uses two examples in this week's text.

00:13:22.020 One from Moses, one from David.

00:13:24.020 But in this text, he's not giving us the evidence for the remnant of Israel.

00:13:30.960 He's giving us the reason why only a remnant.

00:13:36.560 And so I want you to understand this.

00:13:37.540 We are smart Bible interpreters, right?

00:13:39.200 That's what we're aiming to be.

00:13:40.900 Okay, I'm tired.

00:13:41.980 I know you say this all the time.

00:13:43.980 We cannot be okay with being 10 years in the faith

00:13:48.180 and not knowing how to interpret our own Bibles.

00:13:51.640 Again, there is nowhere that you spend 10 years

00:13:54.980 and you are still an amateur.

00:13:58.700 We should, and especially the men,

00:14:03.220 need to learn how to interpret well

00:14:05.060 so that you can raise godly families, lead your wives. 0.77

00:14:11.260 That is the only way that change is going to occur

00:14:14.340 in this town or anywhere

00:14:18.480 is we must be able to faithfully interpret our Bibles. 0.99

00:14:23.640 Biblical amateurism must stop. 0.96

00:14:28.120 Now, you're going to see the reason 1.00

00:14:33.840 for the remnant.

00:14:36.620 Why did God only save some?

00:14:40.140 Like a whole nation,

00:14:41.520 and he saves this tiny remnant.

00:14:45.060 It's because it's a covenantal judgment.

00:14:50.480 It's a covenantal lawsuit

00:14:53.420 that Israel lost.

00:14:56.680 It is a judicial consequence 0.75

00:14:59.080 for their unfaithfulness.

00:15:01.620 us. Verses seven and eight, let's follow along with me. What then? Israel failed to obtain

00:15:13.780 what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. Okay, that's just,

00:15:21.520 you want to underline that, you can put judgment. The rest were hardened. Judgment. As it is

00:15:27.620 As it's written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that

00:15:35.760 would not hear, down to this very day.

00:15:40.580 Okay.

00:15:43.180 What then?

00:15:44.800 That's a conclusion clause.

00:15:46.900 It signals that this is the concluding thought to the previous argument.

00:15:52.620 We got to know basic grammar.

00:15:54.880 Basic grammar.

00:15:55.880 Okay. 0.71

00:15:56.880 Ethnic Israel, as a whole, failed to obtain what it was seeking.

00:16:05.000 But again, the failure was not total.

00:16:09.480 And as we're going to learn next week, it's not final.

00:16:18.160 But I want you to look at this verse real quick.

00:16:22.880 Paul says, the elect obtained it.

00:16:26.880 but the rest were hardened. In this verse, I don't know how this verse cannot convince a person

00:16:35.800 of the sovereignty of God over salvation. You want to call it Calvinism? You want to call the

00:16:41.080 doctrines of grace? I don't care. What I'm saying is that this verse shows you God's sovereignty

00:16:47.580 over salvation. Not only does one group of people receive salvation only because they were elected,

00:16:55.940 They were preserved.

00:16:57.160 They were chosen.

00:16:59.700 But the other group does not receive it.

00:17:03.140 Why?

00:17:04.640 Because of divine hardening.

00:17:10.360 God hardened their hearts.

00:17:15.660 This shouldn't shock us.

00:17:17.580 Turn your Bibles to Romans 9, 18.

00:17:22.760 This should not shock us.

00:17:25.940 Because Romans 9.18 already told us, so then, he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he

00:17:40.900 hardens whomever he wills.

00:17:46.840 It's up to God who he will give mercy to and whom he will harden.

00:17:55.940 In the next verse, Paul substantiates this claim with the authority of scripture.

00:18:01.480 He says, as it is written.

00:18:04.140 Anytime you see that term, as it is written, it's the apostle using or leveraging the authority of the Old Testament.

00:18:17.340 It says, as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor.

00:18:23.060 eyes that would not see

00:18:26.900 and ears that would not hear

00:18:29.560 down to this very day

00:18:32.260 the apostle is quoting and synthesizing

00:18:37.780 several Old Testament passages

00:18:40.000 Deuteronomy 29.4, Isaiah 29.10, Ezekiel 12.2

00:18:45.820 that describe God's judgment

00:18:50.520 by preventing spiritual comprehension

00:18:53.980 through spiritual blindness and deafness.

00:19:01.760 As you know from the previous chapter,

00:19:05.740 Paul says what?

00:19:07.100 Faith comes by hearing

00:19:10.020 and hearing by the word of Christ.

00:19:15.180 It's not talking about an audible recollection

00:19:18.700 of the gospel message.

00:19:20.520 It's not talking about an intellectual hearing.

00:19:24.480 It's about spiritual comprehension.

00:19:28.220 It's about spiritual ears.

00:19:31.500 I can't tell you the number of academic geniuses that I've talked to over the years.

00:19:42.420 I've explained the gospel so clearly.

00:19:47.420 And it's like throwing a seed on concrete.

00:19:52.580 It just has no root.

00:19:55.640 Think about how many people heard the gospel from Jesus.

00:20:02.520 It's not about persuasion.

00:20:05.500 It's not about persuasion.

00:20:09.680 There are people that can't hear, that can't see.

00:20:17.420 And you might be asking me, does God really blind and prevent people from

00:20:24.680 hearing the gospel? Is that how God works today? Yes. And it's why Jesus would say,

00:20:34.060 he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Those that have ears, that have been

00:20:42.420 given ears to hear, hear.

00:20:47.420 John 12, 40, the apostle quotes Isaiah 61,

00:20:52.000 or sorry, 6, 1, or 6, 10, goodness.

00:20:55.820 And the reason why, even in the face of the message of Christ,

00:21:01.860 the miracles of Christ, the signs and wonders of Christ,

00:21:05.140 people are still not believing.

00:21:07.700 Like you think that your rock band and your smoke machine

00:21:11.460 and your TED Talk is going to somehow do a better job.

00:21:17.420 At presenting the gospel, Jesus' miracles didn't even persuade people.

00:21:27.440 It shows that it's not about information.

00:21:32.700 Yes, you need to proclaim the gospel, truly.

00:21:35.280 It's about transformation.

00:21:37.420 It's about the Holy Spirit coming in and awakening a dead soul.

00:21:42.760 It says here in John 12, 40,

00:21:44.540 He has blinded their eyes

00:21:48.980 and hardened their heart

00:21:51.560 lest they see with their eyes

00:21:53.720 and understand with their heart

00:21:55.360 and turn and I would heal them.

00:22:01.520 God has blinded their eyes

00:22:03.480 and hardened their hearts.

00:22:08.500 And when people struggle

00:22:09.860 with the idea that God

00:22:13.520 permits some

00:22:16.540 and prevents others

00:22:19.320 from redemption.

00:22:21.900 When they struggle with that,

00:22:25.140 I want to remind them

00:22:28.660 that there is no injustice here.

00:22:33.540 There's no injustice here.

00:22:37.040 Is it unjust

00:22:38.620 for God to prevent

00:22:41.180 your sister or your brother

00:22:43.240 from hearing the gospel but save you or prevent your mother from the gospel and

00:22:52.060 save your daughter is there any injustice there

00:23:02.600 no there's just justice and mercy let me explain all of us are born in Adam and

00:23:13.240 As sinners, loving sin and committing sin.

00:23:17.060 All of us are guilty before the law. 1.00

00:23:21.860 And we deserve death. 1.00

00:23:24.060 All of us. 1.00

00:23:25.600 What do we deserve? 0.99

00:23:27.360 Hell. 1.00

00:23:29.000 You don't deserve anything else. 1.00

00:23:31.180 You deserve hell. 1.00

00:23:35.400 You deserve eternal punishments for your sins against an eternal God. 0.99

00:23:43.240 You've broken the law of God, and you are eternally unrighteous.

00:23:50.500 You need an alien righteousness that can come only from Christ through faith.

00:23:59.340 So when God, according to his mercy and his wisdom, decides to save some,

00:24:05.980 to save some by gifting them faith and repentance.

00:24:15.660 But he decides to leave others to justice.

00:24:21.300 There's no injustice here.

00:24:23.740 There's just mercy and justice.

00:24:29.860 God has no obligation to save anyone.

00:24:34.080 He doesn't owe us salvation.

00:24:36.820 You don't deserve salvation.

00:24:41.060 In fact, if you're shocked by the idea that God saves some,

00:24:46.520 you should be more shocked by the idea that God saves any.

00:24:51.160 Why does God save any?

00:24:56.160 That's the correct posture to have.

00:25:01.300 Why me?

00:25:03.020 Why me?

00:25:03.600 why not them

00:25:06.280 why me

00:25:07.240 why did God save you

00:25:11.240 out of drunkenness

00:25:14.040 out of debauchery

00:25:15.020 and out of religion

00:25:16.820 and out of death 0.99

00:25:18.600 you're wicked 1.00

00:25:23.300 you deserve hell 1.00

00:25:24.860 you deserve wrath 1.00

00:25:26.300 but God saved you

00:25:28.440 that

00:25:31.980 should be the comprehension and focus of our worship.

00:25:38.280 Paul offers a second example in the Old Testament,

00:25:41.900 covenant judgment,

00:25:43.400 where he hardens the people of the covenant

00:25:50.120 for their unfaithfulness.

00:25:54.980 If you read verses 9 through 10, it says,

00:25:57.100 and David says, let their table become a snare and a trap.

00:26:01.980 a stumbling block, and a retribution for them.

00:26:07.940 Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see

00:26:10.400 and bend their backs forever.

00:26:15.980 A table is a place where we receive blessings.

00:26:22.200 That's the place.

00:26:24.180 But the nation of Israel's table, which was God, 0.74

00:26:28.240 served up Christ, and it was a snare

00:26:31.040 and a trap and a stumbling block 0.56

00:26:33.980 and retribution to them.

00:26:38.580 Not only did they not receive redemption,

00:26:41.640 I'm talking the vast majority.

00:26:46.420 The way is wide that leads to destruction, 0.84

00:26:50.040 Jesus says to the Jews.

00:26:53.420 And the way is narrow and few will find it. 0.74

00:26:57.700 He's not talking about the Gentile,

00:26:59.420 billions of people.

00:27:00.320 that he's talking about Israel.

00:27:05.540 The way is wide and the road is narrow

00:27:08.040 and very few will find it.

00:27:15.940 So not only did they get judged

00:27:18.460 in the fact that they didn't receive redemption,

00:27:20.380 but as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24

00:27:22.560 and in Revelation, the temple was destroyed.

00:27:25.940 The holy city was destroyed in 70 AD.

00:27:29.400 These are the judicial consequences for their unfaithfulness.

00:27:35.100 Why did God destroy Jerusalem in 70 AD? 0.97

00:27:38.080 Because the Jews rejected the Messiah. 0.98

00:27:42.720 And why did they have only a remnant to receive the Messiah? 0.99

00:27:46.560 Because the Jews have been unfaithful before then. 1.00

00:27:52.280 Today, if you ever see any, raise your hand if you've been to Israel. 1.00

00:27:56.440 Anybody been to Israel?

00:27:57.080 A couple people.

00:27:59.240 So Israel, I just watched an 18-part miniseries on Israel.

00:28:04.600 It was really wonderful.

00:28:08.580 If you see the foundation of Solomon's temple,

00:28:14.440 you know that the Dome of the Rock is built on the foundation of Israel's old temple. 0.97

00:28:20.960 Now, the Dome of the Rock is essentially a Muslim shrine

00:28:25.440 that marks the site where they believe

00:28:27.840 that Muhammad ascended to heaven.

00:28:32.480 Okay? 1.00

00:28:33.660 In other words, for the Jews 1.00

00:28:35.340 and their covenant unfaithfulness, 1.00

00:28:39.020 God turned ethnic Israel's home 0.93

00:28:41.320 into a place of spiritual harlotry. 0.82

00:28:45.960 Talk about an extreme judgment. 1.00

00:28:48.900 The temple is now replaced with a Muslim shrine.

00:28:55.440 he's left this massive reminder

00:29:02.540 of what the rejection of Christ

00:29:05.700 will do as a consequence to a people.

00:29:10.900 Now, why is this important?

00:29:12.220 Because the harshness of a consequence

00:29:14.320 informs us of the severity of a crime.

00:29:19.480 The harshness of a consequence

00:29:21.400 informs us of the severity of a crime.

00:29:25.440 To reject Christ, to reject Christ is the most vile and evil thing that you could do.

00:29:40.040 It will not go unpunished.

00:29:42.780 Not only will your soul be punished, but God throughout the scriptures

00:29:50.520 will even offer further curses to generations.

00:30:00.440 In verse 10, if you look down at your Bible,

00:30:04.680 he's citing David.

00:30:05.580 He says, let their eyes be darkened

00:30:07.420 so they cannot see. 0.90

00:30:12.760 Spiritual blindness is God's central way

00:30:14.820 of covenant judgment. 0.73

00:30:16.760 Spiritual blindness.

00:30:18.540 To believe this doesn't apply today would be a total mistake. 0.60

00:30:23.900 I've met spiritually blind people, have you? 1.00

00:30:31.640 Again, I don't believe that God is speaking to the Gentile world 1.00

00:30:40.020 when we're talking about the concept of a remnant. 0.99

00:30:42.760 I don't think there's going to be a tiny amount of Gentiles that are saved. 0.79

00:30:45.780 No, I think there's going to be a mass amount of Gentiles saved. 0.98

00:30:50.700 But I think that the spiritual blindness is very evident in the modern Israel, 0.68

00:30:56.620 the modern church, the people of God.

00:30:59.480 In fact, I know a few pastors in town who I have shared the imputed righteousness of Christ

00:31:07.720 to fight against the doctrines of legalism, that salvation is by faith alone.

00:31:15.780 And they just can't see it.

00:31:19.940 They just can't see it.

00:31:22.060 It's like shocking to me.

00:31:25.300 It's right there.

00:31:29.100 Scripture after scripture after scripture.

00:31:31.820 And they can't see it. 0.90

00:31:36.260 It's like showing a blind man a rainbow. 0.98

00:31:40.100 Just doesn't register. 1.00

00:31:43.960 I'm like, it's right there.

00:31:45.780 Now, spiritual blindness doesn't really have to do with the eyes, but the heart.

00:31:56.540 Ephesians 1.18 actually says, Paul's praying, he says, he prays that the eyes of their hearts

00:32:03.500 would be enlightened.

00:32:06.700 Romans 1, speaking of the Gentile world, says that the Gentiles have been essentially cursed

00:32:13.920 and that their hearts have been darkened 0.66

00:32:16.380 and they traded the creation for the creator.

00:32:23.460 Ultimately, God's judgment through spiritual blindness

00:32:26.240 is not some historical method of the past.

00:32:28.460 It's something that happens today.

00:32:32.480 It's why John Newton penned those amazing words,

00:32:36.500 amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

00:32:39.340 who saved a wretch like me.

00:32:41.500 I was blind, but now I'm found.

00:32:44.260 Or sorry, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.

00:32:48.720 Was blind, but now I see.

00:32:53.780 I don't know about you,

00:32:56.340 but my own conversion felt like all of a sudden

00:33:00.020 the Bible worked.

00:33:03.600 I was a false convert for a long time,

00:33:05.920 in the church, not saved.

00:33:07.800 I was teaching Bible studies.

00:33:13.520 I was serving.

00:33:16.960 I thought I was saved.

00:33:20.520 Just nothing clicked.

00:33:22.860 All of a sudden, the Lord, boom.

00:33:26.400 And I was reading the Bible like I had new eyes.

00:33:29.780 Everything made sense.

00:33:32.260 It was the outcome of America's pragmatism,

00:33:35.360 where we go to a church and you have some sort of pageantry going on

00:33:38.780 and I'm trying to persuade you,

00:33:40.600 you don't actually preach a bad news, good news gospel.

00:33:44.480 It calls for repentance and faith.

00:33:50.440 Another thing I think about, it's disheartening, 0.99

00:33:53.600 how often Pentecostals or Charismatics,

00:33:56.900 they've misunderstood the deeper meaning of Jesus' miracles.

00:34:00.280 For example, John 14, 12.

00:34:06.380 I can't tell you how many times I've heard this passage.

00:34:08.560 Why don't you guys turn there?

00:34:09.940 John 14, 12.

00:34:18.400 John 14, 12.

00:34:30.280 It says, truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that

00:34:38.840 I do, and greater works than these he will do, because I'm going to the Father.

00:34:47.140 Now, the charismatic says, ha, look, that's why we can believe that I'm going to give

00:34:53.820 sight to the blind, and I'm going to go and heal people from cancer, and I'm going to 0.79

00:34:58.040 go you know make the lame walk and we should expect these things it's right

00:35:02.360 there the greater works that Jesus is referring to are not physical miracles

00:35:10.160 not that God does not do miracles he can but rather it's through the

00:35:15.560 proclamation of the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit we're gonna see what

00:35:18.740 the dead raised the spiritually blind will see the spiritually deaf will hear

00:35:28.700 The spiritually sick will be healed.

00:35:31.180 That's what it's talking about.

00:35:33.360 Do you know how many times I've seen that miracle?

00:35:35.060 Many.

00:35:37.480 You know how many times I've seen a guy step out of a wheelchair? 0.99

00:35:40.920 Never. 1.00

00:35:43.840 The purpose of the eight recorded times of Jesus healing a blind person 0.93

00:35:53.440 blind person is because he's showing that without Christ, you cannot see. Without divine 0.68

00:36:05.900 intervention, you will remain blind. That's the purpose of the miracles. Yes, it verifies

00:36:13.980 his divinity. Sure. But there is a spiritual truth tied to each one of these miracles.

00:36:23.440 don't think that turning water into wine is about drinks

00:36:28.280 don't think that having the sick man healed

00:36:32.580 is about physical well-being

00:36:34.900 don't think that raising Lazarus from the dead

00:36:37.960 is just about helping the guy out

00:36:40.240 it's so much deeper than that

00:36:43.000 do you have eyes to see

00:36:47.120 pray that you have eyes to see

00:36:54.080 Pray that the Lord would illuminate you. 0.99

00:36:57.560 That you would not remain in immature Christianity forever. 1.00

00:37:04.340 Passing down a river of amateurism to your children. 0.95

00:37:10.820 Get before the Lord in devotion and prayer.

00:37:16.320 Open my eyes to this stuff, Lord.

00:37:19.640 Wider and wider and wider.

00:37:23.100 So again, the error would be to think that God no longer operates this way

00:37:37.380 or through covenantal judgments with his people.

00:37:40.680 And I'll close here in a second.

00:37:43.420 We are the church.

00:37:44.800 We're the true Israel of God.

00:37:47.480 We're the people of God.

00:37:48.940 We're the elect of God.

00:37:51.680 Doesn't make me special.

00:37:53.100 I had no involvement in it.

00:38:01.220 But we are subject to God's covenantal judgments.

00:38:06.220 We're in covenant.

00:38:08.500 We can be covenantally unfaithful.

00:38:10.900 We can lack faith and obedience.

00:38:16.860 In the church of God, which again, 0.95

00:38:18.280 like the Old Testament is real,

00:38:20.100 it's made up of the faithful and the faithless.

00:38:23.740 In the church, you have people that are saved

00:38:26.440 and people who have been baptized and are not saved.

00:38:30.080 You have wheat and you have tares mixed together.

00:38:36.560 That's what the scripture says of the state of the church.

00:38:42.680 We should expect that when the covenant people of God,

00:38:48.320 the people that have been baptized,

00:38:50.520 the people that are in the covenant,

00:38:53.100 are unfaithful, that there will be covenantal judgments,

00:38:58.240 which is the explanation for the state of the church

00:39:01.840 and the state of this nation.

00:39:06.820 We should expect, if we're covenantally unfaithful,

00:39:10.240 what will happen?

00:39:11.060 God will appoint evil rulers over us.

00:39:15.600 If we're covenantally unfaithful, 0.80

00:39:18.500 we should expect that a generation of his flock

00:39:21.480 will be thinned.

00:39:28.360 If we want to see true revival

00:39:30.280 in Yavapai County,

00:39:33.880 in America,

00:39:36.440 if we want to see a spiritual harvest,

00:39:38.940 covenant blessings,

00:39:40.240 we have to be faithful.

00:39:45.600 Faithful as a church.

00:39:46.980 we have to repent of our spiritual laziness

00:39:51.560 we have to take responsibility for the state of our homes

00:39:54.380 we have to speak against the wickedness in the world

00:39:58.420 we actually have to have faith

00:40:02.240 if you want to see this city

00:40:06.460 blessed in a hundred years

00:40:08.460 it requires faithfulness now

00:40:12.700 now

00:40:14.880 I don't know about you. I'm in it for the long game here. I'm thinking about my great

00:40:19.740 grandchildren living here in this town that has been Christianized by three generations of

00:40:27.420 faithful believers. That this church has multiplied into 10 churches and that many of the businesses

00:40:36.420 are owned by Christians here and that the politicians and the police officers and the

00:40:41.580 judges and the lawyers are Christian and the people come to this town to witness a little piece of 0.59

00:40:49.140 heaven. I want to bless my generations and that happens here. That happens by young people getting

00:41:03.160 married and having children and by the people that are already married raising those kids in

00:41:07.460 the nurture and admonition of the Lord covenant faithfulness long-standing

00:41:17.400 decades-long faithfulness that's what we're here that's what we're doing this

00:41:23.520 isn't just check in check out Christianity I went to church on Sunday

00:41:28.120 this is war and we're here fighting the wickedness of the world with the gospel 0.63

00:41:35.700 Jesus Christ second Chronicles and I'll close with this verse says in 714 if my

00:41:45.420 people okay who's my people in this verse well all of the people in Israel

00:41:51.300 not just the elect if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and

00:41:56.200 pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways then I will hear from

00:42:02.640 heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land if you want this land

00:42:10.400 to be healed it starts with faithfulness in your own life in the life of your

00:42:16.460 family and then in your public life amen amen let's pray father we thank you

00:42:23.640 Lord, that we are children who are disciplined, that you discipline those you love, and Lord,

00:42:35.820 that you will not allow us to be unfaithful, but Lord, that you will teach us through covenant

00:42:43.340 judgments, that you harden, that you spiritually blind people.

00:42:48.800 Lord, we ask, Father, that you would have mercy upon our families, that you would not

00:42:52.980 harden or blind any of our children, but Father, because of our faithfulness, that you would

00:43:00.720 bless us, not because we deserve it, but because of your mercy.

00:43:06.500 And Father, we ask that you would take these lessons from the remnant of Israel and the

00:43:11.960 bringing in of the Gentiles, Lord, that you would apply it to our heart in some way. 0.77

00:43:14.980 and father that you would show us 0.96

00:43:18.540 how we ought to behave

00:43:21.860 and that you would strengthen this congregation

00:43:23.980 and that we would be used in a mighty way in this town

00:43:28.620 in Jesus name

00:43:30.240 Amen

Dale Partridge - September 09, 2024

Romans 11_7-10 Covenant Judgements of Blindness with Dale Partridge

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