Dale Partridge - July 27, 2024


Romans 9_30-33: The Difference Between Faith and Law with Dale Partridge


Episode Stats


Length

52 minutes

Words per minute

122.93036

Word count

6,452

Sentence count

419

Harmful content

Toxicity

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

75

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

God is sovereign over the salvation of his people, yet the vast majority of the Jews had not come to Christ. How did this happen? How did the Jews end up saved? What role does God have in this? What is the role of the Bible in this matter?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Good morning, church.
00:00:03.740 It's a blessing to be here with all of you and to sing songs of praises.
00:00:08.600 What a beautiful song service we had today.
00:00:10.940 Amen.
00:00:12.280 Let's stand as we read Romans 9, verse 19 through 33, in preparation for the sermon this morning.
00:00:20.480 Romans 9, verses 19 through 33.
00:00:26.920 Hear the word of the Lord.
00:00:30.000 You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault?
00:00:34.940 For who can resist his will?
00:00:37.260 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
00:00:40.000 Will what is molded say to its molder, Why have you made me like this?
00:00:45.160 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for
00:00:49.420 honored use, and another for dishonorable use?
00:00:53.040 What if God, desiring to show his wrath, to make known his power, has endured with much
00:00:58.140 patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in order to make known the riches of his glory
00:01:04.860 for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he has called
00:01:11.740 not from the jews but also from the gentiles as indeed he says in hosea those who are not
00:01:19.180 my people i will call my people and her who was not beloved i will call beloved
00:01:25.900 And in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they will be called sons of the living God.
00:01:34.120 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
00:01:37.520 Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved.
00:01:44.380 For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay. 0.86
00:01:48.960 And as Isaiah predicted, if the Lord of hosts has not left us offspring, we would have been
00:01:56.280 like Sodom and become like Gomorrah. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who did not pursue
00:02:04.940 righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, but that 0.97
00:02:10.240 Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that
00:02:16.060 law? Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works.
00:02:25.200 They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
00:02:29.920 Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and whoever believes in 0.96
00:02:35.880 him will not be put to shame. This is the word of the Lord. Amen.
00:02:46.060 Romans 9 will be finished today which is wonderful because I've been going through
00:02:55.000 this now for probably two months it feels like it at least and what a
00:02:59.980 blessing it is to get through this great and glorious chapter the focus of this
00:03:07.480 chapter has been the sovereignty of God over salvation it started really in
00:03:13.960 Romans 8, verses 28, and is really continue on through the end of this chapter. It even
00:03:19.840 further continues in chapter 10 and 11. If you remember, Paul has been addressing several
00:03:27.240 common questions that revolve around one question. And the one question comes from
00:03:34.700 Romans 8, 28 that says, God causes all things to work together for good, for those who are called
00:03:41.120 according to his purpose.
00:03:45.820 And when you see that scripture,
00:03:52.140 that God causes all things to work together for his people,
00:03:57.100 but then you look at the reality
00:03:59.500 that the vast majority of the Jews had not come to Christ.
00:04:03.660 The obvious question is how do those two get reconciled?
00:04:11.120 That God is sovereign from foreknowledge to predestining, calling, to justifying, to glorifying.
00:04:24.240 He controls the salvation of his people, yet the Jews, many had not come to Christ.
00:04:36.020 So he offered five explanations in chapter 9 for that.
00:04:41.120 question. Number one, all Jews do not believe because all Jews are not elect. That's chapter 0.67
00:04:48.400 nine, verse six. Number two, those who are elect are not elected based on works or foreseeing
00:04:54.780 future works, but solely on God's will before they are born. That's nine, seven through 13.
00:05:02.700 Number three, there is no injustice with God in electing some and leaving others to his wrath
00:05:09.800 because all people deserve wrath.
00:05:13.580 That's 9, 14 through 18. 1.00
00:05:16.680 Number four, God's purpose in not electing all
00:05:23.340 is to display all his attributes.
00:05:27.660 We learned that God cannot have functions
00:05:30.580 that do not have,
00:05:33.780 or God cannot have attributes that do not have functions.
00:05:37.620 Why do we have sin in the world?
00:05:38.740 because one of God's attributes is wrath and justice.
00:05:43.440 And so the very purpose of sin
00:05:44.840 is that God cannot have attributes
00:05:46.220 that do not have functions.
00:05:48.620 And so the function for his wrath and justice,
00:05:52.040 the reality of that is that sin must exist. 1.00
00:05:57.420 Number five, the minority election of the Jews 0.99
00:06:03.200 or the remnant as Paul refers to them 0.96
00:06:05.380 and the mass selection of the Gentiles, which I would say is the Great Commission, 0.98
00:06:11.480 has always been God's plan. And it's been prophesied in the Old Testament. That's 9, 24 0.98
00:06:18.900 through 29. And you can even say through 33. Now to a first century Jew, this was shocking
00:06:26.340 information. This was shocking information that not all of Abraham's children would be saved and
00:06:34.020 redeemed. Ultimately, many of the people that they thought were saved, the Jews, were not.
00:06:40.800 And the people that they all thought were condemned, many of them were actually saved,
00:06:47.320 the Gentiles. It was a complete plot twist. 1.00
00:06:52.560 Last week, Paul referenced two Old Testament passages, one from Hosea, the other from Isaiah,
00:06:59.440 to support his claim. To the Jews, this proved that he was not inventing this idea of election.
00:07:08.160 This is something that has been prophesied in the Old Testament. He's given multiple examples,
00:07:13.520 whether it was Ishmael and Isaac, or Jacob and Esau, or Moses and Pharaoh, and now showing
00:07:21.040 Hosea and Isaiah, and even references to the Psalms. No, election, even with the idea of a
00:07:32.340 remnant of the Jews and a mass of the Gentiles, has been prophesied. It's been foretold in those 0.98
00:07:38.020 scriptures that you pride yourself of. We briefly discussed how these prophecies connect with
00:07:45.940 eschatology and how the remnant mentioned in these passages of scripture refers to the number
00:07:54.180 of Jews being saved. Now, the unfortunate reality is the church has misapplied that remnant idea
00:08:01.660 that is intended to speak to the remnant of Israel, ethnic Israel that would be saved,
00:08:07.500 and has misapplied that concept to the church and has produced a remnant theology where there's
00:08:14.140 only going to be a few of us that saved and the church is always going to get
00:08:18.880 small and it's just going to get smaller just like it's always been what they
00:08:22.640 miss is that prior to the cross it was totally sufficient and okay to be
00:08:29.320 pessimistic because until Christ came it's only going to get worse it's only
00:08:33.820 going to get worse
00:08:36.240 but when Christ came he was really truly doing a reversal of the fall
00:08:44.140 the resurrection of Christ is more powerful than the fall of Adam.
00:08:50.080 And what we see is that we have optimism this side of the cross.
00:08:55.080 Pessimism prior to the cross, optimism this side of the cross.
00:09:01.580 And these prophecies demonstrated how the election and salvation of the Jews, 0.80
00:09:07.260 of the remnant of the Jews, and the mass of the Gentiles was a fulfillment of these prophecies.
00:09:13.160 We briefly discussed several other dimensions,
00:09:17.460 but today Paul provides a summary of his teaching
00:09:21.160 and the reason for ethnic Israel.
00:09:24.620 When I say ethnic Israel, I mean like Israel as a nation. 0.87
00:09:27.300 Ethnic Israel's tragic denial of the Messiah. 0.98
00:09:32.440 Ultimately, he provides the explanation today 0.96
00:09:35.160 of the disparity of why we have such a remnant of the Jews 0.78
00:09:39.340 and such a mass of the Gentiles. 0.98
00:09:42.600 Now, if I could sum up today's passage in just like one succinct statement, it would 1.00
00:09:50.020 be this, many of the Jews were left to God's wrath because they pursued a false way of 0.88
00:09:58.000 righteousness, while the Gentiles found mercy because they attained righteousness through
00:10:03.740 faith.
00:10:04.520 That's really at the core.
00:10:05.720 That's what that scripture says.
00:10:07.720 We're going to break it down.
00:10:09.920 Again, we know that God is sovereign.
00:10:12.580 That has been Romans 9.
00:10:14.600 The emphasis of Romans 9 is that God is sovereign over election and ultimately salvation.
00:10:21.740 And the scriptures present redemption as having two dimensions.
00:10:27.500 God's sovereignty and man's responsibility.
00:10:31.860 There's two dimensions of salvation.
00:10:34.820 And this is important.
00:10:35.580 So please follow along with this concept because it will really help you understanding the
00:10:43.180 double-sided reality of how we should view our own redemption.
00:10:48.300 For the past 40 verses, Paul has been focusing primarily on God's sovereignty. 0.90
00:10:53.740 But in this passage, he shifts his attention to man's responsibility and the Jews' failure 0.82
00:10:59.780 to attain righteousness, to be found righteous
00:11:03.720 because works were not the means to attain righteousness.
00:11:10.100 But righteousness comes by faith.
00:11:12.760 The imputed righteousness of Christ
00:11:14.380 as we read in Philippians today, right?
00:11:16.420 It's Christ's righteousness
00:11:18.160 becomes our righteousness through faith.
00:11:23.800 So verse 30 through 31,
00:11:25.600 why don't you guys look at your Bibles,
00:11:26.680 follow along with me here.
00:11:29.780 What shall we say then? 1.00
00:11:31.840 The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness 1.00
00:11:34.660 attained righteousness, 1.00
00:11:37.300 even the righteousness which is by faith. 0.71
00:11:40.020 But Israel pursuing a law of righteousness
00:11:42.760 did not arrive at that law. 0.51
00:11:46.140 Okay.
00:11:47.200 We're gonna be smart Bible interpreters here.
00:11:49.260 We're gonna pay attention to thematic realities
00:11:51.020 of chapter nine.
00:11:51.740 This is the third time in chapter nine
00:11:54.500 that Paul has used this phrase,
00:11:56.740 what shall we say then?
00:11:59.780 what shall we say then? And this is the apostle's way of anticipating
00:12:04.340 the objections and critical questions of his readers. He's a fantastic
00:12:16.180 debater of theological realities. He is prepared.
00:12:23.620 In this particular passage, he's asking, what shall we say to these claims that the Old Testament
00:12:27.760 and prophecies spoke of God only electing a remnant of the Jews and a large number of the
00:12:31.980 Gentiles. What should we say to that? Paul responds with essentially, shall we say that
00:12:39.720 the wicked Gentiles attained righteousness, but the law-keeping Jews did not? And the answer, 1.00
00:12:46.520 which I think would have stunned first century Jews was yes. That's exactly right. That's exactly 1.00
00:12:56.620 correct. It's irony to the highest degree. It's ironic. From our perspective, we go,
00:13:05.620 wow, the people who seem to deserve did not receive it. And the most unexpected group
00:13:13.180 received it who seemed to not deserve it.
00:13:16.960 It's extremely ironic.
00:13:21.720 The claim is why Jews hated Paul.
00:13:29.940 He had three assassination attempts in the scriptures.
00:13:34.840 The Jews hated Paul because of this position that he took.
00:13:44.160 Next, I want to talk about the language that Paul uses.
00:13:48.880 Okay, he uses the term pursue.
00:13:51.160 The term pursue.
00:13:52.900 It's a stronger word than follow.
00:13:55.840 It means to earnestly strive after.
00:13:59.800 And the imagery here is a foot race. 1.00
00:14:02.940 Okay, the Gentiles who did not actively strive for righteousness 0.89
00:14:07.220 ultimately received it through faith. 0.59
00:14:10.480 while the Jews who pursued righteousness through the law
00:14:14.580 failed to achieve it by works. 0.95
00:14:18.620 It really is, this irony,
00:14:21.760 it really is an extreme example of election.
00:14:27.280 Please grasp this reality.
00:14:30.760 It shows that salvation cannot be found or earned
00:14:35.860 but must be sovereignly gifted or received.
00:14:40.480 I'm going to break this down. What I mean by that is this. The Jews had every bit of
00:14:46.420 information, every history. They had scripture, heritage, religious practice. They even had
00:14:58.260 the Messiah himself, and yet they still did not come to faith. And the people who had
00:15:10.760 no religious advantage at all, were saturated with wickedness and idolatry, were the ones
00:15:17.820 who were actually saved. Just think about the irony with that for just a moment. The
00:15:26.340 only logical explanation for such an ironic outcome is that humanity is not in control of salvation
00:15:37.540 it's not about the information you have
00:15:42.580 that is clearly demonstrated in the pharisees they have plenty of information
00:15:50.260 i'm gonna give you an illustration imagine there's a group of people trying to win a game
00:15:55.780 by following rules only to find out that the winners were chosen before the game began
00:16:05.700 then imagine that those winners weren't even playing the game
00:16:13.140 just think about that for a second you go to play a game you're trying to follow the rules and win
00:16:18.500 the game then you find out that the winners have been chosen even before the game began
00:16:24.900 and then you find out that those winners weren't even playing the game
00:16:32.420 that's kind of how we need to view salvation our actions have nothing to do with our reward
00:16:45.060 our reward depended completely on circumstances that we had nothing to do with beyond our control 0.67
00:16:51.060 In other words, the Jews prove that salvation is not of human will, persuasion, works, or pursuit. 0.98
00:17:03.220 It's not. 0.98
00:17:05.840 These are not the means by which salvation is attained.
00:17:12.060 Romans 9.16 said of election,
00:17:15.300 quote,
00:17:15.520 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
00:17:22.060 John 1, 12-13,
00:17:23.700 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name,
00:17:25.820 he gave the right to become children of God,
00:17:27.260 who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
00:17:30.480 nor of the will of man, but of God.
00:17:36.860 James 1.18, people forget about this verse.
00:17:40.280 Of his own will, God's own will,
00:17:43.380 he brought us forth by the word of his truth.
00:17:45.200 we have to eliminate the church's obsession with free will
00:17:51.360 american individualism has taken free will and made it our god
00:17:59.720 salvation is not attained through human free will i've talked about this 40 times it feels like in
00:18:11.360 the last several months. And I'm not going to mention it again. I'll mention my first phrase
00:18:15.680 is that we have a will, but it's never free. It's either enslaved to sin and flesh, or it's
00:18:22.200 enslaved to righteousness and Christ. Salvation is attained by the sovereign will of God through
00:18:29.660 election as a gift. That's what the scriptures teach. Now that gift will produce good works
00:18:37.820 and it will produce a pursuit of righteousness.
00:18:42.520 But good works and the pursuit of righteousness
00:18:44.840 will not produce the gift.
00:18:46.140 That is the dimension and the problem 1.00
00:18:47.920 that the Jews and the Gentiles, the disparity. 1.00
00:18:52.540 One thought that works ended in reward.
00:18:58.000 And that's not how this works.
00:18:59.660 good works are the fruit of your salvation they're not the root of your salvation
00:19:11.240 the root of your salvation is christ but i would even say it's election in christ
00:19:19.880 when you're elected you'll produce good fruits but you can't put good good works at the roots 0.91
00:19:27.280 that is exactly what the Jews were doing. 1.00
00:19:31.520 Titus 3.5 says, 0.98
00:19:32.520 He saved us not because of works done in righteousness,
00:19:34.820 but according to his own mercy.
00:19:37.040 2 Timothy 1.9,
00:19:38.300 God who saved us and called us to a holy calling,
00:19:40.720 not because of our works,
00:19:41.700 but because of his own purpose and grace.
00:19:45.620 Ephesians 2.8-9.
00:19:49.020 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
00:19:50.600 and this is not of your own doing,
00:19:51.800 it is a gift of God,
00:19:52.840 not a result of works so that no one may boast.
00:19:57.280 James, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.
00:20:04.600 He goes on to say the verse I already said, of his own will, he brought us forth from the word
00:20:08.780 of his truth. Romans 3, 23 to 24, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and
00:20:15.720 are justified by his grace as a gift. I don't know how, I don't know how, after reading those
00:20:23.100 passages any way someone can say, you know, I, of my own free will, chose to have faith
00:20:30.880 and pursued Christ. I don't know how you arrive at that. The only way you arrive at that is
00:20:37.700 because you're biblically and theologically illiterate. I think it was Spurgeon that said,
00:20:43.100 every man starts as an Arminian. I agree. You start looking at one dimension. You're saved and 1.00
00:20:52.000 you realize you're only looking at, I chose Jesus. It's only when you read the scriptures
00:20:58.380 that you realize that there's a second dimension, a second dimension. Again, salvation is a gift.
00:21:09.180 Now, Leighton Flowers, who was probably the number one proponent of free will theology
00:21:17.060 or theology today, would say,
00:21:20.080 well, the gift of the gospel can be chosen freely
00:21:23.460 or rejected freely.
00:21:26.940 This is a very real doctrine in our generation.
00:21:33.640 To that, I would say, salvation is not a gift you choose
00:21:37.820 and it is not a gift you can reject.
00:21:42.700 And here's why.
00:21:44.300 Because salvation is a spiritual resurrection.
00:21:48.880 Let me explain.
00:21:50.260 It's going to help you with your apologetics,
00:21:51.720 with your coworkers that want to fight for free will, okay?
00:21:55.760 Can you spiritually resurrect yourself?
00:21:59.480 This is what they believe. 0.97
00:22:00.440 This is why Billy Graham wrote the ridiculous book titled 0.94
00:22:03.600 How to Be Born Again. 0.95
00:22:08.720 It's like, really?
00:22:11.380 Can you really born yourself again?
00:22:13.720 What a weird idea. Can you spiritually resurrect yourself? Can you born yourself again? No. Jesus
00:22:24.260 used birth as the metaphor for coming alive because it illustrates a universal experience
00:22:32.420 in which we all know we had no involvement. No involvement. It's a universal understanding
00:22:41.380 that you were not involved in your own birth.
00:22:48.460 And so to say, well, I wasn't involved in my natural birth,
00:22:53.360 but I am involved in the decision of my spiritual birth.
00:22:58.460 It's to break the metaphor.
00:23:00.580 It doesn't make any sense.
00:23:06.120 Let me ask you another question.
00:23:07.500 can the spiritually dead reject god's will to resurrect their soul to make them born again
00:23:16.720 can they being dead say you know hey i'm not interested 0.69
00:23:20.060 i know you'd like to resurrect me
00:23:23.840 not interested okay no and here's why the dead are not involved because the dead are incapable
00:23:32.460 of action. Steve Lawson always says, what can the dead do? Stink. Stink. The dead can only
00:23:40.620 realize that they're alive after they've been resurrected. So again, Leighton Flowers would
00:23:47.600 say that spiritually resurrected souls can later reject Christ, essentially committing spiritual
00:23:55.280 suicide, soul suicide.
00:23:59.000 Okay, you chose to be born again, and then God made you born again, and then later you 0.93
00:24:04.940 just rejected Christ and you could lose your salvation, so you essentially died again spiritually.
00:24:10.180 And maybe again later, you might freely choose to be born again again.
00:24:14.640 That's the logic of this system of theology.
00:24:22.440 I have a question for you.
00:24:25.280 do spiritually alive born-again souls saved from hell want to return to
00:24:33.320 spiritual death and judgment no no one that has come alive wants to go back to
00:24:41.660 if you've understood you've been born again you don't want to go back to hell
00:24:47.180 and death
00:24:50.040 and wrath, no hope, and no peace?
00:24:57.340 More than that, do we have a shepherd that loses his sheep?
00:25:03.100 Why don't you guys turn to John chapter 10 for me real quick,
00:25:06.620 and we're going to look at verses 27 to 28.
00:25:08.440 John chapter 10.
00:25:11.120 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees, and they're asking him,
00:25:15.660 hey, if you're the Christ, tell us plainly.
00:25:19.260 And he says, I did.
00:25:21.200 You don't believe me because you're not a part of my sheep.
00:25:24.660 Oof.
00:25:27.840 You're not one of the elect.
00:25:29.820 You're not part of the remnant.
00:25:33.180 He says in 27, my sheep, they hear my voice.
00:25:38.880 And I know them.
00:25:40.540 And they follow me.
00:25:43.320 I give them eternal life.
00:25:45.340 and they will never perish.
00:25:52.320 That passage right there is enough
00:25:55.500 for you to always believe
00:25:58.080 that when you're saved, you're always saved.
00:26:01.880 The doctrine, once saved, always saved, right there.
00:26:06.420 If you've been given eternal life,
00:26:08.740 you will never perish.
00:26:11.760 Either Christ is a liar and you're right
00:26:15.320 or you're wrong and the scriptures are true.
00:26:23.600 It goes on and says,
00:26:25.160 and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
00:26:30.640 What an incredible passage of scripture
00:26:32.520 that we should just rest in.
00:26:36.380 So my point is that this passage
00:26:39.060 that highlights the irony of redemption 1.00
00:26:41.480 where the Jews miss it because of works 0.81
00:26:44.180 and the Gentiles find it,
00:26:45.320 because of faith, it establishes further what Paul has been defending this entire chapter,
00:26:50.480 that salvation depends chiefly on divine election.
00:26:57.100 And what an offensive truth this is to the minds of men.
00:27:02.940 I played the game. Why didn't I win?
00:27:08.540 And you're telling me that that guy who wasn't even here won?
00:27:11.200 Yes. That's exactly what God's saying. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
00:27:20.200 and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Oof. It's hard.
00:27:30.540 But to reject the doctrine of divine election
00:27:36.000 is to dethrone God and put your own will in his will's place.
00:27:42.900 When you get down to the live nerve of that,
00:27:46.000 it's blasphemy at the highest degree.
00:27:49.940 And that's why you see people like Jonathan Edwards
00:27:53.160 and Augustus Toplady and Calvin,
00:27:57.120 because they've gotten down to the live nerve of the issue,
00:28:00.360 and the closer you get to it, the more horrifying it really is.
00:28:06.000 Arminianism, Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism,
00:28:11.180 they steal from God's glory. 0.79
00:28:16.120 They take away honor,
00:28:20.160 that honor should be given to God.
00:28:24.380 Now, the point that you're starting to understand here
00:28:28.220 is that Paul is defending a doctrine here in Romans 9.
00:28:32.640 his mere defense proves that he's trying to convey something that's offensive you don't have to
00:28:42.280 defend something that's not offensive and you know what's not offensive is a workspace religion
00:28:46.040 not offensive at all every false religion on earth is a workspace religion the fact that
00:28:52.000 paul is even defending anything is evidence that there's something offensive to defend
00:28:56.060 and paul's modus operandi is what he makes a claim he anticipates an objection
00:29:04.100 he gives biblical support from the old testament to substantiate his position
00:29:08.620 over and over and over that's what he does paul is going to do that again in a minute
00:29:16.780 he's made a claim that those who pursued righteousness did not receive salvation
00:29:22.280 and those who did not pursue righteousness
00:29:24.300 did receive salvation.
00:29:27.020 Irony.
00:29:29.800 And just to kind of make this hit for you,
00:29:33.120 you did not choose God.
00:29:38.280 God chose you.
00:29:40.040 Now, after God chose you, you did choose God.
00:29:43.080 And again, Dr. Moody's great quote,
00:29:44.920 which is from one of his friends is,
00:29:46.040 God changes your chooser.
00:29:47.460 but God first comes
00:29:53.400 and gives you a new heart
00:29:55.840 and gives you new affections
00:29:57.780 and gives you eyes that can see
00:30:01.900 and ears that can hear
00:30:02.940 and all of a sudden
00:30:03.980 the things that you hated
00:30:04.980 I'll say it this way
00:30:08.000 the things that you loved
00:30:09.000 the sin that you loved
00:30:10.140 on Monday
00:30:12.160 you all of a sudden
00:30:14.000 hated on Tuesday
00:30:14.980 because you've been made new.
00:30:21.920 You've gone from death to life,
00:30:25.000 from blind to seeing, from deaf to hearing,
00:30:27.700 and you cannot, you cannot assign the glory
00:30:33.060 for that reality to yourself, to your own decision.
00:30:39.840 God came in through circumstances and rescued you
00:30:44.980 What an amazing God we have.
00:30:51.480 In the next two verses, Paul's going to anticipate this objection.
00:30:56.580 He's going to give a defense.
00:30:57.620 He's going to offer a passage from the Old Testament to validate.
00:30:59.620 Look at verse 32.
00:31:03.240 He says, why?
00:31:04.520 Okay, man, I hate that translation, okay?
00:31:07.260 A better way to say it would be, yes, but for what reason?
00:31:11.260 It's basically what's being said.
00:31:13.440 Okay.
00:31:14.980 And it says, because they did not pursue it by faith. 0.79
00:31:21.620 Why did the Gentiles receive and the Jews didn't? 0.88
00:31:28.820 Because the Jews did not pursue it by faith, 0.98
00:31:32.100 but as though it were by works, 0.86
00:31:35.000 they stumbled over the stumbling stone,
00:31:36.920 just as it is written.
00:31:38.860 Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling
00:31:43.080 and a rock of offense.
00:31:44.980 And he who believes in him will not be disappointed.
00:31:50.120 Now, as I said in the opening of the sermon,
00:31:54.840 while God is sovereign over salvation through divine election,
00:31:59.700 the scriptures present redemption as having two dimensions.
00:32:02.800 God's sovereignty, man's responsibility.
00:32:07.160 Okay, the previous verses, the apostles focusing on God's sovereignty. 0.78
00:32:12.280 It's talking about election.
00:32:14.980 Now, in these verses, he's talking about man's responsibility,
00:32:18.440 our responsibility to have faith.
00:32:21.620 Now, if you're a normal person, your mind is trying to reconcile
00:32:25.680 how God can demand faith if faith is a gift only given to the elect.
00:32:35.740 That's the conundrum and one of the great mysteries of the scriptures, right?
00:32:39.620 There's three main mysteries in the Bible.
00:32:40.940 god's sovereignty man's responsibility the trinity and the hypostatic union
00:32:48.480 every time you try to get to an answer of absolute carnal clarity you're going to end
00:32:57.220 at a black door you cannot open what this does is it brings us back to augustine's quote that i
00:33:06.640 opened up this entire series with about two months ago. It says, Lord, command what you will
00:33:13.200 and give what you command. Because he realized that God was commanding something from someone
00:33:20.680 that they don't have. Command for faith, but give me faith.
00:33:26.840 faith. That's why Spurgeon said, the system of truth revealed in the scriptures is not simply
00:33:38.540 one straight line, but two. He says, no man will ever get the right view of the gospel
00:33:45.840 until he knows how to look at the two lines at once.
00:33:50.020 for instance he says
00:33:54.040 I read in one book of the Bible
00:33:56.820 the spirit and the bride came 0.91
00:33:58.900 and say come
00:33:59.940 and in another
00:34:02.040 quote no man can come to me
00:34:04.460 except the father which has sent me draws him
00:34:06.680 again
00:34:08.420 I see in one place God's predestination
00:34:11.280 and I see in another place 0.61
00:34:12.440 man's responsibility
00:34:13.700 end quote
00:34:15.000 two lines
00:34:17.760 when i talk to my wife and i say hey i'm going to take the kids to the park
00:34:26.400 we're going to go to this park over here and then i go to my kids and i say hey you guys want to go
00:34:36.240 to the park yeah we'd love to go to the park now to them they go we just chose to go to the park
00:34:45.520 you made an offer, and I said yes.
00:34:50.620 What they don't understand is that they were going to the park.
00:34:54.560 I made the decision already.
00:35:00.200 I know that's kind of a limited metaphor, but you get the point.
00:35:05.580 In this verse, we're going to be looking at the second line,
00:35:08.860 man's responsibility.
00:35:11.680 Paul says, 1.00
00:35:12.220 the reason why the Jews did not receive righteousness
00:35:14.740 though they pursued it.
00:35:16.420 He says, because they did not pursue it by faith,
00:35:19.640 but as though it were by works.
00:35:22.500 Okay. 0.96
00:35:23.900 The Jews sought righteousness in a way 0.95
00:35:26.400 that it cannot be found. 1.00
00:35:29.440 Your number one need.
00:35:31.660 In fact, everybody's number one need.
00:35:34.100 And we're going to get to the heart of the gospel right here.
00:35:35.940 So just follow along.
00:35:38.660 Your number one need.
00:35:42.220 is to be found righteous.
00:35:45.480 You are not righteous when you're born into this world.
00:35:49.180 Your number one need is to be found righteous
00:35:51.220 on judgment day.
00:35:55.180 And there are ways that people have tried
00:35:59.680 to attain righteousness.
00:36:01.480 One of them is moralism.
00:36:05.680 It's the doctrine that plagues the Roman Catholic Church.
00:36:10.360 It's religious moralism.
00:36:12.640 It's modern-day Pharisaical theology. 0.95
00:36:20.500 What the Jews didn't understand is Deuteronomy 27, 26. 0.84
00:36:23.700 It says, cursed be anyone. 0.88
00:36:27.720 How many people is anyone?
00:36:29.220 Anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.
00:36:35.460 James actually clarifies it, James 2.10.
00:36:39.020 It says, for whoever keeps the whole law
00:36:41.500 but fails in one point
00:36:44.380 has become guilty of all of it.
00:36:49.620 Okay.
00:36:52.860 Not even talking about original sin right now.
00:36:55.620 Have you lied? Have you cheated? Have you stolen?
00:36:58.520 Have you thought lustful thoughts?
00:37:02.680 Have you blasphemed God?
00:37:05.980 Have you murdered someone in your heart?
00:37:08.280 when you think of those realities, you've become guilty of all of it.
00:37:15.500 You are completely unrighteous, eternally unrighteous.
00:37:27.180 Okay, I'm going to give you another lesson here.
00:37:31.240 A low view of the law always leads to legalism.
00:37:36.120 a low view of the law always leads to legalism. Let me explain. If you think the law is small
00:37:46.440 and you can attain it, you'll try. You'll try. The Jews had a very low view of the law.
00:37:54.540 Now, a high view of the law always leads to grace, mercy.
00:38:05.240 What did Jesus do?
00:38:06.580 Did Jesus lower the law or amplify the law?
00:38:11.700 He comes in, he goes, you've heard that it's said that if you commit adultery,
00:38:18.420 you're essentially sinning.
00:38:22.120 But I tell you, even if you think adulterous thoughts,
00:38:26.140 you've already committed adultery in your heart.
00:38:29.260 He's saying it's not just what you do, it's even what you think.
00:38:34.060 What was the response of the disciples?
00:38:36.460 Who can be saved?
00:38:39.740 That's exactly the right perspective.
00:38:44.360 Nobody can be saved when they have a low view of the law.
00:38:49.360 You have to have a high view of the law.
00:38:54.200 It's Everest here to crush you.
00:38:58.880 You cannot be saved by works of the law because you are eternally unrighteous.
00:39:04.580 You must run to mercy.
00:39:10.300 That's why Paul says in Romans 3.10, which is a quote from the Psalms,
00:39:14.480 none is righteous, no, not one.
00:39:19.360 When we are born, now I'm gonna go into original sin,
00:39:26.960 we are born of Adam.
00:39:29.300 Now Adam is like a seed that went into the ground.
00:39:33.000 And everybody that came from Adam and Eve,
00:39:38.240 which is all of us,
00:39:41.280 is born of the same substance and matter that Adam was,
00:39:44.820 which is, he was a sinner.
00:39:46.260 and his seed of sinful humanity produced only other sinners of sinful humanity.
00:39:55.760 But when we are born again in Christ, a new humanity, a new seed, born of a virgin without
00:40:06.600 the original sin of Adam, when we are born of that seed, we are now saints.
00:40:17.020 So vital to understand that.
00:40:21.000 All that comes from Adam is sin and requires death. 0.90
00:40:26.500 You must be transferred into, by being born again, 0.93
00:40:31.180 spiritually resurrected, being born of Christ, the second Adam. 0.60
00:40:38.240 In Adam, you're a sinner.
00:40:40.180 In Christ, you're a saint.
00:40:42.280 This is Romans chapter 5, if you want to read it later.
00:40:46.260 So sinners need an alien righteousness.
00:40:52.100 Why are you righteous?
00:40:54.700 It's not because of anything you do.
00:40:56.480 God is not looking down at you going,
00:40:58.380 you're such a good rule follower.
00:41:01.260 No, he's looking down at Christ saying,
00:41:03.580 well, looking, I'm not gonna say looking down at Christ.
00:41:05.480 He's looking to Christ and saying,
00:41:06.940 Christ is the perfect law keeper.
00:41:11.440 And his righteousness becomes your righteousness
00:41:13.840 through faith.
00:41:16.260 why are you righteous?
00:41:18.880 Why are you going to be declared innocent on judgment day?
00:41:22.080 You better not say or think that it's anything that you did.
00:41:25.080 It's because of that guy, his righteousness.
00:41:31.120 His perfect law keeping has been given to me
00:41:34.380 and my sins have been given to him.
00:41:38.320 He has taken them and paid for them.
00:41:41.100 You are truly as righteous as Christ is righteous through imputation.
00:41:50.160 God sees you in white robes in terms of the forensic reality of the gospel,
00:42:01.180 the judicial reality of the gospel.
00:42:05.460 You are righteous as Christ is righteous through imputation.
00:42:13.900 Lastly, it says this verse,
00:42:17.280 it says they stumbled over the stumbling stone.
00:42:21.400 Instead of finding the foundation of their hope and justification
00:42:23.620 in the righteousness of Jesus, they stumbled over him.
00:42:27.960 Pride, pride.
00:42:29.360 not recognizing biblical anthropology.
00:42:34.960 I'm not righteous. 0.91
00:42:38.400 It's the difference between the two men.
00:42:41.540 Oh, Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner.
00:42:45.280 Who went away justified?
00:42:47.460 That man.
00:42:50.020 It's why we start our worship with this confession of sin.
00:42:53.440 If you don't start, oh, Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.
00:42:59.360 recognizing you have no righteousness of your own,
00:43:05.620 but it has been given to you as a gift through faith.
00:43:11.400 So the word stumbled in the Greek means to strike against
00:43:15.560 or to collide with and to be put off course.
00:43:20.400 The Jews spiritually collided with Christ 0.94
00:43:23.000 and it veered them off of the course to true righteousness. 0.95
00:43:26.760 And rather than becoming the cornerstone
00:43:28.240 or the pearl of great price,
00:43:30.680 he'd become an obstacle
00:43:31.860 that caused them to fall to their own ruin.
00:43:35.900 Remember, we're talking about the second line,
00:43:37.780 man's responsibility.
00:43:39.520 And this stumbling was not merely
00:43:41.560 because of their own obstinate hearts.
00:43:43.160 We're about to go flip back here in a second
00:43:45.460 to the first line.
00:43:49.660 It wasn't just because of their obstinate hearts
00:43:52.020 or their rejection of Christ.
00:43:54.180 It was also a predestined event.
00:43:57.020 It's a predestined event.
00:44:01.820 The next verse, Paul cites Isaiah 8, 14,
00:44:05.280 which says,
00:44:06.340 Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling
00:44:08.760 and a rock of offense.
00:44:11.180 This isn't like an accident.
00:44:13.020 This is on purpose.
00:44:17.560 Paul wants his readers to see
00:44:19.080 the sovereign nature of redemption 0.86
00:44:20.540 and how the Jews' rejection of the Messiah, 0.64
00:44:22.800 if you look up to...
00:44:26.020 Chapter 9, verses 5 or 6.
00:44:29.820 I think it's chapter, or verse 6.
00:44:31.480 It says, it's not as though the word of God has failed.
00:44:37.680 Okay, keep that in mind.
00:44:40.860 The Jews' rejection of the Messiah is not as though the word of God has failed.
00:44:45.480 It's actually the evidence that the word of God has succeeded. 0.82
00:44:53.100 I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling.
00:44:56.900 Who did that?
00:45:00.680 God did.
00:45:03.200 God laid in Zion, the city of God, the people of God,
00:45:07.700 a stumbling stone on purpose. 1.00
00:45:15.480 What makes this so shocking again is that the Jews prided themselves about the scriptures, 0.98
00:45:21.680 how well they knew them. 1.00
00:45:23.680 And it's right here.
00:45:26.020 But Jesus in John 5 39 says, you search the scriptures for in them, you think you have
00:45:31.000 eternal life. And these are they which testify of me. It's like talking to a dead person.
00:45:38.180 They cannot see it. They cannot hear it. It's not about intellectual persuasion. It's not
00:45:45.340 about more information. It's about God awakening deadness in our soul.
00:45:51.380 and then in john 12 40 we see again quoting isaiah for why the jews rejected christ
00:46:01.780 john says god has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they see
00:46:10.700 with their eyes and understand with their heart and turn that i would heal them
00:46:16.120 what
00:46:18.860 we're back to God's sovereignty.
00:46:24.300 God actually blinds them and prevents them.
00:46:31.620 Oh, what a mystery of God's sovereignty
00:46:34.560 and man's responsibility.
00:46:39.000 The apostle closes with this line,
00:46:42.100 and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.
00:46:45.940 Not every Jew would reject Christ.
00:46:48.860 Hey, Paul clarifies this, Romans 11, 1.
00:46:52.020 It says, I ask then,
00:46:53.880 has God rejected his people by no means?
00:46:56.160 For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,
00:46:58.340 a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
00:47:00.620 Hey, there is a remnant.
00:47:03.520 God didn't totally cast aside all of ethnic Israel.
00:47:10.360 A remnant has been saved, 1.00
00:47:11.920 and now the mass of the Gentiles has been added in 1.00
00:47:16.660 or is being added in.
00:47:18.860 grafted in, as you will see in chapter 10 and 11.
00:47:24.940 Lastly, he says, all who believe will not be disappointed.
00:47:27.840 Some translations might say, not be ashamed.
00:47:30.660 In other words, unlike those who have rejected Christ,
00:47:33.500 who will be ashamed, those vessels of wrath
00:47:36.960 will find themselves devastated.
00:47:39.920 Those who believe will possess a hope.
00:47:43.460 They're not going to be disappointed.
00:47:44.580 the promise that was given to Adam and Eve
00:47:50.040 in Genesis 3.16
00:47:51.840 that was kept in the covenants
00:47:53.800 that was given to the fathers of Abraham
00:47:58.160 and Isaac and Jacob
00:47:59.080 that was prophesied in the prophets
00:48:01.620 and that was realized in Christ
00:48:05.640 they have that hope
00:48:08.400 the people that weren't even playing the game
00:48:15.560 So I'm going to give you the conclusion and I'll close it up.
00:48:19.060 What's the conclusion of this doctrine of God's sovereignty over salvation?
00:48:30.880 Man's redemption is God's plan.
00:48:36.420 Man's redemption is God's plan.
00:48:38.380 It's God's plan.
00:48:41.280 Again, it's why I hate those baptism shirts that say, I have decided.
00:48:45.420 It just strips all of the glory of God and puts it all on man.
00:48:50.420 Again, I will say it again.
00:48:52.040 Those shirts must say, God saved me.
00:48:57.040 The posture that you must have when sharing a testimony,
00:49:01.500 you have to stop saying, I was persuaded to come to Christ
00:49:06.340 or I accepted Jesus or I made him Lord.
00:49:10.700 Oh, you need to make Jesus Lord of your life.
00:49:12.200 Jesus is Lord, whether you make him Lord or not.
00:49:18.860 I accepted Jesus.
00:49:22.240 Again, yeah, in a sense you did,
00:49:25.160 but only after God came in and did a miracle in your soul.
00:49:32.100 And so to emphasize man's choice
00:49:35.040 without emphasizing God's rescue
00:49:38.460 is the problem.
00:49:42.200 Calvinism, the doctrines of grace, it is the most God-glorifying and man-humbling system
00:49:51.600 of salvation theology that exists.
00:49:56.920 You get into the weeds of it and you go, this has to be right.
00:50:01.220 This is not only is it biblical, but it's the exact opposite of what my flesh wants.
00:50:06.800 it seems like it's totally aligned with God's upside down kingdom economy where up is down
00:50:15.320 and down is up and weak is strong and strong is weak and last is first and first is last.
00:50:23.280 This is the beauty of this great doctrine. So when someone asks you for your testimony,
00:50:30.240 having now gone through Romans chapter nine, this is what you should say. It should be the exact
00:50:36.060 words of John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace. It should be, why are you saved?
00:50:41.040 How did you come to Christ? Amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch
00:50:47.640 like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see.
00:50:56.860 That's why he wrote that song. That's why he wrote those lyrics. America sings them
00:51:03.320 while keeping in their heart a tiny little idol of free will.
00:51:08.740 Don't do that.
00:51:10.940 Rest in amazing grace.
00:51:12.460 Let's pray.
00:51:14.960 Father, we thank you.
00:51:18.240 Lord, that you have saved us,
00:51:21.060 that you have chosen a people 1.00
00:51:22.900 that we're not a people.
00:51:28.120 lord that you have made that which was not holy holy and that who was not beloved beloved and
00:51:37.820 father we pray lord that you continue to lay that upon our hearts and minds and affections
00:51:42.100 that we would remember it all week that it would animate the way that we obey that it
00:51:47.280 would motivate the way that we worship and praise and that we would give you all the glory
00:51:51.880 and that it would change the way that we live
00:51:56.340 and the way that we go out into the city
00:51:59.240 and establish the kingdom through the gospel
00:52:01.740 and through the righteousness of your law.
00:52:06.880 Lord, I ask that you would give this congregation,
00:52:08.800 these people here, that blessing of strength and maturity
00:52:13.760 or that they might radiate to the world of light and salt
00:52:21.260 and that you would bring more people through their faithfulness.
00:52:26.260 In Jesus' name, amen.
00:52:28.860 Amen.