Not All Israel Who Are Descended from Israel
First B Jackson
2016-08-14

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Buddy, how we doing? You look good. You look good. Why don't you stand up? I, I wanna share something with you.

Have you heard the the word hallelujah? I just had to be reminded, like, what does hallelujah mean this week and looked it up, and the Hebrew Hebrew word just means praise God. Praise the Lord. And there's a lot to be thankful. There's a lot to praise God about.

Everything that we see around us, the beauty of creation, and then really just the story of Jesus, the story of the gospel, the good news of the gospel and that is worth our hallelujah. That's worth our praise God. Would you agree with that? So, what do you say we sing to say exactly that?

When I hear the story of a god of mercy who shared humanity and suffered by our side, crossing near the tomb And what can I do but thank you? What can I do but give my life to you? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What can I do

Amen? You okay out there? You look a little quiet, little somber. Maybe after announcements, you'll warm up. You can have a seat, rail.

Rail, give em.

Well, good morning. I'm glad you're here. I've I've got a couple of announcements this week. There's a nursery available downstairs, ages zero through five and see Bailey if you're able and you're willing to volunteer. We're trying to increase the increase the size of our pool of volunteers down there.

So, see her after the service if you would. Monday nights at First B, 06:00 tomorrow night. We'll have meal, music, and a message. What's going on?

Yeah. Eric, where's Eric? Eric's going to be speaking tomorrow. Felix in Guadalupe have some food. Good to hear some good stuff.

Good stuff. So doors are open. You're welcome to come, please.

An evening about internationally, what God's doing internationally and food from Mexico. That's really, really nice. And tonight, tonight, you're speaking here in this very room. 07:00. 07:00.

So this is Eric White. Would you stand up and just let people see your face? And Becky White, his wife, would you mind standing up and letting them see your face? Eric and Becky together are a part of and the the head part of I guess. Run Ministries, Reaching Unreached Nations and if you have not heard, if you have not seen one of their updates, you really really need to come to this tonight to see them.

07:00 tonight right here. Thank you very much for being here. Alright. So, Old Bills Fun Run. I have not been mentioning this every week like I did last year, but I should have been.

Do y'all know what Old Bills Fund Run is? Okay. So, you understand that it's an an amplification process. It up it amplifies giving. If you would like to give to Turning Point, you can give to Turning Point through Old Bills and it amplifies your gift to Turning Point.

If you'd like to give to the Good Samaritan Mission, you can give through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole through Old Bills and it'll amplify your giving and it's a seasonal thing. So, it's getting here. It's coming up soon. If you would like to give to First B through Old Bills, you can do that. We have what a certain way that we use the money that goes through old bills is our local benevolence fund.

So, a lot of y'all know that when people come and they have needs that they cannot meet whether they're passing through or they are living here and they're having trouble with whatever, making their bills, we can offer assistance because of the local benevolence account and it gets filled up at all bills, basically. So, if you would like to give to the local benevolence of First B, you can do so through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole. Everybody understand that? Okay. Anybody else have an announcement about that?

Chris. Next slide. Oh, thank you very much.

Wear while running old bills, come and see me. It looks like that.

Come see Chris. Today.

That's Chris. There's another guy that looks a little like him. Except no imitations. Yeah. Alright.

That's Chris. Thank you, Chris. Lagoon.

Alright. Lagoon is back. We're leaving. It's next Friday and Saturday, the nineteenth and twentieth. So, you are a middle school or high school youth and you have not told me you're planning to come to Lagoon, let me know as soon as possible.

The cut off date to to sign up is Monday. So, this is the last announcement about it. I'll probably send out one more text to everybody. We're pushing just over 30 people right now. So it's gonna be a big fun group.

There's a few spots left, middle school, high schoolers. And if you need any more of the information, all of the youth information is always by the other entrance at 1st B on the wall. And you guys can grab that anytime or else you can always just text me and I can just text it right over to you. So, that trip is happening and the cut off is tomorrow.

Thank you. So, there are other announcements but I've got a couple other things going on too. Is Eric Basie in the house? There he is. You seem to sit in different places every time.

And may I, hey, good to see you. May, grab me a mic. I'll get you a mic. You can holler until then if you want to. Eric Basie is one of ours, one of our missionaries.

Stateside up in Billings and you can say whatever you wanna say. Great. Thanks. Alright.

Well, I just wanted we are here for the short weekend. I'm headed out today, but just wanted just to just take a couple minutes, and I don't get to do this very often, but I just wanna thank you as a church. Whether or not you know this, you guys have been faithfully supporting the work that we've been involved in. You know, the eight years in Memphis and now the seven years in in the South Side Of Billings. And so I just wanna say thank you.

Your your support means a lot to us. As far as just a quick update, one, I have some to going do

that.

The good news of Jesus, but we also do that through meeting very tangible needs. And so this is pretty this is was fun to put together because this is about our work with women in crisis. This is women that are pregnant, they're coming out of prison, they're in transition. Some of them are still in the woes of addictions and drugs. And so, anyway, I think if you wanna know kinda the heartbeat of what we're trying to do and ways to pray, if you want, you can come grab these.

I'll leave them here with Ray if you want one. And then you can always email me and I could I would gladly send you one or or you could check out our website. So I just really was wanna say thank you. Things are going well. You know, as Gary was talking about, it's it's like a roller coaster just about every day.

But within that, I'm I'm confident we are we are confident that the Lord is doing good work. He's calling people to himself and I think more than any anything else, I'm just assured of this fact that I have to believe that the gospel is real, that not only does Jesus change our lives spiritually for all eternity, but he changes our our lives even right now. And so that's that's the message that we're going forward with. We we are seeing some that come to experience that. And then there's others that are still tasting of that and they go back to the old ways.

And so we're just going to labor on and and trust that the Lord will do what he wants. So I'm gonna take this opportunity to pray for you guys just to thank you and really just extend on behalf of the Baysee family, CLDI, Southside, just our our gratitude and your partnership. So let me pray for you. Heavenly father, I just thank you so much for this church and this body. I just thank you for literally God just how they have ever since I was young just supported the work that you have been calling me to do and father, it's a gift and it's a partnership and I'm so thankful for that.

God, just wanna pray for this church. I pray for the members. I pray for the leadership. I pray for the elders. God, I pray.

Father, that you would let everyone here in this this church that they would be a light, God, that they would just love you, that they would just speak well of you, God. They would live in such a way that God that many people here in this valley would would come to wonder who this Jesus is, that they have they have come to see modeled in lives of those here. And I wanna pray for this valley as a whole, God. I pray that, where there's many different belief systems, many things that would allure our our affection and our worship that Jesus, you would let that affection be drawn to you. We pray for the many different communities, God, that are here.

We pray that Jesus, you are you are glorious, and we want this valley to know you. We want them to worship the God that created this amazing place. And so we just pray that you would you would move powerfully in your church, and God that you would empower my friends, my brothers, my sisters here to go boldly live the gospel, boldly speak the gospel. And then Holy Spirit, we pray you are the one that brings salvation. So we pray that you would soften hearts, that you would unstopp ears, that you would unveil eyes, and Jesus that you would draw many people into yourself, that they would come to know life through you.

So, may your blessings just be upon this church and God, I just thank you again for for the support that you have offered us through these many years. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thanks, Aaron. Thanks. Thank you very much.

John? This is a buddy that's in town too and he's one of our missionaries too. We don't get a chance every time. Just a minute there if you would, John. Hey.

Hi. My name is John Burke, and this is my family, Allison, and our son, Brian, and our daughter, Kelly, here. And you guys have been supporting us in our first term over in Central Asia. And we have been over there learning language and getting to know the people and getting to understand a lot about what it's like to reach out to Central Asians and just what life is like over there. I was talking with Carl and Renzi earlier this week, and they asked me, what is it like reaching out in Central Asia?

And we've been been learning a ton about how to do that, just how to even communicate that, which has been great, to really see. We're encouraged that learning language and not trying to find people to share in English was the way to go. And we've really seen that in just gratitude in people's hearts in the country that we're learning their language and respecting them. It's a people that really haven't been respected a lot. They've been oppressed over their lives.

And the fact that someone would come and learn their language has just been awesome. In fact, it's happened many times when I'm in a taxi and I'm talking to them. They just turn to me and they say thank you. Thank you for learning our language. And one time, the guy was even so thankful that or actually a couple times, they've even forgiven they've not even charged us for riding in the taxi.

And another time, the guy stopped to buy flowers for his wife. He's like, is it okay if we stop and buy flowers for my wife? I'm like, that's a little strange in a taxi, but okay, I guess. And he comes back with flowers for my daughter and my wife as well, just to tell us thank you for that. And it's just been really great to get to know these people.

They're just a hugely hospitable people. We were talking about what it is to reach out to them. They are people who just persevere. They pride themselves on being long suffering people, And it's really great to see the character of God in these people there. But also that's made them it's been twisted.

And it's made them miss their need, this deep need. And they're they love peace. They love their they love that they have a very peaceful country right now. But we also need to see them a little shaken up and a little seeing that they have a need that goes deeper than what they have. And so I'd love to see many many Central Asians come to faith over there and that God would just be working in their hearts and working in the opportunities he gives us and the few believers that are in the country.

There's maybe a couple thousand believers in Central Asia, about 25 to 30,000,000 Central Asian people there. And one of the biggest needs is just more if you guys can pray for just more people to go. There are my best count is about eight or nine western missionary families in that country right now. The great thing is, God is working because one of those is is retiring. Three of them have been in the country for about six to ten years and then five of them were the newest out of the five with just finishing up our first two and a half years there.

So God is bringing more people there, but we need a lot more, and we'd love your prayers for that. We thank you so much for your support. It's been just a huge blessing to us as we've been there our first term.

Appreciate it. Would you stand with us? Thank you, John and actually, grab hold. Yeah. Yeah, was going to say, grab hold of one of these.

There are other missionaries in the midst too but those are the ones I saw. Would you stand up and grab hold of somebody? Let them know you love em and we'll bring you back together with a song.

Oh, Lord, my God. When I can awesome wonder and say to roll the worlds I have made. And I see the stars. I hear the rolling thunder that power throughout the universe displays. Then sings and then sings my soul, my savior got to be.

How great thou art, how great thou art, then sings my soul, my savior got to be. How great thou art, how great thou art. And when I think that God is some not sparing, sending to die, I scarce continue that on that cross my burden valley bearing even and died to take away my sin amen and then sings my soul, my savior, great thou art. How great thou art. And sings my soul, my savior, God.

How great thou art, how green thou art. And when Christ shall come with shots of acclamation my God, how great you are. Then sings my soul, my savior God to be. How great thou art. How great thou art.

Then sings my soul my savior God's clean how great thou art how great art how great thou art how great A thousand times I failed, never ending. Your glory goes beyond all things. My heart and my soul, your Consume me from the inside. I'm Lord. And let justice and praise become my embrace to love you from the inside out, everlasting.

Your light will shine with old, else fate never ending. Your glory goes beyond

Amen. Would you pray with me? God, I I don't want this just to be something that comes off our lips, but really a a song that that that that really comes out of our hearts that we're saying, yeah, we we want justice and praise. We want to bring you glory. We wanna bring you honor.

We're grateful for your grace and for your mercy. And and because of that, we will live this faith out. And I thank you, God, for the new identity that you give us when we put our our trust in you that we're we're really we're no longer slaves to fear, which is a big part of a lot of our lives, and we confess that. But, God, you give us you you give us this new identity as children of God and that we can be bold because of that. And I and I pray that we would.

Pray that we would. Amen.

You wrap me with a melody. You surround me with a song of deliverance from my enemies till all my kids are gone. I'm no longer safe to fear. Child, God. I'm no longer safe to fear.

I have a child, God, split the sea. And you split the sea so I can walk right through where my fears are drowned in perfect love. And you rescued me and I can stand and sing.

You can be seated and I'd like to pray here as we're participating in worship through giving. God, it it really is a it's a joy. It's a joy to give to you. Because when we think of all that you've given, all that you provided, not just in the physical sense but especially in the spiritual sense, we are greatly in debt to you. And as we give, would would these things, would you multiply us?

I know that you can, that you would multiply this for your purposes as we just this morning get to see the faces of those who are ministering all around the world, but it takes resources and I pray God that you would use these resources to get to the right to the core of who we are and what we need and that is the gospel and that is you, Jesus And so would you use these gifts and would you give us joy in and through this worship, through giving. Amen.

Thank you, Florian. So last week, last week we started. How many of y'all are visitors? I'm not going make you raise your hands. How many of y'all were here last week when we started this?

I talked about kiosk construction, like the first point, the get them hooked point. You know, the one where you just draw people in with how interesting something is. I started talking about a an antiquated grammatical, rhetorical feature. Kiastic construction is a way in the Hebrew mind and in the Hebrew and Greek portions of the Bible of placing emphasis on something and it's done by starting in a place and coming back to that place but getting to what's in the middle. It's not getting to the end.

It's getting to what's in the middle and so we talked about that and actually last week, I'll spell it out a little bit more. I just put letters up there last week, A, B, C, B, A. This week, I'm going to lay it out a little more than that. Now, last week, we covered the A section which was A there and A there because it goes. A, B, C, and I'm going to say D, C, B, A.

I also ask all of you to read three chapters of Romans. Probably the three hardest chapters in Romans and some would say, the hardest three chapters in the New Testament outside of Revelation but I wanted you to read it and I and y'all said you would and so, did you read it? Just wonder. Did you get a lot out of it? Were there moments where you wanted to just stop reading I was trying to get you over the hump of wanting to stop reading because there are some hard things.

We're going to go through mostly hard things today. Most of the hard places I don't think I'd have to point them out but I'm going to point them out and we're going to try to keep our eyes on the central point of this chiasm or kiosk construction is whoever believes will be saved. If you confess with your mouth, you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Okay, that's what we're going to try to keep that in mind at least in the back of your mind because what you're going to hear before that is not going to be that.

Our colors are not showing up like they usually do but look over here at this screen. It's a little bit brighter. The yellow section I'm calling the B section is this one and this one and basically, those B sections answer the question, is it God's fault? You know, the first section we went over last week was Paul's empathy and his sorrow for his kinsmen, countrymen, Jews by birth. Because of their lost status, not having accepted Christ, not having accepted him by faith but trying to work out their righteousness, work out their covenant with acts of the law.

So, he had empathy and sorrow for them to the point that he said, I wish that I could be a curse for their sake so that they might come to know the this glorious good gospel. I would I wish that I could be a curse because to them belong all of these promises of God and they've known him since their youth. They've been taught him from the cradle. It breaks my heart that they haven't accepted it the way that God has offered it. So, this B section will talk about, is it God's fault that these Jews or that anyone for that matter has not accepted him.

The next section will get into, well, is it Israel's fault? And all of that you have to keep in mind that whoever believes will be saved. It does not matter your ancestry. Whoever believes will be saved. It'll come back out of it.

It'll ask the question, is it Israel's fault again? And it'll answer the question, is it God's fault again? And then, we'll conclude where we concluded last week. Praise and rejoicing for God's immeasurable, unsearchable, unfathomable wisdom and knowledge but it's a doxology. It's praising God because he's good in the midst of all this, all the time.

So, that's what we're doing. This is what it looks like. If you looked at it all at once, Diane told me this week, you cannot use that slide. It's hard enough to read when you've got the big print. I want you to look at the overview.

This is the map. This is a 30,000 foot view. So we've covered the white part last week, and we are gonna concentrate just on the b part today. So it's less than a quarter of this text, but that's what we're gonna cover. So, almost gave you the answers to the test right there.

The B section here and we'll call it B one because we're not with too many verses to get to that latter B section and some people have said, actually, I'm back up to here. Some people have said that this D section is all about the now, the present time, right now and this BC section right here is about the past. And that's kind of what makes it difficult and this section is more about the future. That's a good way to think about it. I don't think it's a hard and fast rule but if you'll think about it that way, when you read nine, ten, and 11 again this week, think about that.

That what we what we grapple with and what's really really hard with some of these things is that it's already passed and it feels like, oh, there's nothing that can be done about it. Almost gave you the answers again. So, B one, here we go. He's he's already emoted and said, I wish that I could give. I wish that I could be a curse so that my brothers could come in.

But it's not as though the word of God has failed. God's word will remain forever. It's eternal, right? When the mountains crumble into the sea, God's word carries on. So, it's not as though the word of God has failed.

So, we can't believe that that's the problem. Is it God's fault? No, his word stands and it will stand forever. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. Oh my goodness.

In the first, second part of the first verse, we're already getting into something that for us can be very hard. What is Israel? Is Israel a geopolitical state, a nation? Is Israel a an ethnic line, a race? Is Israel an attitude of the heart towards God?

He's saying that not all Israel, I could argue, not all of ethnic Israel who are descended from Israel. He's saying that not all who are descended from Israel by their line nor are they all children because they're Abraham's descendants. Think about that. Old Testament stuff here nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants but through Isaac, your descendants will be named. So, if you go back to Genesis 12 and you see God meeting up with Abraham and saying, leave this place that you know and go to a place that I will show you and Abraham believing God and stepping out on faith and God tells him, I'll bless who you bless.

I'll curse who you curse. I will be your God. And then, he says, you're going to have a son to Abraham. Through Isaac, your descendants will be named. So, Abraham has a wife.

Her name is Sarah. They are old. They're not having any babies. But God has given him a promise. He's given him a wife and he's given him a promise.

Abraham and Sarah not seeing how that could happen, invited him to the situation. Hagar, seemed like a good way to do, wasn't against any of the laws of the time. It was acceptable practice. It was man's way out and so Hagar has a son, Ishmael. But Paul has just said that it's, let's see.

Through Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is not the children of the flesh. This is man's way who are children of God but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. So, as we go through and we're thinking about children of the flesh or children of the promise and we see Sarah eventually does have a son, Isaac. So, the line that God is talking about.

He says, not all who are of Israel are Israel. And then he starts with this logic and saying that so there's one man, there are two women. One of these is the child promise. Isaac, through your Isaac, your descendants will be named. That is it's not the children of the flesh who are children of God but the children of promise are regarded as descendants.

This is based on what God has decreed. It's totally, this is one of those chapters. The chapter nine chapter I told you about the sovereignty of God is very strongly represented in this chapter and when you look at it and you're going, what is this based on? It is based on God's decree. He said, Abraham, out of all the people in the world, it's not because of Abraham's righteousness.

It's not because of anything else. Abraham, Leave the land you know, go to a place I'll show you. Abraham believed God It's counted to him as righteousness and then God decrees, you're going to have a son. Now, they wanted a son. They had been wanting a son.

They had not had one but God decreed, you are going to have a son. Taking things into their own hands. They have Ishmael who is a son but it's not the completion of God's promise because it does not go along with what God had decreed. What he said would happen, right? Are you with me?

So far so good. For this is the word of the promise. At this time, I will come and Sarah will have a son. No doubt about it now. No doubt about it.

The child of the promise will come through Sarah. So, Abraham and Sarah have Isaac and the promised line goes like that. God's way versus man's way. So, here we go to the next and not only this but there was also Rebecca. So, he starts out with Abraham.

Father Abraham, this is a good place to start. If you're arguing as a former Pharisee with a bunch of Christians, some of which are former Jews. He's done this a bunch of times. At this point, it's 57 in the winter time. Paul saved somewhere around thirty three AD.

He's been a Christian about twenty two years. He's logged 1,500 miles on frequent footsteps. I don't know. Frequent flyer miles. He's he's he's walking and riding on a boat.

He's already got more than 1,500 miles going. He's been beaten. He he has suffered much for this gospel and he always starts in the synagogue and he always has to start with common ground. So, in this starting place that we're starting in, this is where he goes. So, Abraham, yeah, we get that.

Well, it's not. Yeah, God promised and he should've known that it was going be his wife and not that maid servant. The line follows Isaac. So, Isaac's wife, Rebecca, not only this but there was Rebecca also. When she had conceived twins by one man, wait a second.

Now, this is just two people. They're not going outside of their union. But they're two babies. Not only this, there was Rebecca also and when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. So, that's Isaac and Rebecca.

They're having twins. There's going to be an older brother and a younger brother. I don't I had never heard it happen where they birthed exactly the same time For though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad so that God's purpose according to his choice, it's based on what God decreed. So that God's purpose according to his choice would stand not because of works but because of him who calls. It was said to her and God told Rebecca, the older will serve the younger.

Now, was that against man's way? Yes. It was completely against the way that men did things that mankind did things at that time. The older got a double portion, the older was served by the younger or the youngers. It was said to her though that the older will serve the younger.

Who said it? God said it. It was decreed. It goes according to what he said and so, Isaac and Rebecca had two sons, Esau and Jacob, the older brother and the younger brother and that's the way that it was. Now, when we're going along, we hit this and the needle kind of scratches on the record to me.

Just as it is written, Jacob I have loved and Esau I hated. Does that sound like God? That doesn't sound like God to me. So, when I hit that, it's like, wait a second. I have to back up and figure out how in the world can that be?

Jacob, I love but Esau, I hated. So, if you look in Malachi, now Malachi is the last one of the Old Testament prophets. It's right before a four hundred year intertestamental silence. The last word that God has spoken through his prophets. In our canon, it's the last thing in the Old Testament.

Malachi one starts off like this. This is the oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. So, Malachi is the prophet and he's writing to the people of God, the chosen people of God. The oracle of the word of the Lord. This is I have loved you.

Praise God. I'm the we're the chosen people of lord. So, I have loved you. It's no surprise right there, right? Says the Lord but you say, how have you loved us?

How have you loved us? If you're Israel, during the time right here when Malachi is prophesying, what Malachi's whole book is about is you're not giving your best. You've become lax. You're sacrificing blind and broken offerings. You don't care.

Your heart's not in it. You've wandered away. It says all of those things in there. But the first thing that the word of the Lord to Israel says is I have loved you. But you say, how have you loved us?

What have you done for me lately? And then God says, was not Esau Jacob's brother? The argument here is, I've loved you. The line of my blessing went through Jacob. Normally, it would have gone through Esau.

Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Well, yeah, he was. Yet, I have loved Jacob and I've hated Esau. Now, they're very very strong terms, love and hate and for us to look at em and go, I don't like thinking God hates anybody Honestly, we've covered this four or five times in Romans already. God should hate everybody.

Nobody deserves his joy. Nobody deserves his peace. Nobody deserves his comfort. We're all sinners. There's not any difference between us.

Jew, Gentile Baptist, Methodist, whatever He's saying that the one I chose and the one I chose not I love Jacob but I have hated Esau and I've made his mountain to the desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness Though Edom says and Edom and Esau, Edomites are Esau's people. Though Edom says, we have been beaten down but we will return and build up the ruins. Thus, says the Lord of hosts. They may build but I will tear it down. And men will call them the wicked territory and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.

Your eyes will see this and you will say, the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel. Alright, do y'all get what's happening there? Maybe not. It takes a minute. The word of the Lord to Israel is, I have loved you.

You're not doing so good right now but I have loved you. You're my plan. You're my chosen people. The chosen people were never the chosen people just to hoard the blessing. You're my people.

You're my chosen people. You're the ones that I have loved and I have shown my way through my law and the word of the Lord to Israel is this, I'm going to keep on blessing you and Edom or Esau that has been rejected and if you keep on going through this and you say, see that the Lord says, I'm going to tear down what Esau's people try to build up. Your eyes will see this and you will say, may the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel. Do you get it? Yeah.

God is saying, I want to reach even out to Edom. I want for you to have the same compassion on people that I have. Yes, loved. I have loved in the past. You, you don't deserve it but I'm still going to love you.

I'm still going to keep on. I actually love them too but for a time because this is in the past. I loved and I hate it but the hate gets to the point where Israel themselves will be looking and saying, the Lord be magnified beyond the border of Israel. Outside of just us. So, back to the Keep in mind that central point that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

It is not about being Jew or Gentile. The same lord is lord of all. All those arguments come later in this passage. We're building up to it but this is an uncomfortable spot. Jacob, I love Niso.

I hate it. What can that possibly mean? Does he hate him still? We all deserve the hate. The chosen ones are the ones who have accepted it.

Since he says, not all of ethnic Israel is Israel. The chosen of God have accepted his plan. So, what shall we say then? There's no injustice with God. Oh, there can't be any injustice with God.

God is just. That's part of who he is. He cannot be unjust. So, may it never be. Meganoito, strong, strong, strong.

Uh-uh. Right there. What shall we say then? There's no injustice with God. Well, may it never be.

For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. That sounds flippant too, doesn't it? It's like, God's just saying, whatever. I'll do what I wanna do. I'm God.

Tough. Stinks to be Esau. Look at where this comes from though. The promise of God's president presence in Exodus 33. So, Moses, who's been chosen to lead his people out of captivity, you know?

Moses says to the Lord, see you say to me, bring up this people. Bring up this people but you've not let me know whom you will send with me. I'm going to do this alone, God. Yet, you have said and this is Moses recognizing that God has spoken to him and said, I know you by name and you have also found grace in my sight. Now, therefore, I pray if I have found grace in your sight, God, show me now your way that I may know you.

And that I may found grace in your sight, continuing grace and consider that this nation is your people. Now, they're all a wayward people, a stiff necked people. We saw em making mistake over and over and over and over again. They're breaking all the 10 commandments while God is chiseling them out for them. Consider that this nation is your people and he said, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest and then he said to him, if your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.

We'd rather stay in slavery. For how then will it be known that your people and I have found grace in your sight except that you go with us. So, we shall be separate. You, your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So, this is the chosen line, right?

And he is praying that God would use them, that they would be used in a special way different from everybody else to be drawn close to lord. So, lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that I have spoken to you. For you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name and he said, please, please, show me your glory. And then he said, I will make my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

That doesn't sound flippant now, does it? I don't think this is flippant at all. God is saying to somebody who is reaching out to him saying, God, please, show me who you are. We want to serve you. We want to live for you.

Would you please show me your goodness? Would you please show me your glory? And God answers and says, yes, I will. I'll give you all you can stand. He said, you cannot see my face for no man shall see me and live and the Lord said, here's a place by me and you shall stand on that rock.

So, it should be while my glory passes by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and I'll cover you there with my hand while I pass by and then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face just won't be seen. I'll be gracious to whom I'll be gracious and then he was. To a person who is seeking him, who is calling on his name. He showed him his glory. He gave him grace.

So then, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy. Paul is saying it very matter of factly. He's been teaching this for twenty years and he's gone through all the arguments. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I raised you up. Now, he raised Moses up and he raised up Pharaoh.

For this very purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and so that my name might be proclaimed throughout all the earth. God is not interested in just one little group of people. He is spreading a very effective call to all of the people groups but he chose a people group to do it through. Are you with me? Alright.

So that my name might be proclaimed through the whole earth. That's the purpose that he gave and God is saying this and it's about pharaoh. So then, he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. Now, the story of pharaoh is that pharaoh hardened his heart against Moses and it says that twice as many times as and God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But it says both.

If you harden your heart against the purposes of God, it may just be that God hardens your heart. Billy Graham in his many many years and many presentations, everyone I've ever heard, he says, this may be the closest you ever are to accepting the gospel. That was an effective call for you. You may not ever be. If you harden your heart right now, this may be the last opportunity.

He has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. That is terrifying to me. Remember this one from a couple of weeks ago, Rudolph Otto is a theologian. He wrote a book called The Idea of the Holy and he defines holy as that which is numinous. Mysterium, a mystery that is at once terrifying and attractive.

If you read this and you think there are gonna be people that come out of this with God's grace. By his mercy and you read this and you also think and they're going to be those who will not accept it. That is terrifying. For these folks that work in places in the world where there's not all kinds of access to the gospel where we don't gather 250 at a time, two times on Sunday morning. It's terrifying.

If you look at that and you don't think back to Paul's first five lines that, oh, lord, if I could give up so that they would know, I would do it. You will say to me then, now, why does he still find fault? If you've ever had this argument with anybody about the human human responsibility and the sovereignty of God and you make the point about the sovereignty of God, they're saying, was God so sovereign? Well, how can he still find fault? He made me this way.

Who resist his will? He just chooses people at random. Whoever he wants to. There's nothing that they did. You've said it three times today.

Who resist his will? On the contrary though, think about this. Who are you, old man? Who answers back to God? If this is the way that God does things and he has decreed the way that he does, who are you to say that's not right or good?

He is good. We have faulty lenses. The things that we think are good maybe and they may not be. The thing molded though will not say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Will it?

Considering the potter, Isaiah, he's already quoted Isaiah two or three times. He'll quote him a couple Why did you make me like this? Will it? Or does not the potter have a ride over the clay to make the same lump from the same lump, one vessel for honorable use and another for common use. Yes, a potter can make whatever he wants to.

He can make it however he wants to and he can make it for whatever purpose he designs. Now, Paul's not arguing right here that this is what he's done. He's saying, can he do this? Yes, he can do this and it's up to him, completely up to him. He's right.

What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience, those vessels of wrath that were prepared for destruction. It's harder than the Jacob and Esau question right there, isn't it? Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. If you believe in your heart and you profess with your mouth, you will be saved. He did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy.

Which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us. Now, he has been going the Jews throughout history in the past and he's been pointing back at Israel and kind of clouding the waters of who Israel might be and then, he gets to this point and he's talking about the vessels of mercy and he's speaking to the crowd that he's speaking to again. Jewish flavored Christians, Gentile flavored Christians, even us, the whole group of us, were prepared beforehand for glory. Why? Well, the central point of the statement is because we have believed the gospel, trusted in Jesus, confessed him as lord, recognized that God raised him from the dead on behalf of our sin, he was crucified.

He did all this to make the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory. Even us, whom he also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles. Remember Malachi saying, you're going to see this and you're going to want for it to go out from you. Those of you who are in the remnant, we'll get to that concept in a couple of weeks. Those of you who put your trust and your faith in Christ, humbly, put your trust and your faith in God's way.

Whom also he called not among Jews only but also from among the Gentiles. This Ecclesia, the called out ones. This is what who the book is written to and he's trying to get them on board to say, listen, it is the way that God has decreed things be. So, since these are the rules of the game and God's the one who came up with it. This is what we have to go with.

Think about this, Paul says, he also says in Hosea, another little minor prophet, Hosea, I will call those who were not my people, my people. That would include Edom. That would include Isis. That would include those people who are not his people. He will call him my people.

And her who is not beloved, I shall call beloved. And it shall be that in that place where it was said to them, you are not my people. There they shall be called the sons of the living God. Amen. Because through God's choice, he used Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, deceitful as they were, full of foibles as they were.

Through them, he was bringing about a people called out for his name, making an effective call. There, they shall be called sons of the living God. Isaiah cries out, if you need more proof, concerning Israel, though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved. So, he's already in the first verse caused question as to who is Israel? Is it just everybody that was born from that line?

If you can prove your line, your genealogy goes back to Jacob, you're good. Or is it going to be those who put their faith where Abraham had put his faith where he believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. There's only a remnant that will be saved from Israel. It's the remnant that will be saved for the Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly. In the twinkling of an eye maybe.

The Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly and just as Isaiah foretold, unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity and he's saying he has left to them a posterity. We would have become like Sodom and we would have resembled Gomorrah. If we had gotten what we deserved, God would have wiped us completely clean off of the planet. Isaiah is saying that there will be a remnant of those who turn to God humbly and ask for exactly what he has for them. Grace, mercy, love.

Now, so we've gone through this introduction, the empathy, and the sorrow for the lost status of Paul's countrymen who still know all of the facts leading up to the one Messiah that they've been looking for forever. Is it God's fault that they have not accepted him? No. God has not failed Israel. He's given them everything that's necessary.

The next thing would be, is it Israel's fault? Now, next week, I'm going try to cover CD and C. It's a shorter passage but it will get to the human part of this equation. Is it Israel's fault? Well, whoever believes will be saved.

So, God has made a way and he's called people out and the ones who have accepted it based on his decree. Are saved. Here it is again. That's all we've covered so far. A and B, it's a weird place to end the sermon.

I told you it would be last week. Looking at all of this, I want to bring this up though. It's terrifying to think that you might be outside of God's grace. It's terrifying to think that you might have the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's terrifying to think that God might not love you, that he might even hate you if you're reading that and you read it just straight up.

One he loved, one he hated. This is the difference. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus says, lord, you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you'll be saved. That is what you need to believe. When God spoke to Abraham, he said, leave the place that you know, go to a place that I will show you and Abraham believed God and he acted on it.

With the heart, a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation. That's the central point of this whole thing. That is the balance between this really heavy sovereignty of God beginning and all of our political stuff that we read into the text from modern politics. But the central point is this, so I'm gonna invite Carl and the band back up. Would you stand with us and we're going to sing a closing song.

I have sometimes stood right down here in the front and ask an invitation and I don't think anybody has ever come forward. It's just not the culture of the place but I live here. I work here. I'm here all the time. If you have any problems with what's going on in this, that reading this whole section together won't solve.

Come to me. Please, the invitation is open. Please, talk to me about it. God has not failed his people because whoever believes on the name of the Lord will be saved. Call out to him and he will answer you.

Amen.

Mortal man. You're not God than any other. Anything we can give by your hand that's just sweet.

Let's repeat that verse again.

In the good times and bad, you were on your throne, and you were God alone.

You're the only

God you were on your throne. You were God alone. And right now, in the good times and bad, you were on your throne. And you were God alone.

You're unchangeable. You're unshakable. You're unstoppable. That's what you are. You're unshakable.

Unshakable. You're unstoppable.

You were God alone. And riding down in the good times and bad, you were on your throne, you were God So,

if you want to hear what God is doing in the world, beyond the borders of Israel, beyond the bounds of the four walls of this church or Christendom. Christendom is spreading. The gospel is advancing. If you want to hear some good news, come back tonight. Right, Eric?

Good. 07:00. Good news. I'm the bearer of bad news this morning but that's the way it goes. You gotta read it all.

In Jesus name, lord, would you take these hard concepts and hard thoughts? Lord, the only reason that they're hard is because our hearts are soft and we're looking at people who are lost and dying and wishing there were some way. Lord, would you show us your way? Would you show us the word? Would you show us exactly what you would have us to do with our coworkers and our neighbors and our friends and even our enemies?

Would you give us ability, lord, like you say you will, to forgive just as we have been forgiven? Will you spread your good news of the gospel? Would you give us joy, peace, patience, gentleness, meekness, self control. God, would you work all of those fruits of the spirit in so that others would be drawn to you, that it would be attractive and not terrifying. In Jesus name, amen.