God's Glorious Work.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, my name is Steve, one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:05] And as always, I’m thankful and grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:09] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open up to Romans chapter 11. [0:12] We’re going to be starting in verse 25 this morning. And by God’s grace, we will finish Romans 11 today. [0:20] And then we’re actually going to use the end of Romans 11 next week as well. [0:24] So, it’s a section of verses that needs at least two weeks.

[0:28] But we’ve now spent 50 weeks in the book of Romans over the last year and a half, [0:34] taking some seasonal breaks and for some other series as well. [0:38] But throughout the book of Romans, what we’re really seeing is the story of Christianity, [0:43] how we can know God, that we were designed to worship God, what went wrong, how God has sought to redeem us from that. [0:51] But what we’ve really seen throughout this book is three distinct pictures of this one creator God who seeks to save and who seeks to be known by us. [1:03] We see him first, of course, as God, the creator of all that is, the creator of you and the creator of me, and that we were designed to know him.

[1:14] We were designed to worship this God, to enjoy him with our lives. [1:20] But instead, we rebelled against him by giving our worship to other things, to created things that don’t deserve our hope, that don’t deserve our worship, [1:30] that we have actually invested our lives into things, hoping that they would give us the satisfaction that only God can give us. [1:38] And then in our disappointment, we rebel even further into sin by oftentimes blaming God for the issues of our lives. [1:46] But then we see a second picture of God in Romans, and that is that he’s the Savior. [1:51] That from chapter three through chapter eight, we see this amazing picture that this God that we have rebelled against, that we have sinned against,

[2:00] he sets out on this mission to save us, and specifically, he saves us through God the Son, Jesus Christ. [2:08] You know, we cannot save ourselves. [2:10] Oftentimes, when life goes the way that it always goes, and that is through hardships, that is through pain, that is through bitter disappointment, [2:19] we oftentimes will set ourselves on a course to try to save ourselves, but we can’t. [2:25] In our sin, we’re hopeless if we’re left to just ourselves, but God has sent his Son, Jesus. [2:32] And Jesus lived a substitutionary life.

[2:35] He was perfect. [2:36] He was obedient to God the Father in every way possible, and he did that to substitute his life for our life. [2:45] And then he died a substitutionary death. [2:48] On the cross, Jesus Christ took the penalty for my sin. [2:53] He took the penalty for your sin. [2:56] And though he was perfect, he died a sinner’s death.

[2:59] And now, because of him taking the penalty and because he rose from the dead, we can have a new life through faith in Jesus. [3:09] We can actually walk through this world with no condemnation on us. [3:13] We can walk through this world because Jesus has completely obeyed the law for us. [3:19] We don’t have the weight of the law bearing down on us, bringing us shame in our disobedience, bringing us guilt in our disobedience, [3:28] but instead, through Jesus, we can live a life where we actually experience real forgiveness. [3:36] There’s no penalty for your sin if you have faith in Jesus Christ.

[3:43] And then the third picture is that we see God as King. [3:46] In Romans chapter 9 through Romans 11, this shows this great picture of the King, who is both God and Savior. [3:54] His plan is perfect. [3:56] His rule is great. [3:58] He exacts justice and mercy in perfect measure on the cross of his son, Jesus Christ. [4:05] And in that, he is completely undeterred by anyone who would rise against his plans.

[4:12] No one and no thing can ever undo the plan of our King. [4:18] He is completely sovereign. [4:20] His rule is perfect. [4:22] And he exacts through this creation specifically everything that’s going to ultimately lead to the day where he delivers his perfect kingdom in this world. [4:35] And through his sovereign rule, we can actually trust that his plan will come to completion and that he will keep every single one of his promises. [4:47] Then in Romans 11, verses 25 through 36 is where we find ourselves today.

[4:52] What Paul is really doing is that he’s bringing to close this first section of the Book of Romans. [4:59] In this section, it’s been great information. [5:03] It’s been so much information that oftentimes we get a little weary in it and we’re like, man, I could really use just some practical stuff. [5:10] And that’s what he’s going to move on to as we start next week in chapter 12. [5:14] He takes us from this place of once we have the gospel, once we have the good news, which without the information aspect, it’s not news. [5:23] It’s something that we do ourselves.

[5:26] And that’s why the information aspect of the gospel is so vital and so important to our lives, because without it, what we would actually do is we would try to construct a gospel of our own making. [5:38] We would try to construct a salvation of our own making. [5:41] And when all that we focus on is what we’re supposed to do where God is concerned, what we’re ultimately left with is one of two things, either complete self-righteousness or complete disappointment and burnout. [5:55] And both of those lead to the same place. [5:57] It’s a me centered life where I’m God, where I’m Savior and where I’m King. [6:04] And so the book of Romans spends 11 chapters on disseminating the information of the gospel to save me from myself oftentimes and where I would actually take it.

[6:15] But it wants me to understand the news before I live out the news. [6:20] It wants me to understand that I have God’s love before I set out on a mission to earn God’s love. [6:26] It wants me to understand that I have God’s favor before I set on a mission to earn God’s favor. [6:32] I need to know the gospel before I can ever have any hope of living for the gospel of Jesus Christ. [6:40] He seeks to show the fullness of God’s work of redemption. [6:45] And he’s going to seek to show us this week that there’s only one valid response once we see God’s plan in its fullness, that if we trust in Jesus Christ as our Savior, as our God, as our King,

[6:59] then the only legitimate response that can be solicited from us is one of worship. [7:06] The hope that we have through faith in Jesus produces a trust in God that must return us to what we were designed to do in the first place. [7:14] And that is to worship God. [7:17] So look in your Bibles and let’s start reading in Romans chapter 11, verse 25. [7:22] In verse 25, the apostle Paul writes to the church at Rome and he says, Lest you be wise in your own sight. [7:28] I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

[7:33] A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. [7:39] And in this way, all Israel will be saved. [7:43] As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion. [7:46] He will banish ungodliness from Jacob. [7:49] And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins. [7:55] You know, the first thing I want to talk about from the final section of Romans 11 this morning is that we must never lose our hope for redemption.

[8:06] We must never lose our hope for redemption. [8:10] You realize that faith embraces the mysteries of God. [8:15] Faith actually embraces mystery. [8:18] Paul reviews the previous verses in verse 25, and he shows that salvation should not produce a prideful arrogance. [8:28] The gospel works to accomplish God’s plan to save people. [8:32] And therefore, by nature, our need for redemption and faith that Jesus redeems is a humbling force.

[8:40] And so he warns us. [8:42] He talks to us about all that God has done through Israel to bring Jesus about. [8:46] And then he hardens Israel so that the Gentiles can be saved and so that through the Gentile salvation, Israel will see what they want. [8:53] He says in previous verses, so that Israel will become jealous of what the Gentiles have, so that they, too, will come to faith in Jesus Christ. [9:00] And then in verse 25, he cautions the Gentile believers, which I’m a part of. [9:05] If you’re not Jewish, then you are a part of Gentile believers as well.

[9:10] He warns us. He says, I don’t want you to be wise in your own eyes. [9:16] In Romans chapter one, where this story actually started, the very first sin of humanity was that we became wise in our own eyes. [9:26] And he doesn’t want that to happen to us in the gospel. [9:29] Instead, he wants our focus to always be on the reality that God the King is working a plan by his grace, through his power and in his plan. [9:42] It’s all about what God is doing. [9:44] And if we for a moment think that the gospel is something that we deserve.

[9:52] Then our faith is no longer in him. [9:55] Our faith is in ourselves. [9:57] He cautions us from having the attitude about the nation of Israel because Paul has gone from the Book of Acts. [10:04] We see Paul actually take the good news of Jesus to the nation of Israel, and they reject it. [10:10] There are always a remnant, as Paul said in Romans 11, that have believed, that have stayed faithful to God in all of his covenants. [10:18] The nation as a whole, they rejected it.

[10:20] And Paul says, you’ve rejected the gospel. [10:22] You’re a covenant breaking people. [10:24] I’m going to now take the good news to the Gentiles, which was part of God’s plan. [10:29] But in this moment in Romans 11, Paul comes to the Gentiles and he says, be careful so that you don’t do the very thing that Israel has done. [10:39] Do not think even for a moment that God is working salvation for you because there’s something special about you, because you have done something, because you have acted in a certain way, because you’ve been faithful enough to God to actually turn his favor towards you, to turn his focus on you out of all the creation. [11:02] You are his special one.

[11:05] Paul says, do not become wise in your own eyes. [11:10] Humble yourself under the power of God and his reign to trust the gospel, that it is about him and you are blessed to have received his grace. [11:24] You’ve done nothing for God to save you. [11:27] You’ve done nothing to earn his salvation. [11:31] Friend, I can’t tell you this enough. [11:32] There’s nothing special about you.

[11:36] There’s nothing special about me. [11:39] The world around us would have us build a life in which we are just the prettiest picture of all creation. [11:45] And there’s something so much more special about me than there are the people around me. [11:49] And when you’ve got a room full of people like we’ve got right now, I’ve got a couple hundred special people, all of you more special than the one next to the next.

[11:58] Friend, it’s not that way. [12:01] You do not deserve God’s grace, which is what makes it grace. [12:07] It’s an undeserved gift that the most powerful being in all of the universe, the one with no beginning, the one with no ending, the one whose reign is complete, the one whose sovereignty is absolute in grace, [12:20] he would offer us a relationship to himself. [12:24] Who’s special in that relationship? [12:26] God is the special one in that relationship.

[12:31] But in that moment, we are tempted to look at verses like this and we’re saying, but wait a second. [12:37] Look at the text. [12:39] I don’t understand. [12:40] A partial hardening has come to Israel. [12:43] So what you’re saying is that there are people in Israel who will not be saved, just as there are people in Gentile nations. [12:51] There are people in my life, there are people in my work who will not be saved.

[12:57] You say, I don’t understand that. [12:59] I don’t understand why God hasn’t saved everyone. [13:03] Friend, what Paul is speaking to here is that issue. [13:07] Now, what do you do when you go to the scripture and there are parts about God that you’re struggling to comprehend, that you see the beauty of his grace, but then you think, wait a second, [13:19] what about everyone else? [13:20] If I’m not special, then why am I saved and they’re not?

[13:24] Friend, every part of God that you struggle to understand, you need to look at through the lens of the promises of God. [13:35] Note what the story of scripture actually unfolds. [13:37] And I’m not just talking about Romans here, but Romans contains basically the whole story of scripture, how God has moved to the Old Testament, [13:44] how God then moved through the Gospel accounts, how he then moved through the rest of the New Testament and how he’s working today, that he promised to save, [13:52] that he completed a plan of salvation through his son, Jesus Christ, and then he is set out saving people through the message that is communicated through other people.

[14:08] What this should create in us is an understanding that we should never lose hope in the promises of God, that we should never lose hope in God’s salvation. [14:18] In those moments where I struggle to comprehend what God is actually doing and what God is going to do through me, for me, in my future, and in everyone else’s future, [14:29] I must view those unanswered mysteries, which he looks at me and he says, I don’t want you to be unaware of these mysteries. [14:38] So I want you to be aware of what God’s actually doing through this mystery. [14:42] He’s telling me, look at it through the promise of the Gospel. [14:45] God has proven that he can be trusted.

[14:50] Look at what he tells us in Romans 3.21. [14:52] That’s where a view in the book of Romans where he says,

[14:59] So it’s always been God’s plan. [15:04] He says,

[15:26] This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. [15:33] There you have the goodness. [15:37] It’s where Paul has been beating us down in our sin for the first couple of chapters in Romans. [15:42] And then there in Romans 3, he breaks in with a message of hope and he says, here is good news. [15:48] You’re a sinner, but we’ve got a forgiving God who’s done everything in his power that needed to be done for all time so that justice could be had for sin, [15:58] so that mercy could be given to sinners and through faith, you can have salvation.

[16:04] What you need to do with your life, with every part of God that you struggle to comprehend is you need to answer your objections with this reality. [16:13] That you can trust God for one specific reason, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. [16:20] And your faith in the Gospel needs to drive your lack of understanding for why things often go the way that they go, for why God doesn’t save everyone, [16:33] for why hope isn’t in everyone’s life, for why tragedy happens, for why pain exists in my life. [16:40] I do not ultimately know why all of that happens. [16:46] Oftentimes people come to me and they say, Steve, I need an answer for why this is in my life.

[16:52] And in that moment, the only honest answer I can often give is, friend, I don’t know. [16:58] I don’t know. I don’t know.

[17:03] I can’t tell you what your future holds.

[17:07] I can’t tell you what my future holds. [17:10] I can’t tell you why the specific pains that are in your life right now or were in your life a few weeks ago, [17:20] or are going to be in your life a few weeks from now. [17:23] Specifically, I don’t know why they’re there, but here’s what I do know. [17:28] I trust God with everything that he brings into my life. [17:32] I trust God with everything that he takes out of my life because of Jesus Christ.

[17:41] Is that if we have a God who loves people who have sinned against him to the extent

[17:50] that he sends his own son to die, rise again, and then tells us, [17:55] If you put faith in my son, in the plan that I have exacted and completed through him, [18:03] you will be saved. [18:06] When he goes there, I look at all of the pain of my life. [18:10] I look at all the joy of my life. [18:12] I look at everything in between those two polar opposites.

[18:15] And I say, I have a God that I can trust with those things because he is a God that can work [18:20] to bring about redemption that is so great.

[18:26] And when that is not sufficient enough of an answer for us, what we’re actually dealing [18:34] with is a lack of faith in Jesus Christ.

[18:39] Specifically here what we’re dealing with is Paul talking to the world about what’s [18:44] going on with the nation of Israel. [18:47] And he stated specifically, he said that Israel, a few verses ago, they were hardened [18:52] so that the Gentiles could then come in. [18:56] The Gentiles have come in so that someday Israel will come in. [18:59] And then Paul comes back and he says, don’t be wise in your own sight.

[19:02] There has come a partial hardening upon the nation of Israel. [19:07] But don’t for a moment think that God has discarded his people. [19:11] Don’t think for a moment that God is not going to be faithful to Israel. [19:15] Don’t think for a moment that God, as he said last week, God rose Israel up just so [19:21] that he could condemn them all in the end. [19:23] That’s not the way that God works.

[19:25] And he actually goes here and says, even though a partial hardening has come upon Israel, [19:29] understand there is coming a day where all Israel will be saved.

[19:36] Friend, God can be trusted with the mystery of how it is going to work out. [19:41] Because what Paul is doing here is he is reminding us is that if God could be trusted [19:46] yesterday, God can be trusted today. [19:49] If God can be trusted today, then God can be trusted with tomorrow and then with the [19:54] tomorrow after that and tomorrow’s tomorrow and all tomorrows that will ever come. [19:58] You can trust God.

[20:00] Don’t think for a moment that God has just rejected his people arbitrarily. [20:04] He’s going to do a great work. [20:07] But understand this promise through the lens of what he said in Romans 9. [20:12] In Romans 9, starting in verse 4, the apostle Paul wrote, he said,

[20:30] He says,

[20:36] He’s quick to point that out. [20:38] He says,

[20:43] And so this promise needs to be understood in that lens. [20:49] He’s saying that what does it mean to truly be a part of Israel? [20:53] It means to be faithful to the covenants. [20:55] And what he’s saying is the same Israel who rejected faith in Jesus Christ, [21:00] there’s coming a day where through the power of the Holy Spirit and the witness of the [21:04] Gentile nations that there will be a revival in the nation of Israel.

[21:10] Now, will all Jews for all time be saved? [21:14] No. [21:15] Is there coming a day in history where a specific number of all Jews for that [21:21] specific time will be saved? [21:23] I don’t think so, but I’m not going to rule that out. [21:29] What God is promising to do here is he’s saying there will be a radical move of

[21:35] faith in Jesus among the nation of Israel in the future before the second [21:41] coming of Jesus Christ. [21:44] And there are some who view this verse and say there are two plans of salvation, [21:49] one for the Gentile nations, one for Israel. [21:52] That’s hogwash. [21:53] And I’ll go as far as to say that’s heresy.

[21:57] There is one plan of salvation for all people and that’s faith in Jesus Christ. [22:04] So for Israel to be saved, they must come to faith in Jesus Christ the exact same [22:09] way that I came to faith in Jesus Christ. [22:11] And what Paul is saying here specifically is there’s coming a day, he doesn’t tell [22:15] us when it is, he doesn’t tell us how he’s going to do it, but there’s going to [22:19] come a day when God’s people of Israel whom he used to bring Jesus Christ through,

[22:25] that’s why they were chosen, by the way. [22:28] They were chosen to bring Jesus. [22:31] And Jesus is God. [22:34] Jesus is the center. [22:35] There is no ethnic group in this world that has an ounce more favor of God than any [22:42] other ethnic group in this world.

[22:46] And so God will save Israel the same way he saved me, through Jesus Christ. [22:51] And if they don’t come to faith in Jesus Christ, then they don’t get saved. [22:56] So what Paul is saying here is that Israel’s hope is in Jesus and in Jesus alone. [23:01] Everything that God has ever done through history has shown us that he can be trusted [23:08] to save. [23:10] He can be trusted to save.

[23:13] Now, the reality is there’s going to come a day where there’s a mass revival. [23:17] I trust God for that. [23:19] Why? [23:20] Because I trust him because of Jesus.

[23:24] All of your hope, all of your faith, all of your desires for the future need to be [23:30] placed in Jesus because number two this morning, God uses all things to work for his good. [23:35] God uses all things to work for his good. [23:38] Do you know that God’s glory is always the best good?

[23:42] But I also know something. [23:43] Sometimes my good isn’t the same definition as God’s good. [23:47] You ever had a problem with that? [23:50] That you had a really good good in mind and God’s good was different than your good? [23:56] But here’s what faith in Jesus tells me. [23:58] God’s good is better than my good.

[24:00] It is. [24:02] The reality is is that this is a section of scripture that needs to be read slowly. [24:09] We often do when the Bible gets a little confusing or when it gets a little bit repetitive [24:13] and Romans does that or when it seems to be getting a little bit cyclical. [24:17] You just kind of move past and you say, okay, I got to get to some thou shouts and some [24:20] thou shouts nots because I can’t understand all this heady stuff.

[24:24] But I want to go to verse 28 and I want to read through that with you and you’ll see what [24:27] I’m talking about here. [24:28] He starts in verse 28 and says, as regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. [24:33] But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers for the [24:37] gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable for just as you were at one time disobedient [24:42] to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience.

[24:46] So they too have now become disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they [24:51] also may now receive mercy for God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have [24:57] mercy on all. [24:59] You read through that scripture and you’re like, okay, good.

[25:06] But what he’s doing here is actually slowing down and showing that cycle of salvation [25:12] that we talked about a few weeks ago where Israel has been consigned to disobedience [25:16] or they’ve been hardened from faith in Jesus because they were trying to reserve it for [25:20] themselves. [25:21] And he’s done that so that faith could then move to the Gentile nations or to all nations [25:26] all over the world outside of Israel.

[25:28] And then he says, now Israel has been consigned to disobedience so that in the future he [25:35] can then work through the Gentiles to show mercy on the nation of Israel. [25:40] It’s all about God’s great mission to save through faith in Jesus Christ. [25:45] But this is a section of verses where trusting God in the mystery of how his will is going [25:50] to work is vital. [25:52] It’s very important that you trust God’s mission to save.

[25:56] When you put these verses together, you actually get hope for the future. [26:01] But when you get bogged down with the who’s in and who’s out of election or how could [26:09] God work this way or I don’t understand this part. [26:13] So God obviously can’t do something in a way that I wouldn’t have done it myself. [26:18] You lose the big picture of what God’s actually doing through working in the gospel. [26:22] Paul wants us not to be unaware of the mystery, wants us to be aware.

[26:28] And of course, you can’t understand all of the how’s.

[26:32] I mean, isn’t that Paul’s point? [26:34] And of course, you don’t get it. [26:38] You’re not God.

[26:42] But you’re trying to be God. [26:45] You see, chapter nine was devoted to that. [26:47] Paul’s pointing out in this section that God is working to save many people and you need [26:51] to trust that. [26:52] God can always be trusted to do things the very best way possible because God is going [27:00] to bring himself glory through saving people by the power of Jesus Christ.

[27:05] And I trust that for two reasons. [27:07] And some people don’t like these two reasons, but they’re the only two legitimate reasons [27:11] that I think can actually give you faith in the hard things of the future in God. [27:16] Number one, I think you can trust God to work it out because he’s God. [27:21] See, that’s where people kind of retort to me. [27:22] Well, that’s kind of elementary.

[27:24] I know he’s God. [27:25] Do you? [27:26] Do you really know that he’s God? [27:28] Because God always does things the best way they can be done because he’s God. [27:34] So if you believe that there is an eternal God, if you believe that there is an eternal [27:38] God who’s good enough to save through self-sacrifice to bring redemption to you, then

[27:45] you have to believe that that same God is going to do things the best way possible [27:50] or to put it in bad grammar, the goodest way possible or he’s not God.

[28:00] Because he’s not doing things the best to be God, you got to do things the best to [28:05] be God. [28:06] You’ve got to do things the goodest way that they could possibly be done or you’re [28:09] not going to be God or at least you’re not going to be good. [28:12] And if you’re not good, then you’re not God. [28:15] You see, you’ve got to trust God foundationally because he’s God.

[28:21] But then number two, he gives us an even better reason. [28:23] See, God doesn’t limit us to that. [28:25] God doesn’t limit us with just this reality that he’s out there in the cosmos and he’s [28:29] God and so he’s good and he’s going to do things the best way possible. [28:31] Trust it or else you’re dead. [28:34] No, he goes further than that.

[28:35] You can trust it because Jesus died and rose. [28:39] You see, that’s the bedrock of all of your trusting. [28:41] God has clearly shown that he is committed to saving. [28:46] He’s clearly shown that. [28:48] So much so that he himself through a great miracle became one of his creation and then [28:56] died a death that he doesn’t deserve.

[28:59] Number one and number two, it’s what a sacrifice of his deity that he would die as one of [29:06] his own creation more than that. [29:08] Philippians chapter two tells us that he would humble himself to the point of death [29:11] as a criminal even to the death on the cross, a pitiable death.

[29:18] And friend, he didn’t just stop there. [29:21] He rose from the dead. [29:24] When you rise from the dead, you’re God. [29:28] If you did it under your own power. [29:30] Friend, if you were to attack me, please don’t. [29:33] I don’t want to like that.

[29:35] But if you were to kill me with hopes that I’d get back up, I would disappoint you severely. [29:43] I’d remain dead. [29:44] You’d have to have a funeral. [29:46] I would never come. [29:47] You could sit by my grave side the rest of your life. [29:50] Guess where I’m going to stay?

[29:52] In the grave. [29:53] You want to know why? [29:54] Because I’m a human being and once you kill us, we stay dead. [29:59] But Jesus rose from the dead. [30:01] He is God. [30:02] That very act reveals that God has a mission for us to see and that he can be trusted for our good.

[30:12] But we must learn to define good by his standards. [30:18] And this is going to be a struggle in your life. [30:20] He talks about the struggle in Romans chapter eight. [30:21] Here’s what he says starting in verse 23. [30:23] He says not only the creation, but we ourselves, he personalizes it, who have the first fruits of the spirit. [30:30] We groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

[30:37] For in this hope we were saved. [30:39] Now hope that is seen is not hope. [30:41] For who hopes for what he sees? [30:43] But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [30:49] He says creation itself is groaning for the day that faith is unnecessary. [30:53] Creation itself and we too should long for the plan to play out in the kingdom to be delivered.

[31:00] But until then we are called to be hopeful with patience. [31:06] Why? [31:06] Because everything’s the way that you want it right now? [31:09] No. [31:10] I mean, I could guarantee you almost all of you, things are not the way that you ultimately want them to be. [31:17] Things are not all working out the way that you want them.

[31:20] You’ve either come through a season of great pain, you are in a season of great pain, or guess what? [31:27] Around the corner is waiting a season of great pain. [31:32] That’s what he’s talking about when he says we groan. [31:35] This world is not as it should be. [31:38] It is not as God originally designed it to be. [31:42] And in that kind of world, how in the world could you possibly be hopeful?

[31:47] I mean, everything just kind of stinks.

[31:51] He says because of Jesus, you can believe that there’s coming a day when all wrong will be made right. [32:01] When his kingdom is delivered. [32:03] And then in verse 28, he says these words. [32:05] He says, we know.

[32:09] That’s an important verb.

[32:13] We know.

[32:17] Do you know? [32:19] See, does your faith in Jesus Christ define your life to the point where you can say, I don’t guess. [32:27] I don’t think. [32:29] I’m so hopeful that I know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.

[32:42] You see, friend, if you have faith in Jesus Christ, your great hope is not that everything will work its way out by the end of the week.

[32:51] If you have faith in Jesus Christ, your hope is not that, oh, in a couple of years, I’ll be riding shiny, baby. [32:58] I’ll be good. [32:59] I’ll be in retirement. [33:00] I’ll be on a beach. [33:01] I mean, everything is going to have worked out. [33:03] My 401k will be to the limit.

[33:05] I’ll be fully vested in my pension plan. [33:07] Everything is going to be bright and sunshining. [33:09] No, that’s not your hope. [33:10] You want to know why? [33:11] Because that’s not guaranteed.

[33:15] I don’t have any guarantees where that’s concerned, and neither do you. [33:18] What he’s telling us is that our hope is rock solid because it’s not based on anything of my making. [33:23] It’s not based on anything of your making. [33:25] It’s not based on anything that I have done. [33:26] It’s based fully on the plan of a sovereign God that says, if you trust my son, you will be delivered into my kingdom. [33:34] Where all wrongs will be made right.

[33:37] Do you understand something that the best that my good can produce is a tombstone? [33:42] We’ve all got one thing in common. [33:44] We’re not going to live forever in this current physical body. [33:49] The best that I’m going to be able to ultimately promise you is that I’ll have a tombstone.

[33:57] But the best that God’s good can produce is resurrection.

[34:03] That’s why you need to trust God’s good above and beyond your good is because he rises from the dead and he can raise you from the dead as well. [34:12] Therefore, no matter how foggy the day may get, God’s good is the best good. [34:19] And this is urgent. [34:21] Because of the mercy of God, even though there are many who are disobedient to the gospel, they reject faith for sin. [34:28] God has promised a huge move of mercy. [34:32] God has elected all who will be saved.

[34:35] I don’t know how many that is, but all that God plans to redeem will be saved. [34:42] And I believe that’s a lot. [34:44] I think it’s a number bigger than I can even estimate. [34:48] And this promise is mixed with the urgency that I need to push the gospel out further to more and more people. [34:56] Because God has promised that through my work, he will save by his power all who he deems to save. [35:06] And I need to trust him for that.

[35:08] When he talks about the salvation of Israel, undergirded with that is a hope for people’s salvation. [35:17] See, he’s speaking specifically to the salvation of Israel that people would be hopeless on. [35:21] He’s a man. [35:21] They’ve denied Christ. [35:23] They’ve missed the Messiah. [35:24] How could salvation ever come to them?

[35:27] And God says, because I’m going to make it come to them. [35:30] Because I’ve sovereignly said it’s going to happen. [35:34] So parent, friend, relative, whoever it is in your life that you want to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, who has yet to believe it. [35:46] You can trust God’s good through Jesus until the day that you see Jesus face to face that there’s still a chance. [35:55] And so you need to keep praying. [35:58] You need to keep hoping.

[36:00] You need to keep witnessing. [36:02] You need to keep through word and deed testifying to the power of the gospel in your life. [36:08] So that all those people that are around you in your family, in your friendships, in your workplace, in every part of your community, in every part of your culture, [36:17] you need to keep up hope that God is going to save people through your life.

[36:26] Because this world will disappoint us to the extent sometimes where we lose that hope.

[36:36] I think Paul’s given us a message here that’s undergirding the nation of Israel to never lose hope for the salvation of other people. [36:45] Because God is on a mission to save. [36:47] And who are you to say he’s not going to do it?

[36:57] But he is going to save and he’s also going to judge. [37:00] See, he says all a couple of times in this passage. [37:08] He says that in verse 32, he says, God is consigned to all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. [37:18] He says, look at that. [37:19] And we say, well, all right, I don’t know what all the fuss was about.

[37:22] Everybody’s going to get saved. [37:24] I don’t think that’s what it means. [37:26] The reason I don’t think it’s what it means is Romans chapter 2, starting in verse 5. [37:29] It says, because of your heart and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. [37:36] He will render to each one according to his works, to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality. [37:44] I think that we learn later in the book of Romans, those three things are what the gospel’s all about.

[37:48] He will give eternal life. [37:50] But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, what does it mean to obey the truth? [37:55] It means to trust the gospel of Jesus Christ. [37:58] He says, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. [38:02] Since the Bible doesn’t contradict himself, itself rather, and God certainly doesn’t contradict himself. [38:08] What is he talking about when he says all mercy?

[38:10] Well, there are certain sections in scripture where all is qualified. [38:13] And I think here is a section of scripture where all is qualified. [38:15] It’s qualified by what he means is that all who are of the elect, he will have mercy on them. [38:24] But understand that the gospel is urgent and we need to hold it in tension. [38:28] There’s a great tension here in our lives. [38:31] It’s that God has elected who will be saved.

[38:33] Well, okay, I don’t need to evangelize. [38:36] And then he then tells us, he says, no, understand that God’s going to judge sinners, so you better get out there and evangelize. [38:41] And you say, which one is it? [38:42] And God says, yep, both. [38:49] He says, look, you can’t trust that anyone will be saved if God doesn’t elect them to salvation. [38:56] Unless God regenerates them through the power of the Holy Spirit, none of them will come to faith in Jesus Christ.

[39:01] But the good news is God’s going to elect them through the power of the Holy Spirit. [39:05] But before they die a sinner in hell, you go, understand the urgency of the gospel, [39:10] warn everyone, Colossians says, and you make it your pursuit in life. [39:15] You actually build your life around telling them of the good news of Jesus Christ because God has not just deemed the ends, [39:23] but he’s also manifested the means. [39:26] And we are the means by which God takes the truth out into the world so that the elect will come to faith in Jesus Christ.

[39:33] And we can trust him to keep the elect because he’s sovereign and he already knew they were going to get saved [39:37] because he already chose them before the foundation of the earth. [39:40] Without that, you do not have a trustworthy gospel. [39:42] I don’t care what any Arminian tells you.

[39:47] Some of y’all got that. [39:49] It’s theology nerd humor.

[39:52] God wants us to have a big urgency for the gospel so that we will know how vital our lives are in his plan to save.

[40:05] He says God will keep all who he will save and you can trust it. [40:13] You know, I have no control over that. [40:15] I’m a little bit type A sometimes. [40:17] I like things to be a certain way. [40:19] If you know me, that’s no surprise.

[40:23] So when I’m not in control, I have issues.

[40:27] I have three children, three young children. [40:30] I’m all just six now.

[40:33] I have no idea what the future holds for any of them. [40:37] None. I have no clue. [40:39] I don’t know what pains they’re going to endure. [40:42] I don’t know what joys they’re going to go through. [40:47] I don’t know what their eternal destiny is. [40:50] I don’t know what their faith journey with Jesus is going to be like.

[40:55] I have no idea.

[40:58] But because of Jesus, I believe that he put them in my life for a reason. [41:09] I believe specifically God put my children in my life so that I could example and preach the gospel to them all their lives. [41:17] And in that, I believe that God will use it. [41:22] Do I know how he’s going to use it? [41:23] No. I don’t. [41:26] I don’t know what the future holds for them.

[41:28] And that does drive me crazy, but in repentance, I trust God with that part. [41:32] I’m going to do what I’ve been called to do. [41:34] I’m going to be the best father that I can, repent of the parts that I fail at, go after the best that I can, [41:40] preach the gospel to them, try to live a faithful life in front of them, try to love them the best way that I can [41:45] so they’ll come to faith in Jesus. [41:46] But ultimately, I’ve got to leave that in Jesus’ hands.

[41:51] And so do you. [41:52] But I know that God is going to have mercy on whom he will have mercy on. [41:59] And so I pray, I witness, and I live for the gospel of Jesus Christ [42:05] because it’s the best, best that exists in history or ever will exist in the future. [42:13] And that same truth is for you as well. [42:17] And so what’s Paul’s response?

[42:19] Because he completes the story of the gospel right there. [42:22] He says, God’s going to move, God’s going to save, and it’s going to be good.

[42:28] Verse 33, and we’re going to use these verses next week as well. [42:33] He says, Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, [42:38] how unsearchable are his judgments, how inscrutable his ways, [42:42] for who has known the mind of the Lord, who has been his counselor, [42:47] who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid. [42:51] For from him, through him, to him are all things.

[42:56] To him be glory forever. Amen.

[43:02] At the very beginning of the book of Romans, [43:06] chapter 1, starting in verse 16, Paul started the book this way. [43:09] He says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. [43:12] And then he explains why. [43:13] He says, it’s the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, [43:17] to the Jew first, then to the Greek.

[43:19] He’s unpacked all of that. [43:21] He says, for in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed [43:25] from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

[43:32] In this statement, he gives the amazing nature of everything [43:36] that he’s going to unfold. [43:37] And he says that this begins by showing us why the gospel is necessary [43:42] in the first place. [43:42] It’s needed because we were designed to live with awe of God, [43:48] with an awe.

[43:49] And that’s what sin took away from us. [43:51] You know what we have to do now? [43:52] But we all seek awe through our houses, through our cars, [43:56] through our jobs, through sports. [43:58] And through your sports center, and you just get the best of three hours [44:02] and ten seconds, and you get all of the awesome parts.

[44:06] We go to the Grand Canyon, we’re in awe. [44:09] We witness the birth of a child, we’re in awe. [44:11] We try to jump out of airplanes hoping that the chute will open [44:14] so that we can experience a split second of awe. [44:18] We are awe junkies.

[44:23] But all of that has shown that we were designed for something [44:27] that we can’t fill ourselves up with. [44:29] And what happens to Paul in Romans 11 is when he completes the story [44:32] of Christianity, he looks and he steps back and he says,

[44:38] awesome.

[44:42] In Romans chapter 1 verse 21 he shows us where we went wrong. [44:46] He says,

[45:00] Don’t think yourself wise. [45:03] They became fools.

[45:06] They became the mortal god for images resembling mortal man, [45:09] birds, animals, creeping things.

[45:14] Romans 11 starting in verse 33 brings us full circle. [45:19] See, he starts out with saying you were created to find your awe in God [45:23] and you gave it away to something else. [45:26] And then in chapter 11 verse 33 what is Paul experiencing? [45:31] The restoration of awe. [45:35] Paul says when you look at the story of the gospel,

[45:38] when you get the big picture of faith in Jesus Christ, [45:41] when you then boil it down to the intricate details of why you can trust [45:45] God’s plan, how he works in individual’s lives, [45:48] how he works in the lives of the nations, how he’s worked through Israel, [45:52] how he then worked in the Gentiles, how he’s now working all over the world, [45:55] how he’s going to work through Israel at the beginning,

[45:57] Paul stands back and he says, God is big. [46:03] God is wise. God is powerful. [46:07] God is the only God. [46:11] And so what he’s doing in this section is he has been going down into the well [46:17] of the depth of the riches of God. [46:20] And he says, the deeper I get into the well, do you know what I find?

[46:24] I find more well. I can’t find the bottom. [46:28] And he goes, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge. [46:32] He’s just exhausting words here because he doesn’t know what to say. [46:37] He’s saying, depth, riches, wisdom, knowledge. [46:41] God’s got all of it. I’ve got none of it. [46:44] That’s why I need him. He is God.

[46:52] Has God ever come to you in the middle of the night? [46:55] He said, hey, I got a problem. [46:59] I’m going to need you on this.

[47:03] Steve, I’ve got this issue and I could really use some counsel here. [47:07] No, you want to know why he’s never done that? [47:08] Because he’s God.

[47:11] And Paul says, who has given counsel to God? [47:14] Nobody doesn’t say who has tried to give counsel to God. [47:17] You’ve tried, trust me.

[47:21] But what Paul’s realizing because of the beauty of the gospel, [47:24] he’s saying God doesn’t need me. [47:27] I can’t repay him for anything. [47:31] He is God. [47:33] Oh, how blessed I am to have him seeking to redeem me. [47:39] Paul steps back.

[47:41] He makes a great confession. [47:43] He says God is greater than anything. [47:46] He’s wiser than anyone, more powerful than any imaginable force. [47:53] And then he notes that that power of God is wonderful.

[48:00] It’s a wonderful power. [48:03] Because the great question that comes out of this is can you trust God?

[48:07] And the conclusion that Paul obviously comes to at the end of chapter 11 is yes. [48:12] Verse 36 recounts, he says, from him, through him, and to him are all things. [48:18] And that’s either good news for you or that is horrifying news, [48:21] depending on your perspective.

[48:24] Paul finishes by saying it is glorious news, and all of that glory belongs to God. [48:29] And then he finishes with a word that we would pass over, [48:32] but is not an insignificant word. [48:33] He finishes with amen. [48:35] That term literally means so be it. [48:39] In other words, I find joy in it.

[48:41] In other words, it is good. [48:43] In other words, it shouldn’t be another way that is the best way that it could possibly be. [48:51] How can you trust God with that? [48:56] Nothing surprises him. [48:58] No bad undoes his plan. [49:02] Nothing that comes into or goes out of your life happens apart from his plan.

[49:09] How can you trust that? [49:11] It takes great faith.

[49:15] But it is a burden that the shoulders of the gospel of Jesus Christ can bear. [49:22] All of it is in Jesus and God’s sovereign plan to use the gospel to make all things work together for good. [49:30] That is the point of this section of Romans. [49:34] Do you trust that? [49:36] Based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, [49:40] do you trust that God has the power to use your life for his glory?

[49:52] You see, the reason that he can do it is because it is not about you. [49:57] It is about him. [49:58] It is about his potential. [49:59] It is about his capabilities. [50:01] It is not about you. [50:02] And the question is, do you trust him?

[50:08] Do you trust him? [50:11] As the band comes up, that question and the answer that follows is what is going to define your experience in this world, [50:25] and it is what is going to define your eternity. [50:29] Do you trust God to be who he says he is and to do what he says he will?

[50:37] If you do, it is because of Jesus Christ who died for your sin and then rose from the dead [50:45] so that you could experience forgiveness and so that you could experience a life in perfect fellowship with God [50:52] where your sins are no longer held against you and all that you have to look forward to is the joy of the Lord forever.

[51:02] He will walk with you through all of the pains of this life and he will celebrate with you through all of the joys of your life. [51:10] He will never leave you. [51:11] He will never forsake you. [51:13] He will be with you in the deepest valleys and he will climb with you to the highest mountaintops of joys [51:19] so that you didn’t think you were ever going to experience the grace of knowing. [51:24] He is the eternal God and he saves all who put their trust in Jesus Christ and I want that to be every single one of you.

[51:37] If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, and this morning I want to reflect as we do every week, [51:44] the bread on the tables in the front oven and the back of this room represent the broken body of Jesus, [51:50] the cup represents his shed blood, [51:53] and when you eat and when you drink, what that represents is that you believe that the life of God through Jesus Christ is in your life [52:01] and that God wants you to come and he wants you to fellowship with him and he doesn’t want there to be any barriers between you and him. [52:09] That’s what Jesus did and we reflect on his death with joy because it is the death that earned us the presence of God in our lives.

[52:19] If you believe that, celebrate that this morning. [52:24] When you’re ready, come.