Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / October 15 - Romans 9

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October 15 - Romans 9 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends, it's Sean here. It's Wednesday, it's the 15th of
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  October, and you have tapped on play so that you and I can
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  continue reading through this dense chock a block full of
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  goodness Book of the Bible. Man, I don't know about you, but
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  there is just so much like every 3rd sentence is one that is on a
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  million screen savers and fridge magnets.
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  You know, they are these, these powerful truths distilled so
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  beautifully by Paul and it's just like wall to wall.
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  Best of the greatest hits, right?
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  So I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm, I'm having to go
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  back and reread some of these passages just just to give them
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  the space to breathe, right? There's just so much in them.
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  This is all such good news for us as followers of Jesus.
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  So I'd encourage you to, after we read it all together in one
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  big block, I'd encourage you to go back and just pick out bits
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  and pour over them and wow, let this truth seep into your life.
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  Incredible, amazing stuff. But enough about me rabbiting on
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  about it. Let's read more, shall we?
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  Let us crack open the book of Romans and see what more God has
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  to share with us today as we read together.
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  Romans Chapter 9. With Christ as my witness, I
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  speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy
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  Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter
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  sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and
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  sisters. I would be willing to be forever
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  cursed, cut off from Christ, if that would save them.
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  They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's adopted
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  children. God revealed His glory to them.
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  He made covenants with them and gave them His law.
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  He gave them the privilege of worshipping Him and receiving
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  His wonderful promises. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are
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  their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far
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  as His human nature is concerned.
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  And He is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of
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  eternal praise. Amen.
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  Well then, has God failed to fulfil His promise to Israel?
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  No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are
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  truly members of God's people. Being descendants of Abraham
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  doesn't make them truly Abraham's children, for the
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  scriptures say Isaac is the son through whom your descendants
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  will be counted though Abraham and other children too.
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  This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not
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  necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise
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  are considered to be Abraham's children, for God had promised,
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  I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a
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  son. This son was our ancestor Isaac.
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  When he married Rebecca, she gave birth to twins, but before
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  they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she
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  received a message from God. This message shows that God
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  chooses people according to His own purposes.
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  He calls people, but not according to their good or bad
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  works. She was told.
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  Your older son will serve your younger son in the words of the
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  Scriptures. I loved Jacob, but I rejected
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  Esau. Are we saying then that God was
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  unfair? Of course not, for God said to
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  Moses, I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show
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  compassion to anyone I choose. So it is God who decides to show
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  mercy. We can neither choose it nor
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  work for it. For the scriptures say that God
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  told Pharaoh, I have appointed you for this very purpose of
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  displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the
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  earth. So you see, God chooses to show
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  mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so
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  they refuse to listen. Well then you might say, why
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  does God blame people for not responding?
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  Haven't they simply done what he makes them do?
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  No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being,
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  to argue with God? Should the thing that was
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  created say to the one who created it?
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  Why have you made me like this? When a Potter makes jars out of
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  clay, doesn't he have the right to use the same lump of clay to
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  make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?
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  In the same way, even though God has the right to show His anger
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  and His power, He is very patient with those on whom His
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  anger falls who are destined for destruction.
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  He does this to make the riches of His glory shine even brighter
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  on those to whom He shows mercy, who are prepared in advance for
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  glory. And we are among those whom he
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  selected both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.
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  Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,
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  Those who are not my people I will now call my people, and I
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  will love those whom I did not love before.
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  And then at the place where they were told, You are not my
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  people, there they will be called children of the living
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  God. And concerning Israel, Isaiah
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  the prophet cried out, though the people of Israel are as
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  numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be
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  saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth
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  quickly and with finality. And as I said the same thing in
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  another place, if the Lord of Heaven's armies had not spared a
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  few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
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  destroyed like Gomorrah. What does all this mean?
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  Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God's
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  standards, they were made right with God.
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  And it was by faith that this took place.
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  But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with
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  God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
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  Why not? Because they were trying to get
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  right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in
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  Him. They stumbled over the great
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  rock in their path. God warned them of this in the
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  scripture when he said, I am placing a stone in Jerusalem
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  that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall.
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  But anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.
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  Oh Father, we come before you and we just praise you, because
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  what are the possible reaction or response could we bring?
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  You are the eternal, Almighty God of the universe, and
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  although we grapple with these theological concepts to try to
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  understand You, Lord, we never will because you are God and we
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  are not. So as we come to you, Lord, I
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  pray that you continually shape our hearts in a posture of
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  praise and a posture of worship. And even though you come to us
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  as friend and you invite us to be your children, may we never
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  forget that as well as friend and Father, You are mighty God.
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  So when things don't make sense and we just can't quite
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  understand why you would do what we do, just help us surrender to
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  you as our Maker and trust and the knowledge that you are good.
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  And everything you do, you do for your expressed purpose,
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  which includes love for us that is beyond our understanding.
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  So we submit ourselves to you, our wonderful God, our mighty
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  King, and our generous Saviour, and we pray this in your name,
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  Jesus, Amen.