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7.9.23 Romans 9:6-13 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Romans 9, we pick back up in our study now, beginning in verse 6. And once you've found it in your Bibles, if you would stand in honor of God's Word, as I read verses 6 to 13. Romans 9 and verse 6, the Word of God says, But it is not as though the Word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all who are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
• 0:28
  This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls.
• 0:56
  She was told the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. And Lord God of heaven, grant to us, we pray, the understanding which comes by your Holy Spirit, and may your word act as a lamp to our feet and a light to our paths. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Well, thank you, church. Our study.
• 1:22
  In Romans 2 Sundays ago, we said there is only one heartbeat between the vice president and the White House. And so also we said is there only one heartbeat between every person on earth and eternity. One heartbeat or the lack thereof can change our lives forever. And so we should be careful about taking our heartbeats for granted and more specifically the heartbeats of our unsaved neighbors and friends. If we will do this.
• 1:51
  If we will live in light of the truth that every single person on earth, including us, is only one heartbeat away from either heaven or hell. And not only will it change the way we live our own lives, it will give us a greater burden for the lost. In the first five verses of Romans chapter 9, we saw Paul's anguish of soul over his unsaved countrymen. We said that the Jews had been blessed beyond measure. They had been given every spiritual advantage.
• 2:18
  Their engagement ring from the Lord himself had eight beautiful diamonds, adoption and glory, the covenants and the law, instructions on worship and the giving of promises, a family lineage, and the Lord Jesus himself was even Jewish, all of which made their rejection of God the more startling. In the next section, the author describes who God is in his sovereignty.
• 2:44
  And sovereignty is a doctrine which we would probably all agree with on the face of it. J.I. Packer has defined sovereignty very simply when he stated it this way, God's dominion is total.
• 3:00
  He wills and He chooses and carries all that He wills out, and none can stay His hand or thwart His plans. In even more simpler terms, God's sovereignty means that God is in control. Amen? We all agree with that statement. God is in control over all things. Amen? Nothing is outside of the control of God. Amen?
• 3:28
  All things even includes our very salvation. The faith that I expressed in Jesus Christ was because of His sovereignty and grace and not my own doing. Amen? You guys still with me? We get a little bit squirmy, though, when we start applying the sovereignty of God not to our faith and belief, but rather to our unsaved and beloved family members and friends who have rejected the Lord and His plea for them to be saved and forgiven.
• 3:57
  We'll say yes to his sovereignty over our salvation, but then I don't know over their rejection, his sovereignty over their rejection. That's when we start to say, well, wait a minute. I know he's in charge of me saying yes, but is he really in charge of them saying no? We don't mind at all saying that God is in control of my faith, but we have a lot harder time saying that he's in control of others' hard-hearted rejection. And yet, to deny either one,
• 4:26
  is to deny his sovereignty if there was only one molecule outside of his control in the entire universe then his dominion would not be total he would not be absolutely in control over all things if only one molecule was rebellious against him we had a strange fourth of july this year because of the ill-timed rain right
• 4:51
  uh every year it rains every single year on the 4th of july but normally it rains a little bit earlier we're all looking at the forecast yes we'll still be able to go watch fireworks this year the heavens opened at like 8 p.m it was the worst possible two hours for it to rain and it rained
• 5:06
  a lot and so rather than all of us doing our normal thing walking down to rec centers and whatever to go lay out on the grass and enjoy the warm sunshine we were instead all piled together in huddled masses underneath decks and coverings and patios and whatever i don't know how many people crashed into my living room there were people in my living room i'm not kidding i don't know i had no i still don't know who they were they came in
• 5:31
  They were here for an hour and a half. I don't know if they were just seeking shelter. Maybe they were just walking by. I don't know them. They were in my living room. Then they left. And I was like, well, okay. I mean, God bless America. I hope you have a great evening. Who are you? I had no idea. We were waiting for the rain to stop and eventually walked down and saw the fireworks.
• 5:50
  and all of that now one thing that was very normal in our house and you guys i don't know when this tradition even started i don't know when we started doing it but every year i and my boys watch the nathan's hot dog eating championship you guys watch that it's on espn every year and this year again we watched as joey chestnut aka jaws
• 6:14
  won his 16th national title when he consumed 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes. 62. 16 national championships. He is the winningest athlete of all time. ESPN is calling him the greatest athlete of all time.
• 6:34
  Because he has 16 national titles and nobody else does. Nobody has won that many national titles in their field. They say he's the greatest athlete of all time. 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes. It is disgusting to watch.
• 6:49
  It is. I mean, it is 10 minutes of vile. Maybe the only grosser thing is when the guys get off the stage and the girls all do it. I mean, then you're like, man, it's just not the picture of ladylike at all. The guys are disgusting anyway, so you're like, I kind of expect it, but it is just a gross, gross, gross 10 minutes. My guess is all of us consumed at least one hot dog this week. Fourth of July is kind of an excuse to eat a variety of meats in tube form.
• 7:19
  Here was my flat top on 4th of July this year. You see there are a whole bunch of different kinds all jammed into a tube. Some of them rolled in bacon and whatever else. That one person may look at that flat top and see freedom. There it is, right? Freedom on a flat top. While others may look at that and say, you know what, all I see is heartburn. That's what I see. If that's your afternoon, then three hours later it's Tums and Pepsi Day C.
• 7:46
  right? That is nothing but heartburn. And you guys, when we consider the doctrines of election, the sovereignty of God, His choosing of some for salvation and some others not, His predestining of some for eternal life and others not, and so on, we may view those doctrines the same way that we look at that flat top. Some of us may look at that and say that is freedom, while others may look at those doctrines and see nothing but a big pile of heartburn.
• 8:18
  What I will argue this morning is that those doctrines only cause heartburn if they are misunderstood, but properly understood. The doctrine of election, which we're going to talk about this morning, can provide the believer with great hope. And whether it's offensive or not, whether it's fully understood or not, the doctrine of sovereignty is as clearly taught in the scriptures as the doctrine of salvation, which we all so desperately cling to.
• 8:45
  This week and for the next couple, we will observe God's sovereignty over two specific aspects. First, that God is sovereign, absolutely sovereign, has total dominion over our earthly lives. And second, that God is also sovereign over our eternal lives. That God's sovereignty over conception this morning, God's sovereignty over compassion next Sunday morning.
• 9:14
  And there's been a lot of confusion throughout church history regarding Romans 9, 10, and 11. These three chapters make up what many believe to be a parenthetical thought, completely detached from the rest of the letter to the Romans. Some preachers, commentators, have even suggested skipping 9 to 11 altogether. They've said, just go straight from Romans 8 to 12. Skip 9, 10, and 11 altogether. I must confess, this has its appeal. Obviously, we are committed to preaching the whole counsel of God.
• 9:43
  We are not going to skip about as if the Word were ours to manipulate, and so we will continue on a verse at a time. The author states the thesis for the next three chapters in a single verse, and it is verse 6. Allow me to read it again, and then we'll pull it apart. Verse 6 says this, But it is not as though the Word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. This one statement.
• 10:13
  becomes the key to understanding the next three chapters. And notice the first word, but. You'll recall that the apostle had just finished describing his heartbreak over his own people. The Jews had had every spiritual advantage and yet had rejected the truth, but their rejection did not hinder or in any way inhibit the sovereign plan of God.
• 10:37
  And notice also that their own failure did not reflect a failure in God's promises. It says, but it is not as though the word of God has failed. Some in Judaism were making the claim, and it's actually a claim that is still being made today among religious Jews. Their claim was that because Jesus was rejected by the nation of Israel, he could not have been the Messiah. It's the same claim made by many today. If you were to go and ask some religious Jews,
• 11:07
  why they do not believe in Christ as their Messiah. They would say because he was rejected by his people and we all know that the Messiah will be received by his own people. His rejection disqualified him out of the gate.
• 11:23
  As the Jews read the law and the prophets each Sabbath day, their conclusion was that when the Messiah appeared, he would be received, applauded by his own, and that he would then, with them at his back, throw off the bonds of their enemies, namely the Roman Empire. Now obviously Jesus did neither of those in a physical way. The Jewish people on the whole rejected him, and the Roman Empire, we know from world history, endured.
• 11:50
  And so the apostle here is forced to defend the gospel by defending God's faithfulness regarding his promises to his own people, the Jews. If God really had broken certain promises and protections for Israel, if he had made these promises of protection and privilege for the people and then had gone back on those promises, then how could his promises regarding the substitutionary death of his own son, Jesus, be trusted? Does that make sense?
• 12:20
  If God broke the promises that he made to the Jews, then how do we know that he won't break his promises to us? And so what the apostle does here in the remainder of 9, 10, and 11 is begins defending the gospel by defending the promises of God. Remember, the Jewish people of Jesus' day honestly believed that they would be saved based on their heritage, their family lineage, and by their strict adherence to the law.
• 12:51
  Their honest belief was that all physical descendants of Abraham were promised the blessings of Messiah's reign strictly because of who their parents were, and that was sealed with circumcision. In their minds, if you were to ask them, how were you saved? They would say, because Abraham is my father.
• 13:10
  Like we would say, we were saved by grace through faith. That line we say all the time. They would say because Abraham is our father and that covenant was confirmed in circumcision. And therefore we are saved. Everybody following so far? This is the exact argument that they made to Jesus. John chapter 8, he confronts a group of Pharisees again. John chapter 8 begins questioning.
• 13:35
  their faith, the genuineness of their faith, the genuineness of their love for God, and they make this claim. But we have Abraham as our father. How dare you question the genuineness of our salvation because our father is Abraham. And do you remember what Jesus said in John 8? You guys all right? You've read your Bibles. What did he say? Before Abraham was, I am. I'm going to talk about...
• 14:08
  stunned and angry and blasphemous silence. Before Abraham was. You're now invoking the name of Abraham. I remember when I made him. That's what Jesus is saying. I remember the day he was created. I remember the day he was born. Before Abraham even was. I existed long before your father Abraham. And their response was their typical response, which was to pick up rocks and try to kill him again. That happened multiple times in his earthly ministry.
• 14:37
  Abraham, our father. Now, if that were so, that they really were saved by Abraham, then it would surely have been a broken promise of God to leave some of the Jews unsaved. You say, well, if that was God's promise that all descendants of Abraham would be saved, then what about when you read in the Old Testament about all of the Jews that weren't saved? He could not. If he was going to keep that promise, he couldn't leave any of them out, right? And he would not be able to open the door to who? All of us.
• 15:11
  Raise your hand if you're non-Jewish. There we all are. It would be an unjust action on God's part to save anybody else. He would be required to save all descendants of Abraham, and he could not open the door to anyone else if that's how we were saved. In the first five verses of chapter 9, the author broke it to the Jewish people that this was the case. Due to their rejection of Jesus, they would no longer be considered the peculiar people of God.
• 15:41
  Verse 6 serves as a reminder that the failure was not on God's part, but rather on theirs. And one might be tempted to argue, but what about the promise of God to Israel that they would be forever His people? And the end of verse 6 answers this question with an interesting statement. He's going to say there exists an Israel within Israel. Look what he says. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. In other words...
• 16:11
  Within the ethnic geopolitical nation of Israel, there existed some who had put their faith and trust in God for salvation and were therefore to be considered spiritually God's children and properly called Israel. But also existing within that ethnic geopolitical nation called Israel, there existed some who did not put their faith in God. And therefore, even though they were ethnically Jewish and therefore Israel,
• 16:38
  They were not actually Israel. Do you see what he's saying? Within Israel, there is an Israel. And throughout the Old Testament, this can be seen when ethnic Jews, descendants of Abraham, rejected for their lack of faith. Even some of them kings. There were Jewish kings who rejected God and were therefore unsaved. Right? You guys remember those stories? And yet...
• 17:09
  There were some Gentiles who expressed saving faith and so were included in the covenant. Isn't that crazy? Any of those come to mind? Rahab. Man, not only was she a Gentile, she was a prostitute. And not only was she included in the covenant, she was included in the genealogy of Jesus. And I don't know if you know anything about how genealogies work, but prostitutes aren't great to have in there, right? Because it is really difficult to prove.
• 17:45
  Whose kid it is? So think about this. This is the way our God works, and you want to see a manifestation of grace? Grace. Not being saved because of how important you are or how important you think you are and not being unsaved because of how wretched you are. He rejects some of his own kings, and he includes some of the prostitutes. Okay. He opens the door to this idea that within Israel, there is...
• 18:13
  an israel and it's actually quite easy for us to understand i can illustrate it this way you consider for a moment this church gathering we can say there will be around 450 people gathered at highland this sunday for morning worship we can say that those 450 people gathered are christians right we would say 400 christian worshipers but should we assume that all 450 are actually born again followers of christ is it possible that there are some even in our midst
• 18:41
  who have not expressed saving faith and are not actually a part of the church, even though they go to church. Even within the church, there is a church, right? Does that make sense? Within Israel, there is Israel. Douglas Moo has worded it this way. He said, all Jews belong to the larger Israel by birth, but only those Jews called by God belong to the true Israel. That's what verse 6 is saying. And that's an important distinction in understanding Romans 9, 10, and 11. You've got to understand that point.
• 19:09
  in order to interpret the rest of these three chapters. When the author states his concluding point in chapter 11 and verse 25, that a partial hardening has come upon Israel, he's referring there to that ethnic political nation. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel, I believe he's referring to the spiritual Israel, the Israel within the Israel will be saved.
• 19:39
  In order to prove his point, the author turns our attention again to Abraham. Now you may remember Abraham from chapter 4 as being called the father of faith. You guys remember those sermons, right? Him standing, this old man, you're trying to get to saving faith and you need a map and a guide and this old man is giving you instructions, don't get caught in the fountain and don't get stuck on the loop and all of that. The father of saving faith. But here we are reminded of Abraham's lesser qualities. Turns out he actually wasn't that faithful.
• 20:09
  Look at verse 7. It says, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. Oh, interesting. But through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. Why would the author be forced to remind us that it was Isaac who was chosen by God? They say, well, of course it was Isaac. Who else would it be? Okay.
• 20:40
  think back with me to genesis 15. it turns out the father of faith wasn't actually that faithful okay genesis 15 after these things the word of the lord came to abram in a vision fear not abram i am your shield your reward shall be very great and so god comes to abram and says i am going to bless your socks off abram now argues with god oh lord god what will you give me
• 21:06
  I continue childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus. This distant cousin or nephew or whoever that is, right? I don't even have my own kids. I can't, it doesn't matter how much you bless me. I can't leave it to anybody. Abram said, behold, you've given me no offspring. A member of my household will be my heir. Behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. Now you can imagine the heart of Abraham swelling here. Like what a promise.
• 21:35
  What a promise to this childless man. No, you are going to have a son. And he brought him outside and said, look toward the heavens, number the stars if you're able to number them, so shall your offspring be. And Abraham believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. In fact, that same phrase is quoted again in Romans chapter 4.
• 21:55
  Abraham believed the Lord and it was credited to him as righteousness. His faith is what saved him. Abraham believed, but you notice he didn't believe for very long. The next chapter, one chapter later, verse one. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, right? He'd gone home. He told his wife all about this great promise. We're going to have a kid. God just told me her heart begins to swell, but she had born him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
• 22:25
  So she begins to think, she begins to doubt the promise of God. He begins to doubt the promise of God. Well, maybe he was promising you kids, but not me kids. Maybe that's what God meant, right? Abram, Sarai goes to Abram. Wives, can you imagine telling your husband this? Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her. Maybe they're my adopted kids. And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai, faltering faith.
• 22:56
  Hagar, the servant woman, bore Abram a son. Abram called the name of his son, which Hagar bore Ishmael. Abram was 86 years old when Hagar had born Ishmael to Abram. It turns out Abram had two sons, not just the son of promise, but the son of a faltering faith, Ishmael. Now, the argument the author is making in chapter 9 of Romans is that the salvation offered by God has always been apart from physical lineage.
• 23:26
  It's not just about being Abraham's son, because Ishmael was Abraham's son. But was Ishmael to be considered as part of the covenant? No. And what about all of Ishmael's kids and grandkids, many of whom were Israel's enemies, sworn enemies? Were they to be considered part of the covenant? No. So you see the argument the Apostle Paul is making. It's not just about being Abraham's son. He had a son who wasn't saved. Do you see what he says?
• 23:56
  not a part of the covenant. If you want to think of it this way, Ishmael was Abraham's son, but Isaac would be his seed. And you say, well, what's the point? Only that true children of God, whether Jew or Gentile, are born in virtue of special divine interposition, so that those who are the real children of God are not born after the flesh, but by his special grace. You say, well, Danny, what does that mean? It means that it doesn't matter who your parents were.
• 24:28
  Maybe you didn't grow up in the church. Maybe you didn't have a Christian family. Maybe you weren't raised in Awana. Maybe you weren't even exposed to it until you were an adult. You say, wow, am I ever behind the curve? No. Not according to the grace of God, you're not. It has nothing to do with your family heritage.
• 24:47
  It's not something that is passed down automatically from one generation to the next, just like it wasn't from Abraham to his kids automatically passed down. So is it also not passed down from us? And so it can be really genuinely, truly said, Galatians 3, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. It does not matter who your parents were, nor whether you were raised in the church. What matters in terms of your salvation in mine is God's sovereign declaration of grace over you.
• 25:17
  producing your faith in Christ and your confession of sin and your subsequent repentance from it. No one would ever guess my beautiful wife's family lineage. From the outside, and if you had never heard her testimony, you'd probably assume that she was raised in a pastor's home, but far from it. She was raised by bikers, and they were very nice bikers, but they were like for real biker gang bikers.
• 25:48
  Her mom and her stepdad lived the stereotypical biker lifestyle. Drugs and alcohol were as common in her home as watching Dodgers baseball was in mine. Hallie says that when other moms hosted Tupperware parties, her mom hosted tattoo parties. Hallie was saved through the influence of the local youth pastor and his wife, who adopted Hallie as part of their spiritual family. She began spending afternoons and weekends in their home. When she graduated from high school, that same youth pastor's wife
• 26:16
  convinced her not to accept the many academic and leadership scholarships she had received to the nearby state college, and instead to attend a Christian college 500 miles to the south where she had never been. Hallie was convinced, and a couple of days after showing up to campus, she attended her very first chapel service. The school was small. It was less than a thousand students. But she says she had never seen so many Christians all in one place.
• 26:46
  She was baffled that they already knew all the words to the worship songs being sung. She was like, these are songs I've never even heard. How do you know all the words, right? And it's funny comparing our upbringings, hers and mine, because I would go into those same chapel services with a sense of just kind of droning monotony.
• 27:07
  I've heard them before, right? It was nothing out of the ordinary. The worship team would get up, we'd sing the same songs or whatever. She is just sitting there, jaw dropped. How do you know all of the words to these songs? I've never heard before in my life. She was even mildly embarrassed, she says, when chapel speakers would ask the student body to turn in their Bibles to certain passages, some of them in books she'd never even heard of. And now you look at her. She is living proof that salvation is by God's sovereign grace and not...
• 27:38
  family lineage. Your salvation does not depend upon the faithfulness of another. She's become one of the most faithful disciple makers I've ever met. What matters?
• 27:52
  is your faith and your confession and your repentance from sin. There are plenty of people who grow up in Christian homes and are raised in Christian churches and even attend Christian schools who never actually repent from their sin and express saving faith. They assume that their salvation was just kind of bequeathed to them. God can and will save no matter your background, and this should fill us with great hope. Your salvation is not dependent upon the faithfulness of another, but notice we continue in verse 9.
• 28:22
  Your salvation is not also dependent on your own faithfulness. Look what it says. This is what the promise said about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. God's sovereignty over childbirth is displayed in the miraculous birth of Abraham's son Isaac. They were well past childbearing years. You guys remember the story. We read that God does what he wants despite the physical impossibilities of a situation. And that phrase in verse 9, for this is what the promise said, indicates without doubt,
• 28:52
  That the birth of Isaac was not only predicted by God, but it was God's miraculous doing. He's the one who caused it. And in the same way that the birth of Isaac was supernatural, so also is your spiritual rebirth. It's not a result of your own faithfulness. And that is great news, isn't it? The election of God is great news. Because without the election of God, who could be saved?
• 29:27
  if it depended upon somebody else's faithfulness, like the Jews were clinging to the faith of Abraham, and God could go back and say, no, Abraham wasn't actually a faithful guy, then your hope is shattered. And if you said, no, my salvation is dependent upon my own faithfulness, and then you begin to sin, you look at your own debauched and immoral life, and you say, well, I'm not going to make it either, then you would echo like the psalmist says in Psalm 130, if you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? The obvious answer is what? No one can stand.
• 29:59
  If we're standing on our own faithfulness for salvation, then none of us will be saved. Apart from the election of God, nobody can be saved. Notice verse 10. Not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived by one man, our forefather Isaac. So now he started with Abraham and Sarah going to Ishmael and Isaac. Now he's taking Isaac and his wife Rebekah and another generation down, their kids Jacob and Esau.
• 30:26
  to illustrate the same point that our salvation is based on the sovereignty of God. Verse 11, though they were not yet born, Jacob and Esau, they'd done nothing either good or bad. In order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Not only does the example of Ishmael and Isaac display the sovereignty of God, but another generation of offspring also.
• 30:57
  God's decision over Isaac and Rebekah's children was made prior to their births, this says. Prior to them having taken any earthly action at all in order to prove that God's choice between them was not based on their works, but on His own sovereign will. With Ishmael, that son of a faltering faith. With Ishmael, it could have been suggested...
• 31:22
  That because of his poor character and rebellious lifestyle, perhaps God set him aside and then Isaac was conceived. Maybe Ishmael, born a decade and a half earlier, was just a rebellious teenager. In fact, the Bible calls him a wild donkey of a man. All right. So maybe Ishmael was just a bonehead. And because he was, the Lord set him aside and then Isaac was conceived. You could still make the argument that it was based on works. But what about Jacob and Esau?
• 31:53
  Twins, still in utero, before they had ever been born. God said, I choose this one and not this one. Esau and Jacob, it says, had done nothing either good or bad. Now that is not to say that they or anyone else was born without original sin. That's not what it's saying. It's just to say that they had not yet had opportunity to confirm their sin natures once they had been born. Now there are a couple of phrases in this section which need explaining.
• 32:22
  Notice verse 11. They weren't yet born. They'd done nothing either good or bad. Look at the next phrase. In order that God's purpose of election might continue. The word for purpose, the very same word used in Romans 8.28, incidentally, is a determination of the will. These decisions had been made, it says. The purpose of God as it relates not only to the births of all people, but to the rebirths.
• 32:50
  of all people is determined by god's sovereign plan so the purpose of election now that word for election is the word connoting the act of choice when it says that god elects it means that god chooses and this chapter says that god chooses not only who will be born and when but that he chooses who will serve him and who will not god chooses who will believe and who will not
• 33:17
  This verse clearly states that it is his sovereign choice that has nothing to do with their faithfulness. And I can already tell the heartburn is creeping up. If our salvation, however, were dependent upon our own faithfulness, then I believe none of us could be saved. In the case of Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau's works really were excluded and the choice of God really was sovereign. You say, well, Pastor Danny, how in the world does that give us hope? It gives us hope.
• 33:50
  Because not only does it not matter who your family is or what your upbringing was, it also doesn't matter how badly you've blown it. That's why the sovereign declaration of grace over you matters. Because even if you were a rotten, debauched person, just like I was, just like I continue to be sometimes, God still will not cast us out. Because our salvation and our forgiveness is not based on our own faithfulness.
• 34:23
  Hebrews 7, verse 25, words it well, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. One of the greatest hurdles in evangelism is convincing people that they have not out-sinned God's ability to forgive. I've just blown it too badly. I've done too many horrible things. Pastor Danny, what you're saying might be true, but I can't come to church. Why? Because you don't know what I've done. You know what this verse says?
• 34:52
  This verse says that no matter what you've done, even to the uttermost, God is able to save the worst sinner on the planet. If you've chosen sin every time you could have chosen sin and chose it, He can still save you. In fact, this says He lives to make intercession for you. Many years ago, Hallie and I were driving through the desert on our way across town. My hometown was in the middle of the desert.
• 35:20
  For some reason, it was just she and I in my truck. I can't remember why we didn't have our boys with us. We drove past a young mother pushing a stroller with a baby in it, holding the hand of another young child. But you guys, she wasn't just walking along the road. She was walking in a place that nobody should be walking. I mean, it was a paved two-lane road. We were in the middle of the desert. I just thought, what in the world is this lady doing? I knew my hometown well, so I knew there was only one place she could be going.
• 35:50
  Our city had constructed a battered women's and children's shelter miles out of town in the middle of nowhere. I grew up there. I went to elementary school with a couple of the city councilmen. I knew the mayor well, and so I was asking them when they were making these decisions, approving budgets about where they were going to put this shelter, I asked them, why are you putting it in the middle of the desert? And they said, because it's cheap there. I said, well, that makes sense, I guess. But this young lady and her two kids were now walking.
• 36:20
  the several miles out of town. And so I looked at Hallie. She nodded. I pulled over. I offered to give this young mom and her kids a ride. The woman became less skeptical when she saw Hallie in the front seat. So she and her kids piled into the back seat of the truck. I threw her stroller in the back and she and her kids jumped in. The several mile drive gave me about 10 minutes to share the gospel to offer help. And I just turned around and I had a business card, right? I was an associate pastor of the church there.
• 36:49
  I gave her that card, and I said, listen, I know you don't know me from anybody, and this is probably going to sound weird, but I'm the pastor of a church that's full of actual Christians, real ones. So I said, I'm going to give you this card, and it says the name of the church, and it says my name. I'm the associate pastor of the church. I said, if you will call that number, we can help you for real, real help. We can give you real help.
• 37:15
  And she just kind of looked at it. I began sharing the gospel with her and the good news of the gospel, forgiveness of sin and all of those things. And I said, there will be an army of people who will rally around you, who will help, who will help to raise your kids. I mean, this is what we do. You're just gonna have to trust me. This is what we do. And her response to me was heartbreaking. She said, Pastor Danny, I could never come to church. Why? She said, I've just done too many bad things.
• 37:45
  What you're saying might be true, but I've just sinned too much. Not according to that verse, you haven't. Able to save to the uttermost. And listen, church, rather than filling us with heartburn, the Lord's sovereignty, the Lord's election over our salvation should fill us with great hope. It has nothing to do with the faithfulness of others, but it also has nothing to do with our own faithfulness because we are not a faithful people. There's one more phrase just to explain quickly, and it's a phrase that is often misunderstood.
• 38:16
  Verse 13, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Scripture's clear intention behind this phrase is a matter of comparison. Compared to our love for Christ, our love for our parents and our spouses could look like hate. In fact, Jesus even said that in Luke 14, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, even his own life, he can't be my disciple. Now, he was not saying that we're supposed to hate our parents.
• 38:43
  In fact, the Ten Commandments say, honor your father and mother. He was not saying we're supposed to hate our wives. Ephesians 5, love your wives, it says. But rather, by comparison, we love Jesus so much that my love for Hallie should pale in comparison. Compared to my love for Christ, it would even look like hate. Compared to his love for Jacob. Esau, he says, I hate it. Now, God is perfectly sovereign.
• 39:10
  in the distribution of his favor and not based on our good works, but based on his own good pleasure. And this should fill us with great hope. It represents freedom, not heartburn, because it means that we are not the authors, nor are we the perfectors of our faith. Our salvation is based in his faithfulness and not our own. Allow me to pray. Lord, thank you for these truths so clearly stated. And Lord, we rejoice over them this morning.
• 39:41
  We're so thankful, God, that you would spell it out so clearly to us and explain to us that our salvation is not based on the faithfulness of our parents, nor is it based even on our own faithfulness, that you will by no means cast out those who draw near to you. We love you, Lord, and are thankful for your mercy toward us, and it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.