Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Pastor Chuck Swindoll | Insight for Living – Straight Talk about Resp...
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: The biblical doctrine of predestination is one of Christianity's most
- 0:12Speaker 1: misunderstood tensions, and it provokes this question. If God is sovereign,
- 0:17Speaker 1: are we truly responsible for our choices, both good and bad? Today?
- 0:22Speaker 1: On Insight for Living, Chuck Swindaul invites us to follow
- 0:25Speaker 1: along in Romans chapter ten. Through this passage, Chuck exposes
- 0:29Speaker 1: our tendency to engage in the blame game, in which
- 0:32Speaker 1: we shrug our shoulders when making personal mistakes and villainize
- 0:36Speaker 1: others when making theirs. God's sovereign design for unlimited redemption
- 0:41Speaker 1: is far superior to our own. Chuck titled today's message
- 0:45Speaker 1: straight talk about responsibility.
- 0:55Speaker 2: Reading excerpts from Romans chapter ten. In our study through
- 1:03Speaker 2: the New Testament, we have come to this. Let's call
- 1:08Speaker 2: it a counterbalancing chapter with chapter nine that emphasizes the
- 1:12Speaker 2: sovereignty of God. This talks about the responsibility of humanity.
- 1:21Speaker 2: Referring to the Jews, Paul writes, Brethren, my heart's desire,
- 1:26Speaker 2: my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
- 1:30Speaker 2: Or I testify about them that they have a zeal
- 1:33Speaker 2: for God, but not in accordance with knowledge, for not
- 1:37Speaker 2: knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own,
- 1:45Speaker 2: they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
- 1:51Speaker 2: For Christ is the end of the law, for righteousness
- 1:55Speaker 2: to everyone who believes. Moses writes that the man who
- 2:00Speaker 2: practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live
- 2:06Speaker 2: by that righteousness verse eight. But what does it say
- 2:13Speaker 2: The Word is near you. It is in your mouth
- 2:16Speaker 2: and in your heart. That is the word of faith
- 2:19Speaker 2: which we are preaching. That if you confess with your
- 2:22Speaker 2: mouth Jesus's Lord, and believe in your heart that God
- 2:28Speaker 2: raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For
- 2:33Speaker 2: with heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with
- 2:39Speaker 2: the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Scripture says, whoever
- 2:47Speaker 2: believes in Him will not be disappointed. There's no distinction
- 2:52Speaker 2: between you and Greek. For the same Lord as Lord
- 2:55Speaker 2: of all, abounding in riches. For all who call on Him,
- 3:00Speaker 2: or whoever will call on the name of the Lord,
- 3:05Speaker 2: will be saved. Isn't that greed? Lord Jesus Christ, have
- 3:12Speaker 2: mercy on me.
- 3:24Speaker 1: You're listening to insight for living to dig deeper into
- 3:28Speaker 1: the Book of Romans on your own, be sure to
- 3:30Speaker 1: purchase our searching the Scripture's Bible Study workbook by going
- 3:33Speaker 1: to insight dot org. Slash offer Chuck title today's message
- 3:38Speaker 1: straight talk about responsibility.
- 3:41Speaker 2: Last time we were together, we talked about the sovereign
- 3:45Speaker 2: hand of God as he controls the affairs of this earth.
- 3:50Speaker 2: We even got into the subject of predestination. And you
- 3:54Speaker 2: who were still awake at that time, will remember that God,
- 3:58Speaker 2: from his perspective, reaches down in the ranks of humanity,
- 4:03Speaker 2: and as he causes the affairs of life to happen,
- 4:07Speaker 2: he selects those for his own. Now, it would be easy,
- 4:10Speaker 2: if that's all you heard, to think that it is
- 4:12Speaker 2: all about God and we have nothing to do. We
- 4:16Speaker 2: simply are robots standing there waiting for lightning to strike,
- 4:20Speaker 2: and when it does, boom, we are born into the
- 4:22Speaker 2: family of God. No, there's Chapter ten of Romans to
- 4:26Speaker 2: help us not think like that. Chapter ten of Romans
- 4:29Speaker 2: says that we are responsible. As God reveals the truth
- 4:33Speaker 2: to us, we are responsible to respond to what he
- 4:38Speaker 2: has revealed. You see, there's every temptation in our day
- 4:42Speaker 2: to fall into the trap of blaming someone else for
- 4:47Speaker 2: what isn't working for us. You noticed, I mean today
- 4:52Speaker 2: often it isn't uncommon for the arresting officer to wind
- 4:56Speaker 2: up on trial rather than the one who broke the law. Nowadays,
- 5:00Speaker 2: it's often the school or the parent who has to
- 5:04Speaker 2: stand in defense, whereas it's really the problem with a
- 5:07Speaker 2: rebellious kid or a kid that won't do what he
- 5:11Speaker 2: ought to do in school. Back in the sixties, this
- 5:14Speaker 2: sort of reached its peak, and songs were written that
- 5:18Speaker 2: revealed how we tend to blame others for our own
- 5:23Speaker 2: faults and our own responsibilities. Anna Russell wrote one of
- 5:28Speaker 2: those songs. It went like this, I went to my
- 5:32Speaker 2: psychiatrist to be psychoanalyzed to find out why I killed
- 5:36Speaker 2: the cat and black my husband's eyes. He laid me
- 5:39Speaker 2: on a downy couches to see what he could find,
- 5:41Speaker 2: and this is what he dredged up from my subconscious mind.
- 5:46Speaker 2: When I was one, my mommy hid my Dolly in
- 5:48Speaker 2: the trunk. So it follows naturally that I am always drunk.
- 5:53Speaker 2: When I was two, I saw my father kiss the
- 5:55Speaker 2: maid one day, and that's why I suffer now from kleptominie.
- 6:00Speaker 2: When I was three, I felt ambivalence toward my brothers,
- 6:03Speaker 2: and so it follows naturally I poisoned all my lovers.
- 6:07Speaker 2: But now I'm happy now that I've learned a lesson.
- 6:09Speaker 2: This is taught that everything I do that's wrong is
- 6:13Speaker 2: someone else's fault. Of course, you're not guilty of that.
- 6:19Speaker 2: I realized that's somebody else's problem. Huh No, Actually, we're
- 6:24Speaker 2: all there. We're all very good at it. Even Adam
- 6:29Speaker 2: was good at it. When the Lord says, Adam, why
- 6:30Speaker 2: are you there, he said, the woman which you gave
- 6:32Speaker 2: to be with me, she caused me to sin. And
- 6:36Speaker 2: he turned to the woman, and the woman said it
- 6:38Speaker 2: was the snake. The serpent came. He deceived me. Matter
- 6:43Speaker 2: of fact, it's sometimes downright hilarious. I came across some
- 6:47Speaker 2: old actual quotes taken from insurance or accident forms turned
- 6:52Speaker 2: in by people who were rationalizing around the trouble they
- 6:56Speaker 2: had caused. Listen to some of these actual reports. The
- 7:01Speaker 2: other car collided with mine without giving warning of its intentions.
- 7:08Speaker 2: A pedestrian hit me and went under my car. The
- 7:13Speaker 2: guy was all over the road. I had to swerve
- 7:15Speaker 2: a number of times before I hit him. I was
- 7:20Speaker 2: on my way to the doctor's with rear d trouble
- 7:25Speaker 2: when my universal joint gave way, causing me to have
- 7:27Speaker 2: an accident. I liked that one. An invisible car came
- 7:34Speaker 2: out of nowhere, struck my vehicle and vanished. The pedestrian
- 7:39Speaker 2: had no idea which direction to go, so I ran
- 7:42Speaker 2: over him. I saw the slow moving, sad faced old
- 7:48Speaker 2: gentleman as he bounced off the hood of my car.
- 7:53Speaker 2: The indirect cause of this accident was a little guy
- 7:56Speaker 2: in a small car with a big mouth. That good,
- 8:01Speaker 2: I think I turned in that one. As I recall,
- 8:04Speaker 2: the telephone pole was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve
- 8:07Speaker 2: out of its path, but it struck my front end.
- 8:14Speaker 2: There's one more here I didn't want to miss. I
- 8:16Speaker 2: like this one a lot. I'd been shopping for plants
- 8:20Speaker 2: all day and was on my way home. As I
- 8:22Speaker 2: reached an intersection, a hedge sprang up, obscuring my vision.
- 8:27Speaker 2: I didn't see the other car. I was sure the
- 8:32Speaker 2: old fellow would never make it to the other side
- 8:34Speaker 2: of the road when I struck him. That we may
- 8:39Speaker 2: be the clay God may be the potter, but that
- 8:45Speaker 2: doesn't excuse us to blame him for our wrongs. Let
- 8:52Speaker 2: me just sort of set the record straight. You do
- 8:56Speaker 2: what's wrong, it's your fault out of strength telling me
- 9:01Speaker 2: in the first service that he spends a lot of
- 9:03Speaker 2: his time dealing with his patients who are convinced it's
- 9:08Speaker 2: always someone else's problem. One of his patients had become
- 9:13Speaker 2: so good he had all the way back to potty training,
- 9:16Speaker 2: all the way back to Mama did this, Daddy did that,
- 9:19Speaker 2: my teacher did this, somebody did that, at a coach
- 9:22Speaker 2: that did this, And he said, after really working with
- 9:24Speaker 2: him for weeks, I finally got everybody else out of
- 9:28Speaker 2: his sights, and we've gone to make a headway as
- 9:31Speaker 2: we deal with him. Your decisions, friend, are your decisions.
- 9:39Speaker 2: You make your choices as a result of When you
- 9:44Speaker 2: choose what's right, there are rewards and blessings. When you
- 9:47Speaker 2: choose what is wrong, there are consequences, and you often
- 9:50Speaker 2: pay for them dearly, the worst of which is turning
- 9:54Speaker 2: away from Christ. You choose to die like that, you
- 10:00Speaker 2: will not get prayed out of it or remove from
- 10:03Speaker 2: the consequences. You're sunk. It's curtains. Literally, all hell will
- 10:12Speaker 2: break loose. Now when you look at chapter nine alongside
- 10:18Speaker 2: chapter ten, you can see the difference if you take
- 10:22Speaker 2: only one and not the other, you'll have a misperception
- 10:26Speaker 2: in your theological understanding. Chapter nine, God is sovereign. Chapter nine,
- 10:32Speaker 2: God sovereignly chose the Jews, just as he chose Isaac,
- 10:37Speaker 2: just as he chose Jacob, just as he chose Moses,
- 10:41Speaker 2: just as he chose you and me, who are in
- 10:44Speaker 2: his family. Chapter nine is all about that we are
- 10:49Speaker 2: the clay, He is the potter. How grateful we are
- 10:52Speaker 2: that God is doing his great work. That's the vertical
- 10:56Speaker 2: side of things. When you get to chapter ten, into
- 11:00Speaker 2: the horizontal, because in chapter ten you realize each one
- 11:06Speaker 2: of us is responsible for the truth we hear. We
- 11:11Speaker 2: are free to accept it or we are free to
- 11:13Speaker 2: reject it. And so the Jews are now responsible for
- 11:19Speaker 2: their action. If they reject the Messiah waiting for one
- 11:24Speaker 2: yet to come. There are consequences, and one of them
- 11:28Speaker 2: is the jew is set aside. But the grace of God, Gentiles,
- 11:33Speaker 2: like most of us, have the privilege of hearing and
- 11:37Speaker 2: responding to the Gospel of Christ. How great is that.
- 11:42Speaker 2: In fact, if I were to give a one sentence
- 11:45Speaker 2: statement to describe the tenth chapter, it would be this
- 11:49Speaker 2: God has now rejected Israel because Israel has rejected the Messiah.
- 11:57Speaker 2: That may not sound very diplomatic. It's certainly he is
- 12:00Speaker 2: not politically correct, which makes me like it all the more.
- 12:05Speaker 2: But the fact is God is now set aside Israel.
- 12:10Speaker 2: Because the people of Israel set aside the Messiah. It
- 12:15Speaker 2: doesn't mean that he keeps his message out of their reach.
- 12:18Speaker 2: As matter of fact, there are four statements that I
- 12:21Speaker 2: would like to give you that emerge out of this chapter,
- 12:24Speaker 2: sort of randomly picking the verses. Look for example, at
- 12:28Speaker 2: verse eight, verse eight, what does it say? The Word
- 12:34Speaker 2: is near you. It's in your mouth and in your heart.
- 12:37Speaker 2: That is the word of faith which we are preaching.
- 12:41Speaker 2: So the first statement is the Gospel is within reach
- 12:44Speaker 2: of all. Everyone sitting here today finds the Gospel within reach.
- 12:50Speaker 2: Christ died for sinners and was buried, proving that he
- 12:53Speaker 2: had died. Christ was raised from the dead and was
- 12:57Speaker 2: seen by hundreds, proving that he is alive. You believe
- 13:01Speaker 2: in his death and resurrection. You turn your life over
- 13:04Speaker 2: to Christ. He comes into your life and you are
- 13:08Speaker 2: in his family. You don't work hard at it, you
- 13:11Speaker 2: don't promise to be sincere, you don't try to give
- 13:14Speaker 2: up your sins, you don't labor and keep a tally
- 13:17Speaker 2: of how often you're in church, or how many sins
- 13:20Speaker 2: you give up, or how sincere you are. You simply
- 13:23Speaker 2: come to faith in Christ, who died for you and
- 13:27Speaker 2: rose again. You are in the family of God. You
- 13:31Speaker 2: were called in the scripture's term saved. Now that gospel
- 13:36Speaker 2: has come within reach of you knowed, you can say,
- 13:40Speaker 2: I really have not heard about this. Paul says, I'm
- 13:42Speaker 2: spending my life telling you I've written the letter that
- 13:45Speaker 2: lets you know it. All of you can read it
- 13:48Speaker 2: for yourselves. It's like a family who's dad is the
- 13:52Speaker 2: owner of a grocery store saying we don't have a
- 13:54Speaker 2: thing to eat, Dad, we're starving. Oh, you've got a
- 13:57Speaker 2: hold store full of stuff. Or a guy that owns
- 14:00Speaker 2: a car dealership saying to his wife that afternoon, I
- 14:03Speaker 2: gotta walk home to I don't have anything to drive.
- 14:06Speaker 2: You got a whole lot full of them. We are
- 14:09Speaker 2: walking waist deep in the gospel. It has come within
- 14:13Speaker 2: reach of us. Israel included. The word is near. You
- 14:17Speaker 2: remember ISRAELI was from you. The Prophet's came. It was
- 14:21Speaker 2: to you. Messiah was given from your loins. Messiah came,
- 14:27Speaker 2: but you've rejected him. There are consequences to that. The
- 14:32Speaker 2: second fact is in verses eleven and thirteen. Turned there,
- 14:36Speaker 2: scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.
- 14:40Speaker 2: Verse thirteen, whoever will call on the name of the
- 14:43Speaker 2: Lord will be saved the Gospel. Here's the statement. The
- 14:46Speaker 2: Gospel is offered to all. Now let me go a
- 14:50Speaker 2: little deeper, and have you put your thinking caps on.
- 14:53Speaker 2: This is called the doctrine of unlimited redemption. Unlimited redemption.
- 15:00Speaker 2: The five point Calvinist teaches that Jesus died for the elect.
- 15:05Speaker 2: That's called limited redemption or limited atonement. His death was
- 15:11Speaker 2: limited to those who are the elect. Taking chapter nine
- 15:16Speaker 2: and making it walk on all fours, they declare that
- 15:19Speaker 2: the Lord jesus death was effective only for the elect.
- 15:24Speaker 2: I'm convinced from my study of the scriptures that whoever believes,
- 15:28Speaker 2: whoever calls, that's what it says, doesn't it Does it
- 15:31Speaker 2: say whoever among the elect, or whoever among the called.
- 15:35Speaker 2: It says, whoever, in fact, I love the word. All
- 15:39Speaker 2: In this same section, all who call on the name
- 15:42Speaker 2: verse sixteen, all heed the good news. They did not
- 15:45Speaker 2: all heed it. The wall received it in fact as
- 15:48Speaker 2: the versus Scripture want you to look at hold your
- 15:50Speaker 2: place here just for the sake of Clerfica, go to
- 15:53Speaker 2: tewod Peter two one. Every once in a while we'll
- 15:58Speaker 2: have a group of individuals who are led by God
- 16:02Speaker 2: to enter the ministry. So we go through a process
- 16:04Speaker 2: called ordination, which is an official endorsement of a local
- 16:08Speaker 2: church on the lives of these young men going into
- 16:11Speaker 2: the pastorate or going into evangelism, or whatever may be
- 16:14Speaker 2: the calling. And so we will interview them, and we
- 16:17Speaker 2: will question them regarding their faith. And one of our
- 16:20Speaker 2: favorite ones has to do with the subject of theology.
- 16:24Speaker 2: Every once in a while we'll come across a person
- 16:26Speaker 2: who says, I believe Christ died for the elect didn't
- 16:29Speaker 2: die for everyone, but just that he's a limited atonementist.
- 16:32Speaker 2: And I have fun asking, not fun, No, I do
- 16:36Speaker 2: I have fun asking two Peter TWI to one. Will
- 16:39Speaker 2: you tell me what this means? I have yet to
- 16:41Speaker 2: get a good answer from a limited atonementist. False prophets
- 16:45Speaker 2: also arose among the people, just as they're also will
- 16:49Speaker 2: be false teachers. So these are unsaved people, false teachers
- 16:54Speaker 2: who will secretly introduce destructive heresies even denying the master
- 17:00Speaker 2: who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Isn't that great?
- 17:08Speaker 2: He died even for those false prophets and those false teachers,
- 17:14Speaker 2: even for those who reject him and spread the message
- 17:17Speaker 2: against him. He died for them. He bought them too.
- 17:21Speaker 2: So the second statement back into Romans ten is the
- 17:24Speaker 2: gospel is offered to all. The third is in verse sixteen, However,
- 17:28Speaker 2: they did not all heed the good news. The gospel
- 17:33Speaker 2: is not accepted by all. This isn't rocket science. If
- 17:38Speaker 2: you're faithful to share the message of Christ, as I'm
- 17:41Speaker 2: confident many of us are, you are reaching out to
- 17:44Speaker 2: people who do not reach back. This verse says, however,
- 17:48Speaker 2: they did not all heed the good news. Even Isaiah
- 17:53Speaker 2: centuries ago, said Lord, who has believed our report. I
- 17:57Speaker 2: remember sitting down with a physician. We had developed a
- 18:01Speaker 2: relationship over a period of months, and I thought this
- 18:04Speaker 2: might be a great time for me to talk with
- 18:06Speaker 2: him about Christ. Our relationship was fairly warm, fairly close.
- 18:13Speaker 2: I was having lunch with him and I said to
- 18:15Speaker 2: him one day, Doc, I'd like to talk with you
- 18:18Speaker 2: about something that's very personal. If you don't mind, He said, sure.
- 18:22Speaker 2: Chuck whatever, brilliant man Harvard grad Harvard Medical School, Mayo
- 18:28Speaker 2: for his work, and just had all the credentials and
- 18:32Speaker 2: had an excellent practice. And I said, I want to
- 18:34Speaker 2: show you a simple little diagram. So I drew when
- 18:37Speaker 2: it's come to be known as the bridge illustration. Show
- 18:41Speaker 2: people on one side, and you show them on the
- 18:43Speaker 2: other side, and on the one side are those who
- 18:45Speaker 2: were lost, on the other side those who have been
- 18:48Speaker 2: born again. And in the middle to bridge the gap.
- 18:51Speaker 2: The chasm is a cross where we walk across by faith.
- 18:55Speaker 2: And I very carefully described He never interrupted. He blinked
- 18:58Speaker 2: about a hundred times, and he stared at me through
- 19:01Speaker 2: those thick glasses, and he listened, and he frowned, and
- 19:05Speaker 2: he said when I finished, he took the snap and
- 19:07Speaker 2: he goes, not in a hundred years would I ever
- 19:10Speaker 2: believe that, Jack, He smiled. I said, well, that's fair.
- 19:15Speaker 2: You're wrong, but that's fair. We had a little laugh
- 19:19Speaker 2: about it. I've learned by the way, when they reject that,
- 19:22Speaker 2: pushing harder doesn't encourage them to say yes, Insulting them
- 19:29Speaker 2: doesn't work either. I've never heard a testimony saying I
- 19:32Speaker 2: was insulted in public and was just drawn to Christ.
- 19:35Speaker 2: I just love Jesus. As a result of being embarrassed
- 19:40Speaker 2: by this preacher in this restaurant, I thanked him. I
- 19:43Speaker 2: shook his hand, and I said, I just want to
- 19:45Speaker 2: thank you for listening. You know what, I was also
- 19:48Speaker 2: grateful for he heard the truth and he's left with it,
- 19:53Speaker 2: but he doesn't receive it. I we'll say more about
- 19:57Speaker 2: this later on, but some of you I need a
- 20:00Speaker 2: little coaching in not pushing too hard. Don't answer back,
- 20:06Speaker 2: but don't you Your wife will answer if you don't,
- 20:10Speaker 2: or your husband will answer. So don't anybody answer. The
- 20:14Speaker 2: fact is the Gospel is not accepted by all. The
- 20:19Speaker 2: majority will never believe the truth. Truth will always be
- 20:23Speaker 2: embraced by a remnant. Never forget that those believing the
- 20:28Speaker 2: truth will always be in the minority. Now there's a
- 20:32Speaker 2: fourth statement, verse twenty one. The Gospel continues to be
- 20:36Speaker 2: offered to all that's grace. As for Israel, he says,
- 20:41Speaker 2: all the day long, I have stretched out my hands
- 20:45Speaker 2: to a disobedient and obstinate people. I love Paul's heart.
- 20:51Speaker 2: He's actually quoting there from Isaiah sixty five. I wish
- 20:54Speaker 2: I had the time to turn to and it's a
- 20:57Speaker 2: magnificent section. As the prophet discos, the obstinate disobedient people,
- 21:02Speaker 2: and the world's full of them. The person you work
- 21:06Speaker 2: with may be obstinate and disobedient. The people that you
- 21:10Speaker 2: live alongside of may be obstinate and disobedient. You know what,
- 21:14Speaker 2: You're responsible for you, they're responsible for them. The bridge
- 21:19Speaker 2: will be a communication bridge, it will be a love bridge,
- 21:22Speaker 2: it will be an acceptance and compassion bridge. But please
- 21:26Speaker 2: don't push them, Please don't try to force them. A
- 21:30Speaker 2: brother offended is harder to be one than a strong city,
- 21:34Speaker 2: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle,
- 21:37Speaker 2: wrote Solomon. Don't thicken the bars and the castle of
- 21:41Speaker 2: the offended. Be gracious, be understanding, and while I'm at it,
- 21:48Speaker 2: don't try to change their lifestyle. Don't try to clean
- 21:52Speaker 2: up their lives so they'll be ready for Jesus. Jesus
- 21:56Speaker 2: is not looking for people cleaned up. You know it's
- 22:00Speaker 2: emergency room, saying to a guy that dragged in with blood,
- 22:02Speaker 2: how come you didn't clean yourself up before you came
- 22:04Speaker 2: in here? You expect me to work on this bloody body?
- 22:07Speaker 2: What's wrong with you? Guys? You take them just like
- 22:09Speaker 2: they are and they work with them. That's what Jesus does.
- 22:13Speaker 2: You made a mess of your life. Hey, I I'll
- 22:15Speaker 2: embrace you. I'll accept you. I take messes and I
- 22:18Speaker 2: clean people up. I love Jay vernon McGee's line, he
- 22:22Speaker 2: being dead, still speaks. He says, God didn't call me
- 22:26Speaker 2: to clean up the fish bowl. He called me to fish.
- 22:30Speaker 2: You ever seen a pro bass pro go out and say,
- 22:33Speaker 2: I'm not fishing this lake. It's dirty. I'm no. They
- 22:37Speaker 2: go out and they go right over there. Then they
- 22:40Speaker 2: do what I never do. They catch a big bass
- 22:42Speaker 2: and they bring in in. They're not cleaning up the lake.
- 22:46Speaker 2: They're fishing. Why, Because they're fish there and they love
- 22:49Speaker 2: it dirty. They like it slimy. They love it like that.
- 22:54Speaker 2: Don't you ever wonder why? But there's another subject, back
- 22:56Speaker 2: to chapter ten. Chapter ten is a nano this of
- 23:00Speaker 2: human responsibility. Look at Paul's heart, brothers, sisters, My heart's desire,
- 23:07Speaker 2: my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
- 23:12Speaker 2: You think he was mad because his Jewish friends hadn't
- 23:15Speaker 2: come to Christ. Not on your life. His heart broken,
- 23:18Speaker 2: he remembers the buddies he traveled with and studied with
- 23:21Speaker 2: when he came out of Tarsus and went to Jerusalem
- 23:23Speaker 2: and studied under Gameleel and other rabbis. He remembers those
- 23:28Speaker 2: lost friends that were classmates. He remembers fellow Pharisees when
- 23:32Speaker 2: he was a member of that sect. He remembers how
- 23:35Speaker 2: maybe not all, but most of them still are lost.
- 23:39Speaker 2: That haunted him at night. My heart's breaking broken over
- 23:45Speaker 2: the fact that so many still reject the Savior. You see,
- 23:51Speaker 2: just knowing their loss doesn't mean you stop praying. It
- 23:53Speaker 2: means you start praying. It means you reach out very
- 23:58Speaker 2: diligently in prayer for them. That's what he's doing. In
- 24:01Speaker 2: verse one. May I give you a little extra word
- 24:04Speaker 2: of caution here, guard against anti Semitism. Okay, don't go there.
- 24:11Speaker 2: It's ugly, it's not a godly response. Just because they
- 24:15Speaker 2: don't believe in your Messiah doesn't mean they're that you
- 24:18Speaker 2: turned against them. Because of them. We've got the Messiah
- 24:23Speaker 2: because of them. We have the Scriptures. Because of the Jews.
- 24:27Speaker 2: We have a respect for the Scriptures, the Old Testament
- 24:30Speaker 2: to this day. Let your heart break over the lost,
- 24:36Speaker 2: you be grateful that in grace the Lord set them
- 24:41Speaker 2: aside and reached out to pagans like us, who have
- 24:47Speaker 2: nothing righteous in our background. We just, by the grace
- 24:52Speaker 2: of God, heard the message and came to Jesus.
- 25:05Speaker 1: While God sovereignly alects, we remain responsible for responding to
- 25:09Speaker 1: the Gospel. That's the core point of this message. You're
- 25:13Speaker 1: listening to Insight for Living. Chucksmundall is teaching from Romans
- 25:17Speaker 1: chapter ten, a passage that reinforces the simplicity of salvation.
- 25:22Speaker 1: All we need to do is confess Christ and believe
- 25:25Speaker 1: in his resurrection. We're responsible for our decision. Here at
- 25:29Speaker 1: Insight for Living, we've prepared a number of study tools
- 25:32Speaker 1: designed to deepen your understanding of this passage and the
- 25:36Speaker 1: entire Book of Romans. We invite you to take advantage
- 25:39Speaker 1: of this exclusive bundle of resources. The first item in
- 25:42Speaker 1: the bundle is our Searching the Scripture's Bible study workbook.
- 25:46Speaker 1: This spiral bound resource for Romans comes in two volumes
- 25:50Speaker 1: and both are available today. Second, Chuck wrote a full
- 25:53Speaker 1: length commentary on Romans. This is hardbound and it's from
- 25:57Speaker 1: the Living INSIGHT's Commentary series. One who loves the Bible
- 26:01Speaker 1: should own this commentary from Chuck in his approachable style,
- 26:04Speaker 1: Chuck helps us discover the rich theological treasures that are
- 26:08Speaker 1: found in romans. And Third, Inside for Living has produced
- 26:11Speaker 1: a collection of audio messages so you can listen to
- 26:14Speaker 1: chuck sermons in their entirety at your own pace, and
- 26:18Speaker 1: so you'll have a permanent record of this hallmark study.
- 26:21Speaker 1: To purchase this special trilogy of resources from Inside for Living,
- 26:25Speaker 1: call us at eight hundred seven seven to two eighty
- 26:28Speaker 1: eight eighty eight, or go to Inside dot org slash offer.
- 26:33Speaker 1: Before we wrap up another week of programs together, I
- 26:36Speaker 1: want to conclude by extending a word of thanks to
- 26:38Speaker 1: those who consistently support Chuck's teaching ministry. Because of your generosity,
- 26:43Speaker 1: Inside for Living is available to millions of listeners on
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- 27:07Speaker 1: If you'd like to make a donation online, just go
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- 27:22Speaker 1: you to join us when Chuckswindall continues our study in Romans,
- 27:26Speaker 1: the Christians Constitution Monday on Insight for Living. The preceding message,
- 27:34Speaker 1: Straight Talk about Responsibility, was copyrighted in two thousand and seven,
- 27:38Speaker 1: twenty ten, and twenty twenty five, and the sound recording
- 27:42Speaker 1: was copyrighted in twenty twenty five by Charles Rswindahl Incorporated.
- 27:47Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for
- 27:51Speaker 1: commercial use is strictly prohibited