Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Three Faces of God │ Msg 2344

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Three Faces of God │ Msg 2344 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: Today we do a survey of three chapters in the
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Speaker 1: middle of the letter to the Romans. So let me
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Speaker 1: read just randomly several verses from each of the chapters.
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Speaker 1: If you have a New Testament with you, turn please
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Speaker 1: to the ninth of Romans. There's also an outline in
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Speaker 1: the worship folder that you may want to use to
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Speaker 1: follow along. It Helps keep me on target and kind
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Speaker 1: of help you track where we're going as we work
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Speaker 1: our way through this interesting section. 9-1, I am telling
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Speaker 1: you the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My
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Speaker 1: conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I
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Speaker 1: have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For
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Speaker 1: I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from
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Speaker 1: Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen, according
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Speaker 1: to the flesh, who are Israelites. Verse 1, chapter 10. Brethren,
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Speaker 1: my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them
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Speaker 1: is for their salvation. For I testify about them that
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Speaker 1: they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance
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Speaker 1: with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness... And seeking
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Speaker 1: to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to
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Speaker 1: the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of
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Speaker 1: the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Verse 1
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Speaker 1: of chapter 11. I say then, God has not rejected
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Speaker 1: his people, has he? May it never be. For I
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Speaker 1: too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the
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Speaker 1: tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom
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Speaker 1: he foreknew. And then at the end of that chapter,
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Speaker 1: verse 33. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of
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Speaker 1: the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
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Speaker 1: his judgments and unfathomable. His ways. For who has known
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Speaker 1: the mind of the Lord? Who became his counselor? Who
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Speaker 1: has first given to him that it might be paid
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Speaker 1: back to him again? For from him and through him
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Speaker 1: and to him are all things. To him be the
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Speaker 1: glory forever. And everyone said. We live in a religious day.
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Speaker 1: A lot written about religion. A lot written by religious people.
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Speaker 1: A lot said about religious activities. It's easy to believe,
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Speaker 1: if you're not familiar with the message of Jesus, that
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Speaker 1: if you work real hard, then God will smile on
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Speaker 1: you and be impressed with your good works and find
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Speaker 1: favor in your life and bring you to his home
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Speaker 1: when you die. It's the greatest heresy on the planet
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Speaker 1: that God does for us on the basis of what
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Speaker 1: we first of all do for him. The truth is
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Speaker 1: God found us when we weren't looking for him and
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Speaker 1: God sought us out when we were not interested and
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Speaker 1: God won us to himself when we were going as
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Speaker 1: quickly as we could in the wrong direction. So today
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Speaker 1: as the offering is Taken, don't give if you're our
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Speaker 1: guest and you're without Christ. Because there's nothing we can
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Speaker 1: bring to him that will please him. This is a
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Speaker 1: good chance for you to receive the gift. Take the
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Speaker 1: gift as other people give theirs. If you know the Lord,
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Speaker 1: it is your opportunity to give and to give faithfully, consistently,
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Speaker 1: and even sacrificially. What you give is between you and
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Speaker 1: the Lord. Why you give it? Is even more important.
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Speaker 1: May he be pleased in our motive. As well as
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Speaker 1: in the act. Of giving. Join me in prayer please.
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Speaker 1: Thank you father for the. Pleasure of your company today.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for songwriters like the one. Who gave us
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Speaker 1: the words. prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone
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Speaker 1: to leave the God I love. That's our story. Because
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Speaker 1: of your grace, we're still in your family. Because of
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Speaker 1: your grace, you found us when we were running in
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Speaker 1: the wrong direction as fast as we could run. Thank you, Father,
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Speaker 1: for protecting us as a country. Thank you for Shane
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Speaker 1: and his faithful service in the Marine Corps. Thank you
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Speaker 1: for others who have served and are now serving, who
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Speaker 1: fill tough positions in difficult and dark places, who stand
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Speaker 1: for what's right in a world that's wrong. We pray, Lord,
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Speaker 1: you'd give us that kind of courage to speak for
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Speaker 1: you and to stand for you in this day. Times
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Speaker 1: will become more difficult There will be a greater need
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Speaker 1: than ever for the message of Jesus to go forth.
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Speaker 1: Find us faithful to proclaim it. We pray for our
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Speaker 1: friends today who are in this place, who heard about
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Speaker 1: Jesus from this young man who told us of his
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Speaker 1: searching time and coming to you. And they'll hear about
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Speaker 1: him again in this message. We pray they'll come to Christ.
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Speaker 1: We pray that you'll remind all of us that we're
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Speaker 1: just a pack of sinners that have been somehow found
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Speaker 1: and delivered from our past and placed in the body.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for your grace. And now, Lord, we give
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Speaker 1: to you with the same devotion that Bach gave himself
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Speaker 1: in his writings to you, giving us songs to live by.
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Speaker 1: Bring to us again the reminder that your ministry is
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Speaker 1: timeless and your work is eternal. And we give profoundly
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Speaker 1: grateful for Jesus. In his name we pray. Everyone sit. Amen.
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Speaker 1: The late cartoonist Charles Schulz always loved to portray vignettes
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Speaker 1: of life Oh, and the little characters we all sort
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Speaker 1: of identified with. It was always Charlie Brown and Lucy
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Speaker 1: in charge, of course, and Linus and Pigpen, and every
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Speaker 1: once in a while Snoopy would get the show and,
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Speaker 1: you know, take it from there. One of my favorite
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Speaker 1: scenes is Charlie and Lucy on the deck of a
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Speaker 1: cruise ship, and Lucy is again instructing Charlie. Charlie, she said,
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Speaker 1: this is a decision you must make all on your own.
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Speaker 1: Do you want to set your deck chair facing forward
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Speaker 1: so that you can see where we're going? Or do
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Speaker 1: you want to turn and face your deck chair to
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Speaker 1: the rear to see where we've been? What's your decision, Charlie?
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Speaker 1: He said, I can't get my deck chair unfolded. Maybe
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Speaker 1: you feel like that as we're in the middle of
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Speaker 1: this letter to the Romans and we've been going forward
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Speaker 1: and backward. You can't get your theological deck chair unfolded
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Speaker 1: as we work our way through this letter. I mean,
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Speaker 1: this is Paul's magnum opus. This is Pauline theology at
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Speaker 1: its very best. This is truth. This is doctrine. This
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Speaker 1: is Christian living as you will read nowhere else in
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Speaker 1: the scriptures. This is the Christians constitutions. So it would
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Speaker 1: be helpful to face our deck chairs toward where we
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Speaker 1: have been and look back. For eight chapters, we have
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Speaker 1: been watching the gospel unfold. And the main message has
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Speaker 1: been God's righteousness. Not what we have done to earn it,
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Speaker 1: but God's giving it to us because of what Christ
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Speaker 1: has done for us. For example, in chapter 3, we
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Speaker 1: read very clearly, verse 23, all have sinned and fall
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Speaker 1: short of the glory of God. That's us. That's us.
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Speaker 1: For three chapters he has been developing the depravity of humanity.
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Speaker 1: Doesn't mean we're as bad off as we can be.
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Speaker 1: It means we're as bad off as we can possibly be.
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Speaker 1: Some sinners are good. Some sinners are better than other sinners.
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Speaker 1: But no one is righteous enough to get into heaven
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Speaker 1: on their own. Because we have all sinned and we
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Speaker 1: all fall short of the glory of God. We are
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Speaker 1: sinners by birth. We're sinners by nature. We're sinners by choice. Well,
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Speaker 1: how do we get this righteousness of God? Verse 24,
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Speaker 1: by being justified as a gift by his grace through
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Speaker 1: the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. A lot of
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Speaker 1: forbid words that mean God has given us his righteousness
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Speaker 1: when we place our faith and trust in his son, Jesus.
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Speaker 1: The term justified simply means God's sovereign act whereby he
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Speaker 1: declares righteous the believing sinner while we are still in
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Speaker 1: a sinning state. It doesn't mean we get better and
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Speaker 1: better until we're finally good enough to deserve it. It
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Speaker 1: means we remain on the level of sinfulness and God
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Speaker 1: in grace because we place our faith in Christ deposits
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Speaker 1: to our account divine righteousness and we then have the
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Speaker 1: righteousness of God. The results are numerous, and one of
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Speaker 1: the best ones is in 5, verse 1, where we read,
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Speaker 1: having been justified by faith, having been declared righteous, we
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Speaker 1: now have what we could never find in ourselves, peace
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Speaker 1: with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that offer
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Speaker 1: of salvation continues to go on. Verse 8 says, God
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Speaker 1: demonstrates his love toward us in that while we are
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Speaker 1: yet sinners, Christ died for us. So throughout the centuries
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Speaker 1: of time, including this one and on beyond our own,
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Speaker 1: God continues to demonstrate his love to us in bringing
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Speaker 1: to the attention of the lost his son's death. And
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Speaker 1: when we trust in him, we are given the righteousness
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Speaker 1: of God. How good is that? Having the righteousness of
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Speaker 1: God means that we are now saved. We're no longer
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Speaker 1: spiritually lost. That's the major theme of the first eight chapters.
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Speaker 1: Our salvation, which is by faith apart from works. It
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Speaker 1: is trusting in Christ alone, by faith alone, because of
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Speaker 1: God's grace alone. The songwriter puts it, nothing in my
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Speaker 1: hands I bring, simply to your cross I cling. By
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Speaker 1: doing so, I am born out of darkness and into light.
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Speaker 1: I am born out of death into life. I no
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Speaker 1: longer am condemned in my sin, but because of God's grace,
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Speaker 1: I am accepted in his family. Now, when you get
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Speaker 1: to the end of chapter 8, it just doesn't get
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Speaker 1: much better than that. There's a great climax. If you
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Speaker 1: love music, it's like a great crescendo that comes to
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Speaker 1: the end with a triple fortissimo. It's as if three
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Speaker 1: exclamation points appear. Who can separate us from the love
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Speaker 1: of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine
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Speaker 1: or nakedness or peril or sword? Oh, no. None of
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Speaker 1: these things can separate us. Says Paul at the end
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Speaker 1: of the chapter, I am absolutely convinced that neither death
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Speaker 1: nor life nor angels nor principalities... And he goes through
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Speaker 1: a whole grocery list of the things that he could name.
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Speaker 1: None of that will ever separate us from the love
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Speaker 1: of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. If
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Speaker 1: this were a play... the curtains would be closing the
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Speaker 1: end of act one and the audience would be applauding
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Speaker 1: how great is the message of salvation nothing will separate
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Speaker 1: us from the love of christ Now, if you ask me,
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Speaker 1: when you end chapter 8, what ought to begin is
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Speaker 1: chapter 12. So skip the next three chapters and go
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Speaker 1: to chapter 12. And the curtains open. And now, therefore,
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Speaker 1: I urge you by the mercies of God that you
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Speaker 1: present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God. I mean,
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Speaker 1: after all, look at what God has done for us.
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Speaker 1: The next chapter of the book or the next play,
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Speaker 1: the next act of the play. Here's what we do
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Speaker 1: in return. We give him ourselves and not be conformed
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Speaker 1: to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
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Speaker 1: your minds. I mean, it fits. So the great question is,
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Speaker 1: why are there three chapters that keep us from this
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Speaker 1: climactic ending to the book? Chapters 9, 10, and 11.
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Speaker 1: I'm not the first to point out that these are
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Speaker 1: a little bothersome as they appear in this letter. One
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Speaker 1: man writes, chapters 9 through 11 are as full of
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Speaker 1: problems as a hedgehog is full of prickles. I mean,
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Speaker 1: there are more difficulties in chapters 9, 10, and 11
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Speaker 1: than you will find in any part of chapters 1
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Speaker 1: through 8 or 12 to 16. It's full of problems.
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Speaker 1: It's full of issues. There are a number of things
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Speaker 1: in here that make you squirm. It's here we read
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Speaker 1: of predestination. The election of God. It's here we read
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Speaker 1: about the Jews. Oh, and by the way, that's what
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Speaker 1: these three chapters are all about. You see, there's one
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Speaker 1: thing Paul is that most of us are not. Paul's Jewish.
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Speaker 1: And being a Jew... He would hear us say, why
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Speaker 1: are these three chapters in the letter to the Romans?
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Speaker 1: And he would say, what a Gentile question is that?
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Speaker 1: When you're a Jew, your great concern is for your
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Speaker 1: Jewish family. your Jewish mom and dad, your Jewish brothers
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Speaker 1: and sisters, your Jewish relatives, your Jewish friends. In Paul's case,
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Speaker 1: the Jews formed the Sanhedrin, the fellow Pharisees who were
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Speaker 1: a part of his group and he a part of theirs.
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Speaker 1: I mean, Paul is grieved over the fact that they're
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Speaker 1: not here. And by now he thinks I can stay
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Speaker 1: quiet no longer. So chapters 9, 10, and 11 bring
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Speaker 1: into perspective the Jews. It's an issue that has to
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Speaker 1: be answered. Now as a Gentile, you think, why? Why
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Speaker 1: do I need to worry with what the Jews... Do
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Speaker 1: you have every reason to be concerned? The Jews are
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Speaker 1: His chosen people. To the Jews, He first gave the
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Speaker 1: message of hope. To the Jews, He wrote the Torah.
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Speaker 1: The Jews are the ones who preserved the scrolls, the
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Speaker 1: sacred scrolls of Scripture. From the Jews, the message of
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Speaker 1: missions was sent forth to a Gentile world. One of
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Speaker 1: the early missionaries, Jonah. Maybe you never thought about him
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Speaker 1: as a missionary. Jonah is a Jewish prophet who is
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Speaker 1: told to take the message of the news of God
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Speaker 1: to Nineveh. And he goes to Tarshish. That's like God saying,
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Speaker 1: go to Berlin and you go to Hawaii. You don't
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Speaker 1: get there by going to Tarshish. What was the problem?
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Speaker 1: He's a bigoted Jew. He didn't want the Gentiles to believe.
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Speaker 1: We're the ones who are the chosen. We're the ones
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Speaker 1: with the message. And finally, he does go. First amphibious
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Speaker 1: landing in the scriptures is in Jonah. It's a story
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Speaker 1: of a missionary who took the message reluctantly to a
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Speaker 1: group of people. And to the surprise of most, it's
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Speaker 1: the greatest revival in all of the Old Testament when
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Speaker 1: Nineveh hears and responds. We better answer the issue of
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Speaker 1: the Jews. I mean, if it's the gospel, verses chapters
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Speaker 1: 1 to 8, we certainly need to know where the
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Speaker 1: Jews are in it. The fact is, for the most part,
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Speaker 1: they're blinded. There aren't many Jews in this congregation. Born Jews,
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Speaker 1: rear Jewish, Jewish parents, Jewish friends, most of us are Gentile.
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Speaker 1: Do you realize in ancient days we were known as
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Speaker 1: the dogs? We were given the crumbs from the table.
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Speaker 1: It was the Jew who was first to receive the message.
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Speaker 1: So Paul, as he begins this ninth chapter, is grieved
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Speaker 1: that his family and friends are not in the number
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Speaker 1: of the same. Now let me clarify something because we're
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Speaker 1: going to just hit the high spots. Remember when you
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Speaker 1: were a kid and you threw a little flat rock
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Speaker 1: across the top of a lake and it skipped? That's
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Speaker 1: what we're going to do today. We're going to skip
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Speaker 1: chapters 9, 10, and 11. So don't write me and
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Speaker 1: tell me I didn't cover verse 6 or you left
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Speaker 1: out 10, 14. I wonder what you think about that.
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Speaker 1: We'll get to it. Relax. Right now we're skipping. We're
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Speaker 1: doing a little survey. And I want you to see
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Speaker 1: that chapters 9, 10, and 11 really are not chapters
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Speaker 1: about the Jews. They're chapters about God. Don't forget that.
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Speaker 1: In God's great plan, He, if I may use the words,
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Speaker 1: He is the star of the show. He is the
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Speaker 1: preeminent one. In chapter 9, He is sovereign. In chapter 10,
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Speaker 1: He is just. In chapter 11, He is faithful. That's
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Speaker 1: what these chapters are about. It so happens to be
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Speaker 1: applied to the Jews today. But in chapter 9, he
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Speaker 1: is sovereignly in charge of selecting those who will come
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Speaker 1: into the family and blinding those who choose not to.
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Speaker 1: In chapter 10, he declares his justice. The only way
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Speaker 1: I can receive anyone into my family is through faith
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Speaker 1: in my son. Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter. In chapter 11,
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Speaker 1: I haven't forgotten my people. I've made promises and I
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Speaker 1: will make them good. God's faithfulness is promised there. God's sovereignty,
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Speaker 1: chapter 9. God's justice, chapter 10. God's faithfulness, chapter 11.
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Speaker 1: Three faces of God. And when you get into chapter 9,
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Speaker 1: it isn't long before you feel the heartbeat of a
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Speaker 1: Jewish pastor, a Jewish missionary, a Jewish writer of scripture.
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Speaker 1: Verse 1. I'm telling the truth in Christ. I'm not lying.
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Speaker 1: My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that
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Speaker 1: I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. Why, Paul?
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Speaker 1: After coming to that climax at the end of Act 1,
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Speaker 1: the curtains close. Nothing will separate us from the love
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Speaker 1: of Christ, Paul says. Wait, wait, wait. What about my
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Speaker 1: fellow Jews? I've grieved. I've grieved. Verse 3, you wonder
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Speaker 1: how grieved I could wish that I myself were accursed,
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Speaker 1: separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen,
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Speaker 1: according to the flesh who are Israelites. You know what?
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Speaker 1: I think we Christians read that and we who are
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Speaker 1: Gentiles don't really feel the passion that Paul would feel.
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Speaker 1: If you're Jewish, you would. It's just built into your
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Speaker 1: system to think Jewish, to feel Jewish. And he realizes,
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Speaker 1: having presented these magnificent truths, that most of his contacts
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Speaker 1: are lost. They're all blind to the message. So he says,
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Speaker 1: I'm grieved. I would be willing to be accursed if
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Speaker 1: my kinsmen would believe. Then he reminds himself and us
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Speaker 1: in his writings that it is God who is at work.
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Speaker 1: Verse 6. It is not as though the word of
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Speaker 1: God has failed, for they are not all Israel who
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Speaker 1: are descended from Israel. Just because you're born a Jew
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Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're truly a part of the family. That's
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Speaker 1: a surprising message to the Orthodox Jews. the surprising men,
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Speaker 1: nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants.
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Speaker 1: They would consider that heresy. No wonder they don't read
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Speaker 1: the New Testament. They are descended from Abraham. That means
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Speaker 1: they are in the family. They're born in the family. Wrong,
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Speaker 1: says Paul. Your Messiah has already come, though you did
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Speaker 1: not recognize him. The Messiah has already paid the penalty
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Speaker 1: for your sin, though you haven't received it, haven't accepted it.
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Speaker 1: So understand, just because you're Jewish doesn't mean you're in
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Speaker 1: the family of God. Matter of fact, God has selected
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Speaker 1: those who are in his family, and this is called
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Speaker 1: divine election. Now, here's where we gag. We come to that,
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Speaker 1: and we who are not reared with that particular doctrine
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Speaker 1: emphasized in our lives, we see it as a bit
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Speaker 1: of heresy. Unfortunately, we see it as that. What we
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Speaker 1: miss is the perspective. Please follow me. You will never
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Speaker 1: understand the doctrine of election if you do not see
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Speaker 1: it's a matter of perspective. As God looks down upon
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Speaker 1: humanity from the portals of heaven, if I may use
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Speaker 1: that term, as he looks onto this earth and sees
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Speaker 1: all of humanity, from his perspective, none of it is
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Speaker 1: a surprise. Everyone who believes has been called to believe.
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Speaker 1: Everyone has been elected. Everyone is in the family that
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Speaker 1: God has chosen to be in the family. That's chapter 9.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, when you get deeply into
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Speaker 1: the chapter 9, you realize there's an illustration about a
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Speaker 1: potter with a piece of clay. And the clay cannot
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Speaker 1: say to the potter, what are you doing? It's the
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Speaker 1: potter's sovereign right to shape the clay as he pleases.
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Speaker 1: So it is from God's perspective, his sovereign right to
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Speaker 1: select whom he chooses. But we don't like that because
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Speaker 1: we're in charge. We like being in charge. We like
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Speaker 1: calling the shots. We like making our own selections. Especially
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Speaker 1: we in America, we're independent. We'll decide. On the contrary,
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Speaker 1: God has decided. Now you say, wait a minute, wait
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Speaker 1: a minute, man, we are getting way, way off. No,
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Speaker 1: from his perspective, he is the one who makes that decision.
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Speaker 1: And he places in our path those individuals who will
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Speaker 1: lead us to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. And then
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Speaker 1: we respond by faith to the message. And then we
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Speaker 1: believe and horizontally it looks like we're the ones who
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Speaker 1: made the decision when in fact we are responding to
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Speaker 1: the divine work of God in our lives. Some of
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Speaker 1: you look at me so great right now. Say what?
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Speaker 1: I can just see it. What do you mean? We
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Speaker 1: have not been taught Romans 9 correctly. All the way
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Speaker 1: through this chapter, there's the reminder that he is in charge.
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Speaker 1: He is the one making the call. He is the
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Speaker 1: one who determines these things. God's sovereign hand is at work. Now,
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Speaker 1: there are some who say, if I really believe that,
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Speaker 1: and even in survey fashion, if I believe that it's
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Speaker 1: all about the sovereign hand of God, then I'd lose
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Speaker 1: all my zeal for those who were lost. Really? Look
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Speaker 1: at chapter 10, verse 1. Does this look like a
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Speaker 1: loss of zeal? Brethren, sisters, my heart's desire, my prayer
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Speaker 1: to God for them is for their salvation. I testify
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Speaker 1: about them that they have a zeal for God, but
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Speaker 1: not in accordance with knowledge. You travel to Israel, you
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Speaker 1: see that on display. You see a zeal for God
25:54
Speaker 1: right before your eyes. You go to the wailing wall
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Speaker 1: and your heart will break. You see sincere, determined, disciplined
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Speaker 1: Orthodox Jews bowing over and over and over at the wall,
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Speaker 1: over and over, praying, hours on end, praying. Prayers put
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Speaker 1: in every little crevice of the stones. Praying, praying, working
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Speaker 1: for righteousness. And your heart goes out to them. They
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Speaker 1: have zeal, but not a knowledge of the Savior. And
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Speaker 1: the message of the Savior is, Christ died for you,
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Speaker 1: and if you will believe in him, Jew or Gentile,
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Speaker 1: young or old, boy or girl, man or woman, you
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Speaker 1: will know a peace that you can't know any other way.
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Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, look how he puts it
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Speaker 1: right in the center section of Romans 10. This is
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Speaker 1: a familiar part. Verse 11, the scripture says, whoever believes
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Speaker 1: in him will not be disappointed. It's wide open. Whoever
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Speaker 1: will believe. How can that be? I thought chapter 9
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Speaker 1: says God chose. Chapter 10 says whoever believes. Which is it? Both.
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Speaker 1: I like Spurgeon's answer when someone said that they would
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Speaker 1: like for him to reconcile these two truths. He said,
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't try to do that. I never reconcile friends.
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Speaker 1: From God's perspective, it's all about what he's doing and
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Speaker 1: his electing action. From my perspective, it's about my believing it,
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Speaker 1: my receiving it. If I do not receive it, I
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Speaker 1: am not in the family of God. However, God is
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Speaker 1: at work and his grace is continuing on our behalf.
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Speaker 1: And believe me, it is a grace that will win
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Speaker 1: its way into our lives. Oh, it doesn't take away
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Speaker 1: your passion for the lost. Back to Spurgeon, who ministered
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Speaker 1: in the Victorian era, made a great statement. He said,
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Speaker 1: if God had painted a stripe on the back of
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Speaker 1: every elect person, I would spend my days walking up
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Speaker 1: and down the streets of London lifting up shirt tails.
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Speaker 1: But because he said, whosoever will may come, I preach
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Speaker 1: the gospel to everyone. That's my experience. I don't know
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Speaker 1: who the elect are. I just know who the lost are.
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Speaker 1: And my job is to tell the lost how to
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Speaker 1: find bread, how to find light and hope. It's God's
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Speaker 1: work to do a work in your heart and to
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Speaker 1: bring you to himself. That's his sovereign work. My message
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Speaker 1: is whoever believes in him will not be disappointed. Look
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Speaker 1: at verse 12. There's no distinction between Jew and Greek.
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Speaker 1: The same Lord is Lord of all abounding in riches
28:49
Speaker 1: for all who call on him. You mean I, a dog,
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Speaker 1: can call on him and he will answer? He'll answer
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Speaker 1: your bark. He'll answer you when you call on him. You,
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Speaker 1: an old, sorry, sinful Gentile, you trust in Jesus. He'll
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Speaker 1: answer you. What if I'm a Jew? And I come
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Speaker 1: from a long line of Jews. And my father was
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Speaker 1: a rabbi. And I've been taught all of this all
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Speaker 1: my life. Same thing. God's just. Remember, he can't alter
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Speaker 1: his plan because you happen to be Jewish. He's just.
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Speaker 1: It's a plan that goes across the board, regardless of
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Speaker 1: your heritage. Whoever will believe will come to know the
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Speaker 1: Savior and will have the same benefits. And chapter 10
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Speaker 1: emphasizes the justice of God. Does that mean I'm not involved? No,
29:38
Speaker 1: look closely. Verse 14, chapter 10. How then will they
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Speaker 1: call on him whom they have not believed? How will
29:45
Speaker 1: they believe in him whom they have not heard? How
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Speaker 1: will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach
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Speaker 1: unless they are sent? Wonderful questions. All involving human responsibility.
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Speaker 1: When I am called to ministry, I go into ministry.
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Speaker 1: As a part of the ministry, I preach the gospel.
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Speaker 1: Whoever will may come. Just as it is written, how
30:06
Speaker 1: beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news
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Speaker 1: of good things. Beautiful feet right there. It doesn't mean
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Speaker 1: literally my feet. It's a symbol of walking in a
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Speaker 1: path of obedience so that we make the message known.
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Speaker 1: How wonderful it is to have those who will proclaim
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Speaker 1: the truth to those who are lost. Because without the
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Speaker 1: hearing of the gospel, there will not be a belief
30:34
Speaker 1: in the gospel. Well, has God forgotten the Jews? All
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Speaker 1: those promises he made and special favor he's shown toward
30:45
Speaker 1: them over the centuries? Look at chapter 11. Here's the answer.
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Speaker 1: I say then God has not rejected his people, has he?
30:54
Speaker 1: May it never be. Perish the thought. May it never be.
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Speaker 1: I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of
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Speaker 1: the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people
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Speaker 1: whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture
31:09
Speaker 1: says in the passage about Elijah? How he pleads with
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Speaker 1: God against Israel. Lord, they have killed your prophets. They
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Speaker 1: have torn down your altars and I alone am left
31:19
Speaker 1: and they're seeking my life. Elijah is so So introspective here.
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Speaker 1: He just can only see where he is and he
31:28
Speaker 1: doesn't realize God's at work in this. Look at the answer.
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Speaker 1: But what is the divine response to him? I've kept
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Speaker 1: for myself 7,000 who have not yet bowed the knee
31:38
Speaker 1: to Baal. In the same way then, verse 5, there
31:41
Speaker 1: has also come to be at the present time a
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Speaker 1: remnant according to God's gracious choice. Watch closely. But if
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Speaker 1: it is by grace, it is no longer on the
31:51
Speaker 1: basis of works. Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. So
31:54
Speaker 1: it's got to be according to God's plan. Grace is
31:57
Speaker 1: going to be the way it happens. What then? What
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Speaker 1: Israel is seeking, it has not obtained. But those who
32:05
Speaker 1: were chosen obtained it and the rest were hardened. Just
32:09
Speaker 1: as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor,
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Speaker 1: eyes to see not and ears to hear not. down
32:15
Speaker 1: to this very day. That's from God's perspective. Keep perspective
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Speaker 1: in mind. Verse 11, I say then, they did not
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Speaker 1: stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be.
32:27
Speaker 1: But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles
32:31
Speaker 1: to make them jealous. Isn't that a great line? Because
32:35
Speaker 1: they rejected and rejected and rejected, Paul realized my ministry
32:39
Speaker 1: really is to turn to the Gentiles, which isn't revolutionary
32:42
Speaker 1: to us in the 21st century. But in the first century,
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Speaker 1: it made news. A Jewish messenger proclaiming the good news
32:51
Speaker 1: to dogs, to Europeans, to those who were not Jewish.
32:59
Speaker 1: It's called the church. The work of diversity. God's ministry
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Speaker 1: to Jew and Gentile alike. And God has not forgotten
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Speaker 1: his people. As a matter of fact, the point of
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Speaker 1: this is when we who are Gentiles come to Christ,
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Speaker 1: our lifestyle and our relationship with the Jews ought to
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Speaker 1: be such that they become jealous over what they're missing.
33:27
Speaker 1: That's the whole point. Because God has not forgotten his people.
33:35
Speaker 1: And you come to the very end of this 11th chapter.
33:38
Speaker 1: And here again is this great doxology. Oh, the depth
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Speaker 1: of the riches, both the wisdom and And the knowledge
33:43
Speaker 1: of God, how unsearchable, how unfathomable. The longer you live
33:48
Speaker 1: as a Christian, the more you will realize God's work
33:51
Speaker 1: is unsearchable and unfathomable. It's a matter, listen to me,
33:55
Speaker 1: of perspective. When you look at it from this perspective,
33:59
Speaker 1: the horizontal, it will be confounding. It will seem contradictory.
34:04
Speaker 1: It will seem impossible. Situations will be bleak and depressing,
34:10
Speaker 1: discouraging when you only look at it from this perspective.
34:14
Speaker 1: But when you see God's hand at work as he
34:16
Speaker 1: breaks through the impossible, it is remarkable what it does
34:20
Speaker 1: to you. Remarkable. depth of the wisdom of the knowledge
34:25
Speaker 1: of God how unsearchable his judgments unfathomable his ways who
34:30
Speaker 1: would have ever thought that the pathway it would take
34:33
Speaker 1: to bring you to Christ took the pathway it did
34:36
Speaker 1: God's sovereign hand was at work William Cooper wrote it
34:41
Speaker 1: this way God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to
34:44
Speaker 1: perform he plants his footstep on the sea and rides
34:47
Speaker 1: upon the storm deep and unfathomable minds of never failing
34:50
Speaker 1: skill he works together his bright design and accomplishes his
34:54
Speaker 1: sovereign will. He works among us in profound ways. Of
35:03
Speaker 1: him and to him and through him are all things,
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Speaker 1: to whom be glory forever and ever. I'm going to
35:07
Speaker 1: say it again. It's all about God. It's just all
35:10
Speaker 1: about God. Now you might wonder, since you can't get
35:15
Speaker 1: your deck chair open, you might wonder, what does this
35:17
Speaker 1: have to do with me today? Seriously now, Chuck, I
35:21
Speaker 1: know you theologian type people are all excited about stuff
35:24
Speaker 1: like this, but what is this really saying? It's saying
35:27
Speaker 1: God has not forgotten his chosen people. He has not
35:30
Speaker 1: forgotten his promises to them. As a matter of fact,
35:34
Speaker 1: why is this so relevant? Listen to this. In this way,
35:39
Speaker 1: our past and our present are not a model of
35:41
Speaker 1: our future. Israel is a perfect case in point. Our
35:46
Speaker 1: past and our present are not a model of how
35:48
Speaker 1: it will always be. God continues to work. He works
35:55
Speaker 1: sometime through us, sometime in spite of us. God continues
35:59
Speaker 1: to work. Here's the other lesson I learned. Our situation
36:04
Speaker 1: and our struggles are not one-dimensional. I'll explain that. Our
36:10
Speaker 1: situation and our struggles are not one-dimensional. Every one of
36:15
Speaker 1: us has gotten some tough news over the last five years,
36:18
Speaker 1: maybe over the last 12 months. been difficult in some
36:22
Speaker 1: cases it's impossible doctors use words like terminal irreversible they
36:30
Speaker 1: bring an x-ray they show you it's a mass and
36:33
Speaker 1: it's the worst kind and it looks treacherous and frightening
36:37
Speaker 1: and your immediate response is why how could this happen
36:41
Speaker 1: to me i have served him more in these last
36:43
Speaker 1: 10 years of my life than ever before how could
36:45
Speaker 1: this happen that's all horizontal thinking When you bring in
36:50
Speaker 1: the perspective of the vertical, you ultimately come to realize
36:54
Speaker 1: God's using even this for his greater purpose. Speaking of perspective,
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Speaker 1: I read this past week of a co-ed who was
37:04
Speaker 1: having two problems, same problems many students in college have.
37:12
Speaker 1: She had low grades and she ran out of money.
37:15
Speaker 1: She was forced to communicate both facts to her parents.
37:20
Speaker 1: She knew they'd have trouble understanding. After considerable thought, she
37:24
Speaker 1: used a creative approach to soften the blows of reality.
37:29
Speaker 1: Dear Mom and Dad, she writes, just thought I'd drop
37:32
Speaker 1: you a note to clue you in on my plans.
37:35
Speaker 1: I've fallen in love with a guy named Jim. He
37:39
Speaker 1: quit high school after grade 11 to get married. About
37:42
Speaker 1: a year ago, they got a divorce. We've been going
37:45
Speaker 1: steady for two months, and we plan to get married
37:47
Speaker 1: in the fall. Until then, I've decided to move into
37:51
Speaker 1: his apartment. I think I might be pregnant. At any rate,
37:58
Speaker 1: I've dropped out of school. Last week, I dropped out
38:02
Speaker 1: of school, although I'd like to finish college sometime in
38:06
Speaker 1: the future after I have the baby. The next page.
38:13
Speaker 1: Mom and Dad, I just want you to know that
38:14
Speaker 1: everything I've written so far in this letter is false.
38:17
Speaker 1: None of it is true. But, Mom and Dad, it
38:20
Speaker 1: is true I got a C in French and flunked math.
38:26
Speaker 1: It is true that I'm going to need some more
38:28
Speaker 1: money for my tuition payments. If my daughter ever wrote
38:31
Speaker 1: me a letter like that, I'd send her any amount
38:36
Speaker 1: of money she wanted. You know why? Perspective. I mean,
38:43
Speaker 1: compared to marrying Jim, how much do you need, Tuts?
38:47
Speaker 1: I will... I will find the money. I will find it.
38:52
Speaker 1: What's the difference? It's how he looked at it. Before,
38:59
Speaker 1: seeing French and flunking math is like a showstopper, but
39:03
Speaker 1: compared to marrying Jim and having a baby. Our situation
39:10
Speaker 1: and our struggles are not one-dimensional. I don't know where
39:14
Speaker 1: you are today, but you face some Something that's impossible.
39:21
Speaker 1: Maybe a relationship. Maybe a job relation. It may be
39:26
Speaker 1: a job itself. You may find yourself. backed up against
39:30
Speaker 1: the wall of reality with the latest x-ray from your physician.
39:35
Speaker 1: You may be going through the depths emotionally. You may
39:40
Speaker 1: be under serious medication just to survive. And your mind
39:46
Speaker 1: plays tricks on you. happened to me this week. I
39:52
Speaker 1: buried Nancy, looking into the face of Will, whom I
39:57
Speaker 1: have loved for years. 56-year-old woman, mother of a son, 14,
40:03
Speaker 1: and a daughter, 12. And a grieving husband and two
40:09
Speaker 1: motherless children sat in front of me. And we all cried.
40:16
Speaker 1: And I realized again that, um, This is not the
40:22
Speaker 1: way I would have run things. This is not what
40:25
Speaker 1: you and I would have done. Seems cruel. Until I
40:32
Speaker 1: remind myself that God's too good to be cruel. He
40:39
Speaker 1: doesn't play games with his children. On some occasion, he
40:44
Speaker 1: selects individuals to bring home to himself and to leave
40:49
Speaker 1: us in our grief momentarily stunned and disillusioned, but knowing
40:57
Speaker 1: that it will turn and become for us a deeper
41:01
Speaker 1: reason to trust him. I have to believe that. Like
41:09
Speaker 1: Joseph who said to his brothers, you meant it to
41:11
Speaker 1: me for evil when you sold me into slavery, but
41:13
Speaker 1: God meant it for good. I went through hell on earth,
41:18
Speaker 1: but as a result, there's grain in the silos. There's
41:22
Speaker 1: food for the family. And through that misery of the past,
41:28
Speaker 1: God brought about good. It's a matter of perspective. If
41:34
Speaker 1: you don't keep the right perspective, you will live a
41:37
Speaker 1: defeated life. Your life will center around yourself and how
41:43
Speaker 1: you personally would run things. Then when you realize after
41:48
Speaker 1: the fact how God was running it and what his
41:50
Speaker 1: plan was, you go Thank goodness I'm not running things.
41:57
Speaker 1: Because you see, I'd keep everybody happy. I'd make everybody contented.
42:05
Speaker 1: I'd give everybody a quarter of a million dollar salary
42:09
Speaker 1: every year. Don't you wish you worked for me? I
42:12
Speaker 1: would take away all your pain. I would never let
42:15
Speaker 1: there be any tears. And I would raise nothing but
42:19
Speaker 1: an immature family that is indulged. Thank God I'm not
42:25
Speaker 1: calling the shots. Our God is sovereign. And he sovereignly
42:32
Speaker 1: selects those in his family and he sovereignly chooses those
42:36
Speaker 1: to take off the earth. Our God is just. He
42:42
Speaker 1: will not play favorites because this person is of that
42:45
Speaker 1: heritage and you're not. It's all on the same level.
42:49
Speaker 1: All the ground is level at the cross. Isn't that great?
42:54
Speaker 1: That little boy in West Dallas that can hardly read,
42:57
Speaker 1: walking barefoot in the streets, has just the same chance
43:01
Speaker 1: to hear the gospel and to believe in Jesus as
43:03
Speaker 1: you with your Ph.D. and your fine job and sophistication.
43:10
Speaker 1: God's just. God's faithful. He never writes us off. Aren't
43:19
Speaker 1: you glad that when you go to him in prayer,
43:20
Speaker 1: he doesn't answer, and who are you? All right. Is
43:26
Speaker 1: that you again? No, he says, come on. Come to me.
43:32
Speaker 1: I'll give you rest. Come on. It's called grace. Let's
43:42
Speaker 1: bow together. I don't know where you are right now.
43:51
Speaker 1: There's no way I could know. I don't even know
43:54
Speaker 1: most of your names. There's no way I could know you.
43:59
Speaker 1: So my words go broadly and swiftly to every one
44:03
Speaker 1: of you. And equally passionate. I don't know what your
44:10
Speaker 1: impossibility is, but I know it's not impossible to God.
44:15
Speaker 1: And I know he could have stopped it if he
44:17
Speaker 1: wanted to. And for some sovereign reason, he chose not to.
44:20
Speaker 1: So I plead with you to pick up the vertical perspective.
44:23
Speaker 1: Stop the struggle. That comes from your own nature. Let
44:29
Speaker 1: it go. Let it be. Hold it loosely. You've never
44:35
Speaker 1: trusted Jesus. What in the world are you waiting for?
44:39
Speaker 1: You may not live to see tomorrow's dawn. I bury
44:42
Speaker 1: him younger every year. This is the time for you
44:48
Speaker 1: to come to Christ. You're surrounded by people. All of
44:53
Speaker 1: whom have said. I realized I couldn't make it on
44:57
Speaker 1: my own. So I took Christ and he helps me
45:01
Speaker 1: make it there. Trust him now, won't you? We have
45:09
Speaker 1: a group of soul care individuals in our church. Soul care.
45:13
Speaker 1: They do what their name says. They care for your souls.
45:17
Speaker 1: They're in our prayer room and we'll meet with you
45:18
Speaker 1: following this service. There there's time and quietness in a place.
45:24
Speaker 1: to come to terms with the things that have kept
45:26
Speaker 1: you awake at night. They'll help you. They'll help you
45:33
Speaker 1: know what it means to trust Jesus for eternal life.
45:42
Speaker 1: Dear Father, forgive us for the wasted hours we've spent
45:44
Speaker 1: wrestling with you over things we couldn't understand. Forgive us
45:49
Speaker 1: for trying to control our own lives. Forgive us for
45:53
Speaker 1: resisting what to us seemed an illogical path to travel.
46:01
Speaker 1: Forgive us for our selfishness. Preoccupied with our health, our plan,
46:07
Speaker 1: what we want for our future. What we would call
46:11
Speaker 1: a good job. Our happiness. And remind us, Lord, that
46:17
Speaker 1: you are sovereign. You have the sovereign right to choose
46:23
Speaker 1: whom you would wish to use. And that you are just.
46:30
Speaker 1: And you don't play favorites. And we all come the
46:33
Speaker 1: same way to you by faith apart from works. And
46:37
Speaker 1: you are faithful to keep your promises to us. May
46:44
Speaker 1: the wrestling cease and may we realize Our God is
46:49
Speaker 1: in the heavens. He does what He pleases. To Him
46:56
Speaker 1: be glory forever and ever. And all His people said, Amen.
47:05
Speaker 2: The preceding message, Three Faces of God, was copyrighted in 2007, 2010,
47:10
Speaker 2: and 2025. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2025
47:13
Speaker 2: by Charles R. Swindoll, Incorporated. All rights are reserved worldwide.
47:21
Speaker 2: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.