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[0:00] Only God can line it up so much this morning because this morning we're going to be looking at the sovereign grace of God. Found in Romans 9, starting in verse 14. So if you are physically able and desire to do so, I'm asking if you'll join with me that we stand together and we read the Word of God, found in Romans 9, starting in verse 14, and I'm going to verse 29.

[0:21] Romans 9, starting in verse 14, going to verse 29. Paul, writing here to the church at Rome, writes, My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.

[0:57] So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. You will say to me then, Why does he still find fault? For who resists his will? On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?

[1:10] The thing molded will not say to the molder, Why did you make me like this, will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?

[1:22] What if God, although willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom he also called not from among the Jews only, but also from among the Gentiles.

[1:46] And he says also in Hosea, I will call those who were not my people, my people. And her who was not beloved, beloved. And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people, there they shall be called the sons of the living God.

[2:03] Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved. For the Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly.

[2:15] In verse 29, And just as Isaiah foretold, Unless the Lord of Saboth had left to us a posterity, we would have become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah.

[2:28] Let's pray. God, we thank you so much for this day. And God, we praise you for your glory. We praise you for your mercy. And God, we just ask that you would open our eyes and our hearts and our minds to understand your word.

[2:40] Lord, we thank you, O God, that we have the opportunity to come and to worship you. To sing of your praises. To lift up our hearts and minds to your presence. And we pray that now as we hear a word from you, God, that it would change us.

[2:54] Lord, that it would draw us. That it would continue to conform us to your image. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Romans 9, verses 14 through 29.

[3:07] I'm not going to take time this morning to dive into an introduction again to the book of Romans. Other than this, we know that Paul is writing to the church that exists in Rome in a number of locations.

[3:18] A church which he was not familiar with personally, but he knew of by meeting people who were from Rome and people along his travels. If he would have walked into the door, they would neither have recognized him nor known him unless he had introduced himself.

[3:33] He had never been present in a church. But he was writing to that church to strengthen that church and to encourage that church that they be built up on the sure foundation of the gospel.

[3:45] And we titled the overall study of the book of Romans, The Foundational Doctrines of Our Faith. And we looked at the first eight chapters and the truths that it contains in there. And we began to make a transition last week going into chapter 9.

[3:57] The transition that will really take place through chapters 9, 10, and 11. Where Paul shifts not his focus, but rather his illustrations. Where Paul begins to speak of the Jewish people.

[4:08] Not something in connection to or something apart from what he had already said in chapters 1 through 8. Speaking to all men and how they are saved. But rather using the nation of Israel or the Jewish people as an illustration to support the truths he has contained in chapters 1 through 8.

[4:25] And then he will change gears again in chapter 12. And he will bring us to the application that has already been illustrated because of the truth that has already been proclaimed. You followed me on that, right?

[4:36] For the first eight chapters he proclaims the truth of how you are saved. In three chapters he illustrates to you the reality that you are saved. And then in chapters 12 through 16 he tells you how to live because you are saved.

[4:47] It is a wonderful gospel message. And it is a letter that was written to this church that this church may exist as it will. Now, if there is one message in all of this series that I wish that every member of the church was present to listen to, it would be this one.

[5:02] If there was one message in the whole entire book of Romans from chapter 1 to chapter 16 that I wish that everyone in the church that is ever connected to the church was here present physically to hear, it would be this one.

[5:16] Because if there is one section of scripture in all of Romans that is usually pulled out of context and is usually made to say something that it does not say, it is this one.

[5:27] And if there is one difficult passage that makes us scratch our heads, sometimes make us uncomfortable and a little queasy to the belly, it is this one. Because you cannot read it as it literally reads and say, well, that's pretty easy.

[5:43] I mean, this is something of the difficult sort, something that I probably would only get kind of to the tip of. But I want you to see the glory that is behind it. This, by way of introduction, we need to be reminded that this is not a passage so much about God picking a team.

[6:01] This is a passage about the glorious, sovereign mercy of God. I use the word sovereign because according to Merriam-Webster, sovereign means to be greater than or above or over everything else.

[6:23] And the sovereign mercy of God is so much greater than anything else we could ever experience. Last week, we looked at the supremacy of God, how he is supreme and he has the right to do what he wants to do.

[6:38] This week, we'll look at the sovereign, the greater, superior being above everything else, mercy of God, as demonstrated in this, not only to the Jewish people, but also to us in the act of salvation.

[6:52] I want you to see, first of all and foremost in these verses, the dependency of man. The dependency of man. And this is where many of us tend to get a little uncomfortable. And this is where many of us tend to get in disagreement.

[7:05] But I want you to stay with me. Look at what the word of God says. Paul, writing with all wisdom, moved by the spirit of God, understanding that the truths that he has just written in the first 13 verses of chapter 9, the truths which say that God is supreme and has the right to decide even before a person is born.

[7:24] Using the examples of Isaac and Ishmael and Jacob and Esau, those who, before they were even born, it says, and the twins of Jacob and Esau, how he chose one and denied the other.

[7:35] And speaking of the reality that God is indeed supreme and he is God and he has that right. Before they had done neither good nor bad, before they had made any choices, God already made his choice.

[7:46] Paul, knowing that people would read that, knowing that people would understand that or even hear that, and knowing the question they would ask gives us the question, what shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there?

[7:58] Literally what he is saying is, I know as soon as I wrote that, some of you are going to say, that's not fair. Because that's what comes into my mind and that's what comes into your mind. That's just not fair.

[8:08] That doesn't seem right. Something is wrong here. What am I to say to these truths? The fact that God chose one over the other even before they were born, and he did it before they even made the first action, before they even made the first choice.

[8:22] And then he says at the end of the Old Testament in the book of Malachi, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. Now he's speaking of the nation there, and he's not speaking of the individual, but he is speaking of his people groups, and he is speaking of the things that they have done.

[8:36] And we know that history has justified God's choice. We know that the descendants of Esau became some of the greatest opponents to the descendants of Jacob. We know that God's choice seems to be right, or doesn't seem to be right.

[8:48] It is absolutely right. But the thought that comes to our mind is, that's simply not fair. And that's what Paul says, is what shall we say then? There is no injustice with God.

[8:58] And then Paul stops and says, may it never be. My friend, listen to me. Let's just go ahead and answer that, because he is God. His word is true. It doesn't matter what we think.

[9:10] If we say, well, God's not fair, we have to say, that's not right. And he's going to dive into that, why that's not right. If someone comes to you and says, well, it's not fair that God did this, or it's not fair that he didn't do that, or it's not fair, say, may that never be.

[9:27] Because we have to define what is fair, which is what Paul is about to do. But I want you to see this, the dependency of man. Verse 15 says, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

[9:42] Now, to put this in context, we'll get to this later, we're in the book of Exodus on Sunday nights, we're just making our way through scripture. This is after Moses had been up on the mountain, they were down there, and they built the golden calf, and then Moses comes down, and they're worshiping this idol, and then Moses intercedes for God, and a number of thousands of people died that day, something like 3,000 people died.

[10:02] And Moses is petitioning God, and saying, God, spare your wrath. God, please, just stop this killing spree, because they're dying because they've rebelled against you. If you were here this past night, you would understand that they heard, or we haven't got to it yet, they had heard physically, audibly, what God told them, and then they willingly rebelled against what God had commanded them.

[10:22] So God was just. Let's go ahead and just nod our heads yet. That God was fair. Fairness really has nothing to do with it. It's called justice. God was just to bring upon the penalty for their actions.

[10:33] God said, do not worship anything other than me. They started worshiping something other than him. Then they began to die. Now, God is just with that, because God gave them fair warning, right? God is just.

[10:43] And Moses is interceding, and he says, please, God, stop this. And then God looks at him and says, I'll have mercy on whom I want to have mercy, and I'll have compassion on whom I want to have compassion. And you're like, wow.

[10:56] What does that mean? That means, Moses, you can't tell me who's deserving of mercy, and you can't tell me who's deserving of compassion. Why? Look at the very next verse.

[11:08] I know these are difficult passages, my friend, but listen to me. Stay with me, okay? Because the difficulty of them makes them so rewarding when you get to the truth of them. Look at what it says. So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

[11:24] Here is the dependency. What God is saying is, it doesn't matter how much you try. It doesn't matter how far you run. It doesn't matter how much you want to be right.

[11:34] You can never be right apart from me. It doesn't matter how much effort you put into it. It doesn't matter how much you decide to clean up your life. It doesn't matter how much you decide to do this or you decide to do that.

[11:46] It doesn't matter that you, like, I really want to do right, and all of a sudden you're going to become right. God said, that's not the big issue. It doesn't depend on you. It depends on me. As a matter of fact, you depend on me.

[11:57] This is the trouble we get into when we look at Romans 9, 10, and 11 as a section by themselves. Remember what I always say to you. Be careful to read Scripture in context.

[12:08] Because if you take the text out of context, you can make it say anything you want it to say, right? We can change it, manipulate it, and when you study Romans 9, 10, and 11 as a study of the nation of Israel, apart from the letter to the church at Rome, then it begins to sound very difficult.

[12:25] But listen to this. Paul writes here that God says it doesn't depend on the man who runs or on the man who wills, but it depends on the God who has mercy. Why could he say that? Because for eight chapters, he has just told us, we cannot do right, not a single one of us.

[12:42] For the first three chapters in the book of Romans, he lays out for us the problem of man. And the problem of man is that we are all desperately wicked. We are all deserving of death.

[12:52] There is none right, no, not one. All of our righteousness is like filthy rags. And then he goes into the thing that says that what I want to do, I can't do. But what I don't want to do, that's what I find myself doing.

[13:03] Why? Because it doesn't depend on how much I want to do it, I can't do it. This is where we find this quote by Warren Wearsby.

[13:14] Warren Wearsby studied the Bible, wrote commentaries for the Bible, wrote Sunday school lessons for the Bible. It was so very practical. And he made this very wise quote, in Scripture we find a God who is holy, and we find a God who is loving.

[13:33] If in the end everyone is saved, then God's not holy. He's not. I'm going to ask you a question.

[13:43] In the weakness and the limitation of your humanity, you know there are some people who deserve what they get.

[13:55] Because they've turned their back, they've spit in the face of God, and they've lived how they wanted to. But if in the end, God is holy, he is holy, holy, holy, which means he is perfect.

[14:08] If in the end, their reward is the same as the saint who has lived their life in sacrifice. I go to the book of Luke, and you find Anna, the prophetess, hanging out in the temple for 80-something years after her husband dies, daily in the temple.

[14:25] If her reward, and the man who turned his back on God, and did everything's reward, is the same, then my friend, listen to me, God's not holy. But if in the end, no one is saved, then God's not loving.

[14:42] Wrap your mind around that. If everyone is saved, God is not holy. If no one is saved, then God is not loving. But the Bible tells us that God is both holy and loving.

[14:55] And here is the problem we have found in the book of Romans. It is not that God is out picking teams among a bunch of good people. It is that in His great love, and in His sovereign mercy, He is willing to save the worst of people.

[15:18] We get mad at God, and we say, well, God's picking teams, and it's not right, and this whole thing, all this sovereignty of God, it just doesn't seem fair. The reason is, is because we look around, and we think that we're all good.

[15:30] When Paul says we're not, and I'm not trying to beat us down, I'm not trying to do anything, because we understand, I'm speaking to the saints here, and when I'm at all, I mean all of humanity. The reality is, is that none of us deserve His mercy.

[15:43] None of us deserve His grace. But the sovereignty of God decides to have compassion when He doesn't have to. God would be just in His condemnation of all men, and if we cannot come to that conclusion, then we are not agreement with Scripture.

[15:59] Because the Bible says that we have all fallen. And here we see the dependency of man. Man is not dependent upon his own ability. Man is not dependent upon his own desire.

[16:12] Man is dependent upon a God who extends mercy. Now I know some of the questions, and you say, well, if I really want to be saved, and I really want to come to Christ, are you telling me that God's not going to let me come?

[16:23] No, I'm not saying that, because you have to couple this with the rest of Scripture. The Bible says, no man seeks after God, no, not one, that none come to him lest they be drawn by him. And my friend, listen to me. If there is a desire within your heart to have Jesus Christ as the Lord of your life, I'm not talking about a desire to escape hell.

[16:39] I'm talking about a desire to surrender your life. I'm not talking about a desire to their life. I find a lot of people who don't want to be eternally tormented, but they don't want to live a day under His Lordship. That's a different thing, right? I'm not talking about scaring you into heaven, because we can do that.

[16:52] I'm talking about people who say, you know what? I can't control it, and I have this longing for Jesus Christ to take control. Here's my promise to you. Then God's mercy is extended to you and drawing you to Himself, and it is for you.

[17:06] That's the beauty of it. It doesn't matter how much you desire it. It doesn't matter how much you push into it. It's just a matter of you coming and saying, God, I know that I couldn't earn it if I wanted to, so I'm going to come, and I'm going to cast it all upon you, and I'm going to depend on you for my salvation.

[17:20] I'm going to depend on you for my sanctification. I'm going to depend upon you for my everything, because it doesn't matter how much I want it. The only thing that really matters, God, is that I find in your word you want me, and that's good.

[17:35] That's great, because there might be a day. You heard that song earlier, right? No matter what. There might be a day you're having a difficult day, and to be honest, if you just want to just be real that day, and maybe this is a little too real for us, maybe there's struggles, and there's ups and downs, and I've talked to people this week, and I'm talking about there might be a day where you want God right now, and you really want God in your life, and then all of a sudden, after he takes you, and he calls you his child, things don't always go right, and there might be a day where you're like, God, you know what?

[18:03] I'm done with this. Well, if your salvation was dependent upon how much effort you put into it, then you would be done with it, but the good news is it's not dependent upon you. It's only dependent upon his mercy, so even if you look at him and you say, you know what, God?

[18:15] I'm done with it, in his loving mercy, he looks at you and says, but I'm not done with you, and that's a great place to be because I serve a God who's big enough to deal with my problems and big enough to deal with my anger and big enough to deal with my issues and can see beyond that because of his sovereign mercy, the dependency of man.

[18:37] Number two, I want you to see the demonstration of God, the demonstration of God. Look at what it says. Verse 16 says, So then it does not depend on man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.

[18:49] For the scripture says to Pharaoh, now he's going back, still going back to Exodus. He is using the early chapters of Exodus here. So the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very purpose I raised you up.

[18:59] That doesn't mean caused him to be born. That means raise him up, okay? I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires.

[19:11] Now, in this account of this illustration he's using, we have two individuals. We have Moses and Pharaoh. Pharaoh is the leader of the land of Egypt. Pharaoh is seeing himself as God and Pharaoh thinks that he has ascended to that position on his own ability and because of his birthright.

[19:27] Pharaoh considers himself to be a God and God looks at Pharaoh and says, Listen, Pharaoh, you are not where you are because you got there. You are where you are because I wanted you there. And the reason I wanted you there is because I wanted the world to see my power and I wanted the world to see my glory.

[19:43] Now, if you really want to blow your mind, understand this. It says over and over again in the book of Exodus that Pharaoh hardened his heart. It also says that his heart was hardened by God, that Pharaoh hardened his heart and then it says that the Lord hardened his heart.

[19:56] All we know is that there were ten judgments or ten plagues extended to Pharaoh and he had ample opportunity to repent of all of his wrongdoings, but he chose not to.

[20:08] And God says, Pharaoh, I saw something in your heart before you even knew it was there. I knew you would deny me. This is the God we serve. I knew you would have a heart that would not be soft towards me.

[20:21] So I allowed you to ascend the throne so that in you I could show my glory. I'm using you as an instrument of mine. You say, Well, that's not fair. May it never be. God would have been just if Pharaoh would have died during the first plague, right?

[20:35] God would have been just if he had died during the second plague. But God says, I've got something bigger in mind than you, Pharaoh. I've got it in mind that my power would be seen throughout the whole earth.

[20:45] So Pharaoh, I've allowed you to be where you are so that the world can see me. Now on the other side of that coin you have Moses. You have Pharaoh with a hardened heart and you have Moses who's a murderer. Is God fair in allowing Moses to be his deliverer of the nation of Israel?

[21:03] Well, I don't know. Because he overlooked the sins of Moses but he held Pharaoh on account of his sins. Why is this? The sovereign mercy of God.

[21:14] It's not about Moses. It's not about Pharaoh. It's not about either. It's about me demonstrating. What we find in Pharaoh is the demonstration of this. If we continue to turn our backs to God in the end, he will give us judgment.

[21:26] That's the demonstration of that, right? What we find in the demonstration of Moses is this. Friend, I don't care how far you've been but if you'll get on your face at that burning bush of his encounter, he'll use you in a mighty way.

[21:38] See, it's not about Moses and it's not about Pharaoh. The reason we get upset at these scriptures is because we think it's about people but it's not about people. The Bible's not about people. The Bible's about God and the Bible's about his work throughout his story in history and he is showing us I will use Pharaoh to demonstrate my judgment and I'm going to use Moses to demonstrate my mercy and I don't care where you fall but you fall in one of those two camps but here's the thing you have to let the Lord put you in one of those two camps.

[22:05] You can either continue to harden your heart because of the truths that scripture has and he will let you stay in a place so that he can demonstrate his power or you can take off the feet take the shoes off your feet and fall on your face before his presence and he'll use you no matter what you've done in the past.

[22:22] But you see the demonstration of this he talks of Pharaoh and Moses and then he goes on verse 19 you will say to me then here's the question this is what we all say right? Why does he still find fault for who resists his will?

[22:35] I've heard this so many times and when I come to the scripture and I've told people I say well God's in control well if God is so in control then who can blame me? If God is so in control why can he still find fault?

[22:48] Well we have to go back to that truth. The reason he can still find fault is because we have all resisted his will. The short answer to that is who resists his will? The short answer is every one of us. Go to Genesis 3 and you find the will of God.

[23:01] The will of God is that we would walk daily with him live in sweet fellowship to him and rule the earth because of him is that we would worship and serve. That's the will of God and the short answer to who will resist his will?

[23:14] Everybody. All of humanity has resisted the will of God so again I say well if it's God's will that I go this way then I'm going to go this way. No. God's will is that we worship and serve him and every one of us at some time have resisted that will.

[23:29] So what can we say? Yes God you're right I have resisted that will and he goes on verse 20 on the contrary who are you oh man who answers back to God this is where we start I can't tell God what he should do and what he shouldn't do because I am not God and the only way I see things are through my own human limitations and what I consider okay God considers completely not okay when I consider oh well that's unfair God says no it's not about fairness it's justice I'm just in this and then he goes on he says how can we answer back to God the thing molded will not say to the motor why did you make me like this will it or does not the potter have the right of the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another vessel for common use now look at verse 22 man verse 22 is rich and difficult and it makes you uncomfortable in your seats right look at verse 22 what if God I remember when we were at Moody Bible Founders Week several years ago we had the opportunity to go up to Chicago and Moody Bible's Founders Week which is always first week in February and Francis Chan was there and he was preaching and he got to this passage and I'll never he just said what if and he just stopped if you've ever heard

[24:38] Francis Chan or you've ever seen him in person it's kind of his mannerisms and he's looking at this the Moody Church is this huge church wraps all around and he's looking at this packed house and it's in overflow rooms because Francis Chan is there this is right when his crazy love book was really coming out and he just says I want to ask you something the God I'm about to describe to you is this God too big for you to serve or are you okay with this being your type of God because that's the thing we're confronted with in scripture he says what if what if it says what if God although willing to demonstrate his wrath and make his power known endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction wow what if God even though he may have said you know what I'm just going to show my power and my destruction and I'm going to wipe them off right now endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction now I want you to understand this first because and reading it in our English language it sounds like

[25:48] God prepared some people just for the purpose of destruction and that's where people get all bent out of shape you know if God prepared them for destruction then God is this big mean God who's treating men like pawns and putting them out there and saying you play chess right you have the little pawns up top you've got to love those I call them bullet catchers because the little pawns you want to protect the queen or the king right so you throw the little guys up there and let them die and that's how people see God but God's not that way he's not playing a big game of chess because this is what it says the word prepared there in the Greek is actually in like the passive aortis sense which means it should read like this in the English who prepared themselves for destruction what if God although willing to demonstrate his wrath endured with much patience vessels of wrath who prepared themselves for destruction you say well how would they prepare themselves for destruction because God says the plan for man is that you worship me and obey me and when man fails to worship and man fails to obey then they are preparing themselves for destruction which means that every one of us at some time have begun to prepare or begun to prepare ourselves for destruction and at that time at the moment when we willingly rejected God and we willingly saw creation but denied the creator all those things in Romans 1-3 when we turned our back on God

[27:10] God would have been just to demonstrate his wrath and said by your actions you're preparing yourself for destruction well to destruction you go but what if he endured with much patience the vessels of wrath which at one time would have been every one of us because we had prepared ourselves for that and it reaches all the way across the globe now here's the reality though God doesn't endure with much patience all vessels of wrath who have prepared themselves for destruction some men sin and God's judgment rains down at that very moment but some he does why?

[27:49] we have to read the next verse to see it we're looking at his demonstration verse 23 and he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy if God has not patiently endured with any of us then none of us would know how good he is and his patience with every one of us is for the purpose of demonstrating the richness of his glory when we read the Old Testament and we see what the Old Testament says about us and we're looking in the mirror and the spirit of God begins to reveal to us who we really are we're rebels we're running away from a God who created us and we begin to see the truth of the matter and then all of a sudden we say man I don't know about you but maybe I'm not speaking for you but I'm just going to speak for me I came to Christ shortly before my 21st birthday but here's the reality that gripped my heart maybe it's never gripped yours but maybe it should the truth was is when I read the Bible

[28:55] I looked at that and I said God should have wiped me out by now I don't deserve to be alive if everything that he says deserves death is true if the wages of sin is death well I know I have sinned and I deserve to be dead so the only reason I can give for me not being dead yet is God's mercy and if God cares that much about me to extend me his mercy when I deserve to be dead then I'm just going to let him have all of my life and I gave it to him because the demonstration of God is the enduring patience to show his glory do we deserve it?

[29:47] yeah we deserve judgment but praise be to God he waits long enough to show us his glory there's the demonstration of God third and finally and I'll be quick on this one the determined events by God because this is the good news right look at what it says there at the end of verse 23 I didn't finish reading that verse I didn't finish reading it on purpose look at what it says even us whom he also called well let's go to verse 23 not 24 and he did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy people he desired to pour his mercy upon that would be the redeemed who are dependent upon him look at this here is the determined plans or determined events of God which he prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he also called not from among the Jews only but also from among the Gentiles friend listen to me I've got some great news for you okay in the flesh you don't deserve anything but God's judgment

[30:49] God has been merciful to you to show you his glory you have a longing for God that is not man centered or man worked out it is God drawing you to himself he is showing you how much he loves you because he has determined something for you the Bible says he prepared you beforehand for glory man was created for glory man was created to live in the presence of glory that is to walk in fellowship with God man was created to be a glorious being the Bible tells us that the most beautiful thing in heaven right now are the angels and they are magnificent beings and then we find over and over again throughout the New Testament that the angels the most beautiful things in all of heaven are the servants of man John in the book of Revelations encounters an angel and he falls down before this angel and begins to prostrate himself before this angel and the angel looks at him and says

[31:51] John get up for I'm your servant I'm your angel I may be the most beautiful thing in heaven but I'm nothing compared to the glory you've been given in Christ because you're the glorious being John you're the magnificent one I'm created but you were created to rule I'm created to obey but you're created to reign I'm created to do what God tells me to do and if I don't I'm cast out of heaven you're created to live in his presence but you denied it and he died for you to call you back to his presence you were created beforehand for glory God has determined that you would live in glory and he's drawing you to himself to show you this glory and here's the wonderful things not among the Jews only but also among the Gentiles and he says in Hosea I will call those who are not my people my people and her who was not beloved beloved and it shall be that in that place where it was said to them you are not my people there they shall be called the sons of the living God Isaiah cries out concerning Israel though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea it is the remnant that will be saved for the Lord will execute his word on the earth thoroughly and quickly and just as

[32:54] Isaiah foretold unless the Lord of Saboth had left to us a posterity we would become like Sodom and would have resembled Gomorrah what is he saying he keeps going back to the Old Testament because the main argument is if I come to Christ and I am redeemed you have told me in chapter 8 that I am secure that he will not let me fail that if I am in the hand of Christ he has put me in the hand of the Father no one can pull me out it is the eternal security of the saints but my argument to you is Paul what about the Jewish people and Paul says oh contraire you have messed up because God is doing everything he said he would do he tells us through the Old Testament prophecies that God is concerned more than just about one nation he is concerned about the worldwide of people and God's concern is that he would call people all over the world to himself to live in the glory he has prepared for them and he says and I will show you where he says it he will call those who are not my people my people that is the Gentiles he will call her who was not beloved beloved what a good thing it is to be called beloved right to know that the Father loves you he will remain in the presence of Israel though the majority of them reject him that is ok because God has already said only a remnant would accept him and though he would be pushed away from them he would remain a posterity so that they would not be completely forsaken what is Paul saying

[34:09] God told you it was going to happen like this now you see it happening like this because listen he is so sovereign his word will come true if he says it he will do it and he has told you over and over again that the nation of Israel would reject him so that the Gentiles could accept him so that the Gentiles could make the Jewish people jealous to come back to him isn't it a great plan God is not concerned about one people group he is concerned about all people and he is not picking sides he is showing his mercy and his glory and it is a wonderful thing to understand the sovereign mercy of God that even though none of us deserve it he is extending it to whoever will accept it the only main question is where are you God's enduring with much patience each and every one of us but where do you fall within the sovereign mercy of God let's pray God I thank you so much for this day I thank you for all you've given us Lord for the way you work the way you move

[35:11] I pray God you would take the truth of your scripture Lord let them penetrate our hearts Lord let them come to the very depths of our being may it be an examination of us that we would know where we stand oh God we thank you for your mercy we thank you for your sovereignty God we thank you for your presence Lord may we be your people for your glory we ask it in Jesus name Amen God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you God bless you Thank you.

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