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[0:00] Take your Bibles, turn with me to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 13. If you are joining us for the first time this Sunday morning, I want to thank you so much for your attendance.

[0:13] I hope that you take time to get to know some of us, hang out with us and fellowship a little bit after church. I'll get you caught up where we're at. Romans chapter 9. I'll tell you what, if you are physically able and desire to do so, let's all join in standing together.

[0:30] We read the Word of God, found in Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 13. And then we'll pray and we'll get into the introduction of it. Let's pray. Let's read. Romans 9, starting at verse 1.

[0:41] I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

[0:51] For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.

[1:16] But it is not as though the Word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel, who are descendant from Israel. Nor are they all children, because they are Abraham's descendants.

[1:27] But through Isaac your descendants will be named. That is, it is not the children of the flesh, who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise.

[1:38] At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but there was Rebecca also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to his choice would stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger.

[2:02] Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. Let's pray. Oh God, we thank you so much for this day. God, we are so thankful for an opportunity to come, and together together as your people.

[2:15] Lord, brothers and sisters in Christ, where we can read your word, and we can hear your word. But Lord, I pray now you would speak to our hearts, and you speak to our minds. I pray that the truth of scripture would so grip us, and move us, that it would continue to shape us, to become who you called us to be.

[2:32] We ask that you would be glorified. We ask that you would be honored. We ask it all in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. If you are joining us for the first time, or maybe you have not been coming for very often, we have been making our way through the book of Romans.

[2:47] Some time ago, we started in the first chapter, and the first verse of Romans. And as we have been going through the book of Romans, we have seen the overall theme of Romans. It is the foundational doctrines of our faith.

[3:00] Paul is writing to a church, whom he did not know personally. And if he was to walk in the door, they may not even know who he was, because they had never seen his face. He was not one who could be recognized by sight, but he is one who they often heard of, just as the church in Rome was a church that he often heard of.

[3:17] It was a church which we have no record who began the church. It most definitely was not one of the 11 remaining apostles, or even Paul himself. It was not a church that we know of anyone that started.

[3:27] It was probably just an ordinary believer, just a church member. More than likely, it was one of those who traveled to Jerusalem during the festival of Pentecost that heard Peter preach the Pentecost sermon, as we have recorded for us in the book of Acts.

[3:44] One of those 3,000 that were added to the church that day, who heard the news of the gospel, responded to the news of the gospel, followed in believers' baptism, and then went back home.

[3:55] And when they went back home, began to talk about the gospel, and all of a sudden, other people began to respond to the gospel. And by the time Paul wrote the letter of Romans, the church was meeting not just in one location, but all throughout the city of Rome.

[4:11] Paul is writing for the intended purpose, not of correcting a wrong practice, not of telling them of something they are doing wrong, or even commending them in something they are doing right. Paul is writing so that they may know what their faith rests upon.

[4:26] He is writing to lay the foundation, to make sure that they can major on the majors. In a room this size, every one of us could open up Scripture, and we could read our Bibles.

[4:38] And I hope that you are in your Bible daily. If you want to know how to get in your Bible daily, I have plans, reading plans you can go through there. I'm not saying you have to be in it just all day long, but I hope that you at least get in your Bible daily.

[4:52] And we could read the same passages. A number of you are following the same reading plan that I'm reading. And you've read this morning, or you'll read this afternoon, some of the same Scriptures that I read.

[5:03] And if we were to sit down and have a conversation, we may have different interpretations upon that passage. We may not be in complete agreement about some of the minor things.

[5:13] And one of the ones this morning could be a difficult one, 1 Corinthians 11. And you really want to get yourself in trouble, Pastor. Let's call on it, speaking about the women and the men in church and roles and responsibilities.

[5:25] And man, that makes a good discussion around the table and makes an uncomfortable pulpit when you're preaching through 1 Corinthians. But it is the truth. And we would sit there, and we may vary a little bit on some of the minor details.

[5:37] And friend, listen to me. That's okay. Because we're all reading Scripture being moved by the Spirit of God, filled with the person of God, who is Jesus Christ, hoping to come to the truth as revealed by Him.

[5:50] But we're doing it in the flesh. But there are some things, some things, we call them major doctrinal issues, that we have to be in agreement on.

[6:02] Jesus Christ is the way, the only way to the Father. He was born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless, perfect life. He died a perfect death. He was crucified in the flesh.

[6:14] He literally died, was dead and buried three days, rose from the grave after three days, appeared to a multitude of many in His resurrected state, ascended to the Father, and lives on the right hand of the Father to make intercession for the saints.

[6:28] There are certain major doctrines the church has to be in agreement on. There are certain truths that we have to say, yes, this is what the Bible says.

[6:41] Yes, this is how it goes. And this is what Paul is addressing when he writes the church at Rome. He wants to make sure that they have the big things in place, knowing that the rest of it will fall in perfect harmony with that.

[6:56] Because if we can settle on the majors, all the minors will take care of themselves. If we can stand in the wonder and awe of God as revealed to Himself through this thing called salvation, then we don't have to spend a lot of time talking about is it right for a boy to have long hair or does he got to have short hair?

[7:13] And some of you are saying, well, the pastor's kid's got long hair. I don't know. We don't have to go into that. 1 Corinthians 11, right? I try, I go get haircuts every night and then I'm like, you want to go with me?

[7:24] You know, I'm not, but we don't have to go into that. We don't have to get into these disputes of should we do this or should we do that? Because we have the major issues in place. And this is what Paul is trying to do with the church of Rome.

[7:38] Let's put the big rocks in place and the rest of it will take care of itself. One thing I have found is if your foundation is right, if your anchor is strong, then friend, listen to me, the little things don't bother you as much.

[7:55] They really don't. I know people who want to make an argument about every little detail in Scripture. But what I have found is they don't know anything about the big deals of Scripture either.

[8:07] And when Paul is writing to the church at Rome, he wants to make sure they have the big things in place. He started out by telling us the state of man, that man is desperately wicked, that there is none who does right, no, not one, that every one of us have gone astray.

[8:20] All men have denied God. We see that in the first three chapters. You cannot read the first three chapters of Romans and feel too good about yourself. You just really can't. If you read it honestly and you're saying that he's speaking about me instead of saying he's speaking about thee, if you're looking at it and saying, this is what God is saying about me, you're going to feel bad about yourself because Paul tells you that even when you do good things, you're doing them in a messed up way.

[8:44] All of your righteousness is like filthy rags and God doesn't want it. That's what he says in the first three chapters. But then he shifts gears and says, but God loves you anyhow. Even though you can't do right, even though you can't do anything good, even though you're desperately wicked, God sent his son to die for you.

[9:03] And he so loves you, he's calling you to himself to pay the price of your sins. He worked out your salvation. He has done it all. Paul says the major issue in chapters one through eight is you are saved by faith in Christ alone, not of yourself, lest any man should boast.

[9:19] It is called justification by faith that you are saved because not of what you do, but because of what he did. You're saved not because of the effort you put forth, but because of the love of God manifested to you through Jesus Christ.

[9:33] You are saved not because you earn it, but because he wants you. And he lays it out for eight chapters. In chapter eight, he tells you not only are you saved that way, you are kept that way.

[9:46] We just finished the eighth chapter and we speak of this thing called the eternal security of the believer. That if God has redeemed you and he has forgiven you and he has saved you, then my friend, listen to me, he can keep you.

[10:00] And Paul says there's nothing that can take you out of the hand of God, neither principalities, nor forces of the air, nor spiritual forces, nothing created. That means yourself. You can't just decide, well, I'm done with God and jump out of his hand.

[10:11] If he's called you to himself, he's got you. And you're secure. And then he shifts gears in chapters nine, ten, and eleven.

[10:23] Or at least so it seems. This week, as I was preparing and studying through this, there was at one point that I looked at my wife and I said, I'm in that difficult passage of Romans.

[10:34] That passage that I knew was coming. Chapters nine, ten, and eleven because it would be quite honest, just to be honest with you, it would be a lot easier to preach Romans one through eight and then jump over to Romans 12 and go to chapter 16.

[10:48] There's this middle section that is so difficult. It seems to stand to divide between the theology of salvation, how you are saved, and then chapters 12 through 16 talks about the practice of salvation, what you look like after you're saved.

[11:04] And Paul puts this three chapter insertion right in the middle. I said, I'm in that difficult passage that I knew was coming long before I ever started Romans. She said, what are you going to do?

[11:15] I said, I'm going to preach it. Because I said, God was calling me to preach it. So we're going to look at it together. And we're going to come into the understanding that yes, it is difficult and yes, it is challenging.

[11:28] And yes, some of the thoughts of God are so much higher than the thoughts of man and his ways are greater than my ways. And his thoughts are not my thoughts. And there will be some things that we have to really stretch to wrap our minds around.

[11:41] But I want to show you that Paul is really not changing gears. Because as Paul has spoke for eight chapters in this one letter, this love letter to the church about how they are saved, how God has redeemed them and called them to himself, writing to the church, by the way.

[11:59] And then he tells them, in church, listen, no matter what you do, you'll always be saved. No matter how far you go, God's got you. You are secure. Well, somebody in the church, at least in that day, would have said, oh yeah, I've heard this story before.

[12:17] Oh yeah, I've heard about the Jewish people. God called a people to himself, but he lost that battle, didn't he? Didn't God call the Jewish nation to himself and didn't he promise that he would keep them?

[12:27] Well, what about that? They denied him. He hasn't done anything for them. If he couldn't keep the Jewish people, why do I think he could keep me? So, Paul is not shifting gears.

[12:39] Paul is changing illustrations. He is not changing his topic, the topic of God's power over salvation and God's ability to keep you safe in his hands.

[12:50] He is just giving you a great illustration that even with the Jewish people, God has not failed. Even with the nation of his own choosing found throughout the books of the Old Testament, God has not forsaken and God has not messed up.

[13:06] I have met individuals at times, I remember the first time I went to go get my bus endorsement on a CDL. I had a CDL and I just needed to get my passenger endorsement. It wasn't to drive a bus for the school, rather it was drive a bus for church.

[13:19] We had an old school bus at the church I was pastoring at that time. No, I was a youth pastor there and as a youth leader I was going to drive this old rickety bus and I needed to get my passenger endorsement and the gentleman that was giving me my passenger endorsement, he knew I was doing it for the church so he kind of kept poking at me and I was very young in the faith.

[13:36] I was probably only about 23 years old, only been a believer for about two and a half years, if that. I may have only been about 22. And as I was going down the road, now this guy is in charge of whether I pass or fail.

[13:50] Okay? I have just a, if any of you have taken your bus endorsement, you know you have to parallel park those buses and they give you 10 extra feet based on how long your bus is, they measure out 10 extra feet, put cones out.

[14:02] That was the first time I had taken it. I had done all the stuff and I got it in there, finally got it in there, he told me, if you pull it up one more time, I would have failed you. Well, I wish you would have told me how many times I had before I started the test, but he didn't.

[14:14] So then we're on the road test part and we're going down the road and I'm a young believer, I'm about 22, I think I was about 22 in Nashville of all places driving this old five speed bus and he says to me, he says, don't worry if you mess up, even Jesus lost one battle.

[14:31] Man, I wanted to slam on those brakes so hard to check the air brakes for him real quick, but he's in charge of my test. I was like, what do you mean? So he died on the cross, he didn't win that one. Oh, you missed the points.

[14:44] His death was the victory. I wish I'd tell you that I went to this great conversation, led the man to Christ. I didn't, I was young, I was kind of still immature, I finished my driving, I was irate, my blood pressure was up, I got my license and I left.

[14:57] I never went back. But everybody thinks God messes up somewhere, but he doesn't. And Paul uses the Jewish people as a perfect illustration to show God has not failed and he will not fail you.

[15:15] He is secure, he is true. This morning, I want you to see in these 13 verses, and I know that's a long introduction, but you had to have the introduction to get to this. I want you to see the supremacy of God as displayed even among the Jewish people.

[15:30] The supremacy of God. We're looking at a God who can keep us, who can redeem us and save us and call us to himself and secure us in himself. Because if he can't do those things, I don't want a God who might can keep me.

[15:44] I don't want a God who might be there when I die. The song that Brother Trace just sang earlier, Come to Jesus, maybe you love the lyrics, maybe you didn't catch it, but that song is all about the life of a believer.

[15:57] It starts with coming to him as a poor wretched sinner and you're running to Jesus, you're coming to Jesus, and then you have the kind of the stages of falling and stumbling as a new believer, growing as a babe in Christ and then getting excited.

[16:10] And I know there's a lot of you that dance for Jesus, right? There's nothing wrong with dancing for Jesus every now and then. There really is not, okay? I do that sometimes on my own. I just get so carried away those times of excitement in Christ and in that time near the end of your life where you're coming to Jesus even in the passing from this life.

[16:27] But each one of them, the life of the believer says and live, right? Because every step with Jesus is a step to life, an eternal life. And Paul is writing to those believers and telling them, you're trusting in a God who will not and cannot and most definitely shall not fail you.

[16:45] And he says, I'm going to show you because he is a God of supremacy. He is a God of supreme nature. You may think he has failed his people, but he has not. He is so much further than that.

[16:59] Look at what it says. The first thing we notice about the supremacy of God is the weight of concern on Paul. He says here in verse 1, I'm telling the truth in Christ.

[17:10] I'm not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit. I think he wants you to know he's not lying. He's telling the truth. What he's about to say is absolutely true. He says, I'm telling the truth that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart for I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, for my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are the Israelites.

[17:29] What is he saying? Here's my concern. I love my people so much. His people were the Israelites. He was a Jew. He was of Jewish descent. He was one of the leading families of the Jewish nation.

[17:42] He says, I love my people so much. My heart breaks over my people. Now, he's an apostle to the Gentiles. He's writing to a church at Rome that is full of Jew and Gentiles.

[17:52] But he says, what I'm about to say is all conditioned by this weight of concern. He said, I love them so much. I wish that I could be accursed. We don't have the right wording in the English. It literally reads, I wish that I could be anathema.

[18:05] Anathema is something to be set aside for holy destruction. Okay? That's what that means. To be set apart for holy destruction. When Joshua marched around the fault of the battle of Jericho, remember that?

[18:17] Joshua, they marched around it and all of Jericho was to be anathema, set aside for holy destruction. But remember, there was someone who saw something there amongst the rubble. Jericho took it and then you had the ban of God.

[18:29] Why? Because he took something that was dedicated for destruction. It all belonged to God. And what Paul says is, I love my people so much, I wish God could set me aside for eternal, everlasting destruction to save them.

[18:45] Now friend, listen to me. Everything we're about to read about the Jewish people is conditioned by the weight of Paul. You don't find a greater missional concern. You don't find a greater concern for any people other than that.

[18:57] one commentator said, and I shared this with the young adults this morning, Paul was willing to live for the church. He said, I'd rather die and be with Christ, but for me to live is for you to gain, so I guess God's going to leave me here so that you could be edified and glorified.

[19:09] Okay? But he was willing to die for the lost. He says, I wish that I could be eternally cursed. He says, I wish that God, if it were possible, he's not saying it's going to happen, but I love my people so much, I wish God could set me aside and eternally curse me and spare them.

[19:30] Friend, this is what Moses said when he was on the mountain of the Lord. And Moses says, God, you're not going to do anything to them, you have to go through me first. He literally looked at God and said, God, if you want to judge your people, judge me.

[19:43] Let their judgment fall upon me. You know why we don't see such a heart for missions across the world today? You know why we don't see such a drive in missions across the churches today in America? We see it in other parts of the world is because so many believers would say, let them be a curse and let me be saved rather than saying, let me be a curse and let them be saved.

[20:01] Every great missional effort, every great revival in every church has always started right here with this weight of concern that says, if it were possible, I would die eternal death so that they may live in eternal life.

[20:16] It is a love for the lost. It is a love for those who are separated from Christ. And it is the weight of concern beyond all comparison. Everything that he says is conditioned by this.

[20:28] If it were even possible, I wish God would just curse me and save them. It's not possible. But Paul said, if it could be, I'd be willing to do it.

[20:43] Friend, I don't know, I want to just stop right here and ask you, where are you at in your concern? Because God can do something with that concern. God can do something with that concern.

[21:00] Maybe your heart rests on something else. Maybe it's on the poor from around the world. Maybe it's those stricken by poverty. Maybe it's by the homeless. Maybe it's by the naked. Our brother prayed, you know, Lord let our offerings clothe the naked, feed the hungry, to shelter the homeless.

[21:13] Where is your concern? How great is that concern? What level is it at? Is it at a level where you say, God, you do to me what you have to do to me as long as you can do to them what you can do for them.

[21:26] Or is it just like, you know, God, if you can, if you have time, take care of it, but make sure my needs are met first. Well, that's a hard message to grasp a hold of just to be honest in America today. Is it, God, here I am.

[21:40] I'll be inconvenienced. I'll be made uncomfortable. Lord, I'll be, you know, I'll suffer if I have to as long as you do something for them.

[21:52] A weight of concern. Because until you get to that level of weight of concern, I can promise you nothing else will happen. God wants that weight to rest upon His people. He calls us to be ambassadors with that type of weight.

[22:05] We're speaking of the supremacy of God. Across this room, there are a number of concerns, I promise you. Across this room, there are a number of concerns about people who don't know Christ, who are lost.

[22:15] people who maybe they're in a physical situation and desperately needs help. Maybe they're in a spiritual situation. Across this room, there are huge weights. That weight, God has placed upon your heart and my heart.

[22:27] And He has not asked you to carry my weight. He's asked you to help me carry my weight. Okay? He's asked me to help you carry your weight. To equip you to do the weight of concern that's on your heart. To equip you to do the thing that you're, feel like He's calling you to do.

[22:41] Don't try to give someone else your concern. Now, if you have an issue and you need some help from a brother or sister in Christ, then absolutely, let us do that. Let us bear one another's burdens. We want to be honest with that.

[22:52] But don't say, hey, guess what God's putting on my heart? I want to give it to you so you can carry it for me. Because God saw that you were the right person for that concern. He did.

[23:04] And He's a God who knows. And He put this concern on Paul's heart. The weight of concern. Second thing I want you to see is the witness of history. The witness of history. We're looking at the supremacy of God.

[23:16] He's about to say something very difficult, but look at the witness of history. Paul says, I'm concerned about them. And then he begins to describe them here in verse 4. Who are these people? The Israelite nation, the Jewish people, who are they?

[23:27] It says, to whom? The Israelites, to whom alone the adoption of sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises? Whose are the fathers and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh who is overall to God be the glory.

[23:41] God bless forever. Amen. What is He saying here? Look at the witness that God has extended to the nation of Israel. There has been no other people in all of history that have had more testimony extended towards them than the Jewish people.

[23:53] He says, these people are the first one to be called to adoption. God says, you will be my children and I will be your father. We've seen that. We're in the process of looking at that. If you come back tonight, we'll be in Exodus 19.

[24:05] We get into this great covenant keeping of God. God says, if you'll be my people, if you'll obey me, then I will be your God. You will be mine. I'm going to call you to myself as my children. He called Abram out of the land of the Ur of the Chaldeans, called him to himself, to whom belong the adoption of children.

[24:18] He says, I'm giving you the opportunity to be a part of my family and this is what my family looks like. I'm going to open my doors to you and say, come on, sit down at my table. If you want to be a part of my family, here it is.

[24:30] You can be a part of my family. That's the Jewish people. Not only did they get the invitation to adoption, he says, they got the glory. What is that? Listen, Moses saw a burning bush that wasn't consumed.

[24:41] They walked across the wilderness for 40 years with a cloud and a pillar of fire. They saw the Shekinah glory fall upon the tabernacle. Then they built a temple and they saw the Shekinah glory fall upon the temple.

[24:52] And then Zechariah was in the temple in Matthew and the glory filled the temple there. Listen, these people have seen the glory of God the way nobody else has seen it. Moses has been on the mountain of the Lord and been so overshadowed by the glory of God that his face radiated with light when he came down from it.

[25:10] He would hang out in the presence of God and the light of God's presence would radiate from the tent that Moses would get sunburned from hanging out with God. I don't know if you've ever hung out with God like that that your face begins to shine.

[25:22] Peter, James, and John went up on the Mount of Transfiguration and they saw the glory of God coming out of Christ. The Jewish people have seen the glory of God like nobody else has ever seen it. To whom are the fathers?

[25:34] To whom are the covenants? The Jewish people have had the covenants. You had the Abrahamic covenant. I will be your God. You will be my person. I'll make a great nation out of you. You had the Mosaic covenant. You had all these covenants. The Davidic covenant, right?

[25:45] Now, a descendant of yours will sit upon the throne. Then you had this new covenant of the blood of Christ. All of these extended to the Jewish people. Follow me here. The temple service. They had the opportunity to walk into the temple and to lay on the altar to go into the Holy of Holies to go through all of these rituals and all these things that God had given.

[26:05] The law. They had the Ten Commandments, man, etched on stone by the finger of God. Right? They had all these things. They ate from the manna. They saw the rod of Aaron bud. All these testimonies, the promises of God that if you will obey me, I will bless you.

[26:20] These people had all of that testimony. And then from them came Jesus Christ, the Messiah. He is the lion from the tribe of Judah. Nobody knew the Old Testament better than the Jewish people and they saw it come to life in front of them.

[26:38] And guess what they did? They denied it. They denied it. He came to his own and his own received him not.

[26:50] They handed him over. They said, crucify him, crucify him. We have no king but here to crucify him. Friend, listen to me. I want to ask you something. I just want to tell you something real simple and it's going to sound crazy to you.

[27:05] But don't tell me people will come to Christ if they see enough and hear enough and if enough miraculous events take place in front of them. You can all come forward and I can slap every one of you on the forehead and you can fall on the floor and we can have I believe in healing.

[27:22] I mean, I do. I don't believe in me smacking you on the forehead type of healing but I believe that when God leads a man to place his hand upon someone and God wants to heal an individual I've been a part of it where God specifically told me lay hands on that person pray for that person I'm going to heal that person.

[27:36] It had nothing to do with me. Right? I didn't call everybody to come forward and let me smack everyone over your head. I didn't. There have been times where I wanted to and God's like no, I don't want to do that right now. You know? And, you know, but I believe and I've seen it personally where God has moved me and I've placed my hand upon individuals and I've prayed over them and man, it's unbelievable.

[27:53] Doctors don't know what happened but friend, listen to me. I don't care how many miraculous signs you see. I don't care how much testimony can be given.

[28:05] Nobody's had more witness than the Jewish people and they denied it. It's not the testimony of man. It's not the supernatural works in front of man.

[28:16] It's not even listen, you walk out that door right now I know that train has been great for my message, right? He's emphasizing all my things but you walk out that door right now and you see a world that was covered by floodwaters.

[28:30] On my way here this morning I saw daffodils growing up through floodwaters. You begin to see beauty in the midst of tragedy. You begin to see the work of God of a supernatural creator and man looks at the testimony of God and they say oh well, two things smashed together and it all just happened.

[28:50] It just came about because man doesn't always respond to the testimonies of God. I don't care how great the witness I don't care how unceasingly strong the presence of God is there it's not that that draws man to himself.

[29:09] Because if that was it then God failed. If that's it God failed. The multitude of the Jewish people still do not believe in Jesus Christ.

[29:22] When he came to his own his own received him not. If that's it God failed. And I don't want to serve a God who fails. Because we're looking at the supremacy of God.

[29:37] Third and finally I want you to see the work of God. Paul says here in verse 6 what did God say you will be my people and I will be your God.

[29:57] I've called the Jewish people out of all people to be my people but it's not as though the word of God has failed. Now here's where we begin to get our minds blown for they are not all Israel who are descendant from Israel nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants but through Isaac your descendants will be named.

[30:15] What does he say? Just because they were born Jewish doesn't mean they are Israel. Just because they're in the right family let's just break into today's terminologies just because they belong to the right family it doesn't mean they are saved.

[30:34] Now in the earlier days of our church not this church but the church in America everybody was a member of the church because membership was dependent upon heritage.

[30:46] Well if your great great great grandpappy built that church and laid the foundation of that church and that was your church. I remember reading this past week some of the stories of Jonathan Edwards and his biography and when he built a new church building they had like a several month delay on moving into the new church building.

[31:07] The building was complete the pews were there but they didn't move in. Well the reason they delayed is because they had to decide where everybody was going to sit in the new church because in the existing church everybody had been sitting here so they had to have all the seats assigned and make everybody happy before they moved into the new church building because if you're moving buildings it's one thing but I have to be able to sit in proximity to the pulpit as I've always said because this is where my family has always sat and then when Jonathan Edwards preached!

[31:38] angry God that began to change things right? Because he began to understand that just because you were a member of the church it did not mean you were saved. Membership did not guarantee salvation.

[31:51] As we read this it says that being born into the family of Abraham did not guarantee salvation. What am I saying? Just because you're born into the right family just because you're a member of the right church it does not guarantee salvation.

[32:06] it's kind of searching. We move on. We're looking at the supremacy and the work of God. What does he say? He says that is it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God but the children of the promise who are regarded as descendants.

[32:24] For this is the word of promise at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. Now he has just used a classic illustration of Abraham and Sarah. He said you know Abraham didn't have one son he had two sons. There was Ishmael there as well.

[32:36] Remember Ishmael? And he begged for Ishmael and said won't you please take Ishmael? And God says I don't want him I want the child of promise. There's the two promises or the two there's the child of the flesh.

[32:47] Abraham and Hagar had Ishmael and then there's the child of promise through Sarah which God says this shall be your child. He says I'm choosing this child. Now he says well that's a pretty good example.

[32:58] People may argue with him and say Paul says okay if we want to use that as an argument let's move on to one that has the same mama and the same daddy.

[33:10] And this will really start blowing your mind. He says look at this not only do we have Abraham and Sarah he says and not only this but there was Rebecca you remember Rebecca when she had conceived twins by one man same mama same daddy same time.

[33:28] Now we're getting technical. It's not that one was going to be conceived over here another one conceived here at the same time. Our father Isaac for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad so that God's purpose according to his choice would stand not because of works but because of him who calls it was said to her the older will serve the younger just as it is written and this is in the book of Malachi by the way Jacob I loved but Esau I hate it.

[34:02] What are we seeing here? the work of God. Paul says God is supreme and he has not failed because all of those that God has called to himself have come to him.

[34:16] All of those whom God has said would follow him have followed him. And you say well that doesn't seem fair. Now we'll get to that later in the rest of Romans 9 but let's take the instances we have here.

[34:30] God called one and denied the other. God called this one and did that one. Now Ishmael he was born of Abraham he should be redeemed. Well Ishmael ended up growing up and being a wild donkey of a man. We know that.

[34:40] He began to be this valiant warrior and they have led to the people who still oppose the Jewish nation to this day. Esau. Esau grew up and ended up being the Edomites.

[34:51] Edomites were some of the greatest opposition to the people of God as they wander through the desert on the way to the promised land. So was God's choice wrong? No. God's choice was absolutely right.

[35:04] Because he saw looking throughout history God doesn't see history in time and space. He sees all things at one time. He saw the end of Ishmael and he saw the end of Esau. But those whom he called to himself stayed with him.

[35:20] All those God has called have never forsaken. Even Paul himself, a Jewish man, one writing to people who say, well, the Jewish people have rejected him.

[35:33] Paul will say, wait a minute, he's going to get to this. You had the Jews to thank for accepting him. Because the church at its birth was 100% Jewish.

[35:45] The Jewish nation as a whole rejected him, but those whom God called received him. But those whom he, John writes, but to as many as he appointed to eternal life received him.

[35:59] Those whom God called responded. Now all I want you to see here, because we'll dig into this in a couple weeks, is the supremacy of God.

[36:12] I'll leave you with this in closing. The supreme nature of God is not revealed in the fact that all are saved. Now stay with me.

[36:26] God is not good because everyone is saved. God is good because anyone is saved.

[36:38] The Bible tells us all of us have gone astray. All of us have failed. Every one of us are desperately wicked. Every one of us have denied him.

[36:49] Every one of us has seen the testimonies he's put in front of us, and no matter how great the testimonies, we have received him not. God is not good because everybody is saved. God is good in the fact that anyone is saved.

[37:01] That he would save anyone. He is supreme because he in his grace and his mercy chooses to save anyone. That he's called me, that he's called you.

[37:12] So how do I know, friend, listen to me. Paul is writing to the church. Again, we focus on the minors and forget about the majors. God's calling you to himself.

[37:25] God's not going to save everyone in the world. Contrary to popular belief, I know over the years there have been books written, some written, titled that in the end everybody goes to heaven.

[37:37] That's not the truth. Jesus says broad is the path that leads to destruction. There are many who will walk by it, but narrow is the path that leads to eternal life and there are few who find it. God is not great because he's going to save everyone in the end.

[37:51] God is great because he's willing to save you right now. God is great because there's a day he called me to himself. God is great because he would save anyone in spite of ourselves.

[38:07] That's why he's supreme. Paul says you've got it all wrong. God didn't mess up because the Jewish nation rejected him. God is showing how good he is because some of them received him.

[38:24] And the fact that some have received him shows the work that he's doing among them. God is good. And his goodness is shown in the salvation of man.

[38:40] And salvation must never glorify or magnify the decision that man has made. Rather it must magnify the mercy that God has shown.

[38:54] It must magnify the mercy. He loved me ere I ever knew him.

[39:10] You know what I found out? God loved me a long time before I ever knew him. So my salvation just magnifies his grace and mercy. I don't know where you're at today. My invitation to you is the same invitation Paul would accept.

[39:25] If it were possible my friend I would separate myself so that you could be joined to Christ. But that's not possible because God's got me. So all I can do is offer you the same invitation that was offered to me.

[39:38] Won't you accept the mercy of Christ for your sins? He may not save everyone but he wants to save some of you.

[39:52] Let's pray. God I thank you. I thank you for all you've done throughout history and time. Lord I thank you for what you're doing even right now in this room.

[40:04] God as you're working on our hearts and our minds and you're showing us more of yourself I pray that we would be glorified through our relationship with you. Not so that we would be seen but Lord so that you would be magnified.

[40:17] We ask it all in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[41:23] Amen. Amen.

[42:23] Amen. Amen.

[43:23] Amen. Amen.

[44:23] Amen. Amen.

[45:23]  Amen. Amen.