Episode Transcript
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Please remains standing, if you're able, and give your attention to Romans,
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chapter eleven, Romans eleven versus one
through twelve. This is God's word.
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Let's give our attention to it.
I ask, then, has God rejected
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his people? By no means,
for I myself am in Israelite, a
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descendant of Abraham, a member of
the tribe of Benjamin. God has not
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rejected his people, whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scriptures
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say of Elijah, how he appeals
to God against Israel? Lord, they
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have killed your prophets, they have
demolished your altars, and I alone am
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left, and they seek my life. But what is God's reply to him?
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I have kept for myself seven thousand
men who have not bowed the knee
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to bail. So too, at
the present time, there is a remnant
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chosen by grace. But if it
is by grace, it is no longer
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on the basis of works. Otherwise
Grace would no longer be grace. What,
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then, Israel a faith? Israel
failed to obtain what it was seeking.
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The elect obtained it, but the
rest were hardened. As it is
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written, God gave them a spirit
of stupor eyes that would not see and
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ears that would not hear. Down
to this very day, and David says,
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let their table become a snare and
a trap, a stumbling block and
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a retribution for them. Let Their
eyes be darkened so that they cannot see
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and bend their backs forever. So
I ask, did they stumble in order
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that they might fall? By no
means. Rather, through their trespass,
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salvation has come to the gentiles so
as to make Israel Jealous. Now,
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if their trespass means riches for the
world and if their failure means riches for
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the gentiles, how much more will
their full inclusion mean? This is God's
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word, may bless it to us. You may be seated. Paul begins
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this passage by asking a very important
question. Has God rejected his people,
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his people being Israel there? Has
God rejected his people? It's an important
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question because our faith in God depends
on the answer. In other words,
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did God break his promise to Abraham
and his children to be their God forever?
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Did God break that promise, because
if he did, if God lied
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and we have trusted a liar,
then we have a problem. We have
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been deceived. But if God did
not reject his people. If God kept
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his promise, then we have every
reason to believe you see why it's an
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important question. Did God reject his
people? And you can understand why some
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one might ask this. Clearly,
the children of Abraham have not done well
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as it comes to the promise,
or obtaining the promise. In large part,
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instead of finding salvation through God and
all the blessings through the Long Expected
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Messiah, they crucified him, Israel's
leaders being particularly guilty. and to make
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matters worse, they tried to deny
the resurrection. They attacked the prophets and
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apostles as God sent them out into
the world. And even today, as
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as a whole, the Jews are
not at peace with God through his son.
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They are, as Paul describes himself, insolent, rejecting God and the
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best gift that he has ever given
them. What's more, that message of
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salvation has not only been rejected,
but it has gone out to the gentiles.
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The gentiles not Abraham's children. And
now God is telling these gentiles that
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Abraham's that they can be Abraham's children
through faith. He's giving them his Holy
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Spirit, it his prophets, his
glory, his righteousness and much, much
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more so. As I say,
you can understand why someone might come to
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this conclusion that God has rejected his
people, and you might not blame him
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for it, but you are still
left wondering, but didn't he promise?
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So in this passage, Paul addresses
that question head on and he says no,
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no, God has not rejected his
people. By no means has God
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rejected his people. But he does
more than answer that question, that sort
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of simple yes or no question.
He goes on to remove our doubts and
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to strengthen our faith by giving us
both proof of God's faithfulness and also the
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true explanation of what he's doing.
Proof of God's faithfulness and an explanation of
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God's plan. So let's look at
each of those. First Proof of God's
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faithfulness. This is the the evidence
that undermines the conclusion that God has rejected
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his people, and God gives three
reasons or proofs that he hasn't rejected his
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people, that he still loves those
whom he foreknew. The first proof Paul
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gives is himself. He says,
how can it be true that God has
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rejected Israel when I am in Israelite
Right. It's a it's a pretty straightforward
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point, and he even says I
myself am and Israelite, a descendant of
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Abraham, a member of the tribe
of Benjamin, Paul's and Israelite, and
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he's not ashamed to say it.
He's proud of who he is as a
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Jew. He's happy and thankful for
who he is. In another place,
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Philippians three five, Paul parades his
credentials. He says, if anyone else
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thinks he has a reason for confidence
in the flesh, I have more circumcised
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on the eighth day of the people
of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
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a Hebrew of Hebrews, as old
as to the law of Pharisee,
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as to zeal, a persecutor of
the Church, as to righteousness under the
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law. blameless. Paul saying there
is no one more Jewish than me,
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and that's why he points to himself. In that passage. He goes on
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to point that he's willing to give
it all up for the sake of knowing
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Jesus and being known by him.
But here his point is that this is
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his story, this is his background, his heritage, and it proves his
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point. God has not rejected his
people, God has not rejected Israel,
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because he has clearly accepted Paul.
The Second Point Paul makes is to point
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to others. Paul's not the only
one. In other words, he says
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in Verse Five, at the present
time there are others. There are others
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like Paul who have been chosen by
the grace of God, not rejected but
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chosen. Well, who does he
have in mind? Are there any other
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Israelites that you can think of from
the pages of scripture who have not rig
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had been rejected, but have been
chosen? You might think of the apostles,
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Jesus naming them, calling them particularly
Peter and John, James and Andrew,
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Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew and all
the rest. They're the women Mary
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and Martha. There the unnamed people
who are around and served Jesus. There's
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Joseph, who carried the cross,
and there was there. There were others
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like Lazarus, the once dead Israelite
who was born again, or rose again
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from the dead. There was Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel, who at
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first doubted and had questions, but
would later come to faith. There were
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the thousands of Jews at pentecost who
came to faith and received the Holy Spirit.
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And of course, even today there
are Jews who put their faith in
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Jesus. One of them very much
in the news this week the Nobel Prize
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winner for prize winner for literature,
Robert Zim Merman, better known as Bob
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Dylan. So Paul gives these proofs. He says there is a remnant.
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Look around, they are obviously here. You might put Paul's point this way.
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As he looks at himself and the
thousands of Israelites who have believed in
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Jesus, he could say, look, these providences of God are the very
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proofs of his promises. Look around
and you'll see that God is not rejected
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his people. The Third Point Paul
makes is a historical one, and it's
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in verse two. Paul points us
to the scriptures and reminds us of Elijah's
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lament. Elijah, you remember,
was a prophet of God who was being
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pursued by a Jezebel and she wanted
to kill him very much and she had
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pursued him even in to the Wilderness. This is right after his a big
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moment. That's a bad way to
say it, but on Mount Carmel,
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where the fire of God came down
and consumed the sacrifices and the prophets of
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bail were left embarrassed and then eventually
were killed by Elijah. This queen was
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not happy for this and she runs
him off into the Wilderness. And there's
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Elijah trying to do the right thing, trying to obey the Lord, speaking
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the words of God to Israel.
But now he's in a cave. He
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finds himself alone and says to the
Lord, Lord, they have killed your
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prophets, they have demolished your altars
and I alone am left and they seek
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my life. This is that moment
that you see in all those movies that
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always have a good end, right
where everything is about to just fall apart.
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It's as low as things could be, at least according to Elijah's perception
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of things. It cannot get any
lower. There is only one person left.
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The remnant is down to one and
only one, and they seek his
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life. The last light of the
world about to be crushed and blot it
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out. Elijah's cries a clas a
cry of loneliness. It is a cry
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of desperation, maybe even anger and
disappointment. But most of all, it's
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a cry of doubt of a person
who feels like they are at their end,
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that they are isolated and the evil
has prevailed. But God did not
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lose, and Elijah was wrong.
As good as he was, as righteous
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as these he was, he was
wrong. He was not alone, and
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God tells him so. I have
kept for myself seven thousand men who have
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not bowed the knee to bail.
Perhaps this is a good time for me
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to speak directly to you who feel
like Elijah, who feel alone, alone
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in your struggles, alone against the
enemy and darkness, maybe even alone away
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from God. There are, of
course, times when we all feel like
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this, and sometimes we truly are
more alone than at other times. Paul
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felt it at the end of his
ministry, riding to Timothy from jail,
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saying that everyone had deserted him.
Elijah felt it in the cave. Jesus
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felt it when his disciples left him. I felt it. You've felt it
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too. We've all been through times
where it seems that no one can understand,
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that no one is with us,
that even God has abandoned us and
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his plans and his promises. But
based on Elijah and based on Romans Eleven,
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I say to you, don't judge
based on what you think things are.
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You cannot judge based on your limited
perception. Seven Thousand People Elijah had
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no clue about, and yet they
were there. or You could think of
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Shadrach, Meshach and a Bendigo and
then a fourth person walking in the fire
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with them, and even Paul.
When he was riding from prison, he
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was writing to Timothy, his beloved
spiritual son, who no doubt received his
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letter and responded. The point is
is that, just as God never gives
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up on Israel, he the larger
point is that he never gives up on
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any of his plans. We give
up on God all the time, but
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he never gives up on us.
We need not fear that God will ever
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reject his people or break his promises
or leave those he has promised to love
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for dead. No, by no
means, and this is true not only
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on an individual level, for the
Israelites, particular persons chosen by grace,
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but it's true on a corporate level
as well. God has chosen Israel and
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will not leave her forever. A
hardness has come on Israel, a hardness
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that is brought on by God in
their judgment and for his plans. But
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there is something coming, as Paul
says in verse twelve and will go on
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to speak about more in this chapter. He speaks about a future, full
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inclusion, in incoming of this people, a softening of the hearts, not
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just an individuals but as a corporate
whole. God is not rejected in them
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them. God is not rejected Israel
in the past. He has not rejected
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them in Paul's Day or in our
day, and God and will not reject
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them forever. Many may indeed turn
away from him and from his gifts,
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but not all. There will be
a full inclusion. These are the proofs
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that God gives, the things that
he points to through his apostle to say
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no, I don't break my promises
and I didn't break this promise. Now
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that we've heard Paul's Proofs for God's
faithfulness, let's consider the second thing.
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What is the reason for his action? In other words, imagine two people
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having a discussion that are that sort
of summarizes what's going on here. The
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logic of the passage. Person One
says, has God rejected his plan?
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Person Too, says, which is
Paul, by no means how do you
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know? Well, because he does. Hasn't done it in the past,
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he's not doing it now and he
won't do it in the future. Well,
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if you can say that, if
you then what is he doing?
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What is he doing with the Jews? Because clearly something is not right.
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What's the alternate explanation? If God
has not rejected his people, then what's
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going on? And here God tells
us what is really going on in these
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verses, particularly in verses seven through
twelve. Now, before we look at
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them, would you just stop a
moment and not take this for granted.
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Think about it this way. God
is under no requirement to tell us anything
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about what he does or why he
does it. Is He does God owe
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you an explanation for why he does
the things he does? Of course not.
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He doesn't owe US anything. He
doesn't. We can't demand that God
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tell us things, but he does. God is not a political representative who's
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accountable to us. He's not a
friend that we are walking together with and
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and have a sort of a back
and forth relationship. He's God. He
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reveals to us the mysteries of his
will when he wants to, and when
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he does, let us marvel at
that let us give thanks and worship him.
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So what does he say? Well, these verses, God simply says
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this. Not all, Israel obtained
what it was seeking because God took their
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already stubborn hearts and judged them.
He hardened them for further. But it
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wasn't only judgments, and this is
his main point. There was a gracious
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element in play. God hardened their
hearts so that in their sin, salvation
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would come to others, and as
salvation came to the world, the world
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would in turn make Israel Jealous,
who would in turn come back to him.
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You might think of it this way. Imagine Cinderella's sisters without Cinderella.
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So you've got these three terrible sisters, just terrible everything about them. They're
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mean, they're cruel, they're terrible
to their father. Everything about them is
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bad. But out of his graciousness, when he should probably just reject them
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all and cast them out of his
house, he takes one of them in
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the course of their lives and says
to this one of these three daughters,
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and says I'm going to bless you, I'm going to love you, I'm
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going to take care of you,
despite your rejection, despite your insolence.
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I'm going to bless you with all
kinds of blessings. Then imagine that this
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sister then spurns the whole thing,
takes the inheritance, takes the promises,
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takes all the gifts that she's being
given and just throws them out the window,
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breaks them and throws them in the
trash. Everything her father gives her
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she just throws away. So then
God moves to the other two sisters and
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says, because this one has rejected, I now move outward. And what
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happens? Well, something new happens. They accept, they believe they receive.
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But in seeing that, the first
sister then he becomes a little jealous.
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Says I missed the old gifts,
I missed the favor, I missed
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the privileges, becoming jealous of her
sisters, then turns to her father in
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repentance and says I'm sorry. And
now we have not one sister being blessed,
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but three. God took what was
evil, the whole lot of them.
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God took what was evil, the
rejection of the one whom he gave
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these initial promises to, and made
a whole lot of good out of the
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whole thing. This is what God
does. He goes to Israel, he
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gives her promises, their blessings,
he chooses her out of the nation,
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out of the nation's. She rejects
him. God goes out into the nation's
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and they, in amazing way,
begin to accept him and become a part
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of that original family. And in
that God promises that Israel will become jealous
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and will turn again to him.
God loves to take that which is evil
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and make it good, to take
hard hearts and soften them for repentance,
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sometimes even by hardening them further.
These things are great mysteries and hardly understandable
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in a way that you might take
a part a toaster or a bicycle.
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They are the mysteries of God,
the the the ways in which he works.
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His ways are inscrutable and cannot be
understood from every angle or have every
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question answered. But the basic point
is clear, isn't it? God's point
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is clear. He has not rejected
his people. Instead, what has he
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done? He has come to the
world in love so that both Jew and
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gentile might believe in the risen savior
and be saved. So let me ask
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you. Do you trust him?
When you look at the course of history.
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At the course of your own life, do you come to the conclusion
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that God is good and God is
trustworthy? Do you see his work in
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Jesus and say Aha, salvation from
my sins? Do you humble yourself before
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his promises and before his Almighty providences
and trust him? I hope that you
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do, because, as we have
heard, salvation comes to all who believe
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in Christ. The Lord will put
none to shame, and He bestows his
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riches on Jew and gentile alike.
But of course, not all of you
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do trust. That is some of
your waiting. Some of you have put
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God on trial and are waiting to
see if he will pass your test.
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Others of you feel that God is
doing just fine, but will you say
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that when things aren't going so well? In saying this, I realize I'm
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asking you personal questions, but God
wants us to hear his word in a
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personal way. He's opened up the
mystery of his plan, not so that
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you can say that's interesting and turn
the channel, but so that it can
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hit your heart. He tells you
these things so that you would believe,
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so that you would trust in him, so that your doubts about God and
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your doubts about his plans would be
laid to rest. He's open to you
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up his great providences and these ways
in which he's working among the nations of
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the world, so that we would
see and know him as good, so
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that we would see the freeness of
His grace and turn to him in repentance.
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And so with that we turn to
return to the beginning. Has God
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rejected his people? The answers no. God has not rejected his people,
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even though they have rejected him.
Instead, he has preserved among the Jews
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people that are faithful to them.
He continues to use the nation as a
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whole, even in their rebellion,
for the salvation of the world, and
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when the full number of the gentiles
has been reached, he will once again
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turn to his people and bring in
their full number. If you are a
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Jew who is not yet put your
faith in God, then here is your
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personal call to come to him.
He loves Israel, always has, always
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will. He has put his faithfulness
on display so that you might not be
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so that you might not have any
excuse. He's put his faithfulness on display
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so that you would repent of your
sins, of Your Self Righteousness and receive
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what he has offered to you and
to your people for generations. At this
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particular moment in time, that means
putting faith in Jesus Christ, the great
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culmination of all these promises, the
chosen offspring of Abraham, the Prophet that
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Moses promised would come and be greater
than him, the son of David who
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would take his rightful place on the
throne of the Kingdom of God. In
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Christ, God offers to you all
the blessings that the prophets promised. He
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in Christ, you avoid all the
judgment that was threatened for disobedience. Receiving
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him, you become not merely a
child of Abraham by the flesh but by
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the spirit. And if you are
not a Jew but a gentile, then
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marvel at the fact that God has
spoken to you at all. And almy
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ask you, will you reject him
who has spoken in this way? Will
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you exchange the truth of God for
lies? Will you exchange his glory for
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the Glamor of this world? I
pray you will not. I pray you
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will hear God as he has spoken
to us in his word, that you
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will hear his word as he has
spoken to us in Christ, through whom
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he offers US forgiveness of sins,
the riches of His grace and the right
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and and privilege to belong to him
as his people, as his son,
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as his flock, as his bride, as his vine, to be the
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apple of his eye, to be
loved by him forever. Despite all our
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sins, God did not reject the
world, but he came to save it.
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Let us trust him for that and
let us pray
