You can turn with me this morning to Romans 9. So if that's a little bit of a surprise, maybe you're expecting the Old Testament again, we're going to take a brief detour from our Testify series and turn to Romans 9, that well-known chapter in the greatest of letters that Paul wrote. So Romans 9 is where we're going to be looking. It's going to be a brief break from the Testify series, but it's not necessarily an abrupt one. I think it has some relation to what we've been going over, and we've got a reason why we're going to take this break, and I think that'll become clear as we go this morning.
But the message we're going to do is really stemming from a growing conviction, a growing conviction that I feel personally that I know Dave has had for some time, but especially I think a growing conviction that has been stirring in the hearts of more and more people at Providence. And so, part of our job as pastors is to be sensitive to those things and to pray and consider if the Lord sometimes has quick detours off of a sermon series just to respond to something that it seems like He's doing in our midst. And I think He's doing something. I think we're going to see that in connection with our text this morning. I think this message hits really closely to the mission of what we want our church to be about. What we want to be one of the primary things to define us. To make disciples to the glory of God.
So, as we jump into the text, we'll see that. But before we go there, I want you to hear this message with the Gospel squarely in view. And now you're kind of thinking, well, aren't we supposed to do that every Sunday? Isn't that kind of how we're always supposed to approach? Yes, you are. But sometimes you hear a message, and when I say that this is a message coming from a place of conviction, I want to extend that conviction of God's Word to all of us this morning. And sometimes when we feel convicted, it can also lead to feeling condemnation. And that's not what we're meant to feel as believers.
And so here, the conviction of this text, the conviction of the pastors of Providence and of a growing number of people of Providence in the message this morning, but resist the temptation to go down a path of feeling guilty or condemned by ways in which your life might not square with where the text is at. I know in preparing the message, there are places where I'm falling short of what we see in this passage. And so I want to let that settle on my heart. I want to press in. I want the Spirit to do His work. But I don't want to wallow in condemnation. That's not what God has for us in Christ. It was one of the helpful pieces about Lydia sharing the word this morning that she felt the Spirit had kind of pressed upon her on her. To feel that conviction and then to turn to Nehemiah 9 and see the need and availability of repentance and to recognize God is merciful and gracious. Israel didn't despair when they saw how they fell short of God's Word. They turned and they repented. So let that be our desire this morning and what we're aiming at. Okay? With that, let's turn to Romans 9.
We're going to look at the first part of the passage. So Romans 9:1-8. Starting in verse 1, Paul says this: I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers. My kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race according to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all. Blessed forever. Amen. The Word of the Lord. May He write its truth upon our hearts.
Now, if you're honest this morning, as soon as you heard me say, 'Turn your Bibles to Romans 9,' there were things flashing through your mind probably, right? Romans 9 is one of those chapters that can kind of get the blood pumping. It's one of those places as soon as you hear it, a lot of people know what it is. When somebody throws up Matthew 5-7, in your head you think, Sermon on the Mount. Beattitudes. You hear Psalm 23 and you think of the valley of the shadow of death. Isaiah 53 and you think of the suffering servant and the picture of what Christ will do to redeem His people. Romans 9 is one of those chapters.
6 · Characterizes the spectrum of congregational reactions to Romans 9: excitement for deep theology versus confusion and avoidance
What's going on here? Some of you heard Romans 9 and you got a little excited. Oh, we are going to get some deep doctrine today, baby! It is going to be like Steak and potatoes? We're in Romans 9! That's probably how I would respond. Yes! Some of you maybe hear it and think, this is one of those chapters I've always kind of avoided. I don't really know what to do with it. I'm not really sure. It kind of leaves me thinking I'm just all spun out and I can't make heads or tails of what's going on. I love Romans 8 and then I hit Romans 9-11 and I'm all of a sudden just like in a fog.
7 · Surveys the standard doctrinal territory of Romans 9—election, predestination, Jacob and Esau, Pharaoh
Well, we're probably somewhat familiar with Paul's arguments. If you think of Romans 9, you tend to think of God's moving and electing, right? You think of predestination. That's the word that typically gets tagged with the chapter. There's that story of Jacob and Esau, the twins, right? And God's choosing of Jacob. Even though they're twins and there's no difference, neither of them has done right or wrong, selects Jacob. We recall the example of Pharaoh in the Exodus and God hardening Pharaoh's heart. I think back to when I was in college and I first started really wrestling with this idea of predestination. When I was wrestling with it and I went to figure out what does God say about this, the place I went to was this chapter. It was Romans 9. It's where I went to wrestle and make heads or tails of it. You might have done something similar. Working through that doctrine. The chapter gives a very clear argument and explanation for God's purposes in election.
8 · Reframes the sermon's thesis: the opening verses of Romans 9 are not introductory throat-clearing but the essential model for how election should shape Christian life
Here's my question: I've gone to Romans 9 a lot in my Christian life. There's a lot there to work through. But have you been a little bit like me in the tendency to open to Romans 9 more often than not, sort of skipping and skimming over those first 5 verses to get what seems like the real meat, to get to the part where Paul really starts to lay out his arguments. Well, if you've ever done this, and I know that I have on multiple occasions, you've missed something incredibly important. An example in the Scriptures for how we're supposed to live in light of incredible doctrinal truths.
9 · Identifies the rhetorical structure of Romans 9: exposition on election is deliberately preceded by expression of love for the lost
That's what we see at the beginning. Paul's inspired words are going to lead to this incredible declaration of God's sovereign choice, but it starts in a place that most of us wouldn't expect. He starts in a spot that's kind of like, wait a second, where are you going here? His great exposition on election begins and is prefaced by his love for the lost. By his love for his Israelite brothers and sisters who do not know the Christ. Paul prefaces this chapter by revealing, he says, a genuine burden for the people of Israel.
10 · Close analysis of Paul's emphatic language in v
Notice how he puts it. He says, 'I'm speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying.' My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. Now that's a unique way for Paul to put something in the Scriptures, right? Oh, that's good to know, Paul, because you know, there was that section in Romans 7 where it really kind of seemed like you were just fibbing us. I didn't think you were really being serious. It just kind of seemed like hyperbole and sarcasm. We obviously don't think Paul writes that way. We know Scripture is breathed out by God. It's inerrant. It's infallible. But here Paul goes out of his way to say, I am speaking the truth in Christ. I'm not lying. My conscience, if you could see in my heart, it would bear witness to the truthfulness of the words that I'm about to write. It means what's going to come after this isn't just some sort of reverent rhetoric. He's not just going to speak some Christianese. You know what that is? It's like you interact with somebody on a Sunday morning, and it's probably not even malicious in intent, They share something and say, 'I'll be praying for that. I'll pray for that.' And then 20 seconds later it is like, poof, out of your head, never to return again. You know, the Christianese of the little phrases you know you're supposed to say and so you throw them out there. Paul puts this in the text to plant a red flag and say, 'I most certainly am not doing anything of the sort right here. I mean this from the core of my being.' He's revealing a genuine burden.
11 · Exposition of Paul's burden in v
So what's he being so honest about? Well, if you keep reading, he says that he has great sorrow, unceasing anguish in his heart. Is deeply concerned with the plight of his kinsmen. He's concerned with the state of affairs of his extended family when he looks around at Israel. Remember what Paul's calling was? Paul's the apostle, the missionary to the Gentiles. Peter is kind of given the call, hey, you're going to go and bring God's Word to the Jews and to God's people, but Paul, you're going to be set apart to go out outside of Israel to bring the Gospel to these pagan people who have no association with the covenants and no connection with Abraham. You're going to bring the Gospel out to the Gentiles. So when you keep that in mind, it kind of makes it interesting that Paul is saying he has this burden for the people that he's technically not primarily called to. It's an interesting thing. And the thing about it is too, sometimes you hear something like that And whether it's in ministry or in work, it's like, you know, this is what your calling is or what you've been set aside, set apart to do, but it's not going so great. And so you kind of look over at somebody else's job or somebody else's calling and you think, 'Oh man, they've got it better. That's really kind of what I want to do.' And so there's that greener pastures, the wanderlust. 'If I was doing that, it'd be way better.' That's not going on with Paul either. He's bearing fruit. He's going out into the Roman world and the cities he's taking the Gospel to, the Gentiles are coming to faith. Churches are being established. The lost are being saved. This isn't some, like, man, if I was just reaching out to the Jewish people and not the Gentiles, I'd be a bigger deal. That's not going on. Not at all. He's being fruitful in his ministry. But he still has a burden. He has a burden for his people that just won't go away.
12 · Extended exposition of the theological weight of Paul's statement in v
In fact, his heart doesn't just long for their faith. It's not just like, man, it would be great if my family were Christians. It would be great if my fourth cousin Joshua My 10th cousin on my mother's side, Ruth. If they believed in the Messiah, that'd be nice, man. It would make family reunions a lot easier. You know, we could stop celebrating Hanukkah and we could celebrate Christmas. They weren't celebrating Christmas yet, but you get the point. That's not what is going on here. He says, I don't just sort of have a desire to see them. He's broken that Israel has rejected her Messiah. Notice the language: 'Great sorrow and unceasing anguish.' In other words, Paul is saying, 'I have a constant burden.' This isn't like watching an episode of Oprah and there's some thing on orphans and you feel conviction for like a whole 15 minutes after the episode finishes and then you have to go eat dinner and life keeps going on. Out of sight, out of mind. That's not the kind of burden Paul feels here. It's a burden that lays heavy on his heart daily, hourly. Again and again he returns to the burden that his people Israel have rejected their Messiah. They don't know Jesus. And that leads to the climax of Paul's boldness in this section. Now read v. 3. He says, 'All that being the case, I'm not lying. I'm telling the truth. I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.' I could wish that I myself were accursed. You could literally translate that: I would wish that I would be damned. I wish that I lived separated from Christ. I wish that I lived under the just wrath of God. If you've read Romans, Paul knows what he's saying. Paul understands fully The weight of those words. But it's even more than that. You can kind of read 'wish' and think, what's he really saying there? That word 'wish' is actually, literally could be translated to 'pray.' I pray. I almost ask God that I could be cut off if they could know Jesus. It's actually similar to the prayer of Moses in Exodus. He goes up and receives the Law. Remember, he comes down. And you have the golden calf and his heart is broken. And he knows what the people have done. This guy has been on the mountain in front of the glory and holiness of God. He has felt every fiber of his being tremble before the majesty of this God. He knows how holy God is. And then he goes down and just sees this flagrant idolatry. And it crushes him. And Moses goes back up before God and it says he prays. He wishes. He prays that he could be cursed in place of the people. It's the same idea. The same incredible statement Paul is making here. This is what John Chrysostom, an early church pastor, he's known as the Golden-Tongued One. He was a famous preacher in the early church. This is what he says about this passage, making a connection between this and what's just come before it in Romans 8. What do you mean, Paul? Cut off from Christ? From your Beloved? From Him from whom neither kingdom nor hell could separate you? Or things seen or things understood or any other such things? Do you now pray to be accursed and cut off from Him? You think back to the passage in Philippians. Philippians 3:7-11. What does Paul say there? I have suffered the loss of everything. I've suffered the loss of everything. I've suffered the loss of material possessions. I've suffered the loss of relationships. I've suffered the loss of my reputation. I've suffered the loss of my position within my culture and my people. I've suffered the loss of everything that really mattered. Why? For the sake of Christ. Because at the start of Philippians 1:21, he says, 'For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' His whole life, for Paul, is defined by his union with Christ. It's the only thing that matters. And here in Romans 9, he says, 'I wish that you could do the impossible, God, that you could separate me from the Messiah, that they would be saved.'
13 · Pivots from exposition to application
What does that do for us? What do we kind of think as we consider that? Are we moved by Paul's compassion, his longing for Israel? Well, I want to ask a hard question. This is where I want you to be convicted, not condemned. Think very honestly before you answer to yourself.
14 · Direct application question to the entire congregation: Does Paul's mourning describe us? Personal confession of missing this in prior readings creates vulnerability and models honest self-examination
Does that, a mourning, a brokenheartedness for the lost, does that describe us? Providence Community Church, its pastors, its care group leaders, husbands and wives, teens, children. Does that describe us? When we hear these words of Paul, what goes through our mind? Well, if I'm honest, I confess that for the longest time I read Romans 9 and I just breezed right past this part of the text. And I was missing a key piece. All that meat and potatoes I love later in the chapter starts with Paul longing, tearfully crying out for the salvation of people who don't know Jesus. So, ask the question again, maybe a little bit differently. When I read this and wrestled through it, when the Spirit pressed against me with God's Word, I had to ask the question: Do I weep over my lost neighbors?
15 · Personal story illustration of failure to mourn: the preacher's impatience with Brandon at the gym despite Brandon's lostness
Does my heart break when I interact with people bound for destruction? I think of Brandon, a guy who I interact with at the gym. He's a talker. He loves to talk. And when I'm at the gym, I am not a talker. I am there to get my workout in. The breaks should only be so long because you want this workout to be hard and you want it to be painful. I don't have a whole lot of time. It's got to accomplish its purpose. And so when Brandon comes up to talk to me, my impulse is just to kind of give him every nonverbal that I possibly can just to be like, okay, that was our 50-second snippet of niceties. Time to be done. I'm walking back over to the dumbbells now. Brandon's not a believer. He doesn't know Christ. But more often than not, I can't really be troubled to be concerned with that. Here's a guy who's going out of his way every time I see him at the gym to engage me relationally, and I'm just kind of more concerned with, man, I gotta pick the kids up from the childcare in a little bit, and I don't want them to be annoyed I left them there too long. I gotta get the kids home for supper. I really wanna get this workout in. So I read this text and I ask myself, do you weep over Brandon? Do I mourn over the fact that he lives separated from Christ? Jesus mourned over these things. In Luke 19, it says he stands over Jerusalem on a hill and he weeps over the impending destruction of the city. Now, keep in mind what's going on here. The city's going to be destroyed because they don't believe in Him, because they've rejected Him. And He knows they're also going to put Him to death. If there's anybody that can sit up there and think, 'They are going to get what they deserve. I don't care,' it would be Jesus. And He sits and He looks upon Jerusalem. And like Paul, His heart is broken.
16 · Expands the application from gym to all relational spheres
Is that how we interact with coworkers, with extended family over Thanksgiving, with the people in our neighborhood? If you're like me, it doesn't describe me as often as it should. I can go entire weeks without really considering the lost people around me.
17 · Major structural pivot
So that begs the question I want to consider: Why doesn't my heart break like Paul's? Why don't our hearts break in that way? What keeps us from mourning over the lost around us? Now this sermon is going to be an epic failure if all we accomplish in the next 20 minutes is just a whole bunch of guilt heaped on your shoulders. 'Cause guilt is a horrible motivator. So I don't want you to sit here as we walk through and try and figure out, 'Why don't I mourn?' to just kind of sink lower and lower and leave, go home, 'What'd you think about the sermon?' 'Well, I feel really crappy now.' That's not what it's supposed to do! It's supposed to stir up conviction! We're supposed to come to God's Word and look into it like a mirror and see ourselves and say, do I match up with what it's describing? That's what the Spirit wants to do. He wants to see us see conviction and bring our life into step with it. But not to be crushed under condemnation. So, let's look at some reasons why my heart and our hearts might not be broken the way they could be and should be.
18 · First diagnostic reason: wrong attitude toward unbelievers
First, I think it has to start probably with our attitude towards unbelievers. And in particular, how we regard unbelievers in their sin. Here's a barometer of how you consider your lost neighbors, the lost people you interact with in your life. When you see someone living in sin, whatever that sin category is that they're living in, contrary to God's Word, contrary to what you think is a significant way to live in holiness. What's your first response? Is your first response to look at them with judgment? Seeing their sin, their lack of affection for Christ? Or do you look at them with compassion? And with sorrow. Put another way, when you see someone who's lost, whose heart is still darkened, does your heart break or does your heart condemn?
19 · Expounds the us/them dynamic
If we're not careful, we can really easily develop this sort of us/them mentality. Us, there's the Christians, there's the believers that they look the right way and they live in the right place and they vote for the right people and they do all these things right. But more than even that, they just love God and so they're not living out sin. And so that means they're one of us. And then there's all those people to be avoided at all costs. Because if you come into contact with them, who knows what could happen? If that's how we consider them and treat them, there is a sense in which we don't have compassion for them, we have just condemnation. They're on the road to you-know-where and they deserve it. Brush it off. Let's go eat dinner. Paul is reacting here in Romans 9 to a growing anti-Judaism in the church. You've got all these Gentiles that he's been fruitful in bringing in, right? And now they're kind of looking out and saying, pfft, these Jews, they rejected Jesus. Good riddance. They're getting the condemnation they deserve. And Paul says, no, that's not how we regard them. Jews versus Gentiles. Don't have this Christian versus non-Christian mentality. Do you forget the grace you've received? He's going to go on here and say, hey, you wild olive branches. You get grafted into a tree that's not your heritage. You don't think God can easily just clip you off? Now, you can think of this and think, well, yeah, of course Paul feels that way. They're his people. Do you remember what these people have done to Paul? In Philippians when he says, 'I've suffered the loss of all things for the sake of Christ,' it's not just like, well, there's some kind of speed bumps along the way and some minor things that have unfortunately happened to him. His people, the Jewish people, the leaders of the Jewish people, have made Paul public enemy number one. They've beaten this guy. They've chased him out of cities. At one point, they stone him and leave him for dead. He has to flee let down out of baskets over city walls because of the way they're pursuing him. So don't let yourself off the hook by just thinking, well, yeah, of course Paul cares about these people. He's close to them. That guy at work is obnoxious. How am I supposed to enjoy interacting with him or have any sort of burden for him? That guy across the street, he hates Christians. He thinks I'm judgmental and intolerant. He despises everything about me. Why should I have any compassion for him? But when we look at Paul, We see a guy wishing he could be cut off from Christ for the sake of people who want him dead. That's amazing! And it doesn't happen because he wallows in guilt all night. It happens because he considers all that Christ has done for him. Think back to last week. Remember? The sermon about the true temple and the nature of the temple. We talked about the Wailing Wall in the introduction. Remember the Wailing Wall is that wall in Jerusalem. It's the last vestige of the temple that Herod built. And really, it's not even part of the temple itself. It's just a wall that was part of the outer courtyard of the temple. And these people come and they wail and they stick little prayers in the wall and they just come and they rend their garments as they stand at the wall. You want to know why Paul weeps and his heart breaks? We didn't get to touch on this. In the way we could have last week. Geographically, where the temple is and where Calvary is and where that wall is and where the place of crucifixion is means that these people, these Jews, when they go to the wall and they weep and they long for this temple that's not there anymore and their hearts break over the fact they don't have Jerusalem the way they should, as they do that at this wall and they cry and they cry out to God, You know what their posture is? Mourning over bricks and mortar that aren't there, with their back turned to the place where their Messiah was crucified. That's why Paul mourns. It kills him to see the way they continue to go to the temple to offer sacrifice for sin. When the sacrifice was made directly behind where they're at. And that still happens in the church. In our desire to resist conforming to the culture around us— and there should be ways that we resist. We're called to be holy and set apart. If we're not careful, we can start treating Christians as the other. But if not for grace, every single one of us would still bear that distinction. Listen to how Jonathan Edwards put this in his resolutions. He had those famous resolutions he started as like a 19-year-old. You read it and you're like, 'This dude's thinking this at 19?' Remarkable stuff. One of his resolutions hits on this though. He says, 'Resolved to act in all respects, both speaking and doing, as if nobody had been so vile as I.' And as if I had committed the same sin or had the same infirmities or failings as others, and I will let the knowledge of their failings provoke nothing but shame in myself and prove only an occasion for my confessing my own sins and misery to God. And I would add to that, resolved that it would stir up a growing sorrow over their unbelief. And that's a helpful perspective. To interact with people who are lost and not just sit there and think, how can they live that way? But to look at them and think, 'If not for God's grace, I would be far worse.' To look at them and think, 'God, search me. Find the places of my heart that might turn away.' And to look at them and think, 'Lord, if you saved one like me, surely you can save them.'
20 · Synthesizes the first diagnostic point
Christ came for sinners. 'I didn't come for the healthy,' He said. 'I came for those who are sick.' I love My lost sheep. I leave the 99 for the sake of the one. I think that's a reason why we don't mourn. We don't consider unbelievers the way that we should.
21 · Second diagnostic reason: failure to consider eternity seriously
Here's a second thing, a reason why we might not mourn over unbelief. I wonder how we consider eternity. There's a reality of hell. And it is all over this passage. When Paul says, 'I wish I was accursed,' he's recognizing the fact that outside of Christ, these people that he's mourning for, they are accursed. 'I wish I was cut off,' because I recognize right now they are cut off. That's not how I typically think about hell. I typically think about hell as it relates to me. And that's not bad. We want to have gratefulness for what God has saved us from. But Paul shows us here, we should also think of that in light of the eternal destiny that's facing others around us. But it's also the reality of heaven. It's the reality of what they will never know. They don't know Jesus. It means they don't know the fountain of delights. They don't know the place where they can experience the deepest joy humanly possible. Paul's unceasing anguish is connected to these eternal destinies. I wish I could be accursed, Paul says. He knows the weight of judgment that awaits his people, that awaits the lost around him. But he's also mourning over their lost joy.
22 · Exposition of v
Look at verse 4. They are Israelites. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. And they don't know him. The pinnacle of joy came from their people, from my people. And they don't recognize Him. I think part of the reason my heart doesn't break the way that it should is because I'm a little bit of a joy hoarder. I want to be happy in Christ. But that should also mean I want others who don't know Him to find the satisfaction that can only come through Jesus. Third reason: How do we hold our election? How do we hold our election? This chapter is about election, right? God's sovereign choice. I don't think there's any coincidence Paul writes these words right before he goes into expounding that truth. He's writing because of the failure of Israel. Who is Israel? They're God's chosen people. And the way Israel treated that was just cavalierly. Presumptuously. Remember last week we talked about Jeremiah warning them? You Israel, sit there and cry out, 'The temple! The temple! The temple!' Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar can never crush us. The temple! The temple! The temple! This silly way of interacting with God.
23 · Exposition of Romans 9:11-16
Romans 9:11-16 should be a constant reminder to us about Jacob and Esau. Though the twins were not yet born and had not yet 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, So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. You're not sitting in this room because you're smarter. You're not sitting in this room because you're more spiritual. I'm not standing here because, man, God knew. I need that guy on my team if I ever hope to have any success in this world. He looks at me and he says, 'Eh, this guy has got some serious limps. He's a gimpy dude. And I'm going to win in spite of him.' It's a huge piece. We're not here because of merit. We're here because of God's mercy.
24 · Contrasting illustration: the preacher's natural self-assessment versus Paul's self-assessment
Remember how Paul thinks of himself? I go back to it time and again because I don't think this way. I kind of think about myself like, I'm doing pretty well. I'm pretty good. How did your week go? I look back on it like, I had a pretty good week. I did pretty well. I was a pretty holy dude this week.
25 · Exposition connecting Paul's language in 1 Timothy 1 to Romans 9
Paul looks at it and says, 'The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.' It kind of sounds like today's passage, doesn't it? I promise you. This is true. I'm not lying. My conscience bears witness. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and I am the foremost.
26 · Completes the 1 Timothy citation
I am the worst one He saved. I know the depravity of my heart, but I received mercy for this reason, that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. Paul never forgets the Gospel. It changes how he thinks about himself and how he thinks about everyone else. God has thrown mercy upon me that I don't deserve. And that just makes me turn to other people and say, 'Look! Look at what God has done! He can do the same for you.'
27 · Synthesizes the third diagnostic
Love for the doctrine of election should be coupled with a growing humility and a steadfast desire to share the message of Christ. There's no hoarding the story of redemption. We weren't called to sit in a holy huddle. We were called to go. And make disciples, to go and proclaim the excellencies of Jesus Christ. We're not the end goal of God's mercy. People in this room are not the end goal of God's mercy. You know what the end goal is? God's glory. God's glory. In the gospel going out and capturing the hearts of multitudes of people.
28 · Exposition of the Abrahamic covenant
Consider Abraham and Israel, right? What does part of God's call to Abraham involve? Abraham, I'm going to choose you. I'm going to pull you out. I'm going to make you a big deal. I'm going to give you land. I'm going to give you wealth. I'm going to give you tons of descendants. Because man, I want you to have a cushy, comfortable life. I want you to be different than all the pagan people around you. That's not what He says. Abraham, you're going to be my man. And I'm going to give you land. In other words, I'm going to give you a future. I'm going to give you an inheritance. I'm going to give you descendants. And from you and from your seed, the nations are going to be blessed. You sense why God elects? He chooses to extend blessing. Who's Abraham? He's an idol worshiper. The dude prays to the moon. Who's Jacob? This crafty, deceitful guy. Just despicable in his character. And God chooses him. Who's Israel? God tells them, Israel, again and again and again, there is nothing special about you. I chose you in spite of all your warts. Who am I? Who are we? Certainly not better than Abraham.
29 · Theological claim synthesizing election and mission
The sovereignty of God and the reality of His election should never make us apathetic in evangelism. It should motivate us. I had a seminary professor who talked about it this way. He said, When we see these texts and when we look at them, we see in the Old Testament there's a burden of blessing. Does that make sense? A burden of blessing. When God extends blessing to people, He extends blessing with the expectation the blessing He has placed upon them will be not just to their good, but to the good of everyone who interacts with them. The burden of blessing to Abraham is that you will be blessed by your association with Me. And so will all the nations. But it only becomes a burden, like a burdensome burden, when we don't pass that on.
30 · Direct application: hold election with Pauline humility and evangelistic eagerness
Hold that election with humility, like Paul, with hearts that are just stunned that God would extend favor to one like me. Oh, let me extend that message to the people around me.
31 · Fourth diagnostic reason: lack of God-centeredness
Final reason why we might not care about the unbelievers like we should. We kind of alluded to it just a little bit ago. I think it's because at times We aren't God-centered. To put it another way, do you mourn over people's attacks on the reputation of our God?
32 · Exposition of v
Look back at the text again. Paul isn't just mourning that Israel doesn't believe. He's brokenhearted on behalf of God's name. Look at v. 6. 'But it is not as though the word of God has failed.' It kills me to see my people walking away. These are the people that God covenanted with. They have the Law and the patriarchs. They have the promises. Christ comes from their lineage. He's one of them. And you know why I really mourn? Yes, because they're lost. But you know why I really mourn? Because you could look at that and think, isn't God faithful to His Word? How can this be happening? Paul's biggest concern in all of this is his heartbreaking that people would look at the situation of Israel and think, That's not what God said was going to happen. In other words, he looks at all this and his heart breaks because he thinks people are going to slander the character of God. He cares about the reputation of Jesus.
33 · Personal confession: even on good days, compassion for Brandon stops at concern for his destiny, not grief over God's dishonor
And this is where it hits closest to home for me because I just don't think like this. People living in unbelief, they don't honor God with their lives. And on my bad days, I think not compassionately, but in terms of condemnation towards them. But even on my good days when the compassion is there, it's usually just, 'I don't want to see Brandon continue on the path of destruction.' and then it stops. It's not everything about his life ignores who God is. Everything about his life is lived contrary to God's glory. I was talking with someone after the message last week and this passage, he brought it up and just said, man, It's interesting to hear you talk about Israel and the temple and that stuff. I was reading in Romans 9, in the beginning of the chapter, and I just thought, man, that's just such a way I don't think about things. Some of us are just like the Jews in Paul's day, the people that are around us. The Jews in Paul's day hated the name of Jesus at this time. Now, the Jews, you've got Jews who have been saved and now wear the name of Christ, just like Paul. But there are also those who, like Paul before conversion, can't stand the name of Jesus. You know what the dirtiest word they can put on the tip of their tongue is? Christian. There are people around us who think that way. The thought of the gospel and its exclusivity, the fact that there is only one way to God, the fact that Jesus had to die because we were so bad, it is revolting to them. They hate the picture of Jesus we see in the Bible. The true picture of Jesus. And it should break our hearts that they think that. And it should really break our hearts that they don't glorify God as they should. Listen to this quote from 'The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.' It's a book by Mark Dever. Love for God is the only sufficient motive for evangelism. Don't let it be guilt. Don't let it be just a desire to see somebody else get saved. That's helpful. It's way better than guilt. But love for God is the only sufficient motive for evangelism. Self-love will give way to self-centeredness. Love for the lost will fail with those whom we cannot love when difficulties seem insurmountable. Only a deep love for God will keep us following His way declaring His Gospel when human resources fail. Only our love for God, and more importantly, more importantly, His love for us— the priority there, He loves us first— only that will keep us from the dangers that beset us when the desire for popularity with men, for success in human terms, tempts us to water down the Gospel, to make it more palatable. Then, only if we love God will we stand fast by His truth and His ways.
34 · Extended personal story: the preacher's recent conversations with Brandon
That's so true. The conviction hit. You know, I'm sitting there thinking about this text this week. And I finally started opening my mouth and talking with Brandon. And it turns out he's really willing to talk about religious stuff. He's got some sort of quasi-strange Catholic background and was assuring me he really does everything he can not to do the 7 deadly sins. And so I just got to start sharing the Gospel with him. I don't really know how much he's even grasping of it yet. But there was also that check where it's like, I kind of don't want to spend my time even talking to him. The conviction got strong enough that I said, okay, I need to talk to him. So I'm talking to him and then the conviction is like, you know, it's really nice that you're You're talking about your biceps. But maybe you should talk about Jesus since this guy is willing to talk about anything and everything. And so then I start talking about Jesus and I'm like, well, I don't want to talk too much about Jesus. I don't want to say the real stuff of the Gospel that's kind of going to offend him. He's trying to tell me, like, I'm trying to be a good guy. He even said at one point, you know, I really try not to use Jesus' name in vain. Well, this might offend you, man, but that's never going to get you into heaven. The only thing that is going to get you there is that you will stand before God and you will say, 'I have no other hope but Jesus.' That could have been totally offensive to him. I don't know, maybe it was. But it is the truth of the gospel. And God is glorified in that truth.
35 · Application flowing from Brandon illustration
We need to be motivated to spread the fame of our God. What if God works a miracle in the heart of Brandon? And it will be a miracle. That's the only way he's going to believe. These little 30-second snippets between sets, there's nothing magical about what I'm going to say in those 30 seconds. Like, 'Man, he's so good at evangelism.' Like, between the reps, he's like, Who, Jesus? Who died? Who for your sins? If I'm going to do anything, it'll take a miracle. It'll take a miracle. A miracle that I can't produce. But it always takes a miracle. And we have hope in the miracle because God says, my final purpose in extending mercy to people is I want to glorify the name of Jesus. So what happens if I'm willing to kind of look like the weird guy at the gym? And I know other people can hear our conversations. We're standing there and I can tell people are kind of giving me the sideways glance like, dude, We're just here to lift weights. I know they can hear it. I don't know what Brandon's thinking. But what happens if God takes his heart of stone and sends His Spirit and makes it a heart of flesh? What happens if he leaves one day? Not just walking out to his car to head home. But walking and leaping and praising God.
36 · Vision-casting application for Providence Community Church
We need to desire that at Providence. I want us to have that sort of regard for the lost because we have that sort of regard for the glory of Jesus. I want when people talk about this church—gospel-centered, the doctrine, the way they pursue community—all that stuff, yeah. And I want one of the first things they say is, 'Man, those people, they love God's glory. And you know how you see it? They love the lost.'
37 · Corrective application: mourning is not an end in itself
It's not enough to look at this text and just to think, man, you know what application is? I need to go and cry. I need to go buy some tissues and sit at home and read this text until there's sufficient emotion. And if you're a really manly man, maybe it's never going to come, so you just dab the dry eye. Well, that's as close as I'm going to get. Maybe some of you are like those guys that it's like you're just crying and the snot's flowing out of your nose. It's like you can't even talk. Oh, I applied God's Word. I cried. That's not what Paul wants us to do. Paul mourns. He's brokenhearted over the lost. And you know what Paul does? He says, 'I pour my life out for the sake of these people. I'm going to go to the ends of the world. I'm going to let them stone me, beat me with rods. I'm going to have to flee cities. I'm going to do whatever it takes. I'm not just going to be mourning and brokenhearted. I'm going to sacrifice. I'm going to live missionally.'
38 · Concrete application: hospitality
This isn't just my house. I'm going to look at what Scripture says about hospitality and recognize, you know what hospitality is? It's not just having people over from the church on Sunday that you kind of enjoy hanging out with. They're going to get that when you watch the Chiefs game, there are certain points you don't talk because it's an intense point. That's not the real motive behind hospitality. You know what hospitality is? It's stranger love. That's what it is in the Old Testament. It's love for the sojourner. Love for the other. Man, that church in Providence, they practice hospitality. What do you mean? They, those people in their neighborhoods, they are constantly doing things to have neighbors into their homes, to have people come over, to have coworkers over, to reach out. They have, the guy has barbecues all the time. He's just inviting the weirdos from the neighborhood over. Why does he do that? Because he loves God's glory. And he knows nothing brings God more glory than that weirdo neighbor getting saved over a burger.
39 · Broadens application to the church's mission statement
I want that to define us. There's a reason why our vision and mission says we exist to make disciples. It means we're not just content with the disciple-making aspect of the people in this room. We're not just content with maturing the disciples that sit here. We exist to make disciples, to go and multiply disciples. To be like the Wilsons and go all the way to Kunming, China. To walk through with Jackson and Kai. You're not going to get to see your friends anymore. Maybe not for a long time, but we're doing this for the sake of Jesus and for the sake of those people. But not just in Kunming, China. At the intersection of College and Cuivara, over in Olathe, in Lenexa, even up in KCK. To make disciples. To share the good news of Jesus Christ. That the Son of God has died to save sinners.
40 · Climactic theological claim
And the best part about this being in Romans 9 is you get to go and declare with confidence: God saves! When He extends His mighty right arm, people get saved! Idiots like Paul get saved. The guy hates Jesus. And God says, 'That's fine. I love the passion. You're totally stupid right now. Let Me change your heart and I'm going to deploy that passion for Me.' So go share the Gospel with that rabid Chiefs fan who worships in Arrowhead Stadium every Sunday morning, barbecuing and getting inebriated before he enters the stadium. To cheer and worship. Right? Because you know what God can do? He can change that heart to a guy that's going to come on Sunday mornings at 7 AM and volunteer in every place that he can. And when it comes to worship, he's going to sing with all of his heart. I used to cheer for a freaking pigskin going across a bunch of grass. And now I cheer for the King of Kings. That can happen because our God is powerful to save.
41 · Brief summation and invitation to agreement
Let's live for that providence. Amen?
42 · Closing prayer
Father, you have extended mercy to us when all we deserved was judgment and punishment. You didn't wait until there was something worthwhile to save. You sent your Son to take on flesh, to experience sickness and weakness to experience loneliness, to experience temptation, and to do all of it that He would obey perfectly, and that in His death You could pour out Your wrath for sin upon Him so that in His resurrection there would be a hope for broken, lost, rebellious, sick, sinful people. Lord, we want our hope to rest in Jesus. But God, we want to be generous with the message of your gospel. We want to live for the glory of Your name. We want to get out of our comfort zones. We want to disrupt our schedules. We want to disrupt our finances. We want to disrupt how we interact with the people around us. So that the lost would be saved and Jesus would be glorified. God, we want to do this for the joy that is set before us, not because of guilt. And God, we want to do this filled with faith at your ability and power to save. So God, we pray now, fill your people with with your Spirit. Fill us with a heart for the lost. Fill us with mouths just waiting to pour out the sweet honey of the gospel on those we interact with. God, give us boldness to share. Give us confidence that you will move. And Lord, would you give us a harvest? Give us broken, messed up people with broken messed up lives sitting in our church, that we can share with them the gospel, that we can get down in the muck with them, that we can show them we really aren't any different. Do this for the glory of Jesus. Amen.