Scripture never blames God for our unbelief; it always and only blames us. This is what makes salvation a paradox. The mystery of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Nowhere is that clearer than in this section of Romans. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES:  Romans: The Power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
TEXT: Romans 9:30-10:4
TITLE: Why Don’t They Believe?
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Relying on your goodness is rejecting God’s grace.

POINTS:
I. They Rely on Their Own Righteousness
II. They Reject the Only One Truly Righteous

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

“Why don’t they believe? We’ve all asked that about family and friends we’re trying to reach with Christ. It’s a good question. It’s a hard question. Here’s another question: Who do you blame for their unbelief? You love. You pray. You share. But they keep rejecting Jesus. Who do you blame? Here’s who you can’t blame: God. Scripture never blames God for our unbelief; it always and only blames us.”

“This is what makes salvation a paradox. The mystery of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Nowhere is that clearer than in this section of Romans.”

“Romans 9 opens with Paul expressing grief and anguish over his lost Jewish kinsmen. Despite having all the spiritual advantages, they missed and rejected Jesus. Since then, Paul has focused on God’s sovereignty in choosing, calling, and mercifully saving sinners. So what Paul does next may surprise you. In today’s text, he lays all the blame for Israel’s unbelief on them, specifically their pride.”

“In today’s text, Paul shifts from God’s initiative to our response. Chapter 9 focuses on God’s choice and grace, while chapter 10 focuses on our response and faith.”

“Here’s today’s message: Relying on your goodness is rejecting God’s grace. This was Israel’s error—they relied on their own righteousness and, in doing so, rejected Christ. This matters to us because self-reliance isn't uniquely Jewish; it’s deeply human. You may think you’re good enough for God, but you’re not. No one has ever been good enough for God; no one is, and no one ever will be. This is the hardest reality to accept, yet apart from it, there is no hope of salvation.”

“Paul concludes this section with another question—What then shall we say to this? This question reveals the upside-down nature of God’s kingdom. The Jews who pursued righteousness religiously never obtained it, but the Gentiles, those godless, pagan Gentiles who didn’t pursue righteousness, received it. How is that possible? The difference lies in faith—read 30.”

“The Gentiles didn’t pursue the law, yet attained righteousness, not by the works of their hands but by faith in Jesus when they heard the gospel.”

“Israel pursued the law to attain righteousness, not by faith in Jesus but by obedience to the law, even after hearing the gospel. The Jews believed that pursuing the law of Moses with passion and dedication would lead to righteousness. They approached God through their own works rather than through faith in their hearts. They turned the law, meant to be a response to God’s love, into a system of performance to earn God’s favor. They had commitment. They had conviction. They had zeal. Look down at 10:2—read 2-3. Paul says the Jews’ problem isn’t a lack of zeal for God. They are excited about God. They are dedicated to God. They are fanatics for God. They are the people at the football game with painted faces and crazy outfits. Zeal is extreme enthusiasm. Who doesn’t want to be extremely enthusiastic about God? I hope we all want to be more enthusiastic about God. Paul says zeal wasn’t the problem. The problem is that no matter how intensely the zeal burns, it can’t save.”

“This is what Jesus repeatedly excoriated the Pharisees for. In their religious zeal, they kept the law and many other rules with sincerity and commitment, yet they lacked faith in Jesus. As Paul says in 3—their zeal was without knowledge; that is, it was apart from Christ as their only righteousness before God. Again, this isn’t a Jewish problem; this is a human problem.”

ILLUSTRATION: Are you Good Enough tract

“Christianity isn’t about morality. Good morals are the fruit of a Christian life, not its foundation. As James 2 says, genuine faith is always marked by godly fruit. But the Christian life isn't about trusting ourselves for righteousness; it’s about finding righteousness outside ourselves in Jesus Christ. We pursue a person, not a condition. This is what sets the Christian faith apart from all others.”

“This is ultimately what they missed, and it’s what we can miss, even as believers. Spiritual zeal should characterize us. But our zeal for good and worthy things—theology, parenting, marriage, the local church, generosity, church planting, Bible study, church history, evangelism, sexual purity, hospitality—we could keep going. None of it matters if it’s not rooted in, informed by, and ultimately an outpouring of joy and gratitude for the justifying grace made possible by Jesus' perfect righteousness on our behalf in the gospel.”

“Equally dangerous is to pursue knowledge without zeal. God’s desire is that what’s in our heads pours down into our hearts, creating a life of love, obedience, and worship. More on that in chapter 12.”

“Zeal and knowledge must always go together. Which spiritual pitfall are you most vulnerable to: Zeal without knowledge or knowledge without zeal? Both are dangerously misguided. Take it to the Lord in prayer.”

“The Jews’ problem was not merely moral—it was Christological. By trusting in their own righteousness, they rejected the only one truly righteous—Jesus. To show this, Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah. Paul’s words combine Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. The context concerns where Israel finds safety. Will the rebellious leaders put their hope in themselves or in God? Taken together, the message is that those who trust in themselves and reject God will be destroyed, while those who trust in God’s provision as the Rock will be safe from His judgment.”

“Paul knew Isaiah was preaching Christ (so did Peter, who cited the same passages in 1 Peter 2). Isaiah's words are messianic, pointing to the coming of Jesus, who is the Rock. All who believe in Jesus as their rock of righteousness are saved and safe. But those who try to be their own rock of righteousness will only receive the rock of judgment.”

“Jesus is the Rock, the cornerstone, and the foundation of salvation that God Himself laid. No other foundation can be laid, especially not by us through works. Jesus submitted Himself to His Father’s will and became the stone the builders rejected, enabling others to receive Him by faith and to stand righteous before God.”

“This is what separates Christianity from all other religions. The foundation is not what we can do but what Christ has done. Apart from Jesus, there is no righteousness before God, only condemnation. Jesus is our righteousness. This is Paul’s point in 4.”

ILLUSTRATION: Bucee’s Billboard Campaign

“When Paul says Christ is the end of the law, he doesn’t mean Jesus cancels the law; he means Jesus fulfills it. Jesus was clear about this in Matthew 5:17-20 when he said, “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.” The law was never an end in itself. Like the Bucee’s signs, the law is a billboard pointing us to Christ so that when we arrive, we can stop driving and start living in the good of who He is and what He has done as our Rock of righteousness.”

“Here is where the stumbling comes in. We want to be self-made. We think we can be good enough for God. Don’t tell me I’m not the captain of my ship. Don’t undermine my ability by saying I’m dependent on someone else. But that’s exactly what the gospel does. It says—I can’t, but you can, Jesus. This is why the cross had to happen and why people stumble over it. If I can gain righteousness that makes me right with God through obedience, then Jesus’ death is in vain, the cross is worthless, and the gospel is a farce. But the gospel isn’t a farce because it proves we can't save ourselves. Therein lies the stumbling and offense.”

“Nothing pulverizes our pride like spiritual inability. Yet everyone must decide how to respond to Jesus. Will you reject him and keep trying to make your own way to God, or receive him by faith as your Rock of righteousness?”

“If you are not a Christian, neither being good enough nor being spiritual enough will make you right with God. Faith in Jesus is your only option. He is not an option. He is where the story has always headed. Today you are at a crossroads: Will you trust in him and be saved, or trust in yourself and remain lost?”

“For the Christian, the question is this: Am I fully trusting in Christ? It’s possible to be saved yet quietly resting in your spiritual performance. As Paul rebuked the Galatians: Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:3)”

QUOTES:
Christopher Ash - “Paul turns his camera from viewing grace from God’s angle, to viewing it from our point of view.”

John Stott - “To make this humiliating confession is an intolerable offense to our pride. So instead of humbling ourselves, we stumble over the stumbling-stone.”

APPLICATION:
Are you trying to perfect with your hands what the Spirit began in your heart? Here are some evaluative questions:

• Does Christian living seem dutiful?

• Is gospel joy, that is, joy rooted in and motivated by Christ’s forgiving and justifying love for me, elusive in my life? 

• Am I characterized by looking down on others, especially in spiritual matters?

• Am I always telling myself that I just need to do better or more? 

• Is condemnation a common struggle?

• Does my spiritual zeal burn hottest for my spiritual rules and methods?

If you said YES to just one of those, this message is for you. Jesus is not the reward for your righteousness; he is your righteousness. Jesus cried—It is finished—from the cross, and he meant it. When this reality lays hold of you, the obedience of your faith becomes the grateful worship from your heart, and your joy soars to heights previously unknown.

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Christ Our Glory
In Christ Alone
Glorious Christ
The Saving One
All Sufficient Merit

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 10:4-13

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

Chosen For Life: The case for divine election

by Sam Storms

The gospel is powerful enough! Do you believe this? Today God’s word makes this claim. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: The Church and Counseling
TEXT: 1 Peter 1:3-9
TITLE: Our Hope in Counseling: The Gospel of Christ
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: No matter what you are going through, the gospel is powerful enough!

POINTS:
I. Biblical Counseling is grounded in a real hope in Christ
II. Biblical Counseling leads to an inexpressible joy in and love for Christ

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

“What if I told you the gospel is powerful enough? What if I added, this is true no matter what? The gospel is powerful enough! Do you believe this? Today God’s word makes this claim!”

“No matter what you are going through, the gospel is powerful enough! What are you going through today? What might we go through tomorrow? Peter will tell you, “You have hope!” God’s word tells it like it is! We are not in heaven yet. Right now, we are grieved by various trials. Trouble of all kinds. Yet God’s power has granted us an everlasting hope through it all! No matter what you are going through, the gospel is powerful enough!”

“Today, we pause in our series in Romans: The Power of God in the Gospel of Christ. But, we do not pause on the power of the gospel. Derek recently announced will continue to preach our series on Romans. Tim will periodically preach through a series on Evangelism. Beginning today, I will periodically preach on The Church and Counseling. Through this series, we will unpack what “biblical counseling” is. What the goal of biblical counseling is. We will also touch on what counseling, discipleship, and fellowship will look like in many contexts of our church life. Yet, our focus will often be (like this morning,) on what we call ‘formal’ biblical counsel.”

“Here is what is coming in this series: (today) The Hope in Counseling: The Gospel of Christ
The Central Aim of Counseling: Maturity in Christ 
Progressive Sanctification - Growing in Grace in Christ
The Cornerstone of Counseling: The Word of God 
The Authority and Sufficiency of the Word in Counseling
The Counselor in Counseling: The Holy Spirit
ESV - Helper (Advocate)”

“I will focus on two WAYS THIS TEXT PROVES THAT the Gospel is ENOUGH in Counseling.”

“Writing to Christians in Asia Minor, Peter addresses them as exiles in this world, sojourners… this world that is not their home. Peter will go on and describe the many trials that grieve them.

• Their trials would catch them off guard (“don’t be surprised”)

• They would suffer the loss of friendship and family

• Socially, they were quickly cut off and estranged

• They were slandered

• Suffered for doing good

• Faced unjust and harsh treatment from governing authorities

• Their marriages struggled deeply

• They were plagued by fear, weak faith, pride, anxiety, sinful temptations, and passions of the flesh that warred within them 

• And on top of all that, the devil himself prowled around seeking to devour them!”

“They needed to be reminded that no matter what they were going through, no matter what they faced, the gospel was powerful enough! Two millennia later, Peter’s letter counsels us! Your trials may not have made the list. But Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, speaks the same hope to you - no matter what you may be going through!”

“You have been born again, and this has been God’s doing. ‘He has caused us to be born again!’”

“PETER TAKES THEM BACK to the same hope that the prophet Ezekiel 36. God has cleansed us from our sins and given us new life. He has given us a new heart. PETER TAKES THEM BACK to the same hope as He recalls Jesus’ words in John 3:7 - ‘You must be born again’ Church, You are no longer who you were! You are now a new creation! This has changed everything. You have been completely transformed!”

“Peter says two things about real hope. First, it’s living. We have been born again to a living hope. God, in His mercy, caused us to be born again. We did not realize this hope. We did not muster up this hope. We could not imagine this hope. We could not fabricate this hope. We could not earn this hope. This living hope is all of grace. His grace granted us new life. His grace granted us living hope!”

“This gracious living hope came to us through the power of the gospel. It came to us through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! Marvel with me for a moment at the power it took to raise the Son of God. Marvel with me at what the resurrection accomplished: Jesus’ sacrifice in our place is accepted, and He is given the Name that is above every other name! Jesus now sits in power at His Father’s right hand, ruling and reigning in indescribable glory - The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! In that power, we were born again to a living hope!”

“Second, Peter says it’s a lasting hope. Look at Vs 4 and 5: THIS WAS THEIR HOPE 2000 YEARS AGO, THIS IS OUR HOPE TODAY. Our hope is a lasting hope. It is an eternal hope. We were born again “to an inheritance” that is “kept in heaven for [us]” and “guarded through faith” by God’s power until “the last time.” That is lasting hope! And this is good news as we remember that we are not in heaven yet.”

“Right now WE need living hope because Vs 6 - “... now for a little while.” - “you have been grieved by various trials.” Vs 7a says our faith is tested by fire in these trials (“fiery trials”). While our troubles may differ in comparison, trials will continue to plague us!”

“One day we will step, for the first time, onto the green grass of heaven. Until then, we will step into: 

• Shattered dreams 

• Shattered relationships

• False Accusation

• Sickness

• Anger

• Sorrow

• Sexual immorality and confusion

• Abandonment

• Death, funerals, and graves

• Abuse

• Crime and Punishment

• Divorce

• War

• Sinning 

• Being sinned against

• Catastrophe

Do we not need the power of the Gospel at work in every one of these? These sorrows affect us DEEPLY! We struggle DEEPLY! I say “deeply” because these lead to the anguish of the soul… Our hearts are troubled. Our souls/hearts are wrenched, grieved, down-casted, enraged, become anxious, fearful, weak, embittered. This is why we need the gospel.”

“Heaven is our true home! But we are not home yet! Until then, what are we going to do? Until then, we will need to remember the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! The gospel needs to function in every single trouble, trial, and circumstance. I love the phrase that I first heard from Mike Bullmore. He spoke of our greatest need in the church. It is “functional centrality of the gospel” at work in our lives. “Jesus living, dying, and rising from the dead for our salvation is meant to affect every area of our lives.” This could not be more true when it comes to receiving counsel and offering counseling! You and I desperately need the best news in all of the world applied to our lives.”

“Jesus bore our sins on his body on the cross and died in our place for our sins. He was resurrected on the third day and that makes it possible that we too will be raised to eternal life! The gospel is the power unto your salvation, AND it is the power that sanctifies and changes you from the inside out.”

RUNNING APPLICATION: So then, as we seek to have the Gospel function in our lives, Q. What are the implications of this living and lasting hope in Christ in our counseling?

“When we go get help, we cannot miss their need for Jesus! When we offer help, we cannot miss our need for Jesus! The resurrection power of living and lasting hope needs to function in all our counseling.”

“God has called your pastors to “keep watch over your souls”  (Hebrews 13:17). It’s our joy. It’s a privilege. It’s sobering. It’s humbling. We take it seriously. We have a biblical mandate and conviction to lead and remain engaged in formal counseling. At times a person’s trials may require professional help. Sometimes we even recommend it. This would supplement biblical counseling, yet it should not substitute/replace it.”

“The gospel is powerful enough to touch us deep enough to grant us living and lasting hope in everything that troubles us!”

“We want a quick fix. “Things are not changing!” And fear, anger, or impatience get a foothold. This can lead us to go anywhere. We might go to anyone. We will listen to anything… anywhere else but the church; anyone else but your pastors; even AI, scraping the internet for answers sounds good. Let’s be honest, we may trying to solve this ourselves in our time and in a way we are comfortable. But I am telling you, THE GOSPEL IS SUFFICIENT.”

“If we believe that, in the power of the gospel, Christ has brought us from death to life, He brought us from darkness into His marvelous light, He has replaced our hearts of stone with new hearts of flesh, He offers forgiveness of our sins, He promised us never-ending joy in Christ in heaven, He gave us eternal life…in matters of the heart and soul, you have everything you need in Christ. Why would we go anywhere else?”

“The gospel is powerful enough, no matter what we are going through! Counseling needs to function in the centrality of Christ’s all-powerful gospel.”

“The living and lasting hope that is ours in Christ is life-giving to the soul! Not only is it life-giving to the soul, it is also growing our faith in Christ! Our hope in Jesus is leading us somewhere - an inexpressible joy in and love for Christ!”

“Our text today proclaims much about the gospel. It preaches everlasting hope in Christ! We also see in vs 7 that hope leads to worship! Living hope in Christ results in praise of Christ, glory in Christ, honor of Christ, love for Christ, faith in Christ, and JOY that words simply cannot describe!”

“PETER COULD HAVE ENDED in verse 6 “...grieved by various trials.” He could have ended with “hang in there Christian!” “I know it’s hard!” But he didn’t. God’s word tells us that our trials are doing something. 6 takes us to 7. Here is the progression of verse 7. In God’s goodness, our trials purify our faith. Our faith is proved out as genuine! What a gift! Doubt clouds our faith. Worldly hopes muddy our faith.”

“Trials are in God’s hands - God purifies and grows our faith in Him. Our faith in God results in the Glorifying of God “at the revelation of Jesus!” Notice that Peter does not guarantee that the trials will end right away. BUT there is a glorious day coming when they will - WHEN JESUS RETURNS!”

“But verse 7 has not ended! All of this has been taking us somewhere! Right now we do not see Jesus yet. Yet NOW we will LOVE Him. Right now we do not see Jesus yet. Yet NOW we will BELIEVE in Him. Right now we do not see Jesus yet. Yet even NOW we will rejoice with JOY that is inexpressible! NO MATTER WHAT WE ARE GOING THROUGH, THE GOSPEL IS POWERFUL ENOUGH to lead us to JOY in Christ.”

“Our text opened with God’s glory and honor as the goal! Vs 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” and we find the goal of all of this was that Praise and glory and honor be to our Savior Jesus Christ!”

QUOTES:
David Powlison - “Only Jesus the Messiah can fix what has gone wrong in us and around us… before we get tangled psychologically and socially, we have a relational problem with God. So the mercies of God come through a Person (Jesus), who comes in person to restore peace. He alone touches deep enough to untangle the roots of everything else that troubles us.”

APPLICATION:
So we ask the same question: Q. What are the implications of this in counseling? How do these glorious truths function in biblical counseling?
1. Biblical counseling is ultimately about the glory of Christ. Our hearts break with the brokenhearted. We grieve in hospital rooms with the grieving. Gather with them at the graveside. We lament with sinners. We correct, rebuke, admonish, restore gently… In God’s great kindness our trials will one day be relieved. What a JOY! And He did it! And all of the glory belongs to Him.

2. Biblical counseling leads toward a greater love for Christ. The Gospel begins to function in their love for Christ as they grow in their knowledge that God loved them first. We revisit God's initiative in their salvation, based on His love. Trials and discipline come by the loving hand of God. He will grow their affections for Christ! The world will point us toward self-love. The gospel points us toward the life giving reasons that grow our love for Jesus.

3. Biblical counseling aims to help us grow in our faith in Christ. We believe in Christ at salvation. We need help to grow our faith in Christ. We will look back at redemption. We look forward to our glorification in heaven. The good news is good news today! We can say “I believe in you, Jesus!” Yet know that we want to believe HIM right now, today, in the midst of it all. Do we not need that? Do we not want that?

4. Biblical counseling offers a growing hope for our JOY in Christ. We cannot manufacture joy. Sometimes THIS WILL TAKE TIME. We need the reasons for Joy in Christ. We need the truths of the gospel in the very recesses of our hearts. Gospel at work on our heart ignites affection for Jesus. In light of the gospel, we should be the most joyful people in world! Yet we constantly struggle and fight for joy. This is one of our deepest longings. 

To the Unbeliever: All I have for you this morning is all that you need! You need the living hope found only in Jesus Christ!
To the Christian: In the end, no matter what happened to you in years past…no matter what you are going through right now…no matter what may come tomorrow… The good news of Jesus has the power to lead you through it all! The Love of Jesus has the power to grow your love for Him! The Faithfulness of Jesus has the power to grow your faith in Him! Living and lasting hope in Jesus is yours.

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Because He Lives
O My Soul Arise
King Of Love
Christ Our Hope In Life And Death
Christ Is Mine Forevermore

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 9:30-10:4

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

Chosen For Life: The case for divine election

by Sam Storms

Introducing…THE CHURCH. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: ROMANS: The Power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
TEXT: Romans 9:22-29
TITLE: Introducing The Church
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: God does not react to events in the moment; He fulfills His word from eternity past.

POINTS:
I. A New People
II. An Old Plan

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

ILLUSTRATION: Grandson Jack running down the hallway like a basketball player

“Jack loves big introductions. In today’s text, Paul is introducing the Church. And it’s a big introduction. Paul has said much in Romans 9. The purpose of it all has been to defend the idea that the Jews’ failure to embrace the gospel (1-5) does not mean that God’s word has failed (6). On the contrary, God is faithful to His word, and His faithfulness is ultimately revealed in His electing purposes that are creating a new people of God, His Church.”

“Everything Paul has been saying about the freedom and sovereignty of God in saving sinners, he now applies to the Gentiles, or, everyone not a Jew—read 22-24.”

“The us in 24 are the vessels of mercy which God prepared beforehand for His glory in 23. They are the spiritual Israel in 6, the children of God and the recipients of His promise in 8. They are the ones God effectually calls, not only from the Jews, and here it is—from the Gentiles. This would have astonished the Jews of Paul’s day. God’s chosen people are not confined to ethnic Israel. His saving mercy is not limited to Abraham’s physical offspring. There is a New People of God, born to spiritual life through the gospel by the grace and mercy of God.”

“We come to Romans 9 wanting to challenge God about His fairness and to doubt His goodness because some perish. But that’s not Paul’s emphasis. He doesn’t even explain it. Paul’s emphasis, what he takes time to unpack, is the glory of God revealed through His mercy in the gospel: He saves undeserving sinners, who have no claim to His covenant love and mercy, from every nation, tribe, and tongue. God is creating a new people, the church.”

“Where were you before you were here? I’ll tell you where you were, the same place I was—running headlong off the cliff to hell. But here you are loved, indwelt, and kept in the power and goodness of Jesus Christ!”

“I think the Spirit wants to use this in us: Cultivate a deep sense of privilege, not pride, humble privilege in being part of THIS. Too often we view Sunday morning as a duty. And it is. Hebrews 10 Do not forsake the gathering. But before Heb 10 presents the gathering as a Christian duty, it presents it as a gospel privilege. If we allow our hearts to be captivated by this truth, we will experience an irresistible longing for a unique manifestation of God’s, which we experience only when we do THIS.”

“God’s intentions for us on Sundays are that we would be about so overwhelmed with His love for us in Christ Jesus that unstoppable praise pours from our hearts to His glory. Why would you want to miss that? I pray God would use Romans 9 to create an irresistible longing in our hearts for the grace of God we experience only when we do THIS.”

“Returning to the question in 6—Has the word of God failed then?—Paul points them to something they would be very familiar with—the OT prophets. The new people of God is not a new plan; it’s an old plan. First, he argues for the inclusion of the Gentiles from Hosea—read 25-26.”

“The context is Hosea and his adulterous wife, Gomer, and their children, whose names meant "not my people" and "not beloved." They represent God’s judgment on Israel’s spiritual adultery. The point is that those rejected by God would be accepted by Him. Those who were not my people and not beloved, I will call my beloved people. This injected hope into Israel’s hopeless situation.”

“To understand how Paul uses this prophecy and how to read your Bible, we need to understand how the NT treats OT prophecy. John Stott offers us three helpful categories:

1. Immediate and literal (in the history of Israel)

2. Intermediate and spiritual (in Christ and His church)

3. Ultimate and eternal (in God’s consummated kingdom)”

“In Hosea, Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, takes a prophetic word with an immediate, literal application in Israel’s history and applies it in an intermediate, spiritual way to Christ and His church. Those that are not called my people, those that are not my beloved, those outside my covenant love—Gentiles, will be called my beloved people, as it says at the end of 26—sons of the living God.  That’s you! That’s us! That’s the Church! We see this all over scripture! [See ‘additional scripture’ below].”

“God’s ancient promise to Abraham and Hosea’s prophecy had a greater fulfillment. In the gospel, God’s mercy and grace extend beyond Israel, creating a new people of God, Jew and Gentile, the Church.”

“I believe God wants this to take hold in our lives through a joyful eagerness to embrace everyone who walks through our doors. God is creating a new people. He is building His church. What you look like, where you’ve been, and how you talk have nothing to do with it. There are still people running toward the cliff, and some of them are future vessels of mercy whom God may lead here. Are you coming to church ready and willing to embrace and love them with a smile, perhaps a meal, and always with the gospel?”

“So Paul says the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s family is nothing new: it has always been God’s plan. What of Israel then?—read 27-29. Paul is reinforcing what he already asserted in 6-13: God’s word did not fail because of the Jews’ rejection, since the promise was not to save them all. Many Jews reject Jesus; they keep running toward the cliff. But a remnant, that’s the word Paul uses in 27, a small number comparable to the sand of the sea, are vessels of God’s mercy. Instead of becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by God in judgment, they will be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. More on that in chapter 11.”

“Here’s the point: (6) God is faithful to His word. The gospel creates a new people of God who live by faith in Jesus Christ because of God’s mercy toward them. Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile, there is no other way to be part of God’s people, the Church. Apart from God’s mercy and grace in His electing purposes, we would all be like Sodom and Gomorrah, rushing headlong into eternal judgment and destruction.”

“This is not a new plan. It’s God’s plan. It’s always been His plan. Look no further than the prophets. A New People of God brought about by an Old Plan of God.”

“Here’s the message for you today: God does not react to events in the moment; He fulfills His word from eternity past. From salvation to sanctification to consummation, God has no plan B. He has plan A, which He spoke in eternity past, and He is carrying it out yesterday, today, and tomorrow. His word never fails. This should bring us gratitude for our salvation, comfort in the moment, and hope for the future.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
1 Peter 2:9-10
Ephesians 2:11-13
Ephesians 3:4-6

QUOTES:
R.C. Sproul - “When we are adopted into the family of God, we experience an affection from God that we have no claim upon. There is nothing lovely in us in the sight of God, but he has been pleased in his mercy to cause his people, to adopt us into his family where we have no birthright or entitlement. In Christ he calls us his beloved. The New Christ-Centered People of God.”

APPLICATION:
Where do you need to believe that God is faithful to His word? 

• God’s grace is sufficient as you pursue your struggling or wayward child.

• God is always with you, even when He seems distant and indifferent.

• In Christ, nothing can separate you from God, not even that secret sin you’re painfully ashamed of.

• Do you need to be sobered by God’s unfailing word, which says He will oppose you in your pride and discipline you for your sin?

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Grace Alone
Rock of Ages
Grace and Peace
All I Have Is Christ
We Are Thankful
We Are Yours Forever
In Christ Alone

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
1 Peter 1:3-9 Our Hope in Counseling: The Gospel of Christ

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

Chosen For Life: The case for divine election

by Sam Storms

With all the ink and paper used over the years to explain Romans 9:19-23, the inescapable conclusion can be summed up in three words: God is God. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: ROMANS: The Power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
TEXT: Romans 9:19-23
TITLE: Thank God That God is God
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: God is God

POINTS:
I. Choosing is God’s Prerogative
II. Glory is God’s Purpose

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

“With all the ink and paper used over the years to explain Romans 9:19-23, the inescapable conclusion can be summed up in three words: God is God.”

“Here’s our challenge today: Do we believe it, even though we can’t fully comprehend it? Can we rest in that when life goes sideways? Is that sufficient for our insatiable intellectual curiosities?”

“Two points today, but first it’s helpful to remember where we’ve been the last few weeks:

1-5—Not all ethnic Jews are recipients of God’s salvific promises because they have rejected Christ and are therefore cut off from God. 

6-13—If that’s true, doesn’t it mean God’s word has failed? No. God never promised to save all ethnic Israel. God chooses whom He chooses apart from biology and merit. God’s free choice of Isaac and Jacob and His rejection of Ishmael and Esau prove this. So God is always faithful to His word.

14-18—Isn’t that unfair? Isn’t God unjust? No. Everyone is running from God. No one deserves to be chosen to receive God’s mercy. Yet God, rich in mercy, chooses to make some alive in Christ while allowing others to remain hardened in heart and under His condemnation.”

“This is the question we all knew was coming. Okay, Paul, if everything you just said in 6-18 is true, how can God possibly hold people accountable for their choices and actions? If God is in complete control, aren’t we just robots, and isn’t He responsible? Maybe you’ve been asked this question or even asked it yourself. What’s your answer? Paul answers it in a surprising way—read 20-21.”

“It’s easy to interpret Paul’s answer as a non-answer or a frustrated cop-out—Well, God is God, so just deal with it. It’s not. This is the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, being used by God Himself to reveal things about His person and purposes, not just to the Christians in Rome but to generations. So it’s a sufficient answer.”

“And it’s not a new answer. The prophet Isaiah used the potter-and-clay imagery in Isaiah 29 and 45 to rebuke God’s people for challenging God and casting suspicion on Him, as if they were God rather than Him. I think the potter-and-clay imagery communicates three things we need to hear repeatedly to guard us from making the same mistake as in Isaiah’s day. It reveals God’s absolute freedom and sovereignty to do as He pleases. In 20, Paul says—Who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded (created) say to its molder (Creator), Why have you made me like this?”

ILLUSTRATION: Bob Ross painting

“Paul says, so it is with God in personal salvation. By definition, God has the absolute freedom and complete authority to save whom He saves (that’s the vessel for honorable use in 21) and condemn whom He condemns (the vessel for dishonorable use). It doesn’t matter if we don’t like it. It doesn’t matter if we can’t fully understand it. God is God. We are not.”

“The potter and His clay offer a sober warning. We need to be careful with our presuppositions and conclusions about what God can and cannot do. On the one hand, we are God’s image-bearers. He has graciously given us the ability to reason and commune with Him. He has also given us a divine invitation and responsibility to explore the depths of His nature and character.”

“But God is infinite and sovereign. We are created and finite. Our minds cannot fully comprehend God. We can’t figure God out. We never close the book on our knowledge of God.”

“The potter-and-clay imagery here isn’t meant to stifle honest questions. Paul poses difficult questions throughout this section. The point is that the gap between God and us is infinitely vast. That means we must walk humbly before Him, letting the Creator-created distinction shape our thoughts about God. The point of 20-21 is that God has the right to deal with fallen humanity according to His mercy and justice, however He pleases, because He alone is God, even when we can’t comprehend it.”

“ENCOURAGEMENT FOR STUDY OF ELECTION: If your conclusions lead you to ask the same questions asked in 19, take heart!  It means you believe what Paul believes. The potter-clay picture also offers a beautiful reminder of the gospel's sufficiency. Romans 9 is not esoteric theology irrelevant outside the seminary class. These truths aren’t merely Reformed convictions meant to be perfected for persuasive arguments that win theological opponents. They show us our desperate need for and our sure hope in Christ.”

“Who in the world can question God’s merciful nature? Look at the cross, where God’s only Son, Jesus, hangs. His perfect Son. The Son He loves. The Son He crushed so that undeserving sinners like us could be called His sons and daughters. You may have questions about my heart of mercy. I may have questions about your heart of mercy. The gospel silences all questions about God’s heart of mercy. Even in the deep end of the theological pool, we find Christ.”

“Have you ever seen or heard something that made you go—Wait, What? Paul just gave us a genuine Wait, What? moment—God endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.”

“Now, if you are asking yourself right now, Wait? What?, I want you to remember the image from last week. God stands on His divine porch, watching as people run away from Him and straight toward a cliff that drops into hell. Yet God, compelled by nothing outside Himself, reaches out and saves some from their hell-bound race. We call that mercy. The others keep running in their sin and receive exactly what they deserve for their sin—eternal judgment. That’s called justice. As 19-21 vigorously asserts, that’s God’s divine prerogative.”

“In these verses, the divine porch imagery appears in the language of vessels of wrath prepared for destruction in 22 and vessels of mercy prepared for glory in 23. The challenge is coming to grips with the idea that God would create some for glory and others for destruction. Or, using the language of the last two weeks—Jacob I loved; Esau I hated in 6-13, and God’s mercy toward Israel and His hardening of Pharaoh in 14-18.”

“Theologically, this is called double-predestination. It’s the biblical truth that God determines our destinies before the foundations of the world. Admittedly, the term double-predestination can be confusing. Here’s what’s critical to remember: God’s activity in saving and hardening is not the same kind of activity.”

“Using Pharaoh as an example, Exodus repeatedly says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and that God hardened his heart. So who is doing the hardening? Both. Pharaoh was fallen by nature, so his heart was already hard toward God. God didn’t invade Pharaoh’s heart with sin and evil that hardened a once-soft heart toward God. Scripture is clear: God is sovereign over sin and evil, but He’s not the author of them. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in the sense that He passed over him, or as Romans 1 says—gave him over to his sin and hard-heartedness. Instead of mercifully regenerating Pharaoh’s heart for salvation, God chose to let Pharaoh keep running away from Him right off the cliff.”

“What we see in double-predestination is that God acts positively toward sinners by mercifully granting them a new heart that leads to salvation by faith in Jesus, and He works negatively toward others by not regenerating them, allowing them to remain in their spiritual hardness and to run headlong off the cliff to hell, receiving exactly what they deserve.”

“As we come to grips with this, our starting point is critical. It’s not that all deserve to go to heaven; it’s that all deserve to go to hell. But God, rich in mercy, chooses to save some sinners. We are all guilty in Adam and responsible before God for our own sin. As it says in 21—We are all part of the same fallen lump of clay. So the true mystery is not why God would save some but not all. It’s why God would save any?”

“This is what makes mercy mercy, and grace grace. This is what makes salvation a gift, so no one may boast. This is what most brilliantly reveals God in all His glory. And God’s glory is the ultimate purpose—read 23.”

“1 Timothy 2:4 says that God desires all people to be saved. But what God desires and what God decrees are different. What God desires most, and what underlies all He decrees, is that all see and marvel at the fullness, or, as it says in 23—the riches of His glory. And in God’s infinite wisdom, God’s glory is most clearly and powerfully seen in the contrast between His saving mercy and His holy justice. That’s what Paul says—read 22-23.”

ILLUSTRATION: Showcase diamond against black backdrop

“God’s power and glory shine more brightly against the backdrop of sin, wrath, and judgment. Only when you are on the divine porch, watching others run from God over the cliff into hell, do you see the wonder and glory of God’s saving mercy and grace toward you and say—That’s what I deserved, but all glory to the merciful God.”

“I think the greatest application and fruit of reverent adoration is a life of transcendent thanksgiving. A gratitude that runs deep and wide, rising far above life's troubles.”

“God wants us to see that our sin, unbelief, and idolatry are ours. They are what separate us from Him. We are fallen. We are sinful. We deserve God’s wrath, but in Christ He mercifully saves us from it.”

“No one here deserves to be chosen by God. No one here deserves to have the pardoning and life-giving death and resurrection of Jesus be theirs. No one here deserves to have the righteous blood of Christ cover over all their sins. No one here deserves to be called a child of God. No one can boast that they are, because it’s all about God’s sovereign choice and amazing grace.”

“This is why Christians should be the most grateful people on earth—God has met our greatest need through the Spirit in Jesus. Could you imagine if God wasn’t God? What if it were up to us to remove ourselves from His condemnation and make peace with Him? Thank God that God is God!”

“Instead of standing eternally condemned, we stand in eternal awe of God’s sweet mercy and holy justice. We have been mercifully spared God’s eternal wrath, which we deserve, and we will experience God’s glory forever in heaven, which we don’t deserve. And it’s all His doing! What more could we be grateful for?”

“If anyone here is anxiously wondering, Has God chosen me for salvation? Am I one of the elect? God is patiently enduring your sinfulness. But don’t presume on God. The offer of eternal life is yours right now in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Believe in Jesus and know you are His. God is God, and we should be transcendently thankful that He is!”

QUOTES:
Sam Storms - “These final verses are a challenge for us all. They run counter to both the religious and secular instincts of men and women. But this is God, speaking through Paul, explaining why he does what he does. We may not like it. We may not agree with it. We may not even understand it well enough to form an opinion on it. But if God says it, it is true. And God’s truth is good and righteous and holy and loving and is designed for our spiritual strengthening and growth.”

John Calvin - “A mystery our minds cannot comprehend ought to be reverently adored.”

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Behold Our God
Only A Holy God
It's Your Grace
Show Us Christ
We Give Thanks (Psalm 107)
Rejoice

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 9:22-29

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

Chosen For Life: The case for divine election

by Sam Storms

Out of divine love, He decided not to give you what you deserve for your sin—eternal judgment. That’s what we call MERCY, and it’s the focus of today's passage. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: ROMANS: The Power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
TEXT: Romans 9:14-18
TITLE: Sweet Mercy
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet

POINTS:
I. Moses and the Golden Calf
II. Pharaoh’s Hard Heart

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

ILLUSTRATION: People running from God toward a cliff to hell

“Out of billions lost, God chose to stop you on your hell-bound path and bring you to Himself. You didn’t deserve to be saved. God wasn’t obligated to save you. Out of divine love, He decided not to give you what you deserve for your sin—eternal judgment. That’s what we call MERCY, and it’s the focus of today's passage.”

“In 6-13, Paul explained that God chose Isaac and Jacob over Ishmael and Esau—here’s the kicker—apart from any human qualities or influence. Their redemption was purely God’s choice.”

“To the natural mind, that seems unjust. Like the Yankees taking the field at Fenway, the moment Paul finishes 13, he can hear the hisses and boos. If God is truly just, He must choose one and reject the other based on something within the individual. What could be more fair than that? But reaching out to grab some but not others, without regard for anything in the individual, seems monstrously unfair. It makes God look arbitrary, capricious, and even unrighteous.”

“Paul knows the human heart, so he anticipates the objection. So in 14, look at it with me. In response to 10-13, he says—What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? Paul’s response—By no means! We could say—Certainly not! No one can charge God with even a hint of injustice.”

“Here’s the truth: God is perfect in every way. That means His choices are perfect. God is sovereign over all. He answers to no one and is responsible to no one, which means He is sovereign over the salvation of sinners. If He chooses to mercifully reach out and draw certain sinners to Himself while allowing others to keep running from Him, that is His prerogative because He alone is God.”

“This is what Paul sets out to prove in these verses. He does it by continuing his OT tour. Last week it was Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Today it’s Moses and Pharaoh.”

“Paul’s words are from Exodus 33:19.  If you recall, Moses went to meet with God at Mt. Sinai. In his absence, the Israelites grew restless and decided to build a golden calf. When Moses returned with the Ten Commandments in hand, he found them singing, dancing, and worshipping the idol.”

“Think about that. Moses is with God on the mountain, receiving the Ten Commandments that begin with—you guessed it—You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make a carved image for yourself. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. When he returns, he finds them doing exactly that.”

“That incident brought severe judgment; 3,000 Israelites lost their lives, and the Lord told Moses that His presence would no longer be with them. But Moses pleaded with God for reassurance of His continued presence. Despite their grievous sin, God relented, showing mercy to Moses and Israel by assuring them of His continued presence. God chose to be merciful to Israel (not destroying them all for their idolatry) not because they deserved it, but simply because he chose to have mercy on them—(16) It does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”

“IMPORTANT: Moses responded to God’s mercy by asking to see His glory, and God replied: Exodus 33:18-19”

“By quoting Exodus 33:19 in Romans 9, Paul argues that God is not unjust in showing mercy to some and not to others. On the contrary, He remains true to His nature. This is fundamental to being the all-glorious and sovereign God of the universe: the freedom to show mercy to whomever He wills, free from any human exertion, merit, or will.”

“Now, we see the flip side of God’s sovereign mercy in His treatment of Pharaoh—read 17.”

“I know you’re familiar with the story of the Exodus. Pharaoh was an idolater who believed he was a god and brutally oppressed God’s people. His heart was very hard toward God. Like everyone else in the picture, he was running hard and fast away from God. God heard His people’s cry and, through Moses, liberated and led them out of Egypt, but not without a showdown. In 17, Paul quotes from Exodus 9, where after the seventh plague God tells Pharaoh why He raised him up: so that through Pharaoh’s prolonged resistance to letting God’s people go, there would be a dramatic display of God’s power through the plagues, and His glory would be proclaimed in all the earth as a result. But notice what it says in 18.”

“Paul puts God’s mercy and hardening together. He mercifully reaches out and grabs some who are running away from him, and he allows others to keep running right off the cliff into hell. The point is that both are His sovereign choice and both reveal His glory. More on the theological implications of this next week!”

“Today, here’s what we need to grasp: No human being deserves God’s mercy. A primary objection, as in Paul’s day, is that election is unfair. In truth, the question we should ask is why God would save anyone at all. We all deserve God’s immediate judgment. If any situation proved this, it’s the golden calf.”

“We have already seen in Romans that we are all running hard and fast away from God. No one is righteous. No one desires God. All have sinned. All are guilty before God. All deserve God's wrath. No one has a claim on God’s mercy. If God chooses not to reach out and mercifully save someone running from Him, that person receives justice because they were running from God. No one deserves God’s mercy, but God is merciful, so He made a way at the cross where justice and mercy meet in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.”

“And God is not obligated to show mercy to one person just because He shows it to another. If the president pardons one person (an act of mercy), is he obligated to pardon everyone? No. So it is with God. God has mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy.”

“This is our only hope: that God will show us mercy. The problem isn’t that we lack the will to make our own choices. We do. We choose what we desire. In the imagery of people running away from God, they are doing what they desire. That’s called free will. The problem is that our will is wicked, so we only choose wickedness. When you finally choose to have faith in Jesus, it’s only because God willed you to choose Christ by quickening your heart and making you alive to Christ, so that you put your faith in Christ. It’s the miracle of regeneration, and apart from it, no one believes in Jesus.”

“CHURCH, TAKE HEART: By God's Sweet Mercy, you are no longer running from Him. In Christ, through the Spirit, you have been brought near to God. He did this, not you. So go to Him every day for new mercies, so that you experience Him, enjoy Him, and trust Him, for His all-sufficient mercy that is new each morning. And the next morning. And the next morning. And the next morning. All the way to heaven.”

APPLICATION:
What should this truth do for us? 
1. Kill pride and cultivate genuine humility: God did what we could not do.
It’s not that God looked down the corridors of time, saw you would choose Him, and chose you. That’s not mercy; that’s God rewarding us for human effort. There is no more room for pride in the Reformed view of salvation. When we talk with those who disagree, we engage humbly because we have no reason to boast (Ephesians 2). God did what we could not do, and that should kill pride and cultivate genuine humility.

2. It provides strong assurance in times of discouragement: God’s mercy isn’t merely for salvation; it’s for everyday living. Lamentations 3. What does that mean—God’s mercies are new every morning? It means that when you wake up tomorrow, your merciful God will be there. As you go to His Word in prayer each morning, asking Him to help you see the wonders and promises of His grace and glory, He will never turn you away or withhold from you what you need to love, enjoy, and be satisfied in Him as your portion. He will mercifully give you what you need to get through the troubles, burdens, pains, and sin of the day. And it won’t be yesterday’s mercies. Yesterday’s mercies were for yesterday. It will be new mercy fit for your new day in Christ.

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Deuteronomy 9:4

QUOTES:
John Piper - “In essence, he says, I exist freely, without cause or control from any other. And I have mercy freely. At the deepest decision of my mercy, there is no cause, control, or constraint from anything outside my own will. That is what it means to be God, Yahweh. That is my name and the essence of my glory.”

R.C. Sproul - “God in his sovereign disposition of grace interrupts our life while we were alienated from him, dead in sin and trespasses, and the Holy Spirit comes and quickens us from death to life and changes the disposition of our heart. Where formerly Christ seemed repugnant, now he is the sweetest thing in the world. We rushed to him, we choose him, we embrace him, and we trust him, because God's grace has given us the Pearl of great price.”

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
God Is Faithful (Psalm 114)
His Mercy Is More
My Lord I Did Not Choose You
How Great Is Your Faithfulness
His Mercy Is More
Thy Mercy

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 9:19-23

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

CLICK BELOW TO PURCHASE ONE OF OUR BOOKS OF THE QUARTER:

I want you to recall the moment you placed your faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation. Got it? Now ask yourself: Why did I believe in Jesus while others reject him? Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: ROMANS: The Power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
TEXT: Romans 9:6-13
TITLE: Chosen to Choose
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: You believe in Jesus because God chose you to believe in Jesus.

POINTS:
I. Paul’s Thesis
II. Paul’s Proof

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

“People sit in church for years. They hear the gospel preached repeatedly. They witness the gospel’s power lived out beautifully. They even embrace church life eagerly. Like you, they experience the gospel's privileges. Still, they reject Jesus. What’s the difference between you and them? Answer: God’s choice.”

“If you’re a Christian, it’s because God chose you to be a Christian. Being a Christian is about God’s choice before it’s about your choice. His choice leads to your choice. You were chosen to choose Jesus. That’s the focus of Romans 9—God’s sovereign and gracious choice.”

“Before we begin, today’s text is part two of eleven parts in Romans 9-11. In other words, it’s one brick in the wall of election. Don’t look for all your questions to be answered in a single sermon. Paul’s argument is progressive, so write down your questions along the way. Do some additional study. Ask a pastor. Stay engaged.”

“The first five verses pose a dilemma for Paul’s gospel. Although Israel possesses God's salvific promises, their rejection of Jesus seems to render those promises null and void. This is the source of Paul’s deep anguish in 1-3, which leads him to be willing to be cut off from Christ in their place, if that were possible. But Israel’s future doesn’t hinge on Paul’s selflessness; it hinges on God’s faithfulness. Naturally, the question is: Can we trust God to keep His word? To this Paul says—read 6.”

“Paul’s assertion here is that denying God’s faithfulness because Jews are cut off from Christ misunderstands God’s promises. The truth is, God never promised that every ethnic Israelite would be saved.”

“Paul makes this point three ways: 
- 6—For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel 
- 7—and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring
- 8—it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring”

“Paul’s assertion is significant. Salvation isn’t inherited biologically. An ethnic Jew isn’t equivalent to a child of God. Being born into Abraham's lineage doesn’t guarantee a place in God's kingdom. God never made that promise.”

“So Paul is clear: There is an Israel within Israel. Some embrace God’s promises, and some don’t. Those who respond to God inwardly (i.e., by faith in God and His promises, circumcised of the heart) are true Israelites to whom God’s promises belong. There are Jews who are physically children of Abraham, and there are Jews who are both physically and spiritually children of Abraham. The promise belongs to the latter.”

“Picture a circle representing everyone who has physically descended from Abraham. Ethnic Israel. Israel according to the flesh (8). Within that circle is a smaller circle representing Israel, according to God’s promise. It’s the remnant Paul will discuss later in the text. It’s the true Israel, the spiritual Israel, the chosen Israel, the Israel to whom God’s promises belong. This is why Paul can say God’s Word does not fail; not every ethnic Israelite belongs to God.”

“This is crucial because the gospel is at stake. If you can be saved by your bloodline, the blood Jesus shed is meaningless, and God’s promise to save by grace alone fails. To the contrary, Galatians 3 says: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise—(Galatians 3:28-29)”

“Paul doesn’t say that if you’re Abraham’s offspring, you’re in Christ and heirs to the promise. He says that if you’re in Christ, you’re Abraham’s offspring and heirs to the promise. That makes Jesus the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. That makes the gospel the only way to heaven.”

“Unbeliever—Don’t spend money on Ancestry to dig up some Jewish blood. Turn to Jesus in repentance and faith.”

“So when Paul says in 4—some with privileges reject Jesus—it doesn’t mean God’s word has failed. If that’s your conclusion, you misunderstand God’s promise. God’s word is true and faithful in Christ Jesus. That’s the thesis. Now Paul gives the proof.”

“Paul goes back to the beginning of Abraham’s family to prove the point he has just made in 6-7. He has already let the cat out of the bag in 7 by quoting Genesis 21:12—Through Isaac shall your offspring be. But he expands on the importance of Isaac and Ishmael—read 7b-9.”

“If you remember, in Genesis 12 and 15, God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation. But as Abraham and his barren wife, Sarah, grew older, his faith wavered. Instead of trusting God to keep His promise, Abraham took matters into his own hands and fathered a son with his wife’s servant, Hagar. She conceived and gave birth to Ishmael. Fast forward to Genesis 18, and we find Abraham asking God to make Ishmael the son of promise. The conversation went like this: Genesis 17:18-21”

“In these verses, God makes it clear to Abraham that although Ishmael is his physical son, he is not the son of promise. Isaac, not Ishmael, is the son of promise. The point is that receiving God’s promises is a matter of His choosing, not of ethnicity or bloodline. The promise of salvation is about God’s sovereign choice, not human effort or physical descent.”

“But Paul says, let’s go down another generation to Esau and Jacob for an even stronger argument—read 10-13. A few details to note here: 
- (10) Unlike Isaac and Ishmael, who had different mothers (Ishmael’s mother, Hagar, was Egyptian, a Gentile), Jacob and Esau were twins with the same mother, Rebekah, and the same father, Isaac. All Israelites.
- (11) God made His choice when they were still in the womb, unable to do good or bad.
- (12) The statement that the older (Esau) will serve the younger (Jacob) is a reversal of order. In that culture, the firstborn held the position of honor and was the primary recipient of the inheritance.”

“Why are these details important? Because they prove God’s promises are not guaranteed by ethnicity, behavior, or birth order. Individual salvation comes by the sovereign and unconditional call of God—read 11.”

“Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, and Esau were all physical descendants of Abraham, ethnic Israelites. All of them fit in that big circle. But only Isaac and Jacob fit in the inner circle, not because they deserved it or because of anything they had done, but simply because God sovereignly and mercifully called them to be children of His promises. As it says in 13.”

“We could translate this—Jacob I loved, Esau I rejected. Paul is not saying that God was filled with malice and loathing toward Esau. The point is that God chose Jacob, not Esau.”

“Both were undeserving sinners, yet God chose to set His divine affections on Jacob, not Esau. God’s love for Jacob was expressed in His unmerited grace and mercy. His hatred for Esau was expressed in His righteous and just rejection, both to the praise of His glory. More on that in the coming weeks!”

“God is faithful, and His word never fails. He chooses according to His electing purposes. Nothing can thwart those purposes. Everyone He chooses to be saved in Jesus Christ will be saved. Why are you a Christian? God chose you to choose His Son Jesus Christ. You believe in Jesus because God chose you to believe in Jesus. You were chosen to choose. As we will see next week, what a merciful God we belong to.”

APPLICATION:
How does this impact our daily walk with Jesus?
- We can personally rest in God’s electing purposes - Just as Isaac and Jacob received salvation not because of their race but because of God’s grace, so your salvation is by grace and nothing else. That’s not to diminish the importance and significance of faith. More on that in chapter 10.

Our temptation is to feel the need to earn God’s favor. We want to measure our identity in Christ by our intensity for Christ. We want to measure our standing with God by our sacrifice for God. If you struggle with condemnation, if your joy in Jesus ebbs and flows with your performance for Jesus, or if you think you just need to be better or do more, you’re not resting in the gospel; you’re trying to earn your way to God. It’s pure pride, and you need to repent of it now. Rest in knowing that if God chose you, He will be faithful to keep you—Romans 8:31-39!

We can trust God with His electing purposes - One of the hardest things is seeing those we love reject Jesus. A natural question is—Why doesn’t God save them? 1-5 reveal Paul’s personal anguish over his fellow Jews who didn’t know Jesus. Yet he never gave up. When he visited a city, he always took the gospel to the synagogues first. We shouldn’t either. 

First, don’t assume God won’t save your loved ones, no matter how many times they have rejected the gospel. As long as they are breathing, their redemptive story is unfolding. God’s chosen are faceless to us. 

Second, no matter how much you love the unsaved person in your life, don’t think they deserve God’s love. They don’t. They are sinners who deserve God’s eternal judgment—just as you were. God’s rejection of Ishmael and Esau was righteous and deserved. God isn’t unjust in not saving your loved one. Pray that He will save them. Share Jesus with them. Don’t give up on them. But trust God with His electing purposes. As we will see in the coming weeks—He alone is God!

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 2:28-29

QUOTES:
Douglas Moo - “Love and hate are not here, then, emotions that God feels but actions that He carries out.”

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
Sing
Here Is Love
It's Your Grace
God Is Faithful (Psalm 114)
All Things

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 9:14-18

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How good are YOU? Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

TEXT: James 2:10
TITLE: How Good Are You?
PREACHER: Tim Lambros

POINTS:
I. A Misunderstanding of God’s Law
II. A Misunderstanding of Jesus

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.
ILLUSTRATION: story of “I hope so”

“These are the people we run into every day of our lives. James will help us grasp what’s going on in two ways – people misunderstanding God’s Law and people misunderstanding who Jesus is.”

“James is writing to Jewish Christians scattered about and gathered in small Churches. He opens his letter to “the 12 tribes in the Dispersion.” 

“James 2 is dealing with a specific situation where the Church is sinning.  It’s the sin of partiality.  It was easy for Church members to prioritize the rich person visiting the Church. Gold rings, fine designer clothes – hey come sit with me. If you’re rich it means you have credibility and opportunity that may benefit me.  Poor people are a drain on us. This guy, this couple could be super helpful. And so on…”

“Like in all the NT epistles to Churches, God will preserve this situation in His Word so all future Churches will learn.  There is a profound truth that arises from this situation.”

“NOTICE He begins on the positive side READ V. 8.  ROYAL LAW – YOU ARE DOING WELL.  Then he brings correction.  READ V. 9  If you are partial to some in the Church and treat the poor as 2nd class citizens YOU ARE COMMITTING SIN.  Don’t you love how James is clear and direct?”

“More importantly, you are committing sin AND ARE CONVICTED BY THE LAW AS TRANSGRESSORS.  James tells us you are convicted by the law and you are a transgressors.  Being a transgressor of the law is huge.  You have violated the standard of a holy God. Showing partiality to the rich violates a long held law that Israel was to treat the poor the same as the rich.  Israel as God’s chosen people were to be equitable with everyone. James audience of Jewish Christians would know this. Then he drops this grenade into their thinking.”

“READ V. 10. You are guilty of it all because you are a transgressor.  You have transgressed God’s law.  It might seem too high of a bar but that’s how God intended it to be.”

“Most people out there misunderstand God’s law.  Israel certainly did. What is the law?  The law was God’s revelation of His holy standard to Israel.  The law is a reflection of God’s character.”

“Why was it given? The law was given to show Israel how they needed a Savior.  To point them to their utter failure to live to God’s standard. To point to the  hope of the promised Messiah that would come.  The law was given to show Israel they could not keep it.”

“So James says quite succinctly what we know in Scripture.  God’s law is an interdependent whole.  Meaning God’s law functions in our lives in such a way that we violate one aspect of the law we violate the whole thing.   James tells the Churches that if they show partiality to the rich they’ve violated all the law.  We are transgressors of God’s holy law.”

ILLUSTRATION: A jar of water and one drop of poison or food coloring.

“Have you ever thought about what is the most popular religious belief out there?  Is it historic, orthodox Christianity?  Or secular humanism?  I submit to you this – GOOD PEOPLE GO – good people go to heaven. Transgressors go to heaven. Underneath Catholic believers, Muslims, Mormons or any works-based belief system is this common thread GOOD PEOPLE GO.”

“This is the aquarium most of America swims.  People you work with.  Family members you see regularly.  They’ve never really been asked to explain why this functions in their life but it drives their unexamined theology of God’s law, sin and heaven.”

ILLUSTRATION: When was the last time you had a gospel conversation with someone?  Conversations usually progress from social to religious to gospel.  How many of you got to a conversation about the gospel and asked this question “Why would God allow you into heaven?” TYPICAL ANSWERS … I’ve been a good Dad, I’ve worked hard, I’ve never killed anyone … etc etc so why wouldn’t a good God allow me in?

“When you think about the GOOD PEOPLE GO, it makes perfect sense. Good God, good place reserved for good people whose good deeds outweigh bad deeds. Sounds good doesn’t it? Imagine if God sent BAD PEOPLE TO HEAVEN.  That wouldn’t work!!”

“The Bible drops a bomb into this thinking.  James says if you break one part of the law you’re a transgressor.  Transgressors of God’s law don’t get into heaven.  All the people swimming in this aquarium culturally - hearing this day after day misunderstand God’s law. God’s holiness, His perfections, His utter purity.”

ILLUSTRATION: How Good Are You tract
LLUSTRATION: RC Sproul conference

“We need to help our friends who misunderstand God’s law. But theres’ more. People who believe in the GOOD PEOPLE GO religion misunderstand Jesus.”

“So we know from Scripture that if we break one part of the law we’ve broken the entire law.  We are transgressors.  We must accept what God’s Word says about us and not our cultural explanations.  Why?  Because of God’s holiness. Not our flattered view of self and good intentions.  We must see our sin in light of God’s holiness. Otherwise we are a cursed like we saw in Gal. 3:10.”

“God’s Word shows us something very different.  Scripture doesn’t lower the standard for mankind.  God doesn’t look the other way for transgressors who have sinned against Him. The Bible tells us the story of one person – namely Jesus Christ – who perfectly fulfilled the law.”

“The four gospels give us four different views of Christ earthly life and mission. They all say the same thing.  Jesus came and lived in the flesh to fulfill the law.  God’s holiness demands a very high standard.  Jesus put on flesh and lived a perfect life.  Never once broke the law. Paul dealt with this in his letter to the Romans. First he says how people CANNOT be saved: Romans 3:19–20. Then he says how people can be saved: Romans 3:21–26. We are saved by the gift of Christ righteousness by faith.  Not by works.  Not by how good you have been.”

“Think about this for a minute.  The good people go has some pretty easy holes in it to be seriously taken if people stop and think about it for a minute. 1st problem – who decides who is good? For our generation do we put Mother Theresa way up here and Hitler way down here and comfortably put ourselves somewhere in the middle?  That’s what the avg person in America does. Have you ever met someone who sees themselves as a bad person? 2nd problem - what if my good isn’t good for my neighbor – how do we know what is right? Who decides the goodness standard? What if my definition of good in my neighborhood is different than my neighbors definition? Even religious people have differences – are all religious beliefs basically the same? You get below surface and there are massive differences. We just had the 25th anniversary of 9/11.  What if they religious Islamic Jihadist believe they did good when the crashed airplanes into the twin towers? Who am I to say that’s bad?”

“Also, how good do you have to be?  How do you measure? Does 7 get us in? What if you’re a 4.9 and 5.0 is the goodness standard and you’re one good deed from getting int? We can’t know and you will never be sure. No wonder people only hope they will get in.”

“People who believe in the GOOD PEOPLE GO haven’t taken time to fathom that God’s law is a reflection of His holiness, His standard.  They also tend to have a high opinion of self as they compare themselves to others and come away with a flattering self-assessment.”

“The reason the Bible throws a grenade into the comfortable I’m a 6/7 on the goodness scale is because of Jesus.  America is consumed with the goodness theory – consumed because as long as it’s all about me doing more good than bad deeds I’m going to make it.  I don’t have to consider my evil heart intentions, I don’t have to consider the holiness of God and I don’t even have to consider the claims of Jesus.”

“What is God like?  Look to Jesus. What do we see in Jesus? The perfect fulfillment of the law His entire life.  Never once sinned. Here’s the bottom line … Good people don’t go to heaven, forgiven people go to heaven.”

APPLICATION:
1. Pray
Remember Paul’s example from last week’s message? - Romans 9:1–2
That should lead us to pray.  Great sorrow for those who are captured by this false religious belief. This is their theology.  They believe there is a God. He is good, He’s created heaven as that place where good people go.  I’m a good person – my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds so I’m in. It starts with prayer.  It calls us to pray.  We are helpless to change what people of believe apart from God’s work in their lives.  So we pray.

2. Grow in asking wise questions 
Tell me about … 
What’s your spiritual journey been like?
What are some of your spiritual beliefs?
What do you believe happens 5 minutes after you die?
Who do you say Jesus is?  Good person, good teacher or Savior?

3. Get acquainted with the Bridge course 
Personal evangelism help
Course designed for unbelievers

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Galatians 3:10
Romans 3:10

QUOTES:
Kent Hughes - “James sees the law as a seamless garment which, when ripped in one place, tears the whole garment.”

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
All Sufficient Merit
It Is Finished
We Have Been Healed
And Can It Be
Rock of Ages

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
James 2:10 - Bridge

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Israel had all the privileges of the old covenant, yet it was meaningless because they missed the one thing they absolutely needed—Jesus. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: ROMANS: The Power of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
TEXT: Romans 9:1-5
TITLE: Don’t Miss Jesus
PREACHER: Derek Overstreet
BIG IDEA: Jesus is everything, and without him we have nothing. Don’t miss Jesus!

POINTS:
I. Jesus is Everything
II. Everything Points to Jesus

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

ILLUSTRATION: Stranded in the desert with everything but WATER - the one thing you need to live!

“Today we will see that this is Israel's tragedy. They had all the privileges of the old covenant, yet it was meaningless because they missed the one thing they absolutely needed—Jesus.”

“Paul spent the first eight chapters of Romans to show that the ground is level at the cross. Jew or Gentile, all have sinned, all are under God’s wrath, and all have only one hope—the gospel of Jesus Christ, God’s power unto salvation. No matter who you are or where you come from, faith in Jesus is the only way anyone can be declared righteous and justified in God's eyes.”

“That leaves one big question—How is the gospel consistent with God’s promises to Israel in the OT and His plan throughout salvation history? Romans 9-11, one of the most debated sections in the NT, answers that question. Here’s what we learn today: Jesus is everything, and without him we have nothing. Don’t miss Jesus!”

“We can experience all the joys and privileges of being part of the church, but without faith in Jesus, it’s all meaningless because it’s Christless. If we’re not careful, Israel’s tragedy can be ours.”

“Paul begins Ch 9 shockingly. With a stroke of the pen, he moves from joyful assurance in 8:31-39 to intense anguish. It’s as if he anticipates the shock of his reader, so he frames his anguish in 1, saying—look at it with me—I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit. In other words, I know this sounds radical, but it’s no joke. Paul’s grief isn’t for effect. His sorrow is real, his anguish is deep, and his concerns are grounded in truth from the Spirit. He wants his readers to get it. So what is the source of his great sorrow and unceasing anguish?”

“The source of Paul’s anguish is that many of his fellow Jews are cut off from Christ. The word Paul uses for accursed in 3 is anathema. Paul doesn’t use the word anathema often, but when he does, it’s not good. (1 Corinthians 16:22, Galatians 1:9)”

“To be anathema or accursed is to be cut off from Christ, which means being spiritually damned without hope. Paul’s fellow Jews are lost and under God’s condemnation, and this deeply grieves Paul. So much so that he would, if he could, trade places with them. Of course, he knows he can’t, because, as he just said in the preceding verses—Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”

RUNNING APPLICATION: Paul’s heart for his unsaved fellow Jews is both commendable and convicting. It should compel us to examine our hearts toward the lost in our lives. Do you agonize over the fate of the lost? Do you carry a burden for the unsaved? Or are you indifferent toward them? Do you sit in self-righteous judgment of the unbelievers in your life, or do you grieve over their condition? 

ILLUSTRATION: Older man in the coffee shop

“This needs continual evaluation. It sounds like a good CG discussion. If I believe what the Bible teaches about the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the judgment of hell, but I don’t grieve over the lost—why not?”

“At the heart of Romans 9-11 is God’s sovereignty in saving sinners. But the doctrine of election should not make us indifferent to the lost; it should give us a heart for them, knowing God will save whom he will save.”

“When we see God in His sovereignty and holiness, and we see others in their sin, just like we were, and we know what our sin deserves and where it ultimately leads us, and we know what Christ has done for us, it should give us a heart of grief and compassion for the lost. It did for Paul, and it should for us.”

“Nothing is more serious in this world than being outside of Christ, and nothing in this world matters more than being united to Christ by faith. Jesus is everything!”

“Paul’s anguish runs so deep because of everything God has given to them as His people. He rattles off numerous spiritual privileges that belong to Israel as God’s people. Let’s briefly look at each one…”

“Adoption: This adoption language goes back to the Exodus. In His love and mercy, God led the Jewish people out of Egypt and redeemed them as His own. As Hosea 11:1 says—Out of Egypt I called my son. This was not an individual adoption like the NT adoption in Ch. 8. That adoption comes through faith in Jesus and guarantees personal salvation to all who believe. Israel’s adoption was corporate. Out of all the nations, God chose to brand Israel as His people who would serve Him and be a blessing to others. What a privilege.”

“Glory: Israel had the privilege of being the people among whom God dwelt. This has always marked God’s relationship with His people—His presence with them. Think of the fiery cloud in the Exodus, God’s presence at Mt. Sinai, or the Ark of the Covenant, first in the tabernacle and then in the Temple. This is where God’s glory, His supernatural majesty, was manifested—in the presence of Israel and no other nation. What a privilege.”

“Covenants: The covenants, those strategic moments in redemptive history when God said in different ways—You will be my people, and I will be your God—from Adam to David—belonged to Israel.”

“Giving of the Law: After leading them out of Egypt, God led Israel to Mt. Sinai, where for the very first time He gave them His written word. He did not leave them to figure out who He is and how they should live for Him. He graciously gave them His Word. What an amazing privilege.”

“Worship: Paul probably has the temple worship system in mind. The priesthood rituals. The animal sacrifices. The festivals. All of these were central to God’s people entering God's presence to praise Him.”

“Promises: God is the God of promise. His ultimate promise in Genesis 3, where God promised that the seed of Eve would crush the serpent, was the first promise of the gospel. Then from Abraham to the patriarchs to the prophets, God was and is faithful to His promises.”

“There’s actually one more privilege. It’s different from the others. Instead of belonging to them, Paul says it comes from them—read 5.”

“Paul’s words are stunning. This Jesus, the Messiah whom the Jews have rejected and been cut off from, comes from their own flesh. He comes from the lineage of Abraham, Moses, and David. Yet he is far greater. He is God in the flesh. Paul declares this emphatically at the end of 5 when he says—Christ who is God over all.”

“They missed Jesus. This is what breaks Paul’s heart. Amid all their rules and religion, they missed Jesus. The privileges of 5, as glorious as they are, were all pointers to Christ and are ultimately nothing unless you are joined to Christ by faith.”

“They missed Jesus, so they have nothing. That’s what Paul is saying here. Your privileges are real. They are precious. They matter. But if you haven’t embraced Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, it doesn't matter what privileges and advantages you have. You don’t have Christ. And if you don’t have Christ, you don’t have God and all His promises and blessings.”

“That’s the source of Paul’s grief and the tragedy of a Christless religion. It’s just as relevant to us as it was to the church in Rome.
You can come to church every Sunday and miss Jesus

• You can read the Bible every day and miss Jesus

• You can have deep theological conversation and miss Jesus

• You can attend CG and miss Jesus

• You can have great morals and miss Jesus

• You can have all the Christian traditions and miss Jesus

• You can give generously and miss Jesus

• You can serve everywhere all the time and miss Jesus”

“For the young people:
You can grow up in a gospel-centered home and miss Jesus. 

• You can attend youth faithfully and miss Jesus. 

• You can be homeschooled or attend Christian school and miss Jesus.”

“Don’t miss Jesus, because without him you have nothing. Your religion is Christless, which makes it meaningless. Are you missing Jesus? If you are, come to him now through repentance and faith.”

RUNNING APPLICATION: Maybe you haven’t missed Jesus, but you have misplaced him. You love Jesus as your Savior, but if you're honest, he’s getting lost in the shuffle of your life. Every Sunday, you leave him in this room instead of taking him with you. You have Christ, yet your life seems Christless. You are like the Ephesians in Revelation 2:4, to whom Jesus says you have abandoned the love you had at first. Come back to Jesus today and lay it all down.”

“If you get stranded in the desert, it doesn’t matter what supplies you have; without water, you have nothing. When it comes to faith, without Jesus, it’s all meaningless. But with Jesus, you have everything you’ll ever need for a life of joy, meaning, peace, and an eternity with God. Jesus is everything, and without him we have nothing—Don’t miss Jesus!”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
This is what the Jews missed. In all their glorious privileges, they missed Jesus:

• According to Matthew 2:15, Jesus is the focus and fulfillment of Israel’s adoption.

• According to John 1:14, Jesus is the presence of divine glory with God’s people. He condescended to our world, born a man, while remaining fully God.

• Through his saving work on the cross, Jesus is the climax of the covenants, ushering in a new covenant, as Matthew 26:28 states, with his blood.

• As 10:4 says, Jesus is the goal and fulfillment of the law, keeping it perfectly and providing the righteousness God demands of us. 

• As the letter to the Hebrews powerfully proclaims, Jesus fulfills the priesthood and is the ultimate once-for-all sacrifice that all other sacrifices pointed to.

• As 2 Cor 1:20 says, Jesus fulfills and confirms all of God’s promises, making them Yes and Amen in him.

QUOTES:
John Stott - “One would think that Israel, favored with these blessings, prepared and educated for centuries for the arrival of her Messiah, would recognize and welcome him when he came.”

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
All I Have Is Christ
Christ Is Mine Forevermore
Christ Our Hope In Life And Death
All Glory Be Forever
I Need You

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
James 2:10 - Bridge

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

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It is true that Cheyenne is a secure place to be. But what we discover in our Psalm today, is that there is an eternally greater fortress for the Christian. That fortress is God Himself. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: SUMMER IN THE PSALMS
TEXT: Psalm 91
TITLE: My God in Whom I trust
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: Because our God is a mighty fortress, trust Him!

POINTS:
I. God is our mighty fortress
II. We must trust God in the darkest of times

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

ILLUSTRATION: Cheyenne Mountain Complex - one of the most fortified places on earth with granite armor, blast doors, and indestructible interior

“It is true that Cheyenne is a secure place to be. But what we discover in our Psalm today, is that there is an eternally greater fortress for the Christian. That fortress is God Himself.”

“Since the fall of mankind into sin, our world has become a dangerous place: physical threats and enemies of our soul lurk around every corner: war, disease, accidents, tyranny, governments, murder, theft, loss of income, storms, death, loss… Yet, our problem is that we are surprised when we suddenly find ourselves in danger. A hard situation is coming, and we cannot avoid it. Things can get really dark really fast.”

RUNNING APPLICATION: Q. When this happens, where do you go for help? Where do you go to find refuge? What do you fly, drive, or run to? In times like these, It is all too easy to forget and even abandon deep abiding truths that we dearly hold. Our hearts sink! Our faith plummets! We are not going to survive this!

“Psalm 91 is good news in the face of our worst circumstances! In fact, it sounds too good to be true. But it is infinitely good and true! Spurgeon describes this as one of the most ‘cheerful’ Psalms! And here is why we can believe that Ps 91 is most cheerful: Because our God is a mighty fortress, trust Him!”

“No matter what trouble makes it way to you, trust Him!  No matter what terror crouches near, trust Him! Q. Who will rescue you in the darkest of hours? Q. Where will you go when your very life is threatened? Q. What will protect you from the gravest of circumstances? Psalm 91 ANSWERS our deepest concerning questions! God is our mighty fortress!”

“The truth claim of the text is found in Vs 1 and 2. ‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.’ These two phrases repeat the same meaning for emphasis ‘Shelter.’ ‘Shadow.’ ‘Most High.’ ‘Almighty.’”

“Verse 1 tells us that there is a place that we can dwell, we can abide, we can live securely against anything that comes our way. That place is in the shelter of the Most High. This “shelter” is a secret and secure place as God hides safely in Himself! Nothing and no one can get to us! That place is in the shadow of the Almighty. This “shadow” is the active abiding presence of our all-powerful God. There is none like him in power!”

“God the Most High! God the Almighty, Himself is present! Try to imagine any fortress that even comes close to the security and protection of our God. Believing what Vs 1 declares, we join the chorus with the psalmist in Vs 2.”

“It’s personal! The Most High, the Almighty, is MY refuge, MY fortress, MY GOD! He is your God! YOUR security is in the shelter of YOUR Most High! YOUR safety is in the shadow of YOUR ALMIGHTY GOD!”

“Understanding that the LORD is our refuge and our fortress, the implications for us are staggering! Our response is “My God, in whom I trust.”

“TRUST ME! The Lord has in a sense, has taken our heads in His hands and has said, trust ME! I am your refuge! I am your Almighty fortress! He then illustrates His power, His care, and His faithfulness. He promises His protection and assures of victory. No matter what trouble lies ahead, trust Him! In the darkest of times, trust Him! Really LORD? In the darkest of times? YES, In the darkest of times. The psalmist samples the peril, threat, treachery, evil and danger in verses 3.”

“Consider the treachery of this world in verses 3-6. Some of these are real and some as metaphors the sense is that they serve as illustrations of impossible situations:

• (vs 3) The snares and pestilence (we trapped in trouble and cannot free ourselves, disease and sickness allround, pandemic like)

• (vs 5) The terrors of night, the arrow that flies by day (Sleepless nights of worry or sudden trials that hit while we are asleep. While all seems well today, we are struck down)

• (vs 6) The pestilence that stalks in darkness, and destruction that wastes at noonday. (driving home the same sudden unexpected trouble)

• (vs 10) evils and plagues

• (vs 12) stumbling

• (vs 13) lions and snakes (evil enemies including the demonic)

The threat is real! The dangers are verified! Both physical and spiritual treachery abounds! Both the weak and strong are vulnerable to these!”

“Here is the reality. When we consider the true dangers of this world, all our fixes and places we think are secure are temporary. Their walls of protection are thin. And they are powerless against these perils. They cannot shield us from these dangers. Rather than a true fortress, it's a cardboard fort. BUT Psalm 91 bursts forth in your soul, and we find that ONLY GOD CAN BE OUR TRUE SHELTER IN ALL OF THIS! We must trust Him in the darkest of times! God is your shelter against all of this, in all of this, from all of this! We see this in a beautiful illustration in verse 4”

“This verse illustrates the shadow of the Almighty. Wings of pinions (feathers) and shields of metal are metaphors describing God covering us with his wings and protecting us with his shield. The description of God’s wings is a tender covering of us with the reassuring warmth of safety and comfort “under his wings.”

ILLUSTRATION: Vulnerable baby quail

“We find that we are in the shadow of the wings of the Almighty! And from our perspective, THERE IS NO BETTER PLACE. … and the illustration gets even better! He covers us with the comfort of His pinions. His faithfulness is now a massive shield around us. And He wields a second shield (buckler) as we face the enemy! This is God’s double-shielding of us! The interior is the warmth and comfort of His covering. The exterior a double layer of protection. What I can imagine with the two combined is a fortress of wings of iron-clad feathers forming an impenetrable fortress against all enemies. His faithfulness is impenetrable! He will remain faithful to you in the trial.”

“Because God is our faithful fortress, we trust him! Dwelling in God is trusting Him. Abiding in God is trusting Him. The sense is that we continue our trust in Him. We place our confidence in Him alone. It is not a divided confidence.”

“We now arrive at a very sobering portion of this Psalm. Vs 7 and 8 sober us. If we are not IN God our Fortress, IT IS TERRIBLE! Outside of God’s safety and comfort, IT IS NOT SAFE! IT IS HORRIFYING. The wicked will receive God’s recompense! They will pay dearly for wickedness! They will receive God’s unshielded wrath. The imagery here is you and me on the battlefield. Thousands upon thousands are falling all around us. Arrows that fly by day and destruction laying waste to everyone! Everyone but us! The words “but it will not come near you” are all of MERCY! We have been shielded from the dangers and terrors of this world! Most importantly, we have been shielded from the terror of God’s destruction and righteous wrath.”

“We did not get what we deserved! THIS IS ALL OF MERCY. We did nothing! We observed all that God did around us. These verses must drive us toward humble worship. In God, and in His mercy, we are in the safest refuge. We are in the safest refuge from His wrath! In our sin, we should have fallen with the wicked! ‘...but it will not come near you…’ These words must drive us toward unspeakable relief and joy!”

“Christian, you have Gospel REFUGE in the shadow of the Cross of Jesus Christ! God is your mighty fortress. But you had nothing to do with it. The story on the battlefield that day should have ended with our corpses littered among the thousands! But that is not our story. My story is this: ‘It did not come near me!’ Your story is: ‘It did not come near you!’ How? Why? It did not come near us because we were in the shadow of the cross of Jesus! There, My God, My Savior took my place! And it did not come near to us because there, IT CAME TO HIM. He fell in my place! Jesus received the terror and fury of Father’s wrath for you! I should have received the due recompense for my sin. But My Savior, Jesus, did! Jesus is our Mighty Fortress, trust Him!”

RUNNING APPLICATION:  We decidedly make God our dwelling place, who is already our refuge!
That which is already true, I will make mine. My shelter is Christ, and that is entirely His doing. Yet, I will make him my shelter - my confession and my life.
Q. Where do you go when trouble strikes? Q. Where do you go when you sense evil coming near? Q. Where do you go when fear and panic flood in? Q. What refuge do you seek? 

• A drink? 

• A drug? 

• You run. 

• You move. 

• You shrink back from relationships… shrink back into yourself? Isn’t this our go-to refuge: ourselves! In the end, we think WE are the safest fortress. Clouded by the severity of the trial and the sinfulness of our heart, we run into ourselves seeking rest and security.

“I COMMEND VERSES 11-12 to your further study and delight - But what we find in these verses is that God will hold you up by sending His heavenly angels to guard you. He is all in to secure you and your victory!”

“Where does all this lead us? What can we do with this? We can hear the MOST CHEERFUL VOICE STANDING BEFORE THIS CHOIR! In verses 14-16, we hear the voice of our Mighty Fortress Himself. Our God sings joy, hope, and cheer back to us! What God sings are the most CHEERFUL truths for our ears:

• I will deliver him

• I will protect him

• I will answer him

• I will be with him in trouble

• I will rescue him

• I will honor him

• I will satisfy him with long life

• I will show him my salvation

8 times - ‘I will’. What a manifold unfolding of what God will do for those who dwell in Him. - Promise upon promise upon promise! ‘I will’”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Psalm 18:2–3

QUOTES:
Unknown - “If you are safe with the all-powerful God, you are safe with the all-powerful God!”

C.H. Spurgeon - “No shelter can be imagined at all comparable to the protection of Jehovah's own shadow. The Almighty himself is where his shadow is, and hence those who dwell in his secret place are shielded by himself.”

APPLICATION:
Because God is our mighty fortress, trust him.

His promises are sure!

The beauty of this Psalm is that it gives us handles to hold onto these promises. These help us dwell in His shelter. These help us abide in His shadow. They help us trust in Him. Let’s look at these last 3 handles together:

• Hold fast to Him in love - In love, we hold Him fast, only because He, in infinite love, has held us fast. In Vs. 14, our Almighty loves it when we hold fast to Him alone in steadfast love! “Hold fast to me, remembering that I hold you fast” You hold fast to me - don’t let go, because I hold fast to you and will not let you go! Now that is gospel hope! Let’s sing it back to Him!

• Know His name - God came to reveal Himself to us. Jesus came to make the Father known. The Holy Spirit is making Jesus known to us. We know His name because He made it known to us!

• Call to Him - Are you in trouble? Do you need His help? Are you alone? Are you ensnared? Are you trapped? Do you see no way out? CALL TO HIM, and he will answer! Are you afraid for your life? Are you afraid for your soul? CALL TO HIM, and He will give you eternal life and salvation!

GET TO CHRIST! GET IN HIM!

1. Jesus is your mighty fortress

2. In the face of darkest times, We trust you Jesus! 

This morning we close with beholding and worshiping our glorious Savior, our Mighty Refuge and Fortress, Our God, in whom we trust!

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
God Is For Us
My Soul Will Wait (Psalm 62)
I Have A Shelter
O Lord My Rock And My Redeemer
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 9:1-5

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Individually and corporately God uses His Church to be that unique part of the mission that says – Look what God has done in our life.   Look at how the steadfast love of God has transformed me.  The Church’s existence testifies to God’s CHESED LOVE and His FAITHFULNESS. Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.

SERIES: SUMMER IN THE PSALMS
TEXT: Psalm 117
TITLE: The Reason and Result of Evangelism
PREACHER: Tim Lambros
BIG IDEA: Evangelism exists because worship doesn’t.

POINTS:
I. The Reason for Evangelism
II. The Result of Evangelism

SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.

ILLUSTRATION: Mark Cahill’s book, ONE THING YOU CAN’T DO IN HEAVEN

“Mark's favorite thing to do is to go out and meet people and find out what they believe and why they believe it. You can find Mark at malls, concerts, art and music festivals, airports, beaches, sporting events, bar sections of towns, college campuses, etc., doing just that.”

“Psalm 117 is often seen as a summary conclusion for Psalm 111 – Psalm 117. These are called the Hallelujah series.  Psalm 117 is an appropriate climax to these Psalms.”

RUNNING APPLICATION: Read Paslms 111-117

“Notice in V. 1 there is a call to the entire world.  ALL NATIONS brings attention to God’s desire from the beginning that all mankind would Praise the Lord!  All the people groups would extol Him.”

“In the OT “NATIONS” was the word typically used to speak of the Gentiles.  There was the people of God – Israel, chosen to be God’s people then there was the others – Gentiles.  The word “PEOPLES” is a lesser used word in the OT but typically addresses people groups. Less than the size of a nation like the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Samaritans, etc.”

“Notice the repeated use of the word ALL.  This is not just a simple call for all the world to come join them in Sunday worship for a few songs.  The summons here is to the world to come and submit to the Creator of the world, embrace the offer of His grace and join with Israel – and now the Church – in the praises of His name.”

“Two things that can easily be overlooked in this first verse. 1. God’s plan has always been to the nations 2. Mission and evangelism are at the heart of God’s character.”

“God’s plan has always been to the nations -  Israel is singing this Psalm, this divine summons that ALL NATIONS are called to praise Him. From Abraham to the nation of Israel to the temple life Israel was called to God had the “nations” in mind.  The NT authors clearly saw this after Pentecost.”

“Unfortunately, Isreal failed  in their effort to evangelize the Gentiles. Israel did what many of us NT believers tend to do. We experience the goodness of God and we functionally believe God’s plan is inside these four walls only!”

ILLUSTRATION: How the nature of God shapes and drives the mission of the Church, Michael Reeves book, GOD SHINES FORTH

“God desires that His glory be praised in every inch of the world. Every heart of every human. Why? Because the glory of God is the most precious “thing” if you will in the universe.  It would be wrong for God to promote or desire something else. …The end game of God’s saving purposes are to the praise of His glory.”

“Creation/Fall/Redemption is the revelation of who God is. The Bible is the story of God’s mission to accomplish this. God works in the lives of people to open their eyes.  To what? To the glory of God. For the purpose of praising Him! God has been actively doing this from the garden.”

“His ultimate display of His glory is in the person of Jesus Christ.”

“Part of being on mission is putting on display what God has done in our life.”

“As we read our Bibles, it’s very clear very early in Genesis that God has a redemptive plan in mind.  From Gen. 3 to Noah, to Abraham to Israel to David to Christ you can easily see in God’s Word that He is on the move. God is the initiator. God is working His redemptive plan out in all that He created.”

“God redeems.  God’s plan is that He initiates to save people. People experiencing God’s loving, transforming power in our lives. Notice the Psalmist points the reader to God’s work in their lives in v. 2. FOR GREAT IS HIS STEADFAST LOVE TOWARD US. One of the obvious results of evangelism is that we experience God’s love – or the OT understanding of it is God’s Chesed love.”

“The Hebrew word here is a strong one and carries with it the idea of prevailing. In Exodus 17:11, whenever Moses held up his arms, Israel prevailed in battle. In Genesis 7:18-20, the flood waters in Noah’s days are said to prevail … mightily.”

“Israel singing this song – most likely when they returned from exile and rebuilt the temple – those singing would immediately believe the object of God’s steadfast love would be on them.  HIS STEADFAST LOVE TOWARD US. God’s steadfast love conveys loyalty. It’s like a family or people that covenant together. It’s the kind of love that keeps parents up at night.  Blood is thicker than water. Love that drops everything to help a friend –– helps us continue to forgive over and over.”

“Why is God’s steadfast love GREAT?  God’s love always comes in the presence of our failure, our sin – when he’s always there to pick them up in their depravity.  We sing the great Hymn I once was lost but now I’m found. God’s love to Israel’s was great.  Great in the sense of Israel constantly failing. It’s no different than you and I.  He loves and is committed to His people.”

“As NT believers, we know from 1 Peter that God caused us to be born again.  God initiated in your life.  Scripture knows no context where people are called out of their faithfulness but only out of sinful failure.  This is why the CHESED love of God is so great. What is the result?  People are transformed, changed and brought into the family of God TO PRAISE HIM!”

ILLUSTRATION: How God’s steadfast love has affected JOEY AND BRODY

“When people see the Church what do they see? People who have been transformed by the love of God. One of the RESULTS OF EVANGELISM is the testimony of the Church.  When outsiders look at the Church says “if you want to see a good reason to see and savor Christ just look at those who have failed him over and over.  His goodness and love toward us is amazing.  We should in no way be in His family.”

“Little did they know that 500 years later the fullness of God’s love and redemptive plan would burst forth into all the known world – Jew and Gentile – would experience God’s chesed love.  All nations and people groups would experience the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Psalmist would have no idea of God’s plan about 500 years later.  God would incarnate Himself – people would physically SEE what God was like.  John’s gospel account says ‘the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.’”

“What happens when the steadfast love of Christ meets broken people? What do we see in the four gospels when Jesus encounters people?  Men born deaf and blind hear and see, a woman shackled with a blood issue all her life is healed, a demon possessed man cast out of the community is restored – all sorts of people who encounter the steadfast love of Jesus are never left the same.  Transformed forever.  That’s the power of the steadfast love of the Lord.”

RUNNING APPLICATION: Think about this.  His faithfulness is constant.  It never lets up.  I know at times you think ‘where is God right now” but His faithfulness endures forever.  Say that to yourself. How much more evidence do we need to see than what’s recorded in God’s faithfulness to His plan – ultimately sending His Son?

ILLUSTRATION: We can all relate to this.  What happens when you get a call in the middle of the night that your daughter is in trouble?

“This becomes part of our mission and evangelism.  The steadfast love and the faithfulness of God we have experienced fuels what we say and do. CHURCH – we are a people that God has set His love on and will be faithful to us until the end. It’s the demonstration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life.  Psalm 117 isn’t just a generic call for the lost to come join us in singing!  It’s much more than that.  It’s much than singing. Planting a Church on the east side of Tucson is not the end game. All of Tucson praising the Lord is the end game. Mission statement: We exist to glorify God through the proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURE:
Romans 15:8–12
Ephesians 1
Exodus 34:6–7
Philippians 1:6
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

QUOTES:
Martin Luther - “With a few short words the Psalmist prophesies and proclaims the great work and wonder of God, namely the Gospel and the kingdom of Christ, which was foretold but not yet revealed at that time, and he says: Praise the Lord, all heathens.”

Ray Ortland - “God called Abraham and his descendants to be a channel, not a dam; to pass on, not gobble up, God’s grace and mercy. And the true and final descendant of Abraham, Jesus Christ, broke open God’s grace for all the world once and for all.”

Michael Reeves - “Yet God’s glory is not only the fuel of missions in the sense of being its grand objective. God’s glory – His own naturally overspilling life, showcased in His Son – is Misson’s rationale and it’s motor.”

Michael Reeves - “If someone were to ask us, “What is God like?” the answer must be “Jesus Christ.” That is the result of all we have seen about the glory of God. Bound up in all this is the fact that the very being of God is outwardly propulsive.  God, in having glory radiates; in having a Word; speaks, in have a Son, loves.  It is his very nature to shine, communicate and give Himself in relationship. This is the beating heart of mission.”

APPLICATION:
Challenge you to consider some geographical divides.  Here and east side.  It will take sacrifice over the coming months to prep for a Church plant.  

Start with the easy stuff to overcome your reluctance. Review the love of God in your life and His faithfulness in the many times we fail Him.  

I have an even geographical divide I want you to consider crossing.  Not crossing the great divide of the Atlantic ocean to Europe, the Middle East or Africa. Not the great divide of the Pacific ocean to Asia or Japan.  A different geographical divide.  One that might even be more challenging than crossing the great divide of oceans.  I’m talking about crossing the great geographical divide of your street.  Yes, the street you live on. Your street.  Crossing the great divide of your street to reach your neighbors. 

Individually and corporately God uses His Church to be that unique part of the mission that says – Look what God has done in our life.   Look at how the steadfast love of God has transformed me.  The Church’s existence testifies to God’s CHESED LOVE and His FAITHFULNESS.  John 13: they will know you are my disciples by your love for one another.

SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 8 (entire chapter)

SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
He Is Our God
How Great Thou Art
Jesus, There's No One Like You
All I Have Is Christ
Let Your Kingdom Come
Come Praise And Glorify

NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Psalm 91

THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:

CLICK BELOW TO PURCHASE ONE OF OUR BOOKS OF THE QUARTER: