Romans

We're gonna be reading from Romans chapter 9. If you're using 1 of the church bibles there. It's on page 1135. I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying.

My conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow. An unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ, for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship There's the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises There's are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah who has god overall forever praised.

Amen. It is not as though god's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children on the contrary? It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are god's children.

But is it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated. At the appointed time, I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Not only that. But Rebecca's children were conceived at the same time by our father, Isaac.

Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad in order that god's purpose in election might stand not by works, but by him who calls. She was told the older will serve the younger Just as it is written, Jacob, I loved, but esau, I hated. Okay. Let's turn back to Romans chapter 9. The last time we looked at Romans 9 was quite some time ago, which was the first 5 verses.

You can pick that up online if you want to listen to that. I do recommend that you do hear that because it's a very, very important introduction to some of the stuff that I'm not going to say today, but some of the stuff that actually, follows on from those verses. Further help us now. There are some difficult verses here, and some of them that really do perhaps get us annoyed, we know that people have argued over these verses, and we don't wanna do that, but we do want to sit humbly over what we can understand so that we'll be people that listen to your word and by your spirit, work it through in our lives. Help us now, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Now Why would anyone who understands anything about the wonderful Christian message, turn away from it. If you ever ask that question, why would anyone do that? Why would anyone who knows anything about the lord Jesus Christ, turn away from him. Why would people do that? And yet they do do that.

But why? Why would anyone do that? If the gospel, this good news that we've been seeing in this book of Romans, is so utterly glorious. Why would anyone turn away? Why would they do that?

If Jesus is magnificent in his love to us. If Jesus is immanuel as we were seeing over Christmas, God with us. God with us. That is such good news. Why would anyone turn away from god?

With us from Jesus. Those of us that know what glory and beauty there is in Jesus Christ, those of us in our best moments, when we know that there are best moments, we're we're overwhelmed. With the love of of of god in the lord Jesus Christ, aren't we? Overwhelmed with what he's done for us. We just can't imagine in those moments why anyone would turn away from the lord Jesus.

We can't imagine it. He's everything to us. He is our lover, he's our savior, our friend, our lord, our ruler, our god, our maker. He is everything. He is our all in all.

We wanna submit to him. We wanna give our lives to him. We want to listen to him. We want to obey him. We want to grow in understanding of him.

Grow in knowledge of him. We want to sing about him. Speak about him. Love him more. Don't we?

We want to repent of our self belief and our independent spirit from him. We want to repent of our own ruling our lives and not allowing him to be the king of our lives. We want to hand over our lives to him to be shaped by him, to be molded by him, to be purged by him, to be cleansed by him. To know his love, we want to bathe in it. We want to subject our thinking, to his thinking, our knowledge, to his knowledge, our thoughts, to his thoughts, our understanding, to his understanding, our beliefs to his beliefs.

We want him to guide us and to lead us. We wanna put our feet where he put his feet and where he wants us to put our feet. He is our hope. He is our longing. He is our bridegroom.

He is our excitement. In our best moments, we know this, and we've taken up with this. And as we've seen from Romans, those wonderful truths from Romans, I think we've spent about 7 or 8 maybe more sermons in Romans 8 just just wallowing in the the the wonder of that. As we know that If we're in Christ, god becomes not some transcendent force out there, not some big thing that you can debate about in philosophy clubs, God becomes our father, abba, dad, daddy, God is daddy. It's extraordinary, and the Holy Spirit comes into us and controls us and influences we're told in Roman's aid so that we now have an obligation We have desires.

We have a duty not to follow our sinful nature. But to be molded and follow the spirit of god and go god's ways. And the holy spirit in us helps us to do battle with that sinful nature. And 1 of the ways that we know that we're sons of the living god and god is our father is when we do battle with the sinful nature. The battling itself is evidence that we've been born into the family and we want to fight that which is wrong in our lives.

And follow the living god. And as we battle, then we know even further that god is our father, our abba father, because we cry out to him in prayer through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we even know we were told in Roman's aid. That are sufferings and disappointments and things that happen to in this world that just we don't like very much or even we're disgusted at in our lives that all of those things are leading us to another world that is altogether beautiful where there is no temptation or brokenness or sin that we're being led there. And in fact, we learned in Truman's sake that the whole of creation, all things are craning their necks and looking forward to the lord Jesus price the king who's gonna bring this new world in where everything is perfect and beautiful and wonderful.

And so we even know we've been told that all our pains and our sufferings and disappointments and troubles and battles and temptations are god's wonderful heavenly father way of working good in our lives. All things work together for the good of those who love Christ. Isn't that extraordinary? And that nothing, Paul N's, Romans's aid. Nothing will take us away from the biggest thing in the universe.

The love of god in Christ, nothing. Now if all of that is good news, which it clearly is, then why don't people come in there droves to Christ? Why don't they? Isn't that a question that comes to your mind? Why is it that my friends and my family members and my colleagues and my workmates and my neighbors just won't believe why.

Why? And here's the question that I started off with again. There's even bigger. Why? Why is it that there are people who have been brought up with these privileges of knowing about Christ and this wonderful Christian message.

They've had it in their homes They've had it in their churches. They've heard it. Why would those people turn away from from this? Why? Don't you ask that question?

Why is it that anyone who would have heard that series of sermons on Romans 8 would give up on the word of god from this church, and yet people do. It's 1 of the devastating things of being a pastor, devastates you when people die to that. Why? It's the question. Why?

Well, we've seen something of the answer in Romans already, and that is that it's to do with faith or a better word really today is trust. In other words, who will people trust in? Will they trust in themselves, their wisdom, their way of working out life, or will they trust in god, in his word, in his promises, in his work, who will they trust in? Now we've seen that all of the good things in the gospel that I've just spoken about come from trusting in those things that come in the word of god. Now this is where Paul is, and this is where Paul is in his argument in Romans chapter 9.

Look at verse 6. This is where we pick it up. It is not as though god's word has failed. He wants to show us why. Why is it that so many of his own people, Israel, with so many privileges of the word of god, why aren't they following god?

It is not as though god's word has failed. It's not god's word that's failed. For not all the descendants of Israel are Israel. See, Paul's thinking about his own people, Israel, you can see that from the first 5 verses, and we had a sermon on that. Why on earth are they largely rejecting this glorious king Jesus?

Is it because god's word failed? No. But they had so many privileges of god's word. And he lists them in verses 4 and 5. All kinds of privileges.

In fact, from that nation of people, Israel came this word the Messiah, the personified word himself he argues, but they're not following Jesus. Why? They reject him as king. They reject him as savior. They reject him as lover and guide and all of the things that I've started off with.

Why? Well, look at the end of chapter 9. See the end of chapter 9 verse 30, What then shall we say? That the gentiles that actually didn't have any of these privileges The gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, a righteousness that is by trust faith But the people of Israel who pursue the law as the way of righteousness have not attained their goal. Why not?

See his question. Here's the answer, because they pursued it, not by trust, faith, but but as if it were by works, they stumbled over the stumbling stone, the cornerstone, the lord Jesus Christ. They wouldn't come to Jesus. So all their privileges meant nothing to them. Now he's saying there's nothing wrong with the word of god, but there is everything wrong with people.

And he's making that point. Now let me just say. Before we follow his argument a bit. Do you see how important this is to get that it is not god's word that's failed when it comes to Israel? It so important because if god's promises, if god's word, if this good news that he's spoken about, If his word has failed, then it cannot be good news.

It can only be good intentions. It can only be good, perhaps, is It can only be good, maybe. It can only be good news if. And so It would be different to what we were told at the end of Romans chapter 8 where it says nothing in all creation will be able to separate us the love of god that is in Christ Jesus. The good news can only be true if god is true to his word.

That's really very, very important to get hold of. So let's allow Paul to deal with this problem. What about Israel? What about those who fall away? What about those that verse 6.

It is not as though god's word has failed. It hasn't failed. For not all who were descended from Israel, is Israel. Now let me say this. So I wanna rub this in before we get into the the flesh of it.

In order for us to see whether god's word has failed. You've got to really know what god has promised. If you make up what god has promised, and it fails, you'll blame God, and it's not his fault because he didn't say it. Does that make sense? Yeah?

So that's 1 of the big problems with false teachers. They make massive promises about god that god never made. And so when those promises don't come in true in your life, then you blame god. Do you see how blasphemous that is? So it's essential for you to know whether god's word is is failed or whether god's word works is to actually know what he said.

So let's see what he said, and here's the first big point. Children of god are children of the promise never of the flesh. Children of god are children of the promise never of the flesh. If you think children of god are because of the flesh, then those promises will fail in your life. And then you'll blame god.

True true children of god are children of the promise, not children of the the flesh. See, not everyone who is descended from Israel, his argument is are Israel. Look at verse 6 again. For it is not as though god's word had failed. No.

No. No. For not all are descended, who are descended from Israel are Israel. Israel's rejection of the Messiah, Israel's rejection of Jesus shouldn't be seen as fickleness of god's part or that god can't hold on to his people, by his word, Now he's always distinguished between national Israel and true spiritual Israel. Just because someone is born a Jew doesn't make them a son of god.

It's a very simple point. Not everyone who is a physical descendant of Abraham is really a child of Abraham the father of faith. That's his argument. We've seen that argument before in chapter 4, and we spent a long time looking at that. It has never been a natural thing being saved.

It's never an automatic birthright to be a child of god. Whoever your father is, even Abraham. God's promises are grounded in him. You see, if you think that it's a natural right to be a son of god just by birth, then you're going to see that god's word has failed. Do you see that?

Cause it's a false promise. He's never promised that, says Paul. We have seen that naturally, and Paul has spent a lot of time. I mean, lots of chapters, and we had lots of sermons that were depressing us in some ways that actually we're born spiritually dead. If we're left to ourselves, no 1 will choose god.

We're dead to god. We're dead to a relationship with god. Paul has been working that through. That's why it's such an important teaching. Salvation, knowing god has never been left to people.

To choose. Never, but it is always god who chooses people to be saved. So Romans 8, at the end, verse 30, it says, those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified, those he justified, he also glorified. People don't choose god, but god chooses people. And in those he chooses, his promises will happen.

There's this link, this chain If he predestined, then he will glorify, and all of the links of the chain through. So god's word hasn't failed, says, Paul. The fact that in Paul's day, that the majority of of those or, Israelites are not saved and rejected the lord Jesus and rejected the gospel, doesn't show that god hasn't kept his word or god's word isn't powerful enough to keep people. And I know this is consistent with the way that god's always acted. It's children are the promise.

Verse 6, it is not as though god's word has failed. For not all who who are a descendant of Israel are are Israel. So when someone rejects the privileges of Christ and this gospel, it's not that the word has failed it's rather it's an illustration of how utterly hard hearted people are and how we need the utter grace of god to rescue anyone from hardheartedness. That's the illustration, and Paul illustrates this by 2, couplets, 2 brothers, Isaac and ishmael and Jacob and Eso. Have a look at it.

Look at the story of Isaac and ishmael first versus 7 to 9. Nor, because they are his descendants, are they all Abraham's children? On the contrary, It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are god's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offering. For this was how the promise was stated At the appointed time, I will return and Sarah will have a son.

Now, you need to know some old testament story to know what's quite going on there. But think about it. Here is Abraham and, he had a son called ishmael. He had a son who called ishmael through his servant Hagar, not through his wife, Sarah. But ishmael was not regarded to be a son of god, the inheritance of the promise.

He was just a son of the flesh. It was just flesh. It was Abraham and Sarah trying to be god. It was Abraham and Sarah saying, we're not gonna believe the promise we're gonna work out ourselves what god means. And so Abraham went with his servant Hager.

And had ishmael, but god didn't choose ishmael. God said that Sarah will have a son, Isaac, I got verse 9. For this was how this was how the promise was stated at the appointed time, I will return, and Sarah will have a son. Now that's a quote from Genesis 18 where this story is told, and it's Sarah who's surprised. She's utterly surprised because she was an ancient old woman and her husband was an ancient old man.

He was a hundred. She was 90. She'd never given birth. God had just circumcised Abraham. So that made it even more difficult to anything to happen as far as I could imagine.

And yet, god was going to do this miracle. And when god told Abraham Sarah would have a son, it was so impossible, Sarah laughed. And that's what Isaac means, laugh. It was a laugh. You're joking, aren't you?

No. Because god does the impossible because this only happens by god's work, not by new manipulating things with Hagar. So being a physical descendant of Abraham does not automatically make you a member of the true Israel who inherits all of the promises to Abraham. It was Isaac. It was the child of promise.

It was the impossible child that only god could bring, who receives the sovereign call of god. The call of god's word that brings life into dead situations that brings non existence things into existence that brings those who are foreknown and predestined into glorification and justification and into the family of god. Do you see that? It is god, and god's choice alone that brings about salvation. So it is not the natural children who inherit, but the children of promise.

Salvation is god intervening into a dead world individually 1 by 1 making a people for himself. That's the first story, Portels. But there's a second story he tells. You get it in verses 10 to 12, the story of Jacob and Eesaw. Look at verse 10, not only that, but Rebecca's children were conceived at the same time by our father, Isaac.

Yet before the twins were born, who had or who had done anything good or bad in order that god's promise in election might stand, not by works, but by him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger. Now for the older to serve the younger, is a completely go going against all culture, and, all sort of protocol of of human descent. So Paul is saying, look, we've just seen ishmael and Isaac God said, no. It's the child of promise, not just a physical child from Abraham. It's a child of promise.

And here he's he's working similar again that this is Jacob and Eesaw. He's making the same sort of point, but it's the child of promise or the child of the word. So it's Jacob, not esau. Paul's argument remember is that god's word has not failed god is acting like he's always acted. In Paul's day, when the Israelites were rejecting Jesus, and he's the same in old testament history.

In order to be a child of god, it takes a supernatural occasion a choosing of god that you may be born again. And if we know our old testament history, We know perfectly well that the physical descendants never guarantees the promise. There was always in Old Testament days, an Israel within Israel, a real people of god within the so called outward people of god. So since god's promises hadn't failed, then why I say they failed today? Now I know exactly what you're thinking, and Paul will deal with this subject a bit more when we get to the next section next week, but there's so much here I had to divide this up.

Is god unfair? That's the question we want to ask. He will deal with it in a big way, but we gotta deal with it a little bit today. Isn't god unfair? Is god?

Is god fair? How many chose Jacob and and not esau? Is god being fair? Is he being fair? Doesn't sound like it, does it?

Not when when we get our head around things, Is he fair? Well, look, let's just say this. If you want fairness and if you just want justice, I'll tell you what fairness is that both Jacob and Esaw are not saved. That's fairness. To be fair, is to leave people into their hardhearted sin, and both Jacob and Eesaw, were hardhearted against god.

To be fair was to leave people to their own human devices, but god loves to work in mercy, and he's trying to show us his kindness. To be fair is to leave everybody in the wrath of god to be excluded from the new creation. To be cast into the depths of hell. That's a fairness. If you're gonna argue that.

See, do you see why god chose Jacob Why did he choose Jacob? Did Jacob have anything going for him? Well, if you know the story of Jacob, he was a horrible deceiving man. He was a nasty deceiver, a manipulator, and I was pretty horrible to his brother. And he had a mother that sort of trained him in manipulation.

So to be fair is to allow Jacob to shove off into darkness of eternity. But what you've got it got is is god showing us how gracious he is in saving people. It is all to do with his kindness. Nothing to do with any merit or goodness you find in Jacob. Nothing to do whether he was good or bad.

Nothing to do with any physical or sternal. Nothing to do with who his father was. It was god's choice. See, we we constantly shouting out a a meritocracy. We keep believing that, and we keep turning Christianity into a meritocracy.

In other words, It's merit. It's based on who I am. It's based on what I've done. But god says, I don't make deals. I don't do it that way.

It's got nothing to do with you. It's all to do with me. Look at verse 11. He spells it out. So clearly, it's an amazing verse.

Yet before the twins, That's Jacob and Isaw before the twins were born who had anything good or bad in order that god's purpose in election might stand not by works, but by him who calls. What you get from me says god is mercy and compassion and has got nothing to do with who you are and what you've done. The decision to bless the younger Jacob was holy and completely god's decision. This illustrates so clearly the purpose of god's election. Salvation is all of him.

This is god's personal, intimate choice. His hand is not forced by cultural convention, oh, better choose the first 1 then. It's by his sovereign intervention and his love. God had a plan in mind. Jacob, who would become Israel, from that chosen 1 would become the real son of god, Jesus, who would bring people from all nations who are elected did into salvation.

Esaw was left to his own human devices, To be fair is to leave Esore to his own human devices, and he sold his birth rate. He became the father of the edomites and he is, they're known as rejectors of god. It is an example of stupidity in rejecting god, esau, and that's what we all do. That's our natural state. Esoar is an example of the human condition We reject god, but it was god's purpose, god's choice, god's calling, to break into rejectors, and save someone like Eesaw.

Someone like Jacob. God is working out his plan in history. So god's word has not failed quite the opposite, God's word is so powerful. It can break into a bunch of rejectors and call 1 of the twins. Now hold it, because I know what you're thinking, because we all do it.

That statement, Jacob, I love esaw, I hate it. My goodness. That's a horrible little statement, isn't it? And it sounds shocking. It really does sound shocking.

And there are lots of people that are so shocked that they don't even read Romans 9, or they want to argue against it. Jacob, I loved Esoar as I hated. We've got to understand that this is a heed, a Hebrew idiom. It's expressing choosing. That's what he's expressing.

Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones writes this. It seems perfectly clear that these words Jacob, by loved, East or I hated, it seems perfectly clear that these words must not be taken in the absolute sense. But people have often stumbled at this term, hated. This is surely a term that must be in interpreted here in the light of what we read, for instance, in the statement made by our lord, recorded in Luke 14 16, when he says that you need to love him and hate your father. In other words, when you choose him, he becomes your all in all He becomes your everything, your guide, your lover, your rescuer, that it's as if you've hated everybody else.

You turn from your father and he becomes your everything. It's very interesting that we don't like god that does this for some reason, and yet we do it all the time ourselves. I chose Anne. Now, okay, maybe that she chose me. I don't know.

I doubt it. But I chose Anne. She's got 2 sisters. Could have had them. At least that's what I thought.

But I didn't wanna marry her, and I didn't wanna marry her. I chose I chose her. And because I chose Anne, it means I said no to the others. That's what it's saying. Jacob, I loved.

He sort of hated. I chose Jacob. Out of all my grace, and all my mercy. Now, okay. That's the teaching there.

How do we apply this? Let's rub this in and land it a bit. I want to say that these are glorious truths, but I've got I don't know how many things as I was adding them all this morning. I've got 8 things, and then another 0.8 things to say on this. Let's just try and land this quickly.

What do these glorious truths do? Well, first of all, I want to say be careful. Be very careful. There are some young men in particular, and for some reason this takes up young men, I don't know why, who love this doctrine, o, over everything else. And particularly, I love word predestination and election, and you see them in corners.

So they're they're predestination. And they turn it into a monster that it is not, and they do logical conclusions rather than Bible truths. Logically then, if that means anything, this means this, this means this. And they come to a conclusion that you don't find in the Bible. Be careful.

Both Calvin, and spurgeon warn young men on this. Spurgeon says there are some men who claim to know all about the matter. They twisted around their fingers as easily as if it were an everyday thing. And then he says They think they have reached the depth of all of the knowledge of predestination, but it's only because they're so utterly shallow. They think they've reached the depths.

Be careful. Calvin says something similar. He says if you're going into predestination, be careful. You don't penetrate into sacred precincts and start thinking you know better. So be careful with this teaching.

Be careful. But be humbled. That's what this is often about. Be humble. These truths of Romans 9 to 11, and we've only done with the first bit of the argument.

The then so, you know, you have to fit it all together. These truths of Romans 9 to 11 are meant to humble us utterly deeply, and there really is no doctrine so humbling to the human pride than the doctrine that god sovereignly elects in his mercy, that my inclusion in the people of god owes absolutely nil. Nothing to my birth, my desires, my action, my father, my merit, because I'm British, my knowledge or any of my connections. It's nothing to do with me. And that's so humbling because I do like to have a bit of pride in my life and think I'm better than some people.

But this says, no, you're not. And the whole central point of chapter 9 verse 6 to 29 is that it is god that makes Christians. So no bible knowledge, no religious privilege, no race, no church membership, no outward mark of belonging, or no Christian family, can guarantee a man or a woman a place in god's people, only god does it. So let god be god because you're not. So humbling.

It's so humbling because we always wanna give God a bit of advice. Why am I saved? Because god chose that I would be. Why Is it because, well, yeah, you know, he looked at me and thought, people. Oh, I'm choosing you.

Like, I looked at Anne. No. Because of mercy, because you were a nothing, because you were the least. You had nothing to offer him. See?

So all of god's mercy. If you're a Jacob here, you can't start proudly, you know, romping around saying, Hey. He saw better than you. No, you're not. You're a deceitful little so and so.

And it's only to show god's mercy. But some people want to say here, and I I understand this. They want to say, but didn't I decide to follow Jesus? I remember the time I decided to follow Jesus. I saw his beauty.

I saw how he he he loved me and I loved him for what he did for me. And and therefore, I decided to follow Jesus. Yes. Of course, you decided to follow Jesus. Yes.

You did. Is absolutely true as well. You did decide to follow Jesus, but why did you decide to just follow Jesus because god elected you to open your eyes so you could see the beauty of Jesus. Why don't people see the beauty of Jesus? Because we're dead in our sins, and we need our eyes opened.

And god in his kindness opened your eyes. I followed Jesus. Yes. But that's the small answer. It's true.

You did follow Jesus. The bigger answer is why did you follow Jesus? Because god, chose you. It's all of god. It's not because you're better than anybody else.

My brother is a much nicer person than me. He just naturally nicer. But I decided to follow Jesus and he didn't. Why? Cause I'm better than him?

No. Spurgeon has a wonderful illustration. He says it's like going through a door this doorway here. So from our perspective, from our side, we see the invitation up here. Come to Price.

Come to Price. Come through the door. I am the door. Yeah? And we see them, and our heart is thrilled as we open the doors.

Yes. I'm going to cry. They come out here. The other side is god chose you. God chose you.

The easier answer, the simple, smaller answer is I follow Christ. The big answer is the other side in eternity god chose us. So god chose us. That's the first thing. Be humble by that.

Be humbled by that. And if you're not work on that, as I'll come to you in a minute. Third thing, be amazed Would you be amazed? If you don't leave amazed at the truths in Romans chapter 9 to 11, it's probably because you haven't under them, and therefore, you need to work harder on them. I'll try and work hard in explaining them.

There are lots of puzzles, lots of things you don't understand In chapter 11, there's lots of things I genuinely don't understand, but don't let the puzzles dominate allow the truths that you do get to wash you into worship. Paul ends Roman's chapter 11, this chunk where he's dealing with this stuff with these words. Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of god. How unsearchable are his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out who has known the mind of the lord or who has been in his council who has ever given to god that god should repay them for from him and through him and for him are all things to him be glory forever. Amen is shouting.

These truths are meant to take us up with the amazingness of god. I don't under stand them all. I have sort of problems with them all. I'm sometimes perplexed, but god is god and he works out his gracious love. To have sin, loving god, hating rebellious person like me.

Wow. It's full of god's mercy, full of god's mercy, totally fair. God has judged Jacob's sin as much as he judged e sword sin, but he did it in Christ. Do you see that? So be amazed.

Fourthly, be assured. God purposes of salvation is guaranteed and will finally be successful for you because it's not dependent on you, it's dependent on him. That's what this is meant to be about. The whole purpose of chapter 9 is to defend what he said in chapter 8. If god is for us who can be against us.

If he didn't spare his own son, then will he let you will let you go? This is to assure us because If it's my decision, I'm so fickle I may give up. But if it's his eternal decision, and he's loved me and set his love on me before I could do anything good or anything bad. If he's done this, before the foundation of the world and when I fall and when I fail, he won't let me go because it's his work. Not mine.

You see it? Wonderful assurance this. Even though I will fail, Even though I will fall, he won't let me go. Because it's his choice, not mine. Fifthly, be warned.

So these are the things. Be careful, be humble, be amazed, be assured, be warned. Are you a child of the promise? I what are you trusting in? Are you trusting in his promises or are you distorting the promises of god like the Israelites were?

To try and get in in the wrong way. Are you a child of the promise that even though you sin and fail, but you keep coming back to the promise, or are you like e sword that just actually sells his birthright? Now you often know that by when you suffer or when temptation comes. Because it leads me to my 6 point. Who are you listening to?

Be listening. Be warned Are you a child of the promise, or are you just been brought up in this stuff, and you don't really believe. Well, you often know in those difficult times, who will you believe? So be listening because god's word doesn't fail. That is the safest place you could ever be because god's word doesn't fail.

But make sure that you know what his word is and trust in that Israel rewrote the word and started saying, well, okay. This is this will make your Oh, god. Yeah. It's it's like when, you know, when when preachers come along, false preachers, and they you should be completely healed of all your diseases. God has promised that, and he has never promised that, except accepting the new creation, but not on this earth.

And so that when you're not healed and then you're dying of whatever it is, then you think, well, god wasn't faithful to his word. Well, he never promised that. So don't twist the word and then say it's not my it's not my fault. It's god's fault. The promise is always in Christ.

He's the son of the promise. So are you a child of Christ? In other words, are you listening to Christ? Are you listening to Christ's word? In the evening, with, Phil Cooper is doing a series in the evening or a short series in the evening about being a friend.

It's very good. And a friend is someone who can speak into your life's truths that will wound you, but in the end heal you. Yeah. Do you have friends like that? Was the question he was asking?

Someone who has permission to speak truths into your life that are not pleasant to hear that Put a pin in the bubble of your pride, but you know they're actually good for your healing. That is what a person of the promise has. The person of the promise is someone who speaks the word of god faith into your life. See, do you come to church to judge the sermon and the preacher or allow the preacher and the sermon to judge you? How am I doing, by the way, in your judgment?

Pretty bad he's gone on too long. When the preacher says something that he's trying with all his might to show from the scripture, that touches you that you don't like. Do you walk off in a huff and say I didn't like that? And then find out a whole load of other things he said just to back up your doctrine of not listening. Is that how it works?

Don't like that because I didn't like that and I don't like that. And why Or you know the people that say, you don't understand me far too much of this goes on now. It's just ridiculous. It needs to stop. You don't understand me.

You're you've got to be in my shoes to understand me. That is saying no friend can speak into my life and I don't want a friend. To speak truth to me because no 1 understands me. It's nonsense. It's it's it's it's it's not a person of the promise.

When sufferings, when difficulties, even temptations, that want to take you the way that you really want to go. Will you be a child of the promise? I'm not saying we don't fail. I'm not saying we don't fall, but in the end, will you say I'll listen to the word? Cause his word is good for me.

It never fails. I'll listen to him rather than me and my emotions and my temptations and my difficulties. So be listening, be warned, be listening. The seventh 1 0 my goodness. Is be evangelistic?

Be evangelistic. Versus 1 to 5, It's amazing how Paul sets this up to talk about god chooses and yet he longs for people to become followers of God. He does it again in chapter 10. You can never take the doctrine of predestination or election away from evangelism. When people do, it becomes an ugly monster, but this is evangelistically.

God calls. The interesting thing is that there are hardly any if any Jews descendants of Abraham in this room. Were all descendants of esau. Very fewer descendants of Jacob. Most of us are descendants of esau.

God in his kindness, saves, you see. He's always saving even the edomites. And so we go into the world with this wonderful message. It's not of you. It's of Jesus and preach.

Now here's the responses then. Here's a few responses. I wanted to give you time, but I've run out of time and forgive me. But 1, will you do this in your time? Get some time today.

Write these down, perhaps today. This week, write them down, have a bit of time, make, you know, sort of eke out a few minutes, 10 minutes. That's all I'm asking to think on these things. 1, Will you respond in this way? Let god be god.

Will you confess you don't want that sometimes? You don't want god to be god. You want to tell god who he should save and what he should do. Let god be god. Will you confess that you don't want that sometimes?

And will you confess that he is bigger than you think and has got a better plan than you that he knows what he's doing? Will you confess to that? And ask God to help you see that. Let God be God. Please will you respond in that way?

Where are you arguing with these doctrines? Where are you arguing? Will you will you let god be god? Secondly, will you thank him for salvation in Christ? You are saved because of god.

Nothing to do with you. Will you revel in that? Free grace? Let god be god. Thank him for Christ.

Have a think about that. Nothing to do with what I was brought up with with my knowledge. Nothing to Wow. It was all all in Christ. Thirdly, Will you understand that his word does not fail, whatever you're going through, whatever you're tempted in ask him to help you trust his unfailing word.

When some course is saying I know better than the Bible. I know better than his unfailing word. Would you repent of that? Ask someone into your life to speak the word of truth. Let God be god.

Thank him for your salvation. His word doesn't fail. 3 little things to think about. Father help us with these deep truths to revel in your love for us in Jesus' name.