George, I missed that little brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr when we come to chapter 9. Oh, you're behind me. I can't see behind me. And I can't even see when I look up there behind me. But let's stand together and sing whatever you have for us, and choir, come right on, take your place. 552, 552, I am thine, O Lord. I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Thy voice, and it told Thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms of faith, and be closer drawn to Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious leading side. Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine. Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in thine. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to Thy precious leadings. There are depths of love, there are depths of love that I cannot know till I cross the narrow sea. There are heights of joy that I may not reach till I rest in peace with Thee. Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious leading side. Amen. God bless you. May be seated. Atonement day, a shepherd cries, Another's heart, let's let her die. Oh, how could just one sacrifice, Unmatchable, but satisfied? Year after year the flood would flow, but none could wash me by a stone. Salvation's name fulfilled the plan, the promise made on holy land. One holy man washed my sin away. One sacrifice made a price I could not pay. One holy man, what faith I had. One seed of Abraham. One holy man washed my sin away. One final death for every man, One blood, one life, one holy name. Unholy man, wash my sin away. Unsacrificed, made a price I could not pay. Unholy man, how great I am, unseen of Abraham. Unholy man, wash my sin away. One sacrifice made, a price I could not pay. One holy lamb, one greater heir, one seed of Abraham. One holy lamb washed my sin away. One holy lamb washed my sin away. Amen. Wow, that's great. Good song, well done. Thank you, thank you so much. Let's stand together. Let's stand together. I want you to sing a little chorus that you probably already know. If you don't know it, you'll learn it really quickly. These are the words. It says, I have a wonderful treasure, the gift of God without measure. And so we travel together, my Bible and I. That's what we've been doing this week, getting it in our lives, all right? I have a wonderful treasure, the gift of God without measure. And so we travel together, my rival and I. That's pretty good. Let's hear the choir sing it one time. Can you sing them down on that? Now, we're scattered out all over this building, but if everybody will work at it. Alex, you gonna work at it? You gonna work at it? Casey, you gonna work at it? Karen, you're going to work at it? Okay. Don, come on, man. You've got to carry that section by yourself right there. Go ahead and say it. There you go. All right. Now, come on. Here we go. Give it a try. Usher's at the back. Quit looking so dignified. Come on, sing. Paul, are you going to sing? Okay, I'm looking for it and I'm listening for it. Here we go. I had a wonderful treasure, the gift of God without measure, and so we traveled together. That's very good. Now consider this, see, you don't have microphones. They have microphones up there, all right? We'll turn the mics off and we won't hear them at all. Everybody together now. All right, here we go. All God's people said, and they shouted, All right, greet those around you as the choir comes down. Wonderful treasure, the gift of God without measure, and so we travel together, my Bible and I. All right, thank you. You may be seated. You may be seated. And ushers, come forward if you will. We'll receive our offering tonight. And as I said before, it'd be good if we could participate somehow every night, if we could participate in every offering, and then give some special offering to the love offering for our speakers who have come, the preparation that they've gone through, and the time that they've invested in coming here to be with us, and being away from their place and from their people and being here. And I thank them again, every one of them, for coming, and I'll do that more profusely at another time. But I thank them for coming. In the morning, Brother Paulie will finish up in the morning. Now, you're going first, Romans 10. You've got Romans 10 in the morning. And Brother Wallace has Romans 11 in the morning. And then we finish up this section regarding God's promise to the Jews and God's covenant people and the covenant God. The covenant God. And though there's no difference, he still honors his covenants. And then tomorrow night, into the practical section and starting with the obvious division between chapter 8 and chapter 9, very obvious. And also at the end of chapter 11, when you come in chapter 12, and then chapter 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, it's very, very distinct and obvious breaks. here in the way the Holy Spirit is giving this to the writer and the way we approach it. So I hope you'll be here every opportunity you get to come and give as the Lord leads you and as you can. Father, thank you so much again for your wonderful Word. What a treasure it is, Lord. What a wonderful treasure. The gift, your gift without measure. And Lord, I pray we'll not only travel together, but we'll travel with your word in our hearts, a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. Lord, I pray that we'll experience that and walk true to it in the path that you lead us in for your glory. Now bless this offering, Lord. Make it a blessing to these men. I pray that you'll use it to encourage their lives and their work and service for you. In Jesus' name, amen. You. Well, in just a moment, the ladies' ensemble's going to sing, and I know you'll be blessed by their music. And then Dr. Shane Lewis is coming tonight. Now, I want you to know, whenever we just went through the book of Obadiah, you know, there's some, whenever we came to verse 16, I said, probably the hardest verse in Obadiah to interpret is verse 16. And dealing with that, and there are different perspectives, And some passages of the Word of God are harder to deal with than others. And some of it is because of the conditioning we have had because of things we've heard. It's hard for us to understand. Clear it out and approach it just for what it says. The next passages we come to are glorious passages but somewhat difficult to deal with. So I press you, give good attention and listen closely. Every preacher, if you come to the Book of Romans, prays you don't have to deal with chapter 9. But that's where Brother Lewis is tonight. And so listen carefully, and you're here on a wonderful evening, because all of your questions of all the ages are going to be answered here tonight by Dr. Shane Lewis. So the ladies will sing, and then Brother Lewis will come preach for us. I care not today what tomorrow may bring, if shadow or sunshine or rain. The Lord I know ruleth for everything, and all of my worry is vain. Living by faith in Jesus above, God's people fighting in His great love. I'm living by faith and feel no alone. Those impets may plow when the storm does arise, obscuring the brightness of life. I'm never alarmed at the overcast skies, the master's all gone at the stride. I know that he safely will carry me through, no matter what evils be tied. Why should I then care though what tempests may blow, if Jesus walks close to my side? Living by faith in Jesus above, Fasting, confiding in His great love, From all our sin, His sheltering arm, I'm living by faith, and kill no alone. Our Lord will return to lift us on sweet day Our troubles will then all be o'er The Master so gently will lead us away Beyond that blessed heavenly shore Living by faith, yes living by faith In Jesus above, in Jesus above Trusting, confiding, trusting, confiding In His great love, yes in His great love From all our fears From old harm's living, his sheltering arm I'm living by faith, and feel no alarm From old harm's living, his sheltering arm I'm living by faith, and feel no alarm Well, that was wonderful. Thank you, ladies. That was a great blessing. Take your Bibles and turn to Romans, the ninth chapter tonight. And we've made all the jokes about Romans chapter 9. I've never prayed more over a message. I'm not lying. I've never been more nervous over a message in all my life than I am this one, because I want to handle the Word of God with great dignity and accuracy. And so, it's not about our agendas, and it's not about our inductive theology. It's about what the Word of God is saying and what we draw from it. And so, I want to, hopefully at the end of the night, I'm not sure anybody for millennia has completely cleared up Romans chapter 9, and I'm sure that we'll come out of here more confused that may be cleared up. It'll be more of a Bible lesson. It'll be a Bible study than it will be a message tonight. And so I hope you can appreciate that. and we'll just walk through the passage is really what I'm going to have to do because there's no other way to get through Romans 9 than to address what Paul is trying to say. And I need to set the table for this very clearly. You must understand that Paul is talking to a Jewish audience. This is incredibly important for us to understand the context of what's taking place here. And there's just some difficult questions. I hope by the end of the night, you know I remember as a child when we were in Tuscaloosa and we lived in a little neighborhood subdivision called South Park and they had had a huge storm come through and the creek that ran behind the park had kind of risen and it had some pretty good white water going and so we as boys, all seven, about seven to nine years of age, It was our kind of dare to wonder if we could get across this. That was a big deal for us. This was going to be our great adventure. And we just stood there. It was me and Brent and Brian and his two little brothers. And we just stood there on the bank of this creek and just watched and watched. We dared ourself, you know. Will I double dog dare you? Will I triple dog dare you? And finally, one of us came up with a great idea. And we said, I think it was Brent. He said, well, man, let's face it. Let's just go get Lance. That's a great idea. So we all jumped on our bike and rode over to Lance's house, brought him back. Well, Brian asked the question, finally, when we got back. Lance got right into the water, waded across it, and then he showed us the path to take. When we got across, Brian asked the question to Brent. He said, why in the world do we have to go all the way back to get Lance? Why didn't one of us do that? He said, because Lance is the only one dumb enough to wade in something like that. I feel like Lance tonight. Some difficult questions I was thinking of today. You know, if humans evolved from monkeys and apes, then why do we still have monkeys and apes? Here's another difficult question. Is there another word for synonym? What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered plant? How do you handle that kind of situation? Here's another difficulty. Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid that somebody's gonna break in and clean them? You know? Here's another difficult one. If police arrest a mime, do they still tell him he has the right to remain silent? Here's another one. What was the best thing before sliced bread? And then here's a final difficult question. If you try to fail but succeed, which one have you really done? A difficult question. Well, Romans chapter 9, we come to a lot of difficult questions. What is Paul saying? He sets the tone for this chapter at the very beginning, and really the spirit. You have to understand the subject by understanding the spirit of the passage, and the spirit is set at the very beginning. He is making it very clear at the beginning what his spirit is, and his spirit is that he wishes that his brothers, his Jewish brethren, would all come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. At the end, he gives the summary. And the summary is that it's not going to be by works of the law but by faith is how that's going to happen. But in between is this idea that we find throughout this of those who were the elect and what were they elected to is the greatest question. Tonight what I say may somewhat be controversial to some who are coming in inductive theology. I really think that we ought to draw from the scripture and this is just my interpretation of this passage. You will come away with different interpretations and that's perfectly fine. I think it's wonderful for us to walk away from here as the Church of Derby and discuss what has been taught. I think that's very healthy for the church. Beginning with verse 1, we come to see the heart of the apostle, and this is where you see his spirit in Romans 9 in verse 1. He says, I say the truth in Christ. I lie not. My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. When you step into this, you're coming from this huge high note of Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 is my favorite chapter of the Bible. I love Luke 15, I love John 15, but I love Romans chapter 8. From beginning to finish, it really encapsulates the story of grace. And then you come immediately to this huge high, that you come immediately, I mean, just like you're jumping off a precipice to Romans chapter 9 of this unbelievable heaviness, this exaltation of who can separate us from the love of God that Brother Randy just went over, and now great heaviness. is on my heart. And I will tell you where this is coming from, and this is a great proof of inspiration, if not an evidence of inspiration, and that is that this was not just of his own conscience, but he says it at the end of verse 1, bearing witness in the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Ghost that's bringing this instrument. Whenever the Holy Ghost is breathing through someone, it's much like someone breathing through a particular instrument or playing this piano. The dynamics is up to the one who is playing the instrument, not the instrument itself. And so now you found Paul's emotions going from this elation down to this great heaviness in just a moment of time, seemingly, and that's because the Holy Ghost is the one who is speaking this through him. What is this great heaviness? He says, I tell you the truth, I'm not lying, my conscience also bearing witness. in the Holy Ghost, what is it bearing witness of? That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. What is the sorrow? If you look at 11 and verse 20, he reiterates the sorrow. He says in 11 and 20, well, because of unbelief, they were broken off. And thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. He's dealing with the current condition of Israel who has rejected their own Messiah. He's dealing with those who are cut off because of their unbelief from really their own country, their own brotherhood of Israel. And he says, he goes so far as to say, I wish I were accursed. I wish I would be lost. I wish I would be bound in unbelief if it would cause you to be able to see the truth of Jesus Christ. It kind of reiterates what Moses said. Moses was saying the same thing in Exodus chapter 32. In verses 31 and 32, he says to God, God, I would, when it came to the Jewish people, the Israelis, the Hebrew children, who had sacrificed, and they were sacrificing to this graven image of God that somehow Aaron put into the fire and it came out as this graven image, this molten calf, and as they were dancing around shamelessly around this, God's judgment was to come down, and Moses was begging God, God, please, God, if it's so blot out my name, put me out, Lord, if it'll save my brethren. It's the same heart that is showing up here with Paul and with Moses. By the way, I will say this to you, and this is purely practical before we jump into the rest of the passage. Every great servant that has been used by God has also been greatly broken by God. As you look back through their life, Pastor Wallace refers to it as a defining moment. There was somewhere, if you look back, that God had to break them. Their heart was broken as his was broken in the garden. Let me ask you this before we go any farther. Is our heart broken for those who don't know Christ as Savior? Do we have this great heaviness? Can I even reference your own family? Some of those that are hardest for us to witness to are our own family members. Do we have a great heaviness for them? Maxine Evans, she died six years ago now. Maxine Evans, for 54 years, she prayed for her husband, Haskell Evans. 54 years she prayed for him. And Haskell, in that 54th year, Haskell had had a heart attack. He was in Birmingham, UAB Hospital. I'd gone over to visit him all these times I visited him. He would take out the back door. He would jump in the truck. I never could catch him. We'd be kind. We'd hang out. We even went fishing a couple of times, but he never would let me approach the gospel with him. He would just cut it off. But I kept working and working at it. Finally, the day came. He'd had the heart attack. That particular night, after he'd gone through this heart attack and had the surgery, he woke up the next morning, and he'd had a horrific nightmare. And he said, call the preacher. He goes, if I don't get saved, I'm going to go to hell. And so she said, well, why don't we call the chaplain here of UOB? No, no, no, call that preacher. What preacher? Well, he couldn't remember. He had all this going on in his body, so he couldn't remember my name. So he goes, you know, you know, the big guy. Call that one. She knew immediately who that was. So my phone rang, and I answered. She goes, Pastor Haskell's not going to talk to anybody but you. So I went down. We drove down an hour to UAB Hospital, walked in, and he said, Preacher, we've been praying for this guy, dealing with this guy now for probably four or five years. She'd been praying for him for over 50. And he said, Preacher, I know it. I know that if I don't get saved, I'll never make it out of this hospital, and I'm going to die and go to hell. He goes, I saw the fires of hell. I don't know what he saw in his dream, but I will tell you this. God answered the prayers of a wife who had great heaviness in her heart, and he prayed and accepted Christ as Savior. Can I tell you a great part of the story? A great part of the story is just a few weeks ago, a couple of months ago now, Haskell died. He passed away. I was able to preach the funeral of a believer, which is much easier than the funeral of an unbeliever, And as a result of that, just two and a half, three weeks ago now, his grandson, Nick, who has strayed a long way from God, as a result of Haskell getting saved, seeing how the church had handled all of that, then Nick, his grandson, came to Jesus Christ as a savior. Why? Because a woman had great heaviness in her heart for her lost family. Paul's expressing this. Moses is expressing this. And most importantly, he's talking about this desire, this desire of Jesus Christ, who was willing to be accursed. You know, Christ had this saying in Galatians 3 and 13. It's almost a direct quote that Christ was willing to be accursed for his own brethren. He was willing to be accursed for those who would come to Jesus Christ. But what is this purpose of election? You have to understand the rest of the chapter in my interpretation of this. from verses 4 and 5. If you don't grasp verses 4 and 5, you will not understand the rest of the chapter. In Romans 9, verse 4, it says, who are Israelites? Now watch this. To whom pertaineth the adoption? Oh, okay, well, he must be talking about salvation. No, he is, but that's not all that's being said here. That's often where we stop, and then we set context just from that. That is not what he is saying, and I'll prove that to you from just a few chapters before this. says, "...who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." What could he possibly be talking about here? In its entirety of verse 4, what could he possibly be talking about? He is not talking about salvation itself alone. He's talking about something different than simple salvation. He's talking about the Word of God. He's speaking of the entirety of the Word of God. When you study verse 4, it does deal with the adoption, the glory, but then you have the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promise. In verse 5, whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever, amen. Given that any nationality can be saved by faith, and many even from Israel, they're not going to believe, then he's answering the question, what benefit is there to being a Jew? What point is there to being from that nationality? And he's saying this. I'll tell you what the point is. The point is that you were given the Word of God. You were entrusted with the Word of God to give it to the rest of humanity. There's great advantage to you being part of this promised seed that we'll see described in just a moment. How do we know this is how he's referring to it? And I believe, as far as election is concerned, in the nation of Israel, this is what he's referring to. How do we know this? Look back at Romans 3, and notice, if you will, verse 1. He asks the question now directly. In Romans 3, in verse 1, he says, He's asking, so then what is the point? If salvation is by grace through faith, If it's not the worst of all, if you can have believing or unbelieving from the nation of Israel, what difference does it make whether you're a Jew or not? He says, well, I can tell you in much every way. Chiefly, that was committed to you, the oracles, the word of God. So from you went the word of God, the plan of God, the plan of redemption for all of mankind, came through you to all of mankind through his word. There's a great advantage to being a Jew. Now when you come back to Romans chapter 9, you have to understand that he's speaking now to his Jewish brethren, and this really sets the tone of the rest of the chapter. The Word of God was entrusted, the Word of God was given, a special revelation that was preparing, that was testifying the way of the Messiah. His point came by way, His message came by way, His Word came by way of this elect nation of Israel. They were elected to be the bearers of the Word of God. Now, he's saying, does this unbelief negate? the blessing. Because the bearers of the Word of God, the messengers of the Word of God, did not believe the Word of God itself, then does that necessarily make it a failure? Let's begin reading now in verse 6. That's the question he asked. He says, not as though the Word of God hath taken none effect. In fact, if you'll go back to Romans chapter 3, don't turn there now, he begins the same line of reasoning. There's very parallel passages in the beginning of Romans 3 and now Romans chapter 9, and the issue is this. the nation of Israel was elected to bring the word of God to the rest of humanity, the plan of God, the oracles of God, the covenants of God, the promises of God. It was going to come through those people. If you look at the writers of the scripture, you'll find that it came exclusively through the nation of Israel. And he says, okay, then what about the unbelieving ones of Israel? Does that mean that the promises of God have failed, then? Because the messengers don't even believe the word that they've been given, trusted? He says, no. No, and let me explain to you why it's not failed. Verse 6, "'Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect.'" And here's an incredible idea. If you want to see where the Jews gasped when they first heard this passage of Scripture, they would gasp at what he's about to say. "'Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.'" Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children. Then he pushes it further. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. In other words, they had this understanding. Let me tell you what their understanding was. Their understanding was that just because they were a descendant of Israel, that they were all going to be blessed to be a part of the lineage of Messiah, to be an inspired messenger of the Word of God, that every descendant of the nation of Israel was going to be guaranteed salvation, just because they were part of the nation of Israel. And Paul is saying, absolutely no. No. This was absolutely cataclysmic to them. This is something that they had been taught completely differently from the moment that they were born. This is something to them, this idea of circumcision. They were a part of it now. They were born into this deal. That heaven was theirs just by right of birth. It was set in stone. There was nothing that you or I could ever do to change that, and he is blowing that out of the water. It has nothing to do with your physical lineage. But, I don't understand, this is completely contrary to everything that we've been taught growing up. By the way, can I tell you something? This is why, it's very hard for us to grasp this. Why would they, because we've so redefined Jesus Christ today, these 2,000 some years later. Why would the Jews have killed him? Why was it that they were so angry with him? Because the more that they understood of Christ's teaching, the more disastrous to their whole religious system it became. It obliterated everything that they had built. Everything that the Jewish mind was basing their salvation on was upon the law. Everything was based upon the law. Their life was controlled. It was dominated by the law. Never grasping that this law was never there to save, this law was there to condemn. It was to show them just how sinful they were. Now Jesus Christ comes and he says, I'm here to fulfill the law, I'm here to perfect the law. Why did they destroy him? I'll tell you why they destroyed him, because he was destroying their whole way of theology. It was a totally different dynamic now that was being put into place, and now Paul is taking that further. Let me tell you how he continues on with this. Then he continues on in verse 7, he talks about even the seed of Abraham, are they all children? But in Isaac, shall they say, be called... Remember now, he's using this analogy. He's starting to bring in this, and it's going to be kind of allegorically speaking. When you read Galatians 4, 21 through 25, I don't have time to go there tonight, but he kind of fleshes this whole idea out. He's using the example without speaking the name of Ishmael, but he's using Isaac and Ishmael as these examples. In Galatians 4, he really puts this out and even says that I'm speaking this as a matter of allegory, as a matter of example. But at the end, he says, only in verse 7, "'But in Isaac shall they see be called, "'that is, they which are of the flesh, "'these are not the children of God.'" In other words, see, you and I know that God had promised Abraham a seed. Well, God wasn't on Abraham's timetable. Abraham kind of had a lapse of faith, so in turn, Sarah comes and says, look, take my handmaid. Well, that sounds like a good idea. So, you know, God meets us halfway, right? No. No, no, no. The poly hit very much on this. God does not meet us halfway in salvation. Mark sang about it. We did not get to Him. He came to us. You are not looking for God. He found you. but it's done in his time and in his way. He knows how to come to us. I believe Matthew chapter 20 fleshes that out. He individually convicts us. He comes some at 6 in the morning, some at 9, some at 12. He comes to us in each in our own way. He comes some by fire. He comes some having compassion, making a difference. But he's the one who's approaching us. This Holy Spirit is the one convicting us. When the Word of God, by the way, I will say this, The great responsibility of us is that when the Word of God, when the Son of Man is lifted up, he'll draw all men to himself. And that's the importance of the Word of God. God entrusted the Word of God to the nation of Israel because it's the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses to draw all men to himself. But Abraham was going to do it his own way. So Abraham lay with Hagar. As a result came Ishmael. Ishmael is the great example of trying to achieve salvation by works. You'll see it referenced again later in this passage. He says, look, no one comes to God through their own works. We only come to God through the seed that is promised. That seed came through Isaac, the promised heir, eventually the lineage. But then he even presses it further. It continues on when he starts reading in verse 9. He says, for this is the word of promise. At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. Now watch how he pushes this. He goes down the line. Now you have how he's going to bring the word to the world through Israel. Verse 10, and not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according to the election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth." So now what happens? Sarah is the free woman. She's representing this covenant of faith. Hagar is the one that's representing, under the law, this gaining salvation, this slave woman, and the law is only about slavery to us. But then he continues on with Rebekah. He says, now let's go further. Let's go to the next generation with Rebekah. The Jews had this idea that they were guaranteed salvation because they were a descendant of Abraham, of Isaac. No. Now you have the descendants, he's trying to make the point now, not only was there a division with Abraham, now there's a division in the generation of Isaac. You have Jacob and you have Esau. One being the lesser of the two. What's his point here? Jacob was the younger. In their culture, in this Middle Eastern Oriental culture, all the rights and privileges went to the older son, went to Esau. He's making the point that God will work whomever and however he chooses to work. He is not bound by the laws of men. He does his own thing in his own way. And by the way, can I say this to you? And I know, I love how Brother Randy said it, God has no panic button. There's nothing that's ever struck God, and he's never had a contingency plan. He sees everything. He's omniscient. And what's beautiful about this is that there's nothing that has ever surprised him. Let me go further with this. Do you realize that God has no opinions? Did you know that? You and I have opinions. Some of us have many of them. Most of them stink. God has no opinions. Do you know why? Because what you and I would consider our opinions, God's opinions, are what we know as truth. What God says about something is how it is. who God declares that the seed is going to go through, that's who it's going to go through. And He's chosen, and let me say this again, we're going back to the purpose from verse 4, from Romans chapter 3 and verses 1 and 2, that this noble purpose is of bringing the Word of God to the rest of the world. They were not guaranteed a salvation. They also were not guaranteed of this noble purpose of bringing the Word of God to the rest of the world. God chose Jacob's lineage now to take that, the lesser of the two brothers, and not just in age, but also in ability. He was the tender-footed one. Can I say this to you, that God's Word never relies on the people who are carried to the place of having to bring it out. God does not depend upon man. Let me say it this way. God's will will be done. It will be accomplished. It's part of our responsibility to ask ourselves if we're going to be a part of his will being accomplished. God is not thwarted by the unbelief of man. He doesn't wring his hands and say that I have to have you on my team. If I don't have you on my team, then my will can't be accomplished. God doesn't operate that way. Which, can I take this just a step further? That's the way I believe that somehow this teaching, I believe strongly, I believe totally in the sovereignty of God. I believe that God is completely and totally sovereign. And I do not think that his sovereignty is ever in jeopardy or that his crown ever comes off its equilibrium because of man's rejection of Jesus Christ. Understand? That man can say, no, the very fact that God is sovereign is the very fact that he is sovereign enough that he offers salvation to man. knowing full well that his will is going to be accomplished whether a man accepts him or rejects him. His will will be accomplished. He's simply putting the invitation to you to come and be a part of that will being accomplished. He's given this purpose now to Israel, and he's saying, Israel, the Word of God is going to come through this nation of Israel, but not all that are of Israel are going to be a part of even fulfilling that purpose of Israel. Then you come to this verse that has caused a lot to stumble. When you come to this verse, I think we need to be very careful how we're reading it. It says in verse 12, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Well, see there? Right there, God's showing there that he loved Jacob to salvation, and he's hated Esau to damnation. I think what your pastor said is very important for us to understand. And that is be very careful about bringing in your own surmised or previous presuppositional positions into a passage. Let's not look at this with inductive reasoning. Let's look at it from deductive. Let's compare scripture with scripture. Scripture is very plain that Jesus Christ came to seek and to save lost sinners. It also says, for God so loved the world. There's an interesting verse, however. When you bring up the word hate, we often think hate as disdain. We think of hate as this idea of looking at someone and they almost bring a nauseous feeling that we have to turn away from them. No, you'll find in Scripture that many times the word hate is used in a comparative sense. Do you not remember how Jesus Christ said, if you're going to be my disciple, then you have to hate, Mother, brother, family, where you come from. Is he saying then that if you're going to hate Jesus Christ, or if I'm going to love Jesus Christ, if I'm going to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then I must hate my own mother? That I'm supposed to hate my own father if I'm going to be a follower of Jesus Christ? No. No, but what he is saying, that if it's the choice between following Jesus Christ, and if the choice is between that and following my family, then I reject my family to follow Jesus Christ. I turn my back on my family in order to follow Jesus Christ. Now, let me go further with this idea of Esau, because we have to be very careful in how far we take this. When you look at Deuteronomy 23 and Genesis 33, Genesis 36, you'll find that Esau was also blessed and protected by God. So that does not fit the definition of what we're trying to come to with salvation. I do not believe that we're speaking of salvation here. I believe that the elect purpose of the nation of Israel was to bring the Word of God to the rest of humanity. When we come to this, you find this idea of rejecting Esau. There's a couple of reasons, and I think it's both. I think it has to do so often with how the prophets spoke. They dealt with the immediate, and then God is large enough that he not just deals with the immediate, but he also deals with the prophetic part of it. And I think the same is true when it comes to the hatred of Esau, the rejection of Esau, that it deals with the Edomites, you know, when they attacked Israel. when they came after them, and I think that has to do with that, but I think it also has to do with God selecting Jacob for the noble purpose that he called the nation of Israel to, as he says earlier in 9, that they're going to take the Word of God, and it's going to come through the lineage of Jacob, the rest of the Word of God, and that's exactly how it worked. Well, now you come to verses 14 through 16. Why is God then just in showing mercy? He says in verse 14, what should we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Because he showed mercy to one? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. These descendants of Abraham, these Jews, in Paul's day, they had the benefit of bringing the Word of God. But not all of them were part of that. Many of them had rejected through unbelief the Word of God, and so were not a part of this noble purpose that was being passed down. So, did God fail? When he specifically said, I'm going to have mercy only through the lineage of Jacob, did God fail then? No, he didn't fail at all. He comes back to now the place of Israel. In fact, he's showing unbelievable mercy because he's referencing, when he's talking in these verses in 14 through 16, he's referring to Moses, the setting of Exodus 32 and 33 of this golden calf picture, and he was going to destroy them. Moses said, blot my name out, Lord, but save them. It's in that setting, it's in that context that he says that the purpose of the nation of Israel is to bring the Word of God to the rest of the world. It's going to be through them that the Word of God is spoken to the rest of the world. And so, to accomplish my will, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Because my will is what has to be accomplished. Now understand the noble purpose being that Israel is to bring the Word of God to the rest of creation. That's why this example, it parallels Exodus 32 and verses 31 and 32. And then he comes to verse 16, and now he's referencing back to the promise. He says in verse 16, so then it, what is it? What is the it referring to here? I think the it is referring to God's promise to bring his word through the nation of Israel to the rest of humanity. Despite Israel's unfaithfulness, he's still going to bring the word of God through the nation of Israel to the rest of the world. he's still going to fulfill his will in that. Now, I'll clear this up at the end, but I want to keep going. The promise did not depend on the faithfulness of Israel. The promise depended on the faithfulness of God. That's the reason that his name, this is very important for us to understand, his name is held very dear. The Jews would not even, the highest name of God, they would not even speak. They would not even put in the vowel points of the highest name of God, which was, Yahweh, or Jehovah. What is the meaning of that word? The name Jehovah literally means the God who keeps covenant. In Genesis 15, it was the God who kept covenant. So when he comes to this covenant that he is going to bless all nations, all families of the earth will be blessed, through the word of God coming through the nation of Israel, even those unbelieving Israelites were not going to thwart. Now, we're going to see this fleshed out in just a moment a little further, but I still hold. Now, we can discuss this, but I believe that this issue, when he's saying that the purpose of the nation of Israel, he's speaking of bringing the word of God to the rest of the world. Abraham, wanted to will himself to it. He's referring to Ishmael now in verse 16. He wanted to run to it. He was going to do it through his own labor. He was going to do it through his own work, through Hagar. But that wasn't God's plan. By his mercy, he was going to provide it through Isaac. It was the promise seed, this covenant of grace. Now, here's the second question. If God is just to give mercy, then how is God just to harden? Look at verses 17 and 18. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for the same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared through all the earth." Get it? It's about the Word of God. He's once again referencing that the purpose of all this is so that all the world may hear the truth of the Word of God. Everything about his plan was to get the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the entire world. So he hardens Pharaoh's heart, and then verse 18, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Well, when we look at this then, he's speaking, using Pharaoh as an example, but the parallel here is the nation of Israel. Well, then you have to understand something. Pharaoh was not cut off initially. His heart was not hardened by God initially. Pharaoh had several opportunities to hear the Word of God and to respond in faith. It was only after those times that he rejected and rejected and rejected and rejected that God said, that's it. My will is going to be accomplished. Pharaoh, you had an opportunity to be a part of it. Now, my will will be accomplished. He's saying the same thing now with the nation of Israel. How do we know this? Take your Bible and turn back, if you will, to Acts 28 and verse 27. In Acts 28 and verse 27, he references, this is spoken of, of what happens here. He's speaking to Jews, Paul is, at the end of the book of Acts. And he says this, that the people did not initially Their hearts were not initially hardened to Jesus Christ. This is something that grew, and it grew, and what was happening is God was giving them opportunity after opportunity. So in verse 27 it says, For the heart of this people is waxed. In other words, it's a building up, has waxed gross. And their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. This is the beautiful picture of Jesus Christ standing over Jerusalem saying, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, I would. Does that mean that God is no longer sovereign because his will now? No, God's will is going to be accomplished. But God's will is going to be accomplished in spite of unbelieving Israel. And the unbelieving Israel, those that are unbelievers, are not necessarily part of the true Israel. His will is going to be accomplished. And what is his will that the whole world hears of the truth of Jesus Christ? that the Word of God is given to humanity, that we are not left hopeless in our sin. But his will, his desire of you and I being a part of this is very clear. There comes a point now when he comes back to the children of Israel, it says in 11 and verse 20, and I hope I'm not stealing from someone later, he says, In other words, as a result of this, or consider it now at this point, because of unbelief, get this, because they were not chosen, because they were not part of the elect, no, because of their unbelief, they were cut off, broken off. And thou standest by faith, and then he says, be not high-minded, but fear. By the way, when you took the context of chapter 11, verses 11 through 32, The context is that, yes, these were broken off, but his great desire was for them to be grafted back in. They had the opportunity, even then, if they would believe that they could come back in to this family. So if the Israelites' unrighteousness, if their unbelief still is going to accomplish God's purpose, he's going to work through that, even in their unbelief, he's going to still bring his word, then, quite frankly, then why are they being held accountable? Look at the question given in verse 19 of Romans 9. He says, thou wilt say then unto me. This is almost exactly the same words from Romans chapter 3. Thou wilt say then unto me, why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? "'Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replyest against God? "'Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, "'Why hast thou made me thus? "'Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump "'to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?'' So they're asking the question, you know what, you're going to bring this out to me that God's promise, God's will is going to be accomplished, then why are we to blame if God's will is still going to be fulfilled? Why are we still being held responsible and not being part of this if God's will is still going to be accomplished? Well, I'll tell you why. Because as he's already talked about in Romans 3 and verse 5, that this whole idea of this man-made argument has come about because of their calloused rebellion to God. God wanted them to be a part of his plan. God invited them to be a part of this. They had the great advantage of being born into the line of Jacob, and yet because of the unbelief, they rejected it. And he's told them over and over again that the reason this is happening to you is because your ears waxed gross and became dull of hearing. I wanted to heal you. I wanted to redeem you, but you would not. So you know in turn what God does? Because in his foreknowledge and his omniscience, he sees this coming. Then he gives this great analogy of the potter and the clay. And he says, beginning in verse 17, or beginning down in verse, where are we now? Forgive me. Verse 21. Nay, but, O man, verse 20, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump? By the way, let me say this, the same lump then. What is he speaking of when it comes to the same lump? I believe he's speaking of this rebellious Israel. This idea of this rebellion is the fact that this rebellious Israel was going to be remolded, and they were going to be remolded to still bring the Word of God to the rest of the world. This also remolding, the vessel unto dishonor, was going to be those that God was going to use to sacrifice the Messiah himself. The vessels unto honor, The part of Israel, they're going to bring the Word of God to the rest of the world. The vessels of dishonor are going to be those that were still used to sacrifice the Messiah himself. So then how is God's Word revealed through mercy and hardening? In verse 22, he says this, what if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted or given over to destruction. And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." Now, understanding here, the purpose of God with the nation of Israel was to bring the Word of God to the rest of the world. He says this, that even in that, I invited you to be a part of my plan. And he says, even the vessels of wrath that were given over, the word fitted means to be given over to destruction, I endured with much long suffering. He was very patient. God does not delight in the plight of the wicked. It is his desires, not as he will, that any should perish. but that all should come to repentance. He has given man the opportunity to accept or reject the gospel of Christ. With much longsuffering, the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and then notice verse 23, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. Who are the vessels of mercy? I'll tell you this. In Genesis chapter 12 and verse 3, he spoke to Abram, and he told Abram, he said, that all the families of the earth shall be blessed. What is he saying in Genesis 12? He's saying that the gospel is going to be available to all men. It's going to be available to the entire world. The vessels of mercy are every man that is hearing the word of God. Even us, whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also the Gentiles. And that's why in Romans chapter 10 and verse 13, he says that, "'Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" Which, by the way, is backed up in the Old Testament by Joel chapter 2 and verse 32. So how do the nations benefit from this mercy and hardening of Israel by the bringing of God's word? He starts this in verse 25, and we're almost finished. "'As he saith also in Hosea, "'I will call them my people, which were not my people, and her beloved, which was not my beloved, verse 26, and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there shall they be called the children of the living God. Now, going back to the book of Hosea, you're going to see this still over-compassing love of God that he has for the nation of Israel. By the way, that's the reason we are, at this point in time, you're going to start to see eschatology enter the picture of Romans 9. it is still God's great desire to bring Israel back to himself. Because he told Hosea, you remember Hosea's wife, Gomer, the unfaithful one, the one who dealt treacherously? He even told Hosea to look at the child that came from Gomer and call him Lo-Ami. In other words, he is no longer your child. He is not of your people. But then you'll find him later in the book of Hosea saying to him, now call him Ami. In other words, his desire was to bring him back into the fold. He rejected him, he was not of my people, but he's saying, bring him back into it. It's God's desire for God. God's desire is to save not only Gentile, but also Jew. And we have to be very careful about this, because historically speaking, when you go back to the early part of the last century, you found a lot of mixing up of where these verses would lead to. And I'll say this to you. God has never rejected the nation of Israel. He still has a great love and desire. When you come into the premillennial time, when you come into the time of tribulation, it's the day of Jacob's trouble. The 144,000 are literally physical Jews. He has a great love for them, and he's still opening the door for them to come back. Even after a hardening, he's still leaving the door open for them to come back to him. He's making that point very well known here. And then he quotes in verse 27, beginning with Isaiah. He says, "'Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, "'though the number of the children of Israel "'be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.'" What is he speaking of here? I'll tell you what he's saying here. The Jewish population was going to multiply and multiply and multiply and multiply. And yet in the midst of this, there was still going to be a remnant. There would always be a remnant that would be saved out of that. to carry on the elect purpose of God of taking the Word of God to the rest of the nations. This continues on even in the two witnesses during the time of tribulation. The elect purpose is still being carried out through the Jewish voice. What's beautiful about this is that's the reason I don't care how personally, Pastor, that's the reason I feel that Hitler was a satanic tool of a very specific, I think a very obvious design. Satan has constantly been trying to wipe out the Jewish people. And God has promised, clear back in the book of Isaiah, that was not going to happen. There would always be a physical remnant left in order for his elect purpose to be carried out. Then in verse 28 he says it, "'For he will finish the work "'and cut it short in righteousness, "'because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.'" You find eschatology now stepping into the picture in a geographic way. In verse 29, and as Isaiah said before, "'Except the Lord of the Sabbath had left us a seed, "'we had been as Sodom and then made like unto Gomorrah.'" What is he saying here? The judgment came down upon the people of Israel time after time, but every single time there was judgment upon Israel, the slaughter of Israel, even now we come to the diaspora, there's going to be a realigning of the nation of Israel. He will always leave this remnant. Why? Because it's still his elect purpose for the Word of God to go out through the nation of Israel. He's still making this very clear. Now, he's speaking constantly to a Jewish congregation. We have come in. And we're stepping in deep water, and I hope I don't confuse too much now. But this is the reason that, personally, I'm a dispensationalist versus a covenant theologian. Because now you're stepping into this idea that the church is not Israel, and Israel is not the church. When you come to this, God is dealing very specifically with Israel in order to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the rest of the world. But he has never forgotten his covenant with Israel. And there'll always be a remnant left, and the elect purpose of the nation of Israel is to bring the word of God to the rest of the world. He has never forgotten his elect purpose for the nation of Israel. We are the great recipients of his elect purpose in the nation of Israel. And then he brings in his summary, and we close. He says in verse 30, What shall we say then? After everything I just said to you, Paul was much clearer in saying it than I am, I'm sure, that the Gentiles, we're going to make this about synergism or monergism. It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do about faith versus works. When you study Romans 9, it doesn't have anything to do with, well, you know, is this something about man having a part in salvation as far as him believing and that believing is a work, or does it have something to do with God alone being? It has nothing to do with this. The complete argument that Paul is making is that salvation is not by works, it is by faith. So he says, what shall we say then, that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore, or why? Why have they not attained to it? because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at that stumbling stone." Who is he talking about now? He's talking about Jesus Christ. And then he reiterates that in verse 33. As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him, not whosoever is chosen by God, not whosoever is the elect of God, It says, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. The dividing point is not whether you were chosen to be a part of Israel. Not even all Israel is a part of true Israel. The point is, are you accepting the salvation? this word of God that has come through the elect purpose of Israel, are you accepting this rock of offense? Is he a savior or is he a stumbling stone? If you're trying to do it through the law, if you're trying to do it through this idea of works, then you're never going to make it. Israel, when they had the Christ right in front of them, they still held on to this old law. It says, no, it's only by faith. The elect purpose of Israel was to bring the Word of God, is to bring the Word of God to all of creation. What is our responsibility? Our responsibility for the gracious God who gave us His Word is to believe it or to reject it. That is it. That is our response when it comes to salvation. Well, am I part of God's elect or am I not? Am I a part of God's chosen or am I not? My friend, that is not the question for you to ask. The simple question for you to ask is, do you believe Him or don't you? Will you trust Him or will you not? Because the salvation is available. He has never allowed His like purpose of bringing you the Word of God to ever go without a remnant that would do that. Now, will you accept Him or will you reject Him? By the way, I will say this to you. It is still completely and totally His plan. There's nothing apart salvation that is man. And the only reason that you and I could love Him, what Scott was saying this morning is absolutely true. It demands the work of the Holy Spirit to bring a man to the place of conviction. So, God coming to us, we love Him because He first loved us. The question is, he has loved us, will we love him back? I'll illustrate it and I'll be finished. Aaron, is Abigail in here? There she is. Aaron, were you there when Abigail was born? We know the mom was. When Abigail was born, imagine with me for the first time that Aaron held little Abigail. And the first time he held her, he looked at her, and he said something to this. Man, look at this little, pink, wrinkly, ugly thing. You know, men, let's face it, every newborn, they say, what a beautiful baby. There's nothing beautiful about a newborn. They're like an alien life form. Look at this baby. She can't clean herself. She can't feed herself. She can't bathe herself. There's nothing she can do for herself. Lord, I really don't want this child. You take this child back, Lord. Do you think that's what he said? Lord, I'm going to have to pay the doctor's bills and the dentist's bills. One day, which I'm looking at now because I've got them sniffing around at my house. One day, this behemoth of an idiot is... I had to talk to a guy last night on the phone who wanted to take my daughter out at Pensacola, and they're getting very serious. And honestly, Pastor, he sounded like he had an IQ of 30. I mean, just, he really did. And I hope he's watching this right now, too. And some behemoth of an idiot is going to show up at my doorstep and ask her for her hand in marriage, and she's going to ride off into the sunset and forget about her old dad. You know, this isn't worth it. She doesn't love me. She can't love me. You think that's what he said? Of course not. But I can't imagine the first time he held that little baby. He looked at that small child, that little helpless baby. that was blood of his blood and flesh of his flesh, and he said something like this. Dear God, look at her. Look at her, hold on to my finger. Lord, I can't even take care of myself very well, much less another life. God, please, I gotta have your wisdom, I gotta have your strength. If a doctor came to him at that point in time and said, Mr. Reynolds, in order for this baby to live, you're gonna have to die. I imagine he'd probably want to get a second opinion. But once that was confirmed, I'm almost certain. Doctor, if you're certain that this is the only way it can happen, then I'd do it. Child didn't even know him. She couldn't love him. She didn't have the ability to love him. And yet he was willing to give his own life for her? Grasp this. We love him. because He first loved us. Where does all this election, the predestination, the foreknowledge line up? We could go on for millennia on that one. I do know this, that if you're here tonight and you're listening to His Word, it is not His will that you perish. He has elected Israel to the purpose of bringing the Word of God to this very night. And now he's presenting his word to us. And he's asking, are you going to believe me by faith? The righteousness that comes by faith, are you going to keep striving to do it through the law? Because if you keep doing it, then you'll never make it. Love him because he first loved us. Pastor. Well, if you want to wade into the depths of the Word of God, you've waded there tonight. And I believe you went into the stream down behind the house. What was the guy's name? Leonard? Lance. Lance. Came throughout the other side. Thank you. That's the only thing I know to say is thank you. Thank you. Now, I know that's heavy, and I know that's, wow, you say, where is this? If you haven't waited deep in the Word of God, you just are over your head tonight and say, what's that all about? What's that all about? Well, just go ahead and get the DVD or the CD Go back over through that again and again and again and read the scripture and read it down through and follow it through and I hope you'll do that. Has that been a blessing? Whether you know it or not, it has been. Whether you realize it or not, it will undoubtedly impact your life. So obviously, where Brother Parker took us to. What shall we say then of these things? All things work together for good. We are more than conquerors. And now we've waded through this. In the morning, Scott, coming to Chapter 10. Brother Wallace in Chapter 11. I hope you can be here. I hope you can. One thing you've got to say for sure, God sovereignly determined in His own immutable will that everyone who believes on Jesus Christ will be saved. Well, thank you so much. I hope you'll stop by the book table, see Brother Wallace back there. Let's bow our heads before we leave. I wonder if anybody here is nice, that preacher. I am through trusting my own good works and myself to get me to heaven. And I will, right now, trust Jesus Christ as my Savior. Do you need to do that? Do you need to do that? And I will come into that area by faith. And I will not stumble over the Lord Jesus Christ. I will receive Him. I will believe on Him. I will accept Him. Anybody need to say that? If you do, tell God that right now. Just tell Him that right now. You don't have to tell me. I'd be thrilled to know it, but, you know, you don't have to tell me. Tell God. Tell God. And then go from there. Go from there. how I thank you for who you are. Now, Lord, I thank you and love you for all that you do. But, Lord, I thank you and love you for who you are. I thank you for your power, for your might, for your glory, for your majesty. I thank you, Lord, for your sovereignty. I thank you, Lord, that you put up with us whenever we feel we can fool you or act one way and think you don't know about it and try to fool others and think we're fooling you and even fool ourselves and think we're fooling you. Lord, I thank you put up with all that and that you still love us because you are love. Now, Lord, help us to love You. With all the evidences of love that are exhibited in Your being toward us, may the evidences of our love to You be exhibited in all of our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Well, God bless you. God bless you. In 13 hours, 13 hours we'll be back here and we'll be ready to go again. That'll be great. And we'll have lunch. We'll have all those wonderful things. I think Brother Wallace has something very special planned for us from Romans chapter 11. And so I hope you can come in the morning. God bless you. We'll be back tomorrow night. Back tomorrow night. God bless you. You're dismissed.