Blessings. Thank you that you died on that cross. Thank you for the prayer requests that you've already answered. Lord, praise the Lord for good reports and reports in general, Lord, whether they've got a positive outcome already or whether they are still in need of your intervention. We just pray that you would have your will and your way in the services tonight in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen. We're in Romans chapter nine and in Romans chapter nine, 9, 10, and 11 are sort of parenthetical. So chapters 1 through 8, and then 9, 10, 11 are talking about Israel. And there's a lot of very important doctrine in these three chapters that's important to grasp. But let's go ahead in Romans 9, verse 1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not. My conscious 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, 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. whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Are you going to switch me over to this mic? So when you look at what this is talking about, he starts off with, I lie not. And I don't know about you, but there is an epidemic of lying out there. And it's unfortunate. I think one of the things that destroys children and their relationship with their parents and others is lying. If that child can trust you implicitly, that means the world to them. If you say, no, we're not going to do this, and then you do it because they break you down, you have just trained them to badger you until they get their way. If you say we're going to do it and you don't do it, then you have taught them that your word is no good. With my children, I would always say, we'll see. As I got a little bit older, one of them, probably Heather, came up and said, Dad, we'll see means no. And you know what? They were probably right. But I would not say yes ever, never. And then I told you the story, but a couple of years back, they called me and said, hey, are you coming down for this particular event? We were on the road traveling at the time, probably home, I think. And I said, yeah, we'll be down there. My schedule didn't allow it. I mean, I had 10 weeks of no openings. This was about six weeks away, whatever. And I had a responsibility to them to keep my word to them. But this is, I just said yes off the cuff, thinking, well, of course I'll work it out. And my son called me and he said, you know, you let not so much me, but children. And he said, They should matter more to you. And I said, Justin, let me turn this around a little bit. I said, never in my, that I can remember that I ever made a promise that I didn't keep, right? You ever remember one? He goes, no. I said, so you guys are so important. so much prioritized that I made a commitment that I didn't check on and had to break the commitment. So it's actually the opposite. You got me to do something that I never do because I assumed I'd be able to make it. I said, so really what you have is the highest priority. Well, that worked. He was satisfied. Dad won again. Just kidding. But I never wanted to lie to my kids. And my grandson, I know that he says, when Papa Doug says no, he means no. And why would he say that? And I'll tell you why he said it, and you know. It's because no doesn't always mean no. as a parent, especially. When you tell your children no, when you tell somebody no, then it needs to mean no. I didn't go no and then wait for him to badger me to where I yell at him and lose my temper and go after him. That's not the way it's designed to be. Now, I know we all make mistakes, but when he says, I lie not, I lie not. Look at Galatians chapter one, another place where Paul reiterates this same thing. And it almost makes you wonder, in verse 19, so it's Galatians 1.19, But other of the apostles saw I none save James the Lord's brother. So was Mary a perpetual virgin? It's that easy. James the Lord's brother. So James is Jesus' brother. Mary had other children. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." I lie not. He has to tell those in Rome. He has to tell those in Galatia. And I think what it is, is that we become more lax in our truthfulness. Look at Numbers 23. Numbers chapter 23. And this is a statement of fact about God. Numbers 23, look at verse 19. God is not a man that He should lie. Neither the Son of Man that He should repent hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good? He says, you know, God's not a man. In other words, men have a tendency to lie. And you know, now look, you might say, well, I hate liars. You've got to be careful because some of the things you've got to realize is those that you despise the most in others many times are your own faults. It's hard to And listen, there are people that don't lie, basically, and, you know, it really bothers them when people lie to them. I get that. But in general, the things that bother you the most are the things that you have those very faults in. Look at Titus chapter 1, another thing on God making a promise and keeping His promise. You and I are fortunate that God does not lie. You can take the Bible to the bank. You can trust every word of it. Titus 1, look at verse 2, "...in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." So it's almost like he has to put that in there. He says, "...in hope of eternal life," and then he says, "...which God promised before the world began." And he doesn't lie. He doesn't lie. His promises are true. No matter what it is that God has promised, what God has said, it will come to pass. That's who God is and it's an amazing thing. Look at Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. You know what immutable means? In verse 18, immutable. That means it cannot change. The promise and the oath, look at verse 18, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have, and so on. But what I want you to see is by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie. Not only does God not lie, but it is actually impossible for God to lie because He'd be a sinner. Because if God made any promise to you, and any promise fails, that's why this thing about replacement theology in Israel is so ludicrous. There are certain things that have to yet be fulfilled with Israel. and it is impossible for those things not to be fulfilled. What does that mean? That means God is going to turn His attention. We're going to see who is Israel. We're going to look at that here in a moment. Israel is not, a Jew is not one that is just one outward in the flesh. It's inward in the heart. You say, no, it's all how they're born. No, it's more than that. It's more than that. We'll see that here in a minute. So he said, verse 2, that I have great heaviness, this is Romans 9, 2, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. You know, if you think about it, you have lost loved ones, you know what that'll do to you? You'll have sorrow. I struggle with loved ones that, you know, my dad got saved when he was 85 years old. That was 40 years of me being saved before he got saved. That was tough. continual sorrow in my heart, great heaviness. And I didn't always do it right. I would lose my temper. I would just get, I had one chance, I'd go home at Christmas, I had one chance to lead Him to the Lord, and man, I just, boom, boom, boom. You know, I just beat up on it. Mostly my mom, but my dad too, a little bit. I didn't, you know, my dad's 6'3", you don't really push him around. And then when he just gives you one of those looks or just says a few things, you just go, yes sir. Zip it up. Verse 3, For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. So these are lost Jews he's talking about. And he talks about, so we are brethren. And Paul would consider if you were here and you were saved or he was here and he was saved, he'd say we're brethren. So he has to say my brethren according to the flesh to distinguish between those that are saved and those that he's talking about here, which are Jews. And he said, I could wish myself to be accursed. In Galatians 3.13, the Bible says when Christ was hung on the cross, He hung on the cross as a curse. And Paul said, I could wish myself to be accursed. Paul couldn't die for Him. But he could wish that he could do more. And it's okay to wish you can do more. It's okay to be spent for others. It's okay to have heaviness of heart for lost souls, because that's what it takes. It takes some weeping. It takes tears. And I don't mean actually crying. I told you I'm not emotional like that, unless I watch a sad movie, because they're controlling your brain. You know, but we ought to have that type of love for others and love for souls. The soul is eternal. And the only thing you can do is give them the gospel. Remember, you plant, you water, God gives the increase. So no matter how much you want to bring that increase, you better not. You better not force it. Oh, just pray this prayer, I've heard people say. That prayer doesn't save you. Trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ saves you. But not the prayer. The prayer is important. It's an outward expression of what better happened inside. But you can make an outward expression with no heart in it. You won't be saved. Those that get saved, there is a change. There's a change in attitude. There are speech changes. You know, Bill was up here getting baptized, his speech changed. You know what he said? He said, I'm gonna have to ask for one drop of water. Would he have said that two years ago? Wasn't even on his radar. So your speech changed. So you might say, oh, you mean you stopped cussing? Yeah, hopefully, but sometimes there's habitual things that take time to work out. You know, you quit smoking. That's a pretty bad habit that's tough to do. You quit thinking bad thoughts. Easier said than done. But there ought to be a change. There ought to be a desire to quit thinking that way. There ought to be a desire to quit talking that way. To quit doing things that are a bad testimony. There ought to be that desire, and if there's no desire, there's no salvation. That's the difference. So as you look at this thing, Paul says, you know, my heart's desire for them. And then you go to chapter 10, verse 1 in Romans, and look at the same thing. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul's heart's desire and his prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. Paul had a love for souls. Do you have that? We need that. And if you don't have that, you nurture it by considering the longevity of eternity, the reality of hell, the fact that God was merciful to you. You live in a country where the gospel is much more accessible. The Word of God is much more accessible. You have the Bible everywhere. I mean, Bibles, you know, although there are quite a few things that really aren't Bibles. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and let's look at something about Paul and really some heavy duty, what you might call heavy duty forgiveness. 2 Corinthians chapter 11, so he loves his kinsmen according to the flesh and yet who persecuted him the most? It wasn't the Gentiles, it was the Jews. And he says in verse 22 of 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Hebrews, Israelites, seed of Abraham, all the same thing. He just says it three different ways. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool, I am more. In labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft of the Jews five times, received I forty stripes, saved one." Five times he got 39 stripes. Thrice, three times, was I beaten with rods. Once I was stoned with rocks. Thrice I suffered shipwreck." Boy, I'll tell you what, people say, I don't want to be with me. You wouldn't want to be with Paul either. Three times he was shipwrecked. A night and a day I have spent in the deep. A night and a day in the water after one of the shipwrecks. in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, the Jews, in perils by the heathen, that's the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness, beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Man, Paul went through it, and yet he loved his brethren according to the flesh. He did not allow his personal problems to stop him from ministering to those that had a need for the gospel. I believe you could come up and you could spit in Paul's face and he'd still give you the gospel. You could whip him 39 times and during that time he's going to be praying for that one that's whipping him, he's going to be talking to him, maybe even singing a psalm. Remember when he was thrown in jail and he and Silas just sang praises all night long? Philippian jailer got saved? You see, that's the difference between what we have in society today and Christianity today. Christianity today is, you know, make me feel good, give me a show. Do anything, but don't hold me accountable. We need to be accountable to each other. You need to hold me accountable, I hold you accountable, we hold each other accountable. And accountable in what way? To live for the Lord, to love souls, to be faithful. And as you do that, you know what you'll do? You'll strengthen yourself the more that you invest in others. I appreciate those that invested in me and there were many through my life and time. So he goes back in chapter 9, again in verse 4, who are Israelites? Those are his kinsmen according to the flesh. He's actually continuing, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites? You remember Jonah? He refused to go to the Gentiles. And the nation of Israel, you know what they were supposed to do? They were supposed to take the blessings of God to the other nations. Israel, you know what they did? They stayed in Jerusalem. They kept it among themselves and didn't go out and evangelize the world. Think about it. That was who the Jews were supposed to be, but do you realize how the Jews looked at themselves and said, we are God's chosen people. We don't want to pollute ourselves. So we're not going to talk to the Samaritans, we're not going to talk to the Gentiles, we're not going to tell them about our God. That's not the way it was intended to be. You know why He's chosen the Gentiles? We'll see that in Romans chapter 11, another one of the parenthetical chapters. You'll see that He chose us, the Gentiles, in order to bring them to jealousy. What an amazing thought that God is using us. to bring Israel to jealousy. But think about this. Israel is God's chosen people. Thousands of years they have a relationship with God like no other nation. God dwelled, you know, in the holy of holies. That was Israel. They had the law. They had special meets and offerings and days and months and times and all that stuff that made them peculiar. And then God won their battles. God fought their battles and won their battles. And it went to their head. They just kept it in. You know what you and I better not do? We better never keep it in. You better always be soul conscious. And never give up. Never give up. You may get discouraged, you may think, hey, it's hopeless, it's not gonna happen, but you never know, you never know. So as you go on, well, look at Romans chapter two. We'd already gone over this, but I wanna reiterate it here. Romans two, and I mentioned this earlier. So who is a Jew? Who is a Jew? In Romans chapter 2, the last two verses, verse 28 and 29, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Do you realize that the Jews said, hey, I was born into the nation, I'm a Jew? Not according to that. Paul's writing is saying, look, it's a much bigger matter than that. You have to, it's a matter of the heart. And we could go through a lot of verses in Deuteronomy and Acts and I just, I got so many in here I'm not even gonna try to, yeah we are, we're gonna look at a few of them. Let me go back. So look at Colossians 2.11 for a Christian today. Colossians 2.11, so I told you to be a Jew, it's a matter of the heart, circumcision of the heart. As a Christian, God does that circumcision to you by cutting away the sinful flesh. In Colossians 2.11, in whom also ye are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. and you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, have He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses." What does that say? That says that the baptism we had this past weekend was a water baptism. That's not the baptism he's talking about. He's talking about the baptism whereas you're baptized into the body of Christ. He's talking about not the circumcision of the Old Testament, but the circumcision made without hands, putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. That's the circumcision He's talking about. And the same thing applied to the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel looked at it and said, oh no, it's all by birth. That's all that matters. You remember Esau and Jacob. Esau had the birthright. It was given to Jacob. It was a matter of the heart. And it was all about God. So when you look at these things, and again, look at Deuteronomy chapter 10. We definitely need to look at that one. Deuteronomy chapter 10. Look at verse 15. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day." Look at what he says. "...circumcised therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked." Even in the Old Testament, He told them to circumcise the foreskin of their heart and not to be stiff-necked. What did Stephen preach in Acts chapter 7? You stiff-necked and uncircumcised heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost. That's what he's talking about there. Now go to Deuteronomy 30. Deuteronomy 30, verse 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandment, which I command thee this day. And back there in verse 6, the Lord said, God will circumcise thine heart. It's all, listen, it's always been about the heart. People look at the Old Testament, they go, oh, you know, it's all about works. Works plus, you know, faith. Emphasizing the works. It's always the heart. And God deals with the heart. God deals with your heart. God wants your heart. Listen, He says, present your body a living sacrifice. But you know what it takes to present your body a living sacrifice? The right heart. So even when you present your body, it's not about your body, it's about your heart willing to give yourself over to God. That's what He wants. That's why you're created. That's why you exist. That's why you breathe. That's why you get up in the morning. That is why you exist, is for that very reason, to give yourself back to God because of what He did for you. So as you go on, and again, I could go on forever, I'm not going to. Go on back to Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. And we'll go on to verse 6. He says, "...not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." They are not all Israel, which are of Israel. Is that not what I've been telling you all along? People say, well, I'm of Israel. Well, no, you're not. It's a matter of the heart. A Jew is a matter of the heart. In John 1.47, we won't go there, but he says, "...an Israelite indeed." Now, let me take you to a verse that will make a whole lot more sense to you if you understand who a Jew is and who is an Israelite. One and the same. Look at chapter 11. Chapter 11. is a chapter, and we'll get there soon. Here's the verse, verse 11. We're going to get to verse 26, but just look at verse 11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall, God forbid, but rather through their fall, the Jews. Salvation has come unto the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousy. Why did God do what He did? To provoke the Jews to jealousy. We are wild olive branches grafted among them. But go and look at verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. So, Israel's blinded in part until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. And then look at the next verse. And so, all Israel shall be saved, that is written, there shall come out of Zion a deliverance, shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins, as concerning the gospel when we go on. But look at what it says, all Israel shall be saved. Who is Israel? Though it's a matter of the heart. So you say all Israel is going to be saved regardless of whether they're living for God or not. Whether they care about God, whether they believe in God, just because they're born a Jew. All Israel is a matter of the heart. And that's why that verse makes sense. So what's going to happen after the rapture of the church, God's going to turn His focus back on Israel, and the true Israel will Be saved. All Israel shall be saved. And otherwise you could look at it and go, well, then he's going to save them against their will. No, it's not going to be against their will, because that is the matter of the heart. OK, going back to Romans chapter 9. Romans 9. And again, he's reiterating it, repeating it. Ishmael's an example here. Neither because they are of the seed of Abraham are they all children, 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. For this is the word of promise. At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by her 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." It's all about God. It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Boy, that's a controversial thing. Esau have I hated? Remember, he sold his birthright in Genesis 25, 33. He sold his birthright. What is this hate that we're talking about here? I mean, Esau, have I hated? What is that? Now, God hates. God hates sin. God hates the workers of iniquity. The Bible says it over and over again. If you look at Psalm 55 and other places, it talks a lot about God hating. But when you look at Luke 14, let's bring it down to where it's a little bit harder to just, you know, blow off, you might say, and just reject it. In Luke 14, verse 25, And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yea, and His own life also, He cannot be my disciple." You see, your love for Christ should be hate in comparison to anything else. When we think about it, we think, well, hatred is this emotion, this act. It's not. It's, look, you must love... Listen, I'm to love God and hate everything else in comparison. And as I love God, I will have the right type of love, but in comparison, I'm to love God so much that I hate everything else. And I know that's foreign to our ears. But look at what it said. If you don't hate your father and mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, and your own life, What sense can you make of that other than we don't understand what He means? Your love for God should be so preeminent that in relation to how much you love Him, basically you hate everything else. Look at another verse along the same lines. Look at Matthew 10, 37. Matthew 10. Verse 30, let's go back a little bit, let's see. Yeah, look at verse 35. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. I don't know about you, when I got saved, I was at variance with everybody. My mom, my dad, my sister, my brother, nobody. Well, my sister went to church and got saved shortly after. When I went back to Pennsylvania, she went to church, she looks at me and she said, should I walk forward? Yeah, I didn't even know what she heard. She heard she was lost, walked forward and got saved. Just amazing, but I had to let everybody go And basically, I had to hate them if they were not going to come around to loving Christ. They could not be the deciding factor in my life as to how I was going to live. I had to buck it all and just say no. I got my college degree and then left there, and it was like, look, I gotta go to Bible college. Boy, that was just... My dad told me he was disappointed in me. Broke my heart to hear those words, because I lived to please my father. I lived my life, my accolades in the military, all of that was to give it to him and show him. And that's what it was about. And then all of a sudden, He was disappointed with me. That was tough. In relation, I had to love God so much that in relation it was like I hated Him. even though you know how much I loved him to tell him the gospel. So as you go now, look at verse 36, "...and a man's foes shall be those of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, followeth after me, is not worthy of me." What is that hate? You've got to love God more than anything else. And from my parents' perspective, they'd look at me and say, well, you don't love us anymore. You hate it. You don't love us anymore. What would that mean? You hate us, right? If you don't love somebody, you hate them. And I know that's a harsh word. We've been brainwashed into thinking it's such a tough word. And because of that, it's hard to convey what I'm trying to make sure I get across. But look at what he says in Matthew. He says, he that loveth father or mother more than me. Love of them more? Yeah. He that hateth not his father and his mother, and takes not up his cross, the whole... He defines what that hatred is. If you love anything more than God... You're not right. You say, well, I'm married. I've got to love my spouse. Yes, you should. But you never love your spouse more than you love God. If you put that relationship right with God, every other relationship will be right. But if you put any relationship before God, none of the relationships will work. Well, we started early and I do not want to get into verse 14 on where it talks about the Scripture saith there in verse 17 and how it's personified. It's one of the most interesting studies that, you know, sometimes that I think is in the Bible. The Scripture speaketh, you know, Moses and all of that. So I'm going to hold off on that. We will stop in verse 13. Let's all stand together. Mark it down. It's 7.50. You guys get to go to bed early. Yeah, right. I still don't go to bed till 11. Lord, we do thank You for Your many blessings. God lead and direct in all things. We just pray for Your will to be done in our lives. Help us to be faithful and obedient to Thee. In Jesus' name, as the music plays.