The readings from Romans chapter 9. The whole chapter. Romans chapter 9. I speak the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit. I have great sorrow and increasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, foes of my own race. the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons, theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised. Amen. It is not as though God's word had failed, For not all those who had descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, it is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned. In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. This was how the promise was stated, at the appointed time I will return and Sarah will have a son. Not only that, but Rebecca's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might stand, not by works but by him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger. Just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not therefore depend on man's desire or effort but on God's mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore, God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me, Then why does God still blame us for who resists his will? But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, Why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery of noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of His wrath, prepared for destruction? What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory? Even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles. As he says in Hosea, I will call them my people who are not my people. And I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, they will be called sons of the living God. Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality. It is just as Isaiah said previously, Unless the Lord Almighty has left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom. we would have been like Gomorrah. What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith, but Israel who pursued a law of righteousness had not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as if it were by works. they stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written, see I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Well my name is Ian Pennycook and this I think is study six This morning we're going to turn our attention to the passage which has just been read to us, Romans chapter 9. Tomorrow chapter 10, Thursday chapter 11. In a sense what we looked at yesterday will also bear on it, although Paul in writing to the Ephesians was dealing with a different subject. So will you turn to the letter to the Romans? I want to take the liberty of introducing a little bit of the theme of Romans before we turn to chapter 9 directly. Mostly because very often we have used Romans as a letter to suit particular doctrines that we enjoy. There's nothing wrong with that, it certainly does provide us with rich food for the soul on many levels. But as with the other letters of the New Testament, Romans was written in a particular context in the first century and it was a different context to the one in which we find ourselves. Let us look then at the way Paul deals with the whole topic of God dealing with his people, dealing with the whole world as a result of that, And he begins by focusing, in Romans chapter 1, on the person of the Lord Jesus. How do we understand Jesus? In the very beginning, look at Romans chapter 1 if you will, he talks in verses 3 and 4, he talks about the gospel concerning God's Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh. and was declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead. Now at the very beginning Paul identifies Jesus as descended from David according to the flesh. Now this point has already been made yesterday on the fact that the New Testament understands Jesus as a human being. I find that many people quickly fly into defence mode and say, ah, but he is God. That is certainly true, the word became flesh. There is no question that Jesus is God in the flesh, but in becoming flesh he didn't become something unusual as far as human beings are concerned, he became a true human being. one whom if you looked at him and your hands could handle him, your eyes would see him, you would say he looks like every one of us, except that you would have to be a Jew to say that. He is descended from David according to the flesh. And that sets an immediate context for our salvation. Now Dean has dealt with that and it's already been dealt with, but let me just reiterate the fact that when we are talking about you and me sitting here this morning, hearing the Christian gospel, It is a gospel which has its roots in promises which God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and which he established very firmly in the person of King David. So we are talking about King David's greatest son who is the root of our salvation in the whole purpose and plan of God. It all flows from Christ. Now, there's another statement with which you're familiar that's in Romans chapter 1, 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith. As it is written, the one who is righteous will live by faith. Now I'll just allow him that some translations will deal with it slightly differently, that won't alter this principle. That when Paul talks about the gospel he is preaching, he says it is a Jew first gospel because it is a Jew first salvation. Would you agree with that? Now you see that doesn't figure in much of our preaching and teaching and in one sense it doesn't matter that it doesn't. in one sense, but another is you will, as it's been said, you will never really understand Jesus, you'll never understand therefore the salvation which he brings, unless we come to see the full way that God has revealed what he's about. More than half of your Bible, a lot more than half of your Bible is Old Testament. which we and the church and the Lord Jesus himself understood to be the revelation which God had given of himself and his purposes in history. So we're not just picking and choosing, we're saying God himself has spoken to us of what he's about and he says it is a Jew first gospel. Now keep in mind also though that when we say that we are not people who are going to be obsessed with the nation of Israel, I trust, because when God said to Israel in Exodus chapter 19, you will be for me a holy nation and a royal priesthood, he then stressed the fact that the reason why he has chosen Israel was that the whole earth is mine. Israel was always with all the other nations in view. Now again, Just keep reminding yourself of this, that the Old Testament therefore is not simply stories with applications for kids in Sunday school. There is David fighting Goliath. Now if you have faith like David, boys and girls, you can all fight your own Goliaths. That's silly exegesis anyway. It is also missing the point that God is working a purpose out in history and all of those issues go to make the salvation which you and I are now enjoying. So, it is a Jew first salvation. God is going to bring his people to salvation in order that all the nations of the earth can be blessed. Now therefore, another explanation needs to come through and that's in the letter to the Romans Paul uses two words to describe what we would simply loosely call the Jews. And he does, the first word is Jew. Interestingly enough, the word Jew is used in Romans chapters 1 to 3 and twice only in chapters 9 and 10. But mostly in the early chapters of Romans he uses the word Jew. But when he comes to the latter parts of the letter, he stops using that word, mostly, and he uses the word Israel. Now, if you're alert to it, you'll say, I wonder why it changed. I will suggest this to you, that the word Jew is a way of seeing a person in distinction from all the other nations. So if I look at you and you are Asian, I say, well, you are Chinese, Japanese, whatever, not in any way implying anything else but that is your distinctiveness over against my being an Australian or you being British or whatever. But when Paul uses the word Israel, he is seeing a particular person or the whole nation in terms of God's covenant purposes. And that is the way it's being used. So the word Jew is used to describe a person in distinction from all the other nations. It's neither positive or negative, it's just a good word to use. But Israel sees a person in the light of God's covenant purposes. Now if that's the case, then we turn to Romans chapter 9 Given that we've just heard it read, we can move quickly through some of it. But verses 1 to 5, I'm speaking the truth in Christ, I'm not lying, my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites. and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises, to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever." Paul writes as a Jew, they are, when he looks at Israel, he looks at the Jews, by the way, he says that they are his kindred according to the flesh. There are some things you cannot say. As we've been reminded also in chapter 4, Paul says, what are we to say about Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? Abraham may be our spiritual forefather, but he's certainly not my forefather according to the flesh, unless it so happens that I'm one of the 80% who's stuck in somewhere along the line. I hadn't heard that before, that's interesting. And the Lord said, under Moses all the Jews shall have big noses. No, I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry. I do apologise. If you're Jewish, you can take me outside and do horrible things to me later. Later, I said. But no, this is not fair. We have our distinctiveness. But Paul writes as one who says, I am Jewish. And I care for my people according to the flesh. My heart aches for them. And all that Paul has written thus far in the letter to the Romans has that priority in mind. He cares deeply. Chapters 1 to 8 of Romans, for which, you know, people have chopped Romans up into little sections. But chapters 1 to 8 in Romans have set out the human dilemma in which both Jews and Gentiles participate. But you go through the early chapters Does being a Jew have any benefit? You bet. Much in every way. He's focusing on that. But he understands that both Jews and Gentiles are alike under the wrath of God because, again the verse we've just taken out of context, because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now Jews have many advantages, he says in chapter 3. Well to begin with, they have what? that we as outsiders never had. What is it? The oracles of God. They are a people, he says, or we are a people, because he speaks as a Jew, who stood there at Mount Sinai and we heard God speak to us and no other nation has ever had that and lived. Don't you ever minimise that privilege. And what's more, they have the law. I'm putting law in a capital L here to refer particularly to the law of Moses, and much of that will come out tomorrow. But you see, to have the law, and to have the oracles of God, but to have the law will actually make you shut your mouth if you start boasting of your privileges. It's one thing to have the law, but it's another thing to boast and say, I am superior. The law will cause you to shut your mouth because you see what God has done in history is actually quite apart from the law and he makes this very clear that membership of Israel and keeping the law of Moses has actually not been an issue in the great salvation that God has worked in Christ. You read that in chapter 3, what he's done, he's done apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it So what is the real issue all the way through history? Starting at least with Abel and going on all the way through to the present day, to the person who's just come to Christ at a beach mission. What is the one issue that dominates it all? Romans talks about it, Galatians talks about it. Faith. That's the issue. And that's the way it was before there was an Israel. Abraham believed God and that was reckoned to him for righteousness. Hebrews tells us Abel was a man of faith. There was no law, it was always faith. And so when you look, as Paul does in chapter 4 of Romans, at that great patriarch Abraham, who incidentally was a Gentile, because there was no Israel, that was the new name for his grandson. So he's a Gentile and the one to whom we all look, Jew and Gentile alike, is a man who is justified by faith. He believed what he heard from God. And that's the principle which Paul is establishing in Romans. And justification by faith, therefore, is for all of us, Jew and Gentile alike. And if you want to find out how that happens, look at the second half of Romans chapter 5. You know that having said, being therefore justified by faith we have peace with God, and that chapter goes through to verse 11, describing what it is to be saved by God from the wrath, through the work of Christ, all those statements which are so precious to us, in our Christian experience, but how does that come to us? And the answer is this. In the end of chapter 5, the man Jesus has accomplished the complete reversal of all that the man Adam did. Or actually, if you like, he has redone what Adam undid. And then in chapter 6, having compared One man's trespass with one man's act of obedience. Chapter 6 shows us that if you are baptised, and don't waste your time talking about how much water was used, because Paul certainly doesn't, he says if you are baptised, it's far more than being baptised into water, you are baptised into Christ, you are baptised into his death, and you were buried with him by baptism into death, now that's far more dynamic than merely being made a member of the church, you know, the denomination. And so you became a participant in that one man whose act of righteousness brought salvation, redemption for all the world. So being baptized into Christ is an extraordinary matter. You become a participant in the triumph of Christ. Think about it if you want, I won't explain it, but there's the true exegesis of the story of David and Goliath. Now chapter 7, Paul then continues and says that if that's the case, that you have by faith been justified, if you've been joined to that one man by your baptism in his triumph, then if you appeal to law at any point to prove how good you are or how well you've been doing, then you're a disaster. The moment you appeal to law, what will it do? It'll do what it's always done, it will highlight your guilt. And if you appeal to law, you will either become an ugly Pharisee who says, I am thankful, Lord, that I am not like this man. Though there's always someone worse than we are. Or you'll be a person who, if you're honest, will be flung into the depths of despair. Because all you will see is your own guilt and failure. So chapter 7 shows that an appeal to law at any point has awful consequences. But on the other hand, God has done what the law could never do. Now if a Jewish person would have the just requirements of the law fulfilled, as he or she must on any level, then it will not be as we fulfil, we being human beings, as we fulfil the just requirements of the law because we can't do it. Because you may say, ah, but I haven't murdered anybody and even our Lord said, have you ever hated? I've never committed adultery. Have you looked at a woman with lust in your heart? No, it doesn't take very long for the law to expose the fact that you and I could never do it. Therefore, if we are to be justified then it must be as God himself fulfills the just requirements of the law for us, and Romans chapter 8 verse 4 says that. So tell me, when Moses was told to say to Pharaoh, Israel is my firstborn and I say to you let my son go that he may worship me, then who are the sons of God? Well, it's not those who are simply members physically of Israel, you won't become an heir of God that way, you may become an heir within the framework of physical Israel, but it is those who have received the Spirit. That's why Paul says in Romans 8 that when you receive the Spirit you cry, Abba, Father. That's the mark of what it is to be fully participating in the salvation which Christ has won. Those who receive the Spirit. How are you going? Some of you are looking a little bit droopy already. This is like a commercial break just to give you a chance to... me? I'm looking at you, I know who you are, it's alright. You see, here is a gospel then that comes to you to be saved by faith, it's a Jew first gospel, meaning that Paul's concern is, here is a gospel which is to come to the whole world through redeemed Israel, and how does he start Romans 9? He says, something has gone wrong. The very priority which God established in history has all been turned around. because the very people through whom salvation was to come are not receiving it. And chapters 9 to 11 of Romans proceed to outline the way that Paul answers the questions raised by Israel's refusal to receive their Messiah. Now that's not just a little mental puzzle for the man. He says, they are my kindred according to the flesh. Have you ever wept over your children? Well, if you're young, of course, you won't understand that, but when you look at people and you say, they're my family and they're not receiving it. So he says, I have unceasing anguish in my heart because this people is not receiving their salvation. That's what Romans 9 to 11 is about, much as we may find other wonderful doctrines there. Let me take one second to talk about verse 3, I don't want to make much of it, where he says, I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people. It's a very strange statement, and many people say, oh, that is a demonstration of how much Paul cares. And they draw a parallel, say, between that and Moses, who wished to be cut off back there in Exodus 32. But I think the situation is different, I don't really think that applies. Without going into any explanation, let me say I think there is another way of translating that verse which may be helpful, it may not. I can only offer you suggestions since Paul himself has not given us a full answer. But he uses a verb here where it says, I could wish in my translation and I assume something like that in yours. Paul uses, and this is for the sake of being technically correct anyway, he says, I used to wish. He uses a Greek imperfect tense, and I used to wish, that's the way it was. In other words, we could in one sense put it in brackets and say, I have unceasing anguish in my heart, bracket, I myself used to wish that I were accursed and cut off from Christ. close bracket. Just as they want to be accursed, they wouldn't call it that, but they want to be cut off from this Jewish Messiah, you claim, whom we reject. I was once part of that. I wanted nothing to do with him until he met me on the road to Damascus. So it would read, if we just left that section out, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh." I may offer that as a suggestion, ask me about it more if you want as we go through. But he says this because he knows the significance of Israel. They are Israelites, verse 4, that's why I care as much as I do. And to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises, to them belong the patriarchs, and from them according to the flesh comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever, Amen." The little booklet, the gifts to Israel, is what you will need, or will be a help anyway, it's not the only thing you'll ever use I'm sure, but it will be very helpful to open up those various aspects which we don't have time to look at. But Paul says, I have a Jew first gospel, not because I'm seeing that Israel has a particular status, but because God himself has given historical priority to this nation. When it's all over, when history is drawn to a conclusion, or this, what we call history, is drawn to a conclusion, then you will see that Israel is still Israel, but they'll be standing there with all the other nations redeemed in what I called yesterday the multi-ethnic Bride of Christ. Wonderful to see it. Hava Nagila next to Waltzing Matilda, just imagine that. But, you see, in the meantime there is an historical priority. God says Jew first. And that's why we have all the messages in the Old Testament, that's why the prophets exhort Israel to be godly and so on, because they are the ones who God is using. And here is the problem, keeping in mind it starts in chapter 1, but the problem is this, the Jew first nature of salvation is contradicted by what has happened. except for this little group of people, the Christian Jews, who responded, but the majority of the nation has said no. Boy, it's hard. You see, we're nuts. We call Australia a Christian nation. But how many believers do you know? Well, you sit in your little church, 20 people sit there, we sing our little songs of Zion and we jolly ourselves up and the rest of the world says to hell with you and your faith. That's the way it seems, is it not? And Paul says, it's a Jew first gospel. The whole nation ought to be alive to it. But they're not. And he aches because of it. Far from salvation coming to the nation of Israel and so flowing through the nation to the whole world, all you have is a mere remnant of Israel that's believed And the Gentiles are now responding quite independently of Israel. What an extraordinary problem. And so Paul is faced with this situation of the plan of God apparently turned upside down. So what question would you ask? if you were in Paul's situation. Look at verse 6. Well, it's not written in the form of a question, but we can phrase it that way. You would say, Paul, you tell me that God plans to bless the nations through Israel. You tell me it's the descendants of Abraham that will be used. I guess the word of God has failed, hasn't it? And he says, well, no, it's not as if the word of God has failed. for not all Israelites truly belong to Israel. Notice the word Israel being used now, it's not just Jew but Israelite relates the whole matter of God's covenant and his purposes and not all of Abraham's children are his true descendants but it is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you. This means that it's not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. For this is what the promise said, about this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son. Nor is that all, something similar happened to Rebecca when she conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac. Even before they'd been born or had done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose of election might continue, not by works but by his call, she was told, the elder shall serve the younger. As it's written, I've loved Jacob, but I've hated Esau. Now, the word of God not only indicated the salvation which was to come, but the historical method through the priority given to Israel But that word has not really failed at all, because not only has God kept his promise, but he has indicated that he remains sovereign in the way he works out his promises. You know, we get our own little plans and we want to organise them all very carefully, but God says, no, I'm doing things my way. You think you're going to, your five year plan, ha ha, I'll show you about your five year plan. And God has never said, and Paul, you see, Paul feels very deeply for his people, so deeply, but he says, but I know that God has never said that the promise was open to people on the basis of physical descent from Abraham. And what's more, the Bible makes it abundantly plain to me. How many children did Abraham have? One, you reckon? Two? Actually, after Sarah pegged out, he had lots more. There's life in the old fella yet. But, you see, you would have said, oh no, you've got to do it the proper way. So you had the whole method in the ancient world of Sarah giving her maidservant to Abraham and, you know, that should have set some sort of system up. I said, no, no, I'm going to take a lady who is well past childbearing years and she's going to be a mum. Now, let's face it, those things don't happen too often, do they? When was the last time you saw a 90-year-old pregnant lady? Oh, I can see the looks on the women's faces now. And then tell me, within a family, who gets the inheritance? I'm not asking about your family. I know the kids are ready to have a row the moment you peg out. But in an Old Testament family, in an ancient world, who gets the inheritance? The eldest. So what does God do? Swaps the whole thing around? You can see it in other occasions which Paul doesn't mention when Joseph brought his sons to be blessed by Jacob. What did the old fella do? Crossed his hands over. At every point God seems to be fouling up the normal pattern. Well he's not fouling anything up. He's simply saying I do things my way. So the word of God has not failed and God has said that he will give a 90-year-old woman a baby, whatever age she was, he says, I will reverse the usual family priorities. The word of God has not failed. Verse 14, if that's the case, what are we to say? Are we to say, for example, then, that there is injustice on God's part? By no means, for he says to Moses, I'll have mercy on whom I have mercy. and I'll have compassion on whom I have compassion. So it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who shows mercy. Here's an example, the scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this very purpose of showing my power in you so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. So then, he has mercy on whomever he chooses and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses. Now, we may delight in the doctrines of election, predestination, what are known as the doctrines of grace, and indeed I love the Anglican prayer book that says that these doctrines are a source of very great joy for those who believe in them. But Paul is making a different point here. You may be able to demonstrate the truth of that other doctrine from here, but that's not his major point. His point is this. God is not simply capricious, doing whatever he chooses without regard to justice. So why did you choose him? He did the same to the policeman. Why did you pull me over? I was only doing 115. He was doing at least 120. You're unfair. And we have our own ideas of justice. And a Jew would say, but we've kept the law. Not like these Gentiles, and the scriptures say, time to stop living as the Gentiles live. So we're very conscious that in the world that wasn't constrained by the law of God and by the practices within Israel, things were pretty rough. But no, it's not a question of justice, far from it. What's the real issue from that paragraph that I just read? What's the real issue? It's mercy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and even within Israel. It wasn't that because of your physical descent you deserve salvation, because of your sin you deserve damnation, but God has had mercy on you. It is mercy from beginning to end, and God can see the world and he can see his own people in their deep misery. Mercy relates to misery and people may not know they're in misery, they may not know they are suffering and we can fool ourselves very easily but God can see and so his mercy comes to us to relieve us from this. God acts according to his own purpose to show mercy on whomever he will but not one person has a claim to it. So don't sit there thinking that after all God really should use you because you're eaten a bit. I'm proof that he doesn't. It's all mercy from beginning to end. But God's mercy is shown in accordance with his purposes and he knows what he's doing. Mercy is not a right which you may demand. Because you know, sometimes God hardens people. I don't understand that, but that's all the way through the scriptures. Do you ever hear people say, oh Jesus told stories, we call them parables, but Jesus told stories so that people could understand them very simply. Ever heard that? That's not true, is it? Why did he tell stories? You can almost quote it, can't you, from Isaiah? So that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear, lest they turn and be converted. In some way which is strange to our way of thinking, God has a purpose and sometimes that involves hardening people but he never hardens anyone who does not deserve his judgement. What's more he shows mercy on people who deserve his judgement. Now far from us playing little games about who is elect and who is not. You and I ought to be flat on our faces with worship in gratitude for the mercy that's been shown to us. I haven't planned it, but you know that hymn, a debtor to? Mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing. It's mercy that I've received. If I got what I deserved, oh, I would be destroyed like that. But God has had mercy on me. But I receive mercy. For the grace of our Lord Jesus was overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ. I receive mercy. That's Paul from 1 Timothy chapter 1. That's Ian Pennycook in 2008. I receive mercy. Does that come through? Get involved in arguments about who is elect and who's not. Get involved in worship and gratitude for the immense mercy that has been shown to us. When you read about the hardening of people here, realise that Paul has already said that in Romans chapter 1. God gave them up to this, God gave them up to that, God gave them up to something else. They had chosen not to believe in him, so God gave them up. And that will tell you something, that you may see a world that is lost, but I will tell you that the need that you perceive does not constitute the call. We used to put it on people, there's a world out there that's perishing, won't you go? No, my answer is no, you go for one reason only, when God sends you. He is the one who determines his purposes in history, not you and me. You never do anything for God. All you and I can do is what we're told. The need does not constitute the call. Of course, we are sometimes far more merciful than God, aren't we? The way we talk is... You see, reading from verses 19 to 29, shows us that human logic often takes us to a position where we assume we know more than God. Now, we used to use a silly little pun, but it makes the point, you say, if you take something to its logical conclusion, then it means such and such. But, you know, logic is something that we've invented as human beings. It's our way of saying, I can reason things through to a particular goal, and it's very interesting that people reason things through differently, isn't it? If you're a husband, you try and reason your own point of view through to your wife, when she's trying to reason her position through to you. They're miles apart, but you're married to each other, so believe me, logic is only acceptable to the person who's using it. But, you see, we used to say, take something through to its logical conclusion, the scriptures say no, take them through to their theological conclusion. And that pun simply meant, you let God tell you what he's doing, that is ultimately what will make sense. May not make sense to you now, but that's okay, you leave it to him, he knows what he's doing. You read at the end of Romans 11, as we'll come to on Thursday, So Paul says, you'll say to me then, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? If sometimes he hardens people, it can't be your fault, can it? For who can resist his will? And Paul's response is, but who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Then he goes on to talk about the potter having Has the potter no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use and so on? You see, when someone comes and says, if what you're saying is true, then this is what it means, and Paul says, I'm not going to argue with you about that at all, you just shut up. God knows what he's doing. Who are you, a human being, to tell God what he may or may not do? You see, the moment you engage in an argument, all you're saying is, well actually, God is subject to my reason. Paul won't play that game at all. And Paul will not permit anybody's argument to even appear legitimate. It's not a matter to argue with. He does not need to justify God. If this is what God does and the revelation God has already given us in the Old Testament demonstrates it very clearly, then that's it. Hence I mentioned Forsyth's book on the justification of God. See verse 20 where he says, who indeed are you a human being to argue with God? Will what is moulded say to the one who moulds it, why have you made me like this? There's a picture of humanity saying, I refuse to honour God as God or to give thanks to him, which is chapter 1 and verse 20. Because I know better, I am the one who determines my future and Paul says no, you're a lump of clay and God is the potter and he does what he will. And of course that potter imagery, if you want to write the references down, is in Isaiah 29 and verse 16. where the Prophet says, you turn things upside down. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay? Shall the thing made say of its maker, he didn't make me, or the thing formed say of the one who formed it, he has no understanding? You know, God doesn't really understand your problem, does he? What is the, you know, ever heard when a tragedy takes place? Seems to be quite extraordinary. a baby dies, something like that, and we understand the horror of all of that, the number of people say, I stopped believing in God the moment that happened. The anger that comes out against God, the clay immediately turns against the potter. Jeremiah 18.11, now therefore say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now all of you from your evil way and amend your ways and your doings. Now, Paul then says, what if, what if, verse 22, What if God desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction? And what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory? All in Romans 8 incidentally. Including us whom he has called not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles. What if Now he's talked about God's wrath already in Romans, and we can't do it, in chapter 1 verse 18, in chapter 3 verse 25, where he talks of propitiation, and then in 5, 1 to 11. But you see, if God wants to show his mercy, and his mercy is not just directed to people who have aches and pains, what is the chief dilemma of men and women? They are under the wrath of God. They are people who are under wrath and some will experience that. But what if God just wants to show the riches of His mercy? Where do you see His wrath? Well, we understand, and I don't have to surprise you with the truth, that His wrath is seen climactically displayed on the cross. So that those whom we think should have been destroyed long ago, God has actually endured with much patience those people. His wrath isn't just Him hitting out at an unregenerate Israel or whomever. No, He has laid all His wrath on His Son on the cross. And it's His pure mercy that we are experiencing now. Because God has His own program. By that program He's going to demonstrate the riches of His glory for and through those who receive his mercy. Paul is overwhelmed by the mercy of God. And that mercy will be displayed to people who are both Jewish and who are Gentiles. Members of the covenant people ought to have known that. But to Jews and Gentiles, mercy comes. And he quotes from Hosea, as you know there, because he says so, Those who are not my people I'll call my people. You can read the rest of that. But you see, in Hosea it was Israel had gone off the tracks and God says well they've stopped being my people but I'll bring them back. But surprise! Those who never knew what it was to be covenant people. Aliens as we saw yesterday from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the promises that God will call them his peoples too. bringing them all in. The prophecy replies not just to the restoration of Israel, but to the restoration of the nations. God is doing something big because he's God who is rich in mercy. Verses 27 to 29 show that the program is not Gentiles in place of Jews. Throughout Christian history, sadly, that's been the way it appeared. The Jews were persecuted by Christians. Well, sorry may not be enough, as we've heard. Tell me, just as a matter of interest, if saying sorry is not enough, what is the reparation that ought to be made? Well, it's not money. It's the same gospel through which mercy comes. And that's what Paul makes out very plainly in chapter 11 as we'll see. The scriptures show though that far from simply replacing the Jews by a new people, God actually has a remnant. He still has believing Jews. Give me an example of a believing Jew. Paul. He says, I also am an Israelite. tribe of Benjamin, all of that. But as I said yesterday, the early church up until Acts chapter 8 was all Jewish and then with the salvation of the conversion of some Samaritans, half Jews, you see, but it is still essentially a Jewish people. The Israel and Judah restored and right through to the conversion of Cornelius and his household You have that remnant. There is a new Israel and they are there. Now, if God had not shown mercy and kept the remnant, then frankly all of Israel would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah and wiped out. The conclusion of this chapter is in verses 30 to 33. Here's another question. What are we to say? the Gentiles who did not strive for righteousness have actually attained it. You weren't looking for justification, but did you find it? Yes, actually because God found you. But what about Israel, which did go looking for righteousness but didn't find it? What was the issue? Same issue in both cases. The issue was the same thing we've seen all the way through, faith. What is it that causes a Gentile to be righteous? They hear the gospel and they believe it. What is it that stops a Jew becoming righteous and knowing the fullness of the blessings of the covenant? Same issue, faith. In this case, lack of it. They will not believe the word which has come to them. This is Paul's dilemma. We're only looking at one chapter, we've got others to go. But this is why, how did he begin his letter? And I'm just going to have to skip a little bit. But how did he begin this letter? I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God to salvation to everyone who has faith to the Jew first and also to the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. I actually like the NIV which says by faith from first to last. It's an interpretation but nonetheless He says, but you see, why am I saying that? Because the scriptures tell us, he's quoting Habakkuk, that just shall live by faith. And that is the problem. There is no faith in the majority of Israel. But what you're seeing is a little remnant who believe and you're seeing great numbers of Gentiles coming to faith in Christ. And you see, the problem is Israel has stumbled. over the very salvation they were looking for. It came in Christ and they've said no. They crucified him instead. Now here is Paul's dilemma in chapter 9 and tomorrow we will turn to chapter 10.