Well, as I said, this morning we're going to be taking a look at Romans chapter 11, and we're dealing with the whole issue of grace. But most importantly, how does grace relate to our failures? Now, as an American, I'm very happy to tell you there are many great failures in the history of America. and elsewhere. You may remember that in the 1990s our own National Aeronautics and Space Administration spent over 15 billion dollars to build the Hubble Telescope. It was amazing because it was supposed to be able to go up there and see things that have never been seen before in galaxies far far away. There was only one problem. Once they put it into space they realized somebody left a thumbprint on the mirror. $15 billion wasted. Now, fortunately, I had somebody go up there with some Windex and clean it off, and they were able to still use it. But I'm glad to know that Australians also understand what it means to fail. I was asking some friends this week about what would be considered one of the epic fails here, and they said, without a doubt, it's rabbits. Now, I took some time and did a little research. And do you realize that in 1859, someone by the name of Thomas Austin brought here 24 rabbits for his estate in Melbourne. Needless to say that those rabbits continued to produce and produce and produce and produce. But they've determined that a majority of every single wild rabbit in the entire continent of Australia comes back to those 24 rabbits he brought from England. Now that's what I would call an epic fail. And God deals with epic fails. And that's what Paul's talking about here in Romans chapter 11. The issue is, is Israel's failure to receive their Messiah, is it a fatal error? Now at this point in Paul's teaching in the book of Romans, there's no question that Israel has failed and failed miserably. They don't have an excuse. Jesus himself, the son of God, came to him, and as we know from the scriptures, his own did not receive him. So you have to ask yourself at this point, is there hope for Israel in view of her willful rebellion against God and her rejection of God's own Messiah? Paul's writing to us here in Romans chapter 11 is not just for the Jews, it is for every believer. Because grace only becomes evident when we are in the midst of our failures. So take hope this morning as we take a look at what God has to say about failure and about his grace to those that seek to follow our Lord Jesus. Now, Paul throughout the book of Romans is dealing with the gospel as it relates to Jews and to Gentiles. And in Paul's day, just as it is today with our own time, the Jews have failed to attain the righteousness that they wanted before God. And it wasn't because they didn't try hard enough. They had rules. In fact, they added rules to the rules so that they could be more rule-bound and look better before God. But the problem was is that rules never save anyone. Israel's condition from the perspective of God and His sovereignty is simply that God in His sovereignty had bigger plans than just Israel. And so in Romans chapter nine, Paul deals with that issue of God's sovereignty and God's divine choice. We would call it election in terms of our reformed thinking. But he goes beyond that because in chapter 10, he deals with the whole issue of human responsibility. And that's the wonderful thing. There's always this tension in the word of God. Yes, God is sovereign and God chooses who he will and he hardens who he will, but that does not get us out of the fact that we're still responsible for the decisions and the choices we make, especially when we talk about our Lord Jesus. And throughout the Old Testament, the Old Testament scripture spoke about the coming Messiah. And the prophets told Israel, when he comes, you're still gonna wind up rejecting him. In fact, he'll be put to death. And yet when Jesus came and presented himself to his people, what was their cry before Pilate? We have no king but Caesar. Now that the cause of Israel's unbelief has been laid out, both in terms of God's sovereignty and in terms of our own human choice, Paul says, let's talk about the consequences. The consequence of Israel's failure to believe in Jesus as their Messiah is the heart of Romans chapter 11. And in our first 12 verses here, Paul is pointing out and using Israel's failure as an example of the grace of God. And he starts off very simply with a question. I say then, has God not rejected his people, has he? May it never be. And the question Paul is raising here is actually rather logical. Israel's hope for the future seems completely lost. Their Messiah, the one that was promised to them, they have openly rejected and put to death. And you have to ask yourself, well, who's asking this question? Probably not the Jews, since they've already rejected Christ. But what about believing Jews, those that have come to know that Jesus as Messiah? Well, they might have been asking the question, but quite frankly, I think the text speaks for itself. I think it's Gentiles like you and I. Because our natural tendency is to think, well, if God didn't work his plan out through the Gentiles, it must be through us, the church. God is working, and God is using Gentiles. But I find that so often we get caught up in our own thoughts, and is the church the replacement for Israel? And those who believe in the dispensations would say, absolutely not. And yet you'll get other people that say, well, no, because Israel has forsaken the grace of God. And I would tell you there's probably a third way. God's plans are far bigger than anybody that wants to come up with theology. God's vision is not just for the Jewish people, and it is not just for the Gentile people. God's vision is for all people. And when Jesus came, it wasn't just to save the Jews, and it wasn't just to save the Gentiles, but it was to call someone from every tribe, from every nation, from every tongue to the glory of God. So we need to look at Paul's words a lot more closely. So when he asked the question, I say then, God has not rejected his people, has he? The center of attention is not Israel. The center of attention is God. God is our future hope. And it's not that Israel failed, but rather it is the faithfulness of God that matters to you and to I. Because God is in the business of committing himself to finish what he has started. Even back in the Old Testament, this is not just some New Testament thing. I know we like to say, well, isn't that what Philippians tells us? Yes, it is. But it goes all the way back to the Old Testament, back in 1 Samuel 12, verse 22. Samuel tells him, for the Lord will not abandon his people on account of his great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. The prophet Jeremiah goes on in Jeremiah 31 to say, thus says the Lord who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order by the moon and the stars by night. who stirs up the sea and its waves roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If this fixed order departs from before me, declares the Lord, then the offspring of Israel shall also cease to being a nation before me forever. And if the heavens above can be measured and if the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares the Lord. It has nothing to do with Israel's compliance to the law. Just as it has nothing to do with our obedience, it has everything to do though with a faithful God. Israel's future rests in God and His faithfulness to perform everything that He promised to do. That's why Paul will say at the end of this chapter that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. you're not going to outrun God in his grace. And so Paul's natural response is, may it never be. First, because he understands that some might say, is it even possible that God might fail in his promise? But secondly, he just wants to remind everybody, God is not done with his work in your life. And that's why sovereign grace is the basis of our hope. Paul goes on in verse two to say, God has not rejected his people whom he foreknown, or do you not know that the scripture says about the passage about Elijah, how he pled with God against Israel, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and have torn down thy altars and I alone am left and they are seeking my life. And what was God's response? I have kept for myself a thousand men who have not yet bowed the knee to Baal. Yes, Israel is guilty. Yes, there is ample evidence to show that she has not lived to her calling. But it does also mean that their future is completely done, and the answer to that is no, because Israel's hope is certain, because salvation and restoration are not dependent on we who are fallible. but it's entirely based on God's sovereign grace. And Paul lays out for us a very important principle here in Romans 11, and that principle is this, that our salvation, our security, our eternal hope, it rests in God. It doesn't rest in our performance. Otherwise, who's getting to heaven? Not me. There is only one basis for our salvation. There is only one basis for our sanctification. And there's certainly only one basis for the security that we have as God's people, and that is God's sovereign grace. The world out there, hey, they will tell you that there are a hundred different ways to God. You can do it your own way and still somehow get there. But that's not biblical, and it doesn't work. It's never worked because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It can't work because, as Paul told us earlier in Romans, that there is no one who is righteous, not even one. And it can't work because the law of God was never designed to save anyone. I'm a big fan of the Olympics because I love seeing how the judges, you know, someone does their thing in the Olympics and what do the judges do? Well, that's a 7.9, that's a 6.8. Oh, someone said, oh, that's a 9.0. Do you realize that a judge never gets out onto that stage and does the gymnastics routine, never gets on the diving platform and does the dive? The only thing a judge does is tell you how far short of perfection you've gotten. That's the purpose of the law. is to hold a mirror to us to say, you're close, but you're not there. But now a righteousness from heaven has been revealed. And that righteousness is Jesus Christ. And he is the author and the perfecter of our faith. He is the one who began the good work in each one of us, and he is the one who has promised that he will perfect it until he returns. So when Paul says, God has not rejected his people that he is for new, he is saying so much more. He's saying that God has made a choice in eternity past to set Israel apart, to be a blessing to the entire world, to establish an eternal kingdom that would be for all people. And then he decides, you know what? I'm gonna mix this up. I'm gonna go ahead and bring in some of the Old Testament prophets to make my point. And he starts with Elijah. Now, if you don't know the story of Elijah, take some time, 1 Kings, he gets out there, he's one of those reluctant prophets. And God tells him, hey, I've got a message for you that'll be really, really popular. Especially, I mean, you probably get into it now with all the rain that we've gotten. He says, I'm going to shut up the clouds and no rain will come until I say it. And some of you are probably saying, amen. But not a popular message to an agrarian nation. And sure enough, that happens. And finally God says to him, okay, it's time. I want you to go on up to Mount Carmel. I want you to challenge the prophets of Baal. I want you to get up there and have them say, let the real God bring rain. So they get up there and all the prophets of Baal, they're doing their dancing. I have a personal love for Elijah because he is so sarcastic. You know, he's up there, and they're trying to call down rain, and they're trying to do all this stuff, and nothing's happening, and there's good old Elijah saying, maybe if you yell louder, your God might hear you. They get done. He says, no, I'm not ready to start yet. You need to pour some water on these logs. So they come up, and they pour water on them, and then he just speaks the word, and God consumes the altar. Now at this point, I don't know about you, If I was there, man, I would be on top of the world. I told you. I told you this is what God has said. Look what my God has done. Isn't he the most powerful God? But what happens? Jezebel says, enough of this guy, I want him dead. And Elijah hightails it for the hills. He is completely convinced, I am a failure. I've done all these things and no one has responded. The people didn't rise up. Worse than that, not only did people not respond, maybe they think God is a failure because they haven't turned. And God has to let Elijah know. By the way, there's 7,000 that still haven't bowed the knee to Baal. Your failure only points out my sovereign grace. And I've already made a plan, and I'm already doing what I have said I will do. The words that Paul uses here in Romans 11, we can see why Elijah gave up hope. And that's simply because his focus was so wrong. His focus was on how do people respond? His focus and respond is, how much power does my ministry have? And so when it happens, the only thing you can think of is, Lord, they've killed your prophets, they've torn down your altars, and I, only I am left. His focus is on himself, not God. because he has not fixed his eyes on God. The only thing he can see is failure. And while Elijah's words are solely focused on man, God's response to him is focused on God. It doesn't matter that Elijah failed, or even that some of the nation had failed, because God was still in control through the nation, God would allow his plan and his purpose to be completed. Yes, Elijah was a prophet, but even prophets are not infallible. He was wrong about Israel's future. He was wrong because he linked the hope of Israel with performance rather than the sovereign grace of God. And God always finishes what he starts. And so the principle for you and I to take home in this is, is that God will finish what He has started. He will finish what He started here at Reforming Church. He will finish what He has started in your life, even when you think there is no way God can finish what He began. And since it is always by grace, it is not dependent on your good works. And because the future of Israel is based on God's grace, it's something that can't be earned by what we do or law keeping or making sure that we attend church every Sunday and get all the gold stars that they're supposed to give out to everyone. Our failure does not nullify God's sovereign purpose. And it does not nullify His grace. In fact, Israel's failure turns out to fulfill biblical prophecy. That's why Paul goes on to say in verse seven, what then? That which Israel was seeking, for it is not attained, but those who were chosen attained it, and the rest were hardened. For just as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day. And David says, let their table be a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a retribution to them. Let their eyes be darkened to see not and bend their backs forever. If the first six verses tell us that man's failures can't hinder God's purpose, verses seven to 12 go even further. Because rather than hindering God's cause, when we fail, sometimes we even fulfill the plan and the purpose of God. I know sometimes it feels like when we don't live up to the standard that God has given to us. We feel like we've let down people. We've let down our families. We've let down our friends. We've let down God. But God's plans and purposes have never been based on our performance. They're based on His faithfulness. They're based on the promises that he makes to finish what he starts, and that is entirely by the grace of God. So does that mean that God gets frustrated? No. Even in Israel's disobedience, God's prophecy in the Old Testament was fulfilled. We read from Psalm 69 earlier, and I'm sure you heard it. It sounded, this is David. David is crying out to God, and he's telling God, wait a minute, I'm supposed to be king, and yet nobody seems to recognize this. Saul is chasing me all over the place trying to kill me. I don't understand what's going on here. But now we read through that, and who is the first person that you think of? That sounds an awful lot like Jesus himself. David goes on to say in Psalm 69, reproach has broken my heart, and I am so sick. I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. And they all gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. May their table before them become a snare, and when they are in peace, may it become a trap. May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, and make their loins shake continually. Pour out your indignation on them, Lord, and may they burn in anger and allow that to overtake them. If divine judgment was poured out on Israel for all their previous sins, how much greater is their guilt in rejecting Jesus the Messiah? It's no wonder that Paul can go ahead now and use David's own words from Psalm 69 to say that not only was it foretold that the Messiah would be rejected by Israel, but that God was not surprised. And that's why the best is always still yet to come. Paul tells us plainly here saying, I say then, did they not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be. But by their transgressions, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make them jealous. And now if their transgressions be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be? The best is still yet to come. The question that Paul raises at the very end is the same question that he raised at the very start in verse 1. And he wants to remind us all that Israel's hope is the issue. And Israel's failure is not going to diminish that hope because God is the one that finishes what he starts. God's purpose, determined from eternity past, was to bring salvation not just to the Jewish people, and not just to the Gentile people, and not just to the American people, and not just to the Australian people, but to all nations. And God decided that Israel was going to be the instrument that he would use to proclaim that news to the rest of the world. And God, in His infinite wisdom, He was not taken back. He was not surprised. He was not wringing His hand saying, now what will I do that Israel has not received Messiah? If the Jews wouldn't believe, then He'll take the good news out to the Gentiles. And by jealousy, the blessing that comes to the Gentiles, in God's grace, He will bring back Israel within the fold. And because their disobedience to God's law, and their rejection of the Messiah, and their opposition to the gospel, none of that stops God's plan, and none of it stops God's purpose in all of this. And it really rings up for me the issue that I see so many people in the church struggling with today. And that's failure. You know, America exports a lot of stuff. Movies, fashion, clothing, music. And I hate to tell you this, we also export a cheap fake gospel. That's all about success. That's all about making your life better. Have you ever read through the scriptures? You guys are going through a wonderful study in the book of Genesis, and it starts off so great. God speaks the world into existence, right? How long does it take for man to introduce failure? Two chapters. Does it get any better? Nope. As you guys go on through the book of Genesis, you'll get to see all the skeletons in the patriarch's closet. And when you go through the scriptures, consider its emphasis on failure in proportion to its speaking on success. The Bible speaks a lot more about failure than it does success. You might be saying, well, why? Isn't this supposed to be about living righteously and living the best life possible and doing great things for God? Yes. But the truth of the matter is, because of sin, we fail. It's our daily life. Man has been tainted by sin, and there's absolutely nothing we can do that is not somehow compromised. I would love to be able to tell you that when I came here, I was gonna preach this message and it would be theologically sound and that people would respond and it would be perfect in all these ways. Just a pastoral masterpiece. And everybody right now in the United States that's watching on this live feed that's in my church, they're laughing. Because they know it'll never happen. I may very well preach an awesome message. But was it rightly motivated? You don't know my heart. Only God knows. And his word says that my heart is deceitful above all things and even I don't know it. You may be out there sharing your faith with people and maybe because you have been gifted in evangelism, you share and people just come to Christ I hate to tell you this, it's not because you've got the perfect argument. It's not that you've got the story that hooks their heart and draws them in. The reason why you're successful is because God has graced you. The ministry that goes on here at Reforming House, it's not because of solid biblical teaching. That's a big part of it, don't get me wrong. It's not because you have outstanding elders that seek to lead you in the way of Christ, which you do. It's because God has graced this church. It's because God has graced the ministry that goes on here at Reforming House. And the reason why God graces it is so that you don't take any credit. You've got to say, it's all God. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. And that's what all of this is about. It's not that the Bible doesn't talk about success, it does. It's not that the Bible doesn't talk about blessing. But when we talk about perfection, what are we talking about? We're talking about heaven. We're not talking about here on earth. And the Bible deals with life as it is. Because the only place in this world that we will see perfection is either going to be on commercials that offer us some piece of failure dressed up to look pretty, or the kingdom of God. And I much prefer the kingdom of God because that will last far longer than anything I buy on this TV ad that tells me what is what. But not only that, When we fail, and you will fail, if you haven't failed yet, cheer up, you will, you'll get there. But failure is the point at which grace is required. In fact, not only is it required, grace alone is sufficient. Jesus came to this earth to welcome sinners and to bestow grace upon them, because we're all needy, we're all sinners. The sinners were the ones who came to Jesus. Who were the ones that avoided Jesus? The self-righteous. The people that said, hey, I know what you're selling, but I don't need it. And to them, grace was rejected. And that's because God's grace, His sovereign grace, doesn't thwart our mistakes. We're going to fall, we're going to stumble, we're going to trip, and guess what? God's grace is far beyond any mistake you might make. Our good works don't earn grace, and our failures, thank God, don't forfeit it. Grace is unmerited. It's independent of who we are and what we do. And we should be praising God for that because God's sovereignty is such that he can accomplish whatever he desires, whether we are obedient or disobedient. You might be thinking, well, wait a minute, if I'm disobedient, how is God gonna go ahead and use anything like that? Take some time, read through the book of Jonah. Here's this guy, prophet of God. And God says, go to Nineveh. And he's saying, wait a minute, if you want me to go to Nineveh, you want those people to repent and they'll repent because you're God. I'm gonna get on a boat and go the other way. God says, no, no, no, no, no, I'm using you. And he got there probably not under the best of conditions. And maybe God might use you and you have no idea. In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus talks about how they come before the Lord and he's dividing them up, the sheep and the goats, and what does he tell these people? He says, when I was hungry, you fed me. When I was naked, you clothed me. When I was in prison, you came and visited me. And the believers that are there, what do they say? Lord, when did we see you hungry? When were you naked? You were in prison? I don't know if we would actually see if you were in prison. And Jesus said, when you did it to the least of them, you've done it to me. And so maybe you don't even realize it, but God is gracing you right where you're at. And I wanna leave you with this, because when God's grace is revealed, it is always at our failure. Because that way God gets the glory. Paul says later on in Corinthians, and because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason, to keep me from exalting in myself, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me, and he has said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness that the power of Christ may dwell in me." From the beginning of the Scriptures to the end, God seems to use more people in their failure than in their success. Even the great men of the scriptures seem to experience more failure than success. And sometimes they seem to fail, not even due to anything that they did wrong. And yet God still, in his grace, uses it. I want you to think about your life this morning. How many times have you personally seen the hand of God working, not in your successes, but in your failures. And I'll give you an example if you don't think that God has ever used you in your failure. It's when you realize that you were a failure and couldn't merit the love of God. In that failure, you turn to him and said, Lord, I'm a sinner, please forgive me. I ask that the righteousness that Christ alone has be transferred to me by faith. That's what the Reformed faith is about, right? It is by faith we've been redeemed. And it was only when we recognized we were a failure. And in that moment, God was the one who got the glory. So think about your life. How many times have you seen God working through your failures? Did you come to depend on Him and to serve Him? How many times have you seen the gracious hand of God at work in your life through the failure of other people? I don't know about you, but as I look at my own life, and as I look at the lives of others, and as I read through the Scriptures, I find that God accomplishes that which is good almost accidentally in my life. not because I was trying or working for it, but because He graced me. And the difference between God's use of us in our disobedience and in our faithfulness is that God still receives the glory in this. Because no matter what you've done, how bad your failure is, your failure is never fatal. when it causes you to turn to the sovereign grace of God. Those failures are to remind you of your need of a Savior. And sovereign grace views failure in an entirely different light. So I'm not gonna ask you this morning, are there failures in your life? Because I already know the answer to that question. But I will ask you this, have you thought that God has given up on you because you failed? Do you think that God is only interested in you when you succeed as an individual, or even as a church, that God is only caring about reforming house as long as it's successful? If that's what you're thinking, you don't understand grace. Because sovereign grace means that our failure is the occasion for God's grace to receive the glory. If we acknowledge our failure, if we acknowledge our need, if we're willing to receive grace, grace is never more sweet than it is to someone who has failed. And grace is never so distasteful to someone who thinks they've already succeeded. May the grace of God empower you to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you For you alone are our hope. You alone are our salvation. And in the midst of our own failure, it has become evident to us that we need the work of Jesus Christ in our lives. And for those that are here this morning and those that are watching, wherever they may be, Father, I ask by the presence of your Holy Spirit that you would do exactly what Jesus said, that the Spirit right now would convict us as to who Jesus is and what Jesus has done, that we would be reconciled to you through the work of Jesus Christ. That is the gospel. That is the message that we hold to, that salvation comes by faith alone, in the work of Christ alone. And I ask that you would help us to see that in the midst of even our failures, you are still sovereign. Your grace is still sufficient. and that by that you will transform us into a people designed to give you glory, to give you honor, and to give you praise. In the name of our lovely Savior we pray, amen.