God's Sovereignty, God's People
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • 1:02:05
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· 294 viewsGod's grace in His redemptive plan allows us to participate in sharing the gospel with others.
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Briefly Recap
End of - All things work for our good… even suffering
Unbreakable chain… foreknew, predestined, called, justified, glorified
God is just and fair
Other Words: If God has
In extending His sovereign grace to whomever He pleases,
Holding man responsible for his own willful rejection of God.
All of humanity in their own will rejects God and will be held accountable
In light of this, how does the church respond?
If someone stands condemned, they are responsible for their rejection.
God is responsible for e
God is just in extending grace to whomever He wills while holding men responsible for rejecting the gospel.
If someone stands righteous, God is responsible for their redemption.
If God
J. Vernon McGee (Through the Bible)
“Now God knows who the elect are, I don’t. Someone came to Spurgeon one time and said, “Mr Spurgeon, if I believed as you do, I would not preach like you do. You say you believe that there are the elect, and yet you preach as if everybody can be saved.” Spurgeon’s answer was, “They can all be saved. If God had put a yellow streak up and down the backs of the elect, I’d go up and down the streets lifting up shirt tails to find out who had the yellow streak up and down his back. Then I’d give that person the gospel. But God didn’t do that. He told me to preach the gospel to every creature and that whosoever will may come.” That is our marching order, and as far as I am concerned, until God gives me the roll call of the elect, I am going to preach the “whosoever will” gospel. That is the gospel we are to preach today.”
If Go
So in light of all of this, how do we respond as the church?
In light of all of this, if this is true, how does the church respond?
So in light of all of this, how do we respond as the church?
Prayer
I am not speaking to YOU, I am speaking to WE…myself included
Witnessing
Evangelism
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Romans 9:30-
We should be a people of passion
We should be a people of passion
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that 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 brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Romans 9:1-
Paul’s passionate burden
Kinsman (Close,Family, Friends, Co-workers)
These were
Religious Crowd (Roman 10 “Zeal”, Concern w/o knowledge)
ZConcern w/o knowledge)
Because I go to church
- Concern w/o knowledge)
Who trust in Baptism
Because I said a prayer
Because I am better than so-and-so
Because I am sincere in my own religion
The Outcast
From you religion
From your philosphy
2. Paul was
From
Are we burdened for the lost…
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Paul is not saying we must be partake in sin to reach those without Jesus, but as we have relationships with others, we draw attention to the fact that regardless of your past, present, future…we are all on common ground at the foot of the cross.
Paul is passionately driven (Urgency and Sacrifice)
His people rejected Jesus (Friends, Family, Co-workers)
His people have rejected Jesus
Do I have a burden for...
Our Family, Friends, Co-workers
Sense of Urgency and Sacrifice
Our enemies, the outcast, the broken, the addict
Surrounded by People who are Searching
Peace/Comfort - Enslaved to alcohol, drugs…a way of escape
Joy/Happiness - Enslaved to “new” trinkets… continual debt
Purpose/Identity - Enslaved to approval (job, sports, FB)
Eternity is at stake
I would trade places if they would listen
These people are cut off (seperated) from God
They are missing out on the very things they are looking for
Forver : No second chances, you’ve missed Him
Forever - there are no “do-overs”
E
Sense of Urgency - Eternity is at stake
Friends
My f
H
Those who are “good”, “religious” people
Searching for: Peace, Joy, Identity, Purpose…Meaning
They will miss out on the riches of a relationship with God
Seperation from the joy and peace of God
Forever, there are no “do-overs” not a thousand years, eternal separated from the greatest treasure.
Looking for identity, answers, purpose, joy, meaning
Not just condemned to Hell
Sense of Sacrifice -
I would trade places if they would listen
But seperation from t
I am a slave (owe Him All) of Jesus, my purpose is His purpose, to see that the riches of His mercy and grace are proclaimed throughout the nations...
What is driving Paul...
Jesus talked about Hell more than Heaven
Their is an urgency because eternity is at stake
What if I don’t have this sense of urgency??
It is not just their condemnation to Hell
Darkness, Isolation, Pain, Misery, Fire...
It is that they are missing out on the goodness of God
Hell will be infinite perfect punishment, for rejecting an infinite perfect God.
Paul is passionate because of the weight of what’s at stake
I would trade places…oh that they would just see!
Charles Spurgeon
I heard of a dear [dying] girl the other day, who said to her pastor, “I could never bring my father to hear you [preach], but I have prayed for him long, and God will answer my request. Now, dear pastor,” she said, “you will bury me, won’t you? My father must come and hear you speak at my grave. Do speak to him. God will bless him.” And he did, and her father was converted. The death of his child brought him to Christ. Oh to be wiling to die if others may be saved from death eternal. God give us just such a spirit as that.
How can we fuel that type of passion?
Milton Vincent:
If I find that I lack a burden for the lost, if I am insensitive to their plight, if I do not value the work of discipleship and evangelism, I myself need to be reminded of God’s grace in my own life...
“If I wish to have a “” kind of burden for non-Christians, I should become practiced at celebrating the gospel as Paul does in . Over time, my joy in the gospel will become increasingly tinged with grief, and this grief-stained joy will lead to a God-inspired passion to my ministry of evangelizing the lost.”
In other words, if I find that I lack a burden for the lost, if I find that I am insensitive to their plight, if I find that I do not value the work of discipleship and evangelism, I myself need to be reminded of God’s amazing grace in my own life, I need to remember the gospel.
THIS!!! is why we study, pray, come to church and gather as a family of believers…not to remember that we are good, but to remember each time we open the scriptures that we are absolutely broken, we are messed up people that Jesus has poured out His grace upon…and it THAT is what stirs our affection for Him, one that can be seen by others, and one that must be told…GOOD NEWS!
Woman at the well - Come see a man that “knew me”, where I had been, who I was, how far I had fallen: and HE CAME TO MEET ME.
We should be a people of prayer.
We should be a people of prayer.
Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
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How do we pray for people we have a burden for?
God is sovereign over salvation so we pray..
If you believe salvation is from God who elects then why pray?
God remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh ()
Create in them a new heart and give them a new spirit ()
If you believe that man
That the grace of God that brings salvation would appear
God grant them repentance and a knowledge of truth ()
Max Lucado
Some years ago I underwent a heart procedure. My heartbeat had the regularity of a telegraph operator sending Morse code. Fast, fast fast. Slooooow. After several failed attempts to restore healthy rhythm with medication, my doctor decided I should have a catheter ablation. The plan went like this: a cardiologist would insert two cables in my heart via a blood vessel. One was a camera; the other was an ablation tool. To ablate is to burn. Yes, burn, cauterize, singe, brand.
Some years ago I underwent a heart procedure. My heartbeat had the regularity of a telegraph operator sending Morse code. Fast, fast fast. Slooooow. After several failed attempts to restore healthy rhythm with medication, my doctor decided I should have a catheter ablation. The plan went like this: a cardiologist would insert two cables in my heart via a blood vessel. One was a camera; the other was an ablation tool used to burn.
If all went well, the doctor, to use his coinage, would destroy the “misbehaving” parts of my heart. As I was being wheeled into surgery, he asked if I had any final questions. (Not the best choice of words.) I tried to be witty.
“You’re burning the interior of my heart, right?”
“Correct.”
“You intend to kill the misbehaving cells, yes?”
“That is my plan.”
“As long as you are in there, could you take your little blowtorch to some of my greed, selfishness, superiority, and guilt?”
He smiled and answered, “Sorry, that’s out of my pay grade.”
Indeed it was, but it’s not out of God’s. He is in the business of changing hearts
We ask God to change their hearts, because only He can.
We ask Him to convict them of their sin, their need, and draw them to His beauty for the sake of His name.
We ask that God would grant them faith to believe and profess Him as Lord and Savior...
How will God bring this to pass? He allows us to share in His work, we become mailmen of the gospel…it is a priveledge to be part of His plan for someone else.
We become part of someone else’s “all things working together for good”, sharing our hope, joy, peace, purpose
We should be a people of proclamation.
We should be a people of proclamation.
For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:5-
The Righteousness based on Faith
Paul has been talking about Israel’s rejection of God
He has great sorrow (Passionate)
He is praying for their salvation
They have missed the point of their sacrifices
They were trusting in their own work, rather that Jesus
He is reminding them that righteousness by the law doesn’t work because we are all sinners…no one keeps it.
Paul is quoting parts of , and says that salvation is not God waiting on you to fulfill an impossible task…it is not that we have to try to scale into Heaven or descend into Hell to save ourselves…it is a free gift and it is close, Jesus has already come..
By grace through faith believing in what Jesus has done
We believe in our “heart” it is central to who we are
We confess our belief with our mouth, that Jesus is Lord..Master
If we are racists in our hearts…it comes out in our speech
If we hate in our hearts…it comes out in our speech
If we believe Jesus is Lord, it will come out in our speech
Anyone who calls (appeals, names) Jesus as Lord will be saved
Salvation is not limited to our age, gender, ethnicity, everyone who calls (appeals, names) on the Lord will be saved.
This is the message that MUST be proclaimed...
BUT HOW WILL THEY CALL IF THEY HAVE NOT HEARD?
How will they call if they do not believe?
How will they believe if they have not heard?
How will they hear if no one preaches?
How will they preach if no one sends?
WE MUST BE A PEOPLE OF PROCLAMATION
No One is Exempt from the Great Commission
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus has sent us to make disciples
In both words and actions (Do we teach and live the gospel)
Corporately
Don’t just get involved, be commited/ invested in the work of the church
Involved - Ham and eggs, chicken involved, pig committed
Invested - Stock market, look for growth, watch for opportunities to pour into the work that God is doing
Teach a class, Volunteer, Have Ideas, Invite, Facebook
Everyone can do something, Christianity is not a spectator sport…get active
Boast…but do not boast in FLC, boast in the God of FLC. What is He teaching you, others…testimony.
Individually
Form relationships, Be generous, Have Conversations
Do not let fear and a lack of knowledge silence you
Group up, you don’t have to do missions alone
Join a study, learn how to communicate the gospel (apostle creed)
Francis Schaeffer:
EACH GENERATION OF THE CHURCH IN EACH SETTING HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL IN UNDERSTANDABLE TERMS, CONSIDERING THE LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT FORMS OF THAT SETTING.
How does the Bible answer those big questions of existence, or evil, of suffering, of purpose…
The days of Christendom are gone, the days of grandpa said are gone…
EACH GENERATION OF THE CHURCH IN EACH SETTING HAS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF COMMUNICATING THE GOSPEL IN UNDERSTANDABLE TERMS, CONSIDERING THE LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT FORMS OF THAT SETTING.
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Big Questions: Suffering, Evil, God’s Existence, Creation
Varied Viewpoints: Church History, Doctrine, Open Handed vs. Closed Handed Issues, Politics
God is gracious to believers in allowing them to take part in proclaiming the gospel to others. We are
We should be a people of persistence.
We should be a people of persistence.
But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
Paul ends here by saying…these people have heard, they have been preached to, but they have still rejected the gospel.
Paul will still have a passion, He will still pray, He will still proclaim
We do not measure success by the number of people in our church, by the number of baptisms we do, by the number of people that make a profession...
The only boast we have is in Jesus, and we continue to proclaim His great name even when the message is rejected.
It could also be said: We should be people of patience. Evangelism, Mission, Discipleship - take time
The disciples of Jesus were with him three years, and in the end they still didn’t get it…until after his resurrection.
Continue in your Passion, Prayer, Proclamation…we do not do these things for our glory, or for the glory of First Light, but for the glory and praise of God
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
We cannot reap if we do not first work the land, we cannot reap if we first do not plant seed, we cannot reap if we are not blessed with life-giving rain and sun from above...
People of passion, of prayer, of proclamation…all for the Glory of our Father… For from Him and through Him and too Him are all things, To Him be glory forever.