Election and Service: Unpacking Romans Chapter 9

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

We're going to be in Romans Chapter nine.

We're going to continue our series here in the Book of Romans.

And I encourage you if you have not been following along with us in the Book of Romans.

We've been in the Book of Romans, obviously, for a long time.

And if you ever have any time throughout the week and you have an opportunity to check out one of our past sermons, I think it would be good to understand context as we're coming into Romans chapter 9, 10 and 11, because we talked a little bit about this last week.

Romans 9, 10 and 11.

Is Paul addressing the question of, well, did God fail?

Because obviously at this point, the majority of the religious people of the Jewish faith, the folks that God had brought the word of God through, and obviously Jesus was born as Messiah in the land of Israel.

What happens now?

They have turned their backs for the most part.

Has God failed?

And so really what we see is Paul explaining that God has not failed and that God has a plan for believers, Gentiles and Jews alike.

We saw that at the very beginning of Romans chapter 1.

Romans chapter 1, verse 16 tells us that the Gospel is there not just for the Jew, even though it says for the Jew first, but also to the Greek or to the Gentile.

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone, everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

And so Paul's idea here in chapters 9, 10 and 11 is that, yes, God has not failed.

He is not forgetting.

And so what we're going to see here is that Paul goes through and he explains what was the blessing of the Jews, what was the blessing of the Israelites.

And In Romans chapter 9, verse 4, he explains who were the Israelites to whom pertaineth the adoption.

Now, what's the adoption?

The adoption was essentially God selecting them, electing them for the cause of bringing his word into the world, agents of his plan.

And then he says more, the glory.

That's the.

The word.

There we get the word Shekinah.

You've heard of that?

Maybe in the Old Testament, the glory of God, the glory of God fell to the People of Israel.

And it was evidenced through many of the miracles that were seen in the Old Testament.

And then he goes on to say the covenants, and we already mentioned the covenants last week, but you had the Mosaic covenant, the, the Davidic covenants, and those covenants, those promises that God gave to his people.

And so he's explaining all of the ways in which God used the Israelites for his purpose of bringing the good truth, the word of God to the world.

And then he says the law.

We remember that through the book of, really through Genesis, through Deuteronomy, we.

We see that picture of God revealing the law in the book of Exodus and, and Leviticus and, and numbers and Deuteronomy and all that.

We see how that rolls into the picture.

Then he goes on to say, in the service of God.

And, and so they had the opportunity to serve God, or the idea here would be worship God.

God, explain how to worship him through the Israelites.

And then he says, and the promises, whose are the fathers?

That's the patriarchs, those ones that came before, of whom as concerning the flesh, Christ came, meaning Jesus came in the flesh as a Jew, as the people of Israel understood to be at that case.

Now, many of them are rejecting Jesus at this point.

But he says, these were the blessings.

This is the way that God used them.

And you can even look back in Romans chapter 3.

Romans chapter 3 says, One of the blessings of being the people of Israel was that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

That's what verse two says in Romans chapter three.

Because the question was, is, well, what was the advantage of being a Jew, right?

If they're not believing now, what's the advantage if a Gentile can be saved?

What's the advantage?

And Paul even says in verse 1 of Romans 3, what advantage then hath the Jew, or what prophet is there of circumcision?

But every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

So again, we're trying to read the book of Romans in context.

We don't want to see Romans 9 as its own thing out here teaching something outside of what Paul is trying to explain.

So Paul has been saying since the very beginning that the Gospel is for the Jew and for the Greek, for the Gentile.

So essentially the Gospel is for all.

And then the other question would be this.

Well, then, what was the benefit of being a Jew?

What was the benefit of being from the people of Israel?

He says they were entrusted with the oracles of God.

And then he reiterates that in Romans 9, 4 and 5, he says that there were these great blessings of God giving them that opportunity to bring forth the word of God.

And so you have to understand their confusion, because as Paul is writing this letter to the church at Rome, there's going to be people in Rome that are Gentile believers that are reading this and understanding the Gospel.

And remember, he's laid out for them the.

The gospel.

He's laid out for them the truth of salvation.

He.

He's laid out for them that they're all guilty in their sin.

He's laid out for them how to be saved, what it means to be saved, and what it means to walk in that newness of life.

But then you have to understand too that there were Jewish believers there in Rome, and they're confused because they're like, now the Gentiles are pulled in.

What does it mean for us?

Did God fail us?

And then the question would even ripple into the Gentiles.

Well, if God failed Israel, did he fail?

Will he fail us?

And so at this point, most Jewish people had rejected Jesus.

We can see that back in the book of John.

I want you to see John chapter one.

I'm going to try to use as many cross references as I can so that you can see what we're talking about here.

And Romans 9 is such a complex chapter in Scripture because if taken in a certain interpretation, it can teach to some people.

And some people interpret it to be that God selected a certain amount of people that he loves.

And then he also at the 12, say this, he came unto his own.

This is talking about Jesus.

And his own received him not.

So his own people turned their backs on Him.

They did not receive him, they did not believe.

Now, sometimes people have a hard time with understanding, well, you don't receive Jesus.

Jesus just forces himself upon you.

That's one concept that we see many people teaching in Romans chapter nine.

Well, we see right here in John chapter one that there are some who don't receive.

His own people don't receive.

But then in verse 12, we see that some do receive.

He, he says, but as many as received Him.

And then to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

So the way that we receive him is by believing on his name.

That's what the Bible tells us there in John chapter one.

So many people have rejected Jesus at this point in time.

And when I say this point in time, I don't mean today.

Even though we know that many people reject Jesus Today, but we're talking about in the context of the book of Romans.

Many people have rejected Jesus.

And so what Paul is trying to explain and what he's trying to delineate is that has God's plan failed?

No, he has not.

Is God's word still good?

Yes, it still is.

And so he's explaining his heart for the people that have rejected.

And we even saw in verses 1, 2, and 3, he says, My heart is for my people.

My heart is heavy, My heart is full of sorrow because many people have rejected.

And if you remember, he's willing to say, I will give up my salvation so that my people will be saved.

And so what is he saying here?

He says in verse 6, this is his main thought here, verse 6.

Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect, meaning this God's word has not failed.

And I think that's a good reminder for us in any case, because there's going to be times in our life that we are tempted to question God.

And I, I think that it's important to note that we can ask God questions.

It's completely biblical to ask God questions.

We see that throughout the Bible.

And so it's one thing to ask God questions, it's another thing to question God.

And I hope we understand the difference of those two things because sometimes in our life there, there are things that we don't understand.

There, there are things that don't make sense, there's things that don't add up.

And we might ask God, lord, why?

What, what are you doing through this?

And he may give us an answer or he might not give us an answer.

We see examples of both in the Scriptures, but we also know that it is wrong to question the character of God or, or question the efficacy of God or his power or his holiness.

And, and so what Paul is saying here is, no, God's word has not failed.

And I think that for some of us today, the message that we could take with us is this.

Whether or not you are feeling good in your life, physically, emotionally, spiritually, whether or not you look around and see things playing out the way that we expect them to play out, the reminder for us is that God's word has not failed.

It's not failing right now, and it never will fail.

The Bible says that the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of God stands forever.

It stands true.

And so in times in which we don't feel that we understand or in times that we're in doubt, the problem is not The Lord, the problem is us and it's the problem of faith.

It's maybe a problem of wisdom or discernment.

And so what Paul is saying here is that even though they might be confused about why many of God's own people at that point in time have turned their backs against him, against Jesus, he says, hey, it's not that God's word has failed.

Why?

For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.

And he's going to describe that and explain that here.

And so the word of God is just as powerful as it's ever been.

And he says the, the plan of God is just as powerful as it ever has been.

It's not that God has failed.

It's not that God is surprised.

It's not that God didn't know that this was coming.

He understands this and he is using other people's bad decisions for his good.

And we're going to talk a lot about this word sovereignty.

And you hear the word sovereignty thrown around a lot in Christian circles.

And I want you to understand God's power is so powerful that it's not that he forces us to do everything.

A lot of people take that God is deterministic and meaning everybody that's doing anything, whether it be good or bad, is ordained by God.

So that would mean that God would actually be ordaining sin.

I don't believe that that's a good explanation of biblical sovereignty.

Biblical sovereignty or all powerful nature is that God can do anything through our bad decisions.

For example, God gives us a choice to do good or bad.

And even if we do bad, God will still work his plan out for good.

We saw that in Romans chapter 8.

There's a reminder that no matter what we do, God is still working out his plan in this world.

So we can't limit God, we can't stop God, we can't thwart the plans of God with our bad decisions.

And that's a good thing.

That actually shows that God is completely sovereign because he can make decisions and he can do things even when we're making bad decisions.

So, so for me, if my kids are doing everything right, hey, I look like a good dad.

What happens when my kids do bad things?

That throws me off.

And sometimes I'm having a good day because my kids are good.

And sometimes I'm having a real bad day as a parent because my kids are being bad.

And the idea is, is that I'm limited to some degree with how I am leading my family in the fact that my children might make the bad decisions, and I'm limited in that.

But even when God's children make bad decisions, he's still above and beyond capable and all powerful to work out his plan.

And so that's what he's saying there.

And he says some people that claim to be the people of God are, are not the people of God.

And so he's essentially saying it's a small group who believe.

And it's always been a subset.

It's always been a small group.

It's never been the majority that believe.

And so he's going to explain here, and I think this is a point that we all have to understand in the context of what we're reading here in Romans chapter 9.

The first point is this.

You don't have to have special status.

You don't have special status due to physical birth at this point in time.

He's saying according to salvation.

And he mentioned that back in Romans Chapter one.

It's not about being born as a person in Israel.

It's not about being born in America.

It's not about being born into a rich family.

It's not about being born into a family of status.

He says here it's all about faith.

And he says, so some people that claim to be those people are not those people.

And, and so he's going to use Abraham as an example for that.

And, and again, I think that one of the problems that we see in Romans Chapter nine is that people, some interpret.

Romans Chapter nine is only solely talking about individual effectual salvation.

And I, I don't want to lose you guys here this morning.

Romans 9 in and of itself is very difficult because it talks a lot about theology.

It talks a lot about hypothetical situations.

And he says, okay, if this, then this be the case.

And, and then he's going to talk a lot about Old Testament stuff.

Now I will say it's not just me, but even Peter.

In second, Peter says that Paul's writings are difficult to understand.

Okay, so, so we're not talking bad about Paul by saying his stuff is difficult because even Peter said that.

And so even though it's difficult sometimes it's important and needed.

Some things in life that are difficult are important to understand.

So what does he say here?

He says, okay, verse seven, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

So you might say, what on earth is he talking about?

To understand Romans 9, you have to know about the lineage in the Old Testament.

If you don't know the lineage in the Old Testament, you're going to see names here.

You're going to say, what does that even mean?

So I'm going to try to do my best to walk us through this.

He says basically not all of Abraham's lineage is true Israel.

That's what he's saying here.

You say, well, I thought that it's the line of Abraham.

Well, it's one line of Abraham.

But did you guys know that Abraham, did he only have one son, Isaac?

No, he had more sons.

He actually had.

He actually, a lot of people would say two.

And that's partially right.

He had Ishmael.

But if you know this later on in his life, he actually had all together eight sons.

Not all of eight sons were used to pass along the oracles of God.

It was, what does it say here?

It was only through Isaac.

So it was the line that was through Isaac, which the Bible tells us that Isaac was the child of promise.

He was the child of faith, not the child of flesh.

Ishmael was the child of flesh.

So it was God's ordination, it was God's election.

It was God's plan that the oracles of his word would be passed not through all of Abraham's lineage, but through the lineage of Isaac.

Now what does that mean for us today?

That means that God does use certain individuals for certain purposes.

And it's not that he hates other people, which we're going to talk a little bit more about that as it goes along.

Not that they don't have a chance to believe.

But what we're seeing here is that he says it was through Isaac that God's plan would come to pass.

And so the promise came not through Ishmael, not through the other sons, but it came through Isaac.

And so the promise of God came through Isaac, the child of promise.

And so nobody gets a special blessing just because of lineage.

We know that.

We know that.

It's not just like, so, for example, it's not saying this.

Well, all of us are from Abraham, so all of us get this blessing.

He says, no, it's just the line of, of, of Isaac.

I want you to see a reference in the book of John that, or, excuse me, the book of Luke that talks about this, Luke 3, 8.

Actually, what was happening here is that John the Baptist was condemning some individuals that said, hey, I'm in the bloodline of Abraham, so I'm okay, I don't need to believe, I don't need to have faith.

I, I, I, I am part of Abraham's lineage.

And, and so what John is going to tell them is that, hey, look, it's not just about being the bloodline of Abraham.

It's about, it's about faith.

It's about belief.

And so in, in Luke chapter three, we'll go up to verse number seven because I think this is important for us to see.

It says, then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance.

So he says, don't just come and go through the motions.

You have to come with repentance and begin not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father.

So a lot of people were just saying, well, I'm from the bloodline of Abraham, so I'm okay, I don't need to be repentant.

So we have Abraham, our father.

For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, meaning God doesn't need you.

God.

God is allowing you to be part of his plan if you're willing.

But God doesn't need you because he can raise up these stones to be his children.

And so what the Bible is teaching against here is that people having this type of what we would consider entitlement, saying, I don't need to come to God his way because I'm part of the bloodline.

And so that's what Romans chapter nine is talking about.

Not all the people that are from Abraham are chosen to do the work of the promise of God, the oracles of God.

And so he speaks more to this.

And so essentially what we would say is that Isaac was elected to, to have the promise pass through him.

So you hear a lot of, in the Bible the word election.

And some people are afraid of that word election because election sounds like to many people that God sits up there arbitrarily and points to one person and says he's going to be saved, but he's not going to be saved.

And I'm going to force this person not to be saved because of my glory.

Well, that's one interpretation of that word election.

But I want you to think about the word election in the concept of selection, like being selected for a purpose, right?

That's what we do with our, our.

Whether you agree with who's elected or not in politics.

That's what we do with politicians, right?

We, we elect them, we.

We choose them, not just to sit.

Now sometimes one would argue that people don't do the job that we're electing them for.

But that's for a different day and a different time.

Okay, but in, in theory, right, we elect somebody for a job to work and have a specific purpose for that job.

So whatever their role is, that's what I believe election is in Scripture, that when we come to Christ, we are part of election and we are elected for a specific purpose.

And so in this case, Isaac was elected to pass on the promise of God.

So think about it this way.

Elected, selected for a special service.

And we even know that it's unique because he's not even the oldest.

He's not the one that's expected Ishmael would be expected.

Later on we're going to see that Jacob was elected over Esau, which it's amazing to see that God doesn't need to use the ones that we consider to be the strongest.

God can use anybody, and he has the prerogative to do so, to use for specific things.

And so certain people are elected for certain aspects of service.

So, so we go a little bit further here.

And so, so verse seven says, not everyone that comes from Abraham passed along the promise.

It was only through Isaac, that is they which are the children of the flesh.

And these are not the children of God.

So there are individuals who were walking in the flesh.

They were individuals who were not in faith.

And he says here, they were not elected by God to do the work, but the children of 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.

So he says, that was the word of promise, and the fulfillment of that was the election of Isaac.

Then we go further, and not only this, but when a Rebecca.

Now who's Rebecca?

Rebecca was the wife of Isaac.

And so Isaac and Rebecca have children.

There's two children.

And you guys are aware of that story, hopefully Esau and Jacob.

And.

And we're going to see here that even Isaac's wife Rebecca is filled into the purpose of passing along the seed and the election.

God's choice.

And so it isn't a matter of your lineage, right?

God has the prerogative to use anybody in anything.

And then we see point number two.

It isn't a matter of works, verse 11.

For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth.

So, so we see that it's not a matter of your lineage.

God can use anybody.

He chose to use certain people.

He chose to use Isaac, he chose to use Jacob, he chose to use the people of Israel.

But then we see here that it's not about your lineage and it's not about your works.

Sometimes people think that, well, God's going to use me because I'm a good person.

I have a lot to bring to the table.

And then we have someone else that might say, you know what?

I don't have any talents.

I don't, I don't have any giftings.

Even though if you're a believer, you do have giftings.

But sometimes the perception is, is that person is not the one that we would select.

We would definitely select this one.

Isn't that kind of how God always works in Scripture?

We see that with, with Isaac, we see that with Jacob, we see that even with David, right?

Remember, David was, was selected as king and he was like the afterthought.

He was out in the fields and all the good brothers came forward and they had him lined up.

And God says, no, I'm going to use David.

I'm going to use the one that is considered not by many to be the most powerful, not to be the wisest, not to be the oldest, but the one that I have selected to do my work.

Again, let me be clear.

I'm not personally talking about this being to effectual salvation.

I'm talking about God using us for specific purposes in service.

And so we look at a certain individual like Paul many times.

You think about Paul and you think about Paul being just this great preacher, this, this amazing, powerful, loud voice, maybe even a strong physical body.

But if you actually read Paul's description of himself coming to the church at Corinth, he actually talks about being weak in the knees and, and stuttering in his speech and being nervous and cautious and, and not being as what we would consider to be this big orator.

That.

That's the idea that God uses individuals not according to their works, not according to their status, but according to his decision.

And he equips us to do certain things in election.

So verse number 11, for the children being not yet born.

So obviously this is a decision that God makes before Jacob and Esau are born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to that election might stand again, not of works, but of him that calleth.

And so Jacob the Younger was selected.

He was chosen by God for a purpose, to pass along the oracles of God.

So yes, God made a sovereign choice, but it wasn't on a matter of works.

It wasn't on a Matter of status.

It was on a matter of his decision.

So the interpretation would be this.

I know this is sometimes difficult, but we've got to talk through this because we have to make sure we understand what God is talking about here.

So election, in my opinion, okay, I'm not saying that I'm the only person that has an opinion on this, and I'm not saying that I'm the foremost in this topic.

But what I will say is this election, in my opinion, is not a reference to individual salvation, but an election or a special call to service in him.

And so when Scripture is talking about election, it's talking about the corporate elect.

Those that believe in Jesus are all called for a specific use in their life, a specific purpose.

And that's what we even read in ephesians A, chapter 2.

If you go back, if you go back to Ephesians chapter two, this is where we started our day today.

And I want you to see this because remember who we were before we were in Christ, who we were in our sin.

It says in verse one that we were dead in our trespasses.

Now, there are some people that will use Ephesians chapter 2 and try to reconcile it with Romans chapter 9 and say, if we are dead in our trespasses, there's no way that we can respond.

A dead man doesn't respond.

Like, you know, like if we had a funeral service here, there was someone that was in the casket and they just jumped up and started talking.

That's.

That's not typical, right?

That, that would be a miraculous work.

And so a dead man can't respond unless God brings life to them.

But I will also argue here that in Ephesians chapter two, he's talking about being dead in our outcome, right?

In our sin.

Sin brings the death penalty.

So in essence, someone, let's say, for example, someone's on death row, they're not necessarily dead yet, but what we would say is they're dead.

Like the outcome of their life is death, right?

We know that that's inevitable.

And for all of us in sin, it's an inevitability of death.

And then he says, this is how you were in your sin.

And he talks about walking in the course of this world.

He's talking about following the prince of the power of the air, the enemy, the.

The work, walking in the spirit as a child of disobedience.

And he talks about our conversation, our lifestyle, being full of lust of the flesh, desires of our flesh and our mind.

He says all these things, and he says in verse four, but God, who is rich in mercy, and he talks about God's love that, that he displayed for us and giving us Jesus Christ.

And he says, that is Jesus, when we trust in him, that brings us to life.

And he says, Verse 8, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.

It is the gift of God.

Of course, it's not of ourselves.

We didn't work our way to do it.

We're receiving a gift, remember John 1:12, to receive those that received him, not of works, lest any man should boast.

So salvation is because God has given us a gift.

And then when we trust in that gift, when we receive that gift, we are able to walk in newness of life and have that salvation.

Then he says, that's not the end though, because sometimes people think, well, it's, it's, I'm saved, I'm good, I'm done.

That's it, I'm over.

I believed.

Now I just wait until I go to heaven.

But the Bible says, no, there's a purpose for our salvation.

And he says in verse 10, and for we are his workmanship.

And so what it is is that God has worked in us and he's got a plan for us.

And he says, we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

So the works don't save us, but we are saved to work.

And then he says, which God hath before ordained, meaning God at the beginning of time has ordained that we should walk in these things.

And so we all have a purpose.

We all have that election to serve him at whatever capacity he has called us to serve.

So let's go back to Romans 9 with that being in mind.

I believe that that election that we see in Romans chapter nine, that's talked about especially in the sense of, of work and throughout all the New Testament, election is specifically a corporate election, not an individual election.

And so the election is a special call to service, not an individual salvation.

That's, that's the interpretation that we're taking in Romans chapter nine.

At least that's what, what I'm taking.

So what we can see here as we go a little bit further, verse 12, it says, it was said unto her, the elder shall serve the younger.

And we know that that was talking about Esau serving Jacob.

As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Now this is another verse that's highly contested, and this is one that I believe is, is highly misinterpreted when it comes to this idea of God hating Esau.

Because what some people take in this verse is that God loves some that he calls an election, and only those can be saved.

And there's no way that you can get around that.

And on the other side of things, God, from the beginning of time, before you were born, hated some and gave hope to them in no way to be saved.

And so what's he talking about here?

What is he talking about when he talks about Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated?

Well, there's a lot of argument on this, but God does have the prerogative or sovereignty to use anyone for his special service.

We know that he can use a Jew.

We know that he can use a Gentile.

We know that he can use someone of wealth, of someone of poverty.

And so we know that it was God's choice to use the nation of Israel, and so he preferred Jacob over Esau.

And we know that today God is choices to build the church and build his kingdom through the church.

And so how does God curate the Gospel message is what we're talking about here.

That's what we're really talking about.

How does God deliver the gospel message in this world today?

Well, in the Old Testament and, and leading up there to the book of Romans, it was essentially through the nation of Israel.

Now, we know that God has opened the door to the church, and we know that the church today has the responsibility to curate the Gospel message to the world, being the pillar and ground of truth.

And so verse 12 tells us that the elder serves the younger.

And then he says in verse 13, this Old Testament reference, this is actually a reference to a passage of Scripture in the book of Malachi, Malachi Chapter one.

And he quotes Malachi chapter one.

So if anytime Paul is quoting an Old Testament passage, it's important to go back to, to that Old Testament passage to understand the context.

Sometimes people think, well, Paul's quoting an Old Testament passage, but he's not using in the same context as the Old Testament.

He's trying to get his own point across.

I, I think he's using it in context.

And so Malachi chapter one specifically talks about this very thing, that God loves Esau and he hates Jacob.

But in Malachi Chapter one, we're not going to have enough time to go through the whole book of Malachi here this morning.

But what I will say is that in Malachi Chapter one, God is talking to them as nations.

You have Israel, which, if you remember Jacob, right, Jacob's name got changed to what, Israel, right?

And then we had Esau, Esau was the father of the were in rebellion.

Israel was in favor with God.

And so in Malachi, chapter one, God is speaking of his condemnation against Esau and by greater extent, the Edomites, who were in rebellion to God.

And then he was saying that he loves Jacob, Jacob is favored.

And anytime we see this idea of love, we're seeing that God, God's favor over another, God's favor over another.

So in Malachi, chapter one, verse three, he's speaking about God loving Israel, God preparing Israel, God protecting Israel.

So this is essentially what he's explaining here.

God is telling Israel to find assurance in his election for them to bring forth the oracles of God.

Therefore, he's going to protect them, preserve them, and love them.

So his choice of them, he wanted them to understand that they were chosen and that they were favored above Esau and the Edomites.

Why?

Because, number one, the Edomites were evil.

But again, we know that even back further, that God chose Jacob over Esau for the oracles of God, for the message of God.

They saw that God chose to preserve Israel and punish the.

So with that context, we see, going back to Romans chapter 9, that God is essentially favoring Jacob over Esau.

And then we see this idea in verse 13, but Esau, have I hated now?

Does God hate people?

Does God hate those that are unsaved?

Well, there, that's a tough question.

But at the end of the day, yes, we know that God hates evil.

We know that God hates rebellion.

But in this case, the question would be, did Esau even have a choice to be saved?

I believe that everyone has a choice to be saved.

And so I think that when we see this idea of love, hate, we're not talking about one is loved and one is saved.

One is hateful, and therefore he is not saved.

It's this idea of favoring one above the other.

I want you to see an example of this in Luke chapter 14.

Luke chapter 14 speaks of some aspects of love and hate.

And I want you to see in this context what we're explaining, because I think that sometimes when we see that word hate, we take it in the idea of.

Of hating, rejecting, hurting, being against.

But In Luke chapter 14, we're actually told that the cost of discipleship is that we're supposed to hate our family.

Now, that boggles our mind.

And some of us understand the explanation there.

So.

So what God calls me to do as a disciple is to hate my family, but also love my family.

You say what?

Well, doesn't the Bible tell Me to love my.

My children, to love my wife, to respect my parents, to honor my parents.

But then in the same vein, we see that the Bible says that we're supposed to hate our family.

Well, that.

That doesn't make any sense in the literal sense.

But what we see in verse number 25 of Luke 14, and there went great multitudes with him, and turned and said unto him.

And this is what he says to them.

If any man come to me and hate not his father and his mother and his wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, his also life.

His.

His life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Now, again, let's understand what Jesus is trying to say there.

Do we believe that Jesus is telling the disciple to hate his wife?

Well, that would contradict what he says in other passages about us being one flesh.

That.

That would contradict other passages of scripture where Paul mentions that the.

The.

The.

The man.

The husband is supposed to love his wife as Christ loved the church.

So, so how can we rectify that idea?

How does.

How can we reconcile the idea that Jesus tells us to hate our family, but then he also tells us to love our family?

Well, again, I believe it's an explanation of preferring a relationship.

So preferring our relationship with God, putting our relationship with God before the others.

And so in comparison, it.

It looks like hate.

You've heard that before, right?

My love for God, my devotion for God should seem so over and above and beyond that my love for other people should look like hate.

So God is not telling me to hate my wife.

Okay?

Men don't read Luke chapter 14 and say, well, here's my excuse that I can hate my wife if I'm a disciple.

I can hate my mom and dad.

I can.

I can hate my family.

No, that's not what he's saying.

He.

He's saying here that we as Christians, we as disciples, should put our relationship with God first.

Because if I put my relationship with my wife or my children or my parents or even myself before my relationship with God, I'm not in the right place.

And so it's a matter of comparison.

And so in the same case, I believe that that's what that's talking about when it comes to this idea of Esau and Jacob.

It's not that God despised Esau and hated him from birth and said this little baby is.

Is.

Is in rejection to me.

What he's saying here is that his relationship with Jacob was so much greater and so much more focus, that in comparison, his love for Esau would be seen as hate.

And so God chose Jacob for a specific purpose above Esau.

And what was that purpose?

To reveal himself to the world.

And we, we, we actually know that to be the case because that actual passage of Scripture with, with that in mind, has a picture of what we're going to see in, in Amos, chapter 9 through 12, or 9 and 12.

Go, go there with me.

We're going to go to two passages, one in the Old Testament and one in the New.

And we're going to see two references to this idea of, of Esau and Esau being rejected and Esau being the one who is not favored over, over Jacob.

So go there with me.

I'm, I know we're going to a lot of different passages of Scripture, so I've got to catch up with myself here.

So the book of Amos, I, I guarantee you don't go to Amos that often unless you do, unless that's your favorite book.

If you, your book of Amos is your favorite book, come talk to me after the service.

I'd really love to have that discussion with you.

But Amos chapter 9, verse 12 speaks to the same idea.

And, and, and the reason why we're trying to go here is because I want you to see that all of Scripture is tied together.

And so it says that they may possess the remnant of Edom and of all the heathen which are called by my name, sayeth the Lord that doeth this.

And so this idea here is that there, there would be a remnant of, of Edom.

But then ultimately, what we know in Acts chapter 15 is that this passage itself is quoted by the New Testament church.

Acts chapter 15, Acts chapter 15, verses 16 and 17.

We actually see that this passage of scripture in the Old Testament, the book of Amos, is used as a reference piece to folding in the Gentiles, folding in those that are not of Jewish descent to the church.

Acts 15, 16 and 17.

After this I will return and I will build again this tabernacle of David which is fallen down.

And I will build again the ruins thereof.

And I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, sayeth the Lord, who doeth all these things.

And so there, there is always an opportunity.

So some people look at Esau and they say, Esau didn't have a chance.

So does that mean whoever the are don't have a chance to be saved?

Does that mean that the Gentiles don't have a chance to be saved?

It's only Through Israel.

No, he actually says, yes, Esau I hated.

But the Edomites have a chance to be saved, and the Edomites have a chance to be saved by being the Gentiles that are folded into the church in Acts chapter 16.

And so the point I'm trying to make is that when God says that he hates Esau, it doesn't mean that Esau didn't have a chance to be effectually saved in faith.

It just means that God favored Jacob over Esau.

And, and so what we can see in that case is that many people are going to have a hardship with that.

Paul reads into this.

Paul, Paul knows his audience.

And so Paul explains all of this.

And now verse 14, he says, what shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness with God?

So his expectation was that there was going to be people that said, well, this isn't right.

You chose some people to be used by you and other people not to be used by you.

What does this mean?

Or now you're bringing in the Gentiles.

What does this mean?

Is God not righteous?

He says, what shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness with God?

Then he says, God forbid.

Literally.

That means kill that thought.

God is.

God is righteous.

God is completely holy.

God is right in every single way.

And again, this goes back to that first question in verse number six.

Are we allowed to ask questions to God?

Sure, but is it a sin to question the character of God?

Yes.

And that's what Paul's trying to squash here.

He says we need to reject this idea that God has unrighteousness because he's making these decisions in his prerogative God.

God always does.

Right?

And so the question would be this.

Did, did God ordain evil?

Does God ordain evil if he is sovereign?

And, and again, we talked about that sovereignty.

I don't believe that God ordains evil because if God ordained evil, then you might have an opportunity in verse number 14 to have a point to say, well, if God's ordaining evil, he's unrighteous.

He's expecting us to be righteous.

But if he's ordaining evil, and then he holds us accountable for what he's forcing us to do, that would be unrighteousness.

So verse 14, what shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness with God?

God forbid.

And so again we mentioned sovereignty is, is again my, my interpretation of this is that God allows for choice but still works his plan out in this world, no matter what might be the case.

Now Some naysayers to that idea would say, then you don't believe that God has complete providence over people and can force people to do things.

I believe God has every right to do anything he wants to do.

And God can ordain certain things to happen and will ordain certain things providentially to happen in my life.

I mean, I can point to certain things in my life that God has done beyond my comprehension, beyond my control.

And so God can do that.

But I also believe that God gives man the responsibility to.

To respond to him in faith.

And so the question would be in verse 14, Is God unrighteous?

And the answer obviously is no.

Paul says, definitely not.

And then he goes on to explain this.

And we're just going to go down, if you can stick with me, just to verse number 18.

We're going to go down to verse number 18 this morning.

He says, for he said to Moses, I will have mercy on those on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Now, again, a lot of people use this in the concept of, well, God can save who he wants to save.

He can reject those who he wants to reject.

And certainly he has the prerogative to do so.

But again, context is key.

Context is king, right?

And again, we're talking, in my opinion, in my interpretation of Romans 9, he's talking about the people that he's using for bringing forth the word of God to this world, the.

The people that he's elected for that service.

And so what he says is, I can use anyone I want.

He references back to Moses.

He says, moses, I can have mercy on who I want to have mercy to.

I can.

I can have compassion on whoever I want to have compassion on.

And.

And for many of us, we struggle with that because for many of us, we're okay with God showing compassion and mercy to people that we're comfortable with.

But if you remember, there was an awesome story back in the Book of Jonah.

Jonah goes to Nineveh.

And remember, Jonah is not.

A lot of people frame Jonah as being afraid of the scary Ninevites.

And we understand that that might have been part of it.

But if, you know, Jonah actually goes back and says something very interesting, he says, God, I didn't want to go to Nineveh because I knew that if I went, you would save them.

I know you're a God of compassion and mercy, and I didn't want to see them get saved because he had that internal struggle, that internal hate against the Ninevites, because of what they did to his people.

And so what God says is I have the prerogative to save whoever I want to save.

I have the prerogative to give anyone the opportunity to use anyone for the ministry.

And remember, Jonah was not someone that wanted to go.

God had to get his attention.

Remember Jonah tried to flee, gets on the, on the ship.

You guys know the story.

The storm comes, he's about to die, he's about to fall off the, they're about to all get sunk and he jumps in the water and he's swallowed by the, the great fish or the whale, however your interpretation is on that.

And he goes in there for three days.

He comes out and he's like, okay, Lord, I'm going to go.

And even while he was going, Jonah was upset.

He was sitting underneath the tree complaining about the shade tree that, that he loved so much.

And it died.

And throughout all that, God is using an unfaithful person to bring his faithfulness in the message of the truth.

So what Paul is saying here is this, God can use anybody for this work.

And so if it's, he wants the Israelites to do that, he wants the Israelites to do that.

If he wants a church to do that, he wants the church to do that.

But he has the right to do that.

He is the, the all knowing Creator of everything.

So verse 16 he says, so then it is not of him that will it.

So it's not the will of man, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.

So in this case he's talking about showing mercy to those that are serving him.

So in this case he says it's not about your matter of your will.

It's not about like say for example, someone's like, I really want to serve God.

I think that God's going to use me because I really want that.

It's not about a matter of will and he says it's not about a matter of works.

So, so it's not a matter of will and works when it comes to God's work in our life.

It's a matter of God's plan and God's work in his ultimate sovereignty to show mercy and to show compassion.

So it's not by will or works.

And even goes on to this other passage and talks about Pharaoh, which again this is a passage of scripture verse 17 that many people use to the fact that God just doesn't allow certain people to be saved.

And I want to look at verse 17 from a different perspective.

This is and, and later on we're going to see that he actually uses the potter and the clay analogy.

So I want to kind of go into that a little bit here.

Now, verse 17, he says, for the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised the up that I might show my power in the and that my name might be declared throughout all of the earth.

And so reading verse 17, it says this.

God said to Pharaoh, I can do whatever I want with you to give me glory.

I can allow you to rebel, I can force you to rebel, and I can use that for my glory.

And so we know that Pharaoh, if you guys know the story in the book of Exodus, Pharaoh, ultimately it says in the Old Testament that God hardens his heart.

Now there's a lot of people that look at that and say, well, that was a point where maybe Pharaoh wanted to come to, to the Lord and repent.

And God just said, no, you can't.

But what I'm going to say is this over and over again in that story, if you remember, it says that Pharaoh hardened his heart.

Pharaoh hardened his heart.

Pharaoh kept hardening his heart.

That was his lifestyle, that was his path, that was his decision making.

That was his rebellion.

And then eventually, what God says, okay, Pharaoh, this is what you want.

Remember Romans, chapter one, Those that have the reprobate mind, God gives them over to their inordinate affections.

There's going to be a time and a place where God says, okay, that clay you are trying to mold in your own self and your rebellion and your sin.

And then I'm going to harden that.

You guys know the principle.

There's a certain place in time in pottery that when it's hardened, that's the way that it's shaped and that's the way that it stays, unless it's broken.

He says, pharaoh, you've been rejecting me.

You're in rebellion to me.

You're living in sin.

I'm going to harden you there and I'm going to give you over to what you want.

That's the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.

And so in my opinion, it's now that God went against Pharaoh's will and said, pharaoh, maybe you want me, maybe you don't want me, but I'm going to harden your heart.

He says, pharaoh, this is what you want.

I'm going to harden you in that and ultimately use your bad decisions for my glory.

Did you know that God can use the bad decisions of those that are unsaved for his glory?

It doesn't make any sense to us.

But in the concept of the picture of God's sovereignty, if people are going to sin, people are going to be in rebellion.

God says, I can use that for my glory.

God can use anything for his glory.

God can use pain and brokenness and sadness for his glory.

That doesn't match in our framework of thinking.

But what it does mean is this, that God is so powerful and he's above all, and he's in all, and he's through all that.

We cannot put a box around him to try to explain this is the way that he should be.

And so God essentially think about it this way.

With the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, God set Pharaoh in his way.

And that was the way of rebellion.

He says, okay, Pharaoh, I'm going to give you over to your way.

And we know that no man can be saved.

We know that no man can come to repentance without the power of God in his life.

So by the way, one.

One side of the coin is this.

If you don't believe in complete determinism and sovereignty in that regard, some people will say, well, does that mean that you believe that man just finds God on their own strength?

Because that's usually the two sides of the coin that everyone argues.

Either God forces you or you just do it all on your own, folks.

I don't believe that either one of those are true.

I believe that God awakens our heart in the spirit and we have an opportunity to respond to him in faith.

You cannot get saved without the Holy Spirit, cannot get saved without the mercy of God.

You cannot find grace, you cannot find forgiveness.

You cannot find everlasting life without the power of God.

But what the Bible says is that when God pulls his hand off of an individual in rebellion, the there's no chance for them to be saved.

Not because God forces them, but because.

Because God is giving them over to what they desire.

And that's what we see here with Pharaoh.

He says, there's going to be some that make bad decisions.

There's going to be some that make good decisions.

There's going to be some make bad decisions.

But either way, God uses that for his good.

And then he says in verse number 18, therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and of whom he will heart, and in whom he will he hardeneth.

Meaning this.

It's God's decision who he extends mercy to.

It's God's decision who he allows to stay in their sin.

It's God's decision to say, you Know what?

This person is going this path.

I'm going to allow him to go that path.

You would say, where is that in Scripture?

If you go back to Romans chapter one, that's exactly what he's talking about.

Romans chapter one.

He says, you have to be saved through Jesus Christ.

But there's going to be some people that are so turned over to their sin that God's going to allow them to go to the reprobate minds.

And so what we can see here is that it's God's plan and it's his discernment and it's his wisdom, and it's his power and mercy and grace that changes the life of an individual.

And so verse 18 is essentially a restatement of the whole concept that he's saying here is this.

You can have mercy, but the only way you can find mercy is Jesus Christ.

The only way that you can find the truth of Jesus is through falling before him and calling out for his mercy.

So God uses repentance for his glory.

Right?

Repentant hearts are what brings mercy and grace.

Think about it.

I don't think God has to work in certain frameworks.

He can do whatever he wants to do, but he gives us his word.

And what does he say in the New Testament?

He gives grace to the humble, he resists the prideful.

And so what we can see here is that God gets glory through when folks come to him in repentance and he extends mercy, extends grace, he extends compassion.

But then the other side of things is like people will look and say, well, what about all these people that are in sin over here that doesn't give God glory.

That shows that God's not all powerful.

No, because just as much as God gives mercy and grace to those that are repentant and he gets glory, those people over here that in rebellion that find judgment and pain and eventually separation for him, that gives him glory as well.

So the idea would be this, forgive me for the cliche, but it's a win win situation for God.

Those that follow him and obey him are going to find mercy and grace and he gets the glory.

Those that reject him find judgment and separation from him and he gets the glory.

And that's what Paul is saying here is he says God decides that and he makes that statement of basically this, he's going to give mercy to whom he's going to give mercy and he's going to harden those that he's going to harden for the work of the election of the truth of the Word of God.

So what does that mean?

It means this, maybe in a practical way.

Today, we, we as the church, have the responsibility to pass forward the oracles of God.

He's going to talk continuously in Romans 9, 10 and 11 about Israel's rebellion, Israel's hardness of their heart.

Israel's basically their, their opportunity that they rejected Christ.

And then he goes on, he's going to Talk in Romans 12 through the end of the chapter, that we as the church today, whether we be of the lineage of Abraham or we be of the lineage of someone else, we ultimately are part of the family of God.

And therefore we're grafted in and we're going to be used for that elective purpose to serve him and to present the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so that's one interpretation of Romans Chapter nine.

There's, there's, there's a handful of interpretations that we could look at, but I think that that's one of the good contextual representations of Romans chapter 9.

When you look at Romans chapter 1 all the way through and actually the whole Bible through in context, I know it's a lot of information.

So what can we take away today in application?

Because I think a lot of times what we do is we look at a passage of Scripture and if there's a lot of theology, we kind of think like, well, there's no application.

Like, it's just me knowing more about the Bible.

But I'm going to say that there's always application.

So Romans chapter 9, verses 6 through 18.

What's the application?

Well, it starts in verse number 6.

Not as though the word of God have taken on effect.

God has not failed us.

God has not failed Israel.

This is part of God's plan.

God is allowing certain things to happen so that his glory can be seen.

Then we go to verse 14.

What shall we say then?

Is there unrighteousness with God?

No, God forbid.

God is perfectly righteous.

There's no sin in his heart, there's no evil in his mind.

There's no bad decisions that he makes.

Ultimately, he has the wisdom to make the decisions of mercy and make the decisions of grace and make the decisions of hardening and make the decisions of separation and judgment.

And then verse 18, he has mercy on those who have mercy.

We have to love the mercy of God.

We started with Ephesians chapter two this morning.

It says, but God, who is rich in mercy, there's other passages of Scripture.

One in the book of Lamentations, I believe it's Lamentations 3:23 that says that his mercies are new every morning.

I think what we have to do is instead of questioning God, celebrate His mercy.

Now, what is mercy?

Mercy is God's withholding of judgment that we deserve.

All of us deserve God's judgment.

All of us deserve punishment.

All of us don't deserve the opportunity to be part of the work of God.

But yet it's because of his mercy we have all that we have.

And so we have to celebrate the mercy of God.

We have to live out the mercy of God.

We have to wake up every morning knowing that what I have, I don't deserve and what I do deserve, I don't get.

And therefore I must be thankful to the Lord and not question him and not get to the place of, well, that person's being saved.

Why they don't deserve that.

They aren't a good person.

They, they were mean to me or they.

They were rejecting me.

Instead of getting into that battlefield of the mind saying, lord, if you do it, I don't question you, Lord, I trust you.

And so for the people of Israel at that time, they're like, lord, what's going on?

You said that we're your chosen people, and now many people aren't believing.

Is your plan failing?

Why are you calling these people?

Did you not call Abraham?

Did you not call Isaac?

Did you not call Jacob?

And he says, yes, I did call them.

But ultimately I'm using these bad decisions for my good work.

And there's going to be people that are hardened, there's going to be people that are used.

And at the end of the day, it's ultimately that God is sovereignly in control.

And so some people will say, well, if you don't believe in unconditional election, which means basically God chooses some at the beginning of time and chooses others at the beginning of the time to be saved and unsaved.

If you don't believe in that, you don't believe in God's sovereignty.

I would say that that's a misnomer.

I would say that we can believe that God gives people a chance.

Now, does God know who's going to do what?

Of course he knows.

But at the end of the day, we know that God allows for the individual representation of that person to either be in faith or in rebellion.

That doesn't limit God's sovereignty.

I think it actually displays God's sovereignty even more that he can allow individuals who can love him to love him and use those people for his work.

And he allows people to make a choice to come to love him but yet in rebellion, he can use them for his glory as well.

Just as he used Pharaoh for his glory, just as he used Abraham for his glory.

And I will say this, and I think this is very, very important to understand.

Some people will say, well, why, why does God not just force all of us to be saved?

We can get down that rabbit trail.

Why did God put the tree in the garden?

Why did God allow Satan to come and tempt?

And I'm going to boil it down to this.

It's a matter of love.

Because love always has a choice.

And in a choice always comes a risk.

Like I, like when I asked my wife to marry me, there was a risk there because I'm extending myself saying, hey, I love you, I want to spend the rest of my life with you.

And she could have said yes, no, maybe, wait, she could have said a lot of different things.

There's always a risk with love.

And so some would say, well, the God risk.

Well again, we're not God and God's mind's above our mind.

God's not bound by space and time.

God's not bound by our human limitations.

But in so doing, God allows for that choice of love so that we can have a real relationship with him, not a robotic relationship where he doesn't force us to love him.

He, he allows us to love him.

And then there are going to be times when God forces us to do things.

There's going to be times when God's providential hand comes in.

And we see that through the oracles of God, meaning the line in which the world can see God through.

Now today we as the church have the opportunity to be the pillar and ground of truth.

And so what we have to understand is that no one else is going to bring the truth of God back.

In the Old Testament it was the Israelites responsibility.

It was the Israelite.

And what God would condemn them on is this, that they would come and remember.

They would get, get involved with the world.

They would get involved with the pagans.

They, they, they would actually adopt certain things that the pagans were doing.

And they weren't doing the job of proclaiming God to the world.

And we as the church had that same responsibility.

We have the responsibility to proclaim the word of God to the world and not be compromising in our worship, not be compromising in our lifestyles, not being in the way of the world, but being separate from the world, knowing that we have a purpose.

And that purpose is to proclaim the gospel to all the world and be faithful to him and be thankful that he has selected us for that purpose of service to him.

And so that's something that I want us to think about all as we come back in Romans chapter nine.

Next week, we're going to look more into this idea of selection for service.

And he's going to talk more about the.

The potter and the clay, and we'll get through it.

And we're going to see in Romans chapter 10 that he does explain Israel's rejection to Christ.

It's important to talk about today.

He talks about how we should preach to difficult people, disobedient people.

Then ultimately he talks about In Romans chapter 11, the remnant and the branches that are grafted in the covenant that God has with Israel.

And ultimately the glory that is found in God through this.

These promises that are being kept.

And then, so Romans 9, 10, and 11 are that parenthetical statement to Israel.

And then we jump right back In Romans chapter 12, talking about the application of everything that we've heard so far in Romans.

And so I hope that you can stay with us in the study.

I know that today was a little bit heavier, but I think that there were some particular things that we all can speak to when it comes to that area of mercy.

How many of us are hungry for God's mercy in our lives?

As I close here this morning, I want you to think about that.

I want you to think about the mercy of God and what it means to you.

What do I deserve?

Well, I'm a pretty good person.

Go back to Romans.

What is it?

What does the Roman.

What does the Book of Romans say about being a good person?

There is none good.

No, not one.

What?

Well, you know what?

Maybe, maybe my.

My good.

My is good.

I mean, I'm not perfectly good, but maybe my good outweighs my bad.

And maybe I haven't done really, really bad stuff.

The Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God for the wages or the payment of sin is what, death?

Well, not my sin, no.

For the wages of all sin.

Any sin I commit is death.

But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We need that mercy.

All of us saved, unsaved, saved for five days, saved for 50 years.

We, we all are in desperate need of God's mercy in our life.

It's not by our will, it's not by our work, it's not by our lineage, it's not by any of those things.

It's through Jesus Christ that we can find that mercy.

And Grace.

And then once we're saved, we don't.

We're not done with mercy every day.

His mercies are new every day.

And some of you understand this physical pain, spiritual pain, emotional pain, can drive us away from that mercy and be so bitter and so angry and so.

So separated from Him.

But folks, we have to go back and say, no, he is righteous.

Not what I feel, but what I know, what I know about him and his word, that he is good, that he is faithful, that he is just, that he is righteous, that he has been faithful to me, he's been faithful to Israel, he's been faithful to Abraham, he's been faithful to Isaac, he's faithful to Jacob, he's faithful all the way through.

And just as he was faithful to those who are before.

Romans 8.

Remember, just because we know all things work together for good through the them that love God, then we were called according to his purpose.

That's.

That's it summarized right there.

And so what we have to understand is this.

Just as God has been faithful before, he will be faithful today, he will be faithful tomorrow.

And we can trust in that.

And we can rest in his mercy and his grace.

And so the question I want to leave you with is, number one, are you hungry for God's mercy?

Number two, are you resting in God's mercy?

Are you thankful for God's mercy?

And are you willing to extend that mercy to those around you as God has gifted us with that mercy in our lives?

Well, let's go ahead and pray.

Everyone, if you can, every head bowed, every eye closed, if you can stand with me.

We're going to have a time of invitation, a time of response.

I know we've thrown out a lot of information today, probably too much information for all of us to gather completely in.

But what I will say is that I know that to some degree, God has spoken to us in one way or the other, whether it be in the areas of mercy, whether it be in the areas of God's election, whether it be in the areas of service.

Because remember, when the Bible says that we are elected for this cause, it's not just a matter of salvation, but it's also a matter of service.

And God has called us to serve.

We're saved to serve, not serving to be saved.

And so maybe for you, it's God's working your heart.

Where is my role in this election?

Where's my role in this process?

Am I serving Him?

Am I loving him?

Am I dedicated to him in.

In mercy?

Am I questioning God's decision making.

My question is compassion.

Some of you maybe even say I I say this.

I'm trying not to preach another message, but this is something I'm struggling with right now.

Guys, let me tell you, confession time.

I have a struggle with people that are against God's word and having compassion for them because I want the judgment hand to come down.

I want people to answer for their sin.

But folks, if we have the character of Christ, we must have compassion.

It's not our job to enact justice.

It's our job to enact the gospel to them.

The Lord will do the work of vengeance.

The Lord will do the work of judgment.

We do the work of the gospel.

So maybe that's something in our hearts that we grow in that compassion.

Maybe we would have the heart of Paul when Paul said, lord, I I want my people to come to know you even if they are in rebellion.

May we do everything that we possibly can to bring that message of the Gospel to the lost and dying world.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation, working hearts and lives.

Allow us to follow you in obedience, to follow you, follow your plan, your purpose and your service that you have called us to live in in our lives.

Lord, we thank you for your grace.

We're thankful for the hope of the Gospel.

We're thankful for the call to be your people, to serve and to proclaim the message of the truth to this lost and dying world during this time.

So we ask all these things in Jesus name, Amen.

As the music plays, follow as the Lord leads.

This morning, if you need Jesus as your Savior, come forward.

We can show you in the Word.

If not, come forward and rededicate yourself to his mercy here this morning.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast.

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.