Exploring God's Mercy: Insights from Romans 11

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 11.

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Romans chapter 11.

We've been going through the book of Romans now for quite some time.

Last week we took a little bit of a break looking at the love and the sacrifice of a mother.

But now we're going to come back to Romans chapter 11 and be reminded of the mercy of God, our desperate need for God's mercy and grace.

What we see here In Romans chapter 11 is Paul addressing a few different questions, a few different concerns from some people.

Basically, there were people that were saying, is God not faithful because he has left his own people, the people of Israel, and essentially pulled his love from them and given it to the Gentiles?

So does that show that God is not faithful?

And certainly Paul has addressed that in many different ways here in Romans 9, 10, and 11.

But now what really we see in Romans chapter 11 is Paul specifically speaking of the need for mercy and grace for the Jew and Gentile alike.

And what he's emphasizing here in this chapter is that everybody comes to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

There's no other way to salvation.

There's no way through our lineage, there's no way through our works, there's no way through our giving, there's no way through anything else other than Jesus Christ.

And we're reminded of that throughout the Scriptures when Jesus says he is the way, the truth, and the life.

And what Romans chapter 11 is all about is talking about the role of the Gentile now within the Church.

And then the the future of the nation of Israel.

And where we left off last time was really in verse 18.

The reminder was this boast, not against the branches, meaning for the Gentile who now has salvation, who looks upon the nation of Israel and sees their rebellion.

There's no reason for us to boast.

There's no reason for us to have pride.

Why he says, but if thou boast, thou bears not the root, but the root thee.

Meaning you're missing the point.

You're missing the whole picture of where you receive salvation from.

Because if you're looking at someone else who has disobeyed, if you're looking at someone else who has rejected the Lord and you think you're better because you've received the Lord, that you've believed in the Lord.

He says, you're, you're missing that because the, the same is given to us in John 15.

We're the branches.

It's Jesus who is the root.

And we miss the picture if we think that it's something that we've done.

So there's a, a warning here, a reminder that pride must be rejected in salvation.

The pride for the Gentile who's a believer must be rejected.

The pride for the Jewish person who believes that he or she is born in a lineage that saves them must be rejected.

All of that pride should be rejected.

And the Gentiles are warned against arrogance.

He says in verse number 19, Thou wilt say, then the branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in, meaning the, the Jewish people have rejected the Messiah, Jesus Christ, and now we're the good ones and we're going to look down on them.

He says, don't do that, don't do that.

Verse number 20.

Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off.

So he says, it's not because they're good and, or they're bad, or you're good or you're bad.

The reason why people are broken off from a relationship with God is their unbelief.

It always goes back to faith or not faith.

It's, it's never about works, it's never about your heritage.

He says here it's because of their unbelief and thou standest by faith.

So the contrast is this.

The contrast is not Jew, Gentile, good, bad, churchgoer or non churchgoer.

The contrast is faith and not having faith, belief and unbelief.

So he says, be not high minded, but fear.

And so the reminder here is he says, verse 20, well, because of unbelief, they were broken off.

And thou standest by faith.

Be not high minded, be not prideful, but fear being in a place of healthy respect and humility before the Lord, knowing that the salvation that we have received is by nothing that we have done, but only through the mercy and grace of God.

And I want to talk about that here this morning.

When it comes to the idea of what, what does God's mercy and grace bring to us, it should bring us to a place of humbled repentance.

It should bring us to a place of complete humility before him, saying, lord, everything that I have is because of you.

And so the Gentiles here, and I believe we as the church today are warned against arrogance.

And we're reminded that it's always salvation is always by grace and not superiority.

We're not superior because we're believers.

We are graced by God and therefore blessed by God as believers.

But we're not superior over anybody else other than the fact that we have a relationship with God.

And so they're reminded here in verse 21.

For if God spared not the natural branches, meaning if God judges those who are part of the chosen people of Israel.

Right.

That's already been mentioned here in Romans.

If God judges them for their unbelief, how much more will God judge us for our unbelief?

The reality is, is that everybody is judged in unbelief or belief.

And so what we see here in this case is that we are reminded that if God judge unbelieving Israel, he can judge prideful Gentiles.

He can judge a prideful church.

So that brings us back to a place of what do we boast in?

And there's a lot of things that we can think about when we use the word boast.

The King James uses sometimes the word glory.

I glory in something, meaning I'm excited about something, I'm boasting in something.

And oftentimes we're tempted to boast in something that we have done.

I know that there have been periods of my life that maybe I've seen some type of success or maybe there's been a blessing for me or to me, and I've been tempted to boast and in many ways have boasted in myself.

The Bible says there's nothing that we should be boasting in other than what Jesus Christ has done for us and what he continues to do for us in our salvation.

I want to take you to a few passages that speak of what we should boast in, because as Christians, believe it or not, we are called and we are really even challenged to boast in something.

And oftentimes what happens is, is that we as churches, we as groups of believers who have been redeemed and restored and given an equipping of the gift of grace that we can serve and we can have blessings, that oftentimes we think that, hey, we're better and we can boast in what we have done.

Look what we have done.

Look how much we have accomplished.

Well, Paul reminds us In Galatians, chapter 6, verse 14, what we are to boast in when it comes to the believer in his or her life.

And it's not boasting in oneself.

Because if anyone could boast, if anybody could boast, it could be Paul, right?

Paul had all of the credentials.

Paul was looked up to by many people because of his lineage, because of his education, because of his work that he had done as a Pharisee.

And so if anybody could boast, it was Paul.

But Galatians, chapter 6, verse 14.

Paul says, But God forbid that I should glory or boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He says, hey, it is wrong for me to boast in anything else other than what Jesus Christ did for me by whom the world is crucified unto and I unto the world, meaning I identify with Jesus.

I recognize what he has done for me, and I boast in him.

There's other passages of Scripture that speak to where our boasting should come from.

Second Corinthians, chapter 10.

Two Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 17 and 18 tell us where our boasting should go.

You know, and as a church, we have a lot of reasons to celebrate.

I. I look around and I see wonderful growth.

I see ministries starting.

I see new families coming in.

I see new children being born.

Look, there's a lot of reasons why Christians should be excited.

It's an amazing thing.

Sometimes we see Christians that aren't excited about life.

We sometimes see Christians that walk around looking miserable.

And the Bible says that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

One of the elements of the fruit of the Spirit, the to prove that the Holy Spirit lives within us is joy, right?

Excitement in what God is doing.

There should be a level of excitement and celebration within the church, folks, if we're not celebrating and if we're not full of joy, there's a major issue in where our faith is placed.

But again, we go to Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verse 17, and we see that, yes, even though we're celebrating, what are we celebrating in, he says, but he that glorieth or he that boasteth, let him glory in the Lord, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth, meaning everything that we have is not brought about through what we have done.

We don't commend ourselves, we can't prove ourselves.

It's only through what God has done for us, only what God has demonstrated to us.

And we know that God demonstrated his love towards us.

Romans 5, 8.

God commended his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Therefore, what Paul is talking about In Romans chapter 11 is Gentile.

Don't fall into the pit of pride.

Don't allow yourself to be arrogant in your salvation.

Don't allow yourself to think that you're better than somebody else.

Because it really just goes down to who you are believing in.

Look, there's a lot of people within our church and within the Christian community that have a lot of great natural talent.

I mean, I, I love to hear people sing.

And you know what I like in general?

Just people doing something that they enjoy.

You ever just been around someone and they love something so much and they're good at it, it's just really entertaining to watch them do that.

And I love that.

But we know that sometimes natural talent is given to us for a purpose.

The natural talent is given to us so that we can use it for the Lord.

And we know that the spiritual gifts that are given to us are given to us to use for the Lord.

And oftentimes we think that it's all about us.

But What Romans chapter 11 is telling us is that we be not high minded, but we be in fear.

Why?

Because God spare not the natural branches, that's Israel.

Because of their unbelief.

He says, take he less also he could not spare thee.

Meaning we can find ourselves as the church in judgment because of our rebellion, because of our pride, because of our selfishness.

And so we come back to this idea here that pride must be rejected.

One, one person said it this way.

Grace leaves no room for boasting.

At least boasting in ourselves.

And when we really understand what God's mercy is, when we really understand what God's grace is in our life, then that allows us to see ourselves for who we really are in Him.

What is mercy?

By the way, we've said that word quite a bit here this morning.

What is mercy?

Well, literally mercy is God withholding from us what we deserve.

And the Bible very clearly tells us what we deserve for the wages of sin or the payment of sin is death.

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

So in our sin, what we deserve is separation.

What we deserve is pain.

What we deserve is suffering.

And again, that's not popular preaching.

That's not something that our flesh wants to hear.

But then think about that second part of Romans 6:23.

But the gift of God's eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, it's the mercy of God that changes our life.

It's the grace of God.

Now, grace is just the flip side of mercy.

Things that God gives to us that we don't deserve.

And so mercy and grace go interchangeably together.

Mercy and grace of God brings us to a place of knowing that there is good news, that there is hope.

We read in Ephesians chapter two here this morning for our scripture reading.

Those first three verses are pretty hard verses to hear.

That we were of the world, that we were serving the Prince of the power of the air, that we were children of disobedience.

If you just stop there in verses 1, 2, and 3, you would say, that's pretty bleak.

That's looking like we don't have any hope.

But then we see two words in verse number four, but God.

But God, who is rich in mercy, the one who is completely merciful, comes onto the scene and he does the work for us.

And therefore we can have that new life and we can have that hope.

And so that's all.

What Paul is talking about here in Romans 11 is he's reminding that the same salvation for the Gentiles, the same salvation for the Jew, both sides of the coin, it's not like one way or the other way, it's the same salvation.

So we go to verse number 22 in Romans chapter 11, and he.

And he's going to now talk about the provision that must be remembered.

God shows both goodness and severity.

Think about it from this perspective.

It says here, behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God.

He says, you must know both sides of the way that God works.

There is the beauty, there is the goodness of God when we come to him in faith.

But then on the other side of the coin, we must note the severity of God, the judgment of God, the holiness of God.

Folks, to preach only one side of that would be preaching half of the story.

Oftentimes you'll hear solely the fact that God is good and that he's loving.

And we leave out the part that there are going to be elements of judgment to those that are in unbelief.

I wish I could tell you that you can just keep living your life the way that you want to live it and everything will be okay.

But that would be lying to you, because the Bible says that God does address those that are in unbelief and in rebellion to him.

And so to tell the good news is to tell the whole story.

If I.

If I had my children come up to me and I said, hey, what happened, guys?

All right.

So the three of them get into a little skirmish and I got to hear the whole story, right?

I don't want my son or my Daughter to give.

Because right now Silas would be really hard to give us the full story.

Okay.

And he usually gets the, the, the good treatment because he's the two year old.

But I, I wouldn't want my child to tell me half of the story.

I'd want them to tell me everything.

It's the same idea when, if I love somebody.

Because we hear a lot about love within the church today, and we should, rightfully so.

Love is a defining element of what it means to be a believer.

God is love.

And so we hear, hey, love people, we should love people.

It all should be about love.

But what does that mean?

If I love someone, I want to tell them the full story.

I want to, I want to tell them everything.

Like if my child came up to me and they, they, they were asking me something, I don't want to just tell them a partial truth because that second part of the truth might actually bring them to some pain and, and, and, and judgment.

So therefore, as a believer, Paul is reminding us that we need to understand the goodness and severity of God to know the full picture.

And so for me to preach the gospel to you, for you to preach the gospel to someone in your community, your family, your friends, whatever it might be, it would be to tell the whole story of God's love, God's holiness, God's judgment.

Because to love someone does not mean to accept or continue to condone anything.

It means to tell the truth and to do what's best for one.

And so what's best for everybody is to know and believe and to live in the gospel.

And so Paul says to know the goodness and severity of God on them which fell severity, but toward the goodness, he says God judges those who are in unbelief.

Therefore he's judging at this point in time, he's judging the nation for the most part of Israel because of their rebellion.

That we know that there were Jewish Christians, obviously at PENTECOST There was 5,000 of them.

And so it's not the whole nation that was in rebellion, but for the most part he's speaking of generalities as a whole.

And so he says, yes, there are Jewish Christians and the only reason that they're saved is because of faith in the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

But he says, those that are in rebellion, those that do not believe, what do they experience?

They experience the severity of God.

It says on them which fell severity, but towards thee, talking to the gentile believer, or even the Jewish believer for that matter, Goodness, if thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou shalt be Cut off.

And the idea really would be here is of God's preserving grace that's in our lives.

There are some debate on what does this mean.

Does this mean that if you don't continue on in faith that that you lose your salvation?

Well, no, because we look at other passages like Romans chapter 8 that tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

Nothing in this world, not even myself, not even my hesitancies.

And so what I believe this is to say is that those that have true faith will be the ones who stay faithful.

Though there will be stumbles up and down, we'll never turn our backs against the Lord.

Why?

Because he's the one that's holding us tightly.

So he says we won't turn our backs.

And if we do, it's an obvious cut off as severity and judgment of God.

So verse 22 speaks of God showing his goodness and severity.

And so the Gentiles, they only stand in God's goodness through faith.

The Jews who are going to stand in the severity of God because of their rebellion, stand in the severity of God because of the rebellion.

And so what he's going to teach here is that Israel as a nation can be grafted in again with the Gentiles.

Through what?

Through belief.

Verse 23.

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, meaning if they don't stay where they are and they move in faith and believe in the Lord, they shall be grafted in.

And so what is Paul teaching here?

Paul is teaching that there's hope for those that are in rebellion.

It's not like they're cut off and there's no hope for them.

The Bible says that there's hope for those that are in unbelief.

He says, what's the hope?

Well, it's very clearly the hope is belief.

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in.

For God is able to graph them in again.

This speaks of God's faithfulness.

This speaks of God's saving plan.

This speaks of God's plan for all to come to know him through his mercy and faithfulness.

And so what does he say here?

He says, just as you as wild branches, because remember it's been a few weeks.

But in this passage of Scripture, God speaks of the salvation that he extends to us as an olive tree.

And remember there was the unbelieving Israel that were cut off and a wild olive tree which would be the Gentiles, were grafted in and this would be something that would happen even in the time of Jesus.

And even now, when a tree was not being fruitful, they would cut off the unfruitful branches, they would prune those, and they would bring in wild fruitful olive branches and graft it to the tree.

And so what is he saying here?

He says this.

Just as you, as the Gentiles, as wild olive branches were brought in and grafted into the family of God, so Israel can come back as the natural branches and be grafted in as well.

Through what?

Through belief.

And so God's saving plan is always in grace, it's always in faith, and it's always through not our works, but through what he has done and trusting in that.

So that's all what Paul is trying to explain here.

He says, hey, you think that they're done forever?

Well, they're not done forever.

They can come back in through faith.

Gentiles come through faith.

And so there's no reason to boast.

It's only to boast in the mercy that God has extended to us.

So now we see in verse 24, he says, for if thou were cut off of the olive tree which is wild by nature, meaning you are the wild branches brought in and were graft contrary to nature, into a good olive tree, how much more shall these talking about the Israel, the natural branches that were cut off, which be natural, be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree.

So it's the idea that we've been talking about that there's still hope for the nation of Israel, even though they were in rebellion for the most part.

Now, now we will see that there's an argument that throughout all of Romans 9, 10, and 11, that Paul is talking about spiritual Israel, which we know in the book of Galatians that Jew or Gentile alike, when we believe in Jesus, we are all part of the family of Abraham.

So therefore we're spiritual Israel.

But.

But we know that's not the case here because we see that in this time he's talking about an Israel that has been blinded to the truth.

Well, that would be contradictory because Christians spiritual Israel is not blinded to the truth.

They're in the truth.

So he's obviously talking about a group of people who are blinded at that very moment that can be and will be grafted back in.

So look at verse number 25 with me.

So he gives the plan that God has laid out that will be revealed over time.

And really in this passage, he says here, verse 25, for I would not, brethren that ye should be ignorant of this mystery.

Now you got to put your thinking hats on here this morning.

But what's, what's he talking about mystery?

Well, anytime you see the word mystery in the Bible, it doesn't mean like it's this mystery that we can't figure out.

It just means that a mystery in Scripture was something that before was unknown by the people of God and now it's being revealed to them.

And so for many ways before this, this was blinded.

People could not see this.

But now what Paul is doing, by the power of God, he's opening their eyes.

He says, I don't want you to be ignorant to this truth.

What truth is that?

Lest you should be wise in your own conceits, meaning you're going to be thinking that you're wise and that, that you're in your own man wisdom and miss what God has for us.

He says that the blindness in part is happened to Israel.

So he says right now there's a partial blindness to the nation of Israel.

Not everyone.

Why do we know not everyone?

Well, like I said, Pentecost had 5,000 Jewish Christians, but even Paul himself Jewish Christian.

So it's, it was a partial blinding.

That's what he says in verse 25.

He says that they're, they're blinded in part is happened to Israel.

So it's not all believers.

It's talking about the nation and the people of Israel.

And then he goes a little bit further.

He says, unto the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.

So he actually says that there's a purpose to this blindness because of Israel's rebellion.

God is using Israel's rebellion for a purpose.

And that purpose would be that the Gentiles would be grafted in and that the church could grow and expand to all of the world.

The fullness of the Gentiles.

And so that's really, I believe, a picture of God's sovereignty.

A lot of times God's sovereignty is portrayed in such a way that God forces everything to happen and there's no choice of the matter to people.

And though I know that God is completely sovereign in every way, we know that people do make choices.

And God can use any choice that we make, whether it be a good choice of obedience or a bad choice of disobedience.

And he can use it for his bigger purpose.

So God is using the rejection of Israel, of Jesus Christ for the most part as a nation for his goodness to bring about the fullness of the Gentiles.

So, so he says that There's a blessing here.

So Israel's blindness is, as we see here, partial and temporary.

Partial to the fact that there were still Jewish people getting saved then, as there is today, Jewish people getting saved today.

So partial blindness, not a complete blindness.

And secondly, we see that it's a temporary blindness, meaning that blindness will be pulled back.

And eventually there will be a great restoration of the nation of Israel in faith through Jesus Christ.

So the fullness of the Gentiles, Gentiles will come in, and then ultimately God will fulfill his covenant promises to Israel, verse 26.

And so all Israel shall be saved.

Meaning this partial and temporary blindness will then be pulled away.

And there will be a great national revival for the nation of Israel coming through faith in Jesus Christ, God will ultimately fulfill all of this.

And so God is never finished with a people.

God is never finished with this plan.

And what we can see there is a picture of God's faithfulness to Israel.

And we would say, if I'm not a Jewish person, what does that mean for me?

Why is that important to me?

Well, just as God has been faithful to the nation of Israel for thousands and thousands of years, God will be faithful to you.

And whatever you are going through, God's faithfulness is demonstrated throughout all of the generations.

And so therefore we see that God is not finished with his people of Israel, and God is not finished with you.

And so the plan will be that one day there will be this great revival in the nation of Israel.

And some people ask, when will that happen?

Well, we know prophetically, if you had more time, and if we have more time, we could talk about this.

But we know prophetically in Zechariah chapter 12, that that will be at the end of the.

Of the time of the tribulation, and that there will be that great national revival of the people of Israel.

And the Bible says that they will turn their eyes to the Redeemer, they will turn their eyes to the Messiah.

And Zachariah chapter 12 tells us that they will be.

They will be convicted.

They will realize that the one that they rejected was the one that was pierced for them.

There will be a recognition that they missed the mark with the Messiah, and they will come back into that repentant heart and come in faith.

And so we see verse 26.

It says, and so all of Israel shall be saved.

And it is written, and there's a Old Testament quote here.

There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, the Redeemer, and shall take away ungodliness from Jacob or from Israel where is that quote from?

That's from Isaiah 59, 20 and 21.

You can cross reference that that's a prophecy that there will be this restoration.

And it's not through the law, it's not through the temple, it's not through their lineage, it's not through works.

What's it through?

It's through, as it says there in verse number 26, the deliverer, the Redeemer.

And they'll turn away from their ungodliness, and they will turn to the Lord.

And so redemption, revival is always through Jesus the Redeemer.

And so Zechariah, chapter 12, Isaiah 59, passage after passage speaks of this revival that will come to pass.

And in our hearts we say, what does that mean for us?

Well, it means a lot of things for us.

It means that God keeps his word.

It means that God has a plan for the future.

It means that there will be a time of judgment one day, that there will be a time of tribulation, and ultimately God will come out on top.

But what it also tells us is this, if we want revival in our own nation, if we want revival in our own church, we.

Where does it start?

Well, it doesn't start with us following more rules.

The revival doesn't start with us just giving more money or singing louder or being more passionate about something.

The revival always comes through.

What does verse number 26 say?

Through the deliverer, through the Redeemer, through Jesus Christ.

We fall at his feet.

We stand at the cross, we lay on our faces at the cross.

And we realize that it's only through what Jesus Christ has done for us that can bring us ultimate and complete and sufficient salvation.

And so there's this promise that Israel will be restored.

Verse number 27, he says, for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

God keeps his covenant.

God keeps his word.

We pray for these people that are spiritually blinded right now.

We, we pray for anybody, no matter what their heritage is, that are blinded to the truth of God.

And but we're remembering that it's a partial and temporary blindness, that ultimately we will see a great revival.

So therefore we see verse number 28 as concerning the gospel.

So he goes back to kind of like present day.

He, he kind of took a, a period of time where he was talking about what was going to happen in the future and what can happen and will happen in the future.

But now he goes back to the present and he says, as concerning the gospel, the good news, what we've been talking about all this morning, he says they are enemies for your sakes, meaning right now they're enemies of the gospel.

Anybody who rejects Jesus as Messiah is an enemy of the gospel.

We know that there are people that might look similar to us.

They might use certain language that is similar to our language.

They might be very palatable to our culture.

But what we know is that anybody who is against the gospel is against Jesus.

Therefore they're against us.

So he says, you, you do have enemies in the gospel, particularly the people that are rejecting Jesus.

But as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake.

And so what is he saying here?

He's saying this, though the Jews that are rejecting the Lord at this point are against you.

And they are resistant to the gospel and they're resistant to the movement.

There's still hope for them because of the Father's sake.

Now, that's not talking about God the Father, that's talking about the patriarchs, the ones who came before them.

And so essentially, that God still has a plan for them because of their history.

God has a plan for them because of their election, because of their selection for a specific purpose.

And so God's gifts and talents.

God's gifts and callings are irrevocable.

Verse 29.

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

That doesn't mean that when God calls us and gives us a gift that we're not repentant.

What that means is that God doesn't pull back the gifts that he's already extended.

So just as God has saved us and gifted us, he doesn't pull those back.

You know, there could be a person who thinks that.

Well, know what?

There's a time where I was saved and there was a time where God gave me the gift of this, but now he's pulled that back.

He doesn't want me to have that.

Well, the truth is, is that, yes, God might change the perspective that you have.

You might not be able to do the things that you used to do for Him.

But God has never pulled back the gift of salvation.

God has never called back, pulled back the purpose of the church, and that is to proclaim the truth of God.

And so that's the same thing for the nation of Israel.

And so what we see in this case is that as.

As a church, we are living, and many people disagree with this phraseology, but we are living in the age of the church.

We're living in the age of grace.

We're living in the age of God's patience.

But One day, God's patience, and when that is, I don't know, but that will run out and God will bring about judgment upon all of those that are in unbelief.

And we as the church have a responsibility to be busy about that right now.

And you know, there's a lot of people that have a lot of opinions about what happens in the end times.

And if we're in the end times now, I can tell you, theologically speaking, we are in the end times.

It started at the time where Jesus ascended to heaven.

That process, that clock started ticking.

And all those things that are being described in the Old, in the New Testament about the end times, about the way that there's going to be apostasy and there's going to be people loving themselves, and there's going to be people that are, are, are pulling together, pastors and preachers that will tickle their ears.

That's all happening.

And what happens is, is that we believe that the, the end times are in somewhat of birth pangs, right?

And so we're seeing waves of the end times.

Now someone might say, do we have 50 years?

I have no idea if we have 50 years, 50 minutes, 50 seconds, or, or 5,000 years.

But the reality is, is that we're closer every single day.

And the Bible says that we should be busy about the time that we have.

We, we were just as lost as anybody else.

And you say, no, I grew up in church.

No, I've always been a good person.

The Bible says it's not about being a good person.

For all have fallen short of the glory of God, for all of sin and fallen short of the glory of God.

So even if I was saved at a young age and really didn't go into a life of debauchery and rebellion, the Bible says I was just as lost as anybody else.

And the Bible says that the power of the Gospel is so powerful, Romans, chapter 1, verse 16, that it can change us.

It brings salvation to us.

So the person who is in terrible sin, what do we do?

We remind ourselves of who we were before we were saved and how God changed us.

And that brings us all the more reason to preach the Gospel to people.

Think of, think about, think about the guy writing these very words in Romans, who was Paul before he got saved.

He was a persecutor of Christians.

He was killing Christians.

He held the coats of those who stoned Stephen.

And so if anybody knows the power of the Gospel, it's Paul.

And that's why Paul is so compelled to preach to the people who did not believe.

And folks, we can look at people as our enemies that are in sin and that are unsaved, or we can look at them as folks who need the gospel and who are in the same place that we were in before we came to the gospel and have a desire to share with them the truth of Jesus Christ.

Verse 31.

He says, Even so, these also now believed, now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Meaning.

This verse 31 tells us something very interesting.

God allows the Gentiles to be saved so that those who don't have the gospel at that time, the Jewish people could see the mercy of God and then believe in it.

Mercy triumphs as the centerpiece of redemption.

So verse 32.

For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, meaning all of us have started there.

Everyone who was ever born starts in the default setting of unbelief.

Now, there's a lot of questions about when a person becomes responsible for the decisions that they make and the belief that they have.

And I don't have all those answers, but what I do know is that Scripture tells us that when we are at that appropriate age and ability to know that we have a decision to make.

The Bible says all of us are in that place of needing mercy.

All, all of us are in unbelief.

And then what's the remedy to that at the end of verse 32, that he might have mercy upon all?

It's so all of us are in unbelief, so that the mercy of God can be seen through our transformation.

So what does salvation do?

Well, salvation does a lot.

Salvation saves us from destruction.

Salvation saves us from hell and punishment forever.

But salvation also magnifies the mercy of God.

Not the mercy of Pastor Josh, not the mercy of Paul, not the mercy of anybody, but the mercy of God.

And so the salvation message is a message of mercy and grace only through Jesus Christ.

And we have no reason to boast.

And sometimes our pride holds us back from doing things that God has called us to do.

For example, preaching the Gospel to people who are not like us, preaching the gospel to people who are in rebellion.

The Bible says it's our pride that brings us to a place of not doing that.

And some might say, well, it's not my pride, it's my fear.

I'm just afraid.

Well, in many ways, that fear is tied to pride.

Why?

Because it's that I need to protect myself.

I need to have nobody say anything harmful to me.

The Bible says that we must extend ourselves in faith and in believing in him to understand that everybody needs the mercy of God.

And so salvation magnifies the mercy and grace of God and God alone.

Not the messenger, not, not, not the movement, but of the Messiah.

And so therefore, as we see Romans chapter 11 coming to a conclusion, we see that throughout all of this, Paul is essentially just giving the Gospel and explaining the role of the Gentile, explaining the role of the nation of Israel, and saying that there's still a plan for them, and we can't give up on that.

But at the same time, we have to understand that the only way that they come to belief, the only way that they come to salvation is through Jesus.

And so our prayer for the world, our prayer for our community, our prayer for our family, should be that we all experience what it means to know the mercy and grace of God and to rest in that and then not boast in anything other than as Paul says, save in the cross of Jesus Christ.

So next week we'll come back and we'll look at Romans chapter 11, and we'll go through verses 33 through 36.

And really, I'm going to tell you, those last few verses, there are an amazing theological doxology of how we should worship the Lord.

And when we come back, we're going to look at that, because that's really what Paul's culmination of all of this is.

When we understand God's faithfulness, when we understand God's grace, when we understand God's mercy, His love, his plan, his.

His goodness and his severity, what's the only logical response?

Well, the only biblically logical response is for us to worship to us, to praise, to die to self.

As.

As John the Baptist said, he must increase, I must decrease.

And so here this morning, the challenge would be this.

The call to action is this.

Do we, number one, boast in anything outside of the cross?

Do we boast in anything in our personal lives, boasting in ourselves, boasting in our selfishness, boasting in our flesh?

Or do we give all the glory to the Lord?

Folks, if I'm honest, there's times in my life where I don't boast in the Lord, I boast in something else.

Therefore, the Bible says that we can come to him and we can trust in him and we can repent and we can turn our hearts to Him.

And the second part of this is, where is our heart when it comes to sharing the Gospel?

Do we share it with our enemies?

Do we share it with those who are difficult?

Do we share with those who look different than us, talk different than us, seem hopeless?

But what the Bible says is that there is hope for those who are hardened.

There is hope for those who have come to a place that are partially blinded.

The blindness for Israel is partial and it's temporary.

And one day there will be a great revival.

And one day there will be celebration in that, and we'll be able to see God's full plan coming to pass.

But until then, we trust.

Until then we believe.

Until then, we continue to do the work that he has called us to do.

And so are we celebrating the faithfulness of God?

Are we celebrating the goodness of God?

Are we celebrating the severity of God, the judgment of God?

Often we don't celebrate the judgment of God.

But what I will tell you is that just as much as we celebrate the goodness of God, we should celebrate the severity of God.

Why?

Because the severity of God shows God's complete holiness upon us.

And I'm so thankful for God's faithfulness to me.

I'm so thankful for God's faithfulness to you.

And I'm.

I'm thankful for those times in my life where God convicted my heart and changed my heart.

And I hope that's something that you're embracing in your life as well.

And so God is faithful.

Are we magnifying God's mercy, or are we magnifying something else in our life?

What do I mean by magnifying?

What.

What are we making important in our life?

What are we celebrating?

What are we talking about?

What.

What are we spending our time on?

For me, I spend time on things that I love.

I. I spend time on things that I feel are giving me the best benefit.

And if I believe that God has changed me, if I believe that the greatest thing that I can have in my life is a relationship with God, that's what's going to be magnified.

That's what's going to be the final authority on faith and practice.

And so here this morning, I challenge you all to think about that.

I challenge myself to think about that.

And as we come to the end of Romans chapter 11, hopefully next week we'll all come in with that spirit of worship and just talk about how great and how big and how loving and how powerful God is.

And I hope that's something that all of us can do throughout our week here this week as well.

If you're able to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed, as the music plays here this morning, we're going to have an opportunity to respond to the word of God here today.

There's been a lot of information given this morning, whether it be through the nation of Israel or through the Gentile Church, or through what Paul was writing about the enemy of the Gospel and being grafted in.

And I know there's so much that you could be processing right now, but I do believe that God speaks to us in very clear ways.

And so if God is clearly speaking to you about something this morning, whether it be the gospel, whether it be your faith, whether it be your appreciation of the mercy and grace of God, whether it be your boasting or your pride, whether it be you are sharing your faith to those around you, I don't know what it might be here this morning, but God might be speaking to you here today.

And what I would encourage you to do is to follow in that, to get before him, and we even use the word here this morning.

Revival.

There will be a great revival in the nation of Israel.

And where does that revival come from?

Through Jesus.

Maybe you need that revival in your heart.

Maybe you've just been feeling in a spiritual rut.

Maybe you've been feeling discouraged, maybe you've been feeling confused.

Maybe you've just been feeling apathetic about the things of God today.

Come back.

And it's not about being more churched.

It's not about being more religious.

It's about.

About having more Jesus.

It's about tapping into what he is for you in your life.

And so if you need Jesus this morning by way of salvation, come forward.

We can show you in the word of God what it means to know Jesus and start a relationship with Him.

But maybe you have a relationship, but that relationship is lacking right now.

Well, you don't have to get resaved again, but it's a rededication to Jesus and to renew that relationship with Him.

If any of us in this room are married, we all understand there's a time and a place that we were excited in our wedding day, but there's going to be times and places where we have to come back to that love and restore that love and renew that love.

Sometimes that's what happens within our relationship with the Lord.

So maybe today you just want to refresh and renew that relationship with him so that you can do the things that he's called you to do so that you can proclaim his word to a lost and dying world.

Lord, I pray that you'd be with us today.

Lord, thank you for giving us your mercy and grace.

But I pray that we can live in light of that.

Never boasting in anything other than what you have done for us.

We thank you Lord.

We love you.

I pray that you be in the hearts of these people here today.

Challenge us, encourage us, comfort us.

And so Lord we just thank you for all that you do.

I pray that you be in this time of invitation.

Jesus name Amen.

As the music plays follow as the Lord leads us 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.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon you can find us at middletown baptist church.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

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

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Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.