Finding Hope in a Broken World: The Power of Testimony

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, turn there.

With me to Romans, chapter 11.

We've been going through verse by verse through the book of Romans.

And what we've seen so far, hopefully, is that theology matters.

What we believe about God matters because what we believe about God dictates the way that we live.

It dictates the way that we love.

It dictates the way that we forgive.

And what we see here today In.

Romans, chapter 11 is Paul is coming back to that idea that many people are thinking at the time of this.

Book being written, that if God's people,.

The people of Israel, have predominantly turned their back against the Messiah, does that mean that God has turned his back against them?

Has God failed?

Is God done with his people?

In Romans, chapter 11, verse 1, Paul says, I say, then hath God cast away his people?

And you know, there's times in our life that we might even think that.

God's done with us because of our failures.

We might think that there's times in our life because of our sin that maybe we've gone too far and God.

Has let go of us.

But the Bible says here, there.

There is a different way of thinking about this.

And he says, God forbid.

He says, no, God has not forgotten about his people, even though there's many that don't believe.

God is not forgotten.

God is not limited.

He is not to a place in his life and in his will that he has looked away from them.

He says, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

So what does Paul say?

Paul says this.

I'm proof that God hasn't forgotten his people.

He says, it's my testimony.

I look to my own life and I see the change that God has brought me.

I see the grace that God has given me.

I see the salvation that God has bestowed upon me and the ministry that he's given me.

And he says, it's my testimony that's proof that God is still working, that God's not done.

And I think that's a lesson for.

All of us to see that we.

We might look out into our community we might look even broader into our.

World today, and we see, you know what?

Maybe God has forgotten about the people.

Maybe God has allowed evil to win.

But we know that that's not the case because we're reminded that it's our testimony, it's our transformation, it's our salvation that preaches the.

The gospel message.

As we talked about the last few weeks, our testimony is.

Is a wonderful sermon to the world.

It's a testimony of God's power.

It's a testimony of God's presence in our life.

And what we can see here is.

That Paul is saying this.

He says, has God forgotten about all of Israel?

He goes, no, because I'm from Israel and God has changed me.

And some of you know the story of Paul.

He was on the road to Damascus, and at that point in time in.

His life, he was zealous.

He was passionate about what he was doing.

He was religious.

But we know that his faith was.

Placed in the wrong area.

His object of faith was the wrong object.

And what he was doing is he was persecuting Christians.

He was persecuting them with the understanding.

That these Christians are worshiping a false God, a false Messiah.

And we know that as he was.

On the road, there was that bright.

Light and that encounter that he had with the Lord.

And he was changed.

From that point on.

He knew that he was saved.

He knew that he was secure.

He knew that he.

He knew that he had a new purpose and a new mission for his life.

And so he says, it's my testimony that proves that God is still working.

And I think that we can even say that today as believers.

It's my testimony that God is still working.

I love how one Peter, chapter two says that when we were unsaved, we were in darkness.

And I think that's a great picture of what we were in before we were saved, before we came to faith, we were in darkness.

We.

We were trying to navigate this world.

And it's a dark world, by the way.

We were trying to navigate in complete darkness.

Other passages of scripture liken that time of our life to be a time of death.

The Bible says that we were dead in our transgressions.

But what we can see here In Romans, chapter 11 and in other places in the New Testament, that when that transformation happens, we, as First Peter, chapter two, says, we go from darkness into marvelous light.

We go from death to life.

We go from the old life to the new life.

And what Paul is saying here is he says, look at my life, not to the fact of, hey, praise me.

Hey, look how great I am.

Look how much I've accomplished.

But he says, no, look what God has done through my life.

Look what God has done in the transformation.

He took someone who was a persecutor of Christians and made him a messenger of the gospel to people.

He.

He.

He wrote what we would say is.

The majority of the New Testament.

We know that ultimately God wrote it, but he used Paul in that sense.

And so what we can see today is that no matter what your past is, no matter what you're walking in right now, God can and will use.

You if you submit yourself to him.

And profess that testimony to the world.

He says in verse 2, God hath.

Not cast away his people, which he foreknew.

That idea of foreknowing essentially means this.

Those that he was with before, those that he had a relationship with before.

As you know, God used the people.

Of Israel to bring about, as we saw earlier in the book of Romans, many different things.

He brought about the law, he brought about the prophets.

He even brought the Messiah through the line of Israel.

And so he knew Israel.

He had a relationship with them.

But as they've turned away, we see that there's a lot of questions, whether or not God still loves them, whether or not God still has a remnant.

And what Paul does is he appeals to the prophets, he appeals back to Isaiah, and then he appeals back to different people.

And in this case, he appeals back to Elijah.

And he says, remember Elijah.

And some of you may or may.

Not remember this story, but there was.

A point in time in Elijah's life.

That he was so discouraged, that he.

Was so beaten down with what his people were doing, how they had rejected the Lord, how they were turning to false gods, how they were living lives.

Of sin and persecuting those who were.

Living as prophets for the Lord.

He was so discouraged that he actually prayed a prayer against his own people.

He says in verse 2 here how he maketh intercession to God against Israel.

So what the Bible tells us is that Elijah, as a prophet of God in the Old Testament, was so discouraged, was so beaten down because of who his people were turning to, that he was like, lord, okay, go ahead and just judge them.

I'm done with him.

I'm the only one.

He thought he was the only one left.

I don't know if you guys ever think about that sometimes in your life,.

You think, maybe I'm the only person trying to serve the Lord.

I'm the only person that sees it this way.

And that's sometimes what Satan tries to do in our life.

Satan tries to get us to think that we're the only ones who love the Lord, that we're the only ones who want to serve him.

But really what we see is that.

There's always a remnant.

Verse 3, Lord, he says, lord, they have killed thy prophets and dig down thine altars, and.

And I'm left alone, and they seek my life.

He rightfully indicates all of the sin that's around him.

Elijah was like, they're.

They're killing your prophets, Lord.

They're tearing down your altars.

And he says, I'm alone.

And that's really what depression brings us to.

Depression brings us to a place where we feel alone, we feel hopeless, we.

Feel like there is no light.

And that's where Elijah was.

He was at the place where he says, you know what?

I just.

I'm alone and they're coming after me.

And some of you know the story of how Jezebel and Ahab, they were coming against Elijah.

But then verse four says this.

But what saith the answer of God unto him?

What was God's answer to Elijah when he was at his darkest place?

What was God's answer to Elijah when Elijah thought that everyone had turned their backs against God?

God's answer to him was this.

I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to.

The image of baal.

Even so, he says that at this.

Present time also there is a remnant.

According to the election of grace.

And so what was God's encouragement for Elijah is this.

You're not alone.

You're not the only one.

I still have a remnant.

I still have people that are worshiping me.

I'm giving them grace, I'm giving them mercy.

I'm giving them salvation.

So push forward.

Keep doing what you know to be right.

And that's what Paul's encouragement is for those people who were thinking that God had forgotten about them.

He says in verse five, even so, at this present time, meaning not the present time today, but at the present time, in the book of Romans, he says this, even so, that at this present time also there is a remnant.

There is still a group of people that God is saving out of the nation of Israel.

He says it's not the majority at this point, at this point in time,.

The religious majority there in Israel and.

Really all around the world for that point.

The.

The Israelite people that had spread out, the Jewish people that had spread out,.

They had rejected the Messiah.

But he says there is a remnant.

And this is how they are in the family of God.

This is how they find salvation.

He says, according to the election of grace.

Election of grace.

What is election of grace?

What is he talking about here?

How can there be a remnant?

How does God still use people?

Who, who is God giving this grace to?

Well, we see that word election and sometimes we think that that's just God saying, okay, I'm going to choose these.

People to give grace to.

And these people, they don't have a chance.

No, if you look back at what we've studied In Romans chapter 9 and Romans chapter 10, we've seen that that word election essentially just means that someone is elected to service.

They, they've make a, they make a decision in faith and then God lumps them into the category of those that are now elected for service.

As we elect an official right, they're elected, we vote them in and then we.

Whether or not you agree with who's.

Elected or not, they're elected in to a specific service.

And now they have a purpose.

And that purpose is to serve at whatever capacity they've been elected to serve in.

And that's exactly what we see here when he says these people, how are they elected?

They're elected by the grace of God.

Therefore.

And we know that in other passages in Romans chapter 10, 9, and even in verse 13, it's those who whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.

So those who call upon the name of the Lord in faith are now in what we see here as the election of grace, there's now a purpose.

Ephesians 2, 8, 9, Ephesians 2, 8, nine.

Some of my favorite favorite verses in.

All of the Bible.

And I would encourage you if you could memorize any passage of scripture.

There's, there's a lot.

Okay, so I'm not going to say.

This is the only passage to memorize, but Ephesians 2, 8, 9 is such an important verse.

Verses I should say to memorize when it comes to, to understanding what kind of salvation that we have, how God has saved us.

Ephesians 2, 8, 9.

For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

So the Bible says it's by God's grace that we're saved.

We don't earn it, but it's through faith.

And some, some folks that speak on this passage will say, well, faith is a work.

No, faith is not a work.

Faith is trusting in a work of Jesus Christ.

So what we see in Ephesians 2,.

8, 9 Is this.

For by God's grace we are saved.

It's only by God's grace.

It's not by our own merit.

We couldn't earn it.

But then he says, how do we tap into that grace?

How do we become beneficiaries of that grace?

How do we become part of the election of grace?

Well, it says there, through faith.

Through faith, through.

Through belief in Jesus Christ and the work that he has done for us.

But a lot of times we quote Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, but we don't think about what happens in verse.

10 Because verse 10 is attached right to that.

We say it's for by grace.

Are we saved through faith?

And that's it, we're done.

Now we're saved.

Now we can just live the life that we want to live.

No.

What does verse 10 say in the very next verse?

It says, for we are his workmanship.

When we come to Christ in faith.

Now, God is moving and working in our lives, and he has a purpose for us.

He has a plan.

He has a mission.

And it says that we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works.

And so the good works don't save us.

But when we are saved, God now has ordained us to walk in those good works.

It says, which God hath ordained before, ordained that we should walk in them.

It's God's plan for all those that come to him in faith so that they can now walk in newness of life, so that they can live as Matthew 5:16 says, live with that bright light.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The idea is this.

We're not saved just to sit back and say, okay, God's given me new life.

Now I'm just waiting for my ticket to heaven.

No, we are saved.

And now we're to push forward and to serve him and to do these things that God has called us to do.

And so that's the election of grace.

We come to God in faith.

God extends that grace to us.

And now we are selected, we are elected for that specific work that God has for us in our life.

And so he says in verse five.

That there is still a remnant, and.

They're a remnant according to grace.

It's not because of their birthright.

It's not because of their money.

It's not because of their status.

It's not because of what type of.

Church they go to.

It's always about grace.

We are nothing if we are not people of grace.

We saw that in Hebrews chapter four.

Hebrews chapter four.

We started out our service today reading.

A passage of scripture that speaks of.

Who we are in Christ, and it tells us how we can have that.

Type of access to the Lord.

It says in verse number 14 of Hebrews 4, seeing then that we have.

A great high priest.

Well, who is that high priest?

Well, we need to know what a priest is before we know who the high priest is.

A priest is someone who is that intermediary.

It's the.

The.

In the Old Testament, the priest was the one who would go to the.

Lord for the people.

And oftentimes that's how people teach things.

Today they say, well, you can't go to God yourself.

You got to go through somebody else.

So, Pastor Josh, I need to have.

A meeting with you, and I need.

To find out how I can meet God.

Well, there's only one way to meet God, and that is through Jesus Christ in faith.

It's not through Pastor Josh.

There's only one mediator between God and man.

It's not me, it's Jesus Christ.

And so he says here, who is our high priest?

Who's the one that connects us to God?

He says, well, it is.

That is, he is passed into the heavens.

Jesus, the Son of God.

He says, because of that, let us hold fast.

Let us hold on to the profession of our faith.

He's the security.

He's the hope.

And he says in verse 15, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.

Meaning this.

Jesus understands our problems.

He's gone through everything that we've gone through.

You know, I want to be compassionate.

To people around me.

I want to.

I want to help those that are in need.

I want to understand the pain and.

The struggles that people go through.

And to some degree, I can.

But there's no way that I can understand every single person's problem and temptation and trial and pain.

There's no way that I can do that.

But the Bible says our high priest, Jesus Christ, it says he's been touched in all of the feelings of our infirmities.

He's gone through everything that we've gone through.

And you guys know the stories.

Jesus was betrayed, he was denied, he.

Was beaten, he was.

He was cursed against.

There was.

Everything that you can think of negatively was done to our Savior for our sakes.

But what we see here is it says he went through all of that, and we can sit here today and go, yeah, all of us have gone through this.

So what's the big deal?

Well, the last three words of verse 15 in Hebrews 4 tell us what.

The big deal is.

And it's this.

He did that.

Yet without sin, Jesus was able to.

Endure all those things that we all go through.

But none of us can say that we endure everything without sin.

Jesus does it without sin.

And so what happens through that?

He says, because of that, let us.

Verse 16.

Let us therefore come boldly or confidently into the throne of grace, means go into the presence of God, go to the place where we can access his relationship.

And it says that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

So it says everything that we have.

Is because of the grace of God extended through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And that grace doesn't just stop at salvation.

Even though that would be enough if it was just that God saves us by grace, and then he says, figure it out, and then we go to heaven one day, that would be enough.

But the Bible says here it's not just about that moment, that miracle of salvation, that justification.

No, he says, every day we can come to Him.

Every moment we can come to him, and we can access the throne of grace through prayer and through communion and through all the fellowship that we find in Him.

And then we can see that we can find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Have you been going through some times of need in your life?

I know I have.

I. I know that if I look hard enough, I'm going to find a lot of areas that I need some help in and that some of us might need help physically, some of us might need help emotionally, some of us.

Might need help spiritually.

Some of us are looking like, you know what?

I'm at the end of my rope, and I don't know how much longer.

I can hold on.

The Bible says here it's because of God's grace that we can go back to the Lord and that he can give us mercy and grace to help in time of need.

You might say, you don't know my problem, Pastor.

You know, you live that life of a pastor.

You grew up in church.

You don't.

You don't know the struggles that I have gone through.

You don't know the struggles that I'm going through right now.

You know what the truth is?

I might not know.

But what does verse number 15 tell us in Hebrews 4?

He knows.

And he knows what the answer is.

And he knows how to impart that grace to us.

And so if you're going through a struggle in your life, if you're going through doubt, if you're going through that, that question of maybe God has forgotten about me, maybe God's forgotten about our nation, maybe God's forgotten about the world.

Let me tell you here this morning, he has not forgotten about us.

What it is truly is that we have forgotten about him and, and we've turned our backs away from him and saying we want to find grace in other places.

We want to go to not the throne of grace, but the throne of self, the throne of materialism, the throne of all these things that we think are going to give us satisfaction in our life, but really the only place.

Of satisfaction, as we see here, is the throne of grace.

And so we go back to romans chapter number 11.

And we see here that he says.

Those are the people that are in the family of God.

It's not about being from certain tribes of Israel.

He says, I'm from Benjamin, I'm from.

The seed of Abraham.

But that's not what's saving me.

What's saving me is what the grace.

Of God, faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And so he says in verse 6 of Romans chapter 11, and if by grace, if these people are saved by grace, then it is no more of works.

He says it's not of works.

Some people at that time were tempted.

To believe that they were part of the family of God through their works.

Some people today in this world are tempted to think that they are part.

Of the family of God.

They have salvation or they have religion through works.

And the Bible says again, what Ephesians.

2, 8, 9 For by grace are.

You saved through faith, and that not of your works, it's not of works.

So then sometimes people might say, well, then if works don't matter in salvation, why do I need to work?

Well, you don't have to work to be saved.

But the Bible says that when we're saved, then we're called to work.

And so it's having the right order, it's having the right priorities.

I can't earn my salvation.

There's no chance I could earn that.

But what the Bible does say is that as God has gifted us something, he's given us equipping graces that we can live out publicly to proclaim the.

Truth of God and to do the.

Things that he has called us to do.

And so what Romans chapter 11 tells us what Ephesians chapter 2 tells us,.

What many other places tell us is.

That we're saved by grace through faith.

And then we are equipped to serve and to grow through what?

Not through our good works, but through grace.

The good works don't come from my own merits, even after I'm saved.

I want you to understand this here this morning, and I need to understand.

This here this morning.

I don't grow in my faith.

I don't grow in the works that I do for the Lord just because I'm a hard worker, just because I'm disciplined, just because I wake up in the morning earlier than everyone else, and I make sure that I do my Christian checklist.

We never grow through our hard work.

We grow as the Bible says, we grow in grace.

We're saved by grace.

We grow in grace, and it's through.

Faith in Jesus Christ.

If salvation is a work of God, our spiritual growth, our sanctification is a work of God.

And when we, when we personalize it, when.

When we selfishly say, well, look how much I've done for the Lord, therefore I'm a good Christian.

No, it's not that.

It's me tapping into God's grace every single day and saying, lord, I need you by faith to meet my needs today, just as you met my needs yesterday.

Just as you've gotten me through this struggle, you're going to get me through this struggle.

So it's a daily action of grace.

It's a daily work of grace.

And so what we're going to see.

Here, he says that it's not of works.

Otherwise, grace is no more grace.

Meaning if we start trying to work hard, we negate the grace.

If we start trying to take the credit, we don't trust in the grace.

That's what verse six is saying.

He says, then it's no more of works.

Otherwise, grace is no more grace.

He says, if people are part of the family of God through their works, grace means nothing.

It's empty.

And we even saw in 1st Corinthians 15 on, on.

On Resurrection Sunday that, that Paul says it's.

It's the idea of, of the resurrection, the, the work of Jesus Christ, the gospel.

If we don't have that, everything that.

We do is in vain.

And part of the gospel, and at.

The core of the gospel is grace.

So therefore, when we take grace out of the equation, when we, when we take grace out of the picture and we say, you know what?

I'm a pretty good person, we're a pretty good church, we're a better church than those people, we work harder than those people we meet more often than those people.

So therefore we're better than those people.

No, that's a picture of removing grace and saying, you know what?

It's our works.

We've earned this.

We should say it's only by God's.

Grace that we're able to do anything that we do.

We're only, only by God's grace we're.

Able to serve the Lord.

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

He says, it's otherwise, grace is no more grace.

But if it be of works, then it is no more grace.

Otherwise, work is no more work.

And so Paul's message is simply this.

And this part of the passage is.

That anyone who, who is part of the family of God, anyone who is the remnant of God, anyone who is in that election of grace is never there through works.

And even the works that come after that are not based in our own.

Strength, they're based in the grace of God.

So what we see in those first.

Six verses is that there is a.

Core principle to everything that Paul is teaching, and that is the teaching of grace.

He says, if you feel alone, if you're like Elijah and you feel like.

Everyone's turned their back, just, just remember.

God is still working in people's lives.

God is still saving people.

You know, I've been tempted to think.

That, you know, what does God's maybe.

Even question, Is God still saving people today?

Like, he was saving people back in the.

Whatever.

Fill in the, the, the, the dates.

The 1800s and the 1700s and the Great Awakening.

Some of you, if you've done some study in history, specifically in American history, there was this huge Great awakening that happened in America, and many people turned to Christ through the preaching of the word of God.

And so we look at that and.

We say, yeah, that was back then.

That was back when, before they had the Internet.

And, and that was back before they had cars.

And that was back before they had, you know, travel, sports.

And that was back before they had all these distractions in the world today.

But, you know, that can't happen today, folks.

That's what we see here is that's negating the grace of God, saying that God can do what he used to.

Do, God can still do that.

It's the fact of our hearts ready.

To be open and humble before the Lord, to say, lord, we.

We seek after you, and are we willing, as Romans chapter 10 says.

Go back to Romans chapter 10.

You're.

You're in Romans chapter 11.

So it shouldn't be that far back.

He says, how then shall they call on him who they have not believed?

And how should they believe in him who they have not heard?

And how shall they hear without a preacher?

And then how shall they preach except they be sent?

So the idea would be this.

We've got to be busy about sending the gospel to the world.

We've got to be busy in and of ourselves to say, lord, we know what you've done for us.

We need to tell other people about that.

How many people?

Let's just think about this for a second.

Let's have a thought exercise.

How many people?

And I don't know the answer to.

This, but this is something that maybe we can meditate upon this week.

How many people just in the New Castle County, Delaware area, how many people have not had a clear presentation of.

The gospel to them?

I don't know.

Some might say, well, I'm sure everyone's heard the gospel.

I don't know about that.

I'm not sure about that.

I think there's probably a lot of people that have heard about God.

They've heard about Jesus.

They certainly have seen churches and you know what their perspective is, is, well,.

Jesus was a historical figure.

Maybe God is something that we can't understand.

And the church is just a man.

Made institution that abuses people and that steals money.

And right there's all these negative perceptions.

So how do we change those negative perceptions in our community?

We don't just get mad at them and shun them and say, you know, those are a bunch of heathens over there, that we don't need to go to them.

No, the Bible says that we compel them.

We, we go to them.

We, we live a life so boldly.

And the Bible says that we're to be salt and light.

That idea of being salt and light.

In Matthew, it, it talks about the.

Idea of shining light in darkness.

The Bible is something that will illuminate the truth.

It always does.

So when the light of the word of God is shining upon a person, it will either reveal that it's a blessing that their heart is where they should be with the Lord, or the word of God will illuminate sin and illuminate bitterness and illuminate all the negative.

Things that many people live in.

And the book of First Peter tells us that.

The book of First Peter.

I want you to see this really quickly here.

I, I just love First Peter, chapter two.

It's one of those passages of scripture that really speak about the church and the cornerstone of Jesus Christ.

In which we know he is our chief CornerStone.

But in First Peter, chapter two, it tells us that Jesus, as we've seen.

In Romans, Jesus is either going to be something that's precious to us, or Jesus is going to be something that's.

A stumbling block for people, okay?

Because a lot of people will say,.

Yeah, church, God, whatever.

That's all religion.

That's okay.

This doesn't offend me.

It's not what I want.

But then we say Jesus.

And what Jesus is all about is about saying that we all have a.

Problem and that's a problem of sin,.

And we need a remedy to that sin.

And so the Bible says in First.

Peter, chapter two, and.

And there's a lot that we could read here, but it says verse seven, it says unto you, therefore, which believe.

He is precious, meaning those who believe in Jesus, those who are resting in the grace of Jesus, he is so precious, and he should be precious to us.

We should proclaim him by the way that we talk and by the way that we live.

And he says that he is precious.

But unto them which be disobedient, those who are against him, those who have not believed, the stone which the builders disallow, the same is made the head of the corner and a stone of stumbling in a rock of offense.

Even to them which stumble at the word, meaning the word of God, the.

The truth of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit is offensive to those who are walking in rebellion.

And the only way to get someone to come to the truth of God is by presenting the gospel message, the.

Light, to a dark world.

And we go down in that passage all the way to verse nine, where it talks about going from darkness to marvelous light.

But the Bible tells us in many occasions in which we as Christians have a responsibility to.

To proclaim that message to the world.

We have responsibility to live the light of God to the world.

And that light doesn't come from us, okay?

It's not a matter of a pastor.

Or a Christian being charismatic or being attractive or.

Or being educated.

It's not about that.

The light doesn't emanate from our own source, the light.

As the Bible says in John, chapter.

One, he was that light.

Jesus is the light.

And then when he lives within us, that emanates from us, it comes from us.

We reflect that light to the world.

And so In Romans, chapter 11, we see that there are people that are still believing.

There's many that don't believe.

And Paul doesn't just say, well, write them off.

The people that don't believe we're done with them.

It's only the people that, that God wants.

No God, as it says in First Peter that, that God desires all to come to repentance.

And so we see Romans 10 and Romans 11 tying right together with that call for us to proclaim the message to the world.

And so, you know, we see that Elijah man, I, I, I really identify with many different characters in the Bible.

And I'm not saying that I'm Elijah, far from it.

But what I will say is that when Elijah is moaning and saying that he's, you know, woe is me.

No one's, no one loves God like me.

I'm sad.

I've been there.

And some of you say, I, I've never been there.

Well, good for you.

Okay.

But the truth is there's been times in my life where I've been just so beaten up and broken down thinking, am I doing this all for not?

Is this a waste?

What's going on?

And that's when, if you know the story of Elijah, God comes and just.

Speaks to him in a still, small voice and reminds him that he's not alone, that God's still working.

And maybe for some of us today,.

My voice isn't a still small voice, but the word of God is maybe projecting to you and teaching you this.

Morning that you're not alone, that it's not over, that you're not the only person that cares, that God is still working in our midst, that God is.

Still saving people in 2026, just as he saved people all the way back in the time of the Book of Romans.

And so he says, if by grace, then it is no more of works.

What are we trusting in for our salvation?

What are we trusting in for our.

Sanctification or our spiritual growth?

What are we trusting in for our daily life?

What are we trusting in for our family?

What are we trusting in for our church?

What are we trusting in for our community?

There's a lot of things that we can look to.

You know, I've heard people say this.

If I just had more money, everything would be okay.

If I just, if I just had a little bit more money, I think.

We would be comfortable and everything would be okay.

If I just got a good news.

From the doctor, everything would be okay.

If my kids would just obey me, everything would be okay.

If my boss would respect me more,.

Everything would be okay.

We look for all these other answers.

To give us satisfaction in our life.

But I want to go to a.

Passage of scripture in the book of Romans that we discussed a while ago, but it's in Romans, chapter five, we see really what the answer is when.

Sin is in our midst.

Well, you know what?

I just got to get rid of a situation.

I know that even for me in my life, that's how I've been with dealing with struggles in my life.

I say, if I can just remove that.

That thing from my life, everything will be okay.

And in some cases, that's the first step of triage.

We got to get rid of a problem.

Okay, so if, for example, we had an addict here today and.

And they were falling into the trap of that addiction to that substance, we.

Wouldn't just put that substance up in.

Front of them and say, you know,.

Just trust in God.

We.

We would triage that we would.

We would immediately remove the situation that was causing the major issues in their life.

But we all should understand that most of our issues that we deal with stem from a heart issue, from a.

From a mind issue.

And so we can remove outward stimuli that we have in our life, but ultimately, if we don't deal with the heart issue at hand, we're going to go right back into it a different way.

And so that's what the Bible speaks of here in Romans chapter 5, the very last two verses.

In Romans chapter 5, he says, Moreover, the law entered.

Meaning the law came on the scene.

And many people thought that the law of God was the final authority to saving people.

They thought that it was the answer for all the problems.

So more laws, more restrictions.

And that's how sometimes churches have acted, you know, gospel believing, gospel preaching.

Churches, they say, hey, if we just.

Put more rules, more people will be fixed.

So if I say, okay, guys, if you want to be a good Christian, read your Bible every day.

Come to church every single time the doors are open.

Make sure that you do.

Do all the side projects that we're doing at the church.

Make sure you're here every single second of every single day.

That would mean that you're a good Christian.

No, we know that we could do.

All those things and not be a follower of Christ because we could be doing it outwardly.

It's the law.

So he says, the law enters, that the offense might abound.

So he says, the law wasn't there to save us.

The law wasn't there to make us more Christian.

The law wasn't there to make us better believers.

The law was there to show us that we can't keep the law.

Law is there to show us that we need something Greater we need the grace of God.

So he says, but where sin abounded.

And by the way, let me tell you, sin's abounding.

It's all around us.

You know, all the problems that you face at work, the core element of it.

It's a sin problem, all right?

Every problem that I face in this world is a sin problem at the core of it.

Why?

Because we live in a broken world.

We live in a sin cursed world, so he says, where sin abounds.

Which we could say, that's all everywhere.

So what's the answer?

Where sin abounds.

Grace did much more abound.

Meaning grace is the answer to the sins in our life.

Grace is the answer.

You say what grace?

Well, ultimately the grace of the Lord.

That's what verse 21 says.

That as sin hath reigned unto death, meaning all sin brings is death, all evil brings is.

Is destruction.

Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

So we infuse Jesus, we infuse the gospel into all of those areas of our life that we see sin abounding.

So, like, what's the answer to my home?

Like, it's just the.

It's brokenness.

The answer is Jesus.

The answer is the gospel.

The answer's resting in the grace of God, saying, I can do this, Lord,.

But I know you can't.

One of my favorite passages of scripture, it's not my favorite because I enjoy going through struggles, but it's a reminder to me in 2nd Corinthians 12, 9, that as you guys know this, and I talk about this a lot, but Paul, he has this thorn in his side, and he's asking the Lord to remove the problem.

God says, I'm not going to remove the problem, but I'm going to tell.

You something that is even better than removing the problem.

That your grace, that the grace that you're receiving from me, he says, my grace is sufficient.

God's grace is sufficient.

I don't need more money.

I don't need a better, you know, report.

I don't.

I don't need more power.

I don't need more friends.

What I need is the grace of.

God to abound in my life, to.

To be bathed and to be washed in the grace of Jesus Christ.

And that's the answer to our struggles in this world.

Now, it doesn't mean that every step's.

Going to be easy.

Doesn't mean that God's going to remove all those thorns.

It doesn't mean that God's going to Give you everything that you ever wanted.

But the Bible does say, as we.

Heard this morning, that God will supply all of our needs.

He is there.

He's the great physician.

He's the great supplier.

He's the one who allows us to come into struggles in our life, certainly.

But then he's the one that gets.

Us through those struggles.

I mentioned recently at a service that, you know, I think about how Jesus was on that boat.

And by the way, when I was told about Jesus being on a ship in the Bible, I was always thinking of like a big Mayflower ship.

I was thinking of this humongous big boat that Jesus could go down into the different rooms and stuff.

But if you do some research on the archeology of boats, at that time there were much smaller boats, so.

So Jesus is coming to the side of the Sea of Galilee.

It's not really a sea.

It's as much as.

It's a huge lake.

And Jesus is on one side of the lake.

And he just gets done working miracles.

And he tells his disciples, hey, we're going to go to the other side.

He makes a promise to them.

They.

They know.

They believe he's the Messiah.

They believe that he's Lord.

And if he says he's going to get to the other side, he's going to get to the other side.

And if they're with them, they're going to get to the other side.

But what happens?

They get out on the water.

Jesus is so at peace.

He's asleep on this little tiny boat that's out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and the storm's raging.

And what do the disciples do?

They say, we're going to die.

They don't trust in the promise of God.

They think they're going to die.

And.

And then they.

And then in the midst of their fear, in the midst of that storm, in the midst of that chaos, they don't just fear that they're going to die.

Then they turn to Jesus and they.

Say, what, you don't care that we die?

They start to question the goodness of.

God in the midst of the storm.

They start to question the presence of.

God in the midst of the storm.

Yet we know the rest of the story.

Jesus wakes up and he says, oh, ye of little faith.

He says, peace be still.

And just by his words, the whole sea calms.

And they see the power of God.

And then they get to the other side.

And sometimes we look at those disciples.

And we go, those silly disciples, they.

They don't know what they're doing.

Come on.

I would have never been that way.

I would have trusted in Jesus.

I wasn't on that little ship in the middle of the sea.

And I've been on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and it's pretty.

Big water and it's very deep out there.

And they knew those.

Those guys.

Peter wasn't a guy that wasn't used.

To being on the water.

Right.

Those guys were on the water.

So there was a real circumstance around them that caused them to fear and the lack of faith and the lack of understanding the grace of God.

They doubted and they feared.

They feared because they didn't keep their eyes on Jesus.

And then we see what happens.

It's the vicious cycle of our sin and our flesh.

We look at a situation we fear, we don't trust, and then we turn to God and blame him for the.

Situation that we're in.

Lord, why did you let me go through this?

Lord, you said you would be here, but.

And we begin to allow those lies.

That fear creates in our minds to.

Dictate where our belief is.

And it's not until the Lord comes on the scene and shows himself strong.

That we are really convicted of the lack of faith that we do have in the Lord.

And so it boils down to this, really.

It's not a matter of being exempt from the storms.

It's not a matter of going through situations and just having no problems at hand.

But it's understanding the problems that we're.

In and then saying, lord, I know that you're going to be there with me through this.

And that's grace.

You know, to define grace in the simplest form, it's this God extending something to us.

God gifting us something that we don't deserve.

Some.

Some people have made an acronym of.

Of grace for the G gods and the riches at Christ's expense.

God extends his riches to us that we don't deserve.

And who's the one that paid the payment for that?

That was Jesus Christ.

The one who knew no sin became sin for us so that we might have life.

And to summarize all of this, In Romans, chapter 11, Paul is telling the people there that are doubting whether or not God is still at work.

He's still at work.

Though there's many people rejecting.

He's still working.

There's still people being saved.

By the way, I'm one of them.

That's what Paul says.

I am testament that God's grace is still there.

And your testimony, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, if God has changed your life, I don't care if you were saved out of a life of.

Crime and evil, and then now you're totally different, or you were saved at.

The age of five and God spared you from all of that.

Salvation is always a miracle.

And oftentimes people are looking around going,.

I need to see a miracle to believe in the Lord, folks, the greatest miracle is that he takes creation that rejected him and offers a gift of grace so that we can come back.

And be restored to him and know.

Him in a personal way and have everlasting life.

That is the greatest miracle.

The greatest miracle is salvation.

Now, I'm always open to see miracles.

Around me, but what the truth is.

Is that remember when Jesus was low,.

When the guys, they came to Jesus and they lowered the guy down.

Some of you guys that were at our.

Our Bible study on.

On a couple Friday nights ago remember this story, but they lower the.

The lame man down from the roof, and Jesus is like, what's harder for me to do?

Make this guy walk or forgive him of his sins?

And of course, that boggled their mind because they knew that God was only able to forgive him of his sins.

And so he says, you're forgiven of your sins.

And, oh, by the way, get up and walk.

He proves that, yes, he can heal us physically, and in many ways, he will heal us physically.

But the greatest miracle is the fact that he can take someone who is condemned in their sins and offer the gift of grace, and that they believe that is a beautiful picture of God's love and salvation.

And so what we see here is that he goes, there are still miracles working.

There's still miracles in salvation.

And I hope that you believe that, Number one, I hope that you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior.

I hope that you've experienced that gift of grace, that you've experienced that miracle, that you've received the gift of salvation, and that you're resting in that gift of salvation.

That's an amazing thing.

If you have not trusted in that, the Bible doesn't give us a promise that tomorrow is guaranteed.

Life is but a vapor.

It's quick.

And I.

Someone told me recently, they said, you know, Pastor Josh, be careful, because life's gonna get by you really fast.

Okay?

You blink your eyes, and it's gone.

And I was like, yeah, yeah, I know that.

You know, I used to be that.

Guy who said to people, don't tell me that my kids are gonna grow up fast.

I. I know, I know.

And then, you know what I end.

Up doing now that my kids are a little bit older.

I'm telling all the people that are having kids.

I'm like, it goes by quick.

And I'm like, I'm the same guy.

I'm becoming my dad.

I'm becoming all the people that I said I wouldn't become.

I'm that guy.

And so the reality would be this, guys, as, as a, as a pastor, as, as a.

As a Christian, as someone who loves the Lord and loves you because God's told me to love you, I'm going to tell you this.

Life goes by quickly.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

And so if you have not come to faith in Jesus Christ, trust in him now, because that's the greatest decision that we can ever make.

But secondly, if you have trusted in him, what are you trusting in when it comes to your spiritual growth?

Are you trying to do it on your own?

Are you like, okay, I just got.

To read my Bible, and I wake up every day and I got to make sure I read my Bible.

And we think about it so much to the fact that it becomes such a burden.

And the Bible says that what God has called us to do is not.

Burdensome because he's carrying that load.

Have you tried to do the things that you know you should do, but.

You keep feeling like you're failing?

I just can't do it.

Let me give you a little bit of an encouragement.

None of us can do it in our own strength.

It's every day asking the Lord to give us the grace and the mercy, to help in time of need and to give him the glory when we do obey him, and then when we do stumble and when we do fail, come back in forgiveness.

And to know that he still loves us and know that he brings us back into the fold when we come back with a humble spirit.

First John 1:9.

If we, if we're faithful, he's faithful just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us all unrighteousness.

But the key to that is if we confess our sins, if we admit our sins.

And so the reality is, is this as, as Christians today, we don't grow through our own work.

We don't grow the church through our own work.

Oh, we could grow the church by.

Doing a lot of different tactics and tools.

But at the end of the day,.

We want the type of growth that.

Is based and planted in the grace of Jesus Christ and through faith and that not of ourselves, that it's a gift of God, not of works.

Lest any man should boast if God granted us with two people in 2026, or if God grants us with 2,000 more people, it's all because of him.

It's all because of Jesus Christ.

I look at my life and instead of saying, well, look how great I am.

Really what it should be is Romans 5, verse 20.

Where sins abounds, sin abounds in our lives and in other people around us lives.

But where sin abounds, grace abounds so much more.

May we have a culture, a church community of grace.

And by the way, as we understand.

The grace of God.

I need to put this in here.

When we understand the grace of God, then we are supposed to enact that grace to other people around us.

Ephesians 4, verse 32.

Tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

So this is another ironic part of sometimes within churches is that we're preaching.

God's grace, but then someone stumbles and we go, you're out, you're done, you've messed up, I'll never forgive you, I'll never let you come back in repentance.

But folks, if God has enacted abundant,.

Infinite grace upon us, we should grow in our grace toward other people.

Giving people things that they don't deserve.

Giving them my time, giving them my sacrifice, giving them my care, my love.

All the things that God has called me to do, not because of what I receive, but because God has gifted me with that gift of grace.

So may we be those Christians that are saved by faith through the grace of Jesus Christ, that we are, that we grow in grace through faith in Jesus Christ and that we can enact that type of grace to those around us.

Romans 11.

We're going to come back next time and continue on with the idea of is Israel done?

Are they going to be completely wiped out?

Is there a role for the nation of Israel?

Is there a role for the church?

We're going to see a beautiful picture at the tail end of Romans chapter.

11 That God has not done, that God still has a plan, that there.

Still is a purpose and we have.

A part of that purpose as the church of Jesus Christ, we are the pillar and ground of truth.

Sometimes we think of church like we.

Said it earlier on.

Well, it's just an institution, it's just.

A place that we go.

It's a man made institution.

Some churches have become man made institutions,.

But the church itself, the biblical church, is a creation of God.

And the Bible says that what we have here is unique.

It's different Let us never take for granted what we have in a church community.

This is so exciting.

This isn't.

Think about a miracle, a miracle of salvation.

A miracle is also the church that.

We can come together with different backgrounds and different cultures and different age groups and different sports teams and, and different.

Tastes within our preferences and we can come together.

And Lord willing, when we're walking in the Spirit, walk as one body in Christ.

That is a beautiful miracle that only God could create.

Because when we get into our own.

Path, it's this, okay, this section over here likes this.

So they're going to split off and.

Make their own thing.

And then we're going to.

So they're to going, that's not, that's not the picture of the body.

The picture of the body is, is that we all come together when one body part is hurting.

We, we come alongside of it, not because they've earned it, but because of the love of God and what he has done for us.

And remembering, by the way, who's at.

The top of the body.

Can have a body without the head is.

It won't be alive.

And the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the head of the church.

And may we turn to that, May we look to that, maybe grow in that.

Well, I'm going to ask if you're able to.

To stand with me.

Every head bowed, every eye closed.

We're not going to be looking around.

The music's going to play here just for a few moments, and I want to give you an opportunity to respond.

The big, the big picture today was grace.

It is grace.

What does grace mean for you?

How are you responding to grace?

How are you trusting in the grace of God?

How are you walking in the grace of God?

How are you serving in the grace of God?

How are you growing in the grace of God?

If any of those areas need to be addressed, pull it into the light of the word of God.

Pull it into the truth and confess your sin before the Lord.

Confess your faults before God, not so that he can condemn you.

Because by the way, Romans 8:1 tells us that there's no more condemnation to.

Them who are in Christ Jesus.

So it's not about condemning us.

It's about convicting us to a place of comfort so that we can be.

Effectively serving the Lord in the body of Christ.

So here this morning, if you need that, if you need salvation, if you need to know more about growth, if you need to know more about a struggle in your life, come forward and.

Ask the Lord to give you wisdom and grace.

In time of need.

Practice what Hebrews chapter 4 says.

Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 because of your relationship with Christ, you can come boldly before the throne of grace to find mercy and grace to help in time of need.

Maybe you're in that time of need right now.

Come forward and ask God to give.

You mercy and grace as only he can.

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

Help us to rest in your grace.

To live in faith.

Allow that grace to be the focus of what we do, not only by.

What we say, but also by how we live.

And so we're just thankful for your love.

We're thankful for this time.

We're thankful for those that have come in Jesus name.

Amen.

Some have already come.

Follow as the Lord leads 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 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.

Please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Thank you so much.

God Bless.

Have a wonderful day.