WEBVTT 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:02.020 I'm going to invite you to Romans Chapter nine. 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:05.720 Romans Chapter nine is where we're going to be together today. 00:00:06.260 --> 00:00:07.620 And Romans Chapter nine. 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:14.840 Some of you that have been walking with the Lord, you know what Romans Chapter nine is Some some people like they get needed out in Romans chapter 00:00:14.840 --> 00:00:17.940 nine, ten, 11 man and the Romans nine, ten, 11. 00:00:17.940 --> 00:00:21.680 It is, I would say, probably one of the more challenging passages of scripture. 00:00:22.700 --> 00:00:25.560 And it might be one of the most divisive chapters in the body of Christ. 00:00:25.900 --> 00:00:27.700 So let me just say this before we jump into it. 00:00:27.820 --> 00:00:33.970 I'll tell you some things specifically about the text, but I want to give you some some a broader perspective going into this. 00:00:34.180 --> 00:00:40.650 Some people, when we get into Romans chapter nine, they may understand what I what I what I'm saying and get mad. 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:47.400 Some people may not understand what I'm saying and still get mad and then other people will not care what I'm saying. 00:00:47.400 --> 00:00:51.580 And I want you to know this morning I don't want any of those things for any of us. 00:00:51.660 --> 00:00:54.240 That is not my heart's desire in this. 00:00:54.240 --> 00:01:01.920 Romans Chapter nine What makes this such a challenging passage is we're dealing with the idea of salvation as it relates to the sovereignty of God. 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:07.840 And I think the best place for us to be is in this position of humble orthodoxy, humble belief in the way that we approach it. 00:01:07.940 --> 00:01:14.090 One of the things I've loved about our church is there are different theological positions, and some of you may be aware of what those are. 00:01:14.240 --> 00:01:19.400 I'm not going to share them all today, but as it relates to salvation and people get really dogmatic about it. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:25.000 And I think the reason is because we don't like to often deal with tension in our lives. 00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:27.220 We like to resolve things and make things black and white immediately. 00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:35.760 But I find it in the area of God's sovereign sovereignty as it relates to salvation, that it's helpful to have a humble orthodoxy 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:36.840 among God's people. 00:01:36.880 --> 00:01:42.340 It's not to say there isn't a right or wrong, and you certainly should study what you believe and know what you believe. 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:45.280 But we're not here to beat each other up with what we believe. 00:01:45.740 --> 00:01:50.980 We want to walk with God in humbleness before him and encouraging one another in the truth of who God is. 00:01:51.160 --> 00:01:56.850 One of the beautiful things I have appreciated about our church is the way that we wrestle through theology. 00:01:57.200 --> 00:01:58.860 We understand what truth is. 00:01:58.860 --> 00:02:00.500 We understand the foundation of truth. 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:06.760 We hold to the creedal statements of the ancient church as they walked in the truth of who God is willing to give their lives for it. 00:02:06.820 --> 00:02:07.240 That is important. 00:02:07.860 --> 00:02:09.780 And it's also important understand we're all not in the same place. 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:16.060 And in order to grow with that, there needs to be a place of humility to encourage one another along those lines. 00:02:16.100 --> 00:02:16.340 And so. 00:02:16.380 --> 00:02:23.540 Romans Chapter nine is one of those positions that as we come to this text, it's it is a it is a beautiful passage of scripture 00:02:23.540 --> 00:02:25.080 if it's treated with the right heart. 00:02:25.380 --> 00:02:26.840 And that's the way we're going to engage it today. 00:02:27.220 --> 00:02:29.660 Because as you look at Romans chapter nine, let me just tell you where they're at. 00:02:30.300 --> 00:02:35.130 As we look at the story, the apostle Paul knows he has laid out for us the beauty of salvation. 00:02:35.880 --> 00:02:38.040 And we get to chapter 12. 00:02:38.040 --> 00:02:40.200 He's going to work with us on how to live that out. 00:02:40.200 --> 00:02:41.750 We want to look at how to live that out. 00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:48.240 But as you get to nine, ten, 11, we come to a place where the Jewish people are wondering who in the world are they in the midst of all this? 00:02:48.820 --> 00:02:49.780 Are they just chopped liver? 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:51.160 Does God not care what happened? 00:02:51.260 --> 00:02:54.380 They were God's chosen people, God working specifically through them. 00:02:54.680 --> 00:02:58.600 Now, all of a sudden it looks like that God has just gone to the Gentiles and left them in the dust. 00:02:59.140 --> 00:03:01.300 You look at the Old Testament, God is dealing with Jewish people. 00:03:01.300 --> 00:03:01.930 You get to the New Testament. 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:08.780 It seems like it's God's predominately moving into the Gentile territory and the Jews find themselves asking the question, Where are we specifically? 00:03:09.540 --> 00:03:10.380 In the church, in Rome? 00:03:10.860 --> 00:03:17.680 In the church in Rome, the Caesar of the day had expelled the Jewish people from Rome. 00:03:17.820 --> 00:03:21.440 And so the church in Rome found themselves as a mix of June Gentile. 00:03:21.440 --> 00:03:23.530 All of a sudden the Jews get expelled and they're just Gentile. 00:03:24.140 --> 00:03:27.860 And then the Jews were allowed some years later to return back to the church. 00:03:27.940 --> 00:03:30.060 But when they get back to the church, it's just not the same. 00:03:30.900 --> 00:03:38.420 And they're wondering where do they fit in and how can they move forward There They're seeing this challenge of this relationship with God, and they're just not quite sure what that 00:03:38.420 --> 00:03:39.640 step is for them. 00:03:39.640 --> 00:03:45.620 These Jewish Christians are looking at how they were God's chosen people, and all of a sudden they're just a little bit lost in that. 00:03:45.680 --> 00:03:51.040 And part of it is because of their theological understanding of what they thought God would do in the Jewish mindset. 00:03:51.880 --> 00:03:59.060 When the Messiah was proclaimed to come, they had developed this theology in their mind of a of a geopolitical leader that God 00:03:59.060 --> 00:04:01.000 would come for his people. 00:04:01.040 --> 00:04:08.320 And he would set up this geopolitical ruling and he would show himself with the Jewish people and the Jewish people would bring this freedom to all 00:04:08.320 --> 00:04:09.400 of all of the people. 00:04:09.440 --> 00:04:11.460 But when the Messiah died, it sent them reeling. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:17.880 They didn't understand because their theological ideas of who the Messiah should be versus what Jesus did was not the same. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:25.920 The king that they came to praise remember right where Jesus was crucified, they said, bless it as he who comes in the name of the Lord, and all of a sudden he's being crucified 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:29.260 and the people even chant, Crucify him. 00:04:30.460 --> 00:04:34.240 They, in their mind, didn't think that the Messiah would give his life in this way. 00:04:34.260 --> 00:04:39.920 And so they're trying to understand exactly what God is doing and how the Jewish people fit in this. 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:42.020 Do God forget about them. 00:04:42.880 --> 00:04:46.520 And what about the Apostle Paul who's called the apostle to the Gentiles? 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.480 Does Paul not even care about his own people? 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:53.520 Do I matter in a particular sense? 00:04:53.540 --> 00:04:55.200 You look at something like that and you think, Well, I'm not Jewish. 00:04:55.340 --> 00:04:56.170 I don't see how it's relevant. 00:04:56.360 --> 00:05:00.120 But I will say for you know what it's like to be in a. 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:06.460 A place in your life where things all of a sudden changed, maybe even radically, and you're not even sure what the next step is like. 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:08.580 How can you even move forward? 00:05:08.580 --> 00:05:10.580 What is it that you can do? 00:05:10.580 --> 00:05:14.120 And you have this sense of life and this disorientation. 00:05:14.640 --> 00:05:17.840 And maybe to be honest, things were changed so drastically. 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:18.640 You're grieving. 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:24.800 You've suffered a loss, you had this expectation and it didn't it didn't come to fruition. 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:25.660 It wasn't fulfilled. 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:27.800 This isn't how things were supposed to work out. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.000 And now you're stuck. 00:05:32.760 --> 00:05:37.020 And you're wondering what tomorrow should be like and how you can even move forward. 00:05:38.320 --> 00:05:39.620 Things aren't what you thought they should be. 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.200 And that's how we're going to approach today's passage, is answering the question or looking at how to get unstuck. 00:05:46.600 --> 00:05:50.460 And this is where the Apostle Paul starts communicating to us. 00:05:50.460 --> 00:05:54.560 He says, Look, in order for your life to move forward, here's what you really need to begin. 00:05:56.040 --> 00:05:58.240 And you need to find a tribe of people to run with. 00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:05.600 And more specifically, and this is the first point in your notes, finding a Christ centered community for which to belong. 00:06:07.320 --> 00:06:14.900 If you really want to find your identity, the purpose of your existence, you really need a people that are centric in their Christ thinking 00:06:14.900 --> 00:06:17.600 in life and surrendering to him. 00:06:17.620 --> 00:06:24.740 And in fact, as I thought about writing down point number one, I tell you, I like it started off just real small and then it got longer and 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:25.340 longer and longer. 00:06:25.400 --> 00:06:26.590 I think it was turned into a paragraph. 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:33.290 And then I went back real small because when I when I think about Christ centered community, there's a lot of people that claim to follow Christ in this world. 00:06:33.540 --> 00:06:35.460 They have no idea who Jesus even is. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:37.480 I'm a Christian because I follow Christ. 00:06:37.900 --> 00:06:42.000 And then you ask him Who's Christ, and then I'll have an idea at all and what the biblical Christ is. 00:06:42.640 --> 00:06:49.760 But when we talk about Christ, what I mean, in a Christ centered community, I mean a biblically based Christ centric community 00:06:49.760 --> 00:06:57.160 that expresses themselves in a caring concern for the people around them, meaning what you believe should be 00:06:57.160 --> 00:06:58.360 seen in how you live. 00:06:58.380 --> 00:07:00.880 Because how you live really demonstrates what you ultimately believe. 00:07:02.180 --> 00:07:04.310 And we're not just talking about a crisis in our community by name. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:08.560 We're talking about a crisis in our community in the way they demonstrate it. 00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:11.600 They know the truth of God and they live the truth of God. 00:07:12.880 --> 00:07:20.280 And in Romans chapter nine, in order to help his Jewish friends, which are his people, to be able to move forward, this is exactly 00:07:20.280 --> 00:07:23.850 where Paul starts in this place of being disoriented. 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:25.860 And they're trying to figure out how they fit in. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:28.170 They're looking at the promises of God and these expectations. 00:07:28.380 --> 00:07:31.540 They don't feel God quite fulfilled and they're wondering if God's done with him. 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:34.200 And Paul starts with, Look, here's my heart for you. 00:07:35.020 --> 00:07:35.920 Here's the desire. 00:07:35.920 --> 00:07:36.840 Romans Chapter one, verse one. 00:07:36.840 --> 00:07:40.320 He says this I ain't speaking the truth in Christ. 00:07:41.440 --> 00:07:42.180 I am not lying. 00:07:43.100 --> 00:07:50.180 My conscience bears bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my 00:07:50.180 --> 00:07:50.600 heart. 00:07:50.660 --> 00:07:54.540 Let me stop right there for a minute and just say a few things about the Apostle Paul. 00:07:54.540 --> 00:08:01.660 Number one, when you think about finding a Christ centered community in which to belong to number one, what should take precedent is the desire 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:02.580 to know biblical truth. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:08.220 I know a lot of people that don't want to just get into Romans Chapter nine because it's a challenging passage. 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:09.500 But I want to be honest. 00:08:09.740 --> 00:08:14.780 If you want to belong to a good community of God centric people, you don't shy away from hard truth. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:20.360 You want people that will speak the truth to you compassionately, but to be honest, even in difficult times. 00:08:21.780 --> 00:08:22.480 Biblical truth. 00:08:22.500 --> 00:08:23.220 And that's what Paul says. 00:08:23.300 --> 00:08:24.060 Look, I'm not lying. 00:08:24.080 --> 00:08:25.060 This is the truth in Christ. 00:08:25.320 --> 00:08:26.400 This is central to who we are. 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:29.380 That's what Paul said in the first eight chapters of Romans. 00:08:29.380 --> 00:08:33.659 He laid it out beautifully for us and our identity in Christ. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:36.240 And so, Paul, he's biblically based. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.280 Number two, you need a community that's empathetic. 00:08:40.520 --> 00:08:42.500 And this certainly is the apostle Paul. 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:48.640 Can I tell you one of the greatest super powers that you're going to have in making influence in this world is the power of empathy. 00:08:50.760 --> 00:08:57.880 Being able to meet people where they are and relate to them and help understand how to find Jesus in the midst of those challenges and walk with them. 00:08:58.800 --> 00:09:00.120 That was the Apostle Paul. 00:09:00.900 --> 00:09:02.860 You know his testimony, right? 00:09:02.900 --> 00:09:05.620 He was one that hated the church so much. 00:09:05.620 --> 00:09:10.240 He persecuted Christians to the point that some say the apostle Paul was killing Christians. 00:09:10.260 --> 00:09:17.950 He, at the very least, was throwing them in jail and his life was radically turned upside down because he met Jesus. 00:09:18.400 --> 00:09:25.460 And so the apostle Paul knows right where they are and he's meeting them in this need and he's empathetic towards that as he shares at the end of verse 00:09:25.460 --> 00:09:29.680 two, he says that he has this unceasing anguish in his heart. 00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:33.160 It's always on his mind. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:36.640 That's how much he cares about them. 00:09:37.860 --> 00:09:44.300 And in so doing, it's demonstrated through a humble, sacrificial life of service. 00:09:46.200 --> 00:09:53.200 I think one of the one of the most healthy attributes that you could see in Gods people is an 00:09:53.200 --> 00:09:54.260 attribute of humility. 00:09:55.520 --> 00:09:57.260 That's demonstrated in servant hood. 00:09:58.640 --> 00:10:00.280 And this is certainly the apostle Paul. 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:02.880 He's not about what he can get. 00:10:03.760 --> 00:10:06.490 He's about what he has to give for the benefit of others. 00:10:07.620 --> 00:10:09.180 That's what makes beautiful community. 00:10:10.540 --> 00:10:17.840 The truth of who God is empathetic towards the people willing to be sacrificial as a humble servant for the benefit of others because we 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:20.020 know who we are apart from Christ. 00:10:21.260 --> 00:10:23.320 And we know who we are only because of Christ. 00:10:24.780 --> 00:10:31.140 And so it's not this position of arrogance or this position of putting myself before others, but living like Jesus as he lived to serve. 00:10:31.180 --> 00:10:38.500 So we are called into this world to be his servants, his hands and feet, and ultimately just godly 00:10:38.500 --> 00:10:38.940 character. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:46.830 Godly character is something that I don't think we can overemphasize in our culture today. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:53.860 And our culture, we put charisma before character, and that works in the entertainment industry. 00:10:53.880 --> 00:10:55.780 But the church is not the entertainment industry. 00:10:57.220 --> 00:11:04.550 When God's people act in ungodly ways, especially among its leadership, the effects on the body of Christ can be devastating. 00:11:06.560 --> 00:11:07.440 People reel from that. 00:11:09.020 --> 00:11:16.360 To be the practical hands and feet of Jesus in a humble way, for the benefit of others holding on to truth that is 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:18.770 who God calls us to be that kind of community. 00:11:19.300 --> 00:11:19.990 You want to move forward. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:27.180 You need those kind of people around you that helps us understand what God desires for us to do, 00:11:27.180 --> 00:11:29.140 because God calls us not to do it as individuals. 00:11:29.400 --> 00:11:30.140 We're not lone rangers. 00:11:32.180 --> 00:11:34.860 But to do it with one another, We don't succeed on our own. 00:11:34.860 --> 00:11:35.900 We succeed together. 00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:39.120 There's that old African proverb I quote every once in a while. 00:11:39.120 --> 00:11:40.610 If you want to go fast, go alone. 00:11:41.160 --> 00:11:42.850 But if you want to go far, go together. 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:50.040 And this is what Paul is saying, just to understand his heart for his people, because the people are feeling like, Paul, have you abandon us? 00:11:50.040 --> 00:11:53.340 Like you're one of us, You're Jewish, but you're the apostle to the Gentiles. 00:11:53.400 --> 00:11:54.820 And I feel like you don't even care about us. 00:11:54.900 --> 00:11:57.340 And Paul's saying that nothing could be further from the truth. 00:11:58.660 --> 00:12:05.900 Even when you look at the Apostle Paul's ministry, every time he went into a new town or almost every time he went into a new town, if there was a Jewish synagogue the first place Paul went 00:12:05.900 --> 00:12:08.130 in order to start a church was to the Jewish synagogue. 00:12:08.900 --> 00:12:14.560 He began with his own people as he preached the gospel and went on these journeys for the Lord. 00:12:14.580 --> 00:12:21.600 And he goes on in verse three, and it says this I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, 00:12:21.920 --> 00:12:23.150 my kinsmen, according to the flesh. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:30.000 I mean, Paul is saying here the extent for which he's willing to go, like, I'll give up my life in Christ so that all of you can have life. 00:12:30.060 --> 00:12:33.160 If I had that ability, my heart so much wants this for you. 00:12:33.160 --> 00:12:35.120 I'll let go of what I have so that you can gain it. 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:38.520 And Paul, in this moment, he's mimicking Moses. 00:12:39.300 --> 00:12:40.560 And Moses is a great leader. 00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:42.480 He said the same thing on behalf of Israel. 00:12:42.980 --> 00:12:50.000 There's a story in this chapter 32 when Israel was they were slaves in Egypt, and God delivered them from that slavery. 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:57.540 And he took him to Mount Sinai and he gives them the Ten Commandments very first commandment, don't create any idols, have no other gods before 00:12:57.540 --> 00:12:57.960 him. 00:12:57.960 --> 00:12:58.080 Right. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.360 And Moses, when he comes off the mountain, what does he discover? 00:13:02.620 --> 00:13:07.400 Israel on his time on the mountain, Israel built an idol and now they're bowing down to a golden calf. 00:13:08.180 --> 00:13:15.400 And God is furious and God saying He's going to pour out his wrath against these people whose hearts are hardened against him. 00:13:15.540 --> 00:13:21.460 But Moses and verse 32, he says this, But now to the Lord, if you forgive their sins, you will forgive their sins. 00:13:21.540 --> 00:13:25.800 But if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written. 00:13:26.940 --> 00:13:34.000 Same heart as the Apostle Paul that his heart was for his people to know the truth 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:36.850 of who God was and walk in it. 00:13:37.500 --> 00:13:39.200 You know, and Paul is saying these words. 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:40.550 These are not just words on a page. 00:13:40.800 --> 00:13:42.980 His heart certainly demonstrated it. 00:13:43.920 --> 00:13:51.060 Well, some people say at the height of Paul's ministry, he averaged upwards of walking 20 miles a day just to be able to share the gospel 00:13:51.060 --> 00:13:51.880 with people. 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:59.140 And I think in Christianity in our time, it's difficult to get people just to walk across the street, let alone 20 miles, 00:13:59.140 --> 00:14:00.880 just for the opportunity to tell people about the Lord. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:04.240 But this was the Apostle Paul's heart in this passage. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:05.160 Paul was a doer. 00:14:05.160 --> 00:14:12.180 He's not just saying things, and that is important when you come to Romans Chapter nine, because I find some people, when they get to these chapters, they just become these 00:14:12.180 --> 00:14:17.340 armchair quarterbacks where they think it's their job to fix everybody's bad theology and that's all they do. 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:21.960 Like you would think in talking to them, the only passages of scripture they know are Romans nine, ten and 11. 00:14:23.280 --> 00:14:30.080 God calls us to get in the game to not be a benchwarmer, to do something for Christ, and to carry this kind of heart for people in the world. 00:14:30.280 --> 00:14:37.300 And Paul, he goes on from there and says, This is not just my heart, but when I think about this is what God has done in all of us together. 00:14:37.380 --> 00:14:40.620 In verse four, He talks about the way God has moved in his people. 00:14:40.620 --> 00:14:48.360 He says they are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the 00:14:48.360 --> 00:14:54.290 giving of the law, the worship and the promises to them belong the patriarchs. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:15:01.810 And from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all blessed forever. 00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:02.260 Amen. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:04.610 Paul in these verses. 00:15:04.980 --> 00:15:08.300 He recalls the good hand of God to Israel. 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:11.560 They were a lost group of slaves. 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:13.620 No hope. 00:15:15.620 --> 00:15:22.520 God lifted them up and one step at a time he started to write his beautiful story over them. 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:26.240 And Paul knows he belongs to the Jewish people. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:27.150 That's his lineage. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:35.860 He's talking now to these first century Jews, and he's just saying, look at the story that God has created because of community as 00:15:35.860 --> 00:15:38.160 they've been together, as God's people. 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:44.140 This is the way that God has reflected his faithful hand and ultimately God brought forth the Messiah. 00:15:44.140 --> 00:15:48.460 He says in this passage, to deliver you are God's special people. 00:15:49.340 --> 00:15:56.480 So God is saying to Israel, Now, when you read a passage like this and you see God's special people and you think to yourself, Well, I'm not Jewish, the tendency is 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:57.560 we could get jealous. 00:15:57.620 --> 00:16:00.180 Like, why did God work with them and not with us? 00:16:00.260 --> 00:16:00.480 Right? 00:16:00.880 --> 00:16:02.640 And we could get jealous about that. 00:16:02.920 --> 00:16:08.650 And, when I look at a passage like this, I'm thankful that God worked in a specific way through a specific people. 00:16:09.180 --> 00:16:14.880 I know Israel in the first century, by and large, they rejected the Messiah, not all of them, but a good majority. 00:16:14.980 --> 00:16:16.840 A majority of them rejected the Messiah. 00:16:17.020 --> 00:16:19.860 But if it wasn't for Jewish people, I wouldn't be a Christian, right? 00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:21.580 My favorite people are Jewish people. 00:16:21.580 --> 00:16:22.380 Jesus. 00:16:22.460 --> 00:16:22.980 There you go. 00:16:23.220 --> 00:16:23.400 Right. 00:16:23.640 --> 00:16:25.620 The Apostle Paul is the New Testament. 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:27.880 It's written Old Testament, written by Jewish people. 00:16:27.880 --> 00:16:31.100 And even today, you've got, Jewish people that I still love. 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:35.720 Like, I don't know, Stan Lee or Jerry Seinfeld or Barbra Streisand. 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.300 What, they're Albert Einstein or Steven Spielberg, Right. 00:16:39.320 --> 00:16:41.240 Like a lot of great Jewish people. 00:16:41.680 --> 00:16:44.800 But you look at this passion, you're like, man, God's chosen people. 00:16:44.940 --> 00:16:45.120 Right? 00:16:45.920 --> 00:16:47.740 Privileged position. 00:16:48.800 --> 00:16:52.640 But can I tell you, I would never want to trade places? 00:16:54.140 --> 00:16:58.840 I would never want to trade places because I also recognize the target that brings. 00:16:59.840 --> 00:17:04.300 Like, if you recognize in this world there are spiritual forces at work. 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:07.609 And not not all godly. 00:17:09.220 --> 00:17:09.220 But. 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:09.880 But satanic. 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:18.400 I think one of the best ways to put a target on yourself is to say this Hey, Satan, God's going to work through a specific 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:23.319 people, through a specific tribe, in a specific lineage. 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:24.640 Here's where it's going to happen, right? 00:17:24.920 --> 00:17:27.290 That's like saying here's where you need to come to attack. 00:17:27.619 --> 00:17:33.360 And when you look at the Jewish people, I think that you can see certainly there have been hardships that have come with. 00:17:37.120 --> 00:17:40.500 But there's also this beautiful story that God has written in them because. 00:17:41.900 --> 00:17:42.520 They were God's people. 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:51.480 And because when I look at a passage like this and I just think about what it means to be a part of a group that are focused on the Lord and desire 00:17:51.480 --> 00:17:55.120 to live for his glory, what a beautiful story he writes. 00:17:56.680 --> 00:17:58.460 Even in Alpine Bible Church. 00:17:58.540 --> 00:18:05.000 Like when I think of our history as God's people, I'll look at our past and I just see the beautiful hand of the Lord. 00:18:05.980 --> 00:18:12.640 I think about the way that we started a church, and I've read in my life, I don't know how many church planting books of all the things that you're supposed to do. 00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:14.460 And I will tell you, we did none of those. 00:18:16.040 --> 00:18:16.660 We did not do those. 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:23.840 We just started this church as a humble Bible study with the hopes of seeing a church birthed out of that. 00:18:23.840 --> 00:18:31.100 And what we've seen every year is just this steady, healthy growth of people that love Jesus and want to make him known in this valley. 00:18:32.100 --> 00:18:39.500 And I look at our past and I realize, man, we've been in like five or six different locations and we're looking at another location now and just 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:42.060 seeing God each step of the way, being faithful to us. 00:18:42.060 --> 00:18:42.880 It is a beautiful story. 00:18:43.120 --> 00:18:45.610 God's written and it's written as a community. 00:18:46.320 --> 00:18:51.840 When God's people run together for the benefit of one another to His glory, God does a beautiful thing. 00:18:53.320 --> 00:19:00.200 When our hearts are willing to surrender to him and to embrace his truth and to know him and encourage one another, God does a beautiful work. 00:19:00.280 --> 00:19:05.680 And as much as I rejoice in the past as I look to the future, I realize our best days are still in front of us. 00:19:06.900 --> 00:19:14.040 And as we walk with that temperament before the Lord, it's incredible what God, what God can do and has done 00:19:14.040 --> 00:19:19.200 so find a Christ centered community in order to get unstuck. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.760 And point number two then is cling to the faithfulness of God. 00:19:24.620 --> 00:19:25.940 Cling to the faithfulness of God. 00:19:27.620 --> 00:19:30.080 Sometimes we go through some difficult times. 00:19:31.320 --> 00:19:34.440 And we need to be reoriented to finding God in it. 00:19:35.560 --> 00:19:35.660 I'm. 00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:40.260 Sometimes in life we go through a loss. 00:19:40.360 --> 00:19:48.060 We feel like we've been lied to, maybe a person lied to us, or maybe our expectation of who God was isn't really what Scripture says. 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:51.300 And we've got to relearn who God is. 00:19:52.360 --> 00:19:55.820 And in finding the faithfulness of God in that is important. 00:19:55.840 --> 00:20:01.380 In fact, in Romans chapter nine, verse six, I think this is really the thesis statement for nine, ten and 11. 00:20:01.420 --> 00:20:03.420 There's three chapters, but it says this. 00:20:03.420 --> 00:20:06.680 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. 00:20:07.760 --> 00:20:13.200 So Israel, in this moment, they're looking at the way God's working in Gentiles and they're thinking, wait a minute, we're the promised people. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:14.860 We were the God's special people. 00:20:14.860 --> 00:20:16.560 This is where the promise is supposed to come. 00:20:16.640 --> 00:20:18.950 We have this expectation that God is supposed to meet what's happening. 00:20:19.320 --> 00:20:20.360 Does God not care about us? 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:21.730 Is he not going to deliver his promises? 00:20:22.280 --> 00:20:23.580 Is God not faithful to that? 00:20:23.580 --> 00:20:24.400 Has he failed? 00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:27.640 That's where they're challenged by this. 00:20:27.700 --> 00:20:34.800 But in their mind, there's almost this idea of this elite ism as God's chosen people, and this is all of God's chosen people, and that's 00:20:34.800 --> 00:20:35.140 it. 00:20:35.980 --> 00:20:43.020 And so Paul goes on a little further and says this For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and 00:20:43.020 --> 00:20:46.510 not all are children of Abraham because they're his offspring. 00:20:46.600 --> 00:20:49.460 But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named? 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:56.730 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of promise are counted as offspring. 00:20:57.260 --> 00:21:01.920 By the way, a good parallel passage to this is the book of Galatians really all of chapter three. 00:21:02.580 --> 00:21:08.380 But here's what he's saying is just because you physically belong to Abraham doesn't mean you spiritually belong to Abraham. 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:10.840 God doesn't care who your daddy is. 00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:13.860 God cares about who you are in light of who he is. 00:21:14.820 --> 00:21:15.840 And for the Jewish people. 00:21:16.020 --> 00:21:18.620 They were claiming this lineage that gave them this special privilege. 00:21:18.760 --> 00:21:25.410 And what God is saying is, look, there is physical Jew, but then there is also spiritual in what you believe. 00:21:25.840 --> 00:21:27.080 And according to God's promises. 00:21:28.280 --> 00:21:30.620 And what God's heart is that you trust in Him. 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:34.340 It's possible to be born physically Jewish and never trust in the Lord. 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:42.440 And Paul is acknowledging that in this passage and encouraging us to say or discover, I should say, where your heart 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:43.340 is in Christ. 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:45.820 Like if someone were to say to you, What makes you a Christian? 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:47.930 If you call yourself a Christian, what makes you a Christian? 00:21:48.800 --> 00:21:54.520 If your answer has really anything to do with you and not with what Christ has done for you, your answer is not right. 00:21:56.140 --> 00:22:03.630 If your answer is something like, Oh, it's because I go to church on Sunday, or it's because I grew up in a Christian home, or I read the Bible, 00:22:04.300 --> 00:22:10.500 or I just say the name of Jesus because I'm fond of the name of Jesus, none of those things make you a Christian. 00:22:11.480 --> 00:22:16.100 I'm glad that you're given over to the things of God in that way. 00:22:16.160 --> 00:22:23.200 I'm glad you're you think favorably about those things, but ultimately, your position in God rests in your faith in Jesus and 00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:24.380 what He has accomplished for you. 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.020 The only way into eternity is through the cross of Christ. 00:22:28.420 --> 00:22:34.200 The only way into that relationship with God is based on what Jesus has accomplished on your behalf, nothing to do with what you do for Him. 00:22:35.660 --> 00:22:35.700 Now. 00:22:35.800 --> 00:22:37.420 God certainly wants you to live for His glory. 00:22:38.440 --> 00:22:45.580 But our living for His glory is based on an understanding of His love extended for us because of his life given to us. 00:22:46.540 --> 00:22:48.200 I'm not trying to earn anything with God. 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:54.080 When I live my life in this world for Jesus, it's not so that God accepts me. 00:22:54.080 --> 00:22:58.080 It's because He already has in Christ, as I've put my faith in what Jesus has done. 00:22:59.180 --> 00:23:00.990 And this is what Paul is alluding to in this passage. 00:23:01.300 --> 00:23:03.620 It's not it's not you that makes you special. 00:23:04.500 --> 00:23:06.060 It's what Jesus has done on your behalf. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:13.920 In fact, he goes on from in Deuteronomy, there's this passage where God knows the uniqueness of our 00:23:13.920 --> 00:23:21.040 heart, or I should say, the depravity of our heart, that when we get some favorable things that go our way, our tendency sometimes as 00:23:21.040 --> 00:23:23.460 people is to start to think, well, it's because we're better than them. 00:23:24.380 --> 00:23:30.690 But in Book of Deuteronomy, Moses says to the people of Israel before they even get the opportunity, he's answering the question, Do you know why I got picked you? 00:23:31.600 --> 00:23:32.460 It's not because you're great. 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:37.420 In fact, look at this Deuteronomy chapter seven, verse six, for you are a people wholly to the Lord your God. 00:23:38.080 --> 00:23:44.280 The Lord, your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 00:23:45.120 --> 00:23:45.630 And here comes. 00:23:46.560 --> 00:23:53.460 It was not because you were more in number than any other people, than the Lord that the Lord sent His love on you and chose you for. 00:23:54.420 --> 00:23:55.770 You were the fewest of all the peoples. 00:23:56.800 --> 00:24:03.940 But it was because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand 00:24:03.940 --> 00:24:08.060 and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt. 00:24:09.500 --> 00:24:13.080 What God is saying here is the reason I picked you is not because you're great. 00:24:13.120 --> 00:24:14.020 In fact, you're dinky. 00:24:15.020 --> 00:24:16.900 The reason I picked you is because I'm great. 00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:18.880 And I have love that I want to extend towards you. 00:24:18.900 --> 00:24:20.140 It's because of his grace. 00:24:21.180 --> 00:24:24.460 And he goes on a little bit further in Romans and he and he gives us these illustrations. 00:24:24.980 --> 00:24:32.140 And in order to think through that, he says to us in verse number nine, in Romans, chapter nine, verse nine, he says, For this is what the promise 00:24:32.140 --> 00:24:36.760 said about this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son. 00:24:37.860 --> 00:24:39.380 God comes in the life of Abraham and Sarah. 00:24:39.420 --> 00:24:44.980 If you remember the story, we talked about this in Romans chapter four, God didn't pick Abraham and Sarah because they were great. 00:24:45.860 --> 00:24:52.880 In fact, the God promised through Abraham and Sarah, he would bring a son, and through that son would come the Messiah who would bless all nations and all 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:53.460 people groups. 00:24:54.080 --> 00:25:00.640 But when you study the life of Abraham and Sarah, what you find is Sarah was barren and in her seventies and she has a child. 00:25:01.340 --> 00:25:04.140 How many of you in your seventies would be like, Yes, please. 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:05.200 Right? 00:25:05.200 --> 00:25:07.330 Most of you, we'd have to resuscitate on the spot. 00:25:07.720 --> 00:25:08.300 Like, But. 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:09.840 But this was Sarah. 00:25:09.860 --> 00:25:10.560 She was barren. 00:25:10.560 --> 00:25:12.590 God would have had to miraculously do this. 00:25:13.500 --> 00:25:14.380 And not just that. 00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:18.180 Abraham was a pagan guy growing up in a pagan land with a pagan name. 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:23.040 It wasn't anything that Abraham did, but it was God's grace working through Abraham. 00:25:23.040 --> 00:25:30.280 It shows the magnificence of who God is that He would even intervene in our lives to provide a way for us to escape and to find a hope 00:25:30.280 --> 00:25:32.420 of eternity in him through a relationship with God. 00:25:34.560 --> 00:25:38.740 And so God is pointing to the faithfulness of his hand on our behalf. 00:25:39.660 --> 00:25:46.740 And he goes on and further and he in the second example he gives to us is verse ten, he says, And not only so, 00:25:46.980 --> 00:25:54.100 but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet 00:25:54.100 --> 00:26:00.610 born and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue. 00:26:00.840 --> 00:26:06.640 Nor because of works, but because of Him who cause she was told the older will serve the younger. 00:26:07.820 --> 00:26:12.020 When Isaac had two children, God picked one of the two children for the Messiah to still come through. 00:26:12.020 --> 00:26:13.680 The Messiah can only come through one family. 00:26:13.700 --> 00:26:15.360 So he's saying it's going to come through Jacob. 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:22.560 And he tells us before they were even born, this was determined the God had chosen to work through the life 00:26:22.560 --> 00:26:22.960 of Jacob. 00:26:22.960 --> 00:26:24.780 And it wasn't based on any good works. 00:26:26.240 --> 00:26:28.220 It wasn't based on good deed or bad deed. 00:26:28.820 --> 00:26:32.310 The God was identifying for us where the Messiah would come, and it is a gift to us. 00:26:32.340 --> 00:26:34.220 And the reason it is a gift to office. 00:26:34.240 --> 00:26:40.080 It gives us the opportunity to prophetically understand where this Messiah would come from, so that when he arrived, we would not miss him. 00:26:41.540 --> 00:26:48.860 God specifically calling out for us the lineage of Jesus so that when Jesus shows up, people could turn 00:26:48.860 --> 00:26:53.320 to Jesus and receive what Jesus was going to do for us on the cross. 00:26:54.520 --> 00:26:55.340 Are saving King. 00:26:58.320 --> 00:27:00.760 It's not based on them, but based on him. 00:27:01.560 --> 00:27:07.290 In fact, when you look at the life of Esau and the life of Jacob, neither of them are impressive. 00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:09.040 Neither of them. 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.590 Jacob was a deceiver and a liar. 00:27:12.320 --> 00:27:16.600 And Esau was apparently stinky and hairy. 00:27:16.600 --> 00:27:18.130 It's the best one to say, like Esau. 00:27:19.720 --> 00:27:23.640 At one point, Jacob decided he wanted to trick his father, who was going blind. 00:27:24.360 --> 00:27:29.680 And he decided, the way that I'm going to trick my father, I want my father to think that I am my brother, Esau. 00:27:29.700 --> 00:27:36.630 And the way that I'm going to do this, I'm going to kill a goat and skin it and I'm going to put the goat skin on my skin and my dad's going to think I'm Esau. 00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:43.120 Like, how hairy and smelly do you have to be that your dad is like, Oh, yeah, go. 00:27:43.220 --> 00:27:44.280 That's his Esau, right? 00:27:44.300 --> 00:27:45.720 This is that is crazy. 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:50.220 And when you when you look at it, I've heard him describe this way, like the difference between Jacob and Esau. 00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:51.660 The Jacob was a mama's boy. 00:27:51.660 --> 00:27:54.210 He probably he probably drove a Prius. 00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:57.700 He cried at every Hallmark movie, and he always wore socks with sandals. 00:27:57.700 --> 00:28:01.140 That's Jacob and Esau. 00:28:01.140 --> 00:28:02.420 He always smelled bad. 00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:04.210 He was hairy, like a woolly mammoth. 00:28:04.220 --> 00:28:07.560 And his idea of fun was monster truck rallies in country music. 00:28:07.560 --> 00:28:11.920 Like, either way is I don't know if you if you want to relate to one of them, go ahead. 00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:14.860 But they're just not that impressive. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:15.880 It's not. 00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:18.340 And if you drive a Prius, I'm sorry, but. 00:28:23.560 --> 00:28:24.560 It's not about them. 00:28:26.780 --> 00:28:27.380 It's about him. 00:28:29.340 --> 00:28:30.180 His faithfulness. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:32.420 His faithfulness. 00:28:34.800 --> 00:28:37.860 And point number three then, is this to trust in the sovereignty of God? 00:28:41.120 --> 00:28:42.180 You need a group to run with. 00:28:44.320 --> 00:28:46.820 One that cares enough about you to share hard things. 00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:48.100 Truthful, biblical things. 00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:55.700 But also does it in a way that not not to destroy you, but to serve you, to bless you, to empathize with you, to care for you. 00:28:57.840 --> 00:28:58.780 You should be that person. 00:28:59.860 --> 00:29:00.340 For others. 00:29:02.420 --> 00:29:09.200 God, God's community, above all other communities in this world, understands the sacredness of human beings. 00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:12.220 Everyone's created in the image of God. 00:29:12.420 --> 00:29:14.900 Every life matters created in the image of God. 00:29:16.340 --> 00:29:17.940 And we also understand the devastation of sin. 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:20.220 And the destruction it brings. 00:29:22.280 --> 00:29:25.820 But in the midst of that, we need reminded of a faithful God. 00:29:26.080 --> 00:29:28.980 And not only that, to trust in his sovereign hands. 00:29:31.340 --> 00:29:34.560 Sometimes we can't see how God will work it out. 00:29:37.840 --> 00:29:38.360 But for faithful. 00:29:40.020 --> 00:29:41.580 We get to experience that journey with him. 00:29:45.600 --> 00:29:52.900 The encouragement for us in realizing at some point in your life, if you haven't walked a hard road or you're not in a hard road right now, at some point you will be. 00:29:54.020 --> 00:29:54.260 And can I. 00:29:54.340 --> 00:29:55.300 Can I just encourage you? 00:29:57.460 --> 00:29:59.180 Typically it's caused by other people. 00:30:02.020 --> 00:30:02.700 Don't throw mud. 00:30:05.120 --> 00:30:05.620 Don't quit. 00:30:08.340 --> 00:30:09.760 Keep walking with the Lord. 00:30:11.520 --> 00:30:13.340 And watch what a sovereign hand can do. 00:30:15.580 --> 00:30:22.740 and I want to talk to us about the importance of that through this last verse, this last verse I'm going to look at with you and a really I saved this 00:30:22.740 --> 00:30:29.900 verse for the end because I realized in all the other verses previous to this, because this verse is such a gut punch verse, or at least a loud 00:30:29.900 --> 00:30:36.410 verse, you're going to forget everything I said Anyway, once you read verse 13 and verse 13, it says this as is written. 00:30:36.980 --> 00:30:39.420 Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. 00:30:42.780 --> 00:30:46.160 What do you do with a verse like that is, especially as it relates to the sovereignty of God? 00:30:47.660 --> 00:30:50.840 Like, you expect to hear people hate. 00:30:51.860 --> 00:30:54.660 But now you turn to a verse and you're thinking, Oh, no, God hates. 00:30:54.660 --> 00:30:58.060 Like, what do I do with a with a verse where God hates? 00:30:58.080 --> 00:31:04.960 How in the world can God hate and God is he certainly using strong language in this passage, I think, to awaken our soul to something important. 00:31:05.840 --> 00:31:10.480 But he's also saying, if you think in terms of Jacob and Esau, he hated Esau even before he saw was born. 00:31:10.500 --> 00:31:12.040 Now what in the world does it mean that God hates? 00:31:12.300 --> 00:31:15.120 That's a that is a hard verse to work through. 00:31:15.180 --> 00:31:22.220 But when you understand what God is, communicating is actually a powerful verse for God's people and resting in the sovereignty of God as you walk with the people of God to see the 00:31:22.220 --> 00:31:24.900 will of God accomplish in their lives because they'll be faithful. 00:31:26.720 --> 00:31:27.580 So what does this mean? 00:31:27.600 --> 00:31:30.380 Let me let me give you another passage just to compound this for a minute. 00:31:30.460 --> 00:31:32.700 And Luke, chapter 14, verse 26. 00:31:32.780 --> 00:31:34.150 This is Jesus speaking. 00:31:34.180 --> 00:31:37.620 I think Jesus is speaking similarly to the way the Apostle Paul is speaking in. 00:31:37.840 --> 00:31:40.650 Romans and the Apostle Paul is actually quoting the Old Testament. 00:31:40.760 --> 00:31:43.920 When he's talking about hating, he's always quoting Malachi, which we'll deal in just a minute. 00:31:44.360 --> 00:31:44.900 Deal with that in a minute. 00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:51.860 But in Luke chapter 14, look what Jesus says, verse 26 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother. 00:31:53.220 --> 00:31:54.940 It's talking about hating your mom and dad. 00:31:55.340 --> 00:31:57.260 Jesus is talking about hating your mom and dad. 00:31:57.500 --> 00:31:59.020 That's only supposed to be true for mother in law. 00:31:59.100 --> 00:31:59.780 I'm just kidding. 00:32:00.060 --> 00:32:00.830 Not mother in law's. 00:32:01.060 --> 00:32:02.120 But he's talking about hating. 00:32:02.120 --> 00:32:09.440 If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters and, yes, even his own life, he cannot 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:10.980 be my disciple. 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:19.480 Not only do we see Paul talking about hating quoting from God in the Old Testament, that's talking about hating Jesus is here in this passage, talking about hating what? 00:32:19.940 --> 00:32:21.820 What do we do with a passage like that? 00:32:21.860 --> 00:32:24.320 Does Jesus really want you to hate your mother and father? 00:32:25.580 --> 00:32:27.220 Well, you probably already know the answer to this, right? 00:32:27.260 --> 00:32:28.040 It's no. 00:32:28.740 --> 00:32:30.990 Not in the sense that you might be thinking about in any way. 00:32:32.060 --> 00:32:34.300 God does not desire for you to hate your mother and father. 00:32:34.440 --> 00:32:37.360 In fact, in Matthew 1919 says honor your father and mother. 00:32:37.360 --> 00:32:37.460 So. 00:32:37.860 --> 00:32:44.080 So what is God saying in this passage when he talks about the idea of hate, what Jesus is saying in Luke? 00:32:45.840 --> 00:32:48.920 He's describing for us a reorientation of your life. 00:32:50.500 --> 00:32:57.840 He's using actually a Hebrew idiom to drive home a point of how we should perceive our relationship with God in light of all other relationships. 00:32:58.620 --> 00:33:05.780 There is this reorientation of our life around the idea of who God is, and that takes priority over everything. 00:33:07.100 --> 00:33:08.740 Don't put your parents before the Lord. 00:33:08.760 --> 00:33:09.940 Don't put your children before you, Lord. 00:33:09.940 --> 00:33:11.910 Don't put your spouse before the Lord. 00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:15.340 Reorient all of your life in the Lord. 00:33:16.020 --> 00:33:18.300 And I'm not saying you have to rank at God first, people second. 00:33:18.300 --> 00:33:18.960 That's not what I'm saying. 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:22.200 I'm saying God influences how you see everything else. 00:33:22.200 --> 00:33:27.450 There is this reorientation of your life in Christ now, in relationship to all of your other relationships. 00:33:28.520 --> 00:33:32.660 In fact, in this passage, this is exactly what Paul is referring to. 00:33:33.280 --> 00:33:36.140 And Malachi, chapter one versus one, two, three. 00:33:36.140 --> 00:33:41.540 You'll find in verse two, God starts to talk about His love for Jacob, and in verse three, his hatred for Esau. 00:33:41.740 --> 00:33:45.460 But when God is referring to this, he's referring to this in covenantal relationship. 00:33:46.460 --> 00:33:50.840 God is certainly not happy with what Esau lineage has done, the Edomites. 00:33:50.840 --> 00:33:51.480 That is true. 00:33:52.600 --> 00:33:59.260 But what God is ultimately talking about here is not this emotion of hate, but rather understanding covenantal relationship. 00:33:59.260 --> 00:34:06.360 And the priority covenantal relationship takes over all other relationship in 00:34:06.360 --> 00:34:10.080 the book of Malachi, Israel is in a position where they feel forsaken by God. 00:34:11.460 --> 00:34:13.900 That God has abandoned them and they don't know what the future holds. 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:17.020 And what God does is God goes back to the promise of Jacob. 00:34:18.900 --> 00:34:22.889 Guy goes back and reminds them of how they are his chosen people. 00:34:24.260 --> 00:34:26.120 And that God is going to be faithful to them. 00:34:26.120 --> 00:34:29.880 And God, through Jacob, recognizes this covenant relationship. 00:34:29.880 --> 00:34:37.340 So Jacob and Esau become this identity of people groups and this lineage that was set forth and that God had proclaimed through 00:34:37.380 --> 00:34:44.300 through these two that he was going to covenantal he work his good will out in the life of Jacob in order to bless all nations. 00:34:44.340 --> 00:34:49.190 That was a promise of Abraham, that through Abraham there would come a seed, and through that seed would bless all nations. 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:51.639 And for us, it would maybe work like this. 00:34:51.980 --> 00:34:53.770 A marriage is a covenantal relationship. 00:34:54.480 --> 00:35:00.680 And if I were to take this idiom, this phrase and use it my own life, it would say, I love my wife, Stacie, and everyone else I hate. 00:35:02.620 --> 00:35:08.800 I don't really hate you, but what it's recognizing is there is this reorientation of relationship where she takes precedent in a way that you guys just don't. 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:10.540 And I'm not sorry for that. 00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:16.800 There's a priority in my relationships because of this covenant. 00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:19.420 But here's the reality. 00:35:20.740 --> 00:35:23.740 When we prioritize reorient in that covenant. 00:35:24.720 --> 00:35:25.820 The result of that. 00:35:27.020 --> 00:35:28.320 Is everyone else is blessed to. 00:35:30.220 --> 00:35:33.400 So in your marriage, when that covenant takes priority. 00:35:34.580 --> 00:35:38.040 When it's given the proper recognition and treatment that it deserves. 00:35:39.120 --> 00:35:42.260 Not only is it beneficial for the husband and wife, but so does with the children in the family. 00:35:44.340 --> 00:35:49.910 And so it is with the neighbor down the road and your church community and the people you work with. 00:35:50.360 --> 00:35:57.460 When that relationship is aligned properly, what happens is everyone else is blessed because of 00:35:57.460 --> 00:35:58.160 it. 00:35:59.100 --> 00:36:03.100 And in that sense, this is what I think this passage is saying to us. 00:36:04.100 --> 00:36:11.260 The beautiful privilege of what it is and covenantal relationship to know God when we reorient our life in that way, when we choose to allow 00:36:11.260 --> 00:36:17.520 God to take precedent and we surrender our lives to him, the result of that is everyone else is blessed because of it. 00:36:20.060 --> 00:36:22.440 We trust in the sovereign hand of God. 00:36:23.940 --> 00:36:31.100 Now, I know some people, when they look at a passage like this, they'll say something like, Well, in America, we've got to treat everybody equally. 00:36:31.640 --> 00:36:36.000 So I don't feel right that God didn't work through Esau, too. 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:37.230 He should be working through Jacob. 00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:44.400 And so let me just say, in terms of working through Jacob, and he saw there was only one messiah needed and it was helpful for us to know where that 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:45.470 Messiah was going to come from. 00:36:45.540 --> 00:36:51.990 So I'm thankful God worked through Jacob and he identified that he was going to work through Jacob so that we can see the messianic promises fulfilled. 00:36:52.860 --> 00:37:00.460 And because that messianic promise is fulfilled now, all of people in the world could be blessed through what God has accomplished, 00:37:00.700 --> 00:37:01.960 through the lineage of Jacob. 00:37:02.660 --> 00:37:06.800 There was this place where all nations, all people groups can be blessed through it, including the Edomites. 00:37:06.860 --> 00:37:12.520 If whatever the people group is or person would humble themselves before the Lord and receive what Christ has done. 00:37:14.340 --> 00:37:15.420 But in addition to that. 00:37:17.000 --> 00:37:19.900 When you realize the depravity of the human human soul. 00:37:21.820 --> 00:37:24.700 The shocker isn't that God didn't pick Saul to. 00:37:26.540 --> 00:37:28.880 The shocker is that God picked anyone at all. 00:37:31.460 --> 00:37:32.470 God doesn't owe us anything. 00:37:34.780 --> 00:37:41.570 The moment Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God could have been done and he would have been completely just to do so because he's perfect and holy. 00:37:43.460 --> 00:37:43.880 But he didn't. 00:37:46.140 --> 00:37:53.180 God chose by his love, not because of us, but because of His grace to use his sovereign hand to work in this world, that we would have 00:37:53.180 --> 00:37:57.340 the opportunity to know him because of what Christ has done. 00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:01.090 So let me close with this illustration. 00:38:03.720 --> 00:38:04.340 There was a. 00:38:05.580 --> 00:38:07.920 A man who is getting open heart surgery. 00:38:09.340 --> 00:38:13.500 And just before the surgery, he had a moment with the doctor and he asked the doctor, Doctor. 00:38:14.980 --> 00:38:16.200 Can you fix my heart? 00:38:17.600 --> 00:38:20.940 And the doctor just looked at him confidently and said yes and walked out of the room. 00:38:23.420 --> 00:38:30.480 After the 12 hours surgery, when the man finally came to, he decided to ask the doctor another question as the doctor entered in the room to check on 00:38:30.480 --> 00:38:30.980 him. 00:38:31.140 --> 00:38:38.180 And he said, In light of the blocked arteries that I had when I checked into the hospital, how much blood supply do I 00:38:38.180 --> 00:38:38.780 have now? 00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:43.140 To which the doctor said all you'll ever need. 00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:51.320 And when this man was finally discharged from the hospital, the wife had an opportunity to interact with the doctor, and she too had a question for him. 00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:54.880 And she asked the doctor, What about my husband's future quality of life? 00:38:54.880 --> 00:38:55.700 What can I expect? 00:38:56.880 --> 00:38:58.180 And the doctor remarked this way. 00:38:58.200 --> 00:38:58.920 He paused, and he said. 00:39:00.240 --> 00:39:00.980 I fixed his heart. 00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:06.920 But the quality of his life is determined in how he responds. 00:39:09.720 --> 00:39:11.420 Because the same is true for us this morning. 00:39:15.040 --> 00:39:16.600 Whatever's happened in your life. 00:39:18.120 --> 00:39:21.280 Whatever is taking place, there's been enough grace. 00:39:22.520 --> 00:39:26.460 That has led you to a moment to gather in this room to seek God through his word. 00:39:29.820 --> 00:39:30.780 If you don't know. 00:39:31.060 --> 00:39:31.340 Jesus. 00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:35.820 Seizing the moment that God has given you. 00:39:36.980 --> 00:39:40.320 To take the opportunity and a group that wants to run with you. 00:39:41.080 --> 00:39:44.620 To trust in his faithful sovereign hand that has worked this moment out. 00:39:44.700 --> 00:39:48.180 That you could walk with him and know him. 00:39:49.700 --> 00:39:51.200 It's a beautiful place to be. 00:39:51.200 --> 00:39:55.780 It is a gift and a privilege to even have an opportunity to know God's world. 00:39:55.840 --> 00:39:58.280 Because God's Word, because God, God owed us nothing. 00:40:01.180 --> 00:40:02.520 But yet here, he said. 00:40:04.280 --> 00:40:07.470 And for those of us that know the Lord. 00:40:08.380 --> 00:40:09.420 To understand the life. 00:40:09.420 --> 00:40:11.890 We're going to go through difficult things and we're going to have trials. 00:40:12.540 --> 00:40:14.260 It doesn't matter belong to Jesus or not. 00:40:14.260 --> 00:40:15.460 Those things are true. 00:40:15.460 --> 00:40:22.520 But in the midst of those trials, to be reminded of what the Apostle Paul is saying to us in this passage of Scripture, the Lord 00:40:22.520 --> 00:40:29.700 has done this for you, but your quality of that has to do with how your heart surrenders to him, to experience what God desires to do in your life. 00:40:31.700 --> 00:40:32.440 And that begins with this. 00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:35.540 Finding a tribe to run with. 00:40:38.240 --> 00:40:40.160 And trusting in the faithful hand of God. 00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:43.240 And his sovereignty as he works things out. 00:40:44.420 --> 00:40:47.480 Sometimes we don't always see what's out before us. 00:40:47.500 --> 00:40:54.420 Sometimes the day just feels cloudy and we're not even quite sure where that next step is going to take us because we don't know how God can work it out. 00:40:55.880 --> 00:40:59.700 But what God does remind us, his people in this passage in us over and over again. 00:41:00.680 --> 00:41:07.980 If we're willing to just take that step, we get to enjoy that beautiful journey of what God creates through his people and his community as 00:41:07.980 --> 00:41:08.900 they trust in him.