God's Divine Plan, Part 2: Human Responsibility
Notes
Transcript
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
Paul’s Desire
Paul’s Desire
My good-pleasure
who was he speaking about? the Jews who had dogged him from city to city, beating him, stoning him, opposing him in every way, finally leading to his arrest. Plotting to kill him, he needed to appeal to Caesar...
Paul had the same heart as the Lord…
Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Is My Desire God’s Desire?
Is My Desire God’s Desire?
William Carey - 1786, was told “Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do without your aid or mine!”
We cross the line when we think God has condemned, and so should I
whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved
For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.
Is Earnestness Enough?
Is Earnestness Enough?
Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Is it our responsibility to keep the law?
Is it our responsibility to keep the law?
Christ is the end of the Law
Christ is the end of the Law
Paul is going to quote extensively from the Old Testament throughout this chapter to show that Christ is the end, the goal, the realization of the law.
Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”
But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down)
“or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:
Keep my decrees and laws, for the person who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.
The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
Deuteronomy 30.12-14 though not directly. using teaching from his day, and combining that teaching Paul is using this passage to point to Christ, the end of the law…
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Responsibility to Confess and Believe
Responsibility to Confess and Believe
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
Responsibility to Believe
Responsibility to Believe
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Jesus is Lord!
Jesus is Lord!
And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls.
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Responsibility to Preach
Responsibility to Preach
So if we preach they will be saved?
No...
But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.
But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.”
Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
Israel failed their responsibility to believe...
Israel failed their responsibility to believe...
Psalm 19:4 “Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.”
Deuteronomy 32:21 “They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.”
Practical Illustrations: Romans 7-141: Powerless unless Activated (Gospel)
An unbeliever once ridiculed the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ by saying, “If Jesus Christ is able to save to the uttermost, why is it that there are so many unbelievers?” The Christian to whom he was speaking stopped a very dirty little boy who was passing by and turning to the unbeliever said, “Can you blame soap and water for the filth of this boy?” [Salvation is] available to all, but only those who accept it experience its regeneration power.
So, God rejected them, right?
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
Next week