Rom 11-Disobedience Hard Hearts & Mercy

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| Disobedience, Hard Hearts & Mercy! Romans 11:25-32

November 25, 2007 (New Living Translation) 25I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging. Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ. 26And so all Israel will be saved. Do you remember what the prophets said about this?“A Deliverer will come from Jerusalem,and he will turn Israel from all ungodliness.27And then I will keep my covenant with themand take away their sins.”28Many of the Jews are now enemies of the Good News. But this has been to your benefit, for God has given his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. 30Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his mercy, God was merciful to you instead. 31And now, in the same way, the Jews are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you. But someday they, too, will share in God’s mercy. 32For God has imprisoned all people in their own disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone. PRAY Scripture Memory:Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Romans 11:33(NIV) Intro:The jokes about Christian separatism Preliminary remarks:The debate over who is “Israel”Emphasis on application…1. There is a mystery2. There are promises & a covenant3. There is a Deliverer 1. There is a mystery        So do not be proudv. 25 – I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud and start bragging.The context in which Paul wrote…Notice the next verse in our text: v. 33 – Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!We have a propensity to be uncomfortable with not knowing, with less than full understanding. We try to get God all neatly packaged…Two dangers in dealing with the mysteries of Scripture:1. Being proud – being too dogmatic (unwilling, or unable to agree to disagree) on the non-essentials – areas that the Scriptures are not really clear onThis is especially true when we are dealing with what is yet in the future. (i.e. the Jews of Jesus’ time, especially the Pharisees)We often feel threatened when other disagree w/ us.We are often uncomfortable with mysteries.Sometimes We look for the areas that we disagree on. Why? So that we can demonstrate our superiorityDeut. 29:29 – The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. 2. Being lazy or disobedient (unbelieving) – Allowing that which we find confusing to excuse our laziness or disobedience in areas we understand only too wellThis unbelief flows from a demand for control. If I cannot understand everything, if I do not have all my questions answered to my satisfaction, then everything else is called to question…Prov. 3:5-6 (NIV)5Trust in the LORD with all your heart  and lean not on your own understanding;6in all your ways acknowledge him,  and he will direct your paths. Question: Are we willing to humbly acknowledge that we do not have a corner on the truth, while at the same time standing firm in the clear truths of the gospel?2. There are promises & a covenant        So believe God and walk by faithvv. 26-29 – “A Deliverer will come from Jerusalem,and he will turn Israel from all ungodliness.27And then I will keep my covenant with themand take away their sins.”28Many of the Jews are now enemies of the Good News (the gospel). But this has been to your benefit, for God has given his gifts to you Gentiles. Yet the Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.A covenant – a solemn promise, usually ratified in some wayTwo primary covenants: the covenant of works and the covenant of graceThe covenant with Abraham – God promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, that God would give this people an extensive land of their own, that the land would be theirs forever, that the Redeemer would come through this line of descent, and that God would bless all the peoples of the world through this Redeemer.The Old Covenant – Sin leads to deathThe New Covenant – Luke 22:20 – This is the New Covenant in my blood…v. 27 (ESV) This will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.Notice: it is GOD’s promise to do something. It is HIS covenant. Therefore is has the character and power of God behind it. |   | We, at times, make promises that we are either unable or unwilling to fulfill. Not so with God. He does not change and He is never caught off-guard or surprised.Application: We need to believe the gospel… on a day-by-day basis.This entails accepting our sinfulness – accepting the fact that God knows our sin FULLY, even more than WE do. It means seeing the magnitude of His love for us, in light of our unworthiness. It means believing that God does, indeed, love us and will withhold no good thing from us, that, in Christ, ALL the promises of God for His own are ours.It means being secure in our relationship with God, based upon His covenant and promises, rather than upon our performance. 3. There is a Deliverer        So be holy as He is holyvv. 26-27 & 30-32 – 26All Israel will be saved. Do you remember what the prophets said about this?“A Deliverer will come from Jerusalem,and he will turn Israel from all ungodliness.27And then I will keep my covenant with themand take away their sins.”30Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the Jews refused his mercy, God was merciful to you instead. 31And now, in the same way, the Jews are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you. But someday they, too, will share in God’s mercy. 32For God has imprisoned all people in their own disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.v. 26 – The Deliverer will… turn Israel from all ungodliness.v. 30 – Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but… God was merciful to you.v. 31 – Now… the Jews are the rebels… and… someday they, too, will share in God’s mercy.Jesus came to be our Savior, our deliverer.This means 1.     That he came to turn us from all ungodliness. 2.     It means that He came to turn us from rebellion and to show us mercy in its place. We need to understand that this is an either/or – Either we are in rebellion, OR we are sharing in His mercy. Either we are in willing submission to Him, fully acknowledging His Lordship, OR we are rejecting His mercy.His goal is to turn us FROM our rebellion, TO His mercy; FROM our ungodliness TO His holiness.The key is the role of mercy. Notice a few vv. later in 12:1 where he urges us in view of what? GOD’s MERCY, to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. This is the goal of mercy. Mercy is NOT about the recipient, it is about the giver. It is not about us escaping God’s righteous judgment, it is about GOD delighting to show His mercy to undeserving sinners like you and me.Question: Are you a willing servant of God in a way that shows itself in your service to His people?OR are you a rebel who lives for self, serving God when it is convenient, or not too costly?Are you one who, because you have come to understand His mercy to you, is growing in your delight of God’s Word, seeking Him throughout the week, or are you one who merely, out of a sense of obligation, worships and actively seeks Him once or twice a week, and sometimes not even that? Summary / Review:  A Truth to Remember: Our God is a covenant-keeping, promise-keeping God. He does not change and He is never caught off-guard or surprised. So we can put our full confidence in Him. A Challenge to Consider:What promise of God will you remember and live by in the week to come? One thing I heard this morning was…      |

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