Alright, if you will, let's open
to Romans chapter 11. Romans chapter 11. I ask you
Sunday morning, do you have any gripes? Paul is a prisoner in
Christ. What a privilege he considered
it to be a prisoner in Christ. So I ask you this evening, anybody
mad at you? You got any enemies in this world?
or somebody that's troubling you. This may sound odd to most
people, but this time of year can be a very trying time for
believers. As we gather with family during
this time of Christmas, the topic of Christmas comes up, doesn't
it? And we may try to correct some things that other people
say. It offends us. They say some
harsh things. And we may have strife over the
year ending. I've heard people say already,
it's been a hard year. God didn't want these things
to happen. I want to correct that. I have
an instinct. slam my fist down and get a little laptop for my
belly button. I've heard people say before
about hurricanes and fires and all these things. They say, well,
the Lord didn't want that to happen. How is that corrected? The God of heaven and earth controls
all things according to His eternal purpose, according to His wisdom. He sends it. He performs it. If that happens during the holidays,
that may make some waves in the family gene pool. That could
cause a little strife. So how is it a believer should
deal with those that seem to be enemies of them? How do we
deal with our enemies? And those that are outright enemies
of the gospel. What should we do to them? Take
up arms. Let's read our text here in Romans 11, verse 28. Romans 11, 28. As concerning
the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching
the election, they are beloved for the Father's sakes. For the
gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye
in times past have not believed God, yet hath now obtained mercy
through their unbelief, Even so have these also now not believed,
that through your mercy they may also attain mercy. For God
hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon
all." Now in this 11th chapter of Romans, Paul's given a warning,
an admonition to the Gentile believers in Rome. And he's warning
them against pride of grace. against being puffed up. He tells
us about those natural branches being broke off and then grafted
in. Now they had all the promises of God right in front of them
and pictured on top, and they didn't believe. But just because
you believe, the Lord made you to believe. Don't be puffed up.
Don't look down on them. Don't be high-minded. Now these
Gentile brothers and sisters there in Rome, they had some
gripes against the Jews in that day. These brethren that had
Christ revealed in them, they were given some discernment.
And they saw that those benefits that national Israel had, that
physical nation, they had the presence of the Lord with them.
And they had all these types and ceremonies and pictures that
pointed to Christ. They had this plainly in front
of them and they refused it. They turned from God. Nose got a little high, didn't
it? Paul's warned them against that. And now, just like Paul
had many enemies against him in his day, and just as Paul
did when he was Saul, before the Lord did a work in him, those
Pharisees, they made fun of those Gentiles in Rome, they harassed
them, and they killed those that trusted in Christ. They were
enemies. Enemies against them. You and
I, we do not have a Sanhedrin in our day. We don't have a Jewish
Supreme Court that's going against us, coming after us. We don't
have to worry about being stoned going to the grocery store because
we believe Christ. But we do have enemies. There's
unregenerated men and women that cannot stand the sovereign free
grace of God in Christ. They oppose us, they argue with
us, and they'd kill us if they could get away with it. Make
that man stop talking. Hush him up. I don't want to
hear it. Who are these people that we have enemies of? Is it
a big nasty council? Some group somewhere looking
to get us? Not yet. It could be down the
road. There are countries now that
forbid you to believe anything other than what they believe.
If you don't believe what they believe, you run the risk of
being beheaded. I don't want to have a dog in
that fight. It would have to be abundant in grace and mercy
to us to let us weather that trial. But right now in our lives,
and if that day comes when rulers and powers, they openly persecute
the Church of Christ, nothing will be different. The enemies
ain't going to change because they look different. Our enemies
are those in our circle of friends. Our enemies are those that we
work with, those that we care about, those in our own families,
and maybe even those in our own households. It says in verse
28, as concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. What gospel? What are they an
enemy of the gospel of? The gospel of Christ and Him
crucified. An enemy of who Christ is, who
man truly is in our natural birth, why Christ had to come to this
earth and be made of a woman under the law, why He had to
bear our sin in Himself. How He died for our sins and
He rose again. And how this work of salvation
is utterly and totally completed in His person and His work. Good news. You just got a new
heart in you. Well, that's fabulous. That's
good news. Billions of people. Enemies. Can't stand it. Because as concerning the gospel,
they are enemies. Paul and Barnabas were preaching
at Antioch. And they preached to those at that synagogue and
a lot of people come around to hear and they said, can you come
back next week and preach to us again? And they said, we'd
be glad to. And they met back and there was a great multitude
there. And those religious folks, this
wasn't drunken heathens and harlots and lowlifes. People with nice clothes on,
clean-shaven, religious, self-righteous Pharisees, the enemies of the
gospel, of God's grace, and of His people, they were angry. It says in Acts 13, but when
the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, resentment,
bitterness, jealousy. Those people come to hear about
Christ. They're going to hear how a poor, wretched sinner can
stand before a holy God in the only way they can. Envy. And they spake against those
things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. I've experienced that. I preached
the truth of the scriptures concerning the holiness that God requires
to be in His presence, concerning man and our lack of our ability
and our lack of a desire to know God. Across righteousness, His perfect
work for those that were put in Him before time began. How
that particular people are chosen of God, they're loved of Him
before time began in Christ, made holy as Christ is made holy.
and they will never be taken out of his hand. That salvation
is of the Lord in its beginning, and its continuance, and its
culmination, from start to finish, and anywhere in between, salvation's
of the Lord. And those he keeps, he keeps
for eternity. He will not lose one. And I had
a man stand up right after I sat down, and contradicting everything
I said, And he spoke what I consider, and what the Bible says, is blasphemies. And he made eye contact with
me while I did it. What a sad shape. Why? Why was he an enemy? By default, yes, he was an enemy
with me, but because of the gospel, see? I just happened to be there.
The gospel ain't changed. I just happened to be the man
that was there. Turn over to Romans chapter 8. We're going
to try to stay just in Romans tonight. Romans 8. What stirs up this bitterness
and anger in a natural man? It is the truth of what man is
by nature and who God is and what He truly requires. What
He truly requires. It ain't us. He requires His
Son. He requires Christ. Look here
in Romans 8 verse 7. Because the carnal mind is entity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then, they that are in the
flesh, those without God in ourselves, cannot please God. We must be born again. Something
refurbished in this old man of flesh. We must be born again.
We must have a circumcision of the heart that only God can perform.
And we must be made one with Christ or we cannot please God. He must do it. The unregenerated
man in our natural state, they read that and they say, well,
I'm not hostile against God. I'm not at war with God. I'm
not constantly at war with Him. The Word of God says we are. But our sin nature, born of Adam,
it's not subject to the law of God. It's not subject to the
Word of God. It doesn't bow to the Word of
God. Neither indeed can be, unless there's a new heart given. We
read that and say, that's not me. Well, you're telling God
that He's lying. That's what He says. Does that
make you mad? Outside of Christ, you are war
against God. If you disagree with the Word
of God, do you disagree with it or do you bow and say, you're
right Lord, I'm vile. That's all I am. And you just,
knees get weak and your shoulders drop. Left to myself, I cannot
do nothing to be saved and I will not be saved, apart from you. Now back in our text, Romans
11. Everyone born of Adam's corrupt
seed is totally at odds with the Lord of hosts. Why does the
Lord let all the evil against Him and all the evil against
His people take place in this world? Why does the Lord allow
us to have enemies against us? When Adam fell in the garden,
why didn't God just end mankind right there? Wages of sin is
death. Adam sinned against God. Why
didn't God just crush him right then? Stomp out mankind. Stomp
out the human race. For the people in Christ that
he loved, that's why he did it. For their sakes. Look here in
verse 28. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. God's perfect and wise providence,
the turning of the Jews from the Lord, resulted in you and
I having these scriptures right here. They had the Old Testament
scriptures. We didn't. Us Gentile dogs didn't
have nothing. We were just out worshiping cats
and pyramids and everything else. We have the scriptures. We have
preachers of the gospel sent to us after God's own heart to
comfort us, to tell us the truth, instruct us. Because that physical
nation was not allowed or was allowed to stay in their unbelief,
the good news of Christ was sent to me and you. Believer, do you
see that the fall of that political nation was for our sakes? That
was for our benefit. Do you rejoice in that? The Lord
said, I've given nations for you. He didn't say which ones.
For my sake, that was one of them. Right now in our lives
this week, this week, me and you, us. How can those that are
without God in the world, that are our enemies, how can they
be for our sakes? How can that be for our good?
Every trial, every loved one that curses you, every person
that's indifferent and you wish they weren't, it's for your sakes. It's for your good and God's
glory. It's to be instructive. It's to be corrective. And as
the Spirit breaks our heart and points us to Christ, it stirs
up our pure minds and makes us thankful for our mercies given
in Christ that the Lord bestowed on us. How could that be so positive? How could having enemies be such
a good thing? Look here in verse 28. As concerning the gospel,
they are enemies for your sakes, But as touching the election,
they are beloved for the Father's sake. The majority of men and
women that have walked this earth, they walk the earth now and hire
many be to come, the majority of them, they are enemies of
the gospel and they will be until they meet God's throne of judgment.
They'll die at enmity, at war against God. That breaks my heart
sometimes. I'm overwhelmed sometimes when
I think of just the untold number of souls, billions of people
dying that never knew God, or worse thought they did, denying
Christ the whole way. That's hurtful. But for those
that are His elect, those put in Christ in eternity, those
beloved of God, they have been His children whatever state they're
in. If they're enemies, if they're
still in their sins, if they're still dead, or if the Lord's
given them life, or if they're already with Him. They have been
His children, they are His children now, and they will forever be
His children. It says, but as touching the election, they are
beloved. Some enemies we have in this
world, in our homes, wherever they may be, they're beloved
of God. That could be one of the Lord's elect. But it just
said they hated the gospel. How could somebody hate the gospel
and be His? Look at verse 30. For as ye in times past have
not believed God... What's not believing God? That's
hating God. Being at war with Him. Being
enmity towards Him. Yet have now obtained mercy.
Was I ever warring against God? I was. Was I ever indifferent
to the Lord? Take Him or leave Him? Ah, I
worry about that when I'm 30. I wait until I've got life slowed
down some. I've got some living to do. I
worry about it then. Or have I been mad at His providence?
Did God show me mercy when I was in that state? Now, was that
just something that happened 20 years ago? Did that happen
back in 1995 when the Lord taught me His sovereignty and I got
frostbite? That happened this morning. Was
I indifferent to the Lord today? Was I warring against His providence,
His wisdom, today? Do I still war? Am I still indifferent?
My old man is. This flesh that I was born with,
it is. That new man's not. He's thankful every day. That's
why there's a war. That enmity, that war goes on
inside of us. The harshest enemy I have in
this world, you're looking at him. I see him in the morning
every time I shave. That's the worst enemy I've got.
But some read that in Romans 8 that we looked at, and it says
the carnal mind is at enmity against God. They read it that
way. That's true in a sense. A person
born of Adam is at war with God. I can tell you something about
war. War does not just take place on the battlefield. It takes
place while you're sleeping, you're still in it whenever you're
eating dinner, and you're still in it whenever you're playing
a card game. You're still on the same side the whole time.
no matter what you're doing. That's why it says there in Romans
8, the carnal mind is enmity against God. Indifference to
the Word of God is enmity. Well, that's nice. I'm not going
to take a side. I'm just going to remain neutral. Neutral is hostility. We know
that when you walk down the street and you see somebody, some horrible
crime taking place or a building just starting to catch fire full
of babies, and you don't run in there and grab one. That's
picking a side, isn't it? That's being hostile, isn't it?
We know these things and are daily alive, we can see that.
That is where each of Christ's sheep were when he called us
out of darkness into his marvelous light. Every one of us was at
outright war with him 24-7. Through indifference or active,
it didn't make a difference. We were at war with him. Does
that take the steam out of our sails concerning our enemies? Oh, I'm going to get them. What
can I do? I got to think up something. I'm going to go home. I'm going
to study. I'm going to get me some verses. And as soon as they
open their mouth, I'm going to get them. How was I indifferent? How was I indifferent? They could
be proper enemies for eternity, or they could be just like I
was, hating God, hating His people, until the Spirit opened my eyes
and made me see Christ. They could be beloved of God,
and He just hasn't revealed Himself in them yet. It says there in
verse 20, it says, "...concerning the gospel, they are enemies
for your sake, But as touching the election, they are beloved
for the Father's sake, for the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. If they were chosen in Him, God
will not turn from them, no matter what state they are currently."
What are these gifts and calling of God? Turn back to Romans 8
again. We're going to begin in 28 and
go through the end of the chapter. So stay there in Romans for a
bit. We know that our enemies are for our sakes, whether they
are God's elect or whether they are not. Any enemy we have is
for our sakes. And if it's for our sakes, it's
for our good. Then it's a gift of God to us. I pray I'm given the grace to
see that. If I have a trial, if I have somebody that would
Stab me in the parking lot if they can get away with it. And
they just wear on me all day, all week, and just won't let
up. That's a gift of God to me. In His grace, wisdom, and mercy,
He let that happen. For my good, His glory. That's
a gift. Look here in Romans 8, verse
28. And we know that all things What
about enemies? All things. What about traffic
and fires and everything else? All things. We know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. All things in
providence of God and our lives are a gift from Him. Enemies
are a gift for our good and it's on His purpose. We also know
that the gifts and callings of God include everything that He's
blessed us with in Christ before time was. Look there in verse
29. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called,
them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified. What shall we say to these things?
If God be for us, who can be against us? Who is God for? Those that he loved in his son,
those that he justified in his son, and those that he has called
or he will call. That's who he's for. Who can
be against us? What enemy can be not for our
sakes? No one. No one can be. Those that were enmity against
God and He sends the Spirit to work in their hearts, they receive
the gift and calling of Christ Himself. for us and those brethren
we have that yet to be called. Look at verse 32. He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? I've asked before,
I said, Lord, why is this person that's against me allowed to
keep on? Why haven't you removed this problem yet, Lord? It shouldn't
be happening. That's what I'm saying. I know
better, and it shouldn't be happening. I shouldn't have to deal with
this, Lord. He spared not His own Son for me, but delivered
Him up for His elect. How should He not freely give
us all things for our sakes, for our good? He didn't spare
His own Son for me. Whatever He's given me is right,
and it's good, and it's on His purpose. He will provide exceedingly
abundant above and beyond. See, we don't even know what
to pray for. The Lord will provide more than we
ask, won't He? He does it for our good. Who's going to charge
the elect of God? whether they had already been
notified by the Holy Spirit, God's saving grace, or if they've
yet to been born anew in the heart. That's our enemies that
are in Christ and He hasn't revealed Himself to yet. Look here in
verse 33. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The person that cusses
you, the one that's neutral, the one that's indifferent, just
as each child of God once was before our new birth, they just
might be one of His, that He's gifted with eternal salvation.
He's going to call them to eternal life. Now, do I want to be their
enemy? Do I want to be that person's
enemy with my puffed upness, with my pride, What about those
that taught me the gospel? There's a man that spent hundreds
of hours with me, my Sunday school teacher. He was patient to me. And there's a lot of times I
treated him like an enemy. And he was merciful to me. And
he was persistent and consistent. Would I have wanted him to be
like, get rid of him. He ain't worth it. Don't talk
to Him. If our enemies are His, they
receive the gifts and calling of God. Our text says the gifts
and calling of God are without repentance. God will not turn
from those Christ died for, those that have been given that gift,
that eternal hope of our Savior. Look here in verse 35. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, Will those enemies, will those tough
trials separate us from Christ? Or famine, or nakedness, or peril,
or war, or starvation separate us from Christ? As it is written,
for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are counted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature." That pretty well covers it all.
All saying, nothing shall be able to separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate
us from it. When the Holy Spirit calls one
of God's elect out of that enmity, out of that darkness that we're
in by our nature, and He reveals the gifts that are given in Christ
our Redeemer, it is without repentance. The Lord does not turn back on
it. He's eternally saved or eternally saved. Almighty God will not
give life to one of His children, one that Christ died for, that
He loved in Him, and then take it away from them. We cannot
send away grace. We can't be gracious to somebody,
give them a new heart, circumcise their hearts, promise to stay
with them for eternity, and then we do something to make it go
away. But if God has truly been merciful
to us, truly shown us His grace, we have no desire to offend Him.
We don't want to. There's no law that has to be
put underneath there, that's love. We love Him. He gives us that
gift of a contrite heart, doesn't He? Of meekness, kindness to
others and to Him. We bow to Him humbly. And those
gifts, that's without repentance. It doesn't go away. It may flutter.
That old man's going to flare up. He's been around longer. He's had more meals. He's stronger.
But the gifts of God are without repentance. Go back in our text
there, verse 30. Romans 1130. For as ye in times past have
not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their
unbelief. We've retained our mercy because
that political nation had unbelief. They refused to believe God.
And he sent his word to us Gentiles. Even so have these also now not
believed. They don't believe just like
we didn't believe. that through your mercy, they also may obtain
mercy. What mercy do I have to show
to somebody? What mercy do I have to give
to somebody? Only the mercy that the Heavenly Father has shown
me. That's it. Peter asked, how many times do
I have to forgive my brother? He was a Jew. They needed hard lines. They needed rules. Seven times? Seventy times seven. How merciful
has God been to us? Innumerable. Unmeasurable. Abundant mercy. And that's how
the Lord is going to use to spread His Word. I don't have a formula
for you. I don't have a five-point system
to systematic things that you do this step and then do this
step and then you say that. I'll just tell you what mercy
God showed me. And through my mercy, what He's
given to me, He may be merciful to them. Verse 32, For God hath concluded
them all. And in the translation there,
you could change that to us all. God has concluded us all in unbelief. All of His elect, that's where
He found us, in unbelief. That He might have mercy upon
all. How the Lord treated me is how
I pray I'm able to treat those that are my enemies and those
that are the enemies of the gospel that outright say, I hate that
and I can't stand to hear it. I don't want to hear it. I hope
I can be meek. That's against my natural born
nature. Take my belt off, go out and whoop them good. I hope
the Lord will give me meekness. Merciful spirit, as He's been
kind and merciful to me. He said, come let us reason together. Be patient with us. So try to remember, when someone's
in unbelief, and it's an enemy of yours, or an enemy of the
gospel, don't be puffed up. Don't look down on them. As what's
so popular in our culture now, don't cancel them. Don't delete
them out of your life. Don't get rid of them. They just
might be one of God's elect. One of His beloved from before
time in Christ. One that He's going to show the
same mercy He's shown you. Might be one of them. And rejoice
the whole time. Whether they are or they ain't,
we don't know. Rejoice that His gifts and His callings in Christ
are without repentance. The mercy He's shown you will
not diminish. It ain't gonna run out. It ain't
gonna run dry. And it's not gonna get old. It'll
be new every day. So with a thankful heart, be
merciful to your enemies. I pray it's a blessing to you.
Let's pray together.