If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to Romans 9. And you can follow me as well
in your pastor's commentary and outline. Romans 9. The Apostle Paul is closing out
on his ultimate objective of helping his Jewish brethren understand
that God did not fail in any of His promises which He made
His people. He kept every one of them and
is keeping every one of them even to now. The reason why Romans
9 is so difficult for many people is because if we were to extract
one theme running through Romans 9, that would be that God has
a right to do whatever He wants to do, any way He wants to do
it. at any time he wants to do it.
The offense of Romans 9, as we will be working through the closing
verses, is that God has all the rights and mankind has no rights
at all. What makes Romans 9 difficult
for us to receive is that Paul argues brilliantly by the Spirit
of God that you and I have no right to argue with God. At best, we are simply objects
of mercy. This is the problem with Romans
9 for those who struggle with its implications and with its
subject matter. And the Apostle Paul has made
it very clear both in Romans 9 verse 1, 2, and 3 and in Romans
10 verses 1 And two, these are bookends. He lets the church
at Rome know, particularly his Jewish brethren, that his heart
is sincerely desirous for the well-being of his Jewish brethren,
even to the point of sacrificing himself. Let me remind you, he
says in verse 3 of chapter 9, for I could wish myself were
accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the
flesh. That's his heart being laid out before his Jewish brethren
before he masterfully sets forth God's intention in his covenant
of redemption through Jesus Christ for those who are part of that
covenant. And then he closes his argument this way in verse
one. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He wants
it to be clear that as he must recite and rehearse the history
of Israel's failing over and over again, that it's not some
personal anti-Semitic twist on Paul's part, that Paul is not,
as it were, just kind of a perturbed Jew who now wants to get back
at his Jewish brethren. No, he's simply laying out history
in an attempt to defend the character of God. And I told you this a
few weeks ago, largely preaching is not so much about you as it
is about God. And that the proclamation of
the word of God, first and foremost, is designed to exalt and glorify
and defend God for who he is and what he does. When you and
I come under proper biblical teaching, you will notice that
the subject is God. And God will be the one talked
about. God will be the one expounded
and developed. God will be the one defended
by his own word. Teachers who are faithful to
the word of God are merely echoing God's argument for himself in
the scriptures. and the soul that will come up
under the admonition and the reproof of those instructions
will be blessed as we will see hopefully today. As Paul begins
to conclude his argument for God's right in doing as he pleases
at all times, he states plainly that God has an elect people,
both of the Jews and in the Gentiles, of the Gentiles rather, in the
person of Christ whom we have described in Romans chapter 9
as the true Israel of God. For those of you who've been
following us in our studies, I've been pressing home that
Paul has revealed to us in Romans 9, by the Spirit, true Israel,
right? The true Jew. the true people
of God. Those who are not blood descendants
of Abraham, but rather those who trust in Jesus Christ and
are therefore Abraham's seed. Paul maintains that theme all
the way to the end of the chapter. Verse 24 is where we take up
now as he begins his closing argument. He opens up with the
phrase, even us. What is an us? It's a first person
plural. Even us. Who are the us? Jews and Gentiles. Even us. Who are the us? These are the
people of God. These are the true Jews. These
are those who are vessels of mercy. These are those whom God
had called out of darkness into his marvelous light. And if you
guys remember, the whole of Romans 9 is precipitated upon the promise
of Romans 8, verse 28. for all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according
to his purpose. That is the thematic principle
that precipitates the rest of the argument. When a person can
get a handle on that true, that enormous true, then everything
that's going on in the world fits with inside that promise. And then we begin to work out
the difficulties of life in light of this promise. Everything is
working together for good to them that what? Love God. And
I've shared with you before, everything does not work together
for good to everyone, but only to those that love God. to those
that are thee called That's an adjective thee called according
to the purpose of God and then God God through Paul begins to
work out the doctrine of election and predestination and justification
and glorification and then he argues it from the history of
Israel and what Paul has to do is take up the anticipated question
of the Did God's promises fail since Israel so have so miserably
have failed on their own? What Paul is teaching is no God's
promises have not failed Yes, Israel is outside of covenant.
Yes. Israel is devastated Yes, Israel
has been under the judgment of God according to covenant over
and over and over and over again But what you must understand
is the Israel that you and I look at is not the Israel of God The
Israel of God have always borne certain characteristics and certain
attributes from the beginning of time. The Israel of God have
always been the people who have believed the gospel. The Israel
of God have always been the people who have believed the gospel.
It doesn't matter what epoch or era of time it is. Abel was
an Israelite. Noah was an Israelite. Enoch
was an Israelite. Abraham was an Israelite Isaac
and Jacob were Israelites. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? And among the twelve tribes There were many true Israelites
a true Jew is one inwardly not outwardly Whose circumcision
is of the heart not of the flesh. You cannot identify a Jew by
your eyesight you can only identify a Jew by faith and that men or
women or people group who truly believe on Christ are the true
Jews. Have I not argued that point
sufficiently over the last several weeks? And this is designed to
shift your understanding so that when you read scripture, you
can enjoy apostolic teaching as it resolves for many people
the tension of who a true Jew is. He gets now down to verse
24 as we open up our consideration now of how to sort of tie together
God's prophetic objective. He says in verse 24, even us
whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Do you recall last week, brethren,
how that we went through the history of Israel's being called
out of Egypt, right? And how that as I concluded my
message, I shared with you that God in his prophetic objective
allowed Gentiles to come out with the Jews. under the blood
of Christ, and so be part of the picture of what true Israel
is about, Jew and Gentile. You guys remember that? And that
pattern carries itself all the way through the scriptures, i.e. there is no such thing as a pure
genetic blood Jew, because there has always been a mixture of
Jew and Gentile all throughout the lineage of Israel. In the
life of Moses, he marries a Gentile. In the life of Joseph, he marries
a Gentile. In the life of Judah, he has
a Gentile. Tamar as part of the lineage
by which the Messiah came. Ruth the Moabitess, we've talked
about that. Rahab the harlot. Matthew chapter
1 clearly demolishes the notion that a Jew is a pure blood descendant
of Abraham, but rather a continual mixture of both Jew and Gentile.
but really only those who are believers in Christ. Are you
guys following the argument? This maintains clarity and coherence
in the New Testament. I'm going to prove that in a
minute for those of you who are. If you are intentional as a Christian.
Then you want to make sure that your belief system corresponds
with what the Bible teaches. You have no right to hold to
any view. if that view doesn't correspond and explicitly is
affirmed by the teaching of scripture. Is that true? Doesn't matter
how popular the cultural trend is on a subject, if it doesn't
correspond to the Word of God, you have no authority to embrace
it. And what Paul does here is he lays out in a fascinating
hermeneutical twist that's unique to apostolic doctrine. I'll talk
about this in a moment under our first point. The calling
of true Israel, Paul's argument for God not failing. The calling
of true Israel, which is what I basically and in large developed
in my opening commentary. But let's just deal briefly with
point number one. The calling of true Israel, Paul's
argument for God not failing, God not failing. He says in verse
24, I will call them my people. Look at what he says in verse
25, I'm sorry. And as he said also in Hosea, I will call them
what? My people, which were not my
people, and her beloved, which was not my beloved. Now, saints,
didn't I tell you last week that came out of Hosea chapter 1 verse
10? Didn't I tell you that contextually? Hosea chapter 1 verse 10 is Hosea
admonishing the ten northern tribes, that is Israel, for their
idolatry and rebellion against God, for which God removed the
ten northern tribes under the Assyrian army. And so, effectively,
they were outside of covenant. And when you and I are outside
of covenant, we are not a people. We are not a people. You are
only a people when you are part of a covenant that has its mandates
and its promises and its stipulations and its blessings. For God, He
does not recognize human beings as His people unless they are
in covenant with Him. Israel was removed from the covenant
blessings and thus called by God the ten northern tribes as
not a people. He told Hosea to acknowledge
them as not a people. Not a people so long as you and
I are not saved so long as you and I are not trusting in Christ
We might be a people but to God we are not a people and in fact
the Gentiles were viewed as not a people until the prophecy of
Hosea chapter 2 verse 22 and 23 when that prophecy by Paul
is being used to anticipate the bringing in of the Gentiles into
the new covenant. Are you guys hearing me? Mark
this then when he uses this language as he says also in Hosea, I will
call them my people which were not my people. The context is
verse 24, Jew and Gentile and her beloved which was not beloved. An amazing, an amazing proposition. One day you're not God's people,
the next day you are. One day you're not beloved, and
the next day you're beloved. How can that be except in Christ? Look at verse 26. Then he says
these words, and it shall come to pass that in the place where
it was said unto them, you are not my people. Hosea chapter
2 verse 22 through 24. You are not my people. Now that's
fascinating. Because this affirms what our
elder was teaching this morning about the old covenant. It was
conditional. Do not believe that the old covenant
was an unconditional covenant. The only covenant that's unconditional,
in any sense in which it is unconditional, is the covenant of grace and
redemption. The new covenant into which all of God's elect
were a part of, having been chosen in Christ. Am I making some sense?
We call it in scripture, the gospel. It's the gospel because
God in his mercy and grace chose you in Christ, having nothing
to do with you. It's the gospel because God has
chosen to save you with an infallible salvation through the work of
Christ and by the power of the spirit. To me, that's good news.
I don't know about you. It's good news when by nature,
I'm not a people of God. When by nature, I'm not loved
of God, but because I'm in Christ, God both calls me his people
and he loves me with an everlasting love. Is that good news? That's
good news. He says and it shall come to
pass in the place where it was said unto them. You are not my
people They shall be called the what? Children of the Living
God. I want you to mark the word called
Because it goes back to Romans 8 28 All things work together for
good to them that love God to them that are the called You
mean pastor my fallen Adam work together for good. Yes, I You
mean me being born in sin and trespasses works together for
good? Yes. You mean me living in rebellion
and obstinacy against God until the day he saved me? Yes. You
mean Christ assuming a human nature, living a perfect life,
dying on the cross for my sin was good? Yes. All of this is
the work of God to get glory to himself for who he is and
how he saves. You guys learned last week Our
theology is radically cross-centered because that's the only way you
can truly know God in all of his attributes We love to take
parts of God and make them the whole But you better take all
of God if you want God see if you want God you got to accept
him as a God that is holy enough to send you to hell and Gracious
enough to find a way to get you into his presence so our God
is both a wrathful and merciful He is both just and kind he is
both Judicious in his punishing of sin, but he's also long-suffering
in the saving of sinners. Is that true? That's the God
we serve. That's the God we love. That's
the God we believe That's the God we preach and this God sits
on his throne and runs this universe. We're in with all this crazy
mess going on That we can't quite put together But see, we can
hang on Romans 8, 28 and go for the ride knowing that God's on
the throne. Is that true? And it's going
to all work out, isn't it? The mess we are in is going to
work out. Otherwise, people like Joseph
would have never been able to endure the hell he went through
before God exalted him to the right hand of Egypt. So it is
with you and I and what Paul is doing in Romans chapter 9
is making it clear God didn't fail. Israel might have failed,
but not God. And the true Israel never fails
because the man or the woman that puts their trust in Christ
will never be ashamed as we will see in the closing of our messages. Going back then to our first
point, I want to just run through the list for you mentally and
share an observation One the lines of biblical interpretation
before I run through the rest of my points First of all, he
calls them my people my beloved who are they Jew and Gentile?
They are the called those who are given ears to hear and hearts
to respond to the gospel The called and then he calls them
the children of the Living God. I like that You know what? That
means God delivered us from idols dead idols which we bow down
and worship that could not see nor hear nor speak nor do good
or evil. And what the Bible says is when
you worship idols, you are just like them. And that makes all
the sense in the world, because when you and I worship idols
being dead themselves, it is only affirming that you and I
are dead spiritually. And the Bible tells us that,
isn't it true? We are dead in trespasses and sins. We are dead
spiritually to God. And therefore we don't know God.
We can't respond to God until he comes in grace and gives us
life. Now he calls you the children
of the living God. Implication, you are alive. God doesn't dwell with dead things.
He's not the God of the dead. He's the God of the living. If
you and I are children of the living God, it's because we are
alive in Christ, and we are adopted in the beloved, and God views
us as his people, and we are under covenant blessings, and
we are headed to glory, just like Romans 8, 28 through 31
plainly says. So now let me mark a point for
those of you who are Bible students and really want to get a handle
on biblical hermeneutics. Beware of hyper contextualization. Beware of hyper-contextualization. That is, overdoing the historical
context at the expense of the larger scriptural text. Beware
of being bent on a hermeneutical design that says, well, this
is the Old Testament, and this is the way this was understood
at this time, and you can't actually see anything larger than the
historical narrative or the cultural elements implied. Beware of being
bound by the mere historical and cultural context, because
the New Testament writers always leaped up out of the historical
context and brought its reality and fulfillment into Jesus Christ. This is the superiority of the
New Testament theology. And if you and I should fail
to understand that all the scriptures, every one of them, in some way
or another point to Jesus Christ, you will have a lopsided Bible.
filled with all kinds of fragmented pieces that make no sense because
the coherence and clarity and continuity of all scripture is
in Jesus Christ. Why does Paul have a right to
take Hosea chapter 1 and Hosea chapter 2 and apply it to the
Gentiles? Because Paul knows that the true
Israelite, the true Jew, is one man. His name is Jesus Christ.
He's the true Jew. According to the prophet Zechariah,
one man. shall walk, being called a Jew,
of which ten men shall grab ahold to his skirt and say, we're going
to follow you because we know that God is with you. Who is
that Jew? That Jew is Jesus Christ. What
Paul does with that theology then is bring it into its reality
and fulfillment in the New Testament church, i.e., Judaism and Israelism
has its reality only in the church of Jesus Christ, who is the head,
the true Jew, The true son of Abraham, the true son of David
and everyone in Christ is an adopted son or daughter through
him. We are more Israelites than those
blood descended Jews in the Middle East right now. Are you guys
hearing what I'm saying? Now watch this. I know this hurts
because this is radical theology over against the trend of our
culture today. This is radical theology. But
you have to lose all of the New Testament if you over-contextualize
the Scriptures. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? Apostolic doctrine does not allow you to over-contextualize
the Scripture, or else we have multitudes of verses in the New
Testament where the Apostle Paul takes accounts like the Genesis
account, where God creates the heavens and the earth. And he
declares the light to shine out of darkness and divide the day
from the night. And he immediately makes an application
to the work of regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost,
piercing the dark hearts of men, causing the light of the gospel
of the glory of God to shine in the dark hearts of men. implying
and inferring you and I are new creations of God. As God created
the physical heavens and earth, so God is recreating a people
for himself. If any man be in Christ Jesus,
he's a what? All things, old things have passed
away, all things have become what? Right. So Paul uses a Christocentric
hermeneutic. to exalt God and to glorify Christ
and to bring the gospel to sinners through the Old Testament. I
assert unto you, until you are doing that with your Bible, you're
going to always be in danger of what we are headed to in our
text. Are you ready? Being offended by the gospel. Being offended by the gospel. So the title of my message today
is the offense. of the gospel, the offense of
the gospel. If your hermeneutics, if your
biblical method of interpretation does not start with God, end
in Christ, the gospel is going to offend you. And the scriptures
are going to offend you too. They're going to cause you to
stumble. They're going to cause you to miss glory. They're going
to cause you to miss the mind of God. They're going to cause
you to struggle. And we're going to work through
why people struggle over the gospel. Isn't that an oxymoron?
You guys got the title in your outline, right? The offense of
the gospel. Isn't that oxymoronic? Isn't
that paradoxical? How can good news be offensive? But it's true. And as the apostle
Paul closes out his argument, he warns us of it. Let's deal
with our second point quickly. A remnant of Jews preserved in
mercy. Here's what he says in verse
26 and following. It shall come to pass that in the place where
it was said unto them, I'm sorry, verse 27, Isaiah said, Isaiah
is also crying out concerning Israel says, though the number
of the children of Israel be as the sands of the sea, a remnant
shall be what? Now I want you to get that. Paul's
theology around Israel is this. From its inception, to the final
state of all things, the only people that will ever be saved
in Israel are the remnant. Now remnant theology is a theology
you need to get because in reality all of God's elect are the remnant
out of all of the masses of the world. God always chooses out
of the many a few. Many are called what? Few are
chosen. So the remnant theology always
applies to God's elect on two wives, a small portion taken
out of the masses and that which is the last out of the whole
of the process. Remember, the first shall be
what? And the last shall be what? That's remnant theology and it
runs all the way through the Bible. The remnant is the part
that the common man, the natural man, the carnal man throws away.
That's the part that God loves. See, and we get ready to get
into the nature of the offense in a moment. But what God does
is he comes looking for the leftovers. And he sees whether or not the
leftovers are willing to recognize that he's a God of mercy. Because
the rest of the mass is really going to work this thing out
on their own. But God will only have the remnant. And if you're
willing to acknowledge that you're nothing but a remnant piece of
garment, that all by yourself have no shape or form or purpose,
but a God who is masterful in his design can take remnant cloth
and make a magnificent garment out of it, even the garments
of salvation, the robe of righteousness for his people, then you can
be part of the kingdom of God. Otherwise, you got to hang out
with the bulk and be thrown in the dumpster until the last day
when God burns it all up. Simply because they were offended
at the ways of God Under our second point then I want to affirm
the Apostles argument of the remnant of his Jewish brethren
see in Paul's mind He is fully aware that his Jewish brethren
are struggling with his theology now We read in Romans 11 verses
1 through 5 these words. I say then have God cast away
his people God forbid. I For I am also an Israelite. He's arguing that God has in
wholesale cast out every one of them or else Paul would have
not been saved, right? Of the seed of Abraham, of the
tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people which he
what? That's the word you circle. That's
the distinction between the elect and non-elect. That's the grounds
upon which God smiles on some and leaves others to their own
devices. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. That goes back to Romans 8.30,
right? Those whom he foreknew, he did also predestinate. Those
he predestinated, he also called. Those he called, he also justified.
Those he justified, he also glorified. It's all in the past tense. With
God, every one of us are already glorified who trust in Christ.
Are y'all with me? Now watch how he argues this.
He says over in verse 2, God has not cast away his people
whom he foreknew. Do you not know that the scripture
said in Elias how he maketh intercession to God against Israel? Saying,
Lord, they, this is the Jews, have killed your prophets, dig
down your altars, and I am left alone and they are seeking my
life. He was telling the truth about his experience. Jezebel
and Ahab were going after Elijah, were they not? Verse three, verse
four. But what said the answer of God
to him? Now I want you to mark this,
saints, because this is Paul's caveat. I have reserved to myself
7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal to the image
of Baal. Do you see that? I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. I
want you to get this. I want you to get this. All of Israel in the days of
Ahab is going to apostate. There are very few faithful gospel
preachers in the land. Micaiah was one, Elijah was another,
Obadiah was another. The vast majority were false
prophets preaching a man-centered gospel of humanism and works. They were idolaters. Ahab's wife
Jezebel had 450 prophets of Jezebel sitting at her table, and there
were 400 prophets of Baal in the land. Can you imagine the
ratio? One faithful gospel preacher
to 950 crooks. This is what I warn my present
generation about in terms of their ignorance of what they
constitute faithful preaching. Do you know when you are hearing
the gospel and not? Do you know when the main ingredient
in the gumbo is missing? Do you know when you listen to
preaching? where that preaching is conspicuously
absent of the glory of God in Christ and simply designed to
make you feel good. And you go away saying, that
was good, but it wasn't God. And because it wasn't God, it
wasn't good. See, my generation is ignorant
of the gospel, so ignorant of the gospel, they don't know they're
not hearing the gospel when they're sitting under preaching. Because
faithful preaching has been monopolized by a compromised gospel so long
that they're used to going to a church that says it's a church
of God and Christ, and Christ is never taught. I remember the
story of the little boy who used to go to church with his daddy
every week, and he would say, Daddy, Daddy, These people keep
talking about this man named Jesus, but I've been coming to
church for seven years with you and Jesus ain't never showed
up. That's just about right. That's just about right. You
know, the little boy sitting there and his wheels started
spinning in his face. He goes, you know, they've been talking
about Jesus for a long time, but I ain't seen Jesus walk through
the door in all of the seven years that I've been here. And
fundamentally, most of our preaching is just like that. The very person
who is supposed to be the head of the church, which is where
we're going, the foundation of the church, is not the center
of the message of the preaching. That cornerstone has been removed.
That foundation stone has been removed. You know what God sees?
A crumbling house. Because Christ is not the subject.
And when you go to church week in and week out, month in and
month out, and year in and year out, and you don't worship Christ,
You don't worship God in Christ. You don't hear Christ preached,
taught, and glorified. And you don't ask the question,
where is Jesus? You are in trouble spiritually. Because the very reason for which
we are saved is to worship God in Christ. I told my guys last
night, I got a little word called widget. You can write this down,
W-I-J-I-I-T. W-I-J-I-I-T. It's called the
widget. Whenever you go into a church,
applaud the widget standard to it. While you're sitting there
20 minutes into the message, ask the question, where is Jesus
in it? Let me go on to my next point. A remnant of the Jews preserved
in mercy, Paul is arguing that God's always going to have a
people. Verse five. Even so, then, at this present
time, Also, there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. Does God always have a remnant? Is it according to election?
Is it according to the election of grace or works? And if it's
by grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it is no more grace. Otherwise,
work is no more work. You know what he's arguing? If
you're saved, you are a vessel of mercy. You have no mandates
on God. You are an object of grace. And
he's already implied that God will always have a remnant Jews
with him. We'll deal with this more fully
in the 11th chapter when we get there after the new year. Second
proposition under point number two a remnant of Jews preserved
in mercy. This is Paul's argument But the prophecy of a remnant
of Jews, I wish I had time I don't to take you to seven passages
around God's view of the true Jew but I want you to see what
Jeremiah chapter 50 verse 20 says because Jeremiah 50 20 is
has to do with Israel going into Babylonian captivity, being devastated
as a nation because of their continual and unending rebellion
against God and idolatry. And the covenant curse of Deuteronomy
28 is coming to pass. A people with another tongue,
stammering lips and another tongue, will I judge this nation? I will
drive them out of my land, send them to the four corners of the
heaven. Because they have rebelled against
my covenant and I've shared with you many times before as you
and I understand the three major Paradigms are three major covenant
models father son King servant husband and wife Old Testament
Israel was typologically married to the father and what God finally
did was divorce her and send her out of his house because
of her uncleanness and Now when Israel is removed from Palestine
into Babylon, it means God has given her papers of divorcement
and sent her away because of her uncleanness. This is where
we are in Jeremiah chapter 50 and yet watch what God says here.
In those days and at that time, said the Lord, the iniquity of
Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. How can
that be? It can only be as you and I look
to the crosswork of Jesus and sees that the iniquity of those
who are true Israelites are put away by the blood and righteousness
of Christ. The only way a person can look
for your sin and not find it is if your sin is hid in Christ. This is God's prophetic word
for the true Israel of God. Do you notice then that God has
always had a very secure and a very calm and a very stable
view of his elect no matter what was going on in the world? Listen
to what he says. The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for and there shall be none. The sins of Judah and
they shall not be found. Watch this. For I will pardon
them whom I reserve. Election. Election according
to grace. God choosing you in Christ, dealing
with your sin in such a way that there is forever no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit. Remember, no condemnation, no
accusation, no separation. That's God's decree in eternity
past and eternity future for all of the true Israel of God.
If you're a child of God, this is an immutable promise to you. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? All right, let's go to work. Point number three, let's keep
going. Point number three then, he delineates in Romans chapter
nine, the wonders of the Gentile salvation. He closes out Romans
nine by helping you and me understand that God was exceedingly gracious
to us Gentiles. I know he was to me. And this
statement is going to help us get our theology right again
around how we came to know Christ This is gonna help us real quick
One of the things we do here at grace if you haven't been
there for a while is we help you Rearrange your conversation
so that your conversation becomes the conversation of the gospel
We help you rephrase your prepositional terms and your pronouns. We help you take the big I of
self out and put the big I of God in. We help you understand
that the verbal aspects of biblical imperatives, the word, is the
work that God does for you, not you for God. We help you learn
how to give God glory with your words. Because in this present
church age, folk constantly talk as if they had something to do
with their salvation. Either starting it, sustaining
it, or finishing it. And nothing could be further
from the truth. You don't contribute to your
salvation one bit. If God looked for you to bring
something to the table, the only thing you could bring is your
sin. Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? It's very important
for you to know that. So at our church and among those
who hear us, we help them reframe their language so that it corresponds
to what the scriptures say. And the scriptures are clear.
We'll see this here in a moment. Under our third proposition that
he delineates clearly the wonders of Gentile salvation. Notice
what he says over in verse 30. Watch the scripture now. What
shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness
have attained to righteousness even the righteousness which
is what? This you need to be scratching
your head right now because the Apostle Paul is a theologian
per excellence and the way he framed verse 30 is as if you
and I stumble on grace. Now I'm being very passive here,
because the reality is, not only did we stumble on grace, because
we weren't looking for it in the first place, we were headlong
in the opposite direction, worshiping idols, living and walking in
darkness, abandoning any notion of submitting to the children
of the living God, and the next thing we know, we are the children
of the living God. Doesn't that feel good? Doesn't
that feel good? How is it that I'm in the kingdom, rejoicing
in Christ, giving God glory when I was a hell-bound sinner, giving
to my lust, loving every moment of it, worshiping idols, drinking
iniquity like water from the soles of my feet to the crown
of my head. I was a walking contradiction. But God, Right? So you know this is the case.
And what Paul is doing in verse 30 is helping the Gentiles understand
that the totality of their salvation was an act of grace on God's
part to come get them and bring them to himself. Because they
weren't even following after righteousness. You know how some
of us did it. I would waste the next 20 minutes
and I promised I wanted to get done in 20 minutes talking about
how I schemed and planned on how I was going to get rich and
live large and do life and avoid all the traps and the gins and
the snares of my previous generation. You know how we did it growing
up in the hood? Pole broke, robbing Peter to pay Paul, doing whatever
we could to buy some Converse. and some Nike outfits, and we
were swearing we weren't gonna be like our partners, be like
our mama, be like our daddy, be like them. Remember that?
And so we set out on our own agenda to build our mansion. It was nothing but an idol, and
God wasn't in it at all. We were doing our own thing,
and then God came along. Did he come along? And God came
along. God came along and kept the props
out from under us, And he caused all of our plans and schemes
to fall apart. And then he allowed us to get
mad and angry at him like it was his fault. And then we resolved
to work harder and harder and harder. That's Malachi chapter
1. When God had said to Israel,
I love you, I hated Esau. And the reason I hated Esau was
because when I knocked Esau's props from under him, you know
what he did? Rather than humble himself before
God, he said, I will rebuild. I will reestablish my plan. I
will. I will. I'll rise up on my feet. I'll pull myself up by my own
bootstraps. I'll get this thing done. God
hates the free will of man. He hates the pompous notion that
you can move one iota in your own strength. Are you hearing
me? I just want you to get this now.
You didn't make a decision for Jesus. He made a decision for
you. You didn't come to Christ. He came to you. You didn't change
your own heart. You didn't make yourself born
again. You didn't open your eyes. You didn't open your ears. You
didn't enlarge your heart. That was a work of sovereign
grace. Am I telling the truth? That
was a work of sovereign grace. I can talk about it. I know I'm
sharing testimonies with a lot of y'all. Y'all remember that
moment Jesus showed up, right? Smashed all your plans, but he
didn't go nowhere. He stood there and told you,
now I'm going to fix everything here. And when I'm done, you're
going to give me the glory for it all. That's exactly how he did it.
That's how he did it. And that's how he's doing it
now. Pastor, Pastor, I don't know what to do. My son in prison
now. Good! Christ owns the prison. Do you know how many brothers
we got in prison preaching the gospel? Your knucklehead son
and your knucklehead daughter would not hear the gospel free
now they go hear it in prison. All things work together for
good to them that love God. Pastor, my son is at John George. Good. The gospel's at John George
too. We got ministry at John George
too for crazy folk. By the way, we all crazy until
God gives you a new mind in Christ. Pastor, my daughter done ran
away and I don't know where she is. Good. God knows exactly where
she is. The Lord we serve don't sleep.
He don't slumber. He sees everything. The eyes
of the Lord run to and fro on the behalf of them with whom
he has to do. He knows where your daughter
is. He knows where your son is. Every pit, every pit where in
sinners are, God Almighty knows how to send one of his servants
to go get them. What shall we say then that the
Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained
unto the righteousness, even the righteousness of faith? That's
true. And then Mark, what he goes on to say, because this
is the tragic failure of the nation of Israel in verse 31.
But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained the law of righteousness. What are you talking about, pastor?
When God heaped upon Israel the covenant, he told them, if you
keep these rules and regulations, you'll be my people. You know
what we call that? A conditional covenant. Isn't
that right? And you know what Israel said?
Oh, we'll do it. You know what God said to Moses?
Come here, Moses. I want to whisper something in your ear. He said
to Moses, I wish that there was a heart in them to obey me. But as soon as you leave, these
people are going to go a whoring from me. Moses, I promise you
that. See, God knows us. He knows that
you and me, us, cannot of our own self keep God's commandments.
And frequently when we say we will, we're lying. Just to get back at your little
willer, your little willer. I will. No, you won't. You don't
even really mean that. But in your pride and in your
ignorance, you don't realize that God has always called for
this condition in a relationship with him, that you must humble
yourself and acknowledge that you have no strength at all.
Until you start there, you can't have a walk with God. See, God
has to be your total help. You're not going to help him.
Are you hearing me? God's not the pilot and you're
the co-pilot. God's the pilot and he don't
need a co-pilot. You can sit down and enjoy the
ride, but you're not helping God go nowhere. Do you understand
that? And much of religion today has
a pilot, co-pilot paradigm around salvation. God does his part,
you do your part. Didn't that make reasonable sense?
Yes, but it's not biblical sense. So get rid of your reasonable
sense and get biblical sense. God has to do it all. And this
is what Paul is arguing about Israel. And this moves us into
our final three points, which are so critically important.
Under point number three, he delineates clearly the wonders
of Gentile salvation, shows the tragic failure of Jews who followed
and then failed, and then he gives us both the reason and
cause of their failure, verse 32 and verse 33. Wherefore did
they fall? Why? That should be translated,
why did they fail to attain to the righteousness of God? Because
they sought it, not by what? But as it were, by the works
of the law, For they stumbled at the stumbling stone. As it
is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a
rock of offense. Whosoever believes on him shall
not be ashamed. We've got to do some work right
here to help you understand that this final conclusion and observation
about Israel is a larger paradigmatic of where we are in our culture
today. See, either you believe the gospel or you don't. Either
you trust in Jesus Christ exclusively or you don't. You may be religious
or non-religious, but everybody is doing something to try to
get ready for a right with God. The gospel comes to you and the
gospel comes to me. And the question you have to
ask is, have you rejected the gospel and tried to get right
with God by something you do? Now we're getting ready to test
that because I know right now in the house y'all quickly said
no pastor no I'm just trusting Jesus. We're getting ready to
see. We're getting ready to see. Now I've already told you an
honest person not going to hell. Have you heard me say that? I've
said it many many times. See what God wants from you is
honesty. Now here's an honest question. Even after you have
heard the propositions of the gospel and you shouted hallelujah
and sweated and everything about free grace Have you not struggled
with bringing your own good works to God? As a means for acceptance
with God Have you not struggled with certain little legalistic
things to try to secure your conscience? Your peace with God
haven't you fallen prey to some of the traps in religion about
giving and tithing? and speaking in tongues and being
baptized and baptizing Jesus' name and Sabbath keeping and
whatever religious iconery and traditions and conditions they
are offering you so that you can get more secure with God.
Haven't we done it? And that's because we are inalienably
driven. We are driven by trying to secure
our walk with God based on something we do. Here's the warning then.
You can hear the gospel and you can still be driven to reject
the gospel anywhere along the way. So long as the gospel is
not free to continue to knock those props out from under you
and return you to the basic truth of salvation, that salvation
is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, apart
from works. Are you guys hearing me? See,
every safe center says that at the beginning of their salvation,
throughout the process of their salvation, and when they enter
into the gates of glory, they jump in, hollering and shouting,
by grace alone. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
But God has to teach you that throughout the process of sanctification.
So then let's go to work just a little bit and understand something
awful about what Paul is stating here. The offense of the gospel,
point number four, the offense of the gospel is the person and
work of Jesus Christ. Do you see that? The offense
of the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. I'm not
going to expand this at length, but I want you to think about
the proposition. The reason why there's so little preaching of
Christ is because faithful proclamation of the person and work of Christ
offends you. Because There is so little preaching in our present
generation about the person of Jesus Christ and the work of
Jesus Christ implies that the preacher knows that if you preach
Christ faithfully, you're going to offend people. This is true.
This is true. And I'm going to show you how
that the whole of scripture anticipates him being an offense to us. Okay,
then under our first point, I want you to consider with me now Luke
chapter 7 verse 23. You can pull that up. This is
the time in which John the Baptist, his cousin, six months older
than him, is in prison. John has preached. John has warned
people to flee from the wrath to come. Many have come to the
waters of baptism for John. And now John is about to be beheaded
for his fateful warning, even of Herod, that he should abandon
his adultery because of its sin and rebellion against God. He's
in jail to be beheaded. But he's raising the question
now, right? Are you the Messiah? Or do we
look for another? He's human just like you and
me. Do you know when you get in trouble, you start doubting? All I need is one witness in
the house. The rest of y'all, we gonna pray for y'all. This
is John the Baptist. He's human. God can handle our
doubts. I'm gonna show you that at the
end of the sermon. So the question was raised, are you the Messiah?
And Jesus said, go back and tell my cousin John. The dead are
being raised, the eyes are being opened, the lame are being healed,
and the poor are having the gospel preached unto them. And here
is the warning of Jesus to everyone. Watch this now. And blessed is
he whosoever shall not be what? Offended in me. Christ knew that
everything about him was offensive to the natural man. Christ knew
that everything about him was offensive to the natural man.
Point number one, it's offensive for God to say, I'm God alone. The natural man will not have
a monotheistic God. Why? Because he wants a God of
his own choosing. It's offensive for God to say, the only way
you can be right with me is through my son. Why? Because men want
their own way of getting right with God. It's offensive the
manner in which God saves sinners by sending his son to assume
a human nature. And he was born in the hood.
Why wasn't he born in Beverly Hills? See, the way God works
offends people. Are you hearing me? Christ was
said by Simeon in the gospel of Luke and this child will be
for the rise and fall of many in Israel and his name will be
spoken against everywhere. Why? Because the way God works
humbles sinners. Everything about Jesus is humbling. We can't get with a man who is
born in a stable with animals. being the king of Israel and
the king of glory. See, that stretch between who he says he
is and how he came into the world is too hard for many of us. Are
you guys understanding what I'm saying? And so we can't understand
a man who calls himself God, allowing himself to be spit on
and smitten and afflicted by Gentiles, mere human beings,
and then crucified on a cross. The cross was an offense to the
Jews and the Gentiles because that meant you were a, you were
a malefactor. You were a criminal. You were
the lowest of society. You were the scum of the earth,
which is exactly what Jesus said he was in Psalm 22, hanging on
the cross. I'm less than a worm. This less
than a worm man offends us in the dignity of our arrogant pride. The idea that we would associate
with a person who has been rejected by everybody, by the elite, by
the echelon, by the wise, by the prudent, by the powerful.
Here you and I are wondering and contemplating, could he really
be the one that saved my soul? Well, if you look with eyes of
sight, you're going to struggle. If you and I don't believe the
testimony of scripture, we might very well reject him. Is that
true? That everything about Christ, everything about Christ, quickly
then under point number four, here it is. He, the offense of
the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. His person
is offensive because he is the sole exclusive means to God. You guys got that? I am the way,
the truth and the life. No one comes unto the father
but by me. This is going to be the biggest
battle of faithful proclamation in this world. See, in our generation,
you can have Jesus so long as you are not implying that Jesus
is the only way to God. They'll let you have Jesus so
long as you let them have their gods to be equal with Jesus. The moment you say Jesus alone,
by inference, you are telling people every other way is wrong. Now you're waging a battle against
them, are you not? That's offensive. Secondly, his
work is offensive because it is a rejection of all human effort. The work of Jesus Christ which
God the Father had assigned him was to obtain an eternal redemption
for us by his perfect obedience and by his perfect death on Calvary
Street the merits of which accrued for everyone who will enter into
glory a perfect spotless obedience of righteousness of which God
the Father now views you just as righteous as Christ is. Which
means you and I cannot offer to God anything to add to what
Christ did to make ourselves acceptable with God. See the
problem? See the problem? It's either
Christ or not. The problem is the moment that
you and I are told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we
have to reject all of our works. So the Bible is very clear. Is
it not in Galatians chapter 2 16 by the works of the law? No flesh
shall be glorified in the sight of God for it is evident that
the just shall live by what and then again Titus chapter 3 verse
5 You should learn these verses by heart not by works of righteousness,
which we have done But by his mercy hath he saved us not by
words of righteousness Which we have done see every vessel
of mercy believes what I'm talking about Not by words of righteousness,
which we have done. Do you know that statement alone
puts you over against most religions in the world? Catholicism, even
the evangelical church and Protestant churches, while they will give
a little sort of glimpse of free grace or grace, they still have
things you have to do to get right with God. What the gospel
does is it demolishes all ways to God but Christ. And it liberates
you and me from systems and institutions and people and shuts us up to
God alone Am I making some sense? And and this is the battle that
we will always be fighting. All right, then point number
five I want to quickly move to point number five God purposely
made Christ a stumbling stone This is crazy But I want you
to see it The very Christ that we're saying by nature is an
offense to people God made him that way the father intentionally
place Christ into this world to become a stone of stumbling.
Paul quotes it in our text. I want you to see it in our text,
and then I'm going to explain it to you. Verse 31, verse 32. Wherefore, because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for
they stumbled at the what? He makes an assumption that his
argument for the person and work of Christ can be comprehended
by this appellation, stumbling stone. But you and I don't know
what a stumbling stone is, of which I'm getting ready to explain.
It's another name for Jesus, the stumbling stone. It's another
name for Jesus. Listen to what he says in verse
33. Here's what he says. As it is written, behold, I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone. Who lays it? The Father does. Where does he lay it? In the
church. What does he lay? Christ. Who lays it? The Father does. Where does he
lay it? In Zion. What does he lay? Christ. What is Christ? A stumbling stone. Let me help you with the concept
of a stumbling stone. It's in your point. A stumbling stone
is any obstacle that's put in your way to cause you to stumble. Did you get that? That's government
school explanation of terms. In theology, we call it tautology.
It's saying the same thing over just a few other words. A stumbling
stone is anything that you put in a person's way to cause them
to stumble. Stay with me now. If you missed
this part, my sermon was useless to you. It was useless to you. God puts things in people's way. And he puts things in people's
way so that they have to deal with God. I want you to hear
me now. Can I run with this for a minute?
God puts things in people's way. Because see, we've all turned
to our own way. And if we had our own way, we
would never run into God. We would just do life without
God. We wouldn't allow difficulties or troubles or stresses or pains
or trials in our life. We would carve out a smooth road
to glory. Ourselves, but if we were to
succeed we'd be able to boast in achieving salvation by our
own wisdom by own good works What God does it takes a stumbling
stone and put it in your way that stumbling stone is Jesus
Christ According to Isaiah chapter 8 verse 14 pull it up I want
you to see because Paul is conflating two verses Isaiah 8 14 and Isaiah
28 16 Isaiah 8 14 says this and he shall be for a sanctuary and
But for a what? Stone of stumbling. Stop it there. He's painting pictures. The first
line says that Jesus is a sanctuary. The second line says he's a stone
of stumbling and a rock of what? Both to the house of Israel to
be a gin and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. God makes Christ
to be a means of offense. first and foremost in the church.
That's Zion. That's Jerusalem. Stay with me.
Don't go anywhere. I'm getting ready to help you.
He's a stone of stumbling. You know what that means is?
You're walking and going along your merry way and you don't
see him and you trip. Now the reason you don't see
him must be investigated. Here's the reason you don't see
Jesus is because you are confident in your steps. You're confident
in your walk. You're confident in your way.
You're confident in your method and approach to getting the glory.
You're walking with your head up, proud, with your head to
the sky, because you are all about you. And God throws a stumbling
stone in the way to let you know God resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble. The proud man with his proud
plans and his proud goals always looks up. Only the humble look
down. Only the humble look down. So
there are some who got their head in the sky, scheming their
way to glory, of which God must throw Christ in their midst in
order for them to realize they got a problem. Then there's the
other group who are distracted by all the issues of life and
they got their head turned to the side. They're distracted
by entertainment. They're distracted by music.
They're distracted by plans and goals and money. and schemes
of all kinds, distracted. Now you know you're in trouble
when you're walking with your head twisted. Is that true? You're in trouble when your head
is up all the time. You're in trouble when your head
is twisted. Now stay with me now. Stay with me now. This is
important. I'm speaking metaphorically because you got people who are
deceived by the devil 24 hours a day under three propositions,
prominence, power, and prestige. These are the three temptations
that came to Jesus in Matthew chapter 4. The first one was
power. Turn these stones into bread.
Power! The next one was, jump off this
temple since you be the son of God. Prestige. The last one is, if you bow down
to me, I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. Prominence. The whole world is distracted
by those three propositions right now. And so long as you got your
head up, got your head twisted, Jesus is a stumbling stone to
you. Now watch this. The Hebrew term for the stumbling
stone is a rock to be smitten. It's a rock to be smitten. It's
a rock to be smitten. Two truths come out of this,
and I'm going to show you a New Testament text by Jesus around this. Come
on now, sinner. Tell the truth. You're walking
and you trip over a rock. Don't you get up and want to
do something to that rock? Don't you want to just get that
rock and just smash it into smithereens? You rock, you. You getting in
my way. Getting in my way. Don't you
want to just take that rock and just smash it into smithereens?
And that's how they killed the Son of God. He was smitten. He was stricken of men. He was stricken and smitten of
men. though he was stricken and smitten of men by God. Men smote
him at God's bequest because Christ is an obstacle to all
of our pride. Are y'all hearing what I'm saying?
Men smote him at God's bequest because Christ is an obstacle
to our pride. There's only one way you can
handle this stumbling stone in order for it to be a sanctuary
for your soul. And that is to walk with your
head down humble. taking care of your steps, making sure that
you are walking by faith and not by sight, making sure that
that stumbling stone is for you a sanctuary and a foundation
of eternal hope. That's the only way. When you
got your head down, you can see where you're going. And when
you come across the stone, you can stop and analyze that stone.
Right? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Matthew chapter 21. Matthew 21. I'm going to let Jesus say it
for us. Matthew chapter 21. And we'll close it here. Affirms
the fact that he is a stumbling stone Matthew 21 verses 42 through
46 You've heard this before and this is going to encompass the
totality of our Message here around the offense of the gospel
in Matthew chapter 24 24 or Matthews 21 verse 42 Here is how our master
puts it as he gives the parable to the rulers of the church and
he concludes his parable by saying in verse 42 through 44 Jesus
said unto them did you never read in the scriptures the stone
which the builders what? The same has become the head
of the corner. This is the Lord's doing and
it is marvelous in our eyes He here is prophesying that the
rulers of Israel would reject him as the cornerstone of the
church But just because they rejected him does not mean his
mission failed He still became the cornerstone of the church
Watch what Christ says prophetically about the transfer of the kingdom
from Israel to the church. Verse 43, therefore say I unto
you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to
a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. What did he just prophesy?
The church now would be the vehicle by which the gospel of God's
glory and the kingdom of God would be manifested in the world.
Is that true? It all happened because they rejected The stone
look now at verse 44. Here it is whosoever Shall fall
on this stone Shall be broken But on whosoever it shall fall
It will grind him to pieces God purposely made him to be a stumbling
stone We see this in the text of isaiah We see it now in the
warning of christ Peter affirms the same thing in 1 Peter 2 verse
4, 7 and 10. Don't go there. Point number
6. I want to close here. God appoints
Christ as a stumbling stone in the presence of the masses of
the world. Very few people will live without hearing the gospel. In fact, right now, the stumbling
stone is being set in front of some of you. Right now. As I
am preaching the gospel, and setting forth the person and
work of Jesus Christ. The stumbling stone is in front
of people right now. Right now, some of you are in
one of three positions. In your pride, you are rejecting
this gospel. In your distraction, you are
neglecting this gospel. But in your humility, you are
receiving this gospel. One of three things are happening
right now. Are you guys hearing me? One of three things right
now, some of you are hardening your heart yet once again against
the sovereignty of God, the electing love of God, the right of God
to choose and save whom he wills. You are hardening your heart
against the character of God, his right to judge us and send
us to hell, his right to have mercy on whom he wills. You are
rejecting God because you just don't like this fact that God
is sovereign in his salvation. He strips from you every right.
You are stumbling right now over the stumbling stone. And Jesus
has just warned us in verse 44, didn't he? If you do not fall
on the stone, that is to say humble yourself upon this stone,
this stone will fall upon you and crush you. And the crushing
will be to eternal destruction. This is the offense of the gospel
every time it's faithfully preached. Are you guys hearing what I'm
saying? This is the reason why people don't preach it. Because they do not believe that
God uses the offense of the gospel to actually call his elect. The
last verse I'm going to quote now is 1 Corinthians chapter
1 verse 23. You heard it this morning in
Sunday school, but I want to tie together everything we're
talking about to that text. And we'll be done with Romans
chapter 9. I want you to hear how Paul explains
it. He learned this himself. Here's what he learned. He learned
that in his preaching a whole bunch of people would be mad.
He had to accept that. We're in the book of Acts right
now. Brother Paul about to be stoned. First missionary journey. They're getting ready to stone
him and throw him out the city for dead. 1,500 men leave the ministry every
year because of what they perceive to be indifference and no real
regards for faithful proclamation of the word. The rest stay in
and twist the gospel and distort it and corrupt the hearts of
men and women with a false gospel. See, the men that left are better
than the men that stayed because the men that stayed have a greater
condemnation for their distorting the gospel. See, if you can't
stomach the fact that God is using the gospel in a very specific
and targeted way, you better get out of this thing called
preaching. Because not everyone's going to be saved. And most people
are not going to like your gospel. And if you're a servant of Christ,
you got to be ready to take hits for Christ for telling people
the truth. Or you better get out right now. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? This is what he told his servants.
This is what Paul learned. This is what Timothy learned.
This is what we're learning. If you're going to be faithful in
proclaiming the gospel, you got to be ready to suffer what the
master suffered. Did they reject him? And they
will reject you too. Here is the confidence of the
gospel. Are you ready? Every faithful
preacher of the gospel can be confident of this, that the word
that comes out of their mouth, that they faithfully proclaim
from the word of God will not return void. God is going to
save his people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue.
Are you hearing me? That's why this room is full
today after 15 years. Because in faithfully preaching
the Word of God, one by one by one by one by one, my sheep hear
my voice. I call them by name and they
follow me. This is the reason why we keep
preaching. We keep preaching for the elect's sake. Because
we know the sound goes out then God gives some people ears to
hear, eyes to see, hearts to perceive. Are y'all following
me? While the rest in droves abandon the gospel out of offense
and perish under the wrath of God. Watch how Paul puts it and
we're done. First Corinthians chapter 1 verse
21 through 23. For after in the wisdom of God
the world by wisdom did not know God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that what? for the Jews require a
sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified." Watch this now, unto the Jews are what? Us religious
folk. And unto the Gentiles what? Here
it is, here it is. But unto them which are what? Oh, there it is again. The reason
you hear the gospel is because you've been called to hear the
gospel. The reason why the gospel makes
sense is because you've been called to hear the gospel. The
reason why you have overcome the offense of the gospel, and
it offended every one of us when it initially came, is because
God kept you. He kept you while the gospel
changed your whole thinking. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling to the Greeks foolishness, but unto
them which are called both Jew and Greek Christ, the power of
God and the wisdom of God. Is he not that for us? Is he
not the power of God? Is he not the wisdom of God?
Did not Jesus Christ save us by his power, by his blood, by
his righteousness? Not by power nor by might, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord. Is he able to save to the uttermost
them that come to him by faith? Is his name not Jesus? For he
shall save his people from their sins. Is he not able to keep
us from falling and present us faultless before the presence
of his glory? Is he not a mighty savior? Yes,
he is. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. And we give him glory for it,
don't we? We give him glory for it. He saved us then, he's saving
us now, and he will save us on the last day. And when he saves
us on the last day, he'll get all the glory for it. Not unto
us, O Lord, not unto us. But unto you be all the glory,
because you have called us, you have quickened us, you keep us,
you conform us, you will perfect us on that day, because our God
can't lie, He can't fail, and He can't change. Hallelujah to
the Lamb of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to the
Lamb of God.