Well, a very good morning to you all.
I'll ask that you take out your copy of God's Word and turn to Paul's letter to the Romans.
! We're going to continue our study today, beginning in chapter 9.
And before I go further, I want to distract you for a moment from this in the hopes that you won't be distracted later.
And I don't even know if you can really see it anymore, but I look like I got punched in the face.
My nose is a bit bruised and swollen.
I did, in fact, get in a fight with a deer stand, and it won.
And I've noticed this morning that as the swelling has gone down, I think my nose is a little more crooked than it was before.
And I'm told that beautiful people have symmetrical faces.
I already wasn't a beautiful person, so I don't really care.
I think my nose is a little off to this side after the fact.
But that's what happened here.
And now we can focus on what's going on in Paul's letter to the Romans, beginning in chapter 9.
Before we read that together, the first five verses is what we're going to study today.
I just want to remind you of where we've been in the book of Romans.
Starting out with the theme, chapter 1, verse 17, Paul says,
For in it, being the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.
As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
And he's been building a case in the first eight chapters that righteousness comes to us.
A right standing with God comes to us by faith alone.
There is nothing we can do to earn God's favor.
It is given to us freely as a gift.
And he works through.
The believers here in Rome would have been both Gentile and Jewish believers.
And so he deals with them, saying that the Gentiles have no excuse for their sin against God.
And the Jews have no excuse for their sin against God.
And chapter 3, none is righteous, no, not one.
Every one alive has transgressed God's law and have sinned against Him.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Chapter 3, verse 23.
Then he goes on to talk about how we've been set free from the demands of the law to live by the Spirit.
And we work through some of the logic of that.
And he talks then in chapter 8 about what life in the Spirit looks like and how it's a struggle because we still carry around the burden of our flesh.
Our old self, the sinful self, still corrupts us.
But we have the Spirit of God in us now.
And there's a conflict that happens as we endeavor to live the Christian life.
And beyond that, we suffer externally as well.
So both internally and externally, there's going to be suffering in this world for Christians.
Life doesn't get easy when you place your faith in Christ.
And he finishes chapter 8 with beautiful and precious words, beginning in verse 28.
And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.
For those who are called according to His purpose.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined.
To be conformed to the image of a Son in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
And those whom He predestined, He also called.
And those whom He called, He also justified.
And those whom He justified, He also glorified.
God is sovereign over all things in our life from the beginning to the very end.
He's written it out.
And it will come to pass.
Verse 31.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died.
More than that, who was raised.
Who is at the right hand of God.
Who indeed is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Lord, as it is written, for your sake we are being killed all the day long.
We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because He is sovereign over our salvation.
Because we are His.
Because He made us His.
And therefore, that cannot change.
What a thing to rejoice in.
And then we come to the beginning of chapter 9.
And as I said last week,
I at times wish that He had just skipped to the beginning of 12.
And just not talked about the next three chapters.
It seems random.
It seems like an insertion in His flow of logic.
However, it's not.
So let's read the first five verses.
I am speaking the truth in Christ.
I am not lying.
My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit
that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ
for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.
They are Israelites.
And to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants,
the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
To them belong the patriarchs.
And from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ,
who is God over all, blessed forever.
Amen.
Join me in a word of prayer.
Father God, I thank you this morning that we can come to your word,
that you have given us spiritual eyes to see it and hear it and apply it.
But I pray, Father, that you will help us with that this morning.
That you will find us coming humbly to be spoken to by you.
We won't stand over the word judging you,
but we will put ourselves underneath it and we will learn.
And I pray that our learning will lead to different living this day.
And I pray this in Christ's name.
Amen.
So Paul suddenly turns to speak of the Jews.
And he does so because he's anticipating the questions.
He's built this case all throughout Romans so far.
Justification by faith alone.
And he hammers it home at the end of eight.
Our salvation is God's doing.
And because of that, we are secure in him.
We are saved for future glory.
That is joy for life.
We can endure anything because we're gods.
But then people will say,
Paul himself, a Jew, would say,
But what about Israel?
What about the Jews?
Aren't they God's special people?
And we see that many of them are not receiving Christ.
Many of them are hardened and turning away.
Many of them still are practicing the old Jewish rites.
What about them?
And he laments that.
Verses 1 through 3.
Paul is burdened by it.
He has great sorrow and unceasing anguish on behalf of the Israelites.
He says that he's speaking the truth in Christ.
He's not lying.
His conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit that this is how he feels.
And he knows that he can't give away his salvation.
But that if he could, he's saying, honestly, I would.
If I could trade myself for the sake of the nation of Israel, I would do it.
He says, for I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers.
He means that.
That's a guttural thing he's saying to us.
I would consider myself accursed, separated forever from Christ for the sake of the Israelites.
To the Jewish readers of this letter, those hearing it, read to them.
This would have been striking to them, Paul's opinion.
Paul's desire for them to come to Christ.
Because Paul reflected the heart of Moses.
The Jewish believers would have known their Old Testament.
And in Exodus 32, 31, this is after the golden calf has been created and worshipped in the valley.
Moses is up meeting with God on Mount Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments.
You'll remember he comes down off the mountain, is so angered that he breaks the tablets.
He then gets a group of men that go through the people, slaying people, setting that right.
He goes back up on the mountain to meet with God.
He goes back to God's presence.
And he pleads for the people.
In Exodus 32, 31, it says,
So Moses returned to the Lord and said,
Alas, this people has sinned a great sin.
They have made for themselves gods of gold.
But now, if you will forgive their sin.
But if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.
He says the same thing.
You can blot me out of your book for the sake of your people.
It's also the heart of Christ.
Matthew 23, 37, Jesus says,
Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.
How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings?
And you were not willing.
So Paul properly cares for Israel.
They were God's special people.
And he goes on to tell us how it is that they were.
We see in verses 4 and 5 that Israel was uniquely blessed with eight privileges.
Uniquely blessed with eight privileges.
These were all privileges ultimately designed to show them Christ.
Paul is heartbroken because according to the flesh, by all human understanding,
if any people should have understood who Jesus was, it should have been the Israelites.
They had a picture constantly being painted before them of their great need of a savior.
And he came and so many missed it.
So from purely human understanding, they should have all followed Christ.
And yet so few did.
And he's going to work that out in further degree in the coming chapters
as he talks about God's sovereignty over the salvation of all of his people,
including those of us who are not Jewish.
I don't think anybody in here is probably of Jewish descent.
That's okay if you are.
I'm actually happy if you are.
That's fantastic.
I'm not.
I'm a Gentile.
The other category of people that the gospel has been carried to.
And you have here even Paul who has been given a special mission to the Gentiles,
but yet has this great love and concern for the Israelites.
So let's look at these eight privileges together.
As Israelites, they have received, number one, the adoption.
As God's people.
Isaiah 46, verses 3 and 4.
It says,
Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been born by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb.
Even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made and I will bear.
I will carry and will save.
There's lots of language in the Old Testament,
speaking of Israel being the children of God.
And yet they missed that in him was the adoption that came through Christ.
Romans chapter 8.
We see in verse 15,
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,
but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons,
by whom we cry, Abba, Father.
Verse 16,
The spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
And they missed that.
Secondly, the glory.
I had so much fun studying this little phrase.
To Israel belongs the glory.
What Paul is referring to is the visible presence of God.
The glory.
The visible presence.
It's not in the Bible anywhere,
but later on Jewish scholars have called this Shekinah.
So if you ever hear that phrase,
Shekinah glory.
Shekinah means the glory.
It's that visible thing that the Israelites could see
that represented God's magnificence.
And the first mention of it is in Exodus 13,
when the Israelites are led out of Egypt.
They were led by a pillar of cloud during the day
and a pillar of fire by night.
These are the best explanations we get of what these things looked like.
I do not know if it was actually billowy,
cumulus kind of cloud.
I highly doubt it.
But that was the words that they had to say.
It looked like a pillar of cloud by day
and a pillar of fire by night.
But what we tend to forget
is that for 40 years,
the Israelites wandered in the wilderness
and it was with them all that time.
The Sinai Desert is a really, really phenomenal place.
One of the most difficult places to survive on Earth.
The mean temperature throughout the year
in the Sinai Desert during the day
is 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
You know that?
I had no idea.
150 degrees.
The mean temperature at night in the Sinai Desert
is 35 degrees Fahrenheit.
So on an average day in the Sinai Desert,
the temperature change is 115 degrees.
Can you believe that?
God led his people,
which is estimated to be 2.5 to 3 million people,
into a place that we would have to be
so equipped to survive.
There have been a number of expeditions,
successful ones and not.
The ones that survived were very well equipped
to survive exploring the Sinai Desert
and yet God protected with a cover during the day
that cloud that spread out over the people
and shaded them,
2.5 to 3 million people,
during the day
and by night was as fire
and it kept them warm.
Isn't that phenomenal?
When Moses erected the tent of meeting,
there would be a funnel
that would come down from the cloud
and would rest over the tent of meeting.
And God used that to show them
when it was time for them to pick up and move
and when he wanted them to encamp.
So when that lifted,
they would pack everything up
and the cloud would move
and they would go with it.
And when it rested down,
that's where they would stop.
For 40 years,
God's glory dwelt with the people in this way.
That's one of the great miracles of the Bible.
Ask somebody to list off the miracles of the Bible.
Most people would totally miss that.
But for 40 years,
God cared for his people with his glory.
Sometime after they go into the promised land,
there's not a mention of it any longer.
But we do know
that God's glory dwelt in the Holy of Holies
when the tabernacle existed
and then when the temple was built.
Actually dwelt physically.
The priest, the high priest,
would go in there
and actually see this glory.
The cloud.
Not exactly sure what it looked like,
but would actually go
and see the physical glory of God.
And then we see in Ezekiel chapter 11
as a punishment to the people of Israel.
It finally leaves.
It's carried.
Ezekiel sees in a vision
the cherubim,
carry it to the Mount of Olives,
which interestingly is where Jesus also ascended,
carry it to the Mount of Olives,
and then the glory leaves.
It goes back to heaven.
Isn't that awesome?
When do we see it again?
When does it come back?
I hope your mind's running right now.
When does the glory of God,
the physical picture of who he is,
come back to his people?
The birth of Jesus Christ.
At the birth of Jesus Christ.
The shepherds sitting in the field,
and they were surrounded by glory,
not language.
That's when it comes back
and then manifests in Jesus himself.
2 Corinthians 4, 6 says,
For God who said,
Let light shine out of darkness,
has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
Isn't that phenomenal?
So the Israelites,
those who Paul is lamenting over here,
had this picture
that finally was realized in Christ.
He came and he walked amongst them.
And then he ascended
from the Mount of Olives.
And guess what?
He's coming back.
1 Thessalonians 4, 17 says,
Then we who are alive,
who are left,
will be caught up together
with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will always be with the Lord.
And this would be read or rendered
with them in the cloud.
The Greek term used here
is the same Greek term used
in the Septuagint,
which the Septuagint
is the Greek translation
of the Hebrew Old Testament.
It's the same word used
of the glory.
The cloud,
the fire that led
the Israelites,
that covered them,
it's the same word used.
So,
for Thessalonians,
Paul's not saying
that we're going to be
all sopping wet
because we're going to be
in the clouds,
right?
But we're going to be
enveloped by God.
I don't know what it's going to look like,
but by the glory
of the Lord.
That's phenomenal.
And they had this picture.
And those who were alive
in this day
knew this.
They had a history
told to them
of how God had dealt with them.
And they missed the fact
that it was
the Christ.
Number three,
they had the covenants.
God made many promises
to the people of Israel
throughout the Old Testament.
The three major ones
are the Abrahamic covenant,
the Mosaic,
and the Davidic.
Right?
So to Abraham,
he gave the covenant of blessing,
which is found in Genesis 12,
2 and 3.
To Moses,
the covenant of the law,
Exodus chapters 19 through 21.
To David,
the covenant
of an eternal kingdom,
2 Samuel 7,
8 through 16.
These were the promises
given to the people.
Acts 3, 25 and 26
is when Peter's preaching
on the day of Pentecost.
And he says,
You are the sons of the prophets
and of the covenant
that God made with your fathers,
saying to Abraham,
And in your offspring
shall all the families
of the earth be blessed.
God,
having raised up his servant,
sent him to you first
to bless you
by turning every one of you
from your wickedness.
The covenants
were given
as a picture
of what was to be fulfilled
in Christ.
Chapter 9,
verse 6.
Drawing beyond
where we are today,
but Paul says,
It is not as though
the word of God
has failed,
for not all who are
descended from Israel
belong to Israel.
The covenant promises
of God
have extended beyond
just the nation of Israel
as they understood it
to the true Israel,
the church.
We get to get into
all of that
in a greater degree later.
But the covenants
were meant
to show us
that these promises
that God made
would not fail,
but they just
looked different
than the Israelites thought.
the fulfillment
of them
was not
what they
expected.
Number four,
the giving of the law,
which was
God's standard
of righteousness.
This came
to the Israelites
and told them,
this is how you must live
to be found right
in me,
and was meant
to teach them
that there was no way
they could possibly
fulfill the law.
That's where
the sacrificial system
came in,
all as a shadow
of what was to come
in Jesus Christ,
the spotless land,
the perfect sacrifice
for sins.
Galatians 3,
10-14,
it says,
For all who rely
on works of the law
are under a curse.
For it is written,
Cursed be everyone
who does not abide
by all things
written in the book
of the law
and do them.
Now it is evident
that no one justified
before God
by the law,
for the righteous
shall live
by faith.
But the law
is not of faith,
rather the one
who does them
shall live by faith.
Christ redeemed us
from the curse of the law
by becoming a curse
for us.
For it is written,
Cursed is everyone
who hanged on a tree,
so that in Christ Jesus
the blessing of Abraham
might come to the Gentiles
so that we might receive
the promised spirit
through faith.
The law was meant
to point
to the coming
of Christ.
Now in the West here,
we think,
in our logic,
we think very linearly.
So,
A plus B
equals C.
It's a very linear logic.
If this is true,
then this must be true.
That's how we think.
Eastern logic
does not work
in that way.
Eastern logic
says,
not this,
or this,
but this.
Eastern logic
tells you
all the things
that can't be
so that it can show you
what can be.
That's what the Old Testament
does for us.
Gives us all these pictures
of what can't be
so that we see
when the can be
arrives
in
Jesus Christ.
That's what the law
was meant to do.
Which leads us to the next one.
The worship.
Some translations
might render that
or the temple service.
What Paul's referring to here
is the sacrificial system.
That was given
to the Israelites
to again show them
that when they
transgressed the law,
blood was required
and there were
so many
different sacrifices
that had to take place.
There's actually
five different types
of offering.
For the sake of time,
I won't get into them,
but these things
happened continually.
Those of you
who have been here a while
probably are tired
of hearing me say this,
but the temple
was an incredibly
busy place
and you have to understand
what was going on there.
Constant sacrifice
happening
day in and day out.
There's a whole tribe,
the Levites,
their job
was to carry out
this process.
They didn't do
any other work.
They didn't have time.
All they did
was make sacrifice
for Israel
day in and day out.
The blood flowed
constantly.
A special day
of the year
was the day
of atonement.
The day when
the high priest
went into the
holy of holies
and made a special
sacrifice.
Many of these
sacrifices
were meant to
cover unintentional
sins.
Sins that
the Jewish people
didn't even know
they had committed.
Unknown
sins.
It was a
phenomenal system.
You would have to be
highly trained
to be a priest
because the processes
that you had to go
through to carry out
the sacrifices
properly were
amazing.
Ephesians 5.2
says,
Christ loved us
and gave himself
up for us
a fragrant
offering and
sacrifice to God.
Hebrews 7.27-28
Writer of Hebrews
says,
He has no need
like those high
priests to offer
sacrifices daily,
first for his own
sins and then for
those of the people,
since he did this
once for all
when he offered
up himself.
For the law
appoints men
in their weakness
as high priests,
but the word
of the oath,
that's speaking
of Psalm 110.4,
which came later
than the law,
appoints a son
who has been
made perfect
forever.
That whole system
was meant
to show them
that they needed
a perfect
sacrifice,
which
was Christ.
The spotless
lamb.
He's seated
at the right hand
of the Father.
He has done
his work.
The significance
of Jesus'
works,
it is
finished.
That's what
he's talking
about.
There's no longer
that sacrifice
needed.
The temple
curtain was
torn in two,
allowing access
to the presence
of God.
With me?
It's amazing.
And the Jews
missed it,
in large part.
They missed
what was happening,
why the temple
service was given
to them.
Number six.
Sixth privilege.
The promises.
Now,
I don't know
all the promises
that Paul's
referring to here,
but I do know
he's at least
referring to
the promises
of the coming
king,
the eternally
perfect king.
Turn with me
real quick
to Acts
chapter 13.
There's a little
text heavy for you
not to look at it
with me.
This is Paul
preaching in
Antioch,
Acts 13,
beginning in
verse 32.
And we bring
you the good
news that what
God promised
to the fathers,
this he has
fulfilled to us,
their children,
by raising Jesus.
As also it is
written in the
second psalm,
you are my son,
today I have
begotten you.
And as for the
fact that he
raised him from
the dead,
no more to
return to
corruption,
he has spoken
in this way,
I will give you
the holy and
sure blessings
of David.
Therefore he
says also in
another psalm,
you will not
let your
holy one
see corruption.
For David,
after he had
served the
purpose of
God in
his own
generation,
fell asleep
and was
laid with
his fathers
and saw
corruption.
But he
whom God
raised up
did not
see corruption,
speaking of
Christ.
Let it be
known to
you,
therefore,
brothers,
that through
this man
forgiveness
of sins
is proclaimed
to you,
and by
him everyone
who believes
is freed
from everything
from which
you could
not be
freed by
the law
of Moses.
Beware
therefore,
lest what
is said
in the
prophets
should
come
about.
Look,
you scoffers,
be astounded
and perish,
for I am
doing a work
in your days,
a work that
you will not
believe even
if one
tells it
to you.
So,
the promises
to bring
about an
eternally
perfect king
were also
given to
the Israelites.
The
privilege of
the patriarchs,
number seven.
In Exodus
3, 6,
when Moses
first encounters
God,
God introduces
himself as
the God
of Abraham,
the God
of Isaac,
and the
God of
Jacob.
That's
quoted by
Peter in
Acts 3
and by
Stephen in
Acts 7.
They're
phenomenal
sermons.
It's the
only time
that God
connects
himself by
name to
any man,
the God
of Abraham,
the God
of Isaac,
and the
God of
Jacob,
to
distinguish
who he
is.
He has
never said
the God
of Nathan.
Is he my
God?
Absolutely,
he is.
But that's
not the
title that
he's given
himself.
He's the
God of
Abraham,
and Isaac,
and Jacob.
And he
speaks of
them in
Hebrews 11,
verse 16,
he says,
but as it
is,
they desire a
better country,
that is a
heavenly one.
Therefore,
God is not
ashamed to be
called their
God,
for he's
prepared for
them a
city.
They had
the patriarchs.
they had
those who
have
believed
by faith
in God
for their
salvation
as an
example to
them,
and they
missed it.
And finally,
and most
importantly,
they had
the privilege
of being
the people
from whom
Jesus
came.
Jesus
Christ,
not a
white man,
not a
black man,
a Jew.
He was
Middle
Eastern
in descent.
He was
an
Israelite.
Verse 5,
he is
called
the
Christ.
We believe
that Paul
was carried
along by
the Spirit,
that the
Word of
God is
the Word
of God.
Paul
penned it.
God
gave it
to him
to speak.
It's
significant
that he
uses
this term.
Christ.
It's the
Greek for
the Hebrew
word
Messiah.
It means
Savior or
Liberator.
We have
picked up
that language
for Jesus,
Yeshua.
That's what
he was
known as
in his
day.
But we
have called
him the
Christ because
we know
who he
is.
He is our
Savior.
He is our
Liberator.
And he is
God.
Chapter
9,
verse 5,
who is
God over
all,
blessed
forever.
Amen.
Paul never
misses an
opportunity to
establish Jesus
Christ's
deity.
Read any
of his
writing.
Anytime he
gets a
chance, he
slips in
there,
help us to
understand that
the man who
came and
dwelt amongst
people was
God himself.
and he
was one of
them.
And they
missed it.
So what
does all this
mean for us?
Paul's lament
as he has
this anguish
continually in
him for the
Jewish people
because in all
respects, all
human logic,
they should have
gotten it.
Before anybody
else, they
should have
gotten it.
What does
that mean for
us?
What's the
point?
What's the
value?
What can we
wring out of
it for us
today?
Three things.
Firstly, we
should share
in Paul's
lament for
the Jewish
people.
God has
not turned
his back
on the
Jews.
Again, we'll
talk about that
more in the
coming chapters.
God has
not turned
his back
on the
Jews.
There has
been much
anti-Semitism
that has risen
out of
Christianity.
Kind of
seems easy
to hate
the Jews,
right?
They rejected
our Savior.
They
crucified him.
It's their
fault, right?
It's not.
It's by God's
foreordained plan
that that
happened.
And he has
not quit
on them.
And neither
should we.
we should
be actively
carrying the
gospel to
the Jews.
In fact,
later on,
I believe in
chapter 11,
Paul says
that many
Jews are
going to
come to
salvation
because of
their jealousy
of us.
They're going
to recognize
that we have
a true
relationship
with the
God they
think they're
worshiping
by all their
old Jewish
rite and
passage,
and see
that we
have the
true
relationship
through
Jesus
Christ.
We should
actively
seek the
Jew and
their
salvation.
Secondly,
we should
lament for
all peoples.
Do you
have the
same heart
of Paul
for the
people around
you?
Could you
honestly say,
were it
possible,
which of
course is
not,
that we
could ask
God to
cut us
off.
He would
never do
that.
But if it
were possible,
would you
offer
yourself
up for
the sake
of others?
I don't
watch a lot
of reality
television,
but Sam's
kind of got
me hooked
on Master
Chef.
And there
were some
characters,
and one
of them
had won
a challenge
thing,
and they
asked him
if he had
the opportunity
to save
somebody from
going into
this elimination
challenge deal,
who he
would save.
Who would
you save,
Frank?
Who would
it be?
And he
picked
some
guy,
Josh,
I think,
got him
Josh.
I'd pick
Josh,
great cook,
I'd pick
him.
Awesome.
Yay,
Frank,
man,
you're so
sacrificial,
good for
you.
And they
said,
okay,
well,
guess what,
you do
actually have
the option
to save
somebody.
Who are
you going
to save?
He saved
himself.
That's not
what Paul's
doing,
right?
He's speaking
the truth in
Christ.
He's not
lying,
his conscience
bears witness.
He would
actually give
himself up.
Do we have
that kind
of heart
for people?
Do we just
give lip
service?
Yeah,
I love
people.
Or do we
actually have
anguish in
our hearts for
the people
around us
that they
might come
to Christ?
The evidences
are all around.
Now,
Gentile people
don't have all
these privileges.
It's not been
a history that's
been given to
them.
but the
evidences are
all around
them and we
ought to
lament for
them as
well.
Thirdly,
we as
humans should
make no
excuse for
seeing that
Jesus is
the Christ.
He is the
one that has
been sent for
the remission
of sin.
The one in
whom we
must believe
to be saved.
You notice
the article in
verse 5?
That he is
the Christ?
Not a
Christ,
not a way,
one of the
many ways,
the path of
goodness.
He is the
Christ.
The only
way,
if you don't
know him
today,
if you don't
have saving
faith,
that he is
the Christ.
That all of
these things
we've been
talking about,
all this
religious activity
was meant
to show us
that we
needed him,
you have
no excuse.
You're
sitting in
this room
right now,
none
whatsoever.
You will
be judged
one day.
If you're
found in
Christ,
it will
be said of
you,
well done
my good
and faithful
servant,
you'll enter
into eternal
joy and
blessing with
God.
If you
don't,
eternal
damnation,
hell and
misery,
separation from
God is
what awaits
you.
So you
have no
excuse.
Join me in
prayer.