(# 366) Romans 11 - Sinners Choose Not to Win in God’s Plan

Class Outline:

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Welcome To

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.  We open with a few announcements…

 

BARAH MINISTRIES ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

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Detroit, Michigan

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Sinners Choose Not to Win in God’s Plan

 

Luke, Chapter 5, Verse 32 makes it clear that there is a distinction between saints and sinners…

 

LUKE 5:32

“I (the Lord Jesus Christ) have not come to call the righteous (to salvation…also known as saints), but I have come to call sinners to repentance (a change of mind about having a relationship with Christ).”

 

A sinner is an unbeliever…someone who chooses not to have a relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Sinners choose not to win in God’s plan.  The biblical term sinner is never a reference to a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.  A believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is a saint…Philippians, Chapter 1 begins like many of Paul’s letters…

 

PHILIPPIANS 1:1

Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, writing to all the saints (the believers) in (union with) Christ Jesus who are in Philippi (a city in Greece)…

 

If you have chosen to have a relationship with the Lord, you are a saint… someone who has asked the Lord to save him from the lifestyle of the sinner.  There IS a way for sinners to win in God’s Plan for mankind, but they choose not to take advantage of it.  What is the way to win in God’s plan?

Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

As believers in Christ, we live in Satan’s kingdom.  Satan, the enemy of God, is the ruler of this world.  John, Chapter 12, Verse 31…

 

JOHN 12:31

Now judgment is upon this world…now the ruler of this world will be cast out (into the outer darkness…the Lake of Fire…he will be dethroned).

 

Sometimes it may seem to you that sinners win in this world.  And because we have “the flesh” in us…Satan’s inside agent…left there by the Lord at the moment He saved us…we experience what feels like powerlessness to “the world forces of this darkness.”  Often sinners seem to have the upper hand.

 

Without any desire to be political, what I see President Donald Trump experiencing troubles me deeply.  There is an insidious and sinister power in this world that has him in their sights.  They are hell bent on removing him from office because they are still as mad as hornets that they lost an election to him.  It wasn’t supposed to happen, and they never saw it coming.

 

When I witness this relentless attack on the President, as funny as it may seem, I lose a bit of confidence in myself.  I have the feeling that if this insidious and sinister power can relentlessly attack the President, seeking to destroy him, poor little me certainly has no chance against a force that powerful.  Thus I get the feeling that my hopes, my dreams, and my desires could probably never really be accomplished.  In fact, why even try?  The reason to follow  our dreams is detailed in First John, Chapter 4, Verse 4…

 

FIRST JOHN 4:4

You are from the source of God the Father, little children (believers in Christ), and you have overcome evil spirits…because greater is He who is indwelling you than he who is in the world.

 

Sinners never really win.  The may succeed in the skirmishes.  But they have

already lost the war.  James, Chapter 4, Verse 4 reminds sinners of reality…

 

JAMES 4:4

…you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

 

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ hold the victorious ground.  Sinners have chosen not to take this victorious road…a road paved by the blood of Christ at the Cross.  I think it’s funny that sinners thought they had rid themselves of the Lord by crucifying Him…yet their plan backfired.  Our redeemer lives!

 

It may be true that we get knocked down…there are many seeming defeats and many seeming failures along the road of learning in the spiritual life.  But victory is always the result…victory is always assured.  We are not powerless.  “The world forces of this darkness” are not more powerful than us, and they cannot steal our dreams, because Philippians, Chapter 4, Verse 13 assures us to think this way…

 

PHILIPPIANS 4:13

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

 

Don’t ever take your mind off the prize.  Philippians, Chapter 3, Verse 14…

 

PHILIPPIANS 3:14

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God the Father in union with Christ Jesus.

 

It is when we forget what our Lord is telling us in His Word that we worry.  Welcome to a place where you can choose to win through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the study of His Word.

 

MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

AWESOME GOD

Rich Mullins

 

Now let’s hear a song that tells it like is about our God…Rich Mullins singing AWESOME GOD.

 

OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

We’re grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…

 

Father, thank you for being an AWESOME GOD…thank you for giving us a gift called the unknown…if You had willed to, You could have given us a preview of our day to start every day…instead You willed that our days be adventures, and you have trained us to take the adventures as they come… the ups and downs and sideways of life…

 

Give us the courage to be all we can be…let us not be deterred because of opposition…instead let us press through the resistance we face knowing who is on our side…You…the one and only Sovereign God of the Universe…  give us Your peace Father…

 

We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s name...

Amen.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Sinners Choose Not to Win in God’s Plan

 

We bring to a close the second section of Paul’s letter to the believers in Christ at first century Rome, Chapters 9-10-11.  Paul’s letter to the Romans is the foundational book in Biblical Christianity.  I have absolutely no problem saying that a believer in Christ who has not studied the book of Romans, has absolutely no idea concerning the depth of Biblical Christianity. 

 

These are the “live, love, laugh” people…these are the “because of you, Lord” people…these are the God is my co-pilot people…the people who propose that God is a series of “Hallmark slogans.”  I certainly don’t mean to disparage them as much as I mean to wake the Slogan Christians up to the fact that Christianity is a relationship with Christ…it’s not a religion…and it is not a bunch of superficial expressions that offer pseudo praise to the Savior of the Universe.  Slogans won’t get us by when we are gargling the liquid in our lungs in a hospice at the end of our lives here on earth, and they certainly don’t help with the tribulations of this life.  A solid relationship with Christ will help us transition into eternity as well as helping us handle each day with “a peace that surpasses comprehension.”

 

The first eight chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans reveal the details of God’s plan for the salvation of the Gentiles.  Paul makes a journey from humbled angst in Romans, Chapter 1, to absolute joy at the end of Romans, Chapter 8.  How does the apostle Paul end the first eight chapters of Romans?  He’s ecstatic!  He ends it with these verses of thought… Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 38 and 39…

 

ROMANS 8:38

For I (Paul) am convinced that neither death nor life…nor angels nor principalities…nor things present nor things to come…nor powers…

 

ROMANS 8:39

…nor height nor depth…nor any other created thing…will be able to separate us from the unconditional love of God the Father…which is ours… those of us who are in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Both through his writing, and through the revelations from God, Paul is made aware that there is no way to get out of relationship with God once we’re in it…and there is no way that God will ever take away His unconditional love from us.  In fact, no one can take His love from us. 

 

Then as Paul begins writing Romans, Chapters 9 to 11, he moves from ecstatic to distraught again…his soul is in anguish.  Why?  Paul is contemplating the question, “What is God’s plan for Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race now that a partial hardening has occurred?”  In Romans, Chapter 9, Verses 1 to 5, Paul expresses his angst…

 

ROMANS 9:1

I (Paul) am telling you the truth…I am in union with Christ on this…I am not lying to you…my conscience testifies along with me…I am filled with God the Holy Spirit and His enabling power as I speak on this matter…

 

ROMANS 9:2

…and I tell you that I keep on having great sorrow and an incessant and haunting grief in my heart (I am heartbroken).

 

ROMANS 9:3a

For if I (Paul) could (and I know it is not possible), I would wish that I myself were accursed (made an anathema by God…sent to the Lake of Fire as a substitute)…

 

ROMANS 9:3b

…and (that I would be) separated (by God) from (my union with) the Christ (the Messiah) for the sake of my brethren (the Jews who are unbelievers), who are my “kinsmen according to the flesh…”

 

ROMANS 9:4a

…my kinsmen who are Israelites (people of the nation of Israel), to whom belongs (a status easily identifiable by these gifts)…the adoption as sons (as a nation)…and to whom belongs the glory (God’s presence among them)… and to whom belongs the covenants (a series of promises made only to and about Israel and The Jewish Race)…

 

ROMANS 9:4b

…and to whom belongs the giving of the Mosaic Law (a nation placed in charge of the Oracles of God)…and to whom belongs the temple service (He made the Jews a kingdom of priests)…and to whom belongs the promises (five guarantees offered to The Jewish Race, especially the promise concerning real estate)…

 

ROMANS 9:5a

…my kinsmen who are of the lineage of the fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)…and my kinsmen from whose lineage comes the (greatest gift of all, the) Christ (a Jew who came to the nation of Israel), the One who became flesh (and tabernacled among us)…

 

ROMANS 9:5b

…the Messiah…the One who is Sovereign over all, THE God (100% Deity and 100% true humanity in one person forever)…the blessed One (the Lord Jesus Christ)…who EXISTS forever. Amen.

 

As Paul closes his three chapters on Israel and The Jewish Race, at the end of Romans, Chapter 11…he is ecstatic again, because he realizes that God has everything worked out for them.  Israel and The Jewish Race have a past, a present, and a glorious future.  Romans, Chapter 11, Verses 33 to 36 close this second section of the book of Romans with what one commentator calls a move from theology to doxology…

 

ROMANS 11:33

Oh, the depth of His glorious riches…both of the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how unfathomable are His ways!

 

ROMANS 11:34

For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has became His counselor?

 

ROMANS 11:35

Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?

 

ROMANS 11:36

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him is the glory forever. Amen.

 

We began our study of Romans, Chapter 9 on September 8, 2016…and we close our study of Romans, Chapter 11 on June 4, 2017.  I have a question for you…how is your mind different as a result of what we have studied?

 

Perhaps it is hard to know what God has done for you in this study.  But if you have stuck with the study, He has changed your thinking.  He has given you wisdom.  First Corinthians, Chapter 3, Verses 19 and 20 say…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:19

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He is the one who catches the wise in their craftiness…”

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 3:20

…and again, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that these reasonings are useless.”

 

Ignorance of the Lord is a disease…Paul always asks, “Do you not know?”  If you are following along in the study Romans…you know!  You are not at all ignorant.  Paul’s closing words in Romans, Chapter 11 are a doxology. 

 

What is a doxology?

 

DOXOLOGY

A hymn or words praising God.

 

So as you think about what you have learned in the last nine months of study, ask yourself a question…“To what conclusions are we forced face-to-face with all the things we have learned in Romans, Chapters 9-10-11?

 

After a short music break we’ll take a look at the closing doxology and then make some conclusions about what we have learned.

 

MUSIC BREAK

HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD

Chris Tomlin

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Sinners Choose Not to Win in God’s Plan

 

Let’s begin the next portion of our lesson by giving you a chance to make an offering…we need and we value your financial support to continue the work of this ministry…please welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.

 

THE OFFERING

Deacon Denny Goodall

 

OFFERING VERSE

 

HEBREWS 13:3

Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.

 

OFFERING

FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE

Dave McClure, Instrumental

 

TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

Sinners Choose Not to Win in God’s Plan

 

Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 33…

 

ROMANS 11:33

Oh, the depth of the glorious riches…both of the wisdom of God and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and how unfathomable are His ways!

 

After thinking about all the things he has written in these three chapters, Paul is blown away by God’s way of doing things.  We must be blown away as well.  The repeated message?  Over and over again we hear…God has not turned His back on a nation (Israel) and a people (The Jewish Race) that have turned their backs on Him.  We study these chapters and we are amazed by God’s decisions in the face of their repeated mistakes…God is faithful to unbelievers!  While they were yet sinners!  How encouraging is that for us believers?!

 

I can easily turn my back on people who have repeatedly injured me, and without remorse.  I’m sure I’m not alone in this regard.  You have “friends,” sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, children, “ex-es,” that drive you to drink.  You almost feel that you HAVE to turn your backs on them to get relief.  That is NOT God’s way.

 

What does it mean in Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 33 that God’s ways are unfathomable?  Ephesians, Chapter 3, Verse 8 explains it…

 

EPHESIANS 3:8

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ (anexichniastoi…which means riches that are beyond searching out… ways that are untraceable by steps)

 

God is so wonderful you can’t figure Him out…we’ve never had anyone

treat us as well as God treats us.  We can’t “tap out” the infinite goodness of

our God.  Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 34…

 

ROMANS 11:34

For who has known the mind of the Lord…or who became His counselor?

 

Jeremiah, Chapter 9, Verses 23 and 24 explains this idea in a little different way…

 

JEREMIAH 9:23

Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, and let not a rich man boast of his riches…”

 

JEREMIAH 9:24

“…but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands Me and knows Me…that I am the Lord…the One who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth…for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.”

 

If you are studying the Word of God on a regular basis, you can make such a boast.  You are different than the masses that are ignorant of God and His will.  First Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 16…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 2:16

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will be capable enough to instruct Him?   But we believers in Christ have the mind of Christ.

 

Oh the depth of His glorious riches!  We know what causes Paul to feel in this way…Isaiah, Chapter 9, Verse 6…

 

ISAIAH 9:6

For a child will be born to us…a son will be given to us…and the government will rest on His shoulders…and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

 

Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 35…

 

ROMANS 11:35

Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?

 

Isaiah, Chapter 41, Verse 11 is a little clearer on what this verse proposes…God says…

 

ISAIAH 41:11

Who has given to me that I owe him repayment?

 

No one of course!  God is Sovereign…the sole creator of universe…the Source…the architect of the plan for creatures…the Creator…the all- knowing, all-powerful mind…the only One who is worthy of praise and glorification. God needs no advice from anyone.  He is totally self-sufficient in all things.  No one knows God as well as He knows Himself.  And no one knows Himself as well as God knows him.  First Corinthians, Chapter 14, Verse 36…

 

FIRST CORINTHIANS 14:36

Was it from you that the Word of God first came forth?

 

Decidedly not!  Romans, Chapter 11, Verse 36…

 

ROMANS 11:36

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the “unmoved mover” Aristotle talked about.

 

THE UNMOVED MOVER

The unmoved mover (Ancient Greek: ὃ οὐ κινούμενος κινεῖ - ho ou kinoúmenos kineî - “that which moves without being moved”) or prime mover (Latin: primum movens) is a monotheistic concept advanced by Aristotle, a polytheist, as a primary cause or “mover” of all the motion in the universe.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega…the first and the last…

He is the Creator…FROM HIM all things come…Genesis, Chapter 1, Verse 1…

 

GENESIS 1:1

In the beginning THE God (the Lord…God the Son) created the heavens and the earth.

 

John, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

JOHN 1:3

All things came into being through the Lord (God the Son), and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Sustainer…THROUGH HIM all things come…Hebrews, Chapter 1, Verse 3…

 

HEBREWS 1:3

And the Lord Jesus Christ is the radiance of God the Father’s glory and He is the exact representation of God the Father’s nature, and the Lord Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of His power. When the Lord Jesus Christ had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty (God the Father) on high…

 

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Heir…FOR HIM all things come…Philippians, Chapter 2, Verse 12 and 13…

 

PHILIPPIANS 2:12

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling…

 

PHILIPPIANS 2:13

…for it is God the Father who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

 

Paul is exhorting his flock to practice what they have learned.  Do you?  What do we learn from these three chapters, Romans, 9-10-11?

 

I grew up in the house of a democrat.  I did not adopt the philosophy.  I did not want a handout…just a hand.  I’ve always wanted to work for things.  I HAD TO work for things because we didn’t have anything.  I came to enjoy it.

 

When you give things to people, they eventually believe the thing you gave them is a right.   They won’t be grateful.  They take your generosity for granted.  They forget the source of the blessings.  That’s what Unbelieving Israel and The Unbelieving Jewish Race came to do.  As God’s elect nation and as God’s chosen people, they took the Lord for granted.  What does it mean, this idiom “take for granted?”

 

TAKE FOR GRANTED

The failure to properly appreciate someone or something, especially as a result of overfamiliarity.

 

Are you taking your relationship with Christ for granted?  Or are you working out what He is working out in you?

 

I have learned the hard way that being generous to others when they have no skin in the game is a prescription for being abused.  When you want something from the abuser they call it giving with a hook.  As people, we need to make our lives active as we shake the old thinking that keeps us stuck.  What a great way to take advantage of having God on your side.  Many in Israel and in The Jewish Race did not tae advantage of the win God was handing them.

 

God is amazing in His knowledge…God is incredible in wisdom…God is mind boggling in His decision effectiveness…far beyond the comprehension of our finite minds.  We would know nothing if not for Him.  Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 9…

 

EPHESIANS 1:9

God the Father made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in union with Christ…

 

We can marvel at our God from the study of Romans, Chapters 9-10-11.  God will deliver Israel and The Jewish Race, as a corporate entity, from themselves.  As individuals, they have but to believe.

 

Our job as Gentile believers is to evangelize to The Jewish Race, to avoid Anti-Semitism in any form, and to not get cocky because of our current privilege.  We have seen and we marvel at God’s attitude toward rebels.  We would do well to release our rebellion to our own growth and to get on with our lives!

 

GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life

 

Romans, Chapter 3, Verse 23 reminds us…

 

ROMANS 3:23

…for all creatures have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…

 

Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 10 and 11…

 

ROMANS 3:10-11

…as it is written, “There is no creature who is righteous, not even one…//

there is no creature who understands God… there is no creature who seeks a relationship with God…

 

Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 23…

 

ROMANS 6:23a

For the compensation earned by (Adam’s) sin is death (in the Lake of Fire)…

 

ROMANS 6:23b

…but the free gift of God the Father is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord (for everyone who believes).

 

John, Chapter 3, Verse 18 says…

 

JOHN 3:18

Anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ (for salvation) is not judged… anyone who does not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (for salvation) has been judged already, because he has not believed in the Person of the uniquely born Son of God.

 

John, Chapter 14, Verse 6 says…

 

JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to doubting Thomas, the apostle, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life (eternal life) and no one comes to God the Father but through believing in Me.”

Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

ACTS 16:31

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”

 

God wants you to be like Him!  Great!

 

CLOSING SONG

HOW GREAT YOU ARE

June Murphy

 

CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...

 

          THANKS - INTERCESSION - PETITION

 

Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

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