ROMANS: Mercy Tree

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If you've got a Bible, I want to take it open up to Romans chapter 11.

Romans 11 · chapter mention

And I want to talk to you today about the mercy tree.

About the mercy tree.

You say, what do you mean?

There are trees that you will see as you drive around that are so beautiful they'll make you want to stop you and get out.

Like my wife a couple weeks ago went to a conference up in Dallas and she stayed with some friends of ours and they have some property along a creek out behind their house, and she went walking and she brought back leaves and was pulling them out.

That's something women do.

Men never do that.

Your husband never comes home from work and says, I was out walking and I got this leaf.

But my wife began to pull out leaves, she had pressed in a book, and we was like, Wow, there are places in the country where the leaves change colors?

Fascinating.

So apparently leaves don't just go from green to brown back to green.

They turn different colors.

Like, for example, there's a uh something behind me that if you were driving down the road and you saw that, you would stop and get out.

Like if I was driving down the road and I saw this, I would find a Chick-fil-A or a Wendy's and buy lunch and then go sit under it and eat lunch and do snow angels in the leaves.

You say, Why do you tell you that?

Because there's passages in the Bible that when you read them, you'd be tempted to just skip over them.

But I want to say to you, they're like a mercy tree.

You should gaze upon them, not to figure them out, but just to appreciate it a little more.

And such is the passage we're gonna read today.

Now, here's what I'm gonna do.

If you're our guest, usually I read through the whole passage and then I go back and kind of exposite, kind of unpack it.

But what I want to do today, because I'm gonna read from verse 11 all the way to verse 32.

I'm gonna break it into three sections.

So I'll read a little section and I'm gonna give you a couple things to write down.

We'll read the second section, give you a couple things to write down.

Read the third section, give you two things to write down.

We'll think about it, and then we'll get out of here and beat all the Methodists to the good restaurants.

Heeha! Romans chapter 11, verse 11.

Romans 11:11

Paul says this.

Now he's in the context of talking because the the Gentiles, by the way, uh the origin of anti-Semitism is not the Nazis, it's the church at Rome.

Because the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people, because God came to the Jews, just give you a little context here.

And the Jews said, we don't believe in that.

They're still waiting for the Messiah to come.

And the Bible says they stumbled over Jesus.

He was a stumbling block or a stone of offense.

And so the gospel goes to the Gentiles.

And the Gentiles start saying, that's right, we're the man, that's right.

We're God's favorite people.

And Paul's got to write because they were getting kind of haughty.

Anti-Semitism had its origin in the church at Rome.

It's been around forever.

That didn't make it right, but Paul's writing in here to kind of say, hey, check yourself here.

You're getting a little cocky.

Let me just kind of just kind of check you up short.

And so he writes these words in Romans chapter 11, verse 11.

Romans 11:11

He says, So I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

By no means.

Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous.

Now, if the trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean?

Now I'm speaking to you, Gentiles, inasmuch then as I'm an apostle to the Gentiles.

I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.

For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

If the doe offered his first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump.

And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Let's just stop right here.

Section number one, verses eleven to sixteen.

Three things I want to just point out on this beautiful mercy tree of God's relationship with humanity.

And the first one is this right here.

It's very simple.

That God is still at work.

That God is still at work.

If it hasn't happened yet, there will be situations and circumstances in your life and in my life where we'll be tempted to look around and kind of go, you know, God, is this just hopeless?

Is this, I mean, is anything gonna happen here?

Some of you kind of go, yeah, that, but enough about my marriage.

Uh but I just want to say, he says right here in verse 11, I asked, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

By no means.

Rather, through their sin, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous.

Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, in other words, if the Jewish people saying, Hey, we don't believe that Jesus is the Messiah, if it means that, hey, salvation, that riches have come to the world, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to the non-Jewish people, and then Paul says, hey, what's it gonna mean when God begins to call the Jewish people back to himself and they come to believe in the Messiah?

What do you mean?

What I mean is that, hey, God is still at work.

There's more.

We started off this, this, we've been looking at these three chapters of Romans, chapters 9, 10, and 11.

Romans 9 · chapter mention

We started off chapter 9, but one of the first things I said to you is that God works on a level that you and I can't always see and always understand.

And so when I say God is still at work, because this applies to us in this way.

There are people in our lives that we are tempted to give up on and kind of go, there is no hope.

You don't get to do that.

For some of you, it may be your husband, maybe your wife, for some of you, it may be that kid you sent off to college who went off to college and violated everything you've ever told them while they were in your home, who blatantly disregarded everything and called you this past week and said, By the way, I'm bringing a guy home for Thanksgiving.

And you're like, Oh, really?

Are you kidding me?

I just want to say, God is still at work.

Just ring that little bell and just leave it out there.

Don't give up, okay?

Second thing this section, I want to point out in this section is simply this the role of jealousy in evangelism.

Look at verse 13.

He says, I'm speaking to you, Gentiles, and as much then as I'm an apostle to the Gentiles, he says, I magnify my ministry.

I I talk a lot about how God's using me and what God's doing in the Gentiles, Paul says.

Look at verse 14.

He said, This is what I do.

And verse 14 says, This is why I do it.

In order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them.

Now, now you say, What do you mean?

This is the second thing, the role of jealousy in evangelism.

God's always been this way, but Paul makes it explicit here.

He says, Hey, I magnify my ministry to the Gentiles.

I talk a lot about how God's being so gracious to the Gentiles.

Why?

So to make the Jews jealous.

Remember the story of the prodigal son?

The Bible says this Jewish teenager went out, went to his dad, and said, Give me my share of the estate.

His dad gave him the money.

He went to Austin and he blew it on wild living and loose women.

Amen?

You've been to Austin, huh?

Anyway, and so and the Bible says he woke up one day and he was a Jewish kid feeding pigs, and he said, This, how many of my father's hired men have more than enough food to spare?

And here I am, starving to death.

I will get up and go back to my father.

See, God reminded him, hey, it was better back at your dad's house.

He was jealous of the way he used to have it.

That's why when our kids go off the deep end, we can't just keep bailing them out and bailing them out and bailing them out.

Why?

Because they never get jealous.

They never look and say, you know what?

My mom and dad, they maybe they weren't crazy after all.

Hmm.

But the Bible says this, and here's where I want to get down and meddle with you a little bit today.

You're gonna get asked this question in the next couple of months while the year's winding down.

Somebody's gonna say to you, Well, how was your year?

How'd you do this year?

And you're gonna be tempted to undersell how good God has been to you.

You're gonna say something like, Well, it's a good year, and we came out okay, and blah, blah, blah.

When's the last time you heard somebody say, Hey, Bill, how was your year?

Oh man, we killed it.

We exceeded all our growth goals, and next year looks even better.

Y'all look like you walked out of Walmart and forgot where you parked.

My gosh, man, we're supposed to talk like that.

I thought the Bible said we're supposed to be humble.

I'm not talking about being arrogant, but listen to me.

What I am talking about is you not misrepresenting how good God has been to you because you're afraid someone's gonna ask you to borrow 50 bucks.

I don't want you to think I got anything.

No, God says, I'm gonna relate to you, I'm gonna be so good to you, people are gonna want to know, hey, what's the deal?

Because here's what it works, and by the way, it's not just in Romans.

You go all the way back to Exodus and Deuteronomy, and God says to the children of Israel, hey, by the way, the nations around you are gonna say, What nation has a God like yours, as close as your God is, and a book so wonderful as your law?

Jealousy has always been one of God's motives.

You can't take that out of the Bible.

So stop misrepresenting how God, how good God has been to you.

You're not being humble, you're being a liar.

This is a pregnant pause.

You're like, uh, because we love to, oh, you know, I just, you know, we're paying the bills, and blah, blah.

And I'm not telling you what to say.

I'm just telling you, don't lie.

Figure out a way to speak about how good God's been to you so that it could provoke people that don't believe to jealousy.

Because as long as they think, hey, man, I'm killing it, no one's doing it, they need to be reminded, hey, by the way, being a Christian doesn't mean you walk around beat down, just barely eking out an existence.

That's not the gospel either.

It doesn't mean, oh, we're all gonna be millionaires.

But it does mean, hey, God says, hey, I'm gonna be so, I'm Paul says, I magnify my ministry to the Gentiles.

Why?

So the Jews will get jealous.

Don't miss, there's a role of jealousy in evangelism.

Third thing I want to point out in this section is that we need to reclaim holiness as a primary attribute of God.

Verse 16 is one of those things you read in the Bible and you just keep going.

You think to yourself, what in the cat hair does that mean?

Look at verse 16.

He says, For if the doe offered his first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump.

And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

You're like, okay, that doesn't help any.

When he talks about the dough that's offered, as he says, if the dough that is offered is holy, so is the whole lump.

If the root that is offered is holy, so are the branches.

When he talks about the doe and the and and the root, he's talking about the patriarchs, namely Abraham.

Abram.

That's why when my friend Tommy stood up here earlier and read from Genesis chapter 12, who is that about?

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Abraham.

Abraham, he says, Hey, but you say, What do you okay?

So, where do you get from that that we need to reclaim holiness as a primary attribute of God?

Because about two generations ago, God's primary attribute was holy.

You'd go to church, you'd hear sermons about holiness, your grandma talked about holiness, they believed, be holy as I am holy, for without holiness no one will see the Lord.

And then we got cool and creative in church, and we stopped talking about holiness, and now our generation, the past couple generations, the primary attribute of God is love.

So all we talk about is love.

We love to talk about the love of God.

We made an idol out of the love of God.

Last month I got invited, some friends of mine invited invited Marcy and I to a fundraiser.

And I know they felt sorry for me because I ain't got no a whole lot of discretionary income, but they wanted me to have a good free meal.

And so I said, I'll be taking it.

And so we're sitting there, and this was on the table as a decoration.

There was about three of these and some little ones, and I was kind of staring at it, and I kind of want to pick it up, and my wife was kind of giving me the eye, like, really?

Really?

And I was kind of looking at her like, we're in public.

You can't spank me here.

And so I got fascinated with this because I was trying to count the sides on it without picking it up and kind of going.

Because to you in the back, it might look like, you know, I don't know what that is.

It's a multifaceted origami kind of thing.

And these two little kids started an organization called origami, uh, excuse me, paper for water, and they've raised over a million dollars to drill water wells.

My wife's like, pay attention.

I said, This is like listening to you.

I can do this and listen at the same time.

I don't have to stop what I'm doing and look at you, okay?

She can't whip me in public, but then there's that ride home.

That's another sermon.

Anyway, and so I'm counting.

By the way, there's 60 sides on this thing.

In case you're wondering.

He said, Why do you tell us that?

Because that's what God is like.

He's not just love.

For you to point at this and kind of go, This is God, and they'd say, Well, what's the rest of this?

I don't know.

No.

See, we got to reclaim holiness as one of the primary attributes of God because some of you are trying to build your life over this one little facet, this one little attribute of God's character.

This is who God is.

And everybody around you is like, what are you gonna do with all the rest of that?

Because in just a minute, we're gonna get to the part where he talks about the kindness and the severity of God.

You see, you need to learn to talk about God and spiritual things in such a way that it's compelling to people.

Like, for example, if you're married and you got kids, if you want your kids to understand, to have a good theology of marriage, don't say dorky things like, boy, I'll tell you what, your mom's an awesome woman.

That's the best you got.

Boy, I'll tell you what, sitting there cutting your roast your wife made on Sunday, I'll tell you what, I don't know where I'd be without your mom.

She's awesome.

That's great.

But how about you just kind of step your game up and again talk about talk talk about spiritual things in God in a way that is compelling?

You say, What do you mean?

Come home next Friday with a luche libre Mexican wrestling mask on and some tights and get out of your car with your briefcase and your black dress socks and your wingtips and that tights on and a mask, no shirt, and just ring the doorbell, walk in, drop your briefcase.

Where's my woman?

And hopefully your kids are there with some of their high school buddies.

And they're all kind of throwing up in their mouths like and chase your wife around the house and then get her in the backyard and pin her down.

One, two, three, and champion del mundo.

And then just walk in your bedroom and close the door.

And look for you to be on YouTube soon.

You do that about three Fridays in a row, and pretty soon you pull up, and there's 60 high school kids in your front yard with their iPhones taping it.

Come on, what are you wearing?

I got the dragon mask today.

Yeah, that kid grows up and says, Hey, marriage is satisfying and it's forever, and you should never get a divorce.

So you can't just say, Oh, because when we talk about God or spiritual things, it sounds like, and your kids are smart, they don't want to tell you because you'll cut them off financially.

But you talk about God, it's like, well, there's some things I should probably tell you because I'm your parental units, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Don't do that.

See, you need to reclaim holiness is one of the primary attributes of God.

God is loving, but he's also holy.

And so when he expresses his holiness, he doesn't lay down love.

It's an essential part of who he is.

See, God is a simple being.

He's not a complex being, he's not a bunch of boxes, he's one box, has many attributes.

I brought this home from the fundraiser, and I walked in and handed it to my because I like to say crazy things to my kids, and they look at their mom, and my mom's like, don't ask me.

And I just walked in and said, Here, I got you something, Madison.

She goes, Oh, great, origami.

I said, No, no, no.

She goes, Well, what is it?

I said, It's a map.

She goes, No, it's origami.

No, and it's a fundamental essence.

It's a map.

Yeah, but somebody took it and you just asked what it was, and I'm just telling you, it's a map.

And sometimes when I know I'm frustrating my kids, I just keep going.

Well, yeah, yeah, but I mean, this thing, that that's awesome.

That took a long time because I I it it's a map.

And I want you to put it on the bookshelf in your room and kind of be reminded of that God's never just one thing.

He's not a one-trick pony.

Okay, but it's origami.

No, it's a map.

You think you're the first woman who's made that noise to me this week?

Is that really all you got in response to me?

Is that?

Are you kidding me?

Your mom and met her quota of that by Tuesday morning, okay?

See, we need to reclaim the holiness, is uh holiness as a primary attribute of God.

Let's read the next section, starting in verse 17.

Paul says this, he says, but if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot were grafted in among the others, and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.

If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

Then you will say, Branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.

That is true.

They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith.

So do not become proud, but stand in awe.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

Note then the kindness and the severity of God.

Severity towards those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.

Otherwise, you too will be cut off.

And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, the Jewish people, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Now that's one of those parts of the Bible.

If you ever read it, you're just kind of like, woo! Let me just give you three or four things to jot down from this section.

I don't want you to miss the beautiful hue of this mercy tree, of God's redemptive history with humanity, of the way God doesn't give up on people.

First thing I want you to write down this section is that a right doctrine of salvation ensures humility.

A right doctrine of salvation ensures humility.

Sounds big and wordy and religious, but here's what was happening.

The Gentiles, and here's where the anti-Semitism came in.

The Gentiles were kind of like, hey, we we we're kind of the people of God.

I mean, Israel stumbled over Jesus, and so now it's our turn.

We're the new Israel.

And Paul says, hey, you guys were born on third base.

Stop telling people you hit a triple.

That you didn't get here on your own.

You got here by faith.

And by the way, God's gonna redeem some of his people from among the Jewish people, the the people of Israel, in the same way through faith.

And so when he says, hey, a right doctrine of salvation ensures humility.

You never want to properly understand how a person becomes a Christian.

The way the Bible says that it's it's all God.

God reveals himself and God draws us, and we'll talk more about that in a minute.

But but but it ensures that you're you're never gonna think more highly of yourself than you ought.

I was telling the staff this morning, I remember going to speak at something, and I was standing there, and in the last song, we were doing this hymn.

I looked over and there was this man in his, I think he was in his early 70s.

And I looked over and he was kind of crying, and I said, Are you okay?

And he just said, It could have been so different for me.

I said, Excuse me?

And he said, When I sing this hymn, it just kind of reminds me, had God not been merciful to me, things could have been so different.

And then I wanted to cry.

See, a right doctrine of salvation kind of ensures that that deep abiding sense of understanding which produces this kind of humility.

Second thing I want you to take away from this section is think about the nature of God.

Think about the nature of God.

That's what Paul is saying.

Don't just assume that, hey, I I I've got a way I prefer God to be.

Because he says, hey, by the way, in verse 21, for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

If you're a one-trick pony when it comes to God, that offends you.

You're like, no, wait a minute.

What does that mean?

That means God saying, hey, don't jerk with me.

I'll pull the world over and whip everybody.

You don't believe me, ask Noah.

You see, and if you just say, well, my God's a God of love, you're gonna be offended at everything in the Bible you don't understand.

And he says, hey, very clearly, hey, if God didn't spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

Note then, take notice of, don't skip over the kindness and the severity of God.

Severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.

By the way, don't miss this.

I don't have time to go into it.

But but but but but but the environment in which God wants you to live is kindness.

Because he says, God's kindness to you provided that you continue in his kindness.

Now, here's something you should think about when you're driving to work tomorrow.

If God wants you to continue in his kindness, why would you ever make sinful choices that would get you out of that environment?

That makes sense anybody but me.

Of all the things you think about God, you have to admit.

Because the Bible just says right there in black and white.

Hey, provided you continue in his kindness.

Don't hear that is it, we'll get to it in just a minute.

Don't hear is it, oh, it's conditional.

I gotta no, no, no.

We'll kill that in just a minute.

But just don't miss it.

Oh.

You mean God wants to relate to me, kind of in this, the thermostat in God's house that He's called me to live in is set on kindness?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

That's what the Bible says.

So he says, hey, think about the nature of God, its kindness and its severity.

It could be so different for me.

Third thing I want you to take away from this section is that continuing is not a requirement of salvation, but it's evidence of salvation.

You hear the difference?

He says, provided that you continue.

Otherwise, you too will be cut off.

He's not saying you better do your best.

You better try and you better suck it up.

By the way, I observed my ritual yesterday of watching the Iron Man triathlon on NBC.

And I didn't realize it, but there I was with a tin of three flavors popcorn, butter, cheddar, and caramel corn, watching the Iron Man triathlon.

That should send you to hell right there.

But I didn't realize it because it's not you like you watch people race.

No, no, no, no.

I didn't watch people run a race.

I listened to the narrator because they tell all the stories.

Like Gordon Ramsey, the little foul-mouthed celebrity chef, his little self was in the Iron Man triathlon.

And that brother was breaking down.

He was like, mmm.

He had two people running beside him, basically carrying him.

And I was sitting there.

I'm sure you never do this, but I'm shoving popcorn in my cake hole and watching that kind of going, yeah, I could run the Iron Man if I had people kind of propping me up.

I hope this caricorn doesn't run out.

That's a third world problem right there.

Excuse me, a first world problem.

But but but why why am I telling you this?

Because there was some lady, I think her name is Louise, she's in her 70s, she's run many Iron Man's.

She was hit by a car while she was training for the Iron Man.

And she had a prosthetic leg.

One of those little bitty art things.

And she was running and she wasn't doing good.

And she was breaking down, and the guys, and the narrator comes on and says, midnight approaches, and everyone on the course knows what that means.

Regardless of where you are on the course, at the stroke of midnight, the race is over for you.

So everyone steps up their pace and it's raining in slow motion, and all of a sudden I'm just like, and they focus in on this woman with one leg and she's breaking down and she's getting closer, closer, and I just find myself just kind of pulling.

Like, there's something about perseverance that calls forth the best in all of us.

And I'm like, come on, and they go, there's six minutes to go before the race is over, and she's got to wait.

And I'm like, come on, if this woman doesn't make it, I'm gonna beat somebody up.

She missed it by 47 seconds.

That was my reaction.

I cried.

I just set my popcorn down.

I was like, why?

My wife and her friend Karen and our 10-year-old left the house yesterday at 9.30, went to breakfast, and went to the zoo.

I was at my house from 9.30 to 4:30, had it all to myself.

It's like I died and gone to a man cave.

And of all the things I chose to do, I cried.

What kind of loser am I?

And here's what got me.

See, I mean, and the MC, the guy with the microphone, he went out and got her because she's kind of a celebrity.

She's done, I think, 21 of these things.

And he's he's walking with her.

And she walked all the way to the finish line, but she missed the cutoff by 47 seconds.

And I just sat there, just like, whoa.

And I thought about being here with you today, and I thought about what the Bible says when he says kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.

Continuing is not a requirement.

It's not how we earn our salvation.

It's evidence that we have it.

Does that make sense?

Because in life, you're not going to get hit by a car, but things are going to happen.

They're going to invite you to believe things about God that aren't true.

Your sorry husband is going to do dumb things.

Your sorry wife may do bad things.

Or you may have a great husband or a great wife.

And you may have an incredible family, and you may just forget God.

And the Bible says, hey, don't lose sight of this.

Fourth thing I want you to take away is just this right here that God's not finished.

God is not finished.

Look at verse 23.

It's kind of a theme all through Romans 9, 10, 11.

Paul says, hey, God's not done.

Just because you can't see what he's doing, doesn't mean he's not doing anything.

He says in verse 23, and even they, the Jews, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in.

For God has the power to graft them in again.

For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and by the way, a wild olive tree is not, it's it's fruitless.

It doesn't bear any olives.

It's just wild.

It's an olive tree in name only.

But if you are cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated, fruit-bearing olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

That's what I mean when I say God is not finished.

All of us have something in our life we could speak that over today.

There's people, some of you in this room right now, you don't believe this.

You don't believe the Bible, you're not there yet, and that's okay.

I told the first service, and I'll tell the service after you the same thing.

Every Sunday, people show up at this church who aren't Christians, who aren't quite there yet.

I remember I had a friend that would come for the longest time.

He's like, hey man, my wife started coming, and she's come on and talk about your sermons.

And so I'm gonna come about once a month, but I just need you to know I don't believe all of this.

And I said, Okay.

He goes, that doesn't bother you.

And I went, No, I'm not like selling steak knives door to door, and you're gonna hurt my feelings if you don't buy them.

Uh and I said, That's great.

I said, Why do you come?

He goes, Well, I enjoy you.

I just don't believe this.

I said, What do you not believe?

I don't believe the creation account.

I don't believe the flood.

Are you kidding me that God wiped out everybody except Noah and these people on the boat?

And he goes, You believe that?

And I said, Yeah.

Matter of fact, the Bible talks that when it talks about the water receding, it says the wind, it's the Hebrew word rua.

And it's the same word that he uses back in Genesis 1 when it talks about that there was darkness over the water, but the Spirit of God, it's that same word in Hebrew, the rua of God was hovering over the waters.

So God creates and then God destroys and creates again.

Because if God can create in the first place, then he reserves the right to create again.

So that's why I believe that.

Not because I'm a non-thinking emotional person.

I'm I'm very much got some critical thinking requirements.

He said, Well, I don't.

I like that I can bring coffee in here and I think you're funny.

You get up on Sundays for that, he goes, and gets my old lady off my back.

Now we're talking.

That's worth getting up for.

And I said, Well, he said, So what do you want me to do?

I said, just keep coming.

And just keep listening.

I said, So you're like, say, just not believing where you are.

I said, that's like a zero.

And and and being a Christian is like at a ten.

You just come and you just stay on zero as long as you stay on zero.

And then one day you may hear something and you'll find yourself just moving over to number one.

He's like, okay.

And then you may come for a couple months, you may hear something else, and you may move to a two, or you may just step on over to three.

Okay.

And I said, here's what will happen.

Eventually, the most natural thing for you to do is to step into this relationship with God.

Not religion, but relationship and realize Christ died for my sins.

It's me having faith in what He's done, more faith than I have in myself.

That's what being a Christian is.

Oh my gosh, it's not about not drinking and not smoking and watching the Fox News channel and blah, blah, blah.

You know that, right?

I feel some of you here, you're kind of like, easy on the Fox News channel, Pastor.

No, that's just behavior modification.

And the guy said, Hey, I do things I shouldn't do.

Does that shock you?

And I said, that you're a sinner doesn't shock me.

You know why?

Because I by nature am a sinner.

I didn't mean to go out and sin.

It's just, I've accepted that a long time ago.

You're trying to like, oh, you sinned.

Yeah, of course you do.

You can't help but sin.

The Bible says you're a slave to it.

And he said, so so that's the deal.

And I said, Yeah, so you're at zero over here.

And he goes, No, I mean, easy, easy.

Maybe I'm at one.

So look at me.

If you're at zero or you're at one, you're welcome here.

No one's going to corner you and say, hey, have you ever come to the point in your life, you know, for sure you died now you go to heaven?

No.

You're thinking people, and the Bible's a speaking document, and it'll say everything you need to hear in order for this to be the most natural thing you've ever done.

Anything other than that is like an arranged marriage.

Can you imagine being in an arranged marriage, looking at your wife and just thinking, I hate your guts?

And the only people I hate more than you are my mom and dad who picked you.

That's not Christianity.

Christianity is some of y'all think I'll get emails, oh, Pastor, you really pray the lyrics of a little big town song?

Absolutely.

I was walking through home, I was walking through Home Depot yesterday or two days ago singing it.

Drunk, sweet like a wine as it gets older.

Oh, and this lady said, Oh, little big town.

I said, Actually, it's my prayer.

I got a text from Wade Collier, our missions and outreach pastor, who's in London on his sabbatical.

That's a tough gig.

By the way, I went to Surfside, Texas on my sabbatical.

Wade is in London, touring the cathedrals of London.

He sends me a text and he goes, Dude, I just read the tomorrow email.

Are you kidding me?

I've been singing that psalm all week.

I just texted back, keep singing.

It's not determination, it's affection.

God's not finished.

Third and final section.

You still with me?

Look at what the Bible says.

Verse 25, lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers.

Partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

And in this way, all Israel be saved.

It is written, as it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion, and he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.

And this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.

As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake.

But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.

For the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable.

God hasn't changed his mind about how good he's been to the Jewish people.

He doesn't feel sheepish for being so generous.

Just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now receive mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.

For God has consigned all.

What's all?

It's the you and the they of verse 31.

God has consigned all, Jew and Gentile alike, religious and non-religious alike, to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all, on the Jew and the Gentile.

Because the Gentiles are trying to say mercy belongs to us.

And God says, You ain't courted the market on mercy.

Who do you think you are?

Two things I want us to take away from this section.

Number one, someone is over this process.

Someone is over this process.

That's what he's getting at in verse 25.

He says, Lest you be wise in your own conceits.

I want you to understand this mystery.

Translation, God is saying to the Gentiles, Paul saying to the Gentiles, hey, you guys are getting a little cocky, okay?

Knock it off.

And here's why they were getting arrogant and conceited, okay?

Look at me, because some of you do this.

Church always attracts people that do this.

They were trying, they would gaze upon the mystery and they would try to figure it out because you don't want to be the guy.

By the way, if you're the guy or the girl that knows all the mysteries and has figured everything in the Bible out, no one wants to live with you.

Your marriage is hard, I promise you, because you're a religious jerk.

You're always cramming it down people's throat.

Your wife or your husband is just beat down and ready to quit.

Why?

Because you won't live with mystery.

You feel that?

Hey, you ain't ever gonna get it all figured out.

And I ain't ever gonna get it all figured out.

Why do you think the Bible says in Psalm 8, David is outside and he's looking up at the heavens?

He says, When I consider your handiwork and all that you've made, what is man that you're mindful of him?

The Son of Man that you remember him.

You made him a little lower than the angels, and you crowned him with glory and honor.

Oh my gosh, God, when you you made the Milky Way and the Big Dipper and all this stuff, and you remember me?

Are you kidding me?

Oh God, I'm so sorry.

I gotta be Mr.

Noah-Doll.

Nobody wants to be married to Mr.

Noah-Dahul.

Mystery is essential for worship.

If you're single and you start dating a man and he is afraid of mystery, you need to break up with him.

Because he's not only gonna never stop and ask for directions, he's never gonna be wrong.

You are that's a hard fight with a short stick.

And some of you are like, what if you're already married to him?

Just smile and say, Hey, you ain't gotta have this all figured out.

Because here's the deal you and I are finite, and God is infinite.

And you're never gonna figure all that out.

Matter of fact, you should just go to the edge of your understanding and gaze upon the mystery just to appreciate it.

Just to say, thank you, God, that there's somebody in the world smarter than me.

We love, oh you know, I've got these books I've been reading, blah, blah, blah.

Boring.

You are boring and you're obnoxious.

And I love you.

But nobody understands all the mysteries.

I remember going to college and seminary with some of these guys.

They come in my room.

Hey, let's debate mysteries of the Bible.

I would rather go out with your sister.

And I've seen your sister, and that's not a boast.

What am I saying?

Just two things, and we're done.

Number one, someone's over this process.

Someone is over this process, this mystery.

What is unclear to us is very clear to God.

God knows what he's doing.

And Paul says, hey, let me pull it back a little bit and let you guys understand.

A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

That's the word I want you to hear, the phrase.

Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

It's the Greek word pleroma.

In other words, it refers to there's a number of people that are not Jewish by heritage and descendant.

They're going to come.

And when that's happened, this is kind of getting towards the end of time.

When that's happened, bingo, all of a sudden.

And by the way, here's how we know someone's over this.

It's not us.

No one's going to become a Christian and go, okay, God said to tell you, I'm the last one.

That ain't ever going to happen.

And so what?

He said, Why are you telling us someone's over all this?

This is just write this down.

They'll turn it, it'll come up on the screen.

This is Luke 21, verse 24.

Luke 21:24

This is Jesus.

He is fixing to go to the cross.

He's kind of giving some last teaching.

He's fixing to, he is not, he's like a day away from observing Passover with his disciples.

And he says this in Luke 21, 24.

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all the nations.

And Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

What am I saying?

What I'm saying is that there's someone over this whole process, and it's not me and it's not you.

And Jesus just referred to it.

He's talking about the fall of Babylon, which takes place, I mean the fall of Jerusalem, which takes place in 70 AD.

But it's not that part.

He said until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

He said, hey, God's going to move among non-religious people.

Don't get cocky and arrogant.

Look at the Jews and go, yeah, stings for you.

You guys just stumbled over it.

He says, hey.

Uh-uh.

Second thing and last thing from this section is simply this only in the context of disobedience does mercy have meaning.

Only in the context of disobedience does mercy have any meaning.

What do you mean?

Let me just read from verse 30 and we'll be done.

You still with me?

Verse 30 of Romans 11.

He says, Just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now receive mercy because of their disobedience.

So they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that means he may have mercy on all.

Most of us in this room have a frame of reference for how disobedient you can be, true or false.

I couldn't hear you.

Sure.

You should know what you're capable of.

You have a sense of that.

Here's what most of us don't have is we don't have a sense of how merciful God longs to be.

In verses 30, 31, and 32, four times Paul says, disobedience, disobedience, disobedience, disobedience.

And in a subtle and I think purposeful way, four times.

He says, Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy.

So I want to close this morning by saying to you, I don't know all of you.

I don't know all your story.

You may be living in just blatant disobedience right now.

And I want to say to you, on the authority of the Bible, that God has more mercy than you have disobedience.

It's like we last week, when God says, all day long, I've held out my arms to a disobedient and contrary people.

Why does God do that?

I had people email me.

Why does God hold out his arms to people who are just hard-hearted and they may never come?

One answer mercy.

That's the God of the Bible.

So you may be hard.

And some of you aren't as hard as you think.

You may be thinking, I don't care about this.

I just want to just kind of sow some wild oats.

Be careful.

Be careful.

It's in the context of your disobedience.

You need to hear that God has more mercy than you have disobedience.

And that's why he holds out his arms all day long.

Stand to your feet.

We like to finish our service with a spoken blessing.

So we ask people to hold their hands out.

Your father doesn't give you mercy just because you deserve it.

You don't deserve it.

He doesn't give you mercy because you need it.

We all need it.

He gives you mercy because he wants you to have it.

He didn't steal it.

He didn't earn it.

He gave it to you.

Depart now and live like you know why.

In the name of the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you, you're dismissed.