God's Mysterious, Merciful, Inscrutable, Plan

Just grab our bibles. Thanks prom let's grab our bibles. In turn to

Romans chapter eleven, Romans eleven. If you don't have a Bible with you,

just raise your hand, and we're passing those out right now, so

we'll get you one. Just raise your hand and keep it up so we

can find you. Also, if you didn't get a bulletin, that's going

to be helpful because there's sermon notes on the back there, So just raise

your hand and keep it up. If you don't have a Bible or a

bulletin with the sermon notes there, that's going to be helpful. And turn

to Romans chapter eleven, Romans eleven. We're going to start in verse twenty

five and go to the end of the chapter Romans twenty five and following before

I read our sermon text and get us orientzed a little bit. When I

was a younger man, I saw something that kind of burned into my memory,

kind of became a part of me. And that was the view from

a tower on the top of the tallest mountain in a forest district in Montana,

and you could literally see the mountains until they edged over the horizon like

green carpet. It was amazing. And what I experienced in that sight was

a sense of awe and a sort of transcendent humility, which was very fitting.

And you may have experienced something like this, maybe in a boat in

the middle of the ocean as the water just goes on and on and on

and down and down and down, or at night with clear skies under the

stars, and you behold something so much larger than you that's been here long

before you were, and we'll be here long after you've gone, and is

full of mysterious goings on that you never see and you never grasp. And

that is a sense of awe and humility that's worth getting familiar with, and

it's one that is certainly fitting when we consider God and God's plans in God's

ways. It's good to try to understand what we can about God and his

plans. I've dedicated my life to understanding God and his ways and his plans

and helping other people understand what we can about God and his plans and his

ways. It's good, but we lose our hold on humility when our heart

posture is I got to understand it all, and God must explain it to

me, or my sense my sense of justice from my perspective is how I

will judge God. But if we will respond with biblical humility, what we

will see is that we've been given enough to see his character and to know

his mercy, to even to even have been shared with us his creation,

a plan of working out redemption that causes us to respond in faith and to

respond in praise. If we'll respond with biblical humility, that's where we'll find

ourselves awe and faith and praise. Today we conclude the Apostle Paul's extended passage

on what about Israel? For us, it's been five weeks. This is

week number five, and here we're gonna pause in the Letter to the Church

of the Romans, and we're gonna pause for three weeks, and then we'll

pick back up in chapter twelve. But throughout this passage for the past five

weeks, he has asserted that God's plan is mysterious, and it's merciful,

and it's inscrutable, which just means unable to be interrogated, not fully grasped.

And as he highlights each piece of God's work that we can get a

handle on, we continue to see that the most fitting response to each peace

as it's unpacked. For us is humility, humility in our understanding, humility

in the mercy that we receive, and humility in the praise that we give

God, whose plans are mysterious and merciful and inscrutable. So let's read this

passage together, starting in verse twenty five, will go to the end of

the chapter. Read along as I read aloud, lest you be wise in

your own sight. I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery.

Brothers, A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of

the gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved.

As it is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion. 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 for your

sake, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their

forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just

as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received 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 he may have mercy on all,

oh the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How

unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways. For who has known

the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor, or who

has given a gift to him that he might be repaid for From him and

through him and to him are all things to him be glory forevermore. Amen,

mysterious, merciful, and inscrutable. And I think the place to start

is that we would be aware with humility. We would be aware with humility.

This is where Paul starts. He says, you know, there are

some things that we can understand, right, we're not understanding at all.

There are some things we can understand, and we respond because of our understanding

with humility. He says, a verse twenty five and twenty six. Less

you be wise in your own sight, right, So what's the point here

That we wouldn't be proud, that we wouldn't be that we wouldn't lose our

grip on humility. I don't want you to be unaware of this mystery,

and he unpacks for us what we've talked about before, that God's plan of

redemptive history involves a partial hardening of Israel for now, which is to say

ethnic Israel. Ethnic Israel. Largely there continues to be a remnant generation after

generation that actually sees what God is doing through Jesus Christ. Not through line

continues, but largely for now Israel has been hardened, held from seeing the

work of God in Christ. And that continues until the fullness of the Gentiles,

the fullness of the nations is gathered into what God is doing in the

Gospel. And here we are, We're not done. Fullness has not reached

fullness. This gospel will be preached to the ends of the earth until all

the nations through this gospel. The man we're in the middle of that,

And Paul says, I don't want you to be unaware. I want you

to understand enough of this thing that has been previously not understood at all.

It's been a mystery. What is God doing? What is God up to?

And his point, Pall's purpose is that we would reject pride right,

so that we would not be wise on our own site. And he uses

this metaphor of an olive tree. Remember that the olive tree horticultural metaphor says,

a tree sort of symbolizing the visible community of those who profess faith in

God and what he's doing. That tree has had branches that have been broken

off because ethnic Israel is not believing what God is doing and breaking those branches

off. God has grafted in wild branches of the nations, of the gentiles,

of you and I who have come to trust the God of Israel through

what God has done in Israel's rejection of him. It's a grace we who

should have known God the least. And that explanation says, okay, Paul's

like, okay, so now that you understand how that's working Verse twenty of

last week's so do not become proud, And then he goes on to quote

he says, in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it

is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion. He will banish on godliness

from Jacob. This will be my covenant with him when I take away their

sins. This is this is David, this is Originally, David includes these

lines in more than one of his psalms, right seeing understanding that God will

send a deliverer and he will banish sin from ethnic Israel. And Isaiah then

picks that up generations later and he prophesies, the Deliverer will be sent and

he will banish the sins of Israel. And so Paul picks that up and

he says, the writers of the Old Testament scriptures, they knew God's commitment

to righteousness for his people, but they didn't know the full plan of God.

They didn't know who the deliverer was. They didn't know that it would

be God and human form in Jesus, that God, the maker of mountains,

the holder of oceans, would become one of us and die for us

and banish the sins of his people. And so Paul is saying with these

lines, like this has been God's plan all along. The deliver will come

to Zion from Zion and banish Israel's sins. And now the mystery has been

uncovered enough for some to see it's Jesus, and not just Jesus for the

nations, This Jesus for Israel, This Jesus for Israel. So we have

been given this insight again for what purpose? Taking answers our humility? We've

been given this insight lest we become wise in our own sight. So let's

consider that for a moment. What kinds of pride should we reject? Based

on having some understanding of this, what kind of pride should we reject?

Well? I can think of three right off. One of them is this

any kind of pride that would cause us to look down our nose at ethnic

Israel. That's right in the center of Paul's purpose for writing this, that

that the nations, the Gentiles, you and me, San Antonio, Texas,

and in Rome. Forget to the point where we think, because we've

been grafted in that somehow speaks to some sort of some superiority, some sort

of specialness, some sort of like I don't know, morality or wisdom or

or special insight that we have in and of ourselves that makes us, that

makes us better than some other group of people. That's that absolutely doesn't fit,

that absolutely doesn't fit with the grace of God and New Testament Christianity.

And so to get more to the point of just any any pride, specifically

anti Semitism, right looking looking down on the Jewish people. Look, I

don't get it. I don't get it, but I know it's out there,

and I know there's plenty of it. I don't know why. But

what the Bible teaches is that it makes no sense. According to the grace

of God, standing in his grace is not an indication of superiority. Standing

in his grace is an indication of his grace. That's it. Antisemitic pride

does not fit with true Christianity. That said, Look, that said,

that doesn't mean that Israel can do no wrong, all right. Like in

the Bible, the righteous ones are those who love and support Israel and will

tell her the truth when she's out of line, all right. So and

I say that as someone who believes in supporting Israel, I've got stars of

David literally taped in my windows face the street. Okay. Yet Israel is

not above criticism. And yet also no group can look down their noses at

any other group. The grace of God testifies not to our goodness, but

to His grace. Here's another kind of pride that we have to reject.

Here's another kind of pride that we have to reject. And I think is

really adjacent to this, I'll call it end times, know it all pride,

End times, know it all pride. You know, as we study

what God is doing and will do in the end, it can be a

little controversial amongst Christians. The fact of the matter is that the controversies don't

there's not that many of them when it comes to what God will do in

the end. The controversies are really just a handful, and they revolve around

and how exactly God is going to handle Israel in the end. I think

that this scripture teaches pretty clearly that God has a special place for Israel in

the end, not a special way Jesus is the only way, but a

special place. God has used Israel as a microcosm through which to reach the

whole world, and using the world to reach Israel. And yet, and

yet, however, we come to our position about what God is going to

do in the end, and we should, we should study, we should

come to a position. We should think we're right and make our case and

add this at the end. But I could be wrong. Do you have

a gear for that. I've studied, I have my position. I know

what I believe, I know why I think I'm right, but I could

be wrong. Because God has made some things in scripture very very clear,

and we should die for them. And then in those other things which are

less clear, we should study. We should have a position, We should

know what it is, we should know what we believe, we should know

why we think we're right, and have the humility to say, but I

could be wrong. Here's another kind of pride that we need to reject,

and that is replacement theology. Pride replacement theology. Pride replacement theology. Pride

is to say God has done with Israel. Israel had its chance and they

rejected him, and now God has replaced Israel with the nations. That's not

quite right. True Israel is the true Church, and the true Church is

True Israel. Yet God has not replaced ethnic Israel. He's coming for her.

One day. He will graft her in to True Israel, just as

he has us. The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. The

grafting in of ethnic Israel one day into true Israel will be through the wide

spread Jewish faith in Jesus Christ. And I can't wait to see it.

I don't know if I'm going to see it from here or if I'm going

to see it from up there, but I can't wait to see it.

It is his death that is the one atonement for all people. It's his

resurrection that is the one hope for all people, is hope for all mankind.

One day, every Jewish knee and every gentile knee will bow, and

every Jewish tongue and every gentile tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And

if you recognize that you, by God's grace, have been given a place

in the middle of God's mysterious plan, then you should also see that there's

no room for pride, none at all, just praise. So what else

should provoke our humility? Well, we see following this, God's mercy should

provoke our humility. And that's my next heading, Receive mercy with humility,

Paul says in eight twenty nine. He says this as regards the gospel,

they that is, ethnic Israel are enemies for your sake, that as they

have been excluded from this grace for now largely, but as regards election,

as as regards God's plan from the beginning, they are beloved for the sake

of their forefathers. For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. In

other words, it's just another way of of Paul saying that Israel is largely

for now hardened, stands against God's work of grace in Christ. But that

won't be forever, because he has promises to keep to Abraham and Isaac and

Jacob. And that's not to suggest that the patriarchs that the forefathers are somehow

have some special merit or have earned some special favor. Have you read about

Jacob, or that Israel has earned a claim on God. No. God

has made it clear. He makes his promises by his own prerogative, and

he keeps his promises in his own way. Nobody saw this coming. So

even the recipients of God's promises, especially because they're the recipients of God's promises,

should be humbled. And then he goes on thirty and thirty one.

For just as you, as gentiles were at one time disobedient to God,

you did not know him. You were of those who should have known God

the least, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience. They have

rejected. So they too have now been disobedient in order that the mercy shown

to you by that, they may also now receive mercy at that time when

He gathers them in. So remember this is God's paradoxical plan, using Israel

to reach the nations, and then using the nations to reach Israel, using

Israel by creating in them a microcosm of his work and demonstrating his character and

giving them his word, and then arriving to be rejected as he knew he

would, ripping open in Christ's body the way forward for the entire world to

come to know him through his grace, using Israel to reach the nations.

And then as that gospel goes forth and has even gotten as far as San

Antonio and China and Russia and Africa and Asia. As that gospel goes forward

and the nations, those who would have known God the least come to intimate

relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and standing in his grace. God

says, one day ethnic Israel is going to look on that, and they're

gonna be jealous. And God will use the nations to reach Israel. And

he says in verse thirty two, for God has consigned all to disobedience that

he may have mercy on all. Now, some people have questions about this

verse, like what does Paul mean by all He's consigned all the disobedience that

he may have mercy on all. Paul's using the word all in two different

ways. He's kind of got to play on words here, right, So

all could mean everyone without exception, all without exception all people, or all

could mean all without distinction, all kinds of people, And so he uses

that word in both ways. Here God has consigned all everyone without exception to

disobedience, so that he may have mercy on all, without distinction, all

kinds of people, Jews, gentiles, well educated, not well educated,

every tribe, tongue, and nation. He will bring in all kinds of

people. But more people have questions about the phrase consigned to disobedience. Consigned

to disobedience the idea that God is sovereignly involved in someone's disobedience. It raises

questions for people all the time, and usually those questions on like why why,

How We've been at this for a few weeks. As you can imagine,

I've had a few conversations in the past few weeks about God's sovereignty over

the hearts of people. You maybe you have to or you're not telling okay.

I've had conversations over the past few weeks of kind of with kind of

every kind of person, Like, certainly people who are shaking their fists.

They're right in the the right in that place where they are shaking their fists

at the stars. I don't I don't like God in control. Seems wrong

to me. People who would sit in judgment over the ocean. I've talked

to people who aren't really shaking their fists so much as scratching their heads.

How does this work? I don't understand God. God, God is sovereignly

in control ultimately of all things, and yet people make real choices, and

I don't know how that operates as a mystery, and I'm shaking my head

or sorry, scratching my head. And then I've also had conversations with people

who are very tentatively at the place where they are bowing their knees and they're

recognizing in awe and humility that he is God. And I just want to

say, I get it. I have been in all three of those places

over the course of my life. I was a fist shaker for a long

time, and then God when he rescued me from fist shaking. I still

did like some time as a head scratcher. I did several years as a

head scratcher. How it was an unsatisfying place, yet quite honest. And

it was these chapters in Romans some time ago that moved me from being just

a head scratcher, which I am still sometimes, but from just a head

scratcher to a knee bower. I was made to see that God's ultimate sovereignty

is beautiful as he is beautiful, and that doesn't mean that people are robots

that would be ugly. Just because God's will is ultimate doesn't mean that man's

will is nonexistent. The Bible consistently depicts the reality that both God's ultimate sovereignty

and man's real responsibility are both true. We have a will and a freedom

that are not illusions. They just aren't ultimate. God's plans are ultimate,

even over the human heart. And no one has ever walked in disobedience unwillingly.

We have all been quite willing in our disobedience. And as we consider

that disobedience and God's sovereignty over the human heart, I think in humility we

should take a few steps. Number one, I think with humility we should

see it clearly in scripture. I think after five weeks of these particular passages

in Romans, we can look at God's word and with humility go, yeah,

it does say that, and not just here, but all over the

Old Testament and the New Testament that Paul's quoting and Jesus is quoting saying God

gives people blind eyes and deaf ears for his purposes. Pray that you wouldn't

be one with humility, we need to see that this truth is present.

But also with humility, we need to reconsider our assumptions about how that all

works. We need to reconsider that God's sovereignty and our responsibility has to break

down into puppetry. That's just not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches

He is really in charge, we really are responsible, and how that works

out is a mystery. You don't understand what happens one hundred meters under the

sea. How are you going to understand how God works the universe. Let's

reconsider our assumptions. Third, with humility, we should take the step of

trusting his character. Trust his character. God says he is merciful, merciful

and full of loving kindness that the Bible. That the Bible says he is

both kind and severe, does not mean he is equally kind and severe.

No, God says that he is full of mercy. He defines himself that

way we can trust his character. And then, fourthly, with humility,

I think we should take the step of receiving mercy. That takes humility to

call out on him and say, God, I need the mercy that you

are a sending by your grace in Jesus Christ. I need that. I

need that every day, and I am trusting you for mercy. And some

of you might say, well, how do you know you can trust him

for mercy if he's in charge of everything, how do you know that you'll

have a heart to receive mercy? And the answer is your embrace of his

mercy is his evidence of mercy towards you. If you can call on him

for mercy, do it today. If you hear his voice, do not

harden your heart. And yet I have to say receiving mercy, which we

should do with humility, it's not even the main thing that's on Paul's mind

here. The main response that is on Paul's mind here, as he writes

about God's plans. Is this that we would behold him with humility, that

we would behold him, behold him in the sense of praise him, worship

him. Seeing what we can see of God and his plan, that we

would be in awe. Let me read thirty five, sorry, thirty three

through thirty five. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge

of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways? For

who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor,

or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid.

So here God draws our attention to not only the richness and the inscrutability of

his plans his ways, He draws our attention to himself, the Lord God

Almighty. And Paul quotes Isaiah here to say, look, this is God

we're talking about, Like you don't know his mind and he doesn't owe you

anything. And Isaiah himself is quoting Job, probably the oldest book in the

Bible. And you might remember from our time in Job two summers ago,

that God's ultimate answer. He's patient with Job's wrestling and Job's complaining, and

he actually shows up, which he didn't have to do. And his ultimate

answer to the questions of why, why me, why this way? Is

I Am God, Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth.

Can you know the wisdom of what has gone into the simplest aspect of

my creation and my sustaining the universe? And so Isaiah picks that up from

Job and he puts it down as he proclaims to the people of Israel.

Generations later, and God is confronting Israel with judgment and exile and also extending

a promise to restore one day, and Israel's going, why, why us?

Why this way? And Isaiah has picked this up from Job, and

he says, behold your God, like who has measured the oceans that he

holds in the palm of his hand, who has given counsel to him,

go ahead, bring your arguments, bring your ideas, Let them unfold the

workings of the universe for us. And so, as God confronted Job and

Isaiah confronted Israel, Paul confronts us. When we would ask about the hardening

of a heart, when we would ask why, why them? Why this

way? Paul says, behold your God, who knows his mind, who

does he owe anything to? But he's also saying to us, as we

would ask about mercy and why he would show mercy to us, why we

would allow us to receive by grace a standing with him? And we would

say why, why us? Why this way? He says, behold your

God, You're never going to reach the bottom of his wisdom. He's never

owed you anything. And if you are living in his grace, if you

see that the maker of mountains and the holder of oceans has become a person

like you and died for your sins that you might be grafted into relationship with

the Lord Almighty, then what is fitting in awe and humility is to say,

from him and through him and to him, are all things? To

Him be glory forever, Amen, praise. That's where the Apostle ends up.

That's where we end up, that we would praise the Holder of oceans

and the Maker of mountains and the savior of sinners.