EP 12: SCC Savor, Month 3, Days 14-19

Allen: Welcome back. This is the SCC Saver podcast where we are savoring God through every bite of scripture. I'm one of your co-hosts Alan Smith, Pastoral Apprentice, Sanibel Community Church. And I'm Jeremy Rinne. I'm the Senior Pastor of Sanibel Community Church and we are continuing our conversation about the Navigators Bible Reading Plan week by week and just talking about the text that hopefully you have been reading. as a way of reflecting on those. Where are we at today anyway? Yeah, so this is month three, days 14 through 19. So you would have finished up numbers in 33 through 36, and then Deuteronomy 1 through 17. In the Psalms, you would have read Psalms 61 through 66. In Matthew, you would have read 25, 31 to 27, 10. And in Romans, you would have read 9 through 12, 1 through 8. Great. By the way, ⁓ I just looked in the fridge right before we came here and I noticed a bunch of cakes from the bubble the bubble room the bubble room in captivity was that your first Foray to the bubble room. I've officially been bubble eyes ⁓ What was your favorite one dude? You know what okay, so she brought out the platter. Yeah, and I was like there's no way you got a cake platter, dude ⁓ No, she brought out the platter for me to decide from have you seen the size of these things ⁓ yeah Dude, so she brought this out, like, no way they're actually this size. She's like, oh yeah, they're this size. I'm like, oh my gosh. So, you know, the famous one is the orange crunch cake. Oh yeah, the orange crunch cake. So I had to go for that. Yeah. I had to go for it disappoint or were you pleased? Dude, I literally turned into orange crunch cake. I was mowing this thing down. Oh yeah. And here's a fun little story. So I went over to it because there's a dessert shop right next door where you can get them to go. They were sold out. Oh yeah. So I went over to the restaurant. They're like, oh yeah, you can't get them to go. I was like, oh, OK. So we sat down. I sat down with my sister and she brought out the platter, got my cake. And I'm thinking that I couldn't box this up if I didn't finish. So I'm mowing through this thing. Like, I'm like literally turning an orange corn shake. I'm so full. And then I was like, hey, wait, can you get a box? She's like, oh yeah, you can get a box. So I just ate way too much cake for no reason. There's always a good reason to eat orange cake is so good. brought Chris a couple. Did you? Yeah. was like, dude, I'll pay a premium for that. It's worth it. It's kind of like, hey, if you go to CapTaver, bring me back orange crunch cake. Yeah. Yeah. I found, well actually was introduced to a little Indian joint on 41 in Fort Myers called Indian Grill. India Grill is a total. How much are they paying you to say this? Nothing. I'm paying them to say this. Literally I have. It's so good. It's a total hole in the wall. There's nothing, you know, it's one of those places where everything feels sticky. Yeah. But man, the food is legit. It's some guys from Kerala, which is a state in South India, Somali Alam guys. And man, they crush the food there. The Rogan Josh and the Nihari is like wonderful. Indian. Yeah. So where do you rank? Because your favorite is Ethiopia. Is Indian right behind it? It's pretty close up there. Yeah, this spice profile is, you know, off the hook. Yeah. Well, I'll have to get over there. Hey, if you're listening, go check it out. Tell them we sent you. Tell them Jeremy sent you. That's right. Does that mean anything to them? No. You don't get any discounts? Yeah, I don't hold much credibility outside of the church and very little in the church. Well, that's not true because you just preached a great sermon yesterday and delighted in God, man. I was encouraged. Hopefully we're all delighted. No, man, it was great. It reminds us that Christ is coming back and he's mighty and glorious. Yeah, so well speaking of a mighty and glorious Christ ⁓ Let's jump into Deuteronomy. So at the end of numbers just a quick brief comment on there basically numbers at the end is the summary of Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan and so that's where you get Aaron's death. He like Moses is prevented from entering the promised land because of his rebellion at the waters of Maraba And now we're going to get into Deuteronomy. And so a little bit just high level about the book of Deuteronomy is you kind of get three major theological themes. You get the nature and character of God. You get the covenant relationship between Yahweh and Israel and the response of his people. And so this is a restatement of the covenant between God and Israel to now a new generation assembled in the plains of Moab prior to crossing of the Jordan and conquest of Canaan under Joshua. So we get a new leader. Joshua, he's going to be very central figure. And so you're going to see this relationship play out between covenant ⁓ of Yahweh and Israel. so it's kind of Moses is like, like last hurrah. Yeah. This is where he gives his last message. It's I mean, Deuteronomy, even though it's a restatement of the law, it's kind of framed as like a sermon. Yeah. He's like exhorting the people. Yeah, that's right. He knows he's not going to and he knows about to die. So he's like, hey, These are his last words. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's like yeah, it's like his last words ⁓ Yeah, he warns admonishes tells him how to be faithful and I think you know, it's interesting I think about a lot with ⁓ Moses is how he still continued on in faithless even though he knew that his disobedience had disqualified him from even enjoying the blessings and the benefit So this guy just put up with all these disobedient people Yeah for 40 years and then now doesn't even get the benefits that the next generation does Right, but he's faithful. But he's faithful. Yeah, yeah. He's amazing. Moses is a towering figure in the Old Testament. Yeah. And I love, you know, I really like chapters one through three of Deuteronomy because it's such a great recap of kind of some of the high points of Israel's journey from ⁓ Egypt and in this theological significance of them. So it's really great. are? You know, God, again, God's faithfulness ⁓ and despite Israel's unfaithfulness. I mean, if there's anything, that's the theme over and over. It's just how God cared for his people. Yeah, exactly. It says, 40 years the Lord your God has been with you, you have lacked nothing. Yeah. Like, that's a statement right there. You've lacked nothing. And then we move it, so we get the Ten Commandments, which we won't go over those again, but, and then you get after the Ten Commandments, you get what's called the Shema, which is in verse four, which is, hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And you've probably known this. And Jesus actually quotes this, but he adds ⁓ mind. So it's a little bit different. But the Shema, hear O Israel. This is the basic fundamental confession of Israel. Just like for Christians, our basic fundamental confession is Jesus is Lord. That's what Christians confess. Israel confessed Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And every Jew knows this from the earliest age. ⁓ So it's like the fundamental confession to love God with all their heart, ⁓ mind and soul. Why is that significant of the confession of the people? Like, what's the significance of confessing that? Yeah, it's your creed, it's your core belief. To confess something is to say, is the truth as I see it and as I commit to it. And so, they're committing to it, there's one God, which is why in Deuteronomy, Moses comes out swinging hard against idolatry, because there is only one God. He's like, do not make idols. You know that so many warnings against idolatry in these sections because there is only one true God Yeah, the one true God chose a people for himself and I think Actually in in chapter 7 right after that covenant formula It talks about how the Lord chose Israel and this is 7 6 or 11 kind of summarized a little bit He chosen to be their treasured possession out of all of the people's he called them He said it's not because they were you are more than a number that he set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all the peoples, but it's because the Lord loves you. And he's keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. So again, highlighting, hey, it's not because he didn't choose Israel because of how great they were, actually because of how ungreat they were. And it's because he loves them and just chose them by his love and mercy and grace. It's his faithfulness, not our faithfulness. Yeah, that's good. I ⁓ appreciate chapter eight, verse two. Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years so that you might He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart. And so I think that's a great paradigm for thinking about why does God lead us through times of testing and trial? It's to humble us and to kind of show what's hidden inside of us. ⁓ And this is where he sort of frames it as discipline, verse five, keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son, which of course the book of Hebrews picks up on. So, know, that's really helpful when I'm thinking about why am I going through suffering as a Christian? ⁓ And it's like, he's humbling me. It's good to be humbled and it's good to be tested. Not tempted, but tested in the sense of showing where I'm at. Just like, know, you got to, you know, in sports you have test days to see where you're, you know, what your numbers are in school, test days. What do I know? Where am I at? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's good. What do I know where I'm at? And it's always from a... Fatherly faithful hand. Yeah, and that's that's but that's hard to believe. Yeah, and I think what you brought out Maybe you got to get this throughout Deuteronomy which interesting actually in that in that Shema clause where it says love the Lord your God That's the first time that love for God is demand since since Genesis It's all about God's love for others and loving for one another and this is the first time love for God is demanded So he's already revealed himself as faithful and loving before he actually even calls us to love which I thought was interesting ⁓ but Yeah, it just kind of brings us back to Which your sermon did and which Deuteronomy does it brings us back to his character man because if we look to our circumstance to determine our our testing or our love It'll be dead dead in the water, right? It's really good All right, any other thing to hit on Deuteronomy or exhort the our listeners so much here if you're reading in Deuteronomy I noticed in the readings. There's big chunks. Yeah, so just persevere through them ⁓ But they're really great, especially just the picture of heartfelt religion ⁓ that's there. You know, one more, chapter 10 verse 12, and now, Israel, what does the Lord ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in His ways, to love Him, to worship Him with all your heart and all your soul? That's what God wants for us, is fearing, loving, worshiping. You know, that the law here... is always intended to come from a heart of love, worship, and trust. Yeah. That's great. Amen. Yeah. Cool. Psalm. Psalm. You told me that you think because of this week's reading, you have a new favorite Psalm. Yeah, I do. Say more. 62. And so when I was reading it, the first two verses says, for God alone, my soul waits in silence from Him. comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and salvation. Throughout the rest of the Psalm, goes, ⁓ you who hear prayer says by your awesome deeds, you answer us with righteousness. God of our salvation. Eight, you make the going out of the morning and the evening. Sorry, I'm reading. I'm actually even reading the wrong song there, but I thought you were there. Well, I was. And then I went and then I went elsewhere. Sorry for God alone is my salvation for God alone my soul waits in silence from him comes my salvation He alone is my rock and salvation. So it's actually all these Psalms that talk about salvation coming from him ⁓ But yeah, he only is my rock and my salvation. That's six Seven says on God my on God rests my salvation in my glory trust in him at all times pour out your heart before him He's a refuge for us once God has spoken twice. I have heard this that power belongs to God and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love for you will render to a man according to his work. So what did you get out of that? That salvation is of Him. Like it's just like He initiated salvation and my salvation depends not on Him. I'm sorry, not on me, but on Him. I'm like, dude, that is so profound. It's fundamental. It's fundamental. It's like He's overflowing with forgiveness and love and salvation. It's like I'm sitting under Niagara. Like I'm not going to stand up there and hold up. It's like trying to stop a leak. in Niagara Falls. It's like you'll never succeed because it's Him that's bringing about salvation. So I just thought, man, what a beautiful picture of salvation from Him and not from me. And it connects well with Deuteronomy where there's such an emphasis on ⁓ what God does in salvation. He's like, I've chosen you because of who I am, not because you're more numerous, not because you're more righteous, not because you've been... a good people. In fact, you've been a rebellious stiff neck people. Yeah. But because of who God is. Yeah. It's His grace that pours out of him. And that's what rested my soul. What about you for the Psalms? Actually, I think in my reading, ⁓ one half of a verse that has been sticking with me, and in fact, I was even praying it again this morning, is verse eight, where it says, trust in Him at all times, you people, pour out your hearts before Him. And I just thought, what a beautiful way of thinking about prayer as ⁓ pouring out my heart. And it's a way for me, that helped me to like get past thinking of prayer as kind of a perfunctory duty where I'm like, I need to say my prayers. But it's like, no, you know, am I really pouring out my heart? What's really on my heart today? You know, my worries, my anxieties, my thankfulness, what I think about God. And so that, again, that my faith would be truly heartfelt. and ⁓ heart searching. So I'd pour out my heart to God. So love that. For our listeners, maybe out of that illumination there, what would be kind of maybe a prayer tip that you'd give our people for people that want to grow in their prayer life? ⁓ I think giving yourself some unhurried time to just be still before the Lord and to really think about what it is that that's in your heart ⁓ and to bring that before God as opposed to just kind of doing things by rote. Sometimes you're not quote-unquote feeling it when you pray and you just need to pray anyway. But really what we're going for is the heart laid bare before God. Again, what does the Lord ask of you? Fear Him, love Him, worship Him. That's heartfelt religion. That's great. Matthew yeah, Matthew so 25 31 through 27 10 some great great I mean we're concluding Matthew and we the passion narrative get into the passion narrative right the Jesus is coming to the end of his life mm-hmm This evokes a lot of emotion. Mm-hmm. know cuz you're just like you know we know what's gonna happen Yeah, it's heavy. It's heavy. It's really really heavy, but why don't you jump in and Matthew comment a little bit sure ⁓ I think some significant things in this reading. One is the Lord's Supper that is ⁓ commanded. You know, Jesus during the Passover says, take and eat, this is my body. He gives him the bread and breaks it. And then after he took the cup and after giving thanks, he said, drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for you for many, poured out for many for the forgiveness. sins. And so this is the foundation of the Lord's Supper that we take. And it's a covenant meal, it's a symbolic meal. The bread symbolizes His body, the cup symbolizes His blood. It didn't literally turn into His body and blood when He said those words. ⁓ In fact, they would have understood that because the Passover is fundamentally a symbolic meal. Yeah, that's right. Exodus. Yeah, from Exodus. Like, all the different foods on the plate and everything you did were symbols to remind you of the Exodus story. Well, Jesus is about to lead the final Exodus, the true Exodus. He's the true Moses, and He's the true Passover lamb, and so He's instituting the new, in a sense, Passover meal for His disciples, which is His body and His blood. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Right after that is you get Jesus' prayer and get somebody. And this might be, I think, one of my most favorite passages of scripture. ⁓ you see Jesus knowing perfectly the will of the Father, obeying perfectly the will of the Father, to the point where you see Jesus sorrowful. He says, my soul is very sorrowful, even to death. He says, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will. And then again, the disciples, they fall asleep as he told them to pray. And again, he goes, my father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done. And then he did it a third time. He said, the sea, the hour is at hand and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. It's a really intimate glimpse into the heart of Christ that we don't always get. in just his faithfulness despite the turmoil that he was in. As a human being, you know, he's fully man. He's also fully God, and so in that sense there's no fear of trembling. But as a human, he fears and trembles. He looked death in the face. another text, can't remember where exactly it is, says, For the joy set before him despised the shame, went to the cross. He looked, he knew he was going to suffer, and he still says, no. because of the people whom I love, I'm going for them. So it's just, yeah, it's the heart of Christ and it's just like, you can, you know, be careful. I just, I don't recommend this as a Bible reading tip, but like think about yourself in this position of like Jesus is going to the cross because he loves you, which is amazing. It's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. The love, you know, it's like what we've been talking about. God's love for us in like Deuteronomy, it's his initiative. It's what he's done. And this is the ultimate expression of it. Yeah. That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. How do we, okay, so how do we make sense in this passage of we have Judas Iscariot betraying Jesus, yet Jesus keeps on claiming, the scriptures need to be fulfilled, the prophets need to be fulfilled, the Son of Man goes as was planned of him. How do we make sense of Judas' betrayal, his full actions that he's responsible for, to the point where he even hanged himself and killed himself and saying, This is also what the Scripture said would happen. This has to be fulfilled. How do you kind of make sense of these two? Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the great question of God's sovereign, you know, control over all things so that He could say these things are going to happen. I mean, that's the phrase throughout the Passion narrative is that it's according to the Scriptures, that thus it is written so that... you know, it looks like the wheels are coming off the bus and Jesus' whole program is going down in flames. But Jesus is like, no, as is written, the Scripture had to be fulfilled. All these things are as planned. And yet, the people doing them, it's not like they're puppets or robots or get off the hook for what they did. It's not like the Sanhedrin, when they condemn Jesus, can be like, well, it was foretold, so therefore, you know, it was written. That's not our fault. And so there's a mystery. that God is sovereign and ordains all things that come to pass, and yet we are also real and responsible agents. And how God does that is above and beyond our understanding, because God is of a different order than we are. He's not part of the causation matrix, if you want to put it that way, of the universe as we know it. He's beyond it, and therefore whatever kind of causation ⁓ God has is of a different kind that doesn't violate ⁓ Human responsibility. Yeah. Yeah, that's great. Thanks for explaining that truth I think that's a lot of things that we have to reconcile and make sense of and We'll get into a little bit but you have there has to be mystery because we're talking about God I know so you're like, how does God do that? I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, I just know he does. Yeah, that's right Yeah, so it's like what's what theologians call like his transcendence meaning he's above us. Yeah, he's imminent at the same time And I think you get this highlighted meaning hey, he's above us. We can't know his ways We can't understand which we'll get into Romans Paul's at this plan of ⁓ election and salvation that doesn't make sense, but ⁓ Is so he's above us. Yeah, he's eminent and close to us. He literally filled us So it's what it's the mystery of the faith a little bit ⁓ with that and so Yeah, right. We're dealing with God and so there's always gonna be mystery with God in how he does. I mean, how is Jesus both fully God and fully man? I mean, it's beyond my comprehension. ⁓ How does a virgin birth happen? ⁓ And so God's power is above and beyond us. Speaking of Romans, maybe we should just kind of wrap up by looking at ⁓ three significant chapters in Romans. Huge, huge chapters. And really the question now in Romans, and just to kind of put Romans in context, chapters 9, 10, and 11, is Paul has been hammering home that salvation is by faith in Christ, that it's a righteousness by faith, not by the law. So then he kind of answers a lingering objection out there. Well, if that's the case, then what about the Jews? What about his people, the descendants of Abraham? I mean, you know, God made promises to Abraham for his people, and now it seems like they haven't been saved by faith, that they're not. I mean, they're still clinging to the law. And so the question is, like, what about the Jews? Did God's promises to Israel fail? How does that fit into this new gospel proclamation of salvation by faith alone and Christ alone? yeah, that's great. You're highlighting kind of like those three different movements through there. It's like, hey, there's this mystery of divine election. Paul, he says he anguishes over Israel. He's like, I wish myself were accursed and cut off. from Christ for the sake of my brothers. 9 verse 2. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. You know, like, he wants Israel to be saved, so what's wrong? Yeah, what's wrong? And then, so the question that he answers is like, in 6, here's his answer to the objection. So this is just helpful to know when you're, especially as you're, we're going to start reading more of the epistles, and the letters is many times Paul is anticipating objections to his claims, and then he answers them. So you'll start to see his kind of like argumentation flush out lot of this. He'll ask a rhetorical question and then give an answer based on the scriptures and the truth. So, yeah, so verse 6 of chapter 9, it's not as though the Word of God had failed. So God's promises haven't failed. So in what way? And basically you kind of get three answers. One answer in chapter 9, one answer in chapter 10, one answer in chapter 11. The answer in chapter 9 is verse 6. Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, neither are all Abraham's children his descendants. And then he makes an argument that within Israel that God sovereignly elects a remnant. That God sovereignly chooses some ⁓ to be saved. Yeah, this is exactly right. ⁓ to answer, well, like this is also true of Israel's past where he chose Isaac, not Ishmael, Jacob, Not Esau. And then Moses, not Pharaoh. Right? So you see this kind of choosing of showing his divine mercy towards some. Yeah, that's right. Abraham had more than one biological son, but one is chosen, not the other. And so he's like, hey, not everyone who's physically descended from Abraham is the offspring through Isaac. So that's part of the answer is God's election. And Romans 9 is a really challenging passage on the fact that God is sovereign in whom He chooses to save. You know, the famous verses there, verse 15, "'I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.'" Verse 18, He has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. And then, of course, we object to that. We're like, that's not fair. You know how good... Yeah, right? Verse 19. ⁓ Yeah, Paul knows that. Yeah, and so again, Paul anticipates another objection. He says, "'You will say to me, therefore, why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?' Verse 20, "'But who are you, a mere man, to talk back to God?' Well, what is formed, say to the one who formed it, "'Why did you make me like this?' Has not the potter no right over the clay to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and one for dishonor?' So it's like, God is God. And He can save whom He wishes, and He's sovereign over that, and it should humble us before Him. One of the objections that we would be prone to ask is, well, how could a good and loving God do that? And I think the answer is God would be good and loving and just if He chose none of us. Yeah, He's under no obligation. You know, we sometimes say that doesn't sound fair, but fairness implies rights. That's right. We have no rights before God. God is God, and we are the work of His hands. Chapter 10 is a second answer about the question of why are Paul's brethren in the flesh? The Jewish people ⁓ seems like they're not responding. And so part of it is that there's a remnant, not all are Israel. ⁓ Answer number two is, hey, they've heard, they just haven't believed. That's chapter 10. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, they've heard they just haven't... believed. it says in Romans 10 9 famously, well sorry, I'll go to one real quick, says, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. He's like, look, I want them to be saved. But in the message of salvation is to all, and this is his argument, he's like, hey, this is why if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For the one With the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek for the same Lord is Lord over all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the will be saved. Jew or Gentile. Jew or Gentile. That's right. Because that's the kind of what he's trying to answer. He's like, look, anyone If they turn from their hardness and belief, they'll be saved, Jew and Gentile alike, all by faith in Christ. So it's, again, it's just this salvation message that Paul is trying to, with a lot of nuance, tweak and find out, because they have the same questions like we have. And, you know, in some ways it's the balance to chapter 9, because chapter 9, the message is God is sovereign. Chapter 10, the message is they're responsible. They've heard the message. just chosen not to believe the message. ⁓ so, again, you have to hold the twin truths of God's sovereignty and human responsibility, and there you have them, chapter nine, chapter 10. Yeah. So that's kind of 10. And then you get into 11, and now he's answering a third question, and he explains that God's saving promises have not failed because they were never intended for every single ethnic Israeli, meaning the people of the flesh of Abraham, of the blood of Abraham. He said they've always been fulfilled through God's sovereign election and through the remnant he calls and so the answer is, hey, what about Israel? ⁓ And he goes, ask then, has God, Paul asks rather, I ask then, has God rejected his people? He goes, by no means, for I myself am an Israelite, descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. He's like, obviously God has not rejected Israel, because look at me, I'm example number one. Exactly right. God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew. ⁓ 5 says, too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace, but if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. And then he gets into ⁓ this metaphor about an olive tree and branches, which is really important to understand. And basically his argument is, he's trying to explain what's happened with Israel as a people, that they've in a sense been removed from the vine and the Gentiles have been grafted in. And yet, God has done that in order to provoke the Jewish people to envy so that they might also believe in Christ and be saved. So that currently, what we're seeing, it's not that people like Paul, Jews, and those of, you know, the physical descendants of Abraham are excluded, it's that a remnant is currently being saved. God is also saving the Gentiles. Yeah, so it's a both and that's taking place currently Yeah, that's great. God used the Jews to save the Gentiles. He's now he's using the Gentiles to save the Jews That's a great way to put it. Yeah, exactly Yeah, which which again he goes and 15 to Paul's point goes for if the rejection means reconciliation of the world What will their acceptance mean but life from the dead, right? So if the root is holy then so are the branches and so some of the branches were broken off And you, although a wild olive shoot, so he's speaking about Gentiles as wild olive shoots, were grafted in among the others and now sharing the nourishing root of the olive tree. So it's like out of this remnant of grace of Israel, and then the Gentiles are grafted in and then eventually at some point, which we'll get into ⁓ at the end of this chapter. But Paul also, I think this is important to click on is ⁓ he says, don't be arrogant toward the branches. Because there's a lot of Gentile Jew kind of tension here. Yeah, I mean, you know what one I think one of the ugly ⁓ aspects of well human history, but even to some degree church history has been the ugliness of anti-semitism. Yeah, and a ⁓ misuse of passages like this can be used ⁓ to spark that and I think this passage like just totally speaks against it because he's like don't get all uppity Gentiles. Yeah, like you but you're the wild branch you've been grafted in And, you know, we need to still have a concern for the gospel going to all peoples, especially the Jews. You know, when Paul would go to a new town, he would go to the synagogue first, and then to the Gentiles. You know, the gospel's to the Jew first, then the Gentiles. So, I think, know, in any kind of using this stuff to ⁓ promote anti-Semitism is just, you know, it's a total twisting of Scripture is wrong. Yeah, it's great. Twisting of Scripture and it's in, and Paul warns us, don't be proud but fear. Fear. He said if he didn't spare the natural branches, he won't spare you. That's right. That's right. So yeah, it's just a good warning. ⁓ But the juicy stuff at the end of this chapter, the thing that really sparks debate is, and this is the question that Christians take different positions on, is what is the future for the Jews and for Israel in a physical sense. Simple, right? Yeah. Yeah. And the verse that's critical is 25 and 26. I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not become conceited. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, or then, depending on how you translate that, all Israel will... be saved. And so the question is, what does it mean for all Israel to be saved? And you kind of have three basic answers that… There's more than that, but I'm just thinking of like within Christianity, there's three basic groupings. ⁓ One answer is that there is a future ⁓ reestablishment of Israel as a nation state and that… that nation state, like in the Old Testament. That's what I by a nation state, like an actual nation ⁓ as a distinct nation, and that in the future they will be reestablished. And some would argue who hold this position, hey, look, it started already. A second position is that that's referring to a future in gathering of the Jews into the church before the end, before Christ returns, there'll be a final... Mass conversion. A mass conversion, a final harvest. A third position is that what this verse is saying is that the all Israel is referring to ⁓ the whole remnant. And that, in other words, it's as the gospel is being preached now and as a remnant of Jews is coming in. In other words, it's a partial hardening, it's not a full hardening. Some are hard and some aren't, and the ones who aren't are coming in. So all Israel is being saved currently through the gospel. ⁓ message going forth. So that's where Christians disagree. And of course, you know, because of politics today, it becomes a very political question. So it gets really confusing. ⁓ it's good to know that Christians throughout history have read that in different ways. But regardless of how you answer that question, our heart as Christians to the Jewish people should be the same. It's that we should love them, pray for them, and tell them about Jesus. That's That's the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures and Israel's Messiah. He's your Messiah. He's your Messiah, right? We're just blessed to be grafted in. That's right. Yeah, so we proclaim the Messiah to our Jewish friends and neighbors whom we love. Yeah, that's exactly right. Because in 29 says, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Yeah. So he says that, there's a people whom God has loved and chosen and he won't be unfaithful, although they were unfaithful. And here's the concluding, think again, he's just flushed out so much theological nuance, election, salvation, hardening, hard text. And here's Paul's response, and I'm going to read it 33 through 36. Oh, the death and the riches and wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and how unscrutable 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 forever. Amen. The salvation plan results in praise. And regardless of where we might be scratching our heads or wondering, this is where we need to land is to savor God. And that's what he's doing. I mean, that's our first current of our five currents, savor God. And here he is. He's just like, he looks at all this and he's like, God's ways and God's wisdom. are so beyond us. is sovereign. His plans are mysterious. And when we finally see them unfold, we're just like, wow, look at this God. great. ⁓ Maybe we conclude there. So you start to turn to 12 and maybe we'll touch this next episode a little bit. But essentially it says, appeal to you therefore. And that therefore is in light of chapters one through 11. Because of all this theology that he has just flushed out. Now, here's how you live. Here's how you Here's how you live in light of who God is, his salvation plan, and grace in him. so, if you're reading this, when you get to chapter 12, know, really slow down in verses 9 to 21. It's just a packed, beautiful description of what a Christian looks like in action. For a month straight, I had this just like posted on a no card on my desk every morning. I just prayed through that verse. So good. I through those verses every morning. Yeah, this verse will get under the hood and start messing with your engine. That's Great. Well God's plan of salvation is a mystery Revealed to us now in Jesus Christ so that all who would call on him would be saved would be filled with the Holy Spirit and will be gathered up to him when he returns in glory and in Majesty and we long for that day, which I think I've been longing for that day a lot Just with the state of the affairs of the world as your sermon was kind of making the point of look look to Jesus everything else around you is going to be ⁓ faltering, it's going to be anxiety ridden, it's supposed to invoke a sense of like fear, but no, as Deuteronomy, fear the Lord, worship Him and love Him with adoration. Well, keep reading with us. We are encouraged by the amount of you guys that come up to us and tell us how this is a way that you've engaged with the Bible like you never have before. How this podcast has been a blessing. So that's what we want to be. We want you to savor God. We want to be a blessing to you. So we love you guys. Send us questions you might have or anything. Seriously, we'll try to answer them. Keep listening. Keep reading. Check us out on Apple, YouTube, Spotify. Till next time.