Calvary Church is
dedicated to doctrine. And we want you to experience
the life change that comes from knowing God's word
and applying it to your life. So we explain the
Bible, verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Good evening. [APPLAUSE] That was a great last song. Wow, so good. The whole set was good,
but that was just great. I thank God, amen. Let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of Romans, let's go to chapter 8. That's what I said last
week, and I should be saying, let's go to chapter 9, but
I never finished chapter 8, so we're back in chapter 8
to finish up this chapter. But like I had mentioned-- and
if you're new to our Wednesday night, let me explain-- and that is that we cover
every book of the Bible, every verse of every chapter. And we let our time run
out, stop there, pick it up next time. But eventually, God willing,
unless the Lord returns before next week,
we'll just keep going, and eventually, we'll finish it. So we study an Old Testament
book, then a New Testament book, then an old, then a
new, than an old, then a new. And so we're in Romans, and
then after the Book of Romans we'll be in the book
of 1 Samuel, then 1 Corinthians, and then 2
Samuel, you get the idea. But it breaks it up
enough, and let's us cover through the
entire word of God. So our Wednesday night is vastly
different than the weekend message, which is more honed
to a point, very expositional, nonetheless, on a weekend. But this enables us
to spend more time covering a large
swath of scripture, so we get the entire
sense of the book. And so it's just a different
approach to studying the Bible. But we left off-- and the reason I left off, I
could have just kind of brushed through it, but not when you
have Romans chapter 8 verse 28 untreated, that's where we're
going to begin in a moment. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we rest our
hearts after thanking you, after thinking of the way
you have so blessed us, and the way you called
us and have forgiven us. And Father, we have reveled
in your care for us. And now, Father, we
seek to understand what your grace and plan
for our lives might be. Thank you that you have
washed away our sin. You don't hold it against
us-- it's past tense. We are new creations in Christ. We are sons and daughters
of the living God, and we didn't do
anything to deserve it. But you chose us. And Lord, that is such
an honor to even just to think that you
would think of us, let alone pick us
to be on your team. But you have, and Lord, I pray
that we might, as Peter wrote, grow in the grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To do that, Lord, we need to
push things out of our minds-- push activities, agendas,
appointments out, and let your Spirit in. So take control. Minister to us, speak to us,
and then work through us. In Jesus' name, amen. During World War II,
the ten Boom family was arrested for hiding
Jews in their home. Corrie and her sister were
sent to a concentration camp, as older girls. They survived. Corrie ten Boom
went on to speak-- she lived in
Southern California, in Orange, California. She lived right around the
block from where I used to work, before she went to heaven. But she had such an
interesting perspective on life, and a joy in the Lord,
after suffering such horrors in the concentration camps,
after surviving them. And one of the great things that
she said, I'll never forget, is this-- look around and be distressed,
look within and be depressed, look to Jesus and be at rest. If you look around
at our world today, and that's all you look
at, you will be distressed. There's enough distressing
news on a single news cycle to just cause you to throw
your arms up and say, what's the point? No good news there. You're distressed. Then, when you look
within, it gets worse, because you see all of
the corruption around you, and if you're
honest, you realize, I have the same capacities
to do any of those things that I am distressed about
that I hear about in the news. But when I look to Jesus, then,
and only then, am I at rest. And really, that has
been the story of Romans up to this point, Paul looked
around at the Gentile world in the first few
chapters, all have sinned, all have fallen short
of the glory of God. In chapter 7, Paul looks within
himself, and he's depressed. It's a depressing
chapter, chapter 7. Paul talks about himself
a lot in that chapter-- 47 personal pronouns,
I, me, mine. So he has looked around,
he is distressed, he has looked within,
he is aptly depressed. He even brings it to a
conclusion by saying, oh, wretched man that I
am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? But then, he looks to
Jesus in chapter 8. Chapter 8 is such an
important chapter to us, because you can
sense the rest that overcomes Paul the apostle. He looks to Jesus-- In fact, when he says, oh,
wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from
the body of this death? He answers this question
immediately by saying, I thank God through
Jesus Christ. It was Robert Murray
McShane who said, for every one look that
we take at ourselves, we should look at
Jesus 10 times. Good advice. You do enough self-analysis
and self-evaluation-- and you should-- but you get to a point,
if you stop there, you will truly be a
depressed individual. And perhaps, the reason you are
leaning toward depression so much is you think so
much about yourself, and how far you
have fallen short. And how you don't really
meet the criteria, the standard that you
think you should live at. And so, look to
Jesus, and be at rest. So beginning in chapter 8, Paul
begins by just saying, look, there is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. And he unfolds the
work of the Spirit, that we're adopted
into the family of God, that even though we suffer,
we are promised glory. And now, we come to a verse
of scripture that is-- well, if I were to
ask, take a little poll of how many of you have
this is your favorite verse, I'm sure a lot of you-- see
hands are already going up. God bless you, I see that hand. It is-- in fact, I was looking
through lists of favorite Bible verses, and one of the lists--
and this is pretty consistent in those who take these polls-- of the top 10 favorite verses
in this one list of all times, Romans chapter 8 verse 28
ranks about number four, as far as famous, or
most important verses. I mean, you've got
Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd-- there's
a lot of contenders. But this is usually
right around number four. You can look at it this
way-- if all of the scripture were a meal, a
feast, for your soul, Romans chapter 8
is the main course. Verse 28 is the entree. It really gets down to it-- it's been good,
but it gets really great with this incredible
verse that is before us. One person called Romans 8:28
a soft pillow for a tired hard. And I love that description
so much, I stole it, and I called one of my sermons
a soft pillow for a tired heart, based on Roman 8:28. I have laid my head on
this pillow many times. And the reason it's
so great is because-- well, again, I've spent a
whole hour just on this verse, but Paul begins with a
very strong affirmation. He says, in verse
28, and we know. You see, there's so much in
life that when I look at it, it just seems haphazard, it
seems weird, it seems wrong. It makes me say, I don't know. And there's a lot of things
I don't know about life. There's a lot of things God
allows and I don't know why. And I get people say,
why would God allow? Don't ask me, I'm not God. I don't know. I'm in it with you. There's just a lot of
things I don't know. But life is not haphazard
as a child of God. And whenever there are things
you don't know, gravitate and hold on to those
things you do know. And we know that all
things work together for good to those who
love God, to those who are the called
according to His purpose. Now, notice the phrase,
all things work together. The words work
together-- it's one word in the original language. [NON-ENGLISH],, and [NON-ENGLISH]
literally is translated, together worked, or
together energized. And we get the term, synergy-- our English term, synergy-- from the word [NON-ENGLISH]. God, in His power and
in His providence, causes the things in life,
even those things that seem haphazard, to be synergized. That is, synergy is where you
have two or more things that have a relationship with
each other, an interaction with each other, and they
produce a result greater than the sum of those things. That's the idea of synergy. God causes all things
that happen to you in life to work together for good
to those that love God. So God is working
together all the elements, all the things you
know about, don't know about, understand,
can't figure out, but He has a result. Now,
you can't see the result, and you wish God would
tell you what He's up to. And so that's where
faith comes in. You trust God based upon
the character of God. I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace, to give
you a future and a hope. God said that to a group
of people wondering, how could this possibly be good? We're in Babylon, man. We've been taken away from
our homes in Jerusalem. The city has been
destroyed, burned with fire. We are out of the country, the
nation of our covenant God, in foreign powers. How could this be good? God causes all things to
work together for good. It might not feel
good, it might not be good, that very element
might not be good, but just wait to see what God can synergize. So here's a little example. Some time ago, one
of you awesome folks gave me a bag of tomatoes. Not that you had purchased,
that you had grown. So they were home grown,
garden fresh tomatoes-- or tomato. You say tomato I say tomatoes. But I took them home,
they were awesome. Now, I'm not saying that so
that if you all grow tomatoes-- I don't want a bushel of them. But these were outstanding. So I took them home, and I
poisoned them, and I ate them. Now, I heard a [GASP] go up,
because you go, what do you mean, you poisoned them? Well, I put something on
them that in its pure form would be poison. I put a mixture of sodium and
chlorine on those tomatoes. Now, sodium in its pure
form will kill you. It's a poison. Chlorine in its pure form
will kill you-- it's a poison. But if you mix those
two elements together, at just the right measurement,
you get sodium chloride-- in other words, table salt. Well, now it's not
poisonous any longer. Why? It's the combination. Now, there are things in life
that happen to you and I, and we say, that's bad. Yeah, there are certain things
that are bad that happen. Bad things happen. And yet, God, in his
divine chemistry lab, can mix those elements together,
and wants to say to you, just wait for the outcome. You don't see it now,
but wait for the taste. It's coming. Wait for it. All things. Aren't you glad it
doesn't say most things? Because there's plenty
of things that we would put in the other
category-- not this thing. Maybe those other
things, but not this. He didn't say most things,
he doesn't say some things, he says, all things. And it's something
he says we know. I hope you know that. There are certain
truths you need to know to get through life. Like I said, because there's
going to be plenty of times that you look in the future and
at what's happening, you go, I don't know. I don't get it. I don't understand, it's dark. So that's where you
rest on what you know. And we know all things
work together for good to those who love God, to
those who are the called, according to His purpose. OK, let's just explore
it a little bit-- I know I'm only on
one verse still, this is always my problem. He does not say, and we know
that all things work together for comfort. Because if you think
that's what for good means, you're going to be
disillusioned and disappointed. You're going to go through
something, oh, wait a minute. Isn't the promise all things
work together for good? This isn't good. Doesn't say comfortable, or for
your comfort, or for your ease, it's for your good,
as God defines good. Well, I just got to
tell you, there's a lot of latitude in that. I'll give you an
extreme example. Joni Eareckson Tada
over five decades ago became a quadriplegic. She's in a wheelchair. She has lived her
life in a wheelchair. One question that people ask her
more than any other question, you could figure out
what that's going to be, how could God allow
that to happen to you? How could a God of
love allow that? How can you follow a God
and trust a God like that? And yet Joni will tell
you that she believes that she is in that wheelchair
permanently until she goes to heaven by the will of
God, and that it was probably the greatest thing next to
salvation that happened to her. You should read her books-- they will encourage you. And what she says is
that, God sometimes will allow what
He hates in order to accomplish what He loves. That's an incredible
description of this verse. God will sometimes allow what
He hates in order that He might accomplish what He loves. And those who have
trusted God, the God of this verse, the
God of this promise, know the depth of that meaning. So we know that all things
work together for good to those who love God, to
those who are the called, according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew,
He also predestined, to be conformed to
the image of His Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He
predestined, these He also called, whom He called. These He also justified,
whom He justified, this He also glorified. Now, I have gone into
depth on these verses, so if I do that with every
verse like I did verse 28, we'll never make it
through this chapter, let alone on into chapter 9. But let me just say that,
God has a goal for you, to conform you so that
you resemble His son. And you some of you inside
are shaking your head, going, man, I've got a long way to go. So do I. So do I. But I can say, and
I'm sure you can say, you're on the road to that. You're nowhere near that, but
you're not what you used to be, either. So He wants to
conform you, He said, into the image of His son. Moreover, whom He predestined-- He chose you in advance,
He picked you in advance, He elected you in advance-- these He also called. That's when you received Christ. Now, God chose you in advance,
but there came a day, a time, in time and space-- I know the date when I
gave my life to the Lord, or round about, I didn't
really write it down. But I roughly remember
the time, the afternoon, when I was called,
when I said yes to Him, and I cooperated with his
choice made in eternity past. So He predestined
me, He called me. That's the day of
your salvation. Whom He called,
He also justified. When you said yes to
Jesus, God said yes to you. He declared you
righteous, justified you. And whom He justified,
these He also glorified. Now, wait a minute. Last time I checked, Skip
Heitzig is not glorified. I look in the mirror every day-- it's not looking better. If I'm waiting for
glorification in this body, I'm highly disappointed
with the results. Yet, though I realize
glorification is an event that will happen in the
future when I'm in glory, itself, face to face with God,
my body will be glorified, I'll have a resurrected
body one day. Yet, notice that when the
Holy Spirit, through Paul the apostle writes about
it, he writes about it as though it's past tense. Now, if you know
anything about scripture, you know that
God's good at this. That God will often speak
about future events, but He'll write about them
with a past tense verbiage. Why would He do that? Because He's God. And if God-- see,
here's the thing, and here's the problem we have. God has an attribute
you and I don't have-- it's omniscience,
He knows everything. So you can sit-- I don't know if you ever
do this, try to figure out, what would it be like
to know everything? Well, if you know everything,
then you can't learn anything. So God never learns, he's not
in the process of learning, like finite theism
teaches, that God is in the process of
learning the human race, as history goes on. No, God knows everything,
so He can't learn anything. So if you know everything,
do you even need to think? I won't get deeper than that. I'll stop right there. But because God
knows everything, He knows that one day you're
going to have a glorified body, and to God, it's
as good as done. So He can write about
it in past tense, even though it is future
to you and I. To God, it's as good as done. That's why He can
do prophecy so well. He speaks about future events
as though they've already happened. If you read Isaiah chapter
53, Jesus hadn't even been born yet, and
yet the prophecy is about what Jesus
would do, but it's written in the past tense. That's how sure God the
Father is about the work that His son would do. Now, He writes about
you being glorified. You know, I don't feel it, man. Don't worry, you
don't need to feel it, you just need to believe it. If He called you, and He did,
He'll glorify you, He will. So what we have
here is a panorama of God's work from eternity
past, to eternity future. These are five links
in the golden chain of God's sovereign care for us-- from predestination, election,
to calling, to justification, all the way to glorification. In verse 31, Paul says, what
shall we say to these things? Well, first of all, what
things is he referring to? Well, let me answer
it three ways-- number one, he's speaking about
the entire book of Romans. All that he has said
up to this point-- he has described the
gospel, but then he went right into the wrath of
God for chapter after chapter. After the wrath of
God, the wrath of God is eclipsed by the grace of God. So maybe he is just sort
of following Romans, and he stops midpoint
here, and he says, what shall we say
to what I've written so far in the book of Romans? Maybe that's what he
means by these things. Or, perhaps he's just
speaking about the truths that we find in
the eighth chapter. There's no
condemnation in Christ, we're placed as adult
children into his family, adopted, we cry, Abba, Father. There's the work of
the Spirit in our lives that guarantees that
even though we suffer, we're going to be in heaven
with Him, and enjoy His glory. Maybe he means those things. Or maybe he's just
referring to what he just wrote about imminently,
just in the paragraph. All things work together,
he's predestined, et cetera. So it means one of
those three things. Take your pick. But answer the question-- what
shall we say to these things? Here something I can
say-- hallelujah. That's what I say. Awesome, that's great. What shall we say
to these things? This is what Paul says, but he
answers it with a question-- if God is for us, who
can be against us? Now, there are many against us. We live in a society
right now, and the society is changing rapidly
against the Christian. I recommend a book to you I
started reading on my iPad called Dark Agenda
by David Horowitz. Subtitled, America's
War Against Christians, Against Christianity. What's interesting
about the book is it's not written by
a Christian, it's written by a Jewish man
who is an avowed agnostic. And he, himself, was very
liberal in his thinking-- his parents were in
the Communist Party. He started many
liberal causes, but he started noticing the
agenda on American soil, especially against Christianity. So from an unbiased
outsider's look, an agnostic Jewish
author's look, he writes about the dark agenda. There's a lot of people against
us, and that is concerning. But it shouldn't shake
you from your faith. So when he says, if God be
for us, who can be against us? You see, if God is for you,
it doesn't matter who's against you, if God is for you. And I'm here to tell
you, God is for you. And if God is for you, who
cares who's against you? Well, there's a lot
of people against me! So? I'm here in Jesus' name,
you know what I mean? Just kind of like,
oh, in your face. Be there. Be who you are,
be Saul, be light. Yes, there are those
who are against you. But listen, Gideon
knew God was for him. And that's what enabled
Gideon to take 300 men and fight against 135,000
Midianites and win. How could David face Goliath? Only because he knew
God was with him. How could Shadrach,
Mesach, and Abednego kind of thumb their
nose at Nebuchadnezzar, and say, we're not going to
bow to your stupid image? Throw us in the fire. Our God's able to deliver us. And even if He doesn't, so? The only way you could think
that way is if God is for you, and you know it. If God is for us, who
can be against us? He, who did not
spare His own son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall He not with him freely give us all things? Now, follow his rationale. All things work
together for good, you're part of God's
plan from eternity past. It happened in real
time in the present, it's going to go all the
way into eternity future. What shall we say
to these things? Awesome, far out,
praise God, hallelujah. If God is for us, who
cares who's against us? And then, here's his rationale-- he who did not
spare his own son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things? Hold that thought. What do you need tonight? What things do you really need? Do you need a job? Do you need hope? Do you need God's peace? Do you need direction? You've been praying
about direction? I just need rent. I just need to pay my
rent for this month. I'm subsisting day to day,
week to week, month to month. Now, God knows
that you need that. Now, if God was willing to give
his very best in Jesus Christ, if that was the
demonstration of what He is willing to give to
provide for your needs, that's His very best, then
follow the rationale. How shall He then not
freely give us all things? I mean, what do you
really have to worry about with that kind of care? If God's for us, who
can be against us? If God didn't spare
His son, don't you know he'll also give you
whatever else you need? It's pure logic-- it's
logical and theological, all at the same time. If you were to walk
into a jewelry store, and you're looking around at
diamonds for your fiancee, what if the owner
of the jewelry store just had a big heart
and unlimited budget? And said, you know, I just have
something in my heart for you as a young couple. I see how you dote over her,
and how she dotes over you, and I know you're trying to get
the best you can for the money that you have. But you know what? Let me show you this diamond. It's a few carats. It's quite expensive. You would never, ever be able
to pay for it in your lifetime. I own it-- I'm going to give it
to you for nothing, for free. I'm giving you the very biggest,
best diamond in my store. It's yours, I'm
giving it to you. Now, if he was willing
to give you that diamond, would you hem and haw and feel
really guilty to say, well, do you think I might have a
little piece of brown paper to wrap it up in? He would look at you
like, what are you-- it's an insult. I was willing
to give you the best-- you don't think-- I'm going to give you
a velvet case with it. Not just a little
piece of brown paper. You get the analogy-- if
he's willing to give you that, anything short of
that, I'm sure he'll toss in. It's like when you buy
a car, you buy a car and they'll say,
look, you buy the car, we're going to throw in
the rubber mats for free. We'll even tint the windshield. We'll give you your first
tune-up for nothing. There's things they throw
in, because if you're willing to pay the
price for the car, there are certain things
that come with it. If God was willing to pay
the price for your salvation, in sending His son, the very
best heaven could afford, then God will give you
everything else that you need. So that's why when
you pray, oh, God, I'm going to ask
you for something-- it's really big, it's
a really big request. Big? He gave you Jesus. Everything's small
compared to that. Oh, but I don't know
if you can heal-- I don't want to-- I'm not worthy-- I can't-- just ask Him. Ask Him. You have not
because you ask not. Won't He freely
give us all things? Who shall bring a charge-- he continues his
question and answering-- who shall bring a charge
against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died. And furthermore,
is also risen, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Now, he says, who can bring
a charge against God's elect? Well, I can think of a few. I've been accused of a number
of things over the years. I've even kept,
believe it or not, a file of certain letters and
accusations that I've received. Every now and then,
I'll pull them out. That's sort of like-- that's
depressing and punishing? No, actually, I go, God, thank
you for delivering me there, and thank you, Lord,
for delivering me there. But I have been misunderstood
and misquoted and improperly judged on a number of
issues by a number of people over a number of years. After a while, it just
gets to be expected. And honestly, after a
while, I just don't care. So he asked the
question, who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Well, I have a file,
Lord, I could show you, if you're asking the question. But that's not the
intent of the question. The question is actually
written in a legal format-- who can sustain charges
against God's elect? If you go to court
and you file charges, who can bring charges that
will be sustained before God? Well, since God freely gave
His only son to cover my sins and to pay for my sins
and to wash my sins away, again, it really doesn't matter
who's bringing the accusation. It could be the devil,
himself, and believe me, he has plenty of
ammunition to use. So there's the devil,
there's demons, there's people who don't care
to understand the whole truth, and will make an accusation. But so what? It is God who justifies. God has made a
declaration concerning me. So because God has made a
declaration concerning me, that I'm righteous
in his sight, doesn't matter who brings in
accusation against me, because God has
made a declaration. God justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died,
furthermore is also risen, who is even at the
right hand of God. Who also makes
intercession for us. I want you to think about
that just for a moment. Have you ever been
encouraged when somebody has walked up to
you and said, I've been praying for you lately. Or the Lord laid you in my heart
this morning, in my quiet time, I lifted you up in prayer. Does that make you feel good? Does that encourage you? I get awfully encouraged
when somebody says that. Imagine Jesus saying, I've
been thinking about you lately. And I've been talking
to the Father about you. How does that make you feel? Well, honestly, better than
anybody else saying they've been praying for me. Jesus Christ died, has
risen from the dead, ascended to heaven,
knows my every need, is willing to meet
my every need, and talks to the
Father on my behalf. He intercedes for
me, He prays for me. I can't tell you what a--
well, it's a monumental truth. He makes intersession. So here's the
summary paragraph-- who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? And he lists several
experiences that could make a person feel
separated from the love of God, several-- seven, to be exact,
painful experiences. Shall tribulation? Or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Well, certainly if
these things happen, somebody pulls out
a sword to kill me, or I'm in deep distress--
because he mentions distressed here-- or I get persecuted, or
I don't have enough food to eat, famine, or no clothes
to wear, or apparel. Any of those experiences
in life will cause you to pause and question-- God, do you really love me? Because if you love me, wouldn't
you take better care of me? Now, God just said, He
didn't spare His son, He's going to give you
everything else you need. So with that in mind, what
can separate us from His love? Well, yeah, but why would He
allow me to experience hunger? Why would He allow me
to experience distress, or why would He-- again, all
things work together for good. See, we're always thinking
about our comfort, our need, our well-being right now. But God's got something
in the future. And think of an artist--
an artist that has a canvas who's painting a picture,
has something in his mind-- the finished product in mind. If you're an onlooker,
you're not the artist, you don't know what
he has planned, even though he tells
you in advance. You know, he starts laying
stuff out on the canvas, putting outlines, penciling,
and then-- or she-- and then adds color, and forms-- at first, it just
looks like a blob, or several blobs converging. And if the artist was
painting a portrait of you, and you went and
looked at it, right in the middle of
the portrait, you would probably
say, thanks a lot-- this is what you think of me? I'm a blob? I'm a convergence of
several colored blobs? And the artist would be a little
crestfallen at your reaction, because the artist knows what
it's going to be in the end. Just get out of here. Go back there, and
get in the light again, and let me
finish up here. Because it's going
to be beautiful. So God is working on your life-- He is sketching
out what's perfect, and He knows the end
from the beginning-- that's part of omniscience. And He's working it
all out together. And-- but this
blob and that blob, yeah, but the synergism,
it's going to work out. And He knows what it's
going to be like in the end. So what will separate
us from the love of God? All of these things
might hurt temporarily, but they are working eventually
for something much better. As it is written, and
it's quoting Psalm 44, one of the sons of Korah's Psalms. As it is written for your sake,
we are killed all day long, we are counted as sheep
for the slaughter. Yet, in all these
things, we are more than conquerors through
Him who loved us. I love the faith-filled
words of the apostle Paul. Paul the apostle,
writing from experience-- he's gone through nakedness,
famine, distress, peril, sword. Went through it a lot-- that
was his normal experience, kind of Paul's daily life. Ask the question,
what will separate us? And then, in all
these things, we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. Let me explain that. The word, more
than conquerors, we have to have three
words in English to translate a
single word in Greek. The Greek word is [GREEK]-- or [GREEK]---- that's
the one word. One is the actual
form, the other is the lexical
form-- forget that. So one word, [GREEK]-- hyper conquerors. So [GREEK],, hyper, or
super, or more than. And then [GREEK]. So some of you are Nike shoes,
it's from the Greek god Nike-- that's the Greek
word, conqueror. So [GREEK],, hyper
super conquerors, that's what Paul says. We aren't just conquerors,
we're more than conquerors. We're hyper conquerors,
we're super conquerors. OK, so that's what it means. But what does it
really mean now? Translated, what's
the idea of this? Well, you can have an
automobile, for an example. You have four
cylinders in that car. Not a lot of power. It's a small engine,
small four cylinders. It'll get you around
town, it'll get you up to speed on the freeway, it'll
give you a great gas mileage. But there's not a lot of
power to spare in that thing. So you can't really
tow much with it. If you try to tow anything,
and you go up a hill, like La Bajada Hill-- good luck. You'll take it down from 65
down to about 35, floored. But if your car has a
fuel-injected, turbo-charged V8, you have power to spare. Now you're a [GREEK]-- you're a hyper-conqueror. You can not just go
places, you can go places, you can tow things, and
you've got extra power just in case you want to do 120. Which you shouldn't,
but you could. So if you're a
conqueror, you rejoice when you win the battle. If you're a hyper conqueror,
more than a conquer, you rejoice in the
midst of the battle. See the difference? You're fighting the
battle-- there's distresses, and nakedness,
and famine, and sword, and you rejoice,
because I know how this battle is going to end. I know the outcome. I'm OK. That's more than a conqueror. So I just love his
spirit-filled thinking. For I am persuaded-- so we said in Romans 8:28-- I know, we know,
this is what we know. Now he goes, I am persuaded. Now, that's Paul writing. Paul is persuaded. I don't know that you are,
only you can answer that. Now it becomes personal--
for I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities--
probably referring to demon angelic forms,
nor powers, same idea, but different ranking, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. What an-- [APPLAUSE] Thank you, Lord. Now that concludes the
eighth chapter of Romans. Chapter 9 begins a third part. Remember we divided the book
of Romans up into four parts? Now we've said them every week,
you know them now by heart. So he talks about
the number one, wrath of God, followed
by the grace of God, followed by now the plan of God,
followed by the will of God. So we are beginning the
third section of Romans. And the third section is
Romans 9, 10, and 11-- it's the same subject matter. And that is God's plan,
especially regarding the Jewish nation,
the nation of Israel. Jew and Gentile, but especially
the Jewish nation of Israel. Now, Paul is writing
to the Roman church. In the Roman church,
there was a mixture of both Jew and Gentile-- there were different
ethnicities. But something was
happening with the church. The church began all
Jewish in Jerusalem-- everybody was Jewish, everybody
believed in Jewish prophecy, everybody believed in the
fulfillment of Jewish promises, and Jewish scripture--
was all Jewish. But now, there are more
Gentiles in the church than there are Jews. By far, it has become in the
last 2,000 years, a non-Jewish, or a Gentile movement. And an Orthodox Jew
will point this out, look, I'm not going to become
a Christian, I'm Jewish. Remind that Orthodox
Jew, the early church was exclusively all Jewish,
because they followed a Jewish Messiah, believed
in Jewish promises, and prophecies, et cetera. But that mixture
of Jew and Gentile, and the fact that
more Gentiles are now believing in a Jewish Messiah,
and the Jews have largely rejected Jesus as their
Messiah, has brought up a number of issues. What's God's plan? How does the Jewish
nation fit into God's plan when they have
rejected their Messiah? Is God then done with Israel? So that question,
that issue, that was paramount in the church,
and is still asked today, and should be answered today,
is answered in chapters 9, 10 and 11. So chapter 9 verse
1, now, me just give you a quick
outline of 9, 10, 11. Chapter 9 is Israel's past. Chapter 10 is Israel's present. Chapter 11, you're going to
guess this, is Israel's future. That's how Paul approaches it. I tell the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience also bearing
me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and
continual grief in my heart, for I could wish that I, myself,
were accursed from Christ for my brother,
and for my kinsmen, according to the flesh
who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption,
the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law,
the service of God, and the promises. Of whom are the Father's. And from whom,
according to the flesh, Christ came, who is overall the
eternally blessed God, Amen. Now, please just notice
that before I unwrap this little section of verses. Paul, here, unmistakably refers
to Jesus Christ not only as God, but as the
eternally blessed God. And just so his readers get the
point, he adds the Amen to it. So he's not going to even
wait for them to say, Amen, he's going to say it. Amen, this is
right, this is true. So Jesus Christ came, who is
overall the eternally blessed God, Amen. What is he saying
in these verses? Simple. God made a choice,
a sovereign choice, to form a nation,
the Jewish nation. And through that nation,
to reveal himself-- God revealed himself through
the Old Testament prophecies, the Old Testament scriptures,
before the New Testament was written, that was the Bible. So God used Israel to reveal
himself, to reveal his plan, because Jesus is
predicted, world history is predicted in
the Old Testament. And to reveal his son. So himself, his plan, and
Jesus Christ, his son-- all revealed through
the Jewish nation. So that's why the believer,
the Christian believer, the modern church person
has a huge debt to the Jew. Because scriptures come from
it, God's plan comes from it, our Savior comes from Israel. Jesus said to the woman at the
well of Sumeria when she said, well, you know, we worship in
this mountain-- we kind of do our own thing up here on
Mount Gerizim and Sumerian, you Jews worship in Jerusalem. Interesting how
Jesus answered it. He said, you don't even know
what you're worshiping here. We know what we worship. Listen to what he said, for
salvation is of the Jews. Now, Paul would say to that,
Amen, salvation is of the Jews. Jews gave us our scriptures,
Jews gave us God's plan, and the Jews gave us our Savior. In verse 5, he
mentions the fathers-- of whom are the fathers-- those are the patriarchs,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob had 12 sons, 12 tribes,
the 12 tribes of Israel. And they were selected by
God, God promised them a land, they were taken down to Egypt,
for 400 years they were slaves. God delivered them
through Moses. Brought them across the
Red Sea into the land that we call today Israel. They, again, occupy that land. But it all came
through the fathers-- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
the 12 tribes of Israel. It's worth going to
Israel, if you can make it. You're going to make it
in the millennial kingdom, but it's kind of nice to have
a before and after picture, I always say that,
because it's going to look vastly different
then, than it does now. I mean vastly different. So if you kind of want to
get a biblical history, a New Testament history
of Jesus walked, the roads Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob walked on, it's great to see that. It's also good to
see modern Israel, because it's the
only functioning democracy in the Middle East. It's one of the strongest
economies in the world. Today in Israel, there are 9
million people, thereabouts, that's the population
of Israel-- 9 million people. 6.7 million of them are Jewish. There's about 15 million Jews in
the world at large, 6.7 million of them live in
that land of Israel. Israel today has a $300 billion
per year gross national-- gross domestic product, GDP. They are the fourth
leading export of citrus in the world,
the third leading exporter of flowers in the world. So when God said to
Abraham, one of the fathers, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make your name
great, He wasn't kidding. The sons and daughters of
Abraham have been blessed, and are being blessed
today in the land. Of whom are the
Father's, and from whom, according to the
flesh, Christ came, who is overall the
eternally blessed God, Amen. But it is not that the word
of God has taken no effect, for they are not all
Israel who are of Israel. So the contention
might be, well, so many Jewish
people have rejected Jesus Christ as their
Messiah, maybe that means God's promise has failed-- God's promises to the
Jewish nation has failed. He says, it's not that the word
of God has taken no effect, for they are not all
Israel who are of Israel. So just because you're
Jewish, and the majority of those who are Jewish
have rejected the Messiah-- Paul's point is, not
all of them have. Yes, it's a minority,
but here's the point-- their rejection of God's
promise by the majority does not negate God's
promise to the minority. Do you understand that? Just because most people
reject something doesn't mean, well, they've got to be
right, because that's what most people think. I hope you've gotten over that. If you think, well, you know,
most people think this-- so? I don't care what
most people think. I care what's right
and what's wrong. And I care what God thinks. And if what most people
think isn't what God thinks, I don't give a hooey
what most people think. Because at the end
of 1st John, it says, we know that we are of
God, and the whole world lies under the sway
of the wicked one. So John says, the
whole world's wrong, when it comes to
spiritual truth. So Paul's point is
a strong point-- the rejection of God's
promises by the majority does not negate God's
promises to the minority. There were still a
remnant of Jewish people, were and are to this day,
who believe in the Messiah. And by the way, that's going to
happen all the way to the end-- in the very end, a
very small amount, compared to all the
Jewish people who live-- if there's 15 million
Jews in the world, and yet, the book
of Revelation says, how many people are going to be
sealed by God who are Jewish? 144,000. That's a very small remnant. But once again, their
disbelief, their unbelief doesn't negate God's
promise to the minority. Nor are they all
children because they're of the seed of Abraham,
but in Isaac, your seed will be called. That is, those who are
the children of the flesh, these are the children-- that is, those who are the
children of the flesh, these are not the children of God,
but the children of promise are counted as seed. I'm going to have to let
this dangle until next time. Because we're getting
into some deep waters once again with Paul. You know, it's funny,
because people say, oh, I love the book of Romans. And I always say, have
you ever really read it? What do you like about it? What do you love about it? I mean, there are
certain verses-- that's really what they mean. There's a few verses in
it that I really love. Like that 8:28 thing,
that's awesome. But Peter, remember,
did say, there were some things Paul wrote
that are hard to understand. Now, it's not that it's
hard to understand, it's that the way the
language is, and if you're not familiar with the Old Testament,
it kind of makes you go, huh? What? But here's what he's going to
say, I'll give you a preview-- God makes a choice, because
God knows everything. He's omniscient, He
knows everything. So because He knows everything,
He makes his sovereign choice, chooses a nation, chooses
people out of that nation-- makes a choice as
to a family lineage. So you've got Abraham,
Abraham had a couple of sons. Got picked one of them
to fulfill his promise. Isaac and Rebecca had two
sons, God chose one of them, and it wasn't the oldest
one in either case, it was the younger. That's God sovereign choice. And so I'm going to
unravel that next time. I just wanted to give you a
little bit of a preview of it. Didn't want to extend
my time, but next time, we're going to swim in
the depths of election, predestination, and choice-- human volition, OK? So thank you, Father, that
we had the opportunity to get into this section,
even just a little bit, but to conclude such
an incredible chapter. And it demands a response. Paul said, what shall
we say to these things? We're about to sing
a song in response. We say, thank you,
we say, praise you. We say, we're humbled and
honored that you chose us, that you love us. Well, Father, we are
confronted with a world filled with accusers that indeed
have an agenda, a dark agenda. But you are for us. And though we are surrounded
by 135,000 Midianites, and we're just 300, we
are more than conquerors. We know how this battle ends--
we know how the war ends. You've written about the victory
on the last pages of scripture. So Lord, you already
show that you're willing to give your utmost,
your son, and anything short of that, you will also
freely give because our needs, and we are your children. Even when we suffer
distress, peril, famine, nakedness, sword, we
know that we will not be separated from your love. You will provide
somewhere, somehow, and we just want to say,
bless you, thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let's stand and let's
sing a response to Him. For more resources from Calvary
Church and Skip Heitzig, visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us from
this teaching in our series, Expound.
