God's Divine Plan, Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Irrevocable Calling
Irrevocable, cannot be rescinded, recalled or undone
We are in Romans 11 this morning.
Romans 9-11 is a wonderful section of Romans which covers some important concepts for believers.
It builds upon all that the Spirit teaches us through all that he inspired Paul to right concerning the gospel.
Romans 1 Man is under wrath
Romans 1 Man is under wrath
Romans 1 - man is under God’s wrath because God has revealed himself to them and they do not respond to him with faith, and reverence. Rather, man worships created things, invents ways of doing evil, and approves of those who do evil.
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 2-3 All mankind is condemned and Unrighteous
Romans 2-3 All mankind is condemned and Unrighteous
Romans 2-3 show that all mankind is condemned, religious and irreligious alike, for all sin and fall short of the glory of God. There is none that is righteous, none seek after God. The law was given to show us our unrighteousness and separation from God.
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery mark their ways,
and the way of peace they do not know.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Romans 3-4 Salvation by Jesus through Faith
Romans 3-4 Salvation by Jesus through Faith
Romans 3-4 God has made salvation from this unrighteous condition possible. God send Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sin!
Romans 3-4 Salvation may be received from God by faith, and by faith alone!
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
Romans 5 The Blessings of Justification through Faith
Romans 5 The Blessings of Justification through Faith
Romans 5 speaks of the gifts we receive because of being justified by faith...
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 6 Believers’ New Life in Christ
Romans 6 Believers’ New Life in Christ
Romans 6 As believers we should not continue in sin. We were identified with Christ. His righteousness is put to our account. We need to live in light of that accounting.
Romans 7 Believers’ Struggle with Sin
Romans 7 Believers’ Struggle with Sin
Romans 7 Reality is we do still struggle with sin, due to the sin within us. But there is hope!
Romans 8 Believers’ Victory in Christ
Romans 8 Believers’ Victory in Christ
Romans 8 There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus!
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
The struggles of this life will work out for our good.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God!
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And, that leads to Romans 9-11.
If nothing separates us, those who have been foreknown, predestined, called, justified, and glorified, then what about Israel? They were foreknown. They were predestined. They were called. Were they justified? Were they glorified?
We would have to say, no. As a whole group, as a people, they were not.
Why? This is important, because if God’s foreknowledge, and calling failed, it could fail us, too. And there goes our assurance, our peace, our hope.
Paul addresses that in Romans 9-11.
And his answer has 3 parts.
First,
Romans 9 - God’s Sovereign Election
Romans 9 - God’s Sovereign Election
Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
Lead’s to…
One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?”
Don’t be a Karen
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
And so, God chose a remnant from Israel, and he chose Gentiles, which shocked the Jews.
And the result of God’s sovereign election was...
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.
You see, the second part of God’s Divine plan for salvation after He sovereignly elects, is that those He has chosen will respond in faith.
Romans 10 Man’s Responsibility to Believe
Romans 10 Man’s Responsibility to Believe
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But Israel did not believe...
But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
So, did God reject Israel forever to now work with the church, those Gentiles and those Jews who receive Jesus as their savior?
Romans 11 God’s Irrevocable Calling
Romans 11 God’s Irrevocable Calling
Paul is going to answer that question with a resounding no.
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Foreknowledge, Calling, Man’s Response
Foreknowledge, Calling, Man’s Response
Once again, Romans 11, is going to address the concepts of God’s foreknowledge, election, God’s calling, and those who are elect responding in faith, while those who are not, are hardened.
These are key concepts which we must properly understand and accept. And it is important that we simply accept what God has revealed rather than extrapolating things further to make sense in our minds.
What is foreknowledge?
What is calling?
What is man’s response?
This section of Romans stirs up controversy and divides believers. This should never be. But it is.
The controversy:
God’s Sovereign Election / Man’s Response of Faith
God’s Sovereign Election / Man’s Response of Faith
Some get upset when we look at God’s Sovereign Election.
Others get upset when we see Man’s Responsibility to respond to God in Faith.
Others get upset when we see God’s Irrevocable Calling, and the fact that God will restore Israel and work with them as a people again because of His Irrevocable Calling.
Why? Why do we get upset by these concepts?
a couple weeks ago, when we started this section of Romans, I encouraged us all to consider being Biblicists.
In our church we have a variety of people who have come from different backgrounds: Catholic, Methodist, Wesleyan, Presbyterian, Baptists of different varieties, Independent Fundamental… etc.
Coming from those backgrounds, there are those who would call themselves Calvinists, and those who would call themselves, Arminians.
What I encourage us to do is to be Biblicists. A biblicist is one who says, “What does God say?” A biblicist will accept what God says over what man has reasoned, and recognize our limitations in understanding God and his ways fully.
Why? Well there are things in scripture which are difficult for us to 100% grasp. For example, the Trinity.
Another example is the hypostatic union (a fancy theological term) which is the concept that Jesus is God, AND Jesus is man. This is interesting because some emphasize Jesus being God to the point that he was not truly tempted, because God cannot sin. Yet, scripture says that he was tempted in every way as we are, and yet he did not sin. You see, he was fully God, unable to sin, and he was fully man, able to be tempted, and able to not sin, just as the original Adam had been before he sinned, and introduced the human race to the sin nature which is handed down by the fathers (hence the reason for the virgin birth, so that Christ was without the sin nature).
That is a topic we are not covering here in these chapters of Romans, though we did see clearly that Jesus is God in chapter 10.
The difficulty we run into in Romans 9-11 is the Calvinist / Arminian debates.
Calvinists (of which I am one, though I am what theologically would be a 4 point, or moderate Calvinist) have a high view of God, his sovereignty and glory.
The danger is that there is a flow of human logic that is often used to try to reconcile in our human minds, God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.
And, in the typical Calvinist / reformed explanation, the emphasis on God’s sovereignty actually can go so far as to remove human responsibility from the equation.
Ordo salutis - regeneration precedes faith, God has to give life for one to believe. And in fact, some go so far as to say man cannot believe. God gives faith.
The benefit is that God is fully sovereign and salvation is of God.
The Arminian, sees that scripture emphasizes man belieiving, however, they can go so far emphasizing man’s faith that it almost becomes a system of works, with man losing their salvation if they sin. And, they can go so far emphasizing man’s faith, that they are offended at God’s election, and for those passages that teach election, they define foreknowledge as God knowing who would believe and persist in belief, so God elects based upon man’s work.
Both go to scripture, but both also then try to reconcile these two concepts of God’s sovereign election, and man’s response of faith using man-made logic.
What I encourage us to do is to simply accept what God says in His Word. This is His Divine Plan. This is how He works for our salvation. We need to bow to His wisdom and revelation, just as we do with concepts like the Trinity and the hypostatic union. To move beyond what He reveals leads us into human error.
Why is this important? Because today, yet again, in chapter 11, we are going to see a couple concepts that are difficult for us to grasp if we follow human logic of these different systems.
Today we will be looking at the call of God, and how God will be restoring Israel in the future.
Foreknowledge and Election (Choosing)
Foreknowledge and Election (Choosing)
Is it God knowing what we would be and do?
who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand:
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Hardening
Hardening
God hardens whom He wants to harden to work out His purposes and bring His glory and salvation to light (Romans 9:18)
God does not make anyone sin. (James 1:13-15)
Disbelief is a sin. God commands everyone everywhere to repent and believe (Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30). To not repent, and to not believe is disobedience. It is a sin.
God does not make anyone sin. God does not make anyone disbelieve. How does He harden? Through his kindness/mercy (Pharoah, Hosea 11:1-7), and by answering the hardened person according to their sinful desires, giving them over to their sin and its consequences (Psalm 81:11-12).
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.
It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.
“Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?
A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans.
My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number 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 turn godlessness away from Jacob.
And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Calling
Calling
General Calling
General Calling
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness,
since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests.
At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
“But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
“Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
“Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
“The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
“ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
“Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full.
I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
about sin, because people do not believe in me;
about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
General Calling is Sufficient
General Calling is Sufficient
In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Specific Calling is Efficient
Specific Calling is Efficient
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Sufficient for all, efficient for those who believe
and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
“This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”
What about regeneration?
What about regeneration?
Regeneration is the giving of life.
Ordo salutis
When do we receive life according to scripture?
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.
being born as God’s children is upon receiving/believing
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.”
What about Total Depravity?
What about Total Depravity?
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Total depravity is not that you cannot do anything good… it is that you cannot do anything to save yourself from your sin.
God foreknew and chose
God foreknew and chose
God called
God called
General and Specific, Sufficient and Efficient
Man’s Response: Faith or Hardening
Man’s Response: Faith or Hardening
Through faith… not because of faith
God saves: regenerates, forgives, justifies...
God saves: regenerates, forgives, justifies...
Hebrews 11 is great hall of faith
What about Israel?
God foreknew
God called
Israel’s Response
God’s ultimate plan...