The Gospel Outreach

Okay, we're continuing chapter 10 and this morning we're going to finish chapter 10. So, if you had opened your Bibles up, if you're not already there, in chapter 10, we're going to start off in verse 8 and we're going to read through verse 21. So, the verses this morning that we're going to be focusing on, as the screen says there, is 14 through 21, but verse 8 will help us to get the context of what's going on.

But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith which we are preaching. That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, whosoever believes in him will not be disappointed. For there is no distinction between the Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings, for Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? So faith comes in hearing by the word of Christ. But I say, surely they have never heard, have they? Indeed they have. Their voice has gone out unto all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? At the first, Moses says, I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation without understanding will I anger you. And Isaiah is very bold and says, I was found by those who sought me not. I became manifest to those who did not ask for me. But as for Israel, he says, all the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.

So we're in this section here, prophetic section, chapters 9-11. What about the nation of Israel? What about the nation of Israel as a whole? the question comes up since God has given the covenants and the promises to Israel we saw that clearly in chapter 9 the first couple verses what's happened to the nation as a whole so that's what we're talking about and here as we finish out chapter 10 we see a little more revelation from God's perspective about what has happened to the nation of Israel as a whole so let's review see if you can remember some of these things we're seeing a long list of things now. What's happened with the nation of Israel? How is God interacting? How is God dealing with the nation of Israel?

So far in chapters 9 through 10, how has Paul responded to this question without looking at your notes? How well do you guys, how well do you remember? What have been some of the things that we've seen so far over the past five weeks? Remember? extreme concern for his people.

That's right, yeah. You could hear his heart. He says, if I could give up my salvation for you, I would. Now he can't, it's an impossibility for him to do that, but if he could, he would. So yeah, his heart for them, he's grieved for his brethren, the nation of Israel, yeah.

What else? That's right. Not all of Israel's spiritualism. We saw that kind of midway through chapter 9. What else? They started to establish their own righteousness. That's right. They were going about things their own way. Going about things man's way, not God's way. Their own righteousness, not God's righteousness. What else? Kind of another biggie that we talked about four weeks ago. That's right.

So for a period of time he set the Nation of Israel aside. Now he's working with the Gentiles. Remember God chooses who He will have mercy on. He chooses who He is going to harden. That was another biggie that came out of chapter 9. Yeah, good. So those are the things that we've seen addressed so far. Not all of Israel is spiritual Israel. God sovereignly chooses on whom He will have mercy, making them part of spiritual Israel, and hardens whom He wants to. We saw that in 9. Roger pointed out Israel sought righteousness through self-righteousness in the law and not through faith.

And last week specifically looked at Christ had done it all for them but they did not believe. And so specifically we saw last week don't try to bring Christ up from the dead or down from heaven so that you can crucify him again but believe in what he's already done. That was a clear point that came out of last week.

Specifically we saw that in verses 6 and 7. That's how Paul is responding to this question. What about the nation of Israel? Those are the things so far that we've seen, how he's answering this question. We also saw in verse 9 and verse 10 last week that these two verses Archiasm, and Vern's talked a lot about that, but one thing that I picked up on last week in Vern's sermon that maybe he's been saying it every week, I just haven't picked up on it, or maybe he has it, I'm not sure, probably I haven't been picking up on it, but what he pointed out last week, which I thought was interesting, is what is in the middle of the chiasm is often there to show emphasis. And I thought that was really interesting. Maybe he's been saying that for a year and Isaiah and I just haven't heard it. So, as we look at, just for sake of review here, last week, look at verse 9 from last week.

If you confess with your mouth the Lord, Jesus as Lord, you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. So both of those verses end with a result. Verse 9 is going to result in salvation, and verse 10 is going to result also in salvation.

And so, what do you see in the middle? If you look at the chiasm, we know enough about what the chiasm is, a mirror image and verses. What do you see in the middle there? of this chiasm. Verse 9, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, that's the first part. The second part, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, and then there's the result. Now verse 10, for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness. With the mouth he confesses, and then there's the result, resulting in salvation. What do you see in the middle part there?

Belief. Exactly. Faith. Yeah. And so, as I was thinking through this verse, because we had just finished it last week, and hearing that within the center, is oftentimes what is there for emphasis, I thought that was critical, because belief is the emphasis, and faith is the emphasis that they needed to have in what Christ had already done. Because it's interesting that we have this idea here of confess. We talked about it a little bit last week. It talks about confessing with your mouth.

Then he also gets into the idea here of calling upon the Lord. And that's also an interesting thought that we don't hear much use elsewhere in the scriptures. So in verse 12 there he says, Now the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him. For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

But when we go back to verses verses 9 and 10, we see that the emphasis is one of faith, and of belief. So, interest in review, the emphasis is not on confessing or calling on the Lord, but it's on believing. When one confesses the Lord, or calls on the Lord, it's simply an outward manifestation of the inward heart of belief.

I think it's important for us to realize that the scripture emphasizes belief, but where do we believe? It's not only in the mind, but it's in the heart. So it's not an intellectual belief, but it's a genuine inner belief of the heart, having trust, having confidence in the Lord. Not just a mental, intellectual belief.

It's interesting, some object to, in regard to salvation, that you ask Jesus to come into your heart. I wouldn't use that, but this scripture seems to say that this belief the belief of what? The Gospel, and it's in the heart rather than in the mind. So, I don't necessarily think that it's too inerrant to ask Jesus into one's heart.

It's the whole center, the heart means the whole center of his being, really his soul. As long as one understands the proper perspective of belief, truly having confidence and trust in the Lord, if one understands that, then it's okay to use those other phrases such as, ask Jesus into your heart. As long as there's a correct understanding of its faith and its belief. Not having dependence on asking Christ into my heart for salvation, but truly believing, trusting in confidence in my heart.

It's the old thing about the mechanics. You can say, well, did you ask in your heart? Well, you can say those words, but did you trust them? That's right. That's right. I think that people who check that they don't say, well, did you ask? Did you ask? You know, just kind of checking off a list. Yeah. Yeah. Donna. That's right, that's right. So we need to be careful with that. But if it's understood correctly, then it's okay. But as long as it's understood in its proper way.

Were you going to say something before that, Roger? Actually, you talk about the mouth, and I was reading and listening to different people, and actually they kind of did a cultural thing. They said, well, Israel didn't have you know, written material was in scarcity. You had the scribes who wrote things out, but so to know something and to have it in your mouth and kind of on the tip of your tongue was kind of, that showed that you truly had it, it was part of you. And so that in the mouth was very important. Speaking it was very important because that said that person knew it and it wasn't, you know, it was part of him because they couldn't write things down. So that was kind of, so That's a good point.

And I also, thinking a little bit more about this, there were the scribes, Pharisees, Jews, and so Paul is addressing them in this particular passage of scripture. And so I think he is wanting to not let them fall into what might be called easy-believism. Because they might say, yeah, I believe.

And Paul is saying, well, confess with your mouth and call upon the name of the Lord. Well, if the scribes and the Pharisees and the Jews, if they truly would, confess with their mouth, and if they truly would call upon the name of the Lord, that would be really showing that they truly did believe and have confidence and trust in their heart inwardly, instead of just given kind of an outward, intellectual, easy-believism type of thing. So I think that culturally, As you pointed out, this is a good point, I think, also, it's something to bring out too, considering who Paul is writing to, why he includes this confessing with the mouth and calling it upon the name of the Lord in this section, which he quotes from Joel chapter 2. Barb?

Kind of along with that narrative, it's the same way. It's really easy to try to believe in your mind, but once you say it, it's like a diet. That's right. That's right. Sure. Yeah. The issue comes down to one believing. in their heart, and inwardly having confidence, having trust, and that's what Paul was driving at with the Jews.

He was saying, listen guys, Christ has already died, He's already been buried, He has already raised, He has already been ascended, and seated at the right hand of the Father. You need to believe in that. don't try to crucify again, don't try to bring him down from the heaven, don't try to bring him up from the grave again so you can crucify him again, but simply believe. And we're going to go on to see that they did not do that. They rejected that here this morning.

Okay, so we see here in verses 13 down through 15. For whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. which is a verse we looked at last week. So here we see the steps in God's offer of righteousness. I'm just going to lay it all out at once. So, 13 talks about salvation. calling, believing, hearing, preaching, and then descending. So when we look at these here, these are assumed facts in the form of questions. And we see that the deliberate subjunctive is used to state a series of facts. Now if you look at this, that's where you can see the subjunctive, subjunctive, subjunctive, subjunctive, subjunctive, with the exception of saved and salvation, which is up in verse 13, which is the verse that we looked at last week.

Let's work this thing from the bottom to the top. We've read it from the top to the bottom, now let's work this thing from the bottom up to the top. So, it's interesting that when we talk about sending, the idea there of to send, or to send one out to serve, or to commission someone to a particular ministry. Now notice that it is passive. That's meaning that it's an action that is done to someone.

We're going to send someone out. We're going to commission them out for a particular ministry. What are we going to send them out or what are they being sent out or commissioned to do? Well, they're to preach. Okay, but let's step back down. So the question then is, who's responsible for sending people out in ministry? It's passive. I'm not going to send myself out into ministry and none of you. God's intent wouldn't be for us to send ourselves out, but the idea here is that we would be sent out by someone else. So, Holy Spirit, exactly right. That's critical, I think, for us to understand. The Holy Spirit, he will use the local church, but ultimately he will use the local church. Wow, that's pretty messed up.

Let's look at Acts, chapter 13, verses 1-5. Yeah, I didn't get to have her eyes on this one last night. Acts 13, and we see here with Paul and Bonavus. So chapter 13, someone read for us just down verses 1 through 5. Now there were in a church that had a certain prophet, a priest named Bonavus and Simon, and sitting at partners, and that was called Niger, and Lucius, and Tiberius, and then My name, I think, uh huh. Okay, go down through verses 4 and 5.

Okay. So we see here the context is in Antioch. So there's the church. There's the local church. But look at the Holy Spirit said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them. So the Holy Spirit is involved in the sending out and being sent out through the local church. So the Holy Spirit is ultimately the one who does the sending, yet he's going to use the agent of the local church. So down in verse 4, so being sent out by the Holy Spirit.

They went down. And then what do they do? Verse 5, they began to proclaim the word of the Lord, which is the very next step in this sequence here. Preached. Maybe you hear of preaching, or one heralding, or one of proclaiming. So, it's interesting to tuck away in your mind there, the idea that the Holy Spirit is the one who is to be doing the sending. Okay, so, preaching. One cannot preach without being sent. by the Holy Spirit. Identify that.

Okay, so it comes to the idea of hearing, and hearing must come before belief, and then one cannot hear without a preacher. And then belief, we talked about this, to place trust or reliance upon, or confidence in. Okay, not an intellectual belief, but an inner confidence, trust, or reliance upon, and one cannot believe without hearing. And then the idea here to call, to call for oneself, to appeal on one's behalf. Call, one cannot call without believing.

And then when we come to save, one cannot be saved without calling on the Lord. So we talked about calling on the Lord or confessing the Lord. Now notice, it comes after belief in this sequence, which I think again is very critical for us to get straight because some people are going to come and say, This guy hasn't confessed with his mouth the Lord Jesus. I'm not sure that he's really saved.

Well, you know, belief is what is first and foremost of importance when it comes to salvation. I mean, that's it. Faith is it. Belief in the Gospel. So, calling comes after belief and then one can't be saved without calling on the Lord, but that sequence comes after faith. Does that make sense to everybody? Faith is first and only. But in the sequence here, Paul has included calling.

Now, what I thought was interesting as we looked at this is that we start with the passive, Meaning that the action is being done unto someone. And then what did we end with? Saved is also passive. An action being done unto someone. So we were passive and then active. So then the subject is actively involved in the action of preaching. And then again, we're active, active, middle, meaning that the subject is intensely involved in the action, and then we end with the passive.

I thought as we looked at that whole thing, from start to finish, with the sending to the saving, that it was interesting that both ends of it are God. The Holy Spirit doing the sending, God doing the saving, we're involved in the middle, but the bookends are the Lord. I thought that was really interesting to look at that. Thoughts, questions?

The reason he's laying this out here is because he's going to say to the nation of Israel, listen guys, you have heard. Because what they're going to come to is say, We haven't heard. No one's come to us and told us about the gospel. They're going to blame us because we haven't believed? We haven't heard. So he's going to say, listen guys, you have heard, and you should have believed. So he's setting up the next several verses with this sequence here of the gospel. Sending, preaching, hearing, believing, calling, and saving. So tuck that away. That will give you a frame of reference to come back to as we keep going along.

Okay, the last phrase there of verse 15 says, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. And this comes from a quote in Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 7. So let's go back here to Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 7. How lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation and says to Zion, your God reigns. Listen, you watchmen, lift up your voices. They shall joyfully together, for they will see with their own eyes when the Lord restores Zion." So this is what Paul quotes here in Romans.

He quotes this passage here from Isaiah 52 in verse 7. So, here's the question. Did God send anyone to proclaim the Gospel to the Jew? Yeah, He did. I mean, time and time and time again, He sent the prophets, John the Baptist, He sent people countless times to proclaim the Gospel the good news as we read here in Isaiah 52 7 to the Jew.

How do we know? We just read it in Isaiah chapter 52 verse 7. Now let's go down to chapter 53. So what is being proclaimed here in chapter 52? It's saying how lovely are the feet of those who bring good news. What's the good news that he's talking about in chapter 53? And Isaiah, who has believed our message and whom has the armor of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out of the parched ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him. no appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken for men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and like one from whom men hid their faiths, he was despised, and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, and chastened for our well-being fell upon him, and he was scourged By His scourging, we are healed. For all of us, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way. But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon Him." And it continues on there to the end of the chapter. Had the message been proclaimed to the Jews? Yes, it clearly has been proclaimed to the Jews.

Just one little side note. It sounds a little bit like in chapter 52 verse 7 that this is a message that's going to be proclaimed in the future. Kind of a messianic type passage that's going to be proclaimed during the tribulation. And let me just make a little side note that There's something called a double fulfillment of prophecy. So I think what we see here is that this very well may be referring to something that's going to happen in the future. We know it is. The Jews there in the Tribulation are going to be proclaiming this same message. So there's a double fulfillment. There's a remote or there's a faraway fulfillment of prophecy, but there also is a close or a near fulfillment of prophecy.

So I think we can say that beautiful are the feet of the person who is saying this message right then during the time of Isaiah. Also, beautiful are the feet of the person who's going to be proclaiming this message during the tribulation. Does that help you out a little bit? Sometimes when you come to passages, they're like, is this talking about now or is this talking about what's going to happen down the road during the tribulation time.

At times, with certain prophecies, there's a double fulfillment of them that needs to be considered. So yes, they knew, they had the message preached to them, they knew of it, and they were looking forward to a coming Deliverer. Remember, Vern had that slide, I think it was last week or two weeks ago, of the Jews looking forward to the cross, the coming Deliverer, who was going to take away the iniquity of their sin, and what do we do?

We look back. So in this context, when we're talking about the Jews, they're looking forward to the cross. that Paul's writing in, where Paul always went to the Jews first, and then he would say, you guys redacted it, I'm going to the Gentiles, and like every place he went to, he always went to the Jews.

That's right. Good point. We just finished going through Acts with our neighbors, and boy, he did that all the time. But boy, he got so much, he caught so much grief for it. All the time. He was never... Yeah, come tell me about it. He was never welcome with open arms.

Okay, so the Jews refused to believe. It had gone to them. The message had gone to them. But they refused to believe the gospel. Verses 16 and 17. However, they did not all heed the glad tidings. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed our report? We just read that. Chapter 53, verse 1. Who's believed what we've said? It doesn't seem like anybody is.

So, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of Christ. Okay, so, the Jews refused to heed the Gospel in verse 16. So, the idea here of heed means to hear under, or to listen, to submit, or to obey. Okay, so the Jews refused to heed. They refused to obey, or to submit, or listen under. So, therefore, they refused to believe. one must hear in order to believe. We've already established that by the previous verse, right?

It's sent, preaching, hearing, believing. So therefore, if one isn't going to hear, how can one believe? Okay, that's the sequence of the way it was. So, the idea here is one must hear in order to believe. And because they refused to hear the gospel, they were therefore refusing to believe it. We know people like that, don't we? You share the gospel with them, family members, neighbors, co-workers, whatever, and they, for some reason, just don't hear it. In that sense, it's synonymous with what?

Believing it. They won't hear it. They won't believe it. Same thing is going on here in this passage. So, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If they're not going to hear it, what's going to happen? They're not going to believe it. And so, Paul is saying that's what happened with the Jews. They wouldn't hear it, because they wouldn't hear it, Therefore, they wouldn't believe it. That's the whole point. The Jews weren't believing. They should have been believing, but they weren't believing. John chapter 1, verse 11. Let's look at that. Interesting passage here. John 1, 11. Let's read verses 9 through 11. Someone would read that for us. John chapter 1, verses 9, 10 and 11. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made for him and the world did not know him.

He came to his own and his own did not receive him. Okay, who did he come to? His own. And what did they do? They rejected him. They didn't receive him. They didn't hear him. They didn't believe him. And the same thing, Rich pointed out in Acts, Paul continually went to the Jews first. They rejected him. They wouldn't hear him. They wouldn't believe what he was saying about Christ.

So as we keep in mind here, the big picture, I think it's important. The issue was, don't continue on in self-righteousness but believe in the righteousness of God, the righteousness of faith, believe in the gospel, what Christ has already done for you. That's what Paul is trying to communicate to these guys. So we've already looked at this, the question comes up, since God has given the covenants, the promises to Israel, what has happened to the nation as a whole? So what are we seeing here?

They didn't hear, and therefore they didn't believe. So we're accumulating this list as we go through this section of Paul's points about the nation of Israel. So here's another one. They didn't hear, and therefore they didn't believe. Someone was sent to them, and the message was preached. We saw it clearly. But they did not hear, and therefore they didn't believe.

That's the point that Paul is really trying to communicate here. Thoughts or questions before we move on to Verse 18. It's pretty clear. Do you think that there are people who believe the story, but they reject it? They don't want it? Help me understand the mindset of that person. Mindset of a relative. Okay, sure. She says if it lasted 2000 years, it must be true. But she doesn't want it. She doesn't want it, yes. Therefore, she's rejecting it.

I was thinking if that was true of Jews who knew what Isaiah said, knew, but because of pride, because of power. Just can't accept it. I think so, sure. And I think that maybe comes down to in early Romans where it talks about they suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness. They know it's true, but they just can't believe it, they can't accept it, and so then they're just suppressing it in unbelief, really. I think so. Any other thoughts?

I had an office mate who said, you know Roger, if I believe that you believe in the Bible, I'm going to become just like you. I'm going to have a Bible study, I'm going to be the kind of person you are, and I don't want to be that kind of person. He said, I don't want to be a Bible believing person, is what he was saying. And I don't want that. It just kind of, it staggers you because they know it's true. And it's even good. But I don't want that. I don't want that lifestyle. I don't want that. You know? Yes. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. program for a long time.

One thing that I do, I go ahead and I quote the scripture, because the scripture is so powerful in this effort, and they do it, and this is being invited to center, and God can bring that back to their minds, and so I don't even worry about it as long as I can use the appropriate scripture. That's right, yeah, good point. You can't beat the Word of God. You can't argue with the Word of God, you know, and give them something. The scripture, yeah, that's right. I completely agree.

We're going to see that here. Yeah, it's coming. Yeah, their days are not over. Some people believe they are. You know, we talk to the millennials or the post mills. God's done working with the nation of Israel and the church is Israel and all that. It gets wrapped up in that. All the different views. It actually gets pretty confusing when you look at them all. But there are a lot of people that believe that God's done work with Israel, but he's not. If God's done work with Israel, then we call God a liar. I don't know about you, but I don't want to do that. That's a good point, Tim. These people, they don't believe the Scripture either, or the Ammonites, or the person that Israel rejected. rejected the Lord, therefore the church is taken over, like Hanegraaff, for example, teaches.

Those kind of people would, and of course maybe they'll say that we don't believe the scriptures, but it's hard when it's so clear, Yes, that's right. That's why it's critical for us to get a good grasp of this section of 9-11 because this is really a critical passage to rightly understand God's prophetic plan for the Jews. Basically what it boils down to is an interpretative issue between different schools of prophetic interpretation. The whole thing can be boiled down to If we could all agree on the right interpretation, everything else would sort itself out. Some people try to make the Bible say what they already know.

Exactly, yes, that's right. So you're reading into it. So yeah, you're right. Okay, so let's move on to verse 18. Well, Wayne, we're going to have no problem filling the class here. We're only halfway through slide four. We've got five minutes to go.

Okay, so as I mentioned earlier, some said, well, we haven't heard. We have not been told and we haven't had the opportunity to hear. And so essentially Paul lays out these three rhetorical questions in 18, 19, and 20, hypothetical questions. Verse 18 says, But I say, surely they have never heard, have they?

And then indeed they have. He goes on the quote. Then look at verse 19. But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? And then he goes on the quote, Moses. And then verse 20, Isaiah was very bold and he says, and he goes on the quote Isaiah. So he throws in these three rhetorical or hypothetical questions to just nail them to the wall, just box them into a corner, so they'll come down to verse 21.

We'll get to that one in a minute. So some folks are saying, we haven't heard, we haven't had the opportunity to hear. They had heard the gospel, so don't tell me you haven't heard. Essentially, we read it. There's been so much evidence for the fact that they have heard, they have had the opportunity to hear. How do we know that they've heard? Psalm 19 verses 1-6 gives us the natural or the general revelation of God and then Psalm 19 7-14 gives us special or the specific revelation regarding God and Himself and His revelation to them. We won't take the time to read through that chapter now, but you can read through it on your own. And see, the point is, they have heard. They have been told. And don't tell me that you haven't heard.

It's like, you know, Henry saying to me, Dad, I didn't know. And I had told him. And I had told him over, Dad, I didn't know you wanted me to put my shoes on. You know, I told the guy five times I wanted to put his shoes on. Don't tell me that... You didn't know that I didn't tell you. You just didn't do it. That's what the Lord said. You didn't believe. Come on, I told you. That's what's happening.

So the Jews did know in advance of their rejection of Christ and the offer to the Gentiles in verse 19 through 21. But I say surely Israel did know They did not know, did they? Again, it's just a rhetorical question. I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation. By a nation without understanding will I anger you. This is what we have here. So Paul knew that they knew, and so they knew, and Paul quotes Moses here in Deuteronomy 32, 17-21. So when we see... I won't flip through it for time.

But when we see this, here's the question, who is referred to by that which is not a nation, a nation without understanding? It's the Gentiles. And then it says in the end there, by a nation without understanding the meaning of the Gentiles, will I anger you?

Were they angry? Read Acts. Read Acts and see if the Jews were getting angry, particularly with Paul. when he'd roll in there and give this message about, you know, you no longer need to be under the law, you no longer need to be circumcised, and I'm brushing the dust off my feet, I'm going on to the Gentiles.

They were enraged. These guys followed him from town after town after town after town, trying to persecute him. So yeah, the Jews were The Jews were very angry. The Jerusalem Council was a major event. Vern's mentioned it a couple of times in relation to Galatians. So yeah, it was a big deal. The Jews were angry that that message was beginning to go out to the Gentiles.

Then we come on to... Yeah, they knew. answering the question that they didn't know yeah they knew and again Paul quotes from here Isaiah chapter 65 and in verse 1 he says in verse 20 then Isaiah was very bold and says I was found by those who sought me not I became manifest to those who did not ask for me now let's go to Isaiah let's look at this one here Isaiah chapter 65 and verse one I permitted myself to be sought by those who did not ask for me I permitted myself to be found by those who did not seek me I said here am I here am I to a nation which did not call on my name now it's interesting when we look at this here the context is talking about Israel so the quote The use of the quote by Paul here is using Old Testament texts which apply to Israel as an analogy to refer to the Gentiles.

I think we need to just, you know, in this particular section it's referring to Israel. Now we're not trying to allegorize scripture or make scripture say something that it doesn't say, which is what we talked about about five minutes ago, but I think Paul is using here a reference referring to Israel as an analogy to what's happening with the Gentiles. And also when you look at 10.21, he starts off 10.21 by saying, but as for Israel, and so this would stand in contrast with the people previously mentioned which we're referring to the Gentiles. So he's talking about the Gentiles, he's talking about a different people group, And then when he comes into verse 21, then he says, that's for Israel. So, he's comparing and he's contrasting two separate groups here. Does that make sense? Okay. Alright. So, back to 10.

I was found by those who sought me not. Were the Gentiles seeking God? The true God? No, they were seeking pagan gods. They were seeking gods. You know, many gods, okay? I was found by those who sought me not, I became manifest to those who did not ask for me." You know, the Gentiles weren't asking for God, but God became known to them.

And now, as was pointed out, God is in the plan of working with the Gentiles. So then the whole thing, as I mentioned, is the point is to box Israel in, and to take away any buts, questions that they might have to this statement. All the day long I've stretched out my hands, in verse 21, to a disobedient and an obstinate people. And that's directly quoted from 65 verse 2.

So Paul is just reminding them that God has been persistently pursuing them. What have they done? persistently rejecting. So in conclusion, the Jews are in a state of continuous rejection of God's offer of righteousness. The fault is theirs and they have no excuse. That's what Paul has really been trying to drive home, particularly in the last part of 9 and all of 10. They have heard the gospel, but they have rejected it. Don't tell me that you didn't hear it. You've heard it and you've rejected it. God, as a result, has set the Jews aside and is calling out a people from the Gentiles. That's what's going on right now. The Jews have been set aside and He's calling out a people from the Gentiles ourselves.

God still loves the Jew despite their disobedience and will continue until the Tribulation period. Their disobedience is going to continue on until the Tribulation. There's some Jews that are trusting the Lord as their personal Savior, believing in the Gospel, inwardly trusting, having confidence in the Gospel, but as a whole. We're talking about as a whole. Not yet.

And they're going to continue that disobedience and that rejection of him until the tribulation period comes. And at that time, all of Israel will call upon the Lord and they will be saved. And we're going to get into more of the details of how that works out in chapter 11 as we continue this prophetic section regarding the nation of Israel. But God is not done. with the nation of Israel.

And you know what? Even though this section of Scripture doesn't necessarily apply to us, the Gentiles, the Church, what we're reading about is how God is interacting with people. But what big pillars and characteristics of God do we see coming out of this passage for us today? Faithful. Yeah, God's faithful. Yeah. That's huge. That God's Word is true. and that He does what He says, and He is faithful.

Now we know that all of the epistles, all the New Testament truths that are written to us, and all the spiritual wealth that it contains about us as being accepted in Christ, heirs of Christ, adopted in the beloved, placed in the Christ, and all that comes with that. So here we're learning the faithfulness of God. faithfulness of God to work those truths into our life as we walk by faith and dependency upon Him. I have found that to be really encouraging, really uplifting and pretty astounding as we have seen this section. It's His faithfulness to the Jews and it's His plan for them. He has the same faithfulness and work and plan for our own lives too.

All right, let's pray. Lord, thank you for this time. Thanks for your work on our lives. Thanks that you have placed us in yourself. Thanks that you have blessed us with all spiritual blessings. And thanks that we can just trust in you for all things, each and everything. And so we just pray for Vern, the rest of the service this morning. You'll just speak through him as we get into the first few verses of Galatians. We look forward to that. In your name we pray. Amen.